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A woman's average menstrual cycle is 29 1/2 days—exactly the length of the moon's passage from new to full and back to new again. In tribal cultures, where women live in close physical proximity to each other and their natural menstrual cycles are not disrupted by such things as alterations in exposure to natural light, electromagnetic fields, drugs and hormones, not only do they menstruate at the same time, ovulation tends to occur when light is brightest at the full moon, and menstruation begins during the moon's dark phase—at new moon. There is by no means anything pathological in any woman in the modern world not cycling in this particular natural rhythm. However, it has also been demonstrated that the menstrual cycle can be regulated according to the exposure to varying degrees of light, which mimic the waxing and waning of the moon's phases. Under such circumstances the three phases of the moon—waxing, full and waning—correlate exactly with the monthly cycle of ebb and flow of female hormones—the oestrogen dominated proliferative phase, ovulation, the secretory luteal phase, and menstruation itself. SPLENDID PASSAGES In the realm of myth and symbols, these phases are superbly mirrored in the three phases of every woman's life—childhood, before the sex hormones begin to flow, the childbearing years, which begin at the menarche, and the postmenopausal years of the Moon Goddess in her Crone guise. In ancient cultures, the moon was considered the source of fertility and birth. She ruled destiny and time, the secrets of the unseen world, transformation, death and regeneration. It was the moon's power that quickened all of life. Sowing and harvesting were done in harmony with her ebbs and flows. It was the moon which grew bright then darkened and disappeared altogether each month that taught people that nothing in life is constant. The only thing on which you can rely is change. The moon became a symbol of the cycle of transformation that makes its home in a woman's body, while woman came to rule all things that involved change. Archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, professor Emerita at UCLA, is the acknowledged world expert on Neolithic goddess-centered cultures in pre-patriarchal Europe. Author of more than twenty books, she paints a richly detailed picture of their social structure, agriculture, customs, rituals, religion and art. Much has been learned in recent years about the nature of the goddess-centered cultures, which existed for literally tens of thousands of years in Europe and Asia. The miniature sculptures that have been unearthed in the past twenty years give insight into the great variety of female manifestation of the divine which appeared as long ago as 27,000 to 25,000 years BC. Three thousand of these have been found in Siberia alone. In The Civilization of the Goddess, a monumental encyclopedic book which has already changed history, Gimbutas writes, "According to myriad images that have survived from the great span of human prehistory on the Eurasian continents, it was the sovereign mystery and creative power of the female as the source of life that developed into the earliest religious experiences. The Great Mother Goddess who gives birth to all creation out of the holy darkness of her womb became a metaphor for Nature herself, the cosmic giver and taker of life, ever able to renew Herself within the eternal cycle of life, death and rebirth." WOMAN’S MANY FACES We learn from ancient sources that, like woman herself, the Moon Goddess has many faces. At the new moon, she is the Virgin Goddess, wrapped in enthusiasm for new beginnings as seeds sprout and first shoots appear. When her second phase begins, so does puberty. Buds turn into flowers and flowers to fruits as virgin becomes transformed into Divine Mother in charge of procreation and sexuality. She is the pregnant goddess, mistress of animals, bringer of life, the Madonna. As the moon begins to wane, woman passes through her next initiation to a time of harvest and a time of death, during which all that is old becomes compost for her new life. It is the Dark Goddess who rules the darkness of the moon, death and rebirth. Ancient statues of the Dark Goddess carved in bone, marble, alabaster or clay are often white—for white is the color of death. Bones are turned white by the elements. The big breasts and hips you find on statues of the Divine Mother become replaced by stiff nudes. The Dark Goddess is often depicted without breasts, her hands either on her chest or extended along her sides. She is shown with an enlarged pubic triangle, for the Dark Goddess of the waning moon is not only goddess of death but of regeneration. She rules the time in a woman's life when everything that has run its course, everything which has become outmoded or no longer has meaning in a woman’s life, must be destroyed to make way for a more authentic life. THE GIFTS OF MENOPAUSE Menopause is the initiation of the Dark Goddess. It is the passage during which a woman is asked to confront the possibility of her own death and probe the mysteries of decay, dismemberment, and regeneration. For only through the death of the old can the exciting new birth that awaits us take place. As menopause approaches, often a woman wants to spend more time in nature and to feel her spirit fed by the earth. The fear of menopause and the fear of the Crone, so widespread in our society, are nothing more than a reflection of our misguided fear of death itself. For, in today’s world, we have forgotten the great cyclic flow of birth, flowering, death and regeneration that is hidden within the circle of the moon—as it is within all life—and reflected in the circle of our own souls. Little wonder, since our patriarchal culture denies cyclical time and views events as linear. In linear time, the end is not connected with the beginning. Birth and death are not viewed as two vital passages in a continuing cycle of life, but as opposites—the one to be celebrated the other to be resisted at all costs until the bitter end. It is no wonder our society wants to black out menopause and to reject the older female. In the fearful fragmented world we live in, this appears to be the only way that human beings can deny for a time their own mortality. This is why the Dark Goddess remains a focus of fear and loathing in stereotypical male-dominated linear thinking. BANISH FEAR AND CELEBRATE Any woman who does not break through the limitations of such thinking and move beyond it risks becoming so paralyzed by fear that she looks upon The Dark Goddess (and menopause itself) as an enemy to be resisted. In truth, she is the archetype-medium by which the internal split that took place thousands of years ago between woman and her feminine nature can be healed forever. She is death's priestess. It is she that wipes out outmoded patterns of thinking and living. Then, acting the role of the midwife, she brings new forms of living to birth. The Dark Goddess—often called the Crone— can seem a terrifying figure to the uninformed women approaching menopause. She has so long remained repressed within our psyches that, when at last her energy rises and she makes her presence known, it can sometimes feel like an earthquake, a volcano, or some eruption of Nature that occurs to us as when pressures held too long within the earth are released. Yet the Crone has always been present in our lives: She has appeared each month as the moon grows dark and menstrual blood—the source of all creation—flows. Now, as menopause approaches, the Dark Goddess comes at last to rest within a woman's being. For instead of being released each month, the dark blood of creative power is retained within a woman's body and made available for her use. MONUMENTAL TRANSFORMATIONS The presence of the Dark Goddess in a woman's life is easy to spot. She arises whenever we experience dramatic changes—the death of a loved one, loss of a job, disfiguration. She is our teacher who guides us through the transformation that is being asked of us onto a new level of being. She is there in our deepest despair and at times when we connect most powerfully with our own creative fire. She is the hand-maiden that nurtures us through dark nights once we are willing to make the descent into our own psyche, and connect with whatever forms are sleeping there, so we can begin to live our own power. When these connections are made she is present too. She teaches us by her presence alone to become deeply and spontaneously sexual, assertive, straight, incorruptible, prophetic, intuitive and free. All of these qualities arise at menopause. These are the most precious gifts of the Crone. They herald the beginning of what is potentially the most creative part of any woman’s life... This time in which her biological creativity is let go of to be replaced by creativity of the highest order in any woman’s life. It must be said—it is these powerful gifts of the Dark Goddess which are still the most terrifying threats to the linear patriarchal culture of control in which most of us still live. More to come next week...

