JADE FACIAL ROLLER

  When it comes to skincare, I take it very seriously. I see it as a ritual. A type of meditation. Time to really take time to be in-tune with […]

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Recipe: Simple Superfood Yogurt Bowl

Thank you to Stonyfield for sponsoring this post. Small but mighty. That’s the way my weekday breakfasts need to be. Something easy to make but that will keep me satisfied... Read More

       

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Green Beauty Gift Guide With Mini-Reviews

Is it really the time of year for gift guides? I feel like I’ve barely processed my surprise at the arrival of fall. I try to be a good girl and obey all the laws of spacetime, but I swear time’s going by faster lately. Maybe it’s because I’m so busy. Actually, busy doesn’t begin to describe me recently (you, too??). Even if I’m not writing here all the time, I’m still deep into green beauty, trying new things, and attempting to bring you the 411. I’m a bit better at keeping up on Instagram if you want to come […]

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Eating Coconut Oil May Be "First Drug-Free Way" to Fight Off Candida Yeast

By Dr. Mercola

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step,” said the ancient philosopher Lao Tzu. And this is certainly true when it comes to your health. Making a series of small, manageable lifestyle changes can significantly change your life for the better, and one such option to strongly consider is the use of coconut oil.

Stash a jar of coconut oil in your kitchen pantry and one under your bathroom sink – and then read up on the many ways this rich and creamy oil can be used to benefit your health.

Coconut oil is one of the best, most stable oils to use for your cooking. It’s also wonderful added to smoothies. You can use coconut oil as a natural moisturizer, as part of your hair care routine or as a deodorant. It can even help remove soap scum from your shower.

But, its uses don’t end there. From enhancing your digestive health to improving your teeth and gum care and fighting off candida yeast, coconut oil is one health tool you won’t want to be without.

Coconut Oil Wages War Against Candida

Yeast known as candida albicans (C. albicans) normally live in your digestive tract. But if your digestive tract is imbalanced or “sick,” candida can grow out of control, break down the wall of your intestine, and enter your bloodstream, causing systemic health effects including potentially deadly infection.

Candida overgrowth is very common in people with digestive complaints, and coconut oil, which has anti-microbial properties, is an effective solution. Recent research published in mSphere found that mice fed coconut oil had a 10-fold drop in the colonization of C. albicans in their gut compared to those fed beef tallow or soybean oil.¹

When the beef tallow mice were switched over to a coconut oil diet, it took just four days for their C. albicans in their guts to drop significantly. According to the researchers, coconut oil might provide an effective alternative to antifungal drugs and likely could help control the growth of C. albicans simply by being added to a patient’s regular diet.

They are hoping to conduct a clinical trial on using coconut oil to help hospitalized infants at high risk of systemic candidiasis. They continued:²

“Using a mouse model, we showed that adding coconut oil to the diet could become the first drug-free way to reduce C. albicans in the gut. More broadly, this model lets us study the interactions between our diet and the microbes in our body and the reasons why some of those microbes, under certain conditions, cause disease.”

Coconut Oil for Your Digestive Health

Coconut oil is easy on your digestive system and does not produce an insulin spike in your bloodstream, so for a quick energy boost, you could simply eat a spoonful of coconut oil or add it to your food.

Its medium-chain fatty acids (MCTs) also impart a number of health benefits, including raising your body's metabolism and fighting off pathogens. Its MCTs are also easily absorbed in your digestive tract than the longer chain fatty acids found in other fats, such as polyunsaturated vegetable oils (corn, soy, etc.).

In the case of Crohn’s disease, for instance, it’s been shown that adding long-chain fatty acids to patients’ feeding tubes worsens the condition, “whereas no deleterious effects of additional medium-chain triglyceride have been identified.”³

Other evidence of coconut oil’s digestive benefits can be found in a Gut study, which found MCTs improve fat absorption in patients who have had their colon fully or partially removed.⁴ And in a study on mice, when dietary sunflower oil was partially replaced with coconut oil, the mice had reduced colitis and less intestinal inflammation.⁵

MCTs also help your body absorb other nutrients. Among patients receiving total parenteral nutrition, those who received MCTs in addition to long-chain fatty acids had double the absorption of vitamin E compared to patients receiving only long-chain fatty acids.⁶

Another animal study compared the effects of feeding coconut oil (a saturated fat) versus safflower oil (a polyunsaturated fat) on the absorption of carotenoids from tomatoes.

Coconut oil enhanced tissue uptake of tomato carotenoids to a greater degree than safflower oil, a benefit the researchers also suggested may be due to coconut oil's MCTs.⁷ And as reported by the Weston A. Price Foundation:⁸

“Coconut oil is so beneficial for digestive health that years ago a person suffering from Crohn’s disease wrote to ‘Dear Abby’ insisting that eating macaroons eliminated symptoms of the disease.

The macaroons contained sugar, white flour, bad oils, and guess what… six to eight grams of fats from coconut! Even amidst the bad ingredients, the fatty acids in coconut oil helped this person with Crohn’s!”

Coconut Oil for Weight Loss and Metabolism

MCTs are smaller than LCTs (long-chain triglycerides found in most vegetable oils), which means they permeate cell membranes easily and do not require lipoproteins or special enzymes to be utilized effectively by your body. Further:

• MCTs are easily digested, thus putting less strain on your digestive system. This is especially important for those of you with digestive or metabolic concerns
• MCTs are sent directly to your liver, where they are immediately converted into energy rather than being stored as fat
• MCTs in coconut oil can actually help stimulate your body's metabolism, leading to weight loss

There are numerous studies showing that MCTs promote weight loss, including one study that showed rats fed LCTs stored body fat, while rats fed MCTs reduced body fat and improved insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance.⁹

Yet another study found that overweight men who ate a diet rich in MCTs lost more fat tissue compared to those eating a high-LCT diet, presumably due to increased energy expenditure and fat oxidation from the MCT intake. Researchers concluded:¹⁰

"Thus, MCTs may be considered as agents that aid in the prevention of obesity or potentially stimulate weight loss."

Coconut oil earns even more "points" because it's rich in lauric acid, which converts in your body to monolaurin – a compound also found in breast milk that strengthens immunity. Caprylic acid, another coconut fatty acid present in smaller amounts, is another beneficial antimicrobial component.

Coconut Oil for Healthy Teeth and Gums

Coconut oil is a safe, natural, and inexpensive tool to improve your oral health. Coconut oil has antibacterial and anti-viral activity that makes it especially well suited for oral health.

Research even shows that massaging coconut oil into your gums for about 10 minutes daily (continued for three weeks) significantly reduces decay-causing Streptococcus mutans as well as plaque.¹¹

In another study to test coconut oil's biocidal properties, the antibacterial action of coconut oil was tested in its natural state and after being treated with enzymes, in a process similar to digestion. The oils were tested against strains of Streptococcus bacteria, which are common inhabitants of your mouth.

They found that enzyme-modified coconut oil strongly inhibits the growth of most strains of Streptococcus bacteria, including Streptococcus mutans.¹² It is thought that the breaking down of the fatty coconut oil by the enzymes turns it into acids, which are toxic to certain bacteria.¹³

It’s actually quite simple to make your own coconut oil toothpaste at home. The first recipe that follows, from MindBodyGreen, makes a little more than one cup of toothpaste, which should last about three months. It can be stored in your fridge for up to four months or at room temperature for seven to 14 days.¹⁴

Homemade Peppermint and Coconut Oil Toothpaste Ingredients 1/2 cup bentonite clay 1/8 tsp. salt 2 tsp. baking soda 2/3 cup water 1/4 cup coconut oil 1 tsp. stevia (optional) 1 to 4 drops peppermint essential oil Preparation Mix the clay and salt in a bowl. Add the water. Mix well. Add the rest of ingredients. Mix well again until it forms a paste. Store it in a jar with a lid. Every time you go to use it, spoon some onto your toothbrush. Dampen the paste by putting your brush under some gently running water. Brush as usual.

Have You Tried Oil Pulling?

Oil pulling involves “rinsing” your mouth with coconut oil, much like you would with a mouthwash (except you shouldn’t attempt to gargle with it). The oil is “worked” around your mouth by pushing, pulling, and drawing it through your teeth for a period of about 20 minutes. When you’re first starting out, you may want to try it for just five minutes at a time, or, if you have more time and want even better results, you can go for 30 to 45 minutes.

This process allows the oil to “pull out” bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other debris from your mouth. Once the oil turns thin and milky white, you’ll know it’s time to spit it out. As reported by the Indian Journal of Dental Research:¹⁵

“Oil pulling has been used extensively as a traditional Indian folk remedy without scientific proof for many years for strengthening teeth, gums, and jaws and to prevent decay, oral malodor, bleeding gums, and dryness of throat and cracked lips.”

