HempTrends

It’s a Cicada summer, and the woods are humming.

Here on the East coast of the United States this is a cicada summer. Every 17 years the ‘Brood 2’ cicadas arrive, filling our woods with amazing sights and sounds.

Recently I traveled with a Canadian coworker, and was astonished that she wasn’t familiar with Cicadas. They are gruesomely ugly bugs, that live underground most of their lives. This particular species emerges from the ground every 17 years en masse—millions and millions of bugs in a feasting frenzy.

My 6 year-old daughter (seen to the left) and I talk about the bugs and where she will be in 17 years, when they come back again. And she asks me where I was 17 years ago when they last came through? I was in Athens, GA, just starting as a broker. I was trying to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible. And I do remember the bugs covering me as I was out calling on accounts.

As we set goals, and measure our growth, there are milestone markers that nature provides all around us: the setting of the sun, the phases of the moon, our children’s gap-toothed smiles.

But I love it when the woods are humming with these crazy, scary cicadas. Harmless, yes, but acting as a natural reminder of the relentless passage of time.

Where were you 17 years ago?

In 1996, Manitoba Harvest was a thought in Mike Fata’s mind, a passion he was following to help begin a unique brand of food products. Among his first steps to this end was being instrumental in the legalization of hemp in Canada.

Presently, we at Manitoba Harvest are the largest company in North America to grow, manufacture, and sell hemp food products. As we finish our celebration of Hemp History week, there are displays of products and literature in stores all over the continent, and many are experiencing Hemp Hearts and hemp protein powders for the first time.

And as my family and I listen to the woods hum, we wonder, where will we be in 17 years when this happens again? Where will Manitoba Harvest be? And where will you be?

Tanya gives ‘What’s New’ updates each month! Be sure to bookmark our Blog to check back to see what they have in store next post!

It’s a Cicada summer, and the woods are humming.

Here on the East coast of the United States this is a cicada summer. Every 17 years the ‘Brood 2’ cicadas arrive, filling our woods with amazing sights and sounds.

Recently I traveled with a Canadian coworker, and was astonished that she wasn’t familiar with Cicadas. They are gruesomely ugly bugs, that live underground most of their lives. This particular species emerges from the ground every 17 years en masse—millions and millions of bugs in a feasting frenzy.

My 6 year-old daughter (seen to the left) and I talk about the bugs and where she will be in 17 years, when they come back again. And she asks me where I was 17 years ago when they last came through? I was in Athens, GA, just starting as a broker. I was trying to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible. And I do remember the bugs covering me as I was out calling on accounts.

As we set goals, and measure our growth, there are milestone markers that nature provides all around us: the setting of the sun, the phases of the moon, our children’s gap-toothed smiles.

But I love it when the woods are humming with these crazy, scary cicadas. Harmless, yes, but acting as a natural reminder of the relentless passage of time.

Where were you 17 years ago?

In 1996, Manitoba Harvest was a thought in Mike Fata’s mind, a passion he was following to help begin a unique brand of food products. Among his first steps to this end was being instrumental in the legalization of hemp in Canada.

Presently, we at Manitoba Harvest are the largest company in North America to grow, manufacture, and sell hemp food products. As we finish our celebration of Hemp History week, there are displays of products and literature in stores all over the continent, and many are experiencing Hemp Hearts and hemp protein powders for the first time.

And as my family and I listen to the woods hum, we wonder, where will we be in 17 years when this happens again? Where will Manitoba Harvest be? And where will you be?

Tanya gives ‘What’s New’ updates each month! Be sure to bookmark our Blog to check back to see what they have in store next post!

No matter your age or where you live, having a Y chromosome means you have certain nutrition needs to maintain optimal health. This month, I want to take a deeper look at one area you guys often don’t – your digestive system.

Unlike women, most of whom won’t let digestive issues go unreported – whether it’s belching or bloating or flatulence or not having regular bowel movements – many men fail to report to their doctor or attempt to address these issues. And yet, digestive issues are your body’s first signs that things aren’t working properly. Ignoring these issues or band-aiding them without truly healing your system spells trouble and lays the foundation for bigger issues. So here’s a digestive wellness primer designed for You men to get started with today.

