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Thursday, October 28, 2010

10-28-10

Hello Readers,

I'm sorry that I haven't posted or been on the computer at all this past week. Been very busy...

Lysine
So I got a horrible fever blister 2 days ago. It took up a large portion of my upper lip and hurt badly. I asked my mom if she had anything for it (expecting one of those foul smelling balms) and she gave me her bottle of  generic brand Lysine supplements. Having never heard of it, I was a little wary but went ahead and took the double dosage my mom recommended along with making a paste of 1 pill, 1 drop of Tea Tree oil and a couple of drops of water to put directly on the blister.
Today (2 days later) my fever blister is practically GONE! I totally recommend this, so far...having not done any real background research into the supplement. I've never had any medicine for fever blisters or mouth sores ever act so fast or so well.

November Monthly Herbal Poll
The poll is up! Pumkin, Sage, Apple, and Cranberry - 4 herbs that I associate with fall and Thanksgiving.
I know the poll is up a lil late this month so...The poll will not end until the 6th, so you have a whole week into November to vote!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

5 Ways to Go Organic

I have a new article up on Suite 101 about simple ways to live an organic lifestyle. This article is for those who have been green for some time and for people who are new to organic products and are a little overwhelmed by the whole array of green appliances, organic food and natural products.
I hope that my article, 10 Ways to Go Organic, is helpful, informative and enjoyable. I'd love to hear your comments.

Monthly Herbal: Hemp Reading

I grabbed Living Organic at the library and wasn't too surprised to see a few sections mentioning hemp.


In the Natural Beauty chapter: Hemp oil - a centuries old beauty secret is revived in soaps, shampoos and conditioners, lotions, and lip balms. Its essential fatty acids are incorporated for its moisturizing properties. It helps heal minor skin problems, including acne, and adds body and shine to hair.

In the Organic Clothing chapter: Organic clothes haven't caught on too well in the fashion world due to their subdued colors. Hemp, however, could be the product that turns the natural fashion world around, according to textile designer Louisa Wood. Wood is aiming to transform hemp's frumpy image, saying that hemp dyes well "since its so absorbent, so you don't need so many chemicals as cotton to dye it."
Wood won a scholarship to travel China, a major hemp producer, to learn how hemp fabric is made. She plans to experiment with vegetable dyes.

speaking of hemp clothing...

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Mother Daughter Raw Interview!

Today was a very cool interview on Raw Mom Cooked Dad with Karen Ranzi and her daughter Gabriela. Karen is a raw mom with raw kids as well as the author of Creating Healthy Children and teaches Raw Food Fun for Kids.




On another note entirely...I got a big bag of beeswax today at the farmers market from Apiarist Keith Green, owner of Honey Dew Apiary Pure Honey and genuinely nice guy who will proudly show you his state fair award winning honey and comb segment. You can contact Mr. Green about his honey, wax, and bees at red_123@bellsouth.net

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Raw Mom Cooked Dad and the Library

Went to the library again today. I'm excited about a book on natural health and remedies for dogs and cats. I don't have a dog but I do have a beautiful tabby named Halloween and her birthday is this month ^_^

Also today was an interview on Raw Mom Cooked Dad with Dr. LindaJoy Rose. Dr. Rose, or LJ, is an expert in the Subconcious Mind and is a relatively new raw foodist, three years. She just wrote a book that is coming out this fall called Raw Fusion: Better Living through Living Foods. The book kind of combines raw and cooked food, which is perfect for a household of both raw and cooked foodists.
When asked about what sort of foods raw foodists eat on their 'vacation' from the raw path, Dr. Rose mentioned making a TLT (twist on BLT) with tempeh sauteed in coconut oil along with some avocado 'mayo', lettuce and tomato on some gluten free bread.
I like that she wasn't one to put pressure on every raw foodists needs to be 100% raw. It simply may not be natural for everyone.

Monday, October 11, 2010

10-11-10

I hope everyone had a great 10-10-10 and congrats to all the newly weds who chose that auspicious day for their wedding, I know there were a ton of you out there.

Today I got my library card and Stephanie Tourles' book Organic Body Care Recipes: 175 homemade herbal formulas for glowing skin & a vibrant self. I'm looking forward to trying out and personalizing a few of these recipes and passing them along to you if they work out.

