Monday, January 30, 2012

Decorating Jars for Your Holiday Gifts

Decorating Jars for Your Holiday Gifts-Sugar Free Cookie Recipes

Use paint, labels, stencils, decoupage, and embellishments to make your jars look special. Match gifts and jar decorations to the person receiving the gift. Then attach a matching gift card to your jar.

Sugar Free Cookie Recipes

Use glass canning jars, glass bottles, old-fashioned wire bail jars, recycled jars, antique jars, or plastic storage jars. Jars must have tight fitting lids.

Sterilize Jars for Food Gifts

The jars you use to package food gifts should be glass and sterilized before use.
Check all jars for chips and cracks. If chipped or cracked, don't use for food. Use new lids. Wash with hot, soapy water; then rinse. To sterilize jars, place on a rack in a large pot and cover with water. Let water come to a boil and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from boiling water and let dry. Jars and lids can also be sterilized in your dishwasher.
Methods to Decorate Your Jars

Decorate With Paint

Always wash jar in hot soapy water to remove grease or residue.

Select a paint intended for use on the surface you are decorating. Read the label on the paint container to determine the paint's compatibility with your surface. This rule goes for painting on glass, metal lids, or plastic jars and lids.

Acrylic craft paints are not permanent and can be rubbed or washed off.
Acrylic Glass Paints are best for glass jars. They come in a wide variety of pre-mixed colors in convenient squeeze bottles to decorate your gift jars. These types of paints can be baked in a home oven to make them more durable and washable. (Read the label) To bake, let the paint dry on the jar for 48 hours. Place glass jar in a conventional oven (not preheated) and heat to 325 degrees F. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn off the oven and allow jar to cool in oven before removing. After baking painted jars can be hand washed. Washing in a dishwasher is not recommended. Air-Dry Enamel Paints for Glass are opaque, brush-on glass paints available that air dry to a high-gloss, waterproof finish. Choose a brand that is water-based and non-toxic. Paints for Plastic are brush-on paints especially formulated for adhering to plastic and dry to a durable, waterproof finish. Water-based types allow you to clean brushes and spills with soap and water. Paint Pens are available in craft shops and come in a wide selection of colors. They are great for detailing and simple jar decoration. Fabric Paints can be used for special effects like wording or facial features. Can also be used to decorate lids. They squeeze directly from the bottle.

Paint a design on the jar using pre-cut purchased stencils or a design you cut yourself from freezer paper. You can also paint the design on your jar free-hand. Draw the outline with a Sharpie Fine Point Permanent marker or paint free-hand. Use caution as the Sharpie marker will smudge on glass.

Decorate With Labels

Make paper labels created on your computer and then printed, or draw label on your choice of paper.

To give your labels an aged appearance spatter with brown acrylic paint thinned in water. Use an old tooth brush for spattering.

Lightly sponge the edges of the label using a dense foam sponge and the spattering mixture.

Allow labels to dry; then glue or decoupage to jar.

Decorate with Decoupage

Use Mod Podge Gloss Lustre decoupage medium for your jars.

Decoupage is done in three basic steps: cutting, gluing, and sealing.
Trim away excess paper from the image or picture you wish to use. Using a foam brush, lightly coat the back of the image with decoupage medium. Position the image on the surface and smooth it with your fingers, pushing out wrinkles and air bubbles. Allow to dry. Apply two or three coats of decoupage medium over the image with a foam brush to seal the paper. The image appears cloudy when wet, but will dry crystal clear.

Decoupaged jars can be wiped with a damp cloth to clean but cannot be washed in a
dishwasher or submerged in water.

You can create a paper collage jar using decoupage. A collage is a group of pictures or images layered and overlapped to form a display. Use printed photos, interesting paper, stamps, and stickers. Arrange the images by overlapping them for a decorative display. Attach and seal them with two or three coats of decoupage medium.

Decorate with Fabric

If you prefer not to decorate the outside of the glass or plastic jar, add decoration to the lid.

Cover the top of the jar lid with fabric or a small lace fabric or paper doily. Use holiday or gingham fabric cut with pinking sheers. Add three to four inches to the diameter dimension of the jar lid for coverage and decoration. A circular piece of batting can be used under the fabric for a stuffed appearance. A counted cross stitch design can also be used on top of the jar. Place the fabric over the lid on the jar or place over the lid seal and then add the screw-on band. Lace or braid can be glued around the band.

Embellishments

A variety of items can be used to embellish your decorated jar. Make your embellishment compliment the contents. If your gift jar contains a Gingerbread Cookie Mix attach a gingerbread man cookie cutter. Add a holiday cookie cutter to a Sugar Cookie Mix. Attach a tea ball or infuser to a jar of tea. Attach a wooden spoon, rubber spatula, or wire whisk to other mixes.

Make a tag or card to coordinate with the jar decoration or contents and attach with a ribbon or raffia.

Embellishments include ribbon, holiday garlands, gold braid or cord, raffia, lace, buttons, beads, charms, tassels, or bandanas.

Choosing Glues

For gluing items to jars, silicon-based glue for glass works best. It also works well for gluing wood to glass, metal to glass, or plastic to glass. It can also be used to attach items to metal or wooden lids. Silicone-based glue dries slowly so you will have to prop the jar carefully until the glue is dry.

A glue gun can be used for attaching light objects such as ribbon to the jar for instant hold.

White craft glue is used for gluing unbaked polymer pieces to a jar or lid before baking in the oven.

Gift Jar Contents

Use your imagination and consider who the gift is for when deciding on the contents. Food mixes are very popular. Gift jars can also contain sewing notions, keep sakes, games, snack foods such as trail mix, nuts n' bolts or chex mix, candied nuts, candied popcorn, Christmas candy or jelly beans, coffee, tea, flavored vinegars and oils in glass bottles, potpourri or fragrance gel, bath salts, and a baked cake-in-a-jar.

If you plan to give a food mix, first choose the recipe and ingredients. Food mixes often look better when the ingredients for the mix are layered in the jar. The recipient can mix the ingredients before using them.

If you plan to give a mix you will need:
A small bottle to tamp down the ingredients as you layer or place them in the jar. A canning funnel or piece of card stock to make a simple funnel for filling jars. Paper towels to wipe powdery ingredients off inside of jar.
Tips for Packing Food Ingredients

Layer ingredients in the jar in the order given in the recipe. Wipe down the sides of the jar with a clean paper towel after adding powdery ingredients such as sugar, cocoa, or flour before adding the next ingredient for a better appearance. Pack down all ingredients firmly as they are added. If you don't, you won't have enough space to fit in all the ingredients. Generally, a quart holds 6 cups of packed down ingredients; a pint jar holds 3 cups of packed down ingredients. If ingredients do not come to top of the jar, fill space with crumpled plastic wrap or waxed paper to prevent the ingredients from shifting and mixing. After packing ingredients into jar, seal with the lid. Attach a card with the recipe, instructions, a list of any additional ingredients, and a holiday greeting.
Baked Cake-in-a-Jar

Use a pint-sized wide-mouth canning jar with a two-part lid (flat seal and screw-on band) when baking a cake-in-a-jar. The wide mouth allows the cake to slide out of jar. Choose a cake-in-a-jar recipe or adjust your favorite cake recipe to make in jars. Place one cup of prepared cake mix in pint jar. Bake according to directions. Jars and lids must be sterilized before using. (Use new lids) Bake cake and add lid as soon as cake is removed from oven. Carefully place flat seal on top of jar and then the screw-on band. Jar is very hot so do not burn yourself. Allow jar to cool and then test to make sure the jar is sealed. If the cake does not seal properly, eat cake, refrigerate or freeze until ready to eat. The sealed jars of cake can be stored without refrigeration for up to two months. Attach a tag with the name of the cake and that says, "Best eaten before (two months from date the cake was baked)."

Give yourself plenty of time to decorate your gift jars and plan the contents for each person on your Christmas list. Fill the jars, then sit back and relax. Sip a cup of hot spiced cider and enjoy the holidays.

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Pregnant Women Go Nuts - For Coconuts!

Pregnant Women Go Nuts - For Coconuts!-Cookie Recipes

In many tropical countries, coconuts have long been lauded as having fertility and pregnancy enhancing properties. In India, for example, a woman hoping to conceive will go to her priest for a special coconut; Thai babies receive, as their first solid food, three spoonfuls of soft coconut meat from their priests; a Balinese woman is forbidden to touch a coconut tree for fear she will drain its fertility into her own; and pregnant women from tropical countries consume large amounts of coconut water, hoping to increase their unborn child's strength and vitality.

Cookie Recipes

Folklore aside, there is now scientific evidence of the numerous health benefits of coconuts. While these health-boosting properties extend to everyone, they can be particularly beneficial to pregnant women. Here are some of the amazing ways the coconut can be a pregnant woman's best friend:

o It alleviates vomiting - coconut water has long been used as a remedy for typhoid, malaria and other illness-induced vomiting. Thus, it should also help mitigate a bad case of morning sickness.

o It soothes the stomach - in addition to offering some relief from vomiting, coconut water can quell a queasy tummy and lessen the symptoms of nausea.

o Virgin coconut oil balances blood sugar and controls diabetes - this also helps keep morning sickness in check and offers some protection against gestational diabetes, a potentially dangerous condition common among pregnant women.

o It alkalizes the body - high in potassium, magnesium and other alkalizing minerals, coconut water can help to create an environment more conducive to conception and perhaps even reduce the risk of miscarriage.

o It keeps the body hydrated - nature's "sports drink", coconut water replaces fluids and minerals lost during physical exertion as well as those extra needed to help support pregnancy and expanding blood volume. Dehydration can be particularly threatening during pregnancy.

o It is a mild laxative - drinking moderate amounts of coconut water can help to keep things running smoothly and relieve the constipation so common during pregnancy.

o It cleanses the kidneys and offers protection against UTI's - Urinary Tract Infections are very common during pregnancy and can be dangerous if antibiotics are not used to treat them. Best to avoid them all together!

o It keeps the body cool - with excess weight, progesterone, and anxiety, it's easy to get overheated during pregnancy. Drinking coconut water helps to regulate body temperature and keep you cool.

o It is great for skin - virgin coconut oil can be applied to soothe the dry, itchy skin associated with pregnancy; it may also help to reduce the occurrence of stretch marks; and, when applied to the perineum in the weeks leading up to labor, can help reduce tearing during birth. Coconut water applied to the face helps to clear blackheads and acne that many women experience with the surge of hormones during pregnancy.

o It boosts the immune system - virgin coconut oil is comprised of nearly 50% lauric acid, which has been shown to have antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties. This can help protect a mother-to-be from a host of potentially threatening infections as well as boost her immunity, which is naturally weakened during pregnancy.

o It promotes healthy lactation - the only other significant source of lauric acid is human breast milk. Research has shown that lactating mothers who consume virgin coconut oil and other coconut products have higher levels of lauric and capric acids in their breast milk; this increases its antimicrobial and immune boosting properties, while promoting both brain and bone development in the infant. Since the body stores lauric acid in the adipose tissues, consuming coconut during pregnancy may also help to ensure successful lactation.

