Healthy Cooking Methods

How healthy are the various cooking methods? The answer depends on what you cook and how you cook it. If your idea of a healthy main course is blackened fish, crispy fried chicken, or caramelized ribs, you’ve probably never heard of advanced Glycated End Products (also known as advanced glycated end products).

Advanced glycated end products, which were discovered by Louis Maillard in 1912, are a class of chemical byproducts that result from the combination of protein and sugar (usually glucose) when food is cooked by excessive heat.1

Advanced glycated end products can also be formed by the body when too much refined sugar is eaten and elevated blood sugar levels are maintained for too long a time. And food manufacturers intentionally increase the number of advanced glycated end products in food, either by adding sugar or by browning food elements.

Advanced glycated end products aren’t to be confused with glycoproteins, even though they share the same building blocks. A glycoprotein forms when glucose and proteins bind using the normal digestive enzymes with which we all come equipped. This process presupposes gently cooked food and moderate sugar intake from whole fruits and vegetables and very little or no refined sugar. Glycoproteins are part of how the body feeds itself. Advanced glycated end products are something else entirely.

Humans evolved eating raw food and food cooked slowly over a small open flame. Today we cook food quickly and at high heat by flash heating, microwaving, deep-frying, and barbecuing. All of these methods form advanced glycated end products, which are difficult to metabolize and nearly indestructible.

Our immune system reacts to advanced glycated end products as foreign bodies. When our diet is inundated with advanced glycated end products, the immune system is overworked and becomes exhausted, which may lead to allergies or disease. advanced glycated end products spur the release of cytokines, which are part of the inflammatory process. Cytokines collect in the joints of people with arthritis. Another interesting fact about advanced glycated end products and inflammation is that free radical production is nearly five times greater with glycated protein compared to regular protein.4

Not all cooking methods are created equal. Studies have shown that boiling, steaming, or any method involving water tends to greatly limit the number of advanced glycated end products that form. Turning down the heat and extending the cooking time can also create fewer advanced glycated end products than other methods.

There are two different temperature ranges to be aware of: the heat labile point around 245° F and the much lower advanced glycated end products threshold between 120° F and 180° F. The heat labile point applies to fats and proteins that change chemically without the presence of sugar and has similar health risk as the advanced glycated end products discussed here.

How to Avoid Advanced Glycated End Products

• Turn down the heat and extend the cooking time
• Stop eating sugar (The average American eats 140 pounds of sugar per year.3)
• Cook with water (boil, steam and poach)
• Avoid processed foods which are likely to have sugar or browned food elements
• Drink green tea (Recent studies have shown that green tea help remove advanced glycated end products from your body.4)

The following is a small sample of diseases and conditions that can be helped by limiting advanced glycated end products either by changing how we cook or cutting out the sugar:

• Inflammation
• Aging
• Diabetes
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Macular Degeneration
• Hypertension
• Arthritis
• Kidney Disease

This list is not inclusive, but is just enough for all of us to be mindful that how we cook our food is at least as important as what foods we eat.

Eating raw can help a person be healthier, but it can be a hard choice. In some cases, cooking is necessary for economic reasons like extending the shelf life of food. For example, cooking turns stale bread into toast, which tastes the same regardless of how fresh the bread was. Striking the balance between killing off pathogens in poorly stored raw food and overcooking has always been delicate. And for many people the practice of cooking is so ingrained in their culture that eating raw food is unthinkable.  So if you must cook, cook gently.

1.  “Effects of High Temperatures on Meats.” Food and Chemical Toxicology Apr 1985:23(12).
2. Mullarkey, CJ., et al. “Free Radical Generation by Early Gycation Products: A Mechanism for Acceleration of Arthogenesis in Diabetes.”

Recommended Reading:

• Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
• How to Detoxify and Heal the Lymphatic System
• Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones
• Candida, Gut Flora, Allergies, and Disease
• Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases
• Hypothyroidism – Natural Remedies, Causes, and How To Heal the Thyroid
• How to Cure Lyme Disease and Virtually Any Other Bacterial Infection, Naturally

Good food is essential to good health. A healthy diet is dense in nutrients, providing the building blocks for every metabolic process in the body, including the chemical processes involving neurotransmitters in the brain.

