Easy Ways to Eat Your Garden of Life Detoxifiber

Fiber powder on its own may be edible … but not many people have tastebuds that predispose them to it! If you’re thinking about giving up your fiber whole food supplement because it is too hard to take, think again! There are tons of easy ways you can incorporate it into your daily meal plan, no matter what your taste preferences are. Here are eleven easy ideas for using Garden of Life Detoxifiber in your everyday meals!

1. With yogurt for breakfast: Depending on your preference, you can mix around 2-4 tbsp of Detoxifiber with 6-8oz of yogurt. Add some other fruit, especially juicy ones like oranges, grapefruit and watermelon to counteract the thickness, if you prefer.
2. In spaghetti sauce, for dinner: Detoxifiber is easy to mix into your favorite spaghetti sauce recipe -- even for those of you that like carbonara! It works best with bolognaise, puttanesca and napoletana, but you can safely mix in a tablespoon with a 4-person serving of carbonar with no ill effects.
3. Make your own bread: If you aren’t already doing this, and are concerned about your health … put a breadmaker on your Christmas list and get going! A huge amount of the salt in our diet comes from processed bread. Cut it all out and make your own, adding Garden of Life Detoxifiber
4. Pancakes or toppings: You can use Garden of Life Detoxifiber as either part of the flour constituent of your pancake recipe, or mixed with maple syrup, etc.
5. In salad: For those who find the thickness hard to deal with, this is an excellent option. You could even mix it into your salad dressing to make the texture a lot more subtle.
6. Chicken parmagiana: Who doesn't love it? Half the quantity of flour for your crumbed fillets, and add Garden of Life Detoxifiber instead.
7. Broiled fish: A great way to get both fiber and Omega-3s, which many people are deficient in. Again, mix the Detoxifiber whole food supplement with seasonings and shake over the fish before cooking
8. Peanut butter and Detoxifiber on toast: Delicious and nutritious … peanut butter has its own health benefits, as well as effectively disguising the fiber granules.
9. Soups: Whether you are a can or homemade devotee, Detoxifiber is easy to add to soup and makes it wonderfully filling as well as very healthy.
10. Frittata: Does your family love frittata? Mine do. And when there's a little Detoxifiber pressed into the pastry, and a little more in the egg, and a little more sprinkled on top for crunchy brownness, they don’t even notice all that goodness!
11. Smoothies: You don’t even have to make your own -- empty your own Garden of Life Detoxifiber into a bought smoothie once or twice a week.

Tread Gingerly! Ginger Root and Your Health

Ginger is a common ingredient in many of the cultural dishes of people who have unusually low instances of Western disease -- Indian, Chinese, Thai and Japanese cuisines all use the root extensively. This was probably what tipped scientists off to start investigating the strange looking, knobbly but delicious herb! There are plenty of ginger whole food supplements available -- New Chapter is one of the best known and most respected manufacturers of ginger supplements like Ginger Honey Tonic, Stamina Ginseng Ginger Tonic, Daily Ginger and Supercritical Ginger Extract. Today we are looking at the everyday health issues that ginger can help resolve, as well as some of the more exotic ailments ginger whole food supplements are used for.

Nausea

Pregnant women everywhere bow down to ginger and hail its anti-nausea effects, instead of bowing down to the porcelain throne every morning. People now make ginger lollipops and crystallized ginger that you can snack on to get the smell and taste, while your ginger whole food supplement gives you all the active compounds in concentrated form. It also works for stomach bugs, chemotherapy nausea, and motion sickness.

Migraines

There is no one remedy that works for every person who gets migraines. There is not even any one remedy that will always work for a particular person. But when a migraine is going to strike, you know you want everything possible available in your arsenal. It is not only the smell and taste that helps change the inflammation of blood vessels in your brain -- taking ginger capsules or dried ginger was found to have the same effects.

