Eating out of a can has never appealed to me. Besides the fact that the food inside is dead, it has always seemed just not quite right on some level. Perhaps great if youre stranded in the desert (hopefully with a can opener in your pocket), but for every day living I just dont do it.

I know there has been some talk over the years of aluminium leaching into the foods inside the cans. Whether thats true, I cant say. However, new research is suggesting its the plastic that lines cans these days thats doing the harm.

Dr Fredrick vom Saal, PhD, who is an endocrinologist at the University of Missouri, specialises in studying the effects of bisphenol-A (BPA), the toxic chemical that comes from plastics that wrap just about everything we buy in supermarkets. He says the number one canned food to steer clear of is tomatoes. The following info may well make you re-think your mothers famous spaghetti sauce.

Dr vom Saal says bisphenol-A is a synthetic estrogen that is linked to all sorts of dis-eases from reproductive problems to heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Its the acidity in the tomatoes that reacts with the BPA that causes the chemical to leach into the food. Appetising huh?

Whats the solution? Learning to live like your great grandmother perhaps, and only eating organic food that looks how its supposed to. Freshly picked. Oh and speak to your local grocer about supplying more organic, non-packaged foods. The greater demand, the more supply.

While Im on the subject of stuff to avoid, here are some other foods, as published in a story on Shine.com, that you may want to re-think.

Microwave popcorn ~ Chemicals, including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), in the lining of the bag, are part of a class of compounds that may be linked to infertility in humans. In animal testing, the chemicals cause liver, testicular, and pancreatic cancer. Studies show that microwaving causes the chemicals to vaporize – and migrate into your popcorn.

Non-organic potatoes ~ Root vegetables absorb herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides that wind up in soil. In the case of potatoes theyre treated with fungicides during the growing season, then sprayed with herbicides to kill off the fibrous vines before harvesting. After theyre dug up, the potatoes are treated yet again to prevent them from sprouting.

Conventional apples ~ If fruits held a “most doused in pesticides contest,” apples would win. An increasing number of studies are starting to link a higher body burden of pesticides with Parkinsons disease.

A better way to use cans

A Good Reason to Can the Can by Vegan Girl at www.diaryofavegan.com

Reason and emotion, mind and heart, are the regulators of the bodys response to whole food medicine. It has been demonstrated millions of times and for thousands of years that whole food diets, colonics, mono diets and fasting restore disturbances in metabolism, the immune system, respiratory function and mental outlook.

It is considered that the increasing levels of pollutants, chemicals, and food additives encountered by anyone living in an industrialized society can create a toxic overload in the body which can lead to more than 95% of all human diseases. The human body is designed to be able to clean and repair itself. It is only when it is overwhelmed, that good health goes south and greater Self-Care is called for.

Every moment of the bodys existence, whether in health or disease, is wrapped in and electro-chemical matrice of emotional molecules, generated by the limbic emotional centre of the brain. The neutral circuitry there causes neurosecretors to create actual molecules in response to emotions.

These emotional molecular crystalline structures are an electric chemistry that oscillates in frequencies that match anatomical and physiological structures throughout the body. In this, €˜like is drawn unto itself. Simply stated, the chemistry of the emotion we call “anger”, moves through the body as molecules, then, when we no longer need them, because molecules of calm have replaced their need in the body, they are collected and released by the bladder.

If anger doesnt erupt, or is not released, over time €˜feelings of resentment and hostility can develop and can become persistent. This constant state overwhelms the bladder because negative emotional molecules are going to wreak havoc. It may be as simple as a bladder infection.

If the feelings persist and whole foods – whose electrochemical messages that generate calm emotional feelings to release the stress molecules – are not eaten, the infection could lead to a tumor (for instance) to contain them. Over time and distance this could lead to cancer. Its intriguing to me that our language has even developed phrases that allude to this reality.

We usually say that, “these people love to, piss and moan.” For more of the science behind the creation of emotional molecules, see the discussion on ‘set point energy’ in The White Stone Carillon segment, starting on page 500 of the Farmacist Desk Reference. I think that you’ll find it fascinating. Impulses are the medium of electrical surges that generate and build into emotional states. The seed of all impulse is a feeling generated by neurons in response to an impression made upon our senses bursting for expression into action.

All of the bodys responses are created by emotional molecules of photo-electric biochemistry. For more information about the relationship between human emotional frequency and whole foods, youll find an entire section on Feeding Your Emotions in my Encyclopedia of Wholefood Medicine, the Farmacist Desk Reference (FDR).

