Virgin Coconut Oil Uses and Benefits

Virgin Coconut Oil has really come on to my radar lately so I checked out The Coconut Oil Tips Web Site to learn more ways to use this great natural product. 

Virgin Coconut Oil General Health Benefits

1. Antioxidant
2. Antiviral
3. Antibacterial
4. Antifungal
5. Boosts metabolism, burns quickly
6. Immune support
7. Improves mineral absorption (calcium and the ever-important magnesium)

 Coconut Oil Uses for Beauty

1. Cuticle oil — Softens and strengthens cuticles, and soothes/prevents hangnails.

2. Eye makeup remover — Use it to remove makeup, even waterproof mascara.

3. Wrinkle buster — Reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

4. Defrizzer. Use to defrizz and smooth fly-aways. Works especially well on dark hair.

5. Deep conditioner – Coconut oil works extremely well as a conditioning treatment, especially as a pre-shampoo hair repair mask.

6. Natural deodorant — You can dab some under your arms plain, or mix it with baking soda.

7. Toothpaste — Use it as an ingredient, with baking soda, for homemade toothpaste. Good for gum health.

8. Sunscreen (SPF) — It doesn’t sound like it, but coconut oil has an SPF of 4-6. And if you use it while tanning, it prevents skin damage due to its antioxidant and moisturizing properties.

9. Body scrub — Mix with a little sugar or sea salt for a yummy, moisturizing body scrub.

10. Lip balm — Hydrating on dry or cracked lips. You can try mixing it with shea butter to make it richer.

11. Foot/Heel softener — Softens and smooths dry, cracked heels.

12. Facial cleanser — Massage in like any facial cleanser and rinse with a cloth. Some have reported that it works especially well if you rinse it off with tea tree oil. (Not sure about coconut oil for face?

13. Body butter –  Coconut oil is a great moisturizer by itself, but for even more pampering, whip it into a homemade body butter using a kitchen mixer.

14. Aftershave — Men can use this on their face, and for ladies it is amazingly soothing on legs and the bikini area.

15. Massage Oil — Just melt some down.

16. Elbows — Improves look of dry dark elbow patches.

17. Shaving “cream” – Just use it in the shower like you would with shave cream/gel, or apply it before shaving normally as a pre-shave preparation.

18. Hair growth

19. Bug repellant — Just mix with a few drops of peppermint oil and apply to skin.

20. Stretch mark oil — Use it on your pregnant belly to prevent stretch marks. It also works on stretch marks to reduce their appearance.

21. Bath oil — Add to your bath for a tropical and moisturizing pampering.

22. Fades age spots.

23. Mole removal — Use it after removing moles with the apple cider vinegar compress method.

24. Tattoos — Aids in healing a new tattoo, and regular use prevents the ink from fading.

25. Cellulite.

26. Hair dye help — Use on skin along hair dye to keep dye off during coloring process.

Coconut Oil Uses for Health

1. Keratosis Pilaris – Slather on a little bit of coconut oil after your shower while your skin is still damp, and over a couple of weeks it will drastically reduce the appearance of the little red bumps known as KP or “chicken skin”.

2. Herpes treatment – reduces viral loads in test subjects, use internally and externally.

3. Candida – reduces candida culture in the gut.

4. Dementia/Alzheimer’s – Because of its ketogenic diet benefits, coconut oil improves symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

5. Hypothyroidism – boosts metabolism, raises basal body temp.

6. Cold sores – can be applied topically to remove them.

7. Lice — Just slather some on the scalp under a shower cap for a few hours. A lot of people report success with this!

8. Detox.

9. Helps absorb vitamins and mineral supplements.

10. Scrapes and cuts ointment — Use coconut oil, which is antibacterial, topically to kill bacteria and heal the skin.

11. Athlete’s foot.

12. Nail fungus.

13. Pink eye.

14. Burn ointment — Like aloe vera, coconut oil has anti-inflammatory properties and is soothing.

15. Canker sores.

16. Gum disease/gingivitis — aids in gum health when used as toothpaste or rubbed on gums.

17. Asthma.

18. Autism.

19. Epilepsy — Coconut oil has been known to reduce epileptic seizures.

20. ADHD.

21. Breastfeeding discomfort — Sooth chaffed nipples from breastfeeding with coconut oil.

Coconut Oil Uses for Cooking

1. Cooking oil – Virgin coconut oil has a high smoke point, so it is less likely to degrade during cooking than other oils, and is more suitable for healthy cooking.

2. Butter substitute — Great substitute for baking, or just plain on toast!

3. Popcorn – Coconut oil has traditionally been used for movie theater popcorn and it’s just as tasty but much healthier if you use the extra virgin, unrefined kind! Just put a big spoonful in a pot, let it melt slightly then add the kernels on top for popping. Amazing!

4. Smoothies — Add 1 to 3 tablespoons of coconut oil to fruit smoothies and green smoothies for a subtle tropical flavor. This is my favorite way to get my daily fix and boost my energy, since it revs metabolism and also is known to help you absorb vitamins and nutrients.

Household Uses for Coconut Oil

1. Conditions wooden cutting boards.

2. Wood polish.

3. Furniture polish (mix with lemon juice).

Coconut Oil Uses for Baby

1. Diaper rash cream.

2. Cradle cap.

3. Circumcision healing.

4. Breastfeeding salve.

Miscellaneous Coconut Oil Uses

1. Massage oil.

2. Personal lubricant.

3. Shoe polish.

4. Unsticks fabric in zippers.

5. Unsticks gum.

Conclusion

Virgin coconut oil is an awesome product that everyone ought to keep around the house! If you want to learn more about coconut oil uses and cures, you can browse the rest of the Coconut Oil Tips site. I also highly recommend you check out the book The Coconut Oil Miracle by Bruce Fife.

