Commercials on television give you the impression that alcohol does nothing but make you happy, young, and attractive. The truth is much more sobering. Alcohol can act as a depressant or lead to aggressive behavior and have you waking up with a painful hangover which can include sensitivity to noise and light, a throbbing headache, upset stomach, achy muscles, nausea, and a host of other uncomfortable conditions. For hangovers, you’ve probably heard of the remedy using a Bloody Mary drink. There is some truth to tomato juice being useful, mostly because it’s a fluid that helps repair your dehydration. But here are some better suggestions that really work for cures and prevention. For more home remedies and tips from nature using herbs, foods, spices, and lifestyle choices, please refer to my series of natural remedy booklet/CD combos and my special seminar collection entited Renew Your Life. Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Create a Nature’s Medicine Chest in your home and include some or all of these surefire remedies below.

If you'd like to hear Susan talk about natural remedies to prevent and heal hangovers, click HERE.

The Seven Stress Busters

During a series of recent seminars I gave in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Toronto, and New York City on Renew Your Life: Getting on the Fast-Track to High-Level Vitality, Prosperity, Success & Happiness, I received loads of positive feedback from my previous blog. Many people asked me to provide my favorite, specific stress busters in another blog, so here's some extra information that might provide support for those of you stressed to the hilt.

It’s a new season -- a time of new beginnings and fresh starts -- is upon us — a time to make choices about improving your health. One of the best ways to bring wellness into your world is to decrease the level of stress you experience on a daily basis. Why is reducing stress so important? Believe it or not, the American Association of Family Physicians reports that two-thirds of all doctor visits are due to stress-related ailments. It’s also believed that 80 to 90 percent of all diseases are stress-related. And if you’re female, stress may be even more damaging to your health. Study after study has found that women suffer from both stress and depression more often than men.

Although most of us think of deadlines and commitments when we think of stress, stress has many other causes. It can be triggered by emotions — anger, fear, worry, grief, depression, or even guilt. And stress can actually lead to high blood pressure, heart problems, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, headaches, and other illnesses and chronic health conditions. If you want to avoid these problems, follow my seven steps to relaxation and bring health and quantum wellness to your life and world.

Healthy Living with E3Live® — A Superfood Extraordinaire I'd Never Be Without

Every so often, I discover a superfood that profoundly changes my life and the lives of my friends, family, and clients, too. And in this instance, it's a superfood that I've taken for 20 years and would not be without. If you've read any of my books, such as Recipes for Health Bliss, The Joy Factor, Walking on Air, Be Healthy-Stay Balanced, Health Bliss, and The Healing Power of Naturefoods, you already know that I take and highly recommend a nutrient-dense aquabotanical called E3Live® and would not be without it. You've probably heard about all the negative press of late about the deleterious effects of taking a multivitamin supplement. Well, E3Live is the best liquid "multi" that is a whole-food superfood and not an artificial supplement. I often refer to it as my "liquid gold." It is pure radiant health and youthful vitality in a bottle, is fast-acting, and will benefit every one of the 70+ trillion cells in your body in as little at 15-20 minutes after taking a couple of ounces on an empty stomach.

Last month, the national news shows in America were all over the latest study of multivitamins and how they can be unhealthy, and even downright dangerous, to take. E3Live, in my estimation, is the world's safest and most effective multi-supplement anywhere — and millions taking it would agree. And just last month, E3Live won the prestigious first place award for the "Best Superfood in the VegHealth Awards" at World VegFest Weekend in San Francisco. This is a massive honor and not surprising! So in this Blog, I'd like tell you more about it — since it's been such an important part of my healthy lifestyle for 20 years — and to let you know how you can get an exclusive discount on it as a visitor to my website.

Tips to Upgrade Your Exercise Program & Stay Motivated

Excerpts from The Joy Factor: 10 Sacred Practices for Radiant Health

In Chapter 5 (Exercise — Fast and Slow, Alone and Together: I Choose to Move) of The Joy Factor, I cover in detail the best exercises to look younger and tune-up your body, and also share many amazing stories from my clients' experiences about how exercising regularly changed their lives, from individuals to families. This chapter will inspire and motivate you to embrace a life of fitness, especially the personal story about my first marathon and how my grandmother, Fritzie, rallied me on from the other side, a year after she passed away. Here's a brief excerpt from the chapter. And if you need help staying motivated to exercise regularly, please click here. 

