Julian Georgiou, Healingtalks Contributing Writer

(Healingtalks) Research reveals that processed and sugary foods  have an addictive impact on the brain, and with withdrawal symptoms similar to that of drug addictions.

This is based on the investigative reports of Bloomberg’s Robert Langreth and Duane Stanford. They discovered and compiled studies that provided cumulative evidence that high sugar diets are essentially unhealthy and addictive. However, it is in the manufacture’s best interest to sell products of that strongly lure consumers and in order  to achiever higher profits

Furthermore, the attempt to conceal this fact mimics the behavior of tobacco companies.

Overwhelming data

According to a National Library of Medicine database, and verifying the addictive nature of high-sugar-laden foods, a whopping 28 scientific studies and papers have been published on this, and in just this year alone. These  findings reveal exactly how high refined sugar and fructose corn syrup ingredients do cause brain changes and addictive behavior. Here is a sample:

• University of Texas  – A career of overeating causes blunted reward receipt, the same symptom of chronic drug abuse.
• Princeton University – Sugar addicts suffer withdrawal symptoms including anxiety, shakes and tremors. In addition physiological damage to dopamine receptors in the brain, similar to those seen in animals on addictive drugs.
• University of Bordeaux – Researches were stunned when rats prefer sugar water sweetened to hits of cocaine
• University of Florida – Viewing images of sugary drinks caused areas of the brain to become hyperactive in the same way an alcoholics does when anticipating a drink.
• Scripps Research Institute in Florida – Found damage to the brain’s reward centers may occur when people eat excessive quantities of food.
• Harvard University researcher – Highly processed foods may cause rapid spikes and declines in blood sugar, increasing cravings.
• National Institute on Drug Abuse - We are finding tremendous overlap between drugs in the brain and food in the brain.
• Journal Nature Neuroscience – Results produced the same brain pattern that occurs with an escalating intake of cocaine.

Obesity epidemic

In the U.S., 1/3rd of adults and 17 percent of teens and children are obese, and the numbers are increasing  (Langreth & Stanford, 2011). Obese individuals are addicted to foods that are carefully designed to deceive the palate and thus to cause excessive cravings that are impossible to satisfy.

Sugar Addictions

As a result, our modern diet is really creating dependent “food-patients” who become sick and lack the knowledge or will to change their ways.

‘Modern processing creates food with concentrated levels of sugars, unhealthy fats and refined flour, without redeeming levels of fiber or nutrients. Constant stimulation with tasty, calorie- laden foods may desensitize the brain’s circuitry, leading people to consume greater quantities of junk food to maintain a constant state of pleasure’ (Langreth & Stanford, 2011).

Selling shallow happiness

Manufactures use science to create products that intentionally overstimulate taste buds. They then sell those products to the public, especially children, and using millions of dollars for savvy marketing. They offer up images of  ‘happiness’ to an otherwise bored, stressed or depressed population – and which often affects  young adults and children the most.

The resulting food addictions then become clear early on, as when a mother sees her children all crying in a supermarket due to their latest craving for a candy or ‘sugar fix’.

Changing our diets

A time will come when food manufactures will come under stricter regulations, those that can balances taste and nutrition, plus to provide consumer ample information to make educated choices. Until that time, ‘buyer beware’ when choosing various foods and snacks. When weaning off processed sugar products, one should know, and deeply process that fact that the health benefits of getting off this sugar addiction exceed by far the pleasure of a‘quick ‘sugar fix.’

Related articles

• Shocking study shows American teens aren’t fit by far
• Flame Retardants only a soft drink away
• Artificial sweetener disease – a new illness 
• Sugary Drinks Raise Diabetes Risk

Video

References

Langreth, R, 11/2/11, Fatty Foods Addictive as Cocaine in Growing Body of Science

Keywords

Sugar addicts, signs of withdrawal, alcoholism symptoms, effects of addiction, signs of addiction, modern diet, junk foods, changing your diet, eat health food, how to eat healthier

Easy Raw

Sauerkraut

Making Recipe

Nathan Batalion, Global Health Activist, Healingtalks Editor

(Healingtalks) In suggesting some easy raw sauerkraut making recipes, let’s first look at the benefits

Benefits of making raw (unpasteurized) sauerkraut:

• Raw sauerkraut aids in the digestion of any meal.
• Super holiday food to help over-eating yummy treats
• It’s a GREAT source of vitamin C and B-complexes.
•  It introduces friendly bacteria into the intestinal tract and helps satisfy cravings.
• Raw sauerkraut control yeast overgrowth (i.e. candida).
• Fermented foods help strengthen the immune system to ward off colds and other immune assaults
• May help ward off more serious ills, giving the body a higher level of vitality
• Ancient method of storing food before there was refrigeration

Grand recipe – Hippocrates “sauerkraut nouveau”

Remember eating red cabbage out of a pickling jar?

Well, here is the recipe in a tasty salad! You could also make this with green kraut, too, but the red is extra nutritious – and looks real pretty!

• 2 cups of raw sauerkraut or one head
• 1 stalk celery, minced
• 1/2 red onion, minced1/8 tsp. cayenne
• Slice of sugary apple to help the fermentation
• 1 tablespoon of Himalayan salt

Tips on preparing sauerkraut

• Peel the top leaves that may have darkened
• Peel the next good layer and set it aside as you need it to top the sauerkraut as it ferments
• Chop the rest of the leaves finely. You can grate it in a food processor
• Add other veggies and grate them or spices for flavoring
• Consider adding some seaweed for super-mineralization (just like in growing plants with seaweed fertilizers)
• Add quality salt (like Himalaya), about 2% relative to the total weight of the sauerkraut. 1 tab
• Stir with the salt and other spices and pound for 10 minutes until it is juicy; let it sit for an hour and repeat
• Transfer to large jars and pack down tightly; let liquid rise to top; cut the put aside leaves so the pieces fit inside on top of jarred sauerkraut; add a weight, like a shot glass to keep the sauerkraut submerged
• Allow an inch space on top of the leaf to allow for expansion
• Do not tighten the lid fully
• Label the lid with the date of preparation
• Packing down can be in layers with a thin slice of something sweet in between, your favorite fruit, like apple slices to help fermentation
• Store in a cupboard or cool and dark place; place towel underneath to catch drippings; towel over to enhance darkness
• Leave in that cool and dark place for about 3-4 days; less if warm, more if cool; then transfer to refrig
• You can tell if the fermentation has taken if the smell is sour/attractive rather than repulsive
• Green cabbage will turn yellow in color as a sign the fermentation has taken
• Can leave in frig indefinitely

Related Videos

How to make and on the benefits of sauerkraut:

More details on home preparation:

Make your own homemade Sauerkraut- Raw Vegan from Lauren Amerson on Vimeo.

Related Articles

Fermenting Food Movement That Ferments

The Misdiagnosed Health Problem – Candida Infection Is Overlooked

Hippocrates Half Century Contribution

http://www.healingtalks.com/enviroment/fungus-and-mold/the-misdiagnosed-health-problem-candida-infection-is-overlooked/

Keywords

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Dangerous caffeine

overload

in athletic sports

or “energy” drinks

Julian Georgiou, Healingtalks Contributing Writer

(Healingtalks) When life couldn’t get any faster perhaps all that’s missing is a triple dose of caffeine?

Today’s best source of caffeine is a growing selection of energy drinks. The sale of these drinks has grown to become an 8 billion dollar industry, according to USA Today reports,  because so many young athletes are using these as fluid replacement drinks (such as Gatorade) – and with potentially lethal doses of caffeine.

What does caffeine actually do?

Caffeine initiates uncontrolled neuron firing in your brain.

This excess neuron activity triggers your pituitary gland to secrete a hormone that tells your adrenal glands to produce adrenalin. Adrenalin is what gives athletes that winning burst of energy, though historically adrenalin is the source of our “fight-or-flight” or danger avoiding response (Cherniske, 2008). Professional alike are taking to these drinks to enhance both their mental and physical states.

Caffeine as an addictive drug

Abstinence from any physical addiction causes withdrawal symptoms.

In the case of caffeine symptoms experienced from 12-51 hours include as headache, fatigue, decreased energy, decreased alertness, drowsiness, depressed mood, difficulty concentrating, irritability, and fuzzy headed (Kovacs, Caffeine). This the feeling Cherniske refers to as the ‘Caffeine Blues’. Traditionally the source of caffeine came from a cup of coffee at around 100mg per 8oz and where energy drinks such as NOS, Spike Shooter and Wired X 344 contain between 260mg to 244mg of caffeine per 16oz – not to mention the high sugar content and other questionable ingredients.

Dangers of caffeine exposed

An overdose of caffeine causes anxiety, nervousness, sleep problems, elevated blood pressure, and heart palpitations (Fryhofer, 2011). Cherniske calls your body’s constant state of alert “caffeinism,” which is characterized by fatigue, anxiety, mood swings, sleep disturbance, irritability and depression. The list goes on of dangerous consequences of caffeine intoxication – such as seizures, mania, stroke, liver damage, kidney and respiratory problems, seizures, and agitation, as well as heart rhythm disturbances, heart failure, high blood pressure, and rhabdomyolysis (Fryhofer, 2011).

This is essentially why these drinks “should not be consumed before, during or after physical activity as they can raise the risk of dehydration and increase the chance of potentially fatal heat illnesses’ (Norwood, 2011).

Mixing caffeine and alcohol

Another dangerous practice is the mixing of caffeine and alcohol. Alcohol is a sedative. Caffeine, on the other end of the spectrum of psychoactive drugs, is a stimulant. As caffeine can reduce the sedative effects of alcohol, this may allow someone to drink for longer periods of time (Greenemier, 2010). This common practice among young adults is a recipe for alcohol poisoning and severe dehydration.

Four Loko, an drink with up to 6-12% alcohol along with a high amount of caffeine and has been known to make people pass out. It can be lethal.

Final thoughts

The FDA limit for caffeine in cola drinks is set at two hundredths of a per cent (0.02%), a max of 71 mg per 12 ounce serving. Scientists and many parents wonder why this doesn’t apply to energy drinks (Fryhofer, 2011). Red Bull was the first sports energy drink that hit the U.S. market in 1997 (Norwood, 2011) – creating the potential for increased health risks.

References

Sandra A. Fryhofer, MD, 03/24/11, Caffeinated Energy: Drinks With Dangers

Larry Greenemeier  11/09/10 Why Are Caffeinated Alcoholic Energy Drinks Dangerous?

Robyn Norwood, 12/02/11, Young athletes and energy drinks: A bad mix?

Dani Veracity, 10/11/05, The hidden dangers of caffeine: How coffee causes exhaustion, fatigue and addiction

Betty Kovacs, Caffeine

About Four – Wikepedia article

Stephen Cherniske, 12/01/08, Caffeine Blues: Wake Up to the Hidden Dangers of America’s #1 Drug

Related Articles

Coffee whats the verdict is it good or bad for us

Coffee illusions What the magic brew does to your brain

What’s in a cup of coffee

Keywords

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How to start

  a raw food diet

 Nathan Batalion, Global Health Activist, Healingtalks Editor

(Healingtalks) Learning how to gently, pleasurably and effectively transition to a raw food diet is one of the most important things you can do for your health.

Video

  Related Articles

• Raw Diet- Before and After
• Scoop on Raw Food Vegan Diet
  
• Why We Love the Raw Food Diet and Lifestyle
• Gone Raw Recipes
  

Books

Keywords

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Get juiced with juice power!

Julian Georgiou, Healingtalks Contributing Writer

What is juicing?

(Healingtalks) Juicing is the process of squeezing  juice from your fruits and vegetable to yield the highest, most ALIVE concentration of nutrients and micro-nutrients. It’s health benefits seem endless because they are! They can easily be prepared to yield creative combinations with refreshing tastes that give your a live-charging BOOST.

Juice daily. Look vibrant at any age

Reasons for juicing

If  you want to simply add juicing to your daily diet or go on a juice detox/feast, here are some motivating reasons why:

• Helps absorb more fresh nutrients – Many health practitioners recommend eating 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day to prevent cancer and other degenerative diseases.
• Gets more variety of nutrients into your body- Juicing means you can consume not only a higher amount but also a greater variety of fresh nutrients.
• Places less stress on your digestive system – Juicing gives your digestive system a rest, including the stomach, intestines, pancreas, gallbladder and liver. During this process, your cells have the time to catch up with their work and detoxify.
• Great way to embrace the raw food culture. When food is cooked at temperatures above 114 degrees, the enzymes are destroyed by the heat (HealthyJuicer).
• Rich in enzymes -  Enzymes have the vital role of converting food into body tissue and energy.  So by increasing your bodies intake of enzymes you will feel healthy and revitalised.
• Full of phytochemicals – Juicing ensures that the body is getting sufficient amounts of phytochemicals, substances in plants that are  among the most powerful aides to fighting disease (Best of Juicing). The phytochemicals that researchers have uncovered are changing the way we think about food. Bok choy, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, rutabaga, turnip greens, red beets, peppers, garlic, onions, leeks, and chives are but a few of the vegetables that have cancer-preventing phytochemicals. Citrus fruits have substances that can help your body remove carcinogens. Grapes contain a phytochemical that appears to protect each cells’ DNA from damage (HealthyJuicer). Research also suggests phytochemicals hold the key to preventing some of diseases such as heart disease, asthma, arthritis, and allergies (Living and Raw Foods).
• Used for weight loss  – Because it is such a healthy practice it has also been used as a weight loss technique.
• A way to overcome chronic ills – This is because, most important of all, the juicing transmits the life-force of plants straight into us. The reason why is explained in Nathan Batalion’s (Healingtalks editor) unique and revolutionary life-and-consciousness-centered vision of nature.  Here is a little glimpse of it:
  

  Drink green juice for life

• Drinking for life - Imagine  that at the core of nature is what we all experience inside, and at every moment, as “consciousness:”  This means consciousness and not matter and energy defined mathematically as in physics or chemistry is at the core of things. Think of that “consciousness” first a little abstractly or universally before we apply it to juicing. So the abstract or mountain-top distant definition is that of a  universal relationship of connection. What the heck does that mean? Next imagine that this universal principle of connection is what really connects us deep inside to ourselves and to the world around us as a whole – creating the essence of an ORGANIC LIVING ORGANISMS. As living organisms we feel joy and pain. We cry when our feelings are torn apart. We suffer when our body is cut apart. Machines do not feel this pain, why we use bulldozers made of steel to lift heavy objects. They are not living, conscious organisms, Thirdly, imagine that past  the conventional way of looking at things, the mathematical view of physics and chemistry that centrally uses math symbols  (and abstractly as pointing to universal relationships of separation) is what  leads us to create things made of separate parts or MACHINES. Again how does all this relate to juicing? VERY POWERFULLY. Machines can run on petroleum and we can run on juices. First the simpler living forms tend to be more simply connected in comparison to complicated life forms.
• Thus drinking grass juices – The juice of a single blade of grass has more healing power than a stalk of corn. However, when a grass joints (splits it two) it has less healing or connective life-force power. This can be shown with live microscopy. It is thus the juice of the simpler plants, the grasses, that carry the greatest life force. Secondly, the chief medium for carrying that life force, that connected consciousness, is the plant’s juices for an important reason,. This is  because the liquid portion runs connectively through the plant to transmit life. Note that with a liquid, a separate drop loses its separativity because the fluid juice is THE connective medium that holds and transmits the life force.

Be really c-o-o-l….”Do it right.”

Get that life force into our body super-charged!

So there are fabulous reasons to juice up and especially with simple, living greens. But be sure to “do it right.”

• Drink your juices fresh, within 20 minutes of making drink the juice because the rest of the universe will grab that life force away from the juices once they are liberated from their protective fiber.  Due to a busy schedule, if you can’t make all your juices fresh, put them in tightly closed canning jars and filled to the top to cut down on oxidation and  add a high quality anti-oxidant powder like Vitamin C.
• Use a slow juicer – It is best to use a slow churning juicer (single or double auger) to release the juice without doing high-heat or oxidation harm to the same.
• Understand why this drinking of only fresh juices is vitally important in the context of a different life-centered worldview – Knowing this we keep better on track. Nathan explains that as the juice oxidates, its actually loses its “consciousness” or connectedness or life force. This is similar to what happens when an apple turns brown within minutes of being cut open. It happens more intensely with juices and we explain it chemically when he better explanation occurs in a different life-centered vision. Thus in Nathan’s revolutionary and living model of nature, oxygen is the bridge between the chemical/mechanical/atomic understanding and his consciousness-life-centered model – akin to the ancient Essene view.  Nathan explains why this is a more rational (not mystical) view  than that of Sir Isaac Newton’s  mathematical foundations for all the science. We really cannot best connect our cosmic vision of nature using our most “universal abstractions of separations” which is what math symbols are stripped naked- and any more than we can best glue something broken together using our sharpest chainsaw. This is why even a few Nobel-prize winning physicists and chemists have gotten themselves “lost in their world of inner consciousness” and have fallen prey to  Alzheimer’s disease and have died thereof. Nathan also claims this is why the allopathic medical model doesn’t essentially work with depth chronic ills, and why the natural one does. In the meantime we are mislead  – told to pop pills rather than drink green juices – based on a deeply false worldview that materializes both runaway health epidemics and the pollution of our planet.

•  

  Drinking for our chakra rainbow-light body

• Green juices are the best – This is because green is the middle, the most connective, the most healing and consciousness transmitting  color. In the  field of color therapy, green pulls the color separations back together toward colorless or white light. The most separative or opposite colors of the rainbow, red and violet, will reunite (return to white light) only in the presence of green, the color neutralizer in radiant light or the ultimate reconnecting/healing color.
• Use an alkaline base – Try cucumber or celery as a juice base. Acidity represents something fiery, which consumers the light or the consciousness/life force.
• Emphasize low-glycemic juices – more veggies than sweet fruits. Sugar, even fruit sugars, tend to leave acid residues in the body and they feed fungus and lower life forms.
• Add the juice of green sprouts and grasses – These will supercharge your drink with life energy.

Following his unique philosophy and related juicing approach, some years ago Nathan helped fund and organize the Gerson Healing Center at Sedona where Charlotte Gerson set up a juicing/healing protocol in the US based on her father’s groundbreaking work – and assisting many patients to reverse their life-threatening, chronic ill….  or as Charlotte explains it, “curing the incurable.” (Gerson)

Alkaline Juice Recipe

Now then for fun, let’s try this juicing recipe: 1 Cucumber 2 Celery Sticks (Including leaves) 2 Carrots 1 Apple 1 cup of Spinach 1/2 lemon (Skin included) Juice up and enjoy!

An inspirational story

Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, a film by Joe Cross tells the story of an unhealthy, unhappy overweight man determined to rid himself of prescription medication and let his body heal. His method, 60 days juicing fresh and green, with fruit and vegetable ingredients, was done while driving 3,000 miles across America. During this trip he talked to more than 500 Americans about food, health and longevity Joe meets a truck driver who suffers from the same rare condition, Phil Staples. After taking up the diet, Phil lost a total of 202lbs and Joe, 85lbs and began to enjoy life medication-free.

References

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Diet/story?id=3364083&page=1 http://www.healthyjuicer.com/pages/health_ben.html http://www.bestofjuicing.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enzyme http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytochemical http://www.living-foods.com/articles/benefits.html http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1227378/

Healing Centers pioneering green juicing ….and/or the LIVNG foods diet

• Gerson Institute
• Hippocates Health Institute
• Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center

Keywords

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Start your day

with water and lemon

Nathan Batalion, Global Health Activist, Healingtalks Editor

Starting your day off right!

(Healingtalks) I always recommend ample drinking of pure water or “hydration” early in the morning – and with as much as a quart. To that water one can add several health boosters:

• Squeeze in a little fresh lemon juice. This is one of the greatest energy boosters. Unlike coffee which stimulates the adrenal glands and causes blood sugar swings, aggravates hypertension and causes oxidative stress and free-radical formation  – with a high and then a let down – water with lemon produces even energy and inner cleansing. There is then no letdown because the energy wasn’t forced. Lemon can be replaced by other citric juices such as lime or grapefruit, and sometimes break the monotony of always having the same
• A cleansing tea with lemon is another alternative
• Fresh squeezed vegetable juice,  green-powders, super-food mixes  – all with lemon added – can also enhance the  “morning water feast”
• Probiotic, coconut water and kambucha drinks also help the body smoothly “break the fast” of a night’s sleep so that you replenish minerals and electrolytes – especially sodium potassium and magnesium.

Filtered or distilled water

Be sure your water itself is “clean” – either well filtered or distilled. If distilled it will be the purest of water, removing even the homeopathic traces of toxins. However then it becomes necessary to re-add minerals. This can be done with a pinch of Himalayan or Hawaiian salt. Your clean water can also sit overnight with a pinch of dulse powder added, to get more of the sea minerals replenished in your body.

