The Vagina and the Pineapple: A Fairytale
Girl talk! I know that just about every one of us has heard some poppycock story about how vaginas smell like fish naturally. And we’ve all seen the ads that boast some chemical douche that’ll make your vagina smell like roses and taste like a jellybean. Here’s the thing: our yonis are very delicate. They absolutely must maintain a moderately acidic pH level between 3.8 and 4.5. This is to ward off infection, keep away itchiness, and just keep your vagina healthy and happy. It’s a fun fact that what we eat has a huge effect on our vaginas: how they smell, how they taste, and how they feel. For…
Soaking and Sprouting: Patience is a Virtue
It’s hard to imagine that raw seeds, nuts, grains and beans warrant anything so involved as soaking and sprouting. They’re raw, after all! Isn’t that enough to make them wonderful? Unfortunately for us, however, they’re so highly evolved that they’ve got their own protective outerwear built in. They’re covered in enzyme inhibitors that prevent them from germinating prematurely and help keep all the essential nutrients they need to grow, all locked up and safe till the right moment. Essentially it’s like the plant equivalent of wearing a chastity belt. Those chemicals don’t help us at all, though. Instead they prevent us from being able to absorb minerals and proteins from…
Dehydration Demons
I don’t think drinking water had as much to do with dehydration as it had to do with beauty when I was growing up. But my mother – and many magazines – vehemently preached that you needed to consume eight 8 ounce glasses of water a day. It seemed like a daunting task, especially given the fact that I wasn’t big on water at the time. I would rather have had a Coke. I liked Coke. But I did not like water. The Running Challenge… I remember at one point during my teenage years, my sister and I took up running – a pursuit that lasted an excruciating two-and-a-half weeks…
Raw Till 4: Taking The High Road to More Raw
In the beginning, for a few short weeks, I dabbled with a Raw Till 4 kind of scenario. But, the dope that I was, Raw Till 4 just wasn’t good enough for me. I should have stayed there, where it was relatively easy and comfortable. But I had this idea to go whole hog: all day, all raw. It was like a shock to my system. I was hungry. Like some ravenous predator on the Discovery channel. I was bordering on dangerous. Honestly, I could have eaten my own arm. For sure, I did it all wrong. For people who are genuinely ill with diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. drastic measures…
Digestion is A Bitch: Light to Heavy Eating
My father, who recently passed away at the ripe old age of 92, grew up in Germany. Over there they ate a hot meal in the afternoon and at night everyone had sandwiches – which, not for nothing, could be a pretty big deal as well, what with the endless array of cold cuts and fresh breads and potato salads. Dinner is called Abendbrot which, literally translated, means ‘evening bread’ and that pretty much says it all. I don’t think anyone ever thought about ease of digestion and I know for a fact that Alka Seltzer and Pepto Bismal were constants in my fathers medicine chest. As a kid, it…
Dairy Dangers: 6 Reasons to Say No to Milk
Dairy is a controversial subject these days. Of course, there are a lot of supposed experts who claim that dairy is important for everything – from strong bones, healthy teeth and athleticism to everything in between. And we’ve been bombarded for years with advertisements flaunting stars with milk mustaches. Lately, however, there’s disagreement brewing. Maybe dairy isn’t so great after all? I remember when this information started leaking out; my mom and dad couldn’t believe it. They had spent their entire lives being duped into believing that milk was, somehow, integral to development. Oddly both my sister and I stopped drinking milk immediately and naturally upon being weaned and could…
Finding Yoga and Other Adventures
When it comes to health, food and fitness form two sides of the same coin. We really do need both to keep our bodies and mind functional and vibrant. A vegan diet high in raw foods sets the stage for optimum health but combining it with exercise really kicks everything into high gear. It can be anything from yoga to kickboxing but the fact is that we all really need to get off our asses and do something! Being a country girl and living on a farm has forced me into the inevitability of physical activity. I’m always doing something: stacking hay or shoveling manure or planting a garden. But…
Vegan Kids: Is A Vegan Diet Healthy for Children?
It’s strange that so many single out vegan kids when it comes to worrying about children’s health. Let’s face it: a significant percentage of children in today’s world are in a pathetic shape. And no, I’m not talking about starving kids in Africa; I’m referring to the kids here in ‘our own backyards’. Recent stats show that one in five school-going kids in the United States is obese [1]. Let that just sink in. It’s even worse for the adults. With nearly 70% of adult Americans obese or struggling with some form of weight issues [2], it’s easy to see that we’re looking at an epidemic. So, we need to…
The Organic Raw Shopping Experience
Very early on my raw lifestyle timeline, I had myself convinced that I could go 100% raw. I was always trying to eat consciously. Looking at packaging and trying to avoid anything that contained ingredients that I couldn’t pronounce was second nature to me. What I fed my husband and children was carefully considered; even if they clamored for ‘Lucky Charms’, I would undoubtedly force muesli and organic fruit upon them. And it seemed like it would be simple for someone like myself to just go completely raw since I had – for the most part – always preferred fruits and vegetables anyway, albeit not exclusively. Avoiding the Bad Stuff…
What’s So Great About Fermented Food?
Thousands of years ago when refrigerators were yet to be invented, our ancestors depended on fermentation as a method of preservation. This was especially true when it came to preserving vegetables. They relied on the fact that once triggered, chemical changes activated certain bacteria in fruits and vegetables, turning on the production of lactic acid. When lactobacilli just ‘do their thing’, starch and sugar content in fruits and vegetables transforms into lactic acid, a natural preservative. Voila! We have fermented food! Lacto-fermentation is the process that prevents raw organic produce from rotting. Ultimately this happens through the production of enzymes that keep harmful elements like carcinogens and toxins at bay.…
