Patti Bartsch, Ph.D.'s Posts - Barnmice Equestrian Social Community2024-03-19T01:58:42ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhDhttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2187981216?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://www.barnmice.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=2d0hvl50m77yt&xn_auth=noTurbo Herbal Medicinetag:www.barnmice.com,2012-08-15:1773158:BlogPost:6148012012-08-15T17:58:31.000ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD
<p><br></br> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203038439?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203038439?profile=RESIZE_320x320" style="padding: 4px;" width="242"></img></a> As a natural health practitioner, I have a wide variety of modalities to choose from when making recommendations for my clients, my family, and my animals. Sometimes I select an herb or two. Other times I may use a homeopathic remedy. But what I turn to more than anything are therapeutic-grade essential oils. I call them “Turbo Herbal Medicine”.…</p>
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<p><br/> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203038439?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="242" style="padding: 4px;" class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203038439?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="242"/></a>As a natural health practitioner, I have a wide variety of modalities to choose from when making recommendations for my clients, my family, and my animals. Sometimes I select an herb or two. Other times I may use a homeopathic remedy. But what I turn to more than anything are therapeutic-grade essential oils. I call them “Turbo Herbal Medicine”.</p>
<p><br/> <strong>Essential Oils</strong> are the “life blood” of the plant; the plant’s immune system per se. Just like different herbs have different medicinal properties, so do essential oils – but they are much more powerful! It has been said that a single drop of peppermint oil has the therapeutic benefits of 26 cups of peppermint tea! Let me stress at this point that I only use and recommend therapeutic-grade essential oils because of their level of purity, safety, and effectiveness.</p>
<p><br/> There are <strong>three common methods</strong> of using essential oils (also called aromatherapy): inhalation, topical application, or ingestion. Inhalation is tremendously beneficial for emotional issues because the sense of smell by-passes the blood-brain barrier and the oil makes a direct connection with the limbic (emotional) center of the brain. This technique is great for preventing or reducing stress, anxiety, resentment, or other low-frequency emotions in both humans and animals. I know vets who diffuse “Peace & Calming” essential oil blend in their offices and kennels, and equestrians who sprinkle a few drops in their horse trailer before they load the horses. The effects are seen in just a few minutes.</p>
<p><br/> Topically, essential oils have been used for centuries for everything from burns [Lavender is awesome], to arthritis [Wintergreen and Copaiba], to indigestion (including colic) [Di-Gize and Peppermint]. Pure essential oils are absorbed through the skin within about 2-20 minutes. Many have powerful antioxidant properties that combat inflammation and other health challenges while they do their work. I always tell people that if they don’t know where to put an essential oil, put it on the bottoms of your feet. The oils are not only well-absorbed there, they will hit the Reflexology (like acupressure) points for the entire body.</p>
<p><br/> Only pure, therapeutic-grade essential oils should be ingested. Even oils marked “organic” could have impurities or worse – toxic properties. I have two favorite oils for ingestion; peppermint and grapefruit. Peppermint essential oil puts antacids to shame! Within a few minutes of drinking a glass of water with one or two drops of peppermint oil, stomachaches, gas, and heartburn can be stopped in their tracks. If I have a horse with gas colic, you know that I am putting about 20 drops of peppermint oil in their mouth and rubbing some more on their belly! Grapefruit essential oil not only tastes great in a glass of water, it also has ant-cancer properties and helps your cells to burn fat! No wonder it is so popular!</p>
<p><br/> From bee stings to colitis, when choosing my remedy, my first choice is almost always an essential oil. When a typical dose is 1-3 drops, a “treatment” often costs just a few pennies for this turbo-herbal medicine!<br/> If you would like to learn more about Essential Oils for You and Your Horse, please join us for a free webinar! Details can be found at: <a href="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/2012/08/webinar-oils/">http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/2012/08/webinar-oils/</a></p>5 Natural Ways to Fight a Cold or Flutag:www.barnmice.com,2012-01-26:1773158:BlogPost:5730262012-01-26T03:36:51.000ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043601?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-right" height="264" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043601?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" style="padding: 5px;" width="217"></img></a> As people continue to live unhealthy lifestyles; eating processed foods, drinking lots of soda and coffee, and not getting enough rest, the more people are experiencing bouts with a cold or flu. Here are some simple, natural ways to fight these pesky bugs!</p>
<p>1) <b>Alkalize!</b> Pathogens (germs) thrive in an acidic environment. Your body becomes acidic when you eat a…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043601?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" style="padding: 5px;" class="align-right" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043601?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="217" height="264"/></a>As people continue to live unhealthy lifestyles; eating processed foods, drinking lots of soda and coffee, and not getting enough rest, the more people are experiencing bouts with a cold or flu. Here are some simple, natural ways to fight these pesky bugs!</p>
<p>1) <b>Alkalize!</b> Pathogens (germs) thrive in an acidic environment. Your body becomes acidic when you eat a lot of processed foods and simple sugars. Start by avoiding white sugar, white flour, high fructose corn syrup, white pasta, candy, and highly processed foods. Then, work on creating an alkaline environment in your body. A simple way to do this is to start your day with a mug of hot water with a tablespoon or two of raw apple cider vinegar (must be raw – look for “Bragg’s” brand or similar) or fresh lemon juice (not “Real Lemon” which has chemical preservatives). You can add a dollop of raw honey if you need it to be a little sweeter but try it first. Choose other alkalizing foods like avocados, watermelon, lima beans, almonds or raw almond butter, fresh beets, radishes, celery, cabbage, cilantro, kale, garlic, broccoli and green beans. Here’s a chart on acidifying and alkalizing foods: <a href="http://www.acidalkalinediet.com/Alkaline-Foods-Chart.htm">http://www.acidalkalinediet.com/Alkaline-Foods-Chart.htm</a></p>
<p>2) <b>Garlic!</b> Garlic is one of nature’s best antibiotics. Eat as much fresh garlic as you can when you are fighting a bug! Garlic pills will help too but fresh, raw garlic is the most powerful. You can put it over any of the veggies listed in #1, mince some and add it to a salad, or do as one of my friends does and suck on a clove of garlic when you feel a bug coming on. He’s a teacher and he almost never gets sick even with all those kid-germs floating around.</p>
<p>3) <b>Neti Pot!</b> A neti pot is used to rinse the sinuses with warm, salt water. When you wash out the nasal cavity, you are washing out germs and debris that gets caught in your nostrils so that they can continue to filter out bad stuff. If you aren’t using a neti pot, it’s sort of like vacuuming without emptying the vacuum cleaner bag – you might catch a few things but you won’t really be cleaning very well. Here’s a good video on how to use a neti pot. <a href="http://youtu.be/H9i6x6uGm2k">http://youtu.be/H9i6x6uGm2k</a> I’ll be honest, it’s not glamorous but it’s highly effective. Pediatricians who have started recommending the use of a neti pot have notices that they are doing far fewer tonsillectomies. It does take a little practice. Try not to watch in the mirror – keeping your head at that angle will make the salty water run down your throat. It’s kind of gross (speaking from experience!). Also, use the special neti salt.</p>
<p>4) <b>Wet Socks!</b> I know what you’re thinking… wet socks will make you sick, not make you better. Here’s the deal… There’s an old natural health remedy that works incredibly at rousing your immune system to fight off infections of all sorts. You would start by getting your feet nice and warm by either taking a hot shower or bath or soaking them in a hot basin. While your feet are heating up, have a pair of cotton socks soaking in some ice water. When you get out of the shower (or however you warmed up your tootsies), dry off and get your jammies on quickly. Wring out the ice-cold cotton socks and put them on, then cover them with a pair of wool socks. Get into bed and stay there. Be prepared to get pretty hot – your body reacts to the suddenly cold feet by raising your body temperature (a simulated fever) to fry any germs. Of course you should monitor your body temp so you don’t get too hot but that is unlikely. For an added kicker, before you put the cold cotton socks on, put 2-3 drops of Thieves Essential Oil Blend on the bottoms of your feet (it’s a natural germ killer!) <a href="http://store.naturallyunbridled.com/heal-naturally/thieves-essential-oil-blend---free-shipping">http://store.naturallyunbridled.com/heal-naturally/thieves-essential-oil-blend---free-shipping</a></p>
<p>5) <b>Sleep!</b> There’s a reason the words “sick” and “tired” go hand in hand! Your body goes into restoration mode during deep sleep. If you are running yourself ragged and shortchanging your Zzz’s, you are setting yourself up for some unscheduled downtime! If there’s a bug going around you home, school, or work be sure that you are getting to bed early and not burning the candle at both ends. A rested immune system is a strong immune system!</p>
<p>As always, the information in these articles are for educational purposes only and are not intended to diagnose, treat, prescribe for, or cure any condition. Please consult your preferred health provider when choosing a wellness program.</p>
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<p> </p>Time to Poison the Neighbor Children!tag:www.barnmice.com,2011-10-16:1773158:BlogPost:5404202011-10-16T21:30:00.000ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD
<p align="left"><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203039010?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203039010?profile=RESIZE_320x320" style="padding: 10px;" width="250"></img></a> Every year, I go through</span> <span class="font-size-3">the same turmoil when it comes to Halloween. </span> <span class="font-size-3">I hate to be <i>that</i> person, the</span> <span class="font-size-3">one who puts a damper on a pretty fun holiday. </span><span class="font-size-3">But when it comes to trick-or-treating, it pains…</span></p>
<p align="left"><span class="font-size-3"><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203039010?profile=original"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203039010?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-left" style="padding: 10px;"/></a>Every year, I go through</span> <span class="font-size-3">the same turmoil when it comes to Halloween. </span> <span class="font-size-3">I hate to be <i>that</i> person, the</span> <span class="font-size-3">one who puts a damper on a pretty fun holiday. </span><span class="font-size-3">But when it comes to trick-or-treating, it pains me. I know how unhealthy Halloween candy is. I use the word “unhealthy” here but I’m</span> <span class="font-size-3">wanting to go with “toxic”. It’s loaded</span> <span class="font-size-3">with high-fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives –</span> <span class="font-size-3">and I mean LOADED! Some of that really</span> <span class="font-size-3">cheap candy is basically artificially colored and flavored high-fructose corn</span> <span class="font-size-3">syrup and that’s it. I’ve read the research</span> <span class="font-size-3">linking artificial colors with behavioral issues in children. I feel like if I give out Halloween candy I’m</span> <span class="font-size-3">not only supporting an industry that is counter to my mission in life but I’m contributing</span> <span class="font-size-3">to the obesity epidemic and kicking these kids down the path to a life of</span> <span class="font-size-3">insulin shots, Lipitor, and beta blockers. </span><span class="font-size-3">Poison them now with artificial everything and poison them later with</span> <span class="font-size-3">pharmaceuticals. Good grief!</span></p>
<p align="left"><span class="font-size-3">Even when I was a kid teachers,</span> <span class="font-size-3">parents, and even the news broadcasters warned you never to eat anything</span> <span class="font-size-3">homemade because some crazy person might have poisoned it. Don’t eat any fruit because some crazy person</span> <span class="font-size-3">might have put a razor blade inside. The</span> <span class="font-size-3">message: “Junk food is safe as long as it comes in a wrapper. Fruit could kill you. And the neighbor who spent all day baking you</span> <span class="font-size-3">homemade cookies might be trying to feed you shards of metal or poison.” What about the crazy person who works in the</span> <span class="font-size-3">candy lab figuring out just how to get your kids eyes, teeth, and tongue to</span> <span class="font-size-3">turn blue with FD&C Blue Number 1 for a billion dollar profit? You trust that person but not your neighbors? You know those dyes are considered “safe”</span> <span class="font-size-3">when they are consumed in small amounts – I don’t think they’re safe at all but</span> <span class="font-size-3">we’ll go with the government wisdom for the moment – but when, in a week’s</span> <span class="font-size-3">time, a 40-pound child consumes 2-3 pounds of the stuff between school parties,</span> <span class="font-size-3">trick-or-treating, and the rest of the Halloween festivities, they must be</span> <span class="font-size-3">getting close to the LD-50! (That’s the dose required to kill 50% of the</span> <span class="font-size-3">animals it’s tested on; Lethal Dose 50% - all your food additives have one.) Do you remember when there weren’t any red</span> <span class="font-size-3">M&M’s because lo and behold, they figured out that particular food dye</span><br/> <span class="font-size-3">caused cancer? Just because they</span> <span class="font-size-3">consider it “safe” today doesn’t mean they won’t be recalling it tomorrow.</span></p>
<p align="left"><span class="font-size-3"><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043020?profile=original"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043020?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-right" style="padding: 10px;"/></a>What are my options? First of all, nothing with nuts because of</span> <span class="font-size-3">all the peanut and tree nut allergies kids have these days. What about something the kid can use instead</span> <span class="font-size-3">of eat? Remember how kids talked about</span> <span class="font-size-3">the dentist who gave out toothbrushes instead of candy? I think a lot of dentists spent November 1st</span> <span class="font-size-3">cleaning egg off their house. I</span> <span class="font-size-3">don’t want to give out a little plastic trinket that won’t ever be</span> <span class="font-size-3">recycled. Maybe I’ll give out pencils or</span> <span class="font-size-3">something. Maybe little notebooks or</span> <span class="font-size-3">bubble stuff. Maybe stickers. Maybe coupons for vitamins from the health</span><br/> <span class="font-size-3">food store. I’m kidding. </span></p>
<p align="left"><span class="font-size-3">I know some parents are</span> <span class="font-size-3">getting proactive about getting around the Halloween candy issues. Some parents buy the candy from their kids</span> <span class="font-size-3">and then bring it to work to poison their coworkers. Some parents throw away a bunch of their kids’</span> <span class="font-size-3">candy when the kids are sleeping (bad for the environment but I get it). Some parents just eat their kids’ candy and</span> <span class="font-size-3">start the holiday weight gain season early. If it takes a village to raise a child, then</span> <span class="font-size-3">maybe the village should do something besides contribute to the obesity</span> <span class="font-size-3">epidemic by giving out something that is kid-friendly rather than little berry flavored blue and purple calories. Maybe I’ll just give out insulin. (Kidding, but you get my point).<a target="_blank" href="http://eatlikeahorse.net"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043579?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-center"/></a>Want to learn more about Nutrition? Go to <a href="http://EatLikeaHorse.net">http://EatLikeaHorse.net</a></span></p>Cancer, Heart Disease, Diabetes, and THESE Run in Families...tag:www.barnmice.com,2011-10-03:1773158:BlogPost:5291242011-10-03T23:22:12.000ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203044116?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203044116?profile=RESIZE_320x320" style="padding: 5px;" width="250"></img></a> <span class="font-size-4"><strong>We all know that cancer, heart disease, and diabetes run in families. Do you know what else runs in families?... Recipes!</strong></span></p>
