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“Age is something that doesn’t matter unless you’re a cheese.” Billie Burke Your brain and lifelong personal development need a rich environment filled with smells and textures, sights and sounds, as well as new ideas and the best possible biochemical medium to thrive. Each time you experience anything, learn anything, or encounter anything, your brain forges new connections. To hold onto new facts, experiences and memories, neurons must grow new dendrites. These dendrites reach out towards other neurons, creating links that have never existed before. This is why it is so important, as you grow older, not to become complacent with your life, get into a rut, or allow it to narrow by doing the same things all the time in the same way. Forget the pharmaceuticals and all their nasty side effects. State-of-the-art natural substances work better. They intensify your experience of excitement, deep relaxation, sensuality, and memory, as well as enhance your creativity and your capacity for joy. GREAT BRAIN SUPPORT There are more than fifty neurotransmitters that affect the brain. Many are found only within the brain and the gut. There is no need to concern yourself with all of them, but it’s useful to be aware of some of the most important. Dazzling advances in brain enhancement have come out of the knowledge we now have about how to support these neurotransmitters naturally, using freeform amino acids, herbs and nutritional supplements. These can not only enhance brain functions but health all round. For instance choline, some of the B complex vitamins, and minerals such as potassium are necessary in truly adequate quantities (not the easiest thing to get as you grow older) for nerves to fire properly. There is also a rapidly developing awareness that we can use natural compounds, such as acetyl L-carnitine, GABA and phosphatidylserine to help counter depression, insomnia and other neurologically-related conditions. Let’s look at two important neurotransmitters and one essential phospholipid found in every cell, the roles they play in keeping your brain young, your emotions balanced, and your body vital, and how you can support them naturally. WHAT THEY DO Serotonin—alters mood, controls appetite and the emotional perception of pain, brings calm and improves memory. Antidepressant drugs known as serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)—like Prozac/Fluoxetine and Zoloft/Sertraline—elevate serotonin by blocking the chemical’s recycling and inactivation. But beware! These pharmaceuticals have potentially dangerous side-effects. What you need to know is that cells in your brain and gut can synthesize serotonin naturally when you provide them with abundant access to the amino acid L-tryptophan, and to 5-hydroxytryptophan. (5-HTP) Phosphatidylserine—enhances learning, improves memory, and protects from high levels of stress hormones. GABA—an inhibitory neurotransmitter brings calm and relaxation as well as a sense of remarkable wellbeing. SEROTONIN FOR MEMORY Serotonin is one of two neurotransmitters that look after learning and memory. It has many other health-enhancing properties as well. This is an inhibitory neurotransmitter—fundamentally calming to the brain and to the rest of the body. Serotonin plays a vital role in regulating appetite and sleep, both of which go awry when insufficient serotonin is available. Low serotonin can produce depression, insomnia and appetite disorders, including food cravings that are never sated. When you have adequate serotonin, you feel satisfied as well as relaxed and comfortable in your own skin. Serotonin also improves memory. In animal studies, when serotonin levels are increased, the ability to store memories and to learn is enhanced. Drinking alcohol decreases your brain’s ability to concentrate and to remember. Studies show that when people have been given natural substances which produce greater concentrations of serotonin at the synapse, alcohol-related memory deficit does not occur. How serotonin levels affect mood and behavior: Adequate Serotonin Good concentration Easy going attitude Responsive behavior No carb cravings Good sleep patterns Dream recall Rational thinking Loving responses Good natured personality Low Serotonin Depression Poor attention span Reactive behavior Cravings (carbs and sweets) Insomnia Poor dream recall Impulsive behavior Anger and frustration Bad temper Your body makes serotonin by converting the amino acid tryptophan into another metabolite, 5-hydroxy tryptophan (5-HTP), and then changing 5-HTP into serotonin itself. Some of your serotonin then gets converted into melatonin—the hormone used to regulate your body clock. Serotonin is also found in your digestive system and in blood platelets where it helps control blood clotting. Much migraine has been linked to a serotonin deficiency. Many popular migraine drugs are serotonin agonists. This means they heighten serotonin levels in the brain. Increasing serotonin is a goal of many of the anti-depressant drugs such as Prozac, too. They try to correct or mitigate imbalances in the amines—also known as monoamines—which include serotonin, dopamine, adrenaline and noradrenaline. Many antidepressant drugs act by increasing specific amino amines in the brain. While they may be successful in temporarily alleviating depression, all of these drugs cause serious side-effects including insomnia, anxiety, allergic reactions and nervousness. There are better, easier, and more natural ways of increasing serotonin. They include taking supplements of L-tryptophan or 5-HTP on an empty stomach or using an extract of St. John’s Wort or both. Caution: Do not use 5-HTP or St. John’s Wort if you are currently on tranquilizers. Ask for help to gradually get off the drugs before using them. GABA HELPS YOU STAY COOL Glutamine, gamma-Aminobutyric acid and glutamate amino acids, together are known as the GABA system. Discovered in 1950, they are the “calmers”—the most important inhibitory neurotransmitters in the brain. They work to balance and control levels of the stimulatory neurotransmitters, such as noradrenaline. Adequate