However, oil pulling does appear to have a significant cleansing and healing effect, which is backed up by science:

• Oil pulling reduced counts of Streptococcus mutans bacteria – a significant contributor to tooth decay – in the plaque and saliva of children.¹⁶ Researchers concluded, “Oil pulling can be used as an effective preventive adjunct in maintaining and improving oral health.”
• Oil pulling significantly reduced plaque, improved gum health, and reduced aerobic microorganisms in plaque among adolescent boys with plaque-induced gingivitis¹⁷
• Oil pulling is as effective as mouthwash at improving bad breath and reducing the microorganisms that may cause it¹⁸
• Oil pulling benefits your mouth, in part, via its mechanical cleaning action.¹⁹ Researchers noted:

• “The myth that the effect of oil-pulling therapy on oral health was just a placebo effect has been broken and there are clear indications of possible saponification and emulsification process, which enhances its mechanical cleaning action.”

It’s worth noting that the above studies used sesame oil, which is traditionally recommended. However, coconut oil is likely far superior due to its antibacterial and anti-viral activity. Many find that it tastes better, too.

How to Add Coconut Oil to Your Beauty Routine

Coconut oil is excellent when used in cooking or for oral care (you can even take a tablespoon or two a day as a health “supplement”), however it’s equally useful when used topically. Coconut oil can easily replace many of the personal care products under your bathroom sink. Delicious Obsessions listed no less than 122 creative uses for this household staple, including 21 DIY coconut oil skin care recipes.²⁰ For example:

Makeup remover: Swipe on with a moist cotton ball. Wipe off with clean cotton ball or wet washcloth.

Facial cleanser: Massage a dollop of coconut oil onto face and neck. Wash off with wet washcloth and pat dry.

Body scrub: Mix equal parts coconut oil with organic cane sugar in a glass jar. Use the scrub on dry skin prior to your shower or bath.

Facial scrub: Instead of sugar, mix coconut oil with baking soda, or oatmeal with a dash of cinnamon, for a gentle facial scrub.

Shaving lotion: Apply a thin layer of coconut oil on area to be shaved and shave as usual. The lauric acid in the coconut oil will also serve as an antiseptic for cuts that result from shaving.

Face and body moisturizer: You can use it either by itself or add your favorite essential oil. (Make sure you're using a high-quality essential oil that is safe for topical application.) You can also whip the coconut oil with an electric mixer to produce a fluffy moisturizer that stays soft and spreadable even in cooler temperatures. When applied topically, coconut oil helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles by helping to keep your connective tissues strong and supple, and aids in exfoliating the outer layer of dead skin cells, making your skin smoother.

Eye cream: Apply a thin layer of coconut oil around your eyes to soften wrinkles and counteract thinning, sagging skin.

Cuticle cream: Simply rub a small amount of coconut oil around your cuticles to soften dry areas.

Deodorant: Applying a small amount of coconut oil directly onto your armpits can help keep odors at bay, courtesy of the oil's antibacterial properties. If you prefer, you can add a small amount of baking soda, or make a homemade deodorant using coconut oil, baking soda, and arrowroot powder.

Bath soak: Adding coconut oil to your bath can help moisturize dry itchy skin (Make sure to scrub your tub afterward to prevent slipping!). Make sure the water is warmer than 76 degrees Fahrenheit though; otherwise the oil will turn to a solid.

Soap: Coconut oil is one of the base ingredients in many homemade soap recipes.

Lip balm: You can either apply a small amount of coconut oil as is, or make your own lip balm using coconut oil as one of the base ingredients. You can find all sorts of recipes online.

Insect repellent: Mixing coconut oil with high-quality essential oils may help keep biting insects at bay when applied to exposed skin. Effective choices include: peppermint, lemon balm, rosemary, tea tree oil, neem, citronella (Java Citronella), geraniol, catnip oil, and/or clear vanilla oil.

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Researchers Determine Vitamin D Level Necessary to Help Reduce Preterm Births

By Dr. Mercola

Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to a wide variety of health problems and diseases, and widespread vitamin D deficiency may also play a role in the United States' abysmal maternal health rating. It has been estimated that if vitamin D levels were raised among the general population, it could prevent chronic diseases that claim nearly one million lives throughout the world each year.

According to the 2015 Save the Children report¹ on the health of mothers around the world, the U.S. ranks worst among developed countries.

Shockingly, pregnant American women face a one in 1,800 risk of dying from pregnancy-related complications — a 10 times higher risk than that of women in Poland and Austria, for example.

When all countries of the world are included, the U.S. ranks 33 out of 179, down two spots from 2014. Raising vitamin D levels among pregnant women may curb this trend, and help protect not only the life and health of the mother, but also her child.

If you're pregnant, planning a pregnancy, or know anyone planning a family, the following information is crucial, and I encourage you to share it widely.

Vitamin D Is Crucial for Mother and Child

In the U.S., premature births have risen 36 percent over the past 25 years. Each year, more than half a million preemies are now born in the U.S., and it's the number one killer of newborns.

Research shows that vitamin D optimization could likely prevent half of these premature births. Among African-American and Hispanic populations, as much as 70 to 75 percent of all preterm births might be prevented.

Similar findings have been documented among twin births, which tend to have a higher risk for preterm birth. A 2013 study² found that women carrying twins who had a minimum vitamin D level of 30 ng/ml (75 nmol/L) in their late second trimester had a 60 percent reduction in preterm births.

Previous research³ has also shown that women with a vitamin D level of 40 ng/ml have a 25 percent reduction in infections, particularly respiratory infections such as colds and flu, as well as fewer infections of the vagina and the gums.

Comorbidities of pregnancy were also reduced by 30 percent in the women who achieved 40 ng/ml, including diabetes, high blood pressure, and pre-eclampsia – a potentially deadly increase in blood pressure and fluid accompanied by low platelets.

A mother's vitamin D status during pregnancy can also have lifelong ramifications for her child. Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy has been linked to childhood allergies, asthma,^4,5 colds and flu, dental cavities, diabetes, and even strokes and cardiovascular disease in later life of the child.^6,7

40 ng/ml Is the 'Magic Number' for Reducing Risk of Preterm Birth

According to the most recent paper,⁸ produced by researchers from GrassrootsHealth and the Medical University of South Carolina, women with vitamin D levels of 40 to 60 ng/ml have a 46 percent lower preterm birth rate than the general population.

Women with a vitamin D level at or above 40 ng/ml by their third trimester had a 59 percent lower risk for premature birth than those with levels below 20 ng/ml. Moreover, as noted in a press release:⁹

"Another key finding was a steady increase of gestation time (how long the baby stayed in the womb) correlating to the rise of vitamin D up to around 40 ng/ml where it reached a plateau.¹⁰

The March of Dimes estimates that the annual cost of preterm births in the United States as $12 billion (for 455,918 children).

If approximately 50 percent of preterm births could be prevented in the general population, as this analysis suggests is possible, there could be $6 billion available for other services and, more than 225,000 children and families spared this trauma." [Emphasis mine]

Researchers Call for Vitamin D Testing As Part of Standard of Care for Pregnant Women

As a result of these findings, the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) has updated its standard of care for prenatal patients to include vitamin D testing, and if necessary, vitamin D3 supplementation.

Pregnant women are typically given 4,000 IU of vitamin D3 per day to start, with the aim of getting their serum levels to at least 40 ng/ml by their third trimester. According to Dr. Roger Newman,¹¹ Director of Women's Health Research at MUSC:

"We have been aware of the vitamin D deficiency state in the vast majority of our Caucasian patients and almost all our Black patients for far too long. Now the evidence has accumulated of the high price we pay in terms of prematurity and other obstetrical complications from our failure to systemically address these deficiencies in maternal vitamin D levels. It is time to change, to get ahead of the curve."

Co-author Carole Baggerly, director of GrassrootsHealth said:

"We applaud the Medical University of South Carolina for taking action to implement both the ethical and practical vitamin D methodology – they lead the way with moving research into practice through this Protect our Children NOW! project. Other medical centers are already on board to implement the new standard of care."

I join Carole in applauding MUSC for taking the lead on this issue. They're the first in the nation to take proactive steps to improve the health and safety of pregnant women and their babies by adding vitamin D testing and supplementation into their standard practice for ALL pregnant patients.

They're not waiting years for the approval of various institutional bodies and oversight groups. Rather, they've reviewed the evidence, found it to be solid, and are moving forward in the best interest of women and children, and for that, they deserve some serious accolades.

At this point, there's little doubt that maintaining a vitamin D level of 40 to 60 ng/ml during pregnancy is one of the most important things you can do, both for your own health and for the health of your child. The science is done. Now it just needs to be put into practice. I cannot think of any other measure that can reduce pregnancy complications, deaths, and future health problems for less money, and be as safe and risk-free.

So please, if you're pregnant, make sure to get your 25-hydroxy D levels checked. Research indicates that 50 percent of women can achieve a level of 40 ng/ml with 4,000 IUs of vitamin D3 per day during pregnancy, and 6,400 IUs for nursing mothers. Regular testing is important to see what your level is so you can adjust your dosage to fit your body's requirements. The NOAEL (No observed adverse effect level) specified by the Institute of Medicine is 10,000 IU/day.¹²

The actual dose required to achieve the 40 ng/ml level should be below that.

How to Enroll in Protect Our Children NOW!

Physicians across the nation are encouraged to enroll their pregnant patients in the Protect Our Children NOW! project, which seeks to resolve vitamin D deficiency among pregnant women and children, and raise global awareness about the health risks associated with vitamin D deficiency. The project was initiated by Carole Baggerly of GrassrootsHealth,¹³ which has a panel of 42 vitamin D researchers that provide scientific advice.

