Day 224

Raw Strawberry Nut Pie I created :) Sweet, healthy, raw and delicious!

Thoughts: Yesterdays blog was about calorie restriction with optimal nutrition. Jinjee who has only eaten raw foods now for 13 years said “I woke up this morning knowing I wanted to drink more water. To do this I have to eat less often, as it is not good to mix food and drink or you dilute the digestive juices. So I want to eat more nutrient dense foods, which are foods with the most nutrients per calorie, which are, according to the ANDI (Aggregate Nutrient Density Index) - Kale, Collards, Boy Choy, Spinach, Arugula, Cabbage, Romaine, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Green Pepper (top 10). The top 10 fruits are: Strawberries, Blueberries, Oranges, Cantaloupes, Apples, Peaches, Cherries, Pineapples, Mangos and Grapes! The top nuts are: Sunflower seeds, Flax seeds, Sesame seeds, Pistachios, Almonds, and Walnuts. Lentils are also really high up on the list. (You can soak orange lentils til they're soft enough to eat, and put them in your salads. They're yummy!)” – www.thegardendiet.com

Jinjee is also the creator of the 21 Day Spring Cleanse that I just took part in. It was 21 days of only raw foods with a exercise and meal plan (I learnt so many new raw recipes!) created by The Garden Diet.

During the cleanse I got present to how addicted I am to pain and suffering I am, and that I know when I am about to over eat – and the consequences – sluggish – heavy face – tired – slow heavy thoughts - yet I still do it. Do I not want to be connected all the time? Do I think I do not deserve to feel good all the time? I am not sure – If I was sure I guess I would be in a different place than what I am now. I guess knowing is the first step – I feel like all I know is that perhaps I have to give up that addiction to the pain and suffering. And I feel like I am waiting for that one day where I will wake up and not want any more drama in my life – so all choices after that will be out of love, harmony, joy and peace. This day is not going to happen. I realize that. And I am starting to see that I have to create it – make it happen – today – now – otherwise you know it’s just my mind disease waiting – waiting – waiting for something better, a new day, running on the treadmill, living in a ‘someday’ place, something in the future that does not exist. The challenging part? How do I start? And do we ever let go of the pain, suffering, ego and drama? Or is it part of being a human and I am just to master it – to conquer my own humanness! Perhaps :) That certainly sounds like my next adventure!

Jinjee lost 10 lbs. “I wanted to from my belly!” Storm lost 15 lbs. “of winter weight he was carrying!”

This is how it was for me:

Week One – was easing in to the cleanse with simple, easy, nutritious, and delicious raw detox recipes and Storm's secret herbal tea recipes! It was the easiest simplest cleanses I have ever done! I wasn’t dreading that I had 3 weeks ahead of me with only raw foods, instead I was excited to receive the new recipes and meal plan. I no detox symptoms, withdrawals or cravings! The first day had this amazing salad using herbs as a base and my favourite avocado! I was starting to learn that raw foods combined can make some delicious meals, and some even tricked my body, and I felt that same fulfillment that I would from a cooked meal! I wasn’t missing cooked foods at all. I was wondering if it would get hard eating only raw foods. I decided that if the raw meals could be this yummy, exciting, entertaining and fulfilling there would be no need for me to go back to cooked foods. I was surprised after just one week to experience a lightening of both my physical body and emotional being. I definitely feel more energetic, and I was even working 10-14 hours on a film set that required nothing but pure energy and presence!

Week Two – was High Cleansing Week. We had simple whole foods Days ("Mono"-eating), one food at a time, just fruits and veggies. Mono eating is my favourite, for example it is no mixing foods or ingredients, simple for me and my body, I would have orange juice, then another meal some cherries, another meal rock melon (cantaloupe), another meal watermelon. There is no cutting or mixing involved, no recipes, just go to the store or farm or your garden, and eat it as it is. Eat it as it is. Yum! We also eased in to green smoothies, green juices, and fruit smoothies (which melt the lbs. away!), which certainly were a shock for my taste buds, I could taste the health, the alkaline state of the juice – the acidic part of me didn’t exactly like them! We also did a one-day water fast, and easing out of the fast with Liquid-only and "Mono" days. I also noticed weight coming off, inches coming off, my face shape changes to more defined and toned, my skin was clear and shining!

Week Three - Simple Raw Meals with cleansing juices and teas was a great, simple, refreshing way to complete the cleanse. I now have some favourite raw recipes that I love, and I even got created and made up some of my own recipes! Last night I made a creamy avocado and strawberry nut pie! My husband said it was the greatest thing I have yet created! I planted some vegetables and herbs in my garden outside at the beginning of the cleanse, and they are all just starting to boom now! So exciting! I was looking at our tomato plants yesterday and the perfect firm round green tomato formations, and was blown away with the plant, how it forms and how I will eat from it in a couple of weeks when the tomatoes are ready. Respect for the plant! I have certainly found a new appreciation for food and where it comes from, and that every piece of food came from somewhere, and it is not to be taken for granted – someone put a lot of hard work into gathering that for me to be able to eat at that moment – I appreciate that, and so I should! It is after all supporting my existence! It wasn’t like I was on a hard, or challenging cleanse – it felt like a positive permanent lifestyle transformation!
In sum the 21 day cleanse of eating only raw foods had me discover incredible inner peace and mental clarity. My thoughts were creative, uplifting, and it was easier to choose thoughts on a frequency of love, peace rather than hate and anger towards myself. Being raw has instilled the love, respect and appreciation I once had for my self – back in! Yeehaaa baby :)

Jinjee says of the cleanse, “You will enjoy your body transformation, be more sensitive to the blissful rays of the sun and the feeling of sand and cool water, the sounds of the surf, feeling like a part of it all with a body that is at one with the beauty of nature.”

What other people said about the cleanse ...

