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Seattle is building the worlds first edible forest



If you heard the rumor it's true. Seattle is building the worlds first edible forest. It's going to be like willie wonka's chocolate factory except full of healthy and hopefully all organic fruit and veg. Above in this video you can learn more. As they develop this project we will post updates. :) Good job Seattle!!


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Some Simple Tips for Living a Satisfying Life

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Life has taught me that success, abundance, prosperity, peace, and happiness are all created through exercising a planned routine. To create a happy and prosperous life, we need some instructions, or rules, for living.
Image: HpLyrikz.com

Rule 1: Spread love. In order to produce great achievements, we have to take great risks. The greater the required achievement, the greater the personal risk involved. The greater the love we show and give, the greater the vulnerability, but the greater the return.

Rule 2: Learn from life. We have to learn from the lessons in life. When we do lose, as we all will from time to time, we should lose gracefully and learn from the lesson that life has taught us through the experience, turning it into a positive to build on.

Rule 3: Show respect. We need to respect others as we respect ourselves. Above all we should respect ourselves and show that respect. In today's society, there seems to be a great lack of self-respect. Just look at the way people behave and dress.

Rule 4: Be responsible. We need to take full responsibility for all our actions. Always do things for the right reason and from a position of love for your fellow man. Remember that anything done for the greater good will always succeed.

Rule 5: Be ethical. Live a life that is honorable and ethical. Especially in today's world, there seem to be a lot of questions about ethics and deceit. It is very important to stay true and honest to the fundamental rules of ethics and fairness.

Rule 6: Admit fallibility. Remember to take immediate action when you realize you have made a mistake. It is very important that you admit when you have made a mistake and that you take immediate steps to correct the mistake. It is a sign of maturity and of courage to own up to your own fallibility.

Rule 7: Show forgiveness. Do not let little things interfere or destroy a great relationship. Whether in your personal life or in business, relationships are precious and should not be taken lightly, so when minor disagreements occur, do not let these destroy the relationship. Show forgiveness, and move on.

Rule 8: Allow change. Be open to change, but do not compromise on your values and ethics. Through change we grow and learn. Too often, however, people tend to change for opportunistic reasons and are willing to forego all that is good and valuable for immediate gratification or greed.

Rule 9: Learn to listen. There are times when it is better to be silent than to speak. Too often, we feel the need to say our piece, but there are many situations in life where it is better to be quiet and listen It is through listening that we learn the other person's point of view and get a better understanding of the situation under consideration. This could be a hard rule to master for some of us.

Rule 10: Create abundance. Create a loving and harmonious atmosphere in the home. When we create an atmosphere of love, we create the foundation for happiness, abundance, and prosperity. Remember that it is through giving that we receive the greatest joy and rewards.

Rule 11: Practice quiet reflection. Spend some time alone at least once a day. This is the time you can spend to meditate and reflect on the happenings of the day. This is your opportunity to recharge and to connect with your inner self. Here you will create the foundation for your abundance and prosperity.

Rule 12: Give of yourself. Remember that in any relationship your love for each other exceeds your need for each other. In other words, it is in the giving of yourself without any attachments or expectations that you receive the greatest satisfaction and rewards.

These twelve simple rules will create a life experience that you will gladly look back on. They have certainly helped me in reaching my life and business goals. It will take time to learn and practice these rules faithfully, but the time spent will surely pay benefits in your life's journey. Always have unwavering faith in what you set out to do, as long as it is done for the right reasons and within the universal rules of ethics.

About the Author:

This article was written by Andreas Stark, MSc, contributing author to "101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life: Volume 2." Andreas is a consultant, entrepreneur, and teacher. He and his wife Regina have an independent energy consulting business that specializes in earth sciences and in teaching and training. Andreas has written many educational course manuals for the energy industry as well as for postsecondary education. His article above is one of 101 great chapters that can be found in "101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life: Volume 2." This powerful compilation book -- with John Gray, Jack Canfield, Richard Carlson, Bob Proctor, Alan Cohen, and countless other experts -- contains 101 chapters of proven advice on how to improve your life

Source: oawhealth.com

Hedge funds dumping Monsanto stock as reality of GMOs sinks in

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Mike Adams
monsanto-for-saleMonsanto executives and insiders are dumping Monsanto stock in record volumes, sending the stock price spiraling downward. CEO Hugh Grant just sold off 40,000 shares at $97.74, and both Janet Holloway and Gerald Steiner — both high-level Monsanto executives — recently ditched more than 10,000 shares each. Tom Hartley also bailed on another 6,000 shares at $100.15. (See sources below.)
Hedge funds, meanwhile, are also dumping Monsanto stock, most likely due to sharply increased “negative sentiment.” This means people increasingly don’t like Monsanto, and that’s a direct result of all the growing realizations about the dangers of GMOs, Monsanto’s predatory business practices, the company’s dangerous experiments that have already unleashed genetic pollution, and the fact that GM corn has been experimentally found to cause widespread cancer tumors in rat studies.
Just the fact that Monsanto’s GE wheat trials got out of control and contaminated a wheat field in Oregon — causing Japan and South Korea to ban U.S. wheat imports — has resulted in 150 groups now demanding the USDA keep a tighter lid on Monsanto’s GMO experiments. These groups are fed up with seeing the market value of their crops destroyed by sloppy “open field” experiments being conducted by Monsanto that spread genetic pollution across the country and contaminate non-GMO crops. (Monsanto goes even further and actually sues the farmers whose fields they contaminated!)