The mind's depths are rarely plumbed in everyday life. In fact scientists estimate that we usually use only a mere 10% of our total mental capacity - an unfortunate loss of potential. By expanding our consciousness and awareness and setting the power of imagination in motion we can learn to draw upon the remaining reserves and use them to create and actualize our goals and dreams. The process is known as creative visualization or conscious dreaming. It is based on the principle that in everything we do a thought or an image always precedes an action. For example, the thought, "I will go and make dinner." or "I am hungry." results in the meal. By using this principle we can program our minds with positive and creative thoughts and images to bring about rewarding results. This is something which we have both worked with for a very long time. That the mind is capable of influencing our lives and the world in which we live is only beginning to be appreciated. At clinics throughout the world doctors are starting to acknowledge the role of creative visualization in the seemingly miraculous 'spontaneous remission' of terminal patients. Patients are being taught to visualize their immune systems sending out white blood cells in armies to destroy malignant cells. Whatever particular image works best for the person is encouraged. They may see their white blood cells as little men in work clothes clearing away a tumor VricBor visualize them as sharks attacking and engulfing the cancerous cells. The specific image is unimportant as long as it is vivid and meaningful to the patient. The medical profession also acknowledges the power of the mind in the use of placebos. A placebo is an inert substance or procedure which is presented to the patient as a powerful therapeutic drug or technique and which often leads to a dramatic recovery from a serious physical illness. An American physician studying women in early stages of pregnancy who were complaining of morning sickness and stomach contractions, offered one woman a 'drug' which he said would soothe her discomfort and alleviate her nausea. Within minutes the woman felt better. In fact, the doctor had actually given her a powerful emetic - a substance designed to induce vomiting in someone who has swallowed a harmful substance. Because the woman had faith in her doctor, this fact overcame her nausea and reversed the effect of the drug. Such are the powers of the mind. Conscious dreaming is a way of beginning to tap the powers of your mind in order to take control over your life and accept responsibility for what comes to you. It is done in a state of deep relaxation in which we are able to let go of the tensions, worries and doubts that normally plague us, and contact our deeper self. You can use conscious dreaming to improve all areas of your life, for instance to give you more confidence and a better self image, to improve your performance at work or in athletics, to intensify your healing abilities, to increase your creativity so that you express your talents with greater ease - to even gain insights into problems that vex you. It works on the principle that your subconscious does not draw a distinction between an actual experience and a vivid mental image so that your dreams can take on the weight of reality and eventually become part of your conscious life. And because thought and intention precede physical reality, when you ask your imagination to alter your expectations, you can actually improve that reality. journey to the center To begin the journey of self discovery and transformation you need to relax deeply. Our favorite relaxation exercise was taught to us by a friend Angela Farmer, a talented and dedicated teacher of yoga. It focuses on the breath to still the mind and body and is called total breath. Here's how: total breath technique: This complete exercise can be difficult to learn at first. We suggest you have someone read it slowly as you do it. Or read it through several times and then memorize the key words. You needn't remember all the images, but you may find one or two stick out in your mind. Begin by lying down on a carpet or blanket on the floor. The firm surface of the floor is better than a bed because it allows your muscles to relax more deeply against it. Make sure you are warm enough - cover yourself with a blanket if necessary. Place a rolled up towel or small blanket or book under your neck and head. (The size will depend upon the curvature of your neck.) Your head should be supported and your chin parallel to the floor. Take the phone off the hook and make sure no one disturbs you. Lying on your back bend your knees up and place your feet hip width apart comfortably near your buttocks. Bend your elbows and rest your - palms on your abdomen. Bring your awareness to the contact of your body with the ground. Notice where you touch the floor. Let yourself give up your entire weight to the floor so that you sink into it. Imagine the earth embracing you from behind. Let the breath flow through your body like water, gently easing away any tension in the joints and muscles. Once you have eased your back muscles on the floor your spine will naturally lengthen out. Help this lengthening by putting your hands gently behind your head and easing your head and neck out. (You may have to readjust your head rest.) Instead of breathing, release your back to create a space and then wait for the breath to enter. This waiting is very important. It eliminates the sense of trying and doing which fills our lives every day. Trust that your breath will enter automatically. You need make no effort to breathe. As the breath enters feel it rippling through the layers of muscles in your back and have the sense of "It breathes me". Bring your awareness to the where your legs attach to your pelvis and try to let go of any holding in your hips and pelvis. Don't try to move your legs, but imagine your knees being pulled gently up and away on a diagonal. Consider the possibility of your legs floating away from your pelvis. Now feel the weight of your pelvis against the floor. Imagine it as a hollow basin and let your belly and inner organs melt back into it. Feel the bony part of the pelvis (the sacrum) spreading out on the floor as the breath comes in. As the breath leaves the whole spine lengthens out and the back relaxes further back into the floor. Work slowly up the spine in this way, taking your awareness to the waist or lumbar area then to the lower, middle and upper chest - all the time checking that it is not you breathing, but you waiting, releasing, watching as the breath enters and leaves your body. Observe as more and more layers of muscles give up their tensions. When the breath enters the back of your rib cage, remember that your ribs are only connected to the spine by cartilage and can expand to the sides to create more space for the breath. Notice any hardness and holding in the front ribs and chest and allow them to soften. The front of the body can sink back and be received by the back of the body. Bring your attention to the shoulders and top chest. For most of us a lot of worry, stress and fear are held here. See if you can gently soften in these areas, allowing the sternum (breast bone) to drop down and melt. Let your shoulders gradually sink down towards the floor. Imagine in the center of your chest going through to the back between your shoulder blades and from this point see if you can allow the shoulders to drift apart. The shoulder blades can slide away from each other on the floor with the inhalation and rest separated on the outbreath. Let go of any tension in your throat and neck and allow your head to float away from the rest of your body. Let your hair flow away from your head. Imagine your eyes as two pebbles dropping backwards into a pool of water. Let the skin of your face become heavy and flow sideways and down towards your ears. Become aware of your body as a whole. Feel the gentle ebbing and flowing of the breath throughout you. Now is the time to begin conscious dreaming. Once you have reached this state of deep relaxation it is time to begin conscious dreaming. Explore a sanctuary within your mind to which you can return each time you do the conscious dreaming. Imagine yourself in a beautiful place. It may be a place from your past or entirely imaginary. Let yourself feel safe and at peace. Now evoke your dream. Picture your ideal self. If you want to lose weight for instance, see yourself slim and happy going about your everyday affairs. Try to see yourself as vividly as possible. Imagine other people you know responding positively to the ideal you. If you want to kick a bad habit such as smoking see yourself in a situation where you would normally smoke, such as after a meal and picture yourself quite happily foregoing the cigarette. If you are sick imagine yourself well again and doing your favorite things. If you have a problem, for example with a relationship that is not going well or you need to make an important decision, quietly ask your inner self for advice. By taking the time to listen to your higher wisdom you'll be surprised at how easily problems are resolved. Successful conscious dreaming comes in both an active and a passive mode. You can create images and ideals for yourself actively or you can take a receptive stance and allow images and thoughts to arise on their own accord. Both are important and can lead to valuable insights. At the end of each conscious dreaming session conclude by saying to yourself, "This or something better now happens to me for the total good of all concerned." This phrase allows the possibility of the higher wisdom to work through your dreams. You can return to the conscious dream images throughout the day. By beginning to contact your inner self in this way you will find that it becomes usefully integrated into (your everyday life. Gradually open your eyes and for a few seconds look around you. Then slowly roll over onto one side and gently get up.

