September Is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month!

Approximately 12,400 U.S. children will be diagnosed with some form of cancer this year.

According to the National Cancer Institute, approximately 12,400 U.S. children will be diagnosed with some form of cancer this year. About one in 300 boys and one in 333 girls will develop cancer before the age of 20. The statistics become even greater because there are so many health problems that come with the cancer diagnosis that are life long. Although cure rates are steadily improving, pediatric cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease in children under the age of 15, claiming approximately 3,000 young victims each year.

This month, families, medical and charitable organizations across the nation will shine a spotlight on the various types of childhood cancer and raise funds for research aimed at treating and finding a cure for this heartbreaking disease.

In May, the President's Cancer Panel released a comprehensive, strongly worded 240-page report that examined environmental causes of cancers. The Panel warned, "the true burden of environmentally induced cancers has been grossly underestimated" and advised the President to "use the power of your office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water, and air that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our nation's productivity, and devastate American lives."

The science is in and we don't need to wait for the President to do something about this.

Prevention is the best cure: Prevention should always be the focus of any health-care and parenting protocol. Minimizing the exposures that cause disease is much more effective, and less painful than treating the disease after the fact.

Here are a few tips you can incorporate into your family's daily life.

1. Switch out traditional cleaning products for non-toxic ones. Visit www.ImusRanchFoods.com for our line of Greening the Cleaning (r) household products, and healthy organic snacks.

2. Make healthy food choices: Eat whole foods as the bulk of your diet. Whole foods are unprocessed, unrefined and don't contain added ingredients.

3. Consider integrative medicinewhen appropriate, which blends conventional medicine with complementary alternatives such as acupuncture, homeopathy, massage and reiki.

4. Educate your child: especially tweens and teens, on choosing healthy personal care products. Teens For Safe Cosmetics and my latest book, The Essential Green You! provide resources to help.

5. Get fresh air and exercise every day: which will lower chances of obesity, wards off stress, and naturally boosts Vitamin D levels.

6. Yearly Child Environmental Exposure Check Up: I recommend your children get a yearly check up that includes a brief discussion of your child's potential exposures to environmental toxins in their environment at home, school, playground, sports, anywhere they spend a lot of time. This should also include a focus on your child's diet/food. These tests are usually a combination of urine and full blood work up that check levels of pesticide exposure; toxins such as cadmium, antimony, lead, mercury, aluminum, phthalates, BPA's; PCB's and also includes checking nutritional levels such as vitamin B, vitamin D3, iron, and zinc to make sure your child is optimized for detox/excretion. You can head off potential health problems if you know where your child's levels are at. For example, if your child has a low or deficient Vitamin D3 level then your pediatrician can recommend proper supplementation.

Presidential Proclamation --

National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, 2012

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/08/31/presidential-proclamation-national-childhood-cancer-awareness-month-2012

Posting source: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/09/10/september-national-childhood-cancer-awareness-month/

Agent Orange has caused serious medical issues for our Vietnam Veterans.

Vietnam Veterans are still suffering the effects of exposure to Agent Orange!

A substance known as Agent Orange (AO) is still killing Vietnam veterans after all these years.  If you know and love a Vietnam War veteran, this post has important information that should be forwarded to everyone who “had boots on the ground” in Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

Benefits may be available for the over-65 wartime veteran and/or spouse of a veteran who is burdened with long term care costs due to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or other age-related long term disabilities.  This benefit helps pay for home care, assisted living facility care, and nursing home care.


Agent Orange was an herbicide which was liberally sprayed all over Vietnam to defoliate the tropical forest.  It was believed that defoliation was necessary so that enemy troops infiltrating from North Vietnam would be more visible from the air.  Unfortunately for our servicemen, servicewomen, and the civilian Vietnamese population, our government chose to buy the “cheap stuff” which was filled with dioxins.

Agent Orange is very similar to some commonly used agricultural herbicides and  brush killers known as 2,4,D and 2,4,5,T.  In its proper form it is harmless to humans.  These chemicals have been used extensively within the United States on roadsides, pastures, and parks.  

Within the United States the dioxins have been removed from the final product. 

Unfortunately, when some government purchasing agent asked for the lowest price bid for this substance to be delivered as a weapon of war, they did not specify that it needed to be dioxin-free.”

