Nurture Your Own

This is not directly about healthy living or eating healthy, but this is a very interesting tool that we can all try out. Named “Your Disease Risk“, this is a really cool set of questions that you can answer online, and instantly get an estimate of your risk level for:

- Cancer
- Diabetes
- Heart Disease
- Osteoprosis
- Stroke

Quote from the Harvard School of Public Health:

Your Disease Risk has been transferred to the Washington University in St. Louis and can be accessed at: www.yourdiseaserisk.wustl.edu.

This important health tool was originally developed at the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention at the Harvard School of Public Health and is also accessible at www.diseaseriskindex.harvard.edu.

So, if you think you are really healthy now, or if you think you might be a tad at risk, go answer some questions and have a feel for what your risks factor are with Your Disease Risk.

Toronto, Ontario (January 20, 2008)

POSITIVESINGLES.COM adds new feature: “Ask STD counselor” – adding more support for its members than just dating services.

Finding your match when you are suffering from an STD can be easier than you think. Starting from January 15, 2008, members at PositiveSingles.com can ask a STD counselor questions as well as continuing to enjoy updated information about all STDs, various STD forums, uploading pictures, sending e-mails or winks to other members and you can have a limited free membership.

Thousands of people get STDs and don’t realize it. Having an STD could lead to confusion, resentment, anger, and isolating of yourself. One might even be filled with many questions.

According to the CDC, there are over 65 million (more…)

Many people believe in finding solutions to their own problems. And when we speak about getting a healthy lifestyle going over here at NurtureYourOwn.com, we strongly encourage you to take action and share with you how easy it is to start.

But sometimes, we also need to know when not to go it alone. Sometimes, we are presented with problems and issues that we will find it very difficult to face alone. One really good example is when this word is mentioned: viagra.

While there are many herbal remedies and natural cures, you need to know when to seek professional help. This site at (more…)

There are people who are blessed with good health. Yet others are blessed with great families. There will always come a time, when we need to have our families with us.

Caring for an aged mother is not easy task. But if you add to that, an ailing, aged mother; then the load becomes heavy indeed. Care-givers are under a lot of stress everyday. The worse thing about their kind of stress, is that they cannot simply “leave the office” and get away from it all. Even when they go on vacation, they worry. Unless you are a care-giver yourself, it is going to be really hard for you to understand the depth of emotions that care-givers go through. But one of the most trying times of all, is the time when you need to decide to put your ailing, aged parent into a care home.

Many people cannot even bear the thought of doing that. But when the manpower required, the equipment and the level of expertise and intensity of the nursing become too much for the family, care homes are actually a better option. They have the trained professionals, the right environment and most importantly, the required manpower to provide constant care.

This website: BetterCaring.com provides a lot of information to help care-givers. There is a section to help you if you decide to to take care of your aged parent at home. And if you so decide that you need the expertise of a care home, you can read up on residential care there.

In the past, we rely on friends and well-meaning advise from relatives. But with the wealth of resources available to us, care-givers can now tap into the Internet and get more information that ever before. Not only that, information now comes from experts and authoritative sources rather than blindly follow old wives’ tales.

Technorati Tags: care giver, nursing homes, health professionals

Our team of contributors have expanded yet again!

Diane is a practitioner of various forms of energy psychology, and has her own web site at eftdiane.com that talks about Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). She has an interest in all aspects of health and healing, whether physical, mental, emotional or spiritual.

In today’s high stress world, we are sure that Diane’s contributions will help us all to enjoy a stress free and healthy lifestyle!

I think it is about time I shared my experience with sprouts. More accurately, with growing sprouts and of course eating them.

When my friends first started on this new lifestyle thing, I was along for the ride. Of course, we all chipped in and bought the sprout growing stuff. I think the experts called them “sprouters”. So, I followed the instructions and grew some sprouts. Confession: I never ate that first batch.

Sure, I read all the good stuff about enzymes and vitamins and all the sprouting goodness. I even read those eat raw stuff posts like “10 Great Benefits of Eating Raw Food & Juice“. But somehow, growing up with meat and potatoes has taken its toll on my ability to do what is good for me!

Anyway, to cut a long, really long story short – I did it. Over the weekend, last week, I decided to try. So, what I did was to get this recipe: “Chicken-Alfalfa Sprout Sandwich To Go“, and got down to it. This was my maiden attempt at eating raw, eating sprouts. I was proud of myself. Now, I would declare myself a national hero if this thing tasted as bad as I imagined it would. Unfortunately for my award-hungry self, the chicken-alfalfa sprout sandwich actually tasted quite good. I have always enjoyed a salad or two. But deliberately looking to eat sprouts, especially raw ones, well, I don’t do that too often.

For those of you who are as chicken (stubborn!) as I was, I would suggest to try. Eating sprouts ain’t half as bad as you think. In fact, I think I will try the curry recipe next – Sprouted Lentil Cucumber Curry Salad!

