Thursday, February 18, 2010
Olive Oil for Cleaning - a Hot Topic
From a bed & breakfast guest:
Your posts on using olive oil have opened the doors and windows for me. I've had a grand time with it and you have answered many quesstions I've had for years.
When I read your post about cleaning furniture with lemon juice and olive oil, I pulled out my old wooden chopping board. It is dried out horribly and I haven't used it for a couple years because I didn't know how to treat it. All the literature says clean it with white vinegar, to get rid of the smell, and then rub mineral oil into the wood. Well, I eat what I chop on the board and I was not going to eat something which had been prepared on wood cleaned with white vinegar (acetic acid) - and mineral oil (petroleum). I wouldn't put mineral oil on my food, nor would I put it on my body - which means I don't get professional massages because that is basically what is contained in their massage oil.
When I read your post I thought - what do I have to lose - so I mixed up about 2/3 cups olive oil with 1/2 lemon and went to work on the old board. The next morning I was amazed. It was beautiful. I used the entire amount of olive oil and lemon juice because the board just soaked it up. It is now showing the squares the way it did when it was new. The oil has dried and it is not greasy. I had to wipe the dried lemon off, but that took a second and I am certain the brightness and cleanness of the board is due to the lemon addition, so the extra second was worth the effort.
Thank you! I have my chopping board back; I am not afraid to use it; It is once again a beautiful addition to my kitchen and all is right with the world.
Keep on keeping on. This has made me a loyal reader of your blog and I will also tell everyone I know about this experience.
Somehow, I think this was probably how my grandmother cleaned her chopping board, but I wasn't listening, watching, or learning from her when she was around. I guess I really missed a lot from being so absent from the older women in my family. They are who should have been my role models. Wish I could pass that bit of wisdom down to my own children and future grandchildren to help make their lives easier. Better to learn from them than from the marketing media, who I learned from and because of whom I must now relearn and try to make a better life for myself than they tried to do for me.
The older women in my family had my best interest at heart, although I didn't think so at the time. They were not trying to pry all the money out of my pocketbook leaving me with health issues as a result of their wrong-headed advice. A friend of mine even bought "food grade" mineral oil as a present for me to help me with my chopping board. Food grade or not, it is still petroleum and I didn't use it, although she had all the right arguments to try to get me to use it. I sent her the link to your blog so she could see where she was really an air-head about buying the advice of those who are paid to sell bad stuff. I knew if I waited long enough something would come along to help with these little problems. One down, four hundred ninety- nine to go. Keep those posts coming! God bless you!
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Your posts on using olive oil have opened the doors and windows for me. I've had a grand time with it and you have answered many quesstions I've had for years.
When I read your post about cleaning furniture with lemon juice and olive oil, I pulled out my old wooden chopping board. It is dried out horribly and I haven't used it for a couple years because I didn't know how to treat it. All the literature says clean it with white vinegar, to get rid of the smell, and then rub mineral oil into the wood. Well, I eat what I chop on the board and I was not going to eat something which had been prepared on wood cleaned with white vinegar (acetic acid) - and mineral oil (petroleum). I wouldn't put mineral oil on my food, nor would I put it on my body - which means I don't get professional massages because that is basically what is contained in their massage oil.
When I read your post I thought - what do I have to lose - so I mixed up about 2/3 cups olive oil with 1/2 lemon and went to work on the old board. The next morning I was amazed. It was beautiful. I used the entire amount of olive oil and lemon juice because the board just soaked it up. It is now showing the squares the way it did when it was new. The oil has dried and it is not greasy. I had to wipe the dried lemon off, but that took a second and I am certain the brightness and cleanness of the board is due to the lemon addition, so the extra second was worth the effort.
Thank you! I have my chopping board back; I am not afraid to use it; It is once again a beautiful addition to my kitchen and all is right with the world.
Keep on keeping on. This has made me a loyal reader of your blog and I will also tell everyone I know about this experience.
Somehow, I think this was probably how my grandmother cleaned her chopping board, but I wasn't listening, watching, or learning from her when she was around. I guess I really missed a lot from being so absent from the older women in my family. They are who should have been my role models. Wish I could pass that bit of wisdom down to my own children and future grandchildren to help make their lives easier. Better to learn from them than from the marketing media, who I learned from and because of whom I must now relearn and try to make a better life for myself than they tried to do for me.
