Helping You to Better Health Naturally
Please explain why you came to our office.
“Normal pregnancy ‘aches and pains’ and migraines.”
Please describe your response to treatment.
“My migraines and headaches are almost non-existent now! I feel much looser and more relaxed in my neck especially.”
28 year-old female
Please explain why you came to our office.
“Lower back pain and poor posture.”
Please describe your response to treatment.
“Very minimal back pain of any kind. And able to lay flat on my back on the floor.”
71 year-old female
Nut butters can be hard to digest and for people who have less of an ability to digest fats they may be off limits. By preparing your nuts and/or seeds this way you may tolerate them better. But keep in mind that eating nuts seems to cause some people who are eating a low-carb diet to gain weight–particularly belly fat. This may be related to the high arginine to lysine amino acid content of nuts. Be aware of this and limit your intake of nuts in general.
Follow the instructions given in a previous post for preparing your nuts/seeds.
What about peanut butter? Well, lots of folks don’t digest it well. Afterall, peanuts are a legume (as in dried beans) and not a true nut. Also, there is the possible contamination of aflatoxins–liver-harming toxins from mold that grows on peanuts even if they are organically grown because they are an underground crop.
If you are allergic to tree nuts, you can use 2 cups of pumpkin or sunflower seeds instead of using walnuts.
You will need a blender or food processor.
1 cup “prepared” walnuts
1 cup “prepared” pumpkin seeds
2 Tbsp. ghee, melted (you may substitute coconut oil)
2 tsp. honey, optional
salt to taste if your nuts were nut prepared with salt
Melt the ghee in a metal bowl on low heat. Remove from heat and set aside. Blend the pumpkin seeds first–blend until finely ground. Add to the bowl of melted ghee and stir well. Add the honey if you desire it and stir well again. Blend the walnuts in the blender until finely ground and add to the mixture. Stir well. Taste and add salt if desired. Keep in the refrigerator. It will harden so that it is hard to spread but you can remove the amount you need and allow it to warm to room temperature for easier spreading. Great on apple slices or celery sticks.
Get the best taste out of your raw nuts while making them easier to digest by following these simple steps. It’s worth the time to make a big batch and store them long-term in the refrigerator. I try to always have one or more varieties available for snacking or baking or making nut butter–my favorites are walnuts but pecans come in second. Pumpkin and sunflower seeds are good too. I have made a nut butter with a walnut and pumpkin seed mix which is yummy–look for the recipe here. I avoid cashews–they are never truly raw because they have to be heated to remove a poisonous compound. They may still contain some of this poison ivy-like compound and I wonder if that is why I don’t feel good when I eat them.
So this is what you need to do:
Purchase raw (be sure they are not roasted or pasteurized) nuts. If you can get organically grown that is best–I order nuts from here. They are expensive but I wait until they have a sale and get enough for free shipping–sign up for their emails for the sale notification. Then store them in the freezer until you are ready to process them. For pumpkin and sunflower seeds, I purchase from here.
Measure about 2 quarts of nuts/seeds and place into a large bowl. Add enough water to totally cover the nuts. Allow to soak overnight or about 12 hours. Drain and rinse very well until the rinse water is clear–the soak water will be very brown with walnuts and pecans. The soaking rids the nuts of some harsh-tasting stuff so be sure to rinse very well. I use a large colander for draining–allow to drain until no water is dripping from the bottom.
Pre-heat an oven to 140 degrees F. or the lowest setting on your oven. Spread the soaked nuts/seeds in large shallow baking pans–a thin layer will cut on the drying time needed to thoroughly dry. Salt the nuts if desired–about a teaspoon of nuts per quart of nuts. Stir well to distribute the salt–some of it remains on the pan so don’t think this is too much salt–and spread again in an even layer in the pan. Place the pans in the oven until the nuts/seeds are thoroughly dry. This may take 4-12 hours depending on your oven temperature and the thickness of the layer in the pan. The first time you make them check them every 2 hours (stir them while you are at it for quicker drying) by biting into one to see if there is still moisture in the center. If your oven has a drying option at 140 or lower, they will nut burn if left longer. In fact, they can may taste better. Once I left walnuts for 16 hours at 140 and they were very buttery and now I leave them past the point of drying.
Remove from the oven once thoroughly dry. Allow to cool and then place in glass jars. I use 1/2 gallon, wide-mouthed mason jars as pictured above. Store in the refrigerator. They will keep for weeks.
Please explain why you came to our office.
“I came because my shoulder was hurting.”
Please describe your response to treatment.
“After the first adjustment my pain decreased immediately. And after a month the pain is almost completely gone.”
33 year-old male
Please explain why you came to our office.
“I felt very tight in my mid-back, low back, and shoulders. There was also numbness and sharp pain.”
Please describe your response to treatment.
“Very pleased, pain free after some exercise at home but mostly from Dr. Burgoon’s adjustments over just a couple of months!”
70 year-old female
Daikon radish, though often overlooked, is a nice mild-tasting root vegetable addition to vegetable sautees. It belongs to the cruciferous family of vegetables which is known for many health benefits when included as part of a diet.
Here I have made use of winter-grown vegetables from my greenhouse and cold frame, but these vegetables are all available in the produce section of most grocery stores and natural food co-ops. If you have a cold frame, give daikon radish a try–they grow fast, are very cold hardy, and store well once harvested in the refrigerator. Also, if your collards or kale goes to flower, pick the flower heads before they open–they are similar to broccolini.
This vegetable mix can be served over rice, millet, quinoa, or can be served as a side.
Serves 2
4 Tbsp. ghee
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1 cup chopped daikon radish (quarter lengthwise and then slice in 1/4 inch pieces)
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup broccoli or broccolini florets (or your kale or collard that are starting to flower–see the picture above. Really look like broccoli!)
salt, black pepper to taste
Melt ghee over medium heat in a large skillet. Add onions and saute with an occasional stir for a few minutes. Add the carrots and daikon and stir well. Cover with a lid and continue to cook over medium heat stirring occasionally until carrots are tender. Add florets and stir. Crack the lid and cook until the florets are just tender and bright green–do not overcook! Remove from heat and add salt and black pepper (if desired) to taste. Serve as a side or over rice, millet or quinoa that was previously prepared (see recipe link above).
Recommendations for supporting the immune system:
If you are a gardener, you are likely planning what to plant for the 2022 growing season right about now. I wanted to put in a plug for sunchoke tubers for lots of reasons:
Children suffer injuries that lead to misalignments just as adults do. Children generally respond very well and quickly to gentle chiropractic adjustments. A case in point is that of a 5 year-old … [Read More...]
