I have been thinking much about why live food is so significant, not just that it is healthy and this can actually be backed up now by much research but why consuming live food is actually significant, important to us in other ways. Here is part of it. The consumption of food, our choice of food, can take us to the highest high or the lowest low. My meditation teacher once spoke of heaven and hell as taking place right in the body. We can eat foods that elevate us, uplift us, even give us a sublime experience of bliss. We can consume foods that make us depressed or that deplete us or take us toward illness. In a way, our diet itself can a path to enlightenment, to self-awareness.
I was moved by Michael Pollan's observation in the Omnivore's Dilemma that the act of eating causes us to interact with nature at least 3 times each day. That really struck me because we have at times gotten so very far away from nature. And yet, to truly survive, we must have that connection not once a month or once a week, but 3 times or more each day.
The mystery I wanted to talk about is the food world itself. Or maybe I should say, the plant world. I think that eating live food is valuable because we are more inclined to contemplate the mystery of food itself. For example, let's look at the mighty watermelon. Watermelon has an outrageous and surprising array of nutrition. It has tryptophan and glutathione, 2 amazing amino acids. It is rich in minerals, it is a wonderful kidney and colon cleanser. But we can go deeper. Look at the beautiful shape of the watermelon. Round or oval, it is full, abundant, actually an amazing feat of growth! The little seed, growing to a size thousands times larger, with this tough protective shell, and this sweet delicious fruit inside. Victoras Kulvinskas said in Survival in the 21st Century that fruit is the only karma-free food that we can consume. In other words, nothing had to die for us to fill our bellies for that meal. Not true with lettuce, spinach, kale, etc. And finally, what about the seeds? We receive the resonance, the energy signature of the plant as well as all of the nutrition. We are receiving a beautiful energy of abundance, fertility, creativity! That is why I always recommend SEEDED watermelons! What a terrible affront on nature to genetically modify fruits to not bear seeds!!! We do this so that we do not have to be bothered spitting out the seeds? arrrrggghhhh! Our entire purpose in being the fruit eaters on the planet is to consume the fruit with the seeds, recycle them out the back end and keep the planet fruit filled forever!
But seriously...our connection with food, real food, live food, takes us deeper into a connection with ourselves. We can have a deeply spiritual relationship with the food we are consuming. We can even experience ecstasy in recognition of the mystery that is contained in each fruit, in each vegetable, nut, seed, herb and more. We receive this both intellectually in knowing but also within ourselves in the appreciation, observation and even assimilation of live foods. The plant world has so much to teach us! How exciting!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Lemon Goji Berry Dressing
Check out a new recipe from our Rejuvenation Kitchen:
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tbsp. Olive oil
1 Tbsp. Goji Berries
1 tsp. Agave
1-2 cloves of garlic
1/4 tsp. sea salt
dash of cayenne
Goji Berries are an amazing superfood. They are very high in vitamin C, also contain iron as well as 18 amino acids. They have high antioxidant value as well. They mix up nicely when blended and give this dressing a beautiful color.
Place in Vitamix, blender or Magic Bullet. This is a small serving size, so feel free to double or triple this!
Enjoy
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tbsp. Olive oil
1 Tbsp. Goji Berries
1 tsp. Agave
1-2 cloves of garlic
1/4 tsp. sea salt
dash of cayenne
Goji Berries are an amazing superfood. They are very high in vitamin C, also contain iron as well as 18 amino acids. They have high antioxidant value as well. They mix up nicely when blended and give this dressing a beautiful color.
Place in Vitamix, blender or Magic Bullet. This is a small serving size, so feel free to double or triple this!
Enjoy
Do you take your soy unleaded? Techron? Premium?
If your soy is not marked 100% USDA Organic, you may be getting more than you bargained for. I have written about various soy controversies before. Putting that argument aside for the moment, let's remember that producing soy is actually big agribusiness. The largest producers of soy are Dupont, the producer of the lovely teflon pan (and where is the Teflon that used to be where the scratches are in the pan?), ADM (supermarket to the world and global oppressor), and Cargill (have you seen the documentary King Corn? See it!).
So, here is the deal. Soybeans are pressed en masse with Hexane, an industrial solvent that is a by-product of gasoline. The 3 agribusinesses mentioned are the largest producers of hexane-processed soy protein isolate to "natural food" brands offering soy bars and protein powders. Can you imagine all the menopausal women taking soy isoflavones in capsule form? If these are not made from USDA ORGANIC soy, then these women may be getting gas from the beans, but of a different variety indeed. All joking aside, hexane is a major greenhouse gas that contributes to "climate change."