The project seeks to engage women in "a value changing project of Good Health vs. Treating Illness." In other words, optimizing your vitamin D status helps improve your health and prevent disease, which is a lot easier and less expensive than waiting for something to go wrong and then trying to treat the problem.

If you are 12 to 17 weeks pregnant, at least 18 years of age, and currently reside in the U.S., you may enroll in this fully sponsored project at no cost to you. Participation in the program includes:

• Free vitamin D blood tests
• Your and your newborn's new questionnaire entries
• Reporting of results directly to you
• Free vitamin D supplements

Vitamin D — A Simple, Inexpensive Way to Improve Your Health

The science is quite clear: To protect yourself and your child from pregnancy complications, you need to maintain a vitamin D level of 40 to 60 ng/ml. According to the featured study, the "magic number" is 40 ng/ml, after with the benefits plateau. I strongly suggest taking this information to heart, and to share it with anyone that might benefit. Optimizing your vitamin D is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to reduce your risk of complications and premature birth.

Ideally, you'd want to optimize your levels before getting pregnant, but if this is news to you, and you're already pregnant, do make sure to get tested, and take steps to optimize your levels accordingly. The vitamin D test you're looking for is called 25(OH)D or 25-hydroxyvitamin D.

This is the officially recognized marker of overall D status, and is most strongly associated with overall health. The other vitamin D test available, called 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D (1,25(OH)D), is not very useful for determining vitamin D sufficiency.

While sunlight is the ideal way to optimize your vitamin D, winter and work prevent more than 90 percent of those reading this article from achieving ideal levels without supplementation. Just remember to also increase your vitamin K2 intake, either from food or supplements.

The Medical University of South Carolina starts their prenatal patients on 4,000 IU of vitamin D3 per day. Regular testing helps determine whether this dose is sufficient, or how much more you might need to reach a serum level of at least 40 ng/ml by your third trimester.

Last but not least, please consider making a donation to the Protect Our Children NOW! project, to help keep this critical program going.

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Coffee Can Lower Your Overall Risk of Dying from Disease

By Dr. Mercola

Coffee was long regarded by many as a guilty pleasure, a beverage the majority of US adults consumed despite its effect on their health – not because of it. But it turns out coffee, a natural drink that's been widely enjoyed since ancient times, may be quite good for you.

Some of the latest research – a large-scale study published in the journal Circulation – even suggests drinking coffee may enhance your longevity.¹ It's sure to be welcome news for the 61 percent of Americans who drink coffee daily,² but there are some considerations you should know.

Coffee Drinkers Have a 15 Percent Lower Risk of Dying Early

In a study that followed more than 200,000 people for up to 30 years, researchers collected data on participants' diet and behavior, including coffee drinking.

Among non-smokers, those who drank one cup of coffee a day had a six percent reduced risk of death compared to those who drank no coffee. Drinking one to three cups a day lowered death risk by eight percent while three to five cups daily resulted in a 15 percent lower risk.

Further, drinking coffee was associated with a lower risk of death from a number of causes, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, neurological diseases (such as Parkinson's), and suicide. According to the researchers:³

"Higher consumption of total coffee, caffeinated coffee, and decaffeinated coffee was associated with lower risk of total mortality."

While the study doesn't prove coffee is the reason for the health benefits seen in the study, the association is strong. There are more than 1,000 different chemicals in coffee, and researchers are only beginning to tease out how the synergy between them might benefit your health.

In this study, the researchers suggested beneficial compounds in coffee such as chlorogenic acid, lignans, quinides, trigonelline, and magnesium may have anti-inflammatory effects and reduce insulin resistance, both of which could be responsible for the lowered premature death risk seen among coffee drinkers.

Past research published in the New England Journal of Medicine also found that coffee consumption is inversely associated with premature death.

The more coffee participants drank, the lower their risk of death became, including deaths from heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, injuries and accidents, diabetes, and infections.⁴

How Much Coffee Is Beneficial? How Much Is Too Much?

There does appear to be a "Goldilock's zone" when it comes to coffee. In the featured study, benefits increased up to five cups a day, but then seemed to taper off.

Among those who drank more than five cups a day, a 12 percent lower death risk was still seen, but this was lower than the 15 percent lower risk seen with three to five daily cups.

In its recommendations for the 2015 edition of Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a government advisory committee, for the first time, said Americans could safely consume up to five cups of coffee a day, or approximately 400 milligrams (mg) of caffeine, with no detrimental effects.⁵

How big is a "cup?" When referring to a "cup" of coffee most research considers it to be five to eight ounces with about 100 mg of caffeine. In contrast, a small cup at many coffee houses starts at 12 ounces while a large cup may hold 20 to 24 ounces.

Accumulating Evidence Shows Coffee May Lower Your Risk of Chronic Disease

If you enjoy a good cup of Joe, there's likely good reason to keep up your habit, assuming you don't overdo it, of course. From your heart to your brain and even your risk of cancer, moderate coffee consumption appears to be highly protective.

• Heart Health: Moderate coffee consumption (three to five cups a day) was associated with less calcium buildup in the arteries.⁶
• Type 2 Diabetes: Drinking six cups of coffee daily may lower your risk of type 2 diabetes by 33 percent, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis by the American Diabetes Association.⁷
• Melanoma and Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer: Drinking four cups of caffeinated coffee daily might reduce your risk of melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer.⁸ According to researchers:

• "[C]offee constituents suppress UVB-induced skin carcinogenesis, induce cell apoptosis, protect against oxidative stress and DNA damage, reduce inflammation in epidermal cells, and inhibit changes in DNA methylation."⁹

  In separate research, women who consumed more than three cups of coffee a day had a significantly lower risk of basal cell carcinoma (non-melanoma skin cancer) than those who consumed less than one cup per month.¹⁰

• Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson's: Drinking four to six cups of coffee a day is associated with a lower risk of multiple sclerosis, as is drinking a high amount of coffee over five to 10 years.

• According to researchers, "Caffeine has neuroprotective properties and seems to suppress the production of proinflammatory cytokines."¹¹ Higher coffee and caffeine intake are also associated with a lower risk of Parkinson's disease.¹²

• Dementia: Caffeine promotes production of the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenaline, and triggers the release of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which activates brain stem cells to convert into new neurons, thereby improving your brain health.

• Among people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), those with higher blood levels of caffeine (due to coffee consumption) were less likely to progress to full-blown dementia.¹³

  "Caffeine/coffee intake is associated with a reduced risk of dementia or delayed onset, particularly for those who already have MCI," the researchers said.

Does the Type of Coffee Matter?

Yes! Coffee beans are one of the most heavily pesticide-sprayed crops. So, you should select only coffee beans that are certified organic.

Whenever possible, purchase sustainable "shade-grown" coffee as well to help prevent the continued destruction of our tropical rain forests and the birds and other species that inhabit them.

There are many who say shade-grown coffee tastes better as well. In addition, you'll want to purchase whole-bean coffee that smells and tastes fresh, not stale; if your coffee does not have a pleasant aroma, it is likely rancid.

Grind it yourself to prevent rancidity, as pre-ground coffee may be rancid by the time you get it home.

If you use a "drip" coffee maker, be sure to use non-bleached filters. The bright white ones are chlorine-bleached, and some of this chlorine will leach from the filter during the brewing process. Bleached filters are also notoriously full of dangerous disinfection byproducts, such as dioxin.

If you are dousing your cup of Joe in creamer, non-dairy creamer, sugar, and other sweeteners and flavorings, you are missing out on the therapeutic benefits and potentially harming your health. The natural blend of polyphenol antioxidants are part of what makes coffee so healthy.

However, some research suggests that adding dairy to your coffee may interfere with your body's absorption of beneficial chlorogenic acids.¹⁴ Meanwhile, if you add sugar to your coffee you'll spike your insulin levels, which contributes to insulin resistance.

If you're interested in the health benefits, drink your coffee black, without sugar, non-dairy creamer or cream, or flavorings. If you really can't stand your coffee black, you could try adding non-dairy alternatives like coconut milk or a natural sweetener like stevia.

Light Roast or Dark Roast, Which Is Healthier?

You probably choose your roast based on flavor, but there might be compelling health differences too. Darker roasts typically contain less caffeine than lighter roasts due to the prolonged heat breaking down more of the caffeine molecules. (Bean species also differ widely in their naturally occurring concentrations of caffeine.)

