Calming Heart Palpitations with Herbs, Foods, and Herbal Remedies

Heart palpitations can happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime. They can be uncomfortable and even scary, but are not always an indication of an unhealthy heart condition. Some common triggers can be menopause, anxiety or stress, an overactive thyroid gland, or a reaction to the consumption of alcohol, nicotine, or caffeine.

One of the most important things to do if you are having palpitations is to relax, and reduce stress. Regular exercise and relaxation techniques can help to reduce the amount of stress experienced on a daily basis, and breathing techniques can help you deal with stressful situations.

Replacing sugary and soda drinks with tea and fresh fruit and vegetable drinks can be highly beneficial, especially drinks that are rich in antioxidants, such as green tea, blackberry, cranberry, and many herbal teas. Artichoke leaves boiled in water (much like a tea) are rich in beneficial antioxidants. Fresh garlic is extremely healing, and has been used for centuries as an aid in heart health, and is reported to hault heart palpitations. There is an old folk remedy that calls for apple cider vinegar over a sugar cube or mixed into a tablespoon of honey or a glass of cold water, and is said to stop palpitations.

Other helpful herbs include: green tea, licorice, St. John's wort, lime leaves, orange leaves, basil, melissa, sage, and rose petals. You can also use essence of melissa, chamomile, and rose oil for aromatherapy healing.

If you are able to determine the triggers that cause your heart palpitations, you can learn to avoid them. These triggers can include food, stress, caffeine intake, tobacco, and even spicy foods. Incorporate foods that are high in vitamin E, which helps to reduce the risk of blood clots.

Heart palpitations can be a minor symptom of stress or improper diet, but if you are experiencing them on a regular basis, or are experiencing chest pain, sweating, or fainting, there could be a more serious underlying problem or an existing medical condition, such as thyroid or heart disease, and you may need the advice of a trained medical professional.

Make a Healthy Hawaiian Punch Alternative that Everyone will Enjoy

Summer is a great time for iced drinks, but kids all too often reach for sugary drinks - usually with food dyes and artificial colors. Not to mention that the unhealthy options that are available in most stores are super expensive, and hardly worth the price of the container!

One of the most pleasing alternatives to fruit punch, tropical punch, or other fruity beverages, can be made at home for less than the cost of most of the store bought options. What is it? Well depending on where you live, the brilliant flowers may be referred to as rosella, hibiscus, jamaica, or perhaps even another name. Made as a "tea" from the dried flowers, this beverage is a s common as iced tea in many cultures, but with a vitamin-packed power punch!

Where to get it:
If you regularly shop at a health food store, dried hibiscus flowers can easily be purchased either in bulk, or prepackaged. Alternatively, you can head over to the Mexican foods section of the grocery store, which generally offers a selection of packaged dried herbs and spices (such as garlic, cumin, chili peppers, anise seeds, and various dried leaves). The dried dark red flowers should be labeled as Jamaica, which is pronounced ha-MIKE-ah. If you are lucky enough to have a Jamaican (Carribean) community in your area, you could also look for Jamaican Sorrel, or red sorrel flowers. The flavors of the different varieties of the flowers are sometimes significant, so when you find the variety you like - remember where you bought it! Each has it's own unique and powerful flavor, and all of them are loaded with vitamin C.

How to make it:
Bring a large pot of water to a full boil. Stir in about 2 ounces of the dried flowers, and continue to stir for one minute, then remove from heat. Cover, let steep for about two hours. Add honey, stevia syrup, or other sweetener to taste. If the tea is too strong or tart for your liking, try adding a small amount of water before sweetening it more, and alter your recipe for next time!

Now sit back, relax and enjoy the summer while you're sipping on a nice tall glass of good ole' fashioned red tea! Oh, and if the kids try to spoil your "vacation" time, just put theirs in a really awesome glass with a straw and one of those cool little umbrellas, drop in an orange slice - the kids will love the special drink. For an extra special "sunset" drink, fill the bottom of the glass with a small amount of orange or pineapple juice, then slowly pour in the hibiscus tea. Add a spritz of lemon-lime soda (or carbonated water and a splash of lemon.) Top with a bing cherry and a slice of orange to create a festive tropical drink!

