Coming down from cacao...

So I was going to politely ask you all to bear with me whilst the perfectionist in me looks over the 40-odd pages of notes I took last weekend to condense it all down into something quick, easy, informative, and interesting for you to read... but in doing so the playful child in me is yelling "who gives a rats ass, it's more fun to write as you're thinking, in the moment, wing it, and see how it goes".

So here I am!

I love that I sit here typing to you guys like I’m really typing to myself, talking with myself… I am still beaming and buzzing from what was one of the best weekends of my life to date! And no, that is no exaggeration!

Cacao come down...

So I met my superhero! Number one. My living breathing superhero. David Wolfe (Never come down from that one). The man I know I will work with one day. I have seen him before but never actually went up to talk to him. This time I did. So a self-confessed-David-Wolfe-junkie if there ever were such a thing, I was over the moon when I sat down to talk to him. Speechless even – stupid really. But I did infact tell him I’m a bit if a groupie, that I’m gonna be the first aussie female version of him (watch this face), that I couldn’t contain my excitement when I found out about his raw nutrition certification course (booked in baby!) and I’ve been following his teachings for a couple of years now. YAY! He was excited. I was excited. He was smiling. I was smiling. All hugs and smiles. Best day(te) ever!

So last Thursday night is where it all began. A lecture here in Sydney where I was on the edge of my seat waiting to dive into all the information about to be presented to me. Surrounded by like minded individuals, pen and paper in hand, ready to go!

“YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT”

Take it, leave it, try to ignore it, forget it, or prove it wrong… those few simple words have stood the test of time and will continue to do so. And these few words are what David usually starts with. And where I feel the strongest connection.
Food. Nutrition. Education. Throw them all together and that’s me. That is my passion. It is also David Wolfe’s passion – thus the self-confessed-DW-junkie right here. Loud and proud.

I went along with my good friend Jess, but ran into loads of people I knew; friends and trainers, my colon hydrotherapist, people who recognized me from the raw café, from work, from my blog even (and finally met the woman behind The Raw Butterfly). It was a fantastic mix of people all with similar interests and a few really different backgrounds. I love that!

We learnt fascinating facts, figures and fantasies about hormones and how to correct your own; this stuff is all very new to me still – I started getting into hormones about 8months ago and every little bit I learn is incredible interesting to me so I loved all that! David also spoke in depth about bone density, Chinese medicine philosophies, Chinese herbs and jing, Ormus, calcification in the body, cancer, herbal immune boosters, detoxing, cell rejuvenating, longevity, immortality, goal setting, thought processes, he even gave his thoughts on what he believes 2012 to be all about.

But the core underlying of the whole weekend was YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT. This is the fundamental principle to it all. To everything. For so many reasons. And on so many levels. It's something I really want to dig deeper and deeper with you guys on. Explaining in more depth the reality behind those few words.

Fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, sprouts, seaweeds, grasses, superfoods, superherbs.

This is exactly what my diet consists of currently. Of course some things more than others like anyone really, but in learning more about different things I am trying more and more, seeing what my body can handle and handle well. Seeing what impacts me, works well for me and what doesn’t work well for me.

A human guinea pig. It excites me! High doses of different superfoods daily, then not at all. Sporadic taste testers, more of one thing, less of another, mixing it up, all together, each on their own. Surprising my body. I get kicks out of seeing how my body takes to different things and how I feel. And what gets me jumping even more? When I can then tell someone else about my experience – along with things I’ve read, heard, or researched. I get customers, clients and friends asking me all the time about different supplements, superfoods, healing foods, natural remedies and more… and I love when I can give them a solution based solely on my research, my education, AND my own experience. That is the icing on the cake in my books. And usually what most people are wanting to hear about I find.

"Eat the best food ever and observe the results over time. Eat the worst food ever and observe the results over time. Compare and contrast."

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT.

But enough of that for now, we'll revist that later on...

On Saturday Jess and I had way too much energy (I take that back - there's no such thing) so were outside during our lunch break lazing about on the softest grass ever, and then both had the same impulse to start doing cartwheels...

and handstands...

crashing down all over the place but having a ball, both filled with childlike energy and enthusiasm. Buzzing with all the knowledge we were taking in! So we thought we'd take it one step higher - with CACAO! Yep we both had our first Sacred Heart chocolates (well my second as I caught one David threw in the crowd on Thursday night - that was pure manifestation baby). So this stuff is the bomb! The creme-de-la-creme of raw chocolates.

Here's me opening the Immuno Mushroom - cacao nibs, maple sugar, cacao butter, whole cacao beans with their skins on, pine pollen, and the good stuff - medicinal mushrooms, and quite the list - chaga, turkey tail, reishi, maitake, shiitake, cordyceps, himematsutake, mesima, oyster and lions mane, all made to perfection in a chocolate that is so prefectly rich and creamy, bitter and sweet, melt-in-your-mouth soft yet with a delectable snap of a bite. I've never had any raw chocolate come close to how good this stuff is!

So I got loads! 69% whole bean with vanilla. 58% "milk" choc. 70% Sun Sweet with inulin (jerusalem artichoke) - which was my first one and so rich, no sweetener at all, my fav so far. 83% Midnight (looking forward to that one). And 52% Amazonian - the powerhouse choc. Get this -

amazonian jungle peanuts, coconut, brazil nuts, quararibea funebris, incan berries, cashews, purple corn extract, maca, acai, lucuma, vanilla bean, stevia leaf, sacha jergon, camu camu, sacha inchi nuts, yacon leaf, clavo huasca, yacon root, andean salt, chuchuhuasi, tahuari golden, canchalagua, iporuro, pasuchaca, hercampuri, pau d'arco, guayusa, chancapiedra, yerba mate, cats claw, and manayupa amongst the cacao nibs, cacao butter and maple sugar.

Could you get a better chocolate?

I think not. But you could (and we did) combine that with awesome music, awesome people, more cacao, and have yourself a RAW CACAO ECSTACY PARTY! Welcome in Saturday night.

Cacao smoothies, cacao mousse, cacao ice cream, cacao brownies, and superfood bliss balls. Jess and I made sure we tried them all (and went overboard with 2 serves of ice cream).

After a cacao celebration ceremony to honour the sacred bean, we danced our butts off with David and friends we ran into as the weekend progressed. Bare foot, arms up, hips moving to the drumming beats from Ganga Giri, blissing out on cacao, having the time of our lives!




THE BEST WEEKEND EVER!! I had an absolute ball :)