Total Wellbeing

Massage & Naturopathy in Sunshine Victoria

Jodie Williams

Healthy Hot Drinks for Winter that Won’t Increase Anxiety

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I love chai written in cinnamon on a steaming mug of chai latte

There is nothing better than sitting down to take a moment in a busy day with a hot cuppa. Sometimes it's just the act of taking time out that helps to reset your stress levels. What's your favourite hot drink for winter? While coffee and tea are favourites for many, the extra stimulation of caffeine is not always the best, especially if you experience a racing heart-beat, anxiety or sleep problems!

Sugar can also be a problematic part of the tea and coffee ritual, as sweet treats are often enjoyed at the same time, whether or not you sweeten your drinks. If you are wanting to reduce the impact of sugar or caffeine I recommend finding an alternative first and then changing your habits little by little. This is particularly important with caffeine withdrawal – try substituting every second cup of tea or coffee with a non-caffeinated cuppa. Cutting out caffeine cold turkey can be pretty uncomfortable, so the slower withdrawal is generally recommended.

Warming spices through the colder months are a great way to increase heat and circulation. They also have therapeutic benefits for blood sugar control (cinnamon and stevia), inflammation (turmeric and ginger) and your digestion (ginger, turmeric and cacao). A cuppa can be time to enjoy a moment to breathe and centre as part of your daily self-care. Try these options for yourself!

Chai Spice Mix

This is a lovely alternative to the commercial chai powders that usually contain powdered caffeinated tea and a healthy dose of sugars. If you do want to sweeten this one, you get to control how much you put in there or substitute for a herbal sweetener like Stevia.

Stevia is one of my favourite sweeteners. It doesn't spike your blood sugar or have an inflammatory influence on insulin the way most artificial sweeteners do. And it only takes a tiny amount to sweeten your hot drinks.

I did a bit of an experiment and found this was a lovely blend – courtesy of https://bargainmums.com.au/easy-chai-spice-mix-powder

  • 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon ground ginger
  • 1 tablespoon cardamom powder
  • 1/2 tablespoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon clove powder

Add a 1/2 teaspoon of the spice mix, a tiny dust of stevia powder, hot water and milk of your choice. Perfect warming winter treat!

Hot Chocolate

This is a really simple, no nasties way to get all the benefits of raw cacao. Simply pop in a teaspoon of raw cacao, hot water and milk of your choice. For an extra tasty variation, zest a little orange rind into your cup – jaffa hot chocolate!

I like the bitter taste of the cacao but you might like to add a tiny pinch of stevia powder to taste.

Remember, chocolate is a caffeine relative so it can be a little stimulating. Avoid having this one in the afternoon and evening if you are experiencing poor sleep.

What’s ‘Self-Care’ got to do with food?

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It can be a bit confusing when you've been brought up to believe relaxing is being lazy and your self-worth is tied to what you ‘do', what you sacrifice and how busy you are, to really GET ‘self-care'. So let's define the goal.

What is Self-Care?

Self-care refers to activities and behaviours that can assist you to reduce stress and improve your general happiness and wellbeing: basically, proactively taking care of yourself.

Were we designed for so much stress? A stress reaction is the body's protection against predators and danger. It flushes the body with chemicals to allow you to prepare to sidestep or go head to head with danger. You might know this as the “fight-or-flight” system.

Be that as it may, unending stress causes mileage on your body. It may likewise cause illness, either due to changes in your body or the overeating, smoking, drinking and other negative behaviour patterns we use to adapt to our pressure-cooker lives.

Looking at a mountain, an untouched river or a sleeping newborn baby, most of us would agree, this is a beautiful existence we humans have. Confronted with chronic stress, the thief of perspective and rational thought, the beauty of this world can seem tarnished indeed. This is where self-care comes in. It is a basic truth; you are precious and important, valuable in this world and somewhat of a miracle. So, let's take a look at ways to take care of your precious self and your experience of this world.

Good Food=Self-Care

In my early years, I grew up on the family fruit farm just over the Victorian border in southern NSW. I ate fruit in season and the mainstays were simple home-cooked meals, soups and stews. Fast forward to my teens and 20's and I was in a bit of trouble with a sugar addiction that put my energy, moods and immune health on a rollercoaster ride. Soothing my nerves and emotions with sugar was a vicious cycle that took many years to overcome. Without a doubt, adding to my stress, instead of helping to sustain a feeling of calm in the long term. I also suffered from skin conditions that didn't go away no matter what I tried. And every cough and sniffle dragged on for weeks. Until that is, I switched to a whole food, minimally processed diet. Bingo! My skin cleared up, my immune system was more resilient and my mental health stabilised.

