Real You Psychology

Warning! By visiting this page you are in danger of bettering your health! If you follow the instructions herein, if you make and eat the Qué Rico recipes…you might suffer secondary effects like normalizing your digestion, correcting your state of obesity, eliminating chronic illness from your life, having a stronger immune system, saving money, looking prettier or more handsome. The risk is all yours. We will not take responsibility for an overdose of happiness or well being in your organism due to the use of the information issued on this page.

Sponsor of this website

Sponsor of this website: CENTRO ECUESTRE YOS-OY: Horseback Riding for recreation, competition, therapy, and party facilities. Tel: (506) 8301 4401, (506) 2282 6934. Located in Santa Ana, Costa Rica.

NOTE: iF YOU SPEAK SPANISH, PLEASE VISIT THE SPANISH VERSION OF THIS PAGE. THERE ARE MANY MORE ARTICLES THERE.

March 1, 2008

WHOLE WHEAT POTATO ONION BREAD

Ingredients:

2 large or thre medium potatoes

2 cups finely chopped onion

1/3 cup luke-warm water

2 tablespoons dry yeast

1 tablespoon honey

3 eggs

1 teaspoon fennel seed

1/2 cup bran flakes

4-6 cups whole wheat flour

1 beaten egg

poppy or sesame seeds or both

Process:

1) Wash the potatoes well and chop with SKIN ON. Boil until soft. Mash with skins and all to make 2 cups worth.

2) Cook the finely chopped onion for 3-4 minutes on low heat in a pan with a little olive oil.

3) Combine luke-warm water and yeast. Stir till disolved.

4) Add honey, eggs and fennel seed. Beat lightly.

5) Mix in bran flakes and add the 2 cups of mashed potatoes (make sure they are warm and not burning hot).

6) Mix in whole wheat flour one cup at a time until you have a bread dough that is not sticky.

7) When well mixed, knead for a few minutes; put in a bowl and top with a damp towel. Let rise in a draft free place for an hour.

8) Put a little whole wheat flour on your kneading board or table and put risen dough there. Punch to get all air bubbles out. Knead for 6-7 minutes until elastic.

9) Shape into loaves and put in greased molds or make round balls and place on a greased cookie sheet.

10) Beat an egg lightly and coat your formed loaves with it. Sprinkle with whole sesame seeds and allow to rise 45-60 minutes until doubled in size (preferable in a warm place).

11) Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. for at least 10 minutes before introducing the risen loaves.

12) Bake for 20-30 minutes depending on the size of the loaves. The crust should be slightly browned when done.

13) Let cool totally before putting away in plastic bags and refrigerating.

FANTASTIC! DELIGHTFULLY DELICIOUS!

Note: I do not add salt to my recipes (see explanation on salt below).

July 28, 2007

“I’M GOING TO DIE ANYWAY SO I MIGHT AS WELL ENJOY MYSELF NOW!”

Sometimes when I explain why it’s better to eat a natural foods diet, people “pooh-pooh” the idea with a phrase like the one above. It’s like saying…”Leave me alone! I’m going to eat anything, even if it’s going to kill me!” Usually a diabolical laugh follows.

Before when I was more innocent, I used to talk about eating a good diet in parties, with colleagues, and with “friends.” With my accustomed charm and thinking that I was about to really help my buddies, I would tell them how much harm they were doing to themselves from what they were eating. At that time we were all very young and I was just starting to get into eating a good diet. After a few tries at sharing my marvelous knowledge on the subject, I noticed that my effort was received with not so veiled hostility and resentment, or they would make fun of me by saying…”I’m not changing for anything in the world! I have to die anyway so I might as well gorge myself with what I love to eat and enjoy now! Ha ha ha ha… Finally I realized that it was not such a good idea to try to help people that didn’t ask for it.

In this hyped-up, modern world we live in; just about every minute of the day we’re bombarded with messages that try to convince us that we’re not worthwhile, we don’t deserve tender-loving-care, that we’re insignificant, and of course that there are things in this world much more important than we are. When this is how we’re brought up since we are born, without being able to choose we get used to it and think that that’s all there is. For people who only know how to hate themselves, doing something in favor of feeling better is out of the question. If something represents a threat towards a possible betterment in their lives, they become fearful and run like hell!

