d

mango salad

mango salad

mango salad

Although we, women, become more powerful, stronger and wiser as we grow inward, it seems to be that our bones love to grow backward: they tend to become weak, bristle, and porous as we age.  However, it is here when our power, strength and wisdom must come into action. Starting taking care of your bones at this very right moment, regardless of your age and circumstances will help prevent, minimize and even reverse one of the main effects of aging, bone density loss.

I know it is inevitable not to get cut off by your daily responsibilities, tied schedules, multiple commitments, personal and emotional affairs, physical, mental and emotional stress as well as your poor eating choices, but it is also true that it is on your hands to stop your busyness and start visualizing the big picture in order for you to give priority to what matter the most: your health. Taking small, but consisting steps towards your health and wellness will get you fully armed and prepared to receive your golden years gracefully and healthfully.

And one of the most powerful ways to preserve your bone health is by practicing yoga in a safety way.  New researches have shown that yoga can outweigh the hormonal effects of age on your bones.  That is because each time you practice a yoga pose, you are potentially building new bone due to the fact that yoga is a weight-bearing kind of exercise that allows you to hold up your own body weight against gravity.  This puts mild stress on the bones, therefore, keeps them strong and stimulates bone growth.

Said this, here I want you to think and believe that it is never too late to increase your bone mass, or build new healthy bones by using your muscles and improving your eating habits.  Caring of your bones, at any age, starts now and the now is the best time to focus on increasing your bone mass reservoir, so go get your yoga mat, wear your comfy yoga pants and your favourite t-shirt because here I am going to give you 7 simple, but powerful yoga poses that if practiced for 15 minutes 6 days a week will help you maintain your bone density as well as preventing and even reducing bone loss.

1. TADASANA (PALM TREE POSE)

How to do:Standing with your feet 10cm apart, raise your hands over the head, interlock the fingers and look straight.  As you inhale slowly, stretch the arms upwards. Keep stretching till you are on the tip of your toe. Hold to pose for 20 counts. Exhale as you lower your hands and bring your toes back to the floor slowly. Repeat 6 times. Rest for 20 seconds. Duration: 2 minutes.

2. EKA PADASANA (ONE FOOT POSE)

How to do:  From Tadasana, inhale and raise your arms directly above the head and interlock the fingers with the palms downward.  Exhale and bend forward slowly from the hips, keeping the trunk, head and arms in a straight line. Raise the left leg straight back to get into pose. Keep the leg in one line with the trunk. In the final position the left leg, trunk, head and arms are all in one straight, horizontal line. The right leg is straight and vertical.  Bend your right knee slightly. Hold the pose for 20 counts.  Exhale and slowly return to the starting position. Relax for a few breaths. Repeat the pose with the other leg, twice each leg.  Duration: 2 minutes

3. VIRABHADRASANA (WARRIOR 2)

How to do: Begin in Tadasana pose turn to the left, exhale as you step your feet wide apart, about 4 to 5 feet. Check to ensure that your heels are aligned with each other. Turn your right foot out 90 degrees, so your toes are pointing to the top of the mat. Pivot your left foot slightly inwards. Your back toes should be at a 45-degree angle. Inhale and raise your arms to the side to shoulder height, so they’re parallel to the floor. Your arms should be aligned directly over your legs. Palms facing down.  Exhale and bend your front knee. Align your knee directly over the ankle of your front foot. Your front shin should be perpendicular to the floor. Sink your hips low, bringing your front thigh parallel to the floor. Keep your back leg straight. Turn your head to gaze out across the tip of your right middle finger. Hold for up to 30 counts. To release, inhale as you press down through your back foot and straighten your front leg. Lower your arms. Turn to the left, reversing the position of your feet, and repeat for the same length of time on the opposite side. Relax for few breaths. Repeat each size twice.  Duration: 3 minutes.

