Chocolates

Would you like some chocolate? Unfortunately, my chocolates sold out very quickly and I do not yet know when I'll be making more, but enjoy the photos and ingredients lists below. The chocolate ingredients are all organic, extremely high quality and fresh. I made three fantastic flavors. All three contain real cacao (powdered chocolate beans) and real cacao butter (the oil from cacao beans). All three flavors are vegan and raw.

Raederle's Easy Permaculture Development

I grow hundreds of dollars worth of herbs, berries and vegetables in a typically-sized city yard. I use a technique called "permaculture" which essentially means I don't weed, I plant everything all mixed together, and generally mimic nature's wisdom.

I spent a week compiling photos and footage going back as far as 2009 that show how my garden as developed. The big changes started in 2011. The video is 19 minutes long, but I've put some great music from Hang Massive on it, so you can sit back and relax. Hang Massive provides music download from their website based on donations. Please support the donation-based movement by donating what you can and enjoying the sound of giving.

Want to grow your own permaculture paradise, travel during the cold season, work less, and live better? Then you'll love my book, Living Big & Traveling Far on $8,000 a Year (or Less!). Wonder how I afford my all-organic lifestyle full of traveling and fun? In my new book I explain how I do it all on only $8,000 per person, yearly. That's right — traveling six out of twelve months, all organic meals, lots of free time, and organic clothes too! I'm including every detail for how to do this in my book. Click here to learn more.

I spend an average of 12 minutes a day in my garden. I know this average to be perfectly accurate for the time period of June 2012 through September 2014 because of my little daily practice that I call my "Activity Log." I wrote about this in a blog post called Spending Time Wisely, and I wrote about it extensively in my book, Living Big & Traveling Far on $8,000 a Year, because this practice has really helped me soar!

Those little twelve minutes include planting, weeding, digging, composting, and harvesting. A couple weeks ago I brought in five little watermelons, a bowl full of tomatoes, and a heaping bowl of lemonbalm, mint, sage and basil. That was the first week of October.

In September I administered a cleanse where I made daily juices from burdock roots, comfrey roots, dandelion roots, lamb's quarters, broad-leaf plantain, thyme and oregano.

In July I feasted on blackberries and blueberries.

In June there were currant berries and the herbs were really at their peak. I enjoyed sorrel on my salads daily.

In May I had an average of five strawberries each day.

You get the idea, right? This garden is a sanctuary of fresh air, beautiful green plants and organic food... Yet just 12 minutes a day is all it takes to create and maintain.

Curious about growing your own permaculture garden? Start small, take some lovely photos and some time to smell the roses. Start with just a square foot or so. Let it be easy. Let it evolve in as little as 12 minutes a day (that is 1.4 hours per week or 6 hours per month).

For more life-changing concepts and green ideas, sign up for my e-course below the comments.

Minerals versus Vitamins versus Antioxidants versus Hormones

What is the difference between vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and hormones?

The main difference is that antioxidants are too-often over-looked. I'm kidding, at least partly.

There are six recognized classes of nutrients, plus antioxidants:

• Carbohydrates
• Fats
• Proteins
• Water
• Vitamins
• Minerals
• Antioxidants

Hormones are not on the list because hormones are not nutrients. We'll get to that later on.

The first three — carbohydrate, fat, and protein — are considered macronutrients. Your body requires these in "large" quantities each day, which is why we measure these in grams. Water can be thought of as the fourth macronutrient, but like antioxidants, it is often neglected. Vitamins, minerals and antioxidants we measure in miligrams or micrograms.

Antioxidants, vitamins and minerals behave differently from macronutrients. Instead of yielding energy, they help your body carry out necessary and important physiological processes. It is said that about forty of these nutrients are essential for life because your body cannot synthesize enough to meet your physiological needs. Therefore your diet provides you the bulk of these essential nutrients.

What is the difference between a vitamin and an antioxidant?

You may have heard that vitamin C and vitamin E are antioxidants. Which are they? Vitamins or antioxidants? They're both. These two classifications are not mutually exclusive.

Antioxidants can be vitamins. What antioxidants do is protect your cells from damage caused by free radicals. Free radicals are formed as part of your natural metabolism (exercise) but also by environmental factors, including smoking, pesticides, pollution and radiation. Free radicals are unstable molecules which react easily with essential molecules of your body, including DNA, fat and proteins.

When a free radical attacks a molecule within you, it will then become a free radical itself, causing a chain reaction which can result in the destruction of your cell. Antioxidants have the property to neutralize free radicals without becoming a free radicals themselves.

In short, antioxidants are chemicals that offer up their own electrons to the free radicals, thus preventing cellular damage.

As far as I can tell, the only thing that keeps most antioxidants, such as lycopene, from being on "vitamin status," is that they are not considered essential. They're like a special bonus you get when you eat certain foods. No tomatoes, watermelon or pomegranate in your diet? Okay, you won't die, visibly shrivel up and lose your ability to walk. Therefore we don't call lycopene a vitamin...

That said, lycopene has incredible beneficial properities, like being highly protective against sun damage. In fact, without lycopene or something similar, you will visibly wrinkle.

Try eating ten servings of lycopene-rich food every day for three days prior to sun exposure, and then don't eat any oils, animal products, nuts, seeds, beans, legumes or grains the day you're outdoors a lot. Wear no sunscreen and watch how much longer you can stay in the sun (provided you drink plenty of water). Then, if you do burn, apply lavender essential oil. It works even better than using a fresh aloe plant. I know from personal experience and second-hand experience: choose lavender! No mess, no fuss, no chemicals!

Antioxidants, I believe, are the next area of nutrition to explore. In the past hundred years we've come a long way in the understanding of nutrition. We've invented theories such as "the complete protein" and then proven them false. We've had ideas like "one day everyone will just eat pure energy (carbs)" and then discovered the utter failure of such limited intake. Antioxidants are those unique properties which make foods "medicinal".

When we talk about the "special properties" of turmeric, pomegranates or blueberries, we're talking about antioxidants. Yet, these healing properties vary dramatically from the tannins in green tea to the resveratrol in red wine. You can't just eat a bunch of tannins and expect the same results you'd get from the lycopene in watermelons or the resveratrol in wine. To read about antioxidants click here. All my links open in new windows, so you won't lose this page.

Now, let's learn more about vitamins.

What exactly is a vitamin?

Vitamins ("vita" meaning "life," and "amine" meaning "containing nitrogen"). Vitamins are organic, meaning that they contain carbon, which is an element found in all living things. Vitamins are compounds, meaning that they contain atoms of one or more different elements.

Vitamins are vulnerable to heat, light, and chemical agents. Thus, cooking, food preparation, processing, and storage must be appropriate to preserve vitamins in food.

My personal preference is to simply process food as little as possible. I don't cook my food, and I freeze and dehydrate foods minimally.

For example, I froze many blueberries that I picked over the summer to get frozen organic blueberries at the crazy-low price of only $1.50 per pound. I also got to eat unlimited blueberries while picking and enjoy the great outdoors. In this case, I feel that freezing the blueberries is still a nutrient gain.

How can that be? Well, even though the blueberries were more nutritious when fresh, blueberries are such a nutritious food that I feel it is better to have some frozen blueberries in the winter are better than no blueberries. Also, it was economically sensible for me as well.

Vitamins... Water-soluble? Fat-soluble?

Water soluble vitamins: Water is required for absorption. Excreted in urine.

Vitamin C (not the same as ascorbic acid — click here to read the full story on C), thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, B6, B12, folate, biotin, and pantothenic acid. (For more on B-vitamins, and especially B12, click here.)

Fat-soluble vitamins: Requires fat for absorption. Stored in fat tissue.

Vitamins A, E, and K1.

Note that vitamin K1 and vitamin K2 are very different. Vitamin K1 coagulates blood. Vitamin K2 tells your body where to put calcium by being the critical factor in creating the transportation mechanism for calcium. Without enough vitamin K2 you end up with calcium in your arteries (high blood pressure) and not enough calcium in your bones (cavities, bone loss).

When vitamin K1 is consumed in tremendous quantity, you can convert vitamin K1 to vitamin K2. Eating one to two pounds of leafy greens per day is considered sufficient for keeping bones healthy. If you don't have time to eat a huge salad each day, add leafy greens to a smoothie in the morning and have a large salad with dinner.

Other "vitamins":

Vitamin K2 (fat soluble) Vitamin D (fat soluble)

It should be noted that vitamin D is not really a vitamin. Vitamin D is a hormone. The word "vitamin" implies that your body can not produce it, which is why I have these listed under Other "Vitamins.. Your body is designed to be able to get these from eating a diet rich in leafy greens and living an outdoor lifestyle.

Today, when people don't eat many greens and don't get outdoors much, it is very common to see people deficient in both, despite the fact that we can get these from diet as well as being able to generate these.

What is a hormone? How is a hormone different than a vitamin?

A hormone is regulatory substance produced in an organism (like you) and transported in (your) tissue fluids such as (your) blood or sap to stimulate specific cells or tissues into action.

In essence, hormones are something your body creates. Vitamins are something you have to get from food.

