By Ellen Walsh

“By freeze drying instead of heat drying, all the live enenzymes
and heat sensitive vitamins present in the fresh wheat grass,
are preserved for your use."

Click on Images for Captions

The Holistic Approach to Life
Taking care of yourself holistically is a way to correct occurrences in the body naturally. There are many holistic products out in the market, and our job here at NutraFoodies is to find what's out there and tell you all about it. We have chosen to share a few of these products with you because not only is their labeling clear and comprehensible, but they are small companies, with willing owners, who will take your calls and answer any questions you may have about the product. Here are a few we think you should know about:

Ra-Zen helps with arthritis, and other kinds of joint pains. How is Ra-Zen made? The herbs are infused into the golden raisins and a curing process ensues. During the cure, the pharmacologically active compounds in the herbs become complexed with the fruit sugars. These complex conjugated compounds move into the blood much faster during the digestion process. The natural properties of the herbs also synergistically amplify each other out of proportion to the extremely small quantities involved.

The curing process also brings out a tremendous amount of natural sweetness not readily apparent in unprocessed raisins, making the product very sweet and tasty. This occurs largely because of isomeric changes in the sugars as they become complexed with the herbal compounds. The active ingredients are Juniper' Goldenrod, Dandelion, Meadowsweet, and Willow bark. For more information, visit them at their web site at: www.ra-zen.com

Stronger Immune System
As a confirmed wheat grass juice drinker, I had always avoided this product, because I was snobby ! I thought the only way to go, was to drink it fresh squeezed. After meeting with owner Kim Bright- Cassano, and learning the facts behind how this product is made, I realized that I had been missing out on the consistency, and every day convenience that this product has to offer. (And it's easy to travel with!) Sweet Wheat was my bright spot at the Natural Product Expo West tradeshow, as I kept drifting back to her booth to get fortified for another 1O miles of walking.

Here's what I learned Sweet Wheat is the first (and only) certified organic pure wheatgrass juice powder in existence today. It is also certified Kosher, which means that every stage from growth to bottling has been attested to be of superior quality. Wheat grass is grown from organic wheat seed in greenhouses in specially prepared organic soil. Nurtured with natural sunlight and watered with deep artesian well water, the grass is then juiced, and freeze dried within minutes to preserve all the natural nutrients which make the wheat grass juice the superfood that it is. By freeze drying instead of heat drying, all the live enzymes and heat sensitive vitamins present in the fresh wheat grass, are preserved for your use. Stay tuned for more information on this product next issue. This is not enough. For more information on this product, visit their web site at: www.sweetwheat.com

Drink up with Miracle Greens
This product is a powdered superfood product that you just mix with water or fruit juice, and drink! It is a cocktail of anti-oxidants, co-nutrients, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, trace minerals and amino acids. We tried it, we liked it. Prolific label readers that we all are around here, this contains organically grown barley, red beet and spinach juice powder, royal jelly, grape seed extract, natural vitamin E, ginkgo biloba, cracked cell chlorella, organic flax seed meal, ultra lecithin, enzymes - and have saved the most interesting for last - blue green algae. Bluegreen algae is a potent source of Beta Carotene. It is also very rich in vegetarian B-12 and high in GLA and other essential fatty acids. This ingredient list is superb, and you can speak directly with owner Sylvia Ortiz.

Rice Flours
Look for more information on this company in our next edition, as we explore foods and customs from the Asian cultures. An interesting twist on flours and just in time for spring dishes are the rice flours from Lotus Foods. Exotic but nutritious are Forbidden Rice Flour, a beautiful pastel lilac, Butanese Red Rice Flour, in pale pink, and Roasted Kaipen Rice Flour, in pastel green. Richly flavored, these flours are ideal for coating seafood, making tempura barter, crepes, pancakes, blinis, noodles, breads or muffins. All are gluten free and non-allergenic.

Lotus also imports Kalijira (prince of rice or miniature basmati from Bangladesh), Forbidden (black from China) and Carnaroli (for risotto from Argentina) rice and obtains Cal Riso (arborio) and Jasmine rices here in America. For more information, and recipe ideas, visit them at their web site at: www.worldofrice.com

Other Great Links:
Lotus Foods - http://www.worldofrice.com
Miracle Greens - http://www.miraclegreens.com/
Ra-Zen - http://www.ra-zen.com
SweetWheat - http:// www.sweetwheat.com