Be careful! If the product says that it is "made with organic soy" or "NON-GMO" SOY, it may still include non-organic soy protein isolates that are processed with hexane!
I have long recommended that you vary your protein intake. If you are cooked food vegan, don't depend on soy for all your protein needs. Hemp is a great alternative. I have amazing organic hemp seeds available at www.nwrejuvenate.com (click the link on the upper right hand at the site for my store)
Source: www.organicconsumers.org
So, here is the deal. Soybeans are pressed en masse with Hexane, an industrial solvent that is a by-product of gasoline. The 3 agribusinesses mentioned are the largest producers of hexane-processed soy protein isolate to "natural food" brands offering soy bars and protein powders. Can you imagine all the menopausal women taking soy isoflavones in capsule form? If these are not made from USDA ORGANIC soy, then these women may be getting gas from the beans, but of a different variety indeed. All joking aside, hexane is a major greenhouse gas that contributes to "climate change."
Be careful! If the product says that it is "made with organic soy" or "NON-GMO" SOY, it may still include non-organic soy protein isolates that are processed with hexane!
I have long recommended that you vary your protein intake. If you are cooked food vegan, don't depend on soy for all your protein needs. Hemp is a great alternative. I have amazing organic hemp seeds available at www.nwrejuvenate.com (click the link on the upper right hand at the site for my store)
Source: www.organicconsumers.org
Monday, March 17, 2008
Milk Breakdown
During the first week of my 14-Day Total Body Cleansing Program, I explain that the during the cleanse, it is important to avoid dairy products of any kind. Of course, this includes milk and milk-products. Many participants want to know "so what's so wrong with a little milk? What about cottage cheese? Just a dollop of yogurt...please? It is absolutely vital to understand that if milk at one time, raw, organic in pristine environmental conditions, had some value...that small nutritional benefit is now far outweighed by the health risks that come with a food filled with antibiotics, hormones, blood, pus, bacteria, viruses, dioxin. See below for every reason to avoid milk, and all the nutritional information you need to get truly bioavailable protein and calcium in a much safer form for good health!
Why avoid milk? This entry explores some of the concepts about milk. Got pus? Got bovine leukemia? Got yuck?
To begin to discuss the concept of whether we should consume milk or not, we have to ask ourselves. Why do I consume milk? Why do I want to continue consuming milk? Do I need milk to survive.
What is in American Milk?
“One cup of wholesome milk cannot contain more than 50 million pus cels. That’s 200 million pus cells per quart (liter)…A dairy cow filters 10,000 quarts of blood through her udder each day and uses dead white blood cells to manufacture her milk. These dead cells are pus cells. Dairy scientists are aware that when one quart of milk is tainted with 400 million or more pus cells, some 35% of the milking cows in the herd are infected with mastitis. Udders bleed, discharges, including bacteria and blood drip into the milk.” From the website, www.notmilk.com.
They go on to describe the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance:
“Occasional milkborne outbreaks still occur, emphasizing the need for continued vigilance at every stage of production, processing and pasteurization and distribution of milk and milk products.”
“Milk has the potential to serve as a vehicle of disease and has, in the past, been associated with disease outbreaks of major proportions.”
Do we need milk to get calcium?If not milk, then what?
