Butternut Squash Is Good For…

Eating as a side dish cubed or mashed, as a soup, as an addition to baked goods, as a stuffed main dish. Try mixing butternut squash with other vegetables, grains, pasta, or quinoa.

Nutrition Composition of Butternut Squash

Butternut squash is high in fiber, phytonutrients, antioxidants, carotenoids (especially beta-carotene), vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B6, folate, potassium, magnesium, and manganese.

Nutrition Facts for 1 Cup

Natural Remedies and Prevention with Butternut Squash

The high fiber content if butternut squash is a prebiotic that supports healthy bacteria in the gut and promotes regularity. High fiber helps to manage blood sugar, reduce inflammation and diseases associated with inflammation (cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity), and increased immune function. Beta-carotene, that the body turns into vitamin A, helps prevent colon cancer and asthma and helps maintain healthy eyes, hair, and skin, as it boosts immunity along with vitamin C. Its potassium content helps maintain a healthy blood pressure and overall health.

Things You Didn’t Know About Fruit

Technically, butternut squash is a fruit as its seeds are inside. This is true of all members of the gourd family, which includes winter squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, and melons. Butternut squash is the most widely grown winter squash in the United States.

How to Store Butternut Squash So It Lasts Longer

Do not store whole butternut squash in the refrigerator. Store in a cool, dry, place for 1-3 months.

How to Pick Good Fruit

Choose firm, unblemished squash with a matte finish. Avoid shiny skin; it is a sign that it was picked too early.

Recipes

Squash Ginger Soup from Healing the Body

 Ingredients:

• 1-2 tbsp organic extra virgin coconut oil
• 1 acorn or butternut squash, skinned and chopped
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 2 celery sticks, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• Large piece of ginger root (3 inches long)
• Water to cover
• Sea salt to taste

Directions:

In a large pot…

• Sauté carrots, onions, celery, and garlic in coconut oil
• Add squash and ginger
• Cover with water
• Simmer for 30 minutes
• Puree and adjust water to desired consistency
• Add sea salt and simmer for 10 more minutes

Or try this Curried Butternut Squash Soup from Healing the Body.

Further Reading:

Sources:

Power Foods: Butternut Squash – Whole Living

What Are the Health Benefits of Butternut Squash? – Medical News Today

(Dr. Mercola) Low-fat recommendations have led to a dramatic increase in sugar consumption, and excess sugar is a primary dietary factor in countless chronic disease states, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s.

By removing fat and adding sugar, the processed food industry has created a smorgasbord of made-to-order disease. The sugar, processed food, and beverage industries have been extremely reluctant to admit the health hazards associated with their sugar-laden products.

On the contrary, large sums of money have been spent, and scientific integrity has been tossed by the wayside, in order to convince you that sugar is fine, and if you have a weight problem, it’s because you’re not active enough.

To counter the propaganda provided by profit-driven industry interests, dozens of scientists at three American universities have created a new educational website called SugarScience.org,1 aimed at making independent research available to the public.

Sugar by Any Other Name Is Still Sugar…

The researchers point out that many are unaware of just how much sugar they’re consuming, as it’s oftentimes hidden under other less familiar names, such as dextrose, maltose, galactose, and maltodextrin.

According to SugarScience.org, added sugars hide in 74 percent of processed foods under more than 60 different names! For a full list, please see SugarScience.org’s “Hidden in Plain Sight” page.2

Mislead by shrewd advertisers, many are also still unaware of how too much sugar can disrupt your health and well-being. As reported by the New York Times:3

“The scientists who started SugarScience.org say they have reviewed 8,000 independent clinical research articles on sugar and its role in metabolic conditions that are some of the leading killers of Americans, like heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and liver disease.

The link between sugar and chronic disease has attracted increasing scientific scrutiny in recent years. But many studies have provided conflicting conclusions, and experts say part of the reason is that biased studies have clouded the debate.”

Have You Been Mislead by Biased Science?

