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One of the oldest systems of natural healing in the world uses hot and cold baths and showers to increase your vitality, balance hormones, beautify skin, tone muscles, clear your mind, and vitalize your nervous system, lymphatic system, and circulation. It quickly brings you a sense of wonderful aliveness, and all the while it is dissolving, transporting, and clearing rubbish from your body and psyche. Father Sebastian Kneipp The father of all water therapies was Father Sebastian Kneipp, the Bavarian priest who first made us aware of water’s healing power. “When used appropriately,” he said, “water and herbs can cure almost every disease.” He established Bad Worishofen in Germany in 1897, a center where people all over the world came to be healed by special ice cold baths, walking barefoot in the snow, and other simple but powerful methodologies that are celebrated to this day. I first learned the secrets of water healing in my early twenties after spending many years in a state of ill health thanks to my being raised on a terrible diet. It had been based on huge bowels of breakfast cereals piled high with white sugar, horrid fast foods eaten at 5 am in truck drivers’ cafes throughout America, and a lot of other junk. No wonder I was unhealthy. However, what I learned from the generosity of some brilliant British and European doctors who practiced natural medicine turned my entire life around. This was how I came to work in, write about, and teach natural methods of healing. It is also how I came to visit Kneipp’s centers for hydrotherapy, which still continue to thrive, especially in Germany. In many ways the most important of all I learned was how powerful healing with simple water techniques can be for improving your life at any time. Let me share with you one of these techniques. Do try it and let me know how you get on. There are many more, but let’s begin with this one. Thanks to water's chemical and bioelectrical properties, and to your body's physiological and energetic responses to them, water therapy is a superb method for cleansing, energizing, and restoring great functioning to any tired or aging body. The technique of using alternating applications of hot and cold water is called “Contrast Hydros.” If you have not yet experienced the turn-on it offers, you have a real treat ahead. After a workout, athletes use hydroelectrics in the form of contrast baths and showers to strengthen the body, prevent muscular damage, and eliminate aches. Contrast hydros not only help clear wastes and vitalize but also bring nutrients and oxygen to areas of your body that need them and balance your energies, helping to protect you from stress-induced damage. Here is how Apply hot water to your whole body for three or four minutes in the form of a hot bath or shower. Follow with 30 to 60 seconds of cold water. Repeat the procedure three times. The application of cold water needs to be just long enough to make blood vessels constrict. This can take place in as little as 20 seconds. Cold water triggers your sympathetic nervous system to energize while hot water intensifies parasympathetic activity for relaxation. The combination of the two makes you feel great. It’s important that you start slowly, increasing the length of your exposure to hot and cold water gradually. If you have a separate bath and shower you can use the bath for one temperature application, the shower for the other, moving back and forth. During the summer, make your bath cold and your showers hot. During the winter, reverse this. Like any natural treatment, contrast hydros need to be followed carefully and wisely to get all the benefits they offer and to make sure no harm is done. You will probably find at first that a plunge into cold water or a cold shower is a shock to your body. Soon this will turn into an experience of total pleasure. It is always the first cold application that is the hardest. The biggest barrier to getting into cold water is a psychological one. Once you leap this hurdle you’ll find yourself eagerly looking forward to your daily treatment. Here are a few cautions: Always check with your doctor before beginning any natural treatment to make sure that it is appropriate for you. He or she may advise you not to use contrast hydros if you have any kind of heart condition, nervous disorder, high blood pressure, if you are an insulin-dependent diabetic, or suffer from hardening of the arteries. Make sure your body is warm before beginning. The room should be well heated. Don’t let your body become chilled during the treatment. If you feel yourself becoming too cold, immediately stop and get into a hot bath or shower until you warm up fully. Always begin with a hot application and end with cold. Start slowly with 2-3 minutes of hot application followed by 20 seconds of cold. As your body gets used to contrast hydros, increase the time of the cold applications up to 1 minute (even up to 2-3 minutes if you are extremely fit or an athlete). When you finish, dry your body well and dress warmly. I’d love to hear how you get on so I can share with you other hydroelectric treatments that cost virtually nothing but can be wonderfully life enhancing.

