Category Archives: Health

Preparing for Paleo

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Yesterday afternoon I popped into Food Lovers for some liquorice (it’s a problem) and I ended up with enough veggies to last me all of Paleo With Me Aug – okay, not really, but it sure felt like it. As I was meandering down the aisles I was remembering recipes, snacks, flavours and tips from my previous paleo experiences and was mentally preparing as I went (all the while enjoying my liquorice).

This over-shop resulted in an evening of butternut soup making, banana chip dehydrating and coriander pesto blending (without the parmesan).

One step is ESSENTIAL (read: E-SS-EN-TIAL) to starting strong, enjoying and succeeding at your month of Whole30/paleo eating, and it’s this: PREPARATION.

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Mentally: You need to be mentally prepared. It’s like running a race. I believe, up until a week or two before a race it’s ALL about mental prep – you can’t squeeze any more running into the last 2 weeks before a race. You gotta click into gear mentally. I’d encourage you to read, read, read. Read about how Whole30 started here.  Read through recipes and shopping lists and chat to people who have done this before. Get into the zone, understand what you can and cannot eat and why, plan dinner parties and family celebrations from September onwards. Create a Paleo board on Pinterest and pin your favourite recipes so you can go back to them time and time again. Get your brain in the game.

Here are my recommendations of where to read up on all things Paleo:

– Whole30 and their book ‘It Starts with Food‘ (read the entire website)
– The Clothes Make the Girl, and her books ‘Well Fed‘
– Paleo Grubs
– Stupid Easy Paleo
– NomNom Paleo

Emotionally: Understand this will require a lot of self control. You’ll need to make tough choices. You’ll have to say no to a lot of delicious food that comes past your face. But its for 30 days (well, 31 really, since we’re doing this in August). You’ll have to be brave, and courageous, and you will succeed if you want this enough. Want it enough.

As they say on the Whole30 website: ‘It is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Birthing a baby is hard. Losing a parent is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard. You’ve done harder things than this, and you have no excuse not to complete the program as written. It’s only thirty days, and it’s for the most important health cause on earth – the only physical body you will ever have in this lifetime’.

Practically: GO SHOPPING! Make your shopping list and go for it. Find some easy recipes and buy in bulk. Accept now, that you’ll need to take multiple trips to your fresh produce grocer every week. In my experience, the hardest part of Whole30 is feeling peckish (or downright starving) and scratching through your pantry with nothing to eat. Buy raw nuts, free range eggs, cherry tomatoes, avos and orange sweet potatoes in bulk.

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Once you have what you need in your pantry, prepare your kitchen. Remove all bad food and get cooking. Make soup and freeze it, boil eggs and have them ready to grab on the go, make beet humus and chop up crudités. Blend up almonds and make almond butter to eat with sliced apple, make homemade beef patties and pop them in the freezer, grate sweet potatoes and blend up cauliflower. Make paleo mayonnaise and salad dressing. Chop up fruits and veg and pack them in smoothie bags. Dehydrate apples and banana slices and have them on hand for when you need a nibble. Have your kitchen loaded with easy to grab and delicious paleo friendly foods.

Beet Humus

Make the time to prepare. It is vital. Take leave from work if you have to, give your kids extra iPad time, feed leftover ice cream to your husband or wife while you make homemade cashew butter and chicken stock.

If you’re prepared, not only will Whole30 change your life, but it will be remarkably easier and really, rather enjoyable.

(As always with this Paleo With Me August, please post additions tips, thoughts and any questions you might have below). 

‘How To’ Essential Oils: Lavender

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If you’re anything like me, essential oils intrigue you, but they intimidate you more.

Recently, I’ve been hearing of the powerful health benefits of essential oils almost everywhere I go and so, I have turned over a new leaf (excuse the pun) and have committed to learn about and become friends with this beautifully wonder-ful natural liquid.

