Many people are blending up smoothies nowadays with the hope of getting more healthy. The problem is that what they are making is not actually all that healthy. Recently, I performed a survey among my smoothie making clients and friends. I asked for their favorite ingredients and the proportions that they typically used to make “healthy” smoothies. I was shocked at the responses, and felt the need to highlight important DO’s and DON’Ts of “healthy” smoothie-making.

Smoothie Secret Number One:

DO NOT use more fruit than vegetables in your smoothie. In fact, fruit should only consist of approximately 10-20% of the total ingredients. I discovered to my horror that most respondents made smoothies that were comprised almost entirely of fruit, and some consistently made smoothies with not a single vegetable. Making a smoothie this way creates a SUGAR BOMB and is the fast track to diabetes – ESPECIALLY for your children. An all-fruit smoothie is not anyone’s friend.

Smoothie Secret Number Two:

DO NOT add any kind of artificial sweetener or sugar to sweeten a smoothie. There are plenty of sweeter vegetables, as well as, the 10-20% portion of fruit that is recommended above to sweeten your smoothie. Again, you DO NOT want to create a SUGAR BOMB. And, artificial sweeteners have their own health hazards.

Smoothie Secret Number Three:

In order to adjust the flavor of your smoothie, DO USE lime, ginger, mint, and apples. I like Fuji apples and please – no more than 1 apple, ½ is best. You can add tang with lime, spice with ginger, smooth freshness with mint, and sweetness with Fuji apples. You can work flavor miracles with these particular ingredients and dramatically change the flavor of your smoothie by playing around with these staples. They are in ALL of my smoothies.

Smoothie Secret Number Four:

DO NOT use milk, soy milk, or rice milk, or HEAVEN FORBID – bottled or canned FRUIT JUICE in your smoothie. Use only filtered water and ice cubes as the liquid base. Pasteurized milk creates phlegm and allergies, depresses the immune system, and is a negative factor for a whole host of problems such as: diarrhea, cramps, bloating and gas, osteoporosis, arthritis, heart disease, cancer, chronic ear infections and colic in infants and children, and more. Soy that is not fermented is VERY bad for you and has been linked to: breast cancer, brain damage, infant abnormalities, thyroid disorders, kidney stones, and immune system impairment, to name a few. Rice milk and fruit juice aren’t recommended because of the high sugar content.

Smoothie Secret Number Five:

By all means, please DO USE nuts and seeds in your smoothie, like almonds, and especially walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, and hemp seeds to name a few. These will contribute a fair amount of protein and healthy fats to your smoothie. Nuts and seeds also have an extraordinary amount of needed minerals.

Smoothie Secret Number Six:

Please DO USE avocado in your smoothie. I typically use ¼ of an avocado as the base amount. You can also increase the amount of avocado to thicken your smoothie. Avocados are VERY healthy; they contain vitamins A, C, E, K and B6, are very high in potassium and “healthy” omega-3 fat. A wonderful benefit of avocados is that by adding avocado to your smoothie, you can improve your absorption of nutrients. In fact, by combining other fat burning foods with avocado, you can improve your nutrient absorption up to 400%! They also regulate blood sugar and improve eye health.

Smoothie Secret Number Seven:

Absolutely DO USE dark greens in your smoothies, such as: kale, dandelion greens, chard, spinach, celery, parsley, cilantro, cucumber. I will at some point write a blog on the individual benefits of these vegetables, but they are all rich in vitamins, minerals, and amazingly healing phyto-chemicals. These items should comprise at least 50% of your typical smoothie; the more, the better.

Smoothie Secret Number Eight:

DO USE some of these other miraculous healing vegetables In your smoothies: carrots, beets, yams, bell peppers, red or green cabbage, green beans, eggplant. These items can also be used to soften the bitter taste in some of your dark greens.

Smoothie Secret Number Nine:

DO USE Cinnamon and Cucumber as they are exceptional at balancing blood sugar along with avocado. Use them freely and often in your smoothies.

Smoothie Secret Number Ten:

USE A GOOD BLENDER – in order to really get the benefits of the miracle phyto-chemicals, vitamins, minerals in your smoothie – it’s important to completely pulverize the ingredients. I use the powerful Vitamix Blender myself. Currently, the Blendtec blender, while powerful enough, has an issue with noise so loud you can damage your ears. Until that problem is addressed, I cannot under any circumstances recommend the Blendtec. The next version down, and also the most affordable, is the Magic Bullet or Nutribullet blender. The smoothie won’t be as smooth or the taste as sharp as with these last two blenders, but it will suffice to get to the good stuff.

