Make your own soy milk - a healthy option

Dear readers,

I hope you were wondering where I have been all this time?! Did you??? 

Throughout the last months I have been traveling a lot, even with my computer, which then though sadly decided to move over to the next level in his computer life, that is to join his ancestors, so for many weeks I was without a keyboard other than my phone under my eager fingers. 

Back home I hurried to finish my second book on Ayurveda (which is now available through me, but it is in German just as the 1st one - sorry about that...) and then - I ventured off to China for 4 weeks. 

From there I came back with my head full of new food and drink ideas, which I will do my best to share with all of you in the near future.

As usual, I am very grateful for any comments from my readers side, be it on the articles or on the presentation itself. 


As a first subject I want to introduce you to making your own soy milk. I have done this quite often since I came back from the Land of the Middle.

Soy milk is a healthy drink that you can make very easily and conveniently at home. Please look for organic dried soybeans as soybeans are unfortunately one of the main foods being genetically manipulated big time- and off you go!



Soy milk has been consumed in Asia since thousands of years for breakfast. Now that I have recently had the great pleasure to drink a warm, freshly made soy milk on a cold morning in a village near Hangzhou, China, I would like to introduce this soothing, invigorating, healthy drink to you. 

Personally I have never liked soy milk from the grocery store. Or it is flavored or contains a lot of sugar or both and the plain one was never to my taste.
At home, the easily digestible milk drink (on contrary to cow's milk, which for many of us is totally undigestible) is prepared quickly. When I made it for the first time it seemed like a lot of work. But in the meantime it takes me maybe 30 minutes and while the milk is simmering you can do other things in the kitchen, but keep an eye on the milk. 

Is important though to consider eight hours beforehand that you would like to drink soy milk! Not so difficult to decide once you will have tasted your first pot of warm, homemade soy milk....I guarantee you!

For 1l soy milk you have to soak, best overnight, 125g dried soy beans grown organically in plenty of water. They triple their size approximately. Please use filtered water.

When you uncover them about 8 hours later, the next step is to take off the skin by rubbing the beans between your hands in the water. It is not essential to do this, but I found the taste better. 
Then get rid of the soaking water and put the beans with about three times the amount of fresh water in the blender until you get a creamy, milky consistency, about 3 minutes. The liquid then should be sieved through a cloth or a very fine strainer. 

Now boil the liquid and allow it to simmer for 15 minutes. A skin might form on the surface - just take it off.

The remaining pulp, which is called OKARA and can even be bought in grocery stores, at least in Japan (and imagine: you get the super healthy stuff for free!), can be used for example for baking. Last time I mixed the pulp with spices and herbs and made excellent "fake meat patties". Further, Okara makes a great fertilizer for your plants. Check out this great page regarding Okara: 

http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/okara-recipes-healthy-vegetarian-cooking-zmaz83sozshe.aspx#axzz2lHISH6KN

And you're done already!! Drink hot or allow to cool and place in the refrigerator, where it will stay fresh until about 3 days after preparation. You can also "flavor" your milk if you like: when blending add berries, vanilla extract, raw cocoa powder - the imagination knows no limits.

Nutritional value of soy milk: it is vegan and contains no lactose! It also contains much higher quality and less fat than cow's milk and no cholesterol. The soy protein is digested by the body almost 1:1, while providing many valuable vitamins, e.g. four times more folic acid than cow's milk, as well as healthy saponins and flavonoids. 

However, please remember that it contains much less calcium than cow's milk and no vitamin B12! But no worries, you can get calcium from many other healthy foodstuff as in dark leafy greens, Chinese cabbages, cheese, ocra, broccoli almonds and canned fish. B12 is to be found in sardines and salmon and - in lower quantities - in yoghurt.  

There is by the way no evidence that soy milk has adverse effects on fertility in males.

Histamine intolerance - do I suffer from it?

Dear audience,

lately I have received quite a few negative news from various friends stating that they had caught a Histamine Intolerance. This led them to hardly being able to eat anything anymore, losing strands of hair, losing weight big time (no, I do NOT recommend this as a diet!) – in the sum of it losing all life energy. So I got curious and started to research, thinking if already more than one of my friends have it, how many people will be out there suffering and probably not even knowing what they are suffering from? Those my friends are people, who are very self-aware, very conscious about what they are eating and drinking. So what happens to people, who are less aware of these things? How do they cope?

