Pulse Recipe

I'm fond of healthy snacks and the Pulse Recipe you're about to read is definitely a winner.

If you're unfamiliar with Pulse, the Biblical Daniel considered it God's perfect food...

So Daniel went to the guard Melzar whom Ashpenaz had placed in charge of him and his three friends, saying:. "Test us for ten days. Give us pulse to eat and water to drink. Then compare us with the young men who are eating the food of the royal court, and base your decision of how we look."

He agreed to let them try it for ten days. At the end of ten days, they looked healthier and stronger than all those who had been eating the royal food. So from then on the guard let them continue to eat pulse and drink water.

Book of Daniel 1: 3-20

And now for today's...

Healthy Pulse Recipe

1 cup dates coarsely chopped to 1/4" pieces
1 cup prunes coarsely chopped to 1/4" pieces
3/4 cup apricots coarsely chopped to 1/4" pieces
1/2 cup cranberries coarsely to 1/4" pieces
3/4 cup almonds chopped to 1/4" pieces
3 Tbs peanut butter
4 Tbs sesame seeds

In a large bowl combine all fruits and knead (may want to use gloves, as it does get very sticky). Once well mixed, add almonds and sesame seeds and knead again. Finally add peanut butter and knead until thoroughly combined.

Oh man, that's a good recipe. Try it and see if you don't agree.

Chet Day
Editor, The Health Circus
http://chetday.com

Stress Relief Tips

I'd like to start this Monday off by sharing some stress relief tips that I learned from a friend in England. Thanks to Lin Turner for writing the following...

Stress Relief Tips

With so many illnesses linked to high levels of stress, learning to attain stress relief successfully can be a matter of life and death. This set of tried and true techniques gives you a number of choices to help you get some stress relief in your life.

If you've lost your sense of humor, find it immediately. When you laugh, even smile, endorphins (those pain-killing hormones that make you feel good) are released and levels of stress hormones drop. Create a stress relief kit stocked with your favorite stress-busting devices from comics to clown noses, whatever tickles your own funny bone. Keep this kit handy at all times. You never know when a good belly laugh will save the day.

Breathe deeply. Pay attention to your breathing. When you get stressed, your breathing becomes short and shallow. By consciously slowing down your breath, your thoughts and actions will follow suit. Visualize something soothing as you breathe fully and deeply.

Put yourself in "time out." Adults need the opportunity to separate themselves from the action, get quiet, and "think about their behavior", just as kids do. Call a time out and put some physical and emotional distance between you and the situation.

Take a hike. Give your body a chance to expend a little of that extra "fight or flight" energy it has recruited in response to a perceived threat. If you can't get outside and let Mother Nature inspire you, climb a few flights of stairs or walk to the water cooler and back.

Nourish your body and your mind. Just as nutritious foods help your body cope with stress, nourishing thoughts are imperative to effective stress management. Telling yourself you can handle any situation and focusing on one thing at a time helps you to stay in control. Although consuming substances like caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, or drugs may temporarily make you feel less stressed and more in control, if you habitually rely on these substances to deal with stress you will inevitably experience more stress and feel out of control.

Listen to soothing music. Keep a portable cassette or cd player handy with your favorite piece of music ready to whisk you away from the maddening crowd.

Write things down. Creating a "to-do" list will keep you organized and on track. Writing about your feelings in a journal can help you identify and come to terms with some of the issues that are producing stress in your life.

Take a mini-holiday. Go where no man (or woman) has gone before - or at least go where you have never gone before. Visit an art gallery, your local aquarium, botanical gardens, or planetarium. This gives you a different perspective on things and helps you appreciate life more fully.

Talk it out. Whether it's with your best friend or your pet parakeet, talking it out helps you to clarify the cause of your stress and identify strategies for dealing with it.

Delegate. Learn to let others do what they can do while you do what you do best.

Reward yourself. Soak in the tub. Get a massage. Allow yourself to shut off the phones and sit quietly for twenty minutes. Meditate. Let yourself receive a compliment without protest. Pet your dog or cat. Open your window and let the breeze blow over you. Feed the birds. Drink a big glass of pure water. Sing loudly and off key. Laugh -- a lot!