Often, nature provides what we need to heal, it has been proven time and again, over thousands of years. Our food should be our first line of defense in any illness prevention plan, and play a large role in the recovery of any illness. There are also many helpful herbal formulas that may be appropriate to help you.

I hope this information has been helpful to you.

If you’d like more personalized help with your health, I’d be happy to help you get started on the road to vibrant health. You can email me with any questions, or you can sign up for an initial free Vitality Breakthrough Strategy Session and I can help you determine your next best steps to health! If you’re ready to get started now, check out my health coaching and training services. They are available in-person local to the San Francisco Bay Area, or distance coaching and training is available for non-local clients.

With Love, Holly

High Blood Pressure is a major health issue in the U.S. According to the CDC, as of 2010 – 67 million American adults (31%) have high blood pressure—that’s 1 in every 3 adults. In addition, high blood pressure costs our nation more than $47.5 billion annually. This includes the cost of health care services, medications, and missed days of work. 

Why is it important to normalize high blood pressure?

High blood pressure increases your risk for dangerous health conditions, such as, heart attack, stroke, chronic heart failure, and kidney disease.

A huge problem with combating high blood pressure is that the majority of people are simply thrust onto harmful drugs to control their levels, and then wind up with many more health problems. Fortunately, there are many safe, holistic, affordable methods to lower your blood pressure.

One way is through – great tasting, healthy, and medicinal smoothies! Today I’d like to introduce you to a smoothie recipe that I call:

BP Down Under

Green smoothie to lower blood pressure

The focus for this simple smoothie recipe is helping to lower blood pressure. To gain access to the miracle healing phyto-chemicals in food, you will need a higher power blender such as: a Blendtec, Vitamix, or Nutribullet. Please use raw, organic ingredients and blend into a silky, nutritious smoothie in a blender. I hope you enjoy it.

INGREDIENTS:

1. Celery – 8-10 oz.
2. Mint – 2-3 sprigs
3. Cucumber – 6 oz.
4. Carrots – 3.5 oz.
5. Apple – 4 oz.
6. Almonds – 1/2 cup
7. Avocado – 1/4 whole
8. Filtered Water – 2 cups
9. 6-8 Ice Cubes
10. Lime – ¼ whole

All of these ingredients are health promoting with lots of vitamins, minerals, and phyto-chemicals. But the extra mention and the real blood pressure lowering powerhouse of this smoothie is celery.

Why celery?

Celery actually relaxes the muscles around arteries and lowers blood pressure. Chinese medicine has used celery to lower blood pressure for thousands of years.

An effective protocol to lower blood pressure would be to consume 6-7 stalks of celery per day, along with eliminating caffeine, wheat, and processed sugars from the diet, along with acupuncture. In addition, incorporating stress-reduction techniques into your lifestyle, such as meditation, qigong, and Tai Chi is also important.

I hope you enjoy BP Down Under and take the necessary steps to reduce and maintain healthy blood pressure.

Nature always provides what we need to heal, it has been proven time and again, over thousands of years. Our food should be our first line of defense in any illness prevention plan and play a large role in the recovery of any illness. There are also many helpful herbal formulas that may be appropriate to help you. For balancing high blood pressure, such as Gastrodia and Gentiana.

I hope this information has been helpful to you.

If you’d like more personalized help with your health, I’d be happy to help you get started on the road to vibrant health. You can email me with any questions, or you can sign up for an initial free Vitality Breakthrough Strategy Session and I can help you determine your next best steps to health! If you’re ready to get started now, check out my health coaching and training services. They are available in-person local to the San Francisco Bay Area, or distance coaching and training is available for non-local clients.

With Love, Holly

In this blog series, I offer tips, techniques, and advice on how to reduce and/or eliminate low back pain. Today’s low back pain tip introduces an indispensable exercise called “The Bridge”. This is NOT the same as a yoga bridge, so please read on to find out how to perform a proper Bridge exercise; one that Holly regularly uses to help her clients with low back pain.

The Glutes

One of the most important muscle groups to strengthen in order to prevent and recover from low back pain is the glutes, better known as ‘your butt.’ Your glutes are supposed to be the largest and one of the most powerful muscles in your body. I think you know that is not the actual case for most people. Your glutes are used for maintaining good posture, standing, sitting, walking, hip and knee stability, and protecting the low back from injury.

The Common Problem

Our glutes are supposed to play a huge role in almost every movement we need to perform. However, in our society, most people sit for a large part of their day. When we sit, our glutes are inactive and become weak and the muscle atrophies. Not only that but when we sit our thigh muscles tighten and shorten. These muscles are attached to our hips so that when we finally do stand up our hips are held in place and these tight muscles prevent us from fully straightening. So, we force ourselves to straighten up and that force goes straight into the low back. And, what happens? The low back is injured. How many people do you know that have simply tried to stand up or pick something up and in the blink of an eye they injured their back? That is the result of too much sitting leading to weak glutes and tight thighs and not properly engaging core and glutes to stand up.