Like many old wives' tales the adage `sweat it out' is beginning to look like good advice. For generations medicine has tried to suppress fever, believing it to be a state detrimental to the body. Latest findings show that fever can not only significantly strengthen your body's defense system, it appears to be a critical component in immune function. As such, so the new findings indicate, when it occurs naturally, for instance as a response to infection, it should not be completely eliminated by drugs the way we have been wont to do. Fever weakens the force of invading enemies and is a potent positive force for fighting infections. Some scientists now believe that, because of its many immune-supporting characteristics, even when fever is artificially induced in a healthy body by saunas, Turkish baths or vigorous aerobic exercise it can act as a powerful prophylactic to aging, it can increase vitality and it can help provide you with a high level of well-being. This approach to fever is anything but new. Ancient Greek physicians considered fever a beneficial sign of vitality in an organism. They believed that disease was the result of an imbalance between the four humors - blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile - and they considered fever a means of burning off the bad humors and clearing the body of them. To this end they employed sudorific (sweat-producing) herbs, steam and hot baths to induce fevers in their patients. Such practices went on well into the seventeenth century when the famous British physician Thomas Sydenham commented that `Fever is Nature's engine, which she brings into the field to remove her enemy.' Then in the middle of the last century, with the discovery of antipyretic (temperature-lowering) drugs such as aspirin doctors began to insist on reducing fevers when they occurred. Drugs such as aspirin not only lower bodily temperature, they also eliminate many aches and pains associated with fever, thanks to their analgesic properties. This makes patients feel temporarily better. So gradually both doctor and patient began to lean heavily on the use of these drugs to suppress fever, and fever came to be considered a negative thing - something to be eliminated as rapidly and effectively as possible. Recently researchers such as Matthew J. Kluger, a professor of physiology at the University of Michigan Medical School, have begun to examine the phenomenon of fever afresh and to ask questions such as: Just what happens when the body is plunged into a feverous state? Why did evolution develop the phenomenon of temperature-raising fever in its creatures? What is the purpose of this remarkable response? What Kluger and others have discovered is that fever's occurrence is not a sign that something is wrong with your body's temperature control system. Instead, a superbly modulated deliberately chosen temperature has been created at which several important physiological and biochemical events occur to heal the body. fever's bounty Among their known benefits (and there are probably many as yet unknown), even slight elevations in temperature not only increase white-cell concentrations, they make the body's defense army of white blood cells more mobile so they can reach any site of infection quicker. There is also considerable evidence that fever makes them more effective in engulfing and destroying invading microorganisms. Indeed it appears to make many other immune functions more effective too. For instance interferon, one of the body's natural anti-viral, anticancer (and therefore probably anti-aging as well) chemicals, about which we have heard so much in the news lately, has been shown to be more effective at elevated temperatures. Of course illness is not the only way that many of the beneficial effects of fever can be brought about. EP stands for endogenous pyrogen which is a low-weight protein produced by leukocytes to help destroy infection in the body. After a good workout of aerobic exercise substances appear in the blood which have identical characteristics to EP. Naturopaths have long insisted that fever is an important force for healing the body. They claim that controlled overheating of the body also increases the rate of metabolic processes as a whole and stimulates the functioning of the endocrine system. Since Hippocrates - some 2400 years ago - doctors have been using artificial methods of inducing fever, for instance giving the herb Echinacea or putting people into sweat baths or steam baths and applying hot compresses, to improve their vitality or stimulate the body's natural healing processes. The new fever research has begun to explain why many of their time-tested methods work. It is also beginning to lend credence to the beliefs of the Turks and Russians that periodic steam baths are strengthening to health and vitality, and to those of the Scandinavians, who have used saunas as a means of both stimulating immune response and spring-cleaning the body from within. words of warning Despite new findings that fever is of benefit to the body, there is every indication that it needs to be treated with respect and that your physician is the best guide to dealing with any illness. For extreme fever can have a damaging effect on a body. And there are some people in whom the benefits of fever may well be outweighed by the risks involved. For instance, in a pregnant woman a high fever could potentially damage her unborn child and young children with very high fever can be subject to convulsions. Also, fevers in very old people have to be carefully watched because of possible damage they could do to the heart. fever as a prophylactic Provided you are fit, aerobic exercise such as cycling, running, walking very briskly, swimming, rowing or dancing is probably the best way of all to benefit from small elevations in temperature. Saunas too can be helpful provided you are in good health, don't overdo them and provided you follow the basic guidelines. A sauna helps make your joints more supple while it soothes your muscles and refreshes the mind. It is also an excellent adjunct to any serious anti-cellulite program for a woman. And early spring, when one's body is suffering from too much heavy winter food and clothing, too little fresh air and exercise, is an excellent time to make use of it. Here are the guidelines: Give yourself lots of time. It will do most for you if you take it leisurely so you have time for several sessions in the heat, with short rests in-between and a rest of at least thirty minutes - preferably an hour - after you are through. Never take a sauna until at least two hours after a meal and never take a sauna during a juice fast. (It is an excellent idea to use the sauna the day before a juice fast or special eliminating diet begins, however.) Never take a sauna if you have the symptoms of an illness. Wear little or nothing in the sauna - a towel wrapped around you is more than enough. The more you wear the less effective will the heat treatment be. Take off any jewelry and your watch. They become very hot. Stay in the sauna room for only 5-10 minutes at a stretch. Then plunge into cold water or take a cold shower and rest before going back in. Don't water the stones during your first session and be sparing with the moisture you put on afterwards. Lie down in the sauna room if you can or sit quietly. Once you are used to the heat you can move to a higher bench. Take at least a half-hour rest at the end to let your body readjust to the normal temperature of the room. This is just as important as the sauna itself to make sure you reap all the benefits. Don't towel-dry yourself afterwards. Instead let the air dry your skin naturally. Then you can have a shower.

By now you will have grasped the principles of meal spacing. It’s time to get specific about putting it all in into practice. TWO MEALS A DAY Put behind you that old adage that you must eat a good breakfast to keep you going through the day. This is untrue. It never has been true, despite all we’ve been taught. The word breakfast literally means the meal at which you “break-a-fast.” That is just what you will be doing on meal spacing—breaking a fast of 12 or more hours after eating dinner the night before. The timings of your two meals each day will need to take into account what your days are like. Is it an easy thing for you to prepare your first meal at home—say between 11am and 1pm? Or do you work away from home all day? If so, does your job require you to eat in restaurants frequently? On days when you don’t, can you make your first meal before leaving for work—say, a salad complete with good quality protein which you can take to work with you, or maybe a delicious smoothie you can carry in a thermos? The rule of thumb for success with meal spacing is to allow 5 to 6 hours or more between your first and second meal of the day. Longer food-free periods are fine too. If you can schedule your second meal in the early evening—say 6 or 7pm, this is ideal. If, on the other hand, you don’t get home until later in the evening or you have been invited out for the evening, then the period between meal one and meal two is likely to be longer than 6 hours. That is fine too. EAT STOP FAST It is essential that, as soon as you finish a meal, you stop eating. And, just in case you have a habit of munching through a couple of biscuits or a bowl of chocolate ice cream between dinner and bedtime, now is the time to break this habit. It’s important to have ended your eating for the day at least 3 hours before you climb into bed. You need an absolute minimum of food-free 12 hours during the night before eating the