SBT Seabuckthorn Blog

Inflammation (Latin, īnflammō,- “I ignite, set alight”) is part of the complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants.[1] The classical signs of acute inflammation are pain, heat, redness, swelling, and loss of function. Inflammation is a protective attempt by the organism to remove the injurious stimuli and to initiate the healing process. To read more go to Wikipedia entry.

This type of response, defined as “acute inflammation” is not what concerns present day health practitioners. No, that would be “chronic inflammation” a very different breed of cat. Chronic inflammation is a low grade, persistent and non-localized stimulation of the inflammatory response. Over time this can lead to a breakdown in the systems of the body leading to a greater susceptibility to disease. While the causes are not fully documented lifestyle has been cited as a major contributing factor in the current epidemic. This can be interpreted as good news of sorts since our lifestyle choices are something we have complete control over. Sugar, bad fats, unrefined carbohydrates - the three major components of prepackaged and fast foods are cited as significant contributors to chronic inflammation. Lack of exercise and obesity almost as much.

This chart presents many of the diseases believed to be caused or exacerbated by systemic inflammation.

How Can Seabuckthorn Help?
The seabuckthorn plant has been identified as being one of the top health-promoting superfoods in the ‘functional foods’ realm, the science of better health through diet.

Seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.), named a ’superfruit’ for its robust nutritional properties, is poised to outrun and outgun many other functional foods, and the health industry is standing up and taking notice.

In studying the superfood and superfruit phenomena, nutritional science is recognising that Mother Nature is capable of providing, in such varied single foods as wheatgrass juice, garlic, blueberries and now seabuckthorn, a foodborne ‘inoculation’ against ill-health that the laboratory cannot yet match.

Almost the entire plant is suitable for consumption and topical application. The fruit pulp, rich in such antioxidants as vitamins C and E, beta carotene, and numerous flavonoids (complimentary micronutrients that work in concert with more familiar vitamins), plus the rare and valuable Omega 7 (known to support wound healing and cell health), can be pressed for juice, freeze dried and packaged as a supplement, and incorporated into topical skin preparations. The fruit oil can be extracted separately and taken internally or externally.

Oil from the seeds is high in several fatty acids, including omegas three and 6 in a critical 1:1 ratio; applied topically, the seed oil heals radiation burns, reduces scarring, heals or improves psoriasis and a host of other skin conditions, and taken internally it has been proven to improve heart health and gastro-intestinal disorders.

The leaves, high in vitamins, minerals, protein and natural anti-inflammatory compounds, are dried for tea, powdered for an ingredient in soaps and creams, and steeped to make a soothing rinse for irritated skin. Studies are ongoing to determine the healing and nutritive possibilities of seabuckthorn bark.

All told, this superfruit, known to ease and soften scar tissue and arteriosclerosis, reduce inflammation and cell death and reverse burn damage, has over 191 known bio-active compounds for topical and internal applications. In fact, Mark Blumenthal of the American Botanical Council has stated: “If there ever was an herb that could qualify for the next generation of herbal luminaries, I would nominate Seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides).”

One of the first  research studies that I came across on Seabuckthorn discussed the amazing healing and analgesic properties of Seabuckthorn Oil in the treatment of burns.  Like most people I found that surprising since oil of any kind is definitely not something I expected to be using to heal burns. Quite the opposite in fact. Well, not only is it effective when applied topically but SBT Seabuckthorn Oil is also very effective when taken internally. Using both is optimal. The following quote is from a paper on SBT and the mucous membranes. Be sure to read the full article as it explores the many healing applications for SBT oils.

“Orally taken sea buckthorn seed oil, pulp oil and a mixture of seed and pulp oils improved esophagitis caused by irradiation therapy (25). Carotenoids and vitamin E in the oils were suggested to be responsible for the clear tissue-regenerative effects observed.”

Over the years we have received many reports of Seabuckthorn Oil’s exceptional healing activity for patients who have received radiation therapy. Those who have used the oils are often amazed at how quickly the tissue regains its former healthy condition. The following comments received from a customer are particularly moving.

“Awhile back I asked what my daughter should use on the burns caused by radiation treatments for cancer. You suggested the oil so I had some sent to her. She couldn’t use it until after all of the treatments were finished. As soon as they were done she tried Vitamin e at night and SBT oil in the morning. After 2 days she gave up on the Vitamin E and used only SBT oil. Her skin cleared so well and looked so smooth that two weeks after her last treatment she went back to Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL and one of the nurses who remembered how badly she was burned was shocked at the improvement. She asked her what she had used and when my daughter told her she wrote it down. I hope that that nurse finds your web site because there are a lot of them out there now.”

In addition to healing burns it has recently been shown that the high carotenoid content in Seabuckthorn Oil is showing great promise in

Every winter I’ve suffered from cracked skin on my fingertips and dried out cuticles. Even though I’ve regularly used hand-lotions, nothing has helped for long. New cracks appeared and I’d resort to wrapping a band aid around my cracked and rapidly infected cuticles and resort to using antibiotic ointment. It was a painful misery that came with the changing season.

