Real Food Friday Feast - Chicken Liver Pâté

Chicken livers, like eggs, have always gotten a bad rap when it comes to the whole "foods that raise cholesterol" debate. Ironically, this superfood is probably one of the most nutritious things you could possibly eat and we are depriving ourselves of it based on the words of a few government agencies. These people are the same people who will tell you that genetically modified food is safe and that processed food, made by a scientist in a lab, is good for you!

I always vaguely knew it was best to avoid liver and eggs if you didn't want to raise your cholesterol to an unhealthy level. "People" said it and so it must be right... right? Well, if there is one thing I have learnt over the last year it is that "people" are NOT always right and that, finding your own answers is the best route to take, rather than just doing what everyone else is doing. You are missing out on a lot if you take on sheep-like tendencies.

This is why you SHOULD eat liver according to Dr Weston Price (follow the link to read ALL about how wonderful liver actually is) who states that liver contains more nutrients than any other food:

• An excellent source of high-quality protein
• Nature’s most concentrated source of vitamin A
• All the B vitamins in abundance, particularly vitamin B12
• One of our best sources of folic acid
• A highly usable form of iron
• Trace elements such as copper, zinc and chromium; liver is our best source of copper
• An unidentified anti-fatigue factor
• CoQ10, a nutrient that is especially important for cardiovascular function
• A good source of purines, nitrogen-containing compounds that serve as precursors for DNA and RNA.

So, now I KNEW I had to eat liver! The problem was that I had always hated liver. When we were growing up, my mom would often make chicken liver stew. My worst was when I THOUGHT it was actually chicken stew, which I LOVED, and then I would sink my teeth into that weird texture of a liver instead and I would feel like retching! As a child they totally grossed me out and I went to extremes to get out of eating them! As an adult it was far easier to avoid them, and it helped that they were supposed to be bad for me. I had a good excuse to cut them out of my diet. So, when I found out I needed them in my diet, I was not too happy! 

It took me a whole year to actually purchase any for ME to eat. I was buying them for my cats because they eat raw liver as part of their diet, but no liver had made it onto my plate yet. When I started ordering raw giblets from my free-range meat supplier, she gave me about 3kgs of mixed giblets and at least a third of all the giblets were chicken livers. It was way too much even for 6 cats to eat so I had to make another plan or they were all going to go to waste.

I decided that chicken liver pâté was something I could handle eating and I started looking up recipes. Did you know that ALL liver pâté recipes contain alcohol?! Brandy seems to be the preferred spirit. Can't figure that out?! Others contain flour or sour cream. I needed something simple that I could eat it with no bad repercussions. The best thing to do was to experiment!

And here is what I came up with:

CHICKEN LIVER PÂTÉ

500 grams chicken livers

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

2 bay leaves

1/3 teaspoon salt (You can add more according to taste)

1 cup water

1/6 teaspoon ground nutmeg

4 tablespoons unsalted butter (this depends on preference really. If you'd like a harder pâté, add more butter)

• Rinse the chicken livers and cut off any tough pieces of connective tissue
• Place water, chicken livers, leek, garlic, bay leaf and salt in a saucepan on medium heat and bring to a simmer
• Cover, lower the heat and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes
• Discard the bay leaves. Drain the liquid out (it makes a really tasty stock for soup!) and scoop everything else into to a food processor
• Add nutmeg
• Process just until the livers are finely chopped, then, with the blade still running, start adding the butter 1 tablespoon at a time
• Once the butter is blended in, season with salt and pepper and continue to process until the pâté is completely smooth
• Scoop the pâté into your bowls of preference
• The pâté will need to stay covered to protect it from air. You COULD use gladwrap but why add more plastic to the world, and to your food?! A very tasty method is to pour melted butter or duck fat on top which will create a protective seal that you can also eat!
• Refrigerate 4 to 6 hours so the it can firm up. Your pâté will stay fresh for about a week.

This recipe is for those who love pâté but want to avoid alcohol and any other funny additives and stick to real, wholesome food. It's the simplest recipe you'll probably find anywhere because there's really not much to it, but, considering how simple it is, it tastes delicious! Because it was my first time EVER making pâté, I was erring on the side of caution but next time I am DEFINITELY adding a few extras like some masala (I DO love my curry;)), and maybe some coconut milk to give it an even creamier texture. I am pretty sure, if you want to avoid too much butter, that coconut oil would work just as well. Just be sure to get the odourless one if you don't want your pâté tasting like a tropical island;)

The BIG test was, of course, GLM;) She is probably even worse than me when it comes to liver! I can force myself to eat just about anything if I know it's good for me but that's me. I will make myself eat some fried liver now, just because it's good for me and I'm even starting to enjoy it! GLM refuses to do it. Pâté was my only hope of getting liver into her system. I put some on a biscuit last night and held my breath...

She LOVED it:) 

She shoots, she scores!

That's it for this week:) Have a lovely weekend and we'll chat again on Monday!

Our furry children's health matters too!

Today's blog is about my cats and their health, because we have had 2 unwell cats in the last week and they are foremost in my mind right now!

If you know anything at all about me, you'll know that I am a cat lover of NOTE. We have 6 cats (read "children") who deign to live with us. They are all so precious in their own ways and I love them to death. All of them are "rescues" who needed a forever home and, because of that, they all have their little emotional issues and idiosyncrasies;)

When I met GLM, I had 3 cats. 2 of them had been around for years. They were 10 years old. Sebastian was completely "mommy-fuss", having been far too small when his cat mom died. He latched onto me at the tender age of about 3 weeks and has not been prepared to let go since.

Yes, I know I'm gorgeous!

Gypsey Girl must have had something too awful for words happen to her before we found her, because she refused to come out from under the bed for about 6 months and, to this day, will only come to you on HER terms. She's very skittish but so desperate for love and the most loving cat you'll ever know, when she's not feeling threatened.

Love me, love me, say that you love me!

Blue just sort of ended up staying with me permanently, by default. She was probably about 5 at the time, and had a foot missing and all sorts of emotional issues that came with living on the street for years, minus a foot, never mind the trauma she experienced actually LOSING her foot.

I know I need to go on a diet but, hey, YOU try exercise with a foot missing!

Poor GLM had no idea what she was getting into when I called her up one day to tell her I'd seen a picture of kittens who needed a home, and I DESPERATELY wanted to take at least one of them and we couldn't let them get put down could we?! She immediately agreed (we'd only been dating a couple of months at this stage) and Baileigh, the hell on wheels cat, came to live with us. Boy was she hard work;) She's never quite come to realise that she was actually rescued from the side of that highway and that there is no reason to STILL keep fighting! She is a very insecure cat with attitude and she gives it 24/7/365. She wears a tag on her collar that says, "Bad to the bone" and it is SO apt;) But she fits right in to our crazy little furry family!

Seriously?! You just expect me to look and NOT touch!? It's a BIRD for crying out loud!

Then, 5 months ago, friends of ours ended up fostering 4 kittens over christmas. They HAD found a home, but the dogs in that home saw the kittens as meals and so the kittens ended up back with our friends. They were very familiar with old "soft touch" Mel and so showed me photos and told me stories about all their little antics and my heart went "squish" and I begged GLM to let me take just one! Bless her, she so didn't want to let me down and I know she didn't want them to be put down, but I could see the panic in her eyes at the thought of FIVE cats in our house, especially after Baileigh! She eventually said, "Let's see if they find them a home and take it from there."

And so I waited and longed and waited and longed. Eventually, our friends told us that they would have to take them to a shelter the following day and I looked at GLM pleadingly and I saw the resigned look on her face;) Off we went to fetch our baby. I was all smiles and excitement:) We had already kind of decided on the one we would take. She was the spitting image of my cat I'd had growing up and I thought it was a sign that she was the one. But, when we arrived, one of the other kittens came running straight to me and into my arms and stayed there for ages cuddling. My heart literally melted... but she wasn't my chosen one so I eventually put her down and tried to bond with the one we were supposed to be taking home. She simply refused to notice me! She was far too busy playing with her siblings and everything else in sight and, try as I might, I just struggled to bond with her. I could tell that she was another Baileigh and I knew two Baileigh's were going to be more than GLM could take! I kept glancing at the little one who had cuddled me as we arrived and trying NOT to feel like my heart had already chosen.

