Becoming Primitive....

In my research for the Primitive DIVA book, I have spent countless hours reading blogs, books, magazines and research around Natural Health, Wellness, the promotion of living a more Green primitive lifestyle and all things related to sustainable living. One thing became very predictable in most of the authors message(s).
Doom and gloom, and lots of negative and fear based writing.

In the past several years I have intentionally limited my exposure to serious environmental issues in the media. Mainly because as a super sensitive empathetic person, I could not deal with all the negative information without having the solution to share. It seems that having the knowledge is one thing, but the power comes in knowing how to make concrete steps towards leading a more natural life, not just being bombarded with all the realistic understanding of chemical and industrial hazards that are out there.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I do consider it imperative that we need to be aware of any danger associated with knowing where our food comes from, be able to know what to look for in your household cleaners, skin care products along with being mindful of the impact we leave on this beautiful blue/green globe of ours…. However, The challenge is balance. Knowing what to DO about it, practical steps towards better living. This reflects in my own Primitive Diva philosophy that will be explained in more detail in the book.
For instance, knowing which foods are the best to eat organically really helps me prioritize choices in the grocery store. I am continually quoted as answering questions during a nutrition consult with “Well, in a PERFECT world, we would choose…..” Guess what? We do not live in a perfect world! Realistically, I cannot optimally sustain my health and that of my family IF I refuse to consume anything else but local, organically grown foods that I have personally confirmed their individual farming practices. The Diva side of me lives in the real world with busy’ness and stressful family activities and schedules. So finding my way to being primitive has empowered me with information and practical advice of long lost traditional wisdom to share.

I have devoted much time over the past 20 years studying data in both nutritional clinical /science (the Future) and nutritional anthropology (the Past). The two directions have allowed me a much deeper understanding of natures intended nutritional guidelines. My own nutritional experiences (success’s and failures) have ranged from RAW vegan, Macro-biotic, Yeast Free, Gluten Free, Low Fat, Low Carb to Raw Paleothic… Whatever the diet dictocrats were promoting as the lastest and greatest. You name it and there is a book selling it.---and people hoping for a magic bullet, buying it! All in trying to understand our physical makeup and what allows the body to heal itself---“let food be thy medicine”, right? I have a sincere passion to understand the how and why’s of our traditional pillars of health wisdom. With the ludicrous statements and theories that I have seen, read or heard from the gurus through the years— and a strong mistrust of anything to do with corporately founded/funded science (Big Pharma, Big Agra, Food Scientist, the AMA, the FDA, the USDA or any other government or corporate agency) I began a very important evolutionary quest to get past the hype, confusion and political posturing of our food industry that surrounds our experts in dietary/nutrition arena. I searched for facts that could be evidenced through several generations. I discovered my most profound truth for health and wellness by looking back---by looking at generations of our ancestors. Societies who thrived by hunting wild animals and fish and gathered wild fruits and vegetables. We commonly refer to their lifestyle today as “hunter-gatherer”. I have studied research material of the world’sPioneers of nutrition, leading evolutionary biologist, paleontologists, geneticist, nutritional anthropologist and researchers devoted to the historical study of the human body and health.
Through the professional research support and education from these experts I have embraced the learning of forgotten food preparations and traditions of generations before us. Methods that seemed to have been tossed away with each new technological advance, preservative and flavor/color enhancer. What people have eaten and more importantly how they prepared it has helped humans for many ages of time be free of diseases- such as diabetes, cancer, hypothyroidism, heart disease, auto-immune diseases ,dental disease obesity and many other serious health problems. Their diets not only influenced their health but for a large extent---determined it! History reveals that the healthiest people in the world were/are the most primitive people as well! Our ancestors rarely died from diet or lifestyle related illnesses that kill most modern people before their time. Our ancestors foraged for wild game, fresh caught fish from the sea or inlands, wild berries, nuts and plant foods. They had more active lifestyles in every day physical demands. They did not have health clubs and gyms.
While I readily admit that we cannot go back to the old ways of our primitive ancestors completely, we can learn from their wisdom and make our bodies strong, healthy and disease resistant. So, over the next few months I will share some principles for maintaining optimal health in a very primitive way.

