Category Archives: Food

Buy Food Dehydrators: Improve Your Families Health, Make Great Tasting Food and Save Money!

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Have you ever thought about buying a food dehydrator? In the 1970s I remember my Grandmother buying her first food dehydrator and subsequently buying one for my Aunt and Mom for Christmas. This was during a time when Californians were just starting to plan ahead for potential earthquake and other possible world disasters. And also, came during a time when healthy eating became a priority.

So we dehydrated everything (fruit, raw meat, vegetables, etc.) and found that not only was it a great way to make and save nutritious food, but it was a lot of fun too. You don’t need a separate meat dehydrator, fruit dehydrator or dog food dehydrator. All these foods may be made from the same machine, whether a household brand or commercial dehydrator. And maintaining flavor and freshness is easy since most dehydrated foods can last for years if properly stored.

Even though we had books with food dehydrator recipes, we found it very easy to come up with our own recipes for dehydrating raw food or cooked food leathers. My favorites by far were the fruit leathers we made by blending various ingredients (such as pineapple, coconut, apples, bananas, apricots, pears, etc.) with a little spice (maybe nutmeg or cinnamon), and simply pouring squares onto non-toxic plastic cling wrap, placing it on the food dehydrator rack and dehydrating for 10-20 hours (depending on the moisture content of the food). We’d then just peel them off the plastic and pack them up for school snacks. Although many times the dehydrated food never lasted that long because it seemed we could eat them just about as fast as we could dehydrate them for great tasting finger foods.

Think about it though. In the unfortunate event of an earthquake or other natural disaster that may make obtaining food a challenge, wouldn’t it be great to know that you had homemade beef jerky, dried apples, banana chips, and even dehydrated granola on the ready? Foods reduce to about ¼ their original size, but maintain almost all of their nutrition (still sweet with NO added sugar!!!). And they don’t need refrigeration, just storage in a glass jar or plastic bag in a dark cool cupboard. Wouldn’t that help put your mind at ease?

As an adult, I started dehydrating my own food, and even dehydrating nutritious pet food. And dehydrating your own food is economical if you buy fresh raw foods in season (when they’re less expensive) and drying them to save for a time when those same fruits and vegetables may cost more. Amazingly, the flavor is just as tasty and in some cases, even better tasting than fresh. Dried vegetables are easy to rehydrate and great to add to soups or stews. Think of how much fresh food gets wasted because it doesn’t get eaten in time. And think then of how much money you can save by dehydrating that food instead of throwing it in the trash. Even leftover mashed potatoes can be spread into ¼ inch thick rectangles (place non-toxic plastic wrap over dehydrator drying rack first), and make your own potato chips! In this day and age, we need to do everything possible to save money, and our food dehydrator has been one of the best investments we’ve ever made.

If you like to make homemade gifts for the holidays, think about making a fresh chicken soup, or maybe your special spaghetti sauce, dehydrating it until crispy and then blending it to a powder. Put it in a leftover glass jar with pretty ribbon and a tag with rehydration instructions (instructions are basically…just add water) and you have a wonderful homemade gift for your family and friends.

Or buy food dehydrators for the ones you love this Christmas to improve your family’s health, help them prepare for disaster, or just to make great snacks or healthy dehydrated pet food. Share with them your favorite food dehydrator recipes for dehydrated meals and how they may avoid having food go to waste to save money.

Please visit our food dehydrator website and blog and share your favorite dehydrated food recipe, dehydrating tips and ideas. Go to http://www.BuyFoodDehydrators.com today and enjoy!!!

How Mood Affects Food

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Did you know that we’re vibrational beings? In fact, everything has a vibration; our bodies, our furniture and even our thoughts. A vibration is “energy”; a moving, swirling vortex of power that brings us up into a better energy state or a down to a lower energy state. This depends on whether we are sending out positive “vibrations” or negative “vibrations”. We emit a vibration every moment of every day.

Happy people send out a high vibration, and unhappy people send out negative vibrations. We love hanging out with high-vibration people because of the high vibration they’re emitting and we want to avoid low-energy people because they’re emitting a low vibration and you know it, either consciously or subconsciously.

Where are we getting this vibration? Our vibrational energy goes up or down based on the foods and beverages we consume, toxins in our body, people we surround ourselves with and our emotional as well as mental conditioning; you know, the rules we were raised with. Some things have a high vibration for one person; let’s say high school memories. The same thoughts and feelings about high school memories may provide great vibrational energy for one person because of the great times experienced, yet they may be a low-vibration for someone else because of unique-to-them unhappy experiences.

So, if everyone and everything has a vibration, and it does, so does food. The higher the quality of foods, the higher the vibration of these foods. When we’re feeling happy, confident and healthy, you’ll more easily gravitate to higher quality foods. Some foods could be high-vibrational and healthy for one person, yet be low-vibrational, and unhealthy to another. For example, strawberries could enhance one person’s health and it could interfere with another person’s health and energy levels. This is where everyone is unique.

But when we’re stressed, depressed, lonely, tired; we’ll find ourselves more easily gravitating to low-energy or no-energy foods, possibly those comfort foods from our childhood that we thought connected us to the love of our family.

Or, there could be foods that quickly raise the brain chemicals that have been falling or have become imbalanced because of stress. High carbohydrate foods, salty foods, fatty foods, pop and chocolate are the common ones that come to mind.

And it’s a vicious cycle. Someone starts off on a health program, yet before the day or the week is over, they give into certain comfort foods, despite their best intentions. They can’t understand why, when they’ve made a commitment to health, they can’t even make it through the 1st week, which is why many New Year’s resolutions fail.