"The best thing I have noticed about this cleanse is that if I am hungry, I do not have to eat, water is what I need first. When I do eat, I do not eat even a fourth of what I usually eat and I am full. I am not getting headaches..Amen...My body is not in pain when I awake in the morning. My clothes I just bought for mother's day are way too big (I have to take them back). I am sleeping better, I do not need a fan blowing at me and I breathe easier while sleeping. I think clearer than I have in months. I have discovered myself...I know that I am a wonderful, loving, giving person and warm person. And the biggest thing that I discovered is that I CAN DO IT...I can continue to be raw thru all the potato chips, Pepsi, cake, cookies, coffee, chicken, hamburgers, fried rice, sausages, pancakes, milk and white chocolate, fried sea food and enjoy the food that I am eating that is simple, easy, is filling and most of all it taste great...I have lost twenty pounds and I am loving it and myself"
- O

"I have been 100% raw for one entire week even while my kids are with me (an amazing feat for me, especially since I made them some cooked things.) And, as happens with me when I do 100% for more than about three and a half days, the feelings come rolling in.”

"What I learned and what I got out of this cleanse:
• I lost 15 pounds and my clothes fit great
• I gained confidence in eating cleaner when others around me are not
• I learned that I feel better when I eat live foods
• I learned to be in self control
• I lost my sugar cravings
• I liked being reminded that exercise and happiness are a cycle (thanks Jinjee)
• I learned that I could compete in athletic events being raw and be stronger than with a cooked diet
• I learned how to create simple, yummy meals to satisfy my cravings
• I felt sexier"

“My husband also did the cleanse and he was even more perfect than me. He lost 20 pounds and has learned that he can reach for a piece of fruit or vegetable and be delighted by the taste. He learned that ice-cream makes him hike slower and that he feels better when eating lighter.”

"I have more energy and sleep better and I have felt very nice working out. Thank you so much for the recipes they have helped me to enjoy the raw foods so much more".
- S

"I am a 100% raw foodist and have been for almost 4 years. I was diagnosed with cancer of the prostate and decided to allow my body to heal naturally. In the process I have improved and stabilized that condition and transformed the following:

1. Weight reduced from 83.7kg (184.1lbs) to 60.7kg (133.5lbs): a drop of 23kg (50.6lbs).
2. Blood pressure dropped from 135/85 to 110/60 (the blood pressure of a 21 year old, not a 67 year old). At one point sticking around 140/90.
3. Thyroid Function: TSH down from 27.90 to 3.12 (Healthy Range 0.40 – 4.00).
4. About 6 months into the raw food program, after initially getting worse, the diarrhoea I had been experiencing for several years stopped and normal bowl movements returned and have been sustained.
5. Also around the same time, after a very bad eczema attack on my shins, again which I had been suffering from for many years, disappeared along with the tinea between my toes and groin rash I had had since a young age. I have not re-experienced any of these skin conditions since.
6. Cholesterol has reduced from 5.3 to 3.8 (Healthy Range <5.5*).
◦ LDL Cholesterol (the bad stuff) down from 3.8 to 2.6 (Healthy Range <3.5).
◦ Coronary Risk Ratio has come down from 5.3 to 3.8 (Healthy Range <5.0).
7. Hay fever and itchy eye: This disabling condition, suffered since childhood has completely cleared.
8. I am engaged three times per week in a ‘serious group outdoor personal training program’

As you can imagine I am hooked 100% for life…"

"I am able to move without pain for the first time in years"
- Jeff

"I lost 8 lbs. the first week!"
- Christine

"I just fed my family your RAW Tacos and they LOVED them. Cleared the plates and wanted more"!
- Cindy

"I had a tumor the size of a grapefruit in my leg. It is now lemon-size after drinking your vegetable juices for a week! I don't have medical insurance so I'm lucky I heard about your site!"
- Brad

"Quick thanks to you and Storm. My husband and I have three children...15,13,11. As a family we have lost 140 lbs so far"!
- Darla

Chris before -

Chris after - almost unrecognizable!



Challenges: Letting go of the pain, suffering, attachment and drama that I have created in my life. Allowing my self to feel connected and be fully self expressed all the time.

Triumphs: One step at a time :) A jug fills drop by drop - Buddha

What I Ate Today:

Food fest 1: 2 nectarines

Food fest 2: The juice of an orange and grapefruit! 1 nectarine.

Food fest 3: Raw Strawberry nut pie - my husband said it is the greatest recipe I have created yet ;) Creamy, rich, yummy, sweet! Ingredients: Dates, brazil nuts, cocoa powder, a dash of olive oil and himalyan salt, creamy avocados, macadamia nuts, more dates, strawberries and blackberries!

Food fest 4: Macadamias, strawberries, blackberries :)

Recipe: The recipe for raw Strawberry Nut Pie will be in The Earth Diet book released this November! You would never know this recipe is raw - absolutely the perfect dessert!

Exercise: A Saturday stroll with my husband! We went bike riding to the beach and the store in the morning, and in the arvo we went riding around the streets feeling like teenagers again!

141 days to go!!!

Visit:
www.thegardendiet.com
www.theearthdiet.org

Day 225

Thoughts: Tomorrow, Monday, my husband and I are taking on The Master Cleanse. Sounds like a movie title! Hehe! A horror, comedy or drama? I guess we will find out! The Master Cleanse is detoxing the body of toxins by water with maple syrup, cayene pepper and lemon! Strange mixture? Or genius combination to eliminate toxins? Let our adventure be the test hehe! Why are we doing it? Andrew is slimming down for his next role and wants to detox the beer and processed foods from his last role 'Squid Man'! Me? I am taking on being a master of my own thoughts and doing something that takes strength of mind. My mind has already tried to talk me out of it today! How long? 7 days!

I saw a friend do the cleanse a few years back, thinking how strange. According to the internet The Master Cleanse diet has been tried and tested for over 60 years, all over the world, as the best cleansing diet of all It is far superior to any other for toning, reducing and cleansing the body.

The cleanse claims it will allow the body to heal itself.

Since the ancient times, men and women have used fasting and cleansing techniques to heal their bodies. Jesus Christ fasted in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. In the Essene Gospel of Peace, Jesus also describes to his follows how they should fast and cleanse their bodies by abstaining from food and using a hollow stick to perform enemas. Today we call them colonics, and don't worry no hollow sticks are used, clean surgical pipes to flush away the toxins in the bowels!

The Master Cleanser philosophy is similar to most of the fasting, cleansing and detox programs. The digestive system and body are given a rest from the arduous task of digesting foods, so they can have a chance to throw off the toxins and poisons that have been lodged in the body. The Master Cleanse uses cayenne pepper and lemon as the cleansing agents, and maple syrup for minerals. The lemon and cayenne pepper are also high in vitamins and minerals.

