August 28, 2007    Each Minute Counts

GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS from Arnold's Way!

It is one of those Tuesday mornings when life seems so perfect and yet so out of sync with what is happening in the world today. I awoke at 6 a.m. so perfectly happy that even if wild monkeys were jumping all around my bed, they could not disturb the harmony I felt inside of me. It is one of those days where you realize that August is almost ending and September is fast approaching. It was one of those days where I wanted every minute to count. I wanted to savior each second, what I do, what I think, and just feel every gesture, every moment, and on whatever it was that I was doing. I just wanted to be in that moment for I knew deep down that I could never have that moment again. I knew deep down that my body was yearning for peace, for love, and for that perfect sense of harmonic revelation of pure calmness. I awoke today perfectly healthy, perfectly happy, and knowing that the cares that exist in the world does not breathe its heavy anxiety onto me this early in the morning. Wow, that was a mouthful. I speak of purity, of light, and knowing full well that in the next couple of minutes everything will change dramatically. I sensed that every thought that I thought would have to take a new direction, a more somber view of what is occurring in the world today as I write, as I speak, and as I see. As in the words of our speaker who spoke at our last pot luck summed up, "We as individuals, as a people, as a country, and as a world are facing a serious confrontation that may determine the "survival of our species"." I am talking about the words used by our speaker who spoke so eloquently, and so downright boldly as to knock my socks off, and put me into the fighting mood to take action against the oncoming probability of not allowing his words to become a reality. It is on this note of contentment and yet at the approach of the doomsday for our species that I begin. I speak with immense determination and with pen in hand and filled with an accumulation of thoughts, and my feet ready to jump, ready to rumble, and to do my part in preventing this from happening. This week's newsletter is dedicated to Eric, to Steve, to Rama, to Krissy, to Marcia, and to our hundreds if not thousands of customers who understand that each minute counts.

We "get" that what we see, what we think, what we put into our bodies will determine whether we survive in a world that doesn't understand that. We realize that all wars, all disease, all ills in today's society are not accidents that are predetermined by our bodies' reactive forces, but on what we put into our bodies. It is that simple. Our bodies understand that a lack of love for our selves is the most overriding factor that creates this disharmony. It is a continuation of degenerative actions, degeneration caused by bad choices of what is truth and what is a lie as to a healing dietary lifestyle approach. Eric not only experienced both sides, he was both a victim and a conqueror of his actions. Eric shared his opinion. He spoke about what causes war and of what causes a continuation of the destruction of our natural resources. I speak of Eric's focus theme at this month's pot luck: Survival of the Species.

Eric, who I have known for at least nine years, came into our store so jubilantly, happy, so confident, and in such high spirits that it was almost impossible not to notice him. His looks, his features looked like an actor right out of Hollywood. Eric literally made it. He had the looks. He had the health. He had his beautiful soul mate by his side. He had a thriving business. He had it all. I wasn't jealous; I wasn't envious; I was just totally amazed by what he spoke about rather than on what I thought he would speak about. I guess you never know. Eric, by all standards, had an amazing raw food success story. I write with cautious optimism trying to best remember his words and the sequence of events he related.

Eric, up to the time he became "raw" was always a heavy man. He ate what you called a typical American diet which was filled with hefty amounts of cheese, heavy on the coffee and bagels. These foods were his thing. Everything was so perfect. So what if he was a little overweight. So what if he wasn't feeling his best at all times. So what if he was about 60 pounds overweight? It really didn't matter that his food played an integral part of his existence, and that he could not see any other possibility. Eric had some health issues. His back pain was getting worse by the year. His energy was not what it used to be, and every movement became a conscious movement. In other words, Eric was not a happy camper.

Eric was one of my customers from my Manayunk store days. He came in for his vitamins thinking they would help with his pain. He came in for herbs thinking they would help. He came in just to listen to the truth that all of those health issues he had could be healed by simply changing his dietary lifestyle. He listened to others as they told him that whatever they had simply disappeared. Eric heard the stories, but at that time he felt that making those changes wasn't even an option for him. He liked his gourmet food too much. He couldn't imagine eating fruit and vegetables all day long .He couldn't imagine not cooking his food. He couldn't imagine going into a restaurant and not ordering his bacon and eggs, his cheese steak heavy on the fried onions. He would have to give up all of his favorite food. At this particular time in Eric's life, he decided that he would rather live with his back pain than change his dietary lifestyle.