This year was different. I have used SBT Seabuckthorn Sensitive Skin Soothing Salve, not every day - but now and then, particularly when my hands have felt parched. Recently I’ve noticed how my cuticles and fingertips now feel as smooth and intact as they do during warm summer months - and this despite regular exposure to the elements by cycling or walking every day.

I also volunteer at a local Care Home where I wash my hands several times per hour and apply an alcohol-based hand sanitizer to disinfect between assisting each resident. This treatment is extremely drying for the hands - professionals say you should thoroughly wash your hands after using an alcohol gel a few times. They know how difficult it is to keep both yourself and at-risk residents free from infection during the ‘flu season. Particularly difficult for all of us this fall has been the risk of H1N1, so everyone’s been using alcohol hand gel.

Yet Soothing Salve has maintained my skin condition so it is supple and free from damage - despite subjecting my hands to rougher treatment than usual - they are in better condition than normal. This improvement I attribute to the many beneficial properties of the seabuckthorn salve. The oils penetrate deeply and the anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties of the oils prevent and heal damage rapidly. It is protective to my skin for longer than even extra-moisturizing hand-cream because it doesn’t readily wash off, and a little seabuckthorn goes a long way. It took me a while to realize just how effective it has been because I haven’t used it as part of a regular regimen. Now I have become aware of how effective it is I shall be sure to keep some to hand year-round for when my skin feels tight and dry, for example: after gardening, cycling or doing laundry and housework.

Thank you, SBT, for a handy product!

For me, this time of year is one of reflection. Not so much on what I want to do in the coming year, but who I want to be.

I’ve never been much for New Year’s Resolutions, although I do often do up a list of goals and things I want to accomplish.

But more important to me is taking the time to clarify who I want to be in the coming year. What do I want to stand for? What will best express my core values?

Often, I condense my feelings about who I want to be in the coming year into a slogan. I know, it sounds kind of shallow, but it actually works. After one particularly trying year, I chose as my saying “If they grind me down, my dust will be dangerous”, a quote I had made up years earlier in response to someone trying to convey support when I was feeling low by quoting the famous saying, “Don’t let the bastards grind you down.”

Last year, my quote was “There’s more where that came from”. It had many meanings for me: it was a battle cry in the face of adversity, a mantra to remind me that I can always dig deeper to find what I need within myself, and an affirmation of the generosity of the Universe.

For me, at this time of the year, the “still, small voice” that many people speak of gets much stronger. I was reminded of this when I read the inspirational blog post by Jamaican blogger Angela Chen Shui, Inspirational Reflections, Spiritual Growth and Development Questions to Feed Your Soul.

An intimidating title, to be sure, but a very solid and useful post, that challenges readers to look within ourselves to discover – not what we plan to DO in 2010 – but who our souls are telling us to BE.

Image courtesy WikiMedia Foundation and available under the GNU Documentation License.

If you’re a freshman at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, you’re weighed, and if your BMI (Body Mass Index) is over 30, you have to complete a healthy lifestyle course in order to graduate, including either losing weight or participating in a sport.

The article above focuses on the legality of the course as it pertains to obesity as a disability, but of more concern to me is the fact that only people who are identified as obese by a particular measure are required to do the credit in order to graduate.

And is this the best way to encourage people to be fit? At the very least, it should be a course that is compulsory for everyone, not just people who meet a certain, fairly narrow, measure. I have a personal objection to treating adults like children, but if it’s equal for everyone it’s not quite as hard to stomach.

Another article on the topic, in Psychology Today, focuses on the illogic of treating body fat as if it were an indicator of fitness, and also the missed opportunity to train students to make healthy choices freely, and not because they’re being forced.

The only good grade I ever got in P.E. was in grade 10, when the instructor – in addition to marking us for the compulsory elements of physical education such as running speed and facility with sports – gave us the opportunity to earn extra credit by doing extra exercise, notably doing laps around the track on our own time. I raised my mark by a full letter grade, and it was the first time in my life that I had ever felt good about exercising. That one semester totally changed my relationship to exercise, and opened up the possibility of exercising for fun, something I took advantage of later when I became a serious long-distance runner and weight-trainer in my 20s.

Contrast that to when I was 12 and in grade six, when our young, handsome and idealistic physical education teacher called me into his office to discuss fitness with me. I was much bigger and more awkward than my peers, and did poorly in P.E. I remember nothing about what he said to me; what I remember instead is how all the other kids in my class teased me about being alone with my ‘boyfriend’ in his office, and what naughty, adult shenanigans we must have gotten up to. It was incredibly humiliating, and had the opposite effect from what my teacher intended.

