I was watching my daughter's hamster at home yesterday and it reminded me of a nice little relaxing tool.
Find somewhere quiet and comfortable, close your eyes and simply allow your breathing to slow and deepen for a couple of minutes, or as long as it takes.
Then make a picture in your mind of a hamster running around inside its wheel. Just like your racing thoughts, hamster can't stop running on the spot.
Watch him for a while and see how tired he gets and how all this frantic running is getting him nowhere. Notice that you can't even see the rungs of his wheel because he is running so quickly.
Then see the wheel slowing to a walking pace. Slower and slower he walks until the wheel stops turning round and you can see each rung in detail now.
The hamster is still inside his wheel, but he has turned over onto his back, closed his eyes, and is using the wheel as a hammock, rocking gently backward and forwards, backwards and forwards.
Each time an outside thought intrudes into your head, bring your attention back to the gentle rocking of the wheel, backwards and forwards.
After a while, the rocking stops and the hamster is asleep. Maybe another trick that you can use for nodding off at night too. Though I am always curious about those wheels going nowhere. The hamster never seems to realize that it is running miles and going nowhere fast!
It’s more a way of life than a diet, but when you make a habit of not eating cooked food, you must be careful about not getting infected because your food is not fresh or is infested with bacteria and mold. Raw food organic diets keep you healthy and fit and rid your body of various toxins, but only if you’re careful about your personal hygiene and a stickler for rules when it comes to preparing and preserving your food. So if you’re a raw foodie looking for advice on safe eating habits, read on:
Buy food items from outlets where you know the food is absolutely fresh.
Store all your food items in the refrigerator as soon as you bring them home from the store.
Never leave condiments out of the refrigerator for more than an hour – if you’re using them to prepare a recipe, put them away immediately after you’ve measured the required amount.
Clean your cutting and preparatory cutlery and utensils so that one contaminated food item does not spoil the others.
If you juice most of your food or blend it with other items, ensure that your blender is clean. Wash the blades well so that there are no food particles left behind.
Avoid eating raw animal foods as much as possible – this not only includes meat and poultry but also eggs and dairy products as well. They’re full of bacteria and you could easily get infected.
Don’t store meat products in open containers in your freezer – the bacteria spreads to all other foods that are stored with it.
Avoid eating certain foods raw, like potatoes and grass, unless they are juiced first.
Soak lentils and pulses or wait for them to sprout before you eat them.
If you’re eating out, patronize restaurants that are popular and where you know cleanliness and hygiene are accorded high priority.
Be careful when eating foods like mushrooms, some varieties of which are poisonous. If you’re not sure that it’s safe, don’t eat it.
Raw food diets are most beneficial when you supplement them with nutrients like calcium, protein, iron and Vitamin B12, all of which are found in very limited quantities in food from plant sources which forms the majority of a raw foodie’s diet. So if you want to avoid deficiencies and chemical imbalances, focus on getting all the nutrients you need for good health from alternative sources.
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This guest post is contributed by Kathy Wilson, who writes on the topic of X-Ray Technician School Programs . She welcomes your comments at her email id:
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We hear all the time about this 'superfood' and that 'superfood.' And while they may be great supplements they are not silver bullets for health and wellness. There is NO ONE THING that is the answer to health and wellness. Health is like a jigsaw puzzle. You need all the parts and pieces to get the picture.
To me, 'superfoods' are another way of saying 'sucker.' It's another way to justify charging you a whole lot more than they could otherwise. It's smacks of marketing, pure and simple. It's like the commercials you see on tv that say men and women need different supplements. That's baloney, too.
While I am not supplementation completely, I watch very carefully what I supplement with. I feel that while the foods themselves may be good, supplements - by their very nature - will lose some of that natural goodness. For example, take a vitamin C pill and an orange. Plant both in the ground. Which is capable of growing a tree? That's the one you want. There is some kind of lifeforce in the fruit that is not found in the tablet. That is the stuff of life and health.
Yes, there are superfoods. They are apples, pears, pineapples, avacados, lettuce, wheatgrass, etc.. They are the things Nature/God has given us in their own whole, complete packages. The farther away we move from that natural packaging, the farther away we move from health.
For me, supplements I use are: things to enhance digestion (as we get older, even if we eat raw food, our digestion weakens), cod liver oil/fish oil and wheatgrass tablets. You pick what works for you. But remember, Mother Nature is still best - by far. And inspite of the advertisements and claims to the contrary, what Man makes falls far short.
I am a diabetic (for 20 years), on 8 meds plus a small evening insulin shot. When I found info on the raw food lifestyle, I also found material on reversing diabetes. My doctor & endocrinologist are both supportive of my efforts, surprisingly.
I made it clear that my ultimate goal was to be off most, if not all of my meds. After 3 weeks of green smoothies, not even every morning, and some small changes in diet, I had lost 9 lbs. and felt like I had some energy again. This is definitely incentive!
Thank you for the info you are providing on the internet, and I hope that the legal issues are soon resolved.
Ruth
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Jim's comments:
If I had the money and the resources, it would be great to do one of those big studies like the pharmaceutical companies do of "typical benefits." I'd like to know just what percentage of people see a significant change in their blood sugar levels and energy levels when they convert to a Raw Living Foods program.
During my years as Director of Creative Health Institute every diabetic that went through the program reported a significant reduction in medication, usually within three or four days of starting the program.
The medical community says that treating diabetes is a matter of diet and exercise; well, that's what Dr. Ann Wigmore's Lifestyle Program is all about. It not only changes your diet, it also reduces your stress level and encourages you to get the proper types of exercise on a daily basis, "just what the doctor ordered."
Congratulations to Ruth and to the many others that email me stories about reversing their diabetes - even to the point of getting off their meds - with raw living foods.
VEGAN BODYBUILDERS PROVE MEAT AND MUSCLES AREN'T SYNONYMOUS
Contrary to stereotypes, not everyone who is a vegetarian or a vegan is small and scrawny; a plant-based diet is sufficient for creating a strong, muscular body...
