David Wolfe, Matt Monarch, and Daniel Vitalis Make a Smoothie Spoof!
Whats the World’s Best Kept Health Secret???
Being able to laugh at yourself! Let me explain…
This week has been full of just that kind of laughter! For the last couple of weeks myself and several good friends and great acquaintances have been working together diligently to get the word out about the 16 DVD set that was filmed last September at the Longevity Now Conference in Costa Mesa, CA. There has been a friendly rivalry going on, and a few of us decided to take it as far as we had to in order to bring the most attention to these DVD’s. It sort of turned into an informal contest, and I was determined to win…
It all started last week with my team and I brainstorming about how we could get peoples attention. I needed to do something out of the ordinary, something bold and hilarious. This is what I came up with, and if you haven’t seen it yet, I would love to hear your opinion.
My girlfriend Ali, my operations manager and brother Kaleb, and my Best Friend and Business Partner LeighLon and I then spent several hours posting this video to everyone we could think of in our social networks. It was a huge hit, and got a few thousand views in its first 24 hours! People were loving it, but the competition was swarming and before we knew what to do, several other videos popped up. It was our friends and colleagues trying to out-do us (special thanks to Jason Wrobel and Ron Obadia) with videos of their own!
We went back to the drawing board.
I needed something fresh, something bold, something that would send ripples coursing throughout the health-minded community… I had an idea, but would this be going to far? Was what I was about to do; was I crossing the boundary? Did I even dare?
No… I couldn’t, I didn’t. I was going to back down. I was defeated.
Then, suddenly I was flooded by a deluge of emails. It was my friends from the Longevity Now Conference. They wanted to know if I, Daniel Vitalis, was the kind of person to retreat into shadow, to fall sullenly into obscurity, or would I rise like the proverbial Phoenix from the ashes of video doldrums to deliver the masterpiece that the world had been waiting for?
Text messages from my close friends David Wolfe and Chef Frank Giglio started rolling in. They told me that I had until midnight to get something onto youtube, if I was to regain my honor. It was 9 p.m., and time was running out. I had just a mere three hours to make some magic.
The few hours that followed are little more than a blur, and if it wasn’t for the record kept in the footage I am about to share with you, I would’t have believed that it even happened. None the less, it will now be immortalized forever.
What follows is a spoof of myself, David Wolfe, and Matt Monarch all hanging out in my kitchen making the “Longevity Now Conference 16 DVD Set Superfood Tonic Elixir Smoothie”…
I play all of the parts, and keep in mind that this was made on an extreme time budget. Each character had to be filmed separately and I had to shave between each filming session. I can hardly believe this is real….
So, what’s the message here? Is there a message?
Please allow me to summerize. For years now the three of have worked seperately and together in the same general arena and field. Each of the three of us represent extrememly driven and productive individuals. Each of us has spent countless hours employing personal development strategies to fulfill the blueprints for who we truly are and what we want to share with the world. Though each of us is very different, there is a common theme that we all agree on, and that is wanting to see a healthier, more peaceful, and more beautiful world for everyone.
As public speakers and figures, there is a tremendous amount of pressure placed on us from all directions, as this is the nature of the work that we do. It can be so easy to find and focus on the differences in what each of us is teaching and if we are not careful, to allow ourselves to be divided by it. It is easy to lose sight of the obvious; that we are all friends and working together toward a common goal. The differences between us are beautiful and healthy, and ultimately what make this whole ride so much fun.
I think of it like this, imagine that David Wolfe, Matt Monarch, and I all walked into a restraunt together (ok, what restraunt would that be? I guess this is hypothetical). Each of us orders something different from the menu, something that is suited our own unique taste, preference, whim, and health goals. The fact that we ordered different dishes does not mean we are in nutritional opposition to one another. It does not mean we are contending with one another, and certainly doesn’t affect our friendship or support of eachother. None of us would be wrong for what we ordered, it is just a menu after all. We can each enjoy our meal together over laughter and appreciation for each others company.
