Health for The Body, Mind & Spirit

NO BAKE LEMON CHEESE CAKE

8  oz.  ricotta cheese

1 cup (8 oz.) silken tofu

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 can (14 oz. pkg.) condensed milk

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup lemon juice

2 tsp. unflavored gelatin

1 graham cracker piecrust, 9 inch

In a blender, puree ricotta cheese and tofu until smooth.  Pour into a bow and gradually stir in vanilla, condensed milk and sugar.  Pour lemon juice into a small saucepan.  Sprinkle gelatin over juice.  Warm over low heat, stirring occasionally, until gelatin is disolved.  Fold into cheese mixture.  Pour into pie crust.  Cover and chill for at least four hours.

Sweetened condensed milk can be used (omitting sugar).  However, I find using plain condensed milk and 3/4 cup sugar-depending on your sweet tooth-gives a better flavor to the cheese cake.

A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP

Sherrie had great difficulty sleeping at night.  Her mind seemed to race as she lay in bed with thoughts of the day’s activities and concerns about the day to come.  She came to see me hoping to find a solution that did not involve taking medication.  I did have her solution.  I recommended that she avoid any protein food (meat, fish, eggs, dairy or poultry) for two hours before retiring.  One hour before bedtime she was to take two capsules or tablets of L-Tryptophan (500 mg. each) and one capsule or tablet of Selenium (200 mcgs.

L-Tryptophan is an amino acid, and to be effective in contributing to a normal night’s sleep, needs to be absorbed without the competition of other amino acids found in protein foods.  If taken with the essential mineral Selenium (200 mcgs.)  I have found for many of my clients . . . . . and so it did for Sherrie, a natural remedy for inducing a normal night’s sleep.

I am not recommending a medical solution, only reporting on a natural solution that I have found works for me personally, as well as for many of my clients.

Vitamin D

Barbara  had suffered for several years with increasing fatigue , considerable muscle and joint pain, and depression. Her condition deteriorated to the point where she was bed ridden most of the time.

The doctors varied in their diagnosis from fibromyalgia to muscular Dystrophy.  A new physician called on board took her vitamin D levels. The levels were so low as to be almost undefinable. She was

immedately placed on vitamin D therapeutic amounts. Today several months later she is back at work feels great and is off all medication.

Always be sure your doctor periodically checks your Vitamin D levels.

VEGETABLE STEW

Late summer is the time to introduce your family to the delicious flavors of fresh garden vegetables.  They don’t have to come from your own garden but any local country side stand will do. Begin to  fill your basket with two or three yellow squash add a couple of zucchini (I prefer the smaller thinner squash as they are more tender than the large ones) .  Next add about three handfuls of string  beans, two ears of corn, one large onion, three nice size tomatoes,  three beets, one garlic bulb and any other fresh vegetable that catches your eye.  Now try  to ignore the fact that you may not (or a family member) may not like a particular vegetable because after your vegetable stew is finished the family will be unable to distinguish one from the other and they will love them all.

On the stove place a large deep pot.  Add enough cooking olive oil to cover the bottom of the pot. Add a layer of the garlic cloves which have been peeled and sliced thinly.   Next add the onion which has been peeled  and sliced in inch size sections.  Then add the well washed squash sliced in approximately one quarter inch sections then the beets (peeled and sliced)  Finally the string beans (tips snapped off)    and placed on top of the vegetables the two ears of corn (husked and washed), Cover the pot with a tight fitting lid and put the heat on simmer. After about ten minutes add the washed tomatoes sliced and quartered.  

Sometimes I cook the string beans and corn separately in my steamer as they take a little longer to become tender. My vegetables in the pot (I stir them occasionally) are firm to tender in approximately 15 minutes. The string beans and corn are usually done at the same time.   Add the string beans to the vegetable pot. Slice down the kernels from the corn and add along with 2 tbs. of sugar to the pot . Stir well. Finally add one can of well drained black beans. Stir well………..And serve.  You will finally have discovered the secret to your family loving vegetables!

HOLISTIC SINUS HEALING

Don had suffered  from  sinus infections for as long as he could remember.   Invariably  he ended taking an antibiotic to resolve his discomfort,  However there always seemed to be  a trade  off.  As the sinus problems disappeared he developed stomach pains and constipation. A visit to the doctor explained to Dan that several factors were contributing to his problem  Although the shape and size of the nasal membranes certainly make some people more prone to sinus conditions as well as the climate, there are other players involved here besides nasal structure, and climate. The body has  a powerful allay designed  to fight off any  invader to ones  health. This invader is the immune system.  Its job is to fight off free radicals the culprits that lower the bodie’.s immune system .Two factors were in play in Dan’s condition that made him a ready target for his condition.  First his  diet. Although compared to many people  Dan’s diet  was fairly  healthy,it  was not adequate to meet the climate changes and genetic structure of his nasal passages. He needed EXTRA support for his immune system. The doctor  suggested in addition to his daily one a day multivitamin to add  3000 milligrams of vitamin C daily ( spaced throughout the day. Because  he explained vitamin C is water soluble and washed out in a few hourso   needed to keep the tissues saturated. )  Secondly a well rounded B complex to be taken at the same time as the vitamin C.  Thirdly Transfer Factor (provides immune support , a tri-factor  formula combines Transfer Factor  E-XF and Naofactor. These concentrates consist of small messenger molecules that educate the immune system to respond quickly and effectively in combination with Cordydant, a proprietary blend of  highly advanced broad- spectrum immune support.

