More Food Garnishing Ideas

As I've already mentioned, the possibilities of decorating with food are endless.

Here are some easy and quick ideas for garnishing a vegetable platter, along with a recipe for dip to go with it. Tools required are a ridged knife and a flower-shaped (or other) cookie cutter.

Take a ridged knife and slice a peeled, organic carrot. Set aside.

Take an organic cucumber and cut into thin slices. Cut each slice into flower shapes with a cookie cutter.

Now, alternating the carrot and cucumber slices, lay down in a nice row, shaping the arrangement to suit the platter and available space.

If you want to get really, really fancy, the sky's the limit! The Chef's Depot website (picture courtesy of Chef's Depot) offers professional quality tools to go as far as you your imaginations will take you.

I got this lovely set of top quality garnishing tools on eBay last year at a really great price - and I still have yet to use even half of them. I've found there are certain favorite garnishes that I like to make over and over.

Not surprisingly, they are the simpler and faster ones. Still, I look forward to increasing my repertory in the future.

Here's the raw dip recipe that I always make to bring with a raw vegetable platter, because I have yet to find anyone who doesn't love it, regardless of how carnivorous they might be.

Shay's Ranch Dressing and Dip
Shay is the chief Chef at Hallelujah Acres in Shelby, North Carolina
Taken from "Hallelujah Acres Special Occasion" cookbook

1 cup Grapeseed Vegannaise (or homemade "mayonnaise")
1 TBL Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tsp Honey
1-1/2 tsp dried Chives
2 tsp either Chinese 5 Spice or Oriental Seasoning
1/4 tsp Onion Powder

Just stir everything together til it's nicely mixed, and let it marinate at least a few hours or overnight. It will go very quickly!

This makes a small amount, so you may want to double it. The Vegannaise is expensive, so if you can, make your own nut-based "mayonnaise". I'll give a recipe out soon for one.

Til next time, enjoy!

Phyllis Towse

Garnishing and Basic Food Presentation

In yesterday's article, The Art of Garnishing, we talked a little about why we might want to add some garnishing touches to a meal, remembering the well used adage "presentation is everything".

But, even more basic than garnishing is choosing foods that complement each other in color, texture, and, of course, taste. You wouldn't want to serve an all brown meal; it just doesn't look appetizing.

Add some small sprigs of parsley, or a single leaf of curly kale to the plate. Just slicing a regular, organic radish into thin slices, then arranging along the outside of a black plate adds a lovely touch to any lunch or dinner.

Bits of organic lemon or orange peel (called the zest) topping off a dessert or salad, or arranged artistically in a few places around the plate just before serving, dress up the whole meal!

Okay, so how to do the rose radishes mentioned in the last article?

Click here for a nice, detailed set of instructions online with pictures for radish fans, radish roses, green onion and celery curls, matchstick carrots and turnips. It just takes a small, sharp kitchen knife to make these.I put my fun creations into distilled water, room temp, the night before and leave in the refrigerator overnight. If you need them later in the day, then by all means put them into ice cold water and refrigerate for several hours. These particular garnishes will usually last 3-4 days if refrigerated, and the soak water changed at least once.

Another neat, simple and quick garnish is the tomato rose. Using a sharp paring knife, lightly peel around a firm, organic tomato skin, without breaking the cut, making one long peel.

Maybe you have done this with an apple as a kid, trying to see if you can peel the entire apple skin without lifting the vegetable peeler or knife blade? Or am I the only adult who still likes to do these things?

Anyway, once you have at least most of the peel off, gently take it and tightly roll it up to make the center, and then loosely roll the rest of the peel into the shape of a rose. This looks so elegant in a vegetable platter or tray, or on any plate and people will always ask what it is and how you made it.

Click here for a nice video on YouTube to see exactly how it is done, and how easy it is.

We'll look at some more garnishing tricks tomorrow. Hope these were helpful!

Phyllis Towse

The Art of Garnishing

Want to make this Thanksgiving dinner extra special?

