festival.811-friendly.net — Come enjoy the best season in the South of Spain. Come for four days to an Andalusian valley known for its well-preserved nature, and its rivers with swimming holes. It will be held on a long weekend at the end of the Summer, with plenty of sun, delicious and abundant tropical and local Mediterranean fruits, and with great like-minded people! What else can one ask for?! Our Festival is based on the idea of meeting new friends and sharing, in a natural environment, the best local fruits. The Festival will be held at the beginning of September, when the fig season is at its best, when the melons are everywhere, and when mangos, cherimoyas and guavas are really bursting with flavor. As farmers ourselves, we are able to find the best quality fruit, and fruits that are picked truly ripe.

hsph.harvard.edu —                                                        Fill half of your plate with vegetables and fruits.  The more color, and the more variety on this part of the plate, the better. Potatoes and French fries don't count as vegetables on the Healthy Eating Plate, because they are high in fast-digested starch (carbohydrate), which has the same roller-coaster effect on blood sugar and insulin as white bread and sweets. These surges, in the short term, can lead to hunger and overeating, and in the long term, can lead to weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and other health problems. Save a quarter of your plate for whole grains—not just any grains: Whole grains—whole wheat, brown rice, and foods made with them, such as whole wheat pasta—have a gentler effect on blood sugar and insulin than white bread, white rice, and other so-called “refined grains.” That’s why the Healthy Eating Plate says to choose whole grains—the less processed, the better—and limit refined grains. Put a healthy source of protein on one quarter of your plate:  Chose fish, chicken, beans or nuts, since these contain beneficial nutrients, such as the heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids in fish, and the fiber in beans. An egg a day is okay for most people, too (people with diabetes should limit their egg intake to three yolks a week, but egg whites are fine). Limit red meat—beef, pork, and lamb—and avoid processed meats—bacon, cold cuts, hot dogs, and the like—since over time, regularly eating even small amounts of these foods raises the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and colon cancer. Use healthy plant oils. The glass bottle near the Healthy Eating Plate is a reminder to use healthy vegetable oils, like olive, canola, soy, corn, sunflower, peanut, and others, in cooking, on salad, and at the table. Limit butter, and avoid unhealthy trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils. Drink water, coffee or tea. On the Healthy Eating Plate, complete your meal with a glass of water, or if you like, a cup of tea or coffee (with little or no sugar). (Questions about caffeine and kids? Read more.) Limit milk and dairy products to one to two servings per day, since high intakes are associated with increased risk of prostate cancer and possibly ovarian cancer. Limit juice to a small glass per day, since it is as high in sugar as a sugary soda. Skip the sugary drinks, since they provide lots of calories and virtually no other nutrients. And over time, routinely drinking sugary drinks can lead to weight gain, increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, and possibly increase the risk of heart disease. Stay active. The small red figure running across the Healthy Eating Plate’s placemat is a reminder that staying active is half of the secret to weight control. The other half is eating a healthy diet with modest portions that meet your calorie needs. Read 20 tips for staying active.