__________________________________________________________________________________ Feeding Your Emotions written by Don Tolman. Copyright Don Tolman International 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Don Tolman International publishes the popular P.O.W.E.R. (Pearls of Wisdom, Enlightenment and Results) weekly eZine with over 9,800 subscribers from all over the globe. If you’re ready to discover the wisdom and power of Self-Care and Self-Education and receive FREE tips and EVENT news from Don Tolman International, join our online community today and you’ll immediately be emailed a FREE eBook entitled “WHAT MAKES A BALANCED DIET”. Subscribe to: P.O.W.E.R. now

I recently heard that for the first time three vegan books are in the top 100 books on Amazon. It made me want to share some of my favorite books with you.

Im often asked for book recommendations, and its one of my favorite things to do-match a book to a client or friend in need. Youll notice there’s no fiction on this list of beloved books, because I dont read fiction. Also, most of these books are over twenty years old because I dont read anything contemporary, except those books on veganism. More than not, the authors I read are dead.

Its unusual for me to be reading more than one book at a time (I couldn’t multi-task to save my life) but right now these six are on my nightstand, though I wouldn’t call some of them my favorites.

Eat to Live. Dr. Joel Furhman. Ive only just started to read books on veganism, though Ive been a vegan for three years and a strict vegetarian (no eggs, no milk, no ice cream) for over twenty. The problem is that because I post about veganism, people sort of expect me to know what Im talking about nutritionally, and truth be told, Im not that well-read on the subject.

I just know in my entire being thats in not right to eat animals, and therefore it cannot be healthy. Thats always been good enough for me. I don’t need to be proven that it is so. Lately, however, Ive been more interested in the nutritional benefits, which has always been secondary for me.

Eat to Live is a weight loss book but its really just the most sensible way to eat and be healthy. Dr. Mehmet Oz writes the forward. Check out Dr. Oz on this video that I recently posted.

Becoming Vegan. Brenda Davis. I found this book at my favorite used bookstore Jackson Street Booksellers in Omaha, NE. Very good info for vegan neophytes.

The Red Book. C.G. Jung. (Jung’s never never before published writings.) This is a behemoth. Its daunting. I read one page a week. Seriously. Thats all I can take.

The Shadow of Sirius. W. S. Merwin. Ahhhh, poetry. Recently won the Pulitzer Prize.

Existentialists and Mystics: Writings on Philosophy and Literature. Iris Murdoch. This has been sitting on my shelf for years (again, from Jackson St.) and Ive only just decided to tackle it. Did you see that film about her called Iris? I’m a sucker for fascinating, whip-smart women.

Hypnosis Questions and Answers. (Jackson St. again) Unless youre a hypnotherapist, you would find this dry and boring. Actually, I do. And I’m a hypnotherapist.

And Im always and forever reading A Course in Miracles, which is my spiritual path.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS

(I’ve linked them all to Amazon, though you can be sure I get no kickback.)

VEGANISM (See those above as well.)

Eating Animals. Jonathan Safron Foer. Everyone seems to be reading this right now.

Diet for a New America. John Robbins. Classic. Of the Baskin-Robbins fame.

Skinny Bitch. Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. The language can be a bit vulgar sometimes. (Hence, the title.) But I don’t mind. They’re right on.

Quantum Wellness. Kathy Freston. She puts it nicer.

The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World. John Robbins and Dr. Dean Ornish. Enough said in the subtitle.

The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight-Loss and Long-term Health. T. Colin Campbell. For the dedicated reader.

PHILOSOPHY

The World as Will and Representation. Arthur Schopenhauer. My favorite philosopher. I read this book about fifteen years ago and FELL IN LOVE. i adore this man and wish I knew him. Too bad he died in 1860.

The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World’s Greatest Philosophers. Will Durant. Such an enjoyable read.

The Portable Nietzsche. Friedrich Nietzsche and Walter Kaufman. Nietzsche inspires me like no other.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Friedrich Nietzsche. I can’t believe someone wrote this. No wonder he lost his mind.

PSYCHOLOGY

Freud: The Man and the Cause. Ronald W. Clark. There are about five Freud fans left in the world and I am one of them. I will go down fighting that he was one of the most important persons to grace this world.

The Portable Jung. C.G. Jung and Joseph Campbell. Worthwhile.

Toxic Psychiatry. Peter Breggin. An education. Anyone on anti-depressants should read this book.

EASTERN THOUGHT

Autobiography of a Yogi. Paramahansa Yogananda. Classic spiritual literature. Completely transformational.

