We are more bug than human!

Yep that’s right! The number of bacteria living in our gut (100 trillion) outweigh the number of actual human cells we have in the body by 10:1. Eww- I’m a giant walking bug!

You can even blame 5 pounds of your body weight onto your gut micro biome, but what you really want to be concerned about is getting the balance of good bacteria right. It is common knowledge that antibiotics throw the balance of good and bad bacteria out of wack but so too does:

·         

*         * A diet high in sugar and processed foods

·         * Alcohol

·         * Artificial sweeteners

·         * Chemical sprays on your fruit and veggies

·         * Anti-bacterial soaps      and

·         * STRESS

Your gut micro biome plays a major role in your mood, food cravings, irritable bowel symptoms, obesity, your immune system and chronic illness. While it is just become a major topic amongst health professionals and even the media, Hippocrates (the father of modern medicine) 2000 years ago said “All chronic disease begins in the gut” Go figure?

So, it is really important to take a probiotic but which one to take? Well, it’s a bit like shopping for a dress- very individual and you may like to shop around to see what suits you. The best way is to rotate the different kinds/brands you use to increase the variety of species to which you are exposed.

However, taking a probiotic whilst still eating a crappy diet will not be as effective- damn it! Also eating probiotic rich foods like sauerkraut, good quality yoghurt and drinking kombucha (a fermented tea drink) will have an even greater impact.  We all love to look after our pets so feed your bugs well- they love lots of fibre from fruit and vegies but sugar and refined food will feed your bad bacteria such as Candida Albicans. The nasty bug that causes things like thrush, gas and fatigue!

And finally- Let your kids eat dirt! 

8 easy ways to detox your home!

8 EASY WAYS TO DETOX YOUR HOME!

You may have done some weird green drinking, herb taking detox in order to eliminate internal toxins from your body, but can you say that you have done anything about the toxins in your home? 

The average home contains up to 1000 chemicals, many of which we are unable to see or smell. Unfortunately the air inside our home is three times more polluted that outside  and here in Ballarat in winter we spend so much time indoors. 

Common household and body care products are increasingly being found to have negative health effects and while these chemicals may be tolerated individually and in small doses, problems can arise when one is exposed to them in combination. They can have an effect on any of our nervous, immune, reproductive, endocrine, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems.

Detoxing our bodies and our living spaces will allow the body’s own detoxification to function more efficiently. This strengthens our resilience to the daily onslaught of factors impacting our health.

You could choose to change one thing a week or one a month or heck just choose one full stop and it will be moving in the right direction…

Tip One

No shoes inside thank you very much!

Yep- it’s that easy. That’s how a lot of dirt pesticides and lead can enter your home.

Tip two

Keep the air clean.

Try opening your doors and windows as much as possible to circulate the stale and toxic air (hard here in Antarctica in winter, I know!)

Tip three

Have indoor plants

Plants remove toxins from the air and renew stale air by exchanging carbon dioxide with oxygen. Read our previous blog post on indoor plants here…

Tip four

Switch from standard household cleaners to greener, safer options.

It’ll be safer and cheaper and not to mention, fun to explore mixing up some concoctions!

Tip five

Replace skin care products with less toxic, chemical free products

On average a woman can be exposed to 500 different chemicals in a day from her daily beauty routine. I personally love Twenty8 skin care and use coconut oil for near everything.

Tip six

Keep plastic to a minimum

Some plastics contain BPA, linked to cancer and others phthalates, which are linked to weight gain and developmental problems. Storing food in glass and ceramics is a safer option.

Tip seven

Check for mould

Check your windows and walls for moulds and remove promptly. Mould is extremely toxic especially to children and babies.

Tip eight

Avoid toxic ‘stinkin thinkin’

Finally no amount of detoxification of the body or the home is as important as removing the toxic thoughts. A house full of resentment, jealousy or unhappiness will be just as toxic!

Why should you eat local and seasonal produce?

Great question that you have asked! So it's really become a bit of a thing at the mo to spend Saturday mornings at your local farmers market getting all the funny looking vegetables - but why exactly should one eat locally grown and seasonal produce?