With all that in mind, pregnant women would be nuts not to go for coconuts!

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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

What is a "Normal" Bowel Movement?

What is a "Normal" Bowel Movement?-SUGAR

With every new exam I ask the same question...

SUGAR

"How many bowel movements do you have each day? Do you see any mucous, blood, diarrhea or constipation?"

Feces, crap, stools, shit, poop, manure, Bm, #2, dung, droppings, and bowel contents are all the same thing. I use all these terms as sometimes my clients don't know what feces or stool is. If I can't delineate with my clients, I can't help them.

Feces contains water, indigestible fiber, undigested food, sloughed off intestinal cells, living and dead bacteria, bile, and worn out red blood cells. A general stool should be brown to light brown, formed but not hard or too soft, cylindrical but not flattened on any side, fairly bulky and full bodied but not compact, easy to pass, and it shouldn't have an very foul smell. Each bowel movement should be in one piece, about the size and shape of a banana being tapered at the end. Sometimes this will not be discernable if the feces breaks up in the toilet. Some people feel that if the body is exciting all the minerals from the food that the stool will float. Others believe that the stool should sink. I think the important thing is that there are no air bubbles in the stool and that it doesn't drop like a brick in the toilet. It should be somewhere in between.

An occasional deviation from this pattern is acceptable. Any chronic deviation from the above pattern is not salutary and should be dealt with.

It's astounding how many people don't even look at their stools in the toilet. It's so important. Stools can delineate a lot about your condition if you learn to read them. Digestion happens. It's a shame that few of us are unable to talk about them without embarrassment. For instance:

o Air or bubbles in the stool can mean that we have a gut or flora imbalance and that gas producing bacteria are overgrown and contentious with the healthier flora.

o Alternating bouts of diarrhea and constipation can be cause by irritable bowel syndrome, food allergies, red meat, spices, sugar, alcohol, stress, lack of fiber, irregular bowel habits.

o Color: Stools are regularly the color of the food.

o Constipation can occur important to impaction--the nearnessy in the rectum of a mass of feces too large to pass. Fecal impaction is regularly the follow of poor bowel habits, a diet with too itsybitsy liquid and roughage, too much protein and inadequate corporeal activity.

o Diarrhea, whether acute or chronic, can disrupt the bowel's general rhythm and lead to irregularity. It can mean that your large intestine is not functioning properly. The large intestine is in fee of removing excess water from the feces. Rule outs can comprise food poisoning, lactose intolerance, anxiety, stress, too many antacids, antibiotics, parasites like Giardia or Coccidia, Balantidia, Coccidoidiomycosis or other parasites, viruses, bacterial overgrowth, inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome. A salutary bowel will take about a quart and a half and harden it down to 1 cup of stool. That's pretty amazing.

o Frank red blood (obvious exciting red bleeding) can be a sign of hemorrhoids, colitis, Crohn's disease, irritable bowel syndrome, colon cancer or be caused from impacted stools passing through the rectum telling us we need to drink more water.

o Horrible smelling stools--too much protein, flora imbalance.

o If the stools are black, tarry and sticky (called melena), this can mean that there is bleeding from the small intestine. These types of stools regularly have a distinctive bad odor. If you've ever smelled a dog with Parvo, corona or rotavirus, you know what I mean.

o Light green stools--Too much sugar, fruits or vegetables and not enough grains or salt (or in the case of animals, too much grass)Mucous can delineate diverticulitis and gut inflammation due to allergies or parasites.

o Oily or greasy finding stools that regularly float and can be large can mean that your pancreas or small intestine are not functioning well enough and not releasing enough digestive enzymes. general stools are about 1% fat. When this division increases to about 7%, the stool will look oily and greasy. This is called steatorrhea. High fat meals can cause this to happen but should be temporary.

o Pale or clay colored stools can mean that your gallbladder or liver is not working correctly.

o Pencil thin or ribbon-like stools can mean you have a polyp or growth on the inside of the colon or rectum.

o nearnessy of food: If the stool breaks up of course and you can see bits and pieces of the food you ate, maybe you are not chewing your food completely enough. This can cause Gerd, acid reflux, abdominal bloating and diarrhea.

o Red or magenta stools-- ingestion of beets.

o Very dark stools: Too much red wine, too much salt in the diet, not enough vegetables. Blueberries, Pepto Bismol (the bismuth in it) and iron pills can also be responsible for dark stools.

Normal bowel habits not only enhance the potential of life, they help prevent some common diseases--for example, diverticulitis and fecal impaction. Gall stones, appendicitis, colon cancer, hiatal hernia, diabetes, and heart disease have also been associated to the potential of bowel movements and the foods that sway them.

Number of bowel movements: salutary bowel performance is determined one or two movements of moderate size every day. Every other day or once or twice a week bowel movements can harm you because the bowel contents release toxins back into the body through the mucous membranes. You've got to keep that waste moving!

Fecal incontinence (uncontrollable diarrhea) should be dealt with by a professional. Often with this particular symptom (and irritable bowel syndrome) I will pick up a bowel parasite. A bottle or two of Bowel Pathogen Nosode drops does an awesome job most of the time in clearing up these cases.

Healthy bowel habits:

There is regularly a time of day when bowel movements are more likely to occur. In expectation of this time, the patient should share in activities that stimulate a general bowel movement. It is also important for the patient to identify the urge to defecate and to talk right away to that urge. The longer stool sits in the rectum, the more water the rectum will suck in from it, production it harder and more difficult to pass.

The urge to defecate is often strongest in the morning: Just getting up triggers the movement of the large intestine. The stomach also sends a signal when it expands after a meal. This gastrocolic reflex is the theorize many people, and especially children, need to go to the bathroom soon after eating. The reflex gets weaker with age, which is one source of constipation problems and the theorize why good and consistent bowel habits are helpful.

Laxatives: Some patients are so convinced they need daily laxatives that they are afraid to do without them. It takes time for a changed diet to sway the bowels and for the bowel to derive its general rhythm. Be patient. Enemas are a good solution.

Healthy bowel movements need ingestion of a large number of liquids and bulk foods. The patient should drink two to three quarts of liquids every day. Bulk comes from unrefined foods. Oat bran, wheat bran, brown rice, green vegetables, apples, and pears are a few examples of high residue, high fiber foods.

Some patients will advantage from adding bulk preparations of psyllium, but others find that psyllium will cause ultimate amounts of gas. For these people, the addition of Whole flax seeds (eat without chewing them) and bran will help. And one particular 8-ounce cup of coffee in the morning often helps people get a regular bowel movement.

Natural Laxatives include:

o Anti-Constipation Paste

o Coffee

o Dss (dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate)

o Glycerine suppositories

o Nature's Sunshine Lbs Ii (excellent)

o Oil enemas

o Prune juice

o Saline purges

Fleet enemas are used only for people and dogs. They are very toxic to cats and can kill them. These are Ok to use occasionally, but the other enemas we are talking about are good for healing purposes.

Soap suds enemas can be a itsybitsy harsh to the intestine. Use these only occasionally if necessary

Some Notes on Intestinal Bacteria Replacement: Inside a salutary lower intestine are billions of useful intestinal bacteria or microflora. These bacteria are of the Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus bifidus strains and were transferred by breast-feeding into our intestines as newborn infants. The body uses L. Acidophilus and L. Bifidus in the final stages of digestion reproducing themselves as essential to keep in total harmony with the body.

When the good bacteria can't keep up, bad bacteria overpopulate the gut to give a gut flora imbalance resulting in lower bowel diseases, gas, diarrhea, Ibs, and Crohn's. The devitalizing follow caused by harmful bacteria in the intestine is rarely diagnosed near the beginning of this imbalance. Headaches, skin infections, weakness and constipation can also be symptoms of depleted intestinal bacteria.

What Causes A Gut Flora Imbalance?

o Toxins, especially drugs such as antibiotics and narcotics.

o Severe diarrhea can damage or destroy these useful bacteria, allowing harmful bacteria to take over producing by-products like ammonia, purines and ethionine, which can ultimately cause colon cancer.

o Fasting can also deplete the useful bacteria because large quantities of toxins are dumped from the lymph glands into the colon at the time of the fast. Also during a fast, with confident diets and with eating disorders, there is an absence of foods that the good bacteria thrive on.

o Using enemas also depletes the useful bacteria, especially if chlorinated water is used.

To reestablish intestinal bacteria, do a concentrate enemas with liquid acidophilus or live acidophilus. These products should be stored and purchased refrigerated. Off-the-shelf products are not so effective for replacing gut flora. You can also mix a concentrate tablespoons of active plain yogurt to your enema mix along with a tablespoon of the liquid acidophilus. Add some warm water, but do not heat the combination or use chlorinated water. After blending the mixture, pour it into the enema bag. Use less water for these types of enemas (only 1-2 cups) and try to retain the liquid within the colon for ten minutes to allow the useful bacteria to pass up through the intestine. This policy will ensure that a salutary culture will propagate within the intestines.

You can also start adding L. Acidophilus and L. Bifidus to your foods a day or two before you break a fast. Use repeat dosages as per bottle instructions once a week for about 5 weeks.

Fos (Fructooligosaccharides) are also good for reestablishing gut flora. These are long-chain sugars that feed cordial flora. You can purchase this in concentrated pill form or eat lots of apples, Jerusalem artichokes, or pears. These foods have high amounts of Fos in them.

Well...That's the scoop on poop. (Some people take things so seriously.)

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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Why Chocolate for Valentine's Day?

Why Chocolate for Valentine's Day?-Cookie Recipes

Valentine's Day is many things to different people- a chance to start new relationships, rekindle old ones, or remind that special someone how wonderful they really are. Others feel it is just another "Hallmark" holiday where they are expected to do something for unknown reasons. Regardless of your hopes, expectations, or reservations about Valentine's Day, chocolate has long been a favorite gift for lovers.

