Wealth and Health go hand in hand. It’s surely possible to have one without the other, but they are easily joined when you choose positive actions joyfully and consciously.
David Wolfe has prepared several videos to introduce you to his Longevity Now Program. The introductory videos, of course, are free. If you access any of these videos from the respective link, you’ll also have access to the others.
Food and Money
I’ve seen how powerfully a change in food choices can change a person’s outlook on life. With a new perspective, all aspects of life change.
Some people are focused so strongly on not having enough money, which, of course, attracts more of not enough money. When trapped in negative thinking, it’s often a good idea to change the subject to another one.
Some people also have some rather negative relationships with food. "I can’t eat this." Or, "I shouldn’t eat that." Again, changing the subject to something more pleasant can be helpful.
Better yet, create ways to think and speak about positive aspects of food and money.
Both money and food are subjects you’re likely to be faced with every day — in fact, many times a day. When you find ways to think and speak positively about each, you experience a more satisfying relationship with both.
As I said in My Raw Food Story, I found enormous inspiration in studying about raw food cuisine when I chose to make a change in my food consumption. In fact, I had been a rather healthy eater before my illness, and didn’t attribute my illness to food choices. But the focus on eating healthy, living, raw, and interesting meals gave me a positive focus and direction.
David Wolfe’s perspective is very powerful, and based on far more research than my own. I encourage you to watch Foods that Attract Money.
Changing Habits Requires Discipline
The easiest thing to do today is what you did yesterday. Habits simplify life. However, when the actions that form the habits are destruction, you owe it to yourself to change the habits. This requires discipline.
Discipline involves consistent action that strengthens or empowers you. How will YOU stay healthy, stand strong, and still have fun along the way? Discipline creates freedom when you approach it to the proper mindset.
David Wolfe says, "Health is simple; illness is complex." Absolutely.
You can reach all your health and financial goals and achieve maximum healthy longevity without forcing yourself to do anything you don’t want to do!
These videos introduce you to the Longevity Now Program that teaches you step-by-step how to achieve stunning longevity, beauty, vitality, and prosperity… all through tiny, effortless, fun-filled steps.
The videos are free, with valuable information. They lead you to the Program with a price tag. It’s a reasonable price, IF you listen to and apply the principles and techniques. You will change not only your food, but your health, and your prosperity.
It’s your choice. I encourage you to at least watch the videos.
This blog is all about making choices joyfully. I’ll share with you as much as I can from my heart. David Wolfe is one of the person’s I am genuinely delighted to introduce you to.
I often rejoice in the magnificence of nature. When I discovered the nature of enzymes, it was an epiphany. It was one of many epiphanies on this journey of understanding how life keeps expanding. I felt that I had found a secret.
The Skinny on Enzymes
Enzymes act as catalysts for proper food digestion and assimilation.
At birth, each human receives a limited amount of digestive enzymes. Once gone, they’re gone; food enzymes must then be supplied from the outside.
Each plant contains food enzymes, the precise enzymes needed for proper human digestion of that food, if the plant is left in its raw state.
More About Enzymes
I find it’s most helpful to think of enzymes as catalysts, because that’s their function. They ignite life. It’s also true that most enzymes are proteins. As important as proteins are, enzymes are so small that it’s pointless to try to calculate them into your daily protein count.
Understanding that enzymes make food more digestible and able to be assimilated is key to understanding the importance of these little gems. Even if you don’t have a felt digestion problem, if you’re not properly digesting or assimilating your foods, then you’re not getting the nutrients that you need.
Food that’s not properly digested does not travel through the body properly and its nutrients are not used fully by the body.
Enzymes are destroyed when heated above 118° (or, depending who you read, 120°). Therefore, enzymes are only found in raw foods or foods that are dried at temperatures below 118°. Some enzymes survive the food-freezing process.
Enzymes continue to be alive even as they pass through the body, so they’re assimilated by the tissues of the body.
As you age, you require greater need for live food with enzymes, especially you’ve consumed cooked foods frequently. Lacking the proper enzymes to break food down, undigested foods accumulate. Accumulated foods create weight gain, aches and pains, inflammation, digestive problems, and fatigue. Living with such conditions makes it easier to attract even more debilitating illness.
The Practical Application
If you want to read scientific data about enzymes or you want to know which enzyme is needed for each type of food, I suggest a Google search or one of the three excellent books shown at the bottom of this article. I’ve read all these books and a lot of this type of information, which has been enormously educational.
