My whole 30 - The verdict

For the past three days I've deliberated on how to write this post. Since I had counted on singing the praises of The Whole 30, I thought it'd be a doddle, but I'm afraid it's not quite that simple. At least it won't be boring, right?! Firstly, I'm glad I did it, I want to be clear about that point, but I feel it was the wrong time for me to do it. I feel that I was unable to do it the way it ought to be done, and I am not convinced that paleo is right for me, especially not right now. I think that more than anything else, The Whole 30 served to remind me that not only is there no 'one size fits all' diet, but our dietary requirements do change and fluctuate depending on our lifestyles.

My lifestyle at the moment is one of a breastfeeding, cosleeping, homeschooling 24/7 parent. Those of you who have done it will agree this lifestle gives quite a high nutritional requirement, possibly not dissimilar to that of an elite athlete! I wish I was joking.  One reason that I found the whole 30 challenging was that it unexpectedly reduced my supply of breast milk. I'm not 100 % sure why this happened. According to the Australian Breastfeeding Association, a breastfeeding woman can virtually eat any diet she wants, provided she's not starving, and still produce enough milk to feed her baby (I have misgivings about this theory but they pertain more to the quality of  said milk).  I have a couple of theories, one is that while the body is detoxifying heavily, the mammary glands might 'hold back' to protect the baby from toxins, and the other is that detoxification increases the body's water requirement, and I wasn't meeting that requirement. In other words I may simply have been dehydrated. I'm inclined to think it was the latter. Either way it was the wrong time for me to undertake a huge cleanse, but I'm glad I did it anyway. Little one didn't lose out too much, and supply is now right back where it should be. (Had she been under 18 months old I would have stopped the cleanse when I noticed the supply drop and introduced some quinoa and soaked brown rice back into my diet. I don't recommend cleansing while breastfeeding a young baby. If you're very unwell and need to change your diet, do it by degrees.)

I found I was eating more meat than felt good for my body, just to get full. This wasn't the fault of the diet, it was the result of my failure to plan and shop, and also a function of needing to fill up to produce milk. Whole 30 does not prescribe amounts of foods. I only ate so much meat for Sofia's sake, and it made me feel a little heavy and sluggish. Had I not been breastfeeding I'd have been content to feel hungry some of the time, and would happily have eaten plenty of veggies in its place. If I'd planned better I would have made myself more bone broths and drunk coconut juice, both of which I find help with milk production.  

Another reason that I found it challenging was that it was a bit of a shock to me. As a paleo 'virgin' I had to scramble to figure out what to eat all the time. When I took the kids out and about I had to plan ahead to ensure I didn't get caught without enough snacks for myself. This took quite a bit more 'getting used to' than I'd anticipated, and I was often left hungry for too long. I gradually learned little tricks, like that trips to the fruit and veggie shop were the easiest and cheapest way to begin a day out, curries without rice are a good food court option, and at home, broth is a great snack. To anyone thinking of trying the whole 30, I'd recommend doing an intro to paleo eating first, by  cutting out one thing at a time, first dairy, then legumes, then rice perhaps, then quinoa... This would be a far 'friendlier' way to approach the idea. It is, after all, a very different way of eating than most of us are accustomed to.

Now I'll turn to all the awesome things that happened. The first thing I noticed was blood sugar balance! It was such a freeing feeling not to crave all the time. The next was a reduction in inflammation, that is my face, arms and collarbones became more defined, so I appeared to have lost weight within the first week. Along with the apparent signs of reduced inflammation, I had less pain in my feet and the back pain cleared altogether. My feet eventually stopped hurting too, by week 3. I'm hard on my feet, they took longer!  The next thing I realised was that I don't think I actually need to / should be completely grain free. The benefits I experienced were no greater than when I cut refined carbs loose. I also felt a little ungrounded, and the ayruvedics do say that grains keep us grounded, centred in our bodies. While there is no one right way to eat for everyone, if you want to figure out how you should eat, look to the diet of your own ancestors. For example my Mum's side of the family hark from the Irish and Scottish. They do much better when they exclude most fruits, and exclude grains altogether. I however, seem to have taken more from the Italian heritage on my fathers side, and while this does not mean I can have a pasta party, it does seem to make my body more accepting of sprouted legumes and soaked whole grains. For me this is a welcome thing, because I like variety. Finally, in the last week of the cleanse I noticed my skin was smoother and my ankles had come back. Hazzar. Who would sneeze at that?

Those were the physical changes, but they weren't the greatest payoff. The greatest payoff was how I felt! To wake feeling energetic day after day, when you face two toddlers and a list of chores enough to make 'War and Peace' seem like light reading is no small thing, but I did, by about week three. But above all, there was the clarity of mind. I mentioned feeling ungrounded, and I did, but I somehow simultaneously felt clear and peaceful, and life with the little ones flowed with virtually no upsets or conflicts. I suddenly had no need to get angry with anyone, I was on top of the situations, and things just seemed not to be so bad after all. This is a feeling I HIGHLY recommend! And it's also motivation enough to maintain my health from here on.