Arthritis

The inflammation that rheumatoid arthritis causes can be alleviated somewhat by ginger, according to studies. Ginger whole food supplements do not have the side effects that many standard anti-inflammatory medications do, but have been shown to help with pain and swelling in many cases.

Aches and pains

General aches and pains associated with other conditions like menstrual cramps, cold and flu aches, ulcerative colitis, sore throats, headaches and also fever, have been shown to be alleviated by ginger in various studies. Remember that results vary from person to person.

Also remember that if you are pregnant, you should check in with your doctor about any whole food supplements you take -- they aren't just water, like homeopathic remedies are. They have real benefits and effects, so check with a pharmacist or physician about pregnancy doses and medication interactions.

4 Garden of Life Products to Splash Out On

In many cases, people find that whole food supplements give you many of the same benefits, but ultimately are more cost effective, than buying the same amount of fresh food. So with all that money you are saving, there's no reason to shy away from products at the higher end of the price scale. Today we are looking at some of the Garden of Life whole food supplements that maybe a little pricier, but can have some great effects in your body.

FucoTHIN

Fucoxanthin is a relatively new weight loss whole food supplement. It has not been tested extensively, but the science behind it is promising. If you rarely use your gym membership, trade it in for a bottle of Garden of Life FucoTHIN, and go for a walk or a swim instead! 180 capsules of FucoTHIN retails for $79.95, but our price is just $55.97.

Perfect Food Caplets Super Green Formula

One serving of this powder is equal to 140g of fresh grass juice … and if you can’t stand what the taste of wheatgrass does to your watermelon and mango smoothie, this is an excellent alternative. Grass juices are high in antioxidants, spirulina for immune system support, and algaes and cereal grasses that help alkalize the body. You can get these in smaller quantities for as little as $15, but grab a value pack and ensure that you always have enough. 300 caplets are $47.37

PrimalDefense Ultra

Probiotics … who'd have thought, twenty years ago, that deliberately eating bacteria could be good for you?! We now have the science to prove it -- there are both digestive and immune benefits to probiotics. The 216 caplets size of this popular formulation is best value, at $47.37.

RM10

It might sound like the codename for a secret agent … possibly because that is how it acts in your body, keeping the baddies in line and ensuring good prevails! There have been some big health benefits seen in scientific studies of tonic mushrooms -- this blend includes ten different species. 120 caplets are $40.77, although you can get fewer for less money the big packs are much more cost effective.

Single Supplement Cautions - Can Selenium, Iron and Calcium Cause Disease?

We are often told that our daily vitamin intake is likely to be less than adequate. And broadly, this is very true! However, unless you are a biochemist, the dangers of self-dosing with single supplements (only vitamin C, only selenium, pure iron tablets, etc) are real and can be huge. Simply because they are natural, doesn’t mean they are good for the body in any dose. Today we look at four cautionary research stories on single supplementation, and follow up with your best and safest alternatives … whole food multivitamins.

Iron Linked to Parkinson's Disease

You know all those antioxidants that you try to consume, and even supplement with, day after day? If you are taking more iron than your body can use, you might be whittling away all that oxidation protection from your blueberries and wheat bran. Harvey Checkoway, PhD, of the University of Washington in Seattle conducted a diet survey on several hundred newly diagnosed Parkinson's patients, and found that those whose iron intake is in the top 25% of people were 1.7 times more likely to be Parkinson's patients. If you take iron and manganese single supplements (to put your total intake in the top 25%), you are almost twice as likely to develop Parkinson's, according to the study.

Calcium Linked to Prostate Cancer

Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin recently collaborated on an analysis of the 2800 or so men who participated in a nationwide diet study, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The study authors stated that there was a significantly increased risk of prostate cancer in men in the top third of calcium consumption compared to the bottom third.

Selenium Linked to Diabetes

Taking a single selenium supplement of 200 micrograms daily was shown in a recent study to increase the risk of developing type two diabetes. The Nutritional Prevention of Cancer Trial gave the supplement to over a thousand people, and found that the risk of developing diabetes actually increased when taking a single supplement of this mineral, rather than a whole food multivitamin containing it.

