Getting angry?

Getting angry?

 Hello

Don`t we just all know the feeling when things are getting a little out of control? The long line-up at the supermarket after a strenuous working day, the traffic-jam just when you have to get to an urgent appointment, the paper which runs out all the time you would like to print the urgent sales figures?

Sometimes we simply cannot help but feeling our anger rising. Or can we?

Unfortunately, we are not used to notice our emotions anymore. We are raised in a society, where you have to be tough, be able to compete, to work longer hours without asking, where the strongest gets the CEO Job, the “softest” no career at all.

Yet, is this all healthy? Just because we are not aware of our feelings -and YES, anger is an emotion – it does not mean they do not exist.

In fact, anger causes more harm than you would think.

In order to understand this we have to go back in human history, where a powerful defense mechanism evolved in order to protect us.

Imagine you lived 60 Million years ago! You are out to get supper in your fur dress, collecting some berries and meat left-over for your family. While you are content since you know your loved ones are desperately awaiting you in your newly acquired cave, your mind is busy with the beauty of the surrounding and the sound of the creatures around you.

All of the sudden, you notice a huge fury creature, moving quickly towards you, ready to jump and eat you. Thanks to evolution, you have two choices:  You both jump-start and run or you face the creature and attack it!

For both options you require a quick reaction time, enhanced power in your muscles, and readily accessible energy. In order to get it, your body releases two hormones, Adrenaline and Cortisole in order to increase your blood pressure among others. Thus, urgently needed extra oxygen and nutrients are supplied to make you move!

After the situation of danger has passed, you relax happily knowing that you are safe. Your heart beat, your blood pressure, your glucose level, your high breathing frequency all calm down again. The blood levels of the so called “stress-hormones” also go down.

Unfortunately, our physical reactions have not kept up with our being in modern society. Formerly a mechanism to help us cope with immediate threats, we are exposed to all kinds of triggers which our body perceives as potentially life-threatening. Examples could be expected loss of a job, problems, a changing traffic-light, noise, etc.

We react with anger, fear, frustrations and lots of other emotions. Though we changed our time setting, our bodily reactions caused by these emotions are the same. The so-called “stress-hormones” adrenaline and cortisole are on the rise. Yet, while threatening situations in former times disappeared, constant impulses cause these hormones to keep on floating in our blood-stream.

Formerly necessary to save us from death, they now start to cause all kinds of problems such as chronic hypertension, auto-immune diseases, allergies, low immune function, osteoporosis, depression, burn-out, and damage to our liver and kidneys.

Is anger really worth it? Is there really anything worth it to ruin your health, your happiness, and your looks?

NOOOOOO!

If you really would like to save yourself from the negative impact of anger there is only one way of doing it:

DON`T GET ANGRY!!

1)     Start to listen to your emotions again. Learn to notice when anger is on the rise!

2)     Get away from the situation which apparently starts to make you feel that way (in the washroom, if you have to). Realize, that you are about to become mad! Redirect your mind to something enjoyable – a smile of a colleague, the date in the evening, a joke you have heard or even a nice song on the radio.

3)     Get moving! In order to release your tension and the accumulation of these harmful hormones, take a walk on the wild side, i.e. around the office, do breathing exercises or start dancing where you are. It really does not matter what you do, just move!!! Who cares what people think – it is your health after all! AND BREATHE – concentrate on your breathing, the way your belly moves up and down, count for about 15 times and concentrate on it.

There is no reason in the world to get angry! Once we learn how to notice our emotions again, we made a huge leap forward. Angry is just an emotion, nothing more nothing less, but harmful!!! There is nothing real about it. It might as well be another emotion!

Try to turn a harmful emotion into a healthier one. For example, you could feel sympathy with your boss who drops all his mistakes on you. After all, one cannot expect him to be perfect. So have mercy and take it with a joke. SMILE!!!! Imagine, your boss had a growing nose while shrinking in front of you. Whatever works!!

But never let ANGER ruin your health or drive up your blood pressure.

