How to maximise?
First by grasping the principles of what it takes to become and stay healthy
Second by individualising the practice for yourself.
How to maximise? By making it work for you.
How do I do that? By ignoring the experts who say there is only one way! This is one way;
Follow the whole Living Foods Programme. You don’t have to be 100% raw, but whatever percentage raw you use, it makes sense to follow a balanced integrated programme which takes care of all your needs. Use the amount of raw which benefits you at this time, but if you just concentrate on the diet alone, it won’t get you to the same place of balanced health.
The elements;
Food. Exercise. Rest. Cleanse. Re-nourish. De-stress. Relax/meditate. Get your system working again. (skin muscles organs digestion) .
But first, what are you doing all this for? What do you expect to gain? Better health? More stamina? Reverse a disease process? Achieve a bit more balance, patience, ability to deal with things?
That’s what the elements of the Living Foods Programme are designed to deliver. They are not exclusive to the LFP. A really good qualified and experienced naturopath or Schultze trained herbalist/naturopath can take you down the same path. (I stress “really good” and “experienced”)
So the first thing to be aware of is who is advising you. What are their credentials?. Have they just read other people’s books? Experimented a bit for themselves and now telling everyone else to do the same? Are they duplicating someone else’s regime?
Have they sweated through a long professional training such as naturopathy? And helped hundreds of people in one to one consultations? If you can’t tick all those boxes, be selective in what you accept.
How to understand and use the elements of the Programme for your specific needs.
Food. As much raw as you can cope with delivers enzymes and unspoilt nutrients. More than that hinders progress and doesn’t build longterm energy and stamina. You have to decide what percentage raw/live is right for you. It doesn’t matter what anone else is doing thy are not living in your body, or in your head. Loads of greens for protein and chlorophyll? YES! (In salads, juices and energy blends) How much fruit? Not a lot.
Exercise
Can you get breathless 3 times a day? (advice from the wise -and really good and experienced- chiropractor who was in attendance to look after Ann Wigmore’s guests many years ago)
Can you take 3 forty five minute sessions of aerobic activity/training a week? (current advice from UK medics for the whole population to preserve not only an active body but an active brain!)
Cleansing
Most people need to clear out a backlog of toxins in the blood tissues and joints.
How did they get there? As a result of unbalanced or overeating habits; ingestion of toxins from food and water, chemical preservatives, pesticides; poisoning from polluted air (agricultural sprays, industrial pollutants). Mercury in amalgam fillings. Long term residue from vaccinations.
Methods to cleanse
A balanced diet with loads of fresh raw sprouts salads and juices, will gradually clear a lot of backlog
Colonics or high enemas can help with this as well as gradually tone the colon.
Specific problems of poisoning require focussed treatment. For example, removal of amalgam; taking chlorophyll (wheatgrass juice) which is a fast and deep cleanser; specialised homoeopathy, or personalised herbal formulae to help the kidneys and liver get rid of toxins. Using a rebounder to release back up in the lymph system.
Rest. Discuss!
Re-nourish. Yes lots of raw, fresh, live food, according to your personal needs.
Is that enough? Probably not. How do you know you are getting the amount of vitamins minerals and trace elements every meal every day every week? Are you personally absorbing all you need? (a clogged and sluggish bowel suggests not, or tiredness, fading quickly, brain fag, faulty memory) This is where you need to assess your nutritional status. By dowsing, muscle testing, vega testing, blood tests, whatever is available to you.
De-stress.
Stress comes from pace of living; multi tasking; anxieties about achievement /finances/relationships.
Also from radiation and electro smog all around us. From air, water, soil and food pollutants and contaminants. There is a huge burden on everyone to deal with and detox daily from all this.
There are physical and mental ways of reducing stress.
Physical; the food/exercise/ cleansing practices,
Mental; your preference of a meditative practice or your favourite relaxing visualisation
Disciplines like yoga and t’ai ji bridge the physical/mental.
The crunch. What is all this raw/living foods preaching (sic) about ?
Is it to sell books? Put forward a point of view? Argue about how many olives or avocados to eat each week/ or how much fruit is good or not so good? Discuss! My view is that it is to help with getting people healthy. Well trained therapists are in it for this. So again, choose who you go to for advice!
How much of all these do I personally need to get where I want to be? And how do I measure?
Dowse/muscle test, better still vega test. Use blood tests for specifics, such as homocysteine factor, (associated with heart problems and related to lack of B vitamins) and/or live blood analysis.
Get your PH balance right. It’s a simple equation. Acidity of the system indicates toxicity. Disease thrives in a toxic, acidic system, because the immune system is constantly under stress. You can test it yourself.
THE most important single physical issue at this time, is I believe vitamin B status. Why?
Because stress demands huge amounts of the B vitamins to deal with it. Not enough equals build up of toxins, weakening of immune system, tiredness and so on.
In particular, B12. nearly EVERYONE is deficient. Meat eaters, vegetarian/vegans and raw foodies alike. Everyone is living under the same stresses as discussed. Food, including the important grains, comes from deficient soils. Animals are raised to give you a dose of chemicals with every mouthful you eat. Those individuals who don’t have a B12 deficiency may be just lucky, but they also probably have achieved a balanced life which includes not only consistently high quality food, but daily deep relaxation and/or meditation, and comparative freedom from self inflicted stress. That is to say their B requirements are not so high.
THE most important energy tool I personally know of at this time is EFT (emotional freedom technique)or one of its branches (flower remedies, affirmations etc are also very useful, but EFT can hit the spot faster and more effectively for most people)
As above so below. The basic naturopathic principle that the mental/emotional and physical are interconnected. In energy terms, if we are dealing with anxiety or grief or any strong emotions, especially for a long time, these lock up enormous amounts of energy. Healing can start and progress, when these energy blocks are released, because so much energy is then available to the physical body to get on with the cleansing and rebuilding.
EFT is now a crucial and basic part of the classes offered at the UK Centre for Living Foods, simply because we have seen so many people initially “lighten up” literally losing much of their anxiety about their health. They then go on to progress faster and more smoothly towards their health goals.
We have found it to be an invaluable first step for everyone. Once taught it can be used at any time for yourself. It involves no intrusion into privacy, nor does it require lengthy explanations of people’s private concerns. www.emofree.com
Notes from Elaine Bruce’s presentation at the FRESH Festival 28th October 2005.
Full transcript available on tape/cd.