Posts

WHY RAW LIVING FOODS! For Healing Diseases and Autism. . .

What’s the nutritional difference between cooked and raw foods?

When you cook vegetables, you change their chemical composition making them unable to be utilised by the body. Depending on the method and time, cooking reduces the amount of antioxidants in the plants.
This is especially true for water-soluble and heat-sensitive nutrients, such as vitamin C, glucosinolate and polyphenols. Cooking can reduce a nutrient’s ease of absorption into the body, making them useless for the body and it becomes a mucus forming food making it toxic for the body and thus causing inflammation.
16425880_1937384009881484_8037353823920606020_n.jpg
We are all energy so eating foods high in energy, vitality and life force will help us have that energy and vitality ourselves. When you eat raw living alkalising foods you feel alive! The food moves through your body faster feeding your cells with high nutrients and a high water content hydrating you from the inside, better than plan water alone in some foods like cucumber, lettuce and watermelon. When you eat heavy, acidic, fatty cooked foods you want to sleep as your system is so overburdened and toxic it removes the energy and oxygen from the brain and muscles. And has to work hard to digest the heavy fatty foods sitting in the intestines, fermenting and dehydrating the body and causing an acidic state which leads to disease and cancer.

Food combining and why is it essential for health!-chart.
If your new to a plant based diet, even though you lose some nutrients value when cooking vegetables, I would still suggest building your vegetable intake up first moving to a 100% plant based diet and removing all animal products, with lightly steamed vegetables and greens. Then when you can and feel ready swapping cooked vegetables for as many raw vegetables as possible to help build your enzymes up in your gut and help PH balance your body, allowing for detoxification of the blood and lymphatic system – remembering fruit and raw vegetables and lots of greens are the only way to detox your body and remove heavy metals and mucus thus healing your body from disease and sickness. Cooked foods are mucus forming and lacking in enough nutrients to build your body to health. We are all so deficient these days with the quality of our soils, food, water and air . . . so to remove nutrients from our food by cooking it is not helpful. Also cooked foods are feeding the parasites and fungus our body are becoming imbalanced with because of it being to acidic. When the body is acidic and deficient in minerals and enzymes, diseases start and cells mutate into cancer. We want to make the body alkaline and thriving!

Hannah’s Gut Healing Protocol.
16472991_1937384013214817_4500521920311188961_n.jpg

Knowing how detoxifying raw living foods are, start slowly when adding them in. Swapping 1 meal a day to a completely raw meal combined correctly, and build up. Or eating raw foods till dinner then a lightly steamed dinner. . . until you have regained enzymes to break the food down and the detox symptoms are manageable (this way of eating will not give you full healing properties as the cooked foods will stop you detoxifying fully). Or like me go 100% raw over night ride out the few days of detox and feel amazing and vibrant faster!

Either way increasing your raw greens, fruit and sweet young vegetables will benefit your body so much. You will see it in your skin, energy and vitality. If you can eat a food without doing anything to it bar peeling it then it’s a good raw food for the body. If you have to season it or cook it to make it palatable then it’s not our food.

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

Contact me directly if you would like my assistant in transitioning to a natural living lifestyle and transitioning to raw foods to overcome your health struggles and take back your health!

0414967763 – hannah@nourishtohealth.com.au

Much love x x

Food combining and why is it essential for health!-chart.

Why is it so important?

Food combining has been increasing in its awareness in the last decade but was brought to our attention by Dr H Shelton in the 50’s and 60’s. It is recognized that our stomach digests foods at different rates and by using different enzymes to digest each food. If we desire to have optimum health and wellness, we must know the importance of maintaining a properly “balanced diet” in relation to the acid/alkaline diet. Without proper food combing principles our diets will eventually lead to indigestion and acidosis. This will rob us of our cellular energy required to attain an overall healthy body.

Instead of looking at food as “Calories” look at it as fuel that if our bodies are able to assimilate them with ease we get energy. If your stomach is unable to digest the foods properly it doesn’t matter how much nutrition is in the food or what the diet is called, because your body isn’t absorbing any and you become malnutritioned, most of the western world is fat but malnutritioned. We are fat and starving!!

The good thing is when you’re combing food properly your body will reduce weight, eliminate bloating, feel good overall, and get the most out of the foods you eat and will keep your gut healthy. And the energy goes to running your brain and healing your cells.

So how do we do this food combining thing?

1. Never Eat Carbohydrates with Acidic Foods in the Same Meal.

Do not eat bread, potatoes, peas, beans, bananas, dates, or other carbohydrates with lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruits, pineapples, tomatoes or other sour fruit.

The enzyme, ptyalin, acts only in an alkaline medium; it is destroyed by a mild acid. Fruit acids not only prevent carbohydrate digestion, but they also favor their fermentation. Oxalic acid diluted to one part in 10,000, completely arrests the action of ptyalin. There is enough acetic acid in one or two teaspoons of vinegar to entirely suspend salivary digestion.

Tomatoes should never be combined with any starch food. They may be eaten with leafy vegetables and fat foods. The combination citric, malic and oxalic acids found in tomatoes, (which are released and intensified by cooking which is why I do not suggest cooking tomatoes ever!), is very a detrimental to the alkaline digestion of starches in the mouth and stomach. They should not be used on salads during a starch meal.

In cases of hyperacidity of the stomach, there is great difficulty in digesting starches. Much discomfort is caused by eating them. They ferment and poison the body. Acid-starch combinations are very rare in nature—the sour apple coming nearest to being such a combination to which we natural spit this out . . .

2. Eat Fruits First

Fruit is a food that digests best when eaten alone. While you’ll read in (4.)  not all fruits digest best together, it has the fastest exit rate of the stomach as fruit does not digest in the stomach, therefore fruits should be eaten first or alone. For those concerned about their blood sugar or candida, as long as fruit is eaten without fat and/or with leafy greens, blood sugar will remain stable. So fruity raw deserts are a disaster on the digestion. fruit is abundant in nutrients, anti-oxidants, and water, fruit is an excellent snack that is easily digested by the human body but needs to be eaten first, starting with acid fruits then moving on to sweet fruits and proteins after all fruit has been consumed!

3. Protein and Starches do NOT mix

Is it a common occurrence to consume a heaping serving of mashed potatoes next to a large portion of meat and/or dairy? This is one of the worst food combinations ever, but can easily be improved. Because the human body requires an acid base to digest proteins and an alkaline base to digest starches, this can lengthen the time of digestion and cause fermentation in the gut. This can lead to bloating, indigestion, and stinky bowel movements as the food putrefies in the gut.

