How Much Fat is Low Fat

There is a debate about eating fats on a healthy diet. I have been on both sides of this discussion, but here's the thing.  I have done my best healing and weight control when I was eating controlled amounts of healthy fats with no refined fats.

2008-2009 was a time of tremendous healing for me. My diet included nuts and avocado; however, most of the diet was juice, smoothies, fruit, salad, homemade salsa, and a vegetable juice.

Not all avocados have the same fat content.  Avocados that are barely ripe have much less fat than avocados that are extremely ripe and soft.  Try to eat your avocados when they are just ripe enough to eat.

In 2011, I reached my lowest weight in decades while interning at the Clohesy River Health Farm. Our diet there included fats in the form of avocado, coconut, pecans, and sometimes a little nut butter.

At the farm our lunch was 4 or 5 servings of fresh fruit, 1/2 avocado, and 1/4 of a fresh coconut.  Our dinner was a salad made with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and celery, sauerkraut, 1/2 avocado, 3 dates, and about 16 pecan halves. Sometimes there would be a little lemon juice and olive oil for the salad.

I lost weight on that diet, but other contributing factors were that I  also worked on the farm about 3-1/2 hours a day and took a sunbath lying on a tarp on the ground on days when there was sun.

For me, I tend to wear any fats I eat in excess of the type and amount above. I just pack it on.  But when I eat the right carbs and the right fats, my body can use them and I have energy.  I feel good.

You really don't need more fat than that. When people ask you, "Where do you get your protein?", and they will, tell them you get all the protein and fats you need from plants.

A typical lunch at the Clohesy River Health Farm

Our goal is to learn to pack as much nutrition into every bite of food we consume as possible.  The ideal diet consists of everything you need and nothing you don't.  Even though you are not perfect yet, you can do better and better everyday.   If you only did what you already know to do, what a difference that would make.  Don't wait for the next research paper or the next best selling diet book. You can start today to live the simple, natural lifestyle according to hygienic principles. Adopting a more disciplined lifestyle is the best thing you can do to make the world a better place.

You don't need anyone to tell you how to live simply, nor do you need anyone's permission.  You can just go ahead and live that way without apology. Nothing is stopping you from practicing a healthier lifestyle right where you are.  This is the way of wisdom and ethics. Following natural law established by the Creator and nature gives you the best possible chance of living healthier and happier here on earth.

The current diet plan:
Lunch: Fresh coconut; 1/2 avocado; fresh fruit; green smoothie

Dinner: Veggie cocktail; sauerkraut; homemade dressing; rice crackers; 1/2 avocado (can use in the dressing); a few dates or pieces of dried fruit; a small bowl of nuts

If you want to include some cooked food...rolled oats with frozen wild blueberries and a little maple syrup; cooked beans; baked sweet potato or white potato; cooked greens; vegetable soup.  Occasionally a homemade veggie burger made from beans.

I still eat my popcorn.  I air pop it, spray it with Pam spray organic olive oil, and sprinkle it with nutritional yeast.

To health and happiness.


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No More Excuses / Raw Corn Salsa

Travis bought these pretty Vinca's yesterday for our deck.  

 Hygienic principles are not such lofty principles that we must wait until some future time when the majority come to accept them and agree with them.  These principles are for us to use here and now.  You can't wait to change your own lifestyle until "everyone else" agrees.  It is not important what the masses of people believe and want to hear.  When you step up and began to embody the simple, natural lifestyle, it may well encourage someone else.

Even though your circumstances are not perfect, and misinformation abounds, you don't need to feel like you are a prisoner to culture.  I have used that as an excuse before, but no more excuses!! Take responsibility for your own health and lifestyle no matter what most people are doing. Raise the bar for everyone by showing a better way.  We already have access to enough knowledge, if we seek it out, to help us live happier and healthier than before.

Yum, My favorite!!!

It's easy to make ridiculously delicious raw food recipes when you use bases of nuts and seeds, avocados, and salt, but that is not where the real healing is found. The body will heal much better and faster on low fat.

Today was our raw food potluck.  I love this group of people, and the food is delicious, BUT most everyone is bringing something that will appeal to everyone.  It is mostly highly seasoned and loaded in fats.  After the raw food potluck, I always want to go lie down and rest.  So while the raw food potluck is fun, it is not the way I want to eat everyday.  My goal for next month is to find some low fat raw food dishes to share.

