Kevin: Today, I have another incredible guest on the line. She has traveled all around the world, living with tribal societies and learned their healing techniques and most recently has been organizing a yearly raw event for like-minded people like you to gather and share the message which is
called the Raw Spirit Fest. So today, I’d like to welcome Happy. Happy, how are you?

Happy: I am content beyond measure.

Kevin: Well, that is an awesome way to start this call. Let’s start by talking about who you are and let’s just give a little bit background and then we’ll get right into the details of what we want to talk
about today.

Happy: Alright. Well, I’m the founder, the chief visionary officer of the Raw Spirit Festival which is the biggest raw, vegan, organic, eco-sustainable solution world peace festival on the planet.

Kevin: Wow. Listen, when we talked before this call when we you had mentioned you had been out traveling to different cultures in Southeast Asia, is that correct?

Happy: Well, throughout Asia, Central America, and Canada and about 30 countries I’ve lived in.

Kevin: Okay. And you have done some research and you’ve lived with some Tribes. Why don’t you start and just kind of tell us some of the things that you’ve done and some of the distinctions that you’ve gotten and I’ll ask you questions as we go.

Happy: For more than 10 years, I was adopted by a variety of tribes in Asia and as an adventure anthropologist living up high in the Himalayas, in the swamplands of Bangladesh, in the hinterlands of Thailand, in Burma and on the islands of Malaysia and Thailand and many other countries and in
Australia and because I was so young and so keen to learn their ways, they basically adopted me.

I would live with them for months on end and learn their languages. One of the things that I learned from the Yogis who lived up high in the Himalayas is the power of water. Yogis advocate using water as their primary medicine not only as an ***** but if somebody has a skin ailment or from disease skin or an insect bite or a cut, the prescribed technique is to put that body part under the bubbling- near-freezing- water for as long as the person can stand it repeatedly through the course of the day and it’s considered most powerful to do this at sunrise and sunset because there’s something about the interplay of solar radiation at those times that accentuates the power of very cold water and in fact,
one of the practices that I do is baptism every morning if I can and every evening and throughout America, we can do this in around the planet, when we’re traveling we seek out the relatively pristine streams wherever we’re traveling and bathe in them instead of going to the motel aid or going to a public shower and it cleans the body, mind, and spirit and I’d love to ask you, when is the last time you watched the sunrise?

Kevin: It was a couple of days ago. We were away and I watched the sunrise.

Happy: Isn’t that beautiful?

Kevin: Yes.

Happy: Because I was thinking it’s summer right now and it’s such an important spiritual practice that the tribal people who I lived with did this every day. The word soul actually means sun as in solar radiation and a person who has a lot of soul has a lot of sunshine in their heart and the word sole as in only,had also come from the word sun because it was considered the only source of life and the one to who we give reverence.

An important part is getting back into the tribal way of thinking is to sleep alfresco on the earth to feel the rhythm of the body called the earth, to feel the magnetic radiation, to feel the love emanating from the earth and its daily nightly rhythm.

One other aspect of a natural way of living is to embrace the night, to embrace the darkness and to revere and to commune with the starlight and starlight could be our most overlooked nutritional deficiency. Another aspect of tribal living is vigorous exercise. Tribal people exercise at least two hours a day with sweat, with a racing heart, with deep-end, vigorous and loud respirations, and so all
of these is part of the raw vegan lifestyle; stretching, growing a garden, growing sprouts as a beginning to a garden.

As we’re hitchhiking, we can eat wild food and so it’s really important as part of a daily sacrament to touch, to sniff and to gently ingest at least one wild plant wherever we are to literally get in touch with our ambience, to literally let ourselves on a sunny little level commune with the ambience,
with the soil that’s right beneath our feet.

Kevin: So when you went to these areas, I mean how old were you and how did you get invited or how did you present yourself to these different cultures?

Happy: Well, I received a scholarship to study at Hobart Matriculation College in Tasmania when I was 16 and 17 and while I was there, part of the program was a work program to go out into the professional force and so I joined the Tasmanian Forest Service and I was the only apprentice
there who was not part aboriginal.