Hedge funds dumping Monsanto

As InsiderMonkey.com reports, Monsanto “has experienced declining interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track.”
The report goes on to say:
At the top of the heap, Jeffrey Vinik’s Vinik Asset Management said goodbye to the largest stake of the 450+ funds we monitor, totaling close to $100.8 million in [Monsanto] stock. Sean Cullinan’s fund, Point State Capital, also dropped its [Monsanto] stock, about $54.7 million worth.
These sales leave Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital with the largest holdings of Monsanto, over $613 million worth of the company’s stock. Natural News urges all investors to ditch Lone Pine Capital and take your money somewhere else that doesn’t invest in “the world’s most evil corporation.”
Blue Ridge Capital also owns over $320 million in Monsanto stock and should be immediately abandoned by all investors.
Monsanto share prices plummeting ever since the March Against Monsanto
So far this year, Monsanto (MON) share prices have plummeted from a high of $109 to a current trading range around $95. That’s a drop of nearly 13%, and the bad news for Monsanto just keeps coming.
For one, the European Union’s new food safety guidelines affirm the methodology and findings of the Seralini GM corn rat study. As much as the biotech industry and all its pimped-out science trolls have attempted to attack the study, the secret is already out: GM corn causes cancer tumors and consumers accurately see GM corn as equivalent to a “poison” symbol on foods.
The Seralini study, by the way, found that:
• Up to 50% of males and 70% of females suffered premature death.
• Rats that drank trace amounts of Roundup (at levels legally allowed in the water supply) had a 200% to 300% increase in large tumors.
• Rats fed GM corn and traces of Roundup suffered severe organ damage including liver damage and kidney damage.
• The study fed these rats NK603, the Monsanto variety of GM corn that’s grown across North America and widely fed to animals and humans. This is the same corn that’s in your corn-based breakfast cereal, corn tortillas and corn snack chips.
Anyone who is still investing in Monsanto is investing in this:
All food companies that use Monsanto’s corn will be punished in the marketplace
The future for sales of Monsanto’s GM corn look especially bleak due to the simple fact that GMO labeling is now inevitable. The consumer push to know what’s in our food is unstoppable, no matter how much lobbying Monsanto conducts in a desperate effort to keep consumers ignorant about what they’re eating.
Whole Foods, of course, has already announced mandatory GMO labeling on everything it sells by 2018. I believe Wal-Mart and other retailers are also considering a similar move, or they’ll lose market share to Whole Foods.
At the same time, major food manufacturers are realizing they must either get the GMOs out of their products or face a massive consumer backlash. As a result, there is currently a mad rush by food companies to get their products certified by the Non-GMO Project. Across the board, products that achieve Non-GMO Project Verified status experience an almost immediate30% increase in sales nationwide.
Do the math: companies that use Monsanto’s GM corn are punished and boycotted in the marketplace. Companies that use non-GMO corn experience huge increases in sales. In food company corporate boardrooms all across America, this is a no-brainer: dump GMOs if you want to survive.
The same is also true for hedge funds and mutual funds: the more they invest in Monsanto, the more they stand to lose from the global outrage against Monsanto, GMOs and GM corn in particular.
Plus, I also happen to believe there will come a day when many of the top Monsanto executives will be arrested and prosecuted for their role in carrying out crimes against humanity (not just from GMOs but also from glyphosate). When that day comes, Monsanto share prices will obviously fall through the floor. The company may, in fact, implode like a dot-com bubble, leaving investors holding worthless paper instead of valuable shares… a kind of poetic justice for all those who furthered the means of such a destructive entity in the first place.
See the funds that still invest in Monsanto
The mutual funds still investing in Monsanto include:
• Fidelity Select
• American Century
• Rydex Basic Materials
• Hartford Growth
• ICON Materials
• Vanguard Materials
If you own any of these mutual funds, sell them now and invest somewhere else. Become an “activist investor” and put your money in companies that create a better world, not companies that destroy their world for their own selfish greed.
Why humanity will achieve victory against Monsanto
Monsanto is at war with humanity and the planet, but humanity will achieve victory against this evil corporate force of death and destruction. It is already happening in the marketplace and across the minds and hearts of millions of activists in stand in solidarity against corporate evil.
So spread the word about not just avoiding GMOs but also avoiding owning Monsanto stock in any form. If you have money invested in a mutual fund or hedge fund that owns Monsanto, sell the fund! Don’t let anyone use your money to further the profits of the biotech industry. Invest your money in something that helps humanity, not harms it.

Sources: RealFarmacy.com 

NaturalNews.com

Soybean Oil: One of the most harmful ingredients in processed food

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By Dr. Mercola

Processed food is perhaps the most damaging aspect of most people’s diet, contributing to poor health and chronic disease. One of the primary culprits is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), the dangers of which I touch on in virtually every article on diet I write.
Image: Raw For Beauty

These two ingredients, either alone or in combination, can be found in virtually all processed foods and one can make a compelling argument that the reliance on these two foods is a primary contributing factor for most of the degenerative diseases attacking Americans today.

Part of the problem with partially hydrogenated soybean oil is the trans fat it contains. The other part relates to the health hazards of soy itself. And an added hazard factor is the fact that the majority of both corn and soybeans are genetically engineered.

