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Nutrition and Hormonal Balance

  Good Morning,  Nutrition and Hormonal Balance As an acupuncturist in the area of fertility, I realize tha...

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Saturday, January 18, 2014

Recipes: Low Fat Pumpkin Pie

 

Good Morning!

Recipes: Low Fat Pumpkin Pie

INGREDIENTS:

-6 sheets phyllo dough, thawed (use a ready-made, reduced-fat graham
cracker crust instead)
-Cooking spray
-3/4 cup dark brown sugar
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 tsp ground cinnamon
-1/2 tsp ground ginger
-1/4 tsp ground cloves
-1/2 cup egg substitute or 4 egg whites
-1 15-ounce can pumpkin
-1 12-ounce can fat-free evaporated milk
(Serves 8)

PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cut phyllo sheets in half and stack on wax paper or plastic wrap
(each full length sheet is 14 x 18 inches; if you happen to have 14 x
9-inch sheets, leave whole). Place wax paper or plastic wrap on top
layer and cover with a damp towel to prevent sheets from drying out.

Coat a 9-inch pie dish with cooking spray. Lay a half sheet of phyllo
pastry in pie dish. Spray with nonstick cooking spray. Repeat with
rest of half sheets, fanning out to form a circle. Fold and crimp
edges. Weigh down with pie weights and bake for 10 minutes until
slightly browned.

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Beat egg substitute or egg
whites with pumpkin puree. Slowly pour in evaporated milk and mix
well. Add sugar and spices to pumpkin mixture and blend thoroughly.
Pour into pie crust; bake for an hour, or until knife inserted in
center comes out clean.


Thursday, January 16, 2014

Homemade Shampoo

 



Homemade Coconut Shampoo
Liquid castile soap is generally made from olive oil (and/or other oils) and water.  Though some naturals have shied away from it with all the talk of pH, the reality is that other naturals have faired fine using it in their shampoo recipes.  If you are interested in giving liquid castile soap a try, the following mixture involves the addition of organic coconut milk (for dilution and additional lathering), distilled water (for further dilution), and safflower oil (for moisture).
Ingredients:
1/4 cup liquid Castile soap (like Dr. Bronner's)
3 tbsp organic Coconut milk
1 tsp distilled water
1 tsp. coldpressed Safflower oil or Coconut oil or Grapeseed oil (add more if you desire)

Instructions:
1. Mix all the ingredients together in a bottle. Shake the bottle well before use.
2. Save the remainder in a closed bottle for future use (up to a few weeks).
3. Follow up with an apple cider vinegar rinse (if necessary) for pH balance.


To make a Herbal homemade shampoo  for Oily Hair:
  • 8 oz distilled water
  • 2 teaspoons of dried rosemary                                   
  • 2 teaspoons of dried rose petals                                   
  • 3 ounces liquid castile soap
  • 3 Tablespoon aloe vera gel
  • ¼  teaspoon of jojoba oil
  • 30 drops of pure rosemary essential oil
Fill the jar with boiling water and immediately place a lid over the jar.Let this mixture steep for a minimum of 30 minutes. Sometimes I just let the mixture stand until cool.  Strain the herbs. Let the remaining liquid cool to room temperature.  Place the liquid into a shampoo bottle. (You can buy a new shampoo-like bottle or simply store it in an old shampoo bottle that has been washed out).  Add the castile soap to the container.  Place the rosemary and rose petals into a jar. Then add the jojoba oil and essential oil.  And finally add the aloe vera gel.  Shake well and voila! You have your own herbal homemade shampoo. You'll want to shake this mixture each time before you use it. This shampoo should last for several weeks. If it will take you longer than that to use the whole content you may consider keeping a portion of it in the fridge to prolong the shelf life.If you don't have distilled water (you can buy it at any grocery store), you can use regular water – but this may lead to a shorter shelf life. The distilled water ensures that you aren't adding any bacteria to the mix.
Variations:
(Feel free to mix and match herbs.  This recipe uses about 3 teaspoons of dried herbal material.)
If you have blond or lightly colored hair you might use chamomile and calendula in your herbal mix.
For a dark blend you can mix nettle, sage, and black walnut hulls.
For dry hair try violet leaf and marshmallow root and possibly add more oil to your recipe.
To strengthen your hair, simmer horsetail, oatstraw, clary sage, and nettle for twenty minutes. Strain and cool. Use this as your herbal base.
Besides rosemary essential oil you might also enjoy chamomile, lavender, and sage essential oils. If you have an itchy scalp and/or dandruff you might try adding tea tree oil to the mix.
Adding organic sulfur in the form of MSM (methylsulfonylmethane, an organic sulphur compound) to help strengthen your hair.
You can add vitamin E by pricking a liquid capsule with a pin and squeezing it into your cooled mixture.
Add Honey to your Coconut milk. Both of these make your shampoo creamy and give a sweet scent. You also benefit from these two by getting soft, shiny hair.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

The New Year On A New SuperMoon

 


Good Morning!

The New Year On A New "Super" Moon

On the day when most everybody puts their intentions "out there" for the Universe to gather,  many people may not have been aware that the First of January was on a New Moon.

We consider the time of the new moon as the time of birthing. Birthing new ideas, intention and seeding new ventures. This is also called the dark of the moon. This time also marks the beginning of a major new cycle in your life. It is not yet a definitive seperation with the past, but it is a time when old familiar patterns lose energy and you instinctively feel an impulse for creating new beginnings. Setting your intentions and releasing them out to the Universe to manifest and express. What better day to day this than on New Year's Eve when the clock strikes midnight!  This particular moon is also considered a Super Moon!


There will be several Super Moons in 2014. January 1st and another one January 30th,  These are both new moons while the others will be full moons. What is a super moon?  I think EarthSky.org says it best:

"The term supermoon didn't come from astronomy. We used to call them perigee… "near Earth." An astrologer, Richard Nolle, is credited with coining the term supermoon. He defines them as:

. . . a new or full moon which occurs with the moon at or near (within 90% of) its closest approach to Earth.

"By this definition, a new moon or full moon has to come within 224,851 miles of our planet, as measured from the centers of the moon and Earth, in order to be a supermoon."

Other Lunar Excitement for 2014

August 10 the full moon will arrive at its closest point to the Earth in 2014. This full moon will be only 221,765 miles away, therefore, it name, a "Supermoon."

April 14 and into the early hours of April 15 there will be a total lunar eclipse. The Waning moon will be completely immersed in the Earth's shadow. Astronomers in North and South America will best be able to view this eclipse, which should last for 75-80 minutes.


April 28 - 29 those who will happen to be in Antarctica will have first row seats for a "Ring of Fire" eclipse. The partial solar eclipse will produce what is known as a "ring of fire" illusion, as the moon blocks out the majority of the sun's light.


October 8 the second total lunar eclipse of the year will occur, visible to the western half of North America, Hawaii, eastern Asia, Indonesia, New Zealand and the eastern half of Australia. Across central and eastern North America the moon will set while entirely covered by Earth's shadow. This eclipse is expected to last one hour.


October 23 the moon's penumbral shadow will cover much of North America and eastern Siberia, producing a partial solar eclipse.