IT IS NEVER TO LATE TO FORMULATE A PLAN

You can call them New Year's Resolutions...your Wish List...a Dream Board...the Vision Journal...any creative name you can come up with.

Bottom line: we are talking about Goal Setting.

And it is an art.

The good news is that goal setting is an art that can be taught. The even better news is that it is never too late to begin to acquire this skill. It will change your life.

Goals are ambitions, aims you have...a result you wish to achieve. There are many types of goals: those that relate to us only...those that encompass at least one other person, who might be a spouse or life partner, a business partner, our children or parent(s)...and those that deal with a small group of people, our community or a more global audience.

It is possible to be working on I-We-All goals at the same time. Regardless of the type of goal, setting goals involves consideration of safety and security, rhythm to your life, your sense of self or ego, health, work, relationships and play.

In addition, you need to know a little bit about yourself. Are you a great starter who flags towards the end of a project? Are you best in the middle of a task? Are you a great finisher, charging hard toward the finish line? Being clear on this will help you structure how you are going to accomplish the goal(s) you set for yourself.

Be realistic about the energy you have and the resources available to you when you design your plan for achievement. You need to know what tools are at your beck and call, what your skill-sets are, how the brain actually works and what meme systems might be running that could affect your success.

Clarity, motivation, planning and and the ability to adjust are crucial elements in goal setting and goal completion.

Make no mistake; if you are not emotionally invested in achieving the goal you set, no plan will be enough. You must have a passion for what you are trying to accomplish, even if the goal itself sounds mundane.

Visualize your goal...see the image: feel it, taste it, savor it as something already accomplished.

Write your goals down. There is a visceral component between pen in hand and words on a paper that no amount of typing into a computer can match. This amounts to a commitment you are making with yourself, a giving voice to what it is you want. Carry your list of goals with you and refer to it on a daily basis. This emphasizes the importance you place on what you say you want.

Solution-based thinking enables you to create a plan or a 'program design', if you will, outlining the steps in the process of bringing your goal to fruition. Often, adjustments need to be made. Life happens and you need to be ready for the possibility that the original plan will require tweaking in order to accomplish what you set out to do. You may also find that the goal you set cannot be achieved within the time frame as originally thought: enter Plan B.

Know that you don't have to go it alone.

Engage in group discussions, create an accountability partner, have a team to go to for support and help, share your goals with others. Having a cadre of people who want you to succeed and are generous with their time and ideas is a beautiful experience, not only for you as the recipient of this largesse, but for those from whom you receive help. You just might be allowing them to achieve one of their goals by asking for their support!

As we look to end one year and usher in a new one, take this time to dedicate yourself to yourself. It's not difficult. It is simply a matter of knowing how to start, how to hang in, and how to finish!

At The Legacy Center, Scott teaches a course in Goal Writing as a part of our Legacy Lifestyle Series. Check our calendar for the next Creative Problem-Solving Seminar to be offered.

Happy New Year...Happy New You!

Water, Water, Everywhere...

It's raining in Dallas, so perhaps that is why I'm blogging about water...

...or it may be that was the topic of some discussion on the "Natural Living and Garden Show with Ron and Mona Hall" Sunday, October 31st.

Mona (sans Ron) asked me to be a guest on the show which airs each Sunday at 8:00 AM on 570 KLIF Talk Radio. It was a pleasure to join her on Halloween to talk.

The question came up about whether coffee, soda, and fruit juices can be counted as the right amount of liquid we need each day to run our body systems. Weight Watchers tells their clients that any liquid can be counted as part of the daily requirement they recommend.

But this is just not healthy thinking.

Caffeine is found in the leaves, seeds or fruits of over 60 different plants. It is commonly found in chocolate and is a flavoring agent in many cola beverages.

Coffee has been used in enemas for almost as long as doctors have been doctoring. It does a good job of purging the colon because it is an irritant and stimulates gastric secretion. When coffee hits the lining of the intestinal tract, peristalsis (rhythmic waves of contraction of the digestive muscle that pushes food along the colon and triggers bowel movement) is stimulated because the body is trying to eliminate the irritant. There is no point at which coffee stops becoming an irritant to your intestinal tract.

While the effects of caffeine are stimulating, it is quite addictive (ever tried to go cold turkey?) and can cause loose stools. It is also a diuretic. Diuretics dehydrate the body and combine one that produces loose stools and you have an accident waiting to happen...no pun intended.