Peace and do not let your emotions control you – ever!

Luv thy heart

Ginger

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The best medicine for your heart

Hello dear readers,

Can you feel it, smell it, and sense it?

Christmas season is approaching. The colder it is outside, the closer we get together for a cup of tea, the more we approach and cherish the warm spots of light.

(Christmas market in Erfurt, German by offtours.de)

We open our hearts, we feel joy and are willing to share the lovely smell of home-made cookies.

Yet, for some of us it is the season of hurry, of extra work and deadlines, of rush-hours and accidents, of consumerism, plastic decoration and stress.

Don`t rush, don`t be blinded by all the fancy, colourful plastic items you can buy for Christmas. Breath deeply and think of everything we can be thankful for – our health, the smile of a person, the touch of a child`s hand, the thought of giving something to your friends and family – the most precious gift there is – love.

Our heart is also the symbol of our emotions. If we miss out on caring for our heart and our emotions, our well-being, our joy, our happiness, our heart as an organ will suffer as well.

Being thankful and giving love are the true medications for your heart, spiritually and physically. There is no overdose here! The more you get, the healthier your heart gets!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love thy heart

Ginger

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15 ways to be your veggie

I guess we all know, just how good it is for our health and mind to eat fresh fruit and vegetables. Though, we do know it society at large does not seem to be prepared. Neither do the taste buds of ours which have been primed for decades now that the smell of a nice steak is just the most delicious smell around.

Particularly, the effects on our blood pressure if done correctly, and its impact in our battles  against cancer are just amazing.

I have been a vegetarian myself for 15 years with some meat interludes in between which completely disappeared for 3 years now. Now as I am heading towards raw-food and being a vegan, I have learned basically all the hurdles you might face, including going to “Babe`s” (a famous steak house in California) with a bunch of carnivores.

I wrote these 15 tipps for a dear friend and Yoga expert Anmol Mehta on http://anmol.mehta.com as an answer to his question “How to become a vegetarian”. He loved it and published my humble experiences.  For any Yogi or aspiring Yogi it is essential to have a clear mind to focus on meditation. Nutrition plays an essential part.

In my next article I will explain what exactly “vegetarianism” is and how it relates to high blood pressure or hypertension. For now, I would like to share with you the following recommendations on your road to becoming a vegetarian.

Out of my personal experience, but also with my patients there are a few keys I found crucial to become a vegetarian:

1. Do not force yourself, it will backfire. Take it slowly all the time. Do not feel guilty if you have meat, the transition is more of a mental process.
2. Get educated on vegetarian food. Vegetarian dishes are so much more “haute cuisine” than regular crap in restaurants.
3. Never be satisfied with an ordinary salad or a broccoli dish. This is punishment.
4. Savoring vegetarian dishes should be a delight.
5. Smell different fruits, get to know fruits and vegetables which you did not know before. Buy the Ferrari among them. How about asparagus with basil and strawberries?
6. The taste for meat only stems from the combination of heated fat and salt. If you had to eat it the way it is you would leave it alone.
7. You can eat any traditional meal (dumplings, red cabbage, sauce) without meat. It is still tasty.
8. Celery beats are great replacements for meat, when sliced and baked the way you would prepare meat.
9. Do not buy meat replacement made of soy. It is an insult to taste buds and full of crap!
10. If you have to eat meat, do not punish yourself, but visualize all the time what it is. It is not just a nice red package. It is the sum of a cruel journey of a living creature. Stress hormones, tranquilizers, antibiotics are still part of what you just take for a steak.
11. Get involved with people to cook jointly vegetarian meals, it is fun. We do have potlucks here for raw food.
12. Finally, here is a great site for vegetarian recipes: www.theveggietable.com.
13. As a yogi student you will notice how your body, your joints, your concentration all benefit from fruits and veggies.
14. There is always something vegetarian in restaurants you can eat. In good restaurants you can even ask for a special creation. I once even went to “Babes” (pure Steakhouse in the US) and had a piece of corn with another side dish, delicious!
15. Use spices and experiment yourself. The Arabic cuisine and the Indian cuisine have lots of vegetarian dishes.

