.:|:. Dove Love’s .:. Points and Passions .:|:.

By Dove, www.TarotwithLove.com  Okay, I just realized it’s not still morning … so that makes it even wilder, lol ;) 

 The “Wolf” totem is coming to me (have seen “wolf” around me several times in the last day or so)…  I was just now reading on a site about Goji berries (healthy exotic berry), cacao-covered ones, which sounded particularly yummy.  And then my mind started wandering…thinking about the late (very late) breakfast I’d just enjoyed.  I was having passionate thoughts about my grapefruit, lol   Wondering what others might think of my thoughts.  I looked up and saw “wolfberry” right in front of me on the Goji page.  It says the wolfberry is a larger version of the goji…  Anyway, I took that as another wolf sighting :)  Maybe an encouragment to share my thoughts.  I’ll  do another post for Wolf Totem interpretations.

I’ve recently greatly altered my diet.  I used to be vegetarian, and then for a time, “vegan,” and up until recently I referenced myself as “almost vegetarian,” still eating very little animal products.  This type of eating has done me no favors, and I’m so grateful that I’ve finally come to my senses in that regard — and most especially grateful for my coming upon this special blog on this topic. 

I feel my vegetarianism (which spanned a lot of years) has been another version of my decade of starving myself via anorexic behavior in my twenties.  I’m intuitively getting the “vegetarianism” was a mask of that continuing, when I had thought I had overcome it. 

Now, I’m beginning to eat healthy, organic, REAL food — organic meat, eggs, raw-milk cheese, oh-ma-gawd delicious healthy butter…  I never woulda thought, but I (and I think most of us do) truly need these foods to be healthy.  Not the screwed-up variety of them, which most of us eat, but the real deal, as Nature intended…  And I’m seeing my health improve — finally — with the addition of these wonderful foods…and realizing that grandma and grandpa ate these foods, and did just fine and dandy on them :)

So here are some, um, more of my wild thoughts :)  I used to cringe at holding a package of red meat.  It’s still not my favorite thing, but I’m seeing differently now.  I always bless and thank the animal that it was, but it’s not that animal anymore.  Although I do think that our food, even after processed and all that “refining” still has some “life energy” to it or it would be of no value to us whatsoever — and, of course, a lot of our food today is like that.  But the core of the animal, it’s spirit (yes, animals, all things, have “spiritual” energy), is no longer in the meat.  Meat is just a material thing now that was designed by Nature to further sustain our lives, and the lives of other animals.  But it is still a gift from that animal…  If it was gross, bad or wrong for me to eat it, then it would not be healing my body…  What more would be an indication that this is aligned with Nature?  Animals eat animals, nothing wicked or evil is a part of that.  But how that animal may have been treated prior to its sacrifice to sustain another being’s life, there is often much “evil” in the mainstream process of that.  But that’s another topic.

And then I was thinking about balance, and how we hold on to our extremes…  And how raw foodists avow that their diet is the best because the foods are “alive.”  And that sounds good to me, but is “alive” all we need?  How do we know that too much “alive” isn’t a good thing? :)  If our lives were always totally, totally about love, would we really be “getting it”?  Both the understanding and the love? :)  Don’t we need to experience a dab of the “hate” to understand how amazing the love is?  Do we need a few healthy “dead” foods to balance it all out? :)  But let me put an emphasis on “healthy,” I don’t see most mainstream food as healthy — very “dead,” but also infused with “poison” on a variety of energetic levels.  I don’t feel my body wants or needs any of that.

But this post was actually spurred when I was enjoying my grapefruit :)  I love grapefruit.  And I know a fresh grapefruit still has a lot of ALIVE energy in it.  (And lotsa Vitamin C, yay!)  Vegetarians have no problem eating a grapefruit, and yet it has more alive energy than a piece of meat, I think.  Alive!  Vibrating with aliveness — and I think that means “consciousness” :)  So what keeps it from knowing I’m eating it??  :)   From our limited thinking, wouldn’t that seem more cruel than eating the “dead” foods?  See?  Wild thoughts, eh? lol

And I know how everything takes on energy, how we continually exchange it with everything around us.  So I’m eating my grapefruit, enjoying it out the wazoo :)  I’m taking in  its energy, it’s feeling mine…so I’m having this delicious, vibrantly energetic dance with my grapefruit, lol! ;)  And I’m thinking, can my grapefruit feel this?  If it can, then it’s feelin’ a lot of joy and gratitude :)  That must be fun for the grapefruit too…even though it’s dying in the process.  Was this ritual something the grapefruit lived for, came about for, looked forward too? :)  Hmmm.  Death and joy intermingled… And then thoughts came of the short lives of butterflies, and bees …   They come and go lightly through that doorway that is death/rebirth (same thing) … all just part of the “flow” that is this magical life on Earth :)   Hmmm, maybe the butterflies and bees…and grapefruits, and wolfberries, know something we don’t ;)

Peace,
Dove

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Rediscovering sauerkraut.  I love me some kraut, lol  I’ve loved it since I was a kid, but then started thinking it was too salty (per the myth that all salt is the same…and unhealthful), so I stopped eating it…  But since now I know REAL salt (sea salt) is good for us, I’m back to enjoying kraut!  Yay! :)  I just had a luscious mound of it (healthfood brand, Eden, organic cabbage and SEA SALT).  Ah man, I had so missed that wonderful flavor.   

