Cooler temps are setting in...

We have been busy getting ready for winter, even if the photgraphic evidence shows that Pierre does tend to sit down on the job when he has a chance - ha ha- and we have been stirring up plans for Halloween. Meanwhile, Mother Nature is busy outside stirring up a storm right now.
It is cold and wildly windy outside right now. I just got off the phone with my good friend O.M. and she reports that it is snowing in Chwk right now ! ( At least on the hill) so I guess we'll count ourselves lucky. All this weather reminds me that this is the time of year we need to really think about energy conservation, not just for the world at large, but for our own heating bills etc. So today, just a short list of ideas that we can all do to stay warm & keep our money in our own pockets ! Stay warm everyone !

• If you lower your thermostat 2-5 degrees, you can not only save aprox. 1,000 lbs of carbon dioxide emmissions but also up to 10 % on your heating bill !
• Wear a sweater to stay warmer when you lower the temp in your house !
• Clean or replace furnace filters or clean floor registers & dusty baseboard heaters for maximum efficiency & safety. This will also save aprox. 350 lbs of carbon dioxide emmissions / year !
• check windows & doors for drafts. replace old weather stripping & caulking to save even more on your heating bill & up to 1,700 lbs in emmissions / year.
• Use a timer to lower your thermostat after you go to sleep & raise it back before you wake up.

Too much Turkey ? How about some raw food ? !

Ah, Thanksgiving.... all that turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie and whipped cream...yummy ! Wait, here comes the sleepiness, bloated bellies.... too full ! The Thanksgiving dinner is great but I can't imagine eating like that everyday. The typical North American diet however is way too loaded with processed food, sugar, pasturized dairy products, "enriched" bread made from highly processed flour, caffine etc.These types of food are low in enzymes & some of them also make the body more acidic.( we absorb oxygen & nutrients better & detoxify ourselves easier, when our bodies are less acidic ) Enzymes, though hardly given any attention, are VERY important. they are the critters in the cells of all living plants & animals . enzymes not only help us digest our food ( like the tonne of pumpkin pie we ate ) but they also help us with our other body functions as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enzymes Raw food- that is, unrefined, uncooked, fresh, organic food, is rich in enzymes & oxygen, which make us healthy & give us higher energy & improved moods. Enzymes enemy is heat. Cooking or heating food past about 120 degrees kills the enzymes. Our own bodies can make a lot of the enzymes we need, but the process of making our own enzymes takes time & energy away from us, that could be put to better uses, like healing, maintanance & repair. We also aren't able to manufacture as many of our own enzymes when we get older so it makes sense to try adding a little more raw food to our diets. Be sure to check out my new recipe for a cool new way to add some raw food to those turkey leftovers !