Stress & IBS

One of my dear friends has been dealing with Irritable Bowel Syndrome symptoms for several years now. I have been giving her suggestions here and there on what to do to try to get rid of it. Until recently I was under the impression that IBS was one of those things that doctors would diagnose you with if they didn't know what was wrong with you. Now I know that IBS is something that doctors diagnose you with if there seems to be nothing wrong with you.

If you are having IBS symptoms, there is obviously something wrong... it's just nothing that doctors are testing for. They are looking in the wrong place. Here's what my friend has learned that has helped her tremendously.

After three years of dealing with IBS, I've learned what my "triggers" are and what I can't eat a ton of. If I have too much dairy, particularly cheese, or processed sugar, like candy or Splenda/Equal or things like that I get set off. Part of what I learned though was how connected your digestion system is to your nervous system.  My stress levels also had a significant impact on my digestion, maybe even more than my trigger foods.

With that, came my new years resolution: to be kind to myself.  The following have helped ease my stress, which in turn eased my IBS symptoms and digestion issues.

1. Drink warm water or tea after every meal.  Warm water not only eases digestion  by relaxing the muscles, but is also a natural detoxifier.  Keeping hydrated, especially with warm water has a certain comfort to it too!

2. Being mindful of what I am eating. I often rush through my meals, which either causes me to be hungry and crave my trigger foods later or causes indigestion.  Slowing down and bringing all the senses to my meals means that I eat only until I am full and helps my digestion system break down the food, rather than swallowing it whole practically.

3.  Deep breathing or alternate nostril breathing.  First of all, concentrating on the changing nostrils has definitely distracted me and allowed me to put my stressor in perspective.  Second, deep breathing is meditative even when you aren't going for that and has a calming effect.  Lastly, we are all given so many breaths so by making each one count slows you down to be in the moment.

~ L 

When was the last time your doctor talked to you about anything like that? Being someone who is prone to letting stress and anxiety get the best of me, I can relate to her suggestions about deep breathing and taking the time to eat, relax, and take care of yourself.

If your body is screaming at you, it may be more beneficial to check in on your stress levels and how you are  (or are not) taking care of yourself. To-do lists never go away & there is always tons of stuff to do each day.

Who is it going to effect if you take time out of your day to make sure you are taken care of? (hint: YOU!)

Corn, Candy, & Your Meat

As if we need another reason to eat locally and humanely raised meat. This is the latest shortcut large scale farmers are taking to cut their costs because of the rising costs of corn. For those of you who weren't aware there has been a huge drought this summer which has devastated corn crops. And guess what is in almost everything that we eat (if you eat packaged/processed foods)?

CORN

Desperate Farmers Turn to Feeding Their Cattle Candy Loaded with Corn Syrup
Tuesday, August 21, 2012 by: J. D. Heyes for Natural News (Original Source) 

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and no question the current drought spanning much of the nation's mid-section has left many a farmer desperate. For some cattle; however, things are pretty sweet at the moment.

That's because as feed becomes harder to get and more expensive, some farmers are turning to an odd dietary supplement: Candy.

Struggling with spiking corn prices (corn is a major ingredient in cattle feed) due to the drought's devastation on this year's corn crop, ranchers have found it increasingly expensive to feed cattle that aren't necessarily worth their weight, so to speak.

So it's in that environment that one rancher has come up with a rather bizarre alternative.

Farmer Joseph Watson, at Mayfield's United Livestock Commodities in Mayfield, Ky., has tweaked a recipe for success. "Just to be able to survive, we have to look for other sources of nutrition," he told CNN.

'Sweet' deal for rancher, candy distributors

Watson, who has 1,400 head of cattle, is no longer feeding them corn. Grain prices are just too high to keep it on hand. So earlier this year, he started buying second-hand candy.

"It has a higher ratio of fat than actually feeding straight corn," Watson said. "It's hard to believe it will work but we've already seen the results of it now."

Which begs the question - do veterinarians practice dentistry? But we digress.

Here's how Watson pulls this off. He mixes candy with an ethanol byproduct and a mineral nutrient. And thus far, he says, cows haven't shown any health problems from consuming so much candy. In fact, he says, his cows are gaining weight - like they should.

"This ration is balanced to have not too much fat in it," he said.

What's more, he's paying well below premium prices for his new sweet "feed." Watson says he gets his candy at discounted rates because it's no longer fit to sell to the public. Also, in buying the candy, he is helping the candy distributors too.

"Salvage is a problem for a lot of these companies and they're proud to have a place to go with it," he said.

Speaking of ethanol...

The drought's impact on corn prices is affecting more than just cattle ranchers. It's also affecting consumers, because as corn prices go up, so do prices for the products in which corn is an ingredient. In fact, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures, the drought has caused corn prices to jump 60 percent since June, to more than $8 a bushel.

And one such product is corn-based ethanol, which - via federal mandate - is blended into the gasoline we burn.

Farm consortiums have asked the Environmental Protection Agency to temporarily waive part of the mandate requiring the corn-based ethanol blend, because, they argue, doing so will make more corn available for feed and other commodities, thereby lowering prices for those items.

"The range of impact of an [Renewable Fuel Standard] waiver goes from zero to $1.30 per bushel for corn," Wally Tyner, an energy policy specialist at Purdue University, said of a new study indicating corn prices could fall under certain conditions if the waiver was issued.

The EPA is said to be examining the issue. Under its normal schedule, the agency has until October "to gather information on the extent of any economic harm done by the original Renewable Fuel Standard level and to decide if it will issue a waiver," said a report in the Southwest Farm Press, an industry publication. "For consumers, the decision could affect what they pay for fuel and food."

And of course, anything that would lower prices consumers pay for commodities is sweet.

Welp, I guess since feeding humans a diet high in sugar has worked so well, we ought to give it to our animals. Do I even need to explain how F-ed up this is? If you haven't already I would seriously look into buying your meat from a local farmer, or you could just give up meat and start eating candy bars yourself, because that old saying "you are what you eat" is right.

