06.28.08
Understanding Garlic
The ancient Egyptians viewed garlic and onions with divinity and took their oaths on them. Among other treasures in Tutankhamen’s tomb were heads of garlic.
Garlic is native to south-central Asia and the central Asian areas. It’s likely the plant made its way west to the Middle East and the Mediterranean on the caravans along the Silk Road in deep antiquity. Garlic seems unchanged since the days of ancient Egypt.
The white skinned garlic you find at most supermarkets, and sometimes see braided into long strands, is usually soft-neck garlic. Hard-neck garlic, which tends to have darker red or purple- striped skins, is generally more pungent. But the hard neck varieties are hardier and their flavors are more varied than the soft-neck varieties. Despite its pungent smell and antibacterial properties, heavy applications of agricultural chemicals are used to fumigate the soil in which it grows against root-destroying worms known as nematodes. Because it’s easy to grow, many organic farmers grow it, and finding organic garlic is not that difficult.
Garlic is odorless until you peel the skin from the cloves. Then enzymes start working to produce a compound called allicin, which gives garlic its familiar pungency. The more finely you chop or mash garlic, the more allicin is created, and the stronger the pungency will be (a garlic press yields the most intense flavor, whereas whole cloves or coarsely chopped cloves yield proportionally less).
If chopped garlic sits out, however, in less than an hour further enzymatic action degrades the allicin, reducing the punch but increasing garlic’s healthful properties. If you use will be using garlic raw (in a salad dressing, for an example) you may want to prep it 15 minutes ahead of time for that reason.
Cooking, use freshly peeled cloves for the best flavor.
Avoid garlic with green sprouts showing from the tips of the cloves. The heads should feel firm when given a gentle squeeze.
Store garlic in a perforated container (to keep it dry) at room temperature. Its papery husks will keep it fresh for a couple of weeks or longer.
Garlic loses its pungency when peeled, so those jars of peeled garlic cloves will have much less flavor than fresh, unpeeled garlic.
06.26.08
Appetite Suppressants
By suppressing the appetite, we consume less food. By consuming less food, we lower our caloric intake. As we know, maintaining a low calorie intake will no doubt lead to weight loss. Here are some natural appetite suppressants:
Glucomannan
Glucomannan is a fiber that can absorb up to 50 times its own weight in water. Taking glucomannan before meals can help to provide bulk in the stomach. Be certain to always drink large amounts of water when taking this supplement.
Chromium
Chromium can help control blood sugar levels. By maintaining a stable blood sugar, chromium can help prevent the sugar cravings that can add so many unnecessary calories to our diet.
Garcinia
Garcinia cambogia is the botanical name for the bitter melon fruit. Do not confuse this with the bitter orange fruit, which contains the stimulant synephrine. Bitter melon contains high levels of hydroxycitric acid, or HCA. This acid can help curb appetite and may slow the formation of fat in the body.
Griffonia Bean
The griffonia bean naturally contains high levels of 5-HTP, which is a precursor to serotonin. Serotonin helps regulate sleep cycles, mood and appetite. Some studies demonstrated weight loss due to griffonia supplementation even without dietary restrictions. Consult a health care professional before taking this supplement while taking prescription antidepressants.
Gymnema
This Ayurvedic herb occupies some of the same reception sites as certain dietary carbohydrates. When eaten, gymnema can block the sweet taste of sugar, so we in turn will not be rewarding our body. When taken in supplement form, gymnema can block the absorption of some carbohydrates in the intestine, thus helping to slow the glycemic response.
06.25.08
Understanding Vitamin D
Background
All the vitamin D you need or a daily dose is packed in 10 minutes out in the sunshine. Your body makes this important vitamin from sunlight on your skin.
The Role It Plays
Vitamin D’s most important role is to regulate how much calcium you absorb from your food. Most of that calcium goes to build strong bones and teeth. You also need calcium to send messages along your nerves and to help your muscles contract (like when your heart beats). Vitamin D regulates the amount of calcium in your blood and makes sure you always have enough. The immune system needs vitamin D, and it may help prevent cancer, especially colon cancer.
