Got REAL milk?

Everyone (and I mean everyone) ought to be aware of the controversy behind milk.  And what makes milk REAL milk.  None of this pastuerized, fat-free, sugar loaded "milk" that our media tells us "Does our body good."  No wonder why there's so much lactose intolerance and those dairy stomach aches that so many get.  That didn't happen back in the day when the milk man went door to door and delivered fresh, raw milk.  So if you're going to drink it- and if you just can't live without it- read up on it (even if just a little bit) before you buy another gallon. 

Check this out: REAL milk.

This is real, WHOLE food with all the nutrients and goodness intact. 

My favorite raw milk (don't be scared of the word raw, you've been kind of brainwashed): Organic Pastures
You can purchase this at Mother's Market and some Sprouts.  Whole Foods no longer carries it.  Shame on them!

I understand this kind of milk is pricey.  That's because caring for cows in the right way isn't cheap.  That and these farmers are put through the ringer by our lovely FDA.  So if you just have to have milk- or if you want to take a sip of what the real thing tastes like - remember you are supporting local farming, a family, a culture, a way of life.  And maybe that will tip your scale and you won't moan and groan as you walk to the checkout. 

And- on a completely different note- some of the raw milks come in pretty rad old, fashioned glass containers.  And if you are anything like me, you keep these cute little suckers, wash and rinse them out, and use them as vases...or other fun house decorative things.

Vitacost Deals

For those of you looking to purchase coconut oil (because you realize it's insane benefits and, like me, don't ever want to live without it) you can purchase it at an amazing price at www.vitacost.com (One of my favorite websites)

You can get a 54oz. jug of the Nutiva brand (my favorite) for only $24.  The same size at Mother's or Whole Foods would cost you almost twice that.

But I'm warning you...if you're anything like me, this website may sweep you off your feet in deals.  So be careful!

RAW Apple Cider Vinegar

For centuries, apple cider vinegar (ACV) has been used for many, many things.  From dressing a salad to polishing armor to making pickles.  It's one of nature's secrets (for those of us that have been living under the proverbial western medicine and nutritional ROCK!)

 ACV basically comes from pulverized apples.  Apples that have been broken down by the fermentation process (the process in which sugars in food are broken down by bacteria and yeast - the good kind of bacteria and yeast I should add).  The apples turn into an alcohol and then, the longer they ferment, you get vinegar.

 The main ingredient is acetic acid- but it also has many vitamins, minerals, aminos, etc.  With that said, I am always keeping my eyes and ears open to those "folk remedies" that seem to get buried underneath modern day medicine nutrition. 

Below is a list of just some of the benefits of raw ACV:
  • Helps to prevent brittle teeth and hair loss
  • Fights allergies, sore throats and runny noses (yes, when you are sick this actually helps).
  • Helps to regulate blood sugar and decrease bad cholestrol
    • Those with diabetes: "The effect of vinegar on blood sugar levels is perhaps the best-researched and the most promising of apple cider vinegar's possible health benefits. Several studies have found that vinegar may help lower glucose levels. For instance, one 2007 study of 11 people with type 2 diabetes found that taking two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar before bed lowered glucose levels in the morning by 4%-6%." (A co-worker of mine has diabetes and we just started her on ACV a few weeks ago.  She has noticed a difference already).
  • Anti viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal
  • Helps maintain a proper pH level in your body for a healthy alkaline state (alkalinity in your body is KEY)
  • Helps improve bowel irregularity
  • Helps to clear up skin conditions
  • Natural "de-tox" by improving digestion
  • Natural cure for constipation
  • Helps to break down fats so your body can use them rather than store them
Personal Use:
Almost every day, I will put: 
2 Tablespoons of RAW ACV in 1 (one) gallon of water and drink it throughout the day.
(I personally use the BRAGG'S brand.  Be sure you get RAW, UN-PASTUERIZED ACV.  The other stuff is junk.  Don't bother. You can purchase BRAGG'S at most grocery stores and all health food stores).

