The brain is an organ in the body and needs the right nutrients, just like other organs in the body.

If the brain is not getting good nutrition, it can cause cravings, and sometimes for the wrong things.

The old noggin is just feeling deprived of the stuff it needs to function well.

Are you craving sugar, alcohol, coffee, or junk food?

Check out this video with Dr. Hyla Cass, M.D., she shares some great information about brain nutrition.

Getting the right nutrients can help to calm cravings and just make it easier to stick to a healthy diet and aid your weight loss efforts. Less of a need to rely on willpower.

The brain only weighs 3 pounds, but uses 20% of the body’s glucose. It is also very hungry for oxygen.

The brain’s neurons communicate via neurotransmitters. And what are neurons and neurotransmitters made out of? You guessed it – nutrients. The nutrients that come from the foods you eat and the supplements that you might take.

So it makes sense to consume quality protein, healthy fats, good carbs and get a good variety of nutrient dense fruits and vegetables in the diet.

More and more people are understanding the importance of eating good healthy food, but also feeling the economic crunch at the  same time.

The video gives some good tips on the top 10 cheap healthy foods.

Not all of these are on the alkaline side of the alkaline diet chart, but remember we are shooting for 80 – 20. Serve up with a big plate of vegetables!

Top 10 Inexpensive Health Foods

• Organic eggs, cage free, an excellent source of protein. Make a vegetable omelet with garlic
• Organic plain yogurt, mix in stevia or some berries
• Raw nuts and seeds, almonds are a good alkaline choice, although tricky to find real “raw” almonds
• Berries, good source of anti-oxidants and generally are lower in sugar than other fruits like bananas
• Buckwheat, cook like rice and add fresh fruit and nuts at the end of cooking
• Coconut milk, good fats and protein
• Spinach, raw is more alkaline than cooked
• Garlic
• Wild rice
• Lentils

My favorite healthy, alkaline, budget food: Frozen vegetables. Frozen veggies are cheap and you can add them to any dish that is not so alkaline or healthy to begin with. Pick up a few bags at the grocery store and have them handy in the freezer. When your meal needs a health boost, whip out the bag and dump some veggies in the recipe.

Please share your ideas about your favorite low budget health foods below.

This video shares some great information about how digestion affects the brain and overall health, energy and well being.

Learn more about your digestive system and improve your life. Watch the video to get all the details.

Please share your feedback on the comment form below.

Search Herbfest.net for digestive herbs

Learn about the digestive process

• How digestion affects the immune system
• How the gut affects mood
• Importance of the lining of the digestive tract
• Endocrine system gut c0nnection

Poor digestion is a big obstacle for healing. Good digestion starts with eating quality foods and avoiding junk food. This makes life easier on the digestive system.

In this short clip, he talks about solving acid reflux at night.

During the day you need stomach acid to digest your food.

He recommends, do not eat right before bedtime.

See Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DrTeitelbaum

Here is what he has to say about nighttime acid reflux:

• Melatonin
• Elevate your upper body to keep acid from coming up
• Baking soda in water
• Don’t eat right before bed

During the day, most people are upright and gravity helps to keep things down in the tummy. When you lie down, gravity is no longer helping you. Hence the idea of elevating the upper body. There are special pillows and cushions that can be used, or you could be inventive and put a couple old phones books under the head of the bed.

He spoke for almost 2 hours, sharing a lot of useful information about energy, overcoming pain and good nutrition.
We will try to post a few more videos shortly and share some of this wonderful information.

You are not supposed to be tired in the afternoon, you are supposed to be alive and vibrant.

This clip is from the Food Matters movie.

What you eat really does matter and it has a direct impact on your energy.

One of the things that they talk about in this segment is eating raw food vs. cooked.

I have personally been shooting for 80% raw foods at most meals for the last few weeks. It makes a noticeable difference.

In the video they talk about the benefit of eating at least 51% raw foods. That is just over half of the diet, eaten as raw foods.

