Low Salt Diet: Why Your Life Depends On It

There are a number of people in this country that are forced to be on a low salt diet. This is mainly because we continue to eat things that are not good for us and then we complain. When we are diagnosed with high blood pressure or high cholesterol. So what do we do about it? The first thing that we should do is look at our family is there a history of high blood pressure or high cholesterol. If there is we need to be screened and willfully go on a low salt diet.

Ditch The Salt Shaker
We should then, take the salt shaker off the table and not use it to prepare foods either. This can be easier said than done because some foods just do not taste good if you eat them without salt. But if you are more worried about your health than your taste buds, then you can get used to eating without much salt. You have to train your taste buds to learn to like foods that do not have salt. You can do this by gradually cutting down on the salt until you have cut it out of your cooking. This is much easier than quitting salt cold turkey.
Cooking Alternatives
Instead of using salt when you cook you can test different herbs and spices. Cooking is like a science experiment you get to experiment with the different ingredients until you get it right. You should carefully read the labels and make sure that the foods that you buy are low in sodium. When you buy canned foods like vegetables you should rinse them in water to remove some of the salt. Marinating your meat will help it taste better but be sure that the marinate that you are using are low in sodium or salt free. Instead of buying things like chicken broth you should save chicken broth from things that you make. Chicken broth that you buy out of the store can be high in salt.
Caution When Eating Out
When you are dining out you should learn to read the menu things like smoked, and barbeque mean they are high in salt. You should never use eating out as an excuse to cheat because you don’t know what to eat when you go out. No matter where you go and who you go with if your heath is important you will stay on that diet.
As you can tell a low salt diet will take a lot of adjusting and will power. When you consider a lifetime of taking pills for blood pressure or high cholesterol then you will see the importance of taking it one day at a time. Don’t worry about tomorrow until it becomes today and take it one day at a time. It is possible that you can have a low salt diet and still like the foods you are eating. With all the herbs and spices all you have to do is find the mixture that you like and will help you forget about salt.
Source : www.methodsofhealing.com

Benefits of Aromatherapy Candles

Aromatherapy candles are recommended by holistic practitioners, as well as mainstream doctors and therapists as a means to promote emotional and mental balance. Some of the benefits of using aromatherapy candles are:

• Aromatherapy candles are a convenient way to receive the benefits of aromatherapy in almost any setting.
• Most essential oils used for aromatherapy candles can be placed anywhere, such as the bedroom, bathroom, office and nursery.
• Using candles for aromatherapy does not require specialized knowledge of essential oils and their precautions.
• Depending on the scent, aromatherapy candles can promote clearer thinking, more energy and increased vigor.
• Aromatherapy candles can help to reduce the feelings of tension and stress, calm anxiety and panic and lift depression.
• Aromatherapy candles can be used as a coping mechanism for those with chronic or long term illnesses.
• Aromatherapy candles can help to facilitate a more relaxed labor and delivery.
• Certain scents can sooth a colicky newborn or promote easier breathing in a sick child.

Which Scent to Choose?

Essential oils have the ability to promote healing in a number of ways. However, there are specific oils which are more effective in treating mental and emotional issues through smell alone. Below are the most common essential oils used in aromatherapy candles and their specific benefits. Some essential oils have more than one benefit, so will appear under multiple categories.

Relaxation/Stress Relief

Chamomile is known for its soothing, stress relieving ability. Chamomile helps to slow the brain and promotes sleep.
Cinnamon is a common, yet familiar scent and very relaxing.
Frankincense is a very calming scent and can significantly reduce stress.
Lemongrass can lift mental and physical exhaustion and can be used as an aid to recover rom jetlag.
Lavender is a calming scent that can help eliminate the symptoms of stress.
Melissa is a natural sedative and can be used as a sleep aid.
Neroli can reverse insomnia and has been used to relax colicky babies and help them sleep.
Sandalwood is an effective stress reliever.
Tangerine is also a stress reducer and mood enhancer.

Mood Enhancing

Bergamot essential oil is known to provide a powerful uplifting affect.
Lemon is a powerful mood enhancer, as are Lime and Orange.
Lemongrass helps to foster cheer.
Neroli helps one to be even tempered and less quick to anger.
Rose lifts the spirits and conjures feeling of contentedness.
Rosewood promotes feelings of pleasure and happiness.
Vanilla is equally soothing, uplifting and relaxing.

Anxiety and Depression

Bergamot essential oil is an uplifting citrus scent that eases depression and unnatural fear.
Chamomile is a natural relaxant and can reduce feelings of anxiety and depression.
Frankincense can help combat anxiety and panic attacks.
Melissa is often used as a natural antidepressant.
Neroli helps to calm anxiousness and promotes an even mood.
Orange helps to lift depression and promotes happiness.
Peppermint is beneficial for combating depression and general anxiety.
Petitgrain works to ward off panic attacks.
Rose has antidepressant properties.