scienceblogs.com — In most texts and sources that I've read, the germ theory of disease is stated something like, "Many diseases are caused by microorganisms." We could argue whether viruses count as microorganisms, but for purposes of the germ theory they do. (Most biologists do not consider viruses to be true living organisms, because they consist of nothing more than genetic material wrapped in a protein coat and lack the ability to reproduce without infecting the cell of an organism.) Now, let's take a look at the latest germ theory denialist idiocy I've come across. The first one, not surprisingly, I found on NaturalNews.com. Surprisingly, it was not written by Mike Adams, but rather by someone named Paul Fassa, who proclaims You have been lied to about germs. It should have been called "You are about to be lied to about germs." First, though, since this article wasn't by the usual science-hating loon Mike Adams, I was curious just who Paul Fassa is. I had never heard of him before. It didn't take long to find Fassa's Twitter account and then from there his blog Health Maven, which bills itself as an "escape from the medical mafia matrix." Interesting. Why does it appear that any time I come across a germ theory denialist like Fassa, he's someone who uses terms like "medical mafia matrix"? I don't know, but such people also tend to write introductory paragraphs like this: We have been taught to fear germs, pathogens, viruses, and bacteria that invade us from out there. This is the Pasteur model of disease contagion. This creates a dependency on Big Pharma to protect us from invading microbes, each having one form (monomorphic) and creating one specific disease. Pasteur`s model of disease won over rival Claude Bernard`s more accurate argument of the inner terrain. Pasteur`s declaration, though serving the coffers of Big Pharma, creates more questions: How come some get a disease that`s going around and others don`t? How do all these new bugs come out of nowhere to haunt us? Why do vaccines and antibiotics ultimately fail and create super bugs? These questions are answered by understanding the inner terrain and pleomorphism. Note how Fassa first misrepresents the Pasteur model of disease. This is common among germ theory denialists, in my experience. They tend to assume that germ theory states that pathogenic microbes are 100% infectious and always cause disease. Consequently, when people are exposed to pathogenic microbes and don't become ill, people like Fassa point to that as evidence that germ theory is invalid. After all, the germ didn't cause disease, at least in this one case! That must mean that all of germ theory is wrong! Concrete thinking, thy name is Fassa (and other germ theory denialists.) It's rather odd that even most teenagers can understand that catching an infectious disease is dependent not just on the microbe but each person's resistance to that microbe. This is the same thing that mystifies HIV/AIDS denialists, who seem to view the observation that most exposures to HIV do not result in AIDS as some sort of devastating indictment of the hypothesis that HIV causes AIDS. Add to that a long asymptomatic period and highly variable rates of progression, and HIV/AIDS denialists, who are--let's face it--really nothing more than a subtype of germ theory denialists who deny vehemently that one particular germ causes disease have all the doubt they need. But I digress. Also notice Fassa's early and immediate invocation of the pharma shill gambit. If there's another thing about germ theory denialism, it's that those who cling to it tend to be extremely distrustful of big pharma. I realize that in many cases big pharma deserves a lot of mistrust; its record in many areas demands it. What distinguishes many of these germ theory denialists is that they take healthy skepticism and take it to a pathological extreme. They also seem to think that the reason that antibiotics ultimately fail is because germ theory is invalid, which reveals an incredible ignorance of how antibiotics work. Helloooo! Evolution? Ever heard of it? Bacteria are incredibly good at evolving under the selective pressure of antibiotics. That's what creates superbugs, that and our tendency to overuse antibiotics. But what is the "inner terrain" and pleomorphism? This is where we find the "intellectual" basis of rejection of germ theory. As is the case with many alt-med beliefs, this basis harkens back to "ancient" knowledge (or at least 150 year old knowledge). It harkens back to Antoine Béchamp, who did indeed postulate nearly the exact opposite of what Pasteur did: that microorganisms were not the cause of disease but rather the consequence of disease, that injured or diseased tissues produced them and that it was the health of the organism that mattered, not the microorganisms. Basically, Béchamp's idea, known as the pleomorphic theory of disease, stated that bacteria change form (i.e., demonstrate pleomorphism) in response to disease, not as a cause of disease. In other words, they arise from tissues during disease states; they do not invade from the external world. Béchamp further proposed that bacteria arose from structures that he called microzymas, which to him referred to a class of enzymes. Béchamp postulated that microzymas are normally present in tissues and that their effects depended upon the cellular terrain. Ultimately, Pasteur's theory won out over that of Béchamp, based on evidence, but Béchamp was influential at the time. Given the science and technology of the time, Béchamp's hypothesis was not entirely unreasonable. It was, however, superseded by Pasteur's germ theory of disease and Koch's later work that resulted in Koch's postulates. What needs to be remembered is that not only did Béchamp's hypothesis fail to be confirmed by scientific evidence, but his idea lacked the explanatory and predictive power of Pasteur's theory. Fassa is sort of correct about one thing, though. Béchamp's idea was basically something like this: The inner terrain includes our immune system, organ tissues, and blood cells. Those who stepped out of line from Pasteur`s dogma asserted that the inner terrain was more vital for remaining disease free than searching for new antibiotics and vaccines to kill bacteria and viruses. As an analogy, flies don`t create garbage. But garbage attracts flies that breed maggots to create even more flies. Removing garbage is more effective than spraying toxic chemicals, which endanger human and animal life, around the house. Similarly, adding toxins to humans is not as effective as cleaning out the inner terrain. As I said, there's a grain of truth there, namely that the condition of the body and a person's immune system does matter. Specifically, it is true that the condition of the "terrain" (the body) does matter when it comes to infectious disease. Debilitated people do not resist the invasion of microorganisms as well as strong, healthy people. Of course, another thing to remember is that the "terrain" can facilitate the harmful effect of microorganisms in unexpected ways. For example, certain strains of the flu (as in 1918 and H1N1) are more virulent in the young because the young mount a more vigorous immune response. However, latter day Béchamp worshipers fetishize this idea to the point of claiming that the "inner terrain" is all that matters and that bacteria and viruses are manifestations, not causes, of disease. It goes beyond that, though. According to Béchamp, it's said: Blood is alive. It is not a liquid, but a mobile tissue (Béchamp was the first to describe blood thus). The things in our blood are alive. And one thing modern medicine does not accept is that something like a bacterium can change into a yeast that can turn into a fungus that can turn into a mold. We've talked about this in previous newsletters; it is called pleomorphism. Pleo meaning many and morph meaning form or body. This is, of course, complete nonsense. Bacteria cannot change into yeast or vice-versa, while yeasts are organisms in the kingdom Fungi. Dimorphic fungi can exist as a mold/hyphal/filamentous form or as yeast, but this fact does not invalidate the germ theory of disease. Indeed, some of these fungi are pathogens, such as Blastomyces dermatitidis, Histoplasma capsulatum, and Sporothrix schenckii. The misunderstanding of microbiology required to accept the rejection of germ theory in favor of Béchamp's ideas is staggering. Yet they remain very influential. Not among scientists, of course. Science moved on a long time ago. Rather, they remain influential among cranks. By Orac

