Transitioning/energy/longevity

[Guest guest]

Hi Autumn,

 

Thank you for your lovely message. It sounds like you are doing

wonderfully on the raw vegan journey, and it is fortunate that your

husband is so supportive and interested in going vegan. It is often

so difficult in our world to keep from getting discouraged. We see

all around us that indeed life is all downhill in individuals after

a certain age. And in all of us, damage has been done.

 

But the body has remarkable regenerative powers! The body is truly

miraculous, and the main factor in the length and quality of life is

the amount of the vitality, or nerve energy, that is present in the

body. Most children have tons of vitality, and that vitality is

dissipated as life goes on, by enervating habits. Certainly a large

part of that enervation is the effect of the SAD diet--up to 80% of

the energy used by the body goes into digestion on a SAD diet. That

is one of the benefits of the fruitarian diet, digestion uses up so

little energy.

 

Another problem of course with the SAD diet is that it is so toxic,

and the body is constantly in a state of emergency, trying to

eliminate or stash the overwhelming amount of substances ingested

which threaten the life of the body. On a fruitarian diet, the body

goes to work to clean house, and to repair the damage that has been

done, and the result is such a sense of rejuvenation,

revitalization! Even while we are experiencing the discomfort of

this detoxification, we are feeling even in the intensity of the

symptoms, the re-assertion of the vitality of the body, finally

unsuppressed.

 

Yes, damage has been done, in all of us, and there may be a limit to

the regenerative capacity of the body. But then again, maybe there

is not. Which of us can tell how much and how thoroughly our bodies

can rejuvenate and regenerate? We can never know until we experience

it. The body is truly miraculous, and its goal throughout life is to

not only keep us alive, but to live as long as possible, and in as

perfect health as possible, and in as joyous a sense of well-being

as possible.

 

It all depends upon the vitality in the body. The body naturally

conserves vitality, and seeks to re-generate it. We do this by

supplying the conditions of life, and by eliminating the conditions

which do the opposite. The conditions of life include fresh air

(keep windows open whenever possible, and spend time outside),

sunshine, pure food (the fruitarian diet is the purest), pure water

(the purest water is in fruit), exercise, as happy and nurturing an

environment as possible.

 

And perhaps the most key and most neglected condition of life,

plenty of sleep and rest. When we look at adult animals, especially

in what's left of the wild, we see that they do not waste energy,

they sleep whenever possible. Dr. Herbert Shelton said that most, if

not all, healing occurs during sleep, the remainder during rest. And

nerve energy, the source of vitality in the body, is only

regenerated during sleep and rest. In our modern world, we are

constantly engaged in activity and stress, depleting our vitality,

when it is the opposite that is necessary to our longevity and

quality of life, our feeling of aliveness.

 

It is popular among raw fooders to speak of " deficiencies " , despite

the fact that when one goes on a raw vegan diet, it is probably the

first time in one's life (except for during a breastfed babyhood)

that one is really being thoroughly nourished, so it is ironic that

so many raw fooders are so easily spooked into believing that they

are " deficient " in some nutrient by eating a raw vegan diet. What in

fact is a true deficiency that most people have is a deficiency of

sleep and rest, nearly all of us have sleep deficits. Plenty of

sleep and rest are absolutely vital to healing and cleansing.

 

In fact, people go on fasts, either on water alone as is done on

actual fasting; or else on what they call " juice fasts "

or " cleanses " --these types of regimens are not fasting and are

counter to health; but fasting is of no benefit without rest. Actual

fasting is a cessation of all voluntary activity and total rest, and

should be done only when the body directs us to do so. But we need

plenty of rest and sleep throughout our lives, and the more we get,

the more we regenerate. We cannot sleep if the body does not need it-

-so we can never " oversleep " . For more info, see

http://www.healself.org/rest.html

 

There is lots of life ahead for us as we embark on the raw vegan

journey, in our own way, and at our own pace, exploring the deeper

layers of health as we strip away our former hindrances. We are

meant to live at least to 140 years of age, in vitality and health,

and perhaps way beyond. There are those, in fact, who tell us that

we don't need to die at all, and I'm a believer in that hopeful

scenario

 

Much success and health to you.

