Slow Cooker Dahl

If you’ve been investigating my recipes for a little while now, you’ve probably become aware that at this point in my life, I’m rather lazy. Incredibly so in fact. I don’t particularly indulge in the creative process of cooking and tend to rush through it thinking of all the other things I’d rather be doing (perhaps in the future in another time and place, when my mind is a calm, serene, open expansiveness of love I’ll get into it more?). Because of this, I tend to make things that are disgustingly quick, easy and of course, healthy. (Please, God. Don’t let me be the only one on earth who finds cooking a bit of a pain in the proverbial! Sigh. One day… when I have a live in, organic gourmet vegan chef who will delicately feed me ripe, juicy grapes one by one, permacultured in my own backyard…)

My mum (thank you Mum!) gave me her crock pot recently and it’s true, I’m in LOOOOOOOOVE! Chucking stuff in a big pot and pressing “GO” just fills me with a sense of lightness, freedom and copious congratulations over what an AWESOME wife and cook I am. Grin. So here is my latest offering! Enjoy!

Ingredients

• I cup of red lentils
• 3 cups of water
• any kind of vegies you want – carrots, tatoes, pumpkin – cut into BIG chunks (you can even add leafy greens but I wouldn’t put them in till about 20 minutes before the slow cooker time is up or they’ll go to mushy)
• I tsp (level or heaped, depending on how spicy you like things) of the following:
  chilli powder (or 2 fresh chillies cut in half)
  ginger powder (again, fresh here is always best!)
  cumin powder
  tumeric (fresh tumeric is amazing! You can use it for heaps of other very cool things too like colds and flus, breathing difficulties and digestive stuff. It’s been shown in several studies now to have a very good effect on many kinds of cancer – particularly prostrate and inflammatory bowel disease.)
• one large white or brown onion
• salt to taste (don’t be afraid of salt – it makes stuff taste GOOD! Most folk I know underuse salt when they cook Indian so it never tastes quite like it does in the restaurants. Salt is the key! Use a good quality sea salt.)

Method

1. Chop the onion up and fry it in a pan along with the powdered spices (don’t fry the fresh ones – just add them to the dahl in chunks of your liking). Fry it till the onion’s transparent and you can smell all that yummyness in the air. Coconut oil is the best oil to use for cooking but do shop around a bit – some brands have a really strong taste that can impact the end result. I’m using Elaeis Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil at the moment and I love it!
2. Chuck all the other ingredients (bar the leafy greens) in your slow cooker. You can add more water if you want more of a traditional dahl soupy texture.
3. Set it on low, go about your day and come back 6 – 8 hours later
4. A bit before you’re ready to eat, bung on some rice and away you go! A very nourishing meal without the rice though.
5. Mmmmm… ladle out into bowls and sprinkle with something green – coriander is perfect but shallots are just as good! You can even add a little sour yoghurt if that suits you for the true Indian flavour combo…

Fat, Fat and More Fat…

FAT: The Good, The Bad & The Avoid At All Costs

For over 30 years, fat has generously shouldered the blame for our ever increasing levels of heart disease, cancer and obesity. The message from the media, medical profession and weight loss industry has been clear: fat = bad news. Over the past few years though, a much more fat friendly outlook on how and what we should be eating for optimum health and happiness is developing. We’re starting to see that the amount of fat we eat isn’t really that important, rather it’s the type and balance of fat we eat that either contributes to health or disease. Those of us watching this transformation and swing of ideas may be left slightly disoriented about what’s really what in the world of health, fat and our body.

To simplify and understand the fat issue, let’s start with a few core concepts that merge nutrition, eating habits and physiology together:

1. We need fat. Fat is essential to life.

   Every living organism – plant, human, animal, reptile, bird and fish is made up of lots and lots of cells. Almost every single one of these cells is surrounded by a protective fatty membrane that governs what goes in and out of the cell. In our bodies, that means that fat not only builds and repairs our cells, it regulates hormones, helps us to absorb many essential vitamins, combats cancer with its antioxidant properties, nourishes our skin and hair, buffers our nervous system and is a master source of energy to be used and stored for when we need it. More and more research is emerging that proves the effectiveness of particular fats in protecting our heart from degeneration, promoting brain function and longevity, healing mental illness and even promoting weight loss among other health benefits.

2. We like fat. It tastes good to us.

   In fact, we are hard-wired to enjoy the taste of fat as the life of each of our cells depends upon us wanting to eat it. Fat adds and enhances the flavour, richness and texture of our food making creamy, smooth, crunchy and crispy yumminess to delight our senses and our bellies. Fat takes time to digest and so helps us to feel full and satisfied longer so we are better able to eat only what we need vs over-eating on calorie-rich yet empty foods. Fat has been a vital part of our diet for thousands and thousands of years with many traditional cultures today like the Eskimos and the Masai still consuming huge amounts of animal fat daily with no adverse consequences. Some studies have even identified that high cholesterol levels found in people who eat traditional diets with loads of saturated fat do NOT actually contribute to heart disease so there’s much more to this picture. Animal fat has been getting a bad rap for decades now but many nutritionists and health professionals are understanding that it is instead, the combination of lots of animal fat with no exercise and a low-fibre, low-vegetable diet that is more of a concern.
   