Just recognizing that all of us are this way to some degree is the first step towards starting to make things better in our lives. Eating a natural foods diet is a big step in your favor. Even so, remember you’ll have to give up certain thrills like:

1) Being sick and getting attention for it.

2) Planning your next health tragedy or operation so you can talk on the phone for hours to all your friends about it.

3) Losing money because of illness.

4) Wine and moan night and day about how fat you are and that nothing works to make it better.

5) Catching a cold every time someone next to you sneezes.

6) Making preparations for your inevitable cancer or heart attack.

7) Having a bad skin complexion.

8) Spending hours in the bathroom with painful constipation.

9) Having bad breath and a bad body odor.

10) Going out with a group of friends to eat junk food and feeling terrible afterwards.

The human mind is very tricky. When you’re young and you haven’t had encouragement or someone as an example in how to defeat or simply not be interested in bad influences, the mind says…”I feel great! Nothing can affect me! I’m strong! I can eat anything I want and I’m going to enjoy myself!” This arrogance can be the beginning of tragic circumstances. The world is not thinking about your well being. There’s contamination everywhere; bad food designed to give profits without considering what might happen to you; many mothers don’t cook for their families because they “work”—obligating kids to eat whatever’s around, plus there still is much ignorance about the damage refined foods can do to the human body.

It doesn’t matter how old you are. If you start today to better your diet and make it as natural as possible, your feelings and your body will respond positively. When you start you might feel a little uncomfortable or unsure of yourself which is totally normal. Any change, especially when it’s for the better, stirs things up inside both physically and emotionally. So if we have to die of something, I “prefer to die” of the new sensations I feel from taking just another step towards my health and well-being. And you?

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May 10, 2007

GIVE US OUR DAILY BREAD

In many cultures bread has been and is till this day an important part of the daily diet. Nowadays most bread is made from wheat, but also you can make incredibly delicious bread from corn, oats, rye, barley, and rice.

Being that bread was such an important part of the average person’s diet it became part of a prayer to God. Another peculiar expression of the importance of bread is that in slang “bread” means money.

In Costa Rica we eat a lot of bread: For breakfast, at a coffee break, in sandwiches, to accompany a meal and to make recipes. Unfortunately many more people eat white bread than whole wheat bread. It’s common knowledge that whole wheat bread is more nutritious than white bread. If a person only ate white bread and nothing else, in a relatively short period of time, he or she would develop illnesses and eventually die. No wonder to punish people in prison they only gave them bread and water (I’m sure it was white bread and not nutritious, fiber-filled whole wheat bread.)

When I first read about the lack of vitamins and minerals in white flour, and that consuming white flour alone was insufficient to maintain the life of a human being, I filled with doubts. How could that be? Almost everyone eats white bread. If this was true, eating something that gives only empty calories and almost no nutritious value could be a serious consideration to health in general. I decided to check it out by doing an experiment.

I got a hold of twelve white mice: Six males and six females. I divided the mice into two groups of three males and three females. I fed one group solely white bread and water. The other group got whole wheat bread and water. After four months of studying the mice, noting and documenting many details, I’ll now share with you what most called my attention:

1) Two of the white bread mice died (after three and half months) while none of the whole wheat bread mice died.

2) The white bread mice had dull looking hair and a bad general aspect. The whole wheat bread mice had normal, shiny, healthy looking hair.

3) The white bread mice did not grow as much as the whole wheat bread mice. Also the WBM’s backbone was more curved than the whole wheat bread mice’s.

4) The white bread mice at times mounted each other being of the same sex and did not reproduce. Two of the female whole wheat bread mice gave birth.

5) The white bread mice’s eyes were dull while the whole wheat bread mice’s eyes were shiny.

6) The excrement of the white bread mice was harder and came in lesser quantities than the excrement of the whole wheat bread mice.

7) The mice that ate white bread had a worse odor than the whole wheat bread mice.

I showed this experiment to my biology teacher in eleventh grade of high school who was equally impressed as I was. I brought the mice before my class and explained what the experiment was about. Everyone wanted to see the obvious differences between the two groups. All were very surprised and exclaimed they would never eat white bread again!

I thought…shouldn’t they change the prayer to…DEAR GOD, GIVE US OUR DAILY WHOLE WHEAT BREAD…

Note: In biblical days the flour used to make bread was stone ground whole wheat flour.

Here’s a delicious bread recipe.

