Yoga Takes Away Stress, Pounds, Toxins, Cholesterol and Cravings


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Allison Biggar YogaYoga has long been associated with stress reduction and increased flexibility, but not everyone realizes that yoga can also help them lose weight, lower their cholesterol, and eliminate harmful toxins. Yoga practitioners can even learn how to control their cravings for unhealthy foods.

Yoga is one of the most holistic activities there is, focusing on mind, body, and spirit. When done properly, the benefits are endless. It can ease your anxiety, improve your coordination, strength, and posture, and help you lose pounds and inches. That’s because it combines deep breathing, relaxing meditation, and limbering poses.

Breathe Deeply, Burn Fat

When you breathe deeply and consciously – instead of taking short, shallow breaths – you not only feel more relaxed, you burn more calories. Studies have shown that regular deep breathing burns up to 140% more calories than riding a stationary bike! (Of course, breathing deeply won’t help you lose weight if you’re also inhaling cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets, sodas, and packaged meals. Eating a vegetarian diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and low in sugar and processed foods is also essential for weight loss and maintenance.)

To lose the most weight, practice Bikram yoga, which is a mix of low-key twisting poses and cardio exercises performed in a room where the temperature has been raised higher than 100 degrees, or Ashtanga Yoga, which combines complex yoga poses with deep breathing techniques.

To read the full article go to: http://holisticvoice.org/yoga-weight-loss

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Yoga Takes Away Stress, Pounds, Toxins, Cholesterol and Cravings


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Yoga Takes Away Stress, Pounds, Toxins, Cholesterol and Cravings

Yoga has long been associated with stress reduction and increased flexibility, but not everyone realizes that yoga can also help them lose weight, lower their cholesterol, and eliminate harmful toxins. Yoga practitioners can even learn how to control their cravings for unhealthy foods.

Yoga is one of the most holistic activities there is, focusing on mind, body, and spirit. When done properly, the benefits are endless. It can ease your anxiety, improve your coordination, strength, and posture, and help you lose pounds and inches. That’s because it combines deep breathing, relaxing meditation, and limbering poses.

Breathe Deeply, Burn Fat
When you breathe deeply and consciously – instead of taking short, shallow breaths – you not only feel more relaxed, you burn more calories. Studies have shown that regular deep breathing burns up to 140% more calories than riding a stationary bike! (Of course, breathing deeply won’t help you lose weight if you’re also inhaling cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets, sodas, and packaged meals. Eating a vegetarian diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and low in sugar and processed foods is also essential for weight loss and maintenance.)

To lose the most weight, practice Bikram yoga, which is a mix of low-key twisting poses and cardio exercises performed in a room where the temperature has been raised higher than 100 degrees, or Ashtanga Yoga, which combines complex yoga poses with deep breathing techniques.

The twisting poses stimulate your internal organs, which in turn boosts your metabolism, helping you to lose weight. And because Bikram yoga is practiced in such hot temperatures, your body sweats out toxins, which also helps you to shed pounds. Yoga also reduces stress hormones and increases insulin sensitivity, so your body kicks into a fat-burning mode and burns food as fuel rather than storing it as fat.

Doing just one session of yoga will help tighten your muscles and improve your posture, making you look and feel five pounds leaner. The more you practice yoga, the more patience and self control you learn. As you become more disciplined, you become better able to ignore cravings for unhealthy food, which is a key component of any effective weight loss program.

Allison Biggar Yoga

Inverted Yoga-Decreased Cholesterol
You can control your cholesterol and blood pressure by doing yoga and eating plant-based foods (meat, eggs, and dairy products are the only dietary sources of cholesterol.) When you practice inverted yoga poses, including the plough pose, the headstand, and the crane pose, your legs and abdomen are higher than your heart, which increases your circulation and allows blood to flow throughout your body. Inverted yoga poses not only improve your cardiovascular health, they stimulate your brain and glandular system, and relieve pressure on your abdominal organs. Another type of yoga, known as integrative yoga therapy, is sometimes used to alleviate certain medical conditions, including clinical depression, asthma, back pain, arthritis, and even insomnia and multiple sclerosis.

Karmic Benefits of Yoga
While yoga undoubtedly has many physical benefits, it can also be good for your soul. One of the main tenants of yoga is ahimsa, a Sanskrit term meaning to do no harm to any living being. It is one of the reasons why serious yoga practitioners advocate a total vegetarian diet. Sharon Gannon, a founder of Jivamukti, one of the best known yoga centers in the U.S., has even produced a video on the philosophical connection between yoga and vegetarianism.