Bioelectrical energy

What we eat provides “ions” -  the parts of molecules that carries an electrical charge and thus spark energy. Positively charged ions are called “cations” and negatively charged ones  “anions.” Most of the food is cationic. Digestive processes such as using hydrochloric acid, digestive enzymes, saliva are anionic. Lemon is highly  anionic, with a strong negative charge. Fresh lemon thereby helps oxygenate the body and helps enzyme functions of the liver. It helps prepare the stomach and intestinal tract for digestion later in the day.

Cleanses and nourishes

Citric fruits help stimulate bowel movements early in the am. Lemon especially can form soluble complexes with calcium which helps gt rid of pancreatic and kidney stones. This can also prevent calcification of arteries or cardiovascular disease.

What lemon and water provide

• hydration
• anti-oxidants
• electrolytes
• vitamin C
• vitamin P  (citrus bioflavonoids).

More on Vitamin P

Studies show that vitamin P  helps release the anti-oxidant properties of vitamin C. Bioflavonoids also improve capillary permeability and the overall blood flow – important for oxygenating tissues and maintaining blood pressure. They can help reduce swelling, venous backup and edema.

Morning instructions

Upon rising squeeze one lemon into a 16-32 oz glass of clean water and drink up! You can do this a couple of time to build up to a quart of liquids in the morning.

Be sure to juice down to the inner rind of the  lemon because the majority of the pectin fiber and citrus bioflavonoids are there. An organic mild sweetener can be added to the lemonade. Various herbs, like mint, are further used to further your morning lift-off.

Related articles

Alkaline diet supercharges 73 year old
Alkaline and acid food chart
Natural breakfasts may be full of pesticides and GMOs

Based on an article by Dr. David Jockers and published in naturalnews.

Video

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Heart help

71% who drank this lowered their blood pressure

Nathan Batalion, Global Health Activist Healingtalks Editor

(Healingtalks) Did you know you can make a drink out of the juice of a coconut or coconut water – and this can help you improve your heart health? Shake a coconut and what you hear inside is  coconut water.

Coconut milk vs water

Coconut milk, known in Malaysia and Indonesia as “santan” and in the Philippines as “gata,” is a thicker liquid made by grinding up coconut meat and diluting it about 50% with water. It is a rich source of healthy fat and protein, and is used in Asian cuisine. Coconut water  is a much lighter drink that is 95 % water. It is gotten from young, green coconuts that look different than the brown hairy ones. They are white and pointed on one end, flat on the other. This coconut water is the liquid part of the coconut and when the coconuts are immature, the inner meat is not hard but jelly-like. It turns out that BOTH the soft “meat” and the liquid of coconuts are nutritional powerhouses!

“Dew from the heavens”

Coconut water is “noelani” by the Hawaiians  which means “dew from the heavens.” Many tropical cultures prize coconut water due to its refreshing and health renewing properties. As a result of the rich volcanic soils and mineral-rich seawater in which coconut palms grow, coconut water’s nutritional profile is very impressive. It is rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, amino acids, enzymes, and cytokinins – a plant hormone which has anti-aging effects. Coconut water is further alkalizing For a complete nutritional profile, see tables at the Coconut Research Center site.

Coconut water’s health benefits

According to Bruce Fife, author of Coconut Water for Health and Healing,  coconut water has the following health benefits:

Nature’s Gatoraide or sports drink – with perfect electrolytes

Electrolytes are inorganic compounds that conduct electricity to help signaling between all the cells of our body. Your cells thus use electrolytes to maintain voltage across membranes or to carry electrical impulses to other cells. Water balance and blood pH depend on electrolytes.

Fresh coconut water is one of the richest sources of electrolytes and can be used to prevent dehydration from strenuous exercise, vomiting, or diarrhea. You lose electrolytes when you sweat for a while, such as an hour gym workout, so it is easy to replenish your electrolytes using coconut water – better than with any sports drink. It contains so many electrolytes, it’s been called “Nature’s Gatorade.” It has all the five essential electrolytes, potassium, sodium, magnesium, phosphorous and calcium. It is especially rich in potassium ions, but less so in sodium ions. Thus for a heavy workout or if you sweat a lot, you should add a pinch of mineral rich salt to your glass of coconut water. One study in 2007 found coconut water to be as effective as commercial sports drinks for whole body rehydration after exercise, with less stomach upset. But there is controversy because the sodium content may not be enough, so add that pinch of salt.

SunFire Salt

For the salt additive, we use SunFire Salt, a mix of Himalayan pink, Bolivian rose, and Hawaiian red, and  Chinese salt – an ultimately diverse mineral addition.

Cytokinins: Anti-aging benefits

Cytokinins are phytohormones or plant hormones. They regulate growth, development, and aging of plants. Coconut water has been an important horticultural resource, used in the propagation of several plants, including orchids and traditional Chinese medicinal herbs. The cytokinins found in coconut water support cell division and growth. Cytokinins have  also been found slow down aging.  Coconut water is the richest natural dietary source of cytokinins. Cytokinins also have anti-thrombolytic properties to lower the risk for blood clots. But coconut’s benefits don’t stop there. They also have anti-cancer effects.

Cardiovascular and Urinary Tract Benefits

Coconut water have been found to help prevent heart attacks as well as hypertension. In one study, 71 percent of people who drank coconut water lowered their blood pressures. Dr. Eugenio Macalalag, director of the urology department of the Chinese General Hospital in the Philippines, also reported that coconut water was effective in treating his patient’s kidney and urethral stones. When his patients drank coconut water 2-3 times a week, the reduced their stone size, eliminating their need for surgery.

Buy organic

Coconuts can be heavily  sprayed with pesticides. So be sure to buy only organic coconuts. The best coconut water is purely from fresh organic coconuts. In a pinch, you can use packed products after a workout.

Skip pasteurized  juices and sodas

Coconut water is a perfect replacement for juice or soda. Drinking the fresh coconut water, not bottled and especially not pasteurized. So next time you want a refreshing after-workout or sports event beverage, crack open a coconut! Second best, Exotic Superfoods makes an organic-raw version of coconut water -  the only kind of packaged coconut water we recommend.

 References:

• Coconut Research Center
• J Physiol Anthropol Appl Human Sci March 2002
• MedicineNet
• Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health July 2007
• Am J Emerg Med January 2000
• Plant-Hormones
• J Anti-Aging Med March 2002
• Experimental Hematology October 2002
• HealthTruthRevealed April 2008
• Plant Foods for Human Nutrition
• West Indian Med J January 2005
•  Int Surg October-December 1987
• The Nibble August 2011
• Molecules 2009

Video

A good video on the overall benefits of using coconuts, including coconut water.

Keywords

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Crazy banning

of health claim

that water

prevents dehydration

(Healingtalks) EU officials in Brussels decided to ban any claims by water bottling companies that their water can prevent dehydration! Mind you, this was “intelligently” concluded after a three year investigation that supposedly showed there was no evidence for that otherwise obvious fact.

A lunatic ban

Now producers of bottled water are forbidden to make this claim and can face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the law. What should we use instead, mercury-filled vaccines and Big Pharm toxic drugs no doubt? This absolutely moronic directive is now the law-of-the-land all across Europe

How about a mandatory IQ test for legislators and regulators

This goes to show that maybe we should give a mandatory IQ test to prospective legislators before being allowed to serve the public. Can we similarly trust the FDA to regulate our drugs, foods and vitamin supplements?

Question: Which substance at room temperature will best hydrate the human body?

A) Mercury
B) Water
C) Gasoline
D) None of the above

According to the Nutrition Society and the EFSA, the correct answer is D! Meanwhile, these brainless buffoons may declare that four plus four equals 77 and a half.

BRAWNDO the “Thirst Mutilator”

In the movie Idiocracy, water was banned in water fountains and agricultural use to be replaced by a sports drink called Brawndo – the Thirst Mutilator. This was a drink with electrolytes. When the crops started dying after from being “hydrated” by Brawndo, the government officials scratched their heads to figure out why. After all, Brawndo had so many electrolytes and plants had to thus love it. In the film, the Brawndo corporation was purchased the FDA.

As crazy as the storyline is, this won’t compared to the idiocy of the EU directive.

Less than pea-brained bureaucrats

The EFSA bureaucrats who declared that water does not hydrate could be called somewhat “bird-brained.” But birds are such fabulous navigators and thus are really geniuses by comparison.  Even tiny bugs seek water intelligently and worms also. So these guys are not even mosquito-brained or worm-brained.  We might call them pea-brained, but why so insult peas in the process?

This is reminiscent of the FDA pressing felony charges against California distributors of raw milk and even though its been repeatedly proven that raw milk is much healthier than pasteurized milk. Knowing this implies that the milk of large corporate dairies, which must be pasteurized, is less healthy – a dangerous kind of knowing. So to hide this from the public, the FDA declares the opposite of the truth.  The best candidates for becoming spokespersons of corporate interests that require such attacks on our intelligence and the promotion of deceptions are apparently our regulators.

EU consumer alerts

So consider using the most expensive pharmaceutical drugs and surgery the next time you feel thirsty. It’s best to pass up water because its so utterly cheap and natural and is thus likely to be useless. Right?

This also brings up a concern for the “dydrating health” of our seniors. Maybe its best to give them five or more potent pharmaceutical drugs to cure any thirst, or better yet intravenous drips so you pay for the added bio-delivery costs. As for the welfare of our children, we should immediately pull water fountains from our public school grounds, and especially off of running tracks.  We don’t want thirsty athletes to be irreparably harmed by drinking water when working out. Right?

Back to common sense

Common sense tells us water prevents dehydration as the term “hydra” means water and nothing else. Common sense also tells us a “patriot” is someone who would truly defend the Constitution of the United States. Thus a law that utterly destroys and unravels constitutional rights should be best called “The Patriot Act.” Right?

And a law that most harms our overall air quality should be called “The Clean Air Act.” Right?

This all makes perfect sense to total idiots who apparently and increasingly rule us. To them when our land is increasingly filled with health epidemics, environmental degradation, income disparities and near economic collapse this all represents PROGRESS.

So start emptying those water bottles.

Related Articles

• EU bottled water ruling joins the ranks of bendy banana law
• Dehydration ruling: an ‘angels dancing on head of pin’ moment

Videos

Keywords

Water and hydration, water hydrate, hydrated water, quench thirst, prevent dehydration, bottled water ruling, EU bans claim that water can prevent dehydration.

How Alkaline Diet

Supercharges

73 Year-Old

Nathan Batalion, Global Health Activist, Healingtalks Editor

Introducing Chef Sal

It’s really strange to see a 73 year-young man who is muscular and has black hair. Though he’s lived in the US for over 4 decades, he still reveals his European accent, having grown up in Amsterdam during World War II. Exiled on a farm, he fell in love with the fresh farm produce and has ever since made the best of fresh, whole foods the center piece of his diet and recipes. Chef Salomon Montezinos is extra-ordinary.

Raw and Alkaline

The recipes he prepares are also quite unusual. They’re raw and alkaline. In fact, he helped pioneered this culinary combination. Following this diet himself has helped him outperform his senior peers – exercising 4 hours a day by weight-lifting, biking, running, and performing yoga. In addition, not only can he swim a mile-plus in the pool, after other exercises, but he swims in alkalized water. He does not bathe in unfiltered tap water either, which he also alkalizes with a filter. Chef Sal implores that if he cannot drink it, he will not put his body in it.

Indeed, alkaline water is found throughout Chef Sal’s house. After exiting the pool, he often re-energizes with alkaline water from the custom-installed machine in his fridge. He appreciates too well the extra kick of energy it gives.

Chef Sal’s Work Schedule

As strange as it is to see this 73-year old swim for an hour, it is striking to watch him also work a 12+ hours shift preparing raw alkaline meals. He credits his system for keeping him so young, fit, and energized. After all our bodies are 60 percent water and the brain contains even more, namely 70 percent.

Living Proof

Chef Sal exemplifies the alkaline lifestyle. He has thus developed a following, as more people let go of conventional health paradigms.

Keywords

Which are alkaline foods, living food, is alkaline acidic,good foods diet, acidic foods, diet alkaline, what is an alkaline diet, what is acidic food, live foods, raw vegan, super food diet, living food diet, diets alkaline.

Sources

• EvolveWithFlavor.com  Chef Sal’s website where he advance the philosophy of   using “raw alkaline foods” to create a most health-beneficial diet.

• Discovering Raw Alkaline Cuisine: One Chef’s Journey Check out his book  (with over 120 recipes) available at  EvolveWithFlavor.com

Resources

Acid/Alkaline Food Chart – Healingtalks

Alkaline Acid Food Chart

Nathan Batalion, Global Health Activist, Healingtalks Editor

(Healingtalks) Food consumption worldwide has changed from so-called “primitive” whole raw foods to highly processed ones with little nutritional value. As a result, we see huge increases in chronic diseases. This is why it is ever more important to re-establish one’s health on a surer footing. One approach is to find an ideal balance between alkaline and acid forming foods.

This table helps identify food pH-levels. Each food is assigned a number which reflects its relative alkalinity (+) or acidity (-) per ounce (28.35g). According to this model, the higher the + number, the better the food is to eat

Source of Chart

Back To The House Of Health by Shelley Redford Young

Additional Resources

Symptoms of Acidosis

The New Biology and pH Miracle by Dr. Young

Definitions

Alkalosis  – A condition reducing hydrogen ion concentration of arterial blood plasma (alkalemia). Generally alkalosis is said to occur when arterial pH exceeds 7.45.

Acidosis is an increased acidity of the blood plasma. Arterial pH falls below 7.35.  Arterial blood gas analysis and other tests are required to separate the main causes. (Source: Wikipedia)

Keywords: acid and alkaline, alkaline foods, which foods are alkaline, foods rich in potassium, food alkaline, what is alkaline food, food with alkaline, alkaline or acid, alkaline and acidic, acidic and alkaline, foods that are acidic, foods acidic,  acid foods,
diet alkaline.

Coffee, what’s the

verdict? Is it good

or bad for us?

Nathan Batalion, Global Health Activist, Healingtalks Editor

Coffee and stimulating the fire within

Analogy of food subjected to fire

The degree of inner fire

What is inner fire?

Pouring “water” over fire

A forever split verdict

Coffee’s pros

Super Brain, Eye

and Nervous System

Rejuvenation Drink

By Nathan Batalion, Global Health Activist, Healingtalks Editor

(Healingtalks) It is important to remember that the brain is, to many, the most important part of our body. It helps to coordinate our whole nervous system, our whole consciousness

It is important thus to learn how to use all natural organic ingredients to supercharge your brain.…activate the genius inside of you.

Here you can listen to the genius of David Wolfe explain how.

The full recipe is in his book, Superfoods and he also offers some CDs

You can also freely access this book on line and the full recipe via google-ebooks

Another alternative to David Wolfe’s recipe was posted by Neens in her wordpress blog:

Alternative to David Wolfe’s Super Brain Charging Drink

300 ml of water with lemon and adya clarity (I don’t have any coconuts)
1/2 T of coconut oil
1/2 a dropper full of marine phytoplankton (I don’t have the powdered stuff)
1/4 t of crystal manna (algae) (I don’t have the liquid stuff)
1 capsule of Açai Resveratrol Ultimate ORAC Antioxidant Extreme (I don’t have MegaHydrate)
1/4 t of reishi powder (I don’t have lion’s mane)
1 T (heaping) of raw honey
1 avocado (for consistency, as I don’t have any berries, either)

Go For It

Follow these instructions and before you know it, you will be writing a daily blog on health and healing because your
brain power is overflowing!

Keywords: brain functions, food for the brain,  foods for the brain, how to improve the brain, brain and memory, brain health, how the brain functions

Key words: brain health, vitamins for brain, brain tonic, brain vitamins, brain food

Coffee Illusions:

What the Magic Brew Does to Your Brain

 Nathan Batalion, Global Health Activist, Healingtalks Editor

With an intro from You Are Not So Smart. 

(Healingtalks)  Hmmm…………….Misconception: Coffee stimulates you. Truth: You become addicted to caffeine quickly, and soon are drinking coffee to cure withdrawal more than the stimulation.

That can’t be true…Get-off… What’s better than a warm cup of coffee with delicious cream, topped with a frothy head and  made sweet to the T. Further you smell it brewing and feel cozy inside as you browse cakes and brownies, scones and biscotti.

You get some of it in you, and you feel ALIVE again – you feel SUPERHUMAN.

Suddenly, you can’t keep up with your own mind as geometric symbols float over the magazine articles in your lap. Someone strikes up a conversation about health car…or whatever… and suddenly everything you’ve ever heard about the topic is at the tip of your tongue.

Damn…Jeez… coffee is AWESOME!

Coffee Illusions

You want to live a life of illusions, knock yourself dead. Want to live a life of integral health, let’s first understand something about illusions….especially  GREAT FEELING  “illusions.”

Think of a mirror – a thin surface appearance in our overall consciousness. No depth.

Think of a small timer – one that goes off and on for no more than so many minutes – or illusion timewise is temporary, lacking time-depth ….

( As an aside, pharmaceuticals work pretty much the very exact same way. They fool us into thinking they a the best means to heal. No way. There is a whole system of medicine is based on this belief, this illusions and they fiercely claim the mantle of  exact science” – depth truth. But in reality, they are best for just symptom modulation, suppression of symptoms especially pain (mirror surface conditions)…and for emergencies (think again  a smaller timer) or the surface of time. They belong likewise to any illusionary root worldview (no one every told you this?) that designs all chemicals and pollutes our earth and as much our bodies – the 17th century math-based/mechanical vision that has brought us to where we are after an industrial revolution- a world full of weather crises, the breakdown of social/financial structures, our earth’s ecology, our inner polluted ecology or health pandemics and cancer, etc)

Ok that’s too much to digest. So now back to the much, smaller but nevertheless all-too-wonderful-to- talk about topic of COFFEE…..!

Bottom line with all illusions….you guessed it…there is a let-down. They ain’t completely what they claim to be.

Once you’ve been drinking coffee for a while, the feeling after a cup isn’t the difference between the normal you and the super you, it’s the difference between the addict before and the fix after \

Ok, this is a very simplified explanation:

Caffeine’s Effects

Caffeine is an adenosine antagonist. This means it prevents adenosine from doing its job. Your brain is filled with keys which fit specific keyholes. Adenosine is one of those keys, but caffeine can fit in the same keyhole. When caffeine gets in there, it keeps adenosine from getting in. Adenosine does a lot of stuff all throughout your body, but the most noticeable job it has is to suppress your nervous system. With caffeine stuck in the keyhole, adenosine can’t calm you down. It can’t make you drowsy. It can’t get you to shut up. That crazy wired feeling you get when you drink a lot of coffee is what it feels like when your brain can’t turn itself off. To compensate, your brain creates a ton of new receptor sites. The plan is to have more keyholes than false keys.

Caffeine Crash and Pickup

Thus you become very sensitive to adenosine, and without coffee you get overwhelmed by its effects. After eight hours of sleep, you wake up with a head swimming with adenosine. You feel like shit until you get that black gold in you to clean out those receptor sites. That perk you feel isn’t adding anything substantial to you – it’s bringing you back to just above zero.

In addition, coffee stimulates your adrenal glands, which makes you feel like you could take a bullet and eat glass. When the adrenaline runs dry, you feel like you’ve been running a marathon, which leads you to look for more coffee to get those glands pumping again. After a few rides on the adrenal roller-coaster, you CRASH!

Getting Addicted to Caffeine Lift

You might think all of this probably takes a while, but it takes about seven days to become addicted to caffeine. Once addicted, you need more and more coffee to get buzzed as your brain gets covered in receptor sites. Neurologists report seeing patients regularly who drink two or three pots of coffee in one sitting before starting their day.

Coffee also releases dopamine, the feel-good chemical in the brain which is released when you have an orgasm, win the lottery and shoot heroin. A similar addiction cycle with dopamine leads to depression and fatigue when you aren’t hitting the beans.

Finally, caffeine takes about six hours to leave your system. So if you drink coffee six hours or less before going to bed, you won’t reach deep sleep as often. This means you wake up less rested, and need more coffee. If you’ve been drinking coffee for a while, you aren’t getting nearly as much out of it as you did in the beginning. You are just curing an addiction.

Caffeine Bottom Line

“The take home is that regular use of caffeine produces no benefit to alertness, energy, or function. Regular caffeine users are simply staving off caffeine withdrawal with every dose – using caffeine just to return them to their baseline. This makes caffeine a net negative  for  alertness, or neutral at best if use is regular enough to avoid any withdrawal.”

- Neurologist Stephen Novella from his blog, Neurologica

Mind you, this is not a dependency. You will experience withdrawal symptoms upon coffee cessation, but not like with amphetamines and cocaine. Coffee doesn’t seem to affect the dopaminergic structures related to reward, but before you breathe a sigh of relief, ask yourself how long you’ve been drinking it. Try and stop for two weeks and see how hard it is.

