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Mediation and Breathing techniques for beginners!

My journey with meditation and the power of mindset began about 5 years ago when I needed techniques and changes in my life to cope with health issues and the health of my children. I saw very quickly how strong being mindful was and how I can overcome physical conditions with just my mind. I use mindfulness and mediation in each and every day and today I have a strong sexy brain!

Mediation is one of the biggest tools in my healing and our family’s healing and that I now bring to my clients as it is the key to bring all their health goals together. The science of this ancient art form is that breathing deeply and slowly through your belly helps the vagus nerve (running from the neck down through the diaphragm) to send a signal to your brain to turn up your parasympathetic nervous system i.e. (relax and repair) and turn down your sympathetic nervous system i.e. (fight or flight).

A good breath practice to start with is:

  • Breath in for 3 seconds
  • Hold the breath for 5 seconds
  • Breath out for 5 seconds
  • And repeat for as long as you can.

This breath work can be increased to 5 seconds and 8 seconds when you have become comfortable with the first stage.

What ever way works for you be it, Mickle Therapy, Theta Healing, Mediation Apps, Yoga, Meditation, chanting, reading healing self help books like ‘The Power Of Now’ or walking in nature. Finding your key to unlocking your spiritual practice and calming your ‘chattery’ mind, breathing deeply and calmly will help every aspect of your life.

What is spirituality?

My interoperation is that you become aware that you are your body, mind and energetic body, and that they are all connected and that we are connected to each life force in the universe. And that we are all made from the same atoms and molecules or “star dust” and that nothing happens without a reason as we make out won destiny! it can have everything or nothing to do with religion . . .mediation can help you see and feel this.

A few ticks I have been taught along the way and things I’ve found that help me are:

When you meditate it’s not about having a blank mind with no thoughts, more when a thought arises and it will. Don’t pay it any attention just let it drift through your mind or sweep it away. When you pay attention to thoughts aniexty arises as you live in the future or dwell on the past. Over time your thoughts will be less crowded and you’ll let them pass without any attention. If you can hold a positive clear thought for 17 seconds another positive thought will join it and you will feel happier very quickly. The same goes for a negative thought and downward spirals . . .

Finding time for mediation practice can be hard and I’ve learnt not to make it perfect. It’s better to learn this practice in the noise of work, kids, a play ground or whilst the kids are screaming and running around, learn to be mindful in each day. For a long time I sort perfection to be able to mediate the cables and chants and the incenses . . . ha well that never happened. There will always be noise distractions and “life” Mediation is just to be aware of your body, breath and thoughts. It does not need to be hard . . .stop over thinking it!

Practising in a perfect calm yoga studios or mediation rooms has it’s place and is brilliant for healing and others who are in a higher vibration to you can help lift you up, but if you cannot keep that practice space up once your at home you loose that feeling and get despondent. Which stops mindful-living and being present from becoming a daily life choice.

Instead learn to breath and calm you mind with all that is around you and your practice will be stronger.

I few places I like to mediate or concentrate on my breath are:
mediate in the car before school pick up.
Breath deeply and slowly at the traffic lights.
Lying on the floor while the kids watch movies and meditate.
In the garden even when the kids are screaming and attacking each other with water finding a space to sit with my breath.
Putting on an App just before bed or in the bath.

Raising my legs up the wall and being still is the latest way to get out of my head!

Mediation can be done whilst walking or running or cycling too. Anything that allows your mind to be calm and thoughts to drift in and out without giving them any momentum or power. To walk slowly in the grass noticing the feel on your feet and the sounds and the air on your face can be just powerful as chanting in a circle with enlightened hippies! -I can say that am a chanting hippie at heart hahah!

I hope these tips help you see you can strengthen you practice anywhere at any time.

Blessings in your day and let me know if these techniques helped you x x

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The Hairdresser that lost her hair . . .

As an ex Hairdresser and trained Tricholgist, when I started to loose my hair and my eyebrows I was so alarmed and it caused me massive self esteem issues. I’d always had thick curly hair and most of my life I wished for thinner hair and spent hours straightening and flattening it so it wasn’t so big. Suddenly I was adding volume and putting rollers in to to make it seem big . . .

At the same time I and lost a lot of weight and was very malnutritioned due to by body failing me with Hypothyroidism, Adrenal Fatigue and Mast Cell Disease so it was not a surprise.