Unfortunately in today’s society many people have been led to believe they would die if they do not eat enough food. I know my mind has become weak around food, dependent and attached.

There are many different ways to cleanse the body:

* The Hygienists’ Method – Followers of Dr. Herbert Shelton, use pure distilled water fasting, nothing else, and no enemas. When not fasting they are strict vegans and eat raw food whilst employing food combining techniques
* Dr. Walker and Dr. Airola use fruit and vegetable juice fasting
* In Europe, naturopaths use vegetable broth and vegetable juice fast rather than the water fast.
* The Herbal Methods – Originally made popular by Dr Bernard Jensen and now Dr. Richard Anderson. The cleanser takes a combination of cleansing and mucus dissolving herbs and also psyllium and liquid bentonite clay. They eat only vegan alkaline forming foods, if they do eat, and perform enemas.

Germ Theory

In the olden days, people believed that when they got sick it was a punishment from God, or the work of the devil. Today man believes that they get sick because they catch it from someone else. A complete turn around in opinion, with one age believing they got sick because they did someone wrong, and the modern age believing they got ill because they ‘caught’ it from someone else through no fault of their own.

We have turned responsibility outwards. How is it possible to get sick, and catch one of these nasty bugs if a person is strong and healthy? The immune system of a human is amazing, and to think that a little tiny bug can make its way in, multiply and then disrupt our whole organism is a bit strange really. Certainly the bugs do get in, but why? Could it not be because our systems have become weak and overloaded with toxins and stress from our unnatural lifestyle and diet? It is interesting to note that when many people start a detox they often feel as if they have the ‘flu’. Is it possible that the feelings we associate with the flu are indeed the feelings of the body cleaning itself.

In modern medicine when someone catches a “bug” the first thing they attempt to do is kill it. There is no question as to how the bug got through the bodies defense systems. In an attempt to ‘kill the bug’ more toxins are added to the body and the symptoms of disease are merely repressed until further notice.

The body then needs to store these toxins somewhere, to stop them overloading and toxifying the organs, thus lumps and fats develop all over the body which are used to store the toxins. It is interesting to note that many epidemics occur after holiday feasting.

Stanley Burroughs has designed his Master Cleanse to both cleanse and nourish the body at the same time; unlike water fasting which only cleanses the body, but could possibly leave it in short supply of minerals, vitamins and energy. The Master Cleanse assumes that all disease is one disease, which is a body that is not clean, a body of toxins. When we expel the cause of all disease, the body will become clean and healthy.

The Master Cleanse states that lemons and limes are the richest source of minerals and vitamins of any food known to man. They are also available year round, in all parts of the world. Maple syrup is also very high in minerals and sugar, which helps to sustain the body through the cleansing process. Cayenne pepper helps to stimulate the body’s cleansing process, and also breaks up the mucus that is clogging the body.

The Master Cleanser book highlights the disastrous effects of eating meat on the body; eating flesh robs the body of the vital organic sodium compound (not to be confused with sea salt or table salt, organic sodium is ONLY available from food), which helps to buffer acids and poison. Once the body becomes deficient in organic sodium and other minerals, the body loses its natural PH balance and become weak. At this point the body becomes susceptible to all kinds of diseases and infections. This is the primary cause of stomach ulcers, and almost all other diseases. The acid in the stomach needs organic minerals to create the mucous, which protects the precious stomach wall lining.

The Purpose of the Master Cleanse:

* To dissolve and remove toxins and mucous from the body.
* To clean the kidneys and digestive system.
* To cleanse the glands and cells of the body.
* To remove waste and hardened matter in the joints and muscles.
* To relieve pressure and irritation in the nerves, arteries and blood vessels.
* To create a healthy blood stream.
* To return youthfulness to everybody, even the elderly.

When to use the Master Cleanse:

* When sickness has developed.
* When the digestive system needs a clean.
* When a person has become overweight.
* When the body needs to be rebuilt and better assimilation of nutrients and food is needed.

How often should one do the Master Cleanse?
The Master Cleanse can be performed three or four times a year to keep the body in a normal healthy condition. But the diet may be undertaken more frequently for serious problems.

How long does one do the cleanse for?
The diet should be followed for a minimum of 10 days or more. Up to 40 days and beyond, may be safely followed for extreme cases.

How to prepare the Master Cleanse

Ingredients
-Two tablespoons of fresh organic lemon or lime juice, (approximately half a lemon). Do not use bottled or canned lemon juice.
-Two tablespoons of genuine maple syrup . Not Maple flavored sugar syrup.
-1/10 teaspoon of cayenne pepper or to taste
-8 ounces of water (250ml), at room temperature

Combine all the above ingredients in a jar and shake together. Drink the mixture.

How much should I drink?
It is recommended to drink 6 to 12 glasses of the Cayenne , maple syrup and lemon mixture per day.

No other food or juice should be taken during the time of the cleanse. The mixture contains all the vitamins, minerals, nutrients and energy your body requires. Do not take vitamin pills. Overweight people can use less maple syrup , and for people who are underweight they can use more. Never vary the amount of lemon juice per glass.

Elimination

Your body should be having three to four bowel movements a day, even though you are not eating any solid food. You would be passing the waste from your body, which was stored in the form of toxins and mucous. If you are not feeling well on the cleanse, it is probably because you are not going to the toilet enough. In this case it may be a good idea to take either some herbal laxative tea or use internal salt water bathing.

There are many excellent herbal laxative teas available, which contain ingredients such as senna and cascara sagrada bark. The herbal laxative tea can be taking each night before going to bed.

Challenges: My attachment to food, wants and needs will be a challenge.

