Raw Greenylicous Herb Soup

This raw herb soup will (apart from blow your mind) serve 10 peeps as an appetizer or 4 hungry ones as a dinner.

You will need:

• 1.5 medium sized Avocado
• 2 stalks of Celery, finely chopped
• 1 large handful of roughly chopped Cilantro
• 1 small handful of roughly chopped Mint
• 1.5 cup Coconut water
• 1 cup cold water
• 1 small tsp of Himalayan salt/Celtic sea salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground Black pepper
• Some fresh garden cress for decoration and final flavor touch

How to make:

1. Cut and scoop out the avocados in a large bowl or a high speed blender.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix with a hand blender or in the high speed blender.
3. Keep refrigerated.

Try and enjoy our recipe for a satisfying superfood soup that is packed with living food energy!

Raw food, Fries, Face wash and Forest

I write this on a little idyllic island just off Bali called Nusa Lembongan. The sunsets are magical from the heat haze that’s spreading far from the Borneo forest that is ablaze at the moment.

These fires are consuming the oldest jungle in the world, destroying the natural habitat of the last largest remaining population of Orangutans, (which literally translate to the people of the forest), its threatening the indigenous Dayak communities, and engulfing 40 million people in toxic haze. All in the name of planting Palm Oil.

As I lean into the calamity of the situation my heart cries in anguish for mother earth. The rape and pillaging of her precious resources seem to be accelerating in this very moment. Like it’s a race towards some dead-line to exterminate and disintegrate anything and everyone that might still be living in its natural organic order.

I came to Bali five years ago to immerse myself in a life of yoga, to heal from social traumas, to live more closely to nature, to live in community, there were many reasons but the biggest one was to give space to pursue the prime challenges of today’s time: what it means to live as a sovereign being.

This quest requires a lot of self reflection and self analysis. It turns out that humans are easily programmed, and to start peeling away habits and external doctrines from natural impulses is not an easy task to do ~ especially amidst all the ‘noise’ of fear and condemnation that society implants from the very get-go.

I came to appreciate how much a living food diet allowed my body to heal from many ailments, but it also facilitated another level of understanding of how much our food choices impact the greater world. I used to live on dairy, breads and packaged foods just like everyone else. I use to think that as long as I had my bit I was in the lead. I was the privileged and I deserved the best.

I now even more so believe that I am the privileged and I deserve the best. Just the best has changed. Rather than slabs of cheese and processed delicacies, beers, and barbecues which have a huge impact on the earth, I now wholeheartedly choose organic, unadulterated, cleaner and leaner choices. And with these conscious choices I make a stand for what I value most: A healthy planet, healthy relationships with ourselves and one another.

Palm oil is used by big corporations and pharmaceutical companies as the new fossil fuel and it is literally in everything that is known as conventional. Not only is it known as vegetable oil for deep frying, but its derivatives are used in the production of bactericides, cosmetics, soaps and detergents. It also goes by the names of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Lactylate/Sulphate which is literally in all products that foam. Check your shampoos and face-wash for it.

Here is a great article that will help you test your own usage. Be honest! http://blog.ucsusa.org/how-many-products-with-palm-oil-do-i-use-in-a-day

And here is what you are hunting for. The different names to Palm oil and its derivatives are:

Vegetable Oil, Vegetable Fat, Palm Kernel, Palm Kernel Oil, Palm Fruit Oil, Palmate, Palmitate, Palmolein, Glyceryl, Stearate, Stearic Acid, Elaeis Guineensis, Palmitic Acid, Palm Stearine, Palmitoyl Oxostearamide, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-3, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Kernelate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Lauryl Lactylate/Sulphate, Hyrated Palm Glycerides, Etyl Palmitate, Octyl Palmitate, Palmityl Alcohol

Whether you take a stand for nature, for the orangutans, or for your own well-being your choices will not only vastly improve your own health and prospects for longevity but it will inevitably be doing the same for other creatures, people and the environment. You see we aren’t separate from one another, it all comes hand in hand. It’s time to make a stand and not just wait for others to fix it.