4. MAKARA ADHO MUKHA SVANASANA (FOREARM PLANK)

How to do: Start with a plank pose, slowly shift the weight of the body to the front. Your shoulders should align with your wrists.  Lower your arms slowly till the forearms touch the floor. Keep your palms on the floor and give a press to the floor. Your head should be downwards gazing the ground. Knees and back should be in a straight line. Your elbows should be directly under your shoulders, upper body paralleled to the floor.  Slowly pull your abdominal muscles in when you inhale. Hold the pose for 20 counts. Relax the abdominal muscles and the whole body on the floor while you exhale. Relax for a few breaths and repeat 4 times. Duration: 2 minutes

5. SANTOLANASANA (SIDE PLANK)

How to do:  Bring your body into Santolanasana (normal Plank Pose) Make sure that your hands are underneath your shoulders. Your arms and legs should be straight. Put the weight of your arms and shoulder onto the right side only. Find the balance. Separate your fingers from each other and distribute the weight onto your hand equally. Lift your left arm up while placing your left foot onto your right one. Stretch your hand towards the ceiling so that both arms are in one line. Look up at your left hand and hold this pose for 30 counts then come back into Santolanasana and rest in Child Pose for 20 counts. Repeat twice each side.  Duration: 2 minutes.

6. UTKATASANA (CHAIR POSE)

How to do it: From Tadasana pose, exhale as you bend your knees and move your hips back as if you were sitting down on a chair. Draw your lower abdomen in and up to support your lower back. Send your hips back rather than your knees forward, so that you can still see your toes. Inhale as you raise your arms up around your ears and soften your shoulders. Keep reaching higher, while sitting lower.  Hold the pose for 20 counts. Come back into Tadasana.  Exhale, as you press your feet down to straighten your legs and then bring your arms down to your sides. Relax for few seconds and repeat 3 more times.  Duration: 2 minutes.

7. VATAYANASANA (FLYING HORSE POSE)

How to do it: In tadasana, bring your right foot to the top of your left thigh in Ardha Padmasana (half lotus). Inhale and wrap your arms around each other as in Garudasana, with the right arm on top. Exhale and slowly bend your left knee as you were sitting on a chair. The left knee must be aligned with the toes.  Slightly bend your torso forward keeping your back straight. Inhale and hold the pose for 10 counts with normal breathing.  Exhale and come up to the straight position with two feet on the floor. Rest for few seconds and repeat 3 more times alternating the legs.  Duration: 2 minutes.

In addition to all general well known benefits of a daily yoga practice such as: greater flexibility, stronger muscles, better posture and balance, emotional and physical stress relief as well as self-esteem booster, you can now add bone health to this list.  Remember:  Always work within your own range of limits and abilities. If you have any medical concerns, talk with your doctor before practicing yoga. Namaste.

Ivette

Have you ever noticed how some people, and that includes me, eat crunchy food truly out loud? Crunch, crunch and every crunch is like a scream saying: “hey, I am here, look at me,” or “don’t get close or I am going to snap back at you.”

If more than often you crave for crunchy, salty, spicy or sweet snacks at the end of a hectic day, very likely you are just looking to release tension, some kind of madness or frustration or just to pat yourself on the back for a job well done.  However, munching too much on fatty, salty or sweet comfort food every time you feel like to release tension might not be a very healthy habit.  The good news is that there are many healthy homemade crunchy snacks you can munch on to let go of madness or simply to reward yourself.

These super crispy and tasty flax seeds crackers will help you get back to your center after a stressful day and experience that emotional comfort that you might be looking for, but without adding extra pounds or suffering stomach cramps, and still with that zest of a healthy crunch.

Classic Crispy Flaxseed Crackers

What you need:

• ½ cup flaxseeds
• ¼ cup toasted sesame seeds
• ¼ cup sunflower seeds
• ¼ pumpkin seeds
• ¾ cup water
• Himalayan salt and red chili flakes to taste – to make it sweet add a smashed ripen banana, cinnamon and cardamon powder and skip the lemon juice
• Juice of a half a lemon

How to make it:

Mix flaxseeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds with water.  Let sit for about 2 hours.  Preheat a dehydrator to 104-113 degrees (40-45C). Drain the seeds and place in a bowl and add the salt, lemon juice, and chili flakes.  Mix together and spread a thin layer on one of the trays with parchment paper.  Divide the spread with a knife into smaller squares or triangles.  Let them bake in the dehydrator for about 5 hours. Bring the heat up to 125/134 degrees and keep baking them for another 2 hrs or until they become really crispy and crunchy.  Remove from the dehydrator and start crunching yum out loud!

With love.

