A wonderful way to support and encourage greater balance and peace in your life is to be more aware of the subtle, yet profound ways that food is affecting us every day, on a physical, mental and emotional level.

For example, eating heavy, dense food can leave us feeling heavy and dense, whereas eating more light and vibrant foods encourage us to feel more light and more vibrant!

We make life much easier for ourselves on all levels when we give our body optimum foods that require minimum of effort to digest whilst giving maximum possible nutrition and life-force

OPTIMUM FOODS

• All fresh, ripe fruit and vegetables (raw and local is ideal)

• Sprouted seeds, grains and beans (e.g. sunflower seeds, quinoa, mung beans)

• Sea Vegetables (e.g. spirulina, dulse, wakame, nori)

• Superfoods (e.g. hemp seeds, goji berries, wheatgrass)

• Cultured Foods (e.g. sauerkraut, tempeh, kefir)

SIMPLE DIETARY SUGGESTIONS

Removing meat from your diet is essential: Here's why.

A Delicate Balance — The Truth (movie): http://www.adelicatebalance.com.au

A Delicate Balance (Wikipedia): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Delicate_Balance_–_The_Truth

Lower your own environmental impact: Why it's green to go vegetarian (pdf download)

Try replacing caffeinated drinks with herb teas (there are hundreds) or simple, pure water. Water is essential for our bodies, and carries toxins out of the blood stream, so drink as much water as you can enjoy throughout the day. It balances out the dryness from cooked meals. Also watery fruits help to hydrate the body.

Try replacing cows milk dairy products with sheep or goat milk products instead. It is more easily digested by your stomach. Almond milk is another tasty alternative.

Wheat can be especially hard work for the stomach, so try breads made with rye or corn or even rice flour. Tasty alternatives are there if you look for them! Rice cakes and oat cakes are good with spreads. If you must have wheat, choose whole grain.

Try replacing refined sugar with honey, maple syrup or barley malt. Foods with sugar tend to overstress the body. Sweet ripe fruit often beats any sugar cravings.

Listen to your stomach - it speaks wisdom! If you eat when you really feel hunger, it improves digestion and energy levels. Eating just enough food to feel satisfied also greatly helps in this respect.

Always take your time with food. Try to eat when you feel relaxed and take your time to taste, chew and appreciate every mouthful. You will enjoy it more, and need less of it!

Smoothies (blended foods) are a great way to eat more in less time, and are very helpful for the stomach, as most of its work is already done. Try anything  blended with water, fruit juice or soy milk. Avocados and bananas make very good smoothies. Experiment.

Please visit these Healthy Recipes pages

DETOXING AND FASTING

After many years of unhealthy eating - with respect to the foods eaten and our emotional state when eating - our bodies carry physical and emotional toxins that can hinder the expression of our full life-force, and subsequently, our happiness.

There are many simple and enjoyable ways that we can begin to let go of these limiting toxins from our bodies, and regain the vitality and enthusiasm for life that is our natural state.

SIMPLE DETOX SUGGESTIONS

First thing in the morning, drink a glass of warm water with squeezed lemon juice, and honey if needed. This flushes out toxins released during the night and balances the body.

One day a week, give your stomach a much needed rest. Have a day drinking just blended smoothies, or just fresh fruit juice, or ideally drinking just water (lots).

Eating raw food is detoxifying in itself - especially watery, juicy fruits. Buy a book on raw food preparation (you will be surprised by the possibilities!), and try a few days eating uncooked meals. A week is ideal.

Milk thistle extract is a wonderful liver cleanser. A few drops in water every day will help your liver greatly. It is available from health food shops and pharmacists.

Saunas, steam rooms and jacuzzis encourage a greater rate of detoxification. Be gentle, don't push yourself too far beyond what is comfortable.

Finally, relaxing as much as possible really helps your body detoxify. Take baths, go for walks, simply breathe, or do whatever puts you in a peaceful state. Relaxation of the mind and body is the key to greater health and happiness. Aim to be in a relaxed state from morning until night, and then observe what thoughts take you away from that state of relaxation. Detoxify your mind as well as your body.

HEALTH BENEFITS OF WALKING

Scientific research has shown that walking, more than any other form of physical exercise, is the ideal and safest form of regular exercise.

Besides helping the mind to relax and the emotions to be inspired by the wonderful connection felt through this natural form of exercise, it has been documented to reduce the chances of contracting cancer, diabetes, heart disease, anxiety and depression as well as many other health challenges.

It has a very beneficial overall health benefit and increases life expectancy even for individuals suffering from obesity, high blood pressure or general ill health.

Walking has been shown to dramatically increase bone health especially strengthening the hip bones and lowering the more harmful cholesterol levels.

Walking not only embraces the above health benefits but also connects us to the natural rhythms of life, helps us to breathe more fully and completely in pristine and clean air environments and allows us to gain a sense of freedom from the stresses and worries of modern day living.

Walkers' brains are better connected according to some of the latest scientific research ,"United Press International,08-30-10."

U.S. researchers suggest walking enhances brain circuit connectivity and brain function.

Moderate walking for 40 minutes three times per week for a year -- rather than just stretching and toning -- helped increase brain function in older adults.

University of Illinois at Champaign study leader Art Kramer and colleagues looked at brain regions functioning together -- especially the "default mode network" that dominates brain activity while passively observing or simply daydreaming.

The study, published in Frontiers in Ageing Neuroscience, finds in healthy young brains, activity in the default mode network quickly diminishes when a person engages in an activity requiring focus on the external environment. The researchers also say default mode network connectivity significantly improved in the brains of the older walkers.

"The higher the connectivity, the better the performance on some of these cognitive tasks, especially the ones we call executive control tasks -- things like planning, scheduling, dealing with ambiguity, working memory and multitasking," Kramer says in a statement.

Kramer and colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure brain activity in 32 adults, ages 18-35, as well as in 65 previously sedentary people age 59 to over 80 -- before, as well as six and 12 months, after joining either a walking group or a stretching and toning group.