Antioxidants can be vitamins and they can be horemones. Glutathoine, for example, is an antioxidant created by your body. Glutathione is composed of the amino acids glutamine, cysteine, and glycine. It is a "linear tripeptide" which, as far as I'm concerned, makes it also a protein. So, since glutathoine is made by the body, it is a hormone. Since it is made of amino acids, it is a protein. And because glutathoine reduces/prevents oxidative damage in cells, it is an antioxidant.

What is the difference between minerals and the vitamins/antioxidants?

Antioxidants prevent oxidative damage. Vitamins are considered essential nutrients that are not minerals. But what is a mineral?

Minerals are pure inorganic elements, meaning that they contain atoms of the same element. Minerals are much simpler in chemical form than vitamins. Unlike vitamins, not all minerals are essential nutrients.

Minerals are more stable to food preparation than vitamins, but mineral loss can occur when they are bound to other substances in foods (such as oxalates found in spinach and tea, and phytates found in legumes and grains), making them unavailable for the body to utilize. To release the phytates in seeds, soak them overnight in drinking water with added sea salt. Then rinse thoroughly before preparation. This not only improves digestion, it also improves flavor.

There are major minerals and trace minerals.

Major minerals: Measuring in quantities of 100 mg per day, or more.

Calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chloride, magnesium, and sulfur.

Trace minerals: Measured in very small amounts, such as 5 mg per day.

Iron, iodine, zinc, chromium, selenium, molybdenum, copper, and manganese.

Other minerals, such as lead, are contaminant minerals and not nutrients because they can cause harm by disrupting normal bodily functions and processes, i.e. lead poisoning. Some consider flouride to be a mineral beneficial to human health. From everything I've read and observed, it seems to me that flouride is a contaminant mineral, or at the least, a non-essential one. It appears that everything flouride can do in the body, iodine can do better. (Flouride and iodine are both halogens.)

Why does this stuff matter?

There is a lot of propaganda about nutrition. What we eat is central to our culture, our emotions, our health and many of the economic structures of our society. It really is no wonder there is confusion and conflict concerning food consumption.

By understanding the basics about food, biology and nutrition, you protect yourself from costly mistakes, like fad diets, ineffective medications, and over-hyped so-called super-foods.

I highly encourage you to read Six Critical Things You Don't Know About Plants next. This article will quickly arm you with the information you need to avoid the myriad scams of supplements and foods. Not that I'm against supplements. I'm not.

Although, I have often asked why animals in the wild are fine without supplements, yet we're not. Why is that? In this article, I explore why wild animals are healthy without supplements, yet humans seem to need them.

Part of the difference, of course, is that we're growing mono-crops in depleted soil instead of everyone having their own thriving permaculture garden. If we all took advantage of aquaponics, permaculture, solar power and a healthy, sustainable diet (which doesn't necessarily have to be all vegan), then we could easily feed over 100 people per acre.

Why do I say it doesn't have to be all vegan? Well, despite being primarily vegan myself, I am more concerned with the overall sustainability and efficiency of everything we do as a whole. Electric cars versus gasoline cars, hybrids versus biking, wool versus polyester, drywall versus cob, and so on. That is why I have extensively explored each of these topics, and more, in my article Beyond Veganism.

If you read and thoroughly let your mind digest all of the content in this article and the articles I've linked in the paragraphs above, you'll find yourself immune to much of the supplement advertising, vegan propaganda and western medical lies. My goal is not to indoctrinate you with any nutritional dogma, but to give you the basic concepts required to make your own educated decisions.

Organic Traffic For Organic Content

Web-traffic used to be organic. That is to say, people used to "stumble" onto websites naturally via comments, links and advertisements that were for and from individuals and small businesses. Now, it becomes increasingly hard to find anything but the "giants" of whatever you're searching for. Why? Because people have started paying close attention to what gets them high search rankings in popular search engines like google and bing.

To assist with this issue there are websites like StumbleUpon which, based on your interests, will bring you to fairly random (yet interesting) webpages.

Unfortunately, StumbleUpon has yet to help with research. Now when I do a search on a disease, condition, food, or plant... I get the same results thirty times. Not the same webpage, but the same content. Why?

Websites like LiveStrong contain basic information about a lot of health-related topics. It is kinda like a mini Wikipedia for health-related things, except that the information is fairly sparse. Often the information is quite good, it is simply incomplete. But what other people do when they want their article on the health benefits of celery to be one of the first search results is the go and read websites like LiveStrong. Then they include all the information from LiveStrong (or just part of it), add a paragraph of their own experience, and then create a new highly-searchable webpage.

That's somewhat okay, until fifty other people do it. Then google just keeps finding the same information about celery over and over again. What if I wanted to find out something new about celery? There may be hundreds of fascinating tid-bits on the web about celery that I can't find because the web is becoming more and more diluted by this repeat-content website style.

This brings me to my point. Why is this happening? It is happening because these websites want more traffic so that they can make more money. They can make money through more traffic via advertisement banners, through selling their own products or through selling products of their affiliates. In my case, I have no advertisements, but I do offer a variety of services (including illustration and book editing), ebooks and board games.

Websites want more traffic to make money. If they wanted only because they had a message, then they wouldn't put a bunch of duplicate content on their website. They would have very unique and dynamic articles, where only a few tidbits would overlap with others. Instead of copying the content, they would simply link other relevant articles.

In a world where our needs are met and none of us are worried about survival, information would be free. Nobody would be selling courses or creating duplicate websites. Instead, teachers would teach for free, all websites would be free and mostly unique and everyone would be more educated (not to mention less domesticated). Sounds miraculous? Maybe. But I believe in this dream. Learn more about this topic and sign The Free World Charter.

For more information on how you can lead the most incredible unique life that is suited to your dreams, please sign up for my free ecourse below. Over forty lessons at the time of writing. Most lessons have an assignment. You get one or two new lessons each week, directly in your inbox. Sign up below on the right. Or, if you're interested in hearing from me, but much less often, sign up for my newsletter on the left to receive a message only once or twice a month.

Do you really need supplements?

I used to feel the same way many "natural hygienists" feel: supplementation shouldn't be required because animals are healthier than humans without supplements.

Sounds reasonable, doesn't it?

If you're eating a whole foods diet, how could you need supplements?

That makes a lot of sense, but there are some glitches with the reasoning. Here are the differences between animals and humans that are often overlooked.

Dietary Dirt

Animals eat dirt. Cows, horses and sheep have their mouths on the ground all day long. They can't help but eat some dirt. Dirt is a source of many minerals, as well as vitamin B12 (which isn't really the same as other b-vitamins at all, even if a lack of B12 does cause nerve problems similarly to a lack of any other b-vitamin).

Dietary Freshness

Animals do not eat the way humans eat. Most animals eat by putting their head directly to the plant and eating it right away.

Carnivorous animals begin eating the animal directly after it has died, or even a little beforehand.

This immediacy means that all the enzymes work in the stomach instead of working to decompose the animal or plant. As the Pottenger Cats study shows, this is absolutely critical to health. This is one reason (of many) why babies should drink milk directly from the breast, not after it has sat in the fridge for hours.

As much as 50% of the enzyme activity in a plant is already expended just fifteen minutes after it has been picked!

This "freshness factor" is one reason why so many people are discovering the transformative powers of a raw food diet. A diet where you at least get many of the enzymes that were originally present in the food while it was growing. We're already eating the food days after it has been picked. We can't really afford to lose all the enzymes from our diet by cooking the food.

This is an argument for taking enzyme supplements if you are not going to eat sufficient raw vegetables, sprouts and fruits. You don't need to do it exclusively to get enzyme benefits.

If you're going to add one raw food to your diet to get more enzymes, add sprouts. They have all the enzymes in them to grow an entire plant, whereas fruit only has enough enzymes present to ripen and then rot the fruit, which isn't nearly the same sort of enzyme or the same quantity. Not that fruit enzymes are bad. Fruit enzymes are great. Fruit just doesn't have as many enzymes as sprouts.

Human Antibiotic Consumption

Animals in the wild do not consume antibiotics. Some few animals do eat natural antibiotics, such as onion and garlic, which do kill off some bacteria. However, the antibiotics humans take in pill-form are powerful and they knock-out all your natural flora.

Livestock (not wild animals) are given antibiotics. This is another way which humans indirectly consume antibiotics.

Pesticides and fungicides are sprayed on the foods that many livestock animals are fed (soy, wheat and corn) which depletes the soil of bacteria, including the bacteria that makes vitamin B12.

Between a lack of dirt and a lack of bacteria and a lack of well-water or river-water in our diet, we don't get B12 in the amount that we need. Even omnivores end up lacking in vitamin B12 because the livestock are deficient as well.

You may have heard that we form B12 in our bodies. We do, in the last part of our intestines, after all absorption is done. If the bacteria is present in that part of our bodies we produce a lot of B12, which indicates we're actually meant to consume a lot of it... Why do I say that?

Think about it. In nature we would leave our excrement all over the land we lived on, putting the B12-producing bacteria into the land as well as the vitamin itself. Vitamin B12 would be dense in the soil that had the plants that we ate. We wouldn't go running to the river to wash every plant, and we'd consume quite a bit of B12 just by eating unwashed plants that grew near our composted excrement.

Because we wash our foods (to remove wax, toxins and disease), because we don't consume dirt, because we do not drink from rivers or wells, and because we do not put our excrement into our own gardens, we end up deficient in vitamin B12.

