Why dehydrate your food? Is it the best method of food preservation, or is food dehydration just more convenient?

I began to ask myself these questions a couple of years ago when I got into eating raw food. I had been happily using my Excalibur 5 Tray Food Dehydrator for a few months when someone challenged my notion that dehydrating was healthier than canning. The person asserted that you would surely preserve more nutrients with canning, because dehydrating food means cutting or slicing it up and leaving it exposed to the air for a relatively long period of time. That oxidation causes a loss of nutrient value.

That bugged me. I knew that for sure dehydrating on low temperatures keeps the food’s enzymes alive, and that was important to me. But what if I was saving the enzymes meant losing a good chunk of the food’s vitamins, minerals and other nutrients?

The World Wide Web to the rescue! A brief search reassured me that indeed, food dehydration is the superior method of preservation.

Six reasons to choose dehydrating over canning

1. The nutrient value lost during the cutting and dehydrating process is actually less than what is lost through the cooking process. And, as I mentioned above, as long as you dehydrate at low temperatures, the life-giving enzymes are kept in tact.
2. Easy to do. No standing for hours in a hot kitchen. Simply put your food in the dehydrator and leave it until it’s dry. All you have to do is check it every few hours to see if it’s done.
3. Economical. No buying canning jars and huge vats. Well, okay, the Excalibur Food Dehydrator will put a dent in your budget at first (and believe me, you don’t want to by the el-cheapos from discount department stores), but the convenience and effectiveness will be well worth every cent! And besides, if you want to be really cheap frugal, you could always build a solar dehydrator.
4. Dehydrating food requires MUCH less storage room than canned food. And all the people in the South who don’t have a basement said, “AMEN!”
5. No preservatives necessary. The food will keep without salt or sugar, making it even healthier than canned food.
6. Safe. As long as you dehydrate a given food long enough, all the moisture will be removed. This makes it impermeable to botulism and mold. Dehydrated food will also last for years at room temperature.

Why dehydrate? If you need to do something with excess produce, or follow through on your plan to have an emergency supply of food, dehydration is perhaps the best way to preserve it!

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Learn the principles of living in optimum health.

Looking for natural, chemical-free treatments and cures that work? Try undiluted, unadulterated essential oils.

There is no better supplement than Masaji. Find out how it changed my life here.

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The other day, we had ice cream for breakfast.

Seriously.

Of course, it wasn’t the run-of-the-mill grocery store frozen sugar-laden stuff. It was raw ice cream, made from young coconuts. I based it on the recipe in Natalia Rose’s book, The Raw Food Detox Diet, but decided to modify it.

The original recipe calls for three young coconuts, maple syrup, vanilla and ice. The first time I made it, I followed the recipe verbatim, and my then 2-year-old son Benjamin went wild with a sugar high.

Grade B maple syrup, however nutritious it may be, still has a very high glycemic level.

The next several times, I used agave nectar instead of the syrup. No Benjamin bouncing off the walls, but agave nectar is still a processed food and how truly low-glycemic it is can be debated.

So as I pondered whether to serve raw ice cream for breakfast this past Saturday morning, I wondered why I didn’t just substitute frozen fruit for the sweetener and ice.

That is exactly what I did, and we were in healthy ice cream heaven the morning we ate it! The original recipe is delicious, but this one – in my humble opinion – is even better. Dare you to try it…and eat it for breakfast!

Raw Coconut Ice Cream

• Meat from 3 young coconuts
• 1 cup coconut water
• 1/4 cup cashews, optional
• 2 frozen bananas, sliced
• 1 cup frozen grapes

Put the coconut, water, cashews, and grapes in your Vita-Mix. Blend thoroughly. Add a few banana slices at a time while blending on medium. You will probably need to push them down with the pusher, and move the variable speed knob from low to high several times to get the blades to catch all the banana slices.

Divide among three bowls and enjoy! (It turns out like a very soft soft-serve ice cream, or super thick smoothie.)

Go wild with this recipe – try berries instead of grapes, or add some organic raw chocolate powder, for example. Try it, and tell me how you liked it in the comments below.

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Learn the principles of living in optimum health.

Looking for natural, chemical-free treatments and cures that work? Try undiluted, unadulterated essential oils.

There is no better supplement than Masaji. Find out how it changed my life here.

You’re improving your health; ready to get really free? Check out my other blog, freetoliveyourdreams.com.

Dessert? Healthy?! Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as healthy dessert recipes. Following are several summer dessert recipes that not only taste great, but are packed with nutrition and help cool you off!

Meal Replacement Shake Smoothie

Serves one.

