Theobroma Cacao – Food of the Gods

“You are what you eat” can seem like a scary prospect in today’s world of GMO Monsanto processed McCraziness, but it also offers a chance to liberate yourself with every bite or sip you take. Imbibing foods with a high vibration can heal your cells, improve your mood and literally “sing the body electric.” But where to begin? The King of Hearts says, “Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” But I say, “Once you start you won’t ever want to stop!” Here a few tips to set you on your way:

1) Anything in its uncooked, minimally processed raw, sprouted and organic state maintains or amplifies its originally high life force.

2) Greens!  (Because they grow UP towards the sun, and also because they alkalize your system, letting you move into a positively flowing space.)

3) Food and water infused with Reiki. Even if you only know Reiki Level 1, you can hold your hands above your food/water (or imagine doing so) in order to activate its enzymes and life force.  A highly love-infused blessing will increase vibration, too.

4) Raw cacao, provided you treat it with reverence and love, and not just as “candy.” Consider raw cacao in the same category as tobacco or alcohol, both sacred substances, which can become addictive or vibration lowering if abused.  Raw cacao in small, loving, deliberate doses can have the effect of opening and softening the heart, inviting bliss and increased awareness.  If you don’t feel it, don’t worry.  No one’s making you eat raw cacao!  You will know if it resonates with you.

5) Spirulina and/or E3Live.  These tiny, ancient organisms bring us closer to the original, watery love-vibe of Mother Earth.

6) Organic Goji Berries. A Tibetan wonder, perhaps the most studied “superfood,” goji berries visibly raise the vibration of people who regularly consume them.  I can usually “pick out” the goji eaters or goji drinkers in a crowd.

And speaking of the King of Hearts, let’s not forget the tea! You can have a (medicinal) tea party any time of day or night with herbal wonders like pau d’arco, tulsi or licorice — all of which act as adaptogens and adrenal support. Less stress effect and better health=higher vibration. More please!

This excerpt was originally published 10/10/08 as part of a longer article on Laura Bruno’s Blog.

my green bliss smoothie

The trick to making any major change is to embrace the process and go gradually. Earlier this year I began to explore raw foods with an open-ended intention: to arrive at a way of eating that fully supported my mind, body and spirit and that left me feeling vibrant, balanced and aware. A few months in I added the intention to have a daily green smoothie. At first I would have one a few times a week, and now 7 months later I look forward to it each morning.

I love experimenting with all the beautiful superfoods out there and devour books and blogs and videos on raw foods daily. My latest favorite is something I’m calling Green Bliss. It’s the richest, loveliest emerald green and maybe it’s just my changing taste buds, but I sometimes think it’s too delicious to be a plant-powered healing potion.

This green smoothie is especially beneficial for women and is ultra-rich in key nutrients like iron, Omega fatty acids, calcium and protein, plus powerful phytonutrients that fight disease. These nutrients are also calming to the nervous system and tissues. I swear you can feel your body coming alive as you drink! Try one when stressed out, having PMS or to move past a craving. The deep level of nutrition will satisfy what your body is really asking for. You’ll find yourself alkalized and revitalized with a steady source of high-vibration energy coursing through your being. To make it simply combine all of the following ingredients in a blender and whip it up. Read more »

photo by Matsya Siosal

If you are on a spiritual path you have, or likely will, examine what, when, and how you eat and question whether or not it serves your highest intentions. Intuition, facts, experience and other information can be used to arrive at a way of eating that is both joyful and health-promoting.

Within minutes of eating something it is being broken down by your highly efficient digestive system and the various elements of the food are making their way through every cell of your body. It’s not just a simple in-one-end-and-out-the-other kind of process. What we eat becomes what we are, so why not eat the most vibrant and natural foods possible?

When we nourish ourselves in a way that directly connects us to nature we align our highest physical,  mental and spiritual aspirations and are likely to find the sense of struggle around eating give way to ease.

