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Jasmin

Can't Get Rid Of Your Bad Acne? Read This!

For the past 30 years, doctors, facialists and high school health-ed teachers alike have assured us up and down that, contrary to what our grandmothers may have believed, junk food does not cause acne. Snickers bars, soda and ice cream, they told us, might be unhealthy—but at least they didn’t affect our complexions. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, the belief that chocolate caused zits was an old wives’ tale, somewhere along the lines of “shaving your legs makes the hair grow back faster.”

As it turns out, those old wives may have been right all along. This past July, a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed a measurable link between high-glycemic diets and acne. The study followed two groups of acne-plagued males ages 15 to 25 who were told they were participating in a study on carbohydrates and protein. The first group continued to eat their usual diet, which included plenty of sugar and processed grains—foods that have a high glycemic index. The other was given whole grains, lean meat and fish, fruits and vegetables—foods with a low glycemic index. After 12 weeks, a team of dermatologists determined that the subjects in the latter group had 51 percent fewer pimples than when they started.

“It all comes down to insulin,” says Neil Mann, a professor of human nutrition at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, and the study’s lead researcher. Foods with a high glycemic index cause blood sugar to rise, forcing the body to bring it down with a surge of insulin. And insulin can lead to acne, both by accelerating cell growth in the pores and stimulating oil-producing hormones called androgens. This radical shift in thinking about acne challenges a stance that dates back to 1969. That was the year that three researchers published a study in the influential Journal of the American Medical Association that seemed to show that chocolate does not cause acne. Two years later, another well-known study argued that peanuts, milk and cola were also blameless. Whereas previously, medical textbooks had recommended whole-grain bread and avoidance of ice cream in the treatment of pimples, a new generation of doctors were taught that there was no connection between diet and acne.

“Those two studies, on which all our dogma on diet and acne is based, are basically full of flaws,” says Valori Treloar, a dermatologist and certified nutrition specialist in Newton, Massachusetts, who wrote a recent book on food, lifestyle and acne called The Clear Skin Diet (Cumberland House Publishing). “Frankly, I don’t think either would be published today because the standards were not rigorous enough.” Both studies, she says, were too small in subject numbers and too short in duration. More important, neither controlled any other aspect of the diet, so the researchers had no idea what else the subjects were eating.

In her book Treloar and her coauthor, naturopath Alan C. Logan, recommend a diet rich in antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids, which have anti-inflammatory properties that appear to protect against acne.

Dairy is also under new scrutiny. In 2005 researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health published a study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology that showed an association between consumption of dairy products and acne. Using data from more than 47,000 women followed in the Harvard-administered Nurses’ Health Study II, researchers found that those who consumed more than three servings of milk per day were 22 percent more likely to have suffered from acne as teens. With skim milk, the numbers were even more pronounced: Those who drank two or more glasses per day were 44 percent more likely to have experienced acne bad enough to warrant a trip to the doctor.

F. William Danby, an assistant professor of dermatology at Dartmouth Medical School and one of the authors of the study, cautions that while the data show a link between dairy and acne, they don’t definitively prove that milk gives people pimples. “It’s going to require a few more years of research,” says Danby, “but there are good scientific reasons to believe that it is actually cause and effect.” Milk and dairy products, he explains, might trigger breakouts in a number of ways, most notably because they contain the same hormones that can lead to acne in humans. Even organic milk contains these natural hormones.

Danby says he has been successfully treating his own patients through a combination of medication and a zero-dairy diet for more than 20 years. One milk-loving patient, he recalls, couldn’t understand why she suffered from breakouts when her milk-hating identical twin sister did not. Another patient endured four courses of Accutane without success, only to see her acne improve after nixing a 16-ounce-a-week Cheez Whiz habit.

“I always felt that diet played a role in acne, but there were no believable studies to back this up until recently,” says Leslie Baumann, a professor of dermatology at the University of Miami who has been advising her acne-plagued patients to limit sugar and dairy for two years now.

Researchers hypothesize that our increasing consumption of sugar, processed grains and dairy products may be behind a worldwide rise in acne incidence in both teens and adults. In fact, both Danby and Mann cite the same 2002 paper in the Archives of Dermatology, which showed that among indigenous cultures in Paraguay and Papua New Guinea who ate their ancestral diets and consumed almost no processed foods or dairy products, acne was virtually unheard of. And previous studies had shown that when people from similar cultures adopted a Western diet, they developed acne.

“We didn’t evolve to eat the foods we eat now,” explains Mann. “Dairy came along probably about 7,000 years ago. Agricultural grains were about 10,000 years ago. That’s like yesterday in evolutionary terms.”

Though literature from the American Academy of Dermatology still says that nothing you eat can cause acne, Wilma Bergfeld, a professor of dermatology at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, who is also one of the academy’s spokespeople, says that may soon change. Though she believes more research is needed to support the dairy hypothesis, Bergfeld calls Mann’s high-glycemic load study “exciting.”