Great Holiday Sugar Substitutes and Alternatives

Let's face it . . . sweets taste good. Holiday treats bring some of the sweetest delicacies of the year. But that doesn't mean that you have to load up with table sugar, or sacrifice flavor to stay healthy during the holiday season. There are plenty of healthy sugar substitutes and alternatives to create your holiday goodies.

For bread type deserts as well as cookies, you can use concentrated white grape juice. Since it is a liquid, as opposed to sugar, you will need to adjust the amount dry ingredients to compensate for the extra moisture. White grape juice concentrate is extremely sweet, and yet doesn't give the desert an overpowering fruity flavor. Be careful to get 100% fruit juice, and not a cocktail type juice, which has added sugar or high-fructose syrup.

Honey is a well known sugar substitute, and offers a sweet alternative to sucrose (or table sugar.) Again, be sure to adjust any recipe to compensate for the additional moisture that honey will give to your cookie doughs or cake batters. Honey is great in cream cheese frostings, especially with a touch of vanilla, lemon, or almond flavoring!

Raw agave nectar is a delicious and healthy sugar alternative, and is much like honey in texture. It is available in most health food sections of the grocery store, or your local herb or health food store. While it is much more expensive that other sugar substitutes, it is a great alternative to syrups for breakfast, sweetening tea, or recipes that don't call for very much sugar. For the price, you probably won't want to use it for all of your baking needs, but you'll definitely find use for it, and it's a great sweet substance to have on hand. Both honey and agave nectar are wonderful in holiday drinks, such as egg nog.

If you have a recipe that just won't work without that sugary sweet flavor, try using natural sugars, such as unbleached sugar or raw sugar. It is still sugar, but much healthier than the ever popular, highly processed and bleached table sugar. So go ahead - have your sweets and eat them too!

Drinking Aloe Vera Juice Aids Digestion

One of the most common modern uses for the aloe vera plant is as a healing agent to burns, cuts, or other wounds, and to reduce the severity of scarring. Aloes are some of the most healing plants found in nature, and are considered to be in the bitter category of herbs, and is a cathartic herb, helping to evacuate the bowels. If you're not already aware of the fact that you can take aloe internally, check for some in your local health food store. It's not particularly a tasty drink, but the benefits are simply incredible, and aloes contain a large variety of amino acids, vitamins, minerals and enzymes. When taking aloes, it is beneficial to either drink it either an hour or two before your first meal, or just before bedtime. Since it has such a positive effect on the digestive system, it is an excellent remedy for irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS. It promotes regularity, prevents and relieves constipation, and is an excellent laxative.

Aloe is one of the best herbs to clean out the colon. It should be considered superior to over-the-counter (OTC) laxatives, which can have a much harsher result and could even disrupt your day with their unpredictable effects. Aloe is a much gentler method of relieving your symptoms. Aloe is also an excellent alternative to OTC "colon cleanse" concoctions, as aloe works naturally to gently break down impacted food residues and morbid matter from the stomach, liver, kidneys, spleen, bladder and colong, thoroughly cleansing the bowels. A toxic colon is the cause of a wide variety of illnesses. Since this process helps to reduce intestinal bloating, as the symptoms are eased the stress and discomfort subside as well.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy reading these:

• Boosting Your Immune System Through Diet
  
• A Few Things You-May Not Know About Parsley
  
• Proper Food Combining Can Dramatically Improve Your Health

What Grocery Items Can You Not Live Without?

Everyone has different likes and dislikes, and items they just can't seem to leave the grocery store without buying. I happen to have a few things that I buy on a regular basis, and instead of buying ingredients for specific recipies, I generally try to find things I can make with my favorite ingredients. This may seem strange to some people, but if you have a favorite flavor that you try to work into your meals, you just might understand.

