(Blog for October 2014)
Have you ever considered writing a letter to your younger self? ‘Imagine’…if you had the wisdom you have now back then. Here is mine. It’s kinda personal, but hey – we are all in this together.
My First Media Gig – Community Radio 2RES in Sydney, age 23.
Dear Janella,
Before we go into a new century you will have graduated as a Naturopath, Nutritionist and Herbalist. It was fun wasn’t it? And that’s because you are now on the right track – you have found your path and you’ve just turned 30.
Combining your background in whole food cooking and your love of learning new and old ways to achieve better health and wellbeing is spot on. Don’t doubt it. People will think you have abandoned your love of the healing power of food, as they won’t see the relationship between food and health as you do – yet. Most still see the two as mutually exclusive, so you’ll be even more determined to teach otherwise, by sharing what you know to be true.
The mission you went into your natural therapies study with at 27 is still strong – to educate the public on ‘how to use food as medicine’ easily and affordably at home. Strap yourself in dear 30year old Nellie, for you are in for the ride of your life, and it doesn’t slow down in the foreseeable future. Yes, you will run a great health food store, and after that armed with the experience you needed, will open your own cooking school and store, write award –winning, best- selling books and articles, have a long running love affair with the media including an internationally acclaimed TV show, have a busy naturopathic practice, and eventually reach many more people around the world using something called ‘social media’. You’ll love it all and will continue to feel privileged to be doing what you’re doing.
Your years cooking, with your Grandma for so long, then in an Italian then vegan restaurant will serve you very well indeed, especially when you’re writing the many loved recipes you will create in the years to come. These will be published in 3 best-selling recipe books over the next 15 years, and one reference book first up.
Your desire to open a health food store with an herbal dispensary after graduation will not happen exactly as you want it to, and that will be a blessing, (trust this). You will take over the running of an existing health food store in Sydney, (yes you’ll move back to Sydney from Brisbane as soon as you graduate and will stay there for 10 more years. Sydney will be good to you but you’ll always be yearning for a rural life). You’ll have many staff, and this will be an extraordinary experience over the next few years. Here you will learn an enormous amount about food, health, different diets and your healing nature will start to show itself. Many years later you will sign as the ambassador to Lifestream, a line of sustainable, vegan supplements you stock and sell during this time in the store. This will be a good decision for you, Lifestream and the general public, as people will become increasingly confused about good supplementation.
You will be very satisfied in this role in the health food store, yet struggle with your own health during this time, as your life will be unbalanced – too much work, planning and drive, and not enough relaxation, receiving or play. In this position you will give your adrenal glands a battering. Be careful and try to rest, as you will still have the tendency to do too much, and the pace isn’t going to slow down anytime soon. The faster you learn you need (and naturally deserve) to rest, the better off you’ll be. But…the message of good food, wellness, ‘food as medicine’ and the relationship between them won’t become mainstream for at least another 10 more years, so unfortunately you’ll find slowing down impossible until it is. Like I said, strap yourself in.
Your Chinese horoscope of the Monkey is very obvious during this time – you are always ‘doing’ and always busy, but you won’t stop, as what you’re doing is a ‘calling’. It’s not negotiable, and you will continue to put your own wellbeing and happiness second.
Subsequently you will experience periods of loneliness during your 30’s, as you will be working very hard and definitely on a mission. You will give up a lot to get your message ‘out there’. Keep asking yourself if it is worth it. You will keep answering ‘YES’. Your inner world will become stronger and stronger; your spirituality continues to deepen.
In 2004, five years from where you are now, (also the year of the Monkey in Chinese astrology – your sign, and an ‘8’ year for you in numerology – your own life path number) after leaving your job in the health food store, your first book Elixir: How To Use Food As Medicine will almost write itself and be quickly published. It will continue to sell for years to come and be used in natural therapies colleges around the world. It will also be nominated for numerous awards, and you will do a second edition in 2012, just as your second recipe book is coming out.
