Total Living Naturals

Don't Eat Anything Your Greatgrandmother Wouldn't Reconize As Food

You might be wondering just what does that mean, not eating anything your Great Grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food?

Can you imagine your great grandmothers face if you told her you were going to get some food and proceeded to take her to the nearest supermarket. How many items in the store could she find that resembled food, real food? These are the places where you, if you want to maintain good health, should shop and concentrate your food purchases in. 

Fresh Produce Section (Organic Preferred) 

Here’s where grandma would be happiest. She’d pick out fresh greens, beans, corn, all the veggies of every color. Remember to eat from every color of the rainbow, to get maximum nutrients.

Whole Grains, Beans and Seeds 

Again, grandma would know what to do with whole grains and other recognizable foods in this section. One thing grandma may not have known, is that soaking these foods releases an enzyme inhibitor that sometimes makes these foods harder to digest. So soak these overnight and pour the water off, then use in whatever recipe you choose. 

Dairy 

Even though the milk and cheese looks familiar, they are not even close to what grandma had. She had fresh milk and butter from a cow eating fresh pasture grasses. Milk and cheese today are a far cry from being healthy. Dairy cows stand for hours and hours in the dairy barn, many never seeing the light of day. Then the milk is heated to extremely high temps which yes, kill bacteria and also removes enzymes that help you digest and valuable nutrients. In the end the milk is not fit for a baby calf. If a baby calf is fed such milk, they will die after a few weeks. What does this tell you? 

Meats and Eggs 

Again, much of the animal and poultry you find in your supermarket are factory farmed. Squeezed together in small areas and pumped full of antibiotics and growth hormones, this is not your grandma’s roast and chicken! Start looking for free range with no hormones types of meats.

Ok, so these are the places you should be finding your food. Why, because these are the foods that contain the most nuturients for creating a healthy body. Yes, I know these are not as fast to prepare as pizza pockets that you pop into your microwave. (Microwave is a no-no we will cover in another post) But, there are ways to plan ahead, using crock pots and a good pressure cooker to make things faster.

It’s just smart to start eating this way if you don’t want to find you and your kids in the same boat as most of the rest of the U.S. Those eating the most processed foods are the most overweight and the most unhealthy. Start today making steps on the road to better health. Every little change helps!

Flax Oil, Fish Oil, Which one is best?

Everyone knows that fish oil is supposed to be good for cardiovascular health, right. All that good omega 3, but how do you know if the source of fish oil your getting is free of heavy metals?

I'm sure there are good fish oils on the market, but I just didn't want to take the chance of getting a tainted batch full of mercury, so I opted to look into flax oil instead. The thing I didn't like about regular flax oil was it's ease of going rancid. We all know racid oil creates all types of free radicals in the body, not exactly the best way to create health.

I kept looking until I found something called Gold of pleasure (wild flax) oil. What was unique about this oil was that it had high amounts of omega 3 (up to 45%), which almost everyone is deficit in. But it also has been shown to be very stable and does not go racid. It's a powerful antioxidant with tocopherols (vitamin E), carotenoids, and phosphatides. At 110mg it's vitamin E content is among the highest of all natural sources.

Vitamin E is a very important part of anti-clotting supplementation because it both provides a direct anti-clotting effect.

Those of you concerned about keeping a healthy cardiovascular system and finding ways to lower your chances of heart attack or stroke, would be wise to look into this natural product. 

Blood Thinners And Foods That Thin Your Blood

So you are on blood thinners. You are not the only one. I started looking into the subject and was amazed to find so many people in the U.S. are prescribed these drugs. 

The reason I started looking into this was because my Mother just came home from the hospital after she had heart atrial  fibrillation. That’s when the upper heart chamber sort of goes haywire and sends too many signals for the heart to beat. The heart ends up doing fast beats with sort of quivers in between.

So she ends up having what they call “a conversion” (no that has nothing to do with religion) by shocking her heart back into rhythm. That was scary, but it worked and now she’s back home, but with 4 brand new prescription meds. Everybody at the hospital found it pretty amazing that she has not been on any meds up to this point. She’s 85 years old. 

