Radiant Health

Imagine an Organic Garden at the White House!

By Amanda Moxley

I'm convinced that what we eat impacts how we think, feel and behave. When you eat poor quality chemicalized, artificial and/or processed foods, your thoughts tend to shift in that same direction. Like my beloved yoga teacher, Dharma Mittra, says "if you eat junk foods, you have a junk body."

See what happens when you improve the quality of your food for a day or two. You'll find that your mood and outlook improves too, and you'll likely feel more optimistic, energized, peaceful and happy as well.

Imagine how things might improve for our country and our future if the next U.S. president had a large organic garden on the White House lawn, and was able to eat fresh, local veggies free of petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Wouldn't it be amazing if the next president was nourished and nurtured by real, live whole foods from the earth? Imagine if the President felt a deep connection and sense of loving gratitude for the earth and the interconnectedness of all beings? I'll vote for that!

If our president was to eat and think about food in this way, I believe it would spark a new wave of both healthy eating and thinking in this country. The foundations of a healthy diet begin at a young age, and the president is one of our most influential leaders, particularly in the minds of young people. Therefore, a president who sets the example of both growing and eating healthy, homegrown food would inspire and empower many young people to do the same.

This healthy-eating-starts-at-the-top premise is the goal of the TheWhoFarm, an effort inviting public school students to garden at the White House.  I believe this idea could drastically change the "edible education" landscape in America.

Please visit and sign this nonpartisan petition to get the next president to put a garden in the White House lawn! And please tell your friends and relatives and anyone else you know who eats to sign it too! Can you imagine it?

What Our Candidates are Eating

Last year, the congressional cafeteria got an ovehaul, so our senators and congress people now have access to food that is much better than what our kids in school are eating. I hope now that they are eating better, they will start to think more clearly.

Here's what our two presidential candidates are eating on the campaign trail.

McCain: The New Yorker magazine describes John McCain's campaign bus as "stocked with Dunkin' Donuts and Coke, the staples of the McCain diet." He grabs a candy bar or a bag of potato chips while he engages reporters for interviews. The Senator has been said to have a weakness for Butterfinger candy bars, jellybeans, coffee, and doughnuts.

Obama: Most candidates gain weight on the campaign trail, however, Obama has lost about 5 pounds, following what he believes to be a healthy diet of salmon and broccoli.

Remember "you are what you eat!" We are walking, talking, living breathing food.

Ming Loves Coconut Butter!

Can you believe this belly? Ming our kitty loves coconut butter! He absolutely lives for coconut butter!

Fall Apples

I bought 18 pounds of organic local apples from the farmer's market last Saturday. Mother Nature is blessing us with her abundance of apples!

My neighborhood is an abundant fruit orchard. There are pear, apple, apricot, peach and cherry trees blooming all summer long. I find it very strange that the majority of these divine fruits are left rotting on manicured chemical laiden lawns and no one seems to care!

A few weekends ago, Johnn and I went for a walk and harvested an entire months worth of apples and peaches. We came home and I baked applesauce muffins, apple sauce and apple squash soup!

Here are some great benefits of eating apples: apples are very high in fiber and help cleanse the intestines of impurities. Apples and fresh live apple juice speed up the bowels and heal irritation while cleansing excessive mucus caused by eating a lot of bread, pasta and dairy. Mucus can stay in your body and can cause constipation, malabsorption, and irritation or bleeding to the intestinal wall. Apples are renowned for healing intestinal ailments such as diarrhea and intestinal bleeding

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Bon Appetit!

In Radiant Health and Happiness,
Amanda Moxley
Holistic Health Counselor
Holistic Nutrition and Life Balance Expert
www.RadiantHealthCoach.com

Farmer in Chief by Michael Pollan

The October 12th Sunday NY Times Magazine section is completely devoted to my favorite subject, FOOD!

Michael Pollan's memo to the next president is a must read. He points out how the health of a nation's food system is critical to national security. Reforming our food system will become a high priority for the next administration. I hope you will pass this insightful article on to everyone you know who eats.

As we approach election season, I'd like to encourage you to vote with your fork at every meal.

Love and Radiant Health,

Amanda Moxley

www.RadiantHealthCoach.com

Are You Living Your Life to the Fullest?

BY Amanda Moxley

The world as we know it seems to be in a crazy midst of chaos and change. Everywhere you turn someone's talking about the state of the economy, the environment, the Presidential campaign, the health care system etc.

