Living Life Naturally One Day at a Time
| Home
Articles My Blog  |
 ©2008 Shanna Ohmes |
Articles
| To View My Current
Articles Please Click the Feed Link: View RSS feed |
Super
Foods
©2008 Shanna Ohmes
There are a few lists traveling around on the internet claiming to be the Super Foods List. The first one I found listed collard, mustard and turnip greens as the highest in nutrients. Another one lists the Acai berry at the top.
I have spent the last few years concentrating on foods that help build stronger bones and muscles. I first started out with lots of berries: blue, black, raspberries, and cherries. I learned later that fruits cleanse the body and vegies repair tissue. I am now in the repairing phase as I don't crave as much fruit but do crave vegies. I didn't grow up eating much in the way of vegies except potatoes (smothered in gravy) and maybe green beans and such. And I wouldn't touch fruit. So this has been a big step for me to change over.
Now I crave greens if I don't have them for a few days. And I feel better after I eat them. I go by how my body feels and my intuition mostly, and when I do, I usually find out later that particular food was exactly what I needed.
So here is how I cook greens. You can get turnip greens, or spinach already frozen. Or fresh greens like collard, mustard and turnip and mix them. Put them in a pan with water enough to cover the greens. Or you can use chicken broth. Add some dulse and boil for about 20-30 minutes. Add butter and sea salt to taste and enjoy.
Greens are high in calcium and magnesium, vitamins K and A and manganese and folate. For you young people out there, I would recommend highly you eat these several times a week. Keep your bones strong!
Juicy Thanksgiving Turkey
How to Cook the Juiciest Turkey
©2008 Shanna Ohmes
This recipe is guaranteed to give you the juiciest turkey for that holiday dinner.
1 turkey
¼ cup bacon grease (other good fats are olive oil, butter, or lard)
½ tsp each of the following spices: sage, lemon pepper, rosemary, parsley, garlic powder, and diced onions
Water
Mix the bacon grease and spices together in a bowl.
Put the turkey in a roaster pan, breast side up. (I have a GE Roaster Oven that I use just for cooking turkeys. It frees up my regular oven for casseroles and pies I need to bake at the same time.)
Starting at the base of the breast, make a pocket in the skin, and wriggle your fingers under the skin to get as far back as you can.
Scoop up the bacon grease mixture in your fingers and spread inside the pocket. Spread all over the breast inside the pocket and then all over the outside of the bird.
Pour 1-2” of water in the bottom of the roaster. Cover with lid or tightly with foil. This keeps the moisture in.
Set the heat to 350 degrees. Cook according to directions on turkey package. Serve with your favorite side dishes.
Herbal Cold and Flu Kit
c2008 Shanna Ohmes
T’is the season! The cold and flu season, that is. The kids are back in school and the holidays are just around the corner. Stress levels are going up and the immune systems are plummeting. What can you do to prepare for sniffles, sore throats and congestion? Did you know you can have a few herbs on hand to cope with the cold and flu season? Here is an herbal cold and flu kit you can make up ahead of time.
• Garlic: (Allium sativum) Garlic is one of the most powerful herbs for treating an array of ailments. Historically, garlic was found in caves inhabited 10,000 years ago. It was used by the Egyptians, healers in ancient India, Greek athletes and Roman soldiers. In 19th-Century America, physicians used garlic for colds, coughs, and whooping cough. There are many ways to take garlic. A favorite is a hearty chicken soup or potato soup with lots of garlic and onions. You can eat a raw garlic clove by itself, or chop fine over a salad or main meal. Garlic is also available as garlic oil and in capsules. This powerful herb has antibiotic, antiseptic, and expectorant properties.
• Echinacea: (Echinacea purpurea) The Plains Indians depended on echinacea as their primary medicine. Early pioneers and physicians adopted the use of echinacea and by the 20th century, practically every household kept echinacea tincture in the medicine cabinet. By the 1930’s the use of echinacea waned as antibiotics became popular. Now echinacea resuming its place in the common household. This herb builds the immune system and you can take it when you feel the cold coming on. Echinacea can be steeped as a tea, or used in tincture and capsule form. This immune builder has antibiotic, antiseptic and antiviral properties.
