A little healing help on eating....:D

Here is a little helpful PDF file on eating for healing health. I am impressed with it and so deemed it worthy of the @llisonian reference guide. I have heard and used many of these suggestions in different ways through the years. I have not been medically studied, but for myself.
So, here is a food guide that might interest you, as it has caught my attention and the author is quite an expert.

Caio! It was cold enough for a real sweatshirt on my walk this morning. ;D I know I said that already, what do you say?
Cheers too! Yoo Hoo!!!

link titled dietary essentials;
http://www.shockabuku.com/living/dietary_essentials.pdf

Food, FDA, regulation and the heart of healthy foods

Here's what Yahoo has to say
http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/ap/us_congress_food_safety

I'd take this with a gain of salt. Our food safety is ultimately in our own hands. Education on many aspects is probably the most important thing to consider. There are so many sides to consider. Once food is out of the producers hands many things happen to it that is out of control of the maker/manufacturer.
Many consumers eat in such a way that is not conducive to genuine health to start. Education on healthy practices is great, if it is actual education. I.e. exposer the ideas outside of reading about it and having the whole of the students life involved. The secular education/family connections are weak at best save for the very few who can bridge that ever growing gap. I have also learned lately that what is 'said' is very important. So I hesitate to say much in a negative way.
I would just like to see a community that can bring food and the education of it broadened. Many kids haven't had a garden or forest experience that would show them any different. And many have more of the grocery/restaurant experience to contend with.
Just thinking.

Alkaline Food List

Respectfully from Raw Food Health

http://www.raw-food-health.com/alkaline-foods-list.html



Alkaline food list of Vegetables:

- Beets
- Broccoli
- Carrots
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Kale
- Collard Greens
- Celery
- Cucumber
- Dandelions
- Eggplant
- Garlic
- Lettuces
- Green Peas
- Green Beans
- Onions
- Spinach
- Mushrooms
- Bell Peppers
- Radishes
- Sweet Potatoes
- Wheat Grass
- Sea Vegetables


Alkaline food list of Fruits:

- Avocado
- Grapefruit
- Lemon
- Lime
- Tomato
- Rhubarb
- Watermelon
- Fresh Coconut
- Sour Cherries


Alkaline food list of nuts and seeds:

- Almonds
- Brazil
- Pumpkin
- Sunflower
- Sesame
- Flax
- Cumin
- Fennel
- Caraway

Alkaline Grains and Legumes:

- Buckwheat Groats
- Lentils
- Spelt
- Fresh Soybeans
- Tofu
- White Beans
- Lima Beans

Alkaline Fats and Oils:

- Flax Oil
- Evening Primrose Oil
- Borage Oil
- Coconut Oil
- Hemp Oil
- Olive Oil
- Avocado Oil

Alkaline Foods List

Using an alkaline foods list will allow the body to heal itself by getting rid of the acidic waste that causes poor health. A list of alkaline foods will help you choose the right foods to take control of what goes on in your body.

The first time I glanced at a list of alkaline foods I was very confused, because it seemed I was not left with a lot of options. If meat, bread, and dairy are acidic what are we left with?

However, once I discovered the benefits of a raw food diet, the seemingly limited options made sense. Raw vegetables and fruits are our natural foods and the proof is in a healthy, alkaline body. Acid and alkaline foods have the power to determine our health.

Starting a raw food diet is the best way to flush out old waste from acid foods, as raw foods are mostly all alkaline, full of living enzymes, and easy on digestion. Most importantly, on a raw food diet there is no new waste to slow down your healing process.

The most alkalizing foods are green vegetables but you will find some fruits, nuts, seeds, grains, legumes, and oils are also alkaline. However, vegetables and fruits are the easiest on digestion and should be consumed in abundance to alkalize the body.

Acidic foods are: All meat, fish, seafood, dairy, eggs, most grains, some nuts, canned, processed, and microwaved foods, condiments such as vinegar, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard and soy sauce, white sugar, artificial sweeteners, alcohol, coffee, black tea, and a few others that perhaps were missed.

The Miracle of Alkaline Foods

Alkaline foods will give you tons of energy, reverse disease and aging, and completely change the way you look and feel. Eating alkaline food is the perfect way to be in complete control of your health.

The human body goes to great lengths to maintain a slightly alkaline PH of 7.35, but poor diet and stress can change the PH to an acidic one in which disease can thrive.

What are alkaline and acidic foods?

Every food is either alkaline or acidic, but it is not necessarily true that if a food tastes acidic that it will be acid-forming in the body. Sometimes, quite the opposite is true. For example, lemons taste very acidic but they actually help alkalize the body, while some meat will test alkaline, but once in the body will be acidic.

What makes a food acidic or alkaline is the effect it has on the body after digestion. Scientifically speaking, balancing the acidity and alkalinity of our body is the same as balancing the hydrogen ion concentration in the fluids of the body. Foods actually leave an "ash" or residue behind, and if this ash is acidic it will give off hydrogen ions after digestion that make the body more acidic, while an alkaline ash will remove hydrogen ions, making the body more alkaline.

Alkaline Foods: All vegetables and some fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, oils, and grains.

Acidic Foods: All meat, fish, seafood, dairy, eggs, most grains, some nuts, canned, processed, and microwaved foods, condiments such as vinegar, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard and soy sauce, white sugar, artificial sweeteners, alcohol, coffee, black tea, and others that perhaps were missed.

