The first impression of the store was good. A lot of space, very clean, and a lot of fresh produce. The look of the store is comparable to a whole foods store. However the prices are a little bit lower. The best thing however was that the carry raw milk. I was very happy to find this out since I was driving all the way down to Huntington Beach to Mothers Market to get my milk. This will save me a lot of gas and make shopping for milk way more convenient.

The store also has a great selection of fresh fruit and vegetables. I was also looking at the meat and fish and both looked very good and fresh. They have organic and all natural chicken and meat. The only thing I don’t like is the big candy selection in the middle of the store. I guess they do this because candy sells good to kids and is a money maker. However I would prefer less candy in a health food store. But then again I don’t have to buy it.

My wife and I had a great time shopping at Spouts and it looks like this will be our new regular store. We will probably no longer drive to Whole Foods or Mothers Market, since we get all the products we need here. We are still going to Trader Joe’s and the farmers market though. Produce and prices there are just too good.

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I visited the local health food stores and found a couple of green cleaning detergents. I tried them, but was not fully satisfied since I noticed that they left white stains on some of my clothes. It was at this time that I read about soap nuts for the first time. The term soap nuts refers to the seeds of the Sapindus tree that grows mainly in India and Asia. These seeds contain saponin, a natural detergent which can be used to clean clothes.

At first I was skeptical since I never heard of nuts cleaning clothes, but I was ready to give it a try. I ordered a smaller package first to test the effectiveness of the soap nuts. With the package I received a small bag that would hold the soap nuts during the cleaning process. For the first load of clothes I used 2 soap nuts and nothing else. I expected my clothes to be not really clean and maybe to have a weird smell.

I was surprised to find that the clothes turned out perfectly clean and had no smell to it at all. Since that first time I have used the soap nuts over and over gain and so far I can’t complain. These nuts clean my laundry like any other detergent would without the smell and the chemicals. Sometimes I add some Borax, if the clothes have heavy stains on them.

After I used up my first small container of soap nuts I decided to buy a big bag, since this should last me for a while and also saves on the price. This big 1kg bag can be purchases at Better Life Goods. Smaller test packages for a good price can be found at Maggie’s Pure Land. Since I read that soap nuts can also be used to create soap and other cleaning products my next goal is to find more ways to use soap nuts in my home. This is by far the most natural and at the same time effective cleaning product I have found and the price is good too. Makes me almost want to grow my own soap nuts. I wonder if they would like the weather here in California?

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One day when we visited our local supermarket we found a brand of herbal teas in the tea aisle that stated that they would help with digestive problems. Open to anything at that time we decided to give this a try and bough a pack of Eater’s Digest tea.

Back at home my fiance fixed herself some tea after dinner to see how it would work. She started to have discomfort after the meal, but as soon as she drank the tea the problems went away. For the rest of the evening she had no more stomach problems at all. This was a great surprise for us after all the traditional medicine didn’t help at all.

From now on she has used this tea on a regular basis and so far we are very happy with it. The tea’s main ingredients are peppermint, fennel and ginger which all have been used in many cultures as a medicine for centuries. The tea is also caffeine free which is important if you don’t plan to be up all night long after drinking it. After we have discovered tea as a way to improve your health we are always looking for new teas that we use for all different kinds of problems. This tea has saved us a lot of money so far in doctor visits and expensive drugs.

So the next time you have health problems you might want to check out the tea aisle in your local health store. We have not found these teas in many regular stores, but health stores such as Whole Foods and Mother’s Market carry a lot of different herbal teas.

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Health benefits of coconuts include:

- Reduce the risk of heart disease
- Lower your cholesterol
- Improve Crohn’s, IBS, and other digestive disorders
- Prevent other disease and routine illness with its powerful antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal agents
- Increase metabolism and promotes healthy thyroid function
- Boost your daily energy
- Rejuvenate your skin and prevent wrinkles

You can buy coconuts at any good grocery or health food store. Many people are afraid to buy a coconut because they don’t know how to open them and think this is difficult. This is far from true. In this post I will show you step-by-step how to open a coconut in less than 5 minutes.

Step 1: You need the following: a coconut, a hammer, a kitchen towel and a pocket knife.

