1: I need numbers of good natural therapy detox for alcohol abuse.
2: What is your opinion on vitamin and mineral supplements for health maintenance?
3: Wild Yam as a natural contraceptive.
4: Are your books available in New Zealand--if so where can they be purchased?
5: The husband of a dear friend is very ill as a result of years of alcohol abuse.
6: What can be done about poor leg circulation?
7: What happens to raw vegetables after they are frozen? How much of their value as 'raw' is diminished?
8: My partner Graham has been diagnosed with haemachromatosis. Are there any foods that assist in reducing iron levels in the body?
9: What do you recommend as good protein and fat sources for vegans?
10: As part of a Ketogenics diet (50:20:30) what can I eat for breakfast?! The rest of the day is fine but breakfast has me stumped!
11: Recommended weight training videos.
12: I've started working with Journey to Freedom - I find myself wanting 2 sacred places each with very different landscapes and characteristics.

1 I need numbers of good natural therapy detox for alcohol abuse. I can't afford La Praairie etc.... but please inform ASAP.

1 Contact AA in your neighborhood.

2 What is your opinion on vitamin and mineral supplements for health maintenance? Some authorities say that they can never deliver optimum nutrition because they lack the cofactors necessary for maximum efficiency, that they stress rather than aid the body and that the 'manmade' quantities and ratios can imbalance the body.

2 Nutrition comes from food, not vitamin and mineral supplements. Some people think they can get away with eating convenience foods and make up for the damage they do by taking pills. This is just not so. Do we need supplements in addition to a good diet? Yes, probably. For generations our foods have become more and more depleted in essential nutrients. This means that gradually our body becomes depleted too so that the Vitamins and minerals which act as cofactors for enzymes that trigger metabolic processes on which health and live depend. As they do nothing functions as it should. Virtually all vitamins are chemical in their form. This limits to a greater or lesser degree their bioavailablity – how much of them your body can make use of. I like very much a range called Vita Synergy. There is a multiple vitamin/mineral for men and one for women. These nutrients are naturally grown and put together with synergized botanical extracts. They are much more highly absorbed so you need much less of them than with their chemical analogues. They are available from XYNERGY.

3 I have been reading, 'Passage to Power', with interest about the use of Wild Yam as a natural contraceptive. If using the capsules in this way you quote Willa Shaffer as giving her sample group of ladies at least 3000mgs a day, everyday, continuously. When the cream is used however, it is only used for the last 14 days of a cycle, from ovulation to menstruation. This presumably is because that is the most likely time for PMS to occur? I wondered if taking natural progesterone constantly, like you have to do to provide contraception, interfered with menstruation at all ? being as you stop the cream for this time frame? Days 14 through to 28 are when progesterone should be at it's highest level in the cycle,leading up to menstruation. Would taking progesterone all the time encourage spotting/bleeding? As you say there is very little written about using Wild Yam as a contraceptive method, but I am very interested in trying. Can you recommend any further texts?, or places to visit?

3 I think you, like many people are confusing wild yam with progesterone cream. They are not the same. Wild yam cream is often sold to people who believe that it either contains progesterone or that your body can make progesterone from it. Both are untrue. For contraceptive purposes the herb itself needs to be taken if you are going to follow Willa Shaffer’s program. No cream – either progesterone based or wild yam – will do. If you are going to use a progesterone cream for, say, PMS or menopausal problems then follow the protocols in Passage to Power. It is important not to confuse the two issues.

4 Are your books available in New Zealand--if so where can they be purchased?

4 My books are available from any bookstore in New Zealand. Contact Random House my publisher in Auckland to find out if you can also order them via post from them. 09 4447197.

5 The husband of a dear friend is very ill as a result of years of alcohol abuse. His stomach can't take any foods at all and I think he may be dying. I'm going to try and recover his strength with raw fruit and vegetable juices.