Click HERE for an alkaline foods list, and HERE for a list of acid and alkaline foods with their PH levels.

Are all acidic foods bad for you?

A common misconception is that all acidic foods are bad for you. Many fruits are acidic, but it does not mean that they should not be consumed, it simply means there has to be a balance between acidic and alkaline foods in ones diet. Most authorities on the subject of an alkaline food diet recommend we consume 80% alkaline and 20% acidic foods. You don't have to get technical about this ratio, just eyeball your plate.

Eating a diet rich in raw vegetables and fruits ensures there is a balance of alkaline foods and acidic ones in our diet.

For example, cucumbers have a PH level of +31.5 and blueberries are -5.3. On a raw food diet, we must consume sufficient fruit for calories which would increase the amount of acidic foods we eat, but the alkalinity of vegetables is so high that it all evens out.

On the other hand, foods such as beef, which is -34.5 and white sugar, which is -17.6, are the two staples of many peoples diets. Add in the acidity of dairy, bread, and coffee, and we have a problem on our hands that a tiny side salad at dinner is not going to be able to fix.

Alkaline diet plan

The average persons diet is highly acidic from eating predominately acidic foods such as meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy, grains, legumes, coffee and soda. Some of us have VERY little alkaline foods in our diet and it is no wonder that we are sick and tired. Now is your chance to transform your health by eating alkaline diet foods.

In general, all vegetables and fruits will alkalize the body, and simply by greatly increasing the percentage of these foods in your diet, you will dramatically be changing the PH of your body. On a raw food diet this is easily done, but if you are still eating some cooked foods you will have to be more careful. If you decide to become vegetarian , you will greatly decrease the amount of acidic foods in your diet, since meat has some of the greatest acidic PH levels of any food.

Tips for using alkaline foods to heal the body

1. Buy a juicer to make green juices, or a blender for green smoothies.

Your goal is to build up an alkaline reserve so that when you eat something acidic your body has somewhere to "steal" minerals from in order to neutralize the acid. Otherwise, your body will steal from your bones or store this acid as waste that creates disease.

The easiest way to build up such a reserve is to make green juices or smoothies. Juices in particular will allow you to take in a huge amount of alkaline enzymes and minerals without all the fiber that would otherwise fill you up. Alternatively, you can eat big salads with all your favorite alkaline foods.

2. Fill up on watermelon

These babies are extremely filling and alkalizing so enjoy this fruit liberally. They are mostly water (hence the name) so you can really fill up on calories without overloading the stomach. One 15" long melon has 1,355 calories and 27.6 grams protein!

3. Abuse lemons

They are one of the top alkaline fruits, so squeeze a lemon into your water any chance you get or make some fresh lemonade by using the juice of one lemon, 16 oz water, and one or two packets of stevia to sweeten.

Tips for eating cooked foods

A raw food diet is the perfect way to alkalize the body without having to worry about what foods you eat, but if you are still eating some cooked foods use these tips.

- Use sprouted bread and pasta such as those made by Ezekiel, or spelt products with no added ingredients, instead of other bread/pasta products.

- Drink goat milk and eat goat cheese instead of cows, and raw if possible.

- Drink green tea instead of coffee

- Have wine instead of beer

- Eat quinoa and brown rice instead of other grains.

- Have fresh water fish rather than pork, beef, poultry and other meats.

- Use stevia instead of sugar and artificial sweeteners.

- For cooked snacks, enjoy unsalted sweet potato chips, air popped popcorn with grass-fed butter, or unsalted corn tortilla chips.

- Avoid this list of extremely acidic foods: Beef, Poultry, Deer, Pork Bread, Pasta, Refined Cereals, Coffee, Sweetened Yogurt, Salt, White Vinegar, White Flour and Sugar, Pickles, Pickled Vegetables, Parmesan Cheese and Processed Cheese.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inspired by Natalia Rose and her book "the Raw Food Detox Diet', Ashley Ward's mission is like mine, to educate and help inform them about the best soundest help out there.
Thank you Ashley!
I really enjoyed your website and insights!
Caio, Allison

Friday Night at The Dahl House

Tis the Season for Bread and Stew in this household.
I made zuchinni bread and whole wheat bread after work tonight.
I love the smell.

I've been making a lot of Lentil Soup, but 'Logger Stew' has been calling my name as well. So has fish bisque.

Here's to your happy homes, gardens and kitchens.

Caio,
Alli

Vitamin K and Corn Silk

In my research I have found the following information for corn silk, aka Zea Mays,
corn's stamens;
Corn Silk is a good source of Vitamin K and Potasium. It is a natural diuretic.