www8.nationalacademies.org —  African Fruits Could Help Alleviate Hunger and Bolster Rural Development, Environmental Stability in Africa   WASHINGTON -- Africa's own fruits are a largely untapped resource that could combat malnutrition and boost environmental stability and rural development in Africa, says a new report from the National Research Council.  African science institutes, policymakers, nongovernmental organizations, and individuals could all use modern horticultural knowledge and scientific research to bring these "lost crops" -- such as baobab, marula, and butterfruit -- to their full potential, said the panel that issued the report.    Today, tropical fruit production in Africa is dominated by species introduced from Asia and the Americas, such as bananas, pineapples, and papayas.  Because these and other crops arrived on the continent centuries ago already improved through horticultural selection and breeding, they increasingly displaced the traditional species that had fed Africans for thousands of years.  The imported species also received the support of colonial powers who wanted familiar crops that were profitable to grow, and indigenous fruits continued their downward spiral of dwindling cultivation and knowledge.    With renewed scientific and institutional support, however, Africa's native fruits could make a much greater contribution to nutrition and economic development, the new report says.  Fruit trees and shrubs also offer long-term benefits by improving the stability of the environment.   The report highlights 24 fruits that hold special promise; some are already being cultivated in parts of Africa, while others are harvested from the wild.  Examples are:   Aizen.  Giving more people access to this wild fruit -- which grows in extreme climates with few other food resources -- could reduce malnutrition and mortality, the report says.  The fruits are a good source of vitamins A and C, calcium, and some minerals, while the seeds are high in protein and zinc.  This large, resilient Saharan shrub shows promise as a way to protect erodible slopes, stabilize dunes, and create windbreaks.    Balanites.  This small desert tree tolerates heat and aridity so well it thrives deep in the Sahara.  It produces heavy yields of datelike fruits, as well as kernels that are one-half oil and one-third protein -- similar to the makeup of soybeans and sesame seeds.  These fruits and kernels already feed families in arid zones where few other food crops exist, but their full potential is scarcely tapped.  The seeds supply a food-grade vegetable oil also used in local cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.  The trees stabilize the natural environment, helping dry areas resist desertification.   Baobab.  The fruits of the baobab tree contain a sticky pulp that can be dried into a nutritious powder high in protein, vitamins, and minerals.  The powder is stirred into warm water or milk to create a healthy drink, and also beaten and dried into thin pancakes for use months or even years later, aiding food security.  During the rainy season, villagers often store water in the tree's trunk for later use.  The sale of baobab fruits aids rural commerce, and the trees themselves -- which also yield a popular leafy vegetable -- are almost indestructible.   Butterfruit.  This small tree produces fruit that is mainly used as a vegetable.  High in calories and one of the best protein sources in the fruit world, butterfruit is especially promising for reducing child malnutrition.  Even now, these fruits help many communities survive seasonal food shortages in the harshest hot, humid lowlands.  Butterfruit also serves as a cash crop, pouring into cities and rural markets in large quantities.  And the trees, which yield mahoganylike wood, may have potential for plantation forestry.     Ebony.  The ebonies of Africa yield some of the world's finest timber and also bear abundant, bright red fruits that are succulent and sweet. These can be dried for use when seasonal foods become scarce. The seeds of some ebonies are also edible, and the leaves are used as animal feed.  Though the trees are known and valued on a local level, hardly anything scientific is known about managing them as food crops.   Marula.  This tree is a nutritional powerhouse, producing both fruits high in vitamin C and nuts similar to the macademia, high in protein and minerals.  The fruits are popular in markets and even exported, while the kernels contribute to nutrition and food security.  In addition, oils extracted from the nuts are also exported for high-priced skin care products.  Harvesting the fruits and shelling the nuts provide work for thousands of rural women who have hardly any other source of income.     Tamarind.  These fruits are a strong source of B vitamins and calcium, and can be stored for months without refrigeration.  In addition, tamarind's sweet-sour pulp can be preserved in the form of sun-dried cakes -- a simple procedure that perhaps millions throughout Africa could exploit for food security, the report says.  Already widespread, the trees have great promise for restoring damaged lands to health and productivity, and likely for sequestering carbon, since they are treasured and seldom cut down.

