Don't Cut Back

Leaves are falling down all around us, late season perennials are producing seeds, and acorns have turned areas of ground under oak trees into what appears to be a game of marbles.  It is a time for plants in the temperate areas of the United States (like Georgia) to shed the leaves that they no longer need and for seeds to disperse. Even pine trees drop some of their needles.

Rudbeckia hirta seedhead - waiting for a bird

This is also the time of year that gardeners feel compelled to “tidy up” the garden and “put it to bed”.  What a ridiculous idea!  Does Mother Nature do that? No!  She has many good reasons for not doing so, and I’d like you to consider some of them as you ponder the list of “garden chores” that you have created for yourself.

Leaves enrich the soil as they break down and as critters like worms and beetles eat them and poop out free fertilizer.  Omnivorous birds like Brown thrashers sort through leaf litter to find and eat these creatures - so you are feeding the birds as well when you have a good layer of organic material.

Leaves feed earthworms and beetles - and feed your plants

Rake the leaves off the lawn (or chop them up with your mower) but don't let them leave your property! Giving away leaves is like giving away money.

As perennials die back, their dried stalks hold the remains of their flowers and their ripening seeds. Fluffy seed heads attract the attention of small birds like Gold finches to come feast on them.

Seedheads of Eurybia spectabilis

Plants continue to support insects even in this phase.  Larger insects and birds happily keep these insect populations in check – Mother Nature expertly uses the food chain to keep the local ecosystem balanced. Healthy populations of birds rely on these small insects being there for them.

Bugs on Eupatorium will feed others

So resist the urge to "tidy up" and let Mother Nature finish what she started.  The rest of the critters we share this place with will certainly thank you.

Honey Selected for Health and Healing

Honey for Health and Healing


Organic Raw Honey - 17.6 oz. glass jar

As a highly respected and internationally renown expert in natural health I have been using, recommending and selling only the finest honey products for many decades.

I've always used raw honey and for the most part that raw honey is organic.

I've also put together a very in depth report about the medicinal uses of honey and been products built on information I have gathered since the mid 1950s. About that time my father, a skilled and highly respected physician and surgeon, began using bee stings to keep his hands and fingers limber for the complicated surgeries he performed.

I have always liked the dark honey such as that from buckwheat because of the high amounts of antioxidants it contains. I often suggest pollen if a person has no history of bee sting reactions. These busy workers are one of the main pollinators that we depend on for our food supply. They are also being decimated by the advent of cell phones, WIFI, and digital TV microwave towers. It is a reason I have written several articles about planting for bees.

In the early 1990s I came into contact with a fellow who was a magic bee keeper and honey producer. His honey was gathered in the Cascade foothills well away from pollution and EMF. He did not filter it either so it was a rich and amazing product. And highly sought after by makers of mead.

Sometime after that I found a honey product from Alaska that was also not filtered and the producer always sent me the pollen he collected when adding screens on the hives.

Then there was a raw, certified organic honey that crossed my path, that later became questionable as to source. Sometime later this honey became a product of South America, but the organic certification was now lacking.

Shortly after coming into contact with the great folks at Tropical Traditions and their Virgin Coconut Oil, I received a bottle of the certified organic raw and unfiltered honey from Canada.

In order for honey to be certified as organic the hives have to be located far from population and industrial centers where pollution will not affect the end product. Since bees have about a four mile flight area from their home hives this are has to be assured as clean too. Tropical Traditions sources its honey from hives in the wild frontier areas of Canada.

This honey is harvested during a limited six week period of time during the summer. It is not subjected to high heat in processing so it retains all of the beneficial nutrients and enzymes. The end result is an unfiltered, very smooth and creamy textured honey. You get all the benefits of the pollen too.

"This honey is GREAT! I really savor my heaping teaspoon from time to time."

The less intrusive filtering process provides for finely textured crystals in TT raw, organic honey, preserving all the natural health benefits honey offers. And as the purveyors of this fine honey say, “Truly raw honeys do not deteriorate with age, but like fine wines, continue to age and develop into more complex tastes.”

Try some, you will love the taste.

More about honey

Selected from Natural Health News

Honey Adds Health Benefits

EPA Laxity Puts Bees at Risk

CANCER a Powerful Natural Medicine

Back to Nature - We only know that cancer can only be treated with chemo therapy. However, this perception seems to be removed and disposed of as far as possible. Why?

