October 2015

Real Food – What it is, what it means, how to ______3 Why Real Food is not a first world problem ______10 Building the powerhouse PRODUCE stash ______22 Building the powerhouse PANTRY ______36 Real Food for the budget tight and time deprived – Creative corner cutting _ 51 Emotions, Habits and Discovery – A healthy love of food ______59 The benefits of varying types of food preparation ______64 Real Food for healthy hormones ______71 Real Food and weight ______75 Real Food for MOJO ______79 Real Food for heart health ______81 Real Food and gut health ______85 Real Food and inflammation ______93 Real Food for strong children ______97 20 tips and tricks for excitement in the kitchen & easy ideas for lunch ____104 Real Food and community ______118 Real Food for the planet ______123

BONUS MATERIALS Real Skin food – Get your glow on from the inside out! ______126 Label Reading Intensive – Refining your label reading skills ______128 Real Food – Lunch ideas for big and small people ______139 Food prep, packaging and storage – The road to ditching plastics! ______145

Real Food What it is, what it means, how to

YOUR JOURNEY. YOUR PACE

This is not about perfection in 20 days. There are many things you will want to do to be a full real food rockstar – finding local trusted sources, co-ops, brand sifting, label decoding… It will be a good year or two before you are totally fluent, if you’re just starting today. This 20 days is your springboard. It’s your platform for rolling everything out – as and when you can and are ready. You will receive a PDF of all course content, a suggested library list and additional sites & blogs to be inspired by, at the end of the course. This means you will be able to go back and refer as needed for as long as it takes you.

We have lots of people at lots of different stages in this course – from brand new ‘hmmm what’s in my food?’ people to experienced practitioners. This will be a great thing to see everyone helping each other over the course of the 3 weeks. There is absolutely NO QUESTION TOO SILLY. NONE. Ask away. That’s what the group is for – your own little village of wisdom.

I am constantly blown away by how simple a fix the current health crisis is: Live a low tox life. Go back to nature and support the businesses who are actively doing that and the rest takes care of itself.

I want your promise that you will not be wrapping yourself up in guilt and shame for what you do or used to do, or what you might find takes time letting go of. Guilt and change cannot co-exist. Clarity of goals helps us change and WANT TO.

Set your goals for the next 20 days

ONLY 3 major goals, so choose well. All the other ones will no doubt be smaller and possibly fall under your main goals.

Examples

 It might be to start feeling comfortable trusting your body’s messages in terms of what food suits you best.

 It might be to finally feel they can let go of flavored potato chips. That might be massive for you.

 It might be stop drinking diet coke

 It might be to nail a lunch box meal plan

 It might be to successfully embark upon culturing your own foods (vegetables, kefir, kvass)

 It might be to become a better real food advocate and get that confidence up to do a healthy eating workshop at school

 It might be to replace all fake packet snacks in the house with real food options.

 It might be to find a food eating style that frees you from constant snacking and cravings

 It might be to find other ways to enrich your life and start untangling an emotional food attachment issue, that is hiding something lacking in another area of your life  It might be to join a co-op in your area

 It might be to start cooking with your partner or kids and involve them in this journey that you’ve possibly already started

 It might be to ditch additive laden meal replacement shakes and start trusting that real food is NOT the enemy

Whatever your goals, write them in your book. The universe has a funny way of making things happen for you if you’re clear enough with your intentions.

Now, today’s topic. What is real food? Who can we trust to believe what’s right for us to eat?

Who can we trust? There is so much information out there these days. It’s a blessing as well as a curse. The most important person to trust is yourself, when coming up with your perfect food ‘mix’. That’s right. I’m not going to tell you exactly what to eat, other than real food and what helps you and your family thrive.

So many people read a blog post and change everything and then wonder why something isn’t working for them, when all they seem to see is positive testimonial for that way of eating. Why? Because they’re them, and you’re you. It’s that simple. Plus, half the time pages touting very specific food regimes, will delete negative comments, so it can all look very rosy, when for others it might not be, but you don’t see those. Can you trust science? Well, that depends. A vegan scientist can present a pretty strong case for veganism and its role in reversing various illnesses…. but then so can a low carb / high fat scientist somewhere else… and a lacto ovo vegetarian, and a paleo and so on and so on. So again, it comes down to believing in ourselves.

People make billions of dollars from your perpetual state of feeling like a failure, with repeat business only coming from you continuing to feel like you’re failing. I’m all for people making healthy profits, but at our expense? No way!

The most important thing is to ditch all the universal stuff that is wrong for ALL of us, and then from there embark upon some experimentation guided either by your own intuition or a trusted practitioner or coach – like me, perhaps? If something doesn’t feel right, sit right or sound right to you then you will be doing your personal intuition a disservice by going along with it. Explore into the arenas of curiosity and be mindful – did that work for me? Did I bloat after that meal? Did I turn into a fart bomb? Did I then get constipated for 3 days? Did I feel energized and awake? Do I want different foods for different seasons and reasons? Then you know what? That means you’re super in tune with your body and listening to the body’s internal seasons. Go with it. The truth is inside you, not inside someone’s latest diet regime.

We’ve been told so much that ‘the answer is out there somewhere’ but in truth, the answer is deep inside us. Trust YOU and also of course trust those moments when you know you want some outside practitioner support for more complex healing issues at hand.

My Real Food Manifesto, created when my blog was about 6 months old in 2012 has become something of a mantra – my ‘return to focus’ when I wanted inspiration, as I know it is for lots of people out there. I posted it on my page of then 257 likes (I’ve no idea why I remember that number!) and the next morning I woke up and it had been shared over 4,000 times. Over the next two weeks it was shared over 30,000 times. I had felt goosebumps as I’d written these words. It was like the old days when I was a song writer, and sometimes words would just flow right through me and out onto the page. The success of this manifesto said so much to me about how people need and want change and recognize how simple the solution is.

Let’s look at the first line. EAT REAL FOOD. What is Real Food? It is food that hasn’t been tampered with that serves to nourish our bodies. It is food that still has a life force or, when prepared properly has life force brought back into it (Think soaking nuts or rice or legumes and ‘activating’).

It is quite simply food that our body understands.

Here’s a list of Real Foods that we’re going to be focusing on during the program – Don’t worry, we will expand definitions, scenarios and methods of preparation and use as the weeks progress. This is just a ‘get familiar’ list of what’s in and what’s out for today’s first little exercise and group share if you’re over on the Facebook group.

Of course keep in mind that with intolerances, allergies, individual enzyme profiles and various diseases, not ALL the foods are going to work for ALL the people.

 Fresh veggies

 Fresh herbs

 Fresh seasonal fruits

 Olives

 Meat, fish, eggs – organic, pasture raised and ethical where possible

 Gelatin from pure sources

 Sustainable tinned or fresh “smaller” fish that is caught by sustainable fisheries, not farms, and as local as possible to you… sardines, mackerel, mussels or a great cheap supermarket option is tinned wild Alaskan salmon. Ensure either brine or 100% olive oil and avoid refined vegetable oil options.

 Fresh goats curds, haloumi, feta, cottage cheese, quark

 Aged unprocessed cheeses

 Whole milk and yoghurt – if they agree with you

 Nuts, fresh or in house made nut milks and nut butter. Try your hand at activating and making your own. Read here.

 Seeds – pumpkin / petita seeds, sunflower, hemp seeds, linseed, chia seed

 Various grains, properly prepared and health state depending… and then onto whole, traditional breads from those grains such as sourdough or handmade pasta.

 Various unrefined sugars from pure sources and health state depending

 Quinoa and buckwheat, properly prepared

 Healthy fats for cooking: Butter, ghee, coconut oil, organic grass fed tallow (beef fat), organic pork lard, duck / goose fat and olive oil (for cooking with olive Oil, temps under 200C only)

 Healthy fats raw: Olive oil, cold pressed flaxseed, macadamia oil, avocado, avocado oil and coconut oil

 Coconut – fresh baby coconuts, desiccated, shredded or aged.

 Pure chocolates made without additives, organic and fair-trade preferable.

 Legumes – prepared properly  Fresh veggie juices, kefir water, Kombucha tea, home-made iced tea, smoothies with low sugar fruits such as berries, herbal teas, dandelion tea, black organic tea, organic coffee and Swiss water process coffee

 Spices and dried herbs

 Certain soy products – MUST be organic certified to avoid genetically modified food trap – tempeh, organic tofu, natto, tamari, edamame

 Unprocessed (raw) or Dutch processed cocoa powder

 Sea Vegetables from clean locations (i.e. non radiation affected seas)

 Traditionally made vinegars – apple cider vinegar with ‘mother’ for example

 Superfoods (maca, acai, green powder blends from pure sources, lucuma, bee pollen)

That really doesn’t look like restriction and suffering if you ask me, right? Especially when we know a little better what to do with it all!

What’s NOT real food?

Things that are manmade that our bodies don’t recognize well as food (keep in mind for certain health conditions such as autoimmune, this can even happen with REAL foods, where the body doesn’t recognize the food as food) So to be a Real Food Rockstar, in whatever time it takes you to have your sanity intact, you will be letting go of most of these things for the most part – And trust me, you’ll know how to spot them a mile away after our time together and very quickly, you’ll start not to want them at all.

 Petroleum derived additives

 Chemical additives from suspect sources such as palm, petroleum or genetically modified organisms

 Genetically modified ingredients (GMO corn, soy, canola, cottonseed, sugar beets namely)

 Refined and fortified breakfast cereals and baby foods

 Refined flours (especially bleached and fortified with synthetic vitamins)

 White sugar (apart from the odd Pay at Christmas, or cake at a birthday, this won’t be living in your pantry at home no more!)

 Artificial preservatives

 Artificial flavors and unspecified origin for natural ‘flavor’

 MSG and its many guises

 Artificial sweeteners (take a deep breath diet soda drinkers. You can do this!)

 Highly processed ‘healthy sweeteners’ – white stevia crystals, xylitol from GMO sources

 Long life milks  Vegetable oils (canola, sunflower, grape seed, cotton seed, soybean, safflower and rapeseed)

 Factory produced stock, stock cubes and gravy packets

 Soft drinks of all kinds including slushies

 Processed soy – high heat treated carton milks, soy sauce, soybean oil, GMO soy

 Conventional ‘big brand’ lollies, chips, snack packets

 Artificial colors whether petroleum, GMO or palm oil derived

 Synthetic supplements with synthetic coatings or chemical additives and fillers within the ingredients

So where the heck do I start with what I have at home?

1. Invest in either the CHEMICAL MAZE app (full version), or connect to the EWG.org website and use them as a reference guide. These will be vital tools for you to decipher whether something passes for you or not. Eventually you will start turning to more and more simple produce-like foods, but for now if still in packet land, let’s get some better awareness and choices happening there.

2. Go through your pantry and fridge and read the ingredients from a few ingredient lists on the back.

3. Make a list from say, 5 packets in your pantry or condiments in your fridge, of things that aren’t real food by definition.

4. Research them through trusted sites such as EWG, or books / apps such as Chemical Maze.

5. Report your findings in the comments or on Facebook.

If you don’t know what the ingredient is, how on earth is your body going to know? That’s my rule that I set for my family when we started and while it’s hard at the beginning because of the big learning curve, it starts to become so simple – so logical!

If you have kids, even tiny ones, do this exercise with them as a project together? Vito as a family: Is this real food? I’ve been doing this with my son since he was 1. Treat it like a detective game and get the kids involved in deciding. Read them what’s in it? Screw up your nose and ask ‘does that sound like real food to you sweetie?’ Just seeing your negative reaction to the information is enough to get their understanding deepen of what’s great and what’s not.

We can only truly start to WANT TO let go of these foods, when we wake up to how they’re really produced, what kind of agriculture they’re from and what their effects are on us now and on future generations. We must do that mental work if we want to stop feeling like we’re ‘missing out’ by not having such things.

Fact is, we are not just responsible for our health, but if in child bearing years, MAN OR WOMAN, we are responsible for what the health of the next generation is going to look like. If raising children, we are responsible for the maintenance and improvement of their health to pass on good health to their kids. It’s never too early and it’s also never too late.

You can either take that as terrifying, OR as a super empowering and exciting responsibility that you are going to ROCK. Let’s choose the latter!

I can’t wait to see what you find on your first detective mission. We can workshop better options over on Facebook so please don’t feel embarrassed for having some crappy items if you do. Sharing equals more support and more learning for others who might be too quiet to.

Feel excited for the fact that it isn’t going to be there much longer and you’re about to be free!

Why Real Food is not a first world problem

So today is packed with information and a bit heavy. Next module, we start to hook into the positive, delicious world of real food on Monday and get planning, changing and replacing. There are many of you on the course that no doubt know this stuff already, but then there are some who do not. Let’s support each other on the learning. I love that idea of a bunch of people in a line, climbing and one hand of each person is being pulled up by the person above them, while the other is extended to help someone up. That’s how I believe supportive communities are and I just know we’re going to be one over the coming weeks.

Really knowing how awesome and impactful our choices are, means there’s a drive behind our choices far more powerful than willpower. Willpower sucks. Why? Because we don’t have much. In my experience helping people ditch the weirdness packets over the past few years, the reason they’re not able to ditch what they know they ‘should’ ditch, is because they still feel like they’re missing out or being deprived or being uncool. Why? Because they haven’t done enough work to see just how toxic some of the stuff we eat is, and not only for us, but for the planet. This is where today’s information is really going to help you feel free from the weirdness, rather than slave to it.

The word activist gets a bad rap… It’s like we’re supposed to be chained to a tree somewhere or hanging off the side of a Greenpeace boat. Be honest, that’s what comes to mind isn’t it?

But here’s the thing. Real Food rockstars are activists. Gentle ones. New aged activists who have tuned into the fact that to effect change – real change – we have an uber power right before our eyes: What we each put in our trolley projects the world we have around us. Companies won’t make what people won’t buy and our micro-actions matter.

If you’ve been on this journey for a while you might have heard this from other people… “Oh, why are you so worried about food? It hasn’t killed us yet to eat this way” or perhaps you’ve heard “There are people starving around the world and you’re worried about a cheeky cupcake?” or “She/ he’s on a boring health kick”.

I am all for living in the now, but when it comes to doing that mindlessly, with no regard for our health, our kids’ health or the planet’s health? Well, that isn’t so cool.

Multinational processed foods and intensive agriculture style food production are extremely damaging to our planet. One example is factory farmed cattle who are fed grains – an unnatural diet to them – and the grains fed to feed lot pigs and cage or ‘free range’ chickens… All these grains are having to be grown somewhere and that somewhere is predominantly in places where once there was lush rainforest or biodiversity galore! We’ll be exploring meat in great detail in a couple of days, so you’ll know exactly what to look for and how to minimize your footprint and eat for your health if you’re an omnivore.

Now, this next little section is heavy to learn, yes. Once you know the scale of damage being done by the way we eat, it’s impossible to look at ‘whatever’ food the same way again. We become more mindful. We ask “Hmm, wonder where that comes from and am I OK with that”? The shiny packets and promises become far less shiny. They become a farce, fake and even laughable as you peel back the layers of convenience. Here are the major 3 ways that processed food and factory farmed meat are seriously damaging our planet that make what we eat the opposite of a ‘first world problem’.

DEFORESTATION

Agriculture is one of the primary drivers of deforestation — both in modern times and in ancient times. The vast old-growth forests that once covered much of the world have largely been cut and burned down because of agriculture. Even when such agricultural-land is reclaimed by nature it generally lacks the great biodiversity that was found there previously, being replaced largely by fast-growing plants and ‘weeds’ that favor the depleted soil. Subsistence-farming accounts for 48% of deforestation, and commercial agriculture for a further 32% of deforestation, according to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Soil erosion that accompanies the loss of large vegetation, further contributes to the soil erosion and desertification that seems to almost inevitably follow deforestation in the long term. The primary food ingredient suspects? Palm oil, soy, corn, canola and sugar beets.

Deforestation has been the cause of a truly massive number of species extinctions in modern times and historical times. Even when the originally deforested area is over time reforested, it always lacks the large biodiversity of its previous state. With the disappearance of the original forest, many species go extinct, and many that don’t lose a great deal of their genetic diversity and variation.

This has significant implications for the medical and agricultural industries. Many potential medicines — and also disease and pest resistant varieties of agricultural crops (useful for hybridization) — have been lost as a result of deforestation. Modern agriculture is now almost entirely dependent on only a very limited number of crops — crops which are becoming increasingly lacking in genetic diversity, and, as a result, increasingly susceptible to disease, pests, and climatic changes. With the loss of related wild species much genetic diversity is lost that could potentially be used to address future outbreaks of disease and to increase resiliency.

It’s currently estimated that the world is losing around 137 plant, animal and insect species every day as a result of rainforest deforestation. That means that around 50,000 species are going extinct every year currently. That is just so crazy isn’t it?

SUPERWEEDS

As weeds became resistant, growers have applied still more herbicides to try to control them. A recent study found that over the 16 years from 1996 to 2011, the use of GE / GMO crops increased herbicide use by 527 million pounds, putting consumers and the environment increasingly at risk. Such a smart business plan, isn’t it? Engineer seeds that the farmers have to buy brand new again each year instead of seed saving their own… AND THEN, make the pesticide that those seeds have increased resistance to.

The emergence of glyphosate-resistant superweeds has led growers to turn to older herbicides such as dicamba and 2,4-D, an ingredient used in Agent Orange, the notorious Vietnam War era defoliant, resulting in the emergence of weed species that are resistant to multiple chemicals. Already, a recent study found, 28 species worldwide are resistant to 2, 4-D and/or dicamba. By 2019, the study concluded, these trends could result in enormous additional increases in herbicide use, such as a 30-fold increase in the amount of 2, 4-D applied to the American corn crop.

– See more on super weeds if it interests you at: http://justlabelit.org/about-ge-foods/environmental- impact/#sthash.AH5zqwal.dpuf

SUPERBUGS

To date, crops engineered to reduced sprayed insecticide use have done the opposite, increasing the need for insecticides. Continuing the application of these insecticides will increase insect resistance in the long run and could have damaging effects on honeybee populations and soil diversity.

– See more at: http://justlabelit.org/about-ge-foods/environmental-impact/#sthash.AH5zqwal.dpuf

The superweeds and superbugs are coming about because of pesticide ready crops in GM agriculture. I wrote a super simple piece on GM foods HERE if you fancy getting up to speed. GMO OMG is a great little not too heavy movie to watch on the subject too, if you fancy exploring further. I will be sharing some examples of top GMO products to avoid during the course.

So it looks totally doomed, right?

HOW can we make a difference?

While we often look at additives as being the culprits on an ingredient list, and they are – These ingredients listed below are damaging to our gut bacteria from the residual pesticides and to the planet from the way they are farmed. Then, once we know a bit more about what’s in our pantry and what we want to start changing, we simply buy single ingredients and make stuff from scratch, as well as buying more simply and more locally. All of the solutions are going to unfold over the course.

Here are the 5 food crops that impact our environment most negatively

CORN (unless locally grown organic)

SOY (unless locally grown organic)

SUGAR BEETS (95% of sugar beets in US agriculture are genetically modified and don’t need to specify sugar beets on labels, simply being allowed to say ‘sugar’ – both in the USA and in Australia. In Europe however, they must be labelled as sugar beets)

PALM OIL (can be called vegetable oil often in processed biscuits, cakes and breads. Download a palm oil app for your phone and for your country location and stick to certified sustainable if using products with palm oil in them)

CANOLA (80% USA canola is genetically modified and 10% Australian is.

If you want a simple look at the high percentages of these crops being grown through intensive mono cropping farming with GMO agriculture, the Huffington Post here is a good overview. Our processed foods are made of local and imported ingredients and unless they say ‘GMO free’ no matter where we are, these ingredients very easily and often are present.

If you wanted to read more on GMO myths and truths, I met with Dr. Michael Antoniou a King’s College Professor in London back in July to discuss his work and how I can help him spread his balanced, evidence-based education on GMO. No pressure to do so, but if you have time, he’s a wonderful man so you can watch the talk OR download a free copy of his evidence based evaluation of GM crops. HERE’S THE TALK ON YOU TUBE and HERE’S THE WEBSITE WITH THE DOWNLOAD.

Phew… That’s enough of that right. I like to apply equal parts serious learning with cakes. It just works, don’t you think? Cakes keep things light and so let’s check out Betty’s Cakes, shall we?

So today’s first challenge?

To add to yesterday’s detective challenge, I want you to share some findings from the additives you found in your pantry but also keep an eye out for these 5 GMO-likely ingredients. Share a couple of examples either in the comments OR over on Facebook, of ingredient lists and where you might think something is genetically modified OR as an extension of yesterday’s challenge, something that is no good in the additive department.

I’ll do one for you here…

What could be wrong with Betty Crocker? Let’s take a look!

Made in Australia from local and imported ingredients is my first clue that I need to go deeper. If there’s sugar, corn or soy then they’ll most certainly be genetically modified origin, given the high percentages world wide of these crops being GM, and the ingredients in part coming from overseas. I have no transparency on what the ‘sugar’ is – could be sugar beets. The vegetable oil when unspecified, is usually hiding canola or palm. The corn syrup is most certainly genetically modified as nowhere on the packet is stated “GMO FREE” or a great label to look out for “GMO PROJECT VERIFIED” which is popping up more and more. In Australia the main ingredient issues that could be GMO are oils, sugars and additives which because they’re so processed, they don’t have to declare GMO origin. We don’t have such a big issue with the flours here.

Then in the 12 additives there are 3 that are harmful / unsustainable

 202 – Petroleum derived and can cause allergic reactions, namely rhinitis (hay fever), headache and skin irritation (source: Chemical Maze)

 1422 – GMO derived, not suitable for gluten free diets and coeliac, some reports of infant reactions

 435 – Could be palm oil, GM, animal or petroleum derived and may be contaminated with carcinogens dioxane and ethylene.

Given you have to buy butter, eggs and milk to add to this recipe, don’t you think we should just go and grab a few other ingredients and make real, additive free cakes?

You can try my chocolate coconut cupcakes, or if you’re more in the mood for something a bit gooey, my chocolate pudding with gooey bits is a big time crowd pleaser. I would so love to see some pics coming through on Facebook and Instagram @Alexx_Stuart if you want to find me there and hashtag #realfoodrockstars

Move over Betty! The Rockstars are coming!

Now this sort of food detective work isn’t to make you obsessive compulsive or freaked out. At every turn. No. Don’t go there. This is to make you aware about the choices you’re going to make for the home, and empowered that when you’re in control, you can absolutely with confidence make better choices and have better ingredient list literacy. If you’re new to all this, you will after a while realize that all it means is you’re going to shop more simply, more locally and with single ingredients to MAKE STUFF.

Lastly if you get objection from your partner as you might start to talk about this stuff at home? Here’s a suggested script to paraphrase

“I’ve been learning about some of the ways certain ingredients impact the environment, and researching additives that are harmful to us and it’s no good. I’m just going to work on substituting over time better versions of some of the things we’ve been buying. It means I’ll be making more stuff homemade, you’ll be pleased to know! I care about all the health problems we hear about and I see all the links between ill health and processed foods and intensive farming and the environment and it’s worth a shot to avoid certain products where we can, don’t you think? Especially if it’s just as delicious if not more? Why don’t we look together for a few recipes that appeal this week and cook them together / I’ll cook them?”

For the kids to start with?

“Guys, I need your help. I’ve been learning about some nasty ingredients and want to see if we’ve got any at home. Will you help me by punching the numbers into this app and seeing if it’s a real food ingredient or a fake food one? Then we can see if we can learn a new XYZ recipe of anything that comes up with a bad rating. We’re not going to lose the treats, we’re just going to discover new ones.”

Paraphrase in your own words as you start to make those baby steps into changing what’s in the pantry and fridge, which we’re just about to start discussing in more detail.

It is essential that your family / partner / close friends do not feel judged, but instead invited to discover what’s really in stuff and discuss how crazy it is that we never knew. TOGETHER. You’re not against them, you’re WITH them and want your child to be healthy and strong and your partner to feel great. Happy change rather than people in opposition to each other. If they won’t have a bar of it? Do it for yourself. Show your glowy skin off and your energetic vibes, and pretty soon they’ll be wondering what you’re having and start asking questions! Questions are an invitation to share and then it feels soft and non judgy to share a little knowledge.

Maybe you fancy a little more you can talk about? Let’s move into looking at food pyramids and plates.

Do you ever wonder why we eat how we eat or who gets to decide?

Check out the corporate partners of the UK Association of Dieticians, the dieticians association of Australia and the American Dietetic association. This week the announcement came out that the American Pediatric Association was dropping Monsanto (GMO kings) and Coke from their corporate sponsors – the tides are turning because the voices of concerned parents and citizens are being heard. What we’re doing isn’t working and the broken system needs fixing. A great step from one of the biggest health associations in the world.

Take a moment to think about the magnitude of how crazy it is that some of these processed food companies are allowed to have any influence at all on our food guidelines and health association communications (obviously with the exception of the avocado guys ;- ) Nuts, right? How did we get here?

When it was decided in the USA that the heart disease rise needed to be addressed, they got a team of nutritionists on board back in the 80s. Take a look at what the lead nutritionist for the Food pyramid project in the early 80s, Luise Light, said about her experience in creating that pyramid… which didn’t end up quite how she’d set out for it to look.

“When our version of the Food Guide came back to us revised, we were shocked to find that it was vastly different from the one we had developed. As I later discovered, the wholesale changes made to the guide by the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture were calculated to win the acceptance of the food industry. For instance, the Agricultural Secretary’s office altered wording to emphasize processed foods over fresh and whole foods, to downplay lean meats choices because the meat lobbies believed it’d hurt sales of full-fat products; it also hugely increased the servings of wheat and other grains to make the wheat growers happy.”

“Where we, the USDA nutritionists, called for a base of 5-9 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables a day, it was replaced with a paltry 2-3 servings (changed to 5-7 servings a couple of years later because an anti-cancer campaign by another government agency, the National Cancer Institute, forced the USDA to adopt the higher standard).

“Our recommendation of 3-4 daily servings of whole-grain breads and cereals was changed to a whopping 6-11 servings forming the base of the Food Pyramid as a concession to the processed wheat and corn industries. Moreover, my nutritionist group had placed baked goods made with white flour — including crackers, sweets and other low-nutrient foods laden with sugars and fats — at the peak of the pyramid, recommending that they be eaten sparingly. To our alarm, in the “revised” Food Guide, they were now made part of the Pyramid’s base. And, in yet one more assault on dietary logic, changes were made to the wording of the dietary guidelines from “eat less” to “avoid too much,” giving a nod to the processed-food industry interests by not limiting highly profitable “fun foods” (junk foods by any other name) that might affect the bottom line of food companies.”

She pleaded with them to not release their updated version, and was the only one in the team who objected. She stated that this high processed, high carb diet could lead to mass obesity. She was sadly, ignored as she was the only one who objected. How crazy is that?

So this happened instead and took a further 10 years to roll out…

That whopping 6-11 serves of bread, pasta, rice and carbs was the processed food instries dream come true – A unicorn had come galloping into their lives with all the promises of profit they could imagine. All the packet foods such as cereals, ready pastas, processed crackers, refined airy breads and all the additives that came with them, exploded onto the scene. “With the goodness of wholegrain” was, and to a large extent still is, a catch phrase that people find safety in their choices from it.

Whenever you hear a catch phrase like that now, i.e., ‘with the goodness of…’ I want you to say to yourself: “And *with* what else exactly?”

It may well be that the wheat grew in a pristine field, but once 8 additives, 30% sugar and natural ‘flavour’ has been added, even if you can handle wheat just fine, your body still isn’t going to have the faintest clue what the rest of the stuff is and after a few days of 30% sugar breakfasts, your food bill will be going up in snacks – because of course you can’t wait until the next meal with your shot-to-pieces energy levels – and so once again, we see a beautiful business model that’s born with the 6-11 serves of the 1992 pyramid.

So, basically when I learnt this information 7 years ago – Luise’s experience and who funded in part the dietary guideline’s deciding bodies of today – I decided that was all I needed to make that final shift to trusting MY BODY over a governing body backed by big processed food corporations. I have absolutely nothing against companies making money, no. This is about injustice for me and for all of us. I’m not saying grains are a no no. I’m no doctor or nutritionist. I sure do question them being in greater quantities than veggies though – It just doesn’t make sense!

If you want to learn more but don’t want to wait for the full reading list in the course pdf at the end, I highly recommend a book that just came out last year called DEATH BY FOOD PYRAMID. It’s available with 1 click Amazon kindle purchase (just download the kindle app first and then head to amazon on a laptop to complete your purchase. If you want it in your hot little hands, grab it from the free-shipping site, Book Depository. Denise Minger, the author is an excellent researcher and writer and you will truly see how it all unfolded, and it’s super easy to read!

If you’re in the UK and Australia and thinking ‘oh but that’s America’, sadly it isn’t limited to one country. Nestle for example has a massive task force of women in Brazil who go door to door explaining the benefits of Nestle formula supplementation. They even proudly share the fact that they sell fortified products door to door (synthetic vitamins, great for an emergency perhaps, but not so good in the day to day choice department!) right there on their website. As educated countries wise up, these big guys move onto poor populations as their next target. Devastating stuff but we’re onto them! Jamie Oliver’s SUGAR RUSH uncovered the Coca Cola ‘buying’ of Mexico. Again, devastating. A must watch.

This is another must watch Foreign Correspondent documentary. CLICK HERE and make some time (about an hour) to watch at some point.

So if we can’t believe governments about what to eat, then who can we believe?

Ourselves. Based on our age, our sex, our blood groups, our ancestry, our health state, a specific condition, the state of our biochemistry on any given day, in any season, our lifestyle… we all thrive in slightly different ways at different times. Of course you are best to see a practitioner for guidance if you feel out of depth or that something needs their help solving, but for the most part, you are your best ‘food guidelines’ guide and those guidelines will constantly be changing once you’re tuned in.

I have two girlfriends who are vegan and gorgeous and healthy and awesome. I tried it for 2 weeks a few years ago, and cannot tell you the brain fog and low energy I experienced. I was miserable, lethargic and vague. A few oysters and a prawn and hey presto, I was awake for the first time in a fortnight, about 20 minutes into the meal. It was quite amazing. It was at that time that I dug deep into the meat industry to discover the ethics, or lack thereof, and made a commitment to only eat meat that I knew the source of. It ain’t gonna be bacon if it ain’t kind bacon. Simple as that.

I have another friend who was a happy, healthy vegetarian for years and then one day woke up saying she could not stop dreaming about having a big bowl of chicken curry. She ate it that day, the next day, then steak and so on, until a few months later her hair was getting thicker and her wrinkles diminishing. Another friend had to stop eating eggs as they congested her body too much and her health thrived from removing the animal food…

Some people suit a way for a time and then it stops working for them and they need something different. Some people never seem to have to worry no matter what. Some people go through ‘I need hot food’ to ‘I need raw food’ and so on and so on.

THRIVING is the goal. What real foods you enjoy for the most part of your food mix to help you thrive? Well, that’s up to you. I am not here to push any one way of eating on anyone. EVER. What I am here to do is guide you within the realm of all real food and within that realm sits your perfect mix – for now. Be open to things changing because our bodies change and seasons change and thus our needs change along with them. How freeing is that?

This is not a diet or fad and you aren’t going to have to eat one very specific way to be a rockstar. You’ll eat your way and with the guidance of a holistic care professional or two along the way no doubt.

Disclaimer: This information is not intended as medical advice. You should always see your health professional to determine what is best in your situation. All words are my own research, referencing and opinions, not medical advice.

Building the powerhouse PRODUCE stash Today’s focus is produce. What do we need to consider to make the best decision for ourselves and our families? What are the non-negotiables? Where’s the breathing room? The thing I see missing most in terms of communication about ‘healthy foods’ is the crazy pleasure we get when we connect to our personal values, and start buying, or sometimes growing food, in line with those values.

Conscious eating. You’d think maybe at a glance it looked like a righteous, serious and difficult thing to do – eat consciously. Once you do the initial work to grow your produce vocab though, it actually makes food more delicious, positive and easy than it ever has been.

When I think of my French auntie Josic, getting a simple 4-5 vegetables for dinner in the summer time in France, I think of the simplicity. 2 of the vegetables are grilled, 1 is layered as a gratin either with meat or alone, one is perhaps sliced and blobs of goat’s cheese on top, then the salade, bien sûr! All laid out on the table. It’s not hard, and yet there at dusk on a balmy European summer’s night, you feel a bliss and a sense that you’ve arrived at a deep level of happiness. Everything slows. Every bite is important. Everything tastes ridiculously good. Sleep is so good that night. It’s what the great ‘real food’ evangelist Alice Waters calls “Slow Food Values”.

