Perks of Apple Cider Vinegar

I'm a huge fan of white vinegar. I use it in almost every non-toxic cleaner I make and also use it to clean my shoes and furniture. It's a very helpful item to have in your holistic home toolbox. But white vinegar isn't the only kind that can be used for various purposes around the home. Check out these holistic hats for apple cider vinegar!

Dandruff Cure

I've yet to meet the person who is a fan of dandruff, but store-bought shampoos, like many popular hygiene products, can include a huge number of chemicals that, while effective on dandruff, may not be so great for the rest of your body. Instead of bringing more toxicity into your home, try mixing equal parts apple cider vinegar and water together in a spray bottle. After shampooing, spray the mixture on your hair, then rinse after about 15 minutes. Twice a week with this all-natural cure is all is takes!

Sunburn Soother

Though we're getting ready to say goodbye to the sun for a while, at least in New York, it will be back, and it will bring its old friend, Sunburn, with it. There may not be anything worse than enduring the pain after spending a little too much time in the sun and not re-applying sunscreen often enough. Trouble putting on clothing? Check. Trouble turning over at night? Check. Excruciating pain at the lightest touch? Check. Using apple cider vinegar at bath time can effectively reduce sunburn symptoms and actually restore the body's pH balance. Just a cup or two is all you need!

Laundry Buddy

Most of us wash our clothing on a regular basis, but sometimes soap and water alone are no match for smelly clothes. Ever pulled your gym clothes from the dryer to find they still smell like yesterday's squats? Have animals who consistently mark "their" territory? Apple cider vinegar to the rescue! Combine one part apple cider vinegar with four parts water for a natural laundry deodorizer. For an average load, 1/2 cup of this mix is enough. 

Vinegar of All Trades

You can even substitute apple cider vinegar for white vinegar in some cases. It works just the same. Try apple cider vinegar as a multi-purpose cleaner, mold-removing agent or coffee-pot scrub. The uses are almost endless! 

Are you already an apple cider vinegar user? What's your favorite non-kitchen use for this miracle substance? If you haven't already tried it out, get to the kitchen, grab a bottle and see what good can come! 

by Anjie Cho

Nancy Guberti's Key to Health

AC: Tell us what is functional medicine?

NG: Functional medicine addresses the underlying causes of one's health issues, utilizing scientific systems-based approaches engaging the patient and practitioner in a therapeutic partnership. The concentration is in the research and investigating of the underlying causes of disease to uncover the root of one's health issue. Functional medicine practitioners look at the complex web of interactions of one's medical history, lifestyle and physiology that can lead to illness. Utilizing the latest functional medicine laboratory testing provides an integrative, science-based healthcare approach in creating a customized regime for the patient to reach optimal balanced health. Imagine gaining insight into one's cellular metabolic functioning allowing individual tailoring of nutritional interventions as opposed to guessing and taking any supplement!

What do we need to watch out for now winter is approaching?

Remember to make your health and wellbeing a priority. The most powerful determinant of whether or not you will get sick this winter depends on the status of your immune system. To strengthen our immune system we must consume nutrient-dense foods, reduce toxins (i.e. food additives, processed foods, pesticides, tobacco, excess alcohol, sugar), get adequate sleep, incorporate stress reduction strategies and stay hydrated with pure water. Since many people are deficient in Vitamin D and majority cannot gain significant exposure to sunshine and absorb Vitamin D during the winter months, then it is important to incorporate an immune boosting nutraceutical regime including Vitamin D, non-corn sourced Vitamin C, probiotics, and immune boosting herbs. Listen to your body and realize when you need to rest as opposed to running yourself into adrenal fatigue and burnout. 

What are three tips to make our holidays more healthy and holistic this year?

