CANDIDA!

Oh my goodness! Having candida is a very painful experience, especially if it has gone systemic. The symptoms are too numerous to list, and they show up differently in each person. If you are suffering from candida right now, I know how you feel, and I can help you become successful on your healing journey.

I suffered for many years and sought out the help of many natural healers and alternative doctors. They didn't know exactly what was going on in my body. They could identify some symptoms but not the root cause. Tests revealed that I had systemic candida. Still the treatments were not helping much. I did many cooked "Candida Diets" on my own, and they helped a little. The doctors told me that I would never heal form this and would have to maintain it for the rest of my life. Wow, for me that meant a diet mostly of steamed veggies and millet.

Nine years ago I started my green soup journey and in a week I felt much better, so I continued the soups for six months. Then I introduced the raw and living versions of crackers, pate's, lasagna, burgers, pizza etc. Even though I loved the variety of foods I could eat on a living foods diet, I still felt better on the green soups, and still do.

Healing happens on many levels, and takes time and dedication. I experienced many ups and downs along the way. Fortunately, over the years I figured out a way to make it easier, so you will experience more of the ups.

My coaching programs are designed to make it easy for you to free yourself form the pain of experiencing too many downs, and create a lifestyle that supports abundant health.

Pleas visit www.nourishingelements.com and check out my services~!~

Almond Mayonnaise

Makes 2 cups

1 cup almonds, soaked and peeled
1/2 cup water
1 clove crushed garlic
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey
dash cayenne pepper
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Put all ingredients in the vita mix except olive oil and blend until smooth. Then drizzle the oil very slowly into the vita mix until mixture is creamy.

Celery Papaya Smoothie

1/2 bunch celery
1/4 head cabbage
1 cup sunflower sprouts
1 lemon peeled
1 green apple
1 papaya
1/2 inch peeled fresh ginger root
1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt

Blend and drink~!~

A yummy green soup recipe

Blend ingredients together
1-2 servings

1/4 lemon or to taste
1/2 green apple
1 small red sweet pepper
1/2 bunch parsley
4 kale leaves
1/4 cup hemp seeds
1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt
1 clove garlic
1 to 2 inches of ginger

The Experts Say Eat Raw #2

Here's something to think about. In 1930, American doctor Paul Kouchakoff tested and documented the effects of cooked and processed food versus raw and natural food on the immune system. He found that after eating cooked food, a subject's blood showed an increase in the leukocytes (white blood cell) count. We now call this, "digestive leukocytosis". It is a stress response, and from the standpoint of blood chemistry, it is the same type of reaction as occurs when the body is threatened by an infection or exposure to toxic chemicals.

At the same time that Dr. Kouchakoff was conducting his studies, Swiss researchers at the Institute of Chemical Chemistry discovered that eating raw, uncooked food creates no discernable change in a subject's blood chemistry. However, if food has been heated beyond a certain temperature, or if it was processed, refined, or chemicals were added, a rise in the number of white blood cells occurs immediately. The Swiss resesarchers named this phenomenon "pathological leukocytosis".

In the book "Enzyme Nutrition" (highly recommended), Dr. Edward Howell talks about the 3 types of enzymes: metabolic enzymes, which run our bodies; digestive enzymes, which digest our food; and food enzymes, which come from raw foods and start digestion. According to Dr. Howell, all good health depends on these metabolic enzymes functioning optimally in the body. When food is heated above 118 degrees, it's enzymes are destroyed. In order to compensate for this, the body uses it's own limited supply of metabolic and digestive enzymes. Subsequently, metabolic systems get taxed, and an environment is created in the body which actually supports dis-ease.

The good news is that we can sustain and manage our body's limited supply of enzymes just by eating raw and living foods each day (which is a fun and delicious!) When we sensibly transition to more and more raw and living foods, we begin to feel lighter, stronger, clearer and more capable of adapting to every day stress.

The Experts Say Eat Raw

What do the Experts say about why a raw and living foods life style is important for health?

Over the years I have read many books about the Raw Food Diet. It is overwhelming. I look at the recipes and many of them have dates, bananas, sprouted wheat, corn, agave nectar, raw cacao, heavy on the nuts, poor on the food combining all made into raw versions of pizza, tacos, cheese, pies, cookies, smoothies etc. For someone like me who needed to heal form chronic digestive problems it felt frustrating. I wanted support in healing not indulging. I'm sure that for a lot of people those foods are far better than the cooked versions. Yes, I wanted all those yummy looking gourmet raw food dishes, (and still do sometimes), but when ever I ate them I felt less than well. So I needed to simplify right off the bat. I still eat simply.

David Jubb was one of my first influences on a true healing path. Blended green soups, salads, and some nut and seed pates. Even the dehydrated foods are far from digestible for me. Dr. Gabriel Cousens is another of my favorite teachers. In his books (Conscious Eating and Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine), I found the support I needed to eat the foods that truly supported my healing. The low glycemic recipes I found in his books and the information on how to heal was so helpful. I felt relieved and pleased to have such strait, and clear information.

To be continued on what the experts have to say. I didn't cover much this time. I need a good nights sleep.

The "why" behind life giving foods

Why eat foods uncooked and more importantly foods that are life giving?

For me, it's because I tried many other "DIEts" that did not offer me the life support I needed for healing, so I kept slipping away. My first six months on a LIVEit I made only green soups. Soups that are made with non sweet fruits and green veggies. I loved them, they tasted so smooth and fresh. I felt better in one week then I had in years. Slowly I was able to eat salads and some of the gourmet live foods. I felt so happy because the other "healing DIEts" were time consuming or bland.

After seeing many alternative health practitioners that had no clue how to help me, I felt frustrated and scared because they sent me away saying I was really not that sick, and to eat what ever I want, except raw food. They said "you will not be able to digest it." Well, I did anyway and was able to digest it.

I learned that there is no quick fix when it comes to my healing. It came with many ups and downs over the years, and I'm still healing. When ever I had a healing crises I always came out of it feeling better than I did before. That is how I know this works. Today I feel so much better, and I am going to keep getting better and better everyday. This is how I want you to feel too. Without the trials that I went through.

Now you know a little about my experience. On my next post I'll explain what the experts tells us about raw and living foods, and give you some green soup recipes to try.

I explain more about my experience on my web site.

What is a "Raw Food" diet?

What is a "Raw Food," diet, or to please your mind and senses, Living or Life foods? For me it is a life style that supports life.
Raw foods; are foods that have not been cooked or heated above 118 degrees Fahrenheit, or simply have not been cooked, or sprouted so do not have life force. For example meat and fish that has not been cooked, or seeds and nuts that have not been soaked in water, or sprouted. Living or life foods; still have life force. For example, all fresh fruits, and vegetables, seeds, and nuts that have been soaked or sprouted. There is still a difference between living and life foods. Living foods are fresh fruits and vegetable that have been picked and sent to your local store, this diminishes some of the life force and this happens even more when foods have been dehydrated into yummy treats. Life foods are foods that are still living and are full of life force, like all food that have just been picked off a tree, vine, or plant, and sprouts and or grasses like alfalfa, or wheat grass. Life foods are the most beneficial because they are still living, growing, and ripening, they are the most life supporting or life giving for us to eat. A "Raw Foodist" or a person who eats life giving foods has a variety of ways to prepare these foods, and many paths to chose form. I can support you in understanding and choosing the path that will be the most beneficial, easy, and fun.