Sprouts!!

Mmmmmmm.

I wonder if most people don't care for sprouts, or find them tasteless or what not. I love them! My mom makes fresh sprouts every so often and they are so yummy to put on a sandwhich with or in place of lettuce and top salads with.

I'm a firm believer in eating things straight from the ground, the tree, or the animal - no processing involved. And of course, organic is better because you don't want to ingest harmful chemicals from pesticides and fertilizers that you absorb into your body. Sprouts are fun to grow because you can do it inside of your own house!

Why Sprouts can be so good for you:

"In the life of a plant, sprouting is a moment of great vitality and energy. The seed, after having remained quiet for an often long period of time, becomes more and more active and begins its journey up through the topsoil and into the open air. When it sprouts, a healthy seed activates many different metabolic systems. It converts some of its sugar content into vitamin C, to act as an antioxidant in the new open air environment. It also begins to synthesize a variety of new enzymes, many of them necessary to handle oxygen metabolism in the world above the soil. On a gram for gram basis, sprouts are richer in vitamin C than the older, more mature plants they eventually become, because this moment in their lifecyle calls for a high level of vitality." http://www.whfoods.com/

They carry plenty of vitamins, minerals, proteins, and enzymes, all necessary for the body to function optimally. In addition to providing the greatest amount of these nutrients, sprouts deliver them in a form that is easily digested and assimilated. In fact, they improve the efficiency of digestion. Sprouts are also deliciously fresh and colourful!

Mung bean sprouts and alfalfa sprouts are probably the most common commercially available sprouts but other easy and healthy sprouts are red clover, radish mustard, lentil, adzuki, garbanzo, pumpkin, and sunflower.

So how do you grow your own yummy sprouts??

• You need a glass jar, preferably quite a large one because depending on how many seeds you use, these babies will GROW!!
• Mesh screen or fabric such as cheesecloth or nylon tulle
• Rubber band
• Fresh water - preferably pure and clean!
• Seeds of your choice, preferably organic! You can buy in bulk because seeds typically last for a year or more if stored in a cool dry place.

1. Soak! Put 1 to 4 tablespoons seed in a wide mouth jar. Cover with mesh and secure with rubber band. Add water, swirl, and drain. Add 1 cup cool water and soak for 4 - 8 hrs.
2. Rinse! Twice a day, refill jar with cool water, swirl, and drain. Invert jar and prop at angle in sink or bowl.
3. Enjoy! It won't take long before they start to sprout! In a few days when sprouts are about 2" long or so, eat them! We transfer ours to a covered container or ziploc baggies and refrigerate to store.
   

"You Cannot Step in The Same River Twice"

Look what I learned today:

Quantum physicists have proven that 98% of the atoms in your body are replaced
within one year. Every three months, your body produces an entirely new skeleton. Every six weeks, all the cells have been replaced in your liver. You have a new stomach lining every five days. You are continually replacing old blood cells with new ones. Every month you produce a new skin as dead cells are shed and new cells grow underneath. The proteins in your muscles are continually turned over as muscle is broken down and new tissue is synthesized. Even your actual DNA as physical cells were not there six weeks ago. Every cell in your body is constantly being recycled.
-Tony Venuto

URL Change

Just a little sidenote - next week I am going to change the URL for this blog. This blog was originally blitz-dubnutrition because it started out as something entirelly different. But the more I thought about it, the more I had to blog about what I know to be true.

So...it will soon be truehealthisachievednaturally.blogspot.com


Long name I know but some other guy beat me to gonatural and everything short that I could think of is already taken. So!! Take note and change it!

Check This Out!

My cousin totally transformed herself after her last baby using Turbo Jam. She is now a certified teacher and her energy and motivation is awesome. She went out to New York be a part of the new infomercial for Turbo Jam sometime last year and now it's on their website!! She's toward the end of it but you can also see her picture down at the bottom of the page. It just goes to show you how there is no easy, magical pill that will help you lose FAT and, most importantly, keep MUSCLE. It's HARD WORK and it involves a lot of sweat and determination. What an awesome example!

A Cancer Industry??

Please take the time to read this. I couldn't put it better so I am not going to try. And as far as my thoughts go on a "Cancer Industry"...YES, I believe it. I KNOW there is a cure for cancer out there already and I have often thought, 'How can the Susan G. Komen campaign still need to be researching cures for cancer because there already is one?....they would know it....but then what would they do without all that money???' I do NOT think that this article is too extreme - I actually believe there is truth in every. single. word. That's my stance, and I am not afraid to say that our government is leading us to the slaughter.


http://www.naturalnews.com/028631_Komen_for_the_cure_pinkwashing.html

A Food Revolution

I love that people are becoming more and more aware of the "food" that the nation eats on a daily basis. I know it's hard for some folks to believe that the people who make this food and sell it KNOW that it is harmful and dangerous. It's a true conspiracy: sick people = billions of dollars.


