'THE GREAT HEALTH DEBATE'

All the Gurus of Raw Food etc. came together recently to give their pros and cons of eating raw,eating cooked,eating a little, eating a lot......All their views on why we should or should not eat a certain way.Needless to say it was an interesting 7 days and Kevin Gianni who put it together has given us a summary ...........


"So here are my 7 common things for this special Great Health Debate edition…

Eat plants first.

It doesn’t take a brain surgeon for any of us to understand this, but it’s amazing how many people don’t eat enough plant food in their diet.
All experts agree, we need to eat plants.
It is, and should be, the base of our diet.
Think like a vegetarian (doesn’t mean you have to be one) and you’ll be rewarded with good health.
If you don’t eat pounds of plant food every day, tread at your own risk.

2. Eat less meat.

I know, the Maasai and the Eskimos ate a lot of meat…
My question is are you an Eskimo or Maasai?
Probably not.
And if that’s the case, chances are your ancestral heritage ate a lot of plants.

What I’ve come to realize during this event, is that there are a lot of arguments that people use to justify their diet – on both sides!

Many of them don’t make as much sense when you hear them a few times.

This is one of them – “The Eskimo and Maasai eat meat, so that means we can or should as well.” (Or any variation of this statement.)
The reality is if you’re Asian, Japanese, from Central or South America, come from the Mediterranean area, Indian, or African your genetics are engineered to eat a lot of plants.
This doesn’t mean to not eat meat, that’s your personal choice, it means that even if you are omnivorous, your focus should be a plant-based diet first, animal food second.
Every long lived health expert I’ve interviewed eats more plants and less meat. Every single one.
Based on evidence from “The Blue Zones” we can see that the cultures that live the longest in today’s modern world have this in common as well.
More plants, less meat.
It’s a good mantra.

3. When you want to cleanse, you fast.
I think every expert will agree that if you want to cleanse you should fast in some way.
Whether the type of fasting is a raw food diet, juice fast, or water fast, it can be agreed that fasting is a valuable detoxification tool.

4. Avoid excess salt.
Some experts believe salt is something you should never take. Others feel it’s OK in moderation. Others take it all the time.
I’m going to bring my own research and knowledge into this discussion and say that the overwhelming evidence of salt intake on health is negative.
Many of the experts like Dr. Fuhrman, Dr. Goldhamer, Dr. Williams, Charlotte Gerson and others share this opinion.
Maybe the most practical advice about salt is to not use it at home.
When you’re around other people or at dinner with friends, you can relax your rules.
This is what we’ve adapted into our lives and salt rarely is an issue – unless we eat something that is over salted.

Then our hands swell up, our blood pressure rises and we don’t want to eat salt again for a while, which is a good thing.

5. Eliminate processed foods – even the “healthy” ones.
I know you’re saying that you don’t eat processed foods, but what about those raw treats, or that vegan or whole cream ice cream?
Processed sugar (agave included), salt and other boxed foods are one thing that all native cultures do not have in their diet. So you shouldn’t have it either – organic, raw or whatever.

6. Know your food sources.
Whatever you eat, make it a point to get most of it at the farmer’s market or somewhere close to your home.
Knowing who grows your food allows you to trust your own personal food supply.
Buying food locally, also supports the move to bring food growers back into the community. This movement is our only hope to change the food system as we know it now and end monoculture and factory farming.
Leave the health box stores alone, you’re going to pay way too much for non-local produce and food.

7. You must exercise or you can forget about true health.
I’ve always felt that your exercise program is slightly more important that what you eat.
We can argue back and forth about this, but you can’t tell me that it’s not nearly as important – or slightly more as I assert.
If you’re not moving, you’re dying.
Exercise is one of your most potent detoxification systems.
Some people ask me from time to time about cleanses and pills to take to detoxify and I always ask if they exercise regularly.
If they don’t, I tell them that I know a way to detoxify that’s free – exercise.
It’s not a popular answer, but you can’t knock something that works"

He also named one of the people who he thought looked especially good for his age and he felt it was because this man excercised 5-6 times per day.......