In order to raise some awareness regarding this issue, which unfortunately is another “sign o' time” I gathered a few facts for you.

How does a histamine intolerance develop?

Bacteria in the bowel can change through intake of antibiotics for example, so excess histamine cannot be digested properly and you start to show allergic symptoms. There are other medications, who can disturb the functioning of DAO, the enzyme system, which breaks down the histamine. Disease, various abnormal physiological conditions, hormone changes, especially in women at various stages in the menstrual cycle (close to the onset of menstruation) and at menopause, can also reduce the tolerance threshold of any individual. 

What is Histamine?

As an important bio-active chemical it is indispensable in the efficient functioning of many body systems. It is a neurotransmitter and is involved in the regulation of stomach acid, the permeability of blood vessels, muscle contraction, and brain function. Histamine defends the body against invasion by potentially disease-causing agents such as bacteria, viruses and other foreign bodies. 

It is made and stored within white blood cells.  When the immune system is activated in response to foreign material entering the body, histamine is the first "defense chemical". Histamine is always present when inflammation occurs, and excess histamine will result in symptoms that resemble inflammation. In addition to its role in controlling vital body processes and defending against foreign invaders, histamine is a key mediator in the symptoms of an allergic reaction. Since allergy is essentially an inflammatory reaction, histamine, together with other protective inflammatory mediators is released in response to the allergen.  Allergens are components of living cells that in themselves are harmless, such as plant pollen,  animal dander, mould spores, dust particles, dust mites, and foods.  An allergic reaction to these "foreign but harmless" substances occurs when the immune system mistakes these innocuous materials for a potential threat.  

Symptoms

An excess of histamine in the body, which cannot be broken down by the gastric enzymes, can include all kind of allergic reactions like:

-runny, congested nose

-itching skin

-drop in blood pressure

-headache

and many more.

If your reaction to certain food occurs immediately, you do not suffer from histamine, but from a certain food intolerance. Be careful to distinguish the two.

Histamine Diet

Histamine is raised by protein, which enter your bowels. For example allergies to seafood are caused like this. Cheese of all types, alcoholic beverages, vinegar, fermented vegetables such as sauerkraut, fermented soy products such as soy sauce, and above all many processed foods all contain substantial levels of histamine.

I myself often develop an intolerance to alcohol, wine in particular. Imagine an evening with fish AND wine. From my and my friends' experience you are especially prone to reactions when you are already weekend by other conditions. Unfortunately, if you have to go on an anti-histamine diet in order to control and eliminate your intolerance, there are also certain fruits and vegetables to avoid, in particular citrus fruits, berries such as strawberry and raspberry, tomatoes, several types of tree fruits such as apricot, cherry and plums, and some vegetables, particularly aubergine, and pumpkin. As the research regarding Histamine Intolerance is still in its initial phase, it is not sure how and why many food additives such as preservatives trigger the release of histamine in the body.

The important thing is to recognize your intolerance and to treat it with an anti-histamine diet. Mostly, you can heal yourself and slowly go back to normal eating as a dear friend of mine did, but be patient – it can take several month or even a year to get your body back to normal reactions. If you are experiencing other allergic conditions at the same time, it will be nearly impossible for your body to overcome the intolerance purely by a thorough diet. In that case anti-histamine medications will have to be used.

Your body through diet has to be brought to a level of histamine, which is lower than your usual tolerance.

For a quite detailed food list please view this link: http://www.histamineintolerance.org.uk/about/the-food-diary/the-food-list

“Low histamine level” here does not mean, that you can eat these foods in excess. Be conscious about a versatile diet. To remain with the example of fish: if you get it freshly caught from your dealer or fish, which has been frozen right on the spot so to say, you will have no problems. The histamine levels rise though the longer the fish is “resting” somewhere before consumption or freezing. During the diet you will experience, what works for you and what does not. 

Dear audience,

in our bodies we have some really industrious chemists, who greatly take care of our digestion, respiration, detoxification, growth, energy, conduction, our immune system and much more. These chemists help to relieve inflammations and renew our cells. The result is that we are young and healthy. Don’t we all want that?

