There's Something Fishy about Fish Oil

So you think you might need fish oil. You’ve heard about the Omega-3 acids that your heart needs to prevent disease. Then you heard about the mysterious DHA in Omega-3 and how that is the key to the benefits. Most of you stopped there. You saw the lab coats, the reassuring doctor’s voice, the Pharmaceutical company’s good name. Well, that was good enough for you. After all, it couldn’t hurt… you don’t eat enough fish anyway… All perfectly logical, all wrong.

                                                                         
Don’t misunderstand me; human beings need Omega-3 oils in certain amounts for the proper electrical function of the brain. Our brain is mostly made up of fat, 60% by dry weight. Few people realize how important fat is to a healthy brain. And DHA, the most plentiful fatty acid in the brain, is crucial to brain function, from infancy to old age. DHA is essential in the health of your heart, nervous system, lungs, breasts, bowel and colon, skin, bones… it is seemingly everywhere. If it is so important, and if until recently we couldn’t get it from fish oil or algae, then how in the world have we managed to survive this long? And I guess heart disease no longer is a result of too much saturated fat, cholesterol or sugar in our diets that it was the lack of fish oil all along that made us sick.

The body manufactures the DHA that it needs to supplement lost DHA with plant oil substances like flax seed oil. Walnuts and soy as well as many natural edible plant substances contain alpha linolenic acid. All herbivorous land animals from squirrels and song birds to cows and elephants produce their own DHA from alpha linolenic acid in their food.

Proponents of fish oil supplements claim that the body has to work too hard to trying to manufacture enough DHA to feed the brain. Herbivorous animals have never lacked DHA because they don’t consume fish. Why should humans? Besides, studies are yet inconclusive as to the direct effects of consuming fish oil supplements and better brain function or that it, in some way, supplies the needed DHA in the body lost to wear and tear and oxidation.

DHA MOLECULE

There is, however, growing evidence that too much fish oil, and all that DHA, may be bad for you. The first and most obvious criticism is that fish, especially those higher up in the food chain and containing the highest concentrations of Omega-3 oils, also contain the highest concentrations of PCBs and Mercury. Most of the fish oil sold in neat little capsules come from anything left in the net to heads, tails and innards left over from the filleting and freezing of cod and haddock in the North Atlantic by giant trawler fishing factories.

As fish stock worldwide our rapidly being depleted by overfishing these giant juggernauts have no mercy in their efforts to scoop up and monetize anything and everything they can get their nets on. Seafood restaurant chains open and the government recommends eating more fish, or under the pressure of outside groups claiming the high rate of toxins in fish should prohibit their consumption, they switch to fish oil consumption over eating swordfish. These giant fish factories on the  ocean  use deeper net technology now to get the best ‘deep water’ fish for oil claiming its superiority when the reality is that the shallower waters are fished out.

The fish oil revolution is a conspiracy to keep these giant trawlers netting fish while the edible top feeders are depleted to nothing. It’s a trick to get you to buy the refuse, unused parts and unwanted kill from their gargantuan nets. They need you to keep doing what keeps them in business whether it is truly good for you and the environment or not.

If you want to add DHA or increase your Omega-3 oils in your diet if you are vegan then you should eat a variety of nuts, seeds and oils from the vegetable kingdom. You can obtain great ecologically friendly blue green algae veggie capsules or tablets for increased dosages if you feel that it is better for you. The fish whose oil is pushed got Omega-3 in their oil from the algae that moves up the foodchain in concentrated form. The same concentrations can be obtained now from natural farmed algae.

For those of you, myself included, who want to allow your body and mind to take advantage of the availability of better nutritive substances that what your diet can provide, I advise you to try the algae and leave the fish alone, they’ve got enough to worry about.

Winter Soup with Seitan

Here it is the dead of winter. The sun has begun to make his slow journey back to life but the days are still short and cold. Until our modern age of artificial environments humans depended as much on what they put in their bellies as what they wore on their backs. In winter, stews and soups were the norm as stores of root vegetable were relied on together with dried beans, grains and wild game until the next growing season. Today we eat anything grown or made anywhere in the world that makes into our local market. We live and work in heated or air conditioned environments and travel under the same conditions. Yet no one can deny, though, most of us crave a good hearty hot soup with plenty of vegetables in cold weather.