A second message I have embedded into this video is the following: Don’t take life or yourself too seriously. Ever.
All three of us are so focused on creating the life that we desire, each of us so good at what we do, that we have all become characters as archetypical as those found in the pages of a comic book. This deserves to be laughed at sometimes… Its funny.
David the globetrotting shamanic mad scientist, Matt the California beach boy turned South American land owner, Me the elven borreal forest primitive locavore. This is the stuff comedy is born of! Each of us is simply bringing forward the health strategy that has fueled our unique missions and passions, and each of us does this in our own unique style. Our work is the distillation of years of study and practice, and we could be celebrating the diversity that this has created.
There are times when we all come together for work and play, and when we do, all of these apparent differences are set aside. We are friends first and foremost, and we know the value of love and laughter.
You the reader may have encountered some of the harassing internet trolling that each of us has had to endure. There are those online who do take this far too seriously and are constantly leveling accusations, and cruel and harsh words against us. They take our work and contort it in an attempt to make a mockery of us. What is funny to me, is the way that these people seem to do this as a near full time job! They are so obsessed, and take it all so seriously that they have committed their lives to displaying hatred and spewing vitriol, claiming that their way, their method, their diet, is the only viable truth. This video is a message to those people. It says “You can never make fun of us better than we can of ourselves!”, and that living without humor in your life is more than ugly, it is unhealthy and violates one of realities prime directives. Honestly, I feel sorry for people like that, people who are too closed down in their hearts to display the lightness of being that initiates human bonding. It seems like a cold way to live, and very, very lonely.
Though people may at time level criticisms against us, I ask that you imagine this. Imagine the fearlessness it takes to put yourself out there to the world. Imagine what it takes to make videos, write books, travel the world getting in front of hundreds and thousands of people to share a message of hope and healing in a world so full of suffering and destruction. It takes a lot, and it is not always easy.
To those who have supported us all these years, THANK YOU.
Oh, and one other thing, a message to the haters… I am making a joke about the sales of this DVD for this reason alone. I don’t understand why there are people who are critical of me or anyone in my field for being a business person. How would I be able to do what I do if I otherwise had a full time career doing something else? Also, I feel the need to point out the obvious here: People buy products from myself or my colleagues because we carry extremely good products, products that help people. People choose to purchase these products because they add value to their lives and health, and because they feel good about putting their money back into the economic networks that support what they believe in.
We exist as businesses because we carry things that people want. That should be obvious, though there are those that detract from this. Perhaps it is because they make their money in ways they are not so proud of.
The businesses that each of us run are beautiful, thriving, life promoting operations and each of them is working to support the vision that each of us share for the world. My company, SurThrival, is my contribution to peoples health and healing and is my way of operating economically in a world that demands this of me. I am proud of the work that I do there, and of the people that this business supports. David Wolfe and his Longevity Warehouse exists to support peoples health and developement, and is critical to keeping the message alive and available. I am proud to work with him. Matt Monarch has ceaslessly brought more and more products to us at his Raw Food World, and runs one of the tightest ships I have ever seen. I am proud to work with him.
In closing, I want to say this. The Longevity Now Conference DVD’s are amazing. I feel very good about sharing these with you because I know how much quality information they contain, and how diverse that information is. Each speaker is very different from the others, and holds a piece of information that could be the piece that you are looking for. These DVD’s are not for the dogmatic; they are for the open minded and adaptable! One of those DVD’s is dedicated to the talks that I gave at the conference, and is the information that is most on my heart and mind now. I truly hope that you get the chance to watch these, as this is why I do what I do. I believe in their value.
If you would like to get yourself a set, click here now!
Also, I will be at the Longevity Now Conference in April (1st-3rd), and will be making tickets for the upcoming conference available soon… So… Stay tuned, I might just be forced to top this last video!