The problem was, our friends had already taken ONE of the kittens. That left 3 kittens homeless and 2 of them were identical twins. They did EVERYTHING together and were pretty much inseparable. Separating them just seemed cruel. If we took the one I was planning on taking, that would still leave the twins without a home. If we took the twins, our friends were willing to keep the other ONE. They couldn't take TWO more, but they could take ONE more at a push. They already had 3 dogs and 4 cats! When we were about to leave I was just feeling like things were all wrong because one of the twins had already won my heart, but we could only take ONE kitten and I just didn't want to traumatise them by separating them. I knew they would end up in a shelter the following day. I should have been feeling good about giving at least ONE a home but I just felt terrible for the others.

And then, my AMAZING GLM uttered the most magical words, "Maybe we should just take the twins? That way EVERYONE has a home?"I just looked at her with my mouth hanging open. I didn't expect it because she had been so adamant that we could only get ONE more! What I hadn't realised was that my softhearted wife was going through all the emotions that I was going through! Love that woman;) So Molly and Toby came home with us...

This is how we sleep every night. Right on top of each other cos we are inseparable!

And then there were SIX! It's not as chaotic as you would think actually. Cat's are pretty independent. The only time you see everyone is at meal time. Other than that, they all sleep around the house or garden the rest of the time. We lock them in the house at night so that they don't harras the neighbours but our teenager, Baileigh, has figured out how to open our windows so she is frequently out galavanting when we unlock the cat flap the next morning. SHE'S actually the original bacardi cat;)

Now that you know our little family, let me get down to the reason I decided to post this blog! You all know my aversion to doctors but you probably didn't know that that extended to vets. Don't get me wrong, I think there are a lot of good vets out there doing what they think is best. I just don't believe in medication and I also don't believe in feeding animals processed food but that's for another blog! Our cats are seldom sick but recently, Blue got an eye infection. I suddenly noticed that her left eye was closed and watering a lot. I don't know where she got it from, or how, because she NEVER leaves the house. She feels very vulnerable with only 3 legs and so she stays inside all day. She's never been sick before so this baffled me.

I made a weak saline solution and wiped her eye several times during the day. The next day it looked worse! This time I turned to my herbs. Calendula (or marigold) is very soothing for skin infections and irritations and so is chamomile. It's very gentle as well so I knew it wouldn't make her eye worse and I was hopeful it would make it better! Fortunately I had both herbs in my cupboard so I brewed up a small mug of tea! The tricky part was holding her down but I managed to do it! Then I placed a cotton round in the warm tea and pressed it onto her eye and held it there as long as possible. This is actually called a compress and it helps to draw out the infection while the herbs soothe and heal. I couldn't hold it on for very long. My arm is COVERED in scratches as a result;) But I did it three times a day for two days much to her disgust!

Today, when I walked into the room to check on her, both eyes stared widely back at me, looking perfectly healthy:)

And what beautiful eyes they are!

There are few things more satisfying than being able to help your cat heal without having to take her to a vet and get her pumped full of chemicals. The herbs worked so well and, while she didn't exactly enjoy getting a wet eye, she didn't have to go through the trauma of a trip to the vet, in the car, which would have terrified her.

So this blog is a little continuation of yesterday's blog all about herbs and the healing power of herbs. Proof that you DON'T need to spend a fortune and traumatise your animals in the process. You can use the same treatments on them that you would on you and they WORK. And you keep their little systems clean of chemicals and that does them the world of good, the same as us. We are all trying to do the best that we can, and I know that sense of panic when your baby is sick. You feel terribly helpless. But don't underestimate their ability to heal the same as we do.

We DO have another sick baby at home right now and, after a few days, I gave in and took her to my holistic vet. She is the equivalent of a homeopath in the animal world and she doesn't believe in chemicals either. She is also, fortunately, only 10 minutes drive from our place! All very good things!

My little Gypsey Girl is on homeopathic meds and we are watching this space and hoping that all comes right without the need to traumatise her more. I will keep you in the loop as things progress!

That is it for today. Tomorrow is my real food friday feast and I have a goodie for you:)

Keep calm and make tea!

If you've read all my blogs then you know that I am NOT a fan of doctors or medication. I talked, in this post, about my experience with the flu a couple of weeks back and how I'd managed to beat it using alternative remedies which included things like food, tissue salts and herbs. I'd like to go into a bit more detail about those herbs, today.

Herbs are nothing new under the sun. Long before there was synthetic medication, people were using herbs to cure various ailments. They were used for centuries, in their natural form. These days you find a lot of those herbs, in synthetic form, in medications, beauty products and household cleaners. Companies have tried to harness the healing power of herbs, in a form that can make them some money. My question is, why would you buy the synthetic version for R100 or more, when you can buy a box of the actual herb for about R20, that lasts you several months and is far better for you, and that works? I'm not an expert, as I've said, but I have had great success with my herbal teas over the years and I'd like to share what I've learnt, with you.

Anyone who knows me knows how crazy I am about my teas! I have been drinking herbal teas for years and there is never a shortage of every type and flavour of tea when we have visitors over. Actually, that's not entirely accurate! The one tea that is often missing from my cupboard is your garden variety black tea. I often forget to buy it because it is the ONE tea I don't drink. One or two friends have actually arrived with their own tea because they KNOW I forget to buy normal tea;) Most people assume that, if you are going to have a hot drink, it'll either be normal tea or coffee. You definitely get "tea" people and "coffee" people and the "tea" people will mostly drink normal tea. The lack of variety drives me nuts. I find normal tea so boring since I discovered the world of "all different types of teas" and so I never buy it, or drink it.

Of course, you also get the rooibos drinkers, but, considering rooibos tea is distinctly South African, there are actually very few rooibos drinkers, compared to normal tea drinkers, in South Africa. My gran used to call it "camel's pee" ;) That was my gran, a real character! But a lot of people seem to dislike the taste of it. I started drinking rooibos because the caffeine in normal tea dried out my throat and, as a singer, I found that, drinking rooibos with honey and lemon was very soothing for my throat. It was especially helpful to sip on during a particularly long show on a cold winter's night. I always arrived at a gig with a bottle of water and my tea flask! I wasn't a fan of the taste to start with, either, but it grew on me.

Fortunately, over the years, manufacturers have gotten more experimental with teas and, more and more flavoured teas have started appearing on shelves. I bought every new one to try as I discovered them. I eventually bought myself one of those teabag trays you find in hotels and at catered functions, because I had so many different teas and it was easier than keeping them in separate boxes which took up loads of cupboard space! That's how tea crazy I was;)

Given my obsession with health and my aversion to medication, it was a natural progression to start exploring teas for their medicinal benefits. I was delighted to discover Dischem's HUGE selection of herbal teas. I began to see the benefits of tea leaves, instead of tea bags. I started my teapot collection (with built in tea strainer!) and my tea collection grew steadily. Over the years I have discovered which teas work for what, and I am STILL learning, because there are so many of them!

SOME of the teas in my cupboard;)

So why loose tea leaves instead of tea bags? Well, have you ever torn open a teabag and seen the quality of the tea leaves inside? Unless it says "whole-leaf teabags" you are pretty much getting dust, and what they call, fannings. It's the dregs of the pile of tea leaves after the good leaves have been scooped up and packed into boxes. The smaller the leaves, the less quality and flavour your tea will have. Tea leaves contain essential oils and, when the leaves are broken up, some of those oils will evaporate which will leave you with a tasteless, nutrition-less tea. If the leaves are larger pieces, they will still contain all the necessary goodness and flavour that you are drinking it for. A teabag is also limited, space-wise, which means that the leaves will not be able to absorb water and swell the way they are supposed to. You won't find any of the medicinal herbal teas in a teabag. That's because they won't actually do what they are meant to do, which is heal you, if they are squashed in a tea bag, made up of dust and fannings, and very little goodness. Long story short, stick to tea leaves if you are drinking tea for health purposes or if you are really fussy about flavour! And needless to say, organic is the way to go because herbs can also contain pesticides and less goodness due to bad quality soil.

