Well, summer’s here and the living is easy… or that’s what they all say, right? We’re vacationing here in San Luis Obispo, California, our hometown. Came out for a family reunion, and it has been fun although VERY hot… record breaking heat of 110 degrees so far. Extremely unusual heat for this part of California. We thought we’d be out here cooling off from the heat and storms in the midwest!

So how do we stay on our raw vegan food lifestyle while on vacation? Well, to put it bluntly, it’s not easy!! Seeing our family is more important than our food, so we have to relax a little bit about what we eat. But our first challenge started on the airplane!! Going through security was no picnic (no pun intended) and we were not allowed to bring in our own water, only water that was bought inside security (for about $3!) so we waited until they offered beverages to get some water. Of course, they don’t serve meals anymore unless you want to cough up $6 for something that looks like it was rolled over by a freight train first then slopped on a plastic plate. We brought fresh fruit, raw trail mix, and my Raw4Healing Energy bars. That worked out just fine for us… but it’s important to remember when traveling by air or car to keep meals light. The stress of traveling causes my system to tighten up, and so I just have to live with the gas and bloating for awhile. I learned that this is true for most people. Trying hard to avoid IBS issues, we both kept it pretty light, but I still had to deal with some IBS that took a couple of days to pass.

Needless to say, keeping true to our raw vegan food diet has it’s moments and challenges while staying with my in-laws, who love food, and love to eat. Thankfully, they are very supportive of our healthier food choices, and have given us both lots of opportunities to share the benefits of a raw food lifestyle. There are quite a few family members here who are not yet ready to give up their favorite foods. I brought my blender and make green smoothies, which everyone enjoys. And I’ve also made a few dishes that have been well received, but it’s always a side dish, they still like their main meat or chicken dish and other cooked foods, and that’s fine. We didn’t come out here to force our healthy beliefs down everyone’s throat, because it’s a personal choice. Each person has to do what they feel is right for them. What’s more important is our precious time with our beloved family and friends, and catching up on all the new members (lots of marriages lately) and new babies. We can only try to be an example and let them decide. After all, as I always say, it’s your body, and it’s your choice. I just know what works for me.

Larry, of course, is surrounded by Mom’s cooking, in the house he grew up in. Kind of hard to break that tradition. He knows he’ll have some detox to deal with when we get home, and of course he doesn’t want to be rude either. I’m glad to say that he has been more disciplined about cutting back on his portions and filling up on salads and fresh fruit. He also told me that his system is starting to ‘bark’ at him a little due to eating more cooked and processed foods. Oh well, it’s only for a couple weeks… he’ll be back on track when we return home.

I made some really yummy raw cacao balls for our reunion potluck. I’m trying to think of a better name for them. Sounds like ‘cow balls’ which doesn’t quite sound right LOL! Maybe Cacao Coconut Balls? That’s better… here’s the recipe I made up:

Cacao Coconut Balls
Note: All ingredients should be organic whenever possible

2 cups cashews and almonds (soak for a few hours)
6 large dates, soaked for a few hours
1/4 cup raw honey
2 tbsp raw agave
2 heaping tbsp raw cacao
1 cup raw shredded coconut
1 tsp vanilla

Drain the water from the nuts and dates. Blend the dates and some of the nuts in a high speed blender til the dates are all pureed. Add the rest of the nuts, honey, agave, cacao, coconut, and vanilla and blend on high, stopping it to push everything down towards the blades. This takes a while, just keep blending on short spurts of high speed, and pushing it back onto the blades until it’s all blended well. It should be stiff and sticky. Empty into a bowl and begin rolling into balls. Dip the balls in shredded coconut and finely chopped almond. Refrigerate for a few hours. Eat and enjoy!! I like this because it is quick and very simple, and very good too! A big hit!