GABA is important if you are to experience reduced anxiety, deep relaxation and to sleep well. All sorts of tranquilizing drugs like Valium or Ativan, other barbiturates, and benzodiazepines, which have sedative effects, try to manipulate levels of the GABA. Nutritional supplements of L-glutamine improve levels of the GABA system naturally, and in the process can help eliminate food cravings and alcohol cravings. L-glutamine has also shown good results in the treatment of Alzheimer’s patients. Mainstream media and scientists tell us that taking GABA itself is not a good way of increasing GABA, since, they say, GABA cannot not cross the blood-brain barrier. However, critics of Big Pharma’s propaganda counter this claim insisting that supplements of GABA, taken together with either L-theanine or the amino acid glycine, activate GABA receptors and provide a wonderful sense of peace and wellbeing. I have certainly found this to be true in my own life. It is usually taken in doses of 550mg of GABA on an empty stomach with 200mg L-theanine once or twice a day. It’s also helpfut taken just before bed to support good sleep. STRESS FREE PHOSPHATIDYLSERINE Not a neurotransmitter but a special form of phospholipid which supports many neurotransmitters improving cognitive function, clearing depression, and enhancing memory and mood, phosphatidylserine (PS) blunts cortisol and helps us deal with stress. PS works best when combined with the omega-3 fat DHA. It can work wonders wherever there is a deficiency of the omega-3 fats or the methyl donors (vitamin B12, folic acid and SAMe) which prevent the brain from making adequate quantities of phosphatidylserine by itself. Supplements of this important phospholipid have been used effectively to clear depression and improve mental functions in the elderly, thanks to phosphatidylserine’s ability to orchestrate so many important tasks. These include stimulating the release of many brain neurotransmitters, regulating the availability of glucose and activating the transport of nutrients into the cells. For your brain to learn efficiently, it needs adequate levels of phosphatidylserine. Levels tend to decline with age. As with any nutritional program designed to enhance brain function, it is never enough only to tackle the issues at a biochemical level alone. There are other actions you can take to transform brain functions while dramatically improving your health and slowing aging. Here are a few of the best. 9 STEPS TO BRAIN POWER 1. Forget high-carb-low-fat diets forever. Make sure you have plenty of good quality protein from fish, organic chicken, organic meat and eggs, as well as lots of phytonutrients from low glycemic, low density carbohydrate vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, bok choy, fresh herbs and low-sugar fruits like berries and melons. 2. Get moving: Physical exercise increases the circulation to your brain. Mental exercise helps create new synapse connections, protects you from the loss of brain cells and can even help you grow new ones. 3. Manage stress: The number one enemy to brain health is stress, because of the effect of cortisol and other stress related compounds which actively destroy brain cells. Take up meditation. Give yourself plenty of time for relaxation, no matter how much responsibility you have for looking after others. Above all, decide to live your life in line with what you really want yourself, rather than living by someone else’s rules. 4. Steer clear of poisons: Eat only organic foods. Avoid GMO foods, herbicides, pesticides, drugs and other compounds that poison your body and stress your liver. Clear your home and workspace of all chemical cleaners, air-fresheners and other products. Use aluminum free baking soda. It’s safe and works great for all cleaning jobs. There are strong links between a buildup of these elements in the brain and the development of diseases as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. 5. Get a hair analysis every five years: A simple hair analysis carried out in a medical laboratory can check for levels of heavy metals such as cadmium, aluminum and lead which build up to damage brain tissue. If you find that they are present, put yourself through a controlled detoxification program. 6. Keep alcohol to a minimum: In any amount, alcohol can damage brain tissue. If you are going to drink at all, make it infrequent and drink only the very best. Forget the plonk. Top quality wine is better than beer or distilled alcohol such as whiskey. 7. Look after your liver: Support the health of your liver with periodic detoxification supported by liver-protective plants such as milk thistle and phosphatidylcholine. Damage to the liver causes damage to the brain. 8. Prescription drugs, over the counter drugs and illegal drugs have side-effects that negatively undermine the health of the liver and the brain when taken over the long term. Stay away from them. Don’t take drugs of any kind unless they are absolutely necessary for life. I’ll share with you products which I have used myself with excellent results: SEROTONIN: NOW FOODS, MOOD SUPPORT NOW Mood Support is a nutritional supplement that contains both nutrients and herbal extracts that aid in the support of a healthy nervous system and a positive, balanced mood state. Buy Mood Support together with NOW FOODS, L-TRYPTOPHAN L-Tryptophan is an essential amino acid; therefore, it is not synthesized by the body and must be obtained from the diet. L-Tryptophan is critical for the production of serotonin and melatonin, which can help to support positive mood, healthy sleep patterns, and proper immune system function. Every lot of NOW L-Tryptophan is tested to be free of Peak E and microbial combination. Buy L-Tryptophan GABA: 200 MG OF ZEN 200 mg of Zen contains a combination of L-theanine and GABA. L-theanine is found in green tea (Camellia sinensis). Buy Gaba PHOSPHATIDYLSERINE SOURCE NATURALS, PHOSPHATIDYLSERINE Phosphatidylserine (PS), a phospholipid and DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid, are major components of cell membranes, particularly the membranes of nerve cells. They facilitate the electric signals that are the basis of neuron communication, supporting memory, mood, concentration, stress control and other cognitive functions. This DHA conjugate form of PS is believed to increase the delivery of this vital compound to the brain, supporting advanced brain protection and enhanced cell function. Buy Phosphatidylserine

