I’m currently writing a paper for my Nutritional Symptomatology class, based on a ’5-Day Miracle Diet’ that is toted to help with hypoglycemia. All I have to say is that this diet is not meant for people who have crazy-hectic-running around all day schedules. This diet is meant for the office worker who is timed daily and knows exactly what is going to happen tomorrow. Arrg.

Soon there will be an informative post, I promise! Not only ranting goes on here….

For now, here is a picture of my little baby Maui

Sauerkraut…the perfect condiment that we all grew up with. Actually, to be honest, the very first time that I ever tried sauerkraut was less than two months ago. I can gladly say that it was homemade – by me! It was a bit different making something that I’ve never even tried before, not knowing what it’s suppose to taste like. It’s actually a very fun & invigorating experience. The photo above is my half eaten batch made from purple cabbage.

Sauerkraut holds a powerful punch of healthy nutrients. For anyone who doesn’t know what it even is – sauerkraut is finely shredded cabbage that has undergone a fermentation process by lactic acid bacteria. This (good) bacteria is present in raw cabbage, therefore the only ingredient needed to make this is the cabbage itself.

Fermented foods can be such an amazing addition to your meals because they provide us with good bacteria – probiotics – which aid digestion, produce enzymes, and promote a healthy flora colony in your digestive tract. Many digestive problems come from the lack of these good guys in our gut and adding fermented vegetables to your diet will promote growth and succession of the good vs bad bacteria ratio.

Sauerkraut, made from cabbage (a cancer fighting warrior), is also a very rich source of Vitamin C. Preservation in a brine (the juices of the cabbage) prevents the vitamin C from being oxidized. Also containing acetylcholine, Vitamin B-12 (hey hey vegetarians!), manganese, Vitamin-B6, folate, enzymes, and glutamine. Glutamine is an amino acid which is amazing anti-inflammatory properties (also amazing for the gut!).

If you’re going to eat sauerkraut you have to know that there is a strict difference between homemade and store-bought. Homemade contains all of the goodness previously mentioned, while store-bought sauerkraut is a wild guess. Most brands have been pasteurized, meaning it has been heated up during its process, which also kills the good bacteria, What’s the point of eating it then? Killing bacteria = killing the point of eating this stuff!

Here’s the recipe that I used when I made my first sauerkraut. It’s easy & fun….but make sure your muscles are wide awake and ready for action.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Easy Homemade Sauerkraut

Use organic cabbage (purple makes it very colourful), as their bacteria has not been tainted with by sprays or genetic modification.

Clean the cabbage well and shred it finely.

Put all of your shreddings into a big bowl, add a pinch of salt, and then pound the living crap out of it with your hands, a big wooden spoon, or anything that can assist you in this step. Keep pounding away at it until you notice juices at the bottom of your bowl and the cabbage pieces are translucent.

Press your cabbage into a jar and pound it a bit more. Make sure to fill it only about 80% full as it expands during the fermentation process. Keep the jar on your counter top for about three days and then transfer over to your fridge.

Wait about 2 weeks and try it – it should be ready to go! It’s actually quite an exciting process to do, watch, and reap the benefits from. Try it

Do you usually buy a lunch or do you bring you own to work or school? I try to bring my own lunch as much as possible, but it’s hard when I am running all around the city all day having no refrigeration or storage to put my lunch. We know that bringing our own lunches is a healthier option for our stomachs and our wallets, but is the way that you are packing your lunch a healthier option for the environment?

Here are some lunch waste facts that I found in an article:

• ALUMINUM FOIL: More than 20 million Hershey’s kisses are wrapped with 133 square miles of foil every day
• ALUMINUM + TIN CANS: In the time it takes you to read this line, 50,000+ 12-oz. aluminum cans were made
• JUICE BOXES: Most inorganic trash retains its weight, volume, and form for at least four decades
• PAPER BAGS AND NAPKINS: It is estimated that 17 trees are cut down for every ton of non-recycled paper
• PLASTIC BOTTLES, FORKS, WRAP: U.S. citizens discard 2-1/2 million plastic bottles EVERY HOUR
• STYROFOAM: U.S. citizens throw away 25 billion styrofoam cups every year

Product packaging as well as the packaging you use to wrap up your lunches, snacks, or dinners all end up in our environment somehow. We need to make sure that we use sustainable and environmentally friendly packaging techniques that reduce the amount of garbage and even recycling that needs to be processed.

Buy in bulk anything that you can keep in glass jars at home. Also, purchase any produce fresh and from markets as opposed to buying them bagged, canned, or wrapped in packaging.

Bring your own silverware from home to use. That way you won’t be scrounging around looking for plastic utensils at work.