Triumphs: Mastering my own mind ;) - I have allowed it to become weak. "A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things, but cannot receive great ones." Lord Chesterfield

What I Ate Today:

Food fest 1: Orange and grapefruit juice

Food fest 2: 1/2 avocado and zuchetti - raw spaghetti like imitation. Made from raw zuchinni cut like pasta, with a blended sauce made from tomatoes, basil, oregano, garlic, onion and a dash of himalayan salt! Mmm light and fresh :)



Food fest 3: 1 avocado

Food fest 4: Macadamia nuts

Food fest 5: Pineapple and Rockmelon (cantaloupe)

Food fest 6: Avocado Sweet Thai Salad! Absolutely delicious! Each mouthful is full of flavour - no bland mouthful!!! Ingredients: Baby spinach, kale and coriander (cilantro) from our garden, spring onion, green chilli, dates, garlic, coriander seeds, ginger, lemon, a dash of olive oil and himalayan salt, brazil nuts and cucumber!



Kale and Dill growing in our garden :)

Recipe: Recipes including the Avocado Sweet Thai Salad will be in The Earth Diet Book released this November.

Exercise: 40 minutes dancing in the morning to my favourite music by Travis and walking in Manhattan

140 days to go!!!

Day 226

Thoughts: Our bodies are more than just a physical form. They can also be a portal into a new way of being in the world. I am day 1 into this cayene, maple and lemon cleanse. I realize how much presence is needed, and am aware of my busy thoughts and listening to how my mind tries to talk me out of this, and I listen to it and believe it, until I remember here is me and there is the mind chit chattering! I am present to these thoughts, and also how these thoughts don't just come up because of a cleanse, but how they are the ones that usually talk me out of doing things. My mind can be so afraid, so afraid of death and looking bad, well looking bad is ultimately death to the ego. And here I am, keeping my ego alive. Practicing letting go and accepting this moment for all that it is : as it is.

Eckhart Tolle emerged as a great spiritual leader over the last few years. His teaching through such powerful work as The Power of Now, guides all to truth, through being present in the moment in the Now, and awakening to who we truly are: natural state of Being. Below are excerpts from The Power of Now, Practicing the Power of Now, and Stillness Speaks.

Having access to that formless realm is truly liberating. It frees you from bondage to form and identification with form. It is life in its undifferentiated state prior to its fragmentation into multiplicity. We may call it the Unmanifested, the invisible Source of all things, the Being within all beings. It is a realm of deep stillness and peace, but also of joy and intense aliveness. Whenever you are present, you become "transparent" to some extent to the light, the pure consciousness that emanates from this Source. You also realize that the light is not separate from who you are but constitutes your very essence.

You are not just a meaningless fragment in an alien universe, briefly suspended between life and death, allowed a few short-lived pleasures followed by pain and ultimate annihilation. Underneath your outer form, you are connected with something so vast, so immeasurable and sacred, that it cannot be spoken of - yet I am speaking of it now. I am speaking of it now not to give you something to believe in but to show you how you can know it for yourself.

Being is not only beyond but also deep within every form as its innermost invisible and indestructible essence. This means that it is accessible to you now as your own deepest self, your true nature. But don't seek to grasp it with your mind. Don't try to understand it. You can know it only when the mind is still. When you are present, when your attention is fully and intensely in the Now, Being can be felt, but it can never be understood mentally. To regain awareness of Being and to abide in that state of "feeling-realization" is enlightenment.

The word enlightenment conjures up the idea of some superhuman accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way, but it is simply your natural state of felt oneness with Being. It is a state of connectedness with something immeasurable and indestructible, something that, almost paradoxically, is essentially you and yet is much greater than you. It is finding your true nature beyond name and form.
Beyond the beauty of external forms, there is more here: something that cannot be named, something ineffable, some deep, inner, holy essence. Whenever and wherever there is beauty, this inner essence shines through somehow. It only reveals itself to you when you are present.

When your consciousness is directed outward, mind and world arise. When it is directed inward, it realizes its own Source and returns home into the Unmanifested.

Be present as the watcher of your mind -- of your thoughts and emotions as well as your reactions in various situations. Be at least as interested in your reactions as in the situation or person that causes you to react. Notice also how often your attention is in the past or future. Don't judge or analyze what you observe. Watch the thought, feel the emotion, observe the reaction. Don't make a personal problem out of them. You will then feel something more powerful than any of those things that you observe: the still, observing presence itself behind the content of your mind, the silent watcher.

Reincarnation doesn't help you if in your next incarnation you still don't know who you are.

Stillness Speaks
Identification with your mind creates an opaque screen of concepts, labels, images, words, judgments, and definitions that blocks all true relationship. It comes between you and yourself, between you and your fellow man and woman, between you and nature, between you and God. It is this screen of thought that creates the illusion of separateness, the illusion that there is you and a totally separate "other." You then forget the essential fact that, underneath the level of physical appearances and separate forms, you are one with all that is.

Many expressions that are in common usage, and sometimes the structure of language itself, reveal the fact that people don't know who they are. You say: "He lost his life" or "my life," as if life were something that you can possess or lose. The truth is: you don't have a life, you are life. The One Life, the one consciousness that pervades the entire universe and takes temporary form to experience itself as a stone or blade of grass, as an animal, a person, a star or a galaxy.

Can you sense deep within that you already know that? Can you sense that you already are That?

Stillness Speaks
The Truth is far more all-encompassing than the mind could ever comprehend. No thought can encapsulate the Truth. At best, it can point to it. For example, it can say: "All things are intrinsically one." That is a pointer, not an explanation. Understanding these words means feeling deep within you the truth to which they point.

When you walk through a forest that has not been tamed and interfered with by man, you will see not only abundant life all around you, but you will also encounter fallen trees and decaying trunks, rotting leaves and decomposing matter at every step. Wherever you look, you will find death as well as life.

Upon closer scrutiny, however, you will discover that the decomposing tree trunk and rotting leaves not only give birth to new life, but are full of life themselves. Microorganisms are at work. Molecules are rearranging themselves. So death isn't to be found anywhere. There is only the metamorphosis of life forms. What can you learn from this?

Death is not the opposite of life. Life has no opposite. The opposite of death is birth. Life is eternal.

Challenges: My husband Andrew Roth was exhausted today after only drinking water with maple syrup, lemon and cayene. Because of his physical performance required throughout the day he chose to eat some fruit in the afternoon. He is now altering his cleanse and will continue with the drink plus adding fruit to sustain his energy. He said "I can see how my own mind turns against itself - I set a goal, an organic goal that I have an intention for, and the mechanical part of me thwarts it. It had me convinced!" It is always challenging on a cleanse, I was in the supermarket today and everything looked appealing! The nectarines, mangoes, cherries, nuts mmm! I am looking forward to a new appreciation for food :)

Triumphs: Mind over matter. “Not he is great who can alter matter, but he who can alter my state of mind” Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes

What I Ate Today:

Food fest 1: Water with maple syrup, lemon and cayene pepper cleanse! Day 1 out of 7!

