Why Diet Drugs Don't Work

"Diets" don't work. Neither do diet drugs.

Diet drugs are created to affect the learning, memory, motivation, and habit circuits, which are also necessary for humans to function. Diet drugs will impact IQ and memory, as there are no selective agents to distinguish between shutting off a response to food stimulus or another unrelated stimulus.

Dr David Kessler, former FDA Commissioner, says "there's going to be considerable adverse events, because we really are mucking around with these circuits that are necessary for the rest of human function."

source: http://vimeo.com/16212349

LNH advocates clean, organic and antibiotic/hormone-free nutrition, pure water, exercise, prayer/meditation and rest/sleep as the basis of a balanced lifestyle, optimizing vibrant health.

OC

Build Your Crop-Growing House

Who wouldn't love fresh organic produce year round? Don't let your climate stop you from making this a reality. A crop-growing house is a greenhouse built primarily for growing food year round. It is designed with ease of energy-conservation and irrigation in mind and to support a high yield year round. Why buy your produce from other countries when you can grow your own on your own property?

Abby Rockefeller and Carl Lindstrom won a competition for this design in 1978:

For details, go to http://www.odlingshus.se/engl.html

OC

Bring Back the Victory Gardens!

Are Victory Gardens an idea whose time has come back? Could a quick history lesson lead to a better future?

During World War II, Americans lived with rations of such necessities as tires, gasoline, sugar, and other foodstuffs. The US government encouraged ordinary people to create Victory Gardens; small plots of fruits and vegetables to stave off food shortages so more mass-produced food could be sent to feed the troops.

The people responded. Two million Americans created Victory Gardens in their backyards or communities. According to author Michael Pollan, "...during World War II, Victory Gardens supplied as much as 40% of the produce Americans ate."

Victory Gardens were more than a war time activity, they were a social phenomenon. Schools and families planted Victory Gardens together, often on communal land. Families caught up on news as they planted and harvested. Nutrition information was widely disseminated to help home cooks create balanced meals for their families. Our current obesity epidemic must have been unimaginable to those gardeners.

Today there are many gardens that are very much like the Victory Gardens of old. In backyards across America folks are growing their own produce, spices and herbs. They harvest fruits and vegetables that have been raised without pesticides and enjoy them when they are at the peak of their freshness and nutritional value. Adding home-grown fare to the fresh produce from a local farm stand or a farmers market gives gardeners the best of both worlds.

If you’d like to try your hand at growing some food of your own but don’t have your own backyard, you can join a community garden. In 2004, the American Community Gardening Association (ACGA) estimated that there were already 18,000 community gardens across the USA and Canada. Urban community gardens can be found from South Central Los Angeles to the Bronx in New York City. If there’s no community garden near your home, think about organizing your neighbors to get one started.

Funded by federal grants, GreenThumb has been a program of the NYC Parks Department since 1995. The nonprofit organization has over 600 member gardens serving 20,000 city residents. New York University released a study of the effect of community gardens on nearby property values. The study of 636 community gardens in NYC showed a positive effect on sales prices of residential properties within a 1,000-foot radius of a community garden when compared to properties outside the 1,000-foot ring, but still in the same neighborhood. The effect was significant and increasing over time. The tax benefit to the city over a 20-year period was estimated at $647 million dollars or $1 million per garden. Who knows how much might be saved on medical costs by the healthier diet the gardens make possible.

Not all benefits are measured in dollars. Here’s what Karen Washington from the Garden of Hope in the Bronx had to say about her experience:

"To grow your own food gives you a sort of power and it gives people dignity. You know exactly what you’re eating because you grew it. It’s good, it’s nourishing and you did this for yourself, your family and your community."

Victory Gardens could bring down the cost of food for American families and make organic poroduce more widely available. We could reduce America’s reliance on oil simply by keeping vegetable gardens and cutting down on the amount of food that has to be transported by truck. Victory Gardens would reduce the need for petroleum-based fertilizers on giant corporate farms. If you’re unhappy about where all the money Americans spend on oil and gasoline is going, then spread the word: Bring Back the Victory Gardens!

OC

The Recent Egg Recall: Avoid the Problem -- Buy Organic

“Eggs from natural and organic producers usually take a more direct route to the customer,” Damerow said. “When customers know where their food comes from, producers have a greater incentive to provide safe products.”

