Thoughts on Holiday Indulgence from a Wellness Professional

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While pondering on what subject I should blog about during this sugar and wheat filled season of guilt, I felt compelled to write about holiday indulgence.

First off let me add a disclaimer: This is just my experience with holiday gluttony and lack of willpower. I am in no way telling you what, why, when or how much you should indulge or abstain. These are just my own observations of years and years of enjoying the guilt of the season. After all January is next and we all know that is when the real struggle begins!

So, for starters there are a few must haves before the indulgence can even begin.
1. A very good probiotic

 

Probiotics

2. Digestive Enzymes for basic digestion

Digestive Enzymes

3. A good heartburn remedy and plan for exit strategy (pooping)

Our Serene Colon Hydrotherapy Room Featuring the Angel Of Water

Marco Pharma

5. Some discrepancy on where your food is sourced

Our Garden

We have 4 of the those 5 bases covered here at Aqua Serene Wellness!

Now onto the indulgence part.

I feel that when you eat with guilt you have just lowered the positive energy in the experience and devalued any nutrition that might have been likely in the first place. So Bless your food. Enjoy and Savor the moment, for it only comes around one time a year!

Baklava

 

The food and aromas trigger those memories of joy and abandon, don’t ruin it with guilt and negativity, and don’t ruin my choices or anyone’s for that matter with negativity either! It is called informed consent when dealing with adults. Our kids we need to teach a little bit of pacing themselves for their own sake and for the sake of those who have to try and put them to bed at night! So as you take each bite into that buttery wheat and sugar filled cookie, pie or cake relish in the memory that comes with it. Just don’t eat the entire plate full, share and then share some more!

My cheesecakes

Homemade Pizzelles

I love to cook and bake and yes some of my foods have flour and sugar, I warn anyone who is gluten, dairy or sugar intolerant what is in the food. I can tell you absolutely none of the food I bake has artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. I use only organic baking goods, backyard eggs (my backyard) real organic butter and dairy and when possible honey from local bees, maple syrup from my trees, and sugar that is organic and sustainably sourced. The absolute most important ingredient in any item that comes from my circa 1950’s kitchen is LOVE! This null and voids any “bad” ingredient hands down in my personal opinion.

Maple Syrup from our trees

I try to mostly feed my soul. In the Winter it is from the kitchen, cooking and baking, canning and experimenting is something that calms me, makes me happy and I love to do. This feeds the people I love and my own passions. I will say, I do miss my double convection bake oven, professional line gas stove and counter space that three people could take a nap on, but still give me a burner, a mixer, a 1950’s basic electric stove and a cutting board and I can still manage to whip out love and a thing of beauty.

 

In Summer I feed my soul by gardening, canning, eating food right off the vine and foraging in my woods for berries. Most of my “Soul Food” comes from my own yard and kitchen, and if not then I go to local markets and organic grocery stores where I tend to lose hours of my time. Did I mention I love food? I have to steer clear of kitchen gadget stores I want them all! I cannot go to a Pampered Chef party…ever!

Black Raspberries from our woods

Black Raspberry Jam

So during this holiday party scene that is once again upon us I want to remind you that it is OK to eat the cookie, drink the holiday cocktail (as long as you have a safe way to get home) and lick the beaters, just don’t put them back in the batter! Bless the food you make with LOVE, as well as the food you eat. Share that recipe, share the cookies and share the LOVE. You are making memories for those you love and visiting memories from those that have left us.

Photo Credit Willie Stark

 

Fermented kefir water

We will have a Cleanse Special in January to help with exit strategies and get you back on track. I want to remind you it will be so much easier to reset your gut if you are eating fermented foods, taking probiotics and enzymes as well as eliminating during the indulgence season. We have 10% off our digestive enzymes and probiotics through the end of the year!

Have you Pooped Today?

We send Love to all of you during this season from all of us here at Aqua Serene Wellness. We are located in Carmel Indiana, and the 100th Round-about just opened up on E. Carmel Drive which is where we are. Please leave a comment about a favorite holiday memory, we will choose one to feature in a drawing for a Gift Certificate for an Ionic Foot Detox!