“When you chase a pimple, you want to dry it up to make it go away, but you’re not solving the problem of why it exists. This suggests that you can get at the problem by diet,” says Bergfeld. Still, not everyone is convinced that diet and acne are so directly related. “Skin reflects general health, so I tell all of my patients to eat a balanced diet, but you don’t need to avoid specific foods,” says Joshua M. Wieder, a dermatologist in private practice and an associate clinical professor at UCLA. Wieder says he might tell his patients about Mann’s and Danby’s studies, but more data is needed before he’ll go any further than that. “These are small studies which need to be substantiated by looking at larger populations across genetic groups,” he says. To date there has been surprisingly little research on the connection between diet and acne. “Nutritional studies are notoriously difficult to run,” explains Treloar. “You need to have a large enough sample group, and you need to control what people are eating.” Mounting studies is also challenging, she adds, in an age when pharmaceutical companies are the major force behind new research. “It’s hard to get funding, because it’s hard to come up with a product that somebody’s going to make money on.”

But there is one bright spot on the horizon. That 1969 study focusing on chocolate may not have used the proper methods, but the scientists did get one thing (sort of) right, says Treloar. Pure cocoa powder and dark chocolate, if it’s at least 70 percent cocoa and doesn’t contain too much sugar, may actually alleviate acne. Cocoa contains antioxidant chemicals called flavonoids that have slight anti-inflammatory effects and improve blood flow to skin cells. Bittersweet chocolate never tasted so good.


By Michelle Rainer
Photograph by Kenji Toma
Styled by Kathryn Hurni
November 2007
http://www.wmagazine.com/beauty/2007/11/the_acne_diet

Home Remedy For Painful Itchy Ears

White Vinegar!! It is about 3 am and I could not sleep due to inner ear itching and pain from my ear infection. I noticed that when I get a sore throat, it is always followed by an ear infection. I used my usual, cotton swab soaked in alcohol and that provides temporary relief but today the pain and itching returned. I read this site and found to use a mixture 50/50 of alcohol and white vinegar. I am not one to 'mix' things so I got up the nerve to try the vinegar alone since I used alcohol earlier to no avail. My right ear is not as bad as the left one, so I tried that one first. I placed 3 drops of white vinegar... undiluted in my ear and left it there for 3 minutes. While it was in there, I noticed that when I swallowed the fluid moved down further in my ear canal so I continued to make swallowing motions. I let that drain out and tried the left ear. This ear hurt and itch really bad, but I put 3 drops of fluid in it and it did not burn... I could feel it moving down in the canal as I continued the swallowing motions. I let that drain out and 'immediately' felt better. I notice that the pain... itching sensation is gone. Since that worked for my ears, I got up the nerve to gargle with white vineger... undiluted! Once you get past the taste, it worked! I had to swallow about a teaspoon so that It could get all the way down my throat. I feel much better and is headed for bed. This definitely worked for me!

Taken from
http://www.myhomeremedies.com/remedy.cgi?remedyid=5990

Replies by users who tried this

Submitted by Cin at 2008-03-10 22:36:35 from 208.170.252.187
I tried this right after reading it on my 8 year old son. He was in a lot of pain. After a few minutes he perked right up and said that his ear 'felt like nothing happened.' --- Meaning like there was never any pain to begin with. He is very happy and relieved.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

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Note

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Come visit us there!

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Submitted at 2008-03-16 02:14:05 from 98.202.117.243
I tried this on my two year old who had been screaming for over an hour solid with an obvious ear ache. Within 10 seconds of dripping a couple of drops of white vinegar in his ear, he stopped screaming and fell fast asleep. Thank you!


Submitted by Missy at 2008-04-26 06:19:22 from 71.51.109.120
It is 4am and I was desperate for pain relief. I put drops of white vinegar in my ear let it sit for about 2-3 minutes. I repeated this twice. I did get some immediate relief. It really works. Thank you so must for posting this.


Submitted at 2008-05-04 07:22:22 from 72.64.49.40
I did this and felt instant relief. I was in so much pain the whole side of my face hurt. This relieved that right away about 2:30 am but I woke up at 5:00 am in pain all over again:( And right now at 7 am I am still trying to figure out a remedy that will work for me.


Submitted by jolz at 2008-06-06 10:04:59 from 69.124.131.159
Ok i tried this as soon as i read it and the minutes i put it in i heard a poping noise like my ear poped and i waited the 3 minutes and then i let it drain .. it feels great.. now lets see if it last.


Submitted by Mindy from Michigan at 2008-07-12 21:03:06 from 69.216.98.135
I just tried this and I must say my ear is feeling better. It burned a little when I put it in. I can tell that I will have to put more drops in later but right now I am actually able to get out of bed and function. Thank You. I wish I would have done it sooner.


