Connie just returned from seven days at the Hippocrates Institute, a wellness centre in Florida. She's been wanting to resolve some of the lingering effects of the shingles she had last year and thought this might be the place to do that.
Join us to hear more.
It was a fabulous week, at a beautiful facility with amazing people and an unbelieveable food regimen. But the main thing I came away with was that I'm capable of moving my health much further than it already is. I wasn't so aware of that before going.
One interesting thing came out of one of the energetic scans I did. I'm 82, almost 83, and the energetic testing showed that I had the biological age of 49. I love that. I've certainly felt clear, strong and vital, without pain, and know this is feeling younger than many do at my age. But to have an energetic body scan put it in these terms is a fun confirmation that something good has come out of our diet and lifestyle.
Eating the way I did there and exercising with them, I felt like I'd been plugged into an energy circuit. It really made a difference in my energy level.
Now that I'm back, we'll be incorporating some of the things I did there into our daily diet and lifestyle. We're eager to see how these things affect our overall health and energy. It's exciting to explore new ways of living and realizing more of our potential.
Just to share a little background about the Institute, the roots go back to Ann Wigmore, who learned about medicinal plants and traditional healing from her grandmother, who cared for wounded soldiers during World War I.
Ann became deeply interested in using plants, raw foods, sprouts and grasses as food and medicine. She eventually developed what she called theLiving Foods Lifestyle, essentially a raw, plant-centered approach emphasizing sprouts, fermented foods, greens and particularly wheatgrass.
Hippocrates Wellness was founded out of this in the 50's when Ann began her work in Boston. Eventually the institute moved to Florida, where Brian and Anna Maria Clement became its long-term directors.
Today Hippocrates Wellness operates on a roughly 55-acre tropical property in West Palm Beach where it continues to carry forward Ann's Living Foods philosophy for nearly 70 years. It's called a Wellness Institute because it really is focused on establishing wellness and rather than managing symptoms and symptom relief.
We'll keep you posted in the coming weeks as to what and how we're incorporating this philosophy into our daily lives.
The recipe this week is not raw, but very nutritious and delicious all the same. It's a Cherry Chocolate (Sweet Potato) Brownie, using sweet potato in place of most of the flour used in a conventional brownie recipe. It's very chewy with a bit of crunch as well. Give it a try, we think you'll like it.
To your Amazing Health,
Connie and Bill
Chocolate Cherry (Sweet Potato) Brownies
- 12 medium dates
- ¾ cup baked sweet potato or yams
- ½ cup pitted cherries
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon vanilla powder
- ½ cup filtered water
- 1 cup flour
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon citric acid powder (optional)
- 1½ cups pitted cherries, halved to fold in at end
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds or walnuts, folded in at end (optional)
Add the dates to a food processor and process to chunkiness but not balling up.
Add the yams, ½ cup cherries, vinegar, vanilla (if using extract) and water and blend until smooth.
In a medium bowl add the vanilla powder (if using powder), flour, cacao, baking powder, baking soda and citric acid (if using it) and mix well.
Add the sweet potato mixture to the dry ingredients and mix just until well incorporated.
Fold in cherries and sunflower seeds or walnuts (if using them)
Spoon into an 8” x 8” baking dish and bake at 350º for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
To make the recipe into a cake, add the batter to a parchment lined 7-inch spring form pan.
NOTE: You can double the recipe and bake it in 2 cake pans for a double layer cake.