• Astragalus: (Astragalus membranaceus) For thousands of years the Chinese have used astragalus as an energy tonic and to enhance the immune system. Recent studies have shown it shortens the duration of the cold. The root is used in soups, teas, extracts and capsules in combination with ginger. Astragalus has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties.
• Goldenseal: (Hydrastis canadensis) Goldenseal was used by the Native Americans for sore throats. It was not a popular herb with the early settlers until after the Civil War when the demand soared and it was added to several patent medicines. This herb boosts the glandular system, helping with congestion, inflammation, and bronchitis by building up the immune system. It can be used in an infusion with the powdered root, or in tincture and capsule form. Goldenseal has antibiotic and antiseptic properties.
• Ginger: (Zingiber officinale) Ginger remedies were written in Chinese herbal texts around 3,000 B.C. This potent herb helps the respiratory system, easing colds, sore throat, congestion and bronchitis. Grate 2 tsp. fresh ginger, pour a cup of boiling water over it and steep. You can also sprinkle powdered ginger over soups. Ginger has anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and febrifuge properties.
These are powerful immune boosting herbs to keep on hand for everyone in your family. Put the tinctures and capsules in a plastic tub, label “Cold and Flu Kit”, and include a note or this article about the garlic and ginger. Now you can confidently ride out the holidays knowing how to cope with the new season, no matter what “gifts” it might bring.
Pickled Garlic
c2008 Shanna Ohmes
Today I ventured into making pickled garlic using the lacto-fermentation process. It was so easy! The last time I peeled that much garlic the garlic oil burned the skin on my fingers. This time I learned about heating the garlic in the oven first before peeling. The cloves practically slipped out of their skins and the oil didn't burn my skin this time.
I started with 12 heads of garlic. I put them on a cookie sheet and in a 300 degree oven for about 20 minutes or so. I peeled the skins off and put them in a canning jar. Then I made the brine: 2 tsp. oregano, 2 tsp. sea salt, and 2 tbs. whey. I poured the brine over the garlic, added water to within 1 inch of the top to make room for expansion. This will set on the cabinet for about 3 days to get the fermentation process started. Then I can put it in cold storage (refrigerator) and use.
It should be done by this weekend and I will post my results on here. I can't wait to try it. Especially with the cold and flu season here. Garlic has so many properties to help with infections.
Sauerkraut
c2008 Shanna Ohmes
My first introduction to sauerkraut when I was growing up was a stinky slimy mess out of a can that messed up a perfectly good hot dog. I vowed I'd never touch that stuff again, but finally decided to give it a try after I learned about all the healthful benefits it has.
Sauerkraut is one of many lacto-fermented foods. These foods restore the healthy bacteria and flora into the intestines so they can do their job to keep us in good health.
Skeptical, I read and re-read the research on all the benefits of this supposedly wonderful food that I hated in my childhood and found a good recipe. It actually took me 2-3 years before I took the plunge and tried it.
I was totally surprised! This actually tasted good. It was nothing like I remembered from so long ago. I put my batch in a tall glass jar and admired the beauty of the fresh green color every time I opened my refrigerator. The taste was refreshing and blended so well with sausages, hot dogs, Reuben sandwiches, soups and salads. A few tablespoons a day will add a good amount of the good bacteria and vitamins into your diet.
The practice of lacto-fermenting vegetables has its roots in Europe, Rome and China going back 6,000 years. Sailors kept sauerkraut on ships to prevent scurvy on their long voyages. The Romans carried sauerkraut with them to protect against intestinal infections. Other vegetables can be lacto-fermented with the cabbage or separately, like turnips, beets and carrots. Some fruits can also be fermented. They are called chutneys.
The nutrients in sauerkraut are calcium, potassium, magnesium, copper, vitamins C, K, B6 and folate, as well as plenty of antioxidants. The fermentation process actually increases the value and availability of and digestibility of the vegetables and fruits.
How to make Sauerkraut:
1 cabbage
2 tbs. sea salt
glass quart canning jar
Chop the cabbage in small pieces. Place in a large bowl and sprinkle with sea salt. Pound and mash with a meat mallet for about 10 minutes.
