Monday, February 15, 2010

Açai and Risking the Monodiet

We all want the nutritional silver bullet. We want that one supplement that will solve all our nutritional concerns.

I believe that accounts for the emerging popularity of single foods to take care of a health problem. The most widespread [pun warning] concern is overweight. That one problem attracts more one food solutions than any other.

The most extreme form of this obsession is the monodiet. This means you eat only one food for a short period of time. And short is the governing principle here.

The grapefruit diet, the watermelon diet, the grape cure...any of these sound familiar?

No one expects to be on one food for a long period of time. It's just a temporary expedient to achieve a short term goal.

That's why I question the philosophy of one superfood to take care of everything. Or even to handle a particular problem on an ongoing basis.

I believe there is a saturation effect. Sure, you may get a boost in the short term. but, after a while, the inherent imbalance in your diet and metabolism will catch up with you.
The Açai Berry
This açai berry is one of the marvels discovered in the Amazon rainforest. Having a featured role on Oprah has launched it into orbit.
Marketed as a weight loss product, it has more to offer.

Some of the benefits associated with the açai berry are:
• increased energy
• improved digestion
• antioxident effect
• improved skin appearance
• reduced cholesterol
• improved sexual experience
• better sleep
It's possible that the last benefit follows naturally from the next to last. :>)

The ideal processing of the berries uses the same low temperature drying that other superfoods have in preparing them for market. Liquifying it means some form of pasturization. And that means goodby enzymes.

There are supplements like Nuriche that have açai in them along with other beneficial superfoods. That makes sense to me. A balanced supplement of an array of superfoods will not throw you off balance and set up a dangerous situation.

Common sense, for me, means adopting a program that you can live with.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Bee Pollen Helps with Allergies

Bee Pollen as a Superfood

At the Spring time of year in Palm Harbor, the oak trees are in full battle cry. People speak of pollen and sinus, signified by sigh-ness.

I saw a micro photo of oak pollen. The working end of the medieval weapon called the morning star had nothing on the dangerous look of this little beast.

You can well imagine how this spiky marvel of the oak tree can irritate sensitive membranes. And yet, many people are oblivious to this pollen. And, yes, I am among their number.

Two people told me recently of the sinus challenge presented by this oak pollen. I told them the story of my student Jeannie Horrell. She is Gary Horrell’s mom.

Gary did the video for The Money Tunes, and some other productions. Included is his cut of the Orange Blossom Special on YouTube that I did with the Green Grass Boys. There are links to these on his YouTube site where he documents Florida Folk on video.

When Jeannie talked about her sinus problems from oak pollen, I simply recounted what I’ve heard. “Taking bee pollen acts as an inoculation against tree pollen.”

Bee pollen is one of my favorite superfoods. It’s easy to take. I like the taste of it.

Not all health food nuts like bee pollen. We who do are a minority of a minority.

I was drawn to it because of all the superfoods that I knew of at the time, it was tasty and easy to find. I was informed when I started that bee pollen is a good source of minerals, including trace minerals.

Bee pollen also has analogs of hormones that help balance the endocrine system, or so I have read.

It’s been a regular part of my diet for decades. Nowadays, several times a week, not every day.

And, finally, it’s inexpensive. This would not be so if bee pollen was popular. If the 4% of the population who shop at health food stores all got bee pollen, the price would take off like a rocket.

Recommending bee pollen to Jeannie was natural for me. She took the effort to get some at a health food store.

At the next fiddle lesson she told me that it really made a difference with her sinuses. It was a big improvement.

Now I’m waiting for my new people to say how it went for them.

Friday, February 5, 2010

And Now, Here's the Food Revolution

Coming Full Circle with Back Yard Gardens



The Food Revolution is now upon us. We have come full circle. Starting from family farms and back yard gardens, we first evolved to the Green Revolution.

Who remembers the Green Revolution? It wasn’t a revolution in the sense of the lower overthrowing the higher. It was really a further concentration of wealth and control from the hands of the many to the fists of the few.

Pushed by Big Ag chemical fertilizer and pesticides, we found ourselves supplied with food by factory farms. The torch of questionable progress is now held by GMO seeds, “Frankenseeds.” These are produced by the same companies.

If we collectively fall for this one, the game is over. It’s totally rigged with a complete lack of ethics.

The good news is the Food Revolution, as written about by Janet K. Keeler of the St. Petersburg Times in her article, Who’s Who in the Food Revolution.

She tells us that folks are choosing to work their own gardens. People are buying more produce grown locally, much of it organically grown.

Clearly, we have come full circle by this trend.

Some of the players in this arena include:

1. Wendell Berry

2. Alice Waters

3. Michael Pollan

They all are in favor of getting our food from nearby farmers, or growing it ourselves. They favor sustainable farming. That usually implies organic or biodynamic farming.

If Michelle Obama can dig it, we can dig it, too.