Dark roast coffee, such as French or Italian Roast, or roasts used to make espresso or Turkish coffee, are typically higher in neuroprotective agents than green (unroasted) coffees. One study in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research found that dark roast coffee restored blood levels of the antioxidants vitamin E and glutathione more effectively than light roast coffee.¹⁵

The dark roast also led to a significant body weight reduction in pre-obese volunteers, whereas the lighter roast did not. Other studies have shown that dark roast coffee produces more of a chemical called N-methylpyridinium, which helps prevent your stomach from producing excess acid, so darker roast coffee may be easier on your stomach than lighter roast coffee.¹⁶

That said, the process of roasting will also produce acrylamide — a toxic byproduct created when you expose a food to high heat. Acrylamide has been associated with an increased cancer risk. From the perspective of limiting your exposure to this toxin, a light roast would seem to be preferable, but at least one study suggested the content of acrylamide in coffee reaches a peak early in the roasting process and "levels of acrylamide in the fully roasted product are a small fraction of the peak reached earlier."¹⁷

Lighter roasts may therefore have higher levels of acrylamide than darker roasts. Coffee made with higher levels of Robusta beans (compared to Arabica beans, which naturally have about half the caffeine content of Robusta beans) also appear to have higher acrylamide levels.¹⁸ Former National Coffee Association president Robert Nelson said in Roast magazine:¹⁹

"For coffee, the issue of acrylamide arises in the roasting process. As coffee beans are roasted, natural sugars and moisture enable the desirable browning process, which chemically creates some acrylamide. The exact mechanisms of acrylamide's formation in coffee may involve asparagine and other possible pathways. However, the highest level of the compound occurs at a roasting level too light for consumer preferences, after which it begins to degrade significantly during further roasting.

Completed roasting leaves only a fraction of the original acrylamide levels in the bean. Moreover, there's very little acrylamide left in brewed coffee as it is consumed."

I don't claim to have the definitive answer here, but the evidence supporting dark roast for higher antioxidant content is quite compelling... and it seems light roasts may have higher levels of acrylamide than dark roasts. The level of acrylamide in brewed coffee will be significantly less than what is found in the bean, however – and instant coffee appears to have more acrylamide than non-instant. HealWithFood.org compiled the following chart that shows acrylamide levels in various coffee brands:²⁰

Average acrylamide levels in selected coffees (in parts per billion, or ppb)

Brand	Not instant	Instant	Dark Roast	Regular Roast	Brewed
Folgers	314	458	237	346	10
Maxwell House	215	218	201	223	6
Chock full o'Nuts	201	NA	191	212	NA
Starbucks	149	NA	132	158	9
Hills Bros.	135	NA	NA	135	NA
Yuban	51	NA	NA	51	NA
Café Bustelo	142	NA	138	NA	6
Medaglia d'Oro	168	NA	164	NA	6
Taster's Choice	272	353	NA	NA	7
Nescafé	NA	471	NA	NA	6
7-Eleven	NA	NA	NA	NA	6

The average amounts of acrylamide in the chart above have been calculated by HealWithFood.org based on data released by the FDA. The FDA has cautioned that the acrylamide values it has reported for various foods and drinks are exploratory and only cover a limited number of food categories, products, and brands. In addition, they do not generally address unit-to-unit variation or lot-to-lot variation.

Who Shouldn't Drink Coffee?

Many people may benefit from a few cups of black, organic coffee daily, but there are always exceptions to the "rule." For instance, I strongly recommend pregnant women avoid ALL forms of caffeine. Research has shown that ingesting caffeine during pregnancy can result in a wide range of problems for your baby, including:

• Increased risk of miscarriage
• Low birth weight
• Birth defects such as cleft palate
• Increased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
• Decreased cardiac function and heart damage

Others who might want to avoid coffee, at least the caffeinated varieties, are those who are especially sensitive to the effects of caffeine. If you're one of those people who can't sleep if you drink even a sip of coffee in the afternoon, you're probably one of them. As explained by Newsweek:²¹

"… [C]affeine's effects on the body are not the same for everyone. Caffeine is metabolized by the enzyme CYP1A2, and the body's ability to produce this enzyme is controlled by the CYP1A2 gene. Some people are genetically predisposed to producing less of this enzyme, while others produce more than average.

Those who produce more of it are rapid caffeine metabolizers, which means they're not very sensitive to caffeine. That's your friend who guzzles a double latte at 11 p.m. and then an hour later says she's ready for bed — while you'd like nothing better than to talk all night."

Finally, if you're like me and don't enjoy the taste of coffee, there's no need to start drinking it just for the potential health benefits. You can find plenty of beneficial plant compounds in other foods and beverages, including tea and vegetables, so there's no need to feel that you're missing out.

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Etsy Sticker Haul (Planner Chick Designs)

A couple of stickers from an etsy store... click here.

Information: 
This post does not include any products sent for consideration.
The links are not affiliated.
All opinions are honest and my own, any suggestions made are based on my own experiences and are meant as a guide. Please always take care when making any DIY products and patch test to rule out an adverse reaction.

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How the Slow Down Diet Can Help You Lose Weight and Heal Eating Disorders

By Dr. Mercola

Many people have a problem with their relationship with food. Some overeat, others undereat, and many struggle with their weight despite doing everything right "on paper."

Marc David, an expert in the psychology of eating, addresses these and other issues in his book "The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure, Energy, and Weight Loss".

He's also the head of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, which offers an eight-week long virtual retreat that teaches you how to nourish yourself in a whole new way. As for how he got into this field, he says:

"Sonoma State University allowed me to do an independent study for my master's degree in Eating Psychology. I put an ad in a newspaper that said, 'Graduate student looking to start Eating Psychology study group.' That was the beginnings for me of learning on the job.

I had a group of 20 plus people — a handful of anorexics; a handful of some of the most obese people I'd ever seen; a beautiful model who had an eating disorder; and a handful of women in their 50s who looked fine to me but [spent their] life chronically dieting.

That was my beginnings of starting to understand eating psychology, counseling psychology, and coaching psychology. I looked at all the different modalities, started doing clinical practice, and said, 'OK. What works and what doesn't?'"

Why Does Dieting Oftentimes Fail?

Gradually, over the course of about 15 years, David developed a number of strategies that effectively address weight, body image, overeating, binge eating, emotional eating, and endless dieting.

The key was to distill the science and psychology down into simple, clear, and straightforward strategies that could empower people to take action and get desired results.

For example, many people diet and exercise yet don't lose weight. Why is that? Oftentimes there are secondary complaints that can offer clues.

"Maybe they have digestive issues. Maybe they have mood, irritability, or fatigue. Maybe they have dry skin and dry hair. Then I look at their diet and find that they're eating extremely low-fat.

Now, why are they eating extremely low-fat? They're [doing it] because they have what I call the 'toxic nutritional belief' that 'fat in food equals fat on my body.' That's a piece of nutritional information that they're practicing, using, and abiding by."

The problem with believing and following this myth is that lack of dietary fat may actually be part of why you can't lose weight. One of the signs of essential fatty acid deficiency is weight gain or inability to lose weight.

This seems counter intuitive to many, but the proof is in the pudding, as the saying goes, and if you're not losing weight even though you've cut out nearly all fat, then perhaps it's time to reassess your belief system.

"Then I have to do what I call an intellectual intervention," says. "This is my opportunity to deliver information... and let them know that 'here is where your belief is impacting the goal that you want.'

[I'll tell them] 'let's do an experiment because you've been doing it this way for a dozen years. So now we're going to include more healthy essential fats in your diet for the next several weeks. Then we're going to see how you feel.'"

More often than not, adding healthy fats back into your diet will result in more regular bowel movements, an increased sense of well-being, improved appetite control, and, eventually, weight loss.

Reconnecting to Your Body's Innate Intelligence

Part of the challenge, David notes, is that most people have lost their connection to body intelligence. "There's a brilliant wisdom that's activated once we start to clean up our diet and eat healthier food," he says.

Most people also eat too fast, and this too cuts you off from your body's innate intelligence, so slowing down the pace at which you eat is a very important part of reestablishing this natural connection.

If you're a fast eater, you're not paying attention to the food you're eating, and you're missing what scientists call the cephalic phase digestive response (CPDR).

Cephalic phase digestive response is a fancy term for taste, pleasure, aroma, and satisfaction, including the visual stimulus of your meal. Researchers estimate about 40 to 60 percent of your digestive and assimilative power at any meal comes from this "head phase" of digestion.

"In other words, you look at a food and your mouth starts to water," David explains. "You think of a food and your stomach starts to churn. That's digestion beginning in the mind. When we are not paying attention to the meal, our natural appetite is deregulated. On top of that, eating very fast puts your body in a stress state."

Stress Effectively Hinders Weight Loss

When you put your body in a stress state, you have sympathetic nervous system dominance, increased insulin, increased cortisol, and increased stress hormones.

Not only will this deregulate your appetite, you're also going to eat more, because when your brain doesn't have enough time to sense the taste, aroma, and pleasure from the food, it keeps signaling that hunger has not been satisfied.

You've undoubtedly experienced this at some point: You quickly gorge on a huge meal, but when you're finished, your belly is distended yet you still feel the urge to eat more. At the heart of this problem is eating too quickly, which causes stress. As David explains:

"I want to steer people towards more soulful eating," David says. "Be present. Feel good about what you're doing. Get pleasure from that meal. Taste it. Stress is arguably one of the most common causative or contributing factors to just about any disease, condition, or symptom we know of.

When I can start to help a person slow down with their meal and get in a relationship with their food, first and foremost, what's happening is they're stepping into parasympathetic nervous system dominance.

If you take five to 10 long, slow deep breaths before a meal, or five to 10 long, slow deep breaths before anything you do, you are training your system to drop into the physiologic relaxation response. When I can help somebody drop into that place, magic starts to happen. People start to go, 'Oh my goodness, I paid attention to my meal. I was present and I slowed down. I'm not overeating anymore.'"