Find great recipes at http://theveggietable.com

Most of all, enjoy! Bon appetit!

I would love to hear about your experiences, your journey or questions you might have?

Luv thy heart

Ginger

The umbilical cord and hypertension

Now, there are numerous occasions which potentially drive up our blood pressure. The art is to keep it in check which is sometimes hard….

I do not know about your vacation, but for me vacations have two purposes – namely to recharge AND to do what I like, including seeing the beauty of nature and learning something cultural. I am not the type of person who loves to lie at the beach and gets roasted by the sun. I also like to do some leisurely work such as writing this blog when being on holidays. This is why I brought my laptop with me to Montreal, Canada last month.

Now my target is not exactly Montreal but rather a 1 hour ride all the way up North to a small town called Morin-Heights, a beautiful old-style Quebec village. After not having been to Quebec for about 15 years, I am pleased to see that my “French” is well accepted. Quebec is really worthwhile visiting, for the beauty of the country and its famous festivals in Montreal in summer.

As a lover of nature my destination is a small cottage placed right in the woods of the Laurentians, the mountain range which is a delight to see in Indian summer with its full coloured dress on.

The beauty of one of Canada`s trillion lakes in front of me with its peaceful mirror of the blue sky and the changing colours of the leaves, is the perfect spot for inspiration and good writing.

 

All secluded with the Canadian geese, the songs of a wolf, and the early wake-up calls by a loony, no noise of trucks, road or TV can deter my happiness to be out in the bliss of wild romanticism, except for one thing…

 

NO INTERNET ACCESS!

I am not kidding, not access whatsoever! After the last 15 years the old lines can no longer keep up with the high-speed lines and hence no chance to even start the explorer.

Now, if you are like me, you have grown up and learned, that your PC is your better brain and your life-line, your umbilical cord so to speak, which connects you to the world.

This is exactly how I felt, disconnected, lost. I started noticing my blood pressure rising and felt all the symptoms of withdrawal. Not really, but my companion told me that I behaved really in a panicky way.

Could it be that we already have gotten to the point where we can not live anymore without digits and bytes? Mind you, I do not care too much about the latest I-phone development, I have a 10-year-old cellular, which I rarely use, but no internet?

As I know from my own high blood pressure seminars, a good strategy and technique is vital to avoid the rise of Adrenaline.

Thus, I go for a swim, enjoy the crisp, beautiful air on many hikes and finally I totally start to embrace the calmness and serenity of this place. What a freedom and tranquility…

A few days later I detect in the town of St Sauveur about 15 km drive an internet cafe, which offers free internet access if you order a coffee - well, I had tea of course. With a few others apparently equally addicted creatures on this planet we patiently wait until the “Net est reallumé” (literally re-ignited) as also there no line seems to be secure. 

Thank God for one hour of connection to see whether the world still exists out there…plus many teas and lots of nice conversations in French, eh Québécois.

No matter what you do, never let any situation drive up your blood pressure!

If you would like to learn the techniques which I applied in this situation, you can check out my Online Training course “Beat blood pressure” in a while, which is still in progress. If you would like to know what it is all about in advance, drop me a line!

Luv thy heart and luv to hear from you! What experiences do you have? What drives your blood pressure up?

Ginger

Free radicals – avoid riots!

Free radicals – what are they and why does not anyone put them away? So many questions all being relevant, as they are a constant threat to our health and our arteries.

They invade our bodies, destroy our precious cells and riot when ever they can. That is, if we let them.

Free radicals are aggressive oxygen molecules which are highly reactive. Chemicals, pollutants, smoke, food preservatives, alcohol, radiation all generate these single O molecules, which we inhale, eat or absorb via our skin. The average person living in the city, taking a car to the regular office job is exposed to about 50,000 different toxic chemicals a day!

