How to Shop for Supplements

Picking your Powders Part 2 ~ Selecting Supplements

 

Rebuilding and retaining your health can become a confusing path after you 
step out of your kitchen into the grocery or health food store.
The market is flooded with "good-for-you" products.

Where to start? What to buy? How to know?

Todays article is the second in a series on learning to pick your powders.

The right powdered drink or shake is a fabulous addition to any lifestyle;

easy, fast, and nutritionally dense.

Once you understand the differences inside the packages and what to look

for, you will have an added edge to your diet.
Last time we digested the contents in the "protein drink", and why you
should or should not be using protein powders.

Now, we look at the bonuses that come with downing a nutritional
supplement drink.

Do We Even Need a Nutritional Supplement?

One definition of suppliment is "a nutrient or phytochemical supplied in
addition to that which is obtained in the diet."
The unfortunate truth is a "balanced diet" will not provide all you need
for a happy healthy you, any longer.

The combination of soil depletion, genetically modified produce, hormones,

antibiotics, pesticides and other chemicals has reduced our food to a
shadow of itself only a generation ago.
According to a Rutgers University study, it now takes 19 ears of corn to
equal the nutritional value of just one ear of corn grown in 1940; 80 cups
of today's supermarket spinach to give you the same iron you'd get from a

cup of spinach grown 50 years ago.

There is less than half the protein in today's wheat as in the wheat our
grandparents ate.

Do we need a supplement? Absolutely.

You body is working harder to ward of more contaminants and disease now
than ever. It needs all it can to run as it should.

Pill Popping

So why should we drink our nutritional supplements instead of popping a
once-a-day pill?

In nature, nutrients do not exist alone, they are found bound with other
nutrients and vital molecules. Many work together, and need each other.

When using a supplement, the closer the supplement is to its natural

form, the better off you will be.
Nature knows exactly how to package things up precisely.


Most pill supplements are now made from synthetics.
At their best, they are only 50% as effective as vitamins in their natural
forms.
At their worst, they actually may carry harmful side effects.

It is possible to find higher quality vitamin/mineral supplements that use
vitamins derived from natural sources and not synthetics.

However they still will not be complete. Science will never perfectly

replicate the beautiful rhytm and relationship that nutrients in their

natural enviroment have.
Your body absorbs liquid vitamins better than its pill counterparts.
Actually, approximately 98 percent of the vitamins and minerals presented
to itself in a liquid form will be absorbed, while only 3 to 20 percent of
the vitamins in a pill is properly absorbed.

Moreover, liquid vitamins bypass digestive processing and go directly
into the bloodstream within minutes.

All the more reason to be drinking your nutrients.
So, what is the best nutrient drink to be stirring up?

Chug a Mug of Green

When you go shopping, look for "green" drinks or "superfood" drinks.
They are easily found in any health food store.

These will be different from the protein powders, although many supplement
drinks will have protein included.

Nearly every major health organization recommends eating five to nine
servings of fruits and vegetables per day to protect your health. But
statistically, less than 9% of North American adults do.

Green drinks are concentrated whole food formulas, which use dehydrated or

"flash dried" fruits and vegetables as their main ingredients.

The plants used have detoxifying and cleansing properties, and are optimum
sources vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, essential fatty acids,
chlorophyll, fibre, enzymes, antioxidants and other important nutrients.

You will drink a variety much larger than any you would ever put on your
plate, with one scoop of a greens drink,on average, equivalent to five
servings of veggies.


By letting "green" supplement drinks become part of your daily diet, you
consume your veggie benefits and get all those nutrients in a form that is
easy and quick for your body to use.


If this is your first experience drinking vegetables, start slow.
Although, there is a large selection of flavors available, these drinks
have a unique taste all to themselves, and may take some time and courage
to get use to.

Believe it or not, you can learn to love them and how they make you feel.
I have and I can notice a difference in my day, if I skip my daily drink.

Green drinks feel just like life in a glass.

The do's and don'ts for green supplement shopping are the same as for the
protein powders.