Don decided to stop his antibiotic therapy and began the doctor’s suggestions.  He also explained to Dan that when we take an antibiotic the harmful bacteria are destroyed but so also are the good bacteria that grow in our intestinal tract and produce healthy B vitamins. After any regime of antibiotic therapy it is important to begin a two week program of  Probiotics (These capsules contain billions of cells that promote healthy bacterial flora)  Dan calls his recovery in record time a miracle………fhe doctor simply said it was common sense.

CHRONIC FATIGUE

Jill was an energetic,  cheerful  divorced woman  mother of three grown children.  At fifty years of age she had  been staff manager for a large pharmaceutical company for ten years. Without warning she developed a severe case of bronchitis from which she still carried a persistent cough. At about the same time she suffered from an abscessed tooth.  As she was struggling to recover from these problems she found herself more and more fatigued from the simplest of tasks.  Over time the fatigue grew to the point of weakness . Just the process of getting out of bed in the morning  seemed as she described it so difficult that she literally had to crawl to the bureau to get out her clothes. Along with the acute weakness Jill became deeply depressed.  As she explained it not only was her physical condition the cause of her depression but the report of her physicians left her feeling totally hopeless.

Her lab reports showed that she suffered from a condition called chronic fatigue,  an illness for which there was no specific cure.  It will never kill you they assured her.  You will just have to adjust your life around it.  The doctors prescribed Elavil for her depression.  At this point Jill recalls that in spite of her tremendous fatigue she had great difficulty sleeping at night .  Sometimes only getting two hours of  sleep a night.  She had dropped her work hours to half days,  However her exhaustion became so great that she could only stand on her feet for five minutes at a time. At this point she was forced to take medical leave from her job.  Her exhaustion was so severe that she described it as feeling the need to have a sling to hold up her arm.

Being single and living alone it wasn’t long before Jill lost all hope of recovering.  However the realization that her savings would in time run out jolted her with the realization that she would lose her home  and be on the  street if  somehow  she didn’t  get well.  Like many of her friends  she had in the past attended a bible believing church.  How many times she had heard the teaching that “by the shed blood we can be healed”.  She dug into an old pile of books and found a small paper back book entitled GOD’s CREATIVE POWER by Charles Capps.  The book began by stating that faith filled words will put you over.  Fear filled words will defeat you.  Jill immediately realized that the doctor’s words had filled her with fear that she would never get well. She began to literally dig into this little book .  Charles Capps said that God’s word was medicine.  The book contained every healing scripture  found in the bible  Jill began to read them on a daily basis . Her favorite was “By his stripes I am healed”

Her determination to get well coupled with her faithful daily reading of the scriptures found her slowly regaining her strength. A physician friend later told her that he found that taking B vitamin supplemnts in the morning and afternoon along with Co Enzyme Q 10 once a day throughout the day had helped many of his patirnts. She took his advice. Within a month she was back at work full time and has been symptom free for five years.

EXERCISE

All exercise is good. The key however is consistancy.  What type of exercise motivates you ?  Does it help to be doing yourexercise to music?  Find the environment  that keeps you looking forward to the  special energy surge that exercise will give you. Would you feel best going for a long walk out of doors?  If this is the case how about eventually moving that walk up to a walk/run.  Maybe you like the comradery of other people .  How about joining a Jazzersize class where you work out at an easy pace with other folks and eventually make some new friends.  Or just maybe you would prefer to exercise alone in the privacy of your home using a treadmill  while watching your favorite  TV show . Your body temple is similar in a sense to the car you drive.  It is only going to carry you for as long as you keep it in shape.  We are not talking having perfect figures,  we are talking about  staying alive.

Have you ever thought of getting a Pilate Ball ?  This is a large ball available in sizes according to your height. There are many exercises that can be done with this ball but the one I recommend is incredibly easy yet incredibly  good for your health. If you sit on the ball [as you would sit on a chair] and begin to bounce up and down [similar to posting on a horse] for 4 minutes you will have flushed your entire lymphatic system………However for it to be fully effective  you must do it on a daily basis.  Again bounce once a day watching your favorite TY show.

Impossible healings

In the course of my career I owned a heath and fitness club.  It was a full service club with 400 pounds of free weights, a full set of universal equipment, a whirl pool, sauna, tanning beds, aerobic and weight loss classes. Living in a university town with thousands of students I fully expected to be successful. However the Small Business association with whom I counseled on a regular basis insisted the town could not support a fitness club. Enthusiastically I ignored their advice.