Exercise: I went for a bike ride to the supermarket and a walk with my husband :)

139 days to go!!!

Visit:
www.peacefulrivers.homestead.com/EckhartTolle.htmljavascript:void(0)
www.eckharttolle.com
www.theearthdiet.org

Day 223

Thoughts: Ever heard of CRON? CRON is shortened for Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition.

CRON is made up of studying people who are practising calorie restriction. The first enthusiasts banded together through an email forum in the early 1990s. The group has since evolved into the Calorie Restriction Society International, which now has over 3000 members who refer to themselves as "CRONies".

Needless to say, this lifestyle is not for everyone. Some people report struggling with hunger pangs, and the society warns on its website that side effects can include feeling cold, poor wound-healing and temporary infertility. But many CRONies insist that hunger is not a big problem and that they actually feel happier and healthier on their frugal diet.

CRONies typically cut calories by 10 to 30 per cent of the recommended intake, and most hover around the lower limit of "normal" body mass index, at 18.5 kilograms per height-in-metres squared. To ensure they get all the nutrients they need without busting their calorie quota, their diet is mainly vegetable-based and must be carefully planned, often with the help of a computer program. "People think calorie restriction involves tiny portions, but these people are eating huge amounts of low-calorie, nutrient-dense food," says Luigi Fontana, a professor of medicine at Washington University in St Louis and head of the Division of Nutrition and Aging at the Italian National Institute of Health, who has studied CRONies for the past eight years.

"As I see it, the basics are simple: Subject to certain limits, the fewer calories you consume, the better your health and longevity. Benefits are proportional. The primary payoff is avoiding, or vastly delaying, the major killer diseases: heart, stroke, diabetes, cancer (also see: Calorie Poisoning: Civilization's Exploding Killer Disease). Other benefits include a stronger immune system, increased fitness, and a greater appreciation of food.

Over the longer term, the simplest way to judge calorie intake is weight. However, getting to the minimum, healthy weight should be done slowly - roughly no more than 2% per month for overweight people, 1% for others. In any case, preferably, weight should not fluctuate by more than about 3% (+- 1.5%), measured first thing in the morning."

The lower limit of healthy weight is most easily determined by body fat and BMI.

However, lower calorie intake and low weight are not enough: Good nutrition is absolutely crucial - this is not about starving! Most nutrients should come from foods, not supplements.

There is also good evidence that increased fitness (cardio & muscle) through additional exercise are factors in longevity - even for people doing CRON successfully.

Practicing CRON:

CRON is a lifestyle, not a diet - (i.e. habits you change permanently, not just a short-term weight-loss program However, as your weight gets closer to optimum, focus shifts increasingly from cutting calories to improving nutrition). This implies that you need to work out a way to enjoy doing it - it isn't something you just have to 'get through'. It also suggest that slow, gradual changes are more likely to work - new habits have to be formed. This does not mean one can't go 'cold turkey' on some sub-optimal eating habits.

Make CRON fun, a journey of discovering new tastes and habits. Don't focus on what you shouldn't do or eat, but rather on what great new foods you can bring into your life. Nurture a new appreciation of food as you become more aware of tastes, ingredients, and options. Don't beat yourself up over failures or perceived limitation in your program.

Become knowledgeable about calorie and nutritional content, health markers, and your own psychology (what you find easy or difficult, enjoyable or not, etc). Learn various 'tricks' and techniques that make CRON easier and more fun.

Debunking some major (unfortunate) misconceptions about CRON:

CRON does not have to be difficult or unpleasant, or as detractors like to say: 'a longer life, not worth living'. Quite the opposite: A sound approach to CRON will increase one's appreciation of food, and generally lead to a better quality of life. Hunger does not have to be an issue; many people on CRON actually struggle to eat 1500 calories a day - feeling too full!. Something else to remember is that it becomes easier over time, both because physically and psychologically we adjust to it, and because your relative calorie restriction actually reduces as you reach your target weight.

CRON is not an all or nothing thing. This counters the objection that severe CRON is just too difficult or impractical, or that one can't do certain sports, or look buff, or whatever. Benefits are proportional to the degree of restriction /nutrition - in fact, for most people the greatest risk reduction percentage occurs with reasonably modest CR and nutrition improvements.

CRON does not have to be a lot of trouble. You don't have to spend hours shopping for special foods and preparing them. Most CRON foods are readily available in your local supermarket, and many of them require little or no preparation. You don't have to weigh everything you eat! Just educate yourself on how many calories various portion sizes of given foods have. The more you do this, the better you'll understand the tradeoffs.

Being on CRON does not mean you can't eat out, go to parties, or eat some high calorie, low-nutrition foods. Firstly, one can usually find some healthy fare pretty much anywhere and/ or eat less. Furthermore, because CRON is a lifestyle, not a diet, there is no risk of 'falling off the wagon'.

CRON does not require super-human willpower. It requires some education, and a few conscious choices that enable you to change your habits. On of the key decisions is what foods to buy and have around the house! As simple as that.

CRON is about limiting calories and minimizing harmful substances, while maximizing nutrients. What mix of foods best meet these criteria?

Most important stick to The Earth Diet: Lots and lots of low calorie, high nutrient, and high fiber vegetables. Secondly, fruit. If you are a meat eater, small amounts of fish, lean meat, or other protein, like nuts, beans, soy, egg (white).

Eliminate beverages containing sugar - (herbal) teas are much better. Dramatically reduce processed foods high in sugar (and fat): pastries, candy bars, many 'cereals'.

Reduce fats - lots of calories, few nutrients, and some fats are rather harmful: Trans fats are bad news - minimize absolutely (anything fried, most baked goods, and most processed foods). Cut back on saturated fats (switch to nonfat dairy & to lean meats) and/ or change to monounsaturated oils (olive, nut). The only type of oil that most people do not get enough of is omega-3 fatty acid (for meat eaters fish, for non meat eaters flaxseed).