Three tips to make the holidays more healthy and holistic this year:

1. Keep your energy up by eating wholesome foods, adding superfoods like spirulina and a customized nutraceutical protocol, reducing sugar intake, and staying hydrated. Bite for bite, organic whole foods provide the most nutrients, so avoid processed fast foods. Choose immune boosting foods like vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts, herbs, spices, and healthy lean proteins. Reduce or avoid all the white starches that convert into sugar, such as pasta. white bread, white rice, and white potatoes. Drinking sufficient amounts of pure water will help improve one's health. Alcohol causes dehydration and has depressive effects throughout one's nervous system, but organically produced red wine is considered to improve blood circulation and contain antioxidant properties. Remember to drink extra water if drinking alcoholic beverages and opt for organic and drink in moderation.

2. Keep your stress down by incorporating non-negotiable 'you' time, pamper yourself with a massage, Reiki, reflexology, meditation, exercise, and journaling. Slow down and enjoy the holiday season. Treat yourself to a relaxing Epsom salts bath with essential oils of lavender, geranium, lemon citrus and sandalwood. Essential oils are a wonderful way to manage stress during the holidays.

3. Follow a healthy detoxification regime by starting the day with pure water, squeezed lemon and splash of apple cider vinegar. The lemon and apple cider vinegar will help balance your pH levels keeping your body alkaline, boosting immune functioning and providing increased energy. Apple cider vinegar can also help control your appetite and regulate your blood sugar levels. This daily morning drink will help eliminate internal toxins, regulate kidney and digestive tract functioning, help fight infections of the respiratory tract, sore throat and inflammation. Additionally, the lemon water will provide your body with electrolytes hydrating you with potassium, calcium and magnesium.  Perfect, just in case you had too many of liquid holiday cheer or caffeine.

How have you created a holistic and healthy space in your kitchen and home?

Creating a holistic and healthy space in your kitchen and home can be achieved by setting the ambiance along with family traditions. Lighting sets the mood throughout a home, so add some candles, strands of white lights, and tea lights to brighten one's mood. Streaming in a little holiday cheer with music will get everyone in the holiday spirit. You can create kitchen, dining and living spaces centered on healthy living empowering your guests with food that is healthy, tasty and fun to eat! First, I'd recommend de-cluttering the area, bringing vitality and peace of mind. Make the kitchen's purpose centered around preparing healthy meals in a relaxing, bonding atmosphere as opposed to microwave-zapped meals.  Display the food in festive, creative dishes sparking elegance and comfort. Clean the rooms with essential oils (bergamot is antibacterial) and eco-friendly cleaners or keep it simple with old fashioned baking soda, and white distilled vinegar. To enhance rooms with the perfect blend of sweet and spice aroma, combine essential oils of orange citrus, cinnamon, ylang ylang and lemon citrus. Diffused frankincense sets a mood of familiarity and recollection of happy memories of holiday time. Load up the refrigerator with organic food that is free of pesticides and toxins.  Let the food provide the best aroma and homemade desserts to balance out the holiday fun. Just like a wedding, I always have something old, something new and something borrowed when celebrating the holidays with family and friends. Creating your own holiday traditions make you feel truly alive and creates the best everlasting memories.

by Anjie Cho

Nancy Guberti is a Functional Medicine Specialist, BioNutritionist, Gluten-Free & Casein-Free Diet Expert, Defeat Autism Now Practitioner, Motivational Speaker and passionate to empower others to become their own health advocate and learn how to live a healthier lifestyle. She is the founder of Total Wellness Empowerment, 9 Steps to a Healthier You, Biomedical & Nutritional Interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Positively Powerful Parent program. You can sign up to receive her detox podcast at nancyguberti.com and keep the conversation going by following her on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest and LinkedIn. Remember your health is worth it because You are worth it!

The Tortoise and the Yoke with Lodro Rinzler

Last week I shared part of my interview with writer, teacher and Buddhist practitioner, Lodro Rinzler. And here’s the rest!

AC:  How do you create holistic spaces in your life?

