Pets and Superfoods

by healthyhanna on April 12, 2010

Pets sometimes have problems that can be effectively treated with superfoods and herbs. Here is a way you, as their owner, can help them when they need it.

You don’t want to give them the harsh products that a vet may prescribe, unless it’s the last resort. You may also not have the money to spend on them when they need help.

When you have a pet that needs to have some help, you may want to get them some herbal remedies. You will find many herbs for are the same as those for humans. When you can get the herbal treatments that are recommended especially for a pet, they can feel good again. You feel good, too, about sharing a happy and healthy lifestyle.

Many pets have aches and pains. When you notice that your pet is having a hard time with this, you should think of these herbal remedies as a first aid. Remember, “Do no harm” can apply to your pets too.

Where do you get the herbal treatments for your animals? The health food store would be a first choice. They have nutritional supplements in different forms. You can get a liquid, or a powder that can be mixed in their favorite food.

Certain superfoods help them naturally. Nutritional yeast and spirulina are two that come to mind.

There are vets who specialize in these natural treatments. Your local health food store may know of one. Try one of the herbal shops that you see. You can ask them for advice and what they think will work the best.

Some people order on the Internet and get great deals on certain things that they need to make their pets feel better. Your pet my not directly appreciate and understand the extra effort you go to for this kind of treatment. But, you will feel good about helping them in a very natural way.

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Aloe, the Natural First Aid Remedy

by admin on March 21, 2010

Recently, I saw a slogan, “Aloe, the Lily of the Desert.” I don’t know about that, aside from the play on Lily of the Valley.

Aloe grows well in Florida, where I live. I sometimes harvest some from my yard when needed as a natural first aid.

Let’s call it an herb. There are many people that use of aloe to help them for many reasons. From the interior of the leaf of aloe, we get a gel that is naturally lubricating and healing. This gel is part of the aloe plant that is typically and topically used in many treatments.

Some day-to-day treatments include:

* burns
* wounds
* sunburn
* herpes
* psoriasis
* skin irritation

and all without any unpleasant side effects.

There are many internal uses for aloe too. People use it to help with ulcers, diabetes, Crohn’s disease, and constipation. Many find that results start to appear in a quickly.

You can see how you may benefit from aloe and having aloe plants in your home. They are vigorous in growth, and require little care.

Aloe has been known to make skin healthier as well. There are many lotions and creams that have aloe already in them. You can pick these items up at your local store and use them as directed. My favorite is 100% aloe. I can get the same thing from my yard, but having it on hand, ready to use, is convenient.

Many times, aloe greatly relieves dry and chapped skin, particularly in the winter months.

I’ve read that some people that are allergic to aloe. I find that hard to believe, but, if you see any type of rash or problem start, you should discontinue your use. These problems are not very common.

I simply think of it as a first aid remedy. When I have problem that could respond to aloe, I get it immediately. I just believe there is no harm in it, and a lot of potential help.

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The Hot Metabolism Secret Revealed

by admin on August 20, 2009

Lifestyle! It’s the answer. You just can’t escape the idea that lifestyle is the answer to weight and fitness issues.

When I was young, I had the routine, the lifestyle, of going to the gym and working out with weights. I wanted to build strength, muscle mass and put on a few pounds. I also played tennis several times a week.

By the time I was middle aged, my main exercise was the fiddling that I did several times a day. That, along with a vegetarian diet, supplemented with superfoods, was enough to keep me well.

Over the past five years, I can see that I’m losing the battle against cortisol induced weight gain. I long for a magic pill or food that will solve this problem. But, I don’t believe it exists. It appears that a lifestyle adjustment needs to be made. I’m not fit as a fiddler these days.

Enter Carolyn Hansen, stage right. She has in her hand an ebook, a special report. The title is The Secret Fire Within, Hot Metabolism–A Metabolic Fitness System.

I love it when someone claims to have a secret. Something in me says, “Oh yeah? Show me something I don’t know.”

This concise ebook tells you something you don’t know and tells it in a way that is clear and to the point. It makes the information real.

The recommendations that follow the analysis of what the problem really is consist of a few simple activities. These activities comprise, for most of us, a slight change in lifestyle. These activities will heat up your metabolism.

Is a hot metabolism a good thing? If you want to be trim and fit, smart and active, yes , it’s a good thing.

In addition to the drawings toward the end to illustrate some simple exercises that will build muscle, there are recommendations about water, air and natural light. This part could be developed a little more, perhaps, but the logical support is in place. And the activities are simple, anyway.

My involvement with Tom Goode’s full wave breathwork inclines me towards more development of this side. The aspect of subtle energy and water makes me want more on that topic. But, all that is just personal preference. There is enough to get you into action. That’s what counts.