Also, when the blood sugar in the brain becomes depleted, it overrides your conscious mind with its good intentions and it demands instant energy. Our brain requires a variety of specific nutrient-dense foods to balance it again. But we’ll generally choose low-vibrational quick-energy foods in a crisis situation because the wisdom of the brain says “I need fuel NOW”. Unfortunately, it’s that instant low-vibrational foods that raise it the quickest. So, what and when you eat is crucial to maintaining a high vibration in your mind and body.
How many eating disorders, depression, obesity and stress issues are connected to imbalanced hormones, deficient brain neurotransmitters, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, amino acid deficiencies or toxicities in the body which travel to the brain through our bloodstream?

We really are our own best research projects. We need to be present and attentive to our habits, our thoughts, our feelings and of course, our actions.

1. STRATEGY # 1: KNOW YOUR HIGH VIBRATION FOODS
Those are the healthy foods you always keep on-hand, foods that you want to gravitate to in restaurants, at parties; anytime, anywhere. It’s the foundation of a solid healthy eating program. An abundance of different coloured fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, lentils, lean proteins, nuts & seeds, healthy fats and healthy beverages help to create a healthy body. This makes sense, doesn’t it? Also, when you keep your emotional vibration high, you’ll more easily stay on track with high vibrational foods. Not to say that you can’t have a little fun food once in a while, but typically those of us on the health path choose high quality foods most of the time.

2. STRATEGY # 2: KNOW YOUR TRIGGERS

Trigger foods are generally cookies, pastries, creamy carbs, ice cream and other dairy products, salty foods, chocolate, pop (especially with aspartame); all things that you’ll find on the low-vibrational chart. The more stressed you get, the more you may find yourself gravitating to these foods.

Do you find yourself craving any of these foods? Well, the truth is, most people do. According to my friend who specializes in eating disorders, about 95% of the population stress or comfort eats, either a little or a lot.

I knew a lady, whose dad was a baker, and he brought home fresh warm bread as a treat when she was a child; in other words, that equated to food being love for her. As an adult, when life got stressful or overwhelming, bread, and especially warm white bread, brought back the love and she felt safe and comforted again. Do you have a food that brings back the comfort of love for you? The next question to ask is this: is it healthy or nutritionally lacking?

Here’s another example: Have you ever hurt yourself as a child and then heard your mother say “Oh honey, don’t cry. It’ll be all right. Here, have a cookie.” My job for many clients is to reprogram them to healthier self-loving habits that’ll serve them so much better. The parents were unknowingly programming their children to stuff their feelings and these now-adults are still stuffing their feelings with cookies. That’s called self-sabotage OR a softer name is called
stress and comfort eating.

3. STRATEGY # 3: CREATE ULTIMATE LIFESTYLE HARMONY

Review your entire lifestyle regarding food, beverages, your fitness program, high-quality nutritional supplements, getting your 8 hours of deep restful sleep, healthy financial habits and a positive social life. You need to have a balance between your work, play and sleep, which is really difficult for many of us to do with our North American rush-around lifestyles. Society rewards us for being workaholics, even though it’s shaving years off our lives.

So, the bottom line with the 3 strategies for getting through the Christmas season or any season is this: Pay attention to your vibration at all times. You’ll actually become sensitive to feeling it and using it as your barometer in all situations, throughout the Christmas season and any other time in your life.

Raw Food Diet – How Raw Does it Have to Be?

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The easy answer is…It is totally up to you. There are many definitions of what a “Raw Food Diet” is, but the best way to explore is to know just a few guidelines and then make the diet your own.

Many consider a living food diet to consist of at least 75% raw, uncooked fruits, vegetables, sprouts, etc. Raw and living foods are believed to contain essential food enzymes. These “Living Foods” contain the full range of essential enzymes. The cooking process(i.e., heating foods above 116°F) is thought to destroy food enzymes.

Lets face it if ALL of the enzymes were destroyed by cooking our foods over 116 degrees F we would all be dead. As it stands we become sick with lifetime chronic diseases then we die from them. The major chronic disease organizations are only recently and reluctantly recognizing the role of food and health. Many of their members are being exposed to the ideas of healing with diet.

So, it is the temperature of food preparation that determines if a food is “raw.” That temperature fluctuates among the different the experts, but all agree that excess heat destroy many of the enzymes that are the building blocks of healthy nutrition.

There are many ways to prepare foods without heat.. You may sprout seeds, grains and beans. Raw nuts and dried fruits, or juicing fruits and vegetables. The only cooking that is recommended is via a dehydrator. This piece of equipment blows hot air through the food but never reaches a temperature higher than 116°F. Its slow heating at low temperatures dries the food with the nutrients intact.

So it really is up to you to decide what level of living Food diet you will maintain. A good way to ease into this lifestyle diet is to add more raw fruits, nuts, vegetables, seeds etc. to your normal meals. Eventually you may find yourself at a 30% raw food level or higher. It has to be personal don’t let any expert tell you what is right for you. The key is to do your research and find the expert that makes you comfortable with your new diet choice.

Fortunately there is no shortage of information on a Raw Food Diet. The Internet is a rich source of raw cookbooks, videos, recipes and products. Surprisingly most of it is pretty good.

How Raw? Start off where you are now. Add raw food by taste and texture and enjoyment. Forget about converting others to your new adventure in food.. You may soon find yourself at 75% Raw.