However, I want to leave you with the bottom line of practicality: eat more raw and living plant foods. Adding seeds you’ve sprouted yourself, fresh cucumbers, young romaine lettuce, and other greens that you like will enhance your life
You’re at your own unique place with respect to eating raw foods. I think the most practical suggestion is to honor where you are right now (don’t make yourself wrong about anything). Add raw plant food to each meal. Make living plant food a regular part of your life. Limp carrots and wilted lettuce add little of value. Cooked foods have few nutrients (and no enzymes); many cooked foods and other popular substances drain the energy from you.
If you’re already eating many live plant foods, consider eating even more — in quantity, quality, and variety. You truly can get stronger with age.
If this is all new to you, be like a baby and take baby steps. Many people who make dramatic changes in their eating regime rarely stay with the new program for long. Gradual changes are easier to incorporate. Do what works for you. If you’re encouraging others to eat more raw foods, encourage gently and without judgment.
Clearly, there’s more involved in healthy living than food. The main reason that I wanted to write about enzymes is this: if you’re aging (and if you’re alive, you are), this is a good time to increase the enzyme intake through raw, living plant foods to moderate the decline with age.
It’s a beautiful thing to age;
it’s not such a beautiful thing to decline.
I’ve studied David Wolfe’s work for many years now. He has consistently shared valuable information to the health-conscious community, with a special emphasis on raw and living foods.
I’ve mentioned him many times on this blog. Now you can see him for yourself, on video, on a topic that’s near and dear to my heart: the immune system. David researches his subject thoroughly and offers his information simply, yet with great depth.
David has not been sick in 15 years. I can’t claim such a long time, but I can say that I’ve not been sick in 6 years and counting!
Is it possible to stop getting sick? Absolutely! Just imagine what you can accomplish if you are free of physical setbacks and full of productive energy.
I just finished watching David’s video that is different from what most people know and have been taught about health, sickness, and the immune system.
Watch David’s Video. It’s free, just give him your email address.
You’ll discover the secrets to having an unshakable immune system. The purpose of your immune system is to keep you healthy and protected. You need to understand how to feed and nourish it.
David Wolfe is the most recognized super-nutrition authority whose fans and clients include T. Harv Eker, Tony Robbins, Angela Bassett, Woody Harrelson, Mark Victor Hansen, and hundreds of thousands more. And he is living proof of what he teaches — just watch him.
In this video, David Wolfe reveals exactly how and why he has not been sick in 15 years. He gives step-by-step information, in this generous educational video. He explains what to eat and what to do for immediate immunity transformation.
Don’t miss this health-transforming video. It’s the first of four health-transforming, never-before-revealed Longevity Secrets Videos that David is sharing. I’ve attended many of David’s workshops. This man just keeps giving.
See three of my favorite books by David Wolfe in the right navigation bar.
I love the taste of caramel. From Peru, comes a powder made from Lucuma, a delicious fruit that adds nutrition to any food combination, which tastes a little like caramel.
Lucuma Powder from Fruit
Quoting from David Wolf’s SunFood.com web site, "Lucuma is an excellent source of carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals - including remarkable concentrations of beta-carotene, Vitamin B3 (niacin), and iron. Lucuma has a full-bodied subtly sweet flavor and has long been a culinary favorite of Peruvians and superfood enthusiasts worldwide."
Quoting from the NaturalZing.com web site, "Its unique and fragrant flavor resembles maple syrup. Lucuma is low in acid, low in sugar and contains an excellent source of carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins and minerals. It is especially abundant in beta-carotene, niacin and iron with significant amounts of calcium and phosphorus."
Lucuma Ice Cream from Powder
Quoting my daughter, Sarah, "I make some variation on lucuma ice cream every week. It’s easy, delicious, and always ready for unexpected guests."
We make Lucuma Ice Cream so often that we don’t use a recipe. And, yes, it’s a little different each time because we vary the ingredients and experiment. Always, though, we use raw ingredients; and with very few exceptions, we use certified organic ingredients.
However, it’s not fair to you for me to say, add a little of this and a little of that. So, I’ve written the recipe below, using the SunFood.com web site, which is itself a variation on the classic recipe, as a general guide for quantities. Below the written information, I’ve included a video with a different recipe.