Let go of your expectations. Release your grip on reality. Accept that people seldom act the way you want them to and situations are seldom what they seem. Let life throw you a challenge.

Chet Day
Editor, The Health Circus
http://chetday.com

P.S. I use a CD I created when I get stressed out. Click here to learn more about Cat's Purr, the CD that's guaranteed to reduce you to a puddle of relaxation in thirty minutes or less.

PMS Remedy and Tips

Here are a few easy PMS tips that may help relieve some of the more annoying symptoms.

Exercise

One PMS remedy that seems to help is exercise. When women do moderate exercise five times a week for at least 30 minutes a session, their PMS symptoms are significantly reduced. Because long, steady exercise causes a release of endorphins, it makes sense to keep the level "pumped up," so to speak, during the last two weeks of the cycle. Continuous production of endorphins appears to diminish the PMS symptoms.

Eat Small Frequent Meals

It's been shown that occasional small sugar snacks are effective in relieving the milder symptoms. To avoid fluctuations in blood sugar levels, don't skip meals. Eat small frequent meals instead. Eat the same amount of food you normally would, but spread it out. Have three small meals and mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks.

Limit Simple Sugars and Include Fiber

It is better to limit simple sugars than to try to avoid them. It's okay to have some sugar, but don't have it on an empty stomach, for that could trigger a binge. Instead, have a dessert with your meal. It sounds strange, but it's better to eat dessert during the middle of a meal than at the end. Having something sweet at the end of a meal may lead you to want more sugar. If you eat the sweet mid meal, the craving is satisfied. Be sure to include fiber and protein with each meal to slow the digestion and absorption of the sugar.

Limit Caffeine and Alcohol

Some women experience alcohol intolerance during the last two weeks of their cycle; they show signs of intoxication with only two drinks when it usually takes five or six to produce the same effects.

Reduce Sodium

Finally, sodium is not as big an issue as it once was, but if you're bothered by fluid retention and breast swelling or tenderness, then limit your sodium and avoid adding salt.

If you have any PMS tips to share, please click on the comment button below.

Chet Day
Editor, The Health Circus
http://chetday.com

Four Food and Cooking Tips

This will be short and quick today...

To determine whether an egg is fresh, immerse it in a pan of cool, salted water. If it sinks, it is fresh, but if it rises to the surface, throw it away.

Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.

Don't throw out all that leftover wine: Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.

If you have a problem opening jars: Try using latex dishwashing gloves. They give a non-slip grip that makes opening jars easy.

Chet Day
Editor, The Health Circus
http://chetday.com

Vegetarian Protein Shake Recipe

If you're like me, you like quick, healthy, easy, and delicious blended drinks. Well, today we have a concoction that's a winner in all categories. Additionally, vegan and vegetarian bodybuilders may also find this drink an adequate protein shake substitute.

Ed's Protein Shake

In a blender, combine the following:

2 bananas
1 tsp of bee pollen
1-2 Tbs of honey, or sweeten to taste
1/2 whole lemon -- rind, seeds, and all
6 walnuts
Strawberries, when available

Put all the above in 1/2 to 2 cup water, depending on how thin you like your drink. Then blend it all to the desired consistency.

A regular protein shake never tasted this good.

Chet Day
Editor, The Health Circus
http://chetday.com

Jellyfish Sting Remedy

I learned this jellyfish sting remedy from a correspondent who asked to remain nameless.

Seems that he was digging the surf and the beach south of Pensacola, Florida, not too long ago. Having a great ole time swimming and ducking waves and soaking in salt water.

Along comes a school of jellyfish and, kaboom, our friend suddenly finds himself attacked by the creepy critters.

Whack, one sting on the arm.

Slice, another sting on the abdomen.

Then, horrors, he feels a jellyfish sliding up his leg, entering his loose swimsuit, and then, ouch, stinging him where no man wants to be stung!

He comes flying out of the water, yelling in pain, trying not to let his hands shoot into his swimming trunks because by now everyone on the beach thinks a swimmer has gone stark raving bonkers.

He runs up to the concession stand, hollering about jellyfish stings, when a kind onlooker, who's sitting at a picnic table under the open-air, shaded enclosure orders, "Come here."