If you’re not yet nourishing yourself with green power, it’s time to take the leap. Green helps create vibrant health and dazzling rejuvenation. It costs little and its gifts are easy to access. If you’re looking for a simple but life-changing move you can make: go green. There are two intense substances which contain virtually everything you need to live at the highest levels of wellbeing. One is blood. The other is chlorophyl. These fluids are nature’s most potent carriers of the ineffable life force. Without them, no living thing would exist. They have something remarkable in common. It was Nobel prize winner Hans Fisher who first pointed out that the hemoglobin molecule and the chlorophyl molecule are virtually identical, except that at the core of this pigment that gives human blood its color and oxygen-carrying capacity, you find the element iron, while the molecular core of chlorophyl is magnesium. So close is the relationship between blood and chlorophyl that when we feed crude chlorophyl to anaemic animals, it can restore normal red blood cell counts within 15 days. Yet chlorophyl which has been chemically refined to remove its “impurities” shows no corrective effect on anaemia. On the contrary, it can poison the bone marrow – the site of red cell production. Green supplements such as spirulina and chlorella are fine – if expensive – but they fall way short of what you can get from drinking the life-blood of a green plant itself. Spinach, cabbage and nettle juice – all rich in chlorophyl – are successfully used to treat heart disease, gum disease, cancer, allergies, atherosclerosis and many other conditions – even depression. To make use of green power from plants, you need to go straight to the plant itself. Here’s the surprising news: even green juices lovingly gleaned from your favorite juice extractor fall short when it comes to turning your body on to green power. To create a good alkaline balance, rejuvenate your body, regenerating your life and make you look and feel great, you need access to the totality of whatever greens you are using – not just make your juice and toss the fiber away. Much like whole foods, superb, life-enhancing green liquids are only made through whole juices. This means you need to harvest their goodness with the help of a powerful blender – something I value so much that I consistently travel the world with mine. The fiber that is thrown away in ordinary juicing holds some of the most valuable treasures of a green plant. Ordinary juicing creates a fractured food, discarding much of the potent protection the plant has to offer against aging and illness by protecting the body against toxicity. It wastes a lot of the plant’s powerful anti-oxidants too. Get into whole juicing and you can toss out most of the expensive supplements you’ve been relying on to keep going. Whole green juicing does it far better. Fresh, green, organic salads are great. I love them, but the body assimilates many times more vital nutrients from whole juices. Why? Because, blending green leaves with water in a powerful blender breaks down the cell walls of the plants – these are some of the strongest molecules in nature – setting free their life-giving elements. This is something neither conventional juicing nor chewing salads give us access to. Green leaves are far and away the most nutritious part of most plants. In addition to vital minerals and vitamins, they carry traces of alkaloids in combinations specific to each plant species. These nitrogenous organic compounds of plant origin have important physiological and psychological actions on human wellbeing. Taking in the minute quantities of alkaloid mixtures from green leaves strengthens the immune system and promotes mental and emotional clarity. It even fosters greater spiritual awareness. Your supermarket, your greengrocer, and your garden offer a wide variety of green leaves ideal for whole juicing: kale, bok choy, mitsuna, lettuces, radicchio, spinach, turnip greens, grape leaves, chard, silver beet, celery – the list is virtually endless. Many vegetable tops that we throw away like turnip greens and the tops of lettuce are great for this purpose. So are herbs like parsley, mint leaves, lemon balm, basil, young dill and fennel. Best of all, next time you go for a walk in nature, don’t forget the wild edibles like purslane, sorrel, dandelion – both the greens and the flowers, chickweed, and even young stinging nettles. These free foods are wonderful sources of green power to help you transform your life. Just make sure you know the wild plants you pick and are able to differentiate their leaves from non-edible or poisonous species. What is the secret of making green power drinks taste great? You can add some fruit if you like, or honey or agave for sweetening. Experiment to find out what tastes best to you. Personally, I like my whole juices straight up, with the addition of a little stevia – the only calorie-free, natural sweetener in the world. It comes as a white powder which looks like sugar but is 200 times sweeter and carries none of the negative effects of sugar. It also comes as a liquid and in a green powder form made from the dried leaves of the stevia plant. A South American plant, stevia itself is an excellent source of green power. It grows happily in the garden or a pot sitting in your kitchen window. Just add a few leaves to your blender along with a mixture of edible greens, a few ice cubes and a cup or two of pure water. Blend and enjoy. Drink a couple of glasses of green power each day. It keeps well in the fridge or a thermos, so you need only make it once. You’ll be surprised at how life-changing this simple, inexpensive practice can be for you and your whole family. Kids love green drinks spiked with a banana or pineapple, apple or orange.