1. Get Moving, Daily!
Yeah, this could be about exercise – but it’s not. It’s about your digestive tract and it’s need to move (we call that ‘motility’) all day long and in doing so move nutrients where they need to go and move waste products out of you where they belong. Here are the 3 things you need to get and keep moving, digestively, daily:

• Fiber: You need all kinds and plenty of it so eat fruits (skins especially), vegetables, legumes (those are beans and yes, they can make you gassy but that’s what tip #2 is all about), and whole grains all day long. And did you know that hemp is a good source of fiber? Yes it is; you get fiber whether you get you eat the seeds (Hemp Hearts) or choose a concentrated source complete with lean body mass building protein (HEMP PRO FIBER) as a better quality fiber supplement.
• Hydration: Water gets credit for the “assist” when fiber scores at helping your body properly eliminate it’s unwanteds. You need to drink (in ounces) at least half your body weight (in pounds) of water daily – that means if you weigh 200 pounds you should be drinking 100 ounces of water daily. That can sound like a lot but the good news is if you choose water-based fruits, vegetables, and drinks (like tea) they count toward your total ounces.
• Relax to Move: Every muscle in the body has two moves – think offense and defense – that are critical for it to function properly: contraction and relaxation. And your digestive tract is one big series of muscles. Plenty of things – sitting, stressing, working out, eating calcium, drinking caffeine etc – add cause muscles to contract so it’s critical we help them relax. That’s where magnesium – Mother Nature’s muscle relaxant comes in. Hemp is a good source of magnesium and so are greens, beans, and whole grains. But I also recommend a daily supplement of magnesium citrate – like Natural Vitality’s Natural Calm – especially if you are traveling, sitting or stressing frequently, and certainly if you take a calcium supplement of any kind.

2. Don’t Foul Out.
Occasional flatulence is like a foul – it happens, you typically know what you did, you’re bummed if you get caught, and then it passes and you are back in the game. But what about the player that fouls too much too soon – or worse, the guy that fouls out, especially in the big game? He hates to be on the sidelines whether it’s precautionary early in the game or for the last crucial minutes. Flatulence (aka “gas”) is just the same. Occasionally you eat beans or have a beer and a ‘dog at the ballgame or do all three and end up airing your evidence either privately or getting caught. Other than being embarrassing, it’s not a major health concern. But if you regularly have gas – and especially if it’s foul-smelling – here’s what you need to know:

• Good vs. Bad bacteria. The good bacteria – known as probiotics – help keep the bad bacteria in their place (it’s like a full court press). When we don’t have enough of the good guys, team bad bacteria run the court or field and score – and to celebrate their win they hoot and holler – you got it, that’s the gas, the farts, the smell. So make sure to eat probiotic rich foods like organic cultured dairy, raw sauerkraut and kimchi, cultured vegetables, and consider taking a probiotic – like Align – daily, which can help to restore and maintain healthy bacteria balance in your gut.
• Get a “digestive assist”. If you have food that isn’t getting digested properly, it can stay in your system too long and well, rot, which translates to foul smells when it does (or doesn’t quite) come out of you. This can occur for several reasons – because you ate too much, ate something your body doesn’t tolerate well, or because you have less acid in your stomach (this occurs as we age and also if you take an acid-controlling medication). The key point is you can get a digestive assist with digestive enzymes – they are already in your system and helping to breakdown food but the above mentioned reasons might mean you don’t have enough working for you. There are enzymes for ever type of food but unless you have just one core issue (like not tolerating lactose or gluten) I recommend a digestive enzyme blend like Digest Gold (from Enzymedica) taken with your first few bites or even as you finish a meal.

3. What Goes Down Should NOT Come Back Up!
The burn, the taste, and the feel of reflux– we’ve all experienced it at some point and it’s not enjoyable …but even worse, it’s SO not healthy. If your body is choosing to defy gravity and send something(s) in the opposite direction – from whence it came – then you NEED to get the message, it really can’t be communicating anymore clearly. Are you grabbing Tums regularly or taking an acid reducing medication or are you avoiding foods because they trigger the response? While these could be helpful (of varying degrees), they really are just band-aids. What you need is a digestive overhaul. It’s critical that you refer to #1 and #2 above to begin to treat your digestion better. Additionally, look to balance your intake of acid-forming foods in the body with ones that are more alkaline. For example:

• Add lemon or lime to your water or salad dressing
• Eat organic greens at least twice daily and try different ones
• Choose spices and herbs instead of sauces and dips to add “heat” and flavor to your meals
• Exchange proteins – eat plant proteins – like hemp, nuts, and whole grains – in place of animal proteins more often.

