Few medical professionals will deny it. Modern medicine is more expensive than ever and as a consequence, more people are interested in alternative medicine than ever before.

Kathy Gruver, Doctorate in Traditional Naturopathy and author of the new book The Alternative Medicine Cabinet, says, “We can’t control what is outside of us, but we can change what we think and what we eat, and we can be healthier and stronger. It’s very simply an educated decision we must make for ourselves.”

Ms. Gruver says that eating naturally is a conscious choice. “The things that we consume everyday are making us fatter and sicker. If we eliminate the fast food, the soda, the MSG, and the GMOs, (genetically modified organisms)”, she says, “we can reclaim our health.”

Mainstream medicine is usually needed when things go really wrong. Are there times those things are needed?

“You betcha,” she says. “but we’re too reliant, too hypnotized by the quick fix and the happy bouncing egg advertising the newest drug on TV. We underestimate our own power to avoid health problems. “

“Take charge of your own health. Make the decision to stop eating artificial foods, to lose weight, exercise more, and you will have more energy and be ill less often”.

Here are some quick tips from The Alternative Medicine Cabinet:

• If you’re suffering from muscle cramps, headaches, constipation, sleep or mood issues or PMS, Magnesium might just be what your body needs.
• If you have sleep issues, B vitamins can help, but don’t take them too late in the day as they can cause sleeplessness. Adding Melatonin or L-Tryptophan can also help, but don’t take L-Tryptophan if you are on special drugs for depression.
• Gruver says that the best thing people can do is to eliminate the following things from your diet for better health: MSG, artificial sweeteners, GMO foods (corn, soy, cotton), artificial coloring and flavoring, soda, milk, wheat, high fructose corn syrup and processed foods. “It might seem like a challenge, but the rewards are worth it,” she says.
• Headaches, depression, asthma, skin conditions, allergies all can be caused by the toxic chemicals in artificial foods. A lot of the problems people have can be remedied with fasting, a change in diet and cleansing.
• One of the biggest quick fixes people can make to feel better every day she says, is to just add more fiber to add more health.
• Ms. Gruver says that people have problems with repetitive stress injuries because over time our bodies have become weak. “We rely on machines and computers for so much of what used to be done with old fashioned elbow grease. I’m not saying I want to go back to the days of wringer washers and push lawn mowers, but if we can increase our physical activity rather than sitting in front of a screen, our bodies and minds will be healthier and less apt to injury.”

Available at Amazon.com

Earth energies or space clearing involves clearing away the energetic clutter in one’s house or office that can produce major even dramatic improvements in the environment you live in.

Do-It Yourself Space Clearing

Clearing the clutter in your home or office can have tremendous positive impact on your life and how you enjoy the environment around  you.

How you behave when you get home and how you arrange your home and office spaces can make a tremendous difference in the flow of energy.  Here are some of her key recommendations on how to clean up clutter and the bad energy where you live based on the principles of the ancient Chinese practice.

1. Energy follows thought—so watch your thoughts. Leave the bad energy behind and be aware of the thoughts you bring into the home.

ACTION: Control the energy you let into your home.  Respect your own space.  Take off your shoes and leave them at the front door.  Consciously leave your worries of the day at the threshold and gain from experience and knowledge of the ancient cultures who left their shoes at the door as a potent symbol of leaving the worries of the day at the door, and not bringing them into the home.

2.  Thoughts linger in an environment.  Clean out the room of bad energy.

ACTIONS:  Clean up a room physically and clear them out through ceremony, sage, smudging, intention, sacred sounds…

Asha Praver is a yoga and wellness expert who has provided us with some ideas on how to help us not worry, regardless of circumstances. Bad things do happen. But worry is not itself an event, person, or physical object. It is only the thoughts we spin around the remembered past or the imagined future.

Between intelligent discernment, practical preparation, and obsessive preoccupation, there is a wide and important difference…

“Worrisome obsession puts you on the wavelength of that which you fear and increases the likelihood that it will happen,” Praver says. “Thought influences circumstances in proportion to the power you put into those thoughts.”

Affirmative thinking, while no guarantee of safety, can at least mitigate troublesome karma. Even more importantly, it gives you the inner strength to deal with whatever comes.

Praver has provided a few ideas to help stop us from worrying:

Declare a state of emergency: Not over the things you worry about; worry itself is the emergency. It is a self-perpetuating habit: the more you do it now, the more you will do it in the future. If you were bitten by a poisonous snake you would act immediately to get its fangs out of your skin. Worry is a mental poison. Whenever you feel it flowing into you, act — forcefully and immediately — to pull those worry-fangs out of your mind.

Nature abhors a vacuum: You can’t replace something with nothing, especially something as seductive as the habit of worry. Introspect and find the kernel of what frightens you. Lack of money? Health? Your ability to cope? Loss or injury to self or loved ones? Zero in on the seed cause, then find or write an affirmation that counteracts it. Be careful, though, not to choose an affirmation greater than your belief. It should stretch you, but still be within your grasp. “Whatever happens, I can always take one step-at-a-time to resolve it,” may be better than “God is my Infinite Protector,” if you doubt that He or She will be there for you in the crunch. If, on the other hand, you know God is your Protector, by all means choose the top-of-the-line solution for whatever ails you.

Use your body: Fear and worry have a physiological component. Anxiety creates a chemical predisposition toward more fear and worry. Physical action and the right kind of sensory stimulation counteract that predisposition and restore your inner balance. Practice yoga, especially yoga with affirmations that draws you into a deeper state of consciousness. Or, if more drastic action is needed, throw yourself into the swimming pool, hit the sidewalk running, or dance hard, walk fast — anything that increases your heart rate and makes you breathe deep and rhythmically. At the same time, affirm loudly, or at least loudly in your own mind if speaking would be inappropriate. Smell a rose, burn incense, activate a positive olfactory memory. Picture in your mind, or stare at a photograph of a great soul, demanding that his or her consciousness come into you and banish worry. If you can’t do any of these things outwardly, then at least breathe consciously, affirm mentally, and visualize yourself doing everything else.