As the negative health effects from trans fats have been identified and recognized, the agricultural and food industry have scrambled to come up with new alternatives.

Partially hydrogenated soybean oil has been identified as the main culprit, and for good reason. Unfortunately, SATURATED FATS are still mistakenly considered unhealthy by many health “experts,” so rather than embracing truly healthful tropical fats like coconut oil, which is mostly grown outside the US. The food industry has instead turned to domestic US alternatives offered by companies like Monsanto, which has developed modified soybeans that don’t require hydrogenation.

Why Hydrogenate?

Americans consume more than 28 billion pounds of edible oils annually, and soybean oil accounts for about 65 percent of it. About half of it is hydrogenated, as soybean oil is too unstable otherwise to be used in food manufacturing. One of the primary reasons for hydrogenating oil is to prolong its shelf life. Raw butter, for example, is likely to go rancid far quicker than margarine.

The process also makes the oil more stable and raises its melting point, which allows it to be used in various types of food processing that uses high temperatures.

Hydrogenated oil is made by forcing hydrogen gas into the oil at high pressure. Virtually any oil can be hydrogenated. Margarine is a good example, in which nearly half of the fat content is trans fat. The process that creates partially hydrogenated oil alters the chemical composition of essential fatty acids, such as reducing or removing linolenic acid, a highly reactive triunsaturated fatty acid, transforming it into the far less reactive linoleic acid, thereby greatly preventing oxidative rancidity when used in cooking.

In the late 1990’s, researchers began realizing this chemical alteration might actually have adverse health effects. Since then, scientists have verified this to the point of no dispute.

Beware that there’s a difference between “fully hydrogenated” and “partially hydrogenated” oils. Whereas partially hydrogenated oil contains trans fat, fully hydrogenated oil does not, as taking the hydrogenation process “all the way” continues the molecular transformation of the fatty acids from trans fat into saturated fatty acids. Fully hydrogenated soybean oil is still not a healthy choice however, for reasons I’ll explain below. The following slide presentation explains the technical aspects relating to the hydrogenation process.

Sources: Mercola.com

rawforbeauty.com

Natural Technique To Overcome Headaches

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PLEASE SHARE THE NATURAL THERAPY FOR HEADACHE !!

Image: Raw For Beauty
Natural Therapy For Headaches!
In about 5 mins, your headache will go…….
The nose has a left and a right side.
We use both to inhale and exhale.
Actually they are different.
You’ll be able to feel the difference.
The right side represents the sun.
The left side represents the moon.
During a headache, try to close your right nose
and use your left nose to breathe.
In about 5 mins, your headache will go.
If you feel tired, just reverse, close your left nose
and breathe through your right nose.
After a while, you will feel your mind is refreshed.
Right side belongs to ‘hot’, so it gets heated up easily.
Left side belongs to ‘cold’.

Source: RawForBeauty.com

US Government Once Again Hiring Monsanto Employees

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Following in the footsteps of other Monsanto bigwigs going through the government’s revolving door, the seed company has again supplied a staff member for a position of authority in one of the very agencies that are allegedly present to protect the public from unsafe farming practices.  The Iowa Department of Agriculture has hired Mike Naig to serve as the deputy secretary.
Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey announced he has hired former Monsanto lobbyist Mike Naig as deputy secretary.
Naig was manager of state and local government affairs for Monsanto, the nation’s largest seed-corn company and a farm-chemical giant.
Naig will start Sept. 4.
“Mike will be a tremendous asset to the department and I’m glad he agreed to join our team,” Northey said in a statement. “His background and experience make him a natural fit for the department.”
…Naig will help manage the ag department, especially on personnel and budget issues. (source)
Please feel free to share any information from this site in part or in full, giving credit to the author and including a link to this website and the following bio.
Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor.  Her website, The Organic Prepper, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca
Source: theorganicprepper.ca

Next Up in the GMO Line: Apples

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Emboldened by the U.S. government’s repeated willingness to unleash genetically modified food on its citizens, biotech companies have big plans for our future.
Image: Wikimedia commons

A Canadian biotech company called Okanagan Specialty Fruits developed a GM apple currently under review by the FDA. This would be one of the first genetically modified fruits on store shelves in the U.S. The “Arctic Apple” would not turn brown after being sliced or bitten into.

It seems almost funny, considering that people have never seemed to have a problem with this bit of browning during the apple’s thousands of years in cultivated existence.

Of course, the company touts all sorts of benefits the FrankenApple would provide. It would allow sliced apples to be sold in bags for convenient school lunches (it’s for the kids!), and restaurants could abandon the need to use preservatives to keep their fruit salads fresh (what about all the other fruits in there?).
Apple growers are worried because the introduction of a GMO fruit would force them to implement costly measures to protect against cross-contamination and would decrease sales to foreign markets where GMO labeling and restrictions exist.

Perhaps even scarier than a GM apple is the almost certain prospect of Monsanto’s next herbicide-resistant crop. Monsanto must be very assured of government approval, because they’ve already planted the stuff at
“Ground-Breaker” demonstration plots in North and South Dakota for farm media.

The new GM crop is a soybean resistant to dicamba, a more toxic and more volatile herbicide than RoundUp. This development is causing extreme concern among farmers and concerned citizens due to the high volatility of dicamba during spraying. It is known to drift for miles, even 100 miles in one case where it damaged 15,000 acres of cotton and pomegranate orchard.

