Dd has been longing for Soup Weather. I think – make that know – she meant Indian Summer, cool sunshine-y days and cooler nights, not very chilly, rainy, dreary days and nights. But happy or not about the way it came, Soup Weather is here.
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You can try 3 of our family favorite soups from our forthcoming recipe book, Good for You-Naturally!™ Simply Soups. Their recipes are posted here on this blog. And actually, we’ve had all 3 this week.
Me and My House recommends eating a large percentage of your foods raw, for Good for You-Naturally!™ health through nutrition. Why? 2 key ideas begin the discovery – enzymes and acid/alkaline ash. Today we’ll look at enzymes.
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“Every breath you take, every move you make, every thought you think and every action you take requires enzymes. Enzymes are the work force of the body. No vitamin, mineral, protein or hormone can do work without enzymes.” “Enzymes are what make all the other pieces work. Enzymes are not tangible, physical substances. Enzymes are the very life force that activates vitamins, minerals, protein, and other physical components in our body. Enzymes are the key to understanding the difference between life and death and between sickness and health.” ~ Rob Vaughan
Enzymes cannot be produced in the lab. Only God can make Life, including the life force/energy of enzymes. We were all born with limited enzyme potential. When we’ve depleted them, they’re gone.
So how do we get more? Only Life produces Life. Living foods are our source. Life/enzymes are killed at temperatures of 120° (actually beginning at about 105° or so,) so cooked food does not provide enzymes, only raw food does.
Raw foods are the key component in health through nutrition. They provide your body with the living energy of enzymes, needed for every bodily function, found in the food God has provided for our sustanance. Raw fruits, raw vegetables, raw nuts and raw seeds.
Stay tuned for Part 2 – another great reason to eat raw, living foods!
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For Rab Chai – Abundant Life,
most importantly spiritually,
but also in health through nutrition,
Lisa @ Me and My House
Last Sunday I was just tired of the usual “going out to Sunday dinner” – tired of restaurant choices that are less than healthy. So I told the children we were going home for peanut butter and jelly – in our home that is whole wheat bread, peanuts only peanut butter, and fruit only jam, no sugar or other junk ingredients. I bought them a few extra special treats to go with it – organic applesauce in individual containers, organic baby carrots, and “fancy” 100% juice (no sugar or other additives – something other than usual apple or orange) in individual bottles. By night, I was still tired of “less than healthy” fare, so I grabbed what Good for You-Naturally!™ food was available where I was, which was a few bites of cantaloupe. I called the sandwich, carrots, and cantaloupe good for the day.
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When I woke up Monday, I decided it was time for a cleansing fast. Time to get the junk out, that had crept in over the last few months. Summertime is always our challenge for not allowing little bits of junk to creep in, with ball schedules, vacations and such. A few fries here. A burger there. Chips. Pizza drive through. And it begins adding up. I’d had enough. Sunday was the turning point, and Monday the day to begin a cleanse. Since this was only a cleanse from a few summer junk lapses – not a lifetime build up – it didn’t have to be drastic, but it had to be done.
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Having been pregnant and/or nursing for most of the last 32 years, my “extended fasts” have always included fresh, raw fruit and vegetable juices. So although I’ve helped many others through more strenuous fasts, I had never been able to do one myself. (I’ve never done a full 40 days either.) This one was a bit different (and still not a strict water-only fast.)
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A couple weeks ago a family friend called and in the course of the conversation asked if I knew anything about the Lemonade Cleanse and what I thought of it. A couple months ago our maple syrup producer came through on his annual trip and told me he’s selling a lot of syrup to people using it for the Lemonade Cleanse.
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Yes, I told our friend (and the syrup man,) as we discussed it, I’ve heard of it and think it sounds good, but hadn’t tried it yet. I planned to give it a 3 day trial “sometime”, but didn’t know when. Monday became the “when.”
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The Lemonade Cleanse (aka Master Cleanse) is a 10 day near-fast utilizing a homemade “Lemonade” (recipe below) to help with the cleansing and detoxifying. I drink fresh lemon juice in purified water many mornings, which helps as a daily detox/ cleanser, but this was a new experience that I decided to take on last week. I went into it not knowing if I’d do 1 day, 2 days, 3 days – thinking 3 would be nice, but not knowing if I’d stick with the Lemonade, or switch to fresh fruit and vegetable juices.
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Monday came and went well – with just The Lemonade. I had just enough organic lemons to get through the day. The recipe was really good, easy to drink, and I felt great. Tuesday came, along with my Azure Standard food order – and more organic lemons – and went great. But by night I wasn’t sure if I’d continue. Decided to wait until morning to make decision. Wednesday awoke ready to tackle another day. Went great. Felt great. But out of Lemons! I came home from evening church, ate a couple slices of homemade whole wheat bread and a natural turkey strip.
