Welcome to the VIBRANT LIVING NEWSLETTER

HAPPY 2010 EVERYONE! Wow, seems like we just entered the century and already we’re a tenth done with it. Amazing. And so many wonderful things to look forward to each day as we enjoy life and all it has to offer. I wish all of you the Best Year Ever and may all your Intentions Be Fulfilled. In this edition I’ll give my perspective on supplementation, share some recipes, a few quotes, and some tips on veggies you may not be aware of. ENJOY!

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“The thoughts we think and the words we speak create our experiences.” ~ Louise Hay

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Your Raw Food Recipes

Send us one of your favorite original raw food recipes and we'll post it in the next newsletter.

This recipe is one submitted by my friend Kathy Shuey from Alexandria, Virginia. It looks very tasty, but just remember the fat content is fairly high so treat it like the appetizer it is.

OK- here is a recipe that I made for thanksgiving and will bring along at the holidays because it is so colorful. I called it a pate-

~Holiday Pate~

1c cashews

1c pumpkin seeds

1/2c Brazil nuts

5 stalks of celery

a bunch of scallions

1-2 ts of fresh sage

1c cranberries

Puree all the ingredients together except the cranberries. Adjust the taste with more scallions or celery or sage. Form into a round pate.

Puree cranberries and add a nature sweetener like stevia or agave or honey, if too sour. Put it on the top of the pate and around the base.

I totally used approximate measures to make this. I may have put more or the nuts I had on one kind versus the other kinds. Test it out and let me know what you think.

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**More Tasty Treats for You to Try**

~Veggie Rolls~

1 medium zucchini

2 large carrots

1 cucumber

1 celery stalk

½ cup cilantro chopped (or any green herb)

¼ cup dulse chopped (optional)

Shred first 4 ingredients, and mix with remaining. Add juice from 1 lemon or small orange w/ 1 Tbsp of tahini or other nut butter in jar and shake till blended. Pour over salad mixture and mix thoroughly. Place in romaine leaves to serve. Could also use Chinese cabbage leaves or collard leaves as well.

~Raw Sweet Corn Salad~

3 large ears of corn

½ red bell pepper

1 large ripe tomato

¼ cup rocket

1 celery stalk

¼ cup sweet red onion (optional)

small avocado diced (optional)

Remove kernels from cob and dice all ingredients. Mix together in bowl with juice from ½ lemon

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“There is no magic pill, only a magic process. Eating raw plant food teaches you the lessons of how to achieve extraordinary health.” ~David Wolfe

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To Supplement or Not, that is the Question

I’m often asked my opinion on different supplements and whether or not supplementation is even necessary on a 100% raw food diet. This comes up so often that I thought I would share some of my thoughts about the subject with you today.

In an ideal world I believe we would all eat the food of the earth in its natural state and receive all the nutrients our bodies need to not only be healthy, but to thrive. Some issues I have with that model are that we live in a world that is no longer natural, and that man’s encroachment on nature has significantly affected the nutritional value of our food, and perhaps more importantly most of us are born with compromised health in some form or another even though it may not be outwardly visible and immediately apparent. Often we say, oh, dental issues run in my family, or poor eyesight, or heart issues or you name it, when in fact these “issues” are probably nothing more than generations of nutritional deficiencies, self induced toxicity through diet, and perhaps a little inbreeding along the way.

Because of scientific and technological advances over the years each generation lives further from the natural ways of our ancestors. We are born in a vortex of nutritional deficit compared to generations past, so we can get away with far less in terms of the toxic burden we can put on ourselves before we suffer negative health consequences. These consequences may show up as type 2 diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, heart disease, cancer, depression, ADD, or a myriad of all the other “dis-eases” we see popping up in younger and younger people today in our society.

I believe that taking “natural” supplements, meaning supplements made from whole foods and processed minimally by those with an understanding of the fragility of the nutrients and the desire and commitment to bring a truly healthful product to market may be prudent for most and necessary for many to help them live healthily in our world as it exists today. I would say that the exception to this might be those growing close to 100% of their own food in a pristine environment with mineral rich soil. Taking nutritional supplements that are synthetic, as most are, or those from natural origins not processed with care, can at the very least produce nothing but expensive urine and feces, and could throw your body further out of balance and add toxic load to your already compromised system leading to dis-ease.

Proper natural supplementation can assist the body in receiving 100% of the nutrients it needs to run effectively and carry out the multitude of functions that make us whole, healthy and happy. When we add the deficient nutrients back into our diet miracles can take place as these wonderful bodies of ours carry out their work as nature truly intended.

Vitamin B12 is known as the “energy vitamin,” and it is essential for many critical functions in your body, including energy production, supporting your immune system, and helping to regulate the formation of red blood cells. Recent studies from the US Framingham trial show that one in four adults in the US are deficient in this vitally important nutrient and nearly half of the population has suboptimal blood levels.

Research suggests that up to 85% of people could be deficient in vitamin D without knowing. Scientists believe that vitamin D serves a wide range of fundamental biological functions relating to many aspects of your health and is responsible for the regulation of over 2,000 genes in your body. Current scientific research suggests that all cells and tissues in your body have vitamin D receptors and every cell and tissue needs vitamin D for its well-being.

