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;)

Real Food Friday Feast - Butternut soup

One of my favourite foods to eat, during winter, is soup. I love all kinds of soups and I experiment with all sorts of different types, but top of my list has got to be butternut soup. It has such a unique, sweet flavour and it's also so thick and wholesome that it is a whole meal all on its own. The only problem I have with butternut soup, is when it's someone ELSE'S butternut soup. And that is because it is almost always made with cream, as well as some kind of stock that is store bought and loaded with all sorts of rubbish. One bowl of THAT soup and my stomach is saying, "Howzit!" So, of course, I had to play around with my own recipe and I think it came out pretty well if I say so myself;)

The KEY ingredient to ANY soup is good quality stock. So where do you get it if EVERYTHING you buy at the stores is full of rubbish? Because, unless it says organic, it IS full of rubbish, I promise. Given that soup is supposed to be so nourishing and healthy, why would you want to sully it with chemicals? I'll tell you my secret ingredient. It's called Bone Broth.

Broth used to be considered a poor man's food because it's pretty cheap to make. All you need are bones and you get a very nutritious, cheap meal out of those. What people don't realise is how nutritious it actually is. Just a few things that broth will improve are: digestion, allergies, immune health, brain health, and there is a lot more. Broth is very high in amino acids called proline and glycine which are vital for healthy connective tissue (ligaments, joints, around organs, etc) What a lot of people DON'T know is that broth can help reduce cellulite because it improves connective tissue, increase hair growth/strength, improve digestive issues and remineralize teeth. I think I may have had you at cellulite;)

The Paleo Mom has a great explanation of the importance of these two amino acids:

“In addition, glycine is required for synthesis of DNA, RNA and many proteins in the body. As such, it plays extensive roles in digestive health, proper functioning of the nervous system and in wound healing. Glycine aids digestion by helping to regulate the synthesis and of bile salts and secretion of gastric acid. It is involved in detoxification and is required for production of glutathione, an important antioxidant. Glycine helps regulate blood sugar levels by controlling gluconeogenesis (the manufacture of glucose from proteins in the liver). Glycine also enhances muscle repair/growth by increasing levels of creatine and regulating Human Growth Hormone secretion from the pituitary gland. This wonderful amino acid is also critical for healthy functioning of the central nervous system. In the brain, it inhibits excitatory neurotransmitters, thus producing a calming effect. Glycine is also converted into the neurotransmitter serine, which promotes mental alertness, improves memory, boosts mood, and reduces stress.

Proline has an additional role in reversing atherosclerotic deposits. It enables the blood vessel walls to release cholesterol buildups into your blood stream, decreasing the size of potential blockages in your heart and the surrounding blood vessels. Proline also helps your body break down proteins for use in creating new, healthy muscle cells.”

Sounding like something you'd like in your diet? Well, it's SO cheap and easy to make you'll wonder what took you so long! All you need is a big pot filled with water, some vinegar and a pile of bones! Let's get a bit more specific!

You will need: 

A large pot

Water

Approx. 1kg bones (If you have less than that, don't stress. I sometimes make it with very little and it still tastes good)

2 tablespoons of vinegar (preferably apple cider vinegar) or lemon juice 

Method:

• Throw all the bones into the pot
• Fill the pot with water stopping about 4 or 5 centimetres from the top
• Add the vinegar
• Bring the water to boil and then turn down to a simmer
• Leave for approx. 8-24hrs
• Pour liquid through colander into large container and freeze or use as needed

This all works even better if you have a slow cooker. I throw everything into my slow cooker and go about my day and night and forget about it. My slow cooker is second only to my dishwasher in terms of the love and devotion my kitchen appliances receive from me;) Most women might look askance at their spouse for buying them a slow cooker for christmas but not THIS woman! I was too excited for words when GLM bought me mine;)

Why the vinegar? Well, it helps to coax all the minerals out of the bones a bit better than if you were just to leave the bones to boil on their own. In case you're wondering where I get the bones from, well, this part is really easy. I save them over the course of a few weeks. Every time we have chicken, we put all the leftover bones into a container in the freezer. Once I have enough, it's time to make broth. I also order a bag of free range mutton bones from my meat supplier and I add one or two of those to the chicken mix. The more variety you have, the better. Even fish bones will work but it's not my favourite. The quality of the bones is important though. It MUST be from free range, grass-fed, healthy animals because the quality of your bone broth is only going to be as good as the quality of the bones.

The recipe above is just for your basic bone broth, but I get a little more adventurous with mine and you can too if you want. You will use this mostly as stock for soups, stews and curries, so it's nice if it has a little flavour to it aside from the bones. I add about a teaspoon of mixed herbs, as well as a few fresh herbs if I have them and I also add a teaspoon of himalayan rock salt. (If you only have normal table salt in your cupboards, please banish it NOW and get some sea salt or himalayan rock salt. It's sold at Pick n Pay's, Spars, Dischems etc so there is no excuse and it's so much better for you. I will do a blog post on this alone at some point!)

As far as timing goes, I prefer to leave mine for about 24hrs. Reason being that it REALLY gets everything out of the bones. You will see the bones start to turn lighter in colour the longer they simmer and that's how you know it's working. The longer you leave them, the more nutritious it is going to be. Once it's done, I drain it and then, using a soup ladle, I fill up several containers and freeze them. I save ALL the containers I get when I buy anything and I recycle them by using them for storage. GLM gets a little frustrated when she opens the scullery cupboard and sees a million containers of different shapes and sizes taking up all the space;) But I really DO use them, especially when I make broth. I'd say I end up with about 8x500ml containers by the time I'm done, so about 4 litres of stock.

I just froze 4 litres of it this morning and, tomorrow, I'll take out a few of them to make my butternut soup for our guests tomorrow night. The weather has suddenly turned really nasty in Johannesburg and it's chilly and overcast which is PERFECT soup weather:) Speaking of which, here is your recipe for today!

Butternut Soup

4 or 5 medium sized butternuts

1 medium size sweet potato (optional!)

1 1/2 litres of bone broth

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 - 2 teaspoons masala (curry powder)

Salt (I usually add about 1/2 teaspoon but my slow cooker is HUGE)

Method:

• Scrub all the butternuts and the sweet potato and chop and de-seed them (I save my seeds to plant in my veggie garden) You don't need to peel them (My wise mother suggested this to me and she was absolutely right! I used to peel them but it's such a mission and the skin adds more fibre! Just make sure they're clean. (I scrub them with white vinegar, NOT a chemical cleaner)
• Place all the chunks in the pot (or slow cooker)
• In a bowl or jug, add the stock, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, masala and salt and stir
• Pour the mixture over the chopped veggies and add either a bit of water, or more stock, to cover the veggies
• Bring to the boil and then let simmer for about an hour (If using a slow cooker, turn to auto and walk away!)
• Once veggies are soft enough, use a hand blender to blend all the chunks until the mixture is nice and smooth and creamy
• Add coconut milk and stir in
• Serves 2 for about a week!

The masala is optional but we love curry in our house, so my soup always has a bit of a bite to it. I think I may love curry more because GLM often diplomatically says, "It's got quite a bite hey?" as her nose streams and her eyes water;) I actually haven't added coconut milk for a while now because I find it's creamy enough but that's entirely your choice. You can even add cream, but make sure it's organic or free range.

Now, people have asked me how you can go organic when you are on a budget. Well, it's a lot easier than you think because you are cutting out all that processed stuff packaged in boxes that costs a bomb. So all you need to buy is meat and fruits and veggies. This soup is a really cheap, nutritious meal that will feed you for days and it's delicious. I was at Pick n Pay earlier today buying butternuts. They have organic butternuts and sweet potatoes in store right now:) The organic butternuts are R11.99 for two or three in a bag and the sweet potatoes are R16.99 for a bag.