Due to the presence of dioxins and the passage of almost 40 years, there are now many diseases that have now been conclusively linked to AO exposure.  When contracted by a Vietnam War veteran, they are now presumed to have been caused by AO.  A Vietnam vet must prove that he or she “had boots on the ground” in Vietnam to receive these medical and monetary benefits.  The benefits can be of assistance to both the veteran and the surviving spouse.  The list of diseases is scattered throughout the official government documents and the VA regulations.  Here is a consolidated a list of diseases which are presumed to have been caused by Agent Orange exposure.  Click here to find this information: vietnam-vet-conditions-list

If you need help with filing a claim or have any questions regarding Agent Orange exposure click on this link, Veterans Service Organizations are available to assist you.

Many of our Marines and Special Forces units did have “boots on the ground” in Vietnam, but their service record shows they were stationed outside of Vietnam on ships or in other countries.  The veteran can prove his or her presence in Vietnam by supplying an affidavit from a fellow service person.  This is called a “Buddy Statement.”

Source:  http://ricksblog.lawelderlaw.com/the-vietnam-vet-assassin/

Vietnam War: Facts, Stats & Myths!

Interesting facts and myths about the Vietnam War!

9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the official Vietnam era from August 5, 1964 to May 7, 1975.

2,709,918 Americans served in uniform in Vietnam.

Vietnam Veterans represented 9.7% of their generation.

240 men were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.

The first man to die in Vietnam was James Davis, in 1961. He was with the 509th Radio Research Station. Davis Station in Saigon was named for him.

58,148 were killed in Vietnam.

75,000 were severely disabled.

23,214 were 100% disabled.

5,283 lost limbs.

1,081 sustained multiple amputations.

Of those killed, 61% were younger than 21.

11,465 of those killed were younger than 20 years old.

Of those killed, 17,539 were married.

Average age of men killed: 23.1 years.

Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old.

The oldest man killed was 62 years old.

As of January 15, 2004, there are 1,875 Americans still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.

97% of Vietnam Veterans were honorably discharged.

91% of Vietnam Veterans say they are glad they served.

74% say they would serve again, even knowing the outcome.

Vietnam veterans have a lower unemployment rate than the same non-vet age groups.

Vietnam veterans' personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent.

87% of Americans hold Vietnam Veterans in high esteem.

There is no difference in drug usage between Vietnam Veterans and non-Vietnam Veterans of the same age group (Source: Veterans Administration Study).

Vietnam Veterans are less likely to be in prison - only one-half of one percent of Vietnam Veterans have been jailed for crimes.

85% of Vietnam Veterans made successful transitions to civilian life.

Common Myths Dispelled:

Myth: Common belief is that most Vietnam veterans were drafted.
Fact: 2/3 of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers. 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. Approximately 70% of those killed in Vietnam were volunteers.

Myth: The media have reported that suicides among Vietnam veterans range from 50,000 to 100,000 - 6 to 11 times the non-Vietnam veteran population.
Fact: Mortality studies show that 9,000 is a better estimate. "The CDC Vietnam Experience Study Mortality Assessment showed that during the first 5 years after discharge, deaths from suicide were 1.7 times more likely among Vietnam veterans than non-Vietnam veterans. After that initial post-service period, Vietnam veterans were no more likely to die from suicide than non-Vietnam veterans. In fact, after the 5-year post-service period, the rate of suicides is less in the Vietnam veterans' group.

Myth: Common belief is that a disproportionate number of blacks were killed in the Vietnam War.
Fact: 86% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasians, 12.5% were black, 1.2% were other races. Sociologists Charles C. Moskos and John Sibley Butler, in their recently published book "All That We Can Be," said they analyzed the claim that blacks were used like cannon fodder during Vietnam "and can report definitely that this charge is untrue. Black fatalities amounted to 12 percent of all Americans killed in Southeast Asia, a figure proportional to the number of blacks in the U.S. population at the time and slightly lower than the proportion of blacks in the Army at the close of the war."

Myth: Common belief is that the war was fought largely by the poor and uneducated.
Fact: Servicemen who went to Vietnam from well-to-do areas had a slightly elevated risk of dying because they were more likely to be pilots or infantry officers. Vietnam Veterans were the best educated forces our nation had ever sent into combat. 79% had a high school education or better.

Myth: The common belief is the average age of an infantryman fighting in Vietnam was 19.
Fact: Assuming KIAs accurately represented age groups serving in Vietnam, the average age of an infantryman (MOS 11B) serving in Vietnam to be 19 years old is a myth, it is actually 22. None of the enlisted grades have an average age of less than 20. The average man who fought in World War II was 26 years of age.