What i got from 'the great debate ' is everything in moderation,eat lots of vegetables each day ,make sure raw vegetables is in your diet and no processed foods as they carry too much sugar and chemicals......... But then havent i always told u that?

More great advice from Dr. Mercola

When I was a younger and heard people who hadn't had a drop of alcohol to drink all their life dying of cirrhosis of the liver I used to wonder how come???? Well Dr. Oz on his programme this morning told all of us it's too much sugar that destroys your liver, not necessarily too much alcohol...... that's why you have women dying from this all the time....now isn't that interesting!
I was kinda off Dr. Oz because I saw him giving people ice water to lose weight and he loved over-the-counter drugs too much, although I forgive him as he's a mainstream doctor, but yesterday when I saw him bring on Dr Mercola and admitted there is so much he doesn't know and wants to learn and expressing a desire for them to work together - he is back up in my good book!
Dr Mercola has the best website I think that helps us cut through all the fake information that the major drug companies want us to believe.
Sometimes when I read his newsletters, which always have the source of the information right there, I just shudder.
He was telling us for months not to be caught up with the swine flu hoax while President Obama ( one of my favourite people ) had his entire family being vaccinated! He really cuts through the bull and today what I learnt about fluoride is giving me hives.
Not to scare you just to let you be aware, I am sharing his great advice on aging gracefully - he tells you here that all the anti wrinkle creams not going to work as anti aging starts at the cellular level.

Feeding Your Skin from the Outside-In
You may not realize this, but a large portion of the toxins you're exposed to on a daily basis comes through your skin, not just through what you put in your mouth. Your skin is actually the largest organ of your body, and it's highly absorbent. Women absorb an estimated five pounds of chemicals a year just from the makeup they use!
Therefore, you want to give your skin the same thoughtful care you give your internal organs. Having a great diet while slathering toxins on your skin is counterproductive, to say the least.

Personally, if I'm not willing to eat it, I won't put it on my skin.

For example, my organic body butter contains the following eight extraordinary food-based ingredients that are both safe and effective:

1.Organic Shea Butter
2.Cocoa Butter
3.Virgin Coconut Oil
4.Jojoba Oil
5.Murumuru Butter
6.Rice Bran Extract (Oryza Sativa)
7.Palm Oil
8.Aloe Vera Juice
These ingredients individually and synergistically contribute to softer, smoother, moister skin, without taxing your body with potential toxins. Along with a nutrient-dense diet and pure water, a truly all-natural, organic moisturizer can help you achieve a clear and radiant complexion.

The food debate!

The debate rages on about what is good for you to eat and what is not..like how some people insist that a cooked sweet potato is better for you than a baked white potato the reality is - they’re both healthy!
Sweet potatoes have more fiber and vitamin A, but white potatoes are higher in essential minerals such as iron, magnesium, and potassium. As for the glycemic index, sweet potatoes are lower on the scale, but baked white potatoes typically aren't eaten without cheese, sour cream, or butter—all toppings that contain fat, which lowers the glycemic index of a meal.
Put the Truth to Work for You - the form in which you consume a potato—for instance, a whole baked potato versus a processed potato that's used to make chips—is more important than the type of spud. So people it's the process that our foods go through, and nowadays it's hard to find food that hasn't gone through one process or another, so sweet potato chips just as bad as white potato chips depending on what it went through before it reached your mouth....plus we might be having the baked potato and filling it with bacon and "plastic" cheese therefore not getting anything from it.....
Then as I sat down to write this someone asked me about drinking raw milk.....the thing is when the milk man used to deliver the milk to our mothers and they would take it in and scald it and it had that thick cream on top - that's the way we are supposed to drink milk, but we can't do that now - cows not feeding on grass.....they are feeding on all sorts of feed made from corn and God knows what else, do we know what antibiotics or supplements are in the feed to go and have unpasteurized milk ?
We want to go back to eating and drinking the healthy way before fake sugar and margarine were the norm, but unless we put in our little gardens, grow our chickens and cows or eat organically, it wont be possible......as I keep telling you it's not necessarily whether food is raw or cooked - it's the process the foods we eat go through because if we are eating raw and eating vegetables and fruit filled with insecticide and pesticide, it will make us just as sick, maybe sicker, because at least cooking it kills the poisons, it's just that if we cook everything we are just not getting any nutrients to do anything for our bodies.
But as we hear organic I hear you all saying "but that's so expensive".
Really? I think the doctor and the tests costs far more!

New strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Animals in factory farms are given doses of antibiotics -- both to keep them alive in stressful, unsanitary conditions, and to make them grow faster. The practice leads to new strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, such as the now-widespread form of staph (MRSA) known as ST398.
Federal regulators have in the past refused to release estimates of just how much antibiotics the livestock industry uses. But recently the FDA released its first-ever report on the topic. And the amount? Twenty-nine million pounds of antibiotics in 2009 alone.
According to Grist:"[T]he Animal Health Institute, a veterinary-drug trade group, estimated total use in livestock at 17.8 million pounds. The industry has been clinging to that number ever since ... [T]he industry figure is woefully off -- about 40 percent lower than the real one."
I can just hear some of you after reading this saying to yourself "Pat start depress me so early in the new year?"
But people forewarned is to be forearmed!
Remember we might have gotten away last year but this year is another 12 months we are doing these things and it adds up...once in a while fine - meat 7 days per week not so fine........a close friend of mine eats chicken twice a day from he has been at school, chicken for lunch and chicken for dinner....TALK ABOUT ANTIBIOTICS in his blood,come on!Remember its not the good old days..............
Wait till that catches up with him!

BEVERAGES THAT CAUSE FAT

For 2011 you have to be conscious of what you put into your body........we say we are not drinking soda yet we drink grape juice which has even more sugar....we fill ourselves with energy drinks and all kinds of fancy coffee and wonder why we all look like balls and we women, our belly-fat stick out further than our breasts.....as to the men, those are not beer-bellies, those bellies are full of sh__! Check out the following from Coach Josh on Beverages that Cause Fat:

If you’re looking to pack on a lot of belly fat, these products will help you do it. Make sure when you are looking at the supplement facts panel you look at servings per container because the labels are very tricky to read.
Vitamin Water says it only has 13 grams (g) of sugar. However, there are 2.5 servings per container. So there are 32g of sugar in one 20 oz. bottle of Vitamin Water.
Welch’s 100% Grape Juice says there is no added sugar but when you look on the label—just 8 oz., only about half of what somebody will drink in a glass of juice—has a whopping 39 g of sugar. Even worse, it is fructose, which is a kind of sugar that is easily converted to belly fat.
Coca Cola’s second ingredient is high fructose corn syrup and just 8 oz. has 27 g. of sugar. Now I don’t mean to pick on Coke, most other soft drink brands are just as bad. Don’t forget that most soft drinks also contain a hefty amount of caffeine so you keep drinking more and more.
Amp Energy Elevate contains 29 g of sugar per 8 oz and there are two servings in the 16 oz can . That means that you are getting nearly 60 g. of sugar in just one can.
Sobe Cranberry Grapefruit flavored beverage has 26 g of sugar per 8 oz., and the bottle is 2.5 servings, meaning that you are getting over 60 g of sugar if you were to sit down and drink this product. Keep in mind that 4 g of sugar equals one teaspoon. Would you dump 15 teaspoons of sugar into a glass of water and drink it?
If you drink Rockstar Energy Drink, you are certainly not going to look like a chiseled rock star, you are going to look like an overweight couch potato. Each can of Rockstar Energy Drink contains 62 g of sugar.
I was shocked to find out that Gatorade contains high fructose corn syrup as its second ingredient and to think that they market this product towards athletes. What athletes really need is an abundance of fresh water and healthy high nutrient foods to replenish their bodies.
What’s more, Tropicana’s cranberry juice beverage contains high fructose corn syrup and 32 g of sugar per 8 fluid ounces.
Starbucks Doubleshot Energy plus Coffee has two servings per container with each serving containing 14 g of sugar. This means that a can of this “coffee” drink contains 28 g of sugar.
Jose Cuervo Margarita Mix is loaded with high fructose corn syrup. Keep in mind, the average “small” margarita weighs in at a huge 400 calories!
Mr. and Mrs. T Sweet and Sour Mix has high fructose corn syrup as the second ingredient. Yet another reason why mixed drinks are hazardous to your waistline.