"We can thrive and not just get by," Cheeke said. "The goal should be to feel well and be well. This diet allows you to feel well and also be compassionate for the environment."
A competitive bodybuilder for more than six years now, Cheeke defies the stereotype of what a vegan is supposed to look like. "... all the vitamins, amino acids, protein etc. needed to get stronger can be found in abundance in plant foods. Anything that is a fruit, nut, grain or seed is vegan and there are thousands of those."...
For more information on Robert Cheeke and being a healthy, thriving vegetarian or vegan, check out www.veganbodybuilding.com.
If you are feeling low then just allot the next hour to exercise, the most exerting exercise you can do, even if that just means jogging or walking in place, in one spot, for an hour.
Is staying in shape always something that gets bumped to the bottom of your list? I know many people that complain about not having enough time to exercise. I think they are lying to themselves. The real problem is that they hate exercising, so it will never be a priority.
I used to hate exercising too. Going to the gym, running and most forms of physical activity seemed dull and painful compared to most other ways I could spend my time. But by not giving up and looking for a way I could enjoy working out, I reversed this pattern. Now I exercise 5-6 times per week and I hate not being able to go.
Here are some tips to make exercise something you actually want to do:
Get a Partner - Get someone else to go to the gym with you. Pick someone who is committed to their health. Not only can you socialize with someone while you’re there, but you’ll have a backup in case your motivation alone isn’t enough to drag yourself out there.
Tune Your Challenge Level - Here are two bad ways to start exercising. Go out and run until your winded and dry-heaving into a ditch. Show up to the gym, walk around, don’t do anything strenuous and go back home. In one case you put the challenge level to high, the other wasn’t challenging at all. Your goal is to set a workout routine that is challenging, but not overwhelming. Challenge is key to enjoyment.
Set Goals - Not weight-loss or muscle gain goals, but fitness goals. Set goals to beat your past records in distance ran, push-ups or chin-ups you can do, weight you can lift or degree you can stretch. Fitness goals make the gym a game where you strive to beat your previous high-score.
Get Past Your Comfort Zone - So what if you aren’t the most svelte or muscular person in the gym? Self-consciousness can be a big obstacle to enjoying your workout. The key is to get used to it. When you continue to show up, you’ll pay less attention to the people around you and more to your workout.
Experiment - Don’t stick with the same routine. Mix it up and try different activities. There are many different exercise routines you can follow or activities to try. If you don’t like lifting weights or running, try sports, martial arts or dancing. Assuming that exercise needs to be pumping iron or jogging may limit you from finding something you would truly enjoy.
Music - This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but music can enhance a workout. I find running almost twice as enjoyable with music than without it.
Short Workouts - Don’t have time or enthusiasm to last an hour? Just go for twenty or thirty minutes. Shorter workouts can be better than longer ones if the intensity is higher and you become more focused as a result. After an hour or two of exercise your body starts to go into a state where more exercise can actually reduce physical improvements.
Daily Challenges - Make your workout into a game. Sticking with the same type of exercises can get boring, so mix it up by introducing an unusual workout challenge. My gym partner and I have played a game that involves sit-ups and a deck of cards or one workout day that involves different types of push-ups. If you aren’t sure where to get ideas, look through a magazine like Mens Fitness which usually features a variety of different workouts.
Reward Showing Up, Not Weight Loss - Some people have gotten the idea that they should reward themselves for losing weight or gaining muscle. I disagree. Instead, I think you should reward showing up to the gym and exercising regularly. There are many ways you can lose or gain weight in unhealthy fashions. Rewarding exercise is rewarding your commitment to health.
Make Exercise Your Stress Relief - I know many people that swear by using the gym to relieve stress. Some of them will head to the gym because of a frustrating day even if it isn’t on their schedule. Exercising can be cathartic and release negative feelings if you get used to using it that way. Then instead of avoiding the gym because of a stressful day, it will be your reason to go.
Record Improvements - Again I recommend recording fitness over body improvements. Recording weight loss or muscle gain is a good idea, but because of the way your metabolism functions it becomes increasingly harder to make weight changes as you go to the gym more regularly. But fitness improvements can, if you work on it, continue to rise. Keep a record of your strength, endurance and flexibility so you can get pride in your accomplishments.
Make Time - You can’t say you don’t have time to exercise. Exercise improves your energy levels and mood which makes you more productive than any time lost. Find your forty minutes somewhere in the day and make it a commitment. Get up a bit earlier and go in the morning. Or schedule it right after work before you settle down for the day. Once you make time and make it a habit, you’ll actually want to exercise instead of just feeling you should.
Anyone who knows diddly about natural health knows daily exercise is a sensible thing to do.
Well, medical science recently confirmed what us health nuts have known forever: older and middle-age people reported sleeping better when they added regular exercise to their days. These aging baby boomers fell asleep about 15 minutes earlier and slept about 45 minutes longer at night.
Since most of us live frenetic lives and are seriously sleep-deprived anyway, doesn't it make sense to use our feet and legs for something other than appendages to move us from car to desk to car to home? Of course it does.
So make a commitment today to exercise at least four times during the next seven days. Begin today by brisk walking, swimming, or biking for at least 20 minutes. This approach beats the tar out of the drug approach. Sadly, though they are only 20% of the population, older Americans receive almost half the medications prescribed by doctors to aid sleep. And these sorry drugs cause confusion, falls, extended drowsiness, and a host of other nasty side effects.
Here are some other exercising tips:
A drop in body temperature aids sound sleep. So time your exercise five to six hours before bedtime.
Make your exercise vigorous enough to make you sweat a little. Previous studies have shown that non-aerobic stretching and concentration exercises alone did not impart sleep.
Stick with it! Participants in this study did not report improved sleep until they had been exercising for 16 weeks.
