Diet Friendly Fast Food

It was pretty much always assumed in my family that I would enter into medicine. From the time I was a wee one, anytime I was asked, "What are you going to be when you grow up?" my response was always: A cowgirl and a healer. (Although sometimes I would say, An archeologist.)

After completing my undergrad, I went to work for a large health care system. And rather quickly became disenchanted with allopathic medicine. Surprise.

Enter Hanna Kroeger. Hanna was a 74-year-old spitfire with sparkly eyes and a German accent. She was a master herbalist and a healer, in every sense of the word. Someone had brought her into town and I attended her all-day workshop. She would become my teacher as I traveled back and forth to her Peaceful Meadow Retreat in Boulder, Colorado for further study.

Hanna believed and taught that we are ultimately responsible for our own health and that we each have the ability to heal ourselves given the right tools. I still refer to a number of her books regularly — God Helps Those Who Help Themselves, Ageless Remedies From Mothers Kitchen, Instant Herbal Locator, Heal Your Life With Home Remedies & Herbs. Each one a treasure, if you can get your hands on a copy.

Meeting Hanna was the beginning of a journey that would eventually lead me to study traditional healing methods with indigenous elders on four different continents over a period of twelve years.

Quite an unconventional life path. I guess you could say I grew up to become a cowgirl, an archeologist and a healer. *wink*

Candida albicans is a fungus and its present in everybody. In small amounts its harmless, but when its growth increases drastically it can be devastating. The imbalance of excess candida is called candidaisis and its an epidemic in our very SAD (Standard American Diet) culture. Sadly, it often goes unrecognized and untreated.

Candidaisis may be one of the primary causes of ill health and obesity today. It creates a rapidly downward health spiral as it becomes prevalent in the body.

The candida fungus releases wastes into the bloodstream that have a profound effect on  both the nervous system and immune system. Common symptoms and complaints include:

In a healthy body, the friendly bacteria in the intestines compete against fungi to maintain a healthy balance. Antibiotics, birth control pills, cortisone and foods containing antibiotics – factory farmed meat, poultry, dairy – kill the bacteria population, upsetting the balance and allowing the candida to grow unopposed.

Unfortunately, the typical medical approach to alleviating many of the complaints listed above usually begins with administering more antibiotics, which just makes matters worse.

If any of those symptoms I listed are jumping out at you, you feel addicted to sugar, crave breads or other carbohydrates, chances are youre being affected by candida and it would behoove you to modify your diet.

Sorry to say, candida and fungi thrive on sugar, carbs and fermented foods. So, while trying to cleanse the body, its best to avoid:

To have a successful candida cleanse, its important to cleanse first and then rebuild healthy flora. Trying to rid the body of fungus and rebuild flora at the same time is counter productive because the bacteria do not stand a chance in the acidic environment the fungi create and the fungi just feed off the bacteria.

Its best to reintroduce and build healthy flora immediately after cleansing. There should be no gap between cleansing and rebuilding, otherwise the candida is likely to come back. One of the best ways you can rebuild healthy bacteria is by eating raw cultured vegetables – and lots of them. I talk about their benefits and how to make them here.

Hanna Kroeger began working on candida in the early seventies, before anyone else acknowledged the issue. Her approach, as with all of her work, stemmed from hands-on experience with many thousands of people.

Realizing that fungi thrive in an acidic environment, Hannas herbal formulations employ the use of bitter herbs to stimulate the production of bile and neutralize the acidity of the digestive system. She also liked to use blood purifying herbs to help clear the blood of toxins from fungi and candida. Hanna felt that it was important to supplement probiotics after cleansing to rebuild flora in the intestines to rebalance the body.

The Kroeger Herb® Candida Kit contains two bottles of Candida Formula #1™ (condurango bark, red clover, yellow dock), two bottles of Candida Formula #2™ (tansy, clay, milkweed, cramp bark, goldenseal leaf, blessed thistle), and one bottle of Taurin Dolphilus™ (acidolphilus, taurine). The Candida Kit addresses candida overgrowth by first cleansing the candida for four weeks to create an environment suitable to rebuilding the friendly bacteria, which keeps candida under control.