There are several good brands of coconut oil — Just always make sure you choose well: It must be unrefined (also called “virgin”) coconut oil, ideally that has been cold-pressed and is stored in a nontoxic container.

46 Ways to Use Coconut Oil ... Yes, 46!!!!

Coconut Oil has really come on my radar this year. Here is a poster from The Coconut Oil Tips Web Site.

Meals in Jars plus Recipes

I saw this article on the Frugally Sustainable FB page. Even though she is concerned about food prices and shortages, I think these ideas would be terrific for camping trips and quicky dinners, too!

Meals in Jars

September 27, 2011 By Andrea

 

When I see news headlines like these…

U.S. Drought Driving Up Already Rising Food Prices While Economy Collapses! Get Prepared!
Drought means beef prices could rise
Multi-Billion Dollar Drought to Drive Beef Prices Up

…my first reaction is to freak out! It’s natural to experience feelings of fear and/or anxiety when reading news stories like this, right? But why, why would I waste one second of my life worrying about something I have no control over? You know what eases my fear: knowledge, preparedness, and a community of people that I trust.

About six months ago we began storing food. Buckets and buckets of organic beans, rice, quinoa, millet, oatmeal, popcorn, etc. now fill the once empty spaces of our closets. Given the access to water, we would be able to feed our immediate family and my parents (maybe even help out the neighbors) for about half a year. However, my thoughts lately are turning toward the possibility of using this food in the event prices of commodities were to increase, even more than they already have.

I’ve also been trying to organize what we do have and make it more practical for use. Today I began working on “meals in jars.” By combining beans, grains, dehydrated veggies/fruit from the garden, and seasonings I am attempting to ensure that we will have a supply of tasty and nutritious meals in the case of an emergency. Not to mention, it’s been a fun activity for the kids and I. It’s like canning beans and grains, but instead of using the pressure cooker all we do is place an oxygen absorber in the jar (smile).

There are thousands of different recipes you could follow when creating your meals in jars. Just remember to combine items that take approximately the same amount of time to cook. For example, do not intermix pasta with navy beans. The pasta will cook much quicker than the beans.
For an abundance of recipes to use as a foundation for your meals in jars look on this forum. Below I have also provided you with a few of the recipes we put together today.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal (1 pint jar)
-1 cup oatmeal
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1/4 cup sliced almonds
-1/4 cup dehydrated apples
*2 cups water necessary to reconsitute

Vegetable Millet (1 pint jar)
-1 cup millet
-1/4 cup dehydrated mixed veggies
-1/4 cup dried parsley
-1 tsp dehydrated minced garlic
-1 tsp salt
*3 cups of water necessary to reconsitute

Quinoa and Lentil Soup (1 quart jar)
-1 ½ cup quinoa
-1 ½ cup red lentils
-1/2 cup dehydrated veggies
-1/4 cup dehydrated onion
-1 tsp minced garlic
-1 tsp salt
-2 bay leaves
*5 cups of water necessary to reconsitute

Lemon Dill Rice (1 pint jar)
-1 cup rice
-1/2 tsp dried dill
-1 ½ tsp dehydrated lemon peel
-1/2 tsp salt
*2 cups of water necessary to reconsitute

For each recipe, layer ingredients in order as listed. Use the size jar as indicated. Place an oxygen absorber on top and then close lid. Store jars in a safe place. Keep off shelves.

Storage Tips

-The best way to store beans, grains, and dehydrated veggies/fruit is in a sealed mylar bag along with oxygen absorbers. The individual meals could then be stored in a 5-gallon bucket. Lightweight, takes up less space, it’s just a much better option. So, I’ll continue saving for the supplies required for this system of storage.

I recommend purchasing mylar bags, oxygen absorbers, and heat sealers from the fine folks over at Preparing Wisely and SorbentSystems.com who sell Made-in-America products.

The Importance of Eating Spinach plus Recipe

I HATE SPINACH!!! ... or at least I thought I did.  What I hated was cooked spinach ... all stinky and slimey ... ewwwww!!

My latest discovery is that I DO like spinach ... as long as it is RAW!!  The following poster from the Healthy Food web site tells us how good spinach is for us!  I know, people have always said that, but this is the first time I have really eaten spinach so I am paying attention this time.

Here is a great summer salad using spinach and strawberries ... who knew they made such a great combination.  This recipe comes from the Mother Nature Network.

 

           Strawberry Spinach Summer Salad

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted
• 1 bundle fresh spinach
• 1 cup strawberries, thinly sliced
• 4 tablespoons feta cheese, crumbled

 

Time estimates

Prep time: 10 minutes

Total time: 20 minutes

Directions

1. Rinse veggies thoroughly.
2. Combine vinegar and oil in small jar. Close lid and shake well.
3. Over medium-high heat add dab of oil to saucepan. After one minute add almonds. Stir for five or six minutes or until light brown.
4. Combine all ingredients in large bowl. Add feta. Toss gently and serve.

Serves 4

Growing Potatoes plus Recipe

We are getting ready to plant our potatoes next weekend. I found this great chart on FB for other novice farmers (like us).  I am also including a low fat potato recipe from Eating Well Magazine.