Because there are actually a natural remedy to kill cancer cells whose strength ten thousand times more potent than the chemo therapy.

But why do we not know?

Because one of the secret world of research findings on this matter as close-dense, they want to fund research on out are very large, for many years, may return in advance plus generous benefits by making Synthetic Graviola tree as raw material for medicine and medicine in sell to the world market.

Concern, some people have died in vain, pathetic, because the malignancy of cancer, while the giant companies, drug makers with a turnover of billions of dollars sealed secret miracle graviola tree.

Low tree, in Brazil called "Graviola", in Spanish "Guanabana" the English language "soursop". In Indonesia, sirsak. Spiny fruit is soft, white flesh, sweet taste sour / acid, eaten with the skin or the way open for the juice.

Efficacy of soursop fruit provides anti-tumor effect / cancer is very strong, and medically proven cure all types of cancer. In addition to cure cancer, soursop fruit also acts as an anti-bacterial, anti fungal (fungi), effective against many types of parasites / worms, lowering high blood pressure, depression, stress, and normalize the nervous system that are less good.

One example of how important the existence of the Health Science Institute for the American people is to institute revealing the secrets of this magical fruit.

Skin Benefits of Bananas

Back to Nature - Banana is a fruit that many people enjoy. They like it because it tastes good and sweet. In addition to delicious bananas have a lot of minerals that are needed for the body. Bananas are rich in minerals such as potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, and iron.

When compared with other types of plant foods, bananas minerals, particularly iron, is almost entirely (100 percent) can be absorbed by the body.

Based on dry weight, iron content of bananas reached 2 milligrams per 100 grams and 0.8 mg zinc. Compare with apples, which contains only 0.2 mg of iron and 0.1 mg of zinc to weight 100 grams.

Vitamin content is very high, especially provitamin A, beta-carotene that is, by 45 mg per 100 g dry weight, while the apple is only 15 mg. Bananas also contain vitamin B, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and vitamin B6 (piridoxin).

The content of vitamin B6 bananas is quite high, amounting to 0.5 mg per 100 grams. In addition to functioning as a coenzyme for several reactions in metabolism, vitamin B6 plays a role in protein synthesis and metabolism, especially serotonin. Serotonin is believed to play an active role as a neurotransmitter in the smooth functioning of the brain.

Vitamin B6 also plays a role in the metabolism of energy derived from carbohydrates. The role of vitamin B6 is clearly supporting the availability of energy for the brain to daily activities. In this article will not talk about the benefits of bananas but more to the benefit of a banana skin.

These are some of the benefits of banana peels;

- To purify water from heavy metal pollution.

Heavy metals are pollutants that are harmful to the environment and health. In the human body, these pollutants can accumulate and lead to negative impacts in the long run or even be passed on to the next generation.

by a small cut or chop up a banana peel and then incorporate into water that was polluted will make a banana skin to absorb heavy metals such as lead and copper so that the water becomes unsuitable for consumption.

- To cure warts.
banana peel can be used to cure warts, by cutting and pasting small banana peel on the wart with a plaster
- Shoe polish
Surely this is not you think, turned out to be a banana skin shoe polish. way too easy, simply applied to the shoes then the shoes will be shiny like it had been polished.
- Relieves pain
Banana peels contain a nutritious vegetable oil as a pain reliever. The trick stick a banana skin clean and fresh to parse the pain on a burn or scratched.

It is some of the benefits of a banana skin, hopefully can help you when in a state of urgency.

How Do You Talk To Your Kids About Food Without Making Them Crazy?

I appreciate all of my readers comments. That isn't just lip service. A 'way to go' does alot to brighten my day. And I rarely counter a negative comment because if someone is motivated to tell me off then they probably had a pretty good reason. As a blogger (and intelligent human being), it is my responsibility to be open to listen. We can all grow and learn from constructive criticism.

Last week I posted about a conversation I had had with Thing 1 on junk food. The conversation was precious because he freely shared information with me, which I always love. And because he was in such a sharing mood, I asked a few questions that I thought were harmless. And Thing 1 answered them happily. I received several interesting comments which gave me some perspective on our family's struggle with the omnipresent junk food monster. And then, I received this comment:

"Honestly, anything that is preceded: "Because it's OK if you did...you can tell me" is a TRAP! This is true in marriage, parenting, etc- not that it isn't OK for them to tell you, but obviously there will be consequences if the asker does not receive the answer they want.

