A Natural Remedy in Your Own Back Yard

You would probably consider yourself unlucky if you had a black walnut tree on your property, especially if it were anywhere near your driveway (those golf ball to racket ball size walnuts can make a mess of your car). I know this because I grew up with one hanging over into our driveway, from reaching over from the neighbor's yard. I can remember always being alert when standing under it, quick to jump out of the way with little warning. Whether it was gravity alone or just a clumsy squirrel, those walnuts were not something you wanted hitting you in the head...the squirrels loved them though, and maybe they were on to something.

It turns out the green hull that surrounds the walnut (yes its green not black, but it stains black when exposed to the air) has very powerful anti parasitic, antiseptic, anti microbial, and anti fungal qualities, as well as being good for digestion and also useful as a mild laxative.

As you know consuming foods we are allergic to compromises the lining of the intestinal walls, which directly affects your immune system. It creates the perfect environment for parasites and bacteria to flourish. I battled this myself as a result of consuming dairy and soy for years, not realizing the harm it was causing my body; the constant ear infections, loose stool, stomach cramps, you name it.

It just so happens that the very walnut that tormented our yard and cars, would come to be an integral part of my recovery. My kinesiologist prescribed it, and along with other natural remedies, fixed the damage that years consuming milk and soy had done.

Avoid The Frozen Food Aisle

If a healthy diet is important to you, and I'm sure it is, then do you and your family a favor and avoid the frozen food aisle. This section of the grocery store is home to some of the worst offenders in the food industry, and I use the word "food" loosely.

It's here among the many frosted doors where you can find the quintessential processed food for that on-the-go person who has all but given up on cooking. There is a plethora of pre-made frozen dinners tailor made for anyone who dares to endure the frigid temps of this man made frozen tundra. There's meals for the hungry man, meals for those weight watchers, meals for kids, and even meals for those few healthy selects, and that's just a third of the aisle. These meals have been specially prepared by the manufactures top scientists with a long shelf life and your laziness in mind.

Let us not forget about those delightful frozen vegetables all cut up and prepared with any verity of fancy sauces made from the purest ingredients scientist can dream up. It's like natures second garden. And why shouldn't it be, it's not like there's a produce aisle with fresh unprocessed and even organic varieties of most any vegetable or fruit you could imagine...

Last but not least behind these magical doors you can find any number of varieties of frozen desserts, ranging from the non-healthy to the "fat free", "cholesterol free", "sugar free", basically free of anything that even closely resembles something that could fall into any of the major food groups, but best of all they're effort free and that's what entices all.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, a meal that requires little to no effort on your part to prepare offers little to no health benefit those who may dare...eat it that is.

Wheat and Soy Free Dairy Replacements

Both my wife and I have a dairy allergy/intolerance, mine more severe but she tries to avoid it whenever possible. Then there's my soy allergy which I've managed, through a healthy diet, to avoid any sort of reaction in about 6 months. These restrictions alone can make finding a milk replacement tricky, but a recent allergy test taken by my wife at my request has made the search even more challenging.

My wife's decision to avoid dairy when possible is based more on common sense and simply being in tune with her body than from test results (i.e. if you notice it bothers you, don't wait for an allergy test to tell you to stay away), but recently at my request she took an allergy test only to find out that she has an intolerance to wheat. Besides the obvious food obstacles a wheat allergy can throw your way, there was one in particular that threw a wrench in our routine; oat milk was our favorite dairy replacement.

Since we like to create a kitchen environment that is food-friendly for all of our needs, it was back to the drawing board for finding a good replacement. As I've mentioned before, in previous posts, vanilla flavored almond milk is a good dairy and soy replacement, and it's definitely something we like to keep on hand, but it's not our only option.

Pacific Natural Foods also makes an “all natural” Hazel Nut milk, and it tastes great!

We were happy to find that we have more than one "nut milk" variety to switch off between, and both are stocked at our local health food store. So if allergies are preventing you from using milk in your favorite recipes, don't give up there's hope after all!

Counting Calories

There seems to be a lot of focus lately on forcing restaurants (more specifically fast food chains) to list the nutritional value of the food they sell; total calories, total fat, total sugar, etc. The hope is to get people to make healthier choices, or at least give them the option to.

The question is though, is there really a healthy choice to be made at any of these fast food joints?

Sure most of them have what they claim to be "healthier meals" available on their menus, whether it's a salad or a fat free muffin or whole grain bread instead of white, but how healthy are they really. Yes a salad is a better choice than a double cheeseburger with fries, but after you add the seasoned croutons and dressing to the mix you've added a boatload of unwanted fat, calories, and carbs; and that doesn't take into consideration the bacon bits or deli meats and cheeses that can top some of the salads.

Will these laws push people towards making truly healthy meal choices, or are they just swaying people towards the least unhealthy of the many unhealthy meals?

The truth is there is very few if any healthy choice to be made at a fast food restaurant. Just because that sub (or hoagie depending on where you're from) is on a "whole wheat" or "multi grain" roll doesn't change the fact that you are still consuming a lot of unhealthy overly processed refined flour (fast digesting carbs) with no real nutritional value. These foods do nothing more than cause an unhealthy spike in your insulin levels, leaving your body malnourished and soon to be hungry for more...nutrition that is.

What we should do is pass a law that forces grocery stores to post the nutritional values of produce, then at least people would not only be amazed at the health benefits to natures finest, but would possible sway people away from the processed foods that fills the average shoppers cart.