Monsanto has said they are working on a new formulation of dicamba that isn’t as volatile. Needless to say, folks aren’t buying the reassurances. Monsanto also issued guidelines for cleaning dicamba sprayer tanks that are so onerous and time-consuming it is hard to believe people will be able to follow them adequately.
Considering the astronomical rise in RoundUp sales after the RoundUp Ready system was introduced during the 1990s, Monsanto can look forward to huge profits as it sells another patented life form to dependent farmers along with patented chemicals.

And we can look forward to millions of acres of farmland being drenched in a more toxic and volatile herbicide, creating runoff into aquatic ecosystems and damaging crops and vegetable gardens of the unfortunate people who live nearby.

Let’s not forget that the industrial agriculture demand for another herbicide-resistant crop is due to the fact that weeds have developed resistance to RoundUp, the key component of Monsanto’s first foray into GMO herbicide resistance.

Monsanto creates the problem, then genetically engineers a solution to it, all the while making farmers dependent on their products. And when weeds develop resistance to dicamba, we can be assured that Monsanto is working on the next “solution.”

by Justin Gardener RealFarmacy.com

Source: RealFarmacy.com

These 5 Foods May Cause Health Problems Similar to Wheat

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Image: Raw For Beauty
While eliminating wheat from your diet is an excellent and necessary step for improving health, it may not be alone sufficient, especially in those with serious health challenges.

According to a series of articles on the website Green Med Info, there are other foods in the Western diet that have properties similar to wheat, because they contain “chitin binding lectins”, which are similar to wheat lectin (WGA).

Chitins are long polymers of n-acetyl-glucosamine, the primary binding target of wheat lectin. Wheat lectin and chitin-binding lectin are therefore functionally identical. Chitin-binding lectin containing foods include:

Potato
Tomato
Barley
Rye
Rice

Additionally, sprouted grains, which are typically considered to be healthful fare can also be problematic for a couple of different reasons. Not only do sprouted whole wheat contain the highest amounts of wheat lectin, SPROUTED GRAINS ALSO CONTAIN BENZOXAZINOIDS (BAS)—a surprisingly toxic component!

Even a modest reduction in consumption of these types of carbohydrate-rich foods may promote loss of deep belly fat. This could help reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, stroke and coronary artery disease, as excess visceral fat (intra-abdominal fat) raises the risk of these diseases.

According to Eurekalert:
“… [S]ubjects who consumed [a] moderately carb-restricted diet had 11 percent less deep abdominal fat than those who ate the standard diet … [S]ubjects on both diets lost weight. However, the moderately carb-restricted diet promoted a 4 percent greater loss of total bod
Non-Wheat Grains May Be Just as Bad as Wheat…

If you have celiac disease (gluten intolerance), it’s absolutely imperative to avoid all kinds of gluten—primarily wheat. But did you know that other non-wheat grains, and even some vegetables, such as tomato, may be problematic as well? Yes, there are a number of other foods with very similar properties to wheat! The following foods contain “chitin binding lectins”, which are similar to wheat lectin (WGA):

POTATO
TOMATO
Barley
Rye
RICE

“Chitins” are long polymers of n-acetyl-glucosamine, the primary binding target of wheat lectin. Wheat lectin and “chitin-binding lectin” are therefore functionally identical. This is probably news to most people, and could be an important tidbit for anyone struggling with celiac disease, or any other gastrointestinal issues.

Be Careful if You Have Insulin Resistance

About 85 percent of the people in the population have insulin resistance, and eating any grains, even healthy organic unprocessed ones can be a problem. How do you know if you have insulin resistance?
There are two ways.

You can measure your fasting insulin level. It should be under 3. It is relatively inexpensive and I believe most people should have it done The higher it is, the worse your insulin resistance. If you want to forgo the hassle of a blood test then you can use clinical conditions as a gauge. If you have any of the following four conditions you most likely have insulin resistance

Overweight
Diabetes
High blood pressure
High cholesterol

I have explained this information for many years, but now we have new scientific research documenting that grains have other problems that are appear to be unrelated to insulin resistance, and I will review them below.

Sprouted Grains—Perhaps Not as Healthful as You’ve Been Told

The sprouts of grains such as wheat, maize, and rye are increasingly being consumed as health foods, and are also used for the production of dietary supplements. However, sprouted wheat actually contains the highest amounts of wheat lectin (WGA)—which is responsible for many of wheat’s ill health effects! And that’s not all. These sprouts (wheat, maize and rye) also contain benzoxazinoids (BAs). Benzoxazinoids are part of the plants’ defense system against pests, and are actually toxic components…

A STUDY FROM 2007, PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNAL CANCER LETTERS, investigated the mutagenic activities of the two most abundant BA’s in these sprouted grains. Both types of BA were found be mutagens, meaning capable of altering genetic material, and both were also found to be aneugenic, meaning they affect cell division and lead to aneuploidy, an incorrect number of chromosomes.

“This is an interesting observation as it is assumed that aneuploidy is a key event in cancer induction and at present no other aneugenic plant-derived substances of dietary relevance are known,” THE AUTHORS WROTE.

Now, I think it may be risky to claim that sprouted grains are outright toxic when ingested. That’s probably not exactly the case. There may be mitigating factors involved, as there often are when you’re dealing with a whole food.