A report published in PLOS Medicine in December 2013 looked at how financial interests influence outcomes in trials aimed to determine the relationship between sugar consumption and obesity.4

The report concluded that industry-funded studies end up reaching very different conclusions compared to those done by independent researchers… In all, studies that had financial ties to industry were five times more likely to present a conclusion of “no positive association” between sugar and obesity.

One of the researchers involved in the creation of SugarScience.org is Dr. Robert Lustig, a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at UC San Francisco.

He’s been on the forefront of the movement to educate people about the health hazards of sugar (and fructose in particular), for a number of years now. He believes the new website will help empower consumers by providing objective data. Dr. Lustig told the New York Times:

“The goal of this is to provide just the unbiased science in a way that the public can come to its own conclusions.”

How Much Sugar Is Too Much?

The American Heart Association and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend limiting your daily added sugar intake to nine teaspoons (38 grams) for men, and six teaspoons (25 grams) for women. The limits for children range from three to six teaspoons (12 – 25 grams) per day, depending on age.

Four grams of sugar is equivalent to about one teaspoon, and I strongly recommend limiting your daily fructose intake to 25 grams or less from all sources, including natural sources such as fruit—regardless of whether you’re male or female. That equates to just over six teaspoons of total sugar a day.

If you’re among the 80 percent who have insulin or leptin resistance (overweight, diabetic, have high blood pressure, or taking a statin drug), you’d be wise to restrict your total fructose consumption to as little as 15 grams per day until you’ve normalized your insulin and leptin levels.

The average American consumes around 20 teaspoons of added sugar a day, which is more than three times the recommended amount. There’s simply no doubt that this overconsumption of sugar is fueling the obesity and chronic disease epidemics we’re currently struggling with.

We’re now seeing obesity in infants, strokes in eight-year olds, heart attacks in 20-year olds, and some 30-year olds require renal dialysis to stay alive. Teens are now getting gastric bypass surgeries. What used to be called “adult onset diabetes” is now more often called “type 2 diabetes,” as it is no longer reserved for adults. What is wrong with this picture? It’s the food. 

Instead of eating whole foods—real foods—the contemporary American diet typically consists mostly of sugar, highly processed grains, and a montage of chemicals that are anything but food. Children are surrounded by these fake foods every day, which have a very different effect on their bodies than real food.

The Processed versus Whole Food Experiment: A Visual Demonstration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi_DaJKsCLo
The video above features Stefani Bardin, who collaborated on a study to investigate how your body processes different kinds of foods. Stefani and her Harvard University collaborator swallowed an M2A capsule—a pill-sized recording device capable of recording eight hours’ worth of video as it travels through the intestinal tract. Another pill-sized device measured pressure, pH, and body temperature as it moved through the body. Two types of meals were investigated:

• Processed food meal: blue Gatorade, Ramen Chicken Noodle soup, and some Gummi Bears
• Whole food meal: Hibiscus drink, homemade chicken stock with handmade noodles, pomegranate/cherry juice Gummi Bears

The footage offers an interesting view of what really goes on in your gut when you eat processed food. One of the most obvious differences is that the processed fare takes FAR longer to break down. Processed foods are also loaded with sugars, trans fat, sodium, and various concoctions of chemicals that do not exist in nature—all of which can rapidly contribute to high blood pressure and deterioration of cardiovascular health, weight gain, and a slew of other symptoms.

Even ‘Health Foods’ Can Contain Shocking Amounts of Sugar

Getting back to the issue of sugar, exceeding the recommended daily amount is far easier than you might think. For example, just one 12-ounce can of regular soda may contain as much as 11 teaspoons of sugar.5 Even foods that are typically considered “healthy” can contain shocking amounts of added sugar, typically in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Fruit flavored yogurt, for example, can contain upwards of 19 grams of sugar; 12 grams of which is added sugar. For someone with insulin/leptin resistance, this alone will put you over your daily recommended limit for total sugar.

One problem with processed food is that when you look at the label, you have no way of knowing how much of the sugar is natural to the food itself, versus the sugar that was added. According to Dr. Lustig, it’s important to distinguish between natural food-based sugars versus added sugar, because clinical trials have shown that consuming HFCS can increase your risk factors for cardiovascular disease within as little as two weeks.