Cookie Recipes

Since the days of the Aztecs chocolate has been used as a gift. Today a box of luxurious quality chocolate says a thousand "thank you's", "good luck", or "I love you". Chocolate can be given as a way of saying "congratulations", "I am sorry" or "get well soon". On Valentine's Day chocolate clearly says "I LOVE YOU!" Chocolate is more than food, it not only fills your belly but also makes you feel soooo good. Elaine Sherman wrote "Chocolate is heavenly, mellow, sensual, deep, dark, sumptuous, gratifying, potent, dense, creamy, seductive, suggestive, rich, excessive, silky, smooth, luxurious, celestial. Chocolate is downfall, happiness, pleasure, love, ecstasy, fantasy ... chocolate makes us wicked, guilty, sinful, healthy, chic, happy." What more could you want to say to your lover on Valentines Day? Even the scientific name for the tree from which chocolate is derived, Theobroma cacao, translated from Greek, means "food of the gods".

Why does chocolate evoke so many feelings and emotions for us? Chocolate has long been associated with passion, romance and love. This association may go all the way back to the Aztecs. They believed chocolate was a source of spiritual wisdom, incredible energy and elevated sexual power. Chocolate was widely used as a nuptial aid and was widely served at wedding ceremonies. The Aztecs did not know chocolate as we do today; they consumed the cocoa as a drink. Reports indicate that the Emperor Montezuma consumed large quantities of the drink every day and always fortified himself with a cup before entertaining his harem. The explorer Cortes reported to Carlos I of Spain that chocolate is "... the divine drink which builds up resistance and fights fatigue. A cup of this precious drink enables a man to walk for a whole day without food." From the earliest times, chocolate was considered a substance of power and a source of vitality.

Chocolate has been a subject of study since the first shipment from Veracruz arrived in Spain in 1585. But modern science has made some interesting findings that may help explain our lust for quality chocolate. Chocolate contains organic substances known as alkaloids. The most important of these substances is theobromine, which works as a stimulant to the kidneys. Stimulants in chocolate also affect the central nervous system, with effects similar to caffeine, which is also present in chocolate. A chocolate bar may contain as much as 200 mg of theobromine but only about 25 mg of caffeine. Another important substance found in chocolate is phenylethylamine, which is part of a group of chemicals known as endorphins. Endorphins have an effect similar to amphetamine and are found naturally in the human body. When endorphins are released into the bloodstream, the mood is lifted and feelings of positive energy are reached. The sensation known as "runners high" is caused by endorphins released during exercise. Phenylethylamine levels in the brain have also been linked to "falling in love". One more chemical found in chocolate is seratonin. Seratonin is known for its calming properties. The presence of these chemicals may explain the multitude of feelings chocolate evokes.

Debra Waterhouse, author of Why Women Need Chocolate, conducted a survey and found: 97% of women reported cravings, 68% of which are for chocolate, 50% would choose chocolate over sex, and 22% were more likely than men to choose chocolate as a mood elevator. These findings could easily be interpreted as a result of how chocolate makes us feel. I don't know why more women choose chocolate than men, for I am a man and I love chocolate.

Critics would say that the benefits of eating chocolate are small when compared to the sugar and fat contained in a chocolate bar. The best chocolate, dark chocolate with high cacao butter content has no added fat, as well as a high percentage of cacao solids and correspondingly less sugar. Although chocolate will never be considered a health food based on its nutritional value, it is still good for you! Good for your heart and soul-anything that helps relieve stress and makes you feel so good must be.

Receiving a nicely wrapped box of chocolates causes a sense of anticipation. The pleasure of unwrapping the box, the sensual smell, lifting the soft seductive papers, the look of the smooth dark chocolates. When it finally passes your lips and starts to instantly melt filling your mouth with exquisite pleasure. The taste and smell flood your senses with overwhelming ecstasy. Eating it slowly, taking time to enjoy and savor every bit. What better way to start off an evening of love?

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Friday, January 13, 2012

How Sugar Makes You Fat

How Sugar Makes You Fat

Look at how many grams of sugar are in what you're eating (on the nutritional label). Now divide that number by 4. That's how many teaspoons of pure sugar you're consuming. Kinda scary, huh? Sugar makes you fat and fat-free food isn't really free of fat. I've said it before in multiple articles, but occasionally, I've had someone lean over my desk and say "How in the heck does sugar make you fat if there's no fat in it?". This article will answer that puzzler, and provide you with some helpful suggestions to achieve not only weight loss success, but improved body health.

First, let's make some qualifications. Sugar isn't inherently evil. Your body uses
sugar to survive, and burns sugar to provide you with the energy necessary for life.
Many truly healthy foods are actually broken down to sugar in the body - through
the conversion of long and complex sugars called polysaccharides into short and
simple sugars called monosaccharides, such as glucose. In additions to the
breakdown products of fat and protein, glucose is a great energy source for your
body.

However, there are two ways that sugar can sabotage your body and cause fat
storage. Excess glucose is the first problem, and it involves a very simple concept.
Anytime you have filled your body with more fuel than it actually needs (and this is
very easy to do when eating foods with high sugar content), your liver's sugar
storage capacity is exceeded. When the liver is maximally full, the excess sugar is
converted by the liver into fatty acids (that's right - fat!) and returned to the
bloodstream, where is taken throughout your body and stored (that's right - as fat!)
wherever you tend to store adipose fat cells, including, but not limited to, the
popular regions of the stomach, hips, butt, and breasts.

As an unfortunate bonus, once these regions are full of adipose tissue, the fatty
acids begin to spill over into your organs, like the heart, liver, and kidneys. This
reduces organ ability, raises blood pressure, decreases metabolism, and weakens
the immune system.

Not good!

Excess insulin is the second problem. Insulin is a major hormone in the body, and is
released in high levels anytime you ingest what would be considered a "simple"
carbohydrate, which would include, but not be limited to: fruit juice, white bread,
most "wheat" bread (basically white bread with a little extra fiber), white rice, baked
white potato, bagels, croissants, pretzels, graham crackers, vanilla wafers, waffles,
corn chips, cornflakes, cake, jelly beans, sugary drinks, Gatorade, beer, and
anything that has high fructose corn syrup on the nutritional label.

Two actions occur when the insulin levels are spiked. First, the body's fat burning
process is shut down so that the sugar that has just been ingested can be
immediately used for energy. Then, insulin takes all that sugar and puts it into your
muscles. Well, not quite! Actually, most of us, except those random Ironman
triathletes and 8000-calories-per-day exercisers, walk around with fairly full energy
stores in the muscles. As soon as the muscles energy stores are full, the excess
sugars are converted to fat and, just like the fatty acids released from the liver,
stored as adipose tissue on our waistline.

But that's not all. After the blood sugar has been reduced by going into the muscles
or being converted to fat in the liver, the feedback mechanism that tells the body to
stop producing insulin is slightly delayed, so blood sugar levels fall even lower,
below normal measurements. This causes 1) an immediate increase in appetite,
which is usually remedied by eating more food; 2) the production of a stress
hormone called cortisol. Cortisol triggers the release of stored sugar from the liver
to bring blood sugar levels back up, which, combined with the meal you eat from
your appetite increase, begins the entire "fat storage, metabolic decrease" process
over again.

This process of destabilizing blood sugar levels and sending your body on a roller
coaster ride can occur throughout an entire day, week, or month. The excessive
cortisol that accumulates in the body eventually distresses your hormonal system
and results in other problems, including a further decrease in metabolism, obesity,
depression, allergies, immune weakness, chronic fatigue syndrome and other
serious side effects.

So what kind of carbohydrates can you eat to avoid de-stabilizing blood sugar
levels, constantly sabotaging your weight loss, and spending hundreds of thousands
of dollars in health care as you get older? Here is a list of carbohydrates do not
trigger such a strong insulin response and instead provide long-term, stabilized
energy: apples, oranges, pears, plums, grapes, bananas (not overly ripened),
grapefruit, oatmeal, brown rice, whole wheat spaghetti and egg fettuccine, whole-
wheat pasta, bran cereal, barley, bulgur, basmati, Kashi and other whole grains,
beans, peas (especially chick and black-eyed), lentils, whole corn, sweet potatoes,
yams, milk, yogurt (preferably low-fat or fat-free) and soy. Stay away from
processed and packaged foods as much as possible, because they are highly likely
to include artificial sweeteners (which basically have a similar effect as sugar), as
well as simple and refined sugars. Keep your eye out for ingredients that include
sucrose, maltose, dextrose, fructose, galactose, glucose, arabinose, ribose, xylose,
deoxyribose, lactose, and other fake names for sugars. Even "healthy" juice and
many health food products will need to be avoided if they contain high levels of
sugar.

If you need more help with your diet, just let me know. Feel free to e-mail
elite@pacificfit.net, and I'll give you some suggestions on how a personal trainer can
help you with your nutrition. My new book, Shape21, includes 21 days of nutritional
intake that completely stabilizes blood sugar levels, which, when combined with the
perfect exercise program that I've detailed in the book, leaves you with a lean,
athletic body. You can check it out at my website, http://www.pacificfit.net, or at a gym
near you. E-mail elite@pacificfit.net for more information.

How Sugar Makes You Fat Related articles: Spring Valley Vitamins , ทำseo

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Food Lectins in Health and Disease: An Introduction

Food Lectins in Health and Disease: An Introduction

In recent years it appears there is a rising epidemic of people suffering from chronic digestive and autoimmune conditions. Food intolerance or sensitivities may lie at the root of the problem. Most people, including doctors, have little clue how foods they eat may be contributing to their chronic illness, fatigue and digestive symptoms.

There are, however, a lot of clues in the medical literature and the lay public's experience about how foods are causing and/or contributing to the current epidemic of chronic illness and autoimmune disease. There are several diets being used by many people with varying success to improve their health despite a general lack of iron clad scientific proof for their effectiveness. One of the clues to the cause and relief of food induced illness may lie in proteins known as lectins that are present in all foods.

Animal and plant sources of food both contain complex proteins known as lectins. These proteins typically have the ability to attach to sugars or carbohydrates on the surface of human cells. Some of these proteins can cause clumping of human red blood cells, a process that is called agglutination. The process of agglutination occurs when someone receives the wrong blood type during a blood transfusion. In fact, red blood cell agglutination specific to each person or groups of people is the basis for testing for blood types. There is some data that blood types may influence how people respond to certain foods though a blood type specific diet appears to have been disproven. The attachment or binding of certain food lectins can initiate a variety of cell specific effects. These reactions may mimic hormones or cause changes in cells. This is termed molecular mimicry.

Most plants contain lectins, some of which are toxic, inflammatory, or both. Many of these plant and dairy lectin are resistant to cooking and digestive enzymes. Grain lectins, for example, are quite resistant to human digestion but well suited for ruminants like cattle who have multi-chambered stomachs. Therefore, lectins are present in our food and are often resistant to our digestion and some have been scientifically shown to have significant GI toxicity in humans. Others have been shown to be beneficial and maybe even cancer protecting. Either way plant and animal proteins are foreign proteins to the body and are dealt with by digestion and our immune system in a positive or negative manner.