But recently as I’m returning to health my weight is equalising,  my body and cells are healthy so my hair has started growing thick and strong and my eye brows are there!!

It made me want to share with you all why this happens and how you can stop or prevent it if it’s happening to you. It can range from the simple and temporary issue like a vitamin deficiency, to the more complex like an underlying health condition.

Firstly I think the best way to look at it is your blood carries nutrients to each cell in your body, and if your under stress or have inflammation the body concentrates on the vital organs and fighting inflammation. So the hair, skin and nails are not as import and and tend to be the first thing the suffer. Which is why ladies when you are pregnant your blood supple increases and you have thick luscious hair and your nails grow like crazy and then you have baby and the body goes into repair and feeding mode and your hair nails and skin suffer. It’s not far I know . . .

Your hair goes through life cycles too and will not always be the same, for example hair has a programmed life cycle, a growth phase, rest phase and shedding phase. It also sheds more in the Autumn/Winter again due to the blood supple, and as does your skin loose more layers. But if outside of these normal stages you are thinning and its not normal you may want to look at the following to see if you have an underlying issue that may be causing your hair loss.

  • Thyroid Function (Hypothyroidism or Hyperthyroidism: Hair, nails, and skin may become more brittle and break more easily if your thyroid is producing to many hormones or not enough hormones. 90% of hair loss in women is to do with their thyroid. A blood test will determine this and i’d advise that if your have more than a few symptoms of either Hypothyroidism or Hyperthyroidism, but your test result come back in the ‘normal range’ to take them to a Naturopath as you can be out of range but still have issues.
  • Iron Levels: Women who have heavy periods or don’t eat enough iron-rich foods may be prone to iron deficiency especially after child birth. This is because the blood doesn’t have enough red blood cells and red blood cells transport oxygen to cells throughout your body, giving you the energy you need which is why it can cause extreme fatigue, weakness, and pale skin. You may also notice headaches, difficulty concentrating, cold hands and feet, and hair loss.  Ask you Doctor for a blood test to measure ferritin, the protein that stores iron in your body, is usually needed to diagnose iron-deficiency anaemia. By eating iron-rich foods such as beef, pork, fish, leafy greens preferably, along with foods rich in vitamin C, which enhances iron absorption. And steering clear of food that prohibit iron being absorbed like dairy, alcohol, coffee and black tea, soy, and eggs (not to say you can’t eat these but just don’t pare them with iron rich foods have them as stand alone foods.)
  • Inflammation: Inflammation on the body can cause each cell to be under stress and causes scalp and skin issues like seborrheic dermatitis (dandruff), psoriasis fungal infections. By healing your gut you will reduce inflammation in the body and repair your scalp and skin. See my post of healing Leaky Guts.
  • Iodine, zinc and magnesuim levels: The thyroid gland relies on iodine to make the hormones necessary for the growth of healthy hair, teeth and bones. When we are deficient in these nutrients, such as iodine, magnesium and zinc the health of our hair can suffer, leading to hair weakness or total hair loss. Taking a safe nascent iodine supplement recommended by your Naturopath or Doctor and eating iodine and zinc rich foods may boost hair health and growth, and may event prevent or reverse hair loss. it has been a massive help to me.
  • Fat Malabsorption: If your bodies not absorbing important nutrients and fluids like proteins, carbohydrates and espically fats your skin and hair will suffer. The problem may be caused by inflammation or an auto-immune disease. Sometimes, the condition may be the result of the body’s failure to produce enzymes needed to digest some foods and taking digestive enzymes can help along with healing the gut lining. Talking to your doctor about taking a stool test to see if this is happening is the best choice here.
  • Your diet: plays a massive part, and of course if you are not putting the good stuff in your body will not be able to function and your hair will suffer. A diet rich in greens, protein and good healthy fats is essential for good hair growth. Supplementing with iodine, magnesium, grass fed collagen and MSM will help boost hair and nail growth.
  • Low B vitamins but high vitamin A: A deficiency or excess of any vitamin will upset the balance of the body but vitamin B-12 plays a big role in many parts of the body, including the liver, eyes, skin and hair. One possible symptom of vitamin B-12 deficiency is hair loss, because cells need to divide constantly to produce new hair, a process that requires production of new DNA. Without enough B-12, hair grow slows or stops and existing hair starts to fall out. Hair loss that is accompanied by symptoms of malnutrition and gastrointestinal disorders should be checked for deficiencies of several vitamins and minerals, including vitamin B-12. On the flip side to much synthetic vitamin A can cause hair loos too.
  • Stress: Any kind of physical trauma, surgery, a car accident, emotional stress or trauma or a severe illness, even the flu can cause temporary hair loss. This can trigger a type of hair loss called telogen effluvium. as I said hair has a programmed life cycle, a growth phase, rest phase and shedding phase. When you have a really stressful event, it can shock the hair cycle, (pushing) more hair into the shedding phase. Hair loss often becomes noticeable 3-6 months after the trauma. Which is why mothers loose hair 3-6 months after giving birth. But if this is your case your hair will go full cycle and grow back to be thick again. Mediation and self care will help balance your life and allow your body to equalise and repair.

