LighterLiving

Most of you know that I left Australia in 1976 so I have now lived away from home for more years than I lived there. Living so far from home brings with it some difficult challenges one of which is the knowing that one day a parent will die and I will feel the loss differently than if I had spent more time with them.

My mother is 91 and still well taken care of by my father who is 87. This week we learned that my dad has a cancerous tumor in his bowel and must be operated on tomorrow. He has never before been sick but at 87 the risks are elevated.

I have always been very close to my dad and while we all prepare for years, the reality of losing him one day has never been so blatant.

I cannot go home till the weekend at which time I will be thrilled to pamper him and cater to his every need.

If you have a second I ask that you share with me in sending him lots of good energy for a speedy and easy recovery.

In honor of our AeroPilates Plus airings this week, Thursday at 9pm and Friday at 2am, on QVC I am sharing these downloads for FREE in the lighterliving store.

Enjoy in good health,

lighterliving Common Mistakes Performing Pilates on a Reformer

lighterliving Exercise System

lighterliving Stretching Sequence

Lighterliving is moving into a new space. We looked for a few weeks before we found a place that is cosy yet large enough to house our team, happy, light and airy. 

I am reading Eat, Pray and Love. I adore the book as it takes me vicariously, to indulging in the pleasures of eating ice-cream and pasta and drinking copious red wine in Italy.

It makes me think that I am perhaps too vigilant. When I go away I love to eat, drink and indulge but never do I excessively over exceed. 

Have I missed out or is it ok to live a life of moderation? Eat cake and then be sure to exercise; drink one too many but be sure to take a steam; over exert on a zip line but have a massage the next day; get too much sun but bathe in aloe afterwards.

Life is full of temptations and we should all indulge but to know how to compensate....there in lies the secret!

I have a large, jet black, gorgeous, male German Shepherd who despite his loyal, loving, protective and sweet personality has a tick that is not lighterliving!

I am perplexed!

Every morning no matter the time or the weather, I take him out, we walk, we run, he sniffs, poops, pees and runs. He is perfect with the tiniest lap dog, gets down on his front haunches to be on the same level; to the biggest, nastiest pit bull when he just sniffs and moves on.

He is sweet with little children and loves old people. I brush him, feed him, treat him and discipline him but when it comes to strangers at our house, the door, and the wrong combination of people moving to and fro he spins around and around, barks and bites a tree!!!
I am perplexed!

He is loved, brushed, fed, trained and this is a mystery.

I am still perplexed!

If you have any ideas I would be thrilled. I did buy the "Dog Father" training videos but after the professional training he has had already.

I am still perplexed!

Love to hear from you.

You know I turned 56 this year and all around me there is encouragement to embark on the road of what I think is "unnatural aging"; Botox, liposuction, surgery, hair color, bio-identical hormones, spas, extreme makeovers etc.

I want to resist.

Having lived my whole life, passionate about health and wellness and worked hard to detox my mind body and soul, I am afraid that anything that takes me away from the natural aging process would be remiss.

Is it ok to have wrinkles which I prefer to think of as laugh lines? I think that I am supposed to feel hot occasionally and experience the changes that come with aging.

I love Joan Rivers and I especially love her straightforward objection to aging. I just read her great book: "Men are stupid and they like boobs". She refuses to look older and thinks that I must be crazy not to nip and tuck. Personally I love the lines I have earned and the wisdom that shows in my body.

Let me know your thoughts.

After all "growing old beats dying."

Deepak Chopra says that you will feel more energetic, normalize your weight and increase your health if you check in with your body before you eat. If an empty stomach is a 1 and a distended stomach like after thanksgiving is a10, he suggests that you never eat unless you are less than a 3 and stop when you are a 5.

Today I am grateful that my children are alive, happy, and healthy and that we have such solid relationship with them. Louis had a great year last year: made the all star baseball team and was awarded the all star ball, was the lead in the school play, managed to excel in all subjects and despite having his heart broken by a girl who told him to wait for her till 6th grade! He felt proud and accomplished. He went to Australia for a month in July where he lived with his 3 older and more experienced cousins. He became more grown up and cherished the nurturing he received. The new school lists arrived in the mail and he is thrilled to be surrounded by enough good friends and despite a great summer is looking forward to 5th grade.

This morning I woke up to hundreds of rainbows traversing across my bedroom ceiling.

My little solar powered rainbow maker which sticks to the window and gently spins when the sun is out could not be a more "happy making" gadget.

Everyone should have one.

Fill your mind with positivity, start the day with fun and remember the power of your thoughts sets the mood of the day.

Like your eyes are window to your soul, your mouth is the window to your wellness especially to the health of your heart. I am a vigilant dental cleaning candidate and go twice a year.

We read that there is a clear link between periodontal disease, gum bleeding and heart disease.