So I had a look at the "normal" butternuts just out of interest. They were R8.99 for a bag of 2 and, I'm not just saying this, they looked really bad. They were much smaller than the organic ones and they were full of black marks and holes that looked like something had chewed on them. I didn't check the potato prices because they looked even worse. So, although the normal butternuts were R3 cheaper, they were smaller which means you'd have to buy more anyway and you'd probably end up chopping away the bad bits which would leave you with even less. SO, we are looking at 4-5 medium size butternuts. That'll cost you at the most, about R59.95, but most of the bags had 2 butternuts in so it'll be more like R35.97. The bone broth is pretty much free because they're bones you've collected at home and water out of your tap. Just add a few spices to that and possibly the meal costs R70 at most but, more likely, R50. This recipe makes about 5 litres of butternut soup. When I make it, it lasts us over a week, even with one, or both of us, having 2 bowls each a day! I end up freezing some eventually. If you buy a box of fish fillets, you get about 6 in the box. That is only 3 meals and I bet that box is over R40? Do you see how you can do this? 

This is just one way and there will be many more suggestions and ideas over the months so keep an eye out. I always look for the bargains and I try to save while still keeping it real and it IS do-able.

That's it! Enjoy your butternut soup and have a beautifully green, organic weekend:)

Can you fight the flu naturally?

Last Friday morning I woke up feeling like I was swallowing razor blades. I haven't been sick for a year so I was pretty upset! I live a very healthy lifestyle, as you will know if you've read all my posts, and I thought I'd be immune! I guess I shouldn't be ungrateful. A year is pretty good going. I used to get sick a minimum of 4 times a year and ALWAYS with something like tonsillitis or bronchitis or bronchial pneumonia. It was never just a cold and it always lasted at least 3 weeks, often more.

Getting sick is pretty much to expected for anyone. You can't avoid the bugs forever. HOW sick you get will have a lot to do with the strength of your immune system. The fact that I got sick a lot, and badly had a lot to do with my IBS because it does lower your immune system. Stress plays a big roll but it also has to do with the lack of good bacteria in your intestines. I was pretty loaded with stress most of the time. I was living out of a suitcase almost permanently because I was at home probably 4 days out of a month. Travelling like that makes it really difficult to eat properly and 80% of my shows included shows at schools up to Grade 7. It's common knowledge that kids are great little carriers of all manner of bugs so there wasn't much of an escape for me. At the time I was pretty ignorant about health so I would go on a course of antibiotics every time I got sick, nuking what was left of the good bacteria in my intestines and I setting myself up for the next bug again and again.

A year ago, when I decided to go organic, I did it all cold turkey, all at once. I cut out all chemicals and went free range, organic and chemical free within a matter of days. Once I had decided to do it, I just couldn't bring myself to compromise. I'm like that. I'm a virgo. There are NO half measures for me;) I felt a little yucky the first few days, and then I felt wonderful for a few days... and then I got sick. Not just any kind of sick. Oooooh noooo, I got bronchial pneumonia sick.

I felt like death. My first instinct was to turn to every kind of pill, spray and syrup I could find. But I didn't. I couldn't. I'd made a decision and I was sticking to it dammit. I stocked up on herbal teas and a few other homeopathic remedies and waited it out... and waited... and waited. I didn't know I had bronchial pneumonia until I went to a doctor who was actually a specialist. I went for a completely different reason. It's one of those appointments that you book several months in advance and then forget about until you get a call the day before to confirm your appointment. So I paid R900 to find out that I had bronchial pneumonia! I told him I refused to take antibiotics and that I was trying very hard to remain chemical free. He looked at me like I was nuts but he went along with it and prescribed a pump, telling me to rinse my mouth immediately after using it to avoid too much absorption and he gave me some codeine syrup to help me sleep because I was struggling with that due to all the coughing. He also prescribed painkillers but I just told the chemist to give me the pump and the codeine and went home to try and recover again. 3 days later I finally started to feel human again!

It was a tough 4 weeks I can't lie. But I came out at the end of it feeling pretty good about myself. For the first time ever, I didn't take ONE antibiotic. I took panado when I had fevers and then the codeine towards the end and the pump but I stopped taking everything the minute I felt like I was beating it and my tiny little immune system finally kicked in. It just needed a little help this time around, but it finally pulled me through.

My homeopath made a very important point. My body was going through one hell of a healing crisis. The thing with going completely "clean" is that your body starts to go through withdrawals. Have you ever tried to cut coffee, or sugar, or soft drinks out of your life? Your body goes through 3 weeks of hell while it tries to adjust to the lack of stimulants. Headaches, stomach cramps, nausea etc. It feels like you're actually sick. It's not different to an addict going through drug withdrawals. The same happens when you cut chemicals, caffeine, sugar, all processed foods and alcohol out of your life, all at once. My body went into shock I guess. And while it was busy coping with the withdrawal, my immune system was left even more defenseless, and the bug caught me off guard.

So, back to last Friday! I was terrified that the same thing was going to happen to me. I know what happens when I get sick. It's long and drawn out and just awful. And every time I think my body will fight it off alone, it just can't. I was so hopeful that the sore throat would just go away but, the next day, the fevers started and, by Saturday afternoon I felt HORRIBLE. You all know that feeling; achy joints and muscles, splitting headache, feeling weak and dizzy, hot and cold at the same time. I thought my head was going to explode but, I didn't give in and have any conventional medication this time, not even panado (taking that was my mistake last time I was sick but more on that shortly). My fabulous GLM went out and got me some Septoguard, which is a herbal, natural antiobiotic, and I drank herbal teas, did oil-pulling (more on this later!), gargled with salt and used tissue salts. (and this too!) I ate healthy, nutritious meals and got as much rest as possible. Saturday night was just awful. I had a fever all night and was so tempted to take medication just to break it so my head would feel better and I could sleep. In my opinion, there are few things worse than having a fever. They really nuke your body!

I didn't give in and take the pill and here's why: I'm not sure if many people are aware of this, but a fever is actually a good thing. It''s the body's natural way of fighting a bacterial infection. Breaking the fever can actually do more harm than good to you. (unless it goes above 41 degrees then get to a doctor). Anything below 41, but above 37 is very uncomfortable, but good for you, nonetheless. Bugs can survive for a long time in a body with a normal temperature, but not for so long in a body with a raised temperature. The fact that your temperature is raised, means that your immune system is doing what it is meant to do, to fight off the bug. If you can see it through, you stand a much better chance of getting better, sooner. The same applies when you have an inflamed muscle, or a cut that gets really hot and infected. The heat and swelling are good things! Taking a pill, or putting antiseptic cream on, halts the natural healing process.

I've never had the guts to try this, largely because I never KNEW about the above, but also because I hate having a temperature! This time around I was determined to do it. I think GLM thought I was a little nuts. I was in serious pain. My head was unbelievably sore, not to mention the glands, the aches everywhere, the chills. I was miserable. I hardly slept while my body did battle. By Sunday afternoon I was nearing the end of my tether when, all of a sudden, the fever broke all on its own! I started sweating and it was the most welcome feeling ever! The chills disappeared, I could stand without wanting to fall over and my joints stopped aching. From then on, I started to feel like I was healing. It still involved a few days in bed. Don't get me wrong. My sinuses were a mess and then it moved down to my chest BUT, where, usually, this would all happen over the space of a few weeks, it happened over the course of 6 days!! 6 days later I am sitting at my desk feeling a little blocked up, with a bit of a irritating cough, but I am 95% healthy again. It is almost unheard of, for me. I feel stupidly chuffed with myself:)

I think back to things that people have said to me when they've been sick. "Every time I think I'm better, something else starts!" or "I'm on my 2nd course of antibiotics and still can't fight this off!" or "I've been to the doctor 3 times. I don't know what else to do!" I used to say all of those things myself but I have a better understanding of WHY all of those things happen now. Antibiotics are at the root of it all, followed closely by all other flu medications and OTC (over the counter) remedies.