If you allow yourself to get sucked into the drama and the fear you will get lost in anxiety and gripped in fear. Do you really want to live like that?

One of my mentor's once shared some sage advice with me that I'll never forget. She said "you have two choices in life. You can either choose love or you can choose fear." You can tell you are choosing love when you feel peaceful, content, in the moment, energized and confident. You know you are in fear whenever you feel scared, worried, depressed, anxious, nervous, tense or dreadful. When your heart stops and you're up in the night fretting, tossing and turning you're living in fear.

Love is the ONLY absolute!

Love disolves all fear, doubt, worry and stress.

I hope this helps you find the way of your heart and love in crazy times.

It seems many of my family members are very upset about the economy and their loss of money. I see this as a wakeup call! It's time to follow your heart and your bliss. Live for today in this beautiful present moment rather than living for your future retirement.

If you've visited any developing foreign country you'd have a greater appreciation for how good we have it here in the U.S. When folks talk about how much money they've lost or how we're in a recession, I reflect on the men, women and children I met and saw in my travels. These men and women were the richest people I've ever seen. They were rich in gratitude, simplicity and living in present moment awareness. I've yet to see the same sparkle, joy and contentment in my own eyes or the eyes of my countrymen and women. We seem to be so future focused and almost obsessed with consumerism so much that we neglect the most prescious gift of all, the very moment we've been given right now.

I wish to inspire you to reflect on your own life and to awaken your heart, soul and body to your life's purpose and passion.

What have you always yearned to do, see and be? Make a list and do it. Remember to always choose love. In doing so you will have infinite peace.

© 2008 Amanda Moxley

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Amanda Moxley, "The Radiant Health Coach™", publishes the energizing and inspiring "Radiant Health E-zine" - every other Thursday for healthy people everywhere. Learn how to lose weight naturally, amplify your energy and feel confident in your body. In only 3 steps you can create the body and life you desire without dieting or going to extremes. Go to www.RadiantHealthCoach.com

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Roasted Winter Squash and Apple Soup

Adapted from Dr. Weil's recipe book "The Healthy Kitchen"

Ingredients:
* 1 large winter squash, seeded, and cut into 2-inch pieces

* 2 medium onions, peeled and quartered

 *3 cloves garlic, peeled

 
* 2 tart, firm apples, peeled, cored and quartered

* 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

* salt and chili powder to taste

* 4-5 cups vegetable stock

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. In a large roasting pan, toss the squash, onions, garlic and apples with the oil to coat.
3. Season well with the salt and chili powder.
4. Roast, stirring every 10 minutes, until the vegetables are fork-tender and lightly browned, about 40 minutes.
5. Put half of the vegetables with 2 cups of the stock in a food processor (or Vitamix) and puree until smooth.
6. Repeat with the remaining vegetables and broth.
7. Return pureed mixture to the pot.
8. If the soup is too thick, add more broth.
9. Correct the seasoning and heat to a simmer.
10. Serve!

Enjoy!
Amanda Moxley
www.radianthealthcoach.com
Holistic Health Counselor

Three A.M. Confessions

Guilt, shame and blame was a constant state of being for me growing up a Catholic school girl.

I’d wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. As I’d sit on the toilet at three a.m., I’d ask myself “what did you eat yesterday?” My mind would review the chocolate, bread, cookies and or alcohol that I guiltily ate and then the punishment would begin.

I beat myself up black and blue with mean unloving thoughts of inadequacy, judgment and blame. I feared that I’d get beaten by the fat stick, my clothes would never fit and that I was always going to hate my body.

This middle of the night punishment went on for years! No wonder I continued to hold on to weight, food cravings, binges and obsessions.

Have you ever done this?

 

I have never shared this with anyone! Can you believe it?

 

This entire drama played out in my mind every single night! No one knew, I hardly new I was doing this to myself.

 

It wasn’t until I began practicing yoga and mediation that I was able to clearly distinguish the difference between the “monkey mind” and the “loving real Self” that dwells inside like a slow burning flame every day of our lives.

 

I have studied, lived and practiced the “law of attraction” since I was a teenager.

As the years have flown by my understanding of the magnificent power of the universe and the law of attraction has increased and NOW I finally get it!

 

Thoughts are powerful!

 

My three a.m. punishment time attracted more weight and poor self esteem than if I ate the unhealthiest food on the planet.

