Science Confirms Turmeric As Effective As 14 Drugs

Turmeric is one the most thoroughly researched plants in existence today.  Its medicinal properties and components (primarily curcumin) have been the subject of over 5600 peer-reviewed and published biomedical studies.  In fact, our five-year long research project on this sacred plant has revealed over 600 potential preventive and therapeutic applications, as well as 175 distinct beneficial physiological effects. This entire database of 1,585 ncbi-hyperlinked turmeric abstracts can be downloaded as a PDF at our Downloadable Turmeric Document page, and acquired either as a retail item or with 200 GMI-tokens, for those of you who are already are members and receive them automatically each month.
Given the sheer density of research performed on this remarkable spice, it is no wonder that a growing number of studies have concluded that it compares favorably to a variety of conventional medications, including:

• Lipitor/Atorvastatin(cholesterol medication): A 2008 study published in the journal Drugs in R & D found that a standardized preparation of curcuminoids from Turmeric compared favorably to the drug atorvastatin (trade name Lipitor) on endothelial dysfunction, the underlying pathology of the blood vessels that drives atherosclerosis, in association with reductions in inflammation and oxidative stress in type 2 diabetic patients. [i]  [For addition curcumin and 'high cholesterol' research – 8 abstracts]
• Corticosteroids (steroid medications): A 1999 study published in the journal Phytotherapy Research found that the primary polyphenol in turmeric, the saffron colored pigment known as curcumin, compared favorably to steroids in the management of chronic anterior uveitis, an inflammatory eye disease.[ii]  A 2008 study published in Critical Care Medicine found that curcumin compared favorably to the corticosteroid drug dexamethasone in the animal model as an alternative therapy for protecting lung transplantation-associated injury by down-regulating inflammatory genes.[iii] An earlier 2003 study published in Cancer Letters found the same drug also compared favorably to dexamethasone in a lung ischaemia-repurfusion injury model.[iv]  [for additional curcumin and inflammation research – 52 abstracts]
• Prozac/Fluoxetine & Imipramine  (antidepressants): A 2011 study published in the journal Acta Poloniae Pharmaceutica found that curcumin compared favorably to both drugs in reducing depressive behavior in an animal model.[v] [for additional curcumin and depression research – 5 abstracts]
• Aspirin (blood thinner): A 1986 in vitro and ex vivo study published in the journal Arzneimittelforschung found that curcumin has anti-platelet and prostacyclin modulating effects compared to aspirin, indicating it may have value in patients prone to vascular thrombosis and requiring anti-arthritis therapy.[vi]  [for additional curcumin and anti-platelet research]
• Anti-inflammatory Drugs: A 2004 study published in the journal Oncogene found that curcumin (as well as resveratrol) were effective alternatives to the drugs aspirin, ibuprofen, sulindac, phenylbutazone, naproxen, indomethacin, diclofenac, dexamethasone, celecoxib, and tamoxifen in exerting anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative activity against tumor cells.[vii] [for additional curcumin and anti-proliferative research – 15 abstracts]
• Oxaliplatin (chemotherapy drug): A 2007 study published in the International Journal of Cancer found that curcumin compares favorably with oxaliplatin as an antiproliferative agenet in colorectal cell lines.[viii] [for additional curcumin and colorectal cancer research – 52 abstracts]
• Metformin (diabetes drug): A 2009 study published in the journal Biochemitry and Biophysical Research Community explored how curcumin might be valuable in treating diabetes, finding that it activates AMPK (which increases glucose uptake) and suppresses gluconeogenic gene expression  (which suppresses glucose production in the liver) in hepatoma cells. Interestingly, they found curcumin to be 500 times to 100,000 times (in the form known as tetrahydrocurcuminoids(THC)) more potent than metformin in activating AMPK and its downstream target acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC). [ix]

Another way in which turmeric and its components reveal their remarkable therapeutic properties is in research on drug resistant- and multi-drug resistant cancers.  We have two sections on our site dedicated to researching natural and integrative therapies on these topics, and while there are dozens of substances with demonstrable efficacy against these chemotherapy- and radiation-resistant cancers, curcumin tops both lists:

• Cancers: Drug Resistant
• Cancers: Multi-Drug Resistant

We have found no less than 54 studies indicating that curcumin can induce cell death or sensitize drug-resistant cancer cell lines to conventional treatment.[x]
We have identified 27 studies on curcumin's ability to either induce cell death or sensitize multi-drug resistant cancer cell lines to conventional treatment.[xi]
Considering how strong a track record turmeric (curcumin) has, having been used as both food and medicine in a wide range of cultures, for thousands of years, a strong argument can be made for using curcumin as a drug alternative or adjuvant in cancer treatment.
Or, better yet, use certified organic (non-irradiated) turmeric in lower culinary doses on a daily basis so that heroic doses won't be necessary later in life after a serious disease sets in.  Nourishing yourself, rather than self-medicating with 'nutraceuticals,' should be the goal of a healthy diet.  [learn more at Sayer Ji's new collaborative project EATomology]

 

5 Food-Medicines That Could Quite Possibly Save Your Life

 5 Food-Medicines That Could Quite Possibly Save Your Life

Some of the most powerful medicines on the planet are masquerading around as foods and spices. While they do not lend themselves to being patented, nor will multi-billion dollar human clinical trials ever be funded to prove them efficacious, they have been used since time immemorial to both nourish our bodies, and to prevent and treat disease. So valued were these in ancient times that they were worth their weight in gold, and entire civilizations either rose to great power or collapsed as a result of their relationship to them.

What is even more amazing is that many of these "plant allies" are found growing in our backyards, and often sitting there in our refrigerators and spice racks, neglected and under appreciated. In fact, many of us use these daily unaware that this is why we don't get sick as often as those who do not incorporate them into their diet. Let's look at a few examples....


Though Mother Nature's formulas are proprietary, she does not grant patents. ~Sayer Ji
1) Garlic – with the increasing prevalence of multi-drug resistant bacteria and the failure of the conventional, drug-based model to develop effective solutions against them (nor accepting responsibility for creating them), spices have regained their once universal reign as broad spectrum infection-fighters with sometimes life-saving power.