putteringinthegarden.com — A Blog About Gardening in a San Francisco Bay Area Yard About the Author I’m Steve, the author of Puttering in the Garden.  When I was about 10 years old, my parents turned an old sandbox in the backyard into a vegetable garden.  For years after that, taking care of that garden was my favorite summertime activity.  I also looked forward to harvesting apricots, peaches, plums, apples, pears, and cherries from our small backyard fruit orchard every year.  Gardening has been my favorite hobby ever since. After years of living in apartments and being limited to growing plants in pots, I moved into my own house in 2002.  Since then, I have been enjoying spending my weekends transforming the yard into my idea of an ideal garden.  I’m a lawyer, and I find that gardening is a great way to relax and relieve stress. I consider myself a gardening enthusiast, although I do not have any formal education in horticulture. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area in USDA zone 9, Sunset zone 15.

livingfoodfilms.com — Colin Campbell, Brian Clement, Alice Stern, Rozalind Gruben,Doug Graham, Ronnie Grandison, Karen Fierro, David Haylock, Howard Lyman, Keki Sidhwa, Viktoras Kulvinskas, Aris LaTham, Karyn Calabrese,  David Wolfe, Annette Larkins, Cheri Soria T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry and Principal Investigator for the landmark China-Cornell-Oxford Diet and Health Project. Pre-interview, July, 2000. Brian & AnnaMaria Clement, Director & Health Administrator of Hippocrates Health Institute with family, November, 2000. Leg cancer survivor Alice Stern with husband Clarence, post interview. Hippocrates Health Institute, May, 2000. Living Food and Healthful Living Educators Prof. Rozalind Gruben and Dr. Doug Graham, DC, relaxing after a week-long teaching engagement. Hippocrates Health Institute, West Palm Beach, November, 2000. NBA, IBL Pro-basketball player and 5 year living foodist Ronnie Grandison, Ohio, April, 2000. Karen Fierro with David Haylock, conducting another exciting interview. Coconut Grove Farmer's Market, Miami, October, 2000. Howard Lyman, President of EarthSave International, Author of Mad Cowboy, political lobbyist, staunch supporter of the Organic Industry and Vegan-Vegetarianism. Interviewed in Miami Beach on May, 2000. On location filming Dr. Keki Sidhwa ND, D.O., DNH amidst natural foliage. Miami Beach, May, 2000 Viktoras Kulvinskas MS. Legendary Godfather of Wheatgrass, Author of Survival Into The 21st Century among others and Lecturer. Jamaica, August, 2000. Master Raw Food Chef extraordinaire, Aris LaTham. Jamaica, August 2000. Full historical coverage of The Raw Food Masters Culinary Showcase, Jamaica, August 2000. Karyn Calabrese, 53 years of age and Living Foodist for over a decade. Jamaica, August, 2000. David Wolfe, Co-Author of Nature's First Law and Inspirational Lecturer after consuming Papaya. Jamaica, August, 2000. Annette Larkins, Author, Lecturer and 16 year Living Foodist at 58 years of age. Jamaica, August, 2000. Cheri Soria, Author, Director of The Living Light Culinary Arts Institute and special event coordinator. Jamaica, August, 2000.