My conclusion is that in order to choose activities that are good for us, we have to feel good about them. No matter how well-intentioned, taking actions that make people feel shamed or singled out is not going to work. Teach people the joy of exercise, by giving them education and choice, not by treating them like infants.

I cannot help but think that this is a case of far too little far too late on the part of the CHFA.  We, Seabuckthorn International, wrote to the CHFA several times requesting that your organization get intimately involved with Health Canada as they were moving towards these rather punitive policies.  We were totally ignored.  We finally let our membership in the CHFA lapse as sign of protest (albeit a rather weak sign of protest) because it appeared that the CHFA was blindly supporting the Health Canada’s initiatives.  It is heartening to see that the well respected CHFA has finally ‘come to consciousness’ and is starting to recognize the very real threats posed by Bill C-6 and other incredibly punitive … draconian legislation … that are now about to become Canadian Law.       

As an independent Canadian manufacturer of Natural Products, we have spent thousands and thousands of dollars complying with the NHP Directorate Policies and Regulations.  Just trying to understand what is required was and is continuing to be a huge investment in time, energy and money that could have been better spent serving our customers across Canada.  The current NHP regulations never mind the next set of legislative requirements on the horizon has spawned a whole industry of charlatans and dare I say ‘blood suckers’ of consultants that do almost nothing of value (to be fair there are some good folks as well).  These incredible costs associated with complying with vague regulations mount up each year as we renew our site license on an annual basis.  From year to year it is literally a ‘crap shoot’ and we never know whether or not our business will be shut down on some purely arbitrary ruling by the NHP even though we were in full compliance in the year previous.  It is not a good situation.

Question:  given we think these regulations are a good thing and protect our valued customers can we make it simpler to comply?  Is that possible?  Can the CHFA help to advocate for SIMPLICITY?  If it is a foregone conclusion that we are going to live and work under these conditions can we at least have a chance to comply by making things simple?  Is that a worthwhile objective?

How, I am wondering, can you, the CHFA, assist a company such as ours?  Seabuckthorn International is a real company, employing real people, producing and manufacturing real ‘VALUE ADDED’ products, paying real Canadian dollars for real Canadian Taxes.  GET REAL, CHFA.  GET REAL!  Please, come up with a real strategy that works.

Whew, there’s a lot of hoopla about the H1N1 vaccination program – such as it is – here in Canada. There seem to be different rules, different protocols and different levels of access from province to province, and even from health board to health board.

I was able to get the H1N1 vaccine – and the regular flu shot while I was at it – on Wednesday, October 28 in East Vancouver, and it was an interesting experience.

As soon as I heard the shot was coming out soon, I started checking the BC flu vaccine clinic website, and calling the listings to ask if they were distributing H1N1. When I called the community centre near my house on Monday, October 26, I was finally told that they were doing an H1N1 clinic, and they asked if I wanted to leave my name and get a time to drop in. I said yes, and asked if I qualified under the rules, and when I explained my health situation they said yes, they thought I’d qualify for a jab.

I was given an appointment time to show up, and on the date of the clinic I arrived about 45 minutes early. I didn’t know at the time, but the clinic was scheduled to run only from 8am to noon. I was very lucky to have gotten a time.

When I arrived, I was greeted by several community centre staff members who really seemed to know what they were doing. One gave me the rundown on what was happening, while the other one gave me a piece of paper with a number on it – 66. I was then told to go to the gym to wait, along with about 50 other people sitting on folding chairs or standing.

It was very orderly, there was no conflict or panic.

A large proportion of the waiting people were pregnant women, and here were also some small children and people who were visibly ill or disabled. The gym was divided in the middle, and the separate section seemed to be the clinic site. There was someone at the door calling numbers, and people were entering at a rate of about one per minute. It soon became clear to those of us waiting what was happening: People were being called in to register first, then were called back to be assessed by a nurse and, if appropriate, get a shot or shots.

Not everyone who waited ended up receiving H1N1. While the BC Health Ministry announced weeks before the vaccine was due that nobody would be turned away, that had not been repeated in recent times, and it was made clear to us at the clinic that the nurses were rejecting visitors who did not qualify. While I waited, several people over 65 came out with just the regular flu shot, because they apparently had immunity from one or more of the previous Swine Flu epidemics.

After about 45 minutes my number was called for the first time, and I went through to the injection room to fill out an application and show my Care Card. I then went out again and waited some more – approximately another half hour.

When I went in to see the nurse, she was very nice and businesslike. We discussed my health issues and she confirmed that I qualified for both shots, and we discussed where to put them! Apparently (and this was borne out by my personal experience), the H1N1 vaccine causes a stronger-than-usual reaction in people, so they try to put it in people’s non-dominant arm.

The injection was quick and painless, and I managed to get home on the same transfer I went out on! Before I left (they ask recipients of the shot to sit and wait for 15 minutes after receiving it to make sure they don’t have a bad reaction), I complimented the people at the front on their organisation, and they told me that they run several flu clinics per year so they just applied that template to this project, with good success.

