What if there was a health food that cleansed your blood, detoxified your liver, made your body more alkaline, built up your red blood cell count, contained 17 amino acids and 80 different enzymes, contained all known minerals, oxygenated your body systems, and provided a good boost of energy? Wouldn’t you want an ounce or two?

Wheatgrass juice, also called “liquid sunshine” is a superfood made up of 70% chlorophyll. It is about as close as you can come to hemoglobin, the compound in your blood that carries oxygen. It’s easy to digest (taking less than 5 minutes), and it can provide a boost of energy much more healthful than downing a can of Red Bull or any other energy drink.

Wheatgrass is unique. It builds and destroys simultaneously. It builds up your immunity and your red blood cell count, while it destroys (or neutralizes) toxins. It purifies and cleanses while strengthening and providing super-charged nutrition.

If you’re ready and raring to go on a wheatgrass juice kick, have at it, but know that you should start slowly. Wheatgrass juice can have an effect on some people almost immediately, so it is recommended that you ease into your new habit of healthy wheatgrass shots. A single ounce is plenty to get you started. Any more than that can cause you to become nauseated or give you a case of the trots (diarrhea). For the stout of heart, you can take two ounces, but work up to over a period of a couple of weeks, at least. Because of the many enzymes it contains, wheatgrass juice goes to work almost immediately, and if your system is the least bit toxic, it may do too good a job in eliminating those toxins.

One of the more noted pioneers of the use of wheatgrass juice was Anne Wigmore. Over a period of about three decades, Ann helped people recover from all types of chronic illnesses, including cancer by concentrating on regimens of raw foods and wheatgrass juice. She founded a health resort in the United States in the year 1968 called the Ann Wigmore Foundation, which was renamed the Hippocrates Health Institute after her death. While living, Ann was given the title of “the mother of living foods.”

One of the popular contemporary theories of disease is based on inflammation. Wheatgrass juice contains P4D1, a “gluco-protein” that acts like an antioxidant, reducing inflammation. There are a myriad of maladies that wheatgrass has been used to treat. Among those diseases and conditions that people have treated with wheatgrass juice are skin disorders, digestive disorders, arthritis, asthma, insomnia, kidney stones, ulcerative colitis, cancer, fatigue, allergies, diabetes, urinary tract infections, and many others.

If you’re ready for some wheatgrass, “the ultimate blood purifier,” you have the option of sprouting some of your own homegrown specimens or buying a swill of it every day at your local health food store. Wheatgrass is one of the more popular seeds for sprouting, and it is quite simple to grow on your own at home.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/IL0URJcZF8w

These days, a lot of people are doing everything they can to stay healthy. They are buying organic groceries and hitting the gym five or six times a week. Many are forsaking their cars for bicycles and using their kitchens instead of always dining out. And of course, fewer people are picking up the terribly unhealthy habit of smoking cigarettes, while more people are putting those cancer sticks down. But while all of these changes are great ways to get healthier and to  live a better, fuller, healthier life, a lot of people are missing an important component to their health: air quality.

We breathe air all day long, every day, so air quality can make a huge difference in our health. And while pollution is often misunderstood as an outdoor problem, indoor air quality matters, too. If you are experiencing frequent headaches, unusual lethargy, allergies, or sinus problems, air quality might be to blame. The good news is that there are plenty of ways you can monitor and improve the air quality in your home.

To monitor your air quality, you have two options: actively test the air or passively monitor it. Actively monitoring air quality includes cleaning air filters in heating and air conditioner systems and looking for signs of black mold or other harmful contaminants. Passive air quality monitoring involves using an air filter system that can be watched and routinely checked. The method that you choose will depend on the type of space,  what it is used for, and who is using it. Consider consulting a professional to determine what makes the most sense for your home or office space.

You probably also want to know how to improve your indoor air quality, and there is no reason to wait to make some basic improvements. Here are a few easy ways to get started.

