Adding Spice to my Life

It is amazing to find a book that is factual, material presented that is easy and quick to understand and at the same time takes a reader, that probably is new to the field, along a path to change.  That is the book I just finished reading.  HEALING SPICES HOW TO USE 50 EVERYDAY AND EXOTIC SPICES  TO BOOST HEALTH AND BEAT DISEASE by Bharat B. Aggarwal.

Let me share some gems from the book to beginning with and then I will wrote about the changes I will be making.   Top meal for a healthy heart---"dine on a serving of fish flavored with garlic and topped with slivered almonds.  Don't forget a side or two of vegetables.  Drink a glass of red wine with the meal.  And for dessert, much on an apple and a small piece of dark chocolate."

Or this one-----"The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that a consistent pattern of protection--the more onions in the diet, the less cancer. Red, white, yellow onions, garlic, shallots and leeks are members of the family. Garlic is the 'anti-aging' food.  On of the world's most potent natural medicines."

Or this gem----The Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto showed that lycopene (tomatoes) prevention and treatment of osteoporosis, the the consumption of tomatoes and tomato products may offer a viable alternation to mediation for osteoporosis. 

Finally on the most important spice, Turmeric and the active ingredient curcumin.  Dr. David Frawley , "If I had only one single herb to depend upon for all possible health and dietary needs, I would choose the Indian spice turmeric."  As a folk remedy , it has been used to treat some 60 maladies.  Let me tell a personal one, it is about my left hip.  I am not bothered by it in the daytime but at night, the pain of it wakes me up.  I turn,  I have taken an assortment of pain killers, enyzimes but it became a fact to sleep with.  Until I read about the power of curcumin and it reducing inflammation.  I have personal proof of it's power.  Sometimes, I wake and wait to feel the pain, as if it is not possible to be pain free, then I realize there is no pain with that hip.  I am currently taking two 450 mg. first time in  the morning, then two more before bed.  The fact is that turmeric as no side effects so there is no limit to the amount one can take, the list of 35 prevent or/and  treatments of illnesses it can be used for is in the book. Many of them are written about.   The most important item I find is that it is called the guardian of the liver.  Everything we consume good or bad, makes a stop at the liver.  Curcumin keeps the liver healthy-------that is worth gold in terms our bodies.

I have made a list of new herbs that will be making their way to my cooking pots, some will be grown in my garden next year and my skills at making spice mixes will be on my schedule to practice this winter.  I enjoyed reading this book and and need it as a reference book so I have to purchase a copy.

Ginseng Tea

         Dr. Andrew Weil had a interview in the Sun Magazine this month.  I have always followed his views with interest.  He has an approach about good health that includes the body, mind and spirit as a unit to be cared for.  Along with that he believes that integrative medicine meaning that all fields of traditional, modern, herbal, witchcraft, shamans, eastern and western ideas are useful.  Weil stresses preventive approaches more than curing an issue is the answer to good health. One of the biggest myths American believe is that we have a great medical system, the facts are the opposite and we rank low in terms of developed nations.  Pharmaceutical and insurances companies have basically bankrupted our health care and allowed our country to avoid genuine  good care for its citizens. 
         Dr. Weil's original interest was botany.  He makes an interesting point about plants.  By taking herbs we get the whole good of the plant and not the isolated benefit that pharmaceutical companies like to use.  The pull and the push as he calls it, the increase of energy and the decrease of toxics for instance maybe from the same plant.  Of course, unlike Europe we do not have regulation or quality control on our vitamins or medicinal herbs in this country.  Profit margins are more important than quality for the consumer.
         This article reminded me of the virtues of ginseng again, Weil calls it a magic energy tonic. In my travels in Wisconsin I went to Wausau and saw the fields of ginseng growing and the big corporative that farmers used to price and sell they roots for here and aboard.  I actually planted some at the Stone house but of course moved before I harvested it. 
          The Korean grocery store locally sales little drinks of it with a root inside to enjoy.  I also purchased ginseng tea.  It was a nice reminder for me to start enjoying ginseng again.
         

Art and Science of Health

"On average, 30% of health outcomes is the placebo effect". 

That is outstanding when you think about it.  We have always known that the mind has control and influence on our successes.  We all have people in our lives that are positive and negative regardless of the true facts of their being.

A couple other facts I recently learned are that walking is good for more than losing weight, getting in some exercise, the usual talking points of all the health chatter.  The flexibility of the ankle and the strength of the toes are two key means of delaying the tripping of old age.  As we age, we tend to walk less and the livelihood of falling increases because we don't have the lifting of the toes and the range in our ankles. 

Add to the fact that walking gives us exercise that promotes deep sleep.  Deep Sleep is the time the body re engerizes and builds the immune system. 

being ageless

I drove a little over 400 miles yesterday to meet her.

Maxine has a young sounding voice, white soft curling hair, clear eyes and a somewhat stooped body. The conversation floats quickly, the questions answered with gentleness and patience, always as if it was the first time she heard it asked of her.

She offered to send me the 16 plants but I wanted to see her and how she grows them. I wanted to experience how a woman lives agelessly.

Maxine's country property has been home for over forty years and it has become probably, the location of her last great passion of plant propagation. After a life of traveling the world for plants, teaching at the university level and raising a family she is devoting her curiosity to finding the best variety of the Haskap berry to grow in the United States.

