Coconut water - miracle food number 1

Our miracle food for the week is: Coconut Water ! The natural electrolyte! Coconut water happens to be one of the purest liquids known to man, and the health benefits of coconut water are numerous. Don't bother with those sachets of manmade electrolytes when you have a runny tummy; this is what you should be drinking as it's packed with organic electrolytes, sodium, potassium, magnesium. When you need rehydrating, or a sports drink - THIS is the one to pick, don't let any of that fake artificial Lucozade stuff go near you. Drinking coconut water helps in breaking down and eliminating all forms of kidney and bladder stones. It is also known to calm nervous and emotional imbalances. Coconut water aids in flushing the liver, since it contains lauric acid, which gives it anti-microbial properties and makes it suitable for treatment of some liver ailments like hepatitis. And it contains glucose, which acts as sugar for energy in the body when taken, vitamin B's, for  replenishment of worn out cells and tissues, and vitamin c, for the immune system
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etc. Of course, Polynesians, Asians, Brasilians, etc have known this for centuries. And now Madonna & Demi Moore and co are investing in the Vita Coco brand. If I had any money and knew how to invest, I would too! Although - I have to say - it's far nicer out of  a chilled and freshly macheted coconut on the beach than out of my fridge in freezing London. see more on electrolytes and why they could be the key to understanding your body under the tag "electrolyte" .

Amazing dairy-free milk

Hurray! I've finally discovered a non-dairy milk I actually like the taste of! Kara Coconut milk - it's drinking milk, not the coconut milk you'd use for Thai curries. And, it's better than soya and rice milk as it's even healthier. It only got released on the market recently - it's cholesterol and lactose free, and contains the richest source of Lauric Acid of any kind of milk. Lauric Acid is a medium chain fatty acid, which is healthier than saturated animal fats and also helps control cholesterol. http://karadairyfree.com/ Coconut milk is from the coconut flesh, not the same as the coconut water, which sits in the middle of the fruit, which is also full of electrolytes - a natural isotonic beverage. (see other posts) http://www.talkingretail.com/products/product-news/14219-kara-dairy-free-the-...

Cleaning the colon - what I did in Thailand

The word detox used to make my heart sink, because I knew there was no way I'd have the will power to do it - even just the idea of eating salads for a week, delicious as they might be, made me cross! Cross because I knew if I had the desire to eat the chocolate cake, I would, because I lacked any will power to resist it. I didn't really believe that silly old herbal concoctions would work and it annoyed me that detox packages would be on sale for huge amounts of money in pharmacies 'cos I thought they're probably just a rip-off. Why did I feel I even needed to detox? Quite simply, years of over-indulgence and lots of niggling, sometimes screaming, health problems. It was like a last hope, a wiping-the-slate clean idea but I just never got around to it, and just put up with the status quo. So in 1998 I discovered a rather good value place in Koh Samui, probably I'd seen it on TV, and I stuck it in my brain section entitled Things I Will Definitely Do One Day. This place attracted me a) because it was cheap and b) something about the hard-core nature of fasting for 7 days AND giving yourself an enema twice a day - made me believe that this was the best method I'd seen yet for wiping the slate (colon) clean,  kickstarting a new way of living. However part of me remained extremely sceptical - these things only work for other people not me, I won't be able to do it, I'll just go back to my old ways. So it took me 10 years to get round to going there. Since this post is just a summary, I'll skip the gory details and just explain that it's very controlled; you take a special juice every 3 hours, herbal pills every 3 hours, (but not at the same time as the juice) and you give yourself two coffee enemas every day, morning and evening, all for 7 days. You eat nothing. It's all very strange at first. It's not pleasant giving yourself enemas, but there's a video and books to teach you and experts on hand (NOT with you in the bathroom) to ask; you learn as you go along, talking to fellow-guests in minute detail and picking up handy hints... you get a bit weak, you can do gentle yoga, chi-gong, steam rooms, massages, beach etc. Not as cheap as the rest of Thailand but all affordable - massage £6, yoga class £5.  The aim, in a nutshell, is to give your body a rest from being stuffed with food, so that it can concentrate on getting the gunk out of you, helped by herbs and enemas. You can hear more about this in other posts but suffice to say... EVERYONE has this, (unless they've been vegan and only eaten raw fruit and veg all their life), it's yuk, and you need to get it out of you, because it clogs up the colon and leads to other, potentially serious problems. Of course, I took photos - every time I did a colema. I emailed a couple of them to my father upon my return; he said he was almost sick and he promptly gave me strict instructions never to show these to any of my boyfriends. (Of course I wouldn't!) (well, not during courtship period anyway!) Honestly, why are some people so SQUEAMISH!? People are just not getting the fact that this stuff is inside THEM too and surely it's better out than in!! It's funny to see different peoples' reactions. There is one end of the scale, my father and brother, who shut me up loudly and almost hysterically if I even opened my mouth to say the word "enema"; and there is the other end of the scale, my friends B, P and E for example who were fascinated, examining pictures of mucoid plaque, and immediately decided they might want to do this themselves. If you are more the latter, then good for you! Follow your intuition - you KNOW that cleaning your colon is the way forward! I did mine at the Spa Village, Spa Samui in Koh Samui, Thailand.  www.thesparesorts.com I am currently investigating UK options for the same cleanse; there aren't many so maybe I will start one myself. Once you have done it and you know what you are doing, you can use www.ariseandshine.net to buy the herbs and psyllium husks and www.cleanse.net, find a colema board and do it at home, but I wouldn't advise if you don't know what you are doing. Yes, you need to take the herbs and drinks, and yes, you really should do the enemas,  (no point cleaning your house without emptying the rubbish bin) and no, you really shouldn't eat anything except drink coconut water, carrot juice, wheatgrass juice, a liver flush, vegetable broth. I've gone into more depth in other posts.
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Thai green papaya salad (Som Tam or Pok Pok)