Try adding a little extra fancy touch to your dishes this year.

They say, "Presentation is everything", and that's not far from the truth. It may not be everything (let's hope health value counts for more!), but it can certainly make the dish more appealing and eye-catching.

This begins a series of articles on "The Art of Garnishing" that I hope will help encourage you to experiment and add a few easy but impressive additions to your Thanksgiving meal this year - or any time!

Garnishing can range from really simple radish roses to elegant and complicated baskets and animal shapes. Some take minutes, some a couple of days to prepare. Some will last a few days, some only a few hours.

You can prepare fancy vegetables, fruits, potatoes, eggs, cheese, fish, chocolate, all kinds of desserts, etc., etc . The list and possibilities are nearly endless! And it is a lot of fun, too, to give your meals that extra special, loving touch.

So, after reviewing the possibilities, decide on the one(s) you think will work best for you in your particular circumstances.

There are several good books available to show you, step-by-step, how to do many different types of food garnishings, as well as videos for sale, but these tend to be more on the expensive side.

There are also free videos online that can show you "live" how to do them, so if this style of learning works for you, definitely check them out. I will be listing some of these resources through these articles.

First, you will need some tools. To begin simply, look for things you probably already have in your kitchen, such as cookie cutters, melon baller, vegetable peeler and, of course, a sharp knife.

You can do a lot with these simple and ordinary tools!

The next tool that I would recommend getting is a lemon zester. You can make fancy cucumber slices and carrot displays, and get really thin slices of lemon peel (organic, of course) with one of these.

If you're really eager to get going, click here for an excellent site to help get you started.

Til next time,

Phyllis Towse

Preparing for Thanksgiving Dinner

It's another wet and rainy November day today in upstate New York. It would be a perfect day to start baking cookies and pies to freeze for Thanksgiving dinner........

Oh wait, the Standard American Diet (SAD)'s version of sweet treats is loaded with harmful, artery clogging, cholesterol building and diabetes contributing ingredients, isn't it? I guess I'll use this time to do something constructive, instead.

So how can those of us who eat mostly healthy, whole, raw, organic, ripe fruits and vegetables do a little advance preparation for the holidays?

We can start now by deciding on menus for over the holidays, and then making our lists and doing the shopping for those items that don't need to be perfectly fresh such as lettuce or fruits, etc. If you do bulk orders online, you will want to leave plenty of time for delivery.

There are some dishes, of course, that can be prepared ahead of time and frozen, even with raw foods. I'm thinking primarily of raw pies like banana-coconut-cream pie, but there are others.

One of the best things about eating raw or mostly raw is that the preparation can be extremely simple and doesn't have to take a lot of time. Of course, you can also get as fancy and complicated as you'd like to, a holiday is a wonderful time to do something special and fancy, but it is not necessary.

Check out my list of recipes and maybe you'll see something different that you'd like to try. I love trying new things, and discovering a new favorite. That "eggnog" is soooooo good - even my carnivorous husband likes it, though he insists it is not eggnog.

Don't forget the presentation, either, when you are serving your dishes. You spent time and energy making them, so you should show them off to their best advantage. I will do an article on food presentation in the very near future.

The Real Meaning of Thanksgiving

I did a Google search on what the real meaning of our American holiday of Thanksgiving is, and depending on the wording, came up with between 271,000 and 494,000 results.

It's interesting to me that there are so many different ideas about such an historical event. And, especially, that so many people are wanting us to believe that it has nothing whatsoever to do with God. Some even go on to say that the Pilgrims viciously attacked the Indians.

Talk about re-writing history.

I am going to do something a little differently today and quote Newt Gingrich extensively, because he says it so very well. He says that "the first Thanksgiving celebration in America was a completely religious observance that didn’t include a feast." So much for turkey and stuffing!

