Monday Mix-up - My top eco-friendly tips - Week 7

Really?!

Today's tip may not sound like much of a tip but I need to get on my soap box today! Sometimes the writing takes me in a direction I don't plan on, what can I say;) I am NOT a fan of reality TV, especially when it comes to anything on the E channel. Unfortunately, my wife loves that channel. Whenever I am not in the lounge, she switches it over and takes advantage of a chance to catch up in the latest celebrity news. 

It's kind of ironic that I would take part in a national, televised singing competition, and become a household name, all the while hating reality TV, I know;) I don't discount what it did for me as an aspiring musician and I'm grateful for that. The thing is the show taught me just how contrived "reality" TV actually is. Everything about it felt fake and "put on". It made me feel uncomfortable that absolute strangers were so wrapped up in my everyday life and that a lot of them had VERY strong feelings about how I lived that life and felt they had a right to express those feelings at any time. It bothered me that a lot of the things we did were for the benefit of the cameras, alone and not really for our benefit at all. That's reality TV for you. 

So yesterday, GLM had her favourite channel on while I was busy in the kitchen. I came to sit down and caught a few minutes of what was on. I'm guessing it was some kind of news programme and they had 2 guests on the show that were involved in a reality TV show called Rich Kids of Beverley Hills. They showed a snippet from the actual show and it involved a blonde teenager telling her friends that her mom wasn't comfortable with her moving in with her boyfriend. There was a moment of dramatic silence and then everyone expressed their horror at how her boyfriend was going to handle the news, and that's where the show ended...

Cut back to the interview and the presenter was talking to them about that snippet and the blonde was saying how they were really hoping that leaving the audience hanging after dropping that "bombshell" would hopefully bring in even more viewers because people were genuinely concerned about her... Hats off the the presenter. He managed to look interested AND excited while still sounding vaguely sarcastic and it went over both the girls heads! Or maybe that was just me HOPING it was sarcasm...

Is it only me that looks at something like that and finds it amazing that those 2 rich little girls are so wrapped up in their own little worlds that they actually buy into the show's propaganda? It really just struck me that, with all the money at their fingertips, THIS is what is important in their world. I know TV is all about escapism but, when I see how much money goes into these vacuous, mindless TV shows, it actually boggles my brain! What amazes me more is the huge viewership these shows have.

We are living in a world that edges closer and closer to the edge of an environmental armageddon. Global warming is changing our world faster than we can keep up, animals are going extinct right under our noses thanks to human negligence and violence, we have holes in the ozone layer, our water supply is diminishing rapidly, people are starving in so many countries, about a third of the world's population has cancer and that number increases at an alarming rate. The list is an endless one. 

It would be fine if, while we were obsessing over these TV shows and so-called celebrities, we were also doing our bit to help our planet and all the damage being done to it but most people aren't doing that. We've somehow managed to block off any external interference and focus only on what happens in our own, very small, worlds, and the small worlds of a few choice celebrities. 

And they ARE small worlds. We each only have an average of 70 years on this earth. That's just you. One tiny little person. Now multiply that by 7 billion. That's how many people are on planet earth. That's 7 billion lives, all with their own stuff going on. In between all of those people are millions of animals. Then we have trees, mountains, seas, oceans and rivers. Think a bit further afield. We are just ONE planet in ONE galaxy out of a 100 million galaxies. Your world really IS so small.

I find it incredibly ironic that, as small as we are, in the whole scheme of things, we have inflicted so much damage on a huge and beautiful planet that has given us so much and asks for so little in return. I find it strange that, given how small we are, in the middle of all of these galaxies, we have managed to cocoon ourselves in a cloak of denial and unaccountability. It will end up being very ironic when the rapid progress that humankind has made ends up being the demise of humankind.

Sounds morbid and depressing, doesn't it? But it's the truth. While we are busy wrapping ourselves up in our little cocoons, worshipping vacuous celebrities, buying into propaganda, milking our planet dry in our pursuit of the perfect lipstick, laundry powder or handbag, we are sucking our planet dry and it only has so much to give.

I'm not saying you need to stop watching reality TV, start wearing hessian cloth bags and start living off the grid. It's okay to enjoy the progress humankind has made while still doing your bit to preserve the planet. I'm just saying, start living more consciously. Start becoming aware that not all of the stuff you see on TV is the gospel truth. Just because Sarah Jessica Parker is carrying a certain handbag, doesn't mean you MUST have it. Channels like the E channel are designed to draw you in and try and sell you everything and anything. It promotes a culture that focuses on self-absorption, indulgence and a total lack of regard for what is happening in the real world. Watch it for entertainment, for sure. But don't emulate the people you watch.

Strive to be better, to do better. Look back on the posts of the last 6 weeks and find ways that YOU can help ease the stress being placed on your planet. It IS your planet. People seem to get very patriotic about their country but they forget that we should feel the same way about our planet. It's ours. We have the power to make or break it. Remember that next time you want to buy a conventional cleaning product or you throw a piece of paper away that could've been recycled.

So this is your tip for today: Step outside of your world and broaden your perspective. Realise that it's not always about you and your needs. It often takes a big wake up call to make us realise that. Let's hope it doesn't take too big of a one or we may not be around to start making the changes we need to.

Real Food Friday Feast - Tasty, healthy treats for the school holidays

During the school holidays, we tend to think it's a time to indulge our kids a little more. They go to bed a little later, they have more sleepovers and routines get stretched a bit more and they eat more sweets and other junk "food". It's nice to let them enjoy the downtime they have been given and I'd say it's important. School is hard work for their little brains and it doesn't give them much time to just be kids. We all need time to unwind.

The problem with indulging them with more junk than usual is that they get more hyperactive and moody and they have horrible sugar crashes that just make them feel horrible and can seriously ruin everybody's day. There are ways to avoid this. There are actually plenty of treats that you can make for your kids to snack on over the holidays that WON'T give them, or you, the sugar blues.

I've taken the liberty of putting ALL of my food treats blog posts down in one blog post so that it's easy for you to find, and use! All of these recipes use organic and free range ingredients and contain absolutely nothing that will have a negative effect on your kids (unless of course they are allergic to something but I always try to give alternative options for allergies)

Caramel-Crunch Chocolate Cake - This is a grain-free cake recipe that happened by accident but was so popular the plate was literally licked clean!

Home-made yogurt - This may not seem very dessert-like but kids LOVE yogurt and all store bought yogurts, unless they say "organic" are loaded with things you don't want your kids eating. This yogurt is so easy to make and you can add anything you want to it to make it nice and tasty for your kids.

Banana Bread - If you kids don't like bananas, play around with other options. I've used the same recipe but added apple and cinnamon instead of banana. You can also add cranberries, nuts or even chunks of dark chocolate.

Grain-Free Pizza - Why would you go grain-free? Well, gluten is not something any of us should be eating. Our bodies just don't know what to do with it and it's one of the main reasons for a lot of compromised immune systems. This pizza is low in calories but high in goodness and flavour!

Cabbage/Kale chips and coconut flake chips - Ok, you're reading that and going, "There is NO way my kids is going to eat that!" Well, I can tell you that my nephew loved them and he's 6 years old. He asked me to make more! Don't knock them til you try them and definitely DON'T tell them that the chips are made of cabbage!

Grain-free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free, chocolate cupcakes - My mom used this recipe for my triplet nephews birthday party and it went down exceptionally well!

Banana ice-cream - This is not banana flavoured ice-cream. It's literally ice cream made only with bananas and it is DELICIOUS.

Fruity yogurt popsicles - What kid doesn't like running into the kitchen after playing in the sun for ages, and grabbing a popsicle from the freezer? These are healthy AND delicious.