There’s virtually no limit to what yoga can do for your body and your spirit. You are never too out of shape to take up yoga. In other words, “Never too late, never too old, never too bad and never too sick to do this yoga and start from scratch again,” says Bikram Choudhury, the founder of Bikram yoga. If you’ve been struggling to lose weight, eat healthily, and improve your strength, posture, and flexibility, fitting yoga into your lifestyle is a wise and healthy choice.


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Joe Cross on a Holistic Approach to Health


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“The way I was living, was insanity. To bring sanity to my life I needed to move only to a plant-based diet.” In 5 months of juicing, and eating a plant-based diet Joe Cross was able to lose 100 pounds, ditch his medication and get rid of his chronic urticaria.

The Director and Star of “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” shares his knowledge and wisdom on diet and a holistic approach to health.

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The Vitality Diet


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Download your ebook now!

 This informative, reader-friendly diet ebook to changing your diet is jam-packed with knowledge, secrets, stories and answers that will motivate you like no other diet book has. The author offers a heartrending first-hand account of a personal transformation that will make you think differently about your health and your relationship to food. Whether you are seeking to recover holistically from a serious disease, or just looking to shed a few pounds, The Vitality Diet is an invaluable blueprint for constructing a brand new lifestyle based on eating right and becoming whole again.
 

Do you know the secrets of weight-loss and disease prevention?

SECRET #1: The Diet Companies Want You To Stay Fat, Sick and Unhappy

Otherwise who will buy their products? It is in their best interest for YOU to be unhappy with your body so you will keep buying more products!

The diet industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. These companies are in the business to make money, not to make you thin, healthy, or happy. They spend more money on advertising and marketing than they do a on actually developing a product that works. We have become so brainwashed by the media that we are blinded to the fact that they have been fooling us for decades.

SECRET #2: It’s Not Your Fault That You Are Fat, Sick or Unhappy!

Toxins, Preservatives, Growth Hormones, MSG, pesticides all equal FAT, SICK, UNHAPPY!

Think about where you get your food. Whether it’s seemingly fresh fruits and vegetables, fast food or microwave pizza, the makers of these products all have one goal: To make money. Now would someone make more money if their products were un-edible after a few days or if they had a longer shelf life? Obviously the longer shelf life a product has and the more it can be produced in a short amount of time. The food suppliers then add in preservatives, toxins, hormones etc because it boosts their profits.

SECRET #3: Everything You Know About Food is Wrong!

“Carbs” are not your problem. (You really think your bread is making you fat?) “Fat” is not the issue. (Good fats provide many health benefits.) You cannot live on a meat diet and lose weight. (Dr. Atkins was obese and suffering from hypertension when he died of a heart attack.) The Food Pyramid is inaccurate and outdated. (You really think a bowl of pasta beats an apple?) I could go on and on…

SECRET #4: Even You Can Look Like A Celebrity!

Yes! I mean you! Often because of their high profile careers, celebrities receive knowledge about real natural ways to be thin and beautiful that average people are never exposed to. My book will share those secrets with you so that you too can become the beautiful celebrity version of yourself that we know is bursting to come out!

I am not taking about botox or surgery or anything unnatural. I am talking about the natural steps that any one can take to become youthful, glowing, beautiful, thin, happy, and full of energy! Are you ready for your red carpet moment?

As a bonus, you will also learn about exercise, cleansing, alternative medicine, natural beauty and more! In the personal stories section, you will meet individuals who have healed themselves and their families through nutrition as medicine, without resorting to mainstream drugs or surgeries (which often have devastating side effects). Overall, this diet ebook is the ideal companion for all those who are fed up with the lies and empty promises of traditional health care. More than ever, our food has become a battleground where corporate wars are waged and profits have been placed before our health. Allison Biggar presents her case for healthy, natural, organic food with humor, simplicity and a deep commitment to helping those who are suffering from illness and obesity.

“The Vitality Diet eBooj has completely changed the way I think about food. Since reading this book, i have changed my lifestyle for the better. I know have more energy, i have lost weight and have a brand new outlook on life! I would recommend this to anyone who wants to improve their health and the quality of their life.” – Rebecca Hamm, Producer, Los Angeles CA

“Thank you! I now truly understand the relationship I have with food. There is so much misinformation out there; it was refreshing to read something that tells the truth and really speaks to me. I now understand that I can be full eating nutrient dense foods instead of eating crap and then wondering why I was hungry again two hours later. This put it all into perspective. Thank you so much. You have truly changed my life.” – Carol Prawn, Homemaker, Little Falls, New York

As a bonus, you will also learn about exercise, cleansing, alternative medicine, natural beauty and more! In the personal stories section, you will meet individuals who have healed themselves and their families through nutrition as medicine, without resorting to mainstream drugs or surgeries (which often have devastating side effects). Overall, this diet ebook is the ideal companion for all those who are fed up with the lies and empty promises of traditional health care. More than ever, our food has become a battleground where corporate wars are waged and profits have been placed before our health. The author presents her case for healthy, natural, organic food with humor, simplicity and a deep commitment to helping those who are suffering from illness and obesity.

