My name is Taz, people call me this because of the way I work like a whirlwind.
I live mainly in Andalucia in Spain but now and then I go to different European countries to help educate people about the benefits of superfoods and tonic herbs. In Spain we live totally in the nature, in the mountains, sleeping in the forest or in the winter in tipi, yurt or a camper van.
As for France, there are organic supermarkets in every town and the prices are reasonable.
In one of the villages I lived I was working selling my own olive oil and almonds when a lady came along and offered me three cacao beans and a pear. I had lived quite a clean life up unto this point so instantly felt more energised.
It made me realize that there were more highly charged foods than what I was eating, this is why I eat very little now as I am only eating the highly charged foods and my body does not crave anything more.
I believe that you will feel a lot better once you are living a more natural life closer to nature. I know hundreds of people who have made this choice.
Luckily I awoke from the dream aged 12.
I have never paid rent, I have never had electricity, except from the sun by solar panels. I have never had running water, I do not have bank accounts, credit cards.
I drink analysed water from natural places where I live. We have a friend who has a digital meter and wherever we wish to collect water from we take a sample to her and get a reading. If it's below 50 p.p.m contaminates we drink it. It is the best piece of kit you can have in your pocket and costs only 70 euros.
When I travel I drink bottled water from the Alps.
Raw foodists are more entrepreneurial not only because they are closer to nature but also the foods are making you more intelligent and better at making decisions.
As I am a mechanic I see my body as a car. If you put Diesel in your car it goes along but now I feel like I am putting high octane fuel in my body, giving me more power, stamina and also an increased IQ.
I personally believe you do not need to live a 100% raw lifestyle, especially at the start, as this puts too much pressure on people to conform to a rule. Later if you feel you can move to be totally raw then do so, but if you don't maintain it don't feel as though you have failed.
At the moment I am in Brittany in France, helping some people here. I will go to a festival to hand out leaflets about superfoods and tonic herbs, and maybe make up some shakes.
It's called "Le rêve de l'aborigène"... ( Lereve-de-laborigene.net )
It is called 'the dream of the aboriginal'. It has a 'no alcohol' policy out of respect for the aboriginal people who were tricked into consuming alcohol so they could be moved from their native land, which they had lived on for 10,000 years, without the need for money.
I advise anyone who can take the time off to attend this festival on 18 July in Airvault, France. It is nearer to London than Newcastle by train and has an energy of happiness like no other...
If you want to escape for a while look on a website called www.helpx.net. You can go on a working raw food holiday.
Shamans of Spain and Portugal are weaving a new dream, whereby one man helps another but not for money.
"Whether you realize it or not, we are all dreaming the world into being. What we're engaging in is not the sleeping dream we're familiar with, but the waking dream we craft with our eyes open.
"When we're unaware that we all share the power to co-create reality with the help of the Universe itself, that power slips away from us and our dream turns into a nightmare. We begin to feel we're the victims of an unknown and frightening creation that we're unable to influence or change. Events seem to control us and trap us. The only way to end this dreadful reality is to awaken to the fact that it, too, is a dream, and recognize our ability to write a better story, one that the Universe will work with us to manifest. The nature of the cosmos is such that whatever dream you have about yourself and the world will become reality.
"As soon as you awaken to your power to dream, you begin to flex the muscles of your courage. Then you can dream bravely: letting go of your limiting beliefs and pushing past your fears. You can begin to create truly original dreams that germinate in your soul and bear fruit in your life."
- Alberto Villoldo, as quoted by Taz
I would advise you to learn what your body needs every day in the form of vitamins and minerals; and to find substitutes for bread and sugar before you start. Also have a good supply of healthy snacks. I recommend you to fast for one day before you begin as I have found that this helps people.
Practise making some raw food recipes before you start because if you spend a long time preparing a raw meal after you have returned from a hard day's work, and it turns into a disaster, you are more likely to eat some junk food.
I would advise people to have at least 50% raw for the first year or two then adjust to how your body feels.