When it comes to food for this kind of total health, there is one basic principle to remember - the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Know this and you can stop worrying about all of the contradictory advice that is continually being thrown at us from the media about what you and your child should and shouldn't eat. The best foods are whole foods - fresh natural foods - such as fruits and vegetables (preferably organically grown), pulses, whole grains, eggs, a few dairy products. Whole foods have not had every nutrient refined or processed out of them, neither do they come swimming in syrup or emulsified in junk fats. They arrive on your child's plate and enter his body just as Nature intended them, radiant with their own natural colors and textures and brimming with a complexity of structural information essential to maintaining a healthy body and balanced mind. Just what is this structural information? It is something you will find mentioned in few books on nutrition. Yet in an understanding of it lies not only your ability to establish real health for yourself and your children, but an ability skillfully to support your child's seedpower - his individual nature - so that it unfolds beautifully as he grows. The term structural information was coined by an eminent Russian scientist - winner of the much coveted Lenin Prize For Science - Izrail Brekhman. He used it to describe the infinitely complex synergistic, energetic and chemical order in living plants and animals on which human beings must feed if they are to maintain high-level health. Living systems are unique in the universe. Unlike non-living things - from rocks to rubber hoses - they do not continually degrade and disintegrate as described by one of the most important laws of physics - the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Your own body and the body of your child defies this law. It avoids decaying into an inert state because it is able to assimilate energy from outside. Put simply, the better quality the energy it takes in, the more alive it will be. The very high order of the sun's own electromagnetic energy is converted by plants through photosynthesis into material form, then stored in complex ways. This high order of structural information is embodied in the healthy plant as it comes out of the ground - a fruit or vegetable, pulse or grain. It is the embodiment of its wholeness - implicit in the plant's structure. The plant (or the animal which has fed on the plant) brings to the person who eats it a high degree of structural information - living energetic order - which makes him able to resist degeneration, simply because its wholeness has not been degraded by processing, fractionation or chemical distortion. Nobel Laureate, physicist Erwin Schrodinger, put it another way. He says that for a person to stay really healthy he needs to drink order from his environment. This is exactly what your baby or child fed on wholesome natural food does. The more order he drinks, the more support you are giving him for balanced high-level health and growth - in every way. drinking order For it is not only nutrients in a food which can be measured chemically - vitamins, minerals, protein etc - that are important for health. It is also the complexity of the way these, and other, as yet unidentified factors - positive and negative magnetic fields and subtle energies for instance - are present and combined in a particular food that matter. Processing foods not only destroys vitamins and minerals (which cannot be adequately added afterwards despite what food manufacturers would have us believe) it disrupts its structural information, impeding or destroying a food's ability to carry life energy into the body and brain of the child who eats it. Feeding your child on such foods year after year - convenience cereals, white bread and pasta, refined sugar, phony snacks and drinks full of chemical flavorings, colorings and preservatives - steadily degrades the natural order of his own body and mind, creating a poor seedbed for his growth and inner development. It also lowers his immunity, making him susceptible to illness, and contributes to the kind of mental and emotional imbalance which is becoming endemic amongst kids in our society who are being raised on junk foods. At the core of hyperactivity and many emotional problems you see in children lies this inability of the ready-made frozen foods, drinks, chips cooked in junk fats and poor quality school dinners to offer a child order - the structural information needed for sustained physical and emotional balance. Chemical additives, food colorings and flavorings, hydrogenated `junk' fats - they are all products of a multi-billion pound food industry whose main purpose is not to serve your health, but to fill its own coffers at your expense. They are a poor excuse for good food. As an experiment, a biochemist at the University of Georgia bought one of the new munchy-crunchy children's cereals. He emulsified both the box and the cereal, then fed one white rat the box and another the cereal. The rat that ate the box thrived. The other did not. So poor is the quality of our common convenience foods that the packaging can sometimes be nutritionally superior to the food it contains. Foods grown on healthy soils (preferably organic) and eaten as close as possible to their natural state offer your child the highest quality of structural information. There are two major concerns which parents voice about feeding their children. The first is the question of cost, and the second is the question of time. Contrary to popular belief, feeding a family on good natural food - fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grain cereals and breads, pulses and so forth (whether or not you choose to eat meat and fish) - is far cheaper than relying on the poor quality, prepackaged convenience foods a lot of mothers use these days. A pound of good boiling potatoes is fifty times less expensive than the same quantity of potatoes made into crisps. Growing your own sprouted seeds and grains is very cheap. It can be done in a couple of old jam jars in your kitchen, and kids love helping, since these little plants grow so quickly. Sprout a seed, and within three or four days you will have increased its vitamin C content as much as 600 percent. Like home grown organic vegetables, these little powerhouses for health are not only delicious, they are some of the healthiest foods you can feed any child. As far as time is concerned, I have never found that it takes a lot more time to prepare meals from scratch using natural foods than it does to dish out their poor relations - convenience foods. A hearty homemade soup based on brown rice and vegetables, with pulses or a bit of meat or fish, is one of the best whole meals you can eat, and it is only a question of putting the ingredients into a pot and letting the stove get on with it. Besides, kids love to cook. Involve your children in food preparation from the time they are very small. They love it. I have always used the opportunity of us being together in the kitchen to explain to them about the goodness and bounty of foods and about why I don't let them eat sweets and mass market drinks and junk foods, and to help them become aware of the way in which television and magazines are continually trying to sell kids and parents foods which are not really going to do good for them. I believe it is important that, right from the beginning, children are made to understand the ways in which our highly commercial society tends to exploit human beings and that such exploitation needs to be resisted if they are to live out the truth of who they are. You will be surprised at how savvy even very young children can come to be about such things.

