Lifestyle Choices

The menus that follow are only meant to get you started. They’ll give you a feel for radiance eating. If you want to change your eating habits gradually, start by adding a radiance meal to your normal diet every day or two. If, like us, you like to jump into things feet first, spend a day or two cleaning out your cupboards. Refill your fridge with radiance foods. Then launch into it with unbridled passion. Balance things so you get good-quality proteins, fats, and fresh raw vegetables or fruit at every meal. You will be delighted with the changes you experience. (more…)

It may seem unusual to start a section on good nutrition with a plea for delicious food on your table. But it’s far too easy to fall into the trap of talking about nutrition as if it were only quantities of proteins, milligrams of numbered vitamins, units of minerals, and altogether a dry table of contents for the human body, used to correct deficiencies, control diseases and cure weight problems. (more…)

Fibre, the part of whole grains, fruits and vegetables that is not digestible (the bran in whole wheat or the cellulose in raw fruits and vegetables) is removed in the processing of much of our food. Five years ago you would not have even heard the word fibre mentioned in connection with nutrition. (more…)

Natural foods taste great: red and green salads fresh from the garden, wholegrain bread and fruity jam, a chicken with real chicken taste — no wonder a return to natural foods is one of the most important trends we’ve witnessed in recent years.

Modern progress in preservation, production and processing has certainly added an enormous variety of trouble-free foods to our menus. But it is not all a miracle. Some methods are potentially dangerous to health. Gases are used to ripen and preserve fruits and vegetables. Chemical sprays are applied and fertilizers are spread with alarming casualness over our farm lands. (more…)

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

Pressure cookers are a useful aid to the good cook, since they make it possible to cook inexpensive cuts of meat in a very short time. They are a form of high-pressure steamer, so you get the benefits of steaming instead of boiling as well. With today’s interest in food gardening, pressure cookers are also useful for preserving bottled fruits and vegetables, and sterilizing jam and marmalade jars. Buy a good solid model, and follow directions carefully. (more…)

Good food and good health can go together in everyone’s daily life. Don’t throw away all those lovely cookbooks you’ve collected over the years. Almost every recipe can be easily adapted to give more nutritional value and better, more natural-tasting dishes at the same time. Even if you are not on a diet, the following hints will help to retain the vitamin and mineral content in the food, lower the quantity of unnecessary fats, sugars and salts on your plate, and let the fresh taste of your food make mealtimes a pleasure for the entire family. (more…)

Cellars, Garages, Services

Oil tanks can leak vapors and integral garages can also create fumes which can permeate the whole house. Ideally, garages should be separate from the main house, but if this is not possible keep any doors and windows shut while warming up your car. Also make sure you keep your garage door open long enough to let out any exhaust fumes. (more…)

Fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains, lean proteins, good quality fats and oils, and plenty of pure water are the basics for good skin health. These foods promote the healthy functioning of the internal organs, which is reflected in the condition of the skin. High- fiber foods move wastes quickly through the large intestine, plenty of water flushes toxins out of the body through the kidneys, and an abundance of fresh, leafy green vegetables keeps the liver working efficiently to detoxify the bloodstream. Glowing, smooth, and blemish-free skin is an indication that all is well internally. (more…)

Almost everything can cause an allergy in someone, somewhere! The medical literature is full of reports of strange skin allergies: clarinet players with lip blisters from an allergy to the bamboo reed; drivers with allergic reactions to steering wheels; chefs with allergies to pineapple juice, corn and other moist foods. (more…)

The Human Hazard

It sometimes happens, as is well known, that a perfectly healthy person can carry disease germs in the gut, nose and even on the skin without being aware of it. Those who have recently suffered such diseases as dysentery can carry the germs for several months after recovering completely from the original infection. Indeed, a famous case was that of “Typhoid Mary,” an American cook, a typhoid carrier, who was paid a pension by the U.S. Government for nearly fifty years in order to keep her away from the kitchen. She was, of course, an exceptional case. (more…)

Infection

Certain food poisoning bacteria other than staphylococci can infect food and grow in it without detectable taste or smell. Then, when the food is eaten, these germs gain access to the gut of the consumer, multiply there and cause a typical gastroenteric form of poisoning.

