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Pumpkin: The Biggest Powerfood ….Ever

pumpkins 2 Pumpkin: The Biggest Powerfood ....Ever

Pumpkins are BIG
    Pumpkins are tasty,
         Pumpkins are healthy
                   Pumpkins are MAGIC?

Everyone loves pumpkins, whether you are growing a 1800 pound whopper, or you are reaching for your second piece of pumpkin pie, or you are enjoying the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits  from this alkaline squash.

Strangely enough, the pumpkin more than any other vegetable is associated with the supernatural Read the rest of this entry »

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Pumpkin Nutrition Facts

MP900442506 Pumpkin Nutrition Facts

Pumpkin Nutrition Facts
(1 cup cooked, boiled, drained, without salt)

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10 Benefits of Carrots – the Crunchy Powerfood

carrots 10 Benefits of Carrots   the Crunchy Powerfood

Forget about Vitamin A pills. With this orange crunchy powerfood, you get Vitamin A and a host of other powerful health benefits including beautiful skin, cancer prevention, and anti- aging.
Read how to get maximum benefits from this amazing vegetable.

Benefits of Carrots.

1.  Improved Vision:
Western culture’s  understanding of carrots being ‘good for the eyes’  is one of the few we got right. Carrots are rich in beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A in the liver. Vitamin A is transformed in the retina, to rhodopsin, a purple pigment necessary for night vision.
Beta-carotene has also been shown to protect against macular degeneration and senile cataracts. A study found that people who eat the most beta-carotene had 40 percent lower risk of macular degeneration than those who consumed little. Read the rest of this entry »

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5 Sources of Power for Powerfoods

“Before understanding the power of the foods around me, I was unhealthy, unhappy and confused. Constant visits to doctors and health food stores had little effect on my deep fatigue and constant hunger. That was 30 years ago when Western nutritional science was not as advanced as it is now.

It was the 5,000 year old Chinese herbal knowledge that made the difference for me. Using specific foods and food combinations to feed specific systems and create balance brought me back to the energy and joy I had as a teenager.

Since then I learned from all cultures. The message is always the same: Food can heal. Food can be your medicine. Food has POWER!” Randy Fritz

food face mediaum 5 Sources of Power for Powerfoods

5 Sources of Power for Powerfoods

1. Broad chemical influences on the body.

These include:

  • Alkaline-forming vs. acid-forming
  • Organic vs. chemical-infused
  • Raw vs. cooked
  • Gluten-free vs. gluten-containing foods
  • Complex carbohydrates (smart carbs) vs. simple sugars (dumb carbs)
  • Whole vs. processed

Each of these factors has multiple influences on the body and a person will respond to these differences depending on their predisposition and levels of health.

Powerfoods are almost always whole but not necessarily gluten-free, raw or alkaline.

2. Specific Chemical Needs: The GAP Theory

Each food has different levels of specific nutrients. If a person has a particular need for a nutrient it will affect them greatly. Powerfoods tend to have very high levels of certain nutrients.

For example: suppose a person has a strong need for vitamin C.  It is winter and she is not eating enough fruits and vegetables.  An orange has vitamin C, so mandarin oranges that are popular around Christmas, have just the right chemistry to feed her immune system and prevent a cold.

3. Genetic Influences of Food

Scientists have been debating for years what is more important: your genetics given to you by your parents or your upbringing.  It turns out that the two are combined.  Your environment activates the expression of your genes. This is very powerful.

For example research has shown that a diet high in omega-3 fats reduces the expression of the Alzheimer’s gene APOE4.  We can sidestep bad genes by eating healthy.

4. Subtle Influences of Food

Many healthy systems around the world have different ways to conceptualize health with very powerful results.  Instead of interpreting food in terms of vitamins and minerals and proteins they talked about principles like heat, cold, fire, water and air, which they could directly perceive.

These principles are understandable within chemistry or physics to a degree but often the complete use of these systems relies on the idea of subtle energies that modern science has not been able to consistently measure – energies like chi and prana in food, our bodies and the environment.

These cultures have produced large numbers of remarkably healthy individuals. They picked out certain foods (powerfoods) that were particularly balancing for various needs.

5. Social and Cultural Influences of Food

Growing, preparing and eating food takes more time and energy than any other facet of man’s life. In all societies there have evolved intricate cultures around food which affect how we think, how we act and what kind of lives we will live.

Older cultures also discovered foods and combinations of foods that were particularly healthy.

The Mediterranean diet is one example.  At first nutritionists did not understand how everyone could be so healthy consuming so much oil.  It turned out that mono-unsaturated olive oil has many properties that are just now being understood and appreciated. The Italians did not understand the chemistry of various levels of saturation of fats.  They just knew olives grew well and over time, through trial and error, developed just the right combination of oil and tomatoes and vegetables and meats to maintain health.

MP900442191 5 Sources of Power for Powerfoods

How Many Powerfoods Are In Your Kitchen Right Now?

With all these factors in mind, it turns out there are many foods that can bring you greater health, if you understand their potential and use them in the best situation.

For example, strawberries (like many berries) have amazing properties but they are one of the foods that often get the most toxic sprays when growing.  If you eat a case of non-organic strawberries thinking you are getting all the powerfood benefits, it may be that the overload of toxicity in your system will take away any positive influences on a chemical or subtle level.

