ume extract

I think I have talked about acid and alkaline ration in the past. I am careful with what I eat but sometimes, I feel the body is out of balance. That could be a stress, pollution, or just plain run down from the hectic everyday living.
This is a product that is my rescue remedy for almost everything! Ume (japanese plum) is known for its alkalising effect. This extract is a concentrated extract made from hand picked plums grown in the Southern part of Kishu (Wakayama Prefecture), grated by an enamel grater, filtering the juice through a cotton cloth and obtaining the extract after carefully condensing it in an earthernware pot. This is 1kg of plums condensed into 20g, a sort of clump of plums,"mumefural" also containing citric acid, and beginning with calcium, also contains minerals such as iron, potassium and magnesium. it is extremely sour. You can dilute it with water and sweetner if you like or you can use for a dressing, sauces etc. I usually scoop a tiny bit out and just lick it off the spoon....

banana oatmeal cookie

It was my daugther's birthday and she wanted to take a treat to school to share with the class. For the occasion I made banana oatmeal cookie with raw coconut chocolate icing. Most of the vegan icing use margarine of some sort but I used raw coconut butter instead. You can also experiment with cocoa butter as well to give more depth to the chocolate flavour.

mesquite cookies

My daughter is always hungry. especially in the weekend. You will hear in her singing voice every 10 minutes "I'm hungry. I want to eat something!"
It is so easy to open a packet of pre-made snacks to give to a child. Even though I try to give her something healthy like crackers or rice cereal or pieces of vegetables, it is nice to say "ok let's make something to eat together"
We often make our own popcorn.
Yesterday we made a batch of mesquite crackers.
My daughter is older now that she can actually help and make the work easier. (Before it was sometimes easier and required less patience if I did it all myself!)

dry ingredients: wholemeal spelt flour, corn meal, mesquite powder, baking powder,grounded flax seed, salt, herbs
wet: rice milk, lemon juice, sesame oil

Rice milk and mesquite powder are naturally sweet so there is no need for an extra sugar.

A bit about the mesquite powder...
It contains good quantity of calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and zinc. It is quite high in protein (lyisine). The flavour is subtly sweet with a hint of caramel.

relationship between the diet and mind

I was talking to someone who has just started eating more in a macrobiotic way. She included brown rice in her diet and eating more wholesome foods. It was great to hear that she was feeling so much better not just physically but emotionally.
That is what the diet does to your mind.
Lots of people don't realise the connection. If you have lots of things in your food that burdens your organs it will affect your emotional health as well as your body.
For example If you consume overly refined sugar your pancreas, (where insulin is produced) kidney, (where the nutrients are triaged and glucose is stored) and adrenal glands are affected. the person is not getting any nutrients from the over processed food to compensate the extra work that the body has to do. The body may have to use more vitamins and minerals such as vitamin B, E and C from the body (if any left!) to deal with it. The deficiency in these vitamins can often result in anxiety and emotional problems.