BodyBalance of Seneca

Two New Ways to Eat Kale

valerie — Sat, 11 May 2013 22:56:07 +0000

If, like me, you noticed you have an abundance of kale and are getting tired of putting it in the steamer or the Vitamixer, I have a couple of ideas for you.

I noticed the other day I was about to lose three avocados to over-ripening so here is what I did.

KALE WITH NUTRITIVE YEAST-AVOCADO RUB

2-3 cups kale in bite-sized pieces (stems included)

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 medium avocado

1/3 cup nutritive yeast flakes (I like KAL which is organic)

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mush it together with your hands. Yes, it’s messy but yummy! Adjust amounts to suit your tastes.

FIESTA KALE

3-4 cups kale in bite-sized pieces (stems included)

1/2 EACH, chopped red, yellow, orange bell pepper

juice of one EACH orange, lemon, lime

1-3 tsp Mrs. Dash Fiesta Flavor (the green cap, or just some chili flakes)

1 medium grated carrot

1 medium chopped Bermuda onion

2 medium avocados

Again, mush all the ingredients together in a large bowl, adjusting for individual tastes.

TEN GREAT FOODS FOR YOU….EXCEPT WHEN THEY AREN’T (the real food that is)

valerie — Mon, 06 May 2013 22:46:02 +0000

(reprinted by permission) From our friends at Mother Nature Network:

Most astute shoppers might guess that a pile of supposed Louis Vuitton handbags being hawked by a shady sidewalk vendor for $20 a pop are probably not authentic. But how about a lovely-looking bottle of extra-virgin olive oil on the shelf of the supermarket? Even the savviest of shoppers might not suspect that behind the label lurk 12 ounces of, say, humdrum corn oil. Welcome to the world of food fraud.

In a country where we have relatively strict labeling regulations, many food manufacturers still manage to swindle shoppers by adding fillers or diluting the real deal with less expensive ingredients, without the knowledge of the consumer. And in fact, it’s become so prevalent that the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention, a nonprofit that sets standards used by the FDA, set up a database to track the infractions. Called the Food Fraud Database (FFD), it describes food fraud as the “deliberate substitution, addition, tampering or misrepresentation of food, food ingredients or food packaging, or false or misleading statements made about a product for economic gain.” It has a shocking number of entries.

And while a knockoff purse may pose little more harm than embarrassment upon its discovery, phony food can be a cause for concern. It can lead food allergy sufferers dangerously astray. As well, some items being used aren’t meant for human consumption, while others contain toxic components such as lead or melamine. While the list of foods on the database is extensive, here are some of the most commonly-consumed ones to be on the lookout for.

1. Orange juice
What could be complicated about orange juice? It is made from oranges, juiced — except when it’s not. That some juice makers feel compelled to regularly pump up their product with non-orange ingredients seems farfetched, but they do it. And in fact, orange juice is one of the most popular items to have suspect ingredients sneaked into the mix. The FFD is chock full of faux orange juices, one of the most shocking reveals a mixture of beet sugar, corn sugar, monosodium glutamate, ascorbic acid, potassium sulfate, orange pulp wash, grapefruit solids, and a byproduct from a water distillation system.

2. Honey
Honey laundering has been making headlines lately due to a large-scale case in China where stocks are commonly tainted with a potentially dangerous antibiotic – launderers mask the honey’s oririn and the defiled product is whisked through the system to unwitting consumers.

Also at play, cheaper honeys are increasingly passed off as more expensive varieties. Honey is one of the most commonly mislabeled foods, representing 7 percent of food fraud cases. Last year, Food Safety News tested honey and found that 75 percent of store-bought honey didn’t contain pollen. People are still buying a product made from bees, but with no pollen food regulators are unable to identify the honey’s source. Consequent testing found that a third of all phony honey was imported from Asia and was contaminated with lead and antibiotics.