• 1 scoop meal replacement shake powder
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup frozen bananas, berries, or a combination

Place the powder and water in your Vita-Mix. Add half of the frozen fruit and blend on medium-high. Add the rest of the fruit, one chunk at a time, until the mixture is smooth. Alternatively, you can use fresh fruit plus however much ice you need to get the desired thickness and texture.

The Be Young Meal Replacements are the healthiest on the market, as they are made from whey from grass-fed cows plus dehydrated fruits and vegetables to add a spectrum of naturally occurring vitamins and minerals. They provide a vegan version as well, made of white rice powder – much tastier than the brown rice powders found in health food stores.

Brownies and ice cream: the raw version

For the brownies, process one cup dates, one cup walnuts and one fourth cup organic raw chocolate powder in your food processor. Press into 8X8 inch pan, refrigerate for thirty minutes, then cut into squares.

Vanilla ice cream (from The Raw Food Detox Diet by Natalia Rose)

• Meat of 3 young coconuts
• 1 tablespoon alcohol-free vanilla extract, or vanilla beans
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup or raw agave nectar
• 4 cups ice cubes (about 14 cubes)

Place the coconut meat, vanilla, sweetener, and one cup of ice in your Vita-Mix. Add the remaining ice cubes as long as the mixture is flowing and blending well. You may have to run it two or three times to use up most of the ice. You need not use all the ice, just enough to make the mixture thick. You may also wish to use a little coconut water to facilitate blending.

Divide ice cream among two or three people, and give them each a brownie. Or two.

Peaches and cream

Serves 2.

• 4 small or two large peaches
• 1 cup cream, preferably raw, at least organic

Cut up peaches and divide into two bowls. Pour cream over. If you must sweeten it, use raw honey, as it contains trace minerals and enzymes. Raw honey is also antibiotic.

Grape Kefir Smoothie

Serves 2.

• 2 cups plain kefir or yogurt
• 2 cups grapes

Blend kefir/yogurt and grapes in your Vita-Mix. Pour into glasses and enjoy!

The best kefir is homemade with raw cow or goat milk and your own kefir grains, which you can buy from The Kefir Lady. If your state is unenlightened and forbids the sale of raw milk, make your own kefir/yogurt from pasteurized milk BUT NEVER USE ULTRAPASTEURIZED MILK. Or, simply buy organic kefir or yogurt from the store.

Feel free to share any of your favorite healthy summer dessert recipes in the comments.

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Learn the principles of living in optimum health.

Looking for natural, chemical-free treatments and cures that work? Try undiluted, unadulterated essential oils.

There is no better supplement than Masaji. Find out how it changed my life here.

You’re improving your health; ready to get really free? Check out my other blog, freetoliveyourdreams.com.

Surprised by the title of this post? The truth is, you can avoid the flu and other severe illnesses. I’m talking about long-term. When I say “never”, I mean never.

Why do I have the audacity to claim that you could get to a place in your life where the flu can’t even touch you? I haven’t had the flu or a severe cold in about ten years. In addition, I have friends who can honestly claim the same level of health, even for their children.

We aren’t taking a special herb three times a day. We aren’t drinking a juice that is high in antioxidants. We haven’t discovered a super-powerful multi-vitamin tablet or a secret brand of spring water.

The most natural flu remedy you can find

My friends and I simply follow a lifestyle–especially particular nutrition principles–that help our immune systems and adrenal glands to be strong. Some of the principles are ones you know you should do, even if you’re not doing them:

• exercise regularly
• don’t smoke
• eliminate processed foods

Some of the other principles have been lost to our modern Western society, such as:

• the health benefits of saturated fats
• the power and nutritional superiority of raw foods over cooked
• using food combining for healthy weight maintenance

What to do if you’re sick of getting sick

Over the past few years, I have developed a passion for teaching people how to use nutrition to improve their health. I’m going to be honest with you: it’s a most frustrating passion, because people just don’t want you messing with their diet.

Let me ask you a question: would you rather keep on eating the way you do today, and keep feeling lethargic and catching every illness that comes around? Or are you ready and willing to face  a few weeks of emotional discomfort while you make some drastic changes that will not only make you healthier, but very likely reduce your risk of developing degenerative disease?

If you are ready to get healthy, then I am ready to help you reach that goal. For that reason, I wrote the ebook “Eat Well, Live Well”.

By the time you finish reading the book – and applying the principles it teaches to your life – you will have learned a new way of living that will help keep your weight at a healthy level, dramatically increase your resistance to catching any kind of illness, and radically reduce your risk of developing degenerative disease.