A cup or three will still give you pep, but as with all stimulants, over time you need more and more to reach that golden hum. Don’t freak out, 90 percent of Americans are just like you.

My Favorite Alternatives to Coffee

Want to really boost your health, get high on health, a sustained high…and in a different way.. if  I can you dare to be so counter-cultural…and with only a slight, not big time up and down stimulation, then try the following. Oh if this doesn’t fully turn you on, play some hip hop or your favorite high-beat music early in the morning to get you revved up and then sluggalug…

• Grapefruit Juice, freshly squeezed. No it doesn’t have that seductive taste of coffee but in the morning it will extend the detoxification process of sleep, stimulate a stronger bowel movement, add vitamin C and anti-oxidants to your blood stream for steady energy – what you really need.
• Wheat Grass Juice, freshly squeezed – This takes a lot more effort to get, grow and juice fresh wheatgrass – but boy is it worth it. This is  for the serious health lover as well as those challenged with a major chronic condition. It contains over a 100 essential nutrients, unlike the emptiness of a cup of coffee,  and may be the single most powerful blood cleanser on the planet. Before a road race or other sports event, its just fabulous. This  because it adds tons of oxygen to you blood. It gives more than just energy but steady power.
• Fruit and Protein Smoothie – The benefit of a smoothie is that you can add a large variety of nutrients to your morning routine, and you can vary that routine easily. Try mango and peach one morning with a protein powder, and another with bananas and sunflower seeds. Try this 2-3 times a week. The potential varieties for this are endless. Compare having a creative smoothie to the same boring cup of coffee everyday (with pasteurized cream and refined sugar, also not so healthy). Yes  and again it takes a little effort, some creativity, and being wide-eyed in the morning….but again its worth it.
• Herbal Tea – Alternatively try your favorite herbal tea, but with little or less of a  caffeine spike. Maybe add a little kambucha with spirulina and you will still get a BUZZ.

And for many more coffee alternatives, knock yourself DEAD…

• http://www.coffeealternatives.org/

• http://www.mycaffeineaddiction.com/top-10-coffee-alternatives-avoid-the-negative-effects-of-caffeine/

Keywords: drinking coffee, research about coffee, is coffee healthy, health effects of coffee

The following  MUST SEE video discusses more aspects of the Coffee rollercoaster, the acidic nature of coffee and much more!  Its called Quit Coffee Painlessly

Getting More

Veggies into a

College Diet

By Jaelithe Guillette, Contributing Writer

(Healingtalks) Heading off to college means getting out of the house and finally escaping subjugation to your parent’s bland cuisine.  With no one around to tell you that you can’t eat pizza for breakfast five days a week, going to college may seem like liberating experience for your dietary habits.

Unfortunately, within a matter of days of your freshman year starting, you’ll realize that you’re pretty much eating the same few meals every day and it’s safe to say none include anything close to organic produce.

With your bank account on life support, you may have to opt for 49¢ Top Ramen more often than you’d like, relegating healthy foods like fruits and fresh vegetables to the fringes of your cuisine.  Besides, who has time to cook up some veggie side dishes when you’ve got a term paper due the next day?

Still, you’ve got to get the healthy stuff into you somehow, since it’s brain food that keeps our bodies primed for attracting partners (plus you don’t want to end up as the first non-pirate to be diagnosed with scurvy).  So here are a few quick, tasty, and cheap ways to sneak some “good stuff” into your diet.

Veggie Loaded Breakfast Burrito

When trying to shop for groceries with limited funds you’ll realize the value of this diet suggestion very fast:  hmmm….eggs and tortillas are inexpensive.  That’s why the breakfast burrito is a staple of the college diet.  Fortunately, the breakfast burrito also provides ample opportunities to sneak in some veggies into your diet and without hassles.  Simply chop fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, or whatever other veggies flight your fancy, then throw them into the pan while you cook your eggs.  You’ll be left with a tasty breakfast that’s surprisingly nutritious.

Tasty tip: Use tomato tortillas to add some extra zest to your breakfast
(Editor’s note) For a vegan alternative – substitute fermented soy or tempeh for eggs.

Irresistible Veggie Side Dish

When your schedule is tight, it’s hard to find enough time to cook anything but a main course.  But your taste buds will die of boredom if the only thing they’re exposed to is Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.   Cooked or sautéed carrots are an easy, nutritious side dish that goes well with any main course.  Just cut whole carrots into 2-inch pieces and boil them lightly until soft.  Drain the water, mix with a little butter or olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and you’re good to go.  You could also sauté them in a bit of olive oil instead of boiling. Carrots are rich in healthy antioxidants and vitamin A, so you can rest assured you’re at least doing something good for your body.

Tasty tip: Mix in couple tablespoons of brown sugar to sweeten up your carrot concoction.

(Editor’s note) For a whole food alternative to brown sugar , simply add raisins or dates. Fresh veggie salads can be made with similar add-on ingredients as fruits and vegetables mix well.

Fantastic Fruit Salad

This dish delivers unadulterated awesomeness straight to your stomach.  Works well as a healthy breakfast, snack, or dessert and you can eat it on the go.   All you gotta do is chop up your favorite fruits (we’re talking apples, bananas, mangos, etc.) and mix them together in a big bowl.  A great tip is to visit  your local farmer’s market and see what’s in season. That way you can get the freshest organic produce and do what’s right for your body.

Tasty tip:  Coat your mixing bowl with lemon juice to add an extra kick and the fruit won’t brown due to the positive effect of the citric acid!

( Editors note)  Why not make college a challenging time to learn new life skills and develop super eating habits.

Keywords: Eating Vegetables More, Eating More Veggies

How to Enjoy Eating More Vegetables

Back to School

Health Checklist and Tips

Based on an article by Randall Neustaedter OMD

(Healingtalks) Packing lunch for school can be hard on parents. I suggest you sit down with your kids and make a list of things they want to eat in their lunches. This can lead to (yet another) discussion of the foods that are nourishing and foods that are not so good for your body.

Green Light Model For Nutrition

Putting food choices into a context that kids can understand can be helpful. The traffic light model works well.

Green light foods are good for you. Eat as much of them as you like. These include fruits, vegetables, whole grain products, nuts, and organic meats and dairy.

Red light foods are those kids should not eat, like corn syrup, diet foods with Nutrasweet, caffeine products, and artificial colors and flavors.

Yellow light foods are those you should slow down on, like desserts, processed white flour products, and juice.

Healthy Packed Lunch and Lunch Box

A healthy packed lunch includes fruits such as organic blueberries, strawberries, grapes, or apples, some protein like peanut butter or meat and cheese sandwiches on whole grain bread, yogurt (without corn syrup), nuts or trail mix, organic chips, carrot sticks, seaweed snacks, or cheese sticks. Avoid juice boxes.

Beware of lunch boxes. Plastic lunch boxes may contain BPA (bisphenol-A), a synthetic estrogen that contributes to hormone disruption and cancer. The vinyl lining of lunch boxes and lunch bags marketed for children often contains lead. Seek out a BPA and lead-free tag on the bag to ensure that the food in your child’s lunch is not exposed to these toxins. Legal action was taken by the FDA and the Center for Environmental Health against lunch box manufacturers, but some of these may still contain toxins.

Supplements For Kids Immune Systems

Keep your kids healthy by supporting their immune systems. Exposure to other children with viruses is bound to pass colds around the classroom, but you can help to minimize symptoms by giving some specific supplements during the school year. Several types of supplements can help boost immune function. Adaptogenic mushrooms are one of the most potent immune system activators. An excellent formula that also includes astragalus and elderberry is Immunoberry by Designs for Health.

Probiotic formula with lactobacillus and bifidobacteria species will also help to protect children from viruses. Vitamin D3 is an essential supplement in the winter months (2,000 IU per day). And a colostrum or whey protein supplement to supply immunoglobulins and lactoferrin will also boost immune function.

Avoid Vaccines

Do not allow yourself to be pressured into giving vaccines to your child. Make an informed choice rather than just conceding to the pressure of school requirements. Consider the likelihood of exposure, seriousness of the disease, and side effects of the vaccine. Vaccines being forced on school age children these days include pertussis in DTaP (whooping cough), measles (MMR), and HPV (cervical cancer). Read about the vaccines in my book, The Vaccine Guide, or search  websites for information about each vaccine before you comply with routine vaccination. Remember, an exemption from vaccination is always available to you.

Back to School Exercise

Schoolwork can be demanding, and homework time consuming. Many schools have limited the amount of time devoted to PE. Make sure that your kids are getting some form of exercise every day, either in an organized sport or bike riding or just running around at the park. Staying fit is important for mental function as well as physical health.

About the author:

Dr. Randall Neustaedter, OMD, has practiced and taught holistic medicine for more than thirty years in the San Francisco Bay area, specializing in child health care. He is a licensed acupuncturist and doctor of Chinese medicine, author of The Holistic Baby Guide, Child Health Guide and The Vaccine Guide. Visit his website, www.cure-guide.com, to register for a free newsletter with pediatric specialty articles and follow him on Facebook, at Dr. Randall Neustaedter, OMD.

Keywords: Children health food, health for children, back to school, dangers of vaccines, health check list for kids

Back to School Health Tips Video

Supermodel killing

herself with

coconut oil?

Based on an article by Elizabeth Walling

Email this author

(Healingtalks) Super models aren’t exactly known for their healthy habits. But while some may resort to street drugs or diet pills to stay thin, others know that if their body is going to keep working for them, they need to invest in their health.

Miranda Kerr’s Healthy Skin Habits

Miranda Kerr attributes her sexy curves and luminous skin to what she considers a healthy habit: eating coconut oil every day. But doctors say she could be killing herself.

Medical Naysayers

Despite the fact that coconut oil has been shown to slim down your waistline, regulate blood sugar levels and combat illnesses like pneumonia, many medical doctors still hold on to their archaic beliefs that coconut oil will cause you to drop dead from a heart attack. They claim that because coconut oil is made mostly of saturated fatty acids, it will raise LDL cholesterol levels and contribute to heart disease – in spite of the fact that research has shown coconut oil actually improves your cholesterol profile!

The Truer Story

Numerous native populations in tropical regions have used coconut and its derivatives in their diet for centuries, and yet these people have had remarkably low rates of heart disease. As modern foods continue to encroach upon their traditional diets, however, heart disease is slowly on the rise. Could it be that modern industrial foods like refined vegetable oils, white flour, refined sweeteners and chemical additives are more dangerous to our heart health than natural, traditional foods like coconut oil?

Absolutely.

What’s in Coconut Oil

Coconut oil’s fatty acids are actually what makes it so incredibly healthy. Special medium-chain saturated fatty acids like caprylic acid and lauric acid have potent antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal properties. These properties give your body’s immune system a boost by fighting infection, and they also help to maintain a healthy balance of flora in your gut by killing off candida overgrowth. Benefits like these can translate to improved energy, glowing skin, healthy hair and much more.

Waking Up To Lasting Beauty

The medical community needs to revise their overdone mantra of “artery-clogging-saturated-fats” and to realize the healing power of traditional fats like coconut oil. And while we probably don’t need to be taking nutritional advice from every super model, Miranda Kerr certainly seems to be onto something with coconut oil.

For more information:

http://blisstree.com/eat/nutrition/…

About the author:

Elizabeth Walling is a freelance writer specializing in health and family nutrition. She is a strong believer in natural living as a way to improve health and prevent modern disease. She enjoys thinking outside of the box and challenging common myths about health and wellness. You can visit her blog to learn more:
www.livingthenourishedlife.com/2009…

Related Article: Carcinogenic Beauty

Keywords: healthy coconut oil, skin benefits coconut oil,  miranda kerr supermodel skin secrets

GREAT Reasons To Go Organic!

Let’s Begin With the Very Deepest-Digging or Taproot Reason to Go Organic

(Healingtalks) There are many great  reasons to go organic and we have gathered a list. But the conventional reasons leave out the most deep-digging one of all.  This involves the heart and soul of our modern industrial culture. What this refers to is something radical, and the word radical means going to the root, or in this case the taproot problem.

Imagine that our dominant modern philosophy of nature, the mathematical and mechanical, which dramatically brought us out of medieval culture and into the Industrial Revolution (with its “gifts” of mechanized agriculture, food production, delivery, and serving – including McDonalds) is really out of sync with the deepest core essence of nature. This means we need to learn something different about nature than what is taught in most all elementary schools, high schools and/or colleges.

Imagine that again what has led us to create synthetic lab chemical is an ideology of nature, namely the belief-laden following of wherever the symbols of mathematics point us in nature, and unfortunately to the deepest depths of nature.

Why is that a falsely guiding vision, one involving both a reversal illusion and corruption of consciousness?

This is because those lofty and elevated math symbols, stripped naked of their royal garbs, are really but our left-brain’s highest or most universal symbols to separate all elements of our consciousness. The number “1″ is the universal separate whole, the ultimate building block of mathematics, like a “point” in geometry.

Why is a math-based ideology of nature then a very, very, very serious problem?

• First, if you systematically separate things in nature, especially what is most together, it then falls apart! Atom bombs symbolize this. Their design by Dr. Femi used the framework of Cartesian coordinates (the mathematization of geometry) or the visualization of space universally separated or disintegrated.
• Secondly, it is not just dead matter than can be disintegrated. Remember what is most deeply connected in the whole in nature happens to be organic life.
• Thirdly, lets consider the math-based philosophy of nature as out of sync with nature’s true deepest essence.  There are steps to this process.

•  Imagine that at the core inner depths of all of nature and cosmically is something else, namely life. Imagine this to be true even if it is rare to bring this inner essence to the surface.
• Imagine that the essence of life is something we and all living forms experience as “consciousness,” awareness or sentience.
• Imagine that this consciousness forms the universal relationship of connection in nature. When we are conscious of something we simply connect with it. Universal connection creates a Oneness in nature and this would mean consciousness and life are at the foundation of nature’s Oneness and not what math symbols point to.

If that is so, then the math-based vision of nature, in a marriage with $-signing and when driven far too deeply, pits us directly against the very core essence of nature, including the core essence of ourselves (or what keeps us and the rest of organic life whole and healed).

It pits oneself against nature’s life thus producing systemic death or the death of whole ecologies and species. This is why when you test not individual synthetic chemistry but the entire underlying order (by throwing a large random mix of chemicals in a compost heap) all of life therein dies. That is exactly what is happening in our times…why species are dying, why chronic ills (especially consciousness-depletion diseases like Alzheimer’s, cancer and diabetes) are increasing at exponentially pandemic rates.

Now we can add to this all the other reasons to go organic, most of which are derivative of the above:

Sugary Drinks

Raise Diabetes Risk

Analysis Shows Link Between Sweetened Beverages and Risk of Diabetes

Based on an article by Kathleen Doheny
WebMD Health News

(Healingtalks)  Drinking one or two sugar-sweetened beverages a day increases diabetes risk by 26%, a study shows. In the new analysis, researchers pooled the findings of 11 previously published studies including more than 320,000 participants, attempting to assess the ”big picture.”

“Drinking sugar-sweetened beverages is certainly and consistently associated with an increased risk of diabetes and metabolic syndrome,” says researcher Vasanti Malik, ScD, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions including high blood pressure, elevated fasting blood sugar, high triglycerides, low HDL, and large waist size, increases the risk of developing diabetes.

The researchers took into account sugar-sweetened soft drinks, fruit drinks, iced tea, and energy and vitamin water drinks. Beverages that are 100% fruit juice without added sweeteners were not counted as sugar-sweetened beverages in the research.

Big Picture – Sugary Drink Risk

By pooling the results of previously published studies, Malik says, the researchers hoped to provide an overall picture of how great the risk is and how consistent the evidence. “We pooled all these studies and came up with one overall measure of association,” she tells WebMD.

Habitual drinkers — those drinking one to two sugar-sweetened beverages a day on average — had a 26% increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes and a 20% increased risk for developing metabolic syndrome compared to those who drank the beverages once a month or not at all, Malik says.

Eight of the studies looked at diabetes risk and three at metabolic syndrome risk. Participants in the diabetes studies totaled 310,819, with 15,043 cases of type 2 diabetes. In the metabolic syndrome studies, there were 19,431 participants and 5,803 cases of metabolic syndrome.

In the 11 studies, ages ranged from 21 to 84; the follow-up period ranged from four to 20 years.

Nearly 18 million people in the U.S. are diagnosed with diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association; most have type 2 diabetes, in which the body doesn’t make enough of the hormone insulin or doesn’t use it effectively. Insulin takes sugar from the blood to the cells.

The risk of developing type 2 diabetes varies from person to person, depending on such factors as family history, ethnicity, weight, and age.

The link between sugar-sweetened beverages and diabetes and metabolic syndrome risk can be partially explained by the weight gain that can result from drinking the sugar-sweetened beverages, which in turn boosts type 2 diabetes risk, the researchers say. The sugar-sweetened drinks can also raise blood sugar and insulin concentrations quickly, in turn leading to insulin resistance and and higher risk of diabetes, according to the researchers.

Industry Comment About Sugary Drinks

The new analysis finds only correlations, not cause and effect, between sugar-sweetened beverages and diabetes, says Maureen Storey, PhD, senior vice president for science policy for the American Beverage Association, the trade association representing companies making non-alcoholic drinks. In a statement, Storey says: “It is overly simplistic, and simply misleading, to suggest that reducing or eliminating sugar-sweetened beverages from the diet will uniquely lower [the] incidence of serious health conditions such as diabetes or metabolic syndrome.”

A critical flaw in the studies analyzed, she says, is that “the authors focus only on the impact of one calorie source — sugar-sweetened beverages — on weight, rather than looking at all sources of calories.”

A primary risk factor for both diabetes and metabolic syndrome, she says, is obesity, and maintaining a healthy weight can help reduce that risk. “And we know that the key to maintaining a healthy weight is balancing calories consumed, regardless of their source, with calories burned.”

There’s nothing unique, she says, about calories from sugar-sweetened beverages.

The new analysis “confirms what’s known” about sugar-sweetened beverages and diabetes risk, says Stephanie Dunbar, RD, MPH, director of clinical affairs for the American Diabetes Association.

“This [new analysis] doesn’t give us cause and effect, but I think it solidifies, ‘Yes, we think there is an association there.”

Beverage Alternatives

Limiting your intake of sugar-sweetened beverages is suggested by Malik and Dunbar. Try sparkling water with a lime wedge as an alternative, Malik says.

“For the general public, there’s certainly no benefit from drinking these sugar-sweetened beverages,” she says.”Everyone should be discouraging from drinking sugar-sweetened beverages, not just for the risk of diabetes and metabolic syndrome.”  She cites other research linking sugar-sweetened beverages to tooth decay and heart disease, among other ills.

Sugar-free diet beverages aren’t an alternative she would endorse either, she says “Sure, artificially sweetened beverages are calorie-free for the most part, which is a good thing,” she says, “but there are a lot of chemicals in them.”

The intense sweet flavor in the artificially sweetened drinks, she says, may condition you to prefer more sweets in the diet, she says.

Dunbar agrees: ”Even if you don’t have diabetes, sugar-sweetened beverages are really not healthful.”

Break the Sweet Drink Habit

But habits are hard to break, she tells WebMD. “For people drinking a lot of soda, they are probably not going to switch and drink just water.” She suggests a gradual weaning from the sugary drinks. “You can use fruit juice and mix with seltzer or carbonated water. Work it down so you have just a little flavoring in the water.”

And when you have to have a sugar-sweetened beverage? “Get the smallest size available,” Dunbar says.

Keyword tags: Sugar-sweetened beverage, sugary drink, sugary drinks, sugar-sweetened soft drinks, Drinking sugar-sweetened beverages

Four Ways to

Shed Belly Fat

Based on article by Deborah Kotz  http://health.usnews.com

Studies on Belly Fat and Waist Size

(Healingtalks) A study published  in the journal Circulation: Heart Failure indicates that having a large waist siZe ups your risk of heart failure, a condition that’s often fatal. A second study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that exercise doesn’t harm those with heart failure and could actually provide some benefits.

The analysis of the belly fat research, based on data from two Swedish population studies, showed that being overweight or obese increased the risk of heart failure in men but didn’t in women—unless they had a large waist size.

A woman with a normal body mass index of 25 whose waist size increased by 4 inches over the years wound up with a 15 percent greater risk of heart failure than those whose waist sizes remained the same. (A 5-foot, 4-inch woman who weighs 146 pounds has a BMI of 25.) Medical experts recommend that women maintain a waist size of less than 35 inches to reduce their risk of chronic diseases. How to measure your waist size.

Where you carry your fat is largely determined by your genes.  But there are certain things you can do to help redistribute fat away from your belly. Remember excess belly fat is so dangerous

Here are the four ways to keep a fit belly:

1. Exercise to shed that belly fat

You can’t exercise to spot reduce, but it will help you shed excess pounds — and often, the fat your body sheds first comes from your belly. Abdominal crunches can help tone muscles to make your stomach look flatter, but to truly get rid of fat, you have to burn off abdominal fat through aerobic activity.