There are 4 types of foods that increase your risk of depression or worsen depression:

• Fast Foods—particularly fried foods
• Commercial baked goods
• Soda and other sweetened drinks
• Alcohol

Fast Foods and Trans Fats

It comes as no surprise that multiple studies have concluded there is a definite link between fast food and depression. We have known for some time that physical health suffers from the typical junk food or fast food diet. Is it any wonder that brain function would suffer as well?

Fast foods are full of trans fats that pollute the body and are known to alter the normal electrical activity in the brain.

Commercial Baked Goods

Donuts, cakes, cookies, and breads often contain trans fats. But trans fats aren’t the only culprit with a strong correlation to depression in the typical junk food/processed food diet. High fructose corn syrup should be avoided as well.

High fructose corn syrup is a common ingredient in processed foods found on nearly every label. Studies are finding that there is a significant percentage of the population that suffers from carbohydrate malabsorption. For women, a combination of fructose malabsorption and lactose malabsorption results in a high correlation of depression due to decreased levels of tryptophan.

Sodas

Sodas and other sweetened drinks (check out the label on that cranberry or ruby red grapefruit bottle, and Gatorade) contain fructose corn syrup. (see above).

Alcohol

Alcohol is a depressant. Obviously, if you are depressed, ingesting a depressant is not a great idea. Enough said.

To decrease your risk of depression, avoid all trans fats and high fructose corn syrup and limit your alcohol intake.  Remember, what you eat directly affects how you feel, both physically and emotionally. Eat a healthy diet of 80% raw, organic vegetables and fruits.Your body and your brain will thank you.

Sources for this Article:

• http://www.procarespine.com/junk-food-may-increase-the-risk-of-depression/
• http://www.naturalnews.com/035772_fast_food_depression_nutrition.html
• http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201105/could-soda-and-sugar-be-causing-your-depression

Bonus – How to Eat Raw Eggs Safely

For decades, the need for Calcium and Magnesium for growing and maintaining a healthy body has been well established. Absorbing these nutrients isn’t so easy. Most mineral supplements come from inorganic matter that is not bioavailable. In fact, taking a calcium or a calcium magnesium supplement will often do you more harm than good.

The fact is that most supplements on the market are toxic. It doesn’t matter how many milligrams of calcium a supplement has if it causes kidney stones. And while supplementing your diet with calcium can rid the body of many common health ailments, taking the wrong kind of calcium overtaxes the body and can actually cause arthritis and many other degenerative diseases. The only inorganic Cal-Mag formula to date that I know of that benefits the human body comes from this lemon-egg recipe. All the rest are junk.

Lemon Egg Recipe – the best organic calcium supplementation

1. Carefully place whole, clean, uncooked, uncracked, organic eggs in a clean wide-mouth jar or glass container. How many eggs is up to you, but the lemon juice needs to cover the eggs.
2. Cover the eggs with freshly squeezed organic lemon juice (concentrated lemon juice is pasteurized and should never be used as a substitute).
3. Cover the jar loosely and place it in the refrigerator. A few times during the day, gently – very gently – agitate the liquid in the jar. As the Calcium from the shells is leached by the lemon juice, bubbles will appear around the eggs.
4. Approximately 44 to 48 hours later, when the bubbling has stopped, carefully remove the eggs from the jar, being sure not to break the egg membranes. Replace the lid tightly on the jar containing the liquid and shake the mixture. You now have “Lemon Egg”. I love to drink it straight or mix 2oz in my smoothies. It can also be used for recipes calling for lemon juice as well. If there is no more than twice as much lemon juice per egg volume I take a tablespoon to two of the lemon mixture and up to six if I don’t eat enough vegetables.

One whole medium sized eggshell yields about 750 – 800 mgs of elemental calcium plus other microelements, including but not limited to magnesium, boron, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, sulphur, silicon, zinc,  (27 elements in total). The composition of an eggshell is very similar to that of our bones and teeth.

Calcium-magnesium is not the only homemade supplement you can make. Check out our Homemade Vitamin C article.

How to Eat Raw Eggs Safely

If you’re looking for a way to eat raw eggs safely, without the risk of salmonella, this recipe can double as egg safety protocol! The lemon juice kills the salmonella leaving you with just the egg itself (like in the picture). Great for smoothies and any other recipe that calls for raw eggs.

It should be noted, we do not recommend the consumption of factory farmed eggs under any circumstances, raw or cooked. Salmonella is not an issue in healthy eggs produced by healthy, trulycage-freee, organic chickens.