I need glutes. What do I do? The Bridge is the Answer!

There are many, many exercises to strengthen your glutes, but the best, basic, back safe exercise to get you started is called the Bridge. You can start this exercise even when you have chronic low back pain and safely activate and strengthen your glutes! And in addition, Bridges also strengthen your core, which includes your abdominal muscles and deeper core stabilizers along with your obliques and back erector spinal multifidus muscles. It is an excellent core builder and as long as it is performed properly, the Bridge does not put pressure on the low back; it is very safe. This is also a great exercise for people who are unable to squat due to back, hip, or knee pain. You also strengthen your thighs, hamstrings and quadriceps, your calves, and more.

Holly shows you how to properly perform a Bridge. Watch the video below and add it to your exercise program today!

I hope this information has been helpful to you.

If you’d like more personalized help with your health, I’d be happy to help you get started on the road to vibrant health. You can email me with any questions, or you can sign up for an initial free Vitality Breakthrough Strategy Session and I can help you determine your next best steps to health! If you’re ready to get started now, check out my health coaching and training services. They are available in-person local to the San Francisco Bay Area, or distance coaching and training is available for non-local clients.

With Love, Holly

Sometimes it’s not so easy. Perhaps, you’ve grown older, been injured, or have an illness and all of a sudden this simple movement has become difficult and you may feel vulnerable and exposed to further injury.

Standing up and sitting down are common and necessary tasks for successful activities of daily living. However, injuries occur frequently during this seemingly simple task. The most common being a low back injury. These injuries are easily preventable. Using proper body mechanics, sitting down and standing up become quite safe and much easier to perform. In the video below, Holly shows you how, simply and clearly.

A strong core, glutes, and thighs are what you need!

Stay tuned for more blogs on strengthening your core, glutes, and thighs. These are critical components of sitting down and standing up that I demonstrated in the video above. Check out my previous post on how to safely strengthen your glutes and core called “Low Back Pain? Bridges can Help!”

I hope you found this blog helpful.

If you’d like more personalized help with your health, I’d be happy to help you get started on the road to vibrant health. You can email me with any questions, or you can sign up for an initial free Vitality Breakthrough Strategy Session and I can help you determine your next best steps to health! If you’re ready to get started now, check out my health coaching and training services. They are available in-person local to the San Francisco Bay Area, or distance coaching and training is available for non-local clients.

With Love, Holly

It is a fact that those suffering from chronic illness, quite often, tend to be isolated and lonely. Many times it is by choice. Often the pain and suffering makes it difficult to be around those who are healthy, because it is hard to put on a happy face, or to keep up. You may feel like you’re only a burden to those around you. Resentment or despair often sets in, and it is all too easy to push your loved ones away.

This topic is a difficult one for chronic illness sufferers and their loved ones to address in their lives.  It also happens to be an important issue that is near and dear to my heart.

On the flip side, your friends and loved ones may start dropping out of your life. Some do so because they’re fair weather friends, but not all. Your close circle may fall away, not because they don’t care, but because they don’t know how to help. The pain of seeing someone they care about suffering, and with no idea of what to do, can be overwhelming.

When I was suffering horribly from mixed connective tissue disorder, I could barely get out of bed, I had no energy to do anything, and I was in constant pain. This is a common scenario for millions of chronic illness sufferers. Since I could rarely ever “do” anything, people stopped calling and visiting. I was “no” fun to be around. But, at the same time, I stopped reaching out. As a result, my circle of friends dwindled down to just a few of the most stalwart.

As I slowly recovered from my illness, using juicing, food-healing, herbs, acupuncture, and other holistic methods, I spent close to eight years in extreme isolation. Speaking from personal experience, I believe that we, as humans, are not designed for this. We thrive on social interaction and the exchange of energy between our friends, family, and community. Without this social component of our wellness plan, recovery is slower and more difficult.

What then can the chronic illness sufferer do?

Fortunately, there are many approaches that you can take to lessen your loneliness and isolation.

First and foremost, it is critical to adopt the open and honest approach with your friends and family. Let them know that you feel isolated and lonely, and that you would like their help. Most, if not all, of your close circle will jump at the chance to do something to help. It’s frustrating as all get out for your loved ones to see someone they care about suffering greatly, and just not know how to help. Many people avoid those with an illness because of that simple reason.