Raw foods group.

Here is my favorite dish I served today, and it does qualify as low fat. I made this the night before, except for the tomatoes, and let it sit in the refrigerator.  I added the tomatoes this morning.

Raw Corn Salsa

RAW CORN SALSA
1 package of frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
Juice of 2 limes
1/2 tsp pepper
Diced red onion
1 pint of cherry tomatoes, quartered
A little dried cilantro (or you can use some fresh)
            - Mix all together and serve.


This is a good no fat salad dressing from Tannyraw that you can make in a high speed blender.

MANGO DRESSING
1 carrot
2 stalks celery
2 stalks green onion
1 mango, cut off the seed
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp. of lemon pepper or other spice (opt)
2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes.
       Add a little water if needed for the consistency you want.
       Blend and serve with your salad.

I have a Vitamix blender which I have had for several years. If you can't buy a $500 blender right now, use the blender or food processor you already have.  Start where you are.

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To health and happiness.

Autoimmune Healing

Let's talk about healing autoimmune disorders.  Low fat vegan is the best way to heal any disease.

If your experience is like mine, you grew up eating hot dogs, boxed cereal, grilled cheese sandwiches, and such. In my family, we got Shipley's donuts every Sunday and had Fizzies to drink with our meals.  I loved them, but I don't think they loved me back.   Fizzies Drink

I have detested milk since I was 8 months old, so I dodged that bullet. My mother loved to cook, so we had the pleasure of her wonderful cooking...always with white Wonder Bread as an accompaniment.

Even as a child, my body was reacting to this diet. When I was nine years old, I was in the hospital with something that some called pneumonia and some called consumption.  I was sick for a whole summer and was given massive doses of antibiotics.  My body would erupt with boils which we called risons, and once with a carbuncle on my lip.

During my teen years, I had other dietary issues as my mom struggled to feed us on a waitress salary in our small southern town. During this time, we survived on partly southern cooking, partly Cokes and peanuts, and partly doing without.

But it was as I got older that the accumulation of uneliminated toxins began to manifest as disease. The doctors never gave a name to my symptoms, but they were legion. I had lower back pain and a stiff neck for months.  I could not sleep. I had plantar fasciitis. At various times I would have symptoms of a heart attack, but when I would go to the emergency room my heart was okay. I had a sensation of not being able to swallow. A twitch developed in my eye. My kidney hurt. I had no energy.  I was taking drugs for the symptoms, and I was getting worse every day.

My story turned around in the emergency room one day as I lay there, unable to breathe or swallow.  The doctor was not any help at all.  My daughter had arrived and was sitting with me. I told her, "They don't know". I told the doctor I was better and perhaps the sensation of not being able to swallow was from a medication I was taking. I left the hospital that day and have not been back to the doctor since then for anything other than blood tests.  And that is when I began in earnest to look for alternatives.

One particular night when I felt like my kidney would rupture and I would die, I prayed for wisdom to know what to do.  The answer came in the form of a strong thought the next morning, "Get out your Fit for Life books.  I found both of my books, Fit For Life and Fit For Life II, and began to read. I bought a juicer and changed my diet. I also began looking for a Natural Hygiene practitioner via the internet which led me to Dr. John Fielder, who runs the Clohesy River Health Farm near Cairns, Australia.  I have now studied with Dr. Fielder for several years and have interned at his farm for five months.

I sincerely want to help people. If you have a disease, and you are eating a normal American diet, then going low fat vegan will help you improve.  If you don't get the results you want then you will need to increase the percentage of low fat raw vegan food.  80% raw is a good percentage to aim for, but if you still have problems you will have to raise that percentage even higher.

Some people make the mistake of going raw but fall into the trap of using too many fats. I have done that myself. You can make delicious, exotic raw food using bases made of nuts and seeds and coconuts and avocados.  But for optimal healing, the holy grail is low fat high carb raw vegan. If you want to heal from chronic diseases, including autoimmune disorders, this will give you the best chance of success.

It takes some time.  It took the disease many years to manifest with chronic symptoms, and it will take time to eliminate it. But the good news is that you will begin to improve immediately.

