How to Can Vegetables

Canning is the easiest way to preserve home grown vegetables and fruits for a longer period, when they are harvested in large amounts. Also, most of the fresh food items are seasonal, meaning they are available only during their peak seasons. Thus, correct preservation of vegetables is a simple way to ensure their continuous supply, even in off seasons. For those who don't own vegetable gardens, purchase fresh veggies from the local market and preserve them for winter months.

Vegetable Canning Basics

While canned beans, fruits and vegetables are readily available in the market, they contain food preserving additives. Also, they come with a high price tag. Thus, canning on your own with a home canning equipment is a better approach to enjoy healthy foods without preservatives. The procedure for home canning is not as difficult as it sounds. But, how does canning work? The procedure involves killing microbes that spoil food by heating and expelling air from the canning jar. These two factors help in preserving the food nutrients until you open the jar for consumption.

How to Can Vegetables at Home?

Before we actually start discussing the canning tips, let me tell you about the equipment used in this preservation method. You have two options, boiling-water canner and pressure canner. The former is a simple, large sized pot that has enough room to hold jars and cover them with water. The latter is a specialized pot designed to create very high temperature inside it. While both can be used for canning vegetables, a pressure canner is more feasible than the boiling-water canner. Here's a step-by-step guide to can vegetables with a pressure canner.

Alternatives to La Mer Creme

Creme de la Mer is a nutrient-rich facial cream designed for healing scars, wrinkles and extreme dryness. Sea kelp is the main ingredient, along with petrolatum, eucalyptus oil, and glycerin. The creme is extremely expensive, ranging from $135 an ounce to $1650 for 16.5 ounces. The product is sold at high-end stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue.

1. Alternative Skin Care Products with Sea Kelp

   • Sea kelp, or seaweed, is a nutrient-rich plant that grows in the ocean. The plant is used in many skin care products and shampoos. Alba Botanica makes a sea kelp toner that smooths the skin. Sea Legend by Naturally also offers a kelp-based lotion that reduces the appearance of lines and wrinkles. Lubriderm Skin Nourishing Lotion with sea kelp extract is available in most discount supermarket chains.

   Scar Reducing Lotions

   • Scar reducing lotions minimize the appearance of scars. Most scar reducing creams moisturize the skin deeply to allow it to repair itself. La Mer's thick, rich cream provides moisture density that penetrates and heals scars. Weleda's Skin Food is a deeply hydrating cream that effectively moisturizes scarred or broken skin. With continued use, scars and scrapes heal leaving only the faintest marks. Scar reducers can be purchased by prescription or at drugstores over the counter.

   Wrinkle Fighters

   • Several wrinkle fighting creams are available at the local drugstore. Look for products that contain alpha-hydroxy acids, retinoids, topical vitamin C, idebenone and pentapeptides. Alternatively, try facial exersise . Carolyn's Facial fitness work-out program can be ordered online for a fraction of the cost of La Mer's beauty creme. Enthusiasts believe that facial exercises reduce the visibility and creation of wrinkles. Facial exercises are believed to stimulate collagen buildup for firm, toned skin.

   Extremely Dry Skin

   • La Mer is touted for healing extremely dry skin. However, the Mayo Clinic recommends Cetaphil and Eucerine, both extremely thick moisturizers that can be applied directly after bathing. The Mayo Clinic staff also recommends treating dry skin with body oils, olive oil or baby oil, which can be absorbed by the skin for better results.

10 Tasty, Easy and Healthy Breakfast Ideas
    * Too sugary or carb-filled. Pancakes, waffles, toast, donuts, pastries, scones, bagels, pies, sugar cereals, breakfast bars, muffins (which, let’s face it, are usually just cake). I’m not anti-carb, but the problem with many breakfasts is that they are low in fat and protein, and nothing but empty carb calories. This starts your day with a high blood-sugar level, which your body will quickly adjust for and drop, and you’ll be on a roller-coaster blood-sugar ride all day.
    * Too fatty. Fried eggs, sausages, bacon, cream cheese on your bagels, cheesy omelets, Egg McMuffins, Sausage McMuffins, hash browns, anything English or Scottish.

