I’ve been refining this smoothie over the last few months.  I make a few changes daily so it doesn’t get too monotonous but these are the core ingredients:

For milk I generally use almond milk, with sometimes oat milk or coconut water as a backup.

For fruit I use a few tbs of raspberries or maybe an apple or a pear.

1-2 tbs Protein powder.  I use the Garden of Life Raw Protein.  This incorporates different sprouted grains, so it’s a live food and fully organic.  In my opinion the best quality protein powder you can buy, I get mine from Iherb.

1 – 2 tbs Bee pollen.  This is a cool addition, it’s 25% protein, but it basically acts as the multivitamin for the smoothie.  It’s a complete food, that you could nearly live off if you were to only live off one food.  As Gabriel Cousen’s mentions, it’s considered to have the most Ojas of all the foods.  Ojas is a word used in Ayurveda.  It represents vitality and immunity.  I put this in a coffee grinder before it’s blended.

1-2 tbs Caccao beans.  Caccao is the highest source of magnesium that you’ll be able to find, as well as having lots of anti-oxidants.  It it is known to put some pressure on the adrenals, but there are other ingredients in this smoothie that more than compensate for that.  This gets ground before blending.

1-2 tbs Maca powder.  The Maca has a balancing effect on the endocrine system due to unique alkaloids it contains, it is the main ingredient that nourishes the adrenals protecting against the caccao.

Flax-seeds & Chia seeds.  Both very high in Omega 3’s and contain a wide variety of minerals.  Chia was orignally used by the Aztecs.  Messengers would favor it, due to the endurance benefits they gained.  These are ground before blending. 

1-2 tbs Coconut oil.  This has many qualities.  It increases the conversion rate from short chain to long chain of the Omega 3’s in the flaxseeds/chia seeds.  It is high in lauric acid, which detoxifies the liver.  The fat content also helps to slow down the assimilation of the fruits, lowering the insulin response from the glucose in the fruits. 

1 tsp of Cinnamon powder.  This is great for taste, but really it’s value lies in that it mimics insulin.  Many people that have high GI diets develop insulin resistance, which places them at risk of diabetes.  Cinnamon contains certain polyphenols that actually increases insulin sensitivity.  This will lower the effect of the fructose from the fruits within the smoothie and help protect against insulin resistance.

1 tsp of Carob powder.  This improves the taste, it’s high in anti-oxidants as well as insoluble fibres.

Some other ingredients I mix in occasionally:

1-2 tbs Activated almonds.  Activated means they’ve been soaked then dehydrated.  This makes them a ‘living food’ as the enzyme inhibitors within the nut are removed.  These enzyme inhibitors can bind up your digestive enzymes and mess with digestion.  This is ground before blending.

1-2 tbs of Mesquite powder, this has a caramelly  taste.  It contains lots of calcium and magnesium.  This was traditionally used as a staple by native Americans.

This smoothie actually doesn’t take that long to make, probably a bit over 5 minutes.  But believe me it’s more than worthwhile putting something like this together.  After eating this in the morning, all your nutritional requirements are set for the day, it’s packed with protein, vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants.  It means for the rest of the day you don’t need to worry about obtaining certain nutrients.

This smoothie contains more nutrients than many people would get in a few days!  It is digested very easily, with little energy spent by the body assimilating it.  I’m happy with the taste, with most of the sweetness provided by the fruits but if you have a sweet tooth you could add some stevia.  You’ll feel a lot of vitality, I’ll be very interested to hear anyone that tries this out and how their body responds to it.

 

 

Hey Guys,

I’m sitting indoors with the fan breezing over me, I’m not suited to the warmer climates and it’s 40 today in Melb so I thought I’d update my blog.

For the past few years I’ve been getting involved in a cancer fundraiser called the Relay For Life.  It’s a national program run by the Cancer Council, where teams raise money to run around an athletics track overnight.

My initial involvement was 5 or so years ago, a woman asked me if I’d like to share my story at a pre-event fundraiser.  I was a bit apprehensive, as I’d barely done any public speaking, but I thought it’d be a good chance to get some experience.  I had a really receptive audience and they were quite emotional as I talked about the different challenges I went through, it’s funny at the end I noticed some people were even crying, I must have transmitted all the emotions to them somehow, as I wasn’t too emotional.

Only last year I had my first team registered in the event.  We went with the name ‘Cool Runnings’, we’ve been using a Jamaican/Reggae theme.  We were late to get organised so we only had a few runners to maintain the running overnight.  It’s laughable remembering it, I was feeling a bit sick so went to bed at 11.  I left my mate on the ‘night shift’.  He went solidly for about 3 hours but was starting to really struggle, luckily his brother arrived and took over for an hour, this gave him time to get something to eat and then continue.  I woke up early at about 5 and took over, but my mate had done all the hard work to keep us going!

Although we only put together a team rather haphazardly we managed to raise $600 or so dollars.  This year we’re going to do lots more fundraising and aim to raise much more.

The event as a whole is a lot of fun, I’ve got some great memories.  It’s also a good chance to catch up with some old high school friends.

If any one is interested you can visit our new Facebook page or our Relay For Life Donation Page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cool-Runnings-Relay-For-Life-2012/316267345073726?sk=wall

http://vic.cancercouncilfundraising.org.au/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=392900&langPref=en-CA 

Cheers,
Ro

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Dr Gabriel Cousens. He’s just begun his Australian tour and he flew into Melbourne last weekend to visit where I live, the Shiva Ashram so he could say hello to an old friend of his, Swami Shankarananda, as well as offering a talk on Spiritual Nutrition.

