When we eat natural fresh food fibers in greens, salads, roots, seeds, green leaves, we are feeding the bacteria and microorganisms inhabiting our gut, to promote overall health. As our gut is considered our second brain, eating these foods also means that we gain access to a second intelligence in our body.
We also need to take care to select those plants that are organic or at least originate from controlled agricultural environments, as we don’t want pesticides and pollutants that are really difficult to get rid of after they enter our organism.
We are learning so much about ancient techniques of growing food, where already the selection of plants that form an ecosystem, minimizes pests and diseases!
Permaculture, agroforestry, syntropic forestry are just some of the techniques we are back in contact with, to contribute to planet regeneration, while growing enough food for all living beings.
Relevant Facts and Figures:
Did you know that drinking wheatgrass helps your blood retain more oxygen and at the same time detoxifies the body? Wheatgrass is commonly referred to as “blood builder” as it’s 70% composed of Chlorophyll, a molecule that bears close resemblance to hemoglobin, a key protein found in our blood that’s responsible for oxygenating our bodies.
GREEN BLOOD
The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein is a modest 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight – this is every day, in order to stay healthy. Researchers, nonetheless have discovered that against the scientific evidence used for establishing the RDA, there are very lean and healthy tribes (some in Africa) where people hardly consume protein in their diets (their diet is mainly plant based, lots of green leaves*), having lots of energy and endurance. This insight is somehow not in the interest of the processed food industry, so you won’t easily find information about this online.
Maybe because Hemoglobin and Chlorophyll are very similar molecules, when we squeeze the juice out of raw green leaves we get to the Chlorophyll and when we ingest it orally, many wonderful things happen in our body! When we eat polluted foods (fish is known to have high levels of mercury and pesticides are in so many foods), heavy metals get trapped in our bodies. Few tools are known to us to get rid of them and Chlorophyll is one of the few foods that helps eliminate heavy metals from our body as it can bind with them.
Chlorophyll is also known to do the same with cancer cells.
Mitochondrial functioning is so important for our health and well being – and experiments have shown that if you ingest Chlorophyll sitting in the sun, Coenzyme Q10 is activated and the energy we have access to in our bodies rises.
Some of the ongoing research is also looking at the way our body can transform Chlorophyll into protein, fat or sugar – if this proves correct, it makes this ingredient highly versatile and effective as a nutrient to satiate our body’s needs.
*Biovivos company is not currently active, so orders won’t be able to be placed for their sprouts. We were nonetheless given permission to share their highly informative leaflet.
WE ARE LIVING IN A BACTERIAL WORLD
The difference between fermented foods and processed foods is life. Cristina, as many of us shifted profession midlife, from civil engineer to Macrobiotic chef, had suffered an accident and broken her ankle, when she heard her hero, Sandor Ellix Katz, was coming from the US to Lisbon to deliver a workshop on tour promoting his recent book “The Secrets of Fermentation” and she didn’t hesitate to enroll!
The workshop was even more inspiring than she dared to hope! She discovered more about his path: Diagnosed and treated for HIV since 1999, Sandor Ellix Katz embarked into exploring naturally fermented foods: he made his own sourdough bread, cheeses from goat’s milk and other treats. The more he practiced, the more he became obsessed with experimenting with naturally fermented foods, and the more his health improved. When asked, during the workshop, if one should eat a lot of fermented foods – he answered: “The great value in nutrition is diversity. It is not because something is good that you should eat only that! Eat vegetables and fresh fruit! On top of these, eat different naturally fermented foods, with moderation”.
In the Mediterranean region we are familiar with fermented foods like bread, cheese, yogurt, preserves, pickles, beer and wine for a long time. Adding to these, in recent years we have luckily been introduced to more fermented foods like: kimchi, miso and tempeh – all of these with broadening the scope of our sense of taste!
Good fermented foods, especially the raw ones, are alive and when we eat them they interact and enhance the life we host in our body.
Would you like to try a simple recipe? Check the carrot and radish pickle recipe here.
