October 11th, 2007 at 09:25pm
Under Green Body
You’d never know it from a walk around the produce section of any U.S. grocery store, but tomatoes don’t grow in winter and June is an odd time to be eating an apple. International shipping is what is responsible for off-season fruits and vegetables appearing on supermarket shelves, usually with a hefty price tag attached. You may have been raised to think that such foods are a lovely luxury, but if you are treating them as a staple, you are forcing your body to work against the natural cycle of the farming year.
In addition to confusing your stomach, purchasing off-season produce represents a tremendous waste of fuel as foods are either intensively cultured in greenhouses, or are shipped incredible distances to us from other countries. Learning to eat with the seasons reduces pollution of the planet and aligns your body with the life-giving rhythm of the earth.
Eating with the Warm Season
When the hot months of late spring, summer and early fall are with us in North America, the local organic farm abounds with fabulous, mouthwatering vegetables like these:
- summer squash
- string beans
- cucumbers
- peppers
- avocados
- mesclun lettuces and greens
- eggplant
Warm weather fruits include these gorgeous choices:
- strawberries
- blueberries
- raspberries
- melons
- peaches
- plums
- nectarines
- tomatoes
Looking over this brief list, it becomes immediately apparent that the majority of the produce listed here has one major factor in common - water content. Think about the juiciness of berries, of watermelon, of tomatoes and lemon cucumbers. No doubt, this is Nature’s way of helping us to stay properly hydrated when the sun is at its hottest. Additionally, many of the foods here require minimal cooking or no cooking at all, which is just perfect when the last thing you want to do is turn on your oven on a sweltering afternoon. Essential vitamins are present in these foods for good summer health and the antioxidants found in blueberries and tomatoes may even be protecting your skin from the sun’s strongest rays and your body from various cancers. By growing your own summer produce, or buying from a local, organic farmer, you are doing the smart thing for your health, for the local economy and for the environment.
Eating with the Cold Season
The organic farm changes when fall turns cold and moves into winter and early spring. Your selection of seasonal vegetables includes:
- pumpkins
- winter squash
- chard
- spinach
- broccoli
- potatoes
- dried beans
- peas
- carrots
- onions
- lettuce
Appetizing, flavor-packed fruits for the cold months include:
- apples
- pears
- oranges
- lemons
- grapefruit
- limes
If the list above of vegetables looks like an awesome recipe for a winter soup, that’s because it
is! These heartier foods, packed with iron, are just what your body is craving to keep strong during the cold season of the year. Many varieties of apples and pears are meant to be stored throughout the winter, and when the citrus fruits ripen, we have an invaluable source of the vitamin C that keeps us bright on short, dark days. This wealth of cold season produce will keep us in good health until North America heats up again, bringing us back to the first summer foods. That’s how the cycle works, ensuring that there is always something delicious for your family to eat.
Getting Americans Back in the Seasonal Food Cycle
International food shipping and factory farming has resulted in a completely un-natural selection of produce at the grocery store. The apples you find in June were either shipped all the way from a country like Argentina or have been kept too long in storage, their flavor and nutrition dissipated, their skins waxed to look appealing. The tomatoes you buy in December are from as far away as New Zealand, or were grown in a greenhouse. You already know how bland they taste! They simply aren’t a good buy, from either an environmental or nutritional standpoint. Factory food producers pick their produce when it is unripe and then gas it to add color or hope it ‘ripens’ in the back of a truck on its way from South America.The result is in every way inferior to the produce your local organic farmer has ripening on the branch or vine in his garden. Ripe, fresh, on-season foods are where the vitamins and flavor are!
If you can’t grow your own, or find a local farmer, your town may have a small, independent organic grocery store or a chain store like Whole Foods. Americans can easily eat with the seasons by shopping at such stores, and if saving energy strikes you as important, you can ask the grocer where various fruits and vegetables came from. At the very least, you can attempt to buy produce primarily from in-state farmers. The nearer the farmer is to your house, the fresher, tastier and more nutritious your food will be, and the less energy will have been expended to bring the produce to your table.
The one challenge I find people having with seasonal eating is that one can get a little tired of
their diet as the cold season draws near its end. In such cases, it’s just fine to use a modest amount of prepared foods like jams, apple sauces, pickles or other relishes as a condiment to liven up your family’s appetite. If 90% of your diet is on-season, then organic canned fruits, vegetables and seasonings can be used to perk up meals that have become a little too familiar. Yet, the anticipation of the next season is actually part of the fun of seasonal eating. How we look forward to that first summer tomato or luscious plum!
All other North American animals eat with the seasons by necessity. Nature ensures that they are given the right foods at the right times for optimum health. This same loving care is present in Nature for we humans. We have only to tap into it to connect with an older, better way of eating.
By admin
July 28th, 2007 at 11:31pm
Under Green Body
Does Your Hair Look Blah?
Tired Of Dull, Lifeless Tresses?
Chances are, it’s that fancy hair conditioner that you are spending $14 a bottle for that has left your hair looking like Spanish moss rather than your crowning glory. Read the label of your current brand. Do you even know what most of the things are on that scary long list? I’m betting you don’t. Do you really want to pour unknown substances onto your scalp which is covered with pores that absorb everything that touches them? Of course not. That is, after all, the part of your skin that covers and protects your brain…a rather important organ!
The Truth Is…
The ingredients in your current hair conditioner may not only be not so great for your hair, they may be actual toxic poison. Here’s a short list of the bad guys, found in countless popular hair conditioners:
DEA, MEA & TEA
Causes kidney and liver cancer…what more need I say?
