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How your thoughts can heal your body.

Your mindset can heal your body beyond what food and supplements can do. It has taken me a long time to really connect to this thought but i have seen it over and over with clients. We often put a lot of effort into taking the right supplements, green juices and organic foods that is what our bodies need for fuel and to heal. But with every negative thought or judgment of yourself or others you counteract all that good work you’ve done. Don’t get me wrong eating junk and loving your self is not the road to health but eating well and not looking after your mind allowing ‘chatter’, doubt and self criticism that arises daily is not the answer either.

I use to think it was ok to talk to myself and beat myself up in my head. Tell myself I’m not pretty enough, slim enough, talented enough i’ve done it my whole life – hey we all do it, we are all stressed its normal right? . . . but it is not ok and we all do it and we all think the other person has an easier life clear of stress and negative thoughts. Well ladies we all have insecurities and we all think we are not good enough! WHY?

In my dream world we would all celebrate each other, support each other’s dreams and love our differences. We would not look at the girl across the street and think I wish I had her car or her hair or I wish my legs looked like hers or my job was as well paid full of envy and jealosy.

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But we have all heard this before right? Well did you know that every negative thought about you or someone else surges Cortisol through your body and it can take up to 1 hour to process that and disperse it out of the body. It uses up vital minerals and nutrients and stops your body using your fat cells for energy and it therefore runs off of glucose instead which is needed for healthy brain. Meaning it keeps you in that “fight or flight’ state we hear so much about. The mind looks to the past for happy memories to release happy hormones making the future an anxiety fueled place to be. So ladies don’t do it. Live in the now!

Stop that ’chatter’ in your head and stop the negative banter and worry especially what others think of you. Live from your heart not your head, be truthful to yourself and your loved ones. We are all in a vulnerable state and need love. If you have someone in your life who judges you and does not give you what you need . . . maybe now is the time to shed yourself of him or her. You don’t need that in your life so only surround your self with those who make you feel great, support your life and when you come away from them feel secure in that relationship. You need to be surrounded by loved ones who get you without judgment and need things in return. It sound tough but in the long run of your life it is best for you.

Choosing your mindset is as easy as dropping guilt for an action you did in the past – hey you can’t change it and you can’t re-do it, so let it go . . . . I personally held that over myself for years, flogging myself with guilt, self hate, blame and hating the decisions I’d made. But at the time I just did my best with what knowledge I had. A big part of my healing was to forgive others and myself and ‘let it go!’

You choose your actions, mindset and path not your parents, lovers or friends so stop blaming them for your life. Yes others actions and your environment may have influenced you, but you have the choice of how you act or respond to life situations. You can either turn a bad situation in to a positive or let that toxic situation eat you up and make you unwell. Been there done that – no thanks!

When William was diagnosed I fell in to deep depression after struggling to cope for 2 years it was enough to break me. After hitting rock bottom and I mean rock bottom, with the amazing support of my husband a few great friends I worked my way back up and saw all the positives that can come out of out of our new life path. Like a chance to learn and grow and change, to clean up our lives from chemicals and toxins, eat cleanly, live within our means with joy and simplicity. Not to take material things for granted and to stop climbing ladders and striving for goals that are unreachable and unimportant and to share my journey and help others. I had to go through an element of grieving for the life I thought I’d have but now every decision we make or step we take we ask ourselves is this best for the boys our family and in line with our values. This has led us to set up our businesses and we have met some truly beautiful friends on our journey to health who have shown us what’s important.

We are told often to ‘let it go’ and my dearest girl friend and I often laugh at what that means when you’re stressed, up to your eyeballs and exhausted. But over time we have both learnt it means to forgive ourselves, to be kind to ourselves and to let the small things, like a clean floor or perfect makeup or being on time go. These things are all surface things. The true importance is love, health and wellness of mind and compassion for each and every person. The rest you can ‘let go’ really you can let it go and that comes from a control freak with OCD for a clean house haha, you should see my house now!