When I shop, the first things that end up in my cart just about every time are lemons and limes. I love to cook with garlic, so I usually have several variations of garlic available in my kitchen, as well. This includes fresh garlic, minced or chopped garlic, and powdered or granulated garlic. This, combined with a selection of fresh italian herbs, makes for a wonderful lemon-butter sauce for pasta, chicken, potatoes, broccoli, asparagus, or just about any other vegetables or grains that you may cook up. If you like things raw, you can make a garlic-lemon dressing, throw in some raisins, and create a fresh salad with all natural raw ingredients that beats the pants off of store bought dressings! What are your "must have" ingredients, found in your kitchen nearly all of the time?

The Sourdough Came Out Great!

Okay, so I haven't posted very recently, but I was extremely distracted by the fun of making sourdough! With my first jar of sourdough starter - I didn't throw away the recommended 1/2 portion, I actually transfered it to another jar (jar #2), and fed it along with jar #1. The next day it had grown again, and I poured the hooch off the top of jar #1's contents, discarded the hooch, then stirred the remaining starter. (Hooch is the liquid that forms on the top of your starter.) With jar #2, I stirred the hooch that had separated - back into the starter. I fed both jars of starter equally, not throwing away any again. After the third day of feeding the two starters every 24 hours, I had a pretty sour smelling (in a pleasant way) starter in both jars. That's where the fun started.

I took half of each, and made the bread recipe first with one jar, and the other portion I put into jar #3. The kids loved the bread, my husband loved the bread. (He actually doesn't like sourdough, but he kept sneaking bits off of my portion, and said it was wonderful bread, but a little too sour for him.) So I fed the three starters, and planned some neat ideas to try for the next day.

When I awoke, my three jars of starter had each doubled, and I knew I'd better get ready to bake. The starter had a layer of froth on the top, and was bubbly throughout, so I knew it was ready, and is what you would call "proofed starter". So I made an unmeasured version of a cross between the bread and soft pretzels. (Just thought I should experiment while I had multiple batches of starter ready to go!) I probably used about 1-1/2 cups of starter, about 3 tbsp. sugar, 1 tbsp. salt, 1 tbsp. oil, and enough flour to make a flexible soft dough. I set the dough to rise in a warm place (my oven - every hour or so I would turn it on, wait a moment, then turn it off, but if you have a light bulb in the oven, leave it on and that will be warm enough.)

When the dough had about doubled, I kneaded it again, and then separated it into golf-ball sized pieces. I rolled each piece between my hands to make a rpe. and then shaped them into pretzels. Back into the oven they went, and I let them rise and nearly double again. This sime when I took them out, I dropped them into boiling water one at a time until they float, then removed them. If they floated upon dropping them in, I removed them right away. I placed them onto a lightly greased pizza pan (comparable to a cookie sheet). I then used an egg wash (1 egg mixed with a tablespoon of water) and topped with sea salt. You can also use coarse salt. I baked them at 400 degrees on the top rack for about 10 minutes, or until golden. I have also had success baking them at 350 degrees for about 10 mintes, and they were just as delicious. (As I said, I've been having fun with the starter!)

Another thing I did with the sourdough bread was add about 1/4 cup of parmesian cheese, 1 tbsp. Italian seasoning, 1 tsp. pepper, 1 tbsp. garlic, 2 cups of proofed starter, 2 tbsp. sugar, 1 tbsp. salt and enough flour to turn the dough into a light and silky dough. I let it rise to double the size, and then shaped it into a loaf and let it rise to double again. Then I turned on the oven, with the risen loaf inside, to 350 degrees, and baked it for about 20 to 40 minutes, or when browned on top.

I am now down to just two jars in the fridge, jars #1 and #2. I made about 4 dozen pretzels, 2 loaves of bread, 10 breadsticks, and 1/2-dozen bagels. It was loads of fun, and I took a rest from it for a few days, and my starter jars now reside on the top shelf of the fridge for now. I plan to use them again in a day or so, but perhaps I'll take it a little slower next time.

Easy Sourdough Starter Recipe - No Added Yeast!

Years ago, I used to make sourdough bread with just the yeast the flour and the air contained. I searched the internet recently, and actually found a very similar recipe, and as it turns out - one that's centuries old!


