MONDAY, MONDAY ~ Find Your Balance Health Today!!!!

Michelle Pfennighaus is a health counselor and yoga instructor who has devoted her life to helping others and their pursuit of healthier living. She has a wonderful blog over at FindYourBalanceHealth.com that encourages eating habits that benefit busy lifestyles. She has agreed to share some of her wisdom, photos and endeavors with us!

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Michelle, how long have you put your energy into healthier living?

I've always been somewhat concerned with exercise and eating well, but it really picked up about 3 years ago. It's been an amazing journey!

What was the catalyst? How were you moved to seek out nutritional betterment? What led you to eat a fuller and purposeful menu?

According to my doctors I was fine, just as healthy as anyone else. But I knew I had digestive trouble – it was fairly obvious when I realized that not everyone was doubled over in pain after a meal, just me. One day I was home sick with a particularly terrible sinus infection and I saw Christina Pirello on public television. She was cooking up a macrobiotic meal and talking about how miso helps digestion. I immediately looked her up on the internet and started doing research.

But it was actually a conversation with my grandpa that pushed me to take the first step. He told me that my grandma (who died of digestive-related cancer) always had trouble eating dairy products. Because I take after my grandma in many ways, I thought that maybe I should try to eliminate dairy from my diet. It worked! And that was a very convincing first step.

How did it change your life? Your health? Your outlook? Your relationships?

Wow. It's hard to explain. Literally everything changed. I started to feel so much better as I cleaned up my diet one variable at a time. As I felt better, my mood improved. It was like a dark cloud lifted. I had more energy and motivation. I realized that it was possible to live a life 100 times better than the life I had before. It was so exciting – it still is! Part of my excitement is in knowing that I am armed with knowledge to make conscious decisions about how I treat my body. It was like uncovering a secret code. I knew right away that I wanted to bring this information to more people, which is how I started blogging and ultimately enrolled at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

Tell us about your training at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

It's an amazing school – people come from all over the world. At IIN they teach that health is a combination of diet AND lifestyle. So, there are foods like chicken. And then there are what we call Primary Foods, like relationships and career satisfaction. At IIN we learn to work with the whole person, not just the diet. It really rings true for me because while I was changing my diet I also started doing yoga and learning to de-stress my life. I believe my success was a combination of diet and lifestyle changes.

How has this affected your friends and family?

Positively! I am a much happier person, a more whole person, and more fun to be around. Having energy for my friends and family is something I didn't used to have.

What are some of the first and easiest steps you took to move into a healthier mode of living?

Like I mentioned, my first step was cutting out dairy for 2 weeks. It was just a trial. I started doing things as little science experiments, like noticing if what I ate for lunch made my stomach hurt later on. It really started as an investigative process. When I work with clients now, I emphasize taking small steps and becoming conscious of one's body.

What were some of the first positive things you noticed about you once you began your movement?

My moods really evened out. I had always been a cynical, moody kind of person. Once I started eating better, I started feeling more sunshine in my life. Now, I am hardly ever in a bad mood.

Have you ever regretted any of these changes?

Absolutely not. It wasn't always easy to try new things or pack a healthy lunch when all my friends were eating in the mall food court. But it has been the best thing I've ever done, hands down. I believe all my clients who stick with my program will feel the same.

What would you say to the readers who desire to make a happier existence and healthier lifestyle?

I'd say, you aren't alone! People talk to me every day about their desire for change. Most people find that they feel stuck or get in their own way when it comes to implementing change. That's why I work with clients to support them in a step-by-step plan towards their goals.

How can they contact you and what do you encourage them to consider before actually signing up with you as a client?

If you are interested in feeling happier, having more energy, and addressing your unique health challenges, you can email me at michelle@findyourbalancehealth.com or visit my website. I encourage you to think about your goals and how it would feel to achieve them. Consider, "What is more important than good health?"

What is your wish for your clients?

People who come alive with good health tend to spread the word and affect change in their families and communities by being excellent examples long after completing the health counseling program. That's my wish!