Submitted by Hsu at 2008-07-18 12:01:52 from 99.130.4.91
It seriously worked...but with side effects.My hearing was foggy, and when I moved around a lot, the pain bit back into my ear.But overall, I reccomend it. Thanks for posting!


Submitted at 2008-08-21 01:33:04 from 99.153.219.229
nice remedy did not try it but went to the doctor and give me some ear solution and a couple of pills for the pain and itch


Submitted at 2008-08-31 23:44:03 from 76.26.190.108
This is only my second ear infection but my ear has practically swelled shut. I tried peroxide and alcohal per my doctor and that didn't do anything. I took some antibiotics earlier, and anti inflammatory and a painkiller. I tried your vinegar solution tonight but it did not work for me. I am now in even more exruciating pain but I too have no insurance and cannot afford an ER visit. I've tried ice and I've tried heat and nothing is working!


Submitted at 2008-10-05 23:46:02 from 71.56.194.113
I used this when i got a earache after not having one for years it really helped i felt the pain go away and my ear stopped bugging me after that.Thank you for posting this


Submitted at 2008-11-30 00:51:34 from 70.58.195.149
I just tried this and it totally worked. I would much rather use something natural than give my 3 year old 10 days of antibiotics. Thanks for the help.


Submitted at 2008-11-30 12:50:12 from 98.73.45.225
it did not work, it just maid things worse. it did burn but it did not stop pain or itch. I does not go in your ear canal good enough to help. IT DOES NOT WORK!!!! good luck on yours.


Submitted by Ed at 2008-12-18 12:10:39 from 24.118.60.113
Okay, so for the past few days I've been trying hydrogen peroxide in my ears with no improvement. I just read about this ten minutes ago and decided to try it out.
I didn't have any white vinegar, so I used apple cider vinegar. I poured a quarter of a cap full in each ear, swallowed a few times, and did some yawning motions. Almost INSTANTLY the pain was gone! It's actually starting to slowly come back in one ear, so I might do this a few more times every 20 minutes or so.
Now I just have a bad sore throat...which I'd much rather have than feeling like i want to stab my ears out...


Submitted by michusmc at 2009-01-21 22:16:56 from 67.240.104.179
My three and a half year old started complaining her ear hurt really bad and was crying almost hysterically after about an hour of this i looked online and came across this posting....i was very skeptical but i was willing to try anything it really did work she stopped crying and said her ear didn't hurt anymore....


Submitted by Amy (mom of three) at 2009-02-09 23:11:37 from 70.15.110.218
My,eleven year old son and I have been up all night with him in pain.We called the doctor but at this time of night there is nothing that he can due but tell use to go the hospital.Instead I looked for home remedies to see if there was any thing that would give him any pain relief.After trying this remedy he is still in some discomfort,but is not in as much pain as he was when we started this night and the jurney of looking for the right remedy for his pain so for that I thank you.


Submitted by Michelle, Rhode Island at 2009-02-20 05:50:32 from 24.250.37.201
Well, all I have to say is, this HAS to work. My 2 yr old woke up at 430 crying hysterically and tugging at her ears, I found this remedy online, mixed the 50/50 of water vinegar solution, and believe or not, she is talking again, and not screaming in pain. So, even if you are skeptical, try this. I have also been told that olive oil does the trick. Anyway, try this, and repeat as necessary for pain. Once they get over the initial nasty taste, they will be relieved you gave it to them.


Submitted at 2009-02-23 20:30:08 from 76.187.7.239
I just tried this on my 18 mth old....I was so desperate...OMG! It works. his ear infection was hurting so bad he didn't eat all day and he wouldn't drink. Now he has drank more all day and is off my lap messing my house up! Does this just relieve the pain and not cure in the infection? IDK....


Submitted by G in Memphis at 2009-03-09 23:35:40 from 66.32.69.86
Came across this remedy because my 3 year old has been crying for an hour with a terrible earache! Tylenol didn't work--tried this with a warm rice bag on her ear, and she also fell asleep within 2 or 3 minutes! Thank you! Hopefully it will last the night!


Submitted at 2009-03-20 19:45:51 from 65.60.128.225
OMG.... it works
my ear hurt so bad white vinegar works


Submitted by Hannah at 2009-03-22 05:30:53 from 79.97.185.131
My husband has got a terrible ear ache since 3 days and he refuses to go to the doctor to get cure. He is actually using a med called Tropex but the pain is still the same, on the contrary its getting worse. After having read all the comments am quite interested to use this remedy,
Can someone guarantee me if this really work?


Submitted by heather at 2009-03-24 00:16:54 from 24.78.171.53
thx so much! just tried this and the ache has totally calmed down! i didnt dilute it though!