I thought I would write an article this week with a nice recipe for a seitan and vegetable soup that is both simple and top notch.  All the ingredients are easily obtainable in your local health food and grocery stores as you can see from the photograph. If you study the nutrient fact label I have included (look for it at the end of this article) you can see the high protein and high energy this soup provides.

Open a package seitan and put half of it on a cutting board. Seitan is a high protein faux meat made from whole wheat flour by an ancient method developed by Buddhist monks in China and Japan. It is in the dairy case of any health food store and located near the tofu. Coarsely chop the escarole and wash and roughly chop the escarole. Mince the garlic. Put each in a separate bowl or dish. Open the cans of beans and pour half of each can into the colander or strainer and rinse under cold water.

Heat a soup pot and add a tablespoon of oil. Stir in the seitan and turn heat down to low. Stir occasionally but slow seitan for about 10 minutes to dry out and then brown. Next add the onions and garlic and another teaspoon of the olive oil. Stir and cook this another three minutes then add the mushrooms, celery and spices. Stir cook on low another few minutes then stir in the escarole and increase the heat to medium. Cook a few more minutes until the escarole becomes wilted down to half its original volume or more.

Now add in the tomatoes, turn up the heat to high and bring to a boil. Next add in the vegetable stock, carrots, kidney and garbanzo beans, and green peas and bring this to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for ten minutes then add the macaroni and simmer for another 15 minutes. Recipe makes about six large servings.

Ingredients

          Two - 32 oz.                   Organic vegetable broth, Swanson

          One – 14.5 oz.                Organic diced tomatoes, Muir Glen

          1 cup                             Seitan, Westsoy

          ½ cup                            elbow macaroni

          ¾ cup                            kidney beans, canned rinsed

          ¾ cup                            garbanzo beans, canned rinsed

          1 small                           onion

          2 stalks                          celery

          4 oz.                              mushrooms

          2 medium                       carrots

          1 small head                   escarole

          3 cloves                         garlic

          ½ cup                            green peas

          2 Tbsp                           olive oil

          1 Tbsp                           oregano

          1 Tbsp                           thyme

          1 tsp                             cracked black pepper

          1-2 tsp                          sea salt

Nutrition Facts Serving Size      8 oz (227g)  Servings Per Container     about 15      Amount Per Serving   Calories  92    Calories From Fat  20                    % Daily Value Total Fat           2g                         3% Saturated Fat     0g                        1% Trans Fat            0g Polyunsaturated Fat 0g Monounsaturated Fat 1g Cholesterol  0mg                          0% Sodium 417mg                           17% Total Carbohydrates16g            5% Dietary Fiber      5g                     21% Sugars  4g Protein  9g Vitamin A   5%     Vitamin C       11% Calcium    6%       Iron                14% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000   calorie diet.

                                                           

I (Minerals) Sing The Body Electric

The universe is a pulsing expression of electromagnetism where matter dances to the frequencies of its nature and its relationships. One hundred and eighteen distinct players are in this game of existence, each with its own function and ‘personality’.  Everything in this universe is composed of varying degrees of all or some of these elements and it is these relationships that determine what ‘things’ are.

Each one of these 118 elements, or atoms, is composed of an electrically positive charged nucleus made up of protons and neutrons with negatively charged electrons in orbit around them. To get an idea of scale in this tiny world make the proton the size of an orange and the nearest electron would be the same distance away as the earth is from the sun. Like the analogy, this distance is a vacuum of space within every atom of everything. It is a space impenetrable except by nuclear forces and it is an active area where bosons, photons and other subatomic forces continuously interact with the electrons and protons in a kind of eternal micro Star Wars. More than 99% of every atom is this kind of space.