2. Be a mindful eater

Researchers are currently investigating whether really paying attention to what you eat can help redistribute body fat from your waist to your hips. Plenty of studies, though, have shown that mindful eating can help with weight loss efforts in general. We recommend.moving in the direction of eating mostly fruits and vegetables, thus a vegetarian/vegan diet with mostly whole, raw, living foods.

3. Get adequate amounts of sleep

Too little sleep (less than six hours) or too much (more than eight hours) results in an excess production of the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol promotes the storage of fat in the belly.

4. Reduce stress

Penciling in 15 minutes a day for relaxation can also lower your cortisol levels, helping you shed belly fat. Deep breathing, a stroll outdoors under the blossoming trees, or a bubble bath can help you leave the world behind.

____________________________________

The following is based on comment on weight loss from Dr. Mercola’s Website

Number One Way to Lose Body Fat – Exercise

If you’re looking for that six-pack physique, you need to expose the abdominal muscles underneath the fat. But can you really lose fat in just one specific area – the abdominals? It’s unlikely, although some strategies may be able to do so a little.

• Exercise is your number one ally in shedding unwanted body fat.
• It helps normalizing your insulin levels.
• It  also helps you sleep better – another important factor not only for optimal overall health but also, as it turns out, for avoiding packing pounds around your midsection.
• I alleviates stress, so that you have less of the hormone cortisol that is connected to producing stomach fat.

Best Exercises For Weightloss

When you’re exercising to achieve weight loss, you’ll want to focus on weight bearing exercises, as muscle burns calories quite efficiently. It has been my experience that non-weight bearing exercises, like swimming and bicycling, are not as efficient or effective for weight loss. You will typically need to exercise four times as long in these activities to receive the same benefit of running, using elliptical machine, or using weights.

Additionally, to really maximize your weight loss efforts, make sure you include high-intensity interval exercises and strength training in your program.

One recent study showed that interval training can significantly enhance your body’s ability to burn fat. In this study, eight women in their early 20s were told to cycle for 10 sets of four minutes of hard riding, followed by two minutes of rest. After two weeks, the amount of fat burned in an hour of continuous moderate cycling increased by 36 percent!

An added boon of interval exercises is that it can radically decrease the amount of time you need to spend exercising.

As far as individual exercises to target your tummy are concerned, sit-ups and abdominal exercises that are associated with breath control mechanisms, such as yoga exercises, can help tighten your abdominal muscles.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that there is no single abdominal exercise that challenges all your abdominal muscles. So you need to perform a variety of exercises that involve the full range of muscles.

Another factor that is often overlooked is your back muscles. Your back helps you hold yourself up and your stomach in, from behind. So having strong back muscles, as well as abs, is essential for a flatter stomach.

Exercise and Diet Go Hand in Hand

The other, equally important, factor in helping you shed excess weight is to consume the most appropriate foods for your specific genetic and biochemistry. Remember, the foods that may be healthy for others are not necessarily healthy for you, and vice-versa. Determining your specific nutritional type is the proven way to ascertain which foods work best for you.

It’s also important to realize that controlling your insulin levels is as important to optimizing your weight as it is to protecting you against diseases like diabetes.

Why?

Because when your insulin levels increase, you are telling your body to store carbohydrates as fat and to not release any of the stored fat. This makes it impossible for you to use your own stored body fat for energy.

So excess refined and processed carbohydrates in your diet (such as breads and pasta) not only make you gain weight, they make sure you keep that weight on. By cutting grains and sugars from your diet, you can significantly improve your chances of successful weight loss.

As far as nutrition to target belly fat specifically, certain dietary fats have actually been found to be helpful in reducing the accumulation of subcutaneous and visceral abdominal fat.

A study published in the journal Diabetes Care in July 2007 found that diets rich in monounsaturated fats prevented the accumulation of both types of belly fat, without additional exercise.

Foods high in monounsaturated fats include:

• Nuts, especially pecans
• Seeds
• Avocados

Dangerous Weightloss Options

Unfortunately, many people simply opt for what appears to be the easiest solution, and when it comes to excess weight around your middle, surgical options like liposuction or treatments such as Lipodissolve are popular alternatives.

However, you need to be aware that there are many risks involved in procedures like these, and they may not give you permanent results.

During a Lipodissolve treatment, a chemical found in lecithin (phosphatidylcholine deoxycholate) is injected into fatty areas such as “love handles” and “bra rolls,” where it dissolves fat cells. But the injectable compound is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and no long-term studies have been conducted on Lipodissolve’s safety.

Among the chief questions about the procedure is where the fat cells go once they are dissolved. Lipodissolve practitioners say the cells are excreted by your body naturally, but no one really knows for sure. According to the FDA, Lipodissolve is a “buyer-beware situation.”

And when it comes to liposuction, a survey of plastic surgeons found that more people die during liposuction than during most other kinds of operations: 19 deaths per 100,000 procedures. Meanwhile the generally accepted death rate for any kind of elective surgery is 1 in 100,000. The most common reported cause of death was pulmonary thromboembolism, or blood clots.

There simply are no better alternatives to a healthy lifestyle if you want a strong and shapely body.

Can You Wake Up to a Flatter Belly?

So, what does proper sleep have to do with a flatter stomach? Researchers have found that all body fat is not created equal, and that holds especially true for belly fat. Abdominal fat has a very rich blood supply and has four times more cortisol receptors than other body fat.

Cortisol is a stress hormone, produced by your adrenal glands in response to stress, but sleeping too little (less than six hours) or too much (more than eight hours) also results in an excess production of cortisol.

The cortisol belly fat connection comes into play when you are under chronic stress, as cortisol tends to store unused fat that has been released by your body in the stress response. Since your belly fat contains large amounts of cortisol receptors, you may tend to gain fat in the abdominal region when you’re chronically stressed or have trouble sleeping properly.

For helpful tips to help you sleep well, please review my 33 secrets to a good night’s sleep. And, to help combat stress — and address any underlying emotional issues that may cause you to lose precious sleep — I highly recommend the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). It’s a simple psychological acupressure technique that is routinely used in my practice that can help you optimize your emotional health.

Keyword tags: living foods, studies of belly fat and waist size, shed belly fat, lose weight, shed pounds, exercise and eat for weight loss, how to lose weight and fat, interval training

Benefits of

L-Argenine

What’s best? Soy milk,

cow’s milk, raw milk or

fermented milk (kefir)?

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

One of the most common questions I’m asked concerns my recommendations for milk or milk alternatives. My answer on this question has evolved over the years, so today, I’ll share my latest preferences for milk and milk-like beverages.

Thumbs down: Soy milk

A few years ago, I recommended soy milk as a natural alternative to cow’s milk. But since then, far better alternatives have emerged (see below). Also, more information has appeared regarding the environmental impact of soybean farming (the Amazon rainforest is being devastated by clear cutting to create soybean agricultural lands) as well as the frightening fact that most soybeans grown today are genetically modified (GMO) varieties.

On top of this, most popular soy milk brands (I won’t name names, but these are likely the ones in your grocery store) have been bought out by big, profit-seeking food and beverage corporations, and as a result, they’ve been sugared up and made nutritionally inferior. Check the ingredients on “plain” soy milk the next time you’re at the store: It’s loaded with sugar!

Without question, most soy milk has become too mainstream, too sugary and too much controlled by the same food and beverage giants that are still manufacturing and marketing other products that promote degenerative disease. Because of these reasons, I no longer recommend soy milk (unless you make it yourself or get it from a small, truly natural company).

Thumbs down: Processed cow’s milk

I’m also not thrilled about processed milk from cows. By “processed,” I mean homogenized and pasteurized. The pasteurization kills all the beneficial microorganisms, and homogenization artificially modifies dairy fats in a way that ultimately harms the human cardiovascular system when consumed. Processed “mainstream” milk is also taken from dairy cows pumped up with antibiotics, rBGH (Bovine Growth Hormone) and usually treated very poorly in terms of ethics. Even the popular brands showing happy cows and claiming to be organic are under intense fire by the Organic Consumers Association (www.OrganicConsumers.org) for exploiting certain loopholes that allow non-organic cows to be suddenly considered “organic” on the day they’re giving milk.

Processed cow’s milk is bad for your health and bad for the cows who give it. It’s great for corporate profits, however, and that’s why milk continues to be so heavily marketed as a nutritional beverage. They’ve even managed to so strongly influence the USDA that the latest dietary recommendations by this government agency essentially recommend that everyone should drink more milk. And it’s no surprise that infant formula manufacturers have, for decades, tried to convince nutritionally ignorant mothers that cow’s milk is better for their baby than human breast milk. (An odd idea, isn’t it?)

Thumbs up: Raw milk

Over the last two years, I’ve become a proponent of raw milk (especially raw fermented milk, see below). Raw goat’s milk is my personal recommendation, but even raw cow’s milk has merit. What’s so good about raw milk? Because it’s not homogenized or pasteurized, it’s nutritionally superior to dead, cooked milk. Raw milk seems to be far easier to digest, and it contains living bacteria cultures that enhance digestion and even soothe the digestive tract.

It’s no surprise, then, that raw milk is under attack by both federal regulators and some members of the processed milk industry. They don’t want people to find a “superior” milk that isn’t as profitable to sell (because it has reduced shelf life), so they’re trying to destroy the raw milk market and limit consumer choice to processed, dead milk. (The same is true in the almond industry, where the Almond Board of California is now trying to irradiate all almonds grown in the state, yet have them labeled as “raw” even when they’re dead.)

This attack on raw milk is dressed up to look like a public safety concern. Raw milk is dangerous, regulators claim, because the live cultures might get contaminated with unfriendly bacteria and harm someone. The preferred alternative, it seems, is to kill all the food so that it harms everyone equally.

In terms of choosing raw milk, the typical choices are raw cow’s milk and raw goat’s milk. Raw goat’s milk is more compatible with human nutritional needs (and is especially beneficial to infants when mother’s milk isn’t available), but it has a stronger taste that not everyone enjoys. I encourage you to try both raw goat’s milk and raw cow’s milk, then decide what you like best. The proteins in the goat’s milk are, no doubt, easier for humans to digest.

Thumbs way up: Fermented raw milk

The best dairy beverage for your health is, in my opinion, fermented raw milk. If you take raw milk and inoculate it with bacterial cultures, then let it sit for a day or two, you end up with a living, predigested, nutritionally superior beverage that’s so packed with life it’s actually fizzy (carbonated due to the off-gassing of bacteria) when you make it yourself at home.

One form of this fermented milk is called Kefir. It’s an incredible beverage when you make it yourself. The store-bought kefir just isn’t the same because it’s usually dead, flat and pasteurized. But home-made kefir is something else entirely! It’s alive, energetic and completely natural.

I was recently treated to some kefir made from raw goat’s milk by a raw foods chef in Tucson — a man I hope to feature on NaturalNews videos later this year. He makes kefir in jars on his kitchen countertop, using a kefir culture that’s been passed down from one raw foodist to another for years… maybe even decades. It contained no sweeteners or additives of any kind; just raw goat’s milk cultured with bacteria. After drinking it, I noticed an immediate energetic difference, and in the days that followed, I was amazed at the therapeutic effect on my digestive and elimination processes. Since then, I’ve really upped my intake of fermented foods in general.

Store-bought kefir is tricky. Definitely avoid non-organic kefir of any kind, and I strongly recommend that even when you buy organic kefir, avoid products made with added sugars. This is a fermented beverage, not ice cream. Don’t think it’s supposed to taste like a milkshake. It’s a slightly bitter beverage when you drink it plain, but that’s what kefir is supposed to be.

Thumbs way up: Raw almond milk

Another current favorite at my house is raw almond milk. It’s made from raw, soaked almonds, water, vanilla and a pinch of sea salt. I’ve posted a video on how to make this yourself using a Vita-Mix. (Click here to see the video.)

Raw almond milk is both delicious and nutritious. While it doesn’t have the protein content of animal milk, it’s rich in plant-based fats and various anti-cancer phytonutrients. Once you make a batch, you’ll need to drink it within a day or two, since it tends to sour very quickly (it’s alive, raw and nutritious, obviously), but I’ve found that you can preserve it in the refrigerator for several days longer by adding a couple of drops of food-grade hydrogen peroxide.

Many raw food proponents are now drinking a combination of raw almond milk and raw goat’s milk kefir. That’s a combination I’m enjoying, too. It’s good to have a balance of both plant and animal-based milks, but only if they’re from ethically treated, naturally raised animals who are not exposed to antibiotics, toxic chemicals or conventional veterinary care (which is all based on chemicals, just like human health care).

Mike’s Milk Matrix

Okay, here’s the low down on milk products and milk alternatives as I see it:

Soy milk: Not recommended. Too many GMO soybeans, bad environmental impact and some possible undesirable estrogen effects. The isoflavones are good for preventing cancer, however.

Processed cow’s milk: It’s just gross. Homogenized, pasteurized, milked from unhealthy cows and containing alarmingly high levels of pus, this liquid is nothing less than frightening. Flee it.

Raw cow’s milk (organic): This is an acceptable dairy beverage. If it’s from healthy cows treated with kindness and good nutrition, this raw beverage is far better than processed cow’s milk.

Row goat’s milk (organic): Even better than raw cow’s milk, since the goat’s milk is easier to digest and more compatible with human nutritional needs.

Fermented milk from cows or goats (organic Kefir): A great choice! It’s alive, nutritious and great for digestive health. Make it yourself for best results. If you buy it, avoid the sugared-up kefir products in the store.

Raw almond milk: A top choice for vegans, one of my favorite beverages. Make it yourself with raw almonds, water a nut milk bag and a blender. Click here to see my almond milk recipe video.

Enjoy!

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Raw Buckwheat Pizza

…….Last weekend the theme at our local farmers’ market in Oneonta New York  was food-for-health. Some might not have noticed with all those belly-dancers there. But those who came to our table had a memorable event.

For  my friend Dana asked me to do a display of raw, living, local organic foods. Thus I brought my assortment of sprouts, micro-greens and something special - raw buckwheat pizza. The farmer’s market and the local Green Earth Health Food Store donated ingredients. The pizza was a big hit.

However, this was a new recipe for me and thus all the more fun to prepare at 2am the night before. Thank God I had help so that I could get to sleep at 4am. And all the effort was worth it!

In the past I had been used to making the pizza crust with either sprouted wheat berries or rye. Buckwheat is actually easier to sprout and is not a grain technically. It just tastes like a grain, is highly nutritious and is a relative of the rhubarb seed…and so this avoids confronting gluten or grain allergies.

The recipe is fairly simple though there are several steps to it and it takes time, but its worth it!

Preparing a Sprouted Buckwheat Pizza Crust

VEGETABLE IN SPICES – First we take on bunch of celery hearts, a cup of tomatoes, half an onion and some spices (a little basil, parsley, 2 cloves of garlic and a sweetener). For the latter and to keep things local, I used garlic, stevia, parsley and basil from our organic garden. All of these are put into a food processor.

SPROUTED BUCKWHEAT GROATS - Then we slowly add 5 1/2 cups of sprouted buckwheat. To make sprouted buckwheat soak the hulled groats for 8-10 hours. You can soak them in a bowl in the am and take them out to sprout in the pm, or visa versa. Then let them sprout for at least a day or two until the buckwheat develops its tails. It is then most alive and nutritious. We also make buckwheat groats that are chewing for breakfast by putting them in a dehydrator for a day and then adding some fruit and nut milk. We did that with the excess buckwheat that was left over after sorting out 5 1/2 cups for the pizza.

FLAXSEED MEAL - Lastly slowly add two cups of flaxseed meal which you can make in a coffee grinder. This gives the pizza crust its firmness.

If the consistency of this whole mix in the food processor is too wet then add more flaxseed. I have even added some whole, unground or whole flaxseed to give the crust more texture as well as nutrition.

PUTTING IT ALL IN THE DEHYDRATOR – We use a 14 inch square dehydrator instead of an oven to bake the pizza crust. This allows us to bake it no more than at 105 degrees which preserves the aliveness and super high nutrition of the ingredients. You can use olive-oiled hands or plastic gloves to put down the batter and so it does not stick to your hands but to the dehydrator trays instead. It takes 5-6 hours minimum time at 105 degrees for the crust to start hardening in the dehydrator.

Preparing the Nut Cheez

You can make a “nut Parmesan cheez” using a half pound each of ground brazil  nuts and walnuts. add 4 cloves of crushed garlic and some salt and italian seasoning. Paprika or cayenne pepper is optional to give it color and a hot flavor. You can also make a more soupy white nut  cheez by mixing 2 cups of cashew or macademia nuts with a little onion, lemon juice and salt. Blend it all together and put it into a plastic bag. Then cut the corner with a small opening so you can squeeze out the nut cheeze to form any pattern you like on the pizza

Raw Pizza Tomato Sauce

A great tomato sauce will end up being sweat. So here is how it is done. Slice up 3 cups of roma tomatoes. Add  1 1/2 cups of raisins or your favorite dried fruit (substitute stevia if you are sensitive to the sugar content). The spice it further up with the juice of a whole lemon, a pinch of Himalayan salt, some Italian seasoning, including basil and a clove of garlic – and voila you have a dynamite sauce.

Toppings

Last we prepare the toppings and here you can let your creativity go wild. We used sliced tomatoes, some garden parsley, a couple of mushrooms, sliced zucchini and peppers from a local farm, and garnished the whole pizza with edible flowers from our own garden.

Another idea I like is to do an eggplant or essentially olive and mushroom toppings. Remember to let your creativity go wild, including with the use of wild, local herbs.

Putting It All Together

Here are the steps I recommend

1. Put on your tomato sauce.
2. Add some thin slices of tomatoes.
3. Next put on your additional toppings
4. Then add the one or two kinds of nut cheezes
5. Lastly add your garnishing to the plate

There you have it.

I promise you that you won’t believe the yummy, delicious taste…with the bonus of super-nutrition

Nathan Batalion CT

For another take on raw buckwheat pizza see:

In general the issue of eating fruit or not in one’s daily diet, and especially when on a largely vegan diet, is a matter of great contention. Some swear by it and others at it.

During the summer we have locally the Woodsock Fruit Festival where about 300 or more adherents to a fruit-filled diet converge and support each other. Many of them are athletic, some accomplished and to prove their point that this is a healthy diet.  On the other hand Hippocrates Health Institute which has monitored the health of over 300,000 visitors on various diets found that they had a remarkable improvement in the health of those visitors when they largely removed fruits (except for small indulgences, generally low in sugar content, and only twice per week.) Dried fruit are verboten. Dried fruits are not allowed because of the concentration of fruit sugars.

So who is telling the truth?

Well the truth is that the fruit-filled diet works for some who do not have their compromised immune systems or messed up their internal flora (often due to having taking mass-spectrum antibiotics) and not for others. This is why we recommend  doing the flora-healing programs, such as the McConbs plan, before and during any shift to a high-nutrition, living foods diet. Otherwise that “good diet” will also feed the bad bacteria, fungus and mold, and therefore will not have the same result.

Fruit Friend or Foe is also the title of an insightful article by Dr. Stanley Bass.

See  http://drbass.com/aboutfruit.html

At the end of the article he discussed his tests on mice, trying out nearly a 100 different diets, and where the fruitarian diet especially led to premature death and carnage. His experiments are outlined here. http://drbass.com/mice.html Here he confirms the intuition of Dr. Ritamarie that fruits work best, in minimal quantities and when combined with greens.

Eater beware.

With that intro, here is the story told from another angle and by Dr. Ritamarie.http://www.drritamarie.com/newsletter/07/2011/is-fruit-your-friend-or-foe/

Nathan Batalion CTN

___________________________________________________________________

Fruit as Friend, Fruit as Foe: Simple Strategies
to Find Out if You Should Fill or Forget
the Fruit Bowl

Have you noticed that A LOT of health writers place fruit on their “hit list” of foods to avoid?  Some even put it right up there as just a notch above high fructose corn syrup!

So what’s wrong with fruit?  Actually, there is a book by that name, and, not surprisingly, I own it.  I bought it back in the dinosaur days when you actually had to physically own a book in order to read it!

It was at a time when I was exploring macrobiotics, and raw fruit was only supposed to be about 5% of calories on any given day.  If you are small and relatively inactive like most people and sustain yourself on a 1500 calorie a day regime, that amounts to less than one piece of fruit.

Fruit: To Fear or to Cheer?

In general, when online authors suggest you should limit or eliminate fruit they tell you that fruit:

• triggers outbreaks of candida yeast (Donna Gates)
• triggers blood sugar swings and cravings (South Beach Diet)
• increases risk of diabetes (Joseph Mercola)
• promotes an acid residue that can feed cancer (Robert O. Young)
• promotes “composting” that can result in overgrowth of unfriendly microorganisms (Gabriel Cousins)

Personally, what I’ve observed is all over the map.

