Look on internet to find out about açaí [ah-sigh-ee], and you will see tons of websites doing advertising, selling products made with the fruit, and lots of doctors recommending it. Yes, the popular Amazonian fruit became a SUPERFOOD in USA. 
Considered one of the healthiest and most powerful foods in the world, because of the amount of antioxidants, amino acids, and essential fatty acids, açaí can improve cardiovascular health, promote a healthy digestive system, reduce cholesterol, increase brain function, decrease the risk of cancer and diminish the signs of aging.Now, more than ever, when the world is surrounded by genetic modified food, hormones and antibiotics everywhere, conscious people are searching for alternatives to improve their health through natural sources.

After visiting some local health food stores, I found at least three different brands selling the fruit pulp or juice. Wondering which was the basic difference, I found out that a brand called Amazon Mania Acai distincts from others because they don’t pasteurize their product.
The process of pasteurization diminishes the real flavor of Acai and also makes the Acai lose its real taste. This process involves heating foods to ultra high temperatures rapidly which destroys essential vitamins contained in the food. Ultra heat treatment works in the same manner. This process is used to extend the shelf life of foods and to destroy any bacteria contained in them but, at the same time, it deteriorates many essential nutrients,such as vitamin C, A, B1, B2, B6, D, E, folic acid, inositol, pantothenic acid and amino acids such as lysine and threomine. As these vitamins are water soluble, they pass through our digestive system through our urine and need to be replaced daily.
"Pasteurization destroys enzymes, diminishes vitamin content, denatures fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamins C, B12 and B6, kills beneficial bacteria, promotes pathogens and is associated with allergies, increased tooth decay, colic in infants, growth problems in children, osteoporosis, arthritis, heart disease and cancer." says Barbara Ingham, Ph.D., associate professor and extension food scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

How to consume açaí and why is it called "superfood"?
Based on Dr. Nicholas Perricone, famous doctor from Oprah and a best-selling author that declares açaí as number one of the “Top Ten Superfoods”, we should take açaí pulp instead of ready-to-drink sweetened beverages.
Açaí pulp contains ten times more antioxidants than red grapes and ten to thirty times the anthocyanins of red wine; a synergy of monounsaturated (healthy) fats [Omega-3, Omega-6 and Omega-9], dietary fiber, and phytosterols, to help promote cardiovascular system and digestive tract health. It also has an almost perfect essential amino acid complex in conjunction with valuable trace minerals, vital to muscles. 
To top it off, açaí is also a great source of calcium, vitamin E and iron.  

Be creative and try different recipes with açaí! 
Amazon Mania Açaí has it raw too, without any sugar os preservatives. You you can either blend the pulp with your favorite fruit and/or juice, or eat it in the Brazilian style, as we call "açaí na tigela" (in the bowl) mixed with your favorite fruit, and protein powder, as a healthy snack.
Bom apetite!

A genetically modified organism (GMO) or genetically engineered organism (GEO) is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. These techniques, generally known as recombinant DNA technology, use DNA molecules from different sources, which are combined into one molecule to create a new set of gene. This DNA is then transferred into an organism, giving it modified or novel genes. Transgenic organisms, a subset of GMOs, are organisms which have inserted DNA that originated in a different species. Some GMOs contain no DNA from other species and are therefore not transgenic but cisgenic. 

After this little Wikipedia based introduction, we can understand what a GMO food is. Now, knowing that we are regularly confronted with genetically modified foods, be it in the news or on our plates, I’d like to ask: Is it safe? Are you sure you don’t eat them? 
Since 1994, a growing number of foods were developed using genetic modification (GMO), and lots of them we don’t even know! Currently, there is no requirement to label genetically engineered or cloned animal products in USA.European Union nations, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand and many other countries require the mandatory labeling of foods that contain genetically engineered ingredients, but with limited exceptions. FDA regulations, companies under U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are not even required to notify the agency they are bringing new genetically engineered products to the market.
By law, the use of genetical engineering is prohibited for products defined as 'organic'. Nevertheless, these products are permitted in certain cases to contain slight traces of genetically modified organisms. 
Despite Americans' concerns, the National Organic Standards Board passed a recommendation in November 2008 that would allow fish to be fed non organic fishmeal, which can be contaminated with mercury and PCBs. The recommendation would also allow open-net cages to be used, which can flush pollution, disease, and parasites directly into the ocean. 

Besides these facts above, there are tons of others proving that GMO food are all around popular supermarkets. Assuming you eat GMO, let’s know about the risks... 
GMO crops may threaten biodiversity, decrease the richness and variety of foods, and make farmers more dependent on chemical companies, through the purchase of seed or chemicals. 
Health concerns include: allergy, gene transfer (antibiotic-resistant genes from GMO to bacteria), and outcrossing (the movement of genes from GMO plants into conventional crops).Glyphosate, Roundup's active ingredient, is the most widely used herbicide in the United States.  About 100 million pounds are applied to U.S. farms and lawns every year, according to the EPA. 

