Press the Restart Button.

Each year we are given a chance to press the restart button on health, after the 1st of the year's resolutions "wear off" you get a chance to start again, with a Spring Cleaning. Not just opening the windows and letting fresh air into the house or sweeping cobwebs out from the corner, what I meant was detoxifying your colon.

Toxins left in our colon can get in the way of smelling the sweet smells of honeysuckle as you walk past them climbing up your neighbors arbor. Tasting the crisp green earthiness of fresh sprouts that have pressed their little heads through the deep brown musty micro-cosmic environment.

Toxins increase our sensitivity (such as allergies) and decrease our ability to truly enjoy the most beautiful things in life. Give your body a spring detox and just wait and see all the wonderful new changes. I just reviewed an excellent example of colon health and the relationship to disease. This video isn't the most attractive presentation, but it gets the point across. You are what you eat.

Food Allergies

Knowledge about food allergies seems to be increasing these days. Someone told me that one of the reality shows is going a celebrity edition in which the celebrities donate their winnings to their charity of choice - and one is donating to food allergy research, because his daughter had terrible food allergies! I thought that was fantastic, not only because of the donation, but also because just by saying that on the show, it increases people's awareness that they, too, might have a food allergy.

So many people are affected by allergies, sensitivities and intolerance to foods and food groups that I'm surprised people don't accept this more readily. But I also know that food is a sacred cultural and emotional prerogative that can be extremely difficult to change. I did find something that can help, though: Living Without, a magazine for people living with food allergies. Looks like it might have interesting articles, references and recipes!

My advise for the general, healthy public is to diversify your diet. I think much of our modern problems with food stem from increasingly limited food stuffs that we eat - the most common food allergens, including wheat, corn, soy and dairy, are extremely hard to avoid because they are in almost all packaged foods. Try increasing your diet diversity by adding different fruits, vegetables, whole grains and seeds. Look up recipes online using ingredients you've always wanted to try.

Happy eating!