Eric came to my store month after month and year after year. As his back pain was getting worse, my health was getting better. I am about 10 years older than Eric. I, too, had experienced a slight back pain at that time. I, too, knew the vulnerability we face that as we age, we get more prone to aches and pain. Eric came, listening, hearing and knowing that his back pain was reaching the point of him being constantly in bed. What were his options? Eric tried going to a chiropractor. He always told me of this new technique. He told me of this new chiropractor and of this new possibility. Each new option helped a little bit to ease the pain, but the pain never quite disappeared.

It was on one of those warm summer nights that Eric took the big plunge. He listened to a totally new concept of healing. Loren Lockman who was the owner at Tanglewood, a fasting center at that time located in Maryland, came to our store and spoke. Loren, for two hours spoke about man's natural diet, man's natural healing abilities, and of man's being genetically designed to eat a mostly fruit and leafy green diet. Loren talked and Eric listened. Minute after minute Loren spoke about how our DNA structure is 99% similar to that of the Bonobo monkey. These monkeys are primarily fruitarians. He spoke about people who had major diseases and of how they went on a fruitarian and leafy green lifestyle, and that whatever disease they were suffering from, the symptoms simply disappeared.

Eric, for whatever reason, knew he had to change. Everything that he was doing wasn't working. Every pill, every treatment, every thought, every wish, and every single thing up to that point he had tried had put him into excruciating pain to the point of being disabled. Eric heard Loren's words loud and clear. He thought about the donuts; he thought about the pretzels; he thought about the cheese steaks; he thought about where he was in life, and he realized one thing, and only one thing -- he did not like living in this terrible pain. At that time, Eric, after the lecture, made a clear decision that all of the cooked food in his lifestyle had to go. It was a clear choice. He had to begin eating fruit--all kinds of fruit. Eric did just that. He began eating tons of fruit. He carried fruit to work. He bought fruit by the case: apples, pears, and bananas. He began eating leafy greens, and all kinds of greens. He learned the way of the Bonobo monkey. They just want to be in a loving lifestyle moment by moment. He wanted to make each moment count with no more pain, with no more tiredness, and with no lack of freedom for his body movement. In other words, he wanted his youth and vitality back. He no longer wanted to be in pain. My friends, this could have been Eric's story, and it was. But, my friends, there is more. What worked for Eric was not enough for Eric. Eric felt the tremendous suffering of how every country in our world, and how it is suffering because of our moment to moment choices of what we put in our mouth.

Eric rid his body of all that excruciating pain just by eating mostly fruit and leafy greens. Eric lost about 60 pounds just by eating mostly fruit and leafy greens. Eric also found his soul mate because he wanted to share his new lifestyle with someone of the same consciousness. Eric's lifestyle changed over 100 percent, and he wanted others to experience the same healing results as he experienced. He wanted everyone to feel the exuberance of life forever more. Eric talked about this in his talk. He encouraged everyone to give up the cooked foods which are so carcinogenic for our body. He talked about how everyone should be growing fruit trees in their back yard. He talked about how trees would regenerate the soil rather than erode it. He talked about the yield of a tree and how they can sustain us. He talked of cancer, and how it is becoming an epidemic. He spoke of The China Study, and how, according to Dr. Campbell, the chance of getting cancer is extremely high if you eat meat. Eric spoke minute after minute about his passion for the survival of the species just by changing your lifestyle to a mostly fruit and leafy green lifestyle. Eric now goes wherever he can to speak his words his passion and of the possibilities of what happens when one changes their lifestyle approach and mindset of what food is and what it can do to our bodies.

On this beautiful Tuesday, I enjoy the moment of sharing my passion with those who followed their truth and became a rejuvenated vibrant more happy human being. I thank you for your time.

Arnold