Gluten-free mince pies - These are considered a christmas treat but honestly, what's to stop you from making them any time of the year!?

Cranberry pie - A gluten-free recipe that is nutritious and too delicious for kids to resist!

Creamy sweet potato soup - This is not a dessert, I know. But it's so sweet and delicious, I guarantee your kids will THINK it's a treat:)

Chocolate custard - What kid doesn't like custard? Problem is, the store bought ones are not good for them. Good news is, this one is!

Avocado chocolate truffles - I put these out at a dinner party a little while back and everyone was VERY wary! Now it's ALL they can talk about whenever they come back for dinner;) They sound strange but are truly delicious!

Home made peanut butter - Kids love peanut butter. But Skippy and its equivalents are just so full of rubbish. Making it yourself is so much healthier AND the kids can even get involved:)

There you go! Plenty of treats to choose from over the next couple of weeks. And don't think they are just for the kids. I guarantee you'll get just as much enjoyment out of them:) If you are thinking it all sounds too much like hard work, just think about happy, healthy children! What more encouragement do you need?

Wellness Wednesday - Exercise and pregnancy - Week 3

You've been an avid gymmer for years now but you've just found out you're pregnant and the doctor has warned you to stop exercising in case you cause your baby harm. You're really upset by this thought because you love exercising. You also don't want to lose your fitness, or gain too much extra body fat during the next 9 months but you're now terrified of harming your baby, thanks to your doctor.

If you can relate to this then I have good news for you! You can, and you SHOULD exercise during your pregnancy. Rest and relaxation during pregnancy is an outdated, old-fashioned notion that is no longer recommended by those who are in the know regarding the most up to date studies regarding pregnant women and exercise.

I love the idea of helping women who are completely lost when it comes to exercise and fitness. That's what inspired me to study to train pre and post-natal women. Most pregnant women have been told that they shouldn't exercise and they are simply terrified to even try it. The problem with NOT exercising during your pregnancy is that you are setting yourself, and your baby, up for a difficult pregnancy, birth and recovery.

So why should you exercise during pregnancy? Well, we all know why exercise is so good for us, pregnant or not. It's good for your brain, your body, your self-esteem, it can calm your nerves and even reverse disease. There have been countless studies to show the numerous positive effects fitness can have on the human body. Now studies are showing that exercise can have a wonderfully positive effect on a developing fetus. One of those studies, done by the Society for Neuroscience, showed that those who exercised during pregnancy could be giving their unborn child a serious neurological advantage.

The study involved a group of 18 pregnant women who were followed throughout their pregnancy, starting in their first trimester. 8 of them were signed to a sedentary group, 10 of them to an active group and the active women were asked to exercise at least 20 minutes a day, three times a week. Eight to twelve days after the women gave birth, researchers fitted the newborns with electrodes that measure brain activity in response to various sounds. (This is an established test for memory according to Dr Dave Ellemberg, a neuroscientist at the University of Montreal) The newborns of the active moms showed far more mature, more effective brain patterns.

Dr Dave Ellemberg said, "What we found out is that there's this amazing transfer from what the mother does, onto her child. Moms-to-be can give their kids "a kickstart even before they're born."

This is just one test of many but the proof is there. Exercise is good for your baby. The notion that a pregnant woman is like an egg shell and that she is one step away from shattering is just crazy. The human body is a remarkable thing. If we were THAT fragile, we may not have survived as a species. Women have been pregnant, and given birth, under the most trying of circumstances over the centuries. In a lot of countries, women are still doing manual labour right up until they give birth.

Here, we actually have to make a point to go to a gym, or get out for a walk, just so that we can get the exercise our bodies and babies need.

We know that exercise is good for your baby but why is it good for you during pregnancy? Well, aside from the obvious points I mentioned earlier about it being good for your body and your health and preventing disease, exercise will make your pregnancy a LOT easier on your body. Your body goes through so many changes while you're pregnant. You end up with aches and pains you never had before. One of those is backache and also an arched lower back.

Most people know that backache is a given but do you know why? Well, think about your body suddenly having to carry this extra load. If your back muscles are weak they are going to end up being pulled forward by the heavy load you are carrying and that is going to hurt. The condition is called Lordosis and it's very common in pregnant women but it doesn't have to be. This is where exercise will help immensely. If you strengthen your core and lower back you will ease the back ache by minimising the arch in your lower back.

Another thing that the extra weight will affect are your legs or, more specifically, your knees. If you aren't used to carrying around extra weight, your knees are going to struggle. A way to counteract that would be to exercise your upper legs. Start right from the first trimester and get them ready to deal with the increasing weight they will be carrying.

If you've walked around carrying extra weight you'll know that it tends to leave you a bit breathless and tired. This is where fitness will really benefit you. Train your body to be able to handle the extra weight without it putting strain on your heart or your baby. Cardio workouts are essential for that reason, among a few others. Cardio will also help with that water retention that most pregnant women have to cope with. It can get horribly uncomfortable. If you can get yourself moving, it will lessen the retention.

Something that most pregnant women aren't prepared for is their lack of balance as they get bigger. We are used to our centre of gravity being in a certain place for all our lives but that is going to change drastically over the months during your pregnancy. Exercising your body's neuromuscular system will be a huge help to you there. This is best done right from the first trimester so as to prepare your body for the extra weight coming along soon. Having strong legs and a strong core will go a long way to helping you retain your balance as well. Exercises on a stability ball will encourage all of those muscles to kick in and train your body to know what to do if you feel off balance.

The birth itself is pretty hectic. If your body is weak and unfit, I can guarantee it won't be an easy birth. You will be exhausted and your body will struggle to keep up with what's needed. By the end of it you will be so tired and sore that will be horrible because all you'll want to do is spend time with your new little baby. Avoid difficult child birth and give yourself a chance to really be PRESENT when your baby is born by exercising throughout your pregnancy to keep your fitness levels up. It will allow you to maintain throughout and feel relatively okay afterwards.

In the weeks to come after giving birth, your body is going to need some time to recover. That's normal. However, if you are fit and healthy, your body will heal FAR faster which means you will be up and about and able to be there for your baby sooner and you'll have energy for it. Some women, after giving birth, suffer from post natal depression. If you have exercised all the way through your pregnancy you dramatically lower your chances of that happening. I can't imagine anything worse than experiencing the miracle of pregnancy and childbirth only to feel empty and numb afterwards. This alone would be a really good motivator for me.

If you think that, because you aren't pregnant, none of this applies to you I'd like to go back to the first post in this series. If you haven't exercised before and you decide to start exercising once you are pregnant, then you will definitely need supervision by a professional trainer. If you have exercised for several years, then carrying on with exercise once you fall pregnant will be fine. What I'm saying is, most women, at some point in their lives, are going to fall pregnant. Exercising from early on will give you a definite advantage and allow you to carry on exercising easily through your pregnancy with very little changes needed.

I'll end with one last point. Most women who don't exercise through their pregnancy end up never exercising again in their lives. That's because their time is too taken up with looking after a baby and it's really hard to form new habits that benefit YOU when your life is taken up by the needs of your baby. Women tend to not think of themselves when their children are involved. IF you start exercising during your pregnancy, you are already forming a habit of juggling your needs with your baby's, and you'll be acclimatising yourself to facing different kinds of challenges so it'll be easier to continue along those lines once your baby is born.

That's it for today's post. Next week will be the last post in this series and I will give you some exercises that you can do at home or at a gym, to get your started on your healthful, fit pregnancy!