It’s always easy to share raw food desserts since they are so good, and people cannot believe that there is no sugar, no flour, no unhealthy fats, etc. And it tastes delicious! I have heard that some of the raw food gurus were introduced to the raw food lifestyle just from trying the raw desserts. We were invited to Larry’s brother’s house for dinner later this week, and he asked if I would bring a salad… sure I said. Then he was asking if rootbeer floats were okay, and I’m like, uh, no, don’t do soda, don’t do dairy, and I saw this didn’t help him at all… I said we don’t have to do dessert, but that didn’t fly, after all, Larry’s folks ALWAYS do dessert!! So I said, hey, instead of me bringing the salad, I’ll bring dessert. So I get to decide what to make. Thinking about my triple layer Raspberry Cacao NutCheese Pie with walnut crust? It’s so good… Here’s the recipe, you decide!

Raspberry Cacao NutCheese Pie
All ingredients should be organic whenever possible

Crust:
2 cups walnuts soaked several hours and rinsed
1 ripe banana
1 cup raisins
1 Tbs. fresh orange juice

Blend in the food processor until you get a sticky ball consistency. Press into your pie plate with wet fingers.

Candy layer:
2 Tbs. raw cacao powder
1 Tbs. coconut oil
1 Tbs. flax oil
1/2 tsp. raw honey
1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Mix well until smooth by hand and pour onto your pie crust. Place in the freezer while making the fillings.

Cashew layer:
2 cups cashews soaked 1 hour and rinsed.
1 tsp. vanilla
3 Tbs. coconut oil
1 Tbs. raw honey
1/2 tsp. salt

Blend ingredients in your vitamix or high speed blender only adding water if needed to blend smooth. You want this thick and creamy. Pour and spread over the candy layer.

Raspberry layer:
1 pint Mashed raspberries.

Spread over cashew layer.

Chocolate cream layer:
2 small avocados
1 tsp. vanilla
3 Tbs. raw cacao powder
2-3 Tbs. raw honey
2 Tbs. coconut oil
Just enough nut milk to blend (use your favorite)

Blend in the Vitamix until creamy and smooth. Spread chocolate cream over the raspberry layer and refrigerate the pie for several hours or until set up. You can also freeze it for 30 minutes for a quicker serve time. Do not totally freeze this pie because it will killl some of the enzymes.

Eating a dessert this rich may feel like a dietary sin, but it is ALL good! Eat, drink, and be truly merry!

Well, I don’t know if you have heard of Bill Maher, but he’s very vocal about how our food and water supply are deteriorating, and the increase of sickness and disease, along with rise of pharmaceutical use. This YouTube video has been around since September, but watching it again made me realize how right on he is. Hopefully it will help others recognize their dependencies on the pharmaceutical drug system, and make an effort to break free by changing to a healthier diet and lifestyle.

And to continue the topic about the medical and pharmaceutical industries, I came across this excellent video by Olivia Hadassah based upon her own personal experience. She studied to be a nurse and graduated with honors in 1990. In her profile on YouTube she writes: In 1990 I graduated from one of the top 10 nursing schools in the US with honors. Now I refuse to medicate patients and my blog exposes the Illuminati’s use of modern medicine to drug, poison and control millions in their pursuit of a New World Order.

Discover the truth about dangerous prescriptions, tainted vaccines, fluoride and chemtrails, and how to reclaim your health. Below is her expose on pharmaceutical drugs vs. nutrition and healing.

Check out her blog here: http://redpillreich.blogspot.com/

My husband, Larry, says that I’m too vigilant, too radical sometimes when I share with others about vegan raw food and the health benefits. And he’s probably right. But since he’s lost over 30 pounds, he also agrees with me!

I care too much, love too deeply, and want so desperately to share with others that are blinded by today’s rich, greedy corporate bureaucracies. These societies and bureaucracies have a very strong hold on the general public as to how much good food they will allow the public to eat, let alone keep the information for real healing buried deep in the medical journals where no normal person will every find it. They control what is considered acceptable ‘good’ food, even the empty stuff that is processed, packaged, irradiated in pretty colorful packages that cost more than what’s inside.

