Info about Sunfoods

February 25, 2010



Do you Buy From Sunfood.com? Better think
twice!



So I just got this today from my friend on Facebook Chef Believe,
evidently passed on from Vanessa Johansson
http://www.meetup.com/slc-rawfood-superheroes-com/members/5900104/As
I never really trusted Sun Food and their over bloated prices this
comes to my inbox. Please read and repost as much as possible.____________________________________________________________________________
I
have been meaning to post this for a month now and finally have found a
moment to do so.
As
some of you know I have been investigating the raw cacao industry and
raw powder and butter in particular. You heard it here first that
basically every cacao product on the market today is actually cooked,
and as of right now Essential Living Foods, Big Tree Organics and the
paste from Ultimate Superfoods (not the powder) is actually a raw
product.

Well, I have a grand finale to this story. After many
conversations and emails I have discovered some important info about
Sunfood, David Wolfes company.

First of all, it is not David
Wolfes company.

As
of at least 12 months ago, it has been owned by Doug Harbison, a non
raw foodist non superhero cooked wonder bread old school business
executive. David Wolfe makes no money off of Sunfood and owns no stock
in Sunfood. He tried to get Sunfood off of cooked chocolate products
and the owners would not listen to him. In fact, they have over 8
lawsuits against David Wolfe. I spoke to the current owner of
Sunfood...





I spoke to the current owner of Sunfood multiple times and here is
what he told me:
He
does not care if the cacao powder and butter are agave and yacon are
cooked products. He said that I am the only person who has called to
complain so he thinks that people are still satisfied with these
products. Hmmm...
He also told me that he believes that Essential
living Foods is lying about their products being cooked. I asked him
why a company would self destruct like this and he said he didnt know
but he thought they were lying. I asked him why they would lose so many
accounts and jeopardize their own investment and he said he didn't know
but he really thought that their product was raw and they were making
up a story about it being cooked.

Hmmmm....

He finally
said that he was sending his buddy Brian from Sunfood down to
investigate himself. I asked him why he thought that they would be let
in to the manufacturing facility without being a customer, when
Essential Living Foods who is actually a customer was not allowed to
step foot into the facility. He could not answer me.
He promised
to get back to me over month ago with a resolution for one customer,
myself, who has spent a fortune on what I was told and promised was the
best of the best and come to find out it was cooked and fraudulently
sold to me. I havent had any reply.

They knew it was cooked. They
still know it is cooked. He doesn't care!

So,
I have Doug Harbisons private email and cell phone number. I would like
all 286 members on this site to personally call this inflated buffoon
and let hm know that you do in fact care that his products are being
sold fraudulently, that his raw chocolate is not raw, and that you will
no longer support Sunfood nor will you purchase their products anymore.
Let him know that what could be the impetus for the tipping point on
this planet is being turned into a farce by a few corrupt and greedy
individuals such as himself, and that many curious and in need people
are being turned off of the raw food movement as a tool for health and
consciousness because they dont feel that it is trust worthy and
anything other than a hoax. Say whatever you want actually but let this
man know that you are not sheeple and will demand truth, integrity, and
quality ad will vote with your dollars. Lets not let one bad apple
spoil the beauty and truth of this lifestyle choice.

Fill up and
flood this mans email and voicemail with your voices!!!!

In
my opinion, Sunfood has lost the plot, and is completely out of
integrity and should not be supported in any manner and the word should
be spread like wild fire through the Superhero network.
I happily
provide you now with his private contact information.

DOUG
HARBISON
doug@sunfood.com
314-422-0206

Repost this on as
many forums as you can folks. Ready-Set-GO!!!

Fresh Corn Salad

Fresh corn, taken off the cob. About 6 cobs worth or more.

Put in simmering water for a few minutes only, drain. (optional) I like the corn just a little softer than raw.

Add:

1 bunch cilantro, chopped fine

2 tsp garlic chopped fine, 2-3 cloves

2 peppers, one red, one orange, seeded and chopped fine

3 avocados, chopped chunky

2 limes, juiced

olive oil to taste

This is a lovely fresh salad that a friend just made. We've made it twice now-and it's great the next day for lunch too. You can wash big leaves of spinach and make little rollups if you want to go fancier for a luncheon.