You will see that some of the juices are released from the cabbage. Put the cabbage in your jar a little at a time, pressing firmly to keep the juices coming to the top of the cabbage.
Repeat until the cabbage and its juice come within one inch of the top. This gives enough room for expansion. If there is not enough juice, you can add a little bit of water. Cover with a tight fitting lid and leave on your cabinet for 3 days. Then store in your refrigerator or cellar.
You can start eating it immediately and it greatly improves with age. Mine tasted delicious in the beginning and only got better from then on. At 1 year the color started to fade, but the flavor was still excellant.
Enjoy!
Healthy Chocolate? Oh Yeah!
c2008 Shanna Ohmes
Recent research has proved what every woman has instinctively known all along, chocolate is good for you! But we're not talking about just any chocolate off the grocery shelf. What research studies have shown is the best chocolate is in its organic raw form. Did you know that in one spoonful of raw chocolate there are 25,200 antioxidants? It is the only food with that high amount. The Aztec, Mayan, and Incan cultures were onto something. In this article I will highlight the processing, nutrients, and health benefits of adding raw chocolate into your daily diet. And you get a recipe as a bonus.
The processing of chocolate is minimal. It goes through a cold-pressing method that keeps the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients intact. Modern methods generally use high heat that destroys some of these nutrients, the use of chemicals and preservatives, and of course refined white sugar and corn syrup.
Raw chocolate has the richest source of magnesium available in a food. It is also high in copper, iron and in lesser amounts of calcium, zinc, vitamin A, niacin, phosphorus, tryptophan and phenylethylamine (PEA).
Research studies have revealed a surprising list of health benefits of raw chocolate. It helps lower blood pressure and increase blood flow to the brain. It also improves some blood sugar disorders and lessens chronic inflammation in the body. Raw chocolate is the most easily absorbed and digested chocolate.
So how do you use this #1 Antioxidant Superfood? You can add 1-2 tbs. in smoothies, cookies, and herbal teas. I made up my own Frappe' (a cold version of a cappuccino) and recently revised it using the raw chocolate powder and actually decreased the amount of sugar from my previous recipe. Within a short time I plan to completely eliminate the sugar.
RAW CHOCOLATE POWER FRAPPE'
2 Tbs raw chocolate powder (Sunfood Nutrition Cacao powder)
2 Tbs or less organic natural sugar (dehydrated cane sugar)
1 Tbs instant coffee
1/2 c. cream (optional)
1 1/2 c. organic milk (raw goat's milk)
6 ice cubes
Put all ingredients in blender and blend on ice setting for 1 minute. Serve and enjoy guilt free.
Traditional Diets
c2008 Shanna Ohmes
Traditional diets are rarely talked about in the media today. Mainstream media typically depicts diets to mean completely eliminating some foods, or eating only certain other foods to lose weight.
Over the years I have read many books on the subject of diet. I had two criteria in mind with each book I read: 1)Would my ancestors have eaten this? and 2)Would there be a way to gather/grow/trade for this food in my area without a grocery store?
I asked these questions because I believe that with each further step into processing and shipping, we lose more valuable nutrients in our food. Now I still eat bananas even though I don't live in the tropics, but I also know the equivelant of food that has the same type of nutrients that does grow in my area, like watermelon. (Both are high in potassium.)
These are the 3 best books I have enjoyed.
"Nourishing Tradition by Sally Fallon
"Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" by Weston A. Price, DDS
"NeanderThin" by Ray Audette
The NeanderThin book helped me get off the processed foods and focus on what I was eating. It was a high protein/low carb diet, which worked very well for awhile. I don't follow it as rigidly now, but the research in it was mostly what my ancestors would have eaten and I could raise or gather most of the food myself.
Nutrition and Physical Degeneration opened my eyes to the physical evidence to many of our health problems today. Dr. Price was a dentist who traveled to study many cultures and took pictures of people that ate only their traditional native diets, and then pictures of the next generations who went to the cities to work and ate more modern food such as white flour and white sugar products. The contrast in the dental pictures within even one generation was amazing.