(P.S. The typo on the chart is theirs not mine -- they must have gone to school with Dan Quayle)

 

ROASTED POTATOES AND GREEN BEANS

Image from Eating Well Magazine

http:://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/new_potatoes_green_beans.html
From EatingWell: March/April 2011

Whoever said potato salad needs to be cold? For this warm version, new potatoes are roasted right alongside green beans, then tossed in a tangy champagne vinegar and Gorgonzola dressing. If you like, you can toss in some baby arugula.

           
6 servings, about 3/4 cup each | Active Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds new or baby potatoes, scrubbed and cut in half
• 8 ounces green beans, trimmed
• 5 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, plus more to taste
• 2 tablespoons champagne vinegar or white-wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons crumbled Gorgonzola or other blue cheese
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped scallion greens

Preparation

1. Position rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 450°F.
2. Toss potatoes and green beans in a large bowl with 2 teaspoons oil, salt and pepper. Spread evenly on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast, stirring once or twice, until the potatoes are tender and golden and the green beans are tender and browned in spots, 25 to 35 minutes.
3. Whisk the remaining 3 teaspoons oil, vinegar and mustard in a large bowl. Stir in cheese and scallion greens.
4. When the vegetables are done, toss with the dressing in the bowl. Serve warm.

Nutrition

Per serving :151 Calories; 5 g Fat; 1 g Sat; 3 g Mono; 3 mg Cholesterol; 23 g Carbohydrates; 4 g Protein; 3 g Fiber; 295 mg Sodium; 567 mg Potassium
1 1/2 Carbohydrate Serving
Exchanges: 1 starch, 1 vegetable, 1 fat

The Couch Potato's Guide to Growing Spuds




Image from sweetlifegarden.com

 

I am so excited.  We are buying our potato “seeds” this weekend and a-planting-we-will-go!!  We have decided on German Butterball, Yukon Gold, Sangre (red potato), Russian Banana (fingerling) and Georgia Jet (sweet potato).

Potatoes are about the easiest crops to grow. You can even grow them in a bag of potting soil, without really dirtying your hands. To do that, cut a few drainage holes at the bottom of a bag of potting soil, then stand the bag someplace sunny. Bury two "seed potatoes"  about 4 inches deep, and wait about 3 months for them to grow. When flowers start to appear, tip the bag over and dig out the potatoes. To keep the harvest going long into the fall, plant a new set of seed potatoes every few weeks.

Here is a great article from Organic Gardening Magazine on other ways to plant those spuds!!

Hilled Rows

Dig straight, shallow trenches, 2 to 3 feet apart, in prepared soil. Plant seed potatoes 12 inches apart and cover with about 3 inches of soil. When the shoots reach 10 to 12 inches tall, use a hoe or shovel to scoop soil from between rows and mound it against the plants, burying the stems halfway. Repeat as needed through the growing season to keep the tubers covered.

Pros: No containers to buy or build; no soil to transport. This is a simple, inexpensive, and proven method that farmers have used for millennia. Practical for large-scale plantings.

Cons: Yield may be limited by the quality of the soil. In places where the soil is badly compacted or low in organic matter, one of the aboveground techniques might work better.

Straw Mulch

Place seed potatoes on the surface of prepared soil, following the spacing specified for hilled rows, and cover them with 3 to 4 inches of loose, seed-free straw. Mound more straw around the stems as they grow, eventually creating a layer a foot or more in depth.

Pros: The thick mulch conserves soil moisture and smothers weeds. Harvest is effortless with no digging. This method is suggested as a way to thwart Colorado potato beetle.

Cons: Yield in the test plot was slightly less than in the hilled row. Field mice have been known to use the cover of straw to consume the crop.

Raised Bed

Loosen the soil in the bottom of a half-filled raised bed. Space seed potatoes about 12 inches apart in all directions and bury them 3 inches deep. As the potatoes grow, add more soil until the bed is filled. If possible, simplify harvest by removing the sides.

Pros: This method yielded the largest harvest in my trials, and the potatoes were uniformly large. Raised beds are a good choice where the garden soil is heavy and poorly drained.

Cons: The soil to fill the bed has to come from somewhere—and it takes a lot.

Grow Bag

Commercial growing bags are constructed of heavy, dense polypropylene. Put a few inches of a soil-compost mixture in the bottom of a bag, then plant 3 or 4 seed potato pieces and cover with 3 inches of soil. Continue adding soil as the plants grow until the bag is filled. To harvest, turn the bag on its side and dump out the contents.

Pros: Grow Bags can be placed on patios or driveways or used where garden soil is of inferior quality. The bags should last for several growing seasons. Their dark color captured solar heat to speed early growth. Harvest was simple, and the yield was impressive, considering the small space each bag occupies.

Cons: This is a pricy technique. The brand of bag I used costs $12.95.

Garbage Bag

Plant a large plastic garbage bag following the instruction for a Grow Bag, punching a few holes through the plastic for drainage. Roll the top edge of the bag to help it stay upright; otherwise the bag is prone to sag and spill soil. To harvest, rip the bag and dump out the contents.

Pros: Like the Grow Bags, a garbage bag can be employed where in-ground growing is not an option. Black bags capture solar heat to speed early growth.

Cons: Aesthetically, this is the least appealing choice. Yield was meager, perhaps because the thin plastic allowed the soil to heat up too much, limiting tuber formation.

Wood Box

Following instructions found online at Irish Eyes Garden Seeds Website, build a bottomless square box (I used lumber from discarded pallets). Plant the same as for a raised bed. The box is designed so additional slats can be screwed to the sides as the plants grow and soil is added. In theory, a bottom slat can be temporarily removed to facilitate the harvest of new potatoes. For the final harvest, tip the box and dump out its contents.