In David's experience, a person's problem with overeating or binge eating can disappear within days when they get into right relationship with food and life, which means being present to it. Being present and mindful can actually affect your physiology in a very direct and profound way.

So if you typically reserve five minutes for breakfast, make that 15 or 20 minutes. If you're taking 10 minutes for lunch, take 30, 40, or better yet, as much as an hour or an hour and a half, which is common practice in many European countries.

Approaching Food from a Place of Inspiration Rather than Fear

Many people also suffer from what David calls a "high fact diet," meaning they have amassed a great deal of nutritional information, but they don't have the expertise to determine fact from fiction, and thus they get inundated with minutia and overwhelmed by contradictions. "From that place, they can easily go into breakdown. They can easily go into 'Oh, screw it. I don't know what to do,'" he says.

Others eat very healthy foods, but are motivated to do so not because of the health benefits they get, but because they fear they'll end up diseased or dead if they don't. You might think that the end result would be the same, regardless of the motivation driving their food choices, but doing anything from a place of fear can set you up for failure.

"Start to notice... 'What are the thoughts that are serving you and what are the thoughts that aren't serving you?' Living in a constant state of 'I'm no good, I'm not eating the right diet, I know I'm supposed to eat paleo but I didn't do it perfectly so now I have to punish myself,' [will cause] people to quit a great nutritional program because they made one little mix up!

I've helped so many people who were following a healthy diet out of fear. Follow a healthy diet out of inspiration. What do you want to do when you're healthy? Who do you want to be when you're really healthy, when you have all this energy, and when you have the perfect weight?"

The strategy David recommends here is to turn eating into a meditative act; to slow down, and become aware — of your food, and of how your body responds to the food.

"It becomes a meditation of 'What am I thinking about when I eat? Am I present? Am I tasting the food? What does this food taste like? Am I full? Do I need to eat more?' Then it becomes a meditation after the meal. I ask people to check in 20 or 30 minutes later. 'How's your body feeling now? Are you noticing anything? Are your sinuses clogged?' They might say, 'Yeah, I'm noticing I have a little head congestion.' Does that connect to what I ate then in terms of how I'm feeling right now?' It's all about awareness. It's all about questioning."

Why Intermittent Fasting Might Not Work for Some People

Most people who seek to lose weight are insulin resistant, and in over 35 years of experience in clinical medicine, I've not discovered a more effective intervention than intermittent fasting, where you skip either breakfast or dinner, thereby restricting your eating to a narrower window of time each day. Restricting your calories to a six to eight hour window is a powerful intervention that will jumpstart your metabolic systems to start burning fat for fuel.

David agrees, but notes that many people who skip meals from a fear-based place with the intention to cut calories often still fail to lose weight.

"I've seen hundreds of these clients," he says, adding that, "there is a huge subset of people who have been taught that weight loss is calories in and calories out, period. From that understanding, they are trying to limit their number of calories. Oftentimes that is done from a place of fear and anxiety, i.e. 'stress.'

And one of the factors that creates weight loss resistance is the constant state of stress that we live under. Because if you're not losing weight on a weight loss strategy where you're undereating for years, that creates stress and upset. To me, that low-level and that chronically elevated insulin and cortisol impacts the body and the sympathetic nervous system."

In essence, what's happening in such a situation is that even though skipping meals should improve your ability to lose weight, the fear and stress overrides the process by upregulating your sympathetic nervous system. Also, from a stand point of bio-circadian nutrition, some people find it easier to lose weight when they're eating the bulk of their calories in the first half of the day as opposed to the latter part, so maybe you'd do better eating breakfast and skipping dinner (or vice versa).

Are You on a Sumo Diet?

Dr. Lee Know's book "Life - The Epic Story of Our Mitochondria," really brought home the importance of meal timing for me. Most people eat their biggest meal at night, which could be a massive mistake because your mitochondria — the powerhouses inside your cells — are responsible for "burning" the fuel your body consumes and converting into usable energy.

When you add fuel close before bedtime — a time when you actually need the least amount of energy — you end up generating metabolic complications, caused by free radicals and an excess of electrons produced in the process.

In a nutshell, late-night eating tends to generate excess free radicals, which promotes DNA damage that contributes to chronic degenerative diseases and promotes accelerated aging. To avoid this, stop eating at least three hours before bedtime. David also notes that, according to the concept of bio-circadian nutrition, your ability to metabolize food is related to your body temperature.

Your body temperature is highest right around solar noon, and that's when your body is metabolically operating at peak efficiency, burning the most calories. Moreover, he says that:

"Historically, the one place I could find that this was being put to use was in the traditional sumo wrestler community. You ask yourself, 'How did all those Japanese guys get so big?' As it turns out, back in the 1400s and 1500s when they didn't have cookies and ice cream, they were eating more food than their average countrymen, and they would wake themselves up in the middle of the night and eat the bulk of their food when everybody else was sleeping.

The sumo community, the sumo wrestlers, discovered that if we want to gain massive amounts of weight, just eat it all in the middle of the night! So if you're eating the bulk of your calories late at night, you're on the sumo diet. This is a very simple piece of nutrition information, which is so crucial and so key."

Exercise, but Choose Something You Love

David often recommends yoga, especially to people who have been eating right and exercising yet still fail to lose weight. Part of the problem here, he says, again goes back to stress — in this case, engaging in exercise you hate, or feeling that exercise is a form of punishment for eating or punishment for being overweight. By doing something you can't stand, you enter into sympathetic nervous system dominance, which cancels out many of the benefits of exercise.

He noticed that simply by switching to a form of exercise they found enjoyable was enough to provoke a shift, allowing them to start losing weight.

"When you put people on exercise that they love, or movement that they love, something happens. They get happy. They get more in love with their body. They get more present. People who are weight loss-resistant will start to lose weight finally. So that's an observation. I believe that it has to do with, once again, the person's kind of metabolic posture, the state that their nervous system is in. If you're doing exercise you can't stand, you're probably going to be locked in sympathetic nervous system dominance," he says.

Minding Your Posture While Eating

David has also found that when it comes to addressing overeating, binge eating, emotional eating, and endless dieting, your posture can play a role. Are you sitting up straight when eating, or are you slouched over your plate? People who slouch while eating tend to eat more quickly, but it also affects how you relate to your food. David xplains:

"We have a different relationship with food when we're upright. First of all, there's more of a sense of dignity. There's a sense of authority. When I'm slouched, I'm more energetically collapsed. This posture has an emotional kind of texture to it and the texture tends to be one more of subservience, defeat, or I'm making myself small. [Sitting upright makes] people feel more empowered and more dignified about their own self, their own body, and their relationship with food.

Also, when sitting upright, it will make breathing easier. It will make the breath more full. The breathing pattern of relaxation is regular, rhythmic, and deeper. The breathing pattern of distress response is arrhythmic, shallow, and infrequent. If you're hunched over, you will breathe more as if you're in sympathetic nervous system dominance. You're going to be breathing shallower. When you're upright, when your chest is expanded, you can breathe more regular, rhythmic, and deep.

Just adopting the breathing pattern of parasympathetic nervous system dominance will put you in that place in less than two minutes easily, which will then put you in the optimum state of digestion and assimilation. It will put you in the optimum state of being aware of your own appetite. So, one simple shift in the body can be very profound.

Also, when we start to become more erect, what we're doing is we are changing our personality. We are really stepping into our own personal growth program where we're claiming a sense of empowerment. Yes, it is good, structurally. But it's good for who we are as human beings inside as well."

If You're Stuck, Go Back to the Basics

The more I study and the more I learn, the more I realize how simple it is. Health and weight loss are not nearly as complicated as we've been led to believe. It comes down to understanding and applying some very basic principles, because your body was actually designed to stay healthy. It wants to be healthy. It does not want to be diseased or to rely on medications. Once you give your body what it needs, it will go into self-repair mode and heal quite efficiently.

Besides a healthy diet and physical activity that you enjoy, the ability to self-reflect and grow may also play a more important role than most people suspect.

"There's a subset of people who, until they do work on their self, they don't get the body to shift where it naturally needs to go. What I'm saying is, in my observation, there's a connection, oftentimes, between personal growth and metabolic potential. I like to use the formula: personal power equals metabolic power. Meaning, as I become the person that I'm meant to be; as I do work on self; as I become better in my character, and as I look at what life is trying to teach me, how do I learn my lessons? How do I become a better person?

How do I fulfill my mission in the world? How do I deliver my gifts? As I do that, I've noticed that my body has the best chance to step into its metabolic potential. Do I need to eat all the right foods? Of course I do. But as I'm stepping into my personal potential, I naturally gravitate towards the information, the kinds of foods, or the kinds of practices that serve me. That, I think, is a missing piece in the conversation around weight, or even the conversation around health in general."

More Information

To learn more, I highly recommend picking up a copy of David's book,"The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure, Energy, and Weight Loss". You can also find more information on the Institute for the Psychology of Eating's Website, where you can sign up for their public program to transform your relationship with food, and/or become a Certified Eating Psychology Coach.