Beans are good. Rice, pasta & bread are borderline - relatively high in calories and low in nutrients - eliminate, or dramatically reduce portion size. Brown/ whole wheat are best, try to avoid white/ highly processed.

Some people (especially unfit/ overweight) are overly sensitive to high glycemic foods (foods that rapidly raise blood sugar levels). For those well into a CRON program this is not usually a problem. However, eating many small meals rather than a few large ones, plus having balanced meals - with protein, (mono) fat, and fiber - seems to mitigate metabolic spikes.

Important: Discover for yourself what specific mix of good foods you enjoy, make you feel healthy, present no big hassle, and minimize hunger.

What are the safe, healthy limits to calorie/ weight reduction? When does it become counter-productive?

Not much research has been done, but a number of fairly simple points emerge:

If you feel weak, faint, or more tired than usual, you are probably overdoing it. Also, because (moderate) exercise is crucial to good health, you need to consume sufficient calories to be able to do & enjoy it.

Watch biomarkers such as blood/ urine analysis; strength, endurance, balance & cognition tests, and (important!) bone density. If anything deteriorates abnormally, investigate! On the other hand, various markers - such as reduced basal metabolic rate - are indications that CR is working.

If your BMI drops below 18.5, or your body fat below 5% male (8% female) you are probably close to the limit.

Important: If CR becomes difficult, or if it makes you unhappy, relax & eat a little more!

What other risks and disadvantages are there?

Feeling cold more easily (dress more warmly). Having difficulty sitting comfortably (sit on a cushion). Being hungry a lot while in the weight-loss phase (see: Easy CRON ). Fortunately, these symptoms tend to go away as the body adjusts.

Social pressure on looks or food discipline. Others people may discourage your CRON efforts by unhelpful comments on how skinny you are, or by trying to pressure you into eating as they do. Many people (men and women) also think that masculinity is tied to being a certain (heavy) weight. Dealing with these issues requires the confidence of knowing that CRON is a smart thing to do if you value your life.

Reduced libido. If this is a problem, reducing the severity of calorie restriction and /or conventional libido-enhancing techniques may overcome this.

Anyone embarking on serious CR should carefully monitor their health (look for worrisome symptoms, watch biomarkers), and get professional advice. Ideally you want a comprehensive baseline test of biomarkers before you start. (There are now many clinics and services that specialize in health screening).

Hating it. If you're miserable doing CRON, reduce, change, or discontinue it. Perhaps get some ideas/ advice from others happy with CRON.

For more info on CRON see: Calorie Restriction FAQ
http://www.optimal.org/peter/cron.htm

Challenges: Over eating when I know I am about to over eat and have in fact consumed as many calories as I require to fill my cells with energy, yet my body pain is addicted to the over-energy so my body works harder to burn that energy off, and then I get gather more evidence to justify my feeling sluggish by a story I have created about my self and my health and body. Thus the vicious cycle of pain and suffering continues and cements.

Triumphs: “You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” Yes thank you for reminding me Buddha ;)

What I Ate Today:

Food fest 1: The juice of 5 oranges! So sweet and right after my epsom salts bath soak - the perfect replenshiment for my cells :)

Food fest 2: A beautiful sweet thai avocado salad. Ingredients: Lettuce and corriander (cilantro) from our garden! With creamy avocado chunks, baby spinach and a dressing made up of chopped garlic, spring onions, ginger, corriander, lime juice, a dash of olive oil and himalayan salt and green chillis oh and crushed walnuts are the finishing touch! Divine!



Food fest 3: 3 oranges

Recipe: Recipe for the sweet thai avocado salad (and other creative, fun, boring, healthy, divine salads!) will be in The Earth Diet book published worlwide in November.

Exercise: A 2 hour workout of moving my body - running around the block, walking to the spanish store to buy avocados, dancing to 3 of my favourite Travis songs, standing on my head for 4 minutes, some ab crunches and body holds, then I steam cleaned the carpets! Oooh yeah I got to moooove today!

142 days to go!!!

Day 222

Thoughts: What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?

Challenges: When I allow fear to steer my choices. I also realize how afraid of failure I am, obsessed with it, terrified of it. In fact I have spent the majority of my life afraid of failing and afraid of looking bad - and when I ask myself that question "What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail", there would be a lot of things I would do.

Triumphs: Courage to me is acknowledging the fear and doing it anyway :) "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear." - Anonymous

What I Ate Today:

Food fest 1: The juice of a grapefruit and 2 oranges

Food fest 2: A white flesh nectarine.

Food fest 3: Zuchetti! Zuchinni pasta and sauce that actually resembles spaghetti bolognaise. Zuchinni grated like pasta, the sauce is blended tomatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper, coriander (cilantro), basil, garlic and chopped spring onions on top :) You may even want to put some grated brazil nuts on top for an extra crunch ;)



Food fest 4: Another white flesh nectarine :)

Food fest 5: Brazil nuts

Food fest 6: 2 avocados and some more brazil nuts

Recipe: Recipes will be in The Earth Diet book that is released worldwide in November.

Exercise: A ride to the fruit and veg store :)

143 days to go!!!

Day 221

Thoughts: We have nothing to do.

A beautiful exchange between Jonathan Stone, a great friend of mine.

"Something I just figured out is that our act of wanting more in life and growing and achieving things is the act that keeps us coming back to this existence. In Buddhism they teach that once you come to a point in your life of letting go of everything and being content in the here and now and not needing to strive for anything then you have reached enlightenment and no need to come back. That's why the Buddhist try to maintain this lifestyle is because they are at true peace in the present moment and have no need for anything. They have learned to quiet there ego of pursuit for physical desires.

So the energy that these certain people who follow this belief attract to them in the long run is the chance of not coming back... How interesting is that???

By me wanting more in my life, I'm calling out to the universe for more wanting and that my ego wants more in life, so when I pass on I will still want more... But if I flow the principles of not wanting anything more and just truly being in the present moment, this will quiet down the ego to the point of not wanting anything anymore and as in the Buddhist traditions I would reach enlightenment.

