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

THANK GOD FOR JUICE BARS!

My cup of guava juice on the left
and hubby's cup of star fruit juice
(also called Carambola) on the right

Weekends can be such a drag because I don't have the time to prepare fresh raw food or make raw food for my family.

Juicing the Star Fruit at the Mid Valley food court

Don't get me wrong. I'm not 100% raw, in case your wondering. My family and I are about, hmmm, 70% raw. You see, I'm Chinese, and I thoroughly believe in the healing powers of Chinese food, like the Chinese herbal soups and stuff like that. As I look at it, it has taken the Chinese a couple of thousands of years to document the effectiveness of the food they have access to. And there are documents and documents of why they are god, when they are good, how they are good, ways to consume them and so on.

All sorts of cut fruits for sale

Anyways, I digress.

So, today (Sunday) was like just one of those days when we had to stay out of the house for almost the entire day. Good thing there's juice bars everywhere in KL (we call Kuala Lumpur, my city KL). I counted at least 4 juice bars in Mid Valley Megamall and at The Gardens (building next to it). Lots of restaurants offer fresh raw fruit juice and smoothies as well.

Aren't I lucky?

Jasmin
Come join "Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

ps read below about the health and nutritional benefits of both Guava and Star Fruit. You'd be surprised that kidney patients can not eat Star Fruit. Some of you Malaysian and Singaporean readers may remember a story in the news in April 2008 about this Malaysian man who died in China after consuming Star Fruit. At that time, I though maybe it was because there were too much pesticides in the fruit or something. But no. Apparently, Star Fruits have a neurotoxin that can not be filtered out by people who have kidney disease. Read more about it here http://www.petertan.com/blog/2008/04/22/star-fruit-can-be-toxic-for-kidney-patients-the-star-april-22-2008/

Health & Nutrition Benefits of Eating Guava

• Guava is a very good source of vitamins, fibers as well as minerals.
• Being rich in Vitamin C; guava is effective in treating male infertility caused by sperm clumping, adhesion and other abnormalities.
• Guava has been associated with healing of wounds, when applied externally.
• Guava has general haemostatic properties and can be used for treating bleeding nose, gums and minor internal hemorrhaging.
• Guava helps cure dysentery, by inhibiting microbial growth and removing extra mucus from the intestines.
• Guava helps the body in combating free radicals produced during metabolism and aids in preventing age-related chronic diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, cataract and rheumatoid arthritis.
• Guava is one of the richest sources of dietary fiber and thus, is good for those suffering from constipation.
• Guava strengthens and tones up the digestive system and even disinfects the same.
• Guava, having high content of roughage, no cholesterol & less digestible carbohydrates, is good for those trying to lose weight.
• Guavas can improve the texture of skin and help avoid skin problems. For the purpose, you can either eat it raw or make wash your skin with a decoction of its immature fruits and leaves.
• Juice of raw and immature guavas or decoction of guava-leaves is known to bring relief in cough and cold.
• Researches have shown that guava is pretty effective in preventing cancer and even heart diseases in people.
• The presence of complex carbohydrates and dietary fibers in guava makes it effective in lowering cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
• The presence of Vitamin C and other phytonutrients, such as caretenoids, isoffavonoids and polyphenols, in guava has led to it being an effective antioxidant.

Guava has been found to be beneficial for people suffering from the following ailments:

• Acidosis
• Asthma
• Bacterial Infections
• Catarrh
• Congestion of the Lungs
• Convulsions
• Epilepsy
• High Blood Pressure
• Obesity
• Oral Ulcers
• Poor Circulation
• Prolonged Menstruation
• Scurvy
• Swollen Gums
• Toothache

Extracted from http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/benefits-of-guava-1612.html

Health and nutritional benefits of eating Star Fruit:

Besides the known benefits of its vitamin and mineral composition such as skin health, nerve functions, healthy bones, digestion, blood oxygenation, cancer prevention, star fruits are also known to effective in hormone regulation, specifically in the thyroid gland as well as helping to regulate appetite and sleeping, making it becoming a growing member in the diets of families with small children. It is also a popular home remedy in treating fevers, headaches, and even curing hangovers.

