Have you noticed that on Fruit Roll-Ups and other “fruit” snacks there’s hardly any real fruit in them. They have so much added sugar and food colorings that they’re on my junk food list. If they have a considerable amount of vitamin C, then they’re on my “better of the junk food list.” Don’t despair, though. There is a fruit snack that is truly a fruit snack. It’s Stretch Island Fruit Leather, and it’s the original, all-natural fruit leather made since 1976. If you look on the label, it’s all fruit and natural flavorings with no added sugar, no food colorings, and nothing that is not natural. I buy them at Central Market, and Albertsons used to carry them. They come in delicious flavors such as “Autumn Apple, Ripened Raspberry, Orchard Cherry, and Summer Strawberry” just to name a few. That made my mouth water just typing in the names.  So…if you want a fruit snack you can feel really good about giving to your kids (or yourself), then try these original fruit leather snacks. They’re great!

(This is not a paid ad.)

You may be asking what in the world do money and enzymes have in common. Let me see if I can explain. When you have a certain amount of money, it’s easy to understand that the faster you spend it, the sooner you will run out. It’s the same way with enzymes. The late Dr. Edward Howell said, “It seems that we inherit a certain enzyme potential at birth.” Whatever we get, that’s it. So it’s like spending money, and the faster you use up your enzymes, the sooner you run out. So why are enzymes so important? Enzymes are needed for every chemical reaction that occurs in your body. Without enzymes, vitamins and minerals and hormones can not work … at all. That’s how crucial enzymes are for your body.

Some of you may be wondering exactly who was this Dr. Howell. Well, he was a doctor from Illinois who was the first researcher to discover how very important enzymes from raw foods are to human health and nutrition. In fact, in 1946 he published his first book about enzymes and kept researching after that.

The New York Times released a study today from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta that states that 76 million Americans suffer from food poisoning every year. I think seeing the actual number helps for emphasis: that’s 76,000,000 people. And this is really unbelievable… 5,000 people die every year from food poisoning. How could this happen here in our country where we have the safest food supplies in the world? This just goes to show that we need to be extra careful about food poisoning and look for ways we can prevent it.

Most people probably diet at some point in their life. Everyone has to find what works for them. But whatever diet is used, there are some common things to remember:

*Drink plenty of water. Water flushes toxins out of our system and keeps us hydrated.

*Eat five or six small meals or snacks throughout the day instead of three large ones. This keeps blood sugar and insulin at a steady level. When blood sugar spikes then the body tends to store fat.

*Eat slowly and chew your food completely. Chewing food well enables the body to absorb nutrients better.

*Use smaller plates so you won’t be tempted to fill up a large plate.

*Exercise at least three times a week. A good, brisk walk is great!

*Choose your favorite healthy foods that are loaded with vitamins and minerals.

Some people want additional help in their weight loss such as hydroxycut , but be sure to check with a doctor before taking any weight loss pill.

When I was doing my volunteer work at the Benevolent Center this morning, I talked with this sweet lady who lost her son this past March. He was taking medication for his heart. When he came down with a bad case of the flu, he was given medication for that. The sad thing is that the meds conflicted with one another, he had a horrible seizure, and he died as a result.

Years ago, my husband had a borderline cholesterol score. He was put on a prescription for Baycol, and after several months he noticed that he was losing muscle mass. He called his doctor’s office and told them about all the side effects he was having. He was told to keep taking the prescription. Well, it doesn’t make any sense to take medicine with side effects like that. And it was only for something that was borderline anyway. So my husband took himself off the medication and took fish oil and other supplements. I cooked with olive oil and we stayed away from beef and other high cholesterol foods. A few months later, we found out that some people had died from the very medication he had been taking, and Baycol was taken off the market. And then later after that, he finally got a call from the doctor’s office saying to go off the medication. Duhh!! If he had continued taking it when the doctor told him to stay on it, no telling what might have happened. When he went back for his next check-up, the doctor was so surprised at how good my husband’s cholesterol levels were, especially the good cholesterol. It was not a result of the (bad) medication, it was a result of diet. And we knew ultimately that God was watching out for him!

So, it all boils down to this. A person needs to research all their medications and take their health into their own hands. Research online, talk to the pharmacist, talk to friends who might take the same medication. Find out all you can about it! It could be a matter of life or death!

