Diabetics Need To Garden – 5 Aquaponics, Aeroponics

“Everyone Knows Someone Who Needs This Information! (TM)

In today’s uncertain economic future, when you may be hit with unemployment or reduced income on top of struggling with diabetes in your family, then this Gardening for Diabetics series is important for you!

Not only will you be able to eat more fresh, healthy, low glycemic, pH alkaline food, but for the techniques which I have shared in parts 1-4, you will not need much money to get your garden started.

These simple gardens can make a huge, positive change happen in your life!

The following 2 techniques (aquaponics and aeroponics) which are  explained today require more equipment, so I will not give lots of information – there’s plenty to get you started at specialized sites online.  But I wanted to introduce these ideas to you because both are very effective methods. In fact, aquaponics has been practiced in Asia for centuries, if not millennia.

Biochemically, you need to constantly detoxify your body if you have diabetes, and the best foods to do this with are organically-grown, low glycemic vegetables e.g. leafy greens and other alkaline foods like papaya, sweet potato, seaweed, avocado and more.

I have written about alkaline foods (look in the Title Archive, link above).

You only want to feed your family healthy food –  for the least amount of money — so having your own garden IS the way.

It’s an idea needed to make global and personal change. We need to start growing our own food, or at least a decent portion of it.

In other parts of my series, you have seen people are beginning to use sunny windows, rooftops, reclaim vacant land (with permission), encouraging their city to make community gardens and more.

The “food miles” involved in producing your food and dragging it an average of 1,400 miles in the US,  is untenable in today’s world and in all future scenarios.

If we persist in using this flawed system, food prices will become astronomical. Get out of the loop  and become independent, now!

There’s a link below to an Aussie report as an example of how much can even be home-grown on an apartment balcony, let alone what can be done on a roof or a backyard.

If you are lucky enough to have a yard, then you can make miracles happen, even if yours is a tiny plot of land.  Maybe you will even sell your fish and produce as a Southern California family has been doing (for more than a decade) in a small but intensely efficient garden.

Their current production record is 6,000 pounds of food from their 1/5 acre yard garden!!!! Yes, you read that correctly!

Links for these encouraging sites are at the end of my article. And, be sure to notice that these techniques will help with America’s and the global fresh water access crisis. There’s not enough fresh water now in most parts of the world. Water conservation is critical. These gardening techniques require the least water.

All of this is good self-help and good parenting because is also the route to return to Health and fight Obesity.

Many young people are pre-diabetic or even have Type 2 diabetes, long regarded as a disease of middle age and beyond.

No-one can afford to sit around still thinking that somehow expensive medicines are the answer. They are not.

Dr. Gabriel Cousens, MD and other health professionals with open minds have consistently shown that the proper diet of healthy foods, alone, can improve and even reverse Type 2 diabetes, and increase quality of life for type 1 diabetics.  Type 2 diabetics were able to reduce and in some cases even eliminate their medication.  Start gardening and eating all your produce, so you may have these results, too. Just do it!

Now on to the 2 techniques for today.

___   Aquaponics will produce LOTS of FAST, healthy food! And, as it is an ecologically sound system, you will not really need outside supplies, once it is properly set up, and you learn how to run your unit efficiently.

The end products will be that you will produce are:

___   either freshwater prawns, tilapia fish or arctic char fish to eat

___   also organic fruits and/or  vegetables.

Your diabetes diet plan will be filled with accessible, low-cost, healthy food. You will not even have to buy fertilizer. And, if you keep plant seeds, then you will not even have to buy plant seeds next season, but I think you will buy some, as you want to try new vegetables and fruits.

You can learn how to properly prepare home-harvested seeds for storage — check Seedsavers Exchange. One version of aquaponics is barrel-ponics.

___   In my reading about these systems, I think Aeroponics is the most technical, requires the most equipment and cannot be sustained without buying commercial products. But, it is a very effective way to grow food. For sure.

If you have a couple of hundred dollars to spend on a trial, then you could buy one of the tiny countertop units like AeroGarden. Just look for the official website, and see their authorized retailers. Theirs is a small but well-made system.

Do NOT have anything to do with Earth Solutions Farm-in-a-Box.  It is exorbitantly priced and when investigated by others online, the reviewers said it used materials toxic to the fish as well as being shoddily made.

LINKS:

Balcony Garden in Sydney, Australia Once established, this garden takes only 10 minutes of care a week!