Are you worried about hair loss? Let’s take a look at both causes and cures. And there can be many causes, from hormonal imbalances due to under active thyroid, drugs, pharmaceuticals, and poor diet, especially too few B complex vitamins, Vitamin C, zinc, sulfur, and iron. But if you find you’re losing hair at a rapid rate, don't panic. It’s normal to lose 50 to 100 hairs each day. There is a strong link between anxiety and hair loss, especially excess shedding of hair at the telogen stage, which can be made much worse by worrying about it. It’s time to go through a rational process of elimination to discover possible causes then you can do what’s necessary to correct the shedding. Ask yourself the following questions: Are you taking any medication such as the birth control pill or artificially based hormone-replacement therapy? These are common causes of thinning hair, which can be corrected by stopping the drugs and turning to bio-identical hormone replacements under the guidance of a knowledgeable health practitioner. Anti-coagulants, cortisone, and diet pills such as amphetamines are also anathema to hair health. So is boric acid, which stupidly gets added to shampoos, skincare products, ointments for cuts and burns—even eye baths—so read labels carefuly before you buy. Thyroid medication can be a culprit—shift to natural thyroid treatments instead. So can simple aspirin, if you take as many as one or two a day. Now, let me with share you what I have learned over the years about how to stop hair loss: Have you had major illnesses or traumas in your life recently? Shock, illness, and emotional worry can bring about heavy shedding of telogen hairs. This is called telogen effluvium. Help can be had from vitamin supplements—more about this in a moment—and from eating organic liver often. Even getting enough physical activity to help you deal with stressors in your life can help. dramatically. Is is your scalp tight or loose when you put your fingers into it? Start giving yourself a daily scalp massage. And start brushing the old fashioned way—fifty strokes each day. I do myself, and it works. Are you anemic? Women, who suffer from anemia far more often than men do, frequently find their hair has thinned greatly. Have a serum iron test and a total iron-binding capacity test done to find out. Is your hair breaking off near the roots from over-processing, sun bleaching, or too much heat on it? This is easy to detect. If you sit in front of a mirror with the light coming from behind, you’ll be able to see a myriad of tiny hairs standing up out of the scalp no longer than a half to three quarters of an inch. If you examine them carefully, you’ll find that even these short hairs are damaged, with split ends. Consider cutting your hair shorter until the damaged hair has grown out and healthy hair shafts replace it. Have you recently been pregnant? Women often lose hair during pregnancy. It may be the result of hormonal changes or some kind of subclinical vitamin or mineral deficiency—often zinc as it is very low in most women just after childbirth. Happily this condition usually disappears a few weeks after the baby is born, provided your diet is adequate and you are generally well. Do you wear your hair pulled back, or have you been putting rollers in too tightly? A common cause of hair loss is simple traction caused by a tightly wrapped rubber band around a ponytail, or curlers that are too tight. The pull on the hair interferes with proper circulation there and results in damage to the hair follicles, which shed their hairs. If this is the case, you need to change your hairstyle, stop rolling curlers tightly, and give yourself daily massage or treatment with an electric vibrator. If you are using a nylon-bristled brush, rollers with brushes in them, or a too fine-toothed comb, you should replace them as they can exacerbate hair loss. Most important of all—Look to your diet: Eat plenty of foods high in biotin and take biotin supplements. Biotin is needed for healthy hair and skin and to help prevent hair loss. Good food sources include brewers yeast, brown rice, bulgur, green peas, lentils, oats, sunflower seeds, and raw organic walnuts. Don’t eat raw eggs until hair loss has stopped.  You see, because raw eggs contain a protein that binds biotin and prevents it from being absorbed. Cooked free-range eggs are okay. Rinsing your hair with Kombucha tea is far more effective than all the fancy products sold in salons for hair growth and regeneration. It might even prevent hair greying. You can also use apple cider vinegar and sage tea as a rinse to encourage hair growth. Horsetail tea is the best source of silica, which all of us need for strong, shiny hair, and healthy nails. BEST HAIR GROWTH SUPPLEMENTS Good quality Omege-3 oils improve hair texture and help prevent hair loss and damage. Raw thymus glandular—500 mg a day—stimulates immune function and improves the functioning capacity of hair glands. Vitamin B complex with B3 50mg, B5 100 mg, B6 50 mg, biotin 50 mg, and inositol 100 mg top quality B vitamins are needed for the health and growth of hair. Vitamin C—3000 to 10,000 mg a day can greatly improve scalp circulation. Vitamin E—start with 400 IU and slowly increase to 800-1000 IU—increases oxygen uptake, which improves circulation to the scalp. Coenzyme Q10—improves scalp circulation and increases tissue oxygenation. Kelp—500 mg/day—supplies minerals for healthy hair growth. Silica or horsetail—helps keep your hair looking shiny and sleek. Finally, when it comes to reestablishing a gorgeous thick head of healthy hair, always go the natural route. Why? Because it works. You can spend a fortune on hyped-up hair restoring products and get nowhere. Let Nature do it for you! Supplements I personally recommend: Life Extension, BioActive Complete B-Complex What distinguishes BioActive Complete B-Complex is that it provides enzymatically active forms of critical nutrients like the pyridoxal-5-phosphate form of Vitamin B6, the active form of folate (5-MTHF) that is up to 7 times more bioavailable than folic acid, and meaningful potencies of each B-vitamin. Life Extension, Natural Vitamin E, 400 IU There has been a long-standing debate as to whether natural or synthetic Vitamin E is better. For most vitamins, there is no difference between natural and synthetic. With Vitamin E, however, the natural form has proven far superior.