Bread Consumption and Cancer 

That said, bread (grain) consumption in general has been shown to increase your risk of cancer… For example, AN ITALIAN STUDY PUBLISHED IN 2007 found “a significant direct trend in risk” between bread consumption and renal cell carcinoma. Compared to those with the lowest consumption, those with the highest bread consumption nearly doubled their risk of this type of kidney cancer.

Pasta and rice consumption increased the risk by almost 30 percent.
Although that study didn’t specify the disease mechanism at play, it’s a well-known fact that excessive grain consumption leads to insulin resistance—sooner or later—and that insulin resistance is the primary underlying factor of most chronic disease, including cancer. My feeling is that you start to dramatically increase your risk for cancer once your fasting blood sugar rises above 100. The higher your blood sugar level, the higher your risk of cancer. As for your insulin; your fasting insulin level should, ideally, be below 3, as mentioned earlier.

Aside from cancer, all those daily bowls of cereal and sandwiches also amount to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. A STUDY PUBLISHED JUST LAST YEAR found that women who eat a lot of foods high in blood sugar-spiking carbohydrates, such as white bread and rice, double their risk of heart disease.

This is because, when you eat more carbohydrates than your body can use, the excess energy is converted to unhealthy fats by your liver which push YOUR CHOLESTEROL RATIOS in the wrong direction. This process occurs to help your body maintain blood sugar control in the short-term, however it will likely increase triglyceride concentrations, which in turn increases your risk of cardiovascular disease. It’s unfortunate that so many physicians are still clueless about insulin’s influence on cancer and heart disease, but that doesn’t mean you have to be!

read more here: MERCOLA.COM

Source: Raw For Beauty

3 Ounces of This Food a Day May Be Harming Your Brain

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By Dr. Mercola

Eating wheat may not be beneficial to your health. Among many other reasons, each grain contains about one microgram of Wheat Germ Agglutinin (WGA). Even in small quantities, WGA can have profoundly adverse effects. It may be pro-inflammatory, immunotoxic, cardiotoxic … and neurotoxic.
Image: Raw For Beauty

According to an article on Green Med Info:
“WGA can pass through the blood brain barrier (BBB) through a process called ‘adsorptive endocytosis’ … WGA may attach to the protective coating on the nerves known as the myelin sheathand is capable of inhibiting nerve growth factor which is important for the growth, maintenance, and survival of certain target neurons. WGA binds to N-Acetylglucosamine which is believed to function as an atypical neurotransmitter functioning in nocioceptive (pain) pathways.”

Most people believe that grains are a wholesome part of a healthy diet, particularly whole grains, such as whole wheat. Whole grains are also one of the relatively few foods that are allowed to make health claims on their labels, relating whole grains with a reduced risk of heart disease and certain cancers.

Unfortunately, there’s a large body of evidence indicating that whole grains, and whole wheat in particular (yes even organic), can contribute to significant health problems—both physical and mental. This evidence, however, has not registered with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—the first two of which developed the dietary guideline to consumer three or more ounces of whole grain products per day.

When you begin to review the evidence stacked up against whole grains, it becomes rather self-evident that our reliance on wheat and other grains may be one of the primary culprits for the poor health of so many.
Here, my primary focus will be on the mental health impacts of wheat, but for even more information about why wheat isn’t the health food you’ve been lead to believe, please review the two articles referenced above, and the long list of related studies.

The Side Effects of Wheat Consumption—It’s Not Just about Celiac Disease

Many of you may be familiar with Celiac Disease (CD), a gastrointestinal disorder characterized by intolerance to wheat gluten. According to statistics from the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center, an average of one out of every 133 otherwise healthy people in the United States suffers from CD. However, an estimated 20-30 percent of the world’s population may carry the genetic susceptibility to celiac disease—and the way to avoid turning these genes ‘on’ is by avoiding gluten.
When you consider that undiagnosed CD is associated with a nearly four-fold increased risk of premature death, the seriousness of this food sensitivity becomes quite evident. The primary disease mechanism at play is chronic inflammation, and chronic inflammatory and degenerative conditions are endemic to grain-consuming populations.

However, other rampant health afflictions include depression, ADD/ADHD, and Alzheimer’s disease, just to name a few. As it turns out, excessive wheat consumption may play a significant role here as well. In fact, there’s evidence suggesting that gluten sensitivity may be at the root of many neurological and psychiatric conditions.

The Toxic Effects of Wheat Germ Agglutinin (WGA)

Wheat contains high amounts of wheat germ agglutinin (WGA); a glycoprotein classified as a lectin, which is largely responsible for many of wheat’s ill effects. Other grains high in lectins include rice, spelt, and rye.
Interestingly enough, the highest amounts of WGA is found in whole wheat, including its sprouted form, which is touted as being the most healthful form of all…  Aside from high amounts of WGA, wheat also contains a number of other potentially health-harming components, including:

Gliadin (an alcohol soluble protein component

Gliadomorpin (exorphins, or group of opioid peptides that form during digestion of the gluten protein)

Enzyme inhibitors

The traditional ways of addressing many of these anti-nutrients is by sprouting, fermenting and cooking. However, lectins are designed to withstand degradation through a wide range of pH and temperatures. WGA lectin is particularly tough because it’s actually formed by the same disulfide bonds that give strength and resilience to vulcanized rubber and human hair.

