Take Your Health Back with Noni!

It just takes a glance around the grocery store to see how much the American diet has changed in the last 50 years. And it just takes looking at the obesity, diabetes, and heart disease statistics to see the impact of that change. Compounding the problem, Americans today spend more time sitting and less time exercising. It’s a sure recipe for steady health decline.

Click Here to Take Back Control of Your Health!

Noni: Your All-Natural Ally In the Fight Against Diabetes

It’s no secret that the modern “Western diet” of processed foods, grain-fed meat, and lots of simple carbohydrates causes health problems — not least of which is type 2 diabetes. But just as diabetes is largely caused by food, certain foods can help restore balance.

One such food is noni fruit, a tropical Polynesian superfood being actively studied for its wide-ranging benefits to the human body, including its ability to help fight type 2 diabetes.

In general, foods that promote insulin resistance and diabetes are high in simple sugars and calories, but low on nutrients. These foods cause blood sugar spikes, inflammation, and excessive fat storage, all of which contribute to diabetes.

By contrast, noni is an extremely low sugar, low calorie food, but more importantly, it’s packed with all kinds of beneficial nutrients that help you feel satiated and full of energy, while actually combating the inflammation behind diabetes.

So Where’s the Research?

We have three kinds of research to draw on, which give us very different information: Scientific, historical, and anecdotal.

Just the Science

First, there’s the scientific research being done to test the impact of noni extract on diabetic animals.One study from the Nigerian Journal of Health and Biomedical Sciences showed that noni could keep diabetic symptoms under control for as long as the test subjects (lab rats) kept taking noni.  

In another study from Japan, the hypoglycemic effects of the chemical constituents of Morinda citrifolia roots were evaluated. One of the extracts “showed a significant reduction of the blood glucose levels.”

Cultural Context

Then we have evidence from McGill University researchers, who were looking for an explanation behind a sudden diabetes increase in New Guinea natives. They found that people who stopped eating noni fruit, part of a traditional diet, were more likely to be diabetic.

Ancient Polynesians used noni fruit as a natural preventative for a wide variety of conditions including high blood sugar. It was important enough that they brought saplings and seeds with them everywhere they settled! Learn more about noni as a “canoe plant” here.

Countless Stories

Our final type of evidence is extremely valid to us, even if it’s not seen as “evidence” as such by the scientific community: it’s the countless anecdotes of people who have seen dramatic change in their blood sugar levels and insulin resistance as a result of eating noni. Here are just a few testimonials:

“We've been using it for the past 6 months and we could not believe the numbers when we went to get our yearly check up with our Doctor! If you have diabetes we promise within 3 weeks of taking the leather NOT only did the daily glucose levels drop by a hundred (it was in the 175-225 range) the A1C number dropped to 7.2! Cut the insulin in half...and hopefully perhaps can get off it completely.  I take one 2x2 inch in the morning drop one in my hydro flask and drink it through the day and another at night before brushing my teeth. Yes, taking it three times can be quite expensive but can you put a dollar value on your health?”

“I was on Kauai last year and found these products at a Farmer’s Market. I have been using them for one year now and had to come back to visit the farm. I was a mess a year ago. Since eating the Noni Fruit Leather and using the lotions, everything changed. I lost 50 pounds, my diabetes and high blood pressure are normal and the pain in my feet is gone!! This stuff works – ask my husband!!”

Where Can I Find Noni? Learn how you can easily use noni in everyday life in the original blog!

Noni: The Essential Raw Food for the Health of Seniors

Aging can be frustrating, there’s no doubt about it. Things don’t work the same way they used to, injuries are slower to heal, and it gets harder to build muscle and burn fat. At the same time, your skin changes, your hormones change, your gut changes...and the consequences of the choices you made when you were younger become clear.

But aging is only frustrating if you feel like you’re helpless in the fight, and you are anything but helpless! We’re still only just beginning to understand the role our diet choices, activity level, and mental stimulation play in aging, but it’s clear their impact is major.