I think I have mentioned my cousin before who has totally transformed herself and her lifestyle. She totally rocks the health world now and even teaches classes in her hometown. I love her energy and her motivating words she puts on Facebook! She sent out an email that I wanted to share. I don't know too much about Jamie Oliver because I don't watch too much t.v. and I am not sure how I haven't at least seen much of him on the Internet, but in any case, a Food Revolution is what this country needs. I hope you read!


"Loves, In my recent studies of nutrition and how what we put into our bodies effects us, I have been very disturbed at the "foods" being served in most schools. There is also a great problem with our favorite restaurants and how they purposefully process foods in a way that makes them much higher in fat, sugar, and salt than necessary, which increases the opportunity for our brains to literally become overstimulated and cause food addictions. Fat and sugar are among the most popular & cheapest preservatives. Our school foods are being pumped full of fat & sugar then fried & frozen even before it's shipped off to our school's freezers to be reheated & fried yet again.


I am writing to encourage you to sign Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Petition. This petition will be taken to Washingtin, D.C. later this year. If you are parent, a grandparent, a teacher, or a person who wants to see yourself and/or our children healthier, please take a moment to sign. For many people in our country, this is a matter of life and death. And for those of you concerned about healthcare costs, the government spent $92.6 billion in 2002 to treat obesity-related issues, and I would be confident to say that I am sure these numbers have risen, perhaps exponentially, since 2002.

www.jamiesfoodrevolution.com/petition


We have 250,000 signatures so far--please take a moment to sign it and pass this forward!

It's time to eat real food again, to think about what we are putting in our bodies, and to stop and be sure what we are giving to our kids is what we really want them ingesting, and how the food we give them effects their bodies, brains, and behavior. What our society has accepted as "food" is not food, but chemicals and processed grains (almost every single packaged food product can be linked back to processed corn).

If you are interested in viewing Jamie Oliver's struggle to change just one American town's attitudes towards food, you can find Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution at hulu.com and view it for free. Especially if you have children or grandchildren who eat at public school, this will make you understand that we all need to take action, because we are slowly killing our children with the "food" we are feeding them.

I've watched all of the available episodes's on http://www.hulu.com/ & LOVE the show! It's fabulous! I'd love to hear your thoughts! And, please. Sign the petition & share!


--
yours in health & happiness,
Maddy"

8. Swim in Chlorinated Pools (and drink and shower in chlorinated water).

In his book, The Maker's Diet, Jordan Rubin devotes a chapter to 27 recommendations on how to GET sick and suggests that if you want to remain as healthy as possible, go AGAINST these 27 suggestions if at all possible.

8. Swim in Chlorinated Pools (and drink and shower in chlorinated water).

Chlorine is an effective bacteria killer, although some strains of bacteria are developing a resistance to chlorine. Unfortunately, chlorine is an indiscriminate killer that kills both friendly and unfriendly bacteria. It also eats through lead pipes, corrodes most metals, and harms cells and DNA strands in virtually every living thing it touches. Chlorine also introduces to our water supplies some highly carcinogenic chemicals called trihalomethanes (THMs). Studies show a strong link between chlorinated water supplies with elevated THM levels and cancers of the bladder, kidney, liver, pancreas, gastrointestinal tract, urinary tract, colon, and brain. It is risky enough to drink chlorinated tap water, but the mass exposure created by swimming in chlorinated pools or taking extended hot showers in heavily chlorinated water is much more dangerous. (The heat opens skin pores and increases the already high absorption rate of chlorine through the skin). Dogs exposed to chlorine (this is the ingredient used to bleach white bread) get the running fits, a disorder similar to many psychiatric disorders in humans.


That one may be hard to digest for the happy swimmers! I know I swim a couple times a summer, even already knowing this. The information is just there for you to do what you want with it. I believe every word he says: but I can't help a trip into the pool once or twice. But I know I definately wouldn't make it a summerlong occurence.

What??

This article enrages me. It's proposterous, it's idiotic, it's baffling and horrible. This only fuels my belief that doctors try to treat symptoms, never looking at the cause, and have all the wrong solutions. Why would you do this to a family? Who gives them (the British Government) the right to decide to take a kid away because the parents won't feed him JUNK FOOD?? Grrrrrrrr!!!