The aboriginal leaders welcomed me into their forest service family and so I learned a lot of the ways from them and then I felt so at home with them, more than I had in fact in the English culture of Tasmania that I realized that there’s an enormous vast world of wisdom and since I was 12 years old, I had been cognizant of the fact that certain aspects of Christianity might have certain limitations at least on my mindset and I was seeking out wisdom.

My path, I call it adventure anthropology but it was actually the path of someone who was just thirsting and hungering for wisdom and so I went from tribe to tribe seeking out better ways in doing ways that are more, we call today eco-sustainable and more gentle and simple loving kindness and humor and spontaneity.

I would stay with one tribe and I would think, “This is it. I’m never leaving.” And then they will become victims of genocide. For example, I was in Bangladesh and the tribes that I was just leaving just to
re – supply were attacked by the Bengali government.

There was another tribe I lived with on the border of Thailand and when I left their refugee camp one day, I came back the next day and they have been burnt to the ground and so had all of my friends with it, so I’ve been in one experience after another.

The Moken people who I lived with became virtual servants of the Thai Forest Service. The Thai Forest Service would pay the teenage girls for an entire day of sweeping the forest clean because it’s a jungle.
They would get paid two bags of potato chips, the very small ones and they had to do it. They didn’t really have a choice.

They were also setup on reservations and they became the tourist attraction so they had to stay on this island and the Forest Service had them build certain buildings that they thought the tourists would like
to see them in and then they were no longer allowed to go in their sailing canoes from island to island and experience their free lifestyle because before that, they used to go all the way to India almost every year through the Andaman Sea to fish and hunt and they have a very easy, beautiful, adventurous lifestyle.

What’s happening in a lot of the developing countries, and there’s a reason why it’s called developing because it’s developing into what we’ve developed into. That the tribal people are going through the same thing that our tribal people, our native people went through a hundred to two hundred years ago.

Kevin: Let’s pick a tribe and whatever one that you’re closest to or you were closest to, you know what is the daily activity? What do they eat? You said that everyone sleeps on the ground. I mean, what’s the activity? What do they do? What do they hunt? I mean, it’s so fascinating to me and I need to know.

Happy: Alright. Well, one of the people I lived with was the Khasi people and they’re pineapple farmers and so we would collect herbs everyday. They live deep in the forest and then they have this conical huts entirely comprised of mud and they were the cleanest mud huts imaginable. Everything was tidy. They had very few possessions, almost none. They have one little treasure chest full of their very few earthly possessions like an outfit of intricate lacy beauty each and otherwise, they wear very little and they live in a very simple life, in a very simple way and we would collect herbs early in the morning. We would offer prayers to the sunshine.

Kevin: What are the prayers about?

Happy: One translation could be which I have been saying for many years, “Oh divine sun, bearer of all life, giver of all beings, may you live forever, and may we live forever, at one with
you so that we can make it homewards to you eternally. Oh, divine sun, bearer of all life, giver of all beings.” We would go up our little moles and it reminds me of the people who are like squirrels, like birds, like mountain lions, all these people they have different tribes, they happen to be different species live by the same religion. Let’s say it’s the religion of the sun, the religion of a natural
rhythm, the breathing of day and night and fully feeling the breath of the season, living as close to the mother earth as
possible and really feeling as if we are sleeping on the ******* of a
mother every night.

A lot of these people I live with never wore shoes. They smile a
lot. They
radiate a smile like sunshine and not just in their eyes or in their
smile but their whole body. They tend to be very affectionate, a lot
of hugging, a lot of touching, a lot of massage, foot massage.

Part of our community here_ the Happy Oasis Raw Retreat which is a
long-term raw vegetarian community of about 6 to 10 people at any
given
time. We’ve adopted these tribal ways of having a lot of freedom to
do
whatever we like. There’s no guru here. Everybody is self-
actualizing
continuously and sharing.

There’s just a lot of affection verbally, encouragement, communion,
becoming intimate as much as we can, not necessarily as much
physically as a group but more in a way of the heart through
communication because communication because communication comes
from the root of communion – commune and I realize that the only true
communication is that in which our speaking and our listening results
in
this feeling of oneness.