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Woke up Thursday ready to go for another day. Walmart – no organic lemons. Health food store – no organic lemons. Back to Walmart to try organic limes. They taste great in the Lemon, make that LIMEade. Thursday went great. Friday planned to go off again. Had a Brandi salad for lunch. Dh said he’d do dinner, since I was busy getting ready for company – but he forgot to make what he said he would for me – grilled veggies and salad. So back to Limeade. Saturday brought an outing day – at Railfest – pancake breakfast and burger picnic lunch. So I planned ahead and took my Limeade. I wasn’t going to break a cleansing fast with white flour and sugar nor burger. Saturday went well – except the poisonous sting I got. (See FB status.) Ended Saturday with homemade whole wheat crust veggie pizza. (Out of limes.)
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All in all a great cleanse. I will no doubt utilize the Lemonade Cleanse again in the future. I went longer than my 3 expected days. Not a full 10 days for a “Master Cleanse” – nor even a full week. But 6 days with only 3 Good for You-Naturally!™ “meals” – and 4 1/2 full cleansing days with no food. I feel more vibrant. I’m well pleased!
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Lemonade Cleanse Recipe
fresh-squeezed juice of 1/2 organic lemon (or 1 organic lime, if you can’t find organic lemons) (approx. 2 Tbl.) (Many times we note in our recipes to use organic ingredients if at all possible. For this cleanse it is very important that you use the organic ingredients listed.)
2 Tbl. organic Grade B REAL maple syrup (Don’t even think that “Pancake Syrup” would do you any good for a cleanse.)
large dash or so of cayenne pepper (ground red pepper) (1/10 tsp.) – non-irradiated/organic (Grocery store spices are irradiated. Find a good source, such as Frontier Herbs, or such at your health food store, for all your spices and seasonings.)
8-10 oz. purified water (reverse osmosis or distilled, we highly recommend that you not buy pre-bottled water in plastic containers, but if that’s all you can get…)
Mix together well. Drink immediately.
Make and drink this recipe 6 times per day. (Don’t make up all 6 glasses at once, but you can do 1 double batch for the morning, 1 double batch for the afternoon, and 1 double batch for late afternoon/evening, if you put it in an insulated container or refrigerate and drink within a couple hours.)
Also drink approx. the same amount of plain purified water or more. (When fasting, it is recommended that you drink your weight in ounces of water per day – i.e. if you weigh 128# you should drink 128 ounces of water – 1 gallon. The Lemonade would make up about 60 oz. of that.)
The Master Cleanse also recommends drinking an herbal laxative tea, such a Smooth Move, (or unrefined salt water) to help remove toxins as you are detoxing during your fast – so they aren’t reabsorbed into your system. You could also use, as I do, Fiber Cleanse.
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Perhaps you’re ready to de-junk with a Cleansing Fast – or venture into our 7-Step Transition to a Good for You-Naturally!™ Lifestyle of Eating. Bottoms Up!
Lisa @ Me and My House
… of Good for You-Naturally!™
… to Now – our upcoming Good for You-Naturally!™ Seminar
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Back in days of old – when I had many little girls and no boys yet (a couple decades ago) – I had several goals in food preparation. I wanted to help others learn to prepare Good for You-Naturally!™ foods – and that included teaching my daughters. I did 3 main things at that time to achieve that goal.
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1) I worked up many of my recipes into “mixes” that could be made ahead, and then used like a convenience mix.
Well, maybe 1) should be, I converted many family favorites -generational family recipes- into Good for You-Naturally!™ versions. Also, I had used and loved many “Make a Mix” type recipes, for bringing convenience into making food from scratch and money-saving make-your-own into convenience. Now I was combining these principles with Good for You-Naturally!™ ingredients.
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2) I wrote a few simple Good for You-Naturally!™ recipe books.
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3) I packaged the Good for You-Naturally!™ mixes up and printed the recipe books and began to teach my daughters, and also headed for Farmer’s Market – with mixes, recipe books, and baked goods – including a trunk full of homemade whole wheat bread and cinnamon rolls.
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The man in the spot next to me, an older gentlemen that we bought eggs and honey from, told me, “Young women don’t know how to cook anymore. You need to teach classes.” Thus the beginning of the Good for You-Naturally!™ division of Me and My House ministries – a few recipe books, a bunch of Good for You-Naturally!™ mixes, a car load of prepared foods, and classes in food preparation.
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Over time those individual classes led to our complete Good for You-Naturally!™ Seminar. Although we still present individual classes (usually upon request for them,) our full Seminar is the foundation for health through nutrition. We’ve presented the Good for You-Naturally!™ Seminar as 6 individual weekly sessions; divided it into 2 days – 1 nutrition teaching, 1 food prep; and now present it as 1 full day of teaching and food prep combined, for the convenience of participant’s schedules.
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We’ve also moved this annual Seminar from the spring to the fall – so you can get equipped with the tools you need to not allow the holidays and sickness-season to wreck havoc on your health. This year’s Good for You-Naturally!™ Seminar is coming up in October. Watch this blog and the Seminar page for the date and pre-registration information.
