In Real Life...Update

A couple of updates on what is going on in my "real life" world, outside of cyberspace...

My love for the Lord seems to ever increase, even with (especially with?) the terrible things I see going on, people who maintain they were "true Christians" and now say they don't believe in Jesus or the Bible and even post on Hinduism (for crying out loud) when you don't believe the truth you'll fall for anything, eh? I get so much peace and comfort from reading the scriptures, a peace that truly goes beyond my intellect or understanding, and I am truly thankful and content with life, and pray that no matter what happens, with everything going down the tubes so quickly anymore, that the Lord will be my strength and my shield when tshtf, that I won't give in to save my flesh...

So anyway, here are a couple of things that are going on here at our house...

Recently there was a townwide yard sale...but as these things sometimes go, it poured rain all day of the event. We were thinking of participating in it, but my husband decided to put it off for next year, and good thing because it was quite a rain and we have no tent...some diehards were out there in the rain with tents and I did go to a couple of their homes...I purchased a nice shelf for eight bucks!

At another house there was exercise equipment...I asked hubby about it, he said he already had plans for my exercise equipment and surprised me with a gift a few days ago...

Yeah, ok, very funny honey... :)

The garden is doing nicely however the weeds are doing best of all...I had decided last year that I would try my hand at doing it all from cuttings and seeds, so my plants, although they are doing well, are still small:

 The two scraggly looking plants are herbs: rosemary, watercress, basil, chives and cilantro (the tallest plant), okay they don't seem to be doing so great....started the herbs from seeds.

These are mostly all from seed, a few are from cuttings, my petunias (from seed) are growing well however still have not flowered...an aunt who has a gorgeous flowering garden credits Miracle Grow plant food...may have to go get some of that, been using an off brand plant food, some things just require spending the extra bucks.

These by our front door are also from cuttings, the red flowers are begonias that I rescued when they were hanging plants downtown. They are doing very well! The Dutch in me loves the fact that they were free! Bonus!

Yesterday I found this dead mole in our grass...

I truly never knew they have such an ugly snout!

And all that gardening leaves my joints more achey than ever, so when I saw an article promising relief from joint discomfort by drinking gelatin in water I had to give it a try. I had some last night; used half a packet in a glass of water, and had some again first thing in the morning. I must say that I noticed relief in my hands and feet this morning. Yesterday my feet were so stiff I hobbled around the house like I was 80 years old (sorry to any 80 year old who doesn't hobble that may be reading this). I have arthritis and joint pain from the wear and tear on my body from pushing heavy x-ray equipment and heavy patients; back pain, shoulder pain, pain in my hips...so I thought I might notice a slight benefit and any slight benefit would be a wonderful and welcome thing. This morning I walked down our staircase without having to brace myself compared with yesterday when I had to hang on to the walls as I painfully descended them....and my hands, I was barely able to close them yesterday, today I even can clench my fist tightly which I was unable to do yesterday because of the previous stiffness. I do still notice slight stiffness in my fingers but nothing like it was before starting this. Thank the Lord for this find! As a side note, the joint  cartilage which wears away as we age is made of the same material that makes up the myelin sheath which encase our nerves, so I also see this having potential benefit for nerve pain.

Anyway, you have been updated! Praise the Lord for His goodness, mercy and grace! He is worthy of our thanksgiving and praise! :)

"They're Here"

World's first GM babies born

by MICHAEL HANLON, Daily Mail

The world's first geneticallymodified humans have been created, it was revealed last night.
The disclosure that 30 healthy babies were born after a series of experiments in the United States provoked another furious debate about ethics.
So far, two of the babies have been tested and have been found to contain genes from three 'parents'.
Fifteen of the children were born in the past three years as a result of one experimental programme at the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science of St Barnabas in New Jersey.
The babies were born to women who had problems conceiving. Extra genes from a female donor were inserted into their eggs before they were fertilised in an attempt to enable them to conceive.

Genetic fingerprint tests on two one-year- old children confirm that they have inherited DNA from three adults --two women and one man.

