This is where we will have little snipets of information for anyone interested in learning a little more about food and our bodies and some of the things that have become part of the de-naturing process in what have become our staple food items. 

My question is how did we get so far from natural foods?  The true foods nature provides for us.  The answer is clear but it is the compounding health issues being born from such de-naturing that will bring us full circle back to true foods, giving our bodies the opportunity to heal, repair and restore.

Keep an eye on this for some very interesting snipets of info as you will find when you scroll down.

Pumpkin - Beta carotene, potassium, zinc, fibre -The rich orange colour is a dead give away to the nutrients present in pumpkin. Research shows that people who eat a diet rich in beta-carotene are less likely to develop certain cancers than those who fail to include beta-carotene-rich foods in their diet.  Studies also show people who have a potassium rich diet lower the risk for hypertension. Potassium rich foods include pumpkin, bananas, broccoli, avocados, pomegranate and many others.

Not only is zinc a major boost for your immune system, it also aids in bone density support for people at risk for osteoporosis.  Diets rich in fibre may prevent cancer, heart disease and other serious ailments.

Eggplants - feature a host of vitamins and minerals, and also contain important phytonutrients, many of which have antioxidant activity. These phytonutrients include compounds, which are potent antioxidant and free radical scavengers that protect cell membranes from damage and protect the lipids (fats) in brain cell membranes.  Cell membranes are almost entirely composed of lipids (fats) and are responsible for protecting cells, letting nutrients in and wastes out, and receiving instructions from messenger molecules.  The predominant phenolic compound found in all varieties tested is chlorogenic acid, which is one of the most potent free radical scavengers found in plant tissues. Benefits attributed to chlorogenic acid include antimutagenic (anti-cancer), antimicrobial, anti-LDL (bad cholesterol) and antiviral activities.  Therefore the beautiful purple eggplant is a great brain protecting food.

Salad leaves - are nutrient rich because they contain the light-catching, energy-converting machinery of plants. Salad greens contain Vitamin A, C, beta-carotene, calcium, folate, fiber, and phytonutrients. Leafy vegetables are a good choice for a healthful diet because they do not contain cholesterol and are naturally low in calories and sodium. Many of the health benefits that leafy greens provide come from phytonutrients, unique compounds that provide protection for plants. These compounds are becoming recognized as part of a nutritious diet that promotes long-term health.  Phytonutrients can act as antioxidants, which help to prevent chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease.

Curries and spices - antioxidant-rich spices, herbs, essential oils and cocoa are all rich in antioxidant properties within the plant itself. Typical spices high in antioxidants are clove, cinnamon, oregano, turmeric, cumin, parsley, basil, curry powder, mustard seed, ginger, pepper, chili powder, paprika, garlic, coriander, onion and cardamom. Typical herbs high in antioxidants include sage, thyme, marjoram, tarragon, peppermint, oregano, savory, basil and dill weed. Chocolate is rich in cocoa that is also an antioxidant.  These are all included in our dishes here at Fusspot’s, all our meals are high in nutrition.

Zucchini - helps to cure asthma as it contains Vitamin C, which is a powerful antioxidant, and has anti-inflammatory properties.  This incredible plant also helps to prevent diseases, like scurvy, bruising etc, caused by the deficiency of Vitamin C.  Eating zucchini also helps to support the arrangement of capillaries, lowers high homocysteine levels, can also prevent the risk of having multiple sclerosis (MS), and because they have such a high water content (over 95%), they make perfect food for people on a diet.  Zucchinis also contain useful amounts of folate, potassium, and vitamin A, necessary for our body, and the vitamin C and lutein, are good for eyes.  This is a great little wonder for our bodies.

Coffee– supplied by Neli Coffee, roasted locally, you can be sure of the freshness and great taste
Fusspot is not so keen to be serving coffee, however with our re-location it was apparent that we needed to serve a great coffee, so we went and spoke to the good people at Neli Coffee and agreed that if we are going to serve coffee it has to be great and organic.  We also wanted an organic decaf.  Well we have been successful on all counts, as we have a single origin organic Mexican coffee roasted locally here on the beautiful Redcliffe Peninsula at Neli Coffee.

