Leave Your Drugs In the Chemist's Pot, if You can Cure the Patient with Food.

 

Heal with Food

 

   I got this picture from Matt Monarch's Raw Food Newsletter.  It inspired me to talk about being sick.  I am writing this with a cold and/or flu.  This is day two of water fasting.  Despite headaches and body aches, I have elected to be drug free.  No Tamaflu, Tylenol or Nyquil or anything, I am just allowing my body to heal itself.  Ever since I learned from Natural Hygienic living that drugs suppress the body's natural healing response, I have chosen the natural healing route.  I think I heal faster and the recurrences of such illnesses are fewer and farther between.  I have been drinking distilled water, sitting out in the sun for short periods and doing nothing else but sleeping and relaxing.  The reason I don't eat, is because I have learned that digestion is the hardest work the body has to do.  Therefore, I drink water until I feel better and do veggie juices after that.  I believe I will be well in two days.  I hear some people are sick with the flu for a week and fear the flu.  There are some that take the flu shot which is riddled with toxins, including mercury.  But, since these shots are so cheap (or free in some cases) everyone thinks they must be useful and safe. 

Are these facts:

1.  Drug companies are interested in our health, not profit.
2.  Pharmaceuticals are for the betterment of Humankind.
3.  The FDA has time to do indepth studies of every new drug that comes out.
4.  Because there is adequate testing on all new pharmaceuticals, we have nothing to fear.  Drugs are safe!

We wish the above were true.  We run out and get shots and vaccines with so much faith.  But, should we really?  We have become slaves to buying our health.  In true health (and Soulforce Living), there is nothing to buy!  Eat well, be happy and get outside and we will never need their drugs again.  Health is our birthright. 

My favorite quote from Hippocrates way back in 420 BC says:  "Leave your drugs in the chemist's pot, if you can cure the patient with food."  So, I am letting my body heal me.  I trust in its wisdom.  For more information on Natural Hygiene go to: http://www.healthscience.org/

Natural Hygiene Living

 Natural Living with Mamiko Matsuda, PhD



  

   One of the beautiful things about living is getting to eat food. I don’t know about you, but I get happy when I get to eat. I am one of the lucky people who has never been without food; and yet I still deeply appreciate its abundance in my life. The day I arrived in southern USA and went to the grocery store and saw the rainbow of fruit and vegetables, I was astounded. To this day, I never tire of going to the produce department and beholding the fine varieties of produce found there. I love that I don’t have any idea what some of that stuff is and where it comes from. I make it my business to be around people from different cultures so they will teach me their dishes and will show me new foods and how to prepare them. One such woman happens to be my health Guru: Mamiko Matsuda, PhD.



   Over the years I had gotten off track and left the colorful array of beautiful produce and switched to processed, sugary, salty, fatty manufactured foods. These were quick to prepare and inexpensive to buy. My cupboards were filled with boxes and cans.  My freezer was stuffed with microwavable foods. I had lots of restaurant leftovers in Styrofoam in my fridge. It took a medical crisis to get me to pay attention to what I was eating and then for another reason, I went vegan. I think this happens to a lot of people. Something happens and we wake up. Health and compassionate living has now become my raison d'être. I woke up and started to say “Yes” to life, inspiration and joy. In the midst of becoming vegan I decided to read that old book:  Fit for Life by Harvey Diamond.  Diamond talked a good bit about Natural Hygiene and I liked that concept. I wanted to get involved and as luck would have it, I soon met Mamiko Matsuda, who happens to be famous in Japan for translating Fit for Life and who runs a Natural Hygiene group in Houston.  There truly are no coincidences!

   I met my dear Mamiko at a vegan yoga retreat. Just like the saying goes, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." Mamiko turned out to be one of the speakers at this retreat. Since meeting her, I have been to almost every one of her monthly Natural Hygiene meetings. Recently, Mamiko shared some pictures of her food adventures. She had just come back from Dr. Alan Goldhammer’s True North Health Center in Santa Rosa California. Included in this post are pictures of some of Mamiko's meals. They were so pretty, I had to share them. 