You don't have to just take this from me. Take Christina Pirello for an example. She is a macrobiotic vegan and she really believed that whole foods and fermented foods would provide everything she needed. And then she ended up with a brain hemorrhage. Her article about this is fantastic and a great read.

And, if you've ever taken an antibiotic and killed off all your natural flora, then you'll also need probiotics to replace those.

Photo by Raederle, 2012

Daily Sunlight

Animals are subject to the weather. Any animal that doesn't live under a canopy forest spends a lot of time in the sunlight. The rays of sunlight coming into contact with our skin begins a process that creates vitamin D in our bodies.

The only animals in the world that don't get enough vitamin D in this fashion:

• Humans
• Livestock

Humans spend too much time indoors. Right now the sun is shining outdoors, but here I am writing this article under my roof. This is the common predicament of man. Worse yet, even if you spend all your time in the sunlight there is no guarantee you'll get enough. Depending on the color of your skin, your diet, your exercise routine, your nutritional intake, how far away you live from the equator and what you put on your skin, you may not be capable of absorbing enough from the sun.

Many people think they're getting vitamin D when they eat chickens or eggs, especially if they eat "free range" chicken or eggs. This is not true. Often "free range" just means that the chickens can roam around the inside of a barn. Only "pasture raised" chickens get sunlight. The "free range" chickens do not get sunlight (generally) and the chickens and the eggs they produce are deficient in vitamin D.

In many parts of the world this applies to larger animals as well. While it isn't typical in America, many countries have giant buildings for livestock where the animals receive no sunlight.

Animals and their products are not a reliable source of vitamin D or vitamin B12.

If you are getting vitamin B12 from your milk, incidentally, it's very possible that it is coming from a trace amount of cow waste that was left on the udder. That indicates that the B12 is coming with toxins the cow excreted from its body.

Can you put on your best sarcastic smile and say "Fabulous" with mocking delight?

Dietary Insects

Because animals do not generally wash their food, they tend to eat a lot of insects. Ants, spiders, grubs (not technically an insect, but they'd be eating these too) and so on. These little tiny creatures are a nutritional source of unknown quantity or quality, but we do know some things about the effects on animals if they do not eat their usual diet including insects:

At a zoo, monkeys were fed the best fruit they could find. The fruit diet was replicating their diet in the wild... Except without the insects. The monkeys became sick. They added insects and worms back into the monkeys' diets and they became well again.

That alone is evidence that there is significance to the consumption of these small creatures.

Oxygen

Animals put their faces directly into plants. Plants produce oxygen, a vital factor in cancer prevention. Animals in the wild spend their time outdoors, breathing in fresh air loaded with oxygen.

Humans use air conditioning and heating which deplete the air of oxygen. Lack of sufficient oxygen causes lethargy and depression. If you suffer from these, consider getting a sweater and turning off the heat, or wearing a bikini and wetting your hair instead of air conditioning. Drinking water also helps regulate your internal temperature, so stay hydrated.

Proper Hydration

Animals don't forget to drink water because they are stressed out at work. They do not replace water with soda, tea or coffee. They do not eat dehydrated foods or powders.

Supplement Conclusions

Because of the above knowledge, I have concluded that indeed, we are not like free-roaming animals. We do not get enough sun, exercise, insects, water, oxygen, dirt or healthful bacteria in our lives.

It is absolutely true that we can get enough vitamin C, calcium, iron and so on from an omnivorous, raw, vegan or vegetarian diet. These do not require supplementation. In fact, some nutrients should not be taken in supplement form. Some things really should be done with diet, such as balancing our intake of calcium and phosphorus.

However, I have found that I thrive best taking supplements for a few key things:

Vitamin D (2-3 times per week) Vitamin B12 (weekly) Vitamin K2 (2-3 times per week) Probiotics (twice, daily) Enzymes (occasionally, as needed)

The source I used to buy the most from was Dr. Fuhrman. I chose Dr. Fuhrman's products (after much trial, error, study and so on) for a number of reasons. Dr. Fuhrman knows that things like "ascorbic acid" should not be taken in supplement form. (You can learn about that here.) He also knows that sugar and other additives should not be present in supplements. His supplements are vegan (the vitamin D does not come from animals, but rather from special plants). And his supplements are closer to whole foods than other supplements on the market.

If you're only buying his Gentle Care formula for B12 and vitamin D then taking one a day is plenty, meaning that one bottle is a 180 day supply. (He lists a serving as two capsules, with 90 servings per bottle, which is 180 tablets. This means you only need three bottles a year.)

I've come to find other supplements particularly useful in the past few years. Click here to see what I'm currently using and loving.

Before You Buy Supplements For Vitamins & Minerals

Before you rush to buy supplements, it is good to get a basic understanding what nutrients are. For example, do you know the difference between a vitamin and a mineral? Do you know the full story on protein? Do you know the fundamental differences between seeds, fruits and vegetables? If not, please do click those links and check out my other articles.

Human Parasites

In the past, I have actually tried another kind of pill that I found beneficial, which was Markus Rothkranz's Parasite-Free pills. The pills are like a natural antibiotic that targets not just bacteria, but all kinds of worms and other things you don't want in your body. The pill is actually raw and had nutritional value as well because it is made from whole raw herbs, barks and so forth.

However, if you have a severe stomach condition where your stomach lining is weakened, then this is not the pill for you. But if you do not have stomach lining problems (like severe acid reflux) but you do have problems with yeast infections, flaking scalp, itching skin, bleeding gums, acne and so on, then this is a great thing to take to get rid of the bad stuff. However, it kills off your good flora as well, so it is important to combine it with a probiotic, such as Dr. Fuhrman's Favorite Flora.

Markus Rothkranz was actually my first real introduction to what Raw Food is all about. I bought his Free Food & Medicine DVDs shortly before I tried his Parasite Free pills. The DVDs are a wealth of information about what you can and can't eat as medicine and as food, where they grow, what they look like, how to grow things at home even in limited spaces, and it comes with a recipe booklet for common wild edibles, such as dandelions.

To get closer to how animals eat and how they thrive, eating wild foods is the way to go. In time, if we so choose, we can learn about wild edibles, permaculture and so forth and move away from needing supplements. For now, if you're a city dweller and/or your food comes from a grocery store, then I highly recommend supplementing. Deficiencies can be serious, and just like disease, prevention is always best.

To your health!

~ Raederle

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All Foods Are Complete Proteins

6 Critical Things You Don't Know About Plants One: All Plants Are Complete Proteins All plants — even “poisonous” plants — contain all the essential amino acids. This means that all plants are "complete proteins." That said, some produce items are particularly low in a specific amino acid or two, which is one of many reasons why it is vital to vary what you eat. For example, blueberries are low in the amino acid lysine, but watermelons, cauliflower and spinach are all high in lysine. Click here for the full scoop on protein. Two: All Plants Are Loaded With Vitamins & Minerals Every plant has a wide array of minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, carbohydrates, fats, fibers and (as just mentioned) proteins. Keeping that in mind, isn't it pretty meaningless when someone says "mushrooms have a wide variety of essential vitamins and minerals"?

This sort of statement appears in articles across the web and in magazines, yet they are entirely meaningless.

The only substances which don't originate in plants — such as vitamin K₂, vitamin D and vitamin B₁₂ — can still be obtained without ever consuming another animal (otherwise, how would wild herbivores survive?). Vitamin D is a hormone created by animals when their skin is exposed to the sun. It isn't really a vitamin, but it is needed for utilizing calcium. Vitamin B₁₂ is produced by bacteria, and is more like a mineral than a vitamin. Vitamin K₂ is converted into K₂ from K₁ within animals such as humans. Vitamin K₁ comes from plants. Vitamin K₂ is essential for transportation of calcium, and without it you have calcium in your arteries instead of in your bones.

While plants don't contain the three items mentioned above, you'd be hard-pressed to find any plant that didn't contain at least some vitamin C, some calcium, some magnesium, etc. Plants (roots, stalks, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds) tend to contain some of all of the plant-based vitamins and minerals we need. Also, almost all leafy greens contain omega-3 fatty acids. That's right — there are already healthy fats in your greens before you add flax oil to your salad.

If these subjects interest you, check out The Surprising Truth About Vitamin C, My Comprehensive Antioxidant Chart/List, and How to Solve Nutritional Deficiencies With Food.

Three: Fruits versus Vegetables versus Seeds

Fruits are the part of the plant that holds the seeds. Fruits include squash, eggplant, avocado, zucchini, cucumber, peppers, kiwi and tomatoes.

Seeds are the part that can grow a whole new plant. Seeds include beans, nuts and grains. Corn is a seed, t'eff is a seed, peas are a seed. Many spices and flavorings come from seeds such as vanilla, chocolate, nutmeg, coriander, and fennel.

Vegetables include roots, stalks, bark, leaves, sprouts, and flowers. For example, sweet potatoes, cinnamon, celery, broccoli, kale, and spinach are all vegetables.

When it comes to nutritional density per calorie, vegetables are (on average) four times as dense in nutrition as fruits, and fruits are about eight times as dense as seeds. This is flipped when you measure nutrition per volume.