first meal of the next day. How you plan your eating and fasting periods depends on you. Your timings may change a bit from day to day depending on what is happening in your life. That’s OK. Just don’t forget that, to become lean and healthy and stay that way, and to protect yourself from early aging and degenerative conditions, your body needs extended food-free periods day after day. And the longest and most important is at night, while you sleep. START GENTLY Many people are afraid they will not be able to make it from one meal to the next when they are just beginning to explore what condensed eating can do for them. I recommend when you are just learning the practice of meal spacing that you feel free to eat a snack or two between meal one and meal two if you feel you need to. That being said, the sooner you come to adopt fully this food style and make it your very own, the better. I predict that it won’t take long before you will have no trouble remaining food-free between meals. SNACK SUGGESTIONS Half an avocado with 2 oz (50 g) of Cheddar cheese A no-sugar smoothie made with Vital Whey, sweetened with English Toffee Stevia if you like 1 cup of sliced cucumbers with vinaigrette dressing made with extra virgin olive oil 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with 1/4 cup raspberries 4oz (100g) plain cow’s, goat’s or sheep’s yogurt with half a grated apple sweetened with stevia and sprinkled with cinnamon. TAKE YOUR TIME Your body will need some time to adapt itself to this kind of eating—sometimes only a few days and other times two or three weeks. Just be patient and stick with it. Have your healthy snacks between meal one and meal two until you sense that you no longer need them. But right from the beginning, make a commitment to yourself to end completely the convenience carb foods that undermine health, provoke weight gain and predispose all of us to sluggishness and depression. Eat as many of the good fats as you like while eliminating sugars and the carbs that turn into sugar when people eat them. What are good fats? Coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil and butter from grass-fed cows. These can strengthen your body, bring you energy you can rely on, and will never make you fat so long as you avoid the life-force draining carbohydrates which still make up the bulk of most people’s meals. These include breads, pastas, potatoes, bagels, cookies, chips, cakes and the rest. Meanwhile, eat lots of good fats If truth be told, we humans have little need for carbs. When our bodies are fed quality proteins, the good fats, green vegetables and low-sugar fruits, their bodies will quite naturally derive any glucose that they need from these foods. (For more information about this see my book Healthy And Lean For Life, which you can download for free on the homepage of curaromana.com.) By the way, if while your body is adapting to your condensed eating program, you experience light headedness, muscle cramp, fatigue, or grumpiness along the way, make sure you increase the amount of sea salt or Himalayan salt (not ordinary table salt please) that you are using on your foods. LESLIE’S RECIPES Let me now share with you some of my own favorite recipes that are good for any meal spacing program. I hope you enjoy them. When it comes to radiant wellbeing, nothing carries the power of fresh raw foods. Not only are they higher in essential nutrients than their cooked counterparts, the quality of the phytochemicals they contain is the best in the world. Contrary to what a lot of people think, raw fruits and vegetables are easy to digest. Each fruit or vegetable carries within it the exact enzymes necessary for us to digest it fully and efficiently. Bircher Muesli serves 1 This recipe, which is great for either of your meals, calls for an apple. But you can use almost any fruit. Berries work very well. The recipe serves one, but can just as easily be made for twelve. This particular form of muesli is dairy-free. If you prefer to use dairy products, try plain unsweetened cow’s yoghurt, or sheep or goat’s yoghurt if you have a problem with cow’s milk. What You Need 2 tablespoons grated fresh coconut (if you are buying coconut commercially, make sure it contains no sugar) handful of raisins, soaked overnight 1 apple, grated or chopped juice of ½ lemon 3 tablespoons coconut milk or sheep or goat’s yoghurt ¼ teaspoon powdered cinnamon or grated fresh ginger Here’s How Mix together the coconut and raisins and combine this mixture with berries or a grated or chopped apple, lemon juice and the coconut milk or yoghurt. Sprinkle with cinnamon or ginger. Serve immediately. Vanilla Nutmeg Smoothie Serves 1 This meal-in-an-instant is surprisingly filling and the vanilla makes it a warming drink, despite being made with ice! You can make the smoothie with or without the egg. If you do use the egg, make sure it is free-range and organic. Use only the best whey (see recommendations below). Most of what you find out there is junk. Don’t touch it. What You Need 6 ice cubes 200ml clean water 1-2 scoops natural or vanilla-flavored micro-filtered whey protein (see resources) 1 free range, organic egg 1 teaspoon vanilla essence (the real thing, no sugar, preferably organic) a pinch of grated nutmeg stevia to taste Here’s How Put all the ingredients into a blender, but blend for no more than 20 seconds as this can change the nature of the whey protein. Sprinkle a little extra grated nutmeg on top and serve immediately. If you like, you can add 1 tablespoon of flaxseeds to this smoothie for a fiber boost. Warm Bacon and Spinach Salad serves 2 I used to live in Wales. This recipe is based on the great Welsh stalwart—spinach. It’s so often cold in Pembrokeshire, so I made this salad a warm one. What You Need 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 4 oz (100g) naturally cured bacon, cubed 2 tablespoons raw walnuts, broken into small pieces 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1lb/450g spinach leaves 1 tablespoon rice vinegar 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese, finely grated Maldon sea salt or Himalayan salt and freshly ground pepper to taste Here’s How Heat half of the oil in a heavy pan and add the bacon until golden brown and cooked through. Add the garlic and cook for a minute, then add the walnuts, vinegar and the rest of the oil. Throw in the spinach at the last minute, and toss with the other ingredients in the pan until the spinach has begun to wilt. Serve immediately with the grated parmesan on top. Salmon Delight serves 2 This recipe came from a friend—Belinda Hodson. Salmon is such a delightful fish with a unique and delicate flavor. I love this dish because it is easy to prepare and very tasty. The marinade enhances the natural flavors of the fish and the spring onion really gives it its own special zest. What You Need 2 fillets of salmon juice of 4 medium-sized lemons 2 large spring onions pepper and salt 1 dessertspoon of coconut oil zest of 1 lemon plus 2 lemon wedges parsley (for garnish) Maldon sea salt or Himalayan salt and freshly ground pepper to taste Here’s How Finely chop the spring onions and place in a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, pepper and salt and blend. Place the salmon fillets into the marinade (flesh-side down) and leave for 45 minutes. Turn the fillets onto the other side and leave for a further 15 minutes. Heat the coconut oil in a frying pan. Drain the fillets and place in the pan, cooking until tender. Serve with parsley garnish. Crudités It may sound completely mad, but when dipping crudités, it matters what shape you cut your vegetables into. Some vegetables want to be sticks, some want to be sliced diagonally into rounds. They simply taste better. Keep your crudités in the fridge in a bowl of cold water with a squeeze of lemon. Here’s a selection of some fruits and vegetables that make good dippers Sticks carrots turnips courgettes/zucchini green and red peppers Slices cucumber white radish beetroot Jerusalem artichoke kohlrabi apples Whole button mushrooms—stalks left on baby carrots young green beans, topped and tailed cauliflower florets spring onions Wedges tomato chicory small lettuce endive Serve them with a good dip. Here are a couple of my favorites: Curried Avocado Dip This dip is great for crudités. I serve it together with a platter of fresh phyto-nutrient filled vegetables such as endive, bulb fennel, crunchy lettuce, celery, slices of red, green, and yellow capsicum and anything else I happen to have around. What You Need 2 large ripe avocados, peeled and cubed 3 cloves of garlic, chopped 3 tbsp of lemon juice 1 tsp of vegetarian broth powder 1/8 tsp of Cajun seasoning Celtic or Maldon sea salt to taste freshly ground black pepper to taste 1 tsp of mild to medium curry powder 1 tbsp of lemon zest Here’s How Add chunks of avocado plus garlic, lemon juice, broth powder and other seasoning to the food processor— everything except the lemon zest. Blend until creamy and add lemon zest and serve. This recipe makes about 1 cup, which will keep up to 3 days in the fridge. Sesame Miso Dipping Sauce What You Need 125 ml of rice wine vinegar Granulated stevia to taste 1 tbsp miso 2 tbsp of sesame seeds, ground in a coffee grinder or food processor 1 garlic clove, crushed Here’s How Combine all the ingredients. Can be served immediately. Cool Cucumber Dip What You Need 1 small cucumber ¾ cup of yoghurt (cow’s, sheep’s or goat’s) squeeze of lemon or dash of vinegar 1 tbsp minced onion Spoonable stevia to taste 1 clove garlic (optional) fresh mint Celtic or Maldon sea salt to taste freshly ground black pepper