The nutrients in eggs are varied and plentiful. That combined with their low cost should make them a winner with frugal cooks around the globe.

However, during the past couple of decades, the greatness of eggs has been clouded. Mainly, it was because of the misinformation that dietary cholesterol leads to high blood cholesterol (which is totally wrong), and that therefore high-cholesterol eggs (specifically the yolks) must be avoided at all costs.

Brown egg

My eggy experience

Personally, I have had a love-hate relationship with eggs. When I was a kid, I loved them sunny-side up and runny yolk with toast. I loved them even more for making French toast. When I went off to college, the cafeteria served only scrambled eggs–which I didn’t particularly like–so cold cereal and milk became my breakfast staple.

Right before I got pregnant, I got turned on to putting raw egg yolks in my morning smoothie. Then I got pregnant, and my midwife cautioned me against that habit in case of nasty bacteria.

Frightened by the whole “pregnant women must force themselves to shove unnatural amounts of protein down their throat” doctrine, I tried eating fried eggs during my first trimester.

The keyword here is “tried.” No matter how wonderful their nutritional value. Seventy percent of the time just looking at them made me lose my appetite, and when I forced myself to eat them I often became miserably  nauseated afterward.

Nutrients in eggs

Lately, I’ve fallen back in love with eggs. Well, with the yolks, anyway. Egg whites–raw or cooked–don’t agree with me for whatever reason.

Why the turn around? For one, I couldn’t get away from the egg’s nutritional value. The nutrients in egg yolks alone include:

• vitamin E,
• vitamin A,
• vitamin D,
• DHA (an omega-3 fatty acid necessary for brain and eye function),
• iron,
• biotin (a B vitamin necessary for fatty acid synthesis and blood sugar regulation),
• a small amount of calcium and
• several other trace minerals.

I’ve been putting raw yolks from organically fed, cage-free chickens in our morning smoothies for some time. Recently, I began to wonder why I couldn’t put eggs back in the dinner menu rotation. Our food bill had gotten noticeably higher since Benjamin started eating three meals per day, and I was looking for somewhere to cut back.

Since my husband enjoys scrambled eggs, he didn’t mind that idea one bit. The only problem was, I wanted them raw. For several weeks, I walked around mulling over an idea I had.

But it was kind of strange. And I wasn’t sure if it would taste all that good. Finally, I decided to go ahead and try it. Here’s the recipe I came up with:

Egg yolk dressing

• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• squirt of ketchup
• salt and other herbs and spices to taste

Gently blend all together, pour over a large lettuce salad, and dig in.

Yes, this does taste good! Of course, I cook Jerry’s eggs. And Benjamin is easy: all I have to do is plop a couple of egg yolks in a dish, and he eats them up with a spoon like other kids eat ice cream. (Okay, maybe not that enthusiastically, but he does like them.)

Whether you want to preserve the enzymes and all the nutrients in eggs by eating them raw, or whether you don’t tolerate cooked eggs well, this recipe may help you out. You can always begin by using only one or two yolks to make sure that you enjoy the yolk-y flavor.

For a comprehensive resource that helps you improve your nutritional intake to a level where the flu no longer even comes near you, be sure to visit this page.

Non-raw food vegetarians will tell you grains are great. Most raw food gurus advise avoiding them. Primal diet fans believe that grains are an unnecessary evil.

Who’s right?

All of them. To an extent. Grains do contain vital nutrients, such as some of the B vitamins and several trace minerals (which vary depending on the grain). Whole grains also provide fiber and protein.

Wheat growing in field

On the other hand, unsoaked grains contain phytic acid, which bind with minerals in your digestive tract and keep them from getting absorbed. (I go into some detail about that in my online wellness course, “Eat Well, Live Well.”)

As well, consuming grains–whole or not–will hinder your body from losing weight, if you are trying to do so. Unless you immediately burn off the calories from grains (or any starches) that you have just eaten, the sugars in the grains will get stored in your body as fat.

Perhaps the biggest problem with grains is that many to most people eat way too much of them. Contrary to what the US Food Pyramid recommends, the majority of Americans would be better off eating only one or two servings of grain per day, or none at all. Why? Nutrition experts estimate that about 2/3 of all Americans have a body type that requires animal products and fats, rather than grains, to maintain not only a healthy weight, but sustained energy and well-being.

May I be frank? Back in the days when I ate a lot of grains and starches, I got sick a lot, had low energy and was always bloated after a grain-based meal. Now that I hardly ever eat anything starchy, those conditions have reversed.