The starter is simple to make, just one cup of flour, and one cup of water. That's all you need, and probably a jar to keep it in once you've got your starter. For more information on making and fermenting your starter, and how to keep it and store it, this site seems to have very clear-cut instructions. I've purchased my jars, and am ready to get going on my starter. Hopefully I'll have a really tasty loaf of sourdough in a few days to a week!

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy reading these:

• The Sourdough Came Out Great


• How to Make Artichokes and Eat Them Too
  
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How to Make Artichokes - And Eat Them, Too!

One of the local stores in my area had a special on artichokes. Now, we live in a small town, so word spread fast. I got to the store, five artichokes for $5.00. Well, I'm from California (where nearly all U.S. artichokes come from), and it just didn't seem like a bargain to me. But I bought five of them anyway, they did look delicious. I eat mine with an unhealthy dose of mayonnaise, which some Californian's consider to be the "right" way. You can also use lemon juice, eat them plain, or another unhealthy choice - butter. They can be stuffed with just about anything, such as other vegetables, meats, or fish - and then baked. The can also be boiled, grilled, or steamed using a pressure cooker.

They are cooking as I write this, and I just realized that there were people out there who may wish to buy some, but aren't sure how to cook - or eat - an artichoke. They are fun to eat, taste delicious, and one or two is great as a meal in itself. But for those who want some simple instructions, here's a few links to get your artichokes cookin' - so have at it, and enjoy!

• For more step-by-step instructions, visit How to Make Artichokes Using a Pressure Cooker.
• For step-by-step instructions on how to cook artichokes, bright ideas, and entertaining anecdotes about artichokes, as well as instructions on how to eat them, Simply Recipies.
• For some extra, added flare, learn how to stuff them by visiting What's Cooking America.

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A Few Things You May Not Know About Parsley

Parsley is quite a wonderful and nutritious herb! Most people know that it's great for the breath after eating garlic, but not too many know what a power packed veggie it really is. Parsley is loaded with vitamin A, just like it's relative, the carrot - but parsley contains nearly 30,000 I.U. per ounce! Parsley is loaded with calcium, phosphorus, and potassium, and would be similar to eating the same amount of spinach. It is also quite rich in vitamin C and iron.

But what else could parsley help you with? Parsley is a diuretic, which means that it can help you shed extra water weight, or help combat water retention, especially during menstruation. But don't over do it, just drop a teaspoonful intoboiled water, and slowly simmer for 10 minutes. You can drink it like you would any other herbal tea.

If you prefer fresh parsley, try adding a small handful into your salad, or drop it into your soup as you would with fresh kale. For an extra special treat, you can eat your parsley in a wonderful dish like tabouli (which is made with lots of parsley), falafel (also contains parsley), hummus, and lettuce folded into flatbread, and either topped with tahini or yogurt mint sauce. Yum!

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Cancer Cell Growth and What They Feed On

Cancer is one of the most well known and feared diseases, affecting millions of people every year. But by gaining an understanding of what feeds a cancer cell, you can learn to create an environment within your body that makes it extremely difficult for cancer cells to live. You may be surprised at which foods feed cancer cells, and it's not just foods. Substances used in our cookware, food storage containers, and wraps, as well as how we cook our foods, and other envronmental and emotional factors can encourage the growth of cancer cells.

Cancer cells thrive in acidic environments, and feed off of substances already present in the body such as mucus, or substances you put in your body, such as sugar and milk. Your body can become more or less acidic depending on your diet, with certain foods either helping to lessen the acidity, and other foods producing the acidic environment in which cancer cells thrive. With sugar and milk being major contributors to the growth of cancer cells, it could be speculated that the morning breakfast of cereal and milk could be could be creating the perfect growth medium for cancer. Sugar is hiding in most of our store-bought foods, and should be avoided as if it were cancer itself.

Since milk encourages the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastrointestinal tract, (among other extremely harmful effects of milk,) it can also be assumed that the combination of milk and sugar together could have detrimental effects on the immune system and the ability to fight off the growth and production of cancer cells. Meat based diets are acidic, an also produce the perfect growth medium for cancer cells. Meats like beef and pork (which are known to cause other health issues as well,) are livestock animals. These animals are raised on antibiotics and growth hormones, (including rBST and BGH) which are extremely harmful to our bodies, and commonly contain parasites (especially pork). Fish helps promote a healthy system, and chicken is far less harmful than other animal meats.

