Today I thought I would spend some time talking about our skin. Who does not want perfect, clean, small pores, glowing skin, you know what we always see all of the celebrities and models have? Do remember, they air brush and shape their faces and bodies so they look perfect. How many times have you herd celebrities say once they were finished it did not even look like them? I think it is ridicules they do this. We all strive for this so called perfection that is unattainable and unrealistic. But, we can have great skin! The best way to be sure to have beautiful skin, is to begin with the inside, your diet.
If you think I am going to begin with vegetables, you are correct. We have spent time talking about veggies, so why not talk a little more about them. One more significant benefit of vegetables is what they do for our skin. As we have discussed and know, vegetables provide many vitamins and minerals. One of those is Vitamin A, which as we know is a very powerful antioxidant. Antioxidants help to keep our cells from being damaged. Vitamin A also helps to fight infections, which is all acne is, an infection of the pores in the skin. Vitamin A will help to improve your immune system, thus being able to fight off infections. It is also helpful for eczema and psoriasis, wounds, wrinkles and stretch marks. All in all, Vit A is important to have clean, clear skin. However, you can also find Vit A in animal sources, such as egg yolks, liver, milk, and cheese.
A great way to make sure you are consuming enough Vit A, is to eat a lot of veggies, but also animal sources. One of the best is code liver oil. Code liver oil has both Vit A and D along with omega fatty acids, which will all help with the skin as well. A good easy way to kill three birds with one stone, by taking code liver oil supplements. This is one I do take for its varied benefits.
Vitamin D is also another vitamin which will help to fight infections. The only place to find Vitamin D is from fat sources and the sun! This is why code liver oil is great to add to your diet. Now the sun... For the sake of this post, let us just say the sun is not an enemy or something to be avoided. The sun is a key to healthy, glowing, wrinkle free skin. You see, the sun and Vitamin D, helps to make collagen, which is what keeps our skin taught and keeps the wrinkles away. Do not be afraid to spend time in the sun with no sunscreen of covering up.
The other fat soluble vitamins, E and K, also support your skin. Vitamin E is another powerful antioxidant. Not only can you take Vitamin E internally through nuts and seeds, you can also put it on topically. If you have inflammation or flares ups, putting Vitamin E on these spots can help. Vitamin K can help when it is put on topically for dark circles under the eyes and bruising.
We can not forget about the water soluble vitamins, C and the B complexes. Vitamin C is also an antioxidant, helping to rid the body of free radicals. It can also help with inflammation. Making a face mask with fresh squeezed lemon juice mixed in baking soda and applied to the face can help exfoliate the skin and give it a healthy glow. If you have a big event, doing this the night before you will be glowing and the talk of the party the following day. Vitamin C can also help with the damage from to much sun exposure.
For the B complexes, biotin is the most important. This forms the base of the skin, nails and hair cells. Bananas and eggs are a great source of this vitamin. Again, topically, all of the B vitamins can give you a healthy glow instantly, hydrate the skin cells and help give an even tone to your skin.
You do not need to go out and pay a fortune for beauty products to have the benefits of all of these vitamins. You can make your own masks at home. Put a variety of fruit and vegetables, like bananas, blueberries, strawberries, pumpkin, kale, avocado, in a blender with some heavy cream and blend. Apply to your face and skin, even your hair if you would like. Let is sit for about 15 minutes and drink the rest of it. Then rinse it off. You will have enviable hair and skin. Everyone will ask you what you do and think you spend a fortune on your products. You can either them or keep your little secret to yourself.
Another great thing for our skin is fat. Eating fat, like eggs, cream, butter, whole raw milk, nuts, seeds, avocados and coconut oil will help your skin, nails and hair. Not only are there all of the vitamins and minerals in these foods which we know now are very healthy to give us great skin, the fat in these foods will also hydrate your cells, keep their integrity and make your skin soft. Remember, your cell walls are made of fat, if you need a reminder, go back and read Cholesterol, A Villain or Healthy. If you want gorgeous skin, hair and nails, increase your fat intake and see the amazing results.
Along the lines of fat intake, coconut oil is a wonderful "lotion" to use for your skin. Remember, coconut oil has anti-bacterial and anti-microbial properties to it. If you are having problems with acne or other skin irritations, this is a great thing to put on your face. Instead of using lotion, I use coconut oil from head to toe. I have decided if it is not good for me to eat, than I should not put it on my skin because you will absorb what you put on your skin. In fact, it can go right into your blood stream. Since I have increased my fat intake and using coconut oil on my skin, it is doing so much better. Much smoother, more even toned, I do not have as many breakouts and it looks healthy.
What about things you want to avoid? If you are having problems with acne, you will want to avoid sugar. Until you have your acne under control, I would avoid fruit and grains as well due to the sugar content. Avoid anything with sugar in it. The reason being is bacteria feeds on sugar. If you are consuming sugar you are feeding the bacteria.