Aphrodisiac/ impotence and frigidity

Clove oil has a spicy, stimulating scent and is known to help correct sexual dysfunction.
Orange can help reverse impotence and female frigidity.
Vanilla is a heady scent and a natural aphrodisiac.
Ylang Ylang possesses a hypnotic scent that stimulates arousal.

Mental Clarity and Focus

Clove oil lifts mental fatigue and provides a clear, sharp focus.
Cinnamon is also excellent for clearing the mind and promoting mental clarity.
Frankincense opens up the senses and the mind and promotes creative thought.
Helichrysum cleanses the body’s meridian pathways and helps to balance the chakras.
Myrrh promotes relaxation and aids in reaching a meditative state.
Nutmeg lifts brain fog and promotes clear thought.
Patchouli promotes clarity of thought and increased concentration.
Sandalwood calms irrational fears.
Spearmint clears the brain and provides a boost of energy.

Memory

Lemon helps one to think clearer and aids in concentration.
Palma Rosa helps to clear mental clutter and improves memory.

Miscellaneous

Marjoram helps to regulate the central nervous system and calm hyperactivity.
Peppermint helps headaches to subside.
Rosemary removes feelings of fatigue.

Teriyake Chicken Salad Recipe

For the Chicken:

Marinade

·         Soy Sauce

·         Mirin (Rice Wine, or sherry)

·         Honey

·         Ginger

·         Garlick

·         Chilli Flakes

For the Salad:

·         New Potatoes (or similar), cooked and cooled

·         Carrots (shredded)

·         Cucumber (sliced)

·         Spring Onions (finely sliced)

·         Bean Sprouts

·         Pinapple chunks

·         Unsalted peanuts (coarsely crushed)

·         Coriander (or parsley)

For the Salad Dressing

·         Peanut Butter

·         Soy Sauce

·         Lime Juice

·         1 fresh red chilly, deseeded and chopped

·         Pineapple Juice (I used a little of the juice from the tinned pinapple)

·         Honey to taste

Method:

Mix your marinade in a bowl split some into another bowl to use for basting the chicken later. Marinade the chicken for a few hours or overnight (although if you only have 30 minutes it will do). Cook the chicken in the oven or under the grill and after 10 minutes start to baste the chicken with the set aside marinade (this will allow it to turn out dark and sticky!)..

In a bowl mix your salad ingredients.

In a seperate bowl mix the dressing ingredients and whist till gloopy, combine with the salad and mix.

When the chicken is ready, allow to rest for 2-3 minutes, slice thinly and serve however you wish.

Smoked Salmon Sushi Salad

• 200 gm smoked salmon, thinly sliced
• 200 gm baby greens, to your preference
• 1/4 capsicum, finely diced
• 1 green onion, finely chopped (optional)
• 2 Tbsp lime juice

Seasonings:

• 1 tsp garlic, crushed
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• freshly grated black pepper, to taste

Method:

1.     Rinse baby greens, drain well and wipe dry with paper towels. Mix well with seasonings. Taste by yourself and adjust to your liking.

2.     Scatter half of capsicum and green onion over the baby greens. Arrange smoked salmon on top of the greens. Scatter over remaining capsicum, green onion. Drizzle over lime juice and some more olive oil. Season to taste. Cover and refrigerate for 30 to 45 minutes.

3.     Serve smoked salmon with toasted bread

Healthy Foods for Lunch

Your grocery store will have many ready-to-go healthy options.

How about:

• A box of organic, whole grain crackers or low-fat corn chips plus one of the World's Healthiest Foods beans in ready-to-eat spreadable form. Organic garbanzo beans, for example, are widely available in the form of hummus, which also incorporates another health-and-flavor-boosting mainstay of the World's Healthiest Foods: olive oil. Black bean dips and mixed bean dips are also commonly available. These bean dips make a great complement to 100% whole grain organic rye, whole wheat, or rice crackers, and pack a significant amount of protein into a mid-day meal. For dessert, grab an apple, pear, orange, a kiwifruit or some grapes on your way to the checkout.
• Nut butters, including almond and cashew butters as well as peanut butter, also make great lunchtime staples with those whole grain crackers. Bananas really team up well with this combination.
• If your office has a microwave, check out the boxed organic soups. These are now available in a wide variety of great flavors, from standards like tomato bisque to curried butternut squash. Pick up a package of spiced pumpkin seeds and use as a topping for your soup.
• Build a salad from the grocery salad bar using a unique blend of the World's Healthiest Foods. Skip the greasy, refined flour croutons, fatty cheese and bacon bits, and nutrient-poor iceburg lettuce. Pile on the romaine lettuce, garbanzo beans, hard boiled eggs, green and red pepper slices, broccoli florets, red onion slices, sunflower seeds, carrots, and tomatoes. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice or vinegar. 