“How many people hear the real protein story, which reveals that the average person living in a modern society consumes enough excess protein every day to cause a mineral imbalance? Protein actually washes calcium from the body into the kidney system, leaving calcium-deficient bones and an increased risk of kidney stones.” John McDougall
“Calcium deficiency of dietary origin is a myth and is virtually unknown in humans, even though most people in the world do not consume any milk after weaning. The whole truth is that dairy foods are the most harmful of the traditional four food groups. They are high in fat, protein, and environmental contaminants and deficient in fiber and carbohydrates. What carbohydrates they do have are poorly digested by most adults and results in diarrhea, gas and stomach cramps. Dairy products are also the leading source of food allergy, causing a wide range of problems from headaches to bed wetting, stuffy nose and even death.” John McDougall
“The consumption of dairy products has been found by researchers to be a leading caus of atherosclerosis, heart attacks and strokes...the high fat of dairy products have been implicated as the culprit in contributing heavily to heart attacks, strokes, and atherosclerosis. The high-fat dairy products are also those that are most likely to contain unsafe levels of environmental contaminants including pesticide residues and dangerous radioactive substances.” John Robbins
“The modern-day Bessie is bred, fed, medicated, inseminated, and manipulated for a single purpose-maximum milk production at a minimum cost. One result of these unnatural conditions is that the modern dairy cow is highly prone to stress and disease.” John Robbins
“The official testing method sanctioned by the FDA and used by most states to screen milk for drugs, called the BS (Bacillus sterothermophilus disc assay is unable to detect residues from most of the medications used in the dairy products today.” John Robbins, Diet for a New Planet
“Four different surveys of our milk supply were conducted by independent researchers between 1987 and 1989. The results were not comforting unless you like antibiotics and other veterinary drugs in your dairy products. The studies found between 63 - 86% of the milk samples to contain sulfa drugs, tetracyclines, and other antibiotics.” One of the sulfa drugs, sulfamethazine is a suspected human carcinongen.” John Robbins, Diet for a New Planet
So what if there is bacteria in the milk. It’s pasteurized, right? “The largest outbreak of salmonella poisoning ever recorded in the United States came from pasteurized milk.” (Robbins) 200,000 people in 6 states were suspected of having been infected with salmonellosis! Also, do you really want to consume a product composed of sterilized (pasteurized) pus, bacteria, viruses, and more?
The FDA currently tests 5 milk samples per week (of all the milk processed) for evidence of drug residues.
Why avoid milk? This entry explores some of the concepts about milk. Got pus? Got bovine leukemia? Got yuck?
To begin to discuss the concept of whether we should consume milk or not, we have to ask ourselves. Why do I consume milk? Why do I want to continue consuming milk? Do I need milk to survive.
What is in American Milk?
“One cup of wholesome milk cannot contain more than 50 million pus cels. That’s 200 million pus cells per quart (liter)…A dairy cow filters 10,000 quarts of blood through her udder each day and uses dead white blood cells to manufacture her milk. These dead cells are pus cells. Dairy scientists are aware that when one quart of milk is tainted with 400 million or more pus cells, some 35% of the milking cows in the herd are infected with mastitis. Udders bleed, discharges, including bacteria and blood drip into the milk.” From the website, www.notmilk.com.
They go on to describe the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance:
“Occasional milkborne outbreaks still occur, emphasizing the need for continued vigilance at every stage of production, processing and pasteurization and distribution of milk and milk products.”
“Milk has the potential to serve as a vehicle of disease and has, in the past, been associated with disease outbreaks of major proportions.”
Do we need milk to get calcium?If not milk, then what?
“How many people hear the real protein story, which reveals that the average person living in a modern society consumes enough excess protein every day to cause a mineral imbalance? Protein actually washes calcium from the body into the kidney system, leaving calcium-deficient bones and an increased risk of kidney stones.” John McDougall
“Calcium deficiency of dietary origin is a myth and is virtually unknown in humans, even though most people in the world do not consume any milk after weaning. The whole truth is that dairy foods are the most harmful of the traditional four food groups. They are high in fat, protein, and environmental contaminants and deficient in fiber and carbohydrates. What carbohydrates they do have are poorly digested by most adults and results in diarrhea, gas and stomach cramps. Dairy products are also the leading source of food allergy, causing a wide range of problems from headaches to bed wetting, stuffy nose and even death.” John McDougall
“The consumption of dairy products has been found by researchers to be a leading caus of atherosclerosis, heart attacks and strokes...the high fat of dairy products have been implicated as the culprit in contributing heavily to heart attacks, strokes, and atherosclerosis. The high-fat dairy products are also those that are most likely to contain unsafe levels of environmental contaminants including pesticide residues and dangerous radioactive substances.” John Robbins
“The modern-day Bessie is bred, fed, medicated, inseminated, and manipulated for a single purpose-maximum milk production at a minimum cost. One result of these unnatural conditions is that the modern dairy cow is highly prone to stress and disease.” John Robbins
“The official testing method sanctioned by the FDA and used by most states to screen milk for drugs, called the BS (Bacillus sterothermophilus disc assay is unable to detect residues from most of the medications used in the dairy products today.” John Robbins, Diet for a New Planet
“Four different surveys of our milk supply were conducted by independent researchers between 1987 and 1989. The results were not comforting unless you like antibiotics and other veterinary drugs in your dairy products. The studies found between 63 - 86% of the milk samples to contain sulfa drugs, tetracyclines, and other antibiotics.” One of the sulfa drugs, sulfamethazine is a suspected human carcinongen.” John Robbins, Diet for a New Planet
So what if there is bacteria in the milk. It’s pasteurized, right? “The largest outbreak of salmonella poisoning ever recorded in the United States came from pasteurized milk.” (Robbins) 200,000 people in 6 states were suspected of having been infected with salmonellosis! Also, do you really want to consume a product composed of sterilized (pasteurized) pus, bacteria, viruses, and more?
