Posts Tagged ‘raw food’
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Learn the Skills and Principles for Achieving Long Term Health and Natural Slenderness.
Do you ever wonder if your diet is making a difference in your life; whether it is good enough or balanced enough? We hear all the time about a balanced diet but much of that information is contradictory and confusing.
Are you sure if you are eating the right foods, are getting enough or too much protein, are eating enough fruits and vegetables?
Who else wants to learn the secrets to eating properly… that will strengthen and energize your body effortlessly?
(Even if you don’t know the first thing about nutrition or health right now.)
In this step-by-step complete course you will learn exactly how to evaluate and change your eating habits (completely from scratch) from
two health experts who have helped thousands….
Discover your Real Food Factor…..and Then Increase It!
Determine how you are doing right now and then apply simple time tested principles…..for Healing, Energy & Weight Loss
Join our new improved Five Week Teleconference Course
- We have updated our last course with some ‘must have’ modules. (see below)
- Included as part of the classes is a one on one half hour Nutrition session with Diana
- We are limiting the number of participants to 20 which means that every week there will be time for you to ask your questions and for us to respond.
Overall Benefits:
1. Be part of a supportive interactive group committed to improving their health together over 5 weeks.
2. Take control of your health progress by knowing exactly where you are and what you have to do each day in a simple and easy way.
3. Reach your full potential … by learning some simple things to do to create a vibrant you.
During our 5 week Course You Will Discover and Implement:
- How to simplify your orientation to nutrition so you can worry less and enjoy more.
- The 3 key elements you need to put in every meal to make them work like magic.
- When you can save money by not buying organic; when you can’t afford not to.
- The secret to keeping up with an exercise routine. (You know you should)
- How to deal with craving in a gentle yet powerful manner.
……and much, much more!
We just added these bonus modules!
1. Food combining for better digestion, more energy, healing and weight loss.
2. Figuring out your Real Food Factor. Know your daily score!
Examples:
Zero = would not be reading this (dead)
Three = you probably got the flu that’s going around
Seven = Feeling GOOD
Ten = WOW! You really need to be helping others. Come help teach this course.
3. Talking with Plants (yes this does sound unusual but the basis to this is AND to getting very healthy is in listening to your body in specific ways that you will learn)
4. Balanced Daily Routine for a balanced life.
First Call is FREE:
Date: Thursday, Oct 29
Time: 7:00 p.m. MST
To get the Dial In Number: We will mail out the phone number and code, to everyone on our mailing list.
If you are not on the mailing list fill in your name and email below for our free newsletter. The opt in box also in the upper right of this site.
Registration to the course will be open to the first 20 who apply that day. Don’t delay.
Nutritional Benefits of NUTS & SEEDS
I love nuts and seeds. I think I must have been a bird or a squirrel in a past life 
Good thing too as they are Powerfoods!
A Nurses Health Study found that nurses who ate nuts five times a week had less heart disease and on average were thinner compared with those who did not eat nuts.
5 Benefits of Nuts and seeds:
- Best plant sources of protein. The American Cancer Association is recommending a plant based diet. by for the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer. An ounce of nuts provides 6 g of protein on average.
- Filled with heart healthy fat. They contain healthful mono and polyunsaturated fats which are essential in managing inflammation and maintaining the normal structure of every body cell. People who consumed nuts five times a week had a 35% reduction in heart disease risk according to a British Medical Journal study in 1998.
- High Energy foods. They are filled with lots of calories; for example 1 ounce of almonds contain about 165 calories; 1 ounce of brazil nuts contain about 190 calories. So do not eat too many or you will get fat.
- Powerful Minerals. They contain many minerals such as magnesium, zinc, calcium and phosphorus needed for bone development, immunity and energy production.In a study of almost 400 men (age from 45-92) published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition they found a correlation between low dietary intake of zinc, low blood levels of the trace mineral and osteoporosis at the hip and spine.
- Needed Vitamins. They are great sources of B Vitamins and Vitamin E.
Proof of the Power of Nuts and Seeds
A study published in the April 2002 Journal of Nutrition had people replace half the fat in their daily diets with almonds for six weeks. Researchers found that the almond eater’s bad cholesterol went down 6 percent, and good cholesterol went up 6 percent. In addition, blood fat dropped 14 percent. These studies it’s the combination in nuts of monounsaturated fats and protective plant compounds known as flavonoids that reduces the risk of heart disease.
According to research at the University of Toronto, eating heart-healthy foods, including almonds, can help reduce LDL, or the “bad” cholesterol levels, as much as a first-line “statin” drug.
Research at Tufts University found the flavonoids in almond skins work in synergy with the vitamin E in to protect artery walls from damage reducing the risk of heart disease.
Are raw nut and seeds good for you? Ask the Squirrel!
If you give a squirrel a raw nut, it will not eat it, but always will bury it. It will only dig it up when the nut has sprouted. They have found sensors in squirrels’ noses that can identify a sprouted nut. Raw, unsprouted nuts have enzyme inhibitors that prevent the nuts’ food enzymes from digesting it. Only when it sprouts are these inhibitors deactivated. Smart Squirrels!
Raw nuts or seeds can have a bitter taste; this is due to enzyme inhibitors. These inhibitors can affect the digestion of the nuts and seeds. Soaking or roasting the nuts and seeds remove the enzyme inhibitors.
The high heat from roasting will remove the enzyme inhibitors but will destroy many of the nutrients.