If your hair is failing out your body is not nourished and is in need of proper nutrition. Part of the detoxification stage you may also loose hair and this is normal as your body sheds and rebuilds, it will regrow as mine did. Please contact me and I can guide you through changing your health!

 

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Understanding food intolerance symptoms and how to get tested.

Food intolerances and allergies is a bit like the old ‘chicken and egg’ scenario trying to work out why you have reactions to certain foods, environmental variables and toxins. Is it because you have a leaky gut or has the food caused the leaky gut? Do you have parasites causing the issues or is it your nervous system out of balance? And do any of those things make you unwell or are they all connected? or is it your mindset and how you look at food and how you talk to your body? or is it that the foods you keep eating are causing your body harm?

Well you can go around the bend trying to work it out on your own. I highly recommend seeing a Bio-medical Doctor or Allergy Specialist to help you find of what your triggers are.  And working with myself to find your bottom beliefs and work on a Bio-individual eating plan low in irritant foods and high in natural healing foods.

As although the carrot or pecan on its own is not the reason your unwell it may be causing you more harm if you continue to eat it. Once your immune system is weak your leaky gut will start to form holes and allow food particle that are to big to get into the blood stream. Causing the body to attack that healthy carrot as if it was a bad bacteria and cause the body to be inflammed. If this continues for a long time without being healed, the body will continue attacking its own good cells not just the bad which is called an Auto-immune condition. Once this starts unless you are sealing and healing the gut, the holes will get bigger and the food you react to will grow and grow until your down to a few “safe foods” and then because your eating them daily the immune style gets weaker and attacks its self more causing more symptoms and more health issues. So really its not about what the food is, but how to heal your gut so you can enjoy all healthy foods again. Working with a good Doctor versed in food intolerance’s to heal your body whilst avoiding the high trigger foods is the key. Although through experience I recommend not removing all of your trigger foods, but to use the rotation method, as if you remove all those foods and only eat a few your body will become immune to those too. I not suggesting you eat foods causing you problems daily but if tomatoes are a really high allergen for you, just have then once a month or so to keep your body used to them and to keep the variety and colour and vitamins in your diet. Often on elimination diets you get very malnutrition and lack the nutrients your body need to heal it self and the brain is starved. But I do believe that if you have ‘leaky gut’ and those with any of the symptoms below have a ‘leaky gut’ of some degree, then limiting dairy to raw or organic and occasionally, only and if you can tolerate it without more symptoms. And strictly NO grains, dairy, sugars of any kind even “natural”, caffeine including chocolate and alcohol till your gut is healed as these foods will keep you from healing and set you back each time you indulge. To help you understand I have compiled a list of food reactions:

  • heart palpitations
  • increased heart rate
  • low blood pressure
  • high blood pressure
  • wheezing
  • allergic asthma
  • acne
  • weight gain and loss
  • excessive sweating
  • rashes
  • hives and welts
  • ADHD and behavioural issues
  • sensitivities to mossy bites
  • eczema
  • psoriasis
  • joint ache and swelling
  • fibromyalgia (muscle pain)
  • water retention-edema
  • week nails
  • hair loss and low growth
  • eye brow and lash loss
  • ear infections
  • mucous in nose ears and throat
  • blurred vision
  • spots and flickers in front of your eyes
  • swelling of eye lids
  • red sore scratchy dye eyes
  • sensitive to light
  • sneezing after food but do not have a cold
  • head aches
  • migraines
  • neck pain
  • smelly discharge and sweat
  • bumps on the back of your arms
  • runny nose
  • frequent colds (more than 1x a year)
  • frequent infections (more than 1x a year)
  • blocked nose
  • brain fog
  • body chills
  • body aches
  • stomach cramps
  • colic in babies (knees up to chest and screaming)
  • bloating
  • constipation- stools green, clay coloured, dry balls, floating or sinking away.
  • diarrhoea
  • undigested food
  • moody
  • depressed
  • anxious
  • mouth ulcers
  • cold-sores
  • vertigo
  • red around the nose and mouth and sore
  • red cheeks in children
  • vomiting and nausea
  • light headedness
  • fainting after food