Particularly with regards to diet, new information is coming in all the time, including about an unusual Polynesian superfruit with the ability to turn back the clock on aging. Here are just a few of the health benefits raw non-fermented noni fruit has for seniors.

Restores and Revitalizes Skin

Building and maintaining healthy skin takes a lot of nutrients, and noni is packed full of exactly the building blocks your body needs to do so. Among these essential nutrients is anthraquinone, a compound which boosts collagen production (click to learn more). Noni also contains vitamin C and many other antioxidants which help repair and prevent sun damage.

• Fades out age spots & skin discoloration due to sun damage
• Restores youthful, firm skin
• Fills in fine lines, wrinkles, and even stretch marks & scars
• Improves skin texture & brightens complexion
• Provides relief from chronic skin conditions like psoriasis & eczema

How to Use: Apply Noni Lavender Lotion to the skin daily, and supplement with a daily dose of Noni Fruit Leather. You may also use Noni Lavender Lotion or our Noni Aloe Bio Bandage as a more intensive face mask treatment. Great for faces, hands, and any other areas you’d like to firm and tighten.

Learn how to reduce the risk of chronic disease and speed the healing process on the original blog!

Boosts Mood and Energy Levels

Finally, that same compound scopoletin has an impact on your mental health as well. Scopoletin binds to the neurotransmitter serotonin to keep levels elevated. Serotonin regulates mood, sleep, hunger, temperature, and more, so it has a big impact! This is one of the first benefits most people notice after starting to take Noni Fruit Leather.

• Provides a great morning energy boost
• May help with anxiety and depression
• Replaces caffeine

How to Use: All you need to take advantage of this benefit is one 2x2 inch piece of Noni Fruit Leathereach day.

How has noni helped you redefine your relationship with aging? Let us know in the comments!

Try This Mouth-Watering Noni Colada Green Smoothie

Just in time for summer, here’s a smoothie that will instantly make you feel like you’re here in Hawaii with us! You’ll love the fresh, bright taste, the added veggies will ensure the smoothie satisfies, and the Noni Fruit Leather acts as a powerful preventative and restorative on all your body’s systems.

Wait, What’s Noni?

Noni is a south seas fruit that might not look familiar to you. You’ll never find the fresh fruit in your grocery store because it has absolutely no shelf life, starting to ferment within 6 to 8 hours after ripening.

This is a shame, because noni is one of nature’s most powerful foods for healing! It’s been used for thousands of years to help address and prevent countless ailments, from inflammation to diabetes to arthritis. Originally used by ancient Polynesians as a raw food with 165+ beneficial compounds in the pulp of the fruit which are now being studied by modern science, trying to unlock what exactly makes noni such a potent a healer.

We know for sure that raw non-fermented noni pulp has more antioxidants than even the most potent berry or pomegranate — learn more — and a compound called scopoletin, which kills pain, enhances mood, and more. You can learn more about scopoletin and the other beneficial compounds in noni fruit, click here.

In general, by combatting inflammation and free radicals in the body, noni helps fight against the family of diseases known as the “Western diseases.” Learn more by clicking here.

So Where Can I Get Noni?

If you don’t live somewhere you can forage for noni fruit, you’ll have to buy a processed noni product. But not all of these are created equal! Most noni products come in the form of either a juice or a dehydrated powder. Through fermentation and pasteurization, both of these methods destroy the vast majority of the beneficial compounds in the raw pulp of the fruit.

You’re looking for raw noni products, like Noni Fruit Leather from Hawaiian Organic Noni. By never raising the temperature of our dehydrators above 115 degrees, we preserve all the enzymes, antioxidants, and other beneficial compounds in the fruit. Learn more about why it’s so important to have raw noni by clicking here.