Garlic, in fact, has several hundred therapeutic properties, confirmed by a growing body of scientific research, which you can view directly on GreenMedInfo.com.[i] One quick example of garlic's power, is in killing multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), which the mainstream media has termed the "white plague," roiling the masses with a fear of drug-resistant (but not plant-extract resistant) they are made to believe they are defenseless against.

Last year an article was published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal showing that garlic was capable of inhibiting a wide range of multiple drug resistant tuberculosis strains.[ii] The authors concluded "The use of garlic against MDR-TB may be of great importance regarding public health." Garlic's anti-infective properties do not end with MDR-TB, as it has been demonstrated to inhibit the following pathogens as well:

• Amoeba Entamoeba histolytica (parasite)
• Cholera
• Clostridium
• Cytomegalovirus
• Dermatophytoses (a type of topical fungal infection)
• Haemophilus Influenzae
• Helicobacter Pylori
• Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1
• Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2
• Klebsiella
• Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus A. (MRSA)
• Parainfluenza Virus
• Peridontal Infection
• Pneumococcal Infections
• Pseudomonas aeruginosa
• Streptococcus Mutans
• Streptococcus Infections: Group A
• Streptococcus Infections: Group B
• Streptococcus pyrogenes
• Thrush (oral fungal infection)

This amazing list underscores how important it is to keep a supply of garlic close by!

2) Honey – bees produce a wide range of therapeutic substances beyond honey, e.g. propolis, bee venom, royal jelly, beeswax, bee pollen, etc., but this sweet, sticky stuff that we all love to dip our paw into occasionally, is the most well-known and most copiously consumed of them all – and for good reason, it tastes great!

But did you know that this sweet treat is one of nature's most powerful healing agents, as well? Here is just a smattering of some of honey's more scientifically researched health benefits and/or applications:

• Aspirin-Induced Gastrointestinal Toxicity (honey coats the delicate linings of the stomach, preventing aspirin-induced lesions and bleeding)
• Bacterial Infections
• Burns
• Candida infection (despite the fact that honey contains sugar, it demonstrates anti-fungal properties)
• Conjunctivitis
• Dental plaque (a recent study showed that Manuka honey was a viable alternative to chemical mouthwash in dissolving dental plaque)[iii]
• Dermatitis
• Diabetic Ulcer
• Herpes-related ulcers
• MRSA (especially for Manuka honey)

There are many more uses for honey than covered here. Needless to say, replacing synthetic sweeteners or highly processed sugars or high fructose corn syrup with a moderate amount of honey may be a great preventative health step to take.

3) Apples – an apple a day does in fact keep the doctor away, especially cancer specialists it would seem.

For instance, one of the most well-established health benefits of consuming apples is to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer. The more apples you consume, the less likely you are to develop this potentially fatal disease.

To view the 5 studies that reference this relationship, go to the GreenmedInfo.com apple research page where you will also find 50 other health benefits of apple or apple byproducts (e.g. apple vinegar) consumption which include:

• Aging, Reduce Rate
• Allergies
• Allopecia (Hair Loss)
• Diarrhea
• Insulin Resistance
• Liver Cancer
• Radiation Induced Illness
• Staphylococcol Infection

4) Sunlight – this one may throw some of you off, but sunlight possesses both energy and information with real, metabolic value and is therefore a source of usable energy for the body – and so, in a very real sense it can be considered a form of food that we consume through our skin by way of its built in, melanin-based "solar panels."

Not only does adequate sunlight exposure result in the production of vitamin D, a hormone-like substance that regulates over 2,000 genes in the human body -- and as a result prevents or ameliorates hundreds of vitamin D deficiency associated health conditions -- but sunlight exposure itself has a unique set of health benefits not reducible to simply vitamin D production alone.

One of the more interesting studies performed on sunlight exposure, based on data gathered from over 100 countries and published earlier this year in the journal Anticancer Research, showed that there was "a strong inverse correlations with solar UVB for 15 types of cancer," with weaker, though still significant evidence for the protective role of sunlight in 9 other cancers. Here are some additional benefits of sunlight exposure:

• Alzheimer's Disease
• Depression
• Dopamine Deficiency
• Dermatitis
• Influenza
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Psoriasis

5) Turmeric - quite possibly the world's most important herb. Named "Kanchani," or literally "Golden Goddess," in the ancient Indian healing tradition, its healing properties have been deeply appreciated, if not revered for countless centuries.

Turmeric has been scientifically documented to have over 500 applications in disease prevention and treatment. It also has been shown to modulate over 150 distinct biological and genetic/epigenetic pathways of value in health, demonstrating a complexity as well as gentleness that no drug on the planet has ever been shown to possess.

As there are too many health conditions that turmeric may benefit to list, we are listing the top 10 as determined by the GreenMedInfo algorithm which calculates both the evidence quantity (number of articles) and evidence quality (human study valued higher than animal, and so on). Also, the number in parentheses denotes the number of studies on the database demonstrating the beneficial relationship.

• Oxidative Stress (160)
• Inflammation (51)
• DNA Damage (48)
• Lipid Peroxidation (34)
• Colorectal Cancer (24)
• Breast Cancer (60)
• Colon Cancer (52)
• Chemically-Induced Liver Damage (34)
• Alzheimer's Disease (34)
• Tumors (23)

For a more in depth look at the 1500+ studies on our site on Turmeric (and its primary polyphenol Curcumin), watch the video below and please share it with others if you find the information compelling.


[i] GreenMedInfo.com, Garlic Research Page: http://www.greenmedinfo.com/substance/garlic
[ii] Pak J Pharm Sci. 2011 Jan;24(1):81-5. PMID: 21190924
[iii] Contemp Clin Dent. 2010 Oct ;1(4):214-7. PMID: 22114423

Source: Green Med Info

The Top 4 Foods To Avoid If You Want To Be Healthy

The Top 4 Foods To Avoid If You Want To Be Healthy
You’ve probably heard it before and you’ll going to hear it again now: “Americans are overfed and undernourished.” It means that, as a nation, we are eating plenty of calories but they are doing nothing to nourish our bodies and give us what we need.