Teeccino - Organic herbal coffee alternative

Nutritional Benefits
Teeccino is highly nutritious because all of the herbs in its proprietary formula are high in essential vitamins, minerals and phyto-nutrients that have been consumed for thousands of years. Some of the herbs in Teeccino are bitter which help promote good digestion. Additionally, chicory root contains inulin, a soluble fibre that nourishes a healthy population of beneficial digestive flora. Teeccino tastes mildly sweet from the addition of dates and figs and most people don't need to sweeten Teeccino even if they normally sweeten coffee. Thus, Teeccino helps people reduce their sugar intake. Unlike coffee, which has no nutritional value, Teeccino has 15 calories per 240 ml cup and 1 gram of fibre. Perhaps of most importance to coffee drinkers, Teeccino contains 65 mg of potassium to give your body a natural energy lift. 

It’s one thing to realize that there is no nutritional value to coffee, so, you think great, no calories. But when you realize that caffeine actually makes you excrete essential vitamins and minerals through your urine and interferes with the absorption of the nutrients you eat, it gives you a pause for thought.

We've all heard the facts about escalating osteoporosis and women's health. What you don't see mentioned is the body's effort to rid itself of caffeine causes a loss of calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and trace minerals, all essential elements necessary for good health. One study even found that postmenopausal women who consumed caffeine had low bone density even though they took calcium supplements.

The news is just as bad about iron. Depending on the strength of your cup of coffee, you may reduce your iron absorption from a meal by 50%. In light of the fact that most women suffer from low iron reserves, and iron deficiency can contribute to fatigue, depression, memory and learning disorders, drinking an after meal cup of coffee could adversely affect a woman's long term health.

After I learnt the effects caffeine has on our bodies I really embarked on a mission to serve a great coffee alternative .... and I have found it..... in such a wonderful variety of blends absolutely divine ....

Java                             Original                                   Mocha

Choc                            Hazelnut                                 Caffe

Chai                             Choc Mint                              Vanilla Nut

Milk for our beverages
Fusspot is very particular about offering food and drinks with nutritional value, which is why he chooses not to make drinks based on soy or rice milk.  Instead he has sourced organic full cream milk, organic hazelnut milk and organic almond milk. 

Ivyhome Organic full cream milk – Ivyhome Dairy take great pride in their dairy products, from production to the retail shelf.  Ivyhome soils are being nurtured back to their original health, providing healthy feed tokeep their cows healthy and contented.  Ivyhome have a Whole Farm Quality Assurance Program to help insure their products will come to you with the highest nutritional value for you and your family.  This statement resonates so much with Fusspot, bringing foods and drinks with great nutritional value to your bodies.

Hazelnut milk – produced from organic products and is dairy free, lactose free, soy free, cholesterol free, gluten free, wheat free, this milk is made up of water, organic hazelnuts, organic agave syrup and organic corn maltodextrin.

Almond milk - produced from organic products and is dairy free, lactose free, soy free, cholesterol free, gluten free, wheat free, GM free, no pesticides or herbicides, no cane sugar, no artificial chemicals, no preservatives.  This milk is made up of filtered water, organic almonds, organic rice syrup and organic sunflower oil and sea salt. 

A word from the makers – “at Pureharvest we are opposed to genetically manipulating our primary food source.  This is reflected in our policy of not buying or selling products that contain GE ingredients.  GE ingredients are not naturally occurring substances and, as such, we do not use them in our products.  We do not believe that there has been sufficient testing done on GE risks to the environment, our health and plant species.  At Pureharvest we are committed to distributing natural and chemical-free products.  We believe that food should be as natural as possible, with as little human intervention as practicable.”

Again this fits with Fusspot’s mission of serving only food and drinks with nutritional value for your body.

The Facts about Fats – Good Fats and Not So Good Fats
If we want to eat foods that are healthy and non carcinogenic, it is up to us to educate ourselves.   

Just as we need good quality protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, we also need good quality fats and oils to be physically and mentally healthy.

There are two types of fats, saturated and unsaturated.  The saturated fats found in butter, eggs, fish, chicken and meats are high in cholesterol.  The unsaturated fats are found in either vegetable products or oils such as sunflower, sesame, safflower, corn, and flax seed oil have no cholesterol and are high in essential Omega 6 and Omega 3 fatty acids.  The non-essential monounsaturated fatty acids are found in olive and other oils.