I believe this has become one of the main causes of my restlessness recently... Do I care about the pursuit of life which feeds my ego into wanting more in life or do I pursue a life free from pursuit of physical and materialism and just truly be in the present moment, ONE.

I am still confused with which path to take, and most probably my own ego of wanting to know what to do is is the main culprit."

I wrote back,

"Hey beautiful being named Jonathan, I have been pondering the same lately. I have been watching my ego (when I am not consumed by it) and learning the addiction to pain and suffering it has. My ego is constantly wanting more, trying to achieve something, reach a particular place, searching for things and outside circumstances to make the inside brighter, happier, peaceful. Of course a vicious circle illusion!

Being on earth is like a jail cell for our being, the toughest planet - our infinite light, our beingness trapped inside a body and ego addicted to pain and suffering. Like you said and the Buddhist belief, I believe we come here to play in the toughest planet and reach enlightenment when we realize we have an attachment to everything, our bodies, loved ones, things. When we die, and that we never really die only our bodies do, we are left with our consciousness. And if one is conscious they go to that place, if one is unconscious they go to that place - a hell. I still have a lot of work to do. I am my own worst enemy more than I love my self unconditionally and forgiving myself for choosing to come to earth!

I will always remember Thor, a friend of mine saying "Close your eyes, what you can see is yours" -nothing :) "

Jonathan replied "It is a interesting/vicious circle we live in lol. If I continue living life and wanting more, I will always invite myself to come back and still want more but on the positive side the universe will continue to expand and grow as we continue to create. But if I live a life free of ego, you get to a point of letting go these bonds that keep bringing us back here and reach pure enlightenment, but the only thing you will be sharing with the universe is peace and harmony. A very tough dilemma...lol

I am honored for you to share these interesting conversations that we have in your blogs. We are all connected and all expressing what the universal consciousness is feeling. I really enjoy your blogs and thank you for sharing them with everyone.

Next time your walking down a crowded street or passage way filled with people walking your way, try and listen and catch one word or sentence from each person that walks past you then add all the words together. You will be surprised what conversation you will be listening too. I believe since we are all connected as a universal consciousness, there is something that is being said by the whole... Just some food for thought:))) "

Ultimately there is nothing for us to do.

Challenges: My ego

Triumphs: My ego

What I Ate Today:

Food fest 1: macadamia nuts.

Food fest 2: grapes.

Food fest 3: watermelon.

Food fest 4: 2 avocados.

Food fest 5: a nectarine.

Food fest 6: macadamia nuts and brazil nuts.

Exercise: Working, stretching, moving, walking on film set 'Squid Man' and that's a wrap! Heading home to New York tomorrow :)

144 days to go!!!

Day 214

Thoughts: The Power Of Now.

You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. That is how important you are! Says the author of The Power of Now Eckhart Tolle. Words from his source:

The sooner you realize that your outer purpose cannot give you lasting fulfillment, the better.

I wonder what my next thought will be. Then become very alert and wait for the next thought.

Waiting- it is not a waiting in which your attention is focused on some point in the future and the present is perceived as an undesirable obstacle that prevents us from having what you want. There is a qualitatively different kind of waiting, one that requires your total alertness. Something could happen at any moment, and if you are not absolutely awake, absolutely still, you will miss it. In that state, all your attention is in the now. There is none left for daydreaming, thinking, remembering, anticipating. There is no tension, no fear, just alert presence. You are more fully yourself than you ever were before, or rather it is only now that you are truly yourself.

Beauty arises in the stillness of your presence. To become aware of such things, the mind needs to be still. You have to put down for a moment your personal baggage of problems, your past and future, as well as your knowledge; otherwise you will see but not see, hear but not hear. Your total presence is required.

Many people are so imprisoned in their minds that the beauty of nature does not really exist for them.

There is nothing that you need to understand before you can become present.

CREATING GAP MIND
This can start with a very simple thing, such as taking one conscious breath or looking, in a state of intense alertness, at a flower, so that there is no mental commentary running at the same time. There are many ways to create a gap in the incessant stream of thought. Meditation.

SURRENDER
The letting go of mental emotional resistance to what is-also becomes a portal into the unmanisfested. The reason for this is simple; inner resistance cuts you off from other people, from yourself, from the world around you. It strengthens the feeling of separateness on which the ego depends for its survival. Its up to you to open a portal in your life that gives you conscious access to the unmanifested. Get in touch with the energy field n your body, be intensely present, disidentify from your mind, surrender to what is, these are the portal you can use, but you only need to use one.

SILENCE
Do you hear that dog barking in the distance? Of that car passing by? Listen carefully. Can you feel the presence of the unmanifested in that? You cant? Look for it in the silence out of which the sounds come and into which they return. Pay more attention to the silence than to the sounds. Paying attention to the outer silence creates inner silence; the mind becomes still. A portal is opening up.
Every sound is born out of silence, dies back into silence, and during its life span is surrounded by silence. Silence enables the sound to be. This is why it has been said that nothing in this world is so like God as silence. All you have ot do its pay attention to it. Even during a conversation, become conscious of the gaps between words, the brief silent intervals between sentences. As you do that, the dimension of stillness grows within you. BE STILL.

SPACE
Just as no sound can exist without silence, nothing can exist without no-thing, without the empty space that enables it to be. Every physical object or body ha come out of nothing, is surrounded by nothing, and will eventually return to nothing. Inside every physical body there is far more ‘nothing’ than ‘something’. Space is just as easy to miss as silence. Everybody pays attention to the things in space, but who pays attention to space itself? So what happens if you withdraw attention from the objects in space and become aware of space itself? What is the essence of this room? The furniture, the pictures, and so on are in the room, but they are not the room. The floor, walls and ceiling define the boundary of the room, but they are not the room either. So what is the essence of the room? Space of course, empty space. There would be no ‘room’ without it. Since space is ‘nothing’ we can say that what is NOT there is more important that what is there. So become aware of the space around you. Don’t think about it. Feel it, as it were. Pay attention to the ‘nothing’. If you withdraw attention from things, -objects in space- you automatically withdraw your attention from your mind objects as well. In other words you cannot think and be aware of space, or silence.

We are not trying to understand it. There is nothing to understand.
Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists.