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Chicken Stew Recipe

Stew – whether it's chicken, beef, fish, or vegetable –always make the list of the most scrumptious comfort foods. Basically, stewing is a slow, low-heat cooking process that never rises above the boiling temperature for water (which is somewhere around 212 degrees Fahrenheit). Stewing brings out savory flavors and aroma from a delectable combination of chunks of meat that melts in your mouth, a variety of wholesome vegetables, and the best herbs and spices.

 

But like my other healthy recipes, to make it even better, I added a little twist to this chicken stew recipe. Check it out.

Ingredients:

 

2 whole organic chickens, cut into pieces

2 cups white wine vinegar

3 tablespoons raw organic butter

3 tablespoons coconut oil

2 cups coconut flour

2 teaspoons each sea salt and pepper

4 cups chicken stock

4-5 sprigs thyme, chopped

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon dried black peppercorns, crushed

1 medium cauliflower cut into florets or ½ medium cabbage, sliced

1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced

2 pounds medium boiling onions

4 tablespoons coconut oil

2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped

Procedure:

1. Marinate the chicken pieces in the wine vinegar or grape/lemon juice for four to 12 hours.
2. Remove chicken from marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Reserve marinade.
3. On a plate, mix flour, salt, and pepper.
4. Melt butter and oil in large casserole dish.
5. Cover chicken in flour mixture and brown on both sides in butter and coconut oil over medium heat, just a few at a time, reserving on a plate.
6. Pour out browning fat and melt three tablespoons butter in the casserole.
7. Add 3/4 cup of the flour mixture and cook, stirring constantly, for several minutes, until flour becomes slightly browned.
8. Add white wine vinegar or lemon juice marinade and chicken stock to casserole, stirring often.
9. Bring to a boil and skim.
10. Add thyme, peppercorns, lemon zest, and chicken pieces to pot. Cover and bake at 325°F for about two hours.
11. Add the cauliflower or cabbage to the casserole about 40 minutes before serving.
12. Meanwhile, sauté the sliced mushrooms in two tablespoons coconut oil and butter.
13. Peel the onions and sauté them gently in butter and coconut oil for about 20 minutes.
14. Directly before serving, add mushrooms and onions to the casserole, and stir in chopped parsley.

    This recipe makes eight servings.

    (Adapted from Healthy Recipes for Your Nutritional Type)

    Chicken Stew Cooking Tips

    For a steaming bowl of palate-satisfying and soul-soothing chicken stew, follow these cooking tips:

• Ensure the quality of the animal products that you're going to use. Get your chicken and butter from reputable sources that allow their animals to roam freely and forage for their natural food all throughout their lifetime. Make sure that they do not inject or introduce harmful antibiotics or chemical hormones in an effort to make the animals bigger or yield more milk. I highly recommend using raw unpasteurized butter made from grass-fed cows' milk and preferably certified organic and organic free-range chicken.
• Steer clear from any kind of product made from animals raised in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), which keep livestock in crowded, unhealthy, unsanitary, and disease promoting conditions. Today, nearly 65 billion animals worldwide – including cows, chickens, and pigs – are crammed into CAFOs, which do not only violate almost all ethical animal farming practices, but also make a hotbed for potentially life-threatening diseases. 
• Practice proper food handling to avoid cross contamination of potentially disease-causing bacteria like salmonella. Use a separate chopping board when cutting meats and vegetables. In addition, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) advises to properly handle and cook chicken to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Instead of wine, opt for a non-alcohol substitute. Many chicken stew recipes require red or white wine, but I suggest that you use a healthy alcohol-free substitute instead like white wine vinegar, or lemon juice, which also provides that signature tangy flavor to your dish and that deglazing effect to the pan. If you wish to use lemon juice, dilute it in equal parts of water to reduce its overpowering taste. If you're going to use grape juice, mix a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice per cup. I also suggest adding chicken or vegetable stock to add extra depth and flavor to your chicken stew.^[i]
• Sear meat and vegetables before stewing to bring out more intense flavors and to seal in moisture.^[ii]

 

Kitchen Hack: Stews cooked a day in advance and reheated just right before serving time turn out richer and more flavorful.^[iii]

 

Why Is Chicken Stew Good for You?

 

Organic, free-range chicken makes an excellent source of complete protein, as it contains all eight essential amino acids, which you need to build, maintain, and repair important body tissues like your skin, internal organs, and muscles. Proteins are also crucial components for the optimal function of your immune system and hormones.

Butter, on the other hand, offers both short-term and long-term benefits. Butterfat is 20 percent short- and medium-chain fatty acids, an instant energy source, almost like a carbohydrate, without contributing to the fat levels in your blood. But the wonderful health boons of butter don't end there. Other sought-after nutrients found in this nourishing ingredient include:

• Lauric acid –exhibits antiviral, antimicrobial, and antifungal properties when converted to monolaurin
• Lecithin – for cholesterol metabolism and nerve health
• Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) – anti-cancer agent, muscle builder, and immunity booster
• Arachidonic acid (AA) – for brain function and healthy cell membranes
• Glycosphingolipids – fatty acids that protect against gastrointestinal (GI) infections
• Wulzen Factor – hormone-like substance that helps prevent arthritis and joint stiffness (It's not found in pasteurized butter because it's destroyed by pasteurization)

Raw butter is also a rich source of highly absorbable forms of health-boosting vitamins and minerals, including selenium, manganese, chromium, zinc, copper, iodine, and vitamins A, K2, E, and D. In comparison, butter produced from CAFO milk is nutritionally inferior, as it comes from cows that were fed a genetically engineered (GE) grain-based diet their whole lives, with some fattened up with additional sugar from GE sugar beets and cottonseed.

Because this great-tasting chicken stew recipe uses coconut oil, you're sure that you're getting more omega-3 and less omega-6 into your diet, unlike if you use highly processed vegetable oils. In addition, coconut oil is ideal for stewing, as it is far less likely to be damaged during the slow cooking process.

---

[i] The Kitchn

[ii] Reluctant Gourmet

[iii] Home Cooking About

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Are You On Snap Chat?

   Hello Beauties, I hope you all had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!! I honestly cannot believe I’m actually writing a post dedicated to snap chat (and full disclaimer: I am […]

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Practical Composting Know-How for Small-Space Living

By Dr. Mercola

Growing your own food is an important aspect of achieving optimal health, and to really succeed in that endeavor, you need healthy soil. Composting various household waste is an excellent way to achieve this end.

In her book, "Compost City: Practical Composting Know-How for Small-Space Living", New York City native Rebecca Louie reveals how to create compost even in the smallest of spaces.

She also provides valuable tips on how to network and identify local resources to help you generate high-quality top soil, which is crucial to growing nutrient-dense food.

"I grew up in New York City, in Queens... So, I didn't have the benefit of growing up in areas where yards, backyards, and playing in grass were a common thing," she says.

"In my early adulthood, I was a journalist, an entertainment writer... In that world, there's not so much of an intersection with natural living with plants. I was more into the red carpet versus the green carpet.

Then, in my late 20s, the industry started shifting. I started doing that soul searching thing that happen to a lot of people. I took some time off. The moment I took that time off, I started to hear the world around me...

I started to observe [and think] "Wow, I'm part of the community." And with that came an awareness of the food I was eating. I started cooking more. I started trying to grow things...

As this happened, [the transition to composting] came very organically... I'm eating all these foods, I'm cooking, and growing all these plants, but where am I putting the resulting scraps? Where does that go?"

When at First You Don't Succeed

Rebecca's initial ventures into composting using a worm bin ended in disaster. All the worms died. But the failure spurred her on to learn how to do it right. Like many other cities around the US, New York City offers a free Master Composter certification program, so she signed up and took it at the Queens Botanical Garden.

"In that course, I really learned about soil system, the value of returning organic matter to the soil, both for the environment at large and for the plants that live in it," she says.

"As a plus, and something that I'm really excited about now, is the potential for building community around things like composting. You have a community garden but with that can come a community composting effort.

Suddenly, people are networking, making friends, sharing activities together, and getting outside. It's a really transformative moment that's happening right now."

Composting 101

Composting is a more controlled version of what happens naturally on the forest floor. Leaves fall down and decompose, providing shelter and nourishment for a network of micro and macro organisms, from fungi and bacteria to larger creatures like worms.

Many of them ingest and break apart this biomass, returning to the soil organic matter that feeds the plants growing in the soil. Composting mimics this cycle in a more controlled setting.

Two essential components to make composting work well are:

• Green material: Nitrogen- and water-rich materials such as food scraps and grass clippings contribute nitrogen to the composting cycle. They also contribute water, which is another important element that must be tempered as you build your compost system.
• Brown material: Carbon-rich dry materials like leaves, woodchips, and even shredded paper, (non-glossy) junk mail, newspapers, corrugated cardboard, and egg cartons.

• Besides being rich in carbon, they also provide a dry material that absorbs some of the water from the nitrogen-rich greens. Just be sure to remove any plastic tape if you use cardboard boxes, as it will not compost well.

The real magic of composting and doing it right is finding the right balance of ingredients. "You want compost to feel like a wrung out sponge," Rebecca notes. This means you've achieved the right moisture balance.