Seasonal foods are picked at the peak of freshness and offer higher nutritional content with a variety of vitamins, minerals enzymes and anti-oxidants. When you eat with the seasons you can enjoy a rainbow of colorful and diverse foods that are in tune with our natural rhythms and  help support our bodies natural cleansing and healing abilities. For example in winter we are supplied with root vegetables that can be cooked in warming foods (think stews, soups and roasts.) Whereas in spring the focus is on green leafy vegetables to promote cleansing and detoxing ready for summer when all the delicious  fruits and summer vegetables are available. Eating with the seasons will stop you from having potatoes, carrots and peas on your plate all year round! (I seem to remember having meat and those three veggies a lot as a kid) Many out of season fruit and vegetables depend on waxes, chemicals and preservatives to keep them looking half edible and consequently less nutritious. 

So why local? Most foods begin to loses their nutrients the moment they are picked, so the quicker you can get them on your plate the better they will be for your body. Some fruit and vegetables on supermarket shelves were picked up to a year ago and have been in cold storage since! Not to mention some poor little buggers that have been flown across half the world just so you can have apples in December! By eating locally produced foods not only are you helping the environment by decreasing 'food miles' you are also contributing to your community and supporting it's farmers.

Just something for you to think about? I'm no angel at it, my kids want their apples year round and I'd rather feed them an out of season apple than a processed LCM bar. But I am becoming more conscious and increasing the amount of local and seasonal produce I purchase

Have a great day! x 

Is wheat really that bad for me? or is gluten free just another fad?!

The answer to this from my research is a resounding YES, it really is bad and no- definitely not just a fad!

The problem with modern day wheat is that Agri-business has genetically changed the crop from a 4 and a half ft plant to a 2 ft dwarf, high yield plant that is easier to harvest. Consequently it is now higher in gluten (a protein) than it was 10,000 years ago and it's not just the gluten component that causes problems within the body and mind.

Modern day wheat is also higher in gliadin (a sugar) that stimulates the appetite and has an opiate effect on the body (that's why the idea of giving up wheat breaks you into a sweat!) Amaylopectin (the starch component) is also way higher. This starch has a proven link to heart disease diabetes and obesity. Since the introduction of wheat 10,000 years ago, fossil records of humans show a decrease in brain size, a loss in bone size and height and an explosion in tooth decay and crooked teeth.

According to Dr William Davis author of 'Wheat belly' 100% of people are affected in some way by the consumption of wheat, whether it be irritable bowel, brain fog, depression or a chronic disease. "Nobody escapes the increased bowel permeability caused by the gliadin protein" says Davis, a  leading cardiologist in USA. This gut permeability is the first stage of all (possibly 200) auto-immune diseases. "All grains are a problem, but wheat is by far the worse" says Davis.

A Lot of children are becoming intolerant to wheat, showing up in things such as rashes and asthma. It also causes behavioural outbursts and impairs learning. There is a strong link between wheat consumption and ADHD and autism.

Another problem is that you find wheat in almost everything. We all know of bread, pasta, cake and biscuits but check out packaging labels- it's in chips, sauces, vinegar, lollies, processed meat, gravies, soup and even many personal care products. Look for words such as dextrose, glucose, maltodextrin, 1422, hydrolysed vegetable protein as this is all wheat!

Dr William Davis suggests that you will notice a change within a week to a month when you take wheat out of a child's diet. Adults more likely to be months. When I took wheat out of my sons diet 100% his teacher (not knowing I had) exclaimed to me that 'Kipp has been a different boy this week, he's so happy and not emotional!'

So why don't you just try and take it out of your child's diet for a week and see what changes you notice? It certainly won't hurt but it may just change a life!

You don't have to take my word for it, if you're interested and want to know more I suggest www.wheatbellyblog.com and the book 'Grain brain' by David Perlmutter

Oils ain't oils! What do you fuel your kids with?

Looks like Castrol have a great point! When it comes to your most important vehicle (your body- not the ford) the type of oil you put in it makes a huge difference to it's efficiency . I'm sure you have heard about essential fatty acids omega 3 and omega 6. These are the fats our cells need to function correctly and can not be made by the body. 

For the first 2.5 million years Humans consumed omega 6 to omega 3 at a ratio of 1:1. Today it is more likely to be 25:1 thanks to the introduction of seed oils. When the ratio shifts towards omega 6 fatty acids our body shifts towards inflammation and the development of chronic disease. These so called 'Vegetable oils' including soybean, canola, cottonseed, safflower and corn oil were originally considered waste product until World war two.