Formaldehyde
You may remember it from science lab in school. Formaldehyde is a preservative that quickly penetrates the skin and is incredibly carcinogenic (cancer causing). It also causes syndromes of the immune system such as Chronic Fatique Syndrome.
Isopropyl alcohol
A petroleum byproduct (as in car oil!) that is used in antifreeze and furniture polish.
Polyethylene glycol
Yet another petroleum byproduct. Used in oven cleaner (I’m not kidding!). Causes premature aging of the skin.
Propylene glycol
A synthetic petrochemical (car oil, again!). When factory workers deal with this stuff, they have to wear masks, gloves and goggles, but your hair conditioner company wants you to rub it right into your scalp. It’s known to the FDA to cause damage to your brain, kidneys and liver but the FDA continues to look the other way so that cosmetic corporations can keep using this great stuff in your hair conditioner.
Sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS)
Also known as Sodium laureth sulphate or SLES - actually makes your cells mutate. It damages and causes mutation of the brain, heart, liver and kidneys and, according to the American College of Toxicology, can cause mutations of children’s eyes. This product is so hard to avoid, but make every effort to do so.
Tea Tree Oil and Lavender
In themselves, natural substances derived from a plants. However, recent studies have found that Tea Tree Oil and Lavender Oil mimics the female hormone estrogen and overexposure to this for women and girls can have serious reproductive health side effects. Men and boys should also avoid Tea Tree Oil because of the estrogen which unbalances correct male hormones and can lead to disturbing, unwanted side effects.
There are numerous other toxic and carcinogenic ingredients in popular hair conditioners. The above is just a sample.
But if these substances are toxic, why do companies use them?
The answer is that these substances are cheap for manufacturers to buy. Many of them are the byproducts left over from the manufacture of a completely different product. For example, Fluoride is a byproduct that is scrubbed off the smokestacks of Phosphate factories in Florida. No one had any use for it until some genius decided it could be sold to toothpaste manufacturers as a marketable ingredient. As the story goes, Fluoride, once considered a useless toxic waste, was then billed to the public as a wonderful tooth-saving miracle. Don’t take my word for this. Research it for yourself. This is how a huge number of the ingredients wind up in cosmetics.
But that’s so wrong, isn’t it?
Yes. But remember…corporations, for the most part, care about making money…not about you.
But I want to look nice. Won’t my hair be hideous if I don’t buy Hair Conditioner?
The short answer here is no. Cats have beautiful silky, shiny hair and none of them use conditioner. The human body was designed to grow hair on it and no special treatment is required to maintain the hair in a physically healthy state.
The long answer, and the one I hope you’ll really like, is that I have a simple green hair tip that will make your hair shinier and nicer, without you absorbing toxic chemicals into your head or poisoning the water you drink! Yay!
The fact of the matter is, bad water and dirty air does take its toll on our hair and skin. Whether we live in the country or the city, our external selves are accosted by many irritants. If, in addition to this, you are pouring petro-chemicals and toxins onto your head, it’s little wonder you think of your hair as being some sick, unhappy entity that needs urgent, daily care.
THROW OUT YOUR COMMERCIAL CONDITIONER
GO TO THE STORE AND BUY A BOTTLE OF ORGANIC OLIVE OIL
What follows is the BEST GREEN HAIR CONDITIONER RECIPE EVER
Once a month, treat your hair to an all-natural, planet-friendly, human-friendly warm olive oil treatment that will make your hair super soft, super shiny and bouncing with life again.
Step 1) Depending upon the length of your hair, pour 2-5 Tablespoons of olive oil into a small glass.
Step 2) Fill a bowl with 2 inches of hot water.
Step 3) Set the bottom of the glass in the water and briskly stir the olive oil with a spoon until it becomes nice and warm to the touch.
Step 4) Wrap your shoulders in a towel and liberally work the olive oil all through your hair with your fingers.
Step 5) Sweep the towel up over your hair to cover it. Relax for five minutes…read a book, give your husband a kiss, look out the window at the birds.
Step 6) Take a shower and wash your hair twice to get out all of the olive oil. Let dry naturally…do NOT use a hair dryer.
Your hair will look nice the first day, but it’s the second day that you are likely to really notice how much fuller and livelier your hair has become. To me, it feels like my hair has suddenly sprung to new life.
Organic olives are full of good oils that moisturize both hair and skin. In fact, one of the benefits of this monthly treatment is softer hands!
You mean only use this green olive oil conditioner ONCE a month?
That’s what works for me. The media would have you believe that you must constantly be doing something to your hair, your skin, your toenails. It’s a nice lie that helps them make money. It doesn’t help you. Honestly, obsessing about your external appearance makes you vain and unhappy in the long run. Once a month seems like a good balance to me. It allows me to do something nice for myself, but doesn’t take up valuable time I could be spending doing something for somebody else.
But does this green hair conditioner really work?
I’ve had numerous strangers stop me on the street and in the supermarket to compliment me on my hair or ask what products I use. I’m not trying to sell you anything here, so you can take my word on that. People often look kind of taken aback when I don’t reel off the name off some famous brand. My hair is chestnut colored with a natural ripple in it, and it comes down about 8 inches below my hips. I try not to be vain, but I’m proud of it, and I firmly believe folks take notice of it because it has been let to grow long and luxurious naturally…without chemicals, dyes or other weird additives. The opinions of people I don’t know have never meant much to me, but when my husband likens my hair to a shimmering cascade, I certainly do feel pleased.
In the past, nearly all women had long, natural hair. It’s only post-war humans who have come to look upon hair as some sort of problem or terrible issue that must constantly be grappled with. Give yourself a break from this needless, media-induced worry. Give your hair a break from the chemicals. Try my green olive oil hair conditioner for a happier you and a happier planet.
By admin