Lets explore the definition of the original hunter gatherer primitive diet:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The modern dietary regimen known as the Paleolithic diet (abbreviated paleo diet or paleodiet), also popularly referred to as the caveman diet, Stone Age diet and hunter-gatherer diet, is a nutritional plan based on the presumed ancient diet of wild plants and animals that various human species habitually consumed during the Paleolithic—a period of about 2.5 million years duration that ended around 10,000 years ago with the development of agriculture. In common usage, such terms as the "Paleolithic diet" also refer to the actual ancestral human diet. Centered on commonly available modern foods, the "contemporary" Paleolithic diet consists mainly of meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, roots, and nuts; and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar, and processed oils.

First popularized in the mid 1970s by a gastroenterologist named Walter L. Voegtlin, this nutritional concept has been promoted and adapted by a number of authors and researchers in several books and academic journals. A common theme in evolutionary medicine, Paleolithic nutrition is based on the premise that modern humans are genetically adapted to the diet of their Paleolithic ancestors and that human genetics have scarcely changed since the dawn of agriculture, and therefore that an ideal diet for human health and well-being is one that resembles this ancestral diet. Proponents of this diet argue that modern human populations subsisting on traditional diets allegedly similar to those of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers are largely free of diseases of affluence, and that two small prospective studies of the Paleolithic diet in humans have shown some positive health outcomes. Supporters point to several potentially therapeutic nutritional characteristics of allegedly preagricultural diets.

The Vegetarian Myth

I have several books that have been quite profound in my own quest to understand the mystery of nutritional science and nutritional anthropology.However,as a former moral/ethical vegan, The Vegetarian Myth, by Lierre Keith,strongly resonated with me from the very first chapter.

Lierre Keith spent almost twenty years as a dedicated vegan, “succumbing to weakness” by eating fatty dairy products only on rare occasions. Her book is a moving account of how that diet destroyed her body and how she came to realize that vegetarianism was not the answer to the problems of environmental destruction, animal suffering or Third World starvation.

She did not come to this knowledge easily. Despite her catastrophically failing health, she was certain it could not be due to her diet. Didn’t everyone know that animal foods with their saturated fat and cholesterol, not to mention their growth hormones and antibiotics, were the cause of all our modern health woes? And wasn’t it obvious that CAFOs (Confinement Animal Feeding Operations) and slaughterhouses are institutions of torture, as well as environmental disasters, that the grain and water used for animals should feed the starving masses instead? Wasn’t it morally wrong to kill a sentient creature for food, when it was clearly unnecessary?

So she dragged her weary body through each day, her life a testament to her desperate, noble commitment to life, justice and compassion. As she struggled to find answers to her deteriorating health, she also took another step along her path as an environmentalist and began trying to grow her own food. As she puts it, these two quests led her to an adult knowledge of the world that she had never learned before. It’s that knowledge that she shares in her beautifully written book, which is organized into three main sections addressing moral vegetarians (those who are vegetarian because they believe that killing/oppressing animals is wrong), political vegetarians (those who believe that the grain fed to animals should feed starving humans), and nutritional vegetarians (those who believe that animal food is detrimental to human health). These chapters are bookended by an introduction (“Why This Book?”) and a conclusion (“To Save the World”).

Moral Vegetarians
In addressing the argument that it is wrong to kill animals for food, or even to oppress them for their milk or eggs, Keith makes it clear that she is in no way excusing the horrors of factory farming. But there are humane ways to raise animals for food. And what’s more, just because there is no dead animal on your dinner plate doesn’t mean many animals (and birds, insects, microbes, prairies, rivers) didn’t die so that you could have that plate of rice, beans and tofu. The worldwide expansion of grain-based agriculture has destroyed ecosystems, drained wetlands, caused extinctions, killed the life in the soil. Several hundred small animals die in or under the machinery every time a field of grain is harvested. And insects, and bacteria, and the plants themselves. Death is inherent in every bite of food that keeps each of us alive.

As Keith tried to raise her own food, she became aware of and involved in nature and its cycles, and learned that plants eat, and that what they eat is animals—whether in the form of fossil-fuel-derived fertilizers or today’s blood and bones. The soil eats too, a million tiny organisms in every spoonful of topsoil, all doing the producing and degrading that make life possible for the rest of us. The insects needed to eat, and if she was to rescue any of her vegetables from them, she had a choice between chemicals and birds. Could she bear to “exploit” some chickens, even if she didn’t eat them in the end, by putting them to work eating bugs in her garden? Would she personally be culpable for the death of those insects, having put the chickens in proximity to them herself? Adult knowledge dawned in her, that “predators” and “prey” could apply equally to all life forms, depending on when. All life forms fit into a circle of producers, consumers and degraders. We all need to eat and in the end we all need to be eaten.