Cut to the fast food values where you rip into a drive through, grab large burgers, fries and whatever else. You eat on the run. You feel shame, guilt and a sense of ‘I’ll get back on the wagon tomorrow’ AND you’re hungry when you’re home because a)you actually haven’t been nourished yet b)didn’t take time to register you were eating, because you were busy driving… Fast food values. Quick, mindless, more, restless… I believe we feel guilt not necessarily because it’s unhealthy, but because somewhere deep within, we know it’s quite literally out of our real character to eat this way and so we feel ashamed that we’re literally not being true to ourselves. It’s not in line with the things we value and find true happiness in.

It’s a really interesting thing to ponder and it’s not often an overnight change, but I will say this: Connecting to the source of your food and simply asking: Does this sit right with me deep down? Am I happy with the way this is produced? These are two of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself moving forward – especially if you’ve struggled to lose the fake packets of weirdness to date. Shopping with your values in mind is where food magic and freedom beings, and you move away from worrying about all the internet noise and what ‘they’ say.

Let’s go!

PRODUCE – Do you know where yours comes from?

There’s nothing that’s going to connect you to your food better than creating your produce network. Reconnecting with where your food comes from puts meaning into meals and gives you beautiful conversations to have and stories to tell. While I still use the supermarket for a few staples, you never get a sense of village in a supermarket. (If you’re curious I buy inexpensive West Gold NZ grass fed butter, Aware washing powder, avocados and asparagus when in season which aren’t crops that gets sprayed, Cobram estate olive oil 3L because they’re good people and the product is delicious and affordable, King Oscar Olive oil tinned sardines and the odd late night emergency when I stuff up a recipe – Happens to us all!) You always feel like you’re a number – the scanning, the bright lights, the vastness, the high turnover staff, and the shock when you smile and ask them how they are. You can feel how broken it is, when you tune into it. I’m not saying they’re not practical and I actually enjoy going in and buying my items in there because I get to send a message about what people want – even if I’m one person and it’s a handful of items, it still matters.

For decades we’ve been asked to ‘eat healthy’. I can only imagine the confusion saved if instead the focus was ‘eat local and from the farmer’ for most of what we eat. Now, I’m not saying you have to stop supermarket shopping or make sure you know farmer Ian who grows your strawberries, Bob who rears the cattle and Irene who has a peach orchard, no. All I’m saying is that to be a true food rockstar you do need to understand food provenance and start building a more transparent path from where and how stuff grows and is made, to what’s in your shopping basket.

You don’t need to prepare every single meal for yourself, either. You’ll start to see a pattern here – It’s what you do MOST of the time that counts, not what you do some of the time. I had a couple of gelatos last summer in Byron Bay. I didn’t know the ingredient list. I ate fish and chips by the beach with friends. I survived. Save allergy cases and severe autoimmune cases where strict healing diets are required, the stress we place around food being ‘perfect all the time’ is going to negate all the beautiful work you’re doing. There’s always a better choice you can make – the gelato without the funky weird ‘limited edition’ processed lolly mixed through or the grilled fish to have with the chips… for those wiggle room times out and about with friends, just make the best choice from what’s there and move on!

Important tangent finished, now onto organic! Should we panic?

Is organic important?

Well, if we think about agriculture and our health, then yes, it really is. I’d be lying to you if I said I didn’t think so. Is it worth foregoing produce such as meat and vegetables if you simply can’t or don’t have access often? Absolutely not. You will still be getting nutritional benefit, of course and it’s still far better than super processed packet foods and ready meals.

I would like to encourage and prep you though, for heading in the organic direction, slowly slowly over a couple of years, as priority, means and knowledge evolve. Organic is ‘marketed’ as an elite, luxury product and it simply isn’t. It can’t afford to be. It’s the laws of nature and breaking those laws has not held us in good stead when it comes to agriculture and our resulting health

You might remember from Friday my amazing new friend Dr Michael Antoniou Head: Gene Expression and Therapy Group King’s College London, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine

This man has dedicated years to studying pesticides and their effects on various organs. A peer reviewed study he’s just recently published in the Environmental Health journal, tested very low levels of glyphosate / Round Up (world’s no1 herbicide in farming / parks / home use) and what very low level doses can do. His team found that very low level exposure in rats, did cause liver and kidney damage. Here is the study if you wanted to check out the specs. http://www.ehjournal.net/content/14/1/70

Quote from lead author Dr Michael Antoniou:

“The findings of our study are very worrying as they confirm that a very low level of consumption of Roundup weed killer over the long term can result in liver and kidney damage. Our results also suggest that regulators should re-consider the safety evaluation of glyphosate-based herbicides.”

I’m not sharing this information to terrify you, but more to provide that building reason to start finding a way to increase our organic items in the basket over time. They want us to think organic’s not for us… They want us to think it’s some rich person health kick food. It’s not. It’s in fact the realest most average, normal food that ever existed! And the first question that arises? You bet:

Am I really going to be able to afford organic?

It takes time. It takes equal parts learning how to be savvy as it does priority shifting here and there. It took my little family about 3 years all up and when we’re out and about, we go with the flow and make the best choice possible with what there is available.

Here’s one of my favourite produce facts: I can buy a whole organic 2kg chicken for $22-24 and make 5 meals out of that for my family of 3. “Free range” chicken breast is $29 per kilo. SO organic in this case is actually a saving. Fabulous, right?

1. Cut out the chicken breasts stuffed with pesto

2. Roast legs and marylands with lemon zest and fennel seeds

3. Use all the little leftover bits of chicken for a protein rich salad.

4. Make stock with the carcass, onions, carrot, celery and herbs and a couple of liters of water and then

5. 2 different mixed veggie soups from the stock.

It’s all in the way you start to frame it for yourself. It’s all in the stretching and morphing of one meal to the next. You will get better at it, I promise. Every ingredient becomes an opportunity to create something new, not a chore to ‘figure out what to do with’. Every look at where you’re spending now vs where you want to spend in the future, brings a new answer.

My top reasons for switching over to organic over time

1. For your health. Clean food free from pesticides, methyl bromides (imported garlic for example gets dipped in the uber toxic methyl bromide from China) and herbicides. So many studies link these things in our food to ADD, cancers, autoimmune, gut and rheumatoid arthritis that we just simply need to be more proactively preventative.

2. For the community and connection. Chances are you have to get to a market or a small shop or even get a veggie box delivery from a friendly delivery man / woman if you go organic. You meet people, you connect, you fill your heart with happiness for being closer to your food, and the thing you realise? Everyone is SO nice! 3. Life force and antioxidants. Conventional produce often gets picked unripe so that it can withstand transit across the 100s, sometimes 1000s of kilometers it will travel. Foods have stronger life force and phytonutrients when picked ripe and eaten relatively soon afterwards.

4. Nitrogen – this is the stuff that supports the plants to grow at their own pace. When you add chemical fertilizers to the soil, you speed things up and they basically don’t have as much time to collect nutrients as they grow. Think of a super bland pineapple or watermelon. Churn and burn baby. No good.

5. Taste, oh my gosh the taste! Broccoli. You can never go back!

6. Respect for and protection of our planet. The bees are dying, the farmers are getting all sorts of weird, rare cancer clusters, the soil is dying and losing its microbiome and minerals… We have to wake up to the fact that what we do today, influences the future and increasing our organic food intake just makes sense.

Give me some priorities I can work on from today

Yes! There is a great happy medium that can be achieved, whereby you prioritize a few organic items, known for heavier spray use. Grapes, zucchini, leafy greens, berries and stone fruit are among the most sprayed. The EWG is well known for their clean 15 published each year to help people know what to make a priority. You might argue ‘but we’re in Australia’, and I’ve looked into it and while I can only go by what farmers say as there’s no official EWG type of reference in Australia, nonetheless it seems to be about the same.

Want some more evidence of the nutritional bang for buck of organic produce? This study from last year in the British journal of nutrition is worth a read.http://csanr.wsu.edu/m2m/papers/organic_meta_analysis/bjn_2014_full_paper.pdf

My top ways to afford integrating some organics into your life

1. Grow your own: Whether it’s an assortment of herbs or a full veggie patch, if you get yourself a green thumb the savings are enormous. Learn the pest fighting tips of organic gardening and reap the rewards of a tasty little crop. My mother in law keeps us well stocked in zucchini, squash and spinach several weeks of the year which we love, so maybe if you don’t have the space, find someone in your family or a friend who does, and work together to get it happening on some level! Kids love gardening too and it’s an awesome way to get them interested in veggies!

2. Growers Markets: Buying direct from your farmers and butchers will often save you plenty. I adore Marrickville Markets in Sydney, on a Sunday. You get a brilliant sense of community and it’s actually very humbling. Rita’s farm from picton that sell their chemical free produce there aren’t certified so it’s very, very affordable and beautiful produce to boot! For kiddies, it gets the message going early that “we know the people who produce our food and we appreciate them”. Every time we make an effort to take the focus off products and put it on produce instead, is a step in the right direction. If jumping straight in there freaks you out, just ‘visit’ and check it out. Have a snack there and look around. Do an experiment. See how you feel and let yourself get addicted! 3. Buy in bulk – If you have good storage containers, why buy 200g when you can buy 1kg? If it’s something you use a lot and the organic version is a pinch (like for me coconut oil, flour or almonds), you can save many dollars by buying big on items that don’t spoil!

4. Co-ops and bulk stores – So many co-ops are popping up all over the place and you can save so much by shopping there. Wonderful also is that you have to bring your own jars and tubs for things, so the packaging is minimized and we save the world from a few more bits of plastic – Always a good thing! Feel free to share your favourites wherever you live!

5. Shop in season only. Organic strawberries in season will be $5 AUD a punnet and $13-14 out of season. Eating in season makes fruit and veg exciting and keeps it special AND saves you money!

6. More loyalty programs: Find your organic loyalty programs around you. Google works a charm! Use them. You will save.

7. Cook more: When you get good at cooking, you become more resourceful and things go further in different incarnations. The bones of your roast chook become a flavourful stock to use for a whole new dish the next day or later from the freezer. As a cook you can also discover the joys of secondary cuts such as shoulder and neck. A couple of lamb necks are around $12 together, and slow cooked in water and stock veggies, the result 10 hours later is superb! As you hopefully know by now, cooking doesn’t have to be time consuming either. A 10 minute prep in the morning and into a low oven or slow cooker, is an instant ready dinner for the evening when you get home! Check out my lamb shoulder recipe here.

8. Get into community savings near you. I’m in Sydney and my butcher of choice is GRUB up on New South Head Road, Sydney. He often does a grass fed cow share program, where you save loads buying in bulk. Another fab producer, direct from the farm is Alma Beef. Sue, the owner, knows more about different cow breeds and grass types and giving cattle a super happy life, than anyone I’ve ever met and the meat is incredible.

9. Meal plan: People throw so much food out its crazy! Put a value to that waste and plan a bit better to minimize it, then inject that capital back into your organic food budget!

10. Have a few non-negotiables to start with. The most heavily sprayed fruit & veg are apples, pears, all dark leafy greens, broccoli and the most anti-biotic fed animals tend to be cows that are fed grains, as grains make them sick. So as a start, maybe convert to this list.

NOW: What if right now, it’s just not possible… Does washing your fruit and veggies help reduce pesticide exposure?

Yes! Produce over packets is always a great choice, whether it’s been sprayed or not. While washing won’t remove it all, it’s all about the steps to reduce pesticide exposure and washing will absolutely help. Here are my top tips:

1. Give them a little vinegar water bath with 2 cups vinegar, 8 cups water for 15 minutes

2. Give them a spray with vinegar and let it stand for 2 minutes, then give them good old scrub under the tap with a scouring sponge – especially great for waxed apples and citrus, to get under the wax and ditch the spray often trapped underneath the wax

3. Peel them, although so much of the fiber and vitamin goodness is in that skin! Your call.

4. Spray more delicate things like berries with vinegar spray too and then rinse gently

Also, buying snap frozen isn’t a disaster. If you’re rural or strapped for time and want a few freezer ‘pull out’ emergencies, then frozen veggies are nutritionally more dense than fresh veggies that have sat out for a couple of weeks travelling the country and in your fridge. So, don’t fear the frozen stuff!

Now, I know we’re doing pantry tomorrow, but a final note about starting to integrate organics over time for yourself and family as we’re just starting to brooch the subject.

If you swapped all the cereal, snack packets, soft drinks and frozen meals to organic versions of them, then effectively, your shopping bill would go through the roof. This is a mistake we can all make when starting out.

The trick is to realize you don’t need that stuff in the first place. Make a real breakfast with dense eggs, leftover meatballs in broth soup with veggies or a voluptuous smoothie packed with goodness and you don’t need the snacks between the meals.

So you save the money you’d have spent on the snacks once upon a time, to ‘fund’ the upgrade in nutrient density for your meal times instead. Growing kids will need a bit more, but they certainly still don’t need processed foods. Have a meatball. Have carrot sticks dipped in homemade mayo or a smashed avocado. Make popcorn together and load it with butter, ghee or macadamia oil. I have a long suggestion for increasing nutrient density through here if you want to CLICK. You will never fill the hunger void with grain waves, cheerios or rice wheels. Instead you’ll get MSG, sugar and oh, look, MSG again!

Try and source produce that is ethical, organic where possible and local as possible to the best of your ability from wherever you are. This could look like just making 2 swap outs and upgrading to organic pork sausages and organic spinach. That is absolutely fine if that’s all you feel comfortable doing. The point is, you’re doing SOMETHING. Focus on what matters here.

If where you live has a farmer’s market – Head there and buy things you might not have tried before. Introduce yourself to the farmer. Take your kids. Observe how it feels to walk away from the market with that smile on your face. It feels right. It feels good. If you can even start to do it with just your eggs to start with, then that is awesome. So, let’s have a look at the list of produce to start crowding out some of those packets with. With the fish this isn’t to say these are the only fish to buy. This is a ‘main available fish’ scenario.

Wild-caught fish

(Not farm-raised. Watch Jeremy’s video when you get a chance)

US / Canada examples: wild salmon, black cod and Dover sole

UK examples: Here’s Greenpeace’s awesome UK overview – Line caught Mackerel & sea bass are always reliable and sustainable

Australian examples: south Australian Ling, snapper, WA sardines, flat head, mackerel – and here’s Greenpeace’s canned tuna guide

Prawns are a major source for concern coming from Asia because of the way they’re farmed and the disease and superbugs building in the farms, due to heavy antibiotic use within them. Stick to local prawns to where you live and ask about the place they come from. Be satisfied and comfortable with your answer, or simply don’t buy them. Don’t be afraid to ask, if they’re not labelled.

Budget options: Tinned sustainable tuna on occasion (tuna being a large fish poses a mercury concern eaten in large amounts, but a tin with salad every couple of weeks is honestly no stress at all!) Another great budget option is tinned wild salmon from North America / Canada. My favorite budget option is tinned King Oscar’s sardines in Olive oil that are about $2 a large tin at the supermarket (check to make sure it’s definitely the olive oil one when you go.)

All tinned fish should either be spring water, brine or 100% olive oil. Vegetable oil is OUT. See why tomorrow.

Questions to ask:

1. Is this marinara mix 100% local / Australian fish and seafood? (If not make a giant mix yourself and freeze in kilo lots for future cook ups)

2. Are these fish line caught or from a sustainable fishery?

3. Are these prawns from Asia?

4. Does this tin have BPA? (for tinned fish. ask via email to the company’s website)

BEST WEBSITE FOR AUSTRALIANS WANTING TO CHOOSE BETTER FISH?

GoodFishBadFish

Various organic/pasture-fed meats, poultry and eggs

To afford meat that is high level and ethical, it is a stretch. I like to watch for value buys from the freezer of my local organic shop as well as stick to mainly sausages, whole birds, broths and secondary on-the- bone cuts to slow cook things with. It makes it sustainable for my budget as well as sustainable for the planet. Again, notice when we do it right, there’s a win win – our health AND the planet. I just love that, don’t you?

In Sydney I shop with GRUB who now also deliver to greater NSW, Melbourne and Brisbane. Feather and Bone are also wonderful. You will know doubt be able to share yours if you’re more experienced already.

In the US, www.uswellnessmeats.com is readily available nationally, but you will be able to find something local to you for a chat and a local village feel, no doubt.

Why is grain feeding cows an issue? Three major reasons.

1. It’s not their natural diet or habitat in the case of feedlots, so it’s actually unethical. They are ruminants and designed to eat grass and lots of it. That also means they’re mean to roam and be on pasture all the time. When the demand increased for farmers to produce more and more meat for growing population AND growing category consumption rise, they had to turn to ways of fulfilling their orders from customers. They turned to grains. I have a butcher friend who is a wise old chap and knows so much about meat. He told me the story of being a young man working in the abattoirs in the late 60s here in Australia when grain was introduced. There was no science about it. They just started to supplement with grain. Sure enough the cattle got fatter fast, but what came with that desired increased weight, was disease. Liver abscesses and general infections namely. So they pulled back and instead tried for the strategy of introduce it tiny bit by bit, until they went onto a grain diet as adults. Does this remind you of the human food pyramid by any chance? Start them with rice cereal as babies until they are then having predominantly grain diets as adults, with globosity, fatty liver and heart disease at epic heights? (i make that comparison not as a practitioner, as I am a simple health coach, BUT you have to wonder, right? Are we really meant to eat all those grains either?)

Hmmm.

2. You are what you eat, eats. Fact. Most cattle organic and non-organically reared are being fed grains. If the animal is unhealthy in their life it does get passed onto us. According to the Union of concerned scientists n the USA for example, 70% of total antibiotic use, goes into animals reared for meat. So we have the same issue with prawns and BASA of Asian origin as we do with meat. If they’re being raised unnaturally on GMO grain diets and fed antibiotics, then we are being fed unnaturally as a result. The same statistic can be reflected globally. And then we go into the ramifications of superbug territory and antibiotic resistance. No good.

So when we walk away from the bad stuff we can look to be inspired by the good stuff. According to a study in the journal of animal science 2009, these are the benefits to be had compared to eating grain fed.

Grass Fed Beef Benefits

Higher in beta-carotene

Higher in vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)

Higher in the B-vitamins thiamin and riboflavin

Higher in the minerals calcium, magnesium, and potassium

Higher in total omega-3s

A healthier ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids (1.65 vs 4.84)

Higher in CLA (cis-9 trans-11), a potential cancer fighter

Higher in vaccenic acid (which can be transformed into CLA)

You can extrapolate the same sort of benefits regardless of what type of meat you eat or prefer, essentially the message is, that the healthier the animal you eat, the healthier you will be.

No 3. The environment – And this goes for chickens, turkey, ducks and pigs too for being fed grains too. We learnt about what GM agriculture misdoing to the world and it isn’t pretty. Those seeds, predominantly corn, soy and cottonseed are used in feed mixes. Each cow eats around 60 pounds of the grains a day – No wonder they’re clearing Amazon forest to grow GM soy (it’s the number 1 reason for deforestation, isn’t that crazy?) So, grains are simply unsustainable AND unhealthy for the cows. Worried about the sustainability of pasture raising and how on earth we are supposed to fit all the cows across lush pastures? Joel Salatin of Polyface farm wrote a great rebuttal in the New York Times about grass fed meat and sustainability. READ HERE.

So? If you’re a meat eater, I propose buy less, and buy better quality. Eating a third less meat, but paying 30% more for the highest quality possible ensures ethics, environmental burden diminishing, health protection and increased nutrients. On the whole we eat more meat than we can sustain with grass fed practices, so it’d do us good to reduce our meat in take too to more sustainable levels where we can farm the right way. Again, I’m not saying a blanket “Don’t eat meat” here. It’s a very personal choice. I won’t be making any food choices on anyone’s behalf during this course. All I’m saying is that for the omnivores among us. To reduce the amount of meat and increase the quality, is a way that’s sustainable for us and easier on the planet.

Another nutrient rich budget meat tip? Tried offal lately? You totally should get back on the bandwagon. Try crumbing chicken hearts or making a super easy liver pâté – We do not get enough vitamins A, E, D and K2 generally in the modern diet, and offal is just about the best way to get a good hit.

Questions to ask

1. Is the chicken / pork organic?

2. Are the chicken / pigs fed organic grain or conventional? Does the conventional have GMO corn and soy in the grain mix? 3. Are the cows pasture raised?

4. If the beef is organic, does this mean also that its grass fed OR that it’s just organic grains that they’re fed?

5. Can I have a couple of free kilos? This stuff’s expensive…. Ok, maybe don’t ask that!

Eggs

The nutrient density of a pasture raised egg knocks all others out of the park – not to mention the good it does for the hens and their health. Eat half the eggs, but add a little butter. If you used to make a 3 egg omelet, go down to two and add little butter to up the satiety, so you’re not breaking the bank. By buying organic pasture raised eggs too, you have the benefit and peace of mind, knowing you’re not eating eggs from animals fed GMO grains in their feed mix.

Another thing you might notice with eggs, is that a supplier will produce all three types – cage, free range and organic – remember organic isn’t enough with eggs. They can still be all cooped up and very sad and stressed. No good. Plus, where is the ethics in hedging your bets across all consumer groups? Either you stand for ethical farming or you don’t. Simple.

Questions to ask:

1. Are the chooks free roaming during the day time?

2. Are they fed organic grains or are there GMO seeds in their mix?

3. Does this producer have other types of eggs (i.e. bet hedging)

4. What is the amount of hens per acre?

Resource: The Flavour Crusader Blog: THIS EGGS DIRECTORY OF SORTS IS EXTRAORDINARILY GOOD.

Milk

Organic cultured whole milk products from pasture-fed cows, such as whole milk yogurt, cultured butter, and pure grass fed butter and raw milk cheeses. Some people do well on A2, some on raw and some just don’t do dairy well at all. You are an experiment of one so listen to your body.

If you just want that ‘milky’ hit every now and then, make your own unsweetened almond milk (If you don’t make your own, look for an “unsweetened” brand using non-GMO ingredients and no fillers like Pure Harvest in Australia or international brand.) It doesn’t company in nutrient density to whole milk, but you can get those nutrients from meats, eggs, nuts and vegetables at other times, so if it’s just because you need a milk ‘fix’ then almond is gorgeous. Other than that, it’s not necessary to make nut milks a staple – especially if you’re not making use of the pulp. It’s downright stupid from a wastage perspective. Have some nuts. Drink some water. Simple

Soy milk? As I said with almond milk, if you have that one coffee a week or like a splash in tea every other day, it’s really no big deal. Organic is essential to avoid the GMO situation. BUT soy milk is a risk and to consume it regularly based on what I’ve read, just doesn’t sit right. There is a very long list of studies that support a rethink on soy as the miracle health food it was touted as in the 90s. So, to read more on soy and studies showing risks. READ HERE.

The thing with milk is that it was of course technically meant for a baby animal of some kind and never meant to be for us. So, we don’t NEED dairy milk as we can get those nutrients from other sources and did long before milking animals for our nourishment. It’s available to us and nutrient rich and if enjoying organic, pasture raised, ethical dairy products, then every now and then why not if you’re in good health and these foods suit you. It’s entirely up to you to decide, and if in doubt, include a practitioner in your discussions to decide if it’s great or not so great for you.

Cheese, Yoghurt and butter

Cheese and yoghurt in the bog standard supermarket form, have milk solids in them. Why are these milk solids in there and why might they be not such a good thing or if it’s over hyped in health communities as an evil?

A note on the production of skim milk powder: liquid milk is forced through a tiny hole at high pressure, and then blown out into the air. This causes a lot of nitrates to form and the cholesterol in the milk is oxidized… Oxidized cholesterol contributes to the buildup of plaque in the arteries, to atherosclerosis. Now, before you freak out, for skim milk this is irrelevant as there is no milk fat in the product. It doesn’t mean it’s not highly processed. For cheese, then yes, you want to avoid milk solids. For a supermarket option, Nimbin is a great option in Australia although I am still awaiting an answer on their non-animal rennet and its origin (some vegetarian rennet are soy). For a farmhouse option, any traditional cheese will do. Mild ones like young gruyere, Swiss, Gouda tend to be popular with little people if that’s what you’re in need of.

Are Cheese Stix really that bad?

First clue that these aren’t great is that they’re not refrigerated. Where is the life force? Real cheese is literally ‘alive’. Second is that milk solids fare at number 2 and account for 51% of the product – highly processed. The mineral salts check out ok but then we see preservatives 200 and 234. 200 is prohibited in food for infants and is GMO origin. Nicin (234) is also prohibited in infant foods and has been reported to have gastrointestinal effects. No thanks. “Natural Colour” could be anything. And so we have to ask ourselves this: If we can’t afford / justify ‘real cheese’, then do we need cheese at all? Why can’t we get our protein, enzymes, and minerals from the other foods we could be eating instead? Those are my thoughts.

1. Choose organic where possible

2. Next is choose whole cheese rather than mixed, flavoured or processed.

3. Avoid grated cheese even from reputable brands (You will most often find preservatives and cellulose – wood chip industry byproduct – inside

4. Avoid processed cheeses and cheese spreads with multiple ingredients.

Yoghurt

Avoid low far yoghurts and all the fillers and sugar that go with them. You know the real food rules now. Go and take a look at the sugar percentages. It’s crazy!

When it comes to whole milk yoghurt, either make your own using this simple recipe from Trina Holden in the US… OR buy as local and organic as possible. Yoghurt is a great one to grab from the farmer’s market. This way you avoid excessive processing and if organic, you avoid the cow being fed GMO grains. You can also make coconut yoghurt is you prefer. My recipe can be fiddly first go, but after that, it’s easy and delicious.

Butter

The best case scenario is unsalted (that way you avoid factory made salt) and grass fed. “Organic” I find is a useless expense as many inexpensive grass fed options are available and that to me, as we’ve covered, is more important than organic as organic rearer can still mean grass fed. You might have to call around, but in Australia Westgold which is a Woolworth’s available butter is wonderful, under $2 and NZ grass fed cows.

SOY PRODUCTS

So controversial, right? My biggest problem with soy is the mono cropping agriculture used to grow it, GMO or not. Then of course the toxins impregnated into the plants to withstand the heavy pesticides from GMO farming – there’s that too. Where soy is most debated however is with the question: Is it good for my health?

To me, plain as day it looks like a ginormous marketing campaign for vegetarians (sorry vegos. I love you, I do, and care not at all that you don’t eat meat. It’s the industry I’m mad add not vegetarians) It’s a health food, it’s a way to get your adequate protein, and it’s a way to drink milk… Translation? It’s a way for the soy industry to cash in big time. There are some soy products that work though. The fermented ones. Why? In the fermentation process, you lose most of the anti-nutrients found in soy when unfermented – anti nutrients block absorption of nutrients. This is why it is best to soak nuts and legumes and ferment soy if you eat these things. When the anti-nutrients are lessened you receive more of the available nutrients from the food. It’s something traditional cultures around the world were very good at. In modern times? Well, it all just takes too much time doesn’t it? Thing is, if we want these foods, we have to either make time or outsource to trusted sources.

For a comprehensive list of the not so wonderful effects of unfermented soy products, head here for a piece by Sally Fallon and Dr Mary Enig.

So, soy that is fine to include in your day to day are tempeh, tamari, miso paste and natto (which tastes so odd but if you like it, go for it!)

Soy to avoid or eat sparingly – milk, tofu, edamame, regular soy sauce and bean curd. Now I’m not talking 1 latte a week. I’m talking as a daily go to. Speak to your personal practitioner for what’s going to be right for you.

This is the super short story on soy products. If you want to know more, Dr Kaayla Daniels has a wonderful book called the Whole Soy Story available online.

A variety of fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs

Now while this is a shorter section than a couple of the foods above, make no mistake about it, vegetables are king. They deliver health support in spades. For veggies concentrate on the rainbow and don’t overdo the starchy ones – think” grown above the ground” as the major selection from which you choose. Buy across colours and buy in season – it will be less expensive and more nutrient rich than something that’s come half way across the world or been in a fridge for 6 months.

Vegetables are so, so important. Your micronutrients are in these guys, so keep the variety and creativity coming.

Low fructose fruits are going to be a better option to stave off sweet cravings, when it comes to fruit. Berries (frozen when out of season is often the best option, organic is best), kiwi, citrus, green apple are all great options and then the rest – when in season and enjoyed a few times over the season as nature’s lollies – Like a good mango! Mmmmm. Interestingly, we metabolise fructose better when our vitamin D levels are higher in the summer time. A direct link to nature’s way here, as summer is the time when fruit is sweetest and most varied. Don’t you find that fascinating? Nature is the expert and we just have to try and learn more from her to see how it should really be, don’t you think?

Lacto-fermented pickles, salsa, sauerkraut, etc.

This is one of those things that terrifies people to get off the ground. It’s easy however and if you want to learn more and have a crack at your first batch of cultured vegetables, my guide here will explain everything for you. Mix and match the veggies each time depending on what you have and hey presto – billions of good gut guys headed down south to destroy the enemy lines (I talk about the ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ with my son so he understands it. I make star war explosion sounds when he takes his teaspoon to bring to life the journey of the good guys and the battle against the bad guys. It totally works! Kombucha (a delicious probiotic beverage that’s easy to make at home)

My friend Alisha has an excellent guide to making your own and why – although it isn’t beneficial for all, especially those with super sensitive tummies.

Kefir – An essential which can be made with milks, nut milks or even coconut water. Cultures for Life has a guide for you.

These are my produce / living foods basics.

Tomorrow we do the pantry staples and condiments.

Need a seasonal eating guide for Australia? Here’s a great one. http://seasonalfoodguide.com/

Remember these are overviews and tools that you will have forever, so go at your pace. Use this perhaps as more of a learning phase if it feels like too much to act now. That’s totally cool. Please don’t try to change everything. It’s great to start having chats, google markets and local fruit veg delivery boxes at this stage

Do the best you can. Start with what you have, wherever you are – that is indeed the only way we have ever effected change! If focusing on one 1 trolley item a week is all you can manage, then that’s your pace and any pace and progress is a good thing indeed!

Building the powerhouse PANTRY PANTRY Day

You do NOT need to go and spend $400 replacing everything in your pantry today – unless of course you want to, can or have the time. This is a journey and it can take a while – A thing or two each shop or each week or each month is still progress. Don’t forget that and enjoy the discovery and transition with plenty of back pats along the way!

Let’s do the treats pantry first. When I create recipes, I create for nourishment. Healthy fats, natural sweeteners, real fruit, low starch where possible and big, delicious flavours. I like to think of the way I prepare treats, as minimising the digestive system car crash as the food enters it. 80% of our immune system health comes from our gut health, so piling a whole bunch of refined ingredients into us only means we’re setting ourselves up to get sick. Who wants to get sick? I sure don’t.

My recipes are allergy friendly throughout, being gluten free, refined sugar free, grain free, dairy free and a whole lot of egg free and nut free too, with adaptations and swap out notes. I love using creativity to make sure the most amount of people can come on the Real Treats journey, no matter what their needs and preferences are.

Our bodies can process the fructose of about 2 fist sized pieces of fruit a day. That means that any more than that, and we start to burden our liver, which is where fructose gets processed. You don’t want to upset your liver, because it can be the cause of so many other negative chain reactions in your body if it isn’t working right. So, I tend to stick to low fructose sweeteners and generally, just having a little sweet thing in the day, and quite small, on top of a piece or two of fruit a day. If you eat beautiful, nourishing food at your meal times, then you’ll often find the need for loads of sweets subsides. None of my blog readers have complained yet about taste, so if there are things you haven’t tried yet, give them a shot and see how you enjoy!

Now, I’m thrilled to say that I have a lovely chat with Wholefood pioneer Jude Blereau for you today. Enjoy!

Alexx chats to Jude Blereau | Transcript

Need a good online solution that carries all the pantry staples? I love supporting Jane from Organics on a Budget. Busy Australian mum of 2 and hard working to ensure deliverability and affordability of pantry staples. CLICK HERE to have a look around…

Now onto those staples…

Coconut sugar

It is packed with a range of minerals and other nutrients compared to white table sugar or brown sugar (did you know that conventional brown sugar in the supermarket is just white sugar with molasses added back in? Odd!). This caramelicious sugar gives a delicious richness to your sweets. It’s not ‘low calorie’ but when you’re baking the odd treat which is what treats are meant to be, then unless you’re diabetic or can’t absorb fructose, it’s a whole lot better than using sugar, corn syrup or gm sugar beet. Sustainability warning: Once you extract the sap from a coconut palm for sugar, it won’t grow coconuts. This makes it less sustainable in the sense the palm isn’t being used for as much as it could be if coconuts were growing on it. For this reason, I keep use of coconut sugar very low, personally.

Green Stevia powder

Stevia is a plant origin sweetener where less is definitely more. There are lots of white powdered stevia around out there and strange clear liquids and it’s often mixed with erythritol which can be very hard to digest for some people (think farts. lots of them), but because Stevia comes from a leaf, I just don’t see how it can be totally natural in its white or clear form. No thank you. Hop onto amazon or into your favourite natural health store for the real thing.