rawnaturalhygiene.ning.com — Natural Hygiene is an approach to health that honors the body's innate abilities to heal if we give it the right conditions: raw, low-fat, high-water-content food, plenty of rest and sufficient sleep, sunshine, exercise, stress management, loving relationships and clean air. This website promotes a low-fat raw diet as the optimal diet for the body. Cooked food, while acceptable for transitioning, is a substance that the body needs to detoxify. While we offer help to those who are transitioning, we by no means want those who are having struggles to feel bad for not being 100% yet. Essentially the term "natural hygiene" describes a way of living that supports the body's own detoxification efforts by not participating in any activity or ingesting any substance that creates a toxic condition in the body. By getting sufficient rest and sleep, the body is then able to catch up on some valuable "house cleaning" and is able to eliminate waste products from metabolism and ingested substances. Much like if we did not take out the garbage in our house, the waste accumulates in our body tissues and gradually creates a condition of ill health. by Michele

cybermikan-sungazing.org —  Veliki Suncani Pozdrav! Iz Srbije- Novi Sad... Nov covek od kako sam poceo da radim siguran sungazing od 16. februara 2009. god.   Osnivac i pokretac ovog sajta, predsednik Sungazing organizacije Balkana, priredjivac knjige "Solarna joga", autor knjiga "Nauka i gledanje u Sunce" i koautor knjige "Zivot bez hrane". Licno sam se bavim onime sto preporucujem drugim ljudima, i uzivam u benefitima istog!!!   Dakle, nesto dalje o meni... Vizionar, pokretac, i inspirator sungazinga za Srbiju i Region. Zivotna misija, cilj i svrha mog zivota da pokrenem ljude u mojoj zemlji ali i regionu da rade sungazing, uzivaju dobro zdravlje ziveci nekoliko stotina godina, i naravno da pokrenu prekidac i oslobode svoje "nad prirodne" sposobnosti, koje su normalne u svakom coveku ali radi nacina naseg zivota su potisnute i latentne.   Zavrsio sam praksu i stigao sa 45 minuta na 15 minuta sungazinga i SADA radim sungazing ujutro I nekad uvece kada stignem. Osecam se predivno, nemogu se razboleti i um je smiren i sredjen.   Moja poruka i preporuka svima je da pocnu da rade siguran sungazing kako bi uzivali u benefitima istog, imali dobro zdravlje, i zivot po nekoliko stotina godina! To je moguce i vec od 2012. god. covecanstvo ce biti nova evolucija, novo doba dolazi za ljude jer ce biti otporni na SVE vrste bolesti, nece se vise hraniti drugim zivotinjama niti imati vise taj zivotinjski nagon....   Od 11. juna 2009. vise NE UZIMAM cvrstu hranu jer nemam potrebe za istom. Doveo sam Hiru u Novi Sad, predavanje je bilo jako poseceno, imali smo par intervijua, i snimanja tv ekipa TV Vojvodine i Apolo TV.   Zivim SAMO na energiji Sunca, vodi, malo mleka i caja na dan!   ***KOSMOS ***SUNCE - ENERGIJA I HRANA Šta sve znamo, a šta smo zaboravili o Suncu? Kako je moguće živeti samo od Sunčeve svetlosti, baveći se solarnom jogom? Kako je jedan čovek za samo godinu dana skinuo 30 kilograma, popravio dioptriju za 1,5 i poboljšao misaoni tok koji mu je ranije bio narušen, a sve to samo ...gledaju...ći...u Sunce? O ovim i drugim koristima od Sunca govori Hira Ratan Manek iz Indije, čovek koji je oživeo drevnu tradiciju solarne joge i Miroslav Kiš, instruktor solarne joge.Autorka emisije: Nina Martinović.   http://vimeo.com/13468704   Sve nase video snimke sa Balkana mozete BESPLATNO pogledati ovde:   http://vimeo.com/channels/123648     Kontakt: cybermikans@yahoo.com   Mobilni: 062/187 14 06  

hiramanek.com — We have a super computer in our bodies given to us by the nature, which is our brain. HRM (Hira Ratan Manek) calls it the “brainutor”. The brain is more powerful than the most advanced super computer. Each and every human being is gifted with innumerable talents, and infinite inherent powers by nature. Individuals should never underestimate..          - Hira Manek

rawfoodexplained.com — "A Raw Living Foods Diet, Clean Water, Exercise, Fresh Air, Sunshine and Fasting are important keys to restore and maintain pristine purity in body and mind. The goal of this website is to provide you with all the knowledge you need on this journey."