My Big 5-O's

Podcast 024 - Fifty

Today I'm doing something a little goofy. Recently I turned the big 5 0 – and very soon after this happened I had 3 things come up in my life that started with the letter O. Because I tend to have a rather interesting thought process – I had this sudden inspiration that I should do a podcast and share 5 important things everyone would benefit by knowing that start with the letter O.

I know it sounds crazy, but it fits for me and in honour of my Big 5-0 I just couldn't let it go without doing something about it. So…here they are:

1. Oxytocin – The first of my 'O's' goes to Oxytocin which I've mentioned to you before a few time, and had to be on this list. Oxytocin is a hormone that many people refer to as the bonding hormone, the love hormone and certainly a feel good hormone. It's important to the body in a lot ways, including being very instrumental in childbirth and breastfeeding, but it goes far beyond that as well.

Apparently, women's bodies have far more oxytocin receptors than men which suggests it is even more important for us to have this hormone flooding through our bodies. How do you do that…well there are many ways – orgasm (another wonderful O word) is one way to get large amounts of Oxytocin flooding the body, so do your best to be releasing it that way on a regular basis - however it can also be released through all things pleasure -  by breathing a certain way and making a pleasure noise on the exhale (Hahhhhhhhhh). You can also get it flowing via loving caress (running fingers through your hair, rubbing a person's back) and even by thinking loving and compassionate thoughts.

If you aren't getting this hormone flowing every day you are missing out, especially when it feels so good, has such huge health benefits and is easy to do.

Don't know how? Pick up one of my freebies off my site – 5 Secrets to being a Vibrant Mom or the Stress-less, Live More E-booklet where I describe the process.

2. Oil of Oregano – The second 'O' gem I want to share is using essential oils – especially oil of oregano. I love having essential oils around me all the time, diffusing in a room to make it more relaxing, invigorating, healing or even just to freshen the air. Make sure you find a really good (preferably therapeutic grade) oil – DoTerra is my favorite and provides awesome guidance on how to use it and when.

I also like to carry a tissue in my pocket when I'm about to do something that requires a sharp, confident brain (like an interview or presentation).  I sprinkle a couple dabs of my favorite 'brain power' oil (typically those from the peppermint family) and sniff it before, during…whenever it's needed.

The reason I zeroed in on oil of oregano – which can be purchased in forms other than essential oils – is for a couple of reasons. Number one it is an awesome oil to have around you at this time of year when flu viruses and other annoying germs like to surface. Once again just breathing it in off a tissue can work – although you might find people start talking about Ceasar Salads every time you come around if you carry it with you. This can also be a problem with diffusing it into the air, so instead you can put it in a carrier oil (any light oil – my favorite is fractionated coconut oil or sweet almond oil) and massage it on your feet in the morning or before bed.

Oil of oregano can also be taken internally, but I reserve that for when I have a sore throat starting up or am feeling out of sorts.

What made this oil come sharply into focus in the last few weeks for me, was when the bottom of my foot started to get sensitive and a planters wart revealed itself. At first I just ignored it, but it was obvious it was going to get worse and needed to be dealt with. Although I really like my doctor, he is never my first line of defense when it comes to healing something like this, because traditional medicine has been taught to fix the symptom as if it's the problem and in this case would blast the wart without any thought for what is causing it to surface.

So, I pulled out my oregano essential oil and put a few drops into my coconut oil (oregano put directly on the skin can be a bit too harsh). I place it beside my work area with a few cotton swabs (q-tips) and a lid (because I don't like to smell Ceasar Salad all day) and then once or twice a day, took off my sock, swabbed with oregano oil, put back on my sock and continued on with my day.

The very next morning I could already feel improvement and two days later it was completely gone. The best part, my immune system has been strengthened by the oregano oil, rather than weakened by the over-the-counter med or nitrogen the doctor may have blasted me with.

3. Osteopathy – The 3rd 'O' I want to talk about is Osteopathy. This is not very well known where I live, although I understand it is much more common in more populated areas. I kind of lucked in to seeing an Osteopath when my youngest's Naturopath referred us to one of the top Osteopaths in Winnipeg. She's so busy she doesn't take any new clients until a spot opens up on her list.

After hearing about what was going on for my son, they suggested I bring him in to have the Osteopath do an assessment and see if anything could be done to help him regain some quality of life. As a result this osteopath ended up fitting him to her already overloaded schedule and working on him at least once a month.

I asked the fellow I was talking to if there was any way I could have treatments done with a different osteopath since I too have lots of health issues and would be waiting in their office anyway. As luck would have it I was talking to the Osteopath's husband and he was actually a student of Osteopathy. He had room in his practice for a new patient so I signed up on the spot.