I’ve seen diabetics on my green cleanse program normalize their blood sugars within 3 days while drinking nothing but green smoothies that contain between 40 and 50% fruit by volume.  That adds up to a lot of fruit over the course of the day.

On the other hand, I’ve seen other diabetics spike their sugars by adding a few strawberries to a green drink.

I’ve read accounts of women who’ve healed from chronic yeast overgrowth while eating a diet consisting of primarily fresh fruit.  I’ve also personally coached patients who are so sugar sensitive they have yeast flare-ups after a few bites of apple.

So what’s the truth?  Is fruit a friend or foe?

Over two decades of guiding people through life changing diet and lifestyle changes has taught me one thing for certain… and that is that there is no single set of eating rules that work for all of the people all of the time.

We are each biochemically and energetically unique.   We are shaped by our genes, early exposures, the way we were nurtured, how safe we felt in our early years, our diets, movement and sleep patterns, and even our thoughts.  Your response to the world is slightly different from mine. This is true of how we behave in response to outside stimuli as well as how we respond to food. It is said that one man’s food is another man’s poison.

I’ve found over the years that, for many people, one of the best ways to determine which foods are helpful and which are hurtful is to test.  And one of the best ways to test is to remove all the potentially problematic foods and add them back in one at a time.

This is called elimination/provocation.

For many people, the best way to do the elimination phase is by fasting on either water or vegetable juice for a prescribed length of time and then reintroduce foods such as fruits.

Solutions for Finding Out if You Are Fruit Sensitive

If you’ve been wondering if you’re sensitive to fruit sugar, here are some questions to ask yourself to determine if fruit is a friend, foe, or in between:

• Do find yourself feeling spacey or light headed after eating fruit by itself?
• Do you crave sugar after eating fruit?
• Does eating lots of fruit cause intestinal upset?
• Do you break out in a rash when you eat lots of fruit?

Carefully observe how you respond to eating fruit and experiment with using low-sugar fruits versus high-sugar fruits.  Also try combining fruit with greens and eliminating fruit for a few weeks.

If this is a course of action you’re willing to try, here’s what I suggest:

Follow 10 days of eating no fruit at all, except for lemons.  The ideal way to do this is by fasting or juicing.

After your 10 days of elimination, eat a meal containing 3-5 pieces of fresh ripe fruit all by itself.  Monitor how you feel over the next few hours. Next, eat a meal containing the same amount of fruit but this time eat it on a bed of greens or blended with greens into a smoothies. Try this with a few different types of fruit, in particular with berries.  Add cinnamon to your fruit and see if that changes things.  You may have blood sugar imbalances that can be corrected by a 30-day insulin receptor reset.

Over the years, I’ve developed my own special relationship with fruit.  I rarely eat a lot of it by itself.  Personally, I feel best when I eat fruit rwith greens. The first step is to start on the elimination path.  If you need support, take part in a group juice cleanse with other people. You can join me with Tera Warner of The Raw Divas for a 10-Day Juice Cleanse starting on August 1st.  You’ll also find extra educational support here in our upcoming radio show on “How Juicing Affects Your Blood Sugar”.

Fruit does not have to be your foe forever.  If you know you have fruit issues and you want to heal your sensitivities, address problems with abdominal fat, and improve your overall energy, you’ll find your best strategies for health and support using the Insulin Sensitivity Restoration System which you’ll find here – a 30 day program for restoring insulin receptor sensitivity.  I call it my IRS restoration system, short for Insulin Receptor Sensitivity Restoration System.

Insulin Receptor Sensitivity Restoration System

1. Remove all foods that trigger blood sugar spikes: sugar, all grains, potatoes, fruit juice, dried fruit and high glycemic fruits like bananas and grapes.  I recommend my patients purchase a glucose meter and test the fruits to determine which ones they need to eliminate.  I also recommend that whenever fruit is consumed it’s taken with green leafy vegetables like lettuce, spinach and sprouts.  Smoothies are the best way to eat fruit.
2. Supplement with the nutrients needed to restore regulation.  In general these may be chromium, magnesium, glutamine, zinc and the B vitamins.  It can vary from person to person.
3. Supplement with DHA, an omega 3 fat that’s vital for insulin sensitivity.  This can be in a plant form, from algae or from fish.Insulin resistance and blood sugar level imbalance are not minor inconveniences that can be ignored.  The long term consequences are serious and life threatening.

Retrain your tongue and get your blood sugar and insulin under control so you can live a long and happy life with a flat belly, clear head and a renewal enjoyment of your life

Fluoride Damages Brain

“The prolonged ingestion of fluoride may cause significant damage to health and particularly to the nervous system,” concludes a review of studies by researchers Valdez-Jimenez, et al. published in Neurologia (June 2011), reports New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc. (NYSCOF).

The research team reports, “It is important to be aware of this serious problem and avoid the use of toothpaste and items that contain fluoride, particularly in children as they are more susceptible to the toxic effects of fluoride.” (1)

“Fluoride can be toxic by ingesting one part per million (ppm), and the effects are not immediate, as they can take 20 years or more to become evident,” they write.

Most fluoridating U.S. public drinking water suppliers add fluoride chemicals to deliver 1 ppm fluoride (equal to about 1 milligram per quart) intending to benefit teeth and not to purify the water.

“Fluoridation clearly jeopardizes our children and must be stopped,” says attorney Paul Beeber, President, NYSCOF.  ”We can actually see how fluoride has damaged children’s teeth with dental fluorosis; but we can’t see the harm it’s doing to their brains and other organs. No U.S. researcher is even looking,” says Beeber.

Valdez-Jimenez, et al. describe studies that show fluoride induces changes in the brain’s physical structure and biochemistry which affects the neurological  and mental development of individuals including cognitive processes, such as learning and memory.

“Fluoride is capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier, which may cause biochemical and functional changes in the nervous system during pregnancy, since the fluoride accumulates in brain tissue before birth,” they write.*

Animal studies show fluoride’s toxic brain effects include classic brain abnormalities found in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, Valdez-Jimenez’s team reports.

A different research team (Tang et al.) reported in 2008 that “A qualitative review of the studies found a consistent and strong association between the exposure to fluoride and low IQ.” (Biological Trace Element Research)  (2)

In 2006, the U.S. National Research Council’s (NRC) expert fluoride panel reviewed fluoride toxicology and concluded, “It’s apparent that fluorides have the ability to interfere with the functions of the brain.” And, “Fluorides also increase the production of free radicals in the brain through several different biological pathways. These changes have a bearing on the possibility that fluorides act to increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.” (3)

On April 12, 2010, Time magazine listed fluoride as one of the “Top Ten Common Household Toxins” and described fluoride as both “neurotoxic and potentially tumorigenic if swallowed.” (4)

Phyllis Mullenix, Ph.D., was the first U.S. scientist to find evidence that fluoride damages the brain. She published her animal study in a respected peer-reviewed scientific journal in 1995 (5) and then was fired for doing so.(6)

Vyvyan Howard, M.D., Ph.D., a prominent fetal toxicologist and past-President of the International Society of Doctors for the Environment, said that current brain/fluoride research convinces him that we should stop water fluoridation.

Many communities have stopped or rejected fluoridation in the past several years  – the most recent is Fairbanks, Alaska.  This year, seven New York City Council Members co-sponsored legislation to stop fluoridation in NYC

References:  https://groups.google.com/d/topic/fluoridation-news-releases/rD7pCONMcLw/discussion

Contact:  Paul Beeber, JD, 516-433-8882 nyscof@aol.com
http://www.FluorideAction.Net
http://www.fluoridation.webs.com

Do you have a condition that no amount of improved diet, exercise, fasting, or meditation seems to get rid of?

Try your own homeopathic remedy that’s geared to exactly your body’s condition.

For example, if you have athletes feet, soak your feet in water to make a remedy unlike any (and far more powerful) than what you could possibly get in a store or pharmacy-made.

This article comes from http://oaks.nvg.org.

It is a great resource for spiritual and healing knowledge. I have interacted with patient’s whose lives have been rescued from disabling ills using just homeopathic testing and treatment.

Nathan Batalion CTN

How to Make Your Own Homeopathic Remedies

Are home-made homepathic preparations cheap?

Yes, they may cost next to nothing, and work just as well as those you buy at pharmacies, according to Dr Karin Lenger’s research findings.

Are homeopathic remedies plain humbug?

No. Recent research has detected formerly unproved sides to them. There is room for trust in home-made homoepathic remedies, which is furnished by magnetic resonance research (Dr Karin Lenger). Besides, there is research that confirms that homeopathy works for various ailments too. “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.”

How do homeopathic remedies work?

That would depend on so many things, including choice of remedies. Anyway, you are free to try and make homeopathic remedies and see for yourself – make them at home and see for yourself, or buy some and take off from those globules and pellets. The “shake them up yourself” method is as old as homeopathy itself, and stems from its founder, Samuel Hahnemann. It is still in use. Hand-shaken homeopathic remedies are advertised for sale in some countries, such as the UK. On this page I show how to make your own remedies fast and quite costless.

Cheap home homeopathic remedies as good as machine-produced ones

In some countries, such as the United States, there are tens of millions that have problems with the sky-high prices of pharmacy-produced remedies, health insurances and the like. In many countries homeopathic remedies cost much too. But that can easily be remedied by “home shakers”. Read on to see how to make homoepathic remedies at minimum costs.

A few years ago a medical student in Moscow wrote me. She was concerned about the homeopathic treatment and the difficulties in getting remedies in Russia. A week ago an immigrant in this country told me how expensive homeopathic remedies are in Norway, where they cost over ten pounds per glass. For a round or cure, at least three such very small glasses or bottles are needed, according to a much used schedule. Hence, there are good reasons to learn about home-made homeopathic preparations – availability and low costs are among them.

I will show you (1) how to produce your own home-made remedies at very little cost; and (2) how to make use of the homeopathic remedy you bought so that it can last very long with very little cost. These things are easy, but not fool-proof.

Samuel Hahnemann and many, many others “diluted and shook” their bottles of ingredients to get homeopathic remedies according to schedules. You are free to do the same, whether you live in Russia or Poland or Jamaica. And such knowledge can become a part of your family tradition, a little thing of fun and delight to because of close contact with nature too. (I found it helps a bit against commercialised alienation too).

Combined homeopathic remedy – my favorite remedy against colds etc.

In the case of a beginning common cold or flu, see the remedy mixtures in a Remedy Finder if you want inspiration. I have gathered some remedies I use myself in that entry. I have, further, designed a blend that is based on these ingredients. It is designed for common cold, head cold, and influenza, all combined:

Dahlia ‘Inca’ — Eupatorium purpureum B — Hamamelis virginiana B — Mercurius corrosivus (Influenzas) — Micrococcin — Natrum hypophosphoricum — Saxifraga tridactylites — Stachys byzantina (= S. olympica) — Viburnum obovatum fruit: Cassioberry.

You may be able to buy at least some of the remedies at a well-equipped pharmacy. If they don’t have it on their shelves, they should try to get it by ordering it from a producer. Tip: A tiny glass of Natrum hypophosphoricum D30 could last you for tens of years. If you should want to try any of the remedies I have blended (above), stay away from toxic doses. Potencies above D6 potency are thought to be safe, but Micrococcin up to the D30 “potency” is not, and it is the same with other so-called nosode remedies. However, if you start using MGA equipment, as I did a long time ago, there are no such restrictions, no dangers of toxic poisoning at all.

Homeopathic Resources

There are many remedies to “shake up” and try out against a beginning cold apart from pepper, salt, lemon and onion. Find ingredients that can make your tears flow, can make you sneeze, and so on, quite as a beginning cold [or hay fever], and shake them well.

A rule of the thumb for the home-shaker: Homeopathic remedies that have some key symptoms of a common cold, may be tried, if non-toxic. I have tried 2 drops garlic, 2 drops onion, a few drops lemon juice, a few grains of table salt (Natrum chloricum, potassium) with or without iodine added; and some grains of black pepper. Salt, pepper, lemon, and onion – and use garlic if you wish. Further, in books on homeopathic remedies, Materia Medicas, you could read about these ingredients converted into homeopathic remedies, the symptoms that are classified under each. A Materia Medica (survey of homeopathic remedies and what symptoms they are typically used for or against) may tell more of each ingredient. I have often used William Boerickes’ Materia Medica. It is claimed to be very helpful among homeopaths.

Let us say you have found your non-poisonous ingredients. It is not unlike cooking and baking, where you gather your ingredients and tools you need to do your work. In fact, several of the much used Bach’s Remedies are made by cooking and adding a preservative. There is an estimate that the “potency” you get in this way, is about c8 or so. (It depends on the weather!) So maybe onion soup or broth with salt and pepper could help you a bit too. It is yummy anyway.

Here is the homeopathic way to produce the preparations: a little bottle with a cap, and some boiled, (destilled, rinsed) cold water. The water may be up to 25 centigrades, but preferably lower. The bottle may be anything from ten or twenty ml (milliliter) and a liter. I suggest fifty ml is quite enough, for you are going to dash it against your thigh or hip or on a book repeatedly. To save yourself from toil and bruises while you prepare the homeopathic remedy, a little bottle is best, accordingly. And remember the method is as old as homeopathy itself and still used. See for example: ▾UK handmade remedies for sale and ▾US handmade remedies for sale. Even though the American producer boasts of superior products made by hand, Karin Lenger (above) has detected it does not matter whether a machine or a human has shaken and dilited up the remedy; the results are similar. Hence you may learn how to “shake up” your own remedies without great fear of screwing up things a lot – not a bit.

But the main point here is that you can make some remedies yourself, easily and at very low costs. To take off from remedies you buy, is even easier, and the costs are negligible.

Homeopathic remedy ingredients – what you need

1. Twenty grains of ground, black pepper. They don’t have to be freshly ground.
2. A few (5) grains of table salt.
3. 2 drops of fresh onion juice pressed out of an onion.
4. 3 drops of lemon juice, preferably freshly pressed.
5. A few ground or torn “flakes” of freshly pressed garlic. Press 2-3 drops of juice out of it too.
6. 1/2 or 1 litre of boiled water (distilled water may be bought at pharmacies in some countries, if you want that, and bottled, rinsed water is commonly sold in groceries too)
7. One or two 30 ml bottles for the water will do all right, or something else, provided it is clean and the surface does not contaminate the water..
8. A pair of latex gloves (rubber kitchen gloves) for shaking the bottle – but the gloves can be dispensed with for home use.

Then it is time to prepare the remedy of your choice.

How to: The procedure doe making a homoepathic remedy is spelled out

Here is how to work on the ingredients, all of which are homeopathic remedies found in books of homeopathy: If you have only four of the five ingredients in your home, it may work well enough. But don’t drop the salt. Pepper is to be there too. But “the more the merrier” up to a point. Set the limit at six ingredients, for example.

Mix your 3-4 ingredients in a bottle (50 ml is good). That is, about 7 drops or so in all, and a few grains of “this and that” from the list, starting from the top of the list and downwards, ordinarily. Add water: Fill half of the bottle with water and shake well. A small bottle (30 ml) will make the boiled water last longer, so that you can make more and higher potencies, if that seems to be fit.

Very much depends on how the bottle is shaken, according to homeopathy. The doctors Andrew Lockie and Nicola Geddes describe it in detail in their book [Cgh 20-21]. I’ll describe the process I have advocated for people of many countries here:

1ST POTENCY IS MADE: You have mixed the ingredients and added water. Now shake the bottle violently for some time. I recommend a force equal to that of 3 kilograms falling 40 centimetres onto a firm book. That is, you dash the bottle, which you hold in your rubber-gloved hand, to something firm, and do it 30 times.

2ND POTENCY IS MADE: When you have shaken the bottle thirty times with enough force and speed (as specified), empty all of what is in it, but just a few drops. Leave three drops in the bottle, fill up with boiled water again, till the bottle is half full (or half empty). Three drops will do and is plenty. Now, shake again in the same way. When you have done it thirty times, you have come up with the second home potency, your H2 potency (H for “home” or “hand-shaken”, just as you please)

3RD POTENCY: Let three drops remain in the bottle. Add water till half full, and shake 30 times again.

4TH POTENCY: When you pour out what’s in the third potency bottle but for three drops, and shake the bottle once again as prescribed, you get the forth potency. This combined process of shaking and diluting is called succussion in homeopathy.

5TH POTENCY CAN BE USED AS A “MOTHER BLEND” TO GET MANY FUTURE BOTTLES FROM: I suggest you make a fifth potency too: Empty the 4th potency fluid from the bottle, but for three drops, fill up with water till half full and shake the dilution thirty times as before, just as prescribed. This gives you the fifth potency, which is perfect as a “mother homeopathic blend” to keep for a long time, after you have tried out your home-made remedies or put faith in “homeopathy cook-books”, like Boericke’s Materia Medica.

PUT “ASIDE”: Your fifth potency bottle is half full. If you want a set of potencies, like pharmacies have and homeopaths use, you may want to pour three drops from your 5th potency bottle into another small bottle (30 ml is enough still), fill the bottle half full with boiled water and shake as before: thirty times with enough force and speed – and then you have a sixth potency to go on with if you please.

The sixth potency does not contain significant amounts of the substances you started with at first, but the homeopaths claim the world over that it does not matter, and that here is a good potency to administer in something acute. Add “maybe” to it yourself.

You can preserve a fifth potency fluid – add some convenient preservative and keep it out of sunlight and heat. From this bottle you can from time to time pour 5-6 drops into another, empty flask of up to 100 to 200 ml – add water or ethanol or something even better, and shake. The “mother bottle” easily produces enough remedies to last you a life-time; at least many years.

6TH POTENCY – THE ONE TO USE: Pour 5 drops from your “mother bottle”, that is, the fifth potency bottle with or without added alcohol or some other preservative that is not unhealthy, but safe. You may want to use a 100 ml flask this time, to save some efforts later. Add pure water till half full, shake well (30 times) as prescribed earlier, and there you have your home-opathic flask. When you have used this 6th potency homeopathic preparation, you should wash and rinse before re-using it: 5 drops from the “mother fluidum”, add pure water till half full, shake as specificed, and you have your second flask of the “good stuff”, or whatever you wish to call it.

Highest potency recommended for home-made homeopathic preparations is C30

What you have ended up with, resembles the D6 potency, but it should be even safer, as it contains no particularly harmful ingredients in the first place, and secondly, they have been terribly diluted. In fact, your home-made product has its own potency scale, the H (home-made) scale. It lies between the common D scale and C (X) scales. With the D scale the regulated dilution is 1 : 10. With the C scale the regulated dilution is 1 : 100; which means 1 drop to a hundred added drops of water. That is the proportion.

Now you want to know how to ingest the liquid you have toiled with for maybe a quarter or half an hour the first time – time was added because you were inexperienced. But now you have a “mother fluidum” to last you – say – ten years if you want to. And from it, it may take just a few minutes to make another sixth potency flask the next time – cheap and time-saving.

And you are alerted to that you may make still stronger potencies if you want to. I recommend that your strongest home kit potency is about C30. Leave the higher potencies to experienced folks, as a “golden rule”. You may have time to become one too, and good luck with that.

C30 DOSAGES: 12 small (pharmacy-bought) pellets 2 times a day. Or 12 (home-made) drops 2 times a day, morning or night. Keep in mouth for 6 minutes – 15-20 minutes before or after meals or other things one puts or pours into the mouth – just to be on the so-called safe side. That is how to do it according to homeopaths the world over.

Dosages of Daily Intake for C6 Remedies

1. 15 drops 3 times daily may do well. Four times daily may work well too. In the morning, before going to bed – and spaced out in between. For children: half doses. For little children: one third of the doses.
2. Keep the drops in the mouth – under the tongue is said to be best – for 6 minutes.
3. Take the drops 15-20 minutes before taking food or drink – especially hot food and drink – or wait 15-20 minutes after a hot meal before you take them.
4. In acute cases the drops may be taken four or five times. To take them three times a day is good.

The example is an acute case of common cold. You may keep on taking these drops for 5 or 6 days, for example.

Seek to get more rest than usual if you have got a cold and strive to keep it down by these means (and onion soup too).

So now you know the secrets of making your own home-opathic remedies for getting rid of common colds by grabbing some food stuffs and shaking them in a particular way. To the question, “Does it work?” – “Try and see” is the answer.

There is perhaps one more thing you should be made aware of if you apply homeopathic remedies to chronic (long-lasting) troubles. According to homeopathic tradition, a so-called healing reaction may set in bewteen 2 and 7 weeks, give and take. But it may not ever come. At any rate, you may discontinue taking your homeopathic preparations till you feel better enough – let the intake be resumed three days after you feel OK. That is a tip. According to homeopathic tradition, a “healing crisis, distress, reaction” is followed by betterment, which was sought after.