In contrast to the foods I'd eaten before, I found foods that stabilise your energy, support your moods and immune health are in fact stress-busters. We all have to eat, so my advice is to pick foods wisely – include a lot of:

The Good Stuff – Foods for Emotional and Physical Health

  • Fresh vegies and fruits. 5 serves of veg a day really keeps things ticking along. One serve of vegies= 1 cup of uncooked or 0.5 cups of cooked vegies a day. While a serve of fruit is about 150g or 2-3 pieces, depending on the size of the fruits you are eating.
  • Clean sources of protein – including grass-fed organic meats if you can get it and eat meat, beans and lentils, eggs.
  • Good fats including oily, wild caught fish like sardines, Atlantic salmon, anchovies and mackerel; plus avocados, olive oil, nuts and seeds.
  • Probiotic foods like unsweetened yoghurts, sauerkraut, kim chi, miso and fermented vegies. Small serves are recommended to help keep your digestion in check without putting your gut in overdrive.
  • Whole grains including oats (steel-cut are even better), quinoa, buckwheat, barley and brown rice are some personal favourites.

Tips for Breaking Away from Foods that Destroy your Health

Excellent self-care includes eating 5 serves of veg with quality proteins and fats. If this is new, it's likely to be a work in progress, so give yourself a break, it's not every personality who can suddenly commit to a new way of life overnight. And, please forget telling yourself you can NEVER eat your favourite foods. Just make sure you are eating 3 meals a day based on vegies, fruit, wholefoods, quality proteins and fats. Once you are taking care of your nutritional requirements with all this good stuff, the foods that contribute to rocking your equilibrium are much easier to stay away from most of the time. These foods just get edged out. In fact, you'll find you are having fewer cravings for:

  • highly sweetened foods and drinks,
  • deep fried foods,
  • salty snacks.

Without making an effort to eat quality meals, 3 times a day, I have no doubt I would not have been able to quit my personal reliance on sugar as an energetic and emotional bandaid. You have to find the parachute before you jump out of the plane. Or, less metaphorically, you have to fill your pantry with the tasty, healthy stuff you want to eat before you decide every second thing you currently eat is suddenly off the menu. It's likely to be a work in progress, so give yourself a break, it's not every personality who can suddenly commit to a new way of life overnight. But don't give up. Small changes make a big difference over time. You'll be giving your friends advice on eating well before you know it!

Tasty fresh foods with a rainbow of colours do a lot of the work in a detox diet

If you need some help with putting self-care on your ‘plate', book in for a checkup with your naturopath. Let's workshop some ideas together, you and your tastebuds will love!

Beat Boring Breakfasts with Banana Bread

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Almond meal gluten-free banana bread

Why Eat Breakfast?

Eating breakfast sets you up for steadier blood sugar throughout the day. This means you will be less likely to find yourself starving at morning tea time and heading to the vending machine for an emergency top up. Your metabolism gets a boost and your brain has the fuel to help you concentrate on your life. Skipping breakfast is a metabolic stress on the body and when typically there is more than enough stress in a day, why add any more!

 

If you start with a breakfast that has balanced amounts of protein and healthy fats, with a moderate amount of carbs you will find you will be satisfied for longer and have energy that will sustain you until your next meal.

 

Just 6 ingredients make a healthy banana bread that's moist and naturally sweetened with fruit. You can enjoy a slice with a hot beverage in the morning. My favourite is a dandelion chai with a splash of soy or almond milk. The spices are perfect for warming up as the mornings get cooler and go really well with a slice of banana bread!

This is a very moist banana bread. If you prefer a more dense type of banana bread, please see the receipe options following the instructions below.

 

Serves: 8

Ingredients for Gluten-Free Almond Flour Banana Bread

  • 2 cups,  Almond Flour
  • 1 tsp, Baking Soda (bi-carb soda)
  • 3 large, Eggs
  • 6 ripe, Bananas
  • 1/4 cup, Sunflower Seeds
  • 1/4 cup, Pumpkin Seeds

Easy Banana Bread Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
  2. Line your loaf tin with baking paper and set aside.
  3. Add all ingredients (except one of the bananas) into a blender or food processor and blend until a well-combined batter. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Alternately, if you don't have a blender or food processor handy, mash your bananas with a fork and mix into all the other ingredients until combined.
  4. Garnish the top of the batter with thinly sliced banana.
  5. Bake for 60 minutes or until the loaf feels firm and the top has browned.
  6. Turn off oven and let the loaf cool completely in the loaf tin.
  7. Slice and store your banana bread in an airtight container in the refrigerator for easy access in the mornings.

