This section is devoted to the information that will be useful in the creation of a Kin's Domains.
Babies' Language Starts In The Womb
Often the subject of comedy, many pregnant women talk to their unborn baby, sing nursery rhymes or play music to entertain or comfort the child in their womb. Now scientis have shown that this is actually an important step in language development and should be encouraged.
Cultural studies often showed that the types of gurgles and babble that a newborn used seemed to be unique to specific parental language groups. French babies babble in a certain way that is different from, say, Chinese babies. Scientists wondered why this was happening.
A new study published in Current Biology and summarized in ScenceDaily suggests that infants begin picking up elements of what will be their first language in the womb, and certainly long before their first babble or coo.
"The dramatic finding of this study is that not only are human neonates capable of producing different cry melodies, but they prefer to produce those melody patterns that are typical for the ambient language they have heard during their fetal life, within the last trimester of gestation," said Kathleen Wermke of the University of Wurzburg in Germany. "Contrary to orthodox interpretations, these data support the importance of human infants' crying for seeding language development."
Human fetuses are able to memorize sounds from the external world by the last trimester of pregnancy, with a particular sensitivity to melody contour in both music and language, earlier studies showed. Newborns prefer their mother's voice over other voices and perceive the emotional content of messages conveyed via intonation contours in maternal speech (a.k.a. "motherese"). Their perceptual preference for the surrounding language and their ability to distinguish between different languages and pitch changes are based primarily on melody.
Although prenatal exposure to native language was known to influence newborns' perception, scientists had thought that the surrounding language affected sound production much later, the researchers said. It now appears that isn't so.
Wermke's team recorded and analyzed the cries of 60 healthy newborns, 30 born into French-speaking families and 30 born into German-speaking families, when they were three to five days old. That analysis revealed clear differences in the shape of the newborns' cry melodies, based on their mother tongue.
Specifically, French newborns tend to cry with a rising melody contour, whereas German newborns seem to prefer a falling melody contour in their crying. Those patterns are consistent with characteristic differences between the two languages, Wermke said.
The new data show an extremely early impact of native language, the researchers say. Earlier studies of vocal imitation had shown that infants can match vowel sounds presented to them by adult speakers, but only from 12 weeks on. That skill depends on vocal control that just isn't physically possible much earlier, the researchers explain.
"Imitation of melody contour, in contrast, is merely predicated upon well-coordinated respiratory-laryngeal mechanisms and is not constrained by articulatory immaturity," they write. "Newborns are probably highly motivated to imitate their mother's behavior in order to attract her and hence to foster bonding. Because melody contour may be the only aspect of their mother's speech that newborns are able to imitate, this might explain why we found melody contour imitation at that early age."
Is "baby talk" ok?
Adults may feel silly when they talk to babies - even more so if they talk to unborn babies - in the sing-song style we call "baby talk". But further research has shown that this is exactly what is needed to successfully learn how to use speech.
A major function of speech is the communication of intentions. In everyday conversation between adults, intentions are conveyed through multiple channels, including the syntax and semantics of the language, but also through nonverbal vocal cues such as pitch, loudness, and rate of speech.
The same thing occurs when we talk to infants. Regardless of the language we speak, most adults, for example, raise their voices to elicit the infant's attention and talk at a much slower rate to communicate effectively. In the scientific community, this "baby talk" is termed "infant-directed speech."
There are direct relationships between the way we speak and what we wish to convey. For example, when we see a child reaching for the electrical socket, we do not call out their name as we would during a game of hide-and-go-seek.
Infant-directed speech typically uses short, simple sentences coupled with higher pitch and exaggerated intonation. Some people extend this way to speaking to their pets also.
Researchers have long known that babies prefer to be spoken to in this manner. But Erik Thiessen of the Carnegie Mellon University has revealed that infant-directed speech also helps infants learn words more quickly than normal adult speech.
In a series of experiments, he and his colleagues exposed 8-month-old infants to fluent speech made up of nonsense words. The researchers assessed whether, after listening to the fluent speech for less than two minutes, infants had been able to learn the words. The infants who were exposed to fluent speech with the exaggerated intonation contour characteristic of infant-directed speech learned to identify the words more quickly than infants who heard fluent speech spoken in a more monotone fashion. These findings can now be applied to unborn babies.
"Noise" in the environment has reverse effects
The world outside the womb is full of noises. There's the noise of traffic, household appliances, television and the banging of doors... How does excessive noise affect the unborn's ability to learn language?
Studies on infants try to assess how much noise is too much. That's what psychologist George Hollich, from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., is doing. He is putting very young babies to the test to see if all that noise delays their ability to learn to speak.
Hollich says, "It seems to be the case that in noisy households, kids have lower vocabulary skills." As part of the test, the infant watches a film of a woman talking, while a distracting man's voice competes for his attention. In the video, the woman keeps repeating the word "feet".
"One of the things they can do is use what they see to hear a little bit better," Hollich says. Even with a distracting voice in the background, the child can pick out the right word (in this case, "feet") if it can synchronize the sound with a visual clue, like a mouth moving.
The unborn child doesn't have the advantage of seeing the external world. Competing sounds are likely only to confuse and hinder language learning. While there is no way to shield the unborn from excessive environmental noises, it is good idea to practice "infant directed" speech in a quiet, relaxed setting.
What about music?
Babies show that they can be shocked by big, unexpected sounds, although they tend to adapt to constant sounds in the environment. Studies show that music enters the womb with little distortion: A few indicate that babies prefer quiet, harmonious music. Loud music may produce strong kicks of protest. An earthquake sound in Italy left a group of unborn babies in a hyperactive state for several hours. Lullabies are always appropriate.
At London's University College Hospital, Obstetrician C. N. Smyth and Audiologist K. P. Murphy were trying to find out why some babies are born deaf. To their surprise, they discovered that even while normal babies are still in the womb they can not only hear musical tones, but usually respond to them by speeding up their heartbeat. The phenomenon may be observed as long as three months before the baby is due.
In their research, the British researchers report in the Lancet, they generated musical tones of 500 cycles per second (about an octave above middle C) and 4,000 cycles and transmitted them 'through the abdominal wall of the mother-to-be with an instrument like a telephone receiver. It made no difference whether the mother could hear the tones or not (the investigators tried it both ways). In tests of 290 women, 215 unborn babies responded to the 500-c.p.s. tone with an accelerated heart rate, but only 60 reacted to the screeching tone three octaves higher.
Statistics have shown that thought and sleep patterns in prenatal development can be influenced by music. Music for babies can play an important part in enhancing the quality of babies and children's lives post birth. Babies and fetuses are exceptionally receptive to environmental sounds, hence the main goal of prenatal music is to set the stage for a child’s early learning and emotional well being. Beneficial music can also indirectly calm and focus the mom-to-be throughout her pregnancy.
Being exposed to music in the womb does not necessarily mean that the baby will be smarter than a baby who was not exposed the music while in the womb, but it will have a similar relaxation and soothing effect like we grown-up have by listening to relaxing music. If a baby is exposed to the music before birth, he will recognize the music after birth.
Some scientists suggest combining soft music in the background with "infant directed" speech to obtain the optimal effects on language learning. Certainly more research is needed but, with what we know now, a quiet interlude of soft music and baby talk is the way to go.
- - -
NOTES:
1. The researchers include Birgit Mampe, University of Wurzburg, Wurzburg, Germany; Angela D. Friederici, Max-Planck-Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; Anne Christophe, Ecole Normale Superieure/CNRS, Paris, France; and Kathleen Wermke, University of Wurzburg, Wurzburg, Germany.
2. According to a study by Carnegie Mellon University Psychology Professor Erik Thiessen published in the March issue of the journal Infancy.
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Can 'hypnobirthing' really take the pain out of having a baby?
By Julia Lawrence
Emma Shaw admits that she turned up for her first hypnobirthing class with a strong dose of scepticism.
A down-to-earth and pragmatic TV producer, she fully expected to walk into a room ‘full of hippy, airy-fairies giving birth in yurts’.
Like most mothers-to-be, the 30-year-old had been drip-fed horror stories from colleagues and friends of women screaming, swearing and assaulting their husbands, surrounded by beeping, blinking monitors.
She was convinced that was ‘the only way’. Anything else was just a pipe dream, wasn’t it?
But after researching alternative birth techniques for a documentary, Emma was introduced to the idea of using her mind to seize control of the birthing process through hypnosis.
And when her son Leo was born 14 months ago, following a relatively pain and stress-free labour, Emma is convinced hypnobirthing is most certainly ‘the other way’.
‘When I first started doing those classes, I was almost embarrassed about it, convinced people would laugh,’ says Emma, from Brockley, South London.
‘Now I want to tell everyone to TRY IT. If it can work for me, and believe me I was the biggest cynic going, then it can work for anyone.’
This is exactly what the NHS is seeking to investigate in an 18-month study on the effectiveness of hypnobirthing being launched this week, which, it is hoped, will reduce the financial strain on tightening NHS budgets caused by costly drug treatments such as epidurals — and also make births easier and safer for women and babies.
At present, 60 per cent of women opt for forms of pain relief which some professionals have blamed for everything from difficulties with breastfeeding to postnatal depression.
