How to Create Love this Valentine’s Day

How to Create Love this Valentine’s Day

-by Brenna Taylor

Valentine’s Day is almost here again. Maybe you aren’t feeling valentiny at all. In fact, maybe you want to hide away, and you just don’t feel like getting out of  your negative-nancy rut. Instead, you want to gorge, whether it be on food or on negative feelings. But I can promise you that will not help a thing. So let’s agree to put down the pizza, put down the putting-yourself-down and slowly, carefully walk towards the light.  

Read more »

Sisterhood Spotlight: Crystal’s dramatic health changes with whole food diet

Hello, my name is Crystal and I am so happy to be a part of the RawDivas family.   I always ‘knew’ that eating well was better for me and the ‘proper’ thing to do, but we don’t always do what is best for us and practice what we preach.  My journey has brought me full circle and I live a much different existence now, happily.

I am married to my high school sweetheart and he is a wonderful man. We have two amazing, funny children and I consider myself to be a very ‘lucky lady’.  My life could have turned out much differently.  I am a self professed survivor of much more than loads of laundry, stacks of dishes and a multi-tasking queen.

The website that changed my life is  www.greensmoothiequeen.com and I honestly believe it was sent to me on angel wings.  A lot of things were going on in my life and I needed divine intervention.  Who knew that my angel had gorgeous green wings? :o)

During my first pregnancy, I got very sick at 7 months, was put on Read more »

Sisterhood Spotlight: Vicky controls Gestational Diabetes with diet alone!

Vicky has been a participant in WISH and was gracious enough to share her experience with diabetes.  We felt her experience could be very helpful to others who may need to adjust their diet to help keep their blood sugar in range.  Please post any questions below.  I think this is an area we will want to be exploring more.  xoxoxo  Lyn

Hello, my name is Vicky Glisson.  I am a 42 yr old mother of five children, 4 boys and 1 girl.  Our baby girl Cadence was born at home on July 29^th.  I would like to share my experience with staying on a raw diet when I developed gestational diabetes during my 5^th pregnancy.

Our family has been on a raw diet (75-90%) since January of 2008. When I became pregnant with Cadence I was very excited to have the chance to experience a pregnancy while on a raw diet and give my next child the most nutritious, healthy start I could.

I find out I have Gestational Diabetes….

When it was time to test for Gestational Diabetes I decided not to drink the glucose drink, but to test my blood sugar after each meal with a glucose monitor for one week.  My blood sugar tested higher than normal.  When I took my results to my midwife she explained that I had Gestational Diabetes and that she could not do a home delivery if I could not keep my blood sugar in a normal range. Read more »

What Are All These People Doing In My Fridge?!

Okay, so they’re not really in my fridge, but it sure feels like it.

Every time I go to take something out of my fridge, the words of a dozen different gurus race about in my mind. Feeling the way I do about food, the environment, animals and such, you can imagine what a conundrum I find myself in when I open it to see liver pâté staring me back in the face, or mozzarella cheese strips, or *gasp!* porc products!

I believe in communication more than carbohydrates, and I would rather focus on love than lunch meats, but I will admit that a fiery volcano erupts within me every time my loved ones choke back a chicken nugget.

*sigh*

I know I am not alone.

There are hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of women who are facing the same situation. It’s the “Raw Mom, Cooked Dad” scenario and it’s got my knickers in a knot, so I decided to do something about it!

For the last few years I’ve been recording my thoughts, ideas, impressions and suggestions on the subject of how to survive as a “raw foodist” in a cooked food family. Over the last few months I’ve been calling upon some of the people I respect the most and asking them to chat with me about their thoughts, ideas, suggestions about this particular topic.

Then Fiona came on board and we decided to survey Read more »

Free Fruit Friday

Remember the days when milk was distributed free to children in schools? (Actually, that was well before my time, but I know it used to happen in some countries!) Thank goodness that scheme went the way of the dinosaurs, especially now that we know many children have sensitivities to pasteurized cow’s milk.

Well, here in Australia, the Victorian government has come up with a far-healthier scheme for schools – children in lower primary school grades can receive free fruit on Fridays!

The Free Fruit Friday scheme is fairly new to Victoria – it’s only been around for a couple of years, and my children’s school started it this year. Each child is allocated 70c worth of fruit, and it’s distributed on Fridays.