The lovely folks at Kroeger Herb® have graciously offered to send a Candida Kit to one TWO lucky readers of In The Raw.

You have until Midnight Sunday (EST), February 28th, to enter. Ill employ Mr. Random Number Generator to choose two winners and Ill announce those fortuitous folks here on Monday.

1. Visit Hannas Herb Shop, browse through the many articles listed until you find a topic of interest. Leave a comment on this post, telling me something youve learned. Simple. (Note: if you receive In The Raw by email, please do not respond to me via email. You must leave a comment on this post or your entry will not be counted.)

Extra Entries: If youd like to increase your chances of winning, please leave a separate comment for each extra entry. (If you do not leave a separate comment for each entry, Mr. Random Number Generator will not count you. Hes funny that way.)

2. Follow me on Twitter AND tweet the giveaway with a link to this post (please include your Twitter ID in the comment). You may tweet once each day from now until midnight Sunday, so thats actually 5 additional entries! You may snag these tweets if you like:

• Craving Sugar & Carbs? You May Have Candida - http://twurl.nl/pyvfjk - Win a Kroeger Herb Candida Kit from @rawliving

• Understanding Candida: Finding a Healthy Balance - http://twurl.nl/pyvfjk - Win a Kroeger Herb Candida Kit

• Woot! @HannasHerbShop & @rawliving are teaming up to fight Candida ➤ Win a Kroeger Herb Candida Kit:http://twurl.nl/pyvfjk

3. Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post (please leave the link to your blog post in the comment).

My love affair with watermelon goes way back. Yes, I was that little girl who methodically picked through the candy bin and removed each and every piece of watermelon Jolly Rancher until there were none left. On hot and humid summer evenings, Mom would send us kids out back with a giant bowl of watermelon slices to devour. Of course by the time I reached college, I was a watermelon connoisseur and preferred mine, um, spiked.

These days, I have a new-found appreciation for sweet, juicy watermelon when I discovered its packed with some of the most important antioxidants in nature – vitamins A, C, and B6. And get this: watermelon contains more lycopene than any other fresh fruit or vegetable, even tomatoes.

With more than 1,200 varieties, whats not to love! This is fruit fit for a king – in fact, watermelon seeds were recovered from the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. When I was traveling in Egypt, cafes often paired the sweet taste of watermelon with the salty taste of feta cheese.

Heres a couple of ways Ive been enjoying this delectable thirst-quencher lately:
Watermelon Kiwi Cooler
(you may recall my love of the little hairy brown fruit)

3 cups seedless watermelon chunks
2 kiwi
3 strawberries
Juice of 1/2 lime

Blend ingredients together and serve chilled.


Watermelon Sorbet

Using a melon scoop, place several scoops of watermelon into a ceramic bowl. Place the bowl in the freezer for 30 minutes. Serve with chilled blueberries and a sprig of fresh mint as garnish.

We (2 adults, 4 children) pretty much filled up on cheese and we didnt end up ordering take-in for dinner, but instead went out for dessert after the appetizers!

I made crustini out of a loaf of brown rice bread (food for life, pink package) for our dippers, and we also had carrot sticks, celery sticks, and raw cauliflower. We used all the dipping items, but greatly preferred the crustini for all (the cauliflower got fed to the guinea pigs the next day. they were thrilled.)

1 loaf pretty dense bread (I used food for life rice bread)

olive oil

salt 

pepper

---Cut each slice of bread into thirds, and brush olive oil on each side. Sprinkle kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper on each side. Bake on a lined or greased cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 7-8 minutes on each side, or until nice and toasty.