The whole 30 has changed my approach to my diet in several ways. I'm welcoming legumes back into my life, never to be cast out again! I feel that, for me, as long as they're properly soaked and sprouted, there's nothing wrong with a handful of lentils in a plate of soup. However I do believe in and prescribe this diet, and those who benefit from it include people with autoimmune diseases, sufferers of severe digestive complaints, those unsuccessfully trying to conceive, and those with pain and inflammation problems to name a few. Aside from losing the dairy, I'm going to commit to staying clear of refined grain products. I love my rye sourdough but I'm afraid it doesn't love me back. In fact eating it now gives me indigestion, I tried. I'll also be careful to soak my rice and quinoa before I cook it, and perhaps tend more to quinoa than rice, since I seem averse to rice too, thanks to the cleanse. We were definitely eating too much rice. I tend to rely on it as a quick meal option when I've failed to plan. And that's the other thing I'll commit to, menu planning. Knowing what I'm making and using my slow cooker will make all the above much easier. Next I need to figure out how to keep all this from costing too much, and as soon as I do I'll be posting about it to be sure!

A much healthier, happier Mamma. Thanks to all of you who expressed your support, it means a whole lot! During the difficult times, it was the accountability of you guys reading my words that gave me the requisite kick in the proverbial to forge on. Much love xxx

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.

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!

Healthy Habits - Shopping

This weeks healthy habit is all about where you choose to do your food shopping.  Your choice of shop can affect your health enormously. Where you shop determines the quality of the food you buy. Supermarkets take about one third of all the money spent on food in this country. They have a huge influence on the market, and their priorities are profits and shareholders, not health or even quality. Therefore the stuff you buy there is the lowest quality available. They exploit our weaknesses and addictions, providing far more processed 'food' than fresh. Yet they survive by selling convenience. They have a version of everything, so it's a no brainer.  For many years now I have been systematically reducing my dependence on them. I find it difficult, sometimes more expensive, but endlessly more rewarding to shop anywhere but at the supermarket. I have not yet broken my reliance completely, but I'm getting closer!

Here are the food products (stuff other than toilet paper and dish washing liquid!) that I still get at the stuipidmarket:

yoghurt
cheese
coconut cream
tinned beans
rice

I'm working towards not going there at all, ever, and in fact even the above list is just laziness. I should not need tinned beans, I must get more organised at meal planning and legume soaking. Coconut cream is a tricky one because I only know of one brand who don't use thickeners and water down, but if I find it elsewhere... The dairy will soon be produced at home by my man, from raw milk. He has been taking cheese-making classes so we can supply ourselves. And the rice is just a lot more expensive from the organic shop. I should probably just cut down my consumption!

Everything else I need I buy either from my local organic shop, my local (truly) independent grocer, (not IGA) and my local farmers market, where we get our biodynamic eggs and organic meat from Robyn at Redtail Ridge. We buy our milk from a raw milk supplier.

So in essence we have to spend a lot more time shopping, because it's not a one stop affair, but so worth the bother! My first stop in the week is always the organic shop. It's a family owned business and they now know me and my boy, so shopping there is a social event! (It's made even more special as the owners' daughter is an ex Masterchef star! Her sugar free cakes and salads are always a treat.) I get as much as I can there, in terms of fruit and veg, then, if need be, I top up at my local independent grocer. But I try not to. If you can't get to your local organic shop because of work, most will deliver a mixed box in various sizes to your door. On Saturdays we go to see Robyn at the Subi Farmers Market. She knows us too, so it's another social occasion, the way shopping was until the evil, impersonal supermarkets took over. Very olde worlde!

Buying most of my food from the organic shop automatically ensures that my food is healthy. I hardly need to think about it. Most food is not even in a packet, and there are few 'ingredients lists' to read or 'nutrient profiles' to interpret, simply because most things there are whole foods, and a whole food doesn't have an ingredients list. At the organic shop I'm also able to buy good quality natural salt, bulk nuts, seeds, oats and legumes, dairy, frozen berries and peas, various types of flour....And best of all, if I'm feeling lazy, I can get a masterchef quality lunch!

Ideally though, in the long run I'd prefer to grow as much of my own fresh food as I can. Currently we aren't set up to do so, but working towards that too. If you do have the space to grow food, I envy you! Get outside and plant some!!

Meat and eggs raised ethically, organically/biodynamically have higher nutrient profiles and don't contain antibiotics or any other nasties. I feel much safer feeding them to my toddler, than their supermarket counterparts, and I know that they are providing him with awesome nutrition. The same is true of raw milk. This is a whole food, while pasteurised milk is a highly processed, very damaged food. Of course, you don't have to drink cows milk at all, but if you like to, raw is the only healthful way to do so.

These habits aren't just healthy, they're ethical too. Supermarket corporations are pretty evil in general, and I feel good when I support the 'little guys'. It's also more ethical to buy organic vegies, because they're farmed using sustainable practices, and as far as animals are concerned, biodynamic eggs and ethical AND organic meat (one does not equal the other, hence I don't buy organic meat from the supermarket) is obviously the best choice for an omnivore.

Finally, I'd like to quote Tom Hodgkinson, from the great work, "How To Be Free", which I highly recommend you read. "The supermarkets have sold us a myth of cheapness, convenience and variety. But the reality is none of those: they are expensive, a hassle and you are forced to buy from someone else's selection...I would like to bomb them, but it's probably more effective to boycott them."

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!

Sugar free ice cream recipes

It's been really hot here in Perth. Like, the kind of hot that makes you want to move down south....did I say that out loud? Ahem...

There's one thing I've been craving in this diabolical weather - Soft Serve. That evil stuff made from superheated vegetable oils, powdered milk, high fructose corn syrup and thickeners made from refined grains. EW

I believe strongly in cravings, however. And I have a theory that they are our best guide to health. I think the problem is that we usually misinterpret our cravings. It's easy to do. If your body says "Hey! Running low on salt here!" its easy to think "chippies....", which wouldn't happen if they didn't exist. So if our ancestors were in the same situation, say they needed a spot of protein, they wouldn't think "KFC..." they'd probably think "I think I'll cook a beef and kidney stew tonight". Get my drift?

So back to the soft serve. I believe that craving ice or ice cream or anything cold on a hot day is a clue that you're dehydrated. I tried this, but I still wanted that rich, sweet, cold, gooey combo of disgusting, salad bar soft serve. So I decided to make some! Before sticking the churned ice cream into the freezer, I had a few mouthfuls of the gooey, creamy mixture, and boy did it kill the cravings dead!

Decidedly more expensive than the cheap non-foods that come out of the machine at maccas, but this recipe will actually nourish you and your family, and it's a great way of eating your essential fats and fat soluble vitamins. I never heat my ice cream ingredients, and this ensures that the vitamins in the cream and yolks stay intact. Therefore these recipes are high in vitamins A, E and D and K, plus loads of other fat based goodies that will keep you well.



Basic vanilla ice cream recipe

2 cups raw cream
1/2 cup organic maple syrup or raw honey
4 biodynamic egg yolks (I buy cackleberries eggs)
1 tsp real gelatine (made from animal ingredients) dissolved in 2 tbsp hot water
vanilla paste to taste (I like a whole tbsp)

Allow the gelatin to cool a bit, then blitz everything in a blender, pour it into an ice cream maker and churn until it almost doubles in volume. Then freeze overnight in an airtight container.

I think an ice cream maker is a great investment if you're interested in keeping processed foods out of your family's bodies. Any equipment that allows you to use real foods to create treats is worthwhile, because there's nothing more detrimental to the cause than feeling deprived.

Another word on ice cream makers, don't buy an industrial sized machine! Get a small one that makes just enough for the family to have a small but satisfying serve each. Our bodies aren't equipped to handle super-size portions. Blame your ancestors.

Rose water and strawberry  ripple ice cream

200g fresh strawberries
1 tsp rose water
2 cups raw cream
1/2 cup maple or raw honey
4 biodynamic egg yolks
1 tsp gelatin dissolved in 2 tbsp hot water

Puree strawberries and set aside. Blend the rest of the ingredients plus half of the strawberry puree, then churn in an ice cream maker. As you pour the churned ice cream into a container to freeze, swirl the remaining puree through to create a ripple.


You can use any fruit you like in these recipes. I've made banana honey and added half a cup of chopped nuts, fresh apricots would work, you could even get really creative and do stewed apples and cinnamon! Totally up to you. So have fun!

Junk Food Jungle; how do we protect our kids?

Lately I've noticed an issue repeating itself to me; how do we control the quality of the food our little ones eat? Other mothers have asked about it, I've faced it with my son, and it's been in the media (again). It's a real issue. Those of us trying to maintain health are often faced with opposition from other parents. Those other parents themselves suffer from nutritional confusion and lack of reliable information. How do we do the right thing?

My wise old herbal medicine teacher used to say; "if I could wave a magic wand I'd get rid of sugar. Then I'd be out of a job." She meant that most of the unwell people who sought her help probably wouldn't have become unwell if their gut flora had not been damaged by the refined foods in their diet. She was underscoring the point that if whole foods were the only foods available, we would all be well, without having to make the choice to eat well.

The unfortunate reality is that many of the things available to eat in this world are not food. They're  slow acting poisons.  They are often the easiest edible options. They're certainly the most tempting. Some even masquerade as health foods! So keeping them out of our kid's bodies becomes increasingly difficult as their ability to exercise free will increases. The aware parent ends up having to walk a tight-rope between health and sociality, a situation unique in human history.

Until the last century, the only thing available to eat was food. Food that we have eaten since we first became homo sapiens. Food that our bodies are familiar with and able to draw nutrition from. Foods in their whole form. These foods are specifically:

vegetables, meats, fish, eggs, legumes (beans, peas, lentils), fruits, nuts, whole grains, and in some areas, raw milk products like cheese, yoghurt, whole, milk and cream.

These are the ingredients for health, freedom from pain and disease, in both the short and long term. The diet we subsisted on since evolving from apes has been more or less the same for tens of thousands of years. All those years that we lived without chronic lifestyle illness. Without rampant childhood allergies and "intolerance's". Without dentists, podiatrists, nutritionists, psychologists... These foods are still available to us, but we don't choose them often. Instead we feed ourselves and our children:

boxed cereals, processed milk, refined wheat products, processed salts, fizzy drinks, processed meats, sugar, hydrogenated vegetable oils and a cocktail of added chemicals like colourings and shelf-life chemicals, given the friendly sounding name, preservatives.

This list of "food like substances" (to borrow a phrase from Michael Pollan) are the slow acting poisons. They provide no nutrition (fats, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants) whatsoever, but use up our body's stores in being ousted, they destroy our delicate gut flora, which is our defence against acute and chronic illness, and they age (oxidise) our bodies. Very few people really comprehend the extent to which they are damaging to us. Their very availability suggests their relative innocence. It's understandable that most parents, untrained in nutrition, fail to suspect them of systematically destroying their kids health, mentally, emotionally and physically. But we shouldn't require a degree in biochemistry to choose our foods, that's not fair. Food should be food. Unfortunately refined foods make too many people too much money. We can't expect them to vanish any time soon. We'll just have to be brave and make the choice to feed our families the way their bodies expect to be nourished.

Kids are born with an inherent expectation that their diet will consist of the first list of foods. They don't, until they've already experienced them, want, much less need, anything from the second list. Not even on their birthday. The parent usually has a nostalgic attachment to the idea of treat food. But we have a responsibility to inform ourselves in this age of nutritional confusion, for our kid's sakes. Inform ourselves, but also listen to our intuition, because we know this stuff, deep down!

In recent decades it has become socially unacceptable to restrict our kids diets to the former list, the real foods. We who try hear the catch phrases "You can't control them", "You have to let them try it", "They'll be teased at school" and my favourite, "Balance in all things".

Lets talk about balance. Equilibrium. That feeling of centredness, in control of ones emotions, calm, contented. This sounds like a happy way to feel. Does it sound like most kids - people for that matter - that you know? Does it describe you? Studies show the startling difference in before and after MRI shots of subjects' nervous system from sugar alone. A normal, versus an inflamed, agitated nervous system, unable to contain itself. How does a three year old bear this? Hydrogenated fats attack the stuff our brains are made of. Low fibre high refined carb foods like bread stick to the wall of your bowel and become a festering mass of disease, destroying normal flora and leaking toxins into the body, clouding thought processes. There is ample evidence that colourings lead to hyperactivity.  How can a little body facing this barrage of biologically unfamiliar substances feel balanced? It can only feel out of control. And that's a decidedly unpleasant way to feel. There is no balance when it comes to junk food. Nature created balance. She even gave us fruit and honey. Big business created junk foods, for profit. And that's the only reason it's still available.


So what can we do?

There are certain healing foods that we can feed our kids on a daily basis which protect them on that odd occasion when the only food available is refined junk. This happened to us recently at an event, where we thought good food would be available but were 'caught out'. As Antonio gets older he's just going to see it and grab it. Here's what I do.

1) The healing foods I include daily are bone broths, fermented foods (yoghurt), egg yolks and LOTS of fresh plant foods. This will protect little intestines when junk sneaks in. Yoghurt and yolks can be added to a fruity breakfast smoothie. Bone broths can be added to soups, stews, risotto, pilau/biryani...

2) Be a champion of healthy choices by refusing to cave in at social gatherings and parties. Until we actually start catering our gatherings with food we'd happily feed our kids every day, nothing will change! Kids don't go to parties for the food. They go because they're social. They want to play, not eat. Keep your emphasis on their true priorities.

3) When at a junk-foody social occasion, feed your kids loads of high fibre, high fat food first, like a good chicken and veggie stew, cheese and raw veggies, bean casserole, avocado and carrot sticks or some fish poached in coconut milk with steamed veg. These foods satisfy the body with the nutrition it wants, so it stops asking for more.

4) Be the change you want to see. Modeling good food habits to kids makes them believe it's the norm. Parents are always right to a little kid.

In my next post I'll give some ideas I've come up with for healthy party foods for kids. If you have some ideas please let me know and I'll add them to the list.

Healthy times!
XXX

Yummy Mummy's Super Snacks

"Get used to eating your meals cold" they all said when I was pregnant. But after Antonio was born I wondered, what meals? Who has time to make food for themselves? I was doing well to grab an apple most days. But of course we must eat properly, because mum's health is baby's health, and mum's food becomes baby's food. Not only that, but a well nourished mamma makes more milk, copes better with the inevitable sleep deprivation, feels less overwhelmed and more in control of herself. This was not me in the early baby days! So I have spent much time devising a system to ensure I have quick, easy health food on hand. In the process I've learned that being healthy has much in common with being a mum. Both require prioritisation, mindfulness, fore planning, flexibility and a lot of self love.

My answer to the issue has been to prepare large batches of snacks in advance, snacks which are very nutrient dense; high in fats, protein, vitamins and minerals. Here are my favourite superfood snacks.

Dip - not the supermarket sludge, but home-whizzed super dip! You can use avocado or home made cream cheese extracted from yoghurt. To this I add a huge handfull of fresh herbs, anything you like, they're all packed with their own respective goodies, half a clove of garlic, pine nuts and some sprouts. You can add any other flavours you like after that. I like a bit of home made roasted capsicum and some olive oil. You could put in some olives, sun dried tomatoes, feta cheese, roasted pumpkin...go crazy! And don't forget a good pinch of ground sea or rock salt.

Veggie sticks - with which to eat your dip. Chop them the night before and stick them in an airtight in the fridge. You can also use them for a quick half an avo.

Bliss balls - these sweet treat superfoods really fill you up! You can pack them full of awesomeness. Coconut oil, nut butters, activated nuts, tahini, raw honey, spices like cinnamon, cloves and cardamom, raw carob or cacao, orange zest, ginger root... Just blitz it all up in the processor. Dates make a great base but you can use any preservative free dried fruit. Mmmm....

Smoothies - they take a few seconds to whizz up and you can use them to really improve your health. You can use nut milks, raw milk, bananas, apricots, egg yolks, coconut oil, flax oil, fresh or frozen berries, yoghurt or kefir. You can also do green smoothies, with a fruit base and some green veg, for the most awesome energy kick you'll ever get in a glass.

Banana - for times that you're out of the house and need to pick up a power snack, have bananas. Yes, plural. You won't get the richness of good fats, but 'nanas are power packs of energy and electrolytes, while being low in fructose. And very filling! Also, bub can share it with you, and it's amazing how sweet their disposition becomes when they've had a healthy snack!

Chicken soup - this isn't a trick I do myself, but a girlfriend swears by a thermos flask full of chicken broth! She sips it whenever she feels her blood sugars slipping. See the post 'eating warm' for the recipe.

For me, the lack of time to do anything for myself puts a downer on my mummyhood. I found that keeping my tummy full of healthy food makes all the difference. So if you are feeling deprived as a Mamma, I highly recommend you try these ideas. A quick and easy superfood snack can transform your life! They'll keep you full and happy, and it's so very true that a contented Mamma means a contented baby. And its so empowering to know you can turn your own mood around so easily!

Happy power snacking!

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!

Crunchy Nuts! How to make your own yummy nut milk and activated nut meal

I've been experimenting of late with nut milk. You may have seen nut milk in the supermarket, it comes in a tetra pack (ikch) and hangs out with the other milk substitues. But did you know you can make your own? Making your own comes with all the usual advantages of home made over prepackaged. The tetra pack is the obvious difference, this is something to avoid at all costs. Environmental plastics are bad enough without unwittingly imbibing them too. Home made nut milk is really high in vitamins, and also contains no hydrogenated (or any other) oils which might be added to a packaged version to give shelf life. In short, it's a whole food.

I was surprised by how quick it was to make too. The only special equipment required is a piece of muslin, so I cut up one I'd used to swaddle Antonio when he was a newborn. (I promise it was washed in the interim.) All I do is put about a cup of almonds or hazelnuts into a stainless steel milkshake cup and cover them with water. I do this in the evening, leave them overnight, then drain them, add more water, blitz with a stick blender and strain through the muslin. Done! I have used this milk in Antonio's smoothies, which he loves, but the mornings are chilly as winter approaches, so smoothies containing frozen blueberries aren't quite so appropriate for him. I will use the nut milk to make porridge for him, but the last couple of mornings I've added 2 egg yolks and half a banana to a cup of nut milk, whizzed it with the stick blender and cooked this over low heat, stirring with a whisk. Then I added a teaspoon of raw honey and about a tablespoon of flaked quinoa. This makes a delicious kind of custard porridge, which Bubby gobbles!

My personal favourite use for nut milk is hazelnut hot chocolate! When added to a cup of cocoa, hazelnut milk makes you wonder why you'd bother with disgustingly sweet, artificially flavoured syrup. Chocolate and hazelnuts really are a match made in heaven!

The secret of great nut milk is not to use too much water. The less water you use, the creamier the milk will be. You only need enough to be able to easily blend it. I find this is about 1:1.5, but I don't really measure. The wog in me likes to measure by eye!

The leftover nut meal is wonderfully nutritious too, high in bioavailable protein, vitamins, minerals...mmmm. What you do with this gorgeous stuff is spread it out on a biscuit tray and pop it into the oven at 50 degrees, leaving the door slightly open. When the meal is dry, let it cool and store it in an airtight container. I stick mine in the fridge, to err on the side of caution, but I've read there's no need to refrigerate. I use it in baking, just like pre-milled almond or hazelnut meal, only it's much more nutritious, and the protien is more easily absorbed. I'm currently working on a recipe for home made crunchy 'activated' nut cereal! And also activated nut protein bars, both of which I'll post as soon as I'm happy with them.

If you have any more great nut milk or nut meal recipes or ideas, please share them!

Wholefoods for Baby - recipes

Here are some of the wholefoods recipes Antonio loves best.

Baby Dahl recipe

This is a recipe I've addapted from my Harre Krshna cookbook, which I love. It's fantastic because I can make a large quantity if we're having Indian food for dinner and we all eat the same. Always preferable to cooking two different meals! These quantities make about 2 meals for baby.

1/8 cup masoor dal
1/8 cup quinoa or rice
2 cups water
1 tomato
70g sweet potato
2tsp butter or ghee
2tsp grated fresh ginger
2tsp cumin seeds
1tbsp organic shredded coconut
pinch aesefetida (if you have it)
sea salt to taste

Boil dal and quinoa/rice in a small pot with the water. Add sweet potato and chopped tomato, boil again, cover and turn down heat. When the dal has dissolved turn off the heat and cover.

In a small frypan heat ghee or butter, add ginger and cumin seeds and fry. Add coconut and brown a little, don't burn the spices. Add aesefetida and remove from heat. Add spice base and some salt to the dahl. Blend with a stick blender and serve.

Cauliflower soup

Another one for the whole family. These flavours compliment fish well, so I sometimes poach a slice of a mild, white fish in the soup, then break it up with a fork.

one whole cauliflower
2 large potatoes
1 cup quinoa
1 leek
1L homemade chicken stock
sea salt

Fry off leek in a heavy casserole pot, add potatoes, cauliflower, stock, quinoa and salt. Boil then blitz!


Baby Breakfast Smoothie

This fun, fabulous recipe is made possible because Antonio learned to drink from a straw! It was so easy to teach him, and makes it easy to keep his fluids up. The following can be blizted in a processor or in a milkshake cup using a stick blender.

half a banana
1/3 cup of fresh or frozen berries
2 tbsp whole natural yoghurt
1 tbsp coconut cream
one raw egg yolk



Baby Bucco recipe

1 small slice osso bucco
half carrot
half celery stick
small onion
small garlic clove
1/2 cup homemade chicken stock (or water)
splash of olive oil
2 fresh tomatoes or half tin chopped tomatoes
sea salt
optional dried herbs

Chop veggies and saute (all but tomatoes) with the oil or butter til soft. Add dried herbs. Brown osso bucco in another pan, then add to vegies. Add stock, chopped garlic and tomatoes, then season and pop the lid on over low heat and cook 1/2 to 1 hour, til the meat is soft and the bone is empty. Chop or blizt, depending on the age of your baby.


Baby Lamb Korma recipe

This is a recipe I pulled from an online Indian recipe database years ago, and I've made it so many times since then that I no longer require the recipe, my hands do it on autopilot! You don't have to use lamb, I've done it with beef, chicken and vegetarian. This makes a few meals worth.

1 clove garlic
same amount fresh ginger
100g lamb cubed
half a cup cubed veg, anything works
half a tin chopped tomatoes
3 tbsp whole natural yoghut
1 small onion
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 cardamom pods
2 whole cloves
tsp garam masala
tsp turmeric
sea salt


Mince ginger and garlic and put into 1/4 cup water and set aside.
Heat ghee and add cumin seeds and onion. Fry til the onion softens, then add other spices. Add tomatoes and allow to reduce. Add yoghurt and veg.

In a separate pan, heat more ghee and brown meat, then add to the curry. Cook until the meat is soft, gradually adding the garlic/ginger water. Remove whole cardamoms and cloves, and cut up or puree.

Wholefoods for Antonio

Having finally emerged from the sleep deprived daze of my child's first 10 months, I feel ready to take up my blogging anew. I'll begin with a topic dear to my heart; little Antonio's journey into solid foods. I feel it's an interesting one since there are such strong controversies surrounding the subject of a baby's diet, as with diet in general, however in addition to the controversy, parents become emotional about the food they choose for their kids. There is much conflicting information about this, and as Mums we read or ask our female kinfolk in search of the best advice.

The wisdom I found satisfactory was provided by nutritionists such as Sally Fallon and Jude Blereau, who espouse a return to the traditional cooking methods of our ancestors which our bodies are evolved to, rather than following the often misguided and unhealthy advice of the current "pollitically correct" (cereal box) nutritional models. In practical terms this means offering whole foods to provide the 3 macronutrients; fats, protein and carbs, and the many micronutrients (vitamins, minerals etc)required for good health.

Antonio's solid food journey began when he was around 5 months old. Until that time he was exclusively breastfed, and although the WHO recommend that continue to 6 months, my big boy was clearly displaying signs of starvation! I judged him to be ready for foods, and began by handing him spoonfuls of mashed avocado to put into his mouth (the first destination of all grasped objects), which were sucked down and how.

It was mostly avocado during this first month. Avo, how do I love thee, let me count the ways!

1. It's RAW and packed with life force, live vitamins like A, E, C, and K, and minerals like iron, magnesium, zinc and selenium


2. it's green, therefore packed with antioxidants


3. it's high in fats, therefore perfect for little growing brains, very like breastmilk


4. It's an uber convenient, portable baby food


5. it's anti-inflammatory, therefore perfect for emerging teeth


6. it helps with blood sugar balancing

Other than avocado, Antonio had some mashed sweet potato, some flaked quinoa mixed with expressed breastmilk, and some fruits like pear, apple, rockmellon and late season blood plums (he loved those!).

After an early experience with baby rice cereal which constipated the poor little thing, I did some reading and concluded that I should have followed my instinct not to feed it to him. No one does well on refined grains. I threw out a full box.

At that early stage of fooding, I was more interested that it was a fun experience and generally allowed Antonio as much autonomy as safety permitted. We laughed throughout, and he usually wore at least as much as he ingested. He always licked the bowl.

After the early stages of single tastes, when he began to take 2 and then 3 meals a day, I began to mix his veggies into stews, added some such as carrots, peas, pumpkin, green beans, zucchini, brocoli (loved that...still does!), and grains such as whole oats and whole rice. At this point I tried egg yolks, which were a raging success and I wish I'd started them sooner! I often give them as an appetiser because they increase his interest in dinner.

The value of egg yolk is in the fats, vitamins and minerals. The phospholipids found in runny egg yolk are invaluable brain nutrition. High levels of zinc, calcium, selenium and iron as well as vitamins A, E, and K make it an important food for all of us, but most interesting is the levels of vitamin D, about 110 IU per 100g, means we should consume these all winter long. In fact 2 egg yolks contain 60% of the daily requirement of vitamin D.

Many people are scared to give eggs to their infants because they're on the no-no list of the handy hand-out we get from the child health clinics. This is because infants can't yet digest egg whites, but it's such a shame to ignore the enormous benefits of the yolk. Here is the preparation method that best worked for Antonio and me:

Take one or two free range organic eggs. Boil a small pot of water. Separate white from yolk with your hands. Store the whites in the freezer to make friands, pavlovas etc. Have a small cup (like a little espresso cup) and a soup spoon at the ready. Drop the yolk into the boiling water and wait a minute. Fish it out with the soup spoon and gently peirce the yolk, squeeze the runny stuff into the cup, eat the 'skin' yourself (this way you wont unwittingly serve an off egg to bubby. Trust me it happened last night, thank god I realised!) and serve.

For some current information about egg consumption:

www.whfoods.com

After another while, around 8 months, Antonio tasted meat for the first time, which probably should have been fish, but was organic chicken instead. As it turns out, he loves fish, which I poach for him in coconut cream and water, with a few complimentary veg such as zucchini, peas or broccoli. He enjoys his chicken, beef and lamb too, and his favourite meals from this range of foods include my Grandma's chicken stew, lamb stew, "Baby Bucco" which is his own version of Osso Bucco, and poached fish. I am careful to space out his intake of meat to go easy on his little liver, and I tend to give yolks on the non meat days. I try to give him home made chicken stock as often as possible, as this mineral rich brew is arguably the most beneficial thing he could ingest.

His favourite vegetarian meals include dahl / lentil and veg soup, pumpkin risotto, potato and broccoli, minestrone with quinoa, banana and avocado with coconut cream, and the very recently added plain, full fat, natural yoghurt. He also enjoys nawing on some of my avocado rye bread toast.

The foods Antonio has not yet tasted are those I consider to be on the unhealthy side; sugar and refined wheat products like bread and pasta. The later his body has to deal with these insults the better he'll be set up for health in later life. You may find yourself thinking "I was given pasta as a baby", and many people do this, but consider that the cultures whose chronic and increasing ill-health are those that consume refined carbohydrates, while the healthiest people on the planet do not. Rather than emulate your own parents, move forward with what science has shown our ancestors knew; food comes from nature, not factories.

I encourage anyone in charge of a childs's diet to pick up a copy of Jude Bereau's Wholefoods For Children, and also Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions. Both are exceptional and very complete nutrition advisers.

As I refine the recipes Antonio prefers, I may post them in subsequent blogs.

X X X

Eating warm

There is no one right way to eat. I believe the only rule about nutrition is this; if you're not feeling vital and energetic, looking and feeling fabulous, change something. We all deserve to feel awesome all the time, and food choices are one of the biggest determining factors. However 'correct food choices' means something different at different times of the year, depending on your ethnicity, age, level of activity, job and so many other lifestyle factors.

Thus, when I'm asked what we should eat during Winter, I find it a little difficult to launch into the discussion. So what I will do is take the opportunity to talk about seasonal eating, since this topic takes things like geography into account.

First, I shall yet again point out the flaws in the current prevailing supermarket food supply. If you buy 'fresh' food from the supermarket you probably have no idea what's in season at what time of year, since supermarkets transport frozen foods over vast distances and keep them in cold storage for very long periods so they can be available year round. So while some of the produce may be reasonably fresh, some will not be, and those that aren't have seriously compromised nutritional values. Even when you buy organic you need to be aware that some things may have been flown in, so familiarise yourself with what is in season in your local area each season.

When it comes to preparation of foods it's important to observe your body's instincts and inclinations. A salad is a very healthy choice in summer, but is far too light at midwinter, when the body needs as much help to warm up as possible. Therefore soups, stews, stir-fries, curries and roasts are the healthy choice for Winter. Of course, cooking the begeezers out of your vegies certainly reduces the nutritional content, so nature thought up a balancer for that too.

Here's a fantastic tip for boosting the nutritional content of your food in Winter time: Cook with your own home made stock.

Stock recipe

(You will need an enormous pot with a lid, a silicone muffin tray and some tuppaware, as well as lots of time.)

2 or 3 chicken carcasses or some beef bones from the biodynamic butcher
2 or 3 carrots
3 stalks of celery
2 unpeeled onions, halved
2 or 3 tbsp white vinegar

Place carcasses or bones into the pot, cover with cold water and add vinegar. Allow to stand for one hour. Add roughly chopped veg and bring to a boil. Using a seive, skim off any scum from the surface, then turn the heat way down to very low, cover and simmer for 6-12 hours for chicken and up to 24 hours for beef stock. Add water if you need to.

Once this has cooled, strain and discard the solids, and freeze the liquid into tuppaware and muffin pans. I find it's useful to mark the number of cups on the container for when you need a specific amount. This won't matter if you're making soup, but for things like rice and quinoa you'll need to know a more exact quantity.

So that's my stock recipe. I make this once every 3 weeks or so to keep my freezer full. The purpose of standing the bones in the vinegar water is to liberate the gelatin and the lovely minerals from them. Preparing food with this stock is a wonderful way to increase the nutritional content. And also much tastier than the packaged stuff! Bonus.

Adding spices to food is another great idea during winter. Cumin, ginger, cloves, black pepper, turmeric, chilli, cardamom, cinnamon and herbs like parsley, thyme, corriander, sage and galangal are really important during winter to warm the body and boost immunity. Cumin turns a pumpkin soup into restaurant quality, along with a little last minute orange zest over the plate. Toss some chilli, garlic and olive oil throgh some lightly blanched greens, or make poached pears with cinnamon or baked apples with cloves, (both can be sweetened with honey) for dessert. Nature provided us with these gorgeous warming spices to keep us healthy. They're used at midwinter in most traditions, just think of the traditional Yule tide plum pudding or mulled wine!

It's important that we get enough salt through Winter, so make sure you cook with a good quality sea salt or rock salt. As always, avoid processed salts containing anti-caking agents and other additives.

Animal products like meat and eggs are very warming foods and therefore best consumed in Winter. During the Summer they can be too heavy and acid forming, but in small amounts they are great during the cold months. If you imagine our primitive ancestor's diet, meat would have featured more during Winter due to a shortage of most other foods, and this is what our bodies are genetically accustomed to.

Other warming foods are the high carbohydrate veg like pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots, leeks, parsnips etc, legumes like beans and lentils, nuts and seeds, and grains like rice, oats and quinoa.

In winter we still require our 2 litres of water daily, but drinking cool water is often the last thing we feel like doing, and quite rightly. During the cold months it's much better to drink warm cups of herbal tea for our fluid intake. Some of the most useful are rosehip tea, which tastes yummy and is a great source of vitamin C, liquorice tea, which soothes the lungs and digestion and decreases stress, and green tea, which is full of antioxidants like quercetin (which is helpful in treating varicose veins).

When I was going through school I remember being freezing in the classroom and playground during winter. It's really difficult to combat this using food since it has to be sent in a lunch box, but it is possible. Personally I would love to see tuck shops producing some healthy warm food for kids lunches. But until that time, here are some tips for keeping little ones (and big little ones) warm using food.

Breakfast should be warm and heavy; eggs, either soft boiled, lightly fried or poached, or some organic oatmeal with honey are perfect. Then fill the lunchbox with heavy, wholesome snacks like organic salted nuts, crispy polenta sticks, real cheese (not the processed stuff), vegie patties made with grated sweet potato, leek or zucchini, or a cold rice or quinoa pilau made with your homemade stock, some spices and some vegies. If you have to put in a sandwich, replace the salad and sprouts with a piece of grilled chicken or roast lamb, some cheese, avocado and some grilled veggies. Use a heavier bread like rye or oat flour bread, and maybe even grill it. When their food keeps them warm they'll learn better and have more energy to run around and warm up even more.

So to conclude, follow your instincts in every season. Find a way to continue to eat healthy, whole foods so they keep you warm, using ideas like homemade stock, quality salt and spices.

If your immunity needs an extra boost, try a good quality powdered vitamin C supplement and some zinc tablets, or see your naturopath for individualised treatment.

Warm fuzzies! Love, Sara

What Is Natural?

I came across this really interesting question as I leafed through the food legislation news headlines this week. The reason I find it so interesting is because there are currently too many definitions of the word natural within the language of the Western diet, and I believe it's really important that we pause and consider what 'natural' means to each of us.

Food industry use the word 'natural' liberally on food packaging. This is understandable, it appeals to people who value health. But how natural is natural? The dictionary defines it as "existing in or formed by nature". This definition works well for me. As a naturopath I believe all our food should be formed by nature and untouched by man. Thus, if you're reading a package label, you're often way off the mark already! Even if it does claim to be natural, it probably wasn't formed by nature. With the exception of natural pot set yoghurt (the really sour stuff), possibly a couple of items in the health asile (but by no means all of them), most things claiming natural ingredients are far from being formed by nature.

Colourings and flavourings are often advertised as natural. This strikes me as odd considering they're often synthesised in a lab. Currently the laws allow food industry to call a colour or flavour natural even if it's a synthetic copy of a substance found in nature. This said, I can't think of a single food containing added colours and flavours, natural or otherwise, that I would call a real food.

Sugars often confuse people attempting to eat well. When refined sugar is added to food it becomes junk food. This is true of many things we may think are good for us, like breakfast cereals, yoghurts, cheeses, breads and juice. Many commercial juices scream that they have no added sugar. What they fail to mention is that they have added loads of concentrated fructose (this is the meaning of 'reconstituted'), which science is learning can be more damaging than ordinary sugar. Eating a whole fruit is fine because it's dilute. The fibre and water in the fruit act as buffers and slow the absorption of the sugars. Other truly natural sugars include raw, unprocessed honey, raw, unprocessed maple syrup, palm sugar and agave syrup. Even these should be used sparingly.

Grains are another misleading area. Grains are made to sound natural by use of the word 'wholegrain'. A whole grain should be one that is visibly whole, exactly as is was when it was pulled from the stalk, like rice, oats or quinoa. Most breakfast cereals are made from refined, processed grains, while their box advertises the 'wholegrain goodness' of the contents. Remember, if it's not a true whole grain, it's sugar, not complex carbohydrate, and therefore not a good breakfast choice. The same is true of crispbreads, rice crackers, pasta, bread and couscous.


Oils are another problem. Any oil sold in a clear bottle, or that doesn't say 'cold pressed' is not natural. It's been mixed with petrochemicals and boiled to incredible temperatures to give it shelf life. These oils and the margarines made from them are certainly not natural or healthy, despite sporting the heart foundation tick.

In fact, if I'm going to be really picky, how natural is it to use chemical fertilisers, pesticides and fungicides on our food crops? Or to freeze them for weeks before selling them? For me, the only truly natural foods are fresh, organic plant foods and biodynamic animal products.

I think it's really important that we all consider what our food is made from, because our body is made from what we choose to eat. It's sad that food has become so complex that we have to wonder 'which food is really food?', but in the west its the only way to stay healthy. So, next time you see the word 'natural' on some 'food' ask yourself "was this formed by nature or by a guy in a factory?".

http://www.foodnavigator.com/Legislation/What-natural-means-in-food-regulations/?c=mvNDRfNEiPf7l3PB0f6h2g%3D%3D&utm_source=Newsletter_Subject&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%2BSubject