The reactions free radicals engage in in our body are numerous. Yet, common to all is the altered state of the cells attacked. Cancer, auto-immune diseases, alzheimer`s disease, early death of the cell and arteriosclerosis are among the known outcomes of these reactions. As a highly toxic gas, these oxygen molecules have the same impact on our bodies as the oxidation process known as corrosion has on our cars or on damaged fruits.

Now, you might think, well, isn`t oxygen good for us? Yes, in a compounded and saturated state, such as in the air we breath. As an isolated molecule it is highly toxic.

Unfortunately, we also generate our own free radicals:

Psycho Stress

Anxiety, pain, worries, hatred, envy, noise, fear, terror all generate free radicals. Whenever we are faced with any of these or create them within, we would theoretically have to consume one tablespoon of Vitamin C in order to neutralise them.

Our metabolism

Metabolism is the entirety of chemical conversions in our body. All the food we eat, the medication we take, the fluids we drink are processed. Our food is converted into energy in our little stoves, the mitochondrions, which require oxygen. During this process, free radicals are generated as a by-product. In simple words, the more the body has to burn and the more difficult the food is to digest, the more of these tiny monsters are created.

This is a possible explanation, why people who eat little live the longest, the Hunza people offering a perfect example. Large quantities of food, meat products, gravy and fatty meals, as much as eating in the evening are the perfect nursing stations for little baby free radicals. Did you know, that it takes about 35 hrs to metabolize a piece of meat?

Excessive workout

Well, what is wrong with that? Didn`t you know all along that exercise was no good? Sorry, exercise is fine, but in moderation.  All athletes, marathon runners know, that they are dealing with a large amount of free radicals. They cope with this and take precautions. Their lungs, heart and muscles are all subjected to an increased oxidation process, because of their higher rate of metabolism.

Have you ever noticed that the slowest animals have the longest life? Turtles are the best example of it!

There is a neat little clam called “Artica” which lives about 375 years. To be able to become this old this little creature has decided to lower its rate of metabolism to an absolute minimum. It practically never moves and dwells some feet underneath the sand of the ocean. I would not call this kind of life-style precisely fun, but in terms of longevity and avoidance of oxidation processes this creature definitely beats us humans.

Other creatures who are much smarter in this respect are some plants. Some use their outer skin to protect them against free radicals. The peel of a pumpkin for example or of blueberries are full of protective antioxidants. So far modern science has only detected a few of these agents, which are so powerful in collaboration with all the enzymes, vitamines, minerals, co-enzymes and trace-minerals inherent in these plant that they are able to fight off the most aggressive invaders – well, except us. The most famous ones are the lycopene in tomatoes, the beta-carotene in pumpkins or carrots, or the resvreratol in dark grapes.

As humans, we should be smart and enjoy these great species for our own protection! This is the only way to sooth the attack of free radicals and to reduce their impact to a minimum. Don`t let them ruin your arteries or other vital organs!

What they exactly are capable of doing particularly to your arteries you will read in my next articles. Stay tuned, subscribe here and you will find out more on this topic!

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Luv thy heart!

Ginger

What do blood pressure measures tell you?

What do these pressure values mean?

Our arteries need a certain pressure,which is about 80 mmHG (millimeters of mercury)when resting, in order to get oxygen and nutrients to where they are required – in our toes as much as in our brain cells. Now this is the lower value which you know as the diastolic pressure. Otherwise our arteries would just hang lazily around like noodles. Like a hosepipe needs some constant internal pressure to make the water flow.

Our greatest device besides our brain, which is our heart, makes sure, that enough nutrients and oxygen is provided throughout our body – even against the force of gravity, isn’t this amazing? Simplistically speaking, it works like a pump, first collecting our healthiest juice, the blood, then thrusting it out into our pipe system by contracting its muscle, thereby squeezing our blood out. The pressure the heart muscle exerts at the point of contraction is the higher value, called systolic pressure, which is statistically benchmarked at around 120 mmHG.

Is our blood pressure always the same?