One way to boost up your raw foods is to drink smoothies loaded with raw fruits and vegetables.

They also talk about how the soil is deficient and how food is shipped long distances to the grocery store.

One good way to get good fresh nutrition is by sprouting. You can’t get anymore locally grown than your own kitchen. I recently bought a large sprouting jar at the health food store. It makes more than double the amount of a regular sprouting jar. It’s great for keeping me well stocked in sprouts, especially handy in the winter, when fresh veggies are the most scarce.

Sprouting video page here.

The key to great flavor is to use the right herbs.

Fresh herbs that you grew at home are always best.

In a pinch though, dried herbs will fill the bill.

If you have a question about herbs, please use the form below to ask your question to our local Herbanite.

What is an Herbanite? – - Just think “Herb Guru with a Hat”

Herbal Salad Dressing Recipe

• Thyme
• Olive oil, extra virgin, organic
• Parsley
• Chervil
• Chives
• Tarragon
• Rosemary
• Vinegar

You can always improvise and use what you have on hand.

He ended up breaking 3 teeth.

Thats right, it was not from drinking it was just from being unhealthy.

But a raw food diet changed all that. Watch the video to hear Joseph’s story.

I went where no man has gone before, – The Vegetable Isle . That is my favorite line in the video.

And yes it actually is possible to lose weight eating mostly desserts. Raw food desserts that is. Not the most healthy thing in the world, but still better than what a lot of people eat.

There is also some great information in this video about the right way and the wrong way to do a cleanse. Joseph tried a lot of cleanses and did not always have the best results.

By the way, all the smoothies and juices he made during the presentation that day were delicious.

I came across one booth that was serving up fresh made organic juices, smoothies, salads and raw veggie burgers.

Yes they even offered raw veggie burgers. Most people grill theirs. It was made from nuts seeds and vegetables.

There were a bit of cooked beans and rice and it qualified for 80 percent raw diet.

There were tons of booths at the Farmers Market and it was  beautiful day. Not all the food was healthy, but a lot of it was. I sampled organic pickles and passed on the custom original popsicles.

Right now my goal is to eat 80 percent raw foods each day for 30 days total. So far so good, just getting started.

The best part of this meal was the organic vegetable juice, that  I didn’t have to make. I just watched it being juiced right in front of me, from organic vegetables.

Sometimes a little creativity and persistence is needed to find good quality raw foods, loaded with nutrition.

Many of us did.

Time to give yourself some positive motivation and recommit yourself to vibrant health.

I know I for one, ate and drank this past holiday season. It was a good time, but now I am committing myself to  30 days of 80% raw foods including raw fruits and veggies along with raw nuts and seeds. Who wants to join me? Use the comment box below to share your thoughts.

Today’s video is called the hangover smoothie. Even if you don’t have a hangover, it’s a great energizing smoothie recipe. Try it for breakfast tomorrow .

• Almond milk
• Honey
• Oatmeal
• Flax
• Maca powder
• Cinnamon
• Banana

Modify the recipe to taste and available ingerdients. Smoothies are a great way to start your day by including some good nutrition into your diet.

Try to find positive ways to motivate yourself in your weight loss and healthy living efforts. Beating up on yourself or feeling sorry for yourself tends to be not very productive. Often finding a friend to help keep you motivated and accountable works well. Try to find a buddy to give yourself positive reinforcement.

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The trick is to choose foods with a high nutritional density.

High fiber foods are a good choice.

Almonds contain healthy fat, protein and are on the alkaline side of the chart.

Sometimes when people are trying to lose weight they cut way back on calories. This can provide some weight loss, but the problem is, your metabolism can slow down, hindering weight loss efforts. Small snacks can help keep metabolisms up, without adding too many calories

Check out the video for some snack ideas.

• Cottage cheese and berries
• Trail mix – be careful, some of these have added sugar. The ones made with raw nuts are best.
• Fruit
• Sliced veggies and hummus
• Nut butter and celery sticks

We would love to hear your favorite healthy snack ideas.