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<p><strong>I firmly believe that nutrition is the foundation to good health AND that education is the foundation to good nutrition. </strong> After thinking about how so many people are…</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203044116?profile=original"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203044116?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-left" style="padding: 5px;"/></a><span class="font-size-4"><strong>We all know that cancer, heart disease, and diabetes run in families. Do you know what else runs in families?... Recipes!</strong></span></p>
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<p><strong>I firmly believe that nutrition is the foundation to good health AND that education is the foundation to good nutrition. </strong> After thinking about how so many people are digging their graves with their fork, I decided to do something about it. Beyond my career as a Holistic Life & Wellness Coach for Equestrians, I spent seven years teaching a variety of health and nutrition classes to high school students. The kids were starved for this information (no pun intended). They learn a little about nutrition in their health classes but that was mostly based on the U.S. government's food pyramid which, conveniently enough, is heavily weighted (again, no pun intended) toward meat, dairy, and simple carbohydrates.</p>
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<p><strong>Real nutrition is holistic nutrition.</strong> It takes into account the whole person - not just the sum of their fortified cereal and synthetic vitamins. Real nutrition considers all of the nutrients - what they are, what they do, why they do it, and where to find them. Real nutrition also considers digestion. It doesn't matter if you are meeting your intake requirement of a certain nutrient if your digestive system is so messed up that the nutrient is not available to you.</p>
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<p>Since I put such a high priority on nutrition, many of my coaching clients make some significant improvements to their health by making some nutritional changes. They often lose weight, have more energy, less pain, and generally feel much better. However, some of them struggle to continue to have success. This is sometimes because they view these changes as a diet. <strong>Newsflash - diets don't work. </strong> The mindset behind a diet is that it is a temporary thing that is done until a goal is reached. Once the goal is accomplished, the diet basically goes away. I decided that people need more than a diet. I keep going back to the old proverb "If you give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day but if you teach a man to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime." So rather than teaching a man to fish, <strong>I'm teaching equestrians to eat.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Knowledge is power. </strong> Most people want to eat healthy but they have been mis-educated by the popular media to think that things like "Smart Balance" and "Healthy Choice" are actually good for you. Not in my opinion. Real nutrition focuses on food - real food - nutrients, hydration, detoxification and digestion. A colleague of mine always says "nature hates a void". This is the problem with diets. People tend to leave out things which leaves a hole in their world. When you learn what foods you shouldn't eat, you need to learn what foods to replace them with. </p>
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<p>If people know what to eat, where to find it, when to eat it, why to eat it, and how to eat it - <strong>good nutrition is so easy</strong>. People just need the information.</p>
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<p>To help as many people as possible to become healthy through holistic nutrition, I designed a convenient and affordable program called "Eat Like a Horse." This 26-week program will walk you through a holistic nutrition course (so to speak) to educate and empower you to take control over the most important thing you do for your health - what you put into your mouth. For more details on this program go to <strong><a href="http://EatLikeaHorse.net">http://EatLikeaHorse.net</a></strong>. </p>
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<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043579?profile=original"><img width="375" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043579?profile=RESIZE_480x480" class="align-center" style="padding: 5px;"/></a></p>
<p> </p>Step Outside Your DIScomfort Zone!tag:www.barnmice.com,2011-08-26:1773158:BlogPost:4912102011-08-26T20:30:00.000ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD
<p><a href="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Discomfort-Butt-200x300.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" src="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Discomfort-Butt-200x300.jpg?width=200" width="200"></img></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #008000;">By Patti Bartsch, M.A., Ph.D. ~ <a href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com">www.NaturallyUnbridled.com</a></span></p>
<p align="left">Have you ever had one of those days when you’re completely conscious of your underwear? You know, the elastic might be on its way out or the cut is just wrong and…</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Discomfort-Butt-200x300.jpg"><img src="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Discomfort-Butt-200x300.jpg?width=200" class="align-left" width="200"/></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #008000;">By Patti Bartsch, M.A., Ph.D. ~ <a href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com">www.NaturallyUnbridled.com</a></span></p>
<p align="left">Have you ever had one of those days when you’re completely conscious of your underwear? You know, the elastic might be on its way out or the cut is just wrong and they’re ending up where they simply don’t belong. You invent some kind of awkward gait to try to reposition them on the way to the car. You adjust them every chance you get (after making sure no one is in eye-shot). Try as you may, you cannot stop your attention from being redirected to your butt. Constantly, throughout the day, you’re reminded about this cursed pair of underwear which are determined to remain your center of attention until that luxurious moment when you get home, promptly remove them and ceremoniously slam-dunk them into the trash!</p>
<p align="left">Millions of people are walking around with proverbial wedgie ALL of the time. Granted, their actual undergarments may not be the cause of their irritation but they are in a constant state of discomfort. Discomfort with their job, discomfort with their mate, discomfort with their health, finances, car, relationships, weight, skin – whatever – they are simply living in the <i>DIS</i>comfort Zone!</p>
<p align="left">Now perhaps you are unfamiliar with the <i>Dis</i>comfort Zone. Undoubtedly you’ve heard of your comfort zone; that’s the area of familiarity that people tend to stay in due to fear of change. That philosophy operates under the assumption that everyone is perfectly happy and content with how everything is in their life and afraid to try anything new. My question on that is, “Do you know these people?” Because I know a lot of people and I can tell you that the part about fearing change is true but the part about them being happy and content in their little circle of familiarity is way off base. I know a lot of people who are quite uncomfortable with the space they’re in. They may not have gotten to the point where they are forced to do anything about it but they are certainly living in their <i>Dis</i>comfort Zone.</p>
<p align="left">Tons of people would do just about anything to find their comfort zone. One of the first things I work on with coaching clients is finding the cause of the discomfort and creating and action plan to correct it. Sometimes it’s a nutrition program, other times it’s some stress management strategies, or it might be something like time management or improved sleep. Everyone has their own level of discomfort and some people are ready to take steps to get outside their <i>Dis</i>comfort Zone. The first step to comfort is to recognize which areas of your life are causing you stress.</p>
<p align="left"><b><i>•</i></b> <b><i>Do you have enough energy to accomplish everything you want to?</i></b></p>
<p align="left"><b><i>• Do you live with chronic pain or discomfort?</i></b></p>
<p align="left"><b><i>• Is your digestion regular?</i></b></p>
<p align="left"><b><i>• Do you fall asleep easily and awake feeling rested and refreshed?</i></b></p>
<p align="left"><b><i>• Are your hormones in balance?</i></b></p>
<p align="left"><b><i>• Are your relationships healthy?</i></b></p>
<p align="left"><b><i>• Do you feel organized and focused?</i></b></p>
<p align="left"><b><i>• Do you rely on prescriptions or alcohol to get through your day?</i></b></p>
<p align="left"><b><i>• On a scale of 1-10, what is your average level of stress?</i></b></p>
<p align="left"><b><i>• On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your health?</i></b></p>
<p align="left"><b><i>• On a scale, an actual scale, is your weight where you want it to be?</i></b></p>
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<p align="left"><b>You can’t have progress without change.</b> If you’re living in your <i>Dis</i>comfort Zone, you are not living a Naturally Unbridled life. Enter your name and email address at the top of the page to take a quick, 7-question quiz to see where in your life you’re <a target="_blank" href="http://www.naturallyunbridled.com/" title="Click to Enter">Naturally Unbridled</a> and where you’re being held back. Once you get your instant results, you will be brought to my NU Client Intake form. Complete the form to <b>see if you qualify for a FREE, no obligation, holistic life & wellness consultation and say “Hello Comfort Zone!”</b></p>
<p align="left"><b>Comments, subscriptions, and sharing are all highly encouraged. Please feel free to post this article to your Facebook page and to</b> <b>share</b> <b>it with others.</b></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Be Well… Ride Well!</p>
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<p align="left">More at <a href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com">www.NaturallyUnbridled.com</a></p>"Healthy" is a Big Fat Lie!tag:www.barnmice.com,2011-08-23:1773158:BlogPost:4912082011-08-23T20:30:12.000ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD
<p><a href="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/analyze-apple-300x199.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" src="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/analyze-apple-300x199.jpg?width=225" width="225"></img></a></p>
<p align="left" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #008000;">By Patti Bartsch, M.A., Ph.D. ~ <a href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com">www.NaturallyUnbridled.com</a></span></p>
<p>Ok, well maybe "lie" is a little on the strong side but intentional misconception hits it right on the head! Most of my coaching clients tell me that they eat "pretty…</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/analyze-apple-300x199.jpg"><img width="225" src="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/analyze-apple-300x199.jpg?width=225" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p align="left" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #008000;">By Patti Bartsch, M.A., Ph.D. ~ <a href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com">www.NaturallyUnbridled.com</a></span></p>
<p>Ok, well maybe "lie" is a little on the strong side but intentional misconception hits it right on the head! Most of my coaching clients tell me that they eat "pretty healthy." And, from what they know, they are. The reality of it is that most people have a seriously warped perception of what is healthy - thanks to the successful marketing of the processed food industry. Here's a little story to illustrate my point.</p>
<p>This afternoon, I stopped by an "Art in the Park" fundraiser that was being held in my town. I strolled around looking at the various artists' wares and realized it was almost 1:00 and I was a little hungry. There was a catering truck (I know, I know) there and, since I like to support the vendors at events like this, I went over to see what they had. Last weekend I went to a farm auction and I was able to get a delicious veggie wrap, so I was optimistic. Anyway, I went over to the truck and didn't see anything that I would consider nourishing so I asked the gentleman "Do you have anything bordering on healthy?” He couldn’t think of anything so he asked his co-worker. Her reply was, “Well, the quiches are healthy. They’re made with Egg Beaters!” (Oh dear.) She continued, “They’re in a pie crust (probably made with Crisco) and they’re really good! They have bacon in them!” Trying to use bacon as my polite out of this insanity, I replied “Oh, I don’t eat meat.” Not to be dismayed, the caterer replied “In the past we’ve made them with that artificial bacon. They still tasted good!”</p>
<p>I’m going to assume that the woman wouldn’t flat out consider quiche to be a health-food but compared to the rest of their deep-fried fare, this was the best she could do. The part that inspired me to blog is that this woman, like many of my clients, thinks Egg Beaters are healthy! I’ve never purchased Egg Beaters but experience has told me that when you take a food from nature, take out a bunch of stuff that is natural, and add a bunch of chemicals to it, that does not make it a health food. I left the art fair to go food shopping and, out of curiosity, found a box of Egg Beaters to read the label. Yup, bastardized food product. (sigh.)</p>
<p>I frequently quote Michael Pollan, author of <i>Food Matters</i> and <i>The Omnivore’s Dilemma</i>, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.” That’s really all the nutrition advice anyone ever needs. The problem is that they are confused about the definition of Food! That, and they’ve been brainwashed by advertising and packaging. So let me give you a few tips.</p>
<p>Food comes from the earth, not from a factory. It has <i>ingredients</i> that come from the earth, not from a factory. Simple example: sweet potato. Ingredients: sweet potato. Complicated example: guacamole. Ingredients: avocado, garlic, cilantro, lemon. Do you see how all of those things come from nature? Guess what; if it comes from nature, your body knows what to do with it. </p>
<p>One of my Nutrition professors gave me some advice that I continually pass on to people. He said “Never trust anything that is written on the front of any food package – ever!” Everything you need to know is written in two places: the nutrition facts panel and the ingredients. Today we’re focusing on ingredients.</p>
<p>I like to say “If it’s not a nutrient, why would you eat it?” If it’s not a nutrient, your body expends energy and water trying to get rid of it. Non-nutrient ingredients such as artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives, are toxic to the body and serve no nutritional purpose. One clue as to whether or not a food is nutritious is to see how long it takes you to find the nutrition panel and ingredients on their website. Click, click, click, click, click – nothing. It’s hard to find because they don’t want you to find it; they want you to see more of their marketing! I gave up trying to find the ingredients on the “Healthy Choice” foods website (to make my case here). I found the nutrition panel but not the actual ingredients. Hmmmmm.</p>
<p>The moral of the story is that most people think they know what healthy is because their definition of healthy comes from marketing – from companies intentionally mis-educating you so that you feel good about buying their products. To modify Michael Pollan, let me say this; “Eat nutrients. Not too much. Mostly plants.” The word “food” confuses people. To me, Egg Beaters, artificial bacon, and Healthy Choice entrees are not food.</p>
<p>===</p>
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<p> </p>
<p>More at <a href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com">www.NaturallyUnbridled.com</a></p>
<p align="left"> </p>Think You Can Do This?tag:www.barnmice.com,2011-08-15:1773158:BlogPost:4837242011-08-15T18:03:56.000ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD
<p align="left"> <a href="http://mrjanewayushistory.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/rosie_the_riveter_we_can_do_it_lg.jpg?" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" src="http://mrjanewayushistory.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/rosie_the_riveter_we_can_do_it_lg.jpg?"></img></a></p>
<p align="left">Typically, I don’t like to focus on the negative but in this case, it’s the negative that’s the problem so please pardon this transgression. We are immersed in a negative-thinking society. The news is 90% (or more) negative; focusing on murder and other crimes, falls from grace, the downfall of the economy, wars, and doom…</p>