Monday Mix-up - My top eco-friendly tips - Week 5

Already week 5 of my own personal eco-friendly tips to help YOU lower your carbon footprint and this week I'm going to bring up something that should really be a no-brainer but people still don't really understand how easy it is to be guilty of this. In case you aren't sure what these posts are all about, read from the beginning and work your way through the monday posts.

Tip number 15: Don't be a litterbug

We are so used to seeing this it barely registers anymore.

Your initial reaction is probably, "But I never litter!" I'll tell you two instances where people litter and don't even consider that it might be littering. Are you guilty of throwing your chewing gum/bubble gum out of the car window or sticking it under a chair/bench/table? It's amazing how many adults do this and don't consider it littering. I had a friend who used to spit his gum out the car window without a thought. I would pick him out about it and he'd laugh at me thinking I was a bit strange to worry about the birds and the bugs... He was a decent, normal guy who always did the right thing, not someone you'd imagine littering. But he couldn't comprehend why this was littering. He thought I was taking my environmental consciousness over the boarder of crazy;) Chewing gum is FAR from biodegradable. Just because it goes in our mouths doesn't make it safe for the environment. Gum is built to last. It doesn't dissolve. When you stick it or throw it somewhere, it's going to stay there until a poor, unsuspecting animal comes along and eats it.

Because gum isn't biodegradable, it can pose a threat to specific ecosystems. Animals, such as birds, often mistake gum for food and can die due to digestion complications. Isoamyl acetate, a gum flavor ingredient, is a bee pheromone, making it possible for littered gum products to disrupt bee behavior. We have enough bee issues because of pesticides as it is. The chemicals used to clean gum off the pavement are toxic to the environment but the stuff is so tough that nothing else will get it off. You'll know this if you've ever got it stuck on your clothes or in your hair. Gum is also a hotbed for bacteria and that creates an unhealthy environment for humans. Singapore has actually banned chewing gum in public! I'm not sure how they've enforced it but it's been that way for more than 10 years and it seems to be working.

Because gum isn't biodegradable, it can pose a threat to specific ecosystems. Animals, such as birds, often mistake gum for food and can die due to digestion complications. Isoamyl acetate, a gum flavor ingredient, is a bee pheromone, making it possible for littered gum products to disrupt bee behavior. We have enough bee issues because of pesticides as it is. The chemicals used to clean gum off the pavement are toxic to the environment but the stuff is so tough that nothing else will get it off. You'll know this if you've ever got it stuck on your clothes or in your hair. Gum is also a hotbed for bacteria and that creates an unhealthy environment for humans. Singapore has actually banned chewing gum in public! I'm not sure how they've enforced it but it's been that way for more than 10 years and it seems to be working.

There is more than 1 million metric tons of chewing gum produced every year. There are over 374 trillion sticks of chewing gum made every year. That doesn't include bubble gum. The average person chews over 300 pieces of chewing gum a year. Most of that is thrown on the ground or out of car windows. There are about 1600 known species of bacteria. We find bacteria all around us and they can be transferred through all sorts of mediums including the things we know like coughs, sneezes, dirty hands, contaminated foods, a sick person's body fluids but, did you know they are also transferred through chewing gum?

The second thing that MANY humans are guilty of is throwing cigarette butts out of car windows, over walls, anywhere on the ground etc. For some reason, people think these are environmentally friendly? If that's not the reason then someone please enlighten me as to why this is common practice because it's obvious they don't think twice about throwing them any old place but in a bin. Some may say they stink and don't want them in the bin in the house or that they are a fire hazard... Yes... they DO stink... yes... they ARE a fire hazard... so why go and place them in the environment and mess it up for everyone else and contribute to causing fires that destroy so much of the environment? They are toxic and they're dangerous when alight, pure and simple. They may eventually biodegrade but at what cost? They are leeching dangerous toxins into the ground. They are also being mistaken for food by animals and are poisoning them. You have made a choice to poison your body but I don't understand why the environment must suffer too. Can you tell this makes me mad;)

Researchers estimate that 1.7 billion pounds of cigarette butts accumulate in lakes and oceans and on beaches and the rest of the planet every year! These cigarette butts contain the same dangerous chemicals contained in a cigarette, including carcinogens and other poisons. Globally, about 4.3 trillion cigarette butts litter the earth every year. Smokers in America ALONE contribute more than 250 billion cigarette butts to that number. The UK contributes 200 tons of butts, and Australian smokers, more than 7 billion cigarette butts every year. In most Western countries cigarette butt litter accounts for approximately 50 percent of ALL litter. That little butt you just flicked out of your window? Bet you didn't think it would contribute to something of that magnitude. Most of you wouldn't think of doing that with a coke can. Why is a cigarette butt any different?


If you are guilty of littering in either of these two ways, now is your chance to stop. You can buy ashtrays for your car that minimize smell and smoke. If you don't want your car to smell like an ashtray, don't smoke in it... It's really not fair to keep your own personal space clean by throwing out cigarettes to the detriment of the environment and those who are trying to keep it clean. While cigarettes are the world's biggest contributors to litter, chewing gum is second in the list. Once gum is made, it is going to be on the earth FOREVER. It won't compost or biodegrade, you can't even get rid of it by swallowing it. Your stomach will send it out whole and then it will be the sewerage system's problem. It's a problem that isn't going to go away. The best thing you can do is carry scrap paper in a pocket or your handbag and, when you are done with it, fold it securely in the paper and throw it in a rubbish bin. This will at least stop it from being such a health hazard and it will keep it in one place instead of lining our streets.

That's it. Only one tip for today because I think it's an important one and needed more than just a paragraph. I really hope that it makes you think a bit and I hope you will feel brave enough to confront your friends when they do this without thinking. Good friends won't mind. Sometimes people just don't put two and two together. It doesn't make them bad people at all. They'll more than likely WANT to do something to fix it because, I like to believe that people are still inherently good and WANT to do what's right. Call me Pollyanna;)

Wellness Wednesday - Exercise and pregnancy - Week 2

Can you exercise while you're pregnant? Of course you can, and you should. Obviously there are a few things you need to take into account, and be aware of. After all, it's not just your health you have to look out for now. You have someone else on board who is pretty vulnerable and totally reliant on you.

Pregnancy is not a disease. It's something women have been doing for centuries, very well obviously, because our population is expanding faster than the earth can keep up with! Over the centuries, things have changed. Death during childbirth was far more common in the 19th century than it is now and a big part of that had to do with something as simple as washing hands. Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis was a hungarian physician who discovered that having clean hands led to more babies surviving. In fact, the infant mortality rate dropped from 35% to below 1%!

These days, I wonder if doctors haven't maybe taken things a bit too far. They have women convinced that the only way to give birth is in a hospital. Hospitals immediately make you think of illness which attaches a very bad connotation to the whole birth thing. Doctors also tell women that they should be taking it easy during their pregnancy. Not only is that theory outdated, but it's dangerous. In last week's post I spoke in more detail about this.

As I said, you SHOULD be exercising, there are just a few things you need to watch out for, and they aren't complicated. As I said last week, heart rate is something to consider, but certainly not the be-all and end-all. Read last week's post to find out why. The most important thing to keep an eye on is actually the body's core temperature. It's the same reason that they tell women not to have hot baths. An increase in the core body temperature of a pregnant woman can affect the fetus, especially during the first trimester. When you're pregnant, your core body temperature rises because you have around 40% more blood pumping around your body to cope with the needs of your unborn baby. Your heart also gets slightly bigger and moves to one side because your uterus expands over the months, so your body has to work harder to keep you cool. It's far more essential to keep an eye on how much you're sweating and whether or not your face is getting red, than it is to watch your heart rate.