I mean, he's what- three? Four? How many times a day, for how many days of his life, are you going to make what he eats an issue? If it were me, I would learn to lie just to avoid another barrage of questions. He may end up feeling paranoid with how insistent you are to know what he's putting in his mouth 24-7- and hey, it's your prerogative as a parent.

But since you're asking for feedback, I will tell you that I think you are setting your kid up to hide candy bar wrappers in old shoe boxes in his closet because he doesn't want to disappoint you.

Lay off a little bit...You can be an advocate for your children to eat healthy food, but sometimes when you try too hard to push them into a mold (even for good, solid reasons- like health) you end up getting the opposite reaction because, well, you'll end up coming off as obnoxious. I don't think I'd want to be asked about ANYTHING when I come home from a long day as much you've asked him about his food in the above conversation. By saying "It's OK if you did" and then asking 20 follow-up questions about what he ate suggests to him that his initial answer wasn't satisfactory to you and he's obviously trying to avoid the subject by "looking off into space"- this is learned behavior that is supposed to signal, "Jeez lady, drop the darn food thing already..." "

Well then. Okay. I kept the comment in my inbox for several days. I reread it a few times to soak in the author's intentions and perspective. I think there are some valid points to be had here. First and foremost, trusting your child and involving him in family decisions is paramount to building a strong relationship with him. Also, pushing a child into a tight mold doesn't always work and can strain one's relationship with their child and possibly even eventually alienate him from you in adulthood. Wasn't that the overarching message of Tiger Mom?

But one other point in this comment leaves me frustrated. The very idea that eliminating or at all limiting junk food from my child's diet would drive a wedge between my child and I is completely preposterous. I write this blog to share my experiences with other parents who have similar beliefs and share information that supports my beliefs. And what I have found is that there are many many other parents searching for the same thing, a safe food environment for their kids. Our food Nirvana is one without food coloring, chemical preservatives and excessive sugar. I want to give my kids good food, and in writing this blog I have connected with other parents who want to do the same. Isn't that what a blog IS? In spite of the shortness of the junk food conversation with Thing 1, if my strong relationship with my child hasn't come through in the post then I have to assume that my writing was sub-par. I admit this particular article was hastily written. I take full responsibility.

But the commenter brings up a good point on which I have been meaning to touch. Does talking to your kids about healthy food versus unhealthy food create anxiety in your child? Will this dialogue lead to eating disorders like hoarding, binging and even anorexia?

Dietitians and nutritionists LOVE to tell us not to label foods healthy or unhealthy for fear that the general public will not be able to cope with our guilt when we do indulge. Pediatric nutritionists also sound the warning call about creating anorexia and bulimia in our children. But at their core, eating disorders are anxiety disorders. In certain cases, I can imagine the extremely high standards of perfectionist parents can create anxiety in a child. I have seen it happen and I imagine you have also. Especially when there is more than one area of a child's life where perfection is expected like food, academics and sports. All the stress to perform can manifest in a food related anxiety disorder like anorexia. But often the food itself is just the tool of the anxiety. In the fascinating book Drinking A Love Story, Caroline Knapp writes of only sober period as the year when she traded alcoholism for anorexia. For a time starving herself was her way of coping. Once she started abusing alcohol as a coping mechanism again, the anorexia was no longer needed and disappeared. The topic of anorexia is complex, it goes way beyond a fear of food and often incorporates fear, anxiety and control issues. Anorexia often surfaces in a young person who feels powerless. One's diet is something over which one can execute considerable control.

Telling your four year old that potato chips are junk will not create anorexia in you child. Such a statement would be a trite insult to those suffering with such a debilitating disorder. Furthermore, placing limits on junk food will also not cause binging and hoarding. And if you explain yourself, as parents should in order to teach their children, your children can begin to understand WHY you might choose to limit junk food.