 

   Let me add here that Mamiko Matsuda is a big deal in her native Japan for not only the translation of Fit for Life but also for Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell Esselstyn and The China Study by T. Colin Campbell. She lectures all over Japan. She writes for the Japan Natural Hygiene Network and countless other newsletters and publications. She is also an author in her own right. Her books are available in Japanese, Korean and Chinese. Her passion is to have humankind return to health, their birthright. We seem to have forgotten our true nature and this is evident by just going into a grocery store today.  My friend from the International Hygiene Society, Janis Hopper says that "the grocery store is one big illusion.  It's amazing to behold all the unnecessary items there, so many useless products!" We are not meant to eat food out of cans, jars, packages and bags.  We were born to enjoy a colorful rainbow of fresh, unspoiled whole foods. Mamiko and all of the wonderful people in the Natural Hygiene Society help us to remember this.  Mamiko herself has personally turned hundreds of people all over Japan and the USA back to good and healthful living including me.

   In the USA, Mamiko frequently attends lectures on plant-based diets and Natural Hygiene.  Mamiko is unendingly generous with all whom she meets. She is true example of kindness and compassion and it shows on her beautiful face. She is always radiant. You can’t miss her in a crowd. Anywhere she goes she brings love and happiness with her. I feel very fortunate to have become one of her friends.

 

 More food pictures by Mamiko Matsuda ~ Eat the Rainbow and eat something Raw at every meal:



How to make a yummy salad:

CCC Office Lunch Salad

Makes a giant salad for multiple people!


½ - 1 head Green Leaf Lettuce (depends on how many people are eating)
1 Honeycrisp Apple, chopped
1 Granny Smith Apple, chopped
1 Bartlett Pear, chopped
1 Pomegranate, knock the seeds out to use
1-2 Avocados (depends how many are eating and how much you like avocados), mash ½ and cube 1/2 of the avocados
1 Lemon, zest and juice

Instructions:


Clean and prepare all veg. Tear bite sized pieces of lettuce for salad and place in large bowl. In a separate bowl add apples, pear, pom seeds and zest of lemon. Add mashed avocado and stir the mixture so the avo gets distributed evenly. Toss the fruit mixture into the lettuce bowl, add the cubed avocado and lemon juice. Gently toss the salad and add salt and pepper to taste.

Inspired By "Peopleforbikes.Org"

Today I got this video from peopleforbikes.org and it inspired me to write this:


I am the oldest of eight children. If I got a bike, then everyone would have to have one and we didn’t have money for that. Besides, we moved a lot and all those bikes, all those repairs, all that stuff was probably too much for my parents to deal with. So, for many years I just longed for a bike. Then one day, when I was an adult, my sister left town and she didn’t want her bike anymore and gave hers to me. I started to ride her bike and could not stop. That was 24 years ago. I am still riding. Reflecting on this, I have to say that one day I want a job where I can ride to work. I would like to see bike racks everywhere and not empty bike racks. I would like to see expressways to downtown that are just for cyclists. When I see people on bikes when I am driving, I feel such respect for them. I am also envious because I know how they feel being outside and feeling the energy of the road. Cycling in traffic does not bother me. I have cycled in rush-hour traffic. Though drivers were not always thrilled to have me weaving in and around them, I know it’s good that I am on a bike and not in a car. I am infused by the magical thought of using my very own fuel to propel myself through space. I love the wind on my face and the challenge of a good hill. I love knowing that on days when I ride, I am seeing people and nature and smelling the day. I am in the day, not an observer from a window. Biking is good!

Barefoot Running!

Born To Run ~ This book (and website) says it all, and much more about how we are built for running.  Born To Run is about how we are born to run and we don't need $150 shoes to do it!  Actually, the more cushion and support the shoe has, the more likely we will be injured.  Christopher McDougall, the author of Born To Run, who was an injured runner in his past, goes down to the Copper Canyon in Mexico and meets the secretive, illusive Tarahumara Indian tribe and personally witnesses 55 year olds (and older!) running huge distances per day through rocky terrain in just hurache sandals with just a sort of corn mush to eat. (The book also goes into dietary practices of this tribe and that aspect alone is cause for a blog all of its own!) He is taught by the mysterious Caballo Blanco, the way the Tarahumara run and finds that he was able to overcome years of injury and ends up running 50 miles in the Copper Canyon with 'Caballo'.