As it happens, I help out in my children’s classrooms on Fridays, so I’m there for the distribution of fruit. A local fruit shop (how great to support local businesses) supplies boxes of fruit, with the fruit already divided equally between the boxes. Parent helpers grab a box of the fresh, glowing seasonal fruit, and take it back to the classrooms for washing. There’s a lot of parental involvement at our school, which really helps the teachers.

After washing the fruit, it’s placed on a platter lined with a teatowel (see the picture of this week’s offerings!), so that it can be left to dry before kids “dive in” at “brainfood” time.

In my girls’ classrooms, this has been an absolute hit. The children love biting into fresh, juicy fruit, and there’s often plenty enough for each child to have two pieces. I just love seeing everyone enjoying the fruit, and imagine all the life force and vitamins zinging around their little bodies.

Does your school have a scheme like this? If you’d like more information, head here. If you don’t have anything like this in your local area, why not suggest it to your local, county, state, or national governmental body?

Wouldn’t it be great if every government on the planet took up an initiative like this?

Love Raw Mom Jo

PS For ideas on how kids can make the most of fresh, raw fruit, check out my recipe e-book for kids: Monkey Mike’s Raw Food Kitchen: An Un-Cookbook for Kids!. (I still can’t believe that it’s the first-ever raw-food recipe book written just for children!)

5 Things to Help Prevent Seasonal Depression on the Raw Food Diet

by Joanna Steven

When raw foodists encounter the word SAD, what usually comes to mind is the Standard American Diet, with its fare of fried starches, barbecued meats and hydrogenated oils. But, the acronym can mean something a lot more insidious and difficult to avoid: Seasonal Affective Depression.

The wide majority of raw foodists report increased happiness and elevated mood when they finally kick potato chips and burgers to the curb, but when winter hits and produce quality dramatically falls, moods may slump a little. Add to that the lack of light experienced by those of us living in northern climates, and it’s easy to understand why even on a raw diet, we are not necessarily immune from the dreaded winter blues.

Fortunately, it is very easy to ensure more than adequate nutritional intake planned with plenty of mood boosting raw foods. Indeed, what many of those reaching for little white pills at the first sign of a cloud are not aware of is the fact that even brain chemical imbalances can be corrected with the proper foods… and many of them are healthy, raw, wholesome ingredients. Here are the top feel good foods.

Omega 3 rich foods:

Many studies have now demonstrated the benefits of Omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFA) in cases of depression, and the good news is, you do not need fish to get these precious EFAs. One of the best sources of Omega-3s is chia seeds, which are also an extraordinarily rich source of calcium, a mineral many raw foodists can find difficult to get in adequate quantities. A daily chia pudding with a little mood lifting cacao powder may well be all you need to get through winter unscathed. Another very rich source of Omega-3s is flax seeds. Dehydrated into crispy crackers, they also have the benefits of providing that satisfying crunch which many budding raw foodists Read more »

The Truth About Diva Notes

People might think that I send out my diva notes as a way of uplifting others, but that’s not the whole truth. You see, for every ONE email I send out to the world, I get dozens back. In that respect, one might see this as a rather selfishly motivated venture.

Few things will raise a person’s sense of self-worth more
than the ability to help others.

TAll the fussing you’ve been doing to lose 10 pounds so that you’ll feel a bit “better”. Spend 15 minutes doing good deeds for elderly people in a retirement home and watch what happens. Teach a little kid to tie his shoe laces.

We put so much attention on food and diet and nutrition, but Life is about relationships, attitudes and the contributions we make to the world around us.

This morning I took a moment of tranquil reflection to finally write a “diva note”. In case you don’t receive them, you’ll get them when you sign up for the FREE 7-day raw food detox we offer. This is what I sent out this morning.

Lovebeam,

I’ve missed you.

I’ve been just swamped in preparations for WISH, but I’m here this morning with a doozie, so listen up, Si-star!

While interviewing Ali Brown for WISH, she shared with me a quote by Jim Rohn, which goes like this:

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

Whoa.

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

WhooooOOOoooaa!!

It took a few days for this one to sink in, but when it did, I started making some adjustments. I started getting a bit more choosy about the people with whom I share my time, my attention and my resources.

Have you been accepting certain conditions and situations because you feel you’re not “worthy” of something better, or “not there yet”? The speakers of WISH will remind you again and again to behave as if you already are where you want to be.

