Sunday, July 7, 2013

“CHEESY” KALE CHIPS


“CHEESY” KALE CHIPS


Ingredients:

1 large bunch of  kale

1 cup cashews, (soaked 2 hours)


3-4 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 Tablespoon agave

2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 teaspoon Himalayan sea salt
Chili powder to taste (optional)
Preparation:
Rinse the kale and spin dry. Remove the stems and tear into bite size pieces.  Blend the ingredients for the cheesy seasoning until smooth. Transfer kale and seasoning to a large bowl and mix well using your hands to ensure the leaves are well coated. Place the kale on the dehydrator trays. Dehydrate at 118 degrees overnight or until coating is dry. 



Beet Chips

Beet Chips Raw
I love beets and I like chips, this is a very good alternative for the potato chips, you are going to love it.


Ingredients

4-5 beets. I used only golden but you can use red too.
1/4 cup raw cider vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup water
Himalaya salt and pepper to taste

Instructions 

1- Mix together cider vinegar, oil and wather. Set aside
2-Slice the beets very thin. I used a mandolin for this.
3-Soak the sliced beets in the mixture for about 10 minutes, I used a ziplock bag to make it easier.
4-Spreed on screens, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
5-Dehydrate for about 24 hours or until chips are crunchy.




Monday, June 17, 2013

Food and Herbs with Antibacterial Properties


List of foods that have antibacterial properties.
“Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food.” -Hippocrates
Antibiotics are probably the greatest human invention over the past few hundred years (the snuggie coming in a close second), but they are overused. This is leading to drug-resistant strains that will cause us lots of trouble in the future.
So let’s take a look at some foods with antibacterial properties, that boost your immune system and reduce your dependence on antibiotics.

A LIST OF FOOD WITH ANTIBIOTIC PROPERTIES:

 Garlic

Garlic has been been used for its antibacterial properties since ancient times. It was used in both world wars to treat things like typhus and sepsis. It has been proven to reduce the risk of catching colds, along with reducing the risks of stroke, hypertension and cancer.

Onions

Like garlic, onions are part of the Allium family, and they too have a host of health benefits. They help in treating cold and flu, along with reducing inflammation and increasing circulation.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is essential for the function and growth of the body, and has been proven to help with viral and bacterial infections.

Some fruits high in vitamin C:

  • oranges
  • strawberries
  • lemons and limes
  • pineapples
  • melons
  • kiwis

Some vegetables high in vitamin C:

  • broccoli and cauliflower
  • tomatoes
  • spinach
  • asparagus
  • cabbage
  • kale
  • brussel sprouts

Lime

On top of its high vitamin C content, lime has shown to be effective in treating cholera.

Honey

image012
Honey has been used for centuries as a topical treatment on wounds to prevent infection. Eating it can help too, and there are worse things in the world than having to eat honey.

Eucalyptus

A natural antiseptic that kills viruses, bacteria and fungi. Makes a good tea.

Horseradish

This sauce with a kick will help protect you from any harmful bacteria in the food you eat.

Coconut Oil

The lauric acid will help dissolve pathogens and keep you in tip top shape.

Oil of Oregano

This can be applied to the skin as a topic antibacterial agent.

Cinnamon

An effective antifungal and antibacterial agent.

Fermented Foods/Probiotics

These add helpful bacteria to the body, and can be effective in conjunction with antibiotics, which will reduce ALL bacteria (even the good kind).

A LIST OF 18 HERBS WITH ANTIBIOTIC PROPERTIES

  • Dill
  • Basil
  • Nutmeg
  • Pepper
  • Ginger
  • Mint sage
  • Mustard
  • Parsley
  • Basil
  • Oregano
  • Thyme
  • Cinnamon
  • Tarragon
  • Cloves
  • Bay leaf
  • Chili peppers
  • Rosemary
  • Coriander

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Are you Still Using a Microwave?

Are you Still Using a Microwave?




(BeWellBuzz) We are always looking to discover new ways of making our life easier. Nothing wrong with that but what we often fail to understand is that – not all inventions are good for us. Microwave oven is one such invention that has been widely mistaken.

Are you one of those who feel lazy to use the stove and choose to heat your food in the microwave instead? If yes, then you may need to stop and think again before placing your life in the hands on this so called “harmless” man-made machine.

Microwave Oven – Not Really Harmless!
The first microwave oven was invented by Raytheon after the World War II. Back then, it didn’t seem like such an important invention for home use. A few years later, microwave ovens gained a lot of popularity for reheating previously-cooked foods and cooking vegetables. Over the last couple of decades, microwave ovens have become a necessity, and now you will rarely find a kitchen without a microwave!
Today, over 90% of homes in America, use microwave ovens for re-heating foods, and for daily meal preparations. It is so easy to use as it just takes a few minutes to get the meal on the table “ready to eat”. However, as you may already know, a microwave oven essentially uses microwave radiations to heat polarized molecules in food. Unfortunately, these microwave radiations have been found to distort the molecular structure of foods. As a result, microwave preparations lack healthy nutrients as most of them are destroyed during heating!
Did you know that the Soviet Union banned microwaves in 1976? Why do you think they would do so and yet the American Government still hasn’t warned us anything about it? Microwave ovens continue to be used in every home, and the reason is simple – microwaves are convenient and energy efficient way of preparing food.
Is the microwaved food really healthy? Here, are a few studies and results that indicate the truth about microwave heating of foods.