Its "sweet and sour" flavor make it a tasty choice for natural juice enthusiasts, which surprisingly enough, can also be used to remove iron and paint stains, and also acts as an effective solution for cleaning metals. The star fruit's skin is rich in tannin, which regulates the intestine, and can be used to treat diarrhea and dysentery. The leaves and roots, if ground up in a mortar and pestle, boiled, and then extracted, can be used help alleviate symptoms of childhood diseases such as measles and chickenpox.

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Tips to reduce blood pressure

• Cucumbers help reduce my mum's high blood pressure
• Lower blood pressure by keeping things in the right place!
  
• Jicama reduces blood pressure
  
• Cats love lemongrass, dogs hate it
  
• Yummy honey dew melon
  

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Extracted from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1496109/health_benefits_of_star_fruit.html

BEASTFEEDING IS A GREAT DIET PROGRAM!

I had just finish replying a question about eating in one of the parent forums when I realized, hey, I. EAT. A. LOT!

Dinner was 2 plates of rice with vege and meat. Not to mention 1 biggg bowl of Chinese herbal watercress carrot pork soup. Plus raw coconut water. And I also ate up DS1's leftover rice, because he was full, and didn't want to eat anymore. Can't let that go to waste now can we?

And I just had 2 large cheese sandwiches topped with 1 large raw avocado at 10.54pm because I was HUNGRY! And I also had 3 large glasses of plain water.

While I was at it, I was debating if I should move my butt and make myself a tall glass of raw pegaga vege juice sweeten with some raw honey.

I'm now 42kg, down from pre pregnant 48kg weight. When I was a teen, my weight was 60kg! 15 month Ds2's still breastfeeding voraciously, and that, my friend, is better than any weight loss program you can find in the market.

During my first pregnancy, I had warned hubby I'd probably use up his retirement fund to pay for some chi-chi weight loss program. I bet he felt grateful when that didn't materialize.

Jasmin Who's Eating Up A Storm Now Because She Can't Do So When She Stops Breastfeeding!
Come join "Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

BUY RAW FOOD AND REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT

Highly-processed foods require a lot of energy and resources to produce. They’re also extremely wasteful in terms of nutrients. White processed sugar, for example, is missing as much as 98% of the original nutrients found in unprocessed cane juice. Taking those nutrients out required a tremendous amount of wasted energy, and that’s why white sugar has a much larger carbon footprint than evaporated cane juice.

The same is true of breads, cereals, canned soups and other processed foods. Anything that isn’t fresh requires energy for processing and cooking. Anything that’s pasteurized, for example, has a much larger carbon footprint than the same foods RAW. That’s because pasteurization requires the foods or beverages to be heated, burning up fossil fuel energy.

RAW living plants, in this way, are the most ecologically-sensitive foods you can buy, grow or consume. (They’re also the healthiest, but that’s a different article…)

Taken from the article You Are Not Green Unless Your Food Is Green
http://anilnetto.com/agrobusinessgm-food/you-are-not-green-unless-your-food-is-green/

PROBABLY THE BEST MOISTURISER YOU CAN USE!

Probably the best moisturiser I've ever used comes from the kitchen. It's the humble cold pressed oil. Well, maybe not so humble because unlike the normal cooking oil, the cold press oil is in a class of it's own. Something like having a sexy sleek Ferrari rather than a functional 50cc motorbike.

But I swear it's really good. I've been pregnant twice, and I have been using cold press oil on my body and face, and there's no stretch marks at all on my belly. Sure it could be down to genetics, but I have stretch marks on my butt as a result of being a plump teen with a humongous butt, once upon a time (this COULD be too much info right?).

This is how I use it. I would take a shower first, but just before I get out, I would pour about a teaspoon of the luxurious oil onto my palm and rub the oil all over. Then, I take a quick rinse to remove any excess oil. Previously I have missed this step and as a result, the excess oil would stick to the towel and stain it. The end result doesn't feel "oily". My skin just feels satin smooth.

Cold press oil makes a great massage oil for everyone from adults to babies. You could pour a little bit of oil into a small dark bottle as a carrier oil, and you can add a drop of essential oil to make the oil smell nice.