Other uses:
  • WOMEN! Raw ACV is the best all-natural face toner I have ever found.  Mix 1 parts ACV to 4 parts water.  Shake it up in a small bottle.  Apply to a cotton swab and rub on your face/neck in the morning and evening. It helps to improve your skin's texture and overall complexion, gets rid of excess skin, oil, and guess what? It's CHEAP! (Taking it internally as prescribed above will help as well)  Don't waste all your money on over the counter beauty products.  Go natural!
  • NON-toxic household cleaner, deoderizer, and disinfectant.  Dilute ACV in water in a spray bottle and clean away.  I know, it smells like smelly feet at first. But give it 15 minutes and the smell will disappear.  (Unlike those household cleaners that smell like poison)



Eat seasonally

We have seasonless grocery stores.  It's no good.  You can buy an artichoke, strawberries, and brussels sprouts whenever you feel like it.  Ironic, we really do live in a culture where we do whatever we "feel" like now don't we? But the greater truth is, certain foods belong in certain seasons.  PLAIN AND SIMPLE!

  Back in the day when most of the land was farmland, they completely understood what this meant.  They couldn't grow the same crop in the same soil season after season; it would deplete the soil...and a whole host of other things.  Vegetables and fruits grow during certain times.  It is that way for a reason- certain seasons breed certain foods.  Ever had strawberries in the summer?  Or a freshly picked fall apple?  Then you know what I mean. 

No need to be perfect on this.  Remember, it's about progress not perfection.  Try and be perfect and you'll fail (or give up) every time.  Just be conscientious of what you're putting in your mouth and when.  Is it winter and you're eating a strawberry?  Go ahead, but it won't taste very good.  Nor will you want to know the whole farming process of getting an out-of-season fruit into your refrigerator. 

Not only that, but if you aim to eat according to what's in season, you may find some really great foods you never would have tried otherwise.  It will gently force you out of your comfort zone and into trying new things (Which is always fun, right?)  There are SO many different types of foods.  Sure, you can eat the same thing every day, but what's the thrill in that?  Your body wants flavor, variety, and change!  Your body changes with the seasons as well.  So move with the seasons.  

This fall and winter go pick up some endives or acorn squash and give it a try.  You never know...you just might like it!
 Educate yourself, think smart, live healthy...and enjoy every bite!

Here is a (non-exhaustive) list of some fruits and vegetables according to their season:

Snack Treat!

Due to the extreme pastuerization that takes place in all our dairy products, I advise people to stay away from dairy more often than not.  More on that later.

[But who am I kidding, I'm a latte LOVER and staying away from milk to sip on one of those is always tough.  Personally, I keep my latte buys for Saturdays and Sundays when I can sip it in leisure while reading my favorite book or talking with a good friend.]

It's about progress, not perfection. 

Trying to be perfect in any area- especially your lifestyle diet- will most likely come around to bite you.  So eat those healthy, life-giving foods most days.  Choose your foods one meal at a time.  And if you take a step back to drink a latte on a Sunday morning, no one is going to fault you.  Savor every sip.  RELISH in it! 

Simple Recipe for a Dairy-Free Yogurt Treat:

 Coconut Yogurt by SO Delicious.  I advise getting the plain flavor as it has less sugar.  You can purchase this yogurt from your local Whole Foods or Sprouts.  Throw some in a bowl and then add...

Lime.  Yep, a lime! Cut up some fresh lime wedges and squeeze over your yogurt.  A trick: sometimes limes can be incredibly hard to squeeze and they can seem practically juiceless!  Throw your cut lime in a small dish and pop it in the microwave for a handful of seconds. This will get the juices out.  And the bowl will keep it from dripping all over your microwave.


Honey.  Drip some honey over the yogurt.  My favorite brand is Honey Pacifica made fresh & raw by a man in Long Beach. (http://www.honeypacifica.com/) You can purchase this honey at the Friday Farmers Market in Huntington Beach, online, or at your local Whole foods or Mother's Market.  He infuses his honey with all natural flavors such as mango or sage.  My favorite is the mango. 


Almonds (or nuts of choice).  Toss a handful of some shaved almonds or pecans of walnuts atop your yogurt.  I am always looking to add crunch to my foods!  The nuts will also add good fats to your snack and keep you fuller, longer.


See...healthy foods actually taste GOOD.

Coconut Oil

Stop cooking with olive oil... STOP! Right now!  


WHY?Due to the molecular structure of olive oil (and a whole host of other "cooking" oils) its structure breaks down in the high heat, causing it to be susceptible to oxidative damage.  And oxidation means free radicals.  Free radicals in the bloodstream is a no, no. 