I must say that I DID have a strong reaction to the shot.

I was fine at first, but I got progressively sicker all day, and my right arm (the H1N1 arm) got more and more sore. The nurses at the clinic were actually recommending painkillers, they said it got that bad! By the end of the day my right arm was almost immobile, and I changed clothes with the greatest difficulty.

Despite the discomfort after, the experience was remarkably painless (from a convenience standpoint at least). I feel very fortunate in retrospect to have has such a short wait, and to have been able to receive the vaccine.

How about you? Will you be getting inoculated? Have you tried and failed to be treated at a flu clinic? Have you HAD the swine flu? Please let me know.

 Resources:
H1N1 alerts on the Government of Canada’s website

I am a relatively healthy 60 year old, however in summer 2007, the results from my annual physical showed slightly elevated levels of LDL cholesterol and blood sugars. Nothing to be too concerned about, and I admit to not making many/any changes to my lifestyle at that time.

I began taking SBT Seabuckthorn Flavone Capsules as well as the Seed Oil and Fruit Oil Capsules in May of 2008. I take one capsule of each per day, and also occasionally drink SBT Seabuckthorn’s Tea.

In July 2008 the blood tests from my annual physical showed results very similar to the 2007 tests. Not much improvement on the markers tested, although none had gotten worse.

When I had the same tests repeated for my annual physical in July 2009, after another 12 months of taking a daily supplement of the capsules (I have now switched to one Flavone and one Single Source capsule for convenience and value), there was a noticeable change for the better over 2008 in every one of the markers tested.

LDL, HDL, triglycerides, creatinine, potassium and blood sugar levels as well as every other marker were in an improved position. Another year older, no other lifestyle changes (I had actually gained about 5 pounds over this time!), and healthier results. I’m happy!

The bonus for taking SBT Seabuckthorn Single Source capsules has been an improvement in menopausal and aged-related mucous membrane dryness.

The bonus for taking SBT Flavone capsules and drinking the tea has been an enormous decrease (to almost zero) in the amount of pain in my osteo-arthritic knee. This injury was a result of a ski accident over 25 years ago, and over the years the pain intensified, especially when walking up stairs, or walking on a down-slope. The anti-inflammatory properties in the Flavone capsules and the tea have made a big difference. A pain free day is a good thing!

   Resources:
SBT Seabuckthorn capsules – from seabuckthorn.com
SBT Seabuckthorn seed and fruit oils: the differences - .PDF from seabuckthorn.com
SBT Seabuckthorn and women’s’ health - .PDF from seabuckthorn.com
Fatty acids for a healthy heart and brain - .PDF from seabuckthorn.com

It’s fall, and that means that for us North Americans, tis the season when skunks born in the spring are sent off on their own, making life more challenging for curious dogs and their owners.

Nova has been sprayed twice: once directly on her face when I couldn’t stop her from snatching up a juvenile skunk from within a bush, and once on her back end when I couldn’t drag her away fast enough.

While researching de-skunking remedies, I learnt the truth about skunk musk: the only remedy that works is Hydrogen peroxide! Tomato juice and most other de-muskers don’t work. But the good news is, Hydrogen peroxide is way easier to get hold of in the middle of the night! And is much less expensive than a tub full of V-8 or Mott’s Clamato!

Most of the recipes for de-skunking dogs that I found online were the same; I modified mine slightly and found that it worked fine; here’s mine:

500mls or half a quart (1 large bottle) of Hydrogen peroxide* **

¼ cup baking SODA (as the recipes state, not baking powder)

a splash of liquid dish soap – not dishwasher powder. Liquid soap is OK too if no dish soap

500mls of water

Combine everything in a small plastic or glass dishwashing tub or big bowl (not metal, because the peroxide acts on it) and apply to your dog (carefully avoiding the eyes and mouth) with a big scrub brush or hand towel. Scrub thoroughly and rinse. Repeat if there’s any of the stuff left in the tub. Use straight away after mixing and don’t store any of the leftovers. Non-toxic in small doses, but will hurt like heck if exposed to the mucous membranes or any cuts.

*Get it at any drug store or supermarket

**Might as well buy two or three since you’ll need to repeat the procedure

This recipe is also good to clean up anywhere the dog has exposed her or himself to your house. When Nova got sprayed the first time, I made the mistake of letting her drool all over the floor, and I used a bit of the mix to clean it up later.

It’s important – nay, vital – to bathe your dog right away, so she or he doesn’t contaminate your house, garden, garage, or anywhere else. If you’re not accustomed to bathing your dog yourself, refer to my previous post, Getting started with an adult dog (part 2 of ?) - How to bathe a reluctant dog.

When Nova got sprayed in the face I had to repeat the procedure about five times before the smell really went away (partly because I couldn’t physically get to every location she’d been sprayed because they were sensitive areas), but when she got sprayed on the backside she was odour-free after two peroxide baths.

