Winter Sprouting for Healthy Living Posted on December 26th, 2009
Happy Boxing Day, you Canuks!
Well, for the rest of the non-Canadian world, it’s the day after Christmas. Eh. For all of us in the northern hemisphere, it’s winter. We’re past the solstice, sure, but it’s still cold and it’s likely the worst of the winter weather is still to come. On a high note, though, this doesn’t mean you have to resort to grocery store salads and lettuces that are shipped from hundreds of miles away.
Instead, you can keep growing your own salads at any time of the year, easily. I’ve talked about sprouting before, way back in June, when I showed you how easy and healthy growing your own sprouts can be. There are a wide variety of sprout types you can grow, from Chinese Mung to traditional alfalfa. All of them are good for you, healthy, and extremely tasty too!
I prefer the 3-part salad mix which is three seeds mixed together: alfalfa, radish, and mung. This is a great all-in-one mix that needs nothing but a fork once it’s grown. Splash on a little vinaigrette, maybe some sun dried tomatoes, and eat up!
Growing in rotation, a family of three can stay in salads for daily intake using only about a pound of seeds a week. I buy seeds in three pound bags for $12/bag, so that’s a cheap salad! Figure 6 salads a week times 3 people at $4 per week. That’s 18 salads at $4 total or only 0.22 cents per salad! Can it get any cheaper?
For that, you’re eating a daily ration of vitamins, minerals, and tons of healthy stuff. The best part is, all you need is a window that gets 3-5 hours of sunlight per day, some seeds, and a way to grow them. I have a kit that grows about a pound of finished product (about 2 tablespoons or 1oz of seeds) per tray. I rotate the trays to get a harvest every three days. That keeps us in salads.
I mix and match seeds, swapping as I go, so we might have my favorite salad mix for a few days and then an alfalfa and onion mix, then mung and radish, and so on. There are literally dozens of seed types to choose from with a lot of different flavors. Some take longer to grow than others, with mung and other thick sprouts taking about a week while alfalfa takes only 3-4 days.
Overall, it’s an excellent and very inexpensive way to stay healthy and eat well all winter long. The seeds are usually cheaper online, though if you live near a health food store, you’ll probably find them there as well. Buying in larger quantities makes them cheaper, of course, and most are organic to boot.
Eat well! For more on growing your own sprouts, read my DIY Sprouts In Your Home Are Easy and Healthy!
Some Healthy Benefits of Olive Oil Posted on September 8th, 2009
I’ve mentioned olive oil in the past for a couple of uses: an earache remedy, for one, and as a way to relieve constipation for another. I thought it was time to get a little more in-depth with the thing that made every episode between Popeye and Brutus so contentious.
Olive oil can be used medicinally, as I’ve covered, for various personal care uses, in home improvement and cleaning, and more. It’s great stuff with some unique properties.
There are a lot of health benefits to consuming olive oil as-is, in your cooking, and more. There are people who say that olive oil can lower blood pressure, help with cholesterol, balance some blood sugar problems, and more. To see some of these in a more complete list, check out the Healing Food Reference where Mike Adams lists the health benefits of olive oil and how to find out more about the information behind those claims.
Know Your Oil
Before we look any deeper into the uses of olive oil, however, let’s look at what kinds of olive oil there are out there. Olive oil comes from olives, obviously, but it’s refined in many ways, depending on the region and type of oil preferred. What you’re looking for in medicinal or health use is olive oil that has had less processing. Avoid “extra virgin” and similar oils, as they have been heavily refined to get to just the “oil” without much of the “olive” left behind.
For these purposes, look for the thick, chunky sorts of oil. The ones with little floaties in them. Those leftover olives, unfiltered, are a sign that the stuff is pure. Most of these oils will need to be refrigerated after opening, another good sign.
Your olive oil doesn’t have to come from the Mediterranean to be great stuff, either. In fact, environmentally-speaking, it’s much nicer if it doesn’t (unless that’s where you live, of course). Most Americans can find great California and even Florida or Mexican oils that are much less expensive and traveled far fewer miles to find you. Buying organics goes without saying, if at all possible.
Here at our house, we buy olive oil by the gallon container, making it much cheaper per litre, but requiring more refrigerator space to store. It will keep for a very long time if the cap is kept on when not in use, though.
Great Medicinal Uses of Olive Oil
Outside of earaches and constipation, covered elsewhere, there are a lot of other uses for olive oil as a daily or periodic medicine to keep some problems at bay. While this won’t be a complete list, it will give you an idea, covering each major medicinal use.
Two caveats with ingested (eaten) olive oil: do not give it to young children and do not give it to small animals. Dosages are hard to gauge and it’s possible to give harmful diarrhea and other problems to smaller bodies. They aren’t likely to be fatal or even very serious, but they aren’t pleasant and are best avoided by using alternatives to olives.