Highly Recommended for Additional Wisdom:

The Raw Secrets – The Raw Food in the Real World by Frederic Patenaude

We are pleased to welcome yet another writer to enhance our sharing over at Nurture Your Own. Jerry maintains his own site that talks about Africa Safari. Really cool. He has joined us to share his knowledge and experience on living a healthy lifestyle the good old-fashioned African Way.

We are certainly excited to learn more about this and we hope that all of you will enjoy reading Jerry’s contributions as much as I am sure I would.

Welcome aboard, Jerry!

We started Nurture Your Own with a few of us writing about our interests in healthy living and growing sprouts. Then we invited writers to join us. We were happy to get a few good posts going. So, imagine my surprise when I saw this:

Then I realised that this was due to just two excellent articles! One was Facts of Strokes and the Warning Signs by our new writer Bokjae and the other was 6 Steps to Flatten Your Abs by Vivienne. For those who wonder if this is for real, click on the image above to see the full page including the url address bar.

Well, this came at the same time as we found out that we were graciously ranked #7 over at Check Up Today’s Top 20 Blogs. Christmas sure came early this year!

We are not some web business gurus. We are just sprouting and healthy lifestyle enthusiasts. We are really happy to have to many views, that’s all. Just to share our joy and crow a little. Then we shall go back to writing nice posts about healthy foods, care for stroke and other good stuff.

As we think about enriching our lives through better diets and wiser choice of foods, we should not forget that a Healthy Lifestyle is more than just about eating.

There are at least a few elements that must be in place for your to be Healthy. For example:

• You cannot be healthy unless your are also HAPPY
• You cannot be healthy unless you have a healthy body through EXERCISE
• You cannot be healthy unless you have good RELATIONSHIPS
• You cannot be healthy unless you have a clear MIND

I mean, overall, a healthy lifestyle is so much more than just individual things to do. It is an overall approach to your life. Your attitudes, values and even your thoughts. This was brought to mind when I read Charlene’s Healthy Family Weekend Tips over at her blog.

Technorati Tags: healthy living, healthy lifestyle, healthy family

We strive to encourage people to live a healthy lifestyle. This of course, includes a healthy diet, good exercise regime and generally sensible way of life. I just read this post by Deb about the Kimkins diet that was really scary.

People, a diet is not to DIE Tomorrow. According to Dictionary.com, a diet means:

a particular selection of food, esp. as designed or prescribed to improve a person’s physical condition or to prevent or treat a disease

It is a selection of food, it is not an ABSENCE of food. If it is weight-loss you want, there are many ways you can lose weight and still remain strong and healthy. Just on our small blog alone, we already have a few nice healthy recipes like the Chicken-Alfalfa Sprout Sandwich, Fresh Pineapple-Alfalfa Fruit Juice, and more. A diet is not about a lack of food, but rather, is about a wise selection of food. Read Vivienne’s take on the 10 Great Benefits of Eating Alfalfa Sprouts, and 10 Great Benefits of Eating Raw Food and Juice.

As you can see, there are many beneficial ways of enjoying your food and keeping yourself healthy at the same time. Don’t resort to drastic measures. If you are clinically obese, you can consult a qualified doctor or dietitian. But don’t go around chasing every fad that appears over the horizon. You have only one body, treat it well.

Highly Recommended:
Healthy-E-Meals.com for easy to prepare healthy recipes.
The Raw Secrets – The Raw Food in the Real World by Frederic Patenaude

Recent and related posts at this blog:
10 Great Benefits to Eating Alfalfa Sprouts
10 Great Benefits of Eating Raw Food & Juice
Alfalfa Sprouts Protect Against Cancers & Osteoporosis
Is it Safe to Grow Your Own Sprouts?
What About Eating Raw Foods?
Sprouts for body-building?
Eat Sprouts To Cure Eczema
Eat Sprouts to Treat Acne

Technorati Tags: diets, healthy recipe

An exciting update for everyone! I just recieved the very first draft of Taarak’s new eBook. At this stage, I would expect the final product very soon. For those who want to be kept informed when this book is available, fill in your name and email and get a copy of the FREE Report – Secret to Longevity.  I will be doing a preview of this eBook soon.

We are pleased to welcome Celia as our newest writer! Celia has her own web site “Eat Yourself Younger” and has a Masters in Cell Biology.  But that is not the reason we are happy to have her here. The real reason is because Celia loves good food, just like we do! Look out for Celia’s articles on how food can enhance your wellness, your health and your youthfulness!

Here is a very interesting thought for everyone that I read over at Principled Discovery. Its the lesson of the Itsy Bitsy Spider. You know, the one who climbed up the spout?

Einstein once said, that to do the same thing over and over again, and expect a different result, is insanity. So, what has this got to do with sprouts, eating raw food and healthy diets? Think about it for a moment. If you have never thought about eating raw foods, then take a read of this short post on 10 Great Benefits of Eating Raw Food and Juice. If you are suffering from various ailments, like acne, eczema, gas and so on, why not keep an open mind and explore alternatives?

Of course, we should continue to seek treatment from professionals, but at the same time, why sit back and hope for the best? Take some affirmative action and take control of your own good health. We hope that by sharing our own experiences and various information we pick up from each other, you too can benefit and enjoy a healthy, glowing life.