It's a HUGE business, self-treatment. In fact, pharmaceutical companies RELY on the fact that you are going to try and cure yourself first, without the cost of a visit to the doctor, so that they can make lots and lots of money off of you. There are SO many flu remedies on the shelves and one can get pretty confused about which one to take but, at the end of the day, it is really about the one with the best advertising. Let's face it, you've tried pretty much all of them, haven't you? You end up either going for the one you always use, or the one whose advert you just saw most recently, or the one your friend told you was brilliant and they all do pretty much the same thing which is NOT MUCH. I can almost hear some of you saying, "Not true! It works for me!" But here is the thing. How long to do you take that stuff for? A week? 2 weeks? You usually end up finishing the whole bottle or box, don't you? And bottle or box lasts about a week... and flu lasts about a week... Or, it's supposed to. But I bet you are still sick after a week, aren't you?

That stuff is good for suppressing your symptoms and making you feel more human, but it's not going to actually cure you. YOU are going to cure you, over time. But, while you are taking that medication, your body is struggling to raise your temperature so that it can fight the bug and you are telling it, "No way buddy, I am taking pills! I will fight this WITHOUT your help!" And after 2 weeks, when you realise you AREN'T fighting it off with self-doctoring, you finally visit the doctor, who prescribes MORE remedies to suppress symptoms and, my WORST nightmare, antibiotics!

I cannot express how bad these things are for you! Your gut is supposed to have bacteria in it. How else are you going to have any kind of immune system? But antibiotics kill EVERYTHING in your gut; good and bad. They aren't picky. And the crazy thing is, NO antibiotic is going to kill a virus because NOTHING KILLS A VIRUS. If they had invented something that killed a virus, we'd have a cure for HIV/AIDS, but we don't. Antibiotics only kill bacterial infections and flu is a virus, not a bacterial infection so those antibiotics are doing NOTHING. (except for annihilating all your poor, defenceless good bacteria) Excuse all the caps but I can't stress this enough. All you are doing is setting yourself up for another bug later in the year, AND creating superbugs.

Never heard of those? Well, here's the thing about those. Doctors and patients got so excited about antibiotics, that they started handing them out left, right and centre for decades, for any old thing. The little bugs decided to fight back, and now we have bugs on STEROIDS. They have built up an immunity to the antibiotics we currently have and are making them more or less obsolete.

A good way to start reversing that problem is to stop asking your doctor for antibiotics, and stop allowing them to simply give it to you, without a blood test to ensure that it is, in fact, a bacterial infection. The problem with health today is that it HAS become big business. Doctors have to have their patients in and out in about 15 minutes because they have a quota to reach. They aren't going to sit and chat to you about what might be wrong. (I am generalising and I am sure there are doctors out there who take the time, but they are few and far between.) If you go to a medi-centre of some kind, they will go through all the motions and then send you packing with a script and wishy-washy instructions to eat well and drink lots of fluids. I never understood that. The most important instruction is an add-on at the end of the appointment and it really doesn't tell a person anything.

What does "eating well" really mean? And what fluids are the good fluids? Well, you can refer to this post if you want an idea of how to eat healthy, but if you read all my posts from the beginning you'll have a much better understanding of food as a remedy. As far as fluids go, I am such a big believer in the power of tea. But I don't mean just any old tea. I mean organic, herbal teas. There is a herb for every ailment and I take full advantage!

That is an entire post on it's own so I am going to leave you there for now. Remember, tomorrow is The Real Food Friday Feast and you'll want to catch this one! It's the perfect winter warmer-upper and it's great for colds and flu;)

I can live without my Loreal. Could you?

Have you ever thought about what happens to the body lotion you rub on your hands, or your face? I mean, REALLY wondered? I'm sure you know it gets absorbed by your skin, but then what? Well, it doesn't just disappear. Once it's been absorbed by your skin, it becomes part of the system. It goes into your blood stream and, eventually, finds its way to your organs and body tissues, the way everything else we ingest does, and your body either uses it, or loses it. You may be thinking, "Did she say ingest? We don't EAT the stuff, we just lather it on our skin." Well, that brings me back to my first question. Have you ever REALLY thought about what happens to it all?

Let's stop for a minute and take a look at a women's typical beauty routine and all the various products she uses in one session. I'm a woman myself. I KNOW it's a LOT;) The routine probably starts with a shower or bath so that will mean soap, shampoo, a possible hair mask or treatment followed by conditioner. If it's a bath, then it might very well be accompanied by bubble bath or bath salts or some kind of oil or milk soak to "soothe and soften" skin. Once she's out of the bath or shower, she will likely lather herself in body lotion from top to toe and then apply some underarm deodorant. She may also then lather herself with a sun protection cream of some sort. She will wash her face with a special face wash product, apply a toner (probably of the same brand because they always recommend it right?) and then, finally, a day or night cream depending on the time of day (more than likely ALSO the same brand) She'll probably brush her teeth and maybe use a mouthwash as well and then she will apply makeup to her face, possibly spray a hair straightening, heat protection spray, in her hair and then flat iron it, after which she will put a smoothing serum over her hair and THAT is just ONE beauty session. It'll start all over again in 8 hours or so and continue ad nauseum until she wakes up one day and decides she's over it and is giving in gracefully to the aging process. For some women, that day will NEVER come;)

Now let's discuss what happens to all that stuff she's used once she's walked away from the mirror. The outer layer of our skin, the epidermis, is the part of our skin we're most familar with. It prevents our bodies from permanently absorbing everything it comes into contact with. The layer just below it, the dermis, is where most of our blood vessels are found and it just LOVES water and water-based substances. You'd think, given the fact that your skin was designed to repel water, that it wouldn't absorb anything but actually, the longer your epidermis is exposed to water and water-based substances, the more absorbent it becomes. 

Think of what happens to your skin when you lie in the bath for a while, or swim in a pool, or the ocean. You begin to resemble a prune. That's because your skin has become more absorbent from over-exposure to water. And water makes it easier for oils and other substances, to travel through the epidermis, to the dermis below. In effect, your skin is actually like a big sponge. If anything sits on it for long enough and there is water to help the process along, it's going to be absorbed. Pretty much EVERYTHING you put on your skin, contains some water so we can presume that ALL the products listed in the beauty routine above, have disappeared into the epidermis and been absorbed into the water-loving dermis, beneath it. 

As I said before, your dermis contains most of your blood vessels. It stands to reason, then, that all the stuff that is absorbed through your skin, will enter your blood stream and be transported around the body to various organs and  tissues in much the same way as food or drink that we ingest. The only difference is that it doesn't pass through your stomach first, because you it didn't enter through your mouth. But the end result is the same as if you did. 

It's also important to remember that your skin works both ways. It is highly absorbent but it is also your body's largest organ for eliminating waste. If you use products that prevent it from working the way it should, and clog up your pores, your body will not thank you for it.

So why am I blogging about it? Well, do you have any idea what the standard ingedients are for body lotions, soaps, toothpastes, mouthwashes, toners etc, are? I bet you look at that list of ingredients and start zoning out before you've even read 3 of them. I know because I used to do that too! They're extremely difficult to even pronounce, not to mention that most of us don't have a clue what the names mean! We just assume that they're good for us because the adverts say so. You all know my view on that and, in case you've forgotten, you can read it in this blog post. I was talking about food there but it's all the same concept really.

"Pure and natural" are the latest buzz words of the beauty industry but don't be too taken in by them. The beauty industry is largely unregulated which means companies can slap the word "organic" on something that is loaded with chemicals, and bad for the environment and for YOU, without you even knowing it. They only SAY "pure and natural" because they know you'll be taken in by it. It's ok, I know you are, because I was too and I see so many of my friends falling victim to it too.

It's time to educate yourself so you can better protect you and your family, not to mention the environment. Here is what you need to look for, AND start avoiding:

• Benzoyl Peroxide: Possible tumour promoter, it produces DNA damage in human and other mammalian cells and it's also toxic by inhalation. It's an eye, skin and respiratory irritant. 