Here’s How Peel and grate the cucumber, then drain off any excess extra juice (you can use it as a drink). Mix with the yoghurt, lemon juice or vinegar, onion, stevia and garlic. Finely chop a few mint leaves and add. Season and serve in a dish with sprigs of fresh mint. FOLLOWING YOUR NATURE It may surprise you to learn that the eating pattern which you are aiming to create for yourself is what the human body has been genetically programmed to thrive on for hundreds of thousands of years. It can enable you to eat well and plenty of food without suffering any sense of deprivation or hunger once you get accustomed to it. This is the way our hunter gathering ancestors, whose genes we have inherited, lived. They ate and then fasted, depending on when food was available and when it was not. When you get into eating quality protein foods at mealtime along with plenty of good fats like those in the above recipes, luscious green vegetables and low-sugar fruits day by day, you are likely to find yourself going from strength to strength. Your body gets firmer and leaner. Your health improves as vitality steadily grows. Your mind becomes clearer. You look younger and better than you may have done for years and you feel happier with yourself and your life. Try it and see. USEFUL PRODUCTS: BEST LIQUID STEVIA Wisdom Natural, SweetLeaf, Liquid Stevia, English Toffee Sweet Leaf liquid stevia with all natural flavors is convenient and easy to use. As a supplement, add this nutritious stevia to water, tea, coffee, milk, sparkling water, protein shakes, plain yogurt or anything else you can imagine. It comes in many different flavors including lemon but English Toffee flavor is the best by far. Buy SweetLeaf Stevia BEST MICROFILTERED WHEY Well Wisdom, Vital Whey, Natural Vanilla, 21 oz (600 g) Vital Whey is a delicious, 100% natural nutritional protein supplement. Vital Whey is a proprietary, non-denatured, native whey protein that is produced to maintain the full range of all the fragile immune-modulating and regenerative components naturally present in fresh raw milk. The milk for this product is derived from cows that are grass-fed and graze year-round on natural pastures. Our whey does not contain genetically engineered materials. 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Nothing produces a holiday high like the right kind of exercise. Exercise is a major detoxifier. It sheds waste and lifts your spirits. And the best kind is the kind you like best. The days of donning pink leg-warmers and busting a gut at the gym because it is supposed to be good for you are over. Exercise is an important key in the detoxification process, as it gets your lungs working and your lymphatic system moving. During atwo-day apple fast you need to take some exercise, but only gentle exercise. Long walks are perfect. You do not want to put extra stress on your body by wearing it out with a stiff workout or long run. If you exercise regularly and are pretty fit, then go for a long brisk walk. If exercise is something you would rather not think about, let alone do, indulge yourself in a couple of long lazy strolls in the park or in the country to get your lungs and lymph working efficiently. Once your apple fast is over, to help your body to remain as free of toxins as possible, you need to take some regular exercise. walk it out Regular aerobic exercise (where your heart is beating firmly and you breathe deeply over a period of 30-45 minutes) is essential. It increases your body’s ability to process oxygen – and a high consumption of oxygen keeps your energy high, and keeps you looking and feeling good. Moreover, exercise can do as much good for your mind as it can your body. And, just in case you think you have to become a marathon runner, you may be surprised to find our how simple real fitness can be. Brisk daily walks can not only be a lot of fun, they can help keep your body clean from inside out. Start slowly if you are not used to exercise and then gradually – over several weeks if necessary – work up your pace to four miles an hour. This means you will be walking a mile in about 15 minutes. Once you can do that easily you will be able to walk, say, three miles a day in 45 minutes and you’ll be getting a very pleasant but effective workout, which will bring you lots of energy and have you feeling great. Of course, there are other alternatives as well – you could swim or jog or skip or row. But each of these requires special equipment and special places or times to do, whereas walking can be done almost anywhere by anyone without any special training and without spending extra money. rebound madness Rebounding – bouncing up and down on a mini-trampoline – is tremendous, childish fun. This is probably reason enough to do it, but it is also excellent exercise to help with detoxification. The unique up-and-down movement of your body on a mini-trampoline subjects it to changes in gravitational force. For a split second at the top of the bounce, gravity or G-force is nonexistent. But at the bottom of each bounce, as you come down upon the elastic platform, the pull of gravity on your cells, muscles and tissues is suddenly increased by two or even three times the usual G-force on the earth. On the way up, gravity closes up the millions of one-way valves which control the flow of lymph. Then when you come down again onto the trampoline the internal pressure changes quickly and dramatically, causing them to open and bringing about a surge of lymph, so you set up an internal massaging motion which shunts lymph along. Rebounding is the perfect solution for anyone who wants to exercise at home, no matter what their fitness level. It’s particularly good for anyone who is embarrassed by the idea of going out in running gear or going to the gym. Unlike many in-the-home exercise options, rebounding has a particularly high continued use success rate, probably because it is so much fun. It gets your mind and body working and seems to raise spirits like nothing else I have ever come across. I often use it for 10 minutes or so when I’m feeling fatigued or stressed. Begin bouncing gently so that your heels barely leave the ground. If you feel unsteady, use the back of a chair to support yourself with one arm as you bounce. You might like to bounce to music or even while watching television. As an alternative to bouncing with both feet together, try jogging from one foot to the other. Begin with 10-15 minutes a day and work up to 30 minutes or so as your strength increases. how much? how long? Regular physical exercise – the kind you get if you do 45 minutes of brisk walking, swimming, running, rebounding or rowing at least four or five times a week – suffuses the skin with blood, enhances lymphatic functioning, and increases the ability of your body to carry oxygen and nutrients to the skin’s cells and to remove waste products from them. Always leave no more than 48 hours between sessions, so that you will continue to benefit from the enhanced metabolic rate. Just in case you think you don’t have time, I can promise you once you start you will create more time for yourself because everything in your life will flow more easily. When you notice the benefits that a sustained exercise routine brings, you will find your body craving for more. But more is not necessarily better. Exercise to help elimination needs to be rhythmical and continuous, to use large muscle groups and to be performed at an intensity and frequency that increases your heart input only to 60 percent of maximum heart rate (MHR) – never more. How do you work out what that means for you? Simple. First take your own pulse. Place three fingers along the artery at the wrist until you feel the steady beat of your heart. Then, using a watch with a second hand, count how many times your heart beats while the second hand records six seconds passing. Multiply the number of times your heart beat in this period and multiply by 10. This gives you how many times per minute your heart is beating. Once you know how to do this it is easy to calculate the rest. To discover your maximum heart rate, subtract your age from 220. Then multiply this figure by 0.6. This will give you your target heart rate. For instance, if you are 40 years old: Maximum heart rate = 220 – 40 = 180 beats per minute. 180 beats per minute X 0.6 = 108 beats per minute. get going Any form of sustained aerobic exercise which gets your heart beating at your target heart rate is ideal for minimizing the build up of wastes in your system, for releasing wastes that are already stored in your tissues, and for burning any excess fat. Begin slowly with only 15-20 minutes of exercise at a time. Remember to check on your heart rate at least twice during every exercise session and adjust your activity accordingly when it goes more than 10 beats above or below your target heart rate. You need to judge how long is right for you by checking on how fatigued you feel one hour after exercising. That is the best indication of whether or not you are working with your body’s own rhythms and needs. If you find yourself fatigued an hour after exercising, then you are overdoing it. So pull back until your body is ready for a higher dose of activity. Exercising too hard or too long can actually produce more waste for your body to get rid of. Choose between dancing freely to any music you like, swimming, rebounding, running, cycling or walking briskly. Walking is the easiest of all since you can do it anywhere. Walk to and from work, climb stairs instead of using the lift – it’s all good exercise and half the time you won’t even notice you are doing it.