Do yourself a favor. Instead of listening to the government, your neighbor, or the latest Internet nutrition guru, listen to your body.

Interested in eating right as a way to maintain high levels of health, but not sure where to begin? Check out this page and begin to transform your health today.

Wondering whether you should bother growing sprouts? Whether the nutrition in sprouts is worth the hassle?

There is some debate about the issue, even among the nutritional “gurus” who agree on most other points. My opinion–based on my own personal research and experience–is that to grow sprouts is a worthwhile and easy endeavor, and that adding them to your diet adds significant value.

Why should I grow and eat my own sprouts?

Three main reasons:

1. The antioxidant levels in sprouts are much higher than in their mature vegetable counterparts, especially when you’re talking broccoli, cabbage and kale.
2. Sprouts are much easier to chew and digest than the mature raw vegetables. They are a blessing to people like me who want to take advantage of the enzymes and complete nutrition found in raw cabbage-family veggies, but whose digestive systems have a hard time with them when they are full-grown.
3. You get a lot of nutritional bang for your buck with sprouts. A jar of broccoli sprouts costs less than fifty cents. Clover and alfalfa sprouts are even cheaper. In addition, if you sprout seeds such as hulled buckwheat, mung beans, and lentils the nutritional value increases significantly over eating them in their cooked, unsprouted form.

How to grow sprouts

For the leafy sprouts, such as broccoli, clover, radish and alfalfa, soak two tablespoons of seeds in a quart jar for about eight hours. Drain, using a square of cheesecloth or old pantyhose affixed to the top with a rubber band, or sprouting jar lid. Rinse 2-3 times per day (we just rinse twice a day, and they seem to do just fine) and drain as thoroughly as possible. Set jar upside-down at a 45-degree angle to make sure all the water drains out after rinsing. (I set my sprouts in the dish drainer.)

The leafy sprouts are ready after about 7 days.

To sprout mung beans and lentils, fill a bowl 1/3 full of the beans. Then fill to the rim with purified water. Soak at least 12 hours. Drain. Let sit another 24 hours, and you will see little tails growing out of the beans. Sprouted mung beans and lentils add a perfect crunch and burst of nutrition to salads, or even vegetable soups and stews.

(Caution: I find that when our house is under 72 degrees–which it is most of the fall and winter–not all of the mung beans will sprout. After they are finished, go through the bowl and remove any “duds”, the tiny, dark green, hard beans. The easiest and fastest way to do this is drop a handful at a time on a plate. If you here a “chink”, there’s a dud somewhere you need to look for and take out.)

If you’re interested in sprouting buckwheat–I enjoy them in salads, and they are a good source of vegetable protein–simply spread one cup of hulled buckwheat between two wet paper towels (I use Grandma’s old dish towels) on a large plate. Wrap in a large plastic bag, and they will be sprouted 24 hours later.

Where do I buy sprouting seeds?

Buckwheat, mung beans and lentils are easily found in health food stores, and even some conventional groceries that have added a “natural” food section to their store. Usually, you have to buy the leafy sprout seeds online. For smaller quantities, sproutpeople.com is my favorite site. If you want to get serious and buy several pounds at once, Jim Mumm at sprouting.com gives a good deal to people willing to buy in bulk.

Eating sprouts is not necessary for health, but it can give you a nice all-around boost of nutrition. To learn the various lifestyle principles that are necessary for health, check out this page for more information.

Weight loss is a perennially hot topic, but never as much as during this time of year. As this post goes live, it is a week into the New Year, the time when resolve and determination to lose weight is at its peak.

For about three weeks. Maybe. Then the trips to the gym start getting old, you get tired of having a continually growling stomach, and you start to wonder whether losing weight is all that important.

Well, maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. I don’t know how overweight you are, nor how healthy you are otherwise. But if you want to be able lose a few pounds, I have some tips that will help you stick to your New Year’s Resolution. Why? You won’t feel like you are sacrificing time, money and taste.

1. Avoid starches and refined sugar at least four days per week.

Starches include grains and any products made with grains, as well as yams and potatoes. Raw honey and raw agave nectar are acceptable sweeteners, if consumed in moderation. Stevia, a super-sweet herb, may be used as liberally as you want–although not everyone appreciates its flavor.

2. Eat to satisfaction.

Translation: neither starve nor stuff yourself.

3. Eat healthy, low-glycemic snacks.

Low-glycemic fruit (basically anything that isn’t a tropical or dried fruit) with nuts and/or sunflower seeds is easy to prepare, tasty and satisfying. You might also try celery and carrot sticks with tahini or almond butter, or an ounce or two of raw cheese (this article explains why I recommend steering clear of all pasteurized dairy, organic or not).

