Carbohydrates

picture from https://m.ufhealth.org/carbohydrates

What is a carbohydrate? Carbohydrates are made by all plants. These carbohydrates are broken down into Sugars and starches. Sugar comes in a variety of forms, the basis of these forms are glucose, and fructose which are what is known as simple sugars. Disaccharides, which include sucrose, Malt sugar, and lactose, are made from 2 sugars and are broken down in the body fairly easily. The exception being lactose which many people can have problems digesting if the proper enzymes to digest it are lacking. (more on lactose in the dairy post) However more complex sugars such as stachynose and raffinose which are found in legumes (beans) and seaweed are not easily digested by most people. Most people lack the necessary intestinal flora to break down these sugars that are made up of several simple sugars. Cooking and/or fermenting them helps to break them down so that the body is able to use the nutrients better. Click HERE for a great little article on how to prepare beans to be easy to digest.

Starch is a complex sugar, but one that is digestible by the body because it is only made up of glucose. Glucose Is the sugar that your body runs off of. When you ingest glucose it is taken through the small intestine to wherever the body needs it. If their is excess sugar then insulin levels rise to compensate and excess sugar is stored in the liver. Eating fat and protein with the sugar makes the sugar take longer to digest so that you wont have a spike in blood sugar or a huge rise in insulin levels. Instead the glucose is slowly released into the body keeping everything more balanced that it would have bean without the fat and/or protein. 

Refined carbohydrates such as white sugar and flour are striped of all their lovely nutrients making them white, last a very long time, and terrible for you. In their unrefined state starches have vitamins that are very important to being able to actually digest starch properly. Refined carbohydrates however actually take minerals and vitamins away from your body to be able to digest themselves. Instead of providing your body with nutrients, refined carbohydrates are more of an anti-nutrient. As well as being removed of their vitamins and minerals, refined carbohydrates are also stripped of fat and fiber that help to slow their digestion to give the body more time to adjust for the added sugar. 

Refined carbohydrates have bean linked to many, many health problems. HERE is a big long list of them. In 1821 Americans ate 10 pounds of sugar per person a year. Now it is more like 170 pounds per person making up 1/4 of their caloric intake. Nutritionist say that we should only be getting 10% of our calories from sugar. In my opinion, this is crazy! Especially when you consider that tumors feed on sugar. Cancer is positively shown to be associated with cancer in humans and test animals! Not only that but it causes fungus growth in the body, diabetes and hypertension which leads to a host of other problems, heart disease (their have bean more studies that show refined sugars causing heart disease rather than fat), kidney disease, and liver disease. So I ask, Why? This is totally ridiculous that as a society we are doing this to ourselves. Dr. Melvin Page demonstrated in many studies that sugar consumption causes phosphorus levels to drop and calcium to rise. The calcium rises because it is being pulled from the teeth and bones by the sugar creating an imbalance that causes the excess calcium to not be absorbed because their isn't enough phosphorus. He concluded with his studies that it isn't the bacterial growth that causes tooth decay but actually the loss of calcium. 

It is important to sprout and/or ferment your grains so that the enzyme inhibitors can be neutralized. Whole grains are very nutritious and have lots of good vitamins and trace minerals that can be utilized by the body as long as they are prepared correctly. I really like sour dough bread, and if you make it yourself with a starter from your area it will be so good for you and so tasty. The first four links below are for books, the first being nourishing traditions which is a super awesome cookbook that can really help you out, especially if your new fermenting, sprouting, and eating how we used to before the 1900's. The second one has really easy and simple to follow recipes for most every fermented food, such as bread, sauerkraut, and ginger ale, and the third is a food preservation book that goes along with the first two. The fourth is just a health book. 

http://www.amazon.com/Nourishing-Traditions-Challenges-Politically-Dictocrats/dp/0967089735\\

http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Fermentation-Flavor-Nutrition-Live-Culture/dp/1931498237
http://www.amazon.com/Preserving-Food-without-Freezing-Canning/dp/1933392592

http://becomeawellnesschampion.com/

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=carbs-against-cardio
http://www.westonaprice.org/abcs-of-nutrition/health-topics

2 Recipes with Summer tomatoes

Summer tomatoes are the best. They are so ripe, and have such incredible flavor and I have bean using them like crazy.  

For the first recipe I took 3 medium-small tomatoes (2 red and 1 yellow) from our greenhouse and one sweet pepper from farmers market. I sliced them and roasted them with olive oil, salt, pepper, kalamata olives, and basil on 2 slices of bread (I used a sprouted grain bread) then topped them with some raw monterey jack and some herbed goat cheese. You can either roast everything separate from the bread and then top the bread with it later, or you can put the bread on a sheet pan with some olive oil on the bottom and put all of the toppings on it minus the cheese and broil it for 10-20 minutes in the middle of the oven then top with the cheese and let it melt.The 2nd option is a little more tricky to get the bread toasted and the veggies roasted just right, but either way you are left with deliciousness. 