An example of this type of infection is that caused by the Salmonella group of bacteria. These germs are normally carried in the gut by pigs, poultry, cows, bullocks, sheep, domestic animals and rodents, and, to a lesser extent, human beings. Eggs (especially duck), egg powder and milk can also be affected. (more…)

For the protection of your family, watch for the unsuspected dangers that lurk in your kitchen

“The standard of food hygiene in this I country must be raised.” That statement has been voiced in the press, on the radio, in Parliament, even on the village green, with increasing frequency during the past few years. And rightly so, for it concerns us all. But it is the housewife particularly who has it in her power to see that the standard is raised. (more…)

Nothing can equal the joy of sitting in a happy bar. This is an unspoken wish of every bachelor who finishes the whole day work. Yet many a bar is a place where the biting winds outside are more than matched by the cold criticisms that reign within. (more…)

Every home should have some place where these beautiful bottles of wines are always handy in case of thirsty need. Your wine storage should be kept neat and orderly at all times. It need not carry a large stock wine supply. But several wine racks and simple wines are always helpful in the time of festivals.

Too many wine cabinets are filled with useless junk, such as boxes and bottles without labels, all of which should have been thrown away long ago. Some people are like squirrels, always hoarding everything. Then they are never able to find what they want! (more…)

Meditation has been practiced for centuries in many spiritual traditions as a way of purifying the mind. Basically, meditation involves quieting the mind so that the mental chatter that fills your waking consciousness can be stilled, if even for a moment. Through quieting the mind, you cultivate a sense of calm, and come to know yourself in a deeper way. Meditation helps you to become aware of habitual patterns of thinking so that you can make better choices about how you are living. Meditation is an excellent way of relieving stress, because when the mind is calm, the body naturally follows. Many people experience feelings of deep peace and clarity through meditation. Experiment with the different meditation techniques that follow and find those which appeal to you. (more…)

It is no doubt one of the oldest arts in the world. From the health standpoint it is second only to the choice of food. All through history the story has been the same. The leading nations of the world have always been those that were well fed. Napoleon’s famous remark to the effect that “an army marches on its stomach” is certainly true today. Good food, well prepared, is the main source of energy by which we live.

At the same time there is an element of danger in this art of cooking. Too much luxurious food can destroy the human race. Overeating is a frequent cause of illness. So are poor methods of cooking. Foods must not only be well prepared, but the important nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, must also be preserved. The tastiest foods have little value if these are missing. (more…)

What does cooking do to food? When properly carried out, it greatly improves the flavor. Cooking changes the chemical composition and often makes the foods more digestible. The heat helps to destroy many harmful germs. But do not overlook the fact that one serious type of food poisoning known as botulism may arise from the use of vegetables that have not been properly canned or preserved.

Under proper, germ-free conditions many foods can be preserved indefinitely, such as in canning. However, one should be careful when opening a can not to introduce germs into the food from outside. Carefully wash the container before opening it. (more…)

Tularemia Diseases

Tularemia is a disease that is carried by many wild animals. Human infections occur most frequently through contact with rabbits and hares. Sportsmen and hunters would be wise to use rubber gloves while skinning and dressing wild game.

Many different animals are found to be infected with tularemia. The disease is sometimes transmitted by insects which bite these animals and then bite human beings shortly afterward.

Mountain streams are sometimes contaminated with these germs as well. Those who drink the polluted water may contract the disease. But the chief source of human infection is through the handling of rabbits. The germs may enter through cuts on the hands and other parts of the body. Improperly cooked rabbit meat is another way the disease spreads among the public in general. (more…)

It is easy to adapt all of the recipes and meal plans. Here are some simple suggestions for making the recipes vegetarian:

• Replace the meat or fish in a recipe with Portobello mushrooms or aubergine, but remember that this will raise the carbohydrate levels in the recipe. You will also need to take extra whey-protein drinks and maybe increase your intake of nuts and high protein snacks to keep your protein levels high enough.

• Cook with tofu instead of the meat or fish. However, tofu has a quarter as much protein per gram as meat and a third as much as most fish. This means that not only should you replace the meat or fish in a recipe with a higher amount of tofu, but you should also add whey-protein powder to the recipe or supplement your meal with a whey-protein shake.

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Although money can’t buy it, anyone intelligent can learn to have good taste. You can spend like a drunken film star, but you risk an expensive clutter that hasn’t quite come off. If you pay someone else to design your home you risk something pretty expensive, lifeless and unlived in, or alternatively, an exuberantly camped-up setting with mouldings picked out in white and in which you feel uneasy.

So the first rule is Do it yourself. Because otherwise you’ll never learn.

Discovering your own good taste is an unpeeling process, eliminating the layers which other people have impressed upon you. One of the easiest ways to find out what you like is to get a pinboard and start sticking up anything which takes your fancy — a scrap of lace, photographs, postcards, a colour swatch, a cartoon. (more…)