Things, including life, are made up of sharing agreements between elements where electrons are exchanged. This is called the chemical bond and it is how most everything we see and touch is held together. This chemical bond is really an electrical bond as electrons in the atom’s outer orbits are exchanged.  If not for this electrical exchange everything would simply fall into chaos. Chance electron exchanges between elements in our primordial past put our planet, and every other heavenly body together and those same forces first created the life that inhabited it.

The interesting thing about life is that, though its existence depends partially on chance chemical bonds, its existence depends completely on its ‘program’. With a program a living thing can direct its own construction and propagating its existence is no longer left up for chance.  It does this through a mechanism called DNA which has encoded a sequence of simple elemental combinations, called genes, that when activated create all the specialized cells that make up a living thing. The elements are supplied from the outside (universe) and organized by the DNA to share the right electrons with the right elements to create all the different molecules that make up a cell.

To create life all the right conditions must exist including both water and electricity. Life on earth originated in the primordial oceans where the conditions were right to bond by force the elements into the primitive molecules of life. That is why both plants and animals use the same minerals in the same proportions and pH as are present in the ocean. Once life got started, however, its DNA took over and caused the chemical bonds to sequence in such a way as to create a myriad of life forms which could replicate themselves.

When life left the oceans to live on land it took the sea with it inside. If you were to analyze the elements of sea water and compare those to human blood plasma the results would look nearly the same. If you were to compare human hemoglobin to plant chlorophyll that would also look similar. This chemical soup is what we, as living things, brought with us when we walked out of the sea or sprouted up on land. Maintaining and replacing these ingredients with those only found on land cuts us short in our body’s goal of optimum resonant functioning.

If we were making a signature soup that whose taste, appearance, texture, component nutritive parts and aroma were necessary in just the right proportions as prescribed by its recipe, what would happen if there was too much of one ingredient and not enough of another? Something would be off, and it probably would affect the quality of each of the five characteristics listed above. Do you not think that you too are a pot of soup? Think again.

When you make a pot of soup you have to use the right amount and proportion of ingredients if it is going to be what you intended it to be. The same is true when Mother Nature made your recipe. She expected to use all the ingredients in the recipe. Too much of one thing and not enough of another doesn’t work so well, and the soup can become a disaster.  Because this is a Soup du Jour it must be made every day, and made the same, so the ingredients must be on hand.

To make your own soup start with supplying yourself with the elements in their proper proportions. Essential minerals and trace minerals are all essential minerals. The fact that some are needed in minute quantities doesn’t detract from their vital importance in biological functions. Each organ in your body is controlled by a single element, or mineral and if you are in short supply this organ will degenerate into disease. Minerals activate vitamins and enzymes, whose affects are useless without this symbiosis. Some minerals must be taken with other minerals to be effective.  Taking mineral supplements in ionic suspension are most quickly and easily absorbed by your body.

Once the ocean is again flowing through your veins, the electricity comes back and you feel good again. Cells thrive with mini factories inside churning out special  molecules so it can live. Electrolytes create potentials that operate our body’s organs and electricity flows through this chemical soup animating our lives and producing conscious thought as it sparks from neuron to neuron in our brains. Remember this, water does not conduct electricity minerals do. It’s minerals in solution that operate our lives so make sure you have all you need for perfect health.

A Seedy Lifestyle

So I have all these seeds… some of which I ordered online and some that I bought from the health food store. I bought them because of their unique individual nutritive properties as well as the relatively high protein content. I have a number of future uses for them in my mind such as vegan quiche crusts and coatings for faux meat entrees.  I chose four types of seeds that I liked because of their flavor, their distinctive nutritive traits and their protein contents. You can see from the nutritional facts label I have included. Almost 9 grams of protein to each ounce, and all that nutrition, I thought experimenting with the mixed seeds made this a time worthy project.           

Nutrition Facts Serving Size    10g Servings Per Container        about 28 Amount Per Serving Calories  51    Calories From Fat  38                                % Daily Value Total Fat           4g                          6% Saturated Fat     1g                         2% Trans Fat            0g Polyunsaturated Fat  2g Monounsaturated Fat   1g Cholesterol     0mg                        0% Sodium             33mg                     1% Total Carbohydrates 1g              0% Dietary Fiber      1g                          2% Sugars                0g Protein             3g Vitamin A         0%   Vitamin C      0% Calcium            0%    Iron                5% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000                        calorie diet.