If you want a clear mind and uplifted spirit – and who doesn’t – not to mention energy, drinking raw juice each day is a great step in the right direction. It is an excellent way to clear a cold, banish a hangover and even clear the pain of arthritis (provided of course you've not been on long-term drug therapy which can sometimes interfere with the body’s ability to detoxify and heal itself). Juice is a perfect fuel for your body. Its high water content means that it is easily assimilated and tends to cleanse and nurture the body, and it is the richest available source of vitamins, minerals, plant factors such as the carotenoids, and other antioxidants powerful in their anti-aging and immune enhancing factors. Not only is raw juice the best possible tonic for promoting all-round health and general well-being, each juice has specific therapeutic properties. You can use it as a quick fix to treat a range of common complaints. Try some of the following and see what powerhouses for healing they really are. Aim to drink at least three glasses of juice each day, but try to make them freshly each time. If you really have to keep them then put them in the fridge with as much ice in them as you can. Fresh juices oxidize and lose their potency very, very quickly. When juicing, always buy fruits and vegetables that have been organically grown, not only because you don’t want to be taking in pesticides and herbicides with your juice, but because organic fruits and vegetables have not had their nutritional integrity compromised and you will get the best vitamin, mineral and trace element content. Both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis have been successfully treated with juice therapy, which is particularly beneficial if the patient has not been on long-term drug treatment. In both osteo- and rheumatoid arthritis, cut out foods from the nightshade family such as potatoes, aubergine, tomatoes and peppers. For osteoarthritis, also cut out citrus fruits. Vegetables to incorporate into your juices include carrot, beetroot tops, broccoli, turnip, grapes, kale, cabbage, all dark green vegetables, apple and ginger. Pineapple is particularly good for rheumatoid arthritis since it contains the enzyme bromelin which has anti-inflammatory properties. ginger berry 1 (or more) 1cm cube of fresh ginger 1 medium bunch of grapes 2 cups blackberries or raspberries You can also add some sparkling mineral water, or some ice. green goddess 60ml (2 fl oz) of carrot juice 60ml (2 fl oz) of apple juice 60ml (2 fl oz) of beetroot juice 60ml (2 fl oz) of broccoli juice ½ tsp kelp powder ½ - 1 tsp chopped fresh parsley A squeeze of fresh lemon juice. green wow 2 green apples 4 stalks of celery 6 Chinese leaves Juice of 10cm of cucumber pineamint 1 small pineapple (skin removed) A bunch of fresh mint leaves pineapple green To 180ml (6 fl oz) of freshly extracted pineapple juice add one or more of the following: 1 tsp – 1 tbsp of powdered wheat grass, green barley, spirulina or chlorella. popeye punch 1 whole apple – including seeds 4 or 5 carrots A small handful of spinach 1 cucumber red genius 4 carrots 1 large raw beetroot 3cm section of cucumber sprouting o’ the green 2 cups of alfalfa sprouts 2 cups of mung beans 1 carrot A few sprigs of parsley 2 apples top of the beet 1 apple 5 carrots 3 leaves of beetroot top A handful of parsley Colds Juicing for colds has two goals. The first is to strengthen the immune system, and for this you need lots of greens. The second is elimination, and for this you need those fruits and vegetables which help to get rid of waste from your system – lemons, apricots, garlic, ginger etc. atomic liftoff 4-6 ripe tomatoes 1 lime A pinch of cayenne pepper or dash of tabasco Juice the tomatoes and lime then sprinkle with cayenne or Tabasco beetroot, carrot & orange 1 smallish beet 4 carrots 1 orange pineapple grapefruit drink 1 small pineapple (peeled) 1 grapefruit (peeled) salad juice 4-5 carrots 4 sticks celery 3-4 radishes sweet & spicy 2 whole apples 2x1cm cube fresh ginger ½ small pineapple cut into convenient sized spears. liver and digestion Cabbage juice tends to benefit most digestive upsets. It’s not exactly delicious and it can be helpful to mix it with pineapple juice to soften the flavor. Ginger is also good for digestion, and bananas have been shown to help protect the stomach from excess hydrochloric acid. gingeroo 1 (or more) 1cm cube of fresh ginger 1 whole apple 4 carrots pineappage ¼ large pineapple cut into spears 1/3 green cabbage red genius (see above) fatigue Fatigue is the thing I am asked about more than any other. One of the underlying causes can be iron depletion, or a lack of magnesium. There is a lot that juice can do to help. atomic lift off (See above) citrusucculent 1 ripe grapefruit ½ ripe lemon 2 ripe oranges dandelion plus 4-5 carrots A handful of dandelion leaves 2 whole pears ginger berry (See above) gingeroo (See above) glorious grapefruit 2 pink grapefruits (peeled) green zinger 2 kale leaves or beetroot tops or a handful of spinach 4-5 carrots A small handful of parsley hi mag 4-5 carrots 2 florets of broccoli 2 dandelion leaves, beetroot tops, spinach or kale leaves secret of the sea 4 carrots 2 whole apples 2 sheets nori seaweed Juice the apple and the carrot then pour into a blender with the seaweed. Blend thoroughly. hangover There is an art to hangover management, the key being to understand what has happened! Dehydrated and nauseous, you need to replenish your body fluids. Fruit juice is a good idea but might be a little harsh. On top of this, the body’s acidic reaction to the alcohol has produced a chemical imbalance which needs to be put right. Go for the following juices. apples & pears 2 pears 2 whole apples Drink straight away as this oxidizes very quickly. carrot & apple 4 carrots 1 apple This is a wonderful juice to experiment with – change the proportions to suit yourself. merry belon 1 slice of watermelon. 3cm wide and cut into chunks to fit your juicer 6 strawberries, washed and with stalks removed In hot weather, a good tip is to freeze the berries before juicing them – delicious! virgin mary This is a Bloody Mary without the vodka; add a clove of garlic and it becomes a Vampire Mary; a fresh hot green chili pepper turns it into a Scary Mary. 2 ripe tomatoes 2 carrots ½ beetroot 1 stalk celery 1 cucumber insomnia There are many causes for insomnia, but there are some things that will help with most causes. Magnesium, vitamin B6 and niacin have to be present in order for the amino acid tryptophan to be able to turn itself into the sleep-inducing serotonin. Calcium induces muscle relaxation, and some people need an extra boost of fruit sugar before going to bed to trigger sleep. Try out which of the following helps you. green goddess (See above) hi mag (See above) lazy lettuce 2 whole apples 5 lettuce leaves pineamint (See above) smooth as silk 2 cups blackberries, fresh or frozen 1 ripe apple 1 whole banana spicy carrot 4 carrots 2 spears of pineapple 1 Braeburn or Cox’s apple A pinch of ground cinnamon A pinch of ground nutmeg pms Although PMS comes in many forms there are certain things that will help. Increasing your intake of magnesium, B6 and the B complex as well as beta-carotene in the week before your period will help, easily done by making the most of the green juices. Water retention can be helped with watermelon, grape, cucumber and dandelion. All of these juices will also help to counteract some of the uncomfortable symptoms associated with menopause.   cool as a cuke 1 cucumber 1 clove garlic 1 tomato dash of dill ginger berry (See above) green zinger (See above) hi mag (See above) pineapple green (See above) secret of the sea (See above) spring salad 3 florets of broccoli 4 carrots 2 stalks of celery 1 clove or garlic 1 tomato sprout special 4 carrots 1 whole apple 1 cup sprouted seeds waterfall 5cm section of cucumber 1 whole apple 3 carrots ½ smallish beetroot a note about juicers Centrifugal juice extractors contain a basket, usually made from stainless steel, with sharp shredding blades at the bottom and a fine mesh screen at the sides. When you push fruit and vegetables through the rotating blades, the pulp is spun off into a receptacle at the back of the machine and the juice strained out through a spout, or into an integral jug. A juicer with a spout is better than one with a jug because then you can juice directly into a glass and there’s less to wash up. As with any domestic appliance, look for the most robust model you can get for your money. This means the one with the strongest motor and the strongest locking mechanism. Beware of two-speed juicers and those models with a hopper that simply clicks into place without your having to clamp it down – there’s just more to go wrong. One other thing to check before buying your juicer is the size of the hole you are supposed to put the produce through. Some are really too small, and it’s a drag to have to slice even the skinniest carrot lengthwise. Don’t be afraid to demand a demonstration of the model you intend to buy, listen to the whine the motor makes and ask yourself if it sounds as if it can stand up to the job. As soon as you begin to incorporate freshly-extracted raw vegetable and fruit juices into your lifestyle you will find something amazing starts to happen. First you will notice the terrific lift that just one glass of fresh juice can give you, particularly when taken first thing on an empty stomach. Imagine what life might be like if, instead of trying to kick-start yourself with strong coffee in the mornings, you could drink a glass of raw juice and almost immediately feel refreshed, alert and eager to see what another day has in store. And that’s just what raw juice will do for you. Go for it!

