Alicia Silverstone's Blog, page 150

success story: kasey improves her hearing impairment

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Kind Lifer Kasey recently shared how changing her diet helped her to restore some mild hearing loss. Check it out:
 
"I don't know if you've ever heard of this before but apparently a kind diet has reversed my partial hearing loss!

A little over two years ago at age 36 I was diagnosed with mild hearing impairment. A few months later I went vegan. When I went back for my annual hearing test the next year the audiologist was surprised to find that my hearing had improved! He said that sometimes that can happen with major changes in diet presumably because something in the diet had been causing sinus problems or inflammation. But they told me not to get too excited because it might be temporary.

Well yesterday I went back for this year's annual exam. The improvement stuck! Except for one 'noise notch' a specific frequency I can't hear that they believe to be caused by noise exposure my hearing is back in the normal range. Isn't that amazing?"
 
That's incredible Kasey! I'm so happy for you! If any of you kind lifers have a success story you'd like to share private message me or post a note to your profile and "like" it. I may feature you on the homepage of The Kind Life.

Related Stories:

Success Story: Elizabeth Cures PTSD
Success Story: Kim's Newfound Health
Success Story: Zena Heals Her Relationship With Food
Success Story: How Margie Quit Smoking

kind orgs: invisible children

I recently discovered a really inspiring organization that all of you Kind Lifers might find interesting. 

Invisible Children started as a documentary in 2003 about child soldiers in Uganda abducted and forced into the Lord's Resistance Army headed by Joseph Kony. Three filmmakers Jason Russell Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole who later founded this non-profit told the horror stories of these displaced children and their role in Africa's longest running war of twenty-three years.
 
Invisible Children strives to rebuild the areas affected by the war and specifically the lives of the affected children.
 
How To Get Involved:

Tell your friends and family about this organization.
Donate new & used books or buy your next read here to help educate children in need.
Wear a bracelet handmade in Uganda to support those who were displaced.

What are your favorite international aid organizations?

Related Stories:

A Look at The New Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act
Documentary I Highly Recommend...
Forks Over Knives
Charities in Detroit

attention pregnant ladies!

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Gentle daily exercise is super important for a healthy pregnancy and natural birth so I wanted to share how I stayed active during my pregnancy.  I simply went on daily walks. There were some days or weeks when I didn't but for the most part I was able to walk around three miles every day.

My friend Lalanya and her midwife the wonderful Margo Kennedy who was also my midwife swear that walking was part of what made her pregnancy and birth experience so nice. Lalanya walked three to five miles a day like she was training for a marathon - the marathon of birth! If you're pregnant I highly recommend it. Meet your friends or make your husband boyfriend or partner take you. The fresh air and trees will do wonders and help the baby get into the right place. It's so important to help your baby get positioned head down facing the right way.

Lalanya walked three miles the day before she gave birth. She walked slowly but she did it! Anywho I walked a lot during my pregnancy and it made me feel really good. I think I walked a full hike the day before I gave birth too. Try it especially if you are planning a natural birth.

Have any of you Kind Lifers experienced the benefits of walking during pregnancy? What other types of exercise have made you feel great while expecting?

Related Stories:

Selma Blair's Kind Diet
More Breastfeeding Info!
Orgasmic Birth
Fatim's Superhero Baby!

Photo Credit: Content in a Cottage

warm up with winter squash soup!

Mixed Winter Squash Soup
 
Ingredients

1 large onion diced
1 large celery rib diced
1/2 medium kabocha squash peeled and diced
1 medium butternut squash peeled and diced
1-2 large carrots diced
2 tsp fresh grated ginger
Salt to taste

Instructions

Lightly coat the bottom of a medium-sized pot in olive oil
Heat the oil then throw in the onion celery ginger and carrots
Saute until the juices are released then add the butternut and kabocha squash
Add approximately 5 cups of water or just enough water so it is about an inch above the vegetables in the pot
Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer
Simmer for 20 minutes.
Transfer the mixture to a blender in batches.
Blend until smooth.  
Return the blended mixture to the pot and season to taste with salt
Simmer for another 5 minutes and serve!

Spicy Creamy Alternate Version:
 
Add 1/4 cup of coconut milk 1 tsp of curry powder 1/4 tsp cumin 1 tsp umeboshi plum vinegar. Add above ingredients to the mixture in the blender or while cooking in the pot.  

Do you have a great winter soup or stew recipe? Upload it to your profile and I'll add it to The Kind Recipe Gallery!

