The ionic foot cleanse

Well, gentle readers, I have spent the last month being more sick than I care to confess or remember. I, the one who is never sick, have been reduced to immobility, sneezing, nose blowing and ear stoppage for weeks straight. I'm sure by now that it is a sinus infection. Forgive me if you are reading and I have ever blithely suggested you rid yourself of a sinus infection by using the neti pot. Folks, it doesn't work. Perhaps the neti pot will help keep infections away, but it won't get rid of them!

Because I have been feeling so poorly (and one of James' clients sent it home with him), we used the ionic foot cleanse last night. What an interesting contraption! First off, the water has to be at just the right pH level, which proved to be a trifle difficult. A cuff with a small metal piece is worn around the wrist. The machine measures the pH level of the water and emits a piercing whistle when the pH is too high. Then, the little unit proceeds to send some kind of electrical current through your body, thereby flushing you of all kinds of toxins. Hmmm...that's strange...

Let me just say that I love trying these alternative remedies. I don't go to the doctor, so I must find different ways to help problems. I'm a firm believer that proper nutrition and exercise will cure most bodily ills, so always try to remedy personal sickness with natural interventions. One thing I do usually like to do is research these treatments before plunging in feet first, literally. I didn't do a very thorough job of reading up on this foot cleanse thing-y so I looked at it some more this morning.

I found a great website with a thorough explanation of the procedure and also, several contraindications that we should have read through first.

Persons with a pacemaker
During pregnancy or breastfeeding
Persons with organ implants
persons with epilepsy
Persons undergoing radation or chemotherapy
Persons with type 1 diabetes
Persons with open wounds on the feet
Persons on blood thinning medication

The actual feeling? Well, the current was kind of uncomfortable and prickly. The feeling was the same one I get when my feet are really tired and cramped and I can't stretch them enough. Anyone know what I'm talking about? This feeling subsided after a while and my feet began to feel better. It was also a good soak for these Birkenstock gardening feet--dirty!! As for the toxins: the water turned an icky orange with black flecks but from the pictures I've seen online, most folks' water turns that color. So, I'm not convinced anything is really happening until I see someone with different colored water!

Do any of you have any experience with this method? I would love to hear your opinions on this. And, of course, I'll leave you with a picture.

Flat-Panel TV Reviews.

When most folks enter our home, one of the things they notice is that we don't have a television. We are finding that our lack of a television is less and less of a novel thing in our circle of friends. More people make the choice not to own a television, citing lack of time, interest and good programming. For James and myself, we don't want to give ourselves over to the entertainment that comes through the screen. Besides, if there is something we really want to see (Dancing With the Stars), we can very easily pull it up on youtube.

So, it came as a huge surprise to me when I was tooling around on Wize the other day, to see the prices for which flat panel televisions are selling. What? I was hoping to buy a car for the price of a top-ranked flat screen tv. Granted, the screen picture looks beautiful, but I'm probably not the most qualified to write one of those flat panel TV reviews that you can find on Wize.

Actually, I find the price range of these TV screens fairly interesting. On the first page of the flat panel TV reviews, the ranking goes from 96 (100 being the highest) to 90. To my mind, anything in the top 10 percent must be fairly good. The top ranked screen sells for about $1000 while dropping 6 points in the flat panel TV reviews gets you an almost $600 savings! If I were in the market for one of these screens, I would really appreciate knowing this information. Chalk another one up for a great consumer review site.

If you're wise...use Wize...

What a neat website. Something tells me I read about this place a while back, maybe over at Stephanie's place? Not sure, but I was super happy to check out wize.com tonight. This website is full of product reviews from regular buyers like me. Even better, wize.com also has a panel of experts to write reviews. As I browsed some of the categories wize has to offer, I was amused to see that sometimes the users and the professionals disagreed on their verdicts. What are some of the categories Wize has to offer? The products reviewed range from manual SLR lenses to curling irons. What a great variety of opinions and ratings! Each item has its own Wize number (ranked from 0-100: 100 being the best) that makes for greater ease in finding a product to suit one's needs.

On further browsing, I was impressed to see two friendly looking folks sporting their life history. Wize actually has a leadership page, complete with bios for the founders and the board of directors. I love transparency in a corporation! More page clicking and I found what the media and other bloggers have to say about Wize. On the pressroom page, I found an embedded video of an interview with Tom Patterson (CEO of Wize). The interviewer referred to Wize as a "consumer reports site on steroids." Patterson then went on to explain in full that Wize is a website that offers product reviews that are beneficial to the consumer in making buying decisions.

My favorite part about Wize? The pretty pictures. No, honest! Although Wize does offer great product reviews, I also like it for its look. Wize is a nice, eye-friendly website (mostly blues and whites) with lots of clean lines and no loud advertising or flashy colors. I like simple and efficient. I also like workable. Looks like I found a good thing.

The Neti Pot

For those of you who may have sinus issues, be sure to hie yourself to the nearest natural foods store or pharmacy and get a neti pot. Every time I mention this little lifesaver, someone is sure never to have heard of such a thing. It works like a charm to keep my sinus passages clear during allergy season here in Florida. Did I mention I never dealt with allergies in Louisiana and Texas? Almost the minute I moved to Florida, I developed a sinus headache and didn't know what it was for weeks!