That same year, in 2004, you will have just finished an extensive renovation on old building in Surry Hills in Sydney, in a dingy part of the neighbourhood not yet trendy. You will transform this old 2 story building in Crown Street, Sydney’s soon –to-be- hippest foodie and bar area – into your clinic/ cooking school upstairs, and a health food store with a dispensary downstairs. By this time you will have been working on commercial TV for a couple of years, and if you thought your were busy before – ‘ha’. Be prepared, as the speed of your already overflowing life is about to accelerate. Your 30’s are busy. Please take care!
As your dream shop is about to launch on 04.04.2004, literally a few weeks before opening (and the simultaneous launch of your first book) divine intervention will take place, and you will receive a strong message not to run the store yourself as it will prevent you from being available to keep on going with the bigger picture – getting the ‘food as medicine’ word out there nationally and internationally via the media. Plus at this point you will be desperate to leave Sydney and find your own piece of paradise, and nest. So, you give the shop to a friend to run and he will continue to do this for at least 10 years, perhaps longer.
You’ll still open your clinic/cooking school upstairs on 04.04.2004 and run seasonal, organic cooking classes that will be very popular, and your naturopathic practice takes off. I know you never saw yourself solely in private practice and no you won’t be, but you will find this part of your life far more rewarding than you thought – your healing abilities will continue to strengthen and develop and you will go onto study Traditional Chinese Medicine and Kinesiology, and love both.
Your dream of moving to the Byron Hinterland will finally come to fruition in 2010, and you will find your own piece of paradise. You will be very, very happy here, growing your own food and being amongst a like- minded community of foodies and greenies also on their own mission to be of service to the planet. You will still be very busy, and travelling even more, as your determination to teach good nutrition and to clarify the misconceptions around health and wellbeing will intensify as the general public will by now have accepted that the food we eat can and does affect our health. Because of this many people are now in the media spruiking all sorts of unhealthy products and compromised information. This just makes your resolve to keep going on this path stronger.
By 2014 you will have your 4th book published which will be reprinted even before it hits the shelves, and you’ll be producing and presenting your own internet series – shot in your beautiful home, and around the Byron hinterlands – as by this time quality TV is pretty rare. It’ll be all about the Internet in the new century and ‘on-demand’ viewing. This’ll suit you, as you will always be uncomfortable being pushed to use unhealthy, unsustainable products just because a company is sponsoring your show. In fact, this is precisely the reason you end up leaving TV, because you wouldn’t yield to this pressure. Leaving your TV show will break your heart, but it will mend in time.
So my dear, you always knew you had to do something big with your life, and you have. It doesn’t stop or even slow down – in fact quite the opposite. You’ll always be very grateful for your life and the amount of love in it, yet many times you will feel that ‘the spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak’, and this is because you have trouble listening to your body when it’s telling you it’s had enough for the day. Actually you hear it but you outright ignore it! Then you’ll learn that no herb or healing food will take the pace of rest.
You will need to learn to meditate regularly, and as soon as possible, and keep your running, yoga practice and ocean swimming up. Be kind to yourself Miss. You will eventually learn this with time, around 45years old. Yes it’ll take you that long. Balance is something you’ll always be trying to achieve and sometimes you will. The problem won’t be what you’re doing in your life, it’s what you’re not doing – and just like now, that will be ‘stillness’. If you can learn to tame your inner monkey just a little, you can continue swinging on those branches for many years to come. If you don’t, then you will experience periods of physical, spiritual and emotional imbalance, and fall out of the trees.
There’ll come a time in about 15 years when you will receive a second calling. Listen closely for this, as the volume won’t be as loud or as clear as the first. However, this will potentially be just as important for society, and you, as your first mission, for it will be in alignment with the next phase of healing coming through on the planet – and for all who dwell therein.