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Thanks Dwana!
Best,
michelle

--
Michelle Pfennighaus, RYT
Health Counseling & Yoga
FindYourBalanceHealth.com


Michelle, Here is to us all having Healthier, Happier Lifestyles!! CHEERS!!!

Chicago's Answer

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT 15 YEARS OF PLANNING HAVE BROUGHT TO CHICAGOLAND

Earth Hour was a blast ~ Enjoy this day as well!!

LIGHTS ON! EARTH HOUR WAS GREAT!!!!!

COUNT DOWN TO EARTH HOUR!!!!!! Chicago-Style ~ With Love ♥

Say What You Need To Say...

This weekend is a BIG ONE!



We have EARTH HOUR where we will be TURNING OUT THE LIGHTS FOR ONE HOUR March 28, 2009 8:30 pm AND



April 1st 2009 check your local listings for PBS~COMING HOME where our favorite Sesame Street characters will be introducing us to some of our heros and their families and the struggles they have endured in sacrificing for our safety.



BE SURE to check it out! Queen Latifah and John Mayer as they kick off an important "Talk, Listen and Connect" series...

Wonderful, just wonderful stuff!

The United States of Mexico?

How do you see our relationship with Mexico? My view is pretty tainted because on a daily basis I supervise undocumented felons who have committed heinous crimes against society and are serving sentences on the streets at tax payer expense.

I refer the offenders to DUI treatment, sex abuse treatment, domestic abuse treatment, parenting classes and I refer them to any and all types of counseling to better any anti-social behavior.

No, undocumented felons are not being deported for many crimes at this time. Sorry to squelch your secure bubbles, but there are hundreds, if not hundreds of thousands of undocumented felons who are not being removed, but are being treated and re-released back into your communities.

It is almost impossible to track this overwhelming reality because technically these offenders do not exist. They are using alias and many of our dates of births and social security numbers.

I am trying to learn more about everyone's immigration policies. It appears that the laws are ignored to such an extent that though they exist, they are not being heard in local jurisdictions. How are felons handled where you live?

I realize that we are a country of immigrants, but I also so firmly believe that it is so important to go through the process to learn, to assimilate, to make a conscious decision to integrate...to properly invest oneself, and to make the decision to live here in the United States a good and prosperous one for all involved.

I really appreciated this video because it outlines what both countries see as problems and what both countries plans are in an organized comprehensive discussion.

Outlining the goodness of our relationship and tackling the bad.

While I hold plenty of what is wrong with the United States right now, especially the terrorism we are experiencing on our streets, as the Mexican government's responsibility...the U.S. holds a responsibility as well for allowing the borders to be open and unmanned; a mass illegal entry to cheapen labor and to allow guns and drugs onto the streets. What I can not fathom though is why.

Who benefited? What was the catch? Why allow open borders for Mexico but not Cuba or Haiti?

There are so many things to share and learn from one another globally. There are also so many differences and cultural idealisms that conflict with what we as Americans hold dear. In my opinion, only implementing a global agenda would solve many of these problems. From what I have seen, many of these issues that we are facing are really based on poverty and ignorance and greed.

Many of the offenders I encounter have only 8 years of education. If there is a global mandate for higher education would that somehow counteract crime? If more young men were educated, would they maybe chose alternative ways to get more money, more things and more power?

Because Mexico is our closest neighbor, have we allowed and tolerated more than we have with other countries with high immigration rates? What are the highest immigrating countries? We have incorporated the Spanish language as our own, to accommodate the masses, in so many instances. We have labeled the killers the "drug cartel" so as to not offend our neighbors when these acts are clearly terrorist.

Now, as the violence has overtaken our own street gangs and caused warring in urban areas, what should we be doing?

Do you support a global education to uplift communities that are breeding these terrorists? Do you have any suggestions that might not have been touched on?

Remember dialogue breeds action and action breeds power and power births change!

