Heal Your Food - And Your Home

I apologize for lack of posts recently.  I've been finishing work on a project that's taken me the best part of a year - illustrating a book due for publication here in New Zealand in December.  It was a major job - 36 full color, wall-to-wall, exhibition quality paintings, 15"x20" and as things got down to the wire this last 12 weeks or so, the pressure was quite intense.

If you'd like to see a very small taste of what's involved please visit my Taketakerau Project on  the Behance Professional Network (which I'll update with more pictures once the book is published).  AND - if you like what you see, there's a neat blue button at the bottom that you can click anonymously - just to give me a 'thumbs up' for all my hard work!

Back to the point of this post.  It's no good taking charge of your food if you don't take charge of things in your immediate environment that can harm you.  I got a very interesting email from Dr Mercola this morning that's going to send me out today on a mission I've had in mind for a few months but not yet got down to - searching out a new, non-plastic electric jug for my kitchen.

Toxic Mattresses

The article I'm talking about isn't just about electric jugs - there's a whole lot more to it than that, including your mattress.  It has been estimated that 97% of Americans have significant levels of a toxic chemical group called PBDEs in their blood.  It can alter calcium signalling in your brain which affects learning and memory. It's found in 80% of 12 common household products.

My old mattress suddenly starts to look more appealing!  At least it's not made of polyurethane foam...  Go check out The Mattress That Plays Havoc With Your Hormones. Especially if you have kids, if you're pregnant or if your partner is pregnant or even if you care for an elderly person.

And give a thought to that plastic hot water jug.  Heat and plastic are not good together. How much hot water from that jug do you put into yourself every day?

Take Control - and have a great day!

Patricia

Sesame Seeds - Food of the Gods 1

If you think of sesame seeds as a decorative sprinkle for the top of loaves and bread rolls, you are missing out on knowledge that's important for your health. Sadly, this food has come to be very much underestimated in today's Western culture.

Strength and Immortality : Sesame in Early Cultures

The cultivation of sesame seeds goes back to the earliest cultures in Africa, India and the Middle East. The mighty Assyrian nation that began about 5000 BC and had its heyday in the Tigris / Euphrates valleys between 2400 and 612 BC, esteemed sesame so highly that in their legends, they told of their gods drinking sesame wine to give them the strength to create the world.

And if the mention of 'Assyrian' has brought to mind the first line of a poem you can't quite remember, here just as an aside is the full text of Lord Byron's beautiful 'Destruction of Sennacherib'.
Sesame was held equally in respect in India. In Hindu legends and beliefs, tales are told in which sesame seeds represent a symbol of immortality. In many parts of India, sesame seed was and is a highly esteemed offering to their gods.

Strength and Endurance : Sesame in the Mediterranean

Cultivation of the seed spread to the Mediterranean - Egypt, Israel and Turkey especially. Greek and Roman armies were issued with bags of sesame seeds as iron rations for the soldiers, which tells us a great deal about the value of this seed.  These guys were not sitting in a war room pushing buttons to fire off rockets at the foe - they were forced marching over hundreds of miles of gruelling terrain, followed by fierce hand-to-hand fighting on the ground.

In the first century AD Dioscorides the Greek physician, pharmacologist and botanist authored a 5-volume encyclopedia on herbal medicine and related medicinal substances - a pharmacopeia.  This book was in circulation and widely read for well over a thousand years.

The above illustration is from the Vienna Dioscorides, a manuscript made in about 515 AD for the Byzantine princess Juliana Anicia, daughter of Emperor Anicius Olybrius, and now held in the Austrian National Library in Vienna. Originally created as a luxury copy, there is evidence that in later centuries it was used daily as a hospital textbook - interesting. It includes some annotations by hand in Arabic - see the photo. (Vienna Dioscorides on Wikipedia) 

Dioscorides shows us that sesame was still highly valued in his day, commenting that it "doth discuss (ie deal with) the griefs of the colon" and that "the herb soaked in wine heals pains of the head that come by heat." At least two common health problems here : constipation and headaches.  I can't help wondering if  'pains of the head that come by heat' refers to migraines and / or hangovers.  And 'griefs of the colon'?  It's plural - many bowel maladies, from diverticulitis to irritable bowel or ibs might be comprised in that.

Both the Egyptians and the Jews included sesame in their baking ingredients, customarily adding sesame seeds to their flour in the preparation of dough. And you can bet that wasn't just a pinch sprinkled on the top.  As you can see from my Extremely Busy Solo Woman's Biscuit / Cookie Recipe sesame when ground lends itself well to the formation of a dough - and one that contains NO GLUTEN, moreover.

Sesame in the Far East and America

In very early times the cultivation and use of sesame seeds also spread to China, Korea and Japan, where their use in cuisine is common. Finally, sesame was probably brought into 17th century colonial America by West African slaves, and its cultivation and use is now common in the Caribbean and Mexico.

What Are We Missing About Sesame?

Oh dear - in most western cuisine today we still adhere to the 'decorative' and 'crunchy, nutty flavor' concepts, in preference to understanding the value of the plant for our health. Is that decadent or what?

Here is my point: These uses and attributes of the sesame seed go back into antiquity. They were clearly inherent in the plant from the beginning. They were recognized in many nations out of practical living experience over a period of about 7 millennia - not cooked up in a laboratory over the last 200 years.

To improve our health and make us more resistant to disease, shouldn't we be looking to the practical experience of our forefathers rather than the fast food and pharmaceutical industries? I think so.

Next post - Science Begins to Catch Up.