You will want to make sure you are consuming probiotics, through whole raw milk and other fermented foods. By eating the probiotics you will be helping your immune system to fight off the bad bacteria. Eat and put coconut oil on your skin. Be sure you are consuming a lot of vegetables for the vitamins, minerals and making your body alkaline. Another tip, if you have a break out, try putting some raw honey on the sites. For the same reason you do not want to eat sugar, by putting the sugar on the acne, you will draw out the infection from the sugar in the honey. You can also try salt. Salt has been used to help rid meat of bacteria for centuries and can do the same for your skin.
There you have it. Some great tips on getting and maintaining great healthy skin! Go enjoy a veggies smoothie with some probiotics in it and watch your skin glow!
In the love of Christ,
Jenn
Friday, September 9, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
More Benefits of Veggies
Let us talk about some more of the health benefits of the fiber in vegetables. We talked in the last post about fiber binding to toxins and being eliminated and fiber helps to keep things a moving through the digestive tract. What else can fiber do? Well, fiber can help control blood sugar levels. I have talked in previous posts about fat doing this, stabilize blood sugars. Fiber can be a key player in being able to do this as well. If you have type II diabetes, and you eat nothing but raw vegetables for two weeks, you can actually stabilize your blood sugar levels. I do not know about you, but I am not going to go on a raw veggie diet for two weeks to this! I do not have diabetes either and I do not want to have it. Therefore, I eat a lot of healthy fat, protein and vegetables. Having stables blood sugar levels will help to prevent diabetes and any blood sugar issues.
Fiber can also help in weight lose. You see, fiber will help to keep you full longer, just like fat and protein. When we are full for longer periods, we do not eat as much. Fiber will stick around in your stomach for long periods because it is not broken down. It hangs out, finds toxins, binds to them and then helps you to eliminate. If you are wanting to lose weight, be sure you are adding raw vegetables to every meal or as a snack throughout the day for all of their benefits. There are some fruits that have a fiber in them as well, like berries, apples or pears for example. Eating these will have the same benefits as eating vegetables, just watch the sugar content.
We have talked about the many and varied and wide benefits of eating vegetables. You are saying, all right, you have convinced me to eat more of them, but I do not like them and it is boring to eat them raw all the time. What are some ways I can add more vegetables to my diet? I am glad you asked! Here are some of my favorite ways to eat them.
Hublet and I really enjoy eating stir frys. We use a wide verity of vegetables, always trying to hit every color. We add some sort of meat. Then we do a hot, spicy curry in coconut cream to top it off. They are delicious. We try to eat one at least once a week. Be sure to not cook the vegetables to long, you do not want them to be mushy. Instead of white rice, which is sugar and will spike your insulin levels, we like to eat quinoa. Quinoa also has great health benefits to it.
I am a big salad eater, I love salads. Here again, you can add whatever type of vegetables you want, the more the better. The great thing with this, is they are raw. I do not use store bought dressing. There are some very scary ingredients in those. If you are looking for weight lose or weight maintenance, there are things in store dressing which will make you gain weight. We will talk more about those later. I make my own dressings or use vinegar and olive oil. Be creative with your salads, they do not have to be boring. Add things like nuts and seeds for taste and health.
The newest thing I have started doing is vegetable smoothies. I am more into smoothies than juicing. My biggest problem with juicing is you lose the fiber in the vegetables and fruit. Beings I obtain most of my fiber from vegetables and fruit, I do smoothies. I like to put in yogurt and then a wide variety of vegetables and a little fruit. I put in salad, spinach, kale, beets, tomatoes, carrots, celery, avocado, whatever I have in my fridge. For fruit, I like to use some frozen bananas, again whatever I have in my fridge or freezer. Blend until smooth and enjoy.
I enjoy eating my veggies or fruit with all natural peanut butter or some other nut butter. By putting some nut butter on your veggies and fruit, it gives them more flavor and the added benefits of the nuts. With the fruit it is great because of the sugar in the fruit. You should always eat your fruit with some fat and protein so you do not spike your insulin levels.
Soups during the winter months are always great. I will even put some in my chili. Cook the vegetables with the chili and then blend them. Everyone will think it is seasonings.
Frittata, which is basically a quiche, it just does not have a crust getting in the way are very yummy. Eggs, bacon, sausages, whatever meat you want, if you want it and all the veggies you want. I put cheese in it, bake at 350 for about half hour, check for doneness with a toothpick. Add full fat sour cream, avocados, salsa, what ever you would like.
Grilled vegetables are always yummy. you can put them either right on the grill, depending on what it is or in tin foil with butter and seasonings, cook until done.
Steam them on the stove. You need a little water and loads of butter. I like my vegetables dripping in butter, that is when they are the best steamed. I added seasonings and enjoy.
In my garden this year, we had a summer squash that was a producer. What I did was cut them in about 1/4 inch slices, put a little olive oil on, some seasoning and dried them on my food dehydrator. Hublet got it for my for my birthday the first year we were married, I love it. Hublet did not think he was going to like them at first, my first batch, he ate the whole thing. I have tried several different seasonings and they have all been good. They are good to eat plan or with salsa. I am a huge fan of chips and salsa, but since I do not eat many chips any longer, due to their unhealthiness, which is will talk about later, I have been depressed. No longer! Salsa and dried squash chips are awesome. Here I am eating homemade salsa and squash chips, veggies all around.