Submitted by Scotty at 2009-04-09 19:25:19 from 98.232.155.122
THE PAIN LEFT/ I just got a ear infection this morning when i woke up. I made a apt. and the doctor gave me a antibiotic to clear it up. My ear was still pounding though almost putting me in tears. After reading some of these comments i tried a quarter of a lid full of white vinegar. I left it in for about three minutes then drained it out. It took about ten minutes to work for me but it soooo made me a believer in these kind of home remedies. My ear is still hazy but no pain and thats all i needed to get up and move about.


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Jasmin says

I thought this was an excellent remedy, which I myself have tried. I used half raw apple cider vinegar half warm water.

What you may have realized when you read the info above is I have left all comments intact, meaning all the good AND bad comments as well. I did this to show that though it worked for a lot of people, the remedy did not always work for everyone, which probably meant, either these people have a different problem or it just doesn't work for them that's all.

Inconsiderate, Selfish German Researcher With H1N1 Virus

THE German researcher who returned to Singapore from the United States with flu symptoms and only sought medical treatment a week later has come under fire from netizens who called him 'inconsiderate, selfish, and downright foolish'.

The 56-year-old man, who works at Biopolis, was diagnosed with the Influenza A (H1N1) virus on Monday night, becoming Singapore's 48th confirmed case.

His actions - which included going to work, shopping, attending a function held by the French ambassador and going to a concert- were slammed as 'inconsiderate' and 'downright foolish' by many netizens who were angered that he took his condition so lightly.

Said a poster named safety123, who was among more than 20 readers who gave their views in the Straitstimes.com discussion board on Wednesday: 'Sooner or later we will see the spreading (of the flu) in the community. For some of the cases, symptoms had been developed in the flight or before coming back, and were not detected at airport. They just did not care and are still moving about. (This is) inconsiderate!'

Another reader named Misnomer stressed that contact tracing would be difficult as the man had come into contact with several people during the week he was moving around

'Now the Ministry of Health will have to waste taxpayers' money tracking down the passengers on the plane, the audience in the concert, the waiters and waitresses at Clarke Quay, his colleagues, the shoppers, the store assistants and cashers and their families', wrote Misnomer.

Agreeing, another reader, GhostRider666, wrote: 'Now, it is hard to do contact tracing. It would be almost impossible to pinpoint who were there with him, Anyone who mingled with him in a crowded shopping centre or party could now be carriers of the H1N1 virus.

'And they could infect other people in Singapore. This might be the start of the disease spreading wildly on a tiny island like Singapore.'

The Ministry of Health said in a statement on Tuesday night that a number of recent patients engaged in 'extensive community activities' such as shopping, going to work and taking part in mass activities after arriving here.

In several earlier cases, patients also went to work, attending school and social gatherings, and took public transport even though they had flu symptoms and had returned from affected areas such as Melbourne.

MOH reminded the public not to travel if they were unwell.

June 17, 2009
By Diana Othman
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_391667.html

============

Jasmin says,

Recently, my husband's friends came back from Australia. Own their own accord, they had decided to take a self impose 7 day quarantine, irregardless whether they were ill or not.... just in case.

I like that. I'm down with the flu right now. Baby went to the hospital last Thursday, and caught the flu at the paediatrician's clinic after getting his immunization jab. I hate hospitals. Sigh! I caught the flu from him, and so did my 2 year old niece. This is just a simple flu folks, so imagine what the Swine Flu can do to us all.

Take care, be safe, be considerate.

ECO FRIENDLY BURIALS

A bamboo coffin

Just last week, hubby showed me an interesting article about eco friendly burial methods. Apparently, there's sustainable bamboo weave coffins which are supposedly better than wooden coffins. Cheaper too. I think it's absolutely wonderful. In theory it's great, but think about it, in a lot of cases, families of the deceased may be coerced to buying a very expensive and not environmentally friendly coffin by the "coffin salesman" for fear of looking like cheapo skinflints who can't be bothered to provide the best for the loved one who have since passed.

Me? I want my healthy, working body parts to be donated to be transplanted into bodies of people in need, like my cornea, heart, or whatever that is in good condition. I have reminded hubby not to donate my body to science and any medical facilities. My dead body is still my temple, and I want it to remain that way LOL. Oh yes, and after the good docs are through harvesting my body, I wish to be cremated and my ashes dumped in to the nearest sea, just like my paternal grandparents. Still not the most eco friendly method, due to the energy needed for the cremation, but this is how I want my Buddhist body to be handled.

Slightly off topic, my granddad passed away when I was 17. After the funeral, my dad put my grandpa's ashes and bones into a cloth bag. He didn't close the cloth bag all the way before he dropped the bag into the sea. When I asked why, dad said it's so that granddad can swim out anytime he wants to. Anyhow, I always thought everything would be burned down to ashes. I mean, that's what I see on tv, but apparently, not in Malaysia. There was still half a femur bone here, parts of the rib bone there. Grandma passed away a few years back, and yes, they did not fully burn her body down to ashes as well.