BRICK BREAD

(I make my bread with no salt.)

This bread is a very delicious no-knead bread. It has a hard crust and a soft inside. Because of this my friend said the loaves I made seemed like bricks and that’s how this recipe got its name.

Ingredients:

3 cups of bran

7 cups of whole wheat flour

2 cups of warm water

2 tablespoons of dried yeast

¼ cup honey

2 additional cups of warm water

Process:

Mix the bran with the whole wheat flour. In another bowl combine two cups of warm water, the yeast and the honey. Combine the dry ingredients with the wet using your hands with a tossing movement. Then add the remaining two cups of warm water and mix vigorously with your hands making sure you combine the ingredients well.

Grease two big loaf pans. Divide the dough in half and put each half in a mold. They should be filled half-way. If you have more dough use another mold as well.

Let rise in a warm place for an hour. Pre-heat the over to 300 degrees F. Bake for approximately one hour. Take out of mold and let cool. Once totally cool, wrap and refrigerate.

You’ll get two or three loaves from this recipe depending on the size of you bread tins. Enjoy it!

March 31, 2007

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT. SO...IF YOU EAT FAT, YOU ARE???

Do you eat fried foods, chicken skin, fatty steak and cook with butter? Why? Maybe it’s the taste that fat gives to the food...or how about the texture and the sensation it makes in your mouth...or maybe there’s another reason? Who taught you to eat fatty foods and bread thickly spread with butter?

Let’s take a moment to see how animals live. Have you ever seen a monkey eating fried bananas?...a giraffe having a bowl or soup where you can see the fat floating in the broth?...a deer spreading butter all over the leaves it’s about to eat? May I ask, how many obese monkeys, giraffes and deers do you know?

Our diet has too much fat in general. Sometimes it’s obvious and sometimes we don’t even notice. Some of the fats we consume can cause a lot of damage to our health while others actually help eliminate bad fat from our bodies.

Saturated fat is the kind that is generally hard when at room temperature (butter, animal fats, lard, etc.). This kind of fat should at most be eaten in moderation or not at all. Non-saturated fats like olive oil and the kind of fat found in fish (Omega 3), can help eliminate excess cholesterol from our blood stream.

While some fats are easily visible others are hidden. For example, generally there is fat in breads, pastries, meat, milk products, fast foods, sauces, and mayonnaise. There is also fat in nuts, avocado, eggs, wheat germ, coconut, cocoa and others.

Our bodies need fat. Fat-soluble vitamins are stored there and we obtain energy by burning body fat. However we need to ingest very little fat for our body to work well. For example: One tablespoon of olive oil a day is enough to survive in good health and just by eating a balanced diet we automatically eat more fat than that. Everything beyond that one tablespoon of olive oil would be excess fat for our bodies!

Basically I apply one rule in my cooking: I don’t add fat to my recipes, except in the case of salads where I use olive oil for dressing. When I cook I just brush my pot with my preferred oil which is olive oil.

But how!? Make a cake without oil or butter!? A bread with absolutely, I mean not even a little teeny weeny bit of oil or butter!? Bake cookies without...!!!!! THAT’S RIGHT!

All the aforementioned recipes can be made without a drop of oil or fat and I guarantee that you’ll faint when you find out how delicious they are. You’ll enjoy eating everything much more because you won’t feel bloated and heavy. Eating fatty foods slows down the digestive process and makes you feel uncomfortably full for quite a while after eating. That’s one reason why you might feel lazy and tired after a meal without mentioning the danger eating too much fat can do to your health. Principally heart disease is the main threat to overeaters of fat. Another illness from eating too much fat is obesity which in and of itself produces other painful, destructive symptoms. Pimples, greasy skin, high blood cholesterol, hypertension, gastritis and other digestive disorders are just a few “goodies” you can develop from abusive fat consumption. Even breast cancer is related to a fat-filled diet.

If you watch your fat intake and keep it to a minimum you’ll obtain many health benefits. After a while of not adding fat to your diet and avoiding fatty foods you’ll be hard put to go back to eating like you used to unless you love that heavy-tiring-greasy feeling you get. Remember: YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT. If you eat a lot of fat you will turn into a ball of fat. (Even if you overeat in fat content and don't turn into a ball of grease, you're playing dangerous with your health.)