More than 800 first-time mothers have been recruited to take part in
the trial, which is being led by Professor Soo Downe, a specialist in
midwifery at Central Lancashire University, at hospitals in Blackburn
and Burnley.
Women will be taught deep relaxation techniques
which are said to induce an almost trance-like state, making women
calmer and more able to block out pain.
Hypnobirthing is based
on the work of Dr Grantly Dick-Read, an English physician whose
principles provided the foundations of the National Childbirth Trust
(NCT). In his book, Childbirth Without Fear, originally published in
1933, he controversially opened the debate on pain in childbirth and
even questioned whether it exists.
Braving the wrath of mothers
everywhere, he wrote: ‘In no other animal species is the process of
birth apparently associated with any suffering, pain or agony, except
where pathology exists or in an unnatural state, such as captivity.’
Dr Dick-Read went on to conclude that fear and tension was responsible for 95 per cent of labour pain, which could be eliminated through relaxation techniques.
For while hypnobirthing conjures up images of pregnant women being put into a trance-like state, in fact it is a series of deep breathing and deep relaxation techniques which the women and their partners are taught to self-administer.
As a chorus of indignant scoffs ring out from women for whom the agony of childbirth is a not-distant-enough memory, there are plenty of obstetric professionals who claim pain-free labour is entirely possible.
One of them is Judith Flood, a 41-year-old midwife who trained as a hypnobirthing teacher eight years ago after noticing the difference it made to women’s experience of labour.
Judith who, unlike Dr Dick-Read, has given birth four times says: ‘The first time I saw a hypnobirth I was blown away by it,’ she says.
‘I was working at St Thomas’ Hospital in London when a women walked in, a first-time mother in her late 30s, who was totally calm, smiley and chatty.
'I nearly sent her away again, assuming labour couldn’t be established — for us the benchmark is whether a woman can talk to you throughout contractions.
‘When we examined her she was almost fully dilated. Even as she gave birth, she was totally calm and able to talk, simply by practising her deep breathing techniques to manage the pain.’
From that point, Judith became fascinated with the practice, noticing in many cases it actually halved the duration of labour from an average 12 hours to four to six hours. She now teaches hypno-birthing techniques, at a cost of £200 for a full, 12-hour workshop, both at her home and at a centre in South-East London.
‘It teaches women how to become deeply relaxed, quickly and easily. It is a skill like any other that gets better with practice, so that as she goes into labour it is second nature. We also use association techniques, where a woman’s partner can use a simple touch as the trigger to relax.
‘A lot of women afterwards say that “pain” is not the word to describe their sensations during labour, calling it “pressure” and “a force of nature”. And yes, there are women who do end up with a Caesarean, but they in turn say hypnobirthing techniques kept them calm throughout, making the experience positive and enjoyable.’
Emma, from South London, wouldn’t go so far as calling her labour pain free, but says it was nothing like the horror she was expecting.
‘I was in established labour for seven hours, and the contractions — or surges as we learned to call them — were totally manageable. It was more like period pain, a cramp or tightening. When I told my story to other mothers afterwards, the reaction was always: “Wow, there is another way.”’
From a father’s perspective, however, hypnotherapy has both its positive and negative sides, according to John Palmer, whose wife Julie gave birth to their son Sean after attending hypnobirthing classes three years ago.
‘Some of it was laughable,’ he says. ‘Our teacher was desperate to get her message across; she was coming up with outrageous statements about the “power of the mind”.
'We particularly remember this unfounded “study in America” that showed how newborn chicks could move objects with their minds.
‘We sat there, with a group of five or six other middle-class couples, all swopping “what the hell are we doing here” looks.’
However, they pressed ahead with the classes, at a cost of £300, and when Julie gave birth, it was following a 16-hour labour, with only gas and air for pain relief.
‘She probably wouldn’t call it pain free, but it was most certainly stress free. The hypnotherapy gave us a toolbox, something I, as a father, found extremely useful, as it gave us a focus and perspective.’
However, critics are concerned that hypnotherapy, which is said to work in a quarter of cases, should never be hailed as an alternative to established pain relief.
Maureen Treadwell, co-founder of the Birth Trauma Association, says: ‘I always believe research is a good thing, but we need to be cautious and look critically at the data and decide whether this is a good use of NHS resources.
‘We know the only proven, 100 per cent effective pain relief in labour is a spinal-administered analgesic. We don’t want to find ourselves in the position where women are forced to attend hypnobirthing classes when there’s no guarantee it will definitely work for them. Hypnotherapy relies on people being suggestible, and not everyone is.
‘If this can be managed within a hospital’s budget, then all well and good, but I’d rather the facilities are there for a woman who is in terrible pain, and that if she is begging for an epidural, she gets one.’
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Enzymes and Longevity
In an exclusive interview, food enzyme researcher Dr. Edward Howell
tells why he believes:
"Enzymes may be the key factor in preventing chronic disease and
extending the human lifespan."
Dr. Edward Howell was born in Chicago in 1898. He is the holder of a
limited medical license from the State of Illinois.
The holder of a limited practice license is required to pass the same
medical examination as a medical doctor. Only surgery, obstetrics and
materia medica are excluded.
After obtaining his license, Dr. Howell joined the professional staff
of the Lindlahr Sanitorium, where he remained for six years. In 1930,
he established a private facility for the treatment of chronic
ailments by nutritional and physical methods.
Until he retired in 1970, Dr. Howell was busy in private practice
three days each week. The balance of his time he devoted to various
kinds of research.
Dr. Howell is the first researcher to recognize the importance of the
enzymes in food to human nutrition. In 1946, he wrote the book, "The
Status of Food Enzymes in Digestion and Metabolism." Dr. Howell's
forthcoming book is entitled, "Enzyme Diet."
This book contains the reference and source materials for the enzyme
theories which Dr. Howell has collectively called, "The Food Enzyme
Concept." The manuscript for "Enzyme Diet" reviews the scientific
literature through 1973. 1t is approximately 160,000 words long and
contains 47 tables and 695 references to the world's scientific
literature.
In this interview, Dr. Howell tells: What enzymes are, what they do in
our bodies, why he believes a state of enzyme deficiency stress exists
in most people, and finally, what he believes you can do about it.
"Neither vitamins, minerals or hormones can do any work -- without
enzymes."
HDN: What are enzymes?
HOWELL: Enzymes are substances which make life possible. They are
needed for every chemical reaction in that occurs in our body. Without
enzymes, no activity at all would take place. Neither vitamins,
minerals, or hormones can do any work -- without enzymes.
Think of it this way: Enzymes are the "labor force" that builds your
body just like construction workers are the labor force that builds
your house. You may have all the necessary building materials and
lumber, but to build a house you need workers, which represent the
vital life element.
Similarly, you may have all the nutrients -- vitamins, proteins,
minerals, etc., for your body, but you still need the enzymes -- the
life element -- to keep the body alive and well.
HDN: Are enzymes then just like chemical catalysts which speed up
various reactions?
HOWELL: No. Enzymes are much more than catalysts.
Catalysts are only inert substances. They possess none of the life
energy we find in enzymes. For instance, enzymes give off a kind of
radiation when they work. This is not true of catalysts.
In addition, although enzymes contain proteins -- and some contain
vitamins -- the activity factor in enzymes has never been synthesized.
Moreover, there is no combination of proteins or any combination of
amino acids or any other substance which will give enzyme activity.
There are proteins present in enzymes. However, they serve only as
carriers of the enzyme activity factors.
Therefore, we can say that enzymes consist of protein carriers charged
with energy factors just as a battery consists of metallic plates
charged with electrical energy.
HDN: Where do the enzymes in our bodies come from?
HOWELL: It seems that we inherit a certain enzyme potential at birth.
This limited supply of activity factors or life force must last us a
lifetime. It's just as if you inhented a certain amount of money. If
the movement is all one way -- all spending and no income -- you will
run out of money.
Likewise, the faster you use up your supply of enzyme activity, the
quicker you will run out. Experiments at various universities have
shown that, regardless of the species, the faster the metabolic rate,
the shorter the lifespan.
Other things being equal, you live as long as your body has enzyme
activity factors to make enzymes from. When it gets to the point that
you can't make certain enzymes, then your life ends.
HDN: Do people do anything which causes them to waste their limited
enzyme supply?
HOWELL: Yes. Just about every single person eats a diet of mainly
cooked foods. Keep in mind that whenever a food is boiled at 212
degrees, the enzymes in it are 100% destroyed.
If enzymes were in the food we eat, they would do some or even a
considerable part of the work of digestion by themselves. However,
when you eat cooked, enzyme-free food, this forces the body itself to
make the enzymes needed for digestion. This depletes the body's
limited enzyme capacity.
HDN: How serious is this strain on our enzyme "bank" caused by diets
of mostly cooked food?
HOWELL: I believe it's one of the paramount causes of premature aging
and early death. I also believe it's the underlying cause of almost
all degenerative disease.
To begin with, if the body is overburdened to supply many enzymes to
the saliva, gastric juice, pancreatic juice and intestinal juice, then
it must curtail the production of enzymes for other purposes.
If this occurs, then how can the body also make enough enzymes to run
the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs, muscles and other organs and
tissues?