We are ‘starving’ as a nation and it’s no wonder that we have high rates of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and other diseases. We are what we eat. And few people truly understand how foods can help to keep them healthy or how they can fail to keep them healthy.

We live in an age of scientifically-created foods which have little to any resemblance of how nature did it first. There are certain foods that make up a large percentage of the average American diet.

It wouldn't be such a big deal if these foods were eaten occasionally. But the problem comes when we consistently consume them day after day, meal after meal.

So what are the top 4 ‘foods’ to avoid if you want to be healthy?

1. Sugar

If you can make only one change in your diet, it must be to eliminate sugar completely--or at least as much as possible. Many people tell me that they ‘eat no sugar at all.’ But what they are really saying is that they don’t add sugar to their meals or drinks from the sugar bowl. Once you start reading labels of boxed foods, you’ll soon learn that sugar (in all of its chemically created/altered forms) is present in most, if not all, processed foods. It’s almost impossible to avoid! The average American eats over 160 pounds of sugar a year!

Sugar, even in small amounts, is detrimental to your health. It suppresses the immune system for hours and plays significant effect on your hormones, throwing your body out of balance and into a state of biochemical chaos. If you eat sugar, morning, noon and night, your body is always in this state of chaos leading to disease.

Furthermore, sugar is actually an antinutrient, meaning that it leaches nutrients from your body! Because certain nutrients are removed from sugar in the refining process, your body cannot process it. So, it leaches minerals from your body to attach to the refined sugar molecules in order to move the sugar through your body. Also, because it’s an antinutrient, sugar also causes calcium to be lost in the urine, which in turn is replaced by calcium from the bones, leading to osteoporosis.

It’s important to understand the difference between natural sugar, like that present in fruits and some vegetables and altered sugar - such as white sugar. Natural sugar is good for your body. Refined sugar, on the other hand, is destructive to human health.

2. White Flour

Almost all bread, pasta and baked goods are made with white flour. It’s easy-to-use, easy-to-store, and practically never goes bad. However, white flour contains little nutrition, is toxic and is an antinutrient (like sugar). And the scary part is that the average American consumes more than 200 pounds of white flour every year!

Almost all nutrients that were once contained in wheat are lost in the process of creating white flour. And just like sugar, because white-flour is no longer a ‘whole food’, it actually leaches minerals from the body in order to metabolize it.

To avoid the health problems associated with processed grains, use whole grains such as: millet, oats, quinoa, spelt, amaranth, kamut and brown rice.

3. Processed Oils

Many people think that low-fat is healthy. This is not the case. We NEED healthy fats in our diet. Our cells are surrounded by a cell membrane built with....fats! The important thing though is using high-quality building materials to create these cell membranes. When oils are heated above 392 degrees F (as most supermarket oils are, which are used in junk foods like potato chips, candy, breakfast cereals, and salad dressings) the fat molecules change shape, turning them into a difference and toxic category of fats called “trans-fats.”

When cells are built from trans-fats they become brittle and weak. If the cells throughout your body are made with these types of fats, you have a serious problem. The health of our bodies is boiled down to the health of our 75 trillion cells. If the majority of these cells are weak, then our bodies are going to be weak and diseased.

Put healthful oils into your diet like high-quality olive oil, hemp seed oil, coconut oil, flaxseed oil, pumpkin seed oil, and organic butter or ghee.

4. Milk

Milk products have a reputation of being highly nutritious and necessary in everybody’s diet. And yet the nations with the highest milk consumption also have the highest rates of osteoporosis, breast cancer, allergies and diabetes. In fact, 70% of the world’s population does not even drink milk or consume other dairy products such as cheese, yogurt and ice cream.

One of the largest problems with milk is the pasteurization process: it alters the milk proteins. It actually changes the molecular structure so that the body cannot process and receive the protein in the milk. And not only that, it renders the proteins actually toxic to the body!

And the calcium in milk? Forget about it. Milk robs calcium from bones. The protein in cow milk metabolizes to strong acids which can be harmful to the body. So, what does the body do? It uses calcium (from the bones) to neutralize those acids. Cow’s milk is most certainly NOT ‘nature's most perfect food’ as the milk and dairy administration would have you to believe. Instead, why not try making your own nut milks which are easy-to-make fresh, and loaded with nutrients.

Our foods are more ‘make-believe’ then ever. The further away you get from how nature created our ‘perfect whole foods’ the more likely you are to develop instances of sickness and disease. Aim for a whole-food diet, remove these 4 “foods” from your diet and enjoy vibrant health!

Sources included for this article: Never Be Sick Again

Six Reasons to Avoid Milk to Maintain Wellness

Six Reasons to Avoid Milk to Maintain Wellness

Dr. Mark Hyman explains why milk may be causing health problems. He provides six reasons why milk should be avoided to maintain wellness.

Dr. Mark Hyman: Hi, this is Doctor Mark Hyman. Today I’m going to tell you six reasons why you should avoid dairy. Got milk? Well these days it seems like almost everybody does, celebrities, athletes, even former President Clinton’s head of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala are all proud to wear the white milk mustache.

After all, everybody knows that you need milk to be healthy, right? Not necessarily. Sure, dairy is nature’s perfect food, but only if you’re a calf. If that sounds shocking to you, it’s because very few people are willing to tell the truth about dairy.

In fact, criticizing milk in America is like taking on motherhood, apple pie or baseball, but that’s just what I’m about to do. Based on the research and my experience in practicing medicine, I typically advise most of my patients to avoid dairy products completely. I like ice cream just as much as the next person, but as a scientist I have to look honestly at what we know. In just a second I’ll explore the many ill effects that are documented from eating dairy.

Now that advice flies in the face of the new “up to date” Food Pyramid from the United States Department of Agriculture. Now the USDA’s Food Pyramid recommends drinking three glass of milk a day. What’s wrong with that? Well for one thing, it’s a recommendation that’s not based on strict science. Some of the experts who helped create the pyramid actually work for the dairy industry, which makes the US Department of Agriculture recommendations reflect industry interest, not science or our best interest.