What does that leave us with? Actually, there are a lot of options. The 10 below are just a few ideas, but I’m sure you can think of many more. Look for protein without too much saturated fat. Look for whole-grain carbs. Look for low-fat dairy or soy options. Look for fiber and nutrients.

But how do you find the time? You make the time. Get up 15 minutes earlier. Pack something to eat on the road or when you first get to work. Prepare it the night before if necessary. I recommend the first option — waking a little earlier — as it’s nice to be able to have a nice cup of tea or coffee with your breakfast, relaxing before the rush of the day starts.

Oatmeal, flaxseed, blueberries & almonds. To me, this is the perfect breakfast. Steel-cut oatmeal is probably the healthier choice, but if you are in a hurry, the instant kind will do fine (it doesn’t have as much fiber, but the other ingredients make up for that). After microwaving the oatmeal, add ground flaxseed, frozen blueberries, sliced almonds. You can add a little cinnamon and honey (not a lot) if you’re using the non-instant oatmeal. That’s four power foods, full of fiber and nutrients and protein and good fats, with only a couple of minutes of prep time. And very tasty!

Kashi Golean Crunch. Actually, any whole-grain, high-fiber cereal is a good choice, but I mention this particular one because it’s a favorite of mine. It has a high amount of protein and fiber, low sugar. Add low-fat milk or soy milk (which has 1/3 the saturated fat of 1% milk), perhaps some berries if you like.

Scrambled tofu. Healthier than scrambled eggs. Add some onions, green peppers or other veggies, some light soy sauce or tamari, maybe some garlic powder, and black pepper, stir-fry with a little olive oil. Eat with whole-grain toast. Fast and delicious.

Fresh berries, yogurt, granola. Get low-fat yogurt (not non-fat, as it often has too much sugar) or soy yogurt, cut up some berries or other fruits, add some healthy cereal. I actually use the Kashi Golean Crunch instead of granola, as many brands of granola have way too much fat and/or sugar.

Grapefruit with whole-wheat toast & almond butter. Add a little sugar on top of the grapefruit, and it’s actually pretty good. The almond butter is healthier than peanut-butter, with lots of good protein to fill you up.

Fresh fruit salad. Cut up some apples, melons, berries, oranges, pears, bananas, grapes … any or all or whatever your favorite fruits are. Add a little bit of lime or lemon juice. Perfect.

Protein shake with extras. I use soy protein powder, but whey works well too. Blend up with low-fat milk or soy milk, some frozen blueberries, and perhaps some almond butter or oatmeal. That may sound weird, but it’s actually pretty good, and pretty filling. A little ground flax seed works well too.

Eggs with peppers. I’m not a fan of eggs, but many people love them. Egg whites are healthier than whole eggs. Scramble with a little olive oil, red and green bell peppers, maybe broccoli, onions, black pepper. Goes well with whole-wheat toast.

Cottage cheese and fruit. Get low-fat cottage cheese. Add any kind of fruit. Apples, citrus, berries.

Gibb’s muffins & jam. While most muffins you buy at a coffee shop or grocery store are just empty carbs with lots of fat (basically, cake), this is a delicious recipe with lots of fiber and nutrition. (Note: the recipe in the link doesn’t mention it, but it’s actually a recipe from Simplify Your Life by Elaine St. James — it’s her husband Gibbs’ recipe). Bake them the night before, and they’re perfect in the morning (and for days to come). A little honey or jam makes them perfect.

Health.com

As health becomes the number one issue, politically, socially, economically, and personally, there is nothing on the current horizon of products or services available in the USA Healthcare (Sickcare) system that looks like it can alleviate the quagmire we as US citizens are currently stuck with.
It will become obvious the most important and underserved player in this 3 party system is the 1st party—the individual or “Health Consumer”. To this end the measurement and assessment of the individual for pre-disease states and genomic testing is the most untapped resource. Driven by cost, risk, intervention, worried well, anti-aging or higher quality of life, the many “Healthy” consumers are looking for a consumer friendly interface into medical science. Fueled by exponential growth of genomics, biology, and digital networks like the internet, the management of a WellCare state for the individual is a complete new market or “Value Chain” that introduces the need for Consumer Driven Testing (CDT), either for monitoring states of health or looking for maximizing Health potential.
This Wellcare industry is already flourishing, with many companies having been in CDT for years and now with the internet it is growing dramatically .