They started the event the documentary called The Connection, and the following day was followed by a live call with Jason Wachob and Shannon Harvey, who were part of the documentary. The documentary was amazing, first time I saw it and it was really interesting. they talk about the mind body connection, and how meditation and yoga are so important. It helps provide more oxygen to the body because you take deep slow breaths. Also it helps relax and calm the mind and takes away stress which stress really does effect us in a bad way. One question that was asked during the live call was what is the difference between meditation and being present in every moment? Meditation is about calming the mind completely, or it can be about mantras, or repeating the number 1 or repeating the word health, which all this helps de-clutter the mind. when you are in nature and your notice the sounds of nature, the wind blowing or the birds, that is called bring present in the moment. Another question was how long you need to meditate daily to notice a difference in the calming of the mind, and they suggested to aim for 20 minutes a day, which can be hard to achieve, but you can break it up and just do 5 minutes at a time. They did however say that even just 5 minutes a day, or even just 10 deep breaths can really help. How do you meditate, you must sit comfortably, whether it's in a chair or on the floor, or on the floor with a pillow, as long as your comfortable, but no lying down because you will fall asleep. Then calm your mind, concentrate on your breaths or repeat the number 1, or a word if it helps, and if you start thinking of something, disregard it and go back to calming your mind. I know I struggle with calming my mind but the more I do this, the easier it gets, and if there's a day where I have to much in mind, then I use the health or number one mantra to help me in leaving out other thoughts.
The second part of the event was a documentary called Open Sesame, and the next day was a live call with Jeffrey Smith. The documentary is about how seeds are so important because without seeds we can't grow food, and if we don't have food, we will die. They mention how GMO (Genetically modified) seeds and pesticides are so harmful to our health. During the call he talks about what was also mentioned in his documentary on how there's a company that is suing farmers, saying that over spray is going onto their land therefore the company owns that land, but it's not the fault of the farmer that wind or whatever else causes the pesticides and what not to go on their land. They rather not have that contamination to their crop. They also talk about how organic is so much better for us and our land. Once question that was asked is what 2-3 things you can do to eliminate GMO into our system, and just removing toxic things from out bodies. He said knowledge has power, the more you know the better you will be at avoiding them, then to educate others, and using the film will also help a lot in providing information. You must stay away from corn and soy ingredients, and to cook from scratch as much as possible, using organic ingredients, and also going to farmers markets, and knowing your farmers.
Day 5 and 6 was the Food Matters documentary then a live call with David Wolfe. I have seen Food Matters many times and it's an amazing documentary, you must see it! David Wolfe also didn't disappoint, he provided a lot of great information, and was so inspiring. He mentioned the difference between juicing and blending, and he said blending is more of a meal replacement, you get everything from the plant foods, but you eliminate the chewing aspect, and juicing is more of a snack, the fiber is taken away so it's a way for your body to get a lot of nutrients quickly. He mentioned how his beet juice helps detoxify and is really great after a workout, and you can add celery and cucumber with the beets. One very great thing he shared with us, is his food pyramid, on how everyone should eat. He said we should all have 70-80% plants, 5-10% mushroom kingdom, 10% animal and 10% bacteria (sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, probiotices and noni). He also says how healthy fats are also important, like olive oil, coconut and avocados. Another question was asked about supplements, and he said that D3 is very important especially if you live somewhere that there isn't as much sun during the day, and that a B vitamin is also important, and ALA (flax seed), DHA or DLA, fish oil or a vegan algea oil are also great ones to take. Another question asked was how you get ride of a sweet tooth, and James from food matters mentioned how probiotics are so important, and to have a sweeter smoothie can help. David added that fermented foods will help kill the cravings, and mentioned the book by Donna Gates is a good read about this.Even some skin care advice was mentioned, on how it's an inside and outside job, that a healthy diet will help a lot, and that cucumber, aloe very, radishes and so much more are beauty foods. And on the outside coconut butter, cacoa, olive oil or sea buck oil are great to use. He even showed us these mushrooms that he had with him and I never heard of them before. It was a really amazing live call.
The last two days they played the Hungry for a Change documentary, and this one to I have seen many times and it's so good! The live call was with Joe Cross, which he did the documentary Fat, sick and nearly dead, which is another must see! He even did a part two which I caught on TV and it was really good. He also has a book called Fully Charged, and I'm interested in getting it, it sounds really good. I missed the live call but luckily now till Tuesday they have replays for everything, so I just listened to it and it was really good! He talked a bit about his book and how he lists 7 keys/areas on how to incorporate everything into your lives and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, like changing the relationship with food, changing your diet, changing habits, getting support, to exercise and sleep, having mindfulness, and respect for yourself and love yourself. He talked more about the relationship with food, to just add more of the good stuff. It's all about mindset because without food we will die so it's a critical relationship. Scrap the idea of good vs. bad and think more on about nutrients that your body needs. If you eat junk food, it's fine, don't feel guilty about it because if you feel guilty you will eat a lot more of it and keep putting yourself down. Enjoy every food but make sure to get as much nutrients as you can in a day, and juicing and blending help get a lot more nutrients in one cup. you must respect yourself and love yourself more. We tend to put so many road blocks and walls up, and if you get up in the morning and critic yourself by saying oh I look fat or horrible, it's really not a good way to start the day. You have to fix 2 relationships that are broken, mother nature (plant foods) and yourself. He also mentions how juice is like water and water is the giver of life. Juicing is more like water then food , so when you juice, you are drinking water that has been filtered through plants so you get incredible color and sunshine in that glass. Also make the juice or smoothie 80% vegetables and 20% fruit, so your not consuming to many natural sugars. One really great thing he said and it's so true is "If you eat lots of foods made by people with white coats, you will end up meeting a lot of people with white coats". Someone asked what he consumes each day and he said he starts the day with a glass of water, then makes himself a juice, then has a smoothie, and for lunch he has a salad and dinner with be sushi, or whatever else because he has earned that meal. He also loves nut milks and stays away from cow's milk as much as he can. He also said he juices twice a week, he puts some in air tight containers in the fridge so it's easy to grab before a hike or heading out the door, to make it easier. He was asked if the nutrients decrease by not making it fresh every time, and he said it does but it's minimal, and most people have a harder time to do a juice each time they want one, and doing batches is a lot easier to stick to, so you have to do what you are able to handle. He also goes more to farmers then going to a grocery store to get organic, he gets to know his farmers and it's fresher plant foods. His last comment was to not put so much pressure on ourselves, by doing that we will sleep better, and eat healthier. We all know what is good for us and to just have fun with it. Juice, blend and eat.
The event was amazing, I learned a lot. I have a hard time with juicing, it does require a lot of vegetables and fruit to make a good size glass, so I tend to blend more then juice. I should try to make more juices though because I do know it's good for me, and they do taste good as well. We have had a longer and colder winter this year so haven't been going outside as much, or doing as much. Today is a pretty nice day though and my hubby just unburied our BBQ, and look forward to having the London broil (beef, sausages and bacon rolled up) cooking up on our BBQ. We will of course have vegetables with it. The meat is from the local butcher downtown, so it's a healthy meat, and it's so tasty! I did prepare two salads for my lunches for tomorrow and Tuesday, which I put spinach, grated beet, cucumber, broccoli, red onion, and sliced almonds. My dressing I put apple cider vinegar with some Dijon mustard, olive oil, a bit of salt and pepper and some fresh rosemary. Other then that, I haven't made much else ahead of time, but I do still have some snacks that I made last week, so we will enjoy the rest of those as well.