3. There is Good Fat, Okay Fat and Avoid-At-All-Costs Fat

   The Good fat is unsaturated and liquid at room temperature. It can be found in many nuts and seeds, green leafy vegetables, olives and oily fish like salmon, sardines and mackerel. The good fats are “good” because they either lower our levels of bad cholesterol or increase our levels of good cholesterol which protects our heart and makes sure our circulatory system and blood remain clean, unclogged and healthy.

   The “okay” fat is saturated and solid at room temperature. Okay fat is “okay” because it lowers the amount of good cholesterol in our blood and too much of this can of course, be a bad thing. Here we find animal fat as well as the fat in milk, cheese, cream, yoghurt and ice-cream.  Coconut oil is also a saturated fat but evidence is emerging that’s moving this particular fat into the “good” fat category as it is highly anti-microbial, anti-fungal, anti-viral, increases metabolism, improves digestion and strengthens our immune system.

   The Avoid-At-All Costs-Fat is manufactured and created in laboratories purely for the purposes of prolonging the shelf life of certain foods and thus increasing profits. In this category we find trans fats, hydrogenated fats and partially hydrogenated fats which have been turned from a liquid to a solid through a process called hydrogenation. The Avoid-At-All-Costs Fats are toxic, man-made chemicals that damage our hearts, our arteries and our cholesterol levels every time we eat them. Trans fat has been strongly linked to weight gain and coronary heart disease as these fats inhibit the good cholesterol in our body and increase the bad cholesterol. Ironically, trans fats were once thought to be superior to saturated fats and were designed to replace the “bad” fats in our diet that were supposedly contributing to our escalating levels of heart disease and obesity. These days, evidence is strongly suggesting that it is these fats, trans fat that are responsible for clogging our arteries, damaging our hearts and killing us prematurely, NOT saturated fats as was originally thought.

   There is no “safe” level of consumption of these fats and put simply, they are alien, unknown and poisonous to our body. Many countries in Europe and states in the US have banned the use of trans fats in food manufacturing and in restaurants because of this danger. Unfortunately, trans fat labeling is not mandatory in Australia so be aware that if a food is processed and comes in a packet and if it has “fat” in the nutritional advice table, the probability it contains trans fat is huge. Keep your eye out for “hydrogenated” anything or “partially hydrogenated” anything else on ingredients labels and choose an un-processed option or one with natural fat in it instead.

   We find Avoid-At-All-Costs Fat in margarine, all fast food and deep fried munchies, baked goods, biscuits, icing, microwave popcorn, vegetable oils, potato chips, corn chips, crackers and doughnuts – pretty much everything processed. This recent 60 Minutes segment in July 2010 clearly outlines the dangers of trans-fats to our health and why we should indeed avoid them at all costs.

Simplifying the Good Fat Vs Bad Fat Thang…

• Eat fat. REAL fat.

  Look for the fat that you can see with your own two eyes. Can you spread it on bread? See it surrounding meat? Watch it float to the surface in a bowl of soup? See the oil bead on fish? Drool over bacon rind? Spoon the creaminess out of an avocado skin? That fat is REAL and our magnificent bodies know how to work with that kind of fat. We can also measure it and be aware when we are eating it unlike the hidden, trans fats that are so dangerous. If we only eat the fat we can see, we are in a much better position to cut down the amount we eat if want to, rather than relying on guess work, calorie counting or strict guidelines to control our intake.

• Eat whole food

  If you primarily eat a diet high in fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and whole grains you are getting an adequate amount of really good fats. If you eat small amounts of high quality, organic meat and oily fish regularly, you are getting even more good fat. Your body knows what to do with the fat from whole food and will integrate and absorb the nutrients much more efficiently when consumed in this way rather than from synthetic or concentrated supplements of “good” fat which may be rancid, adulterated or otherwise falsely presented on the supermarket shelf. Eating wholesome, natural foods the way nature intended also makes it easy for us to choose foods free from toxic, chemical, hydrogenated and avoid-at-all-costs fat.

• Use your oils in the best way possible

  When choosing good oils to eat, always look for “cold-pressed” and “extra virgin” on the label – that way you know that all the nutrients present in the original food the oil was derived from haven’t been destroyed in heat processing. Because all good oils change their chemical structure with heating, don’t cook with them. Instead use a splash of olive oil on a green leafy salad and eat your nuts raw and unroasted. Store your good oils in dark bottles and in the fridge if you can as light, heat and air oxidise them. For cooking, coconut oil is emerging as the oil of choice despite the fact that it’s saturated. This is because coconut oil is extremely stable at high temperatures and retains many of its health benefits despite heating.