I also listened to the Raw Mom Cooked Dad interview with the esteemed David Wolfe, which I totally recommend you rushing over and listening to it today. The part I wanted to share with you was a piece of Wolfe's sign-off statement, "If you really are into the Love, then get out of your Ego!"
Yesterday's interview with Alissa Cohen was also warm, heartfelt and fun. I look forward to more interviews tomorrow.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Happy 10-10-10

One last post before I head off and face the week,

Happy 10-10-10, this is an amazing month, what is it, 5 fridays, saturdays and sundays in the month? Plus its beautiful autumn and Halloween is coming, which is enough to be excited enough in itself right?

Just a little bit of what's going on that I'm into right now,

Raw Mom Cooked Dad started today with an interview with Alissa Cohen. Check it out and listen in.

I'm going to start doing a few recipes here and there with pictures. I feel like eating right is important and I hate just showing videos and recipes without doing it myself so I want to do this for me and for you. I also want to invite you to send me your recipes too!
With that said I am going to keep in the rule of KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid. Don't expect anything flamboyant or expensive from this chic, I'm broke haha.

For my first recipe...
Here's the tea I've been drinking about every morning after I drink some water and have a teaspoon of honey. Its also what I drink when I want something cold and refreshing but don't necessarily want to reach for a bottle of water or some almond milk.

I have a small pitcher i put everything in (I think it's 1 1/2 liter to 2 liters) so all the ingredients are brewed for it. Increase or decrease the measurements by that.

Ingredients
3 tea bags (I've been using Private Selection's Jasmine green and black tea)
1 large piece of candied ginger, torn.
2 tbsp raw honey
water

I simmer the tea bags in a small pot of water (about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of water) on the stove until the water is a brown color then I take the pot off the heat and let the bags steep for 15 minutes.
Remove the bags, squeezing off excess tea into the pot.

In a pitcher (or whatever container you will be putting the tea in) add the honey and ginger.
Pour the hot tea over the honey and bits of torn ginger and stir. The heat should dissolve the honey and the water puff up the ginger a bit.
Add water to this until full, stir again.

Refrigerate and enjoy ^_^

Alternative or additional ingredients you might enjoy:

Lemon goes well with ginger and they both aid digestion.
Stevia, or other low glycemic, aspartame-free sweetener.
Mint
Raw ginger, if you prefer it over candied.
Slices of orange, lemon or grapefruit
Rose water

Other teas are good too, especially when you're cutting out caffeine and don't want a black tea or a black tea blend. I personally love raspberry leaf tea.

Super Foods Are For Real!

Shazzie is simply adorable and I love watching her videos. Here is #2 in a 4 part series that talk about superfoods and what they do, including Hemp Seeds!
Both of the recipes in the series following this video include hemp, both the seeds and the dried leaf. 

What a Crazy Saturday!!!

So, if you're my friend on Facebook, you would have seen my status saying I was going to Good Foods for their Sampler Saturday. I also wanted to stop in at the Farmers Market on Richmond Rd.
I woke up early, earlier than I had initially planned but feeling rested and ready to go. 
After some breakfast (a cup of tea, a spoonful of honey, and half a bagel if you wanted to know what I eat) and getting ready my husband and I headed out to meet our day.

The Richmond Road Farmers Market what a lot smaller than I expected it to be but had a good pick of tomatoes, pumpkins (I bought a small one for $1.50 and it is adorable), eggplant, and fall flowers. One booth was handing out samples and cups of chili, which smelled wonderful and full of herbs sold right next door.
Having walked the majority of the market in about 5 minutes, my hubby and I were heading out with our pumpkin, and we ran into Mr. Keith Green. Mr. Green was selling Honey Dew Honey in a variety of jar sizes for a relatively good price (I think the biggest jar was $13).
We talked to Mr. Green for a little bit, about what he feeds his bees, what he does with the wax, the Lexington Bee Keepers Association, and about the honey, which is 3 different colors depending on time of year harvested (ranging from a clear gold to a dark, beautiful red-gold-brown). We also discussed the healing properties of honey and he was enthusiastic about how honey, applied on a wound, works just as well as Neosporin.
He was also kind enough to give us a small jar of honey to try, knowing my husband used to raise bees and considers himself a little but of a honey expert. We shared this jar with my family and think its quite yummy and I was amazed at how easy it pours, its so liquid-like rather than the super thick, sugary stuff at the supermarket.