Another thought just crossed my mind. I'm not even sure how it's cheaper to feed them candy because all commercial candy has corn syrup in it which is a byproduct of corn. And, I don't know if you've looked at the price of candy lately, it's not cheap!

Who's with me on this one?

Who Nu?

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Who nu imitation Oreos could be so healthy? I saw a commercial for these cookies about a week ago and was completely floored at how F-ing stupid this company is and disgusted at the fact that we are in a world that regards products like this as health food items. I'm not sure what this company's sales are like, but the one thing we can all count on is that this world full of people who take things at face value and don't question much.

(Source)

Are these people serious? I mean come on! Any sort of bogus nutrition that they are claiming is in these COOKIES is obviously man-made. Unless they found a Who Nu plant somewhere in the wild jungles of some far away place only accessible by befriending an ancient alien tribe after floating there on your over-sized magic carpet. I would imagine it could look something like this:

REALITY CHECK! This company claiming Who Nu cookies are as healthy as a cup of spinach, a cup of blueberries, and as fibrous as oatmeal is about as crazy as me talking about ancient alien tribes in far away jungles and flying magic carpets. 

What seems more ridiculous to you?

Eating Well Through Cancer

This was the first book that I found on the subject of eating for health one day while sitting with Nani in the chemo office. It is full of recipes to "help" people get through chemo so they can keep their strength and calorie intake up. Before I rip this book to shreds, I would like to say that it is complements of Merck Oncology. Merck, as you may or may not know, is one of the big pharmaceutical companies that creates the chemo drugs that millions of people are given to "cure" cancer. Notice the lovely fruits and vegetables on the cover.

Now I'll tell you what they are advocating cancer patients should eat (this is just a sampling not the entire list):

• Eat between meals with high-protein diet supplements, milkshakes, puddings or nutritional energy drink supplements. SUGAR & FAKE NUTRITION
• Add cream or butter to soups, cooked cereals, and vegetables to increase calories. Add gravies and sauces to vegetables, meat poultry, and fish until weight loss is no longer a problem. FAT & ANIMAL PROTEIN
• Add extra protein to your diet by using fortified milk, peanut butter, cheese, and chopped hard boiled eggs ANIMAL PROTEIN
• Be creative with deserts. SUGAR
• Try drinking lemonade. MORE SUGAR!
• Increase the sugar in foods to increase their pleasant tastes and decrease salty, bitter, or acid tastes.
• Use extra sugar with many deserts to improve the taste or to provide its accustomed taste. A teaspoon of sugar added to cooking water or glazing vegetables such as may help improve vegetable flavors. INCREASE THE SUGAR!!!
• Fresh vegetables may be more appealing than canned or frozen ones. FINALLY!

Food Staples:

• refrigerated biscuits SUGAR
• butter or margarine FAT
• fruit
• reduced fat cheese FAT
• skim milk DAIRY
• sour cream DAIRY
• fresh vegetables
• fat free yogurt DAIRY
• white bread SUGAR
• pasta SUGAR
• pizza crusts SUGAR
• white rice SUGAR
• cake mixes (chocolate, yellow, & white) SUGAR
• instant pudding SUGAR
• sugar & artificial sweetener SUGAR
• reduced fat creamed soups WHO THE HELL KNOWS?!

Recipes for the day of chemo:

• cinnamon rolls
• blueberry pancakes
• berry french toast
• baked french toast
• apple lasagna
• egg noodle casserole
• yam biscuits
• chess pie (butter, sugar, white flower, eggs)
• lemon angel food cake
• chocolate eclair

ALL SUGAR!!!!

OK ready? First of all I appreciate the tidbits of fruit and vegetables that are scattered across these pages. More importantly though, the majority of this book is filled with white flour and sugar. THE ONE THING THAT FEEDS CANCER IS SUGAR! HOLY S-H-I-T! This book is basically advocating eating a low fat diet that is high in sugar- which the last couple decades of American's fat free psychosis has proven  a disaster. 

How is any of this food going to help the chemo get rid of the cancer that this food is actively feeding?

Where did these people get their information? Actually, did they even research anything about what feeds cancer? and what prevents disease? Surely not! I really feel for people who take information like this at face value. Just because it is published and backed by a huge company like Merck doesn't mean it's good information. Besides Merck doesn't want cancer to go away. Then they would be out of business.

In my humble opinion, people who are dealing with cancer should be eating a plant based diet with tons of fresh fruits and vegetables in the form of salads, fresh juices, smoothies, with whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds. Someone with cancer should NOT be eating deserts!!!

Ugghhh! 

Please if you or someone you know is dealing with cancer, the best thing you can do for yourself is change your diet. If you have any questions please email me at jessicageier@gmail.com. 

Over Fed but Starving to Death

Wanna know why you can't loose weight? Why you feel like S-H-I-T? Why you don't have enough energy to get through the day?

Trailer

I've been meaning to watch this now for a while, but life and my ever increasing to do list kept getting in the way. I don't think that anyone could have summed up the current state of why everyone is so sick and fat as concisely as these film makers did. They are right on point with everything that they point out. It's about an hour and a half long, but I highly recommend it.

Part 1

Above is the trailer and first couple of minutes of the film, but if you want to watch the full documentary you can find it here for free.

Too Much of a Sweet Thing

Every day I get like 35 emails from different organizations that are trying to spread information about health, the food industry, and preventing disease. This morning was no different. Usually I just skim through them, but occasionally I come across something that is worth reading and sharing.

I'm sure, if you have been reading my ramblings, you know by now that I have pretty strong opinions about how F-ed up our agriculture industry/government (should be considered the same thing nowadays) are and how people's trust in them/complete ignorance are making them fat & sick. The people in power at the FDA and USDA know how most people don't think for themselves. This is how they can make the argument that high fructose corn syrup is just like real sugar.