Ask for something simple and specific.

However, if you ask for something concrete, most often, your friends or family will jump at having something specific they can do to help.

And then, when someone does reach out to you, express your gratitude.

Now, I know how difficult it is to live with pain and how difficult it is to be “in a good mood.” However, if you reach out to your friends and family for help, it is important, and not difficult, to reward them for the effort. You can do this simply by expressing your gratitude; thank them for caring about you. Let them know that their presence helps you heal, and it does. Your body, mind, and spirit will receive their loving thoughts and direct that energy toward your wellness. And, bonus, the vibration of gratitude is incredibly healing energy.

What do you ask your circle for?

Depending on your level of energy and mobility, you can become very creative with things to do. Your goal is to feel that you belong, you are loved, you are needed, you are useful, and that you are a part of the whole. So, ask your circle to do things like watch a movie, play a game, have a philosophical discussion, have dinner, go on a walk, or drive, or something that you can do that keeps you company.

Remember, a circle of loved ones around you provides a powerful, healing session. So, take advantage of this gift to the fullest. If you do your best to allow their happy, healthy energy to surround you and absorb it, you WILL heal faster. You will flourish in that group healing environment. Ask your circle to see and visualize you as completely well, and at the same time, see yourself as healthy. Try to make your group gatherings a regular event. You will speed your recovery by leaps and bounds!

Your healing circles are NOT just a one way street! Your loving thoughts about the group provide them with just as powerful a healing energy as you are receiving. You contribute the same as everyone else. Even better, give each person in the circle an opportunity to receive healing thoughts from the group. Everyone benefits!

There are many helpful herbal formulas that may be appropriate to help you and, if you’d like more personalized help with your health, I’d be happy to help you get started on the road to vibrant health. You can email me with any questions, or you can sign up for an initial free Vitality Breakthrough Strategy Session and I can help you determine your next best steps to health! If you’re ready to get started now, check out my health coaching and training services. They are available in-person local to the San Francisco Bay Area, or distance coaching and training is available for non-local clients.

I hope you have found this information helpful.

With Love,
Holly

Learn how to create great posture at any age with the Straighten Up Exercise! Good posture is a must-have for everyone as it is a key component for retaining safe mobility as you age.

What happens if you don’t maintain good posture with your back straight, shoulders centered, and your head aligned with a straight spine?

The hunched-over posture or upper-crossed syndrome.

Well, you’ve probably seen people who are a bit stoop-shouldered, and perhaps their head is tilting forward. This is becoming the new normal for people who spend a lot of time on their phone, computer, or iPad, or even sitting down in a slouched forward position.

What is happening?

The problem that occurs with decades of bad forward-leaning posture is that your body – the smart miracle that it is – tries to adapt itself to accommodate the position that we spend most of our time in. That means that your front neck muscles will shorten and strengthen along with your chest and front shoulder muscles. At the same time, your rear neck and shoulder muscles will weaken and lengthen, along with your rhomboids – the muscles between your shoulder blades. This adaptation makes it now normal for you to have a stoop-shouldered posture with a forward-tilted head. This is called the upper-crossed syndrome and it is not what you want at all.

Your head is a heavy weight!

Your head is a heavy weight and having it forward all the time can lead to back pain, poor balance and stability, and loss of physical height. In fact, if you allow the upper-crossed syndrome to go unchecked, it will become worse and your spine may even change shape to keep you nicely hunched over. That is a world of hurt and you don’t want to go there!

Correct your posture with the Straighten Up Exercise!

One great exercise to help you correct and prevent the upper-crossed syndrome – yes, as long as your bones haven’t changed shape – you can completely reverse this muscle adaptation. And, the Straighten Up Exercise is one of the keys to helping you do this. Watch this video and Holly shows you how, simply and clearly. Start performing this exercise today and watch your posture improve day by day!

A strong core, glutes, and neck flexors, rear delts, and rhomboids are what you need to Straighten Up and Stand Tall at Any Age!

Stay tuned for more blogs on strengthening your core, glutes, and other postural muscles. These are all critical components of creating good posture that I demonstrated in the video above. Check out my previous post on how to safely strengthen your glutes and core called “Low Back Pain? Bridges can Help!”

I hope you found this blog helpful.

If you’d like more personalized help with your health, I’d be happy to help you get started on the road to vibrant health. You can email me with any questions, or you can sign up for an initial free Vitality Breakthrough Strategy Session and I can help you determine your next best steps to health! If you’re ready to get started now, check out my health coaching and training services. They are available in-person local to the San Francisco Bay Area, or distance coaching and training is available for non-local clients.

With Love, Holly