The older women in my family had my best interest at heart, although I didn't think so at the time. They were not trying to pry all the money out of my pocketbook leaving me with health issues as a result of their wrong-headed advice. A friend of mine even bought "food grade" mineral oil as a present for me to help me with my chopping board. Food grade or not, it is still petroleum and I didn't use it, although she had all the right arguments to try to get me to use it. I sent her the link to your blog so she could see where she was really an air-head about buying the advice of those who are paid to sell bad stuff. I knew if I waited long enough something would come along to help with these little problems. One down, four hundred ninety- nine to go. Keep those posts coming! God bless you!
TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email comments to info@bettina-network.com
TO LEARN MORE about the Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com
IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK YOUR ACCOMMODATIONS WHEN YOU
TRAVEL!!! 1-800-347-9166 inside U.S. or 617-497-9166 outside or inside the U.S
Labels: Guest comments, Health, Making Connections, Reader Feedback
Saturday, February 13, 2010
In Addition to Cleaning Furniture the Bettina Way
I love your company. I wasn't really sold on traveling bed & breakfast, but after trying Bettina's I am a convert. May it and all of you live long and prosper.
I tried the olive oil and lemon juice and it was FANTASTIC!!!!! I had some left over and went about cleaning other things. Did you know the same mixture cleans brass? I hate to clean brass and we have tons of it from my just married days. We were given a lot and started collecting exquisite pieces, but they can be horrible to clean so we didn't. Some had turned quite dark. The only time any of our brass pieces were cleaned was when the woman who cleans for us had extra time and she would pick up a piece or two and rub forever. The stuff she used had a foul smell, which lingered in the house for hours.
I used the 0000 steel wool and what was left over from the olive oil and lemon juice mixture I used to clean a couple pieces of wood furniture. It is unbelievable how easy it was to clean my brass pieces - trays, statues, candles. They look beautiful - but best of all I didn't have to suit-up to spend half a day cleaning brass. I didn't even use rubber gloves and like you said, my hands are all the better for having done the work.
THANK YOU! And you know I won't ever stay anyplace else. By the time you help me get my house into a very "organic" state I won't be able to stay anyplace else. As it is, I am hooked on breakfast at Bettina's. However, I haven't turned my own kitchen organic as a result - my husband is a little unhappy paying the extra money for some organic foods, but we have gone completely organic with milk and butter. Eggs are next. Hopefully, he will relent, especially when he sees the money we are going to save on brass polish. The one we bought was VERY EXPENSIVE! I've tried to show him that you spend more on some things and less on others when you go organic - maybe this proves the case.
ed. Note: We added the bold type to this guests comments.
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I tried the olive oil and lemon juice and it was FANTASTIC!!!!! I had some left over and went about cleaning other things. Did you know the same mixture cleans brass? I hate to clean brass and we have tons of it from my just married days. We were given a lot and started collecting exquisite pieces, but they can be horrible to clean so we didn't. Some had turned quite dark. The only time any of our brass pieces were cleaned was when the woman who cleans for us had extra time and she would pick up a piece or two and rub forever. The stuff she used had a foul smell, which lingered in the house for hours.
I used the 0000 steel wool and what was left over from the olive oil and lemon juice mixture I used to clean a couple pieces of wood furniture. It is unbelievable how easy it was to clean my brass pieces - trays, statues, candles. They look beautiful - but best of all I didn't have to suit-up to spend half a day cleaning brass. I didn't even use rubber gloves and like you said, my hands are all the better for having done the work.
THANK YOU! And you know I won't ever stay anyplace else. By the time you help me get my house into a very "organic" state I won't be able to stay anyplace else. As it is, I am hooked on breakfast at Bettina's. However, I haven't turned my own kitchen organic as a result - my husband is a little unhappy paying the extra money for some organic foods, but we have gone completely organic with milk and butter. Eggs are next. Hopefully, he will relent, especially when he sees the money we are going to save on brass polish. The one we bought was VERY EXPENSIVE! I've tried to show him that you spend more on some things and less on others when you go organic - maybe this proves the case.
ed. Note: We added the bold type to this guests comments.
TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email comments to info@bettina-network.com
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IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK YOUR ACCOMMODATIONS WHEN YOU
TRAVEL!!! 1-800-347-9166 inside U.S. or 617-497-9166 outside or inside the U.S
Labels: Guest comments, Health, Making Connections, Reader Feedback
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Saw Palmetto over breakfast
copyright 2009 The Bettina Network, inc.