FYI people...sugar comes from plants, high fructose corn syrup comes from factories. They may trick you into thinking that it comes from corn, and I guess if you traced the final product all the way back to the beginning it does. But it's not like they peel the husk back, crush the kernels, and you have HFCS. It is a complicated process that was thought up by scientists.

I'm not saying that eating a lot of sugar is any better for your long term health than eating a lot of HFCS. It's not, ultimately because they are empty calories that only make you fat and BONUS! CANCER FEEDS ON SUGAR.

Below is the article that sparked my interest. Apparently the HFCS people are trying to fight for the right to call it "corn sugar". Puh-leeeeeaze! I can't believe any court is even wasting their time and tax payer's $$ to debate this ridiculousness.

Sugar seeks sweet revenge against competition from corn

A lawsuit claims false advertising by producers of increasingly popular high fructose corn syrup, whose relation to obesity has come under increased scrutiny.

By Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times 

March 20, 2012

They are the two bad boys of the American diet, linked to a variety of ailments including obesity, diabetes and tooth decay.

But now sugar is taking high fructose corn syrup to court in a landmark battle over which is the greater evil.

In a lawsuit that goes before a Los Angeles federal judge Wednesday, sugar producers accuse their corn industry rivals of false advertising in a campaign that casts the liquid sweetener as "nutritionally the same as table sugar" and claims "your body can't tell the difference."

Sugar forces argue that high fructose corn syrup is far less healthy than their product and are demanding that the ads run by the Corn Refiners Assn. be halted and that the corn association pay unspecified monetary damages.

FOR THE RECORD:

Sweetener lawsuit: A March 20 article in Section A about a legal battle between the producers of sugar and high fructose corn syrup said that the average American consumes 888 calories per day from sweeteners. In fact, the average intake is 387 calories per day, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The article also said that the Corn Refiners Assn. represents growers, processors and distributors. Most growers are represented by the National Corn Growers Assn. 

The corn industry promoters "characterize high fructose corn syrup as a natural product. It is not — it is man-made," said Adam Fox, an attorney for the sugar industry plaintiffs, led by Western Sugar Corp. "Yet they are advertising it as identical to sugar cane and sugar beets."

The lawsuit is likely to bring more scrutiny to high fructose corn syrup as its producers are trying to improve the sweetener's image. The association representing corn growers, processors and distributors — including farm belt giants Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. and Cargill Inc. — has applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to officially change the name of high fructose corn syrup to "corn sugar" for labeling purposes.

Concern about the health effects of the corn-based product began escalating about a decade ago, when the surgeon general first expressed alarm over the rapid and ubiquitous spread of the sweetener in processed foods.

But more recently, the debate has unfolded in popular culture. In a "Saturday Night Live" skit last spring, actresses Kristen Wiig and Nasim Pedrad played mothers arguing over the sweet red drink being served at a children's birthday party. Pedrad defends high fructose corn syrup, and her argument seems to be winning until her grossly overweight daughter — played by Bobby Moynihan — emerges from the background. "Parks and Recreation" and "The Simpsons" have also spoofed the sweetener dispute.

In court papers, the sugar industry says the nation's soaring rise in obesity and diabetes has dovetailed with the penetration of the synthesized corn sweetener in soft drinks, condiments, bread, cookies, jam and syrups.

The corn forces respond that there is nothing dishonest about their advertising and that they will prove it in court.

"It is wrong for the refined sugar industry to try to stifle this truthful speech," said Dan K. Webb, lead attorney for the corn refiners.

The defendants, he said, plan to present nationwide survey results suggesting that consumers think high fructose corn syrup is higher in fructose and calories than table sugar, which he says it is not.

"Good science proves that obesity is caused by the overconsumption of calories from any source, not from one ingredient," Webb said. "USDA data shows that consumption of high fructose corn syrup has actually been in decline, while obesity rates are rising. It is just wrong for the plaintiffs to claim that high fructose corn syrup is uniquely responsible for obesity."

Americans consumed an average of 47 pounds of sugar per person in 2010, plus 35 pounds of high fructose corn syrup — more than three times the per-capita sweetener intake elsewhere in the world, according to statistics of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That means the average American consumes 888 calories per day from sweeteners, according to the USDA.

Medical research on the metabolic effects of consuming sugar versus high fructose corn syrup has been limited but consistent in indicating heightened risks from the liquid sweetener, said Michael I. Goran, director of the Child Obesity Research Center at USC's Keck School of Medicine.

"There's definitely a difference in metabolic fate and outcome of fructose ingestion relative to glucose," Goran said, noting that high fructose corn syrup contains more of the former ingredient, as its name implies. "So the more you tip the scale toward fructose, the more those negative effects kick in."

Table sugar made from cane or beets is 50% fructose and 50% glucose, and the molecules are bonded in a way that slows the body's absorption of the fructose, Goran said.

By contrast, high fructose corn syrup is typically 55% fructose — and some formulas contain as much as 90% — elevating blood sugar levels more swiftly.

"It's not just about the calories," said Goran, citing the liquid sweetener's broad use in food production because it is cheaper to make than sugar, helps stabilize foods, allows for better browning of baked goods and provides a more concentrated sweetness than the same amount of sugar.

Corn industry representatives contend that any confusion about high fructose corn syrup stems from its name and would be resolved by changing it to "corn sugar."

It's not just Big Sugar, however, that opposes high fructose corn syrup's efforts to rebrand itself.

"If sugar wanted to change its name to 'highly nutritious vitamins' we would oppose that too," said James S. Turner, a Washington attorney who heads Citizens for Health, which has taken sugar's side in the legal battle.

Turner said he and his group "are not arguing against high fructose corn syrup, we are arguing that the public understands that it and sugar are different things and to try to cloud that over is a mistake. All we want is for the public to be able to distinguish a product they don't want to buy."