This doesn't mean you need to carry a thermometer around with you;) Just take some precautions. You should be exercising in a well ventilated room, even better if it's air conditioned. You should be wearing light, non-restrictive clothing and you should be well hydrated. Keep a bottle of ice cold water on hand. If you have got all of this covered and you are still feeling hot, that means you are exercising too hard and you need to tone it down. That should be your biggest concern when exercising while pregnant, NOT your heart rate.

If you are a regular exerciser then it's absolutely fine to continue exercising and doing what you were doing before. What you do need to do is tone it down slightly and that's mostly because you want to keep your body temperature down. You also want to keep any stretching to a minimum. The reason for this is that pregnant women's bodies release a hormone called Relaxin. The purpose of Relaxin is to loosen your ligaments in preparation for pregnancy. The only thing is, Relaxin makes ALL your ligaments relax and, if you stretch too much, you could cause permanent damage to those ligaments. Doing yoga is still ok but limit your stretches and be sure to tell your instructor that you are pregnant. It's important that you don't stretch past your normal range of motion.

Something else to consider, after the first trimester, is that you should avoid lying flat on your back. The uterus could potentially compress the vena cava, which may result in a reduced blood flow, leaving you dizzy or nauseated. There are other exercises you can do in place of ab crunches or bench pressing. Your trainer should be able to give you alternatives. It's better to avoid sit ups and crunches during pregnancy anyway to avoid developing a condition called diastasus recti. A diastasis recti is a separation of your outer most abdominal muscles and it can be a real problem because the job of those muscles is to support your lower back and organs. A lot of women suffer from this and never recover which means they always have very weak cores. This will lead to back problems among other issues as well as the fact that your second pregnancy will be far more difficult.

As I said earlier, you want to tone down your training if you are pregnant. You don't want to lose weight during pregnancy, you want to maintain a weight that is healthy. A common misconception is that women think they need to literally double the amount of food they are eating. You are NOT, in fact, eating for two. You only need increase the amount of calories you eat per day by 300. That's roughly the equivalent of a large potato with a bit of butter. Keep those extra calories healthy. Remember that, what you eat, your baby will eat. Give them a good headstart for a healthy lifestyle. You WILL gain weight while pregnant. That's a given. But you shouldn't be gaining loads of body fat.

That's it for this week. Next week we will discuss WHY exercising is so vital to yours and your baby's health. Meanwhile, if anyone has any questions, please feel free to comment below!

Monday Mix-up - My top eco-friendly tips - Week 6

I can't believe we're in week 6 of my eco-friendly tips! There seems to be an endless amount of things you can do to help preserve our planet and help it heal itself from the constant daily onslaught we humans inflict on it. No idea what I'm talking about? Read back from week one and just work your way through the archives to see how easy it is to do your bit and how NECESSARY it is too.

Tip number 16: Stop using artificial air fresheners

I don't know anyone (besides us!) who doesn't have a can of toilet spray in their bathroom. Besides the toilet spray, you also get those wooden sticks that you put into fluid and leave scattered around your house? Another popular option these days are those battery operated air-fresheners that pump out supposed sanitisers every hour or so. I know people don't realise just how bad all of these are for you, but the reality is that they are TERRIBLY bad for you. Lately it seems that every house we go into has these things. I can't understand why anyone would want a fake, toilety kind of smell in their houses but, for some reason, they're all the rage.

Read this blog post to see exactly what you are breathing in every time these things squirt poison into your home. The list is too long to type here. We’ve been duped into thinking that we need these products to protect us from harmful bacteria or viruses even though there is no evidence that they actually disinfect the air AT ALL. They only mask smells. They don't get rid of them. What there is evidence of, is that they harm us, sometimes irreparably. And, as with everything that you use in your house, it generally doesn't stop there. The air travels out of your house, because that's the nature of air, and it carries those toxins with it, adding MORE pollution to our, already filthy, air. There are so many other alternatives to make your house smell good, while still keeping it safe and non-toxic for you and your family. Read this post for some ideas. I often get guests commenting on the lovely smells in our house and I only use natural air-fresheners so they must be doing something right:)

Tip number 17: Avoid chemical household cleaners

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. You hear 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.

These days it's really easy to be aware of what we are exposing ourselves too. 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 found 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. There's also a whole bunch of other ingredients you don't really want near the dishes you eat off.

These things MAY be considered okay in small doses, by the FDA. The problem is that we are ALL using them day in and day out. That's millions of households in South Africa alone, sending toxic household cleaning chemicals down their drains. Is it any wonder our planet is in such dire straits?

How about the fact that we are ingesting or breathing in these chemicals on a daily basis in our own homes. We make a sandwich on the plates that have dishwashing soap residue or on a counter that has Handy Andy residue. Our animals lie around on the floors and we stroke and kiss them. Or our babies crawl around on those same floors and stick their hands in their mouths at every opportunity. You don't think about the many ways that toxins can affect you and your family, but there they are.

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 with is natural. I can water the garden with the water I use to wash my dishes and my laundry and even my car! I don't use anything that says, "Keep out of reach of children." Most grocery stores sell organic cleaning products so there really isn't any excuse. Even Clicks have come to the party now and are stocking earth friendly cleaning products which work really well and are affordable. Is a stain on a piece of clothing really THAT important to you that you need to sacrifice your health, and the health of our planet, just to remove it? We use a block of natural soap and it works just as well as Vanish. There are options. Start looking for them instead of just taking the easy route because a TV advert says so. Manufacturers will try and lure you in with all sorts of jargon. That's all it is. They spin a story and we buy into it. Their interest in is their bottom line, not your health or the planet's health. It's time we stopped allowing them to sway us so easily.

Two every easy ways to make a difference. Check out this blog post to get ideas on how to clean your house naturally and spread the word. It's so easy to do something positive for your health and for your planet and everyone benefits. 

Real Food Friday Feast - Cheesy bacon and mushroom pasta

I know, right?! Betcha never thought you'd see pasta anywhere on my blog;) Pasta is something I haven't eaten for a really, really long time. Reason being that most pasta is wheat and gluten based. Granted, these days you get all sorts of wheat and gluten free pastas but, the problem with a lot of those wheat-free ones is that they are maize based and that usually means GMOs. It's also really difficult to find a gluten free spaghetti that holds its shape and doesn't get all soggy when you cook it.

As the cook in the house I get a lot of free reign in the kitchen and I tend to decide what's on the menu for dinner. But, every now and then, GLM will say, rather wistfully, "I really feel like spaghetti..." I always feel so bad because it NEVER gets the nod for the reasons I gave above. However, this time I made it my mission to find a spaghetti my stomach could tolerate, for my wife's benefit.

Guess what? I found it!

I know they sound like normal rice noodles but this stuff is SO much like normal spaghetti it's amazing! It's not only delicious but it holds its shape and doesn't go even a little bit soggy. These particular noodles have wakame in them. Wakame is a sea vegetable FULL of minerals so that's an added bonus. The other bonus is that they take 6 minutes to cook. So this is a quick and easy meal that you can throw together in about 10 minutes and it's perfect comfort food for this chilly weather we're having.

Bacon is another problem food for me. I hadn't eaten bacon for over 12 years when I finally found it on an online organic and free range food website. I have NEVER been so excited! I made it for our wedding anniversary last week and ate it for the first time in 12 years. I felt like I was in heaven! It really is one of the best foods ever created;) The reason I couldn't have it was because my stomach had a real problem with digesting any meats but chicken and fish. I have since discovered that I can handle free range meats just fine, most likely because they aren't fed a diet of GM grains and so I've slowly been introducing other meats back into my diet and it's been such a wonderful experience! I feel like a kid at christmas:)

Bacon has gotten a bad rap for many years. Let's face it, it's a seriously fatty food. But I know very few people who can resist the smell of bacon frying. Even the most hardcore vegans have to walk out of a room because it's an almost unbearably delicious smell and the temptation is too great!