Hydrogen peroxide is a mild bleach and a strong disinfectant. Use all relevant caution considering those two things.

There’s currently a discussion on CBC.ca: Cost a factor in Canadians’ diets. Apparently 54% of low- and middle-income people think that cost is a “significant obstacle” to eating healthy food.

“Cost is a significant barrier to healthier lifestyles for those making less than $75,000 a year,” said Jack Bensimon, president of Bensimon Byrne, the Toronto-based advertising agency that commissioned the study for its quarterly Consumerology Report, in a release.Other reasons for a less-than-ideal diet included insufficient willpower, the availability of healthy foods, lack of time, and inconvenience.

According to this article, Healthy eating costs more than junk food, study says, the cost of calorie-poor, nutrient rich food is rising against the cost of less-healthy, high-calorie food.

They found the price of the lowest-calorie fruits and vegetables was more than $18.16 per 1,000 calories, while the high calorie foods cost $1.76 per 1,000 calories.

The foods they studied were green vegetables, tomatoes and berries. As if anyone’s going to get their entire caloric intake from those three foods…

I don’t disagree with the results of the study, but the assumptions it is based upon are misleading. The study says that calorie for calorie, nutrient-rich food is more expensive than nutrient-poor food, and getting moreso. Well, duh. That has been true for a long time (since the advent of processed flour, I’m guessing).

In other words, the study looked at the contrast in cost between foods that are high in calories (junk food, processed food) and those that are low in calories (vegetables and some fruits), and found that the densest foods calorically had the fewest nutrients, and vice-versa. Consequently, the cheapest way to get your daily calorie requirements is to consume the most nutrient-poor foods, and getting your daily caloric requirements from nutrient-rich foods is more expensive, because many of them have so few calories.

But so what, really? First, the majority of us in the Western world (even low-income people) get too many calories, so sacrificing a few calories for nutrition isn’t a concern for most. Second, the study focuses on vegetables, calorie-for-calorie the most nutrient-rich foods available. So… if I want to eat 1800 calories worth of veggies a day it’s going to cost me a lot more money than 1800 calories worth of donuts and potato chips. Hmmm… again, well duh. Most of us neither need nor choose to get all our calories from veggies, and the addition of some healthy calorie-rich foods to plump up our diet will help to balance our budgets and our calorie intake.

In other words, if you choose inexpensive veggies and fruit and augment them with healthy, economical and nutrient-dense proteins, carbohydrates and fats, you will be able to meet your calorie requirements without breaking the bank.

The article did make one good point, which I agree with wholeheartedly; that the government (US government in this case because it was a US study, but it could apply to us here in Canada too) must alter the way it subsidises agriculture, which is currently skewed in favour of factory farms and cash crops.

____

There’s long been a myth that eating more healthfully has to be more expensive, but that doesn’t have to be true. If you’re eating hand-picked, organic, heirloom variety amaranth with cruelty-free sheep’s feta and artesian capers every meal, then yeah, it’s going to be pretty expensive. But if you keep the specialty foods to a minimum, eating healthily should actually be cheaper than eating processed, packaged empty calories. In fact, many studies show that the more processed and packaged a food is, the more expensive it is. And throughout the world, the most resourceful cooks choose unprocessed foods to save money.

Here are 5 tips for improving your diet without adding to your food bill:

Choose less-expensive produce. Not if it’s not nice or if you really don’t want to eat it, but most of us have a wide enough variety to choose from that we can pick a few fruits and veggies that we feel like eating from among the less-expensive produce. For instance: at my green-grocer’s today, grapes were $4.99/lb and bananas were $.29/lb. Asparagus was $3.99/lb and both yams and beets were $.49/lb. ALL are nutrient-rich!

Don’t buy anything that you don’t feel like eating. It seems like a no-brainer, but food isn’t the place for best intentions. Buy healthy food that you have a good chance of eating, give the stuff that you’d have to force down like medicine a pass.

Comparison shop between stores. Produce and other healthy items vary remarkably in price, and you can’t always assume where it’s going to be cheaper. Avocadoes at my local store are $.89 each, at a large grocery store $1.29 each and at Costco, almost $2 each. I’m not suggesting going to 6 different stores for your groceries, but seek out the best-priced produce in your neighbourhood. Furthermore, such staples as spices and whole grains can be much more reasonably priced at certain types of stores, such as those serving particular cultural groups, than at your local supermarket or health-food store. For instance, I go to a South Asian store to buy beans, nuts, spices and brown basmati rice in bulk, at a substantial savings over any other store. And those chipotle peppers that are sold in packets of three for a fortune? Cheap as air in bulk at Mexican delis.