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SDG,
Lisa @ Me and My House
We all know we shouldn’t EAT plastic (like hydrogenated oils, shortening and such, as well as straws, Walmart bags, etc.) But do we know what is leaching into our foods from plastic containers? The chemicals in the plastics don’t stay in the plastics, they taint our food and are affecting our bodies. Here’s some of the latest info.
Food and chemical lobbyists know word has gotten out about bisphenol-A (BPA), an estrogen-mimicking chemical used to make hard plastics and epoxy resins that’s found in numerous products you probably use every day.
Of 115 published animal studies, 81 percent found significant effects from even low-level exposure to BPA, so there’s probably no real safe limit. Among the many health problems linked to this toxic chemical are:
See rest of the article at Mercola.com
The 3rd death on our property in about 2 weeks happened today. Plus…
Beginning at the beginning –
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Death #1 – our last guinea pig. The boys said she committed suicide. She kept going under her water bottle and pushing up on it, getting wet. They’d move her out. She’d go back and do it again. She died a couple hours later. Interrupted one of our first days back at lessons with an unexpected funeral and burial.
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Death #2 – even more traumatic. A few days later, I turned on the car and started to back out. Heard a horrible clunking in the engine, and turned the car off. Thought a tool had been left under the hood or something. Got the boys to come look. Opened the hood. Fur went flying. A stray kitten had tried to find a warm place. It was taking its last breaths when we found it. Couldn’t throw it in the trash, the garbage men had just come that day. Didn’t want to dig a deep enough hole. Called the pound to come get it.
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Death #3 – today. Young squirrel coming down the tree. Black lab jumping up the tree. There was running for them and calling dog. But not quick enough. Squirrel in dog’s mouth. Interception, but too late. Dog chained. Squirrel suffering. Boys and pellet gun mercifully end its misery.
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Just as I was ready to type up our latest death sagas, I get a call. Boys coming home from hunting. “Bring the little boys to daughter’s house, so they can watch.” 30 doves to clean. (Guess they didn’t want to bring them here around the dog.) Just what I did NOT want to watch. Boys tearing wings off dead birds and …
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I’ve seen about all the dead things I care to in a while.
Thanks be to God that though I’m surrounded by death in this fallen, decaying world, He has come to give us LIFE and that abundantly and eternally! “Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory?”
Whenever someone in our family is feeling “flu-y”, like they’ve been hit by a truck, feverish, with the chills, it’s time for the wet sock treatment! I learned this from a friend, who learned it from her naturopath. And we always wake up feeling much better after the Wet Sock Treatment.
You need a pair of thin white cotton socks and a pair of wool socks. Put the cotton socks into a bowl of ice cold water. Soak your feet in hot water (not scalding, but hot as you can without harming yourself) for at least 10 minutes. (You can soak whole body in bathtub if you want.) As soon as you remove your feet from the soak (or get out of the tub), wring out and put on the cold wet cotton socks. Immediately pull the dry wool socks on over the cotton socks, wrap up in a blanket and go to bed.
Disclaimer: We are not prescribing, just describing what we do.
Are chickens smarter than people? It appears that in this aspect they are.
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Some seem to believe that genetically modified animal feed will not cause any undue effects in the human body. This is flawed thinking at its finest. After all, we are part of the food chain!
Those who believe that what they eat will not affect them simply do not understand the basics of how the human body works.
Read the whole article at mercola.com
Amazing testimony from Chris Klicka, attorney for HSLDA, in interview on SoapBox on Multiple Sclerosis.
Lisa’s Savory Rice Soup
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Soup weather is coming upon us! Because you may also be in the midst of the busyness of getting back into your learning schedules, you may need some quick prep recipes. This week – and in our September newsletter – I want to share a couple super easy soup recipes that are Good for You-Naturally! Throughout this fall I’ll be sharing more of our family’s favorite soup recipes. These and many more will be available in Good for You-Naturally! Soups, an exclusive recipe book from Me and My House ministries.
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Lisa’s Savory Rice Soup
2 c. long grain organic brown rice
3/4 – 1 gallon pure water
1/4 c. all natural veggie broth powder
1/2 c. dried, chopped celery (or 1 c. fresh)
1/4 c. dried onion flakes (or med. onion fresh)
2 Tbl. dried parsley flakes
1/4 c. dried tomato bits (or 1 can organic diced tomatoes, or 2 large fresh)
1/4 tsp. dried minced garlic (or 1 clove fresh minced)
1/2 tsp. dried crushed basil
1.5 tsp. unrefined salt (Real®, himalayan, celtic)
3 cups frozen peas
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Simmer until rice is tender, about 1 hour.
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Wondering why I have all the dry ingredients listed first, and my normally preferred fresh in parenthesis? This is an easy recipe to do as a mix, mixing all dry ingredients together ahead of time and storing in a jar. (Or do several batches ahead in several jars.) When you need a quick meal mix, just add the water and peas (and can of tomatoes, if you don’t have dried bits.)
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Serve with homemade whole wheat bread and butter, and carrot and celery sticks.
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Enjoy!