3. Truffle oil
This one comes as a shock to any self-respecting foodie upon its discovery. The fancy truffle oil that home chefs and beloved restaurants drizzle across pizza, pasta, and salads … isn’t flavored with real truffles. No, most commercial truffle oils are created by mixing olive oil with a synthetic petroleum-based flavoring agent, commonly 2,4-dithiapentane. The collective sound of gourmands’ hearts breaking when The New York Times did a story on the practice was nearly audible; all that dreamy reverie spent on a chemical created in a lab! Real truffle oil may be hard to find, but check the label for truffle “aroma” or “essence” to spot the imposter oils, both of these terms are not USDA-approved food descriptions.

4. Blueberries
We discovered that the Berry Blast PowerBar (you know, the one with pictures of berries blasted across the wrapper) contained, ta-da, no berries whatsoever. Berries, and blueberries in particular, have become a superfood darling and consequently, commonly faked – there’s a pretty lengthy list of retail food items that contain words or photos suggesting that real blueberries were used in the products, when in fact, they weren’t.

The nonprofit Consumer Wellness Center reported that many “blueberries” in popular products they found were nothing more than glops of sugar, corn syrup, starch, hydrogenated oil, artificial flavors and artificial food dye blue No. 2 and red No. 40. And these are from popular manufacturers such as Kellogg’s, Betty Crocker and General Mills. If you see bagels, cereals, breads, muffins, cereal, and other items that promise blueberries, closely check the ingredient list for, you got it, actual blueberries. Also to note, artificial food dye blue No. 2 and red No. 40 likely indicate “fake blueberries at work here.”

5. Milk

It seems unfeasible, but it’s not. Milk is one of the most commonly adulterated food items out there. A look at the FFD turns up pages of search results for milk, with a nightmarish list of adulterants. For starters: Melamine, non-authentic animal sources, formaldehyde, urea, hydrogen peroxide, machine oil, detergent, caustic soda, starch, non-potable water, cow tallow and pork lard. Gulp.

6. Fish
Between sustainability issues and mercury levels, many of us are obsessively diligent about the fish we buy. So it’s depressing and distressing to discover that a study from Oceana from 2010 to 2012 found that 33 percent of the 1,215 samples they analyzed nationwide were mislabeled according to FDA guidelines. The samples were collected from 674 retail outlets in 21 states.

Samples labeled as snapper and tuna had the highest mislabeling rates (87 and 59 percent); only seven of the 120 samples of red snapper purchased nationwide were actually red snapper, the other 113 samples were another fish.

At the same time, farmed fish gets sold as wild catch and scallops are sometimes stamped-out whitefish. And buyer beware: A Consumer Reports study included a “grouper” sample that was really tilefish, a fish that contains frighteningly high levels of mercury.

7. Saffron
Few spices are as exotic or expensive as saffron, and consequently, few spices are knocked off as frequently. Commonly standing in for the costly crimson threads, according to the FFD, are creative adulterants such as marigold and calendula flowers, turmeric, corn silk, poppy petals, died onions, gypsum, chalk, starch, borax and glycerine, tartrazine, barium sulfate, sandalwood dye, colored grass, and red-dyed silk fiber.

8. Olive oil
Researchers have found that olive oil is the food most vulnerable to food fraud. In most cases consumers are getting a lesser quality than what is labeled – regular olive oil instead of extra virgin, or a cheaper, non-Italian variety being sold as Italian. But olive oil is also frequently diluted with imposter oils such as hazelnut oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil, soybean oil, palm oil and walnut oil. One sample even contained lard.

In rare instances, varieties of non-food-grade oil may be added in. In one notorious case, more than 600 Spaniards died in 1981 after eating a non-food-grade, industrial rapeseed oil that was sold as olive oil.

9. Pomegranate juice
Pomegranate juice is another food category undone by its own popularity. Ever since pomegranate juice hit the market, it has been lauded for its high antioxidant content, for which consumers are willing to pay a premium. So it’s with no little amount of frustration to find that “pomegranate” juice is often diluted with grape or pear juice, sugar, and high-fructose corn syrup. There have also been reports of completely “synthetic pomegranate juice” that didn’t contain any traces of the real juice at all.