By: Kevin Gianni

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Dog food allergies account for about 20 percent of all dog allergies. The most common symptom of a food related allergy in dogs is itchy skin especially on feet, legs, armpits, ears, face and ****. Hair loss from biting and scratching, hot spots, and skin infections can be repercussions of an untreated food allergy. There are many ingredients that can cause food related allergies in dogs. These are but not restricted to;beef, chicken, eggs, wheat, corn, fish and soy.

Before treating a food allergy you must cure any secondary infections or conditions that are occurring such as skin infections, mange, yeast infections, etc. Once all of these are cured then a food trial can begin.

Most allergies are associated with a particular protein of carbohydrate that is in the food or treats the dog is eating. A food trial or elimination diet consists of feeding the dog a food containing a protein source and carbohydrates that the dog has never had before. The trial consists of twelve weeks of only this food. This means no treats, rawhide or any other type of dog chew (pig ears, bully sticks, etc.), flavored medications, toys or toothpaste of any kind. If the food for the elimination diet has a version in a can you can use bits of this as treats. The dog must not roam giving them access to eating things in the yard that may cause these symptoms. I think you get the idea, you do not have to quarantine the dog but make sure the diet is all they are eating or playing with. At the end of the trial the dog is reintroduced to the food they were given to begin with to confirm the allergen is in the food.

The cure for these allergies is avoidance of the items that aggravated them in the first place. Short term relief for the symptoms can be achieved through the used of antihistamines and steroids but the only cure is through avoidance of the offensive ingredients. At this time your veterinarian may prescribe a particular type of food to put your dog on or you can investigate a homemade diet. If you choose to use a homemade diet it can afford you the ability to control exactly everything that goes into the food. Commercial dog foods are not bound by law to list every ingredient on the pet food label. If you go the homemade route make sure your formula contains all the nutrients your dog needs.

Allergies in dogs seem to be more prevalent these days that ever before. With food allergies at twenty percent of all allergy causes it is a very viable avenue to pursue if your dog is suffering. Allergic reactions can occur due to new foods being introduced so talk to your veterinarian if making your dog food and follow their recommendations to avoid recurrence.

By: Robbie Black

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Whether your entire family is vegetarian or you wish to accommodate vegetarian guests this holiday season you’ll enjoy learning about the various meal ideas you can offer your guests. Unexpected guests are common place during holiday dinners, so it’s important to always include a few vegetarian options in your dinner menu.

A few things to remember when preparing foods for your vegetarian guests are that there are various types of vegetarians whose diets have vastly different restrictions. For instance, lacto-ovo vegetarians do not eat meat, but they do eat dairy (milk and egg products). Vegans on the other hand do not consume any meat or animal by-products, which excludes all dairy (milk, butter, eggs). If you’re not sure of your guests’ preferences, provide vegan dishes to be on the safe side.

Be sure to offer at least one vegetarian option for each of the following food types: proteins, starches, vegetables, dessert.

There are processed vegetarian protein options available from various vendors like Tofurky, Boca and Morning Star to name a few. From any of these suppliers, you can create filling soy-based protein dishes from vegetarian burgers, ground (soy) meat, deli slices and more. These food options can be found at health food stores and major grocers.

Among non-process protein options, there are bean casseroles, falafel, hummus, all beans (pinto, ***** peas, black beans, kidney beans etc), and guacamole. Be aware that beans take a long time to cook, so if you’ve recently moved, be sure that the movers put your pressure cooker in plain sight, so you’re not scrambling at the last minute. Most vegetables provide some level of protein, but these are some foods with the most protein per serving.

A few ideas for your starch/carbohydrate dishes can be a potato and beats casserole, rice dishes, mashed potatoes, Asian-style stir-fry dishes with tofu or a number of imitation meats or vegetarian lasagna.

A vegetarian feast would not be complete without tasty vegetable dishes. Oven roasted corn that is battered in non-dairy butter and garlic powder, wrapped in foil is a great option. Feta cheese zucchini and squash, mixed spring or garden vegetables are just a few among the many options you can choose from.

For dessert you can serve non dairy ice cream, fruit smoothies, fruit cocktail, chocolate mousse, pineapple cake. Unless you order deserts from a vegetarian bakery, you can make almost any desert recipe by substituting the dairy products for non-dairy alternatives such as almond milk and silken tofu in place of eggs. There are vegetarian substitutes for almost all dairy based products.