<p align="left"> <a target="_blank" href="http://mrjanewayushistory.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/rosie_the_riveter_we_can_do_it_lg.jpg?"><img src="http://mrjanewayushistory.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/rosie_the_riveter_we_can_do_it_lg.jpg?" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p align="left">Typically, I don’t like to focus on the negative but in this case, it’s the negative that’s the problem so please pardon this transgression. We are immersed in a negative-thinking society. The news is 90% (or more) negative; focusing on murder and other crimes, falls from grace, the downfall of the economy, wars, and doom & gloom. Some of the most popular TV shows have at least one murder before the first commercial. And the commercials are focused on making you feel like your life is not complete without their product. <strong>Negative, negative, negative; it’s toxic. But fear not, I have a remedy for you.</strong></p>
<p align="left">First, let’s think about why reading toxic headlines and watching toxic TV shows is bad for your holistic health. Thoughts create a physical reaction in your body. When you watch a scary movie, you secrete adrenalin and your heart pumps faster. When you read about something depressing, scary, or disconcerting, your energy and your physiology respond in kind. In addition, if you focus on negative things, intentionally or not, you draw more negative energy and experiences to your life. Do you find yourself thinking things like “I’ll never be able to…”, “With my luck, I won’t…”, “I can’t achieve/afford/ experience…” </p>
<p align="left">If you think thoughts like that, you are not alone. Our negative society has brainwashed us into a bunch of people who feel insecure and overwhelmed. We are no longer in the days of Rosie the Riveter where the message to everyone was “We can do it!” The messages we receive are things like “You can’t do it without this drug/car/snack/shoe/etc.” It’s no wonder the prescription rate for antidepressants is off the charts!</p>
<p align="left"><strong>Positive thoughts have a tremendous effect on your holistic health. </strong> Healthcare providers, teachers, and coaches will tell you that a person’s outlook, attitude, or frame of mind will enable them to achieve things beyond their natural ability. Have you ever purchased a lottery ticket? Did you find yourself dreaming about what it would be like to have that level of financial freedom? You think about helping a loved one or supporting your favorite animal shelter and you just feel good about it. Even the thought of being able to help people and animals makes you feel better. Just as the thought of war, crime, and a downturned economy can have you feeling desperate, hopeless, and overwhelmed.</p>
<p align="left"><strong>Fear not… here’s a solution! </strong> Start by reducing, as much as possible, the toxic TV that you watch. I’m not saying not to watch TV (although that’s not a bad idea) but watch more things like PBS and the Discovery Channel or HGTV instead of watching Cops, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, or Criminal Minds. When deciding to read a paper, watch a show, or participate in an event, ask yourself “is this nourishing or is this toxic?” If it’s not nourishing, find something that is. Finally, catch yourself when you have a negative or self-deprecating thought like “I’ll never win” or “I’ll probably get disqualified” or even “I’m so fat”. Negative thoughts are so toxic to you that you must do what you can to eliminate them. If you have a negative thought, observe it, recognize it as negative, and rephrase it in the form of a positive affirmation. Even if you don’t believe it, you will start to change your energy and create a more positive experience.</p>
<p align="left"> </p>
<p align="left">For example: “I’ll probably go off-course” becomes “I always stay on course.”</p>
<p align="left">“I never get the left lead” becomes “I always get the correct lead.”</p>
<p align="left">“I’m so fat” becomes “I am getting closer to my ideal weight every day.”</p>
<p align="left">“I’ll never get married” becomes “I am ready for the perfect spouse to enter my life.”</p>
<p align="left"><strong>The most powerful words you can say are “I AM…” </strong> Those are the words you are sending out to the universe and whatever you put after the words “I AM” should always be positive. One of my mantras or daily affirmations is “I AM full of good ideas!” Once I started saying that, it became more and more true. People are constantly saying to me “that’s a good idea!” and I respond “I AM full of good ideas!” </p>
<p align="left">Like Dr. Wayne Dyer says, “Change your thoughts. Change your life.” Start by recognizing the negativity around you. Just like second-hand smoke, it’s toxic. Remove yourself and put yourself in the energy of happiness and success.</p>
<p align="left"><strong>What’s your positive daily affirmation or mantra? I’d love it if you’d share it here!</strong></p>
<p align="left"><strong> </strong></p>
<p align="left"><strong>Follow me on Facebook at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/naturallyunbridled">http://www.facebook.com/naturallyunbridled</a></strong></p>How to Feed a Vegetariantag:www.barnmice.com,2011-07-13:1773158:BlogPost:4582252011-07-13T20:48:09.000ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203044216?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203044216?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="211"></img></a></p>
<p align="center"><b>How to Feed a Vegetarian</b></p>
<p align="center"><b>By Patti Bartsch, M.A., Ph.D.</b></p>
<p align="center"><a href="http://www.naturallyunbridled.com/"><b>Naturally Unbridled</b></a><b> </b></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Vegetarianism is becoming more and more popular as people recognize the health benefits of a plant-based diet. However, after years of a…</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203044216?profile=original"><img width="211" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203044216?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p align="center"><b>How to Feed a Vegetarian</b></p>
<p align="center"><b>By Patti Bartsch, M.A., Ph.D.</b></p>
<p align="center"><a href="http://www.naturallyunbridled.com/"><b>Naturally Unbridled</b></a><b> </b></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Vegetarianism is becoming more and more popular as people recognize the health benefits of a plant-based diet. However, after years of a vegetarian (mostly vegan) lifestyle, I’ve come to realize that many people are unclear as to what, or how, to feed a vegetarian. Perhaps you have found yourself in a situation where a vegetarian has entered your life and your ideas about what to feed them are limited. If vegetarianism is new to you, you may need some support in understanding what to feed them. On behalf of vegetarians everywhere, allow me to clear a few things up so that you don’t need to stress out if one is coming to your house for dinner. By the end of this article you will understand the types of vegetarians, some myths about vegetarians, and some easy methods of feeding them.</p>
<p>First of all, let’s start with some definitions:</p>
<p><b>Vegetarian</b> – a person who, for whatever reason, chooses not to eat meat. It is best to clarify which type of vegetarian your guest is, before planning the menu. A person may be any of the following types of vegetarians or a combination of two or three!</p>
<p><b>Ethical Vegetarian</b> – this person has chosen not to eat meat because they feel it is unethical. Depending on the personality of your vegetarian, it may be best that there is no meat on the table. Some ethical vegetarians find the sight of meat (especially something like a rare piece of beef) to be repulsive and it may ruin their appetite.</p>
<p><b>Health-Conscious Vegetarian</b> – this vegetarian is conscious of what they eat because they recognize food as a source of nutrition to keep the body healthy. They may grow some organic vegetables at home, participate in healthy activities, and generally live a healthy lifestyle. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they won’t enjoy a nice glass of wine with dinner so don’t assume that is the case. Always ask.</p>
<p><b>Junk-Food Vegetarian</b> – The junk food vegetarian is often a person who became a vegetarian as a youth, teen, or young adult, usually for ethical reasons, and without any concern for nutrition at all. They may eat a lot of pizza, pasta, doughnuts, candy, soft drinks and the like. This type of vegetarian may not even like most vegetables. They most likely do not refer to themselves as a “Junk-Food Vegetarian” so tread softly when inquiring.</p>
<p><b>Vegan</b> – a vegan is a vegetarian who not only excludes meat but also any animal products (including milk, cheese, eggs, and sometimes even honey) from their diet. Some vegans are strict with this and will not eat bread that has been made with an egg or some milk. Others are more flexible; choosing to be vegan at home and as close to vegan as they can get when they are out. I’m mostly vegan at home, but I’d rather be vegetarian than hungry if I’m out.</p>
<p><b>Flexitarian</b> – this person prefers a vegetarian diet but may occasionally eat a small amount of meat.</p>
<p><b>Pescatarian</b> – from the Spanish <i>pescado</i> (fish), this person will sometimes eat fish and/or seafood. </p>
<p><b>Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian</b> –dairy products and eggs are eaten, but not meat.</p>
<p><b>Raw Food Vegetarian</b> – a raw foodist chooses to eat a vegetarian diet that is uncooked. There are many health benefits to eating raw plants since cooking destroys many valuable enzymes. If you have a raw foodist coming over and you don’t have a raw food “cook”book, plan on a robust salad. (See below)</p>
<p><b>Macrobiotic</b> – is a type of vegetarian with a very specific and healthy diet. It is best to ask them for some suggestions or to research recipes on the internet.</p>
<p>In general, the best way to feed your vegetarian is to simply ask them what they eat. I always appreciate when we have been invited to dinner at someone’s house and they ask if I eat this or that. It means a lot when someone goes through the trouble of setting aside a portion for me before they add the meat part of the recipe. And sometimes that’s all it takes; if you’re making pasta, take some sauce out of the pan before adding the meat. The same goes for a salad that might have bacon, eggs, or cheese in it – depending on your vegetarian. Feeding a vegetarian is easier than you think; you may just need to make a few small changes to your recipes and get beyond some of the myths about vegetarians.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Here are a few common myths about vegetarians:</p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="color: #008000;"><b>Myth #1: Vegetarians only eat salad and tofu.</b></span></p>
<p>While most vegetarians do enjoy salad, and some enjoy tofu; that is not all that we eat. If you are planning to feed a vegetarian only salad, it needs to be more than iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrots. More on that in the recipe section at the end of the article. Some vegetarians, myself included, are not fans of soy products such as tofu, and may not eat it at all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="color: #008000;"><b>Myth #2: Vegetarians don’t eat meat.</b></span></p>
<p>This part is actually true but I put it here because most people don’t realize that vegetarians don’t simply eliminate an entire food group from our diets… we <i>replace</i> the meat with other foods. If your entrée consists of lasagna with meat sauce, don’t assume that the side salad and peas will be enough food for your vegetarian guest. Leave the meat out of the sauce. Do not expect a vegetarian to pick the meat out of a dish. Replace the meat entrée with something of substance like beans and rice or a hearty vegetable dish like stuffed squash, peppers, or tomatoes. If you’re serving burgers as your main course, you are probably going to have a hungry dinner guest if you don’t have anything of substance to replace it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="color: #008000;"><b>Myth #3: Pasta is a good solution.</b></span></p>
<p>Pasta will suffice for one or two meals, but if this vegetarian is going to be eating at your table on a somewhat regular basis, pasta is going to get old fast; as will pizza. Many vegetarians choose this lifestyle for the health benefits gained from eating plants and eating pasta and pizza will not provide these health benefits. If your vegetarian is an ethical vegetarian, they may have no concerns about nutrition and pizza and pasta will work just fine for them. Remember to ask, but keep in mind that you can’t have a vegetarian without the “veg”!</p>
<p>No vegetarian wants to be imposing. It is easy to make them feel welcome and it is always exciting to try new recipes. Here are a few recipes to help you to feed your vegetarian – and possibly yourself!</p>
<p> </p>
<ul>
<li><div class="Default"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #800080;"><b>Patti’s Portobello Perfecto</b></span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Bursting with flavor and texture, this recipe often satisfies a steak-eater too!</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">4 Portobello Mushroom Caps (more or less)</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">All Natural Hummus – flavor of choice (40 spices is my favorite)</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">All Natural - Sun-dried tomatoes (without preservative) or Shredded Carrots or Salsa or Bruschetta</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Olive oil</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Balsamic Vinegar</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Roasted Garlic</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Fresh Basil</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Brown Rice (to serve as bed)</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">350° F Oven – 15 to 20 minutes or until mushrooms soften (become tender) when poked with a fork</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Cook brown rice separately.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Wash mushroom caps. Pat dry with clean towel or paper towel.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Lightly brush tops of caps with olive oil and place top-down on a glass, stone or other baking dish.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Pour 1-2 tsp. balsamic vinegar into/over each cap.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Spoon hummus to cover inside of caps about ¼ inch deep and spread with fork.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Add ½ tsp. roasted garlic to each cap and spread with fork.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Add sun-dried tomatoes or shredded carrots or salsa or bruschetta to cover.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">350° F Oven – 15 to 20 minutes or until mushrooms soften when poked with a fork</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Remove from oven and serve over a bed of brown rice.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Cover top with fresh basil.</div>
</li>
<li>These caps are succulent and juicy and the bed of rice serves to catch all the wonderful juices that will escape. Simply divine!</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<ul>
<li><div class="Default"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><span style="color: #800080;">Crazy Tater Feast</span></strong></span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">This is a simple meal that you can even pack for lunch!</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Wash potatoes and leave skins on, bake until soft</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">You can bake the potatoes in advance (say you are cooking something else in the oven, throw some potatoes in there) and store them in the fridge.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">When ready to serve…</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Slice or cut potatoes in an oven-safe dish.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Top with hummus (all natural, flavor of choice), salsa and black beans.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Sprinkle with sweet corn (frozen or other)</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Heat in 300°F oven and serve</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">If potatoes are already hot from baking, there’s no need to warm the toppings but you can pop them back into the oven to take the chill off.</div>
</li>
<li>These are delicious, high in fiber and filling!</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<ul>