The Aftermath Of Magic ~ poem by K.R. Copeland video by Donna Kuhn

Healthier Me, Healthier You, Healthier US!

It is a treat to have found HEALTHIERUS.GOV!!!! We have never had, to my limited knowledge, any such site before that encourages healthy supported by our acting administration and I think it is darn neat!

If we did have it before, that is great that we still have it and it is promoting "healthier, happier" people!

At any rate, please check it out for a Healthier, Happier You today!!!

Don't Hate the Players, Hate the Game!

I know I have been pretty riled up about the gang violence here in Chicago and across the world, but when you have a teen, it really makes it difficult to maintain balance and an even keel.

SO! What did I do? I lit my candles, found my peace and took a deep breath.

I also signed up for President Obama's BE THE CHANGE Network!!

Now I can shut up and put up! Now that's a fascinating concept!

Now I can go back to doing what I do best! Be here lovingly with you!

Send me your stories, your ideas, and whatever you want us to show about you and I will post you here!

ALSO remember to catch our friend Ron "Just Rondering" Jackson's radio program WKAN!!
CLICK HERE, CLICK HOME, CLICK LISTEN LIVE

ENJOY THE DAY!! BREATHE!

In the name of Love...

Of course, probably like many of you, I have been seriously contemplating if there really is a cure to our homemade problems with gang violence and my thinking of charging, and treating them as terrorists.

I read some one's commentary who stated that all of this is simply human nature.

That is a lot of commentary posted up there in that link, but it proved valuable to me because, while I do not profess to know the solution, I WANT IT TO STOP NOW!

I can only point out some of the problems that I see.

I was ecstatic to see my State Senator Dick Durbin communicating about what the state of the drug cartel operations are right now. YOU CAN READ THAT HERE

What are the threats in your community? Have the overwhelming weapons and drug trafficking hit your areas? If they have not, what are your communities doing to prevent them? How do you see urban areas solving this grave epidemic?

I have begun a dialogue with my legislators. They are quite busy cleaning up corruption, of which I am certain this is also attributed to, but I have faith that next summer our kids can go out and play. I have faith that next summer people will be able to walk to their neighborhood grocer without being gunned down by untrained assassins.

Chicago Public Schools Victim #29, her mom and her unborn sibling

It has been determined that these young lives were lost at the hands of our urban terrorists...a "gang" member set fire to their home in January 2009, he was arrested Friday, admitting he was targeting a rival "gang" member. These are terrorists.

A Woman's Work, A Woman's Word

The Good The Bad and The Ugly

READ THIS FROM FELLOW BLOGHER IVYWRITER...GOOD STUFF!

why

Star Student and Victim #28 of terrorist shootings

Okay, now back to that thought on prosecuting gang members as terrorists.

Why don't jurisdictions charge gang activities as terrorist acts? Are there any jurisdictions that charge gangs as terrorists? Hmmm, I could not find any!

READ THIS

ANDERSON COOPER Twittered this and reactivated my anger!

I'm angry because the economy is in the tank yet legislators continue to pass laws that allow undocumented persons to commit felonies and remain on the streets free and clear without deportation. Anyone else who commits crimes of these magnitudes are incarcerated for life, if they are caught.

These offenders coupled with homemade gangs makes for a lethal combination. They are terrorists committing crimes against the community. They are holding entire towns and vast neighborhood blocks all over the country hostage. That sounds like a terrorist to me. Infiltrating urban neighborhoods and rural towns supplying them with weaponry and drugs.

What is the difference between "drug cartel" and "terrorist"?

Our society has immediate access to the statistics but we don't want to offend one another or maybe we just really do not care.

But it really goes something like this: pot/cocaine makers/gun suppliers(drug cartels) + U.S.gangs = addicted and murdered communities.

All I am paid to do is listen and refer felons to treatment facilities to rehabilitation, job training, or anything else needed. Hey, its just tax dollars. We as voters have signed up and have decided this is all we want the government to do. Play nice, and coddle felons who rape, terrify, shoot, maim, addict and kill innocent citizens. Well, at least they know we are polite. Naughty, naughty until someone innocent you know is gunned down.