One of the meds is Coumadin a blood thinner. Warfarin is the generic name for the drug. Another name for it is rat poison. You think I’m kidding but I’m not. Rats are pretty smart they must be poisoned subtly and long-term, like patients. A cumulative moderate overdose of Coumadin causes their blood to be too thin, and the little buggers hemorrhage and die. 

The doctors mentioned that Mom should not eat too much leafy greens because they have vitamin K. (Vitamin K plays an important role in the body’s blood clotting processes.) They conveniently forgot to mention what other foods naturally cause the blood to thin. 

Here is a list of foods that contain salicylates, which are known to help thin the blood.

• Curry powder
• Cayenne pepper
• Ginger
• Paprika
• Cinnamon
• Dill
• Oregano
• Peppermint 

In traditional Indian medicine, these spices are known as the warming herbs. This would make sense since these herbs would cause increased circulation as the blood is thinned and a person would feel warmer. 

Another herb that would help keep your blood thinner and circulating is aged garlic extract. Many studies have been done on Kyolic, which is an aged form of garlic. A personal testimonial of mine is that this extract has lowered the blood pressure of my husband, when so many other things he has tried did not work. 

One other thing I need to mention that has shown benefit to keep blood clots from forming and that is Miracle Mineral Supplement.  Live blood analysis pictures were taken of blood before taking MMS, which showed the blood clumping together. After taking MMS another sample of blood reveled the blood to be much less clumped together. MMS has other benefits, see my other blog post about this supplement.

Samonella - Even Our Vegetables Aren't Safe Anymore

Listening to the news recently, everyone has been hearing about the salmonella outbreak in tomatoes. So now, everyone is avoiding tomatoes. I’m trying to remember, was it green onions a while back that were contaminated, so everyone stopped eating green onions? Then there was some news about lettuce having bacteria, I think that was the nasty e-coli one. This almost makes me think someone, somewhere is trying to get us to stop eating salads! What a sad state of affairs when the very things that should be the most healthy, turns out full of unhealthy bacteria. 

What’s happening with our foods for gods sake? Maybe a better question would be, why don’t we know anything about where our foods come from and how they are being grown. You are not going to find that out by listening to the nightly news. 

It all begins with the soil. Healthy soil is sort of like a healthy body, it must have a balance of good bacteria or micro organisms. These micro organisms break down the organic matter in the soil, which enables the plant to absorb nutrients it needs to grow. (The same thing goes for the human intestinal tract). The big problem with most non organic farming methods, is that farmers use all types of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which throw the natural balance of the soil out of balance. The chemicals and pesticides kill off all the good micro organisms that help make up a healthy soil structure. 

Once this balance is disturbed and some sort of outside source of bacteria is introduced, say contaminated water or animal waste that has not been composted, then trouble starts. The bad bacteria takes over because the soil is already out of balance and nothing is there to stop the nasty bacteria from growing. So the soil goes from being out of balance to being very sick. Again, the analogy to the human body is the same. A person is only as healthy as their gut is. That is just one way of saying if things are out of balance in your intestines (good bacteria vs. bad bacteria), you will not be healthy.

You could say our own health is a reflection of the health of our soils on which our food is grown. If what’s been going on with our foods lately is an indication, I’d say in dire need of changes in farming practices. 

For those of you worried about harmful bacteria and viruses, I highly recommend you check out my blog about MMS(Miracle Mineral Supplement) . It’s a very inexpensive and healthy way to knock Salmonella, E-coli and other harmful bacteria out of your body.

The Universe Speaks To Us Everyday

I have this thing about numbers. I sort of like to think numbers have a language of their own that very few people understand. If you think the universe is just a bunch of chaotic random happenings, then you probably don't want to read the rest of this post. But if you think everything has a purpose and it all has been designed in perfect precision, then you and I have something in common.  