The human digestive system was created to handle a variety of plant and animal proteins through the process of digestion and elimination. Some plant and animal proteins or lectins are severely toxic to humans and cannot be eaten without causing death like those in Castor beans and some mushrooms. Other foods must be prepared before they are safe to be eaten. Preparations may include pealing, prolonged soaking and cooking like kidney beans. Other foods may be poorly tolerated because of a genetic predisposition or underlying pre-existing food allergy or intolerance. Others are tolerated to some degree or quantity but not in large amounts or on a frequent basis. People who are intolerant to the milk sugar lactose, because of inherited or acquired deficiency in lactase enzyme, may tolerate small amounts but may have severe bloating, gas, abdominal pain and cramps with explosive diarrhea when a large amount of lactose containing foods are eaten. Foods can become intolerable to some people after their immune system changes or gut is injured from another cause.

Of the food lectins, grain/cereal lectins; dairy lectins; and legume lectins (especially peanut lectin and soybean lectin) are the most common ones associated with reports of aggravation of inflammatory and digestive diseases in the body and improvement of those diseases and/or symptoms when avoided. Recent research by Loren Cordain PhD., has suggested that these lectins may effectively serve as a "Trojan horse" allowing intact or nearly intact foreign proteins to invade our natural gut defenses and enter behind the lines to cause damage well beyond the gut, commonly in joints, brain, and skin of affected individuals. Once damage occurs to the gut and the defense system is breached the result is what some refer to as a "leaky gut". Moreover, many people who develop a "leaky gut" not only have gut symptoms such as bloating, gas, diarrhea, and abdominal pain but also other symptoms beyond the gut, or extra-intestinal symptoms. Commonly affected areas are the brain or peripheral nerves, skin, joints, and various body glands. With continued exposure of the gut by these toxic food lectins a persistent stimulation of the body's defense mechanism in a dysfunctional manner, occurs, i.e. autoimmune disease.

Wrong types or levels of good and bad bacteria in the gut, or intestinal dysbiosis, may contribute to this process of abnormal stimulation of the immune system. Research supports the strong possibility that such stimulation may be accentuated by interaction of the bacteria with food lectins. It is believed by some that this may further worsen gut injury and autoimmune disease. This latter concept is gaining acceptance and recognition by doctors in one form as the hygiene theory. It is speculated that our gut bacteria have become altered by increased hygiene and over use of antibiotics and that this phenomenon may be playing a significant role in the rising incidence of autoimmune diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, and chronic intestinal diseases like Crohn's disease and irritable bowel syndrome.

Lectins as a cause however are largely being ignored in the U.S. though the field of lectinology and lectins role in disease is more accepted internationally. Avoidance of certain food lectins may be helpful in achieving health and healing of chronic gut injury. Healing of a "leaky gut" and avoidance of ongoing abnormal stimulation of the immune system by toxic food lectins and bacteria in the gut is the basis for ongoing research and probable success of several popular diets such as the paleo diet, carbohydrate specific diet and gluten-free/casein-free diet. More research is needed in this exciting but often neglected area. The Food Doc, LLC features a website http://www.thefooddoc.com that will provide physician authored information on food intolerance, sensitivity and allergy such as lectin, gluten, casein, and lactose intolerance with dietary guidance that will feature in the near future an online symptom assessment and diet-diary.

Copyright 2006, The Food Doc, LLC. All rights reserved. http://www.thefooddoc.com

Food Lectins in Health and Disease: An Introduction Related articles: Spring Valley Vitamins , ทำseo

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

How Does the Body Process Sugar?

How Does the Body Process Sugar?

Simple sugars are one of the two forms of carbohydrates. (The other sphere of carbohydrates would be starches) Simple sugars come in the form of processed/refined sugars which would be found in junk food or in a natural form which would be found in fruits. Clearly, junk food sugars are more problematic than natural sugars although both are essentially processed the same way. Actually, the same could be said of starches since the body will break them down into simple sugars in the bloodstream.

Ultimately, when sugars are released into the bloodstream, there will be a clear effect on the system. Specifically, the pancreas will react to the presence of sugar by releasing a hormone known as insulin. It is insulin that is employed to move sugar through the bloodstream and to the cellular level.

What is so important about sugar that is needed by the cells? Basically, sugar is a source of energy. When the body needs to expend energy, it will employ the sugars in the cells to deliver such a response. This is why the low carbohydrate diet yields such an effective weight loss impact. With little or no sugar in the system, the body will have to burn protein and stored fat for energy. Hence, fat cells are metabolized by the body.

This brings up another point that bears mentioning. When you ingest a diet that is very high in sugar content and you do not burn it, the excess turns to fat and it can turn to fat rapidly. This is why refined sugars are so guilty of causing obesity. Such sugars are loaded with calories which mean they require a lot of energy to burn off. Since it is extremely difficult to burn them off, excess always remains. That, in turn, means there will be a lot of excess calories that turn to stored fat.

Natural carbohydrates and sugars are lower in calories and they do not break down and flood the bloodstream as quickly. That means they are not as guilty of promoting excess weight gain as the other sugars.

Regardless of the type of sugars that you ingest, it is best to never overdo it. This is because a diet that is loaded with sugar will mean the bloodstream will be flooded with insulin. This can lead to problems such as heart disease and diabetes over time. This is most definitely a serious issue which is why people need to pay attention to the effects of sugar on the body and to curtail eating sugars to excess.

How Does the Body Process Sugar? Related articles: Spring Valley Vitamins , ทำseo

Monday, January 9, 2012

Deadly Chinese Diet Pills

Deadly Chinese Diet Pills

In the mad rush to lose weight, some people ignore common sense even though we've been told again and again that it takes time, discipline, and commitment to create a better body. This explains the appeal of over-the-counter diet pills that offer shortcuts to a new you.

Diet pills are available at the local drugstore, supermarket or health food store and many can be purchased online. But are these products safe and effective? Your friend, neighbor or favorite celebrity will probably tell you they are, after all they're using the product themselves.

However, bear in mind that these products are sold as supplements not drugs. As such, manufacturers don't have to prove anything or pass government standards of safety and efficacy. This means they are free to make extravagant claims often at the expense of the consumer.

"Dietary supplements and weight-loss aids aren't subject to the same rigorous standards as are prescription drugs or medications sold over-the-counter. Thus, they can be marketed with limited proof of effectiveness or safety. Vendors can make health claims about products based on their own review and interpretation of studies without the authorization of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, the FDA can pull a product off the market if it's proved dangerous," according to the MayoClinic.com.

Sadly, when a product is pulled off the shelves, it is often too late. Take the case of Singaporean actress Andrea de Cruz whose story was reported in Time magazine:

"By a mother's standards, Andrea De Cruz didn't need to lose weight. But show business imposes strict requirements on appearance, and when the dial on the Singaporean TV actress's bathroom scales spun to more than 48 kilos, De Cruz started taking a Chinese diet pill named Slim 10 that she purchased from a colleague. Two months later, De Cruz, 28, was near death, unconscious in a hospital in Singapore," said Lisa Takeuchi Cullen in her story "Asia's Killer Diet Pills."

To survive, De Cruz underwent an emergency liver transplant. Today, she is still living although she needs immunosuppressants that leave her weak and vulnerable to other illnesses. But not everyone who takes over-the-counter diet pills are as "lucky."

"Nobody knows how many are buying untested products of dubious efficacy - certainly consumers number in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. At their most harmless, the products are a waste of time, money and good intentions. Some, however, are proving to be deadly. Over the past two years, seven women in Japan, Singapore and China have died due to the toxicity of the substances they ingested in the hope of shedding offending kilograms. From differing ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds and ranging in age from 16 to 60, the women had one thing in common: like De Cruz, they were all taking Chinese-made diet pills containing a variant of fenfluramine, an appetite suppressant that has been banned in the U.S. since 1997 for damaging heart valves. Doctors and health officials in Asia now believe the newer compound, called N-nitroso fenfluramine, can cause liver failure," Cullen added.

There are no shortcuts to losing weight. To achieve your desired goal, you have to exercise, eat smaller portions, and plan your meals carefully to include healthy food choices that have fewer calories. If you're tempted to try diet pills, read the labels carefully. One safe brand that will help you lose weight without side effects is Zylorin - a product that speeds up your metabolism, curbs your appetite, helps control sugar levels, and gives you the energy you need to do what you want. For more information, visit http://www.zylorin.com.

Deadly Chinese Diet Pills Related articles: Spring Valley Vitamins , ทำseo

Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Cooking by Susan O'Brien Review

Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Cooking by Susan O'Brien Review

When you want to lose weight it can be very hard to find recipes that are as nice as your mother used to make, but not quite so fattening. With 200 recipes, this book holds out a lot of promise for diabetics or people like me who want to lose weight. Now, by sugar-free it doesn't mean that the food produced will be entirely sugar-free, merely that you don't add unnatural sugars.

My first impressions of this book are great. It looks good, and is certainly easy to read. The instructions are, I think, also very easy to follow. As cookbooks go it is also reasonably entertaining.

The recipes cover all the main meals, and even some snacks to keep you going through the long day.

If you have to avoid certain foods because of medical conditions it is ideal. In fact, recipes are generally free of gluten, sugar and usually dairy.

I haven't found another recipe book that is both gluten and sugar free, so it is an ideal choice of book for most dieters.

But the real question is: are the recipes easy to eat, delicious, and easy to make?

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not a great cook. Most of the food I made was not presented with the same flair as the pictures. But while I am not a great cook I found it easy to make most of these recipes. Although they were easy to make since I live in the countryside, sometimes some of the more unusual ingredients are hard to find (they wouldn't be if you lived in a reasonable sized town with a health store nearby). But I was still able to make a good selection of meals.

It's fair to say, this book contains enough variety to be able to have regular sugar-free meals without too much pain, and with a lot of gain.

It is an ideal book for a nutritionists, a dieter, or someone with medical conditions that require them to avoid certain foods.

The best thing about this book is it isn't a weird book that you need to be worried about your health, if you use the recipes contained in this book sensibly it is obvious that you would be eating a healthy diet.

A lot of books offer healthy but boring food.

This book offers healthy and delicious meals, which are not too hard to make.

One particular section that I liked was the recipes on breads, cakes and muffins. Being able to make them healthily is a real bonus. I think you could easily live on the food in this book, which is more than the case with a lot of new age diets.

So I guess my basic review is... this is a great book.

OK, you will still have to exercise discipline and do those horrible exercises to lose weight, but at least you won't have to eat horrible food to do it.

Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Cooking by Susan O'Brien Review Related articles: Spring Valley Vitamins , ทำseo

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Living with a Diabetic

Living with a Diabetic

Living with a diabetic has been made easier with all the sugar free offerings there are to choose from. There are gift baskets, to ice cream, and many drinks now too have no regular sugar.

By taking into consideration that your mate is diabetic then it should be no problem in changing your home to just sugar free items, from sweetener to lower sugar items. By having on hand a small amount of regular sugar incase of company will not tempt the diabetic. If you choose to have a chocolate snack then, purchase something that will not harm your mate's sugar counts for the day.

Peanuts, or rather items with protein in the evenings can aid in bringing down the sugar count and help process the sugar intake. Cinnamon can also have the same effect. These have not been proved in studies, however in diabetic guides you many see these featured, as it does help in some. Remember anything white will increase your sugar counts. By paying attention to this you will find that cooking is easier, brown rice instead of white rice, all grain spaghetti instead of regular, and so on.

If you are the chef in the family and your diabetic there are many books on cooking with sugar free products. There are many printed on sweets and many that you can make for dinner or other meals as well.

Take time to plan a dinner. Include your recipes in your shopping list. Take time to plan and you will find that you and your partner are sure to gobble up the great food that you make.

Living with a Diabetic Related articles: Spring Valley Vitamins , ทำseo

Low Fat and Sugar Free Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Low Fat and Sugar Free Apple Cinnamon Muffins

1 large egg
1/2 cup skim milk
3 tbsp. canola oil
1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt
1/3 cup one-to-one sugar substitute such as Splenda®
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 cup dry nonfat milk powder
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups fresh diced apples
2 tbsp. of granulated brown sugar, or washed brown sugar
 
In a large bowl, you will beat together egg, milk, oil, yogurt, and sugar substitute. Now you will sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a separate bowl. Now you will pour all of the sifted ingredients into the egg mixture. Mix or fold until the ingredients are just blended, but make sure not to over mix. Fold in the apples and you are ready to make your muffins.
 
You will spoon the mixture into muffin cups, or into a pan that has been sprayed, or greased. You will fill each about two thirds full. If you want a sugar coated muffin top you will sprinkle the washed brown sugar, or granulated brown sugar on top of each muffin. If you want to keep it totally sugar free then do not add the brown sugar.
 
You will bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until the muffin tops are a golden brown color, and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool the muffins in the pan on a wire baking rack for 5 to 10 minutes, and then remove muffins from the pan. If you are not going to serve right away you will want to put them in an airtight container to keep them moist. This recipe should make about 12 muffins.

Low Fat and Sugar Free Apple Cinnamon Muffins Related articles: Spring Valley Vitamins , ทำseo

How to Lower Diabetes Blood Sugar Levels

How to Lower Diabetes Blood Sugar Levels

Most people who have diabetes have problem whether production adequate insulin for there bodies to burn sugar or there bodies do not administrate it well. You need to eat the proprietary foods so that you can administrate your diabetes better. There are foods that will help you lower your blood sugar.

First you want to understand how the body works. people with diabetes have a question with there blood sugar levels and in most cases they become too high. There are foods you can eat that will keep these levels lower.

It is highly recommended that you eat foods that are high in fiber and low in fat because this will help keep your sugar levels regulated. High fat foods turn to sugar and will cause your levels to rise rapidly. Starchy foods are also something you need to have only in small amounts.

Fruit is also something that you need to have twice a day because it is a great way to get some natural sugar into your body without all the synthetic added sugars that most sweet treats have in them. Olive and peanut oil are great oils to use in cooking because they include less fat in them.

Remember that lowering your blood sugar can help you avow a healthy lifestyle. Diabetes can be controlled when you have a healthy diet that does not include a lot of carbohydrates. Once you start eating a proper diet you will see that you blood sugar levels will regulate and you will not have spikes in them anymore.

How to Lower Diabetes Blood Sugar Levels Related articles: Spring Valley Vitamins , ทำseo

Saturday, January 7, 2012

The Cookie Swap - A Variety of Christmas Cookies in One Afternoon

The Cookie Swap - A Variety of Christmas Cookies in One Afternoon

My daughter and I love baking so when the holidays come we find it quite fun to create a variety of cookies to have Christmas Day. We also love to give away as gifts to people that we are thankful for a package full Christmas Cookies.

A few years back my daughter and I baked and baked and then gave a variety of Christmas cookies to our friends. It took us several weeks to accomplish this task as we wanted the variety of cookies. We had poured over cookie recipes to decide which delicious cookies to make. We chose some favorite cookie recipes like a chocolate chip cookie recipe, our best sugar cookie, a peanut butter, a spritz, and a ginger cookie. We then looked at new ones as we wanted the top cookie recipes! We looked at other recipes for gingerbread, recipes for thumbprint cookies, a lemon cookie, a chocolate cookie recipe and you can't forget about oatmeal cookies. When all was said and done we really had some great Christmas cookie recipes.

Then we compiled this huge shopping list for the ingredients they required. When we got all our materials together the baking began. This was going to take several weeks. So the Christmas Carols were on and the baking began. My daughter and I had a good time baking up her favorites a chocolate chip cookie recipe and the sugar cookies--best part was the cookie decorations. Now I did finish the baking of the rest by myself -Christmas music still going. However, the memories of the time we baked side by side with my daughter with our aprons dotted with flour was priceless.

When they were all baked we gift wrapped them in pretty Christmas tins and it was gift giving time. Oh, don't get me wrong, we also had a nice tray of cookies left at home for our Christmas dinner.

A common comment from the gift recipient was that they loved the cookies but wouldn't have done it themselves. It made me sad that the tradition of Christmas cookie baking had gotten lost with the heavy to-do lists. It got me thinking next year why don't I host a Christmas cookie exchange? We all just bake one type of cookie, bring them to a fun holiday party during the party we cookie swap and we leave happy with a variety of cookies. So my planning began! We all had such a great time.

It is a great way to get into the holiday spirit and socialize with people you care about. Friends, neighbors and family gather together at your home, bringing their favorite baked cookies and cookie recipes. So a new Christmas tradition was born.

You too can create Christmas Tradition and host a Cookie Swap. I hope our story stirs up a little curiosity about an old tradition brought back into light. Simply Invite your guests, eat and swap cookies and enjoy each other's company...isn't that what Christmas is about really?

You may be saying, "I would love to create that Christmas Tradition, but how do you host a cookie swap?" Well, the good news is I have a great resource that will answer your question. It will take you step by step through the planning process, forms and checklists to keep you on track and ideas to keep a simple but fun Christmas Party.

So you can start a tradition without a lot of fuss. It is " The Cookie Swap - Create a Christmas Tradition-One Cookie Recipe at a Time". Get yours here.

The Cookie Swap - A Variety of Christmas Cookies in One Afternoon

Friday, January 6, 2012

Breaking Bad Habits - 5 straightforward Steps for Changing a Habit

Breaking Bad Habits - 5 straightforward Steps for Changing a Habit

"Good habits are hard to found but easy to live with" and "Bad habits are easy to found but hard to live with", agreeing to Brian Tracey, a well-known motivational teacher. You may identify that to successfully carry on habit changes, breaking bad habits may be required in order to found new ones.

Breaking bad habits takes at least 21 days. Of course, in difficult cases, it can take as long as a year. Here's an example of the process of how to convert an unhealthy habit to a salutary habit. Suppose you've decided that coffee is not good for you and right now, you drink coffee with sugar daily. The new habit you would like to found is to drink herbal tea without sugar.

At first, it may be lively to break the bad habit of drinking coffee. You will have to use self-discipline for the first few weeks but gradually it will get easier. Once you are able to convert the old habit to a new healthier one, it will serve you very well. Habits are suited because they don't want thinking. You just "do it" for years until you find yourself changing the habit again.

Here are 5 easy steps for changing habits:

1. Awareness: You must become aware of your habits. What is this habit exactly? How is this bad habit or group of bad habits affecting you? How is this habit affecting others? For example, smoking often has negative effects on others as well as on you.

2. Wanting to Change: As man with a health problem, you must decree that breaking bad habits through a known attempt is a worthy goal. You must convince yourself that the convert in the habit is worth the attempt involved.

3. Commitment: You must be determined to do anything it takes for breaking bad habits so that you can good operate your life. You make a decision that "no matter what" you will convert the habit. You do the work required to stop. Here are some examples of habits you might want to change: Smoking, eating too much, eating processed foods, not exercising, drinking coffee or other beverages with caffeine in them, eating too much sugar or fat, drinking alcohol, procrastinating, etc.

4. Consistent Action: It is prominent to focus on changing just one habit at a time. Then, take consistent daily actions for breaking the bad habit that has been causing problems and take the actions to found a new one. We suggest doing this process one step at a time rather than trying to do it all at once. Sometimes changing a habit can be done "cold turkey" like smoking and sometimes it works good to make a gradual change.

Be sure to give yourself inescapable rewards often for taking small actions toward changing a bad habit. Continual day-by-day actions are what are critical. This is Not about an occasional operation or step. It is about being consistent every day.

5. Perseverance: There will be times when you inquire either it is all worth it. You'll say to yourself that breaking these bad habits is too difficult; that you are too "weak" to change. Your old self, often so comfortable living with the bad habits, is trying to hold on. Breaking your old patterns may want meditation and prayer.

Visualize ordinarily the rewards for following through and the costs of not following through on breaking the bad habits and especially the value to your future of construction new good habits.

Get reserve from others, especially other population who want to make changes in their lives and read about population who have been thriving in breaking bad habits. Affirm that, no matter what, you will not backslide into your old bad habit patterns.

Now, you are armed with a 5-step process for breaking any bad habit or other health that requires changing. If you have an addiction to something such as alcohol, these steps alone may not be enough. You may want added pro help or a reserve group, but for most cases this 5-step process will do the trick!

Breaking Bad Habits - 5 straightforward Steps for Changing a Habit

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Sugar Glider Food - Foods That Makes Your Pet Grow Strong and salutary

Sugar Glider Food - Foods That Makes Your Pet Grow Strong and salutary

Keeping the sugar glider wholesome as much as potential is the owner's want for their pet. Providing thorough diet is a big deal for the owner. Giving them not the thorough food can make them suffer from their health.

Actually, looking the right sugar glider food is easy; there are no extra victuals that are needed on feeding them. Foods that they eat is easy to find, owners might already have them on their refrigerator but have no idea if the pet eat it or not. Apart from it, they may also perceive that the sugar glider is a picky eater. On the other hand, to fight this thing, here are some essentials that can help you to voice your sugar gliders condition and strength.