IMPROVEMENT TIP #1 – Install or update the batteries in your air monitoring systems, including carbon monoxide and radon gas detectors. Make sure you have a monitor in all the main areas of the building or home. Don’t skimp here – the consequences can be disastrous!

IMPROVEMENT TIP #2 – Keep your home and/or office clean. There are a lot of reasons to keep a tidy home or office. Besides the fact that it will make you and your employees/co-workers more productive,  it is better for air quality. Do not allow old building materials or other items to lay around if they should be in storage or in the trash. Make sure your rugs are vacuumed and your trashcans are emptied regularly.

IMPROVEMENT TIP #3 – Replace all of your filters! No matter what the season or how long you have lived in your home, get into the habit of regularly changing your air filters. You should be changing the filters in your air conditioners and heating systems once a month. Pay for semi-annual inspections and cleanings too.

IMPROVEMENT TIP #4 – In addition to removing toxins from the air, you can also make changes that will neutralize them. Consider purchasing in-room air purification machines and decorate with plenty of green plants, especially in areas with poor air circulation. The plants will eat up toxic carbon dioxide and provide clean oxygen fit for human breathing.

IMPROVEMENT TIP #5 – Get rid of the air fresheners! A lot of people try to mask bad odors or other air problems with artificially scented air fresheners. These sprays have toxic chemicals that you should be shooing out, not inviting in. Instead, make your own air freshener by simply adding some herbs or citrus peels to a pot of boiling water.

IMPROVEMENT TIP #6 – This one might seem like a no brainer. Open the windows! Opening windows quickly cleans your indoor air and it’s free! For a significant impact on your air quality, keep a window in each room open every day for at least five full minutes.

Further Reading:

• Inexpensive, Easy Detox – The One Gallon Challenge
• Improve Indoor Air Quality to Promote Health
• Home Detox, Reduce Indoor Pollution

Just an idea…

I viewed this last presidential campaign through opened eyes; I used to be much more naive than I am today. Oh, I knew politicians lied, that they are corrupt. What you see is never what you get. But before I worked with Organic Lifestyle Magazine, I wasn’t really aware that corporations run this country. Yes, that is one thing I can give Monsanto credit for—they opened my eyes to the truth.

I hoped President Obama was telling us the truth when he said he was against big business and special interests running the country. Then he appointed Vilsack, a Monsanto man through and through, as the Secretary of Agriculture. And before I could pick myself up off the floor, President Obama tells us his version of healthcare for all is to pass a law to force us to pay our hard earned money to crooked insurance companies. At that point, I was done. No fork test needed.

So after the 2012 election I thought about the obscene amount of money it takes to run a successful campaign and where all that money comes from. I knew that those deep, deep pockets bought votes as well as future favors from the elected officials they put in office. That’s how the system works. So why not change the system?

If campaigns were free, corruption of our politicians by the money machine would end. And other benefits would ensue.

Imagine a website dedicated to the political election process. Each politician would have a profile listed with his full biography (one that has been well vetted for truth) along with his full voting and attendance record for any prior office held. He or she could state their stance on the issues and make promises—officially, publically, permanently. And if elected in office, that record for keeping or ignoring those promises would become part of the permanent public record as well. Candidates could hold debates on the website and voters could view those debates at their leisure. It would be so much easier to evaluate the similarities and the differences between the candidates. And so easy to separate lies from the truth. Voting records don’t lie.

According to Internet World Stats 78.6% of North Americans use the Internet. If we ensure that every public library houses public computers, our political website would be available to all Americans. But we could make it even easier. According to Statistic Brain. 99% of Americans own at least one television.  One dedicated television station could mirror the website, scrolling the same information.

No more TV or radio campaigns. No print costs. No touring. No outside marketing of any kind. No bought and paid for candidates. No cost at all to the politicians. Of course we would have to come up with a means to select candidates so that only serious, qualified individuals were allowed on the site. But we could figure that out.