I am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. Wow. Mind-expanding.

Gandhi An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth. Gandhi. Made me want to be a better human being.

Think on These Things. J. Krishnamurti. Absorbing and helpful.

SCIENCE

Holographic Universe. Michael Talbot. Very interesting stuff here. The whole is in the smallest part. I see things differently now.

Taking the Quantum Leap. Fred Alan Wolf. Physics for the non-physicist.

Tao of Physics. Fritjof Capra. Ditto.

METAPHYSICS/SPIRITUALITY/OTHER

Seth Speaks. (Any and all Seth books.) Jane Roberts. My first spiritual teacher. Nothing would ever be the same when I read this at fifteen years old.

Emmanuels Book: A Guide for Living Comfortably in the Cosmos. (And II, III) Pat Rodegast. Immensely enjoyable and comforting books. I come back to these again and again.

Living with Joy. (All of the “Earth-life Mastery Series” books. There are five others.) Sanaya Roman and Duane Packer. The book I most recommend to clients. It’s probably the most self-helpish book on the list, but not. Easy reading and helpful exercises.

Many Lives, Many Masters. Brian L. Weiss. Second most recommended book to clients. Deals with hypnosis and reincarnation.

The Essential Edgar Cayce. Mark Thurston. How does one begin to describe Edgar Cayce? Except to say that he should be required reading.

The Story of Edgar Cayce: There is a River. Thomas Sugrue. An engaging life. He ushered in the idea of holistic medicine and what we consider “New Age.” There, I just described him.

Love, Medicine, and Miracles. Dr. Bernie Siegel. I recommend this to clients who are dealing with disease.

You Can Heal Your Life. Louise L. Hay. Just good commonsense to me.

The New Astrology. Suzanne White. My favorite astrology book.

Last Words: The Final Journals of William S. Burroughs. William S. Burroughs. Mystic, philosopher, revolutionary. I know he’s a little off-topic, but my list would be incomplete without him.

There you have it. I’m sure I will continually update this list.

Please let me know your favorite books. And if you read any of these, or have read them, I would love to hear your thoughts.

Reading is not only one of the most important things in life, it is also one of life’s great pleasures.

Happy Reading!

Book recommendations by Cynthia Morgan

What effects do fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides used on residential lawns or on farms have on nearby water bodies like rivers, streams-or even the ocean for those of us who live near the shore? — Linda Reddington, Manahawkin, NJ

With the advent of the so-called Green Revolution in the second half of the 20th century-when farmers began to use technological advances to boost yields-synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides became commonplace around the world not only on farms, but in backyard gardens and on front lawns as well.

These chemicals, many of which were developed in the lab and are petroleum-based, have allowed farmers and gardeners of every stripe to exercise greater control over the plants they want to grow by enriching the immediate environment and warding off pests. But such benefits havent come without environmental costs-namely the wholesale pollution of most of our streams, rivers, ponds, lakes and even coastal areas, as these synthetic chemicals run-off into the nearby waterways.

When the excess nutrients from all the fertilizer we use runs off into our waterways, they cause algae blooms sometimes big enough to make waterways impassable. When the algae die, they sink to the bottom and decompose in a process that removes oxygen from the water. Fish and other aquatic species cant survive in these so-called “dead zones” and so they die or move on to greener underwater pastures.

A related issue is the poisoning of aquatic life. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Americans alone churn through 75 million pounds of pesticides each year to keep the bugs off their peapods and petunias. When those chemicals get into waterways, fish ingest them and become diseased. Humans who eat diseased fish can themselves become ill, completing the circle wrought by pollution.

A 2007 study of pollution in rivers around Portland, Oregon found that wild salmon there are swimming around with dozens of synthetic chemicals in their systems. Another recent study from Indiana found that a variety of corn genetically engineered to produce the insecticide Bt is having toxic effects on non-target aquatic insects, including caddis flies, a major food source for fish and frogs.

The solution, of course, is to go organic, both at home and on the farm. According to the Organic Trade Association, organic farmers and gardeners use composted manure and other natural materials, as well as crop rotation, to help improve soil fertility, rather than synthetic fertilizers that can result in an overabundance of nutrients. As a result, these practices protect ground water supplies and avoid runoff of chemicals that can cause dead zones and poisoned aquatic life.

