Foods that heal!

Flax seed is the number one anti-inflammatory used in the ground form. Grinding the seeds with a coffee grinder releases the omega-3's to lubricate joints and reduce inflammation. Ginger is commonly used for bloating, nausea and motion sickness. Cinnamon is a sugar regulator, lowers cholesterol and the aroma helps your memory. Almonds alleviate food cravings, lower cholesterol are high in fiber and vitamin E. Garlic is a natural blood thinner and antibiotic. Honey is great for energy, helps allergies and boosts your immune system. Apples lower cholesterol, are good for weight loss and anti-cancer. Apple cider vinegar has a long list of uses. With all the digestion problems present today this is one of the best resources to settle stomach acid and help you to digest properly. Potatoes and avocados are high in potassium which helps fight cramping in your legs. These are just a few benefits from eating whole foods. Check it out for yourself by searching, health benefits of, and type in the food you are wanting more info on. You will be amazed at the many medicinal foods that are at your fingertips for much less than the cost of a prescription drug. The results may take more time but your patience and persistence will pay off with a healthy mind and body for you and your family.

Protection from food borne illness

There is so much talk these days of food borne illnesses and we need to know how to protect ourselves. Making sure that we are thoroughly washing after visiting the restroom in restaurants is vital. So much is passed on from door handles and the exchange of money. Before you sit down to eat take time to wash or use a good anti-bacterial product.
When washing fruits and vegetables before eating soak them in fresh squeezed lemon juice and toss in rind and all or you can use a good organic cleaner such as Basic-H from Shaklee. If you do not know a Shaklee distributor you can call Lois Saxton at 607-776-4737 and she can get the product for you. This cleaner takes off the waxy coating that is on most store bought produce. Under that coating are the sprays and bacteria that can cause the upset stomach. Simple precautions such as these and taking good enzymes can help you avoid the health risks of improper handling of the foods you eat. For some basic enzyme products go to www.puritan.com and type in enzymes. There you will find one that is right for you.

All foods in moderation!

Years ago all grocery stores had a butcher behind the counter to tell you about the best cut of meat and where it was from. In most cases it was local. We still have that option if we look around us, ask questions and find a farmer who can give you some tips on the best meat lockers in your area. No need to be concerned about the diseased meats coming in from out of the country when you buy local and you are helping your economy. In both New York and Pennsylvania there are farmers markets available to get fresh fruits and vegetables. Combining these foods gives you more fiber which will help your bodies to properly digest and utilize the proteins that you consume. Eating beef and pork 3-4 meals per week while having poultry and fish the other meals also will keep your system at peek performance. Currently Americans consume on average 106 lbs. of red meat per year compared to only 10-15 lbs. of fish. Find ways you can bring in salmon and mackerel to your meal time. These are great for the brain and help lower cholesterol. Eating a food two or three times will make it familiar to your taste buds so it becomes a food that you will enjoy eating.Remembering that all things in moderation helps you to have a healthy mind and body. Find the closest to God made good whole foods, homemade cookies and treats and plenty of fresh water and your chances for good health is much more likely. Also the younger you are changing to positive eating habits, the faster and more complete your body will heal itself.

Help with sleep disorders

At a shopping mall in Coventry, England, researchers posted colorful signs along the steps of a staircase that said: “Taking the stairs protects your heart.” Over a 6-week period, the number of people who chose to walk up the stairs instead of riding the adjacent escalator more than doubled. The researchers say that every step counts, and that long-term behavior will change only if the signs are seen regularly.
If what we put before our eyes tells us to take a drug to help us sleep that is what we tend to do. If however we challenge ourselves to put into practice those habits that will help us to overcome the stresses and disorders that cause sleep problems we can begin to realize the benefits of a great nights rest!
Now some of those natural remedies are eating celery before going to bed. Drinking sleepy time tea, putting a dot of lavender oil on your pillow, a nice hot bath before bed, taking tryptophan which is the amino acid found in turkey will all help you to get to sleep and stay asleep all night. If you suffer with having to get up frequently to go to the bathroom taking 1000 mg of Ester C an hour or so before bedtime helps to strengthen the bladder and reduce those unwanted trips during the night.
Restless leg syndrome where there is involuntary jerking of the legs can be due to a shortage of B vitamins. Taking a good B-complex can help in that area!
Too much sugar and caffeine can cause incomplete sleep. You may wake up in the morning feeling as though you did not get near enough sleep, even though you may have slept 8 or more hours. MSG and other chemical stimulants can also rob you of much needed rest. Watch the labels on your foods.
Studies have also proven that prayer before bed can relax your mind and body for a complete night of sleep.