An FDA spokeswoman, Tamara N. Ward, said the corn industry's September 2010 petition for the name change "is still pending before the agency and we are actively working on it."

carol.williams@latimes.com

Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times 

Have you ever checked the food in your pantry? I suggest you do. You will be shocked. 

Chugging Vegetable Juice

So Monday morning I started drinking dark green leafy vegetable juice- convenient timing considering how I am also working on starting a business that sells dark green leafy vegetable juice. Let me tell you...it is amazing (I added alot of fresh pressed apple juice!). If I didn't get full after a giant glass, I would drink more. I was literally chugging it like I had been deprived of water in a desert.

These are the veggies that I used:

• kale
• collards
• spinach
• broccoli
• parsley
• dandelion greens (sooooo healthy for you!)
• cilantro
• celery
• carrots w/ their tops

I wrote a few weeks ago how I literally  have been craving vegetable juice now for a few weeks. I watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead (again) and was like I NEED VEGETABLE JUICE!!!!! Well now I have it and I am taking advantage. I'll let you know if there are any breakthroughs along the way. Psst...I don't want to speak too soon...but...in the past week that I have been mostly raw and drinking this green juice my skin has majorly cleared up. Crossing my fingers! The real test will be when I get my EPISODE which is due to destroy me within the next week or so.

When I was first introduced to the dark green juice many many years ago by my grandfather (who's 87, still physically healthy, and drinks this stuff everyday!) I was completely grossed out. It was dark and pungent smelling and unbearably undrinkable. That was when I was in college and I'm sure I was slightly hungover, had just finished McDonald's (or similar), &/or wasn't the slight bit interested in the benefits of dark green leafy vegetable juice.

Fast forward 6 or 7 years and I have a whole new perspective. Plus I am mixing the dark serious stuff with fresh pressed apple juice which is what makes it drinkable (at least at my stage in the game). But after reading all about the health benefits of incorporating more dark greens leafy vegetables into your diet it doesn't matter to me what you have to mix it with to get it into your stomach- so long as it gets into your stomach. I know plenty of people who are afraid of fruit because they have been brainwashed by mainstream that it is high in sugar, and are going to be afraid of mixing it with fruit juice. But seriously, even though fruit juice (I'm talking fresh pressed not the junk you buy in stores) is sugary they are 100% natural and all of the vitamins and healthy stuff is still there and hasn't been cooked off. P.S. all fruit juices you buy in a grocery store have been cooked so there is not much nutritional value if any.

This brings up a whole new idea that I had which is most people are going to need to mix fruit juice into this stuff so they can actually drink it....

Should we sell different strengths? Like one for beginners which is mixed with say 75% fruit juice, then the novice which is 50% fruit juice (I'm somewhere in between those two), then the serious level with 25% fruit juice, and finally the master level at 100% full strength dark green leafy vegetable juice.

So I ask you...if you were buying this stuff and you needed to mix it with fruit juice in order to actually drink it and get the health benefits, would you rather buy it pre-mixed OR would you rather buy the full strength stuff and mix it yourself?

SHOCKING: Paula Deen Has Diabetes

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I could have told you 10 years ago that Paula Deen was going to eventually get diabetes. You CANNOT eat the way she cooks and expect to stay healthy. Now I have no idea if she eats everything she makes on her show (and for her cookbooks) but I suspect she dabbles (a lot!).

(source)

My first exposure to Paula Deen was when I moved to Savannah, GA to go to college. Her restaurant, Lady & Sons, was the talk for a while. I never actually ate there mainly because I ate at another "Southern" home cooked barf fest of a restaurant and I couldn't stomach putting myself through that misery again. Especially considering Savannah's weather. You walk out of the restaurant- after eating macaroni & cheese, grits, potatoes au gratin, 4 types of meat, banana pudding, collard greens fried in lard (I think this is thrown in there just so they can make themselves feel better because it started out as a vegetable), and 2 gallons of sweet tea- and the humidity smacks you in the face like an abusive husband. All you want to do is lay down and sleep your over-stuffed guilt away.

A few things:

• these are my humble opinions about this issue
• she said that it took her 3 years to publicly admit she has diabetes because she didn't have all the information...it doesn't take a genius (or 3 years) to Google "causes of diabetes" and put two and two together to come up with the conclusion that the way she eats is effecting her health
• she doesn't seem to be concerned that the empire she built on sugar, white flour, and deep frying is making her sick
• she is now partnering with a company that makes diabetes meds...talk about taking the easy way out!
• she could have tried to partner with Dole, Chiquita Banana, or Sunkist...at least she would've been eating more fruit & vegetables

(source)

Now, if instead of acting like a naive Southern lady, Paula Deen came out and announced publicly that she had diabetes and the reason was because she wasn't eating properly I would definitely have her back. It shows strong character to admit when you've been schooled by mother nature. She is big-time enough where she could have flipped it into a boost for herself and her brand. 

(source)

Maybe she needs to find another Marketing/PR team or maybe she needs to pull her head out of the pharmaceutical company's ass. 

oh Jesus

Type 2 diabetes is 100% reversible with a whole foods, plant-based diet. 100% It really boggles my mind that more people don't know this. Do yourself (and everyone you care about) a favor... if you are overweight or obese or have Type 2 diabetes...put down your giant Italian hoagie, your high fructose corn syrup-laden cereal, your Paula Deen cookies and go read up on eating whole foods (fruit, vegetables, whole grains like rice and quinoa, nuts and seeds) and the positive impact it will have on not only your diabetes, but cholesterol, high blood pressure, allergies, fatigue, depression, etc, etc. It won't take you that long to figure out.

my favorite by far
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It is one thing to eat like this on special occasions, but it is entirely another to eat like this on a day to day basis. One last tidbit of info about Type 2 Diabetes...when you get diagnosed it takes 10-15 years off your life expectancy. 

Shocking, I know, and so simple to avoid.