Political Vegetarians
Political vegetarians argue that it’s unethical to wastefully feed animals tons of grain that could feed hungry humans throughout developing nations. Keith exposes the ignorance of this argument on several counts. First, we shouldn’t be feeding animals grain in feedlots; they should be eating grass on pasture and returning nutrients in the form of urine and manure to build the soil. Second, much of the world isn’t suitable for intensive grain cultivation and we’ve almost tapped out the topsoil in the places that are suitable. Even with increasing crop yields, we’ll run out of oil to make synthetic fertilizer and transport the grain around the world. Third, a grain-based diet will only keep these people malnourished (see the “Nutritional Vegetarians” chapter).

Finally, the argument about human starvation is simply a smoke screen for Big Ag. Hungry nations don’t need our food aid; they need us to stop the subsidized exports and strong arm trade negotiation tactics that demolished their native food systems and caused the starvation in the first place. Monsanto, Cargill, ConAgra, Archer Daniels Midland—these are the companies that give us GMO corn and soybeans, promote junk food dressed up as “nutraceuticals,” and set grain prices below the cost of production—and which, with the oil companies and other big businesses, own almost all the small organic labels (Hain, Cascadian Farms, Muir Glen, etc.), too. They’re happy to take more money selling organic food to well-meaning yuppies while simultaneously doing all they can to erode organic standards so they can produce more cheaply yet still command a premium price. They do not have the wellbeing of the world’s hungry foremost in their mind, despite disingenuous “corporate pledges” that claim otherwise (see monsanto.com, cargill.com, and adm.com for some truly outrageous rhetoric about their “values,” which are in complete opposition to their behavior).

Monsanto is buying up seed companies and patenting every seed it can, thus stealing for their own intellectual property the work of generations of farmers worldwide over the centuries. They sue poor farmers who try to save patented seed from year to year. Do we really think it’s a good idea to make the entire world dependent on a handful of plants owned by a handful of utterly ruthless companies?

Nutritional Vegetarians
This chapter will be thoroughly familiar to regular readers of this journal. Keith learned through hard experience that her animal body needed the food it evolved to eat. Nutrient-dense animal foods rich in complete protein, saturated fat, cholesterol, fat-soluble vitamins, and minerals allowed our brains to increase in size while our digestive tracts shrank millions of years before we domesticated grains. We are no longer vegetarian primates like the gorillas.

Keith also discusses the damage the grains wreak throughout our bodies. Their opioids addict us and so we keep pulling down whole ecosystems to spread them, but their sugars, starches, lectins, phytates, enzyme inhibitors and phytoestrogens cause blood sugar swings, insulin resistance, gut and joint inflammation, autoimmune diseases, mineral deficiencies, digestive disorders, hormonal disruptions and many more medical problems. As other researchers and writers have shown, the last century’s exponential increase in consumption of modern agribusiness's refined carbohydrates, manufactured fats, and isolated plant proteins coupled with the decrease in consumption of traditional nutrient-dense foods, is responsible for most of the chronic illness that plagues us today.

To Save the World?
If I have any major criticism of this book, it's that the final chapter is pretty grim. And yet, I can’t even really fault her for that. Keith has done her research, crunched the numbers, and thinks that the planet can’t truly sustain even one tenth of our current numbers for the long term. Many will bristle at her first recommendation: "Don't have children." But as she points out, a large portion of humanity wouldn’t be around today if it weren’t for the Green Revolution, which accelerated the loss of our topsoil and the destruction of ecosystems even as it provided a starvation diet for billions more humans (with the profits going to a very few corporations). If we don’t decrease our numbers voluntarily, and soon, we may see them decrease rapidly and involuntarily through starvation, environmental collapse and warring over the last of our resources.

Keith seamlessly weaves arguments against grain agriculture with indictments of patriarchy, religion and the cult of masculinity. Many of these themes will unsettle or turn off readers who otherwise agree with her main points against vegetarianism. But she persuasively links the spread of agriculture to the spread of slavery, imperialism, militarism, and class divisions—on the whole, the agricultural experiment has meant a net loss in freedom and individual rights.