Food-based sugars are far less hazardous. Lactose, for example, which is a natural sugar found in dairy, does not cause any major harm, according to Dr. Lustig. Still, I believe that if you are insulin/leptin resistant, then limiting ALL forms of sugar, including natural food-based sugars, such as lactose, is advisable, until your insulin/leptin resistance has been resolved.

Your Body Can Only Handle a Limited Amount of Sugar

The main problem with sugar, and processed fructose in particular, is the fact that your liver has a very limited capacity to metabolize it. According to Dr. Lustig, you can safely metabolize about six teaspoons of added sugar per day. As mentioned, the average American consumes 20 teaspoons of added sugar a day.6 All that excess sugar is metabolized into body fat, and leads to all of the chronic metabolic diseases we struggle with, including but not limited to:

• Type 2 diabetes
• Cardiovascular disease
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
• Dementia
• Cancer

According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)7 earlier this year, 10 percent of Americans consumed 25 percent or more of their daily calories in the form of added sugars. Most adults (71.4 percent) consumed got at least 10 percent of their daily calories from added sugar. The ramifications of this are significant. In this study, people who consumed 21 percent or more of their daily calories in the form of sugar were TWICE as likely to die from heart disease compared to those who got seven percent or less or their daily calories from added sugar. The risk was nearly TRIPLED among those who consumed 25 percent or more of their daily calories from added sugar. That means at least 10 percent of the US adult population are in this tripled-risk category…

Tips for Reducing Your Added Sugar Intake

The easiest way to dramatically cut down on your sugar and fructose consumption is to switch to a diet of whole, unprocessed foods, as most of the added sugar you end up with comes from processed fare; not from adding a teaspoon of sugar to your tea or coffee. Other ways to cut down on the sugar in your diet includes:

• Cutting back on the amount of sugar you personally add to your food and drink
• Using Stevia or Luo Han instead of sugar and/or artificial sweeteners. You can learn more about the best and worst of sugar substitutes in my previous article, “Sugar Substitutes—What’s Safe and What’s Not”
• Using fresh fruit in lieu of canned fruit or sugar for meals or recipes calling for a bit of sweetness
• Using spices instead of sugar to add flavor to your meal

Are You Ready to Take Control of Your Health?

Research coming out of some of America’s most respected institutions now confirms that sugar is a primary dietary factor driving chronic disease development. So far, scientific studies have linked excessive fructose consumption to about 78 different diseases and health problems,8 including heart disease and cancer. Having this information puts you in the driver’s seat when it comes to prevention.

As a general rule, a diet that promotes health is high in healthful fats and very, very low in sugar and non-vegetable carbohydrates, along with a moderate amount of high-quality protein. For more specifics, please review my free optimized nutrition plan, which also includes exercise recommendations, starting at the beginner’s level and going all the way up to advanced. Organic foods are generally preferable, as this also cuts down on your pesticide and GMO exposure. Many grocery stores now stock a fair amount of organic foods. The following organizations can also help you locate whole foods fresh from your local farm:

• Local Harvest — This Web site will help you find farmers’ markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies.
• Eat Wild: With more than 1,400 pasture-based farms, Eat Wild’s Directory of Farms is one of the most comprehensive sources for grass-fed meat and dairy products in the United States and Canada.
• Farmers’ Markets — A national listing of farmers’ markets.
• Eat Well Guide: Wholesome Food from Healthy Animals — The Eat Well Guide is a free online directory of sustainably raised meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs from farms, stores, restaurants, inns, and hotels, and online outlets in the United States and Canada.
• FoodRoutes — The FoodRoutes “Find Good Food” map can help you connect with local farmers to find the freshest, tastiest food possible. On their interactive map, you can find a listing for local farmers, CSAs, and markets near you.

Last but not least, a number of substances in processed food (including sugar) are highly addictive, so if you need help to break free, you may want to consider using a tool such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). A version of EFT specifically geared toward combating sugar cravings is called Turbo Tapping. For further instructions, please see the article, “Turbo Tapping: How to Get Rid of Your Soda Addiction.” The video below with EFT practitioner Julie Schiffman also demonstrates how to use EFT to fight food cravings of all kinds.