Nourishing Traditions gave me more research than expanding on Dr. Price's discoveries. It is also a cookbook, and gives the research and evidence of why to use more traditional foods and cooking methods for better health. I rate this the best of the three books, it is by far my favorite.
My conclusion from my research is to eat a large variety of vegetables and fruits prepared by the traditional cooking methods, meats that are raised free range and to include good quaity fats essential to the body. And exercise. But we all knew that didn't we?
Pineapple-ness
c2008 Shanna Ohmes
I love pineapple. It adds a great tangy flavor on pizza and that Christmas ham. But did you know all the health benefits of this exotic fruit?
Pineapple has sugar, Vitamin C, bromelain, potassium, calcium, manganese, and fiber. Bromelain helps break down protein and also fights infections.
The list of ailments that pineapple can help relieve is varied. I'm sure as more research is done, we'll see this is truly an amazing fruit, as most of nature's plants are.
Pineapple is an anti-inflammatory and can be taken internally or applied topically. All the properties of pineapple aid the digestion, which is the seat (pardon the pun) of our health. Other benefits are:
The suggested use is 200-250 ml of raw pineapple juice daily (3x day for angina).
Include raw pineapple itself for the fiber to help process the juice.
I can attest to the pain relieving benefit. I injured my elbows while pulling weeds in the garden this summer. I could not pick up a glass of water without almost dropping it. This last week I started drinking a pineapple smoothie everyday, and within a week the pain is almost gone and I can now pick things up.
This is the smoothie I made up:
1 c. pineapple juice
1 c. orange juice
1 c. milk or yogurt (I use whole raw goat's milk when available, or 1/2 c. whipping cream and 1/2 c. milk)
1/2 of a 15.25 oz can of pineapple chunks, or you can use some fresh pineapple
2 bananas
6 ice cubes
Blend on ice crush setting in your blender. This makes 2 servings.
©2008 Shanna Ohmes
There are a few lists traveling around on the internet claiming to be the Super Foods List. The first one I found listed collard, mustard and turnip greens as the highest in nutrients. Another one lists the Acai berry at the top.
I have spent the last few years concentrating on foods that help build stronger bones and muscles. I first started out with lots of berries: blue, black, raspberries, and cherries. I learned later that fruits cleanse the body and vegies repair tissue. I am now in the repairing phase as I don't crave as much fruit but do crave vegies. I didn't grow up eating much in the way of vegies except potatoes (smothered in gravy) and maybe green beans and such. And I wouldn't touch fruit. So this has been a big step for me to change over.
Now I crave greens if I don't have them for a few days. And I feel better after I eat them. I go by how my body feels and my intuition mostly, and when I do, I usually find out later that particular food was exactly what I needed.
So here is how I cook greens. You can get turnip greens, or spinach already frozen. Or fresh greens like collard, mustard and turnip and mix them. Put them in a pan with water enough to cover the greens. Or you can use chicken broth. Add some dulse and boil for about 20-30 minutes. Add butter and sea salt to taste and enjoy.
Greens are high in calcium and magnesium, vitamins K and A and manganese and folate. For you young people out there, I would recommend highly you eat these several times a week. Keep your bones strong!
Juicy Thanksgiving Turkey
How to Cook the Juiciest Turkey
©2008 Shanna Ohmes
This recipe is guaranteed to give you the juiciest turkey for that holiday dinner.
1 turkey
¼ cup bacon grease (other good fats are olive oil, butter, or lard)
½ tsp each of the following spices: sage, lemon pepper, rosemary, parsley, garlic powder, and diced onions
Water
Mix the bacon grease and spices together in a bowl.
Put the turkey in a roaster pan, breast side up. (I have a GE Roaster Oven that I use just for cooking turkeys. It frees up my regular oven for casseroles and pies I need to bake at the same time.)
Starting at the base of the breast, make a pocket in the skin, and wriggle your fingers under the skin to get as far back as you can.
Scoop up the bacon grease mixture in your fingers and spread inside the pocket. Spread all over the breast inside the pocket and then all over the outside of the bird.