For the assurance that only moving company insurance can provide, be sure to add vegetarian alternatives to your feast to accommodate everyone at the dinner table.

By: Benouchka Sylverne

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Mexican cuisine is a style of food that began in Mexico, and is widely known for its vibrant flavor and amazing decoration. Rice, beans, tortillas, and a wide variety of spices are commonly used in many Mexican dishes, along with beef, pork, chicken, and a range of different peppers. Mexican recipes vary from region to region, but many of the same original ideas are still seen all over the globe today. Mexican cuisine is typically cooked in large amounts of grease and fat, making it one of the most fattening styles of food in the world.

Although authentic Mexican food can be unhealthy, there are many great recipes available for healthy Mexican meals. One ingredient that can easily be replaced is grease, which is usually a staple when making dishes prepared with tortillas. Many Mexican recipes involve frying tortillas, such as taquitos, tacos, and even tostadas. While the fried tortillas are usually the main portion of the dish, using oil to prepare them adds unhealthy fat and caloric intake. One alternative would be using soft tortillas, such as making soft tacos rather than frying the tortillas. There are also several recipes that involve tortillas without being fried, such as quesadillas or baked tortilla chips.

Another problem that can make Mexican food unhealthy is the amount of sodium in the dishes, which gives the food the strong flavor many love. The excessive use of salt and salt-based spices can be eliminated, but the flavor can still remain with the use of hot chili peppers and fresh vegetables such as onions and bell peppers. Rice can be prepared with low sodium chicken broth rather than using salt, and bean dishes can be prepared with the use of fresh ingredients as well.

Milk is another popular ingredient used in Mexican cooking, along with other high fat dairy products such as cheese and sour cream. While these are key ingredients in many popular recipes, the dairy products can be replaced with low-fat or fat-free versions in order to lower the fat intake. Using low-fat milk in a recipes rather than whole milk can reduce the caloric intake by almost half, depending on the amount of milk and other dairy products used in the dish.

Eggs are a main ingredient found in various breakfast dishes, and although they are healthy, many egg recipes are packed full of fat and calories. Huevos rancheros, a popular dish around the world, are typically prepared using whole eggs, oil, various salsas, and fried tortillas. Egg whites can be used rather than whole eggs, and tortillas can be prepared in the oven rather than in a frying pan with oil. Fresh salsas and peppers can be added in place of salt and seasonings, and the dish will still come out tasting amazing.

With the rising incidence of obesity occurring, it is best to find healthier alternatives for many popular dishes. Because Mexican food is well known for its high fat and calorie total, it is important to try low-fat and fat-free alternatives since they still contain the bold flavor most Mexican cuisine is known for. A delicious meal doesn’t have to be full of fat, and healthy Mexican food can still taste amazing with the help of low-fat ingredients and fresh vegetables and spices.

By: David Swanson

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The most common food allergies in adults include fish, shellfish such as shrimp, crabs, lobsters, and crayfish which can sometimes be deadly if consumed. Other food allergies are milk and eggs, soy, wheat and peanuts and a variety of nuts such as walnuts or pecans. Not everyone who suffers from a food allergy will experience an allergic reaction to each of these foods collectively, but may only have a reaction to one of the foods listed. However, a reaction over only one allergen can cause serious side effects that can include death. Many adults who suffer from allergic reactions to food may not have had these allergies as children.

Children who experience allergic reactions to foods are most commonly allergic to milk, peanuts, eggs and nuts that include walnuts or pecans. Children are more likely to experience an allergic reaction to food than adults especially if one or both parents have allergies, which may or may not include food allergies. If a child is diagnosed with food allergies they may eventually grow out of them, however, adults who are diagnosed will most likely have those allergies for the rest of their lives.

It has also been discovered that overweight children suffer from allergies more than their slimmer counterparts. Recent studies in Denver have also concluded that young African American males are more likely to have a food allergy than any other race of children. Though the reasons are still unclear, further investigations are underway.

More individuals, both children and adults, suffer from allergies to both peanuts and shrimp. These two foods are the most common culprits of food allergies and have been linked to more allergic episodes than any other food. If treated in a timely manner, the effects of an allergic reaction can be counteracted effectively. These particular foods should not be consumed and should be avoided at all costs by those who are allergic to them.

By: Meredith Lee

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