In addition, coffee has a half life of 6 hours. If you drink coffee all day long, you can do the math and figure out how much caffeine is still in your system when you try to go to sleep at night.

If you replace coffee with teas like Yerba Mate, the effects of caffeine withdrawal will be minimized without more irritation of the digestive tract.

An average can of soda contains ten teaspoons of sugar. One teaspoon of sugar has been shown to suppress your immune system for as long as four hours.

Diet sodas are sweetened with toxins masquerading as FDA approved healthy sweeteners. Aspartame is absorbed into your bloodstream as its breakdown product methanol (wood alcohol). There are several more 'breakdowns' before aspartame becomes formaldehyde, which your body has the potential to store before it is ultimately converted into the end waste product formate. Excess formate is responsible for the production of excessive acidity in the blood or methanol poisoning. This can result in fatal kidney damage, blindness, multiple organ system failure, and death. Splenda is the trade name of an artificial sweetener that is in over 4,500 products in supermarkets, restaurants, Starbucks, Jamba Juice and the low-carb foods and drinks made popular by the Atkins and South Beach diets. Splenda is the brand name for sucralose, a chlorinated artificial sugar derivative up to 600 times sweeter than sugar. This compound was discovered by accident in a chemistry lab of Queen Elizabeth College in London. The lab was trying to create a new insecticide. Honest.

Processed juices are no different than processed milk. Natural enzymes, sensitive to temperatures above 108 degrees F are killed during pasteurization. These are the same enzymes that aid us in digesting that particular food and in making the nutrients in the food available to your body as a fuel source. Cooking the juice, necessary for shelf-life in commercial food production, damages most of the vitamins and other sources of micronutrients that are found in fresh fruits, vegetables and freshly squeezed juices. Once all the good stuff is destroyed, you are basically left with sugar water enriched with synthetic vitamins.

Tap water is convenient and laced with chlorine, which is added to kill bacteria. Chlorine kills all bacteria, the kind you don't want and the kind your gut needs to stay healthy, break food down and defend against unhealthy bacteria.

Pure bottled waters are a healthier choice, some contain more mineral content that others, but preference is usually based upon how the water tastes to the consumer.

In order to be well-hydrated, a person should drink half their body weight in ounces of water each day, a fourth of that upon rising since the body has used all the available stores of fluid during the night for rest and cellular repair work.

Water does the following things: it is the building material for the 2,000,000 red blood cells yours body makes every second...it's a remedy for eating too many carbs as part of the fine-tuning work on your Metabolic Typing Food Plan... water is the building block for replacing cells in the body...it is the means to regular bowel movements...it helps restore pelvic floor and abdominal wall dysfunction...and it affects the quality of sleep since dehydration produces stress hormones which disrupt sleep.

The choice is yours. Do you want the use fresh, clean water to help your body to its work or do you want to be 'made up of' an addictive stimulant, toxic chemicals or sugar. You are what you eat and what you drink.

So, bottoms up!

Resource Material: How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy by Paul Chek

www.chekinstitute.com

Sweet Deception by Dr. Joseph Mercola and Dr. Kendra Degen Pearsall

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

Many of you may remember the study, done some time ago, comparing the incidence of breast cancer among Japanese and American women.

The study made the link between the amount of dietary fat in the two cultures, concluding that fat in the diet was the cause of the greater percentage of breast cancer in American women.

FAT IS NOT BAD FOR YOU. BAD FAT IS BAD FOR YOU!

Fat plays many vital roles in keeping people lean and fit. The truth is that most people, especially women, don't get enough of the right kind of dietary fat. Dietary fat is needed in amounts adequate for the manufacture of hormones, normal cellular oxidation and energy production. Without enough fat, the body's metabolism is slowed down as is the development of lean body mass. Fat doesn't trigger an insulin response the way carbohydrate does. Fat actually helps slow down the conversion of carbs into blood sugar. Fat is a crucial part of human cell membranes and the precursor (a substance from which another substance is formed, especially by a metabolic reaction) used to make steroid hormones, one of which is vitamin D.

Having too little cholesterol can increase the risk of depression, the risk of suicide, lead to violent behavior and aggression and may increase the risk of cancer and Parkinson's disease.