The one element that Carolyn Hansen does not explore is self-discipline. The cultivation of a good new habit that leads to a change in lifestyle is anything but easy.

There are a few self-improvement teachers who focus on discipline, Stuart Wilde and Jim Rohn come to mind, for example. But, there are too many who suggest that a simple activity that is easy to do will solve all your problems.

The one idea that really hit me from The Secret Fire Within is about getting up from a quiet activity, like reading or writing, and moving around vigorously. Just do something, might be the slogan.

Whereas, before reading this, I had in mind setting aside at least twenty minutes to do something, now I only require a few minutes. And I do this more often, taking breaks from the more passive things that come so naturally to me. Reading a book, or reading online, can take over a lot of my time if I let it.

One last thing, as I am providing a link to the web site where you can get this excellent little book. It’s a promotional campaign that is like one of those nested series of Russian Matrushka dolls. There’s something inside something inside something.

I get so tired of this. Sometimes I just bail out before purchasing the simple thing that I wanted. Other times, I’ll hang in there and get what I want.

With that caution in mind, you can have the same experience I had by clicking here.

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10 Places MSG is Hiding Out in Your Food

by admin on July 28, 2009

You cannot depend on food processing manufacturers to to reveal the MSG in their products. This excitotoxin has a bad reputation. Many people would chose to avoid it.

Label reading is a fine art, requiring good visual accuity. Here is a list of ingredients that give away the concealment, according to the July 09 issue of Delicious Living.

1. Autolyzed yeast
2. Calcium caseinate
3. Gelatin
4. Glutamate
5. Glutamic acid
6. Hydrolyzed protein, (wheat, soy, or vegetable)
7. Monopotassium glutamate
8. Sodium caseinate
9. Textured protein
10. Hydrolyzed corn gluten

They warn that “MSG is linked to migraine headaches…and hyperactivity in children. If you see hydrolyzed in an ingredients list, the product contains MSG.”

I’ve been weaning myself off of MSG for a while. Lots of fun foods have it.

We tend to think that Chinese take-out is a vehicle for MSG. But, I’ve gotten the same denial from the Chinese food places I frequent, that they don’t use it.

Hmmm. What is it Dr. House says? “Everybody lies.”

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My First Yogurt–Bleagh!

by admin on July 22, 2009

To get into the mood for writing about yogurt, I spent several days scarfing down at least one Stonyfield Farm Organic Whole Milk Yogurt every day. I like to add bee pollen–two superfoods in one delicious serving!

The bee pollen this time is locally produced at Thomas Honey in Lake City, Florida. I got it at the Florida Folk Festival last May when I appeared there as an unfeatured fiddler.

Some people might challenge the assertion that yogurt is a superfood. But, I have anecdotal evidence that you can get super results from eating it!

First, my bleagh! story.

I was in my early twenties when I first tried eating a yogurt. At that time, I wasn’t into health food, so I don’t know what I read or heard about yogurt that prompted me to give it a try.

What I recall vividly is the experience of spooning slowly through a Borden’s strawberry yogurt. As I took in the contents of the now familiar 6 oz cup, I thought, “Hmmm, a little sour like buttermilk, a pudding-like consistency…” The jury was out.

Then I got to the bottom of the container. There was a pinkish, gelatinous layer on the bottom. Yuck! The jury came in with a unanimous verdict of Disgusting.

And that was it for several years.

Moving ahead to 1969 and my arrival at the Sunshine Company commune in Detroit, this is what happened.

While taking a shower, I found out that my hair was electing to leave my head in great numbers. Panic! How could I be a hippie if my hair was falling out?

Somehow, my synchronistic discovery was that Bulgarians enjoyed a full head of luxuriant hair because they ate yogurt. In fact, lactobacillus bulgaricus was named after them.

This time I was fortunate to get Columbo whole milk yogurt. Much more pleasant to eat, it was a rich, comforting experience. Immediately my hair decided to hold on to the scalp.

Ever since that time, I’ve been a grateful eater of yogurt. And, even though it is a different color now, I still have hair on my head.

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Millet at the Health Food Store

by admin on July 14, 2009

My first visit to a health food store was in 1955. I was on a mission. I had read about the five sacred grains of China, wheat, rice, barley, soy beans and millet. I was after millet.

Being a 12 year old boy back then implies a lack of sophistication more common to a 7 year old today. I didn’t understand what the store was about.

Ann’s Health Foods seemed small and dark. There were lots of little items on wood shelves. There were wooden kegs holding items under tight lids. It had the appearance of a movie western general store, only shrunken to fit the proprietor.