Furthermore, because lectins are so small, and hard to digest, they tend to bioaccumulate in your body, where they can interfere with biological processes. WGA is particularly troublesome in this regard. Studies indicate it has a number of health-harming characteristics and activities:

read more at MERCOLA.COM

Source: rawforbeauty.com

Banish Pain by Simply Changing Your Posture

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By Dr. Mercola

Image: Esther Gokhale
An important principle to embrace is that pain is typically a good thing as it can help us identify something in our lives that is not good for our long term health.

Back pain is one of the most common pains that people experience and some experts estimate that around 80 percent of us will experience back pain at some point in life. I was certainly in the 80 percent, largely as a result of the time I spent working at the computer. My exercise regimen was not enough to compensate for the damage I was doing while sitting.

I have recently learned that non-exercise movement and posture are two incredibly important yet sorely neglected baselines for health. The more I learn about them, the more convinced I am that posture and non-exercise movement are every bit as important as regular exercise in terms of importance.
Of course, you need both, and I’m not advocating giving up your fitness routine for postural exercises. But proper posture and properly using your body to work against gravity is the foundation upon which everything else related to your health is built.

We know about the importance of diet, exercise, and emotional health, but the fourth pillar, structural health, has for the longest time remained off the radar.

Esther Gokhale’s mission is to educate people on the importance of good posture, which is actually quite different from what is normally taught, such as “sit up straight,” “stand up straight,” and “tuck your pelvis.” According to Esther, virtually all the current guidelines are problematic.

Interview:


Back Pain Can Be Eliminated Through Simple Posture Training

An estimated 80 percent of the US population will experience back pain at some point in their life, and learning proper posture is crucial if you want to avoid this fate. Esther was herself a statistic, as she developed severe back pain during her pregnancy.

She ended up having back surgery in her 20s to remedy the problem, but soon thereafter the pain came back. Rather than opting for a second surgery, she began her quest to discover the root of her problem.
“The directions that made sense to me were looking for something in my own body. It had to be something about the way I was using my body, rather than looking for a patch, looking for something to alleviate the
symptoms alone. I wanted a solution that addresses the root cause,” Esther says.

Her journey has taken her around the world—to India, Brazil, and Europe—and incorporating her knowledge of yoga, pilates, Indian dance and Chinese Medicine, she eventually created the Gokhale Method.

Esther is no stranger to Mercola.com either. She tells me she’s been following the newsletter for a while now, and I’m delighted to have the opportunity to share her knowledge and wisdom with you as this is such a crucial component of staying healthy.

I’ve been a big fan of exercising my whole life, but the principles taught not only by Esther, Dr. Joan Vernikos and Dr. Eric Goodman, are crucial for optimal health. The interaction with gravity is crucial, and- exercise movements that act against gravity while maintaining proper posture are important for all of us.
Everyone wants to age gracefully and be flexible and pain-free, and I think applying what Esther teaches is a profoundly important tool to achieve that. As Esther states:

“The point is, if you have healthy posture, everything you do becomes exercise in some measure. Every step you take, if you’re doing it in a healthy way, becomes a rep for your glute strengthening and becomes a stretch for your calf, your soleus, and so on. Healthy posture makes everyday life into exercise—into therapy even.”

Rediscovering Your Primal Posture

Esther wisely sought answers among the most functional populations; people who do not suffer back pain and have a very low incidence of arthritis in their spines, for example. And that’s where she discovered most of her techniques. Experimenting on herself, she was able to avoid the second surgery, and she has been pain free for over 20 years.

“I’ve not had a back twinge or ache – nothing, zero. Now I get to teach other people how to be empowered in their bodies and how to get there quickly,” she says.

A testament to the effectiveness of her techniques is how quickly you can get lasting results. Her course is just six lessons long, each lesson lasting about 1.5 hours if done in a group, or 45 minutes when you do one-on-one sessions. Part of the beauty of her method is that she teaches you everything you need to make you completely independent. You don’t have to see a chiropractor on a regular basis or hire a Pilates trainer for the rest of your life to keep your pain under control.

By understanding the functional biomechanics of your body and working with gravity instead of against it, you learn to optimize the way you move about your life all the time. And, it works! I’m integrating her method with a few other things, such as Foundation Training and standing up at regular 10-minute intervals as advised by Dr. Joan Vernikos, author of Sitting Kills, Moving Heals. They do make a difference. I recently went hiking in Yosemite National Park for five days and remained completely free of low back pain. In the past, it was hard to do one hike without back pain.

The Difference Between Flexibility and Laxity

Esther was a yoga teacher before her back pain set in, over 20 years ago, and there’s a lot of wisdom in any discipline that’s been around as long as yoga has. However, she points out that yoga is often misunderstood in the modern context.

“People are going for touching their toes rather than the principle of extending your limits and while keeping your baseline sound,” she says. “You want the integrity of your structure to remain intact. For example, your spine, it has a certain baseline shape that’s healthy. You don’t want to round your back just to make sure you touch the floor or your toes.”

There’s a big difference between developing flexibility, which would be in your muscles, and laxity, which occurs when your ligaments are no longer intact. As Esther points out, the danger of repeatedly rounding your back in one spot is that it creates ligament laxity. You really do not want your back to be curved. You want to maintain a straight spine with strong ligaments.

