Mindfl Organic Tea

You may have heard that industrial seed oils are unhealthy. Here, we look into the extent to which these seed oils are unhealthy and what other oil choices you may have with which to cook.
First, what are industrial seed oils? This term refers to oils extracted from seeds, typically safflower (safflower oil), sunflower (sunflower oil), rapeseed (canola oil), soybeans (soybean oil), corn (corn oil), and peanut (peanut oil). The process by which the oils are extracted has received scrutiny, as
* high heats are used (which increases free radicals due to unsaturated fatty acids oxidizing)
* hexane (a petroleum product) is sometimes used in the extraction process
* the oils are deodorized, which leads to the production of unhealthy trans fats.
In addition, industrial seed oils are high in omega-6 fatty acids, which have been linked to inflammation. Health experts recommend omega-6 to omega-3 ratios in consumed foods to be 2-1 or 1-1, but for most Americans the ratios are closer to 10-1 or 20-1.
These industrial seed oils likely cause the most harm not when they are used in home-cooked foods, but when they are consumed in unhealthy fast foods and ultra processed foods. In other words, it’s likely not the oils themselves that are extremely harmful, but the way in which the oils are used in fast foods (deep frying) and the other processing in ultra processed foods.
Most health experts agree that avocado oil, coconut oil, and olive oil are healthier than industrial seed oils, so keep this in mind when you are shopping for cooking oils. Avocado oil is good for high heats, and coconut and olive oil are suitable for low to medium heats
In summary, industrial seed oils are not the healthiest oils to cook with due to the processing involved in extracting the oils. However, these seed oils are not as bad as they have been made out to be, unless they are being consumed in fast food or ultra processed foods. Avocado, coconut, and olive oils are healthier oil options.
Mindfl Tea cares about our customers’ health and well-being, and as such I hope you found this email to be helpful.

Most of us know the pain of jealousy. Your boyfriend or girlfriend smiles at someone else. Your co-worker got the promotion you thought you’d get. Your next door neighbor bought a new expensive car. Younger people have more youthful figures, less gray hair, and fewer wrinkles. Whatever form it takes, it is always painful.
What are some mindfulness approaches to working with jealousy? First, some self-compassion is in order. Jealousy is common and painful to all who feel it, so know that you are not alone. This leads us into a practice we can do when we are feeling jealous: tonglen. In tonglen, we breathe in our own pain and also that of the countless others who also are jealous, and then we breathe out the antidote, which may be sympathetic joy (joy for the person we were jealous of), relief, and acceptance. With tonglen, we take in the pain and send out relief. When we practice tonglen in this way for 5-10 minutes, we may find that our jealousy has transformed into sympathetic joy. But if it hasn’t, don’t be discouraged. Keep practicing with curiosity.
Second, it’s actually possible to uproot jealousy once we bring to awareness its searing pain and the harm it causes. Bring to mind someone you’ve been jealous of in the past week or so. What do you feel? Meanness toward them? anger?
Now, see if you can soften your picture of them. Imagine their own pain, their own suffering, their own vulnerabilities. For example, maybe your neighbor’s vulnerability led to them buying a new expensive car.
Can you see the harm jealousy causes and how unnecessary it is? If not, don’t be discouraged. Keep practicing with curiosity. This can be a challenging practice because we are so accustomed to focusing on ourselves, but it is also a compassionate practice that relieves our own suffering.
I hope you found this email on mindfulness practices for jealousy helpful.
We will be at the Plano Farmers Market this Saturday from 9am to 1pm; hope you see you there! And of course, you can always order online at Mindfltea.com

As part of our mindfulness practice, we often come across present and past difficulties in our relationships. This is because, as we are meditating, the mind quiets from its busyness and we begin to see where we are not accepting, where we are resisting, where we harbor resentment, bitterness, and guilt.

Forgiving the past actions of yourself or someone else means accepting that this is what happened, letting it go, and becoming present. Letting go means you are free of the drama, the resentment, or the guilt. Letting go also means becoming present. And, the converse: becoming present means letting go of resistance to what is or what was.
Forgiveness of someone else is not for the other person; it is for you. It’s the kindest thing you can do for yourself. You may think that your resentful, angry thoughts are harming them, but they’re actually poisoning you. As part of forgiveness, you can also say to yourself, “I would never allow this to happen again.”