LR: I’m reminded of my teacher Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, when he said, “the environment is a support or deterrent for everything we do." It’s really that straightforward. When you wake up in the morning and you have clothes everywhere, on the floor, on your chairs. You go to use the bathroom but you end up tripping over your computer. Then you’re cursing…and all of a sudden, your mental state entering that day isn’t going to be one of joy or mindfulness. It’s going to be one of aggression. In that way, I’ve always taken care to create a clean environment free from clutter so that when I wake up, I feel uplifted by entering into it.

What that means for different people is obviously personal to them. For me, it means having art that I personally find uplifting; it means that everything has a proper place. There are basic Buddhist principles for arranging objects in one’s home where you hold certain objects up high and others down low. You could say it’s respecting the natural hierarchy of objects. Generally, in my environment I like to keep it clean and maintain things in the spaces, if that makes sense. 

In my work environment I have reminders of the Buddhist principles I want to cultivate. Right above my computer is an image. It’s a very traditional image reminding me how precious this human life actually is. Whenever I’m distracted or annoyed or whatever, I can look up and see a gentle reminder that I really should be so appreciative for this life that I do have. I think it’s nice to actually have inspiring art images and writing within your environment as constant reminders to wake up to what’s actually going on as opposed to being lost in your head.

What is the image mentioned that you have over your desk?

It’s an image of a tortoise with a yoke around its neck. Within Buddhist canon, this is used as an analogy for the rarity of a precious human life. The image is of a blind tortoise who lives in the ocean. This ocean is as wide as the world. He only comes up once every century, even though he lives many, many thousands of years. It is said that on the surface of this “world ocean,” there is a yoke. A yoke is what one would traditionally place around your ox or yak’s back. That yoke, with its little head-sized hole floats, on the top of this ocean. The odds of this blind tortoise who comes up once every hundred years, poking its head through that yoke… it is said that it is even MORE rare and MORE precious to have a human birth. Our lives are an incredible opportunity that we have. It reminds me that we should make the most of it.

What are some day-to-day meditation tips for my readers, especially for those new to meditation?

I think the most important thing in starting a meditation practice is to be consistent about it. I teach at Shambhala Centers, one could visit www.shambhala.org, to find a meditation center near them. Or just type your city and “Buddhist meditation” into your search engine and see what comes up. Most meditation centers have an open house night where you could learn the basic meditation practice for free or by donation. 

Once you receive the practice, try to do it consistently on your own at home. And there are many places that have regular open sittings where you can go and sit with a group and gain that level of support. As you engage your practice, starting to do it regularly, you don’t have to meditate for long periods of time. But you could pick it up in the same way that you would pick up a new musical instrument. 

If we pick it up once a month and play around with it, often we spend that time figuring out what we learned last time. But if we picked it up 10 minutes a day, it starts to become easier and easier to remember what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, how it goes and we actually get better at it. 

Just 10 minutes a day for 11 days, breeds a sense of consistency into our being. It becomes more habit-like instead of just something that we’re trying out. It’s said that after 11 days of doing anything, it could be stopping smoking, it could be writing, it starts to become a regular habit. Our brain fires differently to actually incorporate it and it feels weird when we don’t do it. 

So, if someone really wanted to launch a meditation practice, I recommend that 10 minutes a day, 11 days in a row. Scientifically they say that after 11 times is when a practice starts to become a habit in our mind. After 21 days, it’s the fully formed habit. But you must be consistent and practice regularly every day.

by Anjie Cho

Lodro Rinzler is a teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage and the author of the best-selling "The Buddha Walks into a Bar...", the award-winning "Walk Like a Buddha" and the brand new "The Buddha Walks into the Office." Over the last decade he has taught numerous workshops at meditation centers and college campuses throughout North America. Lodro’s columns appear regularly on the Huffington Post and Marie Claire online and he is frequently featured in Reality Sandwich, the Interdependence Project, Shambhala Sun, Buddhadharma, and Good Men Project. He is the founder of the Institute for Compassionate Leadership, an authentic leadership training and job placement organization, and lives in Brooklyn with his dog Tillie and his cat Justin Bieber.

For more teachings and articles by Lodro visit www.lodrorinzler.com
Follow Lodro on twitter: @lodrorinzler