Rice malt syrup

This is brown rice fermented and then the starches of the rice cooked out until they become a glucose dominant syrup. This is wonderful for people with fructose malabsorption or people who fancy cutting their overall fructose intake but aren’t ready to let go of treats. Remember, our bodies can only process the fructose from about 2 serves of fruit a day, so rice malt syrup being glucose based, is a great sweetener to throw in the mix. It is NOT a license to eat sweets all today because you’re ‘fructose free’. No. Sorry A lot of people get antsy about rice and arsenic. It depends on the brand and they will generally provide you with their arsenic reports. In Australia, the best one is Spiral brand and another pretty good one is Pure Harvest.

Maple syrup

A delicious sap straight from the tree by the same name, maple syrup is a wonderful natural sweetener in moderation and contains a multitude of minerals such as manganese, zinc and magnesium.

A note for diabetics, you might want to look into using erythritol by talking with your health practitioner, if you have diabetes or severe blood sugar issues. It’s not something I’m using in this book because it is highly processed, albeit from a natural source originally, but if you want a cheeky cake on your birthday, well. It’s not what we rarely do, it’s what we do every day that counts.

Rapadura / Panela

This is essentially evaporated cane juice. It adds delicious caramelly flavour to your baking and while it’s a little more heavy and dense, it brings a nice nutrient mix to the party!

Honey

There’s honey and there’s honey as with everything. Raw honey has a slew of health benefits from protecting against hay fever (if eating local raw honey) and healing wounds – even cleansing your face for a simple cost effective routine. Raw honey has all of its enzymes and nutrients intact. While still high in sugar (80%) a little in baking every now and then or with nut butter on toast, is great. Heat treated, squeezable honeys not only carry little benefit, but they often have other things blended in them like cane syrup or corn syrup – Read those labels. Verdict? Buy raw and local, or don’t bother. A little sweet stuff is fine in life, but with no nutrients? Makes no sense as a regular pantry item.

FLOURS

Ever since I read that famous study done on how sugar and wheat in combination were more addictive than cocaine and then really thought about how I felt when eating them, I knew they should both be out of the picture for me. Wheat today is a hybridized form of what wheat was, and the protein structure has been altered to produce more crop faster and at less of a cost. There are some farmers still growing traditional wheat but it is hard to find them and trace back unless you’re buying your flour from a farm. If you don’t have a wheat intolerance it’s not an issue to have a slice of this or a wrap like that if stuck for solutions, being polite or on holidays and going with the flow. If you suffer bloating, cramping, brain fog, lethargy or hives after wheat you might be allergic, intolerant or both. Can you stop at one sweet refined thing or bite of a thing? Does it beg you to keep eating and eating only to find you browsing fridges an hour later? It’s really about becoming aware of your physiological responses to certain foods and their positive or negative impacts on you.

Coconut Flour

Is there anything the coconut palm can’t give us? Eternal life? Coconut flour is a dense and tricky flour and definitely not one to play around substituting recipes with if you’re not familiar. Recipes with coconut flour will typically use more eggs, so you end up with desserts full of healthy fats, natural starch-free fiber and great proteins. Pass me the cake!!!

Buckwheat

Buckwheat has nothing to do with wheat. Talk about a bad PR campaign for the poor little guy! Buckwheat is related to rhubarb and sorrel and happens to be rich in protein and have about the same starch level as sweet potato, so used in conjunction with healthy fats, I give it my A OK in moderation.

Almond & hazelnut meal

These are fabulous for rich, crumbly textures in biscuits and brownies. Rich in healthy fats and a whole host of nutrients. The trick with nuts is to activate them first so that you remove as much of the phytic acid in them as possible, which is anti-nutrient. There’s no point in filling up on something that’s packed with nutrients your body can’t access because of the anti-nutrients. Sounds like Kryptonite, doesn’t it? All you have to do is soak 1kg of nuts in filtered water with a teaspoon of sea salt, overnight. Then drain, rinse and pop into a super low oven (100ºC / 200ºF) for a few hours until dry and a little crispy and voila. Cool and keep in an air tight container, ready to use.

Tapioca Flour

Tapioca is a root vegetable, native to Brazil, contrary to people believing it to be a legume or grain. It’s definitely neither. This is an excellent flour to use when crumbly, biscuit texture is desired or for thickening things in place of corn flour. Its downfall is that there is little nutrient benefit, but if pairing it with a bed of berries in a cobbler, then as an every once in a while treat, it’s a gluten free, grain free dream come true!

Teff Flour

From tiny, sustainable grains it’s a dense gluten free flour that’s best used in tandem with lighter flours such as tapioca, rice or buckwheat flours

Rice Flour

Quite a short flour that is best used with starchier flours mixed in, such as tapioca flour, to get the recipe to hold well. It is a brilliant flour for shortbread consistency baking. Seriously please try my gluten free cheese biscuits HERE. Please? Spelt Flour

If gluten doesn’t trouble you, then spelt will be a brilliant baby step off the white wheat flour. You see, wheat has been hybridized to within an inch of biological recognition – Ever heard of the phrase: It’s not the food, it’s what’s been DONE to the food? Well, many scientists believe that this fiddling with the wheat plant to make it shoot faster and harvest quicker, has changed its structure beyond the average digestive system’s ability to adapt with it. Spelt, however is a wonderful ‘ancient’ grain very similar to wheat and much easier to digest.

Want to learn more about gluten, wheat and digestibility? This article as well as Dr William Davis’ book WHEAT BELLY are both a wonderful read.

There are also Amaranth, Sorghum, Banana, Cassava, Arrowroot, Potato and Corn flours to play around with.

FATS

Say it. Say Fat. Say it again. Fat, fat, fat, fat, fat, fat, fat. This word has been given such a terrible wrap over the past few decades, especially saturated fat. It need not be the case, and once you have tossed all the processed fats from your pantry from our previous section, go ahead and add these ones right in as you normally would!

Coconut oil

Amazing, immune building, anti-fungal, antibacterial, nourishing, satisfying oil that literally heals you with every biscuit bite – Clever, right? Use a beautiful virgin coconut oil, or an expeller pressed coconut oil for mild flavour if you’re not wanting the coconut flavour to come through too much. Use it to moisturise your body, dab on cuts and remove your eye makeup too. And you thought this book was just about cooking…

Ghee

Ghee has had the milk solids separated from the butter oil to create a more stable fat for cooking, as is very popular in India. It’s great as it means a lot of people with dairy and lactose issues are fine with it. Check with your health professional. Big, bold flavour, it’s especially fantastic in muffins and loaves when it comes to making treats. Ghee is wonderful and used traditionally as a recovery tool – post natal bone broth soups with ghee are big across India and Malaysia.

Butter

“If you’re afraid of butter, use cream” says Julia Child. I’m definitely not afraid of butter and use it with reckless abandon. I used to be so scared of fats in foods, as I’m sure a lot of you were or maybe even still are. There is no need to be. A healthy fat will nourish you and actually tell you you’re full. It will stop your blood sugar from roller coastering and make you much stronger in the face of temptation of the weirdo foods you’re trying to leave behind. Join me and butter and let’s all run off into the delicious sunset together!

Macadamia Oil

A great nut based healthy fat that’s wonderful for dairy free people who can’t do butter or ghee and who might for whatever reason not fancy coconut oil. Definitely use organic though, as macadamias are heavily sprayed.

Tallow

Beef tallow, while not for sweet baking, I’ll mention here because we’re into the fats. Its’ a super nutrient dense fat and wonderful for sautéing your onions at the start of your cooking or frying potato cubes in on the stove for 20 minutes.

Lard

Pork fat – This will make the best roast potatoes you have ever tasted and the most incredible traditional English pork pie pastry. Again, if it comes from a pasture raised, organic pig, its super healthful. Cost tip: When you roast a pork belly, collect the run off of rendered fat into a jar. It will keep for months in the fridge – if it lasts that long once you’ve tasted my roast potatoes!

Coconut butter

I love coconut butter but not everyone does. Blend high quality shredded coconut on high in your blender of choice for 2-8 minutes depending on its power, and you will have thick blobby liquid coconut butter. Mix in a little cocoa powder and sweetener of choice to taste and you can set it in the fridge to then cut squares of as little craving killing coconut bombs after work or school.

Hemp Seed Oil

A wonderful omega-family-rich oil, which must be kept and enjoyed cool.

Cold pressed avocado oil, macadamia oil, sesame oils are all great options to use to. Macadamia is my favourite mayonnaise oil, as it’s so subtle in flavour!

Fats to ditch are intensively processed vegetable oils such as sunflower, safflower, soybean, corn, cottonseed, canola, grapeseed, rapeseed, margarine, nuttlex. The process of extracting oil from these seeds is very intensive and the fats become rancid easily. Margarine for example, is grey in natural colour and died yellow to make it more appealing like butter. Remember Fabio’s “I can’t believe it’s not Butter?” Well, bring me my butter Fabio, I’m not falling for it anymore!

Dried fruits

When using dried fruit and desiccated coconut, make sure it’s preservative-free. There are a number of organic options these days. The 220 / 202 preservatives, commonly used for both, can wreak havoc on our respiratory system and even trigger asthma. They can also cause tummy upset, deplete vitamin B1 and are known neurotoxins. No thank you!

Apples, berries and stone fruits from big stores are often highly sprayed, so watch that the dried versions aren’t laden with preservative too.

Vanilla Bean powder

Is something I like to use a lot in baking and making sweet treats and something you can get from Organics on a budget. It’s fast, delicious and has no alcohol (most vanilla extract does and if you’re doing no-bake stuff, it can have a nasty bitter flavour because the alcohol doesn’t get cooked off). You can use fresh vanilla pods too and scrape out the inside beans from the pod, but for convenience and economy, vanilla powder is wonderful stuff. Your little pot will last months.

Coconut cream

Is a wonderful cream for replacing dairy. For desserts, I try to use coconut cream as much as possible in place of cream if I can’t access a high quality cream or raw cream. Be sure to choose an additive-free one that, if you’re using a can, hasn’t got that white BPA plastic lining in the can. If you’re Australian, that means Honest to Goodness or Banaban brands. AYAM who we petitioned last year to remove the BPA lining, have also now done so, and for making things like coconut whipping cream, it’s hands down the best of the lot.

Need coconut milk? Still buy the cream and dilute it by 1/ 2 the tin with water or coconut water. Hey presto coconut milk and a money saving while you’re at it, because you get more.

Chia Seeds

Packed with fibre and other wonderful things like Omega 3 fatty acids, these little seeds are an amazing variation from breakfast puddings when you’re not in the mood for eggs, or allergic and still need great sustenance. You can buy white or black. Both are great. Enjoy.

Gelatin Powder

I use Great Lakes grass-fed beef gelatin powder for my jellies and egg-free custard making. It’s awesome and ethical and far healthier than factory farm origin gelatin sheets you’d find in the supermarket. Vital Proteins is also another good brand to watch out for. Available through Amazon or I herb for the US and Canada, and in Australia via Organics on a Budget.

Melrose do a great organic Worcestershire Sauce here pictured.

Red Boat is the best Fish sauce to go with, here's a pic

Colours and decorating

You can so easily buy natural decorating colours for cakes. Even supermarket colouring brands like QUEEN tend to have a natural range now – here we are again with the bet hedging! I’m still not excited by the ‘natural’ sprinkles market, because while they might not be petroleum-derived, they’re often GM corn-derived (maize starch) and I can’t quite see how that’s natural, can you? Fruit leathers are a great tool if you need to make shapes and cut out little objects to decorate with or simple mini figurines arranged in their positions on your cake with the candles. Using good old fashioned blueberries and strawberry slices can work miracles in cake decorating.

Here are my signature strawberry petals for a beautiful decorating idea I often turn to… General cooking – Pantry staples

Grains – how’s that for hotly contested these days with the paleo diet steam engining through the internet and our lives. Is it fashion or fad? I believe for healing a huge range of issues from autoimmune to depression to obesity, then grains are simply not the best choice – while healing. That’s not to say that if you’ve got great digestion and if grains are properly prepared such as soaked sourdough and brown rice soaked, can be a great every now and then ‘just because you feel like it’ food to throw in the mix. It definitely doesn’t deserve top place in what we eat. It’s clearly not working. I have 2 guest interviews who speak about this issue in our chats coming later in the course.

Brown Rice – soak in water bowl with a squeeze of lemon or teaspoon of yoghurt for 24 hours before cooking. Takes FAR less time to break down too! And here are other nutritious grains of all kinds to start exploring in your cooking.

Teff – Teff‘s tiny seeds – the size of poppy seeds – are high in calcium, iron and protein, and boast an impressive set of amino acids. It is the most sustainable grain on the planet, growing the fastest and being one of the most nutrient dense. Naturally gluten-free, the grain can substitute for wheat flour in anything from bread and pasta to waffles and pizza bases but best mix with a lighter flour in your GF mix such as rice, tapioca and / or buckwheat.

Amaranth – Being extremely dense, amaranth is too heavy to be used by itself. For baking, it’s best used with other grains for a lighter texture, and with a proven combination of ingredients like guar gum to impersonate gluten – I’m not a fan personally for baking because I don’t like guar gum for tummies. Cooking amaranth is comparable to cooking pasta or rice: boil plenty of water (six cups of water per one cup of amaranth), measure the grain into it, cook and stir for 15 to 20 minutes, drain, rinse, and eat. Amaranth can be used as a thickener for sauces, soups, stews. Amaranth is super nutritious compared to ‘standard grains’.

Millet – Soak these for about 6 hours and then cook for a few minutes after their soak time.

Gluten containing… Listen very closely to your body.

Rye and Spelt are easier to digest and easier on the system than wheat, if you suspect wheat intolerance. It’s a good first step to take and do a little experiment. If you’re fine with gluten and enjoy bread, stick to sourdough loaves of these. Sourdough is traditional souring of the dough before baking, breaking down anti nutrients and making the nutrients from the grains more available.

Oats All best soaked, or for rye / spelt, making a sourdough starter and then a sourdough loaf for nutritional assimilation and digestibility.

Pasta – We eat gluten free pasta from time to time Barilla do a great GMO free and price friendly one that has a great texture indeed.

Have you discovered a favourite? I still personally don’t think pasta is an everyday or multiple times a week choice for the simple fact that there are so many other foods that pack a far greater nutritional punch, and once you are a great cook, are more delicious to boot! A couple of times a month though? I enjoy every. Single. Bite! Again it comes down to your gut health, general health and how it makes you feel, gluten or no gluten, so keep being mindful and see if it makes the cut in your food mix. Not grains, but kind of but not…

Buckwheat

Buckwheat is related to rhubarb and sorrel and happens to be rich in protein and have about the same starch level as sweet potato, so used in conjunction with healthy fats, it’s wonderful to enjoy in various meals and ways. If you need to heal your digestive tract, it can be aggravating for severe digestive complaints, so if digestive issues are a thing for you, there’s no better than an experienced practitioner such as a nutritionist or naturopath to talk through your concerns. Too often we hear one negative thing on the internet and millions of people out there are avoiding a food that’s actually fine for you. Time to stop being terrorized by the internet and start listening to your body. How do you best prepare buckwheat kernels for optimal nutrition – Pop here for a very thorough explanation. I don’t have a dehydrator, so I toast them very very lightly in the oven for a couple of hours on super low. They should be crunchy to bite and every oven is different, so first time you’ll have to time for yourself. For me, 80C / 140F on fan force, it’s about 2 hours.

Quinoa

I really like quinoa in soupy saucy stews, or caramelised with onions. It’s a nutrition little blighter and packed with minerals, flavonoids, oleic acid and linolenic acid (omega 3s). It’s great to try and source local quinoa to where you live rather than Bolivian, as it’s becoming a very intensively farmed crop over there with the overnight success it’s had.

Legumes

I know in my heart that most legumes just aren’t for me. Actually, that could read I know in my fart… Yes, you heard me correctly. No good. I repeat, no good. Instant cramp, gas, bloating. Listen to your body. The only ones that agree with me are red lentils, adzuki and pinto beans. Phew! I really love them for soups.

If on the other hand legumes are something that really work for you, then yay! Quite often this is a cultural ancestry thing… Once again be guided by your body. Legumes are nourishing, full of fibre and other nutrients and when prepared properly, they can make you feel satisfied and full for hours.

Lentils of all kinds, Chick peas, split peas, dahl, dried beans

These should all be soaked for 6-24 hours before cooking, with a squeeze of lemon or teaspoon of water in the bowl. Then, cook as normal. You will find they’ll take less time to cook having been soaked, which is always nice. Legumes are hotly contested and I encourage you to take them out of the diet for a couple of weeks and then have some to see if they have an adverse effect.

Nuts

Nuts are amazing nutrient rich foods, but again they benefit from proper preparation. Be sure to soak them in salted water (just a half tsp will do). Why? You will be drastically lower the presence of anti- nutrients in their outer parts and allow the body to absorb all of their nutrients and the other food you’re eating for that matter.

Cashews, macadamias, Brazil, pecan, walnuts or pine nuts – Soak 4-5 hours tops with filtered water and sea salt (about 3 pinches to the half kilo of nuts). Use as is more making raw cheesecakes, OR roast in the oven for 20mins on 180C, OR dehydrate in your dehydrator according to manufacturers OR dehydrate in your oven, the lowest it goes, with a fork in the side (super make shift but it’s what I do) so that the oven is literally 50/55C, and you will be preserving enzymes and activating your nuts.

Hazelnuts, Almonds – Soak 12 hours and then choose your own adventure above

Nut Butter – A great spread for deliciousness and nutrients alike. Buying nut butters is expensive and the nuts aren’t activated. Make your own. HEAD HERE to learn and make a big batch to save time and money.

Seeds

Linseed / Flaxseed

Amazing. Random fact is that King Charlemagne of the 8th century believed so strongly in the health benefits of flaxseed that he demanded his loyal subjects eat the seeds and passed laws to make sure of it. If you want the meal, grind it in a spice grinder or Thermomix / MyCook, as needed for a couple of days’ worth. It spoils easily and you lose much of their benefit if it’s already a ‘meal’ consistency like so many health shops sell. They are a rich source of micronutrients, dietary fibre, manganese, vitamin B1, and the essential fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid, also known as ALA or omega-3

Chia Seed (see baking section and remember: Listen to your body. They’re not for everyone. Lots of water is essential when having chia based things like a pudding)

Sunflower, pumpkin seeds – These can be activated too. Just a couple of hours soaked in lightly salty water, and then dehydrated or roasted. You’re removing physic acid, which is that anti nutrient you might be getting familiar with my now.

Sesame seeds / Tahini – Sesame seeds are a great sprinkle for non-allergic families. Toasted sesame on buckwheat soba noodles with tamari and honey are just too delicious. Tahini is the paste of sesame seeds, and great for making thick creamy and tangy dressings.

Jam

So there are jams and there are jams, as with everything. Pure fruit, no added sugar is the only jam I’d consider. St Dalfour, while not organic, is pure fruit. You could be doing a lot worse. Things to watch for are preservatives such as 202 or 221, 220 as you really don’t want those in there. Most commercial jams from multinational companies have sugar beet as the sugar – GMO strikes again! I’m not saying all of them do. It’s about just knowing your brands and making enquiries over time – Use your village now we have the support group on FB.

Dried herbs and spices

I stick to organic here for sure because non organic doesn’t tell you whether the spices or herbs have been irradiated. Organic Certification does not allow the irradiation or fumigation of any product, which is also monitored through our certifier’s auditing processes.

If you get through a lot of spices, buy bulk 1/2 kilo spices on I HERB HERE (they’d be coming from overseas anyway) is a great cost saver. Be sure to grab marshmallow root while you’re there to make your own marshmallow! I buy my cinnamon this way and it is excellent quality. Tinned foods

The main issue with tinned foods is the fact that the cans are aluminum (bad for acidic foods like tomatoes and tomato based tinned foods) OR that they’re lined with a plastic lining containing BPA or what seems to be worse for many toting ‘BPA free’, is the BPS in the lining. THIS ARTICLE is long but a must read. So the answer?

For non-acidic foods like lentils, chick peas and beans (even though we’re soaking them now, it’s fine to have a couple of standby cans for ‘those days’ if legumes feel good for you) grab BPA free brands. GLOBAL ORGANICS in Australia and EDEN in the USA and UK are what you want to go for. EDEN brand get extra brownie points because they soak their legumes in water with Kombu for greater digestibility before canning – And you can tell the difference.

For tomatoes? Swap to glass jar passata and glass jar pastes. While the inner lid might still contain some plastic, and fresh chopped Roma tomatoes in the summer time.

Pickles and sauerkraut

Pantry pickles and room temperature pasteurised sauerkraut from the supermarket have little nutritional clout to them. The vinegars are often GMO derived, the sugars too, and pasteurised sauerkraut, once you’ve tasted the real stuff, is well, just pointless. These are things worth making yourself from scratch and because they preserve so well in the fridge (once fermented in the sauerkraut’s case) you can literally make an afternoon of it per season and you’re done for months.

Vinegars

Apple Cider vinegar ‘with mother’ is a wonderful vinegar to stash in your pantry. An active, enzyme rich food due to it being live cultured, its health properties are many and varied. Take a little 20ml of vinegar in the morning with a glass of water for a system wake up.

Balsamic vinegar – There are good and bad and as usual, the better the quality the better the benefit. This vinegar might contain sugar being a grape reduction ferment (when traditionally made), BUT it also carried a whole lot of good stuff such as quercetin in it – a powerful antioxidant as well as polyphenols which are great for digestion. Enjoy it every now and then. The Italians sure do!

Wine vinegars – Quality is key for these, to avoid cheap additives like maltodextrin (almost always from GM corn), corn syrup or beet sugar. Buying beautiful quality, properly made ones you will not only avoid the weirdo stuff, you will also enjoy the flavour infinitely more. If budget is an issue, use sparingly and supplement your acidity with a squeeze of lemon.

Olives and various sun dried / antipasto jars

As long as the liquid is BRINE / WATER and not vegetable oil, knock yourself out. Most antipasto in the supermarket is vegetable oil however, so keep them to a minimum. It’s much better to either dry your own tomatoes with a dehydrator OR buy them dry and not in liquid and then drizzle with olive oil if you like it that way, when serving.

Coconut cream & milk

These are mentioned in the baking pantry above, but here is a quick reminder that guar gum and BPA free are ideal – AYAM (previously BPA lined but no longer), Honest to Goodness and Banaban are the two BPA free, additive free brands. Why Guar gum free? it can irritate tummies more often than not so I tend to stay away. Don’t ever buy coconut milk – Buy the cream and dilute it – cheaper and stretches further.

Superfoods

If you are a super active busy person who worries about getting everything you need, then super foods can be great. I think because of the power of ones such as MACA hormonally, it’s best to speak with a practitioner before going nuts on them.

A couple of my favourites to carry

Bee Pollen – crunchy and delicious nutrient powerhouses. Great for protection against hay fever some say, too!

A Green mix that hasn’t got processed sugar free sweeteners in it (Republica Raw, Shakti’s Superblend, NuZest are the 3 I’d recommend)

Sea vegetables

You don’t want to get too excited about Japanese sea vegetables like Nori sheets these days. Just too risky with the radiation spill. Wait a couple of years to see what the true verdict is when science has weighed in.

I like Canadian sea vegetables very occasionally because of food miles and for getting good iodine – a tablespoon of Australian (or if you’re in America Canadian) kelp meal is a great boost to stews and soups, or a teaspoon in your morning glass of water. Keep that thyroid from getting sluggish (Not suitable for hypothyroid cases)

Kelp noodles

Glassy little noodles that are great nutritional replacements for rice noodles for Asian cooking and salads.

Salt

Without question, the salt that’s been naturally dried and harvested is streams ahead of the manmade, factory produced stuff. Then there are the anti-caking agents. Get used to beautiful, wet, dense and natural salt. It’s full of around 60-85 minerals depending on the provenance. Himalayan salt, Celtic sea salt, French Fleur de Sel… Discover other country’s salts but GO NATURAL when it comes to salt. This is super economical because real salt is, well, saltier. Don’t buy the sea salt flakes in the super market either – They’re manufactured to make you go through tons of the stuff. Go with a health shop salt and buy the biggest size and keep in a big glass jar. You will notice the flavour and benefit from the nutrients with a little pinch here and there in your cooking.

Emergency health snacks for the pantry.

I get it, sometimes you just want to buy a damn packet of something. Everyone’s doing it and sometimes it’s just. Too. Hard. I think so too! Here’s my occasional snack list of the best of the bad processed food bunch.

You’ll notice it’s all just ‘plain’ in terms of flavour. That is because it is in the flavouring that the worst evils lie – hidden wheat, petroleum based colours, fake flavours, MSG. Go and have a look at the difference between the flavoured chips and the plain ones in terms of ingredients. Craziness. Also the snacks such as rice wheels and grain waves and the like… all packed with weirdness. The TOP performing weirdo on the chip scene is flavoured Pringles. No. No. No. Go and grab a tube (oh how I loved those tubes once upon a time!) and your Chemical Maze app and punch in all the ingredients and numbers. Terrible stuff.

Sustainable palm oil plain potato chips

Plain salted ready-made popcorn (great if you are out already and can’t make your own popcorn in time and need something from the supermarket to avoid the toxic bombshell that is cinema popcorn. One of the colouring additives is so known for lung damage association, that a gentleman in the USA 2 years ago won a $7 million dollar compensation claim.

Plain rice crackers – be wary and read those ingredient lists, as some have MSG even when they’re plain. Code names include yeast extract, 621, 634, Hydrolyzed wheat / vegetable protein, disodium inosilonate… sneaky little things!

Nutraorganic bars. My friend Vanessa makes these and they really do carry a lot of nutrition within the one bar. Still very occasional as they’re 1/4 sugar, albeit natural, but gee they’re a great standby for a long car trip or a day when you want a little sweet insurance against fake offerings that might come their way while you are out and about.

Buckwheat crackers – There are a few options these days out there, but a good buckwheat cracker means a super easy smashed avocado and sea salt on top for a perfect, simple, 30 second snack prep for yourself.

Chocolate – Tracey from BIOME is a super committed retailer to quality. Having a PANA chocolate, or Alter Eco fair trade chocolate at hand when you can’t make your own or don’t have the ingredients that day, is great for when treats are wanted. POP THROUGH to her amazing online store.

Why are plain rice cakes not on here? Aren’t they just rice in the ingredients list?

Yes they are. The issue is that they’re plain PUFFED rice and this goes for any puffed cereal grain while we’re at it. The act of puffing is called extrusion – super high heats to puff the grains. In this high heat process, you change the nature of the protein in rice. Your body goes ‘WHOAH, what’s that? Kind of familiar but we don’t really know what to do with you?” The less of those sorts of foods we have hindering our digestion process, the better.

Why are vegemite, promite and Nutella not in here?

I’m going to have to break it to you that vegemite, marmite and promite are all loaded with MSG. Sorry. To feed kids these spreads acts as crack for their brains (Dr Antony Underwood, an integrative practitioner with the Mindd Foundation) Nutella is not a hazelnut spread, it’s a sugar spread. 53% sugar in fact. You’d do much better to make a jar yourself with my friend and health coach Brenda Janschek’s recipe HERE.

Tea

Black tea and green tea do contain caffeine but worse is pesticide and fluoride. Choose organic where possible when it comes to all teas and coffees.

Herbal teas are abundant these days and you could literally have a flavour for every day of the year! Organic again is best to avoid processing such as irradiation.

Coffee

Essential is fair trade to me with coffee, because of so many farms doing the right thing that need to be supported to continue to do so in the face of so many doing the wrong thing. Support a cafe who has a fair trade brand or a brand that is fair trade. I have a good friend Jacqueline who owns REPUBLICA coffee and their range is delicious and affordable. They’re also carbon neutral and organic – the first food business in Australia to be carbon neutral, 6 years ago! They also have biodegradable pods and soon to be compostable to boot, so if you have a pod machine – please swap to them today. No ifs or buts. Regular capsules shouldn’t be allowed under some sort of environmental protection act.

So there you have it. The pantry. Now, given you’re the pilot group for this course, I want to know: Is there any other pantry item you have that isn’t on the list that you’re wondering about?

TODAY’s TO DO

Today’s exercise is to take the information of a couple of days of food journaling and look at something that really doesn’t suit you – i.e. you know it’s probably not a great food for you. SO often we eat things because ‘they’re healthy’ or ‘one of the food groups’ yet if we really think about it we either don’t enjoy it or it doesn’t suit us – that could be nuts, eggs, a certain vegetable or garlic, or dairy or grains… Cut it for a week and then next Friday, check back in with it and have it again? Observe how you felt and to ensure it’s a good experiment, make sure that the meal you have that food in again next week, you are relaxed and breathing slowly and not ‘stressed about the possible reaction’ but focused on the yumminess – This way you won’t get stress hampering your results through stress digestion aka poor digestion.

So that’s it. Our pantry is set to start being stocked and condiments aplenty will follow tomorrow when we start talking time, budget and ditching additive laden condiments by making your own.

Real Food for the budget tight and time deprived Creative corner cutting It’s a busy modern world and it’s hard to keep fabulous food on the table every night – especially if cooking is not really a passion (yet!) or you weren’t taught by someone great, so you’re cooking to recipes and dinner takes forever. Here are a few short cuts I take to cut kitchen time. Planning and preparation prevent piss poor performance, as an old boss once said. The 6 P’s, she called it! I’ll never forget them and they hold true to this day!

To inspire us I have the beautiful Michelle Shearer from MAMA BAKE having a chat today – You must check out the batch cooking business she started in that link. Genius. Bringing people together AND getting good quality, great value cooking done in a fraction of the time. Could you start a Mamabake circle with some friends perhaps?

Alexx chats to Michelle Shearer | Transcript

We also have my gorgeous friend Jo Whitton founder of QUIRKY COOKING and one heck of an awesome cook book by the same name. Whether you have a thermomix or not “Quirky Cooking” is an absolute kitchen must have book for the allergy challenged and whole food family – Yep, I’m going to call it! Jo and I talk easy GAPS meals for sensitive tummy / gut health repair as well as easy cooking mentality in general. WARNING: I had ridiculous hay fever that day that came out of nowhere. Excuse the puffy face!

Alexx chats to Jo Whitton | Transcript

Find time and cut the cuttable corners to make sure your meals at home ROCK!

1. If it’s a stew, pastry, soup, Bolognese, braise, roast, bake, lasagne, compote, cookie dough… NEVER, I repeat NEVER only make enough for one sitting. Aim to have either double, to do a whole other meal or snack at a later time, or at least enough to use for lunches the next day.

2. Cook more rice, beans, lentils or mash than you need – These are easy things to ‘soupify’ the next day with a few different new ingredients and create a whole new meal!

3. Cook 2 meals on the stove at once – that’s the onion step, herbs, meat chopping and a few different overlapping steps, all sorted in one go.

4. Is the oven empty while you’ve got dinner on the go on stove or making a salad? Roast some veggies for the next night now!

5. Get good at a repertoire – I know what I’m like cooking a recipe with a new technique the first time – I read, re-read, take 100 steps more than needed back and forth in the kitchen! Allow yourself the time to get good at something. Asian food was my big hurdle, and now, there are a couple of dishes I can do with my eyes closed, because I have made them a couple of times. Master a couple of different techniques or spice ratios, so that they’re committed to memory. Confidence means efficiency in the kitchen.

6. Never chop a lone onion or leek – if you’re anything like me, it’s the psych up to get started on making dins – the big initial ‘chop’. Recently I started chopping 5-6 onions and other common veggies I use and popping in a jar / Pyrex and freezing, so that at the drop of the hat I’ve got them to pop in the pan and while they soften, I can assemble everything else.

7. Do like on TV! Get all your bits ready and chopped for adding effortlessly. A clear and organised workspace mirrors a clear and organised head when it comes to cooking.

8. Make use of time pockets – While the kettle’s boiling for your herbal tea at night, pop some almonds in a bowl of filtered water with a teaspoon of salt to get their overnight soaking under way. Good use of that time – C’mon and admit, you were just going to dawdle on Facebook while you waited for the kettle… Same goes for the morning when the kettle’s on again – strain the almonds and pop in a 75 degree Celsius oven for the rest of the day – activated nuts: 3 minutes work!

9. Menu plan, and group steps and ingredients so that you only have to prep them once: Why cut carrots 3 times in a week? Why make a pesto or a mash twice? Why cut 5 onions on 5 different nights? Menu planning gives you the ability to attack your week of food with military precision. It makes you think realistically about what’s achievable, what nights you’re not going to have any time etc.…

10. Know your braises and stews! Kitchen debutants always marvel at my set and forget lamb shoulder or my tomatoey chicken drumsticks, and un-rightly so! They don’t take hours, they take literally 5-10 minutes max. A few steps at the beginning, and then popped into a 120 degree oven while you head off to work, simmering away all day – perfect! Check out my lamb shoulder recipe here. It gets wows every time for 10 minutes work!