Download your ebook now!

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Juice Detox in Desert Hot Springs CA


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I got the opportunity to interview some rad folks for my documentary up in Desert Hot Springs so I took the whole week off and I’m here doing a detox/juice cleanse to rid my body of the toxins it has accumulated lately from stress, unhealthy food, wine, environmental toxins, etc.

This will be my third cleanse in Desert Hot Springs so for me it is not as hard as it is for others to give up solid food for a week. I find it an amazing way to rejuvenate myself and upkeep my health. Cleansing is important for the mind, body and soul. Not only am I cleaning my body out but I am also clearing my head and making sure I am in alignment with my purpose in life. Part of the detox is to let go of things in life that are no longer serving you such as anger, sadness, stress, and toxic emotions.

The truth is with the massive amount of toxins in our food supply as well as our toxic diets, air pollution and stressful lives our bodies are unable to properly detox us efficiently. This leads to all kinds of things such as weight gain, fatigue, skin problems, colds, the list goes on and on. (For more on why we all need to detox periodically check out our Detox page.) Eventually this can lead to more serious disease such as cancer and heart disease. Juice fasting is important in disease prevention, but in fact, detoxing can even reverse disease- I’m talking about chronic as well as so-called “terminal disease” such as cancer. (For more on that visit our Cancer Cures page)

So that’s why I am here. Because even me, the organic, mostly vegan yoga chick needs to detox periodically!

I’m here at We Care Spa in beautiful Desert Hot Springs. The temperature is about 78 degrees and I am laying in the sun by the pool as I type this (end of March 2012). Really can’t complain about that! I’m not staying at We Care because I brought my dog but I am doing the We Care Detox Program.

I found a hotel that allows your dogs to roam the hotel grounds freely during your stay. It’s called Dog Spa Resort and Wellness Center and it’s just three miles from We Care Spa. Pretty amazing for dog-owners! So I brought Charlotte along and she is quite enjoying herself meeting all the other dogs, and getting loads of attention from the dog-loving owners. The internet password here is DogsRule!

Anyway, the  cleanse consists of juicing- organic veggie juice, carrot juice, lots of detox teas and supergreen pills. You are constantly hydrating your body because one of the biggest problems in our culture today is actually poor digestion due to dehydration (as well as feeding your body crap!)

There are activities such as yoga and meditation and great nutrition classes, where you learn why it is so important to eat organic and local whenever possible and why you should severely limit your intake of meat and dairy products as they are very hard on our bodies and extremely acidic. Acidity matters because when our bodies are acidic, disease can survive and thrive, but when our bodies are alkaline disease is not able to survive- therefore we do not get sick!

For more on alkalinity check out Kerri Kasem’s video or read more on our Cancer Cures page.

During the cleanse we get access to some amazing nutrition and recipe classes.  Here are highlights from the classes:

-Eat 2 solid meals daily and one liquid meal. this can be a smoothie that you fill with protein, fiber, fruits and veggies. An example would be combining plant protein powder, with frozen strawberries, blueberries, and or blackberries. Berries are the best fruits to add because they are low in sugar and high in antioxidants.

- Eat as much raw food as you can and whenever you eat cooked food, you want to take digestive enzymes before you eat. This is because when food is cooked at high temperatures it loses the enzymes that aid us in digestion. When our food is not digested- no matter what it is- it becomes toxic in the body.

-Hydrate- Drink plenty of water- half your body weight in ounces each day. Drink two glasses of alkalized water as soon as you wake up. Drinking water an hour before eating aids in digestion. Stop drinking water 15 minutes before your meal and don’t drink liquids with meals.

- Eat 9 teaspoons of healthy oil a day. Must be cold-pressed. Best sources of oil include olive oil, coconut oil, flaxeed oil and hemp oil. “Oil will not make you fat.” This is a myth. Oil will help you lose weight by keeping everything moving. It is also an anti inflammatory. Stay away from hydrogenated oils and transfats.

-Eat Kefir. Kefir is inexpensive and easy to make. Make it with coconut milk or goat’s milk. No cow’s milk. You can use it as sour cream, in smoothies, or as a yogurt. Multiple uses. Full of probiotics.

After class, I went back to the Dog Spa where I chatted with Bob, Holistic Practitioner and Lifestyle Consultant, who gave me many pearls of wisdom also regarding alkaline water, the Lifeline Technique, NLP and more . Check out his awesome site at www.bobbeliveau.com!

The cleanse was a wonderful, rejuvenating experience and I highly recommend it to everyone!

 

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