The First Convenience Food You Should Stop Eating: Microwave Popcorn

To be and feel healthier, this is one of those convenience foods you should stop eating today:

  In order to support your new healthier lifestyle, you will need to make smarter and more informed food choices. We are all being hit every day with catchy words and phrases like "all natural" and "low fat" and similar triggers designed by food manufacturers to trick you into thinking that their wares are healthy for you.

 Sadly, there is an entire multi-billion dollar industry based on deceiving consumers with catchy and misleading terms like those worn out examples above.

 For example, the term "All Natural" pretty much applies to any food stuff or compound derived from Nature. The hair from a pig's anus is all natural, so are insect parts and rat droppings...but I don't want it in my child's food.

 By the same token; When you hear the terms "low fat" and "sugar free" you should be thinking "chemical soup".

 Some go so far as to create and manage a campaign of propaganda designed to promote their foods as a healthier option, regardless of the truth and countless studies that have disproved those claims.

 A good example of this deception is also the first food you should stop buying and eating: Microwave Popcorn.

 With millions to spend on marketing, the microwave popcorn industry has done a great job of selling you the sizzle and burying the fact that the steak is toxic. From the bag to the corn itself, there is so much poison in each serving that your best bet is to either start popping your own organic kernels, or just lay off the stuff altogether.

Nearly all varieties of microwave popcorn line their bags with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). This chemical is the same toxic compound found in teflon pots and pans, and it can stay in the human body for long periods of time. When heated this chemical has been linked to infertility, cancer and other diseases in lab animals and it is listed as a carcinogen by the EPA.  Another study has found an acid that can be extracted from the chemical causes cancer in animals and is “likely to cause cancer in humans.”

 While there are no current sources of GMO kernels, there are plenty of GMO ingredients anyway in the form of oils and emulsifiers. Because the major brands do not use organic kernels, you can bet the farm that they contain pesticides.

 Popsecret and Jollytime still use trans fat, one of the most deadly fats available that is associated with 20,000 heart attacks a year and over 7,000 deaths according to the CDC. 

 Proply Gallate, TBHQ (When they need to hide an ingredient's name with initials you should see red flags flying), and that universal catch-all "artificial flavoring" round out the myriad of reasons why you should start making your own popcorn.

 By the way: TBHQ stands for “Tertiary Butylhydroquinone”,   is a chemical made from the  toxic gas Butane and eating only 1 gram of this toxic preservative has been shown to cause all sorts of issues, from ADHD in children, to asthma, allergies and dermatitis to dizziness and even has caused stomach cancer in lab tests.

 As if you needed more: Another serious health danger lies in that fake butter flavoring. 

 Specifically in an FDA-approved chemical known as Diacetyl. There's even a debilitating respiratory disease known as "Popcorn Worker's Lung" (medical term: Bronchiolitis obliterans) that is suffered by the employees of the popcorn factory, caused by extended inhalation of the chemical's fumes.

  Want to make your own?  Easy and Fast!

 http://www.food.com/recipe/homemade-microwave-popcorn-71499

  2015  HealthySelfCures.com   JB "Pop" Stran  All Copyrights apply. No reprint without full link intact.

Happiness Pursuit: Destination Addiction Secrets

 The Pursuit of Happiness:  Beware of Destination Addiction

  First of all, your happiness is never guaranteed. Never was, and never will be.

 Even our founding fathers were smart enough to understand that too many people suffer from a condition known as "destination addiction" (DA), which is why you are only granted the right to pursue it.

 Having it, and keeping it, is entirely up to you.

 So what is "Destination Addiction"?

In the simplest terms, it means that you subscribe to the belief that your happiness, and I mean real happiness, lies just around the next corner. When you get the next job; when you meet the next short-term goal; when your divorce comes through; in the next prescription; or with the next new love affair.

 Notice in the last two examples that I have touched on the root cause that applies to nearly half of those affected by DA: Placing responsibility for their own happiness on someone else's shoulders, in this case the doctor who is happy to charge you for chasing the uncatchable, and the boyfriend or girlfriend who shouldn't be asked to bear an extra weight that is destined by design to fail.