Nowadays, there's all sorts of eco friendly burial products. There's bio degradable urns. But why urns when a cheap cotton cloth bag will do, since someone's going to bury the urn anyway. You can't have a biodegradable urn sitting on top of the living room mantle anyways. It would look nasty as the urn start to bio degrade. There's also special burial parks that looks exactly like parks with no burial stones to mar the landscape.

However, in my book, the best eco friendly burial is still the muslim burial. They use a simple white shroud to wrap the body, and then they bury the body in the muslim graveyard. Two simple burial stone marks the grave. Flowers and fragrant flower water is sprinkled onto the body and onto the grave. Prayers are made without much fuss and pomp.

Ever thought about your funeral? Told anyone about how you wished your burial to be conducted?

A taoist grave.
Read about it at http://foolamak.com/fooie/qing-ming

WHAT WOULD YOU BRING TO A POT LUCK PARTY?

30 over pounds of cut up sugar cane sticks

Just this Saturday, my parents held a housing association pot luck dinner with the neighbors. Once of the things we decided to provide was fruits, and lots of it.

We bought 10 kilos (22 pounds) of rambutans and we cut up around 15 kilos (33 pounds) of organic raw sugar cane, right from my parents' garden. Whooohooo!

The picture above shows how the cut up itsy bitsy sugar cane sticks looks like.

I have wrote about how mum used the sugar cane sticks to help us kids strengthen our gums in my previous post. But anyways, in the old days, people use to chew on sugar cane but I've not seen anyone do this anymore. I thought it would be a fun thing to bring to the table, and I was right. It was a hit! People have commented they have not chewed on raw sugar cane for ages and chewing on these yummy sticks do bring back fun memories for lots of people!

Anyways, it's really simple to make these little babies, but there's lots of elbow grease involved.

First, we have to chop down 3 long, large stalks of the sugar cane. Next, we have to remove the hard outer skin. You know how you use a fruit peeler to peel of an apple skin? Well, we have the same instrument, except it's 10 times larger and 10 times sharper to peel of the outer skin of the sugar cane. Then, we chop these suckers into small pieces. You've got to be really fit and strong to do all this cutting, which is probably why nobody does it anymore.

Mum, dad and I also bought lots of rambutans.

Hairy little rambutans

Rambutans are in season as well right now, so we thought we'd take advantage of it.

Juicy little morsels inside

The inedible tasteless seed inside the fruit

Rambutans were a hit as well. Hubby, the fruit bat confessed he ate lots of the rambutans while keeping an eye on the happily playing kids (the pot luck was held outside, in the large yard of my parents' house). Luckily, hubby loves fruits, so having the entire family eat healthful stuff is not a big stretch!

At first, nobody touched the sugar cane, and I was a bit worried that I made a mistake serving it. However, people started to pile the little cane sticks onto their plates after the main meal. They chewed on the sticks while chit chatting with each other. And after they were done, they tossed the chewed up cane into our ever growing pile of compost heap nearby.

What I learned from this pot luck is, people love fruits. And if you don't know what to bring to a pot luck, bring fruits! You don't need to cook it if you decide to serve it raw and neat. And there's probably not much preparation involved as well. For example, there's no need to wash the rambutans before hand. Ditto for bananas. Grapes are a gorgeous fruit that goes with any barbecue. Now's summertime, and everyone looks forward to having some watermelon.Those just need to be cut up into small chunks, and that's it. No need to be fancy unless you really want it to be. Fruits are very healthful stuff. Everyone would eat it, meat eaters, vegetarians, kids, older folks.

Very rare to find people who won't touch a single bit of fruit!

Jasmin
Come join my "Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

More on sugar cane

•  More raw food at the night markets

•  McDonalds used to serve sugar cane juice

CHOOSING YUMMY MANGOSTEEN!

Ah! Mangosteen. I love Mangosteen. However, the season is short, and it feels like there's an abundance of Mangosteen only once a year. The rest of the time, it's pretty expensive and hard to come by.

Here's some handy tips to choosing Mangosteen.

Tip No 1
Press the fruit lightly. It should yield. If it's hard, toss it back into the fruit bin and choose another. A soft fruit will have yummy, creamy, slightly tart and sweet segments inside.



The inner part of the Mangosteen has segments, much like an orange, but wayyyy tastier than an orange. The smaller segments has no seeds, while the bigger segments have them. So how do we choose a fruit that has less seeds?


Tip No 2
Look at the bottom of the fruit. The fruit you see in the picture has 5 "petals". Each petal represents the segment inside the fruit. The more petals you see, the more segments you will get in the fruit. And the more segments mean there's less space for a bigger segment with a large seed. This means, you will have plenty of smaller segments without the seeds. Yum!