Most kids love the sugar-filled, barely nutritious cereals that are out on the market.  Ideally, cereal for kids should be very low in sugar and high in fiber and protein, but I don’t know many kids who will eat that kind of cereal.  So maybe a sugar/fiber ratio would help.   If the cereal has a lot of sugar in it then a requirement would be that it has to have a lot of fiber.  For example, Cinnamon Spoon Size Shredded Wheat has 12g of sugar & 6g of fiber (& 4g of protein) which is a really good amount of fiber.  If the cereal has a moderate amount of sugar then it would need to have a moderate amount of fiber.  Wheaties has a really good ratio with 4g of sugar and 3g of fiber.   Cheerios only have 1g of sugar and yet have 3g of fiber (& 3g of protein), so Cheerios are really great.  They probably have the best sugar/fiber ratio of all.

Soy has helped a lot of women with hot flashes, and it helped me for a while. I found that eating 1/8 – 1/4 cup of soy nuts a day greatly diminished my hot flashes. I continued this for five months or so until….I started breaking out in hives. I’m not talking about a few hives in one small area. I’m talking about hives in several areas, some small areas and some large areas. I had them on my arms, my elbows, my hips, my thighs, my waist. I was miserable and the itching would be intense at times, so much so that it would wake me up during the night.

I never had a food allergy before, but I learned that the best thing to do is keep a food diary. So that’s what I did. There were several foods (soy, wheat, barley, especially) that I had reactions to, and the hives would itch more after eating them. These were foods I’ve eaten my whole life and never had a problem.

I found the common denominator between them was phytic acid, and soy has the highest content of phytic acid of all. I decided, for a while anyway, to eliminate all the foods that made me itch. After a couple of months, the hives went away.

When the time for my appointment with an allergist finally came around, the hives were gone. I told her I thought it was the soy. She didn’t think so. After two different allergy tests, she said that she thought it was the soy. So after paying all the out-of-pocket medical expenses (our insurance isn’t very good), I didn’t know anymore than I did before I went to the allergist. I have continued to stay away from soy nuts ever since, but I was able to start eating everything else without any problem.

I had told a friend of mine about the soy nuts when I first started eating them, and she started eating them to help her hot flashes. When I realized it was the soy nuts that were causing my hives, I told her about it. She said that she had been itching some since she started eating the nuts. Well, after she heard about my experience, she quit eating soy nuts immediately and the itching went away.

Everyone is different, but if you are eating soy nuts on a regular basis, watch for any signs of an allergy…especially itching or hives! I’ve read that there are quite a few people who are allergic to large amounts of soy.

Many years ago, when I was teaching school, I had the unpleasant experience of losing a rather large filling.  It was not only painful having a gaping hole in my tooth, but I felt embarrassed that someone might see it in my mouth.  And, of course, I had to wait until I could get an appointment to have it taken care of.  How I wish I had had some Dentemp OS back then.  What a relief that would have been.  In sixty minutes, I could have had the hole filled until I was able to get in to see the dentist, and it would have prevented any pain or embarrassment.

In the course of time, I have had to have six crowns put on six different back teeth.  (My mother didn’t have me take very good care of my teeth when I was young.)   With that many crowns, I have a greater chance of losing one.  I am definitely going to remember Dentemp OS in case I ever do.  It will provide fast, temporary relief of pain and discomfort if I need it.  All I would have to do is remove it from its plastic vial and it would be ready to use with no mess or mixing.  And I would have several applications  in each vial so I wouldn’t have to worry about running out.  So not only would it replace a lost filling if I ever have that happen again, I could use it to temporarily cement a loose crown and then I could eat on it within 30 minutes after setting it.  It’s comforting to know that all products have been tested and fully comply with FDA Regulations for Oral Care.  So if I need temporary dental repair in the future, I know exactly what I’m going to get.   If you ever need to temporarily fix a loose crown or tooth with a lost filling, remember these facts about Dentemp OS:

Provides fast, temporary relief of pain and discomfort.

Just remove it from its plastic vial and it’s ready to use. No Mess!   No Mixing!  Several Applications in each vial. Replaces lost fillings and may be used to temporarily cement loose crowns. You can eat on it within 30 minutes of setting. All products have been tested and fully comply with FDA Regulations for Oral Care.