Related Stories:

Delicious Sunday Dinners
My Dinner at Jean Georges
Guest Blog: Incredible Cruciferous Veggies
Vegan Oktoberfest

the greenest high school award goes to

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Recently the Student Conservation Association SCA announced the winner of their Green Your School Contest challenging students to make their schools as sustainable and eco-friendly as possible.

The winner West Geauga High School in Ohio set an amazing standard for schools everywhere. What they've done is inspiring for those of us who strive to make our homes and communities as green as possible too.

Here's a list of these students' accomplishments:

Hosted a "Better Bulbs" event in which 400 CFL and LED bulbs were distributed to the community and all of the old incandescent bulbs in a local building were switched out for eco-friendly versions.
Implemented a bulb recycling program at their school.
Created a rain barrel made and decorated by students to divert runoff from storm sewers and provide water for an outdoor classroom garden the students built.
Implemented a bottle and can recycling program at their school.
Created a nature trail for students complete with benches made from recycled composite wood and steel as well as native plants planted along the trail.
Organized a field trip and seminar to educate the community about preserving Ohio's vernal pools.
Testified for a bill that would make the Spotted Salamander a vernal pool dweller Ohio's state amphibian.
Created a "power walk" that captures energy from students' footfalls as they walk to class that is then converted into power used to light hallways – sounds amazing!
Created an outdoor cafeteria and patio where students can eat and appreciate nature. There are plans to plant a vegetable garden nearby.
Integrated eco-initiatives into the school's curriculum so students learn about eco-friendly practices while satisfying Ohio state education requirements

Great job kids! What an inspiration to see groovy smart kids making a difference.

What kind of eco-initiatives are happening near you and what's one thing you can change in your home or community to make it more eco-friendly?

Related Stories:

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adopt a turkey!

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As you know millions of turkeys suffer terribly at this time of year. Happily Farm Sanctuary's Adopt-a-Turkey Project provides several ways you can celebrate turkeys and combat the cruelty. This year Ellen DeGeneres is returning as spokesperson for Adopt-a-Turkey encouraging Americans to save not eat a turkey this year - here's how you can get involved:

Sponsor a Turkey
 
Participate by sponsoring a turkey and telling all your friends about it on Facebook and Twitter. To see a gallery of Farm Sanctuary's adoptable turkeys go here. Depending on how much you'd like to give you can sponsor a single turkey or an entire flock! You can also make a simple donation to Adopt-a-Turkey here.

Help With Media Outreach

If a donation isn't possible you can help with media outreach by writing letters to the editor of your favorite publication. Farm Sanctuary provides tips and tricks for how to effectively do this here. You can also reserve ad space in your local newspaper then contact Farm Sanctuary. They'll send your newspaper the correct size camera ready ad. A third way you can reach out to the meadia is by asking to have a PSA aired in your community. Read how to do that here.

Host a Potluck
 
Get all of your friends together for a delicious cruelty-free feast and share heart-warming turkey rescue stories. Make it a fun affair that veg and veg-curious friends alike can enjoy. A pre-holiday potluck is also a great opportunity to test recipes for Thanksgiving…stay tuned for more on that soon!
 
How are you planning to help turkeys this Thanksgiving?

Related stories:

Save a Life - and Change Your Own
My Thanksgiving Dinner
My Thanksgiving Videos
Kind Celebrities Talk About Thanksgiving

start your holiday shopping early with kind gifts from kaia house

 
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Be kind this holiday season by giving friends and family gifts from Kaia House. We have an amazing selection of natural and organic beauty products that'll make your loved ones look and feel fantastic. Items range from vegan skincare and mineral makeup to non-toxic nail colors soy-based polish remover and even all natural perfumes all at super reasonable prices.

We know they say it's better to give than to receive but that doesn't mean you can't give a little to yourself too. Especially since every product you buy Kaia House will donate one meal to a child through the World Food Program.

Choose from two great discounts:

1 Get 25 off your entire purchase at Kaia House by using promo code KIND25

OR

2 Get a free holiday special edition nail color set worth 36! with any purchase over 50. Just add 50 or more of product to your cart add the nail color gift set then use promo code KINDGIFT at checkout to receive your free item.

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All of our nail colors are vegan non-toxic and named after the cities that inspired the colors like Istanbul Dubai and London. We have over 56 colors and counting. The gift set lets you try 3 styles with a soy polish remover included!