Make sure you choose the label that claim "organic only" and "no GMO"
produce.

Also avoid the ingredient list that includes artificial sweeteners,
including Splenda, and fillers such as, non-stabilized rice bran and
lecithin.

8 Ways to Regroup After a Holiday Overload

January is back. 

Many of us are secretly rejoicing that the holidays are over for another year.

Once again, we have probably over done it. 
Festivities and feasting has left us feeling very weighed down and tired.

But January is traditionally a time of fresh starts and resolutions.  

These quick tips and easy changes can help get you regroup after a holiday overload and have you moving and grooving in time for Spring

 1. Drown Your Sorrows~

While not exactly as it sounds, however, some of the reason you may be feeling sluggish after the  holiday is because you need a good flushing out.

Your body is more than two thirds water.
 Not coffee, not pop, not eggnog… water.
It is easy to forget that during the holiday.

Water is needed for all proper cell and organ function and for elimination of collected waste. 

Start reaching for the glass of water before you reach for anything else.

2. Veg Out~

How often do you binge on salads over the holidays?  Fruits and veggies get pushed off the plate for much more tempting delicacies.

When the veggies get pushed to the side, so do the nutrients and all those intricate ingredients that make your body work properly.
If you body isn’t getting its best fuel, its not going run its best for you.  Simple as that.
 
Making your plate at least 75% veggies can transform the staunchest couch potato

3. Veg Out Naked~  
 
While you are choosing more fruits and vegetables, make sure as many as possible are raw.
Natural enzymes in the veggies can be altered or destroyed with heat and you would like to get the best bang out of every bite.

Speaking of your bites… chew, chew, chew and then chew slooooowly

Raw fruits and veggies need to be broken down very well for you body to utilize them efficiently.

4. Watch the Clock~
 
Yes, you have to eat more greens but don’t graze.
Holiday time tis the season for nibbling non-stop.
More food (and calories) slide down without ever knowing by popping bites here and there.

When we graze we don’t chew properly therefore we don’t digest the food’s nutrient potential properly.
As well, your body doesn’t send “full signals” to your brain when you constantly munch.
 Blood sugar levels can shoot up and down like a roller coaster creating even more food cravings.

Not only does grazing make you feel lazy, your bowels get lazy too. 
With only a little amount of food at any given time in your sewage system, there is not enough bulk to move everything along properly. 
Stuff just sits, like a rock in your belly, weighing you down and creating fatigue. 

Three meals a day with 2 light snacks is more than enough to keep you going. You won’t starve. I promise.

5.  I Really Mean Watch the Clock~

 Stop eating 3 hours before you go to bed.  Not a nibble.
A drink of juice or tea is just fine but nothing solid.

Your body shuts down for repairs and rejuvenation while you sleep, but it can’t do that if its busy trying to pack away the bag of potato chips you just ate an hour earlier.

Your body will store all late night snacks as fat. 
I repeat… Food eaten before bed will go directly to your hips, waist and bottom, or sit fermenting in your gutt making you wake up groggy and unmotivated.

6.Yes, You Have to Get Off the Couch~  

Holidays are over. You need to move.  Be wise about it, however.  
How many of us have invested in gym memberships, expensive exercise equipment and gimmicky programs right after the holidays?

Instead, try starting with walking 15 minutes every day.
Manitoba weather right now is scrumptious and the days are getting longer and brighter.

So get out there and go.

Movement will get a stagnant lymph system pumping and flush debris out of your body.

Movement also causes you to inhale deeply compared to the shallow breathing we do when we are laying around.
Your body needs oxygen to function, the more the better.

Oxygen is the most important element required for human life and the key to vital health.

Every body activities require oxygen. 
It is central to metabolism, circulation, respiration,

digestion, assimilation and elimination.

For those of you who don’t have the energy to move, I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news.
 (Bad news) If you don’t move you will stay perpetually tired, but (good news) as soon as you start to move you will discover a wellspring of energy.

Something similar to your car battery recharging itself the longer it runs.

7. One Thing at a Time~

New Years brings many good intentions.
But if changing your health is part of those great intentions, do it with some strategy. 
Don’t take on everything at once.