So, not to be too repetitious, here are some of the purposes for cholesterol in the body:

gives cells stability

needed to produce steroid hormones and vitamin D

acts as an antioxidant

needed for healthy function of serotonin receptors in the brain

helps maintain the health of the intestinal wall

required where there is an inflammatory process in the body

helps protect the body from high levels of altered free-radicals containing fats, aka,

the bad kind of fats

A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that exposures to toxic chemicals, including pesticides, in the environment are contributing to high breast cancer rates. Even though some pesticides have been banned, they remain in the body and the environment for decades.

If you eat plant or animal food that has been commercially grown, you are eating what has been sprayed on or injected into that plant or animal...pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, anti-biotics, growth hormones, to name a few. The fat in an animal and a human is where toxins are stored. Eating protein from an animal not raised and fed on their natural free-range diet means that you are eating and storing their toxins in your fat as well as all the other environmental toxins that you are in contact with on a daily basis.

Because pesticides may disrupt the endocrine system of children during critical stages of development, there is a concern that exposure to these toxins may contribute to later life cancer or early onset puberty.

How can a woman eliminate some risk of getting breast cancer? Eat grass-fed, grass-finished animal protein whenever possible. Support the liver so that the detoxification process is helped along and can deal with toxins when it is not possible to eat cleanly. Don't eat a low-fat diet.

CLEAN FOOD...CLEAN FAT...CLEAN LIVER.

Legacy Lifestyle Series

At Legacy Performance and Integrated Wellness Center, we are always striving to find ways to help people create the life they long to live.

This encompasses talk about food, movement, sleep, water, breath and thought.

It also deals with goal setting how-to's, teaching journaling, guided meditation and - our most recent Lifestyle Series - how to tame your computer or "Mac" Your Life.

Daniel J. Hale, mediation lawyer, award-winning author, and tech guru (a Renaissance man, to be sure) leads three workshops on all things Mac related.

Thursday night at 7:00PM on September 2nd., 16th., and 30th.

Legacy Wellness Center

4209 McKinney Avenue Suite 202 C Dallas 75205

Each session is $35.00

Please join us in becomming Tech Wizards!

SALT by Claudia Zelazny and Scott Herrera

...the nitty-gritty on SALT

Salt is of the utmost importance for life - one cannot live without it. Salt acts as the main electrolyte in the blood, the purpose being to hold fluid within the blood vessels. If the salt content of the blood drops, so does the fluid level. Therefore, salt keeps blood volume high. Blood fluids act as the body's coolant system. It is vital to maintain sufficient sodium and chloride levels in the blood. The adrenal glands perform this function. Salt is an adrenal regenerative...low salt, lower adrenal function. Salt is vital in ridding excess acid from the cells of the body, especially brain cells. It helps balance blood sugar levels. Salt is required for absorption of food particles through the intestinal tract. It clears the lungs of mucus and sticky phlegm, which is especially helpful for those with asthma or cystic fibrosis. It is a natural anti-histamine. Muscle cramps can be prevented with the aid of salt in the diet. Salt is needed in order to create firm bone structure. As maligned as the need for salt has become, it serves our bodies in a number of critical ways.

...sea, rock, crystal, table...isn't SALT SALT?

Many people honestly don't understand that there is a huge difference between conventional table salt and natural, health promoting salt. The method of harvesting and whether the salt is processed makes a difference. In some parts of the world, the seas are so polluted that sea salt isn't as healthy as it once was. There are valuable elements in rock salt, but they cannot be absorbed and metabolized by the body because of the crystalline structure. Table salt is dried at such a high heat, 1200 degrees F, that the natural chemical structure is altered. This 'chemical cleaning' leaves table salt in a form which does not appear in nature. As a result, the body perceives it as something completely foreign. The refining process makes it look great and pour great, but what is added (chemicals, bleach, anti-caking agents) is what creates a product that is harmful and the impression that any salt is harmful if too much is consumed.

...if it's so bad, why do some crave SALT?

Researchers may have discovered why some people can't get enough salt: it might lead to a better mood! Lab rats that lack common table salt stop doing the things normal lab rats like to do. A loss of pleasure in activities which were once enjoyable is one of the most important signs of psychological depression. If salt is a natural mood-elevating substance, it might be the reason it is over-used, even though table salt can contribute to high blood pressure, heart disease and other health problems.

...is Himalayan Crystal SALT the answer?

Over 250 million years old, it is the purest salt on earth, uncontaminated by toxins or pollutants. Together with pure spring water, this salt provides all the natural elements which are twins of those in the body...all 84 of them! The benefits include...regulation of the water content in the body...promotion of a healthy Ph balance in the cells...promotion of sinus health, bone strength, vascular health and natural sleep patterns...support of one's libido...essential, with water, for regulation of blood pressure...and this names just a few benefits!

