Broccoli, carrot, apple Juice

As someone who is very health concious, I have been somewhat late in getting into the juicing craze (well juicing at home anyway).

Two reasons for this:

1. I always thought it was better to eat the whole fruit (hence including the pulp) and didn’t want such an overload of fruit sugar without the pulp.
2. I always assumed that it would be messy and extremely tedious to wash the juicer etc.

Well I was recently given a gift and yes you can guess it was a juicer!

I was extremely surprised at the ease of using it and how quickly it could be cleaned.

Also the ability to consume more fruit and vegetables in such a quick way was quite appealing (though the lack of fruit pulp/fibre was slightly a concerning factor for me – I resolved this by adding either flaxseeds or a little of the actual pulp back into the juice).

The model I received was the Phillips Whole Fruit Juicer.

It also came with the Jason Vale DVD (aka “The Juice master”) which was great as it showed different juice recipes being actually made!

After juicing, I add some of the pulp that collects in the container so that the juice has some fibre (I usually add the carrot pulp as this is more palatable).

I’ve tried a couple of different recipes, but the best so far has been the following mix:

• 2 ‘red delicious’ apples
• 3-5 broccoli florets (Vitamin C & sulphur compounds which help detoxing, I love cruciferous veggies!)
• 3 large carrots (over 400 different caretenoids – i.e. Vitamin A)

The above recipe was from The Juicing Book website, all the recipes are free!

I especially like how the author of The Juicing Book talks about gradually increasing juices in your diet over time and not rushing into as well as discussing the negative consequences of overdoing it!

Do you juice?

If so, share your experiences + recipes in the comments please.

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A recent article in Time magazine expounds upon the benefits of exercise on depression.

In a business which costs Americans approximately $10million each year, a new solution is more than needed.

Why such a demand for antidepressants?

We, as human beings (and more so as inhabitants of the “Western world”) are meant to have reached the pinnacle of all aspects of life?

Right?

Maybe not?

Maybe we are too materialistic…?

The article describes how psychologist Jasper Smits is using an “unorthodox” method of treating anxiety and mood disorders (including depression) – he’s using exercise, more specifically, aerobic/cardiovascular forms of exercise.

Now I don’t know about yourselves, but I always thought that this was somewhat common knowledge, if you’re feeling a bit down or even on the brink of mild depression, exercise was the key to combating such a state.

It makes complete sense when one considers only some of the side-effects of taking antidepressants, such as:

• Sleep disturbances
• Nausea
• Tremors
• Fluctuation in body weight

Many studies and experiments have shown the benefits of exercise on regulating and promoting endorphins (feel-good hormones), specifically, serotonin and norepinephrine.

In 1999, researchers at Duke University demonstrated that depressed adults who participated in an aerobic-exercise plan improved as much as those on antidepressants!

Subsequent studies have complemented these findings.

More recently, neuroscience professor Philip Holmes and colleagues have shown that exercise, over several weeks, can “switch on” certain genes that increase galanin, a peptide neurotransmitter found in the brain that helps control stress by regulating another hormone, norepinephrine.

Talking from experience, there have been times where I have stopped exercising during very busy periods of my life (not an excuse!) and as a result, my ability to handle and maintain a strong mental composure to stressful events has been relatively less than optimal, at the best of times!

I guess such studies show that being active (generally) is more preferred than being sedentary.

There are of course cases where such an approach will not help resolve/cure the condition.

I have always found that exercising has helped me to be more optimistic and proactive, especially when I have been consistently following a plan for a period of time.

Muscular activity also helps activate the movement of lymphatic “rubbish” and hence allows your body to detox and cleanse itself and become less “sluggish”!

What are your experiences?  Do you agree with these studies?  Have you overcome the “blues” another way?

Please comment and lets us know below.

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This is a guest post by Alexis Bonari.

We usually hear about enemas and think, “…that’s gross!” or “…isn’t that what my grandparents used to do?”

It’s amazing to think that we don’t grasp how important it is to keep our insides clean.

We maintain our cars better than our bodies.

We take the car in for an oil change because if we don’t the oil builds up, creates a sludge and stops working properly.

Now think of everything we put into our bodies and everything that doesn’t make it out.

Scary huh?

Ways to Detox?

There are so many things we can do to detox our bodies little by little each day.

The following are some of the ways I like to detox…

I love detox tea, especially when you think you might be getting a cold. 1 cup 3 times a day flushes away any impurities you may have in your system, preventing you from getting sick.

Not to mention, drinking a cup a day on a daily basis will maintain your immune system and keep you healthy.

