Booster Foods are Super Foods

Booster foods are a fabulous way to increase not only your whole foods index but your personal nutritional profile as well. When one adds booster foods to their diet, they add a whole host of vitamins, minerals, amino acids and enzymes. What does all of this mean? It means that you can supplement less, gain more clarity, energy, focus and obtain greater health. Who doesn't need all of these? In our busy lives we have a tendency to use sugar and caffeine as our energy sources and drugs and alcohol to cope in the evening. When one is properly nourished, one finally gets off that roller coaster we call "poor dietary coping choices".

Today we talk about the power of seaweed. The following is a beautiful description of the value of sea vegetables. I use seaweed of various types in my homemade flax crackers as well, a powerful sea vegetable called "kombu". I simmer the kombu in my bone broth which infuses it with valuable trace minerals. This is a beautiful baase for a super charged soup or just a sipping broth. It is also a valuable chelator. When we consume large fish such as tuna, sea bass and other large creatures of the sea, we have a higher likelihood of also consuming heavy metals such as mercury. When I order Ahi at my favorite Japanese restaurant, I always order a side of wakame salad as a proactive heavy metal detoxifier.Sea Vegetables of all kinds can be found at your local health food store or Farmers Markets.

SEAWEED IS AN EVERYDAY MIRACLE
By: Susun S. Weed

Seaweed is an everyday miracle. The benefits of including seaweed’s optimum nourishment into your daily diet are extensive: increased longevity, enhanced immune functioning, revitalization of the cardiovascular, endocrine, digestive, and nervous systems, and relief from minor aches and pains. No wonder seaweed has been part of the traditional diet of all coastal cultures, including the people of Japan, Korea, China, Iceland, Denmark, Wales, Scotland, Hawaii, and the South Pacific Islands, and all the people who had trading contacts with the coastal cultures.

All seaweeds are high in fiber. Those in the brown family supply large amounts of algin as well. Each seaweed contains a wide range of essential nutrients, including enzymes, nucleic acids, amino acids, minerals, trace elements, and A, B, C, D, E, and K vitamin complexes. Seaweeds offer us zest for life and the perfect medium for electrical nerve flow.

Benefits from a wise woman alliance with seaweed - glossier hair, more luminous skin, less digestive distress, renewed energy and stamina, rekindled sexual desires, and reawakened delight in life - will be noticeable in about 13 weeks.

SEAWEED IS AN ALLY WITH LOTS OF HEART

Seaweed is an ally with lots of heart. Dancing, singing seaweed strengthens circulation, balances blood pressure, lowers cholesterol, builds healthy blood, increases the veins and hearts contractile force, restores and increases cardiac efficiency, nourishes and prolongs the life of the heart muscle, and encourages rhythmical working of the heart in all its aspects: physical, emotional, and inspirational.

How can weeds with so much sodium (we all know salt raises blood pressure) be good for the heart and even hypotensive - that is, capable of lowering blood pressure? DID YOU KNOW?Sodium is not to blame for high blood pressure. Sodium chloride may be. Table salt may be. But table salt contains sugar, aluminum salts, and several other agents as well as sodium chloride. This is an unnatural salt solution and one that creates cardiovascular stress.

The naturally occurring sodium in seaweeds (and garden weeds) bathes the inner being with rich salty nourishment, like the amniotic fluid of our original home. This sodium relieves tension in blood vessels made brittle by immersion in the wrong saline solution, table salt. (Note that commercial sea salt is usually as full of free flowing agents and other addenda as commercial table salt. Real evaporated seawater salt is pinkish in color. As usual, if it’s white, you can’t trust it.)

Seaweed is a wonderful green ally to use with other Wise Woman ways when healing those with problems of the heart and circulation including atherosclerosis, hypertension, chilly extremities, varicosities, heart infections, repressed feelings, and self blame.