"It occurred in 1619 — more than a year before the Pilgrims arrived from Massachusetts. A group of 38 English settlers arrived in Virginia and set aside a day to give thanks to God for their safe passage. The three-day festival of food and friendship that was the origin of Thanksgiving as we know it today didn’t occur until 1621.

Ever since, Thanksgiving has been a time for Americans not just to celebrate privately in our homes but to give public thanks to God — and not just for our material blessings but for our freedom. Our earliest Thanksgivings were in times when that freedom was at its most vulnerable.

In 1789, George Washington issued a proclamation calling for a day of “public thanksgiving and prayer” — a day for Americans to acknowledge “the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

But Washington didn’t just say that individual Americans should thank God. He proclaimed that nations — especially the one-year-old United States of America — have obligations to God as well. He wrote, “It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.”

But it wasn’t until more than 70 years later — at a time when America faced its greatest crisis — that Thanksgiving became a yearly celebration.

The Civil War was raging. Three months earlier, the Battle of Gettysburg had left 50,000 Americans killed, wounded or missing. Riots were tearing apart American cities.

In the midst of this chaos, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed in October 1863 that the last Thursday of November should henceforth be set aside as a day of thanksgiving."

End of long but very informative quote.

It is my favorite holiday because it is the only holiday in our country, to my knowledge, that isn't based on some pagan celebration that the Roman Catholic Church pasted over to try to keep people from participating in.

I like to set aside a special time each Thanksgiving and thank God for all of His many blessings over the past year. They are so many!

The stores may not make as much money over the Thanksgiving holiday, and some stores (like Lowe's) skip it entirely and are already in full Christmas regalia. I understand the economics here, but still, it seems a shame to me.

Hope this little glimpse into history was helpful.

Phyllis Towse

Carob versus Raw Cacao

There are some raw foodists out there today proclaiming the wonders and benefits of eating raw chocolate - or cacao, as it is properly called. These self-styled "experts" claim that it is a "superfood" and a healthy "food" in which to indulge on a regular basis.

Sounds great, doesn't it? It did to me. But, let's look at just some of the properties of the cacao bean and then compare it to carob.

Cacao is known to have caffeine and theobromine, which can be addictive and can cause an allergic reaction.

Caffeine and theobromine are stimulants. I dealt with the effects of caffeine in an earlier article.

Theobromine is a bitter alkaloid of the cacao plant. According to Wikipedia, "Cacao beans contain about 1.2% theobromine by weight, while processed chocolate generally has smaller amounts."

So in the raw state, it is much more unhealthy for us. Remember, just because something is "raw", doesn't necessarily mean it is healthy for us.

Processed chocolate is safe for most humans to eat, but not so for animals. Did you ever wonder why we're told not to give chocolate to dogs or cats? (or horses, for that matter) Here's the reason:

They are unable to metabolize the chemical effectively. If they are fed chocolate, the theobromine will remain in their bloodstream for up to 20 hours. Medical treatment involves inducing vomiting within two hours of ingestion and contacting a veterinarian.

The first signs of theobromine poisoning are: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and increased urination. These can progress to cardiac arrhythmias, epileptic seizures, internal bleeding, heart attacks, and eventually death.

Carob, on the other hand, is free from both caffeine and theobromine. It is naturally sweet, so less sweetener is needed in recipes, unlike with chocolate.

It is up to 8% protein and contains vitamins A, B, B2, B3 and D. It is also high in calcium, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium." It also contains other minerals.

It is, therefore, a much safer and healthier alternative to chocolate or raw cacao.

Either raw or toasted carob powder can be substituted for cocoa powder in any recipe. Try it in your next banana smoothie for a real treat!

Phyllis Towse

Variety, the Spice of ....... Gluttony?

Yesterday I talked about appetite versus hunger, where hunger is the general desire for nourishment, and appetite is a specific craving for a particular food.

When we are truly hungry we will eat anything offered to us. Not so when we are craving something - we might think we are hungry, but our reaction to what is offered us will reveal which it is.