Alternatively, instead of discarding shells after cooking eggs, as long as the shells weren’t cooked (no boiled egg shells for this), you can put those in lemon juice as well (thank you AeRhee Lee at Healing Foods to Go).

Recommended Supplements:

• Total Nutrition Formula

Further Reading:

• Bullet Proof Your Immune System
• Total Nutrition – Make your own Homemade Multivitamin and Mineral Formula
• Homemade Vitamin C

The Moondance

Although I began writing the following post with divine feminine energy in mind, I believe those of you embodying divine masculine energy might garner a thing or two as well…both for your partners as well as yourselves;)…

I don’t recall being “regular” during the first several years of my cycle. It could have been just an initial bodily adjustment curve or that I dabbled in birth control off and on for many years. It wasn’t entirely out of the norm for my body to skip periods altogether or for them to considerably vary in duration and/or intensity. It wasn’t until I began the practice of grounding many years later that I began to notice a connection with our moon. At first it was simply a kindred awareness. There was an innate pull to focus on her, her divine feminine energy, and how it reflected and seemed to strengthen my own. I began charting my cycles and noticed that they often mirror the moon’s rhythm. I am full as she is full…and I regularly bleed as she wanes.

The lunar cycle consists of 29 and a half days, shifting from the waxing moon of increasing light to the full moon of complete illumination, to the waning moon of decreasing light and beginning the cycle again with the waxing new moon of increasing light. It does not seem coincidental that the average length of a woman’s cycle is 29 and a half days as well, parallel to the moon’s cycle.

I have read that it was the norm for women to menstruate with the moon cycle before the addition of artificial light into our lives. Both the exposure to large amounts of artificial light as well as minimal amounts of natural light (and I’m certain a slew of other factors including the amount of pharmaceuticals and food additives that make their way into our bodies and our environment every year) create an inability to tune into the subtle cues and energetic shifts of the earth and moon. In the process of becoming disconnected with these sacred and celestial bodies, we’ve also journeyed a bit further into a disconnect, of sorts, with ourselves. Our bodies are no longer in complete sync with the harmonic structure of our surrounding elements, the rhythms of our natural world, which in part translates into a disconnect from who we innately are; our variant and unified ambitions, and our formations and routines in the interminable interim.

I’ve also read that Native American women would separate themselves from the tribe during menstruation. They cycled together in a “moon lodge” while the men and grandparents temporarily took over caring for the children and other responsibilities. During this time, women were considered even more powerful and would focus their individual and collective energy upon meditation, transformation, reflection, decision-making, and, in general, deeper truth.

For me, it also serves as an energetic source of strengthening the bond between our collective divine feminine energy. I feel very close to my girlfriends during my cycle. And (maybe not so surprisingly) I would almost prefer to be around them during this time at the entire exclusion of masculine interplay.

There’s definitely a profound energy that streams into these few days. For myself, as well as many others, it’s the energy of creativity, of reflection, of letting go, and then, of nourishing and rebuilding.

Repeatedly, during this string of 5 days, I bring my A-game to the table. Close friends joke around with me about how I accomplish more during this stretch of time than I do during all other remaining days of the month combined. It’s true. It’s almost as if I go through a mini-nesting phase each month, working overtime to get everything in order in preparation for the arrival of a both an unclear and uncertain “something.”

Side note: before nixing processed foods, I experienced cruel and compassionless cramps each month. I’ve always been conscientious regarding medications, but my drawer was reliably full with one exception to my typical “tough it out” protocol: Midol! …and lots of it. I cannot recount the times that I sent a friend or lover on Midol runs if I had even the faintest notion that I might run low mid-cycle. When I was much younger, I recall a couple of family members experiencing this variety of near-debilitating cramps, as well. Admittedly, I thought that they were over-exaggerating their experiences, that is until I spent several times, myself, curled up in the fetal position on my bed. After switching to a whole foods diet, however, all cramps- every hint of them- entirely vanished. A very welcomed outcome, and alone, worth the dietary change.

It’s not uncommon to hear women complaining about the inconvenience(s) of their cycles. However, if we shift our understanding of what menstruation is, what it symbolizes and the ways in which it connects us to others and the world around us, we can better understand and lean into this time for the gifts of growth and change that come through release, reflection, and renewal.

While I’m certain that the crone years will hold their own unique offerings and energy, I occasionally imagine that I will miss this current sacred stretch of {methodically} dancing alongside the majesty and mystery of our moon.