BarrelPonics

Free download: The BarrelPonics Manual

Food for Fish – BioPod Plus and she is an Aquaponics – acknowledged expert

Ebb and Flow – Aeroponic or Aquaponic Text and Video: Hydroponics on a Toronto Balcony

For genetic biodiversity it is important to grow no hybrids. Use heirloom vegetable and fruit varieties, only. Get them at: RareSeeds.com
and SeedSavers Exchange Catalog

Raising Fish in the City

Dervaes Family Garden. Southern California’s celebrated home-gardeners. and Path to Freedom, Dervaes Family

Zero Power Aquaponic System Remember to only use food-grade plastics and NO PVC!

Brix Meter and organic BioVam Method. A Brix meter is needed for any garden, as it measures carbohydrate plant content to tell you exactly when your crop is “ripe”.

Seed Search Engine

Help Getting Seeds

Community Food Advocacy

BOOKS:
Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholamew
Perennial Vegetables by Eric Toensmeier
Backyard Self-Sufficiency by Jackie French

THE REST OF THE SERIES:
Diabetics Need to Garden, Part 1

Diabetics Need to Garden, Part 2

Diabetics Need to Garden, Part 3

Hydroponics with Safer Plastics Part 4A

5 Gallon Bucket Gardening Part 4B

Hydroponic Gardening Part 4C

5 Gallon Bucket Hydroponic Gardening Part 4D

Gardening in Rubbermaid Totes Part 4E

Please read the Titles Archive to find 3 years of posts to help you learn more about alternative ways to help your diabetes.

Please share this article with your friends, family and Web 2.0 sites.

(c)2010 Em at http://diabetesdietdialogue.wordpress.com

If you desire to quote more than 2 short paragraphs of my article, then please write for permission at the About Me tab on the upper navigation bar. Thanks!

Read Full Post »

Diabetes – New Dietary Info

“Everyone Knows Someone Who Needs This Information!” (TM)

Here’s some new dietary information to help diabetics make better choices.

Hawaiian researchers recently examined the influence of dietary fiber, magnesium (Mg) and glycemic load (GL) on diabetes.  They found these offer protection against diabetes and can be achieved through food choices.

After taking into account body weight, there still are differences in commonly consumed foods due to ethnicity and culture, so risk estimates may differ by ethnic group (J Nutr. 2010 Jan;140(1):68-74).

In the study, the 75,512 Caucasian, Japanese American and Native Hawaiian participants aged 45 to 75 years at baseline completed an exam and questionnaire. After 14 years of follow-up, 8,587 incident diabetes cases were identified through self-reports and via health plans.

When comparing, total fiber intake was associated with reduced diabetes risk among all men. High intake of grain fiber reduced diabetes risk significantly by 10 percent in men and women.

Interestingly, high-vegetable fiber intake lowered risk by 22 percent in all men but not women. (Maybe the women were already eating more vegetables than men … I think this stat is strange as a finding and needs explanation.)

Magnesium intake reduced risk, which may explain the protective effect of fiber, as it is found in high Mg foods.

Ranking in the top Glycemic Load quintile was associated with a significantly elevated diabetes incidence in Caucasian men and in all women except Japanese Americans.

So, eating lower glycemic foods is important, period! Junk food, too-high carbs food, sugary foods and too-low fiber foods all have too high GL.

Overall, several associations were more pronounced in Caucasians than in the other groups. So whites may have gotten on the junk-food wagon more than other groups with stronger ethnic ties to traditional foods OR there may be inherent physical weakness towards diabetes in Caucasians OR both. All that remains to be figured out, but eating low glycemic foods, high-fiber foods and lots of fresh vegetables helps everyone, and Japanese Americans are traditionally better at this.

I believe that the Japanese and Okinawan diets are the world’s healthiest.

And we all know mild exercise, like walking daily at a conversation pace, is helpful to diabetics. Now, the research shows that after exercise is a good time for a higher protein / lower carb meal, that is not low calorie. Aim for a 200 to 400 calorie snack-meal after exercise, and a maximum of 200 grams of carbohydrate at that time.

The study is a follow-up on other research which revealed how the biochemical benefits of exercise occur from the most recent exercise session.

For 20 years, my neighbor was a prominent endocrinologist and he was always happy to see me walking-the-circle near our homes. He always told me to do long-steady exercise, daily, as the benefit carried-over for a small amount of time. If I linked the exercise, then the biochemistry was more likely to still be in exercise-benefit mode.

