Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food

1. BUY ORGANIC: Buy and / or grow organic produce and ingredients. Fresh, locally grown organic fruits and vegetables carry the strongest charge. They contain more vitamins, minerals and other nutrients than conventionally grown produce.

Buying conventionally grown foods pollutes and weakens the earth and our bodies. The choice to buy only organic food will be clear if we are operating from our prosperity consciousness, our integrity and self-love.

2. USE FRESHLY CUT PRODUCE: After washing and cutting vegetables, vital Ki starts to disperse, and the decomposition of the vegetables is accelerated. Therefore, vegetables should be cut just prior to cooking (or as close as possible). This aspect of "maximum vitality cooking" can be incorporated easily into your cooking routine.

3. PROCESS BY HAND: The use of electrified, motorized machines to clean, cut or process food should be minimized. The electromagnetic field created by motors interferes with the natural flow of Ki along the meridians of grains, beans, fruits and vegetables, giving them a chaotic, disorganized energy. Maintaining this flow of energy along their meridians supports the flow of energy along the meridians in our bodies. This gives us enhanced energy levels and a delicious sense of well-being.

In addition, the long-term use of this equipment can be harmful to the operator who is subjected to a strong electromagnetic field.

4. EAT VARIETY: Variety is the key to a well-balanced meal. Variety in vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, grains, cutting styles, cooking styles, dishes, color, texture, taste, complexity, seasoning, garnishes and presentation are all important considerations. If we repeatedly eat the same things, we run the risk of emphasizing some energies over others and develop a condition of stuck energy in some areas and excess energy in other areas within the body. Variety of food creates dynamic energy that moves in the body from one organ to the other and from one system to the other. It is this free flow of energy which supports health.

5. EAT WHOLE FOODS: Eat foods that are minimally processed. Highly processed, mechanized, pasteurized and homogenized foods contain no or small amounts of Ki. When whole grain is made into a flour, for example, the oils soon oxidize and become rancid; of greater importance is that the flow of Ki within that grain is dispersed and lost. Eating dry cereal or even rolled oats for breakfast is not the best way to start the day, as these are examples of over-processed and devitalized foods. Processing lowers or eliminates a food's vital nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, enzymes and coenzymes.

6. EAT SEA VEGETABLES: Incorporate sea vegetables into various dishes, and prepare side dishes of sea vegetables like arame, hijiki and sea palm. Sea vegetables are high in minerals and trace minerals, are vital to a healthy metabolism, and keep our nervous and immune systems strong. Even organically grown foods lack important minerals due to soil depletion from over-farming the land. All soils are not created equal, and most are inherently lacking in some minerals like iron, selenium or iodine. Therefore, it is remiss to rely exclusively upon land vegetables to supply one's need for minerals.

7. EAT FERMENTED FOODS: Most, if not all, traditional cultures of the world incorporate some fermented foods into their diets. For example, the Germans pickle cabbage to make sauerkraut; the Japanese ferment plums to make umeboshi, soy beans to make miso, shoyu, and natto; and many European cultures ferment grapes to make wine and flour to make sourdough bread. Fermented foods maintain the beneficial bacteria in the digestive system. A healthy digestive system is the key to vibrant health; (hence the term "intestinal fortitude"). Beneficial bacteria and their byproducts work with the immune system to protect the body from harmful bacteria.

8. EXCLUDE DAIRY: Eliminate dairy products completely from your diet. The use of dairy in one's diet can be detrimental to one's health. This is well documented in Diet for a New America by John Robbins and many other books and studies. High concentrations of pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics and hormones have been found in dairy products.

On an energetic level, eating dairy products keeps us stuck emotionally and psychologically in an infant's paradigm. When an infant's teeth start to grow a mother weans her child. It is time for the child to begin deriving nutrients from food by first breaking the food down in its mouth through chewing. This is the child's first step towards independence.

On a physical level, why drink milk or eat a product made from it when we know milk is inherently for calves and their particular biological needs? I believe dairy products are not foods, and when we eat them we are making a mistake because we are in denial of the foods that made us uniquely human and continue to evolve humanity.

9. SERVE FRESH: To achieve maximum vitality, cooked foods should be served soon after being cooked. Just at the moment a dish is ready, it is at its peak Ki level. Soon this energy starts to disperse and the food starts to decompose. For maximum vitality, leftovers should not be more than 24 hours old. Grain and bean dishes can be reheated but vegetable dishes should not.