Ok, now I’m convinced that this is bad for me, what can I do to avoid GMO Food? 
GMOs, becoming a lot more popular in North American food and due to the lack of GMO labeling, it’s been harder for consumers to avoid foods with genetically modified ingredients. Unfortunately, an estimated 70% of the food in North American stores contain these elements and that number is only expected to increase.Around 90% of all soybeans grown in America are Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Soy Beans. More than 61% of corn, 75% of canola and 50% of Hawaiian Papaya are genetically modified. If the food isn’t organic, then there is no guarantee that it isn’t genetically modified. In the book Seeds of Deception, Jeffrey M. Smith exposes the facts about GMO studies, and he assures that in North America, if you are consuming corn, soy, canola or wearing cotton, you are coming into contact with genetically modified foods. Yes, it’s true that most soy ingredients are almost always genetically-manipulated and herbicide-treated. The same is true for canola, corn, dairy products and potatoes. The only way to try and avoid theses foods, is by looking for 100% organics at your local health food store. Check the ingredients labels carefully. It may be best to avoid canola altogether because it is rarely organic and is usually chemically-treated as detailed by experts.Outside of Europe and Asia it may not be possible at this time to avoid genetically-manipulated ingredients 100% of the time, but it is a good idea to avoid them when possible. Eat safe!!!

+info:
www.organicconsumers.org
www. truefoodnow.org

Throughout the world, in every culture, one thing we surely find besides religion: dance. Dance has been used a way to communicate, entertain, express, trancend...
If we analyze a dance we can tell a lot from a culture, the movements, the costumes, the colors, the music and so on. 

Dance has certainly been an important part of ceremonies, rituals, celebrations and entertainment since the birth of the earliest human civilizations. Archaeology delivers traces of dance from prehistoric times such as Egyptian tomb paintings depicting dancing figures from circa 3300 BC and the Bhimbetka rock-shelter paintings in India. 

My life as an artist has always been dedicated in a search for answers. The search became a research, and after using photography and other visual arts as means of expressions I decided to into dancing.
During this journey of discovery, where my body is the only tool I have to express, I’ve  realized how we can communicate with higher forces and learn about our own limitations just by moving the body following a rhythm. Dancing has become my therapy. 

One of my favorite dances is definitely Oriental Dance (aka Belly Dance) because of its natural movements and how it enhances the true feminine power energy, SHAKTI. Every woman is a goddess and dancing reminds us that.
Personally, Belly Dance has helped me regulate my monthly cycles, relieve cramps and other PMS symptoms. It is a gentle way to open up the chakras (main energy centers in the body) and help the energy flow and circulate.

The main energy responsible for all the benefits of the dance is called KUNDALINI. It sits on the sacrum at the base of our spine, mostly still so is our job to keep Kundalini flowing if we want to stay healthy and happy. Movement and breathing are the most efficient way; Dancing and Yoga are highly recommended. 

Dancing can also work as a spiritual tool in a sense that it forces us to be in the present, to feel the music, stop our anxious minds and just enjoy the moment. 
Vibrations and shimmies eliminate excess energy, grounding us and connecting us with mother earth.
It is definitely a mind, body and soul workout. 

Another important aspect especially in the times we are living now is the energy that comes out of the dance: the love and the peace. It is so important that we do our part creating and emanating this energy since there is so much violence and struggles for power out there. It is our responsibility to create a different reality. People should spend more time dancing than fighting. Children, our future generation, should balance the TV and computer time with dancing. 

My work involves trance dance with a fusion of different cultural dances like samba, belly dance, Indian, African and others, in connection with yoga mudras, pranayamas and other forms of alternative therapy 
Its purpose is to move not only the physical body, but also the emotional, energetic and other parts of our beings, healing and expanding our limits 

For example a person has a hard time with a certain movement that uses the knees a lot, I would not only look at physical level of it, but maybe the fact of an accident, that could also be the root of the problem. Knees are our pride, our ability to let go of our pride and bend down with flexibility to move forward. What kind of movements, music, affirmations, and colors will help this person to move on... 
The most important thing is to be gentle and kind with ourselves seeking excellence but never forgetting to have fun. 

"Forget your troubles and DANCE....Forget your sickness and DANCE..."
Bob Marley

Nowadays, technology takes care even in our plates! Our food bears little resemblance to its natural substance. I think that in some years we are going to plant some pills into the ground and harvest the whole dinner in some hours.
Is this the best way to be healthy?
Some of the Workshops or Lectures I go about nutrition, they always come with questions like: Why not to eat meat? Eat everything could be harmful?

They are in some ways easy questions to answer, but not so easy to understand, when we are used to buy a specific brand of food from our favorite supermarket or butcher shop.