Conventional diets for shedding unwanted depend on self-denial and willpower. They are full of complex methods for dealing with what is commonly known as cheating. Here's an example. Say you go off your diet by eating a piece of chocolate cake. Then you're supposed to tell yourself, "Never mind, tomorrow I'll skip dinner to make up for it." Except that by the time tomorrow arrives, you've developed even more cravings for even more chocolate, carby stuff and sugary drinks. Anybody trying to lose weight this way is doomed to fail. As soon as their diet ends any fat they've shed begins slowly but surely to creep back on. Then they're back where they started. Cura is different Cura is different. Let me tell you how. The secret behind Cura's life-changing success rate is hidden deep within the brain. Yes, really. Here's how it works. On any Cura program, unwanted fat is shed not as the result of strenuous effort or willpower but gently and progressively thanks to Cura's unique ability to restore healthy functioning to the control centers in your brain. Few people—this includes the majority of scientists—even know that the body's fat regulating system is located in an area of the mid-brain called the diencephalon. Probably the most sensitive and complex locus of control in the body, it houses a collection of vital structures including the thalamus, hypothalamus, and pituitary which govern emotions, stress and moods. It oversees the entire autonomic nervous system. The hypothalamus itself links directly to the nervous and endocrine systems via the pituitary. It regulates both hunger and thirst and, with the help of the other members of the diencephalon team, decides whether your body is to lay down fat or shed unwanted fat on your body. Other powerful centers in this area of the brain determine mental functions and emotional balance—even the perceptions we have about ourselves along with heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, electrolyte balance, sexuality and our sleep cycles. Following Cura's specific food protocol and using the Essential Spray—from beginning to end—allows these control centers to function correctly. This is how natural, progressive, effective fat burning takes place without willpower or manipulation. Cura's celebrated success is both as simple and as profound as this. not your fault What few of us realize is that unwanted fat, insulin resistance and the blood sugar issues that come with them are not their fault. Nor are they some accident of fate. These things occur as a result of vital control centers of the brain not functioning as they are meant to in a healthy body. And what messes up the functioning of these control centers? This is important: For more than 70 years we have been misinformed and let astray by governments, pharmaceutical companies and multinational food corporations. We've been told that the way to stay lean and healthy is by following a low-fat high carb diet. We have eaten artificially made foods promoted by the media, multinational food manufacturers and governments. We've told to buy and eat convenience foods, chockablock with carbohydrates, sugars and chemicals. increase in degenerative diseases Doing this has resulted in the rampant increase in degenerative diseases and the widespread dependence on dangerous pharmaceuticals, used only to suppress symptoms but unable to bring true healing to the body. High carb low-fat eating is a major cause of worldwide obesity, addictions and food cravings, as well as the struggles so many experience trying to lose weight. This includes feelings of hopelessness, confusion, self-blame and fear that they will never be able to shed excess fat from our bodies, keep it off, and restore high-level health. Back in the mid-1940s, there were very few poisons sprayed on the foods we bought. They were organically grown on small farms. Today agriculture is big business in control of gigantic corporations whose only goal is fattening their bottom line. In animal farming, drugs such as antibiotics and hormones are injected to boost an animal's growth and cut down on feed requirements virtually all over the world. Residues of these drugs are as hazardous to your own health as they are to the animals that