Covenant Natural Health Care

Health News Roundup

• Parents: You Can Say No to Vaccinations, Right? Maybe Not for Much Longer...: The proposed new law will legally require doctors and nurses to personally sign off on all religious or personal belief exemptions to vaccination filed with the state. Parents seeking non-medical exemptions will be required to include a signature from a vaccine provider on the exemption form stating that they have been given vaccine benefit and risk information. 3 Currently Washington state mandatory vaccination laws 4 only require signatures from medical personnel when medical exemptions are filed.
 

• Another Reason to Skip the Soda: High Blood Pressure: There's plenty of evidence that guzzling sugared drinks like sodas can harm your health. The extra calories can lead to obesity and contribute to heart problems and diabetes. Now researchers say the sweet beverages may boost blood pressure as well.

• 14 Ways to Save Money on Groceries: Learning to be a savvy food shopper is not only about the price tag (looking for freshness and food quality are also important), but, that being said, the more you can keep your grocery bill down, the better.

• Svelte 30 Recall: OTC Diet Pill Contains Undeclared Prescription Drug: Svelte 30 Nutritional Consultants, a diet pill manufacturer with an office in Kissimmee, Fla., is voluntarily recalling its "Svelte 30 orange & gray capsules" after a January test conducted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revealed that the pills contained sibutramine, the FDA-approved prescription diet drug sold as Meridia.

In October 2010, Abbott Laboratories voluntarily pulled Meridia from the shelves, under pressure from the FDA, after data showed that the drug increased the risk of heart attack and stroke.

• Can't Beat Food Cravings? Four Steps to Help You Kick Your Addictions: It's estimated that up to 100 percent of women and 70 percent of men experience food cravings in any given year. Entirely separate from hunger pains, which can be satisfied with a variety of foods, food cravings make you yearn for a taste of something very specific, usually a food rich in sugar, salt or fat.

• And the Nation's Fast-Food Capital Is...: Are you hankering for a Whopper? How about a Gordita Supreme, or a bucket of Extra Crispy? According to numbers crunched by AggData for the Daily Beast, you'd have the best luck in Orlando, Fla., the U.S. city with the highest concentration of Burger King, Taco Bell and KFC restaurants per capita.

• Is It Time to Make Health Freedom a Constitutional Right?: A core principle of what we call Health Medicine is a patient's right to freedom of choice and their right to know. Whom are we kidding when, because of monopolistic medical practices, patients are not informed of all the treatments known from evidence to benefit their condition -- especially alternative-medicine and natural healing treatments? What's the point of extending insurance to all Americans if they're blocked from making choices outside today's allopathic "sick-care" paradigm?

• Local and organic food, farming: Here's the gold standard: More and more consumers and corporations are touting the benefits of "local" foods, often described as "sustainable," "healthy," or "natural." According to the trade publication, Sustainable Food News, "local" as a marketing claim, has grown by 15 percent from 2009 to 2010, and it's likely that number will increase in the coming year. (1) Even supermarket giant and junk food purveyor Wal-Mart, with total sales in 2009 of $405 billion, has jumped on the bandwagon. It has pledged to reduce food miles and increase its purchase of "local" fruits and vegetables to include 9 percent of its produce by 2015.

• Shoppers Wary of GM Foods Find They're Everywhere: You may not want to eat genetically engineered foods. Chances are, you are eating them anyway.

The #1 way to combat rising food costs

My grocery list contains just about the same amount of items and same type of items every week, but the $$$ keep rising. Personally, my grocery bill is $30 higher than it was several months ago. I consider that to be a decent hike in prices in less than a years time. What gives? Food prices are skyrocketing and there may not be much relief from it in the near future.

Of course, buying local will help alleviate some of the purchasing pain, but the #1 way you can save money on pure, organic food is to grow it in your own backyard. There are many reasons why growing your own food is good for you:
• You'll never question where it came from or how fresh the crop is
• Gardening is fun and can be a stress reliever
• It's a great way to spend time outdoors soaking up natural vitamin D
• You can save $$$ on your weekly grocery shopping
• You'll have enough produce (in most cases) to preserve and enjoy all winter long
• Playing in the dirt can bring out your inner child :)
• You'll get to enjoy the pure taste food that only has to travel between the plant and your dinner table and touched by you

Frankly, the list could continue on and on, the benefits are endless. It's time to consider planting a garden this year. The time is near when seeds will need to be started indoors and cold-weather crops will need to be planted outdoors. So, I encourage you to think about your favorite types of produce and what you'd like to spend and save this summer when it comes to $$$. I must note that gardening is definitely an investment, especially the first year. It may be that you come out even the first year you garden, it just depends on the route you take. But, regardless, the seeds you plant and grow will be a blessing to you in so many ways. Now that I've planted the seed, do some research on gardening. I'll be revisiting this topic often as Spring presents itself.

Be on the lookout for information regarding an upcoming workshop on gardening!