 

 

1/2 small yellow onion, peeled and finely diced

1 garlic clove, minced

4 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (1 cup)

8 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated (2 cups)

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

1 (12-ounce) bottle of beer (Redbridge, by Anheuser Busch is gluten free)

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Use a 2-quart slow cooker. Put the onion, garlic, and cheeses into your cooker. Stir in the cornstarch and dry mustard. Crush the caraway seeds (Jennifer says to use a mortar and pestle, but I dont have one, and instead crushed them in a ziplock with a small mallet). Add them to the pot. Pour in the beer. Cover and cook on low for 2to 4 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper before serving, adding more to taste if necessary.

1 (11-ounce) package fresh goat cheese

2 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme leave, plus more for a garnish

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Use a 2-quart slow cooker. If desired, place an oven-safe ramekin into the bottom of the cooker that youd like to use for serving. Otherwise, plan on serving this right out of the crock.

Put the cheese into the pot (or ramekin), and press the thyme leaves into the top. Drizzle olive oil on top and add black pepper. Cover and cook on low for 2 hours, or until cheese has softened and become easy to spread. Lift inserted dish  (CAREFULLY! use oven mitts!) out of the slow cooker and serve on the table with your favorite dippers.

Fondue night rocks. End of story.

Obesity is, and always will be, one of the greatest problems of our time. Take a look at this mind-blowing number produced by a survey: half of the adults of the good old USA are suffering from obesity. Unfortunately, the problem doesn’t end with the adults. Childhood obesity? The numbers skyrocket daily, especially in the USA. So, what is obesity, exactly? A dictionary definition: Obesity is an imbalance body fat ratio, i-e a person is obese when his or her weight exceeds 20% of the normal weight. If you’re diagnosed with obesity, it’s time to start taking action. Treat it immediately. Even if you’re only a few pounds high (or maybe a few more than a few pounds high), take initiative! Choose a weight loss program! But, first of all, we need to go over how to prevent obesity. What causes weight problems?

What Causes Weight Gain or Obesity?

Weight gain is caused by you consuming more calories than you can burn. It happens to the best of us. If you eat too much and exercise too little, you’ll find yourself putting on pounds whether you like it or not. There’s other factors too, of course. Here are a few of them:

Age

Unfortunately, how old you are can affect your weight indirectly. As you slowly move forward through life, your body starts to work slower and slower. This includes your metabolism and your calorie requirements. So, not only does your body want to eat less, it’s using it slower! Once you pass the age of 40, you should probably reduce your diet. This will help counteract weight gain.

Genetics

Yes. You can blame your mom and dad for your obesity. Both weight problems and thinness are partially genetic issues. Feel free to glare at the family tree, but don’t despair. Even if you’re genetically obese, you can eat healthy and fight the problem.

Gender

For all you women reading this: yes, it’s harder for you than most men. Obesity is unfair. Because of women’s slow rest metabolism rate, women are more likely to be overweight than men. Men also require more calories, making it harder for them to eat food they won’t burn off. On top of this, women can also gain some pounds after menopause.

Physical Activity

Everyone knows that exercise helps fight obesity! But why, exactly? Well, mainly it accelerates your metabolism and burns off those calories. Don’t avoid physical activities. Maintain a healthy weight and work out!

Medication or Illness

Medical conditions also play their part. Do you have diabetes, depression, or hypothyroidism? All of these can lead to an increased body weight. You could even gain weight because of drugs you’re taking. Antidepressant medication and steroids can cause obesity - be careful.

Psychological Factors

Anger. Sadness. Depression. These negative emotions cause physical responses. Your psychological state often determines your physical state. For example, binge eating? That comes from emotional disorders. Instead of overeating the next time you feel down, let your emotions out in another form. Perhaps exercise?

Why Start a Weight Loss Program?

Don’t back off from starting your own weight loss program. It’s very important to lose weight and keep it off. You’ll feel better, look great, and be healthy when you’ve finally lost those pounds. If you try losing weight without your own program, you’re going to run into roadblocks. Many people have tried and failed to lose weight on their own, and come up with the perfect solution: start a weight loss program! A weight loss program is basically a well designed plan that will help you lose weight with a well-balanced diet and some exercising techniques. There’s no way that the importance of your own weight loss program can be stressed enough. Why?

