Sunday, April 26, 2009

GREEN Life



This blog post is for anyone, but especially vegetarians and raw foodists. We seem to get so caught up in all of the different foods available. So many different types of fruit and vegetable, supplements, powders, and herbs. And now we have superfoods. Wow! How much there is to choose!

BUT



I MUST emphasize the importance of the basics. If you don't provide constant cleansing for your body, you will get all clogged up NO MATTER WHAT YOU'RE EATING. If you are on a raw food diet, or any kind of diet, you must get these two basics every day...

1. CHARGED WATER

2. GREEN LEAFY VEGETABLES

You can throw all of your superfoods and herbs down the toilet if you do not incorporate these two massively important elements for any healthy lifestyle.

Human beings are identical to plants, and plants need water. When I say charged water, I mean water with structure or electrolytes. Your body cannot do much with water that does not contain electrolytes, and the water will end up taking from you rather than giving. There are many ways to charge water and I'm certainly no expert, but what I usually do is add a pinch of sea salt and/or a squeeze of lemon.

BEFORE I DO ANYTHING IN THE MORNING (and especially eat anything) I have a nice, big glass of clean water with a pinch of sea salt and about a teaspoon of MSM powder. If you're new to MSM, you can work your way up by starting with a small pinch. It's quite bitter so if you've passed the taste threshold with it just know that you can use a little less and still get great results. At least every other day I'll squeeze a lemon into the water. Lemon water is great for providing a burst of vitamins and it's very alkalizing. Helps keep you alkaline for the rest of the day.

It's best to drink water on an empty stomach and not within 30 minutes of eating. I believe the general rule about how much water to drink is the number of ounces of your body weight divided by 2. So, someone who weighs 100 lbs should drink about 50 ounces of water a day. The more raw food a person eats, the less water one can drink. David Wolfe says that a raw foodist can divide their body weight by 4 to determine the number of ounces of water to drink each day.

(Daniel Vitalis can tell you much more about water. And trust me, you want to know.)

Now, the GREENS.

Perhaps we're hearing the word "green" so much that people are beginning to block it out. But I have to say that if you never eat maca, chocolate, or hemp seeds again you'll be right as rain as long as you get your greens.

Victoria Boutenko breaks it down in this interview for Supreme Master TV. (Watch parts 1 and 2)



The first 4 letters of the word HEALTH is HEAL. Health is the process of continuous healing. CHLOROPHYLL IS ESSENTIAL for healing. We are constantly bombarded with destructive free radicals and toxins, so we need chlorophyll to repair the damage and flush these toxins out.

Greens can be hard to eat, so liquify them. I do have a juicer which I use a few times a week. I'll use it for a burst of nutrition when I don't want my body to have to work through the fiber (after a workout or in the morning). Unless I'm fasting, I use the juicer sparingly. It's also great to blend your greens. A wonderful standard recipe for a green smoothie is...





1 cup of seed milk or water
Sweeten with fruit like apple or tropical fruits like durian or mamey. A banana works great if it is an organic, farm fresh banana (I do not recommend giant bananas like Chiquita). You could also add agave nectar or raw honey.
2 cups of greens (dandelion, kale, chard, collards, broccoli, etc.)



It's great to add tumeric root, ginger root, and cinnamon to any juice or blended green drink. And always remember to chew everything that goes into your mouth. Chew each sip until you taste the sweetness. The act of chewing stimulates your body systems for proper digestion.

You will notice proper bowel regularity, enhanced mood, and a sweet little figure if you eat/drink your greens. Get at least two servings of greens a day. If you're on the the run, try a green powder like Pure Synergy for one of your servings.

Once your body is working properly at the basic level, then you can really start having fun with superfoods.