The only time I would say to avoid bacon is if it's conventional bacon. By that I mean, it comes from factory-farmed pigs whose diets consist of feeds that include soy, corn and other inferior oils. Nutritionally, free range pork is worlds apart from farm fed pork. Yes, it's full of fat, but let's break the fat down:

• 50% of the fat in bacon is monounsaturated and is mostly made up of oleic acid, which is the same stuff we all value in olive oil. 
• About 3% is palmitoleic acid which is a monounsaturate with valuable antimicrobial properties
• About 40 % of bacon fat is saturated and this is what worries a lot of "fat phobics" but that saturated fat is the reason why bacon fat is pretty stable and unlikely to go rancid. 
• 10% of the fat is in the valuable form of polyunsaturates
• Pork fat also contains a form of phosphatidylcholine that is a more powerful antioxidant than Vitamin E. 
• Bacon fat from free range pigs contains fat-soluble vitamin D but the bacon MUST be from foraging pigs that play outdoors in the sun for most of the year. Factory-farmed pigs that are kept indoors and fed rations from soy, casein, corn meal, and other grains will have low levels of Vitamin D

So many good reasons to eat free-range bacon. Another exceptionally important reason is simply that factory farmed pigs are treated very cruelly. Pregnant pigs are kept in crates JUST big enough for them to lie down in and they are kept in those crates for about 4 weeks with their piglets. After that they are separated despite the fact that piglets usually suckle for 12 weeks. They separate them for a reason. It causes stress to the mother and makes her come into season much faster so that she can have another litter sooner than nature intended. Truly awful treatment of an animal whose life is devoted to feeding us, against their choice! That is why it is VERY important that you buy free range pork and never support the conventional pork industry.

Cheesy bacon and mushroom pasta

Cheese Sauce

2 Tbs butter
1½ Tbs chickpea flour
1 cup milk (use cow or goat's milk)
½ cups freshly shredded cheese 

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

• Add the butter to a pan on medium heat
• Once melted, add the flour and half the milk
• Stir in with a whisk and then add the remainder of the milk
• Keep stirring and add the cheese
• Stir for a few minutes until it thickens and then remove from heat

Bacon and mushroom

1 packet free range bacon (buy it here if you're in Jhb and here if you're in Durban. Anyone with a Cape Town source, please let me know!)
1 small onion
1 garlic clove
2 Tbs butter

Origanum

Salt and pepper

Method

• Add the butter to a pan on medium heat
• Once melted, finely chop the onion and garlic and add to pan
• Fry until soft (about 3 minutes)
• Chop up the bacon into bite-size pieces and add to pan
• Fry for about 3 minutes
• Roughly chop mushrooms and add to pan
• Mix everything and fry for about 5-10minutes
• Remove from heat and leave to sit for 5 minutes
• Add bacon and mushroom mix to cheese sauce
• Serve over a bed of pasta

This meal is a healthy, TASTY meal that kids will LOVE. Remember to always go for healthier options like an organic, gluten free pasta. You may think you can handle gluten but most people can't. Stick to healthy cheese from the farmer's market. Avoid anything conventional off the shelves of a grocery store wherever possible unless it's organic or free range. Mushrooms are part of the "clean 15" so if you can't find organic mushrooms, just give the conventional ones a really good wash.

That's it! Have a wonderful, health-filled weekend:)

Wellness Wednesday - Exercise and pregnancy - Week 1

I can imagine a lot of you are looking at the title and thinking, "Yeah right, exercise and pregnancy can't go together!" That's where you're wrong. In fact, there couldn't be a more important time to exercise. The idea that pregnancy is akin to an illness and needs to be treated as such is not only outdated, but also poses a danger to yours, and your baby's, health.

Being pregnant should be one of them most beautiful times of a woman's life. To create life is nothing short of a miracle and, the fact that women have the power to do this is incredible. For some women, however, it ends up being the worst time of their lives and triggers a downward spiral, healthwise, that they are unable to bounce back from.

Women have been giving birth to babies for thousands and thousands of years with great success. The idea that pregnancy, and the actual birth itself, need to be treated almost like an illness, is a crazy one. Yes, there are extreme circumstances. A much older woman, or a woman who has had many miscarriages and is high risk should be cautious. But a healthy woman under the age of 40 shouldn't see pregnancy as a reason to get off her feet and limit her activity.

If you have gymmed in the past, and you fall pregnant, there's no reason to stop exercising at all. If your past fitness regime was three times a week and included resistance and cardiovascular training, then carry on with that training. What you SHOULD avoid is stepping it up a notch. Your body is fully accustomed to those three times a week and it can handle it. I can assure that it will STILL handle it while you're pregnant. The best thing you can do is stick to that regime. If you stop, you will be doing yourself a huge disservice.

If have not exercised before, clear it with your doctor first. Your trainer will insist on that and rightly so. You need to know if there is ANY health risk attached to exercising. However, unless you are an unhealthy person, with existing health issues, there is no reason why the doctor won't give the go ahead.

I wouldn't recommend simply going to the gym and starting to exercise, if you aren't with a trainer. And I'd also recommend a trainer who is qualified to train pregnant, or post natal, women. Even qualified personal trainers need to go for a specialised course to learn how to train them properly. I have shadowed many personal trainers who have no idea what is important about training pre and post natal women.

One thing that EVERY trainer will tell you is that the most important thing is to keep the heart rate below 140 BPM (beats per minute) It is NOT, however, the most important thing when it comes to training pregnant women. Firstly, it's not a true indicator of how a woman is actually FEELING during exercise. Secondly, saying that a heart rate should be 140 BPM for all pregnant women is insinuating that all women are created equal. They're not. We're all different and unique.

;)

If you are an elite athlete, having your heart rate go over 140 BPM is not going to stress your body out much. You'll have a much faster recovery rate and your body will be able to deal with it. An athlete can go up to 155 BPM and still be fine. If you have lived a sedentary lifestyle then I'd more inclined to keep an eye on the heart rate. Recovery rate will be slow and could put strain on the foetus.

If you want to be more accurate with each client, the best indicator of how a pregnant women's body is responding to exercise is a scale called Borg's Scale of RPE (rate of perceived exertion) The scale has numbers that correspond with how your body is reacting to the exercise you are doing. 0 means you aren't taking any strain, and 10 means you are exercising at a very high intensity:

0: Nothing at all
0.5: Very, very weak (just noticeable)
1: Very weak
2: Weak (light)
3: Moderate
4: Somewhat strong
5: Strong (heavy)
7: Very Strong
10: Maximal

The optimum place to be if you are pregnant is between 3 and 4. This is why it's very important to be in tune with your body while exercising. However, if you are with a trainer, they should be able to work out where you are on the scale from your body's reactions. They should be asking you at various intervals, how you are feeling. If you are breathing heavily, sweating and battling to talk, chances are good you are working a bit too hard and need to tone it down a bit.

You can see how this would be a better indicator then heart rate because it is specific to the woman exercising.

The woman on the left would have no problem exercising at higher intensity but the woman on the right would have a problem recovering if her heart rate went above 140 BPM.

This may sound a bit daunting but it doesn't have to be. If you are a regular exerciser then you are probably very in tune with your body. Listen to it and you will be fine. If you haven't exercised much in the past, I would recommend gymming with a personal trainer who is qualified to train pregnant women. There are several other factors to take into account when you are exercising and I will go into more of those next week as well as WHY exercising while pregnant is so vital to your health and your baby's health.