Children are extraordinary people - neither the dewy-eyed little darlings we put on our Christmas cards nor the wild savages we fear will grow up to be criminals if not disciplined properly. And Nature's child is indeed wild - wild because he doesn't fit into our idea of what is and isn't done, wild because he hasn't learned the subtle art of concealment and hypocrisy we cultivate as adults, wild because no matter how much we try to make him conform to our will, if he is lucky he never will, so strongly directed from within is he by his own destiny. As adults, most of us can't help trying. When we try too hard, we succeed only in turning our children into the same hypocrites we ourselves have learned to be. It was a little girl named Jill - a freckle-faced, runny-nosed, redheaded three year old - and two of her nursery-school friends who first made me aware of my own hypocrisy. Jill and a friend were setting up an imaginary tea party. They had carefully laid the small table with battered plastic cups, filled the cracked teapot and put wadded-up pieces of paper in a paper cup for sugar cubes. During all of this the two girls chattered in obvious imitation of their mothers. `Who else is coming to tea?' asked Jill. `Oh, you know that awful old Mrs Simpson - the one who always has her hair in curlers,' replied her friend. `Do you know she doesn't even bother to put a coat over her nightgown when she goes out for the milk?' So the conversation went as the two girls, unaware that anyone was listening, prepared for their guest. When the table was all set, Jill leaned out the window and told a third little girl she could come to the party now. She entered the play house and was greeted with exclamations of: `Why, dear Mrs Simpson, how very nice of you to come. It is so lovely to see you.' I thought to myself how often a scene similar to the one I was witnessing takes place. I was trying to remember the last time I'd been guilty of this kind of two-faced behavior, when my thoughts were interrupted by `Mrs Simpson,' who had been seated at the table. Suddenly she rose, dumped her `tea' back into the cracked teapot, and said very slowly and deliberately: `I heard what you said about me from under the window, and I don't like it. I'm not going to be your old Mrs Simpson any more no matter how nice you are to me, so there!' Young children hate being patronized. They react strongly when someone is false with them. The less privileged the family background of the child, the easier it seems to be for him to see through superficial geniality - and the more demanding he becomes of true, undivided attention and real relationships with adults.

Below you will find an interview I did for Bias Magazine. Speaking about Human freedom, creativity and natural menopause. Unfortunately the recording is quite bad in the beginning but get better about 5 minutes in. Hope you Enjoy... [audio id=http://d1vg7rm5xhtxe9.cloudfront.net/audio/cheryl-el-interview.mp3] Award-winning writer, television broadcaster, and teacher, Leslie Kenton is well known in the English-speaking world for her no-nonsense, in-depth reporting. According to London’s Time Out, “If there is one health expert who can genuinely be described as pioneering and visionary, it is Leslie Kenton.” Leslie has written more than three dozen best selling books for Random House UK. She conceived and created the worldwide Origins range for Estee Lauder. A former consultant to European Parliament for the Green Party and course developer for Britain’s Open University, Leslie is trained in Chinese medicine, nutrition, homeopathy, and bioenergetics. She was first Chairperson of the Natural Medicine Society in the UK and her contribution to natural health was honored by her being asked to deliver the McCarrison Lecture at the Royal Society of Medicine in London. Leslie now divides her time between her homes in Britain and South Island New Zealand. To find out more about her work: lesliekenton.com, curaromana.com.

I never met a vegetable I didn’t like. But it took me a while to realize this. For—like a lot of people—I grew up with the mushy Brussels sprouts, canned spinach, revolting beetroot salads, and other nameless horrors served in school meals. It was only when I began to make vegetable juices and exuberant salads, and to cook my own, that I discovered just how delicious vegetables can be in their many incarnations. For a long time, cooked vegetables had a bad rap. Some of this, I suspect, is the result of our not being able to buy good quality organic vegetables in the last 20 or 30 years. So people have come to think of vegetables as rather flavorless things that everyone knows you’re supposed to eat because they’re good for you, but that nobody can be bothered with. RAW OR COOKED When vegetables are cooked properly they have a marvelous flavor of their own. There is nothing quite as comforting as the crunchy pleasure of a baked potato stuffed with a well-dressed living salad, or the light, crisp taste of stir-fried mange touts spiked with almond slivers. And there is little more beautiful to serve with a fish, meat or tofu dish than brightly-colored vegetable purées of carrot, beetroot or spinach. Steam them, stir-fry them, bake them, purée them, eat them raw—however you go, vegetables are not only some of the most important foods in relation to health, they are also some of the most delicious. From the humble turnip to the light-filled leaves of radicchio, vegetables are also sources of light energy from the sun—the same light energy that 15 billion light years ago created the universe; the same energy from which the living body is made. Their beauty is the beauty of the life force itself. When they are grown organically in healthy soils, and eaten either raw or with as little cooking as possible, this energy—which cannot be measured in chemical terms, and whose potential for enhancing health probably goes far beyond even that of the newly discovered phytonutrients—becomes our energy. BEYOND ANTI-OXIDANTS Low in both calories and fat and riddled with fiber, fresh vegetables are rich sources of antioxidants—from vitamins C and E, and the carotenoids—to help protect against the free-radical damage that underlies degeneration and early aging. Not long ago, at Tufts University in the United States, scientists developed a method of measuring the antioxidant power of specific fruits and vegetables by measuring their ability to quench free radicals in a laboratory test tube. They can now test a food’s oxygen radical absorbance capacity. Using the ORAC test, these researchers have begun to categorize a fruit or vegetable according to its overall antioxidant power. They list fruits such as blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and raspberries at the top, along with vegetables like kale and spinach, Brussels sprouts and broccoli. The antioxidant capacities of a specific vegetable go way beyond its vitamin and mineral content. Much depends on the phytochemicals, which give vegetables their distinctive colors and flavors. Already, scientists have discovered hundreds of health-enhancing phytochemicals that inhibit blood clotting, lower cholesterol, detoxify the body of wastes and poisons, reduce inflammation and allergies—even