I don’t know whether she’s right about how truly desperate the situation is. But even if reality will not be quite so grim as she paints it, to mitigate the danger we must increase our vigilance and our activism in pursuit of grass-farming, not grain-farming. And we must be ever more active and vocal in politics and in the protection of individual rights. If global food crises do come when petroleum-based ag fails, can we imagine that governments under pressure wouldn’t seize the remaining fertile land from the grass-farmers, “for the public good”?

Keith's bibliography is filled with names that will be familiar to readers of this journal: Eades, Enig, Fallon, Price, Purdey, Ross, Salatin, Schmid, Taubes. But don’t think that if you’ve read all of these authors and you’re eating meat that you have nothing to learn from this book. Keith will also introduce you to some fascinating voices you may not yet know: I’ve already ordered my copies of Derrick Jenson’s Endgame and Stephen Buhner’s The Lost Language of Plants.

Part of the brilliance of her book is its astonishing readability; the grace and ease with which she weaves lay-reader-friendly scientific explanations about plant chemistry and nutrition with heartbreaking narrative about her personal journey. And I was astonished at how much I learned about life cycles, soil, plants, animals, wetlands and politics (the nutrition I already knew) in a mere 274 pages of seamlessly flowing text. Keith bares her soul for us ... a soul that aches for so much we’ve already lost. I wept at several points, not only on my first read through, but again on my second. Her book is a plaintive cry for us to wake up from the fantasy of endless consumption and entitlement that we’ve been playing out for far too long, and from the pernicious corollary that if we just recycle and “buy organic” and replace our incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents that it will all be okay.

The Vegetarian Myth is an eloquent and utterly persuasive argument against vegetarianism. Keith pulls no punches, but she does address vegetarians with empathy and love. She has been there; she knows the prayer in the vegan heart. Few vegans truly stick it out for twenty years, so Keith has earned her soapbox. And she realizes that for those who have built an entire identity around their diet, all three of the main vegetarian arguments must be thoroughly dealt with before another way can be considered. Mass vegetarianism would not save the world, but in fact would hasten its destruction.

I hope that this book will help vegetarians and vegans who are struggling to maintain their diet despite its effect on their health, to see that while their compassion and fervor for justice are honorable and noble, they are mistaken about the solution.

What is Yerba Mate?

I have been drinking Guayaki Yerba Mate for about 10 years. So sometimes I am perplexed when I mention it and find so many others who have never experienced it. Originally, I used it as an endurance aid for working out or cycling- it has become such an enjoyment for an afternoon pick me up while writing. Let me share some of the wonderful benefits and a bit of history to this exciting drink.

Yerba mate was discovered centuries ago by the indigenous people in South America and has been revered as the “drink of the gods” and consumed to enhance, vitality, clarity, and well-being. With 24 vitamins and minerals, 15 amino acids, 11 polyphenols, caffeine, and is high in antioxidants, yerba mate triumphs as nature’s most balanced stimulant.

Of the six commonly used stimulants in the world--yerba mate, coffee, tea, kola nut, cocoa, and guarana--yerba mate is the healthiest, delivering both energy and nutrition.

•Helps Stimulate Focus and Clarity*
•Boosts Physical Energy*
•Traditionally Used to Support Weight Loss Programs that Include a Balanced Diet and Exercise*
•Aids Elimination*
•Contains Antioxidants*



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Legends of Yerba Mate


Yerba mate is the legendary infusion from South America that is luring people away from their daily coffee fix. Yerba mate first caught the attention of world-class athletes and health-conscious people, but now mate is becoming a favorite healthful daily ritual for all people taking their well-being seriously. Grown in the sub-tropical rainforests of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, yerba mate has long been revered as the “drink of the gods”.

The legendary vitality beverage!