Note: It's important to know the difference between the taxonomy of a food and its legal placement. This article uses the scientific divisions. I prefer science to the FDA's nonsense that corn is a vegetable. Corn is not botanically a vegetable, and it is not nutritionally a vegetable. It is only a vegetable to the FDA so that kids can be fed GMO corn in schools in place of a real vegetable.

Four: Calories Versus Volume

Any given individual eats roughly the same amount of calories every day. This amount can range anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 calories. You probably eat between 1500 and 2500 calories per day, unless you're unusually small and inactive or unusually muscular and active.

Because you eat the same amount of calories each day, you need to pack in all the nutrition your body needs within that amount of calories.

Volume and calories have an interesting relationship. Foods high in fat will be high in calories for their volume. Foods low in fat but high in carbohydrates will be average in calories for their volume. Foods low in fat and low in carbohydrates will be surprisingly low calorie for their volume.

Vegetables are low in fat and low in carbohydrate per any given volume. However, when measured per calorie, vegetables are incredibly high in antioxidants, protein, vitamins, minerals and fiber. This means that vegetables are the most efficient food per calorie.

If you're hiking – and carrying volume is a problem – then nuts, seeds and dehydrated foods are great. They are high calorie for their volume, meaning your pack is lighter. However, if you try to survive on these foods, you'll develop chronic conditions such as osteoporosis, cancer, hypothyroidism, and so on.

If you're worried about surviving through the winter and need to store as many calories as you can that won't rot, then seeds are great. This is why grains have been popular for millennia. Not because they are great for your health, but because they could be stored for survival during a long, cold winter.

Five: Infinite Varieties

For every food you see in the grocery store, there are at least a dozen other varieties of that food out there. There are hundreds of kinds of tomato, hundreds of kinds of mango, dozens of kinds of banana, dozens of kinds of corn, and so on.

Cauliflower and carrots both come in purple. Raspberries come in red, yellow and black. Currants come in red and black (although these are technically two different species). Bananas come in a variety of sizes, different shades of yellow, orange and red. Certain varieties of apples are pink on the inside. Potatoes come in purple, red, white and pink. Sweet potatoes can have purple skins with white insides, purple insides and purple skins, red outsides and white insides, and so on.

The typical American market just has one kind of banana, two or three kinds of apples, one or two kinds of tomatoes, and so on. This little fact is so unknown that many people are under the impression that any new appearance, such as the "slimcado", is genetically modified. It isn't. They want to sneak GMOs under your nose and use crops that are bought the most — like corn, zucchini, cotton, canola, alfalfa and soy. They don't care about some little-known Florida avocado.

Back on topic: If your supermarket's produce section actually offered all the items that could be grown in your area in every variety, the market would have to be ten times larger — and offer nothing but produce!

Your biggest supermarkets carry only less than 1% of all the edible foods grown world-wide.

Six: Infinite Food

With all of the ancient knowledge and new knowledge we have about agriculture, we now have the means to feed one hundred people per acre — without any electronics or gas-powered machinery. No chemical fertilizers needed. Currently the typical American farm feeds only one person per two to four acres. If we want to do something about fuel waste and hunger at the same time, we could work on more ethical and sane growing practices!

You can learn about growing more food per acre in my article on the Myth of Overpopulation.

Another facet of the infinite food conundrum is how much food we could be eating, but aren't. For example, there are mulberry trees all over western New York that produce pounds of berries each week for an entire month. Yet you see the berries as a purple mass on the ground, ignored. Perhaps you ignore these purple messes on your way driving to the grocery store.

In California I often saw carob trees and olive trees with nobody harvesting them. On Kaua'i island there were literally five to sixty pounds of fruit being wasted per fruiting tree that I saw each day, especially with mangoes, breadfruit and mountain apples.

Why aren't these foods collected and eaten? Part of it is cultural. We're used to getting food at the store, not at a tree. Part of it is the fault of the owners — they own the trees incidentally. As such, they don't care about the fruit the tree produces. It doesn't occur to them that other people might want that food. Part of it is lack of food knowledge — could you identify a carob pod or a mulberry? Okay, maybe you could, but what about the tree itself when it wasn't fruiting?

We're not lacking in food, land or technology. We're lacking in education about plants. That's why websites like Eat the Weeds have sprung up — to fill the void, and why I wrote this article for you. If you'd like to learn more about how to improve your health and your life through key tidbits of knowledge, sign up for my e-course below.

Shop Responsibly, Shop Green & Donate

Have you ever followed the money trail? You spend $50 at the grocery store. Where does that $50 go? How much goes to the employees, and how much goes to shipping their goods in? How do the employees, in turn, spend their wages?

I believe these are vital questions to ask. Why? Because we're somehow living in a world where corporations are running the show. They can't do that without us giving them our money. Even if you're an unusual exception — a bike-riding, food-growing, do-it-yourself sort of person — it is obvious that the majority of people are somehow empowering corporations with a lot of money.

That money, in turn, influences politics and its all down the toilet from there.

If you're on my website, and more so on this page, you probably already know a lot about the problem, so let's skip to the solution, okay?

Buying from each other. Growing our own as much as possible. Shopping organic and local. Ideally, shop from people you know who live organic and local lifestyles, and then live that sort of lifestyle yourself. Share a car with multiple people, and carpool.

Pick your own berries and other foods from organic farms locally — that way you save money, get fresh food, get vitamin D, and can spend time socializing with friends all at once. Going berry picking with a car full of friends, splitting the gas money, going on a hike afterward, and coming home with a cooler full of berries for only $15 is the highlight of my summer.

Not to toot my own horn or anything... But I am really unusually careful when it comes to how I spend my money. I only buy things from corporations when absolutely required — like my laptop. And I am careful to avoid any corporations tied up too much in politics.

And I have to say, I feel that the way we think about charity is dead wrong. [video] Each business should support the planet and everything on the planet. Having a sector of organizations called "non profit" is like separating the grocery store into "health food" and the rest of the stuff . . . What does that make "the rest" of the grocery store? Junk. That's what.

The same is true of business. If you have special businesses that are "doing good things" and "green," then what are the rest of the businesses? Bad. That's what.

The thing is, we shouldn't have to make a business not seek profit in order to be good. That is not physiologically healthy, for one thing. There is this idea that "money is bad." That means that the few people who have a lot of money are the ones who didn't mind feeling like they were bad (if you assume that everyone feels that money is bad).

Money itself isn't good or bad. It's just some green fabric-paper stuffs. It's like my art teacher's poster which read, "Paints aren't messy, people are." Or like the saying that goes, "Guns don't kill, people do." Inanimate objects are not inherently good or evil. It is how something is used that creates how we feel about it.

Growing numbers of people would like to see money abolished. It is a great idea in some respects. We simply make sure everyone is provided for, and everyone has work they love to do available. Sounds great. I'm all for it. In the mean time, after signing the Free World Charter, we still currently have this currency system to worry about.

Too many people seem to think that our every day purchases can't make meaningful changes. Yet they can, and do. They make a difference — for better or for worse.

My way isn't the best way, or the only way, or the most superior way, but it is one way to help the planet . . . My way is to shop responsibly and minimally.

I buy 100% recycled tissues, paper towels and toilet paper. We find that it is actually less expensive to order Seventh Generation products from Amazon than it is to buy their products in stores. After using tissues and paper towels, we compost them!

I buy 98% organic — including fabrics and food — supporting less pesticide use and more ethical growing trends. The 2% that isn't organic comes from local farms that can't afford organic certification but do claim to use natural growing practices.

Some things I can't find organic locally, such as a mint oil that contains no alcohol or sweeteners. So we order Simply Organic Peppermint online.

I live a 95% vegan lifestyle, supporting ethical treatment for ecosystems, animals and hospital workers. I mean, seriously! How much effort, time and resources are wasted just because so many people are horrifically unhealthy? And how much of that is dietary? I do buy raw milk from a local farmer who raises his animals on untreated grass.. If you're curious about why I'm not 100% vegan when I seem like I would be the sort of person who is, or if you're curious about veganism in general, you'll enjoy my post Beyond Veganism: Exploring Ethical Quandaries.

I make a lot of my own things these days, including my own after-sun no-burn oil, which works miracles (no pain, fast-fading redness, no peeling!). I also make my own clothing, shampoo, hair conditioner, tooth serum (in place of tooth paste), laundry detergent, odor removing spray, body spray, raw vegan chocolates, etc, etc.

I used to sew my own clothes from organic cotton. Now I get most of my clothing from PACT. Why is organic cotton important? Well, around 25% of all pesticide use worldwide is on cotton! Another good reason is that polyester is toxic to human health — it is like touching plastic all over your body all day long! Besides all that, cotton is one of the biggest GMO crops.

Wearing organic clothing helps animals and ecology just as much as eating vegan. Why? Because pesticides destroy wildlife on the farm, around the farm, and ultimately in the ocean!

I use Dr Bronner's Soap for my body and household things, or whatever other all organic soap strikes my fancy.

I also want you to know that I believe in a world where we all get paid (or rewarded in some other way) to do what we do best. And what do we do best? What we love to do, of course!

I love to research, to draw, to edit, and to write.

So look, I keep my website advertisement free, but it costs me a lot of time and effort, as well as some money. So please, please, please... If you find any of this helpful, donate.

Thank you. Namaste.

Thank You For Your Donation

Thank you for your donation! That is very considerate, kind and forward-thinking of you!