In fact, Doctor Walter Willett, the second most cited scientist in all of clinical medicine and the head of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health is one of the most vocal critics of the US Food Pyramid. He’s even called its guidelines quote “udderly ridiculous,” as in u-d-d-e-r-l-y ridiculous. That’s not something a Harvard scientist says lightly, but Doctor Willett’s right. The pyramid just isn’t based on key scientific findings about health. Just take a look at some of the pyramid’s recommendations and why I disagree with them.

One, consume a variety of foods within and among the basic food groups while staying within your body’s energy needs. Sounds sensible, but which food groups? If you choose dairy, meats, fats, and carbohydrates, the perfect meal could be a cheeseburger, milkshake, fries with ketchup. Let’s face it, tomatoes and potatoes are vegetables, right, and they’re the two top vegetables eaten in America. Generic advice like that is pretty meaningless and potentially harmful.

The second bit of advice is control your caloric intake to manage your body weight. Again, sounds pretty good, but as I wrote in my book, UltraMetabolism, even the best trained nutritionists and dieticians cannot come close to correctly estimating their own caloric intake in a day. And is it okay to consume all of my calories from cola or ice cream as long as I stay within my caloric needs? Of course not, so this is more useless advice.

Number three, they say increase intake of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, non-fat or low-fat milk products. Well fruits and veggies and whole grains are great, milk not so much; I’ll get back to that in a minute.

Choose carbohydrates wisely, that’s the next bit of advice from the Food Pyramid. Who could argue with that, but how do they define ‘wisely?’ The real advice should be to cut down sugar intake from a hundred and eighty-five pounds per person per year, which is what we currently consume, to less than a pound a year, to avoid flour products, except as a treat, and stick to whole food carbohydrates like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds.

The next bit of advice is to choose to prepare foods with little salt. Not bad advice, but what if not of the food you eat is packages or processed foods that you don’t actually prepare and are full of salt? Like most Americans who eat half their meals outside the homes, this isn’t healthful. So a better recommendation would be to avoid packaged, canned, processed, prepared, and fast foods unless you know exactly how they’re made.

The next bit of advice was if you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation. Sounds goods, but if you’re usually drinking two bottles of wine a night, then one seems like moderation. I don’t think that’s a good suggestion. I think it’s better to limit your alcohol consumption to half a drink a day or three glasses a week; that seems to have the most benefit with the least risk.

The next tip is don’t eat unsafe foods. Well of course you shouldn’t leave your egg salad in the hot sun or toss your salad with hands and just handle raw chicken coated with salmonella, but the Food Pyramid guidelines don’t mention pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, genetically modified foods despite scientific evidence of their harm; shame on the USDA.

You can now see why I have a big problem with the Food Pyramid. Mostly its guidelines try to sound sensible while still protecting the interest of the food industry, the agriculture industry, and all the lobbyists paying for the elections of Congress. Everybody’s happy, right? Well I’m not, and you shouldn’t be either. The public just isn’t served by the watered down, confusing, useless pyramid. Worse, some of the recommendations are downright harmful, like the one to drink more milk and dairy products.

According to Doctor Walter Willett, who has done many of the studies and reviewed this topic extensively, there are many reasons to pass up milk, including one, milk doesn’t reduce bone fractures. Contrary to popular belief, eating dairy has never been shown to reduce fracture risk, but dairy may actually increase the risk of fractures by fifty percent according to the large Nurses Health Study. Less dairy equals better bones. Countries with the lowest rates of dairy and calcium consumption, like those in Africa and Asia, have the lowest rates of osteoporosis.

Next thing is that calcium isn’t a bone protective as we thought. Studies of calcium supplementation have shown no benefit in reducing fracture risk. Vitamin D, on the other hand, appears to be much more important than calcium in preventing practices. Also, calcium may raise cancer risk. Research shows that higher intakes of both calcium and dairy products may increase a man’s risk of prostate cancer by thirty to fifty percent. Plus, dairy consumption increases the body’s level of insulin-like growth factor 1, a known cancer promoter.

Calcium has benefits that dairy doesn’t. Calcium supplements, but not dairy products, may reduce the risk of colon cancer. And another problem with dairy is that not everyone can stomach dairy. About seventy-five percent or three quarters of the world’s population is genetically unable to properly digest milk and other dairy products, a problem called lactose intolerance.

So based on such findings, Doctor Walter Willett has come to some important conclusions. One, everyone needs calcium, but probably not as much as our government’s recommended daily allowance of fifteen hundred milligrams a day.

Two, calcium probably doesn’t prevent broken bones. Few people in this country are likely to reduce their fracture risk by getting more calcium. Three, men may not want to take calcium supplements; supplements of calcium and vitamin D may be reasonable for women. And four, dairy may be unhealthy. Advocating dairy consumption may have negative effects on health. Now this is from Doctor Walter Willett, not me, so you should think about your next glass of milk.

If all of that isn’t enough to swear you off milk, there are a few other scientific findings worth noting. First, the Federal Trade Commission recently asked the USDA to look into the scientific basis of claims made in their milk mustache ads. Their panel of scientists stated the truth clearly. Number one, milk doesn’t benefit sports performance. Number two, there’s no evidence that dairy is good for your bones or prevents osteoporosis.

In fact, the animal protein in it may actually help cause bone loss. Number three, dairy is linked to prostate cancer. Number four, it’s full of saturated fat and it’s linked to heart disease. Number five, dairy causes digestive problems for seventy-five percent of people with lactose intolerance. And number six, dairy aggravates irritable bowel syndrome. Simply put, the FTC asked the dairy industry ‘got proof,’ and the answer was no. Plus, dairy may contribute to more health problems like allergies, sinus issues, ear infections, type I diabetes, chronic constipation, and anemia in children.

But what about raw milk, isn’t that a healthier form of dairy? Well not really. Yes, raw, whole, organic milk eliminates some of the concerns, like pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and the effects of homogenization and pasteurization, but to me these benefits don’t outweigh dairy’s potential risk. From an evolutionary point of view, milk is a strange food for humans. Until ten thousand years ago, we didn’t domesticate animals, and we weren’t able to drink milk unless some brave hunter gatherer milked a wild tiger or a buffalo.