Full of Fibre, Healthy Fats and Protein

As you can see, the estimated nutritional breakdown for our banana bread sets us up for a satisfying serve of carbs, fats and protein. Perfect for giving us a great start to the day. If your breakfast choices have become a little tired, try out a slice of hearty banana bread for a change.

Low carb banana bread for breakfast

Recipe Changes You Might Like to Try

The following options are some variations I've tried. Perhaps my flavourite version so far is one cup of rolled oats and one cup of shredded coconut substitued for almond meal/flour, with the addition of 2 Tablespoons of sultanas. Also, the most well received as far as the tastebuds of family and friends – it is a little sweeter, which is more accessible to those not used to eating a wholefood diet.

  1. Use rolled oats instead of almond flour. This makes for a really hearty, dense banana bread which is great if you like your oats!
  2. Use one cup of almond flour and one cup of rolled oats instead of 2 cups of almond flour.
  3. Use one cup of shredded coconut or coconut flour and one cup of rolled oats instead of 2 cups of almond flour.
  4. Add some extra sweetness with 2 Tablespoons of dried sultanas.
  5. Spice it up! Throw in your favourite spices. You might like to try cinnamon, ginger or mixed spice. Enjoy!

New to meditation? Try a meditation app!

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Woman sits on a yoga mat smiling with her eyes open with grass and trees in the background

 Why meditate?

A quiet mind is getting a good rap these days, with everyone talking about the benefits from Oprah and Katy Perry to Clint Eastwood. It seems our very powerful brain is much more cooperative and responsive when we give it some time out. In fact, training the mind for just 5 minutes a day according to meditation specialists, Headspace with a mindfulness app can have profound benefits for your sense of relaxation and control.

Being busy means we often put things that are good for us to the side, however, I must say a short meditation is worth its time many times over in the benefits we gain, not just for ourselves but also for those around us, our relationships and our work. Author of Happiness from the Inside Out: The Art and Science of Fulfillment, Rob Mack suggests that simply taking time for a single breath to be completely in the moment is a mini-meditation we can benefit from. Taking a breath? Once a day? I challenge you, you can find time for that in your schedule!

If you prefer the ease of guided meditation, and they are fabulous training for minds new to meditation, these are some of the best meditation apps around:

Try these meditation apps

  1. Headspace has a free 10-day intro course, which is only 3-5 minutes a day, it is a nice easy intro to mindfulness meditation, with some cute animations. https://www.headspace.com. If you get really into it, you can subscribe and access hundreds of different guided meditations from their library.
  2. Smiling Mind is a free Australian version to go on with after the Headspace course if you choose not to subscribe https://smilingmind.com.au. Aim for doing one quick meditation each day, perhaps before bed is a good time for you? Or maybe take a 5-minute break at work to do one at your desk?
  3. Calm has beautiful guided meditations for relaxation and sleep. The word from my colleagues in the industry is that Calm does like to mix up their narrators and have just added a sleep story narrated by Matthew McConaughey. Perhaps that's just the motivation you needed to pick try meditation? If not there is sure to be another voice that soothes you here: https://www.calm.com/ 

Relaxation prescription

We regularly hear about the negative effects of stress – from triggering skin conditions to heart issues, it is enough to give you a panic attack. In reality, modern life is busy and we have plenty of distractions to keep our minds constantly working, most of the time without us even registering that our thoughts haven't stopped to take a breath, so to speak, all day. So, when you feel your mind whirring away, take note, take a pause, breathe, be in the moment, even just for that moment and you might just get some valuable insight on what it's like to relax and nurture your mind.

Did someone say “salad”? 4 summer favourites to try

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Colourful ingredients are the basis of creating a tasty, inventive saladAs the days warm up I've been slowly coming around to it being salad season – it takes a bit to transition from the warming foods of winter to finally feeling sun warmed enough to proceed on to salads here in Melbourne in my experience. And with a beautiful day of sunshine, perfect for basking in, scheduled ahead, it has now become urgent to dig out my favourite salad recipes!

We know that the average Australian family aims for 5 serves of vegies each day, however, it's only a slim few of us who actually get there. With a healthy salad in the fridge, you can easily add an extra serve or two to meals throughout the day. If you happen to recall, a cup of fresh salad greens or vegies is generally considered 1 serve, while 1/2 cup of cooked vegies will also satisfy for a serve.

The following are some of the best salads on my summer rotation, packed with lots of yummy flavours, textures, colours, and crunch, take your pick with something simple, like the Kale Salad or move up to something fancy like the Beetroot, Seeds and Spinach number by COOKIE+kate.