Noni Colada Green Smoothie

This recipe is a nutritious, delicious way to get your daily dose of noni. It’s especially great for those who haven’t adjusted to the flavor of noni yet. If you’re having trouble acquiring the taste, click here for some tips! One tip is to blend into a smoothie, which is exactly what we’re doing here!

Scale this smoothie recipe up or down to find what works for you

For the recipe check out the original blog on our website!

What are your favorite recipes using Noni Fruit Leather? Let us know!

The Problem with Drinking your Noni

Imagine walking along the beach in Hawaii one thousand years ago, bare feet in the sand, waves crashing by your side, sun on your back. Sounds nice, right? Now imagine finding a noni fruit, perfectly ripe and ready to eat. For thousands of years, native Polynesians and Hawaiians have praised the noni fruit for its wonderful healing properties. Did they juice this fruit thousands of years ago? Of course not!  According to Captain Cook’s log when he first found Polynesia in the 1700’s , he wrote “They were eating the fruit”. Notice Captain Cook did not write they were drinking the juice. And raw food noni is still the best way to get all the positive benefits. But once noni fruit is picked, it begins to ripen and ferment quite quickly, noni fruit is very difficult to preserve. One solution to this is juicing, but is it the best solution?

Some think so. Noni juice is used across the globe by thousands of people, dozens of different kinds sold by dozens of companies. But it isn’t what it’s made out to be. Why?

What You’re Missing with Noni Juice

The power of noni is in the pulp, and juicing noni takes that away. The juicing and fermentation process destroys key nutrients and enzymes. The noni juices are fermented, pasteurized and must be refrigerated. On top of that, it isn’t even pure noni! In many parts of the world, Noni is called cheesy fruit since the raw, non-fermented pulp tastes like blue cheese. But if noni is allowed to ferment, it smells and taste like a rotten blue cheese ,which doesn’t taste all that great. That is why most noni juices have added other fruit juices to make it more palatable, but diluted. In fact, fermentation destroys all digestive enzymes and about fifty percent of the beneficial compounds found in the raw noni pulp.

And what about pasteurization? Noni juice is most often pasteurized to make it safe to drink. Which means it’s exposed to very intense heat that kills off any harmful bacteria. But pasteurization takes away more than just the bacteria. It destroys all digestive enzymes and antioxidants, along with numerous other beneficial compounds found in raw noni.

So what does all this mean for you? It means you aren’t getting the maximum benefits of noni. It means you are being deprived of the true healing power of noni. It means it might be time to try an alternative.

What’s the Alternative? Learn on the original blog!

How Noni Fruit Leather Naturally Brightens Your Mood

Do you suffer from frequent cases of the blues? Have trouble getting out of bed in the morning or motivating yourself to keep going through the afternoon? These symptoms don’t mean you’re weak — in fact, they mean that you’re persevering against incredible adversity from within your very own body.

Scientists still only have a tenuous understanding of the human mind and how it impacts well-being. What we do know is that the mind is closely linked with the body. Chemical levels in your brain impact how your body feels, and the nutrition you take into your body impacts brain function. A tiny imbalance can have huge impacts on your mood, energy levels, physical symptoms, and more.

We can’t stress enough the importance of food in this equation. In today’s pharmaceutical-driven society, we’re told that the only way to adjust mood is through strong medications with many known common side effects.

But food is nature’s true medicine, and the earth has provided us with many ways to take control of our own mental and physical health — including noni, an unusual tropical fruit that has been used for healing over thousands of years. Modern science is only just starting to unlock noni fruit’s potential to positively impact both mind and body. Here’s what we’ve learned so far!

How Does Food Affect Mood?

Most experts now agree that food is much, much more than a simple equation of input/output, calories in versus calories out. The specific nutrients in food, whether it’s whole, raw food, highly-processed junk, or somewhere in between, impact how your body and brain work together. The effect can be positive or negative, depending on the specific food, your natural brain chemistry, and your context.

