A number of readers have asked how to easily go back through the 27 days of the AIEP (Anti Inflammatory Eating Plan), so I’ve prepared the following Table of Contents or Index.  Hope this helps.

Thanks for asking.

“Cooking with herbs and spices goes a long way to achieving a cook’s desire to serve delicious food.”  www.suite101.com

I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. (Gen. 9:3; NKJ)

Knowing how to season food using herbs and spices can be the determining factor between a great dish and one that no one wants to eat.

Be courageous in your use of herbs. Start with what you know and then branch out little by little trying a new herb every week or so.

In today’s video clip, I go over common herbs that I use in everyday cooking. I’ve talked about them according to how I use them in certain cuisines and dishes. Enjoy!

Prayer Power
Father, we thank You for all of the wonderful herbs and plants that You have given us to eat and enjoy!

A little over 2 weeks ago, I published a DG reporting on the trip Sharon and I made to Portland to speak before an international group of Internet marketing and small business folks.

In that DG, I wrote, “Sharon got to encourage a large room full of busy entrepreneurs to pay attention to their health, or find that all they were so busily seeking was for naught if they ‘earned’ one of the many life-style diseases that comes from neglect. I was able to encourage these social marketing gurus that their expertise is desperately needed by the small business community where-ever they live.”

We’ve had a good bit of feedback regarding the success of our message.  In fact, one of our fellow speakers, Arne Bush, wrote the following testimony:

Read the rest of this entry »

“Wellness coaching is a powerful relationship between a client and coach which explores the client’s greatest health concerns and goals, the obstacles to achieving those goals, and strategies to overcome the obstacles.”  Ellen Goldman

What do you think it would be like to work with a Wellness Coach?

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.  (Prov. 27:17;NIV)

Most of you who have followed our posts for any length of time know that I am passionate about educating and empowering others about wellness.  Since my own health was nearly destroyed, I have a tremendous appreciation for being well.  And I want others to be “well” along with me.  If I can prevent anyone from walking through what I did, I’ll teach and preach wellness as long as I have breath.

Perhaps you’ve wondered, “What does Sharon really do?  How does having a wellness coach work?  How could she help me?”  Many people know what they need to do to walk in better health.  They know they need to exercise more, eat less fast food, and drink more water.  But, they don’t do it!  They might make a declaration of “No more fast food!”  The first week they do well at avoiding the golden arches.  They actually make a few meals from scratch and eat at home several nights.  The next week finds their schedule even busier than the week before and their SUV automatically swerves into the “drive-through” for a burger and fries.  “Supersize that while you’re at it!”  Before long they’re lured back into the habitual use of fast food.   They feel defeated and discouraged but they really don’t know how to make lasting change.

A wellness coach rides in on a white horse to the rescue.  Well, that’s a stretch but it sure sounds good.   Seriously, working with a wellness coach can prevent that kind of self-sabotaging behavior.  Having encouragement, support, and accountability provides what the client needs to walk out their plan.  When I work with a client, we look at their desired goals and outcomes they would like to reach.  Some people are ready to dig in and attack it all…their eating, their exercise, their stress levels, etc.  Other clients want and need to take it a little slower…even one thing at a time.

Initially I do an assessment with the client to determine where they are with their current level of health and wellness.  How well are they sleeping?  What are their energy levels like each day?  How satisfied are they with their current weight?  How much water are they really drinking each day?  As I ask specific questions, the client begins to really ponder where they are in relation to their health and how far away they are from the mark.  Then we begin setting simple, realistic and reachable goals or action items.  We set up an accountability structure as a safeguard for the client…not as a tool to clobber them over the head. They get excited at the thought that they can make lasting change. If someone is drinking four diet sodas a day, we’ll explore this.  What is this doing for them?  What will it take for them to stop doing this?  I do a lot of educating when I work with a client.  I not only tell them why something isn’t good for them, I offer replacements of healthier options and I offer resources for them to do their own research to substantiate what I’ve told them.

