True Beauty

When people feel beautiful, they act in beautiful ways. We are and reflect what we feel inside.

Are you sore from your last workout?

I wanted to point out the fact that even if you feel mildly sore after a workout due to the lactic acid buildup, you can and SHOULD still go for a light form of exercise the next day such as a jog, a bike ride, or a brisk walk. The
reason behind that, an "active rest" that involves some type of light aerobic activity and stretching, and even light lifting, can help alleviate some of the soreness.

 According to David Docherty, Ph.D., a professor of exercise science at the University of Victoria in Canada, light activity stimulates blood-flow through the muscles, which removes waste products to help in the repair process. The real expert says: If you're not sore to the touch and you have your full range of motion, go to the gym. Start with 10 minutes of cycling, then exercise the achy muscle by performing no more than three sets of 10 to 15 repetitions using a weight that's no heavier than 30 percent of your one-rep maximum, says Docherty. So loosen up and no excuses to go on a brisk walk outside, with your peloton or move a little playing with your pets or kids... 💗

Quick tips to fight a cold in a blink.

Disclaimer: I am by no means a healthcare professional so any advise I give on my blog is purely based on past reading or personal experiences. You should always consult with your doctor before following any tips you find on this or any site. 

This advice has worked for me in several occasions, specially if we are not talking about a serious case of the flu or in 2020 the COVID-19 Pandemic. I am talking about the occasional once a year cold that makes you feel miserable for 2-7 days. 

•  Drink as much water as you can at least between 80oz to 160 oz.
• Take vitamin D and C some health professionals have found that skimping or being low on vitamin D makes you more prone to respiratory infections or viruses and it also helps synthesize your vitamin C intake in a more efficient manner than taking vitamin C alone. 
• Get a lot of sleep. I am not talking 7-8 hours no, I am talking get at least 9 to 10 hrs of sleep (when you are sick, you can make an exception)
• As crazy as it sounds, use this time to be mindful of your pain, feel the pain, we make it worse because we try to avoid feeling our pain. Intentionally learn to sit and be with the pain, be with the illness and accept that you will be ok eventually but right now you are not and don't think of all the things that you should be doing right now. Just learn to be still with your discomfort. (this is the hardest part) 

I want to say that probably in the past decade I may have had a cold that knocks me down completely only once and I have reasons to believe it was COVID 19 but at the time, there was no test for it and I tested negative for the flu, so I will never know what it was as the COVID antibodies came back negative 8 months after I got sick. All in all, you are the only one that can do this for you, so please get some sleep, get some vitamin D and C, water, and mindfulness. You will be ok in just a couple short days or so I hope. 

With Love, 

Lina

Summary of 2020 for me.

Happy December 2020

Can you believe that despite all the challenges this year had for us and we are almost towards the end of this year!  How would you rate 2020? in some ways I would give it 1 star on yelp. However, there are some aspects of my life this year that, if it wasn't for how it shook me and pulled the rug from underneath, I am not sure my life would be taking an amazing turn that started through the challenges we have survived.

 

This has been the most challenging year of my life for many reasons. This reasons include my overall wellbeing, but primarily my mental health as I started suffering from anxiety through the beginning of the Pandemic. Slowly but surely, I am learning to help this anxiety work for me and to channel that energy towards something that is beneficial instead of letting it corrode my mind. I believe we all have some anxiety, and specially the more we want something, the more anxiety can give us analysis of paralysis. 

The thing is friends...unfortunately it is not that simple...for some people anxiety may need to get to a point that is bad enough that you scream of the top of your lungs and yell "ENOUGH!!!!!" and get moving towards what you want most in your life. It takes a lot of effort, self discipline, shedding the old and building a new you. I can assure you that once you decide that enough is enough, changing your mental state so that it is in alignment with the new core beliefs you want to have, you can truly achieve anything you really want. 

You need to plan your new life goals with laser focus. These goals will require determination and grit. It IS possible to take control and end the cycle of your anxiety woes once and for all but only you can believe that. Remember that whatever you believe, can become your reality. This stuff may not work for everyone, I cannot tell you if it will or not, only YOU know that. You know yourself better than anyone else. Or let's just put it this way... You have the ability to know yourself better than anyone else. Even if you do not know yourself yet. 

My best advise is to sit with the pain of the past failures and the old you, feel it as deep as it is needed, sometimes we just brush over things that have hurt us in the past and pretend everything is ok. Specially, the more we care about making other people happy the more we can tend to shut our own emotions down. Which by the way, I will talk about more in another post. In the past I was always trying to make everyone else happy to that point that I was making myself unhappy. I was on autopilot. 

 When you begin to shed the old you, you may go through phases. These phases will help you understand so many things. You may begin to see ugliness in humankind. We need to understand how bad people operate too, so that we don't fall in their trap. You may begin to even see it within yourself.  You may experience emotions that are truly yucky and extremely uncomfortable. Hey I never said this would be easy! We will begin to see that when unfavorable things happen to us, sometimes we may have a bit of responsibility being part of the cause. That's not being harsh with yourself. I think that's learning to be mature and to take responsibility for our actions. 