Here are some of the known ways that food and mood interact:

Depression

We’ve always known that mental states, depression in particular, impact the way we eat. Sometimes depression causes overeating, sometimes under eating, sometimes a craving for specific foods. But did you know that the foods you eat likewise impact depression?

An unhealthy diet (high in sugar & processed foods) is a major risk factor for depression, according to this study. That means, when you’re depressed, you very well might crave foods that could make your depression worse.

Turning a pattern like this around can be a big challenge, especially because your mind and body will most likely be fighting you. But introducing a simple mood-boosting raw food into your diet, like Noni Fruit Leather, is a low-effort way to start reversing that momentum!

Sugar Addiction

Simple, processed carbohydrates convert very quickly into glucose in the bloodstream, which your body turns into energy. Because those foods convert so quickly and all at once, they put serious strain on your body’s systems for processing sugar.

All that extra sugar might feel good while it lasts (or you might feel shaky, jittery, or manic), but there are some harmful things going on. Particularly if you frequently have a lot of sugar, you’re increasing your risk for the following:

• Type 2 diabetes
• Addiction to sugar
• Increased numbers of “bad” gut bacteria
• Weakened immune response
• Inflammation-related diseases

Plus, when the crash inevitably does come, you’re likely to wind up feeling even worse. If you reach for sugar for another mood and energy boost, you keep that addictive cycle going.

Brain Food

Then, of course, there are the many nutrients that actually have a positive impact on mood. In particular, omega-3 fatty acids are linked to reduction in anxiety and depression. They’re also widely known to be brain food.

Another nutrient you may have heard less about is selenium. A study from Texas Tech University showed that selenium supplementation of 200 micrograms a day for seven weeks improved mild and moderate depression in 16 elderly participants. Other studies have reported an association between low selenium intakes and poorer moods. Did you know noni fruit is a good source of selenium?

In general, if you eat foods that are more nutritionally dense, varied, and complete, your body will have more reserves of beneficial nutrients to send to your brain. Whatever specific nutrients future scientists link to brain health are certainly found in whole, raw foods like noni!

Noni

One of the first benefits many new Noni users notice is a mood and energy boost. I’ve been taking noni every day for many years, and I still love the pick-me-up it gives me. It’s perfect before a workout. But what is it about noni fruit that makes this mood lift possible?

Scopoletin & Serotonin

One of the compounds in noni of interest to modern science is scopoletin. Scopoletin is a phytochemical, a biologically active compound that is being studied primarily for its ability to relieve pain.

But scopoletin has another property: mood elevation. The compound is believed to improve mood and provide a little energy lift by binding with serotonin to keep levels elevated. You can learn more about this compound by clicking here.

Blood Sugar Regulation

One of noni’s other widely tested effects is its ability to regulate and stabilize blood sugar levels, even in diabetics. This is likely due in part to its high soluble fiber content. Just don’t make the mistake of taking noni juice, assuming it’s as healthy as Noni Fruit Leather! Besides the fermentation process used to make noni juice which destroys the beneficial nutrients, most noni juice products have added sweet juices and sugars to help improve the foul taste of the rotten and fermented juice. Independent Lab Research has shown our Noni Fruit Leather to be 14x more potent than noni juice.

Want to learn more about how noni fights diabetes? Click here.

Learn how to use noni to brighten your mood and other tips in the original blog!

How do you boost your mood when you’re feeling depressed, stressed, or anxious? Do you use noni? Let us know in the comments.

How Noni Fruit Supports a Thriving Immune System

When I look back at my overall health before I started eating noni fruit every day, and then compare it to my health today, one benefit that really sticks out is the effect it’s had on my immune system. And I’m not alone! Many people report that after taking noni for a few weeks, they “just don’t get sick anymore.”

If you’ve been sideswiped by one too many colds this year, if you suffer from persistent allergies, or if you eat a diet that promotes inflammation in the body (a diet high in grains, sugars, and processed foods), consider giving noni a try!