However, this certainly does not contradict earlier scientific studies finding that a well rounded vitamin and mineral intake can help slow aging and prevent disease. It simply means that self-diagnosing and dosing with single supplements may be doing you more harm than good. Whole food multivitamins are specially formulated to deliver a range of vitamins in safe, complementary doses from natural sources. Much harder to overdose on, and much better for you!

The Basics of Prenatal Vitamins -- What You Should Know

Prenatal vitamins are recommended for most women. There are few women who get the required intake of folic acid daily through their diet, and this is important for neural tube growth in the baby as well as general fetal health. Iron is another common mineral that pregnant women quickly become deficient in, exacerbating the symptoms of tiredness and irritability that are common in early pregnancy. Prenatal vitamin complexes are the best choice, as overdoing any one vitamin can hurt either you or your baby -- however, there are still things you need to know about them! Today we are going over the basic precautions and methods for using prenatal whole food multivitamins.

Only one product, only the recommended dosage

Some medications it is safe to take in conjunction with other common ones -- for example, you can safely take Tylenol and NSAID painkillers together, even during pregnancy. Yet, despite the fact that they are more natural, it is less safe to take two different brands of prenatal whole food multivitamin together. Each will contain similar substances, and overdosing on some of them could cause internal bleeding to your or your baby, and even birth defects.

Vitamins A, D, E and K could have serious effects for pregnant women if taken in overdose. So may minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium and zinc. If you get any of the following symptoms after taking more than the recommended dosage of prenatal whole food multivitamins, go see your doctor immediately:

• Stomach pain
• Peeling skin
• Tingly feeling in the mouth
• Severe back pain
• Blood in your urine
• Easy bruising and bleeding
• Very pale skin
• Weight loss

Don't eat as much dairy

In addition to increasing the risk of overdosing on calcium, extra calcium in the body may block absorption of some other minerals and vitamins. Look out for antacids containing calcium if you have spent the money on prenatal whole food multivitamins, also.

Effects on breastfeeding babies

The effect of multivitamins filtered through the bloodstream and those passing into breast milk are very different. If you are pregnant and also breastfeeding an older child, ask your doctor if the prenatal whole food multivitamins you are taking are safe.

Scientists Excited About Reishi Mushrooms

It takes quite a while for herbal and vitamin or mineral based remedies to be accepted by the scientific world. In the case of reishi mushrooms, it may have taken several centuries! Reishi mushrooms (scientific name ganoderma lucidum) are now being investigated to see if they have potential in helping people with a host of Western diet related problems, like diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

The main study is being undertaken at the University of Western Sydney's Center fro Complementary Medicine Research, and its principal aim is to find out whether high blood sugar conditions can be corrected by using whole food supplements containing reishi mushrooms. Other health problems will also be examined in the study, however the blood glucose question will be the main focus.

People with high blood glucose, obesity and high cholesterol are often classed ashaving a metabolic syndrome. One of the cruel paradoxes of the syndrome is that once a person develops it, it can be difficult and dangerous to make the required lifestyle changes to correct it. In some cases, lifestyle changes alone do very little to correct the syndrome.

Reishi mushrooms could hold the answer, though, as recognized by science (not just marketers). The study's proponents say that the mushroom has been revered in China for its ability to fight a range of diseases, enhance vitality and apparently delay aging. Whole food supplements that contain both reishi and cordyceps sinensis mushrooms (or taking a combination of the two whole food supplements) was noted by Nerida Klupp, of the Sydney center, as especially effective. Both have the same effect on blood glucose, and at present there doesn’t appear to be any dangerous interactions.

More recently, reishi mushrooms were studied in conjunction with green tea whole food supplements for their potential to slow the growth of sarcoma (cancerous cells). This combination was found to slow the deaths of mice from sarcoma, and an even more positive effect may be found in humans, after suitable study.