Excerpt from The Joy Factor — Chapter 5 below:

We all know exercise is a key component of vibrant health, yet statistics reveal that only about 25 percent of Americans make exercise a regular part of their lifestyle. My hope is that after reading this chapter, if you’re not already a fitness enthusiast, you’ll be helping to increase the percentage. Whether you have several children and are busy with them from morning to night or are CEO of a Fortune 500 company who puts in 12-16 hours a day, seven days a week at the job, you must find time to exercise.

If you can’t carve out an hour each day to exercise, or even 30 minutes, then break the time up into 10- or 15-minute allotments. It should be pretty clear by now that I don’t believe in gimmicks and potions and magic pills, and I promise you there is no substitute for exercise. The old “I don’t have time to exercise” excuse just doesn’t work with me. You must make fitness a priority — a nonnegotiable part of your day.

You need — we all need — to find some type of physical activity that fits into your lifestyle and that exercises not only your body, but also your mind and spirit. If there is one self-help idea that has really caught on and that I’m sure will stay with us, it’s the idea that physical fitness transcends the physical body and benefits your mental and spiritual fitness as well.  

Are people really getting meaner or is it just your imagination? From the halls of Congress to the main streets of small-town America and our big cities, it seems like no one is capable of civilly listening to others whose viewpoints are different.

As I write about in my books The Joy Factor: 10 Sacred Practices for Radiant Health and Walking on Air: Your 30-Day Inside and Out Rejuvenation Makeover, I believe that we are in the midst of an epidemic in which few people have the time to be kind. This rampant form of business is nothing short of a sickness—a form of self-centeredness brought about by people rushing around trying to make ends meet and cope with mounting stress and numerous health issues.

Do you feel overwhelmed in your life and less compassionate than you did years ago? As I counsel people around the country, and even worldwide, it's been my experience that most people are burning the candle at both ends—daily; most people are experiencing severe sleep debt; most people have no time to call their own; and most folks are living in what I refer to as a spin-cycle lifestyle. Can you relate to any of this?

The more you rush around without keeping your life in perspective and in balance, the more you lose compassion for others and yourself, too. People are in such a rush these days, living on the fast track — talking fast, eating fast, and moving fast. What a difference from 50 years ago. Did you know that you'll probably do more in this year — with appointments, people to meet, and places to go — than your grandparents did their entire lives? Given our current pace, we barely have time to relax and cultivate relationships with our spouses and children, friends and nature, much less with God. Is it any wonder that stress-related diseases are on the rise? We are under pressure to keep busy even in our leisure hours. Computers have sped up our lives. We want to do everything, and we want to do it all at once. We talk on the telephone and text while we drive (even though there are now laws against this), watch television while we read, and conduct business while we listen to the radio. I see this as a sickness of epidemic proportions — a "busyness" or "hurry" sickness. This type of lifestyle also drains our hearts of compassion, according to many studies of late. If you understand the speed of life, you can slow it down by enjoying it more and by making a conscious choice of being more compassionate. Start with yourself. You'll find tips in one of my recent radio interviews entitled Have Americans Lost Their Compassion? and also below.

Stressed Out?

If you often feel like the demands of your daily life exceed your ability to meet them, you’re definitely not alone, as I noted throughout many pages of my new book The Joy Factor: 10 Sacred Practices for Radiant Health. The state of feeling “stressed out” and “overcommitted” is a growing problem among millions of Americans. Time magazine may have singled out stress as the “Epidemic of the Eighties,” but that was well before the Internet and social media significantly sped up the pace of most people’s lives,  and the prolonged wars and global economic troubles at the turn of the 21st century piled on additional woes. Today, over one million North Americans are absent on any given workday due to stress and stress-related disorders and 79%-90% of all visits to primary health-care practitioners in North America are due to stress-related illnesses or complaints.         

As I write about in my new booklet/CD combo, Natural Stress Solutions: Discover Nature's Secret to Inner Calm, Restful Sleep & Newfound Energy, in mankind’s prehistoric days roaming the plains and sleeping in caves, the stress response was actually a good thing. Our built-in “fight or flight” system provided our bodies with the energy needed to escape from danger or secure scarce resources. Though this type of high-intensity, short-term stress was beneficial for our survival, our bodies were not designed to withstand the type of chronic, long-term stress that is so common today. The same cascade of hormones released during a physically stressful event (like running away from a lion) is also released when we undergo a psychological stressor like conflict in marriage, unreasonable work demands, and economic worries. The difference is that we typically do not respond to these kinds of chronic stressors with vigorous physical activity (e.g. fighting or running away), and they do not have a definite end point. Consequently, our bodies may be continuously exposed to stress hormones, especially cortisol, and over time, this can add up to serious health problems. How does chronic stress impact our lives? Read on...