Clearing the Large Intestine

Many people are encouraging the world to cleanse and detox, and if you decide to do it, be aware that we hold many emotions in our intestinal tract. If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed, angry, sad, or anxious while detoxing, it can be old emotions that are being revealed as you cleanse.

We used to call detoxing 'anger week' and realize that our feelings were not necessarily about anything in current time.

If you decide to cleanse and detox, allow yourself some grace and space. Don't do it on a busy stressful week. Do understand that as you cleanse inside your body, you are also stirring up emotions and feelings that have been buried. Tears and fears may come up. Let them roll through, and don't worry about what they are. Keep going.

You may also want to pay attention to your prescription meds. If you are on high blood pressure meds while juicing or cleansing your blood pressure may drop to normal so if you are taking meds you may then drop to LOW. Check with your doctor, and pay attention to how you feel.

Raw-ish Quinoa salad

Red Quinoa - prepare whole box as on box 

1 orange pepper, chopped 

1 yellow pepper chopped 

apricots chopped-fresh or dried. Dried will last longer if you want to keep this to use several nights.

currants, raisins or fresh dark grapes, chopped in 4ths-my favorite both for color and freshness 

1 bunch cilantro, chopped fine

lime juice-about 5 limes - fresh squeezed or juiced is best!

roasted pine nuts (lightly roasted in olive oil)

roasted sesame seeds (lightly roasted with pine nuts in olive oil)

chopped pecans (best if soaked and dried before chopping)

This is a great salad to make in volume and then put in smaller containers for lunch

Good consistency to use in lettuce rollups. It has a nice nutty flavor and texture.

I also like to use it with a dash of hot chili peppers for zip to the tongue

Juice for Health

3 carrots
1/2 a lemon
1 apple
(what's so green about this...? just wait)

3 stalks of celery
1/2 a head of lettuce
1/2 cucumber
2 leaves of cabbage
2 leaves of kale
1 cluster of spinach
a handful of cilantro
a twig of rosemary
an inch of ginger

I know this has alot of ingredients-I like variety. You definitely do NOT need all of it. The staples are the first 6 ingredients, and then wing it. It's all about experimenting.

People worry about combining fruit with vegetables: the rule doesn't count when juicing. You are juicing folks-juice all digests at the same rate. I have a friend that made wonderful juice with adding pear to her greens, and another made awesome green juice with mango.

I pour mine into two cups with lids and drink one on the way to work and keep the other on my desk for snacks. At lunch I am still full and have a power bar to snack on when I need a bite. I'm feeling high energy and satisfied and am almost ready to give up my coffee after being back on this for 2 weeks. I do also have two soft boiled eggs for breakfast, so it's not all raw for me. But this is a great way to transition into it. The more you have the more you want. I take a few lettuce leaves and some hummus with me for lunch too if I want more to eat. And I always keep an apple in my desk and some raw almonds. Sometimes they are soaked, sometimes not, but I have them there. Those are the staples.

Tips to starting raw:
keep the food handy
Do not let yourself get hungry
Be prepared
Eat any time you feel the urge. without guilt and without a schedule so you can begin to listen to your own body again

I think I'll go make some carrot juice for bedtime.
Night!

Stevia for panic attacks

This is from a woman who used Stevia to cure panic attacks.



She stumbled upon this as a cure--she had a friend who had no clue that his symptoms were "panic attacks" (he wasn't raw) and he ended up in the hospital several times with no help from the doctors--many times he was told "we can find nothing wrong with you" and yet he thought he was literally about to die. When my friend (who has been raw for over 8 years) heard my story she thought it sounded so similar. I literally thought I was clinging to my life for hours. I could tell that some weird hormone or chemical was "dumping" itself at an uncontrollable speed and just would not stop. It feels like the same kind of feeling you might have when you experience an allergic reaction--that kind of sick rushing feeling, only it was a hundred times worse and would not stop until I had been lying in the hospital for a couple of hours. Yet the doctors came in and said, "your blood is the most beautiful blood we have seen--it is pristine and we can find nothing wrong with you"...oh yeah? Then why do I feel like I am dying? So my friend said that she thinks there is a physiological sort of panic attack, where your mind seems to not be in any state of panic whatsoever, yet the body goes into a panic. (I had been asleep for an hour when this thing happened to me, not thinking panicky thoughts at all.) She told me to try the stevia and it worked like an absolute miracle! The results were immediate! She also said that when her daughter gets severe PMS symptoms, she gives her 1/2 tsp of stevia with about that much powdered dong quai and it takes the symptoms away quick.

