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February 2009
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March 2009

Blueberries

Do you like berries?  If you do, then eat up.  Mike Adams, editor for Natural News states "Berries are truly medicine from Mother Nature, and they support human health in so many ways that if berries were drugs, they would be called "miracle drugs."
Cancer patients benefit from the ellagic acid in raspberries.  Now research has shown that  blueberries contain "anthrocyanosides. In tests on rabbits, they found that these chemicals were effective in reducing the damage caused to brain blood vessels from a high-cholesterol diet. The anthrocyanosides helped block cholesterol from penetrating into the brain blood vessels. And since proper blood flow to the brain is essential for mental energy and health, it looks like blueberries may very well help improve brain function.
- Natural Health Secrets From Around the World by Glenn W. Geelhoed, M.D. and Jean Barilla, M.S.

A collaborative team of scientists at the University of Paris and the Semmelweis Medical University in Budapest extracted anthocyanosides from blueberries and injected them in rabbits eating a high cholesterol diet. The blueberry chemicals counteracted some of the ill effects of the atherosclerosis brought on by the high cholesterol diet. Rabbits fed high cholesterol plus blueberry chemicals had less severe calcium-fat deposits in their aortas and less-diseased small blood vessels in the brain than animals fed only cholesterol."

The above quotes were from the Natural News website, from which I receive their monthly newsletter.
I find it fascinating that natural whole foods offer everything we need to live healthy and be well.  So why is it that we buy so much prepared, processed food.  Of course, convenience is one reason; but also taste.  I believe America needs to alter their taste buds; to appreciate natural, wholesome fruit and vegetables, preferably in their raw state.

However, back to blueberries.  I do read a lot of info regarding nutrition and recently read, on the same site, that blueberries should not be mixed with milk.  How many of us put blueberries on their cereal or in yogurt?  Well, according to the latest news, we should not do that.  Apparently, mixing milk with blueberries suppresses the nutritional benefits of those blueberries, quite effectively.  And it's not just milk, either; proteins apparently interfere with the antioxidant properties of blueberries, binding them up in a way that suppresses assimilation. 

Who knew?  Perhaps, my nutritionist, iridologist.  When I began changing my diet in order to get healthy; she told me to eat my fruit separate from other foods. 

If you would like to read the whole article about blueberries, go to this website
http://www.naturalnews.com/025516.html
I think you will be truly amazed.


It's Time

Hello to my faithful readers,
I think it's about time I wrote something again.  It has been a very busy last few weeks. 
To begin, my daughter, Tricia, has been working on her CGA and just recently landed a full time job as an accountant.  Therefore, she now needs full time day care for Tava and half days for Tyler who attends kindergarten in the morning.  Between myself and the other grandma, we have it covered.  So now, I work Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the preschool and babysit Tava and Tyler on Tuesday and Thursday.   Saturday and Sunday is barely enough time to catch up on washing, cleaning, grocery shopping and whatever else it is that I would like to do.  Then I start all over again. 
On top of this busy schedule, my mom, brother and sister-in-law came out and spent a week with us at the end of February.  What a good time we had.  Fortunately, I did get some time off work. 
My mom, much to our surprise, had a wonderful time riding around in a wheelchair.  She took to it, like a duck to water.  Because of that, we were able to go lots of places without tiring her out.  However, I do think we ought to have a few lessons in wheelchair driving. Hee! Hee! 
Actually though, unless you have been involved in pushing a wheelchair, you may not realize how many sidewalks do not have smooth up or down ramps.  There seems to be a bump at the transition and it stops the wheelchair pretty quickly when you are trying to go up.  We had to step on the back of the wheelchair at times to get it up and over that bump; that is, after we realized that mom wasn't going anywhere, except maybe out on the street.  Mom came close to being dumped a couple of times.  Oops!  We did hear that the new wheelchairs have safety belts on them.  Good idea!
We had very nice weather when mom was here; but the weather has been quite cold since she left.  My brother, Bill, said they were taking the nice weather back with them and I think they did. 
It is a little warmer this week, even though we have had a fair bit of rain.  It is also March break and I am enjoying a little break from preschool.  Yesterday, I had a great day with Tava and Tyler, as well.  No running here or there. 
I have also been catching up on e-mails.  I had more than 380 come in during the week when my guests were here.  I think I'm going to have to change my address.  Somehow, my e-mail is out there on a whole bunch of lists. 
So, I am now caught up and hope to stay that way, at least until my next set of guests arrive. 
I hope it's soon, I do love houseguests.