• Avoid any product making loud claims about it’s fat content

  Any product that sells itself as “low-fat” or “no-fat”, “reduced-fat” or “fat-free” quite likely has either trans fat in it or is making up for the lack of taste factor with sugar and other simple carbohydrates. This is a certain trap that many health professionals believe is the true culprit behind our ever increasing waist bands, rapidly rising diabetes levels and killer heart disease. Keep in mind that we need fat to survive – it’s essential to our physical functioning but we don’t need simple carbohydrates in the same way – we can get all the sugar we need from healthy whole grains and other complex carbs, fruit and vegetables in our diet.

When it comes to creating extraordinary health and happiness, the most important part is feeling good about ourselves and the food that we’re eating. This can be difficult in a world where science changes it’s mind on a regular basis and nutritional golden rules are being thrown out the window faster than new ones can replace them. So the next time you find yourself eating fat and perhaps questioning it’s value, keep in mind the following definitions…

Fat:
- Abounding in desirable elements
- Fertile or productive
- Yielding profit or plenty; lucrative or rewarding
- Prosperous; wealthy
- The best or richest part

Team work. Um… what’s that?

(also titled, “Together Everyone Achieves Magic” or even “Team Work Makes The Dream Work” or perhaps “My 58km Walk”)

Previously, in a different time and place, I once felt alone. Quite content in this really, I’d thought I’d made friends with the great existential questions that descend upon us periodically: the realisation that we’re born alone and we die alone and that what happens in between those two events is essentially meaningless.

I’ve always believed in complete and utter self-responsibility for my thoughts and actions, that the decisions I make moment to moment don’t really have the power to affect other people and if they think they do, well, that’s their responsibility, not mine. This may sound a little harsh or cold (or selfish) but it seems quite natural to me, direct.

This self-responsibility extended to every situation I found myself in – from the joyous to the painful. I am responsible for my experience here. There is no one to blame, no finger to be pointed. Things just happen and if I find those things somewhat uncomfortable, that’s my responsibility. I am, after all, here purely for my own personal evolution, my own private journey to self-actualisation, one step at a time.

Of course I knew that I wasn’t here alone, everyone around me is on their own trip to truth but I honestly believed that I didn’t need anyone by my side, no hand-holding, no encouragement, no pats on the back required. Sure, those things are nice, warm and fuzzy but not essential to the achievement of my goals. I could always go within to find everything I needed: stillness, strength and commitment. I am an island, free of all dependence.

I was always “the strong one” in my family, the one that everyone knew would be OK no matter what. I was the one that never cried and never asked for help. I never gave anyone much of an opportunity to help me either. I didn’t want to be vulnerable. I didn’t want to be a burden, just another thing to do on someone’s ever-expanding to-do list. I kept myself separate. The words “trust” and “other people” had a strange and alien-like ring to them.

For so many years (lifetimes perhaps?), I’ve placed enormous value on this sense of my own solidarity. I thought it made me different, special, perhaps even better than other people, more intelligent and enlightened maybe. Yeah, OK. Sometimes I felt so disconnected that I thought no one could actually see me, so much like a freak that I was missing out on something that everyone else on the planet just seemed to understand. This came to dominate my entire approach to new experiences and new friendships.

For sure, there were moments of relief, brief flashes of angelic harmonies that uplifted my soul and proved to me that in fact, I could ONLY walk this path with others – that through my interactions, I get to see my blind spots, my limitations, my “issues”. I get a perfect reflection of my own beauty. I get love and respect and laughter and stimulating conversations. I get community. I get purpose. I get worth.

For all the reasons mentioned previously, I’ve obviously never really been much of a team player. In the past, I’d find myself becoming irritated, bossy and uptight (probably because I thought I could do it better than anyone else). I avoided teams wherever possible and preferred instead to rely on my own efforts and ingenuity (which has worked out quite well up to this point!).

So it was with an attitude of fierce independence, complete self-responsibility and team trepidation that I approached this year’s Gold Coast Kokoda Challenge, Australia’s toughest team endurance event: 96 km of rough terrain and steep hills to be covered in 39 hours.

Not surprisingly (and I say this ONLY with the wisdom of hind sight), it didn’t work.

In our five months of weekend training and preparation, I gave not a single thought to team dynamics. I mean, I knew it would be hard, I knew I’d be in pain, I knew I’d struggle with fatigue and negativity at times but I was convinced that my coping strategies and sense of commitment and dedication would be enough. Me me me me me me me me. I could do this on my own. I didn’t need anyone.

Not so. Not so at all.