I picked up Gabriel from the airport and it proved to be really enjoyable experience. I was able to chat, and soak in some of the wisdom he’s attained.

For myself I’ll just list some of the recommendations he made for me in terms of my health:

– I mentioned that I take the Navarro HCG urine test and that my result compared to the previous 5 months has been steady, which I’ve been happy about.

He mentioned another similar test that measures more markers and is known to be more accurate. It’s from a company called American Metabolic Laboratories, which is based in Florida. They have a CA profile test. I’m going to investigate it, find out how much it costs and probably take the test. I’ll let you guys know how it goes.

– He also said that I shouldn’t be eating any fruit, until I’m 2 years into remission. He was very concerned with the effect the fructose can have on blood sugar levels.

– I also realised that the systemic enzymes that I take are not vegan. Wobenzyme and Omnizyme Forte, both contain some animal based enzymes, such as calf thymus. I was pretty disappointed when I realised this, he mentioned that I can buy some vegan based ones from cultureoflifestore.com.

Anyway Gabriel has been quite an inspiration for me in terms of the contribution I hope to make to the health landscape. He’s a true pioneer in what he’s achieved with his own work. It’s astonishing how much he has actually done. He has his own rejuventation centre on a mesa in the deserts of Arizona. He’s an MD and has many other qualifications including, a diploma of Ayurveda and Acupuncture. So he’s truly trained in all the major healing modalities.

He got a fantastic reception from his talk, which was principally related to spiritual nutrition. He talked about foods that can build shakti (spiritual energy) in the body. It’s about removing blockages to allow a free flow of this energy, you can also think of it as chi.

He mentioned that Bee Pollen is one of the most powerful in terms of Ojas, this is a sanskrit word that means vigour. In Ayurveda it is considered the sap of one’s life energy. Other superfoods mentioned were coconut oil, flaxseeds and a vegan based B12 (grown by bacteria), as so many vegans are deficient.

He became dedicated to spiritual nutrition after he had a divine insight in meditation, it was to learn how nutrition can build shakti. I’m pretty sure this was during Baba Muktananda’s tour of LA. What I find inspiring is that Gabriel has spent many decades pursuing what this insight has asked him to do. I consider his wisdom of spiritual nutrition to be far greater than any other health professional.

Recently in my life I’ve felt and seen the challenges and struggles that can come up and arise with just basic day to day situations, I imagined it would be a monumental effort to create the rejuventation centre. I asked Gabriel during our drive back if he’d encountered much difficulty in creating this centre. He paused for a moment then just said ‘I don’t think in those terms’. Then he clarified. To him it’s not about effort and resistance, it’s just about being surrendered to divine will, this allows everything to unfold by itself. It was deeply uplifting to hear this.

Enjoy yourself,
Ro

A big part of the reason I’ve created this blog is to direct it to cancer patients I’m in contact with.  I’m going to start adding information that I think is of value to them.

Seeing I’ve been on the healing trail for nearly 7 years now there’s a lot of knowledge and wisdom that I’ve absorbed.  Many times I’ve felt like I’ve understood something only to learn a new nuance or angle, it can take some time to gain a accurate sense of something. 

The internet is a powerful tool, but it requires great discernment and being able to critically analyse.  Nearly everyone believes they are good at this, although misinformation is delivered in more subtle ways all the time.  You need to have your wits about you.

The reason I mention this for cancer is because there are so many people with a vested interest, within conventional medicine and alternative/natural health medicine.  It is very important to know when to place trust on certain content.

Also due to health regulations, a business is not able to claim their product has been designed to treat cancer.  In terms of American businesses this is a regulation of the FDA.  It is aimed to protect consumers, although it makes it much harder for cancer patients to find products that actually do provide efficacy.  The patient needs to be able to read between the lines on different websites to determine what the product was designed to do.

I hope to be able to help patients gain a sense of sites that can be trusted and that provide high quality content.

For now I’ll just list some sites/organisations that are very respectable and useful:

Jonbarron.org – One of my favourite sites, a great natural health practitioner

Canceractive.com – Written by Chris Woollams, an inspirational man

Christbeatcancer.com – A refreshing website full of great content

Gawlerblog.com – Written by Ian Gawler, another inspirational cancer survivor, who played a large role in the approach I undertake.

That’s all I’ll include for now, there are other good sites.  Although most I don’t find high quality in all the important areas.

Enjoy yourself,
Ro

Hey Guys,

My names Rohan.  I’ll just keep the information low until I decide on what the best approach for this blog is, then I’ll begin to share more of myself and promote it more.  I’ve decided that a blog could be a useful form of self expression for me and also provide value to other people in terms of healing.

I’ve had quite an extensive experience with disease as well as healing.  It was nearly 7 years ago that I was first diagnosed with cancer.  I’ve been dealing with a very rare type of sarcoma, known as mesenchymal chondral sarcoma.

This experience has been a kind of ‘sadhana’ for me.  Sadhana is a sanskrit word used to describe someone’s spiritual practice or development.  This disease has reshaped my life in so many ways, however in mostly positive ways.

I’ve had so many experiences it’s laughable at times.  This blog will illuminate some of the struggles and graces I’ve been through and aim to provide whatever I feel is of value to the reader.

I’m looking forward to sharing my life with the world.
I’ll write more soon, but until then,
enjoy yourself
Ro