Now most scientists agree that it’s better for us to get calcium, potassium, protein, and fats from other sources, like whole plant foods, vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and seaweed, great source of minerals. Convinced yet? Well here’s my advice for dealing with dairy. If you want healthy bones, take vitamin D, don’t rely on dairy.

Get your calcium from dark leafy vegetables, sesame tahini, sea vegetables, or sardines or salmon with the bones in it. And try giving up all dairy, and see how you feel after a few weeks. And if you can tolerate dairy, only use raw organic dairy products, preferably fermented products like yogurt or kefir.

Still got milk? I hope not. Remember, dairy is not crucial for good health. I encourage you to go dairy-free and see what it does for you.

Source: iHealthTube

10 Recipes with 3 Ingredients or Less

Every kitchen has a cupboard containing ingredients that are either rarely used, or of such a small quantity that you are left wondering “what could I possibly make out of these?”. Before diving for that phone, or computer to order in takeaways, have a look through the following list for ideas on how to use up those odds and ends that are lurking in your kitchen cupboards!

1. Delicious Fruit Cake Serves 4

1 kg mixed fruit
2 cups fruit juice
2 cups self raising flour
Preheat oven to 125C. Soak fruit in juice for 2 hours. Stir flour into soaked fruit and mix well. Put into large lined baking tin. Bake for 2 hours in the bottom of your oven on 130C. Remove and leave to cool. Put into container or wrap in foil. Keep for 2-3 days before cutting.
2. Easy Pineapple Cake

2 cups self raising flour
1 cup sugar
450g can crushed pineapple
Sift flour into a mixing bowl and combine with sugar. Add pineapple and mix well. Pour into a greased cake tin and bake at 180C for 40 minutes.
(For best results bake in a ring cake tin.)
3. Scones Makes 12

4 cups self raising flour
300ml cream
1 can lemonade
Sift self raising flour into a bowl, make a well and pour in cream and lemonade. Mix to make a firm dough, roll out, cut with a scone cutter and bake in a hot oven until golden brown.
4. Mango, Avocado and Bacon Salad Serves 4

2 large mangoes
2 avocadoes
8 rashers of cooked, crispy bacon
Cube Mangoes and avocados, cut bacon in largish chunks and mix together in a small bowl.
5. Potato Bake Serves 6

6 potatoes
300ml tub of cream
1 pkt French Onion Soup mix
Slice potatoes into 1cm thick slices, place into a baking dish. Combine cream and soup mix, pour over potatoes and bake in oven at 180C for 30 minutes.
6. Sweet and Spicy Chicken Serves 2

6 chicken legs
½ cup of orange marmalade
1-2 tsp chili powder
Preheat oven to 180C. Combine marmalade and chili powder in a plastic bag, add chicken legs and shake until evenly coated. Place chicken on foil on a baking tray and spoon any remaining marmalade/chili powder. Bake for 30 minutes or until done.
7. Baked Fish Serves 2

2 fresh white fish fillets
1 tsp butter
1 lemon
Coat fish with melted butter and then season with salt and pepper. Cut lemon and put slices on fish. Wrap fish in foil and cook in oven for 20 minutes at 180C.
8. Moroccan Salmon Serves 2

2 Salmon Steaks
Macadamia nut oil spray
Moroccan seasoning
Place Salmon on foil on a baking tray. Spray with cooking oil and coat thoroughly with Moroccan Seasoning. Bake at 160C for 15 minutes.
9. Apple Turnovers Serves 8

2 sheets of puff pastry
1 tin pie apple with cinnamon
2 tbs milk
Cut the pastry in quarters. Fill one side of the quarter with pie apple, and then fold into turnovers. Glaze with milk for a golden finish and bake in a hot oven for 10 minutes.
10. Mini Muffins Makes 12

1 cup self raising flour sifted
1 cup thickened cream, not whipped
3 tbs raw sugar
Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour into mini muffin tray. Bake for 10 minutes at 180C.

Top 10 Delicious and Unique Egyptian Foods

Not a lot of people know that Egypt is not only famous for its ancient monuments, culture and revolution, but it is also famous for its great food. Egyptian food is a mixture of all the different civilizations that came to Egypt in the history of its existence. Nowhere in the world will you be able to taste so many cultures in one plate. Below is a list of the most delicious and popular dishes served up in Egypt today.

10

Kushari

Considered to be the Egyptian national dish, it consists of pasta and tomato sauce, among other items, including rice, lentils, caramelized onions, garlic and chickpeas. Having four sources of carbohydrates has made it the most popular lunch item in most common food outlets in Egypt for over 100 years. Interestingly enough, Kushari’s origins are not Egyptian at all, in fact it was a dish brought in by the British army in Egypt in the 19th century: the pasta was imported from Italy, the tomatoes are from Latin America and the rice from Asia, however the idea to mix them all together in one extremely delicious and vegetarian dish was conceived in Egypt.

9

Ful Medames

One of the common staple foods in Egypt, it consists of lava beans served with oil, garlic and lemon juice. Ful Medames can be traced to Pharaonic roots, and quantities have been found in the Twelfth dynasty. The word “Medames” is Coptic for “buried” which refers to the way it was initially cooked: in a pot buried in hot coal or sand. Ful Medames can be served with many embellishments such as butter, tomato sauce, tahini, fried or boiled eggs and pastrami. However, the most traditional method is to eat it plain and salted in an Egyptian bread bun. Nowadays, Ful Medames is exported to many Middle Eastern countries such as Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.

8

Fatta

Considered a Nubian dish, fatta is usually prepared for festivities such as a woman’s first birth, and both Christian and Muslim holiday celebrations. It consists of layers of rice and fried bread, covered in a garlic and vinegar meat soup. Large chunks of stewed beef and deep-fried poached eggs are usually served along with the rice and bread base. As you can presume, Fatta is a really fattening dish, with an extremely high calorific value; it is rarely eaten during the year, except after a major religious fast such as the 50 days before Easter for Coptic Christians, or the month of Ramadan before Eid-Al-Futr.