• DEA (Diethanolamine), MEA (Monoethanolamine) and TEA (Triethanolamine): Skin and eye irritant which causes contact dermatitis. They are 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.

• DMDM Hydantion and Urea: Two out of many  different preservatives that often release formaldehyde (yes, the stuff used to preserve body parts in a lab!) which may cause joint pains, skin reactions, allergies, depression, headaches, chest pains, ear infections, chronic fatigue, dizziness and insomnia. It can also irritate the respiratory system, trigger heart palpitations or asthma and aggravate coughs and colds. Other possible side effects include weakening of the immune system and cancer.

• Dibutyl Phthalate: Used mainly in nail products as a solvent for dyes and as a plasticizer that prevents nail polishes from becoming brittle. Phthalates are also unlisted fragrance ingredients in many other cosmetics. Dibutyl phthalate is absorbed through the skin. It can enhance the capacity of other chemicals to cause genetic mutations, although it is not a mutagen itself. In laboratory experiments, it has been shown to interfere with hormone function (endocrine disruption) causing reproductive and developmental problems. Dibutyl phthalate is banned in cosmetics in the Europe.

• FD&C colour pigments: Look for p-phenylenediamine or colours identified as “C.I.” followed by a 5-digit number. They are synthetic colours made from coal tar, containing heavy metal salts that deposit toxins into the skin causing skin sensitivity and irritation. Absorption of certain colours can cause depletion of oxygen in the body and death. Animal studies have shown almost all of them to be carcinogenic. 

• Fragrances: This can indicate the presence of up to four thousand separate ingredients, many of them toxic or carcinogenic. Clinical observation proves that they can affect the central nervous system causing depression, hyperactivity, inability to cope and other behavourial changes. They also cause headaches, dizziness, violent coughing and vomiting, skin discoloration and irritation and allergic rashes.

• Mineral Oil or Petrolatum: A petroleum by-product that coats the skin like plastic, clogging the pores which interferes with the skin's ability to eliminate toxins causing acne and other skin disorders. Slows down cell development and skin function and results in premature aging. Used in many products such as baby oil which is 100% mineral oil!

• PEG (Polyethylene Glycol): Potentially carcinogenic petroleum ingredient that can alter and reduce the skin's natural moisture factor. This could increase the appearance of aging and leave you more vulnerable to bacteria. It's used in household cleaners to dissolve oil and grease and is found in everything from personal care to babycare products and sunscreen.

• Propylene Glycol and Butylene Glycol: They easily penetrate the skin and weaken protein and cellular structure. PG is strong enough to remove barnacles from boats! Anyone working with PG is required to wear protective gloves, goggles and clothing and must dispose of any PG solutions by burying them in the ground, because it penetrates the skin so easily. It can cause brain, liver and kidney abnormalities and yet there is NO warning label on stick deodorants where it can be found in VERY high concentration.

• Sodium Lauryl Sulphate and Sodium Laureth sulphate: This ingredient is used in car washes, engine degreasers and garage floor cleaners and yet its also found in 90% of personal care products that foam. 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.

• Siloxanes: Look for cyclomethicone and ingredients ending in “siloxane” (e.g.cyclotetrasiloxane)
Cyclomethicone and siloxanes are used in cosmetics to soften, smooth, and moisten. These compounds can, however, irritate the skin, eyes, and lungs. They are also suspected of interfering with hormone function (endocrine disruption) and of liver toxicity. These chemicals are persistent. In other words, they don’t easily degrade and can remain in the environment long after they are rinsed down the shower drain. 

• Triclosan: a synthetic “antibacterial” ingredient – with a chemical structure similar to Agent Orange! Commonly found in antiperspirants, deodorants, cleansers and hand sanitisers, it is registered it as a pesticide, giving it high scores as a risk to both human health and the environment. It is classified as a chlorophenol, a class of chemicals suspected of causing cancer in humans. Its manufacturing process may produce dioxin, a powerful hormone-disrupting chemical with toxic effects measured in the parts per trillion; that is only one drop in 300 Olympic-size swimming pools! Hormone disruptors pose enormous long-term chronic health risks by interfering with the way hormones perform, such as changing genetic material, decreasing fertility and sexual function, and fostering birth defects. It can temporarily deactivate sensory nerve endings, so contact with it often causes little or no pain. Internally, it can lead to cold sweats, circulatory collapse, and convulsions. Stored in body fat, it can accumulate to toxic levels, damaging the liver, kidneys and lungs and can cause paralysis, suppression of immune function, brain hemorrhages, and heart problems. Its widespread use in popular antibacterial cleaners, toothpastes and household products may have nightmare implications for our future.

Scary isn't it? And yet we have all bought into the propaganda and think we absolutely cannot live without our Redken/Clarins/Loreal etc. If we are forced to live without them, we will all turn into aging hags, have dry, straw-like hair, saggy boobs, hairy skin, dirty teeth and smelly breath, not to mention BO!

Well, I for one KNOW I can do without all that stuff, because I do it on a daily basis! It wasn't something that happened overnight. Let's face it, those products cost a bomb. Who, in their right mind would throw out a half finished bottle of Kerastase?! So I finished everything I had and tried very hard to keep my mouth closed so I didn't swallow anything. I couldn't do much about the absorption issue but I just kept telling myself that it wouldn't be for much longer.

I am pretty chuffed with myself these days because there is not ONE product that I use that contains chemicals:) What's also REALLY nice about that is that I know I am not harming the environment in any way AND, even more importantly, nothing I buy, is tested on animals. And I'll tell you why I'm even more smug;) I pay far less for my beauty products than I used to! In the past, I could easily spend R1000 on my cleanser, toner and moisturiser in one shot, sometimes more if I was cornered by one of those persistent sales ladies (I know they are doing their job and I always felt bad walking away after they'd spent ages giving me their best sales pitch and that's why I used to always get taken in!) These days I spend under R150 and it's all working really well for me. I love how healthy my hair feels, I love how my skin feels and I can rest easy knowing that my body is not getting fed cancer-forming toxins on a daily basis.

Over the last year I have experimented with a lot of products in order to find the ones that work for me and, when I have struggled too much to find the right ones, I have made my own. I now make my own soap, lip-ice (yes, lip-ice also has all of those horrible ingredients in it!) and body creams. The only thing that is slightly costly, is the body moisturiser, but it is a price I am willing to pay because it covers my entire body and I am simply not willing to take a chance. Besides, I save so much more money on my other beauty products that I don't even notice the slight extra cost. I also have found that, since I have cut out all processed foods and started only eating real, organic foods, that my skin seems to shine from the inside out, without much need for a mountain of beauty products. It's always better to work from the inside out;)

Some of you are saying, "Really? How ridiculous are we going to get?! First we have to watch what we eat, now we can't use any beauty products?" Yes, of course you can. You can do anything you want. It's your body and your life. Just remember that every choice you make has a ripple effect. It's going on YOUR body, and going down YOUR drain, but once it's joined the system, it becomes part of something bigger and then it's no longer just YOUR problem. It eventually affects our rivers and oceans. You will say that your parents, and their parents used it all, but don't tell me that they're fine, and don't tell me that our environment is fine, because you would be just plain wrong. Again, you can read about it in this blog post.

At the end of the day, all of these products never existed for our grandparents, grandparents and they managed just fine. These days, we have learnt what we need to do to take care of ourselves and that is something positive we can take from the boom of civilisation. So we don't need to grow old and haggard looking before our time, but we can do it responsibly, thinking that, maybe, industry has gotten just a little out of hand in their quest to make money. Maybe we don't need as much as we thought we did. Maybe what we do affects more than just us. But if you've understood this blog post, then you KNOW it does affect YOU personally, and your family.