Cold press oil can be obtained from most organic shops, and it can be any type of oil, from olive oil to grape seed oil which is what I'm using now to coconut oil (or sometimes called coconut butter) or palm oil. Cold press oil is raw oil because manufacturers do not use heat to extract the oil, which means all the fabulous vitamins and all the other good stuff are still in the oil. However, because the oil is not heated, the oil can turn rancid faster, so it needs to be stored in a dark glass bottle in a cool place. The other benefit of using cold press oil, and this is one thing most people don't know, is that these oil protects you from the sun, meaning it has some SPF protection.

Some oils like the coconut oil is antibacterial and antiviral. Great for using on children, but unfortunately, my husband doesn't like the coconut oil fragrance, so I have stopped using it.

Cold press oil is also good to eat, to use in your salad dressing but don't use it for cooking. If you want to cook, just stick to regular oil instead, as using raw oil would defeat the original purpose of going raw. Cheaper on the wallet as well.

Raw, cold press oil do have a strong fragrance compared to a normal cooking oil which has no fragrance whatsoever so it may not be suitable for many Asian dishes. But there's many recipes online that would taste great with cold press oil.

Do drop by your local organic store and see what type of oils they have there.

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

TRY THESE UNCOOKING RECIPE

I love mushrooms. And my personal favorite mushroom is the shitake mushrooms, also known as the Chinese mushrooms.

Now, mushrooms have been found to help cancer patients in a very, very big way (read about it here http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/29068.php.

Eating mushrooms, it seems, helps cancer patients strengthen the immune system. Now, if mushrooms can help cancer patients, think of what it can do for you if you are one of those who are always tired from work, who easily catch illnesses from your co-workers and so on.

Recently, I found a new uncooking recipe that calls for raw mushrooms as the main ingredient.

Is it possible to eat mushrooms raw?

Is it tasty?

The answer is yes.

And what’s more, eating raw mushrooms has tons more health benefits than eating cooked mushrooms. Try the recipe shown below.

Raw Mushroom Steak

6 large Shitake mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoon Nama Shoyu or soy sauce
2 teaspoon cardamom powder
2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic

- Mix oil, soy sauce, cardamom, garlic and onion powder in a bowl and blend well.
- Dip each mushroom slice into the sauce. Marinate for about half an hour in the fridge.

Cheeze Sauce

1 cup cashew nut
2-3 tablespoon lime juice
1/2 cup water

Blend all Cheeze ingredients in a blender until creamy.
Place some marinated mushrooms on a plate, top with finely sliced Granny Smith apples (I like the contrasting flavors) or crisp salad leaves and then pour some of the Cheeze on top.

Jasmin
Eat Raw Food Today Facebook group

STOP THE INSANITY! GO FOR THAT CHANGE

One of my favorite quotes which I heard years ago when I was in college was "Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". This was originally quoted by Albert Einstein, but I learned this quote from a 1990s loud voiced diet guru, former stripper, with a blond buzz cut named Susan Powter. Anyone remembered her? I used to love her 1990s infomercial and her catch phrase "Stop The Insanity".

What a killer sales person! You gotta see her crazy youtube video.

I always remembered her always emphasizing the fact that we can't go through life doing the same damaging things to ourselves and expect changes to happen. We must change, and I go through life with that in mind. Really. Often times we fear things, but are too afraid to change. Too afraid to get out of a relationship, because we are afraid of being alone. Too afraid to change our diet because certain food has become our familiar friend.

President Barack Obama says he wants to change things, and the American people agree with him. Change is good.

If we are looking to change our health around, for the better, may I suggest that we start with 3 glasses of fresh raw fruit juice each day. Make that a commitment. One glass for breakfast, one for lunch, one for dinner. Just start a day at a time. Instead of coffee, blend a glass of banana smoothie for breakfast. Instead of a soft drink for lunch, maybe you could order a glass of fresh raw orange juice. Hey, how about some fresh raw mango strawberry juice to go with that dinner tonight?

Jasmin
"Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

SNACK ATTACK!

I had a snack attack last night, but the problem was, the single apple I ate was just not so satisfying. I wanted something savory, something salty that would make me go hmmmmm.

I didn't have any meat in my freezer, mainly because my freezer is not working well. It keeps icing over. All I had was lots of fruits and some raw shiitake mushrooms. I decided to make some yummy raw "stirfried" shiitake mushrooms. I realise many people have not had a raw mushroom dish, so I thought I'd share this recipe with you.