What do numbers have to do with all this? I'm not really sure. How's that for being blunt. One thing I do know, everything has an energetic pattern to them. Energy is what makes up this universe. So, this vast energy is always at play, it surrounds us and influences us, and we don't even realize it.  

At a certain point in my life I started seeing a repetitive sequence of numbers show up in my life. Thank goodness it wasn't something as paranoid as Hurly on the TV show Lost, but it was an interesting occurrence that I found almost mystical.  

I had never been into numerology, but after a period of time of this happening over and over, I did finally start to dig deeper to see what I might be missing. What were the numbers I was seeing everywhere? For me it was the numbers 11:11. I came to find out after digging into this phenomena, that other people had experienced the same number sequence or some other number sequence over and over.  

I guess everyone has to decide for themselves the significance or non significance of this happening to them. For me, It seemed the numbers appear when I need to stop and think about the bigger picture of life. I need to refocus and get out of my little narrow view I might be falling into. I like to think of it like a wakeup call, a gentle nudge from the universe just a reminder of why I'm here.  

Here's an example of what has taken place in the last week. Take it as just a fun coincidence or if you don't believe in coincidences, then this is something of a message.  

My husband picked up the boat license we had received in the mail and I looked at the big sticky numbers that were to go on the boat. They were, you guessed it – 11 11. I said to him as we walked out the door to go the the grocery store, “Oh, there are our numbers again.” Ok, it gets better that day. We get to the check out at the grocery store and guess what numbers pop up. Uh... yep, $111.11. Even the clerk said, isn't that cool. Then a couple of days later. I was sitting in my hot spa doing a quiet meditation when the phone rings. I sure wasn't going to get out and answer it, I was in communion with the universe. Plus, I was dripping wet and naked. Ok, I finally get to look at the caller id, cause whoever called did not leave a message. I looked at the time and sure enough the 11:11 is on the caller id.  

I just love it when these little messages happen. I always acknowledge them and send a little thought of gratitude to the universe for connecting and giving me a gentle nudge to wake me up.

Tips for Managing High Cholesterol

Try replacing bad fats with healthy fats. The daily recommended amount of healthy fat should be near 25 g. When “bad fats” are consumed, make sure it is not often, and limit the amount of these fats where possible. For example, you can reduce saturated fat intake by making the meat potion of your meal far smaller than your portion of vegetables and whole grains, by opting for low-fat or fat-free products and choosing lean and skinless meat.

Replace cooking oils that are high in saturated or trans fats with fats high in mono and polyunsaturated fats such as olive oil, flax seed oil and virgin coconut oil. Coconut oil is the best oil to use when cooking at higher heat as it does not break down into trans fatty acids as easy as the other oils.

Foods to eat: garlic, fish such as tuna and salmon, nuts especially walnuts and almonds), oatmeal and oat bran, soy, beans, lentils, sweet potatoes, fruits, vegetables (carrots are especially good), whole-grains, and high-fiber foods. When choosing dairy products, always opt for the fat-free and low-fat products.

Foods to avoid: many processed foods, French fries, doughnuts, cookies, crackers, muffins, pies, pastries and cakes, egg yolks, duck, organ meats (such as chicken livers, brains, hearts, kidneys, or sweetbreads), shellfish snacks and meats that are high in saturated fats, fried food, whole-milk dairy products, butter, cream, ice cream, cream cheese.

If high cholesterol is a known problem, or tends to run in the family, get levels checked at least every 3 years.

Smoking dramatically increases the chance of heart disease, and can compound an existing problem of cholesterol levels. Continuing to smoke therefore puts the heart at serious risk. Consider quitting smoking naturally!

Maintain a healthy weight. One of the first steps to lowering cholesterol is to lose excess body weight. While many people find this is the most difficult part, a little dedication, a healthy diet, regular exercise, and some help from a reputable weight-loss program can accomplish fitness goals.

Keep physically active. Exercise helps to raise HDL levels and lower LDL levels, and is especially important for people who are overweight, and those who have high triglyceride and/or low HDL levels.