The neti pot works by irrigating the sinus canal, keeping any allergens washed away. Sure, the pot is shaped kinda funny and you look even funnier using it--but I am all for efficiency!

Dissolve about one teaspoon of table salt in a cup of very warm water. Add a pinch of baking powder to the mixture. When the liquid is the right temperature (depending on your own preference), gently place the tip of the pot into one nostril and lean your head to the side while slowly pouring the saline solution. Did I say this was easy? It really takes some time to do this procedure correctly but it's the most effective and natural solution I have found!

Wordless Wednesday

how many do we need?, originally uploaded by bekados.

Visit more WW participants here.

The Irresistible Revolution

Note: this entry is cut and pasted from our other blog Coffee Klatch. So, if by some chance you are reading both blogs, sorry for the crossover, I just wanted to say the same thing in both places!
Now I've gone and done it. I am reading a book that could change everything. No, it's not the Bible. That might be too revolutionary for me. James and I just started reading The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. It's all about Shane's search for Jesus and a true Christian. I just began chapter four and I have laughed and cried. He has lived with lepers in India and welfare families in Philadelphia. If you check the Spiritual Pathways from yesterday's post, you will see that Shane is an activist. More on this book as we read and digest it.

Check out the webpage for The Simple Way...this is the organization of which Shane is a part. Visit the page. Lots of great stuff. Learn something new while you're there.

More later, I'm off to plead with James for that grey water system!

Supercharge Me...

30 Days Raw

Our good friend Dave handed us this RAW-cumentary since he knows we're into eating right (most of the time) and healthy living. We just watched it and would like to send out kudos to Dave Flaton (he's the editor of the film and has Spirit in the Sky playing on his site). Great job. We're inspired!

Supercharge Me is about one woman's journey to fit into a showgirl costume for hallowe'en. At 152 lbs, she checks herself into a raw foods institute in San Diego, CA. For 3 weeks, Jenna undergoes an intense detox program. In one scene, we are even treated to an in-depth colonics session. The audience actually sees a session taking place! That's mighty gross. In all fairness, the film tells its viewers that folks with a weak stomach had better leave the room for approximately 5 minutes and 16 seconds.

In the three weeks that she is detoxing, Jenna loses 14 lbs, drops cholesterol levels (good and bad), blood sugar levels, blood pressure and becomes slightly anemic. How does this come about? To begin, her first three days at the institute, she is on a juice fast. No outside food is allowed on the campus and the stove/oven are disconnected in the dorm rooms. Along with the raw foods diet, the detox participants engage in light exercise and classes on digestion and spirituality.

Filmed and edited in the same vein as Morgan Spurlock's Supersize Me, this raw-cumentaray is a really cool expose on the raw food world. We learn about enemas, implants, wheat grass, colonics and sun burgers. Did you know you can eat chocolate on a raw foods diet? Ice cream and custard also somehow find their way into the raw foods menus.

James and I are pretty sure we could never enjoy a raw foods diet. Things like ice cream, coffee and lemon heads stand in my way. James got a deer in the headlights look when I suggested we try the diet, even though he later pointed out to me the passage in the book of Daniel where [Daniel] fasts from all rich foods, eating only vegetables and drinking only water. How about you all? Is anyone out there a raw foods fan? Let me know what you think.


Here is one recipe that I found linked to from the Super Charge Me site. Feast your eyes on this!

Asian Noodle Salad with Sesame Vinaigrette

I love this salad, definitely one of my favorites. You don't have to be exact with the measurements for the salad part, just make as much as you want and throw it all in a big bowl and toss with the dressing. I'm always surprised at how much I eat of this salad, but once you toss all the veggies with the dressing, it sort of shrinks down in size. Well, that's my story anyways, and I'm sticking to it. It just tastes so darn good, all that crunchiness and sweet and salt and spiciness! Yum.

Instructions:

Whisk together all of the ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl. In a large mixing bowl, toss the salad ingredients with the dressing and serve.

Recipe Credits:
Recipe by Vanessa Sherwood

Ingredients

Salad
1 1/2 Cup Shredded green cabbage
1 1/2 Cup Shredded Napa cabbage
1 Cup Shredded red cabbage
1 Cup Sliced baby bok choyr
1 Cup Mung bean sprouts
1 Young Coconut
Young Coconut Meat Sliced into thin noodles
1/4 Cup Cilantro leaves
1/4 Cup Hemp Seeds
Dressing Ingredients
1/4 Cup Cold pressed sesame oil (olive oil can be used as a substitute)
2 Tablespoon Agave Nectar
1 Large Clove Garlic Minced
1 Teaspoon Toasted Sesame Oil
1 Red Thai Pepper Minced
1 Teaspoon Minced Ginger
1 Teaspoon Himalayan Crystal Salt

To see a trailer of the film, click your little mouse right here. You can also check out Jenna's website at SuperChargeMe dot com