This "stealing" of enzymes from other parts of the body to service the
digestive tract sets up a competition for enzymes among the various
organ systems and tissues of the body.
The resulting metabolic dislocations may be the direct cause of
cancer, coronary heart disease, diabetes, and many other chronic
incurable diseases.
This state of enzyme deficiency stress exists in the majority of
persons on the civilized, enzyme-free diet.
HDN: Did human disease begin when man started cooking his food?
HOWELL: This is what the evidence indicates.
For example, the Neanderthal Man of 50,000 years ago used fire
extensively in his cooking. He lived in caves and ate mostly roasted
meat from the continuous fires which warmed the caves. These
statements are documented by scientific evidence in my published and
unpublished works.
From fossil evidences we know that the Neanderthal Man suffered from
fully-developed cnppling arthritis.
It's possible that the Neanderthal Man also had diabetes or cancer or
kidney disease and so forth. However, we'll never know since all soft
tissues have disappeared without a trace.
Incidentally, another inhabitant of the caves was the cave bear. This
creature protected the Neanderthal Man from the cave tiger, who also
wanted the protection of the cave to avoid the frigid weather. The
cave bear, according to paleontologists, was a partially domesticated
animal and most likely lived on the same roasted meat that the cave
man ate.
Like the cave man, the cave bear also suffered from chronic, deforming
arthritis.
HDN: Isn't it possible that cold weather, not cooked food, was
responsible for the arthritis of the Neanderthal Man?
HOWELL: No, I don't think weather had much to do with it.
For example, consider the primitive Eskimo. He lived in an environment
just as frigid as that of the Neanderthal Man. And yet, the Eskimo
never suffered from arthntis and other chronic diseases.
However, the Eskimo ate large amounts of raw food. The meat he ate was
only slightly heated and was raw in the center. Therefore, the Eskimo
received a large quantity of food enzymes with every meal.
In fact, the word Eskimo itself comes from an Indian expression which
means, "He who eats it raw."
Incidentally, there is no tradition of medicine men among the Eskimo
people. But among groups like the North American Indian, who ate
cooked food extensively, the medicine man had a prominent position in
the tribe.
HDN: What evidence is there that human beings suffer from food enzyme
deficiency?
HOWELL: There's so much evidence that I can only briefly summanze a
small
fraction of it. Over the last 40 years, I have collected thousands of
scientific documents to document my theories.
To begin with, human beings have the lowest levels of starch digesting
enzymes in their blood of any creature. We also have the highest level
of these enzymes in the urine, meaning that they are being used up
faster.
There's other evidence showing that these low enzyme levels are not
due to a pecularity of our species. Instead, they are due to the large
amounts of cooked starch we eat.
Also, we know that decreased enzyme levels are found in a number of
chronic ailments, such as allergies, skin disease, and even serious
diseases like diabetes and cancer.
In addition, incriminating evidence indicates that cooked, enzyme-free
diets contribute to a pathological over-enlargement of the pituitary
gland, which regulates the other glands. Furthermore, there is
research showing that almost 100% of the people over 50 dying from
accidental causes were found to have defective pituitary glands.
Next, I believe that food enzyme deficiency is the cause of the
exaggerated maturation of today's children and teenagers. It is also
an important cause of overweight in many children and adults.
Many animal experiments have shown that enzyme-deficient diets produce
a much more rapid maturation than usual. Animals on cooked diets are
also much heavier than their counterparts on raw diets .
Another piece of related evidence is that farmers use cooked potatoes
to fatten pigs for market. The've found that pigs on cooked potatoes
fatten faster and more economically than pigs on raw potatoes.
This evidence shows the great difference between cooked calories and
raw calories. Indeed, from my work in a sanitarium many years ago,
I've found that it was impossible to get people fat on raw foods,
regardless of the calorie intake.
Incidentally, another effect associated with food enzyme deficiency is
that the size of the brain decreases. In addition, the thyroid
overenlarges, even in the presence of adequate iodine. This has been
shown in a number of species. Of course, you can't prove it on human
beings. The evidence, however, is very suggestive.
HDN: What else is there?
HOWELL: Next, consider that the human pancreas is burdened with enzyme
production far in excess of any creature living on a raw food diet. In
fact, in proportion to body weight, the human pancreas is more than
twice as heavy as that of a cow.
Human beings eat mainly cooked food, while cows eat raw grass.
Then, there is evidence that rats on a cooked diet have a pancreas
about twice as heavy as rats on a raw diet.
Moreover, evidence shows that the human pancreas is one of the
heaviest in the animal kingdom, when you adjust for total body weight.
This overenlargement of the human pancreas is just as dangerous --
probably even more so -- than an overlargement of the heart, the
thyroid and so on. The
overproduction of enzymes in humans is a pathological adaption to a
diet of enzyme-free foods.
The pancreas is not the only part of the body that oversecretes
enzymes when the diet is cooked. In addition, there are the human
salivary glands, which produce enzymes to a degree never found in wild
animals on their natural foods.
In fact, some animals on a raw diet do not have any enzymes at all in
their saliva. The cow and sheep produce torrents of saliva with no
enzymes in it.
Dogs, for instance, also secrete no enzymes in their saliva when
they're eating a raw diet. However, if you start giving them cooked
starchy food, their salivary glands will start producing
starch-digesting enzymes within 10 days.
In addition, there's more evidence that the enzymes in saliva
represent a
pathological and not a normal situation. To begin with, salivary
enzymes cannot digest raw starch. This is something I demonstrated in
the laboratory.
The enzymes in saliva will only attack a piece of starch once it's
cooked. Therefore, we see that the body will channel some of its
limited enzyme producing capacity into saliva only if it has to.
Incidentally, there is some provocative animal research which I have
done in my own laboratory some years ago. If you'd like, I can explain
it now for your readers.
HDN: Yes, please do.
HOWELL: I fed one group of rats a cooked diet and one group a raw diet
and let them live out their lifespan to see which group would live
longer.
The first group got a combination of raw meat and various raw
vegetables and grains. The second group got the same foods boiled and
therefore enzyme-free. I kept these rats until they died, which took
about three years.
As the experiment came to a close, the results surprised me. It turned
out that there was no great difference between the lifespans of the
two groups. Later on, I discovered the reason.
It turned out that the rats on the cooked diet were still getting
enzymes, but from an unexpected source. They had been eating their own
feces, which contained the enzymes excreted from their own bodies.
All feces, including those of human beings, contain the enzymes that
the body has used. My rats had been recycling their own enzymes to use
them over again. And that's why they lived as long as the rats on the
raw diet.
Incidentally, the practice of eating feces is almost universal among
today's laboratory animals. Although these animals receive scientific
diets containing all known vitamins and minerals, the animals
instinctively know they need enzymes. Because of this, they eat their
own feces.
In fact, the animals on these scientific diets develop most of the
chronic human degenerative diseases if they are allowed to live out
their lifespans. This shows that vitamins and minerals alone are not
sufficient for health.
HDN: How do you know that people would benefit from additional enzyme
intake?
HOWELL: To me, the most impressive evidence that people need enzymes
is what occurs as a result of therapeutic fasting. As you know, I
spent some years in a sanitarium working with patients on various
fasting programs.
When a person fasts, there is an immediate halt to the production of
digestive enzymes. The enzymes in saliva, gastric juice and pancreatic
juice dwindle and become scarce. During fasting, the body's enzymes
are free to work on repairing and removing diseased tissues.
Civilized people eat such large quantities of cooked foods that their
enzyme systems are kept busy digesting food. As a result, the body
lacks the enzymes needed to maintain the tissues in good health.
Most people who fast go through what is called a healing crisis. The
patients may feel nausea, vomiting and dizziness. What's happening is
that the enzymes are working to change the unhealthy structure of the
body. The enzymes attack pathological tissues and break down
undigested and unprocessed substances; and these then get thrown off
through the bowels, through vomiting, or via the skin.
HDN: When people get enzymes from food, aren't they destroyed by
stomach acid and therefore of little or no value?
HOWELL: This is not true. Although most nutntionists claim that
enzymes in food are destroyed in the stomach, they overlook two
important facts.
First of all, when you eat food, acid secretion is minimal for at
least thirty minutes. As the food goes down the esophagus, it drops
into the top portion of the stomach. This is called the cardiac
section, since it's closer to the heart.
The rest of the stomach remains flat and closed while the cardiac
section opens up to accommodate the food. During the time the food
sits in the upper section, little acid or enzymes are secreted by the
body. The enzymes in the food itself go about digesting the food. The
more of this self-digestion that occurs, the less work the body has to
do later.
When this 30 to 45 minute period is over, the bottom section of the
stomach opens up and the body starts secreting acid and enzymes. Even
at this point, the food enzymes are not inactivated until the acid
level becomes prohibitive. You see, food enzymes can tolerate chemical
environments many times more acid than neutral.
HDN: Do animals also have a special section of the stomach where food
digests itself?
HOWELL: Absolutely. In fact, some creatures have what I call a food
enzyme stomach.
There are the cheek pouches of monkeys and rodents, the crop of many
species of birds, and the first stomachs of whales, dolphins and
porpoises.