Great breakfast conversations today! The bit of information I would like to share is from the gentleman who had to stop at the GNC to pick up a bottle of Saw Palmetto before leaving the country. He buys a couple bottles each time he is in the U. S. because he can't find it in his country. He uses it to keep his prostate healthy and swears by them. First time I'd heard of this, but I will take it seriously, he is several years past retirement is very healthy and has been doing this for a number of years. I wanted to ask if he'd had prostate problems or was this in response to prostate cancer, but I didn't know him well enough and he didn't go beyond where he could find a GNC store. Maybe he will return and knowing him better we can get a bit more into his business.
Great breakfast conversations today! The bit of information I would like to share is from the gentleman who had to stop at the GNC to pick up a bottle of Saw Palmetto before leaving the country. He buys a couple bottles each time he is in the U. S. because he can't find it in his country. He uses it to keep his prostate healthy and swears by them. First time I'd heard of this, but I will take it seriously, he is several years past retirement is very healthy and has been doing this for a number of years. I wanted to ask if he'd had prostate problems or was this in response to prostate cancer, but I didn't know him well enough and he didn't go beyond where he could find a GNC store. Maybe he will return and knowing him better we can get a bit more into his business.
TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email comments to info@bettina-network.com
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IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK YOUR ACCOMMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!!! 1-800-347-9166 inside U.S. or 617-497-9166 outside or inside the U.S. Labels: Food Shopping, Guest comments, Health
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Tekka Popcorn
copyright The Bettina Network, inc. 2009
To pop the ORGANIC corn, use an air popper so you don't have to use oil.
Save on oil in the popping so you won't feel guilty about adding butter at the end.
Pop the corn. While the corn is popping, melt one stick of organic butter in a small iron skillet
Once the corn has popped, slowly pour the melted butter over the corn; sprinkle the popped corn with a little salt and add a generous amount of Tekka.
Using two wooden spoons, one in each hand, go under the popped corn with the spoons - making sure the spoons are on opposite sides of the bowl, lift up and turn over the popped corn in continuous motions around the bowl until all ingredients are well mixed.
All told - this takes about 2 to 3 minutes to make and even less time to eat.
Haven't heard of Tekka?
It is a condiment, generally made from hatcho miso, sesame oil, burdock, lotus root, carrot, and ginger root. It is sauteed on a low flame for several hours. OR it can be made of a number of root vegetables such as Burdock roots, carrots, ginger root, lotus root and more. They are generally stir-fried and boiled to a concentrated powder. Traditionally Tekka's preparation time is about 16 hours (on a low fire), yet speedier preparation is possible.
If you don't feel like popping corn, another great and quick snack is crackers, organic butter and Tekka. Or better still, while we were not able to sleep without our bread, butter and sugar with a little warm milk with cinnamon liberally sprinkled over the milk and a little organic turbinado sugar added - now, we have crackers, organic butter and tekka before bedtime, but we still have to have the warm milk This totally violates the macrobiotic laws, but it is much better than what we were doing and a very satisfying nighttime snack which puts us right to sleep.
If you can't find Tekka, it is made by Eden Organics and you can reach them on the internet via edenfoods.com. by phone - 888 424 3336. Put 'tekka' in the search box and you will be able to order it at about $6.60 per bottle or $5.50 per bottle for a box. We ordered a box because we have been using it the way most people use salt. It gives a wonderful after-taste when you use it - in brown rice, pasta, bread baking, salad, and whatever else you can think of.
A little history? Tekka was specially formulated by George Ohsawa (1893-1966) the founder of modern macrobiotics. Mr. Ohsawa taught that modern refined foods, along with high consumption of animal protein and fat, are the major causes of modern degenerative diseases and that whole natural foods with their intrinsic healing properties can restore our health. Tekka was developed to help counteract the effects of refined sugar, refined grains, and other nutritionally deficient modern highly processed and refined foods.
According to the macrobiotic principles taught by George Ohsawa, tekka is a strongly contracting or 'yang' condiment, as is salt, yet offers qualities far beyond salt alone.
EDEN Tekka is made in the traditional manner. After aging hacho miso for three years it is ground into a smooth paste. Equal proportions of burdock root (cocklebur or Arctium lappa, Articum majus), lotus root (Nelumbo nucifera), and carrot are finely minced. The burdock is sautéed with unrefined sesame oil in cast iron cauldrons for several minutes. The carrot and lotus root are then added and sautéed several minutes. The hacho miso is added and evenly mixed with the vegetables and ground sesame seeds. Lastly, the mixture is sautéed over low heat for five to seven hours. During this long slow cooking process the liquid in the vegetables and miso evaporates completely, resulting in a dry, deep black, strengthening and energizing condiment. Tekka literally means 'iron fire'.