 And look at how good this stuff is for us.  Just came upon this elaboration (I’ve bolded my fav parts) of all the health benefits it provides our lovely bods. 

Yay, kraut’s awesome! :)

 Dove

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Sauerkrauts Specific Health Benefits

Sauerkraut as immune booster

One of the not so secret benefits of sauerkraut is the boost it gives to immune systems. Packed with vitamins and minerals, sauerkraut has been used as a lay immune booster for centuries.  Sauerkraut contains phytochemicals which are created during the fermentation process. These naturally occurring, beneficial by products of sauerkraut help boost the immune system which leads to a decrease in a number of health problems. The common cold, skin problems, weight gain and tainted blood are all fixed by a healthy functioning immune system.

Sauerkraut as cancer fighter

The most recent evidence of sauerkraut’s status as a Superfood is found in numerous studies on the cruciferous wonder’s cancer fighting properties. The results of a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry concluded that sauerkraut is a cancer inhibitor. The study discovered that the fermentation of cabbage produced a substance called isothiocynates, which prevents cancer growth, particularly in the breast, colon, lung and liver. Although raw cabbage is normally rich in a compound called glucosinolate, the researchers found that during the fermentation process enzymes are released that completely decompose the compound into several breakdown products. The majority of these products are cancer-fighting isothiocyanates. The University of New Mexico published a study linking sauerkraut consumption by adolescent females to a reduced risk for breast cancer earlier studies indicate sauerkraut may reduce the risk for other forms of cancer including lung, colon, prostate, and liver We are finding that fermented cabbage could be healthier than raw or cooked cabbage, especially for fighting cancer, says Eeva-Liisa Ryhanen, Ph.D., research manager of MTT Agrifood Research Finland, located in Jokioinen, Finland. A recent study by the American Center for Cancer Research has found that sauerkraut has a profound effect in preventing and healing breast cancer. Based on reports that breast cancer rates amongst polish women in the United States were much higher than those in Poland researchers set out to find out why. Their answer; the women who still lived in Poland ate significantly larger amounts of sauerkraut especially important while they were in adolescence. The research found that the women who immigrated Americanized’ their diets and stopped eating as much of the super food that is sauerkraut thus increasing their rates of breast cancer.

Digestive Aid

Eating sauerkraut is a great way to protect the balance of bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract. Sauerkraut is one of the few foods that contain the bacterium Lactobacilli plantarum. L. planatarum is a very dominant strain of healthful bacteria which helps your digestive system in the following ways: boost the immune system by increasing antibodies that fight infectious disease help inhibit pathogenic organisms including E.coli, salmonella and unhealthy overgrowth of candida (yeast) create antioxidants (glutathione and superoxide dismustase) that scavenge free radicals which are a cancer precursor transforms hard-to-digest lactose from milk to the more easily digested lactic acid. It neutralizes the antinutrients found in many foods including the phytic acid found in all grains and the trypsin-inhibitors in soy generates new nutrients including omega-3 fatty acids, digestive aids and the trace mineral GTF chromium. These various properties are the best scientific reasons given for what has been known by loyal users for millennia, sauerkraut cures an upset stomach and is the best natural physic there is. Many sources say raw fermented foods are beneficial to the digestive system by increasing the healthy flora in the intestinal tract or creating the type of environment for them to flourish. Sauerkraut and its juice are traditional folk remedies for constipation. Fermentation actually increases nutrient values in the cabbage, especially vitamin C. Fermented foods are also said to facilitate the breakdown and assimilation of proteins. They have a soothing effect on the nervous system. The benefits of sauerkraut and sauerkraut juice have been recognized for generations. In some families of southern Germany, the children are fed raw sauerkraut twice weekly to support their intestines. Today it is thought that these benefits may relate to a high proportion of lactic acid in sauerkraut and sauerkraut juice that naturally supports the digestive processes, maintain intestinal flora, and increase the feeling of well-being.

Flu Fighter

With the spread of Avian Flu spreading across the globe, one enterprising Korean scientist, Kang Sa-Ouk of Seoul National University, took 13 chickens infected with avian flu virus and a couple of other diseases, fed them Kim chi extract and found that 11 of the birds recovered. Experts think the vital bacteria are created during the fermenting process and this gives the dish its health-boosting qualities.

 Source:  http://www.sauerkraut.com/benefits.htm

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