I will be sharing some menu plans and recipes with you, although, I do not like to make exotic, complicated raw dishes. For everyday, I usually eat about the same thing everyday, but for our raw food potlucks I like to make something special.  I will share those recipes, too.

Don't give up. There is a way to be better. Fruits and vegetables are everywhere. You can order a big salad at the restaurant and tell them specifically what you want on it.

Start where you are and don't worry about comparing yourself to where someone else is on their journey.  This is your journey to walk out for yourself.  You can change your diet and lifestyle and change your life. No question about it.  You have to change your thought patterns and your lifestyle or you won't change at all. All the talk about gradual change and transitional dieting is just a smoke screen for procrastination. You either change now or you don't change at all. The possibilities are here and now, not in the future.  So let's do it!

Dinner.  The green salad is baby lettuces from the farmer's market, cucumber, Bubbies dill pickle, green onions, tomatoes, and black pepper.  The dressing is wine vinegar, dijon mustard, and Worcestershire sauce
The soup on the side is the blended salad recipe I linked to in yesterday's blog.
Also, I had Edwards rice crackers and dried prunes for dessert.

Walking the dog.  Walking is good exercise which is crucial for healing.

To health and happiness.

Low Fat Raw Vegan Diet

Based on my experience, our best shot for optimum health in the climate and culture in which we are living is the high carb low fat raw vegan diet in conjunction with a simple, natural, biogenic lifestyle that harmonizes with natural law.

It is my desire to help people by sharing the diet and lifestyle that helped me lose 40 lbs. and to heal from an undiagnosed debilitating condition that left me making multiple trips to the emergency room and doctor's office. I was at the point of not being able to function and had almost given up hope of every being able to recover.  I was almost bed-ridden.

I have been eleven years on this quest for health via natural living, diet, and raw foods. My plan is to share even more lifestyle tips, exercise tips, and recipes.  I was 58 years old when I began this journey, and I am 69 years old now. It has not been a straight path, because I have stumbled many times, but, nevertheless, I am still here, still standing, and determined to carry on.  I want to encourage you that if you are ill and/or older in years, this manner of living will work for you and give you the best chance of a healthier life.

Common sense tells us that the concepts taught in Natural Hygiene regarding living the simple, natural lifestyle are true, but, even so, most people are not ready to receive them.

Change is difficult because we have been programmed to think a certain way. These habitual patterns are not easy to break, because they give us a sense of belonging, comfort, and security; however, they also shield us from new ideas and new ways of doing things. Most people resist change, because it interferes with their perception of "reality".

For several days I have been meditating for an hour first thing in the morning and then walking four miles.  Today I began to train for a 5K race using the 5K Runner app. After my training session, I continued with my walking in order to get in my 4 miles.  It will be fun if some of my friends or family would also like to train to run some 5K races.  My inspiration is coming partly from reading A Race for Life by Ruth E. Heidrich, PhD.

My food for this morning :  mangoes, watermelon; celery spears; lemonade; green smoothies.

LEMONADE:
In a quart jar squeeze the juice of one lemon.  Add 1 Tbsp. stevia or other sweetener and water.

GREEN SMOOTHIE:
1 can coconut water
2 scoops chia seeds
3 handfuls of kale
3 bananas
almost a pint of blueberries
frozen mixed fruit to fill up the blender
     -Blend until smooth and serve.

Lunch

This afternoon I plan to make some dehydrated crackers for our raw foods potluck on Wednesday.
Here is the recipe I plan to use, although I will probably double it.

CORN ONION CRACKERS
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
2 cups frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
1 large onion
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
     Blend all together in the Vitamix.  Add a little water if necessary in order to get it to blend.
     Pour onto Teflex sheets on your dehydrator trays and score to make the crackers easier to break apart.
     Dehydrate at 110-115 degrees until the crackers are firm enough to flip over.
     Flip over on a dehydrator without a Teflex sheet and continue dehydrating until they are crispy.

My plan for dinner is a big green salad, the blended salad recipe I have posted before, and some crackers.  Cooked foods will be leftover garbanzo beans and roasted potatoes in case anyone feels like they need something cooked.

Here is a link to a blog post with the blended salad recipe.
http://www.simplerawandnatural.com/search?q=blended+salad



To health and happiness.