(NaturalNews – Dr. David Jockers) Life on Earth is a stressful endeavor for all living things. This stress provides an adaptive stimulus for plant and animal life to become stronger and more resilient. Certain herbs have adapted over centuries to have incredible immune-enhancing properties. Garlic, oregano and ginger are a few powerful immune-enhancing herbs.

All life in nature must protect itself continually from the elements and environmental stressors. This includes dramatic shifts in weather, microorganisms, UV light, etc. Herbs and plants have adapted with powerful antimicrobial and antioxidant capabilities to give them a survival advantage. When we consume these herbs, we benefit from the immune-enhancing adaptations.

Garlic:

Garlic is a pungent herb and one of nature’s natural antibiotics. Due to the powerful sulfur-containing nutrients and immune stimulators within garlic, it is classified as a superfood herb. Consumption of garlic daily may be one of the best defenses against infection and inflammatory-based disease.

Garlic contains over 100 biologically active components including alliin, allicin, alliinase and unique sulfur compounds. When garlic is crushed or chewed, it forces the allin and allinase enzyme together and causes a chemical reaction to produce allicin.

Allicin and sulfur-based compounds act as powerful antibiotic, antiviral and antifungal agents that have an incredible immune-stimulating effect.⁽¹⁾ Additionally, garlic is also used to lower blood pressure, cholesterol, and help prevent/reverse cancer.^{(2, 3)}

Researchers have found garlic to be more powerful at destroying pathogenic bacteria than the popular antibiotics penicillin and tetracycline. It is also very effective against viruses and yeasts like Candida. Garlic is also very potent at destroying tumor cells in the stomach, colon, breast and prostate among other regions.⁽⁴⁾ The sulfur compounds are also effective at detoxifying heavy metals such as mercury, lead and aluminum.⁽⁵⁾

Oregano:

Oregano oil is an extraordinarily powerful natural antibiotic. Oregano has been found in a recent study to be significantly better than all of the 18 currently used antibiotics in the treatment of MRSA staph infections.⁽⁶⁾ The strong phenol antioxidants destroy pathogenic bacteria, viruses and yeasts.

The USDA ranks oregano’s antioxidant capacity anywhere from 3 to 20 times higher than any other herb. Oregano has four times the antioxidant power of blueberries, 12 times that of oranges and 42 times greater than apples.

Oregano oil has been classically used as a disinfectant, an aid for ear, nose and throat/respiratory infections, candidiasis and any sort of bacterial or viral condition. Additionally, it works to suppress inflammatory mediators and cancer cell production.⁽⁷⁾ Oregano oil is more potent than the dried herb; however, the dried version still contains many powerful health benefits.

Studies have shown that carvacrol, a phenol antioxidant within oregano, has powerful anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activity when applied to food or taken in supplement form. Oregano also contains rosmarinic acid which has very strong cancer-fighting properties.

Ginger:

This incredible superfood herb is 13th on the antioxidant list. Ginger is composed of several volatile oils that give it its characteristic flavor and odor: zingerone, shogaols and gingerols. These oils are powerful antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, antiparasitic agents. In addition, it inhibits cancer cell formation while firing up our body’s own inborn ability to destroy the cancer cells formerly present.⁽⁸⁾

Ginger is classified as a carminative (reducing intestinal gas) and an intestinal spasmolytic (soothes intestinal tract) while inducing gut motility. Ginger is known to reduce fever-related nausea, motion sickness and feelings of “morning sickness.” Additionally, it helps aid in the production of bile, making it particularly helpful in digesting fats.⁽⁹⁾

Ginger is also an important part of a de-inflaming, natural pain-relief program. One compound called 6-gingerol has been shown to significantly inhibit the production of a highly reactive nitrogen molecule, nitric oxide, that quickly forms a dangerous free radical peroxynitrite. Additionally, ginger helps protect the body’s stores of glutathione, which is a potent antioxidant and free radical destroyer.⁽¹⁰⁾