<li><div class="Default"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><span style="color: #800080;">Hearty Salad</span></strong></span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Full of color, flavor, and texture, this salad is sure to satisfy!</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Mixed greens</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Cucumbers</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Shredded carrots</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Sliced cherry tomatoes</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Red cabbage, chopped</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Sliced bell peppers (yellow, red, or green)</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Canned chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed (or kidney beans, or black beans)</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Frozen corn (rinse with cool water to thaw)</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Frozen peas (rinse with cool water to thaw)</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Black olives, sliced</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Red onion, chopped</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Slivered almonds (or sunflower seeds, or other nut/seeds)</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Chopped roasted garlic (from a jar)</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">Raisins (or golden raisins, or dried cranberries)</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">All-natural dressing (on the side)</div>
</li>
<li><div class="Default">In a large salad bowl (or individual salad bowls), fill half the bowl with mixed greens. Add sliced cucumber, shredded carrots, sliced cherry tomatoes, red cabbage and peppers. Then add chickpeas, thawed corn, thawed peas, sliced olives, and chopped red onion. Sprinkle with nuts, add ¼ teaspoon of chopped, roasted garlic per serving, and sprinkle with raisins. For your dressing, choose an all-natural version or possibly extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<p class="Default" style="text-align: center;"><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203044500?profile=original"><img width="240" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203044500?profile=RESIZE_320x320"/></a></p>
<p class="Default">Having a vegetarian at your table should not be daunting. Don’t be afraid to ask them if they will eat something before you plan your menu. Simple steps like leaving the meat ingredient out of a casserole, salad, sauce, or dish may be all you need to do. When all else fails, think Mexican! Rice and beans with some sautéed vegetables is sure to satisfy your vegetarian guest!</p>
<p class="Default">---</p>
<p class="Default"><span style="color: #800080;"><strong>For more articles on healthy eating and holistic life & wellness for equestrians, visit <a href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com">http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com</a> and get your <span style="color: #008000;">free gifts</span> while you're there!</strong></span></p>
<p> </p>Are You Tired of Being Tired?tag:www.barnmice.com,2011-06-14:1773158:BlogPost:4346182011-06-14T19:30:00.000ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD
<div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_695" style="width: 310px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Yawn-Woman.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-695" height="200" src="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Yawn-Woman-300x200.jpg" title="Yawn Woman" width="300"></img></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Are You Tired of Being Tired?</p>
</div>
<p>I’m not the type of person who aims to inspire people to think they have a certain disease or disorder. However, there are some “conditions” that are rampant in our society due to the lifestyle we tend to lead. Vitamin…</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_695" style="width: 310px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Yawn-Woman.jpg"><img src="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Yawn-Woman-300x200.jpg" title="Yawn Woman" class="size-medium wp-image-695" width="300" height="200"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Are You Tired of Being Tired?</p>
</div>
<p>I’m not the type of person who aims to inspire people to think they have a certain disease or disorder. However, there are some “conditions” that are rampant in our society due to the lifestyle we tend to lead. Vitamin D<br/>
deficiency is one of them but so is <strong>Adrenal Fatigue</strong>. Since so<br/>
many of my clients complain about their lack of energy, I thought I would<br/>
provide some information about this (very reversible) condition.</p>
<p><strong>First of all: What are adrenal glands?</strong> Adrenal glands are two, endocrine (hormone secreting) glands that sit atop the kidneys. They secrete a variety of hormones including epinephrine and <em>adrenal</em>ine –<br/>
the fight or flight hormone. They also secrete cortisol (involved in<br/>
metabolism), aldosterone (which is involved in salt/electrolyte regulation and<br/>
blood pressure) and glucagon (to elevate blood sugar) among others.</p>
<p><strong>Stress and/or simulated stress</strong> cause a rise in glucagon and adrenaline which results in increased blood sugar and more energy. From an evolutionary perspective, this is because if we felt the stress of having to<br/>
survive a confrontation with a predator, we would need our biochemistry to help<br/>
out so that we can have the strength, endurance, and energy to combat or outrun<br/>
the predator. This works great in a bear attack but not so well in an “I need<br/>
to get this presentation done by 5:00” attack – day, after day, after day.<br/>
Beyond the high-stress world or work, if you are a person who tends to be<br/>
nervous, worrisome, or lacking in confidence, you are also operating with a high<br/>
level of stress hormones which can also lead to adrenal fatigue.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_697" style="width: 160px;"><a href="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2-cell-phones-woman.jpg"><img src="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2-cell-phones-woman-150x150.jpg" title="2 cell phones woman" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-697" width="150" height="150"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Are You a Multi-Tasker?</p>
</div>
<p><strong>What is adrenal fatigue?</strong> I’m glad you asked! Your physiology wasn’t designed for repetitive confrontations and your adrenal glands become exhausted, or “fatigued”. Think of it like a skunk. A skunk can spray a<br/>
predator during an attack so that it can run away and survive the attack. But<br/>
this leaves the skunk unarmed for a while. It wasn’t designed to spray, spray,<br/>
spray to deal with repeated attacks. Neither were you. From an evolutionary<br/>
perspective, you should only have to call on adrenaline and other stress<br/>
hormones on rare occasions. However, in our high-pressure, high-pace society,<br/>
this is exactly what we are simulating. Stress, caffeine, and nicotine all<br/>
stimulate the adrenal glands and can lead to adrenal fatigue.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_699" style="width: 160px;"><a href="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Coffee-and-Beans.jpg"><img src="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Coffee-and-Beans-150x150.jpg" title="Coffee and Beans" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-699" width="150" height="150"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Coffee Keeps You in "Fight or Flight" Mode</p>
</div>
<p><strong>Coffee could be the culprit</strong> – When you consume caffeine, it causes your adrenals to secrete glucagon which results in a rise in blood sugar. This stimulant also results in increased adrenaline production which<br/>
will raise your heart rate, focus, and blood supply to your arms and legs (so<br/>
you can run or fight). By doing this, it diverts blood from your other organs<br/>
like those of digestion and reproduction. It also interferes with the<br/>
production of sleep hormones so that when it is time to sleep, you can’t. This<br/>
typically leads to another day filled with coffee and thus perpetuating the<br/>
energy rollercoaster.</p>
<p><strong>Some signs that you might have adrenal fatigue:</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #800080;"><strong>*Lack of energy</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #800080;"><strong>*Trouble getting up in the morning</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #800080;"><strong>*Trouble getting things done in the afternoon</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #800080;"><strong>*Craving caffeine and sugar to keep you going</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #800080;"><strong>*Feeling stressed, worried, tense, or anxious</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #800080;"><strong>*Depression</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #800080;"><strong>*Decreased fertility</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #800080;"><strong>*Digestive issues</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #800080;"><strong>*Reduced Immunity</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #008000;"><strong>How can I <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">NATURALLY</span></em> improve my adrenal health?</strong></span></p>
<p><strong>*NUTRITION</strong>: <strong>WHOLE FOOD lifestyle</strong>. “Whole” foods are foods that come directly from nature. They do not need a label because they are 100% food (example: apple). Processed, packaged food is no<br/>
longer in its natural state and often has numerous chemical additives and a load<br/>
of sodium. Replacing processed, packaged foods with whole foods including whole<br/>
grains, fresh or lightly cooked vegetables and fruits may be beneficial to your<br/>
blood pressure and your total health. Eliminating animal protein (meat, dairy,<br/>
cheese etc.) is another option but if you continue eating these products,<br/>
consider reducing serving size and frequency as much as possible.</p>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_724" style="width: 160px;"><a href="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Grilled-Veggies-and-Pineapple.jpg"><img src="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Grilled-Veggies-and-Pineapple-150x150.jpg" title="Grilled Veggies and Pineapple" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-724" width="150" height="150"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Eat a Rainbow of Whole Foods</p>
</div>
<p><strong>*REDUCE CAFFEINE AND SUGAR</strong>: Caffeine simulates stress and stimulates stress hormones. However, your body may be addicted and you will need to wean yourself off of caffeine. Start by reducing your coffee (or other<br/>
source of caffeine) by ¼ either by not filling your cup all the way, pouring out<br/>
a bit, or mixing ¼ decaf with ¾ regular coffee. After two days, progress to<br/>
half and half. Then 75% decaf etc. Eliminating or replacing coffee with decaf<br/>
or a low caffeine beverage such as green tea (which has tons of health benefits)<br/>
should be the goal. One, small (6-8 oz) cup of coffee on occasion won’t kill<br/>
you but if you’re trying to restore your adrenals, it might be best to be<br/>
coffee-free for a minimum of 3-4 months.</p>
<p><strong>*HYDRATION</strong>: <strong>monitor <span style="text-decoration: underline;">water</span> intake.</strong> Many people feel a lack of energy because they are mildly dehydrated. Coffee actually leads to dehydration because it is a diuretic (makes you pee) so<br/>
if you are using coffee as your “drink” you’re not really quenching your<br/>
thirst. Experts recommend drinking half your body weight in ounces of water per<br/>
day. So if you weigh 200 lbs you the recommendation would be to drink 100<br/>
ounces of water per day. Herbal tea counts as water but regular tea or coffee<br/>
does not. Your body is approximately 80% water and your blood is fluid and<br/>
requires hydration to be healthy.</p>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_725" style="width: 160px;"><a href="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Relaxed-Woman-Massage.jpg"><img src="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Relaxed-Woman-Massage-150x150.jpg" title="Woman waiting for a massage" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-725" width="150" height="150"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Relax...</p>
</div>
<p><strong>*RELAXATION: reduce stress.</strong> Stress causes a release of chemicals in the body that cause the blood pressure to increase. This is why many heart attacks take place on Monday mornings when stressed-out people are<br/>
beginning their work week. Deep breathing, meditation, and recreational<br/>
activities can all help to reduce blood pressure. Read a book or a magazine.<br/>
Do something artistic or creative.</p>
<p><strong>*SUPPLEMENTS:</strong> Vitamin C, Vitamin D, B-12, and Niacin</p>
<p>* <strong>SPEND TIME IN NATURE!</strong> Get some sunshine and vitamin D. Breathe fresh air. Go for a walk in the woods, the park, or on the beach. Listen to the birds. Work in the garden. Take the dog for a walk. Go for a<br/>
trail ride. Put some flowers in your space. Nature is calming and spending<br/>
time there is a great stress reducer.</p>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_719" style="width: 160px;"><a href="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Yoga-Nature-cropped.jpg"><img src="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Yoga-Nature-cropped-150x150.jpg" title="Yoga Nature cropped" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-719" width="150" height="150"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Relax in Nature</p>
</div>
<p><strong>Take 20 minutes and watch these videos on Adrenal Fatigue:</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oztM0Uf1v8"><font color="#588114">Adrenal Fatigue: Part 1</font></a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPCKw6xTPNs&feature=related"><font color="#588114">Adrenal Fatigue: Part 2</font></a></p>
<p>Websites:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.adrenalfatigue.org/"><font color="#588114">http://www.adrenalfatigue.org/</font></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bodylogicmd.com/for-women/adrenal-fatigue"><font color="#588114">http://www.bodylogicmd.com/for-women/adrenal-fatigue</font></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.drhotze.com/Wellness-101/Adrenal-Fatigue.aspx"><font color="#588114">http://www.drhotze.com/Wellness-101/Adrenal-Fatigue.aspx</font></a></p>
<p>~~~</p>
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<p>~Patti</p>Spring Weight Loss Strategies - Should You Count Calories?tag:www.barnmice.com,2011-03-22:1773158:BlogPost:3625602011-03-22T17:20:44.000ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD
<p><span style="color: #800080;"><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2164631361?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2164631361?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150"></img></a> Welcome to spring! </strong></span> Horse show season is under way and bathing suit season is just around the corner. A winter of holiday feasting and reduced activity may have left you with a few souvenir pounds to help you to remember last season. I was recently asked if I think that counting calories is a good way to lose weight so I…</p>
<p><span style="color: #800080;"><strong><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2164631361?profile=original"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2164631361?profile=RESIZE_180x180" class="align-left"/></a>Welcome to spring! </strong></span> Horse show season is under way and bathing suit season is just around the corner. A winter of holiday feasting and reduced activity may have left you with a few souvenir pounds to help you to remember last season. I was recently asked if I think that counting calories is a good way to lose weight so I thought I’d share my thoughts on this popular technique.</p>
<p>The short answer is that counting calories is a solution that may work but <strong>it is <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #800080;">not</span></span> something I recommend.</strong> The reason I don’t recommend it is because I feel strongly that we should be eating whole foods – fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and seeds (with occasional fish and eggs) – not processed, packaged foods. Whole foods do not usually come with a nutrition label to tell you how many calories you are eating therefore it makes it <strong>very difficult to count calories if you are eating a whole foods diet</strong> (and by “diet” I mean lifestyle). Eating a diet of low-calorie processed foods may help you to lose weight if your current calorie intake is higher than your calorie output but I do not feel this strategy will lead you to health.</p>
<p><strong>Do I think that you should be aware of your calorie intake?</strong> If you are eating processed foods or soft drinks - absolutely. If you are eating a whole foods, plant based diet - No. If you eat processed foods that come with a label that says how many calories it contains per serving, it’s a good idea to be mindful of that. Many people don’t realize that a small box, bottle, or can may actually contain two servings so eating the whole package will actually give you twice as many calories! I always recommend that if you are <strong>eating a food that has a label, read the label. </strong> But it’s a good idea to eliminate processed foods and replace them with whole foods. (See my <a target="_blank" href="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/2010/11/feed-tags-food-packages-and-tunnel-vision/">blog on label reading</a>for more on this topic.)</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203038787?profile=original"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203038787?profile=RESIZE_180x180" class="align-right"/></a>Calorie counting is also a challenge because the calorie recommendations do not take into account the amount of physical activity you participate in, your body type, or your age (for the most part). Extreme athletes may need over 12,000 calories per day while a small, inactive woman may only need about 1200-1500. The RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance) is based on a 2000 calorie diet. If you attempt to balance your calories – intake: output – how will you measure output? I feel like this technique, while historically effective for some people, involves a lot of calculations and a lot of processed foods.</p>