Does Aerobics Make You Lose Muscle?

By Tom Venuto, Competitive Bodybuilder & Personal Trainer


Yes, it's true. It's a scientifically proven fact that muscle proteins are broken down and used for energy during aerobic exercise. But don't worry, you are constantly breaking down and re building muscle tissue anyway. This process is called "protein turnover." Your body is constantly alternating back and forth between anabolic (building) and catabolic (breaking down) cycles. That's just a normal part of life. Your goal is simply to tip the scales slightly in favor of increasing the anabolic side and reducing the catabolic side just enough so you stay on the anabolic side and you gain or at least maintain muscle.

This fact of human physiology has often been taken out of context and used to scare people into not doing cardiovascular exercise for fear of losing muscle. When you fast overnight as you sleep, you lose muscle too, but that doesn't mean you should stop sleeping!

Sure, it's possible for you to lose muscle from doing too much cardio, but it's highly unlikely. Shying away from cardio completely because you think you'll lose muscle is a huge mistake. Only excessive amounts of cardio would cause you to lose muscle because over-training tips the scale towards the catabolic side. It's difficult to generalize and pinpoint one specific amount as too much, but I think it's safe to assume that just about anyone could do up to 45 -60 minutes of cardio a day, 6 to 7 days a week without losing any muscle - as long as the proper nutritional support is provided.

Trainer John Parillo has always been an advocate of lots of aerobics, even for his bodybuilder clients who are trying to gain muscle mass.

"Aerobics can enhance your recovery from weight training by promoting blood flow and oxygen transport to your muscles," says Parillo. "Aerobics forces oxygen through your body, increasing the number and size of your blood vessels. Blood vessels are the 'supply routes' that transport oxygen and nutrients to body tissues, including muscles, and carry waste products away for muscular growth, repair and recovery. The expansion of this circulatory network is called 'cardiovascular density.'"

So, according to Parillo, aerobics can actually enhance recovery from weight training and increase muscular growth by developing the circulatory pathways that provide nourishment to the muscles. Cardiovascular training is important for fat burning, for good health and for muscle-building.

Losing muscle has more to do with inadequate diet than with excessive aerobics. If you suspect you are losing muscle there are four likely causes:

1. You are not eating enough protein. Protein is the only nutrient that is actually used to build muscle. To stay anabolic you must eat five to six protein containing meals. Each meal should be spaced out approximately three hours apart. Research has proven that if you are physically active, you need a minimum of .8 grams to 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.

2. Your carbohydrates are too low. Low carb diets are often used for fat loss, but it is a mistake to cut your carbs too drastically. Carbohydrates are protein-sparing, so even if you are eating large amounts of protein, you can still lose muscle if you your carbs are too low.

3. You are not eating enough calories to support muscle growth. This is the most common cause of muscle loss. When your calories are too low, your body goes into "starvation mode." Your metabolism slows down and your body actually burns muscle tissue to conserve energy. Muscle is metabolically active tissue, requiring a great deal of caloric energy just to maintain it. That's why your body will shed muscle if it thinks you are starving.

4. You are not training with weights. It is a common misconception that if you want to lose weight, you should start with cardio only and add the weights later - another big mistake! It is the weight training that keeps you from losing muscle while you are dieting.


You are much more likely to lose muscle from not eating enough than you are from doing too much cardio. All too often, people are afraid to eat a lot and do a lot of cardio at the same time. It doesn't seem to make sense. Logically, it seems like the two would cancel each other out - but the opposite is true. Many people believe they must "starve" the fat by drastically lowering calories. Unfortunately, this approach can cause you to lose muscle along with the fat. The only way to maintain your lean mass while losing fat is to feed the muscles with plenty of nutritious calories and at the same time, burn the fat off with cardio.

Whether your goal is muscle development, fat loss or both, you should always include some form of cardiovascular activity as part of your training program. Unless you're doing some kind of ultra-endurance regimen, AEROBICS DOES NOT CAUSE MUSCLE LOSS, in fact it supports the pathways that help you build it!

Pesticides and Bees

Humans aren't the only ones affected by the poisonous and dangerous pesticides and chemicals. This article from Natural News sheds a little bit of light on the subject.

Haagen-Dazs is a supporter of bees and you can visit them here to learn a little more. While ice cream is definately not a healthy food, I am definately not perfect and I indulge from time to time. I do, however, choose ice creams with natural ingredients, preferably five or less ingredients, rather than some cheap ice cream with 30 ingredients I can not pronounce. I encourage every one to do the same!