Pros: This is another raised strategy for growing potatoes where the garden soil is of poor quality. Yield was similar in quantity to that of a raised bed.

Cons: A lot of time and effort went into the construction of the box. I felt the results did not justify the effort.

Wire Cylinder

Using hardware cloth with ¼-inch mesh, fashion a cylinder about 18 inches in diameter and 24 inches tall. Put several inches of soil in the bottom, then plant 3 or 4 seed potatoes and cover them with 3 inches of soil. Continue to add soil as the potatoes grow. To harvest, lift the cylinder and pull the soil back to expose the tubers.

Pros: In a climate with incessant spring rains, the wire mesh would provide excellent drainage and prevent the soil from becoming waterlogged. This is another raised technique to consider where garden soil is poor.

Cons: I harvested a limited number of undersized tubers from the cylinders—a dismal showing, probably because the soil-compost mixture I used dried out so quickly that the plants lacked adequate moisture.

How to Build a Hanging Gutter Garden

Here is another vertical garden idea I "borrowed" from The Goods Home Design Website.
Also check out my "Strawberry Gutter" idea in the next post!!!

Gutter gardens are a great way to take advantage of the vertical spaces around your home to grow flowers, edibles and create a stylish space divider or privacy screen without spending too much money.

MATERIALS:

1 – 8′ PVC white rain gutter cut into 3 32″ sections
6 – PVC white gutter end caps
2 – 1/8″diameter steel cables cut to desired length
6 – Feeney Cross Clamps (see image below)
6 – 1/8″ diameter Feeney steel rods
2 – Galvanized eye hooks
Potting soil and Plants

TOOLS:

Cordless Drill with drill bit set
Hand saw or hack saw
T-square or straight edge
Tape measure
Permanent marker
Level
Eye protection

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Determine the center of your gutters and draw a reference line (otherwise your gutter won’t hang right).

2. Mark and drill the holes for the steel cable rods. Find a drill bit the same diameter as the cable to minimize the wiggle room.

3. Space drill holes a few sizes larger to make sure you get good drainage (plant roots hate sitting in water for long periods of time).

1. Locate a spot that gets at least 4 hours of sun. I placed mine on the cross beams of a pergola I built a couple of years ago.

2. Drill pilot holes (a hole slightly smaller in diameter than the screw diameter) to make screwing in the eye hook a lot easier. Make sure the holes are the same distance as the steel cable so they hang straight down.

3. Slide the gutters through the holes and secure them with the cross clamps at your desired heights. You’ll notice I placed mesh tape (normally used for drywall joints), left over from another project, over the drainage holes to keep the soil from seeping. However, I think the holes are small enough, this step is not necessary. I did it out of habit.

4. Secure the gutter with the cross clamps and half circle steel rods.

How Apple Cider Vinegar Helps Your Body

I know it sounds disgusting, but a few teaspoons of Apple Cider Vinegar can really be helpful to you and your body!  Patricia Bragg suggests 1-2 teaspoons of vinegar diluted with 8 ounces of water with each meal.

Here are 10 reasons given by LiveFit Revolution for adding Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) to your diet.

1. It is enormously helpful to your digestive system. The enzymes in the ACV help your body to break down the food you eat, which helps you get more nutrients out of it;

2. It helps your body eliminate, so if you’ve had problems with constipation, or even just a “slow system”, the ACV will help you have bowel movements more frequently and easily;

3. Full and frequent bowel movements also help our body detoxify, and the more we detox, the more weight our bodies will allow us to lose, and they’ll do it more quickly! We store toxins in our body fat, and our ability to burn fat will slow down if the body can’t eliminate the toxins quickly enough to keep a healthy balance. So ACV aids in weight loss;

4. ACV kills sugar cravings. If your body (or your brain!) is screaming for something sugary, an ACV drink will usually kill that craving;

5. It helps keep your blood sugars balanced, which means an increased ability to lose weight AND less simple-carb cravings. WebMD.com mentions studies that support the claim that ACV can help in this way with Diabetes;

6. One study found that obese people who consumed acetic acid (ACV) daily for 12 weeks experienced significant decreases in body weight, abdominal fat, waist circumference, and triglycerides;*

7. Triglycerides are a mechanism for storing unused calories, and their high concentration in blood correlates with the consumption of starchy and other high carbohydrate foods (Wikipedia). As ACV is said to reduce triglycerides, this means a reduction in our ability to store unused calories;

8. ACV is an acidic substance (more on this below), but when you ingest it, it becomes an alkalizer, which means it balances body pH by making you more alkaline. Research has shown that an alkaline diet fights cancer;

9. It supports healthy regeneration in your body. The evidence of this comes after a few months, when you’ll notice your hair and nails are both longer and a lot stronger. You’ll notice your skin looks even better too;

10. ACV is also said to reduce our “bad” (LDL) cholesterol.

“BUT I DON’T LIKE THE TASTE”

Some of us like ACV right away. Some of us find the flavor a challenge. As children, most of us didn’t like certain vegetables when we first tried them either, but sometimes it’s worth persevering for the sake of our health.

You can add a few drops of Stevia to your ACV; diluting it with more water can make it more palatable too. If you have a strong reaction to it (like an overly-active digestive system, too-soft stools, or nausea – especially when you drink it first thing in the morning), you might try cutting it down to one or two TEAspoons of ACV in 8oz water, and build up your tolerance. You can also add ground flax to your drink; the nuttiness of the flax goes well with the sharp apple flavor of the ACV.

Most people find that in a short time, they feel so good that they start to look forward to their ACV drinks, and develop a taste for it!

