2 cups almonds soaked overnight
½ cup sunflower seeds soaked overnight
2 carrots
1 zucchini
½ cup chopped parsley and or coriander
1 tbs ground cumin
1 tbs turmeric
1 tsp salt
½ tsp grated ginger and/or garlic (optional)
1 tsp basil paste
Tbs lemon juice

Method:

Process all ingredients with either a food processor or juicer on solid plate. Form into round balls with hands about 3cms each or use a falafel maker to make patties. Place on dehydrator trays directly (no need for bake sheets) and dehydrate for about 6 hours until the desired dryness is achieved. Serve whilst still warm from dehydrator with sprouted hummus dip as a sauce or avocado dressing or other as desired and a salad. Alternatly you can shallow fry patties in a non-stick pan, oven bake or even BBQ. The above recipe is great for using up the pulp from juiced vegetables as well as the pulp from making almond milk.

Ingredients

7 carrots
2 ½ cups Brazil nuts
½ cup flax seeds, soaked with 1 cup water
1 cup raw honey or agave syrup
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup raisins or sultanas
3 tbs Psyllium hulls powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Grate carrots. Grind nuts and seeds to meals in seed/coffee grinder or juicer on blank attachment. Process these with raisins, vanilla, coconut, cinnamon, and honey. Add Psyllium and flax meal and process a little more. Place mixture into a spring form cake tin and put in fridge for an hour or so to set. After set, remove cake from tin and serve with cashew cream or coconut ice-cream or on its own.

by Geraldine - previous ‘Life Force Retreat’ participant

I chose to treat my diagnosis of grade 3 metastasised breast cancer alternatively. As such, I became the overseer of my case and had to be diligent about recording all my treatment protocols, notable stress situations and any clinical observations that may affect my path back to health. This is something I cannot recommend enough, because if you have a detailed health chart of when you started a supplement or detox programme etc, the clinical rationale for its implementation and the affects on your body, then you can quickly determine where you are either going right or wrong and remedy it in swift time.

I discovered my tumour mass by being drawn to painful sensations in my breast and armpit whenever I was in a state of stress or emotional turmoil. This amazed me and immediately I looked upon the tumours themselves as ‘barometers’ to stress of any kind. One day when I was walking up a large hill, I noted that I had waves of pain moving through my tumours at an even pace. Nothing was worrying me and I was feeling fit, so I could not understand why they were intensifying to the point I had to massage them. When I reached the summit of the hill I saw a microwave tower for mobile phone reception and knew immediately that was the reason for these rather strange bands of pain pulsing through me.

Another time I was making a trade on the stock market through a web broking site and I made a typo. Instead of buying $5000 worth of shares, I bought $50,000! I could not afford this and was forced to sell immediately. The problem grew as the stock price dropped dramatically and left me in a situation where I could not even afford the losses on the transaction. What could I do? This threatened all the small financial security I had at a time I was meant to be reducing stress. Apart from the obvious anxiety such a situation would invoke, my tumours began to pinch and claw at me and almost instantly became inflamed and active. I ended up having to borrow $45,000 and extending my settlement date to a week. By that time, the tumours themselves had increased in size and made some movement towards my lymphatic axilla region. It was frightening – but I had to calm myself and employ breathing meditations and relaxation programmes to reduce the anxiety that was clearly compromising me in a very dangerous way.

At another time I discovered a sexual indiscretion my partner had made, confirming suspicions I had. I felt full of rage and contempt at the discovery and flew into a violent hateful fit of screaming and slapping. It was really appalling when I look back at it – but his actions had tripped the switched for just about every reason I had developed cancer from emotional injury in the first place. Boy! Did my tumours love it! I could almost hear them egging me on…’yes precious, reduce yourself to a seething worthless mass, keep up that adrenal rage, it’s all so delicious…’ I could feel the tumours literally heaving in my breast – along with that specific clawing pain they make. This feeling stayed with me for about 5 days until I learnt to emotionally deal with the situation in a way that would serve me.

I have noticed watching the news that I will get twinges of pain – fleeting, but none the less specifically in my tumours. I walk away and leave the media circus to the masochists and the misguided and feel so much the healthier for it.

There have been many incidents to report where stress has settled in the tumours and set them to heat up and grow, but I would rather not bore you with the diarisation of details. Suffice to say, stress does indeed affect the tumour mass on its way to being a bloody big and painful problem that may see you to an early grave. It is of major significance and ranks on my ‘health chart’ as the second biggest problem in my protocol to date.