What exactly essential oils are: (if you aren’t actually quite sure)

‘A true essential oil is the volatile (readily vaporised) liquid component of aromatic plants and trees. They occur in different parts of the plant depending on the species of plant; leaves, flowers, seeds, bark, rind etc. These precious essences are commonly collected by a process of steam distillation of the plant material. Expression (pressing) of the fruit’s rind is the method that is used for citrus oils and certain fragile scented flower oils must be solvent extracted in order to capture their fragrances. Solvent extracted essential oils cannot be certified as organic as a result of the chemical solvents (such as petroleum and hexane) that are used during the extraction process.’ SOiL Essential Oil.

‘If you have ever enjoyed the scent of a rose, you’ve experienced the aromatic qualities of essential oils. These naturally occurring, volatile aromatic compounds are found in the seeds, bark, stems, roots, flowers, and other parts of plants. They can be both beautifully and powerfully fragrant. In addition to giving plants their distinctive smells, essential oils protect plants and play a role in plant pollination. In addition to their intrinsic benefits to plants and being beautifully fragrant to people, essential oils have long been used for food preparation, beauty treatment, and health care practices’. – doTERRA Essential Oil.

First up – Lavender.

They say that if you only ever use one essential oil, this should be it. And no, if you own lavender essential oil it doesn’t have to mean you’re either a massage therapist or a granny.

We’ve ALL heard of lavender essential oil. It’s in everything. When I say it’s in everything, it’s either refers to the oil itself, or a fake, man-made parfum version, imitating its goodness and ‘natural’ health properties. Sadly, we’re probably more exposed to the latter.

Lavender is the most popular and most versatile oil in aromatherapy. It’s a must for the first aid box – a great oil for skin conditions where there is inflammation, burns, scarring, etc. Lavender is also well known for its relaxing, antidepressant and calming properties and for treating headaches and insomnia as well as benefiting throat infections, colds and flu. It is also really not that expensive. And you use a drop at a time – literally. Buy it right now.

Let’s get practical with lavender then shall we?

Here are my top 5 uses for organic Lavender essential oil (my brain can only hold a few ideas at once so instead of pasting millions of uses, here are 5 you can try):

To get rid of tension headaches. Just rub some on your temples for a soothing tension headache remedy.

Soothe yourself to sleep. Use some lavender essential oil on your pillow by applying it with your hands or place several drops in some water and mist it on.

Make bedtime more relaxing for your child. If your child has a favourite blanket or stuffed toy, place a couple drops of lavender essential oil on it every so often to help ease them to sleep. You can also create a ‘calm down’ bath. Add some lavender essential oil to their nighttime bath and it will help create a calming effect while getting ready for bed. I’m TOTALLY trying this with my toddler.

Help ease sinus issues. Rub some lavender oil on your chest to help clear simuses due to allergies or the common cold. I’m TOTALLY trying this on my hubby.

Use on bee stings and insect bites. Lavender can help the irritating and painful feelings of bee stings as well as insect bites. Apply one or two drops as you would a bee sting/insect bite cream. This works exceptionally well on mosquito bites too.

There are a million more uses for lavender essential oil – creating your own ‘dryer sheets’, helping prevent dandruff, hay fever, cold sores, dermatitis, chapped lips, nausea, motion sickness, cuts, nosebleeds, eczema and as it being a flavour enhancer.

What are your favourite ways to use lavender essential oil? Let me know by posting them below.

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*If you are not sure about certain oils or have not used them before, please contact your health practitioner before use. Please be smart and educate yourselves on the dangers of essential oils before using them. Using essential oils in conjunction with carrier oils is encouraged.

*Essentail oils are not recommended for pregnant or nursing mums, or on sensitive skins such as babies’ skin. All preggos must be very careful when using essential oils. 

*If you are not keen on using an undiluted essential oil directly on your skin (which many aren’t), you can dilute it with a carrier oil – such as almond, apricot kernel, grape seed, rose hip etc. 

I love glass

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Glass.

I love glass. I love every.single.thing about it EXCEPT that when it breaks it’s a blimmin mission to clean with little blissfully unaware feet stomping the ground. But regardless, it’s a beaut.

I’m on a mission, slowly, and sometimes unsuccessfully, to move towards an all glass/stainless steel life and eliminate plastic. I’m not binary, I’m not so black and white that I’ll stick my nose up to your plastic (un-biodegradable) cutlery when you hand it to me (I’d rather be your friend enjoying a picnic together however it goes down) but for myself and my family, this is something we’re rethinking.