When birds, for instance, swallow seeds or grains, these grains lie in
the crop for 8 to 12 hours. As they sit, they absorb moisture, swell
up and begin to germinate. During germination, enzymes are formed
which do the work of digesting the seeds and grains.
Whales, dolphins and porpoises have a first stomach which secretes no
enzymes. Whales, for examples swallow large quantities of food without
chewing it. The food simply decomposes and digests itself. In the
flesh of the fish and other marine life the whale eats is an enzyme,
called cathepsin, which breaks down the fish once it has died. In
fact, this enzyme is present in almost all creatures.
After the whale's catch has liquefied itself, it passes through a
small hole into the whale's second stomach.
It mystifies scientists how the whale's catch can get through that
small hole into the second stomach. They have no idea that
self-digestion was at work.
HDN: Most -- if not all of us, eat lots of cooked foods every day. Can
we make up for this enzyme loss by eating raw foods in addition?
HOWELL: No. Cooked foods cause such a large drain on our enzyme supply
that you can't make it up by eating raw foods.
In addition, vegetables and fruits are not concentrated sources of
enzymes. When produce ripens, enzymes are present to do the ripening.
However, once the
ripening is finished, some of the enzymes leave and go back into the
stem and seeds.
For example, when companies want to get enzymes from papaya, a
tropical fruit, they use the juice of unripe papaya. The ripe papaya
itself has no great concentration of enzymes.
HDN: Are there any foods particularly high in enzymes?
HOWELL: Bananas, avocadoes and mangoes are good sources. In general,
foods having a higher calorie content are richer in enzymes.
HDN: Do you recommend all raw foods as sources of enzymes?
HOWELL: No. There are some foods, seeds and nuts, that contain what
are called enzyme inhibitors.
These enzyme inhibitors are present for the protection of the seed.
Nature doesn't want the seed to germinate prematurely and lose its
life. It wants to make sure that the seed is present in soil with
sufficient moisture to grow and continue the species.
Therefore, when you eat raw seeds or raw nuts, you are swallowing
enzyme inhibitors which will neutralize some of the enzymes your body
produces. In fact, eating foods with enzyme inhibitors causes a
swelling of the pancreas.
All nuts and seeds contain these inhibitors. Raw peanuts, for example,
contain an especially large amount. Raw wheat germ is also one of the
worst offenders. In addition, all peas, beans and lentils contain
some.
Potatoes, which are seeds, have enzyme inhibitors.
In eggs, which are also seeds, the inhibitor is contained mainly in
the eggwhite.
As a general rule, enzyme inhibitors are confined to the seed portions
of food. For instance, the eyes of potatoes. The inhibitors are not
present in the fleshy portions of fruits or in the leaves and stems of
vegetables.
There are two ways to destroy enzyme inhibitors. The first is cooking;
however, this also destroys the enzymes. The second way, which is
preferable, is sprouting. This destroys the enzyme inhibitors and also
increases the enzyme content from a factor of 3 to 6.
Some foods, like soybeans, must be especially well heated to destroy
the inhibitors. For example, many of the soy flours and powders on the
market were not heated enough to destroy the inhibitors.
There is one other way to neutralize enzyme inhibitors, but we'll get
to it in just a minute.
HDN: You said that it's not possible to overcome the enzyme drain of
cooked foods just by eating other raw foods. What then can people do?
HOWELL: The only solution is to take capsules of concentrated plant
enzymes.
In the absence of contraindications, you should take from l to 3
capsules per meal. Of course, if you are eating all raw foods, then no
enzymes will be necessary at that meal.
The capsules should be opened and sprinkled on the food or chewed with
the meal. This way, the enzymes can go to work immediately.
Incidentally, taking extra enzymes is the third way to neutralize the
enzyme inhibitors in unsprouted seeds and nuts.
Concentrates of plant enzymes or fungus enzymes are better for
predigestion of food than tablets of pancreatic enzymes. This is
because plant enzymes can work in the acidity of the stomach, whereas
pancreatic enzymes only work best in the alkalinity of the small
intestine.
If the enzyme tablet has an enteric coating, then it's not suitable,
since it will only release after it has passed the stomach. By this
time, it's too late for food predigestion. The body itself has already
used its own enzymes to digest the food.
HDN: Would people benefit from taking enzymes, even if they have no
problem with digestion or if they eat mainly raw foods?
HOWELL: They probably would benefit. Our bodies use up enzymes in so
many
ways that it pays to maintain your enzyme bank, regardless of what you
eat.
For example, enzymes are used up faster during certain illnesses,
during extremely hot or cold weather, and during strenuous exercise.
Also, keep in mind that any enzymes that are taken are not wasted
since they add to the enzyme pool of your body.
Furthermore, as we pass our prime, the amount of enzymes in our bodies
and excreted in our sweat and urine continues to decline until we die.
In fact, low enzyme levels are associated with old age and chronic
disease.
So far, there's not much hard evidence on whether taking additional
enzymes will extend the lifespan. However, we do know that laboratory
rats that eat raw foods will live about 3 years. Rats that eat
enzymeless chow diets will live only 2 years. Thus, we see that diets
deficient in enzymes cause a 30% reduction in lifespan.
If this held true for human beings, it may mean that people could
extend their lifespans by 20 or more years -- just by maintaining
proper enzyme levels.
- - -
Editor's Note: While not much in the way of evidence, Dr. Howell and
his wife Evangeline can be offered as examples of the benefits of
taking enzymes. She looks about twenty years younger than her age. And
Dr. Howell, though well over 70, feels as alert and vital as 30 years
ago. He still goes jogging frequently.
- - -
(C) 1991 University of Natural Healing, Inc. All rights reserved.
http://www.enzyme-nutrition.com/
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Watch Video:
Importance of Enzymes - Dr. Timothy Kelly
7 foods to help you beat the heat
By Lindsay Evans
Fresh, fabulous tasting and sure to help take the sweat out of summer eating, these 7 summer chillers are good for you too!
As the days of summer get longer and warmer, it can seem nearly impossible at times to keep cool in the blistering heat. Staying cool can depend on much more than icy-chilled beverages and air conditioning, and the foods you eat can absolutely lend a hand.
Luckily for us, it's difficult to think of a more joyful time for eating than summer. From ripe and juicy berries to plump and bursting cherry tomatoes, this vibrant season enjoys a particularly abundant and colourful array of fresh and seasonal foods. An added bonus? Many seasonal summer fruits and vegetables are simply superb for helping us lower our body temperature to stay cool and refreshed, despite the soaring temperatures!
Here are 3 cool fruits and chilled out veggies that will help you stay energized and cool—even when the heat turns up.
Cool Fruits
Fruits that have a high water content, and are loaded with essential nutrients and antioxidants, are your best bet for staying cool this summer. These include grapes, apples, pears, peaches, berries, dragon fruit and star fruit, but especially watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew melon as well as citrus fruits like oranges. Fruits can be incorporated into your diet in so many different ways. Simply toss them into a summery salad, whiz them with milk or yogurt for a healthy smoothie or eat them raw for a mid-morning snack.
Watermelon
Nothing screams summer-time like a big wedge of watermelon. A long-time child favorite, it's time to bring this summer staple back into your diet. Watermelon is made up of 90 percent water, which assists in keeping you well-hydrated in the heat. In addition, watermelon contains loads of vitamins A and C, has no fat and is packed with lycopene, an antioxidant which may aid in the prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease.
TRY IT: Toss cubes of watermelon with crumbled feta, a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of fresh basil leaves for a grown up and heat-blasting salad.
Cantaloupe and Honeydew Melon
Other melons also bring with them a large amount of water, helping us stay hydrated in the high temperatures. Cantaloupe and honeydew melons are both very low in calories and high in potassium. Although not a rich source of other nutrients, their low protein, fat and carbohydrates ratio makes them ideal for weight loss, diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disorders. Melons are also considered to be a diuretic, which may help rid our bodies of unwanted toxins.
TRY IT: Purée cantaloupe or honeydew melon to make a chilled summer soup. Garnish with a dollop of crème fraiche and some torn mint leaves for an optimum cooling effect.
Citrus Fruits
Citrus fruits, including oranges, grapefruit, lemons and limes, are among the most cooling of all fruits. Aside from their delicious taste, citrus fruits can keep you healthy and looking younger. Citrus is considered a superfood for healthy skin due to its wide array of phytonutrients that function as antioxidants, including flavanones, anthocyanins, polyphenols and vitamin C. Citrus is also considered to be especially important in digestion as it helps aid in the breakdown of rich and fatty foods.
TRY IT: Start every day with a tall glass of chilled lemon water. This slightly acidic drink helps to cleanse your system and energize your body.
Chilled Out Veggies
There is an abundant supply of vegetables that can help lower body temperature when the heat soars. The best examples are cucumber, radishes, lettuce and leafy greens such as spinach and arugula, and fresh herbs such as mint. They all contain a significant amount of water and can actually thin the blood and assist your body in releasing heat, which has a cooling effect. There are a myriad of ways to incorporate these vegetables into your diet. Simply toss them into a vibrant summer salad, wrap them in rice paper to create Thai-inspired veggie rolls or purée them into a cooling gazpacho.