Step 2: Your pocket knife needs a sharp pick (if you don’t have this you can also use a long nail). Now set the pick on one of the three dark spots on the coconut top. This part of the coconut is the thinnest and you should be able to hammer it in easily.

Step 3: Widen the hole in the coconut until it fits a straw. Use the straw to drink the coconut water (very tasty and refreshing!).

Step 4: After drinking all the juice make 2 more holes where the two other dark spots are on the coconut.

Step 5. Take your towel out and wrap the coconut in the towel. This will keep everything clean and helps to avoid splinters.

Step 6: Hammer the wrapped coconut until it cracks. This takes a little bit of muscle power. Start hammering directly at the spot between the three holes you made. This way cracking the nut should be easy.

Step 7: As soon as the coocnut is cracked use your hammer to widen the crack and split the coocnut in half.

Step 8: Now use your knife to cut out the meat. Just cut out small pieces or stripes. You might have to lift the meat up from the shell with the knife. This takes a little bit of work, but once you have the hang of it it is not that hard anymore.

Step 9: Finally you can enjoy the tasty coconut meat. This is also a great healthy snack. Keep it refrigerated so it stays fresh.

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Negative health effects of chlorine:

1. Chlorine has been documented to aggravate asthma

2. Links have been found between chlorinated water and cancer

3. Chlorine contributes to heart disease

4. Chlorine gas released in the shower can reduce oxygen transfer capacity of the lungs

5. Taking a shower in chloridated water will also hasten the skin’s aging process

During my research I found out that shower water filters are not as expensive as I thought and one small filter can last for a whole year. Now I was convinced. I decided to go with the Paragon Water Systems Shower Water Filter, which had some convincing reviews. This filter is less than 20 dollars (and free shipping) at Home Depot Online, so I felt even if it wouldn’t work at least my loss would not have been too large. The filter arrived quickly in a couple of days after I ordered it. It was very easy to install. As long as you have a tool to loosen and tighten the screws you can easily screw it onto your shower head and the pipe. Since the filter is in a upright position it doesn’t take up a lot of space either. The first time I ran the filter black residue came out of it. According to the instructions this was suppose to happen. The residue appeared only the first time and only took a second until the water was clear. It’s a good idea to hold a bucket under the shower head for the first second, to catch the residue.

The first time I took a shower with the filter I noticed a major difference. The water was clear, had no odor to it and felt much softer than before. There was not the slightest smell of chlorine. I have to admit that I was surprised how good the filter worked. The filter also sat very tight between the pipe and the shower head, so that no water was dripping out.

More than 2 months later the filter still works like on the first day. I am very happy with my purchase, since my skin stopped smelling like chlorine instantly and my it is also not dry anymore after I take a shower. Even if I don’t use lotion my skin is still nice and smooth. My fiance, who was very skeptical in the beginning, likes the filter too. She even uses it to cook pasta and potatoes. So these 20 Dollars were definitely worth it and made a big different in our daily life.

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1. No more fast food

This might be hard for many people who are used to the convenience of fast food. Unfortunately there is nothing healthy about fast food. It might be deceiving since it smells good and looks good. But all this is chemical engineered and has almost no nutritional value. Also most fast food has excessive amounts of sugar, fat and salt. So stop eating it! Take some veggies with you and some fruit so you have something to chew on when you get hungry. You can also make your own snacks and sandwiches at home and take them with you. This will not only give you control over what you eat, but also help you save some money.

2. Read food labels

It can quite an experience to read labels of modern processed foods. A box of cereal alone has often a long list of unspeakable ingredients. The best rule is: The more ingredients and the more chemical and complicated they sound the more unhealthy is the food. Most of these are artificial flavors, sugars and chemicals to give these foods a longer shelf life. It is also a good idea to take the foods you eat on a regular basis and type the ingredients you are not sure about into Google. The reading of labels should be a rule of thumb. Even when foods say natural and organic on it. They can still contain unhealthy ingredients hidden at the bottom of the list. It is important to know that the first ingredients on the label are the once that have the highest concentration in the food. So if it says sugar first on the top of the list you probably can assume that this product is not very healthy.