72-Year-Old Former 'Mr. America' Still Going Strong
Video: How does he keep the physique? He still works out for an hour a day, six days a week. And his diet is made up of nuts, beans, fruits, and vegetables. That means no meat, no chicken, no fish, and according to Jim, cheese is the worst.: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=local&id=5653210
Other Raw Living Foods Shows Available Online
In addition to my weekly show with Dr. Steve, I've also spoken on:
Raw Living Foods Lifestyle Reduces Global Warming - Last year a UN Report showed that the raw vegan diet is the best deterrent to global warming and promoting sustainability.
This video by Glen Beck discusses how Al Gore - and other politicians - ignore how going low on the food chain deters global warming (8 minutes): http://youtube.com/watch?v=VwkbDubF2qM.
So... Is the Raw Living Foods Lifestyle "An Inconvenient Truth?"
"If your dog is fat, you're not getting enough exercise."
But what if you don't have a dog? Have you been eyeing the pooches at the pound? Here's something that might sway your decision: A four-legged friend may help you do more walking.
Dog owners walk as much as 2 hours more a week than people without a furry friend. When Fido needs to get out and stretch his legs, he lets you know, and on go your walking shoes.
Jumping rope. Some of us haven't done it since schoolyard days. But here are the top 11 reasons you should jump rope like you did in third grade -- besides the fact that it will make you feel like a kid again!
Top 11 Reasons to Jump Rope
Do it to warm up. Do it to cool down. Or make a whole workout of it. Just do it. Martin Winkler, author of RopeSport: The Ultimate Jump Rope Workout, offers these reasons to get hopping:
1. Burns up to 1,000 calories per hour. 2. Tones your entire body -- arms, legs, trunk, and back. 3. Is easy to learn (master’s degree in Pilates not required). 4. Improves your game, whether you golf, swim, ski, or play tennis. 5. Is totally cheap (ropes can start at $3.99) and portable (a 4-foot by 6-foot area is all you need). 6. Looks cool . . . check out those boxers at the gym who know what they’re doing. 7. Can be a solo or group workout. 8. Is gender neutral. 9. Is family friendly. Give your kids a rope, too! 10. Can be a blast. Make up some jump rope tricks, and have fun with it. 11. Cleans your lymphatic system. (The most important reason of all!)
Allowing time for a rest period during your workout burns more fat than exercising for one continuous session, according to a Japanese study that could change the way we look at exercise.
Just as your skin changes with age, your muscles, tendons, and joints change, too. Muscle fibers decrease, tendons become stiffer, and joint cartilage breaks down.
Isn't it great to know that a little exercise can help change all that? Regular exercise slows the aging process, so you lose less muscle and your joints stay flexible and strong.
Regular exercise also helps strengthen your heart, lower your blood pressure, control your blood sugar and cholesterol, maintain your bone density, and control your weight.
Exercise for Your Age The three main types of exercise are flexibility exercise, aerobic or cardiovascular training, and strength training. The average person should have a 2-1-1 ratio of flexibility exercise to cardio training to strength training. But to do the best workout possible for your body, you'll have to adjust the ratio of these exercises for your special needs -- and those needs can change with age.
Cardiovascular The RealAge benefits of cardiovascular exercise persist throughout the years, but they are greatest when you are younger. Burning between 2,000 and 3,500 calories per week with cardiovascular exercise makes your RealAge as much as: 1.9 years younger at age 35 1.7 years younger at age 55 1 year younger at age 70
So as you get older, it's okay to devote a larger percentage of your workout to other types of exercise, such as strength training or flexibility exercise. Walking on a smooth surface is a great cardio exercise for older adults.
Strength Because people often lose muscle as they age, the older you get, the more important strength training becomes. And the RealAge benefits increase as you get older. Engaging in strength-building exercise for more than 30 minutes per week can make your RealAge as much as: 1.5 years younger at age 35 1.8 years younger at age 55 1.9 years younger at age 70
Flexibility As people age, balance and flexibility exercises become increasingly important because they can help reduce frailty and the risk of falls. They also help with routine activities such as rising out of a chair, as well as more complex activities such as lifting and reaching when gardening or playing golf. Are you losing your balance? Take this quick self-test and find out. Keep It Safe Whatever your daily workout holds for you, be sure to start with a brief warm-up to help your muscles and joints ease into exercise; and stay well hydrated throughout your workout. Exercise must be safe for it to truly do your body good.
So many of us are so busy that we feel there just isn’t time to exercise every day. Tonight I thought to myself I’ll just steal five minutes and work out on the back porch, just move, doing anything. Once I got out there I reluctantly started doing a couple of rounds of weights and sit-ups on the bench but the cold night air felt so good it made me want to do something aerobic and so I did a series of tai-kwan-do kicks and punches that I learned years ago and it felt great! I think I moved around for about half an hour and wanted to keep going!
They say that is a good way to start a lot of things. Just plan on doing it for five minutes. Getting going is the hardest part. But once you start, you sometimes find it is just easier to keep going!
Some days there's no way around it. Stuff you need to do -- drive, work, plan a get-together, deal with e-mail, pay bills -- is stuff you do sitting down. But yet another study has shown that getting as little as 30 minutes of activity a day is all it takes to reduce mortality risk by 14 percent: http://www.realage.com/news_features/tip.aspx?v=1&cid=17312.
Exercise helps your arteries after a high fat meal
You might associate stretching with waking up, but it can help you nod off, too.
So if you have trouble falling asleep, trade in the tossing and turning for a simple, gentle, daily stretching routine instead. Women who regularly stretch out their knots and kinks fall asleep more easily than nonstretchers do: http://www.realage.com/news_features/tip.aspx?v=2&cid=17156.
Raw vegan muscle mass
On the raw vegan diet your muscle mass is usually more compact but far more toned, stronger and healthier. The freedom of movement gained with this type of muscle allows you to stay in shape far longer than an average body builder. It also gives you speed for improved performance and flexibility for aging without pain. - from Storm's ebook "Raw Vegan Body Building Muscle Mass".