Make your own vitamin C at home, and make it better than any store-bought vitamin C

Vitamin C Recipe

So you may not know that almost all of the vitamin C supplement manufacturers are making their vitamin C from genetically engineered corn. What! You exclaim. How am I supposed to get enough vitamin C into my family if I don’t buy store bought supplements? Answer: You make your own! What you are about to read is something that the giant pharmaceutical companies don’t want you to see.

Even the health food stores don’t want you to know about this secret. You can make your very own vitamin C supplement that is ten times better than anything you could buy in a store at NO EXTRA COST TO YOU!

Does it have a 1,000 mg of vitamin C per dosage? Nope. Does it have the USRDA amount per dosage? Not at all. Has it been approved by the FDA?  Absolutely not!

What homemade vitamin C does have is live enzymes that allow the vitamin C to be 100% assimilated into your body.  It has its own natural source of rutin, hesperidin, and bioflavonoids. It’s easily acquired, easy to make, and even tastes good, too. It’s just orange & lemon peels.

It’s that easy. Any organic orange or lemon peels left over from the fruit you  buy will do the trick.  Save all of your peels after you eat the inside of the fruit and cut them into thin strips. Place them on a plate on your dining room table and let them dry at room temperature for a couple of days until dry and crisp. You can also dehydrate the peels with a food dehydrator and then store them for about a year in a dry container. For consumption, one idea is to break up peels into smaller pieces and mix them with your favorite tea. This makes the tea taste great, but the downside to this approach is that heat destroys the enzymes. A better option is to place the peel strips into your coffee grinder and grind them into a powder (which won’t hurt the enzymes) and use to mix with your early morning smoothie. One rounded teaspoon will supply you with more organic vitamin C complex, rutin, hesperidin, and bioflavonoids than your body needs for the day, regardless of your size. And this homemade citrus peel powder mixed in your blender with some fresh organic apple juice tastes good too.

Check out these articles if you are looking for tips to boost your immune system, or heal from chemotherapy. Also, be sure to read up on Leaky Guts and Autoimmune Diseases.

Recommended Supplements:

• Total Nutrition Formula

Further Reading:

• Total Nutrition – Make your own Homemade Multivitamin and Mineral Formula
• Homemade Calcium and Magnesium
• Things You Should Know About Garlic – DIY, Recipes, Other Tips

Medicago Sativa, Pea family

Some folks would say “alfalfa is only fit for livestock,” but you might be surprised to discover that alfalfa was cultivated for medicinal purposes long before it was grown for fodder. Alfalfa has been used for centuries to treat jaundice, arthritis, muscle problems, and kidney disorders.

The Native Americans used it to promote blood clotting and to increase energy and bone strength. Alfalfa is also a well known remedy for intestinal difficulties and for easing menopause. Alfalfa is high in protein and calcium, as well as other minerals and B vitamins.  Alfalfa also contains vitamin C, vitamin E, and vitamin K.

Alfalfa Lore

The first mention of alfalfa was found in old text written by the emperor of China in 2939 BC. It’s botanical name ‘Medicago’ appears to derive from ancient Greece, but it was the Arabs who named it alfalfa meaning “father of all foods.” It was also Arabs who first fed it to horses to make them run faster.

Alfalfa Success Story

Chainsaw Roy, a friend of mine who lives down the road, continually tells me how great alfalfa is and how it saved his life. Roy is around seventy, clean shaven with a silver ponytai,l and is of German/Cherokee decent. He is a character who makes a living carving the purple heart cedar with his Sthil Chainsaw.

When Roy was in his late sixties his knees got so bad that he could hardly walk and his doctor told him that they were going to have to put disks and steel pins in his knees. He told the doctor to take a hike because he was sure the doctor had dollar signs in his eyes. On his way home, Roy had a change of heart. After struggling with such severe pain, to the point of not wanting to live anymore, Roy decided he was going to have to fire up his chainsaw and work through the pain to pay the expensive fees for the tests and appointments. He suffered through work for quite awhile, but then the day came when a stray Navajo wandered by and took up a conversation with Roy about alfalfa’s healing powers.  Roy started eating alfalfa and swears that his condition was gone almost immediately.  Years later Roy still carves and walks like his ancestors did, without any pain from what was a serious arthritic condition.

