The 2015 Great NEWS posts share Healthy Habits to help better support our happiness, health and harmony.  Today’s post is Maya Medicine Part III with more insights learned on recent trip to Belize. This information may provide a valuable foundation for your long term holistic health and wellness. My desire for this post today is to share addition plants of Belize and Maya medicine. We have been busy planting plants and trees so when the eco community guest lodging is complete we will have lots of organic foods for visitors. Imagine an organic food forest and permaculture gardens outside your windows. These will provide fantastic foods and Maya medicine to delight your taste buds and nourish your body, mind and spirit. Planting seeds today will help manifest the best health ever. This is the third post on Maya medicine discoveries in Belize.

Research Farm in Belize

Planting seeds today will help manifest the best health ever.

This will be a short blog because I just returned from another trip to Belize for clearing brush, more permaculture planning and planting and strategic meetings during the rainy season. I met with Christopher Nesbitt a long term botanist, agroforestry and permaculture teacher managing a small NGO called Maya Mountain Research Farm. I am super excited to report he has agreed to be on the advisory board to help assist and teach us the best practices and permaculture principles to help with the development, design and planning of our Garden of Eden in Belize.

With the complex combination of rainforests, reefs, rivers, ruins and rustic life in Belize it will be very valuable to access an expert like Christopher with 30 years experience in country. The plan is to access, build and network with a great advisory team committed to collaborate and cooperate  so we live in a sustainable harmony with the earth, ecology and environment.

Maya Food and Medicine

We are all well aware that we are the cumulative result of what we drink and eat on a regular basis. When we eat well and nourish our body, mind and spirit we experience energy, health and vitality. When we eat poorly and indulge in fake, fast and junk foods we begin to break down and deteriorate.

Lets look at some additional foods, herbs and nutrition to enhance our overall well being.

  • Acerola cherries are tangy and tart and loaded with minerals and Vitamin C. Thanks to John Usher at Sanctuary Belize I now have seeds planted on my property to be able to enjoy this delicious and nutritious fruit.
  • Cacao is a tree that produces the raw fruit that produces cacao seeds. From these they extract the cacao for chocolate (cocoa) and cacao butter (oil). The Mayan believe that cacao is the food of the gods. It is revered for its flavor and wide range of anti oxidants, enzymes, minerals, phytonutrients, trace elements and vitamins. It is used to enhance and flavor foods as well as make chocolate drinks and chocolate bars. Check out the David Wolfe youtube video for some deep insights into the benefits of raw cacao.
  • Cactus such as aloe vera and nopale are used as food and medicine.
  • Callaloo is the term actually applied for many greens used to make a tasty green vegetable dish or soup. One of the best foods for making callaloo is the amaranth plant. Amaranth is fantastic when lightly cooked or steamed to maintain more of the vital nutrients.
  • Chaya is a green leafy bush that yields a tasty green dish when properly prepared. The leaf is both food and medicine. Many believe that due to the benefits of the anti oxidants, enzymes, minerals, phytonutrients, protein, trace elements and vitamins it can help prevent and reverse diabetes.
  • Coconut

    The inside flesh of a coconut is full of anti-oxidants, enzymes, minerals, phytonutrients, trace elements and vitamins.

    Coconut can be eaten as the harder brown and fully mature form or as the soft green young coconut. The inside flesh of a coconut is full of anti-oxidants, enzymes, minerals, phytonutrients, trace elements and vitamins. It also have a good fiber and is now being used for various baking and paleo recipes.

  • Coconut oil is extracted from mature brown coconuts and is excellent for cooking. As a saturated fat it is more heat resistant and stable at low, medium and even higher temperatures.
  • Coconut water comes from young green coconuts and is an excellent source of nutrients. Besides being full of electrolytes and high quality water is tastes delicious.
  • Cohune is a palm tree that grows in the jungles and rainforests of Belize. The heart of the palm can be eaten raw or cooked into a meal or soup. The cohune nuts can be harvested and eaten or the oil extracted for cooking.
  • Copal is a resin used for natural healing. Specific conditions that may benefit include upper respiratory infections and skin conditions.

These are just some of the foods I enjoyed on my most recent trips.

These foods, herbs and plants help provide the foundation for a person to maintain their happiness, harmony and health. Mayan medicine is based on the proven principles that everything in our life affects everything about our life. Applying and utilizing the Maya medicine foods and techniques can be a big advantage and benefit to help bring a person back in balance and restore resiliency and vitality. Lifestyle modalities such as: beliefs, beverages, environment, foods, habits, herbal remedies, massage, mindset, nutrition, plants and sweat lodges can play a key role in maintaining our state of happiness, health and well being.

Healthy Habits

The Healthy Habits 2015 series is dedicated to sharing simple steps to help improve our happiness, harmony and health. This post shared more foods and strategies of Mayan medicine from Belize. Following the healthy beliefs, foods, herbs, lifestyle and practices promoted by the bush doctors and healers of Belize may allow you to tap into more of the wisdom of magnificent Mayan legacy.

What is your current Gap?

Do the Maya medicine foods and principles make sense to you? How well do you follow the wealth of information the Mayan cultures assimilated? Would following the Mayan medicine approach to foods, health and herbs provide you with better benefits than your current lifestyle and modern foods?

Mastery Action Plan (MAP)

Two great organizations dong their part to promote and protect Belize are the Belize Audubon Society and Belize Travel and Tourism. For a great article on the benefits of chaya go to the Belize.com website. The Belize Audubon Society is doing a great job of educating, promoting and protecting areas of Belize that will help insure valuable resources are available for generations to come. During my recent visit to the Belize Audubon Society office in Belize City I learned a great deal about the many challenges and projects they are involved with to help maintain the natural fauna, flora and wildlife of Belize.

Call to Action

What comments, commitments or concerns come to mind regarding the merits of Mayan medicine from Belize? What other ideas and inspiration will help motivate you to plan a trip to the rain forests, reefs, rivers, ruins and rustic adventure of Belize soon? What can you do to make your beliefs, behaviors and beverages healthier which will in turn help make you life better and more eco friendly?

Next week the Great NEWS blog will share:

Belize Eco Village and Sanctuary

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