Radiant Health

Sweet Potatoes with Lime and Cilantro

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30-40 minutes
 
Ingredients:
4 sweet potatoes
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro
2-3 limes
butter or olive oil or coconut oil
seasalt (optional)
 
Directions:
1.   Wash the sweet potatoes and bake them whole, in their skins, at 375 degrees until tender, about 40 minutes.

2.   Wash and chop cilantro leaves.

3. When sweet potatoes are done, slit open the skin and place on serving plate. Season with salt and dots of butter or a sprinkle of oil, if you like, then squeeze fresh lime juice all over, and shower with cilantro leaves

Yum!

The Yum Diet

This year, one of my goals is to follow the "yum diet." The yum diet is eating and enjoying any and all foods that solicit the yummy feelings and sensations and delights of delicious food. It's as simple as that. If your not oooing and ahhing and completely delighted when you're eating then don't waste your time! Eat the foods and drinks that really bring you joy and satisfaction.

In times past, I'd resign not to eat sugar, or bread or cookies. If you've ever done this, you know that when you try to give something up, you tend to give it power. Then your craving for that food intensifies so much that's all that you can think about. Then you find yourself over indulging in the forbidden food. After years of trying to give up "bad" foods, I've resigned to eat what feels good and brings me pleasure.

The beauty of the yum diet is that some day's you want to eat brown rice and kale and other days you want to eat fish taco's and chips or you may want to snack on chocolate. On the yum diet, as long as your happy and feel good about what you're eating, your body and mind will feel good too.

The yum diet is the best diet because you get to simply enjoy your food without guilt, fear or anxiety that you'll gain weight or get sick. This is the year to get in touch with your body. On the yum diet, you learn to listen to, trust and respect your body thus empowering you in ways you never dreamed were possible. For example, you won't need to try any more fad diets, or compare your way of eating to your friends.

Sometimes I get in the habit of eating chocolate or a cookie every day. I realized that I was eating them out of habit not because I really loved them. The chocolate didn't bring me joy or make me go yum instead it made me anxious that I was going to gain weight. Maybe you can relate? Do you habitually eat a food or drink wine or coffee because you think you like it? Ask yourself next time you're eating a habitual food, "does this really bring me pleasure?" If the answer is no, don't eat it! If you answered yes, then enjoy it to the fullest!

The yum diet gives you the freedom to get rid of the foods that don't make you go "yum" and replace them with foods that make you jump for joy!

This week focus on adding in more foods that bring you joy and make you squeal with glee! At least one meal a day get vocal about the yumminess of your food. It's really fun to yum your way through a meal. It's contagious too or you could really annoy someone :) but at least you're enjoying your food and feeling free!

Love and Radiant Health,
Amanda

© 2008 Amanda Moxley

You may reproduce this article as long as you include the following information in its entirety:

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

Click here => www.RadiantHealthCoach.com

Personal Note from Amanda

Greetings, What an exciting time to be alive in history with the inauguration of Barack Obama this week. Can you feel the energy in the air? It feels like the world has shifted as we move into unity consciousness! We are all one and together we can transform the world into a beautiful, loving place. I am so inspired and excited to make a difference in the world. My big dream is to connect children to the earth through organic gardening and yoga in schools. Can you imagine if you had the tools to grow your own food and practice yoga as a kid? Can you imagine how peaceful and beautiful our future will be if the children of the world were all fed amazing, whole, real organic food that they grew with their own hands? Imagine how conscious, loving, confident, happy and peaceful our future would be if our kids learned the ancient science of Yoga, mediation and breathing as part of their regular education. They would love, honor and respect their bodies and feel good in their skin. I am so hopeful and feel that all this and more is possible. The world is waking up. I'm so excited. What's your big dream? Share your ideas with me, your friends and family and get into action. You can do it. Love and Radiant Health, Amanda P.S. On a personal note, I posted Sawyer's (my newborn son) birth story on my blog. Check it out here. P.P.S. Download America's Song and watch the video on Oprah.com. You'll love it!

Sawyer Fir Williams Birth Story

By Amanda Moxley-Williams

 

Sawyer was due to arrive on December 20^th 2008. I mistakenly hoped and assumed he would come early since most births in my family had come early. Every day the week before the 20^th, I’d wake up excited in anticipation that today could be the day. This was not a good idea. I felt like a kid waiting for Santa Claus to come and he never showed up or like an adult trapped in a foreign airport waiting for my plane but there was no telling when that would be!

 

Saturday the 20^th came and went. Sunday I woke up needing some major mental clarity and went to Birkam yoga which I practiced all of my pregnancy. (A note on Bikram yoga prenatal series: I attribute my easy pregnancy and delivery to the meditative practice of yoga.) At yoga, a student gave me a number of a prenatal massage practioner who could assist in spurring on  labor. Later on Sunday, Johnn and I ate Indian food, shopped at Baby’s-R-Us and went to a James Bond movie. Later, Julie came over and ran my “bars.” An energy healing meditative session.