receive them. They undermine your vitality and make those of us with a tendency to gain weight get fat. The level of harm from exposure to pesticides, animal antibiotics and hormones is dose related. This means the more you consume, the greater your potential risk not only of illnesses and long-term degenerative conditions from Heart Disease and Cancer, to serious hormone disorders, depression, Alzheimer’s and distortions in the brain—in many cases from the time of birth to death. Meanwhile all this continues to increase exponentially. convenience foods The convenience foods that line the shelves of supermarkets everywhere are filled with pesticides, chemical additives and GMO. Corporations are intent on selling products that can themselves be destructive to life long term, rather than helping the public learn about the power of natural healing that is carried in the body itself. Eating these foods are responsible for insulin resistance, blood sugar issues and dangerous levels of obesity. If you want to shed excess fat from your body and restore high-level health we need to stop eating them and feeding them to our families. The goals of Cura online programs are two fold: First to guide you progressively through the natural process of shedding unwanted fat from your body. Second they show you how to build whole new ways of living and eating to set you free for to experience long term leanness and radiant health. To my knowledge, no other online program has ever been able to accomplish all this at such a scale. Do join one of our online programs and experience all this for yourself.

These days, unbeknown to most people, we are bombarded with toxicity at every turn. There are poisonous chemicals in the water we drink and bathe in, the foods we eat, and the electromagnetic energies to which we are exposed via mobile devices and cell towers. This makes detoxing your body an essential practice for improving your health, guarding your weight, and looking after your mental and emotional wellbeing. cleansing crisis The powerful deep cleansing of carrying out a detox is not a simple experience. It might very well give you an unpleasant headache or make you moody, temporarily create an upset stomach, a film on your tongue and teeth, or even loose bowels as the toxic wastes from your system clear themselves. If you do experience these things, rest assured they will pass. They are nothing more than signs that your body is throwing off wastes—which is great. You are only experiencing what in natural medicine is known as a cleansing crisis. Those most likely to get a bad headache or other discomforts are people who have been drinking several cups of coffee a day. This kind of reaction is triggered by your tissues dumping a lot of stored caffeine into your bloodstream all at once, in order to eliminate it from your body. home-made compress Let me share with you a technique that works wonders for any uncomfortable detox reaction. It involves using plain water in the form of a simple home-made compress around the middle of your body. It charges your cells with energy, activates circulation and stimulates your liver—the body's organ of detoxification—to let go of stored wastes so any discomfort is minimized. Here’s what to do Tear a piece of cotton cloth wide enough to reach from under your arms down to your hips and long enough to wrap around your body comfortably once. An old cotton sheet is ideal (never use nylon or polyester). Dip the cloth into cold water, then wring it out. Wrap it around your middle and secure with a large safety pin or two. Now wrap a thick dry towel around this and lie down, or even better, climb into a warm bed. You might want to put on a pair of thick socks so your feet don’t feel cold. Rest for at least half an hour. If you do this just before bed and you drop off to sleep for the night, that’s ideal. You can always remove the compress in the morning. Also take the time to relax, and be kind to yourself. Have a cup of ginger tea—it is very soothing and good for you. Remember that a healing crisis is actually a good sign. Your body is getting rid of a lot of debris so you can access a higher level of health and vitality. It will pass quickly, leaving you better than ever.