Cucumber
Whoever said the words "cool as a cucumber" was right. Cucumber's especially high water content, coupled with its fresh and crunchy taste, make it a perfect summer veggie. Cucumber has long been praised for its medicinal properties. It has a diuretic property (especially helpful in the dry summer months), which acts to flush toxins out of the body and maintain healthy tissue and skin. Cucumber is extremely low in calories and has minimal amounts of sugar, carbohydrates and fats. It contains significant amounts of vitamin B, phosphorus, calcium, zinc and other minerals.
TRY IT: Use sliced cucumber as a sandwich or burger topper or whip into a fast and delicious spread with yogurt, lemon and mint.
Radishes
Radishes are sadly underrated. With their beautiful reddish-purple skin and white, crispy and tasty interior, these little summer gems certainly don't get enough credit! Radishes have a very high water content and are a great source of vitamin C, which has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. They are also a rich source of potassium, which can help lower your risk of kidney stones and stroke and minerals like sulphur, iron and iodine.
TRY IT: One of my favorite ways to use the "ruby" of summer is to slice thinly and toss into a leafy green or cold pasta salad.
Mint
Both mint and peppermint have amazing cooling and relaxing properties, and their brisk aroma has the ability to chase away sluggishness when the heat soars. They have long been used by herbalists to create herbal teas, balms, ointments and other products, which can soothe your mind and body. Additionally, mint helps relieve both indigestion and inflammation, which can plague us during the hot summer months.
TRY IT: Make your own peppermint iced tea by steeping green tea bags in boiling water, then chilling. Add sugar, slices of lemon, and a bunch of peppermint for a cool treat.
More Simple Tips To Help You Cool Down this Summer: Eat Raw
When the heat turns up, who wants to be in the kitchen? Luckily for us, raw fruits and veggies are the perfect summer-time food and absolutely delicious with little or no preparation. If you must cook, focus on fast cooking methods including steaming, blanching and sautéing.
Spice it Up
It's not a coincidence that many people in hotter regions of the world eat spicy food. A moderate amount of spicy flavours, such as fresh ginger, red chili, cayenne and black pepper, initially warm you up, but actually help cool you down. Try adding a pinch of red chili flakes to your grilled fish or chicken marinade or create a cooling vinaigrette with grated fresh ginger, sesame oil, soy and rice wine vinegar.
Choose Your Liquids Wisely
Keeping fully hydrated by drinking plenty of water is paramount importance the hot summer months. Many symptoms of excess summer heat (dizziness, fatigue, lack of concentration) are attributable to chronic dehydration. However, the type of liquid you drink has been shown to be important.
Sport beverages (laden with sodium and sugar) can actually make your dehydration worse, and extremely cold foods and drinks (like ice cream) can actually interfere with digestion and sweating, the body's natural cooling mechanism. So, however tempting it may be to sit on your porch licking an ice cream cone to beat the heat, opt for a wedge of melon instead.
A dose of common sense and a diet sprinkled with cooling foods is your best bet for helping you stay comfortable this summer. Now all you have to do is apply your sunscreen and enjoy the lazy days!
http://www.greenlivingonline.com/
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Exposed: Vitamin D And Sunscreen
If you want to have vitamin D and are using sunscreen, this information is right for you.
Vitamin D is called the “sunshine vitamin,” because this nutrient comes primarily from the skin’s reaction to sun exposure.
People who use sunscreen, which is helpful in preventing sunburns, skin cancer and sun-related signs of aging, may be blocking the specific ultraviolet B-type (UVB) rays needed by the body to create vitamin D.
Arthritis. Obesity. Diabetes. Heart disease. Depression. Cancer.
Vitamin D could help prevent all these and more, some experts say. And it's free. Most people can get it just by spending a little more time in the sun.
"The benefits of vitamin D are varied and profound," says Michael F. Holick, a leading vitamin D expert and author of "The Vitamin D Solution: A 3-step Strategy to Cure Our Most Common Health Problems"
"(Vitamin D) may be as vital to your heart and brain health as it is to bone health," Holick says. "Increasing levels of vitamin D can treat, prevent, and even reverse a remarkable number of daily ailments."
Sunscreen blocks your body’s production of vitamin D. Most brands contain toxic free radical generators which can increase your risk of disease.
Natural sunlight’s potential to harm you has really been blown out of proportion. This is thanks to many doctors, health officials, beauty experts, and well-meaning friends. They basically tell you that you need to stay out of the sun because the sun will kill you. This simply isn’t true.
How on earth would it be possible for your body to end up being configured in such a way that the sun is now a deadly threat to you, me, and the entire human race?
The sun provides the basis for all life on earth. The sun is the source of energy for all plants, and indirectly, for all animals and humans
In fact, there is a correlation between vitamin D and sunscreen: sunscreens reduce vitamin D production by as much as 97.5 to 99.9%. And interfering with your body’s production of vitamin D by 97.5 to 99.9% may have dire health consequences. And,The Centers for Disease Control showed that 97 percent of Americans who have used sunscreen are absorbing the chemical ozybenzone — an ingredient that, when exposed to the sun, could be toxic.
"When oxybenzone starts to get broken down, it could cause cellular damage," said Dr. Daliah Wachs, a family practitioner.
Fortunately, there’s a much better option than chemical-laden commercial sunscreens…
* 1. Sunflower oil works as a protective and moisturizing solution for skin. It is loaded with vitamins (A, D and especially E) and also contains calcium, zinc, potassium, iron and phosphorus – wonderfully nourishing to the skin.
* 2. Coconut oil:
Coconut oil has been used by the islanders for many hundreds of years to moisturize their skin. And it moisturized their skin while they attained a glowing, dark tan. Coconut oil will not only bring temporary relief to the skin, but it will aid in healing and repairing. It will have lasting benefits. Even better, if you have skin sensitivities, it is likely to be mild and gentle on your skin.
* 3. Glycerine:
Used as an emollient, glycerine helps skin absorb moisture and is helpful in pulling oxygen and bringing it into the skin.
Furthermore, research proves the presence of glycerine in the intercellular layer.Glycerine uses for skin is not only for dry skin and dry skin problems, it also extends to oily skin and skin aging problems
* 4. Shea butter:
Shea butter is a natural plant lipid used as both a thickener and an emulsifier. It can provide relief from just dry skin to many minor dermatological diseases What’s more, it also has effective moisturizing properties.
* 5. Eucalyptus oil:
Eucalyptus oil is an essential oil. And when it’s mixed with other oils, it is more easily absorbed by your skin. Best of all, it assists other oils to be absorbed in your skin as well.
This obviously supports the moisturizing process.It also has a cleansing effect on the skin and reduces redness and irritation.
You can feel great about putting them on your skin, and your kids’ skin too.
http://www.naturalhealth-solutions.net/
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Watch Video:
How to make your own sunscreen
Why a Cold Shower May Be More Beneficial for Health than a Warm One
By Dr. Mercola
When you're stressed or just finished up a hard workout, jumping into a warm shower probably seems only natural.
The warm water promotes blood flow to your skin, helping to soothe tired, achy muscles and helping you to relax.
However, there may be good reason to turn the faucet to cold when you shower,both after a workout and on an intermittent basis.
Exposure to cold temperatures via cold water and ice baths, otherwise known as cold water immersion or "cryotherapy," is a popular technique among amateur and professional athletes, but it may offer health-boosting benefits for virtually everyone.
Why Take a Cold Shower After Exercise?
Cold works by lowering the damaged tissue's temperature and locally constricting blood vessels.
Using targeted cold therapy, such as an ice pack, immediately after an injury helps prevent bruising and swelling from the waste and fluid build-up.
Cold also helps numb nerve endings, providing you with instant, localized pain relief.
On a whole-body scale, immersing yourself in a cold tub of water brings down your heart rate and increases your circulation, minimizing inflammation and helping you recover faster.
In fact, cold-water baths appear to be significantly more effective than rest in relieving delayed-onset muscle soreness, which typically occurs one to four days after exercise or other physical activity.
In one study, after analyzing 17 trials involving over 360 people who either rested or immersed themselves in cold water after resistance training, cycling or running, researchers found the cold-water baths were much more effective in relieving sore muscles one to four days after exercise.
Just how cold does the water need to be?
In this case, most of the studies involved a water temperature of 10-15 degrees C (50-59 degrees F), in which participants stayed for about 24 minutes. Some of the trials involved colder temperatures or "contrast immersion," which means alternating between cold and warm water. This study did not show a significant benefit compared to rest for contrast immersion, but some experts do believe that alternating hot and cold water helps drive oxygen and nutrients to your internal organs, while encouraging detoxification. Research also shows it may help reduce pain and speed recovery by decreasing blood lactate concentration.
Cold Water Might Increase Your Body's Tolerance to Stress and Disease
Ever since reading Tim Ferriss' Four Hour Body last year, which first introduced me to the concept, I have been experimenting with this concept. I now go into the shower without allowing it to warm up. I also jump in the ocean without a wet suit on when no one else is in the water. I have found that if I hold my breath it really helps adjust to the shock and I rapidly acclimate to the cold. I have come to enjoy it and now view it as a healthy stress very similar to exercise.