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A few things that have helped me and still help when I fall off the mindset train of living from love and when I go back to my head and live in fear and with ‘chatter’ are:

Mediation: there is a common misbelief that to meditate you must have a totally blank mind. If you can achieve that, then that’s amazing. But you still get the benefits if you just slow down . . . breath deep belly breaths -In from your nose belly expand and out from your nose belly falls. Even 10 deep breaths will calm your nervous system down. If you find clearing your mind difficult focus on one thing like a candle flame or a tree and hold that thought for a long as you can. If stuff enters your mind sweep it away with a big brush and start again. Laugh at your thoughts and keep trying. Your ego wants to be “chatting” all the time. Don’t let it take over who you are. We use apps on our smart phones to start our mediation off each evening and they are handy if you are in the car before school pick up or a big work meeting. Yoga can help with this too and walking in nature daily.

Mickel Therapy: which is talking based therapy about taking action when an emotion arises and moving through it fast to clear you physical symptoms.

www.mickeltherapy.com/what-is-mickel-therapy/

Homeopathy: which works on lowering your level of stress building your nervous system and supporting you whilst you heal. I have used Dhanvanatari Collage and also more recently Michael Higginson in Geelong to support me.

http://www.geelonghomeopathic.com.au/about.html

http://dhanvantaricollegeofhomeopathy.com.au

A gratitude diary: I write 3 things I am grateful for each night in my phone. This helps me see the positives in the day, even if there were more negatives. So that last thing I think about are positives. We do this with the boys each night too, we talk about their day and pick 3 great things that happened and not dwell on what they may have done wrong or if they were upset.

Debt Clearing: no matter how hard it is if there is something upsetting me or someone had said something that has hurt my feelings I clear the debt by talking it through and not going to bed on it. This means setting boundaries and protecting myself first. It does not mean confrontation or stomping back in to a shop because someone was rude to me. Just simple clearing the air so it does not fester and become a physical symptom.

Happy list: each week I look at my dairy and decide if the tasks in it are + or – and if I have more – than + I plan a trip to the movies, yoga or catch up with a friends or get my nails done to balance up the week. This is putting joy into my life. Making sure I don’t get bogged down with the task of mother hood and running a house or running a business and not going without joy and fun for my being. Its unrealistic to think I can spend my time just in the + zone but if I have a few to look forward to it keeps me from feeling a lack of joy. The body is amazing it likes joy and fun and if it doesn’t get enough it makes you go back in the mind to find it. So feed it joy and fun and show it love and it will keep you in the now and physically strong.

So . . .

When you feel you’re self ‘chatting’ in your head STOP be aware – take action – and practice – clear your mind and start again.

When you have a week of – plan some + joy and fun!

Write down your gratitude list each evening.

Debt clear every night and set boundaries so your not being hurt.

Put yourself first and remember to love yourself and do your self care daily be that a new nail polish, a cup of tea in peace or a day in a spa to unwind or talking to your best friend.

As woman we put our children, partners or bosses first . . . please stop that we come first!

I find as i’m a visual learner I write positive athermations on my walls, mirrors and on postie notes in my car and keep them on my phone to remind me how to think and act. If you are a kinetic learner maybe you could listen to self help books. Find what works for you. . . and roll with it!

The only person that can heal you is YOU! The only person that can truly make you happy is YOU!

Choose to be happy and to live in the now, not the past or future, as that is where anxiety and fear is bred from.

Namaste beautiful ladies x x x

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Why no GRAINS you ask?

There is a lot of talk about grains and why we should or should not eat them. So what’s the truth?

Well the truth is some people can cope with them when they eat fermented, well soaked and properly cooked grains and sprouted beans to the tractional methods of cooking. But the majority of people do not eat there grains like that. When I was a vegetarian my diet was 60% grains, legumes and beans and I know I didn’t prepare them correctly like eating canned beans, processed crackers and lots of breads, cakes and biscuits and it caused me a lot of damage in my gut. Grains should be eaten away from fats and starches only be eaten on there own and need lots of digestion time. Food combining and why is it essential for health!-chart.

Most peoples grain consumption is very processed and grown with pesticides, herbisides and a host of other harmful chemicals. This makes them an inflammatory food that causes damage to the gut and can reak havoc with weigh gain, low energy, IB, fertility, mental illness and thyroid function. Not to mention those grains containing gluten and we know most people can’t tolerate gluten. Grains, seeds, and beans contain anti-nutrients such as protease inhabiters, saponins, lectins and prytoetrogens which can cause ‘leaky-gut syndrome’ and physic acid which blocks absorption of minerals like iron, zinc and copper which are essential for the body to be strong.