Pour 1-2” of water in the bottom of the roaster. Cover with lid or tightly with foil. This keeps the moisture in.
Set the heat to 350 degrees. Cook according to directions on turkey package. Serve with your favorite side dishes.
Herbal Cold and Flu Kit
c2008 Shanna Ohmes
T’is the season! The cold and flu season, that is. The kids are back in school and the holidays are just around the corner. Stress levels are going up and the immune systems are plummeting. What can you do to prepare for sniffles, sore throats and congestion? Did you know you can have a few herbs on hand to cope with the cold and flu season? Here is an herbal cold and flu kit you can make up ahead of time.
• Garlic: (Allium sativum) Garlic is one of the most powerful herbs for treating an array of ailments. Historically, garlic was found in caves inhabited 10,000 years ago. It was used by the Egyptians, healers in ancient India, Greek athletes and Roman soldiers. In 19th-Century America, physicians used garlic for colds, coughs, and whooping cough. There are many ways to take garlic. A favorite is a hearty chicken soup or potato soup with lots of garlic and onions. You can eat a raw garlic clove by itself, or chop fine over a salad or main meal. Garlic is also available as garlic oil and in capsules. This powerful herb has antibiotic, antiseptic, and expectorant properties.
• Echinacea: (Echinacea purpurea) The Plains Indians depended on echinacea as their primary medicine. Early pioneers and physicians adopted the use of echinacea and by the 20th century, practically every household kept echinacea tincture in the medicine cabinet. By the 1930’s the use of echinacea waned as antibiotics became popular. Now echinacea resuming its place in the common household. This herb builds the immune system and you can take it when you feel the cold coming on. Echinacea can be steeped as a tea, or used in tincture and capsule form. This immune builder has antibiotic, antiseptic and antiviral properties.
• Astragalus: (Astragalus membranaceus) For thousands of years the Chinese have used astragalus as an energy tonic and to enhance the immune system. Recent studies have shown it shortens the duration of the cold. The root is used in soups, teas, extracts and capsules in combination with ginger. Astragalus has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties.
• Goldenseal: (Hydrastis canadensis) Goldenseal was used by the Native Americans for sore throats. It was not a popular herb with the early settlers until after the Civil War when the demand soared and it was added to several patent medicines. This herb boosts the glandular system, helping with congestion, inflammation, and bronchitis by building up the immune system. It can be used in an infusion with the powdered root, or in tincture and capsule form. Goldenseal has antibiotic and antiseptic properties.
• Ginger: (Zingiber officinale) Ginger remedies were written in Chinese herbal texts around 3,000 B.C. This potent herb helps the respiratory system, easing colds, sore throat, congestion and bronchitis. Grate 2 tsp. fresh ginger, pour a cup of boiling water over it and steep. You can also sprinkle powdered ginger over soups. Ginger has anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and febrifuge properties.
These are powerful immune boosting herbs to keep on hand for everyone in your family. Put the tinctures and capsules in a plastic tub, label “Cold and Flu Kit”, and include a note or this article about the garlic and ginger. Now you can confidently ride out the holidays knowing how to cope with the new season, no matter what “gifts” it might bring.
Pickled Garlic
c2008 Shanna Ohmes
Today I ventured into making pickled garlic using the lacto-fermentation process. It was so easy! The last time I peeled that much garlic the garlic oil burned the skin on my fingers. This time I learned about heating the garlic in the oven first before peeling. The cloves practically slipped out of their skins and the oil didn't burn my skin this time.
I started with 12 heads of garlic. I put them on a cookie sheet and in a 300 degree oven for about 20 minutes or so. I peeled the skins off and put them in a canning jar. Then I made the brine: 2 tsp. oregano, 2 tsp. sea salt, and 2 tbs. whey. I poured the brine over the garlic, added water to within 1 inch of the top to make room for expansion. This will set on the cabinet for about 3 days to get the fermentation process started. Then I can put it in cold storage (refrigerator) and use.
It should be done by this weekend and I will post my results on here. I can't wait to try it. Especially with the cold and flu season here. Garlic has so many properties to help with infections.