Limit expensive proteins. Meat, eggs, meat analogues and processed dairy are all very expensive, and we can get more than adequate protein with less-expensive alternatives. Beans, whole grains and simple soy products (like tofu and soymilk as opposed to TVP or veggie hot dogs) are high in protein, provide calories, and are packed with nutrients. And they’re much cheaper! Even canned beans are cheaper than many other proteins, but if you soak your own dried beans, you’re saving even more.

Choose less-processed foods. Rather than stocking up on organic salad dressing, gourmet vegetarian frozen dinners and ancient grain cereals, emphasise simpler, unprocessed alternatives. Three or four staple grains, several varieties of beans, some nuts and dried fruit, lots of inexpensive produce, and some more expensive protein and specialty foods for fun and variety will more than do you, and probably reduce your grocery bills.

Resources:

Cheap and healthy recipes – a bunch of mainstream homey recipes on faqs.org

Great Depression Cooking with Clara – ultra-inexpensive recipes by a woman who cooked her way through the Great Depression - on YouTube

8 Budget-healthy superfoods – ultra-nutritious foods to add to your grocery cart, plus recipes

Cheap Healthy Good – a blog devoted entirely to cheap, healthy, good food

For just under a year, I helped a neighbour who was practicing the Gerson Protocol anti-cancer diet, by preparing for her freshly-squeezed juices and food as indicated by the diet’s rules.

The salt-free, fat-free, mostly vegan, low protein, high-potassium, organic diet was developed to correct the underlying causes of ill-health (as postulated by the late Max Gerson), and is practiced primarily by people seeking an alternative cancer therapy.

I have no evidence or opinion as to the safety or efficacy of the programme, but I will say that the woman I was preparing food for was suffering from a very aggressive, late stage uterine cancer so dangerous that 50% of women who were treated for that particular cancer at her late stage were dead six months later. She is 2.5 years past treatment and cancer-free.

The highly restrictive diet is onerous for most adherents, and new, creative recipes are enthusiastically welcomed. While I worked for her, I created several recipes that I want to share with interested readers, especially those following Gerson or otherwise interested in unsalted, fat-free, wheat free vegan recipes.

A note on the recipes (in separate blog posts, linked below): Oats are the only grain allowed by the diet, so where you see oat flour that’s why. I have made some small adjustments (cheats) to the strictest interpretation of the diet: my friend preferred peeled potatoes, so that’s what I usually used in recipes; she liked herbs a lot, so I added more than was recommended; and there may be others. If in doubt, consult your personalised Gerson programme.

I’m not endorsing the Gerson protocol, simply providing some delicious food to its adherents.

Feel free to use, adapt, share and/or publish these recipes - credit “Natalie Lanoville” please.

 My recipes:

·         Potato pancakes

·         Potato soup with greens

·         Salsa

·         Veggie stew
 

I made myself this dish – albeit with a handful of chickpeas and a sliced clove of garlic – almost every day for lunch in Grade 11.

I adapted this recipe for a neighbour for whom I was doing some Gerson cooking for her anti-cancer diet. The Gerson Protocol limits herbs, aromatics and other concentrated flavours, but my neighbour really needed the extra pizzazz of the herbs, hence the relatively generous quantity. The Gerson protocol also limits cooking temperature, but my time was too limited to experiment with different oven temperatures and cooking times, so I just chose the lowest temperature I knew would work.

Gerson prefers unpeeled potato, but my friend was sick of potato skins, so I have used peeled potatoes in all my Gerson recipes.

Veggie stew

December, 2007

Ingredients

½ a baking potato, peeled

1 smallish tomato

1/3-1/2 a medium yellow or red onion

1 very small or part of a larger zucchini

1 or 2 pinches of a savoury herb: thyme, oregano or rosemary are ideal

A little water (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 325º

Wash the vegetables and get out a small oven-safe covered dish.

Cut the tomato in half and slice the halves into very thin slices.

Cut the zucchini into very thin rounds, or if it is a large zucchini, halve it lengthwise first.

Peel and halve the potato, cut the half in two, and slice the halves into very thin slices.

Cut the onion into very thin slices.

Place all the ingredients in the roasting dish with the herbs and combine thoroughly.

Add a bit of water (1-2 tbsps) if desired.

Note on portions: It’s useful to think of the dish in these terms – 1 part potato, 1 part tomato, and 1 scant part each zucchini and onion.

Bake covered until the potato is tender, stirring every 10 minutes or so.

Will take 20-30 minutes minimum at that low temperature.

Suggested modifications

·         If you like your zucchini tender but not soft, cook everything but the zucchini for 10 minutes, then add the zucchini and stir.

·         Add a handful of cooked beans before cooking.

·         Other vegetables are worth trying.

·         A little bit of oil and/or vinegar added before serving would make it more like a warm salad.

·         A small minced clove of garlic is nice if you like garlic.

*Makes 2 small or 1 large serving.

I created this recipe for a neighbour for whom I was doing some Gerson cooking for her anti-cancer diet. The Gerson Protocol limits herbs, aromatics and other concentrated vegetables, but my neighbour really needed the extra pizzazz of the herbs, hence the relatively generous quantity of cilantro.

