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Category: Health

  1. Turn Chocolate Cravings into Super Nutrition

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    One of the most craved, savored, and sought after foods worldwide can also benefit the body in extraordinary ways. Cacao, cocoa, chocolate - no matter how you say it, humans around the globe seek the mouth-watering pleasure and mood-boosting effects of this extraordinary antioxidant.

    Cocoa beans are the seed of the fruit tree, Theobroma cacao that grows in the shades of the rainforest between 15-20 degrees North and South of the Equator. All chocolate is made from cacao (pronounced cuh-COW), the edible part of the cocoa bean after it has been harvested, dried, fermented, and hulled. These beans have some of the most valuable nutrients available to us.

    Nicknamed "black gold" by the Spanish, the bean-shaped pod is a food that has also been considered a highly beneficial medicine because it contains over 300 identifiable chemical compounds. Unfortunately, many of those properties are destroyed by cooking, processing, and refining. Studies have shown that dairy products actually block the absorption of antioxidants in chocolate. Yet most commercially produced candy and chocolate bars contain low levels of cacao bean compared to other ingredients such as sugars, milk fat, hydrogenated oils, and artificial flavorings.

    In comparison by weight, cacao has more antioxidant flavonoids than blueberries, red wine, or black and green teas. In fact, it has up to four times the quantity of antioxidants found in green tea. The Aztecs called the cacao "yollotl eztli," which literally means "heart blood;" they understood the benefit this truly powerful superfood has on the cardiovascular system.

    Pure, raw cacao also has extraordinary potential for helping to support weight loss - quite the opposite from the everyday chocolate bar!

    That certain "euphoria" you may feel after consuming your favorite raw cacao treat isn't in your minds! Chocolate has actual compounds with the unique ability to satiate our appetite for pleasure like no other substance.

    By increasing the levels of specific neurotransmitters in our brains, cacao can help promote a positive outlook, facilitate rejuvenation, and simply lift our spirits:

    - Serotonin - Cacao raises the level of serotonin in the brain and therefore acts as an anti-depressant, promoting an overall sense of well-being.

    -Endorphins - These are our natural pain and stress chemicals known as neurotransmitters. Cacao stimulates the secretion of endorphins, which can help to produce a pleasurable feeling.

    - Phenylethylamine (PEAs) - PEAs are a natural chemical compound that are also created within the brain and released when we are in love. It acts as a mild mood elevator and an anti-depressant, and it helps increase focus and alertness.

    - Anandamide - Anandamide is known as the "bliss chemical" because it is released by the brain when we are feeling happy. Cacao contains both N-acylethanolamines that are believed to temporarily increase the levels of anandamide in the brain and enzyme inhibitors that slow its breakdown. This promotes relaxation for a longer period of time.

    As with anything, you can overdo it! The key is to eat minimally processed raw cacao in small amounts - just enough to receive the health-boosting qualities and satisfy those chocolate cravings.

    Delicious Cacao Smoothie
    2 Frozen Bananas (remove skin, cut into medium size pieces and freeze)
    2 Tablespoons Organic Cacao Powder
    1 1/2 Cups Almond Milk - more or less, depending on desired thickness
    Your choice of sweetener, if desired

    A few Goji Berries and/or a Tablespoon of Maca Powder can also be a healthy, delicious combination
    Blend all ingredients on high until smooth and creamy. Enjoy!

    Click here to buy Cacao Powder

  2. What is Gemmotherapy?

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    Gemmotherapy is a therapeutic method that uses extracts of embryonic tissues from fresh plants, such as young buds, shoots and rootlets. These rejuvenating plant tissues are in an active growth stage and have been found to be rich sources of plant growth factors and hormones, which are not found in the whole, adult plant.

    Modern society generates an unprecedented amount of toxic elements and compounds, which get absorbed by and, at times, are trapped within the body.  The water and food supplies are contaminated with pesticides, herbicides and manufacturing residue.  The air is contaminated by carbon monoxide and other poisonous gases. Many drugs are toxic to the body or break down into metabolites that are toxic.  All of these toxic compounds accumulate in the body and need to be eliminated.  The body has four elimination routes - the digestive system, the kidneys, the respiratory system and the skin, which are directly involved in the elimination process.  These eliminatory pathways depend on the endocrine glands for optimal cellular function.  The heart, blood vessels and the nervous system are also involved indirectly.

    Gemmotherapy remedies act to gently stimulate and promote elimination.  Gemmotherapy is believed to work because of the presence of gibberelins, plant growth material, which act on the organs to be stimulated.

    Gemmotherapy for Detoxification

    Gemmo-remedies are used in low, homeotherapeutically-prepared potencies (1x) for the purpose of stimulating drainage and eliminating toxic energy from the body. This is an essential part of the bioenergetic detoxification process. As such, Gemmotherapy plays a unique and an important part in any detox process. Any herb, homeo-therapeutic ingredient, nosode, or other remedy that has a detoxifying effect on the body is, in most cases, inadequate by itself to complete a successful detoxification process and avoid the toxic "Ping Pong” effect. This effect occurs when the dislodged bioenergetic toxins are not drained from the body, but instead re-accumulate and create foci in other organs due to lack of an effective elimination process. This process may cause further suppression of the disturbances. And so these Gemmotherapy diluted extracts are particularly useful for their effective elimination of bioenergetic disturbances.

    Gemmotherapy for Drainage

    We know that drainage is the stimulation of the excretory organs, such as kidneys, liver and even the skin. If the normal excretory system is blocked or deficient, unwanted by- products and toxins are not removed from the body and one or more of these organs need to be stimulated.

    We also know that certain homeopathic remedies have an affinity for specific excretory organs. Thus, we have Berberis and Solidago for kidneys, Euphrasia and Kalium Iodatum for rhinopharyngeal mucosae, and so on. Some homeopaths believe that when a homeopathic remedy is prescribed strictly according to the Similimum, it acts both as a curative and a drainage agent. Gemmotherapy is often regarded as a modern form of drainage, which opens up the possibility of true tissue therapy. Gemmotherapy preparations  - all in 1x potency only - may be regarded as drainage agents.

    Dosage

    The general dosage of the Gemmotherapy remedies is 50 drops per day, taken in little water for a period of 6-8 weeks. The dosage can be adjusted according to individual tolerance. 

    Preparation of the remedies

    Potencies of gemmotherapeutic remedies are unique in that, although they are prepared by the normal Hahnemannian procedures, the solvent used is a mixture of alcohol and up to 50% glycerin.

    Gemmotherapeutic remedies are prepared from fresh buds and young shoots or rootlets of plants or any embryonic tissues in the growth phase. They are rich in growth factors, such as vitamins, hormones, auxins and gibberellins, anthocyanins and essential minerals and trace elements. They are, therefore, potentially, very effective homeopathic remedies.  Originally introduced in France, they have been developed clinically since 1965.