<p>If you are looking to improve your holistic health this spring by getting into better shape and shedding a few pounds, <span style="color: #800080;"><strong>here are some of my recommendations:</strong></span></p>
<ul>
<li><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Eliminate soft drinks (regular and diet)</span></strong></li>
<li><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Eliminate or significantly minimize your intake of processed foods</span></strong></li>
<li><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Eliminate artificial colors, sweeteners, flavors, and preservatives from your diet</span></strong></li>
<li><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Eat a whole foods, plant-based diet</span></strong></li>
<li><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Increase the amount of exercise you get</span></strong></li>
<li><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day</span></strong></li>
<li><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Take it one day at a time</span></strong></li>
<li><div><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Set a weight loss goal (see <a target="_blank" href="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/2011/03/setting-goals-or-wishing-stars/">blog on goals</a>) </span></strong></div>
</li>
<li><div><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Have a positive attitude (see <a target="_blank" href="http://naturallyunbridled.com/blog/2010/10/a-million-dollars-for-your-thoughts/">blog on positive thinking</a>)</span></strong></div>
</li>
<li><div><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Create a holistic health affirmation that starts with “I AM…” </span></strong></div>
<ul>
<li><div><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Example: “I AM a healthy and fit 138 lbs!”</span></strong></div>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><strong><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043147?profile=original"><img width="125" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043147?profile=RESIZE_180x180" class="align-left"/></a>Weight loss is not rocket science</strong> but it is a challenge in today’s society. Our lifestyle of fast-food, processed food, and inactivity can make it very difficult to shed the pounds and keep them off. <strong>Your weight, however, is a choice directly related to your lifestyle</strong>. So, don’t go on a diet, choose a new, healthy lifestyle. It sounds crazy, but I always go back to horse management... If your horse needed to lose weight, would you count calories?</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Comments and sharing are encouraged.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>For more information and to find out where you're Naturally Unbridled and where you're being held back, go to <a href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com">http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com</a> and take my free quiz. You'll receive the <strong>"Heal Naturally"</strong> chapter from my book <strong>"7 Steps to a Naturally Unbridled Life"</strong> as my free gift to you! Enjoy!</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="color: #800080;">Be Well... Ride Well!</span></strong></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><span><a target="_blank" href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com">Naturally Unbridled ~Holistic Equestrian Coaching</a></span></strong></p>The Horse is Out of the Barn!tag:www.barnmice.com,2011-03-13:1773158:BlogPost:3563442011-03-13T17:30:00.000ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-6">Why are we so focused on "the cure"?</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203038961?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203038961?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250"></img></a></p>
<p>It’s commendable how people have banded together to find “the cure”. I doubt there is anyone reading this who hasn’t somehow contributed to the fight to cure breast cancer or some other horrible disease. But I find myself wondering why…</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-6">Why are we so focused on "the cure"?</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203038961?profile=original"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203038961?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p>It’s commendable how people have banded together to find “the cure”. I doubt there is anyone reading this who hasn’t somehow contributed to the fight to cure breast cancer or some other horrible disease. But I find myself wondering why we are focused so much on the cure and not on prevention. You see, all this effort and money is focusing on helping people <i>after</i> they have been diagnosed with a disease. Even all of the “early detection” techniques are focused on what to do <i>after</i> the diagnosis. <strong>Perhaps we’re closing the barn door after the horse has gotten out.</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Wouldn’t it be a much better world</strong> if no one ever had to go through a biopsy? Wouldn’t it be fantastic if no one ever had to hear the words “You have cancer.”? Wouldn’t it be awesome if no one had to suffer the toxic effects of chemotherapy and radiation? If we focused even half of the money that is spent to find “the cure” on <a target="_blank" href="http://review.barnmice.com/2996/cowgirl-kitchen-ranchers-broccoli-salad/">prevention of cancer</a>, we would make significant progress in stopping the disease before anyone has to suffer with it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043944?profile=original"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043944?profile=RESIZE_180x180" class="align-left"/></a>Perish the thought that <strong>Cancer is a multi-billion dollar industry</strong> and that there are no profits in healthy people. Cancer provides a lot of jobs to a lot of people – not only in the research sector but also in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. Cancer is also keeping a lot of lawyers employed. Do you know that some of the money donated to the <strong>Susan G. Komen Foundation</strong> is used to <strong>sue other charities</strong> who have used the term “the cure” in their event promotions? This unsettling information was published in the Huffington Post last month. Here is a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/07/komen-foundation-charities-cure_n_793176.html">link</a> to the article. It’s so disturbing to know that money that was donated to help fight diseases and save lives is being used to squash other charities that are trying to do the same thing. I guess we need to re-define “not-for-profit”.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>No one should ever have to hear the words “You’re sick.” </strong> Our bodies were designed for health. Even if you are genetically predisposed to a disease, it is the environment that turns a gene on and off. You need to create an optimal state of health so that the “sick genes” stay turned off. For more about the effects of the environment on genetic and other diseases, read <i><a target="_blank" href="http://www.brucelipton.com/biology-of-belief-overview/">The Biology of Belief</a> </i>by Bruce Lipton, Ph.D.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203044229?profile=original"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203044229?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-right"/></a><strong>Health</strong> is actually very simple. Drink water. Eat whole foods. Exercise. Be joyful. Breathe deeply. Relax. Does that sound hard? It shouldn’t. As more of us employ a holistic lifestyle where we are conscious of keeping our bodies and minds healthy, the world will become a healthier place and fewer and fewer people will hear the words “You’re sick.” <strong>Let’s focus our energy, and our money, on preventing these diseases so that we don’t have to worry about that horse getting out of the barn.</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Join the Naturally Unbridled community at <a href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com">http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com</a></p>Setting Goals or Wishing Stars?tag:www.barnmice.com,2011-03-01:1773158:BlogPost:3514902011-03-01T23:57:27.000ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD
<p align="left"><i><span style="color: #800080;"><strong> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203038816?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203038816?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150"></img></a></strong></span></i></p>
<p align="left"><i><span style="color: #800080;"><strong>If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you’re there? </strong></span> </i> When working with coaching clients, I always ask them to set a goal for their sessions. It’s important for both of us to know what to focus on;…</p>
<p align="left"><i><span style="color: #800080;"><strong> <a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203038816?profile=original"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203038816?profile=RESIZE_180x180" class="align-center"/></a></strong></span></i></p>
<p align="left"><i><span style="color: #800080;"><strong>If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you’re there? </strong></span> </i> When working with coaching clients, I always ask them to set a goal for their sessions. It’s important for both of us to know what to focus on; otherwise we’re just chatting.</p>
<p align="left"> </p>
<p align="left"><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203039215?profile=original"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203039215?profile=RESIZE_180x180" class="align-right"/></a>I’ve learned that many people never set goals, they make wishes. They wish they’d lose a few pounds. The wish they could have better balance in the saddle. They wish they got better ribbons at horse shows. They wish they had a different job. Etc. But they don’t do much, if anything, to accomplish these things. <strong>The difference between goals and wishes are that goals are written down and they have an action plan associated with them.</strong> You may say that your goal is to win the Ladies Pleasure Championship, but unless you write it down and create a plan for how you will accomplish this, it’s just a wish.</p>
<p align="left"> </p>
<p align="left">While everyone has their comfort zone, I often talk about the <strong><i>discomfort zone</i></strong>. This is when someone isn’t actually comfortable, but they’re stuck. Lots of people operate in the discomfort zone. They’re unhappy with something in their life – maybe lots of things – but they won’t do anything about it. They just wish things were different. Well, you can’t have progress without change. Something’s got to change or you will spend all of your time in your discomfort zone wishing you were somewhere else.</p>
<p align="left"> </p>
<p align="left">Remember, the first step to solving a problem is admitting that there is one. Once you recognize that you are in your discomfort zone, you can start to make a plan to escape and live the life you want to live. Once you do that, you’re ready to set your goals.</p>
<p align="left"> </p>
<p align="left"><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043584?profile=original"><img width="175" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043584?profile=RESIZE_180x180" class="align-left"/></a>When setting a goal, it’s best to use the S.M.A.R.T. plan. SMART goals meet certain criteria that make it:</p>
<p align="center" class="Default"><b>Specific – Measurable – Actionable – Realistic – Time Bound</b></p>
<p align="left"><b>Specific</b>: To earn the title of 2011 Ladies Pleasure Champion</p>
<p align="left"><b>Measurable</b>: Attend at least 8 shows. Win at least 5 classes. Always in top 3.</p>
<p align="left"><b>Actionable</b>: Ride 3 times per week. Take weekly yoga classes. 2 hours of cardio per week.</p>
<p align="left"><b>Realistic</b>: I am a lady and I have a quality horse for this division and the motivation to do what it takes to become Ladies Pleasure Champion. I will leave work on time on Tuesdays and Thursdays in order to have time to exercise.</p>
<p align="left"><b>Time Bound</b>: Between April and November,2011, I will accrue enough points to earn the title.</p>
<p align="left"> </p>
<p align="left" style="text-align: center;"><b>When writing a goal, it’s helpful to follow this format:</b></p>
<p align="left" style="text-align: center;">To <span style="color: #0000ff;">(action verb)</span> <span style="color: #ff0000;">(key results)</span> by <span style="color: #008000;">(target date)</span> requiring <span style="color: #800080;">(resources)</span></p>
<p align="left" style="text-align: center;"><em>"To <span style="color: #0000ff;">become Ladies Pleasure Champion</span>, I will <span style="color: #ff0000;">attend at least 8 shows, always place in the top 3, and win at least 5 classes</span> between April and <span style="color: #008000;">November, 2011</span> by <span style="color: #800080;">leaving work on time on Tuesdays and Thursdays, riding 3 or more times per week, taking weekly yoga classes, and getting 2 or more hours of cardio exercise each week."</span></em></p>
<p align="left" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #800080;"> </span></em></p>
<p align="left">As spring approaches, it’s the perfect time to set new goals for the year. I invite you to think about what needs to change in your discomfort zone and to use the SMART goal format to write down at least one goal and action plan to get one step closer to your Naturally Unbridled life.</p>
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<p align="left" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff0000;"><b>Post your goal(s) in the Comments below!</b></span></p>
<p align="left" style="text-align: left;"> </p>
<p align="left" style="text-align: left;">For more information about Patti Bartsch, M.A., Ph.D. and Naturally Unbridled Holistic Equestrian Coaching, visit <a href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com">http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com</a> - Get a <strong>FREE CHAPTER</strong> from my book <a target="_blank" href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com/products">"7 Steps to a Naturally Unbridled Life"</a></p>Holistic Health for Equestrians - Body, Mind, and Spirittag:www.barnmice.com,2011-01-13:1773158:BlogPost:3211002011-01-13T18:27:05.000ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203038713?profile=original" target="_self"><font face="Calibri" size="3"><img class="align-center" height="184" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203038713?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="238"></img></font></a></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><font face="Calibri" size="3">For a while now, I have been talking with and surveying equestrians and what I found out has been most interesting.…</font></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203038713?profile=original"><font face="Calibri" size="3"><img height="184" width="238" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203038713?profile=RESIZE_480x480" class="align-center"/></font></a></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><font face="Calibri" size="3">For a while now, I have been talking with and surveying equestrians and what I found out has been most interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> The vast majority of equestrians I’ve talked with told me that they use some kind of holistic modality on their horse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Many use massage, others use acupuncture, some use chiropractic, and still others use herbal supplements, salves, or ointments; just to name a few.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> People rave about the results they have seen in their horses and remark how their attitude and performance have improved as a result of these methods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> When I ask, “What type of holistic modalities do you use to optimize your life, health, and performance in the saddle?” I often get a blank stare in return.</font></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><font face="Calibri" size="3"><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203042978?profile=original"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203042978?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-left"/></a>Equestrians get it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> They understand that for their horse to be their best; to look, feel, and perform their best; all aspects of their health and wellness must be addressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> They need a top quality diet, they need a good exercise program, they need time for rest and time for play, and they need to feel appreciated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> For an equine to be their best we must support them holistically; body, mind, and spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Well, what’s good for the equine is good for the equestrian!</font></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><font face="Calibri" size="3">Eating a healthy diet rich in fresh vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts and seeds is part of the picture but it’s not enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Going to the gym or riding a lot of horses and cleaning a lot of stalls might help you to look fit on the outside but what do your blood cells look like if you’re eating Doritos on your way home from the gym or barn?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> And even if you eat a perfect diet and have a great exercise program but you’re stressed out about work, money, relationships, or getting it all done, you will not be healthy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Balance, balance, balance – body, mind, and spirit – this is the key to optimal health and wellness.</font></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><font face="Calibri" size="3"><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043593?profile=original"><img height="157" width="111" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043593?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-right"/></a>Take what you know about helping your horse to be in top mental, physical, and emotional health and apply the same concepts to your own life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Choose healthier foods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Drink water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Exercise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Meditate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Choose healthy relationships and a career that you love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Forgive people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Forgive yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Get some sleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Make time to play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Get a massage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Do SOMETHING to make yourself happier and healthier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Just like your horse, you will look and perform your best, in and out of the show ring if you focus on holistic health.</font></p>