To correct his, it is best to eat proteins with non-starchy vegetables and especially leafy greens. Starches can be consumed on their own or with other vegetables, but not with protein. Proteins that are cooked renders the protein particles in it useless for the body, and cooking demonises it making it unable to be digested fully.

4. Eat Melons Alone-ALWAYS!

Have you ever had the mistake of consuming watermelon after a dinner? Most likely you experienced gas, a slight blood sugar drop, and/or nausea. That is because melons are the type of fruit that digest completely different than other sweet treats. For optimal digestion, melons should be consumed alone and on an empty stomach first thing and then not eaten again in the day. Remove them from your mixed fruit salad.

5. Greens, Greens and More Greens

Greens are easily ruled as one of the best foods for mankind. Loaded with amino acids (building blocks of protein), essential minerals and nutrients (B vitamins, magnesium, iron, and more!), along with fiber (great for digestion). They combine well with all foods, and therefore should make a regular appearance on your plate. If you’re not consuming your 3 – 5 cups of vegetables a day then adding a cold pressed Barley Grass powder it to water, juice, or your favourite smoothie can help keep your mineral up!

For example, a salad is a great contribution to every meal and the live enzymes will help your other food digest smoothly. Eat your salad before any other food on your plate for maxima digestion.

6. Fats & Oil

While overt healthy fats combine well with everything (except fruit!), they should be used in limited amounts as they are very calorie dense and slow down digestion and when used with fruits cause bacteria and yeasts breakouts. Oils should not be consumed as they are not a whole food and when cooked become indisputable and poisonous to the body. Therefore, save your meal with fats like avocado or nuts for dinner or allow your body at least 4-5 hours to digest a dense lunch before eating again.

7. Probiotics (Friendly Bacteria)

You should only take probiotics 30 minutes before a meal not during. Mixing probiotics with a meal may decrease some absorption. The reason is that the probiotic ends up spending more time in the stomach. Another reason to take them on an empty stomach is because before the journey to the intestines, the bacteria will have more difficulty surviving the harsh stomach acid during digestion, affecting their potency.

Don’t take them after a meal! Probiotics that are taken after a meal have even more difficulty surviving stomach acid levels as this is when your stomach acid is at its peak. A study from 2013 found that when a probiotic supplement was taken after a meal, extremely low levels of bacteria actually survived.

A recent study in the Journal of Beneficial Microbes showed that probiotics are optimally absorbed when taken prior to a meal and were absorbed almost as well when taken with a meal containing fats. If you are however eating vegan plant based diet, high in complex carbohydrates and fruits and low in fats you should not need Probiotics. 

What is a ‘Health Coach’ and how can they help you achieve your goals?

8. Timing is Everything

Because foods digest at different rates, you can lessen the pressure on your body by waiting until the previous food has left the stomach and is being digested in the intestines. Wait the following amount of time between foods that don’t combine:

  • Two hours after eating fruit
  • Three hours after eating starches
  • Four hours after eating protein
  • If you eat proteins no water for 4 hours after.
  • If you eat starches no water for 2 hours after
  • If you eat fruits no water for 30 minutes after
  • If you eat vegetables no water for 1 hour after.

This is chart for you to put on your fridge and follow to the T!

Food-combining-chart-by-David-Klein.jpg

Check out my gut healing protocol here:Hannah’s Gut Healing Protocol.

 

Raw Grain Free Bircher.

13524555_1810254575927762_5309211569914861645_n.jpg

Serves 2:
4 tbs chia seeds
4 grated apples
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup hemp seeds.
Cover and leave overnight or at least 30 minutes.

Then add:
1/2 cup goji berries
1/2 cup activated pistachio nuts
1/4 cup activated pumpkin seeds

And 4 passionfruits cut open, which I add on the side as my boys like to scoop them out themselves.

The pistachios are high in omega 3 fatty acids, the pumpkin seeds high in zinc and loads of fiber, vitamin C and protein from the chia seeds. This is a nutrient dense breakfast that will feed their brains, fuel their body’s and give them energy!

A simple guide to understanding Nutrition and the part it plays on your body, and how to heal your own body!

‘Life is a construction of nutrition and drainage under the control of the nervous system.’

Nutrition.

Nutrition is the process where raw material is converted into living structures. Materials which are used for digestion, fertility, rebuilding of cells, and repairing of tissues are accomplished. The body is equipped with a whole series of amazing organs, (this is a part of the nutritive system) which allow the body to take in raw materials like air, sleep, water, real food from nature and sunshine and turn this into life. By taking these into the body it is converting them into the blood stream so it can be taken to all parts of the body and used by the cells of the body and converted to structure and tissue. To make and keep life!

FOOD-We take in food and chew it slowly hopefully, and this is the first step where enzymes break down starches and create sugars, we then take it into the stomach where small glands excrete juices and break it down further. We then pass the food in to the small insensitive where more glands produce more juices and also juices from the pancreas and bile from the liver are together used to break the food down further. It reduces the food into small compounds where it can be passed into the blood stream and be utilised. This is called absorption. All these glands and organs are part of the digestion system. When the food particles are in the blood stream, they get picked up and moved to the liver where it then goes through more changes, where it get passes back into the blood to be utilised by the cells. This is a part of the nutritive system. We cannot live without fresh raw food. Food combining and why is it essential for health!-chart.

 

fruits-oranges-tangerines.jpg

WATER- we take it into the stomach just like food, but water does not need any digestion and goes straight into the small intestines and can be passed around the blood stream to be utilised by the cells. Too much water or water eaten with food simply dilutes the digestive juices and flushes the minerals and goodness from the body. We cannot live without fresh clean water. If our water is filled with fluoride and chemical this does not nourish us but aids in being a load on the body. How much water is good for you, and why you should never take it with food?

635573723043143375550919411_water_filters_bg

AIR- we should take it in through the nose (not the mouth) and it is then passed down to the respiratory tracks and into the lungs our largest waste organ, where the blood picks up the oxygen and carries it to the cells to be used by the circulatory system. This is another part of the nutritive system. We cannot live without fresh clean air.

