Tuesday 31 December 2013

raw dairy, health and ethics

Here's an audio piece I did talking about the role of dairy products in a raw food lifestyle for health and also putting the ethics into perspective hopefully!  Underneath is the basic flow of my thoughts on this subject:




1.  It seems that most people need to consume some animal material for fat soluble vitamins or bring in some processed fortified foods.

I am not talking about the exceptions that prove the rule here but am concerned with the majority.  It seems that in the long term most people need to consume animal fats in order to obtain the fat soluble vitamins A,D nad K in the form that the body can use; in the case of vitamin A this is retinol and in the case of vitamin D, D3.  All traditional cultures that we know of and as studied by Weston Price consumed at least some animal products, in general the further they were from the equator, the higher the ratio of animal to plant foods.

If at some point we lived a frugivorous diet in the forest, this would have included all kinds of insect material.

Grazing animals such as cows, goats and sheep not only consume insects along with a great variety of grasses and herbs, they are also out naked absorbing sunlight while we are indoors.  These animals can absorb the nutrients they need from the vegetation insects and sunlight in latitudes where humans need to clothe themselves, house themselves and cannot absorb the vitamin D they need from the sun.  We have traditionally piggybacked in this way off animals indigenous to these climates, whether we have used their milk or eaten their flesh.

2. So, given our current circumstances what are the healthiest, most efficient and ethical ways of taking in the fats we need?

Looking at flesh foods, apart from even the various ethical questions around the meat and fishing industries, meat and fish are actually quite difficult foods for us to digest.  Most of us would not be willing to spend our days foraging for insect filled fruit and it could even be that our digestive systems could no longer extract what we need from such a  diet.  It could  be argued that we are not designed to drink the milk of another animal or drink milk after childhood but at least we do have a an inherent capacity to digest mammal milk in our design because we are designed to drink our mother's milk as children.   We then can apply techniques of fermentation to make these milks even more digestible for us. For example the kefir culture breaks down casein, and lactose and changes the ratios of the amino acids in the milk to be more suitable for humans.

3. What are the broader ethical issues?

As a  species we have kept domesticated animals for a long time and have developed an interdependent relationship with them.  We have also developed a three way interdependence, a symbiotic relationship between ourselves, the animals, and the organisms in the cultures such as kefir used to ferment the milk. This is an ecosystem in itself. worthy of sustaining.  The cultures and animals that have been domesticated for so many years would not fare well if we abandoned them.  The damage to the planetary ecosystem and thus indirect harm to animals may actually be greater by the manufacturing or importing of other foods that we might use to replace dairy products.

We cannot separate out plant and animal life.  Even plants are feeding off soil which includes broken down animal waste.  The compassionate way is not to try to remove animal input but to avoid animal cruelty and connect to the animals.  A lot of this is about economics. Now, economic demand is leading  some farms to treat milking animals in much more caring ways such as letting calves stay with their mothers and keeping on  cows who have stopped milking to retire gracefully in the fields.  An example of such a dairy is the Calf at Foot Dairy. http://www.the-calf-at-foot-dairy.co.uk/  The milk from such dairies is noticeably more delicious.

4.  Why is this such a significant issue?

The question of whether it is acceptable to eat animal products seems to be a perennial one in the raw food scene and people get very heated about it, to an extraordinary degree.  I feel passionately about it for several reasons - health, freedom and reaching our full potential. Firstly I want people to be healthy, secondly because I want people to be free of imposed anti-human beliefs and thirdly I passionately believe that eating natural raw foods that fit our biology as a species is an integral part of us reaching our full potential and I don't like seeing this being undermined.

I have covered the issue of health above in connection with fat soluble vitamins, we also need to think about where we get omega 3 fatty acids DHA and EPA, there are other factors in animal foods too.