Just in Time for the Holiday Season: 20 Healthy Eating & Behavioral Modification Tips to Prevent Weight Gain & Promote Vitality

Here are 20 surefire tips that I use with my clients and friends that really work if you want to prevent weight gain or even lose weight during the holidays (or vacations, parties, and family gatherings year-round). In America, with all of the holiday festivities, parties, gatherings, and calorie-dense foods, it's not uncommon for people to gain weight between Thanksgiving week and the first week of January. In fact, over half of Americans will gain between 5 - 10 pounds during this short time. OUCH! Let's make this the first holiday season that you actually feel on top of the world when the New Year arrives — with soaring self-control and confidence and a healthier and stronger you — without gaining any extra weight.

You’ll find loads more valuable information in my 3-book healthy eating and living set published by Hay House — The Healing Power of NatureFoods, Health Bliss, and the full color recipe book with over 150 photographs Recipes for Health Bliss. You can find out how to purchase this special set at a substantial discount, known as the Blissful Living set, if you click HERE.

If you desire more information on being successful in the weight loss arena, click HERE. The Weight Loss Rebellion magazine provides lots of motivation.

And if you'd like to listen to Susan talk about all of these weight loss tips on a radio interview with host Jamie Dickerman, please click HERE.

1. Start the day in a healthy and positive way: Just as the first day of a new 30-day health and get-fit plan sets the tone for the entire month-long program, the first 40 minutes of each day sets the tone for the entire day. How do you want these first minutes to be in the morning? I want them to be relaxed, happy, healthy, positive, and sanguine. To make this happen, do what you can the night before so your first moments upon arising can be as positive as possible. Lay out your exercise clothes or your work clothes so you don't need to think about what to wear in the morning. Perhaps you can pack the lunches for yourself and your kids the night before. Or how about this? Set the kitchen table for breakfast the evening before so it's ready to greet you in the morning. When you begin the day in this most positive way, your entire day will flow more smoothly and confidently. During the holidays, there's so much added stress in our lives, so this simple practice of honoring those 40 minutes will make a profound difference in your life. Start tomorrow morning and contintue this simple practice thereafter. In an upcoming Blog, I'll share with you what I do the first 40 minutes of the day.

Welcome to the world of growing your own microgreens. You can grow outdoors in warm seasons, or indoors all year long — even if you have limited space. It's literally countertop gardening. Microgreens are inexpensive, fun to grow, and cover a wide variety of exciting, nutrient-dense tastes. It also makes it easy to consume more living foods! For all of the latest cutting-edge info on the health benefits of consuming more raw foods and how to incorporate them into your lifestyle when living in the "real world," please refer to my internationally popular digital seminar program Renew Your Life. Don't rush through the program. For some, it takes one year to complete. If you have lots of free time, it might take you 4-6 weeks.

I learned about growing microgreens from my grandmother when I was a teenager, at the same time she taught me how to grow sprouts (see previous Blog series all about sprouting). I always have microgreens growing in my kitchen because they are packed with big flavor and take only a few minutes spread out over a week or two to grow and harvest. You can grow your own little greens of arugula, basil, purple cabbage, sunflower seeds, chard, radishes, broccoli, cilantro, and more.

Get the children involved in the process, too. They love to participate in this growing process. You'll marvel at the small amount of space needed to grow microgreens—I use my porch, patio, deck, windowsill, kitchen counter and balcony—which allows them to be easily incorporated into daily meals. As mentioned in the book Microgreens, the greens' nutritional potency make them a must-eat in a healthy diet. Eaten alone as a salad or added to soups, entrees, sandwiches, burgers, or anything else imaginable, these tiny greens will enhance everyday food and life. I purchase all of my microgreen supplies at GrowingMicrogreens.com. They have the best organic seeds, starter kits, and everything you need to embrace the wonderful world of microgreens in your lifestyle. If you would like to view short instructional videos on how to grow microgreens with or without soil, click HERE. To learn more about microgreens, continue reading.