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Labels: Bettina's Cookbook, Health
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Bettina's Box of Shame
copyright The Bettina Network, inc. 2009
Earning its way into "Bettina's Box of Shame" today is WHOLE FOODS MARKET.
Imagine our surprise, while shopping and looking for frozen, organic spinach we find Whole Foods only carries its own brand and the product comes from CHINA. When we saw that we totally understood why the Federal Trade Commission sued Whole Foods to keep them from buying Wild Oats Company because they (the FTC) claimed it would be negative and a major loss for smaller organic foods companies because Whole Foods would replace them, as much as possible, with its own brand to the detriment of the organic foods industry.
Sure enough, here we have the beginnings of the truth of the Federal Trade Commissions logic.
It was a shocker to see the only frozen organic spinach in the refrigerated cases at Whole Foods was its own brand and ALL OF IT FROM CHINA. That was quite a juxtaposition against their many signs around the store about knowing your farm and farmer - buying local - etc.
Given all the problems we have read about lately from China made me leave the frozen organic spinach on the shelf and buy it from another store where they carried frozen organic spinach from several companies as a "product of U.S.A." giving me a choice including one from American farms not far from my home.
Keep that up WHOLE FOODS and not only will small American organic food companies be replaced, but so will organic products from large American Companies.
SHAME!! SHAME!! SHAME ON YOU WHOLE FOODS!!!
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Labels: Bettina's Box of Shame, Food Shopping, Health, Making Connections
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Lipstick
Sent to us in an email from Dr. Robert Perry ON 3/20/2009:
THIS BLOG HAS BEEN TAKEN DOWN - EITHER TEMPORARILY, PERMANENTLY OR WILL BE REPLACED WITH OTHER INFORMATION!
We received an email from a reader who said the following "There is no such doctor at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital - this has been debunked over and over. This has been circulating since May 2003 and just keeps going and going like that dumb bunny. Each time it shows up, someone changes the doctor's name or hospital but if you Google and doctors' name you will get lots of hits."
We thank the reader for drawing this to our attention. The email on lipstick was sent to us by a medical doctor who is well known and has practiced medicine for many years. It is also from someone who we have known for many years so we were confident of his information. Because of this new information from a reader, we have hired a consultant to research the issue of Lipstick and Lead and have taken the blog out of line until this research is complete. We want to make sure we have the best possible information because we are discovering that many people read Bettina's Blog and as my grandmother used to say - the only thing you have in the end is your character and we want to keep ours in the best possible shape.
Thank you for reading - and for your emails. They help to keep us going. As soon as we can we will return with whatever information is found on this issue.
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Labels: Health, Health and Beauty
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Foot Health and Comfort
copyright by The Bettina Network, inc. 2009
On Patriot's Day week-end in the Harvard Square area, during the time of the Boston Marathon, one of our homes generally fills with guests from Canada.
Several years ago one of these guests gave us a 'tip' which he uses to get through the 26 miles of the Marathon. We have used his 'tip' since then to be comfortable during shopping trips of shorter duration.
He puts cayenne pepper in his shoes before going out to run. We put cayenne pepper in our shoes before we put them on and our stamina has increased many times over. Our feet, which would begin to hurt early-on as we shopped, or walked, or ironed or just used them for more than 1/2 hour are now wonderful. We can go for quite awhile feeling generally refreshed without wishing we could ditch our shoes.
Try it - and give us your feedback!
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Labels: Health
Thursday, March 12, 2009
A Reader's Ginger Tea
Thank you for a wonderful blog! I look forward to reading your new entries.
This tea is one I have made for years and enjoy immensely. I hope your readers have the same experience.
Use - of course, I wouldn't defile your blog by suggesting anything other than "organic ginger root'. A pot that holds the '25 cups' you suggested in another blog is a good size for this. I don't take the fancy route - I make the tea in a large stainless steel pot and put the pot in the refrigerator when its finished. Somehow, having stayed at one of your homes, I don't think my stainless steel pot is going to gain me any followers and you folks would probably rather do this in a glass pot, but this is how I make the tea.
Use about three large pieces of organic ginger root. You can use more or less depending upon whether you want a stronger or weaker ginger taste. Slice them into fairly thin slices - although not too thin - and put them in the pot full of water. Put this on the stove with a tight cover and let it boil for a couple hours. When finished boiling, have a cup of tea and put the rest of the pot in the refrigerator. As you would like more tea - dip out a cup, heat it on the stove and enjoy until the pot runs dry.