You don’t need to wait until you’ve got a hot pink convertible and your own official fan club to start acting like a superstar, my dear. It’s the other way around. You’ve got to think like a superstar, act like the superstar you ARE, then you’ll feel so good you’ll finally start doing the things you most want to do in the world.

That’s when you get the hot pink convertible.

Insist on quality ingredients in Life and love.

You are worthy.

Founding member of your Official Fan Club,

—————–

One of the cool things about inspiring and uplifting other people, is that you get a mega dose of inspiration and uplifting back. Immediately after sending out my message, I refresh, refresh, refresh my inbox to see if any responses have come in.

Check out some of the emails I received this morning;

“Tera,

I signed up for the 7 day raw detox months ago (I think back in November), but I never really did it.  Life became really bumpy for a while there with an unplanned pregnancy, a disappointing reaction from spouse and a subsequent miscarriage.  I have been “out of sorts” since then and have yet to really feel like I have regained control of my life, health and wellbeing.  I gained 20 pounds that I haven’t been able to shed and just haven’t felt the “spark” that I used to. I printed all of the 7 day detox materials when I originally signed up and have considered starting several times since then.

Finally TODAY, I am on my 24 hour fast!!  How great it was to come in to work this morning and see your email!  (Is it possible that you could have known I needed it?)   I am beginning to think that, in spite of the fact that I am just starting it now, signing up for the 7 day raw detox last year was one of the best things I have done in a long time.  All things happen for a reason, and I am realizing that, while November might not have been the right time for me, NOW is the time!  Because I have read through the materials so many times since November, I feel very prepared for the next 7 days.  I am looking at the detox week as the beginning of my “Kristin’s Got her Groove Back” phase of life.

Please know that you are making a difference in the lives of others, and you have made a difference in my life.  Your emails were there at times when it felt like no one else was.  You are like my secret little cheerleader – one that I have especially needed over the last couple of months.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  What else can I say?

With much gratitude,
Kristin”

Gushing gratitude from every pore, messages like these fill me up better than green smoothie ever could. Check out this one! It’s even from a MAN! OH YEAH! I loooove that we’ve got a male following in Divaland. You gotta be a cool cat to be comfortable hanging out with a bunch of “raw divas”:

“Dear Tera:
You absolutely magnificent ray of SUNSHINE. Just let me say I find in your emails and website a joyful sense of life and SPIRIT that I have to say I love what you are doing, you are most perfectly suited to it!!
Sincerely, Grant

And more and more and moooooore:

“Dear Diva, your emails are the sweetest, most inspiring and uplifting messages I receive.  Thank you so much for the beauty and joy that you bring and inspire in others.  xoxoxo”

————-

“Hello beautiful people

I have been receiving these notes for a while now and reading them with a smile.  However, this time I just had to send you a thank you for this wonderful note.

It is a lovely thing that you take the time to do and I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to make people feel better about themselves and their lives.

Thank you and Bless you all!

Alice xxx”

And this one… this one made my heart skip a beat:

You just don’t even know!!!…This note may have actually saved my life today! I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue. Thank you my sister!

In love & light,

C.

When you realize the impact your choices have on other people, you’re inspired to improve, persist, be the change you want to see in the world.

At the end of your days, it will not be what you did wrong or what you said to offend that takes up your attention. It will be regret for what you did NOT do or say to make things go right in your life.

Dive in and take your life head on, Sunshine.

That’s the only way to go.

Love, boundless support and gushing admiration,

Tera

The Benefits of Hemp Seeds

by Joanna Beujekian-Steven

Can a seed really provide all the essential amino acids, along with healthy fats, important minerals such as iron and zinc, and even chlorophyll? The answer is: yes! Hemp seeds, which cannot be grown in the USA at the time this article was written, can do all this and more. Here are a few reasons why adding hemp seeds to your diet can greatly benefit you by increasing your intake of vital nutrients and filling the gaps of an otherwise potentially unbalanced diet.

Photo by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii

- Amino acids: Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, and chemical reactions within our organisms will always call for amino acids instead of actual protein. Indeed, we have to expand energy to break down the protein we ingest in order to obtain useful amino acids, and when the proteins have been cooked, and therefore denatured (like transparent egg whites which become white in contact with heat), even more energy is needed. Hemp seeds are a great source of amino acids and easily digestible protein, and if you get them from a truly raw source like Manitoba Harvest, you really are fueling your system with one of the best protein sources out there.