If your compost pile is too soggy, you need to add more dry carbon-rich materials. If it's too dry, microbial activity will be impaired, so you'll need to mix in some water.

"Once you achieve the balance that you want, you just maintain it. You constantly do those little adjustments to make sure that you have the kind of compost pile that you want."

How to Set Up a Worm Farm

Composting can be done at virtually any scale. If you live in a city or suburb, there are many small systems available. The principles of composting—finding the balance between carbon, nitrogen, water and air—remain the same.

For example, you can use a 5- or 10-gallon bucket or storage tote to create worm compost. According to Rebecca, vermiculture is becoming quite popular among city dwellers who are short on space, and it's probably one of the finest composts you can possibly get.

You're basically creating an ecosystem from scratch, so balance is important. First, drill holes in the bucket for ventilation and drainage. Next, fill your bucket with carbon material. This will serve as the bedding source. As it breaks down, the worms will consume it. The carbon material also serves as a biofilter, eliminating unpleasant odors and pests like fruit flies.

Next, dampen—do not soak—the bedding material with water until you get that wrung-out sponge consistency. You want it to be moist but not wet. Then you add the worms, and a small amount of kitchen scraps like fruit and vegetable peels. Be sure to avoid citrus, as both the acidity and oils can be harmful to worms.

"I'm a really big fan of portion control. You have to get to know your worms. How fast they eat. If you're in a colder climate and temperatures are lower, they'll be less active. These are things you have to get to know.

Maybe start with one and a half cups [of food scraps] if you have a pound [of worms]. Freeze it first because that will kill any pests on the surface of the scraps. You thaw the scraps afterwards, which will speed up the decomposition rate. But also, it will help leach out a lot of excess liquid because we don't want it to get too wet. You can always add moisture but it's more difficult to take it away.

Then, once you've drained that liquid, you dump in the scraps, and you watch. How long does it take for my pound of worms to eat this? Check in after a couple of days and see how they're doing. Once that food is almost gone, you're like, 'All right, that took 'x' amount of days. Good to know.' And then feed them another portion [of kitchen scraps]...

[The worms] create this beautiful, amazing, very coveted compost: black gold worm poop. The reason that what they produce is so rich is that their guts are lined with a lot of bacteria that the soil needs. As they consume organic matter and poop it out the other end, that little casting that comes out is not just decomposed organic matter; it is that plus this beautiful microcosm of exciting microorganisms that help plants be healthy."

Compost Tumblers Produce Excellent Results with Minimal Effort

Another option is to purchase a compost tumbler. Rebecca's book, "Compost City: Practical Composting Know-How for Small-Space Living", goes into detailed instructions on a number of different composting systems. It's really one of the best resources I've seen on how to engage in this process. Reading her book also reminded me of the importance of balancing the greens and the browns. The normal tendency is to compost mostly greens, but that makes it too wet.

Now, I'm a big fan of woodchips and I've got a big pile in my yard,  When my compost starts to get too wet, I just add some woodchips to it. That works just magnificently. The key is to balance the carbon and the nitrogen. I use two compost tumblers—one is in active process and the other is more mature. This allows me to have a pretty continuous supply of healthy compost. With a tumbler, you can get finished compost in just a few weeks with very minimal effort.

Composting Saves Money in Several Ways

One benefit many might not consider when approaching the idea of composting is that it can also reduce the amount of trash you have to send to the landfill. All that non-glossy junk mail paper can be used in your composting, along with all those cardboard boxes, newspapers, and shredded paperwork.

"If you live in an area where you have to pay per pound for your trash pick-up or if you're trying to build a garden and can't necessarily afford to or don't want to pay for soil, you can make your own," Rebecca says. "You're using a free resource coming out of your own waste stream and transforming it, and the cost-savings really making a difference."

Composting will also help you conserve water, as returning organic matter to the soil significantly improves water retention. The key to that is the carbon component, the brown component. That's what forms the humates and the glomalin, which have great water retention abilities.

A group of New York City moms proved composting can be a particularly sensible solution when you go large-scale. They created a composting program for their children's school, which has since been adopted by the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) and some hundreds schools across the city. But to start, they had to prove to the school system that it would make sense from a financial standpoint.

"By crunching the numbers and setting up this small pilot program, they did something that's now revolutionizing how the school system in New York City is dealing with waste," Rebecca says. "It's fabulous. If you think about your household, you'll say, 'OK, I saved five bucks this week on not having to bring one extra bag to the dump.' If you multiply that times a whole city or community, suddenly, it's mind blowing. People like thinking green but really, what talks is the green of money."

The Importance of Ground Cover

One way to grow your own food is to start converting your ornamental landscape, including lawns, to edible landscaping. An important aspect of that process is to use waste biomass not to compost, but to cover the bare soil. I'm passionate about woodchips, so I add about a foot and a half to two feet worth of wood chips to my landscape, which lasts a few years. If you add just a few inches, you'll have to re-apply it annually.

Covering bare soil with biomass mulch helps retain moisture, significantly reducing your need for irrigation. It can also cut down weed growth by about 90 percent, and virtually eliminates the need for fertilizing too. Eventually, this ground cover will decompose, which helps build up your topsoil. Wood chips also radically increase the earthworm concentration, and once you have enough, they essentially create the compost for you.

"All my window boxes get full sun all day. As we know, with container gardening, you're going to lose a lot of moisture. You can water your plants in the morning and if it's a warm day, by the end of the day, that soil will be bone dry. So something that I've done is taking that shredded paper, that junk mail, that secret document with my social security number, shredding it and creating a top layer that mulches over and holds the water underneath.

Basically, what happen is the sun will land on this very reflective white surface. The heat won't go down into the soil; thus conserving the water in there from evaporation. Really, it's about using resources at hand to protect the soil," Rebecca notes.

Alternative Composing Resources: Urine and Manure

Alternative composting resources include urine and feces—including your own. It's particularly easy for men to collect urine into a container, dilute it, and spread it on the plants as a form of nitrogen. You can also use human manure, although it's a bit more difficult to work with.

"If you think about it, it's the obvious thing to do. We are similar to a gigantic earthworm. We break down the organic matters we eat and what results are wastes, which are largely decomposed and microbially rich. And in theory, it could go right back in to the soil.

Why not? One thing that people are concerned about with omnivore or carnivore manures, where you have meat-eating animals pooping (your dogs, and let's say people), is that there could be pathogens in that feces. So, what is recommended as best practice is to use a hot composting method."

Hot composting involves building a large compost pile, ideally a mound around 3x3x3 feet. Those are the optimum dimensions to create a home for thermophilic, i.e. heat-making, bacteria. When you think of a steaming compost pile, the heat rising off the top is produced by these bacteria. The heat inside this compost pile will reach about 133 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the recommended temperature to kill off pathogens in compost.

One caveat is cat poop. It can carry pathogens like toxoplasmosis, which is very dangerous for pregnant women as it can be passed on to their children. It's also hazardous for people with weak immune systems. So, as a general rule, it's best to avoid cat poop when composting.

"In terms of animal manures, if you have a bunny or chickens, these are all great animals, prolific poopers. What people can do is harness their bedding, which is often full of urine as well, and their poop and put it in something like a worm bin.

Create a passive pile, which is what it sounds like: it is a pile of browns and greens. Let it just sit there and let time and microbes do their thing. You can turn it occasionally to mix up the microbial populations in there, to check the center of it, to see if it's moist enough or it needs a little more of this or a little less of that. That breaks down into really amazing stuff."

How to Compost Meats and Cooked Foods

In regular composting you cannot include cooked foods or meat scraps. It must be fruits, vegetable scraps and yard waste only. However, there is a way to compost meats and cooked foods as well. A method called Bokashi fermentation allows such food scraps to be fermented in an airtight container, inoculated with special anaerobic microbes. Once the food scraps have been pickled, you bury them in soil. Eventually, the acidity goes away, leaving the soil usable and very rich in microbial life.

You Can Have Major Impact In Your Community

People living in urban areas have a great opportunity to build networks to tap available resources of potential composting materials that will otherwise end up in a landfill. There's plenty of waste out there. For example, you could ask your local coffee shop for their coffee grounds, or ask a juice bar for their spent pulp. You can also turn to your neighbors, who may or may not be interested in composting themselves, but have plenty of food scraps, leaves, and cardboard.

"Similarly, things like buckets. Again, I'm a huge fan of bucket compost system because they're space-efficient and they're free. Look around and see who might be donating them. Call a restaurant. Go to your favorite deli and say, 'Hey, that pickle bucket, what do you do with it?'

A lot of these places just throw them out. Rather than sending them to the landfill, give them another life. You can grow things in buckets, decorate them, paint them, and plant your beautiful tomato in there and harvest it few months later.

What I love about New York City is the amazing volunteer spirit. There's a group I've volunteered with called Earth Matter that has a compost project on Governors Island. It's already kind of magical. They have animals there and they're recipients of some of the scraps that are collected at the Greenmarkets.  

Residential food scrap collection at farmers markets started with a group called The Lower East Side Ecology Center. Decades ago, they needed some soil for their community garden and couldn't afford to buy tons of it. So, they just started asking people, "Hey, do you want to bring us your scraps?"