ACIDITY

ACV has a pH of 4.25 to 5.0 when it is undiluted. Since tap water usually has a pH of approximately 7.6, when you put a couple of tablespoons of ACV into 8oz water, it will be MUCH less acidic. It’s interesting to note that the ph of Coca Cola is 2.5, and 7-Up is 3.2, and since soda is consumed undiluted, it is FAR worse for your teeth than ACV could ever be.**

CAUTIONS

If you have sensitive teeth or are concerned about your enamel, you should consult your dentist. Some people choose to swish their mouth with a sip of plain water after drinking their ACV.

Also, ACV is high in Potassium, so if you take drugs such as Coumadin/Warfarin (for preventing blood clots) you should not take ACV.

And finally, people with some forms of inflammatory bowel disease (such as Crohn’s disease) should not take ACV. So if you do have health issues, you should consult your Doctor before adding ACV to your personal nutrition plan.

*  Published in Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry in 2009; full article here

**Softpedia.com – read their article on the acidity of soft drinks here

What are Adaptogens and Why Do You Need Them?

When I talk about my Isagenix products I point out that our Ionix Supreme and now our new e+ Natural Energy Shot contain adaptogens. Often I am asked, "What are adaptogens?"  The word adaptogen is used by herbalists to refer to a natural herb product that increases the body's resistance to stresses such as trauma, anxiety and bodily fatigue.  In the past they have been called rejuvenating herbs, qi tonics, rasayanas, or restoratives.  Knowledge about adaptogens dates back thousands of years to ancient India and China, but serious scientific study did not begin until the late 1940s. 

In 1947, Dr. Nikolai Lazarev defined an adaptogen as an agent that allows the body to counter adverse physical, chemical, or biological stressors by raising nonspecific resistance toward such stress, thus allowing the organism to "adapt" to the stressful circumstances.  In short, adaptogens are plant and herbal extracts that help the body to "adapt" and normalize, creating an overall sense of well-being and balance.

In other words ... If you or your body are stressed

YOU NEED ADAPTOGENS!

How Low Glycemic Carbs Help Your Body

Low vs High Glycemic Index



Diagram from The Nutrition Geek Website



Eating low glycemic carbohydrates can do wonders for your health. Keeping blood sugar stable will help lose weight, have stable energy, avoid diabetes and improve longevity.

There are a couple tricks that can help lower the glycemic load of a meal. Combining protein and fat with carbohydrates will help. Also high fiber foods will slow down the digestion and will blunt the blood sugar spike.

Mock Soy Sauce - Recipe



Image from Taste of Home Magazine


Soy and corn crops are between 85% to 95% genetically modified (GMO).  The dangers of eating this modifed foods are becoming more apparent as scientist are putting the crops under closer scrutiny. 

As I am cleaning up my diet, I am eating organic or home grown produce (and meat) as much as possible.  I have made many substitutions to my diet to try to eliminate as many environmental pollutants as possible, but one of my staple cooking ingredients, soy sauce, was hard to replace until now.   

The test kitchens for Taste of Home Magazine  developed this alternative to store-bought soy sauce. Its color and flavor will make you think it’s the real thing. But it's lower in sodium than both regular soy sauce and the low-sodium variety.

32 Servings Prep/Total Time: 5 min.

Ingredients
•             3 tablespoons beef bouillon granules
•             1-1/2 cups boiling water
•             1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
•             2 tablespoons sesame oil
•             1 tablespoon dark molasses
•             Dash pepper

Directions

In a small bowl, dissolve bouillon in boiling water. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Pour into a jar with a tight-fitting lid.

Store in the refrigerator. Shake well before using. Yield: about 2 cups.

Nutrition Facts: 1 tablespoon equals 11 calories, 1 g fat (trace saturated fat), trace cholesterol, 222 mg sodium, 1 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, trace protein.

University Study Finds Isagenix Superior to Leading “Heart Healthy” Diet

September 20, 2012 IsagenixHealth.net

Dr. Krista Varaday
University of Illinois
Chicago College of Applied Sciences

Dr. Krista Varady discusses clinical research on Isagenix products.

The highly anticipated results are in—Isagenix products are superior to a leading “heart healthy” dietary plan for weight loss and visceral fat loss. The manuscript has been submitted to two peer-reviewed journals and is still under review; however, you can read more details about the study on our clinical research summary and marketing flyer.

Krista Varady, Ph.D., the lead investigator of the study, is a prolific researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Applied Sciences with more than 30 peer-reviewed research publications. She has a Ph.D. in nutrition from McGill University—one of the top universities in Canada. Dr. Varady has devoted much of her time to investigating the ability of weight-management strategies to decrease cardiovascular disease risk and is one of the pioneers in research on alternate-day and intermittent fasting.

Dr. Varady’s research was presented in August at the 10th annual Isagenix Celebration in Phoenix. Eager to share the exciting results, Dr. Varady answered questions from Isagenix Chief Science Officer Suk Cho, Ph.D.:

Q: What did you think when you tried Isagenix?

A: I always try things before I make my subjects do it. I used Isagenix for three weeks in January before we began the study. I didn’t want to lose a ton of weight, but I did want to see if I could lose a few pounds with it. The easy of use was great—no dishes at breakfast or lunch; you didn’t even need to have milk at home. I went out and bought a few shake products to compare it to and I’m not sure what you guys do, but the consistency is like a smoothie. The other shakes were clumpy and it made them less appealing.

Q: What else impressed you about Isagenix products?

A: I was impressed by the Cleanse Day and the high-protein IsaLean® Shake. All the ingredients actually seemed wholesome. I had thought the shake would be a high-sugar beverage, but I found it to be really nutritionally complete.