UPDATE: So obviously after posting this a few minutes ago I found Paula's new website Diabetes In A New Light. Take a look a the video on the homepage. Let me know if you think this lady is ever going to beat it...this is 100% pro-pharmaceutical propaganda. Sorry Paula, you sold out. 

Christmas Dinner: Part 3 Dessert

Last but not least... ginger cookies (and a surprise bonus recipe)! I spent all morning slaving away in my kitchen to successfully make...dun dun duuuun...15 cookies. This little recipe was a tricky one.

The biggest lesson I learned is that I have decided that I am not going to bake any more (aside from bread and my banana bread which I will impress you with soon). For whatever reason, it stresses me out. I am ALWAYS self conscious about how it will turn out (which is usually pretty good) and worried about whether I am cooking it for the right amount of time. Most importantly, I don't enjoy it. I could cook for days and days and days and I love it. Baking on the other hand just doesn't satisfy me.

I had a conversation with my sister about all things baking on the way into the office today, and we decided that she would contribute the baked goods to my blog. She loves it, and wants a new hobby so, shortly after the holidays I will be introducing her to you, and passing the baked-goods-baton on to her.

Ok, back to ginger cookies. The recipe is pretty straight forward and I will teach you my simple tricks so they don't burn, or expand into one another making a giant cookie sheet.

DRY

• 2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 2 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves

WET

• 2 sticks organic butter
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 farm egg
• 1/2 c. molasses (robust or blackstrap)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. Grease cookie sheets with butter, or lay parchment paper down.
3. Mix dry ingredients in bowl.
4. In Kitchenaid (or use hand mixer), add in butter and brown sugar. Beat on med/high for 3 minutes. 
5. Add in remainder of wet ingredients. Mix well.
6. Add in dry ingredients.
7. Make balls and coat with raw sugar. 
8. Space balls 1 1/2" apart on cookie sheets. 
9. Cook for 10 minutes, check centers. If necessary cook for additional 2 minute increments until done. Should not take more than 16 minutes.

TRICK: Use teaspoon to make balls- they should be about the size of a big cherry. The batter should be sticky when making these balls, and they will flatten out while cooking BIG TIME! Also, if your oven heats from the bottom, move the racks in your oven as high as they can go with enough room to put the cookie sheets in (so the bottoms don't burn). If it heats from the top, put the racks at the bottom.

dry ingredients

butter and brown sugar

I made my ballz about double the size I would recommend

see? they ended up mushing together

The reason I only got 15 cookies was because A. I made the ballz too big, B. I burned an entire sheet of cookies (the one that was on the bottom rack was too close to the heat), C. the cookies were so big that they broke apart. 

they sure did photograph well though!

BONUS! My mom gave us her shortbread recipe a few weeks ago and since it was so simple I decided to out do myself and make it this morning. If you bring this to any dinner party/holiday, people will LOVE it. I promise. 

• 2 sticks organic butter (room temp)
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/2 egg
• a little milk (organic)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In Kitchaid or Cuisinart, put in all ingredients. Use dough hook on Kitchenaid or dough blade in Cuisinart. 
3. Dough should be very sticky.
4. Press into heavily greased mold. (I used a tart pan w/ a removable bottom)
5. Bake for 30 minutes.
6. Let cool for 5 minutes and then score top into wedges. Once the top is scored, go around a second time and cut all the way through. 
7. Let cool until you are able to handle the pan without oven mitts. Carefully remove the side of the tart pan.
8. Let cool completely, plate, and wrap in saran wrap until time to serve. 

HOLY BUTTER!

I love recipes that fit on post-it notes

I ended up doubling the recipe for this size pan (9"), and it took almost twice as long to cook. After 30 minutes, the sides were already brown but the middle was still gushy so I turned the oven down to 300 degrees for another 20 minutes or so. The edges should be slightly brown and the middle should be firm and dry looking. By the time it cools fully, the edges will be flaky and the middle should be dense and moist. Flour & Butter & Sugar- oh my!

Usually I try to "healthy" a recipe up, but in this case...don't mess with this perfection. My mom makes this every year for Christmas and I look forward to it soooo much! And it's rather easy to make (much easier than the ginger cookies). 

Merry Christmas!!! 

Twinkies vs. Carrots

While I do not agree with Michael Pollan that carrots should be subsidized...I do agree that there is a major problem with our food industry. I believe that the government should stay out of business...and food is a business too.

It's very simple. If you want whole foods, shop the perimeter of the grocery store. Whole foods will be along the walls of the grocery store.

Do you get "sucked in" to the goodies in the middle of the supermarket?

Kellogg's Smart Start (My Ass!)

This is Propaganda 101. Yes they make health claims at the top like "Good Source of Fiber" and "Made with Whole Grain" and "Strong Heart", but take a look at how many times sugar shows up in the ingredient list.

READ YOUR LABELS....in no way is this a smart start to your morning unless your goal is to give yourself Type 2 Diabetes. Most cereals you find in the grocery store are LOADED with sugar. To this date I have only found one that is suitable and that is Barbara's Shredded Wheat which boasts one ingredient: whole wheat. 

*NOTE: Barbara's has many other cereals however, they use Vitamin E Tocopherols which I have researched and have been mentioned to possibly cause cancer...NO THANK YOU!...as well as soy, sweeteners, and other vitamin fortifications.

You are better off eating oatmeal or other whole grain porridge. You can sweeten with fruit, berries, or raw agave nectar which is a low glycemic sweetener. 

I should have been born French

I recently watched the movie Julie & Julia (I know it is a few years old) and was instantly enthralled by Julia Child. Honestly I could have done without the Julie character and her story (although that was a great accomplishment to have her blog turned into a major motion picture). They should have just done the movie about Julia Child. Anywho. Julia Child had spend years and in France "mastering the art of French cooking" which coincidentally is the name of her two volume masterpiece. I have not read it yet, but I am going to buy it and start working through it. She also has another book Julia's Kitchen Wisdom: Essential Techniques and Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking which I think might be right up my alley. 