Vitamin B12

Like most vitamins, B12 can occur in a variety of forms and can take on a variety of names. Names for B12 include: cobrynamide, cobinamide, cobamide, cobalamin, hydroxcobalamin, aquocobalamin, nitrotocobalamin, and cyanocobalamin. Each of these designations contains a form of the word "cobalt," since cobalt is the mineral found in the center of the vitamin.

B-12 is also unusual in that it is dependent upon a second substance, called intrinsic factor, to make its way from the "GI" tract (gastrointestinal tract--the stomach and intestines) into the rest of the body. Without intrinsic factor, which is a unique protein made in the stomach, vitamin B12 cannot gain access to the rest of the body where it is needed.

Protein -- the component of food required for growth and repair of cells -- depends upon B12 for proper cycling through the body. Many of protein's key components, called amino acids, become unavailable for use in the absence of B12. Since one of the steps in carbohydrate and fat processing requires B12 for its completion, insufficiency of the vitamin can also affect the movement of carbohydrates and fats through the body.

Although B12 is not the only nutrient deficiency that can contribute to occurrence of the following symptoms, B12 deficiency should be considered as a possible underlying factor whenever any of the symptoms listed below are present.

Symptoms potentially associated with vitamin B12 deficiency:

dandruff	nervousness
decreased blood clotting	numbness in feet
decreased reflexes	paleness
depression	red tongue
difficulty swallowing	sore tongue
fatigue	tingling in feet
heart palpitations	weakness
memory problems	weak pulse
menstrual problems

What high-vitamin B12 foods can do for you:

• support production of red blood cells and prevent anemia
• allow nerve cells to develop properly
• help your cells metabolize protein, carbohydrate, and fat

What events can indicate a need for more high-vitamin B12 foods?

• red or sore tongue
• tingling or numbness in feet
• nervousness
• heart palpitations
• depression
• memory problems

Excellent sources of vitamin B12 include calf's liver, sardines, and salmon.

Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 may help in the prevention and/or treatment of the following health conditions:

• Alcoholism
• Anemia (Pernicious)
• Arthritis (Rheumatoid)
• Asthma (Bronchial)
• Atherosclerosis
• Cancer
• Celiac Disease
• Crohn's Disease
• Dermatitis (Seborrheic)
• Epstein-Barr Virus
• Fatigue
• Leukemia
• Lupus
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Neuropathies/Neuromuscular degeneration

Foods provide vitamin B12 :

Since vitamin B12 cannot be made by any animals or plants, the B12 content of animals and plants depends on their ability to store the vitamin and their relationship to microorganisms (like bacteria in the soil). Because of their greater ability to store vitamin B12, animals contain more of the vitamin than plants. Excellent sources of vitamin B12 are therefore limited to animal foods. These foods include snapper and calf's liver. Very good sources of vitamin B12 include venison, shrimp, scallops, and salmon. Within the plant world, sea plants (like kelp), algaes (like blue-green algae), yeasts (like brewer's yeast), and fermented plant foods (like tempeh, miso, or tofu) are the most commonly consumed food sources of vitamin B12, although none of these plant foods can be counted on to be a consistently excellent or very good source of the vitamin.

.

World's Healthiest Foods ranked as quality sources of vitamin B12
Food	Serving Size	Cals	Amount (mcg)	DV (%)	Nutrient Density	World's Healthiest Foods Rating
Calf liver	4 oz-wt	217.7	95.93	1598.8	132.2	excellent
Sardines	3.20 oz-wt	197.5	17.02	283.7	25.9	excellent
Salmon	4 oz-wt	157.6	5.67	94.5	10.8	excellent
Venison	4 oz-wt	216.6	3.47	57.8	4.8	very good
Shrimp	4 oz-wt	112.3	1.69	28.2	4.5	very good
Scallops	4 oz-wt	127.0	1.47	24.5	3.5	very good
Lamb	4 oz-wt	229.1	2.45	40.8	3.2	good
Milk	1 cup	122.0	1.29	21.5	3.2	good
Cod	4 oz-wt	119.1	1.18	19.7	3.0	good
Halibut	4 oz-wt	158.8	1.55	25.8	2.9	good
Yogurt	1 cup	154.3	1.37	22.8	2.7	good
Beef	4 oz-wt	345.9	2.77	46.2	2.4	good
Eggs	1 each	77.5	0.55	9.2	2.1	good

Raspberry Almond Coffeecake

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
•  
• 1/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray an 8 inch round cake pan with cooking spray.
2. Combine raspberries and brown sugar in a bowl. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Combine sour cream, butter or margarine, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and egg, and add to flour mixture. Stir just until moist. Spoon 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan. Spread raspberry mixture evenly over the batter. Spoon remaining batter over raspberry mixture. Top with almonds.
4. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack.
5. Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla. Stir well. Drizzle glaze over cake. Serve warm or at room temperature.

allrecipes.com