 I only use 2 oils in my food preparation.  Extra virgin olive oil, which makes a great salad dressing,  and coconut oil to cook with.  

My favorite brand.
Here's why:
If you cook with oils like safflower, canola, soy or sunflower, THROW THEM AWAY.  The high omega 6 content in these oils makes them more susceptible to oxidative damage than any other.  And besides, most of the oils are GMO (genetically modified) and frankly we are about real food, not the scientific stuff.  Don't cook with them.  I repeat DON'T!

So what's the big deal with coconut oil?

Coconut oil has a secret ingredient known as lauric acid.  50% of the fat content in coconut oil is lauric acid.  So what, right?  Well, lauric acid has many unique health promoting benefits.  Your body converts lauric acid into monolaurin, which has anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties.  In your regular daily diet, you don't get much monolaurin (there aren't many natural ways of getting it).  But the benefits don't stop there.  
Coconut oil is about 2/3 medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs). These types of fatty acids produce a whole host of health benefits.  In comparison, the most common vegetable and seed oils contain long chain fatty acids (LCFA's) which are: 
  •   Much more difficult for your body to breakdown.
  • They are predominately stored as fat
  • They are hard on your liver, pancreas and digestive system
  • They can be deposited in your arteries forming what you know as cholesterol

 It may be surprising for you to realize that the naturally occurring saturated fat in coconut oil actually has some amazing health benefits, such as:
  • Promoting your heart health
  • Promoting weight loss, when needed
  • Supporting your immune system health
  • Supporting a healthy metabolism
  • Providing you with an immediate energy source
  • Keeping your skin healthy and youthful looking
  • Supporting the proper functioning of your thyroid gland
Wait a minute, did you just say SATURATED FAT?  Yep. I did.


I know, you've been duped.  Not cool, huh?  Educate yourself now and learn the truth and you'll be on your way to better health in no time.  Here are just some of the benefits of saturated fat: [1] 



1) Improved cardiovascular risk factors
Saturated fat plays a key role in cardiovascular health. The addition of saturated fat to the diet reduces the levels of a substance called lipoprotein (a) that correlates strongly with risk for heart disease. Research has shown that when women diet, those eating the greatest percentage of the total fat in their diets as saturated fat, lose the most weight.

2) Stronger bones
Saturated fat is required for calcium to be effectively incorporated into bone. According to one of the foremost research experts in dietary fats and human health, Dr. Mary Enig, Ph.D., there’s a case to be made for having as much as 50 percent of the fats in your diet as saturated fats for this reason.

3) Improved liver health
Saturated fat has been shown to protect the liver from alcohol and medications, including acetaminophen and other drugs commonly used for pain and arthritis.


4) Healthy lungs
For proper function, the airspaces of the lungs have to be coated with a thin layer of lung surfactant. The fat content of lung surfactant is 100 percent saturated fatty acids. Replacement of these critical fats by other types of fat makes faulty surfactant and potentially causes breathing difficulties.

5) Healthy brain
Your brain is mainly made of fat and cholesterol. The lion’s share of the fatty acids in the brain are actually saturated. A diet that skimps on healthy saturated fats robs your brain of the raw materials it needs to function optimally.

6) Proper nerve signaling
Certain saturated fats, particularly those found in butter, lard, coconut oil, and palm oil, function directly as signaling messengers that influence metabolism, including such critical jobs as the appropriate release of insulin.

7) Strong immune system
Saturated fats found in butter and coconut oil (myristic acid and lauric acid) play key roles in immune health. Loss of sufficient saturated fatty acids in white blood cells hampers their ability to recognize and destroy foreign invaders, such as viruses, bacteria, and fungi



If you live in America, you have a 70% chance of becoming overweight.  



 One of the benefits of coconut oil is to help stimulate your metabolism.  In fact, the ability of MCFAs (like we talked about above) to help stimulate the metabolism and be turned into energy has entered the sports arena. Several studies have now shown that MCFAs can enhance physical or athletic performance. [2]



Coconut oil also increases the activity of the thyroid. And you've probably heard that a sluggish thyroid is one reason why some people are unable to lose weight, no matter what they do.


The benefits of coconut oil are too many to mention here.  It can be used to cook with, on your skin, in your hair, or as a great post-beach day/sunburn salve. 


