COCONUT WATER GOOD FOR YOU, DAUGHTER

When I was a little girl we had three coconut trees in our yard. One was very short, one was medium tall and the last seemed super tall to my eight year old eyes.

The shortest of the coconut trees bore coconuts with a slightly pinkish hue on the top of its exterior shell and on the inside. Of all the coconuts we had these were my favorites. There are many strains of coconut trees and for my taste the ones with the pinkish hue which are very rare are the most delicious. I love the cool sweetness and just slightly salty flavor of the coconut water, especially as it always made me feel cool on hot sunny island days. But it was those that held that edible, delicious soft jelly that were my favorite kind of coconuts.

One very hot day, when I was a child, I remembered being very thirsty and wanting to have a long drink of coconut water. There wasn’t anyone to climb the tree to pick one for me, so I decided I would climb the tree myself. I was scared of falling and breaking my long neck, or my bony arms and legs. I knew if I did get hurt my dad would be super angry with me for doing such a foolish thing. But, I wanted coconut water to drink; and no amount of yelling from daddy was going to stop me now. Also he wasn’t at home to stop me from climbing the tree. The tom-boy inside me said “ah, you can do it.” Of course even at that age I thought I could do anything a boy could do. I wanted coconut water and I was going to have it.

I wrapped my legs and arms as much as I could around the tree, pulled my legs up as if I was sitting so that my bottom stuck out and started climbing up the tree. I wanted to lock my legs and my hands tight together so that I wouldn’t fall, but they were too short to meet each other, and so I kept slipping back down to the ground. I was determined however; and somehow I stopped thinking about falling and began focusing on the cool water of the coconut. I moved onto the tree, scooted down to the bottom of the tree, bent my knees and sat on the trunk, I wrapped my arms around it as much as I could, lay my face on the side of the trunk and began pushing myself up with my legs, stretching them out as far and out as long as they would go. When my legs couldn’t stretch any more, I would hold on tight with my arms, pull my legs up again, squeezing my legs and knees tight to the tree trunk and push myself up some more. I kept doing this until I came to the top with the wiry branches and the green coconut shells.  As I got to the coconuts, I held on tight with my legs and with my right hand; I pulled really hard on the coconut with my left hand until it broke away from the bunch and fell to the ground. Feeling really proud of myself, happy and excited, I decided I needed three coconuts, two for me and one for my little sister.

As soon as the coconuts fell to the ground, and feeling quite confident, I scampered down the tree twice as fast as I climbed up. I was so excited about drinking the delicious coconut water and eating the soft jelly that I ran into the kitchen and took one of father’s sharp kitchen knives, and two spoons out to the tree. I set the knife and spoons on the ground and held the coconut tight between my legs. I pushed the point of the knife slowly and carefully into the coconut, and when it pierced through the tough shell, I began sawing a circle around the top. I called my baby sister over who was watching me intently. I sat her down and put the coconut to her mouth for her to drink the water. When she had had enough, I put the coconut between her legs, gave her a spoon so that she could scoop out the jelly from inside the coconut and eat it, and then I began to cut one open for myself. This time I cut it quickly, not too concerned about cutting myself; since I just did it and nothing bad happened. As soon as the coconut was cut through, I pulled the top off, and quickly lifted it up to my head and tilted it to my mouth and began to drink. I guess I lifted it just a bit too quickly because the coconut water streamed not only into my mouth but down my neck, chest, onto my belly and the waist of my shorts. But I wasn’t concerned about that I just wanted to drink until all the water was gone.

I felt so good as I sat under the coconut tree, feeling cool and well pleased with myself as my sister still sitting with her coconut watching me.  After a while I took my sister and her coconut up to the house, and then I returned, picked up the third coconut and the knife and put them in the kitchen. I knew my dad would be happy to have a coconut too, and since I didn't hurt myself, there would be no scolding for me today, so I put the coconut and the knife on the kitchen table for him and put the spoons in the dish pan to be washed.

That memory was part of my reality growing up on my beautiful Montserrat, the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean islands.  I was surrounded by coconut trees reaching tall to the blue skies, the blazing sun, made tolerable by the trade winds with their cooling breezes, and ever present turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea on one side of the island and the Atlantic Ocean on the other.  

Take a listen to Harry Belafonte as he sings about the pleasures and benefits of the coconut, island style. 

CARIBBEAN HEALING

 

A few weeks ago I began this story by weaving a web of my escapades in moving to the Caribbean. I wanted to find the right place to live by the ocean to get the support I needed to help heal my hypothyroidism. I shared about moving to the sister islands Antigua and Barbuda, and my adventures of finding the perfect home by the sea.