I believe in a world where we all get paid to do what we do best: what we love to do. I love to research, to draw, to edit, and to write. By donating to me, you're supporting my work. If you're not already signed up for my free e-course, please sign up below.

I keep my e-course free so that nobody is kept from benefiting from it just because of lack of funds. However, it costs me over $50 a month to provide this course, so if you find it helpful, please donate and spread the word about it. If everyone who took the course donated $2 per lesson (that's roughly $8 a month), my expenses and time would be covered. That is a great bargain for both of us! So thank you for being part of that!

Related posts of mine:

• Why should good work be rewarded less?
• Rethink Charity: Seriously!
• Getting the most nutrition per dollar
• Eating Health on a Budget: Radio Show Episode
• How much land does it take to feed one person?

Here again, is the donate button, in case you want to bookmark this page so that you can input another few dollars next time you feel inspired. Thanks again!

Are saturated fats healthy? What if it has a poor omega-3 to omega-6 ratio?

The following question is very astute, and so I wanted to answer this not just for Mary, but for all of you. She writes:

In looking at a chart for "good" and "bad" oils, nuts, fruits and greens, I see that coconut oil is listed as 'terrible,' having a whopping 91% saturated fat content... as well as listed as a pure omega 6 oil.

My cousin is heavily into the Dr Mark Hyman diet, using low carbs, detoxing smoothies, etc. She has been advised through him and a professor to cook with coconut oil. They say it has loads of health benefits. They indicate that the real culprits are non-organic foods, and especially those with high sugar content.

May I ask someone's opinion on this matter? I do have coconut oil and like the light sweetness it adds to some dishes. I have not used it a lot, however.

Incidentally, I also saw where almonds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds have super high omega 6 ratios. I always thought these were super healthy in their raw state.

Thanks so much for your time!

Sincerely,

Mary

Hi Mary,

Your question is quite complex. To start, let me give you the simple answer. Yes, the worst culprits on the shelves are proceeded foods and genetically modified foods. If the ingredients are not whole foods, then don't eat it. If it is conventional, don't eat it. That is some of my most simple and basic advice.

Now, let's answer the more sophisticated part of your question.

Every single plant food has some fat, some carbohydrate and some protein. Every plant food has all of the essential amino acids, although some levels are so low that we couldn't detect their presence in the early 1900s, leading to the faulty "complete protein myth".

Like with amino acids (the building blocks of protein), every oil has a mix of saturated fats, polyunsaturated fats and/or mono-unsaturated fats.

Is coconut oil a fad? Is it healthy? Is it bad?

Whether or not the oil is good for you is going to depend highly on the following factors:

1. Your overall diet
2. The freshness of the oil
3. The source of the oil
4. The method the oil was extracted in
5. How you plan to use the oil (cooking versus raw)
6. What you combine the oil with

For example, flax oil may be perfect for you, fresh, well sourced, extracted correctly... but it'd still be terrible for you if you cooked with it.

When it comes to coconut oil, a little is good for most people. A little is about a teaspoon per day. Why do I say that?

A lot of saturated fat is generally not a good idea. Very few people can metabolize large volumes of saturated fat. It is called "saturated" because it literally is saturated at the molecular level. It is densely packed long "bars" of carbons, and those bars of carbons don't come apart easily in your digestive system. It takes a lot of of the lipase enzyme which you release from your gall bladder in the bile. This bile digests the fat in your intestines. You can only produce so much bile and lipase per day, and if you exceed the amount of fat you can digest, then you can become constipated or wind up with severe flora imbalances due to bacteria digesting the food that you can not digest.

When it comes to the omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, virtually all nuts, seeds, grains and beans are terrible. The only exceptions to that are flax, chia and hemp. When it comes to the calcium to phosphorous ratio (important for bones), all nuts, seeds, grains and beans are terrible except for sesame seeds and spice seeds such as fennel and celery seed.

What can we learn from this? That our diets should not consist primarily of nuts, seeds, grains and beans!

While these foods are healthy and provide many great benefits, they are not intended to make up the bulk of the diet. Imagine a whole plant. It has a lot more roots, stalk, leaves and flowers than it does seeds.

Look at a whole raspberry bush. The leaves, berries and seeds are all edible. Imagine you ate all the edible parts of the bush. If you imagine the raspberry bush leaves in a bowl, the berries in a bowl, and the extracted seeds in yet another bowl, you'll find the bowl of leaves about fifteen times as large as the bowl of berries, and the bowl of berries about fifteen times as large as the bowl of seeds.

That is an accurate demonstration of how nature provides exactly the right balance that our bodies need. Because if you look at the nutrition of that, that ratio of greens to fruit to seeds will work marvelously for all ratios in our diet.

At the least, consume a pound of leafy greens per day. Leafy greens contain ample protein, healthy fats, a great omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, a great calcium to phosphorous ratio, a great potassium to sodium ratio and so on. Leafy greens are perfect for humans in all ways. You virtually can't eat too many of them.

In conclusion, have a teaspoon or two of coconut oil when you cook or in your raw vegan desserts. Have a little refrigerated cold-pressed flax oil or hemp oil or chia oil on your salads. And focus on eating fresh fruits and leafy greens.

For more detailed information about healthy eating, sign up for my free e-course on the bottom right of this page.

Can our bodies recycle nutrients? Which nutrients can we recycle?

Question: "Since our body can go 20 days with water alone without danger, it seems that nutrient depletion is going at a very slow rate. I am sure that some nutrients do go faster than others. I would like to know which ones we really need to get more often and what frequency, and quantity. A more important question would be which ones are necessary for keeping our more important organs healthy... It seems so complex, animals bodies are so complex, but it seems that all wild animals find easily their ideal diets while we are still wondering and counting calories."

You raise excellent questions! I'm so glad to hear something other than "Where do you get protein?" for a change!

Protein, incidentally, is something we can recycle a lot. So is vitamin B12. However, our ability to recycle minerals, proteins, vitamins, etc, is hampered by toxins. So if you live in a standard chemical-filled home in America, wear conventional clothing, ride in vechicles, spend time in cities, etc, then you're exposed to a lot of toxins constantly.

To deal with those toxins you need a lot of antioxidants, which is why so many people get so much benefit from adding antioxidant-rich foods to their diet (such as blueberries and goji berries).

If you go out into nature far away from cell phone towers, traffic, drywall, paint, cigarettes, and so on. If you sleep under the stars wrapped in an organic-cotton sleeping bag... You'll find your need for nutrients diminish dramatically.

When I travel by airplane I pack a huge sack full of apples, oranges, celery, pomegranates, kiwis and so on, and I eat the entire time. If I stop eating for more than two hours I start to feel sick, exhausted, drained, and dizzy. That is because airplane travel is so toxic to our bodies. That is the main reason why people need so much time to recover. The time difference thing really doesn't affect people nearly as much as being in oxygen-deprived areas and exposure to jet fuel fumes.

The other factor in recycling nutrients is what your body is used to. While the human body can thrive on only 25 grams of protein per day, you'll seriously hurt yourself if you dropped from 110 grams to 25 grams out of the blue. It takes your body time to adjust. Also, the more the protein comes from leafy greens, the better your body will be at recycling the protein and building muscle with it.

As for what organs are most important and what nutrients fuel those organs best... There really isn't an answer. Every organ is inter-dependent. For example, your kidneys make your bone marrow. Without healthy kidneys, your bones will degrade.

Your liver is responsible for what toxins make it to your colon versus your kidneys versus being stored in your fat. Without a healthy liver, your kidneys can be compromised, which in turn will compromise your bones and teeth. If your heart isn't circulating blood well, then you may not get nutrients to your extremities very well, resulting in problems in your feet, hands and vision.

If your stomach isn't producing enough acid, then food may go into your intestines not digested, causing bacteria and worms to eat the food instead, which can lead to severe flora imbalances which affect which nutrients you absorb, which can lead to not getting enough B-vitamins, which will make you feel depressed.

You see how low stomach acid can cause depression and how a weak liver can lead to cavities in the teeth? It may seem far-out, but it is true. In fact, cavities themselves are so stressful on the body that they can cause adrenal fatigue, leading to thyroid problems which lead to excess weight. It all goes in circles because every organ depends on every other organ. Nutrients work the same way — they all depend on one another.

For more questions and answers click here.

Vitamin D2 versus Vitamin D3

A friend asks:

I'm puzzled about vitamin D. I have been taking D₃, as widely recommended, but now I hear I should be taking vitamin D₂. What's the story?

As far as science knows at this time, our body treats D₂ and D₃ exactly the same. The only difference is that D₃ comes from animal sources, such as sheep fat, and D₂ comes from plant sources, such as mushrooms or algae. (Note, only a very specific and specially raised mushroom contains D₃.)

With many vitamins, the number at the end can signify an entirely different purpose. Vitamin K₁, for example, coagulates blood. Vitamin K₂ directs where calcium is stored in the body (making the difference between hard arteries or healthy bones). So K₁ and K₂ are entirely different!

With vitamin D, the actual function in the body is the same as far as science can tell right now, it is just that D₂ is better for the environment and doesn't contribute to animal cruelty.

More questions and answers like, "What can I do about body odor?" and "What foods are cheaper if you order them online?"

Is soy good or bad for digestion?

Is soy healthy?