Q: What attracted you to collaborate with Isagenix on research using their products?

A:  The main thing was that Isagenix incorporates fasting while on Cleanse Days. I find that really novel. If you look at other meal-replacement diets, they never really incorporate fasting or cleansing. Usually it is a shake for breakfast and a shake for lunch, but they don’t use all the other products Isagenix uses. I like that it is a multifaceted approach. You are also using supplements that may provide metabolic benefit and protect against free radicals—I thought that was really neat too, but the main thing was that there was a Cleanse Day every week because I am really interested in fasting research.

Q: What can you tell us about the study’s results?

A: Our main finding was that weight loss was actually greater in the Isagenix group. On average they lost 3.9 kg, so that works out to be around 9 pounds or so. Obviously, some lost more and some less, but the Isagenix group lost 3 pounds more on average than the other diet. We also saw those changes with fat mass. With Isagenix, we saw slightly greater reductions (although not significant) in fat mass. Neither group lost a significant amount of lean mass, which is great because you want to maintain your muscle mass to keep your metabolic rate higher and that allows you to burn more calories per hour.

Q: What are the results for visceral fat (fat that surrounds the organs)?

A: Even though it wasn’t statistically significant between groups, we found that there was a much greater reduction in visceral fat in the Isagenix group—about twice as much. They lost 0.7 kg, about 2 pounds. I find that amazing—they lost 2 pounds around their organs—that’s a lot!

Q: What other part of this study’s results do you find most exciting or intriguing?

A: What I found most intriguing at first was the adherence of the Isagenix group; they seemed to adhere better because of the convenience factor of the Isagenix system. Also, the Isagenix group lost more weight and more fat (especially visceral fat); and the blood chemistry looked wonderful.

Q: What other personal observations have you made about the Isagenix products and how they affect subjects?

A: Isagenix people just seemed happier. Also, the satiety (or fullness) aspect; people didn’t feel motivated to binge after a shake or cheat on the diet because they really did find those shakes quite filling, so I was pretty impressed with that. That is the main reason that I am even testing out these diets—to find diets that people will actually do and adhere to over the long term. They liked the taste of the shake and just in terms of the easiness too, they said small things like “there were less dishes to wash” and “for breakfast all you really have to do is keep the blender clean, there’s not that much prep involved and it is a portable system.” But those are actually really important things—if a diet is hard to do, people aren’t going to do it for very long. So making it easy, making it easy to clean up after—all those things add up for long term weight loss.

Q: You had some products left over after the study and people asked you for them, right?

A: Yeah, I had 3 boxes left of the shakes and I have never seen women diving in there, fighting with each other. They were all over each other. Those were gone pretty quickly after we opened them up!

Percentage of Body Fat Calculator

This is a great tool to figure out the percentage of body fat you are carrying.  Even more exciting is watching how much body fat you are LOSING!!!!

Body Fat Calculator:  http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/body-fat-percentage-calculator

About the Body Fat Calculator:

How much fat are you carrying? Find out if you are in the healthy range with this fat calculator. This tool provides: body fat percentage for women, body fat percentage for men. This body fat calculator is based on the body fat algorithms developed by the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corp and the YMCA.

Here is the information you will need to provide so the calculator can calculate your percentage of body fat:

Are you male or female? 

Waist size at narrowest point:  inches

Waist size at your navel:  inches

Hip size at widest point:  inches

Neck at narrowest point:  inches

Select your height: feet and inches

What is your weight?  lbs

SHORT VERSION BODY FAT CALCULATOR: http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/bfc

How much fat are you carrying? Find out if you are in the healthy range with this fat calculator. This tool provides: body fat percentage for women, body fat percentage for men. This calculator is based on the YMCA formula.

Information you will need for the short version calculator:

Are you male or female?

What is your waist size? Inches

What is your weight? lbs

Gluten Free Foods Laden with GMO Corn

Remember last week when I posted that most of the corn cereals are manufactured with GMO corn?  Well in this latest article from the Health Ranger we learn that any GLUTEN FREE products produced with corn are also laden with GMO corn.  Read the article below.

Majority of 'gluten-free' foods found to contain GMOs

Wednesday, October 10, 2012
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

(Natural News) In the wake of all the recent revelations about the dangers of GMOs, a special warning needs to go out to all those health-conscious consumers buying "gluten-free" foods. As it turns out, most "gluten-free" foods sold in the USA contain genetically modified organisms.

Why is this so? Because the primary ingredient in most gluten-free foods is corn. And most corn-based foods are made with genetically modified corn. Around 85% of the conventional corn grown in the USA is genetically modified corn, and that corn is engineered to produce its own deadly insecticide right inside every grain.

When GM corn is harvested and made into gluten-free foods, the insecticide stays with it and resides in the gluten-free food. As a result, people who are buying gluten-free are often exposing themselves to the risk of toxicity from GM corn.

What are those risks, exactly? No one knows for sure, as GMOs are still a radical agricultural experiment being conducted on the population at large. But French researchers recently found that feeding a lifetime of GM corn to rats caused a huge increase in the risk of developing horrifying, massive tumors and premature death. The rats who were fed GM corn also suffered widespread organ damage.

For more information about how to avoid these GMO products go to:  http://www.naturalnews.com/037494_gluten-free_GMOs_GM_corn.html

Eat Your H20!

Posted by: Rachel Beller MS, RDBiggest Loser Nutritionist

Hydrating and scoring antioxidants can be a one-shot deal!

