Live Long Naturally ©2012

The more you own, the more it owns you. Having helped more than one person with cancer, I’ve seen many buying things they don’t need. A sense of not trusting. Buying or accumulating more to fill a gap, a void, a restlessness inside that no amount of things or pills can fill. Please know… this is not to single out cancer – clutter does not lead to cancer, however… a detox of body, mind, spirit, and surroundings will improve your energy and therefore your life.

Unease can lead to disease.

Detoxing your environment and your body can free you up in ways you never dreamt possible. It can end the fat and fatigue – it can free your mind and spirit to do the things you were put on this earth to do. You can begin going with the flow instead of swimming upstream.

Do your friends, family, acquaintances, pets, health, emotional state, financial state, home, or vehicle give you energy or drain your energy? Knowing this is key to living long naturally and on purpose!

Want to live long naturally? If so, start taking responsibility for your health, be disciplined to attain and maintain it. Aim to thrive, not merely survive, and by all means do NOT rely on a different color pill for every ill.

I once met a man whose job was to hook people up to dialysis… he stated the majority of his patients were on dialysis due to the overly prescribed antibiotics. Another young man I met was undergoing dialysis 3 times a week. His kidneys were ruined from the pain pills he was prescribed for his back. The stories go on… look at Michael Jackson or Heath Ledger. This does not include the many that succumb to chemotherapy and age at lightening speed. Patrick Swayze was the latest of celebrities. My mother aged a good 20 years after only 3 rounds of chemo.

If you are ill, experiencing disease… see it going not growing. Feed your body life in the form of a different color fruit of vegetable. Get your body moving on the outside and eliminating from the inside. Only then will it be better able to absorb any nutrition you may be giving it.Choose to prolong life not death.

If you don’t take care of yourself… how many holidays or birthday celebrations will you have left?

Want to live long naturally? Consider this… organic foods are grown without pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms, radiation, growth hormones, or antibiotics.

Non-organic on the other hand is responsible for young girls developing at much younger ages – they are literally aging quicker. Even men are growing breasts these days, and prostrate enlargement and cancer can also be caused by these growth hormones. A San Francisco area doctor shown recently on PBS stated that the blood of newborns still has traces of DDT in it – this toxic pesticide was banned in 1972! These chemicals are causing cancers, Parkinson’s, and many other illnesses and disease.

The following are ways to eat organic food for less:

• grow your own garden and/or get your neighbors involved in a community garden. You don’t need a yard… pots and planters are plenty.
• join a CSA (Community Sustained Agriculture). Localharvest.org can tell you where to find your local one. Click here for the Los Angeles area.
• Farmer’s Markets – food is fresh, local and in season.

Grocery store produce is better than none at all, but realize it travels thousands of miles, in some cases across countries, so… what you’re getting doesn’t look or taste as good as it could or should. To top it off, you’re paying for the trip to the store.

We’re not born craving packaged food or pesticides – my 3 year old grand niece is proof. She loves green smoothies and sweet potatoes. Children and their demanding taste buds can learn to love real food again. They aren’t the picky eaters parents make them out to be.

We still have the option of eating a different color fruit or vegetable instead of taking a different color pill (and not know the outcome).

This past week a 15 year old niece asked me for some vegetarian meal ideas. Since I’ve been a vegetarian with bouts of vegan since 1973, she came to the right person. And… her parents knowing I have “survived” all these years being a tad different, they know she’s in good hands.

So! I sent her Chapter 17 from my book and a photo of what I ate last night. Total preparation and cooking  was 30 minutes.

Vegetarian Soup

Ingredients:

16 ounces tomato base for broth
4 cloves Garlic
1 small bell pepper
1 dozen Okra
1 small Avocado
1 egg
Parmesan cheese

Hard boil egg. Sauté chopped garlic and bell peppers. Steam chopped okra separate (or you can sauté with other veggies). Pour tomato base over and heat thoroughly until hot.

In a soup bowl, grate hard boil egg and dice avocado. Pour hot soup over and sprinkle with Parmesan. Easy and delicious! Soup base and veggie can be your choice. Aside from tomato base, soup is made from scratch. All other ingredients are local and organic, except the cheese.

A photographer I am not, but this gives you an idea how chunky (and filling) soup can be.

To succeed as a vegetarian, ease into it and make it colorful. More colors, more vitamins!

For my fellow Americans celebrating Labor Day or living in a country that does… Happy Labor Day!

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. U.S. Dept. of Labor

What makes your heart sing… what can you spend your time doing regardless of the money? A labor of love? Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to see the movie, The Garden. A true story of a 14 acre community organic garden in an industrial area of Los Angeles. The garden included 350 family plots cultivated by a group of indigenous people. It was a place to grow fresh organic produce, mingle, and share knowledge of plants among the people and generations.

It came to a sad end in 2006 due to money and politics. However, these wonderful people live on and continue their purpose, their labor of love. Only now, they share it with the community through a CSA (Community Sustained Agriculture). A wonderful selection of organic fruits and vegetables, the history of these amazing people, and the DVD are available via their website.

… to get your own box of goodies, sown with love and no pesticides click on photo – many pick up locations to choose from.

I bow of my head in honor of the South Central Farmers this Labor Day! Their sense of purpose, healthful diet, and unity in their community will no doubt help them live long naturally… just like nature intended!