For centuries, South America’s Ache Guayaki tribe have sipped yerba mate from a traditional mate gourd for its rejuvenative effects. These rainforest people find tremendous invigoration, focus, and nourishment in yerba mate. The leaves of the rainforest mate tree naturally contain 24 vitamins and minerals, 15 amino acids, abundant antioxidants. In fact, The Pasteur Institute and the Paris Scientific society in 1964 concluded "it is difficult to find a plant in any area of the world equal to mate in nutritional value" and that yerba mate contains "practically all of the vitamins necessary to sustain life."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yerba mate is the national drink of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Southern Brazil where it is consumed 6 to 1 over coffee. In Argentina, over 90% of the people drink yerba mate with a gourd and bombilla.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Yerba Mate (Ilex paraguariensis) is a small tree native to the subtropical Atlantic forests of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. This evergreen member of the holly family was introduced to modern civilizations by the indigenous Guarani of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. Yerba mate naturally contains 24 vitamins and minerals, 15 amino acids, abundant antioxidants, and is generally consumed for vitality, clarity, and well being. Of the six commonly used stimulants in the world: yerba mate, coffee, tea, kola nut, cocoa, and guarana, yerba mate triumphs as natures most balanced stimulant, delivering both energy and nutrition. Yerba mate is the uplifting and nourishing choice of health-minded individuals.

There are many legends surrounding yerba mate, and it's known to the Argentine Gauchos (cowboys) as their "liquid vegetable", and to the native forest peoples who have survived periods of drought and famine by drinking yerba mate as the “Drink of the Gods”.

The icon for yerba mate is the unique gourd from which it is consumed and shared, the Mate Gourd. “Yerba” means herb. “Mate” is derived from the quichua word, "matí," which is the name of the gourd (Lagenaria vulgaris) traditionally used to drink yerba mate. So, literally, yerba mate means “herb cup”. For centuries people have sipped yerba mate using a gourd and bombilla - a filter like straw. It is believed that drinking yerba mate from the gourd is a joyful way to receive the healthful and invigorating properties of yerba mate. The mate gourd is offered as a symbol of hospitality and is peacefully passed from hand to hand around a circle of friends while ideas are shared, stories are told, and a sense of community is created. Yerba mate lifts the spirit.

In Paraguay, yuyeras (herbalists) have been using yerba mate for centuries as the base of herbal medicine mixtures called “remedios” or remedies. It is common to make “remedios” with yerba mate by steeping medicinal herbs in the water used to prepare mate in the gourd. It is believed that by improving circulation and promoting balance, yerba mate acts as a catalyst to enhance the healing powers of other herbs.

Yerba mate contains caffeine, theophylline, and theobromine, well-known stimulants also found in tea, coffee and chocolate. The caffeine content varies between that of green tea and coffee. Unlike tea, yerba mate has a low tannin content so it can be strong like coffee with out becoming extremely bitter. Unlike coffee, yerba mate is not oily and acid forming, so it is less likely to cause stomach acid and jitters.

Yerba mate is very versitile and can be prepared a variety of ways, from a tea infuser or French press to a coffee machine, even an esspresso maker. It can be consumed hot, or cold, and served with with milk and honey or with lemon and mint.

You can find my favorite brand of Yerba Mate....Guayaki at most large grocers and wholefoods. It is available in tea bag form or loose for brewing in a french press~ENJOY!

Kombucha Baby.....!

Okay, for the past few months I have been busy breeding "Scobys" (AKA- Kombucha Babies)! Before you get concerned, a Scoby stands for "symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts". After investing a great portion of my childrens college fund trying to support my Kombucha drinking habit. I am a "Booch" addict, I admit. I got my starter culture and I have mastered making my own Kombucha, I wanted to shed light on this mysterious and magical ~Elixir.

Today we will discover what Kombucha is, where it's from, and exactly what the heck is in this stuff once fully prepared.

Kombucha is a living health drink made by fermenting tea and sugar with the kombucha culture. The result can taste like something between sparkling apple cider and champagne, depending on what kind of tea you use. It's not what you'd imagine fermented tea to taste like.

The origins of Kombucha have become lost in the mists of time. It is thought to have originated in the Far East, probably China, and has been consumed there for at least two thousand years. The first recorded use of kombucha comes from China in 221 BC during the Tsin Dynasty. It was known as "The Tea of Immortality".

It has been used in Eastern Europe, Russia and Japan for several centuries. It's from Japan in 415 AD that the name kombucha is said to have come. A Korean physician called Kombu or Kambu treated the Emperor Inyko with the tea and it took his name, "Kombu" and "cha" meaning tea. Russia has a long tradition of using a healing drink called "Tea Kvass" made from a "Japanese Mushroom".

From Russia it spread to Prussia, Poland, Germany and Denmark but it seems to have died out during World War Two. After the war Dr Rudolph Skelnar created renewed interest in kombucha in Germany when he used it in his practice to treat cancer patients, metabolic disorders, high blood pressure and diabetes.