 Then after a while, you may begin to understand that we are all flowed and that is totally ok to be so...I mean like really understand our human flaws.  Please be patient with the process, but most importantly be KIND to yourself. 

After some time introspecting, if you want to allow the process of course, change will begin to take place. The change may take months, maybe for some years.... After that long journey during your hike through life  at the top of the mountain look down and admire all the detail you see. Once you are there, it's important to enjoy it for as long as possible and to start taking it all in. Allow it to feed your soul. It will help you understand why it was so difficult to cross over throughout your journey, why you scraped your legs and fell down despite all efforts at times, why you were so thirsty and why despite believing something with all your heart, it didn't happen exactly as you expected it would, and lastly why it was all worth it after all there is no gain if there is no pain. 

With Love,

Lina Koutaich 

Try to live by these mantras and see the shift in your life..

Regardless of what life puts in front of you, which I strongly believe we attracts certain events from a yearning inner desire to grow and to be in line with our soulful purpose in life.

• Always be in a state of gratitude.
• Be at peace internally and emanate it with your grace.
• Believe in abundance and help others. the universe is soo abundant!!!
• Be an ear for those who need your listening and a healer for those who need your touch.
• Practice harmony starting with your home..
• Bring your sunshine wherever you go.
• Surround yourself with like minded people and share the bliss. Remember that positivity is contagious, the more positive like minded people that flock together the more of a powerful difference you can make together. Be the change you wish for the world.
• Respect the temple that your body is, nourish it with good foods, exercise and healthy habits, and don't forget your spiritual health which is the pivot.
• Always practice good morals and good ethics. Be a good and proud worker, entrepreneur, friend, lover. Always do your best at everything you do YES everything!!!
• Be open to growth and try a new skill, remember that what we resist persists (basic law of attraction principle I heard a while back that stuck with me)
• Be strong and know when to let the guard down.
• Learn to forgive, because not doing so weakens you, while forgiving you liberates you.

The most important one, the one that generally we have a hard time with is to:
BE KIND AND COMPASSIONATE TO OURSELVES EVERY DAY NO EXCEPTIONS. NEVER QUESTION IF YOU DESERVE WHAT YOU WANT. YOU ARE WHOLE AND PERFECT JUST AS YOU ARE. YOU DESERVE IT ALL. AS LONG AS IT COMES FROM A PLACE OF LOVE AND NOT FROM YOUR EGO-CENTRIC SELF.

With love as always,

Lina Koutaich

Sweet homemade body wrap.

Hello Friends,

Today I was thinking of three powerful ingredients I absolutely love. Mixing the three gives you a fabulous body wrap that will leave your skin glowing and well nourished.

In a clean empty container mix about 2 - 4 oz. of coconut oil depending on the area that you are going to use it for (legs, entire body, etc.), 1 tablespoon of honey, blend in some carrots until you get a pasty texture and ad ground cinnamon or cinnamon oil (although cinnamon oil might give a tingling sensation around the area) and mix it all together.

The coconut oil contains plenty of vitamin E to protect and hydrate your skin. Carrots contain beta-carotene, antioxidants and vitamin A that protects your skin against free radicals, the cinnamon might increase circulation and improve cell turnover rate, then finally the honey will also help hydrate your skin and it is also antibacterial and contains anti-oxidants preventing free radicals.

 Apply evenly on skin and let it on for about 20-30 minutes. Wash with lukewarm water or preferably cold water to close the pores and set those nutrients in place.

Voila! Enjoy your new radiant skin and repeat weekly or as needed.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is your invisible enemy for weight loss and fitness!

Those of us who try to live as healthy as possible watch out calorie intake carefully, try to eat several servings of veggies a day, we trim the fat, carbohydrates, etc. What most of us don't even realize is that there is an invisible enemy that we don't think about because well, we don't eat candy bars! So why would we worry about that!

Well, it turns out that highly dangerous and fattening ingredient is present in MOST foods we eat these days. This includes white bread, some of the popular so called natural juices that come in a bottle, even highly acclaimed hearty whole wheat or whole grain and multi grain breads. You probably already know about sodas and pretty much the majority of prepackaged food we consume is loaded with a TON of this unhealthy component that our bodies don't even know to metabolize. 

Countless studies have linked high fructose corn syrup with heart disease, diabetes, This ingredient is highly dangerous because first and for most is not plain old sugar its highly processed so you get corn, and some "other" stuff and second, it is absorbed more quickly than sugar. Lastly, it enters your bloodstream in a different way than glucose does because it doesn't need any help from insulin. It is also known to raise your cholesterol levels and slow your metabolism which in turn = weight gain if you are sedentary. 

Next time you are thinking about popping a soda or buying some supposedly healthy food, please do yourself a favor and always read the labels make sure you look for any kind of syrup, rice syup, usually the higher the content of each ingredient, the closer it is to the top 3 ingredients on the package list....