4. Do the right kind of exercise, at the right time.

To burn fat and boost your metabolism for up to 48 hours, exercise before eating in the morning. Do strength training at least three days per week, as this can significantly increase your metabolism over doing aerobic exercises. No gym membership or expensive equipment necessary–a few dumbbells of varying weight is all you need.

These tips will quickly get you on the road to weight loss. For a comprehensive resource that helps you not only to lose weight, but also dramatically decrease your vulnerability to illness and disease, please visit this page.

When I was a kid, I hated spinach. Or so I thought. I hated it because my sole experience with it was green sludge in a can.

Blech. Popeye was not my hero.

But later in life, I discovered raw spinach. And wondered where it had been all my life. Especially since my parents had a couple of very large gardens and my childhood years were filled with freshly picked lettuce, homegrown tomatoes, and sugar snap peas eaten right off the vine.

No matter. I know better now. I have learned that spinach is not only a marvelous vegetable for its flavor, but for several other reasons as well. Following are eight reasons to consider making spinach a regular part of your diet. Spinach…

1. …tastes sweet.

Unlike most other greens, raw spinach lacks that bitter flavor that makes many people hesitant to make eating greens a daily experience. (When cooked for longer than a minute, however, the flavor begins to turn and soon takes on that repulsive odor I remember emanating from a spinach can.)

2. …is always in season.

This leafy green is available in stores all year long, although is at its flavor peak in late fall, winter and early spring.

3. …is high in iron and vitamin C.

Iron–especially iron from plant sources–is best absorbed by the body when consumed with vitamin C. Being high in both nutrients, spinach is an excellent source of iron.

4. …is an excellent source of other vital nutrients.

Looking for a food high in vitamins K, A, B2 and B6? How about the minerals manganese, magnesium, calcium and potassium? Spinach is an excellent source of those nutrients, and a good source of many others.

5. …has only 41 calories per cup (cooked).

In case you’re counting.

6. …is high in fiber.

Make your colon happy today; eat some spinach.

7. …cooks quickly.

Any longer than a one minute quick-boil or sautee, and the spinach begins to lose nutrient value and–as stated above–to develop a bitter flavor.

8. …is versatile.

Because of its mild flavor, spinach is the perfect green for green smoothies and salads. And if you stir the leaves in at the last minute to prevent overcooking, they’re a great addition to casseroles when you want to sneak some extra greens into your family’s diet.

I’ve even read that you can make a puree from cooked spinach and mix it in to a brownie recipe. Since baking it in the brownies will significantly diminish its nutritional value, and since sweet treats should be kept to a bare minimum in anybody’s diet, I wouldn’t make this THE method for getting your kids to eat their greens, but it’s an interesting idea.

The health benefits of spinach, as well as its delightful flavor, make it an excellent food to add to your menu.

My husband will be happy. I bought some crimini mushrooms today, for the first time in a long time. I haven’t been because, frankly, they cost extra dinero. Since our food bill is already going through the roof with the addition of another eater in the house, I thought, do we really need them?

One could hardly say that mushrooms are a staple of a healthy diet; however, I’ve recently read up on mushrooms and been reminded of their great health benefits. Here are three reasons to eat crimini mushrooms, even if only occasionally:

1. High in B vitamins

These brown-colored button mushrooms (the “adults” are portobellos) contain many of the B vitamins, being high in B2 and B3, as well as being a good source of B’s 1, 5 and 6.

2. Rich in minerals

Crimini mushrooms are an excellent source of selenium and copper, as well as good source of manganese, potassium and phosphorus.

3. Great source of antioxidants

In the past couple of decades, researchers have discovered that mushrooms contain anti-cancer phytonutrients, on top of the antioxidant qualities provided by some of the vitamins and minerals they contain. One of mushroom’s main antioxidants, L-ergothioneine, stays in tact even when cooked. Good news for those of us who don’t care for them raw.

All that, and they are only around 30 calories per cup!

Would you like a crimini mushroom recipe? Here is part of what I fixed for dinner tonight:

Eggplant and mushroom stew

• 1 eggplant, cut up
• about 1 cup of crimini mushrooms
• 1 15-oz can tomatoes or tomato sauce
• 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped (which I actually didn’t put in b/c I didn’t have any; but I would’ve if I had)
• Seasoning to taste

Put all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Heat and cook for about fifteen minutes, or whatever works for the particular cookware you own.

If you like mushrooms, enjoy them liberally!

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