So what is Osteopathy… it's actually really hard for me to describe. If you've ever had cranial sacral work done, then you will have a better understanding of how it works, but if not, I'm not sure I can explain it in a way that makes sense. What I can say, is they release energy blocks, they realign body parts, they awaken sluggish organs and then get everything in the body working together.

It's non-invasive, it feels heavenly, it's covered by many insurance plans and it's well worth looking into.

I'm a huge fan of Osteopaths and cranial sacral work. I believe it would be beneficial for every baby to be checked and treated after their journey down the birth canal as a way to prevent unnecessary issues further down the road.

In line with that, my son's Osteopath figures his brain and body have barely been talking most of his life. It took 16 years for it to surface as a 'real problem' and when it did traditional medicine didn't have a clue what to do with it.

4. Oolong – the fourth 'O' I want to share is Oolong tea…which is relatively new to me even though I've been a green tea enthusiast for many years. You've likely heard that there are many health benefits to drinking green tea – and there are, however it is also a little harsh on some people's stomachs.

A couple months ago I was reading a newly released book called, The DNA Restart; Unlock your personal genetic code to eat for your genes, lose weight and reverse aging…by Dr. Sharon Moalem and one of his chapters was on the many health benefits of oolong tea.

What is oolong? It's a lightly roasted and partially fermented tea, so it sits in the middle of the scale between green and black tea. It has all the health benefits of green, but because of the roasting and fermenting part, also has the ability to latch onto extra fat in your food – that wouldn't be used because your body doesn't need it at the moment and would instead be stored as fat. He also says that drinking oolong between meals can help your body pull off and eliminate unnecessary fat.

This sounded good to me, because I love tea and I don't love fat around my middle or on the back of my thighs so I dug some out from the back of my cupboard and started drinking it instead of the green. I like variety so I ordered a few different kinds of loose oolong from Amazon to drink with my meals (after really so as not to dilute the enzymes and acid in my stomach).

As with any tea, they are not all created equal so if you want to try this aim for high quality, loose if possible (David's Tea has a few to experiment with).

Unfortunately I have to add a caveat to this one. Just yesterday (which means about a month ago now in the world of podcasting), I listened to a very intelligent and well known scientist, Mike Adams, who was a guest on the Thyroid Summit that Dr. Amy Myers was hosting. He does a lot of studies on the things that seep into our food unbeknownst to us.

He mentioned, that all tea – green, oolong, black – has a propensity for leaching flouride out of soil and therefore should not be ingested more than once a day and not even that much if you are suffering with any symptoms of thyroid imbalance. I'm not sure I know anybody who wouldn't at least wonder about their thyroid after reading the list of imbalance symptoms and listening to Dr. Amy for even a few minutes…so before you go and order a whole bunch of oolong, maybe read Dr. Amy Myer's The Thyroid Connection…ask your guides or use some other way to determine if it's a good idea for you.

5. Orexin – The final O of my 5-O's is another hormone – one that I just learned about. It's called Orexin and it is the hormone that makes you feel energized. Yup…you read that right. Orexin is the hormone that makes you feel like jumping off the coach and going outside to play…or to run the laundry upstairs….or even to get up and start making supper.

I can't tell you too much about Orexin as I'm just learning myself, but I can say that this is a hormone worth knowing about and enhancing when possible. So here's a few tips I've learned so far in my course with Ari Whitten called The Energy Blueprint:

• Orexin is the hormone that makes you feel awake, energenic and speeds up your metabolism.
• It is what makes you want to get off the couch and do something (NEAT)
• Good quality protein is critical to keep orexin levels up
• Fructose in actual, complete fruit – increases Orexin; coupled with a walk after eating keeps your glucose levels down and energy levels up
• Fun exercise – i.e. playing with your kids (or puppy in my case); doing things you love like hiking for me and rock climbing for others – increases your Orexin levels…whereas just exercising (and not really having fun) does not!

I suspect there is a lot more to learn about Orexin and in fact I know I'm forgetting to share some of the tidbits I've already learned in this course, but I think it's a good start. If this is something that interests you, I suggest you put it out to the universe that you would like to learn more. In the meantime, pay attention to how much of your movement involves fun and see if you can adjust things to make them bring you the pleasure you need to have great energy.

So that's it…my 5-O's. There are plenty of other great 'O' words out there, but these are 5 that presented themselves for me to share at this significant point in my life journey. I hope you found at least one or two of them are also of interest to you.

If you enjoyed this podcast/article please like/rate/review and subscribe… that’s what keeps us going! Click here now to enjoy our other podcasts. Interested in the names & products we talk about on the show? Check out our Vibrant Mentions Pinterest Board!