Drink alcohol in moderation, as binge drinking or excessive alcohol intake increases the chance of heart conditions. Some research shows that moderate intake of certain alcohol, particularly red wine, shows a small increase in HDL or “good” cholesterol. Remember that ‘moderate’ refers to no more than one or two glasses daily!

The Natural Approach

Natural medicine has often been frowned upon by conventional doctors, especially by those who do not have sufficient knowledge of these medicines. However, it is encouraging to note that some medical schools are now beginning to re-introduce it into their course work, thereby providing doctors with a wider range of treatment options from which to choose. In many countries, especially in Europe, India and China, natural and homeopathic medicines are commonly prescribed by conventional doctors and represent a significant part of the total annual drug sales.

Naturopathy is a branch of medicine (just as allopathy is a branch of medicine) which operates according to the underlying philosophy that the body has an innate capacity to heal itself. While natural medicines are often called ‘alternative’ or ‘complimentary’ medicines, they are, in fact, a unique and independent form of medicine in their own right, well able to treat a variety of conditions. Perhaps the term ‘holistic’ medicine is more apt, given the broad range of treatment options and approaches which are to be found within the practice of natural medicine. This encompasses many different disciplines, including herbalism, homeopathy, iridology, osteopathy, chiropractic, therapeutic massage techniques, aromatherapy, acupuncture and many, many more.

Most naturopaths will use a variety of treatment modalities in order to treat their patients in a holistic way to support health, relieve symptoms and prevent future disease. In fact, even the World Health Organization defines health as being "... more than simply the absence of illness. It is the active state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being." This is a wonderfully clear description of holistic or natural medicine, which strives to support health
(thereby relieving or preventing symptoms), rather than simply eliminating disease.

Most naturopaths recommend what is called the Full Spectrum Method of extraction – which retains the benefits of ALL the active ingredients within the herb as opposed to isolating only one – thereby providing a more complete treatment as well as superior protection against side effects. Whatever your choice, always choose wisely. Research what is best for you. If you have a chronic or life-threatening condition, don’t make changes without first discussing them with your doctor, in order that your condition may be monitored. Well-informed and supportive practitioners will support patients who want to take responsibility for their own health.

 Related Natural Remedies:

Cholesto-Rite: Helps maintain healthy LDL and HDL cholesterol levels and promotes the ability to fight free radicals. Cholesto-Rite is a 100% safe, non-addictive, natural herbal remedy formulated by a team of experts in the field of natural medicine.

Cholesto-Rite has been designed to safely support the body in its ability to maintain healthy levels of LDL and LDH cholesterol, while also acting as a general cardiovascular tonic by promoting the body's natural ability to fight harmful free radicals.

Cholesto-Rite supports the healthy functioning of the liver and cardiovascular system, thereby helping to maintain balanced cholesterol in the veins and arteries.

Cholesto-Rite not only supports healthy levels of LDL cholesterol, but also encourages healthy levels of HDL, the 'good' form of cholesterol.

Acid Reflux - Natural Remedy

Getting Rid of The Purple Pill

The condition of acid reflux can be caused by several factors.

• The PH of the stomach and body is out of balance. The American diet of dairy, white sugar, soda, white flour and too much protein, are the main culprits of overly acidic residue in the stomach.
• Excess weight causes the valve at the end of the esophagus to sometimes experience malfunction allowing acid backup into the throat.
• Not enough pure water intake which helps dilute the acidic stomach.

The natural way to correct acid reflux is simple. Eat more whole foods. Cut out soda, which is the most acidic food of all. Change your diet and eliminate most processed foods.

The simple act of drinking a glass of water with half of a lemon squeezed into it will help relieve symptoms tremendously. Lemons, although acidic, leave a very alkaline residue when digested. Your whole goal is to eat more alkaline foods than acidic ones. Search the web there’s list out there on which foods to choose.

Correcting acid reflux naturally will take a decision and action on your part. The body is giving you a clear signal. Will you ignore it and just drug it to mask the symptom, or will you take steps to address the root cause? That’s a decision only you can make.