This study bears that out. Since the benefits of working-out can die off after a few days of no activity (or even in a few hours for some people), health experts now are suggesting that diabetics eat a low-carb, but not low calorie, meal after exercise. Discuss this with your doctor.

The study revealed how low-carb (but not low calorie) meals improved blood sugar control for hours after activity, or even into the next day.

BUT Diabetics, and overweight people at risk for diabetes, should not start a strict low-carbohydrate diet, Atkins type diet any time soon, if ever. Popular low-carb diets restrict far more than what’s recommended, and those plans have too much protein which can overload diabetic kidneys.

But focusing on the meal just after regular exercise is important, and that is the best time to intervene. Carbohydrate deficiency after exercise, but not energy deficiency, is encouraged.

Participants in the study ate as much as 200 grams of carbohydrates after working out. Of course, there are many factors when it comes to diet; age, weight, size and current health or activity level.

Every person should eat about 12 calories per pound of body weight, unless they are severely overweight or clinically obese. Doing the Math, a person weighing 200 pounds should consume 2,400 calories per day, unless the person is overweight, then calories should be cut to approximately 1600 for women and 2000 for men. Lower than this level is not good.

After balancing out the needed calorie amount, fat, protein and carbohydrate percentages must be weighed in. Experts and trainers suggest that 50 percent of most diets should consist of calories from fresh, mostly unprocessed carbohydrates (organic as much as possible), while 30 percent consist of calories from lean, natural, organic protein (as much as possible), and 20 percent, calories from healthy fat – monosaturated like olive oil and omega-3′s like in salmon, hempseed, flax seed and walnuts.

Fats do not affect blood sugar levels and provide satiety.

Our bodies need the foods which help control blood sugar. High-protein diets are NOT the answer as when only (or mostly) protein is consumed, then calcium isn’t absorbed as well, heart conditions worsen, exercise benefits weaken and it can effect the body’s ability to control blood sugar.

Healthy forms of alkaline, low glycemic load carbohydrates are a very important part of a balanced diet, and especially in people who exercise regularly.  It is important to replenish at least some of the carbohydrate stores your liver used up during exercise, so you have this major fuel source ready for your next exercise session or emergency when your blood sugar dips.

The study is called, “Energy deficit after exercise augments lipid mobilization but does not contribute to the exercise-induced increase in insulin sensitivity,” and it appears online in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

There are lots more worthy articles in this blog’s archives. Just click the Title Archive on the upper navigation bar above.

Please share my article’s links on your favorite web 2.0 sites to encourage more people to learn about my blog.

(c)2010 Em at http://diabetesdietdialogue.wordpress.com

Please respect my copyright, and if you want to quote from my article, contact me for permission at the About Me tab, unless it is a short quote of about one small paragraph. Thanks.

Read Full Post »

Diabetics – Iodine and Health 5

“Everyone Knows Someone Who Needs This Information!” (TM)

I’ve written five articles on the subject of Iodine because it’s amazingly essential for our Health! How come you haven’t heard about it before? Well, it’s complacency and ignorance in current Public Health circles and in your doctor’s office. The scientific research is quite clear, and you need to take about 20 – 25 minutes to read the other 4 parts in this series, for background. If you are a regular reader, then just continue in this article’s text after these links.

LINKS to the previous articles in the series. Please read first. It won’t take long and your health really does depend on knowing this!

Diabetics – Iodine and Health, Part 1
Diabetics – Iodine and Health, Part 2
Diabetics – Iodine and Health, Part 3
Diabetics – Iodine and Health, Part 4

___ In this edition, as one of the topics, let’s discuss Iodine, Pregnancy and Breastfeeding, first.

Thyroid hormone and your thyroid gland, together with iodine, are the most important factors by far for completion of a normal pregnancy and delivering a normal baby.

Iodine is put into the mother’s milk by the lactating breast to levels that are 30 times the levels in the mother’s blood (your body can only put iodine in your breast milk if you have enough to give). I do not know how much (if any) is put into baby formulas. It would not be the first time that formula-makers have missed an essential ingredient. Maybe the amounts used would help explain the rash of learning “disabilities” and generally lower IQ scores in past decades, as Moms feeding their babies by breast milk has declined.