Salsa

December, 2007

Ingredients

2 sm or 1 lg tomato (approx. 1 cup total)

1/4-1/3 cup red onion, finely minced

1 heaping tbsp finely minced cilantro

lemon, lime juice or vinegar to taste

Method

Blend half the tomato in a blender or food processor until it is fairly smooth.

Chop the other half into very small pieces.

Mix with the minced cilantro and onion and let sit, covered, for a couple of hours to allow the flavours to blend.

*Makes approximately 1-1/4 cups of salsa.

I created this recipe for a neighbour for whom I was doing some Gerson cooking for her anti-cancer diet. She preferred peeled potatoes, which is why these potatoes are peeled. This is a very good way to help get in the Gerson-required quantity of potatoes and dark greens. My inspiration was a soup I had at a Portuguese restaurant when they made my mother and I something special since there were no vegetarian appetisers.

My neighbour liked little chunks of potato, but you could also blend or food mill the whole thing before adding the greens.

Potato soup with greens

November, 2007

Ingredients

1 baking potato, peeled and cubed

Small wedge of yellow onion – about 1/8-1/4 cup per potato, chopped

Water to cover

Leafy greens: mustard greens, swiss chard, beet greens, etc, chiffonaded

Method

Place the potato and onion in a pot, and add enough water to cover, plus a bit extra.

Cook, covered, on low heat until the potatoes are tender.

Mash the soup with a potato masher, and put through a food mill or a strainer if desired (not to strain out anything, but to make it finer).

Thin with a bit more water if desired.

Take a leaf or two of greens, remove the spines, and slice very very thinly into long thin strips (chiffonade) like extra-fine julienning (should total heaping 1 cup loosely packed).

Add to simmering soup and cook until desired tenderness.

Eat right away.

*1 potato renders 2 small servings.

I created this recipe for a neighbour for whom I was doing some Gerson cooking for her anti-cancer diet. The Gerson Protocol limits herbs, aromatics and other concentrated flavours, but my neighbour really needed the extra pizzazz of the herbs, hence the relatively generous quantity of dill. The Gerson protocol also limits cooking temperature, but my time was too limited to experiment with different oven temperatures and cooking times, so I just chose the lowest temperature I knew would work.

The recipe was adapted from Ashley/Medellia12 at Vegan-Food.net, and I am very grateful to that site for the inspiration. I chose their recipe as the basis for mine because it was already fat-free and used oat flour rather than wheat flour. I added dill and changed the proportions a bit, as well as moving the cooking venue from a frying pan to the oven. Gerson doesn’t allow any salt and discourages pepper, so I eschewed those as well.

Gerson prefers unpeeled potato, but my friend was sick of potato skins, so I have used peeled potatoes in all my Gerson recipes.

Potato pancakes

Modified from a recipe on vegan-food.net

October, 2007

Ingredients

1 cup grated baking potato (approximately)

¼ c. finely minced red onion

2-3 tbsps finely minced fresh or frozen dill

3 tbsps oat flour

Water

Method

Preheat oven to 350º

The order of preparation is to minimise browning the potatoes prior to cooking.

Have a baking dish, grater, measuring cups, tablespoon measuring spoon, mixing spoon, potato peeler, two mixing bowls, a chopping board and a knife ready before starting.

If following the measurements exactly, put the oat flour in one of the mixing bowls and mix in enough water to make a thin batter, like a crepe batter.

Mince the dill and onion and add them to the mix.

Peel and grate a cup of potato, then chop it lightly to make the pieces smaller and add to the batter.

Mix thoroughly, spoon out into four neat piles on the baking dish, then gently spread and press until the patties are 4-5 inches in diameter and 1/4-3/8 of an inch thick.

**If you’re adjusting the other ingredients to use up a whole potato (which is usually approximately 1-1/4 cups), then skip the oat flour step, mince a little bit extra dill and onion, grate the whole potato, measure it, and use an extra tbsp of oat flour for every 1/4-1/3 cup of potato. Mix the oat flour mixture in the second mixing bowl and add it after it’s thoroughly mixed.

Bake for 30 mins, then carefully flip the pancakes and cook 20-25 minutes more.

Suggested modifications

·         Add some peeled, grated apple (1/4-1/3 cup)

·         Season with different herbs

Feel free to use, adapt, share and/or publish these recipes - credit “Natalie Lanoville” please.

We at Seabuckthorn International Inc are pleased to announce that our SBT Seabuckthorn therapeutic skincare line has been chosen by Puresource Natural Products as their only line of seabuckthorn products.

Puresource is a national natural products distributor with a 20 year history of serving quality Canadian retailers, and we’re very excited to be part of their family.

We look forward to being able to serve our Canadian retailers even better with the help of Puresource’s well-informed, enthusiastic sales force.