10. Coffee
If you buy whole beans and grind them at home, there’s less of a chance that your morning joe has been “enhanced” with the confounding oddities that find their way into ground and instant coffee courtesy of sketchy coffee producers. The following have been found in these forms of coffee: Twigs, coffee husks, roasted corn, roasted barley, roasted soybeans, chicory powder, rye flour, potato flour, burned sugar, caramel, figs, roasted date seeds, glucose, maltodextrins, starch and roasted ground parchment.

The moral of the story? Don’t be scared by all of this, but be aware. Buy whole foods when you can. Shop at trusted co-ops and farmers markets when possible. Know that well-known names and bigger brands should be somehwat reliable, since they have a lot to lose if they’re busted for mislabeling. And look out for deals that seem to good to be true; that super cheap saffron could well be nothing more than died daisy petals.

SHOP THE CLEMSON AREA FOOD EXCHANGE SO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE EATING IS REALLY WHAT YOU ARE EATING!

An Alternative Earth Day: Alternative Health the focus of Thrive!

valerie — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 19:55:11 +0000

Visit our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/ThriveHealthExperience

Or go to our website:

http://www.thrivehealthexperience.com

Here is a schedule of the day:

Presentations & Experiential Sessions

Activities will occur in 4 areas: the Main Hall, the Yoga Room, the Library, and the Children’s Chapel. All presentations and experiential sessions are FREE!

From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Library will serve as a resting, gathering, and connection point for new and expectant families and those interested in pregnancy and birth topics. From 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. Friends Farm and Catering will be on hand selling delicious farm to table lunch fare.

10 a.m.

Introduction & Welcome, Main Hall
Back Care Yoga: Renee Gahan of Clemsonyoga, Yoga Room
Getting More Restful Sleep: Eunice Lehmacher, LISW-CP, Library

10:30 a.m.

Indoor Radon Risks and Methods of Detection: Dr. Brian Powell, Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences (EEES), Clemson University, Main Hall

11:00 a.m.

An Overview of Integrative Medicine: Dr. Aimee Duffy, Carolina Integrative Medicine, Main Hall
Overview and Demonstration of Energy Medicine: Cheryl Smart, LISW-CP, Yoga Room

11:30 a.m.

A New Direction to Health: Dr. Ryan Calhoun, Calhoun Family Chiropractic, Main Hall

12:00 p.m.

Sweet and Savory Quinoa Cooking Demonstration: Emily Havener, Green Apple Food Therapy (food donated by Earth Fare), Main Hall
Beginner Yoga: Erin Leftwich of The Purple Mat, Yoga Room
Kids Yoga Parade: Renee Gahan of Clemsonyoga, Children’s Chapel

1:00 p.m.

Water Birth: Let’s Jump In!: Greenville Midwifery Care, Main Hall
Laughter Yoga: Shaila Amin, Yoga Room

1:30 p.m.

Home Water Filtration & Risks and Benefits of Water Fluoridation: Dr. David Ladner and Clemson Student Chapter of the American Water Works Association (AWWA), Department of EEES, Clemson University, Main Hall
What Happens After Birth?: Carey Collins, Licensed Midwife, With Woman With Child, Library

2:00 p.m.

Thriving on What You Can Grow and Gather: Marantha Blackwell, Herbalist, Wild Earth Gardens, Main Hall
Staying Limber at Work: Valerie Scott-Wagner, BodyBalance of Seneca, Yoga Room

2:30 p.m.

Thriving in Your Natural and Cultural Place: Dr. Karen C. Hall, Director, S.C. Master Naturalist Program & State Coordinator, SC Master Gardener Program, Main Hall

3:00 p.m.

When, Why, Where, and How is LOCAL Food Better for You and the Planet?: Lance Howard, Clemson Area Food Exchange (CAFE), Main Hall
Tools for a Healthy and Balanced Life: Theresa Pizzuto, Bright Shining Wisdom Advising and Coaching,Yoga Room
Reiki Sessions (15 minute intervals): Phaedra O’Connell, Library

3:30 p.m.