Here is what one source had to say about our corn's silk.
I have found it in tea form. The photo here on the left is the the silk from the fresh corn that I just husked today. I am drying some for tea, infusions and have put up a smidge for tincture.

herb 2000 says this;

http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_corn.htm

USES

A variety of herbal remedies are prepared from different parts of the corn plant, a very soothing and relaxing diuretic action is possessed by the corn silk. Traditionally, this part of the plant has been also used as an effective remedy for the treatment of acute inflammation and chronic physical irritation present in the urino-genital system of patients; these include problems including cystitis, disorders such as urethritis and cases of prostatitis in men. Bladder infections and urinary tract infection in children are disorders which especially benefit from treatment using the corn silk - this remedy is very useful in both cases. A strong antiseptic and ameliorative action is present in the corn silk, at the same time, the remedy is used in removing toxins from the body, in the treatment of congestion and catarrh, in the reduction of deposits and irritants from the kidneys and urinary bladder - the detoxification power of the corn silk is extremely valuable in a variety of ways for different patients. The remedial action of the corn silk has been effectively used in the removal of urinary stones and accumulated gravel in the urinary tract, it is also used extensively where chronic bladder irritation and physical bladder weakening have led the to the development of a frequent need for urination and perhaps to the display of sudden bedwetting behavior by the patient.

The urinary system responds very well to the corn silk as a remedial measure partly due to the presence of significant amounts of the essential mineral potassium in the corn silk, and also due to its diuretic action - the corn silk can therefore serve as a general remedy for the majority of problems likely to affect the urinary system. The flow of urine, and the elimination of toxins is increased by the corn silk remedy, the herbal remedy also relaxes and soothes the muscular lining of the urinary tubules and the muscular urinary bladder itself, this action helps in relieving any physical irritation in the bladder and improves the condition of the patient. The remedies made from corn silk work by alleviating the irritation at the site or localized area in those cases where a chronic irritation affects the urinary bladder and the urethral walls leading to the frequent urination, the corn silk also acts locally on prostate disorders which give rise to an inability to pass urine properly.

Topical problems and skin irritations as well as inflammation can also be treated effectively and benefit from the corn silk's healing and soothing abilities - as an external or topical treatment, the corn silk is also excellent for rapidly healing wounds and all types of ulcers affecting the skin.

A great range of illnesses was also treated using simple corn meal by most Native Americans, who made extensive use of this form of the corn in traditional remedies. In fact, corn meal is known to have been used by the ancient Mayan, the ancient Incan, and all Native American folks as a part of their herbal medicines, a simple poultice made from corn meal was used for the topical treatment of bruises, in the treatment of swellings on the body, to treat various sores and to heal boils, and in the treatment of nicks, cuts and all types of topical problems on the skin. Corn was also used in other ways in the Native American traditional medicine system, for example, in his book the “American Indian Medicine”- published 1970, Vogel has writes that "the Chickasaw Indians treated itching skin, followed by sores when scratched, by burning old corncobs and holding the affected part over the smoke.", thus even the cobs were used by the native peoples in medicine.

Corn silk is also used in the medical system of China, where problems such as internal fluid retention and jaundice are treated using the corn silk.

The lowering of elevated blood pressure may also be made possible by taking corn silk as the remedy tends to reduce the retention of fluid in all tissues of the body, at the same time, the corn silk also helps in the quick detoxification and rapid elimination of all accumulated toxins and metabolic wastes in the body - due to this, the remedy aids in relieving the symptoms of gout and disorders associated with arthritis. As a remedy, it is considered to have a thorough but gentle detoxifying effect on the body.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

©Allisonians Please ask me for permission to use my photos or writing before you purger, (Plagiarize) yourself. As pledges be. silly silly

Wild Living with Sunny: Episode 16 - Mallow Plant S'mores

Eat The Weed DOT com YouTube episode on Smilax! The original root used in Sasperilla and Root Beer.

Very interesting video. I don't know that Smilax grows in this region. I couldn't find it in our Plants of the Pacifc Northwest which is a bummer because it looked interesting and kind of yummy!
I am going to look this up and wrtie to Green Dean. He is a great fellow who loves to talk about wildlife plants aka weeds. If I remember right, he is from the East Coast. So you eastcoast folks should give it a try. There is also a receipe for rootbeer using the Smilax root.

©Allisonians

From Green Deane's Website
"...There used to be a field in Sanford, Florida, near Lake Monroe, that was nearly overrun with growing Smilax every spring. I could get a couple of quarts of tender tips easily over a few weeks, enough for many side dishes. Cooked like asparagus or green beans, they are excellent, and also edible raw in small quantities..."
"Oh, about that field in Sanford: A century ago it was a truck farm producing celery and other vegetables. Then it fell fallow growing smilax. Now it’s an apartment complex."

There is a look alike that Deane warns about on his video and in the text. Tick the title to redirect to the video.
Here is the link to his site;

http://www.eattheweeds.com/www.EatTheWeeds.Com/EatTheWeeds.com/Entries/1938/2/15_Smilax%3A_A_Brier%2C_And_That%E2%80%99s_No_Bull.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile
A climbing shrub with tuberous roots, knobby white roots tinged with pink, bamboo like stems, more or less thorny, leaves varying with species and on the bush, tiny flowers, five slim petals, fruit round, green turning to black, one small brown seed. Some species have red fruit, edibility of red fruit unreported.

Starts putting on shoots in February in Florida, later in the season as one moves north. Seeds germinate best after a freeze.

It grows best in moist woodlands, but can tolerate a lot of dry and is often seen climbing trees. Left on its own with nothing to climb it sometimes creates and brambly shrub. Thicket provides protection for birds.