Fantastic Flax: Smoothie Ideas for Flax Seed Whole Food Supplements

You just can’t get any better as a health food than flax seed & fruit smoothies … all those great vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in the fruit, the fiber and omega-3s of the flax seed, and the probiotics that you can incorporate via the yogurty base. Nutritious -- and much more delicious than some of the world's other healthiest foods, like brussel sprouts! Today we're looking at different smoothie recipes for your flax seed whole food supplements, to keep your life both healthy and interesting.

Strawberry Pineapple Flax Smoothie

This one has that distinct tang of pineapple and strawberry to balance out the rich nuttiness of flax seed whole food supplements. Use a cup of pineapple juice, ¾ cup of strawberries or other berries, half a cup of yogurt and 2 tbsp of your flax seed. Blend and drink!

Flaxseed Chocolate Dessert Smoothie

This one uses fruit and chocolate for an extra sugar hit with the goodness of flax. Mix 3 cups chocolate milk with a banana, ¾ cup strawberries and ¼ cup raspberries. Mix in half a cup of yogurt (look for a brand without high fructose corn syrup), and 2 tbsp of your flax seed whole food supplement. Blend and drink!

Flaxseed Breakfast Smoothie

The flax provides fiber that other breakfast smoothies have little of, as well as all its other important benefits! It uses many of the same ingredients: ½ banana, 5 strawberries, a cup of orange juice and ½ cup plain yogurt alongside a tbsp of your flax seed. You can add a tablespoon of whey protein powder if you like, also.

Afternoon Fresh Flax Smoothie

This one looks pretty crazy, and the ingredient list doesn’t sound nearly as sweet and tempting as some of the other smoothies! But once you taste it, you'll be an instant convert. Grab 2 cups of spinach and a cup of almond milk -- blend with a banana, a tablespoon of flax seed whole food supplement, and a handful of ice. Note that you can substitute a portion of your flax seeds for other whole food supplements if you like.

Fantastic Flax -- How Does it Work?

Flax seed is often recommended by dieticians for its various beneficial effects in the body. However, if you're anything like the average person, you wouldn’t know a flax seed if it came up and kissed you in the street! Today we are looking at the benefits of flax seed whole food supplements as a regular part of your diet, and exactly how they work in the body.

Flax is also known as linseed; it is this name which is most commonly used when flax is incorporated into bread. The nutritional basics of flaxseed, for a hundred gram quantity, are:

• 450 kCal
• 41 grams of fat
• 28 grams of fiber
• 20 grams of protein

Flax whole food supplement is known to be extremely high in fiber -- it is one of the foods highest in dietary fiber known to humans. Fiber has a whole range of health benefits, including making people feel full faster (and therefore reducing the risk of overeating), speeding the passage of foods through the digestive system (and reducing the re-absorption of harmful chemicals in the waste), lowering LDL and total cholesterol, and helping regulate blood sugar (reducing mood swings, insulin resistance and the risk of diabetes).

Flax is also a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids, and for people that don't eat fish (or are concerned about heavy metal contamination of fish), is a great dietary source. Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown in various studies to help in conditions like:

• Cancer
• Cardiovascular disease
• Immune-suppressing conditions
• Autism and ADD
• Rheumatoid arthritis

Like other whole grains and bran cereals, flax seed whole food supplements are high in lignans. These are known to be potent antioxidants; this is the reason for flax's possible anti cancer potential.

There are, however, a few cautions about the use of flax seed whole food supplements for certain individuals. These include:

• People at increased risk of prostate cancer should not take flax seed oil -- the Mayo Clinic completed research showing that alpha linoleic acid in flax oil could increase prostate cancer risk.
• People with irritable bowel syndrome may have an adverse reaction to flax seed, experiencing worse cramping and diarrhea.
• Ask your doctor if the phytoestrogens in flax seed whole food supplements could interact with any of your conditions or other medications.