Over 80 of all the products at Kaia House are vegan and there is even a dedicated vegan section.

Look for the  "V" icon for vegan items or "GF" icon for gluten-free beauty on the item picture for stress-free shopping.

Head on over to KaiaHouse.com now to browse our wide selection of organic beauty products and to get your 25 discount or free nail color set before the codes expire on November 30th 2011.

Buy a gift give a meal. You're going to feel good being kind this holiday season!

Today's post is proudly sponsored by

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drying wet dogs...

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That's Lacy on the left. She's so funny. Next to her are Sampson and Sweety but they have both passed. 

When it rains and our dogs happen to get wet when they go out to pee or just go out for a frolic in the rain one of my simple joys is to dry them off with a beach towel or a designated doggie towel a good way to reuse old towels. It's so cute!

Our pitbull Pig whose real name is Butterfly was so afraid of the rain it was hilarious! Except when she refused to go outside and peed inside instead - that was not as funny. But watching her face as she struggled with the idea that it was wet outside...so cute. It was as if she was thinking "Are you kidding me? I'm not going out there!"

On the other hand Lacy isn't bothered by the rain at all. Both dogs are so funny when they're wet and are getting rubbed dry. If you haven't tried this please do so and enjoy the humor and love.
 
Do you all love this simple act?

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success story: cyles family turns health around

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Kind Lifer Cyle recently shared how a kind diet has changed his life and his family's! Check out his story:
 
"I've been a vegan for two years now and been on and off the superhero status. It has been such a benefit to every aspect of my life. This isn't about me though! A few months ago my uncle went to a clinic in California where they have a complete whole foods vegan arsenal with educational information personal doctors and counselors and food classes. He was quite the meat and dairy lover with a lot of bad health problems - he was 100 or more pounds overweight struggled with temperament issues and his skin peeled like a dehydrated onion! When he came home after three weeks he had a clean bill of health had lost 15 pounds and my favorite part he is such a kind person that it brought me to tears.
 
He is funny and sociable and there's a softer kinder aura around him and his voice as well. Now after two months he's lost 40 pounds! My uncle convinced my already vegetarian grandparents to go vegan! They cut out processed junk all dairy and they're cutting out coffee too! My grandmother has had diabetes for a year and only lost twenty pounds with the mainstream dieting but as a vegan she's lost almost twenty pounds in two months! And her diabetes is perfectly under control. My grandfather has always had an 'apple shaped' belly and he's lost even more weight! All his digestive problems are gone! Yogurt used to be his go-to for the belly and now he has no problems to fix!
 
P.S. We all love your superhero soft rice porridge I use red quinoa sometimes – it's so pretty with a sprig of parsley. . . and the Kabocha Squash and Adzuki Beans my fave!"
 
Your story makes me so happy Cyle! Congrats to you and your family.
 
If any of you kind lifers have a success story you'd like to share private message me or post a note to your profile and "like" it. I may feature you on the homepage of The Kind Life.

More Kind Success Stories:

Ara Gets Rid of Acne
Jennifer's New Life
Pam's Kind Diet and Book Club
Patty Overcomes Migraines

win a holiday shopping spree at target from dailyworth

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At some point in early December the holiday season has a sneaky way of morphing from dreamy and cozy to stressful and over-budget—like when you're racking your brain for gift ideas wondering whatever happened to sleigh bells and crackling fires.

Take a deep breath. It doesn't have to be like that. The holidays can be magical and nearly stress-free. Because starting now you can enter for a chance to win 1000 to spend at Target or Target.com this year on holiday shopping.

And another 1000 next year.

Yup you heard us right: Thanks to DailyWorth FIVE WINNERS get 1000 this year and 1000 next year to spend any time at Target or online at Target.com.

Whatever you want you can get – that's two whole holiday shopping seasons on us. Target offers a wide selection of eco-friendly products including Seventh Generation and Alicia's Eco Tools line. They even have a wide selection of organic products in their health & beauty food and baby departments so being kind with the 1000 won't be a problem! If it makes your holiday merrier your new year shinier or just lifts the stress of holiday shopping it's yours.

Here's how to enter: Visit our website and enter between now and 12/7/2011. Sign up to get one entry—then spread the word via email Twitter or Facebook.

And the best part is every time a friend you refer enters too you get an extra entry. So enter and share away!

About DailyWorth

DailyWorth is a daily money email for women. It delivers insightful tips empowering ideas and financial news that are relevant to your life—everything you need to be financially fluent.

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