Once you gobble up all the fruit, do consider trashing your Mangosteen skins inside a compost heap.

Remember, Mangosteen season is almost over, so quickly take advantage and buy them before they disappear! Eating lots of raw, fresh food is good for you!

Jasmin
Come join my "Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

COKE CLEANS TOILET

Pour a can of coke into the toilet. Wait for an hour. Flush.

The toilet will be clean.

From Queen of Clean - Heloise

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Jasmin says:

I read somewhere that Coke is bad for the teeth as well. So, my tip of the day, do brush your teeth after drinking Coke, or at least, rinse your mouth with some water.

Jasmin
Come join my "Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

NOT THE BEST WAY TO GO GREEN!

Tue Jun 9, 9:22 pm ET

AUSTIN, Texas – Going green helped a woman rob an Austin bank. The Travis County Sheriff's Office says a woman held up a bank Tuesday and apparently used a recyclable grocery bag to haul away the greenbacks.

Sheriff's spokesman Roger Wade told The Associated Press, after viewing surveillance photos of the unidentified woman with the green bag, that he's guessing "that's where she put the money."

Wade said the bag was the only one the woman has going in and coming out of the Regions Bank branch.

No weapon was displayed. Nobody was injured.

The amount of money stolen was not released by law officers.

News taken from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090610/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_recycling_robbery;_ylt=AqmSJ6XsbdU5ZiRizNmSMGhxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTMydGJhOG9nBGFzc2V0Ay9hcC8yMDA5MDYxMC9hcF9vbl9mZV9zdC91c19vZGRfcmVjeWNsaW5nX3JvYmJlcnkEcG9zAzI5BHNlYwN5bl9zdWJjYXRfbGlzdARzbGsDZ29pbmdncmVlbndv

Toilet Tissue Tips by Jason Mraz

It was while camping in Costa Rica last week that I realized I needed to share this with you. When it came to the limited supply of tissue brought to the jungle, one has to be selective on how and when to use. My friend was amazed at how little paper was actually required for the job. And it has nothing to do with my raw diet, because quite honestly, I’ve been swimming in deeper waters lately, introducing my stomach to rich and indulgently devilish foods. (How dare I!)

Toilet Tissue Tips:
- Start small. Challenge yourself to use only 8 squares in your session. We’ve all been in that place where it’s close to the cardboard roll and you have to be MacGuyver to make a clean get-away. This will force you to get creative while taking good care of each square.

- Use both sides. I mean that. I bet some people are afraid to look at or get close to their own skid-marks. But I say it’s better to know how your body’s handling the business of your health. Fold the paper again and again using a clean angle from the very same square. There’s a lot of real estate wasted on each sheet when you only wipe once.

- Should you find the paper too thin and become the victim of too many breakthroughs, try using a stronger material as a backing. This worked when I was camping. The paper wasn’t holding up in the dampness of camp, so I used a leaf to give the paper more strength from behind. Plus the leaf was textured, which handled the job with far more efficiency than just the paper by itself.

Forgive me for being anal about this. I just thought I’d share the news and suggest an eco-friendly solution to one of nature’s biggest pains in the ass.

Taken from http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=4818814&blogId=492709998
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Jasmin says:

Jason Mraz just cracks me up! But hey, I have a better solution. How about just plain water and biodegradable soap? Asians have been using water and soap for eons. And really, it's the cleanest solution and so eco friendly. A butt that smells fresh and clean? Now that's a thought!

Jasmin
Come join my "Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

Mothers Cook Healthy Meals For Students

Fourteen mothers came together to cook healthy meals for some 350 students of Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Chin Kwang Wahyu in Parit Jawa, Muar, reported China Press.

The mothers, who have been cooking these meals since 2007, wanted the schoolchildren to get the best food and grow up healthy and only charged the students for the cost of the food.

Li Li Fen, the 42-year-old chef of the team, said she would buy fresh ingredients from the market according to the menu provided by the school.

The menu includes a main dish of fried rice, mixed rice or porridge, served with soy bean milk or Ribena drinks, desserts and fruits.

Monday June 8, 2009
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/6/8/nation/4070325&sec=nation

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Jasmin says:

I think it's wonderful that these mothers are doing something to feed the school kids healthy meals. When my 2nd brother was studying at University of Technology Malaysia (UTM) at Sekudai, Johor, he said a rich man had open a small restaurant serving healthful vegetarian food priced at a very nominal sum for the university students. The campus was quite far away from the housing estates, and those who stayed near the campus had a very limited menu so the tasty vegetarian fare was very welcomed. Brother says this guy wanted to give back to the society by feeding the students right. Profits is not his priority, which is why the dishes are priced very, very cheaply.

Anyways back to the ladies who make an effort to cook for the children. I really appreciate their efforts. I'd like to see more fruit or vegetable juices offered instead of Ribena, but hey, the food is served with love and care, and I can bet more hygienic than what most restaurants can offer. These women rock!