Also, that growling in your stomach has nothing to do with being hungry - it does have to do with having gas! True hunger is a sensation at the back of the throat, something most of us blessed to have been born in this country have never really felt.

Today I'd like to touch on the dangers of an overabundance of variety in our meals.

When I was eating the disease-producing Standard American Diet, my very favorite place to eat out at was at a Chinese buffet. Boy, all you can stuff into yourself for about $8, what a deal!

I had to sample most of the dishes, and of course load up on the ones I knew I really liked. And I did want to get my money's worth!

And of course everyone else there was doing exactly the same thing, so it was easy to excuse and ignore my greed and gluttony.

Our great country offers a plethora of buffets, from breakfasts to dinners, with Chinese to Indian to American cuisines, so I'm guessing I was not the only one who loved to partake of them.

There is also the concept of food combining, more of which I will speak at a later time. For now, I'll just say that eating all those different kinds of foods one right after another was doing horrible things inside my poor body.

Thanksgiving is particularly noted for the (over)abundance of food. When the early pilgrims originally gave thanks to God for His blessings and provision, part of their gratitude was for the food He provided them.

They were far more limited in the foods they celebrated with, by necessity, of course. We are so blessed in this country that the vast majority of us know no such limitations. Most of us go all out at Thanksgiving, doing our best to be sure there are plenty of foods to offer that everyone will like.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this! One way we tend to show love is with food, which can be a problem, of course, if that is the only way we can show it, but I'm not talking about that here.

Those of us who cook for our loved ones want to please them. That is a good thing!

But there is danger to our health in wanting to try everything at the table, because it's just too much for our bodies to handle, in variety, content, and quantity. So maybe use some self-control and try to limit what you want to sample this Thanksgiving. Your body will thank you for it!

More "food" for thought...

Phyllis Towse

Appetite versus Hunger

There is a huge difference between appetite and hunger.

According to Dr. Douglas Graham, author of the 80/10/10 Diet, "The goal of hunger is to satisfy a nutritional requirement...... We are driven to eat to fill this need and rewarded by the pleasure of it. Because hunger is the general desire for food, when one is truly hungry, any food will be acceptable."

How many times have your kids whined, "I'm hungry!" and you tell them they can have a banana or an apple, and they turn it down because what they are really asking for is that cookie, Twinkie or Oreo? Did you for one minute think they were really hungry?

Dr. Graham goes on to say, "Appetite, on the other hand, is specific - we desire a specific food or foods. Appetite is also the socially acceptable word for craving, which in turn is the socially acceptable word for addiction."

Strong words, but if you stop and really, honestly think about it, you'll see that he is on to something. This is what Natural Hygienists teach. Victoria Boutenko has written a book on "12 Steps to Raw Food: How to End Your Addiction to Cooked Food", newly revised and now entitled, "12 Steps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Dependence on Cooked Food" that is helpful.

Consider this scenario: You've just eaten your fill of a big meal, you enjoyed it immensely, and are quite full. You are offered more mashed potatoes, but you grab your stomach and protest, "Oh, no, I couldn't possibly eat another bite! I am stuffed!!"

But then dessert, maybe a freshly baked apple pie with ice cream on top, along with your favorite flavored coffee, is served, and you say, "Oh, I guess I have a little room left" and proceed to have two slices and two cups of coffee, because it all tastes so good.

That is an example of appetite. And of course it will be played out and intensified over the Thanksgiving holiday.

It's tough to change things if we're not aware either of the problem, or we don't know how to change. Knowledge is key, and I hope these articles will be of help to you.

Phyllis Towse

Holiday Recipes

These are some of my favorite holiday recipes!

Most are compiled from other sources, to which I have given credit where known. A few are my own versions. I hope you will enjoy them!