Then, the Union Square Greenmarket gave them permission to collect there. Now, that program has ballooned into this huge amazing system where people in green markets across the city bring their scraps. The collected scraps are brought to places or organizations such as Earth Matter, which processes them.

The point is that the resources are there. The help is there. The knowledge is there. Most cities have amazing Master Gardener Programs and Master Composter Programs. There's the Cooperative Extension Offices across the country that have huge amazing resources.

Once you start looking around and finding people to help you, bring it to a classroom. Let 20 kids in a class take care of a thousand worms, and they'll treat them like their pets. They'll love them. They'll want them to thrive. And then, you'll start building communities."

Rebecca has an obvious passion for this topic, which shines through in her book, which is available online and in bookstores everywhere. For anyone with an interest in composting and reducing waste, it's a must-read.

I think it will inspire you to action to help create a healthier life and a cleaner environment at the same time, so you won't want to miss it. You can also read more about composting and using ground cover to optimize your soil under the related articles' listing.

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Documentary Highlights Benefits and Principles of Permaculture

By Dr. Mercola

Modern industrial farming, deforestation, overfishing, and other unsustainable practices are exhausting Earth's resources at an alarming rate. More than a billion people have no access to safe drinking water, while 70 percent of the world's fresh water is going to agriculture.

One organization putting forth a valiant effort to turn this around is the Permaculture Association,¹ a national charity whose mission is to promote permaculture across the globe.

Every year, the Permaculture Association holds an International Permaculture Convergence (IPC), where experts from dozens of countries unite with the common goal of preparing for and mitigating our looming ecological crisis.

Their primary goal is clear: creating sustainability through self-reliance. The film "Permaculture A Quiet Revolution" covers the eighth IPC (IPC8), spanning across rural and urban Brazil.

The film illustrates permaculture's basic design principles, centering on the concept of zones, and the proper placement of elements in a way that ensures maximal output for minimal input.

What Is Permaculture?

Permaculture epitomizes sustainability by harnessing mutually beneficial relationships to create synergistic, self-supporting ecosystems. Its principles incorporate the best of organic, biodynamic, and regenerative agriculture.

According to the Permaculture Institute:²

"Permaculture is an ecological design system for sustainability in all aspects of human endeavor.

It teaches us how to design natural homes and abundant food production systems, regenerate degraded landscapes and ecosystems, develop ethical economies and communities, and much more."

Permaculture is an agricultural system in which the parts of the system are all interconnected, working with nature as opposed to against it. The word "permaculture" derives from "permanent agriculture" or "permanent culture."

The focus is not on any one element of the system but on the relationships among them — animals, plants, insects, microorganisms, water, soil, and habitat — and how to use these relationships to create self-supporting ecosystems.

According to an article in Rodales's Organic Life,³ the ultimate purpose of permaculture is to "develop a site until it meets all the needs of its inhabitants, including food, water, shelter, fuel, and entertainment."

Every part of the system plays multiple roles. Permaculture is based on design — it's not just organic. If the design element isn't there, it may be green, it may be organic and environmentally sound, but it isn't permaculture.

Designing by Zone

According to the Permaculture Association, permaculture design is defined as "a system of assembling conceptual, material, and strategic components in a pattern which functions to benefit life in all its forms.

It seeks to provide a sustainable and secure place for living things on this earth. The system that accomplishes this is called "zoning," as illustrated in the following diagram.

Permaculture is much more than a garden or landscape. At its center are you and your house, but its outermost zone is untamed wilderness. Zones are organized in a way that maximizes energy efficiency — activities are sorted by frequency of use, tending, visits, etc.

Without making the colloquial value judgment here — you are "high maintenance!" Meaning, you require the most energy input and cultivation, so you're the center of the zones, but permaculture unites you with the entire ecological system around you.

Working the Zones Maximizes Efficiency

The film illustrates examples of how permaculture can be used in each of these zones, which are organized as concentric rings progressing outward.

The activities for Zone 0 would include things such as energy efficiency for your home, biological sanitation, rainwater collection, solar panels, and heliotherapy (natural sunlight therapy). If you need moisture or temperature regulation, you could implement additional measures such as attaching a greenhouse or a "glass house" to your dwelling.

The next is Zone 1, reserved for your frequently visited, relatively high maintenance garden essentials such as vegetables, herbs, and medicinal plants. The documentary emphasizes that medicinal gardens are a key component of the Brazilian lifestyle, as they don't rely on Western medicine — their garden IS their medicine.

Crops in Zone 2 are slightly less intensively cultivated, including foods for home consumption as well as foods going to market. The permaculture model encourages the sharing and selling of goods to your local community, which helps promote sustainability. Zones 2 and 3 include orchards, food forests, pastured poultry, and livestock.

A major focus of permaculture is composting and recycling, with the concept being "composting with nature rather than imposing on nature." Both plant and animal waste are recycled.

Pigs Gone Wild

Zones 2 and 3 are marked by a masterfully designed system that integrates food forests with livestock and poultry. As an example, pigs can be raised to sustain their own food forests. They roam through land planted with their favorite foods, such as sweet potatoes, daikon radish, and pumpkins, which they may or may not choose to share with their humans. Once they've cleaned off one plot, they're moved to the next.

When piglets are born, they live in little pig huts until they're old enough to roam freely, until eventually they're slaughtered for meat. Pig waste is biodigested by algae and certain weeds grown specifically for this purpose, in pools that supply water for irrigation. The pigs feast on these weeds as well.

The pigs are also allowed to forage into Zone 4, a semi-wild area requiring very little input but yielding wild foods for pig foraging as well as timber for harvest, which helps preserve native forests. Zone 5 is pure wilderness. It's a region of non-interference where highly evolved systems naturally operate and can be observed by humankind. Zone 5 teaches us what processes to replicate and how to organize the system.

Implement Permaculture in Stages, Keeping Basic Principles in Mind

While it's rare the urban gardener can implement all of the principles of permaculture, you can implement some of them to create a new way of living based on purpose and efficiency. Beware of allowing your burst of enthusiasm to result in biting off more than you can chew — start slowly.

In the above video, permaculture expert David Holmgren⁴ recommends easing into permaculture in small steps, as opposed to massive projects that can end in "disaster." He lists 12 basic principles and strategies to keep in mind when adopting a permaculture model, which are outlined in the table that follows. Two great ideas are discussed in the final sections of this article: chickens and wood chips.

1. Observe and interact	2. Catch and store energy
3. Obtain a yield	4. Apply self regulation and accept feedback
5. Use and value renewable resources and services	6. Produce no waste
7. Design from patterns to details	8. Integrate rather than segregate
9. Use small and slow solutions	10. Use and value diversity
11. Use edges and value the marginal	12. Creatively use and respond to change

Poultry-Centered Regenerative Agriculture

If a drove of foraging pigs is not practical for you, consider chickens! Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, an innovator in the field of regenerative agriculture, has developed an ingenious blueprint for a system that has the potential for transforming food production around the world. Reginaldo believes sustainable agriculture needs to be centered around livestock in order to be optimized, and he's revolutionized a system with the use of chickens for "poultry-centered regenerative agriculture."

Poultry connects nearly every community across the globe. The meat and eggs are a valuable source of animal protein and can be a solid economic platform to deal with poverty and hunger. Poultry is also very accessible to small-scale farmers, who produce the majority of the world's food.

In Reginaldo's system, chickens are completely cage-free and free ranging with access to grasses and sprouts as they are rotated between paddocks. This system significantly reduces the amount of labor involved, compared with other models such as mobile chicken pens. The minute you start moving a shelter for an animal, it becomes a labor-intensive process, and automating water and feeding becomes impossible. Pens are also not a natural habitat for chickens.

If you want more information about this innovative system, please refer to my prior article about poultry-centered regenerative agriculture, which includes my interview with Reginaldo.

Wood Chips Instead of Compost

Using wood chips as ground cover instead of compost, or to reduce your reliance on compost, is a cost-effective strategy for immensely improving your growing of nutrient-dense food. Building your soil with wood chips helps decrease your dependence on commercial products.

Several months after putting down a deep layer of wood chips, you'll end up with lush fertile soil beneath the chips that will support whatever you choose to grow. Using wood chips has many benefits, from promoting soil fertility and earthworms that create vermicompost, to eliminating the need for irrigation and the use of fertilizer.

Most tree trimming companies will drop a truckload (or more) of wood chips right on your property, for free. You just lay down uncomposted wood chips on top of your garden using whatever is available locally — typically a combination of leaves, twigs, and branches. The chips break down gradually and are digested and redigested by a wide variety of soil organisms, which is exactly what happens in nature.

I have personally put down more than 300,000 pounds of woodchips on my residential property to create a high quality soil. For more information about wood chips, listen to my interview with Paul Gautschi.

These are just a few suggestions about what you can do to move yourself in the direction of a permaculture lifestyle. Regardless of your resources or the size and style of your living space, there are many things you can do to boost your health and happiness while at the same time preserving the viability of our planet.

When it comes to human ingenuity, the sky's the limit, so with some boldness and tenacity, your adventure into the world of permaculture will surely bring health and abundance to your life!

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