Drinking aloe vera juice in the morning too helps clean your blood and organs to maintain proper body flow and beautiful hair and skin.

Another thing I love to do is drink liquid chlorophyll. It is an amazing internal deodorizer and it helps to oxygenate the blood for better breathing and blood flow.

In the morning if you want to kick start you metabolism and get into gear, drink a 3 spoonfuls of lemon with a pinch of Cayenne pepper and honey. You will feel amazing!

Infrared saunas are amazing for detoxing as well. So are regular saunas.

Did you know that when you sweat, you release millions of toxins stored in your body. That’s why it is important to shower after and get them off as soon as possible to not have them re absorb into your skin.

Dry brushing can also help your body tone and detox. You can a brush with bamboo bristles and brush from your feet counterclockwise toward your heart. This helps circulation and blood flow. It also helps to detoxify your body naturally.

Coffee enemas anyone…?

Now lets talk a bit about the benefits of the coffee enema verses just water.

Coffee enemas date back to 1917, but the benefits on the liver were claimed by a German scientist in the 1920’s.

Water alone does not cleanse the liver or detoxify.

The best part of coffee enemas is that it will not waste minerals and electrolytes. The coffee enema is safe even if you have a sensitivity to caffeine because the coffee remains in the colon where it will not be absorbed, just be careful to not put the enema bag to high.

It also cleans you out so well that it helps to also maintain your flat stomach and keep you regular. If you ever feel stopped up,its better then a stimulating laxative that will give you cramps.

Coffee Enema “Recipe”

Here is a recipe for a great detoxifying coffee enema and what you will need to buy.

Supplies:
Reusable enema bag
Organic coffee
Distilled water
French Press

How to prepare

Pour eight cups of filtered water into a pot and bring it to a boil. Add as many heaped tablespoonfuls of ground organic coffee. Use a French Press, if available, to strain of the right temperature, it is better to make a mistake on the lower side rather than risking burning your innards. Pour the coffee into the enema bag, making sure the value is switched off, and hang it no higher than one meter from the floor. Turn on the valve to let the air out and let the coffee flow to the end of the tube before closing the value again. Spread a thin layer of lubricant at the end of the tube about two inches high.

Lie down on your right side, with your right leg straight and left leg bent. Insert the tube into the rectum about two inches deep. Open the valve and let the coffee flow for about two to three minutes, or until the bag is drained. Remove the tube and retain the enema for ten to twenty minutes, and change your position a few times.During it just relax, Put on some music you like . If you feel cramping try shifting from one side to the other or lay on your back.When the time comes for bathroom fun, make sure you do so without pushing.

Should be repeated every day for a week or so, to really feel the benefit.
You should be able to feel your insides churning slightly, if you don’t you might want to increase the concentration of coffee, but not beyond two tablespoonfuls per cup.

The best part of all of this is that not only are you taking care of your health, but when your done the whole bathroom smells like Starbucks.

Trust me, you’ll thank me for it.

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I’ve been searching everywhere for information!

On what you ask?

Well you probably guessed by the title, I’ve been trying to find information about administering a baby with digestive enzymes.

Unfortunately we have had to put our little man on formula (at 5 weeks of age) as a result of his silent reflux.

I read in an old forum how a mother used enzymes with her child who suffered from very bad silent reflux. She had amazing results!

What did she do? Unfortunately her answer was somewhat SHORT and not very helpful! And I couldn’t contact her!

I searched and searched everywhere for an answer as to whether it would be safe to give my son digestive enzymes with his powdered milk and also any guidance as to dosage, timings etc.

I found very little to no information – I spoke to qualified dieticians, nutritionists, paediatricians, just about everyone you can imagine, all resulting with some form of disparity in their answers – though somehow I managed to piece everything together to come to my own conclusion.

Why digestive enzymes?

Breast milk contains many natural enzymes which help the baby digestive and assimilate the food quickly and easily.

However, with powdered milk, there are NO enzymes at all (unless you have a hydrolysed version – and this is only for the milk protein in the milk which is “pre-digested”, therefore there are no real enzymes present in the actual milk), as a result the baby’s system is overwhelmed with having to produce and utilise its owns enzymes to digest the food.

I wanted to say this in my own words, however Jon Barron summed it up so well, I just had to quote him:

After a few weeks of running about (mentally as well as physically) searching for any information, I received a surprise reply from someone at enzymedica (company specialising in enzymes), they told me that it would be safe to give the baby approximately 1/4 to 1/2 a capsule before each feed.

