Loving life with a natural approach

Jacquelyne Beaulieu · Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 0

When I was barely out of my teens, I married my high school sweetheart. In the following 24 years we've been blessed with two awesome boys now aged 17 and 13.

Looking back on the years we've shared as a couple and a family, I can say without a doubt that I would not change a thing for it has given us what it is that we treasure today.
The foundation we've created is what has helped us to cope with trying times. Although we live in a fast-paced industrialized, computerized society, the key to our success I truly believe is that we have never lost the focus of what really matters: our families.

I am now a victim of the grey-hair fairy, gravity is taking its toll on certain body parts, and I rely on my fair share of beauty enhancement products to make the best of my mid-forty reality. I am not trying to be 20, or even 30 again.

I just want to shine through the other half of my years.

Prevention is the best remedy. Exercises and eating healthy is for everybody. You can be thin without being fit and healthy. A good example of this would be that even though my husband is on the thin side of the weight and height chart of the Canadian health graphic - a year ago, his cholesterol was slightly elevated.

We took a proactive role in his health by making better choices: greens, low-fat yogourt, flaxseeds, nuts, fish, whole-wheat grain, and lots of fibre. According to the USDA Human Nutrition Research Centre on Aging, we can fight bad cholesterol by loading our diet with antioxidants, the natural zappers of free radicals, and eating lots of fruits and vegetables. Three months later, his cholesterol level was back to normal.

I choose to enhance these life-change experiences by controlling what I can, such as healthy eating habits, exercises, and empowering myself by staying up-to-date with current health issues.

We encourage each other to exercise an hour a day and we actually enjoy it. We make it a priority to spend quality time as a couple and as a family in hopes that our boys will learn the true meaning of love and respect. Happy parents = happy and well-adjusted kids.

I've learned how to read product labels. It is more about making different choices. It can be fun and simple. Our kids are used to seeing little seeds in their food.

To help me ease into the second part of my life, a certified acupuncturist/naturotherapist concocted my nutrient cocktail that I take on a daily basis: soy phytoestrogens, folic acid, black cohosh, women's multivitamins, and Ginkgo biloba.

Everybody can improve their lives by using a natural approach, through good nutrition and physical exercises. This has made us feel so darn good. Bye-bye junk food forever. Staying healthy is like a lit candle that we have to tend to. It is up to us to keep the fire going.