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<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"> <strong><font face="Calibri" size="3">Your horse is only half of the equation!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font></strong></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><strong><font face="Calibri" size="3"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be Well… Ride Well!</font></strong></p>
<p> I invite you to "friend" me on Barnmice! <a href="http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD">http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>For a free chapter from my latest book "7 Steps to a Naturally Unbridled Life" enter your name and email address at <a href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com">http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com</a>. Take my free quiz while you're there to see if you are Naturally Unbridled or if you're being held back!</em></p>The Duct Tape Approach to Healthtag:www.barnmice.com,2010-12-23:1773158:BlogPost:3142592010-12-23T21:30:00.000ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD
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<div class="entry-content"><p style="text-align: center;"> …</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203037900?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203037900?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="240"></img></a> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203037900?profile=original" target="_self"></a></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203037900?profile=original"><img width="240" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203037900?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-center"/></a><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203037900?profile=original"></a></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in auto;"><span style="line-height: 150%; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Garamond">In a crisis, when something breaks, we often reach for duct tape to temporarily mend the problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Duct tape might hold things together, and things might seem perfectly fine on the surface but deep down, something is seriously wrong; something is still broken.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> We often take a similar approach to our own health and that of our families and pets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Something’s wrong, patch it with a drug.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Deep down, the problem is not fixed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> We just found a way to carry on and pretend there isn’t a problem.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in auto;"><span style="line-height: 150%; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Garamond">According to a 2000 Journal of the American Medical Association paper by Dr. Barbara Starfield, M.D, medical care has climbed to the third leading <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cause</i> of death in the United States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> A total of <strong>225,000 deaths were attributed to medical care</strong> (surgery, hospital-borne infections, errors, etc.), behind only cancer and heart disease.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> An astonishing <strong>106,000 deaths were due to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PROPER</i> use of drugs</strong> (prescription and over the counter).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Yes, that’s right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> 106,000 people correctly followed the directions that came with their prescription and over the counter drugs and they died from doing so.</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in auto;"><span style="line-height: 150%; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Garamond"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043612?profile=original"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043612?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-center"/></a></b></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in auto;"><span style="line-height: 150%; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Garamond">A 2010 paper in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine states that “from 1999 to 2006 U.S. hospitalizations for poisoning by prescription opioids, sedatives, and tranquilizers increased a total of 65%.” [<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">J.H. Corben, M.D. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hospitalizations for Poisoning by Prescription Opioids, Sedatives and Tranquilizers</i> (American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2010) 1-10.]</span> The <strong>total number of these deaths surpassed those of motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of unintentional injury death among people 35-54 years of age</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> With approximately 10% of Americans taking antidepressants, this is particularly disturbing data.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in auto;"><span style="line-height: 150%; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Garamond">Illegal drugs are not the only kind of drugs that can fry your brain, your liver, your kidneys, or any of your other organs, tissues or cells.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Why would someone want to use natural healing methods instead of simply taking a pill to make their problem “go away”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> The truth is it’s not that simple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> When the list of side effects is much, much longer than the list of intended effects, the drug may be doing more harm than good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> “Eating or driving without knowledge of the event may occur.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Literally – that’s a known side effect of a commonly prescribed sleeping pill and this is still allowed on the market!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> No wonder people are having trouble losing weight: they could be hitting the fast food drive thru in the middle of the night without even knowing it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> OK, that’s a little hyperbole but you get my point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Thousands upon thousands of people die each year due to their prescription drugs that are being taken as directed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Often people start with one prescription which has some <strong>side effects that are treated with another pill</strong> which has some side effects that are treated with another pill and the cycle goes on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ad nauseum</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> The truth is, <strong>the more drugs you are on, the more of a guinea pig you are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></strong></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in auto;"><span style="line-height: 150%; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Garamond"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043799?profile=original"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043799?profile=RESIZE_320x320" class="align-center"/></a></span></font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in auto;"><span style="line-height: 150%; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Garamond">You see, it is extremely rare that are drugs tested in combination in clinical trials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> (Clinical trials are the FDA monitored experiments on people)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Clinical trials test first for toxicity, then for efficacy and finally for dose optimization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> They are almost never tested in combination with other drugs, so if you are taking one prescription drug along with another (or an over the counter drug), and you live, and it doesn’t seem to be a problem (in the short term) then they say it’s “safe”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> If you die, they note it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> If enough people taking that combination die, then they tell you not to take those two drugs together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Sometimes they can predict problems based on the shape of the molecule and sometimes it’s a gamble; they have no idea what will happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> We regularly hear news reports with a new warning that a drug we have been using or giving our children for years is now considered dangerous or has been recalled.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in auto;"><span style="line-height: 150%; font-size: 12pt;"><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203080289?profile=original"><font face="Garamond"><img width="480" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203080289?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-center"/></font></a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in auto;"><span style="line-height: 150%; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Garamond">Instead of taking the duct tape approach to your health, <strong>consider actually fixing your health</strong>. Build your health and provide your body with the tools and ingredients it needs to restore, rebuild, repair and rejuvenate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> The holistic approach to health will support you in restoring the natural, healthy state you are designed to experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Nutrition, exercise, relaxation, positive thinking and natural therapies that support the body in healing and maintaining balance such as chiropractic, massage, acupuncture and homeopathy are nourishing and non-toxic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> <strong>Save the duct tape for the barn and fix your health.</strong><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in auto;"><span style="line-height: 150%; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Garamond"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span class="font-size-5" style="color: #800080;"><strong><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></strong></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in auto;"><span style="line-height: 150%; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Garamond"><span class="font-size-5" style="color: #800080;"><strong><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>~Jim Rohn</i></strong></span></font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in auto;"><span style="line-height: 150%; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Garamond"><span class="font-size-3"><span>(Parts of this article were extracted from my book</span></span> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com/products">“7 Steps to a Naturally Unbridled Life – An Introduction to Holistic Living: Body, Mind, Spirit and Planet”,</a> download a free chapter by entering your name and email address at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com">www.NaturallyUnbridled.com</a>)</font></span></p>Feed Tags, Food Packages and Tunnel Visiontag:www.barnmice.com,2010-11-24:1773158:BlogPost:3070192010-11-24T22:26:30.000ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD
<div class="WordSection1"><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri" size="3"><img alt="" height="490" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203038281?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" style="WIDTH: 257px; HEIGHT: 290px" width="187"></img></font></p>
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<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri" size="3">Ask many horse-people what they feed their horse and you will likely get answers such as “a 12% pellet” or “a 14% sweet feed”. Ask the same people what are they…</font></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Ask many horse-people what they feed their horse and you will likely get answers such as “a 12% pellet” or “a 14% sweet feed”. Ask the same people what are they feeding themselves and the answer is likely to be something along the lines of “whatever is fast and easy”. Equestrians are busy people. Being so busy often leads to taking shortcuts and sometimes even tunnel vision when it comes to what we eat and what we feed our horses. While having tunnel vision can help with speed, it doesn't give you the big picture.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Case in point: the issue of “a 12% pellet”… The 12% mentioned here is simply referring to the minimum amount of crude protein guaranteed to be in the feed. By law, this 12% pellet could actually contain 14, 16 or even 20% or more crude protein because 12% is just a guaranteed minimum. You see, that number actually represents a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">measurement of nitrogen in the feed</b> which is used to estimate the amount of protein. Chicken feathers are high in nitrogen and some feed companies will add them to a feed formula to increase the crude protein measurement but this is not a protein source that is available to horses. The assumption, by the person buying the feed, is that there is 12% digestible, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">usable</i>, protein in the feed; but that may not be the case. The protein must be rich in a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">variety of amino acids and from a source that the horse is capable of utilizing</b>. Relax, most reputable feed companies do not put chicken feathers in horse feeds (more often in cattle feed) and it is cheapest for them to keep the protein level as close to the guaranteed minimum as possible so there is no need to panic at this point.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><img width="300" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043691?profile=RESIZE_320x320"/></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">There are two things I want you to take away from the previous paragraph. The first is that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">there are a multitude of nutrients</b> (vitamins, minerals, fats, amino acids, digestive aids, etc.) in a commercially prepared horse feed. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Why would you focus on just one (the protein)?</b> The second is that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">what you see isn’t always what you get</b>. The same can be said for what you feed yourself. One of my nutrition professors had the best piece of advice about food packages. He said <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">“Never, ever, believe anything written on the front of any food package… EVER!”</b>The regulations regarding what can be written on the front of a food package are very loose. “Natural” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">implies</i> that the food has nothing artificial in it but in many cases, there are chemical preservatives or high-fructose corn syrup present. Buying a food because it says “Natural” on the front is like buying a feed because it says “12% pellet”. There’s a tiny bit of information there but you need a lot more information in order to know if this is something you really want to buy and eat.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><font color="#000000">When reading a food label, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">always start with the ingredients</b>. When there are any grains listed on the label you want the words “whole”, “cracked” or “stone ground” to precede them, not “enriched”, “bleached”, or “unbleached”. If there’s something listed there that your grandmother wouldn’t have in her pantry, you probably want to pass. </font></font></font></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" align="left"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Exclude</b> foods that are made with: </font></font></font></p>