Exposing your whole body to cold water for short periods of time is used to promote "hardening." Hardening is the exposure to a natural stimulus, such as cold water, that results in increased tolerance to stress and/or disease. This was demonstrated by a study involving 10 healthy people who swim regularly in ice-cold water during the winter.
Following exposure to the cold water, researchers noted a:
- "Drastic" decrease in uric acid levels: High levels of uric acid are normally associated with gout, but it has been long known that people with high blood pressure, kidney disease and people who are overweight, often have elevated uric acid levels. When your uric acid level exceeds about 5.5 mg per deciliter, you have an increased risk for a host of diseases including heart disease, fatty liver, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease and more.
- Increase in glutathione:Glutathione is your body's most powerful antioxidant, which keeps all other antioxidants performing at peak levels.
|
Can Cold Water Help You Burn Fat?
Drinking cold water is known to speed up your metabolic rate, as your body must work to raise the temperature of the water. But cold showers and other types of cold-water or ice therapy may also help boost your fat-burning abilities.
Tim Ferriss also reviews the concept of activating your brown fat to boost fat burning by exposing yourself to frigid temperatures. He claims you can increase your fat burning potential by as much as 300 percent simply through adding ice therapy to your dieting strategy. This is based on the premise that by cooling your body, you're essentially forcing it to burn much more calories by activating your brown fat.
Brown fat is a heat-generating type of fat that burns energy instead of storing it, acting more like muscle than fat. Research has shown that brown fat can be activated to burn more fat by cooling your body. Ferriss' suggestions, from easy to 'hard core,' include the following. If you want to give his technique a try, make sure you advance slowly. It may be inadvisable to go straight to the ice bath if you're not used to frigid temperatures:
- Placing an ice pack on your upper back and upper chest for 30 minutes per day (you can do this while relaxing in front of the TV for example)
- Drinking about 500 ml of ice water each morning
- Cold showers
- Immersing yourself in ice water up to your waist for 10 minutes, three times per week. (Simply fill your tub with cold water and ice cubes)
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Most studies on cold water immersion report benefits with minimal or no side effects, so if you're willing to spend 20 minutes or so in a cold tub of water, this may be another simple and inexpensive tool to support optimal health and longevity. Of course, common sense is advised. When you immerse yourself in cold water, it will shock your body to some degree so you need to make sure the water is not too cold, and that you do not stay in it for too long. As always, listen to your body and work up to the more advanced ice-therapy techniques gradually.
http://fitness.mercola.com/
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Sheet Mulching: Greater Plant and Soil Health for Less Work
Why Mulch?
Agriculture with mulch in the tropics promotes plant health and vigor. Mulching improves nutrient and water retention in the soil, encourages favorable soil microbial activity and worms, and suppresses weed growth. When properly executed, mulching can significantly improve the well-being of plants and reduce maintenance as compared to bare soil culture. Mulched plants have better vigor and, consequently have improved resistance to pests and diseases.
"Mulch" is a layer of decaying organic matter on the ground. Mulch occurs naturally in all forests; it is a nutrient rich, moisture absorbent bed of decaying forest leaves, twigs and branches, teeming with fungal, microbial and insect life. Natural mulch serves as a "nutrient bank," storing the nutrients contained in organic matter and slowly making these nutrients available to plants. All forms of plant life from the ground layer to shrubs and trees thrive, grow, shed organic matter, die and decay, in a complicated cycle of nutrients.
Mulch forms a necessary link in nutrient cycling vital for our soils. When mulch is absent for whatever reason, the living soil is robbed of its natural nutrient stores, becomes leached and often desiccates. Natural environments without a litter layer are usually deserts. Non-desert plants grown in bare soil require constant fertilization, nutrient amendment and water, not to mention the work required to keep the soil bare.
Sheet mulching as described here is a suggested method for controlling weeds and improving soil and plant health with mulch. The process mimics the litter layer of a forest floor.
Basic Techniques of Sheet Mulching
Once you get the hang of it, sheet mulching can be used anywhere plants are grown in the ground. Sheet mulching may be used either in establishing a new garden or tree planting, or to enrich existing plantings. In both cases, mulch is applied to bare soil or on top of weeds. New plantings are planted through the mulch, and a small area is left open to accommodate established plants and trees.
The benefits of mulching justify putting the energy into doing the job right, using ample materials. Collect all of the materials (as outlined below), and complete the mulching process in a day. A reduction in maintenance and increase in plant vigor will reward the initial effort.
Sheet mulch is put down in layers to mimic natural forest mulch: well decayed compost, weed barrier, partly decayed compost and raw organic matter.
How to sheet mulch
Step 1: The Concentrated Compost Layer
To prepare the site, knock down tall weeds and woody plants with a brush cutter, scythe, or simply by trampling the area. Then proceed to lay down the sheet mulch.
Whether you are mulching bare soil or weeds, the first step is to "jump start" microbial activity by adding enriched compost, poultry or stock manure, worm castings or the like at the rate of about 50 lbs/100 square feet. This high nitrogen matter stimulates soil life and gets things going. If the soil is acid, which it likely is if the area has been disturbed recently and treated with conventional fertilizers, add a layer of lime or crushed coral. A soil analysis will indicate the need for adjustment of pH or mineral amendments. This is the appropriate time to add the recommended doses of amendments such as rock phosphate and K mag.
Soak the area well with water when the amendments are dispersed.
Step 2: The Weed Barrier
Most cultivated areas today harbor untold numbers of weed seeds. There are also weed seeds carried around by wind, animals and people. Soil borne seeds are lying dormant and waiting for the right conditions to sprout. Simply pulling or killing growing weeds will not erase the weed problem: more seeds will sprout almost as soon as the soil is exposed to moisture and light. Therefore the next step in mulching is to put down an organic weed barrier. This barrier prevents the germination and eventual emergence of weeds through your mulch.
Underneath this weed barrier grasses and weeds die and quickly become food for earthworms. From now on, the worms turn and aerate the soil, as they do naturally when in the right environment.
Of the four sheet mulch layers, the weed barrier has no natural counterpart on the forest floor. In the forest, weeds do not sprout because there is "no room for them," which simply means a lack of space above and below the ground, and a lack of light. By planting an area properly, there will eventually be no room for weeds. The weed barrier is needed only for establishment of the mulch, and disappears with time. If your area is planted appropriately, weeds will not emerge after the decomposition of the weed barrier.
Materials for the weed barrier that work well are: 4-6 sheets of newspaper, cardboard, burlap bags, old rugs of natural fiber, worn-out jeans, gypsum board, or whatever you can find around. Banana, ape and ti leaves also work if laid down in several layers. Overlap the pieces of the material so as to completely cover the ground without any breaks, except where there are plants you want to save. Around these leave a generous opening for air circulation around the root crown. Care in laying down the weed barrier will save you the headache of emerging weeds later on.
Step 3: The Compost Layer
This layer is on top of the weed barrier - it must be weed seed free. Well conditioned compost, grass clippings, seaweed and leaves are ideal materials to spread over the weed barrier. Any weed-free material mixture at the right moisture level for a good compost will do. This should form a fairly dense layer about 3 inches thick.
Step 4: The Top Layer
The top dressing mimics the newly fallen organic matter of the forest. It also must be weed-free. Good materials for this include leaves, twigs and small branches, fern or palm fronds, straw, coffee chaff, macadamia nut shells, wood chips, sawdust, bark, etc.. The top layer will slowly decompose into lower layers, and therefore must be replaced periodically; it represents reserves of compost. This layer should be about 3-5 inches deep. Many materials suitable for the top layer often have a pleasant cosmetic appearance. What luck! For this reason, there should be no hesitation in using sheet mulch in all cultivation from landscaping to gardening to permanent orchard crops. In fact, as you use mulch, bare soil will begin to seem ugly and undesirable.
When the soil is amended and sheet mulch applied properly, there will never be a need to turn the soil. Earthworms do the tilling. The only task left will be to keep the soil covered by replenishing the mulch.
WARNING: Feral pigs love good, moist soil, and will grub in sheet mulch if they have access to it. Do not use sheet mulch if pigs have access to the area; they will be attracted to it and will destroy both your work and your plantings.
Mulching Around Trees
1) Plant tree.
2) Amend soil around tree in a wide ring shape from a few centimeters from trunk out to 1 meter (3 feet) with a light layer of nitrogen fertilizer, such as chicken manure, and other amendments if necessary. Rake or water in.
3) Spread a layer of permeable weed barrier around the tree in a ring shape, leaving about 15 cm (6 inches) diameter around the trunk of the tree for it to "breathe." Make certain there are no gaps in the ring shape through which weeds can emerge. Water the weed barrier layer thoroughly before the next step.
4) Spread compost and/or mulch about 15 cm (6 inches) thick over the weed barrier, again making sure it is several centimeters away from the trunk of the plant.
The Ongoing Process
To make mulching as efficient and easy as possible, use mulch materials which are readily available. With good planning, mulching of gardens and orchards can become a regular part of maintenance-just mulch with handy materials such as grass clippings, plant prunings (chipped or roughly chopped), animal bedding, etc.. Eventually, other tasks such as watering, fertilization and weeding will be reduced. The overall maintenance burden in mulched conditions, when properly executed, is far less than in conventional systems.