Yup, it tastes like it's stirfried.

Here's the picture of the raw mushrooms straight out from the fridge,
with the stems removed.

I then added one part soy sauce to one part vegetable oil.

It's not necessary to add so much. Otherwise, it'll just be too soggy.
Best to add a little bit of sauce at a time. You can always add more later.
In this case, I added half teaspoon of soy sauce and half teaspoon of oil to
one one bag of shiitake mushrooms.

The mixture is then stirred vigorously to form an emulsion.

Add the mushrooms into the sauce. Squeeze the mixture with your hands like you are squeezing a sponge. Don't worry, it will all mix well, and the mushrooms will not deflate like some pitiful birthday balloon with no air.

Here's the yummy, shiny, final product.

To make it look nicer, you can sprinkle some raw basil leaf on top. I didn't because my snack attack happened at about 11pm and I was too lazy to decorate this dish, so late at night.

It's real good. Try it, and try it on your friends. Add these raw mushrooms in some noodle dish to up your intake of raw food. Believe me, most people won't even realize it's not cooked!

Have fun.

Jasmin

"Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group
http://eatrawfoodtoday.blogspot.com/

NICOLE RITCHIE AND HER PUMPKIN! (Happy Halloween everyone)

I came across a picture of Nicole Ritchie and her baby little Harlow Winter Kate Madden at a pumpkin patch, which I thought I'd share with you guys. Don't you think they both look so cute?

danasdirt.com

I don't celebrate Halloween anymore. I used to when I was studying in Kansas. I tried to when I came back home to Malaysia. I made a great looking skull and skeleton combo thing and hung it outside my apartment door. The problem was, when I came back, the thing disappeared. I made another one, and that too was gone by the time I came back from work. I thought it was some pesky kids, until I realised the old Chinese lady next door was freaked out by the skeleton. She not only removed it, she put joss sticks outside her door probably to ward off bad luck. She probably thought I was some black magic devotee or something. Ah well. I figured she won't understand, and so I didn't bother to explain, and just didn't do anything thereafter. It would have been a waste of my efforts.

Speaking of pumpkins, did you know you can eat them raw?

Yup! They don't taste so hot eaten raw right off the fruit, but in a great recipe, it's yummy.

Here's an exciting easy raw pumpkin soup recipe you might want to try.

Healthy, fast, delicious, yummo! And best of all, easy to clean up, because there's barely any dishes to clean up.

Chantel's Pumpkin Soup:

2 cups of raw, chopped pumpkin flesh
½ cup of bell pepper
2 small red onions
1 ½ cup of peanuts
1 ½ teaspoon of Chinese 5 spice
½ teaspoon of sea salt
1 tbsp. of coconut oil (olive oil works as well)
4 cups of warm water (but not boiling, as you don't want to kill the enzymes in the raw food.)

Put all of this into a food processor, blend until smooth. Garnish with pumpkin seeds.

http://www.citydirt.net/city_dirt/pumpkin_recipes_a_la_barbados.html

Enjoy.

Jasmin
"Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

HELP! I MIGHT NEED TO WEAR GRANNY GLASSES

So anyways, I just realized I can't read the fine print on anything. Hubby says it's a sign that I'm getting old, but help, I'm only in my 30s. I thought long sightedness starts to manifest in our 50s. I'm not ready to break out those bifocals yet.

I need to start drinking more raw carrot juice. See if that helps!

Jasmin
"Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN GET CHICKEN POX EVEN IF YOU WERE VACCINATED?

Just about a month ago, my local fruit seller told me there was quite a few kids in my neighbourhood down with chicken pox. Many of the parents have been dropping by his fruit stand to by raw coconut water. It seems the refreshing raw coconut water helps relieve the chicken pox symptoms, meaning it's believed to help reduce the "heatiness" of the body.
Now, I'm not a doctor, so I can't comment on the "heatiness" stuff (please see your doctor or your local herbalist for more information on this). I do know, it's no harm to drink coconut water. Lots of liquid is always good when someone is not feeling well. And coconut water is known to have anti bacteria and anti viral properties. It's pack full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants so you can't go wrong with raw coconut water.