- Minerals: Minerals such as iron, calcium and zinc are vital to our well-being. Deficiencies are very likely to lead to health problems like anemia, osteoporosis, brain degeneration and more. But, not all sources of minerals are equal. For example, dairy has an acidifying effect on the body, and calcium needs to be used to rectify the resulting pH imbalance. It is also more difficult to digest, and an increasingly large number of people discover that they are lactose intolerant. Again, hemp seeds are valuable allies in our mineralization. They are very rich in iron, providing 40% of our daily needs in a single ¼ cup, and they are also rich in zinc, a mineral which can be hard to find in many diets, but even more in a vegetarian one (arguably one of the healthiest diets regardless of this fact).

- Omega 6 and 3 fatty acids: While some try to avoid fats at all costs, it is now well known that omega 3 fatty acids might play a key role in fighting anxiety, depression and other mild mood disorders. But, standard diets are usually very low in Omega 3s, and fish is becoming increasingly high in heavy metals and other pollutants, and has become an unsustainable way to get enough healthy fatty acids as fish populations keep falling. Hemp seeds contain a perfect balance of omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acids, and are an easy and pleasant way to get more of them without the often encountered inconveniences of animal sources.

- Cholesterol: Being a plant food, hemp seeds are naturally devoid of cholesterol. In an Iranian study where the effects of hemp oil were tested on rats, researchers found that after eating hemp seeds, the rats’ LDL levels decreased while their HDL levels increased. They therefore recommended that people with high LDL cholesterol levels use more hemp products in their meals.

- Beauty: Hemp is a beautifying food. In a Finnish study from 2005, the effect of hemp oil in patients with atopic dermatitis was studied. After 20 weeks, the treatment group showed higher levels of healthy fats, their skin quality increased, and their need for medication decreased. According to the researchers, “Dietary hemp seed oil caused significant changes in plasma fatty acid profiles and improved clinical symptoms of atopic dermatitis. It is suggested that these improvements resulted from the balanced and abundant supply of PUFAs in this hemp seed oil.”
According to David Wolfe in his book Superfoods: The Food and Medicine of the Future, “sulfur-bearing amino acids such as cysteine and methionine [both present in hemp seeds] help the liver and nervous system detoxify poisons. They also improve the immune system, physical strength, flexibility, agility, complexion, hair luster, speed of healing, and the functionality of the liver and pancreas.”

There are many reasons why it would probably be wise to add hemp seeds to your diet; these are just a few of them. With their broad spectrum of amino acids, high mineral content, perfect balance of Omega fatty acids, and their many health promoting qualities, hemp seeds really are one of the most perfect foods to feed our bodies.

The Solution to our Chronic Mineral Deficiency Now!

by Dawn Adrienne Taylor

Information has finally reached the daily press warning of the link between
mineral-deficient foods and degenerative diseases. But what can we
do to improve our health immediately and prevent future disease?
It took almost 30 years of sourcing optimum nutrition before
I discovered a unique 75 organic plant-derived mineral
supplement that is transforming my health
and that of countless others.

“Minerals in the soil control the metabolism of plants, animals and man.
All of life will be either healthy or unhealthy according to the fertility of the soil.”

This was a statement made by Dr Alexus Carrel, Nobel Prize Winner, in 1912. Almost a hundred years later, agriculturist and writer, Graham Harvey, wrote in The Daily Telegraph, 18 February 2006: “Britain’s once fertile soil has been systematically stripped of its crucial minerals by industrial farming, leaving our fruit and vegetables tasteless and a nation in chronic ill health.”

William Albrecht (1896-1974 Illinois), referred to as the Father of Soil Research for his pioneering studies of the effects of infertile soil on plants and animals, warned in 1930s that if the land was not remineralised, there would be a massive increase in human degenerative diseases.

The Daily Mail has written extensively about the vital importance of minerals in the body; and BBC news in February 2006, reported that “40% of the elderly admitted to hospitals in this country are so malnourished, they are not strong enough to take medication [and of the] widespread ignorance about malnutrition in the NHS.”