...but you don't have to take this with a grain of SALT

RESEARCH IT! Always consult a physician. Always. There are books and websites with good, easy to understand information. A few of those resources are the following:

How to Eat, Move and Be Health by Paul Chek

The Body Shape Diet by Dr. Cass Ingram

Dr. Jeffrey R. Cutler (1995 ) study of NYC hypertensive population

www.mercola.com

www.westonaprice.org

TierneyLab.Blogs.NYTimes.com

RUSSIAN BANYA - A Day in a Traditional Russian Sauna

"The banya is like the Russian's second mother", wrote Pushkin in 1832. Though it may sound like hyperbole, the banya has been a staple of Russian culture and health since medieval times. Every village had at least one banya, serving not only as a center for cleanliness and bathing, but for magic and folklore. There was even a mischievous little sprite associated with the banya called a mystical "Bannik", the guardian of steam and heat, the caretaker of the sauna and its participants. In order to appease the sprite, the bather had to enter clean and leave the same way. So developed the etiquette for bathers.

Dallas has an authentic Russian banya. The facility also has a Finnish Sauna (dry heat), a steam room (Hammam) and a cold plunge pool (ice and dunk tank). There is a restaurant, men's and women's locker rooms and a small store, which sells the traditional birch bundles (more about this later) and traditional felt hats in two styles, one for the guys and one for the girls. These hats are worn in the banya, protecting the top of the head and the ears from the intense heat.

One Sunday, I went with two friends to see what this was all about!

No frills, no deluxe amenities: this is a pretty spartan, bare-bones facility. When we arrived, there were several men and one lady sitting around one of the tables, drinking water and talking. The men, as we learned, were spending the day...sauna, banya, cold plunge, sit and drink water and talk and then start all over again. We were told to bring a bathing suit, but were given a robe, towel, and flip-flops were available. We asked if we could wear our own and were told yes. The robes looked as though they were an after-thought; they had seen better days. The good news is that I did not feel compelled to purchase one to have at home. Towels are much the same: white, beige, worn, not so worn. No linen envy on my part!

A bit of a tour and short explanation followed. We had scheduled a Venik Massage and were told a bit, not much, about that. If you wanted a traditional massage (I'm not sure what a traditional Russian massage would be), that had to be arranged with an off-site person who would come to the banya for that purpose.

So into the locker room, into our bathing suit and into the Finnish sauna we went. Hot, but comfortably so, I could have stayed and stayed. The three of us talked for some time, broke a good sweat and then the door opened and the gentleman scheduled to give us our Venik Massages came into the sauna to give a bit more detail about the procedure. He suggested that we go into the banya to feel the heat and said that he would do one massage at a time, but that the other two were free to stay and watch, if desired.

Robes back on, we walked across the narrow hall and went into the banya. The woman and most of the men were there and it was hot! My concern was how long the massage would last and if I could last for the duration in this intense heat. Our masseur was a man of medium height, quite tan and with a large belly. He was wrapped in a long blue and white striped towel and spoke with a "Boris and Natasha" (from Bullwinkle) accent. In fact, we nicknamed him Boris. Strong, like bull, Boris!

We stayed in the banya for a few minutes and then went back into the sauna to visit and enjoy the milder heat. As suggested, we went to our table in the main room and drank water. Boris came and said he was ready for the first massage. He had told us that our bathing suits, being synthetic, were not appropriate for the cleansing of the Venik Massage and that it would be better if we wore nothing. When in Rome...actually in what spa do you wear clothes? None.

First victim! Andrea came back out several minutes later (maybe fifteen), red as a beet and was instructed to immediately immerse herself in the cold plunge. Boris, sensing her reluctance, exhorted her until, screaming, she did so. She came to the table and drank water, as instructed. Lots of color to her skin, some mottling, but whether due to the cold plunge or the Venik Massage, it was hard to tell.

Lyn was next. Same routine. Red as borscht, wahoo-ing as she went into the cold plunge and then back to the table for water and note comparing with Andrea. Boris, who wears the felt hat with ear flaps and heavy gloves, said that he needed to take a breather and wanted to wait a bit before he went back in to do my massage. Also, the men had gone back into the banya and he wanted then to complete their stay before he and I went in.