Lucuma Ice Cream: 6-8 Serving
Ingredients
1 ½ cups really raw cashews, soaked
½ cup coconut cream, coconut meat, or raw coconut butter
½ cup organic lucuma powder
¼ to ½ cup raw agave nectar
1 whole vanilla bean
1 ½ Tbs psyllium hulls
Approximately
½ cup best water available
¼ cup maca powder
Celtic Sea salt to taste (or use any highly mineralized salt)
Directions
Put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend to a nice batter. Put in a container that likes to be in the freezer, and freeze until it’s the perfect consistency. An ice cream maker is not required, but you can certainly use one. Be sure to read additional notes below.
Cashews. Start with "really raw" or "raw, cool processed" cashews. They will be hard and dormant. Soak for 4-8 hours in the best available water. This softens them and makes them alive rather than dormant, which means you have the proper enzymes available in the nuts to digest them properly. Drain water and rinse the cashews.
Coconut. We’ve tried the coconut in all forms. If you’re purchasing it in a glass jar, look for raw, organic cream or butter if you want some of the coconut meat in it. If you’re purchasing fresh coconut, I recommend the Thai young coconuts if available; brown coconuts also make a great addition to this ice cream. You can use the liquid inside the whole coconut in place of the water in the recipe.
Lucuma Powder. Lucuma Powder is now more readily available in health food stores. Online, you can get it at SunFood.com and NaturalZing.com. This is, of course, the primary ingredient for which the ice cream is named. There’s really no suggested substitute.
Agave Nectar. For sweetener, we prefer the organic raw agave nectar because it has a pure sweetness and no aftertaste. Many years ago when we started using Agave Nectar, few people knew what it was. Just yesterday, I was shopping at Whole Foods and discovered many different brands and varieties, many of them raw and certified organic.
Sweeteners. Alternative sweeteners are yucon syrup, dates, or honey. We’ve tried all these, noticing that the different choices add flavors or textures to the ice cream. No one seems to object to any of these, but our favorite is agave nectar.
Vanilla. For the vanilla, the whole bean is the most wonderful tasting. We finely chop it before adding it to the mixture. Raw vanilla powder works fine, as does organic vanilla extract.
Psyllium husks make the ice cream slightly gelatinous and scoopable.
Water. Everyone has an opinion of the "best available" water. It has to be as you define it. Instead of water, use almond or cashew milk or coconut water.
Maca. A daily substance in our house, maca is also from Peru. Maca is a healthy complex carbohydrate, loaded with minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids, vitamins, and fiber. I’ll write an article about this extraordinary superfood in the near future. There are many varieties of maca.
Variations. After you’ve experienced this ice cream following the general guidelines of the recipe, experiment with other ingredients that you like. Be creative. If you stay with the raw, organic ingredients, even the mistakes will be yummy.
Video from Ani Phyo’s Raw Food Kitchen
Lucuma Ice Kream
I thought it might be fun for you to see a video of someone preparing this Ice Cream, so I found the following video. Ani includes the recipe she’s using. You’ll notice by the very loud noise when she adds the cashews to the blender that she has not soaked the cashews. I do strongly recommend that you allow the time for the soaking process.
Happy Eating. Please let me know any of your experiences and/or variations.
This may seem like a strange question initially, but if you really think about it, both the question and your answer can be extremely revealing.
Since becoming acquainted with Jeanie Marshall’s Ask Yourself Empowering Questions Video, I often consider what questions might be the most empowering for me to suggest that you ask yourself.
Perhaps you’ve come to this web site for answers. I certainly hope to provide you with some answers, or perhaps better yet, choices so that you can find the best answer for yourself. And today, I have some questions.
Do you Choose Food or Nutrients?
Some people who think "I’ve just got to have food" are likely to grab a pizza or candy bar or something else that’s readily available or advertised with an enticing jingle.
However, people who think, "I’ve just got to have nutrients" are more likely to think about getting such things as minerals, enzymes, amino acids, vitamins, pH balance, range of nutrition, or energy.
Many of the items readily available in stores, even so-called healthy stores, are so highly processed that they have few nutrients remaining. These products are so familiar and available that they have become the norm. It’s not that everyone eats them, but the demand is extremely high for items that are manufactured into a box so that they can sit on the shelf for years.
On the other hand, choosing fresh food that’s closest to its natural state is a choice for nutrients. An orange that you peel and eat is a whole food with enzymes and vitamins and taste; it will hydrate your system. An orange drink sweetened with high fructose corn syrup will pull nutrients from your system and dehydrate you, making you hungrier for more of the same or similar foods.
Do You Choose the Same Type of Food Today as Yesterday?