If you find after delivery or while nursing, that your thyroid has become sluggish and you have ‘low thyroid” symptoms (like fatigue, cold extremities, weight gain etc.), then maybe your body is giving all your Iodine stores to your baby and leaving you with nothing left to operate your thyroid and metabolism with. In those circumstances, your immunity is also put at risk, along with many other possibilities to erode your health. Making sure that you maintain proper Iodine levels for you and your baby is critical. You have to learn what foods are iodine rich and then eat them everyday in normal-size portions.

Iodine has very important functions for your child’s brain development before and after birth.

Iodine deficiency in pregnant or nursing mothers can lead to statistically significant neuro-cognitive deficits in their infants. Lack of iodine creates metabolic havoc and may create irreversible developmental brain damage during gestation and in the first several years of life, according to Peter Laurberg, from Aalborg Hospital in Denmark, and his colleagues. If it is bad enough, your child could become a cretin, which is not reversible.

Just start eating seaweed, daily. It tastes good; it really does. Next week, I’ll include more recipes, but meanwhile, Japanese and Macrobiotic cuisines offer the best chance to find some more recipes, along with Korean and Chinese cuisines, to a lesser extent.

[[Never buy Chinese source seaweed unless you are sure there is NO ecological damage in the area where it is harvested. With China's pollution, this is almost impossible.]]

And, if you are concerned or interested, then take Dr. Abraham’s Iodine Loading Test to find out your body’s Iodine status (his lab is Optimox). All three labs mentioned below supply their own protocol for details on collection of urine samples, pooling samples for 24 hr. and sending a 2 ounce aliquot to the Laboratory for analysis. It would always be best to confirm that you can take this test when you are already pregnant; I don’t know the answer to that.

Dr. Abraham: OPTIMOX CORPORATION
P.O. Box 3378, Torrance, CA 90510-3378
or Call Toll Free in America: (800) 223-1601
Optimox Iodine Loading Test

If you go through the Hakala Research Lab in Colorado, USA you will not need a doctor’s prescription for this test. Hakala Labs

Labrix Clinical Services Inc. in Oregon City, Oregon, USA is another lab which can do this test for you.
LABRIX CLINICAL SERVICES INC.
619 Madison Street STE 100
Oregon City, OR. 97045
Phone: 1 (503) 656-9596
Toll Free in America: 1 (877) 656-9596   Fax: 1 (877) 656-9756
Email: info@labrix.com
Labrix Iodine Testing – explanation

Dr. Jorge Flechas’ Lab: FFP Laboratories
576 Upward Rd. Suite 8
Flat Rock, NC 28731
Toll Free: 877-900-5556
Fax: 828-697-9020
Email: ffp_lab@yahoo.com

___Dr. Ryan Drum, PhD, one of the world’s experts on seaweeds, the best source of Iodine, also mentions that there is a generational aspect to whether you and your future grandchildren will have a body optimizing Iodine and providing protection for any babies you, your daughters and grand-daughters produce.

Read more here: How Seaweed Heals and How To Get Enough Iodine Read especially if you have chronic disease, have had recent trauma, surgery or are having chemotherapy. Additionally, seaweeds can help if you need anti-viral treatment or get pneumonia. Brown seaweeds are also the only vegetarian source of thyroid hormone able to be used by humans. Dr. Drum also discusses using seaweed as treatment “for prevention of Dioxin and PCB uptake” and to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (which he regards as poisoning the brain’s fatty tissue) in troops who have been exposed to chemicals during warfare.

___ It is critical to raise your iodine consumption gradually if you are deficient. Let your organ systems accommodate. You just can’t “catch up quickly” to levels the Japanese use. Too much, too quickly can cause other equally serious health problems. Stay with the amounts Dr. Ryan Drum, PhD, Dr. Abrahams, Dr. Flechas, Dr. Brownstein suggest and work up to 50mg of Iodine a day, over a number of months, even as much as a year.

___ Unless your food happens to be organically-farmed where seaweed actually has been applied as fertilizer, almost no land plants provide iodine, and, as Dr. Drum alerts us, unfortunately, my favorite whole sea salts (Celtic salts) do not have enough, either. There’s just not enough left in even gently-evaporated sea water; you must eat ocean plants (seaweeds) or ocean fish which eat ocean plants to get your Iodine requirement everyday, as Nature intended.

Dr. Ryan Drum, PhD also says, “Individuals with “seafood allergy” seem especially sensitive to iodine. Contrary to some practitioners and their believing patients, he says nobody has “iodine allergy”. No iodine, no life.” Use seaweed as your source rather than fish if you have concerns.