Desserts

Quick and Simple Apple Pie

Crust:
1-1/4 cups sunflower seeds
3/4 cup raisins
1 Tbl carob powder

Filling:
5-6 medium apples (green)
3/4 cup raw honey
juice from 1/2 lemon
1 Tbl cinnamon
dash of cloves
shredded coconut
1 banana, kiwi for topping (optional)

Instructions for Crust:
Process ingredients in food processor until finely g round and mixture sticks together.
Line 9" pie plate with mixture.

Instructions for Filling:
In a food processor, pulse chop apples into small pieces (not into sauce!).
In a bowl, mix chopped apples, cinnamon, lemon juice, honey and dash of cloves.
Scoop mixture into pie crust.
Save the juice that remains.
Level out with a spatula. Sprinkle coconut flakes over top.

When ready to serve, drizzle remaining juice over pie.
Cut fruit into thin slices and place on top of flakes in circles.

Source: www.living-foods.com

"Pumpkin Pie" Pudding

Serves 4

5 figs
10 pitted dates
1 cup walnuts, soaked 6-8 hours, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup grated carrots
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Adding ingredients a little at a time, blend until creamy in food processor with the "S" blade.

Source: Susan Schenck, "The Live Food Factor"


Drinks

Gail's Spiced Pumpkin Latte

2 cup raw almonds (soaked overnight)
10 Medjool dates (soaked 3-4 hours)
2/3 cup organic canned pumpkin or fresh steamed pumpkin
1 -1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup Roma, Cafix, or Oskri's Barley Coffee
4 1/2 cups distilled water

Place all ingredients in vita mix (or other powerful blender) and process on high until well blended - serve over ice and ENJOY.

(Use the sweet water the dates have been soaked in as part of the 4 1/2 cups of distilled water. This recipe will keep in the refrigerator 2-3 days. Stir well before serving. Half or quarter recipe ingredients for smaller batches.)

Hallelujah Acres Recipes

Eggnog

2 cups almond milk
1 cup macadamia nuts
1/2 cup raw honey
1 Tbl cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 vanilla bean
1 banana

Blend all in Vita-Mix blender.

Source: PaulNison.com

My own notes:
Substitutions: pitted dates for the honey; soy or rice milk for almond milk; 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract for the vanilla bean.

Cold Spiced Cider

1 quart apple cider or fresh apple juice
1/2 cup honey
6 lemon slices
12 whole cloves
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
6 cinnamon sticks

Combine all ingredients but the cinnamon sticks; let stand one hour. Strain.
Pour into 6 mugs. Add cinnamon sticks to each mug for stirring.

Yield: 6 3/4 cup servingss.
Source: Feasting on Raw Foods

Entrees

Raw Mashed “Potatoes”

1 small head cauliflower, broken into florets
1/4 cup cashews
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced (or to taste)
1/4 cup olive or other cold pressed, unrefined and unheated oil, or to taste
sea salt to taste
black pepper to taste

In a food processor, grind cashews fine.
Add cauliflower, and garlic, and process fine.
Add olive oil until mixture looks like fluffy mashed potatoes.
Remove from food processor and sprinkle on black pepper to taste.
Serve with gravy.

Mushroom Gravy

1/2 cup almonds, soaked 12 hours or overnight
1/2 cup distilled water
2-1/2 cup shiitake or portabello mushrooms
1 clove garlic (or 1/4 tsp powdered garlic)
2 tsp Bragg Liquid Aminos
water, as necessary

In a food processor, grind almonds fine.
Add remainder of ingredients, and process to paste, adding water as necessary.

Healthy Holiday Eating!

Briefly, here are the tips I gave in the first part of this series on How to Eat Healthfully this Thanksgiving - and Enjoy it!:

1. Make a couple of healthy dishes to bring and to share
2. Eat a healthy snack or a meal prior to the get together - fill up if necessary
3. Eat or drink something sweet but healthy prior to satisfy that craving for unhealthy sweets
4. Brush your teeth right before
5. Have the right frame of mind - you are not being deprived!
6. Decide before you go how you want to eat to lessen chances of succumbing to temptation

A note about #6. It is completely your decision how far you want to go to be healthy. Your motivation will depend on your perceived need and your desire.