Types of Vitamin D
Vitamin D does things its own way. To get all the other vitamins, you have to eat them. To get vitamin D, all you have to do is go outside. The ultraviolet light in the sunshine makes a type of cholesterol that’s found just under or skin turn into vitamin D3 or cholecalecalciferol. The vitamin D3 gets carried to our liver, where it gets changed into a more active form; from there it goes to our kidneys, where it becomes even more active. Some of the vitamin D3 stays in our liver and kidneys, where it helps absorb calcium. The rest goes to our intestines to help absorb calcium from our food.
Vitamin D is found naturally in some foods, but in a slightly different form called vitamin D2, or ergocalciferol. Our body can use this form just as well – in fact it’s the form that’s used in most Vitamin D supplements. Vitamin D2 is sometimes also called calcifidiol or calcitrol. These daily supplements are made from yeast or fish liver.
RDA
Age Vitamin D
0-18 200 IU
19-50 200 IU
51-70 400 IU
70+ 600 IU
Pregnant Women 200 IU
Nursing Women 200 IU
Safe Dosage
Many doctors and nutritionists feel that you need more vitamin D as you get older. Men and women over age 65 should take 700 IU every day.
Do not take more than 1,000 IU of vitamin D supplements daily, it is dangerous.
If you spend a lot of time outdoors in the sun, your body automatically stops making vitamin D after you’ve stored up enough. So you can’t overdose on yourself. However, the same isn’t true about supplements. Of all the vitamins this is the one you need to be most careful with. Large doses can make calcium build up in your blood, which can have serious consequences. Too much vitamin D might also increase your risk of a heart attack or kidney stones.
Talk to a pediatrician before giving vitamin D supplements to babies and children.
Make It Work Better
You’ll absorb vitamin D a lot better if you take it with dietary fat. Take vitamin D supplements with food. Many studies have concluded that the relationship between estrogen, magnesium and boron may be essential in the conversion of vitamin D to its active form. So be sure you’re daily multivitamin has the amounts you need of those supplements.
Good Sources
Many people remember the awful tasting cod liver oil but it wasn’t given as a punishment, it is a good source of vitamin D. Fish oil contains a lot of vitamin D, so get some from eating fish liver, mackerel, herring, sardines, salmon, tuna, and other oily fish. There aren’t many other foods that naturally have vitamin D. Vitamin D is added to a lot of cereals and most people get their vitamin D from fortified milk.
Deficiency
Rickets (bones don’t grow and harden properly) is caused by a crippling shortage of vitamin D. Without enough vitamin D, bones can’t absorb calcium to grow straight and strong. Rickets is by far not as common as it was 150 years ago but babies who are breast fed and never get any sunshine are at risk.
If you’re an older adult, you’re only making about half as much vitamin D in your skin as when you were younger.
People who are housebound or live in nursing homes are at risk of vitamin D deficiency.
If you have kidney disease or liver disease, you can’t convert vitamin D3 into its more active form.
Some drugs block the absorption of vitamin D and other fat-soluble vitamins. Drugs such as cholestyramine (Cholybar or Questran) block your absorption. Some drugs can deplete your vitamin D level, such as, corticosteroid drugs like cortisone, prednisone, or dexamethasone for allergies, asthma, arthritis, or some other health problems. Other anticonvulsant drugs such as phenytoin (Dilantin) or Phenobarbital will interfere with how you use vitamin D.
If you’re a strict vegetarian or vegan, there is little vitamin D in plant foods so you may not be getting enough vitamin D.
Alcohol blocks your ability to absorb vitamin D in your intestines and store it in your liver. If you abuse alcohol, you may be deficient.
06.24.08
Aching Feet and Legs
It’s summer so the vacations will be starting soon. I thought I’d share a favorite formula with you. This formula is heaven sent for aching feet and legs. It’s especially made for those days when we’re power walking all over the place. Whether it’s at an amusement park, a foreign city, or shopping at outlet stores when you walk all day and you’re legs and feet are killing you. Just rub some of the oil on and viola! Pain be gone! This formula will amaze you. You can rub your legs and feet down before you start out in the morning or wait until you get back to the hotel at night. Either way the next day, you won’t have to pull your legs up by your hands to get them off the bed and believe it or not you’ll be ready for more walking.
1 tablespoon oil (I use grapeseed oil or almond oil)
5 drops peppermint essential oil
10 drops lavender essential oil
5 drops ginger essential oil
Pour the oil into a jar with a lid. Add the essential oils. Shake well before each use.