If you’d like to read up on the dangers of plastic, you can do so here. Besides the hidden chemicals and the difficulty to recycle, there is automated ignorance around how much waste we are producing (and therefore polluting). We are also wasting money by how much we mindlessly purchase and re-purchase.

And so slowly, in different areas where possible, we’re moving towards a plastic free life. I still love Tupperware and Lego, and always will. We’ve replaced plastic water bottles with glass bottles (which never hold a odor), and we use glass for our homemade kombucha, natural baby products, sippy cups and bokashi juice (for the garden). We store food in glass mason jars, both in our pantry and the fridge. We like to decant milk sachets into vintage milk bottles, store our homemade yoghurt, jam and salad dressing in rustic old-school jars, and our toothpaste and mouthwash in glass ‘click’ jars. Mason jars are easily available and cheaper by the dozen overseas, so it’s a no brainer using them. I’m thinking about investing shares in Consol because – well, how rad is their new solar power glass lantern?

Not only is glass cool, and we’ll think you’re lank trendy if you make the move across, but glass bottles are begging for some creative flair. You can literally let you imagine run wild – and if you’re feeling creatively-lethargic, browse my Pinterest board here.

Think about it. What are you using right now, that you can replace with a better material? Buying one product is better than nothing.

Boycott ziplocks and replace them with reusable material snack bags. Stop buying plastic water bottles and carry a permanent (preferably glass) one around with you. Plastic bags? Are you kidding! Fabric grocery bags are available EVERYWHERE.

Start small, think it through – and GO.

Healthy, healthy hair

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We think healthy hair is not greasy hair, right? Well that’s what I thought. As long as my hair is not straw like, doesn’t looks dull and or flat – I’m happy. We like the glossy silky feel, and the aesthetic of the foamy foamy goodness, making our hair and scalp blind everyone with its shine and luminescence. Marketing departments have fooled us into thinking we’re clean in every sense of the word if we’re showering under a waterfall with blue skies, our wet locks gripping our toned, broze body, birds flying by, butterflies peering on in approval and foam covering all the places Adam and Eve never hid.

…Shall we rethink this one then?

Shampoos and conditioners. These poor products have endured a fair amount of rejection. The devout non-washees (who, fair enough, might be onto something), homemade concoctions with castor oil and you-name-it-whatever-else. The good news is that there are a fair number of companies bubbling up (excuse the pun) who know what they’re doing with these products and have our health in mind as they create.

One product in particular that has caught my eye is Africa Organics. Besides their pretty slick packaging (which I appreciate) they are EcoCert Certified, a Phyto-Trade Accredited Partner, they are Africa Friendly, Vegan, and accredited with Beauty Without Cruelty (so do not test any products on animals). Clearly, they’re winning.

They have a comprehensive yet simple body care range – including shampoo, conditioner, body wash, shower gel, body lotion, clay wash and a hair treatment. The shampoos and conditioners are great. The shampoo foams a little (thanks to biodegradable foaming agents) and they smell earthy, grounded and natural. I must admit when using the Kalahari Melon Body Wash, I expected myself to leave the shower smelling like a sweet watermelon, but I didn’t. And I had to remind myself that if I had, something would be wrong. Chemical perfumes and scents don’t feature here. They use ‘wild’ natural products – baobab, kalahari melon, marula and mongongo.

(And now for the health lesson…)

Another thing that doesn’t feature in Africa Organics products is parabens. Parabens are a (controversial) class of widely used preservatives in cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. They are controversial little buggers. In a recent study in the Journal of Applied Toxicology, parabens were found in breast tissue at levels up to 1 million times higher than the natural oestrogen levels. The fact that the parabens were in the ester form indicated that they had come from dermal exposure: so (in other words) from personal care products.

Breast tumours generally need oestrogen to grow. Maybe you know someone that has had breast cancer? My mom has. So did my gran. 1 in 8 women will get it. In 1960 it was 1 in 20.