Until next week:)

Monday Mix-up - My top eco-friendly tips - Week 4

We're into week 4 of exploring ways to make it easier for you to do your bit for the environment. If you start at week 1 and work your way through week 2 and 3, you will see that it's actually really easy to do your bit to help clean up, and take pressure off our environment. I hope I don't need to explain why it's so important to do your bit! But just in case you're wondering why Johannesburg has been hit with 2 solid weeks of rain, there's this thing called climate change...

Today's tips are small, very simple tips and so I am going to give you 5 to choose from instead of just 3. If you implement one or two of these a month, not only will it make a big difference to so many lives, but you can also pat yourself on the back, and feel proud of yourself, for doing something REALLY good.

Tip number 10: Have a nappy conscience

By the time a child is toilet-trained, a parent will change around 7000 nappies! That adds up to about 3.5 million tons of waste in landfills each year. I can hear everyone already. Ugh, nappies are enough of a mission without having to worry about washing them and are cloth nappies really going to be absorbent enough and keep everything contained? These days, cloth nappies are very different to the ones our parents and grandparents used. They not only LOOK gorgeous, but they are designed for comfort and practicality. Is convenience really a good enough reason to put THAT much rubbish into our landfills and poison our environment permanently? Not for me. I'm happy to spend more time washing nappies if it means that there is one less person in the world adding to the nappy problem. How about you?

Tip number 11: Hang your clothes out to dry

Aside from the last 2 weeks, we have been blessed with beautiful, sunny days for two solid months and yet there are many people who still insist on tumble drying their clothes instead of hanging them on a washline. Air-drying clothes isn't a new concept. It's been happening for thousands of years because it works. An added bonus is that all of your clothes will maintain their colour and their fit. Your favourite pair of jeans will last MUCH longer and your electricity bill will be lower than it's ever been. All it takes is a little more effort but, did you know that hanging washing actually burns calories;)

Tip number 12: Wash clothes in cold or warm water

If every household in South Africa switched from hot washing machine cycles to just warm or cold, we could save energy comparable to at least 50 000 barrels of oil a day. With Eskom's unfortunate incompetence leading to load shedding nationwide recently, it is even more important to lower the pressure being placed on our power grid until they can get their act together. This is such an easy thing to do. If you wash your clothes on a hot wash you are only shortening their lifespan anyway by causing colours to fade and possible shrinkage to happen. A warm wash will get the job done just as well and, in most cases, a cold wash too.

Tip number 13: Use less paper serviettes

During an average year, one person uses about 2 200 paper serviettes. That works out to about 6 a day! You know what happens. You collect your food at a takeaway and they throw a handful of serviettes in the bag as a rule. You end up using one or two of them and the rest end up in the bin. If everyone used one less serviette a day, more than 4 million kgs of serviettes could be saved from landfills annually. Instead of simply taking all the serviettes along with your takeaway, tell them you will only need 2 or 3 depending on your needs and give the rest back. If more people start doing this, employees will start to ask instead of simply assuming and you will be doing your bit to change the world;)

Tip number 14: Use both sides of paper

Businesses throw away around 21 million tons of paper every year in America alone. That doesn't include households. We print things without thought and throw them away just as fast. Nine times out of ten, the first two pages you print will be wrong and need to be reprinted which only wastes more. Why not keep those "mistake" pages on hand and, next time you need to print something that is only going to have a short shelf-life, use it and print on the back of it. If you need to print an assignment or document for work, print it on both sides of the paper. It uses far less paper and an added bonus is that it looks far more professional.

That's it! My 5 tips for this week. Pop back next week for more tips on ways for you and your family to do your bit for the environment!

Real Food Friday Feast - Cauliflower Rice

Rice is a great accompaniment to stews and curries. In fact, it feels a bit weird eating them without rice. You feel like you've somehow been cheated and your stomach doesn't feel quite as satisfied without the rice!

The thing with rice is that it's very calorie-dense. 1 cup of white rice contains 205 calories. 45 grams of those calories are carbs. It's pretty high on the glycemic index, sitting at 89. The only things higher than that are a white baguette and lucozade. That means it's going to cause a sugar spike that will have your energy levels spiralling down to your feet within 45 minutes of eating that rice and you'll need a sugar boost to get your through the rest of the day.

Now you might ask why, if rice is so high in calories, are Asians so lean and fit? Well, firstly, that might have been true a few decades ago but, since the introduction of western foods into Asian culture, diabetes type 2 has become a serious problem. Before that, Asian people ate a lot of rice BUT it's what they eat WITH that rice that makes all the difference.

If you go to a Vietnamese restaurant, their signature dish is something called pho which is a big bowl of homemade beef marrow bone broth, tripe, tendons, brisket, and rice noodles. A REAL Thai restaurant will serve you bone broth soup with pork blood, greens, rice noodles, and a duck egg. A Chinese restaurant will serve sauteed pork kidneys with Chinese broccoli and rice on the side. At a Japanese restaurant, you'll get wild caught salmon eggs rolled with seaweed and rice, tuna sashimi, and some fermented miso soup with kelp strips. Koreans eat a dozen different kinds of kimchi (fermented vegetables), grilled short ribs, beef tongue, and liver all wrapped in lettuce, with rice on the side. In all these foods, rice is present, but so is real, wholesome bone broth, fresh meat, fermented foods, organ meats, and vegetables. 

They don't have any wheat in their diets and their diets are so full of nutritious food that promotes a healthy colon and encourages proper digestion of their food. Also, something that I will go into in more detail in another post, is that, even if rice is high on the Gycemic index, eating it in conjunction with foods low on the Glycemic index will lower its impact on the body considerably.

As an aside, Asian people also walk more and ride bikes to get around whereas we are a nation of drivers. We exercise for, at most, an hour a day (some of us!) and that's it. The rest of the day is usually spent sitting at a desk, in a car or on a couch.

So, basically, eating a diet of white rice, for westerners, is not going to help the calories fall off. In fact, I wouldn't recommend white rice to anyone because it's processed and contains very little nutrients. If you're going to eat rice, stick with brown rice and make sure you soak and prepare it properly to make all the nutrients available to your body. But, if you want to cut down on rice and find a tasty alternative that is low in calories and high in nutrients, you can try cauliflower rice.

1 cup of cauliflower has just 29 calories and only 5 grams of carbs. It's about 15 on the Glycemic index so it's WAY lower than rice.

Cauliflower also has some rather handy health benefits:

• Nutritional: It contains vitamins B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6 (pyridoxine) and B9 (folic acid). It also contains omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin K. It serves as a good source of proteins, phosphorus and potassium. It's a very good source of vitamin C and manganese, which are both powerful antioxidants.
• Antioxidation: Aside from the above antioxidants, cauliflower also contains beta-carotene and phytonutrients that include kaempferol, ferulic acid, cinnamic acid and caffeic acid. All of these protect you from free radical damage and reduce your risk of diseases like heart disease and cancer.
• Detoxification: Cauliflower contains glucosinolates and thiocyanates (including sulforaphane and isothiocyanate), which help the liver to neutralise toxic substances that could cause to cancer. The presence of enzymes like glutathione transferase, glucuronosyl transferase and quinone reductase also help in the detoxifying process.
• Cancer Prevention: There are loads of studies linking cauliflower-containing diets to cancer prevention, especially these types of cancer: bladder cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, and ovarian cancer. Even better, research has shown that it has compounds to resist cancer. It actually has the ability to eliminate cancer enzymes
• Anti-Inflammatory: Eating cauliflower regularly can help decrease the risk of inflammatory diseases like arthritis, obesity, diabetes mellitus, inflammatory bowel disease and ulcerative colitis. A cup of boiled cauliflower contains about 11 micrograms of vitamin K and 0.21 g omega-3 fatty acids. The omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin K in cauliflower helps prevent chronic inflammation that leads to chronic disease. 
• Digestive Support: A cup of boiled cauliflower contains about 3.35 g of dietary fiber, which helps clean out your digestive system. There's also a substance in cauliflower called glucoraphin which seems to protect your stomach lining. It reduces the risk of stomach ulcers and cancer.
• Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular: Because of its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, cauliflower protects against cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases like stroke, heart failure or dementia.

