| Organic Foods Mom |
| Why organic foods matter and other stuff… |
I just read this amazing story about square watermelon, developed in Japan. I thougth it was pretty cool until I read the price. 10,000 Yen, or roughly $83 USD? Yikes!
Read all about it here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1390088.stm
OFM
I’ve been taking organic coconut oil with my morning decaf for awhile now. I just came across this article on how to do a full detox with raw, organic coconut oil, which sounds really great. Check it out below.
OFM
(NaturalNews) With fad detox methods around every corner, it’s hard to know which one can provide a healthy cleanse without unpleasant side effects. A coconut oil detox is an excellent way to cleanse without using complicated formulas or living off nothing but water for days on end. Coconut oil is a powerful cleansing food that also provides plenty of natural energy during a detox.
Coconut oil is largely comprised of medium-chain fatty acids, which are sent directly to the liver for energy rather than storage. This type of fat is ideal for a cleanse, since it can provide the energy needed at a time when less food is being consumed.
These same medium-chain fatty acids play a crucial role in cleansing the body from toxins. Coconut oil is heralded as a natural health food, and a coconut oil detox simply speeds up healing results by thoroughly flushing the entire body of toxins in a short time. Here are just four types of conditions coconut oil can combat during a detox:
- Candida. In modern society, candida overgrowth is almost an epidemic. More people are experiencing systemic candida, when the problem spreads throughout the body and causes a myriad of unpleasant side effects. A coconut oil detox is completely void of sugar and other carbohydrates, which effectively starves off all candida in the system. People who suffer from candida will notice many conditions improve or disappear after a coconut oil detox, including sugar cravings, fatigue, eczema, acne, repeat sinus infections and poor concentration.
- Fungal infections. Often connected with candida, repeat fungal infections like ringworm and jock itch are linked to an imbalance of bacteria and fungal organisms in the body. The lauric acid and caprylic acid in coconut oil are antifungal, so a coconut oil detox is an effective way to cleanse the entire system of fungal growth. Many people with fungal conditions report a complete recovery within the cleansing period.
- Digestive conditions. A coconut oil detox can help banish digestive conditions like irritable bowl syndrome (IBS) and leaky gut syndrome by restoring health and balance to the digestive system.
- Viruses. Lauric acid, which is found in abundance in coconut oil, is converted into monolaurin in the body, which has strong antiviral properties that can protect against and even destroy lipid-coated viruses like herpes and influenza.
How to Detox with Coconut Oil
A coconut oil cleanse is a very simple detoxification method that replaces regular food with coconut oil, usually for about 3-7 days. Start your day with two tablespoons of coconut oil and take 1-2 tablespoons throughout the day as necessary for up to 14 tablespoons total each day.
Take the coconut oil plain if you enjoy it that way, but those who can’t tolerate swallowing the oil straight can mix it with warm lemon water or plain organic yogurt if necessary. You can use stevia if you’d like to sweeten the lemon water or yogurt, but no sugar should be consumed during the cleanse. In his book Coconut Cures, Dr. Bruce Fife adds that you can eat up to four ounces of fresh coconut meat daily while on the detox if needed.
The best kind of coconut oil to use to detoxify is organic, raw extra virgin coconut oil. This type of oil should be completely unrefined, expeller- or cold-pressed, unbleached and not deodorized. This ensures you are getting the maximum natural benefits from your coconut oil.
If you have never taken coconut oil before, then you’ll want to let your body adjust by slowly incorporating it into your diet before trying a coconut oil detox. Start with 1/2-1 teaspoon three times per day. Gradually work your way up to 1-2 tablespoons three times daily. It may take two weeks to work up to the full amount. When you feel comfortable taking this much coconut oil, then you should be ready to start a coconut oil detox.
Some people will experience “die-off” symptoms when they begin a coconut oil detox. These symptoms are often flu-like, including headaches, joint stiffness, dizziness and foggy-thinking. It may not feel so good, but it’s a sign that your body is ridding itself of harmful toxins like fungal organisms. Die-off symptoms usually only last for 3-5 days, but you can ease them by gradually introducing coconut oil to your diet before doing a detox.
During a coconut oil detox, it’s important to drink plenty of filtered water to nourish the body and facilitate cleansing benefits. Here is a recipe for a delicious drink that can replenish you during a cleanse:
1 cup pure lemon juice
6 cups filtered water
1 teaspoon sea salt
The lemon juice has cleansing properties, and the sea salt replaces minerals that may be lost during a cleanse. Add stevia for a sweeter taste, but do not sweeten with any kind of sugar.
Remember, if you have medical conditions or if you are on prescription medications, it’s important to talk with your physician before trying a coconut oil cleanse.
For More Information:
http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/coconut_oil.html
http://www.healingnaturallybybee.com/articles/detox.php#s3
Fife. Bruce. Coconut Cures. (2004) Piccadilly Books.
About the author
Elizabeth Walling is a freelance writer, specializing in articles about health and family nutrition. She is a strong believer in natural living as a way to improve health and prevent common illnesses.
When you care about health and the environment, it’s only natural that you’d want to grow your own organic vegetables in your backyard. Alas, many people simply do not have the time or the knowledge to nurture a garden of their own. City-dwellers lack the land even if they do have the time and desire. Fortunately, there are other options that will save you from spending all of your precious free time studying, digging and weeding.