More and more people are experiencing the uplifting, balancing and rejuvenating benefits of a high-raw plant-based diet.  A plant-based diet not only provides us with abundant energy, vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, amino acids and other essential nutrients, but it is easiest on our environment and is the only truly compassionate way to eat.  We honor the sacredness of all beings – ourselves and the animals – when we choose to eat from the plant kingdom.

As I write I’m sipping my daily green superfood smoothie. Today it’s an invigorating and spicy-sweet blend of kale, ginger,  orange juice, mango, banana, hemp seeds, maca and MSM.  With each sip of this potent meal I can feel my cells activating, opening and welcoming all the healing and life-force giving nutrients.  With gratitude I reflect upon how this meal all came together: picking the kale from a dear friend’s garden last weekend; riding my bike on a hot sunny day to the co-op for the hemp seeds and maca; and taking the time to lovingly peel, slice and freeze the bananas and mangoes in my bright, window-filled kitchen.

Three times each day we all eat. That’s three opportunities to choose food that promotes vibrance, compassion, and energy. Three opportunities to offer a prayer of gratitude for the simple perfection of nature. Make each meal a celebration of life itself and watch the very foundation of your own life begin to shift toward strength, vitality, ease and joy!

If you would have told my ten-year-old self that I would one day snack on green smoothies I’d have said “yeah right”. But a few decades later and my taste for health and vitality holds as much decision making power as less noble appetites. In pursuit of a nutritious and balancing way of eating that is also delicious, I’ve fallen in love with green smoothies. Before you too wrinkle your nose and say “yeah right” just give it a try.

Green smoothies are an especially easy and delicious way for women to consume plenty of hormone balancing cruciferous veggies each day. A bunch of kale blended with frozen blueberries, bananas and cacao powder is a treat to sip throughout the morning and by lunch you’ve already had several servings of antioxidant-rich produce without having to chew through a big bowlfull of leaves. Not that salads aren’t a pleasure to eat – but it’s great to mix it up and keep things interesting, especially when a commitment to a new, healthy habit is still setting. Read more »

mmmm breakfast!

After I read Celedra’s post on her journey toward raw/living foods I began to reflect on what has inspired my own journey toward a decidedly non-Standard American Diet as well as the spiritual aspects of this path.

My parents raised my brother and I vegetarian from birth and we regularly ate things like brown rice and lentils purchased in bulk. Dinner usually included lots of fresh produce cooked into soups, stir-frys and other vegetable-based dishes.

But we also frequently ate dairy products and processed convenience foods (that of course my brother and I begged for). It wasn’t until my late teen years and my deeper intuition began to develop, that I realized how poorly I responded to animal and chemical ingredients on all levels: body, mind and spirit.

Going Raw? Process, Progress and Intuition

Coming to the understanding that my body required a different quality of fuel wasn’t as simple as heeding the warning of physical symptoms because often symptoms could surface many hours or even days after eating the food. Sometimes certain undesirable foods (ice cream!) honestly left me feeling fine yet I knew they didn’t really support the kind of mind-body-spirit health I was after. Read more »

Swiss Chard

Isn’t it just crazy! The simple process of feeding our bodies has become a national obsession – and a personal one for most of us.

At 16, I remember going on a banana, cottage cheese and lettuce diet and was FINALLY able to get into a nifty pair of peach size 9 pants. I though I was the cat’s meow. It was just the beginning of a long and tortuous journey that most of us know way too well to bother going into.

Falling in love with Raw Food

Now I have turned 60. My, where has the time gone! The good news is, food and I have become great friends – finally. In fact, I am falling in love with it more and more. Read more »

I’m on my third week of P90X.  I’ve run marathons, done Bikram Yoga and a number of other exercise adventures.  Never has anything felt like this.  It must be the muscle confusion.  My body feels so alive and vibrating with transformation.  Dreams are more vivid and meditation more spacious.  Maybe it’s all the raw food dancing for joy inside my little cells!  Whatever it is, meditation,  a living food diet, and daily exercise are truly the three pillars of a daily Mind-Body-Spirit Love Fest for me. Read more »

I realize that I keep writing about meditating, exercise and eating because they are a constant challenge for me – but then again, I love challenges.