1. Simple Kale Salad

Having well-deserved superfood status, kale is also at the top of the list for pesticide residue, unfortunately. Never fear, if you have a small space in the sun, Kale is also very easy to grow. Can't do better than homegrown produce, and look at you go, reducing your food miles, greenhouse emissions and combating climate change, just by eating your greens! However, don't worry if you can't access organics at your local green-grocer or afford the extra dollar or two, wash them well to minimise pesticides – after all, conventionally grown greens is much better than no greens at all.

Dressing Ingredients:

  • Juice of 1 orange
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 tsp of ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp of turmeric or paprika
  • 2 tablespoons flaxseed oil
  • Himalayan salt to taste
  • Black pepper to taste

Finely chop your freshly washed Kale, toast some seeds or nuts and drizzle with a tasty dressing and voila, your salad awaits! What could be easier? You will find the full recipe here.

2. Raw Zucchini, Cherry Tomato, and Toasted Almond Salad

Once the summer produce gets going, it seems there are zucchinis everywhere. Being new to homegrown delights, the pleasant over-supply of zucchini did present an opportunity for creative zucchini use. This is one of my favourite ways to sneak extra vegies into your day from last summer, even going so far as eating them with breakfast on hot summer mornings. You really don't need a fancy vegie spiraller, the humble potato peeler did work just as well 🙂

Ingredients

  • 1 zucchini, spiraled or sliced thinly with a vegie peeler
  • 1-2 tablespoons of mixed seeds and nuts – I used pepitas, sunflower, flaked almonds and pine nuts, lightly toasted in a pan
  • Juice of 1/2 a lemon
  • A handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
  • Fresh basil leaves, torn

For the full recipe, see my earlier post – Raw Zucchini Salad Breakfast.

3.Brussels sprouts as a salad ingredient? Why not!

Raw Brussels sprouts are just really tiny cabbages and coupled with a tangy dressing, a delicate cheese and some red onions, there is really nothing that can be said in opposition to this recipe. You'll probably surprise your guests with the revelation that in fact, they have just enjoyed a Brussels sprout! For other ways to eat Brussels sprouts check out my earlier post here.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 small red onion
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 1 tsp whole grain mustard
  • 1 pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 3 cups Brussels sprouts (use larger sprouts if possible)
  • 1/2 cup finely grated pecorino romano

I found the original delicious version of this recipe here.

4. Beetroot, edamame and avocado anyone?

This is the type of salad that I like to take to Christmas events, it has so much red and green is the mix, it just feels festive! However, I'm not saving it until then – there will be one of these whipped up this week, you can count on it 😉

Ingredients

Salad

  • ½ cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
  • 1 cup frozen organic edamame (find it in the frozen section – edamame are soy beans, either in a pod or shelled, mine were in a pod and I shelled them after cooking)
  • ⅓ cup slivered almonds or pepitas (green pumpkin seeds) (I used both!)
  • 1 medium raw beetroot, peeled
  • 1 medium-to-large carrot, peeled
  • 2 cups packed baby spinach or arugula roughly chopped (arugula = rocket, this is what I used, I didn’t chop it though),
  • 1 avocado, cubed

Vinaigrette

  • 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint or cilantro (cilantro – coriander, I opted for 1 of each)
  • 2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup or agave nectar (I used 1 tsp of coconut sugar, you could use any sweetener)
  • ½ to 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, to taste
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Check out the full recipe from the fabulous COOKIE+kate here.

There are a few other salads I've yet to share, so look out for a few more to come. Oh, and if you have any gems to share, I'd love to be introduced to your faves for sure 🙂

To cake or not to cake? Healthy zucchini gluten-free chocolate cake recipe, anyone?

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zucchine chocolate chip cake and fresh zucchinis

Enter, the nutritionally dense vegie cake! Earlier this year we had a glut of zucchini's as my partner tried his hand at gardening for the first time (very successfully!) and unleashed his inner farmer.

The thing with making your deserts nutritionally dense is that they contain a lot of fibre, they are naturally sweetened with fruit and don't give you the same quickly absorbed blood sugar high that plummets as soon as you've consumed it. Think kids having a meltdown after a birthday party.

Adding in some superfoods, good fats or protein sources also keeps the release of sugars into the bloodstream at a reasonable level and most importantly satisfies the principles of cake. Celebration and reward, love and sharing! This is the recipe I based the chocolate zucchini cake on. Have a play with variations yourself – this is what I ended up with 🙂

As the original recipe says:

It turned out like actual, edible zucchini bread. It doesn’t fall apart, it’s not too dry, and not too soggy.