One of my favourite Thai dishes of all time, but to make it in the UK you've got to find where they might sell green papaya and dried shrimps. Asian supermarkets will, but charging 10 times the few baht you'd buy them for in South East Asia - I just bought one green papaya for £4.80!  AND it's flown by air so food miles and carbon footprint are huge, but just once in a while it's nice to have a treat. I guess you could replace the green papaya with rice noodles and prawns, but that makes it a different salad.. I learned this in Cambodia but I've changed the recipe since the Thais make it better I think. (The Cambodians were getting carried away adding oyster sauce and tomato ketchup into the mix, sorry but yuk!) There are loads of variations on this recipe, just fiddle around with the ingredients till it tastes how you like it. You need a pestle and mortar if you want to do this properly really! Everything, even the shredded papaya, needs bruising in it. You'll also need a julienne stripper to shred the papaya, and v useful for other veg like carrot too.

Ingredients (serving 1)

A large handful of shredded green papaya A small handful of dried shrimps, chopped 1 small Thai red chilli, chopped Some green beans, chopped into 2cm lengths - can be lightly steamed or raw, in fact if you have a tendency to over-boil veg then don't go anywhere NEAR the saucepan with these! Half a clove of garlic, peeled and chopped 1 large handful of cherry tomatoes, halved 2 small handfuls of roasted peanuts (it’s fine if they’re salted) 1 tablespoon of palm sugar - ordinary sugar if you have none, but try and always buy unrefined 1 tablespoon of fish sauce lime juice - at least 1 lime if not two or 3 Thai basil

Method

peel the papaya, and shred with a julienne shredder into thin strips. Pound the green beans, red chilli and garlic in the mortar. Throw in the peanuts and dried shrimp and pound again, then add the palm sugar and tomatoes and pound again, lightly. Now introduce the lime juice, fish sauce and a large handful of shredded papaya. Give one last quick bruise and mix.
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Day 7, Detox and Fast on Koh Samui

It's my last day of the fast and boy am I relieved not to be giving myself any more colemas, even if there is more to come out. I wish I could have put a bit more detail about them in here but you never know who's going to read it! It's definitely a skill I've been proud to learn. My body aches from being weak but I feel excellent generally. I can't wait for papaya and bee pollen breakfast tomorrow. I had such an astounding time looking at the contents of the colander after the last colema. All I can say is, do it yourself. I feel nervous but better equipped to handle the challenges of normal life in London - maybe I'll enjoy not feeling quite so full after meals in my future healthy state. Click here for Day 8 - Breaking the Fast!!

It's all about the soil. (Notes from Food Matters)

Watched on Detox in Thailand Jan '10 [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4DOQ6Xhqss&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

Notes from Food Matters..