It's time to take your health into YOUR hands. Start reading ingredients on things before you buy them. You do it with food, because you don't want to gain weight, so why wouldn't you do it with your beauty products? Is weightloss more important than life? I don't think so and I know you don't. Take the power out of the hands of the big corporations, and put it back into yours.

Because you're worth it;)

Real Food Friday Feast - Grain Free Banana Bread

This is the first of many Friday posts, all related to my real food recipe for the week. Why banana bread, you ask? Well, simply because it's my FAVOURITE cake:) I went without it for many years thinking it could only be made with wheat flour and, as an IBS sufferer, I couldn't eat wheat, so that meant no banana bread. It was hard, I can't lie!

At first I played around with a few different flours like spelt flour and rice flour, but I find I battle with most grains, and they tend not to rise very well either, so they weren't really working for me. I always found that the recipes included stuff I'd rather not be eating as well and, as I'm not much of a baker, I really needed a recipe to follow that was tried and tested.

One day, while I was googling (something as common to me as breathing in case you hadn't guessed) I happened upon a link that mentioned grain-free cake. It immediately hooked my interest for obvious reasons! Intrigued, I clicked on the link and discovered a recipe using...

I didn't know it existed either!

Here are some of the benefits of using coconut flour:

• It is rich in protein, fibre and fat which makes it really filling. 
• It is also a good source of lauric acid, a saturated fat thought to support the immune system and the thyroid. Like most healthy fats, lauric acid also promotes good skin health. 
• It is an very good source of manganese which helps you to better utilize many nutrients such as choline and biotin (found in eggs), vitamin C and thiamin. Manganese also supports bone health, nervous system function, thyroid health and helps to maintain optimal blood sugar levels.
• It isn't grain-based, and so, doesn't present many of the issues that accompany grains for people with grain allergies or intolerances, such as myself. 
• It is gluten-free and, while it does contain food phytate, the mineral-binding effects of phytates in coconut are virtually non-existent which means that coconut flour doesn't need to be soaked (but that is something I will cover in another post!)

So, the recipe I found was NOT for banana bread unfortunately but I was undeterred! I now knew what I needed to do. The hunt for coconut flour was ON!

It actually wasn't too hard to find! I am a frequenter of Fruit and Roots in Bryanston and it was the first place I thought of when I headed off on my search. They specialise in all things organic and natural and they also, conveniently, have a 20% off sale every last Thursday of the month. Coconut flour is pricey to be honest. But an upside to it is that you use far less than you would normal flour. For example, if the recipe said you needed 2 cups of normal flour, you'd only need about 1/2 a cup of coconut flour. It's highly absorbent and too much flour will dry out a recipe. The general rule, when baking with coconut flour, is to add extra moisture in the form of eggs or milk or even fruit juice.

I did some more googling and found a few recipes for banana bread and then the experimenting started! Not only was I a coconut flour newbie, but I also needed to figure out a recipe that suited my organic, healthy needs. That meant no refined sugar or vegetable oils or margarine. I also couldn't do cow's milk and I didn't want just normal baking powder because that's full of aluminium. (FYI) I found an aluminium free baking powder at Fruit and Roots again:)

There were a couple of different types but this one was the most affordable.

I tried quite a few different recipes. Most of them ended up coming out very dry and hard and FLAT. They didn't rise at ALL. My wife (we'll call her GLM), angel that she is, dutifully told me every time that it was DELICIOUS, bless her heart;) But I was NOT satisfied. I knew I could do better and wanted it to taste like my mom's banana bread used to taste. There HAD to be a way.

One day, I decided to add a teaspoon of bicarb to the mix and VOILA! The perfect banana bread:) I was overjoyed and, this time, GLM could honestly say that it was delicious;) 

Before I give you the recipe, I need to stipulate that ALL the ingredients used in this are either organic or free range. Oh, and there is only ONE raw honey that I use. It is THE BEST honey in all the world and I buy it by the crate direct from the farmer. I refuse to eat any other. If you would like to order some, please email me: mellowhealth@melanielowe.co.za

Without further ado, here is the recipe: 

Grain-Free Banana Bread with Coconut Flour

4 eggs
2 Tbs honey
1/3 cup salted butter or coconut oil (if not salted butter add ¼ tsp salt to recipe)
2 or 3 (depending on the size) very ripe bananas, mashed
3 full Tbs plain yogurt
3/4 cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking powder 

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method

• Whisk up the eggs, honey, butter, yoghurt and mashed bananas 
• Sift flour, baking powder and bicarb into the batter and stir until completely mixed 
• Pour into a greased loaf tin and bake in a pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F) for 40-50 minutes 

NOTE: Please keep an eye on your loaf because my oven has a door that doesn't close properly and I have had to play around with temperature and time to avoid over or under cooking it! Stick a toothpick in and it should come out clean.

Here are a few really nice ideas to make it more interesting and delicious!

• You can make it a chocolate banana bread by adding 3-4 Tbs organic cocoa powder 
• Make it a cinnamon banana bread by adding 1 tsp organic ground cinnamon 
• Make it a ginger banana bread by adding 1 tsp organic ground ginger
• Give it an extra omega 3, crunchy boost by adding 2 Tbs of flaxseeds
• I also occasionally add a handful of dried cranberries and the same can be done with raisins or nuts

Honestly, once you have mastered your banana bread, the sky is the limit. I tried an apple and cinnamon loaf this morning and it is YUMMY!

A slice of this banana bread has only 6 grams of protein, 9 grams of fat and 18 grams of carbs! That will alter slightly depending on what fruit you use, but it will still be low in calories at only 170 calories a slice. You  can triple all those amounts if you use a grain flour like wheat and even more if you use normal, refined sugar. The amazing thing is that every single calorie of this banana bread is GOOD FOR YOU. Kinda blows your mind a bit huh?

If you find coconut flour is out of your price range, fear not! I have since discovered chickpea flour! 

It is also a grain-free flour and it is a lot more economically viable. It DOES give your baked goods a slightly nuttier flavour but I enjoy it and hopefully you will too! You will just need to alter the recipe slightly with the chickpea flour and these are the changes below:

Grain Free Banana Bread with Chickpea flour

3 eggs
2 Tbs honey
1/3 cup salted butter or coconut oil (if not salted butter add ¼ tsp salt to recipe)
2 or 3 (depending on the size) very ripe bananas, mashed
2 full Tbs plain yogurt
11/2 cups chickpea flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

You will use the same method to make this one.

The nice thing about chickpea flour is that you can buy it at dischem. In fact, dischem is going to become your favourite shopping place for all your organic needs;) What's really handy about Dischem is that they have a loyalty card system. Not only do they use the money you spend to help various charities, but you also get rewarded with money back. There is an added advantage for FNB bankers in that you can shop there with your ebucks. I love shopping at places that reward you:) And I really like that dischem has good ethics when it comes to protecting their customers, animals and the planet.

I have plenty of other suppliers that I get all of my organic goodies from. It has been a journey of discovery over the last year and I have slowly but surely built up a good, solid list of organic suppliers and nothing would give me greater pleasure than to bring them all business! I think they deserve it given all that they are doing for a healthier world. That will be a blog post for next week!

Please let me know how your banana bread turns out! Happy baking:)

King of the Fast Foods

I was listening to Redi Tlhabi talking on 702 this morning about the opening of the first Burger King in South Africa. Apparently Burger King were giving away free whopper burgers to the first 1 000 customers. I have to say, I share her confusion over why people would start queuing at a fast food joint several hours before it was supposed to open, unless they were homeless and starving and that burger meant the difference between life and death.

Colour me stupid but what is so special about Burger King? I GET that burgers are tasty. I also GET that fast food is convenient at times if you aren't as fussy as me. (Personally, I'd rather push through the hunger until I find something better.) I just don't understand how a burger, made in a fast food joint like Burger King, could possibly be more appealing than a burger made in your own kitchen, thereby giving you power over the ingredients IN said burger. In fact, Burger King is SO appealing to people, that they actually woke up early to go and queue outside Burger King hours before it opened when they could have actually used that time to make themselves a lunch that would have saved them, not only petrol and time, but also a possible heart attack, or some dread disease, later in life.