I say "perceived" because if we're eating the Standard American Diet, eventually we will become sick, diseased, and die prematurely from cancer, heart disease, diabetes, or other complication. But if you're young and your body is still nobly battling against the fuel you are giving it, or you feel like you're not in that bad shape, then you won't perceive your need to be that great.

And who wants to change something they enjoy, even if they know it's not good for them (everything in moderation, right?) unless they know they really have to. My response to that moderation thing is, Would you take arsenic in moderation, too?

Arsenic may do the job quicker, but unhealthy "food" is just as deadly.

Maybe you want to eat healthfully all year long, and then indulge with family and friends twice a year at Thanksgiving and Christmas. That's perfectly fine, if that helps you stay on track the rest of the year.

This isn't about doing "it" perfectly - and it's not about guilt or beating ourselves up when we "fall off the wagon". This is about continuing to move in the direction of eating and living a healthy lifestyle.

The neat thing about eating healthy, getting lots of exercise, fresh air and sunshine, is that we begin to feel better, healthier; we have more energy, and those extra pounds just drop off. People tell us that we glow with good health!

Even long-standing physical problems begin to go away, all because we've given our bodies the proper fuel so that they can heal themselves. How marvelous!

I will be posting recipes as quickly as I can, to give you more options and alternatives to eat healthy during this season. So please check back often for updates.

I will give credit to the authors whenever possible; if I miss giving credit it is because I don't recall where I got that particular recipe from and would appreciate if anyone who knows would tell me so that I may give proper credit.

Phyllis Towse

Still More Dangers of Salt!

We continue in this article to talk about more of the dangers of Salt.

According to Paul Bragg N.D. Ph.D. in "Healthy Heart: Keep Your Cardiovascular System Healthy and Fit at any Age", ... it cannot be digested, assimilated or utilized by the body. He also says that it may bring on troubles in the kidneys, bladder, heart, arteries, veins and blood vessels.

He further states that it "interferes with the normal digestion of food. Pepsin, an enzyme found in the hydrochloric acid of the stomach, is essential for the digestion of proteins. When salt is used, only 50% as much pepsin is secreted as would otherwise be the case...... The result is excessive putrefaction of protein, and in some cases, gas and digestive distress."

Dr. Bernard Jensen says this in "Health Magic Through Chlorophyll": Liquid chlorophyll contains the most potent, vital cell salts a person can take into the body. When we crave salt, I feel it is because the body doesn't have all the elements it should have from these greens."

Dr. Russell L. Blaylock includes salt in his list of deadly excitotoxins in his book, "Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills".

Most cultures do not use salt as a food. We know that it was used for centuries to preserve meat when no other method was available. We have refrigerators for that purpose today!

The Egyptians used salt for embalming, which seems like a much better use for it to me.

It does add flavor to otherwise bland food, such as foods that have lost all their flavor and nutrients through the cooking process.

What about the iodine that is in salt that our bodies need?

The small amount of iodine necessary to the health of our thyroid that is present in table salt can be obtained through adding to your diet small amounts of sea vegetables, such as dulse flakes, nori, kelp, etc.

Surprisingly, strawberries are also a good source of iodine.

You can dehydrate your own celery, chopped up, to add to any dish for a salty flavor. Rinsed sea vegetables such as dulse flakes, nori, kelp, etc., are also good substitutes.

Better yet, just learn to enjoy uncooked fruits and vegetables for their own delicious flavors!

Phyllis Towse

Tips for Eating Healthy this Thanksgiving!

It seems hard to believe, but Thanksgiving will be here again before we know it.

Thanksgiving - a time of giving thanks to God for His abundant blessings, and a time to be with family that maybe we haven't seen all year. Lots of food, laughter, football games on tv, food, the sound of of children playing, more food, lots of talking and catching up, and still more food.

