Fall is already here and it seems all too soon after another unusually short summer in northwestern Washington. Yet, there are still some delectable fruits in the stores, such as grapes, nectarines, and plums, to name a few.

Grapes, according to Dr. Robert Morse (see story below), are powerful lymph cleansers, and help to remove toxicity and heavy metals from the body. We've used this super healing fruit as the base for our smoothie, which is another easy to make drink, and tastes utterly delicious.

Ingredients: Serves 2-4
2 cups red or purple grapes
1 cup water
2 nectarines
2 plums

Directions:
Rinse all ingredients with pure water.
Remove grapes from stem. Cut nectarines in half, and twist to separate.
Remove pits. Repeat process for plums.
Put all ingredients into blender or Vitamix.
Blend on highest speed for 60 seconds. Serve immediately.

Over the years I've often learned the hard way, using the times when I felt really good to eat foods that lessen my energy. This isn't exactly self sabotage... it's just that my thinking lacked clarity, or vision. What's been coming to me lately is that I can take advantage of having reached a new plateau, and use this to leverage myself into an even greater state of health and happiness.

These often hard-won plateaus become like stepping stones, a place to solidify what's been accomplished. Then I can begin to reach towards the next step which will create an even greater foundation to grow upon. Rather than thinking, what can I get away with?, this change of attitude empowers me into, what can I achieve?

For us, there are added ways to leverage health. This has been to find a good health care provider who understands and advocates a raw food diet. We've begun to work with Dr. Robert Morse, a naturopath, master herbalist, raw foodist, and iridologist, who resides in Florida. He's the founder and genius behind God's Herbs (available at Nature's Botanical Pharmacy).

We studied the formulas that he sells online and purchased a selection that we thought fit our picture. Two months later, we filled out a detailed health questionnaire, which was followed up with a two hour, illuminating and exhilarating phone consultation with Dr. Morse. He's animated, funny, incredibly knowledgeable, compassionate, accepting, and spiritual. His assessment of our health profiles brought up a whole different picture than what we originally thought we needed (in terms of his herbal formulas). This is one of the gifts of working with a professional!

It turns out that most of our problems have been originating in the lymph. This has caused a chain reaction throughout the body and it's gone on since our childhood, when Rex's and I had our tonsils removed. (Tonsils are vital for healthy lymph function.) The problem with our lymph has been compounding for many years. Dr. Morse feels that raw foods are wonderful, but sometimes herbs are needed to go even deeper into the cellular tissue, releasing and healing long-standing problems.

The cleansing diet he recommends is fruits for breakfast, a green salad for lunch, fruit or salad for dinner, and fresh juices between meals. This program will create a power-packed solution to get to the heart of the stagnation and congestion. We are already starting to feel the benefits, and this for us is leverage of the finest quality.