We offer Colon Hydrotherapy, Organic Skin Care Services, Energy Therapy, Ionic Foot Detox, Massage, Acupuncture, Functional Medicine, Raindrop Technique, Jin Shin Jyutsu® and Digestive Wellness. Visit the wonderful practitioners in our office: Eastern Wind Acupuncture ,

Simply Serene Massage, Wellspring Functional Health, White Wolf Services

Find us on Social Media here: Check Us Out on Facebook,

 

The Art of Smudging With Sage

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sage

Man did not weave the web of life – he is merely a strand in it.
Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
– Chief Seattle, 1854 treaty oration

I like to smudge sage, it is ancient Native American Tradition, as well as a tradition with many cultures throughout the world. There are many types of herbs you can smudge, sweet grass, lavender, cedar, palo santo and so on. I like to use white sage.

My paternal grandmother Lokalona, (Cherokee) taught me that you are supposed to light it with a wooden match. I have done this countless times and yesterday the match head flew off already lit when I struck it on the side of the matchbox and landed right on top my head! It burnt a spot in my part and singed my hair. Now, I do not think burning hair is recommended unless you are practicing some kind of superstition about burning hair and a vision of your future husband/wife is revealed…we will leave superstitions to another blog post and my maternal grandmother!

You should use a clay type fire proof bowl or a shell to hold the ashes and burning fragments and then offer those back to the Mother Earth when they have cooled.

Smudging with sage has many benefits and research shows it raises the negative ions in the air, helping with positive energy.

A little about a Negative Ion Field:

A Negative Ion Field may be helpful with the following:
*Stimulate the Parasympathetic Nervous System which may cause relaxation.
*Balancing adrenals
*Increasing utilization of nutrient absorption
*Decreases pulse
*Supports good bacteria
*Supports many of the body functions

You can purchase sage at many health food stores, new age centers, Native American cultural centers, the internet or grow and dry your own. Some you will find are mixed with other herbs as well.

Set an Intention: Make sure you set an intention, say a prayer to God or The Universe while you are smudging. Be clear on what your intention is. Yesterday I asked for a peaceful end to the water fight in Standing Rock North Dakota. This is something every living thing has a right to, clean water. Please take a moment and send a prayer.

Open a Window: It is said in Native American tradition that people with negative energy are offended by sage almost to the point of revulsion. It is important that when you are burning the sage to have a place for the bad vibes to escape too.

Lighting the Sage: This can be tricky, remember try to use a long wooden match just watch out for flying lit pieces of it!  Once you have a flame blow it out until you see lighted embers. You will witness the fragrant stream of white smoke coming off the embers. I blow on them to keep them going, or move the smudge stick around in the air or around objects that you are smudging.

You can smudge objects to clear negative energy, like your electronics for example.  Some people like to smudge jewelry or other items that might have absorbed bad vibes. You can sage people as well. The best way to do this is have them stand with arms out to the sides, almost like at the airport when they “wand” you. Do the front first, then the back.

Extinguishing your sage is important. Either snuff it out or take it outside and put dirt over the lit end. Make sure to offer any ashes back to Mother Earth and then once you are sure it is out store the sage higher than your waist. This is for respect and keeping the energy in a higher space.

Come visit us at Aqua Serene Wellness and have some tea and enjoy our many services listed below. We love the good energy it brings to come together in community. We smudge with sage at our place often and most everyone that stops in always mentions how the good the energy feels in our space. Leave a comment below, we love hearing from you!

We are located in Carmel Indiana, and offer Holistic Skin Care Services, Colon Hydrotherapy, Raindrop Technique, Jin Shin Jyutsu®, Energy Therapies, Ionic Foot Detox, Massage by Simply Serene Massage  and White Wolf Services Acupuncture by Eastern Wind Acupuncture  and Functional Medicine by Wellspring Functional Health.

Aqua Serene Wellness Spa, 301 E. Carmel Dr, Carmel IN. 46032  phone: 317-564-0930

info@aquaserenewellness.com