There is now a large variety of organic fertilizer available commercially, as well as many ways to keep pests at bay without resorting to harsh synthetic chemicals. A wealth of information on growing greener can be found online: Check out OrganicGardeningGuru.com and the U.S. Department of Agricultures Alternative Farming System Information Center, for starters. Those interested in face-to-face advice should consult with a master gardener at a local nursery that specializes in organic gardening.

CONTACTS: CDC, www.cdc.gov; Organic Gardening Guru, www.organicgardeningguru.com; USDAs Alternative Farming System Information Center, www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/ofp/ofp.shtml.

I heard something about a swine flu the other day. And whats this about a recession?

Sure, I have a television just like most, but Im very selective about what I watch. If a program doesnt lift my spirits, positively educate me in some way or give me a good belly laugh, then Id prefer the remote to stay tucked under a cushion somewhere, along with the loose change, thank you very much.

Mainstream news websites have lost my interest too, thanks to their incessant reporting on war, crime, manufactured diseases and the like.

So why is it many of us glue ourselves to the six oclock news for our daily fix of depression and fear? Is it that weve become so hypnotized that we no longer realize what were actually doing?

Jamie Masada, founder of the world-famous Laugh Factory in Los Angeles, thinks so.

“The problem is with every news you see its €˜so and so got shot, police killed somebody, somebody killed police,” he says. “I one day want to do a Laugh Factory channel and make all of the news fun. Lets give people good news!”

“You see people going out of their houses, theyve got to wait in the traffic, then they go to the bank and line up or the post office and line up for a long time, then they go to work, then they want lunch they have to stand in line for half an hour … they waste their life. They go to the airport; they have to go two or three hours early to go through security. These things all cause people a lot of stress.”

If youre not ready to part with your remote or the Sunday paper, theres something you can do instantly to improve your emotional wellbeing, says the comedy king who works closely with comedic favorites including George Lopez, Bob Saget, Damon Wayans, Chris Tucker, Adam Sandler, Roseanne, Paul Rodriguez, Jamie Foxx, Richard Pryor, Jim Carrey, Chris Rock and Rodney Dangerfield.

“Laughter is the best medicine. It really is,” he says. “The government should open clubs like The Laugh Factory all over the country to help people forget about this recession.”

Jamies not the only one who is getting the word out about the benefits of a good giggle. Oprah also promotes laughter as medicinal and good for the soul. She recently featured a story about “laughter yoga”, a complete wellbeing workout and daily exercise routine that combines unconditional laughter with yogic breathing.

Its founder Dr. Madan Kataria, who also hosts laughter vacations, caught comedian John Cleeses attention for his documentary thats focuses on the healing power of laughter. Dr Kataria started the first Laughter Yoga club in a Mumbai park in 1995, with just five people. It seems laughter not only good for you, but contagious.

Dr Norman Cousins, whom Masada worked with often, was well known for incorporating laughter into the life of his patients and his own to overcome disease and illness. He developed a recovery program incorporating megadoses of Vitamin C, along with a positive attitude, love, faith, hope, and laughter (helped by watching Marx Brothers films).

Cousins was quoted as saying: “I made the joyous discovery that 10 minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anaesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep. When the pain-killing effect of the laughter wore off, we would switch on the motion picture projector again and not infrequently, it would lead to another pain-free interval.”

Masada remembers Cousins’ unorthodox approach to recovery well.

“He used to bring a lot of cancer patients in here and we would make them all laugh,” he says. “He had research going on, showing how much laughter makes endorphins in your body and make people think that they can be cured.”

So strong is his belief that laughter is essential to wellbeing, Masada has dedicated his life to bringing humor to the young and old, through free comedy nights and camps for children. Each Thanksgiving and Christmas the Laugh Factory hosts free dinners for struggling artists and the homeless. Masada also started Comedy Camp in 1984, which has helped over 800 underprivileged children in the Los Angeles area learn the ropes of stand-up with the help of volunteer instructors such as Ellen DeGeneres, the Wayans Brothers, and Chris Rock. For his work with underprivileged kids, he received the NAACP Freedom Award in 2003, and in 2006 was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

“I bring a bunch of old people in to watch the show for an hour and a half, two hours. When they walk in you can see their faces, they look like they are really miserable, they dont want to be there. But as soon as they sit down and spend an hour and a half, two hours laughing you see man and woman holding each others arms, smiling at each other. That makes my day.”

Head to www.laughfactory.com/content/Petition.html to sign a petition that will help take The Laugh Factory on tour and bring laughter to the masses.

Forget how to do it? Learn to live on the lighter side of life, courtesy of our friends at helpguide.org

Laughter relaxes the whole body. A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after.

Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.

Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the bodys natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.

Laughter protects the heart. Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.

Laughter dissolves distressing emotions. You cant feel anxious, angry, or sad when youre laughing.

Laughter helps you relax and recharge. It reduces stress and increases energy, enabling you to stay focused and accomplish more.

Humor shifts perspective, allowing you to see situations in a more realistic, less threatening light. A humorous perspective creates psychological distance, which can help you avoid feeling overwhelmed.

Be more spontaneous. Humor gets you out of your head and away from your troubles.

Let go of defensiveness. Laughter helps you forget judgments, criticisms, and doubts.
Release inhibitions. Your fear of holding back and holding on are set aside.

Express your true feelings. Deeply felt emotions are allowed to rise to the surface.

Smile. Smiling is the beginning of laughter. Like laughter, its contagious. Pioneers in “laugh therapy,” find its possible to laugh without even experiencing a funny event. The same holds for smiling. When you look at someone or see something even mildly pleasing, practice smiling.

Count your blessings. Literally make a list. The simple act of considering the good things in your life will distance you from negative thoughts that are a barrier to humor and laughter. When in a state of sadness, we have further to travel to get to humor and laughter.

When you hear laughter, move toward it. Sometimes humor and laughter are private, a shared joke among a small group, but usually not. More often, people are very happy to share something funny because it gives them an opportunity to laugh again and feed off the humor you find in it. When you hear laughter, seek it out and ask, “Whats funny?”

Spend time with fun, playful people. These are people who laugh easily-both at themselves and at lifes absurdities-and who routinely find the humor in everyday events. Their playful point of view and laughter are contagious.

Bring humor into conversations. Ask people, “Whats the funniest thing that happened to you today? This week? In your life?”

Laugh at yourself. Share your embarrassing moments. The best way to take ourselves less seriously is talk about times when we took ourselves too seriously.

Attempt to laugh at situations rather than bemoan them. Look for the humor in a bad situation, the irony and absurdity of life. This will help improve your mood and the mood of those around you.

Surround yourself with reminders to lighten up. Keep a toy on your desk or in your car. Put up a funny poster in your office. Choose a computer screensaver that makes you laugh. Frame photos of you and your family or friends having fun.

Keep things in perspective. Many things in life are beyond our control-particularly the behavior of other people. While you might think taking the weight of the world on your shoulders is admirable, in the long run its unrealistic, unproductive, unhealthy, and even egotistical.

Deal with your stress. Stress is a major impediment to humor and laughter.

Pay attention to children and emulate them. They are the experts on playing, taking life lightly, and laughing.

Main photo: Ciaran McGuiggan, Flickr Creative Commons

Did you know that companies can put just about any ingredient they like into beauty and personal care products? Alarmingly, in the US, the government doesn’t require safety tests before these items hit the department store shelves.

Considering your skin is your body’s biggest organ, there’s something very wrong with this careless (and deadly) practice carried out by many manufacturers that make up the multi-billion dollar beauty industry. Just as the skin absorbs nutrients, it is also a sponge for toxins-including chemical-laden beauty creams, serums, scrubs sprays, body washes and the like.

With glamorous packaging and promises of younger looking skin in five minutes, it’s little wonder many of us have these toxic chemicals lurking in designer bottles in our bathrooms. But how do you know what ingredients are harmful?

The Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep website pairs ingredients in more than 42,000 products against 50 definitive toxicity and regulatory databases, making it the largest integrated data resource of its kind. You can literally enter an ingredient and the Skin Deep database will return a hazard score, specifically relating to how likely it is to cause cancer and other serious dis-eases.

If it all gets too confusing, considering the sheer amount of ingredients in any one product, a good rule of thumb is, if you can’t eat it, don’t use it.

Swine flu has created mass hysteria. Schools are closing, hand sanitizer sales are rising, and people are in a state of panic. But according to CNN, the hysteria is the real danger.

“Swine flu most likely wont kill you, but stress will,” says internationally acclaimed stress expert Dr. Kathleen Hall. “Stress lowers the immune system, so, stressing over the swine flu can actually make you more susceptible to it,” says Dr. Hall, founder and CEO of The Stress Institute and a frequent contributor to national media outlets including CNN, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal.

Stress also increases the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity and accelerates aging.