Happy walking!
06.23.08
Getting A Good Night’s Sleep
When it comes to beating stress, there’s nothing like a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately, many people don’t get the rest they need.
If you’ve gone through a patch of being unable to sleep for days on end, you know it makes life feel as if it’s not worth living. You have little interest in much of anything, much less sticking to any kind of diet. But it is indeed possible to turn things around. Here are the keys to a good night’s sleep:
Physical Activity
Sleep is not just for your mind – sleep is nature’s way of resting your body, too. If your muscles are not tires because you are not getting enough exercise during the day, there is less physiological reason to sleep. So you’ll want to tire your muscles a bit to trigger the sleep response. Go out for an evening walk.
Stretch and Yawn
Children stretch and yawn as their day draws to a close. While most of us think of these signs of tiredness as having no physical function, it is worth noticing that they help ready the body for sleep. Most animals do exactly the same thing as they prepare for slumber. Cats and dogs stretch out their legs and make a big yawn.
About a half hour before you go to bed, stretch out your arms and open your mouth to stimulate a yawn. At first you’re just going through the motions, but soon you’ll end up triggering a genuine deep muscle stretch and yawn. Do this four times before you go to bed and you’ll notice a definite effect on sleep.
Nap During the Day
Many people imagine that daytime naps interfere with sleep but just the opposite is true. People who nap during the day tend to be less wired at bedtime and have an easier time sleeping.
Win the Lottery
Like it or not, worries intrude on sleep. Whether they relate to finances, family matters, job responsibilities, or personal problems, you’re going to have continuing challenges with your sleep until the situation is resolved. So while you’re waiting to win for lottery winnings, you’ll want to do the best you can to control your stress during the day.
Things That Interfere with Sleep:
Caffeine
Everyone knows that caffeine can disturb sleep, but what they may not realize is how persistent it actually is. Unfortunately, many caffeine drinkers find that their daily caffeine habit does nothing more then cure their withdrawal after the previous day’s hit.
Alcohol
A few hours after you’ve had a glass of wine or beer, alcohol converts to closely related chemicals, called aldehydes. Where alcohol had a calming effect, aldehydes are stimulants, accentuating anxieties and interfering with sleep.
High Protein Foods
When you eat high protein foods in the evening they can disrupt your brain’s ability to produce serotonin, the mood-regulating chemical that also helps you sleep. Here’s why: Serotonin is made from an amino acid called tryptophan, and, while many high-protein foods contain tryptophan, they contain even more of the other amino acids that compete with tryptophan for entry into the brain. The more protein you eat the less tryptophan gets into the brain and the less serotonin you make during the next few hours.
06.22.08
Keeping Mosquitoes Away
Mosquitoes are the most aggravating little raiders and can be dealt with by a lot of essential oils, but lavender and red thyme are the best. Put one drop on a strip of material, paper, or ribbon and place the strips around the yard or area you would like to keep bite-free.
Make an oil of 2 drops (lavender and/or red thyme) in 2 teaspoons of oil for a body rub or simply add the essential oils neat to any lotion or cream you may have.
If you’re prone to biting, make a solution of 2 tablespoons base vegetable oil and 30 drops lavender oil and rub on the parts of skin that exposed. (This is also a good oil to put on before bed to keep bed bugs at bay.)
06.21.08
Keeping Flies Away
Homemade Flypaper
Create your own flypaper by spreading molasses on to strips or squares of bright yellow posterboard.
Hang the strips in doorways or lay squares of flypaper on the litchen counters and other places where flies are a problem.
Repel Flies with Herbs
Put out bowls of fresh orange and lemmon peels mixed with dried cloves. Planting rue and tansy near doorways also helps prevent the pests entering the house.
No Need to Swat with Esstential Oils
Flies (and moths) particularly dislike lavender. Mix about 10 drops of Lavender (or 5 drops Lavender and 5 drops Citronella) in a spray bottle filled half way with water and spray the air around the house. You can also drop Lavender neat on cotton balls and place throughout your house.
To keep flies (and the maternity ward) out of your trash can, soak strips of material in an essential oil and water mix and hang inside the can.
Cut up lenths of ribbon, paper, or material (tissue paper works great) and put one drop of lavender essential oil on each strip and hang around your picnic table or around the house.