A Slimming, Energizing Healthy Concentrate

“Health comes from the farm, not the pharmacy,” as I write in The Curative Kitchen.

When I was barely 17, I learned the secrets to living a healthy, balanced life from grandmother, Fritzie. At that time in my life, my diet was deplorable. Meat, sweets, and white refined-flour breads were my daily pleasures and my health sorely suffered as a result. I was rarely without allergies, and I carried copious amounts of tissues with me everywhere to wipe my runny nose, deal with my sneezing and to take care of all the extra mucus that I was coughing up. It was not a pretty picture and my physician apprised me that I would have to live with this condition forever.

One day when I was visiting with my grandmother, telling her what I learned from my doctor, Fritzie told me that if I followed her healthful guidance and suggestions 100 percent, she guaranteed that not only would my allergies and sinus problems clear up within 30 days, my entire life would also profoundly change for the better: my acne would clear up, my energy would soar, the extra weight I was carrying would fall away, and my attitude would change from negative to positive. Needless to say, she had my attention, and for the next several hours and days (and eventually years), I learned a variety of health practices that—even though they sounded weird and strange at that time—still touched a responsive cord in my heart. That well-known adage, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear,” was definitely true for me with my grandmother’s loving support. I was ready and my entire life would change for the better because of that wonderful, memorable day with Fritzie—when my new approach to healthy living was engendered.

Along with comprehensive guidance on the healing power of natural, plant-based foods, herbs and spices and the importance of cultivating a positive attitude, she taught me the specifics of taking great care of my body so that my body would be better equipped to take great care of me—in other words, how to live a sacred, balanced vibrantly healthy life. One of the health foods she encouraged me to take every day was raw apple cider vinegar. She had me put one to two tablespoons into a glass of water (about 10 – 12 ounces) and drink it down at least once daily. Within days of consuming this new beverage, I began to feel better, and it’s been part of my healthy living program for decades — that is until a few months ago when I discovered a fantastic liquid herbal concentrate called Slender Cider. (Refer to my healthy eating and living books — Health Bliss, Be Healthy~Stay Balanced, Recipes for Health Bliss and The Healing Power of NatureFoods — for detailed information on healthy foods/recipes and living with vibrancy.) From my grandmother’s loving guidance, I chose my life career; my passion for alternative and holistic heath was born. And because of her holistic health teachings, I have never taken any prescription medication in my life. Instead, I choose to live close to Nature and listen to my body’s whisperings. To learn more about my favorite apple cider vinegar~herbal concentrate, continue reading.

The Health Benefits of Pumpkins & Pumpkin Seeds

Just because Halloween only comes around once each year, that’s no reason to forget about pumpkins the rest of the time, as I write about in detail in my book Health Bliss: 50 Revitalizing NatureFoods & Lifestyle Choices to Promote Vibrant Health. Fresh or canned, this colorful fruit (not a vegetable) can help keep you healthy for many months of the year. Like melons, it is a member of the gourd family. They offer lots of beta-carotene (only carrots and sweet potatoes have more) and are the number-one source of alpha-carotene, a cancer inhibitor that’s even more powerful than beta-carotene, according to studies. Researchers looking at the diets of more than 100,000 people found that those people who consumed the most alpha-carotene had as much as a 63 percent lower incidence of lung cancer. 

Carotenoids are deep orange-, yellow-, or red-colored, fat-soluble compounds that occur in a variety of plants. Carotenoids protect the plants from sun damage while they help them attract birds and insects for pollination. Carotenoids have been linked to a host of health-promoting and disease-fighting activities. They decrease the risk of various cancers, including those of the lung, colon, bladder, cervical, breast, and skin. In the landmark Nurses’ Health Study, women with the highest concentrations of carotenes in their diets had the lowest risk of breast cancer. Carotenoids also play a major role in protecting the skin and eyes from the damaging effects of ultraviolet light.

Extremely high in fiber and low in calories, pumpkin offers other nutrients, including potassium, pantothenic acid, magnesium, and vitamins C and E. One ounce of pumpkin seeds provides 20 percent of the daily RDA for zinc, an important immune-boosting mineral. And studies show that a compound in pumpkin seeds may help prevent benign prostate enlargement, a common problem for men over 50. For detailed information on how to purchase the best pumpkins for cooking, how to roast the seeds, where to purchase the best raw pumpkin seeds, and more nutritional information for pumpkins and their seeds, please continue reading.