Some people - southern people - will probably like this tea better with sugar. (Organic sugar only, or with a little honey - I like Tupelo Honey). Others - northern people - will probably like this tea better without sugar.
Leave the ginger in the pot until it is empty, then spread the ginger on a baking sheet, sprinkle with sugar and put it in the oven for 45 minutes or so and you can enjoy your leftovers as crystallized ginger.
Hope this is good payment for the enjoyment I've had reading your blogs.
Please don't put my name on this - I like my privacy.
Thanks,
3/17/2009
FROM THE ONE WHO HOLDS THIS BLOG TOGETHER: Thanks to the reader for a wonderful tea and a great comfort during the winter months. We received this note in November and have tried it many times before putting it in the blog. It is fantastic. There is nothing like the 'heat' of this tea to make the winter cold go away. We tried it in a glass container with a spout on the end to be able to go into the refrigerator to turn the spout and get a cup of tea, but we couldn't get it to work well, especially when we wanted to heat up several cups of tea. We were in the refrigerator with the door open for too long waiting for enough tea to be poured, so we relented and have a large, ugly, stainless steel pot in the refrigerator from which we regularly dip out cups of tea for ourselves and for guests.
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Labels: Bettina's Cookbook, Health
Friday, February 27, 2009
SNERT or "Erwtensoep" - A Breakfast Soupp*
copyright 2009 The Bettina Network, inc.
The National Dish of the Netherlands!!
Snert has become a popular and much requested breakfast at the Bettina Network. So, we put our heads together, shared the different ways we've made Snert, adjusted for comments and suggestions from our Netherland guests and have come up with "Snert By Committee", a successful bed & breakfast morning treat.
Ingredients:
pork short ribs two onions six garlic cloves
andouille sausage one green pepper one celery root
frankfurters four celery stalks sea salt & cayenne pepper
In a large pot of water (average pot for us is 25 cups) boil three large pork short ribs until they are tender - falling apart tender! This could take from 45 minute to 1 1/2 hours.
Take the ORGANIC short ribs out of the water and add four or more cups of dried green peas - according to your taste. If you like stronger tasting pea soupp*, use more. If you like a weaker more watery soupp* use less.
Put aside two onions, about 4 stalks celery, one green pepper, a celery root which has been peeled and cut into several pieces and six garlic cloves, which you mash before chopping. Put these through the food processor or cut into very fine pieces and add them to the soupp*.
YES, YES all organic!! No "natural", "pesticide free", or whatever other labels are being put on the food you normally buy for less money - make this ORGANIC! If you are going to pay more it should be for the real thing - not a marketing group's substitute, which they are trying to bring along to move you away from "organic" but have you pay very close to the same price - lining their pockets and attempting to fool your health. They should beware of Mother Nature, she takes her revenge whenever you violate her laws!!!! Open your pocketbook - pay more, eat less, but only for the foods that are grown organically. Otherwise, it is just a way of raising the price of ordinary non-organic food making you think you have something special when the only thing 'special' about that 'natural' food is the extra money you have to pay for the same thing you bought months before that didn't have those labels. If that pig hasn't been fed an organic diet - leave him in the store!!!!!!! The same goes for those vegetables - especially the root kind.
Simmer the soupp* for about an hour.
Then add organic sea salt and cayenne pepper to taste. Let this simmer for 15 minutes to half an hour.
This soupp* is best eaten without the meat added. If you insist on meat in your soupp* you can shred the pork short ribs, having removed any fat and you might also add either andouille sausage or frankfurters. The Netherlanders seem to prefer the andouille sausage, while others prefer the frankfurters because they think this makes it 'more authentic'. If you use andouille sausage - remember it adds 'heat' to the dish, which already has its share of cayenne pepper so be careful with your seasonings.
Simmer for another 1/2 hour after adding the meat and serve with wonderful home baked organically made bread with lots of butter.
You can close your eyes and pretend to be in the Netherlands country side (the 'pretend' countryside which you have now conjured up may be the only country left in the Netherlands).
This is one of those rare dishes that is comfort food for lots of people - even some who have never had this dish before.
A NOTE: instead of putting the pork short ribs back into the soupp*, you can make an excellent dinner by spreading a barbecue sauce on the ribs and putting them into the oven for 1/2 hour or so. Serve this with rice, your favorite vegetable and a salad and you have two meals.
