Health Benefits of Ghee

The tremendous health benefits of Ghee, or clarified butter, are in the news lately. I switched from all butter or margarine products and now use only ghee. This amber liquid melts in your mouth and can be used for cooking, baking, to drizzle on veggies or spread on toast. Just what is Ghee and what benefit does it give to your health?

Ghee, or clarified butter, is made when the milk solids are separated from the liquid, leaving a pure, clear, amber-colored substance . It has been used for about 2,000 years in Ayurveda or the ancient natural healing system of India. Ghee has about 14 grams of fat per tablespoon.

Health Benefits of Ghee

• Ayurveda maintains that Ghee is a vital food for healthy skin, mental clarity and good digestion. It also helps the body assimilate nutrients.

• Ghee is salt and lactose free so it is beneficial for those who can't drink milk or eat cheese.

• Ghee is said to have anti-cancer and anti-viral properties.

• Contains CLA or conjugated linolenic acid which aids weightloss, especially stubborn belly fat and has been shown to slow the progress of some types of cancer and heart disease.

• We all need healthy fats in our diet and Ghee is an easily digestible source of saturated fat that contains no trans fats or hydrogenated fats. Ghee, however, is low in the essential omega 3 fatty acids you need for good brain health so supplementation with omega 3's is a needed for a healthy diet. 

• Ghee is also very alkaline for your body, which helps to offset the overwhelming acidity of most American diets. Coffee, sugar, alcohol, fast food and processed food are all very acidic, which helps to promote inflammation and diseases such as arthritis and cancer in our bodies. For more information on the acid/alkaline diet, read Donna Gates book, Body Ecology Diet-Recovering Your Health and Rebuilding Your Immunity.

Other Benefits of Ghee

• Making Ghee is a great way to preserve butter, which turns rancid or loses flavor quickly. Ghee won't turn rancid at room temperature like butter and retains it's original flavor and freshness for up to a year without refrigeration.
• Withstands high heat in baking at temperatures above 240 degrees Farenheit and is one of the few unrefined oils that does so.
• Ghee is also delicious. After years of eating fake margarines, which are full of chemicals and preservative, you'll love the taste of ghee on your food.

Ghee is widely available in health food stores but it's easy to make your own. Try this easy to make ghee recipe.

Sold on the health benefits of ghee but don't want to make your own? Visit our Ghee Store on Amazon.com for many brands of ghee, plus several Indian Recipe books, which feature ghee.

Eat for Brain Health - Add Celery to Your Daily Diet

If you'd like to protect your brain health, lower your risk of getting cancer or lower blood pressure and cholesterol, eat celery! Snacking on celery gives your body luteolin, which is found in green veggies, and can help prevent the inflammation in our brain that is thought to cause aging of the brain and so-called "age related" diseases, like Alzheimers.

The nutrient luteolin found in celery is also believed to help protect the brain from multiple sclerosis, according to researchers at the University of Illinois.

More Health Benefits of Celery

Celery also contains fiber, vitamin C and several other active compounds for health, including phthalides, which may help lower cholesterol, and coumarins, which help prevent free radicals from damaging our cells and causing cancer to grow.

Celery contains active compounds called phthalides, which have the potential for reducing high blood pressure. Celery has long been used in Chinese Medicine for this purpose.

Here are some tips on storing and using celery:

I get a big stock of organic celery many times in my organic food coop order. Keeping it fresh was a challenge until I read that if you wrap celery in foil, it will stay fresh for weeks. This food tip works!

How to Get Celery into Your Daily Diet

Cut up a few stocks of celery and store in your frig in a zip loc plastic bag. That way, when you're looking for a quick snack, it will be prepared and cut up, ready to grab.

• Add celery to soups, stews, stir fry, casseroles and salads.
  

• Eat celery with hummus for added protein and nutrition, or make peanut butter.
  

• Add a stock of celery to your juicer, mixed with carrots.

For optimum health and wellness, try to get 5 to 9 servings of fruits and veggies every day. One way to increase the fruits and veggies you get in your diet is to go to the store once a week, purchase a week's supply of these and wash and bag them up for use. Veggies stay fresh in zip loc plastic bags in your frig and they are always handy for snacks or for adding to recipes.

Stay Healthy With a Positive Attitude

Want an easy, inexpensive way to stay healthy? Try smiling and being positive about life. Prevention Magazine reports that over 30n studies have found that happiness helps boost the immune system and helps us live longer.

This make sense to me because I've found that if I let myself get stressed, I'm much more likely to catch a cold or other illness. Other studies have proven how harmful stress is to the heart and can lead to other diseases too.