The fact that the children have inherited the extra genes and incorporated them into their 'germline' means that they will, in turn, be able to pass them on to their own offspring.
Altering the human germline - in effect tinkering with the very make-up of our species - is a technique shunned by the vast majority of the world's scientists.
Geneticists fear that one day this method could be used to create new races of humans with extra, desired characteristics such as strength or high intelligence.
Writing in the journal Human Reproduction, the researchers, led by fertility pioneer Professor Jacques Cohen, say that this 'is the first case of human germline genetic modification resulting in normal healthy children'.
Some experts severely criticised the experiments. Lord Winston, of the Hammersmith Hospital in West London, told the BBC yesterday: 'Regarding the treat-ment of the infertile, there is no evidence that this technique is worth doing . . . I am very surprised that it was even carried out at this stage. It would certainly not be allowed in Britain.'
John Smeaton, national director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said: 'One has tremendous sympathy for couples who suffer infertility problems. But this seems to be a further illustration of the fact that the whole process of in vitro fertilisation as a means of conceiving babies leads to babies being regarded as objects on a production line.
'It is a further and very worrying step down the wrong road for humanity.'

Professor Cohen and his colleagues diagnosed that the women were infertile because they had defects in tiny structures in their egg cells, called mitochondria.
They took eggs from donors and, using a fine needle, sucked some of the internal material - containing 'healthy' mitochondria - and injected it into eggs from the women wanting to conceive.
Because mitochondria contain genes, the babies resulting from the treatment have inherited DNA from both women. These genes can now be passed down the germline along the maternal line.
A spokesman for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which regulates 'assisted reproduction' technology in Britain, said that it would not license the technique here because it involved altering the germline.
Jacques Cohen is regarded as a brilliant but controversial scientist who has pushed the boundaries of assisted reproduction technologies.

He developed a technique which allows infertile men to have their own children, by injecting sperm DNA straight into the egg in the lab.

Prior to this, only infertile women were able to conceive using IVF. Last year, Professor Cohen said that his expertise would allow him to clone children --a prospect treated with horror by the mainstream scientific community.
'It would be an afternoon's work for one of my students,' he said, adding that he had been approached by 'at least three' individuals wishing to create a cloned child, but had turned down their requests.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-43767/Worlds-GM-babies-born.html#ixzz2dphIrriq
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

More about Coconuts part 3

I followed a link which I KNEW would lead to an infomercial, but thought "oh well, maybe I'll glean SOMETHING from it..." it was about finding out the one food you shouldn't eat and it'll make you ____________(slim, healthy, perfect in every way, lol) . So after listening to him for almost a half an hour telling about how perfect he and his lovely wife have become by following his "simple program" which involves at least 4 books, a video, a few simple exercises, and being harassed by him and his wife via emails, oh, and some of your money sent to him which he promises to "refund fully if you aren't completely satisfied".... I decided to look up something he said early on in his schpiel... something about the liver needing to be healthy to process fats correctly....so I decided to see if anyone else said anything about the liver and what we can do to improve it's function and health...and found it!!! This article also states that coconut oil is wonderful and easy to digest and easy for the body to use as fuel, and mentions alot of other things about how to get your liver, heart, and blood vessels healthy. It is informative and humorous. It's on Rense.com and some people seem to have an aversion to that website...I've found alot of great stuff there, but maybe it's just me...oh well, if you get something good out of this, praise the Lord! :)

http://www.rense.com/general83/dwrs2.htm

More about Coconuts part 2

 image link

Found another article and more recipes!!! :D He mentions Whole Foods Market...I'll have to look, I have heard there's one near me somewhere...also there Dr. Mercola's website



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http://www.marksdailyapple.com/coconut-flour/