I recommend the following way to test your child or yourself for allergies and food intolerance’s under supervision of an expert you will get a good list of foods to eat and the ones to have on rotation. And those ones like dairy, grains and sugars to avoid.

A raw food high fruit cleanse based on “80 10 10”- this is  fast way to restore balance in the microbiome and cleanse the body from candida. being high in fruit during the day then a raw said meal at night you allow easy digestion and health carbohydrates to fuel glucose to the brain. This has helped me over come many food intolerance and being variety back in to my diet.once you have done the cleanse you can re introduce foods with a positive mindset and belief work.

Water Fasting under a supervised practitioner– Read Dr Herbet Sheltons books first please or contact me.

Low Dose Immunotherapy- This method of testing will help you to quickly identify and potentially treat your allergies and intolerances so a nutritionally well-balanced diet becomes a more realistic option for you. Over a 3-4 day period in the clinic at ‘Your Health’ Brighton Melbourne you will be tested for 25 plus foods to see how your body reacts. Then reach your bodies level where those symptoms start to switch off. Once the testing is complete you will have your own personalised cocktail with a histamine in it to inject daily. so you can eat those 25 plus foods safely without your immune system switching on to attack them. This gives your body the chance to eat healing nutritious foods to heal your gut. I strongly recommended this treatment for those of you eating just a few foods and reacting to your home and environmental toxins, but it’s expensive at $500 a day and it works along side working with a Doctor to heal your gut and a supplementary plan to work on the bodies deficiencies. For children they use a saline dropper on the tongue so no needles needed. It’s a pain fee easy way of testing your children with true accuracy. http://allergyintolerancetreatment.com

A word about other testing mehtods: Blood test-  Although this gives you up to 80 foods quickly and with little pain and cost, the issue is the blood test will only show what the body is reacting to at the time of the blood test i.e. the foods you eat the most. This does not show a true indication of the body, as the carrot could not be the issue but as its been eaten with the cheese, and the cheese the culprit then your body all attack this food too. Also as I have mentioned if your gut is damaged you will be reacting to most foods. They also promotes avoiding that high food completely and as I have also mentioned that makes the body react to the small amounts of food you are eating. You are better to remove only the big food groups that cause issues like soy, grains, sugars and chemicals and rotate your health’s foods to lessen the load.

Kinesiology Muscle Testing and Vaga Testing – Both of these methods are controversial and you will find people that swear by them and others who knock them down. In my opinion I believe they can work well, but you have to have a great relationship with your therapist as they can sway the results. You also have to be calm and focussed so this can be hard for children and often the results can be varied. I had good results with Vaga testing to help me when I started The Elimination diet but on experience I would have just gone straight to The Gaps Diet. I believe Kinesiology holds many great benefits for releasing energy and helping balance the body but is to varied for food intolerance testing.

My conclusion is to not demonise a particular healthy food but to avoid the worst food groups, soy, grains, sugars and dairy for some and rotate the healthy foods like vegetables, proteins, fruit, nuts and seeds and good fats so your body doesn’t not get used to them and can cope with them in small doses. Whilst and this has to be the most important thing you do . . . work on healing the gut lining and repairing the holes. Taking digestive enzymes can help as will a good probiotic and eating prebiotic foods, raw real foods, fruits and good fats help restore the gut lining too.

An example of this is bananas used to make me angry so I stop eating them completely. Once my gut had healed I added them in again, but now I find blueberries have that effect on me . . why because all I ate was blueberries. Now I have blueberries occasionally and banana occasional with little effect. I try to rotate my foods and always continuer to strengthen my gut and heal my body.

