The Healing Powers of Fresh Juice

Tropical Tuesday
The healing powers of fresh juice

The great thing about living in Florida is that there is always an
abundance of vegetables and so it always the perfect season
to dust off the Juicer and get it and your motor purring.

Article & Pic:  Mother Nature Network
http://www.miniurl.com/s/05Q

 Juicing your fruits and vegetables has long been thought to have healing powers. Providing an abundance of quickly absorbed nutrients, juicing has been touted to help cure everything from stomach ulcers to strengthening the immune system due to the high concentration of phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals in fresh fruits and vegetables.

For healing or detoxification purposes begin to change your diet by eliminating processed, over cooked food. Eat whole organic fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, lentils, nuts and seeds, and eat a mostly vegetarian based diet including fresh juice at least 1-2 times per day. As a good reference book, my favorite resource and a classic in the lexicon of juicing is medical anthropologist, John Heinerman’s, Encyclopedia of Healing Juices.

Prepare your produce before processing through a juicer and make sure that your produce is organic as it is suspected that pesticides and herbicides can concentrate in the juice. You can drink the juice straight, dilute half with water, or add fiber or protein powder to make a healthy shake. One important note is to always drink the juice right after juicing to ensure receiving the maximum nutritional value.

Here are 15 fruits and vegetables beneficial to your body:

1. Carrot juice strengthens the eyes and helps clear up skin eruptions.
2. Celery juice is known for its power to clear the skin, as is cucumber juice.
3. Cabbage juice helps the gastrointestinal tract, as well as, helping to heal stomach ulcers.
4. Ginger juice helps with inflammation in the body, such as arthritis and is known to remedy nausea.
5. Lemon juice is excellent for counteracting a high-fat, animal protein rich diet. Helps the liver in its daily detoxification process.
6. Apple juice helps to relieve constipation, heal the intestines, and softens gall stones.
7. Radish juice benefits the thyroid gland (in small amounts and mixed with other juice).
8. Grape juice helps to purify the blood, inhibits herpes simplex and influenza viruses; and can be used as a remedy for hepatitis.
9. Kale and Collard juice strengthens the bones due to high levels of calcium, potassium & Vitamin A.
10. Pomegranate juice can be used to destroy intestinal worms, sooth gum and mouth ulcers, and strengthen the gums.
11. Parsley juice neutralizes acid blood pH and helps alleviate allergies, cellulitis, mercury poisoning and skin problems.
12. Pea juice helps dissolve blood clots and alleviates symptoms for celiac disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
13. Plums/Prune juice helps alleviate constipation and can be used for liver disease.
14. Tomato juice helps restore health to the liver, and can be used to treat diarrhea and chronic indigestion.
15. Watermelon juice alkalinizes the blood, and can be used to treat urinary problems, edema, and canker sores. Its diuretic properties benefits the kidney’s and bladder. Juice the rind with the flesh for a sweet, thirst quenching drink.

Healthy Brain Tips - Top Ten

Its Manic Monday what a great day to talk about "Feeding the Brain"!!The Brain is probably the most important organ in the human body.  The Mayfield Clinic says it best when it says that "Nothing in the world can compare with the human brain. This mysterious three-pound organ controls all necessary functions of the body, receives and interprets information from the outside world, and embodies the essence of the mind and soul. Intelligence, creativity, emotion, and memories are a few of the many things governed by the brain." so FEED your brain!!

Article is abbreviated please read the whole article HERE 

Eat the Rainbow Fix your Homocystiene Cool the Heat Stop the Sugar Chill Out

Get an Oil Change Rest Up Get Moving Clean House Use Your Head

Eat the Rainbow

Believe it or not, your brain rusts as you get older. The end result is Alzheimer’s, or as one of our patient’s called it, “old timer’s disease”. 

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Fix your Homocystiene

Many Americans are vitamin deficient. We are the most overfed and undernourished country in the world. The meat, sugar, alcohol, coffee and cigarettes we consume in excess all deplete us of critical B vitamins that are needed to keep us healthy. Without adequate amounts of folate, B6 and B12 we are at increased risk for Alzheimer’s, dementia, Parkinson’s, and depression, not to mention heart attacks, strokes, breast, colon, cervical, lung and prostate cancer. 

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Cool the Heat

If your brain is aging quickly or your memory impaired your brain is on fire! Many things fan the flames of inflammation – hidden infections, allergens, environmental toxins like mercury and lead, emotional stress, lack of exercise, excess sugar and animal fat and most commonly a fat belly! Those little fat cells in your ever-expanding middle are little factories for inflammation. A blood test, C-reactive protein, is the best way to tell if you are on fire. If your level is greater than 1.0, then you should begin to cool the heat. 

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Stop the Sugar

The sugar epidemic (an average of 150 lbs per person per year) is directly responsible for obesity in 2/3 of Americans. Diabetics have four times the risk of getting dementia. Too much sugar leads to high levels of insulin [link to healing / insulin resistance] in your blood. That makes you gain weight around the middle, raises your blood pressure and leads to rusting [prevention / rust] and inflammation [prevention / heat]. 