In issue 103 of Healing Today, John Lovesey MNFSH, MBTA, CengFIStructE exposed: “The Myth of a Good Diet” in an excellent article Healing Today, February 2006, which prompted my response.

At age 15, while having my healthy teeth removed, the students observing me mentioned the now legendary Dr Weston Price (1870-1948), a remarkable nutritional dentist who had performed extensive work across the world to discover why, even though they didn’t brush their teeth, some cultures had strong, healthy teeth throughout their lives. Shrunken mouths occurred in one generation of these people changing to a refined western diet. The results of his work were that all foods must be grown in mineral rich soil to avoid malnutrition, a depleted immune system and poor growth.

In the late 1970s, and a vegetarian at the time, I discovered more of the dire state of our soil and how our animals are fed growth hormones and anti-biotics; I took vitamin and mineral supplements thereafter, sincerely believing I was replacing what even my organic diet lacked.

However, I found, in more recent years, that the minerals we buy in the shops are from ground rock (hydrophobic), or synthetic and made in a laboratory and are not extracted from plants (hydrophilic).

For minerals to have any value, they must a) be plant-derived so the body can absorb them; and b) contain a full spectrum of at least 70 plant minerals. The average mineral supplement contains only 15-18 hydrophobic minerals i.e. those derived from the ground (soil, ground up oyster shell, salt lakes) of which only a fraction (typically 5 to 7%) can be absorbed by the body.

It never made sense to me that an efficient and sophisticated system like the human body would reject any of the vital nutrients it depends upon in order to function, and no doctor or nutritionist could tell me why so little of a vitamin and mineral supplement was assimilated. I learned, rather obviously, that the answer is that we were meant to eat mineral-rich plants not the earth in which they grow! We are designed to eat apples, but have been given rocks!

Minerals in their metallic form [from the ground contained in most supplements] can be toxic to the human body.  Dangerous levels of these metallic minerals can accumulate in the tissues and create serious health problems. These are found in the 2000 year-old sea bed deposits, and are loaded with chloride. Very toxic inorganic minerals are being sold to an unsuspecting public under the guise of colloidal minerals.  The key factor is true plant derivation. ~Dr Joel Wallach, BS, DVM, ND.” ~ quote by  Dr Joel Wallach, BS, DVM, ND.

A plant mineral is between several thousand and a million times smaller, than the smallest metallic mineral.
The average plant-derived mineral is less than 0.00001 micron in size that could conceivably be 1/10,000th the size of a red blood cell.

The small size of the plant minerals makes it possible for the body to absorb them. They have been tested by specialist laboratories showing that they can pass easily through a one-inch thick paper filter. This means they would pass easily through the skin and enter the soft tissue regardless of a person’s ability to absorb.

COLLOIDAL AND IONIC

Elmer Heinrich, (author of The Root of all Disease) coined the phrase “colloidal” in order to explain the difference between the larger hydrophobic minerals directly from the ground and the infinitely smaller hyrophilic minerals via plants. However, he said that he wished he hadn’t because now everyone misuses it.  The earth is a colloid of the universe, for example.

“[People]…group plant derived minerals with metallic minerals that come from oyster shell, calcium carbonate, limestone, soil and clay and sea salts.   Supposedly, too much of some of these metallic elements have toxic effects on the body.   According to Dr Gary Price Todd [and Dr Robert Bender to name but two], the human body is NOT designed to absorb or assimilate and use metallic minerals.   Forty years ago, the health food industry recognised the metallic mineral absorption problem of no more than 8 percent. Chelated minerals were developed in the laboratory. This process involved wrapping amino acids or protein around metallic minerals to help the body metabolize them.   This did help the problem because these added dissolvers did increase the assimilation to about 40%. However, chelated or not, the fact remains, they’re still metallic minerals.

Don’t be misled by this recently formed IONIC mineral jargon. They just came up with a new descriptive name for an old metallic element solution that really doesn’t contain many minerals, but it does contain a lot of sodium.  The definition of an Ion is ‘an electrified atom of group of atoms’. This could describe anything on earth.”
~ From “The Root of all Disease” by Elmer Heinrich

I’ve never accepted either that, “you can expect to get illnesses when you get older,” or that “after age 40, you get these odd niggling little pains.” This is not how life was designed or meant to be and the suppressive, toxic treatments for isolationist, plagiarist-Pasteurian diseases we are given haven’t helped. These are the symptoms of what doctors refer to as sub-clinical diseases, but which indicate an already depleted immune system is deteriorating further. They are warnings of those illnesses that manifest full-blown later in life, yet which are unnecessary if we consume a nutrient rich diet.