11. Learn to make awesome stock! Home made over nighter stocks (less time if sensitive gut as discussed in my stock FAQs here.) are packed with minerals and nutrients and one of your best immune system pep ups. Not only that, they are key to allowing your quick sauces to taste like they’ve been simmering for days! Definitely go to a butcher who sells grass fed and finished for your bones… Such an inexpensive way to incredible nourishment and you can even make a second stock with beef or lamb bones – milder but still full of goodness!

12. JOIN MAMA BAKE – Start your own Mama Bake group and smash the week’s main meals in an afternoon with friends in the biggest kitchen you’ve got. If you don’t have kids or if you’re a gent – why not do a couple of lunch swaps with work colleagues where 3 of you make 3 serves of a dish and portion up and swap for 3 days’ worth of lunches with variety. It’ll be cheaper AND more nourishing than any food court offering out there. Guaranteed.

13. Outsource! We’re only human… There’s only so much a busy person or parent can do, especially if running your own business, or in a full time role. It pays to outsource sometimes. Can your cleaner cook? Then maybe they should cook that day when they’re in cleaning your house. There are fabulous ‘real food’ options popping up everywhere for ordering. My favourites, if you’re Sydney based, are Kamilla Johns Wholefood, the Dinner Ladies for gorgeous varied family meals or Eat Fit Food if you’re in the mood to feel incredible and improve your health. If you’re in the USA, even grabbing a Wholefoods salad bar mix and panfrying chicken or a steak for a super simple ‘don’t think about it’ meal. I get it. I have days like this too.

14. When outsourcing, make sure you ask if the meat comes from pastured animals otherwise consider having a vegetarian outsource that day – I eat vegetarian if I have to eat at airports, canteens or office parties of clients. Factory farming is bad for our health, the animal’s life while alive, and climate change. No one wins with intensively farmed animals, so if I don’t know where it’s from, I’m having vego that day. Outsourcing good cooking is not failure – it’s a strategy for those hectic weeks where you need back up! Now I love to cook, so I don’t outsource often, but when I do, I do like it to feel as if it were at least home cooked by someone who cares about the ingredients they use too! Share who you find to be a great outsource where you live!

Cutting corners budget wise

Here are my top tips to add to the ones from produce day that have already been covered.

1. Stop buying processed packet snacks. Low nutrient, ‘filler foods’ that leave you wanting more 30 minutes later when the sugar + salt + fat trifecta of processed food wears off. They make out like it’s cheap but it costs your health and it costs you more because you’re hungry for more. Clever and dodgy they are!

2. Start adding healthy fats – especially for rapidly growing kids. This is a great way to stave off hunger yet give them some dense nutrition and delicious flavours. I can’t tell you how many of Sebastien’s little friends have come for a play and proclaimed “I don’t eat zucchini” or “I don’t like cauliflower” Well I’ll tell you what, with generous butter and a little sea salt, these kids wolf down the veggies every time in the end. Adding fats mean you absorb A, E, D and K from the vegetables too – MORE nutrients again.

3. You had a few savings tips for organics on produce day so pop back to have a look there if you fancy. Another place you save by focusing your purchases on produce is your 10% G.S.T in Australia – Did you know if you buy almond MEAL it has a g.s.t but if you buy almonds it doesn’t? There’s 10% saved on all the produce instead of buying ready meals, snack packets and ground nuts / nut butters, jams, chutneys or more. Big batches and get that freezer into workout mode.

4. Have you found a COW share or whole lamb option near you yet? Huge savings and meat is usually around $10-15kg as an average – cheaper than the grain fed mass farmed beef in Australia and I’ve heard in the USA too.

5. Let go of expensive muscle meats. I buy oyster blade on bone ($12-18kg depending on the place) or brisket, mince, livers for PATE, sausages, shoulders, necks for when we eat meat and we eat less meat now and more veggies…. Mostly slow cooker things and mostly bone – in, so you get added nutrients in that meal. All of this adds up to being to trade up to better quality, more sustainable practices, while getting superior nutrition. Win win!

6. Start planning. We waste on average 1/5 of the food we buy. That is ANOTHER 20% cost saving right there if you get better at planning. So, to stop wasting food I suggest a ‘waste list’ on the fridge so you can start to become conscious. I’d also suggest doing up a rough plan. Don’t be hard on yourself if planed change – Just pick up the next day and jiggle it around a bit. I don’t plan weekends unless I’m entertaining. This plan is mine and the lunches are my solo lunches as I work from home. There is always butter aplenty or coconut oil or SOMETHING in healthy fats world at breakfast and lunch to keep my energy slowly burning and stave off hunger between meals – again: We save the snack money and invest it into better meals. I’ve kept mine raw just as the ones I do – no ‘perfect internet people’ stuff to make you think it has to be typed and perfect and neat – unless you want to do it that way, be my guest! So you see here, I’m going to need 5 chopped onions, so I do those all in one go of a Sunday and pop in jars for the week for example – Group methods and ingredients together to save you time, and reinvent meals a different way like my tamari chicken drumsticks which morph into a san choy bow 2 days after (a break of a day between for new flavours in between) and then I grab a simple leftover from the night before with a nutrient rich salad – You must check out my EPIC SALAD post for salads that will fill you up mind and body with nothing but happiness and satisfaction. Then I scribble a couple of treats and a couple of go to snacks if needed and those get made of a Sunday and Wednesday to stagger the treat and break up the week. Leftovers hit the freezer.

7. I mentioned it above in the cooking tips, but if stretching the budget is needed, make a second broth with your beef bones. I.e., 2 x 12hours broths re-using the bones for the second batch. The fancy French name for this is remouillage, which means ‘re-wetting’. Beef bones give you goodness for up to 72 hours. Here’s the broth post again. – You’ll then have jar upon jars of stock to make a super quick soup like this one. With a few spices and coconut cream, and some leftover bits of a meat or meatballs. Stretchy stretch that budget! NOTE: If you have histamine intolerance or a sensitive tummy, short cooked broths are best for just 3-4 hours. 8. GROW, GROW, GROW – Do it for me in my 2nd floor apartment! I visited a very poor community last year to discuss a food program and what I found was everyone was using precious pennies to shop at the ‘food bank’ which was full of 2 minute noodles, factory white bread and instant coffee. Then I took a little tour of the streets and they all had big back yards. Back yards with grass on them make no sense when there’s malnutrition, sky rocking diabetes and mental health issues galore. When there’s space to create your very own food as medicine, it’s about one of the most rewarding things you can do – We do it at my mum in law’s farm and grow garlic there too for boutique commercial sales. It makes you feel so darn CLEVER to grow something! Save your seeds and dry them on the window sill OR check out a seed catalogue like Eden Seeds in Australia.

9. Use EVERY SINGLE BIT of vegetable. I go to friends’ houses and see them top and tail veggies and like, an INCH off each side???!!! Stop the madness that’s food. Keep all the veggie scraps in a jar in the freezer to add to stock so you don’t have to use ‘edible’ veg. Scraps are plenty for stocks.

10. Save animal fats for frying – This is tragic that we ‘drain’ fat – It’s good fat to use again to sauté an onion, meaning you save on the butter or olive oil or coconut oil you would have used in that step. I cringe at the memory of painstakingly soaking it up with a kitchen paper towel and binning it. Not these days!

11. BUY ONLY IN SEASON. I get caught out sometimes at the counter with a $5 capsicum and go “whoa, OK didn’t realise it wasn’t in season”. Buying in season is less expensive and the plant is more alive – It just makes sense – financially and nutritionally.

12. Buy the most nutrient dense version of things. I.e., swap table salt for mineral rich salt. Swap white rice for soaked brown rice. Swap vegetable oil ‘spread’ for real block butter. Swap pale ice berg with a darker leafy green. All of these tiny swaps mean increased nutrients and greater satisfaction between meals therefore again saving on the snack front. Snacks were invented by food companies because they make people hungrier worth the starchy carbs and sugars and salts. You can so easily break that cycle and over time let them go. Find other cool stuff to ‘fill you up’ between meals – A walk, a phone call to a good friend, a Ted Talk!

Meal plan – It works for some and not others.

I find if I cook a handful of meals over the week, I then have enough to re-purpose across the week into breakfasts, lunches and snacks. Here’s an example of one of mine with breakky on left, then lunches, then dinners, then snacks / desserts.

And for the lunch box peeps out there

People who’ve done my co-authored Thrive course will know these lunch box tips as I’ve shared them there too. Lunch boxes need to be interesting, but we don’t want them to take up our time – that’s the ticket isn’t it? This is how I organise lunch boxes in my head to ensure they’re easy, I am always prepared, and it’s always exciting enough and provides nourishment in spades. I organise the ‘lunchbox spread’ into different types of foods, temperatures and textures.

Something Raw

 Crudités (cucumber, carrot, capsicum, fennel, green beans, snow peas. Cut in varied shapes when using to create visual variety, so wheels, sticks etc.)

 Small apple, half a banana (allows room for something else by not making it a whole), mandarin, nashi pear, peach, nectarine, plum or other seasonal fruit.

 Try not to make it the same raw stuff all week. I couldn’t look at or smell a mandarin without wanting to hurl for about 15 years after I left school. Couldn’t even. Just no.

Something Baked / Treat – preferably batch cooked WITH the kids and with their say on ‘what’

 Popcorn

 Slice

 Muffin

 Biscuit

 Frittata

 Cake

 Fritters

 Pikelets Something leftover – ALWAYS MAKE MORE THAN YOU WILL SERVE AT DINNER. ALWAYS.

 Leftover baked veggies

 Leftover roast meats, sausages, quiche or frittatas, pies, falafel

Something super tasty and savoury

 salami / saucisson

 olives

 cheddar (organic if possibly)

 Ham, off the bone, additive / colour free where possible.

Something crunchy

 crackers

 handful of plain potato chips (Chipman is a great brand for an every now and then additive free option)

 toasted seed clusters

 trail mix

Something gooey

 Dip

 Chia Pudding

 Custard

 Yoghurt

 Smoothie

Something proteiny

Ham off the bone from the butcher (less to no preservatives when bought like this as opposed to packet ham), meatballs, patties, quinoa, legumes, drumstick, chicken mayo ‘filling / dip’, beef jerky

SUMMER TIP: Freeze smoothies, custards, chia puddings and yoghurt the night before. If it’s in glass, leave a good inch off from the top of the lid to allow for liquid expansion without breaking the glass. This way it will keep things fresh in the box as it melts and you have it ready for lunch time.

WINTER TIP: Serve leftovers in a hot pot for a delicious, hot lunch option such as casseroles, soups, slow cooker meals or sausages and mash. Substantial leftovers are just brilliant for bigger kids into the teen years. So, you could pack a bento box type lunch with lots of discovery bits AND a hot pot for recess and main lunch respectively. So before you go shopping, just scan this ‘spread’ of grouped ideas and mentally run through what you’ve got at hand and make note of the gaps and fill those in your shopping basket. ALWAYS cook more than you need to have good leftovers to use as a part of your lunch box the next day.

I hope this has given you a few time and cost saving ideas as well as a bit of new creative fuel and if you’ve got a tip to share, be sure to pop a comment here below or on the FB group!

A little project?

Sit with all the new information you’ve taken in this past few days.

Decide your top three little things to change and just focus on those in the next couple of weeks, along with your little ‘remove a food for a week’ experiment you started yesterday, to see if there are any glaring, underlying sensitivities you may not have realised.

This 20 days is your springboard, NOT your ‘must be done by day 20’ – Every step is congratulations worthy and every step is closer to your goals. We should NOT feel stressed or guilty about yesterday. This is an awesome opportunity to step towards better health for YOU and for the planet and these things truly do not happen overnight so relax – have a glass of organic red!

Are you listening to your No1 health professional better yet? What is your body telling you so far about which Real Foods make you thrive and feel energetic? I really noticed salads for me this week. Couldn’t get enough vegetables and using a mix of raw and cooked on the plate (i.e. leftover roast veg and leaves and grated carrot or shaved fennel). I needed to feel light with all my being at the computer launching the course – YIN YANG is so interesting I find. It may well change next week. Not because the ‘dietary guidelines’ are going to change, but because I might need something different – so because I SAY SO, not someone else! Real Food by your standards. It just makes sense doesn’t it?

Emotions, Habits and Discovery A healthy love of food Today is for big people AND big people feeding little people, so if you don’t have kids, keep reading as we just start with a kids’ example…

Sometimes I have epiphanies. A recent one came when I was asked to give my top tips on feeding kids healthily in an interview. My top tips were

1. Love veggies yourself. Be the example who visibly chomps on raw carrot sticks and beet / guac dip and say how super yummy it is and how it’s a favourite veggie of yours. Show as much if not MORE enthusiasm for veggies as ‘treats’. We tend to as a culture get our kids ballistically excited about ‘that special cupcake’ and then sternly say ‘eat your veg’. The messaging is all wrong and no wonder the result is that kids might turn their noses up at the food they’re supposed to eat and chase the thrill ride foods instead…

2. Take your kids to a market and let them choose the veggies, then cook the veggies with them – taste some raw, talk about texture, then cooked, then letting them stir in the butter… We seem to mainly let our kids in the kitchen to cook with us when it’s cake making time. If they’re part of the everyday cooking, they’ll be much more inclined to have a go at stuff they’ve made the effort to cook. No age is too young. My son used to stir (assisted by me, he’s no boy genius!) his purees from 4 months in the Bjorn.

3. Purée isn’t just for babies – It’s a great way to break up the boring old 3 steamed veg texture at meal time. Invest in a good stick blender or vitamix / thermomix type tool that you’ll have for years and years and make ultra-delicious, super smooth mashes and purées, packed with veggies. We sometimes do half cauliflower / half beet and then the little guy gets to swirl them in to make rainbow mash. Pumpkin, zucchini, fennel, sweet potato, broccoli… They all purée / mash really well when well-cooked first. Just add butter and or coconut cream / additive free cream and a pinch or two of Celtic sea salt and you get filling, luscious mashes and purées packed with vitamins and healthy fats to absorb them all.

So let’s focus on tip number 1, because it is potentially the greatest problem we have today with food: Our tone and our own enthusiasm towards great, real food. We’ve seen advertisements for treat after treat after treat – where are the enthusiastic carrot ads? Oh that’s right, the organic carrot farmer can barely feed their family let alone advertise their produce! I’m not bitter, this is just how it is and once we’re aware of something that isn’t fair, boy it is just so much easier to make changes for the better.

You can have all the knowledge in the world but knowledge doesn’t equal transformation. If knowledge was all we needed for transformation, I would never have been a smoker (yep. 10 years I was and I gave up 10 years ago too.)

What really creates transformation are FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS, I believe and we’re going to look at this from a few different angles today.

Take the additive laden treats people try so desperately to kick even though they ‘know they’re bad for me’. What if, as done in the first couple of days in this course, we added emotional layers that had us question such products in relation to our ethics? Well, WOAH. That is where this stuff starts to hit you like a tonne of bricks. “Have a break, have a destroyed rainforest” isn’t hippy extremist, it’s sadly a fact. The Kit Kat doesn’t look quite as exciting now, does it? You still want the break and you very much deserve it so let me ask you this:

Were you even hungry? Why is a break always about eating or getting a coffee? Why is a break always about consumption? So here’s a challenge for you:

List 5 things you LOVE to do with free time or to take a break, in your course journal that you all bought yourselves (right, right?) – None of them are allowed to be food or drink related and it’s probably best to have a couple of quick activities and a couple of longer ones so there’s time frame variety in your options.

Then, next break, instead of reaching for the Pringles or M&Ms that the TV and radio have said we deserve for our busy modern lives, do something from your list instead.

Truth is you might have turned to food as intrinsically as the years went by, that you’ve forgotten anything else that you LOVE to do BUT eat. See that keyboard behind me? I stopped ‘having a break & having a biscuit’ when I reconnected with my piano and songwriting that I really enjoy doing. I get lost in the music instead of the leftover chocolate cake.

What do you want to get lost doing? Fill yourself up with something other than food over the next week, when you feel the need to browse and you’re clearly not hungry and you’ve just eaten recently. If you find yourself craving the junk, research the ingredients and for your ‘break’ instead, hop onto You Tube and watch a report on palm oil deforestation or GMO monocrop effects on soil. The shiny ad is so, so far from the reality and once we truly understand the reality, the ads seem so shallow and our desires become less and less strong. This can take time but trust me, it will happen if you follow this simple plan to be emotionally stirred up by the reality of how the junk came to be, vs the ever so attractive fantasy of what the junk represents.

Now… onto the tone when feeding kids. What are you telling them? What is their psyche being filled with as you discuss food, impose on them to finish this and that, reward them with this and that…

Tips 2 and 3 will help you get on track to make things delicious for them in the vegetable kingdom but use this time to reflect and catch yourself – how am I talking about meals vs treats? Focus on your enthusiasm meter and be sure to use enthusiasm for what you want your kids to eat, yourself when you’re eating those foods. Eating at the same time as your kids will get you the fastest results with this as you get to be a role model right in front of them. If you feel you have multiple issues feeding your kids / getting them to love real food, then you must keep an eye out for Brenda Janschek & my kid’s course THRIVE: Raising kids who love real food.

The dreaded “perfection” trap.

This course is uncovering a WHOLE lot of stuff. Stuff you might not have considered before. Stuff that might be sending you into a tailspin sometimes. That is actually completely normal and it’s a nice time for me to say thanks so much for trusting me to take you through this information and support you.

I went through shock, anger, panic, guilt, curiosity, disbelief, finding awesome new ways to shop, making peace with food and then into ‘how can I help as many people as possible’ mode over a 12 month period.

Orthorexia is a disorder where one obsesses about how ‘clean’ their food is and ‘pure the source’ or calls certain wholefood types ‘evil’ or ‘dangerous’ for your health – as in, when a person wouldn’t even eat what’s on offer at a friends’ buffet barbeque if it’s not organic or if there’s croutons and they don’t actually have gluten intolerance / coeliac / other allergies, they just believe it’s ‘dirty’ and ‘wrong’.

Please, do not let negative emotion and stress spoil what should be a beautiful journey.

What you do most of the time is the answer and that’s what you’re working hard on right now. Be super excited about that. Be joyous. Be thrilled that the majority of your choices as you get more and more confident, are awesome choices. What happens the odd time, is nothing to be ashamed of, guilty about or hard on yourself about – or your kids for that matter. Eventually you’ll crowd out the weirdo packets and that will literally leave just social occasions. There’s always a choice in social situations, so choose the best option for you and enjoy it, focusing more on the occasion at hand and the people to connect with, rather than the food – Food doesn’t always have to be the focus and “food” is actually many things as we have seen.

So it’s time to reconnect with soul food and it’s time to start being really mindful of how we talk to ourselves about food, and how we talk to kids if we’re parents, about food.

VALUES

Have a look at your core values. The values you hold true to you in the deepest part of your heart. The things you hold in highest regard as a marker for leading a successful life. Really think about them and write them down.

Mine are peace, justice, adventure, love and inspiration.

Real values are slow, beautiful, meaningful and beautiful.

Now have a look at the values of a company that produces BBQ Shapes, or vegemite, or Slurpees etc.

Profit, Addictive, Long shelf life, Cheap, Create sense of fun for people.

Stripping back a product to the true ‘values’ of the business, are often very different to the marketing values, which are fabricated to deliver on the real values behind the brand. Read here on REAL VALUES with a past piece of mine on the blog.

So thinking about YOUR values, in relation to the things we buy and their values, can be an interesting way to tap into a deeper place to create change for ourselves if we’ve struggled with the ‘oh no I really shouldn’t’ type of feelings towards the weirdo packets we don’t want to want any more. And now onto another slightly different angle to further cement the psychological shift… A phrase I coined to work as an anthem of sorts on this journey – one where we feel excited about what’s new instead of sad about what’s gone.

Discovery not deprivation.

It’s quite simple really. Operate throughout your journey from a place of discovery rather than “I shouldn’ts and I couldn’ts” and you will eventually find far more cool and delicious things than you ever let go of.

You have to understand what’s in those so called treats and processed foods in the first place to be free from them. I’ll add another layer for you…

There’s a boardroom. There are consumer insight surveys. There are calculations. There are ‘crunch’ mouthfeels patented – I kid you not. Kellogg’s’ crunch is patented. They’re products made by companies who want to – and must – keep boosting their sales and share prices. Nothing wrong with making money, but dirty money that makes us unwell? Not so cool. The way they do that is by continually finding cheap ways to manufacture weirdo products, that people in white lab coats work hard to make addictive, so that we keep coming back. A friend who was a food technologist once, was asked to ‘do whatever it takes’ to shave 4 cents off the cost of a packet of 4 cup o’ soups, Mushroom flavour. How horrible is that?

Then once the food tech guys are done, a marketing team works really hard to make it look like life sucks until the moment you get to enjoy those XYZ’s. It might be hard to swallow that reality right now, but it’s absolutely the truth. We’ve been totally duped and life is way sweeter, the sooner we realise what’s truly behind these brands and how ridiculously unnecessary they are to our happiness.

It’s hard though, right? It’s everywhere on TVs, buses, radio… So that’s why you’ll exhaust yourself quickly if you focus on what you can’t have. Instead, we must see those things in a different way and discover quite literally a new language. Some of you have been doing this a while now so you’ll know. Support others that are starting out by sharing your tips and successes either in the comments here in the lesson, or in the group.

I became quite excited when I cracked the whole guilt / reward / deprivation circle of processed treats and have really enjoyed helping people do the same through my blog. My motto for anyone who might be about to have a whole bunch of ‘holy crap, I’ve been eating WHAT?’

DON’T FEEL GUILTY… remember?

So… what would I suggest you make your 3 things to DISCOVER? Nothing, this is your journey. What I will suggest though is that you make it things you’ve not tried before / not tried to make before. New recipes from great cooks and chefs are always a great discovery tool, because they’re going to be delicious and exciting. Going to a produce market and finding something you’ve never tasted before is also an awesome thing to do as well.

I’d also recommend that if you do start looking through blogs to find your ‘discovery’ dishes, you have a look at the comments in the blog (please, if you make my recipes leave comments. It helps inspire others to cook!) And scan for repeat negative results on a recipe. Making something that’s a flop can be expensive in organic / wholefood world so you want to be sure you trust the recipe developer. Maybe your ‘deprivation’ is a favourite Nigella Lawson recipe you’re already pining for… Why not try to switch refined ingredients for whole ones and see how it tastes? TIP: DON’T DO THIS WITH COCONUT FLOUR. It doesn’t translate well from flour. Stick to spelt / rice flour, buckwheat conversions to start with.

Maybe your deprivation is processed chocolate and it’s time to finally have a crack at making your own. Make mine here.

Maybe your kids’ favourite thing is chocolate paddle pop – go out and choose cool icy pole molds and then make a round of chocolate paddle pops of your own together. My chocolate thick shake is awesome for pops and packed with nourishment.

And just in case you needed to hear this today… Just do the best you can and let that be enough.

The benefits of varying types of food preparation There’s real food and then there’s HOW you prepare real food. Raw, cooked, soaked, dried, fermented, frozen, slow cooked vs seared, boiled, steamed… There are advantages to each depending on the food in question and then with many foods there are advantages either way. This is really when getting back in touch with your body’s response to food is crucial – What works for YOU and different stages in life and at different times of the year?

Let me tell you a little story about my holiday to Mauritius a couple of years ago to visit my family – we’re French Mauritian on mum’s side of the family and I feel super lucky for that. I took my wintery way of eating after a cold winter and cool spring to Mauritius which is a very hot tropical Island, and it was the middle of summer. By the end of the month I had fibromyalgia like pains and was in need of a liver cleanse. Sorted in a week thank goodness with lots and lots of veggie juices, raw salads and a couple of herbs from the naturopath – I just listened to what my body needed that week and it spoke! Instead of eating the cooked vegetables, eggs, rich pates and roasted meats, I should have listened to my body and eaten far more salads and fruit and far less in general. That’s how I’ve always eaten there and I feel great for it, even though here in Australia I’d be hungry between meals and never satiated doing that… “Eat right for your type” should come with a “go with the seasons and climate you’re in” line to follow, because it’s true and just makes sense.

Rather than overwhelm you as you read through the post, in the end you will find that the absolute best thing you can do is eat fresh, local and seasonally and if cooking, cook gently and without ‘run off’ of valuable nutrients.

Another important thing to note here is that if you are healing from an illness or condition, especially gut related, gentler eating is crucial, so work with your practitioner for your best food mix – that can be cooked for some, raw for others, or a combination of both and more detail paid to the ‘what’. Healing diets are a time when protocols may well be needed, and need to be stuck to.

I love Dr Natasha Campbell McBride’s thoughts on cooked and raw foods. (Dr McBride is creator of the GAPS diet. Well worth a read of her books)

Raw Foods are for cleaning the body

Cooked foods are for nourishing the body

“When you cook vegetables, their cellular structure gets broken down, and they are much easier to digest,” Dr. McBride explains. “They become more of a feeding and nourishing food rather than a cleansing food. Raw fruits and vegetables are not easily assimilated by the human digestive system. They don’t feed us; they cleanse us… But as we cook the vegetables, and as we ferment the vegetables, we break down their cellulose structure. They become less of a cleansing detoxifying food and more of a feeding and nourishing food. “

So it really comes down to your individual situation, health and goals. Want to do a cleanse and needing to detoxify or decongest? Then a small period of days of predominantly raw food might well be advantageous. Or perhaps you’re in need of deep nourishment and healing from a stressed or reactive system? Gently cooked foods will be better. Generally healthy human? A mix of both for all their benefits rolled into one delicious day of eating. For me, I oscillate yin yang style between raw and cooked. I truly feel my body wanting both every day in some form, most of the year.

Raw Food

Raw food is all the rage at the moment – I love how Jude Blereau says “back in my day, raw food was called salad”. If we productise something and label it, it can become commercial. With that comes the customer tribe and with that can come the shame and the guilt if someone deviated from raw, for fear of doing the wrong thing or being rejected. As we are a REAL FOOD brigade, and one on the journey towards that as the goal, there are no rights and wrongs, only gentle experiments to see what works best for no one other than you and your family.

Why eat foods in their raw state? Some nutrients are very sensitive to heat. For maximum phytonutrient content, it is super advantageous to enjoy raw foods in your mix. They are cleansing and full of good things. This is not true of every nutrient, but of Vitamin C and certain antioxidants, it is. Raw foods are also full of enzymes.

Here are a few interesting little reasons to eat certain things raw sometimes.

 Vitamin C depletes significantly over transport time as well as in cooking, so when it comes to raw food, fresh and local is imperative if you’re going to get maximum benefits from your raw foods.

 A vegetable like carrot has benefits raw and cooked. The raw benefit is its ability to cleanse the system. It’s a great detoxer! Cooked with butter, it’s deeply nourishing.

 Broccoli and Watercress have various benefits whether raw or cooked. When raw they retain their strong anti-cancer compound called glucosinolates, when cooked this enzyme is depleted.

 Garlic is best added to things at the last minute or blitzed through raw dressings and pestos if you want the allicin antioxidant intact.

Benefits of cooking vegetables? According to Dr Natascha Campbell McBride, as above, cooked vegetables nourish us with their nourishing properties. We are more able to support and digest them. But there’s a balance – as we need to regularly detoxify and cleanse, a mix of both is recommended, unless you have leaky gut, where mostly cooked vegetables will be your safest option.

Cooked foods

The good news is that cooked foods aren’t bad. Certain nutrients are unaffected by, or even easier to assimilate, when cooked. Certain foods are even dangerous to eat raw, such as many bean varieties and grains.

Virtually all minerals are unaffected by heat. Cooked or raw, food has the same amount of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, zinc, iodine, selenium, copper, manganese, chromium, and sodium. The single exception to this rule is potassium, which — although not affected by heat or air — escapes from foods into the cooking liquid.

Vitamin K and the B vitamin niacin are also very stable in food.

Serve cooked vegetables quickly: After 24 hours in the fridge, vegetables lose 1/4 of their vitamin C; after two days, nearly half.

Root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, and sweet potatoes) baked or boiled whole, in their skins, retain about 65 percent of their vitamin C.

Want to read the BEST book on cooked food researching? Michael Pollan’s COOKED. It’s wonderful

What’s the best way to cook proteins?

Gently. Slow cooking least denatures your food, especially when it comes to protein. High heat searing and barbecuing is unfortunately not the best idea for meat, as carcinogens are produced.

 Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are chemicals formed when muscle meat, including beef, pork, fish, and poultry, is cooked using high-temperature methods, such as pan frying or grilling directly over an open flame.

 The formation of HCAs and PAHs is influenced by the type of meat, the cooking time, the cooking temperature, and the cooking method and high heat searing is the worst offender. (Source NCI, National Cancer Institute).

If you want to have a safer grilling experience, here are some tips:

 Marinate meats before grilling. Researchers have determined that marinating meat prior to grilling, even for just a few minutes, can reduce HCA formation by 90% or more. It’s believed that the marinade forms a protective barrier for the meat juices that prevents the HCA reaction from occurring.

 Grill at lower temperatures. Lower temperature “roasting” also greatly reduces HCA formation.

 Prevent flare-ups. Flames from grill flare-ups cause the formation of both HCAs and PAHs. Keep an eye on your grill and turn meats frequently to minimize the chance of flare-ups.

 Don’t overcook meats. While it’s important to cook poultry and ground meats thoroughly, be careful not to overcook any meat. Well-done or burnt meats contain higher levels of HCAs than less cooked meats. For thicker cuts of meat, use a meat thermometer to measure doneness rather than just guessing.

Broiling, slow cooking, poaching and stewing are the best ways to enjoy meat and have their proteins along with all their amino acids mostly intact.

TIP: All ‘run off’ when grilling or roasting is lost nutrients if you toss it away. Use the fats and pan juices either as sauce or pop in a jar and use to start your soup, curry, stew or sautéed veg the next day or next week.

TIP 2: Always try to add a little bone broth to your cooked meals. Bone broth is the only cooked food that has colloids, which are excellent for digestion and assimilation. It could be as little as a couple of spoons full over a steak as a sauce. I’ve got a mammoth FAQ post on broth too if you want to nerd out!

Have you made my lamb shoulder before? It is so popular with tiny people (have you tried eating steak with 10 baby teeth? Not fun. Slow cooked all the way for little people) and big people alike. Try it here

Cooking vegetables – A TIP

When cooking vegetables, the less water you use, the better. Nutrients seep out into the water and unless you’re drinking it or using for a soup, you’re going to lose up to 50% of some of the nutrients.

My favourite way to cook veggies is in a tablespoon of butter / coconut oil and a 1/4 cup of stock on a medium stove, tossed around until cooked and liquid used as the sauce. Simple and almost all nutrients kept on the plate, other than the few percentages lost to the heat.

Soaked then cooked – proper preparation of grains and legumes.

When it comes to legumes, grains and our bodies, it is really important to soak these foods before cooking them, to remove enzyme inhibitors and allow for easier digestion. Even when this is done many people don’t find that grains / legumes or both suit them – but it has to be said that many do. Again: How do YOU feel when eating these foods straight out of a tin vs soaked and cooked properly?

To start soaking before cooking, there are many sourdough bread making sources online. For legumes, I wrote a piece years back which you can check out here.

Fermenting and culturing

These, you might be surprised to know, outperform raw foods in terms of benefit and nutrient profile. For a start, as we know, they are teaming with the added benefit of diverse good bacteria.

Secondly, certain vitamins are increased in levels dramatically through the fermentation process. Thirdly, fermented foods combine the benefit of raw detoxifying aspect, with easy assimilation and digestion. Fermented foods are some of the most powerful chelators that exist. Note: If you are starting on fermented foods however, you must start slow with a teaspoon a day, then a tsp per meal, then a tablespoon and so on over a period of 2 weeks. If you feel any kind of bloating and super gassy discomfort, then go easier on it until you’re feeling comfortable and then build slowly again back up.

If you want to start exploring fermenting in greater details check out

Sandor Katz, the godfather of the modern fermentation movement (don’t judge his website – he’s clearly too busy fermenting foods!) Kitsa’s Kitchen (online store and physical Sydney store opening soon!)

Donna Schwenk

Kefir

Here’s a great resource on lacto fermentation benefits HERE.

If you haven’t made it to my post on the how and why of fermentation, head here. From the probiotic benefit, to the live enzyme benefit, to the increased vitamin content and their detoxifying properties, cultured foods are a definite yes to get on the table.

Scared no one in your family is going to like them? I have sneaky ways for you HERE.

I have a few wonderful recipes coming on gut health day too from a lovely nutritionist, Virginnia Thomas of Nourishing Pantry.

Dehydrating / Drying

Dehydrating food is a great way to keep some favourite foods for out of season, as well as make tasty treats here and there. Enzymes are preserved as are fat soluble and water soluble nutrients. If you want to invest in a dehydrator, I’d recommend going for one that has metal sheets as the ideal, but there are many ones at cheaper prices with plastic trays.