Recently, Burger King had to come clean, during the horsemeat scandal, and admit that they used horsemeat in their burgers. They only came clean AFTER DNA evidence was found proving that they were using horsemeat, and they were forced to admit to it and apologise for denying it only hours before. Too late, she cried? Apparently not according to the thousands queuing outside of Burger King this morning! It's scary to think that fast food eaters have no CLUE what they are eating, nor do they seem to care.

Mmm, delicious...

There are two possibilities here: One is that Burger King knowingly lied about the horsemeat in order to protect their own profit margins regardless of the harm they might be causing OR the other possibility is that Burger King literally had NO idea that their food contained horsemeat and are innocent of the lies... BUT that makes them ignorant about their own food so I'm not actually sure which is worse.

There are any number of scarily, toxic chemicals in most fast foods and if Burger King, and its clientele, are clueless about the horsemeat in their own burgers, how can they say they have been honest when listing the nutritional value of their burgers on their website? How can any of their clients trust that the nutritional breakdown on their website, is accurate? And if Burger King actually ARE aware of the horsemeat, then the nutritional breakdown on their website is null and void because they haven't declared it there and that means they have lied. Of course, I think we can safely say that they haven't declared it because they KNOW that you won't want to eat burgers made of horsemeat and so they'd rather lie to you and not lose your money. Where are the ethics there?

Unfortunately, horsemeat is actually the least of your worries when it comes to fast food. Here is a list of some of the ingredients NOT listed in the nutritional breakdown on their websites:

• sodium phosphates
• bleached wheat flour
• modified food starch 
• dextrose (sugar)
• partially hydrogenated soybean oil and cottonseed oil with mono-and diglycerides, (read: trans fats)
• Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil) (read: trans fats)
• TBHQ, tertiary butylhydroquinone, a petroleium derived product
• Dimethylpolysiloxane

You may have saved some money because you bought a cheap burger, but what price are you ultimately paying for having that burger? If you read my previous post you'll remember that everything that you eat, becomes a part of you. Your body sees it all as food and it becomes part of your cell makeup, it flows through your bloodstream and it contaminates everything it touches. Why do 1 in 3 people have cancer these days? The above bullet points are part of your answer, folks. If you still can't see it then I'm not sure who can help you there!

The ONLY things that most of us will recognise as "food" on that list, are the bleached wheat flour, the sugar and the vegetable oil. Bleached wheat flour has been sucked DRY of any nutrients that it might have had to start with. Can someone tell me WHY anyone would do that? You not only remove the nutrients, but you kill any flavour it might have had to start with and you might as well add talcum powder to the burger instead. There is also the issue that your body breaks down the white flour  into glucose extremely fast and so you tend to store more of it as fat.

As for sugar, we eat that all the time right? Surely it can't be THAT bad? Well, let's see how bad it can be:

• Bad bacteria LOVE to eat sugar, so sugar can depress your immune system by fueling the bad bacteria
• Sugar contributes to infertility
• Sugars raises blood glucose levels, which can deteriorate blood vessels and lead to heart disease
• Sugar can increase your risk of cancer. Some believe it can CAUSE cancer. Read this article to really blow your mind!
• Sugar contributes to candida, which MANY women suffer from, especially IBS sufferers.
• Sugar cravings are related to stress and the cravings are self-sustaining. (Meaning when you eat sugar because you’re stressed, you’re going to end up wanting more sugar when the stress returns.) Vicious cycle anyone?
• Sugar is addictive. Lisa Byrne says it best in her workbook, Break the Sugar Habit: “Refined, white sugar acts more like a drug than a food in our system…but it started as a whole plant. The sugar cane and beet plant in nature come complete with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytochemicals like any other plant. When glucose is part of the whole plant, it acts like a food in your body -- entering our system calmly, breaking down slowly and providing a range of nutrients in addition to energy. When glucose is isolated, sugar acts like a drug in your body. Too much refined sugar creates a cycle of intense highs and lows, keeping our blood sugar, hormones and neurotransmitters out of balance.

Ok, so sugar = not good! How about those vegetable oils? We've been told that they're good, right? Margarine is made out of vegetable oils and we are supposed to eat that instead of butter to lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease aren't we? 

That would be... WRONG!

One of the (many) problems with vegetable oils is that, unlike butter or coconut oil, vegetable oils can’t be extracted just by pressing or separating naturally. They have to be chemically removed, deodorised and altered. Vegetable oils are some of the most chemically altered foods in our diets and yet they get promoted as healthy. What's frightening is that they are found in pretty much EVERY processed food, from salad dressing to mayonnaise (and fast foods) and  even on the "healthy" nuts and seeds you buy (look at the ingredients).

The last few times I've been in Durban, lately, I've heard an advert punting Canola margarine as a healthy alternative. It's practically on repeat and I get so mad when I hear it I turn off the radio! Here is the scary thing about Canola oil:

• It was developed by making a hybrid version of the rapeseed, and it was given its name in the 1980s as part of a marketing effort organised by a conference on mono-saturates.
• Rapeseed oil contains high amounts of the toxic erucic acid, which is poisonous to the body. (it has been linked to the formation of fatty deposits in heart muscles in animals) Canola oil is an altered version, also called Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed and it is commonly genetically modified and treated with high levels of pesticides.
• Canola (modified rapeseed oil) is produced by heating the rapeseed and processing it with a petroleum solvent to extract the oil. Then another process of heat and an addition of acid is used to remove nasty solids (wax) that occur during the first processing.
• At this point, the newly created canola oil must be treated with yet MORE chemicals to improve the colour and separate the different parts of the oil. Finally, because the chemical process has created a horrible smelling oil, it must be chemically deodorised to be palatable!
• If the vegetable oil is going to be made into margarine, it undergoes an additional process called hydrogenation to make it solid at cold temperatures. Unlike saturated fats (butter, coconut oil, etc) vegetable oils are not naturally solid at these temperatures and must be hydrogenated to accomplish this. During this process of hydrogenation, those lovely transfats we’ve heard so much about, are created.

Still thinking about that Burger? Did I go through all the other stuff listed that we DIDN'T recognise?

• Sodium phosphates: According to web definitions: phosphate of sodium is used as a laxative to cleanse the bowels... 
• Food starch is usually modified via a chemical process and is used in most processed foods
• TBHQ or Tertiary Butylhydroquinone is found in many foods, ranging from crackers to crisps to fast foods. It is also found in certain brands of pet foods, as well as in cosmetic and baby skincare products, varnish, lacquers and resins and it is used in the stabilisation process of explosive compounds... and you want to eat it because... ?!
• Dimethylpolysiloxane is an antifoaming agent (a form of silicone used in cosmetics, and Silly Putty) It is also found in diet coke, sprite etc.

Some people will read this and say, "So what? Life is short and I want to enjoy it! My parents ate all this stuff and they're ok! But are they really? I challenge you to say you don't know a single person who has cancer or heart disease or diabetes or some other physical ailment. Ageing prematurely also counts. If it's no-one in your immediate circle, then there will be someone who you've met through someone close to you. Doctors will tell you that these diseases are genetic. I will agree that some people ARE genetically predisposed to some diseases. BUT I also believe that it is our lifestyle that will determine whether we get those diseases or not. You are not powerless unless you choose to be.

So, you have a choice here. To continue to live in ignorance, despite having the knowledge at your fingertips, or to begin to affect a change, not only in your life, but in the lives of those close to you. The choices you make will affect your children, and your children's children. Look what happened when food became a booming industry and people realised how much money could be made by deceiving the masses. Our parents were told that eating certain processed foods was much better than eating real food and THEY bought into it. So WE bought into it. That's the power of advertising. 