Eliminating the presence of milk and sugar from the diet, as well as lowering the acidity of the body, can work to "starve" cancer cells, giving them little to nothing to feed off of. An alkaline environment is a cancer "unfriendly" place for cells to grow. This can be achieved by developing a diet high in fresh vegetables and juices, whole grains, seeds and nuts, and some fruits. Limiting the amount of cooked foods in the diet can be extremely beneficial, providing your body with enzymes that promote and build healthy cells. Cooked foods should include beans, vegetables, fish, and rice. It's a good idea to keep in mind when preparing meals that these enzymes are destroyed at tempuratures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C) and above.

Other factors that can produce a cancer friendly environment include caffiene, heavy metals in tap water, acidic distilled water, undigested meats, sugar substress and anger, and lack of oxygen in the cells. Green tea is a powerful anti-oxidant, and contains substances that actually fight cancer. Dioxin chemicals also cause cancer, and can get into your food sources through plasics. Avoid microwaving in or on plastic, such as fridge-to-microwave storage containers, and plastic wrap. Dioxins can also be found in water that has been frozen in a plastic water bottle, and should not be done. Heating high-fat foods in the microwave in or on plastic can also lead to dioxins entering into the body. Use containers and plates made of tempered glass, Corning Ware, Pyrex, or ceramic containers for microwave cooking and heating. Ramen and frozen dinners should be removed from their plastic containers before microwaving. Use paper towels instead of Saran Wrap to cover foods when heating, because the toxins actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip onto the food.

Getting the Most Leafy-Green Nutrition Out of Your Salads

Chances are, if you don't know a whole lot about the valuable nutrition of the various types of lettuce, you're buying a bag of pre-mixed lettuce, carrots, and cabbage, dabbing some dressing on it, and calling it a salad. Don't get me wrong, eating a salad of any kind beats a burger in the vita-race hands down. But iceberg lettuce is not the most nutritious lettuce you can offer up in your salads. Iceberg lettuce is mostly water, and does not offer a great deal of nutrition or dietary fiber. However, there are plenty of options to make your salad a gourmet treat, while getting more of the vitamins and fiber your body needs.

There are a great number of colorful varieties of lettuce and leafy greens you can put in your bowl, but some of them offer more vitamins than others. If you want to get the most nutrition out of your salad, try experimenting with the more colorful varieties of lettuce. The general rule of thumb with salad nutrition, is that the more colorful the ingredients in your salad bowl, the more nutrition it will offer. Dark green leafy vegetables offer a great deal of calcium, which is a suitable replacement for the suggested intake of dairy milk.

Romaine lettuce is an emerald green variety that is perfect for a Caesar salad, as well as a great addition to any chicken salads, and tastes great with heavy flavored dressings, such as sesame. You can usually buy Romaine in packages of three oblong heads, and most grocers also offer an alternative organic brand as well. Kale is very dark green, thick, and crisp. It makes an excellent last-minute addition to soups because it holds up well under the heat, and adds a wonderful flavor - great with small pieces of Italian sausage (or vegetarian substitute). Loose-leaf varieties, such as butterleaf, green, and red lettuce, have ruffled edges, and are an excellent lettuce for making dinner salads. Mesclun mixes are available either in pre-mixed bags, or in self-serve bins in the produce section. It usually includes endive, arugula, and chicories, and creates a beautiful mixture of varied greens, reds, and mohagany in your bowl.

For a real treat, try using a combination of lemon juice, sunflower seeds, and raisins instead of salad dressing - it produces a sweet and sour flavor, is low-fat, and compliments the flavor of almost any salad blend. Adding other colorful fruits, vegetables, and natural foods can help pack in the vitamins, protiens, and minerals your body needs to function properly, such as tomatoes, yellow or white corn, kidney beans, avocados, parmesian or cubed cheese, tofu, seeds (sesame and sunflower are delicious!), nuts, sprouts, bell peppers, jalapenos, onions, and garlic are just a few flavorful additions you can add to your creations!