 

Now, I believe that eating healthy food is essential to a radiant life but the most important piece to being happy and healthy is being able to discern your thoughts.

 

How do you do this?

 

Begin to observe your thoughts just like you would watch a movie. Your mind is the projector, when you observe, your mind is “watching” the thoughts. When you watch a movie you are not attached to the movie, you are simply watching. This is exactly what you must do with your thoughts. All you have to do is watch your thoughts.

 

Begin to notice when your “monkey mind” is taking over.

 

What does the monkey mind look and act like? Thoughts of inadequacy, fear, doubt, worry, shame, blame, guilt, jealousy, hatred, comparison, judgment, lack etc. These are all ego based fears which are not real.

 

The only thing that is REAL and absolute is LOVE!

 

How do you know when love is speaking or acting? You have thoughts of kindness, compassion, generosity, abundance, hope, peace, happiness, excitement, acceptance and joy.

 

Your REAL SELF is sitting in the right side of your heart every day of your beautiful life. Your real SELF is unaffected by pain or pleasure, have or have not, loneliness or boredom, your real SELF is omnipresent, omnipotent, limitless and formless.

 

© 2008 Amanda Moxley

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How To Lose Weight on a Full Stomach

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Personal Note from Amanda

Personal Note from Amanda

My beloved Gramps' passed away peacefully in his sleep on the Autumn Equinox. Johnn and I flew to Philadelphia to celebrate his life and that is how this week's article came into fruition. I've been off my blog for awhile but am excited to be back! I miss my Gramps but am comforted in knowing that he lived 90 abundant exciting years. I'm overjoyed to be able to guide 26 fabulous women in the Fall 30 Day Whole Body and Mind Cleanse which begins tonight! Enjoy your week and remember to live each day to the fullest! Love and Radiant Health, Amanda

Is Your Food Genetically Modified?

Is Your Food Genetically Modified?

By Amanda Moxley After three long days at Grams' house in Philadelphia, I returned to Utah with a cold and feeling like I'd been hit by a bus. I was blown away by the lack of healthy food choices available to me and was once again placed in the shoes of a typical American. I struggled to find real, whole, live and organic foods. Instead, I surrendered to the Philly cheese steak, fries, and chain restaurant food like the rest of them. Breakfast wasn't any better. The bread for toast had Trans fat in it and the jam was loaded with high fructose corn syrup. As you can imagine, I was not happy, but by now I know how to be a flexatarian and roll with the punches. The effects I suffered after eating the Standard American Diet for three days were striking. I felt mentally clouded, irritable, exhausted, sad, angry, troubled, overweight, tense, anxious, stressed and insecure. To think most American's are eating the Standard American Diet daily is frightening! At the same time, I feel grateful for the experience because it helped me better relate to my clients and the world we live in. I feel inspired to keep on sharing my experience, knowledge and wisdom with you. Do you know what GM food is? Genetically modified (GM) foods are food items that have had their DNA altered through genetic engineering. Unlike conventional genetic modification that is carried out through time-tested conventional breeding and that have been consumed for thousands of years, GM foods were first put on the market in the early 1990s. For example, a typical GM Food could be a strawberry that has to survive in cold climates. Therefore, the farmer would get its DNA altered so it could survive in the frost. They would take DNA from a frost resistant cell, and transfer it into the strawberry cells genes. Therefore, the cells of the strawberry are now frost resistant and will survive the frost, so the farmer can produce strawberries all year long. GM foods are scary for several reasons. The long-term health effects of eating GM foods as well as their environmental safety is virtually unknown. Other potential negative effects of these kinds of foods include labeling and consumer choice issues, violation of intellectual property rights, unclear food security and potential disruption or even possible destruction of the food chain. The multi-national corporations and governments engaged in the genetic engineering of food claim the technology to be a boon for the human race, while many health-conscious people believe it to be a potential and/or actual disaster. I urge and encourage you to be a conscious consumer! Know what you are eating. What are you feeding your beautiful body and spirit? Read every label of every food you put in your mouth. Empower yourself! When you eat well, you will feel boundless energy, strength, mental focus, self love, self acceptance and a deeper connection to the earth and all beings. Before your next trip to the grocery store familiarize yourself with this list compiled by The True Food Shopping Guide to decipher which foods contain genetically engineered ingredients and which do not. Share it with your friends too!