It’s dead food, and dead food cannot build life. Living food builds life, health, and healing. You cannot put a price on that. Health is literally priceless. Almost everyone knows someone who has cancer, or some chronic health issue. I was just at an open house party the other night. Most of the guests there were in their 40’s - late 50’s. They ALL had health issues, had family with cancer; one lady I spoke with is getting ready to go into the hospital for surgery, and on and on about that hospital vs. this hospital, that doctor and this doctor…. WAKE UP PEOPLE!! Don’t you see what you are doing? You are doing EXACTLY what ‘they’ want you to do… pay attention to them, talk about them, see them and give them YOUR money. They don’t care about your health.

The other sad thing is that most people in the general public DON’T care about their health either. Because their confidence is in their doctors to fix whatever problem they will ever have. A simple prescription will take care of their ills. And the plot continues to thicken. Fix a problem with drugs, that will in the long run create more toxic issues, requiring more drugs…. and that’s what keeps the pharmaceutical companies RICH!!

I had a great chat with my lovely daughter Erin. She’s 21, beautiful and fit, in the prime of her life and tells me on the phone that she’s been told four different times that she has high blood pressure. Well, I began to ask her what her personal life is like… is she under stress, stuff like that. She didn’t think so. But when I asked her about what kind of food she was eating, it was mostly SAD stuff… coffee, cereal, milk, bagel/cream cheese, hamburger, tea or soda, cup ‘o noodles… “whatever,” she says.

I felt absolutely awful. I had been a health ‘freak’ most of my life, but failed to teach my daughter before she left home. Of course, that was four years ago, and I didn’t know what I know now. I was kind of just following the ‘flow’ back then, doing my own thing I guess….

I’ve learned so much… my raw journey is finally coming full circle. I am grateful to God for opening my eyes to see His truth. Genesis 1:29: “Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you.” No where do the scripture say “I have given you hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, drugs, dead animals and their byproducts, preservatives, food coloring, flouride, chlorine, denatured, junk and empty food to sustain your life with.”

I am so very grateful that I have overcome all my health issues with a raw food lifestyle and at 54, that is considered pretty unusual. I can share this wonderful testimony with my family, the community, even my church. If it helps to open the eyes of others so that they may see out from under the ‘cloud’ that they are under. That’s how I see so many people… I’m outside of that ‘cloud’ looking at the people and see them in the cloud, completely oblivious to it. Accepting whatever the ‘powers that be’ say.

So I spent about the next 30 minutes explaining to my daughter how food relates to her health. About the difference between raw and cooked food, enzymes and nutrients in the raw food, how it’s a better eco green way to live for our environment, to how we are all being manipulated and conveniently kept ’sick’ to keep the money coffers full for those in control. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have internet access in her studio apartment, but she can check her email from a friend’s computer, or an i-cafe. But at least she is very interested, and wants to know more. Thank you! At last my daughter is finally listening to me LOL!!!

I told her that if she went on a raw food lifestyle program, or even a high raw and vegan diet,  that she would be able to retain her lovely youthfulness for many, many years. She would age so much slower than her peers. She will never have a weight problem. Her high blood pressure, and all other health issues, will go away.

I’ll send her some books, my Smoothies for Health, and help her get started with some of my favorite vegan, natural and organic recipes. First off, she can start very simply by making smoothies. Once she starts doing that, she’ll be on the path to improving her health.

If you haven’t gotten your free copy of my Smoothies for Health, then feel free to click here to learn more and subscribe to my free raw food weekly recipes.

Shelly Keck-Borsits literally went to hell and back in her struggles to be healed of life threatening health issues and fibromyalgia resulting from taking depo provera birth control. Her book, Dying To Get Well, is a very courageous, step of faith revealing no holds barred truth telling, eye opening information. If you or someone you love is taking pharmaceuticals or thinking about it, this 160 page 3-book is really worth reading and can save lives.

Download here: http://www.dyingtogetwell.com/

“Dying To Get Well gives you information the medical communities and
drug companies pray you’ll never see! They want you to stay ignorant
to these facts about the cause of and the natural cure to disease;
because when you remain ignorant, they remain RICH!”

If you are lucky you will read Dying To Get Well before you have subjected yourself to harmful prescription drugs and/or surgeries. But even if you’ve been drugged for numerous years, and/or sliced open once or several times; it is almost never to late for you to apply the information given and reverse your disease!