~Daniel
New Book Now Available! Ancestral Plants
Finally, a Wild Food and Medicine book that really delivers!
My good friend Arthur Haines has just released his new book Ancestral Plants, and I must say, it is amongst the best wild food and plant-use book I have yet to come across. People are constantly asking me to recommend a book on the subject, and there just haven’t been many that I have found particularly helpful. Either the pictures weren’t clear, the text wasn’t informative enough, the author was lacking real experience, or the book just wasn’t laid out in a user friendly way (ok, Samuel Thayer’s books are an exception to these criticisms, and are excellent wild food references).
Ancestral Plants is different, this book just seems to have it all. Arthur writes from a place of profound understanding of the nutritional and medicinal actions of wild foods, as well as the important uses that these 95 plants held for the native people of this continent (and still do for the “neo-aboriginal” today).
Since I received my first copy (just a couple of weeks ago on the Winter Solstice) I haven’t been able to put it down. Thats not hype, I have literally been taking it everywhere. This book has become part of my everyday kit. And even though it is winter here, I have been studying up on the plants I want to learn in the next growing season, as well as using the calendar in the back to determine when I will be harvesting the key plants I intend to use throughout the year of 2011!
One of the things I really appreciate about it is that it is written as more than just a wild food guide, it is a plant medicine guide as well, detailing herbal uses of these plants in addition to their uses as foods. More than that, it also lays out which plants
Ancestral Plants uses a series of icons to denote the possible uses of a plant (a little fire icon for plants with fire uses, an arrow for plants with uses in archery, etc), and then the text details how, when, and which parts of a plant can be used in this way. The photos are very clear and the descriptions have been written by someone who has actually used the plants to the ends described therein (believe me, this is not the norm).
This is the go-to book for understanding wild plants of the North East, and the one that will accompany me into the field this year and for years to come (mine is getting dog-eared already).
Also, I want to let you know that though this book was written for plants of the North East, dozens of the plants here will be found throughout North America, and even beyond. I think that foragers of all skill level and in a variety of eco-ranges will benefit from this work. Also, this is an excellent resource for herbalists or those interested in herbal medicine, as each plants pharmacology and mode of action are broken down in a very explicit and comprehensible way. It has already become one of my most valued herbal references.
This book was published by Anaskimin, (the Penobscot native word for “acorn”) a nonprofit organization here in Maine, who’s purpose is the protection of open and wild spaces through public and private education. Not only is this book the most useful and user friendly I have seen on the subject, but by purchasing it you are directly supporting the preservation of remaining wild places in a radical new way, by educating people how to care for and interface with wild nature.
Also, as a heads up, Arthur and I will be leading two weekend workshops together this year in the North East, one in May called “Ancestral Plants” and another in September called “Ancestral Ignition”. The first will be a three day wild food education, identifaction, gathering, processing, and preparation workshop! The second will focus on the creation of fire from friction, using natural materials from the landscape, the way it was done for the last 400,000 years. I am very excited about both of these classes, and will be posting the details shortly. Stay Tuned!
Check out the video interview below to learn more about the book, and click here to get your copy now! You will gain tremendous knowledge and be supporting a wonderful and important cause.
Today is the first blizzard of 2011 here in Maine, and I am off to enjoy the snow! Thanks for visiting and please let me know what you think of the book!
~Daniel
Join Me In Costa Rica March 13th – 20th!
What are you doing this March?
Happy New Year, both Solar (winter solstice) and Gregorian (Jan 1st)!
I am home in Maine, and gearing up for the headlong plunge into the frigid depths of another New England winter! I get so excited every time it snows here, and though some people find it challenging to live through this kind of cold and dark, I must say that even more than loving it, I am fascinated by it. Watching the season change, feeling the solar low just before we emerge into the spring, seeing the tracks of the animals who move like ghosts through this icy, crystalline landscape, all of this brings out the wonder of a child in me!