1. Protein - this is an foremost part on the sugar glider food. On the other hand, it is especially much foremost to those females- when they are on the stage of age breeding. Eggs that are been boiled is a good source, the protein substance that it has is wholly use by the body. Protein rich food is not assuredly the case of this but the article of phosphorus that it has the potential to minimize the protein consumption. Pet owners should also feed the pet with ground turkey that is been simmered any times with water. And also, use to have a monkey diet that contains 25% of protein that can serve as the base to its diet. Turkey also have the bad ratio of phosphorus and calcium, extra calcium can help to balance it.

2. Calcium - sugar glider must also have this vital nutrient. Absorption of calcium can be inhibited by phosphorous. Many of the foods that they eat is rich not only in calcium but also on phosphorous. Because of this, calcium supplement is very vital on the condition of your sugar glider; all the time make sure that the supplement that you use does not have phosphorous. However, overdosing of calcium in most animals can cause problems on the urinary tract.

3. Sweets and fats - this animal in general likes sweet foods, they can be pigs when it comes to eating sweet foods. Sweet foods are rich in fat, too much fat can build up on to their eyes can cause blindness. Also, gliders that are been feed with irregular diet may organize a very strong odor on their urine.

4. Water - fresh water is mostly very foremost to all living things, together with for the sugar glider food and its survival. This animal may die immediately if they are been dehydrated. Also, water serving to this microscopic pet can be mixed with º cup of apple cinder on every gallon. An antibiotic, which is apple cinder vinegar, comes plainly and can be very beneficial. This antibiotic is not only good to animals but also to humans. Overdosing of it is possible, but, too much is not good.

Aside from these foods, if you have two to three sugar gliders, baby foods, vegetable, and fruits are also right for them. Also, mixture of meats and vegetables are good. Having these kinds sugar glider foods can help your pet voice their normal food needs.

Sugar Glider Food - Foods That Makes Your Pet Grow Strong and salutary

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

What Foods Can I Eat To reduce My Acne?

What Foods Can I Eat To reduce My Acne?

What you eat can affect your acne breakouts. It's no incommunicable that good cusine is an important factor in getting rid of your acne once and for all. Yet many people who suffer from acne don't positively know how they can enhance their diet, which will in turn enhance their skin. They don't know which types of food helps, or doesn't help.

So this is what I'm going to address in this article.

Let's get started:

Something you may not have known is that foods fall into two categories. There's the alkaline-forming foods which are good for having a clearer complexion, and then there's the acid-forming foods which aren't so helpful for your skin.

The kind of alkaline foods that will help your skin are things like fruit and vegetables. These foods are easy for your body to process, which means there's less toxins in your system. With acid foods (things like meats, fried food, cheese, milk etc), it's harder for your body to process them. This means that there are toxins in your body for longer.

So eating healthier foods will help keep your skin cleaner. But that isn't to say you can't ever eat the fatty foods, or the carbohydrates like rice and pasta. Although these things can take longer for your body to process, which means there's more toxins in your system, it's fine in moderation.

But if you live on these kinds of foods, you may want to rethink your diet. Especially if having clear skin is important to you.

A few other foods to avoid are foods that consist of a lot of sugar or a lot of yeast. Again, these are fine in moderation, but if you eat these foods too often, it can make your cusine unbalanced.

Also, it goes without saying that you should drink plentifulness of water. Why? Because water helps to flush out the toxins in your body which would otherwise seek an outlet straight through your skin.

By drinking more water, you can keep your body clear of toxin build-up. And this will help keep your skin healthier.

What Foods Can I Eat To reduce My Acne?

Enter The Magical World Of Lalaloopsy Online Gaming

Enter The Magical World Of Lalaloopsy Online Gaming

Each Lalaloopsy doll in the online virtual world at lalaloopsy.com has a house that can be entered and in which you can play a game themed to the particular Lalaloopsy doll in question. These are incredibly fun little mini games for children to play that can occupy them for hours in a safe and engaging online environment.

Pillow Featherbed's game is called Sleepy Sheep. In this game, the child must watch as a number of different objects float through Pillow's mind as she's trying to sleep. The child must click only on the sheep, and has a set amount of time to click on ten of them for each level.

Crumbs Sugar Cookie's game is called Recipe Race. In this game, three conveyor belts of recipe ingredients are set in motion and the child must activate mechanical pushers that take the items that are needed off the belt and into bins so that Crumbs Sugar Cookie can use them to make cookies.

Peanut Big Top's game is called Joyful Juggling. In this game, colored arrows are scrolled up the screen and children must select the proper ones as they pass in order to allow Peanut to continue juggling her balls.

Dot Starlight's game is called Space Surprise. In this game, the child controls a space ship in 3 dimensions, and must pilot this ship through a course of loops, not missing too many, in order to complete the task successfully.

Spot Splatter Splash's game is called Paint Park. In this game, the child must navigate a hedge maze in order to find all the objects that are missing their color, and then paint them within a certain amount of time allocated.

Bea Spells-a-lot's game is called School Supply Search. In this game, the child plays a cute little old fashioned platform game in which she helps Bea's pet owl find all of the school supplies and deliver them to Bea.

Mittens Fluff 'n' Stuff's game is called Speedy Ski. In this game, the child must guide Mittens down a snowy mountain and get her to ski into colorful buttons placed around the slope. A certain number of buttons must be collected each round.

Jewel Sparkles' game is called Jewel Jubilee. In this game, a child must control a paddle moving from side to side as a ball bounces off the walls, ceiling, and a group of suspended jewels. The ball must not fall to the floor, so it's vital that the paddle be moved to bounce the ball back into play constantly. The jewels are collected and removed from play once the ball hits them, and a new level is generated when all the jewels have been collected.

There's also a fun boat ride that can be accessed from docks throughout town. Children can use the boat to travel the river to different parts of town faster.

Lalaloopsy land online play is a fun and entertaining way for your child to interact with her imagination and engage in fun Lalaloopsy related activities.

Enter The Magical World Of Lalaloopsy Online Gaming

Vanilla Fudge Recipes - Easy Vanilla Fudge

Vanilla Fudge Recipes - Easy Vanilla Fudge

This quick and simple recipe is made with sweetened condensed milk.

3 cups white sugar

1/2 cup corn syrup

1 1/4 cup condensed milk

1/4 pound butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

In a saucepan or double boiler, combine the white sugar, white syrup, condensed milk and butter. Cook over medium heat until fudge reaches the firm ball stage on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and beat in the vanilla extract.

Turn the fudge out onto a prepared sheet of buttered wax paper. Let cool. Cut into squares.

=> Fancy Vanilla Fudge

This is a deliciously mouthwatering homemade vanilla fudge recipe made with, white chocolate candy bar, marshmallow crème and pecans.

2 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

5 oz. can evaporated milk

2 cups marshmallow crème

8 oz. white chocolate candy bar

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Line a 9x13-inch pan with foil, let the foil extend over the sides of the pan. Butter foil thoroughly.

In a large saucepan, combine the sugar, butter and the milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Continue to boil for 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove pan from heat.

Add in the marshmallow crème, white chocolate bar, pecans and vanilla. Stir mixture until smooth. Pour into prepared pan. Let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until firm.

=> Walnut Vanilla Fudge

Here's a great homemade vanilla fudge with crunchy black walnuts.

1 package vanilla bits

2 cups sugar

5 oz. evaporated milk

1/4 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup black walnuts

7 oz. marshmallow crème

Directions

Grease a 9x9x2-inch pan.

In a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, milk and butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. Continue boiling and stirring for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Add in the vanilla bits, vanilla, walnuts and marshmallow crème, stirring until well blended. Pour fudge mixture into the prepared pan. Let cool. Cut into squares.

=> Cherry Vanilla Fudge

A rich, creamy and colorful fudge that's perfect for any occasion.

2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup dairy sour cream

1/3 cup light corn syrup

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup Maraschino cherries, quartered

1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

Directions

Butter an 8-1/2 x 4-1/2-inch loaf pan.

In a microwaveable bowl, combine the sugar, sour cream, corn syrup, butter and salt. Microwave on high heat for 5 minutes. Stir well until the sugar is dissolved.

Microwave on high heat for another 6 minutes, or until the mixture reaches 236 degrees on a candy thermometer. Let stand for 15 minutes (do not stir).

Add in the vanilla and beat the mixture about 6 minutes (until it starts losing its gloss).

Stir in the cherries and walnuts. Pour into prepared pan. Let cool. Cut into squares.

Vanilla Fudge Recipes - Easy Vanilla Fudge

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Key Lime Shortbread Cookie Recipe

Key Lime Shortbread Cookie Recipe

The key lime shortbread cookie recipe turns out a light, tangy cookie that's as easy as slicing and baking!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup cornstarch

2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter, softened

1 tablespoon fresh key lime juice

2 teaspoons freshly grated key lime peel

Glaze:

1 1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon freshly grated key lime peel

2-3 tablespoons fresh key lime juice

Hardware:

Whisk

Large bowl

Medium bowl

Small bowl

Cookie sheets

Plastic wrap

Mixer

Step 1: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, powdered sugar, and cornstarch; set aside.

Step 2: In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer set on medium-high speed for 30 seconds.

Step 3: Reduce mixer speed to low, and gradually add flour mixture.

Step 4: Stir in key lime juice and grated key lime peel.

Step 5: Combine ingredients until a dough forms.

Step 6: On a lightly floured surface shape dough into two 10-inch logs. Wrap each log in plastic food wrap; refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

Step 7: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Step 8: With a sharp knife, cut into 1/4-inch slices. Place 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Step 9: Bake for 9-11 minutes or until lightly browned around edges. Cool for 1 minute before transferring cookies to a cooling surface.

Glaze:

Step 1: In a small bowl, combine 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon of grated key lime peel.

Step 2: Gradually stir in enough lime juice for desired glazing consistency.

Step 3: Spoon or brush glaze on top of each cooled cookie; let set for 15 minutes.

The key lime shortbread cookie recipe makes 6 dozen cookies.

For more information on baking procedures and hardware used in this recipe see our Baking Tips section.

Important: Feel free to republish this article on your website. However, you are not allowed to modify any part of its content and all links should be kept active.

Key Lime Shortbread Cookie Recipe

Monday, January 2, 2012

Blood Sugar Level Chart

Blood Sugar Level Chart

It is considerable to monitor the levels of glucose for all diabetics. This monitoring must be carried out regularly. The best way to do this is with the help of a blood sugar level chart.

As most of us know glucose is the prime source of energy. It is the fuel for the body. Just like any other automobile the body cannot work properly without fuel. The given mentioned blood sugar level chart is of great help for the diabetics. This blood sugar level chart enables the diabetics to detect the moment a problem start to set in as well as to understand the pattern of the blood glucose levels. It is prominent for diabetics to understand the effects of separate events, food groups and activities on the level of blood glucose.