This next recipe is even easier. Cut up some sweet peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers (I used lemon cucumbers) and toss with olive, a bit of vinegar (balsamic or red wine) goat cheese, basil and/or other herbs, salt and pepper. This recipe is so easy to change that it makes a great salad to start with if you are wanting to start branching away from recipes to make your meals more personal.

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The Truth About Fat.

I'm starting a series on food. Specifically posts that will focus on a food group, but I'll probably decide to  post about some diets and whatever else informational that comes to mind. Today though I am going to focus on fat. This is probably one of the most difficult concepts for people to grasp now days, but FAT IS GOOD! Yes it makes food taste good, but it is also so good for us! Isn't that exciting? Also, not to blow your minds or anything, but fat can help you LOOSE weight! YES! I am totally serious and this is based from science people, SCIENCE! 

When you eat fat with sugar it makes it so that you don't have a crazy sugar spike that raises your insulin levels and makes you gain weight. Saturated fat plays an important roll in the communication of your metabolism and for your body to know how much insulin to produce. (If your not getting enough saturated fat, then your metabolism gets all whacked out) Also, when you eat fat, especially fat with longer chain lengths (molecularly speaking) they take longer for your body to use, giving your body longer to use the calories in the fat and the other food you eat with it as well as keeping you full longer. Don't focus on the chain lengths, it's pointless and if you do get it all figured out your body is going to get unbalanced from you trying to eat just one type of fat. If you eat healthy fats from  meats, dairy, and healthy nut oils you will get a good variety of short to long chained fatty acids. 

The shorter chained fatty acids absorb quickly into the body, giving you an initial boost of energy. They also have anti-microbial properties to them which kills viruses, yeast, and harmful bacteria, protecting your body from whatever you put into it from the start. Medium chained fatty acids also have anti-microbial properties. 

You must have fat for brain health. The brain can consist of as much as 60% fat. The calories in mothers milk is 50% from fat, most of that is saturated fat. Children need good fats and cholesterol for proper development, especially for the brain. If your brain isn't healthy then the rest of you isn't going to be ether. Fat is important for the absorption of vitamins A, D, E, and K. If  you have a vitamin deficiency may be you might just need more fat to be able to absorb that vitamin.

Lets talk a bit about saturated fat. I know what you'r thinking, "Run away! It's evil! It's going to give you heart disease!" Well, no, it's not. Before the 1920's heart disease was extremely rare in America. How can this be when it is now the main cause of death? Heart disease has bean the main cause of death since the mid-1950's even.  From 1910 to 1970 the proportion of animal fat in the American diet went down from 83% to 62%. American used to eat 18 pounds of butter per person a year, and now it is only 4. The cholesterol intake has only increased by 1% so it can't be that, but vegetable and refined oil consumption raised 400%! The consumption of sugar and processed foods increased by 60%. I doubt that this is the only reason for heart disease, but all of the studies of people groups that I have seen show that the groups that eat only healthy fats mostly from animals and some from nut and olive and none from processed vegetable oil such as from corn, soy etc show that the people who eat a lot of saturated fats and good cholesterol had less heart problems, were a healthier weight, happier and generally healthier in every way. I know that this seems really weird to you, but their is very little proof that diets low in saturated fat or cholesterol lowers heart disease. 

Here are some nifty facts that I pulled out of Nourishing Traditions:

• Cell membranes consist of at least 50% saturated fatty acids giving them integrity. 
• For calcium to be effectively incorporated into your bones, at least 50% of your fat intake needs to be saturated
• Saturated fats lower LP, a substance in the blood that indicates a proneness to heart disease
• Saturated fats protect the liver from Alcohol and toxins
• Saturated Fats enhance the immune system
• Saturated fats are needed for your body to be able to use other fatty acids properly
• Saturated fats surround the heart for it to use in times of stress. Yes, your heart loves saturated fat, it is its the best food for it.
• Short and medium chain saturated fatty acids protect us from harmful microorganisms in the digestive tracts.
• People who live in the tropics that use coconut and palm oil have less intestinal and bacterial problems than people in the tropics that use processed vegetable oils because coconut and palm oil kill harmful bacteria and fungus.
• Cholesterol actually protects from free radical damage
• Like certain oils, cholesterol can become damaged by high heat such as high temperature frying, which can cause damage to arterial cells and plaque buildup in the arteries. 
• Bile salts are made from cholesterol, which is vital to digestion.
• Dietary cholesterol is important for maintaining the health of the intestinal wall. 