I needed constant communication with every member of my team. I needed to reach out to them. I needed to be supported by the people I was walking with. I needed encouragement and congratulations from others. I needed cheering and phone calls and text messages. I needed someone to tell me to keep going, to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I needed my Mum. I needed someone to make all my decisions. I needed to be met with welcoming smiles from people I care about. I needed to feel like I wasn’t alone. I needed help.

And so, I am humbled by this treacherous, uneven, rocky, steep, slippery, slimy, smooth, sweaty, hot, cold, dusty, wet, dry, grassy, muddy, leechy, lush, light, dark, difficult, easy and loooooooooooooooooong journey (with some magnificent views on the way) that we share together.

I cannot do this journey alone.

But more than that…

I don’t want to.

I want to do it.

With YOU.

The Ultimate Endurance Athlete Smoothie

My husband and I have been on a mammoth training exercise for 4 months now in preparation for Australia’s toughest endurance event – The Gold Coast Kokoda Challenge. We’ve been madly researching extraordinarily healthy ways to get oodles of carbs, protein and energy into us for the 96 km-in-under-39-hours walk (or run for the truly committed athletes out there) that’s on this weekend (EGAD!!!). We’ve been looking into carbohydrate loading, the magic of coconut water for rehydration, superfoods, energy shots and more BUT we want to do this WITHOUT refined sugar and caffeine (most sports drinks and energy gels are loaded with both). One solution we’ve come across that gets a big tick in all our boxes are smoothies – quick fuel, easy to digest, full of simple carbs, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals and LOTS of other excellent nutrients.  Awesome pre, post and during our extended periods of training!

Ingredients

• 1 banana (Boosts haemoglobin in the blood!)
• 1/2 avocado (Mmmm…. yum… It may be a bit strange to put avocado in a smoothie but it gives a beautiful smooth and rich texture – creamy even. The good fat.)
• 1 tbsp maca powder (Maca is the highest growing crop on earth and increases blood oxygen – who needs blood doping when you’ve got maca???)
• 1 tbsp cacao powder (Oh! Raw chocolate! Let me count the ways in which I love you!)
• 1 tsp bee pollen (best known to increase strength, energy, speed, stamina and endurance. The Swedish and Russian Olympic teams have been taking it for ages!)
• 1 tbsp goji berries (strengthens the immune system, adrenals, stamina and energy. The Chinese have loved the Goji berries for thousands of years and they recommend it for longevity too!)
• 1 .5 cups water
• 1 tbsp honey or to taste (you can use any sweetener here – agave, maple syrup, you can even substitute fresh juice for water and discover you don’t need sweetener at all!)

Method
Chuck it all in a blender and press go. I like to blend my smoothies for quite a while (there’s nothing worse than chunky bits!). You can add some ice if you like your smoothies cold or even make them based on yoghurt or milk if you prefer. I like to keep things simple and find that water is an excellent base for all smoothies. Another step you can add is it to pre-soak in water the goji berries and the bee pollen – this makes them softer and easier to blend and digest for our tummies. You can also add any fruit you like or make changes to the amounts – fresh strawberries are magnificent this time of year! Smoothie making is an alchemical process of self-discovery – experiment, have fun and most of all, enjoy!

Important note: When beginning to take bee pollen, always start with a tiny amount and slowly work your way up. It’s a very potent nutritional food that can cause allergic reactions in some people. To test if this is the case with you, put a few granules in your mouth and wait for about 15 minutes. Any reaction to bee pollen most often includes anxiety, a mucousy feeling in the throat and mouth, heart beating fast and a sense of swelling of the tongue with some difficulty swallowing.

Fasting For Better Health & Detoxification

Fasting has been around for thousands of years. It is the oldest and some say, the most effective natural healing therapy for our physical, mental and emotional ailments. It does something to our bodies, minds and spirits that no other remedy does. It’s quite literally, life-changing – transformational medicine in it’s purest form.

Fasting plays a part is every religion on earth. Buddha, Jesus, Moses, Elijah and Mohammed all fasted to purify their bodies and minds. The Sufis and the Essenes both used it extensively. Many indigenous cultures such as the Native Americans value fasting. Socrates, Plato, Galen, Aristotle, Paracelsus and Hippocrates the father of medicine all advocated abstaining from food and used fasting therapeutically.

Have you ever been sick and simply not wanted to eat? In fact, has the thought of food been quite a turn-off and the farthest thing from your mind? That is your body naturally fasting, naturally negating the drive to eat because food is not the best thing for you at this particular time. Have you ever had a pet that has refused to eat? This is their way of encouraging the healing process – an instinctual knowledge that the body has more important things to do than digest right now.

Fasting is precious time that we give to our internal organs to breathe out, have a break, relax, recharge and restore. We do the same for our mind when we go on holiday or get a massage. Why not give our body the occasional break too?

Have you ever considered fasting?
What do you think would happen if you simply didn’t eat food for a while?
What do you think would change? How do you think you would feel?

