Sunday, December 21, 2008

Where to Buy Sprouting Seeds

I thought others may want to know where to buy sprouting seeds, thanks for the question Lisa. Sprouting seeds have been spotted in natural food stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joes, so that may be a great place to start. You may find better deals by buying in bulk elsewhere but be careful where you buy your seeds. Always make sure you buy from a credible website or business. Here are some websites that may help you.



Wheatgrass Kits - They sell organic sprouting seeds in bulk. You can even buy a years supply! They have great options for kits and trays too.


Sprouthouse - This is where my mom got her sprouting trays. They work great for her. Of course, I'm cheap and think my Mason jars work just fine. They also sell sprouting seeds.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Sprouting at Home

This is something my mother just recently taught me. She has been sprouting for years in her home. When I visit, it is not rare to see her sprouting trays full of sprouts. If you go to my mom's for lunch, sure enough somewhere on your plate will be sprouts. So, what is the big deal about sprouts and why were we pushed to eat them when we were younger?

Well, for some wonderful reason, when seeds and nuts are soaked and sprouted they increase their nutritional value by over 500%. This includes increases in vitamins, protein, enzymes and nucleic acids (essential components for cell growth). Dr. Jeffery Bland, Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry at the University of Puget Sound, believes that 6 cups of sprouts could potentially supply the average adult their recommended daily nutritional intake. That's everything in those multi-vitamins you are taking without any potential harmful fillers. So, if you are not a sprout fan, become one. They are super easy to produce, super nutritional, and super cheap. You can even harvest your own crop anytime during the year.

I love adding alfalfa sprouts to my avocado and pesto sandwich. For those who are not into sprouts, alfalfa sprouts have a mild taste so that would be a great sprout to tryout first.

To start sprouting your seeds you will need a regular ol' jam jar with lid or rubber band, cheesecloth, muslin, or I used a mesh liner, sprouting seeds (not all seeds are the same so make sure they are seeds used for sprouting), and good water. That's it!

After giving your seeds a once over, tossing shriveled seeds out, spoon 1-2 tablespoons of seed into the jar. Cover jar with muslin and secure with lid or rubber band. Pour water into jar, about a 1/2-1 inch above seeds (in picture below I put an unnecessary amount), and let soak over night (for smaller seeds the soaking time goes down).

After initial soaking, drain, keeping cloth fastening on and cover with a kitchen towel so that no light will get in. Make sure it is not too cold where you place the jar.

Everyday rinse the seeds 2-3 times a day to prevent mold.

Within 3-6 days your sprouts will be ready to consume. Once there, refrigerate sprouts and eat within a weeks time.

I used some great references:

Preparedness Principles - The Complete Personal Preparedness Resource Guide by Barbara Salsbury

You Are What You Eat by Dr. Gillian McKeith

If you have any questions, problems, or great recipes with sprouts let me know. Send an email.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Food For Thought Part I

One small step to determining your body's individual needs

A little bit of background:
Let me introduce myself. Aside from my bio, I am an optimistic pessimist. Yes, we do exist. I also have a love of life and learning. I also have this very interesting body that has its own agenda.
I suffer from many physical things. But today we will talk a little bit about the hormonal migraine headaches that I get to experience every month for 10-17 days. And no, that is not a typo. This leads me to share with you the hypo allergenic diet that I went on a couple of years ago, that has been very helpful.
Here’s how it went. I had some long visits with those who practice traditional medicine. They were not helpful. I actually appreciate traditional medicine and I am not against it, but it just wasn’t working for my body. Thus I went to see this fabulous woman, who is a naturopath. She started the diagnostic process by asking me a lot of questions about my body, and how it worked. She recommended some supplements which have really helped. I’ll talk about that on my next post. She also set about to determine if I had any allergies. This is what we did, and it has changed my life.
The Hypo-allergenic diet

My naturopath, an individual who uses a holistic approach and focuses on natural remedies like herbs and foods instead of synthetic drugs or surgeries, had me remove the following things from my diet, for an entire month, to get them out of my system.

The NO list
Fruits and Veggies: NO oranges, orange juice, tomatoes, corn, or any creamed veggies.
Grains: No wheat, corn, barley rye, kamut, no gluten-containing products. No products made from Wheat, corn, spelt, kamut, rye or barley.
Soy: No soy, no soy products. NO tofu, soybeans, soy milk etc...
Nuts: No peanuts, or peanut butter
Meat and Fish: No beef, pork, shellfish, Sausage, hot dogs, cold cuts, or canned meats other than fish in water.
No Dairy: All Dairy which included, milk, cheese, cottage cheese, cream, sour cream, yogurt, butter, ice cream, non-dairy creamers, eggs.
No Sugar/sweeteners: No white or brown refined sugar (insert weeping here), honey, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, maple syrup, Soda pop/ soft drinks. No chocolate.
No Alcohol.
No caffeine: No coffee, tea, and any other drinks with caffeine in them,
No dressings or condiments. No ketchup, relish, chutney, soy sauce, BBQ sauce, and any/all other condiments. No margarine, butter, shortening, hydrogenated oils, mayonnaise, and other spreads.
Some of these things were not hard to stop, because I don’t consume them. On the other hand… it is a flavorless and time consumingly difficult way to prepare food from the Yes list. I can also chat about this in my next post.