Once a plant is properly mulched, its own leaf drop will constantly add to that mulch. But is natural leaf drop enough to maintain the mulch? The answer to this depends on the plant species and also how the plant is growing in relation to other plants. Certain trees produce tremendous amounts of leaf matter which decomposes rather slowly; examples are: avocado, macadamia, lychee, as well as many others. These trees can be expected to generate sufficient mulch for themselves once vigorous growth is attained. Unfortunately, under most conditions many trees do not create enough long lasting mulch for maintenance of their needs. To explain this apparent deficiency, look once again at the forest. Here, plants are "stacked" in the vertical direction in ground-level, middle, and tall vegetation. This means that the ground under each plant receives organic matter from several plants.
There are many ways to produce sufficient mulch at your site. Grass clippings, for example, represent nutrient rich mulch material. Deep rooted, vigorous growing plants that readily come back from hard pruning or coppicing will also work. There are several nitrogen fixing trees which produce copious amounts of green matter. Each should be evaluated for the specific site before planting. Other plants that work well are kukui, hau, desmodium,, various bunch grasses (such as Guinea grass), lemon grass, comfrey, etc.. Also, many water plants such as water hyacinth are good mulch materials. Since plants that produce heavy amounts of organic matter are by their nature nearly irrepressible, extreme caution should be taken not to let these plants escape your management and become weedy.
Sheet mulching should not be confused with composting, artificial weed barriers, or green manuring. Sheet mulching as described here is quite different from these in that it seeks to recreate the organic mulch layer of the forest with a minimum of effort from people. Properly planned, a backyard or orchard system will produce its own raw mulch in sufficient amounts and people are involved only in putting this material back onto the ground where it belongs.
References and further reading:
Molly Curry's article, "Sheet Mulch Now!" in The Permaculture Activist, issue No. 34-A, August 1996. Order from The Permaculture Activist, P.O. Box 1209, Black Mountain, NC, 28711, USA.
Bill Mollison's excellent Permaculture: A Practical Guide for a Sustainable Future, published by Ten Speed Press and available from bookstores.
ECHO's informative, THICK MULCH FOR NO-TILL GARDENS
Ruth Stout's No Work Gardening Book, published by Rodale Press, is an excellent reference but out-of-print and hard to find.
http://agroforestry.net/
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Attracting Beneficial Insects
By Joe Queirolo
To lure good bugs to your garden, first get to know the players, then give them the right habitat
It happens every spring. First a few aphids appear on the cole crops. I barely notice. A week later the aphids have doubled. I start to get concerned. After another week the number has grown again. Should I panic? Reach for the soap spray? Will my helpers come to my aid again this year? And then, one morning, there they are, lady beetles wandering among the aphids, dining contentedly. In a few days there's hardly an aphid to be found. I'm always amazed that the lady beetles come in such numbers, and at the right time. And they always do the job.
Our garden consists of numerous vegetable beds surrounded by a diverse border of annual and perennial flowers, herbs, and fruit trees. Next to the garden are wild areas where some of the less troublesome weeds grow to maturity. And among the vegetable beds are plots of alfalfa, clover, and buckwheat. In these places dwell a militia of beneficial insects, ready to emerge to eat or parasitize other insects that may be harmful to our plants. On a warm summer day, I can see a light haze of tiny parasitic wasps visiting the fennel flowers in search of nectar. The nectar will sustain them while they look for aphids or caterpillars in which to deposit their eggs. It's a relief to have such formidable allies. I haven't needed even an organic pesticide in 15 years.
To create a welcoming habitat for your insect helpers, first you need to know something about them. A good way to start is to grab a hand lens and a picture book of insects and take a rough census of your resident population. If you've avoided using pesticides and have a variety of plants growing, you may find many allies already present. The ones you're most likely to see include lady beetles, ground beetles, lacewings, hover flies, a couple of true bugs, and a few tiny wasps. These can be divided into two groups: those that eat their prey directly (predators) and those that deposit their eggs on or into their host (parasitoids).
BEETLES - The two kinds of beetle that are most helpful are lady beetles (a.k.a. ladybugs) and ground beetles, both predators.
LADY BEETLES - Lady beetles prey on aphids and other soft-bodied insects. The adults will eat as many as 50 aphids per day. If you have enough aphids, and the beetles stick around long enough to lay eggs, each hatched larva will eat some 400 aphids before entering its pupal stage. There are many species of lady beetle that attack many different prey. The adults are independent, flighty creatures. If you buy some at the garden center and release them into your garden, be prepared to watch most of them fly away to your neighbor's yard. Those that stay, though, will be a big help.
GROUND BEETLES - Ground beetles don't fly much, preferring to run away when disturbed. You probably won't see them unless you uncover their hiding places. If I see them at all, it's when I'm picking up old piles of weeds. They're relatively large (about 3/4 inch), and dark, with long, jointed legs. They're nocturnal hunters, rooting among leaf litter for insect eggs and larvae.
Our garden is also home to hoards of soldier beetles, which show up for the late spring aphid feast. And I sometimes encounter mite-and-snail-destroying rove beetles that inhabit piles of decaying organic matter.
LACEWINGS - When the fairylike green lacewing flutters silently by in search of pollen or nectar, I find it hard to imagine it in its fiercely predacious larval stage, during which it devours aphids, caterpillars, mealybugs, leafhoppers, insect eggs, and whiteflies. It even eats other lacewings. Up close, the larva looks like a tiny (1/2 inch) alligator. If you keep a supply of flowering plants, adult lacewings may take up residence. If you decide to introduce beneficials to your garden, lacewings are the most effective predators you can buy.
HOVER FLIES - With their striped abdomens, hover flies look like small bees, but they move through the air more like flies, zipping from plant to plant, hovering briefly before landing. The hover, or syrphid, fly is one of many predatory flies and the most conspicuous beneficial in our garden. I can find them just about anytime anywhere in the garden. They visit a variety of flowers in search of pollen and nectar, and they lay their eggs near aphids or other soft-bodied insects. The eggs hatch into hungry larvae that eat up to 60 aphids per day.
TRUE BUGS - There are bugs and then there are true bugs. True bugs, like the minute pirate bug and the big-eyed bug, belong to the insect order Hemiptera. Many are plant feeders but many are predacious, with tubular mouthparts they insert like a straw to suck the juices out of their prey.
The minute pirate bug is a tiny (1/12 inch) predator with a wide-ranging appetite; it eats aphids, thrips, mites, whiteflies, and insect eggs. It lays its eggs on the leaf surface near its prey; nymphs hatch and begin feeding. The cycle from egg to adult takes only three weeks.
The other important true bug is the big-eyed bug. It's a little bigger than the minute pirate bug and has a similar diet. It also eats nectar and seeds, so it may stay even if it can't find an insect to eat.
You might come across some other common predatory true bugs, including assassin bugs, damsel bugs, thread-legged bugs, and a couple of species of stinkbug.
PARASITIC WASPS - These very helpful creatures, ranging in size from small to minuscule, will defend your garden against caterpillars like corn earworm, tomato fruitworm, cabbageworm, and tent caterpillars. The smallest and perhaps most popular parasitic wasp is the trichogramma, a dust-size creature that lays up to 300 eggs in moth or butterfly eggs. You can buy them through the mail if you're expecting an infestation of caterpillars. They don't live very long so timing their release to coincide with the presence of pest eggs is pretty important.
Braconid, chalcid, and ichneumid wasps are much larger than trichogramma, and parasitize caterpillars directly, laying eggs in or on the caterpillar. The hatching eggs eventually either kill the host or disrupt its activities. Braconids parasitize aphids as well. If you're scouting with a hand lens and notice some mummified aphids with neat circular holes in them, you'll know a braconid was there. A young wasp developed inside the aphid and ate its way out.
If you build it, they will come
We're living in a bug-eat-bug world. And I want to keep it that way. To do so, I've transformed my garden into an insectary, a habitat where my beneficial insect friends will feel at home. I provide them with food, water, and shelter. I keep the soil covered with organic matter. And I avoid putting any harmful chemicals into their habitat.
The menu for beneficials changes constantly as the pest population shrinks and swells, and as different flowers come into bloom. Many of the predators and most of the parasites will use pollen and nectar for food. I try to sustain them throughout the year by growing a variety of flowers that bloom at different times. Since many of the beneficials are tiny or have short mouthparts, I offer them tiny flowers with short nectaries. Many plants in the carrot and aster families offer just that.
I water my garden with overhead sprinklers, so insects always have puddles and wet leaves to drink from. If I were using drip irrigation, I'd offer them water in a saucer filled with pebbles, so they don't drown.
Just like the rest of us, beneficials need protection from heat and rain. They need to hide from birds and insects who would make a meal of them. Again, a variety of leafy plants offers protection. Ground beetles hide in low-growing ground covers and in mulch or leaf litter. Flying insects hide in shrubs, on the undersides of leaves, even among the petals of marigolds.
Beneficials also need a reason to stay on when they've finished cleaning up the crops or at the end of the season when you've cleaned up the garden. Consider trying to recreate in a corner of the yard or on the edge of your garden the thick, wild diversity of a hedgerow by using a variety of early-flowering shrubs, perennials, and grasses to provide year-round shelter and a place for alternative prey to dwell. Keep this beneficial insect reservoir as close to your garden as you dare. If the insects get too comfortable in the hedgerow, they might not be inclined to travel very far for a meal. As long as there is a place for pests, the beneficials may stay to eat in your weedy refuge rather than head for the neighbor's yard.