A barrage of comments to our post on low-carb thickeners confirmed that while coconut flour is terrible for thickening sauces, it does serve other purposes. Our last post on a Primal flour – almond meal – went over well, so I figured the time was ripe for a look at coconut flour.
Coconut flour is simply dried, ground up coconut meat. Most likely you’ll be buying it online or from a specialty grocer, like Whole Foods or a food co-op, but you’ll occasionally come across highly processed, ultra-white coconut flour. Stay away from this. The good stuff will be like actual coconut – slightly cream colored, rather than bone white. You can make your own at home with a food processor, but without a grain mill you’ll probably have issues getting a “floury” consistency. If that’s okay with you, have at it.
Whether you’re making your own or buying it pre-made, always make sure your coconut flour is unsweetened. Pretty much all that you’ll come across is unsweetened, but it’s always worth it to make sure.
Apparently, defatting is one of the major steps in making it, so coconut flour doesn’t have much of the delicious, hearty coconut fat left over. It’s too bad, but understandable when you realize you’re dealing with a dry flour designed for baking. That’s pretty much my only qualm with coconut flour, as everything else looks good. According to my just-bought bag of Aloha Nu organic coconut flour, 2 tablespoons of the stuff contain:
1.5 g fat (1 g saturated fat)
10 g carbs (with 9 g fiber, bringing the net carb count to a measly 1)
2 g protein
Those are pretty great stats, especially when compared to the glucose-boosting powers of “normal” flours like wheat or white. Less hearty than almond meal, but also less heavy and closer in texture to the other, forbidden flours (if that’s what you’re going for). Coconut flour can be used to bake, but be forewarned that it’s very dry and doesn’t stick together well (hence its uselessness as a sauce thickener); avoid this problem by adding eggs to the mix, which allows it to bond and form batter. I’ve also had success using it in a light egg batter for fried coconut chicken. I’d assume it would work equally well for shrimp or fish.
Okay, onto a few recipes.

Coconut Bread

I’m not a big baker, but I can appreciate those who are. For those budding Primal bakers who still miss bread, why not try to make some with coconut flour? Slightly sweet and fairly light (as opposed to the denser breads made with almond meal), this coconut bread should do the trick.
Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/2 cups ghee (or butter)
1-2 tablespoon honey, depending on taste
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup coconut flour
Method:
Preheat your oven to 350. Whisk it all together, or blend in a food processor until all lumps are gone. Grease a bread pan with butter or coconut oil and pour your batter in. Bake for 40 minutes.
If we split it up into six servings each slice will, according to FitDay, have:
30.9 g fat
13.2 g carbs (9 g fiber)
8.35 g protein

Coconut Pancakes

Drizzle these with honey and berries, wrap up some bacon and eggs for a Primal breakfast burrito, or just eat them plain. These things are incredibly easy to make.
Ingredients:
4 eggs
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch cinnamon
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup coconut milk (full fat)
Method:
Mix these ingredients and let them sit for five minutes. Oil or grease up your pan and heat over medium heat. Pour about a 1/4 cup of batter for each crepe, allowing each side to brown before flipping it.
Without accounting for toppings or cooking fat, FitDay says the whole batch amounts to:
37.2 g fat (20.9 g saturated)
42.2 g carbs (19.4 g fiber)
30.6 g protein

Coconut Crusted Chicken

This doesn’t even require an ingredient list. Simply take your chicken pieces (or shrimp, or fish), season them with salt and pepper, dunk them in an egg bath (just scrambled up raw egg), then dredge them in coconut flour, then back in the egg bath, and then coat with dried coconut flakes. After that, it’s just a matter of frying them in oil (use coconut) or sautéing them in some butter. Crunchy, delicious, and low-carb.

More about Coconuts

image link

This is a "part two" to a posting from a couple of days ago. I was looking around a bit more, following links as I went along and found this recipe. It looks like it could be delicious! It'll be a few days before I can test it out...if anyone sees this and tries it before I do, please let me know how it turns out for you :)

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http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2011/11/16/missingyourmuffins/

Many of the hundreds of emails that flooded my inbox after the Wheat Belly book review was published were from people seeking wheat substitutes for their daily delights.

The reason I eliminated wheat from my diet before I had even heard of Dr. William Davis’ toxic wheat theory was to reduce carbohydrates, as I suspected I had a carbohydrate intolerance. Most gluten-free flours are still high in carbohydrates (and may be perfectly fine for your weight loss and health but were not for me), so I turned to coconut flour.

Coconut flour is made from ground coconut meat and is super high in fibre (61 per cent as opposed to wheat bran’s 27 per cent fibre content). It has three times as much fibre as it does digestible carbohydrate, which works well for my diet goals.