Dying To Get Well is a book for those who want to take charge of their health and their life! It is a book for those who no longer want to poison their systems with the dangerous drugs their doctorsare all too readily handing out.
“Beauty and vitality are gifts from nature for those who live by her laws”
— Leonardo da Vinci

“Let food be your medicine, and medicine your food”
— Hippocrates

Below is a list of just some of what you will read about inside of the book Dying To Get Well….

Find Out WHAT Caused You To Become Sick
• Is Your Home Or Workplace Making You Sick?
• Is Your Diet Making You Sick?
• How Almost Every Disease Can Be Cured Naturally
• The TRUTH About Symptoms AND Why They Shouldn’t Always Frighten You
• The TRUTH About What Prescription Drugs Are Really Doing To You
• The Exact Step-By-Step Plan The Author Of “Dying to Get Well” Used To Cure Her So-Called “Incurable” Fibromyalgia
• Why Almost Every Disease Can Be Cured Via The Same NATURAL Methods
• Why The Medical Community Won’t Share This Information With You
• Why The Pharmaceutical Companies Won’t Share This Information With You
• Why YOUR Doctor Isn’t Sharing This Life-Saving Information With You
• Which M.D.’s Are Coming Forward With This Information and Why These Brave M.D.’s Are Coming Forward
• Why You Won’t Hear How Millions Of Other People Have Cured Their Diseases Too!
• The TRUTH About Prescription Drugs
• How The MEDIA Is Involved In Keeping This Information From You
• Why Many Natural ALTERNATIVE Cures Fail Just Like Conventional Medicine’s Prescription Drugs
• The Differences Between The 3 Major Types of Alternative Healing Therapies
• Why High Protein Diets Can Be Deadly
• Why Raw Food Helps Reverse Disease
• Info on Vegetarianism, Veganism, Fasting, Raw Food, & Juicing
• How You’ll Be Able To Eat MORE Food Than You Ever Have Before And NOT Gain Weight
• WHY You Can’t Lose Weight And WHY You May Feel Like You Are ALWAYS Hungry
• The Hidden Health Hazards That Are Lurking In Your Cosmetics, Cleansing Supplies, Carpeting & Much, MUCH more!
• How To Do A Raw Food Diet
• Where To Get Professional Fasting & Raw Food Diet Support
• How The Raw Food Diet Can Fail If You Don’t Do It Correctly… and WHY!
• and much more!

Dying To Get Well: A Medical Cover-Up EXPOSED! The Cure to Disease REVEALED!! Read the true story of one woman who cured herself from a mysterious, debilitating illness that for five years controlled, and almost ended, her life. Having received an ‘incurable’ sentence from her doctors, Shelly Keck-Borsits reports on not only her own miraculous reversal of disease, but on the secret cause and safe reversal of the majority of disease! This is the information the medical community and pharmaceutical industry does NOT want you to read! If you are sick of being sick and tired, if you have given up on conventional medicine and are desperately looking for a safe alternative to reversing your pain or disease, Dying To Get Well might be just the prescription you are looking for.

Here are 12 tips for coping with the Holidays.

Your health can be in danger if you allow stress and depression to ruin your holidays. Remember to try and be realistic and plan ahead, and seek support to help ward off stress and depression.

As I said, this Christmas is a crazy time for us. All three of our grown children will be with us for the first time in over 8 years. But it’s also a sad time. Both my parents and grandparents are gone, and my brother and sister live too far away to visit. I have many fond memories of spending Christmas with my parents and grandparents. We had wonderful fun times spent around the Christmas tree singing carols, sharing jokes and telling stories around the dinner table. Funny gifts were exchanged, and everyone always had a great time. Now those days are gone, and it’s up to us, my husband and I, to carry on those traditions with our own children and grandchildren. Hopefully, we can create fond memories for them as well.