If you want an epic overview of all that can be made with a dehydrator as well as dehydrating tricks of the trade, I’d head HERE.

The dehydrator on my wish list? The Excalibur 9 with metal trays. Isn’t she pretty?

Freeze dried

Gary Stoner, Ph.D., and the American Institute for Cancer Research have found that the antioxidant phytochemicals found in fresh fruits is about the same as in their freeze-dried versions. However, both Stoner’s research and the Chilean blueberry study found that ascorbic acid levels and the amount of polyphenol, a cell-protecting chemical in berries, were measurably reduced by freeze drying. So while it can be a handy thing for astronauts and a fun texture for berries in rocky road (and it is!) it’s pointless investing time or money into freeze dried packets of fruits or vegetables.

Frozen.

Contrary to popular belief, frozen food can often pack more nutrients for the simple fact that it is ‘preserved frozen’ soon after picking. Often it’s more nutritious for the simple fact that ‘fresh’ produce these days can be carted around a country for days and even months before landing in your plate. There’s nothing wrong with adding frozen foods into the mix of your meals.

So there’s a little overview of various types of food preparation. I’m not a nutritionist, I’m a coach, so this isn’t about going into all the vitamins and recommending prescriptive guidelines between raw and cooked. I thought I’d just pop a couple of examples up to illustrate variances. All this information is easily available on line with tables and % of vitamins / nutrients depending on food preparation style and time since harvest.

My priority is to help you discover your own mix between the different food preparation techniques, to help you build the ‘listen to my body’ muscle that is so weak in the modern day.

Today, think back to your meal observations last week and maybe make a couple today – What foods, prepared in what way, make you feel awesome at the moment? Have you discovered anything new about your best foods for you since starting the course? Do you crave either raw, fermented or cooked foods at the moment in particular? Do you notice other family members leaning any particular way? What could that be telling you about what you need most right now?

Real Food for healthy hormones I’m SO excited. The healing and preventative chapter begins! There are loads more tips and tricks and resources in your bonus materials, so don’t panic if you’ve been enjoying those. They ain’t done yet!

We’re kicking off with hormones. Hormones are an epic topic and not one that we will be discussing in a medical, curative way. This should be done with your practitioner, one to one and with your unique profile in mind. None of the information I share is to be taken to treat, cure or diagnose you during this course. It’s food for thought, interesting chats, research and tips to support health. If something helps you gain clarity on your next step in an area of health you’ve been struggling with, then that’s wonderful and I can support you to help you choose the right type of practitioner perhaps for your next steps.

Today, I’m going to give you some delicious food and lifestyle tools for happy hormones, all of which make us happier when they’re balanced and producing well.

Let me start with a story about cows. I was visiting a friends’ farm in January and had a light bulb moment during a casual discussion about cows – as you do! These friends had just bought a beautiful property in Bangalow, NSW, and have embarked upon rehabilitating animals from drought affected areas, on their beautiful lush grass. We were talking about how breeding was going and my friend talked about how, because most of the herd were still physiologically stressed, they weren’t ‘cycling’. I instantly drew the parallel behind one of the major depletors of fertility health in western women, not ‘cycling’ properly – STRESS!

We are animals at the end of the day and we have a way of protecting ourselves during stress, by literally shutting down other body processes to various degrees, to put all the energy into what we’re ‘battling’ at the time. Is it any wonder that our digestion, immunity and hormones are all over the place in western countries when our bodies are given so little time to pay attention to anything other than our ‘fight or flight’ responses? REVELATION moment it was.

I likened this cow story, to an experience I had at the end of last year where my sex hormones went so out of whack, in a full blood test, I came out – I kid you not – menopausal. I’m 39. The reason? I launched my first e course. Alone. No assistance. 14-16 hour days, while managing my blog, community, contributorships to other blogs and publications, speaking gigs, my consulting business, menu directing a new preschool, let’s not forget my family and cooking every day… Unrelenting workload for 5 weeks straight. I got no period for 3 months. When did it come back? After a week off – visiting the stress affected cows, no less.

Having a long fluctuating PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) history and thyroid dysfunction, my sex hormones are the first thing to go hay wire if something’s off kilter. It’s not rocket science, is it? My body simply didn’t have the energy to manufacture hormones while I was under that level of work pressure. I share this story as a lesson to us all. It’s certainly one that I learnt from and one that means I now have an assistant, a cleaner who also does the laundry and a casual helper or two in my business to not create a repeat scenario.

Many different hormones are disrupted during times of stress. Happy hormones such as serotonin. And others? Thyroid hormones. And others? Appetite hormones. Yep, hormones are kind of a big deal and it is largely up to us to be mindful of them all, cherish them and give them what they need to give us what we need to feel awesome – Energy, Happiness, Sexual Health and healthy metabolic function, healthy thyroid function. That all sounds rather appealing doesn’t it?

How can you tell if you might need to investigate various hormone troubles?

 Conception challenges

 Sex? Oh puh-leeeeeease why do we have to have sex… Not normal to feel this way! Especially if the months are rolling on by!

 Irregular periods or none at all for stretches of time or permanently, or ongoing ones.

 Ovulation pain or period pain that requires pain killers

 Anxiety, mild illness, diarrhea or nausea around period due date / 2 days prior / first day of cycle.

 You get sneezy or hay fever just before your period – this could signal progesterone imbalance

 Feeling low, blue, flat or down without real reason

 Weight gain outside of your control and without obvious reason / resistant weight loss and “whatever I do I just can’t seem to lose weight” situation.

 Itchy skin or flakiness – thyroid hormone is trying to tell you something! When you don’t have enough thyroid hormone, again your body systems can get sluggish and your skin loses oils.

 An inability to take a satisfying deep breath (a common thyroid and serotonin alarm bell)

 A feeling of being tired but wired.

Here is a little beginners’ guide to a few hormones and just one or two of their MANY roles in your feeling awesome

Oxytocin, the hormone of love and social connection, helps you bond and create meaningful relationships. Testosterone gives you vitality and confidence and revs your sex drive. Progesterone acts as nature’s Valium to keep you calm. Thyroid hormone boosts your metabolism and makes you feel energetic and ‘can do’. Cortisol triggers the fight-or-flight response to help you handle a life-threatening crisis – unfortunately these days, that response is triggered by a crappy email, too much screen time, a traffic jam or running a couple of minutes late for a meeting – so basically, every day, several times a day! Mini relaxation techniques such as inhaling essential oils, or even doing a simple 3-deep-breaths exercise a few times a day can help enormously. Leptin tells you when to put down the fork or wineglass. Hello, self-control! Estrogen strengthens your bones and gives you clear skin.

To keep your hormones of all kinds humming along? Here are some tips

 If your hormones are unstable / out of whack: Avoid grains most of the time, especially non- traditionally prepared (i.e. refined flours, refined rice, unsoaked brown rice). If you are in ‘healing’ mode from a hormone related condition, it may be best to avoid them altogether for a time and work with a practitioner on the hows and whys for you in terms of re-introduction.

 Avoid sugar, especially refined but also high fructose in general – things like dried fruits, dates, grapes should be kept to very occasional scenario.

 Refined vegetable oils – inflammation causes stress and hinders healthy hormone production

 Enjoy rainbow and high quality vegetables, mainly ‘above the ground’ grown

 Enjoy ethical, pastured meats, eggs, activated nuts and seeds, sustainable fish, whole ingredients to make things with (I.e., everything on our real food list from Day 4 and 5)

 Enjoy healthy fats and cholesterol containing foods – believe it or not they are critical to the production of hormones (so… why the various hormone related illnesses skyrocketing in occurrence since the 80’s low fat dietary guidelines I wonder…!!??!!??)

 Enjoy organic foods – pesticides of various kinds have hormone altering properties.

 Enjoy coconut oil – my raw chocolate bar is a rather delicious way to get a good serve into the day.

 Ditch the chemicals in your life, many of which are hormone altering – if you’ve not done the Low Tox Life e course yet, it is life changing, so say my alumni, so please feel free to roll on with me and do low tox after we finish Real Food Rockstars.

 Work with a practitioner to get off the contraceptive pill or implants as these only hide hormone imbalances that need to be healed, not hidden.

 Sleep well and for most nights sleep by 11pm when your hormone making factory hits peak work time – if you’re asleep, the factory is able to run far more efficiently during this time, than when you’re trying to do a million other things.

 Discuss potential supplementation requirements to balance your hormones with a practitioner. A naturopath, Chinese herbalist, or Ayurvedic doctor will be all be great guides in this area depending on which resonates with you best. If you’ve not seen one before, audition them. Ask them about their experience treating hormones. Be sure you’ve got the right practitioner for YOU.

 And the one that I find super hard? Take less information in. When you’re darting about from phone, to computer to 5 different browser tabs, to taking a phone call, to cooking, talking to kids, TV in background…. ARGH! Make it stop, right? It is vital to take time to relax, clear the mind and unwind. Women with a lot of job / life / parenting stress are more likely to suffer from heart disease, in part because of chronically high cortisol levels. “Stress” doesn’t just mean ‘high powered or senior position in a company’ it’s everything and takes many forms.

 Choose light cardio such as walking or beginner’s yoga, over grueling long distance runs or dance cardio if you’re healing from imbalances. Heavy cardio can be counterproductive to the cause. Weight bearing exercise such as kettlebells and weighted squats in short bursts however, can be excellent 2-3 times a week. For happy, healthy balanced individuals, a mix of whatever you enjoy is wonderful. Exercise shouldn’t be a chore. Think back to what you liked at school – I rediscovered tennis last year and am super excited as I was a comp level player at school. I’ve also discovered strength circuit classes and ‘release’ style yoga and I actually can’t wait to and clear space in the diary for my exercise now.

Luckily, all the healthy lifestyle habits can offset the effect that stress has on you and again, a reminder: It’s not what you do some of the time, it’s what goes on MOST of the time. A couple of busy days here and there is fine. Chronic “BUSY” – No good.

Enjoy my interview with Dr Nat Kringoudis, a Dr in Chinese medicine, and self-proclaimed ‘hormone revolutionist’. She’s wonderful at empowering women to tackle sexual hormone health such as reversing PCOS, Endometriosis, focusing on food, relaxation and empowerment from self-observation. Sort your sex hormones out and life is much rosier!

Alexx chats to Nat Kringoudis | Transcript

So luckily to keep things simple, what we need to have healthy hormones is massively aided by the foods we’re expanding into on this journey. Funny how making the low tox life your focus, means health becomes a by-product of your actions to eat cleaner and ditch weirdo chemicals and additives from your life.

Feel free to share hormone struggles you may have faced in the past or are facing now and be mindful if you give advice to fellow group members – speak from direct experience rather than trying to help diagnose or treat with internet searching. A good practitioner cannot be replaced when it comes to tricky issues that aren’t resolving with preliminary, gentle interventions of diet, chemical detox and relaxation.

Today’s reflection to make in your journal?

What is on that list that you neglect or have let slide or perhaps finally want to tackle? Perhaps you could put some thought into ways to create more space in your day or life to focus on it as a priority over the next month.

My number one hormone health tips based on my experiences with both PCOS and hyper/hypothyroidism? Early bed as much as possible and low sugar living.

Sources: Dr Libby Weaver Rushing Women’s Syndrome, Weston A Price Foundation, Dr David Perlmutter GRAIN BRAIN, Eat Fat Lose Fat, Dr Mary Enig, Slow Death by Rubber Duck.

Real Food and weight Hello! It’s Real Food and healthy weight day.

When I created this course, I knew that the number 1 thing I wanted to do, was free people form thinking you ‘shouldn’t’ have this or ‘best not’ do that about all the junk… I wanted to free you from junky desires altogether, so that all that was left was the real thing. I want you to go from “I shouldn’t” to “As if I could eat that stuff again”. In doing the work to truly understand food production, industry motive and additive weirdness, that food choices become far less about entertaining media and government driven ideas on what you should eat or should desire, and much more about what your body and soul are nourished by, and how many delicious things nature provides us with that just make sense.

Then? Once you’re eating REAL FOOD, to start being mindful.

 What makes me feel good?

 What changes for me over the seasons and how should I adapt accordingly?

 What am I doing reaching for food when I’m not hungry – WHAT ELSE IS MISSING FOR ME? How can I ‘fill myself up’ another way?

 How can I ramp up nutrient density to ensure I’m getting my nourishment to last until the next meal?

 When do I need cleansing foods vs nourishing foods at different times (raw vs cooked for example)

 How am I talking to my partner / kids / family about real food? Am I being higher-than-though, disciplinary or exclusionary? Or am I inviting them to join me, empowering them to make better choices too through LOVE.

 When am I full?

How is this shift going for you at this point? I would love to know.

So today and weight, I want to start with the “When am I full”. Something is going to happen to you as you transition to eating whole, real, nutrient dense foods – You won’t need to eat as much in volume.

Think of all the empty calories that evaporate faster than the speed of light that might have been in your trolley in the past? A vacuous puffed grain ‘cake’ (aka cardboard), a sugary iced tea drink, a packed of MSG laden Shapes (yes. All the flavours. Sorry), an additive laden yoghurt full of fillers, thickeners and sugar that your body doesn’t quite know what to do with?

All of these foods pack little nutrient value and leave you empty after your pleasure center brain dance they are chemically created to set off for you, making you want to chase that ‘hit’ again. Every word I’ve just typed is true. So, once you’re no longer dancing in the land of weirdo packets, you have an opportunity to actually hear what your body is telling you. That voice gets louder over time.

Your body will start to tell you when it’s full. This can take a couple of months so you have to listen super carefully to your body signals. Whole, real food is awesome but there is such a thing as too much of it, and before tackling greyer areas in the weight loss game, I wanted to ensure we were mindful of this simple overlook when transitioning.

Chances are most of you will not need 3 nutrient dense meals as well as 2 substantial snacks and a couple of random fridge browses every day. You just won’t – the snacks will most always be able to go. UNLESS you are rapidly growing (0-5’s and teens depending on their meal time appetites in general) or training for a marathon or high performance athlete scenario or work in fitness as a PT or dance teacher doing 3- 4 classes a day… Speak to your health practitioner if you’re confused or concerned about how much or how often to eat of course, but what I’m basically saying here is “Yes, there can be too much of a good thing when it comes to wholefood”.

The 2 things you will need to do are listen to your body for cues of fullness and hunger.

1. When serving yourself a meal or a snack, consider serving yourself a 2/3 volume of what you might have eaten in the past and see whether it carries you through or satisfies you at the time. Say you’re transitioning from pasta to a slow cooked meat and vegetables with butter or olive oil. Did you feel satisfied? Is it your habit to eat more and for longer that left you feeling unsatisfied or were you genuinely hungry and need more? The latter meal is teaming with nourishment, the former is not. See what a slightly smaller serving means and how soon afterwards you felt hunger and noticed tummy rumbles.

2. Then, when it comes to eating again: Are you actually hungry? Could you decide on a 15 min walk, exercise circuit, email to a loved one or quick house tidy and see if the thought about food was actual hunger or habit?

HUNGER OR HABIT?

Ask yourself that question every time for the next week and see where it takes you mentally.

WATCH OUT FOR

We’re headed shortly for GUT day but I will briefly explain something here… If you have gut damage / dysbiosis / leaky gut, your ‘absorption’ score might not be very high. I.e., you might be eating an amazing, nutrient rich diet, but your body might not be absorbing the nutrients you’re giving it. If you feel legitimately like you’re craving foods and hungry all the time once eating a great variety of real foods, then you should see a practitioner to assess whether leaky gut might be your issue and whether you need to do some gut healing work to support your health and satiety goals.

WATCH OUT FOR

Stress. My naturopath told me of a law firm partner client of hers. Nothing they did together over 2 years helped this woman lose weight until she insisted her patient took a 3 week holiday. She ate with joy at the three meal times, not paying too much attention to this much of this or that much of that… She took an exercise class every 2 days on the resort and the rest of the time, she was relaxing and exploring. She lost 10kg in 3 weeks. Remember with stress high, all our other body processes’ efficiencies diminish. Carve relaxation into your day, every day and reap the rewards in so many ways.

More on resistant weight loss

Nothing you do seems to work and you’re frustrated and quite frankly, pissed off because ‘I’m doing all the right things’? You might not know what is causing your specific resistant weight loss scenario. It could be thyroid, hormones, sleep quality, allergies and intolerances, toxins, insulin resistance, stress as mentioned in the above story or liver congestion to name a few reasons and unless you know what the underlying cause is, you could stay frustrated for a very long time.

This is where working with a practitioner is awesome for completely personal guidance, or there is the wonderful Breakthrough program, kicking off again in November that I’ve witnessed first-hand as a wonderful support tool that has helped hundreds of women break through their resistant weight loss barriers. If it might be of interest to you to explore, I will be letting you know when the next round is. No doubt some of you have done this course already. Enjoy my chat with Naomi.

Alexx chats to Naomi Judge | Transcript

How wonderful was that info? Thanks Naomi. So what if you’re desperate to try something from today? Well, think about where you store your excess weight firstly and here are two little self-experiments you can try from today:

If you have excess weight around your middle my top two tips are

1. Reduce sugar to fruits only and no more than 1-2 pieces per day for a month. No other sweet stuff. Increase your healthy fats a little and your veggies a lot (smoothies and salad inspiration are great for that) to ensure that a minefield of cravings don’t occur.

2. Reduce grains or carbs to 1 good serving of complex carb per day (think handful brown rice, quinoa, quinoa pasta, buckwheat porridge, slice of sourdough etc.) and stick to abundant veggies, meat, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, spices, herbs, healthy fats as your main staples. Experiment for a month. Make observations. If you have thyroid troubles, this might not be enough carbohydrate for you, so please, if your aim is healing from a personal health issue, best to see a practitioner.

If you have weight that gathers at your hips

Try the elimination tip. Cut out for 2 weeks eggs, nuts, dairy, citrus, and gluten. After two weeks add each back in slowly with a 2 day gap before adding the next thing. You may have a food intolerance.

If you notice any positive, interesting change from either of these experiments, it would be a great time to either keep going with the changes or see a holistic practitioner to discuss your unique profile and what the next steps might be for you.

If you want to empower yourself with an absolutely excellent book on unexplained weight gain or resistant weight loss, I highly recommend this book Accidentally Overweight, Dr Libby Weaver, PHD

Or a simple piece by Dr Mark Hyman about Inflammation and weight gain.

Real Food for MOJO MOJO. Is yours intact? Do you feel energetic and bouncy bouncy or a bit tired and lack lustre?

A little break from reading today and focus on connection with YOU and what makes you feel awesome.

Chances are there are a few things in the busy modern life at play that can strip you bare from mojo, BUT you can find it again and by now, you’re noticing some common themes coming up again and again about what constitutes health. Here are some of the big MOJO makers:

1. Real Food – lots of phyto and micro nutrients from veggies and fruit especially.

2. Good gut health – Gut health day is COMING!

3. Movement – Doesn’t have to be back breaking. A nice walk qualifies.

4. Quiet mind time – Read a book. Feet up with a cup of tea. Just a few minutes a day checking out of your life for a bit to recharge your adrenals.

5. Fun – Laughing. Book some tickets to a comedy show or watch a funny movie

6. Rejection of perpetual, long term stress – Carving out the calm!

7. Rejection of environmental toxins within our control – if you’re not signed up to Low Tox Life next round and this interests you, pop here to have a look.

8. Balanced hormones – We’ve covered tips on this one on hormone day.

9. Purpose in your work – whether it’s your kids, your job, your business, the sense of purpose is related to your energy levels.

10. Strong human connections – When was the last time you caught up with someone fabulous that you adore and had a nice long lunch or dinner?

11. A love for a hobby, community group that brings a big smile on your face.

Enjoy my interview with the lovely naturopath Emma Sutherland with some great ideas to reclaim MOJO.

Alexx chats to Emma Sutherland | Transcript

Your mission today?

To think about 5 things that energize you. Write them down. You might find this silly but do it.

Force yourself to think about what fills up YOUR cup. Commit to carving out the time to do them all at some point in the next month (eat a particular food, be still, dip toes in the ocean, do some gardening, go see a movie with a good friend and debrief afterwards over a glass of wine… whatever it is!) Actually put them in your diary and don’t budge on any of them. Again, might feel silly, but do it. Looking after yourself well, is kind of like building up muscle – if you don’t do it regularly you end up weak.

Further reading? A book that’s just come out by the lovely Dr Libby Weaver is definitely a wonderful MOJO making book. Enjoy!

Dr Libby Weaver’s Exhausted to Energized

Real Food for heart health Is there a topic that is more shrouded in confusion? Given I am not a doctor much less a cardiologist, I am not qualified in any way to tell you what to do to have a healthy heart, nor how to fix a broken one. HOWEVER, I do feel a sense of duty to bring this topic into the course with the expertise of a cardiologist, because with every ounce of my being I believe we must be more empowered in this area. This is not a modern medicine bashing session. I dearly love modern medicine. It gave my grandfather on my mum’s side 3 more years with us after a major heart attack. It gave my other grandfather 40 more years with us, after being one of the first British people to be successful operated on for bowel cancer (I know, right? Awesome genes I’ve got going there Alexx!) It gave me and my son life, after we’d surely have died a few decades ago with failure to progress and fetal distress, 37 hours into labor. So no, this topic isn’t about hating on doctors. It’s about looking at the system and acknowledging that science isn’t perfect and what once might have been believed, can always be changed once more information comes to light – thank gosh for that really, otherwise we might still be being treated with leeches.

I also know two major things we can do to protect our hearts and we’re working on them right now while doing this course.

1. Avoid refined, fake foods, especially sugar, Trans fats and vegetable oils. These are the ‘universal evils’ that we’ve already covered in the first week.

2. Avoid stress, anger and toxic emotions – The most underrated markers for disease today, I believe, from the research of many esteemed doctors the world over.

Some top foods to enjoy that promote heart health…

1. Avocado—Contains lots of vitamin E, glutathione and healthy monounsaturated fat.

2. Pomegranates/pomegranate juice—has powerful antioxidants shown to assist in plaque regression.

3. Blueberries—Contain powerful antioxidants for heart health as well as flavonoids that improve the macula and retina of the eye, and also help brain function.

4. Asparagus—loaded with folic acid, vitamin C and glutathione, a powerful detoxifier.

5. Broccoli—Full of sulfur compounds that assist in detoxifying the body, including anticancer compounds like sulforaphane and indole-3-carbinol.

6. Olive Oil – unique combination of healthy monounsaturated fats and powerful antioxidants known as polyphenols, both of which help to block the oxidation of LDL cholesterol. Remember, the oxidation of LDL cholesterol fuels relentless inflammation, which in turn causes coronary heart disease. So protecting LDL cholesterol from oxidation is a crucial step in preventing atherosclerosis (“hardening” of the arteries. source: Dr Stephen Sinatra)

7. Onions—Contain many compounds, such as flavonoids and quercetin, that enhance the immune system and improve prostate health as well as protecting the heart.

8. Spinach—Rich in calcium, as well as lutein, which helps prevent macular degeneration and is instrumental in both lung and heart health. Popeye was right on! 9. Wild Alaskan salmon—Rich in omega-3s and the vital carotenoid astaxanthin that helps prevent damaging oxidation in the body. It is 17 times more powerful than pycnogenol and 50 times more powerful than vitamin E. Farmed salmon does not contain the same benefits. In Australia, you can buy the Canadian Way imported salmon, or for a budget option and great for fish cakes, is the Paramount Wild Alaskan tinned salmon which we discussed on pantry / produce days.

10. Almonds—Contain monounsaturated fat plus precious gamma tocopherol, a vital nutrient that neutralizes peroxynitrite, a dangerous free radical.

11. Gouda – A cheese rich in Vitamin K2, shown to help with plaque regression and helping to put calcium back into BONES where the calcium belongs.

And so many more! It’s all in the real food – noticing a pattern here? If you want to promote heart health, discuss with your holistic practitioner too, to see whether supplementation applies in your situation.

This issue is close to my heart because my mother was given statins with a cholesterol reading of 6.7 total about 10 years ago. Within 6 months, her memory had begun to significantly diminish, her muscle tone depleted and her liver in a dangerous risk zone that called for immediate stopping of the drug Lipitor – which I later learned was dubbed by many health professionals the ‘memory thief’. It prompted me to study up. I learnt both sides. Being informed and being empowered is the best you can be when it comes to people wanting to prescribe you long term medication. My advice: Find a doctor who does extensive testing and scans before they prescribe anything and always get 2-3 opinions before embarking on long term medications.

The whole reason that statins were able to flourish as an industry, was because it became accepted, off the back of one study that produced a hypothesis – not even a proven theory therefore – that cholesterol and saturated fat were linked to heart disease. This also meant that the grain and sugar industries could flourish, being ‘low fat’. It also meant instead of using expensive real fats, manufacturers could use cheap refined seed oils to drive their profits high. It also meant as expensive fat use went down, cheap sugar went up, in countless products that lined our shelves. Not only did heart disease figures continue to soar, but we got to add diabetes type 2, diabetes ‘type 3’ now being dementia’s new name, and of course obesity. There was literature that I read however that did really seem to support statins for a small group of people and that was men – especially men who had had a cardiac event.

Dr Sinatra and I speak to all of this during our chat below, so I urge you to make the 45 minutes to watch / listen to our chat.

Here are a couple of great and simple to understand books to read for yourself regarding cholesterol and why we’re perhaps barking up the wrong tree for heart disease prevention by popping these pills for decades as a standard issue.

The Great Cholesterol Myth, Dr Stephen Sinatra and Johnny Bowden, Board certified physician, Integrative Cardiologist and PHD nutritionist.

Cholesterol and the French Paradox, Frank Cooper

I chose to interview Dr Stephen Sinatra because he’s a great example of a doctor at the top of his field who never stops learning. He never stopped and accepted that what he knew was gospel and that there was no further need to update his knowledge. Instead he questioned things and when he knew better, he did better. He’s also a wonderful example of the type of doctors and specialists we should all strive to find – ones that treat the patient PAST the numbers on the sheet. We all deserve a physician who we feel is in our corner and on our team, rather than feel like we’re backed into a corner and have no choice but to do as they say. If someone’s making you feel like that, I dare say it’s time to look elsewhere. This sort of space where you can’t speak freely is constrictive not just mentally but physiologically as well, thus producing negative health consequences.

I hope you enjoy his and my chat. I so enjoyed interviewing him for us.

Note: American cholesterol values are given during this interview. 280 as a value in Australian values is about 7.3. If you need to convert other values in your travels, of course there’s a cholesterol values converter online. GO HERE.

Dr Sinatra has asked for a footnote to be added at 31 minutes, when he says “men under 75 I don’t care what their cholesterol I’m going to treat them with a statin” – He was referring to patients presenting with ‘sticky blood” and heart disease / plaque…. he didn’t mean ‘every man who walks in’.

Alexx chats to Dr. Stephen Sinatra | Transcript

So, what did you think? I still believe matters of the heart are tricky and stressful, because we’re lay people and doctors are doctors and disagreeing with a doctor when they have a near decade’s university education on the body, goes against logic. BUT so does treating cholesterol levels to prevent heart disease once armed with a deeper knowledge.

At the end of the day if this is something you face or a family member faces, read. Learn. Show parents or friends this interview by all means if it helps people feel more empowered. Make up your own mind. As I say in the video, this is not to be taken as medical advice for your situation. All I hope is that it helps you understand what the real enemies of the heart are as I listed at the very start of today’s lesson. If we can reduce those evil refined foods as much as possible and reduce daily prolonged stress then we’re a long way to having heart health and great overall health.

DISCLAIMER: THIS INFORMATION IS NOT INTENDED TO TREAT, CURE OR HEAL ANY DISEASE OR PERSON. YOU MUST TAKE MEDICAL ADVICE FROM YOUR PRACTITIONER. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYONE’S MISUSE OF THIS INFORMATION IN RELATION TO THEIR SITUATION.

Real Food and gut health Gut health. It’s a BIG topic but in simple terms, it’s actually super simple to get your head around what it takes to have a healthy gut.

We’ve got ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’. We get our good guys a number of ways over time, but initially, we get them squeezing through the birth canal, then on the breasts through breast feeding and through the mothers’ milk and every day on our foods, in our air and through our skin.

Findings from The Human Microbiome Project (2008-2013) have made it clear that in fact 90% of the cells in the human body are microbial and that the genetic repertoire of these microbes is at least 150 times greater than that of our human cells.

Yes, we are 90% bacteria and only 10% officially human. Weird, right? Most of our bacteria is helpful, friendly and healthy for us. A small amount are pathogenic, but if we keep our good guys abundant, then we keep our bad guys in check quite easily.

What happens when we disturb the balance and the bad guys build their armies and start running amuck?

Dysbiosis

Also known as ‘leaky gut’.

The digestive system is a pathway starting at the mouth and ending at the anus. It is responsible for breaking down the foods we eat, extracting the nutrients needed, and then eliminating the waste. The problem is that poor food choices, viruses, parasites, caffeine, alcohol consumption, antibiotics, C- sections, formula feeding and bad bacteria can cause damage to the gastrointestinal tract to varying degrees, which leads to increased permeability or “leaky gut.” This “leaky gut” means that instead of foods being broken down, absorbed and eliminated, partially digested foods can now cross through the damaged area of the intestinal lining and enter the blood stream directly. This leak can cause intolerances that then initiate an inflammatory response in the body and the release of stress hormones. One of these stress hormones is cortisol, which further taxes the body and starts to impair the body’s immune system. This can then lead to a host of issues that may not seem related to the impaired gastrointestinal tract, like allergies, skin conditions, impaired performance, and stubborn weight gain to name but a few. See how it all comes back to the gut?

What can cause dysbiosis of the gut? Our abundant good guys are coming undone largely due to these factors

1. Obsession with antibacterial living. 99.9% of germs must DIE type products, disinfectant wipes, detol in the wash, bleaches, triclosan (a hormone disrupting antibacterial agent) in commercial toothpastes, facewash, anti-bacterial sponges, personal care (especially teen ‘anti-bacterial’ washes / acne products), hand sanitizers and even household paint!

2. Overuse of antibiotics. Now I am all for the use of antibiotics when they’re able to save the day and prevent a bad situation from becoming a disaster. They’re a miracle. BUT to treat recurring infections with antibiotics, instead of digging to find the WHY of the recurring infection as is done these days all too commonly? This sadly causes disaster for our overall bacteria picture. I should know. For 15 years I had chronic tonsillitis. Roughly 60 rounds of antibiotics later, I was drug resistant and my infections became more and more horrendous. My gut and digestion did too but I was too ashamed to talk about constipation and excessive gas – especially in quite a closed family in terms of ‘private’ conversations. I saw a naturopath and she diagnosed a processed cheese intolerance and an immune function deficiency – makes perfect sense given my gut flora probably looked like a few bad guy armies in a desert landscape without a good guy to be seen for miles! They’d all been wiped out. She taught me to nourish myself with soups of chicken stock, well-cooked carrots and soaked brown rice and pure thyme ‘shots’ and liquid propolis sprays to kill the strep at early signs. She taught me where hidden sugars were, so my sugar consumption literally halved overnight, which would place far less strain on my immune system. A combination of cutting out pasteurised and processed dairy, the sugar (including yeasty breads) and starting to build that immune system, meant I literally haven’t had tonsillitis bar 1 mild case a few years ago, since. That’s 13 years of basically no infection of the throat. I am still shocked at how simple the cure was and very annoyed by what the band aid solution did to my gut.

3. Rise of C-section babies and formula fed babies. We miss two huge, natural opportunities for proper colonization when we ‘skip’ these two. It’s not all lost (thank goodness because I had an emergency C-section and topped up with formula from 1 month old with failure to produce enough) and the film MICROBIRTH will be a great one to watch for you. Being aware of needing to foster healthy bacteria growth in c section babies in the early days is a wonderful way to support what sometimes is the only solution – it sure was in my case. My son was on probiotics from day 1 and from 5 months on a little half tsp of cultured vegetable juice in his dinner. It’s never too early to look after the gut and it’s never too late. These days you can even discuss ‘swabbing’ from the birth canal onto the newborn baby, so that the baby still gets colonized with the mother’s gut. The film discusses this in detail.

4. Rise of refined, ‘dead’ foods. Pasteurization, refinement of flours, a moving away from activating, soaking, fermenting and souring has meant we eat a lot of dead foods with little life force in them. It is debated whether grains and legumes are the issue, or whether it’s the way we grow and prepare them these days that’s the issue. I personally think it’s the latter, as many traditional cultures have thrived with grains and legumes in their mix. They all prepared them very carefully before eating. 5. Rise of pesticide use. Simply put, pesticides kill stuff. That’s what they’re for. So if they’re on our crops to kill bugs, then they’re on our food and then IN us as residue, they’re literally slowly killing our gut bacteria.