Click here for the whole story:

http://naturalfoodsmerchandiser.com/tabId/119/itemId/4901/Egg-recall-expands-naturals-not-included.aspx

OC

Tumeric: The Multitasker

Turmeric has been used as a substitute for saffron (an old world spice) in Europe for over 700 years. While in China, Marco Polo in 1280 AD recorded information on turmeric in his diary:

"There is also a vegetable which has all the properties of true saffron, as well the smell as the color, and yet it is not really saffron."  

One of the main healthful ingredients in turmeric is curcumin (a curcuminoid), which gives turmeric its yellow color.  Curcumin can potentially benefit you by:

• Promoting your immune system against stress*

• Helping maintain your healthy digestive system*

• Supporting your healthy bones, joints, and overall skeletal system*

• Helping you maintain cholesterol levels that are already within the normal range*

• Promoting your healthy blood and liver functions*

• Supports your healthy joint function*

• Promotes your radiant skin*

• Helps improve your digestion*

Turmeric has been used in Indian culture for thousands of years for a multitude of health-promoting reasons.* An estimated 500 million Indians still use the spice today. Turmeric can provide you whole person health benefits:

• Supports healthy joint function*

• Promotes radiant skin*

• Helps improve digestion*

• Boosts antioxidant protection against free radicals*

• Helps promote healthy skin*

• Supports overall eye health*

• Provides immune system support*

• Aids skeletal system and joint health*

• Encourages healthy liver function*

• Helps maintain healthy cells with support against free radicals*

• Balances the health of digestive system*

• Aids in support of healthy blood and your circulatory system*

• Helps maintain normal cholesterol levels to support your cardiovascular system*

• Assists neurological system's healthy response to stress*

• Promotes healthy female reproductive system*

• Helps maintain blood sugar levels already within the normal range*

Turmeric, like other herbs and spices, is a principle herb in Ayurveda -- India's ancient holistic health system.  Ayurveda means "knowledge of life" -- with herbs lying at the very heart of Ayurvedic practice.

And Turmeric has multipleuses within Ayurveda, including blood cleansing and maintaining healthy skin.*

In Ayurvedic terminology, turmeric includes the following:

• Verdana sthapana -- promotes a healthy nervous system and helps with occasional discomfort*

• Sangrahani -- supports absorption of vitamins and minerals*

• Anulomana -- helps purge out wastes and building healthy blood*

• Rakta stambhaka -- promotes circulatory system wellness*

Turmeric provides antioxidant nutrients*, too.  As you know, antioxidants are important nutrients in supporting vibrant health.  They help you slow down free radical damage that can seriously damage cells, organs and DNA. Turmeric helps protect the cells and helps counteract this process with its antioxidant content.*  The antioxidant content within turmeric comes from active compounds called curcuminoids. 

These curcuminoids deliver antioxidants that may be:

• 5 to 8 times stronger than vitamin E -- and also stronger than vitamin C

• 3 times more powerful than grape seed or pine bark extract

• Strong enough to scavenge the hydroxyl radical -- considered by many to be the most reactive of all oxidants*

Dr Jospeh Merola says: "Antioxidants are your body's #1 way to neutralize free radicals and help you potentially slow down the signs of normal aging.* Oxidation by free radicals can damage cells and DNA -- and thus impact your aging process* -- something we all would like to put the brakes on."

Antioxidants are also key nutrients in:

• Supporting memory function*

• Promoting heart health*

• Boosting immune system*

Some of the first aging signs you may see as you get older are changes to your skin. Organic ingredients found in turmeric can help promote healthy skin.*  Curcuminoids support important blood and liver functions, healthy joints, and your overall well-being.* This in turn helps promote your radiant, supple skin.* 

Turmeric has been considered to be ‘skin food' for thousands of years in India and other cultures.*

Turmeric helps:

• Cleanse your skin and maintain its elasticity*

• Provide nourishment to your skin*

• Balance the effects of skin flora*

Turmeric can assist your cells by helping to neutralize stubstances that can cause cellular stress by*:  

• Maintaining cell integrity when threatened by occasional environmental stressors*

• Providing antioxidants needed to help support cells against excessive oxidation and free radicals*

• Turmeric is also recognized as an adaptogen -- helping to support the body against stress and providing immune system support.*

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Spice Up Your Life

At LNH, we place a strong emphasis on eating as much unprocessed, organically grown food as possible in order to achieve optimal, vibrant health.

One way to improve your health is by taking advantage of unprocessed, organic herbs and spices. Most of these herbs add virtually no calories to your diet.  You'll find that herbs and spices:

• Maximize your nutrient density -- They contain healthful vitamins and minerals.