Your health and weight got the way it is one day at a time, one bite at a time. 
Don’t try to reverse everything immediately overnight.

The enthusiasm wears off quickly and your body will protest very loudly.

Pick one or two ‘do-able’ goals and do them well.

Invest time and make a quality commitment. 
Twenty-one days to establish a firm habit, they say.

When your new lifestyle change is well grounded you are ready to step into another new change.

8. Get Some Cheerleaders~

Whether your undertakings are going to be a marathon change or just a short sprint you will need a cheering section.

Surround yourself with people who will speak life and encouragement to you.

It’s easy to find those who are very happy doing nothing except complaining about their weight and health. 

Leave them in the dust.

You will need to find someone who will walk the discouraging parts of this journey with you, keep you focused on your goal and celebrate your victories

Earaches and Tears

Beating Earaches With Home Remedies

As a natural food coach, I thrive off of moments to play doctor with my home remedies, and tonite we pulled all stops on a throbbing pain filled ear.

Let me share our victory over the archenemy Mr., Earache with you.

I’m certain there is nothing quite like the agony of an earache.

Earaches and ear infections can bring the toughest cookie to their knees.

I know because it happened to Your Natural Food Coach’s own cookie tonight.

Imagine if you will the most dangerously beautiful girl you have ever met.

That’s her, my daughter, Butch.

Actually, its Shastan but Butch seems to work for her.

A whopping 18 years old; ruby player, soccer star and track wiz.

Five foot two; one hundred and forty solid pounds. Not a part of this girl giggles. She’s a rock.

She is just finishing serving her first year in the Arm Forces.

She shoots big guns.

Remember, one tough cookie.

An earache took her out tonite. The pain was excruciating.

My big tuff GI Jane was an absolute crumpled ball in the front seat of my car.

Tears streaming down both her cheeks. “Mommy, make it stop!!!” She sobs.

How many of you know that when they call you “mommy”, no matter how old they are, you throw on your super mom cape and get prepared to move mountains.

READ MORE

HERE'S SPUD IN YOUR EYE

(as promised Summer, I will not call you little Miss Potato Head)

And now for something completely different....

My girl has been battling a nasty looking red eye since the weekend.
I suspect a combination of cheap, shared makeup and not properly removing it at night... but she'll deny it.

After a trip to the doctor, who ruled out pinkeye, she appeared with a nice little prescription for antibiotic drops.

Unable to fill the prescription, my brave little 13 year old fell victim to her wacky mom's experiments.
Summer-Grace became a true living salad.

We began her healing regime last night~

• flush the eye with salt water & a wee drop of Hydrogen Peroxide.
• make the girl go back and flush several times properly
• large doses of chopped garlic (swallowed unchewed) & Vitamin C caps, washed down with lots of lemon water.
• apply a thin layer of coconut oil and unpasteurized honey around both eyes. Start with the healthy eye and move over to the infected eye so you don't cross contaminate. Coco oil and honey are tremendous antibacterial and will be absorbed into the tissue around the eye and kill all sorts of icky stuff.
• A nice dry skin brush before bed, to stimulate her lymph glands.
• and the cherry on top??? Nope, not a cherry... but a POTATO~ Off she went to bed with a poultice made out of grated potato and a chamomile/lavender tea bag. She smelt wonderful! Cham & Lav are immensely soothing and the potato is powerfully drawing. It pulled the infection out of her eye as she slept.

When she woke this morning her eye was full of pus! It had come to the surface.
She complained of a sick stomach but not eye discomfort.
This is very typical of drawing and detoxing.
Her bod is pulling the infection (which would not be solely in her eye btw... but spreading internally) to her colon for removal.
After a wash with warm water, the eye looked awesome.
No where near as FIRERY RED as yesterday.

She repeated the dance tonite much to her chagrin~ (she thinks life would just be easier if mom just got the darn doctor drops) minus the skin brush ("it hurtz")

I am expecting to see a perfectly healthy eye tomorrow.