Seeds like quiona and some beans and legumes when cooked properly can be highly nutritious and full of protein, but again if you have any digestive symptoms like bloating gas or pain avoiding all grains and grain like seeds and beans is advised till your gut is healed. And there are more easily absorbed foods that give you just as much protein and minerals-Like Fruit and Greens!

By soaking or sprouting grains, seeds and legumes your body can break down this process and make them easier to digest and absorb the nutrients. So once your gut is healed and you have had along period without inflamitory foods you maybe be able to digest small amounts of grains, beans and legumes prepared properly and in the right food combination. But they should not make up more than 5% of your diet and not from processed foods like shop brought crackers and breads. And ideally be young sprouted legumes and beans not dried, cooked or canned.

Nora Gedgaudas is the worlds leading expert on why grains should be avoided for most of us. She goes in to the history of our eating and how mass agriculture only came in to our history 200 years ago  and only 100 years ago chemicals started arising in our farming practices changing us from sometimes nutritious foods to a food thats in every product we buy and eat. We feed it to the animals and we costume max amounts of it daily. Did our ancestors eat that much? Has our bodies involved enough to cope with the speed of the agriculture?  . . . she answers all of that below.

http://www.primalbody-primalmind.com/what-is-gluten-and-why-should-we-care/

Using activated nut flours, seeds and coconut flours you can make breads, crackers, wraps, cakes, biscuits and most food you love but these are still not ideal for digestion and lacking in nutrients as they have been cooked and processed. Many restaurants serve grain-free foods now too. Once you learn not to add rice or pasta with everything you start adding more vegetables to your plate and the aim is to have 80% or more of your diet from plants!

It may seem a long way off but start with removing one grain meal a day and in 2 weeks you would have halved your grain consumption. Then in month most grains would be slowly out of your diet. Swap your bread for a lettuce wrap or seed wrap. Swap your biscuits for homemade walnut meal ones. Swap your cereal for a smoothie, your pasta for zucchini noodles or cauliflower rice. See you can do it!!

It will take you about 3 months for all the gluten to rid it self from your body theres a phrase gong around that says you can’t be a little bit pregnant . . . and so you can’t be a little bit gluten-free or a little bit grain-free, once you have removed it from your diet stay off it for at least 28 days to see the real benefits.

Let me know how your feel . . .

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To soy or not to soy?

Soy or soybeans, are a type of legume that have been used for 5,000 years in China for food like tofu, tempeh, and edamame beans and also for medicinal purposes. Soybeans are considered a source of protein, and are processed into many meat and dairy substitutes. The main producers of soy are the United States, Brazil, Argentina, China and India. Over 80% of soy in the US is genetically modified, but that’s where almost all of the soy is now grown for our Australian foods, scary huh!!

So many of us have thyroid function issues and so many of us have undiagnosed Hypothyroidism when the doctor’s test comes back fine but we are still having symptoms. This often leaves us wondering why and how we can change this. Dr Mark Hyman has some great tips and advice on his website for this.

Thyroid Disease: Are You Sick, Tired, Overweight?

Studies are showing the connection to the increase in soy in so many of our foods now and issues with Thyroid function. It’s not just your soy milk latte but products you didn’t know it’s in like shampoo, bulking agent, hydrolyzed plant protein (HPP) or hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP), gums, soy Lecithin (chocolate) natural flavorings, Additive/emulsifier 322, stabilizer, thickeners, starch, shortening, and vegetable oils. Basically all packaged foods, especially kids foods.

So why is it so harmful?

Soy contains Phytoestrogens and is higher in phytoestrogens than just about any other food source. Phytoestrogens are plant-based estrogens that mimic estrogen in our bodies. Soy also has Goiltrogens that can disrupt your hormones, which can slow your thyroid down. Many foods are goitrogenic (thyroid suppressing) but soy is one of the worst. Goitrogens work by preventing your thyroid from getting the necessary amount of iodine. If you are low in iodine you will likely be suffering from chronic fatigue, adrenal Burnout and a host of other issue that are hard to correct. Trust me I lived on soy as a vegetarian and I’m in that place now.

It also has something called Phytates which are enzyme-inhibitors that block mineral absorption in human digestive tract. They are naturally present in all grains, seeds, nuts, and legumes. But soy is so high in phytates that it’s almost impossible to get rid of them. Simply soaking soy overnight won’t be enough. But this is why it is so important to soak beans and legumes and most grains to stop bloating and cramps.

