Get rid of Lactose Intolerance

Are you Lactose Intolerant? Do you know why you are Lactose Intolerant? Here’s some helpful information on what causes Lactose intolerance, and more importantly – how to prevent Lactose Intolerance.

Lactose

Lactose is the natural sugar that is found in milk (and products that have milk in them, like yoghurt and cheese). Our body’s naturally have what is called Lactase, which is an enzyme found in our intestines that break down the lactose and allow us to absorb the nutrients for our body.

Lactose Intolerance

As you get older, lactase is not found in abundance in your intestine like it was when you were younger. When you don’t have enough enzymes to break down the lactase, the lactase passes through the intestine and into the colon carrying extra fluid in it. Bacteria in the colon break down the lactase into gasses and lactic acid, which is a laxative and irritant. Many you have lactose intolerance will suffer with cramping, diarrhea, gas, and bloating.

Those who are lactose intolerant seem to have different levels of sensitivity to milk products. While some might have issues with any milk products whatsoever, others who are still lactose intolerant are still able to digest small amounts of milk products without having digestive issues.

Get rid of Lactose Intolerance

•Lactose Free Diet- If you are willing to do this, it works. If you just stop consuming milk products your symptoms will go away since the lactase in your body was causing the problems all along. Of course, there are other ways for you to consume milk products without having the horrible symptoms of lactose intolerance.

•Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) – This is a technique that balances your energy meridians, which can be helpful in releasing your body’s sensitivities to allergies, including lactose intolerance. This is a technique that you can learn how to do yourself. For more information on how to treat your intolerance to milk, check out Carol Tuttle’s website for more information on EFT.

•Drink Raw Milk – Raw milk has the necessary enzymes needed to digest the milk, unlike most milk products which are made with pasteurized milk. Pasteurized milk is heated and kills the enzymes which allow you to digest the milk, leaving you lactose intolerant.

Tags: dairy products, EFT, enzyme, lactose, Lactose Free, lactose intolerant, milk, raw milk

Virgin Coconut Oil

I recently had a poll on my site asking others what they thought was the healthiest oil for them. To my shock, Coconut Oil was quite underrated for it’s many health benefits. Apparently The marketers of Olive Oil are doing a better job, but still, I must set the record straight.

Let’s first begin with going over the different types of coconut oil. I want to be sure when you are using Coconut Oil, you are getting only the good stuff, and using only the best.

Refined Coconut Oil

This is the most common way to mass-produce Coconut Oil. Refined Coconut Oil is RBD, which means it is Refined, Bleached, and Deodorized. When you deodorize the oil, very high heat is used to do so. Sometimes the RBD oil is hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated.  Sodium hydroxide is usually used to get rid of the free fatty acids, which helps prolong it’s shelf life. Due to the refinement process, the taste and smell is bland, and does not keep to the taste and smell of an actual coconut. You may think you want a bland taste rather than a coconut flavored oil…but trust me, you don’t want the refined oil. Please read on..

Virgin Coconut Oil

The only way to extract Virgin Coconut Oil is by using fresh coconut meat. No chemicals or high heating is used in further refining since it’s natural pure coconut oil is naturally able to have a long shelf life (why the processing is done in the first place, I will never know). Virgin Coconut Oil retains the taste and smell of coconuts.

Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

Unlike the Olive Oil Industry, there is actually no difference between “Virgin” and “Extra Virgin” Coconut Oil. When it comes to Coconut Oil, “Virgin” is just as good as “Extra Virgin”.

Coconut Oil Heated

One of the wonderful benefits of Coconut Oil, is that it isn’t damaged by heat. Because Coconut Oil can be cooked without worrying the nutritional benefits will be cooked out, Coconut Oil is great for cooking and baking. Not only is it still good for you, but it taste great too.

Health Benefits of Coconut Oil

Coconut Oil is the richest form of Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT), which the body burns for energy (unlike other oils which have Long Chained Triglycerides which actually store as fat – Not good!). Coconut Oil contains Lauric Acid (form of MCT), which is a predominant fatty acid that has anti-microbial and anti-viral properties. The medium chain fats in Coconut Oil is similar to the fats found in breast milk, and even have some of the same health effects, and have a great healing power.

Coconut Oil shows evidence of killing yeast infections (think Candida), increased energy, better immune system, helps with memory, protects the liver, reduced risk of heart disease, normalizes blood sugar levels (also reduces cravings of foods that would raise blood sugar levels), aids digestion, helps with the absorption of nutrients into the body, lowers cholesterol levels, and even helps with Weight Loss.