slow the growth of cancer cells. These amazing nutraceuticals, most of which were completely unknown ten years ago, work synergistically. This means that the wider the variety of fruits and vegetables you eat, the greater will be the protective health-enhancing benefits for you. THE EYES HAVE IT Eat more spinach and leafy greens such as silverbeet, kale or collards, and you tap into a rich supply of the carotenoids zeaxanthin and lutein to protect the eyes—and probably the brain too—from degeneration. In one study of 356 older people, reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, research found that eating good quantities of these leafy green vegetables—the equivalent of a large spinach salad each day—reduced the risk of macular degeneration by 43 percent. This is the age-related retinal disease that has you holding a menu 1 m (3 ft) away from you in order to read it. Another study from the Journal of Neuroscience reported that eating a good portion of spinach each day delayed the onset of age-related memory loss as well. Broccoli and Brussels sprouts, rich in sulforaphane and indoles, protect DNA from damage. Tomatoes, like many colorful fruits and vegetables, help protect against premature aging. Scientists estimate that each of the 60 trillion cells in the human body suffers 10,000 free-radical ‘hits’ each day. And this is on the increase, as a result of increasing chemicals in our environment. Phytonutrients help protect us from oxidation damage. Eating vegetables helps counter damage. Make friends with the colorful vegetable kingdom. Build your daily meals around them by eating salads, drinking juices, and cooking them in ways that preserve as much of their innate life-enhancing abilities as possible. Below are a few of the fruits and vegetables now being widely studied and praised for their powers. There are many more discoveries yet to come. Phytonutrient-rich plants PLANT: garlic and onions phytonutrients: allyl sulfide (allicin) benefits You will find potent anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties in these vegetables. Allicin decreases the risk of stomach cancer and colon cancer, lowers LDL cholesterol, encourages the production of glutathione S-transferase—an enzyme that helps eliminate cancer-causing toxins from the body. These foods also offer many more useful anti-aging and health promoting tasks. PLANT: green leafy vegetables: spinach, turnip,beet tops, collard greens, kale; also in yellow marrows or squashes phytonutrients: lutein benefits A big-league carotene antioxidant that resides in the fatty pigments of plants, lutein keeps carcinogens from binding to DNA, and in doing so protects against degenerative diseases including eye diseases. It is the primary carotenoid present in the macula of the human retina. It also protects cells all over the body, including the skin, from premature aging. PLANT: crucifers: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, other leafy green vegetables phytonutrients: indoles, sulforaphanes benefits Indoles prevent cancer-causing hormones from attaching to cells by increasing the body’s supply of the enzymes that weaken cancer-producing xeno-oestrogens. They also eliminate toxins and enhance immunity. Sulforaphanes remove carcinogens from cells and, in animal studies, even slow cancer growth. PLANT: tomatoes phytonutrients: lycopene, P-coumaric acid, coumarins benefits A carotenoid, of the same family as beta-carotene, lycopene is one of the most potent antioxidants of all. It has great antioxidant power. Where it is high in the diet, colon and bladder cancers are low. It also helps lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. P-coumaric acid (which you find in strawberries and peppers as well) inhibits the production of cancer-causing nitrosamines in the body. Coumarins reduce inflammation. PLANT: citrus fruits: oranges, tangerines, grapefruits phytonutrients: limonene, glucarase benefits Limonene increases the body’s production of anti-cancer enzymes and enhances immunity. Glucarase inactivates cancer-causing degenerative chemicals that get into the body and eliminates them. PLANT: citrus fruits: orange vegetables and fruits: mangoes, pumpkins, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash marrows phytonutrients: alpha-carotene, beta-carotene benefits These vegetables get their color from carotenes—antioxidants with a major capacity to boost general immunity and decrease the risk of many kinds of cancer as well as other degenerative diseases and premature ageing. (Other carotenoids in foods such as lycopene, luetin, zeaxanthin and cryptoxanthin may be equally important or even more valuable.) PLANT: berries, red grapes, red wine, artichokes, yams phytonutrients: polyphenols benefits Polyphenols lower the risk of heart disease and flush out cancer-causing chemicals. This group of phytochemicals includes the flavonoids that fight cell damage from oxidation, strengthen blood vessels, decrease the permeability of capillaries, protect the integrity of skin and improve the health of eyes. PLANT: flaxseed or linseed phytonutrients: lignan precursors benefits Lignans are polyphenol antioxidants. Linseed (or flaxseed) is chock-full of lignan precursors—chemicals in the body that turn into lignans through metabolic processes. They help prevent cancers, including breast cancer, by binding to oestrogen receptor sites inhibiting oestrogen’s cancer-producing activities. Flaxseeds are also an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids important for the production of hormones. SPICY PUMPKIN SOUP Sweet and slightly bitter, pumpkin has a cooling quality. In Oriental medicine, it is used to clear ‘damp’ conditions—from edema and eczema to dysentery. Pumpkin certainly helps regulate blood sugar in the body and strengthens the pancreas. That is why it is often used in natural medicine to help clear hypoglycemia and to improve diabetes. This recipe for pumpkin soup has been in my family for so long that I can’t even remember who created it. I suspect it was my daughter Susannah. It is deliciously spicy and goes beautifully with a simple salad of fresh sprouts and some rich black bread. Instead of pumpkin, you can use marrow or squash if you wish, but you won’t get the same beautiful colour. WHAT YOU NEED 2 medium Spanish onions, finely chopped 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 450 g (16 oz/2 cups) fresh pumpkin, peeled and cut into small cubes 250 g (9 oz) mushrooms, sliced 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 720 ml (11/4 pints) vegetable or chicken stock, boiling 1 tsp ground cumin small bunch of fresh coriander, chopped 1 tsp ground cinnamon 4 cm (11/2 in) piece of fresh ginger, finely shredded 1 tsp dry mustard 2 tsp vegetable bouillon powder pinch of Cajun seasoning juice of 2 fresh lemons zest of 1 lemon, finely shredded HERE’S HOW Sauté the onions, garlic, pumpkin and mushrooms in a little olive oil until soft. Add the boiling stock and cook for 30 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients except for the lemon juice and zest, and cook for another 5 minutes. Place in a blender or food processor and blend thoroughly. Add the freshly squeezed lemon juice and serve sprinkled with lemon zest.