We talk together for about an hour, two to three times per month depending on their need.  They can send emails to me with questions in between calls.  We work on everything from how much water they really need to be drinking to what time they’re going to bed each night.  (I once worked with a client for three months on her getting to bed before midnight.)  Even though someone says they want to make changes, there are many aspects involved with making the lasting change.  A coach can and does bring much needed help and support so the client can become and stay WELL.

Prayer Power
Father, we are so grateful that our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made.  Thank You for giving us wisdom on how to care for them.

Link of the Day
The Christian Coaching Center – Wellness Coaching

Blessings on you as you ponder what it would be like to work with a wellness coach.

Photo by Dominique Sanchez

Sharon was the guest on a teleseminar this last Thursday afternoon hosted by Lynne Lee, a well-known life coach in the UK. Their topic was health and wellness and was appropriately titled, “How To Live A Healthy Life.”

The teleseminar was especially well done and if you missed it, this is to give you a link to allow you to hear that interview as well as some of the other times Sharon has had the opportunity to share her story on the Internet to a broad audience.  Listen to the latest teleseminar on The Coaching Pair/Sharon on the Media.

By the way, for this event and for a limited time, we are making the 7-hour audio series that Sharon, Dr. Randy Peck, and I recorded earlier this year available at half off the regular price.  Remember, this half-off offer ends at the end September.  Up until then go to http://lynnelee.com/wellnessaudiobook and use the half-price coupon code of CLCC0909.

Here is what one of Lynne listeners had to say about the audio series: “…the audio series is a great tool – although I’ve just listened to the first 2 sessions I’m following the advice given.  The great thing is with the audio  series you can listen again and glean something different.”

We pray you’re having a great weekend!!!

This is just a very quick note to let you know that Sharon will be the guest on a teleseminar this coming Thursday afternoon hosted by Lynne Lee, a well-known life coach in the UK.  Their topic will be health and wellness and is appropriately titled, “How To Live A Healthy Life.”

There is no charge to attend the teleseminar — all you need do is register by clicking:
http://www.christianlifecoaching.co.uk/how-to-live-a-healthy-life.html

The teleseminar is at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, 9/24.  Three o’clock in the afternoon here is 8:00 p.m. in the UK.  But if you’re not available at that time, by simply registering for the teleseminar, you will automatically be sent a link to the replay.  So you can listen at your convenience.

Some of the topics they will be covering include:

• Simple keys to becoming healthy
• The steps to creating a healthy lifestyle
• Why pursuing health is worth the time and effort
• How I am becoming well
• Exactly what you can do to become healthier

Don’t fail to register for this incredible teleseminar.  Simply click:
http://www.christianlifecoaching.co.uk/how-to-live-a-healthy-life.html

See you there!

PS — Coach Lynne Lee wrote a great article titled “God says – Don’t give up now!” that bears on the teleseminar she and Sharon will be doing on Thursday.  I’ve included it as today’s link.  Enjoy!

LInk of the Day
God says – Don’t give up now!

Sharon has just had three articles published by EzineArticles — her first.  You may want to check them out.  Here are the summaries:

5 Simple Health and Wellness Activities That Anyone Can Easily Implement
How many of you get ideas when taking a shower?  I’ve heard a number of people say that creative ideas come to them when they’re “all wet.”  I’m no exception.  I’ve realized that people enjoy short, doable bullets that they can easily begin to implement when making changes around their health and wellness.  So, last week I had a few bubble to the surface while in the shower.

Importance of Eating Healthy During Hard Times
Most of us have realized that our food dollars aren’t stretching as far as they did in the past.  However, that is not a valid reason (or excuse) to compromise on feeding our families and ourselves in a healthy manner.  We can continue to eat high quality, nutrient dense foods and not “break the budget,” or resort to boxed macaroni and cheese, or a fast food burger.

Take Control of Your Wellness With 5 Simple Steps
Wellness is a “hot” topic nowadays! We’re hearing about it on the news, at the hair salon, and in the grocery store. People are seeking to walk in wellness, yet many are unsure of what that even means. There are also many ideas, thoughts, and opinions about what constitutes wellness and how one should go about obtaining it. I’ve compiled a few simple steps.
Oh, and at the risk of being just a bit presumptuous, while you’re viewing the articles, it would be a blessing to her if you would take the time to rate them. Just go to the bottom of the page and you will see a 1-5 rating scale.