You Too Can Roast a Great Cup of Coffee

Many ages ago, I worked as a barista for a local coffee roaster and restaurant, learning a few tricks of the trade that just may be worth sharing. For decades, coffee houses are striving to make the claim of brewing the world's best cup of joe, but most seem to come up short and make the average tasting brew. Quite a few will just come up with creative concoctions of flavor to pour into your cup, top it with a few sprinkles of cinnamon and some whipped cream, and charge $5 a cup. Quite a scam when you consider that you can buy a whole pound of fresh coffee beans for about the same price. But isn't it expensive to buy a roaster? In reality, coffee can be roasted on a small scale without expensive machinery.

One of the best tips that I was able to get from our master roaster during that time was that the giant roasting machine was simply for volume - in other words, the bigger the roasting equipment, the quicker you can roast a large amount of beans. This works out well for a business that supplies a growing population of coffee drinkers in the area, but how can you go about creating your own roasted coffee beans right in your kitchen? Fairly simply. . . and it's a lot of fun as well. If you've never walked into a room full of the aroma of freshly roasted coffee beans, you're in for quite a pleasant treat.

To keep things simple, you basically need only three things to create your very own special roast, all of which can be acquired or purchased very cheaply: Coffee beans, a roaster (don't panic - we've got you covered,) and an air-tight container to keep your fresh roasted beans in. For true experimenting coffee drinkers, you may even want to keep a few containers handy, for the different flavors you create. You may already have everything you need right in your kitchen cupboards. But you'll first need some fresh green coffee beans to roast, and your choices are abundant! There is shade grown, mountain grown, organic, etc.

The Cheap Version of a Home Coffee Roaster

There are quite a few ways to roast your own coffee right in your home, but by far one of the easiest would be the air-popped popcorn popper. (For tips on purchasing the right kind of popper for roasting coffee, take a look at Sweet Maria's tips!) There are also quite a few people who roast their beans in a cast iron skillet, which can also add trace amounts of iron to your diet, which is a nutritional plus for your caffeinated drink! Oven roasting is a method that is used as well, but can also lead to unevenly roasted beans, and harder to hear the "crack" that lets you know how close to done your beans are. Since most commercially roasted beans are air roasted, your best bet for a cheap version of the coffee roaster would be the popcorn popper. But make sure you follow Sweet Maria's advice on purchasing the right popper, or your coffee could go up in flames!

So now that you know you can roast coffee at home, you're probably getting excited about the ideas running through your head, flavored coffees, light roasts, french roasts, dark roasts, and even ways to grind and make your own espresso! Here are a few sites you can learn some very special and unique techniques to developing your own roasts, brews, and blends:

• HomeRoasters Association (My personal favorite!)
• Sweet Maria's Roasting Instructions (Get inexpensive beans here, too!)
• The DIY Guide to Roasting Your Own Coffee (Great inspiration!)

Drink Too Much? Try a Natural Hangover Tea

Okay, I'll be honest - I've given out my Hangover Tea many more times than I would have thought - but people just keep drinking more than they should!! This is especially true for holidays (the New Year is coming...) and birthdays, but I've never actually had to drink my own Hangover Tea. Maybe for me it acts more like a preventative...or maybe it's watching people put their face to the cement outside or stick their cheek to the toilet bowl and beg for help...yep, I'd say that's the ultimate preventative, and it works very well for me!

It's a good idea to have the ingredients on hand, otherwise, you could be caught off guard and need a few more herbs to complete your tea. Most of the herbs you would use for this tea can be found in the local grocery store, but the cheapest are the stores that have a "Mexican food" section of the store, complete with herbs and spices. Even better, if you can find the little herbs that hang in plastic bags, they range in price from $0.50 a bag, to $1.99 each. Otherwise, start your search in the local herb store, or natural foods store, but both would be much more expensive. Some herbal stores even carry bulk herbs, where you can purchase them by weight. No matter where you buy your herbs, be sure that they are not capsulated, just the dried herbs. I have used this tea with people who were praying to the porcelin god to save them from the depths of drunken death, and after just a few sips of tea, they were thanking God for making the plants that saved their life - typical of a drunk sick person, but still amazingly quick results.

