Monday, March 30, 2009

The Legend of Acai

A satellite image of the mouth of the Amazon R...Image via Wikipedia

Translated from Portuguese by Dr. Tim S. Hollingshead


The legend of acai is a story of sacrifice and love unrequited. It is a bitter sweet story that has its roots in the resplendent lush green jungles that once covered the land where the Brazilian town of Belem now lies. Belem is the capital of the state of Para in the northern part of the country. It sits as a sentinel at the mouth of the world’s greatest and most mysterious river the Amazon as it empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

Many years ago in this region lived a most prosperous tribe of Indians. They had grown so numerous that none dare attack them. They owned “a Boca do Rio Amazona” or the mouth of the river. Because this is a tropical rain forest near the equator the thought of drought in such a bio-diverse and water rich region seems preposterous. However, as we well know, weather cycles exist and although we see them turn more rapidly in these our days it was a rare and completely unexpected occasion for this tribe of Amazon River basin Indians to experience a drought.

The tribe began to suffer from the unusual circumstances brought on by this very rare drought. The rivers and streams used for travel were shriveled to mere trickles. River banks were treacherously deceiving with their pockets of quicksand. The fish were left high and dry to die. Patches of forest dried up and caught fire. The tribe had not prepared for such a time. Life had been so easy when the rains fell regularly and the fish were plentiful and the fruits grew from every tree. Now food became scarce and life became increasingly more stressful and difficult.

The great hunter of the tribe named Chief Itaki worried much over the worsening conditions. His tribe had grown so large and he was unable to feed them all. They were slowly starving to death. Ultimately he came to a very difficult decision. He gathered his tribe together and announced that from that day on any child born would be sacrificed to prevent the tribe from growing any larger. Shortly after Chief Itaki pronounced his decree his own daughter discovered she was pregnant. Her name was Iaca. She was very beautiful with dark piercing eyes and was the chiefs’ only daughter. He adored her and showered her with the most beautiful gifts of the jungle from the rare blue feathers of the blue macaw to the skin of an onca or black leopard. She truly was a princess of the Amazon. The day finally came when Iaca gave birth to her own beautiful daughter. It was a day of joy and a day of terrible sadness. She wanted to hide the baby and send her down river or runaway to the depths of the jungle. But sadly she was unable to protect her baby, Chief Itaki’s only granddaughter from the cruel and harsh decree.

The sweet baby was sacrificed. Iaca was inconsolable and distraught as she cried for three straight days and nights. She remained in her hut praying to Tupa the jungle God that she might show her father another way to help her people and save the tribe without sacrificing any more babies. Then one night as she prayed broken heartedly in her tent she heard the cry of a baby. As she came to the door of her hut she thought she saw her baby smiling, sitting at the base of a great palm bathed in the radiant light of the full moon. At first she was startled by this vision, then without hesitation she darted out into the moonlit night to hold her baby whom she had so dearly loved and missed. She felt her as she held her in her arms and pulled her in tight. Iaca cuddled her tenderly then mysteriously her baby disappeared. Iaca was crushed as she cried mourning for the loss of her baby once again, only this time was too much and Iaca succumbed to a broken heart.

The next day Chief Itaki found her lifeless body, her arms wrapped around the trunk of a palm tree, her face was peaceful with a smile and her eyes were open and strangely fixed upon the upper branches of the palm. The great chief wept. Then Chief Itaki through the tears in his eyes followed the gaze of his daughters’ eyes up into the upper reaches of the palm tree. There to his surprise he saw thin finger like branches covered in dark purple and black berries. He immediately ordered that the fruits be brought down from the top of the tree. They pulled the black pearls of fruit from each fingerling of a branch and mashed the berries into a deep rich purple porridge. They found the berry porridge to be palatable and sustaining. It dampened the pangs of hunger that had haunted the tribes’ people. More berries were found and the tribe was saved from malnourishment and death.

In honor of his daughter he named the berry Acai (Iaca spelled backwards) and rescinded the decree of death saving the babies and the tribe from complete destruction. The tribe honored the great Chief Itaki as he lived the rest of his days in humility and gratitude for his daughter and granddaughter who had sacrificed their lives for the tribe.




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Response to ABC News story about Expensive Super Juices

AçaíImage by Breno Peck via Flickr

Hi, this is Dr. Tim of Dr. Tim's Exotic Juices. It would have been great to have had our products included in Keri Glassman's spot on super fruits.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/30/earlyshow/health/main4903095.shtml

You can see our reasonable priced exotic juice products at www.brazilbotanicals.com. I am retired surgeon and have developed our exotic juices to be 100% juice with each bottle containing 85% of the respective main juice and the remaining 15% a mix of just a couple of other juices to support the flavor profile. I developed this specific formula to be a ready to drink format. In the beginning so many of our customers were mixing our juice with other juices. So, after more market research and experimentation we found our formula to be optimal in providing high concentration, high quality juice to our consumers. In addition to that we are also reasonably priced at just $16.95/bottle. It even gets better when you order 5, 10 or 15 because then you get free shipping.