Finally soy is rich in trypsin inhibitors. Trypsin is a digestive enzyme we need to properly digest protein. Without enough trypsin, you’ll experience many digestive problems including stomach cramps, diarrhea, and bleeding. You’ll also be leaving yourself open to future problems with your pancreas.

There is studies done showing that an infant taking the recommended amount of baby soy formula is consuming a hormone load equivalent of 4 birth control pills a day! Is it any wonder we’ve seen such a dramatic rise in precocious puberty with young girls starting their periods at 6 and 7! Soy is also found in dairy formulas too. But I hear you saying, you said not dairy? There are still safer alternatives. there are recipes for coconut and avocado bases formulas you an make at home which have the right ratio of fats carbohydrates and minerals to be as close to mothers milk…far closer than cows breast milk!

 

 

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From darkness there is light . . .

There is a beautiful light that surrounds our family. It shines with hope, love and promise and it’s there to remind us to keep looking forward to a future of health, happiness and life.

But there hasn’t always been light. Like so many families who live with the uncertainty that Autism and illness brings, our journey to health began in a very dark place.

After our first son was born, we knew something was wrong almost from the start but we were too exhausted and overwhelmed by false information to even see clearly, let alone take action.

We tried to coped with his constant screaming, tantrums that started way before the average toddler age, violent rage that was unbelievable in a young chid. We did this by living day-to-day and numbing ourselves with bad food, alcohol and respite escapes, all the while with others telling us that all parents feel overwhelmed and that our son’s behaviour was normal. Going to health check up and being told we were just like everyone else go home and give him more milk he is a big baby and just hungry. Or parenting classes and told we need to work harder at putting him on the naughty chair.

But in the pit of our stomachs we knew that this wasn’t normal parenting tired . . . we were breaking, we were falling apart, we were not coping.

Somehow in the midst of this chaos we found the strength to begin look for answers. We started removing chemicals from our home and investigated every type of colic remedy before deciding to take our son off diary, thinking that my own diary allergy as a child could be a clue to what was wrong. After more research we also embarked on a gluten-free lifestyle. Life became a bit more settled, but things still weren’t great.

Our idea of what our family was going to be like was shattered. Instead of a loving, happy child ours was not affectionate and only wanted to be touched on his terms like feeding times. From birth he had been in meltdown almost all day, every day. We lived on eggshells. Life was tough and we had little happiness.

Monday 20th February 2012- 12 days before our son turned 2 he was officially diagnosed with High Functioning Autism. I remember my husband and I leaving the office feeling numb and we both fell to the ground and held each other. Life felt like it had stopped. The responsibility and guilt I felt was overwhelming. I felt responsible. Be that right or not it was how I felt for such a long time, I felt that because I didn’t look after myself over the years or that because I had passed on to him heavy toxins and metals during my pregnancy. I felt guilty for feeding him dairy and grains that caused more damage, I felt responsible because I had immunised him on a weakened immune system that contributed to his toxic overload. I’m not saying vaccination or eating dairy caused his autism, it was an accumulation of many factors I was not aware of at the time, so did nothing to change the outcome. Hindsight is a useless emotion and I have had to put all that to rest and move on. If you are reading this and beating your self up about things you could not change please I beg you to stop and be kind to yourself.

Instead I put all my efforts into creating the best life I can and for him to have a better future than the experts were predicting for him.

When he was diagnosed we were told our little boy would never feel empathy, be social or seek our love that life would be tough for us and that we should grieve for the child we wont have. This was my lowest point as I lost hope and did grieve for the boy that I thought I was going to have. But somehow that sense of responsibility kicked in and I researched, researched and researched some more to save our child from what everyone told us was a life sentence.

Gradually we started to understand the connection between the level of toxins in our son’s system, his nervous system and how it was affecting his behavior. We came across the Raw Vegan Diet, Homeopathy and embarked on a clean living lifestyle and removed all toxins and chemicals from our home.

By now were had welcomed our second son, who was tested for Autism at 2-years and was instead diagnosed with a Global Development Delay of 18-months. That meant that although he was a two-year-old, he had the ability of a child aged 10 to 12-months-old. Again, we grieved. Would this little boy ever be able to talk and fit in with his peers?

By now I was determined to heal my boys, and persisted with our lifestyle changes as well as Mickel Therapy and Homeopathy to help me beat the depression, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia that was a result of years of running the stress treadmill that had become our lives and always putting others first.