Here is what I could eat
The YES list
Fruits and Veggies: Yes to unsweetened, frozen, dried, or canned water packed fruits, and fruit juices, anything but Soy.
Grains/Starches: Rice, Oats, millet, quinoa, amaranth, teff, tapioca, buckwheat, potatoes, arrowroot.
Nuts: Any nuts but peanuts. Seeds are also ok.
Meat and Fish: Yes to frozen or fresh chicken, turkey, fish, wild game, lamb, and canned water packed fish.
Drinks: Distilled, mineral, seltzer or filtered water, decaffeinated herbal tea.
Some Sweet: Fruit sweeteners, blackstrap molasses, brown rice syrup and stevia.

Some Spice: All spices like salt, pepper, dill garlic ginger, cumin oregano, parsley… etc. and Vinegar.
The Result:
After a challenging month of eating from the Yes list, I gradually re-introduced each “no” food into my diet one at a time. And the results were fascinating to me. For example for me personally, I should not eat oranges, honey, lunch meat, pork, soy, or eggs. I should be careful with peanuts, certain dairy products, shell fish, corn derivatives and tomatoes. I learned this from the way I felt after I re-introduced the foods from the “no” food list.
What does this all mean? Well, first of all when I was eating the hypoallergenic diet. I have never felt better. Secondly by using the information I got from this diet, I have been able to reduce my migraine pain by about 50%.
In the next several posts, I will break down this process for you, and help you examine some options for yourself. I do this so you can think about it. This is food for thought, but I would never recommend you doing this without visiting with a naturopath or other person who practices alternative medicine. This diet along with the guidance of a naturopath can be one helpful step to determining your body’s individual needs.


Saturday, December 13, 2008

Regular Goal Setting - A Must for Healthy Living

When it comes to your health, the best way to ensure that you will stick to a lifelong journey of wellness is to continually create goals that will keep you on the right path. Very often, people think to themselves that they are going to be healthier “starting today” but without definite goals and a specific plan as to how they are going to accomplish that, most likely, it won’t happen. To be most effective, you should follow these four simple guidelines when it comes to creating your health and fitness goals.

1. Be specific. Creating goals that are vague or general, like "I want to lose weight" or “I’m going to exercise five days a week” are not going to keep you as motivated, as having a specific goal to work toward will. When goals are vague, you can't really make a solid game plan as to how you are going to achieve them. Instead, you end up trying with no real direction. For example: HOW is it that you plan to lose weight? Or WHAT are you going to do when you exercise? Are you going to lift weights? Do Pilates? It is imperative that you get crystal clear on what you want to achieve in regards to your health. Do you want 20% body fat? If so, plan exactly how you will achieve that. Do you want to stop emotional eating? Then come up with a strategy that will help you abstain from foods when you are not hungry? If you decide precisely what your health and fitness goals are, you will be prepared to create a master plan that will help you actualize those goals!

2. Write it down. Every time you make a goal for yourself, you think of it first in your mind. When you take that goal and move it from your mind to paper, you automatically start visualizing what it will be like to accomplish that goal. It takes you a step further than just a fleeting thought or desire of something you would like to achieve. Another benefit of writing down your goals is that it creates a commitment for yourself - especially if you share it with someone else. Having someone else to answer to, naturally makes you a bit more dedicated to reaching your goals... after all, when you say you're going to do something, you want people to believe that you actually will!

3. Establish a deadline. Deciding that you are going to eat two cups of veggies daily, lose five pounds of fat or be physically able to whip out 30 pushups are all examples of fabulous, detailed, goals! But having a goal without a deadline is merely a wish. It is so much easier to lose ambition if you don’t have a specific date to work towards. During moments of temporary defeat or for those times when you are tempted to slack off, you are more likely to persevere and keep going if you have an established deadline.

4. Be realistic. Making goals that are realistic and attainable, yet enough of a challenge to push your limits is the only way to go when deciding what your fitness goals should be. Creating goals that are unrealistic, nearly impossible, or extremely far-fetched will only cause grief and disappointment as an end result. By creating expectations that are reasonable, the experience toward achieving those goals will be a positive one. Make sure to set yourself up for success, not frustration.As a personal trainer, I recommend to my clients that they re-evaluate their goals every four to six weeks and adjust them according to their needs. This keeps their goals fresh and exciting and gives them the motivation to keep up their new healthy habits.

If you seem to struggle when it comes to making wise choices regarding your health, take time to think about how you want to feel and what changes you want to make. Then, simply follow these four guidelines as you create your goals and soon you will be feeling like a better, healthier and happier version of you.