“A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for.”  Author Unknown

When was the last time you blessed someone with a home-cooked meal?

Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate. (Ps 127:5; NIV)

Jerry and I are blessed to attend a church with lots of new growth!  There have been many new babies born in the past two months with more to come!  Who doesn’t love the sight of a newborn baby?  Their unbelievably soft skin, precious fragrance and tiny little features all speak to the glory of the Father.  They are one of God’s most precious gifts to all of us, and we as a church get to rejoice with each and every one of these new, wee ones.

We enjoy supporting these young families with our prayers, our support, AND our food.  What young mama, after the energy draining marathon of giving birth doesn’t welcome a steaming hot, fragrantly spiced, home cooked meal?  It’s a fun blessing for me to be able to prepare a meal, deliver it, and get to see and hold the new baby!

I got to do this just last week for a favorite family of mine!  The mama is one of my long-time nutrition “mentorees” and she had her second, beautiful baby girl.  When preparing a meal for a family, take time to give some thought to what would really bless them.  What would you enjoy eating if someone was bringing you a meal?  Would you prefer a tub of KFC over a simple, home-prepared meat loaf?  I think NOT.  I made a meat loaf using bison and loaded it with lots of vegetables.  The topping was made of tomato paste, vinegar, honey and mustard.  You can find a similar recipe on our blog at www.nutrition777.com.  I also prepared a mixed green salad using organic spring mix.  I loaded it with other cut up vegetables such as cucumbers, yellow and orange peppers, carrots, and tomatoes.

I also made a sweet potato dish and called it Sweet Potato Royale.  I didn’t want to prepare the recipe I use at holiday time as it’s a bit on the sweet side.  So, I developed a less sweet version.  Click today’s link for the recipe.

Enjoy!!!

Prayer Power
Father, thank You for the gift of life and for all of these wonderful mamas who choose LIFE!

Link of the day
Sweet Potato Royale

Blessings on you as you choose to bless someone else.

“There are two obstacles to vibrant health and longevity: ignorance and complacency.”  World Health Organization

How much could a partner help you achieve a goal?

No one hates his own body but lovingly cares for it, just as Christ cares for his body, which is the church. (Eph. 5:29; NLT)

On Wednesday, some of you were with us as we announced our coming e-book and seven-part webinar course on one of our most impassioned topics — wellness!  If you were able to be with us, we thank you for being there to share our excitement — if prior commitments kept you from being with us, we recorded the session and, one last time, our link today will give you access to that recording so that you too can hear what we’ve got coming beginning next week.

To quickly review, Dr. Randy Peck, Sharon, and I gave an overview of the upcoming weekly webinar course and e-book that will lead you through the six major factors that determine a person’s wellness.  That course will begin on Wednesday, April 8, at high noon EDT.  Details on how to be a part of that course are included with the recording of Wednesday’s webinar at the link below.

As we wrap up this little mini-series discussing four of the six keys to wellness, there is one last piece to put in place.  I call this one the “magic key” because with it the probability of success sky rockets.  Without it, the probability for failure sky rockets.

That magic key is structure.  You need a structure to make all this work effectively.  By structure, I simply mean that you need someone who is going to touch base with you each week just to see how you did with your goals for the week, and to support, encourage, and hold you accountable to keep taking those very simple steps.

Let’s face it…you know you should pick the apple instead of the donut.  You know that exercise is good for you.  You know that drinking water is good for your body.  But for most of us, it can be hard to stay on track.  If I may quote from a document that came to my attention a couple of months ago, “A recent study from the Public Library of Science Medicine Journal (January 2008) found that basic healthy habits can add 14 years to your life….  They found that what stopped people from changing their behavior was not a lack of knowledge, it was a lack of practical support.  Someone to help them make a plan.  Someone to help them stick to the plan.”  You know, that’s exactly what a coach is trained to do.