But I also believe in the power of the influence we have on those around us. So it's up to us whether we choose to continue that legacy, or to affect a change. We need to start a food revolution. That's what I'm doing here and I can see the change happening in people around me and it gives me a great amount of hope. By looking after ourselves, we are also looking after those close to us, AND a great side benefit is that we go easier on our planet too. It's a win-win situation:)

That's enough of that! Tomorrow is THE REAL FOOD FRIDAY FEAST and I'm finally going to share that banana bread recipe I've been talking so much about! I happened to spot a banana bread loaf in a grocery store yesterday and, out of interest, I peeked at the ingredients. All I can say is, it wasn't far removed from a fast food burger! Wouldn't it be nice to eat a banana bread that, you know, was actually good for you? Bet you always thought ANY cakes were cheat meals destined to land on your thighs and hips and you needed 3 gym sessions to work them off! Not this banana bread, I guarantee!

Can I get a YUM!?

Don't miss tomorrow's post;)

You really ARE what you eat

In my first post I hinted at the fact that the food we are eating these days is so far removed from actual food that our bodies don't really know how to assimilate any of what we are actually putting into them. In order to grasp the concept of what organic and natural REALLY means, I think it's important to first understand the difference between what we class as food, and what real food, actually is.

The saying, "You are what you eat" is completely true. Everything that you eat gets used to build the body you have. Your body is constantly regenerating itself and it uses WHATEVER you give it, to regenerate itself. It won't be able to differentiate between an organic apple and a packet of crisps. Your digestive system will break it all down and send it out to be used to build more cells. You can imagine that the apple will provide some stellar fuel for your system, but the crisps? Not so much. More about that in a bit!

Pick me, pick me!

       

Here's some trivial, but interesting, info! You can lose anywhere from 200 000 to 3 000 000 cells per SECOND. It's difficult to get an exact answer as to how many body cells we lose on a daily basis but the atoms in your body go through a complete turnover about once every 7 years. That doesn't mean you get a whole new body as you hit the 7 year mark;) It means that, by the end of those 7 years, all the cells you started with at the beginning of that 7 year cycle, will have been replaced with new ones. When we are younger, we are making far more cells than we are losing. As we get older, or we get sick, we are making fewer cells than we are losing and that's how you notice the aging process beginning to happen. We see the result in the wrinkling of our skin, the greying of our hair, the loss of muscle and strength etc.  

Now let's go back to the apple and the crisps... Nutritionally, I think even the most hardened junk food addict will have to admit that the apple wins hands down! We all know a packet of crisps isn't going to win any nutritional food prizes;) But what difference does it really make to your life if you eat the crisps instead of the apple? It's food either way, right? Your body can use it for energy and it all goes out the same way doesn't it? Not quite...

Those crisps aren't ACTUALLY food. I mean, they LOOK like food because we've been told our whole lives, that they ARE food and so our brains are programmed to put them under the food category. But they aren't actually slices of a healthy, organically grown potato that was grown in a field that provided it with nutrients. The flavours are far from real. They're a mish mash of ingredients made by scientists using test tubes and machines. You only have to look at the ingredients to know that they are so far removed from what real food is, it's actually quite frightening.

Rennet of Calf?! I'm sorry... What?!

Someone very clever took all of that stuff, put it in pretty packaging and marketed it as food. They made it look so good and sound so healthy to us that we were convinced enough to slot those crisps into the food category and make them part of our daily intake. They are so full of all sorts of things specifically designed to appeal to our tastebuds that our minds go, "Ooooh, that tastes like food!"  The scary thing is, we totally ignore the process that goes into making them and what they look like before they are zapped full of colorants and flavorants. They will look and taste nothing like the end product and I can guarantee they have no real food in them. They were probably grey in color to start, before they were bleached and then smothered in colorants and synthetic spices! I mean, what food do you know of that is called E-330?! It sounds like a robot in Star Wars more than something that should be in your food. Seriously, the mind is an amazing thing. We can convince ourselves to not even ask questions about where those crisps come from because the marketing campaign was so good we've bought into the propaganda.

Who wants to be a simba chippie now?!

This may sound like an exaggeration but it does make you think, or it should! Don't ever believe that something is healthy or good for you based on marketing. There are NO companies who exist only for your health and well-being. They are all trying to make money and they will say just about anything to take that money from you, even if they've twisted the truth. Crisps are not, and never will be, real food, unless you make them yourself, from scratch.

So, what you think is food, is NOT food. Not even close. It's difficult to grasp that, especially since the marketing behind everything is so GOOD!

Alright then, what else can you class as not real food? Well here is where things can get overwhelming. Most of what we eat these days is not real food. The amazing thing is, real food is at our fingertips, but we have been so programmed over the years, to eat and drink certain things, that we can't see the raw honey for the corn syrup! I challenge you to go into your  kitchen and look through your cupboards and sort out what is real food and what isn't. Basically, anything processed in a factory can be classed as not real food. That will include pretty much anything refined, that is in a box or a packet.

Here are some examples: White flour, sugar, biscuits, chips, sweets, packet sauces, bottled sauces, 2 minute noodles, anything in a tin, white rice, bread, dry pasta, cereals etc. You get the idea? None of that stuff is real food. It's something made by scientists, in a factory. That means you can't be sure of what's in it. Even if you read the ingredients, there are things they are not obligated to tell you. And they conveniently don't have to tell you HOW it was made. Believe me, it's not made in a kitchen with a cook standing next to a stove adding real ingredients. It's made by people in white coats, wearing big rubber gloves, in a production line of machines and who knows how many machines and people it has bypassed on its journey to that packet. Contamination anyone?

And there is NO love going into that "food". No matter how much the marketing tries to convince you it's all about YOU and what's good for you, I promise you, it's not. It's all about what lines their pockets. They have some really clever words to hook your interest! They say things like "lower in fat" and "new improved formula" and "added fibre" and our minds are programmed to recognize those as good things and we blindly take them off the shelf because that's what we've done for so long and that's what our parents did and probably their parents.

But I'm guessing their parents grandparents DIDN'T. Before factories existed on a large scale, people bought from the local grocer who was supplied by small farmers who grew things naturally, before pesticides became the norm and genetically modified crops took the place of real crops and food was made by scientists and big machines in bigger factories.

They ate REAL food. And they died more from old age and natural causes than awful diseases and they weren't obese and heart disease wasn't even thought of. Did you know very few people died of heart disease before 1900? It was barely a whisper back then. Now it's the number one killer. The same goes for cancer. A by-product of our so-called "civilization".

You know, now, what not real food is! But what is real food? This one is easy:) It's anything that is literally REAL FOOD. If it was grown in a field, the natural way, without pesticides and chemicals to make it grow faster or out of season, it's real food.

Um, if you need that mask then you probably shouldn't be spraying that on our food?!

If it's meat or eggs or milk from an animal that has been allowed to range free and eat it's natural food rather than genetically modified grains, that hasn't been pumped full of hormones to make it grow faster, and antibiotics to try and cure the horrible diseases it gets from being held in such cramped, unhealthy quarters, it's real food.

Exactly how healthy and ethical is this?!

That's it.

I can practically hear you all saying, "That's IT?! The list was far longer for processed foods! What are we supposed to eat?!"

Actually, a lot! I, for one, only eat real food and yet I never go hungry. I can vouch for loads of people who do the same, and they don't go hungry. Not only do they not go hungry but they don't gain weight, they don't get sick, they don't have dread diseases and they are just all round happier, healthier people.

That is definitely enough food for thought for one post;) I am going to leave you there, but not for long!  This blog is going to be ALL about what you SHOULD be eating and all the deliciously yummy food you can make and eat knowing that it is all ethical, healthy and REAL. Can anyone say "Banana bread?!" Yes please!

Watch this space;)

Go on, eat that fat!

