David Wolfe in town

So, Anna gave me a ticket to this event as a graduation present (although I haven't yet officially graduated). Off we went and it was simply super great. Not only Mr Wolf (whose middle name btw apparently is Avocado..), but also all the people present made the energy feel like a party full of happiness. It was fun and new and cool, and I learned a lot and got inspired to implement it all into my life. The whole point is really to activate the genius you already are, through eating the most amazing things on the planet and living the best way possible.

Here are some key points that found their way to my notebook during the course of the evening:

- Shoes disconnect us from the earth and therefore from the earth's life force, and as such walking bare footed in nature is the best way of grounding yourself and becoming re-connected.

- Growing stuff in your back garden (or wherever) connects you with the earth too.

- If you don't want to eat fish, eat what the fish eat, i.e plankton, to get all the great fishy nutrients you need.

- There are 3 types of Omega 3 oils which are all vital for our well-being: ALA (alpha-linolenic acid), EPA (epicosapentaeonic acid) and DHA (docosaheaenoic acid). ALA is found in chia-, flax-, and hemp seeds, and EPA and DHA in fish or fish food (algae, micro-plankton). These fats can be mixed with wild berries and raw chocolate to create a super source of nutrition. If omega 3s are mixed with saturated fat (such as coconut oil), the absorption is doubled.

- Mushrooms are great. They're the only biological organism that can survive the vacuum of outer space, and the whole atmosphere of our planet is covered in mushroom spores. The reishi mushroom is very nutritious, as is our very own chaga (=pakurikääpä) (which I'm drinking right now for breakfast). Chaga has been shown to prevent and heal cancer, amongst numerous other illnesses, and has been used in the northern hemisphere as a medicine for ages. Vitamin C makes mushrooms 3 times more powerful. A tip: pick rosehips in late summer, dry them in the sun or a drier, ground them to powder in a mortar, and use as vitamin C powder throughout the winter.

- Horsetail (=peltokorte=åkerfräken) is a great herb full of medicinal properties, that can be mixed with chaga tea for example, and is found growing everywhere around you.

- Chocolate (cacao) trees can be grown inside our houses, and are great house plants (I want one now).

- The only thing that should be imported to any place is cacao. We have everything else we need where we are born, such as berries and mushrooms.

- Be aware of your metabolism limits: use the trial and success method.

- People need different nutritional ratios: protein-fats-carbohydrates, found out yours (through the t&s method) and eat according to it.

- Stable blood sugar activates your genius and produces energy, while too much sugar makes you cuckoo.

- Trouble with digestion and absorption is linked with kidney problems, which is linked with low yin (life force) in Chinese medicine, which might all be linked with having a judgement about diet, such as being a vegan. Some people need animal fat (I personally think it's those people with blood group O). If you notice you have low yin but don't want to kill animals, eat butter or ghee (purified butter).

- Low hormone production means bad bones. It is not natural to get bad bones when you're middle-aged, this can be prevented. The best way is by grounding yourself. If oestrogen dominates progesterone in women it creates problems. This happens for example if you eat soy or ddt/dde. ----> ground yourself.

- For cleansing yourself of bad hormones and all the rest of the toxins absorbed from this crazy world, go to the sauna, eat raw food, drink raw juices, eat oils (because toxins are oil-soluble and are absorbed into us through oils, and therefore also come out of us through oils), and once again: ground yourself.

- All diseases - all limitations - are psychosomatic. It doesn't matter who taught them to you or from where you got them or the ideas of them, they are only created through the mind and are not real and you can rid yourself of them all.

And finally: my name is Emma and I'm a genius.




Emma

The cacao bean and all its friends

When I started doing research on the next of the superfoods that we are going to talk about, the cacao bean, I was saddened to find a lot of negative information about it online. I hope that this is all some misunderstanding, as raw organic cacao, as beans, powder, nibs or whatever, is most definitely a superfood. It apparently contains the most antioxidants to be found in any food, and is especially good for the brain. Cacao beans were used as money in Latin America up until about 130 years ago, which has to say something about how wonderful it is. It has also been used as nutrition for thousands of years, so I really don't think it is unhealthy, or not good for you. A common misunderstanding is that cacao has a high amount of caffeine, which is not true. It only holds about 1/20th of the caffeine amount of coffee.

Sadly, the quite disgusting toxic milk chocolate bars you find in any supermarket, have pretty much nothing to do with this wonderful plant. You find raw cacao in different forms, which you can use for different purposes. It has a quite bitter taste, so it may take some getting used to. The different forms of raw cacao are:
whole cacao beans
cacao nibs
cacao powder
cacao paste (simply cacao ground to a paste)
cacao butter (cold pressed fat from the beans)
I probably use cacao nibs the most, which I mix in with my muesli and eat with soy milk. Another easy to use cacao derivative is raw cacao powder, which you need to make raw chocolate (yum!) and other desserts and smoothies. Basically, there are hundreds of recipes featuring cacao in differnet forms out there, so just go crazy and try some! I will definitely try to incoporate it more in my daily diet.

Anna

Coconut oil

Ok, we decided to do the superfood thing together. We've divided them between us and we'll do one at a time. Of course there are loads of superfoods, but we'll talk about the ones we use and know about. I'll start with coconut oil today because I just bought a new jar of it.

So coconut oil might not sound very superfoody if your experience of coconut is the bounty bar. The coconut I'm talking about is organic cold-pressed virgin coconut oil. Firtsly, organic of course means that the coconut tree is grown in pure soil without using chemical pesticides. It is then cold-pressed, as opposed to other oils which are treated in high temperatures resulting in loss of important nutrients. Virgin means that the oil is the result of one pressing, not the left overs of others. So the important thing here is to realise that other coconut fats, that are not cold-pressed or organic, don't have much in common with this superfood. The most important component of coconut oil is lauric acid which makes up 50% of the total mass. Lauric acid is antiviral, antibacterial and antiprotozoal, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal, etc. Basically, you could call it a natural medicine. The uses of this oil are numerous, it can be used both externally and internally. I use it as a moisturiser instead of body lotion, both on my face and body. It's best absorbed on moist skin after a shower, and it smells great. As a food, I use it when I want something sweet but healthy, here's my favourite recipe:


organic virgin coconut oil
organic porridge oats
organic raw cacao powder (Anna will discuss that soon)
organic sweetener (palm sugar, agave syrup, or honey, we'll get to those later too)
organic crushed flax seeds
anything else you want (organic dried fruits, seeds, nuts)


Mix everything up (use the amounts you feel like), put in cups or muffin forms, and keep in the fridge for ca ½ hour.


Coconut oil can also be used as a spread on bread or as a cooking oil, or mixed into yogurt or raw porridge. These are just some of the uses, but I really encourage you to explore the internet for more information about all the health benefits and uses. My favourite brand is Tropicai, which can be bought in many health food and organic shops.


If you didn't watch the documentary yet, please do so and you will understand a lot about this blog. Now I'm going to sleep, I have to wake up for work at 5am tomorrow morning. I'll be back tomorrow, good night!


Emma