This article is a brief overview of fasting designed to inform and perhaps inspire a fasting journey of your own. You certainly won’t regret it and will be amazed by your body’s inherent ability to heal and the insights you gain on so many levels.

What is fasting?

The word “fast” itself give us a clue. By avoiding food or certain types of food for a time we literally speed up the natural detoxification and cleansing process that is happening constantly in our body and we speed up cellular renewal and regeneration. So a fast is a cure, a remedy and a therapeutic action. In the purest sense of the word, fasting refers to total abstinence from all food, whether it’s 40 days or 10 days or even 1 day. In more modern times fasting can also refer to limiting particular food intake or perhaps eating only one type of food or taking fresh fruit and vegetable juices only. There are so many different types of fasts and internal cleanses to choose from and you can tailor them to suit your individual needs. You can even do a simple cleanse by avoiding all alcohol, dairy, caffeine and processed food and drinking more water if you like, this alone will have an extremely beneficial effect on your body.

Why should I fast?

Good question and there are as many reasons as their are people on the planet. Some fast to cure cancer or diabetes. Some fast for weight loss. Some fast for detoxification and to improve liver function. Some fast as preventative medicine. Some fast for chronic skin conditions or digestive complaints. Some fast for self-realisation. In my own recent 40 day fast my intentions were to simply get more in touch with the internal functioning of my body and mind, to lessen my emotional attachment to certain foods (think potato chips and chocolate) and to rekindle my fascination for the healing properties of food we eat daily. For me and many others, fasting is a way to look at our habits when it comes to food consumption and reassess our diet. It allows us to keep what is working and get rid of what isn’t. It also allows us to clearly identify the moments we confuse cravings and comfort eating with the nutrients the body and mind really need.

Fasting has been used to successfully treat the following: colds, flu and respiratory symptoms, headaches, reproductive system issues, allergies, skin conditions, ulcers, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, mental illness, epilepsy, obesity, fatigue, back pain, indigestion, diarrhea, constipation and insomnia.

Fasting promotes purification, clearer skin, anti-ageing, reduction in allergies, improved immune system function, change of habits, better sleep, greater ability to relax, more energy and clarity of focus, rest for the digestive system, improved sense of smell, taste, hearing and vision, dietary changes, creativity, new ideas, inspiration, better attitude, spiritual awareness and right use of will. Pretty cool huh?

Who shouldn’t fast?

As with any changes is health you are thinking about making there are always considerations. For the following group of people fasting is not recommended unless under the careful guidance of an experienced health professional: pregnant women, underweight people or those with serious physical and mental degeneration and those with major nutritional deficiencies.

How do I fast?

Fasting can be a controversial topic and there are many schools of thought on the best way to do it. Here are four steps to follow to start your journey:

1. Educate yourself on the best possible fast for your body and your lifestyle – you are unique and what works for another may not work for you. Seeing an experienced health professional who listens and who wants to guide and support you through your fast is highly recommended.
2. Choose a suitable time. Winter is never suggested as it is a natural storage and rest time for your body. Other than that, the change of seasons is always good (out with old and in with the new!). Lighten your schedule if you can while you fast.
3. Begin and plan your fast. The reality of you having nothing to do but nurture yourself is pretty thin unless you go on a retreat of some sort so making a start is the most important thing. Be easy on yourself. You will experience rapid change that may surprise you but the results and how you will feel after your fast will blow you away. Make sure you’re prepared and have everything you need as going to a supermarket may not be high on your priorities.
4. Listen to your body. It will clearly tell you if what you are doing is working or not. Surround yourself with supportive people, give yourself some time to go through the initial detox symptoms (very commonly some degree of discomfort, headaches, bowel change, fatigue and irritability for the 3-5 days) Know you are doing an amazing thing for your body and mind that will change your whole experience of health.

There is much, much more to say about fasting and the correct way to do it. Thousands of years worth of study in fact! We have simply scraped the surface. With everything in relation to health this is about you. How do you choose to take responsibility for your body, mind and emotions? Fasting is nature’s doctor and is one extremely practical and effective way to achieve better health, more energy and greater passion and clarity for the gift of life.

Using Our Food As Medicine

The idea of food as medicine excites me. The thought that every day we can choose to put in our mouths or take into our bodies substances that can add to our ability to live our lives as fully and vibrantly as we possibly can is exhilarating! We can go to our fridge or our pantry or our fruit bowl and choose life, choose a powerful nutrient, choose a magical healing element to become a part of us. We can go outside to our garden, to our herb pots, to our lemon tree and pick, pluck from the earth a gift that can help us feel well – right now and into the future. We don’t need a spoonful of sugar to help get this medicine down. We don’t need a prescription. We don’t need to sit in a waiting room flicking aimlessly through ancient copies of Women’s Day or National Geographic only to be shuffled through with a 5 minute consult that’s supposed to cure all our ailments. We don’t need a university degree or some kind of highly specialised knowledge other than that gained by simply being human and breathing.