Pumpkin seeds are very high in manganese and magnesium, essential minerals we don’t get enough of in average American diets. They are also high in phosphorus, tryptophan and iron. Sunflower seeds are especially potent vitamin E and vitamin B1. They are also high in protein and contain similar amounts of minerals as do pumpkin seeds. Hemp seeds are high in protein with all essential amino acids in significant amounts. Hemp’s oil is of superior quality with EFAs and omega-6/omega-3 highest of any vegetable oil. Hemp oil also contains healthy amounts of rare polyunsaturated oils that are produced by our own bodies in small amounts but not easily restored without supplication. Flax seed is high in omega oils and fiber with a serious dose of phytochemicals including anti oxidants. It may be the best source of lignans which aid female hormones when converted in our intestines. They may be an important guard against breast cancer. The main benefit, though, is as a laxative with a gelatinous cellulose that forms when mixed with water.

Grinding flax seeds is the only way to extract the nutrition from the seed as they will produce cellulose from their hulls and pass right through the human digestive system undigested. Grinding them releases all this other goodness they contain. Grinding all the seeds help to insure they will be better digested because unless well masticated, seeds will pass, as well. So I ground all the seeds coarsely. I still wanted the effect of the seed yet wanted to make the mixture malleable. But first, I tossed the seeds with a little salt and olive oil and then roasted them in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes to bring out their flavor.

Now, what makes this recipe different from every other nut bar is that other bars contain fruit and therefore mucho grams of sugar. This is the substance that I want to avoid so I decided that I can’t take the easy route and use dry fruit like dates or raisins, which I could soak, grind and use as a binder and flavor enhancer. I needed this thing to have no sugar in it. Besides, I wanted to make a salty, not sweet snack that was high in protein.

I decided that, knowing well the properties of substances, I could use the flax seed gelatin to bind the seed stick. All I had to do was to soak the ground flax seed with water then add this to the ground seed mixture already made. I then dumped the mixture onto a piece of waxed paper and rolled it into a ‘stick’. Then I molded it triangular for no apparent reason, they can be round or flat, too.

Next, I baked it in the oven for 20 minutes at a relatively low temperature to cook out the liquid and let the gel tighten, dry up and bind the seed stick. Letting the stick cool well hardens it up even more. After a day the stick is very firm and portable.

Now, to close let me leave you with a couple of things. First, I would not want to live off of these things. They have unique nutritive qualities that I would like to tap without planning a meal around them. They are snacks for energy and nutrients that I want to try to eat every day or so... and they taste pretty good, too.

The second point that I want to make is that I have used heat higher than necessary, if you want to make these snacks raw. I rather like them roasted and the higher heat burns off the natural cyanide that they may contain in small quantities. Whenever you concentrate a foodstuff you are also concentrating the negative properties it may contain. A good reason, for example, not to use commercial produce when juicing vegetables is to avoid the concentrated pesticides and herbicides present. Another reason why I like to cook things is that I believe in purification through fire. Not in a mystical sense, but because anything that is living on raw things that are passed from hand to hand on their way to my plate gets killed in my oven.

Recipe
                  4 oz             pumpkin seeds
                  4 oz             sunflower seeds
                  4 oz             hemp seeds
                  1 oz             flax seeds
                  2 oz             boiling water
                  2 tsp            olive oil
                  1/2 tsp         salt

Instructions
Roast the seeds (except flax seeds) in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Toss the seeds in a bowl with the olive oil and the salt. Grind the flax seed in a food processor or grinder. In a small bowl mix the ground flax seed and the water and let rest for several minutes. Grind the other seeds coarsely and mix them with the flax seeds. Mold into stick shapes inside a piece of waxed paper then bake on a cookie sheet at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove and let cool. Recipe makes about 25 pieces.