Gradually, we began to see our boys blossom, and our family began to feel like the family I had hoped for. By reducing toxins within their bodies, my boys had found a new sense of calm and now had the space to embrace early intervention therapies and for these therapies to be much more effective.

Our boys are now creating their own life sentence instead of following the path that was predicted for them. They are learning, loving and achieving every day. Our older son is clever, kind and thoughtful who loves his family and friends and is coping with kinder really well. Our younger son is a cheeky, funny, social little boy who has healed our family and now has a delay of 2 to 3-months and does NOT stop talking!

So what was the purpose of sharing our story? Our journey shows that there are answers out there and I want to share them with you. Our journey shows that through diet and lifestyle you can get your children back and unlock them from the chains that are Autism.

But most of all, I was to help the amazing mothers and fathers and grandparents who battle a battle each day that others don’t see. I want to help these amazing people look after themselves, so they can look after their beautiful children and live the life they dreamed of.

Your ‘Wellness Warriors’ and you can change your families outcome x x x

contact me for a free consultation of how I can help your family.

hannah@nourishtohealth.com.au

0414967763

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Getting your child to drink green juices!

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This may seem very far off for you to imagine, or you might be ready to add more greens in to their current juices that they drink now. Either way be mindful that green juice is something that takes more caution when giving it to children. Because greens are very nutrient rich and a potent detoxifier, our bodies naturally begin detoxifying a bit quicker with greens then other juices. Not that this is bad and when you are trying to heal Autism this is essential, but it can make you/them feel ill if you do it too fast. If you feel that your child needs to detoxify, their bodies will naturally do it through a good diet full of fruit, herbs and vegetables combined with fresh green juices and or green smoothies over time and a chemical free happy environment. But start slowly and build up so they are used to the taste and their bodies get used to detoxify anything that needs to come out. With my boys we started with carrot, cucumber and celery juice and built up to removing all root vegetables and now they have a few different greens like spinach kale, celery, lettuce and cucumber with lemon, and sometimes ginger and turmeric . they have this most mornings before their breakfast. In the afternoon they might have a beetroot or carrot juice but we personally don’t add fruit as they find it sweet enough and I like them to eat their fruit on its own with out mixing with vegetables, this helps their bodies digest it better. As with my smoothie post go slowly and build them up.

The truth about fruit . . .

The difference between a smoothie and a juice, is when you make smoothies they contain fiber which means you can only eat a certain amount at each meal before feeling full (we need the fiber so keep making them!) That is the reason I do not suggest fruit juice  as it doesn’t have any finer in it. Even cold pressed organic fruit juice.

How to get your child drinking and loving ‘green smoothies’ . . .

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But with juicing you can include a large amount of greens that you normally would not be able to fit in to your body in one go. A juice is a large amount of vegetables and it’s a nutrient dense shoot of goodness for the gut and each and every cell! Would your child sit down to a large green salad? Maybe not but a green juice sweetened with some apple might go down well.

Here are a few suggestions that taste yummy and mask the bitter flavour some greens can have.

  • I recommend starting with fruit and wining them off fruit till it is just vegetables as fruit spikes the blood sugar level and causes hormonal crashes. Coconut water is a better option to add with greens.

These recipes are for 1-2 glasses of juice

Carrot Celery:

  • 2 carrots
  • 2 celery sticks
  • 1 cucumber (with skin)

Beetroot Apple:

  • 1 small beetroot
  • 1 celery stick
  • 1 cup spinach
  • Cucumber Apple:

 

Cucumber Pear:

  • 1 cucumber (with skin)
  • 2 pears
  • Small handful of kale

Cucumber Orange Grapefruit:

  • 1 cucumber (with skin)
  • 1 small handful of spinach greens
  • 1 orange peeled
  • 1 grapefruit peeled

Broccoli Pineapple:

  • 4 broccoli florets and stalks
  • ½ pineapple
  • 1 small bunch of parsley

Broccoli Apple:

  • 8 broccoli florets and stalks
  • 1 small bunch of parsley
  • 3 apples

Green Citrus:

  • 1 small handful of spinach
  • 2 sticks of celery
  • 1 handful kale
  • 3 oranges or 1 lemons peeled

Cucumber Watermelon:

  • 1 cucumber (with skin)
  • 1 thick slice watermelon
  • 2 sticks of celery
  • 1 lemon peeled
  • 1 handful mint
  • 1 handful of parsley

Green Bullet!