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Chill Out

Dr. Robert Sapolsky, a renowned Stanford neurobiologist, explained the dangers of stress in his book Why Zebra’s Don’t Get Ulcers. The zebras are busy eating grass until a lion starts chasing them. Then they go crazy, running all over the place, until the lion kills a zebra. Then all the other zebras relax and go back to grazing while the lion eats his dinner right next to them. 

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Get an Oil Change

Most of your brain is fat – but not the kind that comes from hamburgers or Twinkies. Even though most of us have been taught that fat is BAD, without the right kind of fat our brains can’t function; our memory and thinking become impaired, we get depressed and are even at higher risk for dementia and Parkinson’s.

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Rest Up

Most of us who have pulled an "all nighter", or lost a night’s sleep know how poorly our brain works when deprived of sleep. The trend of super-caffeinated, sleep-deprived Americans is a deadly problem. When we lose sleep, or don’t sleep at regular times, our brain hormones become imbalanced, leading to higher cortisol (one of our stress hormones), and lower growth hormone (a healing and repair hormone).

Learn more about how to improve sleep.

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Get Moving

Exercise should no longer be considered a luxury or indulgence. It is THE most important anti-aging medicine known. Not only will it help to prevent Alzheimer’s, but also almost every other age-related disease. It is a natural antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and stress buster. 

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Clean House

Hidden environmental toxins can put us at risk for premature brain aging and dementia. We know that lead exposure in children lowers IQ and reduces performance. Two recent studies highlighted additional dangers of mercury and lead.

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Use Your Head

The well-known aging nun study showed that nuns using more complex sentence structure and thought patterns were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s as they aged. Many other studies have shown that using your head – whether it is reading, doing crossword puzzles, games or being actively engaged in intellectual pursuits reduces your risk of dementia. So don’t forget to use your head and exercise your brain!

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This article is abbreviated please read the whole article at  http://www.ultraprevention.com/

8 Benefits of Echinacea

Echinacea is an herbal supplement used to boost immune function. It’s useful for colds and upper respiratory infections, and it has been used as immune support by those undergoing cancer treatments. Here are some of the benefits of using echinacea.

1) Echinacea Can Help Prevent Sickness

Echinacea strengthens your immune system by stimulating the production of T-cells. It also increases the ability of your white cells to fend off pathogenic invaders.

A compound known as echinacein, found in echinacea, helps keep germs from penetrating healthy cells, so that viruses and bacteria don’t take hold in your body.

2) Echinacea Can Shorten the Symptoms of Illness

Even if you begin taking echinacea after you’re already sick, it can help to reduce your recovery time.

3) Echinacea May Be Used as a Topical Disinfectant

Echinacea helps protect your healthy cells from invasion by bacteria and viruses, even if you apply the herb topically. This means you can use it to keep cuts and scratches from getting infected. Not only will it keep the wound from getting infected, but it will speed the healing process. When used externally as a topical disinfectant, echinacea also has analgesic properties.

4) Echinacea is a Powerful Treatment

Echinacea is known to be particularly effective in speeding the recovery process of a number of common illnesses. Some illnesses against which echinacea supplements may be particularly effective include:

• Urinary tract infection
• Sore Throat pain
• Enlarged lymph glands
• Upper respiratory infection
• Enlarged prostate
• Vaginal yeast infections
• Bronchitis
• Hay fever
• Sinusitis
• Ear infections
• Gingivitis
• Canker Sores

5) Echinacea May Benefit Psoriasis and Eczema

When applied topically to breakouts of psoriasis and eczema, echinacea has been shown to be an effective treatment. 

6) Echinacea is Good for Slow-Healing Wounds

Topically applied, echinacea can dramatically speed wound healing, so it’s often used for the treatment of slow-healing wounds. It also helps to relieve the pain of the wound and can protect slow-healing wounds from infection. Echinacea is also frequently used as a hemorrhoid remedy, and is often added to over-the-counter hemorrhoid medications.

7) Echinacea Helps Heal Sunburn

When applied topically to sunburns, echinacea’s healing properties help speed the recovery process.

8)  Echinacea Helps Resolve Recurrent Infections

Echinacea is particularly effective in helping to resolve recurring infections, such as ear infections. When used for a few weeks, echinacea’s immune-boosting compounds accumulate in the body, making its immune-boosting effects cumulative.

However, echinacea can lose its effectiveness over time, and may ultimately damage your immune system by inhibiting the production of T-cells if you make it a permanent part of your health routine. It might not be a good idea to use echinacea supplements in any form, including tea, daily for longer than eight consecutive weeks.

Full article above - Original can be found by clicking here

Nutrition labels: Deciphering health claims

If you're like most shoppers, you're confused by the plethora of health claims on food packages. Be savvy and look past the hype.

