Nurture Your Own

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

Middle-Eastern cultures have long used alfalfa as fodder for horses, claiming the wondrous vegetable increased speed and strength of the animals. This led to the name “Al-fal-fa” meaning “father of all foods.”

1. Alfalfa lowers cholesterol. There is convincing evidence that alfalfa lowers cholesterol and improves the cholesterol panel (HDL vs. LDL). Several studies confirm that alfalfa supplementation reduced blood cholesterol levels, particularly for people suffering from a type of high cholesterol known as type II hyperlipoproteinemia. Fibers and chemicals in alfalfa stick to cholesterol, so that the cholesterol cannot stay in the blood and hence cannot be deposited on blood vessel walls. Alfalfa also lower bad cholesterol (LDL) while leaving good cholesterol (HDL) alone.

2. Alfalfa contains essential enzymes which are required for food digestion. There are 8 enzymes present in alfalfa:

• Lipase – fat splitting
• Amylase – acts on starches
• Coagulase – coagulates or clots blood
• Emulsin – acts on sugar
• Invertase - converts cane sugar to dextrose
• Peroxidate – oxidizing effect of the blood
• Pectinase – forms vegetable jelly
• Protase – digests proteins

3. Alfalfa regulates bowel movement and reduces inflammation. Chemicals in alfalfa have mild diuretic properties which help the kidney to get rid of excessive water from the body, and regulate bowel movement. By removing excessive water, swelling and inflammation in the body (such as legs and arms) will also be reduced.

4. Alfalfa helps fight infection -The chlorophyll in alfalfa is an effective barrier against bacterial invasion because of its stimulation effect on the growth of connective tissue and granulation tissue.

5. Alfalfa is rich in vitamins including vitamin A as beta carotene, B6, B12, C, D, E, and K

6. Alfalfa is rich in minerals including calcium, magnesium, potassium, sulfur, iron, cobalt, manganese and zinc.

7. Alfalfa is high in protein

8. Alfalfa is low in calories so no one can say they grew fat eating alfalfa.

9. Alfalfa helps in food digestion

10. Alfalfa slows down the aging process. This enables you to maintain your youthful looks longer, and stay energetic and healthy as you mature over time.

Additional Wisdom on a Healthy Lifestyle
A FREE e-book on the importance of enzysme in sprouts by Taarak, a fellow writer at this blog
A FREE e-course on stop smoking painlessly.
The Raw Secrets - The Raw Food in the Real World by Frederic Patenaude

Recent and Related Posts on Sprouts 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
Sprouting - What Can You Sprout?
Is it Safe to Grow Your Own Sprouts?

Technorati Tags: alfalfa, sprouts, living food, raw food, healthy eating, healthy living

Wondering why there are more and more people going for a raw food and juice diet? Well, wonder no more! Here are 10 benefits to convince you to do likewise, if not, at least to include more raw foods and juices into your daily diet.

1. Raw Food helps in Weight Control
I did not quite believe my health conscious friend who told me that eating raw food can help to control weight gain. Recently, I read that raw food has the best balance of water, nutrients, and fiber to meet our body’s needs. Therefore, the more raw foods and juices we consume, the more energy we have, and therefore we are able to take smaller meals. Incidentally, raw food gives more energy compared to cooked foods because cooking depletes vitamins, damages proteins and fats, and destroys enzymes which aids digestion.

2. Raw Food can Prevent Illness
Cooking largely deplete nutrients and create free radicals. Free radicals cause diseases. Eating a healthy diet of raw foods and juices can reverse or stop the onslaught of chronic diseases like heart problems and cancer. So you can say your good-byes to the common cough, cold and flu that you might suffer from when the seasons change. You will also see a remarkable improvement if you suffer from heartburn, gas, indigestion or constipation.

3, Raw Food Makes You Look Younger
The nutrient in the raw food and juices detoxify your body and with the toxins flushed out, your body will enter a rejuvenation and revitalizing phase. The result is a clearer and glowing complexion, making you look refreshed, energized and younger.

4. Raw Food is More Flavorful
Raw foods have more flavor than cooked foods so you don’t have to add the usual amount of salt, sugar, spices, or other condiments. In fact, your can do away with any such condiments. By the way, do you know these little extras can actually irritate your digestive system and over stimulate other vital organs?

5. Raw Food allows You to have More Time outside kitchen
Raw foods take very little time to prepare so you’ll have more time outside the kitchen. Just yesterday, I prepare a salad of mixed greens comprising lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, tomato and apricot for lunch. It was surprisingly easy to prepare, delicious and it filled me until dinner time.