Your skin naturally produces your body's supply of vitamin D from direct exposure to bright midday sun with a mere ten or fifteen minutes' exposure per day. But for decades, misinformation from the media and conventional medicine has created a fear of sunshine. Most people either intentionally or unintentionally avoid the sun -- or smear on sunscreen that blocks the beneficial wavelengths that produce vitamin D in your skin. And of course for many of us during the winter months the sun is not available for days and sometimes weeks at a time.

These are the two most common vitamin deficiencies in the US today, but I believe there are other major nutrients missing from most diets today, and yes, even raw food diets. Because of the environment, our past diets, and the toxic load we each carry it’s probable that we all are mineral deficient to some degree, which is why I am such a proponent of consuming large quantities of fresh quality greens, and why I also supplement with a high quality super green powder daily just as an insurance policy. There’s that term again, “quality”; I believe it’s best to put the very best fuel into our bodies to get the very best results.

I add a tablespoon of spirulina, or vitamineral green, or chlorella, or blue green algae to my smoothie every morning and really feel great because of it. Sometimes I add more, or a mixture depending on how I feel that day. The super greens are also great for traveling when it’s not always easy to get your daily greens. I can’t tell you enough how important I feel getting lots of greens into your daily diet is. I see it over and over again where people are struggling and by upping their greens they balance out and feel much better.

One reason for this is the afore mentioned, that many of us are already mineral deficient, and the other is that any type of cleansing diet (the raw food diet being a major cleanser) will require more minerals to deal with the acid wastes being flushed out in the cleansing process, and just as important, require the full spectrum of vitamins and minerals for rebuilding a healthy strong vibrant body, mind, and emotional matrix.

I think almost everyone could benefit from adding some super green foods into their diet and as the statistics show maybe supplementing with B12 and Vitamin D as well. In the case of the vitamins you may want to have some testing done to see where your current levels are before adding these to your diet. Listed below are a few labs that will test for a multitude of nutrients and issues, and of course many naturopaths and forward thinking M.D.’s provide testing as well.

http://www.genovadiagnostics.com/

http://caprofile.net/

http://www.directlabs.com/

http://www.metametrix.com/

There are those that believe we can get all our nutritional needs met by following a natural raw food diet. They cite man’s history not only living and surviving, but thriving on raw foods for eons. And there may be those today who can emulate that model, but I feel for most of us living in this modern day world separated from our natural environment and its roots, that supplementation may be necessary at the very least to rebuild to a level of health where we are past deficient, and have adequate reserves built up so that our natural food choices provide all that we need to be healthy and happy.

So no matter what your thoughts are on the subject getting tested couldn’t hurt and would actually be quite a useful diagnostic tool for benchmarking where you are today. I as well as a number of leaders in the raw food community believe that occasional testing is a great way to be pro active and stay ahead of the curve in maintaining great health. It’s great to have a reference point to look back on later and see how your personal markers have changed as your health has improved.

My personal preference would be to glean all my nutrition from the fresh raw food that I consume, but at this point in my journey I still feel some supplementation is important for me to remain healthy and thrive. Since my personal goal is to enjoy vibrant health, I choose to supplement if needed rather than to be hung up on any dogma about what is truly a natural way of eating. I hope my perspective has helped you move forward in discovering what is right for you and your situation.

Be Well and Wonderful, Hugh

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Veggie Tips for Healthy Living

Celery – Celery stalks that are thick, stout and succulent are less likely to be stringy. When celery is too green, it tends to be bitter, when too white, the nutrient value is low. Try to pick stalks that are in between. Celery should be kept in the fridge in a container that prevents direct exposure to air. If stored correctly it will last for several weeks. And if you have salt cravings try incorporating more celery into your diet.

Broccoli – When picking broccoli, the greener the better. Yellow indicates maturity and being past prime. The heads should be wide with buds that are tight and firm (not rubbery). The stalks should also be dark green. The leaves of the broccoli plant may be eaten and are nutritious. Stems can be peeled and eaten raw, diced in salads or added to smoothies. Cruciferous vegetables of which broccoli is one are known for their cancer fighting properties.

Tomatoes – A good tomato is usually deep red with thin skin. The stem is well-indented and the tomato well proportioned. When buying tomatoes out of season, usually cherry tomato or Roma (Italian) tomatoes are the most flavorful. Out of season tomatoes are picked green so they can ship from a warm growing climate and don’t bruise or rot on their way to market. Once in the states they are gassed to give them a red color, and as you’ve noticed sometimes it’s more orange than red. They might look like a ripe tomato, but one bite and the drab taste tells you they’re not.

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“Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority.” ~Thomas Huxley

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If you're enjoying this newsletter please share it with a friend....you never know, they might find the one thing that brings their life into balance and allows them to experience true health and harmony. :-)

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If you would like to share one of your favorite original raw food recipes please send one in and we'll post it in the next newsletter. I value your opinion so please feel free to send your comments or questions to hugh@raw-foods-diet-center.com

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Be Well and Wonderful, Hugh

https://www.raw-foods-diet-center.com/

hugh@raw-foods-diet-center.com

MEDICAL DISCLAIMER

The contents of my website and my newsletter are gleaned from my experiences and observations, meant only for educational purposes and not intended to replace medical advice, consultations, or treatment of any kind. I recommend you see your professional health care provider if you suspect you have an illness or disease of any kind. I’m not medically trained, and I would never suggest or imply that I know what is best for someone else’s body or overall health, ultimately each of us is the only one who knows what’s best for us.

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