Nellie, I’ll leave you with this – see the beauty in yourself as much as you do in others, and all will be ‘right’ in your world.
.
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Antioxidants are a generic term that describes the mopping up of free radicals (the bad guys) in your body – by increasing oxygenation.
Modern food far from existing in its original state, the stress of living in today’s world, strenuous exercise, sun exposure, pollution, chemicals used to grow our food and make our cosmetics, computers, TV’s and carpets, smoking, and bacterial infections can all cause a rise in free radicals to dangerous levels. This results in damage at a cellular level resulting in premature ageing like wrinkles, bad skin, black rings under the eyes and sometimes, serious illnesses such as cancer.
Many antioxidants are vitamins like C and E, but Carotenoids are the most powerful anti oxidants known. Along with chlorophyll, carotenoids are what give plants their colour. The most powerful carotenoid is Astaxanthin (blue-green algae), and the next is Beta Carotene, of which Spirulina is the richest known natural source. There are other foods high in different antioxidants. This is where you’ll find lots of them –
Astaxanthin
This little known carotenoid is now believed to be the most powerful antioxidant by far. There are only two natural sources of natural astaxanthin—the micro-algae that produce it, and the sea creatures that consume the algae (such as salmon, shellfish, and krill). Astaxanthin is 65 times more powerful than vitamin C, 54 times more powerful than beta-carotene, 550 times more powerful than Vitamin E. No adverse reactions at all have been found for people taking Astaxanthin. It’s perfectly safe. You’ll find astaxanthin in supplement form on line.
You may have heard of astaxanthin before. The synthetic version made in a laboratory is commonly used worldwide to give farmed fish, especially salmon, its pinkish red colour. You really do want to avoid man-made astaxanthin as it’s made from petrochemicals, which makes it a toxic hormone disruptor.
Cacao
According to a study in the “Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry” published in 2003, researchers compared the antioxidant capacity of black tea, green tea, red wine and cocoa, concluding that cocoa has the highest antioxidant activity among the four products and the greatest potential for health benefits.
Garlic and its juice
Garlic is one of the best medicines in the world. It has natural ‘germanium’ and is anti-fungal and antibacterial (just to name a few of its actions). If you’re cooking your garlic, crush it up and let it sit for ten minutes before adding it to your recipe. It has to sit so that the enzymes can create the healing phyto-chemicals we need.
Dried Fruit
Goji berries have an enormous amount of antioxidants, yet dried Pomegranate seeds, (also expensive) have almost double the amount. And then comes dried Indian Gooseberries that have around 10 times more than Goji berries.
Green Super-Foods
Spirulina, chlorella and barley grass are chock full of minerals and enzymes. The enzymes are both anti-mycotoxin (mycotoxins are released by yeast/fungal infections) and antioxidants.
Matcha
This premium green tea powder from Japan is used for drinking as tea, or to use as a vibrant, green ingredient in recipes. Other green teas are grown throughout the world, but Matcha is unique to Japan. One cup of Matcha contains as much as 10 times the antioxidants of one cups of brewed green tea.
Quercetin
An antioxidant belonging to a class of water-soluble plant substances called flavonoids. Some research has shown quercetin-rich foods, such as apples, berries, red grapes, red onions, capers and black tea, are ‘natural antihistamines’ as they prevent histamine release. Quercetin is also available in supplement form.
Selenium
Sources include wheat germ, garlic, Brazil nuts, eggs and brown rice. Brazil nuts are perhaps the best source of this important mineral, and eating just 3-4 Brazil nuts per day may provide adequate intake for most people to maintain levels. Although, a supplement may be necessary if levels are low.
Vitamin A
Is found in dark green leafy veggies such as kale, rocket, baby spinach and all your Asian greens and any fruit or veg’ that is green, yellow, red or green in colour – so pumpkin, carrots, capsicum and broccoli, and spirulina has an enormous amount.
Vitamin C
This vitamin has long been known to battle the effects of ageing and disease. Like Vitamin E, Vitamin C is an effective antioxidant so it will help to reduce free radicals. Most fruits especially guava and paw paw are good sources of Vitamin C as are vegetables like kale, broccoli, cauliflower, tomato, Brussels’ sprouts and cucumber. Goji berries, Gubinge and Camu Camu have more Vitamin C per weight than most other foods on earth.
Vitamin D
Different from other vitamins because our bodies can make most of what we need with exposure to sunlight, unlike having to get it from our diet. In fact most foods aren’t great sources of vitamin D, and there are only a small amount to choose from. The best sources are cod liver oil, sardines, wild Alaskan salmon, mackerel and mushrooms. Sunlight is the best way to get your Vitamin D as it promotes this vitamin’s synthesis from cholesterol in the skin.10-15 minutes a day is enough, and allowing the sun to shine on as much of you body as you can is the way to go.
Vitamin E
Found in olives, nuts and seeds oils, wheat germ and leafy greens.
Zinc
Good sources are oysters, organic red meat, wheat germ, miso, pumpkin seeds, alfalfa, sardines, legumes, mushrooms, pecans, organic soybeans, sunflower seeds and whole grains.
Herbs + Spices
Extremely high in antioxidants, in fact at least 10 times higher than the foods above per weight, and the herbs and spices below are in a class of their own when it comes to antioxidants. Add these foods to your meals but you can also use them as essential oils and some of them as herbal tinctures. Look for 100 percent pure (therapeutic grade) oils, which are highest in antioxidants, and organic or at least wild-crafted herbal medicine. From the highest are cloves, cinnamon, rosemary, oregano, turmeric, cumin, parsley (dried), basil, ginger and thyme
Many of us are now aware that some things are better for our microbiota than others, and to varying degrees. Antibiotics and laxatives, as well as medications against fever and pain, contraceptive hormones (The Pill), or those to alleviate menopausal symptoms all negatively affect gut flora composition. Antibiotics when prescribed responsibly are obviously life saving. They have saved countless lives and wiped out many diseases. But, there’s a price to pay for everything, and in this case the over- use of antibiotics has gotten us into some serious strife.
These days however, it’s pretty hard to avoid them. Even if you’re a raw food vegan who’s never sick, you’re still likely to be exposed to antibiotics. 80% of the antibiotics manufactured world wide are for animals for food, so we’re constantly being exposed to antibiotics, every time we eat or drink, as the manure your veggies are grown with comes from animals that have been fed antibiotics. Antibiotics are in our food and in our water.
Studies are showing that small amounts of antibiotics given regularly, is a whole lot worse than one big hit when you’re sick and you actually need them. Antibiotics are not meant for prevention, but it is a billion dollar industry, so making changes to the system is, well, tricky.
It’s encouraging to see that more and more conscious farmers are using herbs and essential oils like oregano oil to replace expensive and damaging antibiotics that are so commonly and mindlessly used in commercial farming. The over-use of antibiotics both for us and in our food is destroying our gut flora, reduces immunity, increases anxiety and depression and keeps us susceptible to everything. Not to mention the damage they’re doing to our animals and our planet.
So far, western medicine’s answer has been to prescribe yet more drugs, so that now we have arrived in a scary place called ‘antibiotic resistant’. This is now at crisis levels, meaning some infections are becoming untreatable. What we’ve basically done is coat our world in a bubble of antibiotics by our overuse and inappropriate use of them. And antibiotic use is in Australia, which directly affects the development of antibiotic resistance.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), is a type of staph’ that has developed resistance to a family of antibiotics similar to penicillin. When we take an antibiotic, the drug kills many bacteria, but a few survive. These surviving bacteria are now resistant to that antibiotic, and then they multiply. What this means is, every time a patient takes an antibiotic, he or she is creating more drug-resistant bacteria. The growing number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria poses a very serious and immediate threat to our health as a species. In 1974, MRSA infections accounted for 2% of the total number of staph infections; in 1995 it was 22%; in 2004 it was 63%. These bacteria were once mainly found in hospitals, doctor’s surgeries and nursing homes, but recently they’ve been showing up in gyms, schools, sports clubs, and other places where people are in close contact.