Reasons for growing yourself / eating only fresh picked food:
  • If it is 5 days old, how much nutritional value do you think really get from it?
  • Soil - if it's deficient, the vegetables are too! Vicious circle of pests and more chemicals to counteract, soil gets more deficient
  • Fertilisers like NPK. Soil requires 52 different minerals.
  • supermarket / nutrient depleted veg makes us deficient and toxic
  • There are live enzymes in raw veg - these are workers - these deplete when you cook! The body can benefit more from RAW food.
  • If your diet is more than 51% cooked food, the body will react as if foreign bodies are entering. Make 51% of your meals RAW!
SUPERFOODS: spirulina - plant based protein source - completely absorbable and doesn't require so much energy to get into your cells. raw honey tumeric cacao beans wheatgrass goji noni coconut SPEND MONEY ON THE BEST SUPERFOODS, NOT A CAR! (our values have got inverted)
  • If you have a bad day of eating you need to have supplements.
  • Vitamins are REALLY important.
  • The higher the dose the better.
LESS THAN 6% OF GRADUATION PHYSICIANS IN THE USAS RECEIVE ANY FORM OF NUTRITIONAL TRAINING!
  • You cannot heal selectively. You nourish the body, and then the body fixes it. Vitamins don't fix it, they enable the body to fix it. So activate your body's healing system.
  • Not one cell in the body is made of a drug.
  • Cutting into the body does not make it better!
A NEW PARADIGM IS NEEDED!
  • We are all eating too much of the wrong thing, and not enough of the right thing.
  • All diseases are reversible - people have been known to arrest cardio-vascular disease without surgery!- stick with the high fibre veggie diet, reduce stress, increase vitamins.
  • Drink WATER
THE WAR AGAINST CANCER IS BEING FOUGHT WITH ONE ARM BEHIND THE BACK, SO TO SPEAK. IT'S A 200BILLION $ A YEAR INDUSTRY! IMAGINE IF WE SOLVED THE PROBLEM. MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WOULD HAVE TO RETRAIN IF THIS TRUTH CAME OUT. ONE OF THE FEW CHOICES A PERSON HAS IS WHAT THEY CAN OR CANNOT EAT. (PW: this is arguable obviously) COLON CANCER IS VERY SERIOUS AND HARD TO TREAT. BUT IT IS 100% PREVENTABLE...
  • The Japanese have the lowest cancer rates. Seafood, omega 3, green tea.
  • nutritional therapy.
PW ADDS:

THE SOLUTIONS ALREADY EXIST WITHIN NATURE

Day 6, Detox and Fast on Koh Samui

I just want to write this to myself and make sure I never forget it. What IS this stuff??? I can't believe it's coming out of my body!?! How long has it been there? Will it all have come out by tomorrow? (when the fasting ends). It's like pondweed. And that's the more palatable description...and some of it is really quite hard. And it definitely takes on the form of a sheath - I can put a stick right through it. It's just like Rich Anderson's book says! The fact it is coming out of its own accord  - this morning before the enema as well - is a good thing I suppose. Those herbs must be doing their job. Dying to find out what the white bits are. Definitely fatty deposits. So odd. Anyway - I feel really weak now. Looking forward to eating again in 2 days time. My body is beginning to ache , especially my legs - I have been walking a LOT - like miles up and down the beach and climbing the mountain to my hut 8 times a day. My body feels as if I have done a really intense gym or heavyweight lifting session and not cooled down afterwards.It's not surprising as I haven't eaten for 6 days.  But in another sense I feel SO much lighter and clearer. I can see why people might get addicted to this. It is a spiritual experience as well as a physical one! I can't quite picture myself giving up alcohol, eating a raw food diet, and giving up all acid-forming foods though. But knowing i can do this makes me feel a great weight has been off my shoulders! Click here for Day 7 PS: Watched the Secret - had read it 3 yrs ago but had nothing else to do so watched the film: click here for notes on it!