Dr Hall’s self-care tips (below) are a good way to start getting your immune system in shape and keep you healthy for the long term:

S = Serenity. Listen to music, laugh, repeat a positive affirmation or do a short meditation.
E = Exercise. Take a walk, ride your bike, dance, practice yoga or play.
L = Love. Maintain close relationships with friends and family members. Even an e-mail to a friend once a day can help along with eating lunch with a friend or coworker regularly.
F = Food. Nourish the body with healthy foods and nutrients like foods rich in B6, blueberries and omega 3s, all which help reduce stress and create balance.

A new film that follows six diabetics, shows beating the disease starts with what you put in your mouth.

Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days follows the remarkable journeys of six diabetics (Type 1 and 2) for 30 days as they take a raw food challenge to reverse their disease naturally without prescription drugs by eating only organic, vegan, uncooked, raw foods-despite the American Medical Associations claim that “Diabetes is a chronic disease that has no cure.”

Their physiological and emotional transformations are powerful to watch, as each changes their diet and goes off insulin, within a matter of days. The documentary was set at The Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Arizona founded by Gabriel Cousens, M.D

“One of the most potent, pandemic diseases is Type 2 diabetes affecting 246 million people worldwide. We need to wake up to the possibility that simply changing our diet can significantly reverse and even cure this disease. The results of the participants in this documentary offer evidence of that,” says Dr. Cousens.

The Simply Raw film has inspired a movement www.rdnmovement.com to bring together people to reverse diabetes naturally through the spreading of educational resources on nutrition such as the Simply Raw film and “The Ultimate Encyclopedia of the Raw Food Lifestyle”.

Buy the DVD at www.simplyrawmovie.com or at www.amazon.com. See the trailer below:

Getting Ready for Raw

Preparing delicious raw food at home is easy once you have the tools. The first thing to check off your list? the Excalibur dehydrator, a raw food industry favorite.

The more energy you put into food preparation, the more energy you receive when you eat it. Foods in their natural state (raw) are packed with energy and enzymes, drawn from healthy soil and the sun. Cooking and mass producing foods kills any life-enhancing properties that are essential to optimal human function. Put simply, eating dead foods creates death; while eating live foods creates life.

Preparing life enhancing raw food is made easy (and fun) with an Excalibur dehydrator (pictured below)-a health industry favorite thanks to its ease of use, high quality and 26-hour timer. The Dove loves the nine-tray model, so the raw snacks never run out. For further information about Excalibur see excaliburdehydrator.com

The Green Dove is a huge fan of The Raw Chef. Head to the site for delicious, healthy recipes, such as the buckwheat bread (below).

“After discovering raw food and the benefits it can have on my health and the way I look and feel, my immediate desire was to bring it to as many people as possible,” The Raw Chef says. “I also have a desire to provide food and recipes that really showcase raw food and all the amazing textures and flavours that can be created. It really is the ultimate way of eating dairy free, gluten free, no refined sugars or salts and list goes on…”

Buckwheat Bread

Ingredients
o 1/2c olive oil
o 1 1/2c sun dried tomatoes
o 3c sprouted buckwheat (2 1/2c when dry & unsprouted)
o 1 1/2c flax meal*
o 3 1/2c peeled courgette
o roughly chopped
o 2c apple
o cored and roughly chopped
o 3T lemon juice
o 2 avocados
o 1 large onion
o 1/2c minced parsley

*Flax meal is simply flax seed (also known as linseed) ground in a high-speed blender or coffee grinder.

- Process the olive oil, sun dried toms, sprouted buckwheat, courgette, apple, lemon juice, avocados, onion and herbs until thoroughly mixed.

- Transfer to a large bowl and mix with the flax meal by hand. The reason you do this separately (not in the processor) is that you are likely to have too much mixture for the size if the processor at this point, and when you add the flax meal it will become quite heavy and sticky and overwork your machine.

- When mixed, process the whole batter in the machine again, but in small batches to achieve a light fluffy texture.

- Divide the mixture in half and place on Paraflexx sheets on dehydrator trays.

- Use a spatula to spread the mixture evenly to all 4 sides and corners of the Paraflexx sheet. If mixture is too sticky you can wet the spatula to make things easier. With a knife score the whole thing into 9 squares.

- Dehydrate for 2 hours and then remove the Paraflexx sheets by placing another dehydrator tray and mesh on top and invert so that your original sheet of bread is upside down. That will allow you to peel the Paralexx sheet off and continue to dehydrate the underside of the bread.

- Dehydrate for approx 8 hours more (do this overnight so youre not tempted to eat it before its ready) or until bread feels light in your hand. If the pieces dont fully come apart where you scored, use a knife to cut them.