 Sadly, the core fault that causes far too many divorces can also be traced back to a partner who simply refused to acknowledge the individual's responsibility of providing their own personal happiness. Naturally, they found over time that their life partner had neither the interest, nor the resources, to provide it for them.

  "Happiness Depends Upon Ourselves"

- Aristotle

So, are you ready for the simple truth?

 It's rather ironic, actually. The truth of personal happiness, this thing that so many people will spend an entire lifetime searching for but never find, while others seem to be born with it, is this:  You Had It All Along.

   You already have it, but environmental influences have trained you to ignore it and to start a lifelong quest to hunt for it. A rather expensive and personally exhaustive quest; but don't worry, there's a pill for that, too.

  You can call these influences society in general, peer pressure, commercialism, television advertising, specialized marketing (or Madison avenue, if that one actually applies anymore), retailers, or any of a hundred reasons (excuses?) that the AD victim can offer to define the path that led them to becoming hopelessly addicted to the BBD*.

*Sorry, this may be a bit "old school" for today's readers, but in my youth AD was called chasing ghosts and the destinations were referred to as the Bigger, Better Deal (or, the BBD as in "he's addicted to the BBD").  Kinda rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?

 The real reason that so many people seem to be born into their own happiness, regardless of personal wealth or societal standings, is because they fully grasp, at a young age, the concept of personal happiness being the individual's responsibility.

 You can credit this to good parenting if you like, and in many cases you would be right, but the truth is that some people just get it. It clicks for them, and no further explanation is required.

 Like water rolling off a duck's back, they just seem able to repel troubles and remain happy.

 I have seen this first hand over many years.  This rollercoaster of a life has found me homeless more than once, and one of the most valuable memories that have endured is of genuinely happy families that literally had nothing material to offer, but were willing to share none the less.

 In some cases all they had to offer was a hug. And in my case, at that time, it was enough.

 I have also known some extremely wealthy families, and found only one that I can recall who was really happy, but to be perfectly honest she was what most would call totally clueless.

  She was blissful, if you get my drift.

  It's easy to hide personal misery under new vehicles and a lot of alcohol, but a lack of personal fulfillment is one of those things that simply won't stay hidden for long. 

 Either you have it or you don't, but you definitely can't buy it. Many have tried, and all have failed.

 In case you missed the answer, here it is again:  BE.

  Stop chasing happiness. Just Be.  Yes: it really is that simple.  No one can sell it to you, though many are going to offer.
 Car dealers, drug manufacturers (and their licensed drug dealers, aka your local doctor), home builders, cosmetics retailers, and dozens of others who are staking millions on your ignorance will continue to promise to sell you some happy. Be smarter. Learn to see through the smoke & mirrors, and choose to be happy.

 Step off the treadmill, even for a minute, and try becoming less hamster and more human. A responsible human who is willing to accept full responsibility for the thoughts that are coming from your own mind.

 Because what you think, you become: Happiness included.

Whether you believe that you can, or you believe that you can't: You are never wrong.      ≈ JB

 Happiness is a gift that that you give to yourself. Happiness is a gift that cannot be taken away from you, though again, some are going to try. 

 In a society that is peppered with so many truly miserable people, seeing someone who appears to have found actual happiness has a way of plucking a lot of people's nerves. Even a few friends may even try to sabotage your apparent self-satisfaction, albeit unconsciously.

 Misery, after all, really does enjoy company. This too is just more smokescreen, so don't fall for it.

 Understand them and the motivations behind their negative actions, and you will manage to hold firmly to your newfound happiness as a sailor holds his compass through rough seas.

 Learn to be more present, to live in the NOW.  Let the past be, stop worrying about the future, and be right here, right now. Then, be happy. Right here, and right now.

 It has always been nothing more than a simple choice, so Choose Happy.  Get it? Got it? Good.

 ≈ namaste

2015   J.B. Stran     § Copyright HealthySelfCures.com

Three Simple Powerful Changes To Start Your New Healthier Life

Make These 3 Simple Changes To Be Healthier Now

  We all want to feel better, have a bit more energy, and live a little longer than most.