So what tea helps what ailment? Here is a list of the teas I favour, and why:

• Rooibos: This little leaf has MANY health benefits if you drink enough of it! It's caffeine free for those with a caffeine sensitivity. It is loaded with antioxidants which bind with free radicals, preventing them from damaging cells and causing cancer or from oxidising with cholesterol to clog blood vessels. Rooibos also protects the liver from disease, boosts the immune system, relieves allergies and helps digestive disorders. You need to drink about 6 cups a day to really feel the benefits and it doesn't matter how you drink it really, as long as you drink it!
• Peppermint: Personally I have found peppermint teabags to taste awful no matter what the quality so I really recommend tea leaves! I drink mint tea on a daily basis because it is GREAT for IBS. It is incredibly soothing for sore, bloated colons, stomach cramps and diarrhea. It promotes good digestion and eases heartburn. It also helps to ease a headache, PMS cramps and sinus problems. If you steam with it, it is a great decongestant and just the smell of it makes you more alert and focused so it's a good thing to have if you're studying.
• Milk thistle: This herb has become more and more popular of late for those who are preparing for a big party night where lots of alcohol is going to be imbibed! It is often used as a treatment for liver problems. It is a natural antioxidant. Silymarin (the active substance in milk thistle) appears to have anti-cancer effects and is currently being studied as a possible cancer preventative. A use you probably would never have guessed is that it can be used as an antidote for deathcap mushroom poisoning. Milk thistle counteracts toxins in the mushroom, as long as it's taken within 10 minutes of ingestion. However, even if it's given within 24 hours of mushroom poisoning, it significantly reduces the risk of liver damage and even death. Milk thistle is also recommended as a natural remedy for morning sickness and nausea.
• Echinacea: You've all heard of this one. It's well known for boosting the immune system and preventing, or lessening the impact of, colds and flu. You get it in many different forms, but, because I love teas so much, I drink it! It is a great preventative herb to drink just as winter is starting and everyone is getting sick. If you are too late, it will shorten the amount of time that you are sick. It can also be applied to skin to heal eczema, sunburn and slow-healing wounds. It's not a good idea to drink it for longer than 8 consecutive weeks though because it can inhibit the production of T-cells eventually.
• Lemon Balm: This herb has many benefits! It's great for insomnia, it eases digestion and stomach ailments, much like peppermint tea, it can be used to treat herpes lesions and cold sores if applied externally, it can also help treat the symptoms of alzheimer's disease, it is good for bronchial inflammation, earache, fever, headaches, high blood pressure, influenza, mood disorders, palpitations, toothache and vomiting. It also soothes menstrual cramps and helps relieve PMS. I have used it for many of the above reasons and it works.
• Stinging Nettle: And you thought all it did was irritate you;) It has such a wide range of uses though! It's good for allergies, relieves hair loss, treats celiac disease, bladder infections, acid reflux, excess gas, sore throats, hemorrhoids, nose bleeds, mouth sores, skin irritations, neurological disorders, arthritis, gout, rheumatism, and soft tissue conditions such as fibromyalgia and tendonitis. Patients with Lupus and other auto-immune disorders, suffering from joint pain, experience relief from drinking a cup of nettle tea a day. It removes metabolic wastes and is both gentle and stimulating on the lymph system. It is used to help treat alzheimer's, it helps with night time bed wetting in children and supports the endocrine system. 
  
• Chasteberry herb: This is known as the "Women's herb" because it's all about women! It's used for menstrual cycle irregularities, PMS, a more severe form of PMS called premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), and symptoms of menopause. It is also used for treating “lumpy” (fibrocystic) breasts, female infertility, preventing miscarriage in women with low levels of a hormone called progesterone, controlling bleeding and helping the body force out the placenta after childbirth, and increasing breast milk. I find it works really well for PMS and that's good enough reason for me to drink it!
• Green tea: You all know about this but I bet most of you don't drink it because of it's bitter taste? Well that's just because you aren't buying tea leaves AND you aren't preparing it correctly;) Did you know that green tea is just a younger version of normal, black tea? It is a GREAT cancer fighter and preventer, it prevents heart disease and strokes by lowering cholesterol. Even AFTER a heart attack it prevents cell deaths and speeds recovery. It's anti-aging and promotes longevity and  it also promotes weight-loss and speeds up your metabolism.
• White tea: If normal black tea is the grandmother, green tea is the mom and white tea is the child! They are all the same plant, picked at different times of it's life. White tea has all the benefits of green tea but you can multiply them a hundred fold because it is the least processed of the teas and therefore the best quality. It's exceptionally good for all the same reasons that green tea is good, but it's even better. It's the tea of all teas when it comes to goodness:)
• Marshmallow Root: I drank this by the bucket load when I had bronchial pneumonia and it really helped my voice come back! It's great for sore throats, laryngitis, whooping cough, bronchitis, digestive disorders like IBS, ulcers, hernias and mouth ulcers. It is good for treating cuts and skin irritations like eczema externally. It also helps soothe teething babies!

I think that list is enough for now but it really is an endless list. I'll revisit it sometime again. The teas I drink depend largely on what is ailing me at the time. I don't drink all of them, all the time. Remember that herbs are powerful. They may be natural but they are, in a lot of cases, more powerful than synthetic medication because they are in their most natural form. You wouldn't take medication constantly and so you shouldn't drink certain teas constantly except for rooibos and green tea of course. All the other teas I've listed here are remedies for certain things and should be treated as such.

The way to make them all is easy. Place a teaspoon of tea leaves in a teapot and fill the pot with boiled water. Leave to steep for about 10 minutes and then drink. Green tea is slightly different. It's loaded with caffeine and it can get too strong and very bitter in a short space of time. Green tea should actually have a sweet taste if you buy the tea leaves. The bags will taste horrible and bitter and, of course, won't be nearly as good for you. I only steep green tea for about 5 minutes and that's it. Any longer and it tastes horrible. White tea can go for 3 minutes and that will be enough. It can also tend towards the strong, bitter side if it's left too long. 

Most herbal teas don't taste great on their own. I never suffer through a bad pot of tea anymore. I have learnt that the key to getting all the nutrients into my body, is to make it as easy to drink as possible. So I buy a few different flavoured rooibos teabags and I add them to whatever herb I need to drink and they mask the flavour of the bitter herbs. I also add a small spoon of raw honey to my tea and a drop of lemon juice and it makes it really tasty. You'll find most herbal teas taste awful with milk and I wouldn't recommend it!

Our morning teapot consists of 4 different rooibos teabags, some flavoured, some plain (to get as much goodness as possible out of them), a spoon of green tea and then whatever herbal tea we may need. If we had a glass of wine the night before then I add milk thistle. If I have a stomach ache, I add mint, if I feel fluey, I add echinacea. I make a big pot and drink it throughout the day when I'm home. You can never get enough tea in you as far as I'm concerned so, the more, the merrier. And winter is the best time to be experimenting with teas! It's not only warming, but it's also so good for you!

In the words of Mrs Tiggywinkle from Beatrix Potter: "When the troubles of the day are over, there is nothing that comforts me like a real, hot, strong cup of tea!"

Until tomorrow!

The benefits of raw apple cider vinegar

Every day, after I've done my oil-pulling, and rinsed my mouth with salt water, I drink a warm mug of raw apple cider vinegar, raw honey and water with a dash of cinnamon. Why would anyone do that, you ask? Well, I'm going to give you all the reasons why, right here.

Vinegar has, for centuries, been touted as a remedy for just about every existing ailment. But it's actually apple cider vinegar that has, more recently, been singled out as a health tonic. You'll find it in all health stores and Dischems these days. The big pharmaceutical companies would, of course, have us believe that regular medication is far better than alternative remedies. It always is, for them, because they have absolutely nothing to gain, financially, from alternative and preventative remedies. However, even they can't discount the following studies proving the medical uses of apple cider vinegar:

• Diabetes: The effect of vinegar on blood sugar levels is probably the best researched and the most promising of apple cider vinegar's health benefits. Several studies have found that vinegar may help lower glucose levels. A 2007 study of people with type 2 diabetes found that taking two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar before bed lowered glucose levels by 4%-6% when they woke the following morning.

