EAT FROM NATURE OR EAT PROCESSED?

Well my family likes to laugh at me because I brush my teeth with a certain product, I only use a certain dishwashing liquid and wash my clothes with a certain detergent etc.
I`m not fortunate like them, I have a compromised immune system so I research and know that the assault of chemicals is not only through food it's everywhere....all these people with allergies and sinusitis, I do not wish to be one of them, I have enough issues. Well after reading an article on shampoos, I know I am right... laugh on guys......remember lead in lipstick ? Right now you wouldn`t find me putting those long lasting lip glosses on my lips, as you know we will soon be hearing that there is something in them to cause cancer.....all the cheap makeup, do you know what's in them?
Just like how my mother moved us from butter to margarine, and sugar to Equal and from good old fresh milk with the cream on top to pasteurized,now we are all going back kicking and screaming and calling it organic as we learn that margarine is plastic and better we stay with good old brown sugar and scald the fresh milk...I`ll just stay in the past.
See all the people using toothsoap now...I wonder why?
Any thing I can`t pronounce must not go in my body!
I offered a friend Valerian root tea to sleep instead of Ambien..he says he believes in chemicals, well we`ll see......
There must be a reason why we are going back to nature. It's a little harder for us than our grandparents as everyday you see in the news '30 worst foods' or '10 foods with the most pesticide and herbicide'.....It never stops, we really don`t know what to do, eating fresh has problems, but I believe it has less problems than eating man made. When we eat the man made stuff we get in worse trouble. HFCS caters to all of you who like to say "I have a sweet tooth".....that is one ingredient I can do without!
Right now I am doing what I will continue to do....try to eat from nature and not from factory processed e.g ice cream made by my son from frozen fruit and put through the Champion juicer - presto instant ice cream - doesn`t get better than that, simply delicious, and guess what? I can pronounce all of the ingredients!
Last night the ingredient was BANANA !

NAIYAH AND PHILLIP

When I look at this picture I remember reading about a couple who were friends from they were 4, got married at 24 and are still together at 40.........IS THIS ONE OF THOSE LASTING FRIENDSHIPS?
MY GRANDAUGHTER AND HER FRIEND - MY GODSON PHILLIP.......

FUN IN THE SUN

Well I`ve been having fun in the sun with my eldest son and granddaughter....

I am one of those who never can take off time when the father has shown me in no uncertain terms that I need to stop and smell the roses.... well I did and had such a wonderful time over JA's independence weekend. Mark you I was only a phone call away from work but asked my staff to please only call in case of emergency although their view of what is an emergency is a little different from mine, I still got a 2 day break, and the other days although spent popping in to work was done with family en tow....
My granddaughter is 3 she will be 4 next March and I know we were not that aware at that age! Is it the prenatal vitamins mothers now take? Is it more stimulation at a younger age? But something is happening.....My godson who will be 3 next week is also holding his own with her being 6 months older and at times he behaves as if he is the one large and in-charge.
I haven`t spent a week with my eldest son non stop in a long time actually not since he had the worse case of adult chicken pox last Sept.
I honestly believe that when your children grow up and have their own families you need a little alone time with them to just simply catch up so this was done in car drives without the entire family ..I have a friend whose daughter comes for a week at Christmas before the rest of her family comes for some alone time, I think its a great idea!
Things I noted..... how much I prefer papa to daddy, and how the diets of Americans and Europeans differ and contribute to our bad bathroom habits......how much we are responsible for our children's diets......
My son will eat properly if given the food but working and eating in a mall doesn`t make for healthy eating habits and not if your mother brought you up on Pepsi as she didn`t know better.
But since both of them arrived not being "regular" and in 2 days they were having regular movements - I proved that eating well (fruit and vegetables) is our best remedy!
I also watched as others who try to eat well normally, when in the company of people who eat badly , succumb quickly!
I also note how when people are eating badly, they hide from me or expect me to say something.....pleez....we are all responsible for our own lives and I am too busy fighting hard not to succumb too many times!!!!!!
Thanks Kats.....That was better than any hotel...I guess love made the difference.

THE NEW WORLD

We all love to cook out on the grill - thought this UP story was worthwhile to share with everyone.

A U.S. dietitian says marinating meat before grilling helps draw out the chemical precursors of carcinogens.
Dietitian Vicki Piper of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston explains where there is smoke there is a risk of cancer. Burning meat, she says, can create carcinogens -- agents that may cause cancer.
"Grilling any type of meat -- even chicken or fish -- until it's charred or burned can increase the chances of getting cancer, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research," Piper says in a statement.
However, lowering fat is good for many reasons, including that less fat means fewer flare-ups. Pre-cooking meat indoors for a few minutes before bringing it out to the grill helps too because the higher the cooking temperatures, the more carcinogens develop.
Using barbecue briquettes and hardwood products, such as hickory and maple -- that burn at lower temperatures -- is preferable to using softwood like pine chips, Piper advises.
Keeping the grill lightly oiled, Piper suggests, helps keep charred material sticking on the grill from getting on the food. The oil also helps keep fish and chicken in one piece.
Scrubbing the grill thoroughly after every use avoids a buildup of carcinogens that can be transferred to food, Piper says.