Ivette

Healing of the gut and caring of the soul are, both, the foundation of my wholistic practice.  The Synergic Living’s services and products have been designed to help you repair and heal your gut, rediscover and honor your soul as well as becoming aware of your thoughts and feelings so that you can use them to grow and thrive as a human being.

Body-mind-soul when working together in synergy become the art of being in harmony within one’s self.  At Synergic Living, our goal is to help you discover and develop the skills and talents that are already within you so that you can experience vibrant health, authentic joy, profound love, inner peace, true bliss, rightful wholeness and ultimately, timeless wisdom.

These are the 6 Synergic Living approaches that aim to reach our goal of helping you  live a life in harmony with your true self, your soul:

1. Food Products – Maintaining a clean gut is the key to great health, a youthful body, healthy weight, glowing skin and hair and strong bones. Nopalcan (organic ,100% dehydrated nopal cactus powder, a source of dietary fiber), Nopalcan Thrive (nopal cactus powder and acai berry as well as Collagen 50+ Glow (pure hydrolyzed fish collagen, coming soon), have all been created to help you build  a clean and healthy gut in order to support your new whole and fresh way of eating.

2. Whole and Fresh Green Smoothies – It has been proven that by drinking one dark-leaf green smoothie a day in the morning improves digestion, builds a healthy microbial environment, provides necessary vitamins and minerals, enhances the absorption of nutrients, induces bowel movements, boosts the immune system, builds healthy bones, maintains healthy organs, boosts your energy, engages you in healthy habits, reduces cravings, and helps you lose weight. Here I am bringing the Blissful Green Smoothies to help you simplify your life and making your health and weight loss goals more attainable, so that you can focus on what matters the most: the fulfillment of your soul’s purpose.

3. The Synergic Living Nutrition Program – Knowledge leads to awareness and awareness to better decisions. It’s important to become aware of what you eat, think, feel, breathe, say, do, and have in order to make the best choices for yourself and your loved ones as you work on the fulfillment of your greatest purpose. The Weight Management Nutrition Program (WMN) designed for small groups provides weekly sessions so that you have the necessary knowledge and tools to take your health in your hands as you become a master of your own health and wellness.  Whether your goal is losing weight, practicing the right exercises, maintaining or recovering your health, becoming more aware of the healthy choices you have available, learn new things or just to share your knowledge and expertise with others, this program will help you transform your whole life into a new healthy and vibrant way of living

4. Workshops and Lectures– Through workshops and lectures, I encourage you and inspiring you to grow healthy and fit, discover and follow your soul’s purpose, develop your awareness, recover your wisdom, unleash your cooking and culinary skills, get to know yourself, discover new skills, and dare to start new adventures. I dare you to thrive.

5. Hub for human connections – As the body is nourished, so the soul. I believe in the power of deep and strong human connection.   can be and it is important to All of our events are an excellent opportunity to get together with like-minded souls.  Whether at dances, dinners, karaoke nights, wine tours, games evenings, and other social and business events, finding an activity that invigorates and inspire your soul will allow you to connect with others at a higher, healthy energy level, besides getting your daily doses of hugs and laughs.

6. Retreats– Give you the opportunity to spend quiet time in nature in company of other like-minded souls and the space you need to re-discover your authentic soul and re-design your life purpose in harmony with your soul. The SL Retreats create long-term benefits to your overall wellbeing to retrain your body, reset your mind and nourish your soul.  They allow you to take time out from your daily busy life and connect with your innermost nature in nature all while enjoying delightful healthy meals, immersing in active meditation and connecting with you body through yoga poses, n=but most importantly, but most importantly, you will get back to your new life feeling empowered and inspired to pursue your truest soul’s purpose, complete health, joy, love and peace.

I just can’t wait to work and walk with you on your journey towards living as a healthy, loving, joyful and peaceful human being in harmony with your innermost nature – your soul.

With much love,

Ivette

Refer to the article “The Gut-Soul Connection: To heal the gut fulfill the soul” for more information on the gut/soul connection.

If you wonder what the difference is between a green juice or a green smoothie, the answer is in what it makes a smoothie smooth: the amount of fiber.