Excellent viewing: Heart of the Haze http://www.channelnewsasia.com/tv/tvshows/getreal-s14/heart-of-the-haze/2227836.html

Banana Walnut Cake

Banana Walnut Cake (makes one 9-inch cake)

Cake Batter:

Date Paste (soak dates in filtered water for 2 hours, drain water, freeze and use for smoothies or sweetener), food processor blend strained dates into paste-can be stored for 1 week in fridge or freezer for longer.

Activated nuts =  soaked nuts overnight, strained and dehydrated.

Wet Ingredients:

• 24 ounces or 3 cups of date paste (dates soaked in water to get softer)
• ¾ cup coconut oil
• 3 tbsp vanilla (liquid)
• 1 tsp salt
• 19 ounces or 2 ¼ cup (after peeling) ripe bananas

Blend all ingredients until smooth add to Dry Ingredients below:

• 8 cups activated almonds or hazelnuts-blend to flour sieve after blender portions-or buy nut flour
• 2 ½ ounces or 1/3 cup  cacao powder
• 1 cup activated walnuts chopped small – fold everything  in by handLine a round cake tin with baking paper and press cake batter into cake tin-put in freezer for 30 min.

How to make:

1. Add to mixer bowl: date paste, coconut oil, vanilla and salt.
2. Press into a cake pan.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 2 ½ cups soaked cashews
• 1 ½  cup water
• ¾ cup agave or coconut palm suger
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla paste
• ½ cup coconut oil
• ½ cup activated walnuts and goji berries

How to make:

1. Blend all ingredients until smooth. Put the frosting in the fridge for about 2 hours and then pour it onto the batter.
2. Now – put the cake in the freezer. Garnish with walnuts and goji berries!

Know Your Vitamin Pill – What’s In It?

If only taking a vitamin pill was the same as eating the real thing, like eating fruits and vegetables. Science wants us to believe that they can simulate anything and everything that nature has to offer. This might be true, to a certain degree but at what price? There always seems to be a tradeoff, a compromise, a side effect.

We were all made to believe that supplements are taken as a health insurance to improve your health, reduce the risk of chronic disease or condition, beat stress, lose weight, boost energy and the like. These are a few of the many promises the multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical companies are trying to claim. But can vitamin pills really deliver the health and vitality they are promising?

Let’s take a quick review of the pros & cons of dietary supplements, and compare naturally occurring vitamins and their synthetic counterparts.

Vitamin E, in foods, is effective against ageing, oxidative stress, restless leg syndrome, diabetes, cataracts and a host of other ills. Vitamin E in its synthetic form is petro-chemically derived, and can cause endocrine disruption.

Magnesium stearate has been shown to cause kidney stones and liver abnormalities. Since it is made by hydrogenating cottonseed oil, you risk consuming pesticide residue. Cottonseed oil has the highest content of pesticide residue of all commercially produced oils.

Supplemental Vitamin Pills are not what it usually tells you on its label.

Common fillers found in Vitamins:

BHT – This fat-soluble compound is used in jet fuels, rubber, petroleum products and embalming fluid. Research has linked BHT to bladder cancer, DNA damage, and gastric and lung cancer.

Boric acid – An antiseptic, insecticide and flame retardant. It is also connected to DNA damage.

Synthetic vitamin A – Petro-chemically derived product capable of causing birth defects.

Cupric sulfate – A herbicide, fungicide and pesticide.

Stearic acid – Prepared synthetically by hydrogenation of cottonseed and other oils, it contains pesticide residue. It is added as a lubricant and to hold tablets together.

Maltodextrin – This sugar is obtained by hydrolysis of starch. Used to add texture and as a flavour enhancer.

Modified maize starch – This filler is a derivative of corn that has been chemically altered to dissolve quickly and serves as a thickener. Most corn is GMO.

Sodium benzoate – Synthetic chemical used as a preservative. Can damage mitochondrial DNA.

Hydrogenated oil – Hydrogenation is the process of adding hydrogen gas to liquid oils. Hydrogenation leads to trans fats which contribute to fat-clogged arteries.

Potassium chloride – Colourless, odourless powder used to improve fermentation. Intestinal ulcers may occur with oral administration. Larger doses can cause gastrointestinal irritation, weakness and circulatory collapse.