Wishing we still had a functioning camera to document all this drama....
But alas.. life will have to go on.

To somehow make it up to you, heres a shot from this fall of my sweet little french-fry eye girl slugging back some crazy life-giving yummy juice

Just look at those eyes sparkle!!
(no, she's not gagging~ she's goofin..)

LEMONAIDE CLEANSE/ MASTERS CLEANSE

There are countless varieties of this cleanse out there now, but this is the original that started it all...

this guy was a genius...

Stanley Burroughs' Master Cleanser Lemonade

12 small, organic lemons or 6 large ones
1 gallon distilled water
8 to 12 ounces pure, organic, grade-B maple syrup
Dash cayenne pepper

In a one-gallon pitcher, squeeze about a dozen small lemons (or six large lemons). This should make about 12 ounces of juice. Filter the pulp and seeds. The lemons contain the vitamins and antioxidants that will be a vital part of your nutritional needs during the fast.

Next, pour 8 to 12 ounces of pure, 100%, organic, Grade-B maple syrup in with the lemon juice. Grade A is fine, too, but Grade B contains more minerals that are refined out of the Grade-A syrup. This will give you the sweetness to counteract the sour lemons. More importantly, the maple syrup supplies the glucose for essential brain activity and more minerals and vitamins for your body to utilize. It's expensive, but remember, this lemonade is a substitute for food and you won't be spending money on food every day that you are on the fast. If you want to lose weight, I suggest that you only use 8 ounces of syrup per gallon. If it's not sweet enough, add another ounce.

Next, fill the remaining portion of the one-gallon pitcher with distilled water. You can find gallons of distilled water in any grocery store. It is very important that you use distilled water. It is the purest form of water you can drink and does not contain inorganic minerals to further toxify your body.

Stir this mixture well and pour a glass. You can make it the night before and let it chill overnight. Every now and then, if you want to clear your sinuses, you can sprinkle a little cayenne pepper in a glass of lemonade. Feel free to drink distilled water at any time during your fast. You can even make herbal mint or laxative tea, sweetened with maple syrup, during your fast. This will give you variety and help your cleansing and weight loss.

Do not substitute for any of these ingredients. Refined, white sugar will only toxify you further. Lemon juice in a bottle is from concentrate; it will not work. Only fresh-squeezed lemons, organic maple syrup, and distilled water will work. Buy enough ingredients for one day and see how you feel. The one-gallon of lemonade will last you one full day, easily. Try this fast for a maximum of three days the first time. You can stretch it to five or so later.

(Burroughs, Stanley. The Master Cleanser. Auburn, California: Burroughs Books, 1976.)

MISO SOUP

I'm so glad I found this recipe for Miso Soup.

I have a tendency to not make alot of effort when I make a recipe just for myself;
I was just warming the paste in water, basically. But this gave me permission to fancy it up a bit.

Yummy...

This comes with a nicely written article from NATURAL NEWS

Traditional Miso Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

5-inch strip wakame (sea vegetable), or 2 teaspoons dried wakame
1 large onion (about 1 cup)
4 cups purified water
2 to 8 Tablespoons light miso depending on the richness desired

Instructions:

Soak the wakame in water for 10 minutes and slice into 1.5 inch pieces.

Thinly slice onions.

Put water, onions and wakame in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer for 10-20 minutes, until tender.

Remove 1.5 cups of broth from the saucepan and place in a bowl.

Allow water in the bowl to cool a bit and add the miso, mixing it into the water (the water should be cooled to a temperature of 105 degrees or lower so the beneficial microflora and enzymes in the miso remain in tact).

Turn off heat, allowing the remaining water in the saucepan to also cool to 105 degrees or below. When it has cooled, add the miso broth to the soup in the saucepan. Add chopped parsley, green onions, ginger or watercress for garnish.

This is a vegetarian version of miso soup. Dried bonito fish flakes found in Asian markets can be added to this soup to make a more substantial broth. Simmer one tablespoon of bonito flakes in the soup water for 10 minutes and strain.