Pray, meditate, serve and give to others: Worry makes you feel like you don’t have enough time or energy for anything else. But in fact, worry itself is what takes up your time by sapping your energy. Redirect your energy in devotion and communion with God, and loving service to others. Learn actual techniques of meditation, ways of escaping the worry-tape in your mind. Do things that open your heart, like chanting and devotional singing. The best way to feel good about yourself is to forget yourself in the contemplation of the Divine and in giving yourself to others. It is our littleness that frightens us. Expand your sense of self to include the greater Self and the welfare of others and you’ll find worry ceases to trouble you.

Grocery shopping is like going on a date: you don’t know what you are walking into, but you open yourself to one of the most intimate relationships possible. Foods, much like people, feed our inner and outer selves, by tickling our emotions, making our heart swell, and causing our brains to be engulfed by the high tide of love. However, before we get to the point of bliss, we venture in to a territory full of unknowns. We swallow the fact that we don’t really know where the foods (or person) are coming from, understand what they contain, or even comprehend the magnitude of how they impact our health. Yet, in a short whirlwind, we find ourselves having to make up to hundreds of decisions in the labyrinth of aisles lined with potential food suitors that will eventually change our lives.

Trying to make sense of the food supply as well as dating is no small feat: it’s more than most of us care to digest. And in the flurry of busy days, who has time to study the different brands, ingredients, and nutrition of the thousands of food and choices we can be confronted with on a daily basis? It’s near impossible. Here are some quick tips to give you a checklist of what to look for when you set your next date to venture into a relationship with foods or a person:

1. Go naked – Check the extent to which a food reveals its true self: gauge your selection by how much of the food you see compared with its dressings. If you see more plastic, Styrofoam, cardboard, and metal than food, there are probably too many layers to have to unravel to truly know what you are getting into, which is not unlike meeting a woman caked with too much make-up or a man whose identity rests on the laurels of his status and accumulation of possessions. Stick to “naked foods”, or foods without casings, as that is a sign that it probably hasn’t gone through extensive processing. For example, think fresh fruits, vegetables, and bulk foods like whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. These foods are typically found along the perimeter of a store, so jog the outskirts with your cart and stay away from getting lost in the “guts” of the store where you’ll find more of the “dressed up” foods.

2. Speak the language of love –If you happen to be lured by one of those foods who disguise themselves in a box, can, or bag, help yourself translate what you’re getting into by scanning the Nutrition Facts label. After all, if you meet a person who makes you cringe when they speak, you probably won’t want to date them. Under the list of ingredients, you may see a novella or simple poem of items which may make you shudder or fall head over heels. Whatever the case, make sure that you can recognize most ingredients and ensure that they “speak to you”. For example, “Water, beans, and salt” makes a lot more sense than “potassium metabisulfite, monosodium glutamate, and sodium nitrate”; however, this is only a crude, quick way to filter the food contents. There are some cases where simple names like “salt” or “sugar” may not be desirable, and instances where more sophisticated names may be valuable like “thiamin” (vitamin B1) and “ferrous sulfate” (iron). But all in all, check whether you two are speaking the same language!

3. Look for “true colors” – A person who lacks personality won’t be someone you’d want to be around. For foods as well as people, lots of colors are a good indicator of a spectrum of “dating” potential, as long as those colors are not of the pretentious, artificial variety such as FD&C Yellow No. 5 or FD&C Blue No. 2. Let your eyes be allured by the sensuous array of natural colors: steamy reds like tomatoes and red bell peppers, playful oranges such as carrots and squash, sultry yellows like corn cobs and lemons, luscious greens found in broccoli and spinach, and mysterious blue-purples from the depths of blueberries and eggplant. Entice yourself with this entire spectrum by visiting the produce section. In the end, the more natural colors you eat, the more attractive, healthy, and vibrant you will be!

4. Be wary of “adulteration” – Most foods have been in bed with large industries. They are loaded up with all types of ingredients that keep them preserved and attractive on store aisles, just in case no one swipes them up right away. Beware of the “fake factor” when it comes to foods and people – or those who have been around the block too many times. They can be laden with extra baggage like partially hydrogenated oils, fat substitutes, and dyes – a far cry from their true selves. If artificial colorings, flavorings, or sweeteners have made their insidious ways into a food, think twice before committing to it. “Artificial” anything suggests questionable effects in the body since these are not compounds found in nature. So avoid these cheaters at all costs! Go with foods you can trust.

5. The food “next door” – We may think that we have to travel to faraway lands to get the best of anything. We find ourselves on a continual search for the “perfect partner” when our soulmate may be as close as our backyard in our garden or in local farms. With the average food traveling 1500 miles to the plate, it’s difficult to know what has made its way into the food. Take the path of least resistance – go with foods that have local roots and that have been nurtured in the same environment that you live in. For the most part, food from your own neighborhood will be fresher, consistent with the seasons, and, as a result, more abundant in nutrients.

In the grocery stores of today, there are an overwhelming number of foods that you can take home just like the multitude of potential dating options! How do you know you are choosing the best one(s) for you? Be the smart, savvy shopper – know what you are getting into before you make your way up the (checkout) aisle. Don’t settle for foods or people that drain, strain, or pain you. Knowing your foods and lover better can help you to find a match made in heaven!

Deanna Minich, PhD, CN, is the author of Chakra Foods for Optimum Health and An A to Z Guide to Food Additives (Available at Amazon.com). See her website for more information: www.foodandspirit.com.