It is also prominent for the diabetics to work in close association with physicians to meet the targets. The doctor is in a good position of suggesting you the best diabetic testing supplies. It is all the time advisable to buy your own diabetic testing supplies so you can monitor the changes in the level in comfort of your own home.

Normal Readings Of Blood Sugar Level

Buying the glucometer and checking the level of glucose in blood is not all. The diabetics must be aware of the ideal levels of blood glucose at separate times of the day. This will help in the allowable management and monitoring of their disease.

The level of sugar in blood must be in the range of 80 mg/dl to120 mg/dl. These are the ideal levels on waking up and just before eating meals.
The level of blood glucose before meals must be again somewhere in the middle of 80 mg/dl and 120 mg/dl
The level of blood glucose 2 hours after meals must be below 170 mg/dl
The ideal level of sugar in blood before dinner must be again in the middle of 80 mg/dl to 120 mg/dl
The ideal level of glucose before going to bed must be somewhere in the middle of 100 mg/dl and 140 mg/dl
During fasting the ideal level of glucose in blood is in the range of 70 mg/dl and 100 mg/dl

Given above is the blood sugar level chart. This chart is of great help for the diabetics who want to operate the disease with the help of food and exercise. This enables them to good understand the supervene of separate food groups and exercising habit on the level of their blood glucose.

Blood Sugar Level Chart

Sunday, January 1, 2012

How to Make Nut Brittle - Three Easy Recipes

How to Make Nut Brittle - Three Easy Recipes

Nut brittle makes a delicious snack or dessert. You can use pretty much any nuts to make it, including peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts or hickory nuts, and there are lots of different varieties. The following three recipes show you three different ways of making this delicious candy. If you do not have strong teeth but you still have a sweet tooth, you might prefer to make something soft and easier on the jaw, such as jello recipes.

Recipe for Hazelnut Brittle

The following recipe makes twenty four servings and it is conveniently made in the microwave.

What you will need:

1 cup white sugar 1 cup chopped hazelnuts 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup light corn syrup 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 tablespoon butter How to make it:

Butter a baking sheet. Mix the nuts, corn syrup, salt, and sugar together and microwave this mixture for seven and a half minutes on high, stirring it once. Add the butter and keep cooking the mixture for another two or three minutes. Stir in the baking soda and vanilla and mix well. Pour the mixture on to the buttered baking sheet and let it cook a bit. Stretch it out if you want a thinner brittle. Let it cool and then break it into pieces.

Recipe for Pecan Brittle

This brittle, which makes sixteen servings, features the unique flavor of pecans, as well as butter, sugar, corn syrup and more for a rich flavor and chewy texture.

What you will need:

2 cups white sugar 2 cups chopped pecans 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup water 1 cup light corn syrup 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon butter How to make it:

Butter a baking sheet. Add the corn syrup, sugar, salt, and water to a big, heavy skillet and bring it to a boil over a moderately high heat. Add the chopped nuts and keep cooking the mixture until the syrup starts to brown. Take the skillet off the heat and stir in the baking soda and butter. Pour it on to the buttered baking sheet and let it cool. Break it into pieces to serve.

Recipe for Walnut Brittle

You will need to use real maple syrup for the following dish. Artificial maple syrup will not taste anywhere near as good! This recipe has only five ingredients and the combination of maple syrup and walnuts is truly stunning. This makes one pound of walnut brittle.

What you will need:

1 cup butter 1 cup white sugar 1/4 cup maple syrup 2 cups toasted walnut pieces 1/4 cup water How to make it:

Stir all the ingredients except the nuts together in a heavy pot over a moderate heat until the mixture is creamy. Keep boiling it gently until a candy thermometer reads 300 degrees F. Stir in the nuts and pour the hot mixture on to an ungreased baking sheet. Use a wooden spoon to spread it out in a thin layer. Let it cool, then break it into pieces, and store it in an airtight container.

How to Make Nut Brittle - Three Easy Recipes

The Story of the Menominee River Sugar business 1903-1955

The Story of the Menominee River Sugar business 1903-1955

Menominee, Michigan, situated far from the world's financial centers a hundred years ago, much as it is today, nevertheless placed itself directly in the middle of one of the hottest company booms of the early twentieth century - sugar. The small society that dared to plant a footprint in world commerce occupies a slivered point of land that dips into Lake Michigan at a point so close in presence to Wisconsin that had a cartographer's finger twitched at a crucial moment, Menominee would be in Wisconsin instead of Michigan.

Menominee is bordered on the east by Green Bay, an arm of Lake Michigan, and on the south-west by the Menominee River. In 1903, many investors in the beet sugar commerce had a timber background and had thus come to believe that the same rivers that had once delivered logs to sawmills in plentifulness could also serve the needs of a beet sugar facility where huge volumes of water are used for fluming beets into the factory, washing them and then diffusing the sugar from them. A sugar facility could nothing else but put three million gallons of water to use every twenty-four hours. Barges can carry sugarbeets from the farm fields and freighters can carry products to market. The presence of the Menominee River convinced investors that Menominee could compete with the nation's sugar producers despite negative comments from naysayers who said Menominee was too far north to successfully grow sugarbeets.

The naysayers had a point. Menominee, Michigan is an unlikely place to organize a beet sugar factory. Situated at the western end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the growing season is about forty days shorter than the prime beet growing regions in the state's Lower Peninsula. The short season can forestall the ripening of beets which will then lessen sugar content of teenage beets ill prepared for the stress of the grinding process. Severe frosts in early spring are not unusual and are approximately all the time fatal to a crop of young beets. Frosts can come early in the fall, too, which can make it impossible to harvest a crop. A farmer stood to lose his entire crop whether early in the growing season or near the time of harvest after he had invested heavily in bringing the sugarbeet crop to term. Investors, however, in Menominee, as in many of Michigan's cities, tended to allowance input from farmers before building a facility and would frequently elucidate exaggerated enthusiasm from a handful of growers as representing the broader farming community. Quite often, as in Menominee's case, as it would turn out, the handful did not describe the whole.

Official recognition by the United States group of Agriculture in 1898 of the importance of the sugarbeet commerce sparked the building of beet sugar factories across the nation. One year earlier the nation could boast only ten beet sugar factories, four of which were in California, one in Utah, two in Nebraska and three in New York. The building of seven sugarbeet factories in 1898 brought into focus for the first time the stirrings of a rush not unlike the dot-com boom that blossomed nearly one hundred years later. The idea that sugar produced from sugarbeets could compete with sugar produced from sugarcane expanded into a full-fledged boom by 1900 when the nationwide count of sugarbeet factories stood at thirty-two in eleven states.

Nowhere was the blaze hotter than in Michigan where nine factories followed the victorious start up of a facility in Essexville, Michigan, a suburb of Bay City. A burst of cyclonic enthusiasm caused a mad scramble when investors, constructors, bankers, and farmers combined energies and skills to bring to life eight factories in a single year! They were in Holland, Kalamazoo, Rochester, Benton Harbor, Alma, West Bay City, Caro, and a second facility in Essexville. Despite the paucity of facility constructors and the engineers to operate them, fourteen added factories rose on the outskirts of Michigan towns during the next six years, one of which appeared in Menominee in 1903.

In Menominee, a group of investors undeterred by the natural disadvantages and buoyed by encouragement from influential investors and knowledgeable experts, set a plan in request for retrial to vocalize the economic viability of their city after the approaching demise of the lumber industry, which had until then provided the underpinnings of Menominee's economy. The plan included the organize of one of the largest and most modern sugarbeet factories to appear in America up to that time.

As the lumber era petered out at the beginning of the 20th century, railroads that had come into their own because of timber, sought new sources of revenue. Indispensable among them was the Detroit and Mackinac hasten whose land agent, Charles M. Garrison, collected and distributed information about the potential of the sugarbeet industry. While Garrison spread word among Detroit's financiers about prospective profits in sugarbeets, communities affected by the decline of lumber looked to area resources for ways of replenishing wealth. They had plentifulness to work with. The state was crisscrossed with rail lines and rivers and some left over cash from the lumber era. With Garrison prominent the way, investors perked up. Communities eager to find a quick change for lumber hastened to attend meetings sponsored by Garrison and quicker yet to bring their towns into the fold. All that was needed was to persuade the farmers to grow the beets. That is where the Michigan Agricultural College (Now Michigan State University) stepped in.

Upper Peninsula farmers, encouraged by Michigan Agricultural College to plant sugarbeet test plots, received an even greater shot in the arm by the visit of Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson, in 1902. He expounded the advantages of sugarbeets and discouraged the plan that the Upper Peninsula's atmosphere wasn't up to the task of producing profitable crops. Wilson served in three presidential cabinets, McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft, serving longer (1897-1913) than any other cabinet official. He encouraged modern agriculture methods, including transportation and instruction as they applied to agriculture. His word carried a lot of weight. When he spoke of sugarbeets, some farmers listened and when his group avowed that the cold northern temperatures would not inhibit the development of the commerce in their neighborhood, investors, farmers, and manufacturers lined up to begin the commerce in Menominee.

Optimism rose to new heights when the United States group of Agriculture (Usda) announced suitable results of the sugarbeet plot tests. The Sugar Beet News of December 15, 1903, reported test results from beets delivered by approximately 140 farmers. The test runs revealed 15.6 to 19.9 % sugar, which meant a cash value to the farmers per acre of from .70 to .13 per ton (5-9 inflation adjusted to the current period). At those projected prices, no crop in human history had held the potential for creating such a high return from so few acres.

In the Lower Peninsula, a farmer with above mean quality who placed fifteen acres in sugarbeets could earn more than 0 and if his family provided the bulk of the labor, the net behalf would more than take care of a family's needs for a year, which, including food, was less than 0. After adding income from crops in rotation and revenues from milk, eggs, and poultry, the farm family's thorough of living industrialized from a subsistence level to one that compared comfortably to those who held mid-management positions in industry. Usda figures supported belief that Upper Peninsula beets would exceed by two per cent the mean for all the other 18 sugar beet factories in the Lower Peninsula.

If the tests proved trustworthy indicators, Menominee region beets were worth up to more an acre than Lower Peninsula beets, assuring an income of nearly ,000 per year just from sugarbeets.