The real reason I am writing about this is because it occurred to me that she lived to be 92, and, from what I saw and know of her recipes, ate a high fat diet full of pastries and duck, beef and butter (among other things). This was back in the 1950's until the time she died in 2004. I do know that she used real, fresh, quality ingredients, and lots of love. She LOVED to cook and figure out the best ways to prepare any dish. A woman after my own heart. 

This raises the question... do the ingredient matter as much as the quality?


Let's take butter for instance. It is quite possibly my favorite fat and I will put it on anything that I can. According to SELF Magazine's Nutrition Data Website it is 99% fat and 1% protein. It is very inflammatory probably because it is a saturated fat from an animal source (I assume that they are rating this as bad as they are because it is high saturated fat and everyone is under the impression that saturated fats are bad- WRONG - unnatural fats are bad). It has upwards of 20% RDA of Vitamins A, D, E, & K as well as being a complete protein (a complete protein is a source of protein that contains an adequate proportion of all nine of the essential amino acids necessary for the dietary needs of humans or other animals).

So in butter's case, it is the saturated fat and cholesterol vs. all 9 essential amino "fatty" acids and 4 vitamins. Now obviously you can find these vitamins elsewhere in a wide variety of vegetables. The essential fatty acids are another story.


Two things:

• The complete proteins are called "essential" fatty or amino acids because our body cannot make them. We need to get them from other sources, and our bodies will not function properly if we are deficient.   
• The word "fatty" means they come from FAT. Therefore, you will be deficient if you eat a low fat diet. That means, if you only eat egg whites, boneless skinless chicken breast, no butter, and no meat you are running the risk of becoming deficient in one or several of the 9.

Yes you can find some of the 9 amino acids from other sources (legumes, grains, and vegetables) but they tend to be limited in the number of amino acids. Some are notably low, such as corn protein. Hmmmm, didn't I just find out that corn in the United States is genetically modified and shows up in a lot of the processed foods Americans buy? 

These are the foods naturally containing all 9 amino acids:  amaranth, buckwheat, hempseed, meat, poultry, soybeans, quinoa, seafood, and spirulina.


How many of those can you say you eat on a regular basis? Personally, I can say 1 regularly (seafood) and 5 occasionally. The three that I have never used in my cooking so far are amaranth, buckwheat, and hempseed. 


It is easy to get all of the essential amino acids if you eat a wide variety of unprocessed foods, but how many of you can say that?


So with all that technical stuff aside, let's get back to quality. After everything that I have read on the science of fats, dairy, the dairy industry, sugar, the sugar industry, soy, the soy industry, etc, it is my humble conclusion that the quality of the fats, sugars, and proteins are more important than the amount of saturated fat in something or the amount of carbs in something else. 

Instead of counting calories and grams of fat, try focusing on these few things that will make a tremendous improvement in your life:

1. Buy organic egg and dairy products. If you are lucky enough to live in a state or country that allows the sale of raw dairy take advantage. The packaging must say "without antibiotics and growth hormones" and would be a HUGE plus if it says "comes from grass fed/pasture raised animals". Cage Free is does not mean that the chickens live on a farm. They are given slightly better living conditions than normal (which isn't saying much). If you want to know how "conventional" animals are raised look up some videos on YouTube...a lot of it is worse than your wildest imaginations.
2. Buy meat from "humanely raised" animals. Grass fed is good too, but the regulations for raising grass fed animals go against what is natural for those animal. Animals eat other things than grass in nature. Organic means nothing unless it also says humanely raised or grass fed.
3. Don't buy processed soy UNLESS it is soy sauce, tofu, tempeh, or miso. Check all ingredients though because manufacturers sneak in bad ingredients to cut costs. 
4. Cut out as much refined sugar as you possibly can. Fruit sugar is different. We are meant to eat fruit. It has fiber in it which slows down the absorption into our blood stream. Fruit is also bursting with vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, and cancer-fighting nutrients. 
5. NO TRANS-FATS. Partially hydrogenated and hydrogenated oils make up this category. They wreak havoc on your bodies in many different ways. 

Long story short...EAT LIKE JULIA DID...REAL, HIGH QUALITY FOODS COOKED WITH LOVE.

She was funny too!

The War on Cancer: Focusing on the Wrong Things

The "War on Cancer" was started in 1971 with President Nixon's National Cancer act. The goal was to throw billions of dollars towards finding a cure for cancer by increased research to improve the understanding of cancer biology and the development of more effective cancer treatments, such as targeted drug therapies (i.e. chemo and radiation).


Are we any better today?


What if they were not looking in the right places? Many of the doctors, PhD's and scientists who I have been studying and have come to admire are saying that the way we eat has a major effect on how our body protects itself against cancer, among other chronic illnesses like heart disease and diabetes. This makes complete sense to me because everything you put into your mouth has to be broken down to its molecular level to be absorbed or eliminated by your body. We have powerful bio-computers inside of us that are experts in protecting us from sickness and disease...if we let them. 


I have written before on sugars and its effects on cancer prevention. Here is an article I came across from Dr. Mercola on how fructose specifically is the cause for cancer's proliferation. 

Is this Simple Sugar a Major Factor in the Failure of the War on Cancer? 

By Dr. Mercola (Link to Original) There's compelling evidence and agreement by many experts that excessive fructose is toxic to your body. Unlike fructose, nearly every cell in your body can directly use glucose. However fructose is primarily metabolized in your liver and can serve as a substrate for increasing cancer cell growth.  

Fructose Helps Cancer Cells Thrive 

ALL forms of sugar are detrimental to health in general and promote cancer, but in slightly different ways, and to a different extent, as I'll explain later. Fructose, however, clearly seems to be one of the most harmful sugars. A new article in Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets reviewed the relationship between increased dietary refined sugar and cancer risk, with specific emphasis on the monosaccharide fructose. The researchers noted:

"Recent observations indicate that cancer cells readily utilize fructose to support proliferation and preferentially use fructose for nucleic acid synthesis."