7

Mulukhiya

Mulukhiya is made from the leaves of jute and corchorus plants that grow in east and north Africa. In Egypt, Mulukhiya is prepared by chopping the leaves with garlic and coriander and cooking it in an animal stock such as chicken, beef or rabbit, and served with Egyptian bread or rice. Interestingly, different cities in Egypt prepare it in different ways, for example fish or shrimp are used as bases for the broth in coastal cities such as Alexandria and Port Said. During the late Tenth century, the dish was banned by the Fatimid Caliph Al Hakim Bi-Amr Allah, while the ban was lifted, religious sects such as the Druze still refuse to eat the dish in respect for the late Caliph.

6

Feseekh

Feseekh is a traditional Egyptian dish served only during the Sham-El-Nessim festival, which is a spring celebration with Pharaonic origins. It consists of fermented, salted and dried gray mullet. The process to prepare it, which involves drying the fish in the sun then salting it, is usually prepared by a specialized person called a fasakhani. Due to the way it is prepared, Feseekh can cause poisoning if it is prepared incorrectly. It is usually stored in thick glass jars that are firmly closed, as it has a very pungent smell. It is usually served with Egyptian bread, diced onions and lots of lemons.

5

Taro/Colcasia Soup

Taro is a Southeast Asia native plant that was introduced to the Mediterranean parts of Egypt in ancient times. Taro, or Qilqas as it is known in Egypt, is usually prepared by peeling the taro tubers then boiling them and preparing them in a broth with lemon juice, garlic and coriander. After it is cooked, the taro is mashed and the whole preparation is served as a dip with Egyptian flat bread. Taro is cooked during the Coptic Christian celebrations of Epiphany, and the way it is prepared is supposed to resemble the baptism of Jesus.

4

Halawa

Halawa is a middle-eastern food common across all countries in the Mediterranean. Halawa is made from sesame paste and is available in all shapes and forms: blocks, hair Halawa, energy bars and spreads. It is sometimes infused with other types of food to add to its flavor, these include: pistachios, pine nuts and almonds. It is a common staple food among Egyptians and it is eaten as a snack or for breakfast and dinner. Halawa can be used as a main ingredient in many other dishes, among those is the Sakalans, which is mixture of Halawa, honey and whipped cream. Interestingly, Halawa is one of the few foods that can tolerate the hot Egyptian weather without going bad, and it doesn’t need any special storage conditions.

3

Dukkah

Dukkah is an Egyptian food commonly used as a dip and eaten along with Egyptian flatbread or raw vegetables, such as tomatoes or cucumber, as an hors d’oeuvre or side dish. It consists of a mixture of herbs, nuts and spices such as mint, salt, sesame, coriander and cumin. Dukkah is usually prepared at home and each family has a different twist to the recipe, but it is also sold at spice vendors in small paper cones. The name “Dukkah” is derived from the Arabic word “to pound” referring to how all the spices are pounded together to prepare the dish. Outside of Egypt, the dish is rarely known but it has found some popularity in Australia.

2

Konafah

Konafah is an Egyptian sweet made of a very thin noodle-like pastry. The origins of Konafah are very mysterious, its presence has been recorded in Arab medieval cookbooks in both Egypt and the Levant and Turkey, but its exact origins have always been unknown. Konafah is made by drizzling long rows of the thin noodles in their liquid state on a hot plate until they become dry and more rigid. The now-rigid noodles are then mixed with butter or oil and wrapped around a filling made out of nuts, whipped cream or both. It is baked and presented with a fruit syrup on top.

1

Gibna Domiati

Gibna Domiati is a white soft cheese made in the city of Damietta, in the north of Egypt. It is typically made from buffalo milk but sometimes cow milk is added to the mixture as well. It is the most common cheese found in Egypt and is incorporated into a lot of dishes, such as sambousak (fried thin pastry stuffed with cheese) or mesh (a tomato and cheese dip). Gibna Domiati is aged for a period of 1-3 years in large tin cans, before being eaten. Most Egyptian families take pride in the number of cans they have stored and for how long. In fact, it is said that the more the cheese is aged, the more delicious it becomes.

Top 10 Unusual Uses For Beer

While beer and wine seldom lasts long in my household, from time to time there is the odd can or bottle left over after a party. When this rare event occurs, the leftovers can be put to use in a huge variety of ways – many of which most people would never think of. This list should help you use up your leftover beer. If you have any other tips for leftover beer, be sure to tell us in the comments.

10

Soak in it

Beer is an excellent skin conditioner. Next time you want to have a long soak in the bath, tip in a good can of dark beer before you hop in and just soak in it! This is a nice alternative to adding salt crystals (which soften water), but I see no reason that you couldn’t combine both for a super luxurious bath. Just don’t be tempted to drink the bathwater! Oh – and be careful if you go outside afterwards on a hot day (see item 4).

9

Soothe an Upset Tummy

This is my favorite item on the list. If you have a stomach upset, slowly sipping a can of beer can help to settle it down – and the alcohol has an anesthetic effect which helps to alleviate the pain. As most of us will know, this is also a very effective hangover cure! Just be sure not to use this trick if you have an ulcer or gastritis.

8

Polish Your Furniture

Beer is a surprisingly good wood furniture polish. Let a can of beer go completely stale and flat and pour a little onto a polishing cloth. Buff your timber furniture and follow up with a final dry buff. You will be amazed at how brilliant and shiny your furniture will end up looking.

7

Marinate Meat

Beer makes an excellent marinade. It really doesn’t matter what meat you are preparing – it will benefit almost all types from a few hours (the longer the better) in a marinade of beer. You can get really adventurous too – add any flavors you like to the beer – even things like marmalade or jam. A more common addition would be soy sauce or other Asian sauces. If you are marinating pork, you might want to add some chunks of pineapple and pineapple juice with some ginger for a sweet and sour result.

6

Naturally Remove Slugs

Slugs are a terrible pest in a garden – particularly if you are growing for eating. Instead of using chemicals like DDT on your veges, bury a small saucer up to its lip in the garden and put fresh beer in it each day. The slugs will be attracted to the smell, get drunk and drown. Be sure to refresh the beer daily. With a little luck you should have a saucer full of slugs and healthy looking cabbages!