Beside making sarsaparilla, the roots can be used in soups or stews, young shoots eaten cooked or in small quantities raw, berries can be eaten both raw and cooked, usually are chewed like gum (avoid the large seed.) Pounds of roots to pounds of flour is a 10 to one ratio.
~~~~~~~~~~
LKF:
More from Green Deane
Mythologically speaking;
Name Smilax comes from Greek Mythology with several variations.
Smilax was a beautiful young nymph who fell in love with a mortally young Spartan named Crocus . Crocus fell in love with Hermes. Hermes turned him into a flower named Crocus where we also get saffron. Smilax was heart broken because her love was now a blooming idiot. Aphrodite took pity on her and turned her into a vine so that Smilax could always be with her Crocus.
Thanks Deane!

Photo sketch from;
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/s/smilax55.html
Photo picture of
Smilax rotundifolia & S. auriculata From;
http://www.floridata.com/tracks/transplantedgardener/ViciousVines.cfm

Benne Seed Cookies~~~~Guess they're good, they're fantastic!

Although, in the photo, Ginger Snaps on the top left, are my absolute favorite and on the goodie menu for this week, Benne Seed Cookies are heaven on earth, the lower cookie in the photo is another family favorite, The Oatmeal. YUMMY THREE~~~



Benne Seed Cookies
1 C Benne Seed
1 ½ C packed Brown Sugar
1 C flour
¼ teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ C butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
375 degree oven
Toast seeds for 10 to 12 minutes.
Mix all ingredients. Drop dough by ½ teaspoon 1 ½ inches apart. Bake until brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Cool 30 seconds before removing from the baking sheet.
They are so good!
Old Betty Crocker out did their self here!

©Allisonians

Fish Soup~~ Yum!!!

Fish soup -- Bisque
1 Cup cooked String Beans, use own juice
1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery and leaves, diced fine
1 green or red pepper, diced fine
2 Cups fresh or canned shrimp, crab, lobster (I am using Alaskan Cod, I don't eat shell fish)
1 bay leaf, crushed
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon crushed anise or dill seed (I use dill 'cause I have it) &
Grated Zucchini, enough of make soup thick (I use one small one)

Cook all ingredients until well done. Add seafood and boil for two to three minutes, of just until seafood is heated. This soup should be think as a bisque. If not as think as you desire, just grate more zucchini very fine and pour into soup before adding fish.
This is a Protein Flesh soup. Sorry… no bread or tomato. However, leave out seafood and you may have bread or steamed rice.
From Proper Food Combining COOKBOOK by Lee DuBelle

Food Combining/Digestion Chart

Ticking the title redirects to a printable food combining chart. Here is the link to the below article from the Internal Health Library;
http://www.internethealthlibrary.com/DietandLifestyle/Food_combining.htm

It is commonly believed that the human stomach should be able to digest any number of different foods at the same time. However, digestion is governed by physiological chemistry. It is not what we eat that is crucial to our health, but what we digest and assimilate.

Digestive enzymes
Digestive enzymes are secreted in very specific amounts and at very specific times. Different food types require different digestive secretions. Carbohydrate foods require carbohydrate-splitting enzymes, whereas protein foods require protein splitting enzymes, etc. It is the knowledge of the digestive process that has led many health practitioners to promote efficient food combining, the rules of which are briefly explained below:

1. Carbohydrate foods and acid foods should not be eaten at the same meal. Do not eat bread, rice or potatoes with lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruits, pineapples, tomatoes or other sour fruits. This is because the enzyme, ptyalin, acts only in an alkaline medium; it is destroyed even by a mild acid! Fruit acids not only prevent carbohydrate digestion, but they also produce a fermentation. Oxalic acid, for example, diluted to one part in 10,000 completely arrests the action of ptyalin. And, there is enough acetic acid in one teaspoon of wine vinegar to completely halt salivary digestion. Dr Percy Howe of Harvard Medical School states:


"Many people who cannot eat oranges at a meal derive great benefit from eating them fifteen to thirty minutes before the meal". Herbert Sheldon, author of 'The science and fine art of food and nutrition' reports: " I have put hundreds of patients , who have told me that they could not eat oranges or grapefruit, upon a diet of these fruits and they found that they could take them. Such people are in the habit of taking these foods with a breakfast of cereal, with cream and sugar, egg on toast, stewed prunes and coffee, or some similar meal."
Tomatoes should also never be combined with starchy food as the combination of the various acids in the tomato, which are intensified on cooking, are very much opposed to the alkaline digestion of starches. They may be eaten with leafy vegetables and fat foods.

What all this tends to mean is that people who say they cannot eat oranges or grapefruit as it gives them gas, could be blaming the fruit, when the problem may lie with the escape of starches and the bodies release of pancreatic juice and intestinal enzymes to break them down.

In cases where there is hyperacidity of the stomach there is great difficulty digesting starches. Fermentation and poisoning of the body occurs along with much discomfort. This is because the digestion of carbohydrates (starches and sugars) and of protein is so different, that when they are mixed in the stomach they interfere with the digestion of each other. An acid process (gastric digestion) and an alkaline process (salivary digestion) can not be carried on at the same time in an ideal way in the stomach. Before long, they cannot proceed at all , as the rising acidity of the stomach soon completely stops carbohydrate digestion. The highest efficiency in digestion demands that we eat in such a way as to offer the least hindrance to the work of digestion.