We need a certain amount of both saturated and unsaturated fats in our diets.  Apart from people who have serious heart disease from a lifetime of poor eating and little exercise, most of us need a minimal amount of cholesterol in our diet.  It’s interesting to know that over eight percent of our brain’s solid matter is made up of cholesterol.  Our hormones, skin and even the membranes of our cells use cholesterol as an essential building block in their basic production and structure.

It isn’t a question of whether to use saturated fats or unsaturated fats.  Most of us need both in good quality forms.  What we don’t need is the refined or hydrogenated fats found in margarines, vegetable shortenings, or refined vegetable oils.

There is a critical need for the Omega 6 and Omega 3 fatty acids in our diets.  These fats are not only good sources of energy, but are an essential part of the body’s oxygen transportation  mechanism and they are the key building blocks of our skin, hormones etc.  Most of us obtain ample amounts of Omega 6 fatty acids from safflower, sesame, sunflower, soy, canola and corn oils, but we are seriously deficient in the Omega 3 fatty acids.  A deficiency in Omega 3s has been strongly implicated as a main cause of heart disease, cancer, immune system breakdown and other modern maladies.  The only really concentrated sources of Omega 3 fatty acids are found in Flax Seed Oil (the richest source) and certain fish such as Mackerel, Sardines, Tuna, Trout and cold water Salmon.

Water – The Crystal of Life
Dehydration and Disease –
Dehydration is a state of drying out or excessive loss of fluid and water from your body.  Today, due to powerful prescription drugs, a diet of foods with low water content, ingestion of lots of coffee, tea, soft drinks and a general lack of consumption of pure water, most people suffer from dehydration.

And when it comes to diseases like heart, kidney or stomach disease, allergies, asthma, arthritis and skin diseases, your state of hydration (water balance) may be the single most important factor in your recovery or even your survival.

Today, water imbalance, or dehydration, in the human body is extremely common.  And because it seems so simple, it is almost always completely overlooked as a factor in disease.  Instead, water balance problems are treated at the symptom level with powerful drugs.  Two perfect examples are as follows:

1        someone with Oedema is almost always dehydrated.  You would think that when ankles swell up like balloons, you could not possibly be dehydrated; however the lack of water and proper balance of electrolytes transported by water can produce the initial changes that lead to fluid retention and Oedema.

2        when you become dehydrated your body naturally begins to increase production of histamine.  One of the functions of histamine is to retain water.  Histamine also irritates the body’s tissues and immune system, which causes allergies, immune disorders and many other associated health issues.

These conditions are usually treated with harmful prescription drugs, when they can be corrected by drinking good quality electrolyte-rich water, which is exactly what the body is crying out for.   When you do not have enough water in your body your kidneys overwork, your digestion is hampered, your heart cannot function properly, your lungs and breathing mechanisms will be impaired, your joints will suffer and your immune system will diminish in effectiveness.

Water is a key requirement in our digestive system as it assists in breaking down our foods and separating out the goodness from the waste.  This function is impaired if there is not enough water in the bodily system to carry out this important bodily function.

Our lungs and breathing systems are also extremely dependent upon the body being sustainably hydrated. Water with trace minerals and elements is extremely important for breathing and keeping our bodies mechanisms in balance

Dehydration is also a major factor in issues of the heart and also blood pressure problems.  Increased water intake is necessary to regain proper heart function.  Proper nutrition is also critical in rehabilitating the heart.  In all cases plenty of water is a must, and when it comes to hypertension (high blood pressure) this is even more critical.

As well as water, another natural supply of important minerals and trace elements is real true Celtic sea salt.  Celtic sea salt is a matrix or mix of all the elements that are the basis of our very make up as humans.  Real Celtic sea salt serves as a virtual tonic for the mechanical activities of our bodies.  In fact, over time, it is not unusual for Oedema to clear up when sea salt and pure water are utilised.  In addition, sea salt is a rich mix of all the trace elements your heart needs to pump powerfully and maintain a proper electronic pulse for properly timed beating.  When it comes to heart disease and hypertension, pure water and sea salt are indispensable.  In fact sea salt serves as a magnesium “tonic” in these cases.