4862_Dandelion-puff-spread-through-the-air

SUNSHINE– the skin is your largest organ and sunshine is a raw material vital to our bodies. The glands in the body need sunshine and the vitamin D we get from it to convert into tissues and building material. We cannot live without sunshine. The sun does not cause skin cancer the products the sun burns onto the skin causes skin cancer. Small amounts of sun exposer daily is nourishing and needed. Cover up if you are in it for longer periods as too long can deplete your body.

images-3

SLEEP- we do not heal from the food we put in our mouth! food is simple a way to fuel the body and can either put presure on it , or take pressure off of it. A system that is not overloaded but nourished when you go to sleep, can use these raw materials to repair, restore and re build our bodies. If we do not get enough sleep we will simple break down and age faster and our cells will start dying off and sending out symptoms of sickness and disease. This is the first stages of cancer. Sleep allows the body to rejuvenate and re grow. It must be good quality sleep and not induced by a suppressant or sleeping pill and this is not true sleep and will not allow your body to really switch off.  Sleeping and removing the load off your body is the fastest way to repair it and reverse damage. If you are exhausted stop work and all vigorous exercise and sleep as much as you can for as long as you can.

images-5

It is through the endocrine system, the respiratory system, the circulatory system and the digestive system that nutrition is taken in and for the body to repair and re build it self, it needs rest and proper sleep. They all have to flow and work together which is why removing glands like tonsils and appendix is never a healthy option, as this has an effect on every cell of your body as it is clever balance. And all of these raw materials need to be in plentiful amounts and of the highest quality for it to complete its tasks.

Drainage.

Drainage or (detoxification) is the process of which waste is removed from the cells and carried to the organs that do the excretions; skin, kidneys, liver, bowels ect and then from the blood into the large intestines and excreted out the body. This is big process for the body and takes the lymphatic system to be working properly for the waste to be removed. The lymphatic system picks up waste from the cells and carries it through channels into the blood stream. These are things that do not need to be in the body like ie toxins, heavy metals, chemicals, fat, unnatural foods or synthetics, excess minerals it cannot store ect. The lymphatic system then passes it through the lungs to remove carbon dioxide and then goes to the liver and that then passes the waste materials to be converted and used again where possible into the blood, it then goes on to the large intestines and the waste is then excreted from the body in stools or urine which is filtered blood. If this process does not work you get backed up in your lungs (Asthma, croup, CPOD ect,) liver (fatty liver, low stomach acid) skin (eczema, acne, psoriasis ect) and intestines (IB ,Crohn’s and leaky gut) and your blood gets sticky and your lymphatic system slows down unable to work further. The body then leaches waste in to the blood from the instines and the body sends out ways to clean it up and the food particles get trapped and leaky gut is created. You store your waste in fat cells and the body tries to clean the lymphatic system by sending out mucus and bacteria. The mucus then putrefies and causes infections in the ears, lungs and skin. The bacteria gets overgrown and cause imbalances and yeast overgrowths. If the body is not draining probably this affect the glands as they stop excreting juices or produce too much, and of course this all effects the hormones as hormones are made in the glands. . .Wow!!

Are you starting to see how EVERYTHING is connected and how removing glands, or organs just is not the answer, how surpassing symptoms with drugs and medications only leads to death. We must restore balance to the body and only put raw materials into the body.

This is all controlled by the nervous system. The nervous system is so vital in the body, without that transmission nothing would work. So the final part of nutrition is the stress levels in your life. If you can remove the stress and the toxic relationships and trauma and return the body to the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest), and allow the body to drain the waste correctly then you can control all illnesses and diseases, retuning the body back to it’s healthy balances state.

By understanding the importance of what you put in you body effects what your body sends out and how that breeds disease, then you understand that it is all, fixable with the right raw materials to start with. Which are;

  • REAL FOOD
  • SUNSHINE
  • FRESH AIR
  • CLEAN PURE WATER –not the chemical cocktail from a tap!
  • A POSTIVE ENVIORMENT

I hope this information helps you to make the wisest choices for your clever body. The only thing stopping your health is YOU!

Why do we get sick and why are we always so tired?

Fight or flight and how it works and how to counteract it?

Well that’s a title!

Your body goes into fight or flight when it is needed to run, jump into action or fight something. But in modern day life most of us are in this state each day and that keeps us in an unhealthy acid state where our cells are inflamed no matter how “healthy” we are. Things like watching mind numbing TV and violent dramtic bad news, pushing your body beyond it’s capacity, living or working in an emotional state or bad environment or dealing with less desirable people, living with child on the spectrum or with a disability, all these situations can put and keep you this state of fight or flight and beyond what is a healthy response.

How does it all work?

My Mickel Therapy taught me to break down this response and by understanding it I could stop it and reverse it. I learnt that I can control my response and I can control how I react to a situation and that although my body naturally puts me in to this fight or flight state to protect me or make me respond, it does not have to live here and I can bring myself back down. To produce the fight or flight response, the hypothalamus gland activates two systems: the sympathetic nervous system and the adrenal-cortical system. The sympathetic nervous system uses nerve pathways to ignite or fire on reactions in the body, and the adrenal-cortical system uses the bloodstream. The combined effects of these two systems are the fight or flight response.

When the hypothalamus tells the sympathetic nervous system to kick into gear, the overall effect is that the body speeds up, tenses up and becomes generally very alert often the body finds strength and power it did not know it had. If your baby is stuck up a tree you are going to have to take action and fast even if you cannot climb trees or are afraid of heights! The sympathetic nervous system sends out impulses to glands and muscles and tells the adrenal medulla to release epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline) into the bloodstream. These “stress hormones” cause several changes in the body, including an increase in heart rate and blood presure. You often hear of mothers lifting cars of their trapped babies. Of course in a relaxed state this would be near impossible.

Introvert_12parasympaheticsystem_zpseb7a2579So once you have gone into a flight or fight response, how do you return to a relaxed state and return to your parasympathetic nervous system?

Well if your body has just dealt with an emergency or had to run away from danger. Naturally your body will adjust and calm it self down. But if your in fight or flight continuously through what we spoke about earlier, then this process is much harder and needs balance to force it self into a relaxed state. Which is why some people find shavasana and mediation so hard, their bodies are just not used to relaxing and need to train their brain to send chemicals to counteract this and learn how.

We know your muscle get activated and tighten– so to counteract this, sitting calmly or using shavasana or child’s pose will help to unwind the muscles. If you can have a warm bath or a hot shower this will help too. Using certain essential oils may help in this process.

We know your breath gets short and rushed and your respiratory system shuts down– so breathing deeply and slowly in for the count of 5 and out for the count of 8 will help control the breath and bring oxygen back to the muscles and relax the body and the digestion system.