To be beautiful, you must be who you are. Because who you are is far more creative, vital, and powerful than anything or anyone you might try to be. It’s a fundamental truth too often forgotten. Still we live in a world that teaches us, however unwittingly, that whatever we are is not as good as what we should or could be. It tells us that we need someone or something outside ourselves to give our lives meaning. All of which is utter hogwash. You’ll never fulfill the magnificence and uniqueness of who you are by following convention, bowing down to some guru or following somebody else’s rules. The truth about YOU lies within your own body—your own being. And there has never been a better time to uncover it than right now. SEDUCTION BY ILLUSION The media is full of programs, articles, advertisements, and imperatives that urge you to "be a better lover", "wear this fashion," "make more money". It is an amazing game. It keeps selling dresses, books, and automobiles because it keeps people wanting. But, in the process, it creates enormous misery and dissatisfaction as we look outside ourselves for yardsticks to measure ourselves by. This is because, no matter how well it works, the "want-need-get" game obscures one really important truth: What you need to experience wholeness, meaning and joy is not "out there," "one day," or "if I only had…” It does not need to be bought, sought, seduced, or copied. It already exists right here, right now, inside of you. It simply needs to be discovered within you and then lived out. CONQUERING CONFLICT A woman is, in reality, two women. The first, the outer woman, is a collection of physical characteristics, habits of speech and movement, and ways of thinking and of expressing her essential being. This outer part is the result of past experience, conditioning, and values—either your own or, more often, those given you by your family, educational background, and society, plus a great many preconceived ideas you have about who you are and what you can and can't do. The outer woman comes in many different forms. She may be conventionally attractive, plain, sexy, dynamic, withdrawn, aggressive, apparently assured, or terribly uncertain about herself. And for each outer woman, there is also an inner counterpart, an individual self that is utterly unique. This stable center of strength and growth, your inner core, sees the world in its own way, has its own needs, desires, and its own brand of creativity, and is a law unto itself. Your core holds the power to create, change, build, and nurture. The outer woman is little more than the vehicle for what your essential being creates. THE OUTER AND THE INNER When your essential being is allowed free expression, a woman can be truly beautiful without the need for artificiality or imitation, concealment, or excessive adornment. Her body will be strong and well, her skin clear and healthy, and her movements, speech, and actions will radiate a kind of vitality that is unmistakably charismatic, because it is real—an outward expression of who she truly is. Often, though, the inner and the outer woman have diverged so that there is conflict. The inner truth of a woman can be particularly clear and direct while her outer expression is a mass of confusion in how she dresses, speaks, acts, and looks. Usually this is because she is stifled by false ideas of how she is supposed to be, think, act, dress, and look. Where there is no free channel for expression of your essence, there is much disharmony. Eventually both your health and beauty will suffer. Perhaps even more importantly, you will probably feel you lack identity—have no firm idea of who you are or what you want. TRUTH FROM YOUR ESSENCE Discovering the power of your essential being and learning to live from it involves transformation. This process can be tremendously exciting. Sometimes this can also be challenging, for it means peeling away the superfluous mechanical façades we all collect—the ways of appearing and acting that have little to do with who we really are, but that have come to seem safe and secure. But this transformative process can be thrilling, too. You needn't look for a specific end result to justify it. In short, being beautiful is being authentic. It is all about becoming who you really are. Begin by letting yourself become aware that you are someone quite different from everyone else in the world. To some women who have never experienced this awareness before, this can seem scary at first. Others will find it is something they have known all along without ever putting it into words. Still others will accept the notion as self-evident. When you are relaxed yet alert, nonproductive thought patterns and habits loosen their hold, as do common interfering emotions such as anxiety and fear, so you are better able to hear your inner voice. Listen to it. Let it be your guide in matters of taste and in decisions you have to make. Most of us have been programmed to listen not to ourselves but to Mommy's interjected voice, or Daddy's voice, or the voice of the Establishment, of the Elders, of authority or of tradition. Instead, begin to explore how you feel about something or what you really want. Take a look at the ideas, behavior patterns, or assumptions about yourself and your life that might be blocking your free expression. These mechanical patterns of thinking and behaving are usually unconscious. They come in many forms. They can be ideas you hold about yourself such as "I am physically weak," or "I can't wear my hair back because my nose is too big," or "I will never be slender," or "I am too old to change"; or they can be even more deeply embedded notions such as "I can never do anything right," or "I am only a woman." When you become aware of these notions and the power they hold over you, you will see that many of them are little more than habitual assumptions with no basis in fact, and you will gradually find them falling away so that you are more free to be whatever you want to be. Whatever you happen to be doing, try letting yourself experience it fully. Get involved in an event, action, or project in the way a child would—wholeheartedly. Whether you are peeling potatoes, enjoying music, scrubbing floors, planning work, making love, or eating, let yourself be absorbed, forgetting everything else for the moment. When you are wholly and fully human—your essential being is being set free. These are times which all of us experience, and there is a real delight in this kind of involvement. It silences the usually worried thoughts and concerns that tend to sap your energy and make every event less interesting than it should be. This ability of complete involvement is a key to enormous vitality. At such times, little of you is wasted on anxiety about the past or future, or meaningless and unproductive worry about yourself and others. Explore new ways of doing things instead of mechanically following the same old patterns. Risk being different from the rest—your own natural way of living, thinking, dressing, working may be unique from the way you have been trained to do these things. Your opinions may differ greatly from those of people around you. Be courageous about seeing things your own way and dare to be different in what you say and do when you feel different. Be as honest as you can. Telling the truth has great power. Most of us lean far too much in the direction of being diplomatic and discreet. Many women tend too often to adjust their opinions and answers to fit in with the opinions of others. This leads to a sense of confusion where one is not really sure what one thinks. When you answer something honestly, when you do and say what you want instead of what you think is asked of you, it makes you aware that you are responsible for yourself. This in turn leads towards further freedom, creativity and truth. Take a look at any roles you find yourself playing. There are dozens—the "intelligent woman," the "woman to be reckoned with," the "shy violet," the "sexy lady"' and so forth. Some of them may be appropriate to what you want from other people; others are not only irrelevant but also sap energy that could otherwise be used effectively. The more you are aware of them, the freer you will become from the hold they have over you, and the more you will be able to discover who you are and what you are about. The other thing about roles in relation to beauty is that no role that any woman plays (no matter how delightful) comes anywhere near being as exciting, vital, and fulfilling as the truth of what she is at her core. And gradually beginning to peel away the roles by becoming aware of them is one way of discovering this. Pay attention to any peak experiences in which you perceive the world as a whole and everything as being right. Everyone has these occurrences, but many of us do not articulate them and so they happen and then are forgotten or ignored. The occurrence of these small moments of joy can be tremendously enriching. They temporarily set you free from habitual ways of thinking and behaving that tend to stifle your creativity. Look for peak experiences and enjoy them when they come. They can be useful as guidelines to decision making from day to day. Finally, work out what you want and then go get it. Whatever you work for, work hard and wholeheartedly. This brings a sense of self-reliance and frees a lot of otherwise frustrated energy for constructive use. These things have always been very important to living my own life. They still are. I would love to hear from you about your experience with all of this, if you would like to share it with me.

