Wow how this year has flown! It's only 2 days til Christmas!! I've been so busy the past few weeks making raw xmas cakes, and a few other bits the past couple of days for treaties also! Thanklyou to everyone who put an order through, I'm sure you will love your cakes! If you didn't manage to get an order in and you live in Sydney, I'll be down at Taylor Square Markets tomorrow selling them so get down quick!
Other than that (work and studies; the usual) my minimal fruit experiment is going great,
but my partner made smoothies for me the past 2 days so I've had them
for lunch. FULL of FRUIT but oh-so-delicious, I did feel very good after
them, full of energy and what not. But one thing I have noticed is a
little belly fat hanging off my sides that wasn't there last week. Now,
of course this could be due to anything, perhaps the higher fat intake
also, stress, or the 2 days of alot more fruit after very minimal. Who
knows. I know where my suspicions lie though so for the next few days
I'm going to have the 2 bananas or 1 mango or few dates each day only
and no more, to see if that makes any difference - I'll keep you posted.
But here is my Gabriel Cousins
Sydney lecture summary I have promised you guys! A little later than I
had wanted, but better late than never! Gabriel ran through such
expansive topics and knowledge that had me writing notes as quick as I
could, and I want to share them with you so here it all is!!
Spirituality and Science - this
is what Gabriel started with and is essentially what his work is all
about; blending the two together. The rest of the lecture stemmed from
this concept and he began by discussing veganism.
Holistic Veganism -
This is the evolutionary diet of the future. Spiritual power, ethical power, plant based diet.
- Did you know that if everyone was vegan there would be enough food to feed the world 7x over ??
- That more people have died of starvation in the last 10yrs than in the past 150yrs on this planet ??
- That food for 100 cows = food for 1000 people, or 2000 children ??
- A plant based diet is quite literally feeding the world.
As
a vegan myself I could easily relate to everything that was mentioned
in this segment, and how veganism can and has been easily misinterpreted
by some, and made into strict rules instead of a way of life by others.
As a generalisation, vegans are pretty healthy people. But there can sometimes be holes in the diet when people see it more as a religion than as a science. And that was one major point that I loved hearing. Because I couldn't agree more.
I've seen vegans that are allowing their health to suffer because they refuse to eat something that is not strictly vegan.
I classify my diet as vegan but I eat bee pollen because I find it
gives me a lot of energy. I eat raw honey because it's a better source
of nutrients when I need a sweetener (as opposed to agave or the like).
You get my point.
As
for animal flesh, that's not something I'm likely to be tucking into.
It doesn't resonate with where I am at now, and I can only speak in
present terms, but it;s highly likely it's something I will never return
too. The pain, misery, anger, and fear from the
animal (due to life conditions, slaughter, death) is introduced into our
bodies when we eat them, leading to anger, disease,
agitation of mind and body. If you think you can eat meat without taking
on all the emotions that animal felt just before it died...
Plants calm the mind. Enzymes bring in life force. Take it one step further and "LIVE
PLANT FOODS bring alkalinity, electricity, more intuition, more
sensitivity, can transcend, and brings about more of YOU", says Gabriel. Anyone who eats a strictly live plant diet, or a very high percentage of one, knows this and feels this.
A few other tid-bits I found very interesting:
- there were only 3 diseases in ancient times, and there are 78 new diseases now - all since humans began eating flesh.
- non-athlete vegans have 2-3x more energy and endurance than meat-eating athletes (with live foods this goes up even further)
- flaxseed oil resonates with sunlight; studies taking flax oil show one can stay in the sunshine 4x longer without getting burnt
-
“recent intergenerational research shows on a uniformly poor diet, the
offspring of each generation deteriorates...” Abraham Hoffer
- HEALTH; creating order in the system
- ILLNESS; creating chaos/ disorder in the system
-
You can upgrade (your diet) at any time (it takes on average 2yrs to
fully detox; I have heard this before and I'll let you know how I go
with it as my 2yrs on raw is almost here)
Individualising your diet -
Is about determining the best dietary approach for your constitutional type, your metabolic rate, your age, and your lifestyle by looking at fat/protein/carbohydrate ratios in relation to metabolic type and Ayurvedic dosha. "Anyone can be a successful vegan with a diet tailored to his or her specific needs"
Back to the fast-oxidisers and slow-oxidisers thing I spoke about here.
So if you're a fast-oxidiser you need more protein, nuts, seeds,
spirulina, etc for energy, and if you're a slow-oxidiser you need more
carbs for energy (5% of the population according to Gabriel, these are
the people that function exceptionally well on a fruitarian diet). Some
people do great on high protein, but not everyone, and the same goes
with high carbs.
So it begs the question "how do I know what I am?" In Spiritual Nutrition
I believe there a long list of questions asked for you to work it out,
but you can also narrow it down quite a bit and just ask the following:
Q1. When you're at a buffet bar, do you go for the salad or the nuts/seeds? Where are you drawn?
Q2. After eating what you chose do you feel energised? (Slow oxidisers feel terrible on nuts)
Q3. A few hours later how do you feel? (Fast oxidisers need to eat every few hours)
It's
all trial and error, trial and error. I thought I was a fast-oxidiser
but in recent weeks I've really sat down to wonder and I'm
experimenting. Either this is my error period, or months ago was. Who
knows? Not me right now, but that's ok.
