Eating for Magnificence by Kat Carroll, NTP

Adytum Sanctuary has been called the healthy, gourmet B&B for foodies and we’ve been on the path to what the Chinese call ‘radiant health’, the highest health attainable, ‘health beyond danger’ for 18 years now together.  As we forge a deeper commitment to our shared pursuit of radiant health you will see new offerings on the breakfast menus at the Sanctuary. We’ve wanted to bring more of our daily green drink smoothies out to guests, but frankly they aren’t always so tasty! Donn’s been perfecting exotic elixirs taught to him by Truth Calkins made with the Chinese tonic herbs from www.dragonherbs.comand www.longevitywarehouse.comand believe me, some of them are phenomenal! You can feel them working… Cacao is a superfood and makes the most luxurious ‘ice creams’ and drinks when combined with coconut and hemp oils. Reishi is showing up in nearly everything and capsules being opened and blended…Donn’s an eye doc turned alchemist and the Vitamix is his greatest transformational tool.

We are focusing on the longevity foods and the Chinese tonic herbs which Ron Teeguarden, presenter at the LA Longevity Now Intensive conference we attended, called  transformational ‘growth herbs’ – growth in terms of our character, our well-being, and our evolution. The longest lived among us eat gogi berries, olive oil, honey, dark chocolate/cacao, and  drink moderate amounts of red wine. Can you handle that? Sign me up!   But there were herbs unknown to us in the West that are actually the symbol of longevity in China, like Reishi that we use now after being introduced to them by this team of presenters.

Jeanne Louise Calment, the world’s longest living person (who died at the age of 122) was known for laughter and living without stress. She once said “If you can’t do anything about it, don’t worry about it.” She also ate 2 pounds of chocolate a week until her uninformed doctor (whom I am sure she outlived) persuaded her to give it up at 119. Port wine and olive oil figured into her longevity regime as well.

In China, the Reishi mushroom is the symbol of longevity- we don’t have a symbol like this in America…we’re learning to use these medicinal mushrooms like Reishi and Chaga and taking a lot herbs I can’t pronounce but that are helping in so many, many ways not only with health but in creating clarity mentally, enhancing beauty, spirituality, and building reserves so greater stress can be endured without succumbing to it emotionally or physically. These herbs are adaptogenic ‘thinking’ herbs. They have the power to bring balance as they are regulatory herbs. The Chinese have been employing and enjoying them for thousands of years. In China they have two systems of healthcare: one remedial and one strongly promoting radiant health. ‘Health and longevity’ is the common greeting there. I like that and the power we have to create by our words. They are truly tapping into all realms.

I loved hearing each presenter; David Wolfe, Truth Calkins, and Ron Teeguarden, and each led me into a more exalted understanding of the place food and thoughts impact us. Really, though, you need to see them. They have at times (David continually) an electric energy arcing from them. They are above all passionate, magnetic, charismatic, bright eyed and youthful.

The energy levels maintained throughout hours and hours of speaking and/or listening was impressive. We were all hooked to grounding ‘earthing’ mats which helped with the EMF’s and disturbances caused by the lighting but their energy really came from their spirit, lifestyle, and the tonic herbs and it set them apart, it showed!

David and Truth have agreed to either write for Health Freedom News, (www.thenhf.com) which I co-edit with Scott Tips, and/or be on the TNS Radio Show (www.tnsradio.ning.com) for an interview. Ron left before I got a chance to connect with him personally but he was invited as well, and in many ways, his wisdom with Chinese tonic herbs and medicinal mushrooms is what I am most excited to learn right now because Donn pioneered it for us and his vitality has grown substantially.  Ron gave a fantastic talk on balance and using top longevity herbs/mushrooms/etc. (Reishi, Gynostemma, Schizandra, Deer Antler, Ant, etc.) (I say ‘etc’ because I haven’t learned enough yet to know how you’d classify trimming the tips off deer antlers or eating ants!  Herbs…mushrooms- I have those classifications down (:  )

Ron writes a great book which he sells through his company www.dragonherbs.com that I am immersing in called The Ancient Wisdom of the Chinese Tonic Herbs. He discusses how “the Daoist sages of China have taught that each of us is born with an intrinsic energy that determines our fundamental, constitutional strength. It is called Primal Essence, or Jing. Jing is said to determine our potential life expectancy as well as the vitality of our life while we are living it.”   Jing is what many of us wish to build and learn to prevent from ‘leaking’. We’re equally desirous of building and storing Qi.

Truth Calkins www.longevitywarehouse.comstated some eat for their liver, some for their heart, etc. but we need to eat to elevate Shen or the spiritual ruling part of our life. We aren’t our body, which will die. We are spirit, and nurturing/feeding spirit is of greater long-term value than merely feeding the body however that doesn’t mean we disregard it as so many in the West do, eating whatever they want and focusing only on their spiritual life.   When we eat to enhance our spiritual experience, embracing it without the influence of the numbing dullness that processed and devitalized foods deliver, we will be living from the most powerful integrated point.

Here’s what Ron has to say in his book about shen, “The Classics say: “The Heart is the Supreme Master of the organs and is the home of shen, the Spirit. If the Master is brilliant, his subjects are peaceful. If the Master is disturbed, his twelve officials [the body’s organ systems] are endangered.” Shen is the spiritual aspect of a human being. Shen presides over the emotions, allowing them to manifest appropriately but overriding them when they are not appropriate…when shen is shaky or disturbed, any emotion can become dominant.” This makes sense, eating to maintain that equanimity in Shen.