Remember when I said there could be added benefits? Today’s politicians begin campaigning for their next election on the day they take office. With this new system, that practice would end, and our elected officials could focus on doing the jobs they were elected to do.

Another benefit, dare I say it? There would be no need for a party system. Imagine that! The best candidate could actually rise to the top and win! And all those Senators and Representatives could vote their conscience instead of worrying about Republican vs. Democrat party lines. And then judges appointed to the Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeals, and the Unites States district courts could be appointed the same way! No party affiliations to muck up their rulings!

And while we are at it, we could decide that women should have equal rights by law, that a line item veto is in the best interest of the country, and that poisoning our water and our food supply is not the job of our government. I know that’s not everything, but it would be a good start, don’t you think?

In my ten years of eating raw, I can tell you from firsthand experience that desserts are the most difficult raw dishes to prepare. Through a miserable number of trials and errors over the years, I’ve got many raw desserts like cheesecake, brownies, cherry sorbet, and coconut macaroons down to an artful science.  Pumpkin pie, on the other hand, was always a challenge for me. In the times I attempted to prepare this gourd pie, it always came out tasting bland, dry, and unappealing. It wasn’t until my close friend, who is also a raw foodie, recommended I try her recipe that I finally made some headway with my homemade raw pumpkin pie.

One of the common misconceptions about raw desserts is that they don’t taste good. On the contrary, cooking raw is delicious. All you have to do is use high-quality ingredients, stick to the accurate measurements, and taste as you go.  If something doesn’t taste quite right, trust your gut and tweak it. If you think your dessert needs an additional ingredient, go ahead and add it! Like an artist’s painting, raw food desserts are supposed to be unique to each artisan.

For those of you who are raw foodies or are trying to incorporate more raw foods into your lives, Thanksgiving can be a tough holiday to endure. Everything from the savory turkey, warm yeast rolls, and sweet pecan pie can derail all your efforts to eat raw. With this delicious raw pumpkin pie recipe, however, you’ll be all set for your Thanksgiving dessert. Not only is it filling, it’s insanely delish! Try this pumpkin pie out during the holiday or any ol’ time you have a craving for this classic dessert.

Raw Pie Crust Recipe

2 ½ cups pecan flour ¾ cup coconut oil, cold
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar

Okay let’s start with the crust! Start by placing the flour, salt, and sugar in an electric mixer bowl and mix on high for 30 seconds. Next, add the coconut oil and mix until the crust forms a solid, cohesive mixture. Don’t worry if you see a few crumbles though. If necessary, add a little more oil or water to solidify the crust.

Dust a clean surface with a pinch of flour and place the crust on the dusted surface. Using your hands, knead the crust into two flat ball shapes, (keep in mind: this pie makes enough for two crusts) wrap in plastic wrap, and place them freezer until you’ll ready to use them. When you’re putting your pie together, pull out one of the crusts, and using a rolling pin, flatten it out into the shape of a large circle (aka pie crust). Have flour on hand to prevent the crust from sticking to the surface. Gently lift the crust and place it in the pie pan. Press the crust until it adheres to the pan.

Pumpkin Pie Filling

• 3 cups shredded pumpkin
• 1 cup cashews, soaked for four hours, drained, and then mashed
• ¼ cup almond milk
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon tapioca starch
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 3 teaspoons vanilla bean extract
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• pinch cloves

Combine all the ingredients in an electric mixing bowl. Mix for 3 minutes on high speed. Spread into one of the prepared pie crusts. Refrigerate for at least three hours. Eat and enjoy!

Eating raw is not easy during the holidays, but the health benefits of doing so are definitely worthwhile.