  • 1 cucumber
  • 2 sticks celery
  • 1/4 lemon
  • hand full of coriander
  • hand full of parsley
  • 1 cup coconut water

Simple Green:

  • 4 sticks celery
  • 2 cucumbers
  • 1/4 lemon

Melon fantastic:

  • 1/4 water melon
  • 1/4 cantaloup
  • 1/4 rock melen
  • 1 hand full of fresh mint

Why Leafy Greens are so good for you and the Nutritional breakdown.

Enjoy trying them all and play with what your child likes!

Tips: I suggest finding glasses and cups that are fun and even using flowers on top to diguse the colour so they try without making assumptions. Also get the kids involved in chopping and making them it will encourage them to want to try it more.

Good luck and remember they sense your fear and emotions – if you are hesitant and scared they will not go for it. Be confident and set an example by eating well yourself. Monkey see monkey do. Kids can not buy their own food, so only stock the best at home and choose only the best when you are out. If you are suffering with self sabotage and food binging and cravings. Contact me to coach you to break free of these . . . like I did.

Much love and Thanks Hannah xx

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How to get your child drinking and loving ‘Green Smoothies’ . . .

Getting your child to drink ‘green smoothies’

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Going crazy on extra greens on your first smoothie attempt will not win you green smoothie loving children. Baby steps are the key to making a smooth transition to developing a taste for greens in your child’s smoothie, especially if your child is not used to vegetables or a picky eater. So make those first few smoothies creamy with a lot of fruit and just a hint of green veggies. Then with each smoothie you serve, add a little less fruit and a little more green leaves and build up to more nutrient dense greens. Your goal is to pack in your child’s daily needs for green vegetables into a smoothie. Job done mums!

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A great way to transition your child to a “Natural Living Lifestyle” is removing their cereal/toast/eggs/pancakes with a nutrient dense green smoothie.

             🍌🌱🥒🍌🌱🥒🍌🌱🥒🍌🌱🥒🍌
This fruit and green packed breakfast gives their body energy without needing lots of digesting or causing inflammation so it doesn’t cause energy drops mid morning. Their brain gets fired up before school, It’s high in minerals so their body gets all it needs and taste yum too!

           🍌🌱🥒🍓🌱🥒🍌🌱🥒🍒🍌🌱🥒
To make this:
Per child~
• 2-3 frozen bananas or 1 cup frozen berries (to cover the green colour)
• 2 cups + water or coconut water
• 1/2-2 cups of spinach/lettuce/dandelion/greens/herbs
• 1/4-1 tsp spirulina/barley grass/chlorella powder
• 1/4-1/2 cucumber
• option is to add in celery too once the child gets used to them
• If you’ve upped the greens and powder then add a date or 2 in to keep it sweet and for extra minerals.

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⭐️note that the Ingrediant’s start with less greens. I suggest starting at almost just bananas and coconut water with a tinge of greens and building up as your child gets used to the taste and colour.

⭐️for children with sensory processing state thinner and make it thicker till they get used to drinking from a straw.

⭐️for kids who don’t like the colour try dark glasses or lids or flowers at the top of the glass or fancy decorated straws. Try a few different ways till they taste it and then build up the flavour and nutrients.

 

A Great smoothie recipe to start with:

  • 1 cup frozen blueberries (the more berries you add, the more purple it looks not green) 
1 banana or 1 apple, 
1 cup almond or hemp milk or coconut milk
 or 1 cup coconut  (try celery or cucumber juice here too as soon you will want to stop using fats in smoothies for better digestion see the link below for why) 
1/4 cup fresh baby spinach or lettuce. Building up the amount of lettuce and spinach or any soft tender greens.The truth about fruit . . . and Food combining and why is it essential for health!-chart.

The fibers are liquefied making the nutrients absorb super easy. Studies have shown that children and adults alike generally accept a new food by the 12th try so keep at it muma’s!!