We work very hard to provide outstanding quality at a great value. Once you open one of our bottles of juice you immediately sense the high quality of our juice through flavor, color and thickness. I would love the opportunity to come on and explain just how different we are. Really, there is no other company in this industry founded and run by a real doctor, nor are there products that match ours in quality and value. We are growing rapidly because of this. We believe that we aren't just selling juice but really trust!

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Saturday, March 28, 2009

The prevalence of obesity seems to be increasing exponentially in the U.S.

We are three months into the new year already. This is about the time that New Years resolutions to lose weight and eat healthy begin to dissolve through frustration, guilt and loss of motivation. Eating healthy and avoiding the temptaion of quick inexpensive fast foods can be challenging. Cheers to those who are sticking to their resolutions. I want to encourage all to stay strong even if you aren't seeing the results you had hoped for by now. I want to share two things I ran across from articles I read. One article addressed the reason that many of us are overweight and the other is a handy little aid to guide you through some fast food decisions.

Dr. Mark Dedomenico medical director of the 20/20 Lifestyles clinic said "The prevalence of obesity seems to be increasing exponentially in the U.S. The average American woman is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 163 pounds, and the typical man is about 5 feet 10 inches and weighs 179 pounds. More than 30 percent of Americans are obese, meaning their body mass index, or BMI, is 30 or higher. Even more shocking is that 63 percent of our population is overweight, according to CDC guidelines. (Adults with a BMI between 25 and 29.9 are considered overweight.)

Despite these shocking statistics, I'm here to tell you that your weight problem is not your fault. In the '60s, our healthy eating habits began to change for the worse. In the U.S., we started replacing the healthy fats in our diets with grains and sugars. We decided that eating a bagel (350 calories and one gram of fat) was healthy. It turned out that eating bagels and other products made from refined flour and sugar makes us hungry for more food, especially carbohydrates.


Today we're deluged with cheap convenience foods that are calorie-dense and easy to grab from the drive-through window on the way home from a stressful day. And those fast-food meals are laden with more calories than many realize. Research shows that the average person underestimates their caloric intake by 600-700 calories per day. That's 4,500 extra calories a week that you think you're not eating. (Remember 3,500 calories equals a pound of body fat.)"

I found this great little book entitled "Eat This, Not That" from the editors of Mens Health magazine. It is small enough to carry around in your car, purse, planner or brief case. It provides actual calorie values to many of the common foods and dishes from fast food restaurants. And it goes beyond that by providing a real list of alternative food choices from many of the same restaurants and others. I recommend that you pick that book up and use it. Don't get bogged down with guilt and or despair. The changes you are undertaking take some time. You can do it!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Retail Locations where Dr. Tim's Juices are Sold

Many of our loyal customers have asked where they can purchase Dr. Tim's Exotic Juices in addition to our web site. We are happy to inform you that the number of retail locations that carry our fine products is on the rise. In the coming weeks, more locations will be added to the list. If you can't find our products in your local grocery or health food stores, don't forget to ask the manager. You can request that they special order it for you!



Harmons: Dr. Tim's Exotic Juices (Acai, Mangosteen, Goji, Noni), Jungle Juice and ISO-5



Bally Total Fitness:Jungle Juice




Albertson's: ISO-5, Jungle Juice

Monday, March 2, 2009

Health & Wealth

The adage “Health is Wealth” is perhaps more true today than at any other time in history. With the global financial sector in freefall and our own US economy so fragile, health has become an even more valuable and reliable commodity than our retirement funds. "Good health has a high value in dollars," says Bruce Pyenson, an actuary at health consultants Milliman.

Many years ago when I was a young undergraduate student an older friend of mine who was a very successful and wealthy business man once told me something that at the time I thought to be such a curious statement. He told me that he would trade everything he had just to get his health back. He was middle aged and suffering from the side effects of type II diabetes. He had lived a good life that was made very convenient by his obvious financial success yet he neglected to invest in his own health.
Since, I have come to appreciate what this good friend had taught me. I hope that more and more people will embrace this concept of investing in their own respective health as a long term strategy. DAN KADLEC IN A SEP 11 2008 TIME MAGAZINE ARTICLE WROTE “the most important steps to retirement security may have more to do with what you give up (fatty foods, cigarettes and more than two alcoholic drinks a day) than with what you sock away. This is one situation in which less means much more. I suggest that eliminating these highly oxidative intrusions to our health is not giving something up so much as it is getting something back; your health. Please take the time to share the health benefits of Dr. Tim’s Exotic Juices with family, friends, neighbors and business associates. You could be helping them with the most important investment they’ll make this year.

When you consider time as a commodity you can leverage your health to optimize your time more so than wealth. Health offers the opportunity to enjoy personal relationships, do good things and provide for yourself and your family. Your true wealth these days is your health.