The countries where people live the longest (Japan, Switzerland, Greece, and Austria) eat healthy fat, and little processed foods. Japan has increased in longevity since World War II along with an increase of fat and animal protein in their diet. The Swiss eat one of the fattiest diets in the world, but are second in longevity. I seriously think that we really used to have a good thing going for us, and as evidence shows, people in Japan, Switzerland and other countries can be healthy eating the way our forefathers ate, why cant we? Their is all this nonsense about diets and what is best and what isn't. and so much confusion when we just need to get back to our roots. Being healthy, and eating healthy isn't difficult. It isn't bland, and tasteless. It's full of fatty goodness, rich spices, and beautiful herbs that give our bodies so much nutrition and vibrant health. 

The good fats:

(I am not including shellfish, pork, or other unclean meets simply because... well, parasites are nasty.)

Fats from grass fed beef, goats, mutton/lamb, etc.

Fats from grass fed dairy products (better if raw)

Flax seed oil (high in omega 3's)

Macadamia nut oil (balances your omega 3's and 6's)

Olive oil (has a long fatty acid chain so it can make you put on more fat than butter or coconut oil. Odd isn't it?)

Peanut oil (in small amounts because of its high omega 6 content)

Sessame oil (in small amounts because of its high omega 6 content)

Palm Oil (very good for you, can be used at high heat, and is high in lauric acid which is anti microbial.) 

Coconut oil (also extremely good for you, can be used at high heat, and is high in lauric acid)

Oils to not ingest:

Safflower, Corn, Sunflower, Soybean, Cottonseed, and Canola oils. These oils go rancid easily. They can not be heated, or they go rancid, creating free radicals that damage your cells. Canola can cause a deficiency in vitamin E which is necessary for a healthy heart, and can also cause heart lesions from its erucic acid content. 

I hope you found this beneficial. You can subscribe over on the side bar with either email, blogger, or google. 

further reading

On coconut oil. Highly recommend you read this!  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/10/22/coconut-oil-and-saturated-fats-can-make-you-healthy.aspx

http://wellnessmama.com/1265/why-you-need-saturated-fat/

Stretchmark cream and face cream

This is my favorite recipe for stretch marks, it even works for getting rid of older ones and their are no expensive ingredients; even better it smells like white chocolate and roses. The coco butter and the castor oils are both great for stretch marks, by themselves and the castor oil works for cellulite too, but it needs another oil to make it work better and that's where the coco butter works again! The face cream is light and works for even cleaning of makeup and washing your face. 

For the stretch mark cream:

The castor oil makes this a bit sticky, so it's kinda weird at first but it's so awesome at working well.

(variation for an even easier version after directions)

1 oz of beeswax

3.5 oz of coco butter

3.5 oz of castor oil

1 tsp of vitamin E oil

5 oz of rose water or just water 

dissolve a heavy pinch of borax into the water to make it easier to mix everything together. You need a good borax that is specifically for cosmetic uses. I get mine from mountain rose herbs. 

Melt the beeswax in a double boiler, melt the coco butter, then add in the castor oil and the vitamin E oil. Once all of that is melted, take the mix off of the heat and slowly mix in the water with a beater. You can whisk it really quickly but the beaters are much easier. You can add in a few drops of rose oil or other repairative oils to make it more potent, but if you are pregnant make sure that they are safe to use. Lavender and rose are both good choices.  And your done! Massage into the skin daily after a shower when your skin is more receptive for best results.

Variation to make it even easier: Melt two parts cocoa butter and mix with one part castor oil. Add a few drops of rose oil or rosewater concentrate if desired.

For the face cream:
For this face cream you will need to use whatever type of oil you use to wash your face. Click HERE to learn more about the oil cleansing method. I use macadamia nut oil.
1 part beeswax
3 parts oil
2 to 3 parts water (you can use a hydrosol too)
a pinch of borax and arrowroot powder dissolved in the water (optional)

Melt the beeswax, add in the oil and make sure everything is melted, then mix in the water.

Use as a face cream or even as a light hand cream. Since you will be using the oil that works best for your skin then it will work to help it out wherever you put it. 

Acid/Alkaline

Unfortunately I wasn't able to do the stretch mark cream diy that I had planned for this week, but it will be up by the end of next week, so keep an eye out for it. In the mean time I am posting a video by Markus Rothkranz that explains the alkaline diet myth. Which, the alkaline diet not working makes SO much sense! Especially if you payed attention in science class, but then again I am a bit of a nerd that way; haha! I found it very interesting that your saliva adjusts to the ph of food, even if you'r just thinking about it! So crazy! Thank's mom for showing this to me, xo!