Do you huff and puff your way through workouts -- and hate every gasp?
Then slow it down, especially if weight loss is one of your goals. New research shows that lower-intensity exercise may help you shed more pounds than a faster-paced activity -- as long as you burn enough calories from it.
The test results are in. The best tummy/ab tightening exercise? Gardening and Landscaping. It twists, contracts and tightens the abs against resistance. And it burns about 350 calories an hour.
For years we have been told that the definition of a 'couch potato' was someone who didn't get enough exercise. Well true enough. However, the definition is has broadened to include people who sit too much.
A Canadian study followed about 12,000 citizens and found a direct connection between those who sat for most of the day and those who stood up. It turns out the more we sit - even if we exercise during the day - the more likely we are cutting short our life span.
Even adding in things like alcohol, body weight, smoking and eating lots of meat - the numbers showed that we have to move it or lose it.
Chuck Burr is a futurist with a decided environmental point of view.
In this video conversation with Dr. Steve he explains why what we have been doing, we can't do much longer. He also gives us some clues as to where we need to be to survive as a species.
According to a recent Census of The Department of Agriculture, the most productive farmland in the United States is in the Borough of the Bronx! The second most productive farmland is in the City of San Francisco!
You can earn up to eight times the average personal income on as little as one acre of land. You can be male or female, old or young, married or single. You can lease, own, or rent. You can succeed with small fruits on prairie beach lands, house plants in coastal valleys, flowers on steep wooded hillsides, vegetables in city greenbelts and ornamentals in neighborhoods of million-dollar homes.
When we look around the world and see our current circumstances, we might consider asking ourselves, “What part does personal responsibility play in all of this?” A simple thing such as planting a seed may be all that is necessary for people throughout the world to save planet Earth from extinction. And now the addition of the no-till method to organic gardening and farming promises a future of healthy crops without the normal harmful effects and hard work...
While saving the planet from soil erosion and carbon loss, and also reducing water use, new age gardeners and farmers can reap the rewards of growing and stop the downturn in environmental challenges created by conventional agriculture.
No-till gardening and farming helps soil retain carbon. Healthy topsoil contains carbon-enriched humus – decaying organic matter that provides nutrients to plants. Soils low in humus can't maintain the carbon-dependent nutrients essential to healthy crop production, resulting in the need to use more fertilizers.
The Hopi Indians have used natural no-till methods of farming for thousands of years. No tilling requires no digging up of weeds, no fertilizers added to the soil, and very little water use. The Hopi also believe the simple act of planting a seed will help to insure the survival of planet Earth – An opinion shared by this organic gardener!
In no-till agriculture organic gardeners and farmers plant seeds without using a plow to turn the soil. Soil loses most of it carbon content during plowing, which releases carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere. Increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have been associated with global climate change. The greenhouse effect is something we all know about today, but with no-till methods, we help reverse the effects of old gardening and farming methods and help insure our children will have a place to plant a seed.
If every organic gardener and farmer who grows crops in the United States would use no-till techniques and adopt management practices such as crop rotation and planting cover crops, we could lessen about 300 million tons of carbon each year. Not to mention the amount of money saved on no fertilizer use and the water savings - it adds up quick.
Commercial no-till farming has been around since the 1960's, when it was developed to reduce erosion of valuable topsoil from crop lands. Since then, the realization of the method's other benefits – a reduced need for irrigation, less labor for farmers, and increased soil quality – has encouraged its adoption across the U.S. and around the world.
In recent years, however, interest in no-till has risen due to its greenhouse gas benefits, which results in farmers seeing another kind of green, cash... No-Till Gardening Put into Practice for the At-Home Do-It-Yourselfers.
Special note to all would-be organic gardeners: Saving the planet never got any easier; use the no-till method and save your back too...
No-Till Made Easy: Just Dig a Small Hole!
1) Plant a seed, 2) Water it, 3) Once it sprouts — talk to your new plant with kind loving words, 4) Don’t weed around it, 5) Water very little — never over-water. Let the roots go in search of water, and 6) Once the plant matures to the desired state, consume it fresh. 7) Speak kind loving words to the plant—save the world
It works like this: dig out a small hole in the ground. Dig it about 2 feet in diameter and 2 feet deep, refill three-fourths, place 5 or 6 corn, bean, or squash seeds. Put soil back in the hole, but leave a 2-inch area at the top of hole without dirt. This way the plant can collect water easily. Water lightly, wait a few days, and water a little more.
After a sprout appears water lightly once a day for a week. Once the plant starts to mature, cut back watering to once a week or once a month — no need to water far away from the plant you are growing for food.
Once corn, squash or beans are ready, eat them fresh — do not store them. This way you not only get the great taste of fresh, but you also get all of the living enzymes at the same time. Yes, Save Some Too
Sun dry, can or jar what you do not consume right away — self-sufficiency includes saving food for the winter. Taking Responsibility
We all certainly have a role in saving Mother Earth, and now the no-till method for the at-home organic gardeners as well as large commercial farmers can help save the planet and add many years to our survival. Talk To Your Plants As You Would Your Beloved
Change conditions on planet Earth by adopting new ways to live a peaceful life. Change the amount of trash you contribute to planet Earth by recycling whenever and wherever possible. Ask for peaceful solutions between counties who argue and fight. But, most of all, plant a seed, and speak loving words to it. Speak only loving, positive words to your crops. Sing to them too. They love it!
Organic gardeners are being challenged, and now they have a new opportunity to make an impact on our planet for the better. Reduce CO2 levels in the atmosphere by reducing carbon content loss in the soil from plowing; use no-till methods instead. Use no fertilizers; play with your plants like friends — and save the planet, all at the same time.
The benefits of organic gardening/farming are no longer a secret; just about everyone in the world today knows that unnatural methods just don’t work anymore. We have come to find that through natural methods of producing food crops without the use of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and chemical fertilizers we get healthy foods and live a longer life, free of the harmful effects of these and other unnatural growing methods. Now add no-till, save your back, save money, and save the planet.