Then we come to the imposed beliefs.  Animal and plant life, not to mention human life is intertwined on this planet, that's just the way it works.  The idea of not in any way consuming anything that has at some point come from an animal is just a concept with no genuine reality.  It is something very different to the genuine connection and compassion that humans naturally feel towards other mammals.  A disconnected belief that makes it difficult for humans and especially the young to get the nutrition that they need really is anti-human.

And thirdly about human potential, getting undamaged (i.e. not heated above biological temperature) nutritional components can rebuild our neurological system to another level.  Essentially this means a nutrient dense predominantly raw and predominantly but not exclusively plant based diet.  To sabotage this with another contradictory thought stream which suggests it is wrong to do what we need to do to get vital nutrients seems to me unwise to say the least and thoroughly confusing and unproductive for someone who is improving their diet with a view to fulfilling their potential.  As so much on this planet hangs on humans coming out of their stupor and reaching towards their divine endowment, it seems ethical in the deepest sense to obtain whatever nutrition we need to take from other animals in the most respectful way possible.

Monday 30 December 2013

greening the desert

"All the problems of the world can be solved in a garden"

 

Sunday 29 December 2013

cults

The four factors that Deikman cites, in this link, as characteristic of cult phenomena are
• compliance with the group
• dependence on a leader
• avoidance of dissent
• devaluation of outsiders.
http://www.hgi.org.uk/archive/cults.htm#.UsHYS_RdVnY

Cultism is really an extreme form of culture,  we just need to be moving in slightly the opposite direction...cultural deprogramming.

Thursday 26 December 2013

what is evil?

"evil is whatever goes against the life force, the divinely endowed potential of the anthropos (human species), the beauty of nature, the innate desire of all things to thrive" John Lamb Lash

Tuesday 17 December 2013

boost of the earth

In this amazing and inspirational recent audio John Lamb Lash gives us ta sense of what it is to align ourselves with the dreaming power of the Earth, and make our magic real.

http://gaiaspora.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Nav-Briefing-96-The-Boost-of-the-Earth-28-November-2013.mp3

"We are magical animals".  Although the ultimate source  is the Originator, the immediate imminent source of our reality is the Earth.  The closer to the Originator we get the more catatonic we become, nothing happens there, the action is here...
Her (the Earth;'s) dreaming is material.  Her dreaming is manifested in the filaments of the organic light.  (non-material animating light that permeates and emanates from all matter on Earth) We can perceive it in the granular detail.

We were not given a certain quantity of life, we are given life at every instant.  She sustains our life in her dreaming.

Animism is the direct perception that the Earth is alive.  To indigenous peoples, and us today in certain states of awareness, it becomes self-evident that the Earth is a living being, as single entity that we can interact and communicate with.  Hunger for magic is in the human endopsyche.  It requires rigorous magical method to engage the boost of the Earth.  If we consciously align our lives with her life then we have a future.

Tuesday 10 December 2013

fat cell cleanse

We have been doing this amazing fat cell cleanse!  It feels great.  Basically you take 50-500mg niacin (B3), do some invigorating exercise such as rebounding to get the lymphatic system and blood flow going and sauna for 40 minutes. You drink plenty of water and we use zeolites to flush any remaining toxins out of the digestive tract.  Fat cells open and release fatty acids and stored toxins.
This method was originally developed to remove cravings for people recovering from drug addictions.


You can read more about the fat cell cleanse on Naturalnews by clicking here.

Monday 9 December 2013

thought and purpose

from 'As a Man Thinketh' by James Allen.

Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment. With the majority the bark of thought is allowed to "drift" upon the ocean of life. Aimlessness is a vice, and such drifting must not continue for him who would steer clear of catastrophe and destruction.

They who have no central purpose in their life fall an easy prey to worries, fears, troubles, and self-pityings, all of which are indications of weakness, which lead, just as surely as deliberately planned sins (though by a different route), to failure, unhappiness, and loss, for weakness cannot persist in a power-evolving universe.