When you start drinking pure water and add Celtic sea salt to your diet, you are really taking positive steps to improve your heart and blood pressure.  These two things will reduce the amounts of minerals that your body cannot use, and will increase the minerals and trace elements (found in sea salt) that your body will take up like a sponge.  It is not unusual for pure water and sea salt alone to eliminate a case of severe hypertension.

Following on from heart disease, due to lack of water, minerals and trace elements, come kidney problems.  Heart and kidney disease go hand in hand.  Naturally when fluid balance is disturbed (as in heart disease), the kidneys are called upon to overwork and as the kidneys become overworked, blood pressure usually rises.  And for the most part there is almost always insufficient water in the body to help maintain proper kidney function. 

One way of recognising that your kidneys are under duress is if your urine is concentrated.  This means your kidneys have been unable to filter your foods and fluids properly.  This is a good indicator to increase your intake of pure electrolyte-rich water.

Arthritis is another signal that pure healthy water and Celtic sea salt are needed to aid in proper joint maintenance.  Our body has many ways of telling us there is something wrong and we need to listen and take notice when something is going wrong and learn what to do to repair and heal.  These 2 natural wonders alone go a long way to sustaining the health of our bodies. 

Another key indicator that there is a chronic lack of water is dry mouth.  While this is also caused by the overuse of prescription drugs, in some cases it is a lack of water or an electrolyte imbalance.  Again simply increasing the intake of water and Celtic sea salt with minerals and trace elements is a huge step to helping to bring our body back into balance and allowing it to work like the well oiled machine it was born to do.

Salt – Salt of the Earth
Did you know that only 7% of all the salt that is farmed and processed is for our consumption?  93% of all salt mined and farmed actually goes to commercial industry.  In fact salt is used in the manufacture of plastic, petrol additives, chemical fertilizers and explosives.  Here comes the good part, because the commercial companies don’t want all the goodness of mineral and trace elements that are so important for our bodies, so the salt companies’ strip 82 of the 84 important minerals and trace elements out of the natural salt and leave only the sodium and chloride for us to feed upon.  Thus our bodies ask for more due to not enough goodness in the salt which in turn becomes an overload of sodium chloride which then suggests that salt is bad for us.

The real truth is that left as it’s natural form we could never have too much as our bodies would simply process what it needs and disperse of the rest.  The only true salts we should be feeding our bodies is Celtic Sea Salt, Himalayan Rock Salt or salt derived directly from it’s natural environment to us.  No processing what so ever.  Through the process of the manufacturers of plastic, petrol additives, chemical fertilizers and explosives, they turn a wonderful source of nutrients and minerals into a toxic poisonous product which we think is natural – table salt as sold in supermarkets.

Sugar – the Sweet Poison
Knowing about what we put into our bodies is just as important as knowing about the chemicals we don’t want to put onto our bodies through our personal care products. 

“sugar and spice and all things nice.”  “Sweetheart”, “Sugar-plum” – the white stuff is always painted in a cuddly light.  Let’s take a hard look at our diet in terms of sugar.  Refined sugar has been depleted of it’s life giving salts, fibres, proteins, vitamins and minerals leaving us with a white crystalline substance devoid of any nutritional content, only offering empty calories.   It has become the sweet poison we feed our bodies.  This substance is lethal when ingested by us because it drains and leaches our bodies of precious vitamins and minerals through the process of our digestion of sugar. 

Sugar is now simply refined starch and carbohydrate that the body cannot utilize, causing degenerative disease.  In order to protect the blood, our body takes calcium from our bones and teeth, which causes decay and general weakening of our bones.  Excess sugar intake eventually affects every organ in the body, causing it to break down alarmingly.

Extracted from Nexus Magazine (Dec 1999-Jan 2000).  The article was titled Refined Sugar the Sweetest Poison of All which in turn was extracted from a book called Sugar Blues written by William Duffy, 1975.