Homeopathic remedies that won’t cost you much

Now comes another secret to make life easy. First buy a tiny glass of the homeopathic remedy you are after. Next dissolve 2-3 pellets (pills) from it in water. You should crush them first, then add clean water. Then shake well for, say, fifty times. And there you have your own remedy made on top of a tiny fraction of what you bought.

To spell out the advantages: One bought glass may serve you in this way, on and on, for years. Otherwise, if you take the pellets “bare”, you may have to buy dozens of glasses, each glass costing quite a lot. This is how to save you such expenses. To some it matters very much.

At any rate, take off from homeopathic remedies that can be bought at pharmacies or special shops. The way to cut down costs to a fraction is shown to you here, in graphic details

If you are arthritic or feeble, maybe “shaking up” your own home remedy is a bit hard to do. A round of diluting-and-shaking might go well in such cases too. it is up to you, after trying out the home-making process just a bit.

Dashing the homeopathic remedy against what?

Buy one glass of the remedy you are after. Pour a big pellet or 6 small pellets or 3 drops of the homeopathic liquid into a little (50 ml) bottle that is half full of distilled, cold water (or cold, boiled water). Let the pellets dissolve by stirring the bottle gently for a while. You see when they are dissolved. Then shake the half full bottle (a 50 ml bottle is plenty) thirty times with the same force and speed that 5 litres of milk would get if dropped onto some leather-bound bible from 30 cm (a foot) above it: Samuel Hahnemann used to dash his bottles against a bible bound in leather to produce remedies, or, as Lockie writes, he kept “banging it [his bottle] down on a hard surface”. Use kitchen rubber gloves (latex) while you do this “dirty work”. Ilana Dannheisser and Penny Edwards show how to do it too, if you should doubt the sanity of the procedure and so on. That “many do it,” is a fact. [Hog 18]. Don’t make the glass break. You can conserve the liquid in the bottle by adding some preservative, like alcohol (ethanol), if you like. Keep it cool otherwise. And keep the rest of the pellets in their glass, keep it cool and dark, and it is ready for the next few pellets the next time you need to prepare a bottle from the pellets in the glass.

Several homeopathic remedies “concocted” into one blend

If you want to blend four or five of our favorite remedies in one bottle, it is OK, as these are supposed to go well along together, all of them. Also, if your homeopath has prescribed a blend of remedies for you, there should be nothing to worry about, for it is very common practice in some countries to prescribe several remedies together, and the many homeopathic remedies that are called complex remedies, are just mixtures of single remedies.

Pour four small pellets or one big pellet from each of the single remedies into the same bottle. Fill it half full with clean, cool water (distilled water is best), and let the pellets dissolve in the water. Shake as specified (35 times is fine) when they are dissolved. Now you have made a new potency of the remedy you bought. If you bought the remedy Nux vomica D30, you have Nux vomica D31, which is more or less indistinguishable from D30. This means you can safely use it as D30, and without asking anyone for permission to do so.

You may use this method for single remedies you buy or make yourself, for single remedies that you mix yourself, or for a complex remedy. Or you may mix a complex remedy with a few more single remedies, depending on how skilful you are. But take care: It is not often recommended to mix more than 3 or 4 single remedies.

Homeopathic Dosages

KEEP THE drops in the mouth for 5 minutes.

• H6: 10 drops 3-4 times daily.
• H12: 10 drops 3-4 times.
• H30: 11 drops 2 times, morning and night.

Adjust to the body weight: For each kg (kilogram) above 110 kg, add a drop for grown-ups, i.e., 12 drops 2 times daily for H30. For children, reduce the amount of drops to about the half.

Taking homeopathic remedies for how long?

For acute troubles: Take the drops for as long as the trouble(s) last, for example 5 to 7 days.

For chronic (long-lasting) troubles: A fit “round” can be 6-9 weeks, followed by a pause of 10 days or more. Then repeat, either by using a somewhat higher potency of the same remedy (remedies) if they work well for you – from H6 to H12 could be fit, and from there to H30 the next time. Or you can try some other remedy, or blend remedies, old or new ones. There are really many options.

Observe: Don’t go further up than H35 (C35) with your home remedies. There are still higher potencies made, and they are said to work deeper into the system (organism) too, and may be applied in chronic cases. But consult an expert for it, and never neglect proper medical diagnosis and treatment first; there are good reasons for it.

If you have become interested in homeopathic self-care by this, books on it exist.

Confirmations that homeopathy works

It is ok to doubt these things, and ok to try and see if things work, even if we at present hardly know all mechanisms involved. Dr. James Stephenson‘s book on homeopathy was a great source of inspiration to me along such avenues as these in the late 70s. At that time I had my own homeopathic mentor, Heilpraktiker who tutored me in ear acupuncture too.

Homeopathic kitchen remedies

A little look in Boericke’s Materia Medica (p. 1015-23) tells that these are among the homeopathic remedies:

Anise, Asparagus, Bean, Beet-root, Blackberry, Buckwheat, Cane-sugar, Cashew nut, Cinnamon, Cloves, Cow’s milk, Dandelion, Honey with salt, Huckleberries, Lobster, Marigold, Marsh mallow, Mustard, Oats, Onion, Orange, Panax, Parsley, Pepper (black) Pepper (Cayenne), Peppermint, Potato, Pumpkin seed, Red onion, Rhubarb, Sage, Salt, Scotch pine, Sea salt, Skimmed milk, Strawberry, Sugar, Tea, Thyme, Tomato, Walnut, and Yeast.

In a list of homeopathic remedies such common names are often left out, and only Latin names tell of the origin of the homeopathic remedies then.

Homeopathic Literature and References

Cgh: Lockie, Andrew and Nicola Geddes. Complete Guide to Homeopathy: The Principles and Practice of Treatment. 2nd ed. London: Dorling Kindersley, 2000. – Read in

Dgh: Stephenson, James Hawley. A Doctor’s Guide to Helping Yourself with Homeopathic Remedies. 6th impression. Wellingbourough: Thorson’s, 1983.

Hog: Dannheisser, Ilana og Penny Edwards. Homeopathy: An Illustrated Guide. Shaftesbury: Element Books, 1998. – Read in

Mab: Boericke, William and Oscar. Homoeopathic Materia Medica. 9th ed. Philadelphia: Boericke and Runyon, 1927. [Cf. this link]

Sbh: Lockie, Andrew and Nicola Geddes. Den store boken om homeopati. Oslo: Hilt & Hansteen, 1996.

How do homeopathic remedies work?

F.D.A. Panel

to Consider

Warnings for

Artificial Food Colorings

By GARDINER HARRIS

Fermenting food movement

that ferments

Nathan Batalion, Global Health Activist, Healingtalks Editor

(Healingtalks) We don’t necessarily agree with all of Sandor Katz’s underground fermenting movement’s ideology. This is because he tends to be too  indiscriminate or omnivorous and not especially vegan.   Unlike him, we are not much into eating ants, even though apes do love them!

However, we greatly applaud his strong highlighting of the dead nature of our whole industrial food stream plus that there are viable, alive, and healing alternatives.

An Underground Food Movement

This article is about Sandor Katz and his underground food movement. Katz is a self-avowed “fermentation fetishist” and travels around the country giving lectures and demonstrations, spreading the gospel of sauerkraut, dill pickles, and all foods transformed and ennobled by bacteria.

His two books—“Wild Fermentation” and “The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved”—have become manifestos and how-to manuals for a generation of underground food activists, and he’s at work on a third, definitive volume.

Katz was on his way to the Green Path, a gathering of herbalists, foragers, raw-milk drinkers, and roadkill eaters in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains. The groups in Katz’s network have no single agenda or ideology. Some identify themselves as punks, others as hippies, others as evangelical Christians; some live as rustically as homesteaders—the “techno-peasantry,” they call themselves; others are thoroughly plugged in. If they have a connecting thread, it’s their distrust of “dead, anonymous, industrialized, genetically engineered, and chemicalized corporate food.”

Sandor Katz’s Background

Katz was a political activist long before he was a fermentation fetishist. At Brown, as an undergraduate, his causes were standard issue for the time: gay rights, divestment from South Africa, U.S. out of Central America. After graduation, Katz moved back to New York. He took a job as the executive director of Westpride. As the AIDS epidemic escalated, in the late eighties, Katz became an organizer for ACT UP. Then, in 1991, he found out he was H.I.V.-positive. The virus transformed Katz’s political ambitions. He focused on curing himself. In 1992, Katz moved to Hickory Knoll (the name has been changed) in Tennessee. Hickory Knoll was something of a legend in the gay community: a queer sanctuary in the heart of the Bible Belt, with no television or hot running water—just goats, vegetable gardens, and gay men.

Sandor Katz’s Mission

Katz’s experiments with fermentation, including his recipe for sauerkraut, involve what he calls “the safest food there is.” Katz educates others about the raw-milk movement and discusses the safety of raw milk.

Other practitioners of the primal diet believe in the importance of eating raw meat, and foraging food such as acorns and ants.

Based on an article from the New Yorker  published Nov. 22, 1020  and by Burkhard Bilger
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/11/22/101122fa_fact_bilger#ixzz1FTxbkAZa

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Older Generation

Falls Prey to

Eating Disorders

More than 10 million Americans suffer from anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders. And while people tend to think such problems are limited to adolescence and young adulthood, Judith Shaw knows otherwise.A 58-year-old yoga instructor in St. Louis, Ms. Shaw says she was nearing 40 when she decided to “get healthy” after having children. Soon, diet and exercise became an obsession.

“I was looking for something to validate myself,” she told me. “Somehow, the weight loss, and getting harder and firmer and trimmer and fitter, and then getting recognized for that, was fulfilling a need.”

 Clinical Cases of Midlife or Older Eating Disorders

Experts say that while eating disorders are first diagnosed mainly in young people, more and more women are showing up at their clinics in midlife or even older. Some had eating disorders early in life and have relapsed, but a significant minority first develop symptoms in middle age. (Women with such disorders outnumber men by 10 to 1.)

Cynthia M. Bulik, director of the Eating Disorders Program at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, says that though it was initially aimed at adolescents, since 2003 half of its patients have been adults.

“We’re hearing from women, no matter how old they are, that they still have to achieve this societal ideal of thinness and perfection,” she said. “Even in their 50s and 60s — and, believe it or not, beyond — women are engaging in extreme weight- and shape-control behaviors.”

Triggers for Eating Disorders in Midlife and Beyond

Younger or older, patients tend to engage in the same destructive behaviors: restricted eating, laxative abuse, excessive exercise and binge eating. And the trigger is often a stressful transition — in a young person, perhaps going away to college or living through her parents’ divorce; in later years, having a baby, sending a child to college or going through her own divorce.

Difficulty In Diagnosing Later-Life Eating Disorders

“I think there is a probably much higher percentage than we’ve been able to identify,” said Tamara Pryor, clinical director of the Eating Disorder Center of Denver, who has been studying about 200 cases of midlife eating disorders. “I think out there in the workaday world there are a large percentage of women who just fly under the radar. They are subclinical and you don’t question them, because in so many other areas of their life they look so functional.”

One concern, she and other experts say, is that as women get older they are more adept at concealing the problem, and symptoms may be attributed to aging rather than to an eating disorder.

Ms Shaw’s Story of Concealing the Eating Disorder Problem

For instance, when a thin adolescent stops menstruating, doctors typically raise questions about weight and eating habits. But in Ms. Shaw’s case, they assumed it was early menopause. When she developed anemia and osteoporosis, they didn’t guess that the true cause was years of malnourishment.

“One of the things we’re working very hard to do is to make sure this stays on physicians’ radar screens so they can recognize and distinguish between menopause-related changes, real health problems and eating disorders,” Dr. Bulik said. “Often they don’t ask the question because they have in their mind this stereotypical picture of eating disorders as a problem of white, middle-class teenagers.”For Ms. Shaw, diet and exercise overtook her life. She spent more and more hours at the gym — even on family vacations, when she would skip ski outings with her husband and sons in favor of workout time.

“None of my friends, my ex-husband, no one ever said anything,” she said. “It was no one’s job to fix me, but I wish someone had said to me: ‘I miss you. You’re gone. You’re so obsessed.’ ”

Finally, a yoga instructor sounded the alarm after Ms. Shaw had twice fallen, breaking an elbow and then later her pelvis. “There’s nothing left of you,” the instructor told her. “Only you can decide if you’re going to change that by feeding yourself.”

At 53, carrying just 85 pounds on her 5-foot-3 frame, Ms. Shaw checked herself in to an eating disorders program.

In treatment, she struggled with writing exercises aimed at helping her identify the origins of her illness. Instead, she began creating art, starting with a life-size silhouette of her body, covered with cut-out newspaper headlines like “Help Wanted,” “Conceal” and “Find Real Value.”

Later, she created a plaster cast of her thighs. Like many others with anorexia, she had thought her legs were too big; now she could see how thin she had become.

Last year Ms. Shaw’s art went on display at Washington University in St. Louis, and now her exhibition, “Body of Work: The Art of Eating Disorder Recovery,” can be seen through mid-April at the Center for Eating Disorders at Columbia University Medical Center in Manhattan.

“It’s certainly not the typical story, but we’re hearing about it more commonly,” said the center’s director, Dr. Evelyn Attia. “We need to let everybody know that it’s possible to develop these illnesses across the life span.”

Ms. Shaw says she often notices women who appear to be too thin or obsessed with exercising, and she hopes that telling her story will help others see the problem in themselves.

“In the course of my day, I can spot it,” she said. “I am 25 to 30 pounds heavier, but I feel lighter. The weight of those emotions is what it was really all about.”

Seven Major Benefits

of a Vegetarian Diet

By  Sally Rodgers, Contributing Writer

It’s well known that eating more servings of fruits and vegetables greatly reduces your risks of cancer and heart disease.

But what about further adopting a vegetarian diet?

If you contact your health insurance company, you might get a lengthy answer. Here we offer a condensed  list of reasons why or to outline how a vegetarian diet definitely offers huge and impressive pluses:

 Vegetarians - Risk of Chronic Ills Lowered

According to The American Dietetic Association, vegetarians are less likely to develop heart disease, diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and kidney failure. Vegetarians are also less likely to become obese.

Vegetarians - Healthier pH Balance

During digestion, animal protein produce an acidic reaction inside the body. However, the body should have a slightly alkaline environment. Thus a diet containing excessive amounts of animal protein can throw off the body’s delicate pH balance. This will compromise the immune system and increase a person’s risk of disease. Many diseases, including cancer, cannot usually survive in an alkaline environment. If that isn’t a good enough reason to reduce or quit animal proteins and fats, let’s look at some more.

Vegetarians - Lower Cholesterol

Fatty animal proteins contain unhealthy amounts of bad cholesterol. When eaten in excess, this cholesterol will accumulate on the arterial walls and inhibit blood flow. Eventually, high cholesterol can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure, and even strokes. Many people are able to efficiently lower their cholesterol just by eliminating animal protein from their diet and consuming fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains in its place.

Vegetarians - Healthier Skin

Because the skin is our body’s largest organ, it is so vitally important to take care of.  A vegetarian diet, naturally does the job because many plants are very high in both water and antioxidants, which is exactly what your skin needs to stay healthy and radiantly beautiful!

Powerful Vegetarian Nutritional Support

Since vegetarians don’t eat meat, they tend to consume more vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, and whole grains. Diets centered around these foods tend to be higher in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other nutrients. As a result, carefully tracked statistics show vegetarians (such as Seventh-Day Adventists) are on average healthier.

Eat a Vegetarian Diet for Improved Digestion

The best of vegetarian diets is one high in fiber and low in fatty (especially fried) foods) and highly processed foods. This is great news for your digestive system. As to fiber, is a substance that the body cannot easily digest. Nevertheless it performs some very important functions. When consumed, first it will help a person feel more full after a meal so as not to overeat (and become overweight or obese). It will also assist the bulking up of waste matter passing through the intestines and colon. Its overall impact thus has been compared to that of a straw broom, helping to sweep waste out, thereby alleviating digestive distress and helping some to lose weight.

For Vegetarians, Ultimately a  Longer Life

An impressive 2001 study of Seventh Day Adventists showed vegetariant men lived 7.28 years longer on average than non-vegetarian subjects. The vegetarian women lived 4.42 year longer.
____________________________________________________________________________

Sally Rodgers is a 29 year old writer who is passionate about health and wellness, green living and sustainability.  In her free time she enjoys playing with her two English Bulldogs.
___________________________________________________________________________________________

COMMENT:
The diets we get accustomed to are often ingrained in our lifestyle and over a lifetime. This is by means of our cultural, ethnic and family traditions – and more recently by hugely influential corporate advertising – TV, radio, print, and in-store. The latter often promotes what is profitable rather than healthy. Thus if you want to break away from what you’re used to eating – and in order to improve your health or better combat chronic ills – consider adopting a plant-based or vegetarian diet.

The seven reasons listed about should be enough to motivate such a diet change, but there are still more!  When you subscribe to our newsletter you can download a Summary of The China Study. The NY Times called this the Grand Prix of  all nutritional studies.  It powerfully supports a plant-based diet. Or take a look at the before and after pictures that Dr. Esselstyne offers showing constricted coronary arteries opening up.

Nathan Batalion CTN

We encourage all our readers to add their comments as well.

Sproutman’s Favorite

Green Veggie

Smoothie

Sproutman likes to make this green smoothie on the run, traveling between innumerable speaking engagements around the country and the world sharing his knowledge and wisdom.

Green Veggie Smoothie

2 Leaves       Kale (chopped)
6-8 Stalks      Parsley
3-5 Stalks      Cilantro (optional)
1/4-1/2 cup    Tahini, If substituting use….
1/8-1/4 cup    Olive Oil
1/2 clove        Garlic
1/8-1/4 cup    Tamari
1                     Lemon, juiced or squeezed
1+cup             Water (add for pulsing and consistency)

Green Sprout Smoothie

1 cup             Alfalfa Sprouts
1 cup             Sunflower Sprouts (chopped)
1 cup             Broccoli Sprouts
1/4-1/2 cup   Tahini, If substituting use….
1/8-1/4 cup   Olive Oil
1/2 clove       Garlic
1/8-1/4 cup   Tamari
1                    Lemon, juiced or squeezed
1+cup            Water (add for pulsing and consistency)

Sproutman’s Comments on Green Smoothies

HOW TO MAKE RAW (LIVING FOOD) VEGAN SUSHI

In the process of developing a sumptuous Raw Vegan Sushi recipe, we found that whole  Sprouts could serve as a substitute for sushi rice but did not hold very well.

So improvising, we put a few handfuls of Mung Bean Sprouts in the food processor and this mixture stayed together quite well.

Here is our original raw vegan recipe:

INGREDIENTS  FOR TWO DOZEN RAW VEGAN SUSHI

• Handful of Sprouted Mung Beans
• Handful of  Sprouted Lentils
• 2 sticks Celery, sliced julienne
• ½ Cucumber, sliced julienne
• ¼ Red Onion sliced julienne
• 2  Avocados, sliced thickly
• 1-2 tbs Sauerkraut
• 4-5 Nori Sheets
• Pinch of Soy Sauce
• 1 tbs Sesame Seeds
• Pinch of  Ginger, shredded
• (optional) – use a couple sliced Cherry Tomatoes, slices of Red Peppers or
  Red Cabbage to add the respective flavors and vibrant color to your raw vegan sushi
• (optional) Handful of Chinese  Cabbage  Leaves for more of the oriental flavor

FURTHER RAW VEGAN SUSHI INSTRUCTIONS

• Pour the Sprouts into a food processor so that they make a thick paste. Add a dash of Sesame Oil and the shredded Ginger.
• Place the sheet of  Nori, shiny side down (the perforations should run vertically), on a bamboo sushi mat.
• Spread the Mung  Bean mixture onto the Nori. ( should cover slightly less than half the sheet and be about half a centimeter thick).
• Take a small amount of all the remaining ingredients and place them along the width of the nori and on top of the mung bean mixture.
• Allow for the Celery, Cucumber and Avocado to come over the sides slightly.
• The bamboo mat can now be used to roll the sushi. Leave a 1cm/ ½ inch or a slight edge at the end of the Nori to spread with water to hold it together.
• Then press down gently.
• Now cut the sushi into 2cm or about an inch pieces

Serve on a bed of green leaves, your choice, and garnished with further kinds of sprouts flavored with soy sauce ….and  you are now ready to enjoy the best of raw vegan sushi!

 6 Worst Brands

of Bottled Water

You Can Buy

Nathan Batalion, Global Health Activist, Healingtalks Editor

(Healingtalks) The Environmental Working Group analyzed the company websites and product labels of over 170 varieties of bottled water to see if the companies disclosed information on where water came from, how the water was treated, and whether the results of tests to ensure purity were revealed.

The researchers also called the bottled water companies to see if they would wgive information to consumers.

Lack of Transparency

More than 50% would not.

Almost 20 % didn’t say where their water comes from.

An additional 32 % did not disclose any information on treatment or purity of water.

