Please don't feed your kid's margarine- it's but one molecule from plastic!

Margarine was invented in 1869 in a period of population increase and a solution to the shortage of butter. I think the word ‘invented’ should be enough of a blaring alarm bell!  It was originally made from animal fat but has changed a lot since then, 

so let’s take a look at how it is made?

Manufacturers begin with the cheapest oils-corn, soy, cottonseed or canola (labelled as vegetable oils- hey what? I thought it was from a vegetable!) These oils are mixed with tiny metal particles, usually nickel oxide and subjected to hydrogen gas at high temperature to solidify the normally runny oil. What?! That’s not all- it is then steam cleaned to remove the unpleasant odour, bleached to take away its unappealing grey colour then dyes are added to make it look like butter!

Now let’s take look at butter.....

Butter is an old English word derived from the word ‘better’, meaning superior to... Not really! I just made that up but I do think that it is no coincidence that the words are similar!

Butter is made from the cream that rises to the top of cow’s milk and whipped madly. Unfortunately pretty much all commercial milk as been pasteurised (heated at high temp to kill bacteria) and it would be best if you could get your hands on some raw cream from a local dairy and make your own butter like in the good old days, but hey- who has the time? (I did say better not best!)

Butter is high in so many vital nutrients- vitamin A, D, K and E and all the co-factors needed to provide maximum benefit for these vitamins (clever Mother Nature!) There’s so much more, including essential fatty acids and minerals. You don’t just have to take my word for it- if you’re interested and want to know more I suggest you research www.westonaprice.org

Personally I buy organic butter as I know it is made from cows that have been fed on grass (what they are designed to eat- not grains too fatten them up and injected with hormones to increase their supply) It is more expensive but I stock up on the organic butter from Aldi (God bless them) as it’s only $2.90 for 250g. Shame to say that I myself personally, am dairy intolerant.  I shudder at the thought that for years I ate Nuttlex thinking I was doing a good thing cos the marketing says it was a good dairy alternative. Now I make my own Ghee from the butter (it removes all the dairy protein) and still gives me the great benefits!

SO please, just think twice before spreading the marg on your kid’s sandwiches and definitely do not cook with it! A small change that could make a big difference in de-toxifying our kid’s lives- something I am very passionate about!

A letter to the 18 year old me! Pre- M.S diagnosis

I wish I knew then what I know now!

Dear 18 year old me,

In 7 years time you will be diagnosed with M.S, an auto-immune disease that will greatly affect you and those you love. It’s not one thing that causes it, it’s everything! So here are a few tips of things that I have learnt along my journey that will prevent this from occurring.

*The world today is quite toxic, you must do all you can to remove toxins from your body. They are coming to you in the form of the food you eat, the air you breathe, the water you drink, the things you put on your skin and even your toxic thoughts.

*Please note that your often occurring farting is NOT ok just because you have 3 older brothers but a warning sign that something wrong is going on inside your gut. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine 2000 years ago said “All chronic disease begins in the gut”

*So PLEASE investigate foods that you are intolerant to. Even though they may be ok for someone else, they are causing inflammation in YOUR gut.  I’ll save you the trouble.....for you its gluten and dairy!

*Please take note of the other warning signs, i.e.: the acne you’ve just developed especially as you never had it in your early teens when others did- another sign of inflammation in your body.  The little pot belly you’ve always had- it’s not just cause Mum has it too- It’s inflammation!

*I want you to get your mercury fillings removed that you had put in as a child; every time you chew toxic mercury vapour is released into your body. There is a strict protocol for the disposal of mercury into the environment but apparently it’s ok to put it in to people’s mouths!

*Please buy a water filter. The chlorine they put in the water to kill bacteria will also kill the good bacteria in your gut, imperatively needed for digestion. Not to mention the added fluoride in our water that is causing an iodine deficiency and your thyroid to slow.

*Don’t play with plastic toys and especially don’t put them in your mouth (hang on- your too old for toys, but I had to put that in to make it relevant to my blog!) Most plastic toys are made from non- renewable petroleum that contains many chemicals including arsenic, lead, bromine, chlorine, BPA, mercury and phthalates. If you don’t play with toys anymore be mindful of the amount of plastic you are exposed to. Packaged foods, receipts and food storage to name just a few.

*Pay attention to the things you are putting on your skin and using to cleaning your house (not that you have one yet) All of the products you are currently using contain chemicals. On average a woman puts 500 chemicals on her body per day through all her body care products! Recent research has classified that two chemicals commonly found in beauty products- parabens and phthalates as obesogens, meaning they promote fat storage in the body (remember phthalates in toys- hello chubby bubby!) MSG and fructose also have this same effect (rampant in processed foods these days) which brings me to the next tip.

*Just eat REAL food- not packaged, denatured chemically altered, low fat, high carb CRAP. Investigate into the Primal diet (It’s not a fad yet) But hey, it’s only been around for about 2 million years. It’s the way your paleolithic ancestors ate and they didn’t get M.S (or Alzheimer’s or cancer for that matter). Eat as organically as much as you can afford at each stage of your life. Eating organic grass fed meat is specifically important as grain-fed cattle are toxic! Your body stores toxins in your fat (hello muffin top) so the more toxins you ingest the more fat that will follow! Fat does not make you fat Jane- toxins do!

*Take note: DO NOT go running around like a headless chook, doing one thing only whilst thinking of the next task. It will only cause your adrenals to be exhausted. It is not your god given right as a woman to multi-task! Your future husband will break his leg 6 weeks before the wedding! You will run on adrenaline for weeks, working full time, organizing a wedding, and taking care of your beloved invalid. SLOW DOWN- this is just further depleting your adrenals, where cortisol is made, a hormone needed to calm the inflammation down consequently there because you’re living off low fat yogurt crap and exercising heaps too loose a few kilos for the wedding. Is there any wonder that you will suffer from you first M.S attack on your honeymoon!

*Quit your Interior design course half way through.  You don’t have to finish it just because you don’t like anything to get the better of you. It’s ok to reassess your life and take a different direction. You won’t enjoy decorating other people’s houses in the end anyway!

*So, find your life purpose! Hang on maybe you ARE supposed to get M.S so you can research all this stuff and spread the word to your family and friends?!

*The most important lesson that I have learnt is to be kind to yourself! If you talked to your friends the way you talk to yourself then you wouldn’t have any!!  You would never expect as much from them as you do yourself. YOU are the MOST important person in YOUR life (have you ever noticed that in EVERYTHING you do, you’re there?!)

Best of luck

Love from 33 year old me. Xx