This epidemic affects every culture, but there has to be a division among readmission to a society that you have a binding legal obligation to be a part of in contrast to one that you committed a crime to become a part of and then continue to commit crimes against.

The Black terrorists shooting the Latino terrorists, shooting the Polish terrorists, shooting the Vietnamese terrorists...the list goes on and on slapping every ethnic combination and group...so I ask you, where does it end??

I hope we all wake up soon and advise our legislators that we want safe communities and we want them NOW! Stop our open border policy. Homemade gangs are getting drugs and weapons how? Why, shipments of course. These assassinations are all about the money, honey. So accordingly, we are all just collateral damage, right??

Check out this site if you want the truth about what neighborhood terrorists do. And then check out here if you want to know where when and why.

AND finally read this ~ it is The World Health Organization's latest report...read it,weep...

And then contact those folks you voted for to facilitate changing this murder count today. We all deserve to live in healthier, happier environments across the globe, but it starts at home...

Spring Into Shaklee!!

Subject : Feel 25 years younger

Special Guest Speaker

Rochelle Dykstra Registered Nurse

Public Health Educator

Speaking on Vivix-Anti-Aging

·The Aging Lifestyle, Aging Genes, Symptoms of Advanced Aging, Resveratrol

.The Aging Process, Antioxidants and Aging, Vivix Ingredients, Do’s and Don’t,
Testimonials and The Future of Anti-Aging



I have been using Shaklee for 2 years now and have not found a better environmentally friendly product. For cleaning, for laundry and for beauty.
Here is an opportunity to get intimate with Shaklee products ****



Rochelle Dykstra R.N.

Creating Healthier Lives For Life

Comments: Here is your Conference Room Link Click Here to Enter Room

And Call this Conference Line # 616 712-8000 pin 617497#

Simply click on the link above to enter the room.

First Time, there will be a short download initially, so
please be patient.

Best to arrive 10 - 15 minutes early. Password is freedom


Date: Monday, March 16th, 2009

Time: 7:30pm - approx 30 to 40 minutes

Sheree Robinson will close with a brief overview what this all can mean for you financially

Invite someone you care about, space is limited!



Patty Matlock
(732)790-7408
pmatlock@shaklee.net
SHAKLEE

THE WILLIS TOWER???? NEVER!

photo from chicagoarchitecture.info

Okay, I know there are MORE pressing things going on in this battered world ~ more reason to post about this and emit some RAGE!

Some things are sacred. Some things are just meant to be. Somethings identify a city (Golden Gate Bridge and Eiffel Tower come to mind) and any thought to rename them an ineffable discussion. Somethings give people pleasure and a sense of home and for Chicagoans, that is the Lake Shore Drive and the Sears Tower.

Imagine waking up and your top news is that a European/London-based firm has rented the Sears Tower and plans to rename it the WILLIS Tower!!!!

That's like buying a taco and calling it a hot dog! Got a cat, hell just call it a fish! Really, does nothing garner respect??? I seriously almost threw up in my mouth a little -- NOT HEALTHY.

To further complicate matters...I recently moved to a home that has a beautiful, and what I thought was historic, view of THESEARSTOWER. Every day I wake up and look lovingly at its statuesque glory. Knowing it is there somehow makes my day. The antennas illuminating the clouds at night glowing through my window against a dark black sky.

Who hasn't flown into Chicago O'Hare (will they rename that too soon??) and known that they were home as the flight circled over Lake Michigan, looping around the steel and beamed building, on the final descent.

If you are a Chicagoan, love a Chicagoan, or plain and simply LOVE CHICAGO, PLEASE contact the Willis Group just to voice your discontent.

WE've been through this before, WE STILL call Macy's Marshall Fields downtown, but bombarding Terry Lundgren didn't work and this won't either, but it will make you feel better if you care! I FEEL ALOT BETTER!