Forgiving the present is just as important as forgiving the past. If, in the present moment, you or someone else says or does something that needs forgiveness, then forgive it right then and there by accepting and letting it go. In this way, no resentment and bitterness will build and there will be no drama.

If you make it a habit to forgive the present moment (which is kind to yourself and others), your mind will be as clear and free as the vast blue sky. Why? Because then you won’t spend time in the future replaying, regretting, and thinking resentful thoughts.
Keep in mind that forgiveness, especially for very difficult actions, is a process and in no way am I saying that it’s always this simple and easy. If you want to go deeper into forgiveness, you might try an online course.

Excerpted from one of our emails.

This is an excerpt from one of our emails:

You’re probably familiar with marketing messages about foods that tout their health benefits and claim that science backs up their claims. But did you know that the food industry pays for research studies to be done, which a vast majority of the time find results in favor of the food company?
For example, in the 1990s, NutraSweet, the maker of the artificial sweetener aspartame, funded 74 studies, and all concluded that aspartame was safe. However, among 92 independently funded studies, 84 questioned its safety.
More recently, a systematic search for research funded by Coca-Cola between 2008 and 2016 found 389 articles. These articles typically concluded that physical activity is more important than diet in weight control, that sugars and soft drinks are harmless, that contrary evidence is wrong, and that industry funded research is superior to that of other sources.

There are many more examples of these kinds of conflicts-of-interest studies in the food industry, as detailed in the book Unsavory Truth by Marion Nestle.

An interesting point is: when the researchers are asked about their potential bias, they strongly deny being biased, suggesting that these biases are likely unconscious.
So, when consuming news or research about food studies, be aware that the food industry sponsors much of the research, and that conflicts of interest are rife. Take a lot of the messaging for what it is: marketing. Decent advice to follow is the this quote by Michael Pollan: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

Most people would say that we’re living in challenging times, politically, economically, and socially. How do we maintain our health and well being, and even enjoy life during these challenging times?
On way to do this is through connection; in particular, through keeping a positive attitude and opening our hearts just a little more.
What do I mean by opening our hearts? Opening your heart indicates allowing love and compassion to flow in and out. It also means acceptance of the present moment and forgiveness if this is called for. Finally, it means being open to others’ perspectives. During challenging times, there is a lot of suffering, which makes compassion all the more meaningful and helpful. So, the next time you see suffering, which often manifests as anger, sadness, fear, or pain, meet it with compassion. Ask, “how can I help?”, whether it be for you or someone else.
I hope you enjoyed this brief email on compassion during challenging times. The next time you’re faced with a difficult person or situation, such as anger, disagreements, or triggers, can you pause and allow your heart to open a little more, and accept whatever has occurred? Yes, sometimes unskillful behavior or behavior we disagree with is unpleasant, but recognizing that these behaviors often arise from suffering allows us to respond compassionately and with forgiveness.

With the weather getting hotter, many people are enjoying ice cream for a cold sweet treat. Ice cream, like many other foods, usually contains emulsifiers, so I wanted to explain more about emulsifiers and distinguish among them so that you can choose with more information.
Emulsifiers have a hydrophobic part and a hydrophilic part and are therefore used to create uniform mixing of fats and water-based ingredients in processed foods. To put it more simply: most of us know that oil and water don’t mix, and emulsifiers allow oil and water to mix. These emulsifiers are added to foods to increase shelf life and improve texture. Emulsifiers are typically added to not only foods, but also cosmetics and cleaning agents.
Some common industrial emulsifiers are mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, polysorbates (polysorbate 80, found in ice creams, salad dressings, and baked goods), carboxymethylcellulose (CMC, found in thousands of packaged foods), and carrageenan (found in, for example, some plant milks). Some common natural emulsifiers are lecithin (from egg yolks and soy), mustard, and hydrocolloids (plant gums like pectin and xanthan gum). Guar gum is more of a thickener than an emulsifier but also acts like an emulsifier.