The easiest way to deal with this is not to GRILL anything.....What a stress!!!!!!
Let me go eat my mango - oh sorry its guinep season now and like mangoes they have skin so I don`t have to soak them in peroxide and water for hours to get off herbicides and pesticides..........what a world we now live in!!!
We shouldn't grill, we shouldn't cook with olive oil or canola oil, we shouldn't eat grapes and plums etc. without soaking, baby carrots have chlorine, we shouldn't use cell phones,we shouldn't even bathe in water not purified, we shouldn't wash clothes or use dish washing liquids that have not had the carcinogens removed,everything we do has some negative effect.
We really have to be more vigilant than ever as an old time Jamaican saying goes" prevention better than cure"..........The new world has not been good for us at all, I guess it's really the good old days.....so how come we're living longer?
Supplements and modern medicine????? Or is it only certain people living longer,those of us who eat right and exercise???

Keeping it real

We die if we do, we die if we don`t - check out this info from Dr. Mercola about chlorine in your baby carrots:

"The small cocktail or “baby” carrots you buy are made using the larger crooked or deformed carrots which are put through a machine which cuts and shapes them into cocktail carrots. You might have known that already. But what you might not know is that once the carrots are cut and shaped into cocktail carrots, they are dipped in a solution of water and chlorine in order to preserve them.
When a baby carrot turns white (“white blushing”), this causes the bags of carrots to be pulled from the shelf and thrown away. To prevent this consumer waste, the carrots are dipped in chlorine to prevent the white blushing from happening.
Chlorine is a very well-known carcinogen. Organic growers instead use a citrus based, nontoxic solution called Citrox."

Does that mean that lovely flavour that I liked was chlorine?

I stopped eating them years ago as I thought they were engineered because they were so small.....ah well!
Another thing I would recommend that you totally avoid is herbs and spices that are not from 100% certified organic ingredients. Why waste your time -- and risk potential health consequences from artificial ingredients and questionable chemical processes ?
When you need to pick up herbs and spices, I would advise you to go to the Indian ayurveda store - they even mix the cumin and tumeric for you, they know what spice goes with what and you are getting the real thing, you notice the Chinese people shop in China town,.....well in India it's the same thing, most Indians don`t go buying their herbs and spices at the supermarket.
When I lived in New York I ate sushi from the restaurants that had lots of Japanese patrons..........they know their food best, so buy your herbs and spices from the people who know........... the Indians

GO GREEN !!

This posting is especially for one of my readers who asked about greens and what I use to make green juice. First of all I`ll tell you why I believe we should all have green juice daily.
For one it makes us have energy, unstoppable energy - by the way I`m speaking of live (raw) greens not cooked greens - I just went to Sumfest (the hottest reggae fest in the world for those who may not know) and I survived leaving the park at 6:30am Sunday, waking at 10 am , going to work and as I write this I haven`t slept yet and its 12:55am Monday morning...this is after working a full day Saturday with no nap.
Lack of sleep is not good but it helps if your body can withstand the onslaught every now and then..the young people flaked all around me but then they were all drinking alcohol, they decided that I`m experienced in "bleaching" and tell you the truth I AM.......even in my unhealthiest times I could bleach..been through many a Sunsplash and Sumfest but that's another story. So read and digest the following facts and recipes from some of my favourite gurus and you will realize how important greens are in creating a strong healthy body and in protecting you from serious disease.

Facts About Greens from Nomi Shannon
* Calorie for calorie dark green leafy vegetables, sea vegetables and algaes have more nutrient density that any other category of foods.
* Research shows that eating green leafy vegetables on a regular basis supports the endocrine system, the immune system and the digestive system.
* People who eat leafy greens on a regular basis are more likely to AVOID osteoporosis, fatigue and adrenal exhaustion than those that don't.
* Greens are high in protein (spinach is 48% protein), iron, zinc, calcium, and other minerals.
* The antioxidant content of greens is higher than in any other category of foods.
* In fact, the only nutrient that greens are deficient in is calories... and that's GOOD NEWS for you if you have a few extra pounds to shed.
* Consuming large quantities of greens may cause a constant state of joy and elicit uncontrollable laughter!

