Ruminations about black pepper

So, I was reading a really great book by Hanna Kroeger the other day, Heal Your Life with Home Remedies and Herbs. Now I have perused this book before many times, but I have honestly never sat down and started to read it like a .. well, like a book before. It has a lot of great information about herbs and whatnot.. and I generally home in on those and compare notes if you will. Well I have also been reading and learning more about Chakras recently. We get these YouTube updates from a guy named Wan.. amazing stuff, really. He is very awesome. He talks a lot about abundance and stuff.. but a lot of other things as well. So he was talking about blocks in our root chakra, how to meditate and use an Asana to release any blocks and all kinds of goodness like that. Very cool. Well about a week ago I was cooking and thinking.. I was making chai and thinking about Ayurvedic herbology. It is a system of herboloby I don't know a lot about.. same with Chinese herbology. My knowledge lies mostly with Western/European herbology and Southwest and Mountain Native American herbology. It's what I've learned and what I have used. I don't have a bias against other herbologies, just haven't availed myself of learning that much about them. I have a point to this.. really. So here I am, making chai, stirring in ginger, and my mind says "a nice carmanitive, warming to the stomach", cinnamon " a great way to lower blood glucose, has fiber, iron, natural preservative, a protector against E coli, helps fight leukemia and mixed with honey.. is good for arthritis", nutmeg, "helps lower blood pressure, good for joint pain and helps eliminate toxins from the liver", cardamon, "carmantive, good for fighting infections and aids the digestion", and black pepper "aids digestion, helps deal with flatulence". Seriously, my mind does do this. I don't look at anything I cook or eat or drink as "just a food". Nor do I take a walk and only see flowers and weeds... my brain is always saying.. "oh, I could eat that, it is nutritious" or "oh that 'weed' is actually really good for this skin condition" or "oh! that flower makes a great tea for heart issues". Yeah.. I'm a little weird, I know. Nature walks are always educational though. :D My point to this though, was the black pepper. The few times I have read anything about Ayurvedic herbology, black pepper plays a fairly large roll. So adding the pepper really makes me think of Ayurvedic herbology. Aside from the fact that the recipe I'm using is Indian. :P But it got me thinking. I wouldn't think about black pepper right off for stomach issues if I was asked. It's not in my internal pharmacopeia so to speak.. But more relevant to my point is, are certain ethnic groups more wired to certain forms of herbology? Does everyone respond similarly to Western herbology? Does everyone respond similarly to Chinese herbology? Or Ayruvedic herbology? Or the herbology of the Zulu? Or the Maya? Are certain herbs and their combinations more beneficial to the natives that have discovered and used them, than to 'alien' cultures? Certainly there are likely benefits seen by people of all ethnicities using different herbs and such throughout the world. But if you are Oriental, do Western herbs work just as well as Chinese? Or does your body prefer Chinese herbology just a bit more? Is it just a bit more beneficial to you? I don't know. But maybe it is one of the reasons why some folks have really severe reactions to certain drugs and herbs while others find benefits. Maybe something in their genetic/ethnic make-up has a little something to do with it.

Now.. why the heck was I talking about chakras in the beginning? Well, because in the beginning of Hanna's book, she talks about them. She says that there are different chakras for different ethnic groups.

The Eastern folks have:
1. Base chakra
2. Sacral chakra
3. Solar plexus chakra
4. Heart chakra
5. Throat chakra
6. Third eye/Forehead chakra
7. Crownn chakra

Balance in these chakras is found in the lotus position, mantra repetition, meditation and incense.

The Native American has eight chakras, the additional chakra being located at the sacrum, accessed from the back. This is where one takes in energy and they are balanced by using; sweat baths, circle dances, sage incense and drumming.

The Westerner has nine chakras:

1. Light chakra (light enters at the seventh vertebra, accessed from the back)
2. Action chakra (allows us to put ideas into action; located at the base, accessed from the back)
3. Base chakra
4. Sacral chakra
5. Solar plexus chakra
6. Heart chakra
7. Third eye/Forehead chakra
8. Crown chakra

The Westerner's methods of energy balance are prayer, singing, action, visualization and contemplation. The Westerner is more apt to get visions and intuition by moving the body, taking a walk, jogging, dishes and cooking (totally me), hiking, shoveling snow, etc.