___ SEAWEED IODINE CONTENT from Dr. Drum
Icelandic kelp, 8000 parts per million
Norwegian kelp 4000ppm
Atlantic kelp 1500-2000ppm
Pacific kelps 500-1200ppm
Fucus spp. (species) 200-500ppm
Wakame 50-150ppm
Sargassum 35ppm
Nori 15 ppm

These numbers are estimates and will vary considerably by season, location, age of the plant and harvest practices. Sources for buying these were provided in my previous articles.

___ Dr. Drum has learned that the Japanese and other Asians who eat much more seaweed than the rest of the world does, apparently soak their Kombu and other seaweeds in freshwater for 10-30 minutes prior to using in miso broth (dashi) and other cooking. He says this effectively removes about 60% of the iodine (Hazutosi).

Curiously, he was also told by Japanese nationals that the kombu was then also left in the miso broth for 10-20 minutes and then discarded. It can be used several times, if left to dry out again. And, if you intend to use it several times, then maybe forego the “soaking in fresh water” and just allow the first dashi to have 60% iodine and remaining 2 later dashi soups to have a lesser amount, at least sometimes.

For people like the Japanese and Okinawans, who eat large amounts of seafood and sea veggies, the soaking or prolonged rinsing of high-iodine content seaweeds may reduce the risks for excess iodine-induced disease. But, notice that the all-pervasive “sushi” wrap is made from nori, which has low levels of iodine, and therefore does not require pre-treatment.

Sprinkling dry, cut nori on rice, as a garnish on anything or wrapping sushi, is a good way to get started, along with using about 1t of powdered Japanese-sourced or American-sourced Kombu a day, (to a max in later months of a total of 1Tablespoon of kombu powder per person, spread between 3 meals and snacks most days).

___ Dr. Ryan Drum, PhD also sheds light on another likely wide-spread set of conditions which seaweed can alleviate – potassium deficiency. And, you likely need to take a daily supplement of selenium (this is another mineral researchers find chronically lacking in the general public, and especially in diabetics).

Dr. Drum says, ” I believe that almost any craving for salt in our dietary times of heavily salted (with only “table-salt” i.e. sodium chloride), home-cooking, restaurant meals and preserved foods is a strong indication of potassium deficiency, especially in pregnancy.”

Potassium is an essential mineral, needed for even minimal nerve and muscle functioning. It is also a cross-membrane transporter ion for your brain’s neurotransmittors (like serotonin – which prevents depression) and also for transporting your hormones. This may also help to explain the huge increase in those with depression and other endocrine system disorders, like diabetes.

Dr. Drum has observed that “adding high-potassium foods, especially seaweeds, to the diets of people with A.D.D. (instead of Ritalin) can significantly improve behavior and mental functioning” in children and in adults.

Similarly, fibromyalgia patients, who are: exhausted, forgetful, moody and agitated, as well as those with: anxiety disorders and depression are all favorably improved with high-potassium diets and seaweeds.

Talk to your physician about this and have your doctor contact Dr. Drum (contact info is on his web-site http://www.ryandrum.com.
Potassium supplementation and levels must always be monitored carefully. Too much and too little are both bad.

Well, we’re not done yet, but it’s enough for now.

Best to all — Em

Read more in the Title Archive on the upper navigation bar.

(c)2009 Em at http://diabetesdietdialogue.wordpress.com
If you would like to quote from or include this article, please contact me at the About Me page above in order to get permission. Please respect my copyright. Thanks!

Read Full Post »

Diabetics, Iodine and Health – 4

“Everyone Knows Someone Who Needs This Information!” (TM)

Yes, I know it’s Thanksgiving in America in 2 days, but my post and recipe is one for you to incorporate, even daily, as much as possible, the way the longest-lived peoples do. That’s really something to be Thankful for!

So, find a way to start this food in your diet over the 4 day holiday week-end. You won’t be sorry. The more I learn about seaweed, iodine and the complex, healing polysaccharides which it contains, the more amazed I am.

Seaweed is really the Foundational Food of Life.

This low glycemic, high nutrition food has no calories and lots of fiber, wonderful mineral content, along with great, clean taste.