The natural soy bean, sometimes known as edamame, has been used to treat menopause and hormonal imbalance for thousands of years in Eastern medicine. The soy bean, like any natural plant edible to humans, is healthy as part of a diverse diet. Just like the natural cane stalk is a healthy plant when eaten in its natural unprocessed form.

Yet you undoubtedly know that white sugar, beet sugar and corn syrup are all highly detrimental to your health. Yet raw, organic, corn on the cob is a very healthful addition to the diet, and so are beets. (Conventional corn is almost always GMO, and cooked corn is hard for most people to digest.)

While poppy seeds are often added to bread and quite healthful, the juice of the poppy flower can be refined into heroin, an addictive and dangerous substance.

Soy, like cane stalks, poppy seeds, corn cobs, and beets, is a perfectly viable food source. Unlike kidney beans, which are toxic when consumed raw, the soy bean can be eaten raw and fresh. One might even call that an indicator that soy is a safer food than kidney beans.

Yet nobody makes "kidney bean burgers" or "kidney bean protein extract" or "kidney bean tofu". The refined versions of soy are refined. There is nothing wrong with soy. There is something very wrong with the refinement process.

Beans are hard to digest

As an aside to that, all beans are quite hard to digest because of their complex mix of protein, starchy carbohydrates, a bit of fat, and enzyme inhibitors (sometimes known as "anti nutrients"). The enzyme inhibitors are released through soaking and rinsing the beans thoroughly prior to cooking. To make beans even more digestable, sprout them slightly before consuming them raw or cooked.

While all foods have some fat, some carbs and some protein, most foods do not also have so much starch as beans, and starch and protein are hard to digest together because they require enzymes with opposing pH levels which neutralize each other in the stomach, causing beans to take 6+ hours to digest for most Americans. With a compromised digestive system (acid reflux is one symptom of a compromised digestive system), digestion of beans can be downright hazardous, as I know from personal experience.

If you suffer from any digestive problems (colon cancer, constipation, acid reflux, upset stomach, heart burn, irritable bowl, etc), then I don't recommend beans in general. For more information on this topic, read "The Shocking Truth About Beans".

Instead, eat more raw leafy greens, celery, cucumber, bell peppers, broccoli and cauliflower as raw as possible and as often as possible, and chew thoroughly.

If you don't suffer from any digestive problems, then enjoy organic soy products in balanced proportion to every other healthy food that makes up your diet.

Click here for more questions and answers like, "What can I do about body odor?" and "What foods are cheaper if you order them online?"

Green Living with Ethical Products

How We Chose Our Purchases & Why We're So Pleased With Them We do a lot of research before we purchase. For appliances, we read hundreds of reviews, literally. For example, we saw that the Jack Le'Lane juicer gets a ton of bad reviews, and that ultimately led us to buying the better less-known L-Equip juicer. My husband and I research and meditate thoroughly before making purchases above $80. We look for products that will be efficient, ecological, effective and long-lasting. Many products (especially appliances) are not offered with recycled plastic or with "energy efficient" options. However, the more long-lasting the product is, the better it is for the environment (because less of them end up rapidly filling land-fills). Also, the more effective the product is, and the more it does for you, the more ecological as well. Because your health and well-being is essential to a healthy planet, and the efficiency of your environment and home is crucial to your health.

Raederle's Books & Menu Plans Appliances Utensils, containers, and dishware Food Supplements Essential Oils & Tooth Care Body Products Novels Inspiring Books

In other words, if you have a household that is stressful, that will cause you to make less-informed decisions which hurt others and ultimately hurt the planet's ecology. So even though not all of these products are as energy efficient as possible, they will reduce your stress, which is a crucial element of healing the planet.

Originally we did all of this research for our own benefit. By spending six hours on researching a product, we saved ourselves having to spend six hours later on the phone with some customer service guy. It made sense to us. But we found that others often don't do as much research as we do. It is frustrating when making recipes and it takes longer than shown in my videos or indicated in my recipe books. It's also no fun when your products break shortly after purchase.

We've found family members, friends and clients repeatedly asking us about the foods and products we buy and why. And so, to try to keep up with all the questions, I've created this page for your convenience.

My Books

Vitamin Confusion Solution — The most comprehensive reference guide on nutrition available! My Story & My Books — A little about me, a little about my books. Blissfully Balanced — A 7-Day Raw Vegan Nutritionally Complete Meal Plan ideal for beginners. Collecting Calcium — A 7-Day Raw Vegan Nutritionally Complete Meal Plan for building bones, an ideal plan for preventing and healing degenerative bone conditions such as osteoporosis. Experience Elegance — An 8-Day Raw Vegan Nutritionally Complete Meal Plan ideal for raw foodies looking to minimize nuts and seeds while maximizing energy. Nut-Free Delectable Delights — A 7-Day Raw Vegan Nutritionally Complete Meal Plan with no nuts, but you still get you selenium, protein, omega-3, and zinc from whole foods! Nut-Free Raw Recipes — A Raw Vegan Recipe Book with no nuts, loaded with gourmet recipes and desserts (and some fun savory items too).

Kitchen Appliances & Gadgets

Appliances

For more detailed information about appliances, visit my dedicated appliance recommendation page.

I adore my 14-cup Cuisinart Food Processor. This appliance is critical to healthy eating, whether you're eating a lifestyle that is paleo, macrobiotic, vegetarian, vegan or raw.

A 9-tray Excalibur Dehydrator makes food that stores well, packs well, and lasts a long time. All of that, and you can eat warm food that is still raw and filled with enzymes. I recommend getting non-stick teflex sheets along with your dehydrator.

The Omega 8005 Masticating Juicer is an excellent appliance for making nut-butter, ice-cream, wheatgrass juice (or any green juice) and puddings. It has two attachments, one is the "screen" that separates juice from pulp. The other is a "blank" which just ejects everything in one place.

It's well worth-it to own both a masticating juicer and a centrifugal juicer. Why? The L-Equip XL Centrifugal Juicer will save you 95% of the time when juicing carrots and other large vegetables. Learn more about different kinds of juicers and juice recipes on my juice recipes page.

A spiralizer is a fantastic gadget for creating healthy gluten-free pasta. We first tried the Benriner Turner Slicer, but I honestly can't recommend it. Its difficult to use and over-priced for the level of quality. Recently I tried the Tri-Blade Plastic Spiral Vegetable Slicer and was impressed with the ease of use. I use this second spiralizer in my Zesty Zucchini Pasta with Creamy Parsley Sauce. (If you like my videos, subscribe to my youtube station.)

Despite Vitamix becoming a household word, I standby the superior quality of the Blendtec Highspeed Blender. It is more compact, more versatile, more reasonably priced and more powerful. Don't settle for a cheap blender. My friend broke two Hamilton Beach blenders with frozen strawberries!

Utensils, containers, and dishware

One of the most transformitive changes in my kitchen has been switching to using Glasslock Storage Containers. Glass keeps food fresher longer and doesn't off-gas toxins into the food (unlike plastic). The square/rectangular shape of these containers is more space efficient than using rounded containers (like jars). And, when you buy a set (16 to 20 pieces), you pay as little as $2.50 per container. These containers are dish-washer safe (lids in the top of the dishwasher only), and oven safe (without their lids), and they are also quite durable and break-resistant. In four years, none of mine have broken despite daily use, bringing them on road trips, airplanes, picnics, and potlucks.

A wooden bowl or bamboo bowl that you keep for life has got to be better for the environment that buying a new glass bowl every year or so. Also, wood and bamboo bowls, plates and utensils are lighter and easier to take to potlucks and picnics.

Wooden and bamboo spoons have a nice light feel in your hand. And, when placing wood or bamboo utensils in your mouth, there isn't that harsh metallic clang as the metal hits your teeth. Another great use for bamboo kitchenware is for scraping pots with non-stick coatings. Bamboo and wood do not scratch the toxic coating, whereas metal utensils do.

Another pleasing bamboo item is a folding dish rack. Elegant, simple and ecological (at least, in theory — the ecological impact of bamboo versus other materials is very complex, as I illustrate in my article Beyond Veganism).

I use silicone trays for making brownies/truffles, chocolate bars, ice-cubes, and cheesecake. (Click the recipe type to see which silicone mold I use for the purpose.) Unlike plastic, silicone doesn't leach any toxins into the food. While silicone is more expensive than plastic, it is less likely to break (making it a more ecological choice), and it is easier to get out your frozen treats because the silicone is flexible. Silicone is also used for baking, but I just use mine for raw frozen treats. Click here to see some of my raw treats made using silicone molds. Please like my raw recipes page on facebook while you're there. Thanks!

Mini citrus juicers are rather handy when juicing three or more lemons for a recipe, or several tangerines. I've yet to find a model that I'm really thrilled with however. They're all kind of hard on the wrists, but they are not as bad as lemon squeezers. Lemon squeezers may be inexpensive, but they're hard on the hands and they tend to let the seeds into the food anyway, which brings to me to the topic of strainers.

Whenever pouring your lemon juice into something, I recommend using a mini strainer, just in case any seeds or parts of seeds got into the juice. One strainer to another is negligible in difference, with one exception. You do want to look for ones with a fairly sizable protrusion on the opposite side of the handle that is metal. Plastic ones tend to break. This protrusion allows you to put the strainer over a small bowl or cup hands-free.