Dark Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1-1/2 cup blanched almond flour
  • 1 cup  of chickpea flour (also called besan flour, this has quite a strong flavour but you can't taste it over the dark chocolate flavour of the cacao – you could also use buckwheat or any gluten free/nut flour)
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla protein powder
  • 4 tablespoons raw cacao (or cocoa powder – the raw stuff does have more antioxidants, however)
  • 2 tablespoons cacao nibs
  • 2 tablespoons pepitas (the green kernels from pumpkin seeds are high in zinc!)
  • 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
  • 2 tablespoons shredded coconut
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 4 tablespoons stewed apples (you could also use a ripe banana, I just happened to have stewed apples!)
  • 12 dates, chopped
  • 1 large zucchini, grated (unpeeled)

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
  2. Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl.
  3. Mix wet ingredients in with the zucchini and pour in dry ingredients, a little at a time. Stir through until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated.
  4. Line your loaf tin with baking paper and pour the mixture in, smoothing over with a spoon. You could possibly also use the mixture to make cupcakes/muffins.
  5. Bake for 60 minutes until the middle is set and a fine skewer comes out clean.

Remember that raw cacao, like chocolate and coffee, contains plant chemicals that are stimulating for sensitive people. This is great if you want a mood enhancing pick me up during the day but like all stimulants, they are best avoided in the late afternoon and especially if you are being extra careful with your sleep routine.

This gem is great served with a cuppa at afternoon tea time and is gluten-free to boot! Enjoy 🙂

So, why do we need a refined sugar-free, gluten-free, chocolate zucchini cake?

Sugar and white flour are two ingredients that are generally considered some of the not so healthy imaginings of modern living and also two of the essential ingredients in cake. Cake, as a word is layered with associations – celebration, reward, sharing, milestones, comfort, hospitality, as mentioned above. It could mean a catch up with some special friends, your nephew's fourth birthday, dessert for a special guest, some time to grieve or soothe your tensions away in a world that sometimes offers very little real comfort. It is a word accompanied by love.

Natural medicine or what we call naturopathy in many ways works its magic by manipulating the ways we eat, how we move, the times we choose to sleep and how we think about our lives, to make a difference to our health and happiness. Taking the supplements, the herbs, the vitamins in little bottles, these are also part of a naturopath's dispensary and do make a difference to help us get on track, but it's the things that we can do for free – choosing to eat vegies every day, going for a walk, sleeping more and hanging out with people who love and inspire us, they are the long-term cures to most of our modern ailments. And we know this. We've tried it out, read the studies on vegan diets, listened to our mothers but somehow, with all the knowledge, it seems harder than it looks on paper.

Good nutritiously dense food, needs to edge out the processed foods – but it's one step at a time, and we need something to replace it with!

We all know that health is not handed to us on a platter (or maybe it is – depending what's on the platter!) and for the vast majority of us, we'd have to admit, our current habits require revision. It does take some work to look after this wonderful organism we walk around in, and it is worth it. Even the six-fingered man from the 80's spoof classic, ‘The Princess Bride' was advised,

Get some rest. If you haven't got your health, then you haven't got anything.

I couldn't agree more. Still, wrestling with a chocolate, mint-slice, gummi bear addiction can mean that cake is now one of the bad guys. But what about all the things that make cake meaningful? Does this mean no more celebrations, no more comfort, no more love? I really don't think it can. Cake is a part of the colour of life and if you're not celebrating life, then we might need to prescribe some cake to get you back on track. Oh my, a naturopath just prescribed cake!

In my opinion, there are two types of cake eaters. Those who can do moderation and those who eat the whole cake. Personally, I have to confess, I'm on the ‘eat the whole cake' end of the spectrum. Following which I'd be wrestling with cravings tempting me to further fuel my delicious sugar bender every day for the whole next week… If only it were a health food, *sigh*.

So, if you can do moderation, have your cake, eat it even 😉 Maybe this looks like ordering a half slice, sharing it with your friends, eating a couple of bites and (gasp!) leaving the rest. All good options for the moderate cake consumer. Order the dessert, share it, celebrate it, savour it. You know already it's not a major food group.

If you can't do moderation, the alternative can seem like an eternity of misery, particularly when you're in the throes of a sugar addiction denial. However, when you've come to terms with said sugar addiction, misery is going back to being riddled with anxiety, itching all over, and foregoing sleep to drive to the shops at midnight because you can't stop thinking about cake. I remember the feeling and truly, this is what keeps me looking for alternatives to the seductive temptations concocted of white sugar and flour. That's why we definitely need zucchini chocolate chip yumminess!