Make sure you brush and floss regularly, preferably with a soft or sonic brush.

My cousin's 21 year old son died in a gruesome car accident last week. As the most devastating experience any parent could ever endure I am so so sad and deeply feeling his grief and loss. I pray for his courage and strength and want him to know that he will be forever in my prayers. I am sure that no matter the length of time he will never recover.

When it comes to feeling good, I believe I am what I eat so my lighterliving prescription for a pain free and active body, an alert and inspired mind and a happy and free spirit begins with: a.) daily impact free movement like AeroPilates, Swimming or Walking, b.) reading, writing, creating and challenging my mind with a crossword and c.) a daily practice that makes me realize how luck and fortunate I am.

There are really only 4 things to remember when trying to defy the aging process. Personally I have chosen to age gracefully, naturally and without the help of drugs, hormones, surgery, fillers and Botox. I truly believe that if I nutrify my body, activate my muscles and joints, motivate and employ my mind and manifest my open spirit I will look younger than those who don't and feel better than most.

Last week I was invited to the south east corner of Texas to look at the growth and processing of organic aloe vera juice.

Even though the use of aloe on the skin and as a digestive aid, dates back to Phonetician times, I was ignorant when it comes to the maintenance of its efficacy. Not all Aloe Vera is alike!

In order to protect its potently soothing benefits aloe must be handled delicately and be refrigerated until the moment of maceration.

Also most aloe in the stores is loaded with preservatives and synthetic additives which of course defeats the purpose of its "naturally calming" use.

lighterliving ™ is looking at manufacturing a range of wonderful aloe products; we will add its powdered form to our ingestible vitamins and create a series of body care items that will soothe, moisturize and heal the skin.

The second very important question is why I added Palm Oil to my bars, especially since it appears to be getting very bad press.

The palm kernel oil that is used in the coating on my bars is highly functional and used to keep the chocolate fats or yogurt from separating. Have you ever noticed the greying of chocolate that occurs when the fat separates. It is called "blooming".  It's actually not 'old chocolate' as many people think but the fat which has separated from the structure and risen to the top.

Also we use only fractionated palm kernel oil and not the "bad" hydrogenated palm kernel oil which creates trans fats.  Fractionated palm kernel oil comes from heating up and then cooling down the oil which then results in the oil separating into "fractions" - the desired sections are then used in coatings and such.   It is high in saturated fats (although so is cocoa butter which is found in "pure" chocolate and even organic versions). 

Having said that, the amount we use in my coatings is minimal and so the amount of saturated fat from the coating itself is only 1 g.  The recommended daily allowance of saturated fat is 20 g.

Please rest assured that there is no ingredient in these bars that you should have concern about.

I love the due diligence with which most of you approach your health and always welcome comments, questions and suggestions.

Over the last few weeks, as a lot of you are enjoying the digestive benefits of my new Pro-biotic bars, I have received a hand full of great questions.
The first is whether they are 'gluten free and while on that topic I want to apologize for the awkward way in which I answered that question on the air, last week!
We have worked to remove all the gluten in these bars as well as all my antioxidant powders and future ingestibles.

LighterLiving's commitment is to "gluten free, efficacious, healthy, natural, organic and delicious"!

QVC, however is ever cautious and conservative, especially when it comes to products that we eat and consume. They want to protect all of you and insist on levels of safety that are admirable. Until they are totally satisfied that we can prove that there is no gluten, even in the other products made on the same line in the same factory, they  will not allow me to make the claim.

In the meantime, even though I am not celiac, I too am a "gluten free" fan and feel very comfortable eating these bars.

Today is a New Moon! May this 'Sun' day fill you will light and inner peace. It is a great day to initiate your dreams! Start a new project, do something you've been waiting to do for a long time. Set new goals. The core energy of this day brings harmony and beauty, allow it to inspire your life. What a perfect day to begin a new cycle, and start working with the energy of the moon.

Jupiter is our planet of luck, grace, favor and fortune. Rarely does it go retrograde, however, it has been since June 15. Many of us have been experiencing a change in our momentum, almost as though someone slammed on the breaks. Its even possible that we have become frugal since Jupiter brings wealth, abundance, and optimism. Jupiter controls our prosperity and success and when retrograde we are apt to be careful. Jupiter turned direct on October 12-13th. So we should all be feeling some relief and a revitalization of our goals. Now is the time to move forward again and pursue our ventures!  

I am with you all today with a great machine that includes 2 DVD's, the rebounder and the floor mat and it is on 4 easy payments. At $75 a month you cant go wrong. This is only a little more than the cost of a reformer lesson.

Call me and share your story. I'll be with Sandra at 6am, Shawn at noon and Jane at 7pm.

See you there!

• #1 My Knees Hurt - Pilates Reformer Instructional Video & Article
• The Superiority of AeroPilates
• Breathing the Pilates Way

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