The eclectic learner

Good evening! I just wanted to share a really good recipe which is helping us to eat more greens effortlessly. Not many people would eat a kale salad, but guess what: a kale smoothie can be rather tasty. Just mix the following the blender, in this order: 1/2 lt fruit juice (apple juice works well) 3 leaves kale then add: 3 bananas Blend for 1 minute if you have a Vitamix, and for 3 for less powerful blenders. It's a rich, creamy drink that my children love. And it's packed with vitamins and proteins, with no added sugar. Yum!

I have signed up for the Herbal Nutritionist course at the School of Natural Healing in Utah. One of the books I have to study as part of my curriculum is "Eat to live" by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. I'm only on page 140 but I can see all the myths about meat and dairies debunked. The discovery that even a humble Romain Lettuce leaf contains more proteins than steak has been the highlight of my day. Plus Joel Fuhrman quotes massive scale studies proving once and for all that if a person gets more than 10% of his calories from animal products, that person risks cancer, heart attacks and metabolic disease far more than other people. He suggests that we don't look at the media to learn about health. Guess who pays for those articles pushing us to buy animal products? My breakfast smoothie today had almonds, bananas, an entire lettuce, cinnamon, a pear and a few dates. It was full of vegetable proteins and it sustained me from 7 a.m. to 12:00. (With no low sugar headache...

Nowadays most children can't do anything "naughty" or they instantly get labelled with autism, asperger's etc which is connected, by the way, to a leaky gut syndrome. Sometimes just cutting off dairies the behaviour will return to normal and guess what, you don't need cow's milk for your bones, greens will give you calcium. Opps I shouldn't say that because of course there is a lot of money in the dairy industry. Have a look at what happened to a little boy when he had his dairies taken away. Guess what? His diagnosis of  Asperger’s Syndrome, Sensory Integration Dysfunction, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Anxiety Disorder and possibly Tourette’s Syndrome is no longer valid. He is now normal. Just how many children do we have who are suffering emotionally and could get better by cutting dairies? And what about wheat, gluten, corn and soy, the big four causes of problems? Read along.... http://dogtorj.com/testimonials/the-glaring-example/ T...

Fork over knives: why we've been brainwashed about our diet Today we were stunned by this video produced by two medical doctors. Watch and prepare to be surprised! It is worth every minute of your time - we promise. There is a scientifically proven connection between an animal-based diet and cancer/metabolic disease. The host talked about Japan. Japan prostate cancer cases: 18 a year. USA  prostate cancer cases: 14.000 a year. What's the difference? Lack of meat and dairies in the Japanese diet. (They do eat fish) The same concept of the benefits of being careful with meat was clear when Hitler confiscated all the cows from the Norwegians (largely meat and dairy eaters) As soon as he confiscated them, their rates of cancer, diabetes, stroke etc dropped. When Hitler died….and they ate cows again, the disease went UP. And just WHO is sitting today on the board of the US government telling us what to eat and encoring wide use of animal products? Kraft,...

I must say that this course has changed my life. My family and I have not been to the doctor since I completed it last year.  Today I found a great movie where two medical doctors prove Dr. Christopher right: animal products are the main cause of modern disease. Can I dispute with statistics… .? Fork over knives - vegan is best, really

In Back to Basics I explore the techniques used to make consumer think that they are getting value for  money. What we are getting is container that are just the same size as usual, although their inner content has been shrinking for years. Not sure I can prove it? Pick up you breakfast cereal box. Which box of cereals is cheaper? The big one or the small one? They are both priced £ 1.65 per box, and they are both 26 pence per 100 grams. You would think that the big one must be cheaper. More product, same price. Right? Wrong. Have a think....and now look below. Here is typical box of corn flakes. Now, let's see what's inside it. Oops, it's not quite full. Now we take the contents off, and there is a bag, 2/3 full of corn flakes. Next, we empty that bag into the carton box and we draw a line to mark just how much of the box is filled by the flakes.  Then we cut off the extra carton and we remodel the box to fit the amount of food inside it, ...

Raw  date syrup serves 2 cups / approx. 280 calories per 1 cup serv. approx. macronutrient breakdown: fat 0g / carbs 76g / protein 2g Ingredients  10 Medjool dates, pitted (or 20 normal dates, pitted) 1- 3/4 cup water 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice Method Place all ingredients in a blender and process for a few minutes until smooth and completely blended. Start off slowing to allow the dates to break up initially, and then build up the speed. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. Franz's verdict: Guys, this recipe rocks. Of course it didn't last 3 weeks in the fridge. We ate it all in one day! I found this recipe it here:  http://zomtbakes.blogspot.com/2010/06/raw-natural-sweetener-date-syrup.html Apparently, it's well-known in Israel.