Recent and related posts at this blog:
10 Great Benefits to Eating Alfalfa Sprouts
10 Great Benefits of Eating Raw Food & Juice
Alfalfa Sprouts Protect Against Cancers & Osteoporosis
What About Eating Raw Foods?
Sprouts for body-building?
Eat Sprouts To Cure Eczema
Eat Sprouts to Treat Acne

Technorati Tags: eczema, acne, raw food, sprouts, sprouting

One of the most common sprouts you will find among the Chinese would be the mung bean sprout. It has a white stem and usually, a light yellow top. For salads, the alfalfa is probably one of the most common sprouts used.

But if you have decided that sprouting is fun and healthy, and you want to create a diet of sprouts, don’t restrict yourself. There are many different types of sprouts that you can taste. In fact, each type of seed contains different combinations of vitamins, trace minerals and other goodness. So, it is actually a good idea to have a wider variety of sprouts in your diet. You can read about the goodness of sprouts in other posts within this blog if you have not done so.

I found a great list of sprouts and links to information about them over at Wikipedia. So, I thought to share them with you here. As mentioned, besides the mung bean (Vigna radiata – aka green beans), there are a host of other seeds you can sprout. Here is the Quote from the Wikipedia:

Other seeds that can be sprouted include adzuki bean, almond, amaranth, annatto seed, anise seed, arugula, barley, basil, kidney bean, navy bean, pinto bean, lima bean, broccoli, buckwheat, cabbage, canola seed, caragana, cauliflower, celery, chia seed, chickpeas, chives, cilantro (coriander), clover, cress, dill, fennel, fenugreek, flax seed, garlic, hemp seed, kale, kamut, kat, leek, green lentils, pearl millet, mizuna, mustard, oats, onion, black-eyed peas, green peas, pigeon peas, snow peas, peanut, psyllium, pepita (pumpkin seeds), quinoa, radish, rye, sesame, soybean, spelt, sunflower, tatsoi, triticale, watercress, and wheat berries.

With all seeds, care should be taken that they are intended for sprouting or human consumption rather than sowing. Seeds intended for sowing may be treated with chemical dressings. Several countries, such as New Zealand, also require that some varieties of edible seed be heat-treated, thus making them impossible to sprout.

Many varieties of nuts, such as almonds and peanuts, can also be started in their growth cycle by soaking and sprouting, although because the sprouts are generally still very tiny when eaten, they are usually called “soaks.”

So, as you can see, there are really many different seeds you can select to sprout. In this way, you not only get a wider variety in your diet, you also get a greater range of vitamins and minerals.

Highly Recommended:
The Raw Secrets – The Raw Food in the Real World by Frederic Patenaude

Recent and related posts at this blog:
What About Eating Raw Foods?
10 Great Benefits to Eating Alfalfa Sprouts
10 Great Benefits of Eating Raw Food & Juice
Alfalfa Sprouts Protect Against Cancers & Osteoporosis
Sprouts for body-building?
Eat Sprouts To Cure Eczema
Eat Sprouts to Treat Acne

Technorati Tags: sprouts, sprouting, seeds, grow sprout

We have only one life. We should live it to its fullest. But we live in a world that is full of stress, full of toxins and full of things that presses us into the ground.

Your path to health will lead you to explore your mind, your heart and your body. We want to help you nurture your life to be as good as it can be. To be as good as it should be. But we cannot do everything. Therefore, we will be sharing with you one aspect of this – growing your own sprouts. Sounds trivial. If you do not understand the power found in sprouts, we hope to be able to begin that journey of understanding.

We are talking about alfafa sprouts, bean sprouts, radish sprouts, bean sprouts, lentil sprouts, wheat sprouts, pumpkin sprouts and more! Sprouts have one of the highest store of vitamins and enzymes. Adding sprouts to your salad can do wonders for your body.

What goodness, exactly, do sprouts bring? The key advantages occur in the sprouting process. While some might argue that taking the seeds (beans, legumes etc) gives the same goodness, there are several important things that take place during the sprouting process:

• Enzymes are activated when the seed begins to sprout
• Proteins convert to free amino acids as the seed germinates
• Starches convert to simple sugars to nourish the sprouting plant
• Minerals combine to increase assimilation
• Vitamin content increases, for example, sprouts contain up to 30 times the vitamin C found in the seed
• Chlorophyll and carotene content increase dramatically when exposed to sunlight (we will share more about this when we talk about growing your own sprouts)
• Home-grown sprouts are inexpensive and easy to nurture

Let us explore together, this simple path to health.

Recent and related posts at this blog:
What About Eating Raw Foods?
10 Great Benefits to Eating Alfalfa Sprouts
10 Great Benefits of Eating Raw Food & Juice
Alfalfa Sprouts Protect Against Cancers & Osteoporosis
Sprouts for body-building?
Eat Sprouts To Cure Eczema
Eat Sprouts to Treat Acne
Sprouting – What Can You Sprout?

Technorati Tags: sprouts, enzymes