As Linus Pauling, twice Nobel Laureate also stated in the 1950s:

“One could trace every sickness, every disease and every ailment to
a mineral deficiency.”

These 75 organic plant-derived minerals has been used successfully by millions in the US/Australia and other countries since 1932 and has received in excess of 15,000 written testimonies, many hundreds of which have been legally attested.    It is extracted from ancient, rich, 80 million year old Senonian vegetate when the Earth was unpolluted, using the purest water filtration methods.

Dr Schrauzer, researcher, inventor, author, chemist and, when younger, was considered to be one of the top twenty scientists in the world, says that these 75 plant derived minerals are, without doubt, the purest of the plant derived mineral extracts that he has analyzed.

Our nutritional needs begin from conception

Pregnant women are recommended to take 600 mg twice a day. I personally take at least 600 mg three times per day because I don’t want to take any risks of missing out on minerals! Stress is leached out of the cells during emotional traumas or physical exertion and perspiration and excreted from the cells by heavy metals in most of our environments, as well as being already absent from our foods. The Powdered Minerals, which last at least two months for one person, can be sprinkled directly into water, juice or into food. For children who weigh under forty pounds, there are 300 mg vegecaps, if you prefer a precise measurement, which can be pulled apart for children who can’t swallow the vegecaps. Older children and adults take 600 mg once or twice per day as a basic dosage.

Here we have the immediate answer to our well-documented mineral-deficiencies, and with the reassurance of the only company I’ve found that insists every batch has an external report certifying its contents contain 75 pure plant minerals.  I’m not aware of any other company in the world that does that.

Versatile – hair, skin and nails – and healing burns!

I sometimes make my own face cream with a blend of oils (almond, avocado, vitamin E, rosehip) and cacao butter gently melted, maybe adding some Rose Absolut or Frankincense, stirring in a little of the minerals just before it sets.   This is ok for night time because it’s a bit shiny! I’m not a professional face cream maker so I mix in a few minerals occasionally into some of the excellent organic creams on the market for the daytime. A little of the minerals goes a very long way.

I’ve even just put a little oil, olive oil in the palm of my hand and mixed it with the minerals especially after a day in the sun.

I reacted very badly to some shocking news and some hair fell out several days later leaving a bald patch. I had alopecia, but I knew the minerals would work – hair is made of minerals, and every one of our cells requires plant minerals to function. It all grew back in six months or so and my hair is healthier, thicker and shinier than it’s ever been since I was a teenager. The work the plant minerals do at cellular level inside the body that we can’t see is by far more important, as the hair, nails and skin are just the outer reflection of what is going on inside.

As well as upping the dose orally, I put it on the bald patches every night and all my hair grew back. It’s better than it’s ever been since I was a teenager and I don’t need to colour it at almost age 55!

My son burnt the top of his hand putting a log into a sauna stove in Finland and he put it under the cold tap to no avail. It was painful and red. I already had a large water bottle for everyone to drink to which the plant minerals had been added because saunas leach out minerals through the skin, being the largest organ of the body. We poured the minerals into the bowl to bathe his hand and the pain went away in less than a minute. He went to remove it in amazement but I suggested he leave it in for 20 minutes to allow the skin to repair. It did. The mark was barely visible the next day. The remaining mineral water was given to a deserving shrub as we left the summer cottage! The minerals are used in burn-units as they are much more effective than aloe vera.

These 75 plant minerals have also been used in ongoing trials in two small African states (Guinea and Burkina Faso). The populations were so severely malnourished they were incapable of absorbing the nutrients or digesting the food supplies they were being given. Initial results indicated extremely encouraging improvements. As minerals are the basis of all nutrition, there is a real chance of feeding the Earth’s population and ending hunger and preventing widespread disease.

Small groups of people are working to re-mineralise the earth but this could take hundreds of years and, as individuals, we need to supercharge our own immune systems right now to resolve our health issues as a matter of urgency.

“Osteoporosis is a preventable disease,” says Dr Robert Bender, physician for over 40 years. Food intolerances, allergies, hyperactivity etc. result from a lowered immune defence, as do degenerative diseases inaccurately attributed to age such as: high blood pressure, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, strokes and cancer. They are all avoidable if we consume optimum nutrition.