Seasonal Affective Dissorder S.A.D.

S.A.D affects millions of Americans, yes it is real, however it is very combat able! When we understand the how's and whys of this foe we can effectively win the battle. The missing link in the equation is the sun. We become deficient in Vitamin D and it can feel like the world is crashing in on us. For some regions in the country it is much worse than others. In the Icelandic regions they have very little sun at times yet much less of a problem with S.A.D. and researchers have found that diets with higher intake of fish could be the answer.
Fish is very high in Vitamin D with Cod liver oil leading the list at 1360 IU per tablespoon. Now if you find that hard to swallow there are gel caps available or the next best thing on the list is salmon at 360 IU for a 3.5 oz portion. mackerel comes in after that with 345 IU and tuna at 200 IU. Milk is down there a ways with 98 IU per 8 oz. glass and ready to eat cereals as 40 IU per 1/2 cup serving. You have to watch what they are using to fortify the milk and cereals with as in some cases they are not absorb able and if they are synthetic you are adding insult to injury. The recommended daily allowance of Vitamin D is 200 IU for new born-50, 400 IU for 51-70 and 70 plus needs 600 IU for optimal health. When we understand the correlation between a lack of sun during the cold and flu season and summer being a time where we tend to be a lot healthier because we are naturally out in the sun, taking Vitamin D supplements during the dreary days will make much more sense.

Water, are you dying of thirst?

This is from a report done by Lydia Best on the importance of water consumption. Lydia is studying to become a certified nutrition counselor through GCNM.