5

Fertilize Your Garden

The yeast and other extracts in a can of beer are very good for plants. If you end up with a pile of left-over half-drunk cans or bottles of beer, tip them out onto the garden. Just watch out for cigarette butts if your guests use them for ashtrays – while some plants do like nicotine extract, not all do and you could kill your prize plants.

4

Deter Bees

Bees and wasps are attracted to beer – so instead of spending a fortune on citronella oils or candles, try putting a few open beer cans around the yard at your next BBQ. Obviously you should put the cans away from where people will be sitting or standing. Oh – and make sure no one decides to have a swig from one of the cans when they are drunk – it will result in a very unpleasant (and potentially lethal) situation!

3

Wash Your Hair

Beer “shampoo” can add luster and body to dull limp hair. It is also a much more natural alternative to store-bought shampoos which contain a lot of chemicals. Just mix one can of beer with a raw egg and use it as you would use a normal shampoo. It was quite common in days gone by to use raw eggs for shampoo – it even lathers up like the chemical stuff. Try it – I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised. Just keep in mind that the shampoo will go off if you don’t use it within a couple of days. This is probably best as a once-a-month special treatment. You can also use beer on its own as a conditioner – rinse your hair with it, let it dry off, then rinse it off.

2

Make a Batter

When making a batter, you often add a little raising agent – usually baking powder. In this recipe, you use beer – the bubbles in the drink and the yeast provide the raising. So, here is the recipe: put 1.5 cups of flour and 1/2 a teaspoon of salt in to a bowl. Pour in 1 12oz can of beer while mixing. That is it! If the batter is too thick, add more beer. If it is too thin, add a little more flour. If you are planning to use this batter with fish, dredge the fish in flour first – remembering to shake off the excess. This is a great tasting batter that I use all the time.

1

BBQ a Chicken

This has to be one of the easiest recipes around. You simply take a full opened can of beer, stand a chicken on it, and throw it on the barbeque (well – don’t literally throw it – that could be very messy!) The beer can is inserted in the neck area (where you would normally stuff the chicken) and stood upright. While the chicken cooks, the beer heats up and subtly flavors the meat. You end up with a tasty and surprisingly moist chicken. You should also rub a little olive oil over the chicken and salt and pepper it before starting. If you have a favorite “rub” you can add that too. Oh – make sure you drink half of the can first – it should be half full when starting out. I am sure you will have no trouble finding someone to help you with that part of the recipe. Cook the chicken with the BBQ lid on for approximately 1 1/4 hours or until the internal temperature registers 165 degrees F in the breast area and 180 degrees F in the thigh (or the juices run clear if you pierce it with a knife).

Top 10 Unusual Uses For Coca Cola

We have previously published articles on unusual uses for peanut butter and beer which proved very popular – so today we are presenting another fun list of out-of-the-ordinary uses for a rather ordinary product: coke. Coke was introduced by the Coca Cola company in 1886 – making it a rather true and tested favorite of generations of people in over 200 countries (at least according to the company). This list should give you some ideas on how to get more from your coke than usual.

10

Rust Buster

Coca Cola is an excellent rust buster. If you have a bunch of small objects that need de-rusting, soak them in coke overnight and give them a good scrub in the morning. The properties of coke help to break down the rust particles, making cleaning much easier. You can also apply coke to a chrome finish which is rust spotted – pour some on a rough textured cloth and rub it in a circular motion. Be sure to throw out the used coke when you are done with it or you might be taking a trip to the doctor.

9

Clean a Window

Like the previous item, the citric acid in Coke makes for an excellent window cleaner. This is especially useful for car windows which can get tough buildups of gunk. Pour over the can of coke and rub the window – then wipe it off with a damp cloth (to ensure the removal of any sticky residue from the sugars in the drink). Think of this like a cheap alternative to the many citrus fruit based cleaners that are sold on TV.

8

Eat It

Coke can be used for a variety of cooking techniques. You can mix it half and half with BBQ sauce for an excellent marinade, and you can even casserole an entire chicken in it. Here is a tasty recipe for chicken pieces cooked on the stove top with coke – try it, you will be pleasantly surprised. The sugars give a deep glossy coating and caramelized flavor, while the citric acid (found in lemons) gives a nice tang. Coke also makes a great glaze for baked ham.

7

De-Skunk

For those of you who live in areas where skunk smells can be an issue from time to time, one can of coke added to a bucket of water with detergent really helps to break the odor down. If you have been sprayed, stand in the shower and cover yourself from head to toe with coke – wait for a few minutes, then rinse off. The added bonus is that coke is an excellent hair treatment so you get two tips for the price of one with this item!

6

Pain Killer

The chemicals in coca cola can be very effective to help neutralize the pain of jellyfish stings. The best thing about this is that while most people at the beach are unlikely to be carrying anti-sting lotions, they are likely to be carrying a bottle of coke. Just pour the coke over the area in which you have been stung and feel the relief. If you don’t happen to have any coke, the other alternative treatment is to pee on the stung part of your body – or to have someone else pee on it for you.

5

De-blacken Pots

Pots can sometimes get a black film on the bottom which is almost impossible to remove; this is caused by over-cooking or just natural discoloration due to highly acidic foods. To remove the black and restore your pot to new, pour in a can of coke (or as much as you need to cover the blackened area by an inch) and put it on the stove on a low heat. After an hour or so, wash the pot as normal.

4

Clean Clothes

Grease stains are famously difficult to remove from clothing and stain removers can be very expensive. Here is a cheap solution: empty a can of coke into your wash along with the usual detergent and run it through a normal cycle. This is also quite effective for removing blood and it helps to deodorize smelly clothes.

3

Kill Bugs

This item also appeared on the beer list – and it works just the same. Pour some cola into a shallow dish and place it in the garden near the problem area. Slugs, snails, and other bugs will go in for a drink and never come out again! This is a very good first line of attack in your garden and it can obviously save you an enormous amount of money by reducing the need for pesticides. You can pour the left over coke (minus the bugs) onto plants that like acidic soil like azaleas and gardenias.