These oils are produced in large factories and in order to extract the oil from the seed a number of toxic solvents are used including hexane (eww!)

I suggest cutting out the use of omega 6 oils at home. Nearly every takeaway is cooked using them and they actually have a low smoke point and turn rancid at a high heat. Watch for packaged foods as pretty much all have it (most commonly labelled as vegetable oil) I'm talking bread, biscuits, cakes, muesli bars, soups, dips- hell nearly everything!

So what should you use to fuel your kids?

* Coconut oil: has a high smoke point, is high in omega 3 and lauric acid (a large component of breast milk). It has strong anti fungal and anti microbial properties. I personally use coconut oil in my cooking, smoothies, eat it straight from the jar, as a moisturiser, hair treatment, lip balm, make a toothpaste out of it and have even used it for furniture polish!

* Olive oil:  for dressing and baking (not to be heated at high levels as it has a low smoke point)

* Use butter: NOT margarine (see previous blog post)

* Eat grass fed organic meat as it is high in omega 3 whereas commercially produced cattle have been fed grains and subsequently are high in omega 6.

* Use fat like lard and duck fat. Fat? What? Yep, fat doesn't make you fat folks- toxins do! I personally use it to coat my roast veggies with- just like Grandma did! Turns out vintage clothes aren't the only things coming back in vogue.

Bring on vintage nutrition!

A FUNctional way to detox your home!

Studies have shown that the inside of the home is more toxic than the outside. Along with regularly opening up doors and windows, one way of the best ways to combat this is by using indoor plants

Indoor plants reduce indoor pollution by sucking toxins through their leaves and their soil and root system remove toxic vapours. They also purify and renew stale air by exchanging carbon dioxide with oxygen. Variety is 'the spice of life' and plants adhere to this rule. Different plants remove different toxins so it is best to have a variety of indoor plants. Cactus's for example are ideal to sit in you office as they are great at sucking up the EMF emanating from your computer

I personally have at least one plant in every room of my house. It becomes quite addictive, and just like tattoos - once you get one, you just want to keep getting more!

You can train your Kids like robots!

It's true -you could train them to massage your feet and bring you a beer! That's not quite what I discovered whilst on my health mission but it is true that the first 7 years of a person's life controls 95% of the rest of their life.

Why is this you ask?

EEG's taken of babies and children show they are in  low frequency brain waves known as delta and theta. This is the same state as hypnosis (You will change your own nappy, I repeat, you will change your own nappy!) At 7  it changes to our adult brain waves known as Delta and Beta.  We all know that babies and kids learn by observation. In this hypnotic state they are basically just downloading behaviours, beliefs and worldly wisdom from their parents into their subconscious mind. And once its there-

It controls their biology for the rest of their lives!

As an adult, if your conscious mind wanders (that's the part of your brain that controls your wishes and desires) it will default back to the subconscious mind. It is believed that most people spend 95% of their time on their subconscious mind..........

so basically most of the time your living the life of someone else's beliefs. How many times do you think- My God I just sounded like my mother!

So apparently the areas of your life you are struggling with is likely to be a conflict between your desires (conscious mind) and your beliefs (subconscious mind) Is it any wonder that you do everything to be wealthy but seem to get nowhere when as a child you were told

"Money doesn't grow on trees"
"Money's hard to come by"
"You have to work hard and long hours to make money"   and anyway
"rich people are selfish!"

So what can you do to change these beliefs you were fed as a child. The answer is to live more in the MOMENT. Try and stay in your conscious mind and believe me it is hard to do. Try being in the moment for a minute, then in the moment for a Monday and then maybe for the month of  May!

As for my kids- I'm trying to teach them about nutrition and be a good example. I'm trying to train them like a robot, telling them things over and over again like "It's important to love yourself", "You are amazing", " You can do anything you want when you grow up, as long as it makes you happy:" So that when they grow up they Love and respect themselves and their bodies, have a job they Love and if they have any tough times know that they are amazing!

If you want to know more a great book is 'Buddhism for mothers'  by Sarah Napthali or google anything on this topic from Bruce Lipton