The Iodine and Fucoidan in seaweed will help you to:
___ reduce weight
___ remineralize especially when stressed
___ aid thyroid and metabolic health
___ help to reduce blood sugar levels and body-wide inflammation
___ help to prevent excessive blood clotting
___ automatically thin your blood
___ protect bone marrow and kidneys
___ support healthy joint activity
___ engage your immune functions and fire-up your T cell-mediated and natural killer (NK) cells for effective anti-viral (including AIDS and herpes) and anti-cancer protection.

Yes, it’s that amazing and effective in the right quantities.

Introduce your children to this pH alkaline, life-giving food, too. Start them on better habits than you had. In the 1950′s Americans used to eat 4 times as much iodine as they do now! This current lack is probably behind most of the massive rise in chronic diseases and conditions, like diabetes, heart disease and cancer, especially breast cancer and prostate cancer.

You just cannot spend your food money more wisely than to buy organic seaweed from one of the firms which carefully source where and how it was grown. These companies are listed in the previous parts which I mention below.

I now add Mitoku Brand – Japanese foods, with some organic seaweeds to the list. Sorry I forgot you; it’s a great company, which I have also used for years and years.

Please read these articles before continuing, if you have not already been following the series.

Diabetics – Iodine and Health, Part 1
Diabetics – Iodine and Health, Part 2
Diabetics – Iodine and Health, Part 3 – includes recipe

Do NOT buy any Chinese-sourced seaweed. Assays have shown that the unrelenting pollution of their air, sea and water has resulted in arsenic in their seaweed products.

Dr. Ray Sahelian, MD states: “Fucoidan substances are sulfated polysaccharides extracted from brown algae (seaweed). Fucoidan has been studied for its diverse biological activities. It appears this substance has blood thinning properties and has an influence on the immune system.”

He continues: “Fucoidan (sulfated alpha-L-fucan) is a sulfated polysaccharide and is found primarily in the cell walls of several species of brown seaweed, such as kombu, limu moui, wakame (and mekabu), hijiki and bladderwrack.”

Most of the clinical immune research has been done on animals, using wakame and also on its special structure called mekabu (available from Eden Foods). Mekabu is the green crunchy plant in seaweed salad in sushi restaurants. See the sketch of the wakame fronds and the mekabu spiral structure, just above the life-giving holdfast support.

My discussion is all about getting these wonderful ingredients only in food, not in supplements. There’s very little human research (if any) in the amounts and concentrations placed in supplements, whereas, there are tens of thousands of years of normal, daily ingestion of these seaweeds as food, in normal appetite portions.

One teaspoon of a powdered seaweed is equivalent to eating a whole plate of seaweed. It takes about 40 pounds of seaweed to make one pound of powdered product.

The oldest Japanese recipes do not call for seaweed to be cooked (for varieties tender enough to eat this way). This may be healthier as science shows, that unlike Iodine, Fucoidan is disrupted by heat.

===================================================================

from http://epicureandebauchery.blogspot.com

Seaweed Preserve (nori no tsukudani)

5 sheet nori (seaweed like the one used for sushi)
2 cups sake in 1/2 cup increments
1/2-1 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)
1/8 cup toasted sesame seeds **

1. Tear up all the nori into approximately 2 inch x 2 inch pieces
2. Pour first 1/2 cup sake into a small pan on medium heat *
3. Add nori and cook until almost all of the sake is absorbed
4. Repeat until 1 1/2 cups of sake is almost all absorbed
5. Add soy sauce, mirin, and sesame seeds
6. Add last 1/2 cup of sake
7. Cook until all of the liquid is absorbed and the seaweed has a very thick consistency.
8. Keep in an air tight container in the fridge.

Use over rice, on top of salads, over fish etc.,
For an Ochazuke:
1) For each 1/2 cup cooked brown rice, use 2 tbs seaweed preserve and 1 tsp wasabi paste, 1/4 tsp ume paste.
2) Pour on hot sencha tea, brewed strong.
3) Enjoy right away after mixing with your spoon!

* Frankly, I am going to try this recipe with just letting the seaweed absorb the incremental amounts of sake and other liquids without cooking, and see if it will absorb enough over time. No harm in trying it this way; I can always cook it a little at the end. I saw another wakame recipe that just used a no-cook absorption method, so it is possible and will keep more of the beneficial fucoidan.

** I never toast seeds; they lose too much nutrition, even on low heats. Use white and // or black sesame seeds.
====================================================================

Links:
This store carries Mitoku’s full line. Mitoku’s full inventory of products available online

Enjoy! More next week. Have a safe and happy holiday!
Best to all — Em

P.S. Please share this with your favorite social media site. To read more articles, please use the Title Archive tab on the upper navigation bar. Please subscribe to my blog on the right side-bar.