Of course intention is key, telling your child that junk food is unhealthy for them is a very different message than junk food makes you fat and it is bad to be fat. It is also different than constantly berating them or cruelly reminding them that junk food is unhealthy. Be sure, my conversations with my kids are occasional and center around feeling strong, growing tall, managing their hunger and having energy. I don't tell my kids that it is bad to be fat, every child carries weight differently as they move in and out of growth spurts. And weight or appearance is something over which a child has very little control. Inferring that a child would be unlovable if they were overweight might indeed create anxiety in said child. I would love my kids desperately no matter what they looked like.

In fact I believe that if you are eating real food, your body will do what it needs to do to and be what it needs to be. Eating real food and not processed garbage has gone a long way toward helping me to accept my own body. Eating real food has also helped me not fall to pieces when I indulge in cake or potato chips. Truly, a piece of cake can be part of a nourishing and healthy diet, but in order to say that first you have to have a truly nourishing and healthy diet. I don't advocate perfection. And anyone reading this blog for any length of time has seen me post about my family's lack of perfection.

In light of that comment I wrote The Grinch That Stole Halloween and tried to clearly articulate all of the above. I wanted to communicate that the holiday was fun, that we were excited to participate and even have some candy! But that I had issues with the focus of the holiday being JUST candy and gluttony. That is like Christmas just being about the presents, and most people seem to agree that there is more to Christmas than presents. Remember too that Halloween was a precursor to All Saints Day where we remember the saints who have all passed on. It is a time of year to honor the dead. Born out of an older pagan ritual, people would dress up in costumes the night before so that the awoken spirits would not recognize them. And so that they could do mean things to others with impunity. The candy thing is a modern alteration.

Then I got this comment...

"Between your interrogation of your four about what he eats everyday, and this trick or treating thing...I have to conclude that I am extremely happy you aren't my mom! Aren't there better, greater things to worry about than if your kid eats a few Butterfingers one day a year? Your house sounds like no fun."

Okay. The first comment I took to heart. I thought it was important that I truly examine my interactions with my children when it comes to food. Also I would hate to alienate a regular reader, I value you guys. But after the second comment...well...I had to ask myself does this person even regularly read my blog? This is a non-processed food blog. It is a blog about feeding one's kids REAL food, not convenience foods. It is a blog about challenging the accepted notion that we should gorge on sugar and fat whenever we get the chance. Has this person read any of the other stuff I have written against sugar? See here and here and here--those links are ALL different.

Seriously, if you can't imagine giving up candy, I have to question what you are eating. Candy tastes terrible. My homemade pizza, creamy sausage pasta, marinated steak, buttery mashed potatoes, crispy pork tacos in homemade tortillas and homemade maple granola all taste better than the crappy Kraft caramel I had this week that had a grainy texture and flat flavor.

What about Allergenic kids? Do they grow up angry with their parents because they cannot eat peanuts, gluten or whatever they are allergic to? What about children brought up as Kosher? Do they feel like their parents have deprived them of pork and shellfish? What about them? Is there a greater risk of binging and hoarding among those kids? No. Because they are given a logical reason why they cannot eat those foods. My kids can choose as adults if they want to follow this way of life or not. It will be there choice at that point.

All I am saying is that I am giving my kids real reasons why we eat this way. We embrace fat because we understand that it is important in appetite control, proper cell function and even brain function. We eat pastured animals because they are healthier, resulting in meat that is higher in Omega-3's which are heart healthy, as opposed to CAFO meat which are higher in Omega-6's. We avoid sugar because it is implicated in cancer and heart disease, obesity and Diabetes, degenerative diseases. Hell, sugar is even implicated in Restless Leg Syndrome.

My kids NEED to know about food. It is not some little part of our lives. So they get fewer lollipops growing up than I did. Why is that important? Our children's generation is the first in the history of our nation to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. I damn well better be doing SOMETHING to help my children have a healthy life with food and without sugar, or else I can't say I have done all I can as a parent. This isn't about weight or looks, it is about health.

And lastly, comments like this do alot to intimidate us as healthy parents into not speaking our minds about the way that we raise our kids. And I for one will NOT be intimidated into raising a child that eats the Standard American Diet. If you don't like what I am feeding my kids, you can go read someone else's blog.