6. Rise of grain ‘serves per day’ – Traditionally we ate sourdough bread, teeming with enzymes at the preparation stage, to break down phytic acid in grain germs and help more difficult proteins be digested. These days we just harvest, bleach and grind where it then sits in bags for months travelling around the world. We eat it all year round: Anyone know the wheat ‘season’? Exactly. We get that wheat into vacuous processed bread, crackers, cereals, chips, flavoured snacks of all kinds… It’s a disaster that we eat refined, processed, puffed, squished and fluffed grains more than any other foods and are directed to by our government for our ‘health’. It’s actually ludicrous when you put it that way, don’t you think? Worst is, the grains turn into my next point…

7. SUGAR. It’s everywhere and it’s the favourite food of who’s? The bad, pathogenic guys in our guts. Every popper, lolly, roll up, dried fruit, fruit yoghurt, fake custard, packet jelly, supermarket condiment, breakfast cereal, slushy, icy pole, ice cream, muesli bar, muffin, cupcake, stir fry sauce… Take a look at your ‘per 100g’ %. It’s not pretty. Our livers can metabolise 4-6 tsp equivalent of sugar per day. We’re eating an average of 40 tsp per day. It’s not difficult to do the math and see why there are health consequences everywhere we turn. More on sugar in the next topic: inflammation.

This deterioration hasn’t happened overnight. It’s been slowly building over the generations since we started moving away from nature and industrializing our food and agriculture practices.

The deterioration of our colony balance between the good and bad guys occurs with each generation too as new babies are born from mothers with weakened bacteria profiles. It is believed that this is a major contributor to this generation being so hard hit by allergies, mental illness and autoimmune conditions – Our bacteria has quite literally come undone.

1 in 100 children 10 years ago presented with some sort of allergy requiring hospitalization. In 2014, the figure was now 1 in 10 in Australia and similar in the USA and UK. WHAT??? That’s real and that’s crazy.

Instead of continuing to restrict foods one by one from the school yard (which of course is essential due to possible consequence of death for precious little people) and just blindly doing so, we need to at the same time ask a very important question: WHY?

Our guts aren’t happy because the good guys aren’t getting the food they want, or they’re being killed off by various things. Then, our bad guys seize the day and capitalize on the good guys weakness, and so, they progress and takeover. It’s no good and our brains aren’t happy about it. Why our brains?

Our guts being unhappy greatly impact our brain too. How?

The GUT BRAIN connection is big and I’d love to point you to THIS ARTICLE for an awesome overview of our ‘second brain’ – our gut!

There are many people who know they ‘don’t feel quite right’. Perhaps you’re down quite a bit for no apparent reason. Perhaps you present with anxiety over seemingly illogical things. Perhaps you have a child with any number of symptoms from hyperactivity to ADHD, autism, skin ailments, food sensitivities and more.

There are many schools of thought on healing the gut. Ayurveda does it one way, Chinese medicine another, naturopaths might use a combination of diet and herbs and so on. The important thing to realise is that all of these conditions can be vastly improved, if not sometimes reversed, when your gut is in good working order, your bacteria is in balance, and your environmental bacteria exposure to raw veggies, soil, nature, pets etc. is often.

So, while today’s interview is focused on GAPS, most important is to realise your experiments can start today with healing methods that resonate with you and a practitioner who you feel is very much in your corner. From everything I’ve read, it seems GAPS is the most logical, but that’s my logic and I am but one person. This is your journey and ‘freedom’ is trusting your gut and your personal motivations and ways of healing.

Enjoy this interview with one of my favourite people, Kitsa Yanniotis “You would never intentionally poison your child so why would you feed the child food that is like poison to them and their brains” – So confronting that little truth bomb but essential that we realise the work we’re doing.

Dr Natasha Campbell McBride says in her book Gut and Psychology Syndrome, that by correcting the gut wall and healing dysbiosis, you can health many brain disorders and behavioral issues, you can heal UTIs, Candida overgrowth, skin ailments, skin bacterial rashes, psoriasis, most intolerances, many allergies and of course all the gut issues such as Crohn’s, IBS, Diverticulitis, gastro enteritis.

So when it comes to foods we can use to nurture our guts and keep the good guys growing and abundance and killing off the bad guys and bringing their crazy numbers back in check?

1. Cultured foods are your friend. Your gut’s BFF. I highly recommend The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz to get a full initiation into the science and how to of cultured foods. My beginners’ guide here is great too.

2. Start sneaking those cultured veggies into things your family loves as a baby step. I’ve got a whole post on that HERE.

3. Swap refined flours for dense, whole foods such as almond meal or coconut meal. Have you made my banana bread before?

4. If you’re going to eat bread, consider buying sourdough or making your own. This is an excellent resource over on Nourished Kitchen.

5. Enjoy prebiotics to fire up the probiotics that will go in afterwards – Onions and leeks are great prebiotics. 6. Fermented drinks like Water Kefirs, Milk Kefirs and Beet Kvass are all incredible for rebuilding a diverse and happy gut bacteria population.

7. Easy to digest foods such as pureed vegetable soups, broths, cooked veggies slow cooked meats… These sorts of foods literally give your gut a break from trying to grow the good guys all the time but not assaulting it with stuff that’s going to kill more good guys. I do a at least a couple of dinners a week that are super easy digesting purees and soups, to give my body a little break.

Further reading

GAPS – Gut and Psychology syndrome by Dr Natasha Campbell McBride

Grain Brain by Dr David Perlmutter (his new book BRAIN MAKER is wonderful too, all about Gut bacteria. He’s a great writer for lay people to get empowered – We can actually understand it!)

Heal Your Gut E book by Lee Holmes – A lovely, simple guide packed with delicious recipes for gentle healing.

HEALING THE GUT

There are many things you can do and GAPS isn’t the be all end all for everyone, so I urge you to once again, listen to YOUR body on your path to healing the gut.

 Get those universal evils out of the house – vegetable oil, white sugar, white flour, GM foods and additives – and assess whether further work needs to be done and a practitioner’s help might be needed.  Ditch the use of germ killing wipes and the antibacterial products. Washing your hands 3-4 times a day with warm soapy water is all the protection you need. I’d love to see some statistics around hand sanitizers and how they foster OCD tendencies in people.

 Add the good, real stuff IN over a couple of months and you will be amazed at how a nutritional experiment like this one can be so fruitful in providing clues for your health.

 Find a school in line with your food values OR work to change ‘fake food’ canteens to real ones with your parent’s committee

 Culture your own foods, starting super small with serve size & slow and work up to a tablespoon per meal. Super simple veggie recipes HERE.

 Give your kids cultured veggies, or 1 tiny tsp of the juice from the ferment in a smoothie where they won’t know it. 10 ways to sneak cultured foods into the diet HERE.

An extra little 4 simple things for a more efficient digestion?

1. Start your day with a lemon, lime, apple cider vinegar & water tonic. 1/2 a cup of water and 1 tbsp. of each of the lime, lemon and vinegar (“with mother”). Down the hatch before any other foods. Talk about your body getting the “All systems GO” message.

2. Water NEVER with meals, but either before, between or a good half hour after eating. Using water to ‘push down’ large bites is a terrible habit we give kids, too, who don’t have as many teeth to be chewing well in the first place. Food that travels too fast down the hatch doesn’t get time to go through all the processes it needs to.

3. Raw carrot with lots of lemon juice and a bit of olive oil as a part of your breakfast. It’s super cleansing and really gets things ‘going’ in the morning – easier to do in the summer time of course, but give it a try – about 1/2 cup is plenty.

4. Walking or physical activity every single day.

5. Chew really, really well. Your enzymes in the mouth start the food break down process. Skip that and you skip part of your digestion. Get away from the screens and be mindful and chew while you eat your meals.

6. When you experiment with cutting processed / modern preparation grains out of your diet, DOUBLE your veggies. Plant fibre is essential. Butter, fresh herbs, purees and really yummy dips will help make things delicious while you make this change. Keep it interesting!

A little bonus for you all, is that I’ve asked the wonderful Virginnia Thomas, nutritionist and passionate gut health guru from Nourishing Pantry to prepare some of her top tips and a couple of recipes for you to have a go at. DOWNLOAD YOUR BONUS FERMENTED FOODS MATERIALS HERE

If you decide on any sort of healing diet, then please do it out of love and curiosity, rather than stress and fear. Set yourself mentally up for success. Meditation can be a wonderful, wonderful way to ensure you stay focused on the beauty of your goals, rather than the fear of doing something wrong or things not working. Remember a stress response, depletes ‘digestive fire’ and with a poor digestion, you are going against exactly what you are trying to achieve: Gut repair!

So there you have it. Gut health day! If you want to find a GAPS practitioner to have a skype consult with, you can shoot me an email and I will introduce you.

Real Food and inflammation There are two types of inflammation. The type where we get cut, or hit our heads and our body sends inflammation messages to begin the healing process. We heal. The messages stop. Simple. Then, there’s a more subtle type – a chronic type – where we are in an inflamed state ongoing, with that immune response to try and heal a problem, never being ‘switched off’ because the problem is not going away. We think about modern day disease as being ‘heart disease’ or ‘cancer’ or ‘diabetes’, or ‘autoimmune’ or allergies or arthritis… but what if these were all related in the sense that inflammation in the body is at play throughout them all and that low grade inflammation is the precursor to them all. Inflammation is probably the biggest clue we are given, where our body is trying to say to us “something ain’t right”. Once there’s chronic inflammation happening in the body, if left alone long enough, chronic disease inevitably follows.

How do we know if we’re inflamed? It can be tricky. Low level inflammation is sneaky and can be at play without us really knowing about it for quite a while. It can be as simple as feeling sluggish for a month or so… This is where what we put on and in us, and the state of our mind is important to respect and care about. It’s not about stressing about what is right. It’s about enjoying the process of exploring yourself and tuning into YOU, rather than living by what someone has said is right. Eating lots of butter might be awesome for one person, but then congesting and inflammatory to the next. We are all different, and we all metabolise things differently. You might be ‘vegan’ at breakfast, then paleo for lunch, you might fast at dinner, or you might have a fruitarian snack in the afternoon. Eating the same way the whole year and your whole life makes zero sense. Don’t feel you have to commit to any one way of ‘being’ or ‘eating’ unless you are on a specific healing protocol for a time or it is a belief / preference for you that you adhere to – i.e. vegetarian.

A little tangent there on listening to your body, but I went there because I truly believe and it has been shown many times over, that what is your elixir today might be your poison tomorrow and vice versa for the next person… Life is long, seasons change and to heal inflammation at different stages and in different seasons, different things might need to be done for different people.

We are all different.

Firstly, let’s look at some common causes of inflammation

1. OBESITY – although there is debate around which one comes first. Is it the low grade inflammation that causes perhaps the obesity in the first place?

2. Pollution and environmental toxins burdening us over time.

3. STRESS – Doing too much, living in a stress response state too long, too often, on the go all the time, no quiet time in the day to ’empty the head’ or connect with nature.

4. Avoidance. Putting things off keeps them in our brain’s real-estate. It’s always there. You’re never quite relaxed as a consequence because there’s always that ‘tax’ that needs doing or that ‘admin task’ that’s overdue.

5. Sitting too much or too long. We’re made to move and sedentary living is a death trap for inflammation. 6. Smoking. 10 years ago now I quit smoking. One of the best things I’ve ever achieved in my life. Anyone else out there?

7. Taking long term medication (I’m not saying come off medication, NO. I’m simply saying that long term medication might be treating one thing, but might also send an inflammatory response into another area as a side effect, i.e. statins and liver inflammation or arthritis, being two very common side effects) Actively work with a variety of practitioners to help you get off medication where possible.

8. Poor sleep patterns and lack of sleep. Aim for a minimum of 7 hours, outside of having a new born.

WHAT CONVERSATION IS YOUR BODY TRYING TO HAVE WITH YOU RIGHT NOW?

WHAT IS YOUR BODY PLEADING WITH YOU TO DO DIFFERENTLY OR LET GO OF?

This is where meditation and yoga can really help with tuning into some of the subtle physical signs of inflammation. You’ll hear in my chat with Helen about my foot story from a few years ago.

What are the major foods that cause inflammation?

Well, these ‘what to avoid’ lists are starting to look familiar aren’t they?

1. SUGAR. There are inflammation messengers in the body called cytokines. Sugar releases them. We really aren’t equipped for eating much sweet stuff. A piece of fruit and a couple of squares of dark chocolate is roughly what the liver happily manages. I think of the busy day I had today and I know I doubled or tripled that, just by not being mindful. I had 2 pieces of fruit, 6 little squares of chocolate, and a generous taste of the lunch box cake I pulled out of the oven. This is a one off scenario but it happens – if we’re mindless and not tuned in. Being too busy to notice what we are putting inside us… well, there’s a problem there. Did you know however in summer, we’re better equipped to metabolise fructose, because Vitamin D helps us do that? So again, season eating (more fruits available in summer) is a little message to us saying nature knows the way.

2. Trans fats and vegetable oils. Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils are all kinds of bad news. They are known to damage the cells in the lining of blood vessels. Thank you processed food companies, and farewell!

3. Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame.

4. White breads and pastas made from refined and / or bleached flours… In this case it’s very much ‘what’s been done to the food’ rather than the food itself, I believe, but nonetheless for many people experiencing inflammation, these foods are very much worth removing to help. In a 2010 study, researchers found that a diet high in refined grains led to a greater concentration of a certain inflammation marker in the blood. Keep to a minimum and provided you’re not coeliac or gluten intolerant of course, opt for sourdough or home made pasta. 5. Genetically modified foods. The plants have been engineered to withstand higher amounts of pesticides. Higher pesticides in the plant means higher pesticide residue ends up in us. Pesticides were created to kill stuff. The most common are canola, soy, corn, sugar beet and cotton seed. It is imperative that we get these out of the diet. These pesticide residues end up in us and the first thing they do? Affect our good bacteria.

6. Excess alcohol. While a glass of red wine most nights isn’t a disaster for most (unless you have hormone problems, there is research to suggest even moderate consumption might be best put off to heal) alcohol quickly turns to sugars and multiple drinks multiple nights will invariably result in inflammation.

7. Excessive omega 6 – Omega 3 helps calm inflammation responses, whereas Omega 6 does the opposite. Again, keep those vegetable oils at bay.

8. MSG – There’s some research in animals to suggest that the preservative and flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate can create inflammation. It comes under many names such as yeast extract, hydrolyzed protein, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, natural flavour, flavour and all the numbers, 621, 624, 627, 631 and more. MSG has also been known to cause hives, rash, eczema, migraine, hyperactivity and heart palpitations. It is an excitotoxin that literally excites cells to death. No thanks!

9. Gluten – A person’s sensitivity that leads to bloating or digestion changes could be an inflammatory response to gluten, while science is still largely grappling with not being able to ‘label’ it in the way that coeliac disease is definitive.

As you gradually remove these. What do you notice? Have you had an experience already to perhaps share?

And now, learn some tips on fighting inflammation with Helen Padarin, naturopath and nutritionist.

Enjoy my chat with the lovely Helen here…

Alexx chats to Helen Padarin | Transcript

Fancy making my anti-inflammatory warm almond milk? GO HERE. You may find you need to add a little 1/2 tsp honey or rice malt syrup before dropping it back, if you’ve been used to sweet hot chocolates in the past. Enjoy!

So, a very frank and naked challenge for you today.

Stand in the mirror. Naked. Be honest with yourself and ask yourself these two questions:

What’s working for me right now?

What isn’t working that I need to let go of? What’s making me ‘heavy’ in the body?

Then, pop your clothes back on and make a journal entry with your answers. Inflammation leads nowhere good and icky, blocked feelings and foods that aren’t working for you will all lead you to low grade inflammation.

I’ve begun asking myself regularly, around every couple of months these questions and wow. It’s a seriously good tune in. All bare and confronted by your absolute truth in mind and body. Sounds a bit woo woo. It isn’t. It’s taking time to work on YOU. This slow down and time taken to answer questions makes it all the more easy to pass on by those chips or Tim Tams you once craved, if you’ve really stopped to think about what they do for / to you.

Real Food for strong children It feels like babies and children have been given the same tragic advice as pregnant women: Eat dead food… it’s “safer”.

How are vacuous cereals, crackers, rusks, powdered and synthetically fortified milks, pasteurised, over cooked vegetables in plastic pouches, supposed to sustain a rapidly growing body – A body that after 0-5 will never grow or develop that fast again?

It’s really quite mind boggling when you think about it, isn’t it?

Think back to a work day of yours that demanded serious mental output. Do you think a bowl of plain pureed zucchini and apple would have got you through?

Zucchini is mostly water. I’m not getting the vibe that a bub will be super satisfied after zucchini apple puree and be able to sleep through the night. I know mine certainly didn’t. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with vegetables. Eat and serve them in abundance and all forms of deliciousness. No. This is about ramping up the nutrient density of the foods in our mix, so that our growing children are nourished and have strong bodies – they are learning more quickly about the world than we can imagine, and if we nourish their brains, it’s a total gift for their development.

As with everything please consult your practitioner if you’re in doubt. I suggest a small dab on the mouth of the new food and an hour’s wait before going crazy. That way you’ve tested for allergy.

Before you get the guilts, let me say this: I had an emergency C section, had to top up with formula from 1 month (albeit organic goats formula which felt the best choice prior to my knowing about HOME MADE FORMULA) and fed the little man vegetable purees for two months before realizing something just felt a little wrong and it didn’t feel substantial enough for him. Remember: It is never too late or never too early to make positive changes. The point is to focus on the fact that you’re making those changes. So if you had no idea pre-conception, or during pregnancy, or during newborn, toddler or small child times… Whenever you start to add abundant nourishment to your child’s meals, will always be an awesome thing. When I started to cotton onto true nourishment for my little guy, the results after having had a cat napping, restless and grumpy newborn, were astounding.

Infant nutrition is critical for ensuring proper development, maximizing learning capacities and preventing illness. At no other time in life is nutrition so important. But which foods are best?

By nourishment I mean dense nourishing foods and for babies that means these guys – liver, egg yolks and ghee were my three assaults. I was shocked by how contented he was when I started with a little 1/2 tsp ghee in his purees at 5 months. Then, I started frying a tablespoon of liver for a few minutes a couple of times a week and blending it into purees – Incredible. Then I started whisking in an egg yolk (MUST be pasture raised, organic fed). He had gone from being a grumpy, wakeful bub to a contented, sleep like a trooper baby – in the space of a week! I take such massive joy in helping friends with the 1/2 tsp ghee in the sweet potato puree trick. The baby’s eyes light up and I invariably get a text from the friend saying ‘WOW. She slept through and only woke once at 5am and then went back to sleep”. Pureed vegetables with no fats means no Vitamin A, E, D, K – critical vitamins for many processes in the body. Keep squeezy / pouch type meals to an absolute minimum for babies and toddlers. These take away the child’s ability to learn colour, texture and the art of chewing and set you up for fussiness later on. They’re fine to keep one in the handbag in case of an emergency, but as a standard issue? It’s a definite no for those reasons, and the long term plastic packaging they’re in.

As kids continue to grow, so do their appetites and something I get asked so, so often is “How do I fill them up? They’re always asking for food!” It’s simple. They’re not being NOURISHED, they’re just getting FULL. FULL lasts a very short time, whereas true nourishment lasts hours. I say swap the Sakata rice crackers for a sausage, some carrot sticks and a bit of smashed avocado with dulse flakes and then report back. Sorted. Child doesn’t bug them until the next meal is ready – BECAUSE THEY’RE FINALLY SATISFIED.

We buy the snacks because they’re cheap, yet the cheap food never nourishes us so we keep looking for more, so we eat more cheap packets. Pretty soon we’ve spent the same on the packets as we would have on an organic sausage and a veggie sticks / dip scenario. It’s the convenience companies that told you needed them for those ‘moments on the go’ or ‘to get through the afternoon’. You don’t. Let’s teach our kids nourishment and then find other ‘food’ away from what we put in our mouths, and go fill up on the non-food food instead.

Eating to nourish and feel full isn’t about quick fixes. It’s about finding lasting energy. Ayurveda says to eat a minimum of 5 tastes in every meal. That makes so much sense. It’s a sort of insurance to be getting nourishment from across all the nutrients available to us. Isn’t that an awesome little concept?

Something a lot of people experience when cleaning their diet is that while they are getting gorgeous benefits from a range of fresh veggies and fruits, unless there are some slow burning nutrients in the mix, you’re going to feel a little like you could always do with a few more mouthfuls of something ‘truly satisfying’. I am by no means saying ditch the veggies – NO! Sacrilege. Truth is we need all kinds of nutrients in the mix and the most overlooked way to include them is by having a look at nutrient density of the meal, not just how ‘healthy’ it is. So, firstly there are a few things to check off if you or someone in your house is constantly hungry.

You might want to rule out parasites (worms etc.) or hormonal imbalances as these can contribute to constant hunger. You might also want to check your child’s body’s absorption percentage. You can do this with a biomedical scientist / doctor and private Live Blood analysis. There could be a whole host of reasons you’re not absorbing enough nutrients from your foods, therefore your body craving more and more all the time. Leaky gut is a big reason your absorption might be low. Whatever additional investigating you choose to do, if at all, something you can do from today, is include some of the tips below into your daily food preparation.

Remember, getting ‘full’ means nothing if your brain is still searching for the nourishment signals it needs to say “I’m satisfied”. It will keep saying you need food. This is happening with children everywhere, because the vacuous snacks and processed grains simply don’t provide what these gorgeous growing bodies need to fully thrive.

1. Dulse Flakes – Powerful, nutrient dense little flakes that in my house, we call purple sprinkles. They’re an awesome way to add nutrient density to other stuff you’ve already got going on at meal time. Pop a heaped tablespoon into curries, stews, stocks or soups. Sprinkle a teaspoon into mashed avocado or veggie mashes or pop a teaspoon in a batch of salad vinaigrette. To read more on them and other sea veggies, read here.

2. Coconut Oil – An amazing immune builder, anti-bacterial, anti-oxidant, digestive helper and appetite satiating tool, coconut oil is a healthy, healthy fat. Dissolve a teaspoon in herbal tea, add a couple of tablespoons to Bolognese sauce or meat balls, soup, stews, stocks, curries, melt and blitz into smoothies. Vitamins A, D and E are fat soluble so if you have vegetable soups, juices and smoothies and aren’t adding healthy fats, you’re not getting those vitamins from them, which seems a big ol’ shame!

3. Butter & Ghee – Again, important to ensure you feed kiddies healthy fats. Double the butter you’d normally put on their toast or in eggs. Lather the veggies in it to ensure A, D & E vitamin absorption and if making a vegetable soup, be sure to include a little of either of these if tolerant so you are satisfied. Healthy fats provide a slow and steady energy burn, so if your hungry person becomes irrational with hunger, chances are the healthy fats need to go up in the diet. I’ve had many of Sebastien’s friends over for meals who proclaim to ‘hate carrots’ or ‘don’t eat cauliflower’ who lap those veggies up big time once there’s generous butter and a little sea salt on top. Why wouldn’t you? Plain steamed cauliflower is yucky, I even think so!

4. Chia Seeds – Great for adding to soups, stews, curries, smoothies, omelets for extra nutrients. Read more about those here. I would pay attention to how your body reacts to them. They can aggravate some people – not many – with a little gastrointestinal distress, in which case ‘moving no, not for you!’

5. Sweets + Fats combo – Making something sweet with healthy fats in it, like my chocolate icing gets avocado in it for example… The fats will slow down the sugars and you’ll get a slower, steadier burn of energy while you enjoy a sweet satisfying something. Check out my sweet treats section for loads of healthy desserts using healthy fats in desserts.

6. Swap the sauce to grain ratio – For those who eat grains be sure that you’re not serving a massive serve of grain and a small serve of the sauce / meat accompaniment (which you’ve snuck a bit of dulse flake, coconut oil or butter into of course). If you’ve got fussy kids who notice every small change, do it very slowly over time so it goes unnoticed and do it for the whole family not just the super hungry one – it’s better for everyone! They want the grain cause it’s a quick filler and immediately satisfying, but the grains will turn to sugars in the body which will burn quickly and leave you hungry much sooner than meat, veg and healthy fats. 7. Activate your nuts and if you eat them, legumes and whole grains. It’s not some hippy trend, its science. All of these things contain enzyme inhibitors as well whatever nutrients they carry. This means you could eat a bag of almonds and the very things in them could be stopping you from getting the benefits of the other things in them. What is the point?? To activate nuts, read here. To activate legumes, read here. To activate whole grains, just soak them in a bowl with a little whey, yoghurt or lemon juice for minimum 12 hours, and then drain well, rinse well and cook as normal (although cook time will take less time having been pre-soaked). Then, you’ve broken down the majority of the phytic acid in there and that means when you eat that food, you’re actually getting the benefit of the nutrients in the food! Game on!

8. Do not serve a plain salad. CLICK HERE for how to soup up your salad to make it more filling and nourishing. I love a good epic salad and getting your kids involved in choosing from each of the textures, flavours and veggie types will empower them to feel they have a choice and a say – Vital to happy eaters’ psyche!

9. Add coconut cream or raw cream (if legal / you can find) to soups, stews, curries and sauces. Lasting, slow burning healthy fats!

10. Add culture to your meals – a spoonful of crème fraiche once you’ve taken the soup, stew, sauce off the heat (if you add while cooking, the enzymes in the cultured cream will die and not provide the digestive benefit). Add cultured veggies to your meals, like the amazing Kitsa’s Kitchen range or learn how to make your own and grab her CULTURE FOR LIFE kits – a new business project with Pete Evans. The reason these are all going to help is because they are enzyme rich foods, making more of what you eat get assimilated. They help make sure we’ve got lots of good bacteria in our guts too. The healthier the gut, the better the absorption of your food in general and this will mean better nourishment, so it pays to get that gut functioning optimally.

11. Stop using water and use stock! Bring on the mineral boost and powerful bone gelatin to your stews, soups, sauces and curries! Every time a recipe says to add water, add corresponding stock instead. Make a massive batch and jar a few different sizes to have on hand from the freezer or fridge. Read all about stock here. It’s also great for cooking baby veggies in for puréeing, to ensure better mineral content in their diets and to strengthen their developing digestive health.

12. Use grass fed beef gelatin. Gelatin is an unbelievable nourisher. You can add a tablespoon to soups, smoothies, stews and curries but my favourite thing is to make jelly with it. Read that post here. If you don’t believe just how nourishing this stuff can be to a body, I challenge you to an experiment: Make a cup of fresh squeezed apple juice one day, or buy from a juice stall. Give your child 1/2 a cup of that fresh apple juice mid-morning. Time her/ him and see when she starts asking for more food. THEN, with the other 1/2 cup of juice, heat it up on the stove until just boiled and add a good teaspoon of gelatin powder like this one to it (which you can get from Kitsa’s Kitchen via mail order if you’re in Australia or on Iherb for the states). Pour into a little pot or a dish and refrigerate and let it set. Next day, feed it as a mid-morning snack – time again the next sign of hunger. To make the experiment totally fair, feed the same breakky each of the mornings and feed the snack same time both days. You will see what I’m talking about. Protein packed awesomeness to slow down that fruit sugar in our bodies and a super cheap way per serve to boost the fillingness of things. The tub lasts ages!

13. Egg yolks. These are particularly fantastic ‘sneaky cheekies’ for little people who are ‘refusal experts’ for any food resembling nourishment BUT also always complain of being hungry. The nourishment in an egg yolk is out of this world good, provided your eggs are pasture raised and supplemented only organic feed to avoid GMOs. You can separate out the whites of a couple of eggs and quickly whisk yolks into a cauliflower mash or a quinoa pasta to turn your bland ambassador child into an omega 3, vitamin D trooper – without even knowing it. You can also hide through mashed avocado, steamed veggies, brown rice… whatever you fancy! If you have a growing boy or girl playing lots of sport, just whisk a couple of egg yolks through his or her portion of whatever it is you’re adding. Works a treat! Eventually you won’t need to be hiding foods, but as I say, nourishing our children is our number 1 priority for their healthy future, so if they’re fussy and you’re wanting to transition, then do what you have to do to get the nourishment in there. 14. Add pâté to the mix! Now, I’m fussy here too, because you cannot buy the store bought ones unless from a deli that labels clearly and makes their own from organic chicken livers. Making MINE HERE is just so easy and the nourishment is out of this world!

15. But what about ‘out and about’ – Pack some sliced sausage or dip and veggie sticks in an insulated pot (go back to food storage day for all the varieties). Pack some crackers and cheese, some fruit. It’s not hard. THEY told you it was hard and you needed the weirdness packets. You don’t. Our number 1 job is to raise healthy kids. Next week in our last couple of days we discuss ‘getting people on side’ and education. For your older kids, there’s going to be plenty of inspiration to get you going if that’s your situation and there’s some convincing to do.

The easiest thing to start doing is to ask this…

Can I add anything to this to increase the nutrient density? When making a smoothie, can I add a high quality green blend like this one, some melted coconut oil, some coconut cream, a couple of easy to digest egg yolks… When a soup or stew is bubbling away, think to yourself “What can I add?” Some coconut oil, some dulse flakes…

These forms of additional nourishment work really well because quite a few of them will go virtually unnoticed. You don’t have to talk to children, sell a new way of eating to them… you can just ‘get it in there’ so to speak. If you have children (or partners or friends for that matter) with temper issues, irrationality and moodiness, I’m not promising these tips will cure every situation, but I am promising they will cure some! My husband couldn’t even see straight often late of an afternoon. All the Chocolate Montes, pasta and white bread BA (before Alexx) of course! Now, I can’t actually remember the last time he was moody or irrational from hunger – from other things sure, but not hunger

I’d love for anyone who tries any of the ideas out to report back here, so be sure that you do and share your story!

A quote from Sally Fallon on the responsibility of parents: “Our no1 responsibility is to prioritise the health of our children”.

You can become a member of the foundation and receive the quarterly magazine along with that membership. GO HERE.

So voila. Here’s to healthy, super strong kids who feel truly nourished so they can go off and sink their teeth into something fun outside!

DISCLAIMER: This is not intended as medical advice, or to treat, cure or diagnose any illness. Please speak to your health professional before making any changes to your diet.

20 tips and tricks for excitement in the kitchen & easy ideas for lunch So it’s hard to keep inspiring yourself to produce amazing meals all the time in the kitchen, and yet, our physiology CRAVES amazingness at every turn. We are subconsciously always looking for a ‘hit’ of excitement with our food.

If you think about that in terms of nature, it makes absolute sense. We nomadically roamed and seasonally ate. We got excitement every month with something ‘new’ we had found, and then we didn’t have it for a number of months until it felt all new and exciting again the next year. As you make more and more head way towards local, seasonal eating, the awesome thing is that you discover this ‘everything old is new again’ vibe again!

For decades now, big food companies have known this about the way our brains work. They understand our thirst for ‘the new’ and they give it to us with their weirdo packets engineered to excite us and set of blissful reactions in our brains. Take this brilliant piece by Michael Moss on the extraordinary science of junk food. A little preview? “Finding the bliss point required the preparation of 61 subtly distinct formulas — 31 for the regular version and 30 for diet. The formulas were then subjected to 3,904 tastings organized in Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago and Philadelphia.” This is the extent to which food companies go to launch a product. It’s all lab coats and bottom lines.

We can equally find those bliss points in our day to day cooking – we just need to be clever and not overdo any one thing. Here are my top 20 ways to do that.

No1. Make your kitchen a seasonal one. Don’t serve it ‘all’ all the time. This means stopping the use of so many frozen berries and peas and bog standard supermarket veggies… You will be amazed how incredible blueberries taste after 10 months of not having any. I did this out of necessity at first because organic blueberries are totally cost prohibitive out of season, and so only buy them when they’re down around the $5-6 in Jan – early March. It shocks me how much I love them now, whereas a blueberry smoothie or dessert used to be an ‘every day of the year’ type of thing.

No2. The main thing missing from main meals is ‘x factor’. Meat and veg pan-fried, roasted and steamed does get tired. We turn to take away because we know it will be more exciting if we need an ‘excitement hit’. Make a few different ‘herb and spice cubes’. You guys are getting a bit of an exclusive here, because I’m going to put them in an upcoming e book so SHHHH, but essentially, you put a couple of bunches each of say 2 favourite herbs and add a little olive oil or melted butter so it’s a paste once blended up. Freeze into ice cube containers and then make bon bons out of it by wrapping each individual cube up in parchment paper and pop in the freezer – label if say you have two different green mixes, i.e., one more suited to Asian (coriander mint) and one more suited to European (Basil parsley). You can also do the same with turmeric ginger, garlic, and spices and a coconut oil – Blend into a paste and then freeze in cubes, make bon bons and have your ‘flavour bombs’ ready. Then when you go to sauté some veggies or steam some fish or marinate some chicken… You can use one of two of these to take it to the ‘x factor’ status your pallet is looking for.

