The milky way - Day 5 My Whole 30

It's only day 5 but there are already some intriguing developments in my experimental foray into strict paleo territory! At first I had wicked sugar cravings. No surprises really, I coped by eating my body weight in bananas. After a few days the sweet cravings wore off, to be replaced by a different and unexpected craving; dairy.

I mentioned in the last post that I believe in raw dairy and yoghurt as beneficial components in the diet, provided your ancestors were known to consume it. My ancestors certainly did consume it, so I have been blithely consuming raw milk, raw butter, raw cream and yoghurt, as well as Gouda cheese (for its elusive vitamin K2 content) to my hearts content. My breakfasts were often smoothies with raw milk, yoghurt, egg yolk, berries and banana. My snacks were often cheese, my late evening treat was yoghurt laced with honey, vanilla, banana and nuts. In between I'd have glasses of raw milk, straight up. These are the things I'm missing now.

However my sinuses are not missing these things, nor I assume, are my intestines. They're dancing for joy at a five day reprieve. I've felt my sinuses clearing (gross but true!) and my head feels lighter without all that gunk up in there, and I'm breathing more easily, and probably more efficiently. That alone can amount to big health benefits. (For more info on breathing better, look up buteyko method)

And now that I think about it, its not the first time I've craved dairy. When I was pregnant with my boy my yoghurt cravings were so strong I took to carrying disposable spoons in my handbag. I'd walk around the streets of Melbourne with 250g tubs of Jalna natural, easily finishing one a day. We even bought a yoghurt maker, thinking it might reduce the cost of my humerous addiction. 

A pregnancy craving can be laughed off, or rationalised as my body asking for beneficial bacteria, but now I see this is a little more serious. I probably have an intolerance to dairy. I'm devastated. Boohoo. 

Perhaps one day, when my intestines are in good health, with balanced flora, I'll be able to consume small amounts of raw dairy. Until then, I'm off the juice.

My whole 30 post series

Owing to some very unhealthy (albeit delicious) personal food habits in the wake of Easter, I decided it was time I cleansed. The last cleanse I did was in college, way too long ago. That was a four day juice fast, retreat style. Many happy memories of Ballingup bush surrounds, friends and vegetables! Much as I'd love to relive that time, it's just not practical for a breastfeeding mother of two to fast for any length of time, much less head to a quiet bush retreat for the duration. It has to be a different sort of cleanse for me!

I chose the whole 30 cleanse for a couple of reasons. Foremost, it can be done at home, and requires no special effort or expense. Big bonus. It's based on whole foods, JERF, just eat real food, for a month. This promises to reset my digestion and eliminate cravings. Great, much needed! But I also chose it for a more, shall we say, 'investigative' reason.

With all the hoopla around the paleo diet of late, many people, including high profile personalities, have put their two cents into the debate 'for what it's worth'. I happened to flick past that unfortunate tv show 'the circle' recently to hear a bleach blonde drag queen-like woman in her 40s declare that in her opinion cutting out entire food groups wasn't healthy. I wasn't aware she held any qualifications to that end...

But why not put it to the test? There are thousands of testimonials online by people whose lives have been changed for the better to various degrees by paleo and similar diets. While it doesnt suriprise me that eliminating processed food does anyone a world of good, I'd like to see what it can do for me. I'm a perfect candidate at present as my health is wanting. My senses of smell and taste are diminished, a sign of zinc deficiency. I have chronic plantar fasciitis (sore feet) and lower back pain, signs of low magnesium. I'm increasingly tired, which could be my baby's night waking, or anaemia, or both...my baby's night waking is itself possibly due to my milk being high in sugar and low in essential nutrients, I strongly suspect this to be the case as she had been sleeping through prior to my diet completely falling off the proverbial wagon. At present, my diet is like many western diets, inclusive of all types of food, real or otherwise. So I'm going to cut a few out and report the changes! 

The whole 30 diet essentially eliminates sugar, grains, dairy and legumes. While grains have been on my hit list for ages, legumes and dairy are a different story. I still think legumes should be ok provided they are bought dried and soaked til sprouted, but for the sake of science I'll forego the pleasures until the end of the cleanse, then reintroduce them. Its been a long time since I've consumed pasteurised milk, and I do feel that raw milk is a wonderful thing, but in the spirit of cleansing and investigating, I'll forego that too. Sugar is something I regularly eliminate...long story!

In addition to the whole 30 protocols, I'm going to drink warm lemon water before meals, and take a gut cleansing herbal formula, as well as my usual handful of probiotics every evening. 

I'm certain that my health will be amazing by the end of the month. I'm sure my zinc, magnesium and iron levels will return to normal, I'll lose some weight, have heaps of energy, feel light and happy and calm. I'm looking forward to it, and I hope to inspire others to try it too. 

And finally, for the sake of accountability, Im posting a selfie, before and after style!

I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to an improvement in that dial! (to say nothing of everything south thereof).

Bread Habits - staff of life or contributor to chronic disease?

This habit change will be about bread. Bread has been known throughout history as 'the staff of life'. For most people bread is a huge part of the diet, and we're told it's good for us, which is easy to believe since humans have eaten it for several thousand years. However the reality is that bread is now a very different beast than it was even 150 years ago, increasingly so, and it has become a big health problem for everyone in the developed world today.

Just pause a minute to consider your bread habits. How much bread do you eat in a day? Which bread do you buy? Why do you buy it? Are you buying the 'healthiest' bread available? Or do you choose based on taste? Or texture? Or the brand you grew up with?

What if I told you that bread in general is a very nutrient poor food? It's marketed as a fibre rich food, but compared to any fresh vegetable or fruit, stacks up very badly. A wheat grain is indeed high in fibre, however about 94% of it is lost in the milling process. Bread is so nutrient deficient, in fact, that if synthetic vitamins and other guff weren't added it'd be downright poisonous (like confectionery). As it is, I class wheat bread as an 'antinutrient'.

To get right to the point about bread; there's only one in Perth I'd recommend consuming regularly. It's the Organic 100% Rye from Bodhi's Bakery, and you can buy it almost anywhere these days, even supermarkets. There are four things that make this bread a better choice than any others. (Unless, of course, you're gluten intolerant, in which case either avoid bread at all, or find one made from sprouted gluten free grains.) It's probably significantly more expensive than what you're buying now, that's fine. Don't eat it every day, and don't have more than two slices per day. And remember that health is worth paying for, slow acting poison is not!

1) It's Rye, not wheat.

There are several problems inherent in wheat itself, in its current, selectively bred incarnation, which make it worth avoiding. The reasons for its wide use in baked goods are that it gives a good yield to farmers and an attractive and tasty product to food industry. But compared to other grains it's not even close to being the best nutritionally. Wheat is also known to be a great favourite of opportunistic gut flora, like candida albicans, so avoid it for the sake of your gut flora!

2) It's stone ground.

In the late 1800's a brilliant breakthrough was made in flour milling. It put an end to inefficient, laborious stone grinding of grain. It was steel rolling! Problem with it was, unbeknownst to anyone, steel rolling was causing a health crisis. This new processing method was busting up the endosperm in every little grain. Stone grinding didn't do this, thus the most nutritious part of the grain was left intact. When steel rolling became widespread, people started to suffer on mass from symptoms of nutritional deficiency. The remedy was the addition of a few synthetic nutrients to the flour after it was milled, however they have never matched the levels found in an original wheat grain. Yet this seemed to fix the problem and no one has questioned it ever since. However it is widely documented that the omission of bread from the diet can be an effective treatment for many chronic diseases, so the problem has not gone away at all, it's simply less acute.

3) It's sourdough.

Our ancestors have always soured their grains. They knew this was the only way to render them digestible. We now know why. Grains contain phytates, chemicals which block digestion and make it difficult to absorb nutrients. Souring predigests the grains somewhat, neutralising the phytates. This takes the pressure off our digestive system and renders the bread less acceptable food for opportunistic gut flora, like candida. It's important to avoid any bread that isn't a REAL sourdough (and plenty of so-called sourdoughs out there aren't real these days). In fact, most bread is given no time at all to ferment, more yeast is added instead, which gives another set of problems for the gut.

4) It's organic

For obvious reasons, this is ideal! Don't need pesticides in your bread.

So that's why I choose Bodhi's Organic 100%. You try it too, and see if it gives you a happier tummy!

Salty and delicious - healthy salt habits

Salt is a much maligned and very misunderstood nutrient. Most people think, because they have been told by mainstream nutritional advisers, that salt is "the most harmful food additive". The general view is that salt is responsible for the rampant epidemic of cardiovascular disease of our time. It's simply not true. Studies show that blood pressure is negatively impacted by salt intake in some sensitive individuals, however they are in the minority and for most of us, salt should not be restricted.

The reason we are told all this nonsense is unclear, but one fact stands out from all the murky science; salt is essential to human life. On a totally salt free diet, we simply die. Cause of death? Dehydration. But long before that happens, we become foggy of brain, exhibit poor memory, coordination goes wonky, then after about a week we become clinically insulin resistant... What does all that mean?

It means that to maintain good balance, cognition and have normal blood sugar levels and fluid balance, we need some salt with each meal. We also need it to produce stomach acid and absorb our food, maintain the correct ph, and to allow our muscles to contract. Pretty basic stuff. You need all those things just to get out of bed in the morning. No kid can sit in a classroom and learn under these conditions. They must have salt with breakfast.

Salt is also very grounding to our energy or etheric bodies. It keeps them firmly planted in our physical bodies, which makes us feel balanced and calm. If you're every feeling 'up in the air', try taking a bath with a handful of crystal salts. You'll feel yourself coming 'back down to earth'.

In the Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine systems, salt is considered a calming influence.  In ancient times, medicine people of these two disciplines understood the great effect of flavours on our health, and used them to create health changes for people who were suffering. Salt is prescribed for stress and anxiety, constipation and other digestive imbalances, weakness of the muscles and fatigue.

So we have established that we need some salt in our diets. But what kind and how much? This is where the 'good habits' come in.

I'm of the opinion that our taste buds are our best nutritional guide. We simply need to become adept at interpreting our cravings correctly. If you have a craving for maccas (hey, it's ok, it happens to me!) try thinking, 'I must require some salt. I'm obviously deficient.' To remedy this, simply add salt to a healthy meal. To prevent it, add salt to every meal, even for your children when they begin to take solids. Kids' growing brains are particularly susceptible to salt deficiency. When you have had enough of the right kind of salt (see below), your body will tell you to stop. You don't need to restrict your intake. There is a very efficient inbuilt system which will shut off hunger when you have had enough (here is one reason why I don't make my toddler finish his plate of food. I want him to learn to trust his hunger reflex).  If you do overdo it, you'll crave water. Simple.

Now, what kind? This is the big one. That processed, refined salt, easily mistaken for white sugar? The stuff in the uniquely shaped container? Without mentioning brands, you know the one. DON'T EAT IT! If you have some at home, stick it in the laundry cupboard for colour-fixing. The salt you want is at the health food shop, or your local organic shop. Any they stock are fine. They will have sea salt, rock salt, river salt and crystal salt. Take your pick. They're all perfect for our bodies for the simple reason that these are the exact substances that our ancestors have consumed since we became homo sapiens. They are complexes of different minerals, not just pure sodium chloride. They are what our bodies are asking us for when we have a salt craving.

The problem with the salt in processed foods and fast food is that it is highly refined. Food industry knows very well that we crave salt. The more salty flavour they can cram into each mouthful, the more money they will make. To achieve this, they use the most refined form of sodium they can get. This is a major issue. That's the stuff to avoid.

Sometimes our taste buds can lose sensitivity to salt, so that we can't taste it properly. This happens as we age, in times of great stress, and for smokers especially. It can actually indicate deficiencies in other minerals, especially zinc. So if other people are saying your food is over-salted, try increasing the zinc rich foods in your diet.

So the habit to change this week is your salt habit. Make sure you get enough of the good stuff and avoid the bad. If you have been actively trying to reduce your salt intake, switch to natural salt, add it to each of your meals and watch your hunger fall away! You'll be eating far less than before, without any effort, and your body and brain will thank you!

Breakfast Habits

Something as simple as changing your breakfast habit can have a profound effect on your health. When you have a great breakfast, you set your body up for the day. A high nutrition breakfast, with heaps of proteins and fats, will make you feel on top of it, and really full all morning. A breakfast high in carbohydrates will leave you hungry again soon. A breakfast high in refined carbs (anything out of a box or bread bag, or from the patisserie) will set up a sugar craving cycle for the day, with your blood sugars bouncing from too high to too low at an alarming rate, taking your concentration with it. Not to mention it's the quickest way to put on weight.

So, a breakfast habit high in proteins and fats. There are many ways to achieve this, you can use whatever combination suits you. The foods to focus on are:

Eggs: the perfect breakfast food! Scrambled, fried in butter, omelet... The yolks are wonderful sources of fat soluble nutrients, and you can pop them in breakfast smoothies. I buy Cackleberries eggs, they're biodynamic and nice and fresh.

Home made baked beans: Soak white beans overnight, then boil them up, preferably in some home made broth, then stir in a home made red sauce. Freeze into portions, defrost the previous evening and heat up in the morning. You could add cheese :) mmmm

Avocado and cheese on Rye toast: might pair well with the next one...

Nitrate free bacon: excellent protein source. Must be nitrate free, and free range if possible.

Oats: soak overnight, then cook with raw milk, nut milk or coconut milk for fats and protein. You can add some activated nuts too, and some raw honey. Usually I soak the oats in the thermomix, so in the morning all I have to do is add milk and turn it on. I only do this one in winter. Doesn't appeal to me in the hot weather.

Smoothies: These are indispensable when you're in a hurry. Here's the smoothie recipe I make for Antonio each morning

• Raw milk or nut milk, I have also used a combo of coconut milk and coconut water
• 2 raw yolks from high quality eggs
• Some berries, fresh or frozen (or any other fruit. Mango works with coconut)
• Half a banana, fresh or frozen
• large tsp mundella plain yoghurt, kefir or some of my probiotic powder

Other potential ingredients might be chia seeds or some other superfood supplement or a fibre supplement.

Green smoothies: This is a fabulous habit to get into. It's one that I'm trying to cultivate right now, so I wont carry on too much about it yet, I don't feel qualified! The basic premise is a fruit and veggie smoothie. Do google it, if you feel you're ready for a real health surge!


So you see that these are all really dense, nutrition filled breakfasts. They all contain enough protein and fats to keep you healthy and satisfied for hours. Contrasted with a bowl of bits of cardboard from a box, it doesn't take a nutrition expert to see which will serve you better! So change your habit to one of these! Pick the one that appeals the most, stock up on ingredients and give it a whirl!
                                           

which oil should I use? The healthy use of fats in food preparation

I love watching cooking shows on TV. I'm a fiend for food porn! I love watching the culinary artistry, being inspired by the food. I find it relaxing, and satisfying, in a bizzare way!


But there's one thing that annoys me, and it's not George's many and varied cliches on Masterchef! When a TV chef offers advice on cooking fats, my blood boils.


Some chefs happen also to be knowledgable in nutrition, like Dominique Rizzo, and I think she's fabulous. She offers great advice when she cooks on TV. During a recent Masterclass, however, in a segment on which oils to cook with, some advice was given which I strongly disagreed with, and which I'd like to take the time to correct.


The presenters essentially offered a few types of oils to use. They offered "good" olive oil, "ordinary" olive oil, grapeseed oil and sesame oil. There are so many more options than this!!


Olive oil:

To my mind there is only one kind, the "good" stuff. Extra virgin, cold pressed and organic. But I wouldn't put it in a hot pan, it would quickly become a bad fat and damaging to health. I drizzle it on a plate after serving food, or use it in salads.


Grapeseed:

The brand shown on the show was in a clear glass bottle. Any oil in clear glass or clear plastic is HYDROGENATED. This is an industrially processed oil, one step before margerine, which has been superheated and mixed with petrochemicals to give shelf life. All the beneficial properties that oil had have been destroyed and replaced by health wrecking properties. Pretend these don't exist.


Sesame oil:

This is a great oil for flash frying or stir frying, as are peanut, virgin coconut and virgin palm oils.


The fats I use most in the kitchen are butter, ghee and coconut oil. These are high in saturated fats and therefore have the advantage of being stable to temperature. This means that when you stick them in a hot pan they don't become poison. Bonus! I use ghee for Indian style cooking (obviously), coconut for Thai and Malay style food, and butter for European food. When I'm making Italian food I just drizzle olive oil over the plate after I've served it, as Matt Moran described, to give the flavor and the full benefits of the oil. Easy.


Using fats correctly, and libberally, is integral to good health. A high fat diet is a good diet, another fact TV chefs seem ignorant to. Fats are a food group essential to vitality. If we minimise fats such as nuts, avocado, egg yolks, fish, meats, butter and oils, we will have imbalanced hormones, blood sugar imbalance leading to weight gain, poor concentration, skin problems and even cholesterol problems.


I'm often asked about the cholesterol paradox. It's simple; it's just biochemically impossible for a high fat diet to cause high cholesterol. I'm not talking about damaged fats, by all means avoid those! The overwhelming evidence today shows that a diet high in refined foods is the culprit for all chronic illness, including cholesterol.


So if this information is news to you, restock your pantry with the good oils, ignore the bad and live healthily ever after! And never take nutrition advice from people without formal training!

Approaching Two Months and Sugar Free Icecream Recipe

I don't think I can think of a single person in my aquaintance who really, genuinely dislikes ice cream! Of course, since most ice cream contains things like sugar and processed milk, the stuff no longer enters this house. And yet I miss it, especially in Summer, and I'd like to be able to allow my kid(s) to partake someday.

This is a recipe for icecream that I won't mind offering my children in years to come, though very occasionally.

200ml raw milk
200ml organic cream
125g 100% organic maple syrup
yolks of 4 organic eggs

I used a stick blender to combine the yolks and maple syrup, then added this mixture to the milk and cream and blended some more, then poured it into the icecream maker to finish up.

The result was very light and fluffy. This time I added half a cup of sultanas I'd soaked in rum overnight, and a couple of teaspoons of cinnamon. My Man said he'd have preferred it without the sultanas, so I guess that was a miss!! However the container was empty within two days, so it can't have been all bad!

Next time I'll try using honey instead of maple syrup, and add more spices to get a sort of middle eastern flavour. Yum! Really looking forward to it! But I'll have to wait a while because maple syrup and honey aren't every day foods.

Meanwhile, it's almost two months since I quit sugar and I'm still losing weight, very slowly, and still feeling great. Increasingly I make it through the day to dinner time in one piece, and I'm even getting organised about things like our dinner, while previously it was all I could do to keep Antonio adequately fed! All up I'm really happy with how I feel. I don't crave sugar. I miss certain foods like cake and ice cream but I don't find them hard to turn down. In fact I even managed to avoid my favourite dessert of all time at a recent family birthday party; St Honore cake from Corica...oh my god that's good stuff. But I was unmovable. So proud!

In her fabulous ebook 'I Quit Sugar', Sarah Wilson describes how some folk meet the concept of quitting sugar with scorn or aggression. This hasn't happened for me as yet, everyone has been really supportive. I'm most grateful for this, because it's difficult enough at first without having to defend oneself.

It actually feels like this time I might just succeed in ridding my life of refined sugar for good.

Here comes the Sun

It's day 6 of sugar freedom (but who's counting??), and I'm beginning to feel serene. My face and tummy are a little less bloated and my skin feels clearer. My brain isn't screaming at me, the cravings have just evaporated! Jolly timely too, the shortbread biscuits I made with xylitol were a dismal failure!! Turns out sugar is what makes them crunchy. Oh well! I won't give up on the xylitol just yet!

So back to mental clarity! When I was reading for my research project during my naturopathic studies, I found many studies describing how sugar inflames the nervous system. There was one in particular that has stayed with me; the subjects in the study were scanned under MRI, then fed some sugar, then scanned again. The 'after' shots showed bright, glowing nervous systems, denoting aggitation, irritation. This translates physically to poor coordination and emotionally to stress and anxiety. I usually didn't notice I was feeling this way because it felt normal, this is obviously because it takes most of a week to calm down! Now I can feel the difference, and I highly recommend it! I kind of feel like I'm floating, rather than fighting through life. I feel successful! So far my mastery project is on track!

Even more encouraging is that I think sugar and I have finally called a truce. I feel now that I can maintain a sugarless diet, although the real test will be going to the shopping centre alone. Thats when I usually find myself scanning the cakes at Miss Mauds. Maybe I'll take Antonio shopping with me until I'm a little more sure of my resolve! I can't eat rubbish in front of him because he always wants some. The later he's exposed to that stuff the healthier he will be. For more info on that one check out Dr Robert Lustig, this video is worth the time. I think his presentation was a large part of my decision to swear off the sugar for good.

Sweet obsessions

It's nap time, but instead of doing some breathing exercises or meditating, I'm lying here googling xylitol biscuit recipes on my phone! I've found some good ones which I'll share once I've tested them.

Part of me doesn't really want to eat sweets. But it's obviously not the louder part! My brain is screaming at me to devour the last of the Christmas chocolate. My man dutifully hides it from me, since he's one of those weird, self regulating types! I've tried all my life to be like that, but it's just not in me. For me it's feast or famine, at least for now.

I've bought some supplies to help prevent cravings: Organic crunchy peanut butter is a favourite; high in protein and fats, both of which fill up quickly. It can also be combined with veggie sticks for fibre, also very filling.

Yoghurt is brilliant, and transportable too. Antonio and I often share a tub of Chris's Greek yoghurt. It's the sourest yoghurt I've tasted, but creamy too. We love it!

Ok, 10 minutes left of nap time, I'll dutifully spend them focusing on my third chakra

Mastery and Mummyhood

I had intended to write this post on the first day of the new year, but such is mummyhood!

This year, 2012, is my new beginnings year. I'm aware that many people believe this year is special and significant. I find it interesting that I spontaneously decided to make this year transformational for me personally. At-bloody-last!! I've finally decided to implement some changes I've been "thinking about" for years. Thinking about as well as preaching!

For example, my number one project is to give up sugar. To 'quit' the stuff like a smoker or an alcoholic. I'm a sugarholic. Or I was until Sunday. I've been clean 3 days now. It's not the first time I've quit sugar; I've done it at least annually since I was 9. That was 20 years ago now, and though I was very diciplined at first, each time I quit it was for a breifer period, until it became almost too dificult, I put on weight and found it hard to shift. This did, of course, coincide with my move to Melbourne, where the food is decidedly better, cheaper, available and more generously portioned. I may have lost control!!

In my youth (she muses wistfully!!) I imagined that someday, a vague timeframe occuring around the scary age of 30, I'd clean up my diet permanently, with the vain motivation of age defiance. Now my reasons have broadened to include my health, both mental and physical (nothing like sleep deprivation to inspire appreciation for mental health!), and my son. I believe role modeling is the best parenting tool, thus if I wish to protect him from the poison, I'll have to get off it too. There's a great story about a mother who went to Gandhi to ask him to tell her son to stop eating sugar. He told her to bring the son to see him in two weeks. She did this, and Gandhi simply told him to stop eating sugar. The mother asked why the two weeks were necessary and Gandhi replied "Because two weeks ago I was eating sugar."

And so I'm a dreadful hypocrite no longer! But so far I just feel hungry!! I do have 20 years of tricks up my sleeve though, and I'll share those here if you're interested in trying this for yourself. It does take time to detox sugar. If you were thinking of trying it I'd recommend Sarah Wilson's fabulous ebook, I Quit Sugar'. It's a quick and easy read and very motivational.

This is, as I said, my number one project, but it's the 'lead up' to my much grander goal of self mastery! I've become aware recently that the dissatisfactions I feel with my own life all seem to coincide with the themes of the solar plexus chakra. That's the third one, it's yellow, like fire, and it centers around ego, boundaries, decisions, personal power, will, that sort of thing. I'm so lacking in all that, so despite my creativity, I never really accomplish much! It relates to the pancreas, liver, spleen and upper intestinal tract, all of which are compromised when I binge on sugar. It all ties together so neatly!




So this year will be dedicated to balancing my solar plexus chakra, using tools like my diet, yoga, meditation, breathing, herbs, and general mindfulness of these issues in my everyday life. I intend to blog for accountability. At this end of proceedings the idea of a shiny new self is very exciting, but I know it will get ickier as the year wears on. I know there will be steep challenges, balancing my self and my journey with my responsibility to my family. And I suppose I don't really forsee true balance eventuating at all, since mummyhood and family harmony are my first priorities. I'll fit 'me' in around them. Which means I'll do a little bit during nap time and a little bit in the evening, and a very little bit while someone else cares for Antonio. But it will be done! And for now, the most important thing is what I'm not doing; eating sugar!

So now I'll finish off my chai spiced cocoa with coconut oil and take myself to bed.

Miraculous Magnesium

Many of you will have heard me rabbit on about Magnesium. Of all the minerals our bodies require to function, Magnesium is used up in the greatest quantities, so we need to make sure we intake enough through our food or we'll experience symptoms of deficiency. The first symptoms you'll notice are muscular cramping, spasms, ticks, headaches, allergies, fatigue, blood sugar imbalance and constipation. The effects of long term, chronic Magnesium deficiency can be anxiety, depression, insomnia, joint inflammation, osteoporosis, asthma, diabetes type 2, angina, high blood pressure and a heightened sense of stress. Once you're experiencing symptoms of magnesium deficiency it's important to see your Naturopath for a good quality supplement; supplements have not been created equal. Some are far better than others.

Food is a very good way to up your stores of Magnesium. The richest source is tahini, or sesame seed paste. After tahini come almonds and the other nuts and seeds. Raw cocoa is a great source too. Buy some raw cocoa powder and use it unsweetened as drinking chocolate as an easy way to get Magnesium into everyone!






Vegies come next. Anything green is high in Magnesium because the chlorophyll molecule contains Magnesium. In fact green smoothies are an incredibly effective way to boost your intake. You can make them by pulling out your blender and throwing in any green fruit and veg you have on hand. Green smoothies will not only enhance your intake of Magnesium, they're full of vitamins such as A, C, E, B group and K, and many other antioxidants. Salads are another great way to eat loads of vegies, as are stir fries and soups.




Other useful sources are tofu, oats/porridge, polenta, lentils, beans and chick peas. Look out for the next blog which will be called "Meals that Heal" for ideas on how to incorporate all these high performance foods into your diet.


Changing your salt will be a big help too. Processed, supermarket salts are pure sodium chloride, while real sea salt or rock salt contain many minerals, including Magnesium.

On the other hand, certain foods increase your requirement for Magnesium. Sugars and refined foods have caused the western world to become ever more deficient, which has probably contributed to the advent of our ridiculously high rates of osteoporosis, heart disease, mental illness, diabetes and allergies over the last 50-odd years. So there's yet another reason to avoid them. Once again these are foods like pasta, bread, pastry, biscuits, crackers, chips, soft drink, cordial, cakes and sweets.

If your health problems are caused by Magnesium deficiency, changing your diet and taking a good quality supplement will make you feel absolutely magnificent within a few days. Why not give it a try?

Easter special - How to retrieve your blood sugars

It's Easter and the chocolate is flowing like wine from Italian fountains....so you have some, coz the reality is that good quality chocolate tastes awesome. Trouble is that these days even the quality stuff contains way too much refined sugar, which will spike your blood sugars and cause them to crash shortly afterwards. Then you feel you need more sugar and before you can say "but I only wanted one!" you're on the rollercoaster.

If you weren't aware of how important balanced blood sugars are to your health, this may be a normal day for you. If you feel that you wake feeling 'low' or tired, your energy fluctuates all day and you need regular sugar fixes, then your sugars are out of control. Chronically low blood sugars are usually accompanied by headaches, poor concentration, weight gain, fatigue and mood swings. Balanced blood sugar is one of the cornerstones of good health. When you're balanced you'll actually crave healthy food; when you're unbalanced you'll only want refined carbs. So here are the tools you'll need to restore your health.

It's really important to give yourself the best possible chance at rebalancing, which means aiming to head off the next sugar craving that would have come knocking. This is much easier than attempting use willpower while your body screams for sugar.
The first important rule on rebalance day is water. If you're well hydrated you're much less likely to crave sugar. Have two or three big glasses of plain water first thing in the morning and 2 litres more through the day.

It's so crucial that your breakfast is high protein. Your first meal sets up the blood sugar pattern for the day, and you should think of it as filling your fuel tank. Here are some ideas:

Oatmeal - ideal as it will actively help to balance sugars with its combo of protein and (very) complex carbs

Home made baked beans - also provides protein and complex carbs

Pot-set natural yoghurt with fruit and nuts

Eggs - either soft boiled or poached

Tinned tuna - if you're really in a rush


Now that you've had a really filling breakfast and you're feeling virtuous again, pack lots of healthy snacks for work or school such as whole fruit, veggie sticks, hommus, tinned tuna and nuts. Avoid the sugary nut bars, they'll only trip you up again. Don't hesitate to use the snacks, even if you feel you already need a top up on the way to work. On rebalance day never let a craving take over. Nip it in the bud with something healthy. In a day or two your appetite will normalise.


Besides sugar there are other things that will hinder blood sugar balancing. Coffee is a bad idea at the best of times, as it destabalises blood sugar, dehydrates, drains nutrients and prevents deep sleep. So it stands to reason that today it would be an even bigger mistake. Another one to avoid is flour, which will also spike your blood sugars, so avoid any breads or pastas too. Also watch out for commercial fruit juices, these are a hidden sugar trap.

Foods that will help you rebalance are fresh veggies either in salad form, stir fry, veggie sticks or fresh veggie juice, whole fruits, brown rice, oatmeal/porrige, fish, chicken, lentils, nuts and seeds. Tuck into these liberally!

If you do use these guidelines you should feel fantastic in 2-5 days. If however, it's taking longer you may have a deeper issue. This is something you should take to your naturopath, who can use specific nutrient supplements or herbs to speed the process.