How do you stay positive about life? It sounds easy but sometimes it's very difficult. Here are some of the things that have helped me:

1. Let go of the past - This includes thinking and worrying over past mistakes, people who have "done you wrong," old resentments and pain. It took me nearly 55 years to learn to do this but once I was truly able to let go of the past, forgive others and refuse to harbor grudges, it opened up whole new realms in my relationships with others and allowed me to love them for who they were, not who I wanted them to be.

If you find you are weighted down by the past, try reading Wayne Dyer's book 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace. This book literally changed my life and the way I think.

Remember, holding onto anger is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die.

2. Focus on the present and live mindfully - This helps to calm worry and living in the past. You are alive and breathing right now and all can be well in this moment of your life. Another Wayne Dyer quote from the Course in Miracles "At any given moment, I am free to choose and I choose peace."

3. Try relaxing exercises like yoga or tai chi and set aside time for meditation. It the word meditation scares you, just try sitting quietly for 10 minutes a day, listining to nice music and allowing your mind to drift. Once you find that calm center within yourself, you can go back to it whenever something upsetting or hurtful happens.

4. Seek out happy people. Don't take part in "pity parties" and complaint sessions with friends and family. Try to talk about happy, upbeat subjects.

5. Turn off the news if it upsets you. You can't change the world. If you have a cause you can do something about, throw yourself into what you CAN do.

6. Take time for hobbies or things you enjoy - just for the sake of doing them. Go for walks, play with your dog. Do things without a purpose once in a while.

7. Smile and laugh! - Rent silly movies or find some children or pets to play with. Kids and dogs live totally in the moment and we could learn a few lessons from them.

8. If bad things are going on, allow yourself at least some time to be like Scarlet O'hara and say "I'll think about that tomorrow."

Whatever you do, remember happiness is a choice we make or don't make. You can choose to be happy no matter what your circumstances because it comes from within, not without. So there's no use looking for happiness anyplace but right in your own heart.

How to Prevent Cancer

Want a simple guide on how to prevent cancer? This month's Natural Health magazine has a great article on ways to prevent cancer, saying that our control over the disease is more related to lifestyle than previously thought. The article covers preventing cancer through diet, exercise, weight control, stress management and mental attitude.

I really like Natural Health magazine and have been reading it for several years. It always contains clear, concise article on cancer prevention, living a healthy lifestyle, healthy living products, recipes and much, much more.

I like the idea that our health is in our control. Living a healthy lifestyle gives us the chance of reducing our risk of cancer. Natural Health's article in the April, 2009 issue talks about simple things we all can do to help prevent cancer from taking hold.

Many of these healthy living tips won't be new to you. Exercise 30 minutes a day, even 3 ten minutes sessions is better than none. Keep your weight down because obesity causes higher levels of certain hormones and higher insulin levels, which is linked to cancers like breast cancer.

Other tips:

1. Take a vitamin D supplement or get at least 10-15 minutes a day of sunlight. Many are recommending at least 1,000 mg of Vitamin D as a supplement.

2. Diet - of course eat lots of fruits and veggies. Also, drink green tea, whole grains and foods with omega 3 fatty acids like salmon and flax seed.

3. Add the spice turmeric to your diet as it has been found to have cancer preventing properties.

The article also talks about what NOT to eat - red meat, refined carbohydrates and bad fats like trans fats and saturated fats.

4. Relax and stay positive in your attitude to prevent cancer. Even if you don't think you have time to meditate, at least find a few quite minutes for yourself each day. Listen to soothing music, turn off the TV and calm your mind with several deep breaths.

5. Build a network of supportive friends.

6. Get enough sleep.

For more great tips on how to prevent cancer, see the April issue of Natural health magazine. Better yet, subscribe to it for more great articles like easy allergy cures, losing weight, back pain relief, healthy and delicious recipes, and information on which healthy living products are out there. It's an affordable wealth of health information.

Calli Tea Smoothie Recipe

Start your day with delicious, healthy Calli Tea!

My family begins each day with a Calli Tea Smoothie. We've been enjoying the safe, gentle cleansing assistance of Calli Tea for about 9 years now and it's become part of our everyday healthy living routine.

Although I changed the ingredients of our Calli Tea smoothie sometimes, the basis one ingredient that never changes is the tea itself.

Calli Tea Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients

3 cups Calli Tea
1/2 banana
1/4 cup blueberries
3 Tbs Activia or yogurt (I now make my own kefir to add)
1 tbs Chia Seed gel
4-5 Spinach leaves

Blend these ingredients up in your blender until smooth and enjoy.

If you'd like to enjoy the benefits of a green smoothie, toss some spinach, kale or Swiss chard in with your smoothie too.