That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciated a reprieve, and a chance to charge up my blood with Vitamin D from the Equatorial Sun just before spring begins (ok, the trip actually concludes on the Spring Equinox)!
I will be teaming up again with RawFlora this year for a one time only Costa Rican adventure, and have a limited amount of space available for those who want to have a special experience at the tail end of this year’s winter!
As you can probably tell, I am an avid “foodie” so I have made sure there will be an abundance of fresh local fruits and vegetables, wild fish and seafood, as well as local goat milk and cheese! And one of my favorites, fresh water coconuts to drink all day long! We will have an experienced chef on hand to prepare our meals, and keep us fueled up for our exciting and dramatic daily excursions!
Our lodge sits directly on a private tropical beach, where the Noni trees grow abundantly to meet the gentle lick of the Caribbean Sea. Each day is packed with truly exciting adventures, from visits to cacao plantations to white water rafting down a
deep jungle river, from a forest canopy eco adventure to visits with the local shaman for healing jungle herbs. All this will be supported by our outdoor training with Tai Chi Master Dr. Bob Bacher (He trained extensively in China, and has taught Tai Chi for over 40 years)!
This is the Life Affirming New Year Resolution trip you have been quietly desiring, and this is your chance to make it a reality! Come play with us in paradise as we explore the bounty of the PachaMama (Mother Earth)!
All of the trip details are available here! There will be just one tour, and space is extremely limited, so please contact us immediately at info@rawflora.com to reserve your space!
While I get to meet so many of you out on the road when I am teaching around the world, this is our chance to spend a full week together, exploring the wonders of this beautiful planet! I look forward to meeting you, and the special few who attend!
See you there!
~Daniel
Vegans vs Carnivores!
Are we Hunters? Are we Gatherers?
Or….. are we Hunter Gatherers?
Allow me begin this article with a show of Gratitude to everyone who commented on the blog “Hunter Safety”. It was wonderful to see how much intelligent (and at times even heated) debate was generated, not to mention the space it made for a conversation that was long overdue…. This most is certainly a place for open dialogue, so as long as we remain fairly civil, you are welcome to discuss your feelings and opinions in the comments below…
That said…
It seems to me that as a collective we have so much more in common than not, and since our visions, values, and goals are so closely aligned, we might be all the wiser to unite and synthesize our views, rather than creating infighting within what is quickly becoming a bi-partisan health movement!
I don’t know about you, but I am very motivated by the ideal of balance, and feel that when we polarize we become cut off from an entire range of innovation, possibility and opportunity. One such polarization that is emerging in our community now is that between the “Vegan” community and the “Primal” community. For those who are not familiar, please allow me to elaborate.
The Vegan ethos is one of total abstinence from the foods and products derived from animal origin, this includes more than just meat, but also dairy, eggs, honey, leather, wool, silk, beeswax, and more. This total abstinence in my experience (I lived this way for many years) is an ideal which one strives for, though in reality is difficult to achieve. Still, one can get relatively close to it, and it is intimately entwined with a world-view that sees the eating of Wild or Domesticated animals as both unhealthy and unethical.
The Primal diet focuses largely on the diet of “Primitive” peoples, and not so much those living today as those who inhabited the Earth during the last IceAge. Its focus is primarily on red meats, organs, animal derived saturated fats, as well as fishes, birds and their eggs. There is a focus on the anthropological history of Homo as a genus, and what the fossil record indicates was, at least at that time, one of our dominant food sources.
Not only do these two dietary camps represent a polarization, both occupying extreme ends of a scale of possible food choices, but both see their approach as the “orthomolecular” or correct diet for our species from an anatomical and zoological perspective. And while both sides possess their token charts and statistics, books, cult of personality figures, and amazing health testimonials, I cannot help but feel that there is a piece here that is missing.
Human beings (genus “Homo” species “sapien sapiens”) are – rather inarguably – Omnivores.