Here we have a problem. Just because beautiful you has developed cancer, does not mean life is going to turn the stress tap off and let you rock yourself back to health in a parallel universe. No, it’s going to be there to test you every step of the way and the only thing you can do to allay the situation is learn to deal with stress. That means you have to find the emotional triggers to your stress and work on healing them at the very root of the problem and you have to learn techniques to relax your body and allow your cells to vacillate at a healthy frequency that encourages their return to health. This comes through meditation, breathing techniques, exercise and knowing how to instigate a lifestyle of true self-love. This latter point sounds easier than it actually is, but when you discover how to really love yourself, you are in the best hands you will ever find.

I recommend that you take time in your journeys back to health to learn about who you really are and take some teachings to help guide you home. Sue Kira’s retreats are a wonderful way to do that. She has a loving and personable nature that puts you at ease as she teaches you about the gentle breath and the way back to self-love. The environments she chooses are beautiful and the focus on organic, vegetarian nutrition is as pleasant as it is important. She has an extensive background in research, detoxification, herbalism and nutrition and is a perfect guide to improving your total wellbeing.
 

If you would like to make a comment to Geraldine’s article please do so. Please know that your comment may be published unless you request to not be published.

The Self

Firstly let’s look at some positive ‘self’ words.

Self-love
Self-respect
Self-esteem
Self-belief
Self-worth
Self-confidence
Self-empowerment
Self-assurance
Selflessness
Self-expression
Self-value
Self-knowledge
Self-aware
Self-nurturance
Self-content
Self-trust

The above list doesn’t need defining. We all know what they mean, but do we have these qualities? Maybe we have a certain degree of all of these but we probably could do with a higher level of all of these.

I could actually sum the whole list up by saying: Really they all stem from the number one ‘self’… self-love

People often want others to love them without putting the effort into ‘their self’. Why? Because they don’t love themselves. Is this not self-ish? Funny, because one reason we don’t have self-love is because we are told not to have too much self-love or we will be called selfish and self-indulgent or our ego will be too big and no one will want to know us. Funny twist! Self–love doesn’t mean that we have a big ego or are self centered; it just means we have a good strong measure of the ‘self’ words above, especially self-respect.

Many people, especially women, tend to put the care of others before themselves, but you cannot keep giving to others if you don’t give to yourself.

You cannot love another more than you love yourself. So if you lack self-love you cannot expect to be loved by another. You might say that there are plenty of people who are in a relationship that lack a degree of self-love and they seem to be doing OK. Well, you will find that either they do have some self-love and that is met with an equal amount of self-love from their partner, or one of them if not both are unhappy with the relationship but don’t know what to do about it at the moment.

So what qualities does a person have that is self-loving, soulful and connected?

Truth, Calm, Fiery, Cheeky, Fun, Exciting, Interesting, Gentle, Playful, Genuine, Listens, Content, Joyful, Harmonious, Healthy, Energetic, Free, Vital,  Connected, Centered, Knowing.

So the next question then would be:

How do we develop more self-love?
 
The first step to changing anything is to be aware of it. We must be honest about how we treat ourselves.

For example:
 
How do you talk to yourself?
Are you confident?
Do you speak kindly to yourself?
Are you secure and peaceful in most situations?
Do you like the way you look, act, are?

If you are like most of us, you think you could lose some weight, have better skin, and have a more exciting life and a smaller, or bigger ‘something’.

We pick at ourselves. We think that everyone else is happy with the way he or she is. We think that security is something other people have, and we are the ones who missed out. Most people judge themselves harshly, and struggle with the concept of self-love.

The good news is that once we become aware of the way we treat ourselves, we can change it. The most worthwhile goal you can ever set for yourself is one of self-love and self-acceptance. Once we begin to strive for self-acceptance and realise that we are supposed to accept ourselves, our lives will begin to change for the better.

How else can we develop more self-love?