There is too much nonsense talked about obesity, not only in the media, but even in published findings of scientists and doctors who, by rights, should know better. If you decide to take time out to plough through the voluminous research and declarations about degenerative diseases and obesity, their causes and their cure—as I have done ad nauseam in the course of my developing Leslie Kenton’s Cura Romana—you discover that several important conclusions demand to be drawn. Let’s look at the obesity problem first. Then we’ll go on to examine what few people yet know: the same factors that make some of us fat can foster the development of degenerative diseases in all of us. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Cereals, grains, and sugar-based carbohydrates are the culprits that make you gain weight, if you have inherited a genetic tendency to do so. These foods distort hormonal regulation and interfere with your body’s ability to maintain its functions within a normal range. This is a consequence of the way grain and sugar-based carbs screw up blood sugar and destroy insulin sensitivity. What most people—even those who believe they are eating a ‘healthy diet’—are amazed to learn is that sugars and starches don’t just cause weight problems. They are major factors in the development of diabetes, coronary heart disease and a myriad of other degenerative conditions, even in those who never seem to gain weight, no matter what they eat. Nonetheless all of us, fat or thin, become prone to rapid aging when we consume carbs and sugars in quantity. HERE’S WHY The most signification change to human diets in two million years began with the Agricultural Revolution, where man went from a carbohydrate-poor to a carbohydrate-rich diet as cereals and starchy vegetables began to enter our food chain. The more that these carbohydrates have been refined and processed, the more problems they have caused us. Meanwhile, during the 20th century, an overwhelming increase in cereals, grains, sugars and high-fructose corn syrup used in convenience foods has become a major trigger of burgeoning obesity and chronic illness. In the nineteenth century, we ate between 10 and 20 pounds of sugar per person per year. Today per capita we consume between 150 pounds and 200 pounds a year. So this is little wonder. Health Care - IGNORANCE IS PROFITABLE In the so-called civilized world, people are getting fatter and sicker by the year. Yet food manufacturers, government bodies and well-meaning but ignorant doctors are still telling us that we need to eat more low-fat-high-carb foods, as you can see from the three images of the Food Pyramid and Choose Your Plate. This includes masses of bread and cereals, rice and pasta. And the majority of the population still buys into the notion that fats, not carbs, are the villains of the piece. Much of the public’s inability to recognize what low-fat-high-carb eating is doing to ruin our health comes from the fact that the more ignorant we remain, the more profitable it becomes for some. In the past sixty years, multinational food manufacturers have been quick to take up the notion that carbs are good for us and fats are bad. Commercial interests waste no time in translating unsubstantiated scientific research promoting a fat-free, low-fat, and reduced-fat way of eating into huge profits. Consequently our supermarkets remain overloaded with convenience foods which health elitists, in the know, refuse even to touch. As for those who remain unaware that it is possible to transform health and weight naturally, the majority of the world continues to suffer. As the Irish humorist P.J. O’Rourke pointed out, the world is full of “masses waddling into airports, business offices and churches dressed in drooping sweats or fuchsia warm-up suits or mainsail-size Bermuda shorts, each with a mobile phone in one ear…sucking Diet Pepsi through a straw”. A True Healthy Eating Plan - Things to know As a result of the negative influence they exert on insulin and blood sugar, refined carbohydrates, sugars and starches foster the development of diabetes, coronary heart disease and obesity. These foods are also significant contributors to the Diseases of Western Civilization. These include cancer, arthritis, depression and rapid aging. Cereals, grains, and sugar-based carbohydrates distort hormonal regulation of homeostasis. They raise blood sugar, which encourages excessive insulin secretion leading to insulin resistance, Syndrome X and metabolic syndrome. Eating carb foods increases hunger, causes food cravings and addictions, also creating an on-going experience of fatigue. This forces people to rely heavily on coffee and other stimulants to get through each day. Weight gain is a disorder of excess fat accumulation as a result of disequilibrium in the body’s hormonal regulation of fat metabolism. Obesity is not caused by gluttony, too little exercise or a lack of will power. Taking in excess calories is not the cause of weight gain, nor can expending a lot of energy on exercise prevent it. Good quality fats and oils such as olive oil, coconut oil and butter neither cause obesity nor the development of degenerative conditions. FIND OUT MORE If you want to educate yourself further about this revolutionary stuff, you need to read my brand new ebook: Leslie Kenton’s Secret Guide to Lean Health for Life. Within it, you will find the latest ground-breaking—and often shocking—information about carbs, fats both good and bad; oils; sugar in all its insidious forms; the false directives based on bad science we have been following for far too long, and why these are so dangerous; as well as practical advice on how to begin eating in a way that can literally transform your body and life. Learn More: Download My New Book Free - Healthy And Lean For Life In my new book Healthy And Lean For Life which is available to everyone at no cost, readers will be surprised to learn some of the real causes of degenerative conditions and weight gain as well as natural methods to become free of them. Download Health And Lean For Life Now Allred, J B, Too Much of a Good Thing? An Overemphasis on Eating Low-Fat Foods May Be Contributing to the Alarming Increase in Overweight Among US Adults., J Amer Dietetic Assoc, 1995, April; 95 (4): 417-18. Banting, W, Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public., Obesity Research, 1993; March, 1 (2): 153-63. (Reprinted from the December 1863 third edition.) Farquhar, J W, et al, Glucose, Insulin, and Trigylceride Responses to High and Low Carbohydrates Diets in Man., J Clinc Invest, 1966; 45 (10): 1648-56. O’Dea, Glucose and Insulin Responses to Carbohydrate Ingestion: Acute and Long-term Consequences., in Obesity: Dietary Factors and Control, Romsos, Himms-Hagan, and Suzuki, eds., Japan Scientific Societies Press, Tokyo, 1991; pp147-57. Lee, B M, Wolever, T M S, Effect of Glucose, Sucrose and Fructose on Plasma Glucose and Insulin Responses in Normal Humans; Comparison with White Bread., European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1998; 52: 924-928. Taubes, Gary, Good Calories, Bad Calories – Challenging the Conventional Wisdom Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2007

One factor which has a powerful influence on how much energy you have is not your physical strength, or what you had for lunch, nor even how much sleep you got last night, but rather whether or not you are totally involved at any particular moment in what you are doing - physically, mentally, and emotionally. To be able to live this way, what you are doing has to have value to you. It has, in some way, to feed your soul or satisfy some longing or value or goal for you. Biologists, sports experts, and psychologists have recently studied the phenomenon of energy or vitality, and tried to distinguish between the traits of those people with high energy levels and the rest of us. They have discovered that, whether looking at sportsmen, executives, artists, or craftsmen, those with high energy all have one thing in common: total involvement. A few lucky people - often they are those who are vitally interested in their work or hobbies - find total involvement comes naturally. For the rest of us it has to be learned. We have to train ourselves in much the same way as students of Aikido, Japanese sword training, or Tai Chi do - slowly and systematically. Rarely in Western society do we function as a whole. Most of us tend to do whatever we are doing with half our thoughts on what we are going to do when we have finished, or thinking about what we should have done yesterday but didn't. Such distractions not only make the task in hand seem long and tedious, they also divide our concentration, with the result that energy is dissipated. For more energy, make a commitment to becoming deeply involved in the process of energy creation in your life. The opposite is true too. Where living the ‘right’ way for you breeds more energy, living in a way that ignores your basic values will have you fighting yourself and the world around you and continually drain your vitality.