They named several ways in which dietary fructose can promote cancer growth, including: 

·         Altered cellular metabolism
·         Increased reactive oxygen species (free radicals)
·         DNA damage
·         Inflammation 

Research published in the journal Cancer Research also showed that the way the different sugars are metabolized (using different metabolic pathways) is of MAJOR consequence when it comes to feeding cancer and making it proliferate. According to the authors: 

Click image to enlarge

" Importantly, fructose and glucose metabolism are quite different ... These findings show that cancer cells can readily metabolize fructose to increase proliferation." In this case, the cancer cells used were pancreatic cancer, which is typically regarded as the most deadly and universally rapid-killing form of cancer. The study confirms the old adage that sugar feeds cancer because they found that tumor cells do thrive on sugar (glucose). However, the cells used fructose for cell division, speeding up the growth and spread of the cancer. 

Why is This a MAJOR Threat to Public Health?  

Whether you're simply interested in preventing cancer, or have cancer and want to live longer, you ignore these facts and listen to industry propaganda that fructose is safe and no different from other common sweeteners at your own risk. The truth of the matter is that fructose may very well be the most pernicious influence in the Standard American Diet, and is virtually guaranteed to cause chronic disease if consumed in excess. 

The major problem is, the vast majority of Americans are consuming fructose at levels 3-600% of the upper limit! Further, most people are seriously confused about fructose and still believe it is a "healthy" type of sugar because it is found naturally in fruits and touted as having a low glycemic index. But this is not a matter of eating an apple or a handful of raisins as a snack. Fructose, in one form or another, can be found in five of the 10 top sources of calories in America, and in some cases (particularly when processed or from a restaurant) may actually be in ALL of them: 

• Grain-based desserts (cakes, cookies, donuts, pies, crisps, cobblers, and     granola bars) 139 calories a day
• Yeast breads, 129 calories a day
• Chicken and chicken-mixed dishes, 121 calories a day
• Soda, energy drinks, and sports drinks, 114 calories a day
• Pizza, 98 calories a day
• Alcoholic beverages
• Pasta and pasta dishes
• Mexican mixed dishes
• Beef and beef-mixed dishes
• Dairy desserts

 If you're interested in preventing cancer, my recommendation is to keep your total fructose intake below 25 grams of fructose per day, if you're in good health. Most people will also benefit from limiting your fructose from fruit to 15 grams a day, and, if you need to lose weight, you likely will need to limit your total fructose consumption to 15 grams a day total, including that from fruit. 

 If you have cancer, however, you'll want to reduce your total fructose consumption to below 10 grams per day from all sources, including fruit. 

What Makes Sugar so Appealing to Cancer Cells?  

In 1931 the Nobel Prize was awarded to German researcher Dr. Otto Warburg, who first discovered that cancer cells have a fundamentally different energy metabolism compared to healthy cells. Malignant tumors tend to use a process where glucose is used as a fuel by the cancer cells, creating lactic acid as a byproduct. The large amount of lactic acid produced by this fermentation of glucose from cancer cells is then transported to your liver. This conversion of glucose to lactic acid generates a lower, more acidic pH in cancerous tissues as well as overall physical fatigue from lactic acid buildup. This is a very inefficient pathway for energy metabolism, which extracts only about 5 percent of the available energy in your food supply. In simplistic terms, the cancer is "wasting" energy, which leads you to become both tired and undernourished, and as the vicious cycle continues, will lead to the body wasting so many cancer patients experience. Additionally, carbohydrates from glucose and sucrose significantly decreases the capacity of neutrophils to do their job. Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell that help cells to envelop and destroy invaders, such as cancer. Meanwhile, fructose appears to be preferred by cancer cells for cell division, which contributes to its growth and spreading throughout your body. 

Even though the theory that sugar feeds cancer was born nearly 80 years ago, most conventional cancer programs STILL do not adequately address diet and the need to avoid sugars and fructose if you have cancer. As Patrick Quillin, PHD, RD, CNS wrote more than a decade ago:

"During the last 10 years I have worked with more than 500 cancer patients as director of nutrition for Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It puzzles me why the simple concept "sugar feeds cancer" can be so dramatically overlooked as part of a comprehensive cancer treatment plan. Of the million[s of] cancer patients being treated in America today, hardly any are offered any scientifically guided nutrition therapy beyond being told to "just eat good foods." Most patients I work with arrive with a complete lack of nutritional advice."

Artificial Sweeteners are NOT a Safe Sugar Alternative  

You may be tempted to swap sugar for artificial sweeteners, but these can damage your health even more quickly than fructose. In fact, there are already hundreds of published studies linking artificial sweeteners like aspartame, which is widely used in diet soda and many other diet foods, to serious health complications. Cori Brackett's documentary film Sweet Misery is an excellent summary of the problems with aspartame. 

You can also view my interview with Victoria Innes-Brown, who over a 2.5-year period performed a set of meticulous and detailed experiments, documenting the effects of using aspartame liquid comparable to diet soda on mice. This included not only large tumors but also neurological effects, paralysis, skin disorders and symptoms of cerebral palsy. Recent research has also linked diet soda consumption to higher rates of strokes, heart attacks and other lethal vascular events as well as metabolic syndrome. 

There is literally enough evidence showing the dangers of consuming artificial sweeteners to fill an entire book -- which is exactly why I wrote Sweet Deception. If you or your loved ones drink diet beverages or eat sugar free foods, this book will explain how you've been deceived about the truth behind artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose. 

For times when you want to add a bit of sweetness to your food or beverages, try using the herb stevia instead. It's a safe, natural plant that's has been around for over 1,500 years and is ideal if you're watching your weight, or if you're maintaining your health by avoiding sugar. It is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar and has virtually no calories. 