But anyways, just about a week ago, my girlfriend emailed me that her eldest daughter is also down with chicken pox, and this despite having a chicken pox vaccine (she lives quite far away from me, by the way). If you don't know by now, chicken pox vaccines are offered for free in many countries so many kids do get vaccinated when they are toddlers. I was quite alarmed. Why despite the vaccine are people and kids in particular, getting sick? So I went into the internet, did a check, and yes, a few government health department websites around the world does state that despite vaccinations, one can get struck down by chicken pox, but the symptoms won't be so severe.

I'll write more about chicken pox later, but for now, please note that there are cooked coconut water and raw coconut water. Some coconuts (in the shell) are slowly "smoked" over a slow, smoldering heat to give the water a sweeter, thus yummier taste, but the problem is heat destroys vitamins and enzymes, so raw coconut water is the better way to go. Most people can't tell the difference between a raw coconut and a cooked coconut in the shell. So if you are buying coconut in the shell, ask the fruit sellers. I'm sure they will be more than happy to show you the difference.

Jasmin
"Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

WHOOPS! FORGOT TO BRING ALONG MY BANANAS!

So anyways, after I jumped into the car, and drove off, I soon realized that I had forgotten to pack my stash of fruit. Luckily though, the fruit stalls were still open along the highway stops even though it was quite late, past dinner time.

Hubby bought a kilo of the juicy, rawlicious dukong fruit (called Longkong in Thailand) to eat in the car. I wish I can inform you on the nutritional value of the delicious dukong fruit, but unfortunately, I don't know much about it except it's yummy *slurp*

Anyhow, any fruit is better than chewing on some candy right?  When we are hungry, what do we reach out for? A convenient cookie from the jar? Granted, fruits take a little bit more effort. Generally raw food don't last as long as processed food, but that little bit more effort will mean a lot to your general health. Some people, to reduce the temptation, will go all out and try to remove offending food that tempt them. Me? I take the middle road. I will try to have some raw food first, and then, if I still want my old *no-no* favourites, I will. I believe, the more I try to avoid tempting food, the more I want them, dream about them, salivate and keep thinking about what I can't eat!

Cya.

Jasmin

"Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

EATING HUMAN FLESH AS FOOD: SOYLENT GREEN THE MOVIE

Ever wondered if humans need to eventually eat dead human flesh to survive in this world? In 1973, a very interesting movie called Soylent Green addressed that issue. The movie talks about how overpopulation caused severe depletion of resources on our beautiful planet Earth. As a result, much of the population had to eat processed food rations. One of the processed food was called Soylent Green.

Unfortunately, what the gigantic Soylent Corporation didn't tell the consumers was that the special Soylent Green product was made from human flesh. Instead, they told the public that the small green wafer was made from high-energy plankton.

The movie was set in the year 2022. That's not too far away people. And today, we see all sorts of things quite relevant to the basic message in the story.

There are not enough food in certain parts of the world while rich nations have too much food. I just cringe when I read about chicken farmers burying innocent chicks alive just to create an artificial demand for more chicken meat (if there's a large demand for chicken, but not enough chicken to buy, the price of chicken will go up)

People are poisoning the food in the name of profits. The latest melamine milk fiasco comes to mind. If you haven't read about my posts about this problem, you can access it at the bottom of this post.

Companies are putting in genetically modified food into our food system, despite the fact that the majority of us do not agree to eating genetically modified food. Scientists are now reporting that genetically modified crops like corn and soy beans are cropping up all over the world. So you think you are not eating these foods? Think again. The only way to avoid them is to unfortunately buy the more expensive certified organic produce that are not genetically modified or grow your own food from seeds that are not genetically modified. It's really not a good thing when we have to look at what we consume this way. It should actually be the other way around. We should have food that are not genetically modified available to us at all times, and not even question the origin. It's like milk. We should not even worry about having basic fresh milk (with no additives, no added DHA, no added vegetable fats, no added coloring, no added sugar, and so on) and not worry if there are dangerous chemicals inside.
Lots of food has cancer causing agents used to preserve the food, and we are still eating them. Look at your food labels. You should be worried if you can't pronounce what's inside your food.

It seems like there are times we don't know what we actually eating.