According to Yahoo Green only three brands earned the highest possible

•  Gerber Pure Purified Water,
• Nestle Pure Life Purified Water
•  Penta Ultra-Purified Water 

Six brands got the worst marks in EWG’s report 

• Whole Foods Italian Still Mineral Water
• Vintage Natural Spring Water
•  Sahara Premium Drinking Water
•  O Water Sport Electrolyte Enhanced Purified Drinking Water
•  Market Basket Natural Spring Water
•  Cumby’s Spring Water.

Sources:

Yahoo Green January 5, 2011

Environmental Working Group Report January 2011

Here are Dr. Mercola’s Comments taken from his article on this subject:

The above is, of course, a visionary picture. The truth is, however, that Walmart has for a long time been proactive in selling organic produce (ranking among the highest volume sellers in the nation) and now is starting a new initiative that has some potential to help turnaround our nation’s collective health. They are, in a sense, acting counter-culturally because most of the medical profession refuses to acknowledge any pivotal role of nutrition, emphasizing instead the importance of drugs, surgery, radiation, genetic engineering technologies or all their profit centers.

How many others will jump onto Wal-Mart’s bandwagon? Will this affect statistics like those of our present obesity and diabetes epidemics? Will they further take on the related issue of genetically modified ingredients in the majority of our processed foods?

This is a story we must definitely watch. It is also an indication that our constant, persistent, dedicated and passionate getting out of health messages on the Internet and in print is reaching the power ranks of our nation – and thus we must and will keep up all of our efforts!

Here is the story from today’s NY Times:

Wal-Mart Shifts Strategy to Promote Healthy Foods

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

WASHINGTON — Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, will announce a five-year plan on Thursday to make thousands of its packaged foods lower in unhealthy salts, fats and sugars, and to drop prices on fruits and vegetables.

The initiative came out of discussions the company has been having with Michelle Obama, the first lady, who will attend the announcement in Washington and has made healthy eating and reducing childhood obesity the centerpiece of her agenda. Aides say it is the first time Mrs. Obama has thrown her support behind the work of a single company.

The plan, similar to efforts by other companies and to public health initiatives by New York City, sets specific targets for lowering sodium, trans fats and added sugars in a broad array of foods — including rice, soups, canned beans, salad dressings and snacks like potato chips — packaged under the company’s house brand, Great Value.

In interviews previewing the announcement, Wal-Mart and White House officials said the company was also pledging to press its major food suppliers, like Kraft, to follow its example. Wal-Mart does not disclose how much of its sales come from its house brand. But Kraft says about 16 percent of its global sales are through Wal-Mart.

In addition, Wal-Mart will work to eliminate any extra cost to customers for healthy foods made with whole grains, said Leslie Dach, Wal-Mart’s executive vice president for corporate affairs. By lowering prices on fresh fruits and vegetables, Wal-Mart says it will cut into its own profits but hopes to make up for it in sales volume. “This is not about asking the farmers to accept less for their crops,” he said.

The changes will be introduced slowly, over a period of five years, to give the company time to overcome technical hurdles and to give consumers time to adjust to foods’ new taste, Mr. Dach said. “It doesn’t do you any good to have healthy food if people don’t eat it.”

Wal-Mart is hardly the first company to take such steps; ConAgra Foods, for example, has promised to reduce sodium content in its foods by 20 percent by 2015.

But because Wal-Mart sells more groceries than any other company in the country, and because it is such a large purchaser of foods produced by national suppliers, nutrition experts say the changes could have a big impact on the affordability of healthy food and the health of American families and children.

Some say the company has almost as much power as federal regulators to shape the marketplace.

“A number of companies have said they are going to make voluntary reductions in sodium over the next several years, and numerous companies have said they are going to try to get trans fat out of their food,” said Michael Jacobson, executive director of Center for Science in the Public Interest. “But Wal-Mart is in a position almost like the Food and Drug Administration. I think it really pushes the food industry in the right direction.”

But Wal-Mart is pushing only so far. The company’s proposed sugar reductions are “much less aggressive” than they could be, Mr. Jacobson said, noting that Wal-Mart is not proposing to tackle the problem of added sugars in soft drinks, which experts regard as a major contributor to childhood obesity. And he said it would be “nice if Wal-Mart’s timeline were speedier” than five years.

Wal-Mart has been planning the initiative for more than a year; the effort was in its early stages when Ms. Obama joined it. The first lady’s appearance with Mr. Dach and other Wal-Mart executives when they make the announcement at a community center in Washington’s Anacostia neighborhood on Thursday morning is out of the ordinary and a prominent effort by the administration to spur further moves toward healthier food.

“We’re not just aligning ourselves with one company; we’re aligning ourselves with people who are stepping up as leaders to take this country to a healthier place,” said Sam Kass, the White House chef who doubles as Mrs. Obama’s top adviser on matters of nutrition.

“There’s no qualms about that,” Mr. Kass said. “The only question that we have is do we think this is a significant step in that direction, and do we think there is a method in place to track progress, and do we think this will have the impact we are pushing for.”

Over the last year, Mr. Kass and other aides to the first lady have spent countless hours in meetings with company officials; both Mr. Kass and Mr. Dach said Mrs. Obama pushed the company to hold itself accountable by issuing public progress reports. The Partnership for a Healthier America, a nonprofit organization that works with the first lady on her Let’s Move initiative to reduce childhood obesity, will monitor the company’s progress.

The changes will not happen overnight. Wal-Mart is pledging to reduce sodium by 25 percent, eliminate industrially added trans fats and reduce added sugars by 10 percent by 2015. Its other plans are less specific. In addition to proposing to lower prices on healthy foods, Wal-Mart is planning to develop criteria, and ultimately a seal, that will go on truly healthier foods, as measured by their sodium, fat and sugar content.

The company says it will also address the problem of “food deserts” — a dearth of grocery stores selling fresh produce in rural and underserved urban areas like Anacostia — by building more stores. And it will increase charitable contributions for nutrition programs.

A range of studies has shown that low-income people, especially those who receive food stamps, face special dietary challenges because eating healthy costs more and healthier food is harder to get in their neighborhoods. James D. Weill, president of Food Research and Action Center, an organization that has been pressing Wal-Mart to help tackle this problem, said the company seemed to have recognized “how much hunger and food insecurity there is in the country.”

Mr. Dach said the lower prices and food reformulations were motivated by the demands of Wal-Mart’s own customers. He said the company believed that, if it was successful, the price reductions would save Americans who shop at Wal-Mart approximately $1 billion a year on fresh fruits and vegetables alone.

“Our customers have always told us, ’We don’t understand why whole wheat macaroni and cheese costs more than regular macaroni and cheese,’ ” Mr. Dach said, adding, “We’ve always said that we don’t think the Wal-Mart shopper should have to choose between a product that is healthier for them and what they can afford.”

Mr. Jacobson, of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said that reducing sodium was the trickiest of the food reformulation challenges. Sodium is in every food category, and it is more difficult to replace than the partly hydrogenated oil that composes trans fats, or than sugars, because there are easy substitutes for oils and sugars. But sodium, which contributes to hypertension and raises the risk of heart disease, must simply be reduced, which can greatly alter taste.

Mr. Dach said the company had yet to conquer its reformulation challenges, and described the goals as both aspirational and realistic. “We think it’s a realistic target, but it’s aspirational in the sense that we can’t tell you today how it’s all going to get done,” he said.

William Neuman contributed reporting from New York.

I was in one of the local supermarket’s health food section and I was astounded by how little of that  “health food” I could really buy. Let’s start with the drinks. They were either in plastic bottles that questionably outgas or had substantial sugar or corn syrup additive. As to the rest of the food, about 90% was somehow or other highly processed. Looking at that strange situation in the “health food” section, there is no wonder in my mind why the majority of Americans suffer from chronic ills.

Wisdom is knowing what is most important to know.

We are not taught how vastly important our body’s food intakes are. For me what is of greatest importance is that they are organic, whole and living foods or what I call wise OWL diet. Forget about how lovely the packaging is, how pretty the candies look or how addictively concocted the foods are with various artificial colorings, flavorings, textures, salt, sugar and so on.

We are not taught the wise OWL diet to maintain our life force,  which is one of the greatest of skills to have in  life.  Instead the vast majority of what modern education is focused on how to master what  will earn money. Then as our health and state of consciousness slips, our faculties and abilities leave us, and the money does us little or no good.

It is no wonder that America has the highest of medical bills in the world and yet among the worst of health statistics.

Monsanto and the Merchants of Death

Source: Thought of the Week – Organic Consumers Association, Ronnie Cummins)In the 1990s, Monsanto found an ingenious way to sell large quantities of its broad-spectrum toxic herbicide RoundUp to farmers. The company’s scientists gene-spliced corn, soy, cotton, and canola with foreign DNA, enabling these “Frankencrops” to survive massive doses of RoundUp. Farmers could now repeatedly spray their fields with RoundUp, killing weeds but not the crop. Unfortunately, the collateral damage of heavy RoundUp spraying includes groundwater pollution, toxic residues in crops, and destruction of essential soil microorganisms. The Genetically Modified (GM) crops themselves create herbicide-resistant Superweeds and spread genetic pollution to organic and non-GMO crops as well as plant relatives. Last but certainly not least, Monsanto’s GM foods have been linked to serious health damage – not only for animals, but humans as well.
Today, a major portion of cropland in the US is sown with Monsanto’s “RoundUp Ready” corn, soy, cotton, canola, and sugar beets. Eighty percent of these GM crops are then sold as animal feed to the nation’s 125,000 factory farms or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) that produce most of the non-organic meat, dairy, or eggs sold in grocery stores or served in restaurants, schools, and hospitals. The other 20% of Monsanto’s Genetically Modified Organisms are laced into non-organic processed foods (soy lecithin, corn or sugar beet sweeteners, cooking oils, etc.) that are found in every grocery store aisle.
There is a direct correlation between our genetically engineered food supply and the $2 trillion the US spends annually on medical care, namely an epidemic of diet-related chronic diseases. Instead of healthy fruits, vegetables, grains, and grass-fed animal products, US factory farms and food processors produce a glut of genetically engineered junk foods that generate heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. Low fruit and vegetable consumption is directly costing the United States $56 billion a year in diet-related chronic diseases.
Monsanto’s GM crops are highly profitable for the food industry, turning cheap, federally subsidized, genetically engineered crops and GE-fed animals into cheap, ubiquitous, junky foods. But from the standpoint of public health and environmental sustainability, Monsanto and their factory farm collaborators are nothing less than merchants of disease and death.
A critical mass of consumers would turn away from GMOs and Factory Farmed meat, dairy, and eggs – if they knew what they were eating. Please join and support OCA in our new Truth-in-Labeling campaign. Learn More

As we are planning a series of interviews with organic indoor gardening experts, here is a supportive article.

Sustainable Micro-Gardens

published October 30 2010 Natural News

As food and fuel costs continue to rise while concerns about conventionally grown produce increase, micro-gardening has become a hot trend among urbanites. Using an array of creative measures, these organic miniature gardens not only provide nutrient dense, locally grown food, but also create a feeling of connectedness and well-being.

Levels of trace minerals in conventional fruits and vegetables have been in steady decline since 1940. As most produce travels an average of 1,500 miles from farm to plate, these fragile nutrients are depleted even further. Fresh, local, organic produce is a welcome alternative and demonstrates a higher quantity of 21 key-nutrients including vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorous, and chromium.

In PBS “Food Miles” episode 3, writer Michael Shuman states, “investing in local food systems lessens the distance between who we are and what we eat, and creates wealth in the community.”

Shuman continues in an article for the Huffington Post:

“A study done two years ago found that a 20% shift of retail food spending in Detroit redirected to locally grown foods would create 5,000 jobs and increase local output by half a billion dollars.”

By growing your own produce, even in a micro-garden setting, additional food costs can be defrayed, creating financial benefit. Saving seeds after harvest from organic heirloom varieties as well as reusing clam shell or salad containers for planting creates additional environmental and economic advantage.

A shining example of a thinking out-of-the box solution to our world food problems is the Truck Farm in Brooklyn, NY. As necessity is the mother of invention, Ian Cheney, along with Curt Ellis, created a vegetable garden in the 5′ x 8′ bed of his grandfather’s pickup truck after moving to New York and realizing there wasn’t a space to grow food. Utilizing green roof technology to allow for proper drainage and to hold the soil in place, Truck Farm was born. As the harvest and neighborhood popularity of the Truck Farm grew, Ian and Curtis started a CSA program.

Ian explains during an interview with PlanetGreen.com:

“In principle, the CSA works like this: members give twenty bucks at the beginning of the spring, and then every month they get a little bag of greens, herbs, and vegetables delivered to their doorstep. In reality, most of the subscribers live in my neighborhood so I encourage them to just clip a few greens or pluck a few tomatoes on their way home from work. Saves gas!”

One of the main challenges for the Truck Farm is getting enough water for the plants because the lightweight soil drains easily. The solution created another link of community. “We drive up to an Italian restaurant in my neighborhood, hook up a hose to their spigot, hand over a little basil, and water away. Sometimes Fulvio, the owner, gives me a glass of wine with a flourish: ‘Water for the farm, wine for the farmer!’”

Gardening can create happiness too. In a study at the University of Texas, 400 participants responded to a survey concerning their life satisfaction. Respondents who were gardeners answered positively 20% more of the time to statements about energy level, optimism, zest for life, and physical self-concept than non-gardeners.

So dig in. A creative micro-garden can help prune food costs, nurture health and foster joy and prosperity, while sowing the seeds of connection.

Sources for this article:

Virginia Sole-Smith, “It’s a Truck! It’s a Farm! (And Now, It’s Going To Be a Movie.)” PlanetGreen.Com, June 11, 2010.

Michael H. Shuman, “Community Food Enterprise: Local Success in a Global Marketplace.” Huffington Post, January 25, 2010.

Eric Franks and Jasmine Richardson, Microgreens: A Guide to Growing Nutrient-Packed Greens, Gibbs Smith, 2009.

Creasy, Rosalind with Cathy Barash, “Grow $700 of Food in 100 Square Feet.” Mother Earth News Magazine: December 2009/January 2010.

Soil Association (2001), “Organic farming, food quality and human health: a review of the evidence.”

Worthington V (2001), “Nutritional quality of organic versus conventional fruits, vegetables, and grains.” The Journal of Complimentary Medicine, vol. 7, No. 2, p. 161 – 173.

Brandt K and Molgaard JP (2001), “Organic agriculture: Does it enhance or reduce the nutritional value of food plants?” Journal of Science in Food and Agriculture, 81, p. 924 – 931.

TM Waliczek, JM Zajicek, RD Lineberger, “The Influence of Gardening Activities on Consumer Perceptions of Life Satisfaction.” HortScience, 2005 (aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu).

All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml

The absolute scariest thing about Halloween isn’t ghosts rising out of graveyards.

Its not the blood-sucking vampires or Frankenstein-like characters that screech in your ears and howl at the moon.

Nor is it the freakiest zombies dressed in skeletal outfits with but the sharpest fingernails to again frighten me and you to …..sheer death.

WHO’S TRICKING US TO EAT THOSE SCARY TREATS

What’s most scary  is the fact that our children nowadays are given increasingly more pounds of refined sugar, GM-modified sugar, artificial food additives, hydrogenated and trans fats and other toxic ingredients that all harm. This relates to much of the candy, cakes and soft drinks children take in – while these things at the same time and deceptively claim health benefits because of some negligible vitamins added. We thus find Frankencandy and M&M murder madness food being gobbled down in our kids’ throats.

REALLY FRIGHTENING STATS

The dramatic three-decade rise in childhood obesity underscores the problem. Less known is the fact that there has been a vast rise in chronic health conditions among children (diabetes, asthma, ADHD, etc) and from 13% to 27% in the period between 1994 and 2006! In short,these chronic ills have now doubled in slightly over a decade for our beloved kids. This is all according to a new study published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. These two facts, the rise in obesity and the doubling of chronic ailments for our little s ones make this an ultimate health time-bomb that’s ticking. The junk foods that children eat regularly will attack their young immune systems. It will greatly spike their blood sugar. It will deplete their vitamins, minerals and phyto-nutrients. It will, in short, create unprecedented ills.

And what about mental health?  We find a phenomenal epidemic in childhood autism (1 in 100 newborns today compared to 1 in 5000 20 years ago or about a 49X increase)! Also children on mental health disability have seen a 3500% increase in two decades between 1987 and 2007. In addition, I hear that some doctors have never seen many more children nowadays with brain tumors.

THAT’S REALLY SCARY

We are making deranged devils out of our divine angels.

WHAT TO DO

If you’re feeling spooked about such things, lets not drive our kids further to eat yet more heaps of  pure madness food, especially candy on Halloween to feed vulture corporate profits.

Thus please click on this  great Halloween campaign >>>>> Green Smoothie Queen To Make A Difference On Halloween …. and that rhymes… against child crimes. Anyone out there who knows Mike Adams ask him to do another rap song on the subject.

Follow the Green Smoothie Queen,

Makin’ a Difference on Halloween,

Not Hurtin Our Kids Just To Feed  Profits Obscene!

RELATED ARTICLES

Say No To Frankencandy On This Halloween

VIDEO RESOURCES

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Comedy Video – Ten Worst Halloween Treats, Maybe?

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I usually don’t advocate taking many vitamin isolates but this one, much more important than originally thought, can be gotten simply by basking in the sun. Taken from an article by Jane E. Brody published in the NY Times

Taken from an article by Dianna E. Hoppe

While a romantic candle-lit dinner with soft music won’t hurt to get you in the mood, eating certain foods can indeed foster a desire for intimacy and play a major part in your sexuality. Research has shown that some of the best-known edible aphrodisiacs do in fact contain certain vitamins and minerals that contribute to a healthy reproductive system—and perhaps a healthy libido. Medical science can’t guarantee that ingesting these foods will increase your desire—and certainly what works for one person may not work for another—but it could be a lot of fun for you and your partner to experiment with these tasty treats. Barring any food allergies, I highly recommend that your next romantic dinner include some of these items:

Almonds/Nuts: A symbol of fertility throughout the ages, they are a prime source of essential fatty acids, providing building blocks for hormone production. The aroma of almonds is purported to arouse passion in women. For a special after-dinner treat, try serving almond paste, also known as marzipan, in the shape of suggestive fruits.

Asparagus: Asparagus contains high amounts of vitamin E, considered one of the sex hormone stimulants, as well as potassium. Vitamin E increases blood and oxygen flow to the genitals and potassium is important for healthy sex hormone production. The suggest shape of asparagus can help get you in the mood, too. To achieve the optimal aphrodisiac effect, I always recommend that you include this delicious, healthy vegetable in your diet whenever you can.

Avocado: Because of its shape, the ancient Aztecs named this fruit ahuacatl, or testicle. Virgin Aztec girls were forbidden from going outdoors during the harvest of avocados. Avocados contain high levels of folic acid, which helps to metabolize proteins, providing the body with more energy. They also contain vitamin B6, which increases testosterone production, as well as potassium, which helps regulate a woman’s thyroid gland.

Bananas: This popular fruit contains bromelain enzyme, believed to increase libido in men. It also contains high amounts of potassium and B vitamins including riboflavin, which increases the body’s overall energy levels.

Carrots: Carrots are rich in vitamin A, a nutrient needed for sex hormone production. For men, vitamin A is vital for sperm production.

Celery: Celery contains a powerful substance known as androsterone, which is an odorless aphrodisiac found in male perspiration that has been shown to be a sexual stimulator in certain women.

Chili: Capsaicin, the spicy substance that gives chili peppers their kick, as well as curries and other spicy foods prepared with them, stimulates nerve endings to release epinephrine, a chemical that causes increased heart rate and possibly triggers the release of endorphins, natural opiates released from our bodies that cause a pleasurable feeling and natural high.

Chocolate: If you’ve ever wondered why you receive an ornate box chock-full of utterly decadent chocolates on Valentine’s Day, your partner may know more than you think. Chocolate has been shown to contain a stimulant, phenylethylamine, which induces a sense of well-being and excitement that is conducive to lovemaking. The natural caffeine in chocolate also provides an added boost by giving you more energy.

Figs: A halved fig is thought to resemble a female’s vagina and is traditionally considered a sexual stimulant. Figs are very high in amino acids, which are critical to increasing libido and boosting sexual stamina. For a man to break open a fig and eat it in front of his lover was once considered a powerfully erotic act. In Italy, fresh Black Mission figs are served in a cool bowl of water and decadently eaten with the fingers to “set the mood.”

Garlic: The “Heat” in garlic is said to stir sexual desires. Garlic has been used for many centuries to boost immune functions and cure conditions from the common cold to heart ailments. Make sure you and your partner eat it together—and in moderation, to avoid the sometimes strong aroma effused from the skin after consumption.

Mangoes, Peaches, and Strawberries: All of these are high in vitamin C, important for making sex hormones and chemical neurotransmitters for the brain.

