The lovely Simone won a nice prize and some well-deserved kudos for his project “Bici Blanca”, submitted to the local competition “Eco-mejorando Altea con tus ideas”. Here’s a little story with a photo and all.

Hi! I’m just back from Eco-Altea. We’ve got great weather here and loads of people have turned up. Plenty of kids and things for them to do, vegetarian food, Eco-balls for washing your clothes, moon cups for green ladies, a model eco house, incense, clothes, jewellery and of course free massages all day! Well worth a visit!

A couple of days ago, I finally got my hands on two products I’ve wanted to try for some time:  coconut oil and stevia.  Coconut oil (cold pressed, virgin) contains mostly saturated medium-chain fatty acids, predominantly lauric acid.  It is solid at room temperature, opaque and white.  It has no taste or odour.  Like ghee (clarified butter), it can withstand very high temperatures and is thus very useful in cooking.  The reason it is more stable at high temperatures is because of its saturated fats.  I bought a brand called Cocosa.  I used it this evening to make a curry and I must say, I was very impressed!  I cooked the spices at a high temperature without any sign of burning and the resulting flavour was fantastic!  The jar I bought cost about €10 for 500gm, so it’s not cheap.  But, it is useful if you need to cook at high temperatures.  Of course, you can make your own ghee from unsalted butter, but butter has a less favourable fatty acid profile than coconut;  it contains 12-15% medium-chain fatty acids, while coconut contains about 45%.

These fatty acids (medium chain) also have antimicrobial, antitumor and immune-system-supporting properties, especially 12-carbon lauric acid, a medium-chain fatty acid not found in other animal fats. Highly protective lauric acid should be called a conditionally essential fatty acid because it is made only by the mammary gland and not in the liver like other saturated fats.⁶⁵ We must obtain it from one of two dietary sources—small amounts in butterfat or large amounts in coconut oil. (http://www.greenpasture.org/products/butter_oil/properties)

Stevia is a plant native to Central and South America. It is known for it’s sweetening properties.  I was surprised to find it on the shelf as it is supposedly banned for use in food in the EU due to concerns about the possibly carcinogenic metabolic by-products of its breakdown.  I bought a small bottle of 20% concentrate, with alcohol and water.  I tasted some straight and found that it does taste sweet - not sugary though - and that the concentrated product does have a funny aniseed-y aftertaste.  I put two or three drops in my coffee and must say that it did sweeten it, but not in a sugary way.  I dunno.  I love honey, not sugar.  I am not sure if stevia can replace the complex and subtle sweetening of a good honey, but it’s handy to have on hand.

Overall, it’s nice to come across an ever-increasing range of healthy products here on the Costa Blanca.

After months of abstaining, a little wine does me good.  I’m sure no one out there cares about my indulging in a glass of wine, so why should I?  Maybe too many hours doing yoga.  Is wine really so bad for you?  No, not the wine, the pleasures of the flesh.  Ahem.

The BBC has an interesting story about a woman diagnosed with ovarian cancer after presenting with thickened palms as her only noticeable symptom. This quote struck me as relevant to MLD therapists and our clients:

…recent research had given doctors more to go on when trying to pick out ovarian cancer.

A paper published in July concluded that the disease was not actually the silent killer that was commonly believed and the key is to look more seriously at women who have persistent bloating.

This symptom was associated with a five times higher risk of ovarian cancer whereas bloating that came and went was not linked with the disease.

Peace One Day is today! Make the commitment to one peaceful day.

Peace One Day is today!  Find peace in your heart.

Watch Poison Fire Movie, about gas flaring in Nigeria by Shell Oil.

The BBC today ran a story concerning the use of paracetamol in babies under one year old and the later probability of developing asthma. It appears that frequency of use elevates significantly the risk of later developing this alarming respiratory condition.

This is perfectly in keeping with the Naturopathic theory of suppression, which holds that suppressing the body’s natural defenses - in this case fever - leads to dis-ease moving deeper into the system, only to be expressed in a more severe form later on. So, if the baby develops a fever it means that there is something wrong. Maybe an allergy, maybe a reaction of a vaccination, maybe just sore teeth. But by dampening down the fever with paracetamol, the baby’s body is rendered unable to rid itself of the offending matter, be it bacterial, viral, environmental or otherwise. Therefore the body becomes loaded with this material, and when it is strong enough to mount another elimination reaction - most likely a fever - it will probably again be suppressed by paracetamol.

Over the years, the child’s body is weakened by repeated, frustrated healing crises with the result that more severe symptoms begin to appear. Disease in the allopathic view is nothing more than a collection of symptoms, often without specific cause (strange, I know, but that’s how they think). So a child with repeated shortness of breath and or allergic-type reactions in the nose and mouth is said to have allergic-type asthma. Or perhaps over-reactive airways. But the root cause of the problem - whatever caused the fevers in the first place - is never examined. And so the child is set up for life to suffer the indignities of being ‘asthmatic’ and using bronchio-dilating inhalers, forking money over to Big Pharma and being out of touch with their own body’s calls for help. Ta-da.

For those of you living on the Costa Blanca, here are some great, free health ideas. Times are tough - make the most of what’s around you!

1. Eat your weeds: Verdolaga (purslane, in English) is a plant grown widely in the Mediterranean. It has recently been founnd to be the richest plant source of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. So go on, get grazing in your gardens and to hell with what the neighbours think!

2. Drink free spring water: Go fill your water jugs are the Chorros in Polop de la Marina. Lovely, natural spring water, free! And you don’t need to throw away any more plastic water bottles.

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3. Beat cancer: Vitamin D is proving its anti-carcinogenic properties time and again in recent research. Your lovely melanocytes can produce all the vitamin D you need just by being exposed to sunlight. So take advantage of the Costa Blanca’s wonderful light and get outside. No, not at midday with a large pint in your hand! tsk tsk…

4. Re-mineralise: The sea is full of magnesium and the negative ions at the coast are out of this world. Who needs a salt lamp when you’ve got the Mediterranean at your doorstep? Go to the beach, breath and wade. Leave the salt on for a while afterwards. Magnesium (in seawater) is absorbed transdermally (via the skin) and has proven anti-inflammatory and anti-pain properties. Iodine in the air at the beach is absorbed through the lungs and is super-important for the production of thyroid hormones.

5. Kneip: The Germans call in Kneippen. It’s really just wading in cold water. Stimulates peripheral circulation, helps tighthen slack veins and in so doing reduces edema (puffiness) in the ankles. So you can weat those lovely sandals you bought for 5euros at the market!