It makes more sense to say “minerals and vitamins,” in that order, because it is minerals that form the basis and contribute the most essential source for our bodies being able to function. We can survive longer without vitamins than we can without minerals; without them, vitamins cannot be absorbed. “Vitamins are basically useless in the absence of minerals,” says Dr Gary Price Todd.

“Minerals and trace minerals are the catalysts for all the vitamins and other nutrients your body uses for developing and maintaining good health.”

David Thomas, Naturopath and Chiropractor, appearing on Radio 4, February 2006

In 2002 having vastly overstretched myself consistently for many years in multiple ways (not to mention the vaccinations to travel, and specifically unrequested hidden under porcelain mercury dental bridge), I contracted Epstein Barr Virus (glandular fever) and subsequently the very severe and wide range of approximately 80 symptoms of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). Within a few weeks of taking these minerals, my energy levels soared, my mental agility returned, exogenous and endogenous depression and anxiety went and the carbohydrate cravings associated with the gut yeast, candida albicans, have also disappeared. I eat less, generally, as my body is satisfied with the nutrients it is receiving on a daily basis. Later, I made further changes to my lifestyle and eat a predominantly raw diet.

Minerals are the very source of physical life and the very foundation of nutrition because our bodies, inner and outer, consist of approximately 98% minerals and we need a full range each and every day. Minerals control every organ and all the electrical impulses in our bodies. Minerals, like the 50+ trillion cells in our body they feed, work interdependently and we therefore need a full spectrum, the way they used to exist in plants. If minerals are not in the ground, they are not in the plant, organic or not.

What the sentient body needs is a full range of instantly absorbable, hydrophylic, plant-derived minerals that have already been predigested by plants, which must have grown in mineral rich (about 70+) land. This is how we were meant to consume them. However, this is no longer available to the majority of us on the planet, organic or not, unless we live somewhere like Mount Etna where I’ve met people living to a ripe old age and vibrant because they plant their all foods in mineral rich volcanic deposits from deep within the ground (and the sun and alfresco, living with a strong family unit, ions in the sea air, etc.); or in Africa where I lived and my Father and grew enormous vegetables–aubergines/plantain–the size of rugby balls because our gardens were virgin soil, never before farmed, and had been unaffected by rain erosion because of the density of the foliage.

Taste in fruits and vegetables is also to do with minerals. When there are sufficient minerals fed to growing vegetables, it increases the brix (fruit, vegetable sugars) enormously as shown in the tests in Japan by New Zealand scientists. Cravings, hunger even, relate to plant mineral deficiencies leading to chronic diseases. Dr Gabriel Cousens has written a great deal about minerals and, in particular, his work with Diabetes 2 in terms of a mineral deficiency.

Diabetes 2 seems to respond exceptionally well to 75 plant minerals with many people coming off medication, we’ve noticed. People are reporting that their blood pressure is down for the first time in years, that they have automatically cut down on smoking, dropped a dress size or if they get a cold it doesn’t last and many other people have far more dramatic health experiences. The most common experience is that everyone taking this full spectrum of plant minerals reports an increase in energy.

In his book, The Root of All Disease, [is a lack of minerals], Elmer Heinrich says, “I have been monitoring and studying thousands of mineral-deficient people for twenty-five years. In my opinion, heart disease is a direct result of a [plant-derived] mineral deficiency!”

These pure plant minerals provide the essential food we cannot obtain even from discerning shopping as well as enabling the quickest and most gentle detoxification (a lack of minerals prevents the body from detoxing normally, some people report increased bowel movements especially initially or a cessation of constipation). I call them “the food I can’t get from my food!”

From my own results alone, I am tempted to say this 75 mineral supplement is miraculous but taking plant-derived minerals really is a matter of very simple common sense and of biology and geology that should be taught in schools. If we return to the agricultural wisdom of the past e.g. three-field systems where one field is left fallow for several years to regenerate, instead of spraying every possible inch with chemical feeds to create bulk crops for profit, I’m certain we would develop a society rich in health and intelligence, with a population who understand the wisdom of nurturing their planet and fellow man.