I will just put the reply with the one I received from Terry Lundgren, and sigh every time I wake up and see the WILLIS TOWER as I drink my coffee...NOTHING ever stays the same, I suppose. C'est la vie.

TIDE'S Loads of Hope

Everyone knows my LOVE FOR NOLA. I just have a soft spot for New Orleans. Plain and simple. I loved my grandma and her heritage, so anything in reference to NOLA is spectacular to me. When Jenny & Blogher emailed me about a program that came about during the darkest time in New Orleans, my answer in reply was, OF COURSE I WILL BLOG ABOUT IT!

Tide put together a campaign shortly after Hurricane Katrina in November 2005 that was loads of hope, help and love! The TIDE website talks about how the Tide Loads of Hope truck headed to Camp Hope in Metairie, LA and the neighboring area and cleaned over 10,000 loads of laundry.


Since that time, Tide Loads of Hope has washed more than 35,000 loads of laundry for over 20,000 families!!

Disaster after disaster, as I always say, has happened and will continue to happen, unfortunately.

Let us take a moment to support those causes that really get down and dirty, helping fellow friends who really are in need.


VINTAGE TIDE T-SHIRTS HERE!!


Purchasing a vintage TIDE t-shirt will help the Loads of Hope truck with the 32 high-efficiency washers and dryers stationed on the truck.

The goal for Tide Loads of Hope trucks:

* To complete 300 wash and dry cycles a day - equal to one year's worth of laundry for a single family

* Will wash about 9,000 loads of laundry over a four-week period

* Leveraged during massive disasters where electricity is unavailable in the region

Goal for Tide Loads of Hope vans:

* In partnership with a local laundromat, the Tide Loads of Hope vans provide free laundry service at the same load rate as the trucks

* Leveraged during disasters where neighboring communities still have a source of electricity

I can not believe such a wonderful charitable idea exists ~ so, if you can support Tide, please do so today!

Bellaire, TEXAS!!!

Hmmm, if our new black president was driving through Bellaire, Texas, or any other affluent, white suburb, is it safe to say that his license plate would be run and he would be stopped, frisked, interrogated and probably shot???

Now, the old me would have immediately replied "YES". But the new me hesitates.

I am almost certain, that prior to President Obama's presidency, he was stopped in places like Waukegan, Oak Lawn or Elmhurst...after all, the one thing that we have been trying to ignore throughout this beautiful process we have witnessed, is that it is dangerous to be a young, black man in America. But today, shouldn't it be safe to assume, especially if you are still a small percentage of the population, that you would be considered non-threatening.

I typically try to stay abreast of the various injustices committed against young, black men, but this one I somehow missed.

I preach to the young brothers I come in contact with everyday in my office on the tips and nuances I know of that should help them stay alive long enough to reach their 21st birthdays. I also teach it to my son. But these occurrences are beginning to increase again so maybe all that we are doing just isn't enough.

Many of these young men, middle to lower class, have the run of the "hood" and are at the risk of many, many obstacles. These men have the lowest survival rate.

Then there are the cases such as that of Robbie Tolan. The 23 year old Minor League baseball player and son of Major League baseball, retired player Bobby Tolan, of the 1967 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals. Young Robbie was gunned down New Years Eve in his own driveway, in front of his parents, by Bellaire Texas Police.

We have heard story after story after story of heinous crimes committed against black men. It is getting tired. White men just have to stop. It is time to stop.

Officers shooting young, unarmed men of color is an epidemic. I really want to be writing about how I feel gangs should be charged as terrorists, but every time I go to type my thoughts, I hear of another situation where someone has been accosted simply because they were DWB (Driving While Black).

This young, promising, 23 year old baseball player has a bullet lodged in his liver forever.

This story, which is three months old, is a viscious reminder of the way things really are in America. Robbie's recovery is uncertain. His case, from what I understand, has not been heard yet. And I am wondering where are the petitions? Where is Al Sharpton? Where are the Jesses?

I supposed they are BOGGED DOWN!!! Or maybe they have problems of their own.