You can also drink Calli Tea all day long in place of sugary soft drinks, coffee or tea. Since Calli contains green tea, you are also getting all the nutritional benefits of green tea when you drink it.

Looking for a reliable, affordable and secure place to purchase Calli Tea? Order some today and see the benefits for yourself.

Send for my free Calli Tea Report, which includes a discount coupon on your first order.

Sunrider® products are not intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, prevention, or treatment of any medical condition.

Free Yoga Online

I've been investigating free yoga online and wanted to share my results. While taking a class is preferable when learning yoga, watching a video or listening to a yoga podcast can help you with your at home yoga practice, whether you are learning how to do yoga or whether you've been practicing for a long time. There are many free yoga videos and podcasts available which makes learning about yoga easy and accessible for everyone.

One of the best resources for free yoga online is by far Yoga Journal online. If you want free yoga podcasts, this site offers sign up to an RSS feed for a free weekly yoga practice from well known instructors. If you'd like free yoga on video, Yoga Journal offers that as well.

Here is one example of Yoga Journal's free video with Jason Crandell's Awaken and Strengthen the Arms. Yoga Journal online TV is offered free as well.

When I practice yoga at home, I don't really watch the video anyway so yoga podcasts are great for me. I put several on my Ipod through Itunes and I can take my yoga practice anyplace with me. Sign up for free yoga podcasts via Itunes is free.

Other free yoga online websites:

Yoga-TV.net - great resources for free yoga videos. Postpartum practice, a 5-10 minute morning practice, beginning yoga with Shiva Rea, Abs work out for beginners and much more.

Yoga Today - Free one hour yoga class delivered to your email each day, seven days a week. Beautiful scenery, world class instructors like Sarah Kline. Sessions focus on strength building, flexibility, stamina, and meditation-in-motion.

Yoga To The People where you can download an online class to take with you on your Ipod, MP3 player or computer. To learn more about Yoga to the People, check out this YouTube video. YouYube also offers free yoga videos like this one with well known instructor Shiva Rea for beginners.

YogaYak - offers free online yoga classes, including beginners and a practice for easing fibromyalgia. Free online meditation classes also.

These free yoga online resources are just the tips of the iceburg but I've found them to be the best. Yoga is wonderful for stress reduction, health and wellness and can be practiced by anyone of any age. Using these websites it's easy to get started at home for free.

Read about the benefits of taking a yoga class.

Natural Allergy Remedies

Looking for some natural remedies for your allergies? I no longer take any allergy medications and my allergies have actually improved through natural remedies. All medications have side effects and if you're able to knock out allergies naturally, you won't end up on antibiotics either, which carry their own harmful side effects.

I used to take many allergy medications but suddenly, about 10 years ago, I grew allergic to the very remedies that were supposed to be helping me. Cold medicines make me feel jumpy and "not myself" so I gave them all up for natural remedies.

Here are the natural allergy remedies that I have the most success with:

1. Sinus irrigation - The neti pot has been in the news lately and even allergy doctors say that regular sinus irrigation would all but knock out sinus infections in patients. You don't need a neti pot, however, to do sinus irrigation. You can use a small bulb syringe, the type they use for babies. Simply put a half tsp of salt or baking soda in a small cup of warm water and spritz it up into your sinuses, allowing the water to run back out.

Regular sinus irrigation keeps sinuses free of pollen and allergens which cause problems and if you get mucus in your sinuses, irrigation keeps it rinsed out so you don't get a sinus infection.

2. Nature's Inventory Allergy Relief Wellness Oil - This essential oil is certified organic and safe for children over two as well. It's a totally natural approach to controlling your allergies and works great! If you use the code FREESHIP at check out, you also get free shipping. Shipping is always free at Nature's Inventory for orders over $35 and there are always numerous specials as well.

3. Natural anti-inflammatory supplements help with allergies. Here are some that I take. They also have the benefit of helping sore, inf lammed joints.

a. Vitamin C - at least 1,000 mg a day
b. Quercetin and Bromelain are bioflavonoids, or part of a group of coloring pigments that provide plants antioxidant protection against environmental stress. Quercetin and Bromelain can inhibit allergy and inflammatory responses by inhibiting the release of antibodies which cause histamine to be released. Start taking these about 2 weeks prior to allergy season so they have a chance to build up in your body.

4. Drink lots of water! This keeps all the environmental toxins flushed from your body and makes you healthier.

5. Keep your immune system in tip top shape. The healthier you are, the less allergies you will have. Many believe that allergies can be traced back to a poor immune system.

Read more about boosting your immune system.

The best remedy for allergy relief is natural remedies. Try any or all of these and don't give up! Since natural remedies aren't drugs, they take a little longer to work, but they do work in the end and your body is healthier for it.