The average American has medicine at his or her finger tips at all times. The pharmaceuticals have created medicines for every ailment imaginable. There are pills for headaches, indigestion, depression, stress, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. In fact Lipitor, the number one prescription drug in 2006 has held that position for the previous five years and is supposedly a great reliever to those struggling with high cholesterol. It also brought in over 12 billion dollars in sales in 2006. Overall, the sales of prescription drugs went up 7% in 2006 to $602 billion. The United States alone paid over $250 billion for their ‘legal’ drugs. But I am not here today to talk about drugs, but instead to share with you the amazing wisdom of Dr. F. Batmanghelidj. In his book, Water: for Heath, for Healing, for life, Dr Batman, as shall now call him, explains and explores the overuse of drugs in our world. Drugs that supposedly are designed to “heal” the body are actually just silencing the cries of severely dehydrated people who are desperately in need of a drink of plain and simple water. I must admit I was, at first, skeptical. If what he was saying was true, almost the entire pharmaceutical industry as we know it could be almost eradicated if people would begin to drink adequate amounts of water. According to Dr Batman, nearly every disease is the body’s response to dehydration; from diabetes to heart failure, from obesity to migraines, they are all outcries for water. His findings and studies are well presented in his book, and he presents a very persuasive argument. If you could eliminate your ailments ranging from aches and pains to cancer, in a non-abrasive natural and inexpensive way, wouldn’t you do it? In his book Dr Batman shows how you can live a healthier and more enjoyable life simply by learning to drink more water. So grab a water bottle and join me as we tap into his wisdom.
As humans, we are water dependant people. Our bodies are 75% water and our brain which is an extremely vital part of the human body is 85% water. Because our bodies were intricately created, it has its own distribution process for the water that is receives. Every part has its rationed amount of water, and no part gets more than its determined amount. In this process the brain takes absolute precedence over all other parts. But when our bodies do not receive the amount of water necessary to function properly, problems arise. Cells are not able to survive and critical job are left undone causing physical trauma within our bodies. These problems aren’t always felt immediately, our bodies are amazing creations and they will do whatever they can to help correct the lack of water. But after days, month, and even years of dehydration, the effects can be serious, even deadly. Dr Batman has done much research and has traced the lack of water in our bodies and found it to be the root cause of most of the wide-spread diseases in our world today. It seems so ridiculous that even young children are dealing with issues that once were confined to adults. But with the popularity of soda, sports drinks, and juices on the rise, it’s not too difficult to see why people of all ages are becoming dehydrated and susceptible to the problems that accompany it. Soda and other sugary drinks cannot meet our body’s need for water. I would like to give you a few examples from the book that Dr Batman gives to show the importance of water in our bodies. Let’s start with diabetes. According to Dr Batman, “diabetes seems to be the end result of water deficiency in the brain, to the point where the brain’s neurotransmitter systems, particularly the system that is regulated by the neurotransmitter serotonin, are affected.” The brain is designed to then rely on glucose for its volume requirements and source of energy. When this happens, the brain requires up to 85% of the needed energy from sugar. Because the brain can be damaged during intense bouts of dehydration, it often resuscitates itself with an “intravenous fluid containing sugar and salt.” But another huge problem is that dehydration negatively affects the salt metabolism in the body. Tryptophan, an amino acid, controls the salt intake of the body and salt controls the regulation of the amount of water outside of the cells in your body. When tryptophan is lacking, there is a total body salt-shortage. With not much salt to work with, the body cannot retain water properly and calls on sugar to step in where salt is lacking. This causes the sugar levels to rise which is the beginning of the problem leading to diabetes and the complications that accompany the disease.
Next, let’s take a look at obesity. The statistics, dealing with the number of people of all ages who are obese, are disturbing. Dr Batman gives the main reason why he thinks obesity is becoming an epidemic. According to his research, there are two sensations associated with eating habits. One is the feeling of hunger and the other is the feeling of thirst. Both feelings are felt in the same area and are produced by histamine. Dr Batman explains that it’s very easy to confuse these two signals, so one might think he is hungry, when in reality his body is crying out for water. Many people, including doctors, believe that dry mouth is the only way your body cries out for water. But if you wait that long before drinking water, your body is already very dehydrated. “The best way to separate the sensation of thirst from that of hunger is to drink water before eating food.” Although many animals make this a habit, as humans we tend to embrace the reverse; we eat food, become thirsty, then we drink water. Even then we often wait until the body has used up much of the needed water to digest the food. Leaving the body overly-full and severely lacking water. Obesity causes people to consume food to gratify the screams of histamine for water.
Dr Batman tracks the dehydration of our bodies and traces it to most of the major diseases and I encourage you to read this book and learn from his wisdom and research. It’s amazing to think that the solution for things so frightening and complicated as diseases could be found in a simple glass of cold water. In closing, I would like to include excerpts from a list that Dr Batman has compiled of reasons why water is so vital to our health and well-being. For more information about Dr Batman, you can check out the website http://www.watercure.com/.
‘Reasons Why Your Body Needs Water Every Day.’
Without water, nothing lives
Water is the main solvent for all foods, vitamins, and minerals. It is used in the breakdown of food into smaller particles and their eventual metabolism and assimilation.
Water energizes food and food particles are then able to supply the body with this energy during digestion. This is why food without water has absolutely no energy value for the body.
Water helps reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Water is the best lubricating laxative and prevents constipation.
Water helps reduce stress, anxiety, and depression.
Water can help prevent attention deficit disorder in children and adults.
Water clears toxic waste from different parts of the body and takes it to the liver and kidneys for disposal.
Water makes the skin smoother and helps decrease the effects of aging.
To lose weight, water is the best way to go—drink water on time and lose weight without much dieting. Also, you will not eat excessively when you feel hungry but you are in fact only thirsty for water.
Water helps prevent the loss of memory as we age. It helps reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Water helps reverse addictive urges, including those for caffeine, alcohol and some drugs.
Water reduces the incidence of morning sickness in pregnancy.
Water helps prevent glaucoma.
Water increases you efficiency at work; it expands your attention span.
Water prevents clogging of arteries in the heart and the brain.
Water gives us power and electrical energy for all the brain functions, most particularly thinking.
Water integrates mind and body functions. In increases ability to realize goals and purpose.
Are you thirsty yet?

