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stay fit for life...farming, wildcrafting
Posted: April 1 2010
Larch Hanson is a seaweed guru up in Steuben, Maine. He runs the Maine Seaweed Company and takes apprentices.
Walking the Talk: Healthy Larch at Age 63
By Larch On June 5th, 2009
By Larch On June 5th, 2009
Early in life, even though I have a college degree and have taught school and worked in hospitals, I took a direction to stay in the world of physical labor, doing something productive, to be of real concrete service to the world and to keep me in shape. At age 63, I do not regret that decision. My weight (155 lbs.) and blood pressure (120/68, resting pulse 55) remain the same as when I was in high school, and I still require only 5-6 hours of sleep to feel rested and alert.
I have never bought health insurance, and I have not been in hospital during my adult life, since the time I started cooking for myself in my mid-20’s. In my own kitchen, I use seaweed soup mix (see Catalog) because it gives me nonspecific immunity to most of the bacteria and viruses that simply cannot live within my well-mineralized and alkaline bloodstream. I also eat dulse, and its antiviral properties boost my immune system once again. I’ve never had flu. People ask, “Won’t salt raise your blood pressure?” The answer is that salt is not the culprit. Poor quality oil tends to harden and block the circulatory system. I use olive oil for salads, refined sesame oil in the frying pan, and I eat a lot of avocados and fish for beneficial oils. Seaweeds make the circulatory system (and the entire body, for that matter) more flexible, and that helps keep blood pressure normal.
Now you may think that I was born with strong genes, but actually, as a child I had pneumonia four times before age ten, I was given the live polio vaccine and I developed polio as a result! My father was dying at home while I was ages 7,8,9,10. That was a lot to overcome……and I have! After my father died, I prayed to my father’s spirit, asked him to guide me, and my good health in a beautiful place on the planet is the result. There are good reasons to open to ancestors who love us and have passed over into the spiritual world. Traditional cultures teach that those who have loved in this world, then passed over into the spiritual world, have much more clarity, so please don’t think of your ancestors as static images. They are active and evolving rapidly, and we need to offer our gratitude to them for the suffering they endured so that we can be alive and loving in this world right now.
I have never bought health insurance, and I have not been in hospital during my adult life, since the time I started cooking for myself in my mid-20’s. In my own kitchen, I use seaweed soup mix (see Catalog) because it gives me nonspecific immunity to most of the bacteria and viruses that simply cannot live within my well-mineralized and alkaline bloodstream. I also eat dulse, and its antiviral properties boost my immune system once again. I’ve never had flu. People ask, “Won’t salt raise your blood pressure?” The answer is that salt is not the culprit. Poor quality oil tends to harden and block the circulatory system. I use olive oil for salads, refined sesame oil in the frying pan, and I eat a lot of avocados and fish for beneficial oils. Seaweeds make the circulatory system (and the entire body, for that matter) more flexible, and that helps keep blood pressure normal.
Now you may think that I was born with strong genes, but actually, as a child I had pneumonia four times before age ten, I was given the live polio vaccine and I developed polio as a result! My father was dying at home while I was ages 7,8,9,10. That was a lot to overcome……and I have! After my father died, I prayed to my father’s spirit, asked him to guide me, and my good health in a beautiful place on the planet is the result. There are good reasons to open to ancestors who love us and have passed over into the spiritual world. Traditional cultures teach that those who have loved in this world, then passed over into the spiritual world, have much more clarity, so please don’t think of your ancestors as static images. They are active and evolving rapidly, and we need to offer our gratitude to them for the suffering they endured so that we can be alive and loving in this world right now.