Day 4 Fast and detox in Koh Samui

So it's Day 4 and I'm wondering why I feel fine - you're supposed to feel a bit sick by this point. I am going to have to show you a photo of what's been coming out of me because otherwise you are missing the point. Look away now if you don't want to see! Actually no, I've chickened out. I'll tell you what, I'll upload them to a - post, and you can ask me for the password - or guess it! Here it is!>> Meanwhile, I'm realising that my nails are stronger and whiter and growing really fast. And every night I'm going crazy for all their instructive videos - some of which I've seen before, some not - you can see a list of films here>> . But I'm learning about how the colon really works, and why I've had the ailments I've had. And it makes sense, reading Dr Jenson's book and reading Rich Anderson's book - that 90% of human diseases would come from a dirty colon. There'll be more on this later. so day 4, and getting used to this yellowy brown mucoid plaque come out...and wierd white bits are coming out of me too- the size of baby's teeth, and the twisted patterns of presumably the intestine wall on one side, with smooth surfaces on the other. You can see photos here, if you want to ask me for the password, (or guess it).  After much discussion with various expert fasters and cleansers, we think these are made of cholesterol. This is I think proved later - 3 weeks later - when the white bits that I have stored in a little plastic bag, seemed to have melted into fats. Later, I find out that they look very like polyps. Did I have polyps in my colon??Are there more? By the way, I have lost a pound a day so far on this fast. Doesn't sound like much compared to my companions, and TV presenter Jessica from Real Hustle who says she's lost 9 lbs, but it's promising! Down from 142 lbs on wednesday to 138 lbs today - hurrah!

Day 3, Fast and Detox at Koh Samui

Day 3, morning colema. Kind of beginning to get the hang of it, finding it fascinating. Here's how it works. You MUST put a kitchen colander in the loo, with the seat up.This is because you want to SEE what's coming out of you!  You rig up your bucket to a hook on the ceiling.
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Make sure the tube is at the bottom of the bucket, fill the rest of the bucket with some filtered warm water to the top. Not too warm. Then put the colema board - basically a fibreglass board with a whole in it - over the loo and balanced on a chair. Make sure all hoses attached correctly ( a level of detail I can't be bothered with here, sorry) and lie down, with towels and ipod. You put the pipe up yer bum, take the clamp off, and the water starts flowing in. Sooner or later (sooner, in my case) the water wants to burst out again, but you have to massage it up the colon and try to hold it in for a bit. After practice, you should be able to get about a 6th of the bucket inside you without letting any out. Reattach the clamp to stop water flowing in, and wait. Once it does come out, squirting around the sides of the little hose that's that bringing the water in, then you'll feel rather a sense of release, to put it mildly, and you release the clamp and let it flow in again. here's a rather satisfying animation: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JBLcH_pXSE&hl=en_US&fs=1&] Here's an instructive video on what happens when you swallow food: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTaPUdWAEnE&hl=en_US&fs=1&] We can see from this video that we are supposed to have somewhat of a mucus lining in our small intestine. Click here for Day 4

Day 2, Fast and detox Koh Samui

Oh dear. Had to get up with tummy troubles 4 times in the night... there certainly won't be anything to come out of me now. Also got woken up by the wierdest sounding animal I have EVER heard! I had to record it on my iphone. Turned out to be a 1 foot long gecko-y type thing. Got up at 6.45am, went to the detox bar to collect my bucket and pills and have my first detox drink of the day. Geez, there are so many thin brown healthy-looking Ozzy girls here. And giant fat old men with walking sticks. Jolly strange. Pity it's pouring with rain since I arrived - absolutely typical of my luck, destined to be white.. It's becoming clear that I am going to be very busy with this routine! 7am detox drink - psyllium husks and bentonite clay to absorb toxins from gut and provide bulk for the Gunk to adhere to, with a nice pineapple flavour. Drink quickly, or you cant drink it at all.  Pick up my designated bucket with coffee solution in it. Go back to room and start "rigging up" the bathroom! 7.30 to about 8.30 (except it took much longer!) give myself a colema - more here. 8.30 pills - herbs to loosen the Gut Gunk Optional yoga / chi gung 10am detox drink number 2. Take bucket from room back to colema bar. 11.30  - 6 more pills and liver flush drink or a carrot juice or a coconut water or a veg broth 1pm - another detox drink number 3 2.30pm - 6 more pills 4pm another detox drink 5.30 6 more pills and liver flush drink or a carrot juice or a coconut water or a veg broth. Collect Bucket and prepare bathroom for evening colema... 7pm  last detox drink . Take bucket back to detox bar. 8.30 pm 6 more pills 9pm 1 white pill for good bacteria And this routine is basically repeated every single day. You can get takeaway detox drinks if you want to go off an do stuff.. but everything takes a lot of energy! First colema I did was wierd, ok, not very satisfying, but interesting. Second one - Oh. My. God. This is the first time I really believed. Just wierd as hell that this stuff was coming out of me. It wasn't poo. I resolved to keep photographic records logged and catalogued with date and time... To see what happens when you give yourself a colema, click here. Click here for Day 3