Hemp Seeds, One of the Ways to Rebalance and Detox Your Body

Author: Willie Jones

Unless you live in a pesticide and chemical free environment and eat only 100% organic, there is an excellent chance that your body is overburdened, nutrient deficient and headed toward obesity and long term problems. North America in particular has been lulled by the food industry to eat supposedly safe, processed, packaged and canned foods. Well you've been fooled long enough!

Almost every time you open a package to cook something, not only are you eating inferior food, you are also for the most part eating MSG. (Even some organic foods). I cover this in an earlier article and I recommend you educate your self on this subject as well.

In the last 50+ years man has changed the way we eat so much that the health our great grandparents enjoyed are difficult to obtain today. Not impossible but very difficult. Our big problem today is toxicity! Our bodies are toxic and over acidic and we need to take steps to ward off future problems. Hemp seeds can help in a big way!

No other seed or nut that I know of can match the quality and balance of nutrients that the hemp seeds contain. Flax seeds come close but the hemp seed contains the correct balance of Omega 3 and omega 6 essential oils as well as linoleic acid, vitamin E and trace minerals and is an impressive 33% protein.

Hemp seeds are an excellent solution for vegetarians.

Our diets today are often without the correct balance of nutrients, for example, if you take a calcium supplement, you may not be absorbing it into the body because calcium needs magnesium and something acidic with it like a bit of vinegar or lemon juice in water to be absorbed into the body. So it is with omega 3 and omega 6. You need both to provide the cells in the body what it needs otherwise imbalances occur.

You can take fish oils for omega 3 and 6 but if you don't like the after taste or have concerns about our polluted lakes, rivers and oceans, then eating hemp seeds or using cold pressed hemp oil in salad dressings can be a great alternative. They have a mild nutty taste and can be added to just about any meal. It is best to start your morning with hemp seeds in your breakfast, (add it to cereals, yogurt or smoothies or grind them to make a nut butter.) If you want to replace dairy you can make hemp milk a home. Here is a recipe;

2 cups of hulled hemp seeds

Very hot water

Blender

Colander

Hemp cloth or cheese cloth

Put the hemp seeds in the blender. Add hot water to about ¾ of the way. Place the lid on the blender and hold tight with your hands. Start the blender on the lowest setting so that the content doesn't explode out of the blender. (Hot liquids can do that). Once your blender is working smoothly you can increase slowly up to high and blend for a couple of minutes. Place the colander into a large bowl, then place the cheesecloth into the colander. Slowly pour the milk into the colander. When all of the liquid is in the bowl, grab all four corners and squeeze out the remaining liquid. Pour the milk into glass container with a lid and refrigerate. Use it any where you would regular milk.

The body needs healthy fats and hemp seeds have all the essential fatty acids your body wants. When your body starts getting the nutrition and the healthy fats it needs, it will start to detox and rebalance the body to the proper acid/alkaline state and this is what you want because disease only thrives in an overly acid body. Eating hemp seeds daily may restore luster to your hair, improve skin conditions and more importantly may improve cardio vascular health and who wouldn't want that!

You may want to consider the benefits of eating organic fruits and vegetables in addition to hemp seeds to improve overall health


Enjoy!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/hemp-seeds-one-of-the-ways-to-rebalance-and-detox-your-body-463284.html

About the Author:
Willie is a researcher and freelance writer whose own health problems prompted her to gain information on health and wellness and share that knowledge with others. She is co-owner of http://www.cleanbodydetox.com a site that focuses on detox through foot baths and foot massager

Green Your Life With Eco-Friendly Resolutions For 2010

As 2010 quickly arrives,
here is a link to help inspire
you to make a list of green resolutions!

10 Eco-Friendly New Year Resolutions

Raw Milk Health Benefits and Facts

Author: Raven Miller
Raw milk straight from the cow or goat is chock full of the benefits of wonderfully healthy bacteria, vitamins, and enzymes that you simply will not get from store-bought milk.

Milk you find on your supermarket shelf is flawed for many reasons. One reason is the big commercial dairies do not feed their cows grass and hay which is what they are supposed to eat, but rather their cows exist in small feedlots being fed large amounts of grain which is actually not something a cow was meant to eat.

As a result, these cows must be fed antibiotics which in turn are going into your milk. Bleach is also often added to make sure your carton of milk is as white as can be. Scary, isn't it?

But even if this were not the case, commercially available milk is pasteurized (heated) and homogenized (process that breaks down butterfat), and you can be sure that all those beneficial enzymes and healthy bacteria are long gone by the time it reaches the grocery shelf. What you have left is simply dead liquid which can possibly cause more harm than good due to the growth hormones and antibiotics (among other things) given to the unhealthy commercial-dairy cow.

Many people will argue that drinking milk straight from the cow is not healthy, and that pasteurization is necessary to kill off things like E coli. The fact is that milk collected hygienically from a healthy grass-fed cow on a small family-owned farm is very healthy, and the benefits far outweigh the risks. You'd be statistically much more likely to contract E coli from your local produce department than from that farmer's cow.