All good reasons to start eating cauliflower! The thing is, it's a difficult vegetable for some people to eat. Unless it's smothered in cheese sauce, not many people actually LIKE it. Kids definitely won't eat it. Enter cauliflower rice! The key to getting kids to eat certain vegetables is to *whispers* disguise them as something else;) 

Just a note: I wouldn't eat cauliflower raw. It tends to mess with your digestion, especially if you have a sensitive colon and react to certain foods. Lightly cooked is the way to go!

Cauliflower Rice

1 head of organic cauliflower

1 small onion

Butter

1 clove of garlic

6 Tbs bone broth

Mixed herbs

Salt 

Pepper

Cumin (optional)

Method

Wash cauliflower and roughly chop up

Place in food processor and process until it almost resembles small pieces of rice

Place 2 Tbs butter in a frying pan on medium heat

Finely chop onion and garlic and place in pan

Cook for about 3 mins or until soft

Add cauliflower to pan and give it a few good stirs

Add bone broth, herbs, salt, pepper and cumin

Mix and cook on low heat for about 5 minutes

Serve with... well... anything really!

I add some cumin purely because I love the spicy flavour. It's entirely up to you. You can really add whatever you want to it. If you are having it with curry and want it to look more authentic, add a 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric to it to make it yellow. If you're making it for kids, they may not like the onion. However, it DOES make it taste really good so I'd recommend adding the onion to the food processor with the cauliflower to dice it REALLY small and the chances are good they won't even realise it's there;) Failing that, just leave it out!

It looks like winter is going to make an early appearance this year and, when it's cold, we crave stews and curries. What better way to fight off the usual winter bulge by cutting back on calories?

Enjoy!

Wellness Wednesday - The insurance you should NEVER be without

I know, I know, I apologise for being a day late with Wednesday's blog. Yesterday was our 3 year wedding anniversary and GLM took the day off work so we could spend it together. I didn't want to spend part of the day ignoring her while I stared at a computer screen so I decided to blog today instead.

Has anyone else been hit by the hectic weather we've been having? Since the very crazy rains a couple of weeks back we have been trying to get our house back to normal. Between a leaking roof, a back door too swollen and soggy to even close, french doors too warped to close, a flooded pool and garden, a fallen tree and blocked drains EVERYWHERE, we don't know whether we are coming or going. Our pool pump stopped working because it flooded inside and something shorted so we have a pool the colour of our grass.

As if that isn't enough, last night we were woken from a very deep sleep by, what sounded like the ceiling caving in and a waterfall in our house. We ran towards the sound only to find water gushing EVERYWHERE. It took us at least 5 minutes to determine that it was a burst pipe in our spare bathroom. By that stage all the bedrooms around that bathroom were rapidly filling with water. After a few more precious minutes we figured out how to turn off our water. That didn't stop it though and we weren't sure why. I could've cried at the waste of perfectly good water.

We called Help@Out who said a plumber was on the way. 45 minutes later, with hot water STILL pouring out of the pipe, the cavalry arrived only to tell us the water was overflow from what was stored in the geyser and all we had to do was open all the taps in our house to speed up the emptying. I could've saved so much water, not to mention our carpets that were now squishy messes in every room! However, he managed to fix the pipe and we finally crawled back into bed at 2am with every towel we owned lining all our floors.

Alarms were set for later because we were exhausted and needed the extra sleep so we woke up just in time to hear on 702 that load shedding would commence today. Because we woke up late, our power went off and there was no time to take care of the usual morning chores. Needless to say, it's been a hat day today;)

So here we sit, powerless, with incessant rain pouring down into our poor flooded garden, soggy carpets that will likely not dry because of all the rain, a back door that we can't even close and an exorbitant water bill heading our way (this for a person who saves EVERY drop of water that comes out of a tap...)

It dawned on me today, while lamenting all of our woes, that we take SO much for granted in our lives. We expect our house to be secure enough to protect us and keep us safe. We expect all the pipes to work how they should. We expect to switch on a light and be illuminated. We expect the rain to stop eventually and things to go back to normal and we take for granted that we can keep relying on these things because that's how it's always been.

The reality is, that kind of thinking is simply unrealistic. I'm not being a pessimist, I'm being a realist;) We place these expectations on everything around us. We trust that, when we get into our car and head out into the wild, wide world, that our car will be enough to keep us safe from the thousands of kamikaze drivers on the road. We place our faith in those other drivers to bear in mind that their actions could directly affect our lives.

Something invariably will eventually go wrong. That's the odds. At some point, no matter how confident you feel on the road, you may hit a puddle, go into a skid, and bash someone's bumper or worse. It's happened to most of us. It's a shocking feeling when something goes spectacularly wrong. But honestly, why is it so shocking? Nothing is perfect. Everything, from humans to cars, to water pipes, are fallible. That's why we take precautions. We have car insurance, household insurance and structural insurance in case of disaster.

How does all of this relate to wellness? Well, I'm getting to that part now. If we bring things a little closer to home and consider our bodies, we are also guilty of taking that for granted.  EVERYTHING I mentioned in the above paragraphs is replaceable. Insurance makes sure that the burst pipe will be replaced, a crashed car will be repaired or replaced, a damaged door can be replaced. Think about your body now. Most of us have medical aid, and if something small goes wrong, it can likely be repaired. But what happens if it can't be repaired? What if you need a whole new part?

Only 1% of South Africans are organ donors. That means, if you need a new body part, chances are good you WON'T be a recipient. There simply aren't enough parts to go around. If something is irreparable, all that your medical insurance can do is try and soothe your symptoms and make you more comfortable, but if it's broken, it's broken. If your body is riddled with cancer, no organ donor can help you replace EVERY part.

Sounds gloomy huh? Sadly, it's reality for so many people out there. A house can be replaced, but if you don't have this body, where will you live? You can't replace it. It's a once off deal, this body. No matter what you believe about afterlives, none of them include THIS particular body that you are in right now.

We take them SO for granted. We punish them relentlessly. We fill them with junkfood, we deprive them of real food, we deprive them of movement, we load them with toxins, we push them past their limits and then, when something breaks, we stare in absolute shock at the doctor and say, "But how?!"

We live most of our lives in denial, let's face it. I think it's human nature to bury our heads in the sand and pretend that all is okay as long as we carry on doing what we have always done. Those routines are like a safety net for us. If we pretend everything is okay, surely it will be?

At what point do we start to accept that things go wrong? They go wrong all the time and we prepare for some of them. You may say you ARE prepared. You have medical insurance. But unlike car insurance, medical insurance won't prepare you for the worst. It can only try and help an already sick body, ease your pain and mask the symptoms.

So, what kind of insurance can you take out to prepare your body for a long healthy life? Well, most of you won't want to hear it and I haven't quite figured out why it's so hard to comprehend. As I said, you only have ONE body. Yet, most people aren't willing to invest any time or money in it. Half, sometimes more, of your salary goes towards medical insurance, car insurance, household insurance, business insurance etc etc. You don't even blink because it's necessary and being without it could cost you everything.