The power that floral essential oils can exert over mind and body has been known for centuries. For example, before Cleopatra sailed out to meet Marc Antony, she drenched the sails of her barge with the scent of jasmine—an aphrodisiac. He could not resist her. The faintest hint of a floral perfume can transport you back to a place in your memories, and evoke all the emotions that go with it. Why should something as ordinary as a scent have such a powerful effect upon you? It is because your sense of smell is governed by the limbic system—the most primitive part of your brain. The limbic system also governs your most intense emotions—joy, fear, desire, or rage. So an evocative scent has the power to reach into the deepest parts of your mind and body. When you smell any odor, you are reacting to volatile molecules that are wafting their way to odor receptors behind the bridge of your nose. From there, nerve impulses are carried to your limbic system. The chemical messages from the fragrance are then interpreted, and a response is sent by the hypothalamus to the rest of your body.   It was not until the 1920s that the extraordinary physical healing powers of essential oils began to be explored in depth. It was at this time that the birth of modern aromatherapy took place in the laboratory of a French chemist, Rene-Maurice Gattefosse, who became interested in the healing qualities of the natural essential oils that he used in his family’s perfume business. Then, one day Gattefosse burned his hand in a laboratory explosion and he immediately plunged his hand into a bowl of pure lavender oil. He was amazed to find how quickly the wound healed without even leaving a scar. It was Gattefosse who coined the word “aromatherapy,” in a 1928 scientific paper. Floral essential oils work from outside in. They impact your body and senses through your sense of smell and by absorption through your skin. When essential oils meet your human body, their molecules not only produce psychological responses like euphoria and increased alertness as well as relaxation but also induce direct and measurable pharmacological changes through your blood stream. They affect your hormones and glandular system, your metabolic processes, and your nervous system, and subtly induce healing on many levels. There are over 1000 aromatherapy oils on the market—about 30% of them derived from flowers. Each floral essential oil has its own distinct personality, which is sometimes quite different from its ‘soul energy,’ which comes through in flower essence healing. Each can be used singularly or in combination. If you have not yet experienced the blessings of floral essential oils in your life, you are in for a treat. Here are some of my favorite flowers, from which teas can be made and whose essential oils or absolutes can be used for a multitude of other purposes. Get to know their healing effects and their uses, then experiment with them in your own life. SACRED ESSENTIAL OILS To open to the abundance of the universe Rose Otto, Neroli, Lavender To clear unhelpful habits and thought patterns Carnation, Tuberose, Hyssop For increased confidence and self-worth Geranium, Rose Maroc, Ylang Ylang To release guilt Clary Sage, Jasmine, Linden Blossom To enhance the connection with your higher self Rose Maroc, Jasmine, Neroli Immerse yourself in a bath laced with essential oils. Breathe in the mind-altering aroma while you absorb the life-enhancing molecules through your skin. Don't disrupt the experience with perfumed soaps, shampoos, or body washes. If you need to get clean, shower first, then bask in the full aromatherapy experience. Once you emerge from your bath, let yourself enjoy the floral aura that you will carry with you for hours. The simplest method for taking an aromatherapy bath is to sprinkle a few drops of essential oil into your bath, swish it around so that the oil is well dispersed, then immerse yourself. Begin with only 2 drops of essential oil in a tub of water then gradually build up over a period of weeks to 4-7 drops. This may seem like a very small amount, but undiluted essences are extremely potent. More than this could irritate your skin. Also be aware that some florals stimulate while others sedate. For example, if you want a relaxing bath, choose an essential oil like lavender, which has a sedating effect, and use it in warm rather than hot water (somewhere between 28-35 degrees C). If you need invigoration, use a stimulating essential oil like neroli and take a shorter, hotter bath (around 35-39 degrees C). If you prefer a moisturizing bath, make your own bath oil blend by combining the following ingredients: To each 1-2 teaspoons of avocado oil or sweet almond oil, add 1 drop of a mild shampoo 2-5 drops of essential oil Shake the mixture in a small glass jar or bottle and add the blend to your bath. Experiment with your essential oils singly or in combination. Don’t use more than 3-5 drops of essential oil in total. Each has its own personality, and you will quickly learn which ones help you most and in which situations. Above all, have fun experimenting. Rediscover the ancient art of bathing that the Romans knew so well. Take time out to indulge your senses with a prolonged floral soak. It will benefit you in so many ways that it would be hard to list them all.