The question “eat or not eat meat”, is always answered based at the greatest risk for heart disease or the animal suffer fact. I think that’s why the number of vegetarians increases in the world. Be a vegetarian is a synonyms of have a positive attitude.

In Brazil, almost 30% of the population based in some researches, has been eating less meat. That’s the second place in the world, behind Canada, and before England.

Another point is the toxins and preservatives.
Dioxin, one of the deadliest toxins, is concentrated in meat at levels 22 times what are safe, according to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). More than 95% of all dioxin exposure comes in meat, dairy, and eggs. None comes in vegan foods (the other 5% is environmental). 
Factory farming has made meat eating more dangerous. Because the animals are given tranquilizers, hormones and antibiotics, the latter often up to 30 times higher than humans consume in a lifetime. Preservatives in meat are dangerous to human health too.

Now there’s another question: What should we eat?
Anthropologists call this the omnivore's dilemma. In The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan writes about how our food is grown -- what it is, in fact, that we are eating. He follows our three food chains—industrialized food, alternative or "organic" food, and food people obtain by hunting, gathering, or gardening—from its source to our tables.

He said that eat a little bit of everything was one of the fact that helped us to evolve through a process of evolution, but we could be poisoned by this food, once most of us are at a great distance from our food, what gives us few options to eat really healthy. In addition, our food choices have enormous consequences for the health of the environment as well.

Just a few facts and figures from The Omnivore's Dilemma:


- The obesity epidemic is shortening the lifespan of today’s generation of children—the first generation of Americans whose life expectancy will actually be shorter than their parents’.

-  the first time in history, according to a 2000 UN report, more people in the world suffer from over nutrition (1 billion) than from under nutrition (800 million).
- 45 of the items on McDonald’s menu are derived from corn. At least 13 of the 38 ingredients in a chicken McNugget are derived from corn.
- 1 in every 3 American children eats fast food every day; 1/5 of American meals are eaten in the car.
- 1/5 of all the petroleum used in the United States is consumed by the food industry—more than we burn with our cars or in any other industry.
- The industrial fertilizers and pesticide industries grew out of the conversion of the World War II munitions industry to civilian uses—nerve gases became pesticides, and ammonium nitrate explosives became nitrogen fertilizers.

Be careful of your dinner!

+ info: www.michaelpollan.com/omnivore.php

Chakra is a Sanskrit word that means wheel. They are our energy centers, and function as pumps or valves, regulating the flow of energy through our energy system. The functioning of the chakras reflects decisions we make concerning how we choose to respond to conditions in our life. We open and close these valves when we decide what to think, and what to feel, and through which perceptual filter we choose to experience the world around us.

We have chakras in almost all of our bodies, but there are seven “more important” energy centers that I’m going to tell you a little bit, and write some postures to balance each one. They are:

Root Chakra (Muladhara), located on the perineum, the point between the anus and the sex organs, it is associated with the Lymph system, skeleton system (teeth and bones), the prostate gland in men, the sacral plexus, the bladder and elimination system, and the lower extremities (legs - feet, ankles, etc.). Also the nose, since it is the organ of the sense of smell, and associated with survival (color: red).
Balance poses: head to knee poses, downward dog, tree, downward dog, chair pose;

Spleen Chakra (Svadhisthana), located on the center of the abdomen, is associated with the  reproductive system, sexual organs, lumbar plexus. (color: orange).
Balance poses: Side rolls, bent and straight legs, Boat;

Solar plexus Chakra (Manipura), located on the Solar plexus, it has association with the muscular system, the skin as a system, the large intestine, stomach, liver, and other organs and glands in the region of the solar plexus. Also the eyes, as the organs of sight, and the face, representing figuratively the face one shows the world (color: yellow).
Balance poses: bridge with one leg extended, boat, downward dog to upward dog, triangle and variations;

Heart Chakra (Anahata), located in the Center of the chest, it is associated with the heart and the blood circulatory system, and the cardiac plexus, as well as the lungs and the entire chest area (color: green or rose).
Balance poses: Child’s pose, Head to knee, Fish, Camel;

Throat Chakra (Vissuddha), located in the Base of the throat, it controls the throat and the neck, the arms and the hands. It is associated with the brachial or cervical plexus. (color sky blue).Balance poses: standing poses, shoulder stand, bridge, cobra;

Brow Chakra (Ajna), located in the Center of the forehead (3rd eye), it is associated with the forehead and temples, with the carotid plexus (color: Indigo Blue or violet).
Balance poses: bridge, butterfly, downward dog, shoulder stand, downward dog, warrior poses;

Crown Chakra (Sahasrara), located on the Top of our head, it is associated with the brain, and the entire nervous system (color: Violet or white).
Balance poses: tree, eagle, headstand, yoga mudra.