Jasmin
Come join my "Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

GET KIDS TO FERTILIZE YOUR PLANTS

Here's a radical thought, get a small boy to pee in your garden or at the public park ....... discreetly, of course!

Pee makes great plant fertilizers.

Also, there's no flushing involved when the kid pees outdoors, saving the municipal and you money that would have gone to processing water to flush that toilet.

You don't have to clean the toilet as often. Bonus.

Parents save on disposable diapers or if they use cloth diapers, they won't have to wash so many. Meanwhile the public does not have to live with an avalanche of additional disposable diapers that would have choked the landfill even further.

It's win-win for everyone.

The next time a small kid pees outside and someone disapproves of it, tell them it's good for us and the environment, and tell them to lighten up. You know, granddad probably used to do it as a kid!

Jasmin
Come join my "Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

Soursop / Durian Belanda / Cherimoya

Soursop fruit

My family moved a lot when I was young. Practically every two years in fact. No, we were not in the army, close enough. Dad was a government servant with the Land and Survey Department.

When I was about 4, we were posted to a small town called Sungai Petani (Farmer's River). Dad was given a huge old bungalow to live in. Right next to the house, there was a big Soursop tree. Our dog loved to sleep under that tree. We kids didn't really go out into the very large yard because there were lots of snakes out there (told you it was large, very large by today's standard).

It has a soft, creamy, almost custard like center

Anyways, mum said us kids hardly eat the fruit then. She can't remember why. But that's a pity, because it was really nice to eat.

Now that we are adults, we love Soursop. But I usually buy it from the Bandar Tun Razak Velodrome Stadium drink stall near my mum's house as they have done all the dirty work of peeling, removing the skin, and blending the fruit into a drink. And those guys sell it cheap there.


Soursop Smoothie

- To pick a ripe fruit, choose a fruit that is soft enough to yield to the slight pressure of one's thumb.
- Cut open the fruit and remove the hard, black seeds.
- place the soft flesh into a blender, add sugar to taste and ice

So simple. The other easy way to eat it, is to eat the pulp straight. No blending, nothing!

Jasmin

Come join my "Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

ps I went back to Sungai Petani to visit my old home when I was in my early twenties. The old house is gone now. That's such a pity because they don't built houses of those designs anymore. It's unique because it has a sheltered court yard at the back of the house. The huge Flame of the Forest rainforest trees are gone. So's the Soursop tree. They tore down everything and built two bungalows in it's compound instead. Land must have been pricey. No doubt, in the future, those two houses will go. The government may built an apartment complex in what is essentially government land.

pps one of the readers pointed out to me that it is possible to overdose on soursop. I agree. You know, just like everything, it's best to take things in moderation. Hubby once ate nothing but durian for a whole month with dire consequences.

Images taken from http://fruitspecies.blogspot.com/2007/09/soursop.html and http://srv.fotopages.com/2/15299192.jpg

How To Start On Vegetable Drinks

It's really important to drink vegetable juices to keep the blood alkaline.

How to do this?

If you are not fussy about taste, the simplest way is to buy any greens from the organic shop and blend about 2-3 leaves in the blender with roughly 3 mugs of water. Sieve the leaves away and just drink the water. The water should be light and not strong tasting meaning, you should not be gagging at the sight of it! Sip this drink the entire day. Make this a habit. And if you get used to the taste, there are all sorts of yummy vegetables juices on the internet which you can try in your own home.

Jasmin

Come join my "Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

My Fav Soursop Shop

I regularly go to a small little drink stall at the Bandar Tun Razak Velodrome Stadium to get my Soursop fix. The lady there makes the smoothie thick, creamy, sweet and ice cold. Her shop is popular, so she makes large batches of it at one go. A very large cup (imagine 2 mugs of the smoothie) costs only RM2.50 (about USD0.70 sooo cheap). You won't find Soursop smoothies at this price anywhere else in the city. I've had them before in Thai restaurants, and it's priced at about RM7 (USD2) for a small glass of it.

I'm sorry the picture is not clear. I had to take it using my phone while carrying a heavy load of food from the highly popular food stall next door that sell Kelantanese food.

I've read somewhere that Soursop is good for breastfeeding mothers because it helps increase the flow of breast milk.

Also, it's anti parasite so it's good for you if you are active in outdoors sports, love gardening or you have pets. Let kids have regular soursop drinks as well. Kids do all sorts of things like play with sand, and then, eat stuff without washing their hands or pet dirty animals. You can bet they will get worms sometime or another.

Tomorrow, I'll show you how the fruit looks like and a very simple Soursop recipe.

Jasmin

Come join my "Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

Coleslaw Bottle As A Drinking Bottle

My mother-in-law now reuses a clean glass coleslaw bottle as her drinking bottle. She carries it in her handbag everywhere she goes. Though it's heavy, she knows its a lot safer to drink from the glass container than a plastic or aluminum bottle.