Use thermoses/kleen kanteens/sigg bottles to bring liquids in. They come in all different sizes, shapes, and colours now so you’ll be sure to find one that fits your personality and lifestyle. Using plastic water bottles or throw away cartons only adds to the problem.

Use reusable cases or containers to carry your food. Products like laptop lunches are amazing for storing, separating, and keeping your food fresh throughout the day. The best thing is that you bring it home, wash it, and use it tomorrow without any waste created.

I think that the Laptop Lunch system is perfect and actually just learned about it the other week. I checked their website and it says that most Chapters/Indigos carry them. I’ll be picking one up very soon and posting my own pictures of my own laptop lunch. At the end of the day, this post was made to inform you mainly about packaging and how something used everyday by so many people gets used without a thought of how environmentally un-friendly it is. We are thinking about healthier eating more so these days, but lets think about healthier packaging too.

Yesterday was one of the most important days in my life shared with some of the most important people in my life. It was the day that I finally came to realization that I was born with a gift. I’ve always known, since my first memory, that I was different. The meaning of different I can’t explain, but I knew something in me wasn’t in all of the other people that I was surrounded by. I know that all human race is different in their own ways and whatnot – but my description of different has nothing to do with that.

I’ve always been attracted to the outer world: ghosts, witches, spirits, souls, energies, other realms, other worlds. Ever since I was a kid, as far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be part of that world. I was drawn to it and sent wishes upon wishes that one day I could cast spells, see spirits, hear things others couldn’t, know things others couldn’t, see the past, see the future. I’ve never completely felt the feeling of belonging. I know I belong somewhere – but where? I was a happy kid, a sad kid, a mean kid and a shy kid, but most of all I was the kid who taught herself witchcraft, spent several hours staring at things to make them move. I spent days upon days wondering who I was, who I am. Where do I belong?

I’ve always known that I was born with a special power. For anyone out there who believes in energy medicine – you know what I mean. You just know and you can’t explain how, why, when, what… I’ve always known that there are other realms, other worlds, other sides, other beings, other spirits, souls, people and things out there that most of us can’t understand or believe or comprehend. I’ve always been a highly spiritual person. This being said I don’t follow religion or believe in a single God or life form who created the world. I’ve always believed that there is an energy – just a higher energy force – that only some of us can understand in this lifetime. Last night was the most important night of my life so far. There will be more “most important” nights, but as of today, this is it. Last night was the night that I accepted the knowledge and gifts that I have that correspond to the other world, the other side, the other level. With my other amazing energies and friends that I attracted, last night I accepted and came to realization that I knew my gift. The box is taped shut still but I just took off the wrapping paper. This is the first time in my life that I feel like I belong. I found where I need to go, I just need to figure out how to get there and who I go there with. It’s the first time that I’ve ever had anyone to talk to, and boy am I glad that I did. Relief. Success. Trials & New Beginnings. New Teachings. New Findings.

None of this probably makes any sense to you. The only person that I can think of that reads my blog and would possibly know what I mean is my friend Dan. Remember when we both saw Toby jump on the couch? That’s what I mean.

Love Safety & Security

Before I started working with the company I didn’t think that there was a difference between Salba and Chia – I thought they were both just chia seeds. I was wrong. There is a difference – one at large. Chia is actually a name given to a wide variety of plants (over 150 plants) and is a very generic term. Because the word chia signifies such a variety of species this also means a wide variety of nutritional content in the seed. Salvia Hispanica L, or Salba, is different because it is one variety and its nutrition profile has an absolute tested consistency. It is the one food that holds a medical patent.

• Salba is extremely high in Omega 3 with a 4:1 ratio to Omega 6
• Very high in fiber – 8:1 ratio insoluble-soluble fiber
• Contains all of the essential amino acids
• High ORAC value (antioxidant value)
• Gram for gram: 3x more iron than spinach, 4x more vegetable protein than kidney beans, 50% more folate than asparagus, 2x more potassium than a banana, 15x more magnesium than broccoli, & 6x more calcium than whole milk
• Holds 14x its weight in water
• Salba has the ability to manage the effects of diabetes. By slowing digestion, it can reduce the glycemic load of foods. Essentially, Salba will minimize your bodys response to foods that convert sugar by “regulating” the absorption of those sugars into your blood stream
• Tested by the University of Toronto, Salba has been proven to reduce inflammation (C-reactive protein) by 40%, reduce blood pressure, improve blood coagulation, control diabetes, and has positive effects on weight management

What else can you ask for in such a small tiny ancient grain? Naturally gluten free, self pollinating, non-GMO, and a natural pesticide, Salba is a wonderful additional to your smoothies, oatmeal, yogurt, salads, rice,…just about anything. I love to make a “pudding” using chocolate almond milk and 2tbsp of Salba. I mix it and let it sit for 10 mins and then voila delicious & healthy pudding!

