Alternative Methods to Build Health
Sprouting
Sprouting is a very cost-effective year-round method for getting the nutrients (vitamins, minerals, proteins, enzymes etc.) your body needs to function
optimally. Sprouting is done by soaking seeds of various vegetables of your choice in water for several hours after which they will start to ‘sprout’ and
grow small baby-plants. Sprouts have been shown to contain vastly more amounts of nutrients than their ‘fully grown’ counterparts including many
cancer-fighting substances. In addition to providing the greatest amount of these nutrients, sprouts deliver them in a form that is easily digested and
assimilated. In fact, they improve the efficiency of digestion. Sprouts are very inexpensive (even when organic), always fresh (they grow until you chew
them) and have the potential to help solve hunger and malnutrition problems in our communities and in developing countries, because they are so rich in
nutrients, affordable, and easy to transport before sprouting. Common seeds for sprouting include alfalfa, fenugreek, lentils, peas, radish, and red clover.
Always be sure to use certified organic seeds. Organic certification assures that seeds have been grown and handled in a manner that helps minimize possible
sources of contamination On http://www.sprouting.com/ you can order certified organic sprouts and sprouting equipment.
Juicing
Another particularly healthy method to increase your health is to incorporate fruit and/or vegetable juices into your diet. Fruit juice has been known to
raise insulin levels so use in moderation (or dilute 50:50 with water). Juicing helps to absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables or fruit. This is
important because most of us have impaired digestion as a result of making less-than-optimal food choices over many years. This limits your body's ability to
absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables. Juicing will help to "pre-digest" them for you, so you will receive most of the nutrition, rather than having
it go down the toilet.
Juicing allows you to consume an optimal amount of vegetables in an efficient manner. You can also add a wider variety of vegetables in your diet. Many
people eat the same vegetable salads every day. This violates the principle of regular food rotation and increases your chance of developing an allergy to a
certain food. But with juicing, you can juice a wide variety of vegetables that you may not normally enjoy eating whole.
For preventing the loss of precious enzymes and vitamins to heat-production from the extraction process, we highly recommend to use a "masticating" juice
extractor (like the Omega 8002) as opposed to a cutting-type juice extractor (which are also much more expensive). For more information on juicing read Paavo
Airola's book How to Get Well, or visit: http://www.mercola.com/nutritionplan/juicing.htm
Fasting
Our bodies are full of stored up toxins from the unheatlhy foods we have consumed over time. To enjoy better health we would need to "unclog" our system from
these toxic substances. Fasting is a process whereby the eliminative and digestive organs of the body turn to the stored up toxins, sickly cells, tumors
etc., and begin to expel them (thus 'unclogging' the body). This happens after three days of fasting. Essentially, fasting is a kind of "burning of rubbish"
mechanism of the body.
There are basically two types of fasting:
- Juice fasting (juicing vegetables/herbs and fruits)
- Water fasting (only drinking water)
- Mixed type fasting (using herbs, fruit juice and/or sugars like maple
syrup)
Juice fasting is possibly the most effective way to restore health and rejuvenate the body. During the juice fast, the process of elimination of toxins and
the dead and dying cells is speeded up, and the new-building of cells is accelerated and stimulated. Also, during a juice fast, the eliminative and cleansing
capacity of the eliminative organs - lungs, liver, kidneys and the skin - is greatly increased. During fasting, the concentration of toxins in the urine can
be ten times higher than normal. This is due to the fact that all eliminative organs focus on cleaning and expelling old accumulated wastes and toxins from
the tissues of the body.
A very mild type of fasting is the "master cleanse" fast as developed by Stanley
Burroughs. The diet consists of drinking a kind of 'lemonade' mixture consisting
of 2 liters of water, 200ml of maple syrup, 200ml of lemon juice and a small
amount of cayenne pepper. This is to be done for 10 days but it can be longer
and shorter depending on your personal needs and options.
Fasting can also be a very spiritual and consciousness raising experience. This is true especially for extended water fasts. It is also very beneficial for
developing strength of will and self-discipline. Usually, once you've transcended the three-day mark you will have transcended the greatest self-urges and
temptations. It doesn't mean these will be gone - they may even become more intense - but that you've developed at least enough strength to transcend these
urges. We recommend against doing juice fasting without proper supervision and guidance. For further information we recommend Paavo Airola’s book, How to Get
Well.
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