Beans

Beans are ancient foods. Originating primarily in Africa and Asia and the Middle East, they spread over most of the globe, carried by nomadic tribes. They have been cultivated allover the earth for thousands of years. Evidence also suggests that many beans were first grown on the American continent. In North America, most of the dried beans commonly eaten are descendants of beans cultivated in Central and South America, seven thousand years ago.

BAY LAUREL:

(Laurus nobilis) The culinary leaves may be slightly narcotic, and aid digestion when added to Bouquet garni, marinades, pâte, soups and stews. The wood is used to give an aromatic tang to smoked foods, and oil of Bay, from the fruit, flavors some liqueurs. A leaf decoction added to bath water will relieve aching limbs, and diluted leaf essential oil can treat sprains and rheumatic joints but may irritate the skin. The leaf and berry are used in salves for itching, sprains, bruises, skin irritations, and rheumatic pain. The fruit and leaf are simmered until soft and made into a poultice with honey for chest colds. Bay leaf and berry tea makes a bath additive that helps the bladder, bowel, and female reproductive organs. Use two tablespoons per cup and steep for forty-five minutes, add to bath water.

Herbs In The Kitchen

The tradition of using herbs to flavour foods is nothing new. It is, in fact, almost as old as the human species itself.
Archaeologists have found evidence which suggests that the earliest cooks used parts of certain plants to season and improve the flavour of particular foods. Mustard seed was chewed with meat, it seems, and the seeds of wild wheat and barley were sprinkled on other foods to add a nutty taste.

Healing Power of Sacred Space

By: Christopher Penczak

You are what you eat. We’ve all heard that a million times before, haven’t we? It’s a call to be conscious about our food choices. Our health is dependent upon the fuel our body has to create our lives. Eat healthy, vitamin rich foods, and you have a healthy life. Eat poor foods, low on nutrition and high in empty calories, and you have a poor life, with low energy and core vitality. It’s a truth recognized by both the medical fields and alternative health specialists, though they might not completely agree as to what a healthy diet really is.

Carotenoids

Although more than 600 carotenoids pigments have been identified in foods, it appears that only six of them are used in significant ways by the blood or tissues of the body. Besides beta-carotene, which is probably the best-known carotenoid, these include alphacarotene, lycopene, lutein, zeaxanthin, and cryptoxanthin.

Coenzyme Q10

Coenzyme Q10, a natural substance produced by the body, belongs to a family of compounds called quinones. When it was first isolated in 1957, scientists called it ubiquinone, because it is ubiquitous in nature. In fact, coenzyme Q10 is found in all living creatures and is also concentrated in many foods, including nuts and oils. In the past decade, coenzyme Q10 has become one of the most popular dietary supplements around the world. Proponents of the nutrient use it to maintain general good health, as well as to treat heart disease and a number of other serious conditions.