Supporting a Community Food System: Kelly Gilkerson, Clemson University Student Organic Farm, Main Hall

4:00 p.m.

Announcement of Door Prize Winners & Thank You, Main Hall

Why I will NEVER eat Ramen Noodles!

valerie — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 02:56:33 +0000

Very cool website:

This literally photographs the internal digestion of whole food versus Ramen noodles. After two hours the Ramen noodles were still intact. Why? Because of the 15 ingredients, one of them is petroleum based—yes, butane which is the gas used to fill cigarette lighters!

SHOP THE CLEMSON AREA FOOD EXCHANGE AND EAT REAL food!

How we train at BodyBalance

valerie — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 12:52:12 +0000

I am often asked, “Why come to BodyBalance? What can I get there that I can’t get at any other gym or fitness center?”

There are two components to my answer but they both boil down to the same thing:

PERSONAL ATTENTION. Every new client receives a MOVEMENT evaluation, which leads to the application of modalities appropriate to that individual. I design a program for my client that promotes a restoration to health (healing) by specifically addressing their individual needs, whether it is through core conditioning, yoga, active stretching, basic pilates, rehab exercises, weight or movement training. I can be that aggressive trainer when appropriate or apply a gentler approach when needed to assist with post rehab, restoring range of motion to a shoulder, or looking at a golf swing that causes back pain. My clients have called me, the organic pharmaceutical, the ‘Food Queen’, and many other creative terms that tell me I’m doing my job.

“Does this mean I have to be in pain or post surgery to come see you or design a program?”

NOT AT ALL! I want you to come to BodyBalance to receive the personal, one-on-one attention you get nowhere else in the Upstate. I am a certified personal trainer, a certified yoga teacher and pilates instructor (mat level only), a certified fitness nutritionist, a board certified neuromuscular therapist. I have a Master’s Degree in Holistic Nutrition and I am in oriental medical school studying to be a board certified acupuncturist. There is literally no one else in the area of which I am aware that can offer you such a complete approach to your overall wellness.

Having said that, it is equally important to understand that while I have you in my studio for only a few hours a week, the rest of the time is up to YOU! Stop saying “no” to things, we aren’t hard-wired to keep saying “no.” So instead, grab the good food, take the stairs, say “yes” to things!

Say “yes” to BodyBalance and your commitment to your life!

Yes, but is it REALLY organic?

valerie — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 18:32:09 +0000

How do you know that the product you buy is really organic? I mean, Unilever owns Ben & Jerry’s; Campbell’s Soups owns Bolthouse Farms and Pepsico owns Odwella. These are all brands that we think are organic, that we support with the belief that they are being good corporate stewards (not always an oxymoron).

I believe that the only REAL way to tell is to grow the food yourself. This is not always practical or convenient (thank goodness for the CLEMSON AREA FOOD EXCHANGE). I must rely on sources that are not corrupt to help me find the truth. Two such websites:

www.rodaleinstitute.org and www.cornucopia.org.

You can also check out this cool chart below created by a professor at Michigan State University:

BAG IT: THE MOVIE. IS YOUR LIFE TOO PLASTIC?

valerie — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 18:45:47 +0000

Here is a blurb from their website, www.bagitmovie.com

“In the United States alone, an estimated 12 million barrels of oil is used annually to make the plastic bags that Americans consume. The United States International Trade Commission reported that 102 billion plastic bags were used in the U.S. in 2009. These bags, even when properly disposed of, are easily windblown and often wind up in waterways or on the landscape, becoming eyesores and degrading soil and water quality as they break down into toxic bits. Their manufacture, transportation and disposal require large quantities of non-renewable resources and release equally large amounts of global-warming gases.

Governments around the world have taken action to ban or restrict the use of plastic bags. In 2008, China banned the use of ultra-thin plastic bags, and it is estimated to have eliminated 40 billion bags in the first year. Ireland placed a fee on plastic bags and reportedly reduced consumption by 90% (emphasis is mine).