There are many health benefits of Coconut Oil – even more than what I have already mentioned! Nice.

How Coconut Oil effects Weight Loss

Just as I already mentioned, Coconut Oil has MCT, which helps your body burn fat, thus helping you lose weight. Coconut Oil also helps your body have the ability to control hungry and cravings, which again, helps you lose weight. Does everyone who consumes Coconut Oil lose weight? No, not always. There have been reports of people not losing weight, but they noticed their pants fit better. Apparently Coconut Oil also helps with muscle mass while trimming fat.

Research shows that an under active Thyroid may be to blame for weight problems. That is a pretty intense claim considering that 65% of the US population is overweight, and 27% is clinically obese. Wow. Good news, Coconut Oil is also known to help with an under active Thyroid. Diet seems to play a major role in Thyroid health (for good or bad), and considering their is a choice in the matter, I would do what I can to naturally have great thyroid health.

Cooking with Coconut Oil

Personally, I have thrown out all of my oils (Shortening, Vegetable Oil or any other “cooking oils”), and I have replaced them all with Virgin Coconut Oil (USDA Organic). I have to admit, I was a little worried how the Coconut Oil would effect the taste of my food. Come to find out, it has only made the flavor of whatever I was cooking- even better! You can use Coconut Oil as a replacement for all other oils whether it be for baking desserts, adding to smoothies, or to cook with your meats- you won’t be disappointed.

Coconut Oil has a melting point of 76 degrees, so if it is colder than 76 degrees, the Coconut Oil is going to be more of a solid texture. For measuring purposes, you might want to warm up the Coconut Oil by either running warm or hot water on the jar, or just taking a couple of spoonfuls and baking them for a couple of a minute or two. At this point, it will be a liquid, and easy to measure for recipes.

I love this wonderful oil, and believe you will too! Enjoy!

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Why you should buy Organic

Twinkie’s Challenge: July – September

There are a lot of people still debating on whether they should buy Organic or not. Let’s set the record straight once and for all when it comes to Organic.

Definition

Organic food is grown, processed, and packaged without the use of agricultural chemicals, artificial colors or flavors, genetic modification, irradiation, or other synthetic ingredients.

Per the National Organic Program, here are some definitions that should help clear up their labeling:

“‘100 Percent Organic’ must contain (excluding water and salt) only organically produced ingredients and processing aids.

Products labeled ‘Organic’ must consist of at least 95 percent organically produced ingredients (excluding water and salt). Any remaining product ingredients must consist of nonagricultural substances approved on the National List including specific non-organically produced agricultural products that are not commercially available in organic form.”

Later, the National Organic Program addressed the term “made with organic ingredients”. They wrote:

“Processed products that contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients can use the phrase “made with organic ingredients” and list up to three of the organic ingredients or food groups on the principal display panel.”

Something good to know: If you use the USDA Organic seal on your products that are not produced or handled within the National Organic Program’s regulations, you can have a civil penalty of up to $11,000 US Dollars. Ouch!

Just so you know, products labeled as “Naturally Grown” are not regulated. Some smaller farms who can’t afford to join the National Organic Program to be labeled as “USDA Organic”, can label their products as “Naturally Grown”. Since it isn’t regulated though, there are no guarantees on what you are really getting with this label.

Organic Farms

Having an Organic Farm is a strict business, and as you now know, you can’t just mark up your products as “USDA Organic” just for the fun of it. Organic farms do not use synthetic chemicals or drugs. They instead treat their soil, plants, and animals with natural products, which are a much safer alternative. They have surprise inspections by Inspectors who test the water, soil, plants (or animals) to make sure that everything is within USDA Organic standards. Once they do this, they review receipts from anything from feed to other records of reports and tests. This takes time and money, done twice a year, and the organic farmer pays for the fees involved to be able to label their products as “USDA Organic”.

Nutrition

The debate on whether Organic is really worth the usual additional costs seems to boil down to the common question, “Is Organic healthier for you?” or “Is Organic more nutritious?”. The answer to both of the questions is a simple “Yes”.

According to Virginia Worthington MS, ScD, CNS, in her article “Nutritional Quality of Organic versus Conventional Fruits, Vegetables, and Grains” in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, she found in her studies:

“…the vitamin C content of an organic fruit or vegetable is 27% more, on average, than a comparable conventionally grown fruit or vegetable.”

She also found from the various produce she studied, that  you can, on average, find about 21% more Iron, 29% more Magnesium, and 13% more Phosphorus. You will find about 15% less Nitrates. This is all very good news for your body, and more reason to stick to Organic produce.