SEAWEED IS A WAY TO GET YOUR JUICES FLOWING

Daily use of seaweed provides optimum nourishment for the hormonal, lymphatic, urinary, and nervous systems. The hormonal system uses minerals and trace elements so richly available from seaweed to repair tissue, build new cells, and create hormones responsible for regulating blood pressure, metabolism, fertility, sexuality, and reaction to allergens, to name but a few.

The lymphatic and immune systems are avid partakers of seaweed’s splendid feast of nutrients. Combined with this optimum nourishment, the communication enhancing effects of seaweed further enhance response time and strength in the immune system. This reduces opportunist bacterial and viral infections and helps prolong youth and vitality, not to mention joy and ease in life. The urinary system gets a special boost from seaweed’s seeming excess of potassium and sodium. Those with cystitis, kidney weakness, gout diabetic kidney ills, and bladder weakness find health / wholeness / holiness with seaweed and Wise Woman Ways.

The nervous system relaxes in the presence of seaweed’s mineral abundance. Seaweed creates an inner environment where nerve signals flow more smoothly and where brain chemicals are produced as needed: to maintain alertness, increase memory, reduce pain, and provide a sense of buoyant bliss. (Envision the head sized floats of kelp bobbing on a gently undulating sea.)

SEAWEED IS A GUT GREASER

Seaweed provides a multitude of gifts to the digestive system: soothing, disinfecting, and nourishing distressed surfaces, helping out with the metabolism of lipids, and maintaining a healthy balance of digestive yeasts and bacteria in the intestines. Seaweed is an exceptional ally to the wise woman healing those with gastric ulcers, duodenal ulcers, ulcerated colon, colitis, constipation, watery stools, and other intestinal ills, thanks to its bio-available nourishment, high algin content, mucilaginous fiber, and rhythmical resonation.

SEAWEED IS AN ALLY IN WOMEN’S MYSTERIES

Seaweed flows and shifts like the energy of a woman. Saline solutions of ocean and uterus rock in rhythm. Pulses of tide, menstruation, heartbeat, and fertility join seaweeds and wombs. Nourishing breast milk merges with waves of green fronds.Seaweed eaten daily is a powerful ally to a wise woman for, prevention and healing herself or others with osteoporosis, breast cancer, mastitis, uterine cancer, irregular menstrual cycles, ovarian cancer, fibroids, ovarian cysts, infertility, fibro-cystic breast distress, and pre-menstrual / menopausal problems such as water retention, emotional freak-outs, chills and hot flashes, fatigue, lack of lubrication, loss of calcium and general irritability.

SEAWEED IS A GREAT WAY TO STAY IN SHAPE

By providing optimum nourishment to the thyroid, helping to regulate metabolism, and increasing the effectiveness of the digestive system, seaweed helps you get in shape and stay that way.

SEAWEED PROPERTIES AND USES* Protective - anti-radiation, anti-cancer, anti-oxidant, anti-toxic, anti-rheumatic, antibiotic, antibacterial, alterative. * Nutritive - trace mineral supplement, cardio-tonic, rejuvenative, aphrodisiac. * Mucilaginous - Emollient, demulcent, aperient, anti-constipative, diuretic. * Anti-stress- Analgesic, calmative, anti-pyretic.

Bio:
Susun Weed, green witch and wise woman, is an extraordinary teacher with a joyous spirit, a powerful presence, and an encyclopaedic knowledge of herbs and health. She is the voice of the Wise Woman Way, where common weeds, simple ceremony, and compassionate listening support and nourish health/wholeness/holiness. She has opened hearts to the magic and medicine of the green nations for three decades. Ms. Weed's four herbal medicine books focus on women's health topics including: menopause, childbearing, and breast health.

susanweed.com

Look out Flax!

There's a new seed in town and it's nutritional profile surpasses that of flax seed! Don't get me wrong, flax is still a valuable source of omega 3 fatty acids but the profile of the chia is nearly a perfect balance of omega 3:6. Just what the human frame needs to avoid inflammation and prevent heart disease as well as other degenerative diseases of "lifestyle". I have been adding a tablespoon of chia seeds to my morning smoothie and have noticed a difference, most notably, my monthly cycle. While this may be too much information for some, it is valuable for women. I have had very little bloat and my cycle this month I must admit was a surprise with no symptoms other than a slight headache.