• Choose the words you say to yourself
• Don’t label yourself
• Don’t give away your energy, and don’t let others drain you.
• Give time to yourself, don’t always put others needs before yours
• Connect to the truth of who you really are - your essence, by the ‘Gentle Breath Meditation (taught at a ‘Life Force Retreat’)
• Listen to your inner-self with everything you do, say and feel
• Self-nurture e.g. warm bath with incense, candles; self massage with coconut oil or body lotion, especially the breasts – gentle strokes.
• Be in the gentle breath always, not just in meditation – by choosing the gentle breath you will always know your truth. Develop and practice clairsentience (clear feelings).
• Be ‘gentle’ with your-self and recognise the gentleness in others.
• Observe and respond rather than absorb and react.
• Do not put others needs before yours
• Speak your truth – with ‘gentleness’ and ‘connection’
• Learn how to say NO when appropriate.
• Do not be around someone that is on their 3rd. drink – imposing energy
• Do not be in the presence of imposing energies any longer than necessary.
• Do not give away your ‘Life Force’
• Do things to build your ‘Life Force’ – Warm love, such as: Nurturing, massage, friendships, family, connecting with nature or animals, flowers, music, dancing, spa, relaxation, kisses, hugs, creativity, gardening, facials, fishing, projects, travel, movies, reading, picnics, eating healthy living foods, gentle exercise such as bike riding, swimming, walking – the key is to do it in self-love not momentum – do it as a pleasure not as an exercise to ‘get fit’ or lose weight.
• The body is truth, so reading your body and observing the truth is important
• If we don’t live by what we know to be our truth, then this is harmful to us and drains our energy (lifeforce).
• The truth of the work is in its ‘Livingness’
• Identify where any emptiness (anger, frustration etc.) comes from, then recognise the truth behind it and then move forward with ‘gentleness’. 
• Be honest with yourself e.g. nominate what is behind you
• Slowly reclaim your self by recognising when you are not ‘breathing’ for yourself.
• Ask yourself in ‘gentle breathe’ what has been stopping me from going forward?
• Justice is to bring yourself back to your truth.
• Feel what to eat - not eat what you feel. Are your desires of particular foods coming from cravings, the spirit, or the soul?
• Stand in freedom, where there is no need to climb Mt. Everest etc
By loving yourself truly you wouldn’t treat yourself badly, you would respect yourself, your mind, your body and what you put into it.

Lack of self-love = self abuse = disappointment with self = self abuse - therefore a downward spiral.

Self-love is not something that someone can give you e.g. praise, compliments etc. self love is a quality that you give to yourself. You have to develop and practice self-love.

Self-love is the greatest healer mankind can have and give!

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Tools: Food processor or powerful blender

Ingredients:

1 cup soaked dates (30mins) dates contain tryptophan a neurotransmitter amino that helps settle the nervous system.
7tbs cocoa powder (organic preferably raw cacao - see qualities of raw cacao under ‘super-foods’)
2-3 cups almond meal depending on how wet the dates are. Almonds are high in calcium, magnesium and fibre and are the only alkaline nut.
31/2tbs raw honey or agave syrup. (Agave is low GI)
Organic Desiccated coconut to coat (make sure it is fresh, not rancid smelling)

Directions:

Put all ingredients except almond meal into food processor with “s” blade. Process until dates blended. Add ground almonds gradually, keep blending and checking consistency until firm enough to roll into balls. Roll into balls in the palms of your hands. Coat balls by rolling in coconut. Put in fridge to firm. Note- almonds are best soaked to remove the enzyme inhibitors first, and then dried in food dehydrator or oven on lowest heat with the door open a little, so as not to overheat them. When dry, put through heavy duty twin gear type juicer or grinder to make the meal. Alternately the meal bought and made from almonds with their skins off have the inhibitors removed with the skins, but the almonds are not always as fresh.

These balls can be quick to make, yummy, nutritious, but addictive.

(p.s if you don’t want to read about the pain you can skip to the happy ending of the last 7 paragraphs.)

I was trying to get fit from spending too much time sitting down at work, so I had embarked on daily walks to the Cape Byron Lighthouse from Clarks beach, an up and down stair trip of around 6 kms I think, plus going to the gym 3 times per week. I was loving it all and felt great for a while, and then I started to notice that I couldn’t get on my left knee in the gym class and thought that I must have bruised it or something. Then I had a really sore thumb and thought that I must have bent it back with the weights bar or something. Then after my walks my feet really hurt but put this down to trying to increase my speed too quickly. Bit of ‘bull at fence’ syndrome or ‘something’.

Then I noticed that the aches weren’t getting any better even after cutting back on the gym and stopping the walks thinking that I just needed to slow down a bit and let my body catch up with my brains enthusiasm. This didn’t work in fact it all just got worse till I woke one morning and could hardly walk. It felt like I had broken the bones in my feet and my left thumb hurt like crazy. I thought this was bad enough, but over the next few days it actually got worse, till I could hardly move my body. It hurt sooo much but it hurt not to move too.