 

Zsuzsa

 

 

rawfood , athdesign@j... wrote:

> Zsuzsa,

>

> Thanks for all this great information, I can use it as well. I've

been

> vegan for about 4-5 months now. Although I eat very little grain

or

> legume, I would still like to eliminate these from my diet all

together.

> My diet is about 60% raw on average, although in the past week it

been

> about 80%. It is so nice to have a wealth of information to learn

from.

> My husband is supportive and is trying to go vegan. He does well

for a

> couple weeks, then slips. But then again, he is learning late.

As he is

> 20 years older than I, he feels that his " damage has been done "

and that

> nothing is going to reverse it. I feel is it never too late to

pursue

> optimal health and told him he would feel so much better in his

latter

> years if he were to get his diet under control for good.

Sometimes I

> feel, at 37, that my own damage has been done as well (I smoked

heavily

> for 20 years). But each morning I wake up, I feel better than I

have in

> a long time. I pray the next 37 years are much better than the

first,

> healthwise.

>

> Thanks again for all the great info and links.

> Autumn

[Guest guest]

" southladogs " wrote:

> Hi Autumn,

>

> Dr. Herbert Shelton said that most, if

> not all, healing occurs during sleep, the remainder during rest. And

> nerve energy, the source of vitality in the body, is only

> regenerated during sleep and rest.

 

Scientifically this is not quite a true statement. Cellular

regeneration and growth are related to heart rate activity. A heart

rate below 75 beats per minutes is restorative above 75-80 beats per

minute there is cellular breakdown and " stress " .

 

Oddly enough, you must take your heart rate up over 130 to lower your

heart rate significantly. As a result the object of the game is to

have physically train yourself to have as low a resting heart rate as

possible.

 

It's about balance. Too much rest as well as olympic workouts are

both too extreme. Each person must start from where they are and use

their heart rate as a guide.

>

> There is lots of life ahead for us as we embark on the raw vegan

> journey, in our own way, and at our own pace, exploring the deeper

> layers of health as we strip away our former hindrances. We are

> meant to live at least to 140 years of age, in vitality and health,

> and perhaps way beyond. There are those, in fact, who tell us that

> we don't need to die at all, and I'm a believer in that hopeful

> scenario

 

One of the fallacies to over concern for the food you eat is that one

actually begins to believe that they are in fact the body. The body

is merely a temple housing the real you - and no matter what you may

hope for, the body isn't designed to last forever. The body is a

vehicle that allows you to experience earth school - learn the lessons

of love - and stop coming back!!! So you really never die - just shed

your skin.

>

> Much success and health to you.

>

And back to you - Jan

[Guest guest]

Zsuzsa,

 

Thank you again for a very thought-provoking post. I feel guilty about

asking questions in the future now that I see how much time and energy

you put into responding. LOL

 

The one part of my life that has always been " messed up " is my sleep

patterns. I was constantly harrassed (yes, harrassed) by my parents for

not sleeping on the same schedule as they did. They threatened to put me

into a sleep clinic because they thought I slept too much (7-9 hours). I

was awakened many mornings with water thrown in my face. As a result, I

am a very nervous sleeper. Some weeks I will sleep only 3 to 4 hours a

night, and I never sleep more than 6.5 hours at a time. I feel guilty

for sleeping, guilty that I'm not getting something else done. I rarely

rest because my mother always accused me of being lazy when I sat down as

a child/teen. The rare times I do take a little rest or nap, I wake up

irritable and guilty for " wasting time. "

 

I am trying hard to rid myself of the destructive patterns that have been

part of my life for many many years. I guess I have to be patient and

listen to my body. Since my parents are now 1100 miles away, they don't

know when I'm sleeping.

 

Autumn

 

On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 20:50:10 -0000 " southladogs " <southladogs

writes:

Hi Autumn,

 

Thank you for your lovely message. It sounds like you are doing

wonderfully on the raw vegan journey, and it is fortunate that your

husband is so supportive and interested in going vegan. It is often

so difficult in our world to keep from getting discouraged. We see

all around us that indeed life is all downhill in individuals after

a certain age. And in all of us, damage has been done.