3. Eat fruit & vegetables

Everybody knows that fruit and vegetables are healthy. Unfortunately most people still don’t eat enough of them in their diet. The tomatoes on a burger are not a salad and french fries are not a healthy vegetable. I try to eat a salad with each meal and additional make another serving of boiled or steamed vegetables. There are so many great tasting healthy vegetables out there and with some spices added they can be very flavorful. Fruit is a good snack between meals and is also easy to take with you. I eat an apple every day and a couple of other fruits such as banana, grapefruit, kiwi or melon. Start slowly integrating fruit and vegetables into your diet. One small salad a day and an apple is good for a start.

4. Buy organic

Many products these days are grown with pesticides and fertilizers. These chemicals are often toxic and leave unwanted residues in your food. Organic food is a healthy alternative that is not only healthier but also tastes better. Even if organic food is often more expensive there are places like the farmers market where local organic food can often be found for reasonable prices. You can find a local farmers market near you on this website.

5. Buy fresh not packaged

With the advancement of technology more and more packaged food has appeared in the grocery stores. These foods are made for convenience and not for health. Most prepackaged foods that can be heated up in a microwave in 5 minutes are full of chemical ingredients to make them nonperishable and better tasting. One look at the label of these foods will give you a good idea if the product on the shelf is healthy or not. A good step towards a healthy lifestyle is to stop eating any standard microwave-meals. If you don’t have much time to cook during the week and have relied on these quick-meals so far, try to pre-cook large portions of food on the weekend and you can heat up the leftovers during the week for a quick meal.

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Is the milk industry scared that more people wake up an realize that the dead and polluted product called milk that is sold in the stores is not a healthy product? Why else this effort to destroy a growing industry for a perfectly healthy product.

On April 15th hearings are held in Sacramento that can send a powerful message to the politicians that will decide on this. Learn more about these hearing here. Another way to support the fight for raw milk is to make a donation to the farm-to-consumer foundation and give them a voice to speak out against this unconstitutional law.

Click here to learn more about what else you can do today to stop the attack on raw milk!

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Since then I have been working on finding products without sugar. In my search I discovered a new natural sweetener called Zsweet. This sweetener is from all natural ingrediences and does not cause tooth decay or raises blood sugar levels. Sounds too good to be true so I had to give it a try.

My judgment after two days: This product looks like sugar and tastes like sugar. No strange aftertaste or smell. The only negative thing is that it is not as sweet as regular sugar, so if you have a real sweet tooth you might have to use a little more. It also has it’s price like most healthy products. All together I am very positively surprised by this product and will probably buy it again. I found this in my local health food store. I haven’t seen it at any of the major stores yet.

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Online the only source for raw milk seemed to be Organic Pastures a farm in Northern California. On their website they state that their products are available in local health food stores in Orange County and Los Angeles. So last week I went to 2 different food markets I usually shop at. Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. I found out that Trader Joe’s doesn’t have any raw milk while Whole Foods has raw milk but it is 10 Dollars for half a gallon. My next stop was Henry’s in Fullerton. This store also had the milk I was looking for and it was a little cheaper around 8 bucks. I bought some milk just to see if I like it and I have to admit I was very positive surprised. Raw milk tastes great and fresh and doesn’t have any strong flavor.

Since I still didn’t like the pricing very much I decided to write Organic Pastures to join a local Co-Op. I received a response after a couple of days that they would contact the Co-Op for me. A week later I received another email that they left a message for the Co-Op and are waiting for an answer. So far it has been 2 weeks but I still have hope to soon be able to by my milk locally and hopefully for a better price.

Since I had some time on the weekend I decided to check out Mother’s Market which is another health food store in Huntington Beach. It was close to the German Market where I buy my weakly rye bread, so I decided to give it a try. I found out that it was well worth the effort. 6.99 for half a gallon. The best price so far. I guess from now on I will get my milk here until I hear back from the Co-Op.

To find raw milk here in Southern California is definitely not easy, but it’s well worth it. I am excited to have found some places where I can buy raw milk since it is one very important part of my path to optimize my health. I wish my neighborhood stores Ralphs and Vons would carry it, but I for now it doesn’t look like that ill happen anytime soon.

More about the health benefits of raw milk can be found at www.westonaprice.org and www.realmilk.com.

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