Sources:
1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
2) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
3) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
4) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
5) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
6) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
7) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
8) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
9) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
10) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
http://truthwiki.org/garlic
http://truthwiki.org/oregano
http://truthwiki.org/ginger

(Cornucopia – CivilEats – by Andy Bellatti) When it comes to nutrition and public health, the U.S. can learn a lot from Latin America. Over the past year, Mexico, Brazil, and several other countries in South and Central America have passed some very progressive policies, often placing public health interests above those of the food industry. This is particularly impressive given the expensive politicking the food industry has engaged in in Latin America against public health policies. Here are five recent efforts we should all be watching:

1. Bold Dietary Guidelines in Brazil

Earlier this year, Brazil broke new ground by releasing ten draft dietary guidelines which warned against processed foods and even addressed deceptive marketing by the food industry. This week, the nation released its final version.

The guidelines are, of course, written in Portuguese, but New York University professor Dr. Marion Nestle translated them into English.

Some examples of the succinct, yet powerful, messaging? “Limit consumption of ready-to-eat food and drinks,” “avoid fast food chains,” and “be critical of the commercial advertisement of food products.”

Our dietary guidelines are apolitical, vague, and meek, by comparison. They read: “Prevent and/or reduce overweight and obesity through improved eating and physical activity behaviors,” “maintain appropriate calorie balance during each stage of life – childhood, adolescence, adulthood, pregnancy and breastfeeding, and older age,” “increase vegetable and fruit intake.” Let’s hope next year’s update takes some cues from Brazil.

Read more about Brazil’s new guidelines in this story we ran in March, shortly after they were announced.

2. Fruit Vending Machines in Argentina

Earlier this month, Buenos Aires mayor Mauricio Macri announced that fruit vending machines will soon be installed at the 35 wellness centers that have opened throughout the country’s capital since June of 2012. These wellness centers–located in various parks and train stations–have doctors, nurses and nutritionists on staff, and provide people with a chance to have their weight, height, blood pressure, and blood sugar checked at no cost. Free nutrition counseling is also available, and some offer free yoga classes and walking groups. As of January 2014, half a million Buenos Aires residents took advantage of this public service.

And, soon enough, they’ll also be able to buy a piece of fruit on their way out, if they so choose. It sure is nice to see real food offered, as opposed to “healthwashed” processed offerings like baked chips, cookies with a dusting of whole grains, and diet sodas.

3. Front-of-package Warning Labels in Chile

Much to the disappointment of many large food producers, Chile has a new front-of-package labeling system that specifically points out what food and beverage products surpass government-established limits for calories, sugar, sodium, and saturated fat (via this black “excess of…” label on the front of packages).

What’s more, any product that is too high in any of those categories may not be sold in schools, and it is forbidden to target ads for said products to children under the age of 14.

There are some valid criticisms to this approach (mainly that by focusing on very specific nutrients “of concern,” food companies can technically reformulate minimally nutritious, highly-processed products in a way that manage to meet criteria without making them truly healthy). But this is nevertheless an important effort, as it is a front-of-package labeling scheme meant to deter the purchase of certain products.

4. Traffic Light Labeling in Ecuador

This small South American country recently instituted a traffic light labeling system for packaged foods. According to the Ecuadorian newspaper El Comercio:

August 29, 2014, was the deadline for 375 large and medium-sized companies to label the amounts of salt, fat, and sugar on their processed foods’ packaging. Labeling consists of a traffic light: red for products high in these values; yellow for medium values, and green for low values.”

Smaller companies have until November 29, 2014, to meet this new requirement.

Industry has long feared traffic light labeling and battled it globally for years with very expensive lobbying campaigns (no company wants its products to carry multiple red lights), so this is certainly a win for public health. The fact that all fat is lumped together is slightly problematic–imagine baked Cheetos getting a green light, while walnuts get a red light!–but at least this means that healthwashed items like children’s cereals with added corn dust for fiber will be called out for their high sugar content.