 Studies suggest that water can suppress appetite, decrease caloric intake, boost metabolism and even allow you to push harder during workouts. Yes, drinking water is great, but sometimes you need a boost to meet your hydration goals during the summer heat. What could be better than foods that hydrate, keep you full and help you get lean?

 Drink up with my top 10 hydrating fruits and vegetables!

Thinking About It Diet!!!

Okay ... this does it .... I am off the "ThinkAboutItDiet" and starting the "DoingItDiet!!!"

Join Me .... log onto
www.thehealthyhelms.com

Exercise for Fat Loss

Article by Dr. Michael Colgan of the Colgan Institute:

If you are exercising to lose body fat, you have to be concerned you have too much of it. For many folk that much has taken years to establish. Some have solidified the same, 20, 30, 40 lbs, year after year by yo-yo dieting. It’s not easy to change a body that has got into such a state, but if you follow the rules it works like a charm.

People who don’t like rules may want to just get their head down and bull it out. Boot camps love these folk, telling them “You just have to work your butt off at our level and you will lose the fat.” The science says, “No way”. Others read some social buzz that whole neighbourhoods lost masses of fat by getting together and running (biking, mud-wrestling, swimming in holes in the ice). Not going to work.

Anyone who has run a marathon, an extreme 3-4 hour effort for most of us, knows with disgust they lost negligible body fat doing it. Having measured runners in quite a few marathons, an average person well trained to run a marathon, is lucky to lose a quarter pound of fat. Some folk who stuff with carbs during a marathon, actually gain fat. They may feel like hell at the finish, and be 7 lbs lighter in water weight, because the carbs prevent water absorption from the gut, but their belly rebounds and then some within 24 hours.

One controlled study representative of the science, measured body fat losses accurately in groups of men and women over the whole 20-week training program for a half-marathon. In 20 weeks of fairly intense endurance exercise (80 workouts), the men lost an average of 5.3 lbs of fat. That’s just 4.25 ounces per week of exercise. The women lost an average of only 2.0 lbs. That’s a measly 1.6 ounces of fat loss per week of exercise.(1) 

This negligible loss of body fat with exercise is the usual result, and often gives folk the false belief they are different from everyone else, and just can’t get slim. Yes you can. All you need is the right nutrition and exercise. It’s not rocket science. Here are eight exercise rules to get you started on the right track. Stated briefly, with just a major reference or two, they are grounded in a lot of recent science that I will be covering in future articles. You need to follow them all to get sterling results.

Exercise for Fat Loss-Rule 1 

Get 8 hours sleep a night. The US National Center on Sleep Disorders reports that approximately 90 million Americans currently do not get sound sleep.(2) Children sleep better, so it’s a one in three bet that you have sleep disturbance. If you are overweight, it’s 50/50 that you have poor sleep. Sound sleep is an essential physiological restorative process that programs one-third of your life, and controls much of what happens in the other two-thirds.(3) To cut to the chase, without sound sleep, you cannot effectively exercise or effectively lose body fat. Visceral fat gain, food cravings, insulin disruption, fatigue, your whole hormone cascade, the metabolic syndrome, and many other bodily disorders are driven by disruption of your circadian rhythm.(4) Get your sleep fixed first or you will be unable to effectively exercise or lose fat.

Exercise for Fat Loss- Rule 2 

Exercise on waking to raise your metabolic rate for the whole day. When you wake in the morning, your metabolism is sluggish. Your metabolic rate for the day is then determined by what you do. If you have a lazy day off for example, your metabolic rate will remain low throughout, and you will be on maximum calorie retention from anything you eat. If, however, you exercise on waking, even if it is only a 30 minute walk, it raises your metabolic rate immediately. The rate then remains high for most of the day, and you lower your calorie retention from food. Get in the habit. Do that smidgeon of exercise every day.

Exercise for Fat Loss- Rule 3

Exercise on an empty stomach. Your body takes the easiest route to energy. If you eat before exercise, or start at the juice bar with a smoothie at the gym, your body will use the calories in your gut preferentially to using bodyfat for fuel. A single small “all fruit” smoothie will eliminate any weight loss effect of an hour of exercise after it. And, drinking “energy drinks” while working out is just plain dumb if you want to achieve fat loss. It’s just plain dumb for any exercise goal.(5)

Exercise for fat Loss- Rule 4

Do 20-30 minutes of light aerobic exercise before your workout. When you begin exercising, your body uses mainly sugar for fuel, the glycogen in your muscles, sugar made by gluconeogenesis in the liver, and sugar from food in your gut. (Remember, no eating before exercise) To achieve your goal of using body fat for fuel, you first have to induce hormonal changes to switch to greater fat oxidation. You can do this with light aerobic exercise for 20-30 minutes, such as walking to the gym. You cannot achieve these complex changes by lumbering on the treadmill, as I see some folk do, because, as soon as you begin to pant, signaling a shortage of oxygen, you keep the body stuck in sugar burning mode. A whole workout done with great effort, treadmilling wildly, then rushing from station to station for an hour, uses near zero bodyfat, and exhausts you into the bargain, as it empties the muscles of glycogen. It’s tragic but somehow comical to see people doing this week after week, and losing no fat at all.

Exercise for Fat Loss- Rule 5

Do your workout in the “Fat Burning Zone”. There is much nonsense written about the fat burning zone, as if it’s some magical state that melts fat. It is just a range of exercise intensity where fat use (fat oxidation) settles into a high steady level. Studies have measured this range in all sorts of complex ways involving VO2max and weird and wonderful equations. It also varies somewhat with the individual, and how much exercise you do, and how often. But I can state it pretty simply. 

