Healthcare Reform: Take Your Own Health into Your Own Hands

The other night I watched the 60 minutes interview with our President Barack Obama and I watched the Primetime Oprah interview with the First Lady and our President. In both interviews they referenced the whole healthcare debacle.

Also recently a good friend of mine asked me why I didn't go to doctors and when I told her that I'm more scared to see a doctor than not, she was shocked and dismissed me as being crazy.

I also found out that my sister pays upwards of about $250 a month for healthcare for herself and my niece and so my mental juices started going about this whole healthcare thing and how we can turn it around for ourselves to benefit everyone.

I tell my personal story about health and wellness in my book, The Goddess of Raw Foods about how sickly I was in my early 20's. I had everything from constipation to migraines, to depression to a thyroid disorder and through the blessings of discovering raw foods, yoga, acupuncture, herbs, detoxing, fasting, cleansing, prayer, and meditation, I brought my mind, body, and spirit back into alignment. That's the short end of the story. It hasn't been an easy journey and it definitely had its bumps and bruises, but now that I look back, I recognize that what I did was I reformed my own healthcare plan instead of relying on a government and a doctor to decide what to do with my life.

I don't advocate anyone NOT seeing a physician. Even though I haven't been sick like that in years, from time to time when things in my life get out of balance and I might come down with something, my mind and spirit intuitively knows how to handle it because I've re-programmed myself to go in and heal myself with the tools and resources that I already know and have.

If I feel like I may be getting a little under the weather, I go and sweat it out usually at a spa or I take a Bikram yoga class. And you know yoga is cheap, sometimes you can go for free. Did you know that sweat releases up to 20% of the body's toxins. That's more than urine (7%) and defecation only releases up to 3% of the body's toxins. The breath releases up to 70% of the body's toxins. Go figure and you can breathe for FREE.

I can tell you that your body, mind, and spirit has all that it needs to heal. The journey, the path, the tools and the resources may seem a bit cloudy, a bit daunting and challenging but like I said nobody said it was going to be easy.

But with all this talk about health care reform I have to encourage you all to focus on reforming your own health and take your health into your own hands and come to your doctor as an informed client. After all, only you know more about yourself than a doctor who barely touches you or looks at you.

What I think my friend didn't realize is that we are capable of taking care of our own health. We know better than any doctor what is wrong and what is right with us, when something is out of balance and not feeling right.

I also think about my sister shelling out all that money for health care and she barely gets sick. She recently had to go to the emergency room because she cut herself cutting up some raw veggies for herself and my niece. Spending $250 a month equals to $3000 a year which could pay for a Vitamix blender ($325), a dehydrator ($125), monthly yoga classes, some acupuncture appointments, a few raw food prep classes, some great books on health and wellness, an air purifier, and much much more.

So my tip for you now is to not wait for our President on reforming your health, step up and transform it for yourself and your family.

My experience with doctors has never been a great experience. Every time I went to a doctor in the past (the last time I saw a doctor was in 2003) I always got sicker and felt worse after the appointment.

Health is more than just herbs, raw foods, yoga, and breathing. A lot of it is mind over matter and the belief in yourself that you can take charge of your own health.

Its the end of 2009 and 2010 approaches us soon, so I encourage you to start to reform your own health care now.

7 Ways to Listen to your body's intuition

Many of you asked me about my own personal story with health and healing. Some ten years ago when I was in my early 20's, I suffered from migraines, constipation, sciatica, depression, anxiety, low-self-esteem, acne, chronic fatigue syndrome, vertigo, and I had a thyroid disorder that kept me emotionally imbalanced.

With a raw foods diet, regular cleanses, herbs, juicing, yoga, meditation, prayer, and learning to really listen and trust my body's intelligence, I learned how to stay healthy and wise.

I don't like doctors myself and I choose to stay away from them as much as possible and although I don't advocate anyone not to see a doctor, I do strongly encourage you to visit your doctor as an informed and empowered client which requires you to learn how to listen and trust your intuition.

