Choices For Healthy Living

Choices For Healthy Living

Ramute Moye Phd

ISBN 979-8-88685-870-9 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88685-871-6 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by Ramute Moye PhD

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Illustrator and layout designer: Deimanté Gudelyté

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Word from the Author

What's Your Risk?

Setting Priorities

Detoxification

Nutrition for Healthy Living

Options for Growing and Finding Healthy Foods

Healthy Recipes for Cooking at Home

Natural Healing Plants and Home Remedies

The Power of Your Mind

Holistic Healing

Creating a Lifestyle Plan

About the Author

Acknowledgments

Thank you to my children, my sons Arūnas, Vidas, and my daughter Jolanta, for their continuous love and support.

I thank my husband Terry for his love and support.

Special thanks to my granddaughter Deimantė, who gave generosity of her time to illustrate and design my book.

This project could not have been accomplished without the support, guidance, and influence of many people. Much gratitude goes to the following key individuals: Joshua Rosenthal, founder and director of Institute for Integrative Nutrition for the health coach training program; Deborah King, master healer and teacher, who changed my life; My friend Lois Stevenson, teacher, for her editorial and review work throughout the writing process.

I thank Gretchen V. Fleming, for all the help with editing.

I thank Donna Marton, Kathy Davidson, Lindalee Stuckey, Nancy Rogers for reviewing and sharing their word of advice. I also want to thank my neighbor Peggy L. Bowes, a teacher and a researcher, for all the advices.

Word from the Author

I was raised in Lithuania, a small country near the Baltic Sea. While growing up at the end of World War II, like so many other people at the time, my family had little food, which is why making a living was very difficult. Many days I went to school without bringing any lunch, and often one piece of bread was all the food I ate during the day. I began to think of ways to help to make life better for everyone in our country.

After watching how hard people at the time had to work to get food on the table, I wanted to become an agronomist. In my studies at the University of Agriculture in Lithuania, I learned how to develop technology for improving soil to increase agricultural production. At the time, farmers were encouraged to use a long list of chemicals to protect plants from disease and insects.

While working as a scientist at the Institute of Horticulture, my program was based on organic gardening. This program changed my life. I realized that the food we eat must be free from chemicals.

Over the last twenty years in the United States, I have been educated as a natural health consultant and became an energy healer and certified health coach. I believe that nutrition, lifestyle, clean water and environment and spirituality are the path to good health. I have resolved to use my life experience and education to help other people reach their goals, have good relationships, and enjoy life. I want to help others understand that they are more powerful than any circumstance they could encounter.

I wish you a happy reading, and I hope I can help you find what you are looking for!

Ramute Moye

Chapter 1

What's Your Risk?

One hundred years ago, very few Americans suffered from coronary heart disease, stroke, and cancer. Today these lifestyle-related illnesses account for the majority of deaths in America. The facts show that heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women.

Health Risks

Heart disease

About 630,000 Americans die from heart disease each year; that's one in every four deaths. Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease, killing about 366,000 people in 2015. In the United States, someone has a heart attack every forty seconds. Heart diseases cost the United States about $200 billion each year. This total includes the cost of health-care services, medications, and lost productivity.

Diabetes

Diabetes dramatically increased in the last decade. In the USA, there are more than thirty million people with diabetes. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, and amputations. Living with diabetes places an enormous emotional, physical, and financial burden on the entire family. Annually, diabetes costs the American public more than $245 billion.

Obesity

The National Center for Health Statistics shows more than one in three adults (37.7%) were considered to have obesity. Obesity has become a serious health problem in the United States.

What is the impact of obesity on society? Obesity has taken a toll on health-care costs across the country, estimating between $147 billion and $210 billion in direct and indirect health-care costs as of 2010. Lifetime medical costs for a ten-year-old child with obesity are staggering, about $19,000 more per child when compared with a child of healthy weight. When multiplied by the number of ten-year-old children with obesity in America, lifetime health-care expenses are estimated to be $14 billion. Obesity is considered an unhealthy body and mind. It can increase the risk of developing chronic health problems (stroke, heart disease, diabetes, etc.).

Cancer

Cancer statistics by the National Cancer Institute United States. Cancer statistics describe what happens in large groups of people who are diagnosed with and die from cancer each year and the number of people who are still alive at a given time after diagnosis people died from the disease. Each year, more than half a million Americans, which is more than 1,500 people a day, die of cancer.

Estimated national expenditures for cancer care in the United States in 2017 were $147.3 billion. In future years, costs are likely to increase as the population ages, and cancer prevalence increases. We know how hard it is on us since most cancer types cause death.

Food sensitivities and allergies

The body's immune system is meant to identify and destroy germs (such as bacteria or viruses) that make us sick. However, our absorptive ability is severely restricted when the lining of our intestines becomes irritated or flattened. This can occur with food allergies, food intolerances, and/or inflammatory bowel diseases. If these issues aren't resolved, nutrient absorption will not occur.

What is food intolerance? Symptoms of food intolerance are milder and usually have a slower onset than food allergy (but not always). These symptoms can include gas/bloating, diarrhea, stomach cramping, stuffy nose, mucus production, nausea, vomiting, headaches, etc. Common culprits are wheat, milk, corn, and more recently, soy. Lactose intolerance is a common example.

How you may prevent food sensitivities.

Varying the diet

Avoiding high quantities of high risk foods

Getting breastfed for the first year of life

Limiting excessive amounts of caffeine

Avoiding compounds that increase gut permeability, such as alcohol, spicy foods, raw pineapple, raw papaya, aspirin, and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)

Limiting exposure to pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides used on food crops

If you suspect you may have food sensitivity, it's important to first rule out the possibility of a true food allergy. This can be done with your physician. If you suspect you may have a food intolerance, keeping a diligent food diary/response log can help you find the offending foods quickly and remove them.