We know the body goes into fear– so the moment the fear has gone you must not give momentum to the fear but to flip it to a positive vibe. How do you do this? See the positives in what just happened. Stop telling the story. Stop reliving the drama. Once it is over breath and let it go. Do not keep reliving what happened over and over as it keeps you in that place of fear and negative feelings. Instead think ‘oh gosh that could have been worst’ or ‘at least that didn’t get worst’ or ‘I can see how I can learn from this and move on to be a better vibration’ or ‘I will learn from this and not respond like that again’ What is a ‘Health Coach’ and how can they help you achieve your goals?

We know your body takes momentum from your current emotion- so do not allow others to push your buttons, control how you react to others words or actions. Remove yourself from situations and places that keep you in a negative space or in an angry, jealous, upset space. do not give momentum to the issue and keep your self at that lower vibration. To do this, balance is key! For every bad situation find a positive one. For each bad energy or negative person in your life find a positive person or situation to balance it out. For each stressful conversation walk in nature, or go to a tai-chi class or yin yoga class or meditation evening. For each physical exertion balance it with a yin movement and cleansing fuelling foods. Balancing out the impact to stress is vital as when you are in fight or flight the body shuts down and stops nutrients getting to the cells the body absorbing water and the brain getting oxygen. Which will cause fatigue on the body and the adrenal gland to crash. When you an action you are coming from a higher place and a higher vibration and far from a place of fear. How do you get more oxygen when you’re stressed? Walk, take an action, exercise gently, eat green leafy vegetables, feel and think positive thoughts, mediation, laugh and dance!

We know cortisol is released when you are in fight or flight– so to quieten your system and encourage the endorphines to take over from the cortisol and other fear induced chemicals is to calm your usual reactions to fear. The four A’s can help you do this and they are Avoid, Alter, Adapt, Accept. This is a good rule to live by! Remember accepting the situation you are in and to make peace and let go, does not mean you cannot change it and involve from it.

We know your digestions stops when you are in fight or flight – so look to your diet to help with this. Dietary choices or lack of nutrition can provoke and increase a sense of anxiety and worry if you’re lacking in healthy nutrients, have blood sugar swings, and if you’re fueling up on unhealthy foods most of the time. Caffeine and sugar are culprits in fueling your flight or fight responses. Decreasing anxiety through food can be achieved by increasing your intake of complex carbohydrates ie lots of fruit and vegetables, green leafy vegetables, eating smaller more frequent meals, drinking plenty of water away from food, and limiting or better still avoiding the intake of caffeine, sugar and alcohol. and not eating to late at night. Be careful to avoid food sensitivities as these can heighten your sense of anxiety and fear if you have a reaction to them. Increase your intake of foods that are high in tryptophan. Tryptophan helps boost your brain’s calm mood and relaxes you. Try such foods as bananas, organic chicken, nuts, natural peanut butter and sesame seeds. eating good healthy fats will help fuel your brain as it is made from 60% fat and needs good omega 3-6 and 9 to regenerate and be at it’s full potential. I have found many of my young ASD clients improve there anxiety and stress levels and stimming so fast upon introducing good fats to their diets. There’s a difference between choosing healthy foods to help quell stress responses and “stress or emotional eating”. If you notice that you’re turning to “comfort foods” to relieve stress, or after a tough situation, be mindful choose an action instead like walking, breathing or laughing or talking to a friend who brings your vibration up (not one who will help you stay in the lower vibration i.e. talking about the issue over and over and fishing for the drama). Blood sugar level swings will feed fear because you lack strength and energy as a result of them, causing you to feel physically weaker. As your blood sugar soars, you feel exuberant but as it crashes, your sense of fear will return and leave you feeling irritable, unresolved, and worried. Hence making it all worst. Never eat when you are stressed or upset the body will not digest the food. Once you are calm then eat mindfully. A simple guide to understanding Nutrition and the part it plays on your body, and how to heal your own body!

We know your brain goes to the primal back brain when you are in a fight or flight mode– so to move the energy back to your pre frontal cortex and not allow your body to leak energy. Plan your time and plan your strategy and do not make decisions from a place of fear, id advise you not to contact or speak to people from this negative place, as I know very well it will back fire on you. Fuel your brain with healthy good fats and water and clean air. Only make decisions when you are calm and in the right brain function. Breathe and be in the present and make choices from this place, not the fear based impulse that can cause drama and keep the issues alive.

Harnessing your energy and stopping leaks of energy will happen if you follow the rules above. I hope you find this helpful.

“Mental energy and focus is your greatest asset”

What does “Mindful Eating” really mean and how can it help your food intolerance?

Himalayan Salt Lamps.

How Do Rock Salt Lamps Work?

 The heat from a lighted salt lamp attracts moisture that is in the air, within this moisture lives viruses, bacteria and moulds. The evaporation of water through salt emits negative ions. How many negative ions a salt lamp or salt candle holder can release depends on its size and how warm a match-lit candle or electric light bulb makes it. Nature produces negative ions to combat air pollution and deodorise. They attract the harmful particles, which are positively charged (Wi-Fi-TV-pollutants) and they balance and neutralize them, so that they lose their damaging characteristics.

In order to breathe in fresh and pure air and protect our health, we want to be surrounded by negative ions. Negative ions stimulate the flow of oxygen to the brain and in this way increase our mental alertness and energy. Think of the air after a storm or the freshness of a waterfall or where the sea meets the land or the mountain meets the air. Salt crystal lamps are natural ion generators, emitting negative ions into the atmosphere. 

 saltlamps

Why is this a good thing?

Negative ions are good for you! Negative ions restore and neutralize air quality. Negative ions can be used to treat illness and improve health. Our homes and offices are filled with electrical appliances and electronics (televisions, computers, florescent lighting, microwaves, heaters, air-conditioners, etc.).

Use of such devices have been blamed for lowering our energy levels, making us feel tired, cranky, and depressed because of their emissions of positive ions. Keeping a rock salt lamp in areas where positive ions are polluting your air space will help neutralize the air you breathe. Balancing positive and negative ions also help reduce airborne infections.

Benefits of Emitting Negative Ions into Your Living Space. 

  • Increase chi (energy)
  • Eliminates allergens
  • Reduces affects of SAD
  • Supports the immune system
  • Boosts serotonin levels
  • Improves mental alertness
  • Removed bacteria and viruses
  • Clears dust and debris from the air
  • Himalayan Salt Lamps harmonise electromagnetic pollution that comes from computer screens and TV’s
  • Himalayan Salt Lamps improve air quality for people suffering Asthma, Eczema, COPD, Bronchitis, etc 

How Many Salt Lamps Should I have?

