Thursday, April 10, 2008

Need A Snack? Try Macaroons…

Mmmm… macaroons. I like to start off posts with “Mmmmm...”

I was just enjoying some macaroons and thought I would share the experience with you. I am eating Jennies:

Sure you can, and should, make your own… as that is the best way to ensure quality ingredients. I must say it is nice to find someone who makes a decent product though. Jennies ingredients are:

-Unsweetened Coconut
-Honey
-Egg Whites

That’s my kind of ingredient list… short and sweet. Macaroons are an excellent snack as coconut is an excellent source of medium chain fatty acids that that body uses for energy (burns much easier than long chain). It is also an excellent source of lauric acid which, as I mentioned in my previous post, is the precursor to monolaurin which is very antimicrobial. Therefore, lauric acid, such as found in coconut helps to protect the body from viruses and such other damaging microbes.

So go enjoy some macaroons. Beware since not all of them are created equal. Read the ingredients… or better yet make your own. When I do, I will post about it and you shall see the macaroon in all of its glory.

Out

Natural Body Butter by Mercola

Ah yes a product review.

So every now and then I like to use some lotion. I mean… sure I am a dude, but I can still get annoyed with dry skin. Sometimes after washing my hands several times, doing the dishes, or failing to get as much water in my diet as I should, I feel a bit dry.

As I mentioned in a previous post about the sun, I don’t like to put stuff on my body that I wouldn’t eat. Since things we put on the skin are absorbed into the bloodstream I think care should be taken for these things as well.

In the past, I have used olive oil and coconut oil as moisturizers. Both work well but sometimes can be a bit annoying to apply and use with clothes. Recently I stumbled upon an excellent product: Body Butter by Mercola.

Check out the ingredient list:
Organic Aloe Vera
Organic Coconut Oil
Organic Jojoba Oil
Monolaurin
Organic Shea Butter
Organic Mango Butter
Natural Palm Oil
Distilled Water
Emulsifying Wax (plant based)

That’s what I like to see. If you are not sure what anything is on a label it is best to research it a bit before you eat it or put it on your skin. I had heard of monolaurin before and knew it was derived from lauric acid… so I knew it was good.... but I had to look that one up. That’s when I saw and remembered one of the best naturally occurring sources of monolaurin is breast milk .

So I like putting this on my skin… knowing what the ingredients. And it feels just about how I would like it to… not runny. It is rather expensive though. I think it costs like $12 for one little container. It does last a while though especially if you are judicious with the application.

Out.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Aspartame is not tame, it is dangerous, wild, and unwilling to cooperate with the body

Ha… what a title.

Check out this article at Food Quality News.com. It is talking about the dangers of aspartame.

Notice how it says “Despite strong concerns being raised from some quarters over the sweetener, both the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have not changed their guidelines regarding the safety of the ingredient or intake advice”.

So, a word of wisdom. Don’t trust the government for the safety of your food or what you should or should not eat. The government says aspartame is safe and raw milk is unsafe. Loco.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

The Sick To Do List

Per my previous post, here are some of the things I do when I am under the weather.

- pray
- sleep
- eat easily digestible foods to conserve the bodies energy (have broths and lots of liquids, stay away from sugary drinks, juices, no pasteurized products)
- get lots of antioxidants
- drink Kombucha
- drink green and white tea
- eat extraordinary foods (see below)
- peroxide in the ears
- clean out the nose with saline solution
- take oregano oil
- herbs (turmeric, garlic, echinacea, licorice root (glycyrrhiza glabra), astragalus (I have never taken this one), etc)

Some pills that I find helpful:
RM-10 (Garden Of Life)
Seasonal Relief (Garden of Life)
Vitamin C

Now… for some further explanation.

Sleep is huge. This should be obvious, but many people including myself, find it hard to stop, take time off work, and just rest.

One of the most (probably the most) energy consuming tasks of the body is digestion. By eating easily digestible foods you allow your body to have more energy to fight the sickness that is ravaging your body.  So if you can have some broth or make some fresh vegetable juice all the better. Green tea, white tea, and kombucha provide lots of antioxidants.