She was a petite woman that I thought of as old. Considering how much longer she lived after I met her, she was not really an old woman. She did have the self-possession that we often find in elders. She knew she was different. She was ready to advocate, even defend that difference.

I asked her for the millet. What did I hope to gain from millet? As a boy raised on the icons of Popeye and Mighty Mouse, it was clear that certain foods could impart super powers. And I desperately needed a super power. (You can see why I’m drawn to superfoods!)

After a brief interaction with the intimidating shop keeper, I left the store with a small paper bag of ground millet and another small bag of raw sunflower seeds.

The sunflower seeds weren’t bad. They raised my hop0e for the millet.

My mom helped me prepare the millet by adding water and helping keep an eye on the pot while it came to a boil. Soon, it was ready, but my hopes were crushed.

It had a bland, different taste, not a good combination. I’m sure I underseasoned it. If I had thought of adding sugar and milk, as I did to cream of wheat, it may have passed muster.

Millet did not take a place in my diet. I did not return to a health food store for fifteen years.

I did continue getting sunflower seeds. There was a deli on the way home from school, when I walked or biked. It had roasted, salted sunflower seeds. They had a much better flavor. Sometimes I got roasted, salted pumpkin seeds, called pepitas, and targetted to Tampa’s Latino community.

When I did begin frequenting the health food store again, Ann had a new location. Her store was bigger and brighter. Oddly, she was about the same age.

I don’t go to health food stores as often these days. The supermarkets have brought in so many items that I used to get at the health food store. But, I haven’t seen any millet.

Maybe it’s time to go on down to the health food store and get a bag of ground millet. Maybe all it needs is maple syrup and a little hemp milk.

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Quinoa the Super Grain of the Andes

by admin on June 8, 2009

The first time I cooked quinoa I was amazed at how the little rounds grain unfurled into a spiral. Then, the nut-like flavor way surpassed my expectations.

Still, I was a little impatient with the need to rinse the grains to avoid bitterness. You don’t have to do that with rice.

Now we have the updated info from a real expert, Carolyn Hemming.

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Açai and the Dangers of the Monodiet

by admin on May 30, 2009

We all want the nutritional silver bullet. We want that one supplement that will solve all our nutritional concerns.

I believe that accounts for the emerging popularity of single foods to take care of a health problem. The most widespread [pun warning] concern is overweight. That one problem attracts more one food solutions than any other.

The most extreme form of this obsession is the monodiet. This means you eat only one food for a short period of time. And short is the governing principle here.

The grapefruit diet, the watermelon diet, the grape cure…any of these sound familiar?

No one expects to be on one food for a long period of time. It’s just a temporary expedient to achieve a short term goal.

That’s why I question the philosophy of one superfood to take care of everything. Or even to handle a particular problem on an ongoing basis.

I believe there is a saturation effect. Sure, you may get a boost in the short term. but, after a while, the inherent imbalance in your diet and metabolism will catch up with you.

The Açai Berry

This açai berry is one of the marvels discovered in the Amazon rainforest. Having a featured role on Oprah has launched it into orbit.

Marketed as a weight loss product, it has more to offer.

Some of the benefits associated with the  açai berry are:

  • increased energy
  • improved digestion
  • antioxident effect
  • improved skin appearance
  • reduced cholesterol
  • improved sexual experience
  • better sleep

It’s possible that the last benefit follows naturally from the next to last.

The ideal processing of the berries uses the same low temperature drying that other superfoods have in preparing them for market. Liquifying it means some form of pasturization. And that means goodby enzymes.

There are supplements like Nuriche that have açai in them along with other beneficial superfoods. That makes sense to me. A balanced supplement of an array of superfoods will not throw you off balance and set up a dangerous situation.

Common sense, for me, means adopting a program that you can live with.

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Superfood Technology and Nuriche

by admin on May 8, 2009

Let’s say you are leaning towards the superfood concept. Now you want to get started easily. You want the biggest bang for your buck. What’s the answer.

The following video reveals the technological basis for the superfood revolution. Chris Hayes is the speaker. He makes a recommendation I support whole heartedly.

This is a convenient way to get more information: Elan’s Nuriche Connection.

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Paracelsus–Doctrine of Signatures

by admin on April 29, 2009

Now that I’ve gotten the booklet shown in the previous post, I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s just a few pages reprinted from another book, probably in public domain.

From the language, you can perceive the background of neo-Platonism, the Emerald Tablet, and alchemy, of course. All very general and brief.

Tolman has not published his book yet. I’m just about sure that he has given this matter a lot of thought and study.

Meanwhile I’ll be looking around and giving Signatures a little more thought, too.

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