Long Life Broth

Living healthfully, feeling vibrant and maintaining good health through diet have been essential to my life for many years. Having suffered from serious digestive issues in the early part of my life, I’m acutely aware of the powerful role food can play in one’s health. I was born with an inability to digest properly. As a baby I was unable to keep food down, and I spent my infancy in and out of hospitals. Thankfully I survived this tenuous beginning to life. But throughout childhood I continued to suffer from digestive problems. When I turned 16 something inside me clicked, and I realized that if I wanted to feel better I had to take my health into my own hands.

I devoted myself to intensive development of physical and spiritual health. After extensive research I began a carefully selected and administered program of dietary choices, yoga and prayer. Within a short time my health took a dramatic turn for the better. But the vast improvement in health came at a price. Consuming fruits and vegetables almost exclusively, my eyes shone and my skin glowed with an inner radiance, yet I was hungry virtually all the time. I made do with less because I knew what would happen if I started eating “normally” again.

In addition to this very restricted diet, I experimented with fasting on water and fresh juice one day per week, and eventually fasted for longer periods of time. By the time I was 22, I had fasted for 40 consecutive days on three separate occasions. I had phenomenal vitality, needed little sleep and had excellent concentration skills. My dreams were luminous and intricate. I could feel healing energy course through my hands, which was available to share with others. I was exceedingly skinny, sometimes hungry, and every few days I became listless and virtually unable to function due to low blood sugar. Yet the power of this discipline was such that I was able to experience sustained levels of higher functioning quite consistently.

Entering my mid-twenties, I came more fully into my body. Able to add a wider variety of foods to my diet, including grains, cooked vegetables and fish, my energy became more “normal,” which was wonderful and disappointing — kind of like having super powers and then descending to mere mortality.

While eating this greater variety of foods I became susceptible to colds, which I never caught when I was in strict diet and fasting mode. To address the colds I was intuitively drawn to make vegetable broth. I would use whatever vegetables I had on hand, put the pot on a very low flame and let it simmer overnight. I found that when I sipped this vegetable broth for a day or two my colds would vanish, my energy would come back and I would be fully functional again. I was elated. I had intuitively stumbled upon what would become the foundation of an invaluable approach to health and well-being, which has served me to this day.

Now I feel I’ve found the best of all worlds. Brothing enables me to stay healthy and vital, with clear, balanced energy. I drink broth every day, throughout the day, and can consume as much as I want with no unwanted side effects. In addition to broth, I eat a high-quality diet of vegetables, whole grains, legumes, almonds and occasional fruit, fish, poultry and lamb. Receiving so many highly absorbable minerals and vitamins from the broth, I don’t feel the need to eat a lot of food, and yet I’m satisfied. I’ve found that brothing promotes excellent digestion, keeps me well hydrated and warm in the cold months and feeling calm, balanced and peaceful all year long.

Experimenting with brothing over the last 30 years, I discovered that my favorite broth consists primarily of root vegetables. That’s my personal preference, and what works best for my constitution. You may find that a broth comprised of both roots and greens provides you with the balance you seek.

“Long Life Broth: Brothing for the Soul” provides everything you need to get you started including recipes and so much more. Keep in mind that every body is unique and that we’re always changing. The broth pot invites you to experiment, refine, breathe deeply and enjoy!