The first several months ran relatively well until the students went home for Christmas vacation. There were no new memberships and not enough money to pay the rent. One of my aerobic instructors who was a Christian said “Polly you must be out of God’s will or you would have the rent money you need.” I told her she could be right and together we prayed about the matter. within approximately two hours a man came into the club carrying a briefcase. I knew immediately he must be a salesman and  told him  that I could not afford any new advertising . He ignored my statement and looking me squarely in the eye said ” My name is Grady and I am here with a word from the Lord. ”  Then without pausing he asked if I had any oil. “You see”, he said,” This is a house of healing . People will be healed in your doorways. I want to anoint all the lentils. It so happened that I did have a bottle of oil. 

He then proceeded to walk through the club taking the oil and making the sign of  the cross over each doorway. The men lifting weights asked me if I was running a church or a gym. In the aerobic room he asked if  there were any sick in the class. The embarrassed instructor  immediately  turned up the music as loud  as loud as possible. Then as quickly as he had arrived Grady was out the door and gone. The following day the Bicycle  Club of  Newark  joined and I was able to pay the rent.

Unfortunately it wasn’t long before I found myself  again without enough income to pay the rent. Now my employees all of whom were students at the university and had witnessed the miraculous  appearance of Grady began to chant “Lets call on Grady.  Grady we need you!”  I must confess it was done in jest they never fully expected him to show up.                     

Since my budget was limited I was forced to use as my electrician the young brother of  my hairdresser who having had his right leg crushed in a motorcycle accident was forced to walk dragging his leg in a heavy metal brace. I had called him to do a minor electrical  job and as only God could have orchestrated it no sooner did he arrive than in walked Grady. As a registered nurse I was quite aware that the condition of this young electrician was beyond medical repair.  Yet as I heard Grady call out to him , “Son this is the day of your healing.”  I had that indescrible  feeling one gets when something impossible is about to happen. Grady took the young man into my office for what seemed like an eternity.   Although it could not have been more than 10 to 15 minutes, when they finally came out Grady handed me the metal brace and told me to hang it with the bar bells on the wall as the electrician  would have no more use for it.  I watched in amazement as the electrician picked up his tool box and walked with a normal gait to the area that required his electrical skill.

Three years after this event I was in the office of a young human resources consultant in preparing for a lecture I was to give.  I happened to look up at her bulletin board and commented to her that the man in one of her snapshots looked familiar………..”Oh my gosh ” she exclaimed. “Your Polly!…………..Do you realize that was on this very day three years ago my husbands was completely healed at you gym and he walks perfectly to this day.”

RIGHT WAY CHOCOLATE PIE

One package of semi sweet chocolate chips

2 Tbs. honey

One block firm tofu

Melt chocolate chips.  Add the honeyand tofu. { Pour off the water around the tofu before mixing}. Whip in a blender or food processor. Pour into a graham cracker crust.  Refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours. Serve with a whipped topping.

This recipe is not only delicious but extremely nutritious and low in calories and fat gams!

THE MIRACLE BEAN

Miracles can come in very small packages.  Today’s miracle is a tiny bean…….the soy bean.  I wrote a book entitled Soy and Me {available on my web site.} The reason for writing the book was because I represented the soy bean board of Delaware at their promotional events and had to be able to answer  any questions the public had………and I had to give out delicious samples of foods made from soy beans. The recipes I created were so scrumptious that children at the state fair came  back for second and third helpings.

Now the reason I consider this tiny bean a miracle is because of its many many talents. Not only can it transform itself into endless forms {tofu, tempeh, miso, edamame, soy cheese, soy milk, soy oil} it is the only bean that is a complete protein and filled with vitamins and minerals. One half cup of  cooked soy beans contains:

Calories 14

Protein {Gms}    14;3

Total Fat [GmS) 1.1

Saturated fat(gms) 1

Unsaturated fat{gms} 6′6

Carbohydrates {gms} 8.5

Crude Fiber {gms} 1.8

Calc1um {gns}  88.o    

Iron {mg} 4.4

Zinc {mg.} 1.0

Thiamine {mg} 0.1

Riboflavin {mg} 0.3

Niacin {mg} 0.3

Vitamin B6{mg} 0.3

Folic Acid {mg} 46.2

 Notice this one half cup of soybeans has as much complete  protein as a large serving of chicken!

The health benefits of this little  bean are endless . For folks who are not able to digest milk well soy milk is the answer. The people who want to eat fewer meat products that all contain saturated fats, soy is the answer. People on weight loss programs will find endless soy substitutes for meat. Studies have shown soy to  reduce the symptoms of menopause, help prevent osteoporosis ,cancer, diabetes and  heart disease……….But you tell me soy looks uninviting  and what in the wor;ld do I do with it?Lets visit my healthy recipe web site and you will find miraculous ways to transform an innocuous bean into delicious delicasies.

                                                                                        A SOY BEAN THOUGHT

If all that soy could think or dream

was  just to be a tiny bean

Then where would all the mystery be to  push through earth and grow

to see

If somewhere up ahead that light and sunshine would emerge

And so embrace their tiny bed.

In fact this mystery is the key

that  causes them to reach ………..to be

And I just like this tiny bean,

Still reach for heights I only dream,

That still remains the mystery t

That makes alike the soy and me.

          Quote from Polly’s  book  “SOY and ME”