Myth: The common belief is that the domino theory was proved false.
Fact: The domino theory was accurate. The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand stayed free of Communism because of the U.S. commitment to Vietnam. The Indonesians threw the Soviets out in 1966 because of America's commitment in Vietnam. Without that commitment, Communism would have swept all the way to the Malacca Straits that is south of Singapore and of great strategic importance to the free world. If you ask people who live in these countries that won the war in Vietnam, they have a different opinion from the American news media. The Vietnam War was the turning point for Communism.

Myth: The common belief is that the fighting in Vietnam was not as intense as in World War II.
Fact: The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II saw about 40 days of combat in four years. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. 58,148 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.7 million who served. Although the percent that died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World War II. 75,000 Vietnam veterans are severely disabled. MEDEVAC helicopters flew nearly 500,000 missions. Over 900,000 patients were airlifted (nearly half were American). The average time lapse between wounding to hospitalization was less than one hour. As a result, less than one percent of all Americans wounded, who survived the first 24 hours, died. The helicopter provided unprecedented mobility. Without the helicopter it would have taken three times as many troops to secure the 800 mile border with Cambodia and Laos (the politicians thought the Geneva Conventions of 1954 and the Geneva Accords or 1962 would secure the border).

Myth: Kim Phuc, the little nine year old Vietnamese girl running naked from the napalm strike near Trang Bang on 8 June 1972 (shown a million times on American television) was burned by Americans bombing Trang Bang.
Fact: No American had involvement in this incident near Trang Bang that burned Phan Thi Kim Phuc. The planes doing the bombing near the village were VNAF (Vietnam Air Force) and were being flown by Vietnamese pilots in support of South Vietnamese troops on the ground. The Vietnamese pilot who dropped the napalm in error is currently living in the United States. Even the AP photographer, Nick Ut, who took the picture, was Vietnamese. The incident in the photo took place on the second day of a three day battle between the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) who occupied the village of Trang Bang and the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) who were trying to force the NVA out of the village. Recent reports in the news media that an American commander ordered the air strike that burned Kim Phuc are incorrect. There were no Americans involved in any capacity. "We (Americans) had nothing to do with controlling VNAF," according to Lieutenant General (Ret) James F. Hollingsworth, the Commanding General of TRAC at that time. Also, it has been incorrectly reported that two of Kim Phuc's brothers were killed in this incident. They were Kim's cousins not her brothers.

Myth: The United States lost the war in Vietnam.
Fact: The American military was not defeated in Vietnam. The American military did not lose a battle of any consequence. From a military standpoint, it was almost an unprecedented performance. General Westmoreland quoting Douglas Pike (a professor at the University of California, Berkeley), a major military defeat for the VC and NVA.

Statistics from the Combat Area Casualty File (CACF) as of November 1993 (the CACF is the basis for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, aka The Wall)

Average age of 58,148 killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. Event date is used instead of declared dead date for some of those who were listed as missing in action).

Deaths Average Age
Total: 58,148, 23.11 years
Enlisted: 50,274, 22.37 years
Officers: 6,598, 28.43 years
Warrants: 1,276, 24.73 years
E1 525, 20.34 years
11B MOS: 18,465, 22.55 years

Interesting Census Stats and "Been There" Wanabees:

1,713,823 of those who served in Vietnam were still alive as of August, 1995 (census figures).
During that same Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served in-country was: 9,492,958.
As of the current Census taken during August, 2000, the surviving U.S. Vietnam Veteran population estimate is: 1,002,511. This is hard to believe, losing nearly 711,000 between '95 and '00. That's 390 per day. During this Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served in-country is: 13,853,027. By this census, FOUR OUT OF FIVE WHO CLAIM TO BE VIETNAM VETS ARE NOT.The Department of Defense Vietnam War Service Index officially provided by The War Library originally reported with errors that 2,709,918 U.S. military personnel as having served in-country. Corrections and confirmations to this errored index resulted in the addition of 358 U.S. military personnel confirmed to have served in Vietnam but not originally listed by the Department of Defense (All names are currently on file and accessible 24/7/365).