The most dangerous damage your body ever has to handle is inflammation. When your body becomes inflamed this can trigger serious degenerative illnesses, from early aging and heart disease to diabetes, arthritis, food intolerance, and mental disorders. Inflammation is your body’s natural response to infection, injury, and tissue damage. It comes in two forms: Acute inflammation and chronic/ systemic inflammation, which spreads throughout your body. Acute inflammation is temporary, the purpose of which is to restore good tissue function as soon as possible. Your body creates inflammation as its defense against disturbing homeostasis in an attempt to prevent harm to surrounding tissues. Chronic inflammation, however, can be dangerous. It can turn into a festering fire that creates pain, illness, and disability. This is because your body reacts to chronic inflammation by triggering cellular and molecular distortions to pro-inflammatory immune cells that circulate throughout your body. This can bring damage to healthy areas like the linings of your blood vessels, as in arteriosclerosis, or your joint tissues in arthritis, or gut mucosa and diabetes. It may even act as a precursor to cancer. When it comes to the treatment of long-term illness—such as heart disease—savvy medical doctors now warn that we’ve been misled. It is inflammation in the arteries that is the real cause of arteriosclerosis and heart problems. Cholesterol can never line artery walls and cause heart attacks and strokes unless systemic inflammation is widespread in your body. So prescribing drugs to lower cholesterol and telling people to restrict saturated fats do not protect from heart disease as we’ve been told. In fact, statins, which the majority of cardiologists continue to prescribe for cholesterol, can seriously damage your health. Dwight Lundell, former Chief of Staff and Surgery at Banner Heart Hospital in Arizona, is one of many outspoken physicians in regard to this mistake. As he says, “We physicians with all our training, knowledge and authority, often acquire a rather large ego that tends to make it difficult to admit we are wrong.” He continues, “I freely admit to being wrong. As a heart surgeon with 25 years’ experience, having performed over 5,000 open-heart surgeries, today is my day to right the wrong with medical and scientific fact.” So, what are the causes of chronic inflammation in your body? The most common causes include: Exposure to chemical inhalants and pollutants, and electromagnetic exposure to cell phones, smart meters, and towers. Another is taking long-term courses of powerful drugs, from antibiotics to hormones, anti-depressants, analgesics, and sedatives, as well as drugs like statins and other pharmaceuticals, the remains of which can literally poison your body long term. Want to protect yourself from inflammation? Become aware of your possible exposure to these things and make changes to help protect you from possible causes. In many ways the simplest place of all to begin is by changing the way you eat, since the typical 21st century diet is right at the core of widespread chronic inflammation. Learn which foods are inflammatory in nature and which foods can help protect you from it. Then it’s time to throw out every one of the inflammatory foods that line your cupboard and your refrigerator, and forever change how you may have been eating. Foods that cause inflammation, which you want to avoid at any cost, are all kinds of sugars, regardless of how much they may be promoted as “good for you;” all artificial sweeteners, which are chemically dangerous to your body; and all GMO foods, which can literally be deadly. A large percentage of the population nowadays reacts badly to cow’s milk products—from the milk itself to cow’s yogurt and cheese. Buy goat, sheep or buffalo milk, yogurt, and cheese instead. Another category of foods that can be seriously inflammatory to the body are high-carbohydrate foods—breads, pasta, cakes, and biscuits made from common grains and cereals as well as all the common convenience foods that line our supermarket shelves. These are chock-full of colorants, flavor enhancers, and other chemicals that poison your body. And it goes without saying that you want to avoid all junk foods completely. Certain foods, herbs, spices, and supplements can help reduce inflammation and protect your body from it in the future. Organic dark green vegetables are high on the list: spinach, kale, dandelion greens, collard greens, broccoli, bok choy, beet greens, and asparagus are high on the list of protective vegetables. So are organic berries of all kinds, organic chicken, grass-fed lamb, beef, venison, wild salmon, and green-lipped muscles from New Zealand. Clearing inflammation from your body in whatever form it occurs is likely to be the very best action you can take to help you live a long and healthy life, during which you look and feel your very best at every age.