Be creative with your food and adding vegetables to your diet. Once you begin eating them, you will feel better and begin to crave them.
Am I advocating a vegetarian diet? By all means, NO. I am not one who promotes this type of diet. God designed out bodies to eat meat. There are very important vitamins and minerals we receive from meat and can not get them any other way. People who are vegetarians tend to be more sick, they get more colds and bugs that are going around. They are also deficient in very key minerals and vitamins, making them sick. We need meat. We also need to be eating more vegetables along with our meat.
Be sure to listen to your body. I know of people who do not eat vegetables because their bodies do not do well with them. This is few and far between though. Most everyone needs some vegetables. Your body will tell you if a certain vegetable or fruit is not right for it. If you eat anything and feel sick, tired, lethargic, gaseous or just not right, it would be best to avoid that food. Avoid it for several weeks and then eat it again. If it makes you sick, do not eat it. We need to learn to listen to our bodies. They are amazing and can tell you what it needs to be healthy and thrive.
In the love of Christ,
Jenn
Fiber can also help in weight lose. You see, fiber will help to keep you full longer, just like fat and protein. When we are full for longer periods, we do not eat as much. Fiber will stick around in your stomach for long periods because it is not broken down. It hangs out, finds toxins, binds to them and then helps you to eliminate. If you are wanting to lose weight, be sure you are adding raw vegetables to every meal or as a snack throughout the day for all of their benefits. There are some fruits that have a fiber in them as well, like berries, apples or pears for example. Eating these will have the same benefits as eating vegetables, just watch the sugar content.
We have talked about the many and varied and wide benefits of eating vegetables. You are saying, all right, you have convinced me to eat more of them, but I do not like them and it is boring to eat them raw all the time. What are some ways I can add more vegetables to my diet? I am glad you asked! Here are some of my favorite ways to eat them.
Hublet and I really enjoy eating stir frys. We use a wide verity of vegetables, always trying to hit every color. We add some sort of meat. Then we do a hot, spicy curry in coconut cream to top it off. They are delicious. We try to eat one at least once a week. Be sure to not cook the vegetables to long, you do not want them to be mushy. Instead of white rice, which is sugar and will spike your insulin levels, we like to eat quinoa. Quinoa also has great health benefits to it.
I am a big salad eater, I love salads. Here again, you can add whatever type of vegetables you want, the more the better. The great thing with this, is they are raw. I do not use store bought dressing. There are some very scary ingredients in those. If you are looking for weight lose or weight maintenance, there are things in store dressing which will make you gain weight. We will talk more about those later. I make my own dressings or use vinegar and olive oil. Be creative with your salads, they do not have to be boring. Add things like nuts and seeds for taste and health.
The newest thing I have started doing is vegetable smoothies. I am more into smoothies than juicing. My biggest problem with juicing is you lose the fiber in the vegetables and fruit. Beings I obtain most of my fiber from vegetables and fruit, I do smoothies. I like to put in yogurt and then a wide variety of vegetables and a little fruit. I put in salad, spinach, kale, beets, tomatoes, carrots, celery, avocado, whatever I have in my fridge. For fruit, I like to use some frozen bananas, again whatever I have in my fridge or freezer. Blend until smooth and enjoy.
I enjoy eating my veggies or fruit with all natural peanut butter or some other nut butter. By putting some nut butter on your veggies and fruit, it gives them more flavor and the added benefits of the nuts. With the fruit it is great because of the sugar in the fruit. You should always eat your fruit with some fat and protein so you do not spike your insulin levels.
Soups during the winter months are always great. I will even put some in my chili. Cook the vegetables with the chili and then blend them. Everyone will think it is seasonings.
Frittata, which is basically a quiche, it just does not have a crust getting in the way are very yummy. Eggs, bacon, sausages, whatever meat you want, if you want it and all the veggies you want. I put cheese in it, bake at 350 for about half hour, check for doneness with a toothpick. Add full fat sour cream, avocados, salsa, what ever you would like.
Grilled vegetables are always yummy. you can put them either right on the grill, depending on what it is or in tin foil with butter and seasonings, cook until done.
Steam them on the stove. You need a little water and loads of butter. I like my vegetables dripping in butter, that is when they are the best steamed. I added seasonings and enjoy.
In my garden this year, we had a summer squash that was a producer. What I did was cut them in about 1/4 inch slices, put a little olive oil on, some seasoning and dried them on my food dehydrator. Hublet got it for my for my birthday the first year we were married, I love it. Hublet did not think he was going to like them at first, my first batch, he ate the whole thing. I have tried several different seasonings and they have all been good. They are good to eat plan or with salsa. I am a huge fan of chips and salsa, but since I do not eat many chips any longer, due to their unhealthiness, which is will talk about later, I have been depressed. No longer! Salsa and dried squash chips are awesome. Here I am eating homemade salsa and squash chips, veggies all around.
Be creative with your food and adding vegetables to your diet. Once you begin eating them, you will feel better and begin to crave them.