“In its latest film the Ecologist Film Unit (EFU) travels to Peru to investigate a host of unreported environmental and social costs – including pollution and health problems, overfishing, and impacts on ecosystems and wildlife – arising from the production of fishmeal and fish oil, principal ingredients in farmed salmon feed.” – Organic Consumers Association

This is a short clip called The Greed of Feed. I’ve posted earlier on the topic of sustainable seafood and once I came across this clip I knew I had to post it. After reading Bottomfeeder I have a new respect for the seafood, oceans/lakes/rivers, the environment, and cities affected by such tragic fishing technologies that are taking place underneath our nose.

Please watch this short clip to help you understand such damages that are created when fish meal is produced to feed farmed salmon.

A sliced carrot looks like the human eye. The pupils, iris, and radiating lines look like the human eye. Science shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A tomato has 4 chambers and is red. The heart is red and has 4 chambers. Research shows that tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of a heart. Each group looks like a blood cell, and research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neocortex. We now know that walnuts help develop over three dozen neurotransmitters for brain function.

Kidney beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function. And yes – they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, bok choy, rhubarb, and more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of sodium in the body.

Eggplant, avocados, and pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female – they look just like these organs. It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit.

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the motility of male sperm and increase the numbers of sperm as well to overcome male sterility.

Yummy sweet potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetes.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.

Grapefruits, oranges, and other citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female, and actually assist the health of the breasts and movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like body cells. Today’s research shows that onions help clear waste materials from all of the body’s cells; they even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.

All living foods come from a seed. Most plants spend much of their energy producing these seeds. Containing vital nutrients – vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, carbohydrates – these seeds will wait until the perfect environment shows up and then ta-da a miracle grows! The seed (or grain/legume) germinates and a little sprout will begin to appear growing off of the end (such as my chickpeas in the photo which I just sprouted the other day).

Sprouting allows a chemical change to happen. Enzymes are produced, carbohydrates are more easily assimilated, complex proteins are converted to simple amino acids, fats are converted to fatty acids, and vitamins are produced in higher amounts during the sprouting process. Minerals are also absorbed from the water used to grow and rinse the sprouts. Amazing things happen to the energy in your food when you sprout.

Here is a simple list of advantages of sprouting:

• Phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors are neutralized – activating the enzymes needed to properly digest and assimilate the seed/grain/legume
• Sprouting aids digestibility – this goes hand in hand with my first point. Have you ever had problems with legumes causing intestinal gas? Well sprouting helps break down the complex sugars responsible for that, making them easier for all of us to digest. If everyone sprouted their legumes the “beans make you fart” joke wouldn’t exist
• Vitamin content increases 3 to 12 times
• Proteins convert polypeptides and free amino acids
• Chlorophyll & carotene content increase dramatically when the sprouts are exposed to sunlight

Sprouting is a very easy thing to do and also inexpensive. Sure, you can buy sprouts at the health food store but they also come along with a hefty price tag for what you are paying for. The sprouting process can be fun and is like having a mini garden in your kitchen. Almost any seed/grain/legume can be sprouted and it only takes a few days to see and eat your results. Here’s a quick how-to on sprouting:

• Soak seeds/beans/legumes overnight
• Drain, rinse, and drain again. Either put the seeds in a colander or put them in a jar with cheese cloth covering the opening and keep it on an angle to allow any excess water to flow out
• Rinse a few times daily
• Your sprouts are ready when you see little tails growing out of them (like my chickpeas up above)

Try sprouting! Chickpeas, lentils, buckwheat, broccoli seeds, sunflower seeds, mung beans, anything! My chickpeas took 2 days to look like this and taste yummy too. I put them in my salad and I plan on making a raw sprouted hummus tonight with the rest. I could also cook my chickpeas and still have a higher nutrient concentration than before they were sprouted. There is unlimited possibilities with what you can do – you just need to sprout to find out!


]]> http://rootremedies.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/sprout-to-find-out/feed/ 0 rootremedies http://rootremedies.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/kale-carrot-celery-apple-lemon-lime-oh-my/ http://rootremedies.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/kale-carrot-celery-apple-lemon-lime-oh-my/#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:32:17 +0000 melinda http://rootremedies.wordpress.com/?p=156 ]]>
Image Source: The Family Groove

Happy St.Patty’s Day! Did you wear green and have a big green drink? I sure did…mmm kale! Actually, it was a big glass of fresh kale, carrot, apple, celery, lemon, and lime juice! Yum yum!

If there was only one thing that I could recommend to someone who wants to become “healthy”, I would say juicing! Juicing is a fantastically amazing way to boost your body with a nutrient shock. Freshly juiced vegetables give your body a boost of nutrients, enzymes, vitamins and minerals in a way that your body can quickly absorb, assimilate, and digest. Juicing allows us to add in so many more raw vegetables to our diet, which helps the body’s cleansing process, boosts immunity, and gives us the energy that we need to succeed.