TIP FOR COOKING:  If you like roasted veggies, try this.  Throw some asparagus and chopped zucchini on a baking tray.  Melt some coconut oil and slather it!  Grind up some fresh ground pepper, throw on some garlic, squeeze some lemon and toss in your oven broiler (or BBQ) until bright green and slightly roasted (but not mushy!) and relish in the the flavor!
Delicious.

Footnotes: [1], [2]- Dr. Joseph Mercola

Go on a Diet.

Have you ever heard (or uttered) those 5 little words, "I'm going on a diet."  Or perhaps you've only thought of slightly modifying your diet, "I should eat more of this and less of that..."  Either way, I think we could agree that the word diet provokes a negative response in most of us.  We flinch at the thought of going on one, we dread it, we don't see any fun in it, and we think it's only for overweight people.

We couldn’t be more WRONG.

The word diet comes from the Greek word diata, meaning a way of life; a mode of living.  So you see, we are all on a diet of some sort.  What you eat right now, day in and day out, is your diet;  your mode of living.  Interesting, your mode of living. What does this even mean?  Have you ever thought of what you eat as a mode of living?  Sounds much more significant than the tainted word "diet," doesn’t it?

For most of us, we eat not just because we're hungry, but because our appetite is telling us to; because we crave a certain food; because we tell ourselves we deserve it; because it's a reward for a "job well done;" because we're bored or lazy or entitled.  We have a relationship with food.  Have you noticed what yours is?  Do we eat, and only eat, to give life to our bodies and our well-being?  Or is the main purpose of our diet for personal gratification founded on convenience alone?

Whatever your case may be, if you plan on a diet change, it's in your best interest to plan for much more than just simply eating different. Sure you can white-knuckle it and try to just "be better," but as you will learn, a diet change is a lifestyle change.  And if you try to white-knuckle a lifestyle change, you'll fall short and lose your fingers.

A mode of living simply means a manner, a way, or act of doing things.  It's a given condition of functioning; a status.  What is the status of your diet?  Is it (are you) functioning in a healthy manner? If not, how come?

Just because you are at a weight you’re happy with and you don’t have any current health problems doesn’t make you healthy.  Shocking, I know.  It’s the simple law of cause and effect.  What you eat has an effect on how your body (and mind) performs and maintains its health.  If you aren't reaping the effects of your diet decisions now, in time you will.

You reap what you sow.  If you don’t pay your bills, you go into debt.  If you don’t go to work, you lose your job. If you don’t put gas in your gas tank, your car runs out of gas.  Catch my trite drift?  What you do- and don’t do- has consequences...eventually.  If we believe these general laws when it comes to everything else, why don’t we believe them when it comes to our diet of food? Eat crap all day, feel like crap all day. 
Now don't get me wrong, I am all for enjoying your food.  I LOVE food.  I savor it. I like variety. I like color.  I like taste and flavor.  I'm not advocating that you eat raw fruits and vegetables for the rest of your life.  But in the words of Dr. Jordan Rubin, "Let's get real; too many Americans are exiting fast-food restaurants, ice cream emporiums, and supermarket checkout lines with processed foods pumped with calories like weight lifters on steroids."[1]

Unfortunately, our culture has gone in to overdrive with all our in-vogue diets.  We have numbed and dumbed people down to a point where each new diet that hits the market we ignore as just another marketing scheme. We’re afraid that it will get crammed down our throats that inevitably causes us to feel guilty (or defensive) about our diet. 
A healthy life has become a chore; a discipline we don’t have time for or desire.  We have beat people over the head with every new diet plan under the sun.  So much so, people hop from one plan to the next, never finding one that really works for them CONSISTENTLY and so they give up.
What if there were a  way to maintain a healthy mode of living that was consistent, steady, reliable, and valuable?  What if you didn’t have to eat nuts and berries for the rest of your life and you could actually enjoy your food- without feeling guilty- while reaping the benefits of it’s delicious nutrients?  What if your perception shifted and you came to value a healthier lifestyle?  Like I said earlier, you can’t white-knuckle “just being healthy.”  If you don’t value it, you’ll always fall short and you'll constantly see it is a chore, boring, weird, and too hard.  Your weight loss and health are downstream for your values.  You must (and I repeat) you must imply intrinsic excellence or desirability on a healthier way of living or else your habits and attitudes will remain what they’ve always been.




Footnotes: [1]The Great Physicians Rx for Diabetes- by Jordan Rubin