Am I advocating a vegetarian diet? By all means, NO. I am not one who promotes this type of diet. God designed out bodies to eat meat. There are very important vitamins and minerals we receive from meat and can not get them any other way. People who are vegetarians tend to be more sick, they get more colds and bugs that are going around. They are also deficient in very key minerals and vitamins, making them sick. We need meat. We also need to be eating more vegetables along with our meat.
Be sure to listen to your body. I know of people who do not eat vegetables because their bodies do not do well with them. This is few and far between though. Most everyone needs some vegetables. Your body will tell you if a certain vegetable or fruit is not right for it. If you eat anything and feel sick, tired, lethargic, gaseous or just not right, it would be best to avoid that food. Avoid it for several weeks and then eat it again. If it makes you sick, do not eat it. We need to learn to listen to our bodies. They are amazing and can tell you what it needs to be healthy and thrive.
In the love of Christ,
Jenn
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
The Wonderful World Of Veggies
In my last post on how to avoid getting sick the season, I talked about eating vegetables and how they help to make our bodies more alkaline. I thought today I could go further into the importance of vegetables.
We have all been told since we were little tots to eat our vegetables and you know, mom was right, again. There are very important vitamins, minerals and enzymes in vegetables that are vital to our health and a long life. Most people do not like to eat vegetables, they do not taste good. The reason they do not taste good is because they are not sweet. There is no sugar in vegetables, and there should not be. We have become a nation addicted to sugar and this is reeking havoc on our health. We no longer enjoy the taste of vegetables or know what they taste like due to all of the genetic alterations, pesticides and fertilizers being used today. There is always that notion too of it if it tastes good it can not be healthy for us. Let us talk about some of the health benefits of eating vegetables and easy and great ways to add more to your diet.
As I disused in my last post, one of the most important things vegetables do is keep our bodies alkaline. What this means is our bodies our more basic. A little chemistry lesson for the day. The pH scale is a measure of acidity and basicity. When we usually see it, there is a rainbow of colors along with numbers on the side. These colors and numbers relate to how basic or acidic something is. The scale goes from 0 to 14. 0 is the most acidic. These are going to be things like gastric acid, the acid in our stomachs, which is about 1, lemon juice is about 2 and so on and so forth. What this is measuring is how much acid is in it. On the other side of the scale we have the basics. Bleach is about 13, soapy water is about 12, baking soda is 9 and so and so forth. This is the lack of acids. Seven is considered neutral, distilled water. For life to happen, your body has to maintain a certain pH balance. Human blood is between 7.34-7.45, not a large margin. For optimum health, we want to be more alkaline, which is basic. When we eat to many sugars and processed foods, our bodies become more acidic. The consequences of this is sickness, an inability of being able to absorb minerals, the energy production of our cells goes down, the body has a more difficult time repairing it's cells, we can not detoxify heavy metals, a cancer cell haven. Does this make sense of why cancer is abundant today? Cancer is a disease of the common era. Our ancestors did not have this disease because of their diets, their bodies were more alkaline. Not only does an alkaline body ward off cancer, it will also defend the body from other diseases. For more on this, read my previous post here.
Some of the best ways to get our vitamins and minerals in everyday is to eat vegetables. Do you need more Vit. C, eat citrus fruits, putting lemon or limes in your water is a great way to both drink more water as well as the added benefits of these powerful foods. How about Vit. A, eat pumpkin, kaleor leeks to name a few. Pick any vitamin you would like and Google it, see how many and what types of vitamins and minerals are in it. The best way to make sure you are consuming all of the vitamins and minerals your body needs is to eat a rainbow of colors. You want your diet to be colorful. It also makes it more fun when you can see if you can eat all of the colors in a day, especially if you have kids. I think we all know this, we just need to apply what we already know! As a side note, if you are going to take a multi-vitamin, it is best to take one which is plant based, not synthetically made.
Enzymes are proteins which act as a catalysis. A what? A catalysis is a protein which makes a chemical reaction happen faster in the body. There are some reactions that take so long to perform that they simply would not happen in the body if it were not for a catalysis. They are very important to the functioning of the body. One of the best sources of enzymes is raw vegetables. You can steam your veggies if you prefer them this way, just make sure you do not cook them over 104 degrees or to soggy. At this temperature and above, the enzymes are destroyed. It is good to do a variety of both, raw and steamed vegetables. The reason for this is because some of the vitamins are more bio-available to our bodies when they are steamed. Things like calcium from spinach and kale. The lycopene in tomatoes is most available once the tomatoes are cooked and eaten with fat. Other vitamins will be destroyed with cooking. So, to account for this, I eat both raw and steamed vegetables. When steaming or cooking your veggies, be sure it is not over 104 degrees or that they are overcooked and mushy. If you cook them this long, you can kiss everything good bye.