With breast cancer now in our family line in two generations above mine, and while the cancer above might have nothing to do with parabens, I have two gorgeous little boys in my house who need a mom, and I’d like to be around for a while. If I can make one small difference in what I use to wash my hair and body that could make a long term difference, why wouldn’t I? Its a simple question to answer.

Also, who doesn’t love the idea of having a massive pump bottle of body wash in their shower? What family doesn’t like health, in bulk? The Marula Shower Gel (and Body Lotion) are now available in 1L bottles with a pump spout. Win.

If you’re keen to give it a go, you can grab your Africa Organics (and other natural hair care products) here.

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If you would like to read a little bit more about natural shampoos, silicons and quads – here’s some great food for thought… Africa Organics Natural Alternative to Silicones and Quats.

Thinking Organic

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Back in Vancouver, when summer eveeeentually broke free, we would always scramble to sign up to receive a CSA box.

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. This is a prepaid subscription to a farm’s produce for the season. Most CSA’s give shareholders a weekly supply of veggies, herbs, fruits and sometimes even eggs and meat. You know it’s fresh and you often have the opportunity to visit the farm and meet the people who grew your food. How rad? The prepaid CSA arrangement also makes it a source of financial security for the farmer. You’re a team. At the end of the day your food is fresh, seasonal, local and by getting involved you are supporting your local farmers. The best bit often was trying to identify unfamiliar produce items and Google how to use them in your meals that week.

So you can imagine my delight when I heard about Think Organic. They do a similar thing, but all year round, and so I jumped online, ordered my family budget bag of fruits and veggies, and wrote to Jamie Feldman, one of the founders – asking him about they got started here in Cape Town.

Here’s the scoop: Think Organic launched as an online shop in 2013 by himself and Natalie Coyne. After Jamie’s mom was diagnosed with cancer, part of her treatment included a diet change and organic juicing (I’m not surprised) and they thought to develop an online shop whereby they could promote the produce of local organic farms to like-minded people who are conscious about what they eat.

Natalie and Jamie source the produce from local farmers (now friends) and consider compostable packaging another important avenue to rethink (as should we). The Think Organic team love chatting to their clients, answering questions, and are working hard at building the community of farmers, organic consumers and green-friends. They know where all their food comes from and consider trust to be one of their highest priorities in the way they do business. Encouraging local farming also provides jobs for previously unemployed people in the surrounding areas, which is close to Jamie and Natalie’s hearts.

You can pop into their Kenilworth store (23a Putney Road) and build your own bag of all things organic (fruit, veggies, meats, seeds, breads, coffee, dairy products, and and aaaand) or grab a pre-packed bag. The budget bag costs R105 and the family bag is R155 (which I didn’t think was particularly expensive) and contains a variety of their choosing – similar to our Vancouver CSA boxes. There are also various pick up zones for easy collection convenience. This is what my bag looked like:


And this is what my littlie thought about it:

As they say ‘It all starts with a thought, so think organic‘.

If you have any questions, check Think Organic out at www.thinkorganic.co.za or email Jamie on shop@thinkorganic.co.za.

(Pictures taken by myself as well as taken from Think Organic’s Instagram account) 

A Natural Health Kick

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Thinking back now, it is bizarre how life has led me to this point of valuing wellness in a new, more natural light.

Back in 2008, I randomly worked for a Health and Wellness company and saw some pretty incredible things. I was (and still am) completely convinced by how important healthy food and correct supplementation (if necessary) can be, along with rethinking simply jumping into medicine and how natural approaches can absolutely change lives. Not only did I see fairly sick people become well, but I saw healthy people flourish. I have the utmost respect for medical science and am constantly amazed by the breakthroughs happening in that realm, but when it comes down to what we mere non-doctors can do, I’ll opt for the natural until intelligently instructed otherwise.