The best way to get the most nutrients from nuts and seeds is to start the sprouting process by soaking them. Watch a video of Diana explaining more about sprouting nuts and seeds here: sprouting nuts and seeds video
How to get the most nutrients from nuts and seeds:
Soaking them will keep them more nutritious and brings out the natural sweet flavor of the nuts and seeds. They become live foods. Learn how to sprout them: Sprouting Nuts and Seeds
The enzyme inhibitors are washed away when the nuts and seed are soaked; also the digestion of the of the proteins and carbohydrates begins. Bonus is that the soaking removes 30% of the oil content making nuts and seeds easier on the liver and digestion and of course less calories.
They are not actually sprouted just soaked (3 to 12 hours) which starts the process of sprouting process.
One of my favorite snacks is a piece of fresh fruit with a few soaked nuts and seeds…anytime. They make a great snack because they provide protein, fiber and fat…that combination makes them satisfying as they are filling giving staying power.
My Favorite Nut: Almonds. They are so tasty and nutritious that some of my friends consider them a major food group right after protein and fats.
Nut Recipe: Nutritious Nut Loaf This is baked so the soaking is not so critical
Copyright © Diana HerringtonYou 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.comor the direct link to this post.
Good Weed…Bad Weed
I’ve had an on /off relationship with weeds recently (see Dandelion Madness) and now I’m at it again.
My attention has now gone to yet another weed called Lamb’s Quarters.
This one’s not so pesky to your lawn and it tastes much better. Actually it tastes almost exactly like spinach – particularly when cooked – and again, it has all kinds of nutritional value and … it’s free.
You can also call it Fat Hen, Nickel Greens, pig weed, dung weed or White Goosefoot. Some of these names I also don’t love.
Benefits and Facts about Lamb’s Quarters
- If allowed to mature, Lamb’s Quarters produces a head of thousands of black tiny seeds.
- Seeds are highly nutritious since it’s species is closely related to the superfood, Quinoa
- It has been eaten, perhaps unknowingly, since the iron age.
- One cup raw leaves contianes 11,600 IU of Vitamin A
- Also high in Vit C, phosphorus, Calcium, Riboblavin and Iron.
It now grows wild in North America – and probably most people unknowingly just pull it out of the garden. You can recognize the plant when young because the center of the top is feathery looking with a purple tint. The picture is of a younger plant.
Caution:
Like every food and plant – there is no PERFECT food that is 100% good. There is always some small (or big) aspect that is not good for the body.
That is why it is best to eat a large variety of foods and to know how to combine and prepare foods properly so that that negative effect is reduced.
Greens have such high levels of so many nutrients that it is not surprising that this particular green has its own particular problem . This means you shouldn’t eat TOO much of it. This is not likely considering how little people eat weeds but just so you know – it has high levels of oxalic acids in it. Oxalic acid can bind with other minerals in the body causing mineral depletion and in its worse case – kidney stones. Many foods contain this ingredient so if you are even relatively healthy there is not cause for concern.
A few raw cups of this thrown in your salad therefor is no problem – or even if you ate several cups cooked but if you were using it a lot over a long period of time than be aware. If suddenly you are NOT attracted to eating it - follow that advise from your body and take a vacation. I personally liked it best when the plants were just big enough to have a head of green seeds. Seeds contain all the vitality of the whole plant. When green and steamed they have a very delicate flavor. When they start to get brown they have a much stronger taste.
The season is getting along but I encourage you to find some young plants and try it out. You may like it ……..and of course its free!
Canadian Thistle
Another weed grows in my garden in my garden even better than Lamb’s Quarters. I won’t mention its many nutritional qualities now.
No this is really just a rant.
This name ‘Canadian Thistle’ is even more inappropriate than the previous weed. There is NOTHING Canadian about this weed. Canadians are polite and friendly and always saying ‘sorry’ and ‘eh’.
This weed doesn’t say anything even when it pricks you with its MILLIONS of prickles and overruns your garden. It can also be called the creeping thistle.
I am told that you can eat the leaves and the root. I tried and wrote about it in The Man Who Tired to Eat Thistle. If any of you have tried please let me know how it turns out!
I’d rather hear though, about some ingenious way to get rid of this (or make peace with it) since it is now my garden’s worse invader.
I used to think this weed was a ‘wimp’ because I could very easily weed whip it down from large patches around the farm. It has a large hollow stem so I could easily get cut away but now I am pulling up younger plants from my garden and it is the most difficult. Any suggestions?
Feel free to share this post with anyone or leave your comments below.
P.S. If you thought “Good Weed, Bad Weed” had anything to do with the consumption of illegal recreation substances then your head is definitely in the 60′s!
Dandelion Moderation & More Smoothie Tips
OK, so maybe I went a little overboard with my ‘Dandelion Madness‘, ….not with last week’s article – but with eating dandelions themselves!
It happened because I was out at the farm where the plants are so much bigger and there are SO many of them. Instead of spending 5 minutes digging up a few young plants– I can go out with a knife and in 10 seconds gather a shopping cart of mature leaves. After throwing a large bunch into the blender, and forgetting my article advise to just make the dandelions a small addition, I drank my supercharged mixture.
No I didn’t collapse, or even throw up. In fact I finished the whole thing. Those last few mouthfuls were getting very very strong though. I normally clean out the last few drops from the blender (Did I mention I was thrifty?) but this time I was glad to wash it down the sink.
I wanted therefore, to EMPHASIZE the part about moderation and add a few other smoothie hints and facts. They are as follows: Read the rest of this entry »
A Revolutionary Simple Approach To Healthy Eating