So what are we to do?

Go back to the basics. Buy organic if you can. Buy local produce if you can. Plant your own food if you can like sprouts which are easy, easy to do.

Jasmin
"Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group


ps if you are new to my posts, please read about how we can enrich depleted soil my making garbage enzymes
http://eatrawfoodtoday.blogspot.com/2008/09/using-garbage-to-clean-your-plates-yes.html
http://eatrawfoodtoday.blogspot.com/2008/09/more-on-garbage-enzyme.html
http://eatrawfoodtoday.blogspot.com/2008/10/garbage-enzyme-photos-recycling-your.html

pps read more about Soylent Green inside http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green

ppps I previously written about the melamine milk problem here.
http://eatrawfoodtoday.blogspot.com/2008/09/dutch-lady-strawberry-flavoured-milk.html
http://eatrawfoodtoday.blogspot.com/2008/09/what-china-dairy-products-to-avoid.html
http://eatrawfoodtoday.blogspot.com/2008/09/does-your-biscuits-contain-melamine.html
http://eatrawfoodtoday.blogspot.com/2008/09/bright-side-of-melamine-disaster.html

MY GRANDMA KNEW

Last night, over dinner, my husband's old schoolmate asked me about my giving talks on herbs. I was suddenly embarrassed and stammered some stupid answer about it.

Back home, I started wondering why I was embarrassed. Maybe it was a cultural attitude, I'm not sure. I do know I worry about appearing to be overbearing trying to stuff info into peoples' throat (tell me if I'm doing so and I will stop!).

I remembered me and my maternal grandma (Ah Ma) sitting on the grassy lawn at my house, and she educating me on all sorts of edible weeds sticking out between the blades of grasses. I was nine at that time, and Ah Ma didn't tell me she was dying slowly of 2nd hand smoke lung cancer, and she was trying to cramp all her knowledge of herbs into me before she had to pass away. At that time I just thought it was play pretend, you know, like the way we kids have picnics outside in the open air. My Ah Ma would pluck some leaves and flowers and asked me to chew on some of them, and she would explain what they were good for. Meanwhile, I would pretend my dolls and I were having cakes and cookies and tea. If I was just a bit older. If only I paid more attention. If only I knew what she was really trying to impart. I could have learned so much, much more from her.

Plant knowledge and healing are apparently in my genes. I had a great-great-grandfather was a healer who used herbs extensively. We call a guy like him a bomoh over in this neck of the woods. How cool is that! And my paternal grandma has the greenest, green thumb I know. She made me spend hours in the hot sun, carefully wrapping fruits in newspapers to prevent worms from getting to it, made me do lots of gardening, earning rough callouses on my hands and getting bitten by thousands of mozzies! (Oh man! What teenager like to do this, tell me, when they can spend fun time with their friends at the mall). My mum was a nurse. Our fridge was like the neighbourhood pharmacy. What a minute, it still is. We have stacks of pills and liquids of various colors and sizes inside the fridge and in cupboard drawers. We have people calling my mum at all sorts of hours consulting her when someone is sick. Mum made me read medical books like they were story books. No mum, they were not.

I really shouldn't be embarrassed.

This IS knowledge. And boy, if I don't share what I know, share the joy of plants and good health, I'm doing my Ah Ma, of all people, a great disservice.

I treat food with great respect. It wasn't that way when I was a teenager, which resulted in me being fat and saddled with a multitude of health problems (more about that later). Now, I treat my food like medicine. It heals me, keeps my "motor" in good condition. My body is my temple. It's the only one I have! So I better take good care of it.

And by sharing all these information, I hope you too will pass this knowledge to your friends, your family, your future generation.

Sharing love.

Jasmin
"Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

NATURAL WAY TO REDUCE HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

It's about time we learn how to use our food to reduce illnesses. Take high blood pressure for example. Did you know that cucumbers help reduce high blood pressure because it's high in potassium? Cucumbers also have a significant amount of Vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant that may also help to lower blood pressure. The problem is instead of eating cucumbers to control their illness, they end up consuming synthetic medicines made by big pharmaceuticals who want people with high blood pressure to take their medicine so that they can earn money from it. You see, companies can't earn obscene amount of money from fresh, organic, raw, great tasting vegetables and fruits, unless they can patent it.