Spiced apricot and almond bliss balls

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Cococut covered almond and apricot bliss balls with orange zest

In the interest of finding healthy snacks, accompaniments for afternoon tea and options for nutrient dense desserts I have been experimenting again with bliss balls. Trawling the internet I found a treasure chest of delicious concoctions and have melded a few together to create this little gem. With the addition of festive spices, I might even tag this one for Christmas as an alternative to the condensed milk and Marie biscuits which are the traditional ingredients for Christmas Rum Balls in my family. Look out Santa!

You might notice I've snuck in a carrot, which has delicious sweetness and helps to lift our vegie quota for the day to boot! There is also plenty of fibre to feed our good bacteria and make these treats nice and satisfying. The orange rind has a prominent flavour overall but the spices are not overpowering. If you do like spices you could easily double the spice ingredients (ginger and cinnamon powder) or add nutmeg and ground cloves for a stronger (and oh so festive) flavour. Maybe Christmas in July could feature some of these too 🙂

Ingredients

  • ½ cup almond meal
  • 1 medium carrot, grated
  • 2 Tbsp vanilla protein powder
  • 1 Tbsp coconut oil
  • 2 Tbsp flax meal
  • 2 Tbsp chia seeds
  • 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup desiccated coconut for rolling
  • 1/2 cup coconut flour
  • 1 cup dried apricots
  • Zest and juice of 1 orange
  • 1 tsp cinnamon powder
  • 1 tsp ginger powder

Method

  1. Heat the dried apricots with 1 cup of water in a small saucepan stirring continuously until the water has absorbed and the apricots are nice and plump. Stir in the tablespoon of coconut oil and Set aside.
  2. Place the dry ingredients, except the desiccated coconut into your food processor and mix well.
  3. Add in the rehydrated apricots and oil mixture along with the orange juice and blend until it forms a soft dough.
  4. Shape the mixture into a tablespoon or teaspoon-sized balls (depending on what size you like and the requirements of your consumer, if you're making them for kids you might like to make them smaller) and roll in the desiccated coconut until covered. Shredded coconut can also be used if you don't mind the look of the longer strands.
  5. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

To serve, take out of the fridge and bring to room temperature for full flavour. Enjoy!

7 Essential foods to add to your diet

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If you are concerned you don't get enough of the good stuff in your diet, slip this lot into your daily routine and you can give yourself a hearty pat on the back. These gems are part of the plan for reducing inflammation, healing just about anything through increasing circulation and warming up chilly toes and fingers through the magic of warming herbs and spices. Researched by herbal scientist Dr. Kerry Bone, case studies show improvements for micro-circulation issues in kidneys, eyes, healing chronic back issues, lymphatic stagnation, and diabetes.

Natural medicine views our circulation as the deliverer of healing and herbalists are always on the lookout for ways to increase circulation to areas that need healing, whether it's for addressing fertility issues, period pain, warming toes or supporting good digestion. In any case, adding good things in is the easiest way to supercharge a diet without a huge fuss, feeling deprived or put off because you are cutting things out. Keep it all, just add in more! The clever thing is, the more good stuff you add in, the more the sometimes foods fade toward the background. All without even trying!

The Essential Foods List

  1. Leafy greens

    – Silverbeet, bok choi, spinach, kale, choy sum, broccoli, parsley whatever takes your fancy. Buy them (or better still, grow them) and then eat them every day!
    – Ideas include making a pesto and throwing in anything green that happens to be on your list, add raw cashews, some Himalayan salt, garlic, fresh pepper and a little parmesan into your food processor. Hey, presto, it's pesto. Sooo easy! Use lavish amounts of greens and dollop generously on vegies, salads, baked fish or whatever you are having.
    – Stir-fry and have as a side (combine with grated beetroot, ginger, turmeric and garlic below for bonus points on the Essentials List).
    – It is so easy to sneak finely chopped greens into your existing recipes. Greens can easily find a home in your spaghetti bolognaise, your favourite rissotto, lasagne or soups.

  2. Beetroot

    – Use grated in stir-fries, baked with other vegies, added into soups, risottos and dahls, or use as dipping sticks with hummus or your other favourite dips. The colour it adds to dishes is a vibrant deep red, the colour often used to stimulate appetite. Can't help but feel happy with some beetroot on your plate.