We went to the Good Foods Sampler Saturday but I think we showed up too early. There were 3 small tables with samples of Fair Trade chocolate and coffee, dips, and a butternut squash soup. I tried the soup and the chocolate, both were very yummy. I do wish there would have been more booths though.

Stopping at the local Taco Bell (I know, I know, soooo not healthy) our day was thrown for a big loop. Our Scion xB (yep, we got with THAT haha) picked up a huge bolt in the tire! Chad was furious! We pulled into a parking lot nearby and checked out the damage. After I let Chad vent his frustration, I reminded him that we had recieved a coupon for 1 Free tire repair at Good Year.
Long story short, the tire is fixed and all is well. This was Grace at work for sure!

We tried to relax for the rest of the day, enjoying our time off work.
I've been watching videos like this one by Shazzie, a widely known raw foodist and author who has also written a book with David Wolfe. Check it out:

Friday, October 8, 2010

High Raw

I wrote a review of one of my favorite health books, High Raw by Kevin Gianni. Why High Raw? Because it doesn't read like a health book, it reads like a book to help you find your priorities in life whether they are starting your own business, going to school, or your health!
Please check out my article and, of course, check out the book!

Raw Mom Cooked Dad

I just signed up for this program called Raw Mom Cooked Dad created by two lovely women, Fiona and Tera.
While I'm not raw, I do have some issues with my husband on out views of healthy food, or rather I want healthier food and he prefers his Velveeta Shells and Cheese and a gallon of milk a week.

We don't really fight over this, I don't want to give the impression of use arguing over the pots and pans in our itty bitty kitchen. We do try and compromise with organic broccoli in the noodles and cheese and no sodas in the house.
As a couple that does compromise with food, I thought this was a great program for those out there that have the health issue in their house.
Also this video form The Raw Food World about Raw Wife, Cooked Hubby.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Homeopathy to help with Allopathic Treatments

I was inspired to write my article, Homeopathic Remedies for Medical Shock on Suite 101, by the video below from The Raw Food World. I was curious about what homeopathic remedies could help when you have to go to the doctor, especially for those people who would rather avoid allopathic/conventional medicine all together. I hope you enjoy the video and the article and please comment, on my Suite 101 article and on my blog. I love hearing about your experiences with natural medicine including homeopathy.

I am not a homeopath, please speak to your homeopath or medical professional before you take this as medical gospel, as always. Everything on my blog and in my articles come from research and/or personal experiences and beliefs.

The Wonders of the Hive

Bees create such amazing products, like bee pollen and royal jelly. Almost every product created by bees are considered superfoods and can either be eaten or made into medicine for human use.
Check out this information in my article, The Benefits of Bee Products on Suite 101 about all the benefits of these 4 bee products and how they aid everything from burns and boo-boos to diabetes and tumors!
I'm definitely looking at my honey differently.

Constipation

I've been drawn to write about constipation for some time now, due to my own struggle with it and my realization that so many people I care about also suffer from this issue.
Constipation is no little matter. It can lead to sever health problems that range form bad breath and acne to colon cancer. It can create toxicity in the body, which can't handle the build up of waste leaking into it's system. In order to rid itself of the toxins, the body will push them through the kidneys, liver, and skin creating all sorts of nasty health problems.
In my article, Constipation and the Perfect Bowel Movement on Suite 101, I explain exactly what constipation is and what to look for as far as whether or not your bowel movement is a healthy one.
I do warn that it is a bit graphic about such an icky subject but we're all grown ups and can handle a lil conversation about poo if it's important for our health can't we?