Attaining An Improved Health

The biggest, overall benefit of your own weight loss program is your health. You’ll be much less at risk. When you’re overweight, you’re in serious danger. You can develop diabetes, a stroke, heart attack, or back pain. Not to mention gallbladder diseases, sleep disorders, pregnancy complications, fatty liver, and some cancers, which are linked to obesity! The list goes on and on! It’s important to start your weight loss program today so that you can enjoy the benefits tomorrow.

An Increased Weight Loss Rate

More than one survey have come out with great results. Just participating in a weight loss program or maybe going through weight loss surgery (probably a last resort) will increase your rate of weight loss. If you’re trying to lose weight on your own, well, you’re a lot less likely to succeed in your attempts at weight loss.

An Easy-to-Follow Structure

If you have a proven weight loss plan, it’s automatically easier to lose weight. You don’t have to waste time coming up with your own. You don’t have to worry that it’s not going to work. And you don’t have to make as many choices, either. A well-designed weight loss program will give you a list of calorie controlled food choices. It’s all done for you!

Support

Social support is very important. It’s way too easy to just give up on your weight loss goals if you don’t have people cheering you on. A weight loss program keeps you motivated and often has the option of support via email, phone, or chat. It’s great to have somebody who will celebrate when you do and help you get through the tough moments. Your support team members will be your own personal cheerleaders. They’ll keep you optimistic as you push your way forward!

Healthy Weight Loss Takes Time!

Weight loss is not instantaneous! Weight loss programs will cut down the time you take signifigantly, but it’s not exactly a quick process. If you look around, you’ll see tons of ads claiming instant or quick weight loss. Unfortunately, these weight loss programs - if they’re actually as fast as they say they are - rarely produce results that last. In fact, once you’ve finished with that weight loss program, you’re more likely to gain more weight than you had before. Persistent effort and patience is what will bring real, solid, lasting results. A healthy, successful weight loss program will keep you at the rate of 1-2 pounds lost per week. This means that thirty pounds will take a half year’s struggle. Don’t be discouraged! These are going to be thirty pounds that won’t come back! On the other hand, if you try to lose weight instantaneously, it hurts your health. Obesity causes common diseases like gallstones, dehydration, electrolyte imbalances, and malnutrition. If you attempt a rapid weight loss program, you’re likely to experience severe headaches, irritability, fatigue, constipation, menstrual irregularities, muscle loss, hair loss, and dizziness. Sound bad? That’s because it is. Before starting a weight loss program, convince yourself that quick weight loss isn’t safe.

How do I Know if I’m Obese or Just Overweight?

Many people use the words ‘overweight’ and ‘obese’ interchangeably. However, they’re two completely separate things! True, both can apply to someone who weighs more than the normal individual, but the similarities end there. Body mass index, commonly called BMI, can determine whether you’re obese or just overweight.You can also use body fat percentage.

What is BMI and How is it Calculated?

BMI is a measure of your body composition. It’s calculated by dividing your weight by the square of your height. For example, if your height is 2 centimeters and your weight is 70kg, you will divide 70 by the square of 2, which means your BMI is 17.5. If your BMI is between 25 to 29, you’re overweight. On the other hand, if your BMI is more than 30, you’re obese. As simple as that. Body fat percentage, on the other hand, is slightly more complicated.

What is Body Mass Percentage and How is Calculated?

Body fat percentage is the amount of fat in your body as compared to your organs, muscles, bones, water, tendons, and other things that build up your body. Men and women have different percentages of fat, since they’re different in structures. A normal woman should have a body fat percentage of around 10 to 12 %, while men should have a body fat percentage of 2 to 3%. However, it’s okay for men and women to have 25 to 31% and 18 to 25% body fat percentages. Body fat percentages of more than 32% for women and more than 26% for men are considered obese. As you can see, women can have a much higher percentage than men. There’s different ways to calculate body fat percentage. DEXA scanning is probably one of the best and most accurate ways. The DEXA scan will take an X-ray of your whole body to generate a body fat percentage in numbers. This takes as little time as ten minutes! Unfortunately, DEXA scanning is very expensive. Other methods of measuring the body fat percentage include water displacement, bod pod, and the measurement method.