Sweetners

This was posted on the rawmeetup site.


Coconut Palm Sugar: This is now available as a sweetener. It is usually heat processed, yet unconfirmed reports indicate RAW coconut palm sugar is now available from Balinese sources. (Big Tree Organics and Essential Living Foods sell this) It is processed using lime (chalk) or mangosteen sap to neutralize acidity. Because of the calcification problems associated with eating chalk and the magic associated with the mangosteen tree, mangosteen sap processed coconut palm sugar is preferred.

Erythritol: Erythritol is made by breaking down plant starch into glucose. Then the yeast Moniliella pollinis is added to the glucose. Through fermentation, the glucose breaks down into erythritol. Metabolic, toxicological, and clinical studies covering areas as diverse as cancer, nervous system health, and allergic reactions have found erythritol to be safe. Erythritol has GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status in the United States. Seek out organic erythritol or products containing it.

Honey (raw, organic) is always the natural sweetener of choice. Look for wild honey because it is lower in fructose and higher in trace mineral content. Also, look for richer dark honeys (e.g. NoniLand honey, etc.)

Inulin: A long-chain polysaccharide that is mostly too long a sugar to absorb into the blood stream. Inulin may be isolated from Jerusalem artichoke or properly processed agave. Look for inulin powder or Jerusalem artichoke syrup. Too much inulin intake can cause digestive distress in certain people.

Lo Han Guo: A non-glycemic sweetener from Chinese medicinal tradition made from a type of wild cucumber.

Lucuma: Lucuma’s sugar content is low. The percentage amount present in the dried pulp from mature lucuma fruit is: 8.4% glucose, 4.7% fructose, 1.7% sucrose, and 0.06% inositol (http://www.buywholefoodsonline.co.uk/lucuma-powder).
Maple syrup: this is the only sustainably-harvested, large-scale, forest sweetener in the world. Maple is likely the richest source of minerals found in any sweetener other than dark honeys and molasses. Look for organic maple syrup and maple crystals as an ingredient.
Molasses: Select unsulfured, organic sugarcane molasses because it is fairly rich in vitamins and minerals and has been purported (like fresh sugar cane) to have “anti-stiffness factors” that break down detrimental calcification (see my book The LongevityNOW Program).
Soak water: This is a natural sweetener from dried fruits such as date water, goji water, or dried fig water. Shop for organic dried fruit products and soak them in spring water for several hours to make your own fresh soak water.

Stevia: I recommend dried powdered leaves over extracts. This is a wonderful and easy plant to grow. It contains no real sugar, so therefore it does not feed candida or cancer. Look for organic stevia products.

Xylitol: This could be the sweetener of the future if it could be obtained with certified organic quality. Xylitol does not feed candida or cancer, but tastes normally sweet. Originally isolated from birch syrup; it is now available as a white powder.

Yacon: An extraordinarily easy to obtain and abundant subtropical to tropical tuber, relative to the Jerusalem artichoke. Yacon is commonly available as dehydrated chips and as a syrup. Look for organic products. Yacon syrup is rich in iron and only mildly glycemic. It is not raw.

Other sweeteners to avoid, besides common agave:

Refined white and brown sugars made from beet, sorghum, or sugarcane of all sorts, primarily due to genetically modified crop contamination, including:

Evaporated Cane Juice: Rapadura is one of the many names of this highly processed and highly heated product. This is almost pure sucrose, like maple, but lacks in minerals. Evaporated cane juice is known to aggravate all sugar-sensitive conditions from diabetes to candida to cancer. Evaporated cane juice can be certified organic. This product often sneaks into chocolate products, pre-made smoothies, and lots of vegan treats (because it is not processed with bone char).

Sorbitol: This sweetener is typically made from genetically modified corn starch. It was originally isolated from stone fruits of the genus Sorbus.

