After a long and hot summer in the Pacific Northwest, we're finally settling into a gorgeous Fall. Nature gears up for the Winter and summer's colors turn into Autumn's artwork!

In the meantime, Udo is off to the Far East and South Pacific on a wide-ranging tour including Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan.

Our 8th Email Update has a number of new and interesting components. Since our Spring update, the US White House issued a Press Release that recognizes current scientific findings which support the tremendous importance of incorporating Omega-3 (essential fatty acids) into our North American diet. In addition, the press release goes on to warn about the dangers inherent in consuming trans fatty acids (found in many foods stocked on supermarket shelves and unwittingly consumed by the public). This acknowledgement by the US Government is a departure from the USDA Food Guide model which has, for many years, operated as the nutritional "icon" for the USA and up until recently, has been highly-regarded by many diet and health professionals. Currently, the US Department of Agriculture is inviting interested parties to submit comments about the proposed changes that will ultimately culminate in a new USDA Food Guide.

For several months, we've showcased a special section dedicated to Udo's Choice Food Pyramids. Udo devised three specially-tailored Pyramids for 3 major segments of society: Healthy People; People with Degenerative Conditions; and Active People. Each Pyramid reflects food regimes best suited to persons falling into one of these three categories.

Obviously, a person with chronic degenerative disease (e.g. arthritis, or cardiovascular disease) would benefit from the food pyramid that suits their particular metabolic concerns. People who are physically active: fitness buffs, professional athletes, construction laborers, etc. would benefit by following the information found specifically in the pyramid designed for their group.

Besides the basic food pyramids, we also feature Udo’s Choice Food Processing Pyramid and Udo’s Choice Food Preparation Pyramid. Understanding how food can influence the well-being of people with specific health concerns; as well as how PROCESSING and PREPARATION affect food in terms of preserving or destroying vital nutrients are key components that must be grasped by each individual. (Why don't they teach us this in schools?)

Visit the main PYRAMIDS INDEX on Udo's site to see what the optimum dietary approach is for your activity and health level. (Note: these are general guidelines only. Please consult with a nutritionally-trained health professional before making changes to your diet!)

Udo has also written two articles as a direct response to the White House Press Release noted above. His first article, FDA REQUIRES TRANS FATS LABELLING ON FOODS BY 2006 acts as a primer that outlines a brief history of TRANS FATTY ACIDS, lists where TRANS FATS are found in the food chain and then summarizes the relevant information.

Udo's second article , "White House Prompts USDA and HHS: Increase N-3 / EFA; Decrease Trans Fats", establishes the importance of omega-3 fatty acids; the effects of trans fats; indicates the research based statistics; and, includes a note about how the USDA Food Guide Pyramid and the Dietary Guidelines affects 25 million school lunches each day in the USA.

Health means "holism", and the term "holistic" implies a state of BALANCE in all dimensions of one's being. This month’s guest contributor is Collene Dahlby, a Life Coach specializing in helping people achieve balance in life, relationship or career goals. Life Coaching and Relationship Coaching are specialized processes that support a person’s quest towards making ‘conscious informed choices’, embracing a personal, and therefore individual, vision of fulfillment. (www.collenedahlby.com)

Choosing With Clarity          - by Collene Dahlby My definition of health includes words like vibrant, thriving, growing, creating, expressing and balance. In pursuit of these ideals it has been my experience that we need to nurture our minds and hearts as well as our bodies if we want to experience life to the fullest. As we choose our foods carefully in order to provide optimum nutrition for our bodies we need to exercise the same discretion with the choices we make to nurture our minds and hearts.

We can choose healthy relationships over toxic ones, stimulating and creative work versus that which is either too boring or too stressful. We can choose to include rest and restorative time in our day or we can push ourselves to exhaustion. We can choose to heal old wounds and forgive past hurts or we can hold onto our pain and resentment. We can choose attitudes, beliefs and habits that nurture and heal or we can keep those that cause us pain and suffering. We can take responsibility for our experience or we can blame others. Every moment in our life we make choices. Do the choices we make reflect our deepest held values and the vision we have for ourselves? Do our choices bring us closer to our vision? All too often it seems that choices are made without conscious intent. It’s as if we forget we have a choice.

To make conscious informed choices it helps to have some guidance. As a Life & Relationship Coach I help my clients to discover and trust in their own inner wisdom. A part of this work is discovering what really matters to you. What have you always loved? What are your favorite activities? What gives you ‘juice’ or gets you ‘jazzed up’? I coach my clients to explore what is personally meaningful to them and to discover what it is they want to do with the rest of their lives. This work often culminates in the creation of a ‘purpose statement’ which is the essence of what is meaningful to you. In my experience, once your purpose is evident you can use it as a beacon to give clarity to your individual choices. This is very personal work. What is meaningful for one person often holds little meaning for another. Life Coaching is about honoring who you are and respecting your own inner guidance. We all receive a lot of external guidance. Our families, friends, colleagues and the media are often all too willing to tell us what’s best for us. Isn’t it time we started listening to ourselves?
After discovering your purpose the next step is to develop a vision for your future and to begin to take actions to bridge the gap between where you are now and where you want to be. I’ll talk more about that in the next column.

I love my life and I view it as a gift. In the same way I would cherish and care for a young life that was entrusted to me I want to cherish and care for my own. My goal is to care for myself out of the love and respect I feel for all living beings and to nurture my life into its full expression. Caring for myself means being conscious of my attitudes and my behavior and observing the effect they create.

It also means knowing what gives my life meaning and being clear about how I want to spend my days. From this clarity I care for myself by making choices that are in line with the vision I have for myself. Consciousness, clarity and choice. What a wonderful way to live!

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