6. Raw Food ensures that you have No Burns
When you are eating raw there’s little chance to get yourself burned - whether your fingers while cooking or tongue while eating.

7. Raw Food makes Cleaning Up Easy
All you need is to wash the knife, chopping board and the plate or container you are eating from. No oil, grease or messy leftovers to clean up. Definitely a preferred choice for busy working executives or harassed homemakers who always have tons to do at home.

8. Raw Food Makes you Spend Less, Save More
Now that you are eating more raw foods and juices, you’ll need less pots, pans, woks, etc. You will use less gas and electricity while preparing food.

9. Raw Food Gets You More Friends
Your new found interest in raw food and juice will expose you to a new realm of knowledge and a new circle of friends comprising the die-hard raw food advocates or healthy eating folks. Your social circle will expand and get more and more interesting. Or at least, they will not all be coughing and wheezing on your front lawn.

10. Raw Food is Environmentally Friendly
When food is grown organically, we don’t need lots of unnecessary power to aid the food growth process. Also, think of the forests we save, when we don’t need the paper and plastics used in packaging our processed foods. There would also be less carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere when there are less cooking and more oxygen produced from all the new orchards and gardens. I know this last point might seem far fetched, but every little thing we do can help to save Planet Earth from the Greenhouse Effect. I definitely want the next, next, next generation to see the polar bear and not to have them extinct.

Go explore eating raw greens, especially sprouts like alfalfa (because of their rich enzymes), and let us know if it makes a significant change in your life. What I have written is quite elementary, you might want to read what Frederic Patenaude got to say in “The Raw Secrets - The Raw Food in the Real World“ . He’s the editor for Pure Health and Nutrition.

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
Sprouting - What Can You Sprout?

Technorati Tags: benefits of eating raw food, sprouts, sprouting, healthy food, healthy living

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

You need fruits and greens for fibre, and you will need to add raw bean sprouts in your daily diet if you have eczematous skin. Trust me, you don’t want to resort to steroid pills and spread steroid cream all the time. Even a doctor wouldn’t recommend that for a long term treatment. Holistic treatments can help tremendously. I have tried several methods and eating sprouts is one of the easiest and hassle-free ways that I found and would encourage fellow-sufferers to try.

The easiest way to incorporate raw bean sprouts is to add them into simple daily menus such as salads or sandwiches. Another method is a take a generous helping of raw, fresh sprouts and blend them into a glass of vegetable juice. This should be the first thing you take every morning when you wake.

Sprouts are very special because:

1. Sprouts are ‘live’ foods that contain a superior quality of ‘life force’. This special ‘life force’ will transform your skin in a very short period.
2. The nutrient ratio of raw sprouts is higher than in any other foods.
3. You will not find a food more enzyme-rich than sprouts. These enzymes help with digestion, and this in turn improves nutrient absorption and thereby making your skin healthier.

Beside bean sprouts, alfalfa and wheat berry sprouts are great additions to your diet. The more sprouts you consume, the sooner your skin will recover and rejuvenate. Not only that, you will find yourself less tired and more energized.

You can buy organic sprouts from organic foods shops but they could be expensive. Sprouts are very simple to grow and you can actually do it at home with little effort. There are “how-to-grow-sprouts” guides or manuals, and some even come with a complete kit to help you get started. Eating sprouts (like mung bean or alfalfa)that you grow yourself can guarantee you freshness and assure you that all the nutrients are not lost during the growing or harvesting process.

Start glowing, be healthier by including fresh sprouts in your daily diet. By the way, sprouts also help treat acne ! Nice surprise eh?!

Highly Recommended: “Cure Your Eczema in 14 Days“

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, enzymes, cure eczema

Eating raw foods is actually very natural. Yet it feels so unnatural to us as our bodies are accustomed to cooked, grilled, barbecued, steamed, boiled, broiled or stewed food. We are also spoiled by the highly salted snacks that’s readily available in convenience stores and supermarkets. However, according to the raw food advocates, our bodies actually thrive on all things that are fresh. A raw food diet or just an increase of raw food in our daily diet will definitely revitalize our overall well-being.

What is Raw Food Diets
They are unprocessed and uncooked plant foods such as fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, dried fruit, fresh juices and purified water. Organic produce is the preferred choice.

Why Raw Foods?
Raw foods and juices are considered “living” food as they contain large amount of fibers. Fibers will be lost in the process of any form of cooking. Raw foods and juices are easily metabolized and are lower in calories which helps make your weight loss or weight control regime a breeze to maintain.