Other Considerations

The market is flooded with companies and products using all different kinds of sweeteners. Always select products containing certified organic sweeteners due to potential contamination from genetically modified corn and other crops that may contain glufosinate herbicides that damage your friendly healthy bacteria. Remember that certified organic sweeteners cannot be genetically modified (GMO).

This post was cut from an article recently shared by David Wolfe. Its entire content can be found at Sacred Chocolates website.

To Your health.
Vanessa

It's not about Perfection

I hear so many people saying "I don't know what to eat!" "I'm so confused!"

Isn't it funny that we don't know what to eat? Imagine that! We have so many choices, such a constant banquet of choices, that we don't know what to eat! It's no longer about 'if' we will eat or where our next meal is going to come from-we have a new problem. Tooooo many choices.

We are bombarded constantly with commercials in print and on the tube, over the waves and in the air-eat eat eat. Diet diet diet. But which one?

When we originally started this blog, way back 3 years ago, we were all feeling that same way. Six of us. We were dietarily confused. Eat six meals a day. Graze. Eat 3 meals a day. Eat breakfast. Fast one day a week. Eat only fruit until noon. Don't eat fruit with anything. Eat meat. Eat chicken. Don't eat fish because of the poisoned oceans. Eat fish for the necessary omegas. Eat organic. Eat eggs. Don't eat yolks. Eat protein. Don't eat protein. Eat vegetarian. Eat vegan. Eat dairy. Don't eat dairy. Eat for health. Don't eat for more health. Eat for your blood type. Eat for your ethnic base. Eat Mediterranean, eat Chinese, eat Ayurvedic. Don't eat pork. Don't drink. Drink red wine. SHEESH.

We sat down and listed all the conflicting messages. We piled the books on the table of all the experts programs.

And then we decided to try raw for thirty days. Just a month, together, with a few rules for our group.

Rule #1. No perfectionism necessary. We figured 50% raw a day was better than what we were doing, 70% raw was amazing, and if we did 100% we were champs.

Rule #2. With lots of room in rule #1 our second rule was still, "no beating ourselves up" No failure, only feedback, write it down, and let everyone learn from it.

Rule #3. Notice. Notice how you feel before you eat. Notice what you really want. Notice how you feel after you eat. Notice what you notice.

Rule #4. Write on the blog so we can do it together and get in touch with our insides. Bloating and belching included.

Rule #5. Eat as much raw as you can, and if you have to eat cooked, don't eat processed if you can help it. We figured it was the chemicals and additives that were  the real culprits, and if nothing else we would read labels and learn.

Pretty simple. What happened was pretty cool-by the end of 30 days, we decided to keep going. It was easy. It was remarkably easy. We found that we liked it more than cooking. There was less clean up.
We learned to marinate, soak, dehydrate. We learned to sprout. We played. We began to come back to loving food again.

I fell in love with food again. I delighted in the colors and the smells, the textures. Why had I lost the art of food? And when? Food had become a drudgery. I think there were too many new rules. I got lost

30 days of raw, on a gradually increasing plan taught me to listen to myself again. I cleared the decks. I found that i preferred soaked raw oatmeal with fresh juice on it and a dash of organic honey MORE than cooked oatmeal. I loved sprouts and I would moan over chopped fresh basil.

But we all loved juicing. Raw fresh homemade juice. If you do nothing else raw, buy a good juicer, and start adding a good big glass of raw juice every day.

This morning I made a juice from:
5 stalks of celery
5 carrots
half a head of romaine
a chunk of fresh ginger
half a lemon with the rind
an apple
half a bunch of spinach

I drank half, and took half to work with me for later. I also had 2 soft boiled eggs. I'm a type 0 and I know the controversy out there, but FOR ME I do better with more protein. So, purists out there, this works for me.

Now over the course of 3 years, we fell away, and came back. We would eat cooked and go yuk and when we fell off we would wonder why when we felt so good on the raw?  On and off. On and off.
We are coming back to an on cycle and loving it once again and once again marveling that we fell off.

Bottom line-find out what works for YOU!
Find your rules for you. Fall in love with what you eat, bless it and it will bless you.
Whatever you eat, love it. Enjoy it. Relish in it. And if you don't, no matter who has told you it is good for you-it won't serve you until you love it for yourself and make it your choice.

To your health!