I remember reading several years ago that most people eat essentially the same 12 items regularly. That doesn’t mean that everyone eats the same 12 items, but that most people choose from a very narrow and similar selection each day.
Initially, the body usually finds unfamiliar items distasteful, then the items became familiar, and then they become the norm. Let’s take coffee, for example. The first sip of coffee is usually quite distasteful. It’s bitter. Some neutralize or sweeten the taste with dairy or sugar in some variation. Coffee shops have some very ingenious ways to disguise the taste of coffee.
Without doubt, drinking coffee is the norm in many parts of the world. Most people who have become accustomed to drinking coffee and then want to stop drinking coffee must make a conscious choice, often struggling for days or weeks with that choice. If you regularly drink coffee, it’s much easier to keep drinking it than to choose something else.
I’m using coffee as an example only because most people can relate to it. I could have chosen another example: donuts or chocolate or sugar or popcorn or carrots or smoothies. The key is that we all tend to gravitate to familiar foods and create a habit of eating them.
Are Your Favorite, Familiar Foods Giving You the Necessary Nutrients?
If you feel great physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually day after day, the answer may be yes. As time passes and your body has less tolerance for non-nutritious food, you can maintain or regain your health by being attention to your food choices. And more importantly, to choose foods that contain nutrients.
Years ago, the Movie Super Size Me (2004) was in the theaters. My husband and I had heard enough about it to know that we were not the intended audience. I’ve never eaten in a MacDonald’s and my husband has only a few times when avoiding it would have caused more problems than deciding to be with the guys. Later when the movie was on DVD, we decided to watch it.
It was a very difficult movie for us to watch. At the same time, I must say that it’s a very powerful presentation of how devastating it can be to eat foods that are devoid of nutrients, meal after meal, day after day. Yes, Morgan Spurlock’s experiment was an extreme. Or was it? For many, consuming foods without minerals or enzymes is the very reason for illness with age.
When You Eat Today, Will you Be looking for Food or Nutrients?
You make choices all day long about a variety of things. When eating or choosing not to eat something, you make a decision.
I honestly don’t know what the right choices are for you. I just encourage you to ask yourself this or a similar question that empowers you to make a choice that nourishes your body.
I love hemp seed. Some say hempnut seed and others say hemp seed nut. By any name, they are delicious. I purchase only raw, shelled, and certified organic hemp seed.
Once I tried the hemp powder or hemp protein powder. Only once. To me, it tastes like all those powdered "green" foods. However, if you’ve acquired a liking for that taste, you will surely have a superfood.
A superfood is a nutrient-dense food. I mentioned superfoods in earlier articles when I discussed another favorite superfood, Goji Berries and when I discussed Protein from Plant Foods.
The Nutrients in Hemp Seeds
I’m going to quote from two different online sources, both of which I trust and purchase from, as they have done the research. It may be just a little more than you really want to know. If so, skip to the next section on Taste and Use.
From Natural Zing … Shelled hemp seed is a great source of the essential fatty acids Omega-3 Linolenic Acid and Omega-6 Linoleic Acid, as well as the hard-to-get Gamma-Linoleic Acid. While most foods have little if any, hemp seed is over 36% Essential Fatty Acids, and in nature’s perfect balance of 1-to-3 omega-3:omega-6 (according to Dr. Udo Erasmus). It contains 31% complete and highly-digestible protein, 1/3 as edestin protein and 2/3 as albumin protein.
This protein profile is second only to raw uncooked soybeans (35% vs. 31%), and the amino acid profile is superior to soybean, human milk, and cow’s milk, and similar to egg whites. Excellent protein efficiency makes hemp seed ideal for medical foods and other special diets. We have yet to hear of an allergic reaction to shelled hemp seed, and it contains no gluten.
From SunFood.com… Hemp seeds are considered by leading researchers and medical doctors to be one of the most nutritious food sources on the planet. Shelled hemp seed is packed with 33 percent pure digestible protein and is rich in iron and vitamin E as well as omega-3 and GLA. A recent report funded by the Canadian government states that hemp protein is comprised of 66 percent high-quality edistin protein, and that hemp seed contains the highest percentage of this of any plant source. Hemp also contains three times the vitamin E contained in flax.
