Lately I had a discussion with several friends. We all buy organic foods as much as we can afford. But there is a timeless Hamlet’s question, “To be or not be?” in this newest health trend. If you are serious about knowing for sure, read the book A Field Guide to Buying Organic by Luddene Perry and Dan Schultz that will help you navigating the aisles in the supermarkets and farmers markets.

Is organic food worth it? The authors did a great research, and started their book with this simple question that only seems to be simple. “Although there’s always an emphasis on worth, the it is the lithmus test, say the authors. “The believer in organic foods uses it as an eye-narrowing challenge. The skeptic tosses it away. And the simply curious hold it up, for examination–like an apple–in the light. Our answer is always the same: It depends.”

On what it depends? Any articles we read today usually take two strong positions–either they enthusiastically support organic or sarcastically criticize it. I consider myself lucky because my family had our own fresh produce that was grown by my grandparents without any chemicals on several acres around our house in southeastern Europe. Organic fruits, vegetables and herbs were crispy-fresh with a special delicate scent and delicious taste that you’ll never find on the supermarkets shelves.

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Delicious superfruits are the bell peppers. I love all kinds of Capsicum annuum, as bell peppers are called in Latin. These wonderful fruits of Nature are sweet and tangy in taste, and crunchy in texture. They come in dark and light green, red, yellow, orange, and in white rainbow colors when they are almost ready to ripe.

What is the difference between them? There are simple facts to know. Dark green peppers are thicker in texture, less sweet and a little bit more bitter than red, orange or yellow peppers. If farmers are not in a hurry to deliver new harvest to the supermarkets , they usually allow the peppers to ripen fully on the plant in full sunshine. These peppers are the sweetest you can find and the tastiest to use in your homemade salads or other meals.

In comparisson with green peppers, red peppers contain more vitamins and nutritional properties, including the antioxidant lypocene. The level of carotene, another antioxidant is nine times higher in red peppers, and twice the vitamin C content than green peppers. Orange bell peppers or paprikas, as they called in many countries in Europe, are sweet, juicy and refreshing, and have 50 % less calories than an orange. They also contain significant amount of vitamins A and C, and can be included in many different dishes or can be eaten raw.

These colorful and sweet fruits are colorful and pleasant ingredients in all my salads, soups and garnish. I love to make my Grandma’s famous brand–stuffed peppers, whic is relatively a low-calorie, healthy meal. Now watch how Laura Calder cooks these delicious superfruits. If you like her recipe, just follow up… with French Food at Home.

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*Buy several kinds of natural roasted coffee beans, mix and grind them. Then
pour spring water in a small stainless steel pot. Add finely grounded coffee and bring to a boil. Boil for one-two minutes. Pass this coffee liquid trough the strainer into a glass jug and serve in small cups. Add one teaspoon honey to it, and you have a perfect cup of coffee.

Coffee made using any electric appliances will never taste the same. Actually this is not coffee at all, but a cheap parody. Did you read the latest news that Walmart is recalling about 900,000 coffee makers under the General Electric brand. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commssion received more than 80 reports of the machine overheating, smoking, melting, burning and catching the fire. 83 complaints received Walmart from the customers who purchased, including three who suffered burns.

Under federal law companies-manufacturers are required to report immediately to the government any time a product defect has been indentified as creating “a substantial risk of injury.” It is mot unusual, writes Wallet Pop today in the latest news, “for some companies to sell all the products before recalling them — a far less expensive endeavor.”

Walmart, a discount retailer, doesn’t care about quality of the products selling in its mega-stores. This retail giant cares only about the cheapest price and volume sales. You get what you paid for… A cheapest price is not always a good option even if you want to save money. What about your health and safety?

I never use any electric coffee maker because of these reasons. Coffee made in an electric coffee maker tastes nasty. I always make my coffee from scratch, starting with the best coffee beans I can find on the market. It smells and tastes delicious!

So, the first thing comes first! Here are tips for you how to blend the best coffee beans. Then you’ll get a recipe how to use these beans.

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In my previous posts you read about the healing power of olive olive supported by well-documented studies around the world. Now it’s time to get beautiful with the help of this natural product. Watch this video and learn how you can take good care of your skin by making these simple beauty remedies right in your kitchen without spending lots of money on cosmetic products full with chemicals and artificial colors.

I do lots of differents things with olive oil. I cook with it, use on my face, skin, and create balsams for hair treatment. If you will include just one tablespoon of olive oil in your every day healthy diet, it’ll will help you live a longer and healthier life, and look years younger. Here are the results of some well-documented studies conducted by researchers around the world.

• “American women might experience as much as a 50 percent reduction in breast cancer risk if they consumed olive oil in place of other fats,” says Dr. Dimitrios Trichopoulos, the Harvard epidemiologist who participated in  a study together with researchers from the University of Athens in Greece.

Fact: the bigest consumers of olive oil are people living in Mediterranean countries. Breast cancer rates are 50 percent lower there than in the United States.

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Just pour a small amount of organic milk or 1-2 tablespoons of whipped cream on a top of black coffee and you can create different shapes from flowers to animals, and smiling faces. Watch this video and see how you can do that for your guests or for yourself for fun.

Today is Earth Day. It was designed to celebrate awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment. Earth provides us with the most natural and beautiful gifts: trees, plants, flowers, water, air…  Should I continue this list further? Just look outside or visit countryside in spring today, and you will witness an amazing wealth of flowers. Imagine that once the mythical gods and goddesses played on Mount Olympus. As a result of their game, flowers were born into creation and their modest sprouts appeared on the Earth.

Trees and flowers were an important part of  the lives of the ancient Greeks, especially spiritual. To them, nature itself was a religious symbol. They saw the healing power of plants as a gift from the gods, and the beauty of nature, plants and flowers became an inspiration in their wonderful art. In those ancient days the Greeks would “say it with flowers.” Ever since those times flowers have been used to convey love and intimate messages, secret meanings and powerful healing properties.

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Do anxiety related conditions dominate your life? Watch what Charles Linden will tell you how he was able to overtake his problems with constant anxiety that did not give him a chance to leave a joyful and healthy life. 

Using his experience and self-experiments, he invented The Linden Method that was used by the Linden Center in UK, This Center has been treating people with anxiety disorders for years. In the last 10 years The Linden Method was introduced in Europe, Britain, and than in the United States to provide treatment for 130.000 people with anxiety disorders, panic attacks, and phobia.

Now you can see natural ways to ease panic attacks, anxiety and mood disorders in action by people who believe in natural treatment.

I know, this topic is not too much fun, but there are thousands of  people in the world, who need help.

And don’t forget to buy today fresh spring flowers. It’ll make you feel much better.

 Anxiety disorders. How can you prevent this condition from happening?

• Follow a healthy lifestyle including a nutritious diet and exercise to dispel anxiety and stress.
• Talk over your problems when they arise instead of bottling them up.
• Seek help sooner rather than later–the longer you hide an anxiety problem the more deeply it can take a root.

The cures that naturopaths will recommend:

• A whole food diet, stress reduction, and therapies to relieve the effects of stress. (see the book, Mama’s Home Remedies, Chapter about Stress, page 185).
• Hydrotherapy in the form of swimming. Swimming works well as part of a hydrotherapy treatment, promoting a feeling of calmness and well-being.
• Use of flotation tank to induce balance and tranquility.
• Lifestyle change and assessment to inprove  physical, mental, and spiritual health generally.

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