Boost Testosterone Naturally

This is information that I thought some might be interested in. It was posted on the rawfood meetup group by Vanessa Johansson.


[rawfood-387] Boost Natural Testosterone ProductionMonday, April 19, 2010 4:12 PM
From: "Vanessa Johansson" Add sender to Contacts
To: rawfood-387-announce@meetup.com


. What are some plant foods that will support and increase my natural testosterone levels? Peace Love Joy~ Sandy


Protocol ...

1. Playing competitive sports has been shown to trigger testosterone production. In fact, women get a bigger boost than men prior to competition.

2. Making love boosts testosterone production in women.

3. Avoid Hops, Licorice, grapefruit, and flax as these are the highest estrogenic foods.

4. All pesticides herbicides, and plastics are estrogenic so throw out your plastic and stick to glass and organic.

5.Drink nettle root tea every day. You can buy it at Mountain Rose Herbs online and make your own brew wiht it. Nettle root inhibits the transformation of excess testosterone into estrogen.

6. Eat Pine Pollen extract twice a day. It is the highest natural testosterone containing food on the planet. I like Woodland Essence brand.

7. Add passionflower to your nettle root tea or take it as an extract. herb Pharm has a high quality one. Passionflower displaces estrogen out of receptor sites and makes room for testosterone.

8. Add ginseng root to your tea. Boil for at least one hour. very testosterone producing.

9. Eat Lions Mane mushroom extracts from Mushroom Sciences or from Host Defense.

10. Read my all time favorite Author.... Stephen Harrod Buhner. His book " The Natural Testosterone Plan: For Sexual Health and Energy" is a must read for anyone interested in longevity and health. testosterone is a longevity hormone and our society is massively estrogen dominant which leads to passivity, shorter life span, docility, and tons of female cancers, male pattern baldness, fat on the thighs and hips, and much more.

11. Anyone not married to a plant only diet would want to get onto Deer Antler. The best brand out there is Dragon Herbs. Colostrum from Surthrival would also be in order. Rememnber that plant foods are all estrogonic and loaded with phytoestrogens.

Anyone suffering from low libido will benefit greatly from all of these practices as well.

Best of luck to you as you follow the thread of your own Sovereign Authenticity.

To your health.

Vanessa

Crackers

I made some crackers that I thought were my first successful crackers in several attempts.

Two ears of corn off the cob, small red pepper, wedge of purple onion, clove of garlic, salt, pepper all blended well in the food processor.

Add a cup of flax seeds that have been soaked for about twenty minutes or until they are slimy. Drain the flax seeds and add to processor and mix again.

Place on dehydrator sheets about 1/4" thick and dry on 105 for about 12 hours, turn over and 12 hours more until dry.

Great with raw cheddar cheese and avocado bits.

Foreign fish not safe for consumption

For those of us that eat fish-take a look at this and be informed.

Nut milks

I got this off a website and I wish I could remember which one so I could give them credit. but I don't.




RECIPES: Live Nut Milk

Making nut milk is easy and very satisfying. If you drink soy milk or another boxed milk product, you'll never go back after making one of these nut milks.

Live Nut or Seed Milk

For Almond Milk
1 cup soaked almonds

For Hazelnut Milk
1 cup raw hazelnuts (hazelnuts don't contain enzyme inhibitors so you don't have to soak them)

For Brazil Nut Milk
1 cup raw Brazil nuts (Brazil nuts don't contain enzyme inhibitors so you don't have to soak them)

For Hemp Seed Milk
3/4 cup raw hemp seeds

Sweetener: 2-3 dates, or 2 Tbsp honey, maple syrup or agave nectar (optional)

1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)


Soak your almonds in filtered water for 12 hours; drain, rinse, and dry.

Place your drained nuts, seeds or combination of nuts and seeds (almond and hemp are nice together) in your blender.
Add 2-3 cups of filtered water, a pinch of salt, your desired sweetener and vanilla.
Blend on high until the nuts are completely broken down. Don't over-blend as the friction from the blender will create heat. For small batches, I use a Braun hand blender.

Pour your milk through a nut milk bag or strainer and squeeze as much of the liquid out as possible.

You now have a delicious fresh nut milk to enjoy on its own, with granola or in a smoothie in place of dairy.