Place the following ingredients into a heat resistant container, dried ingredients first, then add two cups of boiling water into the herbs, do not drop the herbs into boiling water, it will destroy some of the properties of the herbs. Take tea sparingly, such as a spoonful every five minutes, starting with two to three initial spoonfuls. Continue as needed.

• 3 teaspoons of ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon of basil
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• 1 teaspoon of peppermint
• 2 teaspoons of star anise
  (seed anise can be used if no star anise can be found)
• 1 teaspoon of chamomile

If you don't have all of the ingredients, use a combination of the herbs that you do have, the ginger is the most important herb, and the herbs in bold are also very important to the Hangover Tea. Try to have at least these three on hand, they are also good for indigestion and other stomach problems that are common during holidays and other "feasts".

This information is provided for entertainment purposes only and is not intended in any way to be a substitute for the advice of a trained medical professional. Please see a doctor if you experience any unusual symptoms after consumption of any amount of alcohol.

Proper Food Combining Can Dramatically Improve Your Health

Why Food Combining is Important

When it comes to cooking healthy, beginning with the right foods is a must. Certain foods are most beneficial when eaten in the right combinations. Certain other foods may even prevent absorption of vitamins and minerals if not eaten in the proper combination, sometimes even wreaking havoc on your digestive system. In some people it can cause serious weight gain. In many cases, when people eat wrong combinations of foods they can suffer indigestion, bloating, and foul smelling gas - all of which are indications of fermentation or putrefaction occurring in their digestive system. Quite a few foods won't digest in combination with other foods, and some things we eat don't digest at all. Pickles and olives are prime examples of foods that won't digest well in our system, and in fact pass through the body undigested similar to the way a small pebble or a penny would. It is important to our overall health to choose healthy combinations of foods, and to learn which foods digest well together, and which foods don't.

Basic Food Combining

The main rule of thumb is that carbohydrates and proteins should be taken into the body separately. This is mainly because these two food types are digested in completely different ways. When eating carbohydrates, the body begins working on the food immediately, while it is being chewed. Saliva acts as to "pre-digest" the sugars in the food, working to break down the carbohydrates before they are introduced into the stomach. The saliva used to break down carbohydrates is entirely different from the saliva produced while eating a high protein meal.
When protein is eaten, the saliva has a different job, which wets the food with slippery substances that enable the food to pass easily into the stomach, where the digestive acids go to work on breaking down the protein. If carbohydrates and proteins are eaten together, the body enters a state of confusion, unable to sort through mingled foods in the mouth in order to facilitate the breaking down of carbohydrates, and they will most likely pass into the stomach with the protein. Once in the stomach, the gastric acid will have trouble properly digesting the protein due to the presence of undigested carbohydrates. At this point, the undigested mass of food will quite often sit in the stomach for many hours, causing the carbohydrates to ferment and the protein to putrify.

You can basically eat whatever you want while still eating the right food combinations. The key factor in combining foods properly is knowing which foods can be combined, and which food combinations will cause improper digestion. There are many ways to catagorize the foods in which you eat, but the main categories should be proteins, carbohydrates, and neutrals. Make a list of your favorite foods, separated into the three categories. Proteins would be foods such as cooked chicken, beef, lamb, or cooked meats, milk, eggs whites, low fat cheese, some fruit, wine, beans (legumes), and fish. Carbohydrates would be cereals, grains, sugars, breads, potatoes, rice, bananas, and dried fruits. Neutral foods are those which are either rich in both protein and carbohydrates, or are low in both protein and carbohydrates, and can therefore be used as meal enhancers when putting together a balanced meal, and can be foods such as milk products, fatty cheeses (over 60% fat content) raw meats and fish, vegetables, salad, coffee, and tea. Make a list of your favorite foods, separating them into the three categories. Experiment with different food combinations and discover how creative you can be, and you may even start to see some extra pounds falling off!