First, What’s Noni?

Noni is a tree, also known as Morinda Citrifolia, that produces a very unusual fruit, packed full of beneficial enzymes, vitamins, minerals, phenols, and other micronutrients the body needs for optimum health. Over 165 compounds in the pulp of noni are believed to have benefits for the human body. As raw food, noni pulp feeds the cells of the body promoting overall good health.

One of these benefits is its impact on inflammation and the immune response.

How Your Immune System Works

First, a fact that you might not be aware of: the vast majority of your immune system is in your gut. That’s because most of the harmful bacteria, viruses, and other microbes come to us along with our food. Some of these bad guys are killed by the harsh environment of the stomach, and still more are repelled and killed in the intestines, with the help of beneficial bacteria that coexist happily.

But occasionally, a harmful microbe makes it through your semi-permeable intestinal lining and into your bloodstream — where only nutrients are supposed to go. At that time, it’s your immune system’s job to hunt down, isolate, and neutralize the microbe, then memorize it’s description so similar microbes can be killed more quickly in the future.

Learn how the food you eat affects your immunity.

Enter Noni

Noni fruit has a number of benefits for your immune system, due to the large number of anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and nutritious compounds found in the raw pulp of the fruit.

Remember: You can only get access to these beneficial compounds if you eat the noni pulp raw. That means either as fresh unfermented fruit, or as Noni Fruit Leather (a raw, organic product that keeps all the nutrients intact while increasing shelf-life). Noni juice is not raw — it’s fermented and pasteurized, and usually diluted and sweetened as well.

Gut Biota

Noni helps ensure the populations of bad bacteria taking up residence in your gut don’t get out of hand. The fruit contains damnacanthal and scopoletin, two compounds which have been shown to repel microbial parasites, including infectious bacterias like E. coli and Salmonella.

It also provides lots of support for the good bacteria in your gut, due to the high dietary fiber content.

Relieve Inflammation

Chronic inflammation is essentially an immune system that never gets a chance to turn off. When that happens, the immune system becomes fatigued, and therefore less able to do its job. This can lead to more frequent illness, development or worsening of allergies, and even autoimmune disease.

Noni’s high levels of scopoletin reduce inflammation in the body. Scopoletin is also anti-hypertensive, an antihistamine, and a painkiller.

Has noni helped your immune system become stronger and more resilient? Let us know in the comments!

Foraging for Noni

Are you lucky enough to live in or visit a place where noni trees (Morinda citrifolia) grow happily? This resilient, hardy tree can grow throughout the tropics, including Southeast Asia, Micronesia, the Caribbean Islands, Madagascar, and the Pacific Islands, including of course Hawaii!

Part of the reason it’s spread so far is because thousands of years ago, Polynesian settlers brought live plants with them wherever they colonized. Now the range of Morinda citrifolia  is huge — lucky for those of us who love the amazing benefits it has for the human body. Some of us love the taste too, though it definitely needs to be acquired!

You won’t find noni in your local supermarket, because it has no shelf life whatsoever. Once the fruit is picked and ripened, it begins to ferment very quickly. Not only does this fermentation produce a very unpleasant taste, but it also destroys at least 50% of the beneficial compounds in the fruit! Fermentation of noni fruit creates alcohol that destroys enzymes and changes or degrades the many beneficial compounds found in the raw pulp. Fermenting noni creates a wine.

If you want fresh noni, you’ll have to forage for it!

Why You Need Ripe, Raw Noni

Ripe, raw, fresh noni fruit is one of nature’s ultimate foods for healing the body. It’s effective against a wide variety of ailments, including chronic pain & inflammation, depression, and even the broad scope of conditions associated with metabolic syndrome.

The pulp of raw noni fruit contains at least 165 beneficial compounds, including vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids, digestive enzymes, and many others. Curious about what makes the biggest impact? Click here to learn about the top four most beneficial compounds in raw noni fruit!