This medicine, food, is available to us anywhere and everywhere we go. We are bombarded by ads and pictures and conversations and good deals and markets and packets and special occasions and visions and smells all day, everyday. The influence of food is inescapable for food is life. Food is a drug that can harm or heal. Food is a consistent, cheap, easy, convenient and legal pleasure. Food is big business. Food is medicine.

Somewhere along the line though we forgot that last bit though. We forgot that food has the mystical power to either heal or harm. We forgot that food influences us every single day of our lives both internally and externally. We forgot that food is life in the most profound way imaginable. Oops.

The result is that many of us no longer recognise what real food is or are aware of how we eat each morsel that touches our lips. We don’t look at food and see medicine. We look at food and see an end to hunger, an end to distraction. We look at food and see fuel to keep us going or quick energy or fat or protein or carbohydrates. We look at food and see a yummy taste, emotional satisfaction, convenience or “time in a packet”. We look at food and see calories and kilojoules as good or bad as right or wrong. We look at food through tired eyes and busy minds looking to get our most immediate needs met.

Food moves further and further down the scale of importance, far below time and money and other people, far below our state of mind in any given moment. Food has been relegated to petrol, sustenance, a gap filler, a pleasure, and for socialising only. Food is taken for granted and ignored just like we ignore signals from our bodies over many years – just like we ignore the needs of our bodies. We forgot, somewhere along the line about the transformative aspect of food and the incredible power of the medicine chest we keep in our fridges and pantries and fruit bowls. We started grabbing things to fill a hole, to munch, crunch and slurp above and beyond our physiological requirements.

And that’s when things started getting really serious…That’s when we started getting sick.

We can change all that though. We can heal ourselves. Learning specifically about the gift of certain foods and the nutrients they contain is not only fascinating but fun and empowering no matter what your level of health is right now. Beginning to use food as medicine is the first step on a mosey, jog or canter to better health. There’s a whole other world out there, there’s a whole other world in that apple you’re eating… Enjoy!

Scrumptious Healthy Chocolate Fudge

Time for something sweet again! My good friend Suzie, a quietly passionate vegan property investor and author from You Can gave me this recipe for healthy chocolate fudge recently. I haven’t made it yet but my mouth’s watering just thinking about it! And, as she so eloquently put it, the more people who know about it, the happier the world will be! (I just love that thought – that each of us has an impact on the amount of peace and health in the world just by choosing what we eat each day…)

The Fudge

• 1 1/2 cups walnuts ground
• 10 – 12 California dates (the big juicy ones) or 15 – 20 Iranian dates
• 1/3 cup organic powdered cacao
• 1/2 tbsp water or enough to reach a thick, fudge like texture

The Sauce

• 1 cup raspberries – fresh is always best of course but frozen are pretty darn good too
• 1/4 cup dates (pre-soak in water for a couple of minutes)

The Method

1. Mix together in a big bowl with a wooden spoon, all the base ingredients. Spoon this mixture into a 12 x 8 inch dish in the fridge fridge to set for a couple of hours.
2. Mix together the raspberries and soaked dates for the sauce. You can blend this with a hand blender if you want a smoother consistency but big and chunky is good too!
3. Cut the fudge into small square and serve with the sauce drizled over top or as a dipping sauce for the fudge.

Divine yum!

The 5 Best Ways To Solve Digestive Problems

So, you’ve figured it out. You feel tired often after eating with lots of wind coming from both ends, gurgles, discomfort and perhaps tummy pain. You feel bloated and have funny bowel movements from time to time. Maybe you get indigestion. Your skin may not be as radiant as it once was and your mind is a little foggy with the act of thinking being somewhat difficult or at best, slow to get started. You’ve got a food intolerance or a food sensitivity. You’ve got a digestive issue.

In this, our third and final chapter on food allergies, intolerances and digestive stuff, we’ll take a look at the “how to” with my 5 greatest tips gleaned from personal experience and working with clients clinically over the last 14 years. I very firmly believe that we can heal our bodies of almost anything and chronic food issues are no exception. Even with extreme food allergies, there are many modalities (homeopathy and kinesiology come to mind) that are known for being able to cure and reverse the immune system response!

The tips below are in no particular order of importance and you don’t have to do every step, just pick one or two that are easiest for you to implement right now. One small step each day goes a long way toward bringing your digestive system back into health so you can live a life of balance and moderation without necessarily avoiding food you love all the time.

1.  Love your body and love yourself
Cultivate the attitude of acceptance, surrender and self-love, no matter what your body is currently doing. Trust that where you are now is perfect and that no matter what, your body is doing everything it can to give you balance and health. Acknowledge the good.

2.  Educate yourself
You’re doing it right now. As much or as little as you like. Find out what else is possible the realms of health and healing for you. Ask questions. Find others with similar experiences and see what works for them. Be a life-long student of you and your body (you’ll never get tired of this!).