Here’s a delicious cake recipe with no added fat, yet it does have fat from the cocoa, wheat germ and eggs. All in all the percentage of saturated fat in this cake is very low. It has plenty of fiber which helps eliminate excess cholesterol from your body. In other words...ENJOY!

CHOCOLATE BEET CAKE

**Note: Don’t let the title of this recipe scare you. This cake tastes nothing like beets. The beets give a wonderful texture to this cake.

INGREDIENTS:

1 ¾ cup whole wheat flour

½ cup natural bran

¼ cup wheat germ

1 ½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

1 ¼ cup honey

1 cup natural yogurt

3 eggs

2 cups cooked-pureed beets

1/3 cup bitter cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Mix all the combining well. Pour batter into a ten inch greased (just enough so the batter won’t stick) cake tin. Bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Let cool a little and remove from mold to cool. When cool, refrigerate. This cake is so good you can eat just as it is. The texture is so soft and tender and NO ADDED GREASE OR FAT is necessary. It seems hard to believe but it’s true! I guarantee 100% satisfaction with this recipe!

Sponsor of this website: CENTRO ECUESTRE YOS-OY: Horseback Riding for recreation, competition, therapy, and party facilities. Tel: (506) 8301 4401, (506) 2282 6934. Located in Santa Ana, Costa Rica.

March 30, 2007

I Don’t Add Any Salt to My Recipes. Why?

For the past more or less five to thousand years, human beings have added salt to their food. History books tell us that men even killed each other in order to obtain and control sources of salt. In ancient bartering nothing compared to the value of salt, not even jewels or metals. In olden times men were often paid for their work with salt. That’s where the word salary came from.

Time passed and little by little human beings became aware that eating too much salt was damaging to their health. In reality salt is a drug. Salt as we know it is not natural. It’s made up of 100% sodium chloride, NaCl. In nature NaCl doesn’t exist as a natural food. Scientific studies demonstrate that salt can act as an emotional stimulant. That’s why people tend to become addicted to it. Salt can affect the activity of the adrenal glands causing greater or lesser secretions of this hormone depending on how much salt a person takes in. Adrenaline stimulates us to act at our maximum level, and depending on circumstances, this could be a very undesirable state provoking unnecessary anxiety and nervousness.

Medical doctors have proven that eating too much salt is directly related to high blood pressure and other coronary diseases, edema, obesity, and even hair loss.

Salt is necessary for our bodies to function adequately. We can get all the sodium chloride we need to be healthy from a natural, balanced diet.

It’s interesting to note that people used to eating everything with salt lose their capacity to taste because it disguises the real taste of food. Eating without salt is adventurous. Your taste buds will come to life when you give yourself a chance to try food without salt. You’ll become aware of the natural flavors you were missing out on.

For someone like me who is used to eating without added salt to food, salt is repugnant…kind of like eating soap! Try testing it for yourself. Simply don’t eat any added salt to your food for two weeks. After this period try salting one serving to see if you can stand it. When I was just learning to eliminate added salt to my diet I did this test with myself. I was so surprised when I tried to salt my food after the trial period. Yuck!!! I thoroughly enjoy cooking without salt and surprisingly enough when I have guests over, they too enjoy eating my tasty, but non-salted recipes!

There are many natural substitutes for salt. Lemon juice, garlic, natural herbs (cilantro, basil, sage, black and white pepper, oregano, hot pepper, natural vinegar, curry, cumin, etc.), mushrooms…just to name a few.

Here’s a recipe for you to start your journey to a healthier salt-free diet (that is added salt).

JILLESTRONE

I’m sure you’ve heard of Minestrone. Well here’s my version called Jillestrone. Just accompany this delicious tomato based soup with a green salad and some delicious whole wheat bread and you’ve got it made.

Ingredients:

3 chopped onions

4 stalks of celery, chopped (without leaves)

1 head of finely chopped garlic

4 medium chopped green peppers

6 chopped tomatoes

3 cups chopped mixed vegetables (carrots, zucchini, squash, green beans, chayote…choose those you like the best)

4 cups vegetable stock or water

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon rosemary

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon marjoram

1-2 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup cooked brown rice

1 cup cooked white beans

In a big pot at one tablespoon olive oil and lightly cook (about 5 minutes on medium heat) the onion, celery, garlic, and green peppers. Add the chopped tomatoes, mixed vegetables, vegetable stock or water, rosemary, thyme, marjoram and black pepper. Let come to a boil. Cover and simmer for about 25 minutes. Then add the cooked brown rice and white beans and cook another ten minutes.

