I have been so touched by everyone that read and commented on my last post about my trip to see John of God in Brazil. I felt very vulnerable sharing and admitting that I am not perfect and that I too have issues. This trip was a reminder that I still have a lot of work to do to grow and become a more mature, loving, patient human being and to be gentle and loving with myself in the process. I have experienced some beautiful changes since I have been back. One of them is that I am simply okay with not being perfect. This is a big one!!! How strong is that subtle pressure to be perfect in your life? It was definitely there in the background in my life and caused me a bit of unneeded stress. With this awareness of not needing to be perfect in everything I say or do or write (including my grammar!), I feel way more relaxed and feel my whole body has breathed a big sigh of relief.

So Hallelujah! Can I get an Amen? Amen!! And just a little reminder…. you don’t have to be perfect either!!!!!

On further reflection about my trip to Brazil, I am humbled and realize at an even deeper level the impact that emotions, energy and spiritual health have on our over all well-being. Throughout my twenties, I thought that if I just purified my physical body enough through a perfect diet that all of my health issues would be resolved. I knew emotions had a role to play with health, but did not actually experience this for myself until a few years later when severe stress caused me debilitating stomach pain. This was my bodies’ way of saying to me, ‘You are not meant to work like everyone else. You can’t push yourself without consequences. You can’t be sleep deprived and still function well. You can’t be in unhealthy relationships with no physical consequences to your body. You can’t do meaningless work and thrive’. The pain was actually trying to tell me some very important messages about how  I needed to live and when I began to listen and make changes, the pain released.

In my nutrition practice I talk with my clients a lot about emotions. My intuition almost always tells me there is an emotional root behind the physical issue. I am continually amazed when I discover that someones pain in their stomach or their heart disease or cancer began after some big physical or emotional trauma like a divorce, death of a loved one, or a loss of some sort. Often I find this issue has not really been “felt”. So the body feels it in different ways and sometimes manifests this unfelt emotion as dis-ease. Maybe our body is trying to get our attention.  And what if we actually paid attention and asked our body in all of its infinite wisdom, “What do you want to tell me? What am I not feeling? What am I not expressing? What am I holding back? Where in my life am I not living my truth? How am I not being honest with myself or with others?” What if doctors actually asked their patients these questions and led the body to expressing it’s truth instead of blasting the disease into oblivion with chemo or drugs (which still doesn’t get to the root of the problem, by the way)?

This emotional, spiritual, energetic connection to physical health was such a deep and profound reminder in Brazil. I witnessed people be healed of near blindness, cancer, stomach tumors and these are folks who were not eating perfectly. They were not the perfect organic eater that I am (most the time) and they were still healed. I realized that maybe there is more to health and healing than just food alone. Can it be? Yes, it can. Healing through food has been such an essential part of my healing path for so long and it always will be, but knowing, seeing and realizing there is much more to health than just food was humbling. It still is.

And now as I talk to people about food and getting on a better eating plan, I also talk to them about emotional health, spiritual health and energetic health. We get nourished in many different ways. Could it be that part of our national eating disorder is because we are not nourished at a deep level and so we turn to empty food and stuff ourselves… and stuff ourselves… and stuff ourselves? Can you remember the last time you had dinner with some really good friends and ate some really, really delicious, nourishing food? Did you stuff yourself? Did you go home and eat ice cream afterwards? Probably not because you were nourished at a deep level – not just by food, but by people, community, connection, love. How would it be to nourish ourselves with things and people we love on a regular basis? Could this bring more fulfillment and nourishment to our lives? Could this feed us on a deeper level that is hungry or even starved for nourishment?

As I re-turn to my life, I choose to love myself more fully in all ways with all the ways that I know nourish and nurture me. Taking a day off each week to turn off  the phone and not answer email, a sunset walk, time to go to my favorite yoga class, tea with a dear friend, making and eating delicious food with loved ones, sitting in silence in nature…all the things that feed me. This crazy culture emphasizes what we do so much but not how we live to have a sane, balanced and happy life. What if this were just as important?

Got ripe bananas? This is a great way to use them up and delight your taste buds in the process.  Almond flour banana walnut muffins with maple glaze make a delicious gluten free breakfast or snack. I use my favorite gluten free baking flour, almond flour. My favorite brand can be found at BenefitYourLife.com.  The maple glaze is optional but launches this simple banana nut muffin into outer space.

I just returned from one of the most amazing trips of my life to see the miracle healer, John of God, in Abadiania, Brazil. I had heard of John of God for years but never really had a reason to go see him being that I have no major physical issues or illnesses to require such a journey. Recently his name kept coming up in my life and when my partner decided to go for his own physical healing, I wanted to offer my support.