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<li style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">enriched wheat flour</span></font></font></font></li>
<li style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">high fructose corn syrup</span></font></font></font></li>
<li style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">natural and/or artificial flavors (“natural” flavors are sometimes only partially natural)</span></font></font></font></li>
<li style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">artificial sweeteners</span></font></font></font></li>
<li style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">FD&C artificial colors</span></font></font></font></li>
<li style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">sodium benzoate</span></font></font></font></li>
<li style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">lecithin</span></font></font></font></li>
<li style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">potassium sorbate</span></font></font></font></li>
<li style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">disodium EDTA</span></font></font></font></li>
<li style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">“hydrogenated” oils</span></font></font></font></li>
<li style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">anything else that sounds like it came from a factory and not from the Earth</span></font></font></font></li>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><img width="186" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043829?profile=RESIZE_320x320"/></span></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">I will not go into a lot of detail on specific nutrients in this article but I will suggest that you keep an eye on <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">serving size</b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">calories per serving</b>. Often, a can of soup or bottle of soda will actually contain <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">TWO servings</b> but if you only look quickly at the number of calories you might not realize that the item contains twice that amount. </font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">Many people have no concept of how much a gram is. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">A single sugar cube is approximately four grams</b>. A single cup of a popular strawberry-flavored milk has 28 grams of sugar per 8 ounces! Isn’t that what they serve in school cafeterias these days? That’s like putting 7 sugar cubes into a 1-cup measure and filling the rest with milk. Now imagine that a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">single can of Coke</b> has about 40 grams of sugar. To visualize what that looks like, picture <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">10 sugar cubes</b> in your hand. Imagine the mass and weight of all that sugar. It’s a lot of calories and no nutrition. </font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><img width="200" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043734?profile=RESIZE_320x320"/></span></font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Reading and understanding food labels is one of the best things that you can do to select and exclude packaged foods. To save yourself a ton of time and effort, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">choose foods that don’t require a label</b> such as carrots, potatoes, squash, lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, walnuts, barley, brown rice, and apples.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">When you select a feed for your horse, read the entire <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">guaranteed analysis</b>. When you select a food for yourself<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">, ignore the front of the package</b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">read the ingredients and the nutrition facts</b>. Eliminate foods with unnatural ingredients that offer your body little in the way of nutrition and lots in the way of calories and chemicals. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Tunnel vision is not your friend</b> when selecting the building blocks of your body. Being a label reader and a smart shopper takes some practice but your health and nutrition are certainly worth the effort.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">Patti Bartsch, M.A., Ph.D. is a Certified Holistic Life & Wellness Coach specializing in Equestrian Women around the world. You can learn more about Patti and download a free chapter from her book “7 Steps to a Naturally Unbridled Life” by visiting <a href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com">www.NaturallyUnbridled.com</a>.</font></font></font></i></p>
<p></p>Bad Vegetarians are NOT Healthy!tag:www.barnmice.com,2010-11-06:1773158:BlogPost:2972472010-11-06T00:32:54.000ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD
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</font><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri" size="3"><img alt="" height="433" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043090?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" style="WIDTH: 168px; HEIGHT: 243px" width="273"></img></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri" size="3"><em><font size="2">Just because it's "Vegetarian"</font></em></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri" size="3"><em><font size="2">Doesn't mean it's good for you…</font></em></font></p>
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</font><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri"><img width="576" style="WIDTH: 168px; HEIGHT: 243px" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043090?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="273" height="433"/></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri"><em><font size="2">Just because it's "Vegetarian"</font></em></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri"><em><font size="2">Doesn't mean it's good for you</font></em></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">In the midst of my Doctor of Traditional Naturopathy studies, I decided to become a vegetarian – vegan, mostly. It wasn’t for ethical reasons; it was for health reasons. Since then, I have been asked by many people “How do I become vegetarian?” “I’m so glad you asked!” is always my reply! You see, many people who decide to become vegetarians become <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">less</i> healthy because they simply eliminate meats from their diet. They don’t replace the meat with another type of food. They eat a lot of refined, white pasta and meatless pizza made with bleached, white flour. Candy, Soda, French fries and potato chips, which are technically “vegetarian”, are staples in their diet. They seem to miss the “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">VEG</b>” in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">veg</b>etarian. Perhaps, we should use the term “Herbivore” or even “Plantitarian” to help people to realize that eliminating meat is not the end of the story. There are good vegetarians and bad vegetarians and bad vegetarians are not healthy.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">If you decide to become vegetarian, for any reason – ethics, health, taste, etc., you need to make sure that you are selecting a wide variety of healthy foods, namely plants, to meet your nutrient needs. Here are a few tips to help you to be a healthy vegetarian.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" align="left"><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin"><span style="mso-list: Ignore"><font size="3" face="Calibri">1)</font> </span></span><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Eat Whole Foods</b> – Whole foods are the type of foods that don’t require a label. They have only one ingredient. Examples of whole foods include: apples, cabbage, walnuts, blueberries, asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, quinoa, oatmeal, honey, garlic, sweet potatoes and kiwis. Foods made with ONLY whole foods count too. For example, hummus: chickpeas, tahini (mashed sesame seeds), garlic and lemon juice.</font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><img width="576" style="WIDTH: 156px; HEIGHT: 174px" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043668?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="252" height="479"/></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" align="left"><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin"><span style="mso-list: Ignore"><font size="3" face="Calibri">2)</font> </span></span><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Read Labels</b> – If you do buy (rather than make) something like hummus, be sure to read the label. If it isn’t made entirely of whole food ingredients, don’t buy it and don’t eat it. Sodium benzoate (a preservative) is included in many varieties of store-bought hummus. A good rule of thumb is to only purchase foods with 5 or fewer ingredients and all of them need to be whole foods.</font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri"><img width="721" style="WIDTH: 288px; HEIGHT: 154px" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043852?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="308" height="180"/></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" align="left"><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin"><span style="mso-list: Ignore"><font size="3" face="Calibri">3)</font> </span></span><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Replace Protein</b> – The number one question I get asked as a vegetarian is “How do you get enough protein?” First of all, if you are eating a variety of whole foods, you are likely getting enough protein. If you continue to eat eggs and dairy, you are certainly getting enough protein but if you aren’t, you will need to ensure that you get your protein from healthy sources. High protein foods you can include in some of your meals are: beans (chickpeas/garbanzos, kidney, black, pinto, lima, lentils, etc.), high protein grains such as quinoa or amaranth, and nuts/seeds. You do not need to eat soy and many natural health professionals, myself included, discourage the consumption of soy (including tofu – GASP! A vegetarian who won’t eat tofu!). Remember, you don’t need a ton of protein in your diet (roughly 8-10% of total calories) so don’t go crazy. Even an apple has some protein in it.</font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" align="left"></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" align="left"><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin"><span style="mso-list: Ignore"><font size="3" face="Calibri">4)</font> </span></span><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">1:4 Ratio</b> – while fruits are delicious and a part of a balanced vegetarian diet, you should make sure that you are eating no more than 1 serving of fruit for every 4 servings of vegetables. Speaking of servings; since whole foods don’t have a label, many people don’t know what constitutes a serving. With a fruit or vegetable that is dense like broccoli, carrots, apples and potatoes, a serving equals a half-cup. For less dense foods like spinach, sprouts and kale, one cup equals a serving. Lots of fruits mean lots of sugars and it’s best to moderate consumption.</font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri"><img width="576" style="WIDTH: 156px; HEIGHT: 155px" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203043743?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="227" height="430"/></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" align="left"><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin"><span style="mso-list: Ignore"><font size="3" face="Calibri">5)</font> </span></span><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Eat a Rainbow</b> – Different colored plants contain a variety of phytonutrients and antioxidants in their nutrient cache. While green is the foundation of a vegetarian diet, be sure that you are regularly including food plants that are red, orange, yellow, blue, purple and even white (garlic, onions, oatmeal, etc.)</font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" align="left"></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" align="left"><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin"><span style="mso-list: Ignore"><font size="3" face="Calibri">6)</font> </span></span><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Vitamin B-12</b> (cobalamin) – the nutrient that is hardest to come by when eating a plant-based diet is vitamin B-12. You can have a simple blood test done to check your levels. If it is determined that you are deficient in this vitamin, you can take a supplement. The most bio-available form (and the hardest to find on the shelf) is the methylcobalamin version. A sublingual (under the tongue) lozenge is best.</font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" align="left"><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin"><span style="mso-list: Ignore"><font size="3" face="Calibri">7)</font> </span></span><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Cravings</b> – the more healthy foods you eat; the more healthy foods you will crave. I didn’t believe it either, but it’s true. As you body adjusts to a natural, plant-based diet, you will find yourself craving foods like blueberries or broccoli or sweet potatoes instead of chips and cookies. You may even develop as aversion to such things. Give it time. The longer you do it, the easier and more enjoyable it gets. Consider starting with “Meatless Mondays” and working from there.</font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 0.25in" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Being a vegetarian isn’t the easiest thing in our society but it is one of the healthiest – as long as you do it correctly. So ditch the chips and cookies for some apple slices and cashews and enjoy the healthy benefits of a “good” vegetarian lifestyle.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 0.25in" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">---</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 0.25in" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Interested in learning more? Check out <a href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com"><img alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203032745?profile=original"/></a>and register for my mailing list. I will send you a free chapter of my book "7 Steps to a Naturally Unbridled Life"!</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 0.25in" class="MsoNormal" align="left"></p>Ho-Ho-Holistic Holidays: Survival Tips for a Happy, Healthy Holiday Seasontag:www.barnmice.com,2010-11-03:1773158:BlogPost:2969092010-11-03T21:13:54.000ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD
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</font></font></font><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri"><img alt="" height="345" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203032046?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" style="WIDTH: 356px; HEIGHT: 345px" width="209"></img></font></font></font></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">Some people simply love the holidays. Others utterly despise them. The rest of us fall somewhere in between. Food, family and festivities are all part…</font></font></font></p>