Omni, from the Latin “Omnis” meaning “All, Every, Everything”, and Vore from the Latin “Vorare” meaning “To Devour”. In other words, we eat everything. This is fairly indisputable. The only place where this is being disputed is within the extremes of dietary culture, where one might contend that while we are omnivores by habit, we are otherwise by design.
Still…
From sworn herbivory to total carnivory, human beings really do eat everything! Just have a look at this guy, Michael Lotito, who was famous for eating bicycles, televisions, and even a small airplane (that “meal” took 2 years!)…
Oh yeah, before anyone comments…. I am not suggesting this!
Personally, I have come to view the Omnivory of Humans (outside of bicycles of course) as something rather beautiful and it seems to be our ability to include “everything” into our diets that has allowed us to so consciously craft our destiny as a species.
It occurred to me recently how very dependent our species is on both plants and animals for our nutritional needs. Take vitamins as an example. We know that metabolically we require the vitamin B12, or cobalamin, without which the deficiency known as “pernicious anemia” develops. This molecule is particularly deficient amongst the plants of this world, and so we require animal foods for this essential nutrient (essential as is meant in nutritional terms, meaning we can not produce it from our own metabolism). One of the glaring issues with Veganism as a dietary practice is that it is notoriously deficient in this vitamin, making it then, a vitamin deficient diet. And while this may seem odd to those who are not and have never been vegans, it is something that, rather astonishingly is often the most overlooked, side stepped, and brushed aside flaw in the field “strict vegetarianism”. It is of course not the only nutrient that we find lacking in Vegan diets, but is a great example thereof.
Similarly, when we come to a molecule like Vitamin C, or L-ascorbic acid, again we are talking here about an “essential” nutrient, one that we can not manufacture (well, except in laboratory synthesis). Its deficiency causes the rather unfortunate symptoms of “scurvy” precisely because we lack the ability to “bio-synthesize” it. This is somewhat unique in nature, as most animals and plants are quite capable of making their own. Vitamin C, while found to some degree in animal tissue (liver and adrenals concentrate the most), but when compared against plant foods (in particular berries) meats and organs come up wanting. It is unlikely that we have developed a dependence on this Vitamin’s presence in our food from the consumption of animal foods, but rather from its liberal and even extreme concentration in the foods that we have developed eating… in other words, plants.
We truly are Omni. We are the everything species…
Even more so than animals like the Bear that, while omnivorous, lack Fire, the Elemental tool that renders the inedible edible. Sorry Rawfooders! Check out Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human
While a look into the distant past – which of course is merely speculation – may yield some interesting insight into the diet of the proto-form of our species, I think both perspectives lack a critical component. We are Homo sapien sapien. The domestic human. Homo sapien (one sapien) was what is considered the “archaic” human form, the predecssor of the “modern” variation. We are a novel organism and….
We are neither chimpanzees as the vegan world would often contend, nor are we Neanderthals as the primal diet proponents seem to suggest.
We are a unique species, specifically adapted as omnivores, and with modifications to our anatomy that attest to this. In fact, it seems to me that our anatomy demonstrates that we have adapted to Fire in the same way an organism like a fish might adapt to the Water, or a bird has adapted to the Air. Our lack of hair being just one example. Another is the fact that we have the smallest mouths and stomachs (compared to our body size) of any of the great apes seems to indicate a selection towards those who ate the softest and most condensed food sources.
A brief survey of those humans we call the “Indigenous” of the world, especially those who were Hunter/Gatherers reveals a diet that, while varying in the ratio of animal to plant food, still always contains both in ample degrees. These people are always cooks, in that they are never found on “Raw Food Diets”. They eat a mix of raw and cooked foods, as well as balancing animal foods against plant foods. I know of no culture that is based solely on plant food, nor one built exclusively on animal foods.