2. Do not eat a concentrated protein and a concentrated carbohydrate at the same meal. This means do not eat nuts, meat, eggs, cheese, or other protein foods at the same meal with bread, cereals, potatoes, sweet fruits. Cakes, etc. Candy and sugar greatly inhibit the secretion of gastric juice and markedly delay digestion and if consumed in large quantities can depress the stomach activity.

3. Do not eat two concentrated proteins at the same meal. Avoid nuts and meat, or eggs and meat, cheese and nuts, cheese and eggs, meat and milk, or eggs and milk or nuts at milk at the same meal. Milk, if taken at all, is best taken alone. The reason for avoiding eating these combinations is because each protein requires a specific character and strength of digestive juice to be secreted. Eggs require different timing in stomach secretions than do either meat or milk.

4. Do not eat fats with proteins. This means do not use cream, butter, oil, etc with meat, eggs, cheese, nuts, etc. Fat depresses the action of the gastric glands by delaying the development of appetite juices and inhibiting the pouring out of the proper gastric juices for meats, nuts, eggs or other protein. Fats may lower the entire gastric tone more than fifty per cent.

5. Do not eat acid fruits with proteins. This is to say, oranges, tomatoes, lemons, pineapples, etc., should not be eaten with meat, eggs, cheese or nuts. Acid fruits seriously hamper protein digestion and results in putrefaction. Milk and orange juice, while by no means an indigestible combination, is far from a good combination. Orange juice and eggs form an even worse combination.

6. Do not consume starch and sugars together. Jellies, jams, fruit, butter, sugar, honey, syrups, molasses, etc., on bread, cake, or at the same meal with cereals, potatoes, etc., or sugar with cereal, will produce fermentation. The practice of eating starches that have been disguised by sweets is also a bad way to eat carbohydrates. If sugar is taken into the mouth it quickly fills with saliva but no ptyalin is present which we know is essential for starch digestion.

7. Eat but one concentrated starch food at a meal. This rule is more important as a means of overeating than as a means of avoiding a bad combination. While overeating of starches may lead to fermentation, there is no certainty that the combination of two starches will do so.

8. Do not consume melons with any other foods. Watermelon, muskmelon, honeydew melon, cantaloupe and other melons should always be eaten alone. This is possibly due to the ease and speed in which melons decompose.

9. Milk is best taken alone or let alone. Milk is the natural food of the mammalian young, each species producing milk peculiarly and precisely adapted to the needs of its young. It is the rule that the young take the milk alone, not in combination with other foods. Milk does not digest in the stomach, but in the duodenum, hence in the presence of milk the stomach does not respond with its secretion. The use of acid fruits with milk does not cause any trouble and apparently does not conflict with its digestion.

A suggested combination of meals is included in the following plan of eating three meals a day :

Breakfast
Fruit. Any fruit in season may be used. It is suggested that not more than three fruits be used at a meal, as, for example, grapes, well ripened bananas and an apple. It is well to have an acid fruit breakfast one morning and a sweet breakfast the next. In season breakfast may be made of melons. In the winter months, one or two dried fruits such as figs, dates, raisins, prunes, etc., may be substituted for the fresh fruit.

Lunch
A large raw vegetable salad of lettuce, celery, and one or two other raw vegetables plus avocado and alfalfa sprouts or nut and seeds. As an alternative, a vegetable salad (omitting tomatoes), one cooked green vegetable and a starch.

Dinner
A large raw vegetable salad (if nuts or cottage cheese are to be used as the protein, tomatoes may be used in this salad), two cooked non-starchy vegetables and a protein.

Fat meats, sour apples, beans, peanuts, peas, cereals, bread and jam, or hot cakes and honey or syrup, are notoriously slow in digestion and are frequent sources of discomfort and putrescent poisoning.

If the body’s reserves are carefully hoarded they will carry us well beyond the hundred year mark with youthful enthusiasm and zest. Their depletion is one of the most common calamities of modern life. The alkaloids and alcohols, with which gastro-intestinal decomposition charges our bodies, rob us of our reserves, greatly weaken our vital resistance and sooner or later produce a state of physiological collapse.

The Daffodil Narcissus

William Wordsworth probably did more for the daffodil than any other in his enchanting verse:
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of the bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

John Gerard sets the scene ideally for this chapter. The fair Lady Europa, entering with her Nymphs into the meadows, did gather the sweet smelling daffodils:

But when the Girles were come into
The medowes flouring all in sight, That Wench with these, this Wench with those
Trim floures, themselves did all delight: She with the Narcisse good in sent,
And she with Hyacinths content.

Gerard in his Herbal (Woodward, 1990) says “It is not greatly to our purpose, particularly to seek out their places of growing wild, seeing we have them all and every one of them in our London gardens, in great abundance. The common wild Daffodil groweth wild in fields and sides of woods in the West parts of England.”
Today, the daffodil or narcissus is a very popular garden plant and an important commercial crop, with a large number of species, hybrids and varieties in cultivation. Gerard’s Herbal lists 37 different types that were already in cultivation by the end of the l6th century, which demonstrates the popularity of the plant from the early days of horticulture. Many different daffodils are now found naturalised in grassland, hedge-banks, woodland margins, roadsides and waste ground throughout the British Isles, especially in the south.