 

List of Organic and Non-Organic Foods to Buy

When it comes to buying organic or conventional foods, I try to buy as much organic as my budget allows. Why? Anything that is not organic may contain toxins like chemicals, pesticides, artificial coloring, antibiotics, hormones, heavy metals, and may be genetically modified. All of these things can have a negative effect on health, short-term and long-term. And, when our food is pure and natural is just tastes better and contains more nutrients.

If you're very budget-conscious, like me, you'll be glad to know that there are some fruits and vegetables that you can buy conventional without the worry of ingesting all the harmful toxins I mentioned above. Make a copy of this list to tuck away in your purse or wallet so that you can refer to it every time you go shopping. Or, create a list digitally and keep it on your phone for easy access.

It's best to buy these things ORGANIC as they can be the most toxic from the toxins I mentioned above:
• Apples
• Beets
• Bell peppers
• Blueberries and raspberries
• Carrots
• Celery
• Cherries
• Coffee
• Cucumbers
• Dairy products (butter, yogurt, milk, cheese)
• Eggs
• Grapes
• Green beans
• Greens leafy vegetables (Spinach, chard, lettuce, kale, collard greens)
• Herbs
• Meat
• Nuts
• Peaches
• Pears
• Potatoes (including sweet potatoes)
• Rice
• Strawberries
• Tomatoes

These are items that you can buy NON-ORGANIC/CONVENTIONAL and have been found to contain the least amount of pesticides (wash thoroughly, though):
• Asparagus
• Avocados
• Bananas
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Garlic
• Lemons
• Limes
• Onions
• Oranges
• Pineapple
• Squash
• Watermelon

Hopefully this list will help you save a few $$$ on your next shopping trip and make you feel good about filling your family's bellies with less pesticides/chemicals and more nutrients.

How to Make Homemade Vanilla Extract

Last year, I came across a recipe for homemade vanilla extract. Much to my surprise, it contained two ingredients, a few minutes to make and about 1-2 months to sit on a shelf before using. It's one of the easiest and best things I've learned how to make. Store-bought imitation, organic brands are watered down, really expensive and just don't compare to the quality and taste of making it at home. Saving $3-$5 per bottle is well worth the five minutes it takes to whip up a few bottles.

Homemade vanilla extract also makes a thoughtful, inexpensive gift/stocking stuffer for a co-worker, teacher, hostess, friend, neighbor, etc. If you make them now, they'll be ready to give right around Christmas.

Shopping List:
• 1 bottle vodka (good quality)
• Organic vanilla beans (I buy mine from Mountain Rose Herbs)
• Glass jars (I bought my last set of jars from Mountain Rose Herbs, but you may be able to find them for less money locally or online.

Directions: Take a paring knife and cut one vanilla bean in 4 pieces, then cut each piece lengthwise. Put beans into a 4oz. glass jar and fill with vodka. You can also make a larger, mason jar full of vanilla extract if you're making it for yourself. Use 3 beans per cup of vodka. Let sit in a dark place for 1-2 months. The longer it sits, the stronger the vanilla flavor will be.

Uses:
• Baking
• Add to plain, cream top yogurt
• Add to protein shakes
• Add to a small jar of epsom salt or dead sea salt for a vanilla-scented bath salt
• Use the vanilla beans to make homemade, vanilla bean ice cream

Recipe: How to make your own nut butter

My husband is on a very strict diet of protein, vegetables, and ezekial bread. Do you think my meal planning might be a little challenging when it comes to variety? Absolutely. It can also get expensive.

Luke loves to snack on almonds, cashews and pistachios. He also loves to top his bread and celery with nut butter—an excellent source of protein. I don't know if you've checked out the prices on nut butters lately, but they are a little pricey, especially for our budget. Nuts are expensive which makes nut butter expensive. When we buy it off the shelf, we also pay for manufacturer overhead, shipping, stocking, and profit for both the retail chain and manufacturer. 

Lately, I've found raw and organic bulk cashew pieces at Kroger for 4.99/lb and peanuts for 2.99/lb. I recently bought cashew butter for 5.79 on sale for an 11oz jar—which I can make at home for less! When we go through nut butter as quickly as we do, the savings really add up.

All you need to make your own nut butter at home is a food processor (a good blender will work, too), nuts and a good oil (I like extra virgin olive oil for its nutritional value). I make small batches so that it stays fresh.

Directions:

Add two cups of nuts of choice to a food processor and pulse until the nuts start to form a ball. Add 1 tablespoon of a good quality/healthy oil at a time until desired chunkiness or creaminess is reached. Transfer to a clean jar and store in the fridge.

It's that easy—and easy on the pocketbook! 

Speaking of nuts, here is a great article on organic almond farmers who are challenging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to keep their crop organic and raw. "Those challenging the USDA scored a legal victory last week when a U.S. Court of Appeals judge ruled they could proceed with a lawsuit challenging the regulations." This is great news for the farmers and for us who deeply care about preserving the nutrition in the crop.

You will get more health benefits by making nut butter with raw nuts, but if you'd like a little more flavor you can roast the nuts in the oven first, let them cool, then make nut butter.