  3. Garlic

    – ½ to 1 clove/day crushed and stirred through whatever savoury meal you’re having has a number of benefits for your health. Raw is best, crushed to liberate the benefits, so start slow and soon you'll be loving the tangy bite. It's also an immune booster so a great way to increase your resistance to colds too.
    – Use smeared on a grainy piece of toast and top with chili, a twist of salt and your favourite sardines (or maybe avocado or fetta if you're not into these wonderful little packets of goodness!)
    – If you're feeling indulgent, fetta makes a yummy dip for filled celery sticks (or try beetroot sticks!) mixed with fresh crushed garlic, olive oil and black pepper

  4. Ginger

    – Buy powdered and fresh. Powdered is great in cereals or smoothies and fresh is great in cooked dishes or teas.
    – Cook fresh ginger into your stir fired greens with some tamari or soy sauce and garlic tossed through.
    – Add to porridges or cereals for some spicy warmth.
    – Have a ginger tea. Grate your fresh ginger into a pot and pour over hot water.
    – Try it as a marinade with olive oil, salt and pepper over fish and bake in the oven.

  5. Dark chocolate

    – Good quality, 85% Chocolate, 20g per day is recommended. I like Pana chocolate but you will find your fave, I'm sure 😉 Who can argue with a diet prescription that includes chocolate?

  6. Berries

    – Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, frozen or fresh.
    – I love to stew a cup full of berries in a little water and eat them with Greek yoghurt, flaxmeal and mixed seeds or over a protein pancake.
    – Berries are also great wizzed up with some milk of your choice (or water) as a smoothie.
    – Cook them into a porridge (they turn out like sweet pockets of jam), or fresh!

  7. Warming herbs and spices

    – Such as green tea, turmeric, cinnamon, nutmeg etc.
    – Have these on hand and add turmeric to stir fries (such as your greens and beets), add cinnamon to stewed berries, cereals, porridge or protein pancakes.
    – And drink 3-4 small cups of green tea a day for antioxidant, circulation-boosting refreshment. Before 2pm of course – green tea does contain caffeine and we want to have a fab night's sleep too!
    – Also check out this easy Sweet Pumpkin, Beetroot and Red Lentil Soup recipe for inspiration on how to spice up your day.

Very Banana Bliss Balls

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Healthy banana bliss ball snacks coated in coconut
Photo by Taylor Kiser on Unsplash

This week I was experimenting with bliss balls. These are the tasty little snacks filled with power foods, that many people are making instead of cookies (also called biscuits or bikkies if you grew up in Australia as I did) these days.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of pitted Medjool dates
  • 3 very ripe bananas
  • 1 cup of organic coconut flour
  • 1 Tbsp of coconut oil
  • 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds
  • 1/4 tsp of sea salt
  • 2 Tbsp vanilla protein powder (I used Nutra Organics Thriving Protein Exotic Vanilla in this recipe but you can use whichever one you have handy)
  • 2 Tbsp flax meal
  • 1/3 cup shredded coconut (to roll them in at the end)

Note: if you don't have Medjool dates, just put a cup of dried, pitted dates in a small saucepan with a cup of water. Stir until most of the water is absorbed and the dates are a soft paste. Add to recipe as follows.

Variations to try: Add 1 tbsp of chia seeds, it's also a good way to include a plain non-acidic vitamin C powder (such as Melrose Calcium Ascorbate), spirulina, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon or blueberry powder. 

Method

  1. In your food processor put all the dry ingredients (except the coconut for rolling) and mix well. Add the dates, banana and oil until it is a soft, smooth paste. It might even feel a little too soft, but remember coconut flour absorbs moisture quickly and it needs to be a good consistency to roll into balls. They will become firmer once they are in the fridge.
  2. Roll about a tablespoon of mixture into balls and roll them in the coconut. Store in an airtight container in the fridge or they can be frozen and brought out when needed, to thaw. I challenge you to make them last more than a few days, everyone is going to want one!

Makes about 25-30 delicious bliss balls. Share with your friends and family. A lovely addition to a cup of tea mid-way through the day 🙂

The secrets to getting a good night’s sleep

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Getting a good night’s sleep is a gift for your future physical, mental and emotional health. If you have insomnia you tend to have a hyperactive response to stress, which is considered a risk for illness. Thus calming the nervous system and restoring sleep is considered by many to be the number one thing to support in terms of maintaining your health and recovering from illness.

What can sleep do for me?

  1. The activity of the day needs to be balanced by regeneration and rest of body tissues. You could call this maintenance or repair time. The elimination of toxins occurs primarily during this time. This means, if you have not been sleeping enough, your body has a backlog of detoxifying to do and your immune system is overburdened. Thus, glowing skin and vitality really is part of getting enough ‘beauty sleep’.
  2. Have you ever heard people say they like to ‘sleep on' an issue or problem? Well as it turns out, this suggestion has some actual value when it comes to solving problems. Problem solving is improved in some instances due to the processing power of a rested brain but also because the mind completes some thought processes at rest. Bonus! Your mind is nutting out problems while you are getting your beauty sleep. When there doesn't seem to ever be enough time in the day to work things out, it is helpful to remember that some of the load can be completed overnight.
  3. Similarly, some types of emotional development and handling past events happen during sleep. Getting enough ‘down time’ is maintenance for your emotional health as well as your physical health.
  4. In ancient spiritual texts, sleep is considered the place where our spirits are perfectly happy and perfectly at peace. You are spiritually recharged during sleep. This is thought to be important for the development of wisdom and knowledge, the cornerstone of spiritual development.