Here are some ways to start listening to your body's intuition.

-Whenever there is pain, there is opportunity to heal something or change something.

Whether it is your diet, maybe you need a colonic, a cleanse, some rest, some alkaline water, fresh air, a change in your physical routine, etc. Get honest on where the pain is. Don't worry about fixing something so quickly. Intuition is a step by step process. The reason why it might take a while to get the answer is because intuition is an inner technology and it only works when you get it exactly right, so it will lead you to the next step once you have fully realized the present condition and the solution and then it will lead you to the next step but know that there is no pain greater than what Spirit can fix.

- Look around you at all the possibilities.

When I'm telling you that you have everything around you that you need it is really true. Intellectually I used to get this idea. I used to tell it to all my clients. I used to preach it at my speaking engagements but then one day I got it on another level and it opened up new possibilities for me. Sometimes things don't always look the way we in our heads wanted them to look so that confuses the psyche a bit, but when you take away what you thought something would look like and really look around you at the people in your life, the things both in the physically and not in the physical of what you have now to help you get through whatever discomfort or pain you are in, you will find a treasure. You might not find all the treasures all at once. Remember intuition is not a microwave heat it up quick and instant fix it tool. Its a guide that endlessly guides you to the next and the next step as long as you stay open.

- Learn to work that intuitive muscle.

Intuition is a muscle and what happens when you work your muscles, they become stronger, but when you don't they become weaker, so you have to work that muscle. You can test yourself by doing things like guessing who might call you that day because the phone is nothing but a psychic sound/vibrational chamber anyway.

- Pay attention to patterns

Everything is a pattern of things that forms something. The computer is a pattern. A chair is a pattern. Even pain and diseases is a pattern. If you ever do some real research on this stuff, you will find out that most women who have issues with fibroids have had similar experiences in their lives, similar patterns. So when you learn to follow patterns, you will learn to attune yourself to your intuition. If you notice how sluggish you feel after eating a bunch of nuts, you might want to stay away from nuts or you might want to try a different type of nut. If you notice how dry your skin gets when you don't drink enough water, you might want to start getting more raw foods and more water into your diet.

- Learn to ask yourself questions.

Get comfortable with asking yourself questions. And know that there is a solution to every problem and every challenge and there is an answer and a plethora of answers to every question. Sometimes we are afraid of asking because we are afraid there isn't an answer on the opposite end. Spirit is designed perfectly. Everything out here has an equal and opposite match. Everything. So learning to ask the right question becomes vital and this comes with time. Am I getting enough rest? Am I getting enough water? Do I need more greens in my diet? Do I need to walk more? Do I need more sunshine in my life? Or why am I always tired? Why do I have digestive issues?


-Learn how to receive the answers.

Intuition is a really really simple inner technology. It is not complicated and it won't give you the run around. When you ask, it will answer. You know how when you google something and that something will immediately pop up on your computer screen, intuition usually works in that same way. It usually doesn't wait to answer you either, so be prepared, when you ask, you might just immediately get the answer, so open your ears, open your heart, trust the first thing that comes to your mind even if it is crazy and if you don't understand, ask for more understanding and allow yourself to be lead by the answers. Also never be afraid of the answer. Sometimes a lot of us don't ask, because we are afraid of the answer, but always know the answer is always in your favor and not anyone else's.

-Go in and trust even when your mind doubts it.

Because intuition is stronger than our minds, it is communicating to us all the time. We have just learned how to ignore it, but it never leaves us, so sometimes limiting our outside physical distractions can help us to trust it more.

You can never go wrong listening to your intuition. And trust me you will pay a high price not listening to it, so you might want to learn how to tune into this muscle a lot. It is your strongest band aid, your greatest doctor, and your most reliable insurance. I'm actually going to be practicing my own does of medicine today as well so join along with me.

We love to hear from our readers. Tell us how you strengthen your intuitive muscle or tell us any stories you have with using your intuition.