Check out sesame used in baking in my Extremely Busy Solo Woman's Biscuit / Cookie Recipe

Patricia

Doctors, the Medical Profession, and Diet

As I mentioned in Biscuits - Cookies for the "No Grains" Diet I spent over 20 years trying to get a diagnosis of my systemic candida condition - originally caused by the administration of antibiotics. 26 years to be precise. In that time I consulted numerous doctors and was put through a heap of tests : a thyroid test (fatigue), barium meal tests, barium enema tests, liver and gallbladder tests, a bilharzia test (yes! - fatigue again).

I had pain in my stomach, so finally I nearly had an endoscopy. That was aborted by the specialist at the last minute, complete with an abusive "dress-down" standing in a hospital corridor, to boot. In effect, the medical profession told me it was all in my head - insult on top of injury.

In all that time, I kept asking the doctors if there were any foods I should avoid, mainly because my own self-experimentation was leading me to believe that some foods affected me worse than others. And in all that time, the standard answer was, "Nah, as long as you are getting an all-round diet, that's fine."

I had pretty much given up on the medical profession, and was researching and experimenting with dietary restrictions forced on me by the realities of my condition - whatever it might be.

Then by chance as Regional Solicitor for the ACC in Hamilton, I conducted a review hearing about a lady denied cover for an illness contracted while picking a bed of asparagus contaminated with an endectocide spray. I was impressed by the knowledge and open-minded approach of the doctor who gave evidence on her behalf.

The result was the candida diagnosis, and the discovery that I was allergic to 35 different foods (about which, more later) - no doubt because my condition had persisted so long. The doctor told me I could be very close to having ME, and gave me some reading materials on that health problem, too.

At least candida is now recognized by the medical profession generally, and in some cases it's being recognized that one of the causes is the use of antibiotics. About time too.

But in all those years of struggle and search, not one doctor had anything to offer on the issue of diet and food, which as I'll explain later, is a crucial plank in getting rid of any candida infection, be it oral, vaginal or systemic.

That to me is a travesty when you remember that the original father of medicine, the Greek physician Hippocrates (ca. 460 BC – ca. 370 BC) said “Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food “.

Wikipedia has this to say about Hippocrates :

Hippocrates is credited with being the first person to believe that diseases were caused naturally and not as a result of superstition, and gods. Hippocrates was credited by the disciples of Pythagoras with allying philosophy and medicine. He separated the discipline of medicine from religion, believing and arguing that disease was not a punishment inflicted by the gods but rather the product of environmental factors, diet, and living habits. [my emphasis]

Well, how far have we come? Western medicine is only one medical discipline that would say it doesn't believe in superstition and 'gods'. But for years now it has been following the equally deadly gods of the pharmaceutical industry.

We're in a Dark Age of science and medicine when more emphasis is placed on administering drugs than on looking to Hippocrates' wisdom.

But this is also the Information Age, when people with internet access can do their own research and make their own informed decisions.  This needs to happen, and the word needs to get out to those who don't have the internet, and probably need it most. 

That to me (and I'm not an American) is why Michelle Obama's "Let's Move!" and other health initiatives are so important.

Patricia

Jamie Oliver, Sarah Palin and the First Lady

Back in March, Jamie Oliver took a stance on American food issues - because the Americans asked him to, please note.

Michelle Obama's "Let's Move!" initiative against childhood obesity had come under fire from Sarah Palin. While in the USA, Oliver was asked what he thought about Palin's attitude. Well, ask a silly question if you like, but if you are talking to a Brit - please expect to get an honest answer, not a sugar-coated one.

Jamie put Palin in the same bag as "The Fruit Loop" - a US breakfast cereal packed with processed grains and made attractive to children by the addition of sugar, salt, fruit flavors and coloring.

Of course the conservatives got up in arms.

It's another example of American politics getting in the way of common sense. Some stupid statements were made in the Republican attack on the White House's initiative, like "Get away from my French Fries, Mrs Obama!" and "If we are supposed to eat fruits, berries and tree bark, show us how." Typical grandstanding, political garbage.

And here's some more: Sarah Palin claimed the First Lady "is telling us she cannot trust parents to make decisions for their own children, for their own families, on what we should eat."

Well, as I've already noted, "My people are destroyed by lack of knowledge". For many years, REAL nutrition has been ignored by the medical profession (thanks to the pharmaceutical companies whose input of $$ into the medical schools has ensured that some important issues are never taught). See my own experience with Doctors, the Medical Profession and Diet.

REAL nutrition has  been ignored by governments, food-producing cartels and chemical companies manufacturing so-called fertilizers and other agricultural chemical products. So we end up with hybridized foods, with food additives, drugs, herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers that make us sick, and we are expected to turn to the pharmaceutical companies for more drugs to make us well?? Come on!!!

No wonder many people cannot make the right decisions about what to feed their children and their families - AND THEY ARE NOT TO BLAME.  There are many folks who would cry, "Why didn't the government ever tell us?"  Well, someone with a bit of profile is telling you now - at last.

We are all confronted by a barrage of marketing and publicity from companies whose only interest in what they sell is to make as much money out of it as possible. White sugar is the number 1 worst "food" on the planet. Food manufacturers throw it into anything and everything to make their product appealing - and extra big gobs into anything designed to appeal to children. And where do we think the epidemic of childhood obesity, ADD, hyperactivity and child and teenage behavior problems is coming from?

Wake up America. Forget your childish political infighting and look at the REAL issues at stake here. Counterfeit foods, fertilizers and health measures are destroying us and costing governments (ie the taxpayer) a mint. And, as for health : what sort of inheritance are the Republicans trying to foist onto their kids?

Kudos to Michelle Obama for taking a stand. The more Americans who follow her lead and learn how to make informed decisions for their family's health, the better.

Patricia