2

Heal Yourself

Coca cola is useful for a variety of ailments. The most common is for soothing upset stomachs. Just slowly sip a glass of flat coke and it should help to alleviate nausea. It is also good for people suffering from diarrhea or a sore throat. I would say that it can also cure hiccups but, frankly, a glass of water should do the same thing, as the chemicals in coke don’t offer any special “anti-hiccup” magic.

1

Make an Explosion

Most people who have been around on the Internet for at least a few years will be familiar with the diet-coke-Mentos volcano. The idea is that you drop a Mentos into a bottle of coke and the chemical reaction causes the coke to spurt for miles (not literally of course). The video clip above shows a great example of this fun use for coke. Why not buy a bunch of bottles this weekend and see if you can do better than the efforts shown above?

10 Foods That Aren’t From Where You Think

There are plenty of foods that are either named after places or are assumed to come from certain places. The following is a list of certain food origins that we’re frequently wrong about.

10German Chocolate Cake

German chocolate cake is delicious, but its name is lying to you; it’s not German at all. It was named after a German, though: a man named Sam German. He didn’t invent the cake itself, but back in 1852, he created a chocolate bar. It was different from normal chocolate (at the time) because it was made for cooking, and it came to be called Baker’s German Sweet Chocolate.
The first time the recipe for this cake was published was way back in the late ’50s. It was advertised in a Dallas newspaper and became popular almost immediately. The demand for German’s baking chocolate skyrocketed, and his name became synonymous with the dessert.

9 Baked Alaska

The Baked Alaska dessert was actually invented in New York City, most likely in 1868—the same year the US purchased Alaska from Russia. Charles Ranhofer, the chef who named it, called it Baked Alaska to cash in on the fame of the recently completed deal. It was considered a luxury at the time, since making ice cream in the 1860s was a laborious process and wasn’t yet mechanized.

8 French Dip

The French dip sandwich, perhaps unsurprisingly, isn’t from France. It was invented at Phillipe’s in Los Angeles, in 1918. The first sandwich of its kind came about by accident. The restaurant’s namesake, Phillipe Mathieu, was making a sandwich for a police officer when he accidentally dropped the roll into hot oil. The officer (supposedly named French) bought it anyway. He loved it so much that he returned the next day with his friends and they all ordered their rolls dipped in oil.
Another restaurant in the area, Cole’s Pacific Electric Buffet, also claim the invention of the French dip. In their version, they dipped the bread in jus (like au jus) to make it softer for a customer that was on her way back from a dentist’s appointment.

7 Coney Dog

The Coney dog may be attributed to Coney Island, but its true origins lie a few states west: Michigan. Much like the French dip, the exact origin is unknown, as there are three different eateries that claim they invented the iconic dog. All three restaurants are located in Michigan. So there you have it. While we can’t be sure of the exact origin, we know it’s definitely not from New York.

6 Curry Powder

The curry powder we know today is nothing like the original spice it was supposed to mimic. It was heavily influenced by the British, and in India it isn’t even referred to as curry. They call it masala, and there are many different varieties. The curry powder we know best is what the British produced when they tried to replicate the flavors they encountered in traditional Indian cooking. True Indian curry powder is custom-made to accompany whatever food is being prepared.

5 Maraschino Cherries

Maraschino cherries may have an Italian-sounding name, but they actually come from Croatia. Originally, Maraschino was the name of a liquor made from the Croatian Marasca cherries. Then fresh cherries were preserved in their own alcohol, and that’s what a Maraschino cherry is (or was). In the 1800s, they made their way to the US, where Americans replaced the Marasca cherries with Queen Anne cherries, which grew in Oregon. In 1912, the USDA formalized the term, and any non-Marasca cherry had to be labeled as an imitation product.
The Maraschino cherries you buy at the grocery store today are made using a different method, one that’s alcohol-free. First they’re brined in a liquid calcium solution. Then they’re placed in sweetened, artificially colored syrup.

4 Ketchup

Ketchup may seem like an American invention since it’s a featured condiment for almost every American food from meatloaf to eggs. However, ketchup originated from a different type of sauce from China, which was made from fish. Five hundred years ago, Chinese sailors were sailing down the Mekong coast when they found a sauce made from fermented anchovies. The sauce was popular in Vietnam, and the Chinese sailors gave it the name “ke-tchup.” This name is in the ancient language Hokkien, and the last syllable, “tchup,” means “sauce.”
In the 17th century, British traders made their way to the region, and they ended up discovering ke-tchup. One hundred years later, they were hooked and ke-tchup became a prized possession.

3 Sauerkraut

“Sauerkraut” means “sour cabbage” in German, so you’d think it was a German invention. While it goes well with most German food, the original was Chinese. It came about around 2,000 years ago and was enjoyed by laborers building the Great Wall. The only real difference is that the Chinese fermented their cabbage in rice wine. The Germans draw out the water with salt.
It was popular with Chinese workers because it was a good vitamin source, stored easily and did not spoil, and was a cheap and widely available food.

2 Bologna

The bologna we eat today is nothing like the food it’s originally based on. Bologna is supposedly named after the city in Italy, but the meat it is most similar to is mortadella. Mortadella is actually from Italy but only slightly resembles bologna. It’s often eaten by itself or as part of an appetizer platter with cheese, bread, or sliced peppers and tomatoes. bologna is a sliced, processed meat and is most often used in sandwiches.
Mortadella is of much higher quality and uses only the finest pork meat. It is liberally sprinkled with cubes of pure pork fat and minced, mixing everything together. The original stuff from Bologna will be marked as such and will have added pistachios and black pepper.

1 Tempura

While we may attribute tempura cooking to the Japanese, it was actually a Portuguese innovation. Evidence lies in old Moorish cookbooks from the 13th century that feature tempura recipes. The word “tempura” is actually thought to have derived from the Portuguese word “temporas” which means “Lent.” This makes sense, as the Catholic population would eat fish on Fridays and eventually decided to fry it—possibly because everything tastes better when it’s fried.
Portuguese sailors (including traders and missionaries) spread it throughout the world, and it took hold in Japan in the 16th century. It spread to England as well, and is now part of their world-famous fish and chips.