A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it. He should make this purpose the centralizing point of his thoughts. It may take the form of a spiritual ideal, or it may be a worldly object, according to his nature at the time being. But whichever it is, he should steadily focus his thought forces upon the object which he has set before him. He should make this purpose his supreme duty, and should devote himself to its attainment, not allowing his thoughts to wander away into ephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings. This is the royal road to self-control and true concentration of thought. Even if he fails again and again to accomplish his purpose (as he necessarily must until weakness is overcome), the strength of character gained will be the measure of his true success, and this will form a new starting point for future power and triumph.

Those who are not prepared for the apprehension of a great purpose, should fix the thoughts upon the faultless performance of their duty, no matter how insignificant their task may appear. Only in this way can the thoughts be gathered and focused, and resolution and energy be developed, which being done, there is nothing which may not be accomplished.

Saturday 7 December 2013

kefir, magic elixir, champagne of raw dairy


Kefir is an incredible magic food which comes into being through the symbiotic activities of three living groups: humans, grazing animals and beneficial micro-organisms. The culture which, with human help, transforms animal milks into a supremely nourishing drink is actually a mixture of numerous kinds of friendly bacteria and yeasts. Our bodies are really a whole ecosystem and ideally our digestive tracts contain ten times more friendly micro-organisms than we have cells in our bodies; these support a healthy immune system and brain function. Kefir is the most powerfully probiotic food or supplement that we know of. It actively repopulates the gut, laying down a healthy mucus layer that micro-flora can flourish in, supporting the digestive and immune system.

The kefir culture itself is potentially immortal – if properly looked after and fed with milk, it can live indefinitely. The liquid kefir that it makes is a preserved living food and can keep for months. The particular nutritive properties of kefir are numerous. The culture rebalances the amino acids in animal milk making them more suitable for humans. In particular it increases the amount of tryptophan which is the raw material from which serotonin, the well-being biochemical, is made. Tryptophan tends to be lacking in modern diets as it is easily damaged by cooking. Kefir contains ample amounts of B vitamins including B12. Acetylcholine in it improves sleep and is good for memory, intelligence, learning, enthusiasm and general mood. It contains lecithin which helps in the assimilation of fats. It contains 'right-rotating' lactic acid (as opposed to 'left-rotating' lactic acid found in other yoghurts) which revives cells.

One of the great aspects of kefir is that it allows us to take advantage or the nutrition in dairy milk, for example the fat soluble vitamins A (retinol), D and K2 whilst avoiding some of the potential allergenic problems of dairy products. The culture breaks down the lactose into lactic acid and the casein into beneficial peptides.

Added to all this, kefir has an unusual, delicious and acquired taste. When bottled,  it undergoes a secondary fermentation and becomes slightly fizzy - the 'champagne of raw dairy'. 

Thursday 5 December 2013

there we were happy...


In 'before they pass away' Jimmy Nelson documents 29 indigenous tribes, with lessons for us all about who we are...

In the TED interview on the site Jimmy describes how the Kazakh people he spoke to were given the option to live in apartments in the city but decided to return to their traditional way of life.  In their words "there we were happy, there we could feel how we were".

Living in their traditional way, close to the Earth they could actually feel, which is the basis for any kind of satisfying life....

http://www.beforethey.com/

Wednesday 4 December 2013

grasping the nettle

Nettles don't sting when you really grasp them...
they are serotonin boosters, cleanse mucus, boost metabolism and add minerals into your diet, they are great in green juices and are free!

tpv radio interviews tony wright

In this latest interview, Tony describes how a change from our archaic forest diet, which supported our incredible neurology, affected the build of the brain and led to the human condition that we experience today.  He talks about the way in which the left hemisphere has been affected detrimentally whilst ironically it now dominates our sense of self and experience.  This is what Tony describes as the 'biological origins of the fall from grace'.

If you are new to Tony's work this is definitely worth a listen.  I have a feeling that as time goes on these ideas will be increasingly accepted as self-evident.