Another health benefit of raw vegetables is fiber. Fiber helps to keep things a moving in your digestive track. If you are not eliminating everyday, two to three times a day, with none stinky poops, you have some problems. It is important to eliminate our wast products. When we do not ride them through urinating and poopen, they will stay in our bodies and this causes problems. If your poop stays inside of you, the toxins can reabsorb into your body. Yuck! All of the crap your body is trying to rid itself of stays in and becomes a toxic waste land. This is even worse for your body because it is more toxic than it was before. If you do not poop for days, it has to go somewhere and that somewhere is making your stomach stick out and you gain weight. Not helpful in weight lose. An easy to help this problems is eating more vegetables and drink water. The fiber will bind to toxins and take them out in the elimination processes. The fiber is also some roughage and will push things out. The water will help to make things softer. Pushing to hard can cause problems. Be sure to drink water especially if you are not used to fiber, this can cause you to be constipated. Water is also a natural way to detoxify your body.
I believe this is enough to swallow. We will continue in the next post.
In the love of Christ,
Jenn
We have all been told since we were little tots to eat our vegetables and you know, mom was right, again. There are very important vitamins, minerals and enzymes in vegetables that are vital to our health and a long life. Most people do not like to eat vegetables, they do not taste good. The reason they do not taste good is because they are not sweet. There is no sugar in vegetables, and there should not be. We have become a nation addicted to sugar and this is reeking havoc on our health. We no longer enjoy the taste of vegetables or know what they taste like due to all of the genetic alterations, pesticides and fertilizers being used today. There is always that notion too of it if it tastes good it can not be healthy for us. Let us talk about some of the health benefits of eating vegetables and easy and great ways to add more to your diet.
As I disused in my last post, one of the most important things vegetables do is keep our bodies alkaline. What this means is our bodies our more basic. A little chemistry lesson for the day. The pH scale is a measure of acidity and basicity. When we usually see it, there is a rainbow of colors along with numbers on the side. These colors and numbers relate to how basic or acidic something is. The scale goes from 0 to 14. 0 is the most acidic. These are going to be things like gastric acid, the acid in our stomachs, which is about 1, lemon juice is about 2 and so on and so forth. What this is measuring is how much acid is in it. On the other side of the scale we have the basics. Bleach is about 13, soapy water is about 12, baking soda is 9 and so and so forth. This is the lack of acids. Seven is considered neutral, distilled water. For life to happen, your body has to maintain a certain pH balance. Human blood is between 7.34-7.45, not a large margin. For optimum health, we want to be more alkaline, which is basic. When we eat to many sugars and processed foods, our bodies become more acidic. The consequences of this is sickness, an inability of being able to absorb minerals, the energy production of our cells goes down, the body has a more difficult time repairing it's cells, we can not detoxify heavy metals, a cancer cell haven. Does this make sense of why cancer is abundant today? Cancer is a disease of the common era. Our ancestors did not have this disease because of their diets, their bodies were more alkaline. Not only does an alkaline body ward off cancer, it will also defend the body from other diseases. For more on this, read my previous post here.
Some of the best ways to get our vitamins and minerals in everyday is to eat vegetables. Do you need more Vit. C, eat citrus fruits, putting lemon or limes in your water is a great way to both drink more water as well as the added benefits of these powerful foods. How about Vit. A, eat pumpkin, kaleor leeks to name a few. Pick any vitamin you would like and Google it, see how many and what types of vitamins and minerals are in it. The best way to make sure you are consuming all of the vitamins and minerals your body needs is to eat a rainbow of colors. You want your diet to be colorful. It also makes it more fun when you can see if you can eat all of the colors in a day, especially if you have kids. I think we all know this, we just need to apply what we already know! As a side note, if you are going to take a multi-vitamin, it is best to take one which is plant based, not synthetically made.
Enzymes are proteins which act as a catalysis. A what? A catalysis is a protein which makes a chemical reaction happen faster in the body. There are some reactions that take so long to perform that they simply would not happen in the body if it were not for a catalysis. They are very important to the functioning of the body. One of the best sources of enzymes is raw vegetables. You can steam your veggies if you prefer them this way, just make sure you do not cook them over 104 degrees or to soggy. At this temperature and above, the enzymes are destroyed. It is good to do a variety of both, raw and steamed vegetables. The reason for this is because some of the vitamins are more bio-available to our bodies when they are steamed. Things like calcium from spinach and kale. The lycopene in tomatoes is most available once the tomatoes are cooked and eaten with fat. Other vitamins will be destroyed with cooking. So, to account for this, I eat both raw and steamed vegetables. When steaming or cooking your veggies, be sure it is not over 104 degrees or that they are overcooked and mushy. If you cook them this long, you can kiss everything good bye.
Another health benefit of raw vegetables is fiber. Fiber helps to keep things a moving in your digestive track. If you are not eliminating everyday, two to three times a day, with none stinky poops, you have some problems. It is important to eliminate our wast products. When we do not ride them through urinating and poopen, they will stay in our bodies and this causes problems. If your poop stays inside of you, the toxins can reabsorb into your body. Yuck! All of the crap your body is trying to rid itself of stays in and becomes a toxic waste land. This is even worse for your body because it is more toxic than it was before. If you do not poop for days, it has to go somewhere and that somewhere is making your stomach stick out and you gain weight. Not helpful in weight lose. An easy to help this problems is eating more vegetables and drink water. The fiber will bind to toxins and take them out in the elimination processes. The fiber is also some roughage and will push things out. The water will help to make things softer. Pushing to hard can cause problems. Be sure to drink water especially if you are not used to fiber, this can cause you to be constipated. Water is also a natural way to detoxify your body.