Let's face it, food is a HUGE part of this holiday. So how can we get through this holiday without those extra pounds and that feeling of regret the day after?

I've seen lots of tips on the internet and in magazines for eating "healthy" - but they include the usual turkey, mashed potatoes with cow's milk, and gravy made with a little less oil than usual. Is this really healthy?

If you really want mashed potatoes, at least make your own and use a nut milk, drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil or safflower oil into it, and add some herbs. But please skip the turkey!

But, if you really want to eat healthfully this year, I've got some ideas that will help.

• Make a couple of healthy dishes to bring and to share – one entree and one dessert. Extra food is always appreciated and often will be a good conversation starter. It may also help someone there who wants to eat healthy but isn't sure how and doesn't know that there are delicious options.
  

Of course if you are hosting the get-together, what you make is completely up to you! And it will be one Thanksgiving everyone is sure to remember.

• If you are going out, eat something really healthy first, before you go out or before company comes! Especially if you think you will be tempted, fill up on it so you're not even hungry when you get there.
  

• Another trick is to eat or drink something sweet but healthy. Maybe a quart of green smoothie, or a banana/carob/date drink. Those are both really filling and satisfies a sweet tooth and helps greatly with those unhealthy cravings, and with feeling like we are missing out on something.
  

• Brush your teeth right before you leave or before company comes. I found years ago that there is something about having a clean mouth that discourages the desire to eat. This would help with the pre-dinner snacks.
  

You may even want to bring a toothbrush and toothpaste (a healthy one without fluoride or abrasive chemicals that strip the enamel) with you, if you think that will help, to keep from snacking later on.

And, most importantly,

• Decide well before you go, what you want to do. That way you won't feel pressured to sample everything that you really don't want to.

Remember that it is an attitude, or mindset – you are not being deprived of anything, not at all! Quite the opposite. You are making intelligent choices to live longer, be free from pain and sickness, and eat a delicious diet. How great is that?

This is the first in a series of articles entitled, "How to Eat Healthfully this Thanksgiving - and Enjoy It!". I do hope these articles will be helpful to you.

Phyllis Towse

More Dangers of Salt

If you missed my last article on salt, you can click here.

Salt is not a food. There is no reason to include salt in a healthy diet!

Salt in the body holds about 96 times its weight in water. The average person is walking around with excess fluid in their bodies due to salt accumulation. This disrupts the fluid balance, increases blood pressure and causes dehydration of blood capillaries.

John T. Richter in "Nature The Healer", has quite a lot to say about salt:

"Table salt, and all other salts except those found in their organic stages in fruits and vegetables, are inorganic substances which cannot be assimilated by the body and must be discarded by the bloodstream at the earliest opportunity.

Usually the salt is deposited in the joints, particularly the knees, elbows, ankles, wrists, and the like, resulting later in arthritis and rheumatism."

Furthermore, he asks, "What is the first symptom of salt deposits in the joints? Do they crack when you do a knee bend? If so, your joints are commencing to become dry due to the salt deposits having absorbed all the synovial fluid which acts as a lubricant in those regions. Salt has a tremendous attraction for water and all other liquids.

No wonder doctors prescribe innumerable glasses of water daily so that their patients may to some extent satisfy the incessant craving for liquid caused by the salt they are eating. Remember that salt may dissolve in water and in the saliva of the mouth, but it will recrystallize within a very short time and under no circumstances will it be absorbed into the bodily structure.

It will collect wherever there is room for it to be deposited, but it will no more be absorbed than sand is absorbed by the gears into which you may have thrown it. Salt, in its effect, is like that of sand in gears; it irritates and slowly but surely destroys."

That was a very long quote, but I thought it worth quoting in full.

I will do one more article on salt, and then I am looking forward to talking about some of the wonderful benefits and blessings of eating healthfully!

Until then, try to eliminate or at least severely reduce the amount of salt that you ingest. After a short while you really won't miss it, and neither will you miss its deadly effects.