So.. my thoughts are.. this kinda makes sense to me. But what to do when one is 1/2 and 1/2? :P I mean I am literally 1/2 Native American and 1/2 European descent. Is this why I have had my on again - off again relationship with Qi Gong and never really 'felt' the whole chakra thing was working for me? Because I was missing pieces? Because I was in conflict in my energy system? Interesting thoughts for me especially as I work so much with energy systems in the EFT work. But also, how does this translate to our diets and the herbs we may be using to help ourselves in Wellness? I don't know.. this deserves further thought and exploration. Perhaps getting a drum is in order. :P We'll warn the neighbors the next time we burn sage though. :lol

Herbal Alternatives to the Flu Shot

Now is the time of the year we here the drum beat of "get your flu shot! get your flu shot here!" :rolleyes A complete waste of time, money and energy. Hey, it's your decision, do what you wish, but I sure don't think it's worth the container comes in. *nods firmly*

Why not naturally increase your native immune function rather than introducing this pestilence into your veins? Break out the Vitamin C and E, eat healthy, drink a bit of Echinacea, Goldenseal, Astralgaus. Wash your hands! Try some silver water! They sure work for us.. none of us have been flattened by any bug in years. Sure a sniffle or two.. but we are all over that baby with extra and natural alternatives.

The herbalist in the linked story has some great ideas too.

*no one on this blog is dispensing medical advice, these are our personal opinions.. check out any information for yourself, check with your doctor.. yada yada.. disclaimer, disclaimer.. we expect people who read this to be mature and take personal responsibility for themselves *

Yes, Aspartame Is a Carcinogen

Splenda sent me to the hospital with a liver swelled up twice its normal size... hubby took a sip of flavored Dasani w/out realizing they added Splenda to it... 'course he noticed right after he took a sip... but that got his heart racing, he broke out in a sweat and had a hard time catching his breath. We've noticed that since we have moved away from sugar so much that when we do have some (like jelly beans from the Easter bunny) we really notice the effects in our bodies. We'd never really noticed it before when we were eating sugar all the time... I posit that it is because we are closer to an actual healthy normal functioning body. That we are not naturally meant to process that load of sugar we have available today... so now our bodies are more used to the way it is supposed to be. Introducing sugar back into the diet in a big way.. wow... the effects are immediately noticable. I see how/why I used to be such a consumate grouch all the time.. as I tend to become so again if I have a lot of sugar, my patience goes way down, I'm more tired, more prone to being anxious about something... big changes. I don't like it. So it is like we get used to a 'normal' that isn't really a 'normal' at all.

The artificial crutch to 'satisfy a sweet tooth' is even worse. I remember trying and trying to get on the bandwagon of NutraSweet when it came out (taste factor was just nasty).. and I look back and see.. how badly I bombed on my school work, how crappy I felt, how sick I would get all the time. Now I avoid it like the plague of course.. and articles like this just make me mad. Mad at the people that are pushing this toxicity into our population at younger and younger ages... touting it as a 'healthy' choice, making it seem so good for the diabetic. *shakes head* Hubby was diabetic and all it did was make it harder to control his glucose levels and he felt like absolute crap. Crap I tell you. And hubby *was* diabetic.. we made new choices in our lives.. it wasn't a diet.. it was a concious shift to just be merciful to our bodies and fuel it with what it is really asking for. Real food. Real sweets... aka... honey, agave, stevia, etc... and using those sparingly.

Folks.. honestly we DO NOT NEED a dessert type item ALL DAY. Or even once a day. Or even once a week. They were called 'treats' for a reason. Just because they *are* readily available does not mean we need to indulge readily. It's a choice. That gallon gulp of soda is just not needed.. the twinkies, the candy bar, the cakes... it is not the 'treat' that is such a problem.. it is our reluctance and defiance to realize that the definition of a treat is 'something we indulge in ON OCCASION', not a daily component to our diets.


Ok.. rant over for now... *breathes deeply*. My point is.. that because of our defiance to let go of this obsession with eating all things sweet and our thought that if sugar itself is not such a good choice then one *must* have a chemical alternative... well that alternative is in even worse idea. It's your body... the only one you have. Having a change of heart and eating in a healthy way is a choice of life.. it is not a deprivation. The deprivation is in making life stealing choices. Ain't nobody in your noggin but you making your choices.

*hugs*






'Yes, Aspartame Is a Carcinogen'
Francesca Colombo*

BOLOGNA, Apr 15 (Tierramérica) - The Italian scientist Morando Soffritti has revived the debate about the safety of aspartame, an artificial sweetener used in many popular products, including diet softdrinks made by Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co. After studying 1,800 rats over eight years, his research team concluded that aspartame could have carcinogenic effects.