• High cholesterol: A 2006 study showed evidence that vinegar could lower cholesterol.

• Blood pressure and heart health: A study with rats found that vinegar could lower high blood pressure. A larger study also found that people who ate oil and vinegar dressing on salads five to six times a week had lower rates of heart disease than people who didn't. 

• Cancer: A few laboratory studies have found that vinegar may be able to kill cancer cells or slow their growth. 

• Weight Loss: For thousands of years, vinegar has been used for weight loss. It stabilises the blood sugar making people feel fuller for longer. Bear in mind that apple cider vinegar alone, will not give you the body you want! But it's a good accompaniment to a healthy diet.

Scientific studies are great for some but they're not the be-all and end-all for me, given that scientists also believe that scientifically created food, and medication, is actually good for you! There are many people who also believe apple cider vinegar has the following benefits and I tend to agree:

• Detoxification: Apple cider vinegar is rich in natural minerals, vitamins and enzymes. The unique acids in apple cider vinegar can bind to toxins and help the body eliminate them more effectively. Apple cider vinegar can also help to stimulate circulation and aid detoxification in the liver. In ancient cultures apple cider vinegar was often used to purify the blood. Apple cider vinegar aids detoxification by breaking up mucus throughout the body and cleansing the lymph nodes to allow for better lymph circulation. A healthy lymphatic system can remove toxins from the cells in the body while improving immune system response.

• To help with digestion: This is possibly one of apple cider vinegar’s biggest benefits. It can help with indigestion and gastrointestinal discomfort caused by certain foods. It's said to clear up chronic acid reflux when taken with each meal and I can attest to that.

• Strengthens the immune system: Apple cider vinegar devotees claim that it is one of the main reasons they are able to ward of common illnesses like colds and flu. This is possibly due to its unique blend of vitamins, minerals and enzymes. It also possesses antimicrobial and antiseptic properties. I can vouch for the faster healing, myself!

• For soft and shiny hair: Acetic acid, the main ingredient in Apple cider vinegar, will remove build up from styling products and strengthen the hair shaft, leaving you with soft, shiny hair. It also balances your hair's pH level, kills bacteria, and helps get rid of dandruff. Dilute 1/3 cup Apple cider vinegar in 4 cups of water and pour over your hair after shampooing. Leave it in for a few seconds before rinse your hair using cold water to seal the hair shaft and create more shine. The vinegar smell will disappear as soon as your hair dries! Don't do this daily as vinegar is acidic!

A few other benefits:

• Prevents bladder stones and urinary tract infections
• Increases stamina
• Alleviates symptoms of arthritis and gout
• Reduces sinus infections and sore throats
• Improves skin conditions such as acne
• Protects against food poisoning
• Improves digestion and constipation
• Prevents muscle fatigue after exercise
• Fights allergies in both humans and animals
• Prevents bad breath when used as a gargle mixed with water
• Prevents body odour when used externally
• Prevents night time leg cramps

When I talk about apple cider vinegar, I don't mean the stuff you buy at pick n pay in the vinegar aisle. That is very poor quality, essentially "dead", vinegar and it's not going to have any medicinal benefits. It's been completely stripped of everything beneficial. It also contains preservatives and drinking it may actually be worse for you than not drinking any at all! The stuff I am talking about is raw apple cider vinegar which contains "the mother".   "The mother" is that cloudy sediment that settles on the bottom of the vinegar bottle if you leave it to stand for a while and it is made of of living nutrients and bacteria which is why it is so beneficial for you.

Dischem raw brand at a small cost of R19.95

A very good, imported brand, but pricier!

So, how do you drink it? Well, as I said in the beginning, I drink it every morning, about 20 minutes before breakfast. This is how I make it:

• Half fill a mug with hot water
• Add a teaspoon of raw honey and mix until dissolved
• Add a dash of cinnamon
• Top the mug up with cold water
• Only THEN, stir in a capful (or tablespoon) of vinegar
• Drink!

In case you're wondering why you add the vinegar last, it's because it is raw and adding it to boiling water will kill off a lot of the bacteria and nutrients that you NEED to be drinking. So it's best to add it to lukewarm water. The cinnamon is not essential if you're not a fan of it but, to me, it makes it more palatable. Cinnamon IS really good for you, in any case:

• It is known to lower blood sugar and cholesterol
• It has natural anti-infectious compounds
• It reduces pain linked to arthritis
• It may reduce the proliferation of cancer cells
• It is a natural food preservative
• It contains contains fibre, calcium, iron, and manganese
• It's been proven effective for menstrual pain and infertility
• Cinnamon holds promise for various neurodegenerative diseases, including: Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Multiple sclerosis, brain tumours and meningitis

Knowing all that, why would you NOT add the cinnamon?! Besides which, it makes it taste a bit like mulled wine (according to my brother;)

I was REALLY surprised when, the first time I made it for GLM, she actually said she LIKED it! It is an acquired taste for some but we actually enjoy our morning mug and, if I forget it over the weekend when I'm out of routine, GLM will often go and make it for herself or ask why we aren't drinking it;) 

So, if you are ready to enjoy all the wonderful benefits of apple cider vinegar, head off to your nearest health shop or dischem, buy yourself a bottle and get started!

Crazy Monday but just so you don't think I forgot you;)

Makes sense, doesn't it;)

Real Food Friday Feast - Breakfast Smoothie

Doctors, dieticians and nutritionists have always maintained that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. While I think all meals are pretty important, I do agree that skipping breakfast leads to a lot more weight problems. I can't survive without breakfast. I open my eyes and my stomach literally yells for food;) But I struggled a bit with what to have for breakfast when I made a decision to cut out processed foods.

If you walk down the cereal aisle you are literally bombarded with every kind of cereal under the sun. The problem with those cereals is that 99% of them are loaded with sugar (usually GMO corn syrup), and ALL of them are grains with NO exceptions. They are rice-based, or maize-based or oat-based and the rest of the ingredients are sugar, sugar and more sugar, and then add a few of those nice coded foods that no-one understands like E61 and E500. I don't think that starting your day off with a carbo load of GMO grains and a whole bunch of other scientifically generated "foods", is a great way to start it.

I've cut most grains out of my life since I discovered they were largely responsible for my IBS flaring up. If I have them now, I'll make sure they're properly soaked and they must be organic obviously;) If you cut grains out of your life, that leaves very little for the "normal" breakfast options. I don't need to eat "normal" food so that doesn't bother me, but GLM is my little creature of habit and is not a fan of change;) There are some things she will go along with, but some things are just a no-go!

One breakfast meal that has always been a winner for her, however, is the breakfast smoothie. I have been making breakfast smoothies for years but, in the last year, the recipe has changed quite drastically. It used to be a very boring combination of banana, apple, almonds, protein shake and soya milk (Can't believe I bought into the propaganda and drank that poison! I'll blog on that at some point too but, take my word for it, avoid it. Especially if you are trying to have a baby. It's loaded with GMO and hormones.) So anyway, that smoothie was pretty average nutrition-wise but it didn't taste too bad.

Enter the organic, super, real food era and how things have changed;) GLM sometimes asks what happened to our "normal" smoothie? (Creature of habit;) You see, what I have realised is that a breakfast smoothie is the EASIEST and TASTIEST way to get most of your fruit and vegetable daily requirements into your body, in one go. Our breakfast smoothie has replaced our multivitamin because it is loaded with all the natural vitamins we need. It is a powerhouse of goodness all in one glass and it's so easy to make, and eat on the run. There are a lot of websites out there by people who have cured cancer with diet and most of them talk about smoothies and juicing. But these are not just any smoothies and juices, they are supercharged, power nutrition in a glass.