My favourite and super easy lunch when alone? Heat up some stock, a little leftover meat or meat balls, a grated zucchini and a cube of turmeric / ginger/ garlic – bring to the boil and then eat. Super, super quick. No3. Build your cooking vocabulary. Make 1 new recipe every week for 3 months. Sounds simple, but it’s not. Making something for the ‘first time’ is actually a bit of a psych up – I know it myself. You make 20 paces around the kitchen back and forth, checking and checking you’re doing it right again and again. Sound familiar? This 3 month commitment to making one new recipe from a book once a week, will ensure you expand your food vocab, method vocab, tricks in the kitchen vocab, and creative smarts when you have a time that you need to ‘scan and make do’ – With a bigger vocab, those times will be easy rather than “oh my gosh we have NOTHING to eat”. It will become easier and easier to whip things up out of your own creativity. Are you willing to take the challenge?

No4. Buy a different vegetable you don’t normally buy EVERY SINGLE WEEK. Vege delivery boxes are great for this sort of thing. It’s all about not only expanding your cooking vocab, but your taste vocab too. There will be plenty of recipes to inspire you online as to what to do with it. Go forth with weird veggies and GOOGLE!

No5. Seek out inspiration for flavour combinations to keep things inventive. There’s so much online to inspire, key is to avoid overwhelm, by not going down inspo rabbit warrens scrolling Facebook too often, but rather, thinking of what you have and asking google or Pinterest “What flavours work with beetroot?”. Then, you’ll find something else in your pantry or fridge to add and make your beetroot all exciting and new! Here’s a little chart I found, for example (Apart from soy & BBQ sauce one unless you did Tamari and your own home made BBQ sauce) it’s all good!

No 6. Herbs and spices, herbs and spices, herbs and spices. You will be amazed by the simple tang from lemon juice pairs with a rich meat dish and chopped fresh herbs to lift and add zest. Here are some awesome basic aromatic combinations to help you transform a basic meal, into a multitude of cultural tastes. Where it says ‘cooking oil’ below, use one of our safe pantry fats.

No 7. Ensure you have a gorgeous ‘bit’ to your kitchen. Your kitchen might be gorgeous… or not… Either way, to be inspired it’s important to have a gorgeous focal point or inspiration point in there somewhere. Whether its art, a small ceramic collection or pretty hanging pots, make sure you have a visible inspiration in the kitchen that makes you feel like you want to be in there. Failing that, a glass of wine while cooking will help.

No 8. Pretty plates. This might sound ridiculous, but pretty plates do make you appreciate and ‘love’ your food more – even if you’re stressed, busy and focused on other things. Invest in a couple of gorgeous ceramic pieces and tell me I’m wrong after you’ve given this a go! I love Kim Wallace ceramics. She’s a beautiful woman up in Queensland and it just feels good to support her. Eating truly mindfully, means paying attention to the details – kind of like the Japanese do – and it’s fascinating to feel the difference.

No 9. Caramelize your onions. There’s nothing yummier than rich caramelization in savoury dishes and onions are SO good when caramelised. I cut 2 onions into rough big chunks and put in roasting pans and drizzle with olive oil. We have some with the meal and the rest becomes a cooked element in a salad the next day. PRO TIP: A tiny bit of bi carb soda will mean they caramelize in half the time if you’re doing your onions chopped style on the stove in a frying pan with olive oil / butter.

No 10. Where savoury meals say ‘add water’ – Don’t! Add stock instead. Your meals will instantly taste more delicious as well as be a multi mineral, collagen exploding for your body. Bring it ON!

No 11. Season your meat BEFORE you cook it. I’ve come across so many people who don’t season meat for cooking, and THEN add salt at the table. Wrong. The salt not only is going to help tenderize muscle meats, but it will also penetrate the meat better, so that by the time it’s cooked, it’s delicious the whole way through and this way you also use less salt.

No12. Start to notice the patterns from one type of dish to the next, and start grouping your common techniques to help you remember them, or the way ingredients go together, or the ‘base recipe’ for something flexible. I created my ‘Choose your own adventure cake‘ to help people do this for a baking example.

No 13. Do NOT drink a wine that doesn’t suit a food. There’s no way to make someone think they HATE Shiraz and oysters, than by putting them together, for example. Food shouldn’t over power, nor should wine (or any drink you’re serving for that matter) overpower the food. If you go to a passionate independent bottle shop, then you’ll be able to engage your shop assistant here to get great advice and broaden your wine knowledge while you’re at it. Wine and food should ‘play well together’ in the mouth, so start tuning into this and see what works better for you.

No 14. When in doubt as to how to add more excitement to a savoury dish, squeeze a citrus juice over it. So good – lamb shoulder, fish, beef, chicken… a salad… They all benefit from the zesty deliciousness of a little citrus juice. No 15. Use interesting tools to get interesting textures and layers happening. My life changed when I got a mandolin. I could finally do salads that tasted and felt ‘cheffy’. My kitchen essentials in the small tool department are…

 Mandolin – Perfect and adjustable for thin, thick slicing of veg width ways. If you like shacked fennel salads, then this needs to be in your kitchen. Pro tip though, don’t buy the el cheapo ones at the gadget stores. Get the Japanese origin ones. I know chef’s kitchens who’ve had theirs for 10+ years and that one little mandolin is still going strong. Quality is quantity.

 Spiralizer – Make vegetable noodles such as zucchini or carrot to make serving veggies both inspiring and fun to prep for with the kids. It’s also great for squiggly potato clusters fried in lard. I truly did just type that.

 Seriously good Japanese knife that makes you actually get EXCITED to chop vegetables. Put an amount you won’t notice away each week – $10 or $20 for example. Tally it up for half a year or a whole year, and get yourself your life time love knife. Cooking will never be the same. Watch you tube tutorials to know how to cut properly with it too. Again, your joy will escalate just knowing how to use the tool.

 Micro plane / fine grater for citrus zest, fresh ginger, fresh turmeric and parmigiana reggiano.

No 16. Save your pan juices and leftover fats. That fat from cooking your pork belly? The roasting juices from the chicken, veggies or lamb? Into the jar they go and use them to add depth of flavour to the next thing you cook. For example, I fry onions in leftover pan juices to start my casseroles and curries, and they taste good from day 1 – not day 2!

No 17. Add crunch to steamed vegetables and turn them into a meal with crushed nuts fried in butter or the fat of your choice. Often if it’s just me for a meal, I’ll eat vegetarian, simply because my husband and boy love meat (as do I) and it’s often in breakfast and dinner. My solo lunches when working from home therefore, are often vegetable oriented because I prefer to eat meat every other meal rather than everyone. Crunchy, buttery nuts, add satiety to a simple salad of veggie bowl and they’re so, so delicious!

No 18. Mix up your textures when it comes to serving vegetables – steam, sauté, mash, puree, roast, spiralise, cube, wheel, fried, ‘chipped’… The list goes on with how many different ways you can prepare vegetables from a texture and presentation variation perspective. Do it and never be bored again! And of course, don’t forget the butter…

No 19. Add small amounts of flavour bombs into things – caramelised onion, bacon, strong herbs. Little amounts of such things will add volumes of excitement to a dish. An example would be a couple of rashers of fine diced bacon to your meatball batch, or some caramelised onions through a salad dressing that you blitz in the blender, will add a delicious sweetness to the overall picture.

No 20. Cook more often. Just cook. The excitement and creativity will come with practice, more than anything!

So… now onto easily and creatively making & reinventing your lunch.

It’s easy and mostly can be planned from the night before.

You’ll need a little something to keep things icy cool or warm if you’re an on-the-go lunch person or sending kids off to school.

My favourite picks?

The Klean Canteen 16oz food canister for 4 hours hot or cold depending on what goes in there. Awesome for soups, stews, smoothies, fresh pressed juice, casseroles… or even veggie sticks and a little dip tub in the summer when you want everything to stay fresh. CLICK HERE to visit one of my favourite sites BIOME for this and a couple of smaller ones in the range. I love these for the 3pm pick me up smoothie if I’m out after lunch with the little man or going from meeting to meeting – Still cold and delicious.

An insulated lunch back like this cute 4MyEarth one. CLICK HERE to check it out – She has other patterns too in this product.

1. Repeat after me: I WILL ALWAYS COOK A BIT EXTRA OF MY SOUP, STEW, MEATBALLS, BURGERS, ROAST VEG, STEAMED VEGGIES, FRITTATA, RISOTTO, BAKED FISH… Whatever it is, cook more so it can be reinvented the next day for a super quick lunch. I always use leftovers as my base, unless I’m adding a tin or sardines or mackerel to a salad – a favourite standby with lots of fresh lemon and parsley.

Once you’ve got a base item sorted from leftovers, then it’s super easy to build around it, as you saw with my scribbly meal plan yesterday.

How to reinvent?

Here are some of the things I do to reinvent foods to make them interesting the next day. You could either do this already the night before if able to reheat at lunch time, straight after dinner or quickly the next morning and pop into canister or your Pyrex or jar and then in an insulated carrier.

1. Different spices. If I’ve made a neutral dinner with basic herbs such as parsley or thyme, the next day, you can cook up a little stock or fry up 1/2 an onion and add 1/2 tsp mixed spices to whatever it is

2. If the meatballs or burgers were cooked sauceless the night before, make a super quick sauce the next day to re-invent. 1/3 cup broth / stock with 1 tbsp. cream and 1 tsp mustard is a super simple favourite. Cooked on high to the bubble with the cream added once the heat is off. Otherwise a simple squeeze of citrus over them will change the vibe the next day.

3. Casserole leftovers – Boil up a cup of broth / stock and add a pinch of herbs or two of some kid. Then add 1/2 cup casserole and some baby spinach for a delicious thick soup vibe. Sprinkle a different fresh herb over the top to change the vibe a little too (So if you used parsley in the casserole when you had it with rice, top the soup version the next day with coriander leaves.

4. Veggie risotto the night before? Add some “grated and water squeezed out with a tea towel” zucchini to it with an egg or two and a little buckwheat flour to thicken if liquidy and make risotto fritters – This works with leftover pilafs, quinoa veggie stir-fries, cauliflower rice… Serve with a salad

5. Leftover roast chook – As is with a salad OR tossed with chopped purple onion in a pan and a knob of butter and squeeze of lemon

6. Leftover roast veggies? Cook them up with stock enough to cover them by 2cm level, and add a handful fresh herbs of your choice, some turmeric for an anti-inflammatory kick, some sea salt and blitz it once boiling, into a smooth, thick and luscious soup within minutes.

7. Leftover baked fish? You have to try my 6 minute fish soup. So good, so easy and possibly the worst photography on my entire blog. It was early days. I swear it will never happen again.

8. Leftover baked fish x 2? Make a salad with it, flaking it into leaves, cherry tomatoes, plenty of fresh herbs and some cooked quinoa, kelp noodles, zucchini noodles or buckwheat soba noodles

9. Leftover roast meats? Love a good ploughman’s lunch. Wrap a little chunk of cheese, a few crackers, your meat, some pickles or cultured veggies and some crudités and you’ll have a nice little assortment of flavours to nibble through – Kids love eating this way at lunch I find too, choosing different things. So don’t buy the 1kg scotch fillet or rump roast – Buy the 1.5 kilo and make your roast, then your thinly sliced slices for the ploughman’s, then a quick Thai beef salad…

10. Leftover roast meats? Have a rice paper roll making project with a couple of work colleagues, friends or your kids. Cut the starch by not including rice noodles on the inside, but only using the rice casing and then wrap grated carrot, roast meats, min, coriander, possibly kelp noodles, lettuce, avocado… Make a simple dipping sauce with 2 tbsp. tamari, 5 tbsp. coconut water and fine chopped spring onion. Too easy and fun.

11. Leftover roast meats again? This super simple Thai chicken soup is so, so easy and yummy.

12. Leftover frittata or quiche? Crumb a little feta over the top the next day OR blob a blob of pesto on top for a different vibe, or chop some olives and fresh herbs and spring onions and enjoy with those.

13. Feel like you need bread or kids / partner won’t let go of sandwich land just yet? Wraps are the best choice as they allow for more nutrient dense fillings in the bread /filling ratio. It’s a great baby step to perhaps ditching the ‘grains at 3 meals’ approach that nutritionist Luise Light warned very much against in the late 70s in relation to obesity potential when creating the ‘food pyramid’. As you’ll remember from module 3 – she was ignored. Industry won.

Sprinkle this, sprinkle that… Little flavour bombs to ensure excitement the next day when eating ‘the same thing’ for lunch.

1. A crumbling of fetta – goat’s or cows if it suits you to eat dairy

2. A drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of citrus

3. A different dressing on the salad

4. A different texture added – roasted nuts, pepitas, buckwheat kernels

5. Something sweet added (like a sprinkling of this delicious nut and coconut sprinkle) or dried currants, goji berries, blueberries, strawberries halved, peach slices or a tsp maple / honey / rice malt syrup into the dressing for a sweet kick, different to yesterday’s creamier dressing perhaps

6. Something super savoury and tangy added – capers, olives, a couple of anchovies, sundried tomatoes

7. You might want to check out my epic salad post for a full reference guide to creating ‘different vibes’ every time you hit the lunch assembly line.

My lunch time defaults when there are no leftovers?

1. Make a pate for the week to serve as a gap filler when there are no leftovers. It is ridiculously nourishing and a wonderful quick grab with crackers and crudités to take to work as well as have at home solo or with little ones.

2. Haloumi – frying a few slices and popping over a salad is just delicious

3. A quick 2 egg omelet with spring onions chopped through it and cooked in generous butter. A big handful of green leaves and grated carrot to serve. Olive oil and a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt. Sorted.

4. The tin of mackerel or sardines to add to a salad or to have on crackers with a few veggie sticks and a guacamole or beetroot dip.

5. Fish eggs – Once a month I buy these super special fish eggs from Canada. It’s my favourite food in the world. So easy and nourishing and quick to spoon onto avocado smashed on 2 buckwheat crackers. My motto if having crackers in the mix? Additive / palm oil free of course and about twice the topping as there is cracker. The cracker is a vehicle. The nutrient magic happens with what you’re putting on top. So go ahead and double the pâté! It’s tough this course, isn’t it!

6. A cup of broth with half a zucchini grated into it, a little teaspoon of ghee added and chili flakes, then crudités and dip

7. And lastly, go out. Sometimes you just want to be cooked for and take in the surroundings around you and be brought food, like the regal experience. We all deserve that!

And lastly for little people and school? I penned my thoughts 2 weeks ago when my son started school. Most of it overlaps with what we’re talking about here but READ HERE. For more info or refer back to my easy lunch box planning guide that I shared earlier in the program.

Real Food and community I am so excited to share a few thoughts on community, because once we’ve fulfilled our no1 job to create a healthy, real food life for ourselves, if we want to make it the norm, we all should very much consider that next step: How do I create change in my community. I want to share a simple list of ways, but I first want to share my favourite ways to help you get your family across the line.

1. The kids

How are you going, those of you who are parents, in getting your kids across the line? Here are some things to consider and remember when trying to do so.

 Are you going into detail about exactly what they can’t have? Use apps like Chemical Maze to shop WITH them and get them to punch in numbers and you both decide if that sounds like real food, if it sounds like we want to eat petrol (fake colours from petroleum for eg) and if you want to get asthma, hives or whatever else they mention as a potential side effect.

 Are they clear that you’re not trying to deprive them and that you want them to enjoy delicious treats, just not fake weirdness full of chemicals.

 Are you shopping with them and asking them to choose their Top 5 favourite veggies to use in dinner that night / lunch box tomorrow?

 Are you making them cook with you and choose a recipe together / let them choose a recipe out of 5… at least once a week (from birth. You are never too young for this!)

 Are you ensuring them that you are not against them? You are against what companies have been putting in your food that makes people sick. If you love caramelly tasting gaytime let’s learn how to make our own so we don’t have to eat their weirdo factory version. Did you know about car coolant in ice cream for example? Tell your kids too. READ HERE.

 Are you explaining that it’s not that you don’t want them to have jelly, it’s just that the jelly crystals are full of super fake chemical stuff? READ HERE

 Stop talking to them about food as ‘healthy’. Healthy has a bad wrap with kids as ‘boring’ and ‘plain’ compared to the excitement of packets. Talk about REAL FOOD as being delicious and real.

 With toddlers and young under 6s. Play a superhero foods game. Where you read ingredients and ask if it sounds like superhero food to make them clever and strong or if it sounds like the baddies’ food to make them sick. (MSG for example, 202, 951… list goes on. Use the Chemical Maze app)

 With 10 and olders, sit them down with you to watch a doco. Make home made popcorn and delicious home made muffins and be proud to be enjoying your real treats while they talk about all the weird stuff in food. Fed Up, That Sugar Film coming out next month, Hungry for Change, Food Matters, Food Inc (maybe for over 14s as a child dies of Food poisoning form mince meat in it. Very harrowing). Essential is that you never let these changes you’re implementing be pitched as ‘mum against you’, but as you guys united in eating and celebrating real food together.

A word on shame… It’s also important for them to know they’re not a bad person for eating a chip here or an ice block there. The 5% go with the flow with friends should not be shamed or felt it needs to be a secret or you may end up with bigger and more complicated control issues. Just don’t call those occasions ‘treats’ but more a ‘go with the flow’ situation.

For those who are new to my blog, this is a good time to share “It’s time to redefine treats” a post I wrote 2 years ago to stop calling the weirdo packets of fakeness ‘treats’. They’re not nor ever should be referred to as that any more by your family and we definitely need to be sure we’re not rewarding with them.

2. Your partners and family

I always think it’s best to simply start making changes and rather than broadcasting or big sweeping announcements, let the curiosity come to you. This way it’s an invitation to open up through their questions, rather than you being pushy. The documentaries / movie nights are the most effective for truly helping people see what you’re discovering, so that YOU avoid being the evangelist friend / partner / daughter – As my mum in law says, if it’s not on Catalyst, it isn’t true. Ha! If you’ve just started the journey to say to everyone “I’ve been learning about a few of the things that are in food and our food system, and I want to organise a family movie night. I’ll bring a bunch of treats” and then organise one of the movies I’ve listed above. If you get the ‘Oh but that’s America” then unfortunately while our meat standards are higher in Australia, our agriculture standards aren’t and there is growing GMO farming here as well as the slew of overseas origin products full of GMO through corn, canola, soy, sugar beets and cotton seed elements.

“Mum, I’ve been doing some research and it turns out that treats today are so much more full of chemicals than they were even when I was little. McDonald’s fries has 3 ingredients in 1984. Now they have 18 and most of those are chemicals. These days’ colours come from petroleum most of the time, there’s genetically modified corn and soy in nearly everything and those are loaded with harsh pesticides that cause all sorts of problems. I love you giving them treats and they adore it too, so can we talk about a few recipes or some safer brands and research together or if you want I can just show you them and we go to the supermarket together?”

To your partner if they get upset with you… “I appreciate this feels like some big changes. I’m not finding it easy either but the way I’ve been coming to see it as I learn is there’s some freakish stuff in today’s food and we have to ask ourselves what our job is here? Our job is to raise our kids to be healthy and strong and I just can’t see how MSG and petroleum and all these weirdo preservatives and additives are going to help us do that. Could we maybe talk about a couple of baby steps you’d feel comfortable with? Tell me what you’re scared of missing most? I was scared of losing rocky road, but it turns out there’s an awesome real recipe I can make for us… etc. etc. etc. etc.

Are you getting the picture? NO ATTACKING OR HUFFING… This will be won only if we do not shame the other party or position ourselves as superior to them. Appeal to logic and work with common ground. Share this GUARDIAN piece – it’s brilliant – and read it to them or make them read it to you and say, “will you just hear me out to the end of this article?” And you can go on to say “It’s so wrong that these companies are making us think we want and need food like this when these are the ingredients going in there… It’s not OUR fault. They’ve tricked us.” This way from the get go, it’s about you AND your family leaving the bad guys behind, not YOU being the bad guy trying to make everyone healthy.

3. Community

Here’s my list of ideas if you’re ready to think about taking things to the next step.

 Your parents’ group with newborns – 1 year. This is an awesome time to be the one who’s done all the research and to help guide others. Baby Mum Mums are toxic. Farex is vacuous. Circulate some great baby food books, like Wholefood for Children, Nourishing Traditions book of baby & child care or Bubba Yum Yum or our gorgeous expert from MOJO day, Emma Sutherland’s e book “What Sophia Eats”.

 Your preschool. Do a simple ‘rainbow foods’ workshop with little ones, talking about taste, texture, colour and how you want to eat the rainbow to be big and strong. Make smashed avocado dip with them for ‘dippy’ so that they get those healthy fats in to absorb the A, E, D, K from the foods.

 Your child’s school. Do you have a ‘NUDE FOOD’ day of the week? Or a “NUDE FOOD WEEK”? Why not speak with the principal or even just your class teacher about coming in to talk about plastic waste in the world and the harm to fishies and turtles, and announce a nude food challenge week / day of the week for a whole term or whatever suits. Then compile an email with healthy lunch box links for nude food from me, other great bloggers, Pinterest searches…. Circulate to the class parent list for inspo and calculate the amount of plastic packaging saved from swapping just one lunch box plastic wrapped item per child for 1 day of the week and the whole year.

 Your child’s school – sports matches. Help effect a ban on post sport lollies and bring it back to fruit platters. Explain what’s in the lollies, even type out a list referencing all the info and side effects provided by chemical maze. Unite together to bring back the humble fruit platter or veggie sticks and dips, or massive couple of jugs of banana smoothies.

 Your child’s high school – Do you guys hold fundraiser fairs? How about an ‘additive free challenge’? And you provide a simple e book of recipe links with a nice pic of each and circulate, full of wholefood cakes, slices, savoury breads, sweets, rocky road etc. and make it a feature in the fundraising communication?

 Your child’s high school class – Suggest watching Hungry for Change as a class and giving a brief talk on the top most harmful additives and where they’re found, and the kids having to do a homework exercise researching the worst thing additive / fake wise they found in the supermarket and talk about what was in it, to the class.

 Your sports club or swimming pool – Campaign for the removal of artificially iced cupcake (like those ‘rainbow sprinkle’ topped cupcakes full of petroleum origin colours). Campaign for a basket of fresh fruit at a dollar a piece to be available on the counter as a post-sport option. Ask for coconut water to be stocked as a healthier alternative yet still treat, instead of brightly coloured, sugar laden sports drinks and poppers.

 Your local cafe – As above, ask for a wholefood option (send them my recipes, I don’t care if they’re used out there!), as for fresh fruit for bubs to be able to have a good snack, say it would be awesome if they had a little veggie sticks and smashed avocado for $3 option so that they could enjoy some food while at the cafe.

 Your local restaurant – Ask if their chips are fried in cotton seed, canola or soy bean oil? If they come back with a ‘yes’, say no thanks nicely. You’ve been reading about GMO farming and its bad news and pretty scary. These messages take a while to get people curious with you. They will come.

 Your local provider such as butcher or fishmonger –Rather than say “We’re not able to get organic chicken here” Be the pioneer in your town to make it happen. Get a few friends on side and propose to your butcher (on one knee if you feel it’s appropriate) that you have enough people who’d buy 1 organic chook a week or two if he brought in a dozen. Say you wouldn’t even mind if he brought them in frozen so he could buy more at one time and save cost / transport. Explain your concern for the GMO grains in the feed mix of the chickens. Teach gently and explain you’ve read about how GMO are doing us no favours health wise, and destroying the planet’s soil and bees. Not good news at all and things were much less complicated when we were young weren’t they?” That way you relate and unite with them, annoyed at how complicated it all is these days to just get real, good food.

 Your workplace. What are the ‘free snacks’ like? Could you start a bake club? Someone from your team bakes a batch of something Sundays? Or could you get the brand swapped to something ethical / additive free, or could you suggest abolishing the coke machine on the basis of single use plastic for the water bottles and chemicals in the soft drinks (GMO sugar, aspartame… again make an additive list and dig up some nasty facts on them on health) and do a deal with a coconut water company and get a good water filter installed for staff? Could you get margarine to be replaced by butter in the staples? An additive free jam? Could you instead of ordering artificial cheap cupcakes when it’s someone’s birthday, and take turns all making additive free cakes from home? You could even have a ‘vote off’ on the cake flavour of that office birthday’s month. Even a white flour, sugar, butter, eggs cake homemade will be streets ahead of all the weirdo things done to make modern shop cakes these days.

So there are just a few ideas. I want you to share yours too if you’ve got any more. Today’s challenge?

Commit to one little action with your family, and one with your community. The family one to action within the month. The community one to action within 6 months.

This is where you can use the Facebook group to get support and bounce ideas. Or feel free to post it in the comments here and ask for support or feedback this way too.

I cannot wait to hear what your actions are going to be and boy have I got a treat for you for our second last lesson interview.

Enjoy my chat with the master community motivator, TV presenter extraordinaire and all round excellent human, Costa Georgiadis

Alexx chats to Costa Giorgiadis | Transcript

Real Food for the planet Well here we are, the last day of our Real Food Rockstars course.

Take a moment to look back on those topics.

Which is the one that pops out? Which is the singular biggest change you’ve made over the past 20 days?

How are you going promoting yourself to being your No1 health professional?

How have your food experiments gone based on what you tried throughout the modules? Are you feeling different? Better nourished? Able to eat a bit less than before because you’ve upped the nutrient density?

Today I wanted to finish on the note of the planet which will be our biggest Real Food Rockstars collective achievement of all.

Did you ever realise before this course, just how much of an impact we can have in changing what’s in our shopping trolley or basket? For our health? For our planet? I am constantly amazed and even catch myself doing math to calculate things – a switch from plastic to paper for that product which I buy weekly, times by 52 = a saving of 52 plastic single use pouches for just that one product. Mind blown every time.

Do I know it all? Absolutely not. I am still here, very much on the journey. Just a few months ago I ‘upgraded’ our kitchen bin to an 11 liter. 5 years ago with had a 45 liter bin, just our tiny family of 3, and we filled it, too – sometimes twice a week! That means we now produce 1/4-1/8th or less of the landfill we produced 5 years ago. How many liters is that a year saved from landfill? Mind blown again. We celebrated that win and the neighbours with a bigger family were excited to get a fancy stainless steel 30 litre bin which was our last one before that – Everyone wins. How did we do it? Switching to composting, stopping the bagging of individual fruit and veg, ditching almost all packaged snacks and switching to bulk buy for dry goods, bought in paper bags so that they can be recycled. It’s these little actions over time that create a different big picture of the future.

It’s scary listening to ‘the global rockstars’ talking about the crazy, massive crises in health of the people and health of the planet and impending doom we face. Its super scary and I think it’s actually irresponsible of them to share this information without practical daily things we can all do – we need a positive spin otherwise we feel helpless. A few years ago I had a revelation as I listened to Al Gore’s first Ted Talk, when I heard all the doom and gloom he was prophesizing…. Here were these doomy gloomy talks about how we’re all going to die but no joining the dots to the swapping from GMO to GMO free or from this brand of tomato sauce to that one without the XYZ in it. Why was no one helping people with that? That’s way less scary. It’s basic detective work once you get your head around it.

And so I started to do just that with my blog in this area that so desperately needed people who could help people see how massive a deal switching to real food is without feeling like you were going to die of stress while you realised it.

I hope I’m on the right track with that ‘vibe’. Hold me accountable if I’m not, because I sure want to be. It’s amazing what you’re doing – what we’re all doing together. We’re the crazy ones saying ‘hey, this ain’t right’. As Bob Geldof says and Joel Salatin says in this video below “The lunatics on the fringes crying injustice, are the ones who end up being right”.

So to understand the absolutely epic reason I help people ‘go real’ I’m sharing with you an event that I was privy to attending on Friday just gone as well as a small except from my Saturday seminar. Dr Vandana Shiva and Joel Salatin are legends in the world of sustainability, farming and green living. Please take this hour to learn from these two. It will give your shopping purpose, meaning and a sense of care and delight. It will give you motivation to say to your school principal “Hey dude. Fake coloured sports drinks after a footy match ain’t right – Let’s all take turns bringing smoothie jars instead”. It will give you the confidence to say to your partner “hey, I think we should watch this together so you understand it’s not me being annoying, but the way our food is now in the world is seriously bad news for our kids’ future and theirs. Will you give me an hour to watch this with me?” And follow with a chat TOGETHER. Beautiful. Uniting. Non preachy.

Joel Salatin is wonderful – You can look up his POLYFACE FARM if you fancy. He shows how he works WITH animals and regenerates soil and grass to leave it in better condition and teaming with biodiversity. He argues that done the right way, we actually NEED them to help us recreate soil diversity and he has incredible desert rehabilitation projects in works around the world to illustrate this. Biodiversity is key, that’s why eating local where possible is key. Small farms that grow and rear 10-20 things rather than a massive wheat farm or corn farm or soy farm.

You might often hear that ‘meat is destroying the planet’. To a certain extent it is. BUT it’s the WAY and the crazy amounts we’ve come to eat that are the problem. If you are an omnivore, please don’t stress. Less meat, better quality and ethics are key – factory farmed, grain fed meat is every bit as major a player in carbon emissions as fossil fuels, that’s how big it is, so getting that pasture raised and fed meat whenever possible is a massive difference you can make for the planet! Finding your own local Joel. Given how many farmers were in the audience for his 1 day seminar, I dare say you’ve got a good many ethical farmers and butchers around Australia now and if not: Why not gather support with friends, and then ask the local butcher to get stuff in for your little ‘club’ – Boom, a co-op is born!

So voila. You’re done, but of course not done. You’re onto whatever the next cool little step you’re going to take may be.

Thanks for being a part of the change and signing up to this course. You are now your best health professional. You are the driver of the ‘discovery not deprivation’ message for your family. You make real food a non stressy, non judgy, non-perfection seeking endeavour, but simply one where you do your best at keeping it real whenever you can and go with the flow when it’s out of your control, knowing how great things are most of the time.

Congratulations on all you’ve achieved and are about to achieve. I can’t tell you how many goosebumps I’ve felt watching the changes unfold for people over the past 3 and a half weeks and look forward to many more.

Real Skin food Get your glow on from the inside out! Skin Food. We have spent the past 30 years throwing things AT the skin to make it beautiful and wrinkle free, and remove dark circles, but the results you get working from the INSIDE OUT are far more rewarding, less expensive and impactful that working on the surface could ever be.

Essentially, by the time our skin cells are born at the base of the dermis layer and come to the surface of the epidermis (about 28 days) they are mostly dead or dying. So, while it’s important to nourish the skin with natural ingredients that feed our skin from the outside, it’s far, far more important to nourish from the inside out.

I’ve attached here a wonderful guest contribution from my dear friend Cindy Luken, an amazing woman who decided lipsticks should be safe enough to eat, once she realised what was in the average lippy and her range Luk Beautifood, has delicious edible sheer lip nourishing shades that are perfect for every day.

My top 3 foods I’d add to her list are deeply nourishing and they are

1. Healthy fats such as coconut oil, ghee, butter, ethical and pastured origin tallow, organic lard, organic duck and goose fat, avocado oil, macadamia oil and olive oil. Watch your wrinkles decrease as you include fats back in your diet. It’s quite amazing to see the difference within just a month.

2. Collagen containing foods – BROTH of course. Here it is again. This is a miracle food for promoting skin elasticity.

3. Fish eggs. Omega 3 rich and so delicious, stick to sustainable Canadian Salmon Roe as a delicious treat, to avoid additives and preservatives in most of the cheap fish egg jars available or salmon eggs from farmed salmon pens, which I wouldn’t suggest either. (Or caviar if you can. I dream of caviar being in my life on a daily basis) these little babies pack such incredible nutritional punch and are a go to for radiant skin.

Scroll down the bottom to download Cindy’s delicious PDF, with plenty of inspiring skin foods from the plant world and feel free to check out her site LUK BEAUTIFOOD and her gorgeous lipsticks.

If you experience chronic skin issues, be sure to explore hormonal imbalances, bacterial infections and other chronic conditions that could be the root cause of your concerns. Throwing a steroid cream at it, or a chemical laden Cetaphil type of product, is not the long term solution and rather results in frustration, dependency or worse – further or deeper issues.

Downloads

 Download Luk Beautifood’s TOP 10 SKIN GLOWING FOODS

Label Reading Intensive Refining your label reading skills Labels. Living in the city we are bombarded with labels of all kinds, all day – especially food labels. A good marketer will know what the points of consumer susceptibility are, and play to those. I read the following article and it made me sad to think of all the busy people out there seeking comfort in labels and being duped by sneaky buggers!

People find comfort amidst confusion, in words and labels that they equate with safety. Kosher, Gluten Free, Organic, Fat free / Sugar free – my personal favourites, which I believe can be directly translated to ‘food additive body bomb’! Sadly, what we’re ‘rewarded’ with is often some of the most processed packet food going!