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</font></font></font><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri"><img width="721" style="WIDTH: 356px; HEIGHT: 345px" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203032046?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="209" height="345"/></font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">Some people simply love the holidays. Others utterly despise them. The rest of us fall somewhere in between. Food, family and festivities are all part of the holiday season and contribute to our own personal reasons for loving, hating or love-hating the holidays. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">This article will provide you with some simple, natural strategies for surviving the holidays; body, mind, spirit and planet.</b></font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><u>Body:</u></b> Our bodies take a huge hit during the holidays. We definitely eat foods that we don’t typically eat and we often eat more food and more often than usual. In addition, due to the chaos of holiday shopping, holiday parties, holiday cards, holiday cooking and holiday decorating, we often sacrifice our exercise routine to make time for these events. While we’re on the run, taking steps to complete the tasks just mentioned, we may not take the time to prepare healthy meals. We may find ourselves eating at the drive-thru or the food court.</font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><img width="576" style="WIDTH: 232px; HEIGHT: 219px" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203032555?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="234" height="483"/></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><u>Body Tips</u></b>: Pack a brown bag of easy to eat, healthy foods to eat while you’re on the run. Assorted, raw nuts are a great, healthy snack that will give you energy, protein, omega-3 fats, and antioxidants to help combat the effects of stress. Throw a couple of apples or pears in there too. Baby carrots, whole grain crackers and a container of hummus also make for a quick and healthy snack. Be sure to drink plenty of water (half your body weight in ounces) to support your health and immunity – especially during times of stress. When it comes to the holiday table, as crazy as it sounds, use smaller plates and serving utensils to reduce portion size. Even using a smaller fork will help you to consume less food. The mistake many people make is they take a portion equal to what they would eat at a normal meal. The problem is there is usually about 3-5 times as much food as usual so you end up taking insane amounts of food. Using a teaspoon or tablespoon instead of a serving spoon will allow you to taste everything without over-doing it.</font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><u>Mind:</u></b> The mind probably takes the biggest hit during the holidays. With so many things to remember and do, we get overwhelmed very easily. Combine this with the shorter daylight hours, and you have a recipe for holiday depression. Many of us are so busy making sure that everyone else enjoys the holidays that we over-extend and over-schedule ourselves to the brink of insanity.</font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><u>Mind Tips:</u></b> Sit down and make a list of everything that you usually do or try to do for the holidays. Prioritize those items as: “Do”, “Drop”, or “Delegate”. Then take the “Do” items and prioritize them as “Must Do” and “Nice to Do”. Focus on the “Must-Do” items first. On the “Delegate” list, make a list of who you will delegate the task to, write the date that you delegated it, and the date they agreed to get it done by. Follow up on that date or simply trust them to get it done. This is a great time of year to edit your external influences. Stop watching or reading the news. Listen to some classical or spa-type music in the car or while cooking, cleaning or wrapping. Holiday music is fine too, as long as it puts you in a good mood. Understand that others are stressed out too and, even if they rub you the wrong way, wish them “Happy Holidays” and move on.</font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><u>Spirit:</u></b> It’s funny when people talk about the holiday spirit because from what I can tell, it’s not the Spirit of Christmas Past, Present of Future; it’s the Spirit of Christmas Insanity. Let me start by saying that if it doesn’t enrich your holiday experience either don’t do it at all or, if you feel obligated, do it to the minimal level possible to protect yourself from negative influences.</font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Spirit Tips: If you hate your work’s holiday party, don’t go. If you can’t afford gifts, write a note detailing a fond memory you have of that person. Thank them for being in your life. If your family drives you crazy, come late and leave early to the holiday festivities. No one will give you a hard time if you skip out to visit a nursing home, hospital, or homeless shelter. I guarantee that you will have a lot more holiday spirit by putting a smile on a sick child’s face versus trading scratch-tickets and bottles of booze at the Yankee Swap.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri"><strong>Planet:</strong> During the holidays, we create a lot of waste that will end up in landfills. We use a lot of extra fuel running around from mall to mall and having presents shipped across the country. Try to keep the planet in mind as make your holiday plans.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><img width="576" style="WIDTH: 169px; HEIGHT: 196px" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203032568?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="373" height="544"/></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri"><strong>Planet Tips:</strong> Buy food from local farms or as local as you can get. If you live in Connecticut, buy potatoes from Maine. If you live in Colorado, buy potatoes from Idaho. Don’t buy tinsel; decorate pinecones instead. String popcorn and cranberries instead of using foil garland. Send gift cards instead of heavy boxes. Grab a friend and carpool to the mall. You will have more luck finding one parking space than two and you can divide and conquer. One of you takes a list to the toy store, one of you takes a list to the department store and you rendezvous in the lobby at a certain time. If there are questions, there are cell phones.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">The holidays are supposed to be a time for cheer. Take a step back and evaluate your holiday schedule and ask yourself which parts enrich your life, and which parts impair your life. <strong>Make choices that will enhance your holiday experience; body, mind, spirit and planet.</strong></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri"><img width="721" style="WIDTH: 285px; HEIGHT: 205px" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203032649?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="492" height="373"/></font></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">For a FREE copy of the "Heal Naturally" chapter from my book "7 Steps to a Naturally Unbridled Life", and to see if you are Naturally Unbridled or if you are being held back, visit <a href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com">http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com</a></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><a href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com"><img alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203032745?profile=original"/></a></p>Ridden Hard and Put Away Wet - Equestrians Lose Sight of Self-Caretag:www.barnmice.com,2010-10-25:1773158:BlogPost:2938322010-10-25T00:02:28.000ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD
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<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri" size="3"><strong>“Ridden hard and put away wet!”</strong> This age old expression brings to mind an image of a horse that worked rigorously and was not properly cared for. You can picture the animal galloping along, doing her…</font></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri"><strong>“Ridden hard and put away wet!”</strong> This age old expression brings to mind an image of a horse that worked rigorously and was not properly cared for. You can picture the animal galloping along, doing her job, breathing heavily and working up a lather; then not getting the care that she needs and deserves. You know, kind of like many Equestrians who work hard to take care of their horses, their families, their homes and their work and when it comes to caring for themselves… well, they’re “put away wet”.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">The reality is that this <strong>behavior</strong> is not only detrimental to your present and future health and well-being, but it is also affecting your quality life and of the work you produce. What would happen if you cared for your horses in this manner? They would certainly not look their best. Their performance would suffer. They wouldn’t feel good and they might start to pick up some bad habits to try to reduce their stress level. Cribbing and weaving come to mind – the horse’s version of wine and coffee. As an Equestrian, you know what it takes for a horse to perform to the best of her ability. She needs optimal feed, optimal rest, optimal work and optimal care. So do you.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">The area where most Equestrians cut corners is in their <strong>nutrition</strong>. Fast food, snack food, and junk food comprise the average diet of many equine enthusiasts. Most of what they eat is beige, processed and lacks in everything but calories. Think of it like feeding your horses the brownest, coarsest hay you could find and topping it off with sugar cubes. It will fill them up and keep them alive (maybe) but they certainly could not perform to their potential. It’s just as easy to grab an apple, some baby carrots, and some nuts as it is to grab a bag of potato chips and some cookies. Raw, unsalted nuts are a tremendously healthy snack with a wide variety of nutrients and enough energy to keep you going. Transitioning from coffee and soft drinks to water will actually provide you with more energy by both hydrating and detoxifying your cells. Making good nutrition choices will help you to perform at the top of your game so that both you and your horses will be in peak form.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Beyond nutrition, <strong>rejuvenation</strong> is another area where Equestrians short-change themselves. Long hours, long days, long weeks and long seasons lead to short rest and recuperation for the equine enthusiast. Again, when you relate it to horses, it makes a lot of sense. When you ship horses a significant distance to a competition, do you ship them through the night and then compete the next day? No, you give them a day of rest and then at least a day of light work before they need to perform. Do you ask them to perform at their highest level every single day or do they have days where they are hand-walked or just work on fitness? You <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">know</i> that rest is important and not just for the horses. Your body rebuilds itself during deep <strong>sleep</strong> when hormones are produced to construct, repair and replace cells and tissues. If you’re not getting enough sleep, you’re not repairing and eventually something will break. Schedule downtime for yourself and be sure to have some fun. Rest and laughter are instrumental in maintaining optimal health.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Equestrians are some of the hardest working people I know. The time commitment to participate in equestrian sports is substantial, and when you combine that with the rigors of daily life, it can be a bit intense. Compare your health routine to that of the animals in your care. Are you getting the right food and supplements? Are you taking proper care of injuries? Are you getting enough rest and downtime? Are you as healthy as your horses? If you know what it takes to get a horse to be in ideal health, you can apply the same concepts to yourself. <strong>When you achieve optimal health in body, mind and spirit, all areas of your life improve</strong>. What will you do for yourself today?</font></p>
<p><font size="3">Be sure to join my mailing list by entering your information in the <strong><span style="COLOR: #800080">purple box</span></strong> on the</font> <a><font color="#743399" size="3"><strong>www.NaturallyUnbridled.com</strong></font></a> <font size="3">home page. I’ll send you a free gift and you’ll have the opportunity to take a free quiz to determine if you are Naturally Unbridled or if you’re being held back.</font></p>What it Means for YOU to be Naturally Unbridledtag:www.barnmice.com,2010-10-21:1773158:BlogPost:2924152010-10-21T21:27:36.000ZPatti Bartsch, Ph.D.http://www.barnmice.com/profile/PattiBartschPhD
<p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="4">What it Means For YOU to be Naturally Unbridled</font></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman" size="4">By Patti Bartsch, M.A., Ph.D.…</font></p>
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<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" align="center"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman">What it Means For YOU to be Naturally Unbridled</font></p>
<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" align="center"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Patti Bartsch, M.A., Ph.D.</font></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Calibri"><img width="721" style="WIDTH: 248px; HEIGHT: 132px" alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2203031846?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="218" height="345"/></font></p>
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<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">At first glance, the term “<a href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com">Naturally Unbridled</a>” may bring thoughts of horses bucking and playing, or possibly mustangs galloping in a herd. These are great images that represent, perhaps, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">feeling</i> of being Naturally Unbridled. In this case, the term is used to represent the results obtained from the use of natural tips and strategies to help you to “release the reins” of whatever is holding you back from achieving your optimal life and health.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">As a Holistic Life and Wellness Coach who specializes in Equestrian Women, I provide support and techniques to balance all areas of your life; body, mind, spirit and planet. The articles you will read here will focus on healthy strategies for eating, healing, moving, acting, thinking, sleeping and living naturally. You can expect to find a variety of topics from eating healthy foods in challenging situations (such as equestrian competitions); to the use of specific herbs, vitamins and foods to balance hormonal challenges.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">A truly Naturally Unbridled life is one where all aspects of one’s life are in balance - most of the time. It begins with nourishing your body so that every organ, tissue and cell can function properly. While nutrition is vital to good health, it is not the end of the story. As you know, if you simply fed your horse the best possible diet but you didn’t exercise him, or if he was stressed or abused, he would be far from the picture of health. The same is true for you. You must balance the health of your body, mind and spirit in order to live your optimal life.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Earlier, I added something to the phrase “body, mind and spirit”; I added “planet”. I do this because it is my belief that we are not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">on</i> the planet but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">of</i> the planet and therefore, we must also take measures to ensure the health of the Earth. If we are eating contaminated food, drinking contaminated water and breathing contaminated air, it is that much harder for our bodies to be healthy. For that reason, some of my articles may also include tips about how to make choices that are not only healthy for you, but also healthy for the Earth.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">While many people may feel overwhelmed by a comprehensive, holistic health make-over, it is not a very difficult thing to do. Start by observing your life. What influences are affecting your life and health? Are you eating food that contains chemicals such as artificial colors, artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors and chemical preservatives? Are you exposed to constant negativity through popular media? Do you have people in your life who bring you down? If this is the case, it affects more than your health and your day-to-day life; it affects your relationship with your horse and your performance in the saddle. Start by making one choice every day that will bring you a little closer to optimal health. Perhaps you choose a bottle of water over a diet soda. Maybe you turn off the news and read a book about natural health tips. Rather than spending time with a person who brings you down, spend more time with someone who makes you laugh, or better yet, spend some extra time with your horse. When you start to ask yourself “Is this (food, person, experience) nourishing or toxic to my body, mind, spirit or planet?” it becomes very simple to make healthy choices. </font></font></font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Calibri">Welcome to the path to your Naturally Unbridled life! Email me at: nu {at} naturallyunbridled {dot com} and let me know what one step you will take today to get further along today. I look forward to supporting you along the way.</font></p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal" align="left"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">Patti Bartsch, M.A., Ph.D. is a Certified Holistic Life & Wellness Coach specializing in Equestrian Women. Visit <a href="http://www.NaturallyUnbridled.com">www.NaturallyUnbridled.com</a> to get a free chapter from her book "7 Steps to a Naturally Unbridled Life"</font></font></font></b></p>
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