Why fresh juice instead of store bought juice? Well, most store bought juice is pasteurized which kills most of the good stuff and then is loaded with sugars and chemicals we can’t pronounce. Also, juice should be drunk less than 20 minutes from the time it was made to take advantage of its full benefits (they disintegrate with time). Here are some of the uber-super benefits of consuming freshly made juice:

• Provides vital nutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes that are almost instantly absorbed into the bloodstream and provide cellular cleansing
• We don’t normally consume the whole vegetable or fruit, but with juicing you throw nothing away except for the fibers. Raw nutrition that would normally be lost and tossed!
• Raw, fresh vegetable juices are extremely alkaline. In the journey towards health, alkalizing the body is of extreme importance because over acidification is the common cause of ill health and disease
• Liver cleansing ~ the liver cleanses blood, removes toxins and metabolic waste every second of the day. Because fresh juice goes so quickly into your blood stream, it also goes quickly into the liver, assisting in the cleansing and detoxification
• Increased energy and uplifted mood

Juicing is a fantastic way to start the day off with an energy kick. It’s also a wonderful pick-me-up in the mid afternoon, or anytime you feel like it. Buying freshly made juice at eateries and resto’s ends up being pretty expensive – with a $6-$7 price tag attached to each glass. I use to spend this money until I purchased my own juicer and what an amazing purchase that was! For only $120 I got myself a Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Juice Extractor (of which I highly recommend if you want a great juicer without spending a hefty amount of $$moola$$). The juice is made before I can even get the pusher-thingy all the way to the bottom and I’ve never come across a fruit or vegetable that can’t become torn into shreds and have the fiber separated from the juice in a blink of an eye.

Develop your drinking habit today – freshly made juice drinking habit that is! Drink your way to beauty and health. You can even drink and drive with this baby.


]]> http://rootremedies.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/kale-carrot-celery-apple-lemon-lime-oh-my/feed/ 0 rootremedies http://rootremedies.wordpress.com/2010/03/13/know-your-plastics/ http://rootremedies.wordpress.com/2010/03/13/know-your-plastics/#comments Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:13:42 +0000 melinda http://rootremedies.wordpress.com/?p=148 ]]>
Image Source: Gad Reichman

If it weren’t for the Great Depression we may have never seen or heard of Tupperware. Earl Tupper was a business man who went bankrupt, lost his companies, and landed a job at DuPoint Chemical Company. Using pieces of scrap given to him by the company, he molded it into containers and made a lid by duplicating the lid of a paint can. Tupperware Plastics Company began production in 1938 and by 1946 products were being sold in department stores.

It wasn’t until recently when people starting taking the warnings about storing and cooking food in plastics seriously. Leaching chemicals, hormone disruption, and carcinogenicity are just the start. Plastics are dangerous and can seriously affect our health. Many people don’t know the difference between different plastics. There are some plastics that should never even touch food – yet some companies still develop products with them to store your food in.

I have a list here of plastics that you’d commonly see in your kitchen. Take a look on the bottom of all of your plastics, remember the resin identification coding number, and check out what they are:

• 1 polyethyelene terephthalate (PETE)
• 2 high-density polyethylene (HDPE)
• 3 vinyl, polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
• 4 low-density polyethylene (LDPE)
• 5 polypropylene (PP)
• 6 polystyrene (PS)
• 7 other (includes polycarbonate, acrylic, polylactic acid, fiberglass)

For an example of specific health effects, I’ll name just a couple.

Number 3 – PVC:
According to Environmental Protection Agency, this plastic contains DEHA which is linked to reduced body weight and bone mass, damage to liver and testes, and cancer. Manufacturing PVC also releases carcinogenic dioxins into the food chain & environment.

Number 7 – Predominantly Polycarbonate:
Polycarbonate harbours BPA and have damaged the reproductive systems of tested lab animals by interfering with the hormones. BPA is an estrogen mimic and has been linked to prostate & mammary gland cancers, reproductive organ defects, and early onset of puberty.

Using glass or ceramic containers for food storage is much safer, economical, and sustainable. If you are still using plastics in the kitchen, make sure that you retire it early on as the amount of toxins leached increases with age. Also, the “microwave safe” label on some plastic containers only means that it will not melt or warp in the microwave – but it doesn’t mean that it won’t leach!

If you want to watch a very well informed documentary about plastic, I recommend watching Addicted To Plastic. It shows multiple interviews and talks about solutions to plastic pollution. We can change the plastic production industry – we just need to become informed and make the right choices and changes – one person at a time.


]]> http://rootremedies.wordpress.com/2010/03/13/know-your-plastics/feed/ 0 rootremedies