I believe this is enough to swallow. We will continue in the next post.
In the love of Christ,
Jenn
Monday, September 5, 2011
Cold and Flu Season and What To Do
If you think I am going to tell you to run to your nearest drug store and get a flu shot, you better think again. With everything else I have been talking about on this blog, you think I am willing to go and inject all of the nasty crap in a flu shot into my body, you had better read all of those posts again because I will not. Our bodies have been given everything they need to fight off bugs and viruses and disease, we just have to know what to do and how to give our bodies what they need to fight.
You have probably heard the largest portion of your immune system is in your gut, about 80%. What does this mean? We need to feed our guts healthy food to fend off would be intruders making us sick. One of the best things to be consuming is beneficial bacteria. You can find these in fermented foods. Yogurt is a great place to start. However, you need to be very careful on the type of yogurt you are consuming. Most have high fructose corn syrup, HFCS, in it. I do not think I need to remind you of how bad this stuff is. I am sure I do, so we will talk about this in another post.For now, if you do not know how bad this stuff is, you will have to take my word for it, avoid at all possible costs. Avoid it like you would the plague, it is just as bad if not worse for your health. If the yogurt does not have HFCS in it, it will probably have some other form of sugar as an ingredient, avoid highly sugary yogurts. If it has artificial growth hormones in it, avoid as well. If it does not say has multiple strains of live cutlers in it, you are wasting your hard earned money. If it has any ingredients you can not read or now what it is, avoid. Are you picking up a trend here?
What do you want to look for in your yogurt? You want to make sure it is all natural, organic is even better, no growth hormones, no HFCS, watch the sugar content and live cultures. I personally like to eat Stoney Fields. Their yogurt is organic, has no HFCS, limited amounts of organic cane sugar and six different live active cultures. It tastes great, smooth and creamy. Another type of yogurt which is very good for you is Greek yogurt. There are some people who can not stomach it. I would try a little before you buy a big container or a lot of it. Generally there are no added sugars to Greek yogurt, you might want to try adding some raw local honey to it. The same rules apply to Greek yogurt as they do to the other yogurt. One other great benefit of Greek yogurt, besides not having sugar added, is it has more protein than regular yogurt. Make sure you read the labels.
Other foods which have live cultures are: raw milk, kefir, which is a fermented milk and this can have as many as 10 different live cultures present, kombucha, which is a fermented tea, kimchi, sauerkraut, and any other fermented food.
We used to eat a lot more fermented foods, mainly due to lake of refrigeration, and for their health benefits. Now days, we have refrigeration and we tend to not eat the fermented stuff. If you want to be healthy this cold and flu season, and for the rest of your life, I would start eating more fermented, live cultured food. This would mean, you can not go to your local grocery store and buy canned, pasteurized, severely heat treated dead food.
We also need to eat food which is going to help keep these cultures alive in our guts. What? You have herd of probiotics, the healthy bacteria like we have been talking about, but have you heard of prebiotics? All prebiotics are is the food to sustain the bacteria. The main food for this are vegetables, fruits and if you are doing some sprouted grains, oats and inulin, a form of soluble fiber. What you are looking for is the fiber in these foods. If you are like me and do very little grains, you can get all of the fiber you need from vegetables and fruit, no need to worry there. Raw apple cider vinegar, the kind which still has the mother in it, is also good as a prebiotic. The bacteria in your gut thrive in the acidic environment of your intestines and stomach. Adding apple cider vinegar can do your body good. What I like to do is called the Vermont method. I found this searching for ways to help with arthritis, more on this in another post. But any who, what the Vermont method is is:
1 TBS of raw apple cider vinegar
1 tsp of raw honey
room temperature water, anywhere from 8 to 16 oz.
Since I have been dong this for a time, I usually do a little more than a table spoon of the vinegar and I do not measure the honey, just squeeze some in, and I have been doing less of the water than the 16 oz. I really enjoy this, especially when thirsty. I find the best time to drink it is after my workout, crazy I know. Try doing up to three times daily. There are many health benefits to raw apple cider vinegar, enjoy for your health. But for this post, we will stick to it being good for feeding your gut flora, the bacteria in your gut!
Other measures you can take for preventing any type of sickness is making sure your Vitamin D levels are adequate. I do not recommend beginning a Vit. D regime until you have had your levels checked. You want to make sure your levels are about 50 nano grams per milometer. Depending on your levels will depend on how much you will need to take to get them up to at least this level. The more research that is done on Vit. D, the more we are finding how important this fat soluble vitamin is for us. We are also finding people are at very inadequate levels. If you are getting sick all the time, be sure to have your levels checked. Vit. D plays a very important role in our immune systems. Since having my level where they need to be, I avoid most everything that goes around. If I feel like I have something coming on, I will take a few extra doses of my Vit. D and I am good to go. If you would like to know more about Vit. D and how vital it is to your health, I believe Dr. Mercola has some of the best and most extensive knowledge base on his web page, http://www.mercola.com/ Get those Vit. D levels up there, your immune system will thank you.