Serve with home-made whole wheat bread and a green salad. Even though the Jillestrone has no salt, the natural herbs give it a sensational flavor. It tastes even better the next day. Enjoy!

Sponsor of this website: CENTRO ECUESTRE YOS-OY: Horseback Riding for recreation, competition, therapy, and party facilities. Tel: (506) 8301 4401, (506) 2282 6934. Located in Santa Ana, Costa Rica.

August 26, 2006

If you eat brown rice it's like getting a good salary. You'll feel satisfied. nourished, and your immune system will be fortified. Bon appetite! Qué Rico!

HOW TO COOK BROWN RICE

Precautions:

1) Don't fry brown rice before adding water to it. This seals the grain and prevents the water from penetrating it.

2) Don't stir brown rice while it is cooking.

How to prepare delicious brown rice:

For every cup of brown rice add two cups of water. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat to the minimum and cover pot. Let simmer for 40 minutes. Once the rice is cooked you can add spices, onion, green or red pepper, and any kind of vegetables you like. If you want to fry the rice, now is the time to do it (preferably use olive oil). You'll be delighted!

A TRICK TO GET STUBBORN FAMILY MEMEBERS TO EAT BROWN RICE

In case you run into a family member or two or more who won't cooperate with eating more nutritious brown rice, feed it to them secretly, little by little. First try 50% white rice and 50% brown rice. Use a nice home-made sauce like tomato sauce, or a natural food coloring to disguise the presence of the brown rice. After a week make 75% brown rice and 25% white rice. Keep using the natural coloring or sauce to make sure no one knows they are eating brown rice. Finally make it 100% brown rice. This method has worked wonderfully for me as long as I don't tell anyone what I'm doing. Keep it a secret and no one will blink an eye except for the fact that they may notice they are feeling a lot better!

Sponsor of this website: CENTRO ECUESTRE YOS-OY: Horseback Riding for recreation, competition, therapy, and party facilities. Tel: (506) 8301 4401, (506) 2282 6934. Located in Santa Ana, Costa Rica.

August 11, 2006

HOW TO MAKE A MAGNIFICENT CALCIUM, PHOSPHOROUS AND MAGNESIUM SUPLEMENT RIGHT AT HOME!

Calcium is an important mineral for adequate and healthy development of the human body during the growing years and thereafter. Teeth, bones, fingernails and many basic body functions all depend on an adequate intake of calcium. The best way to obtain necessary vitimins and minerals is through a natural, healthy, balanced diet. Some food sources of calcium are eggs, fish, chicken, the seeds of green and red peppers, sesame seeds (preferably whole, not refined), brocoli, natural yogurt and goat's milk. In order for the body to adequately absorb calcium, vitimin D is essential. Vitimin D is not easy to find in food sources but a few minutes in the sun each day will enable your body to produce the vitimin D it needs.

Sometimes we need more calcium than others. In the growing years kids and adolescents need a calcium rich diet. For women, each time menstruation rolls around we sometimes find ourselves with cravings for creamy yogurt, milk, ice cream and such because our bodies use more calcium in the days before and during our periods. Pregnant women and lactating mothers also need good quantities of calcium. In reality we always need calcium as preventive medicine for osteoporosis and to maintain our bones nice and strong to better resist any kind of blow, wear and tear and any healing process that may be required.

Now I'll explain how you can make a great calcium plus suplement: Just before you use an egg, wash it...empty the shell...wash the inside of the shell as well and save it. Don't wash eggs before using them because you will eliminate a protective substance that keeps the egg fresh for a longer period of time. When you have a bowl full of egg shells put them on a baking tin and heat them in the oven until they are totally dry and can even be slightly toasted. Remove them from the oven and cool. If you have kids, let them smash the egg shells (they love it!) and if you don't have kids you'll love smashing them! Put the smashed shells in the blender, a cup at a time, and blend for about two minutes. Fine-sift ground up shells. The powder obtained is your calcium, phosphorous and magnesium suplement that you can put into recipes or chug-a-lug down a 1/2 teaspoon a day, with some orange juice. Be careful when putting your calcium suplement into recipes. Don't put too much because even though it is finely ground sometimes you get a crunchy, sandy effect in your cookies or cakes. I play it safe and put just a little into my cooking and take the suplement straight with juice.