The Kombucha Culture

The Kombucha culture looks like a beige or white rubbery pancake. It's often called a 'scoby' which stands for ' symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts.The culture is placed in sweetened black or green tea and turns a bowl full of sweet tea into a bowl full of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and health-giving organic acids.

As the Kombucha culture digests the sugar it produces a range of organic acids like glucuronic acid, gluconic acid, lactic acid, acetic acid, butyric acid, malic acid and usnic acid; vitamins, particularly B vitamins and vitamin C; as well as amino acids, enzymes. And of course there are all the benefits of the probiotic microorganisms themselves. The Kombucha culture is a biochemical powerhouse in your kitchen.

You might wonder if fermenting tea with yeasts would produce an alcoholic beverage. It's a good question. The yeasts do produce alcohol but the bacteria in the culture turn the alcohol to organic acids. Only minute quantities of alcohol, typically .5% to 1%. That means that drinking an entire gallon of kombucha is the equivalent of drinking a half can of beer. To put it another way, kombucha tea has the same amount of alcohol as a fermented piece of fruit (leave an orange out in the sun for a day).

Though this small amount of alcohol will not get you intoxicated, it is a wonderfull attribute to the tea, as it achieves many beneficial results. Besides aiding in circulation in our bodies and, helping with our lymphatic system alcohol works as a preservative allowing your tea to brew and ferment continuously, with out ever requiring refrigeration as long as the kombucha culture is in contact with it and the brewing container has a breathable cloth on top. In fact, this is one of the great benefits we took to create the concept of the continuous brewing system.

With every brew you make the kombucha forms a new layer or scoby on the surface of the liquid. These can be left to thicken the scoby or can be divided, giving you spare cultures that you can store in some sweet tea in the fridge in case something should happen to your active culture. Or you might want to pass on spare Kombucha cultures to friends or use a new scoby to start another batch of kombucha.

Kombucha and Health

Many health claims are made for kombucha. It has certainly been shown to have exceptional antibiotic, antiviral and anti fungal properties in lab tests. In rats it’s been shown to protect against stress and improve liver function. There is a lot of experiential evidence from people who have been using kombucha over many years. Many of the benefits reported include improvements in energy levels, metabolic disorders, allergies, cancer, digestive problems, candidiasis, hypertension, HIV, chronic fatigue and arthritis. It ‘s also used externally for skin problems and as a hair wash among other things.

The Organic Acids

Glucuronic acid
The body's most important detoxifier. When toxins enter the liver this acid binds them to it and flushes them out through the kidneys. Once bound by glucuronic acid toxins cannot escape. A product of the oxidation process of glucose, glucuronic acid is one of the more significant constituents of Kombucha. As a detoxifying agent it's one of the few agents that can cope with pollution from the products of the petroleum industry, including all the plastics, herbicides, pesticides and resins. It kidnaps the phenols in the liver, which are then eliminated easily by the kidneys. Kombucha can be very helpful for allergy sufferers. Another by-product of glucuronic acid are the glucosamines, the structures associated with cartilage, collagen and the fluids which lubricate the joints. It is this function that makes Kombucha so effective against arthritis.

Lactic Acid
Essential for the digestive system. Assist blood circulation, helps prevent bowel decay and constipation. Aids in balancing acids and alkaline in the body and believed to help in the prevention of cancer by helping to regulate blood pH levels.

Acetic Acid
A powerful preservative and it inhibits harmful bacteria.

Usnic Acid
A natural antibiotic that can be effective against many viruses.

Oxalic Acid
An effective preservative and encourages the intercellular production of energy.

Malic acid
Helps detoxify the liver.

Gluconic Acid
Produced by the bacteria, it can break down to caprylic acid is of great benefit to sufferers of candidiasis and other yeast infections such as thrush.

Butyric acid
Produced by the yeast, protects human cellular membranes and combined with Gluconic acid strengthens the walls of the gut to combat yeast infections like candida.

Types of Tea for Kombucha
Kombucha requires tea for its fermentation (Camellia Sinensis). That's real tea not herbal tea. It can be also be sensitive to strong aromatic oils. A tea like Earl Grey that contains Bergamot oil, can sometimes kill or badly affect the culture. There are several different kinds of tea that give different results from lighter tastes to stronger more cider like tastes.

Black Tea
Black tea is made from leaves that have been fully fermented. The leaf is spread out and left to wilt naturally, before being fired, producing a deep, rich flavour and an amber brew.