Although, both juicing and blending methods offer tremendous amounts of macro and micro-nutrients and are two efficient ways to consume more of the daily recommended intake of dark leafy greens, vegetables, and fruits in one shot, each one of them has their own unique way of releasing their health benefits into the body, being the fiber factor the main difference between both.

Neither one is better or healthier than the other one. However, it is important that we recognize the advantages and disadvantages that each of them has so that we know why, how and when to drink a juice or a smoothie, when it comes to maintain our health, prevent disease or heal our body.  Let’s start.

GREEN SMOOTHIES’ PROS

1. You are drinking the whole food. Therefore, you are eating plenty of nutrients as well as dietary fiber. Fiber keeps you fuller longer, controls cravings, detoxifies the intestine, regulates bowel movements, aim in weight loss, regulates blood sugar and cholesterol levels
2. You can blend the unjuicing – dark leafy greens and green vegetables such as arugula, dandelion, watercress, parsley, bittermelon, chayote, nopales, aloe vera and fruits like mango, avocado, grapefruit, kiwi, prunes, grapes, berries, and greens as well as seeds and nuts along with superfoods powders such as acai-berry, spirulina and chlorella, and nopal cactus can be added to the smoothies
3. You can have them as a meal replacement – Due to their nutrient-dense content, fiber, enzymes, and fatty acids, green smoothies can be an excellent nutritious breakfast
4. You use the whole fruit and vegetables – Only seeds, core, and skin are removed prior to blending, so there is basically zero waste
5. You save time, energy and effort – Blending the whole fruits and vegetables with water once they are washed and clean takes about 3 minutes to get it ready to drink
6. You save time – You can blend a fresh smoothie every morning very quickly once you produce is clean in your fridge and clean up the blender very easy
7. You save money – You spend less in fruits and vegetables and still consume plenty of nutrients with less amount of them

GREEN SMOOTHIES’ CONS

1. You have to wash all veggies and fruits prior to blending – Washing your greens and fruits can be at the time a very demanding task and may take so much of your time. However, once you get some practice it becomes part of our daily rituals
2. You may not enjoy them at the beginning – If you are not used to the strong and bitter taste of some greens and veggies, it may not be a pleasant experience from the start, but if you are convinced of their health benefits you will persevere long enough until you love them
3. You may end up drinking too much of the good stuff – Not all raw and green is healthy if you eat it all the time. Overeating some raw cruciferous vegetables and greens, such as collard greens, kale, parsley, spinach, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli) can cause a thyroid hormone unbalance due to their ability to block the absorption of iodine as well as osteoporosis due to their high content of oxalic acids which sucks the calcium out of their bones.
4. You may experience some discomfort – Some bloating, gas or constipation can be some of the side effects if you are not used to eating fiber. By drinking plenty of pure water these effects will go away as well as you get used to fiber.

GREEN JUICES’ PROS

1. You absorb more nutrients faster – Antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients are potentially much easier and faster to be absorbed and digested
2. You obtain high doses of chlorophyll – Chlorophyll from the dark leafy greens aid in improving digestion, detoxifying the liver, and protecting you from free radicals

GREEN JUICES’ CONS

1. You miss out on fiber – Therefore, it goes through your digestive tract faster spiking your glucose levels
2. You are getting concentrated sugar – You are not only getting concentrated quantities of vitamins and minerals, but also high amounts of sugar
3. You use way too much of produce – Overall leafy greens since they don’t have the juice to extract from
4. You need time on prep – If you want to obtain concentrated quantities of nutritious juices you will need quite some time between going vegetable shopping, washing and cutting produce up, juicing and cleaning up, a big problem if you have a busy schedule
5. You have to prep fresh juices more often – Juices spoil quickly. You need to go through the prepping process every 3 or 4 days, which is the fridge life of green juices
6. You may end up getting fewer nutrients – If you don’t use a cold-press juicer, you may be getting more free radicals than nutrients due to the oxidation effect in produce from the heat and air
7. You can’t go too far without fiber – Eventually, you will need to reincorporate dietary fiber from fruits and vegetables

If you are definitely having trouble digesting fiber or if you are looking for a faster way to absorb macro and micronutrients, go for green juices. However, if you are experiencing glucose tolerance issues, or if you are looking to lose weight or want to sneak your greens within your busy schedule skip the green juices and go for a nutritious fulfilling green smoothie.