With individualising your diet (it is often referred to as "biochemical individuality"
which I studied at college a few months ago and found fascinating)
there is a lot more than the standard "food pyramid" or "raw food
eating" that needs to be taken into consideration. For example, everyone
needs iron. However the amount each of us needs is totally different.
And what if it's iron absorption issues versus the amount ingested?
(Gabriel did mention that checking the hydrochloric acid level in the
stomach is of benefit here as if there is an iron absorption issue,
there's usually always a hydrochloric acid deficiency).
Then cacao
- a substance that I think would be safe to regard as a favourite of a
lot of people. But whether you enjoy the flavour or not, it might not
agree with your constitution. I love the stuff! But when I'm feeling
stressed or anxious (and with that of course comes chocolate cravings), I
know it's the last thing my body needs. And I'm sure David Wolfe would
disagree with me but it seems Gabriel doesn't. He made mention that
cacao consumption is always present with weakened adrenals (and has
muscle tested this). So I suppose my body knew this also. On top of that
I find cacao addictive - but largely due to the sugar that it is always
made with. I know people that feel the need to eat chocolate everyday.
But I'm yet to meet anyone that feels the need to eat straight up cacao
beans or nibs everyday.
Note: Gabriel also mentioned that diabetics and cacao are a huge no-no! Off the scale detrimental!
And then the lecture turned to a short focus on SUGAR and proved to be very interesting!! Here are a few of my dot-points:
- No
sugar initially for diabetics (nuts, seeds, green, seaweeds, sprouts),
stevia and xylitol only, no agave, no honey, no coconut sugar (which is
always cooked)
- Insulin is the death hormone
- Insulin accelerates aging
- Insulin stores excess sugar as triglycerides (fat)
- Fat = fat
- Sugar = fat
- Insulin = osteoporosis
- Insulin = heart disease
- Therefore people with the lowest blood sugar live the longest
- 15-25g fructose per day (ie. 1-2 bananas)
- Low GI fruits
- FRUCTOSE: cancer cells need it to live; no fruit is allowed in cancer treatments, brain cells are inflamed with fructose
- Increase risk of diabetes
- Increases brain activity (with glucose; 20mins after eating)
- Decreases brain function (with fructose; 20mins after eating)
- Little is good, excess is not good
Spiritual Nutrition
If your computer is not working how can it transcend? If your mind is not working how can you move into spirituality?
A plant-source-only diet can offer immense support to spiritual
development. And this is the reason I got into raw foods to begin with. I
wanted the spiritual amplification and forward movement that I knew I
could never get from cooked foods. And I knew it would be hard to begin
with, but it's been worth everyday of it. "A vegan
diet, properly conducted, can enhance meditation, help regulate the
mind and emotions, and facilitate subtle spiritual unfolding". Hear Hear!!
- Radiation oxidises your brain; leading to depression
- Higher use of nuclear energy = higher rate of depression (Iraq, France)
- Serotonin excess (psychedelic drugs) cause brain tissue depletion as serotonin oxidises the brain and burns the tissue
Never
a real drug taker (asides from alcohol, tobacco and marijuana), I
couldn't say I related so far as understood when Gabriel went onto talk
about drugs. He said that with a drug, we get a hit
of awareness; but it’s not sustained. Drug users are wanting that hit,
and getting it, but then it's just as quickly gone. This I have seen and read about and agree with.
So how do we get that hit and keep it? LIVE FOODS!!
If
we find that sustained ‘hit’ (with live foods) the ‘quick fixes’ don’t
seem so appealing. When we have inner joy there's a party all the time!
And no need to look for outer parties.
Drugs let you know there’s a doorway; spirituality allows you to walk through.
And from there we did an hour of meditation.
Shaktipat Meditation
Shaktipat initiation is the awakening of the divine force that is resting in potential within us. Once
the spiritual energy is activated, it begins to spontaneously move
through our body, spiritualizing every cell, every aspect of the DNA,
every chakra, every nadi (the channels of the subtle nervous system),
every organ and every tissue, so that all consciousness becomes
activated into the next evolutionary stage.
An amazing day spent in the company of friends both old and new, soaking up information, education, hints and tips, inspiration, knowledge and more. I loved every bit of it and cannot wait to dig into more of Gabriels work in the future.
And a little addition to all those of you curious as to what Gabriel eats on an "average" day (there's no such thing really)
- Brekkie of chia seeds, goji berries, and tea
- Lunch consisting of a salad, sprouts, greens, seaweed, avocado
- Dinner is soup
Peace, Love and Mung Beans to you all. Merry Christmas Eve Eve.
How was your Christmas? I hope you all had wonderful big lunches or dinners, family gatherings, friends around, present swapping, hugs, smiles and laughter. I had all that that's for sure! Christmas is my favourite time of year and I always get very much into the decorating and present buying and kitchen creations and this year was no different - except much more exhausting! Did anyone else find that or was it just me? Actually I know it wasn't only me as I've heard similar things from others around me. I was working more hours leading up until Christmas as my boss was on maternity leave (and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl at 11.50pm Boxing Day - yay), making Christmas cake orders for the shop and more for the markets, present shopping, and all whilst we had more people living in our place and my grandmother just passed away. So it's been full on, busy busy, hectic, stressful, and wonderful all at once, but I am in desperate need of solo time, quiet time, and reflection on what has been...