Here it is in one sentence: Without this body, there is NOTHING to insure. Eish, that sounds harsh. But, it's the truth. No body means no house, no car, no business. None of those can even exist without YOU.

So the insurance you can take out to prepare your body for the worst can be found at organic food markets. Okay, it's not as simple as JUST food, but food is a huge part of it. Your body needs what is natural to it. The stuff we eat these days is NOT actually food. It's food-like, but it's not food and your body doesn't understand it. The same goes for the beauty products we use on a daily basis. They are so full of poison that your body simply doesn't know what to do with it. If you're thinking that it's fine because you only put it on your skin, you don't eat it, think again. Your skin is a big sponge that absorbs everything that touches it. It will end up in your bloodstream whether you eat it or not.

We use household cleaning products containing ingredients listed as poisons. They line our counter tops and floors and basins and baths and we breathe them in and ingest them without even being aware of it, on a daily basis. We use artificial air fresheners that pollute our bodies every second that we are breathing then in. We think they are cleaning the air. They aren't. They are only adding to the pollution we breathe in day in and day out.

Our bodies weren't designed to deal with all this stuff and their reaction to all of it is to develop, among others, cancer, autism, alzheimer's disease, parkinson's disease, heart disease, diabetes and motor neuron disease. I'm not talking nonsense. The proof is in the research. Doctors say they don't know what causes cancer, or how to cure it. They aren't being entirely honest with you. The truth is, changing your lifestyle drastically can prevent it. Cutting out processed foods full of chemicals, additives, preservatives, flavourants and colourants can literally be your insurance for a healthy body. Cancer institutions say this often and yet doctors continue to tell us that they are still looking for a cure.

The problem is that they only know medicine and chemicals. They can't tell you about diet and nutrition. They may recommend health eating and exercise but they don't really consider what it might be doing for the body, or what it actually entails.

Just as you do the research and find the best insurance for your car, your house and your business, you need to do the research and start investing in this one body that you have. You honestly have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Monday Mix-up - My Top Eco-friendly tips - Week 3

There are MANY ways to do your bit for the planet without having to overextend yourself, or your bank account, much. If you are looking for some really easy tips that will take you very little time, I will give you some today to choose from. If you were to start adding just ONE green method to your life each week, in place of your conventional methods, then by the end of the year, you will have done 52 things to help your planet. If 10 people were to do the same thing, that would be 520 reasons for our planet to start heal itself. Imagine if we could spread the word even further. It would start to turn the tide in favour of our earth sustaining itself and therefore, sustaining us. Because you DO know that, while the earth is suffering from all that we humans are doing to it, it WILL ultimately survive climate change and excessive pollution. It's US who won't.

Last week's tips involved the three R's. Not the schooling R's, the green R's: reduce, re-use and recycle. Read the post here to find out how to implement them in your life. Today we're up to tip number 7.

Tip number 7: Buy rechargeable batteries

I think the reason that people don't buy rechargeable batteries is because of the initial outlay in rands. They see that price of R130 for a battery charger and 2 AA batteries and think, "No way!" But think about this for a minute... A packet of 4 AA batteries is about R30 depending on the brand you buy. Ultimately, you will end up going for the cheaper ones because money is tight for everyone these days. The problem is, those cheap batteries will last you less time which means, before long, you are heading back out to the shop to buy more. Even if you spend more on expensive batteries, they will eventually die and you'll be heading back to the shop for more.

We ALL need batteries for most things these days. I use them for my wireless mouse and my keyboard. We also have 4 remotes we use between our TV, sound system, DSTV and dvd player. That's 12 batteries at any given time in our house but that is only the ones I've mentioned. I'd say, at various times, we need about 16 batteries in total in our house and that's AAA and AA. That's R480 every few weeks IF you calculate at R30 per packet.

I have 8 AA rechargeable batteries and 8 AAA rechargeables. That's ALL we need. I never have to buy batteries. It was an initial outlay of about R350 and now I have batteries for life. They also don't all run out at once so, if some DO run out, I borrow from one of the remotes until the batteries are charged which takes about an hour. To me it's a no-brainer. Why would you even add more disposable batteries to the environment at an extra cost to you when you can save so much money? 

Even better, you can buy a charger for your disposable batteries! Check it our here. I haven't used it myself but I would imagine it works or they wouldn't be selling it. I can vouch for the website store. I use them myself frequently.

Tip number 8: Don't buy plastic bags at grocery stores

Have you heard of our national flower: the plastic bag? In 2004 the government introduced a levy to try and reduce the amount of plastic littering our environment. This method had great success in other countries but in South Africa? Not so much. Instead of changing behaviour, South Africans simply grew accustomed to paying for it and, unbelievably, they carry on as if it's nothing. 

The intention was that the money collected from the bags would be used to set up a national recycling programme, which would clean up the environment and create thousands of jobs. To date, none of the money has been used to recycle plastic bags, nor have any recycling jobs been created. In fact, Mama She's is now collecting recycling in Gauteng for FREE because Pick it up won't even pay them. The money from the bags is going straight into the government's coffers and doesn't seem to be being used for any other purpose than to line someone's pockets who doesn't need it. You may think it's a minimal amount but we are talking 100s of millions of rands, seriously. That's how many bags people buy on a daily basis. 

When I get to a till, most tellers don't actually ask me if I need bags, they simply scan them before I get a chance to speak up and then I have to wait while they get a manager to refund them. Yes, it's not a lot of money, but on principle I won't take them because I didn't ask for them and I don't need them. They are so used to people just buying them that they don't ask anymore. That just shows the attitude that people have towards helping our environment. It's not the tellers fault, it's the consumer.

It's time to stop this unnecessary waste of money and more adding of plastic to our environment. It's silly and it's selfish. It's SO easy to take your own bags. They are small enough to roll up and put in your handbag, or in your cubby hole. It saves you money ultimately and it's better for our planet. The only excuse for buying plastic bags is laziness UNLESS you have a genuine use for them. If you use them for your rubbish at home then that's a reason. But if you just throw away the bags when you unpack your shopping then you are the person who should be taking your own bags shopping. We don't need more plastic in our landfills or stuck to fences and bushes. Shopping bags can be used over and over again, even plastic ones. There's no reason to keep buying new ones at all. This is so easy it's also a no-brainer. 

Tip number 9: Buy energy-saving globes

As with the batteries, your first thought when talking about energy-saving globes is that they cost more, right? Well, yes, if we're talking initial outlay then, yes. However, as with the batteries, you need to see the bigger picture. That globe that cost you R24 is going to last you 6 months, whereas the cheaper, conventional globe will last just a few weeks and, in those weeks it will run up your electricity bill and put more strain on the power grid. Eskom is always complaining about us not saving energy. This is one extremely easy way to save it.

You can get energy saving globes for lights of all shapes and sizes which makes it really easy to put this tip into action. You can also buy them at any shop which means no having to hunt around or go out of your way. You can buy them while you're at pick n pay picking up some groceries. 

You usually get an option of cool white or warm globes. Before I knew the difference, I accidentally bought the cool white globes and the light they gave off was piercing and, literally, cold. If you buy the warm globes, they will make your home feel nice and cosy while keeping your electricity bill down considerably. As I mentioned in the first blog in this series, don't forget to turn off lights when you aren't in a room, even if you have energy saving globes. Every little bit makes a difference.

That's it for week three. Tune in next Monday for more, easy eco-friendly tips on how you can help your planet heal!