The town where John of God does his healing is very remote and basically in the middle of nowhere. It is not exactly a tourist destination. When I arrived, I wondered what the heck I was going to do for the 2 weeks while I was there. I soon found my hangout, Fruitie’s, the coolest cafe in town where you can get the best smoothies of your life as well as fresh Acai puddings and Passion Fruit Iced Teas. I was in heaven. This is pretty much where everyone hangs out when not at the Casa – the place where you see John of God.

Room of canes, wheel chairs and leg braces no longer needed after John of God healing

Millions of people have visited John of God over the last 50 years to receive healing. Many have been healed of life threatening illnesses such as cancer, MS, Parkinson’s as well as paralysis, mental disorders and much more. I was skeptical but could not help but be curious after hearing so many healing stories. The beautiful thing about being in Abadiania is that people of all faiths from all over the world come for one purpose – to heal. There were many folks, young and old alike, in wheel chairs, walking with canes or with obvious diseases or ailments as well as many people that looked completely normal and healthy that were there for more of a spiritual purpose – to heal internal negative thought patterns or ways of being that did not serve their highest good.

Breathtaking!

As I approached the day when I would go before John of God, I pondered what I would ask healing for. I wanted to feel something tangible happening so I asked for healing of my lower back pain which I have had for the last 15 years after a cross country bicycling trip. I had tried everything to get rid of this pain and spent thousands of dollars and many hours trying to relieve it. I had pretty much surrendered to the fact that I would live with this pain forever. Yes, back pain, definitely ask to have the back pain relieved. What else? What about sadness, anger, impatience – all the emotions that affect my well being maybe not on a daily basis, but still somewhat regularly in my life. And my liver and gallbladder – probably the areas of my body that I have had to give the most attention to keep well. It would be nice if they didn’t need quite so much work. There it was – my healing requests.

Brilliant Brazilian sunset

The day came when I went before John of God and gave him the piece of paper with my top 3 healing requests. I went thru the line to see him, he took my hand for a moment, looked into my soul it felt like and off I went – whisked off to another room to sit and pray and think about my requests. The next day came when I was to have my “surgery”. This is actually an invisible surgery where you go into a room with many other hopeful people who are there for healing, place your hand on the part of your body where you want healing, sit quietly and pray. I placed my hand on my lower back. The “surgery” lasted for about 2 minutes and then we were told to go back to our room and rest and not to open our eyes for 24 hours. This is very difficult, by the way. I did as told though and awoke the next morning to find a 2 inch incision scar on my lower back. I couldn’t believe it! I also discovered that my back pain of 15 years was gone! I was so excited and somewhat in a state of shock. I had done nothing but asked for this pain to be healed and overnight after this supposed surgery, not only did I have a incision scar just as if I had had a real surgery, but my pain was gone.

Recycling cart – If they can do, we can too.

The next week more magic unfolded as I felt a weight of all the sadness, anger, irritation, impatience and other negative feelings I had been storing in my body for years lift. I realized these were emotions that had been stuffed and not just stuffed as a figure of speech, but literally stuffed into my lower back. As my back pain was cleared, the emotions also cleared. They came out in the process though and this was challenging. I had a lot of anger arise but allowed myself just to feel it. Other emotions arose and I compassionately sat with them too. I knew these were all the emotions I had never felt, never held, finally surfacing and releasing. Some felt very old, like they had been there since childhood.

I have long believed in the connection between emotions and physical health but realized this connection at a much deeper level in Brazil. My experience showed me first hand how unfelt emotions can get stuck in the body and create dis-ease. It had happened to me – a health practitioner, a nutritionist, a natural food chef, a yoga teacher, an organic, natural living person of many years that does a lot of inner and outer work to keep myself balanced and healthy.

One of the many beautiful flowers around town

This was basically the experience of many people there – they were working on the spiritual, emotional, mental layers to heal the physical. Sometimes in that order and sometimes the other way around. The beautiful thing about going to John of God is that miracles can happen and happen quickly. As I said, I had been working on healing my lower back pain for years and all the things associated with it but for some reason everything accelerated and my prayers were heard when I went to Abadiania. John of God and the healing spirits heard my pleas and did their part to bring about my healing.

Now I sit here back in Austin without back pain. I still touch my back for that familiar pain and smile in gratitude for not only the physical pain that was removed but also the energetic and emotional clearing of emotions that have been stuffed inside of me for who knows how long. I feel lighter, happier and not so bogged down by my long “to do list”, ever-over flowing email inbox and many, oh many things to do.