The results, first released in July 2005 and published in March in the U.S. Department of Health's journal, "Environmental Health Perspectives", contradict other studies financed by the company that created the sweetner, G.D. Searle & Company, which assures aspartame poses no risks to human health.

For the past 25 years, the product has been authorised by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for human consumption.

The sale of aspartame, with only four calories per gram and 200 times sweeter than sugar, is sold under the trademarks NutraSweet and Equal, bringing in 570 million dollars a year. It is estimated that some 350 million people around the world, many in hopes of losing weight, consume aspartame daily through 6,000 kinds of foods and beverages. In Europe alone, 2,000 tonnes of the sweetener are sold annually.

Soffritti's investigation was conducted at the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Centre, of the European Ramazzini Foundation in Bologna, which he heads. This institution, founded in 1971, won international credibility when it uncovered the cancer-causing properties of the gasoline additive MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether), which led to its ban in 21 U.S. states.

Tierramérica spoke with Soffritti in Italy. Following are excerpts from that dialogue:

Q: What are the results of your investigations conducted between 1997 and 2005 about the effect of aspartame?

A: The results indicate that aspartame is a multi-potential carcinogen, even consumed daily at 20 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. That is a lower quantity than the maximum recommended by the FDA (50 mg/kg of body weight) and the European Union (40 mg/kg).

Article continued HERE

This is what we're saying!!

We've been talking of this forever folks.. our mom's were right to say 'we are what we eat' and to 'eat our vegetables'.. only we didn't understand that when we don't eat foods that actually give our bodies nutrients rather than empty calories and how much it effects us.

We found this with our son Elias. When he eats table sugar or things with regular sugar in it.. watch out! He has a very hard time controlling his emotions...everything becomes exceedingly dramatic; joy, fear, pain, frustration, anger. Even Kix cereal is too high in high glycemic content for him. Trust me Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween are both studies in emotional management and very careful parceling of sugary treats. The rest of the year... it is increasingly rare that we indulge in the high sugar treats. We've found it is just not worth the headache for the most part.

What we do with Mannatech is intimately related to this as well.. we work with the very nutrients we may need the most. The glyconutrients that make up the chains of molecules our cells use to communicate with each other. Without these key nutrients.. well ever play telephone with a larger group of people? No matter how large that was, it was infinitely less complex than the vast number of cells we have in our body that need to communicate with each other. Or imagine trying to read a sentence devoid of all vowels. How well would you be able to communicate your message?

s ths gttng acrss t ny n?

Or even worse.. imagine you could suddenly only use the short line and the small curve that make up our alphabet. How clear would your sentences be then? How many letters in this sentence along would be effected?

Scientists have been finding that without these critical nutrients our bodies are not able to get across their needs, they are not able to accept key components they require (ie insulin), they are fighting their native cells (autoimmune issues), they aren't recognizing enemies early enough to do something about it (cancers, etc). We have been seeing the body bounce back to wellness in the most amazing ways. Now this fascinating article about the use of nutrients in reducing violent behavior. Not as a tranquilizers.. rather as a modulator that allows the body to regulate, defend and repair itself as it is intended to do and allow the person to act in a higher capacity of thought, rather than in a reactionary emotion.




By STEPHEN MIHM
Published: April 16, 2006

Most prisons are notorious for the quality of their cuisine (pretty poor) and the behavior of their residents (pretty violent). They are therefore ideal locations to test a novel hypothesis: that violent aggression is largely a product of poor nutrition. Toward that end, researchers are studying whether inmates become less violent when put on a diet rich in vitamins and in the fatty acids found in seafood.

Could a salmon steak and a side of spinach really help curb violence, not just in prison but everywhere? In 2001, Dr. Joseph Hibbeln, a senior clinical investigator at the National Institutes of Health, published a study, provocatively titled "Seafood Consumption and Homicide Mortality," that found a correlation between a higher intake of omega-3 fatty acids (most often obtained from fish) and lower murder rates.

Link to rest of article
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Early Downward Trends in Neurodevelopmental Disorders Following Removal of Thimerosal Containing Vaccines

I have, off and on, engaged in debates about the wisdom of our choice to abstain from vaccines. All the big, bad childhood diseases are paraded in front of us, all the possible dangers. Don't we want to do the best thing for our children?


Too right we do.