Like plants, the more Salt lamps you can have in your home and office, the better. Start with at least one or two per room and keep adding.  Salt lamps are an investment in your health. They last forever, are energy efficient and will change the air quality, your health and energy in every room of your house & office. A night-light sized salt lamp would be effective for a nursery. Naturally, the larger an area means a larger lamp is needed so that more negative ions will be emitted. Choosing your lamp is a personal thing as they are all different shapes and colours.

You can buy salt lamps from Salts of The Earth www.saltsoftheearth.com.au

Hannah’s Gut Healing Protocol.

farmorfactory_158340995

Remove

Removing is the first step: by removing harmful foods, toxins and stresses on the body you give it the best chance to heal. If you imagine your body as a large cooking pot and each toxin, junk food, chemical, truama or stressful day goes into fill up that pot, eventualy that pot will over flow and you can try to put a lid on it (medication) but you are just supressing the inevitable of it exploding and spilling over (disease and illness). Foods like spices, cooked foods, meats and flesh, alcohol, packaged foods, coffee and chocolate are stimulants to the body and will stop it healing. The body can only heal when it has no pressures on the system and is getting adequate sleep.

Below is what you need to remove without cheating or using as a “treat food”

Things in moderation does not apply to good nutrition and healing the body. A small amount of harmful unnatural foods are still damaging for the body. Large amounts are more damaging!

  • alcohol, coffee, cacao, chocolate
  • soda and canned drinks, fruit juices and cartoon drinks, UHT milks and juices and nut milks
  • cooked foods
  • sweets, lollies, candies, pop corn and packaged treats and biscuits
  • chocolate (even raw if you have Adreanal or Chronic Fatigue)
  • spices and spicy foods
  • sugars and natural sugars like agave, maple, honey, coconut sugar
  • trans fat, crisps, chips, fried foods and packaged and canned foods
  • jared, tinned and pre-made foods
  • wheat, gluten and grains (some grains and seeds like quinoa, buckwheat and millet can be added back in once the healing has been done)
  • canned beans, legumes, meats, broths and dairy
  • stress and toxic relationships
  • work pressures
  • the need to be right
  • the need to be perfect
  • badly combined foods
  • eating late meals
  • reducing nightshades like tomatoes, eggplants, capsicum and starchy vegetables like parsnips, carrots, beets and white potatoes some may need to remove completely but can be returned after the skin has healed
  • remove all parastite and yeast over growths by doing cleanses or probiotic protocols
  • tap water and bottled water and drinking when you are not thirsty
  • chemicals, toxins from your skin care and home cleaning products-supermarket supplements
  • moulds from your home
  • stresses and environmental stresses including work and relationships
  • antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medication – ibuprofen, Oral contraceptive pill and thrush medication-all mediation safely.
  • chiropractic adjustments, saunas, vigorous rough massage, excessive exercise that exhausts you and anything else that stimulates the nervous system
  • salt and pepper

This list may seem overwhelming and too much to remove but you will not achive healing if you are still using chemicals on your skin or toxins in your home or having weekend treats of raw deserts, chips, cakes and chocolate or eating foods that are cooked to often in your diet. You must go through a strict removing stage to allow your body to expel the inflammation and re-program itself to start the healing process. It’s not to say if you do slip up (we are all human and life happens) that you have undone all you have worked hard on so far. It’s about getting back on the horse and trying again. Each time you do this your body will recover faster and eventualy it will signal you don’t need those foods anymore and it will show you how to get what you need from natural healthy foods and your environment.

HOW SERIOUS ARE YOU TO GET BETTER? 

For example I used to suffer from migrains and as soon as I felt one coming on I would reach for my migraine tablets and have a chocolate craving. Well what my body was telling me is that I needed magnesium and it was trying to detoxify my system. So now when I feel a mild headache come on I have some almonds or a banana and take double dose of my magnesium powder, or I fast to allow my body to remove the toxins efficiently, I listen to my body instead of supressing the signals it’s telling me.

Your body is very clever, it’s equipt with everything it needs and signals to you what it wants or needs to function. We have become so far removed from our bodies and we are used to suppressing or stimulating it with junk foods or medication we have lost the abilty to read it and understand what it needs. ‘You don’t eat for hunger but to fuel your cells’.

Repair

Repairing is the second but most important step: once you have removed these foods and environmental toxins, it allows the pressure to come off the sympathetic nervous systems which primary process is to stimulate the body’s fight-or-flight response and return to the Parasympathetic nervous system which primary process is to calm and relax the body and allow healing to happen. Healing will not be able to happen if you are in the fight-or-flight response your body does not digest from this state and it can not heal from this state. Eating mindfully is important and eating mono (one food meals) at first will help your digestion repair faster. Having a meal of just one fruit can really help kick the digestion back in.

 How do you repair you body?

These foods below you should be eating daily if possible and be incorporated into your weekly nutrition where possible, try to eat a large amount of organic or low spray greens and vegetables daily and get most of your nutrients and calories from ripe in season fruits. which is our primary source of energy. Nuts and seeds can be added in the right food combinations and depending on your level of leaky gut. Nuts and seeds and the truth about digesting them . . .

“Coffee to a healthy strong body can be productive in small doses sparingly, coffee to a person with leaky gut, stress, hormone unbalances and adrenal fatigue can be a killer and is not a health food.”

Healing healthy foods are essential as is the right environment for healing and repairing cells.

  • bio-individual probiotics if needed until the gut is healed
  • prebiotics rich foods like sweet potato, papaya and lemon
  • bio-individual natural supplements like zinc, magnesium, iodine, glutamine, B vitamins, D vitamins and trace minerals, adaptogens.
  • organic essential oils
  • large amounts of green leafy vegetables daily
  • aloe vera and beetroot juice – for constipation
  • barley grass powder for minerals
  • liquid chlorophyll
  • ripe fruits in abundance
  • sunshine daily on bare skin
  • grounding into the earth bare footed
  • ocean, forest or mountain air regularly
  • silica (diatomaceous earth) -for diarrhoea
  •  activated charcoal – for food allergies or reactions
 

 

  • mesquite powder -zinc, magnesium
  • zinc rich foods like – brazil nuts figs and pumpkin seeds.
  • vitamin A/beta carotene rich foods like- orange root vegetables
  • good natural saturated fats like avocado, walnuts and whole coconuts in small amounts
  • balancing hormones with diet and supplements like maca powder
  • iodine rich foods like seaweed
  • magnesium baths with sea salt and bi-carb to pull out toxins
  • correct food combining is essential to gut health
  • love and friendship
  • mediation daily
  • green juice on a empty stomach
  • only drink when you are thirsty
  • try to stay as raw as possible and only have cooked foods for dinner

The truth about fruit . . . and Carbs carbs carbs . . . good, bad and how many is right for you? may help you too . . .