#1: Microwaves Are Harmful For Baby Food
It has been found that cooking food in microwaves is an unhealthy and unnatural approach for preparing baby food. According to Young Families, the Minnesota Extension Service of the University of Minnesota published in 1989, milk bottle heated in microwaves may cause harm to the baby who drinks it. High milk temperature (often resulted due to overheating) could not only burn a baby’s mouth and throat, the steam all encapsulated in the bottle may also cause the bottle to explode due to the presence of radiation gases within it.
Maybe these effects can be ignored or averted, but the fact that milk heated in a microwave may change the molecular structure of the milk is something that calls for attention. Microwave radiations can cause the essential nutrients in the baby foods to be lost, making them unfit for consumption. It’s just like feeding fake milk to the child with no real nutrients at all. The study further confirmed that it may be better and much safer to heat the bottle by placing it under a tap of warm water for a few minutes than to heat it in a microwave oven.

#2: Microwaves Can Destroy Your Blood
Another shocking discovery about microwave radiations came into the limelight when a nurse in an Oklahoma hospital used microwaves for warming the blood used for transfusion in a patient. The patient immediately died because of this transfusion. It was found that microwaves injected some kind of destructive substances in our food when we heat it.

#3: Microwaves Reduces Hemoglobin Levels
To understand why microwaves are dangerous for health, a study was carried out by Raum & Zelt in 1992 which showed some noticeable changes in the human build after consuming microwave heated milk and vegetables.
In this study, 8 volunteers ate different combinations of the same food cooked in different ways, which caused different changes in the blood of the volunteers. Hemoglobin, which is an important constituent of blood decreased while white blood cells and cholesterol increased. Lymphocytes, which provide immunity to the body, also decreased which is quite an alarming sign. Bacteria also increased after eating the microwave heated food.

#4: Microwaved Food Can Cause Cancer
A food scientist by the name of Dr. Hans ulrich Hertel who worked with one of the major companies of Switzerland carried out a research which showed striking discoveries about cooking food in microwaves. Dr. Hertel was fired from his company because of raising questions on how the food was prepared. His famous research with a Lausanne university professor which showed that food cooked in microwaves has cancerous effects.
Dr. Hertel and Dr. Bernard H. Blanc collaborated on a clinical study at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the University Institute for Biochemistry. Determined to study the physiology of the human body, Dr. Hertel carried out experiments to find out the effects of “microwaved” nutrients on human blood. He showed that microwave radiations completely destroy the nutrients in the food and could cause very bad effects on the human body. He also found out that microwaved food decreased hemoglobin in our body and could increase the cholesterol levels.

Comfort OR Health? The Choice Is Yours!
The FDA or the government may never tell you these harmful effects of cooking food in microwaves. As it is evident, microwave ovens are not really the recommended method of cooking. You could either live in denial and keep on using it or give your life some value and start cooking food on stoves. Use the conventional and the safer way!

Resources:


http://www.bewellbuzz.com/technology/microwave-ovens-truth/

Monday, October 22, 2012

Your brain on food: Obesity, fasting and addiction

Your brain on food: Obesity, fasting and addiction

We all know that what you eat can change your physical appearance. It also alters how your body functions, making it more or less difficult to pump blood, grow healthy bones or process insulin.
New research presented this week at the Neuroscience 2012 conference suggests that what you eat can even alter your brain – and vice versa.
Timothy Verstynen and his colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to observe the brain activity in 29 adults. The study participants were shown words on a screen in various colors and asked to identify the color, not the word. Sometimes it was easy – the word red printed in red; other times it was harder, like seeing the word red printed in blue.
The overweight and obese participants’ brains showed more activity during difficult questions, suggesting they were working harder to get the same answers.
Verstynen said the results imply that obese people are less efficient at making complex decisions, which could be important for controlling impulse behavior.
His team theorizes that unhealthy eating choices can lead to disrupted brain connections that lead to weakened brain performance, which can lead to making more unhealthy choices.
In other words, it's a vicious cycle.
A second study, presented by Dr. Tony Goldstone, showed the brain’s orbitfrontal cortex may play a big role in how people make food choices. This area encodes the “value” of a food, Goldstone said – i.e. how rewarding or pleasurable it will be to eat.
Study participants were asked to fast overnight. In the morning they were given a breakfast of about 700 calories and shown photos of food while hooked up to an MRI machine. They were asked to fast again before another visit; the following morning they were not given breakfast and then shown the same photos.
The starving participants’ orbitfrontal cortex’s were activated when they were shown photos of high-calorie food. Their reaction was less strong after they had eaten breakfast.
The research suggests fasting or dieting increases the brain’s desire for high-calorie food.
“That’s one of the reasons it’s so difficult to keep weight off,” Goldstone said.
The good news is that research is ongoing to find ways to block our brains’ love of unhealthy food. Two studies presented at the conference analyzed the effect of medications designed to treat alcohol/drug addiction on rats’ eating behaviors.
In one, researchers injected the addiction drug naltrexone into the prefrontal cortex – the decision-making area of the brain – to decrease junk food consumption in binge-eating rodents. The drug worked in the study, but more research is needed to see if and how this could apply to humans.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails