EATING SEASONALLY: SPRING

EATING SEASONALLY: SPRING

For those of us eating a whole food, omnivore diet Spring is a time when we start to notice a change in the food we eat, eggs and dairy food in particular.

I find this so uplifting - I know… it’s the little things.

For those of us eating a whole food, omnivore diet Spring is a time when we start to notice a change in the food we eat, eggs and dairy food in particular.

I find this so uplifting - I know… it’s the little things.

Egg yolks from properly raised chickens are richer and more vibrantly yellow, milk from pastured cows is creamier both in colour and consistency (you probably won’t notice if you are using homogenised milk), butter is more flavoursome and a deeper yellow

When animals are raised in an environment where

WHEN THE STUDENT IS READY THE TEACHER APPEARS

18 May 2016

Today has been one of those days that makes all the crappy, why bother, bang my head against a brick wall days worth it.

Today I had TWO clients have the realization that what they eat and how they live has a huge impact on various areas of their lives.

What is super big about this is that they are both males who until they came to see me, were quite resistant to adopting lifestyle changes to improve their lives. When I say 'until they came to see me' I'm not implying that I was the cause of their turnaround - I wasn't.

They both had wives who wanted their husbands to see me, in one case since early last year, however, I refuse to see anyone unless it is their choice and it is a question I ask at the beginning of a consultation when I believe a person has been coerced to see me.

If they aren't there of their own volition then I terminate the consultation which is what I did with one of these men some months ago.

Males in particular tend to be most resistant yet they also seem to get the biggest and quickest results.

Today one of these men (who was actually very unwell when he first came to see me) informed me of his 'awareness' of the quality of what he consumed - this was music to my ears.

Awareness is EVERYTHING!

Both these men commented on increased energy, better sleep, reduced digestive symptoms, weightloss (unwanted in one so we're working on that now), increased focus/concentration, and one said for the first time he now actually enjoyed food, all in just one month of eating fresh, quality, made from scratch food and being conscious of stress and how they were dealing with it.

Needless to say their families, wives in particular, are very happy and while these men's success is owed in big part to their wive's commendable support in numerous ways, the major player here, I believe, is that they did it when THEY were ready and did it for THEMSELVES.

LIVE LIKE THE MOON

LIVE LIKE THE MOON

Right now the moon is in its ‘new’ phase and can’t really be seen. This is the ‘death’ of one cycle of the moon and ‘birth’ of another cycle of the moon.

This is not unlike each of us.

At our core we are our whole, authentic self, truth, pure love (take your pick) then we are inspired into human form and from there we go through cycles of waxing and waning instigated by family beliefs, abuse, encouragement, diagnosis, love, disappointment, acceptance, war, achievement, fear, education, instability…

The moon’s cycles happen at regular intervals, so much so we can track and anticipate them.

For each of us though, the frequency and length of these cycles can vary tremendously because of what happens to us AND because of how we deal with what happens to us – ‘life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react/respond to it’.

ROOT CAUSE: EMFs aka Electro Magnetic Fields, Non Native EMF, Dirty Electricity

ROOT CAUSE: EMFs aka Electro Magnetic Fields, Non Native EMF, Dirty Electricity

"Anybody who claims there is little evidence to suggest there is a connection between man-made electromagnetic fields and human health, obviously is not aware of the 25,000+ articles that have been published on this topic in the past 30 years.

NUTRIENT DENSITY CHANGES WITH THE SEASONS

For those of us eating a whole food, omnivore diet ,Spring is a time when we start to notice a change in the food we eat, eggs and dairy food in particular.

I find this so uplifting - I know… it’s the little things.

Egg yolks from properly raised chickens are richer and more vibrantly yellow, milk from pastured cows is creamier both in colour and consistency (you probably won’t notice if you are using homogenised milk), butter is more flavoursome and a deeper yellow

When animals are raised in an environment where they can express their natural behaviour (regenerative farming), what they eat will change with the seasons and this will show in what they produce and we reap the benefits. With Spring comes an increase in the variety and quality of the grasses animals are grazing on. This increases the nutrient density of the food as does more exposure to sunlight as the days become longer.

Today, much of our food is standardised, evidenced by nutritional panels on food. It seems utterly bizarre to me that natural single ingredient food like, milk, eggs, cheese, butter, honey, flour, grains, sugar, meat and seafood have nutritional panels on them. The nutrients in all food grown naturally is going to change throughout the year. Not only due to seasons, also due to what’s going on in that environment at the time - drought, flood, predators etc

Noticing the changes in our food throughout the year helps connect us to our food and to me there is something very profound and nourishing about this.

Unfortunately the explosion of people eating egg and dairy alternatives means they don’t get to experience the joy of this connection.

It is one of the many reasons I advocate looking for a root cause as to why you may have trouble eating these super nourishing foods with the aim of them being able to be consumed without issue. And if you avoid these foods because you think it’s a heathy choice - I’d think again. A manufactured wanna be product is rarely if ever going to be a healthier choice to a naturally occurring food.