MECHANICS~ Feb 6, Friday

I have not been excited like this, since the beginning of this adventure.

It has been close to 3 weeks, 3 absolutely roller coaster weeks, and my focus and fervor is rekindling quickly.

Even as I sit here, there is a bonfire building inside....

This journey is not ending this week, folks, that much I know.

And I really do believe that because this may been one of the most complicated and awkward juice fasts, I've done, it is because it will be the one to bring the greatest results. What relief beyond description.

CHANGING LASTING RESULTS~~
I can't wait~

But that is for another post.....

We're all about the MECHANICS here.

Today, looked very much like a Masters Cleanse regime. Lemon juice and cayenne.

However, I have found a trick that seems to, in theory work.

My hardest moment is walking in the door when I get home late.

I have keep my juicer out on the counter ready for me and veggies cleaned and prepped in the fridge.
This has helped my internal argument about it beening soooooo hard to juice when its late and I'm tired....

But I also keep miso soup warmed in a slow cooker all day so when i get home it is INSTANTLY ready AND SNUGGLY WARM!!!!

The house smells delic too! So much nicer walking in the door.

Rest of the day was dry skin brush, colon cleanse, sweat bath, 10 minutes sitz bath and 20 minutes rebounder.

Dug out the pedometer ~ the goal? 20 thousand steps......

THE MECHANICS ~Tues Jan 20, 2009

Up @ 5AM Miracle in itself~ for so long that has been an unachievable goal.

40 minutes rebounder, lemon water, dryskinbrush, contrast shower.

8 AM ~ big glass of pineapple juice and spirulina.

Off to work 2 liter bottle of water and ACV in hand, wish me luck

Lunch at work~ 2TB bee pollen dissolved in water.
detox tea

Home 6:45~ juiced apple, carrot,beet, ginger, potato
sat at the table and ate.

7:45~ spirulina and lemonade. Sat at the computer and guzzled... bad, jo


9 PM 20 minute sweat bath, dry brush, colon cleanse, 20 minute sitz bath

10 pm one cup of the great big batch of cleansing broth I made

And Now For Your Viewing Pleasure

A RAINBOW IN A GLASS

Life as I know it has changed since I met the beauty of blended salad & smoothies!
What a perfect "hang around in your jammies on a Saturday", "forgot to iron my pants, son lost his spelling book, late for the bus and race to work in a hurry" or "drag your butt in the door, too pooped to poop" kinda meal.

This was my Saturday. It keep me going thru drywalling, painting, furniture moving, floor washing, article writing, client councilling, more furniture moving, stuff sorting, teenage daughter stuff and a 2 am movie.

The recipes are simple, endless and have no rules.

All squashed in that big blender you'll see~

• 2 stalks of celery
• half a cantaloupe
  
• 1 avocado
  
• 1 banana
• 1 apple
• 1 mandarine orange
  
• 1 cup of cranberries
• parsley
• 1 cup of saskatoons
• 1 kiwi
• 1/4 flax seed
• 1/2 bee pollen
• 3 tablespoons of fennel seed
• handful of greens
• few glugs of flax oil
  

Cheers!

BREWING FOR TOMMORROW!

MMMMM..MMMM... GOOD!

Tomorrow is Jo's Juicing Jumble day 2!
And Summer and Mine "Mommy & Girlie spa/detox day"

So I'm brewing up some scrumptious healing soup.
Typically when I juice... I juice.
Juice is raw, live and restoring and nothing can beat it.

But I do admit to being the corner cutting queen when I must.
I always keep a pot of cleansing broth handy.
It warms me if the detox chills hit, and its fast if I don't have time to juice.

This recipe is simple and strong:

• Several potatoes with peels intact (or just the peels)
• Several carrots
• lots of onions and garlic
• celery
• sea salt
• parsley
  
• a couple pieces of kelp (the odd green chunks on top)
• cinnamon, cayenne, turmeric and a slice of ginger

This will simmer for a few more hours, then I will reserve the broth and compost the rest.
Healing soup should never be boiled. Just simmer on low until your ready for it

You have no idea how good the house smells right now!