Well I`ve been told that one of the ingredients in Lucozade is lethal yellowing, and recently a friend ended up in hospital with caffeine poisoning from drinking too much of that very popular caffeine drink - the same one that Beenie Man's number 1 hit song talks about mixing with rum !!.......another friend told me she doesn't know how more doctors don't get caffeine poisoning because they drink these caffeine-laced energy drinks to keep going........
Take note that 2 energy drinks are on the list in Coach Josh's article above so if you must use an energy drink use XS which is caffeine-free and has 0 carbs and gives you all the energy you are looking for.
One thing I must tell you is that the safest, healthiest way is to eat 80% raw and you will have all the energy in the world without resorting to these things. Too much processed food is the main thing that makes us sluggish!

CHANGE

You know we don't like change in fact we positively hate change, that's why we can't even move on when our relationships scream to us that they are over, we don't want to move on from our jobs and when they move us out we go on like it's the end of the world!
I keep telling friends and staff about their conciousness and the fact that we can only go where our level of conciousness takes us and trying to think of 2011 the following message from DR.ROBERT ANTHONY says it all..........

Life doesn't come with a money back guarantee and yet many of us
live like it does. People are certain that they will keep their jobs. They are certain of living a long healthy life. Others might be certain that they will lose their jobs or get sick and die young. Certainty comes in many forms but it rarely corresponds to the truth.
The truth is nothing is certain. The need for certainty is the need for safety. It is the basis of all religion. Since we do not like uncertainty, we choose to believe in something that we feel we can be certain about, even though we have no logical proof that it is true.
Some might argue that if nothing can be counted on then why bother trying. In order to move forward in life many people need to have a sense of certainty about the outcome. But this kind of certainty is an illusion.
Certainty is a form of disconnection - from the truth and from ourselves. When we feel certain about something, we are disconnected from the natural flow of life.
Certainty is the perpetual elusive dream of most people.
What in life is certain? There is a part of you - your Authentic Self - that is unchanging. This pure consciousness is certain while everything else is uncertain, impermanent and an illusion. But how do you discover or experience this pure unchanging consciousness ?
Through Inquiry.
If you are certain about something - anything for that matter - you immediately place a lid on that thing. It cannot change. You won't let it change because if you do, you will be wrong in your certainty. But all things, except one thing, do change.
The only thing that doesn't change is WHO YOU ARE - your Authentic Self or what is commonly called consciousness. Consciousness is what remains when all concepts, beliefs, values, habits and ways of thinking are stripped away. In other words, all of your ideas, concepts, beliefs and so on will change over time. If this is true
then why waste time on trying to be certain?
By inquiring how and why you get certain results in your life you learn about your beliefs and patterns that create those results.
Then through the power of your mind, you can consciously form new patterns. The need for certainty is replaced by a relaxed "learning" pattern.
Can you imagine a world in which nothing changes? It would be absolutely miserable. Inquiry is the habit that leads us out of that misery.
Through uncertainty you move from being an expert to being a student. All of life, all experiences, everyone and everything become our teachers.
Today will bring you a new awareness, a lesson or a manifestation that you are making progress - IF YOU LOOK FOR IT! No matter how large or small.

Let 2011 be your year........KNOW the power of your mind!

continuation ..........

Did you hear the news today? 50cents 52 room house was broken into.........what happen was it too big to secure??? Thats what I was telling you in the previous blog, this crap needs to stop!
What's this man doing in a 52 room house? What is anyone doing in a 52 room house for that matter ? Not even the family with the 19 children needs that much space....
But on the positive side, the news also said Jamaicans cut their spending by 60% this Christmas far more than the Bank of Jamaica expected.
Yeah Yeah Jamaica lets show how its done for 2011...........
MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS, IT'S TO SPEND WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS NOT TO WASTE MONEY!