So I am going to give you my recipe, but please bear in mind that this is just ONE way to make it. You can add as much variety as you like, depending on your tastes. Don't be put off by the colour. That will depend on the colour of the food you use but it'll still taste amazing. The more different colours you use, the more nutrition you will get out of it. 

You will need a decent blender (a hand blender will work well too.) 

Power Breakfast Smoothie (feeds 2)

1 raw Banana (medium size)
1 raw baby marrow (medium size)
1 raw patty pan
2 tsp peeled ginger root (or just a nice size chunk)

4 Tbs paw paw
2 Tbs soaked organic chia seeds
1/4 avocado pear
2 tsp organic cocoa powder
4 eggs OR 2 eggs and 125ml organic plain yoghurt
2 Tbs dehydrated coconut
2 slices pineapple
Add water to get a nice consistency

Method

• Throw all ingredients into blender EXCEPT chia seeds, adding liquid last.
• Blend till smooth
• Pour into 2 separate glasses
• Add a tablespoon of chia seeds to each glass and mix in
• Drink!

As I said, these ingredients are not carved in stone. You can replace the fruits with other fruits and the veggies with other veggies. I recommend keeping the coconut, ginger, cocoa powder, avocado (it gives the smoothie a lovely, creamy consistency) and chia seeds, but play around with the rest depending on availability and taste preference. You CAN use milk instead of yogurt. Both are a good source of protein. You can even JUST use milk instead of the eggs. As long as you have some protein in there. Bear in mind that eggs are a GREAT source of nutrition (provided they are free range) and are NOT public enemy number one for those with high cholesterol as some people keep insisting. If you are a vegetarian you can leave out the eggs and milk and just use water but you will need a bit more protein in there so I would add a handful of properly soaked nuts and perhaps a scoop of vegetarian protein powder. 

Some of you may be wondering about chia seeds. These little seeds are like magic seeds;) They are so good for you! They contain your daily dose of Omegas all in one little tablespoon. You can buy them at dischem and all health shops as well. They look like this when they are dry:

And like this when you make them into gel:

Why would you want to make them into gel? Well, they go so much further and they're easier to work with. They are mostly tasteless little seeds but they are good for so many things. 

• Omega 3's - Help reduce inflammation, enhance cognitive performance and reduce high cholesterol
• Fibre - Reduces inflammation, lowers cholesterol and regulates bowel function
• Antioxidants - Help protect the body from free radicals, ageing and cancer
• Minerals - Two tablespoons of chia seeds contain 18% of the daily recommended intake for calcium, 35% for phosphorus, 24% for magnesium and about 50% for manganese
• Satiety - They make you feel full for longer
• They are gluten free
• They make a good egg replacer when baking for those who can't eat eggs
• Blood sugar regulation - They play an important role in regulating insulin levels and can reduce insulin resistance and decrease abnormally high levels of insulin in the blood.
• Raise energy levels

See why you would want to eat these? Making them into gel is really easy. Get a clean glass jar and place 3 tablespoons of seeds in the jar. Fill the jar up with filtered water, all the way to the top and stir with a fork. Leave for a few minutes and then stir again. You'll notice they will clump up a bit. That's because they absorb the water and start to swell. Leave for a bit and then stir again to break up the clumps. Eventually the jar will be filled with chia seed gel and no more clumps and then you simply add a tablespoon of those to each smoothie. You can add them to anything really. You won't notice the taste at all, but you'll feel the health benefits! And that jar will last a week or two in your fridge.

That's it! I recommend eating at least one of these smoothies a day, but you are welcome to have more!

Some easy thing to kickstart your clean, green lifestyle!

I know it can be quite daunting making a decision to live green, organic and chemical free. I am sure a lot of you have read these blog posts and been a bit overwhelmed by just how much is actually toxic in our environment, and how much we have to do if we want to keep it, and ourselves, clean and toxin free! I agree. It IS overwhelming. You might be tempted to just leave things as they are and I wouldn't blame you. When I first made the decision to make our household clean and green, I had no idea what I was taking on. Poor GLM had no idea either. She mostly still doesn't;) I often get questions about what goes where and why and how! But she does it without too much complaint because she knows it's good for us and she knows it makes her wife happy;)

So, maybe you want to start with some baby steps, just to ease you and your family into things gradually? Well, you'll be happy to know there are PLENTY of small, simple things you can do that will already make a HUGE difference to both you AND the environment. Perhaps you can make it your goal to achieve just ONE of each of the points below, each week, or even each month if it's easier. I found that I started off a little slowly, because I was learning and discovering things, and then I picked up the pace as I became more accustomed to it. I also found that, the healthier I felt, the more I WANTED to change things. The nice thing about following my blog is that you don't even need to waste time trying to figure things out. I've done that all for you and this blog is here for that purpose. To make YOUR life easier:)

What you can do, food-wise:

• Make a decision to cut out at least ONE of the "normal" foods you buy, from your monthly or weekly shop, and replace it with an organic, or free range, substitute. 
• A great example here would be eggs. By buying free range eggs, you are ensuring that you get LOADS more nutrients into you and your family's bodies. Egg yolks SHOULD be a bright orange colour. If they are pale and anaemic looking, they are not from healthy chickens and have little to no nutrients. They are actually probably doing you more harm than good because the chicken it came from is, very likely, ill. By buying free range eggs, you are also ensuring that you are not supporting the many chicken farms that keep chickens in unethical, cruel conditions. Watch this video to see what you are unwittingly supporting every time you DON'T buy free range eggs. (please be aware that it is not an easy video to watch. I still haven't watched all of it! It just breaks my heart.) Free range eggs are available at ALL grocery stores so it's a very easy, small change to make, and yet it will go a LONG way.
• Most grocery stores now stock organic bananas so that's something else you could consider changing. Kids LOVE bananas and eat loads of them so it makes sense to have chemical-free bananas in the fruit basket.
• If you become acquainted with the "clean 15" and the "dirty dozen", those of you on a budget can make sure you get fewer pesticides in your diet while still spending less money. Of course, the nutritional benefits are far superior when it comes to organic fruit and veg and there is less impact on the environment as well, but just making this little change will already make a big difference to your own health. The list below will tell you what's cleaner and what's dirtier.

• Start collecting bones after meals, store them in a container in your freezer and, when you have enough, use them to make some bone broth. You can use this to cook EVERYTHING with in place of store bought stock. Bone broth is unbelievably nutritious, and so necessary for your health and yet it is so cheap to make. Find out how to make it here.
• Start buying only fruit and veg that are in season. You may notice that some grocery stores will stock all types of fruit and veg all year round. The problem with that is that, different fruits and veg grow in certain seasons and you can be pretty sure that, if they're being sold at a shop out of season, they have either been grown unnaturally OR they have been imported from somewhere creating a huge carbon footprint. Wait it out for a few months and rather get the proper nutritional and environmental value for your money.

What about things you can do, for the environment, around the house, and in your garden?

• Did you know that while you are running your hot tap, waiting for it to get hot, you waste at least 3 litres of water? I actually tried it one day just out of curiosity and I filled up three one litre jugs before the water even got warm. The same applies if you want a glass of cold water and need to run the hot tap for a while to get it cool, especially on a hot summer's day! (You definitely don't want to risk actually drinking the hot water, no matter how cool it might be, because hot water will have a higher lead content due to the heat of the water leeching the lead out of the pipes. NOT good for you.) I decided to put a big bucket next to my sink and, if I needed to run water for any reason that didn't involve me plugging the sink, I would run that water into the bucket instead and use it to water my plants and my garden or even to fill my steamer or boil eggs. At least it's being put back into the environment, or being used to cook vegetables instead of all that clean water just going down a drain. Something small like that will make a huge difference in the longterm.