For some people, there are no family members to share these special times with. For my brother, he spends it alone, and I have to try and cheer him up on the phone. It’s not always easy. He misses the special family times we shared together. Getting involved with a church helps, I know it does for me. Volunteering at the homeless shelter’s food line and helping others takes my mind off my own problems, and makes me so grateful for what I have: my husband, my children, my health, my home… and believe me, once I start counting my blessings, the depression is gone!

But not everyone has time to do volunteer work at this time of the year… there is just too much to do! For many people, the holidays bring unwelcome guests — which causes stress and depression. And it’s no wonder. In an effort to pull off a perfect Hallmark holiday, you might find yourself facing a dizzying array of demands — work, parties, shopping, baking, cleaning, caring for elderly parents or kids on school break, and scores of other chores. What happened to the peace and joy?

Actually, with some practical tips, you can minimize the stress and depression that often accompany the holidays. You may even end up enjoying the holidays more than you thought you would. Below are 12 tips from the Mayo Clinic that may be helpful.

The trigger points of holiday stress and depression

Holiday stress and depression are often the result of three main trigger points. Understanding these trigger points can help you plan ahead on how to accommodate them.

The three main trigger points of holiday stress or depression:
• Relationships: Relationships can cause turmoil, conflict or stress at any time. But tensions are often heightened during the holidays. Family misunderstandings and conflicts can intensify — especially if you’re all thrust together for several days. Conflicts are bound to arise with so many different personalities, needs and interests. On the other hand, if you’re facing the holidays without a loved one, you may find yourself especially lonely or sad. • Finances: Like your relationships, your financial situation can cause stress at any time of the year. But overspending during the holidays on gifts, travel, food and entertainment can increase stress as you try to make ends meet while ensuring that everyone on your gift list is happy. You may find yourself in a financial spiral that leaves you with depression symptoms such as hopelessness, sadness and helplessness.

• Physical demands: The strain of shopping, attending social gatherings and preparing holiday meals can wipe you out. Feeling exhausted increases your stress, creating a vicious cycle. Exercise and sleep — good antidotes for stress and fatigue — may take a back seat to chores and errands. High demands, stress, lack of exercise, and overindulgence in food and drink — all are ingredients for holiday illness. 12 tips to prevent holiday stress and depression When stress is at its peak, it’s hard to stop and regroup. Try to prevent stress and depression in the first place, especially if you know the holidays have taken an emotional toll in previous years. Tips you can try to head off holiday stress and depression:

1. Acknowledge your feelings. If a loved one has recently died or you aren’t able to be with your loved ones, realize that it’s normal to feel sadness or grief. It’s OK now and then to take time just to cry or express your feelings. You can’t force yourself to be happy just because it’s the holiday season.

2. Seek support. If you feel isolated or down, seek out family members and friends, or community, religious or social services. They can offer support and companionship. Consider volunteering at a community or religious function. Getting involved and helping others can lift your spirits and broaden your friendships. Also, enlist support for organizing holiday gatherings, as well as meal preparation and cleanup. You don’t have to go it alone. Don’t be a martyr.

3. Be realistic. As families change and grow, traditions and rituals often change as well. Hold on to those you can and want to. But accept that you may have to let go of others. For example, if your adult children and grandchildren can’t all gather at your house as usual, find new ways to celebrate together from afar, such as sharing pictures, e-mails or videotapes.

4. Set differences aside. Try to accept family members and friends as they are, even if they don’t live up to all your expectations. Practice forgiveness. Set aside grievances until a more appropriate time for discussion. With stress and activity levels high, the holidays might not be conducive to making quality time for relationships. And be understanding if others get upset or distressed when something goes awry. Chances are they’re feeling the effects of holiday stress and depression, too.

5. Stick to a budget. Before you go shopping, decide how much money you can afford to spend on gifts and other items. Then be sure to stick to your budget. If you don’t, you could feel anxious and tense for months afterward as you struggle to pay the bills. Don’t try to buy happiness with an avalanche of gifts. Donate to a charity in someone’s name, give homemade gifts or start a family gift exchange.

6. Plan ahead. Set aside specific days for shopping, baking, visiting friends and other activities. Plan your menus and then make one big food-shopping trip. That’ll help prevent a last-minute scramble to buy forgotten ingredients — and you’ll have time to make another pie, if the first one’s a flop. Expect travel delays, especially if you’re flying.