Good for her.

Click on the blue words to read about how one lady uses an old glass jam jar as her coffee mug.

HARD TIMES DOCTORS

Times are bad, and some doctors are feeling the pinch and desperate; giving only 2 days worth of antibiotics so that you'll need to visit him again for more, so that you'll have to pay again for the subsequent visits. This is highly dangerous. What if the patient don't come back? The doctor without realizing it would have created a strain of virus resistant to the drug.

Also, watch out for doctors who insists you take medical tests that's totally not needed. If you have a gut feeling it's not needed, get a second opinion. If it's not life threatening the tests can wait a day or two.

If you come across doctors like these, it's time to change to a more ethical one.

Bad Doctor Advice?

A doctor said to me just now. You shouldn't breastfeed past 6 months. After 6 months, your breast milk is only water. No protein, no fat, just water. You should stop breastfeeding now. It will prevent you from having problems like infection of the breast and so on. Anyways, I hope you are now feeding your child formula.

GRANDMA DIED OF LUNG CANCER

31st May was Anti-Smoking day. It may not have a big significance to a lot of people, but it is for me.

You see, my maternal grandmother contracted lung cancer which spread and caused brain cancer all because of second hand smoke. At that time, plenty of people smoked, oblivious to the danger of smoking. Both my grand dads smoked, my mum smoked, my dad smoked. They smoked everywhere. In front of us, in front of grandma, in the pubs, smoking while shopping.

The journey from the time my grandma knew she was ill until the time of her death was a time of reflection and deep sorrow for all of us. By that time, my maternal grand dad died of kidney failure (another story for another day), so Ah Ma would ping pong from her son's house to my mum's house to be closer to all of us.

She was a generous being, and she would just give, give, give all the time. The only difference is that she was TOO generous when she was sick. One time, she gave me and my brother RM50 each, which at that time, I would bet was equivalent to a couple of hundred bucks today. My 8 year old brother promptly went off and blew his stash on nothing but vitagen (yogurt drinks) from a van that came by the school to promote yogurt. Our concept of money was pretty limited at that time.



I never remembered Ah Ma being very ill. But there was a frightening episode that happened when I was 9 that I would always remember. Grandma went into convulsion or fits, her body could not stop shaking, and her eyes just rolled backwards. I was having a nap with her that day, and you can't imagine how that felt like to a small kid. Luckily, we had a cleaning lady in the house, and she had the right mind to protect grandma with pillows and stuff, call the ambulance and my parents. I remembered crying as the ambulance personnel took my grandma away, pretty sure that was it, and that she was going to die.

Why do people still smoke?

Despite the fact that there is overwhealming evidence that smoking destroy lives, they don't stop. You can't blame the cigerrete companies for making you addicts. You can't blame anybody. The crux of the matter is to just STOP!

By the way, my dad and my mum did stop smoking. My mum said, dad had the hardest, hardest times quitting. But today, no tobacco touch their lips. And it's a good thing for everyone.

Just yesterday, my friend told me her dad died of lung cancer as well. But she could not understand why because he stopped so many years ago. There are many, many reasons. I do know that for many ex smokers the lung is like a vacuum dust bag. The bag is full of dirty stuff, and nobody has gotten rid of the junk inside.

There are treatments to clean the black lungs, but it's painful. Worth every penny let me tell you so that you will live the day to see your children happily grow up, get married and have children. There are other treatments, and the info is all inside google.

It's really important to drink vegetable juices to keep the blood alkaline. How to do this? If you are not fussy about taste, the simplest way is to buy any greens from the organic shop and blend about 2-3 leaves in the blender with roughly 3 mugs of water. Sieve the leaves away and just drink the water. The water should be light and not strong tasting meaning, you should not be gagging at the sight of it! Sip this drink the entire day. Make this a habit. And if you get used to the taste, there are all sorts of yummy vegetables juices on the internet which you can try in your own home.

Happy spring cleaning.

Jasmin

ps read about how Vigay-Indran tried to stop smoking http://thestar.com.my/health/story.asp?file=/2009/5/31/health/4010828&sec=health

Do You Have Too Much Iron In Your Body?

I just read this very interesting book called the Survival of the Sickest by Dr Sharon Moalam. Apparently, there's this hereditary condition called hemochromatosis, which is a disorder that causes iron to built up in the body, so much so that it damages organs like the pancreas and the liver. Liver overload.

Women don't have it severe because they menstruate. Men can treat this problem though blood donations or in the ancient times, they blood let. Apparently, according to the book, more than 30% of European descendants have this genes. Most men are not aware of this problem, and they keep popping medicine to deal with their disease instead of getting to the root of the problem.

Thought it would be interesting to pass this info on. If you think you and your family have this iron overload, do get tested.