According to FREDERICK PATENAUDE - If you want to achieve radiant health, there is no substitution for having a good understanding of how to use greens in your diet. As the Russian proverb says: New - is something old, that has been long forgotten. I re-discovered green smoothies. What do I mean by green smoothie? Here is one of my favorite recipes: 4 ripe pears, 1 bunch of parsley and 1 big cup of water. Blended well. This smoothie looks very green, but it tastes like fruit.
Green smoothies are very nutritious. I believe that the ratio in them is optimal for human consumption: about 60% - ripe organic fruit mixed with about 40% - organic green vegetables.
Green smoothies, as opposed to juices, are a complete food because they still have fiber.
Green smoothies belong to the most palatable dishes for all humans of all ages. With a ratio of fruits to veggies as 60:40 the fruit taste dominates the flavor, yet at the same time the green vegetables balance out the sweetness of the fruit, adding nice zest to it. Green smoothies are simply the best tasting dishes for the majority of adults and children. I always make extra smoothie and offer it to my friends and customers. Some of them eat a standard American diet. They all finish their big cup of green smoothies with complements. They are quite surprised that something so green could taste so nice and sweet.
By consuming two or three cups of green smoothies daily you will consume enough of greens for the day to nourish your body, and they will be well assimilated. Many people do not consume enough of greens, even those who stay on a raw food diet. The molecule of chlorophyll has only one atom that makes it different from a molecule of human blood.
According to teachings of Dr. Ann Wigmore, to consume chlorophyll is like receiving a healthy blood transfusion.
Victoria Boutenko's "Green for Life" is the Bible for those of you that need to know more about greens.In this book, Victoria, a natural health leader in the raw food world, explains a specific study that she directed to explain the power of changing just one thing in your own diet.She took 40 or so people of all ages who were eating a regular diet (or Standard American Diet) and asked them to only change one simple thing about their daily eating habits.
Each one of them was to replace one meal with a green smoothie.
A green smoothie is a fruit smoothie with leafy greens added to it like spinach or kale (Or whatever else you like!). This gives a significant boost to the mineral content of any fruit smoothie!
The other benefit of a green smoothie is that you can get all those great healthy minerals and phytonutrients into your body and the drink still tastes GOOD !
So after just a few short weeks, something pretty remarkable started to happen.
Some of their symptoms of ill health started to disappear. Some of them started to wake up earlier (and in better moods!), some reported better sexual performance, others (most) said their energy levels skyrocketed, some even had rashes disappear.
All this and more in just a few weeks, just replacing one thing in their diets.

SO AS YOU CAN SEE THERE ARE MANY TAKES ON IT. One thing everybody agrees though is it tastes good and is good for you. Whether you are juicing or making smoothies.......
I make mine with sweet pepper and kale ( if available ) spinach, pak choy (the green leaf not the white part that's where the waste is stored ) any green vegetable, add ginger, add celery, add garlic, add cilantro and parsley, you name it you can add it and use an apple to sweeten or cane juice. My favourite is straight cho cho juice..... there are a variety of juices but the important thing is to do it, not once a week either, you are to have it at least once per day.
So starting today - green-up your diet - your immune system will work as it should , you will look better - long and lean and everything will function better to keep you healthy.

MAN IN THE MIRROR

I know by now you have all seen MJ`S accident with his hair on fire.......it brought tears to my eyes because the reason why he was burnt so badly was because he was wearing a jheri-curl, the hot hairstyle of the 80`s for black people.
I hated it then, I hate it now and if he didn`t have all that goo in his hair it might not have been so bad...look at the picture when he gets up with his scalp totally bald, it was just as if his hair had disintegrated which it did.
This style had so much grease ,I can`t even call it oil, that if you sat down in someones car you would leave a major oil spot on their head rest.
You would see the track marks sorry head marks of where a jheri curl wearing person had been.
It was a sad look...and if the weather changed and it threatened rain, your hair rained ....it dripped until the weather dried out- sad, sad, sad but black people loved it as it gave us the curls we always wanted and it lightened our thick coarse hair.
To see this man spinning to save his life and nothing came of it but a pain killer addiction, is mindboggling to say the least!
In 1984 I was 32 years old and a top hairdresser - that word doesn`t exist these days everyone is a stylist - anyway when the accident happened I knew right away that it ended up badly BECAUSE he was wearing a jheri curl......it has two potent chemicals,one to straighten it and then another to curl it.....put that with all the goo to keep it moist and curly......and there you have it, a recipe for disaster!
Just as how Michael`s father told him he was ugly because his nose was big, black people were all brainwashed to think our hair was the ugliest thing, how often I have had to correct people when they say I have 'good hair' because my hair has a natural, softer curl instead of a tight, kinky curl. Michael asked us to see the 'man in the mirror' we all had such low esteem that since it was so hard to keep our hair straight we thought greasy curls made us look better..........
Michael you need to know that in 2009 I`m wearing a huge afro, as it was called back in the day -it's called a natural now - and black people are running behind me to touch it and every where I go they tell me how fabulous my hair is.....God bless us!