Don't throw away what is left over in the sifter. These more course-ground left over egg shells are great fertilizer for your plants. Sprinkle them around the roots for great results.

This is a very economic way to add extra calcium to your diet, your kid's diet, for pregnant women and older people. There's no excuse to not have enough calcium. Now let's get to it! Everyone chow down on egg shells!!!

Sponsor of this website: CENTRO ECUESTRE YOS-OY: Horseback Riding for recreation, competition, therapy, and party facilities. Tel: (506) 8301 4401, (506) 2282 6934. Located in Santa Ana, Costa Rica.

August 9, 2006

WHAT’S THE STORY WITH EGGS?

I’m often asked, “Are eggs bad for you?” Also I’ve received the comment: “I see you use quite a few eggs in your recipes. Isn’t that bad?”

Let’s look at a few facts about eggs. An egg is a very special kind of food. It contains all the vitamins that the human body needs to survive except vitamin C. Eggs are mineral rich as well, and it’s even a very good idea to eat the shell! Eggs also have substances that are said to help strengthen the immune system. This stands to reason because you can compare an egg to a woman’s colustrum. The egg is designed to house the development of the chicken embryo. Nature provides the embryo with surroundings and conditions that protect life and make things difficult for harmful bacteria and other elements that might try to hurt the embryo’s development. There are dietary supplements to strengthen the immune system on the market that are derived from processing substances obtained from eggs.

Now comes the most common question: What about cholesterol? For years the poor egg has been accused of being responsible for high cholesterol blood counts. The truth of the matter is that egg yolks do contain cholesterol. Yet, wise Mother Nature also equipped eggs with lecithin, which helps eliminate cholesterol from the blood stream.

A refined foods diet is the real culprit in terms of cholesterol related problems. When a person does not have adequate fiber in the diet and eats white bread, white rice, refined pastries, very little raw food, vegetables and fruits without their seeds and skins…the digestive process turns into a time-bomb that can explode at any time forming any one of the popular chronic diseases of modern man. You can choose from heart disease, high blood pressure, a variety of cancers, appendicitis, varicose veins, diverticulosis, and much, much more!

We need a certain amount of cholesterol in order to survive. The human body itself produces cholesterol from bile acids. These acids are secreted by the liver as part of the digestive process. When there’s not enough fiber in the diet, these bile acids get stuck in the intestines for too long and get converted into cholesterol. When people eat enough fiber, digestion occurs in around 17 hours and when their feces are examined, there is a substantially greater quantity of intact bile acids present than the feces of people on a low or non-fiber diet. In other words the left over bile acids are eliminated in the bowel movement and are not converted into dangerous excess cholesterol that goes to the blood stream.

So, I would say eat eggs, but…make sure you have adequate fiber in your diet to maintain a healthy digestive process. Of course, by no means go against your doctor’s orders, unless of course you discuss the matter previously with him or her and get their go-ahead.

I’ll never forget a report I read about a gentleman who asked his doctor in an alarmed fashion: “I’m very worried about my health because for my entire life I have eaten six eggs a day! Now I heard that eggs are bad for your health!” The doctor asked him: “Well now, how old are you?” The man answered. “I’m eighty-six.”

Sponsor of this website: CENTRO ECUESTRE YOS-OY: Horseback Riding for recreation, competition, therapy, and party facilities. Tel: (506) 8301 4401, (506) 2282 6934. Located in Santa Ana, Costa Rica.

July 31, 2006

Refined Sugar? Yes or No?

You will not find any white-refined sugar, nor brown sugar in my kitchen. White sugar is 100% sucrose. This is not a natural substance. In nature you will never find pure sucrose. There is sucrose in some foods, but in very small quantities that can be easily handled by your organism. When you eat sugar the sucrose is instantly converted into glucose and goes right into your blood stream. You feel a "false" increase in energy for a limited period of time, maybe about 15 minutes. When your blood fills with glucose an alarm goes off signaling to the pancreas to secrete insulin to normalize the sugar levels in your blood. Most people eat foods or drink beverages with sugar in them at least 10 times a day. Can you imagine what this does to your poor pancreas? Later on in life many people develop different grades of diabetes due to a tired out, over-worked pancreas. This is only one fact in favor of eliminating sugar from your diet. Sugar has also been related to hyperactivity in children, nervousness in adults, tooth decay, obesity, and criminal conduct (studies have shown that criminal offenders consume high percentages of sugar)...must I say more?