Sauerkraut
c2008 Shanna Ohmes
My first introduction to sauerkraut when I was growing up was a stinky slimy mess out of a can that messed up a perfectly good hot dog. I vowed I'd never touch that stuff again, but finally decided to give it a try after I learned about all the healthful benefits it has.
Sauerkraut is one of many lacto-fermented foods. These foods restore the healthy bacteria and flora into the intestines so they can do their job to keep us in good health.
Skeptical, I read and re-read the research on all the benefits of this supposedly wonderful food that I hated in my childhood and found a good recipe. It actually took me 2-3 years before I took the plunge and tried it.
I was totally surprised! This actually tasted good. It was nothing like I remembered from so long ago. I put my batch in a tall glass jar and admired the beauty of the fresh green color every time I opened my refrigerator. The taste was refreshing and blended so well with sausages, hot dogs, Reuben sandwiches, soups and salads. A few tablespoons a day will add a good amount of the good bacteria and vitamins into your diet.
The practice of lacto-fermenting vegetables has its roots in Europe, Rome and China going back 6,000 years. Sailors kept sauerkraut on ships to prevent scurvy on their long voyages. The Romans carried sauerkraut with them to protect against intestinal infections. Other vegetables can be lacto-fermented with the cabbage or separately, like turnips, beets and carrots. Some fruits can also be fermented. They are called chutneys.
The nutrients in sauerkraut are calcium, potassium, magnesium, copper, vitamins C, K, B6 and folate, as well as plenty of antioxidants. The fermentation process actually increases the value and availability of and digestibility of the vegetables and fruits.
How to make Sauerkraut:
1 cabbage
2 tbs. sea salt
glass quart canning jar
Chop the cabbage in small pieces. Place in a large bowl and sprinkle with sea salt. Pound and mash with a meat mallet for about 10 minutes.
You will see that some of the juices are released from the cabbage. Put the cabbage in your jar a little at a time, pressing firmly to keep the juices coming to the top of the cabbage.
Repeat until the cabbage and its juice come within one inch of the top. This gives enough room for expansion. If there is not enough juice, you can add a little bit of water. Cover with a tight fitting lid and leave on your cabinet for 3 days. Then store in your refrigerator or cellar.
You can start eating it immediately and it greatly improves with age. Mine tasted delicious in the beginning and only got better from then on. At 1 year the color started to fade, but the flavor was still excellant.
Enjoy!
Healthy Chocolate? Oh Yeah!
c2008 Shanna Ohmes
Recent research has proved what every woman has instinctively known all along, chocolate is good for you! But we're not talking about just any chocolate off the grocery shelf. What research studies have shown is the best chocolate is in its organic raw form. Did you know that in one spoonful of raw chocolate there are 25,200 antioxidants? It is the only food with that high amount. The Aztec, Mayan, and Incan cultures were onto something. In this article I will highlight the processing, nutrients, and health benefits of adding raw chocolate into your daily diet. And you get a recipe as a bonus.
The processing of chocolate is minimal. It goes through a cold-pressing method that keeps the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients intact. Modern methods generally use high heat that destroys some of these nutrients, the use of chemicals and preservatives, and of course refined white sugar and corn syrup.
Raw chocolate has the richest source of magnesium available in a food. It is also high in copper, iron and in lesser amounts of calcium, zinc, vitamin A, niacin, phosphorus, tryptophan and phenylethylamine (PEA).
Research studies have revealed a surprising list of health benefits of raw chocolate. It helps lower blood pressure and increase blood flow to the brain. It also improves some blood sugar disorders and lessens chronic inflammation in the body. Raw chocolate is the most easily absorbed and digested chocolate.
So how do you use this #1 Antioxidant Superfood? You can add 1-2 tbs. in smoothies, cookies, and herbal teas. I made up my own Frappe' (a cold version of a cappuccino) and recently revised it using the raw chocolate powder and actually decreased the amount of sugar from my previous recipe. Within a short time I plan to completely eliminate the sugar.