My story of dealing with a slow functioning thyroid changed when I got to the island of Antigua. I wanted to live my life barefoot and carefree. I didn’t want to be slowed down, tired, depressed, over weight and unhappy. These were some of the symptoms I experienced while I was living in New York; before my thyroid slowed down, I lived a fairly vibrant fast paced excited, healthy life and I so desperately wanted to get back to feeling excited about life again, that I would have done anything to live in a place that gave me the opportunity to heal my condition naturally. I knew that the ocean would be the key to my rapid recovery and so living as close to it as possible was the answer was the plan I had in my head. I was determined to settle for nothing less than the perfect place. So you will understand why I became so excited about living in this remote, wilderness by the sea.

Firstly, this island was the exact opposite of my beloved New York, my other favorite place to live outside of the Caribbean. In New York, I find the energy is almost palpable. It is infectious, exciting, and definitely busy, fun and noisy. But in Antigua it is completely different; it is slow and quiet with not a worry in the world, everything is “easy man”, which is how the majority of the natives live; but this hideaway that I found is beyond slow, sometimes I felt as if my thyroids and the slow atmosphere went hand I hand. They both moved slowly, the only difference was the ocean, even though it was slow moving, it was very busy, teeming with all the sea creatures darting about, to and fro going about their lives. This rustic beach front property was ideal for me; it was exactly contrary to my work environment. After interacting with thousands of visiting cruise passengers daily, I needed a sanctuary to relax, release and rejuvenate, and I was blessed in finding this island gem to lay my head, basking in the moonlit sky on the jetty or reveling in the early morning sun light in the calm waters after my dawn meditation, before going off to work on the ocean front on the western side of the island where the many cruise passengers disembarked the ships for a day or two.

Usually when vacationing in the Caribbean I am even more enthusiastic about starting my day, I have people to see who I haven’t seen for a long time, things to do and places to go that are new to me. There are always new undiscovered places on the islands that are waiting to be explored. However this time it was different, taking an early morning walk on the beach or up a hill to stand at the top and watch the gorgeous rejuvenating, spectacular view of where I was now living took much of my will to muster the effort. These are some of the side effects of a slow functioning thyroid.

Sometimes, I felt as though my thyroid was not functioning at all, but my sanctuary suited me in many ways; at night I slept deeply and peacefully to the sound of the waves; in the mornings I meditated on the jetty with the fishes absorbing the minerals from the ocean into my body. And overtime living on the beautiful water front, right on the beach on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, I began to feel a bit more enthusiastic, a bit more optimistic, a bit more energetic, and a lot happier now that my body was responding to my new life, my new location, living in the middle of nature, surrounded by the tall trees and the sea salt that was absorbed into everything around me. My body just needed me to care for it a differently, and as I increased the length of my morning walks, my daily prayers and meditation on the beach, and swam in the refreshing, rejuvenating Atlantic waters, my energy increased and then I began to pay more attention to my foods. I was eating the foods that were grown around me; these were delicious, fresh picked and helped to boost my thyroids and therefore my metabolism. 

My thyroids began to respond beautifully to my new environment, and being encouraged by the good feeling I was having I began adding sea vegetables and local fruits to my diet. The ocean has many edible treasures to share and minerals are one of its strengths; iron, potassium, manganese, iodine, magnesium, sulfur, sodium, zinc, copper, chromium, are a few of the many minerals produced by the sea. In my quest to change the ways my body was functioning I had found out that my best food friend is is iodine, and figuring out and finding which foods had the highest source of iodine was at the top of the list. So, I began increasing my iodine intake by adding dulse a sea vegetable is that is a potent source that is chock full of iodine. I had been using dulse in New York but here I increased the amounts I was eating and sprinkled the flakes on almost everything I ate. My slow thyroid was iodine deficient and I was determined to give it all the Iodine it needed to help my thyroid glands to produce the levels of hormones to boost my metabolism.

Then I found that the fishermen where harvesting sea moss from the ocean (another sea vegetable that is very high in iodine) and so I began adding the sea moss to my delicious sour sop (a fruit), which I watched everyday as it grew larger and ripened soft and sweet on the tree to make my smoothie. There papaya tree laden with fresh ripe fruits and so I would add them to make my papaya mango smoothie. There was avocado, tomato, papaya, mango salad with a sea moss cilantro dressing. I knew that I ate these fruits and vegetables that had absorbed these mineral from the sea and the earth, then my body was absorbing these minerals on a daily basis, and so I as I continued to add the foods that I love from the garden along with those from the sea, my body began to shift even more, the depression that was clouding my attitude, began to dissipate and I became enthusiastic about my life again. I began to participate more with my family and friends and found myself contributing more to my environment, creating wellness workshops and seminars and I became more innovative in my thinking and more creative in my actions.