Most people reading this either have a desk job or are sitting down most of the day. This is absolutely true for me. I’m in a chair for at least 12 hours a day. I noticed that my health was starting to decline – not my biological health, but my structural or musculoskeletal health – even though I was exercising; doing a lot of strength training, and what I thought was flexibility training. Now I know why. I simply didn’t know how to maintain proper posture. Improper posture not only affects you while sitting, but it can also make you more prone to exercise injuries and/or pains resulting from exercise.

Full Article at Mercola.com

Source: RealFarmacy.com/

Top 10 Must Have Herbal Teas For Natural Healing

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When you’re sick, little is more comforting than holding a steaming mug of fragrant tea in both hands, warming your face with the hot steam.  Somehow, no matter how rotten you felt before, you instantly feel just a tiny bit better.
Image: theorganicprepper.ca
Whether you are lucky enough to grow your own tea herbs, you purchase loose teas, or you use tea bags, your cabinet is not complete without the following ingredients.  These teas are delicious and beneficial, with many different healing qualities.  Considering that we most often turn to herbal teas for healing purposes, it’s especially important to purchase or grow organic herbs for this purpose.  If your leaves are bathed in pesticide and then you add them to boiling water, instead of healing goodness, you are steeping toxins.
When making tea for medicinal purposes, be sure to steep the tea in a teapot with a lid, or to cover your mug while the herbs are steeping.  This helps to make a more potent brew by keeping all of the healing oils in the tea, instead of allowing them to drift into the room.  Most herbs should be steeped for about 10 minutes for maximum results.
There are many different herbs from around the world that have wonderful healing properties. I’ve concentrated this list on ones that can either be easily acquired and stored, or ones that can be easily grown in a backyard garden or a sunny window. Just like band-aids, antibiotic cream, or aspirin, these items are vital additions to your pantry, allowing you to dispense a hot, steaming, fragrant cup of nurturing in as little time as it takes you to boil water. Be prepared by keeping the following ingredients close at hand, and be self-sufficient by producing for yourself as many as possible (always the best way to make sure that the items were grown using safe, organic methods).
In no particular order…
1. Mint
mint
Mint tea is the classic herbal tea. Mint is an ingredient in many different commercial tea blends and is much-loved for its refreshing fragrance.
Growing it:
Mint is an herb that doesn’t just grow easily – it can quickly overtake your garden!  For this reason, it is recommended to grow mint in either a container or its own bed. There are many varieties of mint and the healing properties are similar.  Whether you grow peppermint or spearmint, the active component is menthol.
Caution:
If you suffer from acid reflux, mint tea may worsen your symptoms.  Mint has antispasmodic properties
Mint tea can be used to:
  • Reduce congestion in a cold or flu sufferer
  • Reduce pain and bloating from gas
  • Reduce cramping from diarrhea
  • Act as a mild expectorant for a chest cold or bronchitis
  • Induce sweating, the body’s natural cooling mechanism. This is a natural way to reduce a fever
  • Relieve nausea without vomiting
2. Ginger
ginger
This homely root is an ingredient in many natural cough, cold, and nausea treatments.  Instead of giving your child gingerale when they are suffering from an upset stomach (and all of the HFCS and artificial flavors that come in it) brew up a nice cup of ginger tea sweetened with honey for a real dose of soothing ginger!
Growing it:
Ginger is a tropical plant that is apparently not difficult to grow indoors. It requires excellent soil, warmth, humidity, and filtered sunlight.
You can learn how to grow ginger HERE.
Caution:
It’s not recommended to exceed 4 grams of ginger per day – components in the herb can cause irritation of the mouth, heartburn and diarrhea if taken in excess.
Click HERE to find a recipe for a delicious honey-ginger cough syrup that can also be the basis for a night-time hot toddy.
Ginger tea can be used to:
  • Reduce nausea
  • Prevent or treat motion sickness
  • Warm the body of someone suffering from chills
  • Induce sweating to break a fever
  • Soothe a sore throat
3. Chamomile
chamomile
Chamomile tea should be steeped a little longer than other herbal teas in order to get all of the medicinal benefits.  This soothing, slightly apple-flavored tea has mild sedative properties. The petals of the tiny flowers are where the medicinal values lie.
Growing it:
Chamomile is easy to grow from seeds. Start them in the late winter and transfer outdoors when the risk of frost has passed.  Once the plants are well established, chamomile can thrive with little water during hot weather.  When buying your seeds, note that German chamomile is an annual and Roman chamomile is a perennial.
Caution:
Chamomile tea should be avoided by people who take blood thinners.  As well, those who suffer from ragweed allergies may also have an allergic reaction to chamomile, as the two plants are related.
Chamomile tea can be used to:
  • Relieve anxiety
  • Induce sleep
  • Soothe mild nausea and indigestion
  • Relieve a cough from throat irritation
4. Cinnamon
cinnamon
Cinnamon doesn’t just smell like a holiday in a cup, it is anti-bacterial, antiviral, and antifungal, making it an excellent all-around remedy for whatever ails you.  Cinnamon is a wonderful source of immune-boosting antioxidants.
Growing it:
Cinnamon is the fragrant bark of a tropical evergreen tree.  This article from Mother Earth Living says that the trees are surprisingly easy to grow indoors  in large pots.
Try this delicious winter beverage:
  • 1-1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder or a cinnamon stick
  • 1 tea bag
  • honey to taste
  • Milk to taste
Stir cinnamon powder well into boiling water and steep for 8 minutes.  Add a tea bag and steep for 2 more minutes.  Stir in honey and warm milk.
Cinnamon tea can be used to:
  • Increase blood flow and improve circulation
  • Reduce nausea
  • Ease stomach discomfort, bloating, gas and indigestion
  • Warm the body of someone suffering from chills
  • Soothe a sore throat
  • Reduce cold symptoms

