Turning Points to Health

The turning point in my life was when I purchased a Vitamix Total Nutrition Centre in 1994.  I had wanted a high powered blender for some time, as I inherently knew that I needed to include more raw food into my diet.  I could see the advantage of blending a whole pile of fruit, leaves, etc and just chugging it down.  At that stage I was 40 years old and suffering from various maladies.  These ranged from horrible PMS that lasted at least 2 weeks of every month, drinking too much alcohol and popping sleeping pills every night.  I was a mess.

I purchased my Vitamix from my daughter’s friend’s mother, Colleen Thornhill.  Meeting Colleen and her husband Mike, and purchasing the Vitamix changed my life almost immediately.

I became a vegetarian within two weeks of purchasing the machine and increased my raw intake by at least 70%. I blended smoothies every morning for myself and the rest of the family.  I took a flask of the stuff to work and basically just had fruit all day.  Supper was a big salad.  I lost weight, strangely enough, even though I was already very slim.  I dropped from 50kgs to around 44kgs, and kept this low weight for about 3 years – slowly stabilising and creeping back up to around 47kgs, which is my current weight.

For the next three years I still drank alcohol, but less so and still took sleeping pills, sadly, but I felt much better all round and I no longer experienced PMS, which was a huge relief.

In 1997 we left South Africa, and this was another turning point in my life.  My husband and I both gave up alcohol.  Two years later we moved to Saudi Arabia, and it was there that I decided to give up sleeping pills.  This was exceedingly difficult, but since I was not working, it seemed like the right time. Within 6 months I was able to sleep without any chemical aid.

A year later we moved to Dubai.  Here I increased my raw intake to around 95-100%, exercised every day on my rebounder (a gift from Colleen and Mike) and felt like I had evolved into the me I was meant to be.

At this point I purchased a distiller and a dehydrator. I wanted to be sure the water I was drinking was as clean and pure as possible. The dehydrator was to add other textures and flavours into the raw diet.  Dried fruit is my passion! I eat far too much of it.

I am now 56, and incredibly happy and well.  I have amazing energy and never get depressed, even if things do go wrong!

I highly recommend to anyone embarking on a ‘health crusade’ to seriously consider going ‘raw’.  Somehow raw food vitalises the body.  Every cell seems nourished, content and happy. If all the parts of the whole are well, it stands to reason that the whole being will be well too.    The easy way to do it is with a blender, particularly initially.  It is so easy to blend and chug.  Purchasing a juicer is also a good idea, but I have not yet done so.  I tend to only juice oranges and have a cheap little juicer for this purpose.

I also highly recommend exercising on a rebounder (or mini trampoline).  I bounce/aeorobicise on my trampoline every morning for 30 minutes to very upbeat, trendy music.  It is a great way to start the day and excellent for encouraging elimination, and of course keeping fit and trim.  The other benefit I have noticed is that I now have really good balance.

 

 

 

Meat Patches

University finds solution to global warming. It might affect you so read on!

It has long been known that the estimated 1,3 billion cattle are breathing out CO2 and blowing off methane at such a rate as to be serious contributors to global warming. Just in case you are not aware of the impact that global warming can have on the earth, just take this as an example of climate change. Africa will experience heat waves and serious drought on a continent that already short of water. Wars are being fought over oil. When will people start fighting over water, the source of all life on this planet?

The contribution of cattle to this problem has set New York University and Oxford University to seek a solution to this ever-growing problem. It has been suggested that livestock farming is contributing to a massive 51% of the greenhouse emissions (Goodland and Anhang 2009). Global warming is not going away unless something serious is done we are going to be in dire straits. In their paper they consider a new kind of solution called human engineering. This involves biomedical modifications to humans that will reduce the number of cattle contributing to the problem or measures to enable humans to adapt to climate change”
As a vegetarian, this is the part that made me laugh out loud. Basically the suggestion is to find a way of making people hate eating meat. The academics recognised that people lack the motivation and willpower to give up eating meat So have suggested that a more realistic option would be to induce chainsa mild intolerance to meat. this can be achieved by humans that currently eat meat to wear meet patches which would be akin to nicotine patches for smokers. These would stimulate the immune system against common bovine proteins causing the person to have an unpleasant experience and not want to eat meat.

The other bizarre suggestions that the academics made to reduce the demand for livestock were:

• To make people smaller through hormone treatment and genetic engineering. Smaller people eat less than bigger people which means the consumption will be reduced
• To make people smarter with the use of drugs. Generally smarter people have less children and this again means there will be less consumption.

The lead author of the paper, S. Matthew Liao indicated that these were just ideas to deal with climate change and he was not in favour of these ideas being enforced on anybody but rather for people to volunteer in the interests of climate change.

Well it seems that the impact on global warming by livestock is serious enough that ‘Meatless Monday’ is actually being taken on by top restaurants around the world. Public figures, film produces, actors, actresses and schools all standing behind this moral drive to save the planet. When I was a child it was a common practice for Catholics to abstain from meat on Friday and instead to eat fish. Projecting forward I can see that Mondays will be a day when people will find difficulty in eating meat publicly on Monday. That will be a day I for one look forward to!

Autumn Special Juice Recipe

Equipment: Oscar or Greenpower Kempo Juicer and a Super Blender = Vitamix or Hi-Blend

Highlighted Fruit – Kiwi Fruit

This tasty fruit is high in antioxidants containing high levels of Vitamin C and as much potassium as a banana. Remember that one of the issues we have with our modern diet is that we consume too much sodium and too little potassium. The Kiwi also has notable quantities of vitamin E and A. There are not that many sources of Omega 3 which is an essential fatty acid but the Kiwi seeds when crushed in a masticating juicer like the Oscar or the Kempo will release the alfa-linoleic acid.
As a footnote about this remarkable fruit, it is also high in fibre.

Recipe Juice

• 1/2 Pineapple
• 4 Apples

Blend

• 1 Mango – peeled
• 2 Kiwi fruits
• A handful of strawberries (fresh or frozen)
• Add the extracted juice and blend gently together

 

P.S. It is important to use the blended fruit to include the fibre to assist in the slow release of sugars.
Enjoy!

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