For snoring, you can sip some olive oil to keep your throat lubricated by drinking a capful (or teaspoon) of it before bed time. Olive oil is a mild laxative, but most adults require at least a tablespoon or more to have this happen. This same remedy is also helpful for lightly sore throats and many opera singers have used olive oil as a throat lubricant to alleviate scratchiness after a performance. Pavarotti was said to do this, in fact.
Those with heart burn can use honey (preferred) to help get rid of the burn, but if you’re allergic to honey or have none available, olive oil also works well. Again, about a teaspoon swallowed in a gulp will soothe the burn and ache.
On human and animal hair, olive oil can do wonders. When rubbed into hair while showering, olive oil can quickly pull out tangles, give a special shine to hair, and make it much more mangeable and naturally sheen. Be sure to rinse it out thoroughly.
For cats and dogs, olive oil can be used to pull out “naps” in fur while gently brushing. Be sure to wipe most of it off when you’re done so the cat or dog doesn’t get the “runs” when licking it form themselves. Many pets will readily eat olive oil (not always a good thing).
If you have a rash, dry skin, or other and similar problem or are just wanting to ad a little shine and softness to your epidermis, olive oil is just the thing. Rub it in liberally, let it sit for a while, wipe off with a moist rag (to prevent it from smelling). The little that’s left behind will help retain moisture in the skin (olive oil has linoleic acid in it, an ingredient in many lotions). Just eating olive oil promotes healthy skin (Vitamin E).
For shaving, olive oil can help lubricate the blade and moisturize the skin, which helps make for a smoother cut and less abrasions from shaving too closely. It can also be used after shaving to soothe razor burn (as above).
Many other non-medicinal uses for olive oil also abound. As a lubricant for squeaky hinges, buckles, zippers, and so forth. I personally don’t recommend this as olive oil can “go bad” and begin to stink after a while, so I would only use the cheaper, “extra virgin” or other oils that are mostly oil and not much olive for this sort of thing.
Olive oil is also a great shiner for wooden furniture, but the same caveat applies. Leather is similar, but I much prefer more permanent softeners like saddle soap for leather as it does not cause any “rot.”
We use olive oil as a pan protectant, however. After scrubbing and rinsing pots and pans–especially copper, aluminum, and iron–a light coating of olive oil can keep rust and tarnish at bay. Make sure to wipe it with a damp cloth to clean before putting on a fire or hot stove again, however. The oil can “flame up,” but this isn’t too likely.
There are definitely a lot of uses for the great stuff. Olive oil is one of the kitchen essentials that no home should be without!
Avoid Table Salt: Learn Why You Should Switch to Unrefined Sea Salt Posted on August 31st, 2009
by Elizabeth Walling, Natural News
Most modern health problems that have been linked to sodium are actually caused by the condition of the salt we eat. The typical modern salt product can be compared to refined sugar and refined flour – it used to be a healthful, whole food, but it has now been stripped and processed into a disaster waiting to happen. What began as an essential nutrient is disfigured into a detriment to our health.
Salt has earned a bad reputation in recent years, so it comes as quite a surprise to hear this seasoning is actually necessary for good health. In fact, every cell in the body requires salt to function. Salt is needed for countless functions in the body, including everything from blood sugar regulation to bone density to circulatory health. And because we lose salt constantly during the day through urine and perspiration, it`s important that we replenish it. It’s impossible to try and replace lost sodium with commercial table salt because it is refined and incomplete. Instead, include a high-quality unrefined sea salt in your diet to replenish the sodium, trace minerals and electrolytes your body needs.
Commercial salt is refined by drying at a heat in excess of 1,000 degrees which destroys beneficial substances in salt. This heat also causes chemical distortions that turn salt into sodium chloride, a substance that does no good in the body. Table salt is full of additives, fluoride, anti-caking agents, excessive amounts of potassium iodide and other poisons. Many versions of commercial salt also contain aluminum derivatives, which are known to be highly toxic. These additives can cause discoloration in salt, so bleaching agents are then used to restore the desirable white color. It`s no wonder refined commercial salt is causing so many health problems.
Unrefined sea salt, naturally harvested and dried in the sun, contains a wealth of trace minerals and electrolytes. Our bodies only need small amounts of these nutrients, but they are absolutely vital for a variety of functions in the body.
Read the rest at Natural News.