7. Learn to say no. Believe it or not, people will understand if you can’t do certain projects or activities. If you say yes only to what you really want to do, you’ll avoid feeling resentful, bitter and overwhelmed. If it’s really not possible to say no when your boss asks you to work overtime, try to remove something else from your agenda to make up for the lost time.

8. Don’t abandon healthy habits. Don’t let the holidays become a dietary free-for-all. Some indulgence is OK, but overindulgence only adds to your stress and guilt. Have a healthy snack before holiday parties so that you don’t go overboard on sweets, cheese or drinks. Continue to get plenty of sleep and schedule time for physical activity.

9. Take a breather. Make some time for yourself. Spending just 15 minutes alone, without distractions, may refresh you enough to handle everything you need to do. Steal away to a quiet place, even if it’s to the bathroom for a few moments of solitude. Take a walk at night and stargaze. Listen to soothing music. Find something that reduces stress by clearing your mind, slowing your breathing and restoring inner calm.

10. Rethink resolutions. Resolutions can set you up for failure if they’re unrealistic. Don’t resolve to change your whole life to make up for past excess. Instead, try to return to basic, healthy lifestyle routines. Set smaller, more specific goals with a reasonable time frame. Choose only those resolutions that help you feel valuable and that provide more than only fleeting moments of happiness.

11. Forget about perfection. Holiday TV specials are filled with happy endings. But in real life, people don’t usually resolve problems within an hour or two. Something always comes up. You may get stuck late at the office and miss your daughter’s school play, your sister may dredge up an old argument, your partner may burn the cookies, and your mother may criticize how you’re raising the kids. All in the same day. Accept imperfections in yourself and in others.

12. Seek professional help if you need it. Despite your best efforts, you may find yourself feeling persistently sad or anxious, plagued by physical complaints, unable to sleep, irritable and hopeless, and unable to face routine chores. If these feelings last for several weeks, talk to your doctor or a mental health professional. You may have depression. Take back control of holiday stress and depression Remember, one key to minimizing holiday stress and depression is knowing that the holidays can trigger stress and depression. Accept that things aren’t always going to go as planned. Then take active steps to manage stress and depression during the holidays. You may actually enjoy the holidays this year more than you thought you could.

Author: By Mayo Clinic Staff
Publication: MayoClinic.com
Publisher: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research

Now, finally, a breakthrough program that more than relieves the symptoms of stress, it eliminates the causes, actually reversing the stressful habits, attitudes and mindsets you’ve developed over the course of your life.

Download these 300 specific, targeted solutions—unconditionally guaranteed once and for all to…

STOP the stress that leaves you constantly rushed, pressured, frustrated, and frazzled day in and day out. Thousands worldwide already have.

STOP the stress of work, home, parenting, school, finances, relationships, activities, shopping, traveling, entertaining, holidays, and many other pursuits. There’s a solution for virtually every stressful situation you face.

STOP the stress of physical & mental clutter that has you so stifled and hemmed in you can hardly breathe! Packed with solutions for being totally organized at home & work.

STOP the stress that eats away at your immune system, unleashing free radicals and harmful hormones. You’ll have fewer colds, infections, headaches, & sleepless nights.

STOP the stress that can eventually lead to cancer, diabetes, stroke, heart disease, and premature aging. You’re killing yourself! Learn how to live longer, healthier, happier.

STOP the stress you’re feeling at this very moment, within minutes from now…

Start living the calm, healthy, happy life you yearn for…while being more productive than you are now.

Download totally risk-free these 300 breakthrough stress management techniques now in the acclaimed 307-page master program…

Start living the calm, healthy, happy life you yearn for…while being more productive than you are now.

Download totally risk-free these 300 breakthrough stress management techniques now in the acclaimed 307-page master program…

Why Make Yourself Crazy?
300 Strategies for a Stress-Free Life

by bestselling Author and Stress
Consultant G. Gaynor McTigue

Featured in national magazines and
on talk shows across America!