The Nutrients come from the soil, which then in turns feeds the plant what it needs to produce healthy good-for-you produce which we get to enrich our own bodies with. If the soil is infested with pesticides and harmful chemicals, it will be lacking in nutrients, and the produce will in turn be depleted of nutrients.

Keep in Mind

When you do see “Organic” Chocolate bars, for example, it doesn’t mean it is all of a sudden it will be considered “healthy” or even “low calorie”. It still is sugar, candy, and not to be considered as food. Organic Candy is still Candy! Keep that in mind while you are in the grocery store, and try to stick with foods in its natural form. For example, choose fresh Organic Pears versus Canned Pears.

Your body deserves the best, and it deserves Organic.

Tags: best, Blog, body, Diary, Fruit, growth hormones, harmful chemicals, Healthy, Lose Weight, natural, nutrients, Nutrition, Organic, pesticides, Skinny, soil, stay active, Twinkie, Vegetable, Weight Loss

Butternut Squash

If produce could be delicious enough to be compared to candy, you have come to the right place. Some people add brown sugar to butternut squash once it has been cooked, but in my opinion, you don’t need it. It tastes great with just a little bit of butter (you don’t want to over do it) and some salt and pepper. Butternut squash can easily be cooked in the oven for about an hour or so. Just cut in half, scoop the seeds out, and wrap it in tin foil. Once it is cooked and cooled off a little bit (you don’t want to burn your fingers!), take off the skin and mash it, and while it is still warm, add a bit of butter, salt, and pepper. Yum.

Now, I must be completely honest with you. As much as I love butternut squash, some people do have an issue with the texture.  Some people think it’s “mushy” or “stringy”. I don’t have a problem with it, but some people do. If you do have a texture problem with butternut squash, but still want the health benefits, you might want to puree this and make it into a soup. If anyone has any other cooking ideas, please feel free to make a comment.

Not only does this butternut squash taste good, but it is extremely good for you. It has plenty of vitamin A (supports healthy lungs), vitamin C (Helps with your immune system), potassium (bone health), fiber (heart friendly), and other good for you ingredients. You can’t go wrong with this vegetable (unless you were unfortunately allergic!).

Serving: 1 cup

Calories: 65

Tags: butternut squash, delicious, fiber, Healthy, healthy lung, heart healthy, immune system, low calorie, potassium, squash, vitamin A, vitamin C, winter squash

Real Salt by Redmond

Why Real Salt?

Let’s start at looking at the competition. Table salts, or “iodized salt” has gone through intensive bleaching and refining processes, and then on top of that, many have undergone a heat processing and even include additives and chemicals.

Real Salt by Redmond is carefully taken from deep within the earth, crushed, screened, and packaged to stay all natural. It has a pink coloring, which is from the 50-plus trace minerals that weren’t stripped away by any refining/bleaching process.

Taste

Yes, Real Salt by Redmon actually tastes different than other processed/refined salts out there. Good news is, when I say “different”, I mean that it actually tastes better. It is not so different that you don’t think you are tasting salt, but I believe there is just so much more flavor to it, that you will actually enjoy your salt that much more! Nice.

Health Benefits

Salt is good for you- if you have the right kind of Salt. Some of the benefits of Salt, are as follows; Salt helps regulate the body’s metabolism, food digestion, necessary for proper function of nerve fibers, keeps the water balanced correctly around your tissues and cells in your body, and Salt even helps your heart function, or beat, properly.

For those bloggers out there who believe salt is bad for you, or does not have a lot of health benefits either A) Is talking about processed/bleached iodized salt,  or B) Does not know what they are talking about.  Yes, you need moderation in all things, but to flat out say Salt is not beneficial is just not logical when you really do your research and list the facts.

I recommend going to Real Salt’s website to read their testimonials.  Not only will you  find that I am not the only one who thinks it tastes better, but you will actually come to find how many switched to Real Salt to lower their high blood pressure, among other things.

Many of you may think “well…it’s just salt!”, but remember that each step you take to become healthier,  it makes such a difference for your body! Yes, it is salt. You can now throw away your cheap salt you bought at the grocery store (and not feel guilty about it),  and replace it with an all natural salt that is actually beneficial for your body. Now, you are one step closer to a healthier you.

For more information, you may visit http://www.realsalt.com/

Tags: all natural, better taste, bleaching, food digestion, good for you, heal benefits, Healthy, iodized salt, lower high blood pressure, metabolism, necessary, pink, Real Salt, Redmond, refining, salt, white