(The author of this story, Cristina David, offers a selection of simple recipes on her Instagram.)
BUILDING IMMUNITY: SIMPLICITY IS KEY!
What if the building fabric for an indomitable immune system is woven into the depth and quality of a balanced relationship with our local habitat? Rather than gobbling up expensive health supplements and fancy superfoods inefficiently slung halfway around the globe from the invasively harvested depths of the Amazon or dicey Chinese herb farms, why not get to know what is flourishing right below your feet? If you don’t happen to live in a steamy tropical jungle, teaming with a unique array of parasites and bacteria unbeknownst to most other parts of the planet, you probably don’t need to be dosing your morning smoothie with Peruvian dragon’s blood or the distinctly odorous durian fruit. Nature provides what we need where we are. Simplicity is key.
Did you know those sunny dandelions or prickly green nettles sprouting in your front yard might just be the most potent source of chlorophyll and essential minerals that you can get your hands on? Why would we see such valuable allies as a nuisance, even going so far as to eradicate them with toxic chemicals; risking our health while damaging the intricate eco-system that gives us sustenance and life? Is it because these spritely and unruly wildflowers don’t match someone’s preconceived notion of what a “pretty” garden or manicured park should look like? Is this intelligent behavior?
When we commune with our wild, rustic surroundings and learn to sway with the deep, mysterious forces of Nature, a symbiotic state of harmony is created within our cells and the earth we stand on. Could this subtle dance be the true source of our wellbeing? It has been understood for over 3,000 years in Eastern medicine that the root of all illness stems from an imbalance in Prana/life-force energy, i.e.“dis-ease”. When we are in alignment, we are healthy; and the native plants play an essential role in supporting that balance.
“Local herbs are not ten times stronger, not one hundred times stronger. Local herbs are one thousand times stronger than exotic ones!” – J.R. Worsley
BUILDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF OUR ANCESTORS
What did our Ancestors many millennia ago imagine about the times we are living in today? This conversation reached me through a memory ripple.
An adolescent girl is walking in a forest with her grandmother and asks: “Grandmother, what will the world be like in so, so, so many moons? Will all living beings be living lives with dignity? Will living beings be alive and thriving?”
Grandmother answers: “We will go through many portals and pitfalls before we reach a true inclusive balance with all living beings! It will take time for all the selfishness to be spent so that our collective consciousness may reach flow between all living beings, then we will thrive together!”
The girl stops still and asks: “And which of the truths we know today will still be true then?”
The grandmother sits on a fallen tree stem and invites the girl to sit also. “Trees will be true, the sky will be true, rivers will be true, rain and wind will be true, birds and animals will be true – they will all change over time and so will the system supporting life – what do you need to be true to feel inspired about the future?”
The girl is pensive and places her hand on the soil. “I need to know that the earth is here to support us! If I went many many moons forward in time: what should I take with me into the future? what is the most precious thing I can offer my hosts in the future?”
The grandmother is surprised by the granddaughter’s inspiration and slowly comes to this answer. “You will need to carry life with you!”
The girl is perplexed. “How do I carry life into the future? What life could I carry”
Gathering all her wisdom, grandma answered. “Imagine you would like to carry life as we know it at its best today – you would need to take a sample of the diversity which allows life to thrive. I will prepare a package with the seeds of the magic trees and plants that kick off the process of natural succession and soil regeneration – these will create the ecosystem for life to thrive.”
The Girl is happy and still perplexed. “What is natural succession, Grandma?”
Grandma answers with a smile. “Plants that support and help in the process of soil regeneration and that endure the driest and most extreme climate conditions in the Mediterranean region and can thrive in the most barren soils. Together these plants will increase life possibility in quality and quantity. Around the Mediterranean these are the native magic seeds for natural succession: Thyme (Thymus villosus), Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis ), Mastic (Pistacia lentiscus), Laurustinus (Viburnum Tinus), Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo), Holm Oak (Quercus ilex), Wild Olive (Olea europaea var silvestris)”