Winter seems like the worst time ever to try and overhaul your entire lifestyle, right? I disagree! And over the course of this post, I'll tell you why;)

If you were going to be following a "diet" where a meal consisted of 3 lettuce leaves, half a can of tuna and 5 almonds  then, yes, I'd say winter is a bad time to do that. In my opinion, ANYTIME is a bad time to do that! Winter is a time when all we want to do is hibernate, and EAT! You want soups and curries and stews and lots of hot, baked goods and snacky things and hot, sweet drinks. Sounds like a lot of things you can't eat if you are organic and healthy, doesn't it? Well, it's time we blew THAT mindset right out of the water!

Looks pretty fattening, right? WRONG!

I don't believe in diets. I don't believe in weighing your food and counting calories and depriving yourself of all the good things in life, just to lose a bit of body fat that will more than likely return the minute you start to eat "normally" again. Going organic and eating real food is not a diet, or a fad, or a quick fix to your fat loss issues. It's an entire mindset and lifestyle change. It's FOR LIFE. The fact that it has a sideline benefit of losing body fat is an added bonus, but it shouldn't be the only motivation or you probably will fall off the fruit box eventually.

I made a decision to start eating real, organic food about a year ago and it was just as winter started so I can vouch for winter being a good time to start the process;) I'd always considered myself to be very healthy up until then. As I mentioned in my first post, nutrition and health has always fascinated me. But, no matter how healthy I thought I was, my weight fluctuated and my stomach gave me grief a lot of the time. I was constantly on a learning curve and I loved learning but it was frustrating at times, knowing I wasn't quite getting it right!

WTF?!

Just over a year ago, a friend started mentioning organic and paleo eating to me. I knew nothing about all of that and so I decided to start researching it, as I do! I was astounded at how much information I found. It took me a few months to work my way through it and figure it all out for myself, but I began to realise just how wrong I had been for so long. There I was, dutifully cutting all the fat out of my diet, eating low fat this and fat free that, eating only egg whites, skinless chicken breasts, eating next to nothing, counting all my calories and I couldn't figure out why I wasn't getting it right.

Despite doing everything the "experts" told me to do, I still had to watch what I ate to avoid my body weight fluctuating too much and my stomach was still giving me grief despite me avoiding all the known aggravants.  I was also still catching every bug that came my way as well. I felt tired and unhealthy and permanently grumpy!

Blegh...

So basically, we have ascertained that I was NOT achieving my aim. It was time for a complete overhaul; a change in mindset and a change in lifestyle.

I'm not saying it was a fast process. I had spent the last 35 years of my life learning what to do and what not to do. Suddenly I felt like a child again because I had to start learning almost from scratch. 

Perhaps the hardest thing to get my head around was that I could eat fat! Now, most of us know that we need to eat some fat, like nuts and avocados and olive oil. But did you know your body also needs animal fat?

Altogether now... WHAAAAT?!

For decades, saturated fat has been utterly vilified. It's supposed to be the cause of obesity, heart disease, high cholesterol, it's been linked to cancer, it's a death sentence for diabetics and it's even been blamed for diabetes. It's pretty much to blame for EVERYTHING that humans have ever been afflicted with in the last 100 years. What's really interesting is that, in the last few decades, since scientists decided to blame all of these diseases on our saturated fat consumption, and told all of us to cut it out of our lives, all of those diseases have escalated to epic proportions. Even more interesting is that, while they were telling us to cut saturated fat out of our lives, they were telling us to start eating more grains, starches and vegetable oils. People started drinking skim milk and buying margarine by the truckload, instead of butter and yet they were still getting sick and gaining weight. It's no coincidence that heart disease has now become the number one killer, with cancer and diabetes running close seconds.

I'm going to blow your mind a bit now...

Saturated fat is NOT bad for you. In fact, it's ESSENTIAL for you. If you don't believe me, there is a lot of science behind it and if you are interested in the science, here is a great video that will give you all the stats. It's long and very thorough.

There is a BUT...

Unless you eat free range or organic saturated fat, you are not going to benefit from eating it. In fact, if you choose not to eat free range, it CAN be harmful. The reason why is because, animals that AREN'T allowed to range free and eat their natural food, are, quite literally, sick. These days, cattle are being fed huge piles of genetically modified grains because it's cheaper and it makes them grow big and fat so that they make the companies more money. They are also being injected with hormones to make them grow faster, and, because they are getting sick due to a shockingly bad diet, they are being pumped full of antibiotics. All of that bad stuff doesn't miraculously leave the cattle when they are slaughtered. So you end up with really poor quality meat full of hormones, antibiotics and disease from eating grain. Which means, if you have a grain intolerance, meat will not agree with you. Do I even need to spell out what the hormones and antibiotics are doing to you?

If the quality of your meat doesn't really bother you, how about what the poor cows go through? It's bad enough that their lives are going to be cut short so that we can have food on our table. Shouldn't we show our gratitude for such an amazing gift, by allowing them a happy, dignified short life? The same thing applies to every other animal who is kind enough to feed us.

Which life would YOU prefer? This?

Or this?

It's tough to get your head around isn't it? Eating fat... Boy did I struggle!

For christmas last year, I decided to roast a free range duck from Woolies and, because it was my first time ever, I had to turn to google to find out how to go about it! I had NO IDEA that a duck was so full of fat! Every method involved roasting it for many, many hours, poking it with a knife every few hours, to get rid of all the fat. By the time I was done, I had at least 1 cup full of duck fat, and a VERY small, skinny, crunchy duck. It didn't go very far on christmas day, needless to say!

2 months later, the cup of duck fat was still in my fridge... I knew I COULD eat it, but my mind just refused to allow it. I was SO brainwashed into believing it was bad for me. One day I finally broke through and I made myself a pot of popcorn using duck fat instead of oil. OH... MY... GREATNESS... It was the most delicious popcorn I have ever eaten! After that it wasn't hard to start cooking with it;)

These days I make my popcorn with raw farm butter or duck fat or even coconut oil, I cook things using all three as well. I (gasp) have butter on my banana bread! I drink a glass of full cream goat's milk every night (because I am lactose intolerant and can't digest cow's milk) I eat full cream goat's milk cheese, and full cream goat's milk yoghurt, DAILY. I eat egg yolks now too;) I never thought I'd see the day! I went about 15 years without eating butter and drinking milk! I honestly feel like I've died and gone to heaven;) And the interesting thing is, I have actually LOST body fat. I wasn't trying. That was just a side benefit of  going organic and free range AND eating fat again. I feel so energetic and healthy too; another side benefit.

So, back to why winter is a great time for a lifestyle change...

What could be better than a warm chicken curry full of delicious, healthy chicken fat, on a bed of brown rice, followed by a hot mug of organic hot chocolate sweetened with raw honey. (I'm not talking about the kind you get in a tin. I'm talking about a mug of organic hot milk with a chunk of dark chocolate melted into it. Have I got your attention now? How about a slice of warm banana bread smothered in a thick layer of butter? Still think you can't do this now?

That, my friends, is what eating real food is all about. It's about using all the real things that we were meant to eat, instead of going for the man-made, processed, canned and bottled rubbish that you find lining the shelves of all major grocery stores. The beauty of a lot of organic stuff is that it's actually not that hard to make yourself. So when they tell you how expensive it is, and how it's just "not do-able", don't believe it. I make my own yoghurt. It's so easy a child could do it. I make my own stock which I use to add flavour and goodness to all my stews, curries and soups. I grow my own vegetables. I save a fortune because I don't buy pre-packaged goods loaded with rubbish and, aside from saving money, our health has benefited.

This blog is going to be full of info to help you on your organic way, and it's going to include a lot of recipes and suggestions to save you money and make you healthier in the process. I get so excited just thinking about how much this will change your life for the better.

But that's enough for now. I'm off to make myself a mug of hot chocolate and eat a slice of my delicious homemade banana bread;)