Also notice there is no cornstarch, flour or other thickening agent in this soupp* - it isn't needed. If you have leftovers you will find each time you reheat snert it is thicker than it was the last time you heated and ate a little. The ingredients used naturally thicken this snert.
*soupp - a word coined by the Bettina Network Snert Recipe committee for a breakfast dish that somewhat resembles soup, but has different qualities.
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Labels: Bettina's Cookbook, Health, Making Connections
Monday, August 25, 2008
MORE ABOUT BLUEBERRIES
from a letter received 8/25/2008
I read your blog and loved every word. I would like to add something I read from a newsletter i receive on a weekly basis. It is excellent and I would like to recommend it to your readers. "Blueberries offer many health benefits, including protection against urinary tract infections, cancer, age-related health conditions and brain damage from strokes. The European blueberry, or bilberry, is known to prevent and even reverse macular degeneration."
This is from mercola.com. If your readers want to subscribe to this newsletter they just need to go to the web site and sign up - it is free.
Markus
Pennsylvania
I read your blog and loved every word. I would like to add something I read from a newsletter i receive on a weekly basis. It is excellent and I would like to recommend it to your readers. "Blueberries offer many health benefits, including protection against urinary tract infections, cancer, age-related health conditions and brain damage from strokes. The European blueberry, or bilberry, is known to prevent and even reverse macular degeneration."
This is from mercola.com. If your readers want to subscribe to this newsletter they just need to go to the web site and sign up - it is free.
Markus
Pennsylvania
Labels: Health
Saturday, August 9, 2008
WHOLE FOODS vs ARROWHEAD MILLS FLOUR
copyright 2008 the Bettina Network, inc.
We have been noticing what looks like a regular marketing practice in some of the Whole Foods stores. We can't say all because we have not visited all.
When Whole Foods is about to push or introduce a new Whole Foods brand - the other brands seem to disappear from the shelves - or - they are sold in other sizes - smaller and less popular sizes just to maintain a presence.
We've been looking at this phenomenon around Organic Whole Wheat Flour. Our choice is Organic Whole Wheat STONE GROUND Flour. In that group our choice is Arrowhead Mills Organic Whole Wheat Stone Ground Flour.
We've seen the Whole Foods brand of Whole Wheat Flour appearing on the shelves immediately adjacent to the Arrowhead Mills Flour. At the same time we've noticed the Whole Foods brand has depth in its positioning - usually, large bags of flour four abreast being placed either two or three bags deep on the shelves.
At the same time the Arrowhead Mills' position is shrinking. Only one bag long and one bag deep and most of the time there is none available. When we ask, we are told it is due in tomorrow. Tomorrow comes and the shelves still do not have the Arrowhead Mills Flour and we get the same response from the Whole Foods employee - tomorrow!
We looked carefully at the prospect of changing to Whole Foods flour and decided against it because the Whole Foods brand is "Organic Whole Wheat Flour". It is $1 less per bag, but it is not STONE GROUND. It is apparently ground with heat making it much less nutritious and with all that such milling implies. If you are going to get serious about this and are willing to spend more for organic products, make sure they are the best you can find. Make your money count. Eat less of the right food and save money even at higher prices.
While in one Whole Foods Store recently, we were standing in front of the Organic Whole Wheat flour and watched a woman pass quickly by, pick up the Whole Foods brand, advise us to do the same because it is $1 cheaper than the Arrowhead Mills flour. We stopped her and asked if how the flour was ground meant anything to her. "Of course," she said. We asked her to read the label of the Whole Foods brand carefully and tell us if it was what she wanted and what she thought she was buying. She looked carefully at the label and expressed her shock at realizing this was not flour ground properly for it to have the Organic label. Why pay more for flour so milled. She put the Whole Foods brand back and instead bought the only two small bags of the Arrowhead Mills "Organic Stone Ground Whole Wheat" Flour. She was quite upset that Whole Foods had 'tricked' her (her words not ours).
So - shop carefully and healthily as you shop for flour and if you don't like the Arrowhead Mills' Flour, please read the labels slowly and carefully and make sure your "Organic Whole Wheat Flour" is STONE GROUND" - ground without heat to destroy the nutrients.
Whole Foods is changing. While they have some great organic products, they are not the store they used to be and look as though they are on that slippery slope to becoming just an ordainary grocery store with a few organic products, most of which are their own store brand watered down from what they should be.