So my boss back in the day had this magic potion he used to make when he started feeling sick. Recently I shared this little gem with a colleague of mine who was starting to feel under the weather and she bounced back almost instantaneously. I had forgotten how effective it could be, and now with winter upon us and new bugs coming home from play school, I’m stocking up on these 4 very simple and easy to find ingredients:

– honey (as local and natural as you can find)
– fresh garlic (crushed)
– fresh ginger (crushed, or cut up as finely)
– brandy (preferably not for kiddies)

Garlic & Ginger (foodathonindia.blogspot.com)

All you do is mix equal portions of the above together to make a paste. Yes, its gross, and yes, you will smell of garlic, and you do need to throw this towards the back of your mouth and try swallow it without gagging, but it works. I consider it a healthy dose of a natural antibiotic. Do this as often as you need to, when feeling a bit gross.

lemon hot water www.med-health.net

As far as drinks go, there’s always the good old HOT TODDY: Honey, ginger and lemon in a cup of hot water, or you can add crushed ginger to hot water for a sore throat. No brainer.

I keep all of the above at the office and at home. While I can easily consume a roll of cheery flavoured Halls lozenges in one go, it won’t do half the work that those 4 beautiful natural gifts can provide.

Wishing you a warm, safe and bug-free winter.

xxx

Why we cloth diaper our kids

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Oh heeeeyyyy nooooo – did you just say cloth diaper? Errmmm, well, yes I did.

A friend asked me the other day where all this green-stuff came from and specifically about what I did when the boys were small regarding natural products.

As a pseudo hippie living in Vancouver, I was encouraged by the West Coast air in my lungs, along with the doula, midwifery and placenta ‘encapsulator’ world around me to go the cloth diaper route. Being frugal students (and by the look of the bank balance, the consideration of the environment and the super-cute-and-trendy style of MANY of the cloth diaper products available on 4th Ave – I’m a marketers dream) it was a bit of a no brainer. I gave it some thought, and I liked the idea – not realizing just how important it would be once Clayden (my oldest) was born.

Back to where it all began…

I find myself at home after an incredible doula supported birth (…that’s a WHOLE different post). I’m in my cosy little Vancouver apartment, staring out my window at the beautiful spring-going-summer weather, sipping on a cup of tea, cradling my perfect 6 week old little human… with a bum rash SO BAD it is raw, blistering and bleeding. Not your typical ‘grab the Bennett’s Bum Cream’ rash – this was BAD. Break your heart bad.

I sought all the help I could. We tried a plethora of creams, oils, ointments, powders, both medicated and not. I had to eliminate all wet wipes (definitely no disposable nappies, and at times any form of nappy) and had to sit with him in our 1m by 1m back garden with his bum facing the sun. I did a LOT of laundry.

Eventually, a new product arrived at my midwives clinic called Clay Powder (ironic, I know) so I grabbed it, and used it in conjunction with a calendula based cream that was also new. With astonishment, after a day, Clay’s bum began to heal. And it inspired me to get on the Googles. As it turns out, what one thinks is just the norm in terms of baby buys, isn’t. Let us start rethinking this shall we?

What was with clay powder and calendula? I landed on a blog called Wellness Mama, and it changed my life. The word calendula popped up everywhere, as well as the dark side of disposable nappies, chemical ridden wipes and other fairly harmful baby products and, thanks to the Canadian system of a year’s maternity leave, I had time to read, research, rethink, play, and create.

I jumped online I bought $100 worth of natural goodies and I started from scratch. I made my own (natural, organic, chemical-free, toxic-free, perfume and scent-free) baby wipes, cloth diaper cream, baby powder and oils, moisturizers and safe eucalyptus rub. I had organic coconut oil, shea butter, arrowroot powder, bees wax, calendula and chamomile flowers. Together, armed with my essential oils, vitamin e and mason jars by the dozen, I created my own mini factory of natural goodness. Cloth diapering was a huge part of this healthy lifestyle and both my boys have thrived in cloth.

This is just our story, and as a disclaimer – I haven’t done my own personal research into all the evils of many of what are presumed to be perfectly acceptable baby-related purchases, and as always, I’m certainly not getting this 100% right (at all). I’m also not judgmental of people who use only disposables and off the shelf baby products – not at all. Our decision was very much weighted by health, a big concern regarding creation care and having seen the hardship Clay’s poor buttocks experienced.

But I would encourage you to read more of the scientific/hard core/fact based info here from my everything-natural inspiration, Wellness Mama. Small changes have a big impact.

And also, cloth diapers are really not that gross. Really. They’re stinking cute.

Also, have you seen pictures of landfills lately?