Sugars contained in natural whole foods are easily metabolised by the body.  Sucrose (refined cane sugar) on the other hand being devoid of vital minerals, becomes a greedy starch which cannot metabolites completely in our bodies, resulting in the formation of metabolites.  These toxic by-products interfere with the respiration of cells, preventing them from acquiring sufficient oxygen to function correctly.  These poisonous metabolites, in their free radical or oxidation format, are constantly seeking to stabilise themselves by robbing our healthy cells of available electrons.  This action in turn degrades the cell and the cell dies leading to all sorts of illnesses and cancers.

Refined sugars are parasitic.  They have no accompanying vitamins and minerals of their own and no nutritional value.  They leach valuable minerals from the body.  Sugar can cause copper deficiency, which reduces the elasticity of veins and arteries, leading to aneurism and stroke.  The body must digest, detoxify and then eliminate sucrose because it cannot make cell structure from it.  Typically the body combats sucrose by mobilising elements such as sodium, potassium and magnesium and calcium to form compounds with the invading sucrose in an attempt to transmute it chemically into a form the body can either store or eliminate.

Excess sugar is initially stored in the liver in the form of glycogen.  When the liver can no longer cope with the load, it pours the accumulated sucrose (refined cane sugar) toxins back into the bloodstream in the form of fatty acids, which are then taken to storage areas of the body, namely the belly, thighs, hips, breasts and the back of our upper arms.  Once the storage areas are filled, the body begins to distribute the metabolite acids into the active organs, such as the heart and kidneys.  This in turn causes hormonal imbalances, abnormal blood pressure as the circulatory and lymphatic systems are invaded, depleting vital vitamin C reserves and threatening the cardiovascular system.  This also leads to obesity which has now taken over tobacco and smoking as the number 1 killer of humans. 

As the sugar bombardment continues, pancreatic function may become inhibited resulting in the impairment of enzymes vital for erecting the healing processes and preventing cancer growths.  Excess sugar consumption has also been linked to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Diseases.  How about the cellulite, varicose veins, rotten teeth, kids bouncing off the walls with simple mineral depletion, resulting in ADD and ADHD, impaired brain function, resulting in increased emotional instability, hyperactivity and violence in the classroom.

Studies have been carried out over and over to show the link between high intake of this toxic refined product and all the illnesses and health issues listed above.  Complete removal of sugar from the diet has seen stunning recoveries from cancer, diabetes and heart illnesses.  Our bodies can heal and repair, we just have to give it the opportunity to do the work it was designed to do by offering whole natural foods for fuel and health.

Microwaves – what do they really do to our food?
This is an account and result of a science project to see if there would be any difference in the growth of plants being watered with water boiled on the stove and water brought to the boil in a microwave.   It was thought that the structure or energy of the water brought to the boil in the microwave may be compromised.  The problem with microwaved anything is not the radiation people used to worry about, it's how it corrupts the DNA in the food so the body cannot recognize it. This corruption kills the good nutrition in our foods leaving us with dead food.  So the body wraps it in fat cells to protect itself from the dead food or it eliminates it fast. Think of all the Mothers’ heating up milk in these "Safe" appliances.   There was an incident in Canada where a nurse warmed up blood for a transfusion patient and accidentally killed the patient when the blood went in dead.  There are pictures of living plants dying after being watered with microwave treated water and this should be a warning to us all that some things are not necessarily in our best interest to use, remember YOU are also LIVING.  If you wouldn’t put oil in your car’s fuel tank then be sure to offer your body the right fuel, going through the best processes possible for ultimate health and enjoyment of life and living.

Turbo ovens
At fusspot’s we warm food in portable round glass ovens as pictured.  They are great little ovens and surprisingly quick to warm foods in.  Fusspot  wants our food to have all the nutrition it was made with, to serve you food with integrity.  Oil in the fuel tank of a car will eventually cause the car to break down, food without nutrition will eventually cause your body to break down.   Have you tossed out your microwave oven yet?  After you throw out your microwave you can replace it with a toaster oven or a round turbo oven like those in the photos. They work extremely well though they may take a little longer they are still quick to heat food.  These ovens are available on the shop from home channel or in most of your white goods outlets.  Try one they are fabulous.