Who are these super chemists? They call themselves enzymes. In the very beginning our lives formed from enzyme-like structures.

What do enzymes have to do with nutrition? Many of these substances, we can produce in our own cells. The co-enzymes though, the chemical wizards so to speak, we have to supply in great amounts in the form of vitamins, minerals and trace elements. 

Particularly in demand are vitamin B2, B2, B6, B12 and C, as well as biotin, niacin and iron, copper, nickel, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, sodium, zinc and selenium. A balanced, natural food supplement containing the mentioned substances in the right amount is quite a good thing to use.

For anyone, who thinks that he can consume all these substances in sufficient quantity through his nourishment, would be really busy all day with food.

In addition, enzymes love a well balanced acid-alkaline ratio in the body; in such an environment, they work perfectly. Therefore, alcaline foods are once again very important. These include, for example, among many, many others vegetables, salads, fruits, amaranth, millet, quinoa, nuts, and still water. Acidifying and therefore hostile to the enzymes are alcohol, milk and its sub-products, coffee, carbonated drinks, white flour, sugar and meat as well as of course all industrially produced, denaturized foods.

Serious diseases, poor diet, extreme sport or permanent travel can mess up our enzymes tremendously. The important thing is to eat colorful! Lots of vegetables and fruits, good crop in moderate quantity, fish and meat in moderation. Organic products, which contain less harmful substances, but more nutrients bring even more enzymes with them. Particularly rich are pineapple, papaya, kiwi and figs, miso, soy and sauerkraut. But it is of course no solution to eat 1kg pineapple a day.

Enzymes in pill form reach their destination directly, as they are thanks to their coating being less attacked by gastric acids on their journey to the small intestine.

As a cure doctors recommend the targeted use of enzyme combination preparations two times per year. Similar products are also used in various serious diseases.

The preventive medicine in the topic of enzymes will certainly become a major matter due to their ability of cell regeneration. In the meantime, we will remain within our limits, and recall the well-balanced, alkaline nutrition. With enzymes from food you can affect your health positively. These do not only act revitalizing and anti-inflammatory, but simultaneously contribute to the activation of the cellular metabolism.

Other foods packed with enzymes are:

-zucchini

-melon

-fresh kefir

-pears

-bananas

-tomatoes

-broccoli

By heating up your food most enzymes are being destroyed. Therefore remember to always consume a part of your food raw and to never overcook vegetables; lightly steamed they taste much better and are by far healthier. 

A very happy Easter to all my dear readers!

I want to take the opportunity to thank all of you for the interest you show in my posts, thereby constantly increasing my popularity and spreading the word about healthy nutrition!

My interest in my audience is very high, so please don't hesitate to send me your comments, suggestions, let me know what you would like to read about and and and. Nutrition is a wide field and I am trying to inform you a bit about everything, touching various topics and contemporary issues. 

Surely there are things you keep wondering about, which I have not yet written about. Please let me know via Email or post your precious comment directly on my blog to make this platform a bit more interactive.

So, it is Easter time once again - time is flying, guys, we have to make the most of every day - I hope you will all be with families and/or friends and have a wonderful, relaxing weekend. And even if you come from different religious backgrounds and this coming weekend will just be the last weekend in March 2013 for you, you might enjoy the following delicious soup recipe, which could make a beautiful starter for your Easter menu, resp. your last-weekend-in-March-2013-menu.

Remember: just because it is a festive season does not mean you have to necessarily stuff yourself with heavy food! You can create beautiful menus with the fresh green vegetables, which are coming into season now, use white meat or fish (even though rabbit is quite a healthy meat), use delicious wild rice instead of potatoes in gravy and prepare your sorbet with fresh fruits, honey and spices like fresh ginger. Use light soy cream instead of creme fraiche and surprise your guests with chocolate eggs with a high cacao percentage. 

You will see that you'll feel so much better and have much more energy for your traditional Easter egg hunt!  
 
Enjoy!!!