Isolated atrocities committed by American Soldiers produced torrents of outrage from anti-war critics and the news media while Communist atrocities were so common that they received hardly any media mention at all. The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians while North Vietnam made attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy. Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while Communists who did so received commendations. From 1957 to 1973, the National Liberation Front assassinated 36,725 Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. The death squads focused on leaders at the village level and on anyone who improved the lives of the peasants such as medical personnel, social workers, and school teachers. - Nixon Presidential Papers.

The United States Did Not Lose The War In Vietnam, The South Vietnamese Did. Read On...

The fall of Saigon happened 30 April 1975, two years AFTER the American military left Vietnam. The last American troops departed in their entirety 29 March 1973.

How could we lose a war we had already stopped fighting? We fought to an agreed stalemate. The peace settlement was signed in Paris on 27 January 1973. It called for release of all U.S. prisoners, withdrawal of U.S. forces, limitation of both sides' forces inside South Vietnam and a commitment to peaceful reunification. The 140,000 evacuees in April 1975 during the fall of Saigon consisted almost entirely of civilians and Vietnamese military, NOT American military running for their lives. There were almost twice as many casualties in Southeast Asia (primarily Cambodia) the first two years after the fall of Saigon in 1975 than there were during the ten years the U.S. was involved in Vietnam. Thanks for the perceived loss and the countless assassinations and torture visited upon Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians goes mainly to the American media and their undying support-by-misrepresentation of the anti-War movement in the United States.

As with much of the Vietnam War, the news media misreported and misinterpreted the 1968 Tet Offensive. It was reported as an overwhelming success for the Communist forces and a decided defeat for the U.S. forces. Nothing could be further from the truth. Despite initial victories by the Communists forces, the Tet Offensive resulted in a major defeat of those forces. General Vo Nguyen Giap, the designer of the Tet Offensive, is considered by some as ranking with Wellington, Grant, Lee and MacArthur as a great commander. Still, militarily, the Tet Offensive was a total defeat of the Communist forces on all fronts. It resulted in the death of some 45,000 NVA troops and the complete, if not total destruction of the Viet Cong elements in South Vietnam. The Organization of the Viet Cong Units in the South never recovered. The Tet Offensive succeeded on only one front and that was the News front and the political arena. This was another example in the Vietnam War of an inaccuracy becoming the perceived truth. However, inaccurately reported, the News Media made the Tet Offensive famous.

Credit: Capt. Marshal Hanson, USNR (Ret.)
and Capt. Scott Beaton, Statistical Source

Creative Designs by Leah S. Livezey

Enjoy Opal's Jewels by Leah at Creative Designs!

Creative Designs is helping others while creating lasting memories. They will be donating a portion of their profits to many different areas, such as one month we will donate to Relay for Life (general cancers).

Their products include: Frames, glassware, mirrors, jewelry boxes, custom wedding/engagement pieces, awareness gift bags (your choice of awareness or message if you choose to include one), custome tee shirts, notebooks, stationery, gift packages are available (ask for list or products and prices).

Coming soon-Awareness related products in metal/wood/glass and more!

New Spring/Summer products:
Awareness Ribbons and "In Loving Memory" designs
Embellishing Glasswares, Frames, Notebooks, Jewelry boxes, cd jewel cases, and so much more!
Visit CreativeDesignsnMore to see pictures of scrapbook pages done by Leah S. Freed; our designer.

Creative Designs is located at:

518 S. Farview Ave Second Floor
Hatfield, Pennsylvania 19440

Tue - Sat: 12:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Email: creativedesignsnmore@yahoo.com
Website: http://creativedesignsnmore.webs.com/

Founded and Operated by:

Leah S Freed or Creative Designs page.
Friend request "us" at CreativeDesignsnMore
https://www.facebook.com/CreativeDesignsnMore

Hope to see you soon!



There is something for everyone at Creative Designs. I recommend it to anyone who needs that special gift or entire wedding party gifts. Remember a portion of the proceeds goes to charity so buy your gifts here and help support charities everywhere.

August is Agent Orange Awareness Month!

Our Vietnam Veterans are suffering from Agent Orange exposure and we need to raise awareness!


In August of 2009 the house passed the bill that would make the month of August Agent Orange Awareness Month. Below is the bill that was proposed and passed, it includes statistics on Veterans and the exposure.