Towns all over the United States are rising to the challenge and standing up to the oil, gas and plastic industries. San Francisco has banned plastic bags. Seattle has fought a hard fight to place a fee on single-use disposable plastic AND paper bags, only to be shut down by the American Chemistry Council, a group that profits greatly from the production of plastic bags. Recently, Seattle successfully passed an ordinance that would ban plastic bags and place a small charge on paper bags.

The plastic industry and their lobbying groups spend millions annually to combat anti-plastic bag campaigns across the country. In spite of this challenge, U.S. cities including Austin, Boston, New Haven, Phoenix and Annapolis are considering bag bans or fees. In the past year, a number of cities passed plastic bag bans including Aspen and Basalt, CO, Portland, OR, San Jose, CA, and Santa Clara and Marin Counties in CA.”

TEACHERS AND ALL EDUCATORS, YOU ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO BRING THIS VIDEO TO YOUR CLASSROOM!!!!! LET’S TRY TO GET SENECA TO GO PLASTIC BAG FREE!

HERE IS A GREAT VIDEO ON YOU TUBE TO SHARE:

Nature versus Nurture

valerie — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 01:50:20 +0000

From my buddies at Natural News:

“A new “miracle” drug for the treatment of multiple sclerosis turns out to have been stolen (“derived”) from cordyceps mushrooms. The drug is called Gilenya and it’s being sold in the USA by Novartis AG – at the monopolistic price of $4,000 / month per person.

The drug is projected to be a blockbuster seller, with estimates putting it in the top 10 drugs by 2018 when it is expected to reach $5.3 billion in sales. A one-year course of Gilenya costs $48,000.

The drug was discovered by studying compounds used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, a 5,000-year-old medical art form that still out-performs western medicine at every level (cost, safety and effectiveness). Japanese researcher Tetsuro Fujita began studying what he calls “Himalayan fungus” in the 1980′s, and his “discovery” (if you can even call it that, as Chinese Medicine has known about this for millennia) looks likely to earn Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp up to $5 billion.

The drug works by selectively suppressing the immune system, preventing the mechanism of multiple sclerosis from attacking the body’s own tissues.

Now that the drug has been approved by the FDA, it is legal to claim that this isolated molecule can treat muscular sclerosis, but it remains illegal to claim that the fungus from which it was derived — cordyceps — can accomplish the same thing.

This is routine for the drug industry: Steal from nature, patent the molecules, “approve” the isolated molecules as medicine, then attack the original source as “quackery.”

Steal molecules from nature, then get a patent monopoly

To this day, even as Big Pharma continues to explore Traditional Chinese Medicine for its goldmine of treatments and cures, the entire western medical system routinely attacks Chinese Medicine and says it’s all hokum. But once they find a molecule that can earn them billions of dollars, suddenly it’s heralded as “scientific medicine!” …but only with the brand name, not the original plant name from which it was derived.

Statin drugs, the best-selling pharmaceuticals on the market today, were derived from lovastatin molecules naturally found in red yeast rice. After pirating these molecules from nature and patenting their variations, the drug industry urged the FDA to attack red yeast rice supplements, calling them “adulterated” because they contained lovastatin molecules. The FDA then warned the public that red yeast rice was adulterated with pharmaceuticals.

This is the scam of western medicine: You are told by “scientific experts” that plants, herbs, mushrooms and nutrients are worthless quackery; yet the industry routinely steals powerful therapeutic molecules from precisely those sources in order to formulate new drugs. These new drugs are then heralded as “miracle treatments” and marketed at thousands of times their actual cost in order to make billions of dollars for drug companies. It’s all a monopolistic racket that works because the people are kept ignorant about the real sources of medicine (plants).

Physicians, too, are brainwashed by drug companies to believe that only pharmaceutical chemicals have therapeutic value while natural substances from the world of plants are all completely useless. So they prescribe chemicals instead of telling people to use herbs, mushrooms and nutrients to prevent and even reverse chronic degenerative disease.