All right guys, we aren’t asking you to give up anything that makes you a man. So be proud of your Y chromosome but take care of it and you – beginning with your digestion.

About Ashley Koff, RD
Author of Mom Energy: A Simple Plan to Live Fully Charged (September, 2011), Ashley Koff R.D. maintains a private practice, regularly lectures, and works to educate healthcare professionals and the media in an effort to improve the quality of food choices for consumers as well as on the sets of popular shows at networks like: ABC, CBS, HBO, FX and FOX. Koff regularly appears as a health and nutrition expert on national media outlets, including Dr. Oz, CBS’s The Early Show, Good Morning America Health, The Doctors, CNN and E! www.AshleyKoffRD.com.

By BRUCE SCHREINER, Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s U.S. senators suffered a setback Thursday in their efforts to re-establish industrial hemp as a legal crop, but they vowed to continue their campaign after getting blocked as they tried to attach hemp language to the Senate farm bill.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul said they would oppose the Senate farm legislation.

Their amendment would have removed federal restrictions on the domestic production of industrial hemp. The crop once flourished in Kentucky until it was banned decades ago when the federal government classified it as a controlled substance related to marijuana.

Hemp has a negligible content of THC, the psychoactive compound that gives marijuana users a high.

The push by McConnell and Paul to legalize industrial hemp comes after Kentucky’s legislature passed a bill this year to allow the crop to be reintroduced in the Bluegrass State, but only if the federal government lifted its prohibition on the plant.

“Although we’re disappointed in the lack of consideration of our industrial hemp amendment, it is only the beginning of our legislative efforts,” the Republican U.S. senators said in a joint statement. “We are committed to continuing to look at all options to win approval of this important legislation for job creation in Kentucky.”

McConnell and Paul blamed majority-Senate Democrats for blocking consideration of additional amendments to the five-year farm bill, including their hemp proposal.

“This year’s Senate farm bill is in need of serious improvement and the refusal to allow better ideas and more sensible allocations of taxpayer dollars to be considered is very disappointing,” McConnell and Paul said. “We will be opposing the Senate farm bill as a result.”

The Courier-Journal first reported the senators’ reaction to the hemp amendment’s setback.

The farm bill advanced on a 75-22 procedural Senate vote Thursday that sets up a vote to pass the measure next Monday. The bill would cost almost $100 billion annually and would set policy for farm subsidies, food stamps and other farm and food aid programs.

Republican House leaders have said their chamber will vote on the bill, possibly as soon as this month.

In Kentucky, the industrial hemp movement has firmly taken root as the plant’s advocates hope for a breakthrough at the federal level.

State Agriculture Commissioner James Comer says its reintroduction would give farmers a new crop and would create processing jobs to turn the fiber and seeds into products ranging from paper to biofuels. Dozens of countries already produce the crop.

Comer went to Washington to meet with federal officials to lobby for a change on hemp policy at the federal level.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear let the state’s hemp bill become law without his signature. The Democratic governor said he wouldn’t sign the legislation out of concerns, shared by some in law enforcement, that marijuana growers could camouflage their illegal crops with hemp plants.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Ky-s-senators-blocked-in-effort-to-legalize-hemp-4584896.php#ixzz2VUQvurVc

Original Author

Mix this in a smoothie in a high speed blender!

• 1 tbsp. of aloe vera juice
• 1 tbsp. of noni juice
• 1/4 cup of water
• 1/8 cup of Hemp Hearts
• 2 tbs. of hemp protein powder
• 1/4 cup of frozen raspberries
• 4 small slices of frozen banana
• 1 teaspoon of Natural Calm Raspberry Lemon

First mix 1 teaspoon of Calm Raspberry Lemon with a quarter cup of hot water and let cool, then add to blender when you are adding liquids. Start out mixing on low, plunging mixture until it thickens. Quickly turn to high speed for 30 seconds and volia! Feel free to add a little Greek Yogurt to the top as well. Yum!

Congratulations to Nicole Koss of Toronto, ON for being selected as the winning entry for Manitoba Harvest‘s 2nd annual Mom Love contest! Her mom is winning this HUGE basket full of goodies. Thank you to all the brands who contributed to this prize.