The source of the majority of our commercial milk is the modern Holstein dairy cow which has been bred specifically for quantity in order to produce large amounts of milk far beyond what a cow was ever meant to produce. Since she is fed so much grain (remember this is unhealthy for a cow), she requires antibiotics to keep her healthy. Growth hormones also end up in that milk you're pouring over your breakfast cereal every morning.

The most healthy and best-tasting raw milk will come from the "old" breeds of dairy cows such as the Jersey, Guernsey, Ayrshire, or Brown Swiss, or the older lines of Holstein which were not bred to produce obscene amounts of milk. The average butterfat of these old breeds of cows back at the turn of the century was 4%. Today's butterfat normally comprises less than 3%. There is also the misleading notion that skim and low-fat milk is good for you. Full-fat milk is awesomely healthy as the butterfat contains the vitamins A and D which are needed for the absorption of calcium, and is also rich in the short- and medium-chain fatty acids that protect us against disease. You get no health benefit at all from drinking low-fat or no-fat milk, and you might as well just have a glass of water instead. That would actually be far more healthy.

Many are jumping on the raw milk bandwagon, and many more will climb on board in the coming years as people educate themselves about what is actually going into our food through the commercial processes.

If you have a small dairy farm near you, drop by and sample some real milk and see what you have been missing.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/nutrition-articles/raw-milk-health-benefits-and-facts-479327.html

About the Author:
Raw milk benefits are stupendous, and more and more people are jumping on the bandwagon. Find out more information and learn about all of the amazing health benefits of raw milk plus lots more information and facts at http://www.rawmilktruth.com

Homemade Cleaning Solutions: No More Toxic Chemicals!

Many cleaning solutions you buy on the store shelves contain toxins that are harmful to your health and our environment. Reduce your chemical (and your kids', your pets and your household) exposure by making your own natural cleaning solutions. They are simple, all natural and cost effective!

DUSTING FURNITURE:
HOMEMADE SOLUTION>> 1/4 cup lemon juice mixed with tbs. of olive oil.
NOTE: If you have leftover solution, store it in the fridge.

FLOOR CLEANER:
HOMEMADE SOLUTION->>one gallon hot water mixed with 1 cup vinegar.

WINDOW CLEANER:
HOMEMADE SOLUTION->>Mix 1 quart warm water with 1/4 cup white vinegar.
Store in a spray bottle.

TOILET BOWL:
HOMEMADE SOLUTION>>baking soda. Simply scrub with baking soda. OR for stain removal, use 1/4 cup borax and let sit for 30 minutes- then scrub and flush.

More uses for baking soda & vinegar

Four Steps to a Large Serving of Gratitude This Thanksgiving

Author: Nina Amir

When you sit down to your Thanksgiving dinner and look at your plate heaped high with turkey, potatoes and gravy, before you pick up your fork make sure you haven't forgotten to give yourself a hefty serving of gratitude. After all, what is a Thanksgiving feast without gratitude? Isn't that what the holiday is all about?

It is, yet many of us forget that fact. Too often, we don't remember to be grateful for what we have or receive on Thanksgiving or on any other day. We become so involved in the negative dramas of our lives that we see only the stress-filled job, the uncaring spouse, the stack of bills we can't pay, the doctor's prognosis, the misbehaved children, the lack of time. If we take another look at our lives, we can always find something for which to be grateful  the sun in the sky, a friend, the weekend, a warm place to sleep, the five dollars in our pocket, the dog who licks our hand in passing. It matters not how much we have or how little. We still can be grateful for what we do have.

Thanksgiving offers a wonderful opportunity to remember the things for which we are grateful and to practice having what some have called "an attitude of gratitude." Some say a prayer of gratitude represents the strongest prayer of all, and I agree. I was taught to include gratitude in my prayers and thoughts every day  gratitude for what I have as well as for what I will receive. And what better time to start such a practice or to deepen an existing one than on a holiday created solely for giving thanks.

This Thanksgiving, I suggest taking the following four steps to help get into the spirit of Thanksgiving. First, before the meal even begins, go around the table and give each person a chance to offer gratitude for at least one thing. Begin simply by saying, "Something I'm grateful for is...." and fill in the blank. Let people share as many specific things for which they are grateful as they can think of. They can continue after their first sharing by saying, "And something else I'm grateful for is..." If someone's turn has passed and they suddenly think of something else they want to add, let them do so between other people's turns or at the end. This practice will set the whole tone of your meal. And don't let anyone off the hook. Everyone must share at least one thing for which they feel grateful.

The second step to creating a gratitude-filled Thanksgiving involves prayer. Joining hands and offering a blessing on the food and the company at the table, along with thanksgiving of some sort, always sheds a warm, spiritual light on any meal. And it puts God into the picture, reminds us that the Divine might have something to do with our good fortune. Religious context doesn't matter for this prayer. In fact, offer a heartfelt prayer that doesn't associate itself with any one religion. If you prefer to stick with religiously oriented prayers and the company at your table has different religious beliefs, let each person from a different religion offer a prayer of gratitude from their own tradition.