Pumpkin: Recent neurological research has shown that the aroma of pumpkin pie is a sexual stimulant, increasing penile blood flow in men by 40 percent. (Unfortunately, this same response in blood flow is not seen in women.) Pumpkin seeds are one of the best vegan sources of zinc, which for men is crucial for potency and in preventing prostate problems. Zinc is also a critical factor in boosting the immune system in both men and women.

So, the next time you want to get you or your partner “in the mood,” serve some of these foods to see whether they have an impact on your sexual desire.

Dr. Hoppe is also a national and international speaker and published author of clinical trials in the field of women’s health. Visit her site: www.DrDianaHoppe.com

MY EATING PHILOSOPHY: This philosophy is intended to be as simple as possible as well as intuitive rather than logical.

A  too complicated, pre-determined or rigid and controlled way of eating can and will become unhealthy in and or itself –

despite better intentions.

Unless one is fighting a serious illness or life and death challenge, I prefer to follow a soft, sensitive, gentle and aware of the moment set of principles rather than hard, rough and fast rules. In everyday life we have to also enjoy our food and not just eat solely for an obsession with health. A little leeway thus helps. Also when changing a diet, a rigid approach is far harder to follow innately, and a person is more likely to succeed only in the short run and then fall off the bandwagon thereafter.

For myself I eat mostly all raw and living foods to get an edge in life and pretty close to 100% at home.  Might I indulge in a glass of wine or a sample this or that occassionally. Every once in a while, though rarely and as an escape hatch. I try to have a balance between vegetables and fruits, and in order to elicit life and consciousness  not the conventional targets of “fuel, calories, and  proteins for muscles – as if our body worked like a car, a machine, made up engine-fired metal, hard, rigid parts.

We are living conscious organisms!

As with Lao Tzu and his wisdom, my view of our own bodies is derivative of a much larger alternative view of the 17th century cosmic vision of  a dead/mechanical, tick-tock, universe following the dictates of  the symbols of mathematics. To me it is a dead paradigm full of black holes, which when modern science finds them, it approaches them with vast denial and resistance. A runner may go around a track exactly following all of Newton’s laws of motion. Then his cell phone rings with a call from his or her lover, and the runner turns around, violating all of Newton’s laws. Thus also, and for example, when math-designed chemicals are found to cause cancer, there is intense and belligerent denial that our underlying paradigms are at fault. Chemistry is supposed to create better not worse living. So do we guide cancer patients onto an opposite path, no. We give them yet more drugs and more chemical injections (chemotherapy) on the promise of a cure.

These very same chemicals, of course, that cause cancer. All of this is part of a deep cultural process of paradigm denial – with much at stake, our core worldview – but which eventually must give way to real truths.

Thinking along these lines, for decades now I have consistently veered away from the conventional, crude and deeply unwise, and taproot math-based vision of nature that misguides modern life. This is applied to nature most intimately for us in the healing arts – including for the understanding of nutrition. The common view is therefore that foods are just nothing more than carbohydrates, fats and proteins – all math-defined to the T. They fit again the bankrupt mechanical view of nature.

For me life does not work that way, which is actually obvious. Because I defend and argue for a life-centered vision of nature, it is much more important that foods be living, rather than dead – which is generally accomplished by cooking. Cut living things apart and they die. Thus also highly milled, oxidized, processed foods tend to be dead and decaying.  Why is that so? Because consciousness, at the core of life, is as I have said a thousand and one times – “the universal relationship of connection itself in nature.” So cut foods apart and guess what, the inner consciousness and life leaves.  If we don’t feed ourselves with life forces, we ourselves go a long a path of aging, becoming less conscious and dying. With that in mind here is some simple advice:

AGAIN AVOID RIGIDITY: Machine parts are rigid and the principles that organize the nature of a machine are opposite to those of life. Rigidity is thus anathema to life. Being too rigid even about eating the best of foods, raw and living, is in a sense anti-life.

Listen to your body and its feedback to you, rather than having just one way of eating or one narrow kind of meal plan.

LOVE IT, MAKE IT A JOY – Love what you eat rather than eat because you must. Put different and not overly hot spices in to make it sumptuous and wonderful for the palate and beautiful for the eye. Turn on some soothing, calming music with your meal.

TIMES OF MEALS: I think of myself as eating a couple of meals a day, when stirred to, and then snacking for the rest of the time to keep up my energy and blood sugar up and about even. I nibble a little here and there. I satisfy my buds and urgings.

SIMPLE MEALS  AND SNACKS: If there are too many, large-portioned ingredients in a meal, the bodies digestive enzymes get confused. Healing is a bringing to oneness, so an inordinate amount of complexity does not help the healing processes. If you mix a grain meal with fruits, there is a tendency to ferment. If you eat two heavy proteins at a meal, neither may digest well. If you drink too much fluid with a meal, your digestive enzymes may be diluted. You know you’ve done something not just right if a meal gives gas.

KITCHEN TOOLS – Use greatest kitchen tools of the trade, the best juicers, blenders, dehydrators and the like to make meals easy to prepare.

ROTATIONS AND VARIETY: Foods sometimes have natural inhibitors and lower energy organisms embedded – like bacteria and fungus. Our bodies, with a healthy immune system, can usually handle these if given an opportunity to wage one battle at a time. This applies especially to fruits because of the high sugar content that easily feeds lower life forms. Thus I snack often on simple fruits and rotate them from day to day to avoid infections and allergic reactions. I also cut up the fruits into small pieces and often put them into the dehydrator to nibble a little at a time.

RAW, ORGANIC, WHOLE, ALKALINE, NUTRIENT-DENSE, VEGAN LIVING, LOCAL, IN-SEASON: My preference is for foods that are local, organic, whole, living (sprouted or soaked), more alkaline and in season. I avoid animal products except occasionally honey. Some like fish-oil for health but this involves more violence to nature if the fish are killed in the process. I am not totally rigid on this or anything else, but follow such guidelines as a preponderance. See my many blogs on the benefits of a vegan diet. The China Study was conclusive, gathering data from millions of Chinese, and supported by animal studies, all pointing out an eventual harm of an even minor flesh-based diet. For a chart of the most nutrient-dense foods, see the work of Dr. Joel Fuhrman. Avoid processed, milled, irradiated, chemicalized and otherwise made unwhole foods.

VEGETABLES & FRUITS, PLUS: Fruits and veggies  form the foundation of my diet – and in various forms – salads, blends, juices, dried concoctions, sauces and so on. Next comes some spices in moderation and a bit of nuts, seeds, and legumes – and not too much of the latter because they are quite heavy or concentrated, as well as relatively acid foods that certainly need to be broken down to enter our fluid bloodstream. The life force within us is more simple, diffuse, flowing and full of light.

HYDRATION: Life travels in our fluids and thus is extracted best from water-rich fruits and vegetables and via their juices. Sometimes I drink them straight and at other times diluted and with spices and/or super-food powders. In the winter I especially like to add something warmer or hot, hot spices and hot water poured over raw ingredients, especially seaweed and veggies in soups.

Those are some of my most basic guiding principles. All the rest seems to fall into line.

Breaking Story 08/11/2010

The USDA nearly destroyed US raw organic almond business by forcing the toxic fumigation and pasteurization of their product. A federal appeals court just ruled that California farmers have a right to challenge the USDA’s “nutty” regulation in court – overturning the view that farmers had no rights and that the power of the USDA was dictatorial,  beyond challenge or absolute!

Here is the story from the Cornucopia Institute press release

The original release is at http://www.cornucopia.org/2010/08/f…

WASHINGTON, DC – A federal appeals court ruled today, overturning a lower court decision, that a group of California almond farmers have the right to challenge a USDA regulation requiring the treatment of their raw almonds with a toxic fumigant or steam heat prior to sale to consumers. For the past three years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has denied American consumers the right to buy raw almonds, grown in the USA, when they shop in grocery and natural food stores.

A group of almond growers sued the government to challenge USDA’s rule, but the federal district court ruled that courtroom doors were closed to the growers’ claims. The controversial rule has cost individual farmers millions of dollars in lost sales since it was enacted in September 2007.

“We are delighted by the court’s decision,” said Will Fantle, Cornucopia’s Research Director. Cornucopia has been coordinating the legal strategy for the farmers’ lawsuit. “At long last the farmers who have been injured by this rule will have the opportunity to stand in court and state why this poorly thought out regulation should be thrown out,” Fantle added.

The USDA and the Almond Board of California imposed the treatment scheme to minimize the risk of salmonella contamination outbreaks like those that had occurred with almonds in 2001 and 2004. USDA investigators were never able to determine how salmonella bacteria somehow contaminated the raw almonds that caused the food illnesses but they were able to trace back one of the outbreaks, in part, to the country’s largest “factory farm,” growing almonds and pistachios on over 9000 acres.

Family-scale growers have argued that the onerous and expensive mandated treatment regime is only needed by the giant industrial producers, who have less control over the quality of their nuts, and has hurt their market because it consumer resistance.

Many in the industry have questioned the logic exempting foreign-grown almonds from the treatment scheme. Imports have displaced raw domestic nuts in many major markets and retail locations across the U.S. This regulatory loophole is part of what has been crushing California producers.

“I am very happy with this first step in overturning this destructive regulation,” said Nick Koretoff, an almond farmer and plaintiff in the lawsuit. “The treatment mandate has been a financial catastrophe for me. My consumers want raw, untreated healthy almonds and I have been denied the opportunity to sell them what they want.”

Attorney John Vetne, who has been representing the almond farmers, said the Appeals Court made a “very strong decision affirming farmers’ rights.” The USDA had been arguing that farmers did not even have the right to legally challenge the USDA regulation. “We are pleased that the Appeals Court rejected USDA’s argument that courthouse doors are closed to farmers. We now intend to demonstrate to the federal district court that USDA acted outside of authority granted by Congress when it denied California almond growers a consumer market for raw almonds,” Vetne added.

Tens of thousands of consumers have expressed their discontent with the raw almond treatment rule in comments to the USDA. Organic and raw foods enthusiasts were particularly incensed that the nuts, despite being processed with propylene oxide (identified as a carcinogen by the federal EPA) or steam-heat, were still allowed to be labeled as “raw” — many believe that essential nutrients in food can be destroyed by heat, radiation and toxic chemicals.

The Cornucopia Institute, an organization known for its research and defense of family farmers involved in organics, artisan and local food production, was impressed with how many consumers have a real passion for maintaining the availability of raw food and nuts, including almonds, and have been willing to financially support the farmers in their legal challenge. “Contributions continue to flow in supporting this effort,” Fantle noted.

“I and many of my friends look forward to the day when we will once again be able to easily purchase truly raw, authentic almonds from California in my local store,” said Joan Levin, a Chicago resident and raw foods consumer. “We hope this Appeals Court ruling brings that day closer,” she said.

For more info see:
http://www.cornucopia.org/almonds/

By Ron Seely

Experts Are Worried As Traces Of Common Medicines Are Found In Water Supplies.
Wisconsin State Journal : FRONT : A1 Sunday, August 29, 2004

Before you read any more of this story, go to your kitchen sink and draw a glass of water. Hold it up to the light and take a good look.

Take a sip.

And think about this. Researchers are finding that our drinking water may contain small amounts of the many drugs that line the shelves of most of our medicine cabinets.

In addition to that refreshing sip of water, you may be ingesting everything from the estrogen used in birth control pills to antibiotics and anti-depressants.

If you find that thought unsettling, you’re not alone. Agencies such as the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources are investing millions of dollars in research aimed at measuring the levels of pharmaceuticals in our water supplies.

And those studies are turning up surprising levels of the chemical substances in lakes and streams, in the treated water coming from sewage treatment plants and, most disturbing, in the aquifers from which we draw our drinking water.

It’s not somebody else’s problem, either. Research has turned up pharmaceuticals in surface water, as well as in water coming from septic systems, right here in Dane County, according to Ken Bradbury, a hydrogeologist with the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey who is studying the problem locally.

“It’s troubling,” said Bradbury. “It’s troubling that we may be drinking trace amounts of things we haven’t thought about as being there. We don’t know the health effects and we’re not doing enough monitoring to know what the levels are.”

Researchers are just beginning to look at the potential impact of such substances on our health.

There are numerous concerns. Some fear, for example, that exposure to antibiotics will worsen an already existing problem — the growing resistance of bacterial pathogens to antibiotics that are overused.

And studies of fish and other aquatic wildlife exposed to estrogen have turned up numerous problems — such as hermaphroditic fish downstream of sewage treatment plants in the United Kingdom.

Such studies have led some researchers to suggest that declining sperm counts as well as increasing rates of breast, prostate and testicular cancers in humans may be related to estrogenic compounds in the environment.

Henry Anderson, chief medical officer in the state’s Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Health, said much of the concern about potential health impacts stems from the nature of the drugs themselves.

“These are drugs that are designed to impact people,” Anderson said.

Such contaminants, considered one of the hottest emerging issues in environmental health, have already been tagged with an acronym. They’re called pharmaceuticals and personal care products, or PPCPs.

They come from a number of sources. Unwanted medications are frequently flushed down the toilet or washed down the sink. We all excrete ingested drugs every time we use the bathroom. When we wash our hands with antibiotic soap, we send antibiotics down the drain and into the waste stream. Farms where antibiotics are used to stimulate animal growth are also a source of contamination.

Lack of research makes it difficult to estimate the amounts of PPCPs entering our waters. Generally, drugs are showing up in much lower concentrations than better studied contaminants such as nitrates.

K.G. Karthikeyan is a UW-Madison faculty member in the Biological Systems Engineering Department who is researching the presence of drugs in water supplies. He pointed out that in both his studies and others, such substances are detected in parts per billion as opposed to contaminants such as nitrates, which are measured in parts per million.

But the sheer volume of pharmaceuticals used in this country and around the world leads most to suspect that the concentrations of drugs in our waters will only increase. Worldwide sales of pharmaceuticals is approaching $500 billion. Last year, people spent $26 billion on cholesterol and triglyceride reducers alone, an increase of 14 percent from 2002, making it the largest selling class of drugs, just ahead of ulcer medications and antidepressants.

That these drugs were making their way into our water first became apparent in Europe. About 10 years ago, environmental scientists found clofibric acid, a cholesterol-lowering drug, in ground water beneath a German sewage treatment plant.

In this country, the first comprehensive survey of PPCPs in the environment was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, which analyzed water samples from 139 streams across 30 states in 1999 and 2000. The streams were all downstream of crowded urban areas and large livestock farms. Pharmaceuticals and hormones were found in 80 percent of the streams sampled.

Since then, other tests have revealed extensive contamination of both ground and surface waters by pharmaceuticals. In short, everywhere researchers have looked, they have found the substances.

Scientists with the state Laboratory of Hygiene tested 105 surface and ground-water samples from around the country and found that 64 contained estrogenic compounds, although at low concentrations.

Researchers turned up more contamination in surface waters than in ground water, but reported that they were surprised to find that 42 percent of the ground-water samples tested were tainted with estrogen.

In their report, the scientists called that finding “striking” and concluded that “while the levels were generally lower than the surface water supplies, the fact that there were detections at all should serve as a heads-up.”

Bill Sonzogni, a researcher at the laboratory who supervised the research, said that while such research is in its earliest stages, the findings are enough to merit more study.

“I don’t think it’s a health hazard at this point,” Sonzogni said. “But it is something that needs looked at more . . . I think there certainly is concern at this point.”

In his studies, UW-Madison scientist Karthikeyan, working with a grant from the DNR, sampled waters for antibiotics at several treatment plants in Wisconsin, including Green Bay, Oshkosh, Lake Geneva, Barron-Cameron, Hayward, and Spooner.

At every site, according to his preliminary findings, antibiotics were detected in samples from waters both before and after treatment. At two plants, those in Lake Geneva and Spooner, antibiotics were found in adjacent ground-water monitoring wells.

Bradbury, with the Wisconsin Geological Survey, has been studying water in a new Sun Prairie subdivision that relies on septic systems to treat wastes. He and other researchers have detected ibuprofen, as well as estrogenic compounds, in water from the septic systems. Although ground water in the subdivision has been tested, no pharmaceuticals were discovered, Bradbury added.

All of this science has lots of implications, according to Anderson, for regulators such as the EPA as well as for the operators of treatment plants.

The problem for sewage treatment plants is that traditional methods of treating waste do not eliminate many of the pharmaceuticals or hormones.

Paul Nehm, director of operations and maintenance for the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District, said tests have shown the presence of very low levels of pharmaceuticals in water both before and after treatment at the plant. But levels are considerably lower in water after treatment, he added, leading him to believe that processes used at the plant are filtering out some of the substances.

In research released last week, UW-Madison environmental chemist Joel Pedersen reported that studies of three California treatment plants showed traditional methods of treating waste weren’t as effective at filtering pharmaceuticals. Two of the plants studied used advanced treatments, such as reverse osmosis in which water is forced through a membrane that blocks passage of foreign molecules.

Of 19 contaminants studied, the traditional plant eliminated only five. Studies of the more advanced plants, however, showed one eliminated 16 and another eliminated 12 of the pharmaceutical and hormonal compounds.

Such science, according to Wisconsin’s Anderson, will eventually be important in deciding whether to require more treatment of waste water. As important, he added, are studies such as Bradbury’s of private septic systems which are even less effective at filtering drug wastes.

Anderson, at least, hasn’t missed the irony of the very drugs we use to try and improve our health coming back in our drinking water to potentially cause new health problems. And he points out that some researchers have actually raised the possibility that some of the drugs finding their way into our water supplies might be beneficial for us. Maybe some who are accidentally ingesting cholesterol-lowering drugs are better off, Anderson said.

But, mostly, scientists say that at this point the things we don’t know about drugs in our water far outnumber those things we do know.

“There are lots of questions,” concluded Karthikeyan.

Contact Ron Seely at rseely@madison.com or 252-6131

http://www.madison.com/toolbox/index.php?action=printme&ref=archives&storyURL=/archives/read.php?ref=wsj:2004:08:29:384293:FRONT

Many of  you have heard about the incredible benefits of the food vegan diet.

There is ample data to support that.

ADVENTIST STUDY OF THE VEG/VEGAN DIET
There have been two major studies (a third is in progress) of the lifestyles of Seventh Day Adventists in California. By not smoking or consuming excess alcohol, eating a plant-based diet, eating nuts several times a week, engaging in regular exercise and keeping a trim weight, the average Adventist men lived 6 to 7 years longer and women 4 years longer.  Those most closing following this lifestyle lived even longer, up to 10 years on average. They also had greater quality of life as measured by their having less chronic illnesses. Compared to other Californians,  breast cancer rates, for example, were 85% lower and coronary heart disease rates 66% lower for men and 98% for women! Positive lifestyle factors were tracked including eating a plant-based diet (with legumes, nuts, tomatoes, and whole meal bread) along with 5 or more glasses of water.

Increasing the eating of red and white meat correlated, as with The China Study, a corresponding rise in cancer incidences.

Of note, the Seventh Day Adventist study showed that vegans outlived vegetarians. They especially had less cardiovascular diseases given their lower body weight. The average Adventist vegetarian weighed about 16 lbs less and the vegans 32 lbs less. The eating of nuts substituted for the eating of fish and fish oils to gather Omega-3 fats and proteins.

WHOLE-FOOD VEGAN vs. JUNK-FOOD VEGAN
In regard to the vegan diet, it was not so much emphasized is that one can be vegan and still eat largely junk food! Ultimately a major step is to shift the diet to whole plant-based foods rather than foods that are highly processed. Otherwise the most highly-processed sugar, flour and oils remain “vegan” and supposedly healthy.

STUDIES OF THE RAW FOOD VEGAN DIET
There a numerous studies available that touch on the raw vegan diet. However, there are several essential problems with most of these studies.

First most are too recent to evaluate the raw-food diet’s impact on longevity and long-term health. This is because the introduction of the raw-food lifestyle largely began in the 1960′s and 1970′s and only recently caught the attention of a significant population group in the past decade.

Secondly,  innovative diet centers such as the Hippocrates Institute (which claims to have helped more people to  reverse chronic diseases thereby) rarely publish studies. This may be partly for defensive political reasons. For example, Brian Clement, the director of the Hippocrates Institute, has yet to publish his landmark study made decades ago that compares a 75-80% raw to a 100% raw-food diet.

Thirdly, and most importantly, the few studies that are extant tend to be classically reductionist.  They analyze this or that very minute, narrowly focused chemical marker and in the classical style of the mechanical (death-ridden) view of nature. It is virtually anti-holistic. Thus many of these studies are largely worthless. Examples can be found at the anti-vegetarian beyondveg.com site.

Studying the most minute lab details – quite perfectly measured to myopically call a study “scientific” – and rather than gathering a whole (true objective) view of things, there’s  no real means to fathom why raw food diets represents such a significant breakthrough.

There are, however, some notable exceptions.