• Help speed up your metabolism -- Because spices are nutrient dense, they are thermogenic. This means they naturally increase your metabolism to help you burn calories.

• May increase your overall feeling of fullness and satiety -- So you'll eat less. Studies show consuming certain herbs and spices prior to each meal can potentially reduce your calorie intake.

• Provide you healthful properties -- Help boost and enhance your overall wellbeing with antioxidants that can be more potent than many fruits and vegetables.

• Benefit your "whole person" -- Herbs and spices tend to enhance your entire body, and not just focus on a particular area.  

A "whole person" approach is our focus at LNH.  We address the cause/root of your health concerns. And, as part of our readership, you know it's very important you select and consume wholesome, unprocessed organic foods -- herbs and spices are no different.

If the herb or spice you're looking for is processed or not organically grown, you risk missing out on their greatest benefits. We need their most potent active ingredients to provide us with optimal benefits. If the herb or spice is not cultivated, harvested, produced, and packaged using certified organic processes, we could be robbed of the healthful active ingredients.

In the case of supplements, LNH suggest choose only products based on 100% certified organic ingredients. Why waste your time and money, and risk potential health consequences from artificial ingredients and questionable chemical processes? For information on label reading, go to:

http://lagunanaturalhealth.blogspot.com/2009/07/supplements-what-to-look-for-at-store.html

LNH

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is of educational nature and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Chlorine in Your Baby Carrots

The small cocktail or “baby” carrots you buy are made using the larger crooked or deformed carrots which are put through a machine which cuts and shapes them into cocktail carrots. You might have known that already. But what you might not know is that once the carrots are cut and shaped into cocktail carrots, they are dipped in a solution of water and chlorine in order to preserve them.

When a baby carrot turns white (“white blushing”), this causes the bags of carrots to be pulled from the shelf and thrown away. To prevent this consumer waste, the carrots are dipped in chlorine to prevent the white blushing from happening.

Chlorine is a very well-known carcinogen. Organic growers instead use a citrus based, nontoxic solution called Citrox.

Source:  Jospeph Mercola, MD

LNH

Greek Salad Topped with Grilled Chicken, Salmon or Shrimp

If you're looking for a tasty dish to serve over the holiday weekend, try this:

(It is suggested to use ingredients that are organic, wild-caught and hormone and antibiotic-free)

2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup baby spinach leaves or romaine lettuce torn into bite-sized pieces

1 small green bell pepper, chopped

1/2 cucumber, chopped

1/2 red onion, sliced

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1/3 cup Greek or Kalamata olives

2 tsp. finely chopped fresh oregano

3 Tbsp. chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 - 6 ounce piece feta, quartered

1/2 cup chickpeas

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

8-12 ounces gilled chicken, salmon or shrimp

Whisk the olive oil, lemon juice and garlic together in a small bowl.  Set aside.  Combine the rest of the ingredients in a large wooden salad bowl.  Add the dressing and gently toss until all ingredients are coated or serve separately. Plate and enjoy!

Makes 2 generous servings.

Please take a moment to reflect and remember those who have built our country and have fought to maintain our freedoms....religious, philosophical, written, spoken, music, books -- our every-day choices.  We are grateful to those in service to our country.  

Happy 4th, everyone!

LNH

Hummus Recipe

We love this easy, good-for-you recipe.  Hummus is packed with protein, takes only minutes to make and is easy to transport to BBQ's and picnics.  

LNH always suggests using organic ingredients, when available. Organic chickpeas and EVOO are available at Trader Joe's. 

Gather:

• 1 1/2 cups cooked or canned chickpeas plus 1/2 cup bean liquid

• 3 cloves garlic, peeled

• 1/4 cup sesame tahini (ground sesame seeds)

• 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

• Juice of 1 lemon

• 1 tsp. sea or himalayan salt

• cayenne pepper or paprika

• pine nuts

Serving options:

• celery stalks

• lettuce leaves

• carrots

• cucumbers

Now:

• Place the chickpeas and garlic in a blender or food processor

• Puree until the beans to break down

• Add a quarter to half of the reserved liquid or water, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice and salt 

• Continue to puree well blended and the mixture has a smooth consistency

• Chill for a least 2 hours

• Serve on a bed on a lettuce or in your favorite bowl

• Garnish with a drizzle of EVOO

• Sprinkle of cayenne pepper or paprika

• Top with pine nuts

Serve as Dip for carrots, cucumbers and other favorite produce.

Makes 2 1/2 cups

Enjoy a peaceful weekend.

LNH