Here is Nicole’s story about her mom:

Not only is my mom the glue that keeps our family together in every sense of the way,  she is also the ultimate role model. She lives by Gandhi’s mantra that “we must be the change we want to see in the world”.  She has taught me and everyone around her that dreams can come true, you just have to go for it with everything you have. She is the Founder of ‘Seeds for Change’, a grass roots organization built to create healthier neighbourhoods through school and community gardens. She formed this organization to address many problems facing Canadians in the 21st century: obesity, diabetes, reduced physical outdoor activity natural deficit disorder, hunger, food security and disappearing agricultural land.

My mom also became the Co-Founder of The National Initiative for Eating Disorders (NIED), a not-for-profit coalition of health care professionals, counsellors and parents with children suffering from Eating Disorders, NIED’s team aims to help bring about positive change in both the availability and quality of treatment of Eating Disorders in Canada.

Her giving back does not stop there. She created a small business called Moving Zoomers which was designed to help seniors integrate and become comfortable into a new stage of life at either a retirement residence or in assisted living. Her ability to connect with people makes this transition less stressful  and  overwhelming  and allows her clients to feel a sense of ease in their new found home.

My mom is up at all hours doing something for everyone else. She never stops and because of her fierce commitment to creating positive change, she touches the lives of everyone she meets. She incredibly still has time to be a true partner and wife to her husband of 40 years, a mom to myself and my older sister and a super nana to my niece and nephew, whom she takes care of few times a week. She is supportive daughter to her aging parents and an incredible strength to her sister who is stuggling with her own health.  With everything else in her busy life, she has helped me plan my dream wedding which is only 10 days away. I don’t know how she does all of this with such a smile on her face.

There is never a time where she isn’t there for us. There are simply no words to describe how much good she does both community wise and in our own family. I am inspired by her daily and everything in this gift basket is aligned with what she does, what we believe in and strive for and most importantly would also give her a chance to catch up with herself and take care of her own health at the same time.

Eating for TWO during my 2^nd Trimester

This pregnancy thing is a crazy road!  It seems that weekly I’m faced with new change and constant adaptations.  Let’s take food for example. Over the past five and half months my taste buds have been anything but normal. While people have asked the common “do you crave pickles and ice cream,” that has been an easy no. What I’m discovering is that it’s more about what isn’t appealing anymore rather and then finding ways to still get the nutrients in!

I’ve been the queen of salads for many years now. Massive green salads loaded with every kind of veggie, nuts, Hemp Hearts and any protein you can think of is a staple at our house for I’d say at least five nights out of the week and nearly every lunch. Since about one month into my pregnancy however, salads have not been appealing. I had to completely eliminate them for the first trimester as I dealt with morning sickness and nausea. As an athlete and nutrition coach though, this of course weighted heavy on my mind as I knew that I wanted to be fueling with all that green goodness although mentally I just couldn’t.

So as the weeks have gone on, I’ve been creative in the kitchen to find new ways to fuel myself and my developing baby with good nutrients. My energy levels have been amazing and I’m still biking and hiking up a storm. If it wasn’t for my growing belly (and oh yes, all the clothes that no longer fit) I would say its easy to forget sometimes about the amazing miracle that is forming internally.

Following are my daily go-to foods, rich in Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods and all the goodness found in their product line:

#1 Veggies & Dip

Cut up veggies of all varieties and enjoyed with a Greek Yogurt dip. I add a garden seasoning to the tip and a few tablespoons of Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts for added protein. Not sure why raw veggies presented in a platter format appeal more so then a salad!

#2 Oranges

Cold, organic oranges! Dare I say that these cravings are intense and I eat about 3 a day!

#3 Power Hemp Heart Cookies

Loaded little balls of energy, stored in the fridge to keep energy levels high.  Easy recipe consisting of peanut butter or almond butter, Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts, baking soda, dried cranberries, eggs, cane sugar and cashews!

#4 “Jen’s Prego Green Smoothy”

I make a large mix every morning in my Vitamixer and then split into 2 servings:

• 1 banana
• 1 c orange juice
• 1 c water
• 2 Tbsp Udo’s Oil
• 2 big scoops Manitoba Harvest Protein Powder (Vanilla)
• ½ avocado
• 2 big scoops Greens Powder
• 2 Tbsp Hemp Hearts
• 10 ice cubes

So that is my diet at week 23! Who knows what I will be eating at week 30! For more info on Jen, visit: www.jensegger.com.