Risks and Threats Associated with Obesity

If you’re obese or overweight, and you have a lot of fat around your belly, you could develop a number of dangerous, and sometimes life-threatening, diseases. These include hypertension, gallbladder stones, diabetes, stroke, and sleep disorders. Where the fat is placed in your body matters. If you have built up fat around your stomach, you could suffer from coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. In short, the size of your waist can have a strong effect on your health.

Hurdles in Sticking to a Weight Loss Program

When you start a weight loss program, you’re probably going to encounter many obstacles. Most people fail to lose weight due to these three common reasons:

Excuses

Don’t fall prey to excuses. They’re so easy to make, but they’re very damaging to your confidence and your ability to lose weight. I can’t lose weight, I can’t resist my favorite foods, I feel like I’m being caged. Don’t let yourself think these. Keep the excuses at bay.

Past Experiences

Past experience can also discourage you from continuing (or finishing) your weight loss plan. If you’ve had a few bad experiences with a weight loss program in the past, or you had made a lot of unsuccessful attempts, you might be unable to start a weight loss program again. Your failure will - literally - weigh you down. You might not have made it because of unrealistic goals, or maybe because you selected the wrong weight loss program. It’s okay. Tell yourself that you will be successful this time, because you are not after rapid weight loss, and that your goals are quite realistic.

Fear of Failure

The fear of failure is one of the most common things that stop you from starting a weight loss program. This may also be because of bad experiences. For example, you might have finished a rapid weight loss program and then regained the weight. However, if you choose a sensible weight loss program, you can avoid this.

Is it Right to Start a Weight Loss Program?

Starting a weight loss program is a smart idea if you want to lose weight in a healthy and safe manner. Just know this: there are no shortcuts to losing weight. The only harmless and effective tool to lose weight healthily is patience. Moreover, if you want to see long lasting results, you need to choose a weight loss program that doesn’t promise to make you slim in a few days!

I know you folks in the mid-Atlantic states have been getting hammered these past few days. And I feel for you, really I do. But geeze Louise, welcome to my world...um, like since early November.

Well, at least the postman brought a little ray of sunshine into my life the other day when he delivered my Purely Delicious magazine. I poured myself a mug of Natures Prozac hot cocoa, threw another log on the fire, and curled up with the Winter 2010 issue.

If youre not familiar with this quarterly gem that celebrates living foods and an eco-friendly lifestyle, allow me to introduce you to what I feel is a must-have raw food resource.

Each issue is packed with recipes, beautiful photos, articles on nutrition, healing, detox, seasonal eating, fitness, organics, gardening, eco-travel and more.

Theres a RAW 101 section thats specifically for folks just starting to explore the lifestyle  – to explain the nuts and bolts in simple and friendly terms. Hmmm, have a friend or family member whos been a bit resistant to a raw, vegan or vegetarian message? A gift subscription** would be a great way to reach out and encourage them to explore and celebrate each small step they take towards better health and nutrition.

Ask the Experts is a regular Q&A feature with raw food educators and authors Matt and Angela Stokes-Monarch.  Matts been on a 100% living foods diet for over 10 years now, and Angela lost 160 pounds by adopting a raw lifestyle.

Chef Omid Jaffari is a regular contributor. Its best to put on a bib before viewing his stunning culinary creations and photos. Youll drool. Trust me.

This issue includes articles on eating green, yoga, raw chocolate (hello!), Graves’ Disease, dude food (yeah, Im talking to you, guys), fermented foods, sprouting, recycling, reinventing self and so much more!

Good for body, soul and planet.

Can you say that about snow?

Bring some sunshine into your own life. Subscribe to Purely Delicious** today.

**If you do subscribe, mention In The Raw and youll receive a free gift with your first issue.