Oolong Tea
Oolong tea is half way between green tea and black tea. It's gently rolled after picking and allowed to partially ferment until the edges of the leaves start to turn brown. Oolong combines the taste and colour of black and green tea.

Green Tea
Green tea is withered then steamed or heated to prevent oxidation and then rolled and dried. It is characterized by a delicate taste, light green colour. The Japanese tea Sencha makes an especially fine kombucha.

White Tea
White Tea is the rarest and most delicate of tea. Plucked forty-eight hours or less between the time the first buds become fully mature and the time they open. Unlike black and green teas, white tea isn't rolled or steamed, but simply aired dried in the sun, this preserves more of its antioxidant properties. White tea has about three times as many antioxidant polyphenols as green. White tea represents the least processed form of tea.

Yeast....Candida?

I have recieved alot of questions on this.I will address the specific concern regarding drinking kombucha for Candida and/or yeast infections. Many of you have read that kombucha is a wonderful cure for Candida and yeast infections, however, concern was raised when you discovered with my instructions during the workshop that kombucha actually contains live yeast and bacteria. If that's the case, how can ingesting yeast actually help get rid of it?

In a nutshell (a very small nutshell, like a pistachio), the yeast found in kombucha IS NOT the same as the unwanted yeast your body excretes through Candida and yeast infections . In fact yeast overgrowth is the result but the reason is often due to too much sugar in ones diet. So, regarding sugar:

Most of the sugar found in kombucha is converted after ten to fourteen days from brewing. This means with the continuous brewing method, the more you wait, the less sugar there will be present when you drink. If you constantly want to have less sugar you will need to bottle your tea to last you for about 5 days BEFORE you add a new batch of your sweet tea.

So there ya go. Kombucha could be beneficial in resolving Candida but make sure your kombucha has been fermented for at least 10 days if you want to cut down on the sugar levels!


I have new grown SCOBY's available for anyone in the Houston area who would like to become a Kombucha Alchemist too. Drink up!

In Health,
Melissa
The Primitive Diva




References
The Ubiquitous Co-Enzyme UDPGlucuronic Acid Detoxifying Agent in Kombucha Tea? By Norbert Hoffmann.
The History and Spread of Kombucha By James Roche.
Kombucha Tea for Your Health and Healing.
The Fascination of Kombucha by Günther W. Frank

Seeds of Deception

I have been very empowered by the information that he has written in his book and shared in his interviews.Looking forward to reading his book....ordered today!

Where did we go wrong....?

As a society, especially in the past 50 years, we have focused somewhat in a blind fashion on FUTURE growth, change and exponential progress of our world. I often reflect at the vast number of changes in technology that I have personally experienced in my own mere 45 years. The advent of the Microwave Oven, the VCR/DVD player and Video Game Systems, Computers, Internet, Cell Phones…… we have sped our lives up and expect instant gratification at a faster and faster pace, year after year. We are racing ahead to solve all of the worlds’ problems without once looking back and contemplating the foundational wisdom of those before us. Combine this pace of technology with our food supply and we have leapt forward in the corporate agenda led -food sciences industry . We now have bigger breasted chickens, the “perfect” pork chop, insecticide resistant soybean seeds, fluffier loaves of bread, and even genetically modified tomatoes that will not go bad on the extended trip across the globe to the supermarket shelf. We have flavor enhancers that cause brain lesions, Food dyes that are directly related to neuro transmitter disturbance, Sweeteners that alter our brain chemistry and hormones. If that’s not enough in super progressive scientific developments , we have NEW fats/oils that come with a risk of gas, bloody stools, nausea and the inability to control bowel movements(scary). We can buy magic bullets (supplements) that make outrageous claims for curing the incurable without changing our eating or physical activity. Currently,doctors prescribe more medications that offer serious lethal side effects than provide actual treatment. Lastly, we have skin care products that contain petro-chemicals that are also found in anti-freeze. Seriously, who could possibly think this is okay?

And yet with all of these advancements and at no other time in the history of the world, have we ever been more concerned about the subject of diet and nutrition. If we accept the premise that-- what we eat determines our health--, then we must add the current (statistically evidenced) observation of how poorly we eat in this country alone must result in how poorly we feel.