• Switch off lights in rooms you aren't using. We only ever have lights on in the rooms we are actually in. If we walk out of a room, the light goes off. It's such a habit for us now that I barely notice I'm doing it. I thought EVERYONE actually did that but, now and then, we have guests stay at our house and I am always surprised at how often I have to go into a room after they have vacated it, to switch off the lights! It's a great habit to get into and Eskom will thank you. Perhaps we can avoid the dreaded load-shedding if everyone starts doing it;)
• If you MUST leave on any lights, make sure the globes are energy saving globes. I can't actually understand why anyone would buy a normal globe these days. They last for such a short amount of time, they raise your electricity bill, and they are dangerous, especially if a child should try and play with a bedside lamp. Energy saving globes are far more hardy, they last for AGES, actually saving you money on globes and they also lower your electricity bill.
• Make a compost heap. Words can't describe how easy this is to do and how much difference it makes to the amount of rubbish your family generates, and to your garden. I had a flat piece of wood in my garage so we dug a hole that was the same size as the wood, and about a metre deep. The wood made a great lid! You're thinking that it probably smells right? WRONG! It doesn't smell AT ALL and that is because there is nothing in there TO smell. It's just fruit and veg cut offs, the occasional pieces of newspaper and tissue, grass cuttings and egg shells (rinsed of raw egg) The way to keep it smelling sweet, is to make sure you don't load your compost heap with all of one thing and not the other thing. A compost heap needs carbon and nitrogen to function properly, and to smell sweet. Carbon comes from dry things like dried plants and grass and cardboard and newspaper and tissues. Nitrogen comes from all the ripe, juicy things like banana peels and apple cores and other fruit and veg cut offs. As long as you throw in some of both, your compost heap will not have a smell. Visit this page to get an idea of what you can throw in your compost heap. Don't make things too complicated for yourself though. I may not be getting it 100% right because I don't calculate the ratios but, the good thing is, I am still getting lovely compost for my garden AND my rubbish bin is hardly being used because of that which means I am saving space in the landfills:) What I do, to make things easier for us is, I saved an old 5kg protein-shake container and I keep it next to the bins in the kitchen. I just put all our fruit and veg cut offs, teabags, etc in there until it's full and then I empty it into the compost heap once every few days. It saves me having to go out to the garden every time I want to throw away some stuff. I promise you that container does not smell at all. I keep a lid on it but that's just to stop the cats from messing with it. Get the kids involved in collecting the compost and emptying it into the heap. It'll teach them some good habits and small kids love to help!

That's the little compost container at the bottom!

• Buy yourself a BIG bottle of white vinegar. 

You may not know it but vinegar has MANY uses around the house and it's natural as well. It's GREAT for cleaning surfaces and stubborn dirt off of pots. It's also great at killing germs. You can use it to clean all your fruit and veg knowing that you are not adding further chemicals to your body because it's just vinegar, but you ARE getting rid of bugs. It's good for getting rid of dirt and insects and other creepy crawlies in your lettuce leaves and other leafy greens. I eat A LOT of those so I keep vinegar next to my sink all the time. What I do is fill a big bowl with warm water and about 2 tablespoons of vinegar. Then I throw in all the leaves, stir it around a bit and walk away, leaving them to soak for a good 10-15mins. Wipe off any excess sand and rinse well in clean water and you're good to go.

Another use for vinegar, oddly enough, is as a laundry softener! It works wonders and it's all natural. Hang your clothes out in the sun or tumble dry them and there is NO vinegar smell at all on your clothes. They are just lovely and soft:)

There are LOADS more tips I can give you but I think that's enough for now. More to come later but I think that's more than enough to get you started;)

All about recycling

A few months back I was driving home when, out of the window of the car in front of me, came flying a cigarette box wrapper. I was incensed! I think littering has to be one of the most selfish, self-absorbed, thoughtless, arrogant, lazy, uncaring things a person can do. (does that get the message across;) I have been known to give people a hard time for spitting chewing gum out of car windows! That's just gross, and irresponsible.

It's so easy to find a bin. Seriously, if you are prepared to litter, I think it says a lot about you, the main thing being that you have a complete lack of respect for your country, your fellow citizens, animals and the environment. In short, if you can litter, it's not a big leap to something far worse. It says a lot about your character and lack of integrity. But I digress...

I saw this happen and I got MAD. I'm not a confrontational person. I tend to shy away from it. But I was mad enough to forget about that for the moment. I pulled up alongside him and opened my passenger window and asked him who he thought was going to pick up after him. He looked a bit shocked and, I think, a bit ashamed but he still said, "If "they" can do it, I can too!" I was curious about who "they" was until he made an entirely racist comment about everyone who was messing up "his" country so I said, "And do you think doing what "everyone else" apparently does makes you a better person?"He drove off swearing and waving his hands around. Very eloquent I thought;) This was a middle aged, middle class guy, who probably has a wife and kids and look at the example he is setting.

Guess he won't be recycling. We're lucky if he even knows what a bin looks like, and sadly, that applies to a lot of South Africans... But the majority of us DO know what a bin looks like;) And the majority of us also have a conscience. I think people WANT to make a difference, they just aren't sure how. Well, recycling is one way you can make a HUGE difference and it's really easy, actually.

Have you thought about where all your rubbish goes once you put your bin out for pick-it-up to collect?

Does this give you an idea?

That is where it goes; into a big landfill.  Pretty, isn't it? Most of that stuff you see ISN'T biodegradable. That means it's going to sit there for centuries to come, polluting our environment and just basically being ugly. Think about how much rubbish you put out once a week. Your bin is usually pretty full, isn't it? Food packaging alone takes up so much space that you can probably fill one bin bag in half a day, not to mention soft drink bottles and milk bottles. You probably go through about 2-3 bin bags every couple of days and 80% of that stuff is probably recyclable. And you're just one household out of millions. So why don't more South Africans recycle? Well, it comes to down to a bit of both ignorance and laziness I think. 

It's a great pity that the majority of South Africa hasn't yet cottoned on to picking up the recycling from your house for free like they do in Europe. I think it's only because we still have a fair amount of landspace here unlike Europe, which is literally running out of landspace. Unfortunately one day, when our government wakes up, it'll be too late and they'll have to take drastic measures. We could help avoid that by recycling now but most people either don't know how to, or think it is just too much effort. If you are not sure how to go about it, but would like to find out, good for you. If you are just being lazy and think you don't have the time for it, shame on you. NOT doing whatever you can for our environment is a little selfish, don't you think? If you truly have time constraints then ok, let's just look at it this way: you all make time to wash dishes don't you? You all have time to throw rubbish in a bin I assume? Well then, you have time to recycle.

We have been recycling in our house for years and it got even easier when we discovered Mama-She's. Thanks to them, we can load ALL our recyclables in ONE bin. That includes paper, plastic, cans and glass. (we wash them if needed, to avoid a smell) Mama-She's collected from our house once a week and we paid R25 a month for that. I know what you're thinking, "Why should I pay when I could just as easily throw that rubbish in a normal bin?" Well, you already know my thoughts on that!  You may not pay, but someone will and it'll probably be your grandkids. If you wanted to save that money, you COULD separate paper, cans, plastic and glass yourself and take it all to a pick-it-up site but then you're using petrol, time AND your own rubbish bags so is it really saving you anything? And it really does get a bit much after a while! I know because I used to do it and it was a mission. I can see why people would lose interest eventually. 

I'd far rather pay R25 a month for the convenience of having someone pick it all up from my house. Mama-She's even supply you with a roll of 20 rubbish bags every couple of weeks. Don't you pay at least R25 a month for 10 or 20 rubbish bin bags for your house? Well then, what are you losing really? Not much by the looks of things.

You may have noticed I said "paid"... Well, we're really lucky because Pick it up have joined forces with Mama She's in our area and now our recycling is collected for free:) All the same procedures, we just don't pay R25 a month anymore. I know they are starting to do this in many areas so enquire with your body corporate about it. Maybe start the initiative yourself.

As you can see, we have 2 bins in our kitchen. The left one is for normal rubbish and the right one is for recycling (the small one is for our compost heap but that's for another post!) If you don't have another bin, use a packet. If don't have space for 2 bins, keep a packet in the kitchen and empty it into a box in your garage/scullery/shed when it gets full.  If you have a house party, keep a bin outside for all the glass bottles, for your guests. All of our guests now know that we operate with 3 bins in our house and they don't even blink about it;) Once a week you put it out on your verge and off it goes. I also put out any cardboard boxes or large packaging I may have, with the recycling and they take those too. See what I mean? It's really so easy!