Alfalfa Flowers

Alfalfa flowers are purple and taste good but horse experts say that alfalfa must be cut before the flowers appear because it can create colic in horses.

Prices of Alfalfa Soar

Alfalfa is generally sold by the bale and can be gotten from most feed stores and pet shops, but alfalfa prices recently skyrocketed here in New Mexico.

A bale of premium quality alfalfa generally costs around $7 or $8 dollars but crop failures in Texas caused the alfalfa in NM to cost $22.50 per bale. Horses have to eat and there are lots of horses in Texas so NM alfalfa was in high demand.  My dad, Doc, randomly bought 30 bales for $210, which is odd because we do not have much livestock to speak of -one rabbit. He had me unload this trailer load of hay into the container and suddenly we were sitting on gold.  Only a few months later, Doc’s small investment is worth $675.

Should I Eat Alfalfa by the Bale?

An entire bale is too much for a human to consume. You could eat it, but I don’t recommend it. It’s almost all GMO now. Thank you Monsanto! Scumbags!!!  It’s not good for you. It’s not good medicine.  It’s just crap. It is best to grow your own alfalfa sprouts organically.  Many people don’t know that your typical store-bought container of sprouts for sandwiches and salads are Alfalfa sprouts.

Sprouting Alfalfa

Alfalfa seeds are really easy to come by. Most health food stores sell them in bulk for sprouting. A very cheap way to grow a mess of alfalfa is to buy an ounce or two of these seeds in the Organic Bulk section and scatter them in an area of your yard that has water, maybe where the water runs off a roof or by a garden hose leak. If you live in a place where it rains regularly (daily is best), then just throw them out into your yard or garden, and let nature do the rest.

It’s also easy to grow alfalfa sprouts in a jar as well.

Alfalfa Sprouts Health Benefits

Alfalfa Sprouts are a Good Source of Protein

One serving of alfalfa sprouts provides a gram of easily digestible and easy to assimilate plant-based protein. Remember, it’s not how much protein you eat, it’s how much you properly assimilate that counts.

Alfalfa Sprouts are High in Micronutrients

Alfalfa sprouts are a great source of several micronutrients. Alfalfa sprouts are a good source of vitamin K and B vitamins including riboflavin, niacin, folate, thiamin, pantothenic acid and B6. Alfalfa is also high in vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, calcium, and other minerals.

Alfalfa Sprouts are High in Fiber

Alfalfa sprouts are an excellent source of fiber. A 33-gram serving of alfalfa sprouts provides a gram of fiber, making alfalfa a good food for people suffering from constipation and other digestive issues.

Alfalfa and Weight Loss

At only 8 calories per serving, alfalfa is an ideal choice for people who trying to lose weight. Thanks to the fiber and protein, alfalfa is filling too.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is calling for a municipal ban on the sale of sugary drinks of greater than 16 ounces

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has banned smoking in New York City as well as Trans-fats in restaurants. He had forced chain restaurants to put calorie counts on menus, and he got sugary soft drinks out of city and school vending machines.

Now, with his continued efforts to curb obesity and lower the cost of health care in New York, Bloomberg is calling for a municipal ban on the sale of sugary drinks of greater than 16 ounces.

The ban applied defines the drinks to be barred that contain more than 25 calories per 8 ounces. This does not include diet sodas.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell responding to the many critics of his extremely controversial big ban, “The idea is you tend to eat all of the food in the container. If it’s bigger, you eat more. If somebody put a smaller glass or plate or bowl in front of you, you would eat less.”

Even progressive liberal comedian-pundit John Stewart is clearly not a fan of the proposal.

The ban would outlaw the sale of sugary drinks 16 oz or more in restaurants and vending machines (including those at gas stations), but you would still be able to purchase large bottles at stores. And of course, the six pack will still be an option is well.

I have mixed emotions about this ban. Soda consumption is one of the most significant contributors of a wide range of disease.

(Image courtesy of The Daily Mail)

But personally, I would rather see our government attempt to educate people as opposed to controlling people. Most people are still unaware of not only of how much sugar is in soda, but also, how bad sugar really is for us. And I would also like to see artificially sweetened foods, including diet soda, banned. Also, as far as laws are concerned, I would much prefer restrictions placed on advertising such as those commercials that try to convince us that Sunny Delight is good for your kids, or that high fructose corn syrup is perfectly healthy “in moderation.”

What do you think of New York’s proposed ban on large sodas?