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS

In the Middle Ages, when the art of reading and writing was known only by a privileged few, there grew up a tradition of the language of flowers, whereby every flower had a meaning. It was a tradition that was revived by the early Victorians, who took great delight in this fanciful idea and collected together much of the information that survives to this day. The example that most of us would recognise is the giving of red roses as a sign of love. In this tradition, the daffodil is for rebuttal in domestic situations: “I do not share your feelings”. However, in battle emblems the daffodil is for regard and chivalry (Greenaway and Marsh, 1978; Pickles, 1990).

MYTHOLOGY AND LEGEND

According to Culpeper's Herbal (Potterton, 1983), yellow daffodils are under the dominion of Mars.
Daffodil flowers, though beautiful to the sight, leave a feeling of sadness when the history and folklore of the plant is examined. In classical mythology there was a handsome Greek shepherd boy named Narcissus. Though he was loved by all the wood nymphs, there was one called Echo who loved him more than the rest. Unfortunately she could not tell him of her love, because she was only able to repeat his last words. It comes as no surprise to learn that Narcissus was totally unaware of Echo's love and adoration for him. He was equally unaware of the pain and suffering that his ignorance of her love was causing her. Echo became thinner and thinner as her love robbed her of her appetite, until she slowly pined away to nothing more than a spirit who took sanctuary in the mountains. Only her soft voice remained. Venus, the goddess of love, came to hear of Echo's hopeless devotion and immediately assigned the blame for her condition on Narcissus, who she decided should be punished. One day Narcissus was hunting in the forest. Little did he know that Venus had arranged with Cupid to set a magic spell on him so that he would fall in love with the first person that he saw. Coming to a crystal clear pool he stopped for a cooling drink to assuage his thirst and there in the water he saw another face rise up to meet his own as he leant over. Narcissus immediately succumbed to Cupid's spell and fell in love. Again and again he tried to catch the face of the spirit who appeared to live in the water. In vain he called out to this vision, but all that could be heard was the faint and sad echo coming from the mountains. Narcissus had fallen in love with his own reflection. Every day he returned to the pool in the hope of capturing the face that he saw there, and every day his tears added to the water in the pool. Slowly, like Echo, he began to waste away with unrequited love. The Immortals were not totally heartless and turned him into a delicate white papery flower, which would grow forever by the pool in memory of the egotistical youth. Another story continues by saying that when the nymphs came to look for him, they only found “A rising stalk with yellow blossoms crown'd”, and that the cup in the flower’s centre of all varieties contains the tears of Narcissus (Pickles, 1990).

The flower has another legend, which is even more gruesome than the former! Earth first put forth the flowers to lure the lovely Prosperine for Pluto, god of the underworld. The maid was so taken with the beauty of the daffodil that she stopped to admire it and as she stooped to pick it, the very worst happened. Pluto looking out from his hiding place took advantage of this momentary lack of attention and pounced out from his lair and seized her. It was, therefore, quite understandable why the ancients labelled the narcissus the flower of deceit. (MacFadyen, 1992).
Another version of this story is told by Perdita in William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, where it was Proserpina who was picking lilies and was subsequently captured by Pluto. However, in this story, as she dropped the lilies in her fear, they turned into daffodils as they touched the ground.

HERBAL MEDICINES

Considering that narcissus are a rich source of alkaloids, it is not surprising that the genus has figured in herbal medicine. This has been vindicated by recent developments. The Daily Mail (28 September 1996) carried a headline “Shire says it with snowdrops”. “Flower power could soon be helping sufferers of chronic fatigue syndrome. Shire Pharmaceuticals is testing galanthamine, a compound found in daffodils and snowdrops, on victims of ‘yuppie flu’. The drug already has improved the mental performance of Alzheimer's patients.”
However, narcissus are not recommended for domestic use. A homoeopathic medicine is made from the bulbs and used for respiratory disease, particularly bronchitis and whooping cough. According to Culpeper's Herbal (Potterton, 1983):
The roots boiled and taken in posset drink cause vomiting and are used with good success at the appearance of approaching agues, especially the tertian ague, which is frequently caught in the springtime. A plaster made of the roots with parched barley meal dissolves hard swellings and imposthumes, being applied thereto; the juice mingled with honey, frankincense wine, and myrrh, and dropped into the ears is good against the corrupt and running matter of the ears, the roots made hollow and boiled in oil help raw ribed heels; the juice of the root is good for the morphew and the discolouring of the skin.
Galen saith: That the roots of Narcissus have such wonderfull qualities in drying, that they consound and glew together very great wounds, yea and such gashes or cuts as happen about the veins, sinues, and tendons. They have also a certaine clensing facultie. The root of Narcissus stamped with hony and applied plaisterwise, helpeth them that are burned with fire, and joineth together sinues that are cut in sunder. Being used in manner aforesaid it helpeth the great wrenches of the ancles, the aches and pains of the joints. The same applied with hony and nettle seed helpeth Sun burning. Being stamped with the meale of Darnel and hony, it draweth forth thorns and stubs out of any part of the body.