  Pick up your free iodine rich recipe at http://festivepalate.com/2013/06/05/mango-papaya-avocado-salad-with-cilantro-sea-moss-dressing/

FOODS AND THE THYROIDS THE JOURNEY

For a long time I had wanted to return to live in Antigua another one of the islands I grew up in as a young teenage girl. Been young and impressionable the people always seemed so progressive and there always seemed to me there was a party going on all the time. So when I got a phone call asking me to come to come to evaluate a high profile sports bar I gave a resounding yes I will. At the time I hadn’t even thought of my desires to live and work in both America and the Caribbean. I just knew that an opportunity had presented itself and even though I had not been a practicing restaurant consultant for  a while it occurred to me that I could continue my holistic practice in New York and at the same time honor my commitment as a restaurant consultant in Antigua.  I had not even given my thyroid challenge any consideration,  but as I settled into my job I decided to make the most I could out of been in Antigua and one of those things that I wanted to accomplish was to shift my hypothyroidism to a normal function. So I got to putting things in place to achieve my goal and so on this journey I recognized that I first needed to find the perfect place to live.

My search took several months; and it was a definite adventure. My home needed to be unique, visiting the nooks and crannies of Antigua I didn’t have a specific look or place in mind I only knew that when I saw it I would know it and so for three months, whenever I got a lead ,my buddy and I would quickly go to check it out. One day my friend called to say she is reading something in the paper that she thought I would like, but it would be far away; to which I replied this is Antigua, nothing is far away from anything, let’s go look at it, I said to her.

This place was difficult to find, Antigua is a small country; but this is one of those places where you would get perfect direction and, drive by or walk by several times and still pass it by. We called the gentleman we were meeting  to show us the house,  and he guided us to the right turn on the dirt road into the bushes; (and  into the bushes was exactly where we were) ; there wasn’t even a passable road. It was so bad that you needed a four wheel drive just to get through the deep ditches filled with the water from the recent rainfall that later I found out occurred between 5 and 6 am every morning. I later though that an early morning rainfall was a glorious way to wake up the world, water for  the plants, keeping the vegetation green and lush, softening the soil so the crabs can claw their way up to scamper about.

 But anyway, back to getting to and seeing the house that was evidently waiting for me. We passed sour-sop trees, sugar apple trees, cassie (Acacia) with their thorns sticking out just wanting to stick their needle into your skin; a deterrent from travelling through this place for sure; but we were undeterred. We came to an intersection in the road and made a right turn up a slippery hill, passed a coal pit at the top of the hill,  (Antiguans produced their own coal by burning logs under a cover of dried green bush and dirt) slowly and gently chugging along, all the way up. When we got to the top of the hill, I caught my breath; this was this most magnificent scenery I had ever seen. The Caribbean Sea was flowing gently between to islands rolling quietly to the secluded shores of this magnificent hideaway in Seaton’s village.

We stopped because the view held us captive; we didn’t want to move from that spot. We sat in absolute stillness with the windows open, inhaling the ocean as the breeze whiffed by and feeling the cooling air float in through the open car windows. We reluctantly and gently pulled ourselves away from this mesmerizing scene and made a left turn, which brought us to two large concrete pillars. We drove through and pulled up in the front of the house where a tall rugged man waited patiently for us.

We introduced ourselves, and he opened a wire gate and took us up a set of grey concrete stairs to the yellow and white door of the house.  It was a lovely house, open spaces, lots of windows, tall ceilings, well furnished; but hidden behind a few large trees, which also hid the beautiful view we had just spent minutes gawking at. I’m sure my disappointment registered on my transparent face; we took a few minutes to chat about the particulars of the property, said our thank you. As we started down the stairs about to leave the premises, he said, “I have a smaller house, but it is right on the water” he said. My heart lit up, my mouth dropped open and I said I’ll take it. I had not seen the house but I had seen the waters, and even if it was a little shack I would have had the same reaction. I knew it wasn’t about the house, for me it was about the ocean. It was about my body beginning to heal itself by absorbing the minerals from the deeply turquoise Caribbean Sea each and every day.

With him leading the way, we walked down two very long sets of stairs, through the bushes, passing papaya trees laden with small green and yellow fruits, one large lemon tree filled with green citrus fruits giving off an essence which was a combination of oranges and grapefruit, sour-sop trees and a mongoose and ground lizards and tree lizards scampering away. As we came to the top of the second set of stairs, the ocean and its islands spread out largely in front of us. My heart leapt, GLORIOUSLY; as we continued on our way down to my house (I had taken ownership of it in my heart, my mind, my body and my soul). There, close up the waters gently rolling in pass the jetty between the manchineel trees onto the shore just less than a hundred feet away from my house; which as it turned out was actually the perfect home for me. 