(c)2009 Em at http://diabetesdietdialogue.wordpress.com
If you desire to use or quote more than a couple of sentences from my article, please write for permission to the About Me page on the upper navigation bar. Please include the address of the site where you wish to use it. Thanks!

Read Full Post »

Diabetics, Iodine and Health – Recipes

“Everyone Knows Someone Who Needs This Information!” (TM)

If I just had a chance to grab 3 or 4 supplements in an emergency, to help keep my Health and to prolong my life, Iodine containing foods would be one of them (or a special supplement, I mention in the prior articles below). Yes, Iodine is that important.

Iodine is especially essential for diabetics. Indeed, it is essential for everyone, as most people are definitely deficient.

Read my first two articles  so you can be up to speed on the “why” of Iodine.

Iodine and Health for Everyone – Part 1

Iodine and Health – Part 2

Now that you’ve done that reading, let’s continue with some ways to use seaweeds, the most iodine-rich, alkaline food.

___ I use powdered Kombu seaweed to make soups with a creamy-rich texture without the dairy or less-nutritious thickeners. I sprinkle it in stews to make a thicker, more nutritious sauce than flour, arrowroot or cornstarch would give. Ditto for salad dressing. I sneak it into baked goods or pancakes. Luckily, Iodine is not harmed by heat. I use it as a topper for rice, along with other choices. It has a pleasant sea flavor which is not aggressive or strange. Use it to substitute for salt in any savory smoothie. Sneak a little into some other smoothies. Add some to pickled foods. You have to be inventive as most modern western cookbooks won’t have seaweed recipes.

___ I use a lot of Japanese recipes. Their cooks are the masters of seaweed cuisine, and it goes way beyond just wraps for sushi. You’ll also find recipes in Welsh books (as laver), in Macrobiotic cookbooks and in many other cuisines on a varying scale. In these recipes, I use the real sheets of seaweed.

___ You can also make your own version of Gomashio, a shelf stable condiment using Celtic sea salt and organic ingredients.

Seaweed has virtually no calories, is rich in fiber as well as Iodine and it has just about every needed trace mineral known to humankind.

Here is an adaptable recipe.
========================================================================

Em’s Kaisou Salada Serves 4

Make ahead:
5 grams ( 1/8 oz.) EACH dried wakame, dried arame and dried hijiki seaweeds I use only Eden Foods brand, as they source their organic seaweeds carefully.

1) In two separate bowls, soak the arame and hijiki together for 30 minutes, and in the other bowl, soak the wakame for 10 minutes.

130 grams (4 ozs.) enokitake mushrooms (tiny white mushrooms with long stems — in good supermarkets refrigerated or Asian produce section) (optional)

2) Trim the hard stems off each bunch of mushroom stalks, divide the bundles, keeping the mushrooms intact and whole.

2 scallions (spring onions, green onions) and ice water with cubes

3) Cut the onions into 1 1/2″ long thin strips and plunge into the ice water so they curl up.

1/2 English cucumber, cut lengthwise, cut into thin, half-moon slices

1 bunch of red radishes, washed and sized as desired. (Also, wash the leaves and dry them. Use for soups or stir frys.) OR use a desired amount of white icicle (daikon) radish

4) Cook the wakame and enokitake mushrooms in boiling water for 2 minutes. Add the arame and hijiki for a few seconds and immediately remove from the heat and then drain.

5) Transfer to a bowl. Sprinkle on marinade from 1 1/4 teaspoon of Celtic sea salt and 15 ml (1 Tablespoon) organic brown rice vinegar while the weeds and mushroom mix is still warm. Then, chill everything in the refrigerator.

Salad Assembling:

Make the salad Dressing:
60 ml (4 Tablespoons) organic brown rice vinegar
7.5 ml (1 1/2 teaspoons) organic toasted sesame oil
15 ml (1 Tablespoon) organic shoyu or tamari soy sauce
1 Tablespoon water (with a pinch of dashi-no-moto powder, if desired)
2.5cm (1 inch) piece of fresh ginger root, finely grated (or slivered)

1 package fresh washed organic Mesclun mixed spring greens
organic sesame seeds and // or organic hemp seeds

1) Place greens in a large bowl, add cucumber and radish slices, then top with the seaweed-enokitake mixture. Garnish with the spring onion curls and the seeds and then serve each portion with some dressing, just before eating.