I’m not normally one who would go to a doctor, but by this time I knew something was terribly wrong. I was thinking maybe Rheumatoid arthritis as I didn’t feel at all sick or feverish at this stage so I didn’t think of Ross River. It was a struggle to get to the doctors room. I just felt like my whole body was broken, and with tears running down my cheeks from the pain, I shuffled into the doctors rooms as slow as a snail. I collapsed into the chair and fell to pieces emotionally.

The Dr. had me do all sorts of bending things and said my joints were swollen and that he would have to put me on anti-inflammatories and do some blood tests. Normally I would never take any drugs, but the pain was so bad I would have taken a general anaesthetic if it were available. My next challenge was to get to the blood collecting rooms. Everything was hard to do. Life was too much pain. It must have been putting pressure on my nerves or something because the anti-inflammatories didn’t work so I gave them up after a few days, and tried aspro, paracetamol, codeine, all to no avail.

I just had to bear it. Nights were excruciating as laying still made everything throb, but to get up and move hurt too much to. I was beside myself and I could no longer think rationally what to do with myself. Life was one big PAIN and I wanted the pain to end. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse I got a rash all over my body and started to get fevers, mostly at night. What was my body doing, I thought.

Then a phone call from my G.P. He said, guess what? you have Ross River. I was relieved, in fact I was excited. Everyone thought that I was strange to get excited over this diagnosis and that maybe my brain had fried with the fevers, but I was happy even in pain as I knew it would go away. The thought that I may have this forever was not attractive, so knowing that it was a virus that ‘this too shall pass’ was comforting in a quirky kind of way. I never thought such a tiny creature could cause so much pain. Now that I knew I was dealing with a virus I got stuck into Olive leaf extract and vitamin C in megadoses as well as herbal anti-inflammatories including fish oil. I thought I’ll at least drown the virus out of my system if nothing else.

I guess it all helped a bit, but I was still in so much pain. Then I guess the pain settled enough that I could think again and started to meditate by connecting to the ‘gentleness’ of my breath. My days were filled by being gentle with myself. After 3 weeks had passed and just starting to actually sleep at night, someone told me about having intravenous Vitamin C to help, so I did this, but this was a decision made by my head not my heart. My heart didn’t feel good about it, but I wanted it to work. I wanted it to all go away. Even though the pain was less, my tolerance was lowered and any pain was still too much.

Also, when I had the IV C I had a reaction the first night whereI thought that I’d had a close call on a stroke when the weirdest feeling rushed over me and up my head  But this passed and I was just left with lots of pain again for three weeks. After this settled I started to ‘breath’ again.

My recovery did seem slow, but one thing was for sure, when ever I tried to push myself and not be gentle it hurt heaps for ages. I learnt how to be gentle. How crazy are we? Why can’t we be gentle with ourselves always? With not being able to do much but think or read or meditate I learnt the art of being gentle. If I approached everything with gentleness I had no pain. When I had no pain for a while and tried to do something not gentle, I paid for it with more pain. Just like a mouse with the reward cage, I learnt gentleness.

Three months later most of my symptoms are now gone and I am being gentle most of the time and this is working. But I still get reminded if I step out of gentleness even a bit. The pain is so minimal now but I still use it as a barometer of gentleness.

The other thing that helped me was that I decided not to ‘suffer’ or be a ‘sufferer’, but rather to ‘experience’ the condition and not own it. I saw it as a passing energy. After all, everything IS just energy, stuck energy in this case.

So, you might be thinking, what does gentleness mean? Well to start with, it means choosing consciously a gentle in and out breathe. Gentle in, and gentle out. And going about the day in ‘gentleness’, not rushed or stressed, but allowing yourself to do things with ‘gentleness’, being kind to yourself, nurturing, soothing, relaxing, instead of the usual push-push attitude of hectic life. And not allowing others to bug you, just letting things go with love.

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This virus has been a most valuable experience that although I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, I’m glad I got it because of the gift that gentleness has brought into my life. The other part to this gift is that I also learnt how to say NO to people’s requests and also how to ask for help when I needed it. A lot of women feel that they need to be tough and do most things for themselves, but this only disconnects us from our ‘femaleness’, an important balance of energies needed in this day of equality of the sexes.