Phyllis Towse

Do We Need Salt - or Sodium?

Refined table salt is composed of from 97.5% to 99% of sodium chloride, and 1% to 2.5% chemicals such as moisture absorbents and iodine.

According to Wikipedia: "Salt is a dietary mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride that is essential for animal life, but toxic to most land plants."

Apparently it just takes longer to kill us than it does plants.

To assume that because it has become a staple of our daily life, it must be healthy, is faulty logic, and absurd.

There was a time people didn't know how deadly putting lead into paint is, or that eating out of pewter dishes is deadly.

To us it's obvious only because we now know, after many people became ill and even died from these things. But they didn't know then, just as we're only beginning to learn now of the harm of so many things that we do today that are slowly killing us.

Table salt it is dried at over 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit, and the excessive heat alters the natural chemical structure of the salt, causing a myriad of health problems in the body. Here are some of them:

. Hypertension (high blood pressure)
. Stroke
. Obesity
. Coronary heart disease
. Myocardial infarction
. Angina Pectoris
. Congestive heart failure
. Kidney failure
. PMS
. Heartburn
. Ulcers
. Manic-depression

Do you really want this substance in your body?

What our bodies need is sodium, which can easily be obtained from raw vegetables and fruits such as:

. Celery
. Beets
. Figs
. Kale
. Sesame Seeds
. Sunflower seeds
. Red peppers
. Radishes

Nearly all processed foods are loaded with salt, giving us far more than our bodies can handle.

Amazingly, even after we remove salt from our diet, it continues to show up in the urine for up to a year or more from where the body has stockpiled it to try to keep us alive.

Natural Sea Salt has been promoted as a healthy alternative in recent years, but is it really?

Why would sea salt, which is derived from sea water which is, as everyone knows, poisonous to drink, suddenly be healthy when the water is removed, thereby concentrating it?

To me that logic also seems faulty, but then maybe it's just me....

Giving up salt isn't as difficult as you might think, and as long as your diet consists of a nice variety of raw veggies and fruits, you will soon find that if you not only don't miss it, but if you accidentally get a taste of it, it will actually taste like poison. Hmm.

Phyllis Towse

Benefits and Blessing of Good Health

Here are just some of the benefits and blessings you will gain from practicing a healthy diet and lifestyle:

. No more aches and pains!

. No down time due to illness

. More money in your pocket (fewer doctor visits, medical insurance, prescriptions)

. More energy to do things, which means...

. Able to accomplish more of the things you've been wanting to do

. Better quality sleep

. Look better, younger

. Live longer

. A more positive mental attitude

Honestly, who doesn't want all these things? But most people don't seem to really believe they are attainable.

Part of the difficulty lies in looking at things from a perspective other than that with which most of us were brought up. We have come to expect that just by growing old we will lose our memories and our minds, have brittle bones and break our hips, die from cancer, heart disease or diabetes, and generally grow more unhealthy.

Just because that is, tragically, the case for most of the population of this country, doesn't mean that it is unavoidable.

The truth is that we can control, to a very large degree, how healthy we are.

Of course there are some things we cannot control: accidents, or the few truly genetic diseases. But for the most part, good health is within the reach of every single person, if we are willing to learn and to put forth a little effort.

When you don't have good health, nothing else seems to matter much. When you are healthy, it seems you have the whole world before you.

When you don't have good health, you are busy looking after yourself. When you are healthy, you can help others.

Remember that there are several facets to being healthy:

. Eating a diet of primarily uncooked fruits and vegetables

. Eliminating disease-causing foods

. Exercising at least 5 times per week, preferably daily

. Getting enough fresh air

. Getting enough sunshine

. Getting enough sleep and rest

. Dealing effectively with stress

Go one step at a time. Make one change at a time, beginning with where you are right now, and you will very soon begin to reap all the incredible benefits of good health. It is so worth it!

You can do it!!

Phyllis Towse