Gardening strategies that attract beneficials
Insect allies hate dust. Keeping the soil covered at all times, either with mulch or with growing plants, conserves moisture, moderates temperatures, and eliminates dust. It also provides habitat for ground and rove beetles. Try not to eliminate every weed. Leave some for the insects.
If you use selective insecticides to rid yourself of pests, you run a very strong risk of ridding your beneficials of prey, as well, even if you're using relatively benign products, like Bt or other biologicals. Nonselective pesticides could rid you of beneficials altogether. I believe there's no place in an insect habitat for these chemicals. When you abandon chemical control for biocontrol, you may experience a sudden increase in pests. It may take a while for the beneficial insect population to expand to the point that you can relax your guard. In the meantime, I'd rely on less-harmful botanical and natural controls to slow down the bad guys until the good guys show up.
Creating a habitat for wild insects is a very imprecise activity. With experimentation and observation you may hit on the right combination of insectary plants that encourages the right combination of insects for your garden. Your success will probably vary from year to year as the climate and vegetation change and new pests arrive. You should expect the development of a habitat where pests and beneficials exist in a rough balance to be an effort of several years rather than a season or two. Despite the presence of so many beneficials in our garden, I still find myself from time to time having to hand-pick squash bugs or rub scale from the branches of the fruit trees.
There are a lot of plants to choose from
Creating your habitat can be a colorful affair. Start luring beneficials quickly with annuals like alyssum, cosmos, zinnias, sunflowers, and marigolds. At the same time, set out perennial flowers and herbs, including golden marguerite (Anthemis tinctoria), yarrow, lavender, mint, fennel, angelica, and tansy. Beneficials are also fond of dill, parsley, and cilantro flowers. When you've finished harvesting these herbs, leave the plants in the garden to flower. I like to let a small patch of carrots run to flower. Their blossoms are sweetly fragrant; beneficials love them.
I try to intersperse insectary plants with my vegetables. I figure if the target pests are close by the pollen and nectar source, there's a greater likelihood the beneficials will find them. If you add to all this a patch here and there of alfalfa, buckwheat, or clover (all quite attractive to beneficials), you'll be well on your way to establishing an arsenal of insect allies. Your garden will be healthier and safer because of it.
http://www.finegardening.com/
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Attracting Beneficial Insects With Pests
Hot off the grid / Solar ovens utilize nature's rays for energy-efficient, everyday cooking -- even in foggy San Francisco
by Tara Duggan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Global warming. Dwindling energy resources. Deforestation and pollution, natural disasters and power outages.
These are just some of the things to worry about in today's world. Yet a small but growing group of advocates says a simple tool exists that can help address them: the solar oven.
Sun-heated ovens are nothing new. The idea has been around for centuries, and people of a certain age may remember using ragtag cardboard-and-foil contraptions to bake carrot-lentil loaf back in their hippie days. But with today's new versions that produce results comparable to conventional ovens, solar ovens are poised to move into the mainstream.
"For people who are interested in being carbon-neutral or being green, the idea of using something like a Sun Oven is very appealing," says Paul Munsen, president of Sun Ovens International, based in Elburn, Ill. He expects to sell 5,700 ovens in the United States this year, up from around 1,000 in 2004.
Lynn Langford of Ross purchased a Sun Oven a year ago and uses it to prepare dishes such as baby beet salad with walnuts and feta. Instead of boiling the beets on her stove and toasting walnuts in her oven, she places the beets in a dark pot, wraps the nuts in parchment paper and tucks both into the oven to cook in her sunny backyard.
"When you care about not heating up the whole planet, it's a fun and easy way to do it," says Langford, who says her electricity bills dropped by 30 percent in the first month of using her solar oven about three times a week.
Solar ovens alone will not solve the energy crisis. A typical family of four consumes about 500 kilowatt-hours per year using an electric range and oven combination, which adds up to only around $65 a year on Bay Area utility bills. Still, it's a start.
"People look into installing solar panels or a solar water heater, and it's a sticker shock when they start to think about that initial investment," says Munsen. "Then they look at a $260 oven and it's a lot more immediate."
Munsen's company focuses primarily on getting solar ovens into the developing world, as does Sacramento organization Solar Cookers International, which promotes their use for impoverished people who lack access to cooking fuel (see "A tool for the developing world," this page).
The ovens work best in sunny climates like California's Central Valley and the American Southwest, but even those who live in cooler parts of the Bay Area also can take advantage of them on sunny or mostly sunny days year round, and on camping or boating trips.
Some people purchase them in the event that a major earthquake or hurricane -- not to mention terrorist attack -- wipes out power for days, or weeks. Solar cookers provide additional energy savings to those who use air-conditioning, because the air conditioner doesn't have to fight the heat produced by an indoor oven.
"We bought our house in Sonora, and it's so hot and I thought, 'I have to have one of those sun ovens,' says Sharon South, who recently moved from San Jose to Tuolumne County. "Because in the summer, who wants to turn the oven on?"
This spring, South started using her solar oven about three times a week and plans to buy a second one so she and her husband can cook more dishes at once when they have guests.
Solar cookers like the Sun Oven can maintain temperatures of 350 degrees or higher and start around $230. Less-insulated and simpler versions such as one called the CooKit cost about $32 and cook food in the low to mid 200 degrees -- hot enough to boil water, which is all you need for most cooking.
Most solar ovens rely on the greenhouse effect. The Sun Oven, for example, consists of a well-insulated box with a glass lid and four reflective panels that direct sunlight into the box. As the sunlight is absorbed by the oven's black interior and any dark-colored dishes place inside, it converts into heat, which is trapped inside by the glass lid.
There are disadvantages. Solar ovens don't work on super-foggy or rainy days. They also can't be used with recipes that require high heat or lots of stirring; heat escapes each time you open the oven or lid, adding another 15 minutes of cooking time. On the other hand, the ovens can't burn food because there aren't any hot spots.
Solar cooking typically takes two to three times as long as conventional cooking. But once you get used to the relaxed rhythm, it can be easy and convenient, kind of like using a Crock-Pot. If your backyard has sunlight all day, you can place a one-dish meal inside the oven in the morning, position it toward where the sun is at its height in the middle of the day, and come home from work to a fully cooked, warm dinner.
"Someone who likes precise cooking might be frustrated with these ovens," says Langford, a mother of twin preschool-age boys. But, partly because she works at home as a consultant, she says, "I'm not concerned with how long it takes. I see it as a different kind of cooking."
The Food section purchased a Sun Oven and conducted a range of tests on the roof of our often-sunny South of Market office, with surprisingly good results.
We found it perfect for low-and-slow cooking, such as a whole-grain rice pilaf. It also did a lovely job baking up corn bread and peach and blackberry cobbler, and cooked up sweet and tender baby beets and skewered shrimp.
It took us awhile to get the hang of the oven, and our results were better after we learned more about sun patterns. Box cookers like the Sun Oven are most effective when adjusted about once an hour so the glass top is always perpendicular to the sun's rays.
"What it is with the solar oven is you start to develop an intuitive sense. It's a little closer to nature," says Don Larson, assistant manager at Common Ground, a nonprofit organic garden supply and education center in Palo Alto, where he teaches classes on solar cooking and building solar ovens. "You notice, for example, if it's windy you leave it in 15 minutes longer."
Common Ground sells about eight solar ovens a month during spring and summer. At their San Jose home, Larson, his wife, Susan, and their two children have three homemade solar ovens. Larson first got interested in solar energy when visiting a technology expo as a junior high student. He went home and built a model solar heater out of a cigar box and has been hooked ever since.
"It's a very positive form of environmentalism," says Larson. "You're not out there protesting and marching. I'd rather be taking action, and this is a very social form of it. Everyone congregates around food."
Still, Larson insists that the primary reason he uses solar ovens is even simpler: "How it tastes when you get it all done."
History of solar cooking
Ancient Greeks, Romans and Chinese experiment with the use of curved mirrors that could be angled toward the sun and cause objects to burst into flames, for military purposes.
16th century. The Dutch, French and English begin widespread use of greenhouses, which are heated when sunlight passes through glass and becomes trapped inside, to raise tropical plants.
1767. Swiss scientist Horace de Saussure develops a solar cooker using the greenhouse effect, in the form of several glass boxes set inside one another and placed on a dark surface.
19th century. French mathematician Augustin Mouchot uses curved mirrors to angle the sun's rays into an insulated box that traps heat.
1894. A restaurant in China serves solar-cooked food.
1950s. Maria Telkes of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology develops the present-day box solar cooker, an insulated, glass-topped box with four reflectors to direct light into the box. The United Nations and other agencies begin studying how to bring solar cooking to countries where fuel is scarce; early programs do not take off.
1973. The first solar cooking convention is held in China, where solar cooking has become widespread.
http://www.sfgate.com/
Images Copyright: http://alternattiveenergy.com/; http://www.crashplanet.ru/
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Building a Homemade Solar Oven
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