Join me next time to find out which tropical fruits and vegetables, addressed my hypothyroidism. 

FOODS AND YOUR THYROIDS

Are you struggling with mood swings, unexplained weight gain, consistently tired, constipation, dry skin and a whole group of other health challenges?  I have also experience many of these challenges.  Some time ago I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. I was given prescription drugs and told that this was the only treatment that would give me the support that I needed in order for my thyroids to function properly again. Although I respected my doctor, I respected and cherished my body even more, and so, I looked at the side effects of the recommended prescribed drug that she had suggested and what it would mean for me (my body) later on in my life should I choose to take this drug.

I am a fifteen year cancer survivor, or as I like to call myself a fifteen year exuberantly living cancer free being. I've beaten cancer, and I continue to live my life in gratefulness; by taking care of my body each and every day. Needless to say, I experience in overcoming cancer meant that I could beat anything that came my way. I knew that I could nurture this malfunctioning gland right back to its required performance status.

Since preparing and eating food is my first passion, I began researching and experimenting with foods that would support and enhance my thyroids back to functioning normally; while rejuvenating other areas of my body’s functions that had gone awry due to my thyroid dysfunction.

My research began while I lived in Brooklyn, New York and continued later, when I moved to the Gorgeous Caribbean Island of Antigua. While on this amazingly beautiful island, living with some of the healthiest looking people I have ever seen, my desire for optimal health grew even stronger. I too I’m a Caribbean girl, I grew up on the tiny gem called Montserrat my personal paradise, just fifteen minutes by plane from Antigua, St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Nevis or Anguilla to its north and twenty minutes from Guadeloupe and Marie Galante to its south; now better known for the volcanic eruption of
Soufriere Hills Volcano that occurred almost twenty years ago and to this day continues its volcanic activity, that has devastated more than two thirds of the island. Looking at them and living among them brought back the vibrancy and exuberance I felt in those long gone years. It reminded me of the rich healing powers of the land, ocean, the tropical breezes, fruits and vegetables that were now so easily available to me once again.

And so I embarked on a most exciting, rewarding adventure of curing myself of hypothyroidism.

In a few days keep an eye out for more on this story and a free gift from the Caribbean.

kaleidoscoping chaos...: Christmasing with our Cousins!

kaleidoscoping chaos...: Christmasing with our Cousins!

THE SUGAR DILEMA

I could give you the history of sugar, but I would prefer to share with you the destruction of the human body by sugar. Type two-diabetes, have increased in adults, and in recent years we have all been warned about the obesity epidemic that has been transferred to our children and their struggles with type two-diabetes; a disease that has been proven to be self-inflicted.

A few days ago a very famous company launched a new ad campaign in an effort to become more responsible about its products. If the company is acting responsibly, (wink, wink), shouldn't you help them out by acting responsibly too? 

Here is a thought; the sugar in these products cannot get into your body on its own. It takes a few steps for that to happen. Let’s skip through how the product was made and get directly to your participation in obtaining the product. You work hard for the money to pay for the product; then you get into your car or maybe even walk down the street to the store, where you pick up the product, and then you stand in a line waiting for the cashier to check out the product so you can pay for it. Then and only then do you drink it.

This company has shared the number of calories in each product on its label, are you reading the label? In the add it encourages you to exercise, did you go to the gym today? This to me still makes you the one responsible for whatever happens to you after purchasing and drinking the product.

So my question is, what is it going to take for you to say ENOUGH? I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT I PUT INTO MY BODY AND THE BODIES OF MY FAMILY and I’m going to do something about it. 

21 Day Women's Health Challenge Back To Basics

A healthy, joyous, abundantly prosperous 2013 to you and your family. 

Over the years I have learned that in doing a small thing consistently helps to make a tremendous difference in solidifying meaningful positive life gifts.

This year at Jazz Up Your Life Now we are keeping it simple. We have created an event 21 Day Women's Health Challenge Back to Basics just for you.

We have compiled a list of 21 suggestions for you to look at and decide which one will best support you. Chose just one, then take it on like your life depended on it. Then, after you have mastered this one thing chose another, live with it for another 21 days and keep it going throughout the year. Keep a diary, watch your progress and record your life changes.

Join us on http://www.facebook.com/jazz.fenton.52, click on events to join the Women's Health group on your journey to wellness, and become supported by like minded people sharing their triumphs and challenges. 

http://www.facebook.com/events/131707416993549/?ref=2