We are going to call the Arrowhead Mills company to see if we can't get the large bags of their stone ground organic whole wheat flour because what we see on the shelves at the Whole Foods Stores is small bags of Arrowhead Mills Flour and even those small bags are out most of the time now and we want a constant reliable source for our flour. Whole Foods seems to want to reduce and finally eliminate the competition, leaving us with lesser quality and less healthy products.
TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG e-mail comments to info@bettina-network.com
TO LEARN MORE about the Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com
We have been noticing what looks like a regular marketing practice in some of the Whole Foods stores. We can't say all because we have not visited all.
When Whole Foods is about to push or introduce a new Whole Foods brand - the other brands seem to disappear from the shelves - or - they are sold in other sizes - smaller and less popular sizes just to maintain a presence.
We've been looking at this phenomenon around Organic Whole Wheat Flour. Our choice is Organic Whole Wheat STONE GROUND Flour. In that group our choice is Arrowhead Mills Organic Whole Wheat Stone Ground Flour.
We've seen the Whole Foods brand of Whole Wheat Flour appearing on the shelves immediately adjacent to the Arrowhead Mills Flour. At the same time we've noticed the Whole Foods brand has depth in its positioning - usually, large bags of flour four abreast being placed either two or three bags deep on the shelves.
At the same time the Arrowhead Mills' position is shrinking. Only one bag long and one bag deep and most of the time there is none available. When we ask, we are told it is due in tomorrow. Tomorrow comes and the shelves still do not have the Arrowhead Mills Flour and we get the same response from the Whole Foods employee - tomorrow!
We looked carefully at the prospect of changing to Whole Foods flour and decided against it because the Whole Foods brand is "Organic Whole Wheat Flour". It is $1 less per bag, but it is not STONE GROUND. It is apparently ground with heat making it much less nutritious and with all that such milling implies. If you are going to get serious about this and are willing to spend more for organic products, make sure they are the best you can find. Make your money count. Eat less of the right food and save money even at higher prices.
While in one Whole Foods Store recently, we were standing in front of the Organic Whole Wheat flour and watched a woman pass quickly by, pick up the Whole Foods brand, advise us to do the same because it is $1 cheaper than the Arrowhead Mills flour. We stopped her and asked if how the flour was ground meant anything to her. "Of course," she said. We asked her to read the label of the Whole Foods brand carefully and tell us if it was what she wanted and what she thought she was buying. She looked carefully at the label and expressed her shock at realizing this was not flour ground properly for it to have the Organic label. Why pay more for flour so milled. She put the Whole Foods brand back and instead bought the only two small bags of the Arrowhead Mills "Organic Stone Ground Whole Wheat" Flour. She was quite upset that Whole Foods had 'tricked' her (her words not ours).
So - shop carefully and healthily as you shop for flour and if you don't like the Arrowhead Mills' Flour, please read the labels slowly and carefully and make sure your "Organic Whole Wheat Flour" is STONE GROUND" - ground without heat to destroy the nutrients.
Whole Foods is changing. While they have some great organic products, they are not the store they used to be and look as though they are on that slippery slope to becoming just an ordainary grocery store with a few organic products, most of which are their own store brand watered down from what they should be.
We are going to call the Arrowhead Mills company to see if we can't get the large bags of their stone ground organic whole wheat flour because what we see on the shelves at the Whole Foods Stores is small bags of Arrowhead Mills Flour and even those small bags are out most of the time now and we want a constant reliable source for our flour. Whole Foods seems to want to reduce and finally eliminate the competition, leaving us with lesser quality and less healthy products.
TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG e-mail comments to info@bettina-network.com
TO LEARN MORE about the Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com
Labels: Food Shopping, Health
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Toss Viagra, Try Zinc
copyright 2008 The Bettina Network, inc.
We had a very exciting breakfast - some would think it was x-rated, but it was a family-friendly discussion.
Apparently, the power of zinc is beginning to circulate. I thought we knew all there was to know about nutrition, vitamins, etc. but this bit of knowing was new to us. It can be a bit disconcerting when you realize you don't know it all!!!
A couple people at the breakfast table talked about how they discovered, in the process of taking zinc lozenges to get rid of a cold, or to dampen its horrid impact on the body, that they had interesting side affects. Not realizing exactly what caused those side affects, they experimented with several things they had been eating and much to their surprise it was the zinc lozenges. At this point, the breakfast table broke up into peals of laughter.