Two-thirds of the children today have already taken a course of antibiotics by the time they are 12 months old. Antibiotics have been shown to affect the childhood microbiome causing changes associated with allergies, obesity and autism – three of the biggest childhood issues in developed countries. This means long-term health implications for these children. While this link is still being researched, the evidence is mounting.
Bacterial infections need antibiotics, as the infection will only get worse, if it’s not treated. Examples of serious infections that arguably need antibiotics under one year of age are meningitis, whooping cough, pneumonia, infection in the blood and urinary infections. Antibiotics are ineffective for common viral infections however, so treating these with antibiotics results in none of the benefits and all of the disadvantages. These include most respiratory infections – for example of the ear, throat and chest, yet we are still constantly being prescribed antibiotics for these conditions. There are many effective alternatives to synthetic antibiotics. Herbal medicine and essential oils have both undergone much research and the results are exciting.
A recent British report estimated that antibiotic and microbial resistance could kill an extra 10 million people a year and cost up to $100 trillion USD by 2050 if it is not brought under control, and soon.
Btw, scientists often modify seeds using antibiotic-resistant genes in the genetic engineering process. Some people wonder if there’s a link between these GM Frankenfoods and the ever increasing rates of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Castor Oil – coming from the seeds (or beans) of the Ricinus communis plant, is an oil rich in antioxidants and Ricinoleic Acid (RA) and also contains small amounts of linoleic, oleic and stearic acid. The healthiest and safest version of castor oil comes from de-hulling the bean, then cold-pressing the seeds to produce the rich and viscous oil.
Castor oil packs have been used by healers to help reduce a variety of health conditions for many generations. Placed over your abdomen or liver, these packs are used to improve liver detoxification, breakdown kidney stones, reduce period pain, reduce symptoms of autoimmunity, support uterine and ovarian health, improve lymphatic circulation and reduce inflammation.
To DIY: Mix two to four drops of an essential oil – depending on what you’re treating – with enough warm castor oil to lightly soak a piece of cloth, (either a lightweight tea towel, or a piece of linen, or even a face washer). Castor oil has a rather strong smell, so be ready.
Btw, you can buy packs that include a piece of flannel cloth and a pack, with straps – so you’re all sorted. Just Google ‘castor oil packs’. (See images.)
Wring out the cloth to remove any excess oil, then place it over your abdomen or liver for at least 30 minutes, with a heat source like a wheat pack or hot water bottle over the top of it. This helps to stimulate lymph and liver function. Lie flat in bed, and perhaps cover your eyes with an eye pillow and use this time of quiet relaxation to go within.
Placing the pack on the right side of the abdomen or the whole abdomen will help support the liver and digestive systems, as well as reproductive and colon health. These packs are used also to relieve pain. Aim to do it 3 times a week, and relax.
Castor oil packs can be a bit messy, so I wrap mine in a plastic-free cover like a bees wax wrap, or an apron. Be aware of any skin sensitivities, so avoid applying the oils directly to your skin.
Side note – I was once at a sanitarium (health retreat/hospital) in Austria, and part of the program was a daily liver pack, such as this one above. Instead of the oil-soaked cloth though, they used flaked pieces of dried burdock root (a great liver herb) that had been warmed and stuffed in a plastic zip lock bag. It was delivered to my room like this, so all I had to do was lay down on my bed, put a light towel over my abdomen and then the compress over the top. Gawd it was nice. And I really did feel the benefits. Gut and reproductive pain, as well as pent up anger and resentment – all but disappeared using these packs daily for the 5 days I was there.
Either way you decide to do it – it’s going to help.