Note: Unsweetened pulp is delicious added to hummus or baba ganoush. Don't throw it away; freeze it!

Raw Relish for lunch

This is a favorite raw rollup-and it works great as a take-to-work lunch.

1 mango, peeled and chopped
1 orange, peeled and chopped
1/2 red onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
1/2 yellow pepper, chopped
10 red grapes, cut in quarters
1 firm roma tomato, chopped fine

add: a pinch of sea salt, a sprinkle of pepper
I like to add cayenne pepper for some kick, of course
if you have some pineapple, that works nicely too.

10 large romaine lettuce leaves, washed and whole.
fill with relish, sprinkle with sesame seeds and eat!

These look so pretty too.

Note: I had a can of organic chopped tomatoes and added these instead of fresh-note: don't do it again.
They are too mushy. Use fresh ingredients.

Am I low in Vitamin A?!

If you suddenly start noticing eye and skin issues that you haven't had before, you might be low in Vitamin A.

Dry eyes, itchy eyes, inflamed eyes, blurred vision, night blindness, dry skin, itchy skin, bumpy skin can all be indications you need to increase your Vitamin A foods for awhile.

Foods high in Vitamin A:

• liver
• sweet potatos
• carrots
• mangoes
• spinach
• cantaloupe
• dried apricots
• milk
• egg yolks
• mozzarella cheese

think ORANGE for vitamin A!

Another Reason

I read that 50% of all the anitbiotics sold in the USA are given to farmers/ranchers for their livestock. Cows, pigs, chickens, so that they grow strong and healthy. Europe already won't take our meat. This is why.

That means that even if we don't medicate ourselves-we are still getting the antibiotics via our non-organic meats. 

ANOTHER REASON to buy organic!

I had a funny thought-what if the Judaic mandate to eat kosher  and not eat pork is really a message from the future (via the biblical writings) passed down to us so that 2000 years later we don't eat pork and we don't eat non-organic.

Kosher means blessed. Right? Bless our food. Blessing changes the frequency.

So, what if the future bacterial or viral bug that potentially wipes out the human race is a crossover from pigs? All virus's begin in an animal host and mutate to humans. Wow! If we are eating pork that has been given antibiotics, we might potentially be creating an internal system that will be unable to combat the future virus!

Ok-enough of the science fiction for this Sunday morning. Happy Valentine's day everyone.

Of course, if you are doing 'raw' then you are not eating meat...except fish perhaps? Remember to buy organic eggs, for the same reason.

Do we have to eat organic for everything? No. Grapes and Apples are the most heavily pesticided produce.

But anything you can peel, you can buy conventional-unless someone else has a reason ? Let us know your thoughts.

A post from Salt Lake City Raw Group

This is a post from the message board of the Salt Lake City Raw Superheros group. The title was do you need another reason to buy organic. This so grosses me out.

D.Lindsey Berkson, a bioenvironmentalist educated at Tulane University, adds a chilling note in her must read book " Hormone Deception" in which she cites a shocking Associated press story. It seems that toxic heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, arsenic, along with dioxins and radio active waste from a nearby uranium processing plant is licensed as a commercial fertilizer and sprayed over 9,000 acresof grazing land, where it makes its way into the livestock eating the newly fertilized grass. Although many other industrilaized nations regulate the use of fertilizers, the United States does not, which means that medical, municipal, and industrial waste is routinely spread over the ground where our crops grow and where cattle graze. Municipal sewage systems alone, says berkson, sell some 36 percent of their 11.6 billion pounds of waste materials to farmers looking for fertilizers. Holy nastyness.
So the issue clearly becomes, how do you wnat to pay? Up front wiht the Organic price tag, or aorund the back door with your health, your sanity, the future of our species, and your life in its entirety. Fort me its a no brainer. I am thankful that the option to pay up front even exists, and I encourage you to do the same.
Spread the truth and fight truth decay!!!!!

I found on this site there is another raw store at 389 W 1700 south called Cali's. I haven't checked it out yet. It is a local owner.

Smoked PEPPERED Mackerel

If you haven't tried this, and you like fish of course, try! It's in Whole Foods, by the meat section, hanging by the coolers. It is peppered and smoked and not raw, but yum!

Have it in lettuce roll ups for the rawish part, with some shredded cabbage and cilantro lime dressing?