As I have and continue to preach the benefits of an omega 3:6 balance, I am personally feeling the postive effects from my own dietary increase of omega 3 and my complete avoidance of vegetable oils.

What makes the Chia Seed the super food that many claim it to be?

30% of the chia seed's oil is Omega 3 oil. 40% of its oil is Omega 6 oil. This provides the nice balance those who take supplemental Essential Fatty Acids are looking for. The chia seed's substantially dense percentage in alpha-linolenic fatty acid also makes this seed a healthy dietary source of fatty acids.

You do not need to grind the Chia Seeds to digest it. It is a relatively easy to digest seed, whereas flax seeds are not. It is necessary to grind flax seeds to be able to process them in our digestive system and benefit from their oils. That is not the case with chia seeds. Chia digests easily making the almost perfect ratio of fatty acids more bio-available.

The chia seeds are great for athletes because they are highly hydrophilic. Being hydrophilic means it absorbs large amounts of water. Chia Seeds can absorb over 10 times their weight in water making them a great enhancer in hydrating our bodies. We've seen some horrible outcomes of athletes who have pushed too hard and received too little hydration on the field.

Studies show that eating chia seed slows down how quickly our bodies convert carbohydrate calories into simple sugars. This leads scientists to believe that the chia seed may have great benefits for diabetics.

The chia seed gels when becoming wet and this gel, when in our digestive systems, helps one to feel fuller longer helping the diet achieve greater success.
Chia seeds provide antioxidant activity! Don't worry about feeling too full or bloated unless one consumes more than necessary at one sitting. 1 tbs. is a nice serving providing all of the above benefits.

With high fiber and beneficial oils, chia is a valuable addition to your detoxification program as well! These valuable fibers help to attach to and pull the toxins from your system for a nice cleanse. Remember, the human liver has over 400 functions and in this toxic world, a mild liver detox program 2-4 times a year is a healthful boost to your health!

I encourage you to join me in this venture toward optimum health by adding chia to your diet! Sprinkle it on salads, in yogurt or add to your smoothie. This will be of great benefit to your children and it's an easy hide in smoothies. Give your child that added advantage of brain power! He/She could use it in this overly processed world.

Restless Leg linked to Obesity?

ScienceDaily (Apr. 9, 2009) — A new study shows both obesity and a large belly appear to increase the risk of developing restless legs syndrome (RLS), a common sleep disorder characterized by an irresistible urge to move your legs. The research is published in the April 7, 2009, print issue of Neurology.

It is estimated that 5-10 percent of adults in the United States have RLS and the disorder often has a substantial impact on sleep, daily activities and quality of life.

For the study, researchers questioned 65,554 women and 23,119 men, all of whom were health professionals who took part in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study or the Nurses' Health Study II. None of the participants had diabetes, arthritis or were pregnant. Of the groups, 6.4 percent of the women and 4.1 percent of the men were identified as having RLS.

The research found men and women with a body mass index (BMI) score over 30 were nearly one-and-a-half times more likely to have RLS than people who were not obese.

In addition, people who were in the top 20 percent of the group for highest waist circumference were more than one-and-a-half times more likely to have RLS than the bottom 20 percent of the group with the lowest belly size. The results were the same regardless of age, smoking, use of antidepressants or anxiety.

"These results may be important since obesity is a modifiable risk factor that is becoming increasingly common in the U.S.," said study author Xiang Gao, MD, PhD, with the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. "More research is needed to confirm whether obesity causes RLS and whether keeping a low BMI score and small waist size could help prevent RLS."

Gao says some studies suggest that obese people have lower dopamine receptor levels in the brain. "Since decreased dopamine function is believed to play a critical role in RLS as well, this could be the link between the two." Dopamine is a chemical naturally produced by the body that transmits signals between nerve cells.

The study was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.