When I transformed OVERNIGHT in my early 30’s from eating the typical American diet (SAD) to eating vegan with no alcohol, coffee, pop drinks, sugar, refined foods/flours, I observed a few things. My eyes got very clear and even changed color to a jungle-cat green at that time. And my spiritual ‘eye’ became more clear, my prayers more powerful and constantly breathed, my intuition heightened, prophetic dreams becoming more ‘matter of course’, and my Union with the Godhead [Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit] much more vital, intimate, and connected. Later when I removed gluten, added red wine based on longevity studies, and ate mostly raw, the shen elevation was even more pronounced. I’m still on my journey and will be for life, it’s my commitment to myself because my start in life was not from a healthy standpoint at all. Jing can be restored and those of us who had a rough start can, with diligence, end up better than most that had a great beginning from the womb onward. Over the course of 20 years I’ve added buffalo and fish back in, and took one or both back out again mainly due to the frequency that I could now feel- my aggressiveness rose dramatically with buffalo, irritation and anger coming up that had not been a part of my life at that time. With fish it’s always the same response no matter how supposedly ‘clean’- hot flashes to get the mercury out by sweating when hot flashes are not a part of my experience otherwise. Pay attention to frequency and consequences. As a Nutritional Therapist we were taught the Coca Pulse Test. The pulse will tell you if your body likes what you deem as ‘food’ or ‘nourishment’. http://blog.bioticsresearch.com/2012/03/05/testing-for-allergies-using-the-coca-pulse-test/

Food can be a closed door to keep us from experiencing higher levels of spiritual life or it can be an open door inviting us into higher levels…If we are sick, tired, or stressed we focus on how to fix what’s bothering us instead of maximizing our potential by union with our Source. We’re in charge of which door we focus on and for most of us elevating Shen – or intimate experience of God -involves going from one door to the next throughout our lives as we learn to release addictions and emotional attachments to food, drinks, substances, and people that block Union with our Creator. Some people take it to the limit giving up all attachments, even food and water; it’s hard to believe there are people like Breatharians among us! Some of them feel that food is just ‘entertainment’ or an exercise in ‘numbing’ and mostly toxic waste.

David Wolfe http://www.thebestdayever.com/ introduced us to a true Breatharian, European-based Genesis Sunfire https://www.facebook.com/pages/Genesis-Sunfire/304334442911817who hasn’t eaten food or drank water in years and only drinks salt water when he is doing his cleanses, which he leads occasionally. Why doesn’t he starve? He says it’s a mental thing. ”    A professional athlete, Genesis carried David Wolfe a quarter mile over his shoulders. David is 185 pounds, Genesis is 145. He is strong and ripped and looks fantastic…vibrant!   Here are some excerpts from Genesis’ YouTube interview:

“Break the addiction and emotional attachment to food… eating a lot of these foods is like taking drugs because of what the food industry has programmed into the flavors to manipulate us into overeating. The food industry is making it harder to have a conscious choice (marketing to children, etc.)  We really have no choice (at points) When in the mother’s womb, the child has no choice- they eat what she eats, drink what she drinks, takes what she takes. We are not taught to be conscious what we put into our bodies, we aren’t taught to pay attention to our bodies’ signals- cause and effect. We’re taught to go to the doctor to get some pills and our body will sort it out. They are relying on us being sick for their business.

Become conscious and aware of why we are eating. I was sacrificing long term health for instant comfort. Active, addictive ingredients make it hard to make a conscious decision. It’s hard to give up products that have a detrimental effect on your mind, body, and soul.  The food industry makes sure we come back for more; numbing, desensitizing us. The body functions in spite of what we eat not because of what we eat. The body sends out white blood cells when we eat cooked foods; it is seen as an invading danger. Our addictive mind sees it as good. Cooked and processed food dehydrates and drains the body of its resources. It takes away and we are left with disease and wearing ourselves down. At the end of the day the universal effect is destruction of the body, mind, and soul. The purpose of food has evolved into getting us as Divine human beings to forget who we are.  Like a roller coaster, I had to get off this ride.” 

Dr. Richard Schulze teaches we can get benefit from an 80% raw food diet. David has been on 100% raw food for years, and I met him about 14 years ago at a Raw Food Festival along with Dr. Gabriel Cousins and others in the raw food movement. David’s now walked through the next door embracing as he described it, “living mostly on herbs…” the superfood Chinese herbs and medicinal mushrooms.

His Chaga book, available on Amazon, is a must read because it is the “king of mushrooms” in his view, and this is the topic of his article in an upcoming Health Freedom News issue as well as his interview with Scott Tips. David Wolfe reminded us that if we didn’t know Genesis 1:29, to go look it up. I did, and this is how he lives:

One interesting concept David introduced was his belief that we must eat for our magnificence – that there is a plan to poison us with processed and addictive foods that cause us to forget who we are, Divine Beings made in the image of God. Truth’s focus on elevating Shen by each food and drink choice assures us we will not only be healthy in our body, mind, and spirit, but we will claim the magnificence that is ours by Divine right and fulfill our destiny calling with passion and enthusiasm vs. stumbling through life from one doctor to the next in search of the pill that will undo the damage we’ve done with our choices and habits. David and Truth concur with Genesis Sunfire who teaches that ‘the purpose of food (today’s polluted, GMO infected, processed, etc) has evolved into getting us, as Divine Beings, to forget who we are.” We just keep evolving day by day trying to hit the ultimate mark toward radiant health a little higher each day by the grace of God. We left this conference determined more than ever to keep refining and fine-tuning our evolution toward higher levels- to radiant health where we are protected from disease and living gloriously, magnificently!