Aspartame and all those artificial sweeteners
The Sweet Deception
All too often when reading labels we see the words “sucrose” or “artificial sweetener” or “sugar replacement” or “sugar free”.  What a great couple of words, or are they?  Sucrose is actually another word for refined table sugar.  We are not told that those other sweeteners are aspartame or equal or nutrisweet, (which are all aspartame).  We think no sugar so it is OK.  Not quite.  Look out for the words “diet” as in “diet drinks” and all those products with the word “diet” in front of them.  We really don’t know enough about what is in these artificial sweeteners to be so trusting of their use, and also if it is artificial it can’t be good for our bodies. 

If you're like most people trying to move away from sugar, you reach for a sugar substitute because you've been told it's good for you, or at least it’s better than having sugar.  That it would save you from the evils of sugar, and that it would even help you trim off those extra kilos. Unfortunately this is not quite true, not in any shape or form.

Aspartame is one of the most dangerous substances ever added to our food and drinks. Not only has aspartame been proven to make you fatter, it's been proven to cause some pretty serious diseases, not the least of which are cancer and neurological diseases.

Aspartame is a non caloric sweetener used in a number of foodstuffs throughout the world.  It is a white, odorless powder around 200 times sweeter than sugar, and has the same number of calories per gram as table sugar. NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful and Equal Measure are the brand names of Aspartame and it is labelled as 951 in the ingredient listings on our foods.   Side effects and health problems associated with aspartame are due to our body breaking it down into two common amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalanine and a third dangerous substance, methanol.   This process can cause our bodies to break down slowly over time, or it can be instant, or can bring about acute reactions so severe your doctor won’t know what to relate your health issues to or how to treat the various effects this artificial product is imposing on your body.

A Public Board of Inquiry (PBOI) consisting of three scientists charged with examining the relationship between aspartame and brain cancer was summoned by the FDA, in early 1980. It was concluded by The PBOI that aspartame does not cause brain damage, but it suggested against approving aspartame at that time, citing unanswered questions about cancer in laboratory rats. Until more testing was done under its authority, it also cancelled approval for aspartame to be part of dry foods. On July 18, 1981, the FDA Commissioner, Arthur Hull Hayes, reversed the board judgment and approved aspartame's use in dry foods. In 1984, The FDA announced that no proof has been found to establish that aspartame's methanol by-product reaches toxic levels, claiming that "many fruit juices contain higher levels of the natural compound."  The difference being that our bodies are designed to deal with naturally occurring compounds, not synthetically designed products. 

In 1978 the Medical World News reported that the methanol content of aspartame is 1,000 times greater than most foods under FDA control. Aspartame intake is shown by animal studies to alter brain chemicals affecting behaviour, according to independent tests. The NutraSweet/carbohydrate combination increases the sweetener's effect on brain composition was founded by Wurtman's pilot studies.  The side effects of aspartame fell into two distinct categories: central nervous system (65%) and gastrointestinal disorders (24%).

It was believed that the study only confirmed the need for testing on humans. In independent tests aspartame aggravated spasms in laboratory animals. In 1985, an alliance of customer groups were handed a ruling by the Federal Circuit Court of requests for the District of Columbia stating that, in the opinion of the Court, the FDA had pursued proper procedures in approving aspartame for use in foods and soft drinks. A year later, it was reported by Washington Post that the Supreme Court refused to consider arguments the contrary "despite critics' arguments that the product, sold under the brand name NutraSweet, may cause brain damage."

If you know anyone who “Diet” foods and drinks such as yoghurts, soft drinks, meals and other foods, please, please show go online and google artificial sweeteners, aspartame and the like for more information.  There are serious health risks related to the consumption of “DIET” foods and artificial sweeteners.

The real message here folks is that at some point we all need to take responsibility for our own choices.  My health was really suffering and when I started to take notice of how I felt after eating certain foods I realised that the feelings we take to be the norm or even discarding it as just getting older are actually not the norm or from just simply aging at all.  These feelings were my body telling me I was going down a one way track.  If I didn’t sit up and take notice I just might go too far and not be able to make it back.  I have been watching my food and being very careful about what I put into my body, because you know what, it is the only body I have and if I don’t look after it it definitely won’t be able to look after me.  I hope you enjoy the food here at the cafe.