This is exactly what I did!

I was also happy to learn that their capsules were Vegan friendly – not that it would make much difference to my son.

At first, I was a bit apprehensive, as you can probably imagine, however I really wanted my son to take the enzymes as I personally knew the benefits of having them in my own diet.

My experience

I first started taking digestive enzymes back in 2004, when I read an article propounding their benefits.

At the time, I had acne and I was trying to solve this dilemma!

I had tried so many different pills, diets, skin care regimes…the list goes on!

When I read about digestive enzymes and how they help an overburdened system digest food, it seemed to make sense to try them.

Just before I started taking the enzymes, I was on quite a restricted diet to figure out what was causing my acne, hence I was in a long process of elimination.

From one extreme to another!

The same day I received my enzymes (in the morning), I had to go up north to visit some family too.

This was BAD news!

Some of my family eat quite unhealthy food, very processed and high in fat!

I knew this would be a big test for the enzymes so I decided to eat everything and not stress too much.

I was tired of restricting my diet!

I also wanted to see how far I could push it! Would these enzymes allow me to eat everything without getting acne?

The enzymes worked very well and my acne didn’t reappear unless I really overate and had very high fat meals.

I was pleasantly surprised and somewhat excited!

Anyway back to the topic…

My son’s results

After the first day all seemed well, his stools were normal and there was no sign of any disturbance.

He has been on the enzymes for nearly two months now and no problems at all!

I spoke to two paediatricians who didn’t object to the enzyme supplementation.

After initially giving my son a ¼ to ½ a capsule before each feed, I ended up mixing the enzymes with his actual milk as it was proving to be too difficult to give the enzymes in a little water via a syringe (especially when we travel!).

My advice

If you want to give your infant some form of digestive enzyme to ease the burden put on their system, I advise you speak to a paediatrician/specialist before going ahead.

If you’re given the green light, then great!  It’s probably one of the best decisions you’ll make for your child(ren).

In terms of taking enzymes for breast fed babies, this is something that I would not emphasize as much, though it is still good to do so.  However, from my “fact finding mission” I did learn that undigested proteins in the mother’s diet can seep into the breast milk, thereby causing the baby problems (this has been especially noticed with dairy products in the mother’s diet).

• Further reading:

(1) Foods matter article on Digestive Enzymes

(2) Jon Barron – Enzymes, Part 3 (You’ll also find parts 1 & 2 there too, I highly recommend you read them!)

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I spoke to a friend recently who had a very bad stomach ache, owing probably due to something he ate.

This reminded me of a similar situation I had experienced a few years ago.

Back in 2005, my family and I went on a holiday to Singapore.

As you can probably imagine, it was SO nice that we didn’t want to leave.

There was however a period where we all got mild food poisoning.

The day before we became ill, we were strolling through a mall and came across a shop that was selling raw honey.  I became extremely excited as at that time it wasn’t easy to come by natural raw honey.

I wanted to buy all the honey I could and bring it back home – however unfeasible it was.

So we ended up buying 1kg of honey to “test”.

The next day my brother, father and I were extremely ill and were running back and forth from the bathroom.

Thankfully I remembered how honey was used many times to solve stomach problems and so my brother and I dived into the jar and literally overdosed ourselves (I’d say we had approximately 10 tsp each!).

Within an hour we were fine!

We told our father who was very reluctant and didn’t want to take it.

After seeing how quickly we became better, he had no choice but to take the honey, as you can imagine, once he did take the honey he was fine.

Many times I tell friends, family, random people the benefit of taking honey when having bad stomach aches and they just somehow ignore it.

My friend only took 1tsp, which obviously wasn’t enough as he was still in pain.

I hope after me reiterating that he should take more and probably having read this, he will have taken the point!

Have any of you had any similar experiences?

Share your experiences and let us know.

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Quick update: I recently had a meeting with the Managing Director (MD) of a large honey producer in Belgium.

I was trying to source some good raw honey for my readers.

If you remember reading my last post about honey in Belgium, you may remember me mentioning the fact that all honey in Belgium is not pasteurised.

The honey may not be pasteruised, however it is heated – not good!

The MD and I spoke at great lengths about the honey and ways in which certain producers process the lovely sweet stuff!

I asked the MD why they heat the honey and the simple reason being that it is easier to transfer into the (plastic) jars.

The honey is heated at approximately 60 C – definitely not good!

Most producers use something called Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to measure the “quality” of the honey.