A quality Salad Spinner with a simple push-down button on the top makes drying greens a simple and easy process. The only quirk about owning a salad spinner is that after use, they need somewhere to be upside-down to dry (so that they don't develop mold over time). For this purpose, I have a dedicated drying rack where I store my salad spinner.

Food

Many food items are more practical to order online. They're less expensive that way, and they're shipped right to your door. No snooping around the health food store hoping it is in stock and that you can find it... Just put it on autoship and have it arrive monthly, every three months or every six months.

A good rule of thumb with "superfoods" such as spirulina, cacao powder, chia seeds, goji berries, and goldenberries is that the price should be $1 per ounce, or less. That is $16 per pound, or less. In grocery stores, you'll often find these items at $1.50 per ounce, inflating the price to $24 per pound instead of $16 per pound. Online, I often find these foods as low as $12 per pound (75 cents per ounce).

Even though I highly recommend using cold-pressed refrigerated oils on your salads (such as flax, hemp or chia oil), I recommend buying these from the grocery store fridge. When these are shipped to your door, often they are shipped without ice or cooling of any kind, sometimes spending five days or more without being cold. This is damaging to the omega-3 fatty acids and other important qualities of the oil.

Raw organic nori sheets are a practical addition to any diet. They're nutrient dense, convenient and delicious. And, when you buy them online in bulk, you pay as little as 33 cents per sheet. Compare this to spending $1 per sheet when you buy 10-packs at the supermarket. Making your own nori wraps at home is an easy, inexpensive choice.

Chia seeds have become all the rage in health food. While the nutritional benefits are often over-stated, the fact these seeds are much easier to digest than most seeds is still a tremendous benefit.

Dried mulberries are one of my favorite snacks and recipe ingredients. These little berries are chewy (or crunchy if you refrigerate them), mildly sweet and taste a lot like honey. I use them as the vegan honey in my recipe Honeyed Turmeric Muesli.

Raw cacao powder is powdered chocolate beans. Raw cacao powder is less bitter than coco which is roasted. Also, in its raw form, cacao caffeine level is so negligible, its less than white tea. Whereas chocolate bars have not only increased caffeine due to roasting, but added caffeine! Making your own chocolates at home with silicone molds is healthier, tastier, less expensive and easy!

Schisandra berries are more nutritionally dense and antioxidant rich than any other superfood berry I've come across. This also means they have a very potent flavor. I enjoy snacking on these with a ratio of a single schisandra berry to a non-heaping handful of mulberries.

Raw carob powder is nutritious, delicious and relatively inexpensive for a superfood. Many have bad memories of disgusting carob muffins baked by health-nut aunts and friends, but this gives the wrong impression of carob. Carob is naturally sweet when it is raw. Roasted carob isn't nearly as tasty. Try raw carob powder blended with frozen bananas for a simple, healthy, home-made ice cream.

Cinnamon powder makes a very sensible online purchase if you use as much cinnamon as I do. Online, you can find it as inexpensive as $8 for an entire pound of organic cinnamon. Try buying a pound of regular cinnamon as well as a pound of ceylon cinnamon. If you're going to take a while to use all of your cinnamon, keep the extra in the freezer for maximum freshness. Cinnamon helps slow the release of sugars, so this is a great addition to all desserts, especially for hypoglycemic and diabetic people.

Vanilla powder is hard to find on grocery shelves and expensive even when you order it online... Yet, it lasts a long time because you only need to use a pinch to get a tremendously delicious result. Try mashing a ripe banana with a pinch of vanilla powder with a fork. Easy, delicious and healthy. I recommend powder instead of extract because the powder is pure vanilla bean, whereas the extracts all require a carrier such as alcohol, glycerin and/or sugar.

Spirulina powder is a great source of easily digested protein (amino acids), as well as chlorophyll (evidenced by its dark green color). Like most sea vegetables, spirulina is very dense in nutrients, even compared to other nutritious vegetables. It does have a strong flavor. I recommend using a pinch in ice-cream, chocolates and other sweet treats.

Kelp Noodles are a raw pasta alternative. They come in a moist packet and only require rinsing before consuming. If you prefer your noodles soft (these come fairly firm/chewy), then after rinsing, soak these for a few hours in fresh lemon juice with a little sea salt and a dash of fresh cold-pressed organic oil. These, unfortunately, are not available organic. That said, they are not GMO as far as I know, and conventional zucchinis are GMO, so if you're going to opt for zucchini noodles, make sure you choose organic zucchini!

Effective Supplements

Not all supplements do something. In fact, many of them are a complete waste of money. I've tried literally hundreds of different probiotics, enzymes, powders and so on, and below I've only listed the ones that had a clearly noticeable difference for me. Better yet, each of the products mentioned below has phenomenal reviews and they have also proven effective for my clients, friends and family!

Lugol's Iodine 5% has been a miracle for me and many people I know. Iodine deficiency is rampant in America. Healthy salts (non-table-salt) don't contain it, and you'll never get enough from consuming spirulina and nori. To make matters worse, most people never experience any benefits from taking it in tablet form, and friends of mine also tried it at 2% dilution and didn't get any results. Something about this particular iodine really works. Iodine is a halogen molecule, similar to chlorine and fluoride. Chlorine and fluoride get into your thyroid when you don't get enough iodine and don't come out of the thyroid until you get enough iodine. For me, my thyroid problems left me cold all the time. I started taking five to nine drops of this iodine in my hot tea daily and on the very first day I stopped being chronically cold! A friend of mine lost her need for glasses within a few months of starting this product. Iodine has also been shown to help with the damage caused by glyphosate, which is the main ingredient in Monsanto's RoundUp and present in conventional zucchini, corn, soy, alfalfa, cotton, and canola.

Natren's Trinity Probiotics is incredible effective for any flora imbalance, including the common cold. Want to nip a sore throat in the bud? Take two of these, one the moment you notice the problem, and the next capsule the following evening. After trying literally dozens of probiotics, I've found this one most effective. I've also had clients, friends and family rave about the benefits of this product. While I'm using an Amazon link here so that you can see it and potentially get it online, it may be best to see if your local health food store has this product in their refrigerator, as it should always be kept cold for maximum potency.

Ultimate Flora Probiotics is a brand I recommend for additional probiotic support if you're struggling with vaginosis, candida, yeast infections, urinary tract infections, bladder infections and/or kidney stones. Just like with Natren's Trinity, if you can find it locally in a health food store in their refrigerated section, they may have more potent product that has been cold more consistently. However, if you can not find it locally, click here to find it on Amazon.

Essential Oils

For the longest time I didn't get what all the buzz about essential oils was. I started out with clove oil back in 2007, for a tooth that was bothering me. A single dab was enough to make all the pain in my mouth go away, but even still, I underestimated how powerfully useful and healing essential oils could be. Later I discovered the power of using essential oils in place of tooth paste entirely.

Essential oil quality: If the oil claims to be "food grade", which is a legal term, then it has been redistilled. This ensures safety for internal use. If the oil claims to be "therapeutic grade", it doesn't really mean anything. Like the words "natural" and "raw", there is no legal requirements for using these terms, so anyone can call any product "therapeutic". I found a great article on this topic that you can read here.

I've used essential oils that are not food grade for dental purposes and on occasion in my food without suffering any negative consequences. Considering that I'm like the canary in a coal mine (a highly sensitive person), I suspect that organic essential oils that are not food grade are still safe and beneficial when consumed. Yet, I need to do more research on that, so consume essential oils that are not food grade with caution.

Note: Many essential oils are not available food grade through Amazon, and I'm currently unaware of where to get them both organic and food grade. I'm also unclear as to whether the second distillation process is actually desirable. For example, pasteurized milk is actually quite bad for you, whereas raw milk (supposedly unsafe) is a very healthful food source if it is from a healthy grass-fed cow. (If my milk statements confuse you in terms of my stance on veganism, then you may be interested in this article.)

Clove oil is incredibly effective for killing off bacteria of the mouth. Put one drop on your finger and carefully trace the edges of your gums outside and inside before bed every other week. This will eliminate and prevent most oral discomfort.

Peppermint essential oil can be used plain instead of toothpaste. Just put one drop on your wet toothbrush and brush. Kills bacteria, cleans your teeth, and leaves you feeling fresh.

Oregano essential oil is very potent and powerful, so use with caution. If you have chronic bleeding gums that do not go away when switching to peppermint oil and using clove oil on occasion, then add in occasional use of oregano oil on your gums. Oregano will kill parasites that burrow into the gums and cause them to bleed. While not everyone has these parasites, they are highly common. To use, dilute with fractionated coconut oil or water.

Body Products

Remember that anything on your skin also shows up in your blood stream, so don't settle for conventional skin products, and definitely steer clear of parabens and ingredients like sodium lauryl sulfate.

Jojoba oil, while pricey for a skin oil, is the most effective oil I've found for genuinely hydrating and smoothing the skin. Jojoba oil is actually a liquid wax which balances the hormones in your skin, reducing blemishes and hydrating without clogging pores. Whenever using oils on your skin, I recommend using a hot wash cloth to rub the oil in, getting it into the pores and evenly distributed.