Renew

This step is the third step: but one of the most important as it seals your new healthy life change and keeps your body able to protect itself and keep growing and healing the cells promoting anti-ageing and high energy levels.

You have done the hard part by removing the foods and making the lifestyle changes. By now you should be used to eating a healthy diet and learning to listen to your body’s signals.

These practices below will help you stick to this lifestyle and allow your body to cope with the everyday stresses that arise:

  • a healthy diet balanced in small amounts of good omega 3 fats, high amounts of natural complex carbohydrates (fruits and vegetables) iodine rich foods like green leafy vegetables and seaweed, nuts, seeds and an abundance of colour from natures foods, and clean filtered distilled water eaten away from food.
  • a daily practice of 10 minutes meditation twice a day will keep your anxiety down and help you think clearly and make decisions in every day life.
  • essential oils to help bring your into your body and relax you.
  • regular soft massage will help remove toxins and help relax your body.
  • Qi-gong or Ti chi or Yoga daily or at least 3 times a week will balance hormones, remove toxins, help with weight loss and distress your mind.
  • walking in nature as often as possible helps ground you (bare foot if you can).
  • practicing mindful-living will help keep you in the present moment and not living in the future or past thus keeping anxiety and worry down
  • setting values up around you and making sure you lifestyle choices are always in keep with these values will allow you to stay on your path.
  • boundaries and communication is vital to your health, if your body feels hard done by or stressed because of others it will show up in physical symptoms. By having open communication to those close to you and always putting yourself first and not over stepping your boundaries you will keep your body feeling safe.
  • chew chew chew your food slowly and spend time appreciating your food. It is fueling your body -do not just throw I down your throat. What does “Mindful Eating” really mean and how can it help your food intolerance?
  • breathing this is the most important thing we can learn as humans and the one thing we all do so badly at because of course we breath or we would be dead right? Well most of us don’t breath deeply enough and shallow breath can cause stress on the body. Take the time to deep breath in for 3 seconds hold for 5 seconds and out for 5 seconds at least 5 minutes of each hour every day. I do this every time I stop at a red light or sit on the toilet. Find a place and time that suits you and make it a daily practice. Mediation and Breathing techniques for beginners!

Regrow

The final step to healing your body:

Once you are at this stage you would have changed as a person, your body will be thanking you with clear skin, sleeping well, no aches and pains and no inflamation, an alert mind and clear thinking – sounds blissfull right!

The final step is to address any of lifes hurts. This stage is the most difficult to overcome and most of us are still on this journey even the most enlightened guru’s have their past hurts or backage to overcome.

Through Coaching or Mickel Therpay or CBT or Theta Healing or your chosen way, I suggest dealing with any pain you have been caused or any pain you cuurently have in your life. This can unblock years of trauma you have pushed down causing your body physical symptoms. This is something I can help you with at a one to one coaching session. What is ‘Theta Healing’ and how can it help you?

Each persons story will be different and at first you might not want to open up about painfull past issues, but if you can make the connection beween you constant neck pain and your issue with your mother then you start to see the importance of doing so.

Have you ever returned from a family lunch with a headche or shoulder pain that you didn’t have before? Or met a friend for lunch and not felt listen to or he/she didn’t ask about your life or how you are and you come away feeling down and then go to the shops or eat something to make yourself feel better and just push that emotion down?

Do you see the connection between supressing emotions and physical pain and do you see that suppressing your body with food will cause more symptoms. Even if you have overcome this as an adult and you no longer let others effect. And you and you don’t absorb their pain or issues as your own (well done you) dealing with your past hurts can be prodcutive for your physical body. A simple guide to understanding Nutrition and the part it plays on your body, and how to heal your own body!

I recommend these books to help with this and to find a counselor or therpist you feel comfortable with:

‘You Were Not Born To Suffer’ -by Blake D Bauer

‘Your Can Heal Your Life’ -Louise Hay

‘Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway’ – Susan Jeffers

 

I leave you with this point that healing the body isn’t just about food or supplements, but about a whole body-mind approach and that the balance of life has to be right to achieve total happiness.

Please contact me if you need more support and guidance through your Gut-healing Protocol as doing it alone can be hard.

What is a ‘Health Coach’ and how can they help you achieve your goals?

Understanding The Gut-Brain Connection and Behaviours.

Each food you eat either fuels your body and benefits your cells healing and reproducing new healthy cells. Or it harms your body causing inflammation and deficiencies and thus behavioral issues like Depression, Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia and Bi-Polar Disorder, or inflammation illness like; Arthritis, Diabetes, ME, MS, Heart Conditions, Crohn’s, Eczema, psoriasis, Asthma, Epilepsy and Auto-immune diseases. It’s vital to understand eating the right foods and living in the right environment for your body so it can heal itself and do what it is designed to do without medication and intervention.

Unknown

The “Mind-Gut Connection”

The trillions of microbes that inhabit the human body, collectively called the microbiome, are estimated to weigh two to six pounds. Up to twice the weight of the average human brain (No wonder we call the Gut the second Brain) Most of them live in the gut and intestines, where they help us to digest food, synthesize vitamins and ward off infection. Studies have linked the gut microbiome to a range of complex behaviours, such as mood and emotion, appetite, and even learning and memory. Not only does the gut microbiome appear to help maintain brain function, but it may also influence the risk of psychiatric and neurological disorders, including anxiety, depression and autism.

  • Gut microbiota help break down certain nutrients.
  • Gut microbiota produce brain chemicals such as,
  • GABA, tryptophan, serotonin, histamine and
  • Dopamine (all needed to function and stay happy and balanced)
  • 70-80% of your brain chemicals are made in the gut!

Disruption of the gut barrier:

  • Dysbiosis “leaky gut” – toxicity
  • Parasites and over-growths of yeast
  • Inflammatory bowel disorders

Microbiota Disturbance

There are many things that can upset this delicate balance, from family genes passed on from blood lines, to environment, toxins and of course most important is the food you nourish your body with.