S.RES.248 -- Designating the month of August 2009 as `Agent Orange Awareness Month'. (Agreed to Senate - ATS)

SRES 248 ATS

111th CONGRESS

1st Session

S. RES. 248

Designating the month of August 2009 as `Agent Orange Awareness Month'.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

August 6, 2009

Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mr. BEGICH, Ms. SNOWE, Ms. MURKOWSKI, and Mr. ROCKEFELLER) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to

---

RESOLUTION

Designating the month of August 2009 as `Agent Orange Awareness Month'.

Whereas between 1964 and 1973, 8,744,000 men and women bravely served our Nation in the Vietnam War;

Whereas an estimated 2,600,000 service men and women may have been exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam;

Whereas Agent Orange is an herbicide that was used during the Vietnam War to kill unwanted plant life and remove leaves from trees that provided cover for the enemy;

Whereas the United States military sprayed more than 19,000,000 gallons of herbicide throughout South Vietnam, with Agent Orange accounting for approximately 11,000,000 gallons of this amount;

Whereas Agent Orange is an extremely toxic substance that contains dioxin;

Whereas the Department of Veterans Affairs has recognized that certain cancers and other health problems are associated with exposure to Agent Orange;

Whereas John Baldacci, the Governor of the State of Maine, has proclaimed August 2009 as `Agent Orange Awareness Month' for that State;

Whereas the State of Alaska has 76,000 veterans, the highest population of veterans per capita, with 26,000 of these being veterans of the Vietnam War; and

Whereas, as a Nation, we are deeply grateful and thankful for those men and women who bravely served during the Vietnam War: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate--

(1) designates the month of August 2009 as `Agent Orange Awareness Month';

(2) calls attention to those veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange and the adverse effects that such exposure has had on their health;

(3) recognizes the sacrifices that our veterans and servicemembers have made and continue to make on behalf of our great Nation, especially those veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange;

(4) reaffirms its commitment to our Nation's veterans; and

(5) does not, by this resolution, authorize, support, or settle any claim against the United States.

Warning About Bottled Water Kept in the Car!

A Warning of leaving plasic drinks bottles in your hot car.

I have heard from many sources about the probem of increased cancer risk from drinking from plastic containers left in hot cars. 

On the Ellen show, Sheryl Crow said this is what caused her breast cancer.

It has been identified as the most common cause of the high levels of dioxin in breast cancer tissue.

Sheryl Crow’s oncologist told her: women should not drink bottled water that has been left in a car.

The heat reacts with the chemicals in the plastic of the bottle which releases dioxin into the water. Dioxin is a toxin increasingly found in breast cancer tissue.

So please be careful and do not drink bottled water that has been left in a car.

This information is the kind we need to know that just might save us! Use a stainless steel canteen or a glass bottle instead of plastic!

LET EVERYONE WHO HAS A WIFE / GIRLFRIEND / DAUGHTER KNOW PLEASE!

This information is also being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center

No plastic containers in microwave.

No water bottles in freezer

No plastic wrap in microwave.

A dioxin chemical causes cancer, especially breast cancer.

Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don’t freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic.

Recently, Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers… This especially applies to foods that contain fat.

He said that the combination of fat, high heat =2 0 and plastic releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body… Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food.. You get the same results, only without the dioxin.

So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn’t bad but you don’t know what is in the paper. It’s just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons…  Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran wrap, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high Heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food.

Cover food with a paper towel instead.

http://firstaidinstructor.wordpress.com/2009/05/11/a-warning-of-leaving-plasic-drinks-bottles-in-your-hot-car/ 

Medal of Honor Created, July 12, 1862

On 12 July 1862, Pres. Lincoln signed into law the bill creating the army Medal of Honor.

Six months earlier, on 21 December 1861, the president had approved the creation of the same medal for the navy. The Medal of Honor is the United States’ highest military decoration. It is awarded for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against any enemy of the United States . . .”

Did you know the following facts about the Medal of Honor?