Also, a raw food and juice diet will have minimal or no saturated fats. They are low in sodium and high in potassium, magnesium, folate and fiber. Another advantage is you will not lose the enzymes contained in the raw food and juices. Enzymes will be destroyed if heated in excess of 116°F (40°C), and they are essential in aiding food absorption and digestion.

General Benefits of Eating Raw Foods and Juices
According to Frederic Patenaude, the editor of Pure Health and Nutrition, there are clear benefits to consuming them raw.

• increased energy
• more energy
• better looking skin
• weight control or weight loss
• better sleep
• regular bowel movement
• look younger
• brighter eyes
• reduced risk of serious illnesses like heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
• aid detoxification

Why Add Sprouts In Your Raw Food Diet?
Sprouts are often called a ‘super food’ as they have large amounts of proteins, vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, chlorophyll pigments and enzymes. Also, they are easy to use in salads, soups or juice. My friend, Adele, has recommended quite a few yummy recipes here in this blog.

What If You Don’t Like Uncooked Food?
The experts recommended that we are to eat unprocessed and uncooked greens and fruits for at least 75% of the time. However, if the idea is really unappealing to you, the alternative is to heat the food up slightly. Just make sure it is not above 116°F.

Take Note Before You Change Your Diet
A search on the internet will show another school of experts who will advise you not to eat raw food. This is especially true for children, pregnant women, and anyone with a pre-existing medical condition. There is a concern that seeds used to grow some of these raw greens and fruits may be contaminated. Some people might be affected and get ill. Also, some uncooked food can conflict with with certain medications. So if you are not sure, it is best to consult your doctor.

Go explore eating raw greens, especially sprouts, and let us know if it makes a significant change in your life. You’ll want to check out more information on the secrets of eating raw food by reading “The Raw Secrets - The Raw Food in the Real World“.

Highly Recommended:
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
What About Eating Raw Foods?
Sprouts for body-building?
Eat Sprouts To Cure Eczema
Eat Sprouts to Treat Acne

Technorati Tags: sprouts, living food, health food, organic food, healthy living, healthy eating, enzymes

Yesterday was the first time I bought alfalfa to mix with my salad. I was originally put off with the raw green smell but decided to experiment with lots of greens and fruits like apricot and raisins. This was all because I heard sprouts would aid in eczema and other skin related problems like acne. Surprisingly, I found the taste of alfalfa sprouts once they were in the salad to blend very well with the rest of the greens.

A quick search on the internet also convinced me to try alfalfa. Alfalfa (also known as Medicago Sativa) is a perennial flowering plant native to Iran. It can live from 5 to 12 years. Currently, alfalfa is grown as forage for cattle but in its sprouting form, it has numerous nutritional benefits to humans.

In a small transparent box, alfalfa looks frail and pale with their white and green shoots. These shoots contain starches, oils and nutrients that help the plant grow. These nutrients will convert into vitamins, minerals, enzymes, proteins and sugars thus making alfalfa a must-have for all health conscious folks.

Alfalfa sprouts contain large amount of phytochemicals, which can protect you against diseases such as pancreatic, colon and leukaemia cancers, osteoporosis, fibrocystic breasts tumours, high cholesterol, arteriosclerosis and cardiovascular disease and symptoms associated with PMT and menopause.

On top of all these, research has also shown that alfalfa, being an alkaline food, can help to reduce the amount of nicotine depleted in the urine, which in turn reduces cravings.

The nutrients and benefits of alfalfa are listed below for your quick reference

Nutrients of Alfalfa Sprouts

• Beta-carotene
• Calcium
• Magnesium
• Phosphorus
• Potassium

Benefits of Alfalfa Sprouts

• Low in calories
• Reduces inflammation
• Stimulants the immune system
• Detoxifies
• Aids sexual activity
• Easy to digest protein
• High in antioxidants, saponins and phytochemicals
• Prevent DNA destruction
• Protect from the ongoing effects of aging

Sprouts like alfalfa or in fact, any green vegetables and fruits, should be consumed raw to get the best of their nutrients. According to Frederic Patenaude, the editor of Pure Health and Nutrition, there are clear benefits to consuming them raw.

General Benefits of eating Raw Vegetables

• more energy
• better looking skin
• weight control or weight loss
• better sleep
• regular bowel movement
• look younger
• brighter eyes

Go explore eating raw greens, especially sprouts, and let us know if it makes a significant change in your life. You’ll want to check out more information on the secrets of eating raw food by reading “The Raw Secrets - The Raw Food in the Real World“.

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, alfalfa, health food, organic food, salad, healthy living, healthy eating