Organic Gardening and Farming never got easier — at the age of sixty, my back loves no-till gardening.
Please visit www.GoingOrganic.com <http://www.goingorganic.com/> today; order your copy of Getting Started in Organic Gardening for Fun and Profit now and to find out why thousands of followers have sought North's advice, publications, and consultations for their own healing and fertile future — a future of healthier bodies, healthier minds, and a healthier world for future generations.
ABOUT JAY NORTH – Best-selling author, social activist, entrepreneur, organic farmer, and practitioner of the healing arts, Jay North travels the nation and the world speaking about his spiritual writings and the opportunities and promise of Organic Growing, Green Juicing, and the Healing Arts. Contact Jay through is website www.GoingOrganic.com <http://www.goingorganic.com/>
In the beginning of the 20th century, scientists and Nobel prize winners made an incredible discovery. If our blood is unable to absorb enough oxygen, we become terribly ill. Heart problems, candida infections, arthritis, diabetes, and even cancer may result.
Our body is constantly trying to maintain a constant temperature 98.5F or 37C, which some may know, but were you also aware that your body tries even harder to maintain the right amount of oxygen in your blood? When our pH is too high or too low, we don't feel well. In fact, our bodies begin to feel tired, gain weight, have poor digestion and get aches and pains.
Most people in the US and Europe are too acidic, where cancer, heart disease, arthritis,and diabetes are such an epidemic.
These are the four most common reasons for the high acidity levels:
Stress; Toxins; Parasites; and The food we eat.
Acid Foods List
It's really a shame that the foods we like most are the ones that make us most acidic and thus sick. Which foods are these? You guessed it:
That’s not to say that in moderation, and from the right sources, we can’t enjoy these foods. But the way that most of us get these products (fatty cuts of meat, bleached flour, homogenized cheese), there’s really no helping it.
Alkaline Foods List
During most of our lives, the majority of the foods we eat are highly acidic. These make us sick and tired whereas, by eating raw alkaline foods and drinks, we can help our body to heal itself:
Vegetables - especially raw green leafy vegetables. Fresh Herbs & Spice - parsley, basil, cilantro, cayenne, ginger Fruits - watermelon, avocado, cucumber, young coconuts Wheat grass Sprouts (alfalfa, broccoli, etc.)
The best alkaline drinks are alkaline water, vegetable juices and wheat grass juice. If you’re very acidic, however, you might need alkaline supplements to get you back in balance quicker.
How Acidic Are You?
How do you know your body pH? It's actually incredibly easy to find out your alkalinity. You simply buy some pH test strips (also called litmus paper) at a health store and pee on it. The paper will tell you instantly what your pH is and thus, how alkaline or acidic you are.
The Best & Cheapest Alkaline Foods
Would you like to know the best and cheapest alkalizing foods? Edible wild plants. They're highly alkaline, abundant, fresh and free! Just throwing a few of them in your salad will help balancing you.
That does mean, of course, to eat your crabgrass..or the pretty mushrooms in your yard.
Bio: Alexis Bonari is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She often can be found blogging about education and scholarships for college. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.
I am a diabetic (for 20 years), on 8 meds plus a small evening insulin shot. When I found info on the raw food lifestyle, I also found material on reversing diabetes. My doctor & endocrinologist are both supportive of my efforts, surprisingly.
I made it clear that my ultimate goal was to be off most, if not all of my meds. After 3 weeks of green smoothies, not even every morning, and some small changes in diet, I had lost 9 lbs. and felt like I had some energy again. This is definitely incentive!
Thank you for the info you are providing on the internet, and I hope that the legal issues are soon resolved.
Ruth
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Jim's comments:
If I had the money and the resources, it would be great to do one of those big studies like the pharmaceutical companies do of "typical benefits." I'd like to know just what percentage of people see a significant change in their blood sugar levels and energy levels when they convert to a Raw Living Foods program.
During my years as Director of Creative Health Institute every diabetic that went through the program reported a significant reduction in medication, usually within three or four days of starting the program.
The medical community says that treating diabetes is a matter of diet and exercise; well, that's what Dr. Ann Wigmore's Lifestyle Program is all about. It not only changes your diet, it also reduces your stress level and encourages you to get the proper types of exercise on a daily basis, "just what the doctor ordered."
Congratulations to Ruth and to the many others that email me stories about reversing their diabetes - even to the point of getting off their meds - with raw living foods.
The popular television game show, Jeopardy, had as one of its categories, “elements.” The “answer” on the game board was: “Dentists use silver fillings which are actually 50% this.”
The quickest contestant responded: “What is mercury?”
Dr. Sam is a Doctor of Physical Therapy out of Georgia. He is good at what he does, but he has an 'extra.'
He is also a raw food person. he takes those two things and combines them in a unique way. In this chat with Dr. Steve, he reminds parents to check out what their kids put in the backpacks for school.
In reviewing my composting procedures here on the farm in Georgia, I came across this really handy, informative book. Through special arrangements with the publisher, I'm able to share it with you. It's 272 pages, in PDF format.
From the foreword, by Ann Lovejoy:
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Back in the '70's, I made the momentous move from the East Coast to the West and quickly discovered that much of my garden knowledge needed an update. Seattle's climate was unlike anything I had experienced in Massachusetts or Ohio or Colorado, and many of my favorite vegetables simply didn't grow well.
A friend steered me to a new seed company, a tiny business called Territorial Seed, unique in that, rather than trying to tout its wares all over the country, it would only sell to people living west of the Cascade Mountains. Every vegetable and cover crop listed had been carefully tested and selected by Steve Solomon for its performance in the maritime Northwest.