This image shows a pack of marshmallows available at an Ecuadorian supermarket, with both the traffic light labeling system (“high in sugar,” “low in fat”) as well as a “contains GMOs” (“contiene transgenicos”) label. Ecuador is one of 64 countries that has mandatory labeling of GMOs.

5. Soda Taxes in Mexico

Although domestically we now have a soda tax in Berkeley, CA (proposition E in San Francisco received 54.5 percent of the vote but not the 66.67 percent required to pass), our neighbor to the South passed a nationwide soda tax at the beginning of this year. It was an especially meaningful victory for public health advocates considering that Mexico is the world’s top consumer of soda (on average each person drinks 43 gallons per year), and that Coca-Cola aggressively forced its classic soft drink onto the native population of Chiapas.

Even better? The soda tax has proven effective. As the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month:

A separate study conducted earlier this year by Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health measured the decline in sugary beverage consumption at 10 percent during the first three months of 2014, compared with the same period last year. That study also reported a 7 percent rise in purchases of beverages that aren’t subject to the new tax, such as plain bottled water and milk.”

When it comes to food policy, the United States should consider looking to “developing nations” for well-developed strategies.

(Natrual News) You may not think it a worthwhile endeavor to grow culinary herbs indoors, or outdoors for that matter. After all, a quick trip to most food stores will usually allow you to come back with the spices you need. But how fresh are they and have they been irradiated?

There are medicinal qualities to some culinary herbs that are best ensured by growing your own. And they don’t require much space. They can even be cultivated indoors if you lack outdoor earth space or if your area suffers severe winter weather.

All material sources for this article recommend using the kitchen or area near the kitchen where there is six hours of sufficient sunlight. But if your area gets a good deal of cold weather, don’t cultivate too close to windows. In lieu of sunshine, grow lamps can be used. Just be prepared for that SWAT team to bash your door down looking for weed (kidding, sort of).

One source advises bringing in herbal plants during cold weather that are perennial instead of annual. Perennials keep on going even outdoors when they go dormant during cold winters. Annuals have to be replanted.

If your dwelling requires heat throughout most of the winter, make sure that the area of potted herbal plants is humid. Without a humidifier, pebbles with water in a tray where your plant pot can be placed should work.

Culinary herbs with strong medicinal properties and health benefits

Cilantro (coriander) grows rapidly and is best started from seeds. Once harvested, cilantro does not continue growing. So it’s best to stagger three pots planted some time apart to get through winter months.

Cilantro offers remedies for many maladies that can be found here. Even more importantly, cilantro has been discovered to actually remove heavy metals from organ tissues. These heavy metals include three of the most harmful: lead, mercury and aluminum.

By using cilantro for pestos, soups and sauces or simply constantly garnishing many cooked foods, you would be undergoing constant heavy metal chelation. Not a bad idea in our heavily contaminated heavy metal environment.

Cilantro’s chelation properties were discovered intentionally and incidentally through several studies over the past few years. Combining chlorella with cilantro boosts heavy metal, especially mercury, chelation.

Rosemary is a perennial that does well in drier air, but the soil should never dry out. There are two basic types, upright and trailing. Obviously, uprights would be more appropriate for kitchen cultivating.

Rosemary has been proven by two separate studies in Spain to help ward off radiation damage from even ionizing radiation, which is the more dangerous type of radiation from atomic energy, radon and medical equipment such as mammograms, X-rays and CT scans. Airport scanners also emit ionizing radiation, which is capable of removing electrons from atoms, thus instantly damaging cells and DNA.

Other sources of radiation that are common to everyday life are Wi-Fi, cell phones and cell phone towers, all of which excite electrons in atoms enough to put them into different orbits. Not as quickly damaging short-term as ionizing radiation, but ultimately damaging with chronic exposure over time.

Using rosemary often can help reduce the effects of radiation from everyday living and even ionizing radiation.

Other herbs that can be easily grown indoors

Oregano, especially of the Greek variety, can keep growing for a couple of years. Harvesting leaves encourages that growth. Oregano is useful in a variety of foods, and oregano oils have powerful medicinal qualities.