Source (above quote): http://news.merck.de/N/0/144616D6EB8B3C14C1257570002876FB/$File/090305HMFe.pdf

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Until midnight tonight (EST), the folks at Precision Nutrition are literally giving away a crazy offer!

Here’s what you get:

Precision Nutrition
Gourmet Nutrition v1
The Community Membership
1-Year of Results Tracker
Free Shipping to the US and Canada

So how much for all this?

$99 (approx. £60) !!!

Click here if you want to take advantage of this great offer!

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I just came across a really cool site:  DIY protein bars and shakes!

You can choose your own ingredients and even packaging (i.e. logos etc.) – how cool is that?!

Check it out!  I would write about it here, but the site is quite simple to navigate and I’d just copying and pasting as I have yet to try their products and hence can’t give a personal insight.

Adios!

AND NO I am not financially gaining anything from this, just thought I’d pass it on to my viewers, maybe I should signup for some affiliate program with them, hmmm…you got me thinking!  JOKE!  lol!

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Currently I’m in Belgium visiting some family and I came across an amazing shop and also learnt some very interesting information.

You guessed right, the shop was a honey shop!

And the information that I learnt was that all honey in Belgium is not pasteurised, apparently the pasterurisation of honey is not allowed in Belgium (by law).

Hence, all the honey in this shop was not pasteruised and I was one happy blogger

Apart from the various types of honey, the shop also sells various other items such as skin and body care products.

Click the pictures below to see what the shop looks like.

I’ll soon be selling some different types of Raw, Unfiltered, Cold Extracted, Unpasteurised Honey!

Keep tuned!

Do you know of any good shops/places where honey fanatics can purchase real, pure good honey?  If so, please leave a comment and let the rest of us know.

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This is a guest post by Monique Slater.

Basically, the lower the better!

Did you know 1 in 2 Australian Adults are affected by cholesterol!

What’s scary is that only 1 in 5 think they are affected.

But what exactly is cholesterol?

It can be so confusing especially when you hear about ‘good and bad cholesterol’ and then ‘total’ cholesterol – what is the difference?  Isn’t it all the same?

Cholesterol is a waxy substance which is found naturally in our blood – in fact it is made by our liver but we also receive a small amount from the food we eat. Without cholesterol our bodies could not perform a number of important body processes like making hormones and vitamin D. Having a low level of cholesterol our blood is natural and healthy but having a high cholesterol level can be dangerous. ‘Bad’ cholesterol gets stuck to the walls of blood vessels, making them harder and narrower so less blood can flow through and around the body. Eventually this spells big trouble for your heart, often leading to heart attack and stroke. ‘Good’ cholesterol on the other hand, takes cholesterol from body tissues back to the liver for re-processing and elimination.

To help keep your heart healthy it is important to keep your ‘bad’ cholesterol low (known as ‘LDL cholesterol’) and your ‘good’ cholesterol high (known as ‘HDL cholesterol’).

So what about total cholesterol?

Total cholesterol is a figure made up from the bad (LDL) and the good (HDL) cholesterol levels. The Heart Foundation recommends the cholesterol level for the general public is ideally should be below 5.5mmol/L or lower. For people at higher risk of heart problems, they suggest a cholesterol level of less than 4.0 mmo/l. Basically, the lower the better.

How do I lower my cholesterol?

Small changes to diet and lifestyle can make a big difference to your cholesterol level such as:

• Avoiding ‘bad’ fats and/or reducing saturated fats, limiting other animal fats like cheese, cream, full cream milks and yoghurts and fatty meats. Choose lean meats and low fat dairy products instead. Also cutting down on biscuits, pastries and the like too.
• Choosing ‘good’ fats. Replacing bad fats with polyunsaturated vegetable oils such as sunflower oil and polyunsaturated margarine spreads will have a positive effect on cholesterol levels.
• Eating more vegetables – including 2 serves of fruit and 5 serves of vegetables everyday and include wholegrain foods in your daily diet.
• Having a healthy lifestyle by aiming for a healthy body weight, quitting smoking, including physical exercise.
• Using a plant sterol margarine spread will also help lower cholesterol absorption.

I would urge you however, if you have any concerns about your cholesterol levels or heart health, your first point of contact should always be your GP. Some people have cholesterol levels that require medication as well as diet and lifestyle changes and your doctor will need to advise you. Keeping a nice close eye on your cholesterol levels is highly recommended because they change over time. Something I didn’t realize until recently was that when women go through menopause and their estrogen levels drop, their cholesterol increases! (but this is another topic!)

I would love to hear your comments and experiences. It doesn’t matter how old you are, it’s never to early or late to love your heart!

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