Personal Lubricant fom Flax?

I usually talk about food you eat, but today I'm going to talk about something interesting to do with flax seeds.

Flax seeds can make a simple all natural personal lubricant thanks to their soluble fiber content.

Have you ever tried putting flax seeds in water? The soluble fiber in flax seeds will dissolve into the water and make it somewhat slimy. This slime is very slippery and makes a great personal lubricant for those of you really serious about getting strange chemicals out of the products you use. Many commercial personal lubricant ingredients contain dubious chemicals like polyvinyl alcohol, a polymer also used to make rubber cement. Flax makes edible personal lubricant is water based, which makes it a condom safe lubricant as well. If you use organic flax seeds you will even have an organic personal lubricant.

I don't remember where I originally found this. Its a very interesting project for you and your sweetie.

To make this all you do is put about a tablespoon of flax seeds in about a cup of water. Wait until it gets to your desired slimyness, and strain out the flaxseeds.

...and there you have it. Homemade lube. Do it for your health.

Beans, The Musical Fruit!

It doesn't matter whether you call them pulses or legumes, beans are one of my favorite foods!
I've heard some conflicting evidence on beans. Some say they are difficult to digest and mildly toxic, while others claim the longest lived cultures on earth eat plenty of beans. I tend to believe the latter more. Just look at the Japanese, they have taken soy, aw very unhealthy bean, and turned it into miso and natto. Two of the healthiest foods around!

These days even the average megamart has a variety of beans to choose from. You can find dried butter beans, organic anasazi beans, and even mayocoba beans. My personal favorite is good old fashioned pinto beans.

Cooking with dried beans is simple. I fill the pot I want to cook with about a third full with beans, then I cover them with water and let them soak overnight. If I can I change the water every three or four hours. Soaking beans is important for the same reason as soaking grains. Its draws out excessive phytates and other antinutrients. It is possible to cook beans without soaking them or to use the fast soak method, but they will not be as healthy.

After your beans have soaked, give them some new water and start cooking. Bring them to a boil then allow them to simmer. I find it usually takes me about two hours.

Whatever you do , don't ass salt until your beans are cooked through! Salt virtually stops the cooking process! Wait until your beans have softened to your preference before salting.

Salt brings up the next topic. Seasoning. Almost any common culinary spice will work with beans. My all time favorite bean spice is cumin. It is almost mandatory for beans here in Texas. Sometimes I will also ad a chili powder blend to make a kind of (I cringe when I say this but I don't know what else to call it) vegetarian chili. Don't get carried away though if your chili powder has salt in it, you can get carried away and easily add too much chili powder and have extra salty beans. Always check the label.

You can make a more greek style bean recipe by using cinnamon, anise and allspice to your beans.

Enjoy

This blog is part of Real food wednesdays.

Introduction to Probiotics

There seems to be a lot of talk about probiotics lately, at least a lot more than there used to be. I hope to explain in today's post what probiotics are, how they work, and what you can do to get more of them in your diet.

A probiotic is what's often referred to as a "friendly bacteria." FAO/WHO defines them as "Live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host." Notice that any microorganism can be probiotic, and not just bacteria.

The most common types of probiotics are lactic acid bacteria. This includes the Genuses of Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Pediococcus, Lactococcus, and Streptococcus. The most common Lactic acid bacteria in proiotic foods and supplements is Lactobacillus acidophilus. Lactic acid bacteria eat lactose and other sugars and turn them into lactic acid. This is the bacteria that makes milk into yogurt. The bacteria eat the lactose and the resulting acid causes the proteins in the milk to coagulate and make it into the delectable gel

Probiotics work by pushing out the bad microorganisms. They compete with bad microorganisms and usually win.

Here is just a small list of the potential benefits of using probiotic supplements and probiotic foods:

1. Managing Lactose Intolerance- Lactic acid bacteria eat lactose, not only in foods like yogurt, but in your intestines too. They may increase lactose tolerance in those that lack it.
2. Preventing colon cancer - In lab tests, some strains of lactic acid bacteria seem to inhibit the occurrence of colon cancer.
3. Lowering cholesterol - Many lactic acid are believed to lower cholesterol by their ability to break down bile in the intestines.
4. Lower Blood Pressure - Studies have shown that milk fermented with various lactic acid bacteria may lower cholesterol.
5. Improve Immune Function- There is much research showing that lactic acid bacteria boost the immune system not only by out competing pathogenic bacteria, but by actually stimulating the immune system.
6. Helicobacter pylori- This is the bacteria that causes peptic ulcers. more studies are required however.
7. Reducing inflammation- most likely due to cytokine regulation
8. Improve mineral absorption - they breakdown mineral blocking phytates in the intestines, as well as in foods fermented with them.

Should I buy Probiotic Supplements?

This is a question I am often asked when I tell people about probiotics. While many foods are probiotic, like sauerkraut and yogurt with live active cultures, I think getting a good probiotic supplement is a smart move. You want to find a probiotic supplement with as many different species of microorganisms as possible. You can use this supplement to make homemade yogurt with more than just one or two species of bacteria, and you can make sauerkraut with more bacteria than normal just to name a few things you can do with. Of course there is no harm in just taking the supplement plain either.

I'll be back with more on probiotics soon!