Parsley has both a flat leaf and curly leaf variety. It thrives indoors. Harvesting the outer leaves encourages more plant growth. Parsley seems to be an underrated herb for health benefits. But it does have many health benefits.

Thyme, dill, mint and sage can also be grown indoors.

Further Reading:

• Planning Your Organic Garden
• DIY Solutions for the Garden
• How to Start a Vegetable Garden – How to Grow Vegetables
• 5 Natural Pest Remedies for Your Garden
• Ten Great Gardening Tips
• How to Make Your Own Compost Tea

Sources:

• http://www.pressherald.com
• http://www.ifis.org
• http://nourishedkitchen.com
• http://www.naturalnews.com
• http://www.naturalnews.com
• http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu
• http://science.naturalnews.com

Green tea is one of the natural foods that can increase fat loss. The Chinese have known for centuries about the many benefits of green tea, using it to treat headaches, body aches, and poor digestion. The Chinese also revere green tea for its ability to improve well-being and life expectancy. Now the rest of the world is finally catching up and starting to drink their own healthy dose of green tea.

Research has shown that green tea has a combination of natural caffeine and phytochemical antioxidants called catechins. Both of these substances are incredibly effective at promoting fat loss.

Green tea also contains volatile oils, vitamins, and minerals. The primary elements of interest are the polyphenols, especially the catechin known as EGCG. The polyphenols are believed to be responsible for most of green tea’s health benefits.

Even though green tea contains caffeine, it does not significantly change your heart rate or blood pressure. This is why it is considered to be a safe weight loss supplement. On the contrary, many of the fat burners that you see advertised contain products like ephedra, which can raise heart rates and blood pressure.

Green tea also revs up your metabolism. A study conducted in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that green tea extract significantly increased metabolism.

In fact, this study also concluded that over a 24-hour period, green tea extract increased the metabolic rate by 4%. This is probably due to the high concentrations of catechin polyphenols found in green tea.

How Much Green Tea do You Need?

Experts vary in their opinion, but the general consensus seems to be that 3 – 5 cups of green tea per day is optimal. Drinking this amount  can help you burn an extra 70 calories per day, which equals  7 pounds per year.

If 3 – 5 cups is just a little too much for you, you may want to consider green tea extract or green tea pills.

However, the benefits go beyond fat loss. When studied closely, this ancient Japanese brew provides so much more.

The Many Benefits of Green Tea:

There is also evidence that chemicals in tea help to protect lean muscle tissue and stabilize blood sugar levels. Green tea also boosts your immune system, kills dangerous bacteria, and a whole lot more.

Drinking 2 cups of strong green tea half an hour before your workouts will boost your energy and promote fat-burning, muscle-saving, and health promoting benefits.

Let’s also not forget the loads of antioxidants that are packed into green tea. In fact, green tea contains more antioxidants than broccolli. These antioxidants include polyphenols, flavonoids, and catechins. These powerful nutrients support your body’s immune system and help to eliminate harmful toxins from your body and make you more relaxed, which is helpful if you have to deal with stress.

In fact, these antioxidants are so powerful that much research is showing that it may help to prevent cancer. The PubMed database now contains over 2,000 studies on green tea. EGCG is believed to play a large role in the green tea’s anticancer and antioxidant effects. EGCG inhibits the growth of cancer cells and kills cancers cells without harming healthy tissue.

Green tea’s anticancer benefits have been widely supported by epidemiological, cell culture, animal and clinical studies. In fact, green tea’s aid in cancer prevention is so overwhelming that the Chemoprevention Branch of the National Cancer Institute has created a plan for developing tea compounds as cancer-chemopreventitive agents in human trials.

This same EGCG protects against digestive and respiratory infections and blocks the actions of carcinogens which promote cancer. EGCG also helps lower cholesterol levels. This antioxidant is over 200 times more potent than Vitamin E in fighting free radicals and pro-oxidants.

However, the health benefits don’t stop there. Green tea also reduces the risk of atherosclerosis, colon cancer, high cholesterol, bacterial and viral infections, cardiovascular disesase, stroke, periodontal disease, osteoporosis, and leukoplakia.