Although heart disease and cancer were rare at the turn of the century, today these two diseases strike with increasing frequency, in spite of the billions of dollars spent on research, prevention and methods to combat them through amazing advances in diagnostics and surgical procedures. In America, one person in three dies of cancer, one in three suffers from allergies, one in ten will have ulcers and one out of five pregnancies will result in mis-carriage. One quarter of a million babies are born with birth defects each year. Other degenerative diseases—arthritis, multiple sclerosis, digestive disorders, diabetes, osteoporosis, alzheimers, epilepsy and chronic fatigue—afflict a significant majority of our country. This is draining the energy and very lifeblood from our nation. Learning disabilities such as dyslexia and hyperactivity afflict several million young people. These diseases and disabilities were extremely rare only a few generations ago. Today, chronic illness afflicts nearly half of all Americans and causes three out of four deaths annually. Most tragically, these diseases that were only experienced in the aging population are now striking our children—younger and younger each year.

Americans spend one dollar out of every fourteen for medical services, or over $800 billion yearly---more than the national deficit, the food bill and the profits for of all US corporations combined—yet we have little resources to show for this drain on our economy. Medical science has not been able to lengthen our life span. Fewer persons alive at 70 today survive until 90 than forty years ago. Even with our improved sanitation and the reduction in infant mortality. Clearly something has gone very wrong, even though many Americans have been concientous about following their doctors and government agencies (American Heart Associations) advice on their dietary intake and exercise guidelines. Many have stopped smoking and increased their consumption of vegetables and fruits, reduced consumption of red meat and salt. But none of these measures have made a dent in the ever-increasing toll of degenerative disease.

It is our only hope for survival to slow down and revisit the legacy of our ancestors just a few generations ago. A more PRIMITIVE way of living, away for the chemistry experiment that we have conducted on our nations and families health all in the name of progress.

The REAL Cost of Convenience…..?

Most of what we take for granted in our comfortable lives is NOT what nature intended. However, in the name of protecting and saving our most promoted precious commodity(s) of time and money—we have spent our most fragile/invaluable commodity…. our health.

This year alone this country will spend more on fast food than higher education—Not to mention the increased money required for the resulting expense of healthcare, pharmaceutical and disease process. If we tabulate the actual cost to life and culture (food borne disease, near global obesity and its related disabilities, animal abuse in the many CAFO’s and out of control political corruption) We soon realize the health of this country is founded on the premise and promise of cheap lab created franken-foods and with a proper perspective---even the richest of us all cannot afford the $1.99 value meal.

Put profit ahead of health is the steadfast corporate mantra! Independent producers (local farmers) of REAL food (i.e. grass fed beef, free range chickens/eggs, fresh raw milk/butter/cream and local chemical free produce—have the lowest profit margin in the industry. The junk food manufacturers and creators of “franken-foods” have the highest profit margins---create cheap, sell high.The bottom line is..... it is a great return on their investment!

Don’t give up hope! There are so many seeds of social change being sprouted by way of several mind expanding movies,books (like Primitive Diva, wink!) shocking investigative journalism and extreme social movements------ that are laying a foundation for awareness of the consumer.

You have a vote against this practice- do you know what it is…? Your buying dollar!


So become a bit more primitive and get back to the past and don’t be afraid to try something old!

I have missed being here.....

So, now that the kiddo's are settled back into their school groove and I am winding down my consulting schedule (I will truly miss Dr.M's patients. Get ready for some reading. I will be sharing alot more information and bouncing many of my book topics off the walls of my blog.This will become my virtual office-so, join me when you have time. It seems that for several months I have been doing a crazy amount of research and reading for my book.....NOW its just time to finish it. So, I am here to make myself accountable to my friends out in cyberworld. I will have PD ready for editing by the end of February, okay?

PLEASE, I would love some feed back on the structure and content of the book:

I will have information on returning to a more basic lifestyle with our health,food (recipes),homes, children, cosmetics/skincare (yes, I am a diva!) fitness and even pets. I plan to launch future books that expand on these topics. Along with a few ideas for product lines....my mind races with ideas for this!

So, we begin a new chapter, new goals and renewed commitment to my project---Hold me to it everyone- because, I just KNOW you will love the results(Wink)

Beginning on Monday November 1st, 2010 I will relaunch my blog with a guest blogger. Lets just call him Mr. Primitive Diva :-)

So let the feedback begin....what do you want most from this book?

Primitively yours,
Melissa