History has shown others that it can re-occur with repeated flair-ups, but I only expect this to happen if I forget to be gentle with myself. You know what?, I actually feel that this has been a ‘healing’ rather than a ‘cure’ I’ll talk more on this another time, as there’s a big difference. Do you know what I mean? If you have any thing you would like to share about this (cure vs. heal), then I’d love to hear about it. Wishing you never get Ross River, but you get ‘gentleness’- it’s truly lovely.

WHAT ARE SUPERFOODS & WHY EAT THEM?

Foods which are very high in essential nutrients are called super-foods and they can help us reach optimum levels of health by providing us with the vitamins and minerals which are missing from our diet.

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Super-foods are an excellent way to make up for dietary deficiencies. Even if you are eating a 100% organic diet you will still not be able to get all the nutrients you need from your food due to unsustainable, profit driven agricultural practices which have seriously depleted our soils and hybridised our food.

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Many nutritionists claim that deficiency is worse than toxicity. Even though toxic build up needs to be dealt with, in some ways the body can cope with a certain amount of toxicity. However, mineral, vitamin, protein, fat or even enzyme deficiencies can have a serious and immediate impact on your health.

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Recent research has shown that most Americans are protein deficient at a cellular level and that includes meat eaters. Somehow the protein isn’t getting to our cells. As for minerals and vitamins most people fall way below the levels of what is required for optimum health.

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Fruit which was once highly mineralised and low in sugar has now been so hybridized that it is nothing but a seedless sugar trap. For example; wild bananas, oranges and strawberries are highly mineralised and much lower in sugar than their commercially grown counterparts and that includes organic!

In one of his many experiments on mineralisation a brilliant research scientist called Maynard Murray found that hens that were fed food containing the full complement of organic minerals grew larger, laid larger eggs, exhibited perfect health, were free from disease and remained calm when approached by men. The control group of hens who were fed the same food with a depleted mineral content was nervous when approached by the flock tender, exhibited disease such as slipped tendons and worms and several died of unknown causes. None of the mineralised chickens died. These experiments were repeated with many other animals and crops with astounding results.

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SOME FAVORITE SUPER FOODS

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ORGANIC SPIRULINA – The protein, vitamin and mineral powerhouse
Spirulina contains a most powerful combination of nutrients such as protein, most of the essential minerals and vitamins, particularly iron and B vitamins and has ten times the Beta Carotene than carrots. Apart from mother’s milk, Spirulina is the only other whole food that contains Gamma-Linolenic Acid (GLA). Spirulina is also a rich source of magnesium and many easily absorbable trace minerals.

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WILD EUCALYPTUS BEE POLLEN – The king of foods
Bee pollen is considered by nutritionists to be one of the most complete foods found in nature. It contains a rich source of high quality protein due to it containing all the essential amino acids. Bee pollen contains vitamins A, B, C, and E as well as being very rich in B vitamins including Folic Acid. Bee pollen contains many minerals, including: barium, boron, calcium, copper, iodine, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, sodium, and zinc, as well as having over 5,000 enzymes and the phytonutrients such as co-enzymes, bioflavanoids, phytosterols, and carotinoids. Bee pollen also contains 15% natural lecithin and is an alkalizing food.
 (Warning: some people have an allergic reaction to bee products including pollen)

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ORGANIC COCONUT OIL – Another miracle nature food
Coconut oil is the highest source of saturated medium chain triglycerides (MCT) of any naturally occurring vegan food. Around 50% of these MCT’s are made up of Lauric Acid, the most important essential fatty acid in the building and maintaining the immune system. Mother’s milk is the only other source of Lauric acid.

These medium chain fatty acids are more digestible and much more stable that any other fat and in fact can be left at room temperature for a year without going rancid. Coconut oil is great for the skin, both taken internally and in external application for dryness and sensitivities. Additionally coconut oil has anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal properties and for this reason it is a powerful ally in the fight against Candida.

Incredibly, even though it is a fat, coconut actually assists weight control by promoting the body’s ability to burn unwanted fat and has even been shown to lower bad cholesterol. For this reason coconut oil has been used for under active thyroid to increase the body’s metabolism.

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CACAO – Natures Super Antioxidant, Anti-Depressant and Anti-Stress Yummy Food
All chocolate is made from the cacao (cocoa) bean, the seed of the Amazonian Cacao fruit, which in its natural, unprocessed, unadulterated state have a unique array of nutritional benefits.

