to keep the peace no probs but contradiction is healthy we dont get debate otherwise, if were simply just overlooking everything and posting our own views things will get pretty messy.

if i was doing something wrong on the raw diet id wish one of you guys to prop up and tell me rather than let me go off with my head in the clouds continueing to make the same mistake.

The algae, for sure! They are plants and just for the chlorophyll alone they would rawk, but then there's all the trace minerals and protein, vitamin B12...

I have always wondered about maca... having worked in a health store and always seeing it as a supplement, I recently found out that it's a root veggie and is considered adaptogenic. Why maca and not carrots? Perhaps because carrots are hybridized? But then I think about wild yam supposedly balancing hormones and maybe it's true.

Thank you powerlifter, I was unaware of many different forms of ashwagandha preparations. After doing a search I found that there are vegan and raw forms available. My question is if any of these formulations have a foundation in traditional Indian medicine?

Pretty much most preparations should be the raw root powder of ashwagandha i dont really care for extracts, plants come in balance and changing them to what some companies think is the active alkaloids only to find out later on it isnt.

like i say maca is decent but jiaogulan is 10 times better as an adaptagen, balancing hormones and so on. Its not really purely down to because its a root veggie it will have adaptagenic properties its more the sterols and alkaloids they contain.

powerlifer,

Your opinion is very valuable, because you offer a different set of knowledge than other posters. No one is dissing you by asserting that whole, fresh, raw plant foods work for them(and Doug Graham), and I understand that you disagree with regard to herbs and stuff. I try to avoid implying that not using herbs is somehow unsound thinking. The whole point of this thread is to ask what we individual contributors think about superfoods, presumably based on experience.

I haven't answered yet, so I'll say I have dried chlorella, cacao, maca, lacuma, and gojis. I haven't used the maca or lacuma in large amounts, that is therapeutically; I bought them for recipes in Matt Amsden's book. I have developed an aversion to chlorella, cacao, and goji--I literally detest gojis. This indicates to me that my body doesn't like them, foodily or chemically, and I can just do without them. I may yet consider taking other superfoods, provided actual foods cease to optimize my health. I have always tended to think that I should do what is most natural and least complicated first, and then see what I need to avail myself of in addition.

yeah i know what you mean Tamukha thanks for the post.

haha yeah gojis took me along time to get used too. I guess herbs are a different ball game from what are classed as superfoods anyway it was just the whole if its not fresh its useless thing that got to me. Ive never tried lacuma yet must try it at some point.

along with some of these other dried berries such as white mulberries must check if there raw also. EDIT: indeed they are raw.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2010 02:12PM by powerlifer.

wow, thanks guys, looks like there are as many opinions about superfoods on this board as there are going on in my head, lol!

Well, I had a meditate on the subject yesterday and this is what came to me:

"You are fascinated by these plants and herbs because they remind you of a distant memory of when you used to use them to great effect…
however these dried foods in jars that are sent from far away countries are but an echo of the real power of the plants you can gather in your locality.
The true magic lies not in the dissection and examination of the various vitamins and minerals, but in the magic of the connection you develop with Gaia as you wander the woods gathering these plants… and the alchemy you participate in when you prepare them with love, kindness and gratitude."

... I might still get some vitasynergy and some MSM though...



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I take a tablespoon of chlorella and one of spirulina with my juice when I blend it together with a banana. I've noticed a marked improvement in my ability to digest food.