Notice how we keep specifying “raw” noni? That’s because the vast majority of noni products on the market today are fermented and pasteurized noni juice. Both of those processes destroy at least 50% of the beneficial compounds found in the raw pulp, resulting in a 14x drop in potency.

If you want to access all the benefits noni has to offer, you’ll need to either find a noni tree to pick your own or try our Noni Fruit Leather. Our slow dehydration process allows us to use unfermentedorganic noni pulp and we keep the heat low enough to preserve the beneficial enzymes and antioxidants. Our dehydrator never rises above 115 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to pasteurization, which is more like 150-185 degrees! For this reason, our Noni Fruit Leather is classified as a raw food.

We’re passionate about bringing the power of noni to as many people as possible, as we have seen its ability to change lives time and time again.

The Noni Tree Explained

Morinda Citrifolia is a tree in the coffee family. There’s a misconception out there that noni is a shrub, but in reality it grows up to about 9 meters, or even taller. The leaves are shiny, dark green, and deeply veined with light green. The name “citrifolia” comes from the leaves’ similarity to citrus leaves.

The fruit is what makes the noni tree unusual. Noni is a syncarp, also known as a multiple fruit. That means it’s made up of the fruits of several flowers, which fuse together. Other examples of syncarps are pineapples and jackfruits.

While most fruits start as a flower which then develops into a fruit, noni develops a small fruit first, which looks kind of like a little green pinecone. Then small, white flowers form and come out all over the fruit.

You can learn more about how noni grows and is pollinated by clicking here!

From there, the green fruit keeps growing. As it matures, it starts to turn yellowish white, usually starting at one end. Eventually the fruit changes completely in color to white, at which time it’s ready to pick.

How to Pick Noni for Maximum Freshness

Once you’ve found a noni tree, it’s important to be patient and only take fruits which have turned completely yellow-ish white. If there is even just a hint of green at one end, the fruit is not ready. The fruits along one branch will not mature all at once, so keep looking for fruits with no green at all.

If you pick a green fruit, it will quickly turn black and spoil! White, mature fruits will continue to ripen on the counter. They’re ready to eat when they’re soft like a ripe tomato. Don’t push it too far, or the fruit will start to ferment, destroying the beneficial compounds in the pulp.

Why Can’t I Pick Up Noni Off the Ground?

Searching for ripe noni on the tree can be a pain — but we recommend only picking mature hard fruit from the tree. We do not recommend eating noni fruits off the ground as they are usually fermented and can have bugs inside. Also since fallen fruits are likely to be partially fermented, they will taste bad and have less nutritional benefit.

Animals love to eat fallen noni fruits — they know what’s good for them! The wild roosters on our farm love to forage for newly fallen fruits that have not fermented.

Learn what you can do with your foraged noni in the original article.

What If I Don’t Live Near Noni?

If you don’t happen to live in an area where noni fruit is abundant, and don’t have plans to travel to such a place anytime soon, you can still get your fix of raw, organic noni! But you won’t be able to find the fresh fruits in a grocery store, or have whole fruits shipped to your home.

But you can get Noni Fruit Leather, no matter where in the world you live!

As I explained above, Hawaiian Organic Noni uses only raw, organic noni pulp. We never bring the temperature above 115 degrees because that would kill off many of the antioxidants and beneficial enzymes in the raw fruit.

It’s as close as you can get to picking fresh noni straight from the tree. But we hope you’ll come visit us on our farm sometime, so you can try noni as it was intended to be enjoyed!

Did you try foraging for noni? Tell us about your experience in the comments!

Give Your Body an All-Natural Spring Cleaning

Spring’s in full swing at last! Say goodbye to winter’s aches and pains, dry skin, and gloomy moods, and welcome sunshine, chirping birds, and the start of the growing season!

Of course, spring also comes with its own set of challenges: allergies, the dreaded spring flu or cold, and sore muscles from trying to work off that winter weight! It’s a season for renewal and change — don’t let your body hold you back from your best self this year.