 Even if we can't keep up with the little ones, at least we won't look so hopelessly out of breath when we try.

 Fortunately, there are a few easy changes to your daily habits that can help.

I'm not saying it will be easy for everyone, but I am saying that it will be worth it.

Change #1:  MOVE.

  Research and statistics are proving beyond any further traces of doubt that our sedentary lifestyles are killing us, in record numbers.
 Lack of adequate exercise is causing too many Americans to fall into a poisonous cycle of inactivity. 

 After a day's work, we fall into a semi-conscious state on the sofa and grab the remote for a full evening of mind-numbing nothingness, with nothing to show for it but a few minutes of chat the next day.

 For others, this is the time for beer in the easy chair. Lots of beer, and lots of easy chair.

An easy meal and more sitting before falling into bed to start the cycle over again the next day is about the sum of the average American "walking comatose" adult, and no spare energy is the primary result.

 Here's my first secret:  Your extra energy is waiting  just outside your comfort zone.

 Take a walk.  Research has proven that a twenty minute walk in nature has the same effect on the brain as a single dosage of any popular mood-leveling prescription drug.

 When you feel good, you will want more of that. Walk 3 times next week.

Take your mate for a nature hike near water next weekend. Start a garden. Really get your hands in that soil (this also has a calming effect on the brain). Dust off that old bike. Whatever floats your boat.

 The key is to MOVE. And to keep moving.

Change #2: Garbage In, Garbage Out.

  You Are What You Eat.  No statement is more true today, especially since the transition from family farms to corporate food processing plants has turned your local grocery store into a chemical retailer.

  We were sold the idea that it is far easier to add water to a box of dry stuff, or ground beef to a pack of chemicals, than to cut and prepare the vegetables and herbs for a fresher meal. And do we ask a lot of questions about the contents of that box? Nope. Why would we? They wouldn't hurt us, would they?

 You are told to trust them, and you comply. 

 Just eat it. Don't ask a lot of questions. It's cheap, so just be happy with that, and don't ask why each generation of kids becomes less tolerant of whole foods than the last. 

 Peanut allergies. Wheat (gluten) allergies. Allergies to healthy foods that would mean a death sentence in some countries, where a child who is allergic to food is little more than a myth.

  Don't ask why the instance of child obesity has multiplied itself by 1200% over the last four generations, or why instances of autism in children have exploded over the last 20 years.

Remember that first secret?  Step outside your comfort zone at the grocer, too.

 Try a new food each week. Heard of zucchini pasta? Spiral cut the vegetable into a far more nutritious meal that your body will thank you for.

 Look for Coconut oil.   Smear it on your bagel in the morning, or just drop a spoonful into your sauces for a secret healthy kick. Get back in the habit of browsing the fresh vegetables when you shop, and start trying a new type each week. Surely there are a few you have never tasted, so what are you waiting for?

  Healthy eating habits will likely become a family tradition. Set a good example.

This leads us naturally into the third change you will need to make in order to begin your new life of looking and feeling healthier. Last, but surely not least...

Change #3: Wake Up.

  You have no doubt noticed that the recurring theme of the first two changes has been changes.

Shake things up. Break the grind and climb out of the rut that is wearing you down and sapping your vital energy.  Remember when you could play ball all day long? Riding your bike from breakfast until your mom called you home for dinner?  

 I'm not promising that you will be twelve years old again, but it is not out of the question to at least feel that twenty years of abuse and neglect have been undone by just a few simple changes of habit.

 It's really not your fault: There's so much good stuff to watch on tv; Your boss is draining you daily and you consider yourself lucky just to get a meal on the table before you collapse on the couch; Tonight's game is far too important to miss; You deserve to rest your feet after the day that you put in...

 All excuses aside, wouldn't you really want more from your life than to simply work and grow fat until you die (early) with your face in a plate of that GMO Mac & Cheese that pushed you into the grave?

  This third change is a bit deeper, but just as important (if not more so) as the first two, because without this change, the others won't stand a chance in the long term.