Natural raw cacao contains over 300 chemically identifiable compounds making it one of the most complex food substances on earth. It contains: anandamide (happy chemical), arginine (natures Viagra), dopamine (neurotransmitter), epicatechins (antioxidants), histamine, serotonin (anti-stress neurotransmitter), tryptophan (anti-depressant neurotransmitter), and polyphenols (anti-oxidants).
Cacao also contains high levels of magnesium, an anti-stress mineral, and nearly twice the antioxidant level of red wine and up to three times that of green tea. We know cacao as chocolate which usually contains milk and sugar and the cacao bean has been roasted to become cocoa which looses the above attributes, but still tastes good. Making chocolate with raw cacao, cacao butter or coconut oil plus Agave syrup as a sweetener will give you the same taste sensation with the added bonus of all the wonderful qualities of this amazing food.
Whilst Cacao beans contain caffeine and theobromine, experiments have shown that these stimulants are far different when consumed raw than cooked. 

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CHIA SEEDS- Super strength food
Chia seeds are a true super food and somewhat of a secret super food in modern times. The seeds were once however valued so much that they were used as currency and were a staple food for Incan, Mayan and Aztec cultures. ‘Chia’ is the Mayan word for strength and it has been said that Aztec warriors subsisted on the Chia seed during the conquests and Apache warriors would eat as little as a teaspoon full when going on a 24 hour forced march.

Chia seeds are high in easily digestible protein, essential fatty acids (particularly Omega 3), soluble fiber and antioxidants. Due to their gel-forming characteristic, chia seeds are effective in creating a physical barrier between carbohydrates and digestive enzymes that break them down, thereby slowing the conversion of carbohydrates into sugars, making them ideal for diabetics. 

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FLAX SEEDS – Essential Fatty acid boost
The greatest nutritional benefit flax has to offer is its high Omega 3 essential fatty acid content, whose benefits include lowering total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) levels and lowering blood pressure. Flax also contains a variety of vitamins and minerals: vitamins A, B1, B2, C, D, E, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, sulphur, sodium, chlorine, iron and zinc. It also contains fibre and mucilage that promote healthy intestinal function.

The alpha linoleic acid (a type of Omega 3 fat) in flax may help prevent heart attacks by reducing the risk of potentially deadly blood clots as well as abnormal heart rhythms. Flax also provides the highest plant source of phytoestrogens, which may play a key role in the prevention of breast, prostate and colon cancers.

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HIMALAYAN CRYSTAL SALT – the healthy salt full of minerals
Himalayan salt is mined by hand from a protected area of the Himalayan Mountains, is free of the pollutants found in sea salt and table salt. The salt contains 84 minerals of the possible 92 trace minerals, in the same proportion as naturally exists in our blood. It contains a highly crystalline structure, which allows nutrients to be absorbed at the cellular level, purifying the body physically and bio-energetically.

Consumption of the salt has been associated with neutralizing the acid/alkaline balance in the body, breaking down the build-up of heavy metals, stimulating blood circulation and the nervous system and re-mineralizing the body.

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GOJI BERRIES – A nutritionally dense food with loads of antioxidants
Grown in Asia, and long regarded as a longevity, strength building and sexual potency food. The berries may be one of the most nutritionally dense foods available; containing 18 amino acids, all 8 essential amino acids, and 21 trace minerals. They are the richest source of carotenoids and 500 times the vitamin C by weight than oranges. In addition to these and other vitamins, goji berries also contain about 11mg of iron per 100grams and an array of powerful phytochemicals.

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MESQUITE POWDER – High protein sweetener
A traditional Native American food produced by gathering ripened seed pods from the mesquite tree and grinding them into a fine high-protein powder (approximately 20% protein).

Used as a staple food for centuries by desert dwellers, this high protein meal contains good quantities of calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and zinc, and is rich in the amino acid lysine as well. It has a sweet, rich, molasses-like flavor with a hint of caramel which blends well into smoothies or other drinks, especially those made with cacao and Maca.
Researchers report that mesquite is highly effective in balancing blood sugar.

The natural sweetness in the pods comes from fructose. Fructose doesn’t require insulin to be metabolised making it safe for diabetics. The high rate of dietary fibre, pods are 25% fibre, and causes the nutrients in mesquite to be absorbed slowly preventing the spikes and valleys in blood sugar.
With a low glycaemic index of 25, mesquite requires a longer time to digest then many grains. These factors result in a food that maintains a constant blood sugar for a sustained time and as a result prevents hunger. Here is a food that supports the diabetic’s diet and helps maintain a healthy insulin system in those not affected with blood sugar problem.