Personally I like to keep up with all the recent research about food but I know that any single study can be deeply flawed or biased. I always try to balance what I am hearing with the finding of older health systems and cultures. My final decision for me is whether my body is attracted to a particular food at this time.

At Real Food for Life we continue to bring people’s awareness to the power of foods. We also have used vital health testing to determine which foods are suitable for an individual at this time.

Powerfoods have specific influences on the body.  That’s why we say they have ‘power’.

Sign up for our newsletter so that you will be among the first to know and enjoy the benefits of these hidden gems in the supermarket when we launch our program.

Copyright © Randy Fritz You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com or the direct link to this post.

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Carrot Face Mask

carrots by C Charmon at flickr 199x300 Carrot Face Mask
Ingredients:
2 medium carrots – powerful antiseptic to kill germ and protect skin with antioxidants. Carrots help protect the skin from free radicals and promote the regeneration of healthy skin cells.
1 Tbsp. honey – also antiseptic and reduces swelling
1 Tbsp. olive oil – nourishes and cleans the skin
1 lemon – astringent and acidic.  This maintains the acid mantel of your skin which keeps in moisture and keeps out germs.

Directions:

  1. Peal the carrots and steam until soft.
  2. Mash the carrots into a creamy consistency.
  3. Mix in 1 tbsp. of all natural honey.
  4. Stir in 1 tbsp. of olive oil.
  5. Squeeze a few drops of fresh lemon juice into the face mask mixture. Lemon is a natural astringent and will help clean greasy skin.  If your skin tends to dry easily, add only 8 to 10 drops; if you skin tends to be oily, add up to 1 tbsp. of lemon juice.

P.s.  This is all food ingredients to after, any that you don’t use on your face – you can eat!
The lemon juice which is acidic when used topically has an alkaline influence internally because of the specific minerals it contains.

 

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10 Whimsical Ways to Cut 100 Calories

One hundred calories doesn’t seem like a lot, but you can easily add at least one or two of these fun, easy strategies and they will add up over time.

running woman in nature small 10 Whimsical Ways to Cut 100 Calories

I’m not lazy by any means, but in my opinion, if you have to strain or deprive yourself, you may not keep it up. To eliminate calories, you can either burn them up by adding a preferred activity or avoid the calories by making a smart substitution of some common food you are eating.

I have listed only healthy, green tips. Hopefully these examples will help jog your mind to others. What steps do you take to be active and be smart?

1. Dance Skinny
Click on your MP3 player right now, dance with a little passion to just four songs and you will look and feel 100 calories lighter.  The new Footloose movie is sponsoring a video dance contest around the globe. It’s never too late to participate!

2.  Substitute Sugar with Stevia In Your Coffee or Tea
Stevia has practically no calories and because it is so much healthier than sugar, we consider it a powerfood. It has none of the problems of white sugar and is not artificial.  It takes no time to reach for stevia instead of sugar and your life could change because of it.

3.  Invite Your Friends to Dinner
This sounds counterintuitive, doesn’t it?  But even before your guests arrive you will be working to prepare the meal. It happens that 38 minutes of chopping and cooking will cut 100 calories and make a great meal.  You could achieve the same results just for yourself, but you probably wouldn’t bother and it would not be as much fun.

4.  Lighten Your Salad Dressing
I find all commercial dressings way too sweet so I just add about half water. This also cuts about two tablespoons of oil which means 100 calories less. Time: 30 seconds.

5.  Romancing the Pounds Away
You would think the heart pounding effects of romance would burn the calories off quickly but not so.  It would take a full 50 minutes of smooching to burn the first 50 calories and another 30 minutes in bed for the final 50. I doubt if anyone is complaining.

6.  Eat Two Apples a Day
Besides keeping the doctor away, an apple is low in calories.  Eating two of them instead of of two bananas or two mangos would eliminate 100 calories. Apples are powerfoods with many benefits.

7.  Digitally Demolish Those Coke Calories
Microsoft’s Xbox program called Kinect Sports Calorie Challenge tracks your body movements and displays them in a virtual contest against various food items.  You can fight against a Coke, for example, or a chocolate bar (177 calories). It keeps you playing and active until the required amount of calories is burned up. If someone one gave me an Xbox and the game, I wouldn’t mind trying it out.

8.  Go Fly a Kite!
This is not an insult but one of the quickest and most exhilarating ways to shed 100 calories.  Find a beach or grassy hill, wait for a good gust of wind and then run like crazy.  You only have to do so for 12 minutes to burn 100 calories. Hint: if you bring a small child with you, no one will suspect you are reliving your own childhood.

9.  Balance with Tai Chi
Tai Chi is not extremely active but has tremendous health benefits and once you learn the basic set of movements you are encouraged to do it every day. Doing one set slowly takes about 20 minutes and it takes 24 minutes to get to the 100 mark calorie-wise.

10.  Walking Them Blues Away
Studies have shown besides living longer, walkers enjoy improved mental health and spiritual benefits. About 20 minutes burns 100 calories.  This is a no brainer.

By now you get the picture – almost everything burns calories – some things just faster or slower than others. Just move in some way and you will feel better and slim down in the long term. Also with a little food planning, you can make big changes in the quality and number of calories you are inputting.

I personally prefer activities that are outdoors. That way you get the sunshine, the fresh air and the big skies around you. Some inside activities can burn up calories very fast (like a rowing machine at just over eight minutes for 100 calories) but I don’t have that machine at home and it sounds like work!

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