Persimmons: an often forgotten power fruit. Eating persimmons can provide a new taste experience as well as a variety of health benefits. Sweet, delicious persimmon fruits are rich in health promoting nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants that are vital for optimum health. The fruit is low in calories (provides 70 cal/100g) and fats but is a rich source of dietary fiber.

We don’t think about breathing but we should! It’s at the core of our being. Breath constituted the life God gave to Adam. We breathe every moment of our lives; in fact it is the key to optimal health!

It may seem humorous, but you can actually have a breathing deficiency, that is a deficiency of oxygen due to improper breathing. If you have found yourself out of breathe during a stressful situation and not realizing it. This causes even more stress to your cells!

This of course disturbs the flow of oxygen to the body.

Holding your breath or shallow breathing also causes imbalance of carbon dioxide in the blood, which interferes with optimal delivery of oxygen to cells.

The result is poor blood flow, increased acidity and increased free radical activity in mitochondria, which is the same toxic outcome as a poor diet, lack of exercise or dehydration.

Given an optimal diet, breathing can be the most important means of eliminating waste. Optimal breathing will eliminate 70% of the body’s metabolic waste, while defecating, urination and sweating combined eliminate the remaining 30%.

While deficient breathing contributes to toxicity, deep breathing reverses the trend.

Deep breathing releases tension, increases oxygen intake, helps digestion and lowers blood pressure.

It also helps increase blood flow which has a positive effect in your lymphatic system.

Deep Breathing Exercise

1- Sit up straight or stand with your shoulders back and your head up looking forward.

2- Exhale completely through your mouth

3- Place your hands in your stomach just above your waist

4- Breathe in slowly through your nose, pushing your hands out with your stomach

5- Hold your breath for 2-5 seconds

6- Slowly and steadily breathe out through your mouth, keeping your hands on your stomach. Exhaling should take longer than inhaling

7- Repeat steps 1-6 several times

Deficiency: a lack or shortage, especially of something essential to health; an insufficiency.

Nutritional deficiency is rarely considered in terms of getting enough water, but it should be. The human body can go for weeks without food, but only a few days without water. Water is as vital to every cell as proper nutrition, but how do you know if you’re getting enough?

Most of us don’t really know what dehydration looks like. As a result it creeps in slowly and undetected until it becomes a chronic condition. Chronic dehydration is a major, underlying cause of many common ailments and diminishes physical, visuomotor, psychomotor and cognitive performance.

The Signs of Chronic Dehydration

FATIGUE: Water is extremely important for energy production. For every 1% drop of water in your cells, energy production is cut by 10%. Dehydration also slows enzymatic activity, causing an imbalance in the acid/alkaline balance, which leads to fatigue.

DARK URINE: When you’re dehydrated your body stops relying on fresh water coming in and begins re-using what it has (ie. Urine). As your kidneys recycle urine, it will become more concentrated and darker in color. The darker the urine, the more acid in your body.

ECZEMA: Without enough water your body cannot sweat enough water to dilute toxins, as a result these toxins irritate the skin.

CONSTIPATION or DIGESTIVE DISORDERS: here again the body recycles water when it’s scare. Colon muscles will contract to absorb water back into circulation. This can result in harder stool and weakened colon walls, which can develop small pockets in the colon known as divierticuli.

HIGH and LOW BLOOD PRESSURE: The blood is largely composed of water. Dehydration can reduce the blood volume by reducing the water content of the blood. It can cause orthostatic hypotension (sudden low blood pressure, dizzy spell) fainting, and even shock in extreme cases.

Signs of Acute Dehydration

Dry mouth, extreme thirst, white lips, and muscle pain in your body.

Correct timing to drink water, will maximize its effectiveness on the Human body.

Two glasses of water - After waking up - Helps activate internal organs

One glass of water - 30 minutes before meal - Help digestion

One glass of water - Before taking a bath - Helps lower blood pressure

One glass of water - Before sleep - To avoid stroke or heart attack

The Best Sources of Water

Living foods- all fruits and vegetables contain abundant water in its purest form, they are also sources of electrolytes too! Of course a supply of purified water is also recommended, distilled water is the best.

1 tsp. Vanilla

2 Cups solid Honey

1 tsp. Grated Organic lemon rind

4 ½ Cups thinly sliced apples with their seeds ground

1 tsp. Nutmeg

1 tsp. Cinnamon

2 tsp. Ground Apricot kernels

Cook honey gently for about 5 min. Stir in the vanilla and lemon rind. Gently cook the apples, a few at a time, being careful not to overcook them. Place in serving bowl with a little cooked honey poured over them. Sprinkle with a little of the mixture of nutmeg, cinnamon and kernels, serve with yogurt or ice cream. Serves 4.