Taking a walk on the red dirt road

The last day I was at the Casa, I was speaking to a film maker before I was about to be interviewed to be in his documentary. As we were walking to find a good spot for me to share my story, I asked him if he was there just to film or to ask for any healing himself. He replied that he didn’t think he had anything that needed to be healed. I remember thinking, ‘everyone needs healing’. Even if you don’t think you need healing, we all have experienced so many little (if not big) woundings (or perceived woundings) in our lives. If you don’t tend to these woundings and deal with them, it seems your body may manifest a way to deal with them sooner or later.

This trip was a challenging one but also one of the most beautiful heart opening experiences of my life. It required me to really do the inner work, look within and see the parts of me that have been holding myself back from living the most amazing life imaginable. Returning to my life back home, I feel inspired to slow down and take more time to be with old unfelt hard to feel emotions and compassionately sit with challenging new ones that arise. This feels just as important as building my business, exercising, and eating right. Thank you, John of God, for helping facilitate healing for my body, spirit and soul and for reminding me of the vital importance to take care of my spirit. I am forever grateful.

Blessings and love, Amanda Love

I recently served this delicious dip at the annual Cornucopia Institute Board Meeting in Minneapolis, MN. It is easy to make and oh-so delicious!

I will disclose my favorite mayo recipe in a future post, but for now suggest the only brand I buy if I buy store bought mayo which is Hain Safflower mayo. It’s not  perfect, but far better than all the mayos that use soy or canola oil. This recipe is so easy as you just zip up your mayo with these delicious flavors. This will leave everyone talking after your next party. Just make sure everyone partakes, as you will most definitely have garlic breath

I served this dish last weekend at a farmer’s market demo in Austin and people went nuts. Even though it was just a demo, people were begging me to buy a plate of food. I also served this dish several years ago at the Weston Price conference. Since the meal for was 1200 people, I cooked this up in a huge 50 gallon pot called a steam kettle which was so big I had to stand on a ladder and stir with a huge wooden paddle. So many people ask me for this recipe that I figure it is about time to write it down. The secret to this dish is getting pork that has been pasture raised as it has a richness of flavor that is hard to come by from store bought meat. Pasture raised pork is high in Vitamin D due to the pigs being outside and absorbing sunlight. Store bought meat almost always comes from factory farms where pigs never see the light of day. Make sure to support our local farmers and an industry that values respect of the land, workers and animals.

PROPOSITION 37

I must say I am pretty darn dissapointed that Proposition 37 failed. Yes, folks, we are one of the few civilized countries in the world that does not require the labeling of genetically modified food. 60 countries around the world require labeling and yet the ‘land of the free’ does not. Might the failure of this proposition have anything to do with the $46 Million given to the campaign by Monsanto and friends to tell lies about how this proposition would raise food prices, cause law suits and that labeling food was for the elite? I am pissed off that big ag once again won with the almighty dollar. Yes, this is the best democracy money can buy.

I can’t help but wonder if the 6% of votes needed for us to win this fight would have been swung if Whole Foods would have given real support. They gave no financial support until the last 2 days of the campaign with their $25,000 donation. Corporations not nearly as large gave thousands more. For an $11 Billion a year grossing corporation, I think they could afford to give a little more. I am certainly one customer that feels betrayed by Whole Foods. Put your money where your mouth is, Whole Foods. For a list of the corporations that gave money to defeat this campaign, check out the companies above. Call them and tell them you are boycotting their products and why. For more information about the corporate corruption in our food supply, Cornucopia.org has a great take on the matter.

Click here to see a larger view

Here is an excerpt from Cornucopia: “Meanwhile, some corporations that should have stepped up to the plate gave token contributions at the eleventh hour. Whole Foods, a corporation with net sales as high as Monsanto’s—both have approximately $11 billion in annual sales—contributed a mere $25,000, just two business days before the election, Cornucopia noted in its research. On the other hand, Monsanto contributed $8,113,000 to the “No on 37″ campaign effort”.

This is a delicious dessert you can feel good about. Sweet summer peaches atop homemade gluten free, shortcake biscuits topped with whip cream. How can you go wrong? You will only have to heat your oven up for a short time to cook the almond flour biscuits, then slice up your peaches and whip your cream and you’ve got something everyone will swoon over. I buy my blanched, organic, unpasteurized almond flour from www.benefityourlife.com  You can also make your own, but since I bake exclusively with almond flour, I go through it faster than I can make it. Try strawberries instead of peaches for a variation.

Listen to Amanda’s interview on One Radio Network where she touches on such topics as:

• Basics for making bone broth
• How to cook bacon the best way for nutrition & digestibility
• How to slow cook eggs for same results
• Special way to brine a turkey or all fowl & techniques for roasting
• Get grass fed liver into your diet balancing blood sugar w/ protein
• The why’s and ways of slow cooking
• How to cook beans for real digestibility
• The importance of fat for hormone balancing cooking w/ rendered fat