Please allow me to conclude this series with an invitation.  I would like to invite you to join us as we start the weekly webinar course covering each one of the six major factors to wellness in depth.  If that option is out of the question for you right now, as a second choice, I would like to urge you to give one of us a call at 757.482.4490 and let’s talk about the kind of structure and support we can offer you.  We invite you to become an active part of the health community we are creating.  It’s a lot more fun when you’ve got a buddy.

Have a better than fantastic weekend!

Prayer Power
Father, we thank You for the privilege of sharing our passion for wellness with so many wonderful people this past week.  We pray that our messages have helped many of our hearers come to terms with some changes they need to make in order to fulfill the destiny You have created them for.

Link of the Day
Access to Recording of 4/1 Wellness Webinar

Blessings on you as you choose to become pro active regarding your health.

“Most people do not consume an optimal amount of all vitamins by diet alone. Pending strong evidence of effectiveness from randomized trials, it appears prudent for all adults to take vitamin supplements.”  The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2002;287:3127-3129

What have you heard about the need for nutritional supplements?

Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?  (1 Cor. 3:16; NAS)

Yesterday, we were excited to announce our coming e-book and seven-part webinar course on one of our most impassioned topics — wellness!  If you were able to be with us, we hope you felt our excitement — if prior commitments kept you from being with us we recorded the session and our link today will give you access to that recording so that you too can feel some of the excitement that was in the air yesterday.

To quickly review, Dr. Randy Peck, Sharon, and I gave an overview of the upcoming weekly webinar course and our e-book that will lead you through the six major factors that determine a person’s wellness.  That series will begin on Wednesday, April 8, again at high noon EDT.  Details on how to be a part of that series are included with the recording of yesterday’s webinar.

Recall that on Monday I briefly discussed water as the first major factor to wellness, Tuesday I covered exercise, yesterday I covered Superfoods, and today, let’s look at the the fourth major factor to wellness, supplementation.

Yes, you do need to add supplements to your daily regimen.  Even the American Medical Association came out in 2002 and reversed their long standing position against the need for supplements.  They now admit that the nutrient value of our food supply has diminished so drastically that it is virtually impossible to get all the nutrients one needs from food alone.  You’ve probably heard that only two peaches a day would have supplied a woman’s vitamin A RDA in 1951.  Today she would have to eat more than 53 peaches to meet this same requirement.  Peaches anyone?   And peaches aren’t the only food to show a loss.

OK, so you need to supplement.  Now you may accuse me of being a little self-serving here, but I do need to let you know that all supplements are not created equal.  In fact, this problem has gotten so bad that Congress has now passed a law that requires a manufacturer to be able to prove that what is advertised to be in the container is indeed in the container.  What a novel idea!  Sarcasm aside, when buying supplements, you have to be aware that the lowest price is usually not the best value.  I’ll leave it at that.

But again, the fourth step is simply to supplement what you eat with a daily regimen of nutrients.  What nutrients you ask, and whose are good?  Bottom line, find someone with enough experience to be credible and then trust them.  Everybody has their own strong opinions about what is best.  But just like with quality food, you must expect to pay a little more for quality supplements.

So there you have it, four simple steps.  There’s a couple more, stress management and rest, that we will cover in the webinar course and in the e-book, but will not cover here in our DGs.  The four we’ve listed this week really are simple, aren’t they?  So simple, in fact, that they’re easy not to do.  Or like most New Year’s resolutions, easy to start with a bang and fall off the wagon a couple of weeks into the game.

The solution?  Tomorrow, I will conclude this mini-series with a discussion of the magic key to the four simple steps.  There is a way to keep you “on that wagon.”  It’s just as simple as the four steps, but at the same time, incredibly powerful.  See you tomorrow!

Prayer Power
Father, the food You provided for us and intended for us to eat is indeed perfect.  But through a number of economic-driven choices, our food supply is no longer able to sustain us as it was intended.  We thank You for giving mankind the wisdom and the ability to supplement our diets with those missing nutrients.

Link of the Day
Access to Recording of Our 4/1 Wellness Webinar  (After 10a ET)

Blessings on you as you purpose to supplement your diet with additional nutrients on a daily basis.