The Ainu, the indigenous people of Hokkaido, a northern island of Japan has always valued the berry for medicinal use. Dr. Maxine Thompson accidentally tasted one on a trip and that was the beginning of the long journey to carrying back seeds and the beginning of a new life project.

After walking her property and seeing how her test plots are laid out we sat at the kitchen table drinking haskap juice. She told me how researchers analysis plants and what records they keep. How long it would take to decide which plants get pulled out and which plants would make her proud. She smiled and told me a number that she thinks is a good one. She gave me one of those.

My 16 plants are numbers. After reading, THE PERFECT FRUIT, I know the history of Burbank and other plant propagators. I know that plants are only numbers until they produce something amazing. I know, that some how, these people have the ability to shake off disappointment quickly and let curiosity overcome them, anew.

Maybe it is that curiosity that makes Maxine ageless.

MINERALS FOR THE GENETIC CODE by Charles Walters continues to teach me the importance of trace minerals in our diet and in our soil. It takes so little to throw off the balance of one of our functions. Surprisingly, the book discusses the overlay of mineral involved in degenerative diseases and spell out the what is needed to right the situation.

The current use of aspartame and Splenda as a sweeter in soda and gum is very dangerous. It is related to a 30 to 50% loss of the thymus function which means immunity if being canceled out quickly.

Other quick facts I found. White spots on fingernails denote a zinc deficiency.

People and animals consuming selenium either diminish or eliminate cancer.

Nuts and seeds offer a constant healthy source to trace minerals.

Deficiency in copper maybe white hair along with a long list of conditions including arthritis.

We get some minerals and vitamin from the air and sunlight as in vitamin D, which has three parts to it. The sun gives us energy from its light and some of vitamin D can not be consumed though supplements. Maybe that explains winter colds and flu and poorer health that season of the year.

Probiotics are the good bacteria, all 400 different ones in our stomach, that fight off bad bacteria. If the AMA and the Food and Drug promoted probiotics more than antibiotics, we would probably live in a different world today. Probiotics are as simple as yogurt and fermented foods and we all have to remember our stomach is our second brain. Enough on minerals today

I have my own pray flags! They are flying on the support fences that I put up for my tomatoes. This year I started my own varieties of tomatoes and yesterday I transplanted them. I want to closely follow what varieties I will continue to plant so I wrote their names on a bright pink plastic tape and tied it to the top of their support. The eight inch tapes blowing in the wind reminded me of the pray flags in all of Asia.

My chickens roam the yard much more than I would have thought. The most comical aspect of the it is that John some times sits in a chair and watches that they do not hop onto my raised beds. He has a long stick and tells them to move along. It is a scene out of China where the elders have a full time job watching the ducks in the courtyards.

The simplify of my garden is one the keys to my sanity in world where the daily news is so depressing.

The square dance of minerals

The square dance of minerals in one's body, our soil and the bigger world is so interconnected it is a science that holds the story of health and illness. The music may play but unless there are enough dancers/minerals in one's body to interact the party doesn't happen. One hand is off to the front while the body circling in formation and going under the arm of the third, it is all part of the beauty movement of rebuilding cells.

Currently, our food lacks so many of the common minerals that were presence in top soil when people farmed in a permaculture manner, one has to be conscious of what is needed.

The food growers in the Yakima valley in Washington are now discussing planting flowers that bloom all summer on the tractor trails in the orchard so the bees stay. On the edge of the field they are encouraging wide stands of grasses so the beetles and spiders winter over and take care of the aphids during the summer. Bluebird houses are being placed all around the fields of fruit. These people have found that the spraying of chemicals is killing their family members and destroying the soil.

Boron is a mineral for the brain and arrives though the blood. Yttrium arrives though intestinal tract, an ocean mineral, rarely talked about and is one of the links to increase in lifespan. They work as twins. Lou Gehrig's disease, Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's are related to their deficiency. Boron is easily consumed by the spice of turmeric. This spice used in India and northern Africa is part of their daily diet. Alzheimer is uncommon in India as a result of the use of turmeric. A long list of fruits have boron in them including plums, peaches, strawberries, apples and quince. Also on the list is dandelion leaves. Signs of deficiency include ADD, osteoporosis, arthritis, fatigue and decrease of brain functions.

Needless, to say, I have started to take serious the health of my brain want to feel the sharp energy of clear thinking therefore, I am taking turmeric in pill form but will find ways to incorporate it in recipes. For a month I am also taking boron in pill form to experience any difference. I am not sure if the music is fast, slow, loud and faint.

Iodine is so key the brain can't develop without it. Iodine is the thermostat for the human body. Iodine is essential for the metabolism of fats. Iodine is the salt in our blood, our tears and our perspiration. If one don't live near the sea one probably need to figure out in what form one are getting your needed share of Iodine. The bleached out of minerals, white table salt that is popular is a poor second to the mineral rich sea salts are that are multicolored and tasty. The dance continues because Iodine doesn't work unless our bodies have selenium.

Ingenious peoples ate over a hundred and fifty foods in a year gathering bulbs from the earth, berries from bushes, leafs from plants. The average American eats less than 50 foods in a year. Americans are not coming to the square dance, they don't know the steps, in many cases they don't realize the music is playing. Minerals are the story of health.

I am going to start a journal of foods that I eat. I want to see where I stand on this scale with my ancestors.