Enjoy your Easter Weekend!!

“Easter Eggs can have health benefits – just go for dark chocolate which contains high cocoa content. Dark chocolate is made with a high proportion of cocoa and also contains large amounts of flavonoids, which act as powerful antioxidants and lower blood pressure.”

bodyandsoul.com

Easter is a day of celebration and indulgence in hearty casseroles and sugary sweets. While it’s easy to go overboard in the Easter feast, it’s all about balance. Yes, you are allowed your Cadbury Eggs, but use these tips to keep you from completely falling off your diet plan.

1. Start with the real breakfast of champions. You may not be able to control what’s served at the lunch table, but you certainly can control what you eat when you wake up. Make a giant green smoothie so you load up on nutrients and fiber, or try a protein shake, eggs or greek yogurt for filling protein.
2. Drink plenty of water. Drink a glass of water before you endulge in your meal in order to make you feel fuller, faster. Try place thin cucumber and lemon slices in your glass for a clean and refreshing twist.
3. Fill up on greens. Before you dive into the cheese plate or Easter basket full of candy, munch on a plate full of veggie sticks or salad. The fiber will fill you up, so you are less inclined to overindulge in the bad stuff.
4. Remember your serving sizes. Serve half of the plate with veggies, a quarter with grains, and a quarter with protein. If you prefer stricter measurements, forget the cups and teaspoons, and use your hand as a measuring cup. Two fingers equals one serving of cheese. An open palm equals one serving of meat. A closed fist is one serving of fruit or vegetables. A cupped hand is one serving of grains.
5. Enjoy bread and candy last. After you’ve filled up on veggies and protein, then enjoy the bread and butter, Peeps, jellybeans, or chocolate-covered caramels. While it’s tempting to inhale five or six candies in one sitting, slow down and thoroughly savor each bite.

“Our violence operates far outside the bounds of any other species.  Human beings kill anything.  Slaughter is a defining behavior of our species.  We kill all other creatures, and we kill our own.  Read today’s paper.  Read yesterday’s, or read tomorrow’s.  We kill our- selves in suicide.  We kill friends, rivals, coworkers, & classmates.  Children kill children, in school and on the playground. ”

R. Douglas Fields, Why We Snap, p. 286, 2016. R. Douglas Fields is senior investigator at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

“These popular works are bringing into focus, and wider awareness, what research has discovered in the past 30-40 years; that non-human animals are more sentient, intelligent, and rational than we have assumed, and that humans are far less rational than we have pretended.

Now if only we can use this knowledge, about human and non-human intelligence, more intelligently.”

Beyond Words joins Virginia Morell’s Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures and other writing on animal cognition as the equivalent for non-humans to Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow and Daniel Ariely’s Predictably Irrational and lots of other literature on human cognition; works that pull together remarkable recent discoveries about how living beings thin including Extension Harvard University.

“Influenza is a contagious respiratory disease transmitted from person to person primarily via virus-laden droplets. Viral shedding starts 24 to 48 hours after infection, and typically 24 hours before the onset of symptoms. Shedding normally persists less than 5 days but can be longer in children and in those who are immuno-compromised.  Respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, is a respiratory virus that infects the lungs and breathing passages. Like influenza, RSV is transmitted via virus-laden droplets. People infected with RSV are usually contagious for 3 to 8 days, although some infants or immunocompromised people can be contagious for several weeks.”

OHSU (OHSU.ed)

“I saw many people who had advanced heart disease and I was so frustrated because I knew if they just knew how to do the right thing, simple lifestyle and diet steps, that the entire trajectory of their life and health would have been different.” » Mehmet Oz

Ginger:

Ginger is one spice that I recommend keeping on hand in your kitchen at all times. Not only is it a wonderful addition to your cooking (especially paired with garlic) but it also has enough medical properties to fill several books.

Ginger is best known for its anti-nausea effects but also has broad-spectrum antibacterial, antiviral, antioxidant, and anti-parasitic properties, to name just several of its more than 40 scientifically confirmed pharmacological actions. It is anti-inflammatory, making it valuable for pain relief for joint pain, menstrual pain, headaches, and more.

The pain-relieving potential of ginger appears to be far-reaching. Along with help for muscle and joint pain, ginger has been found to reduce the severity of migraine headaches as well as the migraine medication Sumatriptan – with fewer side effects.

Ginger also shows promise for fighting cancer, diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, asthma, bacterial and fungal infections, and it is one of the best natural remedies available for motion sickness or nausea (from pregnancy or chemotherapy, for example).