Big Pharma piracy is alive and well across our planet

While music industry and movie industry executives scream about online piracy of their digital products, the most criminal piracy of all is happening in our medical system: Drug companies routinely steal molecules from nature while giving nature no credit. By changing the name into a scientific-sounding drug brand name, they avoid anyone recognizing that their drugs often come from plants. Thus, they also avoid people figuring out that you can treat and cure disease at a fraction of the cost by using therapeutic plants, mushrooms, superfoods and nutrients.

For $4,000 a month, you could of course swallow Gilenya and hope it works. But for a fraction of that — just $400 a month — you could purchase and consume large quantities of high-grade cordyceps mushrooms from a far better source such as Dragon Herbs.

You can also buy high-grade magnesium supplements for yet another fraction of that. Magnesium is often deficient in those who are diagnosed with multiple sclerosis

In fact, you could eat an entirely organic, high-nutrient-density diet that’s rich with superfoods and potent supplements for far less than $4,000 a month (SHOP THE CLEMSON AREA FOOD EXCHANGE). And in addition to preventing multiple sclerosis, you’d also be preventing cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes and practically every other common disease now ravaging society.

But Big Pharma wants you to pay $4,000 a month for one pill, then another $4,000 a month for another pill. Each “disease” you have might require thousands of dollars a month in “treatment” — all approved by the FDA whose job is to funnel an increasingly large percentage of the U.S. economy into the coffers of the pharmaceutical industry.

It’s not unusual for one patient suffering from several diseases to cost $50,000/month just to maintain their so-called “health care.”

This is not health care, however: It is profit extraction. The system is designed to keep you sick in perpetuity while Big Pharma soaks you (and Medicare, Medicaid, health insurance companies) for everything you’ve got. That’s how the pharma game is played: Profiteering combined with a complete abandonment of any recognition of the value of human life.”
.

GREAT video on YouTube right now

valerie — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 20:17:11 +0000

Conceived by Ashel Eldridge (aka Seasunz), founder of Earth Amplified, S.O.S. Juice and a spiritual activist, “Food Fight” is a message that needs to be blasted out across the world to reach into the minds and hearts of every citizen, every member of urban youth and every human being alive today, regardless of race or economic status.

Let’s all help this video get 10+ million views on YouTube. BodyBalance is on board with this powerful message of unity against corporate destruction. This is the People vs. the machine. While the mainstream media tries to make it all about black vs. white, it’s really about the People vs. the corporate death machine, and this “Food Fight” video nails that message and lays out the cold, hard truth about what we must do to survive.

Watch it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu8QthlZ6hY

Think this is silly or alarmist? How about this? MONSANTO VICE PRESIDENT Michael R. Taylor is now in the FDA. GMO regulation is getting harder. Congress has passed legislation raising the bar for responding to petitions from 25,000 to 100,000!!!

If you are a teacher, you are encouraged to download and show the video to your class. Check out the S.O.S. Juice link above for more information.

Fight the good fight: shop The Clemson Area Food Exchange!

WHAT A SURPRISE! CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE THAT EATING WELL MAKES YOU LIVE LONGER!

valerie — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 00:06:50 +0000

About 30 percent of heart attacks, strokes and deaths from heart disease can be prevented in people at high risk if they switch to a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil, nuts, beans, fish, fruits and vegetables, and even drink wine with meals, a large and rigorous new study has found.

The findings, published on The New England Journal of Medicine’s Web site on Monday, were based on the first major clinical trial to measure the diet’s effect on heart risks. The magnitude of the diet’s benefits startled experts. The study ended early, after almost five years, because the results were so clear it was considered unethical to continue.

The diet helped those following it even though they did not lose weight and most of them were already taking statins, or blood pressure or diabetes drugs to lower their heart disease risk.

Read the article for yourself but take this to heart: WHAT YOU EAT MATTERS. IT CAN KILL YOU OR IT CAN CURE YOU. We here at BodyBalance can help you set a diet that will put you on the road to wellness. Shopping the Clemson Area Food Exchange is a great place to start! Bon Appetite!