The 1980's saw the revival of regional gardening, a concept once widely accepted, but since lost to the sweeping homogeneity of the '50s and '60s. Steve Solomon and his Territorial Seed Company directly influenced the return of regional garden making by creating an awareness of climatic differences and by providing quantities of helpful information specific to this area. Not only could customers order regionally appropriate, flavorful and long-lasting vegetables from the Territorial catalog's pages, we could also find recipes for cooking unfamiliar ones, as well as recipes for building organic fertilizers of all sorts. Territorial's catalog offered information about organic or environmentally benign pest and disease controls, seasonal cover crops, composts and mulches, and charts guiding us to optimal planting patterns.
Every bit of it was the fruit of Steve Solomon's work and observation. I cannot begin to calculate the disappointments and losses Steve helped me to avoid, nor the hours of effort he saved for me and countless other regional gardeners. We came to rely on his word, for we found we could; If Steve said this or that would grow in certain conditions, by gum, it would. Better yet, if he didn't know something, or was uncertain about it, he said so, and asked for our input. Before long, a network of environmentally concerned gardeners had formed around Territorial's customer base, including several Tilth communities, groups of gardeners concerned with promoting earth stewardship and organic husbandry in both rural and urban settings.
In these days of generalized eco-awareness, it is easy to forget that a few short years ago, home gardeners were among the worst environmental offenders, cheerfully poisoning anything that annoyed them with whatever dreadful chemical that came to hand, unconscious of the long-term effects on fauna and flora, water and soil. Now, thank goodness, many gardeners know that their mandate is to heal the bit of earth in their charge. Composting our home and garden wastes is one of the simplest and most beneficial things we can do, both to cut down the quantity of wastes we produce, and to restore health to the soil we garden upon I can think of no better guide to the principles and techniques of composting than Steve Solomon. Whether you live in an urban condo or farm many acres, you will find in these pages practical, complete and accessible information that serves your needs, served up with the warmth and gentle humor that characterizes everything Steve does.
Feel free to share this with your friends, but the files are so large I suggest you email them the link to this page, instead of trying to email them the actual files.
Enjoy! Even though it was written for the west coast market, I learned a lot from it. Jim Carey
The Smoothie Wheel of Joy - Spin the wheel and get your smoothie recipe of the day! This was created as a kid's game by Storm and Jinjee, but I find it fun and routine-breaking.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”
“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.”
“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.”
“All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.”
“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.”
“When we get out of the glass bottle of our ego and when we escape like the squirrels in the cage of our personality and get into the forest again, we shall shiver with cold and fright. But things will happen to us so that we don’t know ourselves. Cool, unlying life will rush in.
“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.”
“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”
“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.”
“The journey not the arrival matters.”
“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.”
“People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home.”
“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.”
“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.”
“Not all those who wander are lost.”
“Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.”
“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.”
“Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe”
“Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.”
“What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do – especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.
“I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.”
Thanks go out to Deb Wing for putting together this collection of quotes.
How to grow 6000 pounds of veggies per year in your own back yard
The following article is an original from Jay North, author of Getting Started in Organic Gardening for Fun and Profit. The book is available at www.OneGlobePress.com. A portion of the proceeds are donated to Oprah’s Angel Network at www.Oprah.com. Please visit One Globe Press today and download your PDF copy.
How to grow 6000 pounds of veggies per year in your own back yard By Jay North from GoingOrganic.com
Organic gardening popularity in America is at an all-time high, and well it should be, considering the high cost of fresh produce at the supermarket.
But wait, Eat Organic, it’s the best bet for you and your family and oh-so-fresh, right from your own back yard. Best of all it will cut your grocery bill in half. While most want to be green thumbs, what many may not know is they can grow over 6000 lbs. of fresh veggies right in their own backyard, and tomatoes have never tasted so good.
While there are hundreds of gardening methods, the very best for small back yard gardens is the stack method, utilizing air space and raised multi-level beds. Equipment and supply cost can be kept to a minimum by using recycled materials often found at your local landfill; ask the operators if you can sift through to find what you need. To start your search, look for recycled lumber to build beds, wire, rope and soft mesh materials for baskets.
Start with a plan and plan according to what you like to eat. Design a lay out that calls for utilizing air space to the max. Use fruit trees for shade for plants that require shade on hot months (i.e.; Chervil, Basil and soft lettuces), use the fence line to tie up beans, berries, traveling squash and grape vines. Find simple building plans or a friendly carpenter to help design stacked raise beds. Fill them with soil and organic compost, and build them to the highest level that is comfortable for you to reach. Use air space to tie up your cantaloupes and cucumbers.
Close planting is required to use the most root space without crowding the plants. Never mind the package that reads plant four inches apart, plant two inches apart. Plant carrots so you can pull an entire bunch for dinner, plant lettuce like grass and cut just the tops when ready for dinner. Train your tomatoes to climb the wall or fence, same for the cucs and melons. Support the fruit of melon plants with soft mesh baskets.
Two popular close planting methods
First the deep bed method—which is to say high wall, victory garden style or raised beds, which essentially mean all the same thing. Deep loose soil, wide enough bed to be worked from both sides of the bed and the bed is never walked on; this assists with air accessibility for the roots and ease of mineral assimilation. A typical high wall bed could be 10 feet long, four feet wide and two feet high, supported with wood, rock or brick. Filled with high quality topsoil, mulch and some organic fertilizers. Stop, wait, don’t plant the whole bed in one day — no, stagger your plantings by two weeks between each seeding. Why? Because you want to harvest and eat the veggies all season long, if you plant to much to quick, it will all mature at one time and be ready for consumption at the same time.
Now, combine your plantings: Example 1
Plant a short row of sweet corn. Plant seeds 1.5" deep but close together, the plant uses the nutrients best that way and corn can support one another in the wind. Okay, corn is seeded, now what? Seed your onions, garlic and short edible flowers just a few inches from the corn seed path. They do not utilize the same nutrients and the onions and garlic make great pest control for the corn. Got it? Now you’re thinking!
Example 2: Ready to plant some lettuce?