• There are currently 3,459 recipients of the Medal of Honor, 81 of whom are still living.
• 19 men received the Medal of Honor twice; 5 of these received both the army and navy medal for the same action, and 14 received it for 2 separate actions.
• The president of the United States awards the Medal of Honor personally, on behalf of Congress.
• There are three Medals of Honor: one for the army, one for the air force, and one for the navy, marine corps, and coast guard.
• Although it is sometimes called the Congressional Medal of Honor, the actual name is simply the Medal of Honor.
• Almost half of the Medals of Honor (1,522) were awarded for actions during the Civil War.
• The first Medal of Honor was awarded to Jacob Parrott in March 1863; but in 1894 the medal was retroactively awarded  to Bernard Irwin for his heroism 33 years earlier (in 1861), making making his actions chronologically the first to deserve the Medal of Honor.
• Only one woman—Dr. Mary Walker—has received the Medal of Honor (in 1865).
• Upon investigation and review, in 1917, 911 names were removed from the Medal of Honor list; some were later reinstated.
• After 1918, recipients had to be serving in the U.S. armed forces to qualify for the Medal of Honor; after 1942, the medal had to be awarded for actions during combat.
• Over 60 percent of the Medals of Honor since World War II have been awarded posthumously.
• Dakota Meyer is the most recent living recipient (received the medal in 2011 for actions in 2008). He is the third living person to receive the medal since the Vietnam War.

For more information about the Medal of Honor and its recipients, visit the websites of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society and the U.S. Army. To watch or listen to interviews with Medal of Honor recipients, visit the Pritzker Military Library website. 

Today is National Chocolate Day!

July 7th is National Chocolate Day, a good reason to enjoy chocolate!

Chocolate — it’s one of the most popular sweets of all time.  But why do we love it so much?  Maybe it’s because it tastes so good.  Maybe it’s because it makes you feel happy.  Maybe it’s because there are so many different types.  Oh, who really cares why — we just love it!  July 7 is National Chocolate Day, and we’re celebrating a few things we love about chocolate!

Perfect Consistency Chocolate contains fat–that’s no surprise. The cocoa butter in chocolate gives it a rich, creamy consistency that also transmits the cocoa’s flavor perfectly. It also has a melting point that’s just a bit lower than the average human body temperature, which gives you that melt-in-your-mouth feeling every time you pop a piece of chocolate in your mouth.

Feel Good Food The cocoa beans from which chocolate is made are not, themselves, sweet. The Mayans and Aztecs in Central America and Mexico consumed chocolate as a bitter, frothy drink mixed with chilies. Among the more than 300 chemicals contained in chocolate are a number of ingredients that help explain why we crave it.

Chocolate triggers the release of endorphins and serotonin, which make us feel good. And while no proof exists that chocolate is an aphrodisiac, it does contain the chemical phenylethylamine, a mild mood elevator that our brain produces when we feel happy or in love.

Chocolate contains the chemical  Theobromine which is what makes it toxic for dogs.  Caffeine is also present in chocolate and a toxic component, but in much smaller amounts than Theobromine.  Well, chocolate lovers, fear no more!  We now can with the delicious goodness that is carob.  Carob is a dog-friendly substitute to chocolate with the same great sweet richness that makes chocolate a delight to eat. Made from the pods of a Carob Tree, it is 100% natural and 100% healthy for dogs.

And it’s healthy too!  Carob contains as much vitamin B1 as asparagus or strawberries, the same amount of niacin as lima beans, lentils or peas, and more vitamin A than eggplant, asparagus and beets. It’s also high in vitamin B2, calcium, magnesium and iron.

On July 7^th, when treating yourself to some tasty chocolate don’t forget about your canine companion, throw a little Carob his way – you can indulge together.  Three Dog Bakery offers a grrreat selection of carob treats, such as our Pooch Smooches, Ulti”Mutt” Spots, and the carob dipped Dino Bone. Stock up today!  Your dog will thank you.

Chocolate 101:

• Cacao trees grow around the world in tropical areas.  They grow pods, which contain about 20 to 40 cacao beans.
• The beans are removed from the pods, and then fermented in piles for about one week.  This process allows for the beans to dry out and develop their color and flavor.
• The beans are then taken to the factory and roasted.  Next, they are “hulled” by removing the outside shell from the inside of the bean called the “nib.”
• The nibs are then ground into a chocolate liquor.  Then, the liquor (it’s not alcoholic) is pressed to remove the fat, called “cocoa butter,” and the residual powder is what is mixed in to create different kinds of chocolate.
• Depending on the kind of chocolate (milk, bittersweet, semisweet, etc.) cocoa butter, milk and sugar are added to the chocolate powder.
• White chocolate does not contain the chocolate powder that regular chocolate contains.  It just contains cocoa butter, milk and sugar.

http://threedogblog.com/news/july-7-is-national-chocolate-day/

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/lifestyle/2011/10/its-national-chocolate-day/