 Your new healthy feeling will have to start with a new healthier mindset.

Don't laugh. Anyone can swap out bacon for turkey strips for a week, but most will slide right back to their old unhealthy habits when they don't see immediate results.

 This is because they are waiting and secretly hoping for failure. That would be the perfect excuse to bounce back to the old ways like crawling into their favorite pajamas.

  Once you can understand how you got where you are, and are committed for the long haul, you are better equipped to anticipate a relapse and nip it in the bud.

 Baby steps are a fine manner of progress, because the most important thing in this system of change is to keep moving forward. Keep pulling for that healthier you that you know is still trapped inside those few extra pounds and being drowned by the habits of convenience.

 Motivate yourself to turn off the television a couple of hours earlier than usual and read a book. On the back porch. On the treadmill. How about an audiobook while you power-walk the neighborhood?

 After a light dinner (for some people, smaller portions are a good start), spend an hour trimming the bushes as you listen to the birds singing. 

 Keep the basic keys in mind:

•   Cut the junk food. Try new natural recipes.
• Get vertical more often. Move.
•  Decide that now is the time.
• Clean your mind, so that as you clean your body it will have a better chance of staying that way.
• Exercise, in any form, is always better than being dormant.

 Of course, your new healthier lifestyle will need to evolve as you get stronger and more active, so stay tuned to Pop's blog (Hit the Subscribe link Now!) for more advanced ways to keep growing into your reverse-aging body and reclaiming your youthful energy.

  2015  § Copyright HealthySelfCures.com

Evolution of Medical Theory: Coconut Oil and Saturated Fats

The Jury is Out: Forget everything you were told about Saturated Fats

  You may have heard that the AMA is beginning a complete reversal of the traditional practice of arbitrarily removing juvenile tonsils as a solution to persistent throat infections.
 This is due to the fact that doctors are finally ready to admit that the medical community of the last few generations didn't fully understand the actual, and as it turns out quite vital function of this organ.

 Similarly, many doctors and nutritionists of the 20th century were claiming that anyone who expects to live a longer, healthier lifestyle must eliminate all saturated fats from their diet at once. This tune has begun to change recently, based primarily on further research and some new evidence.

 Similar to the completely unjustified generalizations that were laid upon many gentle family pets of the Pitbull breed, all forms of saturated fats have been demonized in the public eye based on the discovery that a few certain fats were unhealthy.
 These researchers failed to mention (or notice at the time) that there are just as many forms of saturated fats that are not only healthy, but in some cases vital to your overall nutritional health.

  Like most rumors, this one about fats was based in truth, and then exaggerated to sound like you were getting the whole story. So, here's the rest of the story...
  It is true that many saturated fats, such as those found in meat and cheese for example, are mostly made up of Long Chain Triglycerides (LCTs), which need to be broken down in the intestines before your body can use them for fuel. In other words, you are forced to store these fat cells in your body while waiting for this lengthy process to complete itself.

 Conversely, a previously maligned source of healthy fats that is being spotlighted lately is Coconut Oil, which is comprised primarily of Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs). These fats are metabolized quickly and rarely stored in the body as fat cells.
 The MCTs are a source of many helpful health benefits, including actually losing weight instead of gaining, just the opposite of the earlier fears.

 Fortunately, we are now beginning to understand that the saturated fats found in coconut oil, contrary to popular belief, are actually very beneficial to your nutrition.
 This is due in part to the discovery that the Tokelauan and Kitavan peoples of the South Pacific, who consume large quantities of coconut oil, are among the healthiest peoples on Earth.
 This evidence has sparked a renewed interest among nutritionists in the benefits of coconut oil.

 A Brazilian study found that women who consumed 30 milliliters of coconut oil daily for 12 weeks saw a reduction in their waist circumference and Body Mass Index, compared to a similar group who consumed equal amounts of soybean oil, which contains LCTs, and did not see similar benefits.
The results of this study were published in Lipids in 2009.

 Add in such bonuses as anti-viral properties, antifungal, and the fact that the MCTs can deter and even reverse the effects of Alzheimers Disease, and you can see why coconut oil is seen by health conscious consumers as the new natural must-have item today.