3.  Improve your digestion

This internal solution address your body’s ability to mechanically break down food, absorb nutrients from the food and eliminate all the remaining waste products. Done properly, this process leaves our tummies, livers, pancreas’ and small and large intestines clean, happy with our entire body, mind and spirit nourished and energised. Done properly. For the rest of us however, there a gaZILLION ways you can improve your digestion so use the list below to kick-start the process and give some structure around what you already may be doing:

• try an elimination diet to identify further the offending food or foods? – popular places to start are dairy, wheat, gluten and sugar
• have half a lemon in warm water first thing every morning
• look into food combining – you may find that simply a combination of certain foods is aggravating your belly and creating discomfort
• do a short internal cleanse or fast to wipe the slate clean and transform your energy and focus
• improve the quality of the food you eat every day
• eat whole food direct from nature as much as possible

4.  Address stress
What’s eating away at you? What do you keep chewing over? Is there a thorn in your side? Do you worry or obsess about things? Are you holding on to life and not letting it go? Our digestive system responds every moment to a delicate balance of hormones and blood flow and chronic stress affects our ability to digest and assimilate food. We even have neurotransmitters throughout our digestive system! Find a way to be more at ease within your self and your body. Yoga, meditation, tai chi and many other practices are excellent at healing the effects of chronic stress on the body and mind.

5.  See a health practitioner
By health practitioner, I mean someone who’s deeply passionate about helping others to their utmost human potential (most doctors unfortunately, know an extraordinary amount about pharmaceuticals and disease but extraordinarily little about how to create vibrant health and wellbeing). Most health practitioners are also “wounded healers” meaning they have come to practice their art and share their wisdom because of their own journey healing themselves of disease, pain and chronic conditions. When you see someone like an health coach, acupuncturist, herbalist, naturopath, homeopath, remedial therapist, nutritionist and many others, you are getting the benefit of their years of self-education and experience proven by reams of past clients and anecdotal evidence. You are getting their knowledge of how to create states of ever expanding health, vitality and energy. Why reinvent the wheel? Health practitioners are also extraordinarily well researched (and well, let’s face it, somewhat fanatical at times). You don’t need to take things to this level to work with your food issues but you do need to seek out proven results from the abundance of health and wellness professionals around you. A health practitioner can support you with understanding of your body and practical tools for any dietary change; tools that will make it easy for you to start feeling better right away (with NO side effects!).

The journey from food issues, chronic digestive disturbances, allergies, intolerances and sensitivities is exactly that – a meandering path from where you are right now to relaxation and wellbeing for life. This journey has much to teach us and joy and inspiration can be found along it’s edges, forks, tangents, loops and apparent back tracks. When we stumble on a rock in our way and look up to catch a brief glimpse of a beautiful daisy growing beside the road, we have found perfect health in that moment.

For me, the most important aspect of health and healing is in acknowledging my own magnificent body. I have an abundance of moments every day to choose from – every time I cough, swallow, lick my lips, go to sleep, wake up, go to the toilet, watch a scab heal,  feel an emotion, feel hunger, smell something, see something, touch something, say something or use my hands to do anything, I know that I am complete. I am healthy. I am perfect.

What do you think is the single most important thing in addressing food issues, intolerances, sensitivities and general digestive stuff?
What single thing has made the biggest difference in your health and wellbeing?

Emotional Aspects Of Food Intolerances

Are You Allergic To The Food You’re Eating? Part Two

Life with a food allergy is relatively easy – in the majority of cases you know exactly what to avoid and are fully prepared in the event of some tiny morsel of the offending food touching your lips if you are severely allergic. There’s no mystery with food allergies and many of the people I’ve met are simply used to not eating that particular thing – often they’ve been avoiding it for many years and it’s no problem in their daily life. They are at ease and at peace with their food choices and their food allergy.

Not so for for both myself in the past and for many people I’ve come across clinically who experience a food intolerance or sensitivity. Often, particularly at the beginning of the journey to understanding your unique body there is some level of stress and anxiety and sense of limitation in what we can or cannot eat. We may experience the pressure of strict control, denial and discipline. There can be a sense of the unknown, some frustration about being a victim to certain symptoms that descend either immediately after eating or 1-2 days after eating some unknown “something” that didn’t agree with us.

Sometimes we don’t really even want to know the culprit because we love eating that food so much. It’s not until the symptoms we experience become too debilitating that we think to experiment. I used to LOVE Sol Breads Organic Gluten Free Rice Bread. They also had a Gluten Free Pumpkin and Pepita loaf which was heaven! 2 slices in the morning, toasted with butter and avocado on top was the YUMMIEST breakfast I could imagine for ages. The bread has this amazing texture – sort of like scones but the edges go delightfully crispy and crunchy. M mmm…. I can still taste it! Anyway, what started to happen after a while was that very quickly after eating I would experience a profound fatigue – I’m talking falling asleep standing up kind of fatigue. Total brain fag. I would force myself to move through it, sometimes I even had to pull over if I was driving and after 30 minutes or so, it would pass and I’d feel fine again. It took me about 6 months of this being an almost daily occurrence to realise that the bread was actually causing my intense fatigue. I didn’t realise this until I had a week away with no access to it.

Food intolerances and sensitivities can often occur in that way – a lot of time can pass between connecting vital pieces of the puzzle, a lot of time where we feel less that excellent. I learned a lot over the years about particular substances that cause and create such havoc in food intolerances and it’s an interesting path to investigate for yourself. It becomes a similar approach to that of allergies – we identify the culprit then seek to avoid wherever possible.

Indeed you may need to do this for certain periods of time as it can be an essential element in the healing process – a strict elimination diet, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, processed food-free, alcohol-free, preservative-free, colouring-free and so on. For more information on the intricacies of food intolerances and what can cause them, have a look at The Food Intolerance Network – an excellent website with loads of information and about what ingredients in food can make us and our children sick.

One of the potential problems with approaching food intolerances and sensitivities very strictly over the long term however, is that food intolerances are often that – intolerances to more than one type of food or additive. We often find intolerance to milk AND gluten together for example and because of the huge array of foods commonly available that contain these ingredients, we can wind up feeling more stressed, anxious and frankly, left out.

My sister-in-law is a study in food intolerances. She can’t have wheat. She can’t have dairy. She can’t have gluten. She can’t have honey. She can’t have anything on the menu. Going out to eat with her is a depressing experience. On my recent 30 Day Raw Food Challenge I had first hand insight into the power of shifting your focus from what you can’t have to what you can have. Sitting down to eat lunch with a group of women, I didn’t even bother looking at the menu. I simply asked for a “Big-Arse Salad with nothing on it, just everything you’ve got in the kitchen that’s even slightly salady.” I received this beautiful and abundantly fresh offering on my plate with olive oil on the side. I loved it. I felt immense gratitude for the people at the cafe who made it so easy for me and immense gratitude for the taste, look, smell and vibrancy of the food. I had SO many flavours to keep my mouth busy, nothing added could’ve made it better!

If you have a food intolerance or think you may have one, beware the trap of feeling limited – this is not a healthy way to feel and (I suspect) is actually more damaging than actually eating the food itself. Us humans have so much choice and variety in the food available to us to eat every day (granted, this does complicate things a bit) so put your attention on the bounty and incredible range of healthy and life-giving food you CAN eat. Let gratitude for each meal be as important as the food you are eating.

The next post in this 3 part series on Food Allergies, Intolerances and Sensitives will be all about practical steps you can take in your life to address any food issues and reactions you may be experiencing. We’ll also look at ways to strengthen and cleanse your body so that even if you choose to severely limit particular foods, you can enjoy them in moderation in the future if you want to.

How have food intolerances or issues made you feel in the past?
Have you ever felt limited by what foods you could or couldn’t eat?
How did you deal with that sense of limitation?

I’d love to know!

Vegan Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Soup

It was 5 degrees at my place the other day! 5 degrees in May!!! Nothing makes a soup more tasty than cool weather, a cosy fire and warm hugs. That last bit is ESSENTIAL! Do not make or eat this soup without hugging a minimum of one other person! Even yourself!

Ingredients

• Pumpkin – however much you would like
• Sweet potato – ditto
• Water – however much you need to blend into a soup
• salt & cracked pepper to taste
• coriander / shallots or something else pretty and green to garnish
• a drizzle of tamari or soy sauce

Method

1. Chop the pumpkin and sweet potato in medium chunks. (I once learned a most brilliant way of getting into a pumpkin – take your pumpkin and go outside, find a good patch of cement or driveway, raise the pumpkin above your head and throw the pumpkin directly down on the ground. This easily smashes it open into more manageable pieces all ready for you to chop up! It’s a bit messy but loads of fun! Also very good for releasing any stress, anger and frustration related to opening pumpkins or anything else in your life for that matter…)
2. Cook the pumpkin and sweet potato in any way you choose – boil, steam or bake – it all works out equally yummy. (You can also scoop out the pumpkins seeds, splash a little tamari on them and roast them for an awesome snack or to further garnish the soup!)
3. Boil some water.
4. When the pumpkin and sweet potato are soft and perfect put them in a big pot.
5. Pour some of the boiling water over the pumpkin and sweet potato.
6. Use a hand blender to get the perfect soupy consistency for you – add more water as needed.
7. Taste it. (Now would be a good time to hug someone.)
8. Add salt and pepper to taste. (Now too.)
9. Stir well and pour into soup bowls.
10. Garnish, add the drizzle and serve. (This is another good place to add in that hug or hugs.)

Bon appetit!

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