Another aspect of health that we address at the Embracing Life! Retreat, is that of lowering the body burden of chemicals that we use every day in our personal care and cleaning products.

Most brands of these products are made with synthetic chemicals that can be absorbed into our body and added to the toxins we ingest and breathe in every day.  The interaction between these various chemicals is largely unknown and we put our health at risk unnecessarily when we fail to make alternative choices.

Luckily there is a growing number of companies that do produce quality organic, chemical free products - and rather than support just one and align myself with a single company - I believe that people should have choices and they will settle with the products and companies that suit them best.

At the retreat I gave out brochures and samples from a few of my favourite suppliers:

Miessence- have a large range of skin care, hair care, make-up, cleaning and health products that are very good quality and chemical free.  You can join the company to receive wholesale discounts if you are purchasing products regularly.  Click on the link and go to the tab “Earn Income” and “Join Now”.

Nancy Evans Rosehip Skincare - Nancy Evans has some lovely skin care products and has some great make-up as well.  I love her lipsticks and wear them all the time.

Everescents- an organic hair care company that has salon quality hair care products that are organic!  If you are anything like me you have probably tried 20 different natural hair care products and haven’t been happy with any of them.  I can highly recommend Everescents products - and Julia the general manager of the company has even sent me some giveaway bottles of their product for my next retreat!  Gotta love that!

Ann Wigmore was a pioneer of the raw and living foods movement, and helped thousands of people regain their health with the Hippocrates Health Institute program which she founded.

I was rereading one of her books today “Be Your Own Doctor. A positive guide to natural living” and I came across these gems of wisdom:

“Disease stems from deficiencies and a lack of understanding of Mother Nature’s laws of health, plus the unwillingness to accept the obligation to keep the precious temple – the body – in order. This is accomplished by keeping it clean and well-nourished. And, of course, providing necessary aids such as rest, relaxation, positive thinking and plenty of exercise through hard work.”

“We fail to learn how to think for ourselves and to take care of our bodies properly by asking for the guidance which is always there for us to utilize instantly and which will amply provide for our individual needs. Our bodies definitely let us know whether or not we are treating them right or wrong.”

“Since most health problems result from deficiencies, the vital need is nourishment and that nourishment has to be unprocessed and uncooked, and in addition grown in organic earth.”

“We know that no known disease can penetrate the strength of a healthy body. A low protein, low starch, low fat and high enzyme, high vitamin, highly alkaline and high mineral diet is the key.  Anyone can restore health by way of detoxification and rebuilding healthy cells so that the body can heal itself.  Sickness is only a failure to understand the balance of the body, mind, and spirit, which creates well-being.”

“Hippocrates theorized that it was necessary to first remove the cause of bodily upset and then to provide Nature with the proper tools to repair the damage. These tools included a semi-fast to cleanse the bloodstream, food to bring live nourishment to the cells, moist heat and massage to relax the muscles, clean air to bring oxygen to the lungs, exercise to stimulate the circulation, fresh water to lubricate the body tissues, and dismissal of all fear to permit real relaxation.”

Ann Wigmore wrote several books on health and healing, and they are full of genuine, down to earth information that is of benefit to anyone looking at incorporating more raw foods into their diet. 

The Raw food lifestyle has become very “trendy” and Ann’s books certainly don’t fit in that category - but if you are after the real deal, then you can’t go past this legend of the greens!

If anyone nutritionally minded has ever had an argument with someone over whether organic produce is healthier than conventional supermarket fruit and veggies - then all you need to do is stop arguing and just send them to this site: http://www.ota.com/organic/benefits/nutrition.html

The website states “Growing crops in healthy soils results in food products that offer healthy nutrients.

There is mounting evidence that organically grown fruits, vegetables and grains may offer more of some nutrients, including vitamin C, iron, magnesium and phosphorus, and less exposure to nitrates and pesticide residues than their counterparts grown using synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.”

The site then goes on to summarise the results of numerous studies comparing the nutrient content of conventionally grown and organic produce. 

Needless to say there is plenty of evidence out there that will convince even the most ardent non-believer that organic IS better!

One thing that I like to remind people of, is that they wield enormous power with the choices they make in how to spend their hard earned dollars.  If we want to see a change in our world, then we need to vote with our money, as to what industries we want to support and those we would rather not.

It’s not enough to sit and complain about industrialised meat processing, crop farming that uses pesticides, processed foods, the pharmaceutical industry etc – and then support those industries by purchasing their products.  If there is no demand then eventually the supply will die out.

Charles Eisenstein in his book The Yoga of Eating explains this very well:

“For example, suppose you eat a banana from a South American plantation, located on destroyed rain forest land wrested violently from indigenous tribes, who now labor at the plantation at starvation wages, using pesticides that pollute the ecosystem, shipped thousands of miles using polluting oil-fueled ships, by a company that puts small independent growers out of business through corrupt practices.  By eating that banana, you ever so slightly reinforce this state of affairs, and make it part of your reality and your experience. You are saying yes to such a world.

Or suppose you eat chicken from a battery-raised hen, who suffered her whole life in a tiny, crowded, filthy cage, pumped full of hormones and antibiotics, painfully debeaked to prevent her from wounding her cellmates in her extreme stress… raised, basically, in Hell.  Each time you eat such a chicken, you affirm the hellish suffering that brought it to you.”

Awareness of the choices we make on a day to day basis can have a profound impact on the world.  We think that our individual choices are not enough to create change – but they are – because if everyone made choices to support local organic and ethical industries – we would see a change.

What industries do your dollars support?

Not long ago I wrote about seven important words on health that author Michael Pollan had to say, namely “Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants”.  A statement that seems too simple to be as profound as it actually is.  A suggestion, that, if it was adopted by more people, would have far reaching positive consequences for both their health and for society.

Another simple group of words that are also a call to a healthier way of eating, come from Dr. Douglas Graham who is the author of a wonderful book called 80/10/10.  He is a raw vegan advocate, but even if people are not willing to take their diet to that stage completely, integrating a lot of his ideas makes plenty of sense.  The six words that he uses in regard to optimal food are: whole, fresh, raw, ripe, organic, plants.

In an interview he did with Raw Summit, (http://www.rawsummitarchives.com/), Dr. Graham  explained in more detail:

“The trick, I think, in good nutrition is to learn from decent pieces of information that are congruent, and to not lose track of them as we get excited about the next. And so, the concept of whole food is one we can all agree on, as is the concept of organic, as is the concept of raw or fresh or ripe. But what we’d find is that some people can all turn out of shape about organic and some people go crazy over raw. Some people just think that whole food is the biggest thing there is. And rather than saying, you know what? These are essentially the basic parameters that help us to determine the nutritional quality of the food on our plate, whole fresh, ripe raw, organic plants.

If we take those six parameters, you can look at your grandmother’s diet, you can look at your neighbors or your best friend’s diet and say, “You know what, if you would just increase the percentage of whole foods on your plate it would be a step in the right direction. If you would just eat more organic, you will be a step in the right direction or more raw, or more ripe, or more fresh, or more plant”.

You know, its better if there is more plants and fewer animals. That would be a better combination. You can evaluate the nutritional quality of anyone’s diet just using those six friendly words that would get people to shake their heads up and down because they can see it too, rather than getting all caught up in the depths of science that can easily be over your head. It can easily turn into an argument or sense of judgment. Really, our best leadership skills are in setting the example, but if you want to talk to somebody or evaluate the qualities of food on your own plate, let us just look at those six words and then, if you want to improve it, simply increase the percentage of whole fresh, ripe, raw, organic plants. Because we know that these are the most nutritious foods”.

Excellent advice!