What is a food allergy? An allergic reaction to food involves an immune system response that starts with a protein molecule made by the body, called an antibody, which helps battle viruses and bacteria. An antibody can connect with and attach to a specific target, known as its antigen, which is usually located on the virus, bacterium, or allergen. Once bound to the invader, it's like a red alert, calling out the invading allergen, and provoking the body's immune system to attack it.

Food allergens. The eight most common food allergens:

Milk

Eggs

Peanuts

Tree nuts (e.g., almonds, cashews, walnuts)

Fish

Shellfish

Soy

Wheat

It's estimated that 3–7% of children and about 2% of adults suffer from food allergy.

What Problems Must Be Solved?

Health and environment

Health is wholeness. It is a concept that cannot apply solely to an individual, since people and other beings have always lived within families, communities, ecosystems, and planetary-level conditions. The health of any part of the whole of this nested set of relationships is dependent on diverse, dynamic interaction among them all.

Major environmental problems:

Pollution: pollution of air, water, and soil require clean up. Industry and motor vehicle exhaust are the number one pollutants. Heavy metals, nitrates, and plastic are toxins responsible for pollution. While water pollution is caused by oil spills and urban runoff, air pollution is caused by various gases and toxins released by industries and factories and combustion of fossil fuels. The majority of soil pollution is caused by industries' waste that deprives soil of essential nutrients.

Waste disposal: Plastic, fast-food packaging and cheap electronic wastes threaten the well-being of humans. Waste disposal is an urgent current environmental problem.

Loss of biodiversity: Human activity is leading to the extinction of species and habitats and loss of biodiversity. Ecosystems, which took millions of years to perfect, are in danger when any species' population is decimating. A balance of natural processes, like pollination, is crucial to the survival of the ecosystem. One example is the destruction of coral reefs in the various oceans, which support the rich marine life.

Water pollution: Clean drinking water is becoming a rare commodity. Water is becoming an economic and political issue as human populations fight for this resource. One of the options suggested is using the process of desalinization. Industrial development is filling our rivers, seas, and oceans with toxic pollutants which are a major threat to human health.

Urban sprawl: Urban sprawl refers to migration of population from high density urban areas to low density rural areas. This results in spreading cities over more and more rural land. Urban sprawl brings land degradation, increased traffic, environmental issues, and health issues. The current environmental problems pose a lot of risk to the health of humans and animals. Dirty water is the biggest health risk to the quality of life and health.

Addiction and health

Addiction is a brain disorder and physical inability to stop consuming a chemical, drug, activity, or substance. Drug use can also increase the risk of contracting infections. Some people with disorders like anxiety or depression may use drugs in an attempt to alleviate psychiatric symptoms, which may exacerbate their mental disorder in the long run, as well as increase the risk of developing addiction.

Drug use increases the spread of infectious diseases. Injection of drugs accounts for one in ten cases of HIV. Injection drug use is also a major factor in the spread of hepatitis C and can be the cause of endocarditis and cellulitis. Drugs that are misused can cause intoxication, which hinders judgment and increases the chance of risky sexual behaviors.

We have so many stories about how alcohol and drug addiction affects the whole family. For example, driving when on drugs is extremely unsafe and can cause serious injuries or even death. Same goes for drunk driving, it puts the driver, passengers, and others who share the road at a huge risk. Some people think that one little glass of alcohol won't do any harm; however, even a small amount of alcohol when driving can put you and everyone around you in danger.

What causes addiction? It can be caused by various reasons, such as childhood injuries or traumas, emotional, physical, sexual abuse, depression, anxiety, stress, shame, or guilt. To many people, it is like an escape from reality and their struggles in life.

Has technology affected our quality of life?

New technologies are being introduced every single day, and with them, new concerns are being introduced as well. According to studies, the average millennial picks up smartphone 150 times a day. This is when we over dependence on technology is known as technology addiction.

Here is a list of common diseases and maladies from excessive use of digital devices:

Eye strain,

Tendonitis,

PlayStation (or Xbox) palmar hidradenitis, a gaming disease with inflammation and red blotches on the palms of your hands after prolonged use of game console controllers,

Noise-induced hearing loss from prolonged high-volume listening

Fear of missing out (FOMO) syndrome, characterized by anxiety and stress from fearing that one is missing out on some important experience,

Nomophobia (no mobile phone phobia), fear and anxiety anytime one is without their cell phone.

Recently the National Institutes of Health started funding the study of Internet and digital device addiction. This is predicted to be a growing area for research as technology becomes more and more central to our everyday lives.

Technology affects attention. Evidence suggests that reliance on the Internet and mobile technology is shortening our attention spans. How many times do we miss important conversations or moments happening around us because we are mesmerized by our electronic device?

Technology affects sleeping. The blue light emitted by screens on cellphones, computers, and televisions restrain the production hormone melatonin that controls your sleep. Reducing melatonin makes it harder to fall and stay asleep. Technology changes the way kids socialize and interact with others, which can have huge impacts on their mental and well-being

Smoking

Smoking is deadly. About one fifth of Americans die, in some way, because of cigarette smoking. The tobacco industry tried to make people believe that smoker can quit whenever they feel like it, that it is solely a matter of personal choice. No matter how you smoke it, tobacco is dangerous to your health. There are unsafe substances in all tobacco products, from acetone and tar to nicotine and carbon monoxide. The substances you inhale affect your entire body. Cigarettes