Friday, October 1, 2010

Monthly Herbal: Hemp Recipes

Angela Stokes-Monarch's Raw Hemp Drink


Ani Phyo's Hemp Smoothie


Find more Hemp Recipes at...

www.hemp-guide.com

Like these Hemp Truffles (Raw Vegan)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Manitoba Hemp Seed Butter
1/2 cup organic raw tahini (no salt)
1/4 cup roasted carob powder
3 Tbsp almond milk
2 Tbsp agave
2 tsp or droppers of Stevia
1 tsp organic vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp goji berries
2 Tbsp raw cacao nibs
2 tsp powdered maca
1/2 cup hemp hearts (shelled hemp seeds) (to roll balls in)


In Vita Mix or coffee grinder, blend whole berries and cacao nibs until a course powder and set aside. Next, in small bowl, combine tahini and hemp seed butter with agave, vanilla, and almond milk until it makes a batter. Next sprinkle in cinnamon, Stevia, and maca. With the back of a plastic spatula, press batter in a circular motion against the side of the bowl. The mixture should still be wet and sticky. Proceed by adding the carob a bit at a time and work into the batter in the same motion until fully blended. The batter now should have a shiny consistency and be non-stick to the touch. Next, fold in the ground goji berries and raw cacao nibs. Form into a ball and roll in shelled hemp seeds. Feel the mojo of a hump of a hemp ball.
Makes: 2 dozen Prep Time: 20 min

Hemp For Victory

Hemp for Victory was a video created by the US government in the 1940s that promoted hemp as a crop that would aid our country in the war.
This video was put into "hiding" after hemp was demonized by the government, an act paid for by the big oil companies that saw hemp as a threat to big business. Jack Herer, the "Emperor of Hemp," brought the video back into the public eye after some investigating in the Library of Congress record.

Here is a compressed Hemp for Victory video found on YouTube. Enjoy.



Jack Herer also wrote the book The Emperor Wears No Clothes that explains hemp's amazing qualities and its many uses.

The Living Longer Argument

An argument against natural medicine, natural living, raw living, and other lifestyles that gravitate from the normal, conventional and allopathic that I hear frequently is that "humans are living longer now."
I question the validity of this argument. Yes, the average human lives longer, into their 70's and 80's, today rather than the average lifespan ending at 45 like it did not so long ago. However, are these 70 and 80 year old happy being that old?

I hear from people my own age (early twenties) about aches and pains and how they dread getting older for these aches and pains will only get worse. I see people dread their doctors visits, knowing that the doctor will see yet another problem, prescribe yet another pill. I have family members hitting the twilight years with doctor visits every other week!
Are you really happy putting yourself through all this misery because you felt modern lifestyles and modern medicine was good for you?

So why are people living longer if we are putting all this gunk in our bodies? 
My theory is the technology of communication and transportation. It is easier than ever for people to find out about medicine, superfoods, lifestyles, etc. There are blogs like mine all over the net, websites, videos, newsletters, and more. With the rise and transportation technology, superfoods can be shipped all over the world making broccoli, kale and cacao just as accessible for people in the UK as it is for people in Ecuador.
This unique ability to access in our time is what might be the cause for longer lifespans.
Another reason is affluence. People in modern, westernized countries tend to have more money and therefore more means to experiment with health, doctors, lifestyles, etc.

My other argument against the "humans are living longer now" statement is simply, are they?
Some people might argue that the people in biblical times lived to be hundreds and thousands of years old. Some were nomadic. Some, like Adam and Eve, lived off the fruit of the land, some were agrarian, yet they had huge lifespans living a natural life.

Then there are the people that live to be well over 100 in other countries, third world countries where there are few or no allopathic doctors at all. Some studies say its the superfoods like acai or goji berries that they eat that causes such a long, active, healthy lifespan. Others say its the combination of natural foods, natural medicine and living in an area where they don't have to deal with the physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional stresses that the modern and post-modern world bring.

I am sorry if this sounds a little like a rant.
I simply feel like the people who propose this as an argument to me do it in defense of the doctors who kill people every day with misdiagnosing illnesses or giving them "medicines" with side effects that make the patient worse. Or in defense of food companies that load "food" with MSG and other excitotoxins that literally make us addicted to their food even as they raise the prices of real food and outlaw healing herbs like hemp.
It is simply sad.

on a happier note...
The Monthly Herbal for October is...(drum roll here)
HEMP!
Look forward to strange, new and exciting information about this misunderstood herb including videos, recipes, and perhaps an interview?!?!?!