When I said “eat extraordinary foods” I am referring to foods that are excellent for health all around. These are foods that are beneficial all the time but especially when you are not feeling well. Foods like extra virgin coconut oil, broccoli sprouts, blueberries, bee pollen (unless you are allergic of course), dark leafy greens, and herbs provide so much nutrition and immune support that your body can recover much quicker. As far as dairy goes I only stick to raw dairy and when I am sick in limited amounts. Raw cow’s milk is excellent but it will provoke an immune response and you may have some additional mucus. Raw goat’s milk is much more easily digested by the body and would be much better when sick ( or anytime for that matter),

Some things like cleaning out your nasal passages, peroxide in the ears, and oil pulling… I know they work. I have done enough reading and have enough experience with them to know they work in my body… but that’s all I know. I have read all the “they do this, that, and the other” but that doesn’t really cut it for me. I like a little more concrete evidence. So with these things I would say proceed with caution. Read books. Do some research and see what you find. Listen to your body. I feel really funny saying “listen to your body”.  Strangely enough, I had the feeling on Friday that I was getting sick. By Monday it hit. I should have taken preemptive measures sooner, buuuuuut I didn’t.

As far as pills go, I prefer only whole food supplements. Garden Of Life is great for that so I usually stick with them for the quality, although there are some others that provide whole food supplements and are good as well.

The last couple of days the advanced hygiene, sleep, and broccoli sprouts were very helpful. Welp, that is all for now. I hope that this blog may help you if you ever experience ‘under the weatherness’. Get below deck.

Under The Weather

So I was “under the weather” the past couple of days. Yeah… me… under the weather… who would a thunk it.

I found it kind of amusing actually… well, before and after… not during my “under the weatherness”. Since I changed my diet I rarely get ill, especially when compared to my pre healthy diet days. I used to get sick about 4-6 times a year on average. Now it has been more like once every two years with the past year being the exception. Since I have moved to Nashville I have felt more under the weather than usual… like 2-3 times.

The past couple of days was the only time though that I felt drained of all my energy. The other times I had energy and was able to be up, out, and about. On this past Monday, I was so dead… I felt like I could hardly move. I hardly ate and slept for around 15 hours.

The amazing thing was to watch my body recover. On Monday, as I mentioned, I mostly slept. I tried to promote a fever as that is the body’s natural way of fighting off infection. I dressed up in several layers and went to bed hoping to sweat it out. On Tuesday I woke up feeling about the same but I knew I would be recovering. I had some congestion and I watched my mucus go from brown to green to clear within about 6 hours. As the day went on I started feeling more and more energy and started to have an appetite again.

By Tuesday evening I had way more energy and knew that I was on the way up. I still have some leftover congestion but I can tell my body is getting rid of it in normal fashion. Also, it is so much better to feel good and have energy with congestion than to feel like cutting your head off with congestion. I think it is rather amazing how our body works to heal itself.

I have a list of many things I do to help my body heal. I put them in this separate post here. That way I can bookmark it. I always have to re-think what I should do when I am not feeling well and thinking is the last thing I want to do when I am feeling bad.

If you eat extremely well… will you still get sick? That is for a future post.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Milk Is Soooo Dangerous

Everytime I hear about real milk being banned it just burns me up. Burns me up. The FDA as well as state departments continually act foolish with regard to milk. The worst thing about it is they do it in the name of safety, when they really have no clue. There is no common sense there. Again with me and the common sense thing.

For thousands of years people have been drinking real milk from the animal… well animals. It is good and it is safe. What is not safe is partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. What is not safe is high fructose corn syrup, What is not safe is sucralose. Cigarettes, aspartame, msg, and on and on. You get the point?

Here we have the government banning milk. The onus (I like that word) is not on them. Nor is it on the store that you get your food from. The responsibility is your own. Sure there are going to be farms which do not take care of their animals. There will be farms which thin out their milk and try and cheat the consumer. It is the consumer’s job to know where you are getting your food and have a relationship with that producer (farmer) to ensure that is not the case. If that is the case then stop buying from them and tell others. Put them out of business.

Well. I am done ranting. What set me off was an article about FDA action against Organic Pastures Dairy Company… one of the coolest milk operations running in the US. I am gonna go drink some real milk and calm down.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Organic Foods Really Are Better

Tell me something I don’t know. There is an article on organic-center.org talking about the nutritional superiority of organic foods. It bases this claim on what it states is “the first major, indepth review of the published scientific literature on the nutritional benefits of organic food completed since 2003.”

Again, I think it is just common sense to know that foods which do not have pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, artificial growth hormones will be better for your body. Farms which use biodynamic farming and permaculture design principles will produce a better crop.

I need to write a blog on common sense. Then, everytime that I mention common sense you will know where I am coming from. Let me put that on my to-do-list.

Here is the link to that article again: www.organic-center.org