Because the human body produces no Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs), it is important that EFAs be consumed on a regular basis. It is estimated that more than 90 percent of Americans take in too little of one of the most important EFAs–omega-3–which is found in flax, walnuts, chia, and hemp seeds. EFAs are the "good fats" that doctors recommend as part of a healthy, balanced diet. Shelled hemp seed is comprised of 45% "good fats" in an ideal balance of Omega-3 Alpha-Linolenic Acid, Omega-6 Linoleic Acid, "Super" Omega-3 Stearidonic Acid, and "Super" Omega-6 Gamma Linolenic Acid. It is also rich in vitamin E and iron, and contains 33% protein. The quality of omega-3 is vital, and can be diminished by oxygen, heat, and light. Thus consume the freshest seeds possible and store them tightly sealed in a dark, cold environment such as a refrigerator.
In the definitive book on good fats, Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill, author Udo Erasmus states, "The best-balanced source of EFAs is hemp seed oil."
Taste and Use
So, from the above, you have plenty of justification for eating the delicious little seeds because they’re loaded with nutrition. And, oh, wow, the taste! Right out of the bag, you can sprinkle on salads, raw soups, cereals, smoothies. I eat them nearly every day.
Once the bag is open, they require refrigeration, so when traveling I only carry a small amount and put them in the refrigerator in the hotel room. Since I travel a lot, I’m often looking for foods that survive a flight in my suitcases and can be easily consumed in hotel rooms.
One of the easiest, tastiest protein drinks is made with hemp seed and water, which you can sweeten to taste with agave nectar, stevia, dates, or honey. Cinnamon (which I find sweet) is another added taste sensation. Just throw what you want into any blender, swirl, enjoy.
While I would never apply any heat to these seeds, here’s a resource for food preparation.
Generally, I like to blend fruits together and call them "smoothies" and blend vegetables together and call them "soups."
It’s not an absolute rule to separate fruits and vegetables, but they do (with some exceptions) require different enzymes for digestion, so separating them tends to be easier on the system. Also, fruits take much less time to digest because they are mainly water, so most people do better eating fruits alone. Separating foods (or paying attention to food-combining principles), can be especially important for anyone with digestive problems.
Food Combining
Many years ago, I used to have fresh fruit for dessert. When I found that I had tummy pains about a half hour after my meal, I began to do some research to discover the reason. I read Dr. Herbert M. Shelton’s training course and T.C. Fry’s work which included the concepts of food combining. Bingo! I started my meals with the fresh fruit, waited a little while and then had the main course. Problem solved.
Now that I eat raw foods as a high percentage of my food, I find I have more tolerance for mixing fruits and vegetables. But I also do like the idea of mono-meals, that is, eating only one kind of food at a time. Since I eat more frequently than most people, but much less each time, the idea of keeping the food combinations simple works for me.
There are many principles in food combining, and also many exceptions to the principles. The most important thing is for you to experiment for yourself. There’s no need to think you have a problem if you do not. But if you do have any digestive problem, I suggest you explore food combining which extends to many different kinds of foods that I don’t plan to discuss at all on this blog.
Here are some books that look like they are among the best. Except for "Fit for Life" (which is a popularized presentation of the work of Dr. Shelton and T.C. Fry), I have not read these. Instead I’ve checked them at Amazon to share with you those that seem to have the more favorable reader comments. Please keep in mind that people have very strong views on the topic, pro and con. And everyone has different needs. There’s no plan that work for everyone.
Keep in mind that you may need only ONE idea from one book to re-set yourself to better digestion, as I mentioned in my one example. I was the only one in my family who benefited from this change; my husband and children never had a problem at all with fresh fruit after a meal.
Back to Raw Fruit Smoothies and Raw Vegetable Soups
Ah, so sweet is the mixture of a variety of fruits placed in a blender with less than a minute of whirling. It takes longer to eat than to prepare. In our house, I often add some green herb or spice. For example, mint leaves or lettuce or ginger or cinnamon.
Some foods that are botanically fruits blend better or as well with vegetables than with other fruits. Avocado, cucurbits (cucumbers, squash, pumpkins), tomatoes, green beans, and bell peppers are fruits. Except for cucumbers, I don’t add these to my fruit smoothies!
In addition, an apple is definitely a fruit, yet many people find that it combines well with either fruits or vegetables. And Ann Wigmore’s famous Raw Energy Soup combines fruits and vegetables into a very digestible meal.
You can mix and match and call any concoction whatever you want. I’m just explaining that I tend to combine fruits with fruits (with some exceptions) and call it a smoothie if I put them into a blender. I tend to combine vegetables with vegetables (with some exceptions) and call it a raw soup if I put them into a blender.
