Stealing Fire is the title of a book by Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal that we're enjoying right now. The title comes from the Greek myth about Prometheus stealing fire from Zeus and giving it to mankind, with which they were able to advance in their knowledge and technology.
The reference to the myth in this book is that fire was a protected knowledge and Prometheus went against the law, so to speak, to give it to mankind. For this he was condemned to eternal torment, being chained to a rock where an eagle ate out his liver every day (that grew back each night.)
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So there's a symbolic meaning to stealing fire of risking scorn or punishment to gain access to and share secret or protected knowledge. The secret knowledge that the book is about is altered states of consciousness and how many organizations and areas of society are now exploring how to develop and access altered states to achieve greater productivity and peak performance.
Why we enjoy reading about this research is because it's about learning ways to point people to develop access to a higher state of consciousness than the usual day-to-day. When we coach people to create a healthy relationship with food, what we point them toward is developing their natural access to the intelligence of their bodies, which is beyond their thinking mind. A higher state of consciousness, if you will.
What we've seen in the past few decades of working with people to create a healthy relationship with food, is that it's our thinking mind, the mind that wants to solve a problem and get us back to feeling good that is the problem.
What we've seen creates an unhealthy relationship with food is when we use food to feel better. Those foods that make us feel better do it with ingredients that don't provide our bodies with what they need to thrive. Refined and processed foods (think donuts, candy bars, sugary sodas) and high fat foods (think pizza, quarter-pounders and cheese cake) lack the fibre and micronutrients that our systems need to stay balanced and healthy.
While we provide guidelines to a Whole Food Plant Based (WFPB) diet because it has provided us and so many of our clients with great health, in coaching people to create a healthy relationship with food we need to support them to relate to life in a way that doesn't create the stress, pressure and low moods that they turn to food to regulate.
We all have the ability to access this place of inner intelligence and well being when our mind settles. And as we see how this works in our lives, we become skillful in regulating our moods from within rather than with food.
From there we have a solid foundation for a healthy relationship with food because we no longer get caught in the mind spin that creates the low moods we turn to food to relieve.
While the book is about leveraging altered states to boost performance and productivity, we feel these altered states are the result of a mind settling down into its true nature. And that's available to all of us.
The recipe this week is A Classic Wrap. A very high nutrient dense wrap made completely of whole foods. No processed grains, no flour, no sugar. They require a dehydrator to make, and they are so worth the effort. You can't find anything like these in the stores.
To your Amazing Health,
Connie and Bill
The Classic Wrap (Makes 2) adapted from Melissa Maris’ “Hand Salads”
- 1 cup of light fleshed sweet potatoes (135g/4.76oz)
- 1 apple of your choice, (185g/6.5oz)
- 1 cup, chopped zucchini (120g/4.23oz)
- 2 large sweet onions (740g/26.1oz)
- 3 pitted medjool dates (75g/2.6oz)
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 2 cups water
- 2 tbsp freshly ground chia seeds (20g/0.7oz)
- 2 tbsp psyllium husk powder (25g/0.88oz)
Start 12 hours before serving. Use weight of ingredients rather than quantity for best results.
Chop the sweet potatoes, apple, zucchini and sweet onion and place in a high-speed blender along with the dates, apple cider vinegar, and onion powder. Add the water and blend.
IMPORTANT: Only once fully blended, add the psyllium husk powder and ground chia seeds. Pulse the psyllium and chia into the mix for only 3 seconds until thick. If you blend these with the mix for too long, it can cause cracking or separating during dehydration.
Pour the mixture evenly into two silicone dehydrator sheets with the lip edge for best results.
Spread the mix across the silicone tray evenly about 1/4 inch thick all around. TIP: Use an offset spatula for best spreading results.
Dehydrate at 115F for about 12 hours, rotating the tray a few times throughout for more even drying, but never flipping it. If the wrap is NOT fully dry after 12 hours, give it more time to fully dry in all areas of the tray.
IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT FLIP the wrap while it is dehydrating.
DO NOT PEEL the wrap off of the silicone sheet until you use it.
The wrap will be ready when the entire top is dry and not squishy to the touch if you press into it, i.e. it leaves no “fingerprints”. This could be anywhere from 10-16 hours depending on how many other things you have going in the dehydrator, the humidity where you live, how thick the wraps are and the drying temperature. Turn off the dehydrator when wraps are ready but do not peel the wrap off the silicone sheet or tray until you are ready to fill it.
Store any extra cooled and fully dried wraps, still in their silicone tray, in large unsealed Ziploc bags in a cool place. Can store up to seven days.