A great way to embrace the warmer weather is to do some spring cleaning...for your body! This doesn’t necessarily mean going on a cleanse, but following these tips can help give you a fresh slate to write the story of this year on!

Drink in Some Sunshine

So many cleanses and detox tips focus on what you eat and drink, but it’s extremely important to drink in your sunshine as well! As you know, sunshine provides vitamin D, a key nutrient that you body can produce by itself — just add sunlight!

Sunshine converts cholesterol in your skin into vitamin D, and all you need is 10 or 15 minutes outside each day to absorb all you need. And with the days getting longer, you have less of an excuse to miss your daily dose. Just watch out for sunburn, and click here to learn how to treat sunburn with noni!

Vitamin D is essential for a healthy immune system, healthy bones, and possibly even weight loss. Plus, if you go outside in the morning, you can improve your circadian rhythms and improve alertness during the day.

Hydrate Away

This is the number one easy way to improve your quality of life for the huge numbers of us who are nearly always slightly dehydrated. All you have to do is squeeze in a few extra drinks of water throughout the day.

If you’re really concerned about hydration, consider cutting out diuretics like coffee and alcohol. There are lots of reasons to cut out these substances, not least of which is your ability to hydrate better without them.

Cutting out liquid calories and replacing them with water will not only help you hydrate, but could also help balance out your blood sugar, reduce your weight, and leave room in your diet for much more nutritious food calories!

Eat Nature’s Bounty

So many of us today are worried about reducing calories, not even realizing that the more serious problem is the need to boost nutrition! Our modern food system is adept at producing high-calorie, nutritionless foods. The only way to fight back is to eat more unprocessed, organic foods.

Eating more plants is a great place to start, particularly leaves, fruits, and roots. If you think that just means eating a ton of salads, think again! We wrote out some tips to incorporate more plants into your diet — click here to check it out.

In particular, upping your intake of raw foods like Noni Fruit Leather can be extremely beneficial in terms of nutrition, detoxification, and weight loss.

Learn how to fight off free radicals and up your dietary fiber intake in the original article.

Get Your Skin Beach-Ready

Of course, you can’t neglect your body’s largest organ in this spring cleaning: the skin! Not only does our skin’s health impact how we feel about our looks, it’s also one of the first organs to show signs of trouble when things are out of balance. Allergies, acne, scarring, and aging are all signs that our bodies aren’t getting what they need.

In thinking about the skin, you have to consider both topical treatments and foods you can eat that contain nutrients your skin needs. For example, rather than torturing your skin with harsh chemicals to fight acne, try using Noni Lavender Lotion as we explain here, which soothes, heals, and rebuilds all at once. But also eat Noni Fruit Leather daily to give your skin the building blocks to build new, healthy skin.

If your skin is already damaged by stretch marks, scars, or even skin conditions like eczema or psoriasis, this one-two punch of both topical and internal use of noni can have a dramatic impact. Don’t give up on your skin — it just needs a little help to return even skin tone, tighten up, and regain its youthful glow.

Get Moving

Surely you didn’t think you were going to get through a post about spring cleaning for your body without touching on exercise? Exercise will make all of the above activities feel easier and more natural, and they will in turn make it easier to motivate yourself to get moving!

Exercise helps detoxify your body by getting your blood and other bodily fluids moving and circulating. This helps the good nutrients get used and stored appropriately in the body, and helps toxins and other junk you don’t need to get flushed through.

The good news is, one of the first benefits of taking raw food noni every day is a consistent energy boost. It’s the perfect quick snack before a workout, as it doesn’t fill you up or slosh around in your stomach, but it gives you a really substantial amount of energy! So that’s it — no more excuses!

How does noni fit into your self-care this spring? How are you committing to your best self?

Easy Tips to Incorporate More Plants Into Your Diet

We all know we’re supposed to be eating our fruits and vegetables — especially whole, raw ones — but it often feels like a seriously uphill battle.