Asparagus Coconut soup
 
Ingredients:
 
750 g green asparagus
125 ml coconut milk
500 ml water
1 tsp vegetable stock
1 tsp lime juice
½ tsp lemongrass
1 slice fresh ginger
1/2 tsp ground fennel seeds
1 tbsp rice flour
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 pinch of nutmeg
 
Preparation:
 
1. Take skin of the lower third of the asparagus and cut into 1/2 cm thick slices.
2. Heat the water in a saucepan. Boil asparagus, ginger, fennel seeds, lime juice, lemongrass and salt on medium heat for about 10 minutes until soft.
3. Add coconut milk and bring to a boil again.
4. Add 1 tbsp of rice flour to half of the soup, mix well with a blender and mix with the other half of the soup. Add soy sauce, white pepper and nutmeg to taste.
     

Juicing vs Blending

Dear readers, 

again today I just quickly want to share some valuable information with you concerning the difference between juicing and blending.  

Juicing means extracting the juice from fruit and vegetables, the pulp, the dietary fiber, is being discarded. In the below article you will see why sometimes this might be the better option.

Blending means using everything of the fruit or vegetable. With blending you create full, rich smoothies, which - according to what you add to them - can substitute a whole meal. Or they can just be a nice, easy way of taking in a lot of goodness, which approaches your cells very quickly. 

I got used to having a smoothie as a breakfast. There are fantastic recipes, which will take you through the morning until lunch. You might want to add raw tofu for your protein, wheatgerm for additional, bowel-moving fiber, a drop of pure coconut or olive oil, which will do you a lot of good plus helps your body to absorb the vitamins in your drink. You can grind nuts and seeds and add them to the smoothie, you might want to use almond or soy milk to make it a bit richer. And you can experiment with fresh veggies and fruits in a mix, which is what I am doing. 1 small banana (the real ones, please, not the forever lasting one from a certain brand I do not want to name here!) adds sweetness, body and its own package of goodness. So, play around, experiment, a kind of dark green leafy vegetable is always a good essential component. 

Here is the respective article http://www.foodmatters.tv/articles-1/juicing-vs-blending-which-one-is-better#

handful of spinach

whole apple, cored but not peeled

handful of kale

1 carrot, peeled (you really don’t have to peel, that’s my weirdness)

1/2 cup blueberries

2 tablespoons flax seed

1 cup cranberry juice OR 1 cup grapes

1 cup cubed ice

- See more at: http://petitelefant.com/best-veggie-fruit-smoothie-ever/#sthash.lrc7GEeB.dpuf

handful of spinach

whole apple, cored but not peeled

handful of kale

1 carrot, peeled (you really don’t have to peel, that’s my weirdness)

1/2 cup blueberries

2 tablespoons flax seed

1 cup cranberry juice OR 1 cup grapes

1 cup cubed ice

- See more at: http://petitelefant.com/best-veggie-fruit-smoothie-ever/#sthash.lrc7GEeB.dpuf

handful of spinach

whole apple, cored but not peeled

handful of kale

1 carrot, peeled (you really don’t have to peel, that’s my weirdness)

1/2 cup blueberries

2 tablespoons flax seed

1 cup cranberry juice OR 1 cup grapes

1 cup cubed ice

- See more at: http://petitelefant.com/best-veggie-fruit-smoothie-ever/#sthash.lrc7GEeB.dpuf

Enjoy!!! 
 

     

Health food against cancer - Natural healing

Dear readers,

today I had a special topic in mind that I wanted to write about. On my way back from the big city though I stumbled across some essential information, which I have to share with you.

It is about cancer. And it brings to the point everything I have trying to put across lately. Some people listen, some unfortunately remain ignorant to these facts. Please read this information carefully, spread it, keep it in your mind. I wish that some people around me will also read this and finally understand. 
If you imagine that in some (European) countries chemotherapy is compulsory....

 

LATEST CANCER INFORMATION

from Johns Hopkins

AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY AND ELIMINATE CANCER, JOHNS HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY …


1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.

3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastro-intestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.

9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.

10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.


11. An effective way to battle cancer is to STARVE the cancer cells by not feeding it with foods it needs to multiple.

What cancer cells feed on:

a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Note: Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in colour. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.


b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk, cancer cells will starved.

c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes t o nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells.

To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).

e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties. Water--best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines will become putrified and leads to more toxic buildup.

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the body's own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.

15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor.

Anger, unforgiving and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.

16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.