When you have a clean, healthy body and you drink alcohol it slows your speed of thought and reaction time and disassociates you from nature.
The environment is poisoning us fast, starting 50 years ago with pesticides and growth hormones in animals, then Three Mile Island, then Chernobyl, then Fukushima along with coal burning plants, the list goes on. If we don't take preventative medicine regularly we will not survive the onslaught. All we can do is to regularly detoxify using spirulina, kelp and zeolite.
Raw food diet can be very expensive because people who have money to spend buy lots of exotic fruits and raw products from shops. These are also time-consuming to make... But we have a saying: 'the poorer you are the better you eat', due to you having to make it yourself, therefore cutting the price and collecting the ingredients straight from nature or your garden for free.
Most people turning to a raw food diet consume so much fruit it's unbelievable. I think it's down to laziness. You can pick up any fruit and be eating it straight away but most vegetables need some preparation. Also people believe they are being energised because they get a constant hit from the sugar glucose conversion.
This can sustain you for some time but in the end your healthy body is becoming worse than before and in the end will cause insulin problems. I have seen some people last as long as four years if they are young. Like David says, aim for a balance to start with, not 70% carbs.
Yes, regular exercise is important even if it's only for 30 mins per day. Many girls I know use a small trampoline, you can set it up anywhere. Also this is best for lymph blockages.
For the past five years upon waking I will make a shake with apple, banana, goji, astragalus, schizandra, almonds and reishi. I also take 6g of spirulina and 1g acerola per day, as well as some coconut products during the week. Some days I will add hemp milk or walnuts or chia to the shake. I will have another shake at 4pm but less so recently after adding panax ginseng and Siberian ginseng to the mix. Then I will do physical work for 8 to 10 hours without break. At night I have some buckwheat crackers, avocado, tomatoes or kamut spaghetti.
I eat very little food. I find my body no longer needs it. I never cook, time-consuming waste of time... I know some people who spend two hours cooking a meal only to fall asleep afterwards!
What is a healthy weight? A 1000 years ago we had to put on weight to survive though the winter like any animal. Now we have food at our disposal. We do not need to store energy in the form of fat, therefore I believe that we can look underweight but be perfectly healthy and have plenty of stamina.
The point is that once you have become clean from drugs, pollution, alcohol and bad food, then you can live on tonic herbs and superfoods only.
I do not get tired unless there are 4 or 5 days of clouds or rain, then my energy levels can drop. But as this is not often in Spain then I do not bother with D3 supplements.
Oxidation is caused when any food is in contact with air after being cut or ground. I buy all my products whole or vacuum-packed and keep them in the dark. When the foods are in the blender, it is best to keep blending to no more than 30 seconds and to drink quickly - this way they will only lose a small amount of nutrients.
People are still alive eating cooked food... But heat and oxygen are the best ways to destroy nutrients.
I go to sleep just after it gets dark and sleep til 7, winter or summer.
Kamut spaghetti, once a month I may cook a curry with quinoa.
The Omega 3s I get from flax seed oil, it must be a brown bottle, not larger than 250ml because it starts to oxidise as soon as it's opened. I try to use it within 2 weeks and I also eat lots of purslane.
Full spectrum blood analysis is the best. Some doctors now in France are giving this before making any comments on your health.
I see nothing wrong with a little kefir but in Spain we do not feed it sugar, we feed fruit. Personally I don't use it.
I would say the opposite. I would normally get a bad hay fever from the new GM crops but now I suffer very little, the problem in the cities is the car exhaust. If I go into the city I wear a mask.
I had many people eat my meals who did not even know what a raw food meal was but because it was cheap they were willing to give it a try. This is what makes me happy in life, to save people's health.
There is no better than 'The Power of Now' by Eckhart Tolle. I still read this book many years after first buying it, as every page is an inspiration to live life to the full.
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Thank you so much Taz for this inspiring view into your life! There is so much information here worth gold... I hope many people will read this and get ideas to lead a healthier and happier life.
To order tonic herbs and superfoods from Taz's shop, The Raw Smile Shop, you can view the catalogue here.
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