DO YOU REALLY NEED TO DETOX OR CLEANSE?

DO YOU REALLY NEED TO DETOX OR CLEANSE?

It's that time of year where there's lots of talk of challenges, cleanses and detoxes with all sorts of pills, shakes, bars, drops, elixirs and potions filled with a variety of magical superfoods and the like that are touted as the silver bullet to absolve you from all your winter food & lifestyle 'sins' and have you trim, taut and terrific and 'summer ready' in no time.
Here's an idea;

COLD THERAPY

COLD THERAPY

There has been a huge increase in the popularity of cold therapy; plunges and ice baths. As is usually the case, the popularity goes hand in hand with some health professionals and social media influences claiming it a cure for EVERYBODY after all it can’t hurt… well actually for some people it can…

OVERALL HEALTH - CREATING A NEW NORMAL

OVERALL HEALTH - CREATING A NEW NORMAL

We often blame a pathogen ie ‘bug - virus or bacteria’ for us being unwell with colds and flu.
Consider that it might not necessarily be the pathogen but our general state of poor health that is the issue and that maybe each year the pathogen usually a ‘virus’ seems 'stronger' because we as a population are actually weaker.

MICROBIOME 101

The microbiome from the Greek words mikrós - small and bíos - life, is an environment consisting of a community of micro organisms existing together. Bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites and yeasts are some of the very many micro organisms living in our gut. They all perform important functions to ensure our body is functioning optimally. We have microbiomes in various parts of our bodies including nasal passages, in our skin folds like armpits and groin, in genital areas and in our large intestine or gut. The gut one is the microbiome most determinate of our overall health.

Each of these microbiomes have their own ideal balance of micro organisms and when in balance all is well for the larger organism ie the human body. Problems arise when these micro organisms are either out of balance of find themselves in microbiomes not native to them.

RESTORING GUT HEALTH THE LIVE ALIVE WAY

RESTORING GUT HEALTH THE LIVE ALIVE WAY

There are many approaches to supporting gut health. We all want a quick fix, especially when living with uncomfortable symptoms. A lot of people go in all guns blazing, hitting their fragile digestive system with copious amounts of ‘healing’ food and supplements, more often than not this approach tends to do more harm than good. After 2 decades of working in this field, my experience has shown me that a slow, measured approach focusing on inclusion more so than elimination, tends to be more effective and sustainable.

Your Body Knows Best, Not the Nutrition Tribes

Your Body Knows Best, Not the Nutrition Tribes

Nearly every day I see examples of just how destructive our current day ‘nutrition wars’ are on our physical, emotional and mental health.
People frozen in confusion and fear in supermarket aisles, farmers markets and their own kitchens as to the ‘right’ food to buy and cook has become a very real thing.
It is completely absurd and completely understandable.
Each way you turn you have someone telling you:
‘eat this’, ‘no don’t eat that, eat this’,
‘that food causes cancer’, ‘actually that food protects you from cancer’,
‘this food has magical superfood powers’, ‘no that superfood is actually toxic’…
Who do you believe?

CHICKEN

CHICKEN

Obviously in a profession like mine people often tell me about how healthily they eat and nearly always it will be something like ‘oh I mainly eat chicken and fish. I hardly ever eat red meat’
Ahhrrrg
Worse still they only eat chicken breast, in my opinion, the least nutritious part of the chicken (the least tastiest too, again in my opinion).
I'm going to deal with chicken today and share about fish in another post.
This chicken, particular certain cuts, being a healthy choice is really quite new (I am not saying that it’s unhealthy) and our favouring of the skinless, boneless breast came hand in hand with the whole low-fat disaster.

THE PLEASURE & PAIN OF TRANSFORMATION

THE PLEASURE & PAIN OF TRANSFORMATION

Once a month we have an interfaith gathering in our local area and ours occurred last night.
The theme was transformation and was centered around the quote 'change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.'
Toward the end of my sharing last night I warned that while transformation can be joyful and bring us much freedom, it can also bring us some pain. Often our changing doesn't sit well with others.

BEAUTIFUL BITTERS

BEAUTIFUL BITTERS

Being a practitioner who looks to food before supplements, it is very common, in my treatment plan following a consultation, for me to suggest including bitter foods and drinks into the diet especially when the complaint is around digestion, or liver related like reproductive and skin issues – that pretty much covers almost everyone these days...

I am constantly in awe at how people generations before us, without all the science, technology and research grants we have today, just knew the most nourishing parts of animals and plants and about food preparation to increase nutrient density and digestibility or decrease toxicity.

Food Poisoning SOS

Food Poisoning SOS

So yesterday I got food poisoning. This is a rare occurrence for me. I can count on one hand the times I have had it in my nearly 53 years. I share this ‘news’ with you because it allows me to share with you yet again the importance of optimal digestive health.