Wait — first run a wide gauge wire fence right down the center of your bed. Plant the seeds of pole beans and “cucs”(1) on both sides of the wire mesh fence, and then seed your lettuces. Why? Shade! Lettuce love shade especially on hot summer days — sooner here than you expect it to be. Then around the whole planting, seed your carrots, radishes and potatoes.
Important note: notice the combinations?
Some vegetable plants require more water than others, so always hand water-never use overhead sprinklers and never over-water. Water only when soil is dry and plants needs additional water.
Popular planting method two:
Plant the Hopi method and save the world, and water too.
The Hopi Indians are the oldest agriculturist group in America; they believe planting a seed and speaking kind loving words to it will save the world from destruction. While this may be true or false, their planting methods speak loudly about what a genius way to plant and harvest edible crops and it’s all done in circles.
Start by digging round holes in the ground about one foot deep. Lay soil to the side for refilling the hole. Add compost if you choose; many Hopi might disagree with the necessity for added materials other than a single whole fresh fish — dead of course - at the bottom of the hole. Don’t gut or clean out the fish, otherwise you are robbing your plants of all the fertilizer they will need for the growing cycle. Cover the hole with the soil removed - but do not pack it in. Seed the entire hole in a circular form. Use corn, squash, melons, onion, garlic and anything else you enjoy eating. Sow seeds deep in the loose soil, water and allow spouting. As plants grow tall and strong use little a less water with each watering — better to allow the root to go in search of water, thereby building the strength of the plant to add strength to your body. Aho Ho (3), and it is done, plant many seeds to the hole and plant close!
Lastly, don’t plant just strawberries.
Plant Blackberries, Raspberries, Blueberries and Strawberries all at the same time and in the same area. Start with a well composted soil Ph 7 0r 8 (2). Dig deep beds down, not up, dig deep, and add compost and mulch. Plant Blackberries where they can travel freely, plant Raspberries so that can grow straight up and out, plant Blueberries close and strawberries even closer. Plant varieties for spring, summer and fall producing, be sure to mark where they are and feast all year long.
Smart stacking and seeding will easily supply a whole family with 6000 pounds of fresh produce — even year—round - in mild climates. To extend your growing season use plastic tents early in the spring and late in the fall to protect against frost damage.
Water saving tip
Dig a very large hole in your backyard or side hill; place a 2500 gallon plastic container in hole, add small water pump and collect water runoff during the rainy season — watch your water bill be cut by 25%.
Jay North, Organic gardener, author and social activist is an internationally recognized expert in organic gardening and farming. Author of Getting Started in Organic Gardening for Fun and Profit. His books can be found at his website www.GoingOrganic.com and www.OneGlobePress.com to download immediately in PDF EBooks.
Footnotes: 1 cucs, slang for cucumbers 2 Ph degree of acidity Vs Alkalinity Ph 7 is neutral and best for most edible crops 3 Aho Ho, native acknowledgement and blessings
When you eat, eat with intention. When you focus on that apple, and imagine as you eat, that it is going in to each cell, energizing each cell, then the apple works with you to do that.
When you work out, work out with intention. When you focus on the movements you are doing, breathing in to them, realizing how they are sculpting your form, then these movements and your body work with you to do that.
Going through the motions of eating and exercising are not the same as eating and exercising with a goal in mind, with a certain intention, which creates a whole new consciousness about the way you eat and work out.
I could barely concentrate on what the man from India was saying because I was so aware of what he is doing to bring illness to his own body.
This man worked with Mother Teresa for 7 years. He, like so many others, is like the shoemaker who doesn’t have any shoes. He is healing others and forgetting himself.
He needs to stop using dairy products immediately in order to get rid of the chronic nasal drip and phlegm that is plaguing him. The dairy protein casomorphine (sticky glue) is causing him to clear his throat constantly. The speaker Dana after him has a head full of brain fog/phlegm from the dairy that he has not cleared from his system. This, and some oils he is using, is preventing him from having a full head of hair because the oils clog up your hair follicles and your hair falls out. You can tell where his congestion is (from the dairy) because of his nasal voice.
The morphine in the casein is addictive and after a 21 day detox, using home ripened freshly made pineapple juice, the bromelain enzymes will dissolve the mucus that keeps them bound to treatments instead of 'cures.'
I hope everyone would please read Dr. Esselstyn’s book “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease” and Dr. T. Colin Campbell’s book “The China Study” and Dr. John McDougall’s writings, and Drs. Neal Barnard’s and Gabriel Cousen’s books and works on curing diabetes with a plant-based diet.
We must educate ourselves that the casomorphine (casein) and albumin from dairy and chickens enculture the viruses, bacteria and parasites and allow them to grow and spread disease unchecked.
One example the man from India gave did not explain why it worked: The reason why the milk and onion worked for the child who had congestion, is that the fumes from the onion drove the ‘germs’ out of his body into the dairy, in which they could breed.
We must look past the ‘treatment’ and get to the cause of the problem, which is that the child is eating dairy products or eggs. This repetition of deadly food intake is a habit that moms perpetuate out of fear that their child is not getting enough xyz nutrients, when a plant-based diet will supply everything without innocently and ignorantly putting the child in harm’s way.
I worked for over 22 years teaching the Ann Wigmore Living Food Program when she was alive, and I continue to do so after her death, and what I do is free.
Good health is your birthright.
Thank you for ending this with Caroline Myss, a lone voice in the crowd who helps people get to the bottom of things without 'treatment' with stuff. We have everything we need in ordinary foods, if they are eaten in the proper forms: blended or juiced or eaten whole, peacefully.
Because I am a teacher, and recommend our station WPBT2 to my students, I’ve been so excited to see your choices of the Brain Doctor and the President of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine to earn money to continue your excellent programming.