This post is shared with Fight Back Fridays and Fat Tuesday and Simple Lives Thursdays

Benefits of Avocado Fruits for Health

Back to Nature - Avocado has a scientific name Persea Americana Mill., Persea gratissima Gaertn. Avocados contain lots of dietary fiber and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA). Avocado can be enjoyed with ice cream, juice or can be eaten without any other food ingredients are mixed. Many researchers from various countries seeking the benefits of avocado fruit to health. Japanese researchers found one of the benefits of an avocado is to reduce liver damage.


The content in the fruit Avocado:
- Avocados have a fat lot, but we need not fear because healthy fats include avocado fat, because didominasikan monounsaturated fatty acid oleic which are powerful antioxidants. Fat avocados help lower "bad cholesterol" LDL cholesterol while raising "good cholesterol" HDL, thus significantly reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack.
- The ability is reinforced by the content of beta-carotene, chlorophyll, vitamin E, and vitamin B-complex that a lot of avocados. Perpetrators vegetarians generally get less than optimal intake of fat, because they do not eat meat (which is always rich in fat). In addition to expect adequate intake of fat from cooking oil, avocado could be another option to meet the body's need for fat.

Got PAIN? Let Us Help You with Natural and Custom Remedies

This isn't new news.  I've read and re-read articles on this very topic for years and I have yet to see mainstream medicine, CDC, or even Big PhRMA do anything to address this other than a move to control it by and or through legislation (which really has yet to be effective).

I have yet to see a real patient-centered approach used to focus on a person's real needs for pain treatment and a very directed and proactive appraoch to this issue.

See our Natural Pain Relief information linked below or ask us about Health Forensics or customized pain relief remedies.

Painkiller overdose 'epidemic' strikes US
Kerry Sheridan AFP
November 2, 2011

Lethal overdoses from prescription painkillers have tripled in the past decade and now account for more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined, US health authorities say.The quantity of painkillers on the market is so high that it would be enough to medicate every American with a standard dose of Vicodin every four hours for one full month, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)."The unfortunate and in fact shocking news is that we are in the midst of an epidemic of prescription drug overdose in this country. It is an epidemic but it can be stopped," said CDC chief Thomas Frieden."In fact, now the burden of dangerous drugs is being created more by a few irresponsible doctors than by drug pushers on street corners."The CDC Vital Signs report focused on opioid pain relievers, including oxycodone, methadone and hydrocodone, better known as Vicodin, which have quadrupled in sales to pharmacies, hospitals and doctors' offices since 1999.Last year, 12 million Americans reported taking prescription painkillers for recreational uses, not because of a medical condition.The number of deaths from overdoses of opioid pain relievers has more than tripled from 4000 people in 1999 to 14,800 people in 2008.

The epidemic is at its height among middle-aged white men and American Indians or Alaska natives, the CDC said.

Pain Relief Naturally

Rural and poor areas tend to have the highest prescription drug overdose death rates.

Deaths from prescription drugs made up almost 75 per cent of overdose deaths in which a drug was specified on the death certificate, the CDC said, noting that deaths and hospitalisations have increased in parallel with the boost in supply.The sales rate of the three opioids included in the study reached 7.1 kilograms per 10,000 population last year, or the same as 710 milligrams per person in the United States."Enough OPR (opioid pain relievers) were prescribed last year to medicate every American adult with a standard pain treatment dose of five milligrams of hydrocodone (Vicodin and others) taken every four hours for a month," the CDC said.Even though a relatively small portion of the US population admits abusing prescription painkillers, the costs to health insurance companies are huge, $US72.5 billion per year, according to the report.States could do a better job of regulating the problem via drug monitoring records and insurance claims information that "can identify and address inappropriate prescribing and use by patients", the report said.More laws targeting so-called "pill mills", which are prescribing at higher than normal rates in particularly affected states, could also cut back on the problem, it said."State policy can make a huge difference in either controlling or allowing this epidemic to proceed," said Frieden. "States should rigorously monitor who is prescribing and to whom."

Selections from Natural Health News

Natural Health News: Hands on Healing for Pain and So Much More

Jul 28, 2011

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Sep 30, 2011

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Natural Health News: Pain Relief Short Changes Women

Sep 29, 2008

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Natural Health News: Chili Counters Pain

Apr 28, 2010

To me it is interesting that news of the well known - for a very long time - benefits of cayenne as a pain remedy reports as if no one has ever heard of this benefit. But in case you've been in the dark on this wonderful ...