In addition to fonts, I love birds. One of my favourite pastimes is sitting quietly in my garden listening to the busy chatter and watching the hypnotic movement of birds.  While I do have a lot of glass in my home and deck, my home must be situated just right because, thankfully I do not have many bird meets glass fatalities.  Sadly, according to eighth grade student Charlie Sobcov of Ottawa, Ontario in Canada this is definitely not the norm. Did you know that over 500 million birds die every year from collisions with windows! That is an unimaginable number!

Resources:

Listen to an interview with Charlie (Real Audio, CBC.ca)

Oops! They did it again! Researchers have removed another card from the house built by the beer, wine and spirits stakeholders who are trying to convince consumers that alcohol consumption confers a net health benefit.

Yes, research still shows that heart disease (by the way one of the easiest syndromes to improve or avoid through lifestyle changes) is improved with moderate alcohol consumption (or at least isn’t made worse. As far as they can tell.). But in yet another study - Study links heavier drinking to prostate cancer – incidences of cancer rise in proportion to rising alcohol use; in this example, it’s prostate cancer. In a recent post - Study says one serving of alcohol per day enough to increase cancer risk in women – researchers found an increase in several other cancers linked to levels of alcohol use, in a study of 3 million women.

According to a recent Vancouver Sun article - We’re told to go easy on students, B.C. teachers say – school principals are ordering teachers to ensure good grades to students, even if it means never giving a zero on an assignment or allowing a student to take a test as many times as necessary to achieve a passing grade.

According to author Janet Steffenhagen, school principals across British Columbia have embraced “Assessment for Learning”, the outcome of which, teachers say, is an undermining of teachers’ autonomy over their classrooms.

Editor’s note: I pride myself on my Google Fu (prowess with successfully using Google to answer questions and gain knowledge), but googling “ “assessment for learning”, I was unable to find a link that defines it in the context of this article, so I linked to the google search itself, and you, dear reader, can draw your own conclusions.

What do I think? Well, I’m not well-versed on the politics of education, but I’ll weigh in with a couple of points. First, I think it’s ridiculous to never give a zero (as ridiculous as never giving perfect marks, a policy I came up against often in high school ;-).) Second, I am not so sure about re-taking tests.

Yes, there are some professions where getting it perfect or near-perfect the first time is critical. But it’s not the defining characteristic of successful work in general. There are lots of professions, even responsible, highly-paid ones, where the end result is the critical element, not how you got there. For instance: If I’m being taught by someone (yeah, I’m laughing at the irony of this example), I don’t care whether it took them 50 minutes or 50 hours to learn what they’re teaching me – I only care how well they are able to pass on what they know.

So, should the student who takes three tries to get 90 on a test enjoy the same advantages as the student who got it right the first time? No, I don’t think so. But it’s actually fairly easy to tweak the system to ensure the best students are still rewarded. I’m sure I’m not the first person to suggest this, but if I were to implement a system of re-taking tests, I would assess a 5% compounding penalty for each re-take. So if a student got 45% on the first test, took it again and got 55%, s/he would be given a 50 on the test (55%-5%). If they took it again and got 65%, they’d get 55% because they’d be dinged 10%, 5 for each of two tries.

That’s the end of my input, although I’m sure the issue itself is nowhere near over. What do you think?

Resources:

Report Card – Ms Steffenhagen’s education blog on Canada.com

Not so long ago, in a blogoverse not at all far away, SBT Seabuckthorn Blog maintained a series of satellite blogs on major blogging platforms!

Why do we do this? Well, a main reason is because we’re very active in the blogging world, we read a lot of blogs and we comment on a lot of blogs, and many blogging platforms support or even require logins, which are connected to their native blogging platform.

And belumph fristred blogoverse platform snufflepus!

In other words, HUH??? What the heck did I just say?

Well, let’s figure out some of the particulars. First, if you’re reading this blog, you probably already know that a blog (short for Web Log), is a kind of a cross between an online diary and a news outlet, which allows users to post (publish) frequent, chronological updates or broadcasts regarding whatever the user wants to write about.

You might also know that readers of the blog can comment on individual posts, offering praise or criticism, adding information, or participating in a discussion of or at the blog post.

So how does one start or find a blog? Well blogging requires special software, which lives on big servers on the internet (not on your home computer). Because this special software is created by particular individuals or companies, they like to manage it from their own servers. So online communities such as LiveJournal, Yahoo!, Blogger, and blogging specialists such as WordPress make their software available to people who want to blog, and when those people start a blog, it is stored and managed from the blogging software developer’s servers. You own the content, but it is stored and managed from a remote location, kind of like webmail. The software is called a blogging platform, and the locations where they are stored are called blogging sites.

Because we at SII are interested in participating in blog-based discussions, we have created satellite blogs on some of the major blogging platforms, partly to make it easy to leave comments on other blogs on the same platform, and partly to make it easier for other bloggers to find us!