Alternatively, you could use Lo Han or pure glucose (dextrose) as a sweetener. It costs about $1 a pound and does not cause many of the adverse biochemical disasters that fructose does. 

It is only 70 percent as sweet as sucrose though, so you'll end up using a bit more of it for the same amount of sweetness, making it slightly more expensive than sucrose—but still well worth it for your health as it has ZERO grams of fructose. Glucose can be used directly by every cell in your body and as such is far safer than the metabolic poison fructose. 

Solid Nutrition is Paramount if You Want to Beat Cancer  

You're probably well aware of the link between the foods you eat and your risk of cancer. But if you're not then please understand that virtually everything you put into (or onto) your body can either help or hinder your natural healing mechanisms, and thereby influence your risk of cancer and your ability to heal from it. This is not an "alternative" view at all. Rather, even the conservative American Cancer Society states that one-third of cancer deaths are linked to poor diet, physical inactivity, and carrying excess weight. However, cancer rates are escalating because modern medicine is in no way, shape or form addressing these underlying causes of most cancers. If ever there was an area in which an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure it is cancer. I strongly believe that if you are able to work your way up to the advanced health plan, you will virtually eliminate the risk of most cancers. What is often overlooked, though, is that if you already have cancer it is also crucial that you use nutritious foods to help boost your immune system and heal, and this includes avoiding fructose and other sugars. 

The Gerson Research Organization maintains a collection of reports documenting the research behind one nutritional approach, the Gerson Therapy, as well as the role of diet on cancer, and you can hear anecdotes from patients who have improved using this nutritional therapy here. 

Many of the success stories include people whose conventional doctors gave no hope for recovery, who were able to overcome their disease against all odds using not toxic cancer drugs but natural fruits and vegetables. The system is not a miracle cure for everyone, and even the Gerson Institute states that "No treatment works for everyone, every time" … but most conventional physicians offer only ONE route for cancer treatment -- drugs, radiation and surgery -- while ignoring or discounting alternative options such as the power of dietary modifications using healthy foods.  

What Else Can You do to Prevent and Fight Cancer?  

Along with limiting your intake of sugar and fructose, there are several other things you can do for yourself, right now, not only to prevent cancer, but to make sure you have the best chance of recovery if you do get it. Because cancer is almost wholly a man-made disease, it's especially important to recognize that you do have power over many factors that could cause you to get cancer. Taking control of your health will put you in a position to make the best health decisions possible if you do get cancer. 

Here's a list to get you started on a cancer prevention plan:

• Radically reduce your sugar consumption. Normalizing your insulin levels is one of the most powerful physical actions you can take to lower your risk of cancer, and in order to do so, cutting sugars and grains out of your diet is a must. Eliminating fructose is one of the most important sugars to initially concentrate on. Again, if you have cancer, you'll want to reduce that to below 10 grams per day from all sources. 
• Optimize your vitamin D levels. There's overwhelming evidence pointing to the fact that vitamin D deficiency plays a crucial role in cancer development. Researchers within this field have estimated that about 30 percent of cancer deaths might be prevented each year simply by optimizing the vitamin D levels in the general population. On a personal level, you can decrease your risk of cancer by MORE THAN HALF simply by getting optimal sun exposure year-round. 
• Alternatively, you could use a safe tanning bed, or, as a last resort, an oral vitamin D3 supplement. Remember the BEST way to raise your vitamin D level is by sun exposure. If you are being treated for cancer it is likely that higher blood levels—probably around 80-90 ng/ml—would be beneficial.
• Exercise regularly. There's compelling evidence indicating that exercise can slash your risk of cancer, primarily by reducing elevated insulin levels and normalizing estrogen. For example, women who exercise regularly can reduce their breast cancer risk by 20 to 30 percent compared to those who are inactive. I prefer to view exercise like a drug that needs to be carefully prescribed and performed at a high enough intensity to achieve its maximum benefit.  
• Get appropriate amounts of high-quality animal-based omega-3 fats. 
• Eat as many vegetables as you are comfortable with. Ideally, they should be fresh and organic. Cruciferous vegetables in particular have been identified as having potent anti-cancer properties. Seriously consider vegetable, not fruit, juicing. 
• Use a variety of relaxing tools such as meditation, yoga and social support to manage and relieve emotional stress in your life. Even the CDC states that 85 percent of disease is caused by emotions. It is likely that this factor may be more important than all the other physical ones listed here, so make sure this is addressed. 
• Maintain an ideal body weight
• Get enough high-quality sleep 
• Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides, household chemical cleaners, synthetic air fresheners, air pollution, and plastic toxins like BPA. 
• Boil, poach or steam your foods, rather than frying or charbroiling them. 
• Avoid artificial sweeteners, which are actually worse for your health than sugar, and have been linked to brain tumors.
• Alternatively, you could use a safe tanning bed, or, as a last resort, an oral vitamin D3 supplement. Remember the BEST way to raise your vitamin D level is by sun exposure. If you are being treated for cancer it is likely that higher blood levels—probably around 80-90 ng/ml—would be beneficial. 

What's my take? Well, it all makes sense to me except the part about not eating alot of fruit. It seems illogical that something that abundant in nature is what is feeding cancer. Fruit is more than just the fructose. There are many many varieties of antioxidants, phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals and such that we can obtain from eating fruit that researchers recognize as cancer-fighting. So the choice is yours.


It sounds more reasonable to me that our bodies process naturally occurring fructose in a different way than man made fructose. The real test would be to spend a period of time eating fruit and then spend the same period of time eating something with man made fructose in it, do some blood tests, see if you can feel a difference, and maybe keep track of your body alkalinity.


Well, I have been eating quite a bit of fruit lately (and vegetables) and I have never felt better. It would be interesting to see someone battling cancer do the test themselves. You may say that is ridiculous because they are fighting for their life, but I would say, is eating a lot of fruit worse for your body than going through chemo and or radiation?


If it were me, I would try anything holistic I could wrap my mind around.