Caring for the all important brain!

Change Your Brain, Change Your Life- caught my attention too! The brain is one of the most misunderstood organs in our body. Until just recently we had very little insight into how to detect and change malfunction in the brain. Technology today using brain-imaging techniques have opened up a whole new world seeing how your brain patterns either help you with your marriage, parenting skills and how to interact with others or how the wires have gotten crossed and have caused you and those around you grief.
Let us start out by understanding what the brain is.
The weight of your brain is about 3 pounds. Very small in comparison to the huge job it has as the hardware of your soul. Skin weighs twice as much as your brain. Your brain is made up of about 75 percent water. A few hours without a good drink of water and the brain begins to dehydrate. Your brain consists of about 100 billion neurons. There are anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 synapses for each neuron. Synapses are the junction across which a nerve impulse passes from an axon terminal to a neuron, muscle cell, or gland cell. There are no pain receptors in your brain, so your brain can feel no pain. There are 100,000 miles of blood vessels in your brain. When these blood vessels lose their elasticity, they begin to break down and stop carrying fresh blood cells to intricate parts of the brain. Your brain is the fattest organ in your body and may consist of at least 60% fat. This is the number one reason that people who live on low fat no fat products tend to have what is termed the spacey feeling and those taking cholesterol meds are at a greater risk for dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Is it any wonder why with declining whole foods consumption in the American diet we are seeing so many problems that are ultimately brain related? Now we can use a myriad of drugs to trick our brains into increasing the neurotransmitters serotonin, nor epinephrine and dopamine. These drugs have yielded some successes and some major side effects that many are still reeling from including lowered function in day to day details and in many cases of suicide. However if we learn how to properly feed the body and brain we can eliminate so many of the causes of ADD, OCD, ODD and on and on the list goes.
High protein, low carbohydrate diets are best for those suffering with ADD. When we use low fat, no fat products, sugar is used to replace the fat for flavor. High sugar consumption is one of the main culprits of ADD. Breakfasts that consist of sugary cereals start you out on a sugar high and you will find yourself searching out more simple carbs to pull you out of the fog and the cycle just goes on from there. OCD and ODD are when the brain gets stuck in a pattern and as it keeps going around and around, you will repeat what has many times already been taken care of. Feeding the brain good fats, lean protein and complex carbohydrates kicks neurotransmitters into gear to give proper messaging.
Good farm fresh eggs and turkey sausage is a great start to anyone’s day. A small glass of 100% fruit juice and this breakfast will keep you and your brain in focus till lunch time and beyond. An ideal lunch is tuna or chicken on tossed greens with a sprinkle of cheese and olive oil based dressing. Dinner should consist of a small piece of protein, steamed vegetables and rice, legumes or potatoes.
These meals are relatively easy to prepare, however, we have been tricked by good marketers that we need to use the prepackaged stuff in order to have the time to do what we want to do in our day. Shouldn't our family’s health be the number one priority in our day? We run at breakneck speed all week long and then when we should take time to relax and enjoy each other’s company on the weekend we are running to several different sports activities, and on the way we drive thru our favorite fast food restaurant to grab that which will not feed or nourish one single cell in our already deficient system. The more we can understand how delicate yet resilient are these amazing bodies that we have and we learn how to keep them running optimally, we have the best chance to teach our children and those we are around in decision making skills that will allow them to live vital lives without the drugs or regrets from poor choices due to cross wired under nourished brains.
I learned about the penguin approach from this book also. Too many times the only response that others get from us in our busyness and stressed out emotions is when they are doing it wrong and how it does not fit in our tight world. Penguin trainers only respond when things are done right. If we learned to spend more time on the positives instead of the negatives we would not have those around us in need of anti-depressants or anxiety meds.
There may be times that we do need to integrate meds into our regimen, however too many times we have been taught to reach for the quick fix which has proven itself over and over to lead to yet another symptom that leads to another medication and complicates what was meant to be so much easier. Eating good whole foods and treats in moderation will lead to a satisfying and fulfilled life.
Teaching ways to listen to one’s own body and getting valued information both medically and naturally and making an informed decision will change our lives for the best.