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.

 

 

 

Recipes for a Raw Coconut Smoothie and a Raw Yoghurt

Do you do Raw and miss yoghurt or perhaps you just do not do dairy. Young coconuts make an amazing smoothie, and then if you like you can go one step further, and make some raw, non dairy yoghurt.

South Africans from western descent are not that familiar with young coconuts as these are truly tropical fruits. This was the situation until recently where you can now even find young coconuts in Cape Town to satisfy the needs of raw fooders and others that have fallen in love with this delicious fruit.

So exactly what do you do with the young coconut to make a smoothie or yoghurt.
First you need to open the coconut. Now this does involve you investing in an inexpensive machette Be sure that you know what you are doing cause this is a really lethal weapon. I have seen Mozambican guys that make opening them look like childs play. It takes a certain knack.

Then, scrape the coconut ‘meat’ out (see video) and place the meat into a super blender such as a Vitamix or Hi-Blend Multi Speed, together

 

 

The recipe reads
2 cups young coconut meat (2-4 coconuts)

1/4 – 1/2 cup coconut water, (you might need more coconut water to thin the mixture down)

Directions

• Place the coconut meat and coconut water in a super blender and blend until smooth. Add extra coconut water if necessary.
• Add the pro-biotic powder and blend lightly ( just enough to mix the powder in)

You now have a stunning coconut smoothie. If the coconut milk and meat was not refrigerated then cool the smoothie off in the fridge before serving.

To make the Raw Coconut Yogurt 

Take the

Place the coconut cream in a glass jar with a lid and allow to sit at room temperature for 8-12 hours. Stored in the refrigerator will keep up to 1 week.

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!

Next Page »