Our friend limps over, and the Samaritan suddenly starts pouring beer on his stings.

Amazing! Quick relief from the painful stings.

"Any more?" the Samaritan inquires.

Our friend sheepishly points to his trunks, and the Samaritan hands him what's left of the can of beer. Stepping into the restroom, our buddy pours the beer into his trunks and breathes a huge sigh of relief as the sting of the pain immediately lessens and then stops altogether.

This is a true story, and the beer remedy works for jellyfish stings. I don't know why it works, but it does.

So the next time you go to the beach, take a few beers along, even if you're a tee-totaler, like me.

Chet Day
Editor, The Health Circus
http://chetday.com

Food Combining Part 2 by John Tilden

In yesterday's entry, we took a look at Dr. John Tilden's first five rules for proper food combining and healthy eating.

Today we'll look at the last five of Dr. Tilden's suggestions for food combinations...

• Finish the thorough mastication of the starchy foods before taking any fluid, and then fluid must be sipped slowly.
  
  
• Have a raw vegetable or fruit salad with every protein or starch dinner.
  
  
• Do not take a protein dinner oftener than four times a week, unless specially instructed to do so by some authority on diet.
  
  
• Raw fruit and starch can be taken in the same meal by most people; however, the cooked fruit, and especially that cooked with sugar, when combined with starch is inclined to start fermentation in the stomach.
  
  
• Keep in mind that the mineral elements are necessary; and these cannot be secured through iron tonics, supplements, etc. They can be utilized by the organism only when secured from natural foods.

Remember, using whole foods, exercise, and other all-natural approaches, Dr. Tilden helped tens of thousands of patients regain their health before he died in his mid-90's.

Try Dr. Tilden's simple rules for food combining and healthy eating and I bet you a dime to a donut that in just two short weeks you'll feel a whole better than you do right now.

Chet Day
Editor, The Health Circus
http://chetday.com

Food Combining by Dr. John Tilden

Dr. John Tilden was a late 19th century and early 20th century medical doctor who used the principles of Natural Hygiene and food combining to help his patients recover from a wide variety of diseases.

Today we'll look at the first five of Dr. Tilden's suggestions for proper food combining...

• Do not mix starches and protein foods in the same meal.
  
  
• Take but one kind of starch at a meal.
  
  
• Take but one kind of protein at a meal.
  
  
• It is better not to mix starch, fruit, and milk. The triple combination is very hard on most people, especially those with impaired digestion. Milk and fruit make a good combination; also starch and fruit.
  
  
• If we wish to combine ideally we will not take starch and milk in the same meal. Why? Because it is a protein and starch mixture. Raw milk is an ideal food within itself, but heating or pasteurizing kills the life or vitamin element.

Click here for a list of different types of starches as well as for my Health & Beyond Living to the Max program for healthy eating and living.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you about Dr. Tilden's other five rules for proper food combining.

Oh, by the way, modern medicine says food combining is absolutely absurd and without any kind of scientific foundation.

My response to that is that researchers and doctors shoud try food combining for one week. If it doesn't dramatically improve their digestion, I'll eat my bicycle seat.

Chet Day
Editor, The Health Circus
http://chetday.com

How To Eat Healthy

Dr. John Tilden was a late 19th century and early 20th century medical doctor who turned to Natural Hygiene to help his patients recover from a wide variety of diseases.

This week I thought I'd share with you some of Dr. Tilden's common sense advice about diet and life and health.

I've always been fond of Tilden's for rules for health and how to eat healthy, and I think you will be too...

• Never eat unless absolutely comfortable in mind and body from the previous meal -- or meal time.
  
  
• Never eat without desire and a keen relish for the plainest and simplest foods; and not then, if to do so will cause the breaking of the first rule.
  
  
• Avoid overeating. This is best accomplished by observing the fourth rule.
  
  
• Thoroughly masticate and insalivate all foods.

Following these four simple rules can make a big difference in how you feel. Try them out and see what you think.

They're free and easy to do and now you know more about how to eat healthy.

Chet Day
Editor, The Health Circus
http://chetday.com