The alternative is you will keep getting more and more intolerant to foods and environments and your body will think its safer to shut down. And as someone who has been there it is not nice and you do not want the T-shirt!

On this blog I hope to show you there are always alternatives to your favourite foods and swapping one for another means you can still enjoy your favourite snack without all the pain and discomfort.

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Good fats and bad fats and how to use them in your detoxing…

Fats are good for you . . . yes you heard right fat fat fat!!

But are you eating good fats like avocados, coconut, some nuts and seeds, or bad fats that harm your body?

Good fat does not make you fat alone, simple carbohydrates like pasta and breads, bad fats like oils, chemicals and refined sugars, flours and bad food combining makes you fat. Good saturated fat is nourishing and gives you energy and keeps you fuller for longer . . .when eaten in the right food combination away from fruit and proteins. Fats also slow down detoxification as they put stress on your kidneys, so if you are trying to move your lymphatic system I do suggest limiting your fats to below 5 % of your nutrition plan or temporally avoiding them.

Good fats and are essential for the brain and body. Without good fats your body starts to break down and health issues arise. Fat is essential for growing children’s brains and they need more as they grow and then can even out later on. Fats are essential in preventing ageing concerns like Dementia and Alzheimer’s and Depression. The increase in health issues has arisen through low-fat chemical foods and getting away from traditional nourishing foods. But the amount of fat to eat is often over exaggerated. We do not need spoonfuls daily, or the amount we find is raw desserts and nut laden treats.  And we do not need for each meal to have fat in it. All whole foods have protein and fats in them alone side carbohydrates like a banana. Each person will need a different amount of fat depending on the individual and on how toxic they are and how much thy need to detoxify.

  • if they are a child before 7 years old they will need more for there growing brain so let them eat avocados and coconut galore.
  • a teenager going through puberty will need more to cope with neurone changes.
  • if your are ill you will need less until your body has cleansed out the virus, disease or build up of waste as fats slow down detoxification.
  • if your are pregnant you again will need an adequate about to support you and baby in the second and third trimesters.
  • if you are old you may need a small daily amount of fats but be guided by you digestion.
  • if you have candida which will show up in psoriasis or eczema you will need to go 0-3% fat until your body has cleansed the waste out then you can slowly add in a small amounts again.

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I can’t stress strongly enough about good fats and children on the spectrum as it’s been proven that a good levels of omega 3 fatty acids can improve the brains function and repair neural pathways. Supporting depression and anxiety and healing the gut.

So start to increase your good fats daily starting small and building up to about a 1/4-1/2 avocado daily or 1–2 raw coconuts a week or 1 glass of raw nut or seed milk daily depending on your bio-individual needs and weight, if you are trying to loose weight do not eat too many fats and always in the right food combinations. I do not recommend cooking with ANY oils as when you heat them, they change and become more volatile and carcinogenic rendering them toxic and unable to be digested by the body. Nuts and seeds should be eaten raw to get the good saturated fats from them and to keep them as a rich nutrient dense food. NEVER COOK/ HEAT NUTS!

Of course avoiding all the bad poly- unsaturated and trans-fats that cause many health concerns and are toxic and rancid like:

  • Borage oil, Canola oil, Corn oil, Cottonseed oil, Evening primrose oil, Rapeseed, Safflower oil, Peanut oil, Sunflower seed oil, Vegetable oil, Olive oils, Avocado oil, Coconut oil, Sesame oil, Nut and Seed oils.

These are not fresh and become rancid within hours. They are not in there whole food state and can not be digested and used by the body!

When you make an oil from a plant or whole food is no longer is a whole food and looses all its nutrients and life force even organic. 

  • And that means processed and home cooked food that these oils are in too:
    ALL– crisps, crackers, chips and frozen foods and meals, corn chips, biscuits, lollies and sweets, chocolate, Processed meals, sauces and jarred products, pastas and noodles, bakery products, veggie burgers, patties, meats and deli meats , hams and sausages ect

Eat fats in the right food combinations so they can digest efficiently and send that goodness to the brain, so its not stored as waste in the body!

If you are new to increasing fruits for detoxification and health, you may feel a little tired if you have lots of fat in your system then you eat fast digesting fruits. I suggest as you increase your fruit you reduce your fats for optimal digestion and energy…

Check out the truth about fruits here: The truth about fruit . . .

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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!

paperheartsLOVE

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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