 Oh, and did i mention that it's actually very tasty?
While I've never been a big fan of coconut, in the form of a spread similar to butter, coconut oil is one of the exceptions to the old saying that anything good for you must taste bad.

 You should consider adding a spoonful of coconut oil to your daily diet immediately, in any way that you can.  A few friends are mixing it into their favorite recipes in place of margarine, and others simply eat it plain as a booster to their daily vitamin regime.

    § Copyright HealthySelfCures.com   §  JB Stran

Five For Your Face: Easy and Natural Secrets for Skin Care

Easy and Natural Skin Care: Five Secrets for Your Face

 From smile lines to age spots, you're not as helpless as the cosmetics companies want you to believe.  In fact, many natural remedies are far better for your skin, along with being a whole lot cheaper! 

- Simple Skin Toner:
     After washing, splash your face with a 1:4 mix of Apple Cider Vinegar and tap water.
 You'll restore the ph balance in 30 days or less, and that relates to sporting softer, prettier, and more radiant skin.
  *(1:4 ratio means, for example, 1 cup of ACV to 4 cups water.)

- Bags Under the Eyes?
     Grate a raw potato and wrap it in clean gauze. Lie down, and place the compress over your eyes for 20 minutes.
 Want to cut that time in half?  Cut a thin slice of potato for each eye, and skip the gauze.
 (but the compress works a bit better)

- Clogged Pores?
     Nuke a package of gelatin with a splash of raspberry juice!
 Mix the gelatin in a microwave-safe bowl with a quarter-cup of room temp unsweetened raspberry juice, and nuke for about 1 minute on high, or until it begins to bubble.
 Allow to cool to the touch, and apply to the whole face as a mask and allow to set (about 30 minutes), and peel the blackheads off!

- Anti-Aging Mask:
     Mash half of an Avocado, and blend in a half-teaspoon of Vitamin E oil, and a tablespoon of plain yogurt.
 Apply to your face, and pay special attention to laugh lines and crow's feet.
Leave on for 20 minutes and rinse away with warm water.
 Hello Gorgeous!

Avocado is so rich in healthy fats that it's more emollient than those fancy face creams.
 *Vitamin E oil is available at many dollar-stores, if you have a hard time finding it.

- Satiny Smooth Skin. All Over:
     Pamper yourself at home with a simple yet spa-level sea salt scrub.
  Mix a quarter-cup Sea Salt with a tablespoon of Baking Soda. Blend in enough Almond Oil to make a paste.
 Smells delicious, right?
Rub the mixture all over your body and face, then step into the shower to rinse it off.
 You'll be relaxed, refreshed, and silky smooth!


--Bonus> Winter season Cough Syrup for pennies:

  Here's a classic with it's roots in the days of the Great Depression when cost mattered most, but it had to work, because waste in any form simply wasn't tolerated!

 Slice a medium onion into rings and place them in a deep bowl.
Cover with 2 cups of honey and let the concoction stand for 10-12 hours.
  Strain out the onion and take 1 tablespoon 4 times a day until the cough disappears.

   § Copyright HealthySelfCures.com  

Roses Love Garlic

Roses Love Garlic, and so should you! 

 Aren't we all getting a bit anxious for Spring?
 Of course we are, and the snow and cold won't last much longer, so here's a tip from Pop's gardening notes to get you ready:

   To protect your roses from Black Spot, Rose Chafers, Cane Borers, and even Japanese Beatles, pick up several garlic bulbs in the grocery aisle.
  Plant the individual cloves around the rosebed and anywhere else in the garden that the pests are causing trouble.

   When the garlic plants come up, they will work like knights in shining armor to keep your beauties healthy and happy...and pest free!

  ** Remember to save a few bulbs for yourself! One of my favorite secrets to staying away from prescription drugs is fresh garlic, and I sneak it into any dish that will support it.
 Sliced fine and sauteed, or crushed into pasta sauce, a few cloves of fresh garlic keep the blood young and fresh.

 § Copyright HealthySelfCures.com