As for brown sugar, it's almost the same thing as white sugar. It's about 98% sucrose.

So now what do we do? Does this mean good bye to cakes, cookies, and pies? No way! There are plenty of delicious, non-chemical substitutes for sugar.

1) In Costa Rica we have TAPA DULCE which is the natural, unrefined sugar cane juice cooked and molded into blocks. This can be melted down and made into tapa dulce honey.

2) Bee's Honey.

3) Dried Fruits, bananas and their relatives, and sweet potato are some examples of natural sweetners. I'll be teaching you how to make excelent use of them on this website.

4) Calming down. This really helps to substitute for sugar. We are so used to responding to any publicity or so called attractive package on the super market shelf. If you are "with yourself" you can think a lot better in terms of making choices in favor of your health. Be sure to order my father's book We're Having Sex Right Now! It will help you in great measure as you get into eating a healthier diet.

HIGH FIBER ENERGY CANDIES

1 cup home made peanut butter

1 cup bran

1 cup raisins

1 cup fresh grated coconut

3/4 cup honey

1/4 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup ground peanuts

1/2 cup natural sesame seeds (not the white ones)

1/2 cup grated coconut (dry or fresh)

Mix the first six ingredients. Shape into balls and roll 1/3 in groun peanuts, 1/3 in natural sesame seeds and the other 1/3 of the balls in coconut. You can eat them immediately or do as I prefer...freeze them. I guarantee you'll get prolonged energy from these nutritive and fiberous candies! To life!

Sponsor of this website: CENTRO ECUESTRE YOS-OY: Horseback Riding for recreation, competition, therapy, and party facilities. Tel: (506) 8301 4401, (506) 2282 6934. Located in Santa Ana, Costa Rica.

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July 24, 2006

Starting the Day on the Right Foot

When you get up in the morning I recommend you take the following steps:

1) Keep a notebook by your bedside and write down your dreams. If you’d like to know how to interpret them, read the book We’re Having Sex Right Now! Chapter X.

2) Eat three tablespoons of natural yogurt upon awakening, before eating or drinking anything else. This will cultivate an atmosphere of good bacteria in your intestine, protecting you from digestive disorders and even infections.

3) Eat breakfast with natural wheat bran in it. If you’ve never eaten bran start with 3 tablespoons a day. You can prepare bran in many ways (described below). Be sure to drink sufficient water so that the bran will take effect (6-8 glasses a day).

If you follow these simple steps, you’ll notice an extraordinary difference in your feelings and your health in general. If a week goes by and you don’t feel the difference, you definitely should increase your intake of bran. The sign that you are eating the right amount is that you will excrete at least two times a day. Increase your bran intake little by little until you are excreting normally. I guarantee you won’t regret it.

HOW DO YOU EAT BRAN?

I eat bran every day for breakfast. Bran by itself tastes like sawdust. The idea is to get up in the morning wanting to eat it…so how can we disguise something with a rough texture and a bland taste?

Suggestions:

1) Blend your bran with papaya and drink it.

2) Mix your bran with a mashed ripe banana. Put some roasted peanuts and raisins on top. Accompany with a fresh fruit salad.

3) Mix your bran with a ripe plantain banana. Make it as though it was a pancake

Following you’ll find my favorite pancake recipe:

YOGURT PANCAKES

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup bran

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 eggs

1 cup natural yogurt

Separate the eggs. Beat the whites until fluffy. Combine all other ingredients including the egg yolks. Finally add egg whites with a folding in movement until you have everything mixed adequately.

Use 1/3 cup batter for each pancake. Cook in a frying pan with just a wee bit of olive oil. When bubbles appear on top of the batter, flip the pancake. Cook until browned.

You can serve these with natural jam or marmalade (no sugar please) or honey. These particular pancakes are really delicious on their own as well!

¡Qué Rico! (Scrumptious!) Jill Paer

Sponsor of this website: CENTRO ECUESTRE YOS-OY: Horseback Riding for recreation, competition, therapy, and parties. Tel: (506) 8301 4401, (506) 2282 6934. Located in Santa Ana, Costa Rica.