THE TRUE NATURE OF SPACE AND TIME
Now consider this: if there were nothing but silence, it wouldn’t exist for you, you wouldn’t know what it is. Only when sound appears does silence come into being. Similarly if there were only space without any objects in space, it would exist for you. Nothing could BE without space, yet space is nothing.



Challenges: My chattering mind.

Triumphs: Presence that is available to me at every moment, every time, always there. The door is always open.

What I Ate Today:

Meal 1: Strawberries.

Meal 2: A grapefruit and orange juice.

Meal 3: Macadamia nuts mmm my favourite!

Meal 4: Some sprouts, alfalfa, clover and chickpeas, 2 nectarines.

Meal 5: 3 nectarines and some cherries.

Meal 6: Blackberries, blueberries, cherries and brazil nut chunks.

Exercise: A one hour workout at the gym - I worked out my arms, legs, abs, you never feel worse after a workout! ;)

151 days to go!!!

Visit:
www.thegardendiet.com
www.theearthdiet.com
www.eckharttolle.com

Day 215

Thoughts: Die to the past every moment. You don't need it. For it no longer exists. The moment in which you read that sentence, it now no longer exists. Only if you hold onto it in your mind. Thinking has become a disease - one I am riddled with.

I am my own worst enemy. You are your own worst enemy.

Only you can say you can or cannot. If someone else says you can or cannot, it doesn't mean you can or cannot.

Where do you go in your mind? When you are alone what do you think about your self? What is your relationship with yourself? That's where you go when you die. Is it heaven or hell? Is it heaven or hell in your thoughts. If you close your eyes and listen to the voice in your head, your mind, consciousness or unconsciousness you will discover you. Perhaps you cannot really differentiate what is you talking and what is that little voice. If you just thought 'I don't have a little voice' that was the little voice. We all have one - every human being.

Whatever your thoughts are shows you exactly what you will still be thinking when you die in human form. This is because you never really die.

Wanting to die seems like it might be a part of being alive. –Nick Hornby, A Long Way Down

Death is not the end, not a tragedy.

There is in every one of us an unending see-saw between the will to live and the will to die. –Rebecca West, The Strange Necessity

I would never kill myself intentionally. I couldn’t do that to my family, my friends … But to have fate step in and give me a shove, that’s a different matter. Then I have the exit, without the guilt. I am ashamed of myself for thinking like this. But more than anything, I am frightened that it makes me feel so much better to think about it. Sometimes it eases the terror, the sense that I am condemned eternally to this hell. –Martha Manning, Undercurrents: A Life Beneath the Surface

Death is like walking through another door. It does seem crazy to fear death although I have feared it for the majority of my life, and still do - for I am still here, as a human on earth. I can hear death coming from outside my hotel room, the dark misty air conditioning, and I can hear it outside my hotel balcony from the screeching trucks, and the turns of wheels, way down in the valley below us.

There is no way to block it out - just a choice to accept or resist it.

We are capable of infinite light, and yet we live in the pagmire of death. We live in shit town, the trailer park of our mind. This life is just one part of our minds. We can use all parts - if we believe that. When we go to sleep we got to another part. We have been born into this world and taught at a universal level how not to use our mind fully, our self expression is suppressed.

To die, to sleep! To sleep, perchance to dream … –William Shakespeare, Hamlet

We live in boxes. Houses with boxes - mirrors and square paintings and photo frames, television boxes, a fridge box, microwave box, square cupboards, cereal boxes, look around your place and see how square everything is.

Pain or not, I would most likely walk around in a suicidal reverie the rest of my life, never actually doing anything about it. Was there a psychological term for that? Was there a disease that involved an intense desire to die, but no will to go through with it? Couldn’t talk and thoughts of suicide be considered a whole malady of their own, a special subcategory of depression in which the loss of a will to live has not quite been displaced by a determination to die? –Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac Nation

But we are all insane, anyway ... The suicides seem to be the only sane people. –Mark Twain, Notebook

I do see that there is an argument against suicide: the grief of the worshipers left behind, the awful famine in their hearts, these are too costly terms for the release. –Mark Twain, in a letter to WD Howells, July 13, 1889

I guess I realize that I don’t want to die. I don’t want to live either, but—there really isn’t anything in-between. Depression is about as close as you get to somewhere between dead and alive, and it’s the worst. But since the tendency toward inertia means that it’s easier for me to stay alive than die, I guess that’s how it’s going to be, so I guess I should try to be happy. –'Ditto'

And what I owned up to was this: I had wanted to kill myself, not because I hated living, but because I loved it. And the truth of the matter is, I think, that a lot of people who think about killing themselves feel the same way … They love life, but it’s all fucked up for them … -'Dito'

And so I leave this world, where the heart must either break or turn to lead. –Nicolas-Sebastien Chamfort’s suicide note

The future is just old age and illness and pain ... I must have peace. –James Whale’s suicide note

To my friends: My work is done. Why wait? –George Eastman’s suicide note

Be your own best friend. And choose to live, life will be easier I promise! Live fully or die fully.

Once a man decides to take his own life he enters a shut-off, impregnable but wholly convincing world where every detail fits and each incident reinforces his decision.

I think many people kill themselves simply to stop the debate about whether they will or they won’t.

It is silliness to live when to live is torment. –William Shakespeare, Othello

Are you alive or dead? Do you choose life or death?

Challenges: My challenge is being my own best friend - and loving my self unconditionally. I am my own worst enemy.

Triumphs: Reminding me to treat myself how I would treat someone that I love!

What I Ate Today:

*It was just a couple of days ago that I announced I would no longer use breakfast, lunch and dinner and instead use Meal 1, 2, 3 etc. Well last night I thought about when I eat, and it is more like a celebration, a festival, so from now on I will call eating times Food fest!

Food fest 1: The juice of a big plump juicy grapefruit and orange!

Food fest 2: Cherries mmm mmm mmm so rich and delicious :)

Food fest 3: More cherries!

Food fest 4: Raw brazil nuts, cherries and blackberries.

Food fest 5: A mango

Food fest 6: A avocado

Food fest 6: Pineapple

Food fest 7: Avocado

Exercise: A 50 minute cardio workout in the gym :) 10 mins on my abs and a stretch and some breathing outside in the beautiful mountains :)

150 days to go!!!