 

Monday morning I woke up ready and refreshed for a great day of positivity. I had chosen to give up my attachment to when my baby would arrive and I was living in the present. I went to Karen for an awesome prenatal massage where she worked all of the acupressure massage points to stimulate labor. She recommended that I use Clary Sage essential oil as well. I drove home, made dinner and Johnn and I enjoyed a night together watching a movie.

 

Tuesday morning, December 23^rd 2008 I woke up (still pregnant) used the restroom and saw the “bloody show.” Melissa (our midwife) phoned to schedule a prenatal for the week. I told her about the bloody show and the mucus plug being released the Friday before and that I was feeling menstrual period like cramps. I was excited thinking that today could be the day. Melissa said she’d come over around 11:30. In the meantime, I phoned my mom, who advised me to take my mind off of the cramps. I went downstairs to my office to check my email and play on the computer.

 

I was shoveling the walks when Melissa arrived. The menstrual like cramps were increasing. I started timing them. She checked me and I was dilated to a one and half. She said we may have a baby tonight or we may not. She coached me on how to breathe through the contractions, how to relax my body, and face when they hit. Melissa asked if she should stay. I said, “I’m ok for now, I’ll call you when the time is right.”

 

I called Johnn to come home and he didn’t answer his cell! I called Snowbird Ski Patrol dispatch and they radioed him to call his wife. Johnn called home and was on his way. He said he skied an epic powder run in the Cirque, got in the car and drove down the canyon  home.

 

Johnn arrived home around 1pm. My contractions (or I’d rather call them expansions because my body (cervix) was working hard to expand) were increasing in intensity. I felt like I had tunnel vision. I couldn’t hear and I couldn’t see. My body would go from really hot and sweaty to chilly and freezing. Johnn put a fire on for me and got into action setting up the inflatable tub in our bedroom and filling it with warm water. I sat on the yoga ball which gave me tremendous relief, swaying my hips, relaxing my jaw and visualizing a ripple of water expanding like when you throw a pebble in a still lake and it creates round ripples. This is what I envisioned my cervix doing. My mantra was, “I relax, open and receive.” I’d been practicing this mantra for weeks in my yoga practice so it was already engrained in my subconscious.

 

The hours flew by, the expansions intensified. I got on my knees with my arms and upper body being supported on the ottoman next to the fire. Johnn pressed on my hips and sacrum, I breathed deeply. Johnn called the Midwives around 3:30. They arrived around 4:00. Melissa pressed her delicate hands on my hips and soothed me. I got in the tub which instantly relieved my body and mind. Melissa checked me and I was dilated to a nine and half! Wow! I had done all of the opening on my own and now it was time to push!

 

Melissa and Jess coached me on how to breathe and bear down and use the expansions to bring my baby down and out. Johnn called my mom and sister Sam. They arrived around 5ish to assist in the birth. Mom and Sam held my hands, rubbed my head and soothed me. Johnn was hanging over the bottom of the tub ready to catch our baby. Jess was on my right and Melissa was at the bottom of the tub. The sun was setting. The room was cozy and the lighting soft and gentle. I remember looking at the clock at 4:44 and knowing that my angels and baby’s angels were there.

 

Mother Nature is kind. The expansions were intense when they came but then when they subsided I was able to rest, recover, breathe and feel happy. The expansions and rests were similar to waves crashing on the beach and then slowly running back out to sea. Most of the pushing time, I laid on my right or left side and when it was time to push I’d roll onto my back and bring my legs up to my chest and bear down. Sometimes I was on my knees and would go on all fours and push really hard. My favorite position for pushing was when I held onto Johnn’s forearms while sitting on my knees. In between expansions, I remember kissing him. I wanted to kiss my hubby during labor like I’d read in Ina May’s books of birth’s on the farm. At one point during a push I remember thinking that I wasn’t giving it my best. I felt like I was holding back and I realized that I was scared because if I kept it up I’d birth my baby and my life would forever change. I realized this fear and was kind of amazed that this deep into it I was still afraid of how my life would transform and there was no turning back. So I sucked it up, faced my fear, and pushed even harder than ever in order to get my baby down and out.

 

Sawyer’s head was out of my body for some time and I felt it with my hand. It was so weird! I pushed and then his whole body came out. Johnn caught him and immediately handed him to me. I held him, he wailed, our eyes locked in what seems like a long lost soul reunion. Johnn was crying deep tears of joy! After what felt like 20 minutes, we looked to see if our baby was a boy or a girl. It’s a boy!

 

In time, Sawyer and I got out of the tub with the help of Jess and Sam. My legs have never been so shaky. I lay on the bed with my legs shaking like Elvis and began to nurse Sawyer. I delivered the placenta and held my baby in sweet bliss!