Autism Rates Fall With The Removal of Mercury

"Seems the absence of thimerosal (the mercury-based preservative) in childhood vaccines has coincided with a reversal in autism rates, according to a new study.

Makes sense to me, considering a young child's average exposure to thimerosal dropped from 240 micrograms in 1999 to almost nothing four years later."

Dr. Mercola

Wal-Mart doubling organic food offerings

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. aims to be the mass-market provider of organic food, and will have doubled its organic offerings over the next couple of weeks, Wal-Mart's head of dry grocery told Reuters on Monday.

Organic diets keep kids pesticide free

By CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE
UPI Consumer Health Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Children who switched their diets for only a few days to organic foods dramatically and immediately lowered the amount of toxic pesticides in their bodies, researchers report.

Lead author Chensheng Lu of Emory University found that when kids eat organic foods, pesticides in their body plummet to undetectable levels -- even when following the diet for only five days.

"An organic diet does provide protective measures for pesticide exposure in kids," said Lu, who presented his research at a panel at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in St. Louis. His study appeared in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Lu designed a novel intervention study by substituting organic foods into the diets of 23 elementary school children in the Seattle area. All the kids, who were aged 3 to 11, had metabolites -- or evidence of pesticides -- in their urine at the study's start. But as soon as they began eating organic foods, the concentration of metabolites dropped to essentially zero. Once they returned to their conventional diet, the pesticides levels bounced back up.

The parents were given shopping lists to buy organic vegetables, fruits and juices, as well as wheat and corn products. Meat and dairy products were left out, Lu said, because these foods don't usually have pesticide residues. The parents fed their children organic foods for five consecutive days during a 15-day study period. The researchers evaluated the kids four times over the course of a year by analyzing their urine and saliva.

Lu said he is confident that the pesticide reductions can be attributed to the kids' diet, because the particular class of pesticides studied, called organophosphorus pesticides, or OPs, are not found in households. The kids ingested these pesticides from eating conventional foods, and not from playing in grass treated with chemicals, for example.

Although this study to some degree proves the obvious -- pesticide-free foods create pesticide-free children -- co-author Richard Fenske at the University of Washington says he was impressed by the magnitude of difference in the results.

So should parents be worried?

Lu and Fenske claim the health risks to children are still uncertain, although Lu points out that there's no getting around the fact a pesticide is a neurotoxin. Since the chemicals disrupt enzymes in the brain which govern communication, exposure to pesticides could damage a child's brain. These chemicals are developed, after all, to kill bugs by paralyzing or over-exciting their neurological systems.

"In terms of the impact of these low levels of chemicals on a regular basis in a developing organism -- and that's what a child's neurological system is -- this is extremely important that we try to understand this," Fenske said.

The Environmental Protection Agency warns children may be sensitive to pesticides because their excretory systems are not developed enough to excrete pesticides, and that in relation to their body weight, kids eat and drink more than adults.

Currently, researchers are studying whether conditions like attention deficit disorder, lowered IQs, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease can be linked to early exposure to pesticides. Children are most vulnerable to pesticides from formation of the fetus up to 2 years of age.

Charles Benbrook, the chief scientist of The Organic Center, a Rhode Island-based nonprofit encouraging the widespread adoption of organic foods and processes, says there's enough consensus to act now to rid agriculture of pesticides. He mentioned the work of Robin Whyatt at Columbia University with pregnant women in New York. Whyatt found that birth weight and birth length is lower in children whose mothers were exposed to pesticides.

Benbrook said he was amazed at how fast and how significantly the urinary metabolites fell in Lu's study participants.

"This is very encouraging. What it says is this point is bigger than the debate about organics. If farmers were to change how they managed pests for six or eight crops, we could essentially eliminate most of pesticide exposure and take this risk factor out of equation," he said.

Lu emphasized children also get exposed in other outlets, for example around the home or in public sports fields, where pesticides are often oversprayed.

"You have to accept the fact a farmer needs to use pesticides to have healthy crops for harvest, but is it really necessary for parents to use pesticides around the home?" he asked.

Overall, parents should be aware of how their kids could be in contact with pesticides, Lu said. Since organics tend to cost more than conventional foods, parents don't need to go 100 percent organic to get protective benefits, he said. He recommends checking out www.ewg.org, which provides a list of foods and their pesticide risk.

"The message of this paper is not to scare parents from eating conventional diets, but it's for them to think about pesticide exposure as a whole, and how to minimize the exposure. Diet is not necessarily the only answer," Lu said.