Saturday mornings, I have a standard food-acquiring routine pretty much down.  The farmer’s market is perused through for all of the basics.  Spring water is collected.  If needed, specialty stores are stopped by…and ‘Whole Foods Market’ meets the tail end of the stretch with its add-ins of anything that I couldn’t amass from the other locales.  I’m purposeful at each stop.  I know exactly what I want and where to find it.  My overall ‘game plan’ is to stock up on the freshest, most nutritionally dense foods and still square it all up within our weekly budget.  I go heavy on the greens, non-sweet fruits, and all varieties of veggies that will later meet with a transformation into some variety of smoothie, salad, steamed medley, or soup.  It’s all very satisfactory, yet repetitive…so when something extraordinary catches my attention, it tends to push my delight above and beyond the average.  This week, the extraordinary catch was one size-able container of freshly picked, ruby-red raspberries.

The first time that I recall eating freshly picked strawberries left the type of impression that almost demands that I still think about it from time to time several years later.  I questioned whether they were even strawberries.  They were incredibly juicy and flavorful– entirely different from the less intense store-bought berries that I was up until then familiar with.  Since then, I’ve developed a special interest in and appreciation for fruit that’s been separated from the plant for only hours, as compared to days or weeks.

These particular raspberries paralleled the strawberry incident of ’99 nicely. 🙂 There were plenty savored alone, and there were handfuls more that melded into various edible blends throughout the weekend. The following is our favorite flavor……a concoction that highlights the current seasonal flux– intertwining one of the last offerings of summer with a treasured fall staple. Enjoy!

(I don’t enjoy measuring, so I won’t be listing exact amounts– it’s a simple brew, however, and will likely turn out well if you adjust all amounts according to taste…)

Bottom (or top) crumble layer ingredients

• spoonful of coconut oil or ghee
• vanilla stevia (10-15 drops) (or unprocessed stevia powder and raw vanilla powder)
• coconut or almond flour (enough to make a creamy paste)
• sprouted flax, chia or hemp seed powder (mix in until crumble-like consistency)

Pumpkin blend

• pureed fresh pumpkin, or organic canned pumpkin
• cultured coconut (fermented at home, or store bought (I like So Delicious brand, unsweetened)
• vanilla stevia, to taste
• sea salt

Instructions

1. mix pumpkin blend well.
2. spoon out onto crumble mixture, or into bowl, adding crumble mixture over top.
3. sprinkle with raspberries.

If only everyone would watch this film

Why are we as people and as a nation in so much debt? Why do our corporations continue to enslave us and brainwash us? Why are we always at war? Why do corporations control our government? Why are our medical system, food system, and educational system so corrupt? Why do we incarcerate so many people? Why is our nation failing financially? And what could we do to fix all of this?

This video explains it very well. If only everyone would watch it.

Visualize yourself totally stoked about gardening. In this picture you are getting some garden beds or containers ready for planting. Maybe your schedule lightened up and you found yourself with a free day to garden – to plant seeds. The cool of the morning ignited your enthusiasm and in just two or three hours you made the soil look gorgeous, fertile. “Wow,” you say. “Any seed will thrive in that soil.”

But wait! Before you throw those dry seeds from the packet into the dirt, please know this.

Seeds are miniature storehouses of information. Not only do they know how to produce a plant, they know how to protect themselves from the harsh conditions in nature. Seeds are encoded with inhibitors, a defense mechanism that gives them the ability to survive, to withstand overly wet or dry conditions, extreme temperatures, and, if eaten, to survive the acid filled digestive tract of an animal. Soaking seeds for 8 to 16 hours before planting leaches away these inhibitors; soaked seeds germinate at a much quicker rate.

Although you’re excited about weeding the earth and preparing the soil, (woo hoo – pat yourself on the back!) go ahead and pause. The soil will wait while the information rich seeds soak in warm water in preparation for planting.

If you have soaked seeds before, you may realize that wet seeds are more challenging to work with than the dry ones out of the packet. After soaking, rinse the seeds, drain the excess water, and then put them on a rag or washcloth. It’s also wise to keep a dry rag or cloth nearby when planting to wipe your hands on – the entire planting process goes more smoothly when you keep your fingers dry.

Happy Planting!

May your harvest be nutritious and delicious!