Narcissus are also referred to in John K'Eogh's Irish Herbal (Scott, 1986). Narcissus was said to have a hot and dry nature. The roots, pounded with honey were good against burns, bruised sinews, dislocations and old aches. They take away freckles and heal abscesses and sores, and they draw out thorns and splinters. A decoction of the roots is a great emetic.
It has also been used as an application to wounds. For hard imposthumes, for strained sinews, stiff or painful joints, and other local ailments. The narcissus was the basis of an ancient ointment called Narcissimum. The powdered flowers have been used as an emetic in place of the bulbs, and in the form of a syrup or infusions for pulmonary catarrh. A decoction of the dried flowers acts as an emetic, and has been considered useful for relieving the congestive bronchial catarrh of children, and also useful for epidemic dysentery. In France, narcissus flowers have been used as an antispasmodic. A spirit has been distilled from the bulb, used as an embrocation and also given as a medicine and a yellow volatile oil, of disagreeable odour and a brown colouring matter has been extracted from the flowers, the pigment being quercetin, also present in the outer scales of the onion. The Arabians commended the oil to be applied for curing baldness and as an aphrodisiac (Grieve, 1998). The influence of daffodil on the nervous system has led to giving its flowers and bulb for hysterical affections and even epilepsy, with benefit. It entered into the books as a purge and a vomitive and a cure for erysipelas and the palsy (Grigson, 1996).

FOOD USE

On the upper Nile, Grant found a narcissus about 20 cm high, with white flowers having a waxy, yellow corona and with leaves tasting of onions. The leaves, cooked with mashed groundnuts, he reported, make a delicious spinach (Sturtevant, 1972).

by G Hanks

REFERENCES

Anon. (1997) Daffodils and cancer. Medical Journal of Australia, 167, 180-181.
Britten, J. and Holland, R. (1886) A Dictionary of English Plant Names. PUBLISHER, London.
Coombes, A.J. (1994) Dictionary of Plant Names. Hamlyn, PLACE OF PUBLICATION.
Cooper, M.R. and Johnson, A.W. (1991) Poisonous Plants and Fungi - an Illustrated Guide. Second impression, HMSO, London.
Davison, G.C. and Neale, J.M. (1998) Abnormal Psychology. 7th edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc., New York, pp. 340-341.
Dony, J.G., Jury, S.L. and Perring, F.H. (1986) English Names of Wild Flowers. 2nd edition, The Botanical Society of the British Isles, PLACE OF PUBLICATION.
Genders, R. (1985) Natural Beauty - the Practical Guide to Wildflower Cosmetics. Webb and Bower, PLACE OF PUBLICATION.
Greenaway, K. and Marsh, J. (1978) The Language of Flowers. Holt, Rinehart and Winsher, PLACE.
Grieve, M. (1998) A Modern Herbal – the Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic and Economic Properties, Cultivation and Folklore of Herbs, Grasses, Fungi, Shrubs and Trees with all their Modern Scientific Uses. Tiger Books International, London.
Grigson, G. (1996) The Englishman's Flora. Helicon Publishing Ltd., PLACE.
Hedrick, U.P. (editor) (1972) Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover edition, PUBLISHER, New York.
Kohut, H. (1971) The Analysis of the Self. International University Press, NewYork.
Kohut, H. (1977) The Restoration of the Self. International University Press, New York.
Kohut, H. and Wolf, E.S. (1978) The disorders of the self and their treatment: an outline. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 59, 413-425.
Koopowitz, H. and Kaye, H. (1990) Plant Extinction - a Global Crisis. 2nd edition, Christopher Helm Ltd., PLACE.
MacFadyen, D. (1992) A Cottage Flora. Select editions, PUBLISHER, PLACE.
Manning, S.A. (1965) Systematic Guide to Flowering Plants of the World. Museum Press, PLACE.
Pickles, S. (1990) The Language of Flowers. PUBLISHER, London
Potterton, D. (editor) (1983). Culpeper's Colour Herbal. W.Foulsham, PLACE OF PUBLICATION.
Tyler, V.E., Brady L.R. and Robbers, J.E. (1988) Pharmacognosy. 9th edition. Lea and Febiger, PLACE.
Vickery, R. (1995) A Dictionary of Plant Lore. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Woodward, M. (editor) (1990) Gerard's Herbal. Studio edition. PUBLISHER, PLACE.



©Allisonians (I sketched this for fun and it was)
Please ask me for permission to use my drawings, which are my attempt to play. I sketched this from the print of the woodcuts of the 1601 Raiotum Plantarum Historia(account of the rare plants) by Clusius, father of descriptive botany. Given free use of the prints which is aloud with mention of the book, Plant and Floral Woodcuts for Designers & Crafts(wo)men,©1974 dover Publications, Inc. Dover Pictorial Archive Series. Above is my sketch of #8 narcissus/daffodil,silly silly

Nature's Pharmacy! Amazing!

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.


A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.


Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.


A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. �Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.


Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.


Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.


Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? �It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them)..


Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.�


Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.


Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries�


Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

Fair Food Fight

by: El Dragón
Mon, 01/18/2010 - 14:11

Michael Sykuta, associate professor at the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri at Columbia, wrote an opinion piece for the Modesto Bee asking Why are Feds Launching Ag Antitrust Probe? and it's not a rhetorical question:

Why, one may wonder, is the Department of Justice launching an antitrust investigation against some of U.S. food system’s major players at a time when Americans are enjoying a widening array of food choices and spending less and less of their disposable income to do so?