It seems like a strange and impossible argument to reconcile when the Vegan community continuously references chimpanzees and other apes, which we are a distinct species
from as an indicator for what we should be eating. And regardless, Chimps are far from vegetarians, eating insects, small primates, honey, eggs, and even bush pigs and antelope! And while they are largely fruit eaters, most primatologist agree that meat is amongst their most prized dietary inclusions. We cannot just simply blow this off, nor use Chimpanzee diets to validate the safety or soundness of a human Vegan diet.
At the same time, neither are we Neanderthals. Isotopic testing of Neanderthal bones seems to indicate that their was little to no plant protein present in their diets. In other words, they were predominantly meat eaters and hunters. Homo sapiens sapiens sapien surveyed anywhere around the world today is, without question, Omnivorous.
I propose a synthesis of these two world views, and actually, everything in between. What I have learned from 16 years of direct immersion into the field of nutrition is this… Whole food plant based diets promote cleansing in the body, and are very catabolic. They are great for reducing weight, for clearing toxins from the system, and resting the organs… temporarily.
Vegan diets are cleansing!
Animal based whole food diets are very building and anabolic, and promote the growth of the body’s tissues. Increasing the quantity of high quality animal protein and fat in the diet is critical for rebuilding the body after long cleanses. They are also amongst the only foods that many people can tolerate when they have developed significant fungal infections or food allergies.
Primal Diets are Building!
When the goal is neither building nor cleansing, then a diet that is balanced between both high quality plant and animal food is ideal for homeo-dynamis, the dynamic balance that is usually (mis-correctly) called homeo-stasis.
Here in this chart is an example of the spectrum of nutrition that I was talking about…
Where we eat on this scale is entirely up to us, and of course always in flux. Rather than dogmatically polarizing ourselves to one extreme or the other, would it not be wiser to move along this scale based on our personal goals and the affects we are aiming to achieve?
If you have spent years on a vegetarian diet and have experienced a “failure to thrive”, it is animal foods that offer the chance to rebuild your body. In particular it is wild animals or free ranging grass-fed domesticates that contain the nutrients required to refurbish a depleted body.
Conversely, if you have been on a Standard American Diet for some time, and are feeling the burden of the toxic load this so easily creates, a vegetarian and even raw food approach may be just the answer to cleanse your body of the environmental and industrial toxins that pollute our inner ecology.
More importantly, can we simply eat without judgment for one another? The heated discussions between the opposing factions of our community is almost embarrassing. We all agree, it seems, on this; Our food choices matter. They matter for our health and the health of the planet. They matter for our children, and for the future of our species. They are at the root of so many of the challenging issues that face us today.
We all agree that we prefer organically grown and wild foods over those cultivated with pesticides and herbicides. We all prefer foods with wild or heirloom genetics over those that have been poorly bred or genetically modified. We all are doing what we can to create a world where the Soil, Air, and Water is clean and pure, and the rays of the Sun can freely penetrate down to the Earth (hint).
We have such a wonderful technology and medicine in the nutritional wisdom we have gleaned. We know how to both cleanse and rebuild someone. Whether you come from a Vegan diet, a Rawfood diet, a Wholefood diet, the Weston Price diet, the Paleo diet, or the Primal diet, or any other makes little difference. We are all committed to using our dietary choices to heal ourselves and everyone around us that is willing. We share far more with one another in this regard than we do with the other 99% of the Earths current human population. Perhaps a bit of Conscious Omnivory could go a very long way.
Besides we all have a piece of this mosaic we are creating… We each bring a little more perspective based on our knowledge and experience.
and…
After all… its only food.
~Daniel
PS. For all of the frutarians who kept saying that if humans were animal eaters they would be able to run down an antelope… well, check it out! We can! Ok…. so in this video its not an antelope, but rather a Greater Kudu, and the Kalahari Bushmen do just that! Amazing, humbling, inspiring, and…. well rather Sacred too. Its called Persistence Hunting! Notice at the end that they eat plants with this meal! Enjoy!