Getting a good night's sleep takes training

There are theories of development that tell us sleep skills need to be learned. This is great news for those with insomnia as learning to follow these steps can greatly improve sleep.

  1. Get as much of your sleep as possible before midnight. The rhythm of solar light and dark means sleep quality along with your melatonin production (this is the hormone that kicks off and maintains sleep) is at its highest at this time. Sleeping earlier can be a real bonus.
  2. Plan your bedtime. Aim to be in bed 9 hours before your wake up time. Thus, if your alarm goes off at 7 am, plan your bedtime for 10 pm and make your preparations for sleep in the hour from 9-10pm. This gives you a wind-down period and should be viewed as an essential part of your sleep program.
  3. Avoid all caffeinated beverages, chocolate, and refined sugar in the 8 hours before bedtime. Also, aim to exercise in the earlier part of the day and eat your last meal around 12 hours before you are due to wake. Eg 6 – 7 pm dinner for a 7 am wake up.
  4. Reduce mental activity in the evening. Avoid calling, texting or emailing after 8-8.30pm. Do light reading only and avoid violent or dramatic tv shows. Use relaxing music, sedating essential oils like lavender or marjoram and dim the lighting.
  5. Make your sleeping area as relaxing as possible, avoid work, screens, and study in your bedroom. The décor should be pleasing and make sure it is very dark, not too hot and quiet.
  6. Enlist a simple relaxation technique to quiet the mind, mentally filing away the activity of the day, preparing for blissful, restful sleep.

A word on stimulants and getting quality sleep

Anything that activates the nervous system can be considered a stimulant. This may include coffee, tea, chocolate and strong emotions. Refueling flagging energy with stimulants depletes your body of the energy it requires to rest, setting up a cycle of false energy and continued inability to rest. Stimulants put great pressure on your adrenal system (where you make your get up and go hormones, like adrenaline) and can eventually lead to illness and dysfunction. Real rest is the only cure for fatigue.

Simple breathing exercises to try before bed

Meditation doesn’t need to be hard. Deep, slow breathing calms anxiety and is the simplest form of meditation around. If you are feeling keyed-up, restless, worried, fearful or nervous before bed, or experiencing the common physical symptoms of anxiety, like shallow breathing and a racing heart, these can be relieved with this simplest meditation. Try lying quietly, with your eyes closed and one hand over your stomach. Count slowly to three as you breathe in 1,2,3…and as you breathe out extend the length of your out breath, 1,2,3,4,5,6… feeling your stomach gently rise and fall. The extended out breath ensures your breathing is not too fast and unlikely to lead to hyperventilation (the type of breathing that leads to the physical sensations of a panic attack – the opposite to the desired effect here!) Experiment with this technique for 2-10 minutes and check in with how you feel before and after. You will be surprised how quickly this technique works!

If you prefer guided exercises, these two apps are free and wonderful to help retrain your mind:

  1. Download the meditation app, Headspace – this has a free 10-day intro course, which is only 3-5 minutes a day, and is a nice easy intro to mindfulness meditation, with some cute animations. https://www.headspace.com.
  2. Also, download Smiling Mind – this is a free Australian version to go on with after the Headspace course https://smilingmind.com.au. The research is that 5 minutes a day makes a big difference in how you feel. Aim for doing one quick meditation each day, perhaps before bed is a good time for you. Or maybe take a 5-minute break during the day?

If anxiety is an issue for you it can be more difficult to get to sleep. Grounding yourself with good nutrition and exploring herbal anxiety remedies can help you here. Talk to your naturopath or book an appointment today to workshop strategies to reduce both your anxiety and your insomnia. Having a regular massage is also a great short-cut to relaxing a busy mind and has cumulative benefits for stress management and your wellbeing.

Exercise to improve your sleep

While over exercise has an impact on fatigue, under-exercise is a much more common cause of energy depletion. Exercise, like having enough water and fibre is needed to ensure the body gets rid of wastes properly. Sedentary lifestyles are linked to lethargy, sluggishness and generally feeling ‘blah’. Exercise assists detoxification and improves health and energy. Like meditation, exercise is viewed in traditional texts as a ‘chi’ builder. Chi is another word for energy. Your sleep will also improve after about 4 months of starting an exercise program.