Do not take anti-biotics unless it is life or death situation. You see, when you take anti-biotics, you kill all of the bacteria in your gut. They do not target only the bad stuff. Doctors today hand out anti-biotics like they are candy. They will even give them if you do not have a bacterial infection, they will give them for viruses! This is absurd. They will do nothing for you for a viral infection. Be sure, if you are given anti-biotics you have a bacterial infection and try to take care of the infection on your own. If you do have to anti-biotics, take all of them that have been prescribed to you. When you do not take them all, this helps lead to anti-biotic resistance, take them all! Be sure to eat good yogurt and other sources of probiotics. Once you are finished with the anti-biotics, you will want to be increasing your probiotic intake dramatically to reestablish your flora. This is the time I would take a multi-strain supplement of a probiotic. The reason you want to do this is so you get your immune system back as soon as possible, which will help you to not get sick again and so other things like yeast can not take over your system.
If you remember the post on saturated fat you will remember me saying saturated fat is healthy for your immune system and how great coconut oil is. Coconut oil has anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties to it. So, by eating coconut oil everyday, you will be helping your body fight off all of the intruders we face everyday. Along with taking some extra Vit. D when I feel something coming on, I will also increase my intake of coconut oil. One of my favorite things to do is a hot taughty with a table spoon of coconut oil in it. For those of you who do not know what a hot taughty is, it is an alcohol base drink:
shot or more of whisky
fresh squeezed, I like it freshly squeezed anyway, lemon or lime juice, a half or one
some honey, to taste
hot water
Be sure to drink it nice and hot, go to bed with a few extra blankets and sweet it out. If it is a bacterial infection, this will help kill the bacteria. If it is viral, it will help your body to fight off the virus. With the coconut oil added, this gives your body the added extra benefits of the coconut oil. Ladies, this also works wonders for UTIs!
Working out is another good habit to have. This helps our bodies be stronger in all ways and be healthier. Being outside as much as possible gives you the added benefit of fresh air and sunshine. Along those same lines, be sure to air your house out, daily. This includes during the winter and hot summer months. The air quality in your house's and be even worse than the most polluted city, including Utah during our winter months. By airing out your house, you will help to ride it of the bugs which make you sick.
When you keep your body more alkaline, the way God intended our bodies to be, you will also ward off all types of diseases. You see, bacteria, viruses, cancer, you name it, can not live in an alkaline environment. By eating all of your vegetables and fruit, along with avoiding sugars and processed foods, you will naturally keep your body alkaline, warding off disease and sickness. A very good reason to eat your fruits and veggies!
Use common sense. If you are sick, stay home! I have not figured out why people are so inconsiderate. I am sick, but I am going to go to work and to the store and breath on everyone. If you do not feel well, stay home and take care of yourself and help stop the spread of sickness.
Here is to a happy and healthy season of no sickness!
In the love of the Christ,
Jenn
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Weight Lose
Ok, so you are asking me to make all these changes and begin eating all this fat and not eat as much grains or any grains and you tell me it is suppose to be healthy for my heart, stabilize blood sugar levels and on and on. But, if I make these changes will it help me lose weight? If I am eating all of this fat, shouldn't I be gaining a bunch of weight?
If you remember back from the post about grains I talked about insulin levels and how eating grains can spike you insulin levels, leading to weight gain. Remember, weight lose is about about stabilizing your insulin levels. As a review, if you are eating a lot of grains and sugars from processed foods and candy, junk food, even fruit your insulin levels are going to spike, then drop. When they are high, this puts your body into a fat storage mode. Not only will grains and sugars in general play havoc on your insulin levels, they will also make you very hungry. If you are hungry, you are going to eat. What is your body craving, something with sugar in it. Sugar is more addictive than cocaine. You eat it and you crave it more and more. This cycle will also make you tired. When you are tired, your brain will want food to function. You brain functions on glucose, which is sugar, and it will make you crave anything with sugar in it for instant energy. It does not fix the problem. It is only temporary and in a few short hours, you will be craving sugar again. Here is where the wonderful world of a high fat diet comes in.
Sources of fat do not have sugar in them. If there is no sugar, how will effect you insulin levels? When you consume fat you will see very little change in your insulin level, just a little bump. With every meal you should be consuming some animal fat. This is important especially if you are eating grains and fruit, due to the sugar. The fat, and protein, will slow down the uptake of sugar in your digestive system. The sugar will not be digested as quickly because it takes longer to digest fat and protein. What this means is the sugar will not be taken into the bloodstream as quickly. If the sugar is not entering the bloodstream as quickly, your insulin levels will not spike. Instead of having a huge insulin spike after a sugary meal, you will see a smaller rise in your levels due to the fat and protein. Stable insulin levels leads to weight lose.
Fruit can be healthy for you as long as you eat it with fat so your insulin levels do not spike. If you are looking to lose a significant amount of fat, it would be best to avoid fruit until you have lost most of the weight. Once you add some fruit back into your diet, be sure to eat some fat such as nuts or seeds along with it.