Rick Bockner, the 22nd and last Reiki Master to be initiated by Mrs Takata (the remarkable lady who brought Reiki from Japan to the West in the 1930s) told me that Mrs Takata always said to him: “All illness starts here,” patting her solar plexus to indicate where the absorption and digestion of our nutritious fuel begins.  Mrs Takata who devoted her life to healing through Reiki, understood the body well. I believe she knew of the essential importance of minerals from plants as she drank a special mixture of blended raw vegetables several times each day, in those days when there were minerals in the ground, which she took with her wherever she went, in addition to practising daily Reiki.

Although, “We are not human beings on a spiritual journey, but spiritual beings on a human journey,” (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin). We are, nevertheless, very much physical beings on this beautiful, blue-green planet and, as such, must nourish our bodies to enable us to follow our true paths in optimum physical health and developed consciousness. I wish I’d found these special plant minerals sooner, but better late than never. All my family take them, too. It is clearly evident we cannot rely upon officials to make health choices for us, we must take the responsibility ourselves, and I shall continue to share this information with everyone. I strongly recommend you try them for yourself.

“We can now visualize our universe: its light, gravity and heat, its seasons, tides, and harvest, which prepare a habitation for the universe of vital forms, microscopic and majestic, which fill the oceans and the forests. We have a common denominator for universes within and around each other, our world, our food, and our life have potentials so vast that we can only observe directions, not goals.
Yes, man’s place is most exalted when he obeys
Mother Nature’s laws.”

Dr Weston A. Price, DDS (1870-1948)

To purchase 75 Plant Minerals (or read the free e-book “The Root of all Disease”) go to www.usnaturals.net/taylord1854 click on Buy Products and select “Powdered Minerals” from the Products menu. Dawn may be contacted by email: girasoledawn@hotmail.com

“Coconut Kids” Smoothie & Keeping Cool

by Joanne Newell

Hello everyone! A belated Happy New Year to you – has your 2010 started off well? Don’t you love the start of a fresh new year?

It’s been hot, hot, hot here in Melbourne. Well, some days it’s hot, some days it’s chilly – and it can be four season in one day in this lovely city!

To keep cool, we’ve been whipping up some ice-cold drinks, including a phenomenal smoothie created by an amazing Aussie mum called Delia Raizon. Delia writes recipe books with her sister, Lana (their latest book was published by The Five Mile Press, who also publishes my books in Australia), and Delia has posted a few high-raw recipe videos on the “Lana & Delia Raizon” website.

You’ve gotta check out the videos – SO cute, and inspiring. Delia’s at the start of a raw journey, and I just love that there’s another voice out there promoting the health benefits and taste of green smoothies and high-raw foods to Australian families.

You can see Delia’s “Coconut Kids” smoothie video here, but if you’d like to give it a go, here’s the recipe itself:

Coconut Kids Smoothie

Ingredients

• 1 young Thai drinking coconut
• 5 frozen bananas (if your blender isn’t powerful, you might need to chop the bananas before freezing)
• 3 or so pitted dates, soaked, with the soaking water
• 2 handfuls soaked almonds
• extra water
• ice cubes

Method

1. Tip the flesh and juice from the coconut into a blender.
2. Add the frozen bananas, pitted dates (and their soaking water) and almonds, and blend.
3. Add extra water and ice and blend to achieve your desired consistency.

This smoothie has become a favorite at our house!

In our continuing quest to keep cool on these dreamy, long summer holidays, the girls and I have also been whipping up a few treats from Ani’s Raw Food Desserts (by Ani Phyo), including “Chocolate-Covered Bananas” (choc-coated frozen bananas on skewers, found on page 77 of the book) and “Key Lime Kream Bars” (page 25).

Surprisingly, when making the banana ice lollies, the kitchen didn’t become covered in chocolate – most of it actually went on the bananas (or into little – and big – mouths). The girls weren’t quite so keen on the kream bars, but I adore them, and have been cutting off little wedges every now and then as a zesty, creamy snack.

I’ve yet to try out the enticing-sounding “Raspberry-Ganache Fudge Cake”, which Raw Mom Shannon tried when Ani’s book first came out. Can’t wait to sample that one. Thanks, Ani, for such a beautiful little book!

If you’re after some lively raw inspiration, I highly recommend Ani’s book, and popping over to Delia and Lana’s website.

Take care, everyone, and hug your babies!

Love Jo