Coconut oil can be used for food, hair, skin and "oil pulling". I strongly believe that the nutritional benefits are hype created by the industry to sell more coconut oil, but it is a delicious culinary oil that is great in raw vegan cheesecake and other specialty foods. I find that it causes me to break out if I consume more than a tablespoon in a day, or if I consume it daily, which adds to my suspicion that this food clogs up the intestines. That said, I love coconut oil for my skin and hair. To get effective use (and not just clog your pores and gum up your hair), create this mix prior to showering: put two heaping tablespoons of coconut oil in a tall mason jar that has a lid. Add a quarter cup to a half cup of apple cider vinegar. If you're working on increasing the health of your hair, also add five drops of rosemary oil to the mixture. Then add very hot water, filling up the jar. Then shower with organic soap, scrubbing your whole body twice with something exfoliating. Wash your hair with a mixture of apple cider vinegar and water without oil. Then rinse your body and hair until all the soap is gone. Shake up the mixture of oil, vinegar and water. If you have long hair, start by dipping your hair in the mixture and squeezing the excess back out into the jar. Then carefully pour some out onto your scalp and massage into your hair. Continue from there to apply the mixture to your entire body. Rinse with warm water if you feel you applied the mix unevenly and want to redistribute it. The result is very hydrated healthy hair and skin. In my bathroom, the only shower products are apple cider vinegar, coconut oil, organic soap and rosemary essential oil.

Neem oil is known for its effective bacteria-fighting properties. It clears acne and is part of many effective blends for healthy gums and teeth. Unfortunately, I've been able to find a source of neem oil which is pure, powerful and organic, so I've been using the ZAJA brand. The way I use mine is by adding ten to twenty drops to a small glass dispenser with organic jojoba oil. I wash my face, then I rub the oil into my face, then I massage it in with a warm to hot washcloth, getting the mixture into my pores. I've found this very effective for eliminating dry skin and alleviating troubled skin.

Novels

I am a writer. The quality and style of writing is crucial to enjoying a novel for me. In ways, it is more important than great characters, story and setting. In fact, if the writing is poor, I don't finish the first chapter. My four favorite fiction authors have above average writing abilities: Jo Graham, Karen Miller, Naomi Novik and Steven Brust.

I recommend ebooks for seven reasons: They're less expensive for the consumer. They don't use up trees. They don't take up shelf space. They don't become dusty/dirty. They're infinitely more portable when moving or traveling. A nook or kindle is lighter in the hand than a book. Many new authors have self-published via e-books and are not yet (or may never be) available in print.

I understand that most people enjoy the turning of a page, but ultimately, ebooks are more practical for you and for the planet. If you use nook, you can download software such as Calibre to convert kindle books into nook books. Calibre can also convert nook books into kindle books.

The one thing to beware of with ebooks is that some have DRM (digital rights management) on them, which makes it so that you can't put your ebook on more than one device without entering the credit card number used when purchasing. This can be a long-term problem if you switch credit cards and can't find/recall the card used to purchase. This is to protect the seller from people sharing the files freely on the web. Not all ebooks have DRM. If this concerns you, you can look up whether an ebook has DRM on it or not prior to purchase.

The Godspeaker Trilogy by Karen Miller is a fantasy trilogy taking place in a land without technology, but rich in foreign culture and belief systems. The writing is rich and deeply reflects the culture being portrayed. Throughout the trilogy some deep messages about the creation, use, and nature of religion and faith are conveyed.

Hand of Isis by Jo Graham is my favorite book in the Numinous World series. Each book can be read as a stand-alone story, so it is okay if you read them out of order. That said, I believe the chronological order is as follows: Black Ships, Hand of Isis, Stealing Fire, The Ravens of Falkenau, The General's Mistress, and most recently, The Emperor's Agent. I've loved each and every one of them, especially the most recent two.

Jhereg by Steven Brust is the first in a series about an assassin named Vladimir with a good sense of humor. This series makes me laugh out loud repeatedly, and also stimulates thinking about ethical issues, political issues and societal social dynamics. The Vladimir series is intended to be readable out of chronological order, but I recommend reading them in order, starting either with Jhereg or Taltos (pronouced Tal-Toe-sh). Taltos is the first chronologically and is about young Vladimir, however Jhereg tells the story of how Vladimir first got his familiar, a Jhereg (which is essentially a dragon the size of a hawk). You can get these with three-stories-in-one-book, however, they're combined in the publication order. I use Steven Brust's wikipedia page to reference the chronological order. This series is only available in ebook format if you purchase the nook books.

The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik has never failed to disappoint me. Naomi builds fantastic characters, teaches history, and depicts fantastical wars and scenery in a tasteful, enjoyable and engrossing saga. The basic theme is dragons in the Napoleonic Wars. This is the same time period that two books I mentioned above take place in, The General's Mistress, and The Emperor's Agent. I recommend reading these two books near the time that you read the Temeraire series for a different perspective on this time period. The Temeraire series is from the British perspective, whereas Jo Graham's books are from the French perspective. The Temeraire books are astonishing in their apt ability to convey the culture, values and stigmas of the time through the eyes of dragonlore. The series takes you to China, Turkey, Russia, South America, America, Africa, Britain, France and other places besides, displaying a wide variety of cultures as well as a wide variety of ways that dragons can exist within a culture. The fascinating and fabulous thing is that Naomi somehow manages to insert dragons into history without losing any of the authentic feel of these locations and historical battles.

Raederle's Book Reviews

The inspiring books I've read have been key in making me who I am. Most of my healing, motivation, and inspiration has come from books. They are powerful in their ability to hold and convey information. They're a bargain, even when you pay $30 for a single book.

These books recommended below are all books that I have read personally and was highly touched by.

The books shown below are more or less in the order I recommend reading them. Book reviews below.

The Mastery of Love is not a book you'll forget after reading. Miguel delivers concise impacting statements that startle and empower. He uses simple sentences and simple language to convey powerful, timeless messages. “You don't need to justify your love, you don't need to explain your love, you just need to practice your love. Practice creates the master.”

After reading The Art of Happiness cover-to-cover once I found myself reading it again, and again, in the years following. I never fail to feel uplifted after reading a chapter out of this marvelous book. It is a testament to the beauty of humanity. Click here to read my full book review and two of my favorite excerpts from the book.

Sugar Blues by William Duffy is the perfect book for anyone looking to break sugar addiction. “Sugar is stored in the liver... Since the liver's capacity is limited, a daily intake of refined sugar (above the required amount) soon makes the liver expand... When the liver is filled to its maximum capacity, the excess glycogen is returned ... in the form of fatty acids. These are ... stored in the most inactive areas: belly, buttocks, breasts, and thighs. When these comparatively harmless places are completely filled, fatty acids are then distributed among active organs, such as the heart and kidneys.”

After reading The Continuum Concept by Jean Liedloff I was amazed at how differently I viewed my life and everyone in my life. "It is no secret that the "experts" have not discovered how to live satisfactorily, but the more they fail, the more they attempt to bring the problems under the sole influence of reason... [Determining what is good for us] has for many millions of years been managed by the infinitely more refined areas of the mind called instinct. ... [The] unconscious can make any number of calculations, syntheses, and executions simultaneously and correctly."

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn illustrates how to save the world in a beautifully told story. “Once you learn to discern the voice of Mother Culture humming in the background, telling her story over and over again to the people of your culture, you’ll never stop being conscious of it. Wherever you go for the rest of your life, you’ll be tempted to say to the people around you, How can you listen to this stuff and not recognize it for what it is?”

The Power of A Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian immediately hooked my attention. The wise Stormie opened up with the most important prayer... To pray for yourself to change. Pray to become strength, not for an easy life. This book comes from a Christian perspective. Even if you're not Christian, I encourage you to try the prayers in this book. Going into a meditative state and visualizing yourself becoming a better, more forgiving, more loving, more honest person, all by itself, will have amazing impact. "Little by little, I began to see changes... Instead of reacting negatively, I prayed... I asked God to give me insight ... My husband's anger became less frequent more quickly soothed. You have to rise up and say, "I pray for an end to this conflict ... Take away the armor we've put up. Lift us out of unforgiveness..."

Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill is for any person who wants to reprogram themselves to become a money-making genious. Actually, the principles in the book could be used to achieve any goal. “Before success comes in any man’s life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit. That is exactly what the majority of men do. More than five hundred of the most successful men this country has ever known told the author their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them.”

Empty Harvest by Bernard Jensen paints a very disturbing picture that really brings home the strong importance of permaculture, aquaponics, small farms and home gardens. Empty Harvest clearly explains the link between the lack of minerals in our crop soils and the modern day diseases associated with mineral deficiencies. The author shows many excellent examples of how mankind is slowly destroying it's future by robbing the Earth of the very things that give us and support life itself. This book is a bit "light weight" if you're interested in reading the nitty-gritty scientific aspect of things.

Raw Emotions by Angela Stokes is fantastic for anyone detoxing from emotional baggage. When you start a raw food diet or a vegetable juice cleanse, it is common to start detoxing emotions as well as the rest of it. That is where this book comes in to the rescue! Angela Stokes is renowned for her remarkable physical transformation - a 160lb weight loss with a raw food lifestyle. Whatever your current relationship with food looks like, Raw Emotions has something to offer you. Inspiring 'self-help' techniques with a lifestyle rich in fresh raw foods is a winning combination.

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~ Raederle