Third, ask people to bring to the table their favorite quotes or stories about being grateful or about Thanksgiving itself. During the meal, take turns reading these aloud. It's nice to hear the words of others or to share touching memories about a holiday. It gives depth to the holiday and a positive overall feeling to the celebration. In addition, such stories remind us of other things for which we can be grateful.

Fourth, before everyone gets up from the table  maybe over coffee and pie, focus some attention on the things you expect to receive over the next year. Vocalizing our intentions to manifest things in the future provides a wonderful vehicle for actually having them manifest in our lives. And the best way to allow these wonderful gifts into our experiences lies in affirming that they already are coming to us. In fact, it's a most powerful exercise to offer gratitude for them as if you were experiencing them right in the moment, right at the Thanksgiving table. For example, you might say, "I am so grateful for the five percent raise I received at work," "I am so grateful for the wonderful health I am now experiencing," or "I am so enjoying my sleek, trim, body which weighs just 150 pounds." The more specific you get about these goals and desires, the better. Not only do these invocations make you feel better, because they affirm that what you need or want is coming your way, but they have a way of actually attracting these things into your life.

With just a little effort, you'll find you can fill your Thanksgiving experience with a heaping portion of gratitude. By so doing, the food on your plate will taste that much sweeter this year.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/four-steps-to-a-large-serving-of-gratitude-this-thanksgiving-257476.html

About the Author:Nina Amir, the author of From Empty Practice to Meaning-Full & Spirit-Full Prayers & Rituals...in 7 Simple Steps, is currently writing Setting a Place for God, A Woman's Guide to Creating Sacred Space & Inviting the Divine to Dwell Within It. Enroll in her FREE teleseminar, "How to Transform Empty Holiday Celebrations into Meaning-Full and Spirit-Full Observances," on 11/13 at 5:30pm (PST) by visiting http://www.purespiritcreations.com .

Are Body Creams Healthy?

Author: Joan Gosselin

What if I told you that your body creams might be harmful to your health? The chemical additives contained in most of the popular body lotion and creams might not cause you any problems directly, but they are not the only chemicals that you’re exposed to every day. It’s the way that these components interact which may present the greatest health risk.

Body creams and other cosmetic products should not contain possibly harmful ingredients, but they do. It should be mandatory by law that the cosmetics companies stop using chemicals in the products that we put on our bodies. These chemicals enter our bodies through our skin, and can then cause a myriad of problems.

The same chemicals found in body lotion and creams have been found in breast milk, and in the children who ingested the milk. Some of these chemicals have been linked to birth defects, and even cancer. If nothing else, there should be some kind of moral obligation on the part of the manufacturers to not include ingredients that could be harmful to their loyal customer’s health.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the state of California list Phthalates, Formaldehyde, Ethylene Oxide, and Acrylamide as both known carcinogens and as reproductive toxins. These problems are sharply on the rise in the human population. These poisons have been seen to have an effect on animal and aquatic life as well.

All of these ingredients can be found in most of the body creams found on the cosmetics shelves today. You can also find Mercury in mascara, and Lead in lipstick. There are also Dioxins, which are chlorinated chemical derivatives known to increase the likelihood of cancer.

Since the use of chemicals is such a prevalent part of our daily lives, it would be next to impossible not to receive at least a measure of exposure. You shouldn’t have to expect that contact to come from your body lotion and creams though.

One way to be sure of the purity of the ingredients found in your body creams is to find a cosmetics company that has signed the “Compact for Safe Cosmetics”. This is an agreement brought about by the European Union as a way to guarantee the quality of cosmetic products. Europe’s regulations on chemical use in body creams are far stricter than those in the United States.

Some other ingredients that are not advisable for body lotion and creams are liquid Petrolatum (Mineral oil) and alcohol. Petrolatum will make your skin feel moister initially, but it is not absorbable by the skin and will result in clogged pores. You should avoid products containing alcohol simply because of the drying effect.

Instead, you should look for body lotion and creams containing organic ingredients such as jojoba wax, olive oil, and grape seed oil. These ingredients all are high in antioxidant properties, and contain vitamins like B5. These qualities will offer you protection from free radical damage, and will help to protect your skin from the damaging rays of the sun.

If you look hard enough for your body creams, you can find the health and purity that you deserve.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/skin-care-articles/are-body-creams-healthy-515674.html

About the Author:
Joan is a natural health enthusiast and researcher with a keen interest in skin care. She is a regular contributor to www.good-healthy-skin-site.com, a site dedicated to natural anti-aging skin care treatments.

Honoring our veterans--Past, Present & Future

Thank you to all our veterans who have served in the past,
who are serving now,
and who will be serving in the future.