Taking one gram of ginger daily may help reduce nausea and vomiting in pregnant women, or those with migraines and ginger has been shown to work better than a placebo in relieving morning sickness.

Ginger is also a must-have if you struggle with indigestion, and it does more than simply relieve pain. Ginger contains powerful protein-digesting enzymes and helps to stimulate the emptying of your stomach without any negative effect, and it’s an antispasmodic agent, which may explain its beneficial effects on your intestinal tract.

Many people enjoy ginger tea on a regular basis, and this is one of the simplest ways to use it. Simply chop off a couple of inches of ginger root and let it steep in hot water for fresh ginger tea. I would advise against using it daily as it can lead to an allergy and is what happened to me about twenty years ago.

You can also peel the root using a paring knife and then slice it thinly (or grate it or mince it) to add to tea or cooked dishes. You can’t go wrong by adding ginger to stir fries or even your favorite homemade chicken soup. For serious issues, a natural health care provider can help you get the maximum therapeutic benefits of ginger.

Garlic:

Eating a clove or two of fresh garlic a day may indeed keep the doctor away, in part because it has immune-boosting, antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-fungal effects. Many of garlic’s therapeutic effects are derived from its sulfur-containing compounds, such as allicin, which are also what give it its characteristic smell. In general, garlic’s benefits fall into four main categories:

-Reducing inflammation (reduces the risk of osteoarthritis and other disease associated with inflammation).

-Boosting immune function (antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and antiparasitic properties).

-Improving cardiovascular health and circulation (protects against clotting, retards plaque, improves lipids, and reduces blood pressure).

-Toxic to at least 14 kinds of cancer cells (including brain, lung, breast, gastric, and pancreatic).

In addition, garlic may be effective against drug-resistant bacteria, and research has revealed that as allicin digests in your body, it produces sulfenic acid, a compound that reacts with dangerous free radicals faster than any other known compound. This is one of the reasons in my article garlic what listed as one of the top seven anti-aging foods you can consume.

In order to get the health benefits, the fresh clove must be crushed or chopped in order to stimulate the release of an enzyme called alliinase, which in turn catalyzes the formation of allicin.

Allicin, in turn, rapidly breaks down to form a number of different organosulfur compounds. So to “activate” garlic’s medicinal properties, compress a fresh clove with a spoon prior to swallowing it, or put it through your juicer to add to your vegetable juice.

A single medium-size clove or two is usually sufficient and is well-tolerated by most people. The active ingredient, allicin, is destroyed within one hour of smashing the garlic, so garlic pills are virtually worthless. Black garlic, which is basically fermented garlic, and sprouted garlic may contain even more antioxidants than regular garlic.

Peppermint:

Peppermint offers benefits to the respiratory system, including for coughs, colds, asthma, allergies, and tuberculosis. In terms of digestive health, peppermint oil capsules have been described as “the drug of first choice” in IBS patients, and peppermint oil is an effective alternative to drugs like Buscopan for reducing colonic spasms.

It may also relax the muscles of your intestines, allowing gas to pass and easing abdominal pain. Try peppermint oil or leaves added to tea for gas relief. Inhaling the peppermint aroma may offer memory enhancement and stress relief, and peppermint oil acts as an expectorant and decongestant, and may help clear your respiratory tract.

Use peppermint essential oil as a cold rub on your chest or inhale it through a vaporizer to help clear nasal congestion and relieve cough and cold symptoms. Peppermint oil may also help relieve tension headache pain. For headache pain, try dabbing a few drops on your wrist or sprinkling a few drops on a cloth, then inhaling the aroma. You can also massage the oil directly onto your temples and forehead. Peppermint essential oil is ideal for muscle and chest rubs, headache pain, dental care, and aromatherapy. You can even add it to your homemade cleaning supplies for extra antimicrobial power and natural fragrance.

When selecting peppermint for your own use, the fresh leaves will impart a superior flavor to dried leaves (such as for use in tea). Look for fresh leaves that are green in color without any dark spots or yellowing. In addition to using fresh mint leaves in tea, you can add them to soups, fruit salad, or gazpacho. Additionally, it is really easy to grow peppermint yourself and the plant works as a highly effective deterrent to many insects that might invade your garden or your home.

“Estimated 325 million people were living with chronic hepatitis infections (HBV or HCV) worldwide in 2015.   Over 95% of people with hepatitis C can be completely cured within 2-3 months.”

World Health Organization

“Parasites and viruses can infect the liver, causing inflammation that reduces liver function.”

CDC Center for disease control and prevention