By Mayo Clinic staff

"Low fat" and "high fiber" are just two examples of the many health claims splashed across the front of food packages. Do these claims influence your buying decisions? Do you rely on them? Or do you depend more on nutrition labels? If you're like other shoppers, you're probably confused. Surveys show that most people find front-of-package claims and nutrition labels more confusing than useful.

Indeed, some claims are downright deceptive. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued warnings about dozens of food products with misleading or false information on their packages.

So how can you be a smart shopper? Heed the maxim, "Buyer beware." Make sure you evaluate any health-claim hype against the more detailed nutrition label, also called the Nutrition Facts panel, typically found on the back of packages. Read rest of article by clicking here

Vegetable stir-fry

Stir-frying veg like this is a great way to keep in maximum nutrients, as well as keeping a lovely bit of crunch. Remember that the secret to a stir-fry is to have everything prepped and ready for when you start cooking as once you get going, there’ll be no time to stop.

serves 4

Ingredients

• 
• • sea salt
• • 2 cloves of garlic
• • a bunch of fresh coriander
• • a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger
• • 1 fresh red chilli
• • 1 large red pepper
• • 6 spring onions
• • 2 carrots
• • 2 heads of bok choi
• • 2 limes
• • groundnut oil
• • 200g dried medium egg noodles (about 6 blocks)
• • 2 handfuls of beansprouts
• • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• • 1 teaspoon sesame oil

See how to make this wonderful recipe at : 
http://www.jamieshomecookingskills.com/recipe.php?title=vegetable-sir-fry 

© Recipe Jamie Oliver
© All recipe photgraphy David Loftus and Matt Russell

Keeping Our Thyroid Healthy

Key Nutrients for This Vital Gland

The thyroid, one of the most important glands, influences many body functions, including maintaining energy levels, sleep and metabolism. To function properly, it needs the right nutrients, foremost among which is iodine, a basic building block of thyroid hormones.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, iodine deficiency is on the rise in the United States, and choosing foods wisely is crucial. Sea vegetables, such as kelp, wakame and nori, the seaweed used for making sushi, are good sources of iodine and many other key minerals that support thyroid health.

Zinc, iron and copper are essential to producing thyroid hormones, and antioxidants like vitamins A, C and E are necessary for neutralizing physical oxidative stress, a condition that often occurs along with poor thyroid function. Selenium, a trace mineral needed only in tiny amounts, is readily supplied in foods like Brazil nuts, peanuts, fish, eggs, parsley, oats and mushrooms, as well as the noted sea vegetables.

Via: Natural Awakenings - Source: Adapted from WomentoWomen.com.

Note:" While prescription thyroid hormones might bring thyroid levels in the blood into a normal range, the hormone replacement doesn't address what cause the thyroid to founder in the first place. The drugs may make some people feel better, but for many others the relief is short lived, if it occurs at all...even when they have normal blood tests. " -Dr. Channing Bolick - Bolick Integrated Wellness Clinic

Natural Metabolic Boosters

Natural Metabolic Boosters:
How To Increase Your Metabolic Rate and Lose Weight (even when you sleep!) 
by Joanna Verndan
Science of Healthy Living

Being overweight contributes to a host of health problems, including diabetes (high blood sugar), high cholesterol, high pressure, and other, plus extra weight makes us feel sluggish and makes it hard to stay active, so no wonder so many people are constantly trying to lose weight.

If you are have a few pounds to lose and have been trying to shed weight for a while without much success, perhaps you think that your slow metabolism is the culprit. Some people just have bad genes that make them overweight, while other people stay slim, even though they eat exactly the same foods that we do, and there is not much that we can do about it, right?

Well, not exactly.

While it’s true that some people seem to have inherited some kind of “fast metabolism gene”; and it’s also true that as we get older our metabolic rate goes down; however, regardless of your age or your current weight, you can rev up your metabolism to burn more calories using the natural methods that I outline below.

Even though your metabolism is slow (or, as some say, the more precise term is “inefficient”), your genes should not get all the blame.

Each and everyone of us — no matter how old, overweight, or out of shape — has the power to increase their metabolism, lose weight and maintain that weight forever.

Find out more about: Your Metablolism, Your BMI, How to eat and best exercise practices to lower your Metabolism and more by reading the full article @ Science of Healthy Living

10 Easy Ways to Eat Natural

Want to eat green on a lean budget? These 10 trends, tips, and tools can help you save.
By Coleen Rush @ Health.com


Let’s face it: The dream of having our very own personal spa
chef whip up delicious, good-for-us grub probably isn’t happening
in this economy. So we found the next best thing—great stuff that makes eating healthy affordable and, honestly, almost effortless. Check out the top picks:
1. The end of the brown rice rut
2. Almonds by the pound
3. Generation 2.0 market bag
4 and 5. Our own herb stash—and mincer!
6. The mini movement
7. Souped-up sea salts
8. Frozen edamame
9. A free-range chicken in every store
10. Dot-com cooking


Read the whole article @ Health.com