Much to our surprise, a quiet voice, from a woman at the end of the table verified that she also had the same experience and having tried it over and over again, the results were always predictable. She decided to take away her husbands viagra and substitute zinc. She did and he didn't notice the difference.
Could this be a great new scientific breakthrough? Or has this been known for hundreds of years only to be hidden from this current generation! Have we discovered something new or did our table talk rediscover what was generally known before we became so alienated from one another?
I hope this knowledge doesn't result in zinc being taken off the market the way the effectiveness of almonds was destroyed through that pasteurization process.
TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG e-mail comments to info@bettina-network.com
TO LEARN MORE about the Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com
We had a very exciting breakfast - some would think it was x-rated, but it was a family-friendly discussion.
Apparently, the power of zinc is beginning to circulate. I thought we knew all there was to know about nutrition, vitamins, etc. but this bit of knowing was new to us. It can be a bit disconcerting when you realize you don't know it all!!!
A couple people at the breakfast table talked about how they discovered, in the process of taking zinc lozenges to get rid of a cold, or to dampen its horrid impact on the body, that they had interesting side affects. Not realizing exactly what caused those side affects, they experimented with several things they had been eating and much to their surprise it was the zinc lozenges. At this point, the breakfast table broke up into peals of laughter.
Much to our surprise, a quiet voice, from a woman at the end of the table verified that she also had the same experience and having tried it over and over again, the results were always predictable. She decided to take away her husbands viagra and substitute zinc. She did and he didn't notice the difference.
Could this be a great new scientific breakthrough? Or has this been known for hundreds of years only to be hidden from this current generation! Have we discovered something new or did our table talk rediscover what was generally known before we became so alienated from one another?
I hope this knowledge doesn't result in zinc being taken off the market the way the effectiveness of almonds was destroyed through that pasteurization process.
TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG e-mail comments to info@bettina-network.com
TO LEARN MORE about the Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com
Labels: Growing Old, Health
Sunday, June 22, 2008
New Found Health Help!
I don't see other such postings, but I stayed in one of your homes and enjoyed it very much. Your whole network seems to be health conscious and the home in which I stayed was the most organically conscious place I've been. So I thought I would share my recent experience with a urinary infection and my husbands with kidney stones.
We ate organic blueberries for a couple days - lots of them. My urinary infection cleared and my husband passed his kidney stones.
It isn't a great deal, but I wanted to contribute something of my experiences, in line with what I experienced in your network house.
Leila,
The Netherlands
6/22/2008
Received via postal mail 6/19/2008
TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG e-mail comments to info@bettina-network.com
TO LEARN MORE about the Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com
We ate organic blueberries for a couple days - lots of them. My urinary infection cleared and my husband passed his kidney stones.
It isn't a great deal, but I wanted to contribute something of my experiences, in line with what I experienced in your network house.
Leila,
The Netherlands
6/22/2008
Received via postal mail 6/19/2008
TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG e-mail comments to info@bettina-network.com
TO LEARN MORE about the Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com
Labels: Health
Friday, December 21, 2007
Almond and Cancer
We've always heard the little ditty "six almonds a day keeps cancer away." Today it would have to be "six raw, organic almonds a day keeps cancer away."
Only at the breakfast table we heard about the movement afoot to pasteurize all almonds and allow pasteurized almonds to be called raw. It is apparently going so far as to insist that all almonds be pasteurized and raw ones not allowed to be sold.
Don't know how much truth there is to that, but if it is true that is HORRID.
One of the most often held conversations around the bed and breakfast table is about the connections between food, health and disease. Alternative ways of staying healthy and curing oneself are upper-most in a whole lot of folks minds these days and they are sharing!
TO RESPOND to this blog, e-mail follow up comments to- info@bettina-network.com
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1/23/2008 a note via email in response:
"What you heard around your breakfast table is true. On September 9, 2007 the USDA approved a new regulation to put an end to distribution of raw almonds. They must now be pasteurized - including organic almonds. The rub is that one way almonds are being pasteurized is with propylene oxide, which is classified as a human carcinogen and is banned in Canada, Mexico and the European nations. Ask your readers to write to the USDA to reverse this rule. Almond has been a political hot football for years because of its ability to cure cancer. People have been put out of business and worse because of advocating for almonds - especially bitter almonds. You don't mention which kind in your writing!
Thanks for mentioning this it is important to all of our healths."
2/29/2008 - a note via email in response:
I have discovered that almonds are a very powerful aphrodisiac. It could probably push viagra out of the market. Don't know why, I just know they are great! Yes, Bettina folks, they should be raw and organic.
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