The first option is outsourcing the whole project. That’s just a fancy way of saying get someone or a company that knows what they’re doing to do the work of planning, planting and cultivating, for you.
Gardeners for hire can be found in most areas. These days you will usually be able to hire a company or small business rather than a single person, but this has its advantages in terms of reliability. It may be more difficult to find someone who is a specialist in organic gardening, and specifically in growing vegetables without the use of artificial chemicals.
The cost may seem steep but consider what you are getting. Not only will you have your own home-grown vegetables with zero effort on your part, but also a well maintained garden that will be the envy of your neighbors and friends. Plus the company will usually use their own tools and supplies, so you will not have to invest in equipment.
Another option that can be found in a growing number of cities in the USA is a form of that old fashioned way of farming known as share cropping. Traditionally, a landowner would allow tenants or share croppers to grow produce on his land, taking a share of the crop instead of charging rent in dollars.
In its modern form this can work in a number of ways. The simplest is that a small business will work the garden land of many householders in an area. The resulting organic fruit and vegetables are shared between the owners of the gardens and the gardening company. The company will usually sell their share to local health food stores or through an organic food delivery plan.
The advantage of this over hiring a gardener is that there will probably be no cost. One possible disadvantage is that the company will want to grow certain things that they know they can sell, which may not be what you would most like to have in your garden. However, you should be able to negotiate on this and create an agreement.
In some cases, such as the MyFarm service in San Francisco, the company may charge a fee to work as your gardener but offer the option of a much lower fee if you allow them to take a share of the crop.
Either way this kind of cooperative system can be a great service for anybody who does not want to pay per hour to have their garden cultivated. At this time it is limited to a few cities, mostly in California or the north western states, but you may be able to persuade a local organic farmer or gardener to take on the land in your garden on a share cropping basis. Or, if you’re already an accomplished organic gardener, consider starting this service in your area.
Try asking local health food stores and delivery companies for details of their organic fruit and vegetable suppliers. These people are often working small areas of rented land and may be delighted to share crop your garden so that you can grow organic vegetables without having to do any gardening yourself.
I just received this message, and am posting it here because I think it’s a fantastic development. From the announcement for this webinar, it states “It is therefore predicted that many manufacturers will remove synthetic colours, and switch to natural alternatives.”
That’s a good thing.
OFM
Natural Colours: Let Overseal Make your Future Vibrant, Naturally
Summary:
Since the publication of the Southampton study in the Lancet in September 2007, the issue of synthetic colours and the possible link to hyperactivity in children has remained in the global media spotlight.
Certain authorities have tried to either restrict or even ban synthetic colours. For example The European Parliament, has voted that products containing the six synthetic colours in question should carry a warning label by June 2010.
It is therefore predicted that many manufacturers will remove synthetic colours, and switch to natural alternatives.
Join our webinar, hosted by our technical colour experts, to hear all about the properties and technical capabilities of natural colours, how they differ from synthetics and how Overseal can assist in removing synthetic colours from your food and beverage applications.
Company: Overseal Natural Ingredients Ltd.
Speaker(s): Mr Martyn Lock, Product Manager
Date: 9th July 2009
Time: 17:00 CET
Duration: 60 mn
Format: Live Event
This is the first in a series of posts I’ll be doing on organic gardening.
Large numbers of people have been seeing the benefits of organic gardening in their lives over the last few decades. It is a way of cultivating plants that does not use artificial chemicals that may damage the planet, kill wildlife and possible injure the health of people who eat the produce that is grown with the aid of these pesticides and weed killers.
It’s too early to tell what the effects of mass chemically treated agriculture and genetically modified crops will be, either on consumers or on the earth. They simply have not been around long enough for anybody to be sure. In the face of this uncertainty, more and more people are turning to organically grown fruit and vegetables and meat sources that have been grown on organic land.
Organic gardening and agriculture is not new. In fact, if you go back beyond the last 60 years or so, everything was grown organically because laboratory-produced pesticides and fertilizers simply did not exist.
We tend to think of organic food as a modern trend, but it is not at all. The word is new because there was no need for it before, that’s all. The organic way of growing things was practiced throughout history from the time that people first learnt to plant seeds until very recent times. It is the chemicals that are the modern fad.
It was the introduction of the pesticide DDT in farming in the 1950s that led to a turn in public opinion. Books like ‘Silent Spring’ by the well known natural historian Rachel Carson, published in 1962, started an environmental movement that has grown steadily in the decades since. The book’s title came from the discovery that DDT was damaging the egg shells of birds, preventing them from reproducing. At the same time, it killed many of the insects that were their food. Carson envisaged a world where there would be no more bird song.
Largely as a result of this movement, DDT is now illegal in almost all countries. However, many other pesticides are available both to farmers and to us as gardeners, and we cannot know what the long term effects of using them will be.
Most gardeners have a fairly small area of land to nurture, and there is no need to use chemical sprays on our home grown flowers and vegetables. If our tomato crop fails one year, we will not starve. If our honeysuckle becomes diseased, perhaps it is time to replace it with another climbing plant. If our roses are home to more insects than we would like, we can wash them off or encourage their natural predators to inhabit our garden too.
There may be more benefits of organic gardening than we currently know. Isn’t it better not to take a chance with our land, our lives and our children’s health?
Click here to learn about The World’s Best Compost so you can feed your garden plants as nature intended.