Depending on what we do, whether we are sleeping, running, kissing, doing streneous workout,  having to react to a change in traffic light, or to escape from a gorilla chasing us, our muscles and cells require more or less oxygen and nutrients.

Luckily, our heart has a few friends. Thus, it does not have to decide all by itself what to do. One of them is our smart brain (we will talk about the others another time), which receives information from our nervous sytem and informs our heart, what to do accordingly, whether more or less nutrients and oxygen are required. Whenever we touch a hot stove, for instance, our nervous system registers alarm, transmitts this message immediately to the heart, and the heart increases its nutrient and blood supply to make sure, we are able to contract our arm muscles as quickly as possible to withdraw our hand! The blood pressure had to rise significantly to make this happen! Smart, isn’t it? When the situation is over, the muscle of the heart starts to relax, and the pressure decreases again.

When we have to climb a staircase, also here our oxygen requirements for our legs increases, hence our blood pressure rises. When no longer needed and the exercise is over, the blood pressure goes down again.

In a nutshell, the systolic pressure, the maximum pressure of contraction, always fluctuates depending on our activities and perceptions.

It is interesting to note here,  that also images of alarming situations on TV for example (9/11) also cause a rise in the upper pressure (based on scientific research).

The lower pressure, however, remains basically naturally the same, as it is the basic pressure necessary to maintain a constant movement of blood, controlled by the filter of our body, i.e. our kidneys.

More to come! Check out the great “heart retreat day”

Smiles,

Ginger

Luv thy heart

Your heart has been working day in, day out without any rest or holiday since you were born. It has been there for you to keep you alive, to nourish you with all the oxygen, nutrients and glucose you needed without any complaints or apparent upheavals.

It has been a good friend to you in indicating to you your emotions, your love affairs, sorrows, and grief.

We are rarely aware of the tremendous performance of our closest ally unless it is in serious trouble. Just to give you an idea:

In order to allow us to live, this delicate muscle contracts and expands about 40 – 60 times per minute rushing 7 l of our precious liquid to all of our 70 trillion cells. This translates into 7.5 tons of liquid a day or the equivalent of the weight of a 7.5 tons truck.

No engine despite all our modern technology has been built so far which gets close to the capacity of this precious organ.

Every car gets checked once a year, parts replaced, maintained and worshipped. We do care about rust, appearance and whether its engine gets the most expensive fuel to ensure its best function.

Our heart has most probably never experienced a similar treatment or even consideration.

More than a pump

Contrary to the common perception that our heart is simply a pump, it is a very smart, sensitive creation which manages to adjust to all our daily internal and external demands.

All our emotions and perceptions affect this wonderful creation mostly subconsciously. The significance of it becomes apparent in expressions such as “heart felt”, “it comes from our heart”, “it goes to your heart”, and many more. It is for a reason that the heart symbolizes one of our most powerful emotions – love!

Whenever we feel joy, our heart reacts with joy. Whenever we are in pain, our heart reacts with pain. Have you ever really felt grief over a lost one or experienced love sickness? Then you know what I am talking about. The pain really penetrates our heart.

Luckily, these emotions pass eventually and our heart is able to recover. Yet, if we expose ourselves to prolonged and repetitive negative emotions such as sorrow, fear, greed, or anger our heart will suffer in the long-run.

Thus, we have to pay attention to what we think, how we feel about things, what we let go to our hearts. The more positive vibes our heart gets the healthier it is or becomes again.

It just knows what you need without asking. Now, who else does this in your life? What do you give to our heart in return?

As we do as humans, our heart needs attention, the best nutrition it can get, fresh air, love, and a break from its daily demands.

Now it is time to say thank you and treat it the best we can!

The “Heart retreat day” is a day, on which you will ensure that your heart gets the best care possible. It is not a training program and not geared towards reducing “high blood pressure” as this is way more complex and beyond the realms of what you can do in a day. On this day we will just provide an “All inclusive holiday” for your heart which starts already with the preparation.

Register now! It is for free!

Yours with heart

Ginger