RAW CHOCOLATE POWER FRAPPE'
2 Tbs raw chocolate powder (Sunfood Nutrition Cacao powder)
2 Tbs or less organic natural sugar (dehydrated cane sugar)
1 Tbs instant coffee
1/2 c. cream (optional)
1 1/2 c. organic milk (raw goat's milk)
6 ice cubes
Put all ingredients in blender and blend on ice setting for 1 minute. Serve and enjoy guilt free.
Traditional Diets
c2008 Shanna Ohmes
Traditional diets are rarely talked about in the media today. Mainstream media typically depicts diets to mean completely eliminating some foods, or eating only certain other foods to lose weight.
Over the years I have read many books on the subject of diet. I had two criteria in mind with each book I read: 1)Would my ancestors have eaten this? and 2)Would there be a way to gather/grow/trade for this food in my area without a grocery store?
I asked these questions because I believe that with each further step into processing and shipping, we lose more valuable nutrients in our food. Now I still eat bananas even though I don't live in the tropics, but I also know the equivelant of food that has the same type of nutrients that does grow in my area, like watermelon. (Both are high in potassium.)
These are the 3 best books I have enjoyed.
"Nourishing Tradition by Sally Fallon
"Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" by Weston A. Price, DDS
"NeanderThin" by Ray Audette
The NeanderThin book helped me get off the processed foods and focus on what I was eating. It was a high protein/low carb diet, which worked very well for awhile. I don't follow it as rigidly now, but the research in it was mostly what my ancestors would have eaten and I could raise or gather most of the food myself.
Nutrition and Physical Degeneration opened my eyes to the physical evidence to many of our health problems today. Dr. Price was a dentist who traveled to study many cultures and took pictures of people that ate only their traditional native diets, and then pictures of the next generations who went to the cities to work and ate more modern food such as white flour and white sugar products. The contrast in the dental pictures within even one generation was amazing.
Nourishing Traditions gave me more research than expanding on Dr. Price's discoveries. It is also a cookbook, and gives the research and evidence of why to use more traditional foods and cooking methods for better health. I rate this the best of the three books, it is by far my favorite.
My conclusion from my research is to eat a large variety of vegetables and fruits prepared by the traditional cooking methods, meats that are raised free range and to include good quaity fats essential to the body. And exercise. But we all knew that didn't we?
Pineapple-ness
c2008 Shanna Ohmes
I love pineapple. It adds a great tangy flavor on pizza and that Christmas ham. But did you know all the health benefits of this exotic fruit?
Pineapple has sugar, Vitamin C, bromelain, potassium, calcium, manganese, and fiber. Bromelain helps break down protein and also fights infections.
The list of ailments that pineapple can help relieve is varied. I'm sure as more research is done, we'll see this is truly an amazing fruit, as most of nature's plants are.
Pineapple is an anti-inflammatory and can be taken internally or applied topically. All the properties of pineapple aid the digestion, which is the seat (pardon the pun) of our health. Other benefits are:
- helps relieve angina and clears out plaque and blood clots
- clears bronchial passages, relieving coughs and loosening mucus
- symptoms of arthritis are lessened
- use after surgery and injuries, it repairs connective tissue
- builds healthy bones- for the young and old alike-good for those with osteoporosis
- use for colds
- gum disease, which leads to heart problems
- prevents and relieves constipation
- prevents and relieves nausea
The suggested use is 200-250 ml of raw pineapple juice daily (3x day for angina).
Include raw pineapple itself for the fiber to help process the juice.
I can attest to the pain relieving benefit. I injured my elbows while pulling weeds in the garden this summer. I could not pick up a glass of water without almost dropping it. This last week I started drinking a pineapple smoothie everyday, and within a week the pain is almost gone and I can now pick things up.
This is the smoothie I made up:
1 c. pineapple juice
1 c. orange juice
1 c. milk or yogurt (I use whole raw goat's milk when available, or 1/2 c. whipping cream and 1/2 c. milk)
1/2 of a 15.25 oz can of pineapple chunks, or you can use some fresh pineapple
2 bananas
6 ice cubes
Blend on ice crush setting in your blender. This makes 2 servings.
Copyright
2009, Shanna Ohmes. All Rights Reserved.