Most emulsifiers are not good for your health. For example, emulsifiers disrupt the mucus lining of the gut, and can cause leaky gut whereby food particles and bacteria exit the gut and lead to inflammation. The worst offenders of this are CMC, carrageenan, and polysorbate 80. Not all emulsifiers are as detrimental for your microbiome, as some natural additives (lecithin and gum arabic) can actually promote the growth of healthy bacteria.
If you look at the ingredients of Blue Bell (the most ingredients), and Haagen Dazs (the fewest ingredients), you can see that Haagen Dazs uses egg yolk as an emulsifier, as it contains lecithin. By contrast, Blue Bell uses 5 emulsifiers, including carrageenan. As you may recall, carrageenan is one of the worst offenders of disrupting the mucus barrier in the gut. Moreover, Blue Bell uses bioengineered food ingredients, which many people try to avoid.
So as you can see there are healthier options even for ice cr

As you may have read in our previous emails, the gut-brain connection plays an important role in health and mental health. Unfortunately, due to the industrialization in modern life (pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides, toxic chemicals, overprescribed antibiotics), many of the beneficial bacterial species that used to colonize peoples’ GI tracts have been lost. For example, in the last 75 years, Lactobacillus reuteri has been lost from 96% of people, leaving only 4% that still have this beneficial bacteria.
So, what’s so great about L. reuteri? Well, it triggers release of oxytocin from the brain, leading to feelings of more connection, empathy, the capacity to see the other side in arguments, and compassion for others’ plights. In addition, L. reuteri leads to a diminished appearance of wrinkles, as it increases dermal collagen. Plus, this helpful bacteria leads to reduced cortisol, more rapid hair growth, and increased libido.
You may be wondering, how can I get this bacteria back in my GI tract? Well, probiotic pills usually aren’t enough as counts are too low, but you can make L. reuteri yogurt, which has sufficient counts to experience the effects described above. Here is a recipe, from Super Gut by William Davis:

Note: children and pregnant women should not eat this monoculture yogurt, as the oxytocin may overwhelm them. I have been eating 1/2 to 1 cup of L. reuteri yogurt daily for the past ten days, and can say my experience agrees with those of others. I feel more connection and warmth with family, and casual interactions with people I don’t know are positive and uplifting. For example, as I was leaving the grocery store this morning, an employee said “have a nice day,” and a surge of joy and connection arose in me.

You may think that one serving of yogurt is all you need to recolonize your gut with L. reuteri. However, this is not the case. For unknown reasons, once the bacteria have been lost, you need to keep ingesting it in order the get the beneficial effects.
I hope you found this email helpful. If you do try L. reuteri yogurt, let me know what your experiences are like! If all this inspires you, why not order some tea to go with your yogurt? I

You may hear the word “mucus” and think “eww!”. However, the mucus that lines the GI tract is crucial for protecting GI tissues and the rest of the body. For example, without mucus lining the stomach, the hydrochloric acid that digests food would digest the stomach itself! And as far as the small and large intestines, the mucus barrier protects against undigested food particles entering the blood and against the trillions of microbes in the intestines from entering the rest of the body by breaching the intestinal wall. It’s only when the mucus lining breaks down or invasive microbes show up that there is direct contact with the intestinal wall.
Although some bacteria are invasive, most of the bacteria in the GI tract are helpful to humans. When humans consume prebiotic fiber, a food for bacteria that is not metabolized by humans, the bacteria metabolize the fiber and release compounds that nourish the intestinal wall cells. In addition, these bacteria that metabolize the prebiotic fiber release compounds that lead to reduced blood sugar, reduced insulin resistance, lower triglycerides, and lower blood pressure.
Most humans these days do not eat nearly enough fiber (especially prebiotic fiber), leading to microbes consuming mucus and a compromised intestinal wall. In addition to fiber, some herbs can stimulate mucus production. For example, cloves produce eugenol which stimulates proliferation of healthy bacteria that stimulate mucus production. In addition, plant polyphenols, in particular the catechins of green tea, cross-link mucus proteins, which leads to the mucus being thicker, less semiliquid, and more like a gel. Studies have shown that this cross-linking protects against infectious microbes and endotoxemia.
So today we’re offering you a recipe for Clove Green Tea (from Super Gut by William Davis) that combines the cloves, green tea, and the prebiotic fructooligosaccharides. Sip it throughout the day and fortify your intestinal lining!
I hope you found this post to be helpful, and let me know if you try the clove green tea recipe!