Although enthusiasm was on the upturn, something more was needed to seal the deal. To instill belief in prospective investors that technical expertise lay near at hand, Benjamin Boutell, who won fame as both a tugboat captain and as a captain of industry, arrived in Menominee from his Bay City, Michigan headquarters for the single purpose of conveying interested investors to Bay County where they could see groomed beet fields and effective factories spinning out white crystalline sugar. Eleven prospective investors accompanied Boutell to Bay City where convincing evidence lay at hand. Four beet sugar factories, more than in any other city in the United States, had been constructed in that city's environs. Bay City virtually hummed with economic operation because of the presence of sugar factories. Mansions peopled by former lumber barons who had transformed themselves into sugar barons, lined the city's prestigious town Avenue.

Boutell announced he would come to be one of the investors, providing the other investors had no objection to having a facility designed and installed by Joseph Kilby who was agreeing to Boutell, the finest manufacturer of beet sugar factories in the United States. Many others agreed with Boutell's assessment; Kilby built nine of the eventual twenty-four factories built in Michigan. Local investors lined up behind Boutell to organize the Menominee River Sugar Company. A half dozen prominent backers came forward, each of whom subscribed to more than ,000 in stock of the Menominee River Sugar Company.

Heading up the list of local shareholders was Samuel M. Stephenson, a former lumber manufacturer and native of New Brunswick, Canada who had made a home for himself, his wife, Jennie and their four daughters and one son, in Menominee. He was then seventy-one years of age but in no mood for retirement. Following a victorious vocation in lumber and banking, he served three successive terms in Congress (Michigan's 11th District 1889-93 and the 12th District 1893-97). He invested 0,000 ( million by modern standards) in the beet sugar factory, taking heart in not only suitable test plot results and the enthusiasm of his neighbors but also interest shown by the American Sugar Refining Corporation, commonly known by its then favorite sobriquet, the Sugar Trust. Some years later the Sugar Trust would fall into disfavor as a result of charges of unfair company practices, but in 1903, it had the belief of the general public and investors alike and controlled the organize and sale of 98% of sugar consumed in the United States. Trust Executives, Arthur Donner and Charles R. Heike, invested 0,000 to secure 36% of Menominee River Sugar Company's stock.

All the members of the board of directors and roster of officers apart from Bay City resident, Benjamin Boutell, listed Menominee as their home of record. Menominee residents made up 74% of the shareholders. Together, they controlled 53% of the shares. In increasing to Stephenson, other major shareholders who also thorough positions as whether officers or directors were: William O. Carpenter who invested ,000 and served the sugar company variously as president and vice-president. Gustave A. Blesch invested ,000 and served as treasurer. John Henes, a brewery owner, invested ,000 and served as a director. Augustus Spies was the second largest investor after Stephenson and the Sugar Trust. He, too, served as a director.

Spies furnish an excellent example of the hardy pioneering spirit that prevailed in Menominee. He was a native of the grand duchy of Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany where fertile soils and a mild atmosphere allowed the output of grain and wine. He participated in the founding of the Stephenson National Bank in partnership with future U.S. Congressman Samuel M. Stephenson and Samuel's brother, future U.S. Senator, Isaac Stephenson. In addition, he owned the Spies Lumber company and several large tracts of forest; he was an investor in the First National Bank of Menominee, the Marinette and Menominee Paper company and president of the Menominee Light, hasten and Power Company. When the fledgling sugar company got under way, he stepped send with ,000 (.5 million in current dollars).

Support from Menominee's wealthy class, who also shared distinctions of development good company decisions and rising on their own merit rather than inherited wealth, was so great that there was no need to solicit funds from the public at large. With its shares over-subscribed by ,000, the Menominee River Sugar company was in the enviable position of having adequate capital for its venture. Not only was it possessed of adequate capital but also it enjoyed the added advantage of the experience of Benjamin Boutell and representatives of the Sugar Trust. Menominee would not want for technical or company expertise.

Gustave Blesch, like Augustus Spies, owed his success to the inherited qualities of hard work, honesty and the respect of his peers. He would come to be the sugar company's first treasurer. He was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1859, the son of Francis Blesch, a native of Germany and Antoinette Schneider, a native of Belgium. Gustave became an office boy in the Kellogg National Bank of Green Bay, rising to teller by the age of twenty. Five years later, he moved to Menominee to help organize the First National Bank of Menominee where he began as cashier before becoming the bank's president. He became president of the Menominee Brick Company, vice-president of the Menominee-Marinette Light & Traction Company, and treasurer of the Peninsula Land Company.

In January, 1903, the newly elected board of directors approved an 0,000 (nearly million in current era dollars) building contract for a Kilby designed and built facility that would slice 1,000 tons of beets per day. Of the 48 beet sugar factories in operation in the United States in 1903, only two were larger than Menominee's new factory, one in Salinas, California and someone else in Fort Collins, Colorado.

The mean sugar facility in Michigan in 1903 could slice six hundred tons of beets in a twenty-four hour period. Four thousand acres of beets would nothing else but furnish a season's facility run. Had the investors surveyed the farmers first, nothing else but they would have been advised to build a smaller factory, and perhaps would have been persuaded to build none. Farmers delivered beets from approximately 1,500 acres, well short of the 9,000 acres the venture demanded.

The Menominee factory's first facility run (referred to as a "campaign" in the sugar industry) ended quickly, having received only 14,263 tons, adequate for a output run of fourteen days for a facility the investors planned to operate at least one hundred days. However, the farmers had submitted beets containing the top sugar reported of any company during its first campaign, 15.04 percent - about 20 percent more than mean and adequate to allow for a small behalf from a meager beet supply. Like nearly all the factories, records that would advise us of profit, if any, earned during that first campaign, did not survive the duct of time. However, it would be uncostly to estimate, based on the known cost of supplies of coal, coke, limestone and the cost of labor, that a behalf of ,000 was achievable, especially under a administration style that paid close concentration to expenditures and especially in light of the very high ration of sugar in the beets.

The second campaign was good with adequate beets for a full month, still well short of a furnish needed to originate profits adequate to elucidate the investment. By 1911, the local furnish reached a level that allowed steady profits but was insufficient to encourage expansion, a condition that persisted until 1926 when grower apathy fell to a level that required end the facility until 1933 when it reopened for a final run of twenty years during which the facility lagged behind the commerce in technology and growth. Year in and year out, because of an inadequate furnish of beets, mostly grown in Wisconsin, the underutilized facility ended its campaign weeks earlier than was needed to produce salutary profits which then could have been reinvested in the factory. Menominee investors learned, as did many other sugar facility investors, that the mantra, "build it and they will come" fell on deaf ears among farmers who often displayed a good understanding of sugar economics than did investors.

The duct of time brought neither harm nor good to the Menominee facility as it was unable to improve or modernize. It placed into the process of graceful aging. Profits awaiting occasion gradually accumulated thanks to the company's penurious administration style and a dedicated cadre of farmers.

George W. McCormick, the company's first manager, inaugurated a specific administration style that went a long way toward retention the company profitable despite yearly shortfalls in the beet supply. He managed the company during its first thirty-two years of operation, beginning when he was twenty-four years of age. He met Benjamin Boutell in Bay City when he moved there to take a job as a district employer for Travelers guarnatee Company. Boutell plan the young man belonged in the rapidly developing sugar commerce and encouraged him to help in the preparing of a sugar facility in Wallaceburg, Ontario. After completing the assignment with success, Boutell recommended him for the manager's job in Menominee.

Menominee was the most difficult place in the United States to process sugarbeets. The low temperatures took a heavy toll on workers, machinery and beets that commonly went straight through the slicing machines like boulders, damaging tool that robbed the facility of slender resources. It was difficult to find change parts because of the length separating Menominee from suppliers and from Lower Peninsula sugar factories where it was tasteless for facility managers to lend spare parts to one another.

The company's diligent concentration to cost operate paid off in 1924 when sugar factories placed in Green Bay and Menominee Falls, Wisconsin went on the market. Menominee River Sugar company purchased both and then invested Indispensable sums in restoring the Menominee Falls facility that had been shut for three years immediately preceding its sale.

The renovated Menominee Falls facility combined with the Green Bay and Menominee, Michigan factories created more capacity than was needed for the ready acreage. One of the factories would have to close. Menominee won the noose after the accountants counted up the freight costs for hauling beets to each factory. The Menominee facility remained fulfilled, until 1933 when Michigan's farmers relented and agreed to return to sugarbeets, a decision that came too late to save the hides of the sugar company's owners who had lost the company to defaulted bonds three years earlier.

Disruptions in Europe beginning in the early part of the 1930s brought a new name to Michigan's beet sugar fields and corporate offices - Flegenheimer. Albert Flegenheimer was the son of Samuel Flegenheimer who had immigrated to the United States in whether 1864 or 1866 and became a naturalized habitancy in 1873. The next year, however, he returned to Germany, settling in Wurttemberg. He lived out his life there, dying in 1929 at the age of 81. His brief sojourn in the United States and his U.S. Citizenship status, however, would one day save his descendants from German death camps.

In February 1939, Albert Flegenheimer carried his family to the protection of Canada and then to the U.S. Claiming nationality as the son of a naturalized citizen. He planned to raise his family and devote his time to the sugar commerce in both the United States and Canada. His plans met with Indispensable success and by 1954, he controlled the sugar facility in Menominee and the one in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Despite Albert Flegenheimer's efforts, a lack of interest on the part of farmers kept the facility small and outdated. It struggled year by year until ultimately in 1955 with its tool exhausted, its buildings in tattered fix and its farmers pursuing other crops, Menominee River Sugar Company, built on hopes and dreams and operated with fortitude and persistence for more than a half-century, fulfilled, its doors forever.

Sources:

Gutleben, Dan, The Sugar Tramp-1954- Michigan, Printed by: Bay City Duplicating Co, San Francisco, 1954

1962 Twin City society Resources Workshop, section entitled predominant Leaders Who Helped Build Menominee, prepared by Irene Swain, Dr. Leo J. Alilunas, Director.

Henley, Robert L., Sweet Success . . .The Story of Michigan's Beet Sugar commerce 1898 - 1974, Michigan Historical Center, group of History, Arts and Libraries

Inflation Adjustments: The pre-1975 data are the consumer Price Index statistics from Historical Statistics of the United States (Usgpo, 1975). All data since then are from the yearly Statistical Abstracts of the United States. Recorded at http://www.westegg.com/inflation

Michigan yearly Reports, Michigan Archives, Lansing, Michigan
©2009 Thomas Mahar

About the Author:
Thomas Mahar served as executive Vice President of Monitor Sugar company in the middle of 1984 and 1999 and as President of Gala Food Processing, a sugar packaging company, from 1993-1998. He retired in 1999 and now devotes his free time to writing about the history of the sugar industry. He authored, Sweet Energy, The Story of Monitor Sugar company in 2001.

The Story of the Menominee River Sugar business 1903-1955