The response to my recent blog “Your Magnificent Self” was enormous. This week’s is PART ONE of my reply to your having asked for more...PART TWO comes next week... Each one of us is ceaselessly involved in creating the quality of our own life. We do this through image-making—a universal characteristic of the human mind which even precedes thinking in the brain. We see, worry, put together ideas, dream, speak, and wonder, all through images. In fact, we experience a continuous flow of mental pictures, both conscious and unconscious, every moment of our life. This capacity to visualize—to 'image'—is one of the miracles of that comes with being human. Thanks to it, we are able to organize our reality, communicate with each other, and make sense of the limits of time and space around which our lives can be organized. THE MAGIC OF IMAGING Images have tremendous potency. When used wisely, your personal images are easy to direct for your own good. They are too often used against you when you are not conscious of them, or when you remain unaware of the amazing powers of choice you were gifted with from the moment you were born. Despite Freud’s assertions to the contrary, we human beings are most certainly not, as he believed, a collection of repressed destructive urges, only restrained by learned moral constructs from destroying ourselves and others. In truth, each of us is autonomous. And, like all beings in the universe, each of us has freedom of choice. CORE FRUSTRATIONS The destructive tendencies we all carry are most often the result of frustrations in the expression of one’s essential being—your unique and magnificent core self. Moving toward happiness and freedom from frustration, as well as freedom from the negative thought patterns and the destructive behavior they engender, develop as we learn to trust our innate self-actualizing tendency. This comes with finding out what we most desire at the deepest levels of our being—when we begin to discover the unique truths that lie within us and live out our day-to-day lives guided by them. In too many of us, self-actualizing tendencies remain undeveloped. Until we become committed to discovering them within and calling them forth, we tend to regress into fear, frustration, and confusion. When we decide to discover them inside us, we start to become stronger, in every way... physically, emotionally and spiritually. Life becomes a process of deep, often rapid growth. Potentials we did not know we had surface then start to blossom into creative projects. A whole new view of our life and self-worth is issued in. Life becomes simpler and happier even if, as is often the case, the world all around us seems to be rapidly crumbling or completely insane. RADIANT AND UNIQUE A fully functioning human being is radiant—more alive than most. He or she is someone who has access to mental and physical powers and is able to use them wisely. As such, these people carry their own unconventional view of things but they are, at the same time, spontaneously more accepting of themselves and of others. Their sense of satisfaction comes from inside, not from the 'carrots' offered through advertisements and self-proclaimed New Age gurus who are now riddling the world with “systems” purporting to bring step by step enlightenment, if only we follow to the letter what they are teaching. Such sheep-like behavior is becoming endemic because there is so much suffering and fear in the world. It is time for each man and woman to connect with their unique authentic being, and come to live life from there. Perhaps the most important question to ask then, if full functioning or self-actualization is so beneficial both physically and mentally, is: how do you go about strengthening your natural tendencies towards it? There are several ways to begin. Here are some simple tools to start with. FIRST STEPS First, entertain the possibility that your essential being—your core self—exists. You are someone quite individual, quite different from everyone else in the world. To those who have not yet experienced this awareness, it can seem a bit strange at first. Others will find it is something they have known all along without ever putting it into words. Still others will immediately accept the notion as self-evident. WHAT YOU BELIEVE Take a look at the ideas, behavior patterns, or assumptions about yourself and your life—in effect, your belief systems. So often, collections of notions which are largely unconscious can be major blocks to your free expression. 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 successful...”a good person”...someone of genuine value', or 'I am too old to change'. Some belief systems are even more deeply embedded things like '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, then write them down, you will discover that many are little more than habitual assumptions with no basis in fact. Then you will gradually find them falling away, so that you are free to be whatever you want to be. LIVE THE MOMENT Whatever you are doing, try letting yourself experience it fully. Get really 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 in the task, forgetting everything else for the moment. While we live in the moment and surrender ourselves to it, we can discover a whole new way of relating to life. There is a real delight in this kind of involvement. It silences the usually worried thoughts and concerns that sap your energy and make every event less interesting than it should be. This ability of complete involvement is also 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. WRITE IT DOWN Another way to develop this awareness is through meditation or deep relaxation. When you are relaxed yet alert, non-productive 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 listen not to ourselves, but to Mummy or Daddy's interjected voice or the voice of the Establishment, of the Elders, of authority or of tradition. Begin to explore how you feel about something or what you really want. Then record it. Keep a simple little journal with you at all times. Leave it on the nightstand when you go to bed with a pen or pencil to record whatever imagery comes to you when you walk, relax, meditate or dream. This is a delightful and easy way to begin the process. I suggest that you keep this simple notebook with you wherever you go as artists and writers do. You never know when desires, visions, questions and insights are going to make an appearance. As they do, record them in words or drawings. My suggestion is that, if at all possible, keep your journal to yourself and don’t let others see it. This provides greater freedom for the powerful imaginal world within you to reveal itself to you in marvelous and unique ways. PATH TO FREEDOM STARTS HERE The more we can become aware of what we think, feel, want and don’t want—in short, of our own quite unique values, the better our health becomes and the greater we experience absence of pain, discomfort, anxiety, tension, insomnia, nightmares, indigestion, constipation; lack of fear, longevity, and pleasure, in coming to live more and more as a fully functioning human being. This experience is not so much a state as a process which leads to the discovery of your own identity, nature, and creativity, as well as your own unique brand of joy and freedom. More to come next week... Every blessing... Leslie

The important thing is to build your own menus around what you yourself like best and then share your own enthusiasm with your growing child. Enthusiasm about anything tends to be contagious. the health makers Fresh fruits, especially eaten raw Fresh vegetables, preferably organic - especially eaten raw 100% whole grain bread and pastas - dark and delicious whole grain cereals such as porridge made from steel-cut oats, muesli and granola (but read the labels and watch out for hidden sugars) Fresh fruit and vegetable juices Pulses Low-fat cheeses like cottage cheese, ricotta and Edam in moderate quantities (provided no milk allergies are present) Dried fruits (naturally dried, not sulfur dried) such as raisins, dates, sultanas, apricots Nuts (make sure they are ground to a powder for young children) Free range eggs Fish Free range chicken Game Butter Olive oil the health breakers White bread, rolls, pastries and pies Pasta - spaghetti, macaroni, etc Sugar and anything containing it Biscuits made from white flour Jelly Jams Tinned fruits Packet and tinned soups Chips Crisps Fizzy drinks containing sugar or artificial sweeteners Greasy fried foods Chocolate and sweets Artificial fruit drinks Ice cream (except homemade) Margarine Processed oils such as the golden varieties you find on supermarket shelves.