It is also high in fat. Coconut fat, I have discovered, is a very intriguing substance. Among alternative nutritionists it has the reputation of being a low calorie fat (not that I could care less about counting the calories I am consuming any more; I’ll talk about that in another blog). For those who do count, it actually has slightly fewer calories than other fats: 8.6 calories per gram, not 9 calories per gram.

Coconut fat is also unique in that it is comprised of medium-chain fatty acids, where most of the fats in the Western daily diet are made up of long-chain ones, and the medium ones are more easily digested and have a reputation of both increasing metabolism and reducing appetite. I have been consuming coconut oil in large quantities, and have found all this to be true. Actually I have tripled my fat intake in the past few months, and my weight loss is at 26 pounds, as of today. (More about that in another blog, too)

The muffin recipe below is adapted from one by Dr. Bruce Fife, ND, who is a prolific author on the nutritional benefits of coconut. If you don’t like the taste of coconut, then I’m sorry, but it is riddled with it. Even a beginner cook can make muffins, and you don’t need much in the way of fancy kitchen equipment, even a toaster oven will do.

The best part? One of these muffins fills me up for 3-4 hours.

Basic coconut muffins

3 large eggs

1/4 cup sugar (or the equivalent if you are watching sugar intake)

1/4 cup melted coconut oil (or melted butter)

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

2-6 tablespoons liquid, sometimes more (canned full cream coconut milk, milk, cream, water, or I am using a product called So Delicious unsweetened dairy-free coconut milk beverage)

Heat your oven to 375 deg F. Grease your muffin pans (or make your life easy and get some silicon baking cups – best invention ever). Whisk the eggs with salt, vanilla, oil, and if you are using a liquid sugar substitute add it now). Stir together the flour and baking powder, and sugar or dry sugar equivalent ingredient, then stir it into the egg mix.

Now don’t freak out. Coconut flour is hugely absorbent and your muffin mix will look like an ugly lump. Stir in the liquid (the amount of which changes on any given day depending on the humidity in my experience) until it reaches a texture where you can scoop it up in a spoon and drop it as a semi-solid mass into the baking cups. Don’t scoop it yet, though.

Now is the adding fun flavours part: I stir in 1/2 a cup of frozen raspberries (two reasons: my freezer has a supply of homegrown ones, and they are a good low-carb fruit) but 1/2 cup of any fruit will work. Now scoop the mix into the cups. It won’t rise an awful lot , so fill them up.

At this stage I have added cubes of cream cheese poked into each (my husband’s favourite), and toppings like shredded unsweetened coconut (yes, I have gone a little coconutty) or slivered almonds.

Bake 15-18 mins – they are done when they are browned. This recipe makes 6 muffins, but you can double the mix and they freeze well.

Nutritional content will vary with your ingredients.

Interesting Facts about Coconut Oil

 image link

Found a website that tells about the many health benefits of using coconut oil in our diet. One of these benefits is that it can help with weight loss because when it is added to the diet it satisfies hunger faster and keeps us from getting hungry again over longer stretches of time. It also improves the metabolism so it increases the feeling of well being and helps the body burn more calories by increasing one's stamina and energy.

Read about the many benefits of coconuts and coconut oil here:
http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/

Every Cancer can be Cured....

 image link

This is an interesting clip given by a European doctor who states that every cancer can be cured from days to weeks by making the body more alkaline. He states that we need salt...not the table salt that is sold which he says is mixed with glass and sand...and damages our blood vessels which cause our blood vessels to bleed, which in turn causes our bodies to react by trying to coat the vessels which then eventually clogs the arteries. He states that we need sea salt.

Video clip description at video site:

Dr. Leonard Coldwell states that all cancers can be cured within four months. Listen to his reasons behind that statement and how it may be done. Dr. Coldwell also says that you need salt, even if you have high blood pressure. Find out why that is and why sea salt is better for you.

http://www.ihealthtube.com/aspx/viewvideo.aspx?v=3c2bb4f600fe586b

See his website


http://drleonardcoldwell.com/

http://thedrcoldwellreport.blogspot.com/

and then there's the "skeptics" comments (Skeptics Guide to the Universe Blog):
http://sguforums.com/index.php?topic=25790.0