The fat burning zone is exercise done at 60-70% of your maximum heart rate. If you run at maximum on the treadmill, and get your highest heart rate at 170 beats per minute, then your fat burning zone is 60-70% of that score, that is, about 100-120 beats per minute. At this level of exercise you can still carry on a normal conversation.

First, do your 20-30 minute warm up in the fat burning zone to make the hormonal changes to trigger a higher proportion of fat burning. Then, for a one-hour workout on an empty stomach, keep your heart rate within the same range. Your body will then pull approximately 50% of its energy from body fat. That’s about as good as you can get.

Above or below this range, your body’s use of sugar increases, and it pulls only 20 -30% of its energy from body fat. So, it makes sense to wear a heart rate monitor, and set your fat burning range so that it beeps you automatically if you move out of it.

Exercise for Fat Loss- Rule 6

Build muscle to lose fat. All the gym programs I have seen that concentrate on aerobic exercise have been a failure for fat loss. We measured one aerobics group for a year at Frogs Gym in San Diego. All of the women in the group wanted to lose weight. They actually gained an average of 2.9 lbs of fat while doing an average of three aerobics sessions a week for 12 months.The best form of exercise for fat loss is resistance training that adds muscle to your body. Muscle is moving tissue, fat is not. Over 100 muscles are constantly active just to keep you standing up, and about 200 are merrily using energy just to maintain their tone. Fat hangs limp like jello. Muscle is the engine that uses body fat for fuel. With more muscle, more fat is burned 24 hours a day, even just couch sitting with heavy breathing. In her book Strong Women Stay Slim, Miriam Nelson, a Tufts University researcher, followed a group of women who did a weight loss diet plus resistance training. They lost 44% more fat than those who followed the diet alone. So, put resistance training at the top of your list. 

Exercise for Fat Loss Rule 7

Do weight training that makes you taller and more flexible. We have seen it many times, especially with women. They embrace resistance training in order to lose fat, then do all the wrong stuff. Often they hire trainers who give them bodybuilding exercises, or worse, uni-planar exercises guided by machines with comfy seats, exercises that bear no relation to movements in life. They often turn the posture into a muscle-thickened crouch. Though they can achieve lower body fat because of muscle growth, the unfortunate girls look shorter and fatter. 

One example I saw recently. Under a trainer’s direction, a somewhat overweight girl was vigorously doing deadlifts with a bar and two 45lb weights, 135lbs, about her own weight. Each time she lifted the bar you could see her stomach stick out. She did not realize she was training hard to grow a stuck out gut. 

Also, the heavy weight was pulling her shoulders down and forward, shortening and thickening the muscle connections from the arms to the pectoralis major of the chest. It was growing round shoulders with dumpy arms, about the worst training you can think of for most women, who usually aim to be upright, slim, and elegant. 

Another thing this girl didn’t realise was, if you lift your own body weight from the floor, it immediately compresses your spine and makes you temporarily about an inch shorter. Over a long period, the erector spinae muscles that hold up the spine becomes shorter from that form of training. Bulging stomach, forward-sloping shoulders, dumpy arms, and a shortened spine. Not exactly what most folk want from a weight program to lose fat.

The best resistance training for fat loss (and muscle gain) is free-movement exercises, done standing, exercises that lengthen the spine while contracting the muscles. Overhead cables like we use in the Colgan Power Program are best as they can simulate virtually any free movement in life. The Program was first developed for Olympic athletes at Colorado Springs, so you can bet it’s first class for making people muscular and strong. But it also trains long, lean, flexible muscles. And more than 100 different exercises in it lengthen the spine while contracting the muscles. That should be your aim, a tall, elegant, flexible body that emphasizes the low body fat you have worked so hard in the kitchen to achieve.

Exercise for Fat Loss Rule 8

Get a mentor. You can go it alone, but a mentor adds immensely to any program for any skill. To achieve a great body you need someone who is an example, someone who has the skills, someone who can calm your wavering doubts and unerringly guide you in your quest. 

In my article The Making of Genius, 2005, which has been reprinted and copied innumerable times worldwide, I analysed the components that have produced genius in science, music, and arts. One vital component is the mentors that most geniuses had to develop them throughout their lives. These mentors were all experts in the different fields in which the individuals wanted to excel. They were all folk who had already been there, and had learned to excel at the skills.

Your goal of a great body for life is a difficult one. Most people who try fail repeatedly. You need a personal mentor. What Isagenix offers that no one else can, is hundreds of members who have done what you want to do, and who are on the same lifelong journey, walking the same good talk. 

1. Meijer GA, et al. Body composition and sleeping metabolic rate in response to a 5-month endurance-training programme in adults. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1991;62(1):18-21.2. US National Center on Sleep Disorders.http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/about/ncsdr/index.htm. Accessed 15 July 2012.3. Aldabal L, Bahammam AS. Metabolic, endocrine, and immune consequences of sleep deprivation. Open Respir Med J. 2011;5:31-43.4. Maury E, et al. Circadian rhythms and metabolic syndrome: from experimental genetics to human disease. Circ Res. 2010 February 19;106(3): 447–462.5. Van Proeyen K, et al. Beneficial metabolic adaptations due to endurance exercise training in the fasted state. J Appl Physiol. 2011 January; 110(1):236–245.

Kjersti Kote add a 9^th Rule:

Use Isagenix to fuel your body after your workouts! I recently interviewed Dr. Colgan and he said the best time to bring a shake into your body is exactly 30 minutes (not 1 hour or 2 hours) after your workouts. This will assist in leam muscle developement and recovery!