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MACA ROOT POWDER – hormonal balancer and strengthener
Maca root is native to the mountain regions of Peru, where it has been used by native Indians as a vital ingredient for health for thousands of years. Maca root contains significant amounts of amino acids, carbohydrates, and minerals including calcium, phosphorous, zinc, magnesium, iron, as well as vitamins B1, B2, B12, C and E.

Maca root has been associated with improving fertility, hormonal balance, increasing sperm count, stimulating and strengthening libido and increasing energy and vitality.

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ORGANIC WHEAT GRASS
High in chlorophyll and contains a wide range of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids, antioxidants, and rich in fibre. These nutrients are easily assimilated through our digestive tract giving our body instant vital nutrients including potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, phosphorus, manganese, zinc, beta carotene, B1, B2, B6, C, Folic acid, and pantothenic acid. Regular ingestion can improve the digestive system, help prevent cancer, diabetes and heart disease, cure constipation, detoxify heavy metals from the blood stream, cleanse the liver, prevent hair loss and help to make menopause manageable.

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HOW CAN I USE SUPERFOODS IN MY DIET?
Wheat grass juice is best taken as a ‘shot’, throw it down and chase it with something that tastes nice. It has a liquid grass taste similar to peas but stronger. If taken on an empty stomach can cause transient nausea. As it works through your system you may even get an upset tummy, but this passes quickly and you rush to the toilet and flush out your toxins. In some this can work very quickly and in others may have no effect on the bowel. The more toxic you are the more the reaction. Don’t let this put you off because wheat grass juice is a powerful detoxifier. You do get used to the taste and some even love the taste. You can also use wheat grass as a dried powder and mix into smoothies with fruit. When I juice wheat grass I also juice a bit of lemon grass to flavour the mix.

Spirulina on it’s own is not nice tasting either, but mixed with a bit of fruit and rice milk and a handful of soaked almonds, some dates (also soaked), some sunflower seeds (preferably sprouted), and whizzed in the blender, it actually tastes great and makes a great quick alternative to breakfast or lunch that is super nutritious.

If you like you can also add in the other super-foods such as the goji berries (soaked to soften), the bee pollen (if no allergy to bee products), a tablespoon of coconut oil and cacao powder and it “tastes like a chocolate milkshake only crunchy”, (and much, much more nutritious than coco pops for those that picked up on ‘the line’).
Another delicious way to have your super-foods is via a chocolate lover’s dream of making your own chocolates with the raw cacao powder and mixing in the other super-foods except the wheat grass (no it doesn’t spoil the taste) and refrigerating them into little chocolate moulds and have the most nutritious chocolate you have ever eaten.

Actually you could call it the tastiest vitamin, mineral, antioxidant and enzyme “pill” you’ve ever had. Even the kids will ask for a second (and third) dose. Here’s the recipe:

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SUPER CHOCOLATES
INGREDIENTS
1 cup cacao powder
1 cups raw cacao butter or for super nutritious but must be kept in fridge use coconut oil
4 tablespoons of Agave syrup (low GI sweetener made from cactus)
3 tablespoons coconut oil if not using this above
Pinch of Himalayan salt
3tbs bee pollen
½ cup soaked goji berries well drained
1tbp Spirulina

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OPTIONAL EXTRAS
¼ cup almonds
¼ cup sultanas or raisins
½tsp ginger or chili powder
2 vanilla pods
Mesquite meal for extra sweetness and protein
Maca root powder

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DIRECTIONS
Melt butter or coconut oil gently by placing in a bowl inside another bowl of hot water. Put the cacao powder in a blender with the other ingredients desired. Add the melted oil or butter and blend till smooth. Spoon mix into chocolate moulds or ice cube tray and put in fridge to set for 30mins. Eat and enjoy guilt free (actually, with the knowledge that it will do you good). Using the coconut oil does give a stronger coconut taste to the chocolates, so if you don’t like coconut you can make them with the cacao butter.

This also has a higher melt point which means they don’t need to stay in the fridge. The coconut oil is the best nutritionally, but the butter does have antioxidants which also makes it a good fat. If you cannot get the ingredients at your local health shop, you can purchase them on line from “raw power” just put the www’s and the dot com dot au in the appropriate places and you can purchase this way. I didn’t print it this way as a link as this can throw my newsletter e-mailing program out.

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