  • Environment – pesticides, herbicides, synthetic hormones and pollutions.
  • Foods – intolerances, processed foods, white sugar, trans fat, wheat, gluten and food chemicals, preservatives and additives. (Gluten can cause opening of the cell junctions, open it up to toxins and bacteria entering the blood stream causing Leaky Gut)
  • Under-active digestion (low stomach acid)
  • Stress and emotional trauma. (Causing diarrhoea or constipation, bloating, wind, reflux, low stomach acid, ulcers in the digestive tract, disruption in motility, bacterial imbalance, when stressed there are tendencies to eat more sugar and refined carbohydrates when under pressure)
  • Medication -painkillers, sleeping tablets, thrush treatments, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory e.g. Nurofen, Cortisone, Voltaren.

Many factors come in to play to stop our cells from talking to each other and growing healthily or reproducing:

  • Inflammation
  • Food sensitivities – e.g. gluten intolerance
  • Oxidative Stress (toxicity of cells)
  • Hormones – e.g. Cortisol (stress)
  • Leaky gut

What is “Leaky Gut”?

The lining of our digestive tract acts as a barrier with tiny holes that should only allow small, harmless particles to pass through while preventing waste particles and undigested food from escaping. However, if this lining becomes compromised or more porous than normal, undigested food particles and waste products can get through and enter the bloodstream. When undigested food particles and waste seep into the bloodstream, the immune system responds with inflammation throughout the body, leading to leaky gut syndrome (coined my Naturopaths). Inflammation can then lead to symptoms like bloating, cramps, constipation, diarrhea, headaches, fatigue, rashes, achy joints, allergies, and more. These symptoms, in addition to chemicals produced during this immune response, are contributing factors for kids who struggle with behavior, focus, and learning difficulties. Kids with leaky gut syndrome may also experience vitamin and mineral deficiencies due to poor absorption, which can further exacerbate learning or behavioral struggles. While it is widely accepted that people with Crohn’s Disease, Celiac Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, and IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) often experience leaky gut syndrome, the idea that kids with ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), Autism and Dyslexia and other neuro-developmental disorders may also be affected is gaining traction thanks to Dr Natasha Mc Bride ‘The GAPS Diet’.

leaky-Gut

Hannah’s Gut Healing Protocol.

Hormones

Hormones play such an important role in your body and its healing ability, if one is out or low or too high it can cause many long-term health issues. If your lacking in any of these hormones or your body is imbalanced you can get symptoms of depression, learning difficulties or leaky gut. Here I break down each one and the importance of them:

Neurotransmitters

These act as messengers for the brain and nervous system:

  • They either “excite” or “inhibit”
  • Keep you in a “fight or flight response”

Noradrenaline

Helps with:

  • Alertness, concentration, memory and mood:
  • Overproduction can result in high stress – panic attacks or anxiety and not being able to switch off at night

Acetyl Choline

Helps with memory and learning, signs and symptoms of a deficiency include:

  • Poor concentration
  • Light sleep
  • Fatigue
  • Anxiety
  • Highly reactive to stress

Serotonin

Helps with regulating sleep, mood and eating behaviours. Signs and symptoms of a deficiency include:

  • 95% of serotonin in the body is in the GUT! – Gluten effects serotonin production
  • Aggressiveness
  • Bad temper
  • Anxiety
  • Panic attacks

(so if your guts not right your not going to feel happy)

Dopamine

Helps with motivation, mood regulation, memory and movement. Signs and symptoms of a deficiency include:

  • Restless legs (Fibromyalgia)
  • Low libido
  • Depression/low mood
  • Dull boring dreams or no memory of dreams

GABA

Helps with sleep maintenance and our main inhibitory brain chemical “stops excitatory brain chemicals” signs and symptoms of deficiency include:

  • Anxiety/panic attacks
  • Alcohol cravings
  • Insomnia or struggles to fall asleep/waking during the night with a rushing mind

Cortisol.

Too much elevated Cortisol levels can interfere with every aspect of your health. Signs and symptoms include:

  • Learning and memory difficulties
  • Lowered immune function
  • Bone density
  • Increase weight gain or unable to loose weight even when under eating and exercising
  • Blood pressure issues
  • Cholesterol
  • Heart disease
  • Keeps you in chronic stress
  • Increase risk for depression
  • Mental illness
  • Lower life expectancy
  • Inflammation in the body
  • Burn out your Adrenal Glands

Histamine

Helps with your immune system, proper digestion, and your central nervous system. As a neurotransmitter, it communicates important messages from your body to your brain. It is also a component of stomach acid, which is what helps you break down food in your stomach. Too much Histamine can cause:

  • Leaky Gut
  • DEO deficiencies
  • GI bleeding

Too little Histamine can cause:

  •       Arousal and wakefulness
  •       Loss of appetite
  •       Low stomach acid
  •       Food allergies
  •       Binge eating and cravings
  •       Dry skin allergies
  •       Tissue swelling
  •       Difficulty regulating temperature
  •       Fatigue
  •       Cramping around menstruation
  •       Anxiety
  •       Nasal congestion, sneezing,          difficulty breathing
  •     Vertigo or dizziness
  •       Arrhythmia, or accelerated heart rate

Parasites

Parasites can cause many issues when untreated and stop the healing process. The body becomes Malnutritioned and they can cause Leaky Gut and Fat Malabsorption, meaning the body doesn’t get the nutrients from the food you are eating as they take it all first. This then affects the Gut Flora and Microbiome and other deficiencies accrue. We all have parasites to some level but some are able to expel them natural without it causing them harm whilst others need medical help. Parasite can be picked up through:

  • Travel to other countries – e.g. “Bali Belly”
  • Weakened immune system
  • Pets and animals
  • Lack of hygiene

Signs and symptoms of them include:

  • Diarrhoea
  • Wind
  • Bloating
  • Indigestion
  • Pain
  • Nausea
  • Weight gain or weight loss

Parasites can be passed through salvia and bodily fluids and from changing nappies so if one family member has them you all have them. Testing can be hard but worth persisting to find out which ones you have and the right treatment for them. Treatment can take up to 1 year and there are foods to help with expelling them as well as natural cleansers.