The FDA currently tests 5 milk samples per week (of all the milk processed) for evidence of drug residues.
Vision
“I believe that food has the most powerful influence on our overall health. What we do each day, what we allow into our bodies, either shapes the most exquisite state of wellness we can achieve or takes us further into pain, suffering and the possibility of a chronic illness. We can learn to make informed choices that bring health to our body. A diet that supports wellness, enlightened consciousness, bliss and the healing of our planet is a combination of vegan foods, live vegan foods, Superfoods and Wild Foods. I will discuss each of these in future entries. I hope to bring to you information and resources so that you can achieve the most excellent state of wellness!”
- Dr. Ariel
- Dr. Ariel
SuperGreens Morning Smoothie
Here is a morning greens beverage that I enjoy:
1 heaping teaspoon Spirulina Powder
1 heaping teaspoon Wheatgrass/Barleygrass Powder
3-4 small apples, juiced in Jack La Lanne Juicer, the Juicer I recommend in my 14 Day Cleansing Programs.
Small piece of ginger, juiced.
I juice the ginger and apples, then mix everything in my Vitamix with a couple of ice cubes. Great way to start the day.
Why don't I start my day with a traditional Victoria Boutenko Green Smoothie? The beginning of the day is a time to be very gentle on digestion. The time for assimilation and detoxification is from 4am - 12pm. So, the morning time is a good time to rest the digestive system. The pure juice and greens powder are easier to digest than all the pulp and fiber in a traditional Green Smoothie. I have also found that sometimes the kale or spinach with a mango or other fruit personally spikes my blood sugar too high in the morning. I actually do better with a Green Smoothie in the 3-4pm time, when I need a snack and energy lift.
I also want to mention that that calcium value of wheatgrass, barleygrass and spirulina may do more for building bones than kale, collards or chard. That is only because these also contain oxalic acid. This decreases the absorption of calcium. Additionally, David Wolfe recently visited Portland and reminded us of something very important about greens powders. The simple is beautiful: SURFACE AREA. Yes, think about the surface area of spirulina that can be exposed to our digestive system. This means that we are more likely to absorb and use the nutrients than in kale or collards. It is true, though, that making kale or similar greens in a Vitamix does break them down signficantly, bu the powders will prevail here.
The ginger balances nicely against the coolness of the greens. It also helps to increase the digestion of the greens. Stomach acid needs to be strong to properly digest greens. Interestingly, the chlorophyll in the greens promotes strong stomach acid.
1 heaping teaspoon Spirulina Powder
1 heaping teaspoon Wheatgrass/Barleygrass Powder
3-4 small apples, juiced in Jack La Lanne Juicer, the Juicer I recommend in my 14 Day Cleansing Programs.
Small piece of ginger, juiced.
I juice the ginger and apples, then mix everything in my Vitamix with a couple of ice cubes. Great way to start the day.
Why don't I start my day with a traditional Victoria Boutenko Green Smoothie? The beginning of the day is a time to be very gentle on digestion. The time for assimilation and detoxification is from 4am - 12pm. So, the morning time is a good time to rest the digestive system. The pure juice and greens powder are easier to digest than all the pulp and fiber in a traditional Green Smoothie. I have also found that sometimes the kale or spinach with a mango or other fruit personally spikes my blood sugar too high in the morning. I actually do better with a Green Smoothie in the 3-4pm time, when I need a snack and energy lift.
I also want to mention that that calcium value of wheatgrass, barleygrass and spirulina may do more for building bones than kale, collards or chard. That is only because these also contain oxalic acid. This decreases the absorption of calcium. Additionally, David Wolfe recently visited Portland and reminded us of something very important about greens powders. The simple is beautiful: SURFACE AREA. Yes, think about the surface area of spirulina that can be exposed to our digestive system. This means that we are more likely to absorb and use the nutrients than in kale or collards. It is true, though, that making kale or similar greens in a Vitamix does break them down signficantly, bu the powders will prevail here.
The ginger balances nicely against the coolness of the greens. It also helps to increase the digestion of the greens. Stomach acid needs to be strong to properly digest greens. Interestingly, the chlorophyll in the greens promotes strong stomach acid.
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