Read the ingredients – this is where you find out whether it’s trolley worthy, not the label! Trouble is, if you shop only online, you don’t get the ingredient list often, so you’re best off at least occasionally shopping in person to keep tabs on whether something is worthy of your munching!

Real food is real food. No numbers. No highly processed, denatured ingredients we can most of the time not pronounce – Our bodies don’t recognise that stuff and it’s showing in all of our health issues. We are so much more powerful than we think to put an end to fake food production and processes – we all just stop buying it.

Many health professionals and weight loss companies and products, have focused on the nutritional panel for years and pany consumers have been trained to trust and never look past the front catch phrases on a product. These paint far from the whole picture. I’d prefer to eat a little of something high in fat if it’s healthy fat, than I would a low fat product with 10 additives I didn’t recognise. Look at the ingredient list, and if you don’t know what something is, your body won’t either. It’s that simple. This goes equally for numbers as for words. Yes, you may be able to read ‘partially hydrogenated vegetable oil’ or ‘hydrolyzed wheat protein’ but do you really know what they mean? They’re actually code for Trans fat & msg. Don’t be disheartened. You will learn this stuff over time. It’s taken me 3 years of geek- out research and reading to wrap my head around it all, so give yourself a break and choose a little something to focus on each week instead of feeling like everything you’ve done in the past is wrong and you’re doomed – you’re not! Today’s a new day.

It’s time to really start to notice the smell of ‘spin’, like these ‘selling points’ commonly seen on packets:

 Baked not fried – if I had a dollar…

 sugar free – doesn’t mean they’re not using horrible chemical sweeteners, added fructose or corn syrup

 Fat free – another code for ‘full of artificial crap your body doesn’t understand.’

 no saturated fat (good quality saturated fats like coconut, pasture / grass fed meat & bacon, and organic free range eggs are really good for us as part of a nutritious diet, and polyunsaturated high heat processed seed oils are really bad for us – so, while the latter aren’t “saturated”, I’d pick a good quality saturated fat over a highly processed unsaturated any day!  Cholesterol free – erm, margarine is cholesterol free but it is far, far away from being a real food our bodies recognize.

 Organic – sometimes, organic packet products can have a bunch of unhealthy stuff in them too – definitely more dependable but just because the corn syrup is organic, don’t make it healthy!

 Made with real fruit – hilarious! Love that one. A real ‘clutching at straws’ claim. See below!

 Natural flavorings (msg can be classified as a natural flavoring. annoying!)

 no artificial flavours or colours (i saw a product today that had that on the front, and then about 8 additives and 2 hidden msg ingredients ‘yeast extract and hydrolyzed wheat protein) No thanks!

Do not be fooled. Those catch phrases or allergy safe stars or ticks or anything else on the FRONT of the packet, do not mean you can trust the product and skip reading the ingredients. Exhibit A is a product that had a big “No artificial ingredients or preservatives” on the front. It doesn’t matter what the brand was. It’s this sort of thing that is still catching well-meaning people thinking they’re making a better choice. The best choice you can make is to make a batch of biscuits at home per week and not buy them. To make biscuits last a year of shelf life and be transported around the globe, it’s impossible to make it in a whole food approach.

The brand spiel also told a romantic story of “70 years of baking tradition” – Half of these ingredients didn’t exist 70 years ago. Stop buying the BS. The romance is in your kitchen or at your farmer’s market stall. It isn’t in commercial baking.

 This is 37% sugar

 It almost certainly contains genetically modified soy bean ingredients (always a giveaway when they don’t state “GM FREE” on their label and the product is made from local and imported ingredients)

 It contains refined wheat and brown sugar (which is just white sugar with molasses added back in. Go figure)

 It contains ‘vegetable fat’ twice, once mentioning palm oil and the second time which whether they’re covering up for using palm oil or inflammatory sunflower / canola oils high in omega 6, either way we’re destroying forests or destroying our health.

 It contains ‘natural flavour’ which can mean MSG, beaver bottoms (I kid you not) or beetles treated in ammonia. Talk about abusing the term ‘natural’, right?

 120 – ‘natural’ but cochineal can cause anaphylaxis, asthma or dermatitis in some people, according the Chemical Maze (app)

Thank goodness the sugar is raw though, right?

And here are some more examples of labels of seemingly innocent (and a couple not so innocent in there too!) products, that turn out to be big, bad news indeed.

Analysis: Ooh yay – Dairy free, NO preservatives, NO artificial Flavours / colours and NO added MSG.

 First thing to note is no ‘added’ MSG – as in, on top of what’s already in there. It’s about a clear a claim as ‘all natural’ is.

 A whole bunch of refined, puffed, hybridized grains

 Vegetable Oil – what kind? It’s usually either GMO origin cottonseed or canola OR as bad but different, unsustainable palm oil. Neither option rocks our rockstar world, so we’re moving on.

 Potato seasoning? Code name sugar (maltodextrin) and salt = bliss point. Makes us want MORE MORE. Plus, the maltodextrin is from GMO corn, most definitely.

 Yeast Extract – Code name? You guys know this one now… MSG!?!?! Yes indeed.

 Natural flavour – could be that beaver butt back to haunt us

 Sugar – Always good to add a little more to a sugary, starchy, salty snack don’t you think? NOT.

Next… Oh yay – Energy for the whole morning, right? Awesome.

 Majority ingredient hybridized and refined wheat – remember wheat might not so much be the problem, as the frequency with which we eat it now, paired with how refined and fiddled with it is these days compared to 100 years ago.

 Sugar – Get it in there and get them hooked

 Vegetable Oil – Oh look, another vague “is it Palm?” or “Is it GMO cottonseed / canola?” Whichever they’re hiding, we aren’t interested.

 Then, a whole bunch of random, non-nutritive additives at the end that are purely there for shelf life and texture stability.

 Soy Lecithin – Most often times genetically modified soy

 Flavours – What kind? Natural? Synthetic? Where from? And WHY in what’s reported to be a simple breakfast cracker to “last us all morning”?

This is going to be more like “Guaranteed leaving you needing something from our snack range within 2 hours of breakfast. Because we’re worth it (the share price at least, we mean).

Next… Oh sweetie, you’re sick. Here – Let me make you some jelly! Did your beautiful mum do this for you? Mine sure did. Not their faults at all – They didn’t have the amazing access to knowledge that we do today. They were in teh ‘dark ages’ of food awareness.

 Sugar – The number one ingredient for inflammation and disease, NOT for curing infections when young people are sick.

 Gelatin – I’m betting the cows weren’t guaranteed comfortable during their lives.

 Flavour – What kind? Where from? How is it made?

 Colours – E102 is tartrazine which is derived from petroleum and can spur aggressive behavior, asthma, behavioral problems, depression, hay fever, headaches, migraine, skin ailments (eczema, dermatitis, itching, hives, rash etc.) – And what was that food that children are fed in hospital again? I see this sort of thing as child abuse, I truly do! Worst part is the poor abuser doesn’t realise and thinks they’re doing a lovely thing!

Next…

The big companies are starting to sneak in the meaningful words now that ‘All Natural’ isn’t cutting it for them anymore. So Kellogg’s has borrowed “Nourish”. Yes, that’s right, the company that spent $220K to get people to vote NO on genetically modified ingredient labelling, proports to have a cereal that ‘nourishes’. Let’s take a look!

 The first 8 ingredients are varying types of processed, flaked, puffed, refined grains.

 Apricot pieces, concentrated apricot puree, concentrated apple puree, invert sugar, sugar, sweetened cranberries, sugar, sugar, brown rice syrup, barley malt extract – ALL SUGAR!!!!

 Vegetable Oils – Inflammatory

 Natural Flavour – gosh these beaver butts are popular

 A few synthetic trace vitamins and minerals at the end.

And forgive me for asking: The “Nourish” part is where exactly?

Ah, finally something independently tested to meet the ‘strict’ nutrition standards of the Heart Foundation – Phew. Looking forward to something more nourishing given it’s good for the heart this one, right?

 56% sultanas – pure sugar

 citrus with E202, 220 preservatives

 Sugar – Because the sultanas didn’t provide quite enough!

 Rice Flour – refined, vacuous

 Golden syrup – a few different types of sugar in there just to be safe. Yes. Good Idea!

 Vegetable Fibre – Believe it or not, this can disguise wood pulp. It’s not definitely that in this case, it could also be inulin – a well-known gut irritant. Oh, that’s better.

 Sunflower oil – Vegetable oil = what? Inflammation!

 E322 – Lecithin. Most often GMO soy derived.

 E500 and 341 – Basically bicarb and baking powders

 Condensed milk – oh, sorry. Let’s make that 4 different types of sugar. Much better idea. How something like this gets any sort of tick other than a tick for ‘delete and discontinue’ is beyond me!

So if you’ve realised you’ve been falling for this sort of stuff up until now, please do not panic. I used to buy a very strange chocolate snack pack dessert simply because it said ‘fat free’ – everyone has stuff they’re not proud of and hopefully with these few examples you’ve been able to pick up some tips as to what to look out for – Don’t forget your chemical maze app!

Key is to ditch the guilt and get excited for what you’re going to change tomorrow! Which, after a while, means co-ops, organic markets, butchers and vege box deliveries because it’s so, so much easier than spending hours trawling labels at the supermarket!

Bye bye weirdo packets of weirdness trying to romance us with white lies.

These weirdo additions, unsustainable ingredients and refined festivals of processed grains are not welcome in our real food world and we’re smarter than a few catch phrases, aren’t we? Feel free to share any revelations or experiences you’ve had with this and please remember – there is always someone on day 1 of their real food journey. Welcome them. Don’t make them feel silly.

More articles of mine that I’ve written over the years?

The Inconvenient truth about convenience foods

They don’t got your back

Fat Free Sugar free jelly – The most toxic thing in the supermarket?

Real Food Lunch ideas for big and small people Today is more of a little practical tossing around of ideas to help you get out of lunch ruts – The no1 issue in terms of food prep that I hear back from community people and friends… *Lunch is such a hassle. I’m so bored by lunches. I forget to eat because I didn’t organise anything*… The list goes on. Then we’re going to move onto mindsets, kitchen tools and food storage, food through all the ages, listening to what types of foods work for you in HOW they’re prepared, not just what they are… And then a window into healing and preventative foods across a number of health challenges.

Lunch. It seems to be a bit of a chore with people constantly worried about that ‘lunch box to fill’ for little people, or for the office dwellers, for the dreaded last minute ‘settle for’ food court lunch – or worse, powering through and hitting the biscuit jar at 3.

I believe it’s largely thought to be a chore because food companies have made us feel that eating and preparing to eat is a time consuming CHORE to get out of the way. Take a little moment to reflect on how you feel? Do you bring love into the food preparation or planning space in your head? Do you give yourself time for feeling grateful about the fact that you get to eat at all? Well, it’s time to do so! Stressing about how perfect one’s food is a dangerous spiral of counter productivity to feeling blessed, relaxed and awesome about REAL FOOD and the abundance we have all around us.

I digress… only because that was important to say. Now, lunch is important too and I feel that that segue was pretty clever

When you’re a busy parent with little ones or an office dweller, the food court options are better and better these days, but some downsides still keep it from being a great go to choice as a regular thing.

1. Mexican is often using GM corn for tortillas, chips and tacos

2. All that I’ve ever seen use vegetable oil except ‘paleo’ certified ones like Thr1ve, Paleo cafe and certain organic shops / cafes.

3. They’re expensive for what you’re getting

4. Single use plastic bottled water is never a good thing. Soft drink is worse. Processed juices are just as bad as those.

5. Hidden sugar – especially in Asian and Indian dishes

6. Factory farmed meat – A $10 curry is rarely going to be using certified organic chicken, or pasture fed beef. Vegetarian is my pick in food courts on account of ethical and environment as well as just not wanting to eat that stuff. The only time I don’t ask about meat is at a friends’ house. I’m a guest. They cooked for me with love. I eat the food with gratitude. Simple.

7. Cheap everything – it’s a tough market and food costs are kept as low as possible.

8. If on a special diet due to allergy, coeliac or autoimmune or gut condition, you just won’t be able to guarantee food prep has been done in an uncontaminated space.

Now, I’m not saying that the odd food court meal is a no go. This list isn’t to terrify you, make you feel guilty or send you into stress mode. We’ve defined real food. We’ve got a clear picture of what ‘most of the time’ looks like and you are doing your best with what you have where you are, and please – PLEASE, let that resonate with you as being enough. I have shared a burrito bowl from a Mexican chain Guzman & Gomez a couple of times with my son as an emergency city option if we were out too long… It was actually delicious and we really enjoyed it. Vegetable oil? Probably. Twice in a year? Who cares? More stressful would have been a) not eating and b) stressing about the ingredients.

As I always say: It’s not about what you do on the odd time, it’s about what you do most of the time, and if you’re working towards making your ‘most of the time’ REAL, then the rest is a stress less and go with the flow scenario. You might want to read a little piece I wrote on what I have from time to time that’s non organic / wholefood HERE if you feel yourself starting to or prone to obsessing.

Oops, there I go again making sure at this point in the course that you’re not having a melt down and thinking everything you had been doing is wrong. It’s not. It’s the best it was within the knowledge and empowerment parameters you had at the time. Stressing yourself out to be perfect when there is no black and white and there is no perfection, means a life of disappointment and sense of failure. You hit ‘BUY’ on the course button. That already makes you a raving success. It says, I’m ready to do a bit better and own my choices. Ok, I promise, we’re moving onto lunch now.

So… making your own lunch.

It’s easy and mostly can be planned from the night before.

You’ll need a little something to keep things icy cool or warm if you’re an on-the-go lunch person.

My favourite picks?

The Klean Canteen 16oz food canister for 4 hours hot or cold depending on what goes in there. Awesome for soups, stews, smoothies, fresh pressed juice, casseroles… or even veggie sticks and a little dip tub in the summer when you want everything to stay fresh. CLICK HERE to visit one of my favourite sites BIOME for this and a couple of smaller ones in the range. I love these for the 3pm pick me up smoothie if I’m out after lunch with the little man or going from meeting to meeting – Still cold and delicious.

An insulated lunch back like this beautiful 4MyEarth one. CLICK HERE to check it out – She has other patterns too in this product.

1. Repeat after me: I WILL ALWAYS COOK A BIT EXTRA OF MY SOUP, STEW, MEATBALLS, BURGERS, ROAST VEG, STEAMED VEGGIES, FRITTATA, RISOTTO, BAKED FISH… Whatever it is, cook more so it can be reinvented the next day for a super quick lunch. I always use leftovers as my base, unless I’m adding a tin or sardines or mackerel to a salad – a favourite standby with lots of fresh lemon and parsley.

Once you’ve got a base item sorted from leftovers, then it’s super easy to build around it, as you saw with my scribbly meal plan yesterday.

How to reinvent?

Here are some of the things I do to reinvent foods to make them interesting the next day. You could either do this already the night before if able to reheat at lunch time, straight after dinner or quickly the next morning and pop into canister or your Pyrex or jar and then in an insulated carrier.

1. Different spices. If I’ve made a neutral dinner with basic herbs such as parsley or thyme, the next day, you can cook up a little stock or fry up 1/2 an onion and add 1/2 tsp mixed spices to whatever it is

2. If the meatballs or burgers were cooked sauceless the night before, make a super quick sauce the next day to re-invent. 1/3 cup broth / stock with 1 tbsps. cream and 1 tsp mustard is a super simple favourite. Cooked on high to the bubble with the cream added once the heat is off. Otherwise a simple squeeze of citrus over them will change the vibe the next day. 3. Casserole leftovers – Boil up a cup of broth / stock and add a pinch of herbs or two of some kid. Then add 1/2 cup casserole and some baby spinach for a delicious thick soup vibe. Sprinkle a different fresh herb over the top to change the vibe a little too (So if you used parsley in the casserole when you had it with rice, top the soup version the next day with coriander leaves.

4. Veggie risotto the night before? Add some “grated and water squeezed out with a tea towel” zucchini to it with an egg or two and a little buckwheat flour to thicken if liquidy and make risotto fritters – This works with leftover pilafs, quinoa veggie stir-fries, cauliflower rice… Serve with a salad

5. Leftover roast chook – As is with a salad OR tossed with chopped purple onion in a pan and a knob of butter and squeeze of lemon

6. Leftover roast veggies? Cook them up with stock enough to cover them by 2cm level, and add a handful fresh herbs of your choice, some turmeric for an anti-inflammatory kick, some sea salt and blitz it once boiling, into a smooth, thick and luscious soup within minutes.

7. Leftover baked fish? You have to try my 6 minute fish soup. So good, so easy and possibly the worst photography on my entire blog. It was early days. I swear it will never happen again.

8. Leftover baked fish x 2? Make a salad with it, flaking it into leaves, cherry tomatoes, plenty of fresh herbs and some cooked quinoa, kelp noodles, zucchini noodles or buckwheat soba noodles

9. Leftover roast meats? Love a good ploughman’s lunch. Wrap a little chunk of cheese, a few crackers, your meat, some pickles or cultured veggies and some crudités and you’ll have a nice little assortment of flavours to nibble through – Kids love eating this way at lunch I find too, choosing different things. So don’t buy the 1kg scotch fillet or rump roast – Buy the 1.5 kilo and make your roast, then your thinly sliced slices for the ploughman’s, then a quick Thai beef salad…

10. Leftover roast meats? Have a rice paper roll making project with a couple of work colleagues, friends or your kids. Cut the starch by not including rice noodles on the inside, but only using the rice casing and then wrap grated carrot, roast meats, min, coriander, possibly kelp noodles, lettuce, avocado… Make a simple dipping sauce with 2 tbsps. tamari, 5 tbsps. coconut water and fine chopped spring onion. Too easy and fun.

11. Leftover roast meats again? This super simple Thai chicken soup is so, so easy and yummy.

12. Leftover frittata or quiche? Crumb a little feta over the top the next day OR blob a blob of pesto on top for a different vibe, or chop some olives and fresh herbs and spring onions and enjoy with those.

13. Feel like you need bread or kids / partner won’t let go of sandwich land just yet? Wraps are the best choice as they allow for more nutrient dense fillings in the bread /filling ratio. It’s a great baby step to perhaps ditching the ‘grains at 3 meals’ approach that nutritionist Luise Light warned very much against in the late 70s in relation to obesity potential when creating the ‘food pyramid’. As you’ll remember from module 3 – she was ignored. Industry won.

Sprinkle this, sprinkle that… Little flavour bombs to ensure excitement the next day when eating ‘the same thing’ for lunch.

1. A crumbling of fetta – goat’s or cows if it suits you to eat dairy

2. A drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of citrus

3. A different dressing on the salad

4. A different texture added – roasted nuts, pepitas, buckwheat kernels

5. Something sweet added (like a sprinkling of this delicious nut and coconut sprinkle) or dried currants, goji berries, blueberries, strawberries halved, peach slices or a tsp maple / honey / rice malt syrup into the dressing for a sweet kick, different to yesterday’s creamier dressing perhaps

6. Something super savoury and tangy added – capers, olives, a couple of anchovies, sundried tomatoes

7. You might want to check out my epic salad post for a full reference guide to creating ‘different vibes’ every time you hit the lunch assembly line.

My lunch time defaults when there are no leftovers?

1. Make a pate for the week to serve as a gap filler when there are no leftovers. It is ridiculously nourishing and a wonderful quick grab with crackers and crudités to take to work as well as have at home solo or with little ones.

2. Haloumi – frying a few slices and popping over a salad is just delicious

3. A quick 2 egg omelet with spring onions chopped through it and cooked in generous butter. A big handful of green leaves and grated carrot to serve. Olive oil and a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt. Sorted.

4. The tin of mackerel or sardines to add to a salad or to have on crackers with a few veggie sticks and a guacamole or beetroot dip.

5. Fish eggs – Once a month I buy these super special fish eggs from Canada. It’s my favourite food in the world. So easy and nourishing and quick to spoon onto avocado smashed on 2 buckwheat crackers. My motto if having crackers in the mix? Additive / palm oil free of course and about twice the topping as there is cracker. The cracker is a vehicle. The nutrient magic happens with what you’re putting on top. So go ahead and double the pâté! Its tough this course, isn’t it!

6. A cup of broth with half a zucchini grated into it, a little teaspoon of ghee added and chili flakes, then crudités’ and dip

7. And lastly, go out. Sometimes you just want to be cooked for and take in the surroundings around you and be brought food, like the regal experience. We all deserve that!

And lastly for little people and school? I penned my thoughts 2 weeks ago when my son started school. Most of it overlaps with what we’re talking about here but READ HERE. For more info!

So today’s mission?

Think more creatively about what you see in your fridge: What is it waiting to transform into? What could you add texture, flavour, saltiness, sweetness, healthy fats, crunch… What could transform what you have in front of you that you’re feeling non plus about having *AGAIN* and add that little kick to change it up and make it exciting? We are eternal pleasure seekers, us humans. Your moto today? ADD PLEASURE and share with the group what you did to make your lunch more exciting. Easy!

Food prep, packaging and storage The road to ditching plastics! People who’ve done my low tox course can relax a little today. Why not share in the comments below today’s lesson, the changes you’ve made since October’s course – It would be no doubt inspiring for people to read and decide what they’re going to work on next.

Plastic is the ultimate sell for the convenience life style, isn’t it? Just cling it, pop it in the freezer bag, pop it in the bin bag, the zip lock, the Tupperware. ARGH! It’s everywhere and this has been my biggest challenge on the road to conscious living. Do not ever feel, as with anything we’ve talked about food wise, that all the change has to be immediate.

I’d say it was a 6 month journey to finally ditching single use plastic bags and bottles – It took me that long to break the habit and involved in the end me doing things like carrying groceries home in a gym towel, an overflowing tiny handbag or a jumper, as well as getting super thirsty a couple of times to remember: Bring the darn bottle next time. Simple.

Why should we attempt to reduce our purchase of plastic items moving forward? This film will provide you with the passion to make the changes we need to make.

Plastic highlights the tag line of this course – Shape your health. Shape the world. Dr David Suzuki estimates that the average adult has 1 kilo of plastic swimming around their bodies. 1 KILO (Nearly 2 pounds!) Imagine what those hormone disrupting components do to us subtly and slowly over that time? Crazy to even contemplate… It’s time to do something and get good at using less of the evil stuff.

Plastic is very costly to recycle and damaging to the environment – especially wildlife and ocean life. The most important message on plastic is to reduce where possible and stay away from the BPA / BPS / PVC varieties. Life is at best 90/10 as a conscious living person, especially if you’re in the city or a town, because you simply cannot control everything and everyone else’s choices. So, while I say a definite yes on ditching single use drink bottles, shopping bags and smoothie cups (I take my jar to About Life if I’m craving a smoothie and they fill that), BPA, PVC… If you have to get a plastic lunch box here, or your favourite eco cleaning product or make up is in plastic, then relax. You might never eliminate plastic altogether, but every piece of plastic counts.

There is no 100% perfection and things just aren’t black and white nor should we insist they be. That is why when I first started my blog, thinking of what ‘identifying terms’ resonated with me, “LOW” was the word I chose, when I realised that NO was both impossible as well as the fact that it would mean people might always have a sense that they weren’t doing enough. I know I’ve felt like that, and no one needs to feel like that when what we’re doing – even one little thing – is awesome. I’m not going to refuse an IV in a hospital, nor feel remotely guilty about needing it should the occasion arise, touch wood. It’s not about perfection, it’s about the things that we can influence and choose daily.

You. Are. Doing. Enough.

Whatever little choices and changes you have made, where you are with what you can… They’re enough. Until you make the next one. Then that’s enough too. There are enough people judging everyone out there in today’s world – let’s not bring that into a space that is so, so positive and impactful on so many levels. So as we focus on ditching plastics from the kitchen to some degree, again the focus is to reduce over time and to start becoming conscious when choosing anything new. The one thing to try and reduce the MOST, is single use plastics, i.e., a packet snack or drink packaged in plastic or single use bags. It’s crazy that something goes through so much production from its oil rig beginnings, to make something that will be used once for 10 minutes and then is often times not even possible to recycle.

I’ve done a few categories of plastic saving ideas, and then you have a wonderful interview chat with me and the wonderful woman behind BIOME, Tracey Bailey.

A few things about plastic to help you get motivated about ditching as much as you can from your day to day purchases:

 In 2002 alone, 5 trillion plastic bags were produced. They never fully degrade, they simply break down into micro plastics affecting wildlife and human life as we ingest without knowing.

 BPA free plastics may be as bad for you, or even worse for you, than those containing BPA. That’s because alternatives to BPA, like BPF might be even more harmful. There is more and more evidence coming to light on this every day.

 Some of the chemicals in plastic are obesogenic – Causing you to put on weight! So by ditching the weirdo packet of fakeness that is a processed chocolate bar, you’re ditching that AND the plastic it’s wrapped in – Double farewell for a better YOU and planet.

 Roughly 50% of the world’s plastic production is used ONCE and then thrown away.

 The amount of plastic produced in the past 10 years is equal to the amount produced in the entire 20th Century since plastic came into production in the late 1940s.

 Throughout the world, around one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals are killed every year by plastics, either entangled and strangled or choked and starved. (source: marine conservation.org)

There are so many more horrifying stats on plastic’s take over of the world, but I’d prefer to switch into motivation time and ideas now to get us changing that big picture! If you want to follow plastic reduction inspiration on Facebook I recommend:

My Plastic Free Life

Plastic Free July (A challenge we also run on my page to support each other in ditching more plastic)

Take3 for the Sea, my environmentalist friend Tim Silverwood

Two Hands Project

Do you want to know something cool? If each person here was using 5 plastic bags a week and stopped, we would save 72,800 plastic bags from being in circulation. Isn’t that awesome? At the shops

Stop using individual plastic bags for produce and plastic bags for carting your shopping. There is absolutely no need for 3 lemons to go into a single use plastic bag that then get packed into a single use plastic bag. None. My tip with reusable shopping bags? When you unpack the shopping, place them IMMEDIATELY BACK IN FRONT OF YOUR FRONT DOOR so that they go down to the car with you without forgetting them. This will help anyone who’s found it hard, to turn a corner, finally. Of all the low tox changes I made, I think this habit was the hardest – the remembering of the reusable bags so I never had to say yes to a plastic bag. The other corner I turned was suddenly forbidding myself from saying yes to a bag. At first, that meant wrapping shopping in my gym towel, or 6 avocados in my hand bag (I like avocados and I’m pretty sure people thought I was a shoplifter on the way home!) Whatever I wanted had to fit in my hands or hand bag, or I’d have to leave it, because I was not allowed a plastic bag full stop! I was remembering those reusable bags pretty easily after a week or two of that!

Stop buying nuts, seeds and other dried goods at the supermarket or most health stores and buy instead from a bulk bin place or a co-op if you can join one in your area. The enormity of plastic that can’t be recycled that is saved in switching to bulk bin shopping is amazing. Truly. You will also save so much money this way. In Australia you can go to Source Wholefoods or Bulk Wholefoods or Naked or Alfalfa House in Sydney – whichever is near you in your capital city that I’ve not named – feel free to share! In the US there is the behemoth Wholefoods, and smaller stores like Life Thyme dotted about the place. In the UK there’s naturally good foods and perhaps you could start a co- op with your friends, as the quantities are 2.5kg or more? Big savings to be made on organic dry goods this way.

– If you’re a supermarket shopper they’re even starting to put these in there… Bring your own brown paper bags or go steal some from the mushrooms in produce section, to come back and use and avoid their plastic ones!

Stop buying ‘halves’ of fruit and veg. half a melon, pumpkin, cauliflower, cabbage or paw paw means plastic wrap. Buy whole and get a little recipe inspiration to ensure you use it all up over the week. A whole cauliflower could be half roasted with turmeric and olive oil and then served with pomegranate and goat’s curd… the other half could be blitzed into a puree with coconut milk and sea salt. Different textures and flavours = not getting bored!

Get re-usable produce bags for delicates. I love these ones from4MyEarth, a beautiful local one- woman-show business run by Bec Hurst.

Ask for a box from the store room if you’ve forgotten your bag.

Ditch the receipts. Receipts covered in thermal coatings (that plasticky feeling receipt) are covered in BPA in a much more concentrated dose that from food packaging – Say ‘no thanks’ unless you really need that receipt.

Stop buying convenient ‘squeeze top’ products like tomato sauce, honey or mayo. Choose a glass jar. You CAN grab a teaspoon and grab what you need. You DON’T need a squeeze bottle. THEY told you you did. Mute the ads and save the planet. Ha! A catch phrase is born.

In the kitchen

Stop using cheap ice cube trays that break and split every couple of years after all the bending you have to do to get the cubes out. Invest in a couple of stainless steel ones. You will not regret it, these things are indestructible and totally old school!

JARS. JARS. JARS. Who’s already a pro jar person? I have them everywhere and use for everything! If you’re freezing leftovers in jars to avoid plastic, be sure to leave a comfortable inch at the top so you don’t break the jar when the liquid expands while freezing. If you want to grab a few, BIOME stock some really cute ones.

Ditch the plastic wrap. 4MyEarth again has one of my favourite products, the. All different shapes and sizes you can use as needed and for whichever bowl size is appropriate.

Ditch the zip lock bags. Start seeing how much you can put into jars, stainless containers, glass bottom containers or simply wrap in sandwich wrap bags / wax coated paper sheets. The simple act of NOT buying that next lot of them, will see your brain creating the new ways to store things. The TV told you that Ziploc bags were convenient. Then your habit told you they were. The price of that convenience is massive for your health and the planet’s health and you CAN change this. Tough love is sometimes the answer.

Get a cool take away glass takeaway coffee cup, or even bring your jars down for coffees, smoothies or juices to the cafe – They’re cool with it, I promise – No matter how ‘recyclable / degradable’ they tell you a coffee cup or smoothie cup is from a cafe, if it goes into a regular bin, it ends up immortalized in landfill. No good.

Get even more obsessed with jars – Milk bottles, gift jars for making scrubs as Christmas presses for friends, keep back ones from your tomato paste, honey, rice malt syrup. Plastic free food prep and storage

Use those jars for

 Chopped onion. Chop double or triple and jar the leftovers up to a week to use another day. Keep the lid on as onions soak up environmental bacteria.

 Stock – A lot of people are paranoid about freezing in jars. As long as you leave a good inch off the top to freeze them, when the liquid expands a little, you won’t get cracks or explosions. No one has on my watch so far when we corrected how full people were filling their jars to.

 Single serve portions of stews, sours and curries. Perfect for defrosting on one of those days when preparing lunch isn’t an option. defrost overnight in the fridge and pop on the stove in a saucepan to be ready in 5 minutes!

 Crudité sticks. Chop a couple of days at a time for snacks with dips and jar the ones for the next day.

 Leftover animal fats from cooking – Let’s say you’ve roasted a chicken, pork belly, side of beef or anything that has juice / fat run off. Do not wash this down the drain. HUGE saving to be made on stretching your organic / pasture raised meats further by using those fats and pan juices to form the base for the next day’s soup or stew or curry.

 Homemade dips, cultured veggies, pesto, homemade ketchup or BBQ sauce… you name it, those jars are going to be your best ally. Show your partner this list and tell them to back off about the ‘too many jars’ comments (hmmm, is that just me?

Other plastic free storage tips

 Fresh herbs don’t need plastic wrap or Tupperware ‘high tech storage systems’ to stay crisp. Wrap them super tightly in a damp tea towel and refrigerate. Basil / coriander 5-6 days, mint and parsley 2 weeks +++. I promise you! 

 Keep a damp tea towel at the bottom of your fruit and veg crisper drawer and clean it and replace it each week. This means you avoid wasting food and catching it for a ‘throw the ends in’ soup with stock, herbs and cream / coconut cream (STRETCH THAT BUDGET PEOPLE AND LOWER WASTE – WINNING ALLROUND!)

 For leftovers, just put a simple plate on top of a bowl – remember that old trick?

 Bring parchment paper, a couple of big Pyrex type tubs with lids, and take to places like the butcher, fish shop or deli, to have things wrapped or packed without new plastic being needed.

The important thing, no matter how slowly you do it, is to do it at all. Here’s a little inspiration for us.

So this John Porter fellow seems to think we can do this. I tend to agree. Be gentle on yourself. Don’t freak out (I am classically wired to freak out about not making enough progress and asking that in this instance you NOT learn from the master!) and get excited about ways you’re changing things. Simple.

I am so excited to be moving into food as healing and preventative tomorrow. First up will be looking at all the different ways food can be prepared and how they might benefit us differently throughout the seasons and stages of life.

Today’s Challenge? To make a journal entry on what you’ve achieved in the course so far. Write down your favourite achievements. Something you got across the line with your partner or kids, a way you’ve noticed you’re feeling better, or more empowered. A bit of reflection time is good after all this learning and trying of new things.

Your journey. Your way.