America’s industrial food system encourages us to increase our consumption of industrial foods, full of simple carbohydrates, processed fats, and potentially harmful additives. If it seems expensive, difficult, and time-intensive to buy and prepare raw, whole ingredients, it’s by design.

But fighting back against this system is far from impossible. The biggest step is finding areas in your life where you can make the easiest changes for the biggest impact! These easy ways to get more fresh, raw fruits and veggies will help.

1. Swap Your Morning Coffee for Noni Fruit Leather

Start off first thing in the morning by replacing your morning cup of coffee with a simple raw food that gives you a side-effect free energy boost: Noni Fruit Leather. The best news: that energy boost comes along with tons of antioxidants, beneficial enzymes, and 165+ other beneficial compounds.

An energy boost is one of the first positive effects that many people experience when they start taking Noni Fruit Leather every day. Here on the farm, it’s how we all start the day!

2. Drink Your Greens

If you think green smoothies have to be bitter or flavorless, you simply aren’t doing them right! You can fill your smoothies with delicious, nutritious fruit and still pack in plenty of greens to get the vitamins and minerals you’re looking for.

If you want your smoothies to pack an even more nutritious punch, try blending in a piece of Noni Fruit Leather! We recommend starting your smoothie with your liquid, adding the noni and your greens, and then blending all that together until it’s perfectly smooth. Then you can add your fruit (fresh and frozen) and any thickeners you’d like to use, without having to worry about an unexpected chunk of spinach!

3. Sweeten with Fruit Instead of Sugar

Most Americans today are addicted to sugar. Our bodies are biologically designed to crave sweetness, as it’s a sign of ripeness in nature, signalling peak nutrition and freshness. Unfortunately, in our industrial food system, sweetness often means just the opposite.

Our bodies didn’t evolve to cope with the huge amounts of sugar we ingest today, plus we aren’t used to having access to such a concentrated form of sugar. Modern sugars are stripped of fiber, vitamins, and all the other things that balance out the sugar that occurs naturally in fruits, for example.

Whenever possible, skip the added sugar altogether. If you’re making a recipe that really needs some sweetness, try adding fruit juice or preferably whole raw fruit to sweeten instead of sugar.

Read tips 4 - 7 about how to incorporate plants into your diet in the original article.

8. Preserve the Bounty

One thing that stops many people from eating fresh fruits and vegetables is spoilage. Planning exactly when things will be ripe and ready-to-eat is a skill that takes practice, and it’s extremely frustrating to throw out food — especially if you paid the price for organic, local, non-GMO foods!

Even the most basic food preparation methods can help you extend the shelf-life of these perishable foods, without sacrificing nutrition! Freezing and drying are particularly awesome ways to get more life out of your fresh produce.

9. Bring Nutritious Snacks To-Go

Snacks are the area where most of us cheat the most on our nutritional aspirations, but it’s also one of the greatest opportunities to sub in fresh, raw fruits and vegetables! Whole fruits and veggies make great snacks all on their own, but adding a dip rich in proteins and healthy fats will make them stick.

Noni Fruit Leather also makes a great energy-boosting snack!

10. Reduce Decision Fatigue

Did you know that the human brain can only handle a certain number of tough decisions in a day? There’s a well-documented phenomenon called “decision fatigue” that kicks in when we have to control our impulses too many times in one day.

This can be a big problem if you’re trying to change the way you eat. Many of us are able to start the day strong with good choices, but by the end of the day, we cave in and binge on something sweet, salty, or nutritionless. You aren’t weak — you’ve just reached the point of decision fatigue!

Stocking up on healthy foods instead of junk food is one way you can reduce the number of decisions you have to make, and protect you from a temporary lapse of willpower.

What other ways can you think of to increase the number of fresh, whole, raw fruits and vegetables in your diet? Let us know in the comments!