Artichokes

I love this picture! It looks quite professional. These organic globe artichokes are from my garden. Last year I almost gave up on the plants and pulled them as they looked like they had given up. The heat and dryness during the summer in Arizona is unrelenting making it challenging to be an organic gardener in the desert. But I decided to wait it out with my two plants (or I was just too lazy to pull them out) and one day this spring I happened to look up (as they are in raised beds and the top of the plant stood over 5 ft tall) and I see 5 small artichokes peeping out. I was ecstatic. Then a neighbor told me they need about two years to mature. I'm so glad I was patient (or lazy). They ended up being quite prolific and I had to give away many. Probably due to the quick onset of heat this spring they all opened (they are supposed to be harvested while the leaves are still compact) and have already flowered, which is quite beautiful . According to the Mediterranean Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, artichokes have the highest reported antioxidant capacities of vegetables. In addition, studies have shown artichokes to aid digestion and gall bladder function, and raise the ratio of HDL to LDL. I guess I will baby them along to see if they last another year.

Homemade Chicken Bone Broth

 

Every year I try something new, whether it is a recipe or a process such as sprouting nuts or making bone broth. I feel it brings me and my family closer to optimal health as I learn the right way to prepare and eat food. Late last year I made my first batch of bone broth from organic grass fed beef. Definitely much messier and stinkier than chicken bone broth so I tend to do this more often. I had no idea how easy this was. No recipe either! The next time you are chopping vegetables, save the broccoli stalks, carrot tops, kale stems, beet leaves, etc in a large bag in the freezer. Buy a whole organic free range chicken (I use Trader Joe's) and cook it on low in the crock pot for about 6 hours with onions, carrots, celery, herbs, sea salt, water, and anything else you like.  I usually plan on a full dinner that evening with the drumsticks and breast meat. After I have had dinner and the chicken cools a bit I strip the carcass (using the meat in several lunches, etc), return it to the crock pot and put more filtered water in to cover it as well as the whole bag of veggie parts (no need to defrost), more sea salt, and tons of fresh herbs from my garden. I let this go on low until the next morning. I stir it and see if the bones crush easily or I will add more water and let it go longer. Then I strain it, jar it, and freeze it. It yields about 6 peanut butter jars. And I always delight in a hot cup of broth. It is so beneficial to the gut, to the discs in our vertebrae, to our eyes, and basically our entire body. Drink it, flavor any meal with it or use it as a base for soups. 'To Your Health!'

SUGAR!

About 100 years ago, each person consumed an average of 4lbs of simple sugars per year. Today, especially in America and England, that number is 150+pounds (per person!)

-In the 1950's Dr. W.C. Martin classified refined sugar as a poison because of its deleterious effects on the body's cellular functions.

-Example: Daily intake of sugar creates a chronic over-acid condition. To buffer this environment and to protect the blood, calcium is leeched from teeth and bones which eventually cause weakening and decay.

-Other pathological conditions that can manifest: Kidney disease, coronary heart disease, ADD & ADHD, cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, overgrowth of candida and yeast...

-Read the labels: anything ending in -ose is a type of sugar: glucose, fructose, sucrose, dextrose, lactose, etc

-Stay away from artificial sweeteners. Some have been found by researchers to be neurotoxins that can damage the nervous system and brain.

-If you must use sugar, opt for those minimally processed, such as; turbinado, succinat and coconut sugars. Raw, unfiltered, unprocessed honey can also be used but do not cook with it as it is not heat stable. Maple syrup, Stevia, and various types of fruit are also alternatives.

HOMEWORK for the week: Keep a simple diary of how much sugar you ingest per day. Keep the amount of grams at or below 25g. It's very difficult. To find almost every food under the sun, visit: www.calorieking.com

Resources:  
How To Eat, Move, and Be Healthy, by Paul Check
www.mercola.com

 

Getting Back To Primal

According to the Chek Institute there are seven movement patterns, called 'primal' because they were key to the development and survival of early man. They are essential to performing activities of daily living and in preventing injury. Incorporate a few at a time or all of them into your exercise program. They are: squat, lunge, bend, push, pull, twist, and gait (meaning three different speeds: walking, jogging, and sprinting). For example, combine two patterns to create a lunge with a cable pull or a squat with a push. This will better facilitate your upper body communicating with your lower body which is more functional to the way we live. You are better off never using a bench for exercises - so use it to hold your keys, phone, and towel. Instead, incorporate the physio ball (or Swiss ball) into your program which activates the stabilizers of the spine and pelvis (core) and improves motor skills and balance. For more information regarding functional exercises and primal patterns contact us at www.macrotherapy.com

Keep An Eye On Your Chicken

What is an AFO? Animal Feeding Operation. Industrial animal farms that keep and raise animals in confined situations. Feed is brought to them instead of them foraging for it. It also means that they eat, sleep, defecate, and die within a small area of land. As if that thought weren't enough to turn you off from massive inhumane farms here's another reason: Feeding arsenic is still standard practice on chicken AFOs because it helps the birds grow faster and controls a common intestinal disease. Lets carry this thought from farm to table (and beyond) to understand the horrible ramifications of their actions.
The chickens injest this cocktail and produce waste. This waste is spread over agricultural land every year (by the metric ton). We injest these chickens (and what they have eaten) and everything else that is raised on this 'waste' land and we contribute this waste to our groundwater and environment.
A step you can take right now is to find a local chicken farm that treats their animals humanely, allows them to roam freely and uses chemical free or organic feed. I found one at our local farmers market in Phoenix. The farm is called Prescott Valley Farms (http://www.prescottvalleyfarms.com/) and they have a store front in Phoenix and sell at the farmers markets. Support the local farms in your state and your health will thank you for it.

For the full article go to: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/03/23/what-to-know-if-you-ever-want-to-eat-chicken-again.aspx

Take Advantage of Your Brain's Best Times

Want to maximize your brain's rhythms? Pay attention to these following times for certain tasks:

• 7 to 9 AM: Best for Passion
• 9 to 11 AM: Best for Creativity
• 11 AM to 2 PM: Best for Tough Tasks
• 2 to 3 PM: Best for a Break
• 3 to 6 PM: Best for Collaboration
• 6 to 8 PM: Best for Personal Tasks
• 8 to 10 PM: Best for Relaxing
• 10 PM onward: Best for Snoozing

For more on each: http://online.prevention.com/brain-naturally-smart/index.shtml

7 Thoughts That Are Bad For You

The 7 most detrimental thoughts to health are:
1. Cynicism: increases the likelihood for developing heart disease
2. Lack of meaning: decreased life span for test subjects
3. Fretting: fretters in a study were more likely to smoke and thus died sooner on average
4. Lack of Self Control: shorter life span as compared to their study counterparts
5. Anxiety: increases likelihood for developing dementia
6. Gloom & Doom: increases arterial plaque formation
7. Stress: increases metabolic syndromes, heart disease, blood pressure....

For more info: www.livescience.com/health/090911-7-bad-thoughts.html