Funny enough, I witnessed the majesty of the Tarahumara people in 1992 in Batopiles, the location where the story takes place.  A young Tarahumara girl took us hikers on an breathless and breathtaking hike in the dead of winter and through snow and ice in only her bare feet! I remember hearing the other hikers say things like, "... the Tarahumara are drunks, they are simple peasants, who just don't know any better."  This young girl was so fast, no one could keep up with her.  We were all afraid we would be lost in the canyon if we didn't keep up with her.  She was amazing and we all gave her a small donation for her trouble. Sadly, I had no idea how fortunate I was to be in her presence.  All I remember is that I was grateful that I was able to keep up and that I had warm Timberland hiking boots and thick wool socks on my feet.  Now, 18 years later, I am hearing about this wonderful people in a whole different light.  This book honors Tarahumara and their simple, harmonious, cooperative lifestyle and their amazing running practices.  Another beautiful thing about this book is that it extols the virtue of running and that running is our nature!  Well, this is such wonderful news to me because I run everywhere!  I rarely walk.  I have actually tried walking and it's just too slow.  So, this book has inspired me to run more.  It has released that deep internal longing I have always possessed to run.  I have always had knee problems when I ran and so I just didn't do the long distance run much.  But, now I am inspired to see how far I can actually run using this barefoot running. 

I also have to say, that all through this book is a subtle golden thread of what I call "The Soulforce Living Philosophy."  Running is spiritual.  It does no harm.  It requires no monetary investment, no gym membership and you can do it with others or alone.  When you run outdoors, you are getting benefits of nature (... provided you are not slathered with sunblock and wearing an IPod!) because with each step you are connected with your planet.  Being barefoot helps you connect with both yourself and the earth beneath your feet.  The writer of this book asks us to consider why the feet are so sensitive. We are not supposed to suppress their delicate sensors with padding but to use them and feel and sense.  Another key character in this book is Ted McDonald a.k.a. Barefoot Ted.  Barefoot Ted is a genius at this stuff and gives running clinics in his home town in Oregan.  I've been listening to some of Barefoot Ted's interviews on the internet and you can tell that this guy knows how to listen to his body.   He is a big supporter of honoring your body.  Your body is pure perfection.  The more you pound your feet, says Barefoot Ted, the stronger they get. 

Another group that inspires what I consider the Soulforce Living Philosophy is: "Natural Hygiene".   This organization believes that our bodies are perfect. "Our bodies are only as strong as we need them to be."  We need no drugs, or huge quantities of calcium and protein to survive.  Natural Hygiene teaches that we are designed to eat a plant-based diet and to exercise.  Now, this mindset goes perfectly with the concept of being barefoot. With practice, our feet can get stronger and handle any terrain.  (Good thing I live in the tropics! I wonder how long it would take me to run in the snow? Or on freezing pavement? Humm.... I will have to think about that.)  Right now I am on Day #4 of barefoot running.  I am doing a little bit each day and building up the pads on my feet.  I feel great!  No knee pain. 

In closing, let me say that my mind keeps going back to an image I had once of a young Mexican girl in my neighborhood.  She was just standing outside her house in her bare feet.  For some reason I was captivated by her feet simply connected with Mother Earth.  That's all it was, feet and earth.  I can still see that image to this day.  I have never have forgotten it.  Here I am 24 years later wondering if this book has opened more than just a door to barefoot running.

See Earthing for more information about how to ground yourself to Mother Earth. 

Soulforce Living ~ A way of living that helps us feel connected with all things/beings.

Life is an amazing mystery. Did you see:

"What the Bleep Do We Know?"

Did that movie not make you stand back and reevaluate everything around you? Who are we? What kind of bodies are these? Where are we really living? What all could we truly see if we were really looking?

     As long as I stay open and unattached to any particular belief system then more mystery unfolds before me. In my daily living practice, I try to stay unattached and aware that no one has my answer. Only I can find my own answer. I have come to find out that any 'knowing' I do come upon, is flowing and unstable.  I am learning to let my truth unfold so that the next truth can be revealed.  If I can get quiet and listen, I may hear a whisper or two. The Open Hand Foundation says, “The Self is not to be shaped, it is to be discovered.” So, I am meditating, eating good food (mostly!), exercising like crazy, and showing up to my life every day and eager to see what's next.  If thoughts matter (Einstein said that thoughts = matter), then I had better watch what I think, who I associate with, how I take care of myself and others etc.  What happens, I create with my thoughts.  The way my life evolves is up to me, no one else.  I choose love, compassion, joy and peace ~ for me and all sentients.  This is Soulforce Living.