Green tea’s rich supply of polyphenols has also been shown to protect against heart disease.

In Japanese studies, green tea consumption has been found to help protect against coronary artery disease. In one study, those who drank 5 or more cups of green tea each day were found to be 16% less likely to suffer from coronary artery disease.

Researchers concluded that, “The more green tea patients consume, the less likely they are to have coronary artery disease.”

Best of all, green tea is a great alternative to your morning coffee. It doesn’t give you an insulin crash like soda and its not hard on your stomach like coffee.

I challenge you to replace soda, coffee, or any other sugar filled beverage with green tea. I guarantee you you’ll start to see positive changes within days.

(NaturalNews – Dr. David Jockers) The food we eat provides the raw materials for healthy cells in our body. Children need high quality nutrition to function and perform at their peak. Our society trains children to devalue the importance of high quality food choices. Raising healthy children takes determination and great meal planning on the part of the parents.

Most government provided school lunches are packed full of toxic genetically modified, highly processed foods that offer no real nutritional content other than calories. Micronutrients and antioxidants are never considered in designing these meal plans. Additionally, our society has bought into the idea that it is acceptable for children to eat junk food at parties and events.

To raise a healthy family in the 21st century, you must be different. 90 percent of what we are sold as healthy food for kids is not good. Whole grains and pasteurized dairy are used in abundance as healthy parts of a daily diet. Unfortunately, gluten containing grains and pasteurized dairy are inflammatory foods that are linked with digestive problems, allergies, concentration challenges and much more.

Breakfast

Ideal breakfast foods for children include low-glycemic foods that have good fats and clean proteins to keep stable blood sugar. Berries are a great addition as they are loaded with anti-oxidants and are low-glycemic so they help maintain a healthy blood sugar level. Berries are thin skinned and sprayed heavily with pesticide in conventional practices so it is important to get these organic.

Great fats for kids include coconut products, avocados, and extra virgin olive oil. Nuts and seeds are great but ideally, they should be raw, soaked and sprouted. The best seeds include hemp, flax, pumpkin, sesame, black sesame and sunflower. All nuts are great except for peanuts which often contain fungal toxins and are highly allergenic and inflammatory.

Great protein foods include 100 percent grass-fed beef products, 100 percent grass-fed raw cheese products, organic eggs, organic poultry, wild fish from clean waters and wild game from cleaner parts of the country.

The best way to begin the day is high-quality liquid nutrition. Making a shake with frozen, organic blueberries, cinnamon, organic almond or coconut milk, extra virgin coconut oil for more good fats and a non-denatured grass-fed whey protein is fantastic. One could also substitute organic, raw eggs or a sprouted hemp, pea and brown rice based protein.

Lunch

Lunch should consist of soaked and sprouted nuts and seeds. Granola, crackers and cookies can be made out of soaked and sprouted nuts and seeds and flavored with low-glycemic sweeteners like stevia and coconut nectar. At home, a stevia sweetened chocolate avocado mousse is a great treat that contains no sugar and lots of good fats and anti-oxidants.

Snacks

Great snack foods include raw veggies like carrots, celery, cucumbers, red cabbage and bell peppers. Almond butter, guacamole and hummus can be used for dips for these veggies. Also, raw nuts, coconut flakes, dried berries and cacao nibs can be combined to make a great anti-oxidant trail mix.

Dinner

Dinners should be designed around high quality animal protein and double veggies. This could be grass-fed beef, lamb, bison, organic chicken, turkey, duck, eggs, wild game, wild fish, etc. Steamed or sauteed veggies along with a baby spinach salad is great. Make a dressing with fresh squeezed lemon, dried herbs and extra virgin olive oil.

Starches that are okay to use include brown rice, quinoa, sweet potatoes, yams and sprouted grain breads. Sweet potato fries can be made with sliced sweet potatoes grilled with coconut oil on a stainless steel pan. A mashed potato alternative can be made out of steamed cauliflower or sweet potato.

Sources for this article include:
http://www.healthychildren.org
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://www.naturalnews.com/033375_cognitive_function_foods.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/032275_ADHD_natural_remedies.html