Maybe twenty or thirty minutes passed before it was my turn. So in we went. Towels are placed on the wood bench of the second level. It is entirely too hot to be on the wood without some protection. Boris asked me to lie on my stomach first, but let me explain what the Venik Massage is all about.

Verik Massage is a traditional Slavic experience, also called "platza massage" or a "shvitz massage". A venik is a bundle of birch, oak or eucalyptus branches bound together. The bundle is repeatedly soaked in cold water to soften the leaves without making them drop from the branches. Then the venik is soaked in very hot water to release the oils in the leaves and branches. In the banya, the venik is placed in a container of hot water. Once you are on your stomach, the masseur takes the bundle out of the water and shakes it over your body so that the oils drop on your skin. The bundle is massaged over your body, pressed into your skin, and then you are hit with the bundle in various places. This is done front and back and then back again. All of this takes place in about fifteen minutes.

Boris then asked if I was ready to leave and, with bits of venik stuck to my skin, I wrapped my towel around me and headed for the plunge. I was expecting the water to be unbearably cold, but it was quite pleasurable. While icy to the touch when we first put a hand in at the beginning, after being in the banya, the water was delightful, refreshing, rather than shocking.

Back to the table, told to drink lots of water (this I think for their protection, it is not actually a traditional sauna practice), Boris said we might feel sleepy for a bit. The treatment was something I will probably do again, now that I know what it is all about.

Once home, I made a bit of lunch and, overcome with tiredness, went to bed for about two hours. Boris was right.

All that was missing from my Russian experience at the banya was a gypsy with a brown bear on a chain.

A KOREAN SAUNA

The word sauna is an ancient Finnish word which means the traditional Finnish bath as well as the bathhouse itself. The oldest known saunas were pits dug into a slope or hill in the ground and used as homes during the winter. The Finns used the sauna as a place to cleanse the mind, rejuvenate and refresh the spirit, prepare the dead for burial and, because it was usually the cleanest structure and had water available, as a place to give birth. The sauna is still an important part of daily family life and most homes have a sauna.

Saunas can be found in most cultures: Finland, the Baltic countries, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, the UK, southern Europe, Central America, the US, Africa, Japan, Australia and Korea.

In Korea, the sauna is essentially a public bathhouse. Families come to enjoy the day together, with the sexes doing whirlpools, massages and showers in separate facilities, but coming together for the saunas.

A friend and I decided to try the Korean sauna I had heard so much about. I have enjoyed a dry sauna for years, whenever I was in a spa or hotel that offered this amenity. My friend, a client of my partner and our business, was in the process of a detox program and wanted to use the sauna to help "sweat" out some impurities.

We passed the entrance to the Spa and had to double back. Not expecting the facility to be marked by a gate with a family of giraffe sculptures on the crossbar, we had missed it the first time, thinking it was the entrance to a safari-type park. When the Spa came into view, the parking lot was quite full for a Sunday and I felt like I was looking at a small town casino. Once inside, I don't know that casino would have been the word chosen.

We entered, taking our shoes off, getting locker keys and being ushered into the woman's locker room. Various shapes and sizes of women were walking around nude, as I had been told we had to be when I called for information. We put our shoes in one small locker and our clothes in another. Grabbing a towel the size of a guest hand towel, we walked into the shower room. With a wall of showers on one side, four whirlpools in the middle, each with a different mineral bath, a wet sauna and a cold pool in the middle and the open massage area on the other side, the room was moist, to say the least. Moms, with little ones, young girls, older women in head scarves: a real cross-section of the female condition.

Showered and in a pair of pink short with top (guys get blue), we entered the co-ed portion of the Spa. A restaurant, rows of pink fake leather couches trimmed in Victorian white-painted wood, and the various saunas awaited us. Some people were asleep on the couches or on mats on the floor. Some ate. Some watched T.V. Children played. Gongs would chime and a soft Asian voice would say something. We were not in Kansas anymore.

First we entered the Pyramid Room. The walls are covered with 23 carat gold to help cleanse impurities. The pyramid shape channels metaphysical energy. The sauna felt good. At 115 degrees, I hadn't started to sweat yet when my friend started to feel a little light-headed.

We left the Pyramid and headed for The Ice Room, the equivalent of a cold plunge pool. Chilled to just above freezing (35 degrees), it was suggested that you rub your towel over you skin to get the best out of the stimulation to blood flow.