Saturday, October 19, 2013

Natural Sweeteners...a better choice


Honey, preferably raw:  Raw honey is chock full of enzymes and amylases that help us more easily digest carbs.  Local honey contains pollens that can help ease allergies.  Honey has trace amounts of vitamins and minerals and contains many antioxidants.

Maple Syrup:  Maple syrup is full of trace minerals such as calcium, manganese, iron and zinc.

Rapadura:  aka dehydrated cane sugar juice.  This sweetener is rich in minerals and is close enough to sugar for baked goods.

Stevia:  This is an herb and a little goes a long way.  Some people are sensitive to stevia and be aware that many commercial packets contain additives.

Date Sugar:  Date sugar does not dissolve easily, so it is great on top of muffins or in oatmeal.  It is high in tryptophan, which is an amino acid that has a calming effect.

Molasses: high in B vitamins and minerals such as iron, zinc, copper, calcium and chromium, this sweetener.

Sorghum syrup:  ditch all that agave syrup/nectar and try sorghum syrup, instead.  It is rich in B vitamins and minerals such as phosphorus, iron and calcium.

The best thing we can do is get used to a lower sweets diet and save sweetened food as a treat rather than a regular part of our daily diet.  It takes some time, but one thing I've personally noticed is that the less refined/fake sugars in my diet, the more I taste the natural sweetness of fruits and vegetables and the flavors of unsweetened foods.

The Healthy Home Economist
Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
Nutrition Facts
The World's Healthiest Foods
Authority Nutrition


Thursday, October 10, 2013

Detoxifying Twists

I thought it was just health nut mumbo jumbo....twist your torso and detoxify....but, in practicality, there seems to be something to it!  Since I started doing the twists, I am no longer bloated or...ahem...constipated.  Plus, it feels sooooooo good on the back.

Consider it a hug for your internal organs.  Wringing them out, you move digestion, gas, and perhaps even toxins along their paths...out.

Here are some popular twists to do.  Yeah, I'm stealing them from google images.  I was going to do my own pictures, but I figured these would show proper form better than I can and that's important:


Images from:  www.kristinmcgee.com, www.breakingmuscle.com, www.shape.com, www.alignyo.com

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Don't Fear the Fat or Egg Yolks!

Remember in 1990's?  It was an era of "fat is BAD!"  Ummm....did that do much of anything to reduce the obesity epidemic in America?  No!!  Instead, people avoided healthy fats to their detriment and adopted the low-fat, no-fat chemical s**tstorms that are out their now.

Lemme say this once and for all, so listen carefully:  GOOD FATS (in healthful moderation) WILL NOT MAKE YOU FAT!!  And healthful moderation may be more than you think.

So, please, stop thinking you're doing yourself a dietary and healthy lifestyle favor by eating fat free yogurts.  Especially the flavored ones.  Learn to love plain whole milk yogurt and load it up with fruit, turn it into a veggie dip (with real herbs, not some chemical-laden packet of mix), add nuts, unsweetened coconut, honey, maple syrup, etc and enjoy the filling goodness.

Listen, we need fats.  Fats help absorb vitamins.  Fats keep our body going.  Fats help us feel full so we don't gorge ourselves on empty calories.  Embrace the avocado, the almond, whole milk (preferable raw), butter, olive oil, coconut oil, salmon, EGG YOLKS....but toss those nasty vegetable oils (canola, corn, shortening, PAM).

And please, enough with this egg white stuff.  Eat the yolk!  I'm begging you!  The yolk is full of goodness and good cholesterol.  You NEED good cholesterol for a healthy brain.  People on low/no fat diets and low/no cholesterol diets are more likely to get dementia!  But don't just buy any conventional egg.  And avoid those "vegetarian fed" eggs.  Sorry, but anyone living on a genetically modified corn and soy diet isn't going to produce much of anything healthful...find a local farmer who lets their chickens peck the ground for bugs and seeds and such and buy their eggs, then eat the whole darned thing!

Here are some great resources on the info I've presented here:

The Five Fats You MUST Have

How Vegetable Oils Make Us Fat

Get Your Fats Straight

Why Skim Milk Will Make You Fat

Health Benefits of Egg Yolks

You need to feed your body and feed it well for it to run properly and grow good muscle and cells and such.  You can't have that if you are feeding your body with processed chemicals and not giving it the building blocks it needs (good fats and cholesterols).

After my first baby was born, I could not budge the last bit of baby weight.  I exercised regularly and ate a low-fat diet.  Why wasn't my weight budging?  After reading research on fats, I took a leap of faith and switched to a full-fat diet and eliminated almost all processed foods.  You know what happened?  I didn't blow up like a balloon.  I dropped not only the last 5 lbs of baby weight, but I dropped nearly 10 lbs!  I had muscle tone and strength and wellness like I never had before!

I've had 4 babies and I still eat a full-fat diet and I weigh less now than I did before I got pregnant with my first!

One caveat....all bodies are different and we have different ways of metabolizing foods.  So, while you should eat good fats every day and not shun them, your body may not be able to handle as much as mine.  Or you may not like the more "robust" look that comes with a traditional full-fat diet.  Our world's view is very slender and toned.  On a woman, the full-fat diet usually presents a more Marilyn Monroe look than Jillian Michaels.  See what works for you.  Experiment and be mindful of your body, but please PLEASE do not shun good fats and egg yolks.  Our bodies need them!

Monday, October 7, 2013

Take Care of Yourself...Please!

No, really!  PLEASE, I am begging you to take better care of yourself!

I recently spent a few hours of my life in an ER waiting room (not for me) and it was a sad display.

There are those who have their health taken from them.  They normally take care of themselves, but age, injury, cancer, or something else has stolen their health from them.

And then there are those who've never really bothered to take care of themselves.  They've smoked, drank, ate junk foods, stayed sedentary, and wasted their brains on TV shows and their minds on bad attitudes and useless grudges.  Most were late-middle-aged to elderly.  Many probably still had a chance to turn their health around, but most likely will rely on pharmaceuticals to get them by.

I know, I probably sound judgemental.  I'm not walking in their shoes, but it did get me thinking.  The time to start taking care of yourself for your older years is NOW!  Age and ill-health are going to come, but you can at least reduce and/or delay the impact it has on you NOW!

Cut out the processed junk!
Get up and move!
Eat healthy foods!
Drink water!
Destress!
Get fresh air!
Turn off the TV!
Forgive!
Seek the Lord!
Throw away chemicals and use natural alternatives!