Beware Dangers in Teflon and Non-Stick Cookware Posted on August 11th, 2009
by Natalie June, NaturalNews.com
It seems today that everyone is trying to market their product as “green”. Consumers need to be aware, though, that just because their merchandise is labeled as “green” or “good for the environment,” it does not mean that it actually is. A perfect example of this can be found in the cookware aisle. A pan that has a bamboo handle is made from some recycled materials and can be recycled after use, but it should not claim to be a “green” pan, especially when that pan is coated with a substance like Teflon. Not only can Teflon-coated and other non-stick cookware produce fumes that are highly toxic to birds, but it is clear that these products are also unhealthy for humans.
According to tests commissioned by Environmental Working Group (EWG), in the two to five minutes that cookware coated with Teflon is heating on a conventional stovetop, temperatures can exceed to the point that the coating breaks apart and emits toxic particles and gases. At various temperatures these coatings can release at least six toxic gases, including two carcinogens. Birds` respiratory systems are sensitive to the fumes of heated non-stick pans. The lungs of exposed birds have been known to hemorrhage and fill up with fluid leading to suffocation, a condition called “Teflon Toxicosis.” Most bird owners are unaware of this hazard.
For humans an effect called “polymer fume fever” has been acknowledged. This is said to be a temporary influenza-like syndrome, but it is still unknown what the long term effects of exposure might be. As if this was not bad enough, when the pans with these coatings get scratched during cooking, small amounts of plastic and leached aluminum cling to the food and then are ingested.
Read the rest by clicking here.
Feeling a Little Backed Up? 3 Ways to Naturally Become Regular Again Posted on August 5th, 2009
Constipated? No matter what you’re doing, that backed up feeling makes it uncomfortable. I won’t describe the whole feeling to you, you already know what it’s like. No point in my describing the stuffed, uncomfortable, can’t sit flat, lower abdomen ache that is constipation.
I remember when I was a kid, maybe 7 or 8 years old, I got backed up really bad. I don’t remember the reason, but I recall it involved a large quantity of food the day before. Cheese, probably. That’s always been one of my weaknesses. Anyway, I had that over-stuffed feeling you get and was trying to figure out what to do. Without telling my parents, of course. I had a real fear of sickness, since my father was an anesthesiologist and everything he did to fix things seemed to involve needles.
So I told my friend Robby about it. He thought that maybe a horse ride would work. It didn’t. So we tried a few other things. Then someone (him or me, I don’t recall) got the idea that maybe punching me in the gut would work. It didn’t, but it hurt like hell. When I got home, I didn’t eat dinner so my mom knew something was wrong. I never missed meals. I broke down and told her what had happened.
The fix? The dreaded castor oil. Straight. No fancy drinks to pretty it up. Have you ever had castor oil? Nasty stuff. Demon snot probably tastes better. It worked, though. I remember my sisters pounding on the bathroom door trying to get ready for bed.
When most people get this way, they usually reach for an over-the-counter laxative. Maybe it’s the pink stuff or the nasty pills. These are likely to work, but at what cost? They’re fixing the constipation, sure, but what caused it to begin with?
Usually, it’s stress-related. Our jobs, our lives, our relationships, or something else is stressing us out and keeping our bowels uninterested in regular performance.
So the first step is to treat the root of the problem. Regular exercise, stress-relieving activities, and a well-balanced diet with lots of green vegetables and fiber are the key. Even with great diet and a relatively stress-free life, though, some of us are going to get plugged up occasionally.
Don’t worry, for those occasions, there are still natural alternatives to the drugs at the pharmacy!
Castor Oil
Your grandma’s old stand-by, castor oil, is one of these natural alternatives. I should know. Take a tablespoon full and stay near the bathroom. It can be mixed with tea or non-citric juice (citrus will react with the castor, giving you a stomach ache). It will take an hour or two to work in most cases. Contrary to what you’ve seen on the Little Rascals, it’s not a good idea to use this remedy on small children.
Flax and Linseed Oils
The fresh stuff is best. Use either in small quantities of a tablespoon or so. These can be taken directly, mixed with light tea, or with water. This takes a few hours to work, usually.
Olive Oil
This is a popular remedy and works for small children and adults. It’s extremely mild, but it can take some time to operate. Take a swig of olive oil (a couple of tablespoons) and let it do the rest. You can mix with just about any juice, tea, etc. if you wish.
Other Information
Of course, anyone who’s spent a day at the orchard picking and overstuffed with fruit knows that this can make you decidedly non-constipated. Fruits like apples, grapes, plums, prunes, etc. all do this. Probably not recommended, but it’s up to you.
In normal amounts, fruits like bananas (slightly over-ripe is best), apple juice, and of course prunes are all good things to ad to any of the above oils to solve the problem. A couple of prunes and a spoonful of castor oil can clear you right out. And quickly.
Most people with a good diet and regular exercise don’t have many problems with constipation. Of course, I’m not a doctor and if your constipation lasts longer than a day or so, you should seek medical help.