How do you self publish a book? I am asked this question quite often now, soI have decided to put my little experience in writing to help you out. Here is the link you want: https://www.createspace.com/ I worked out lots of information after signing as much of the info only comes out after having a title etc and going through the whole process. For example the speed of the proof and the price are only found out in the very end of the order... So, let's go in order. To self publish a book you need to create an account with "Create space", which is the publishing arm of Amazon. Then you choose a title, you are given a free ISBN number, and you upload your own cover and your contents in pdf file. You can do this for free or you can you their (paid) services to create a cover and proof-read the book. You can also use their free templates (useful for margins, headers and page breaks). Usually people create the book in .doc and then upload it in .pd...

For years friends and acquaintances have asked me questions about self reliance. After much research and pretty much repeating the same things I thought, 'That's it, I'm going to put the information together in a bundle and they can have it as a book.' This is how back to Basic was born. It's designed to help you if you are a beginner and have no clue about self reliance. Looking at the general state of the economy, it's a good idea to organise our lives to live more frugally. Plus, this book will be great for my children, when they grow up and try to remember how to do things. Right? Here are some of the topics: why we are in debt smart shopping budgeting dehydrating gardening sprouting home-made toiletries smart shopping for Christmas clever and cheaper ways to have fun You can buy it in paperback or as a Kindle.  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Back-basics-make-through-times/dp/146641152X Back to Basics Get started with your self rel...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Back-basics-make-through-times/dp/146641152X When I wrote my book, Back to basics, I quickly realised that I couldn't write everything people need but just the top things, the very basics, unless I had the YellowPages in mind. So many topics can be studied more thoroughly by looking at the links I suggested in the book. For those of you who asked (you know who you are) here are the links! Happy reading, Franz Website where people give away all sort of things in their area, from fridges to toys  http://ilovefreegle.org/about/ Find out the alternative to expensive numbers in this site: http://www.saynoto0870.com How to make a skirt using a t-shirt http://www.cutecircuit.com/30secondskirt/ Gustavo Dudamel at the Proms http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vwZAkfLKK8 Unicef report: http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/rc7_eng.pdf Survival of Salmonella Copenhagen in food bowls following contaminat...

Good afternoon! Last week, after much pondering, I enrolled in the Family Herbalist course at the School of Natural Healing (Springville, Utah). I have studied the biography of Dr. Christopher and I am amazed at the quality of his formulas and his results with all sorts of diseases. I am trying one of theses formulas right now and will be talking about each of them in the future. Meanwhile you can browse yourself Dr. Christopher's products and find out what they can do for you. Amazon reviews are quite handy for this! Franz

This recipe was sent to me as part of Karen Knowler's newsletters. I tried it and tweaked it to my liking.....it's very good and overly sweet!  Chocolate (Carob) Pudding Ingredients: * 2 avocadoes * 1 cup dates * 1/2 cup raw carob powder or cocoa powder * optional mint syrup   * Water as needed (dates give a hard time to  the  blades if they are not in water) Directions 1) Simply blend all ingredients in a food processor or with a hand blender until the mixture is smooth and creamy. (A blender can’t cope with this almost solid, sticky mixture) 2) Taste test before serving. Add more avocado if you'd like it richer and/or creamier, add more dates for extra sweetness or more carob/cocoa for a stronger chocolate flavour. 3) Serve on its own or with raw ice-cream for the ultimate treat. RAW COACH'S TOP TIPS: * This recipe will keep for about 2-3 days in the fridge. Comment from Franz: this pudding is e...

I've been raw for 2 weeks but my weight dropped so much (3 kg) that I had no choice but to return to eat just about everything ELSE!!!!!!!! Nothing to laugh about - raw food is the BEST way of keeping slim! (too much! LOL) For Christmas I dehydrated fruits of all sorts and surprised some friends with scented little packages: yummy to eat, surprisingly tasty and of course, unique. Happy New Year...

Hello! This is what I have dehydrated last night: orange, cinnamon apples, garlic courgettes and tomatoes! Yummy! After 3 days on 100% raw I felt great and brimming with energy!  Tonight though, we at dinner at our friends... I had chicken, cooked veggies and melon - now I feel bloated and heavy and even my shoulders ache. Strange...

I have been 85% raw for weeks… and then 95% raw for 2 days… but today I managed 100% raw I think - and I feel great! Every once in a while it's a good idea to detox from normal foods and go 100% raw. Some people suggest to do it weekly or even monthly. This is my menu: Breakfast: peach and pear smoothie Snack: dry fruit (mostly sultanas) and peanuts Lunch: a super tasty mushroom soup and then fruit and a large salad Snack: fruit Dinner: spring rolls made with lettuce leaves (for the wrapper) filled with veggies Mixed salad with cucumbers and radish Fruit salad with one whole pineapple and lots of grapes Raw ice-cream made with bananas and summer berries Recipes....and photos. This menu would be okay for a one day detox only. It is too high in fruit sugars and if you want to improve it, do substitute the fruit with avocado and more substantial vegetables. Being slender, I don't mind… Mushroom soup: Provides 1 serving Blend 2 cups of water and 1/2 cup of cashews ...