Unfortunately Mama She's only operates in Johannesburg but look at this link to find a recycling collector near you! I can't speak for all of the others, but I can vouch for Mama She's. You have nothing to lose by looking into the others.

We probably fill about 1 and a half recycling bags a week on average, which would usually go into most people's rubbish bins, and then into a landfill. We don't even fill one normal rubbish bag in a whole WEEK, with other kitchen rubbish, because there is none of the big stuff to take up space and, because we compost all of our fruit and veg cut offs, there is even less in our rubbish bin. When our big bin goes out on a Monday morning, it has ONE rather sad, empty looking bag in it which is about a quarter fill, IF it even has anything in it. The only reason we bother to take it out once a week is because it usually has old bones in it from making bone broth, or it may have some raw meat that our cats didn't finish (our cats are on a raw food diet but that's also another blog post!) So it has to go out to avoid it smelling. That's about all we throw in our actual rubbish bin.

You'd be amazed how much of the stuff you use in your kitchen is recyclable and compostable. I'd say easily 97% of it! I actually save and re-use a lot of containers. They become storage containers for various things. I store my bone broth in my old yogurt containers in my freezer and I keep all my glass honey bottles for storing food because it's healthier and I also use them to make bean sprouts and soak nuts and beans (another post!) My egg cartons are great for planting seeds in because, when you transfer them to the garden, you can actually leave the seedlings IN the egg carton and they'll biodegrade eventually. It makes transferring seedlings a whole lot easier. I also buy several litres of raw milk at a time so, when I get it, I decant it all into 1 litre milk bottles that I've saved, and then I can freeze them until I need them so they don't go off.

Those are just some ideas to get your started with your recycling. There are also loads of fun things you could do with your kids to involve them in your recycling ventures and it will teach them some very good habits for the future!

Tomorrow's post is going to give you some nice, easy ways to make a difference that I bet you didn't even think of so watch this space and keep on keeping it green!

How handy is your andy really?

It's only when you finally make that decision to go organic and chemical free, that you begin to realise how difficult it actually is to avoid chemicals altogether. They seem to be in EVERYTHING. No sooner had I changed to free range, grass fed and organic food, then I happened to look at the ingredients in my body creams, toothpaste and soaps and realised it was actually pointless only being careful with my food if I was going to slather my body with all manner of dangerous toxins, so I started cutting chemical body products out of my life. Then I happened to glance at the sunlight liquid in my kitchen cupboard and I thought, "Oooooh nooooo...."

The kitchen cupboard under most people's sinks is full of dangerous toxins. Yet we keep them within arm's reach of any child or adult, in the same space that we store and cook our food! It suddenly dawned on me one day that I didn't want things in my house that were hazardous, not only to OUR health, but to our future children's health. You hear so many horror stories of kids going into the cupboards and drinking laundry liquid, or staysoft and having to be rushed to hospital to have their stomachs pumped. What if they picked up rat poison or weed killer? Some people actually keep those in their kitchen cupboards too!

It's understandable. Our parents kept all their household cleaners etc, under the sink too. THEIR parent's probably did the same. We just tend to stick to what we know. The difference is, these days we KNOW what goes into those products... or we should! We have the power at our fingertips like never before! I googled the ingredients (because I don't have any in my house to look at!) and downloaded a pdf file with all the info you need on sunlight liquid INCLUDING first aid instructions and fire-fighting measures! Turns out sunlight liquid is combustible because it contains ethyl alcohol. Granted, it won't sustain burning unless there is other fuel nearby, but it makes you think a bit. It also contains:

• Diethanolamine - refer back to this post for info on this chemical. Just a couple of reminders: Skin and eye irritant which causes contact dermatitis. Hormone disrupting chemicals that have been restricted in Europe because continued absorption results in liver and kidney cancer. It's easily absorbed through skin to accumulate in body organs and the brain.
• Ethyl Alcohol: You may CHOOSE to drink alcohol, but did you know you were absorbing it through your skin when you washed dishes? Never mind if your child accidentally swallows some. It IS toxic in high quantities as we know. Even if you're a teetotaler, you are still getting alcohol into your system every time you wash dishes. Remember, water helps your body absorb things faster.
• Dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid: A 0.5% to 1% concentration in water caused significant irritation to eyes and skin. It is corrosive and may cause irreversible damage to eyes and skin. If you ingest it it can cause irritation of the mouth, esophagus and stomach, diarrhea, intestinal distention and occasional vomiting. When heated or on contact with strong acids, it produces highly toxic fumes.
• Sodium lauryl ether sulfate: refer back to this post for info on this chemical. Animals exposed to SLS experience eye damage, depression, laboured breathing, diarrhea, skin irritation and even death. Young eyes may not develop properly if exposed to SLS because proteins are dissolved. SLS may also damage the skin's immune system by causing layers to separate and inflame. When combined with other chemicals, SLS can be transformed into nitrosamines, a potent class of carcinogens. Your body may retain the SLS for up to five days, during which time it may enter and maintain residual levels in the heart, liver, the lungs, and the brain.

These are just SOME of the ingredients but I think that list is enough cause for concern? Think about when you wash dishes. Do you wear protective gloves? I always have because I hated the way my hands got all pruny and dry. I didn't realise I was actually protecting myself as well because I now KNOW why they get all pruny. It's because the outer layer of your skin, your epidermis, which is meant to protect you from absorbing anything, has been breached due to over-exposure to the water, which is filled with chemicals. That means that those chemicals have reached your inner layer of skin, or dermis, where all your blood vessels are and they are now floating around in your system making their way through all your organs and tissues. It's not at all unlike the body creams and soaps you use that are SUPPOSED to make you feel and look younger. The SAME ingredients that are supposed to be healing and nurturing, are in the cleaners you use to clean your floors, your toilets and your dishes.

Handy andy is another one. We have all used it for years without thinking about the consequences. If you download the data sheet (which you will find by googling "what are the ingredients in handy andy") you will see, at point number 2, that "this product is a transferred substance under the hazardous substances ... act. It is classified: harmful by inhalation and if swallowed. It is a skin and eye irritant ... harmful to the aquatic environment."It has a warning symbol on it to let people know it's a dangerous toxin and yet we keep it in our kitchens.

They warn you to keep exposure to a minimum, to wash hands thoroughly after handling, wear eye/face protection, avoid breathing vapors, to not allow contaminated work clothing out of the workplace and finally, to avoid release into the environment and to collect any spillage. That last point actually makes me want to laugh! We use it in our homes on a daily basis. It coats all our cooking surfaces and our floors! We wash it down our sinks where it travels all the way through the environment! There's no question that it ends up in an ocean and they have already pointed out that it harms aquatic life. Point 4 on the document tells you to contact the National Poisons Centre if you feel you have been harmed by this product...

Knowing all of this, the scientists take their product to the marketers and say, "How can we sell this to an unsuspecting public?" Well, that's easy. Don't put ANY of the above points on the packaging. That'll be a bit of a deterrent! Bet there were even a few laughs over that one...

They DO place a few warnings on, in all fairness, but it's the bare minimum and not enough to make us concerned. Especially since they make them seem so safe in the adverts! We look at those ads and we have a good laugh at some of them and we go out and buy the product because surely they wouldn't advocate something that was actually hazardous to us and, hey, the ad was funny! Unfortunately they would, and they do. Because it's all about the money at the end of the day, not your safety, and not the environment's safety.

In our pre-organic days, we were given a bottle of bubble bath from Woolies. After we finished the bottle, I kept it because it was a really nice glass bottle and I thought I could use it for something. (As you may know, I like to recycle things!) These days I use it for our mouthwash which I make for us (because have you SEEN the rubbish that goes into mouthwash?!) I was brushing my teeth the other day and I happened to actually read the writing on one side of the bottle. It said, "Keep out of reach of children." Then it had South African Poisons Information Centre and the number to call. This is bubble bath. Kids LOVE bubble bath. They ALWAYS manage to swallow some bath water. And we are bathing them in stuff that is considered dangerous enough to warrant putting the South African Poisons Information Centre number on it...