When it comes to prevention and treatment, opt for nature power every time. Simple herbs work better and are far safer than conventional medical “solutions”. They can keep you from being laid low by illness, even when people all around you are dropping like flies. If you are generally healthy, yet lead a stressful lifestyle, the occasional cold is simply your body’s way of trying to force you to get some extra rest and clear out toxic waste. However, if you find yourself spending most of winter with your nose in a handkerchief, then you need to take preventative action. Colds and most flu are caused by viruses. There are many natural ways to help protect from them. Viruses cannot replicate themselves without entering your cells and altering their function. Prevent a virus invading your cells, and you will stop cold and flu in their tracks. Giving your immune system a boost for the colds and flu season is the key to doing this. Here’s how: Eat well—plenty of fresh vegetables and some low-glycemic fruit, and cut out all packaged convenience foods. They are worthless when it comes to protecting or enhancing your health. At first sniffle, stop eating cooked food. I often don’t eat anything at all—just take live, fresh organic juices like carrot, spinach, apple, celery, kale—whatever I have in the house or can pick from my organic garden. Animals stop eating when they feel unwell. So do children. Your body needs all its strength to get rid of the invaders. Trust this. Boost your immunity by wrapping yourself in a comforting blanket, watch your favorite film or listen to music you love. Have a glass of fresh raw juice. If you prefer something warm, make yourself a bowl of tonic soup out of organic vegetables. Remember, your body is trying to clear itself of stuff that does not belong in it. Make time to let the clearing take place. Think back to the discoveries of two Nobel Prize winners—back when the Nobel Prize still meant something: Start by taking 3 grams (that’s 3000 milligrams) of vitamin C four times a day. This may sound excessive, but if you are under-the-weather or your immune system needs a boost, your body will soak up vitamin C like blotting paper. It’s worth remembering that we don’t make our own vitamin C like other animals. If we were goats, we would be making 5 grams of vitamin C per day or even more. But we humans can’t make our own, so we need to supply it. Your body will flush out any vitamin C it doesn’t need. If you find your bowel movements are loose, then reduce the amount you are taking a little. You can rest assured that your cells are being adequately flushed with ascorbic acid. If you have a delicate tummy, go for a brand that’s “buffered.” Personally, I take 3 grams of Vitamin C 3 or 4 times a day whenever I feel a cold or flu threatening, until 2 days after all symptoms have disappeared. And how do you live a cold-free, flu-free life from now on? Eliminate cereal-based, grain-based and sugar-based carbs. Eat a large, raw salad for one meal a day. This is the best possible way of enabling your body to rebalance and rebuild itself and restoring metabolism to its peak level. Eat plenty of “high water” foods. Your body is 70% water. For it to cleanse itself properly, you need to make sure at least 50-75% of your daily diet high-water foods—like fresh, low-glycemic fruit and vegetables. Eat most of them raw. Drink plenty of clean water—up to 3 liters a day if ever you feel yourself coming down with a cold. Avoid coffee, milk—which is mucus-forming—and alcohol. Make good use of the delicious herb teas now available. It’s all so simple, yet so powerful to keep yourself healthy. Try it and see. I think you will be delighted!

I once spent the night lying on a platform above an animal watering hole staring into the vastness of space while beholding the great, fathomless mystery of the African sky. Aaron, my youngest son, then three years old, lay curled up next to me like a kitten lost in his dreams. Dazzled by the inconceivable expanse of the sky whose darkness was so overcome with the light from billions of stars that lived in it, I lost myself in timelessness and infinity. That night I had come not to think or to wonder but to know, with absolute certainty in every cell and molecule of my body, that this cosmic world was not something separate from myself, nor I from it. We were, in a way I will never be able to understand rationally, one being. It was one of the greatest moments of my life Like the proverbial iceberg, most of us live with the lion’s share of our potential for freedom, joy, creativity, and authentic power submerged beneath a sea of unknowing. We go about our day-to-day duties and pleasures conscious only of what comes to us through our five senses. How does it taste and feel? What does it sound like? What do we see in front of our eyes? Meanwhile, beneath the vast ocean of consciousness that constitutes what it is to be fully human, our greater selves hibernate, waiting to be awakened. Sometimes, when we fall in love perhaps, or when we are faced with an event of life-shattering proportions like a critical illness or the death of a close friend, a submerged area of our being erupts in magic or horror and often in surges of passion, energy, and beauty. Then, for a time, the mundane quality of everyday life is replaced with a sense of expanded being. Not only do we feel more alive but we also wake up to find that familiar things—the tree that stands outside a bedroom window, the cat that greets us when we come home each day, a simple shell we picked up and slipped into our pocket while walking on the beach—have taken on a luminosity that we can’t explain. Other times, without warning, while listening to music or walking down a city street, we are suddenly gripped with a sense that the world is far greater than we ever imagined it to be, and a certainty that all we see around us somehow is us. While the experience lasts, everything seems right in the world. Then, like the sun at the point of setting, everything fades beneath the mundane horizon, leaving only the faintest wisp of color to remind us that we once stood in its glory, felt its rays on our bodies, and knew that being at one with the universe brings a sense of meaning to our own lives and to the lives of others that is simply indescribable. The greatest desire I have is to live my life conscious of the oneness to which we all belong. The universe reflected in that African sky and stretching out to infinity lives inside each one of us. Awakening to this reality floods our bodies and our lives with wonderment. It opens us to infinite freedom at the core of our being. What a blessing to behold.

