Tim Koch & Anita Koch
Hallelujah Acres Lifestyle Center Lake Lure, NC
828-625-2025
whollyalive@bellsouth.net
www.halifestylecenters.com
www.whollyalive.com
December 2007 - Greetings Everyone!!
HALLELUJAH ACRES LIFESTYLE CENTER - LAKE LURE, NC
2007 - THE YEAR IN REVIEW
Since “Retro” is in, we’ve compiled the highlights, in words and photos, of our first year as hosts/ owners
of our Hallelujah Acres Lifestyle Center here in Lake Lure to share with all of you. What a marvelous and
blessed year it has been, and a tremendous learning experience for both of us!
A heart-felt and great big “THANK YOU!” to all of the 235 precious folks, plus helpers, who have graced
our Center over this year with their presence, their individual gifts, their prayers, their encouragement, and
their support. We’re thankful, too, for the challenges some presented for us! We love each and every one of
you, and have learned so much from you!
Our very first program in October of 2006 began early in the morning of our first day with a marvelous
sign from the ONE to whom this ministry is dedicated. A perfect rainbow from Heaven was a breath-taking
sight from the deck of our Center! What better encouragement could there have been as we launched into
our new (ad)venture?!! We had “stepped out in faith”, and it gave us great confidence, after our big move,
that we were in the right place.
Our guests throughout the year came from many of the 50 states, as well as from Europe, Africa, and
countries in the Caribbean. Our motto of “Arrive as a guest, leave family!” has certainly borne out, as we
continue to hear from so many, and have been truly blessed by countless new and lasting friendships. It is
of great encouragement to us to witness the life changes and healthy outcomes reported by guests, and to
receive their inspiring testimonies. As we all know, it can be difficult living in a world in which we are
deluged daily with unhealthy choices. We are thrilled that so many of our participants are continuing in the
lifestyle, and a number have even become Health Ministers themselves as they have been inspired to spread
the message of “You don’t have to be sick!”
We enjoyed a bumper crop of blueberries this summer. Many of us stopped several times a day to pop
those luscious antioxidant-laden jewels right into our mouths! Our fig trees provided us with small, but
very sweet figs to savor. An “accidental” crop of large butternut squashes appeared out of our compost in
the garden, and made yummy raw and cooked soups and salads. Purple peppers, kale, a few tomatoes and
cucumbers also grew and became part of our fare. Only three(!) persimmons made it to fruition (unlike the
buckets-full we had the previous November), due to the frosty cold snap we had last winter. We learned a
lot about planting, and will hopefully have a better veggie garden next year.
CHANGES IN 2007
We have been blessed to have been able to make some additions and changes to our Center that we hope
guests will enjoy and benefit from. Our “wish list” for the future is topped by a new workout room, a
massage room (we do have two LMTs providing massages now), an infra-red sauna and ozonated hot tub.
We pray that we will be able to provide these one day soon.
** A newly-remodeled kitchen is at this moment a “work-in-progress” that will be ready for 2008, with our
first program beginning January 13th.
** We acquired a brandy-new 15-passenger Mid-Bus to take our entire groups on our weekly field trips to
Hallelujah Acres in Shelby and seasonal boat rides on Lake Lure. It has pictures of fruits and veggies
splashed all over, and our HALC logo, phone #, etc. Now, we no longer need to take two vehicles, and we
have a moving billboard!!
** We have some new landscaping, including a “waterscape” waterfall and pond adjacent to our front
entrance (thank you, Pamela Hatfied!!), and new fuschia-flowering Crape Myrtles lining our driveway
(right now looking bare).
** A new lighted stone entranceway with our HALC sign at the foot of our long driveway will greet guests
as they enter. It is almost completed.
** Two newly-decorated cottage guest rooms are now waiting for occupancy.
We look forward to our 2008 programs with eager anticipation, and send all of you our prayers and best
wishes for a wonderful Christmas, and a Glorious, HEALTHY and Prosperous New Year!
Antioxidants in Vegetables Slow Brain
Aging
A diet rich in vegetables may help prevent age-related mental
decline. An investigator’s results show that vegetables,
particularly (raw) spinach (cooked spinach creates oxalic acid,
a toxin), may be beneficial in retarding age-related central
nervous system and cognitive behavioral deficits.
Nutritional intervention with vegetables may play an important role in protecting against and possibly
reversing the cognitive declines seen from aging. Vegetables are key sources of antioxidants, nutrients that
disarm harmful molecules called free radicals.
Free radicals – the undesirable byproducts of various metabolic functions – damage cells. Over time, this
damage, called oxidative damage or oxidative stress, is believed to play a leading role in certain diseases
and age-related changes. Although the body also produces antioxidants, over time, production declines.
The brain may be particularly vulnerable to the damaging effects of free radicals because it is relatively
deficient in antioxidants to begin with. Free radicals destruction is thought to be a contributing factor to the
decline in memory and motor performance seen in aging.
The Journal of Neuroscience: October 1998: 18
Speaking of Veggies & Fruits….
We have been enjoying some really delicious--- and handy—veggie and fruit snacks/meals/ and soups that
are totally raw, dehydrated, vegan and mostly organic! They are absolutely wonderful for snacking and
adding to meals at home and on the road, and are so good to have on hand for emergency rations, etc.
Friends of ours who took our Get Healthy/ Stay Balanced ! classes when we were in Florida, introduced us
to these gems, and now we wouldn’t be without them! Our favorites are Vegelicious (regular and Spice),
Fruitalicious, Cornaborealis, and Creamy Yam Soup and Creamy Bean Soup. Read about these excellent
whole food nutritional products by going to www.whollyalive.wholefoodfarmacy.com . You can order
them online, and we hope you will give us your feedback after trying them. Our friends, who now sell the
Wholefood Farmacy line, tell us that people just can’t get enough of them! We were even surprised in
August when we visited with someone in Florida who had been to our Center last Spring, and she and her
family were already buying and loving these tasty, healthy foods.
RECIPES
Broccoli Sunflower Salad
5 Cups chopped broccoli
1 cup sunflower seeds
½ cup chopped onions
½ cup soaked raisins
Dressing (in blender):
1 cup pine nuts
3 T. agave nectar
2 T. raw apple cider vinegar
¼ tsp. sea salt
¼ cup water
Combine everything well. Enjoy!! This is really delicious!
Herbed Zucchini Soup
(From Everyday Wholesome Eating in the Raw by Kim Wilson)
4 zucchini
2-3 tomatoes
2 stalks celery
1 carrot
¼ - ½ red onion
2 cloves garlic
½ cup parsley
or 1 cup spinach
12 sun-dried tomato halves
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 cup water
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. oregano
1 ½ tsp. paprika
1 tsp. sea salt (1/2 is sufficient)
Chop veggies into small chunks. Add to a heavy-duty blender with all ingredients except for
basil and oregano. Blend until smooth. Mix in basil and oregano. Chill for at least 1 hour
before serving, to allow herbs to contribute their flavor.
(Recipe is favorite of guest Cynthia Eades. Thank you!)
Chocolate Orange Almond Mousse
½ cup organic x-tra v. coconut oil
½ cup agave nectar
¾ cup raw carob powder
½ cup fresh-squeezed orange juice
2 -3 drops liquid stevia
½ tsp. orange zest
pinch sea salt
2 Haas avocadoes, peeled & seeded
½ cup slivered almonds for garnish
Combine all except avocadoes in high-speed blender, and puree until smooth. Add avocado
and blend again until creamy. Pour into 4-oz ramekins. Decorate with almonds. Decadent!!
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