Not only will eating fat help to slow your insulin levels, it will also help to keep you full longer. If you are full, you do not need to eat. Let us say for breakfast you eat three large cage free eggs, with cheese and a variety of vegetables, onions, peppers, mushrooms, spinach, whatever you have in your fridge and you like. You add some seasonings for flavor and their health benefits, and to top it off you put salsa, full fat sour cream and half of an avocado. You also have a cup maybe two of coffee with heavy cream. A big breakfast loaded with fat and protein along with your veggies. With such a large breakfast, you might not be hungry again until late in the afternoon, maybe even dinner time. I know the CDT tells you you need to eat every two to four hours to keep your blood sugar up and for weight lose. We have seen why you need to eat every two to four hours due to all of the grains and sugars. With all of the fat and protein, like in the breakfast describe, you will stay fuller for most of the day. Your insulin levels are going to stay stable for the day and in a fat burning zone. If you do not need to eat again until three in the afternoon or even dinner, there is less calories you have taken in for the day. So you see, by eating more fat and protein your insulin is going to stay stable and you do not need to eat as much because you will be satisfied for longer periods. Fat has this ability to keep you satisfied, having a level of satiety as we call it in the nutrition world. The longer you are satisfied, the less you need to eat.
Your body will be receiving the nutrients it needs from all of the fat as well, namely the fat soluble vitamins, E, D, A, and K. Because we have become so afraid of fat, most of us are deficient in these vitamins. Eating all of this fat will help you to regain your health from having a lack of these vitamins which are so important to our health.
Hopefully, you are beginning to understand the importance and value of eating fat. It is great for your waist line, losing or maintaining fat lost and for the vital vitamins it provides.
Until next time, in Christ,
If you remember back from the post about grains I talked about insulin levels and how eating grains can spike you insulin levels, leading to weight gain. Remember, weight lose is about about stabilizing your insulin levels. As a review, if you are eating a lot of grains and sugars from processed foods and candy, junk food, even fruit your insulin levels are going to spike, then drop. When they are high, this puts your body into a fat storage mode. Not only will grains and sugars in general play havoc on your insulin levels, they will also make you very hungry. If you are hungry, you are going to eat. What is your body craving, something with sugar in it. Sugar is more addictive than cocaine. You eat it and you crave it more and more. This cycle will also make you tired. When you are tired, your brain will want food to function. You brain functions on glucose, which is sugar, and it will make you crave anything with sugar in it for instant energy. It does not fix the problem. It is only temporary and in a few short hours, you will be craving sugar again. Here is where the wonderful world of a high fat diet comes in.
Sources of fat do not have sugar in them. If there is no sugar, how will effect you insulin levels? When you consume fat you will see very little change in your insulin level, just a little bump. With every meal you should be consuming some animal fat. This is important especially if you are eating grains and fruit, due to the sugar. The fat, and protein, will slow down the uptake of sugar in your digestive system. The sugar will not be digested as quickly because it takes longer to digest fat and protein. What this means is the sugar will not be taken into the bloodstream as quickly. If the sugar is not entering the bloodstream as quickly, your insulin levels will not spike. Instead of having a huge insulin spike after a sugary meal, you will see a smaller rise in your levels due to the fat and protein. Stable insulin levels leads to weight lose.
Fruit can be healthy for you as long as you eat it with fat so your insulin levels do not spike. If you are looking to lose a significant amount of fat, it would be best to avoid fruit until you have lost most of the weight. Once you add some fruit back into your diet, be sure to eat some fat such as nuts or seeds along with it.
Not only will eating fat help to slow your insulin levels, it will also help to keep you full longer. If you are full, you do not need to eat. Let us say for breakfast you eat three large cage free eggs, with cheese and a variety of vegetables, onions, peppers, mushrooms, spinach, whatever you have in your fridge and you like. You add some seasonings for flavor and their health benefits, and to top it off you put salsa, full fat sour cream and half of an avocado. You also have a cup maybe two of coffee with heavy cream. A big breakfast loaded with fat and protein along with your veggies. With such a large breakfast, you might not be hungry again until late in the afternoon, maybe even dinner time. I know the CDT tells you you need to eat every two to four hours to keep your blood sugar up and for weight lose. We have seen why you need to eat every two to four hours due to all of the grains and sugars. With all of the fat and protein, like in the breakfast describe, you will stay fuller for most of the day. Your insulin levels are going to stay stable for the day and in a fat burning zone. If you do not need to eat again until three in the afternoon or even dinner, there is less calories you have taken in for the day. So you see, by eating more fat and protein your insulin is going to stay stable and you do not need to eat as much because you will be satisfied for longer periods. Fat has this ability to keep you satisfied, having a level of satiety as we call it in the nutrition world. The longer you are satisfied, the less you need to eat.
Your body will be receiving the nutrients it needs from all of the fat as well, namely the fat soluble vitamins, E, D, A, and K. Because we have become so afraid of fat, most of us are deficient in these vitamins. Eating all of this fat will help you to regain your health from having a lack of these vitamins which are so important to our health.
Hopefully, you are beginning to understand the importance and value of eating fat. It is great for your waist line, losing or maintaining fat lost and for the vital vitamins it provides.
Until next time, in Christ,
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