Some Tips:

  • Make yourself a green smoothie, and they may wonder why their smoothie is not the same color as yours.
  • Be a health role model for your kids. If they see you eating healthy they will want to do it too.
  • Try having a smoothie out at a healthy café or wholefoods as often kids like what other people eat more than what their mums make. All choose a different type and compare the tastes.
  • Get them to choose a new smoothie cup and straw to take ownership over their new healthy lifestyle. Add flowers on top so they can not see the colour.
  • Let them measure out the coconut water or add the ingredients into the blender and safely press the button and watch it wiz around. They are much more likely y to drink something they have made. Even start with them helping you make your first and then say would you like one?
  • Top their smoothies with extra goodness like  coconut flakes, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds or goji berries or flowers. Serve with a nice straw and spoon and make it a special treat.

For the kids who will not go near any vegetables and anything green:

Start with making a banana milk (1 banana blend with 1 cup water) then each day or week depending on how slow you feel is right add some lettuce like coz. This will not change the colour much but get some much needed nutrients in tot your child. Once they are ok with that add spinach which will change the colour but they would be used to the taste by now.

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Your goal is to get to smoothies made with filtered water ONLY with fruit and loads of greens. No fats no milks and with barley grass powder and herbs like coriander for maxima detoxing and cellular health . . . every day even twice a day. I believe you will if you set your mind on it!

Why Leafy Greens are so good for you and the Nutritional breakdown.

Good luck and remember they sense your fear and emotions – if you are hesitant and scared they will not go for it. Be confident and set an example by eating well yourself. Monkey see monkey do. Kids can not buy their own food, so only stock the best at home and choose only the best when you are out. If you are suffering with self sabotage and food binging and cravings. Contact me to coach you to break free of these . . . like I did.

Try my super detox green smoothie here too: Green Detox Smoothie and my heavy metal detox buster smoothie here too: Heavy metal detox buster!

🍌GOOD LUCK and remember monkey see monkey do so eat your greens too! 🍌

Much love and thanks Hannah xx

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Trusting your instincts . . .

As a new parent you’re bombarded with information and advice from health care workers, family and friends about the ‘best’ way or the ‘right’ way of looking after your child.

But what do you do if that advice conflicts with your instincts? What do you do, if you know in your gut, that following all the ‘good’ advice is not what’s best for your family?

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Society seems to want to condition us to conform to a ‘normal’ way of parenting, a ‘normal’ way of eating and a ‘normal’ way of thinking. But how can we be normal when everyone has their own brand of ‘normal’. We are all individuals and all need an individual approach but thats not main stream health care.

You need to feel confident in trusting your instincts, even if your instincts lead you beyond what you already know and to a scary place.

For me, I learned the value of trusting my instincts in finding the path to better health, nutrition and wellbeing when I began to look for answers to ease physical, behavioural and digestive symptoms being experienced by our then-toddler son William, who was diagnosed with high-functioning autism aged two-year-old.

In those early days before his diagnoses I had applied my own brand of ‘normal’ to transitioning William to solid food, and I was quite certain I had it right. After all, I had worked in the organic food industry, food was my passion and being healthy was a conscious goal.

But, as I applied my knowledge to feeding my child – my gut, my instinct as a mother, told me that something was not right.

I had always fed William organic home-cooked foods that I thought to be healthy but the more I read and saw others’ journeys, the more I realised that was far from what I was doing. At one point he was eating three or four safe foods and a carrot or tomato was causing him skin reactions, tummy pain, behavioral issues and sleepless night. How could this be!

I felt so lost and very depressed but I knew that there were more answers to be found.

So we followed our instincts and started working with a Biomedical Doctor who guided us thorough the midfield that is food sensitivity, intolerances and food allergies. We used supplements to build up what his body was lacking. And the results were clear, our gut instincts had taken us on the right path and we were beginning to see results.

That’s when we moved from working instinctively to purposefully seeking answers. We started moving away from Biomedical treatments to a softer approach of Homeopathy and found that to work for us.

Soon we came across the GAPS Diet and, after the initial hard intro stage and changing our mindset about grains, fats and learning to cope with lots of detox, we started seeing massive improvements cognitively and behaviourally with William, and our younger son Edward. And my husband and I have transform our diets to be happier and healthier.

Our instincts were right. Our instincts have taken us down the right path and have led to happier, healthier life for my family, and a way of eating that has seen William’s stress levels within his body ease, giving him the space to make the most of early childhood intervention therapies.

But best of all, easing the stress within William has given him the opportunity to see beyond the anxiety that autism brings, and has made him calmer so he can now embrace emotionally family, friends and even kindergarten. All of this from a boy, who we were told would never feel empathy, be social or be able to love.

Thank goodness I trusted my instincts.

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