My grandson Jacob asked me if I would please live to be 107 years old. I told him I would do my best and see no good reason why I can’t keep my promise. Anybody out there want to join in? I love to think of all the wonderful things to experience: finally becoming fluent in French, follow Andre Rieu all over the world sitting in quaint towns on summer evening swept away in beautiful music, tangoing all night in Paris, finally doing a 3 month silent retreat, getting my gardens to the point where I can just about completely live off my own grown food – and so much more. What would you do? Let’s gather all of our dreams into a big pot and stir it up!

For me meditating, eating and exercise are the foundation of spiritual, mental and physical well being. I’ll take eating first: I have fallen in love with raw food. Someone said, If you want to be close to God, eat God’s food the way it is served. My taste buds have changed so much since this raw food journey has begun. Nothing is as good as a bowl of fresh, organic veggies all cut up in an array of bright vibrant colors with just a touch a oil and vinegar.

For breakfast, I am addicted to the best smoothie ever. Here is my recipe:

Organic frozen blueberries

Banana

Bee Pollen

Aloe Vera Juice

Omega 3 and 6

Hemp Protein powder

A bunch of greens – especially love kale, parsley, chard

Cucumber

bit of maca, acai, msm, green powder or whatever little extra

So good! Everyone loves it and is so surprised that it can look so bad and taste so delicious.

I am filled with gratitude to be able to start every day so filled with energy and vitality and the blessings of this beautiful abundance of food.

Please join me cultivating these 3 pillars of foundation. Why not? We’re all in it together.

love and blessings,

Celedra

The power of retreat
Taking a time-out from our regular day-to-day lives is essential. I find that I need to unplug and take time away at least quarterly. For years I have longed to go away to a health spa recently I mentioned this to a friend who shares my passion for healthy, intentional living. Soon we were planning for a long weekend of raw food, juicing, walking, yoga and relaxation at the Oregon Coast.

The beauty of raw, organic plant foods

Raw or living foods are regarded by many as the most beautifying and nutritious to consume because many vitamins, enzymes and other live, beneficial constituents are destroyed by the heat of cooking.

Contrary to what most of us are taught, a plant-based diet can provide all of the essential vitamins, minerals and amino acids required for optimum health. Many raw foodists are attracted to the lifestyle because it makes one feel, as Celedra put it, “like you are vibrating with the planet”.

Mindfulness, vitality, and connection
My friend and I stocked up at the co-op before we left Portland and over the 72-hour weekend we ate nothing but fresh, raw, organic foods. We made up our own recipes and relied on some from Jennifer Cornbleet’s book Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 People.

My taste buds came alive and the earthy-juicy-sweetness of the fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds that we ate were so satisfying! We both noted that we needed and wanted to eat less food than we’d expected. Not only do raw plant foods taste better, I find that I can really feel the nutrients assimilating into my body, like puzzle pieces clicking into place – instant vitality!

Ongoing rewards
When a retreat is over the challenge is to sustain the fresh perspectives we attain while away.  The gifts of this weekend are many; perhaps most notably I’ve returned home with a heightened appreciation for the intricate perfection of nature and continued mindfulness about what and when to eat.

Touchstones of the Sacred would love to hear from any raw food enthusiasts! How does raw food impact your body, mind and spirit for the better? Do you feel closer to the divine or your truest essence through a raw lifestyle?

From my garden

Meditation, Eating (mindfully) and Exercise

I don’t know about you, but I live with the daily challange of doing these three things.  And what is so crazy to me is that, of course, the quality of my life in hugely enhanced when I do.  My, we are funny creatures.

Meditation

OK,  45 minutes is really spacious.  My goal is 20 mins.  Once I can just light the candle and incense at my alter, I’m good to go and oh, what peace awaits me.  Except when I get those intense spontaneous urges to get up and make a phone call that I forgot about – or some other trivial spontaneous arising of the mind.  So, I just sit and notice the urge and breathe. Ahhh. Read more »