Go Green on Paddy’s Day

St Patrick’s day came and went in my world without much recognition until my daughter Tammy came back to South Africa to join Healthmakers, after a 10 year stint in Ireland. So this year we will see how St Patrick’s day can be celebrated in a small and healthful way on this great big island of Africa.
The original reason for celebrating Paddy’s day is to commemorate the feast day of St Patrick who was a Christian missionary and who was later made the patron saint of Ireland. Today however it has become a colourful and lively joyous celebration marked by musical performers, floats in all the countries where the Irish have made their mark including, the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Uruguay, New Zealand, and South Africa.

 

If you would like  your friends to be Green with envy this St Patricks day then get going on growing some micro-greens.  With the versatile Easygreen you can grow anything from smallest alfalfa sprouts to large sprouts and micro-greens. You won’t need the luck of the Irish when you have an EasyGreen micro-farm. I placed some mung beans and clover seed into the Easygreen sprouter just 18 hours ago and already they are celebrating St Patrick’s day!

The clover is used as the Celtic tradition of honoring “3′s” has been around in Ireland for millennia.

Here are some things in life that come in three’s

3 leaf clovers

faith, hope and charity

past present and future

land sea and sky

the religious trinity and then there are So many things that are represented by 3′s like

3 cheers

3 blind mice

3 is a crowd

3 R’s

3 muskateers

There are just so many of these 3′s  See how many more you can think of.

Getting back to the Easygreen Micro-farm, remember that at the end of the rainbow of your Easygreen mist sprayer you will find your pot of green gold.  Your family will be going through the sprouts and greens so fast that you might think that the tokoloshe are helping you to eat them but today, to be sure to be sure you can blame the leprechaun. On St Patrick’s day, if you are sprouting clover be sure to look fo a four-leafed clover and perhaps this year to celebrate Paddy’s Day swop your Guinness for a Green Smoothie.

Happy St Patricks Day!

Choose BPA-Free Drinking Bottles

Take note of the dangers of BPA

What is BPA?

It is a chemical known as Bisphenol A (BPA)

Because I do not drink carbonated drinks, and I’m not that fond of bottled and canned fruit juices, because they are high in sugar and have been cooked and pasteurised, I always carry water with me. As I am reasonably fussy about the water I drink, preferring not to drink tap water, I carry purified water with me from home.
Some years back we became conscious of the fact that storing water, in any old plastic container, did not appear to be a healthy practice as chemical substances could leach from plastic into the water. We really went out of our way to find ‘safe’  containers which, at that time we were informed should be made of polycarbonate. One only has to look at the collection bottles, and processing jugs that were used by most manufacturing companies, to confirm that this was the right route to take. It came as quite a shock to find out that the polycarbonate bottles that we had been carrying our water around in, all contained Bisphenol A, which, is an endocrine disruptor that can actually mimic the body’s own hormones, interfering with oestrogen and other reproductive hormones.

Listen to what Mike Shelby, PhD. of The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (US Govt) has to say about Bisphenol A

 

So, not only was the Bisphenyl A leeching from the polycarbonate water bottles that I had chosen to save my water in, but also from carbonated drink tin cans, making the high sugar, caffeine laden, acidic, carbonated drinks much more dangerous to human health than I had imagined.

I proceeded to research Bisphenol further and was surprised to find out that babies bottles and drinking cups were commonly made of this type of plastic.
See http://www.plasteurope.com/news/PLASTICS_AND_HEALTH_t218796

Next, I was lead to how you can identify the type of plastic that a plastic bottle is made from by the number in the Recycle Symbol, that is usually moulded into the bottle.  Initially it appeared quite simple to be able to judge the safety of the plastic bottle by the numbers but I soon realised that the interpretation of these numbers was more complicated.  Polycarbonate that leeches BPA would be marked number seven, and that seemed clear enough, until I found out that the replacement for polycarbonate, that was BPA-free, and known as co-polyester is also labelled with recycle number seven. However, you will find that plastic bottles that do not contain Bisphenyl A are now marked BPA-free.

So, what are the safe options in choosing a drinking water bottle? My research shows that a good quality aluminium bottle that is well lined with a non-leaching substance would be a good choice, as would a stainless steel bottle ,which, would be a bit heavier, and finally a standard old-fashioned choice is a glass bottle but this is not always practical, especially for children as it is subject to being broken if dropped.

The common attitude,  that I’ve been doing this for years and hasn’t killed me, prevails, and I would agree with you, however, it is not the single contaminants that is the problem, but the multiplicity of contaminants that ,when added up, produce life-threatening diseases. When this happens, we find it difficult to pinpoint the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I  invite you to take this seriously, and to try to avoid consuming Bisphenyl A  by drinking out of polycarbonate bottles and containers, tin cans, cold drink tins and checking that babies bottles and cups are BPA-free.

Below is a list of health issues related to the absorption of Bisphenyl A taken from http://www.baumhedlundlaw.com/bpa/bpa_side_effects.php

“More than 200 lab animal tests to date strongly suggest that BPA exposure, even at very low doses, creates risks of dangerous developmental, neural and reproductive health effects in infants and children. Exposure to BPA, even at low and short-term doses, is linked to a staggering number of health problems, including:

Life threatening illnesses are created, often not through the one toxin, but the combination of one and one and one and one.

Suggestion: Eliminate this One from your life and that of your children.

Alternative safe drinking bottles are available at: http://healthmakers.co.za/store/water-bottles/

 

Where is the Green in this Smoothie

Where is the Green in this ‘Green Smoothie’?

Michael is the Smoothie artist in our home. Saturday’s smoothie was SO special that I begged him to remember what he put into it and to write it down. Our smoothies are not only packed with superfoods, yummy fruit, nuts, seeds, healthy oils and loads of greens, they are mostly delicious and please don’t tell him…. occasionally horrific! Let me share Saturday’s smoothie with you.  Colour : Kinda bland or slightly chocolatie Taste: Definitely no green detected, slightly sour, I guess that is due to the Vitamin C in the Baobab fruit (what amazing energy), subtle sweet undertones and a great nutty flavour. Consistency: Full bodied but quite pourable Quantity : 2 full litres divided by 3 = 2 full glasses each Nutrition : Overwhelming!!

So here it is…..

Michael’s Super Saturday Smoothie 2 plums (including skin but with seed removed) 2 nectarines (including skin but with seed removed) 1 banana, peeled 1 yellow cling peach (including skin but with seed removed) 1 small pineapple (remove skin) 1 large handful of green grapes (including skin and seeds) 10 Small Spinach leaves (swiss chard) 2 Bloody sorrel leaves (it’s real name) (this sour leaf masks the green leaves) 100ml Soaked flax seeds 1 handful Soaked pecan nuts (measure after soaking) 1 handful Soaked cashew nuts (measure after soaking) 2 Tblspn Boabab Fruit Powder SEE http://lifestyle4health.co.za/baobab-fruit-powder/ 4 Tblspn Raw Chocolate Powder 1 Tray Ice Cold filtered water to achieve correct consistency

 

Blend for 2-3 minutes in a Super Blender (Vitamix or Hi-Blend Multi Speed)  ENJOY!!! it is delicious and Highly nutritious. Personal note from Colleen: Part of the enjoyment of this smoothie is the fact that you can process most of the ingredients without having to peel them. The Secret? A Super Blender - Example below – Vitamix 5200

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