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Nutrition

Spirulina

Spirulina

In the supplement and natural food industry, everyone is always trying to find the next big superfood.  Of course, there was the Acai Berry – a gem from the Amazon Rainforest.  Noni and Mangosteen are more tropical fruits that lay claim to being a super food.  However, not all superfoods are new and come from a tropical rainforest, in fact one of the healthiest superfoods has been growing in the water for 3.5 Billion Years!

Spirulina – The Oldest Superfood in the World

Spirulina is one of the world’s oldest plants.  The microalgae grows in both fresh and sea water and may be the most nutrient rich food in the world.

Here are some of the highlights on Spirulina:

  • 65% Protein By Weight
  • 97% Digestible Protein (beef is about 20%)
  • A Complete Protein (contains all essential Amino Acids)
  • 100x the Vitamin A of Carrots
  • 50x the Iron of Spinach
  • 10x the Beta Carotene of Carrots
  • 7x the Calcium of Milk
  • 6x the Protein of Eggs
  • 3x More Iron Than Beef
  • Excellent Source of GLA

If You Are Going To Space – Take Spirulina!

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Coconut OilSaturated fats are bad for you.  Food cooked in oil with saturated fat – also bad for you.  Don’t even get us started on Trans-Fat – that is simply evil incarnate.  If we all want to live long and healthy lives we simply need to switch to unsaturated fats – cook with Olive Oil and you are a shoe-in to see the 3rd Millennium roll in.

If Only the World Was Black and White

Life would be easy if all the above was true, unfortunately it is not.  As with most nutrition, figuring out the right fats to eat is complicated and filled with many shades of gray.  Sure, large amounts of saturated fats from animals is bad for your heart – no argument there.  However, saturated fats that are rich in medium-chain fatty acids have some positive health benefits. What oil is rich in medium-chain fatty acids? Coconut Oil.

Coconut Oil is Left for Dead By The Media and Medical Community

A few years ago the mainstream media made any oils that had saturated fat public enemy number 1.  We were told to replace all our Coconut and Palm oil with Olive oil.   In fact, at the time – the media was generally right!  Coconut oil was often processed by heating the coconuts and using chemicals to extract the oil.  The processing of the coconuts was killing off the positive nutrients in the coconut. Highly refined coconut oil was a saturated fat oil that no longer contained all the positives of medium chain fatty acids.

Coconut Oil Tries to Rise from the Dead

Over the last 6 months we have watched Coconut Oil try to rise from the dead and it is a pretty impressive zombie act.  The reason for the comeback of coconut oil has everything to do with new methods of processing coconut oil.  Today, companies are producing Extra Virgin, Unrefined, Cold Processed Organic Coconut Oil and guess what – it maintains the healthy nutrients of the coconut such as the medium chain fatty acids.

Extra Virgin, Unrefined Cold Processed Organic Coconut Oil

The above is certainly a mouthful to say, but it represents the gold standard of Coconut Oil.  Simply put, Mother Nature has created coconuts, which have some strong nutritional properties.  If you want to use coconut oil and have it still maintain all those nutrients that Mother Nature gave it – you need to find a coconut oil that has almost no processing done to it.

Products such as the new Perfect Coconut Oil are basically coconuts squeezed into a bottle.  They start with Organic Coconuts, cold press them to get the oil out and then put it in a bottle with nothing else added.  You could say that the coconut oil of today is not your Mother’s coconut oil!

Health is All About Moderation

We are not saying that people should start chugging down gallons of saturated fats.  There are still plenty of health issues from including a large amount of saturated fat in your diet.  What we are saying is that not all saturated fat is the same.  The saturated fat in Extra Virgin Unrefined Coconut oil has valuable nutrients like the medium-chain fatty acids (these are not found in high quantities in animal fats).  You can do your own research, but an argument can be made for including some medium-chain fatty acids in your diet.

Like Mark Twain – reports of the death of Coconut Oil may have been greatly exaggerated.

Additional Resources:

Learn More About Virgin Coconut Oil

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We love clinical studies – the more clinical studies the better, we just can’t get enough of them.  The only problem is that we seem to spend a lot of money and time to conduct studies that just prove what we already know – eating crap is bad for you!

Healthy Diet Plays a Role in Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease

A study in the April 2010 edition of Archives of Neurology finds that consuming a diet high in fruits, vegetables, nuts and fish (basically the Mediterranean diet) appears to reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, when compared to individuals who eat a diet made up of more high-fat dairy products and red meats.

“The results of the current study indicate that higher consumption of certain foods (salad dressing, nuts, fish, tomatoes, poultry, cruciferous vegetables, fruits, dark and green leafy vegetables) and lower of others (high-fat dairy, red meat, organ meat, and butter) may be associated with a decreased risk of developing AD via a more favorable profile of nutrients (ie, lower ingestion of SFA and higher ingestion of PUFA, vitamin E, and folate). Our findings provide support for further exploration of food combination–based dietary behavior for the prevention of this important public health problem.”

- “Food Combination and Alzheimer Disease Risk”, Archives of Neurology – April 2010

Don’t Get Us Wrong – This is Excellent News and a Sound Study

Don’t get us wrong – this is a gret study – done by researchers at Columbia University.  Obviously, anyone who is at risk for Alzheimer’s should seriously consider changing their diet to help reduce their risk.  Our point is simply this – this study shows what most of us in the natural food world know and what our mother’s have told us for generations – eat well to feel well!

How Much More Proof Do We Need that Natural Foods are Good for Us???

While pharmaceutical companies deal with more and more of their drugs being pulled from the market for being unsafe, study after study are proving the obvious- our diet directly effects our health! You want to live longer – eat a healthy diet and avoid taking pharmaceuticals that may have unpleasant side effects… like death!

So, keep the studies coming – keep doing research on the health benefits of eating more fruits and veggies and less Big Macs – let’s see all the “shocking” results.  Maybe someday soon cutting edge, on the fringe doctors will prescribe crazy experimental “drugs” like lettuce and broccoli to keep their patients healthy and feeling great.

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We are often asked – “If I could take only 5 Supplements – what should I take?”  Seems like a very reasonable question and we have been guilty of answering it in the past.  Sure we love things like Acai, Resveratrol, Omega 3’s, whole food vitamins, etc.  The problem is that the top 5 Supplements that work for us, may not work for you.

Nutrigenomics – A Fascinating Science That Is Stuck in 1st Gear

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Muscadine Wine – Can it Really Standup to Traditional Wines?

November 10, 2009

[Here is a secret - we love muscadine grapes! Not for the taste, but for the incredible health benefits. This post is another in our series - "Exploring the Muscadine Grapes - A Gift from Mother Nature". If you are new to Muscadines - you need to read our Muscadine Grapes Special [...]

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