I had it with cream cheese-also not raw, and then rolled in big dark leaves of ruffled lettuce. Ok-it's the holidays. I find that I have to break out into wildness every now and then, and smoked fish is so high in omegas that I figure it's only good for us!

Kale Crackers

I just had some great crackers that are raw! She dipped kale pieces in a mixture of garlic, olive oil and tomatoes that had gone in the blender until smooth.

Lay on trays in the dehydrator and dry for 10 hours.

They are tasty and light and quite healthy! Yet another way to put Kale to good use and a great alternative to fried or baked potato chips.

More fear marketing-hand sanitizers

I'm amazed at the plethora of hand sanitizers that have sprung up everywhere. You can wipe the handles of everything before you touch it. Heaven forbid you should touch something that someone else has.

Now folks, does this even make sense? Can you REALLY accomplish this? Can you? You are in a world populated by others. So we have automatic doors, automatic flushing toilets, automatic water taps. We have automatic paper dispensers. Pretty interesting. I watch people trying to open doors with their elbows! Good trick if you can do it.

Do you ever watch yourself? Do it for one day. Where is your FEAR?

My son was just telling me that last year in high school they did an experiment: hand sanitizer vs bar soap. He was the test dummy. He scrubbed his hands with soap. They took a skin scraping. He walked around the room for a few minutes, came back and they took another skin scraping. He made sure he touched things, just behaved normally for about 15 minutes. Then a third after another scrub.

Then he used hand sanitizer and did the same thing. Skin scraping right after the sanitizer, then walked around, touched things as normal for 15 minutes, then another skin scraping, a third after that.

While they all knew the ads-hand sanitizer destroys 99.9% of the bacteria, that was not a surprise, or as it turns out, was it a lie. It does kill all the bacteria-including the good that is a protective barrier and meant to stop the majority of bad bacteria from getting further into our system!

We are a symbiotic ecosystem-we are meant to have good bacteria on our skin, just like we are meant to have good bacteria in our intestinal tract. They keep us healthy. Get over the advertising that bacteria is the bad guy. It's not.

Here were their results:
These high school kids discovered that when you use regular soap, you kill the bad bacteria, and you keep the good bacteria. They saw it for themselves under the microscope.

When you use hand sanitizer, you destroy all the bacteria, and then when you touch something else you double the exposure to bad bacteria-with no protective barrier in place to stop them.

He mentioned casually "whoa was there a lot of bad bacteria then!" I smiled.

In other words the more you use hand sanitizers, the more you destroy your own ecosystem, your own defenses. It's like saying because you have soldiers with bows and arrows all around the castle walls, you can open the gates and lower the draw bridge.

I've never been a germ-a-phob. I figure we live in this world. Stuff drops on the floor. I have animals. We live with them. That means our energy mingles, our life force mingles, and our germs mingle. While I don't kiss my dog on the lips, and ew I don't like her to lick my face either, I'm not overly concerned about methodically washing my hands at every contact. With her or with the world. Germs are just germs. And btw, we are an extremely healthy family. Always have been.

Come into right relationship with your world, and you will be fine. Really. You want strong healthy kids-STOP using sanitizer on everything. Let them get dirty for goodness sake. They will strengthen their immune system through everyday life. Being a 'good mom' does not mean making your children live in an antiseptic world. And fanatically scrubbing everything down only gives them the vibrational message that the world is not their friend. Is that the message you want them to have?

Let's look at this another way:
Vaccines are about 'exposure' in order to build up an immunity.
Why would we not get the same benefits from building up our natural immunity to germs? They can't have it both ways. Oh wait. yes they can. It's called fear marketing.

We're getting marketed into the benefits of vaccinations, but we are are being reverse marketed about germs. We aren't in a battle with germs. In many cases, bacteria are our friends. Folks, touch your world. Get into it! You'll get stronger for it.

Raw ish - Fast Breakfast

1/2 avocado, cubed
1/2 tomato, chunked
1 cup cabbage, fermented overnight in olive oil and balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs sesame seeds
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
s&p

Here's the raw-ish
1 hardboiled egg chopped

Or the vegan option is always cubed tofu.

Add a touch more balsamic and oil if you like it wetter. Toss and eat!
Enjoy!