Candidia Yeast Overgrowths and Sibo

Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (or SIBO) is a chronic bacterial (and/or yeast) infection of the small intestine, where excessive number and/or abnormal type of bacteria (and yeasts) growing in a part of the gastrointestinal tract that normal contains relatively few microorganisms.  These bacteria can cause a variety of problems by interfering with digestion and absorption of nutrients and by damaging the lining of the gut, causing a “Leaky Gut” Symptoms of bacterial overgrowth include abdominal pain, nausea, bloating, gas, belching, flatulence, chronic diarrhoea, and chronic constipation.  These symptoms are due to the large volume of bacteria the digestive tract (alive and dead, as they read the end of their lifecycle) and the large amount of gas and metabolic waste that they produce.  Many more symptoms of SIBO are a direct effect of nutrient mal-absorption (the body being starved even though you are eating). This arises either from the bacteria metabolizing those nutrients before we can absorb them or by the bacteria causing enough inflammation in the lining of the gut that it the gut can’t work properly anymore. The bacteria preferentially consume iron and vitamin B12, causing anemia.  The bacteria decrease fat absorption by de-conjugating bile, leading to deficiencies of vitamins A & D and causing fatty floating pale stools.  As the gut lining becomes increasingly inflamed and leaky, larger and not fully digested food particles enter the body, causing an immune reaction, which leads to food allergies and food sensitivities.  Bacteria themselves can enter the blood stream causing systemic inflammation and immune reactions that can lead to autoantibody formation and autoimmune diseases. The truth about fruit . . .

Read about my gut healing protocol here; Hannah’s Gut Healing Protocol.

Knowing you have to make changes, but your feeling scared and overwhelmed?

Are you looking for the answer to better health in your self and your family?

Especially if you have a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)?

But don’t know where to start or why there is the need for such dramatic changes?

That’s completely understandable, it can mean a massive change to your lifestyle. And if autism is in your family, you’ll know exactly how challenging change can be. or maybe you have become unwell your self and your life is centred around how sick your feel.

A simple guide to understanding Nutrition and the part it plays on your body, and how to heal your own body!

But, if your family is impacted by autism or health issues, you’ll also understand that it’s often the things that make our children (and us) feel the most uncomfortable that bring about the biggest gains in the long run. Nothing that is right is easy.

Take their therapies for example. By challenging our kids, bit-by-bit, they start to make inroads and soon we’ve shifted to a new normal – a better normal that, at the start, we didn’t think possible.

The same goes for our changing your family’s diet. And, perhaps the key to making the change is to think that starting a raw vegan diet as just another necessary therapy needed on your path to better outcomes for your child, allowing all the therapies to work better and give you your lives back, as it did mine.

For our family, starting changes in our nutrition didn’t feel like a choice, it felt much more like a necessity. Does it feel like that to you?

WHY RAW LIVING FOODS! For Healing Diseases and Autism. . .

Our eldest child’s behaviours had been challenging, even when he was tiny and long before his ASD diagnosis. And it was early on that we began to realise that foods were impacting on his little body and his behaviour.

 

I had worked in the organic health food industry prior to having children, so I felt I had great knowledge about foods. But even foods that I had previously considered healthy, like carrots, were causes obvious tummy upsets, and I was at my wits end.

It was only after months of research and trying different approaches at home did we land into the world of the GAPS Diet and then moved to Raw Vegan where we found most of our gains and continue to thrive getting cleaner and healthier each month. We had already removed gluten and dairy and seen great improvements in William’s health and behaviour, but still we faced the daily tummy upsets, as well as challenging behaviour. Raw vegan lifestyle gave us our sons health back. And mine!

Autism needs advanced nutrition and full focus to heal. It is not an easy road nor short but you will be rewarded beyond your dreams, if you work hard on their nutrition, your mindset and create a clean, chemical free healthy environment.

But when we came across dietary changes and learned more about the ‘leaky gut’ syndrome, it all started making sense. We then made a choice, and for our family, and it has been the best choice we could have made.

Choosing a positive mindset

shutterstock_527566597.jpg

But – I know for some it may seem too hard, too restrictive and too much work. Let me reassure you, the first weeks are tough, but once you discover your routine – both preparation and tastebud wise – it gets much, much easier. Theres is no cooking and it is so easy!

And you don’t have to go cold turkey. You can start by ‘crowding out’ the unhealthy foods and replacing them with healthier options. That way, you can make the change little by littlest using the right food combinations. Food combining and why is it essential for health!-chart.

So before you put the ‘Raw Living Vegan Diet’ in the too hard basket. Think about the possible outcomes – healthier children and who begin to calm as the diet starts to heal the gut and toxins are eliminated from their bodies. Healthier parents, happy family?

What is a ‘Health Coach’ and how can they help you achieve your goals?

And isn’t that the whole point? Isn’t that what you’re looking for? A healthy child that has the emotional space to live, learn and experience life?

That’s what I was searching for, and I’m proud to say that’s where we’re headed now.

I am here to help you achieve this x x

Trusting your Instincts and how it can help you find your path to health.

As a new parent you’re bombarded with information and advice 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?

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’.

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

13776001_1822390861380800_4371875506232828975_n.jpg

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, behavioral and digestive symptoms being experienced by our then-toddler son William, who was diagnosed with high-functioning autism at aged two years old.

In those early days 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!

Instinctively 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.

Soon we came across the GAPS Diet and, after the initial hard Intro stage and changing our mindset about grains and dairy and lots of detox, we started seeing massive improvements cognitively and behaviorally with William, and our younger son Edward.

Our instincts were right. Our instincts have taken us down the right path for now 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 then my instincts kicked in again and I could see this Gaps Diet was masking and suppressing not healing and very against my ethical view asa vegan and wanting my family to be vegan to. So we started searching and I went on as many Nutrition courses studying over 100 diets and cultures,  and we found the RAW Vegan- high carb, low fat way of eating based upon the 80 10 10 philosophy from Dr Dough Graham. This lifestyle took us to further healing and to a lifestyle we adore and that fills us with joy and is easy and fun. I have then studied Natural Hygienics which is based upon the work from Dr Herbert Shelton this is a true understanding of what the body needs from a physical, mental and energetic level and be cohesive to the planet. My instincts also showed me the path away from mainstream schooling to our blessed Steiner School where the boys can be held and celebrated for all there quirks differences and needs.

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 is thriving at school. All of this from a boy, who we were told would never feel empathy, be social or be able to love. We are blessed and my instincts led us there . . .

Thank goodness I trusted my instincts!

If you need help to start this path to health for your children please contact me for a consultation in your mindset and how to get your family started on this natural lifestyle.

hannah@nourishtohealth.com.au

0414967763