I don't want to go into my issues with beauty products again because I covered that quite a bit in my post "I can live without my Loreal? Could you?" THIS post is all about household cleaning products. But the frightening thing is, they are practically THE SAME ingredients. Put a pretty label on it and make it smell better, and you are fooled into thinking it's safer, but it's not. And it's not that different either.

And, once again, I challenge you with this thought: it's your body, it's your life, you can choose whether or not to take this stuff to heart. But once it leaves the drain in your house, it becomes a worldwide problem. Just imagine every household, in every suburb, in every city, in every country, on  every continent, using all these chemicals and putting them all back into the environment. Is it any wonder our oceans are running out of fish and our planet is suffering? 

If you won't consider it for yourself, consider it for your environment. We all have to share it. It seems rather unfair to leave the saving to a select few, and there are VERY FEW in comparison. If we could all stop supporting the big corporations, who have NO respect for us or our environment, maybe they'd be forced to start going natural. It's possible to do. Everything I use to clean my house is natural. I can water the garden with the water I use to wash my dishes because it's biodegradable. The same applies to my laundry and even my car! I don't use anything that says, "Keep out of reach of children." Most grocery stores sell organic cleaners so there really isn't any excuse. And I don't buy the money issue.

If you clean up your life food-wise, you save money because you no longer buy processed foods, only real, whole foods. If you stop buying all those unnecessary beauty products and stick to only what you need, you will also save money. That gives you a little extra to put into household stuff if it's needed. You don't need separate "bathroom cleaner" and " kitchen cleaner" and "floor cleaner" and "surface cleaner". You DO know you can use one product to do ALL of the above and it'll still do the same thing, right? You've been brainwashed into thinking you need different cleaners for different things and you end up buying them all and you give all your money to Unilever in the process. I don't blame you for thinking that. The marketing is brilliant. Every time I am even remotely tempted to buy something harmful, all I have to do is think of what it is doing to us, and to the environment, and I realise I'd rather go without something else, than cheat that way. It's not worth it and it's not worth the guilt I will feel after using it.

I challenge you to go into your cleaning cupboard, or your laundry, and REALLY look at all the poisons you store in your house on a daily basis without a thought. Is it any wonder cancer is so prevalent today and that global warming is such a real threat? WE are doing this, granted, unknowingly, but we are doing it to ourselves and to those around us.

I think it's time to stop. Don't you?

What is oil pulling and why should we do it?

I first discovered oil pulling while googling remedies for sensitive teeth. As you all know, I don't use conventional medicines if it can possibly be avoided. So far I've been able to do it quite easily for a year now. I spend my spare time researching alternate options to stay healthy, and so I discovered oil pulling.

Did you know that oil is one of the best substances to clean your teeth and gums? A lot of uber-healthy people who choose to live their lives as naturally as possible, use oil instead of toothpaste. I know, you're thinking about the lack of minty freshness right? I thought the same thing! There is a lot to be said for minty-fresh breath. In fact, I have a RIDICULOUSLY bad aversion to bad breath. That includes onion breath, garlic breath and the dreaded halitosis. I find it hard to keep a straight face when faced with any of those and that also makes me paranoid about my own breath! Given that I get a lot of people in my personal space at shows, I take extra special care that I am chewing on a gum, and that I've eaten no garlic or onion. (I can't eat either thanks to my IBS but sometimes they slip in without me being aware!) Unfortunately, others don't take the same precautions! But back to the oil!

Oil pulling is an ancient  Ayurvedic practice. It's been around for many, many years but is largely unknown to the western world. The east is a wealth of alternate remedies and I find them all so fascinating.

If you really think about it, your mouth is rather a filthy place! It's where most germs first gather before they head into our systems and cause havoc. You'd think the acid in your stomach would kill them all off but, given how we still get sick, it's clearly not the case with all germs. The flu virus enters your nose or mouth and heads straight to your lungs so there's little to no defense there. This is where oil pulling can help.

Oil pulling has been known to cure and prevent everything from the common cold to diabetes, heart disease and skin problems, to name a few. It goes without saying that it also does wonders for your teeth. If they're feeling over-sensitive or achy, if you have a few mouth ulcers or if you bit your cheek, or you have gingivitis, oil pulling will sort it out. I know because I suffer from mouth ulcers whenever the seasons change, or I used to! Oil pulling has solved that problem for me. It also keeps your teeth really clean, it helps remove plaque and it freshens breath simply because the bad breath bacteria get nuked!

The idea with oil pulling is to literally "pull" oil between your teeth and all through your mouth. Any germs that are in your mouth, and are touched by the oil, will get drawn into it and die. The tricky part with oil pulling is that you need to do it for about 15-20 minutes at a time! The first time I read that, I thought, "Eeeeuuww! No way! Not gonna happen." Now that I look back, I can't imagine why I had such an issue with it. The pros far outweigh the cons and it's like second nature to me now.

So, what do you need to do this? Well, just a tablespoon of decent quality oil. To be honest, I think it will work with any oil, but as I tend to avoid all chemicals, I go with organic oil. The one that works the best for me is organic coconut oil and the reason is, because it tastes the best! Dischem sells it too:)

Sesame oil is highly recommended and also tastes better than most. If you are going to have it in your mouth for 20 minutes, you had best go with the oil that tastes the best to you. 20 minutes can sometimes feel like an eternity, especially if you are using plain old sunflower oil! That gag reflex will probably set in.

How do you actually do it? Here is my little routine:

• Always do it first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach (because you WILL probably gag the first few times)
• Put a tablespoon of oil in your mouth (coconut oil goes hard if the weather is cool. I used to melt it but now I just chew it until it melts. I'd suggest melting it initially. I definitely gagged the first time I tried chewing the coconut oil!!)
• Slowly swirl the oil around your mouth. Don't do it fast or your jaw will get tired. If your jaw feels tired or aches, you're going to fast. Move it around your mouth in a slow, swishing action, from side to side, making sure you get it through all the gaps between your teeth, your palate, your gums, even the back of your mouth (don't gargle with it though. Just tilt your head back slightly to reach the back) 
• Try not to swallow it. It is full of bacteria and not something you want in your system
• Try it for as long as you can with 20 minutes being your limit. Start off slow and work your way up to 20 minutes
• Preferably spit the oil in a drain or toilet as it is full of germs. It should go a milky white colour by the time you spit it out. Run some hot water down the drain to wash it away or it will build up.
• Straight after you spit it out, have a mug of warm salty water on standby (just half a teaspoon of salt will do)
• Rinse your mouth with the salt water and gargle with it to make sure you remove all of the oil residue and then you're good to go!

My morning starts off by feeding our 6 cats, which takes about 20 minutes, so I oil pull while I do that to keep me distracted and I'm hardly even aware that I'm doing it anymore. The only time I notice is when I need to say something to GLM and this usually involves a lot of waving, hand gestures and eyebrow wriggling;) She's quite used to me now!

I definitely notice if I miss doing it for a day or two. My teeth are quite sensitive and, as I avoid fluoride at all costs due to it being so dangerous (another blog post about that coming soon!), I don't use any conventional toothpastes. Oil pulling is the best remedy for sensitive teeth, among other things. I feel bad if I start my day without it and I'm convinced I got flu because I was busy and skipped a couple of days!

So, there you have it! Some of you are probably convinced I've stepped off the sanity bus but I'm fine with that;) They say sanity is the playground of the unimaginative. I find I am able to do just about anything if I know it will be good for me, no matter how crazy it may seem. And I dare anyone to define "normal" to me. I'm a gay woman. I've had plenty people try to tell me what normal is;) To me, normal is following the crowd, doing everything everyone else does without thinking of the consequences; whether it's bad for you or your environment, or whether it's not. Knowledge is power and ignorance can be hazardous to your health.

Step out of the box and try something crazy, like oil pulling! You'll find the health benefits far outweigh the strange looks you may get from your nearest and dearest;)