Dr. Barnard is able to help us on so many more subjects than merely curing diabetes on his http://www.pcrm.org/diabetes website, as his fellow physician Dr. Gabriel Cousens is doing in Arizona. With his 5,000 medical doctors on his staff, he has continuing free medical education computer classes, http://www.nutritioncme.org/ as well as in person classes at George Washington University Medical School, he has a bi-monthly computer seminar for physicians and other health care workers seminar, http://www.nutritionmd.org/, for information on approximately 90 common health conditions and help for health care providers and folks on adopting healthier diets with personalized meal plans, nutrient analysis, recipes, and shopping lists; http://www.cancerproject.org/ for comprehensive information on diet’s role in preventing, treating and curing cancer.
His close relationship with Drs. T. Colin Campbell (the China Study), Caldwell Esselstyn (Reversing and Preventing Heart Disease), John McDougall (the McDougall Plan), etc. keep him on the circuit on TV and on Facebook and Youtube bringing lifesaving information to those who cannot afford to travel to his classes.
Dr. Amen’s work showing the before and after pictures of the brain are invaluable. When one goes further in brain research and finds that there is not only the acid foods, habits and drinks, like colas, tobacco, alcohol and vinegars, that destroy our brains, but also common parasites, bacteria and viruses which invade the brain and do damage and that we are able to kill them with non-invasive treatments, we are able to take a collective sigh of relief and understand that we can have control of our lives and good health.
One word of caution, however. It’s important to note that some of the recommendations made by Dr. Amen are controversial in the medical and nutrition fields: i.e. his recommendation for essential fatty acid intake is supported, but the type he recommends, fish oil, has been found to be contaminated and rancid.
There are other forms of EFAs which are not and which are easily gotten from whole foods like avocado and almonds or walnuts. When one uses fractionated fats in the forms of fish oil capsules, this causes damage to the lining of the arteries.
Dr. Esselstyn will not allow any processed oils at all (not even virgin olive oil) in his successful Cleveland Clinic protocol for curing heart disease with a plant based diet. These oils will make a person bald because they shut off the oxygen and electrical energy to the hair follicle and one’s hair falls out.
Spinach is another problematic food. Although the shelf life is longer than other greens that are better for you, it causes a buildup of gall stones because of its oxalic acid content. It will neutralize the iron in itself and in other foods that it is eaten with, and we become anemic. The better choices are sunflower or pea greens, organic spring or herb salad mixes that are available in most every market, and young kale, collard, beet greens, etc.
The most dangerous recommendation by Dr. Amen includes the dairy protein casomorphine, otherwise known as whey or casein. As most research doctors know now, this protein is a causative factor in breast and prostate cancers, heart disease and diabetes, as this information has been widely circulated with the success of The China Study and the subsequent research in Europe and our country. Protein is in all foods. If we stay within a 10% fat, 10% protein daily intake, we will not be deficient with a plant-based diet. Please look up the site http://www.notmilk.org/ to begin an intelligent, scientific fact-based investigation.
And finally, the recommendation of chicken and salmon by Dr. Amen provides much too much protein, which causes calcium to be taken out of the bones to buffer the acid from the protein, and this results in osteoporosis.
Dr. Flora van Orden, ND, PhD
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I've had a lot of inquiries in the past month because I haven't been blogging. It's nice to feel missed. Here's what I've been up to:
You often hear me say that reducing stress - both on the mind and the body - is an important part of healing and staying healthy. Indeed, I've often said that all stress is self-induced. Well, that's what I've been doing - reducing my stress to stay healthy.
A month ago I found myself becoming overwhelmed by the world around me. It wasn't my voluntary work-related responsibilities that were getting to me as much as it was the news of the world. The Gulf of Mexico being turned into a dead zone, the implementation of Codex Alimentarius by Executive Order in the US, a health care reform bill that will require the micro-chipping of all Americans, widespread political corruption and creeping fascism... sigh.
So to reduce my stress and keep my health I removed myself from the world for a bit. One of my last postings in June was, "Change Your Life, Change Your Health." I took my own advice.
Oh, I still answered email and filled orders - those are fun things to do - but I turned off the news and went to work around the farm. I did a lot of landscaping (I keep about five acres around the cabin mowed and park-like), creating several huge brush piles with what I trimmed from the trees around the yard. I also gave the lawn some attention, filling last winter's rabbit holes, and I put up more bird feeders and birdhouses. While I didn't get a garden in this year, I've put a lot of work into my compost pile and the garden soil, getting ready for a late garden this Fall.
Indoors I put down new flooring in the living room and the kitchen, and gave the cabin a good cleaning from top to bottom. I built a new desk and rearranged my office. New paint in the living room and new curtains in every room made a big difference, too.
Now I'm back, and feeling much better. This has been a reminder to me that good health is a journey, not a destination, and that we have to take care of our own needs - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual - before we can help others.
In the future I'm going to leave the depressing aspects of health reporting to others. I don't mean that in a bad way; it's important to know what's happening in the world, especially since the mass media ignores so much of what's truly important. But I'll leave it to others like Mike Adams and Dr. Mercola to let you know about studies that show office workers have more skin cancer than construction workers, and how pages 1001-1008 of the health care reform law require a class III electronic identification device for all Americans, and why that means you'll have to be micro-chipped. (Oops, I sighed again.)
I want to thank everyone who emailed, wondering where the newsletters were, and if I was OK. I'm fine, I'm great, and I'm having a wonderful - if a bit hot - summer in Georgia.
"Opportunities are not offered. They must be wrested and worked for. And this calls for perseverance.. and courage." - Indira Gandhi, Indian prime minister
Nature in a Bottle 
Jumping rope. Some of us haven't done it since schoolyard days. But here are the top 11 reasons you should jump rope like you did in third grade -- besides the fact that it will make you feel like a kid again! 
, offers these reasons to get hopping:
David Wolfe at Creative Health Institute, David Wolfe speaks about the benefits of Raw Foods at Creative Health Institute, April 25, 2004. 
In reviewing my composting procedures here on the farm in Georgia, I came across this really handy, informative book. Through special arrangements with the publisher, I'm able to share it with you. It's 272 pages, in PDF format.
