Welcome Our Newest Product!
We're very excited about our newest formulation from Elina Skin Care. It's our Healing Sea Buckthorn Lotion. This bio-energized formula not only heals skin damage, it also helps relieve topical and muscular pain. We've been using this lotion for the past couple of weeks, and, wow, it's been great! Sea Buckthorn is an ancient European herbal discovery, used for generations to treat a wide range of ills, only recently making its debut in America, and it's catching on for a very good reason.

Organic School Lunch?
The Seattle school district recently adopted a new policy banning junk food and encouraging organic food in school cafeterias. California school districts in Berkeley, Santa Monica, and Palo Alto have organic food programs. And through a program sponsored by the organic yogurt company Stonyfield Farm, schools in Rhode Island, California, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire and Connecticut have or are getting new vending machines stocked with all-organic treats. "This is the beginning of the sea change," predicted Ronnie Cummins, director of the Organic Consumers Association. Organic food, produced without pesticides, growth hormones or other additives, generally costs more. That's a tough sell when schools are struggling to pay for books and teachers. But Lincoln Elementary has managed to cut its lunch costs, by two cents per meal, while offering a full organic menu. Eliminating dessert, though initially unpopular with students, covered most of the added cost of organic meals. [SOURCE STORY]

Good moos...
Cornell researchers will watch five upstate New York dairy herds to learn about the problems and challenges of converting from conventional to organic farming. Researchers will monitor and try to understand changes in animal health, milk quality and milk safety, said Linda Garrison-Tikofsky, the veterinarian who is leading the project for Cornell's Quality Milk Production Services. For dairy products to be certified as organic, the animals must consume organic feeds, have access to unspoiled pasture and not be treated with antibiotics, hormones or certain other conventional therapies. The study, paid for by a $1 million grant, will be conducted over a three-year period -- about the time it takes for a typical farm to make the full transition, researchers said. Although organic milk still accounts for less than 1 percent of the U.S. milk market, it is a segment growing at an exponential rate. The number of certified organic cows in the United States increased by 277 percent between 1997 and 2004. [SOURCE STORY]

Bursting Fat
U.S. researchers have found intermittent exercise is better for lowering artery-blocking fat in the bloodstream than continuous vigorous exercise. The study at the University of Missouri-Columbia examined the effects of both moderate exercise at 30-minute intervals and intense, continuous exercise. Researchers found the fat triglyceride was present at lower levels after a fatty meal in those who exercised in short, sporadic bouts. People who engaged in intermittent exercise before eating a meal reduced their triglyceride levels by 27 percent compared to those who participated in continuous exercise, who only cut levels by 15 percent. "Most Americans who exercise are exercising around 30 minutes a day," wrote Thomas Altena, assistant professor of nutritional sciences. "Based on the results of the research, the intermittent approach would probably be best for most Americans at lowering fat in the bloodstream." The researchers believe exercising before eating is vital to clear fat from the bloodstream, as muscle contraction from exercise releases a fat-clearing enzyme in the muscle. [SOURCE STORY]

Eat the bean...
One of Nature's superfoods, the Cacao Bean loses its superfood status when cooked. But cooking it is what makes chocolate, so who knew? Remarkably rich in magnesium and MAO inhibitors (allowing more serotonin in the brain), the raw, peeled bean deserves another look as a healthy super-snack. [POP UP MORE INFO]

Eat the berry...
Camu camu (Mycaria dubia)is a bush that grows in black water rivers, especially in those abandoned courses called "cochas", ecosystems of great social and economic importance for the Amazonian jungle of Peru. The fruit contains powerful phytochemicals with health benefits, including the amino acids serine, valine, and leucine, and more Vitamin C than any other known plant in the world. The camu-camu fruit is approximately 2 centimeters in diameter and has a purplish red skin with a yellow pulp. Camu camu fruit contains 30 to 60 times more Vitamin C than an orange. It has astringent, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, emollient and nutritional properties, and also contains important levels of beta carotene, calcium, iron, niacin, phosphorus, riboflavin and thiamin. [POP UP MORE INFO]

Eat less, live longer...
About 2,000 enthusiasts are members of the Calorie Restriction Society, a group based in California that promotes the Spartan diet as offering immediate health benefits and supports those who try it. Its president, Brian Delaney of Stockholm, estimates that about 200 to 300 members have cut their consumption by at least 30 percent while others are restricting food to a lesser degree. Julie Lockhart, a software quality engineer from Dunstable, Massachusetts, who joined the group late last year, said she wants to continue competing in triathlons through age 90. And if she can live in health to 140, all the better. "I don't want to be sick," said Lockhart, who did not want to disclose her current age. "I don't want to be feeble. I want to be the mistress of my own destiny." Already spare at 5-foot-5 and 120 pounds, or 1.65 meters and 54 kilograms, she limits herself to a nutrient-dense mix of vegetables and lean proteins totaling about 1,600 calories a day. That meal plan puts her about 20 percent below what she previously ate, she said, and at least 30 percent below a typical adult woman who gets as much exercise, 90 minutes to two hours a day. A drumbeat of studies in yeast, worms, flies and mice are unlocking the secrets behind caloric restriction and feeding efforts to find a pill that will mimic the effects of such sharp restrictions. The first controlled study in people is under way, with preliminary results about the diet's safety expected this fall. The key to success, according to the society, is consuming just enough essential nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, fat, protein and carbohydrates. If the pattern in animals holds for people, Lockhart may be able to dodge many diseases of aging, including heart ailments, diabetes and cancer. A survey last year of 18 similar enthusiasts who had restricted their diets for three to 15 years found that many had significantly lowered their blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar. Lockhart already had a healthy diet, but said she feels even better now. She says she has not had a cold since severely restricting her diet a year ago, she sleeps more soundly and she has more than enough energy for work, triathlons, and a twice-weekly pickup basketball game with younger teammates. [SOURCE STORY > MORE]

BELIEF-O-MATIC
Even if you don't know what faith you are, Belief-O-Matic knows. Answer 20 questions about your concept of God, the afterlife, human nature, and more, and Belief-O-Matic will tell you what religion (if any) you practice...or ought to consider practicing. [CHECK IT OUT]