With so many cases surfacing, Katrina's mass drownings, and the State of Our Union, we can no longer keep up. Jena 6 and Sean Bell, and all of the nameless too, who are unarmed and not in situations that warrant being gunned down makes me also wonder if there is anything that we can do?? Maybe there just is not.

I really just don't know...DO YOU???

Whatchu Sayin???

Surprisingly, I have been having a blast on TWITTER.

Imagine having all kinds of random, superfluous, instantaneous jabberwocky at your fingertips! It causes brain mush but afterward is a good fallout of massive amounts of information that you can later peruse at will and ultimately infuse into the Rolodex within your brain.

I found this POLITICO blurb by fellow Twitterer ASKi04, and low and behold, it birthed a post for me!

All the while growing up, I spoke two languages. One recognized, the other not so much. While the United States of America is a vast land of dialects, languages and colloquialisms, none have been as disrespected as the speakeze of Black Americans and "Ebonics".

It has been received in so many ways that it is staggering.

My family always wanted us to speak the "King's English"! All while chastising us in Ghettoize, creole and french.

Their persistence was important because now we are all well-versed, articulate and educated, but when we go into our Black-owned businesses, or are around our peers, we nod with familiarity, and use our vernacular.

How proud a day when I read in the article Blacks, Whites hear Obama differently by Nia-Malika Henderson, that our Pres still acknowledges our heritage and is careful to continue to act the way we do.

Knowing that President Obama continues to support that we speak differently amongst ourselves makes me happy because maybe, one day, our way of speaking will be validated, accepted and not just thought of as "talking black", "being ghetto" or "sounding ignorant".

Black speak is a compilation of historical events. Most slaves, obviously, were not educated. They adapted and adopted the language they were introduced to, and while I am not a linguist, I do recall being fully awake and attentive during my Black Literature courses.

Remarkably, blacks who were slave traded throughout the Caribbeans, Gullahs and Haiti, picked up the Patois of all the regions they passed through. In addition, the influence on Southern diction is an obvious variant and Blacks throughout the country have continued to use this as their communication.

I, for one, have always maintained to my son that he is as bilingual as anyone else. He is articulate but can also hold down with his peers and not be chastised for "talkin white".

How important is all of this? I have no idea! But when a race of people who have no country, no language and no history that is tangible, are able to find a way to feel good amongst themselves and communicate so effectively that others emulate it, well, that is a big deal.

I think that mainstream America is desensitized by the Black experience and may be growing tired of us, but I implore them to indulge us, for just a little while.

Most of us have to use DNA to garner what our true ancestry is.

I have no idea where my fourth generation people are from. I have no country of origin. I do not know what my great-great grandparent spoke, ate, endured.

I am a product of house-women, maternal and paternal, who were ravaged by their employers and who bore children out of wedlock.

So when I read that President Obama walked into a famous Black eatery in Washington and was asked if he wanted his change from the bill, and he responded "Nah, we straight," I beamed with pride.

He ain't ignant, he just bein real.

I'm just hoping that tolerance and credence be given to us all, without judgement and if this be the day for the Black American, I couldn't be happier. And to all of our friends who often exclaim to us in Black Speak to let us know they "get" us or understand ~ keep it up! It's all good!

A Black Man In The White House...

Dr. Henry Louis Gates has been feeding my mind for over a decade now.

I would love to share some of his vast knowledge with you regarding a bit of black history.

YES, February is sadly over, but this year, Black History should run ALL year long!

CLICK HERE FOR DR.HENRY LOUIS GATES!

Interesting Perspective...

submitted by our friend Frank.

Let us know your thoughts ~

My Friend IVOR...

is writing on his NEW blog!!!

Just giving him a shout out ~ if you have a minute, CHECK HIM OUT HERE:



IVORISMO



Photo by Kevin Craig

I LOVE YOU ~

LOVE YOURSELF ~ LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR ~ LOVE YOUR PET ~ LOVE YOUR PLANET!!!!!!