Additional Options:
___ 12 cooked tiger prawns, cooled
___ 4 – 6ozs. of steamed, then cooled cold-water, ocean fish fillet, per person e.g. cod, halibut, sardines, Atlantic pollock, haddock.
___ up to 1 1/2 teaspoons of superfine sugar or equal amount of low glycemic agave nectar to the salad dressing
___ add lightly steamed carrot slices or fully steamed sweet potato cubes
___ fresh dill or fresh cilantro (for detoxification and flavor)

Enjoy!
====================================================================
This is delightful pH alkaline food.

Best to all — Em

P.S. Please share this with your favorite social media site. To read more articles, please use the Title Archive tab on the upper navigation bar. Please subscribe to my blog on the right side-bar.

(c)2009 Em at http://diabetesdietdialogue.wordpress.com
If you desire to use or quote more than a couple of sentences from my article, please write for permission to the About Me page on the upper navigation bar. Please include the address of the site where you wish to use it. Thanks!

Read Full Post »

Jelly Belly Chairman Develops Type 2 Diabetes

Talk about job-related health hazards! In 2005, handsome, trim, 64 year old Herm Rowland, Sr., chairman of Jelly Belly Candy Company, announced that he has Type 2 diabetes. This points out the constant work-place danger for everyone, not just for diabetics or pre-diabetics. Often we get suckered into going along with the pack. Office snacks, get-togethers, as well as lunch-rooms, make you feel like you have to run the gauntlet — there’s little or no healthy food in sight.A constant stream of poor lifestyle and poor food choices (even if each is just a small portion), can mount up over days, weeks and years. All those sugary snacks can kill you slowly. Don’t you want another real, healthy option?

However, fake sugar and sugar-free is no better, and in fact has serious ramifications of its own. Studies recently have shown that those who use sugar-free sodas are at risk. They are often much more obese than those who do not drink sodas, and soda-drinkers also risk kidney disease, too.

So, the calories are not the whole story — biochemistry is. Sugar-free hits many of the same biochemical triggers that sugar does! Therefore, insulin keeps spiking. Also, the high acidity of sodas (phosphoric acid, mostly) can wreke kidney damage and imbalance our body’s vital pH values, pushing us into Acid Crisis Mode (ACM), packing on pounds to wall-off life-threatening amounts of acid into the life-saving, fat-moisturized adipose cells, engorging them into balloons as we “balloon” in size. Or, we begin “wasting away” when we have no more fat storage available and the acid starts attacking any and all body cells and systems, directly.

Yes, under these circumstances, your fat is saving your life and protecting precious tissues and organ systems from acidic destruction. So, please stay away from man-made sweets, as our body can only “buffer” these acids for a little while before we start losing the battle and dis-ease begins.

What’s a healthy option for the sweet cravings we all have? The best course is to let your palate return to its natural appreciation for fresh fruits. That’s Nature’s candy. It satisfies. Cravings will even abate, more likely than not, if you eat only about 2 or 3 pieces of a wide variety of whole fruits, daily.   Nature’s Candy! (c)2007 Em

Juices are not recommended; only whole fruits are OK. Juices leave out fiber and the many nutrients of those with edible skins and juices cause blood sugar spikes because of the lack of fiber.

Always, only eat fruit in its natural season and please pay the extra for Organic fruit, especially if you eat the skins. The healthiest fruits are:

• tomatoes, olives and avocados — yes, they are fruits!
• lemons, limes and grapefruits — which are alkaline in your body
• watermelon
• nectarines, peaches
• persimmons
• pineapples, mangoes, papayas
• raspberries, loganberries, blackberry and blueberry (in that order)
• grapes, currants, raisins
• black cherries
• apples
• tangerines

You can read more about the Jelly Belly story at:

Original Source article

and more about the work of Dr. Robert O. Young, PhD, D.Sc, N.D. about how the pH of your blood is the Key to staying alive:

Dr. Robert O. Young, PhD – pH miracle living

Please use the Title Archive Tab on the top Navigation Bar to read more articles.
Best to all,
Em

(c) 2007 Em http://diabetesdietdialogue.wordpress.com
If you desire to use or quote from my article, please include the full copyright citation and website’s address in your article. Thanks.

Read Full Post »