Sykuta goes on to lay out his argument, which is basically, "Food is cheap because of consolidation. Get off Big Ag's back!" But with a nine-digit Farm Bill bailing out the ag sector in 5-year intervals, crediting consolidation with cheap food is like crediting AIG and Morgan Stanley with a successful recovery last year. If food prices are cheap in this country, it's because we tax ourselves heavilty in order to allow Tyson, Kraft, ADM and Big Beef to consolidate around cheap grains and feed.

It's a fine strategy, if the goal is cheapness.

But that's where Sykuta's wrong. America's chief goal and reason for being isn't cheap goods; it's fair competition in the marketplace. When domination of the marketplace actually impedes growth and job creation, that's when the people need to step in via their government and chop down the big tree that's shading out the rest of the apple orchard.

Yep. All eyes are on you, Monsanto.

I got thinking about this when a buddy of mine on Twitter, a student of genetic engineering in Iowa, actually said she hoped that Department of Justice would go after Monsanto. She and I don't see eye to eye on everything (or, much), but suddenly, we were in happy agreement? Why was she in favor of breaking up Monsanto? Because it would mean more jobs in her sector and more opportunity for her after graduation. If a biotech student in Iowa sees hope in antitrust investigations, you better believe the feds see a potential economic uplift in biotech as a result, too.

And I'll take a hesitant step toward embracing that idea -- with the caveat that I can change my mind about this later. Here goes.

While a boom in the biotech field doesn't make this Fair Food Fighter all warm and fuzzy inside, I will say that more biotech companies, with a wider array of competition, might mean greater accountability and, ironically, greater transparency. As is, we have one major company in the field and its influence over government "regulation" and approval of its product is unconscionably opaque. GMO traits have historically been approved on a fast track, and, with Monsanto's stranglehold on licensing, those traits get disseminated widely and freely, because Monsanto has the deck so heavily stacked in its favor.

With more, smaller "baby Monsantos," we'd have more eyes in the field, and more competitors watching each other. We might even have the opportunity for creating niche markets within the industry -- GMO traits that are deemed "organic friendly," so that a weird marriage of sustainable farming and genetic engineering might believeably take place. Monsanto's reputation for secrecy and back-room influence makes the idea of "safe GMO traits," and the public's acceptance of them, virtually impossible right now.

So go get your axe, Barack. I think it's choppin' time.

From article at Fair Food Fight
URL Address;
http://www.fairfoodfight.com/blog/el-drag%C3%B3n/antitrust-destroying-monsanto-sake-industry

Dr. Andrew Weil's Tip of the Day~~Click on this title to go to his website. There is a great food pyramid

4 Tips for Nutrition and Cognitive Health
Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 9:06AM
To help preserve mental function and protect against age-related cognitive decline consider implementing these healthy lifestyle, nutrition and supplement choices:

1.Eat an anti-inflammatory diet. It helps prevent inappropriate inflammation and counters the damage from oxidative stress, which may be linked to Alzheimer's disease. Focus on antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables, foods rich in vitamins C and E, omega-3 fatty acids, and the spices turmeric and ginger. My Anti-Inflammatory Food Pyramid has more information and specific recommendations.
2.Eat berries. Blueberries in particular may improve motor skills and help reverse age-related short-term memory loss, and may also protect the brain from stroke damage.
3.Use cooking methods that limit inflammation. Cook at lower temperatures to avoid the formation of AGEs (advanced glycation end products) which have been linked to Alzheimer's disease, and avoid cooking methods that require excessive fat, such as deep frying.
4.Focus on fish. Wild Alaskan salmon, sardines, herring and black cod are excellent sources of anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids, yet are relatively low in potential environmental toxins. Diets rich in fish have been shown to help alleviate depression and other mental-health issues.

clabbered milk

Ehow showed me how to make butter milk, if I ever was in the milk business....No dairy here, but it is a great reference tool.

Cheese, cheese~ the wonderful~~ food

With all of this weather, it's no wonder we need an outlet.
Cheese Page.........




http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/CHEESE.HTML

OrganicConsumersAssociation

Heed Your Head!

Dick Greggory and a Yummy receipe.....

Dick Gregory was the subject of my last blog. I have his book;
Natural Diet for Folks Who Eat: Cookin' with Mother Nature;

Here's my favorite receipe from this book

Dick Gregorys' Always in the Soup Health Power Uplift
2 Tomatoes
1 cucumber
1 small squash
1 bell pepper
1 avocado
1/2 a small onion
1 clove garlic
enough pure water to blender the ingredients (1/2 to 1 cup)
Cut them up and blend them in a blender.
Add 2 tablespoons of honey
You can serve this delicious cold oR heat in a double boiler and serve warm

I, personally, like it warm, but it's delicious cold, with whole wheat crackers.
I don't use green pepper, and usually don't use the cucumber. You can use what part of the list you like.


There is a world of information in his book. I will add more down the road a bit.
Good food, good health
Check out more of Dick Gregory's wisdom on his website. He's very interesting indeed
allisonian

And lets Not Forget Sweet Potato Pie

3 Potatos (steamed, pealed, mashed)
3 Eggs
1C milk (can Sub)
1/2C maple syrup (best real, or sub Brown Sugar)
2t Vanilla
1t Cinnamon
1/2t Cloves
1/2t allspice
1/2t nutmeg
1/2 ginger
1 pie crust
preheat oven 350 degrees

Mix all ingrediants. Pour mix into pie shell.

Bake 60 minutes @ 350
turn oven down to
350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until pie is set. Cool before cutting.
YUM!!!