5 You need real professional help here. Look in the Resource section of my website to find out how to locate a doctor or health professional trained in functional medicine who will be able to work quite specifically with the detox process in a very skillful way and with rebuilding the digestive system.

6 What can be done about poor leg circulation? I run about 30 miles a week and strength-train, yet my legs are purple-tinged and ache quite severely by the end of the day.

6 Make sure you have plenty of Vitamin C – between 2-8 g a day – as well as zinc and phytonutrients helpful in building collagen in which the health of blood vessels depends. Consider using a supplement of Gingko bilopa , the tree which is used to improve circulation all over the body. Use hydrotherapy: Plunge your legs into the warmest water you can stand for three minutes and then into ice cold water for 30 seconds to 1 minute going back and forth from to the other three times always beginning with hot and ending with cold. Then put warm socks on. Do this daily to enhance circulation.

7 At different times of the year, some fresh vegetables may be available only frozen. Would it be of benefit to eat them simply unfrozen (and of course washed)? What happens to raw vegetables after they are frozen? How much of their value as 'raw' is diminished?

7 Frozen vegetables loose a lot of nutritional value in the freezing process. They are also often treated in various ways to make them brighter colored. Fresh vegetables are far superior in every way. There are many excellent vegetables available in winter from the marrows to silver beet tops, root vegetables, bok choy to the sprouted seeds and grains which you can grow in your own windowsills. It is mostly a question of changing the kind of vegetables you eat with the seasons rather than doing without for the winter.

8 My partner Graham has been diagnosed with haemachromatosis. Are there any foods that assist in reducing iron levels in the body?

8 You need to work with someone who is really skilled in biochemistry and the enhancement of metabolic processes in the body. Look at the Resource section of my website for how to find a practitioner of functional medicine whom you can work with.

9 I am a vegan. At present I find it difficult to keep weight on. I eat a lot of fruit and veg. I find I crave dried fruit (dates) which isn't doing my teeth any good. My favorite protein sources are chickpeas, cashews, corn and some Soya bean products. At breakfast I add 1 tspn of linseed oil and some desiccated coconut to my fruitbowl. What do you recommend as good protein and fat sources for vegans? I would like to save my teeth.

9 I suspect if you are having troubles with our teeth that you are not getting enough high quality protein. As a vegan you want to make good use of organic Soya products such as tofu. Your digestion may not be working as well as it should and maybe you need some digestive enzymes. You might want to consider using Micro filtered whey Protein if you want to stretch your vegan principles a bit. It is the finest source of biologically available protein in the world. Solgar do a good one called Whey-To-Go. See my Resource section.

10 As part of a Ketogenics diet (50:20:30) what can I eat for breakfast?! The rest of the day is fine but breakfast has me stumped!

10 THE X FACTOR DIET which has lots of recipes and menus in it is available in January from bookstores everywhere. Meanwhile click here for a few suggestions for menus including breakfasts for five days:

11 During your talk last week at St James (Alternatives, Piccadilly, you recommended weight training videos. Please would you give the name again on this page?

11 The best videos I have ever found for weight training are done by Michael Colgan whom I consider the world expert on the subject. They come in a packet of four and are distributed by the USANA corporation. They are called Get Lean. I suggest you look up USANA on the web and find a local distributor from whom you can buy them.

12 I've started working with Journey to Freedom a couple of times and got sidetracked - now I have the tapes and feel I'm in the right space to continue. One thing bothers me - I know you say there is no 'right' way to do this but I find myself wanting 2 sacred places each with very different landscapes and characteristics. How important is it (if at all) to have just one place? In the meantime I'll go on making a each time.

12 The whole thing about shamanism is that it is a highly individual experience. Generally it is most useful to travel enter the expanded realms of consciousness from the same place After all the purpose is simply to get to the Upper or Lower Worlds in which you can do the work. But everyone is unique and if you feel you need to have alternatives, I would not concern yourself about it at all. Just keep journeying.