Want to have ageless skin whether you’re 35 or 80? It’s easy, I promise you. First, change your way of eating from a diet of packaged convenience foods to pesticide-free, whole organic foods that are unprocessed. Next, never use canned fruits in any recipe that needs sweetening. Instead, go for fresh top quality stevias. Then use organic spices and herbs to create great flavors for all your dishes. The sugar content of any food is most deliberately hidden by food manufacturers who, if they list it at all, give it a name that shoppers will not recognize. It’s essential to be very cautious when looking for alternatives to sugar itself. These fall into three main categories: Artificial sweeteners—which you must avoid like the plague if you value your skin and your health. Sugar alcohols. So-called natural sweeteners. Here’s what you need to remember: The first group never to use are the artificial sweeteners—each very harmful in its own way. These include aspartame—the worst of the lot. You’ll find it in Equal and NutraSweet, as well as hidden in all sorts of packaged foods and sugar-free gums. Then there is sucralose. It is also nasty. It’s the main ingredient in Splenda. And of course, there is good old saccharine, which you’ll find in Sweet and Low, as well as many other artificial sweeteners by different names. There is much evidence to back up how dangerous these are. Avoid all of them completely forever about your skin and your health. The second group of sugar alternatives are the sugar alcohols. They all have “ol” in their name—such as xylitol, sorbitol, maltitol, mannitol, glycerol and lactitol. These sugar alcohols can spike blood sugar, so beware. Just because some product label says “sugar-free” this is not necessarily the truth, nor can you be sure it is calorie-free. Probably safest of the lot is xylitol, but only if you use it occasionally and sparingly. (By the way, xylitol is deadly for your cats and dogs.) The third group of sugar substitutes is often referred to as “natural sweetener”. This is a misnomer if I have ever heard one. Take, Agave Syrup and Agave Nectar which are even worse than the dreadful high-fructose corn syrup. It’s absurd to refer to these products as “natural”, despite all the advertising hype that tries to make you think that they are. Higher in sugar content than almost any other sweetener on the market, Agave has virtually no nutritional value. As for honey—this has become seriously distorted because of the hideous damage being done to bee colonies. You want to avoid honey as well unless you can gather it from your own hives. So what are your safest choices? Stevia is number one on the list. This is an exotic herb which grows in subtropical areas of South America. This plant has been used to sweeten herbal drinks since pre-Columbian times. It’s a godsend for enhancing health and reducing your sugar intake. It’s great for sweetening drinks and baking dishes. But make sure you use only the best. All sorts of so-called stevias such as Truvia and Purevia continue to be promoted by multinational corporations. They call themselves “all-natural sweeteners”. In reality, they have been manufactured only from “certain active ingredients” in the stevia plant, not from the whole plant. As a result, they are distortions of the real thing. Don’t use them. Another good natural sweetener is Lo Han Guo, which comes from a Chinese fruit. It’s more expensive than stevia. Sugar of any kind is a killer both in terms of your health and your good looks. Make these changes now and in as little as three weeks you’ll be amazed at how much better your skin looks, and how much better you feel all round. You may be surprised after a month or so to find you no longer even want sugar once your body has quite naturally eliminated its sugar cravings. I find this happens to many, many people. It feels like breaking free from a control mechanism that once undermined your life and your sense of self. Try it and find out for yourself.