5. Lemongrass

lemongrass
Lemongrass is another herb that is loaded with healing properties.  The spiky, easy-to-grow plant has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-parasitic, and antifungal properties, making it helpful in treating a plethora of ailments.
Growing it:
You can actually root the lemongrass that you buy at the grocery store to start your own patio lemongrass farm. It grows beautifully in a large pot, making it a good herb for the apartment windowsill farmer to cultivate.  It can be grown year-round indoors. Check out this article for more information.
Lemongrass tea can help to:
  • aid in digestion
  • calm nervous disorders and anxiety
  •  aid in the treatment of high blood pressure if a daily cup is enjoyed
  • dilate blood vessels and improve circulation
  • act as a mild diuretic to reduce fluid retention
6. Echinacea
echinacea
This lovely flowering plant is probably the pinnacle of herbal preventatives.  Echinacea is not only anti-bacterial – but it stimulates the body’s immune system to fight off bacterial and viral attacks. The medicinal properties are in the leaves and the purple flowers.
Growing it:
Echinacea is also known as the “purple coneflower”.  The plant has deep taproots and is somewhat drought resistant. It is a perennial. Sow seeds outdoors in the early spring before the last frost. These plants like full sun and they don’t like too much moisture.
Echinacea tea can help to:
  • enhance  the immune system
  • relieve pain
  • reduce inflammation
  • provide antioxidant effects
  • shorten illness time for sufferers of the common cold
7. Rosehips
rosehips
Rosehips make a tart, tangy pink-colored tea.  They are the seed-filled pod at the base of a rose blossom, giving you a practical reason to have more rose bushes in your garden.  It mixes well and enhances the flavor of any berry or fruit-flavored tea.
Rosehip tea can help to:
  • provide a nutritional supplement of Vitamin C
  • improve adrenal function
  • boost the immune system
  • provide minerals such as calcium, iron, silicon, selenium, natural sodium, magnesium, manganese, potassium, phosphorus and zinc
  • increase energy
  • heal tissues and cells
8. Blackberry leaf
blackberry-leaf__large
Dried blackberry leaves give a luscious fruity flavor when steeped in boiling water.  Not only are they the basis of many delicious teas, they are loaded with a beneficial component called tannins. (Bonus tip: add a blackberry leaf to a jar of pickles when canning – the tannin helps to keep the pickles crisp.)
Caution:
Excess consumption of blackberry leaves (or anything containing tannins) can cause liver damage.
Blackberry leaf tea can help to:
  • provide vitamin C
  • treat diarrhea
  • reduce pain and inflammation from sore throats
  • provide an antibacterial effect against H pylori, the bacteria that causes stomach ulcers
  • provide immune-boosting antioxidants
  • provide high levels of salicylic acid, which gives them similar properties to aspirin, such as pain relief and fever relief
  • reduce inflammation of the gums
9. Clove
Cloves
Cloves are a wonderful addition to herbal tea just for the taste.  Not only is the flavor delicious, but cloves have been used for centuries to treat a variety of ailments. The multipurpose little seed packs a mighty punch with its antiviral, antifungal, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties.
Growing it:
Cloves are the dried buds of a flowering evergreen tree that is native to Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, and Madagascar. They are generally imported and, unfortunately, are not easy to cultivate in other climates or greenhouse atmospheres.
Caution:
In high amounts cloves can cause liver damage, blood in the urine, diarrhea, nausea, and dizziness.
Clove tea can help to:
  • provide pain relief – it is a powerful analgesic
  • break up mucous and work as an expectorant
  • provide  a fragrant decongestant in a steaming cup of tea
  • treat strep throat or tonsillitis – it relieves pain and provides a wash of antiviral and antibacterial components
10. Lemon Balm
lemon balm
Lemon balm, also known as Bee Balm, was first recorded to have been used by the ancient Greeks as an overall tonic for good health.  It is an ingredient in the old world Carmelite water, a recipe created by Carmelite nuns in the early 1600s to treat headaches. (The traditional mixture also contained coriander, lemon-peel, nutmeg, and angelica root.)
Growing it:
Lemon balm is easy to grow and produces throughout the summer. The more you harvest, the more it produces.  It is perennial in warmer climates.  Lemon balm like rich moist soil with organic compost and partial shade in the hottest part of the day. It is another one of those herbs that can take over a garden, so plant it in a confined area.
Lemon balm tea can help to:
  • fight off viruses – it was used historically against shingles, mumps, and cold sores
  • calm anxiety and nervousness
  • aid in sleep
  • aid the digestive system by reducing spasms and quelling heartburn
  • reduce nausea
What do you keep in your herbal medicine cabinet?  Why is it an important natural remedy for you? Please share in the comments section below!
Source: theorganicprepper.ca

About the author:
Please feel free to share any information from this site in part or in full, giving credit to the author and including a link to this website and the following bio.
Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor.  Her website, The Organic Prepper, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca

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Before trying anything you find on the internet you should fully investigate your options and get further advice from professionals.

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