Wouldn't it be nice to one day have your doctor prescribe raw, organic cucumbers for your troubles and monitor your progress based on you eating vegetables and fruits as your medicine?

In addition to lowering your blood pressure, cucumbers can improve your skin, help grow hair, nails, and teeth, and even clean out your kidney.

Go ahead and have a glass of cool, fresh, raw cucumber juice everyday, even if you don't have high blood pressure and see how much better you would feel just by having it.

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Tips to reduce blood pressure

• Cucumbers help reduce my mum's high blood pressure
• Lower blood pressure by keeping things in the right place!
  
• Jicama reduces blood pressure
  
• Cats love lemongrass, dogs hate it
  
• Yummy honey dew melon
  

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UNSELFISH SINGAPORE MOTHERS OFFERS BREAST MILK FOR FREE

Early this year, the readers of a certain forum I am a member of found out that an entire Singaporean family died in a car crash on a Malaysian highway, except for the miracle baby Jolene Bong who was flung out of the vehicle and landed on grassy patch literally unhurt. http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/3/28/nation/20771732&sec=nation

All of us, being parents, understood how sad the situation is for the little orphan baby, and even more so, when we found out that she was still breastfed by her mother at the time of the horrific accident. Many of the mothers in the forum immediately offered their breast milk to give to the little angel.

To understand why this is a great sacrifice by these women, you need to know that breast milk is hard to store, hard to transport, hard to obtain, hard to make. I remembered crying the first time I pumped milk for my first child, only to barely get an ounce out of my body. And I remembered wondering how I'm going to feed my child, if I can't get my production to speed things up! I was so disappointed. Fortunately, things looked up soon enough, but it was a real struggle back then.

I can't stress enough about breast milk being the number one raw food for the baby, and everyone needs to be supportive of mothers who are trying their best to breastfeed their children. So, if you see anyone discouraging mothers from breastfeeding, look them in the eye, smile and say "Stop that! Kiddo needs mummy's milk!"

Jasmin"Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group
http://eatrawfoodtoday.blogspot.com/

ps go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/asiaparents/ to sign up and join AsiaParents group

RAMADAN COMING SOON!

The annual Ramadan month is just around the corner, just a few days more as a matter of fact. It is a special month of the year for over one billion Muslims throughout the world and for non Muslims in Malaysia as well.

According to the website (http://www.colostate.edu/Orgs/MSA/events/Ramadan.html) the Ramadan month is about intensive worship, reading of the Quran, giving charity, purifying one's behavior, doing good deeds and learning self-control through fasting. Fasting is a way of experiencing hunger and developing sympathy for the less fortunate, and learning to thankfulness and appreciation for all of God's bounties. Fasting is also beneficial to the health and provides a break in the cycle of rigid habits or overindulgence.

Now, I'm not a Muslim, but I luvvv the Ramadan month. Unfortunately, it is the month I overindulge in food, and can you blame me? It is only during this month can we find special, hard to obtain lip smacking dishes being sold everywhere.

So this year, I resolve to learn a bit of self control and
not binge. :-)

It's particularly important that I do this because while Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, I think about eating all the time! It's really not good!

Instead of indulging in heavy, oily, artery clogging, cholesterol laden meals, I will take it slow and eat less of these no-no food and up my intake of raw fruits and vegetables. I will eat more fruits like the rojak (a kind of salad consisting of tropical fruits topped with crunchy crushed peanuts and a sticky toffee like sauce), drink more coconut and sugar cane juice, eat some raw dried kurma and sweet pickled carrots before I dive into my spicy curries and oily Briyani rice.

I will partake in Nasi Ulam instead of Nasi Lemak because Nasi Ulam has lots of finely cut herbs mixed with the rice, making it one of the healthiest rice dishes during the Ramadan month.

I will not step foot at any restaurant Ramadan buffet line because it's the easiest way for me to lose my self control. Instead, I will buy food from the temporarily set up Ramadan food stands and share the food with my family at home, taking care not to over buy all the fragrant goodies.

I will make a conscious effort to pay attention to the quality of food I put into my mouth, and into the mouth of my loved ones.

Jasmin Choy
"Eat Raw Food Today" Facebook Group