Do you want your cat to live a long, happy life, free from cancer, kidney disease and other unnecessary illnesses that create suffering? Fifty years ago, I discovered the secret of raising healthy cats who live up to 23 years or more, and die naturally of old age. Let me share it with you. What we feed our animals from birth onwards determines the length of their lives and the quality of their health. Most animals are fed on junk pet food. And don’t be deceived by all the quasi-scientific language that adorns packages of pet foods in an attempt to convince you how excellent they are supposed to be. They are not, no matter how much you pay for them. It’s little wonder that our beautiful creatures die early from all sorts of dreadful illnesses, none of which are “normal” experiences of natural aging. You see, just as the human world is filled with manufactured, packaged convenience foods and pharmaceuticals—all of which do far more harm than the public realizes—so is the pet world filled with junk we are urged to feed our cats and dogs on. Some fifty years ago, I learned all about this thanks to a cat named Mistletoe. She was a beautiful little Siamese who gave birth to two litters of perfect kittens. But Mistletoe was not strong. So I took her to the vet, who told me she needed an injection of anabolic steroids. It helped for a while. But two months later, I had to take her to the vet again for a second injection. This made me furious. My anger led me to read everything I could get my hands on in an attempt to discover what natural foods cats—from tigers and lions to tiny kittens—had been eating for millennia. Before long, my searches led me to Dr Francis Pottenger MD’s unparalleled research into animal health. Known for his success healing humans, Pottenger believed that—given half a chance—any living body, be it human or animal, is capable of healing itself naturally. For ten years, he carried out clinical trials on 900 cats that he and his team monitored down 9 generations. He split them into two groups. To group one he fed only raw meat, including organ meats, bones, raw milk, and a little cod liver oil. To group two, instead of raw, he fed the same foods but cooked. They got cooked meats, pasteurized—that is, heat-treated—milk, and cod liver oil. Then he traced the health and behavior of both groups down an amazing nine generations. All of the foods he fed all cats were organic, of course, because back in the 1940s when he carried out his research, virtually all foods were. Group one cats, who got only raw food, became healthier and healthier with each year that passed. They had no birth problems, nor did they develop any health issues during the nine year period of the study. These fortunate cats died late in life from simple old age. Meanwhile, group two cats—who got the same food except that it was cooked—started developing health problems, right from the first generation. These included death of kittens, smaller litter sizes, poor mothering behavior, scruffy coats—you name it. The second generation of group two cats started to show signs of allergies, gingivitis, inflamed joints, dermatitis, poor vision, and skeletal malformation. Their fertility dropped, as did their litter size. Perinatal mortality increased. Their calcium bone density fell from 17% at the beginning of the research to 4% by the fourth generation. Even the behavior of group two cats was affected. They became more aggressive to handlers and to one another. By the ninth generation, many of group two became sterile. And, because, by then, they had stopped reproducing, Pottenger’s trial had to be stopped. Meanwhile, group one cats continued to thrive. Learning about Pottenger’s work was all it took for me to decide that my beautiful little Mistletoe was never again going to be fed any form of “cat food”, be it in a can or dried, again—so she would never have to go to the vet again. She never did. I started feeding her entirely on a little cod liver oil, raw milk or cream, raw organic meats and offal, liver, wild rabbit, as well as a source of minerals which I call cat pâté. This I make in my Vitamix by grinding up organic chicken carcasses in a little water. Little Mistletoe went from strength to strength. She never looked back. She finally died at the age of 22. She was never sick. One day I noticed she was not interested in eating any more, but she still wanted to drink water. In another three or four days, she no longer wanted to drink. She spent more time alone resting, but she still wanted to be held and given love. When she was ready to let go, she died in my arms—calm and peaceful. Mistletoe not only taught me to reject all of the propaganda which tries to convince us that our animals need manufactured foods and pharmaceuticals to stay healthy—far from it. She even taught me about the nature of dying itself. It can be a peaceful blessing surrounded by those who love you, whether an animal or a human being. What I learned from Mistletoe half a century ago has stood me in good stead. Since then, I have raised and nurtured many vibrantly healthy cats and other animals. With each day that passes, I still give thanks for all that my animal friends continue to teach me. This is not only about how to help them stay healthy life-long. They’ve taught me to listen to their own innate wisdom and never to assume that, as a human being, I know better than they do. I’ve come to love and respect them in ways I once would never have dreamed possible. I suggest you read the wonderful little book that Pottenger wrote about his research with 900 cats. I think you can find it for free on the internet. It just might change your life for the better, as well as the lives of your beloved creatures. It has most certainly changed ours.