Tag: Digestion

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Cleanse and Detox

Cleanse and Detox.  The words cleanse, detox, diet, for some can be quite emotive, even scary, or a potential joy for remedying digestive issues.  What you eat, drink and inhale, literally forms the building blocks of your body, therefore, it’s important to know how to help your body to swap some of the shady, polluted or diseased blocks with healthy ones to keep the body functioning optimally.  Not a lot of people are aware of how joined up our emotional states are to what we eat; it still surprises me when I talk to people who aren’t nutrition aware about how powerless they believe they are for their own state of health through what they eat and drink, think diabetes, cancer, skin conditions, arthritis to name but a few conditions which can be both caused and remedied using food.  Your body is super intelligent, give it good fuel and it’ll work the rest out!

I’ve tried pretty much every diet going, from the ketogenic to the vegan, paleo, low fat, low sugar, ayurvedic, no carbs, juice, G.A.P.S. (Gut And Psychology Syndrome); I’ve attempted intermittent fasting and dreamt about doing the lemonade, juice, water and a whole host of others cleanses too.  With fasting, I’ve never gotten too far as my BMI is always generally healthy but on the low side and to be honest, with past eating disorders, I don’t think this is something I want to put myself through (again, lol).  Dieting, wow, trying to heal my gut of Crohn’s, IBS, incessant bloating and skin conditions, that’s why I’ve tried a lot of them.  Before I go any further I’d like to acknowledge that we’re all so different and thus if you find something which works for you, go with that, go with your gut.  It’s only when things aren’t working out and your digestive, mental, emotional, skin and joint health aren’t feeling so good that you can be aware it’s time to change what you’re doing around your diet.  Google define for:

diet noun
 the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.  e.g. “a vegetarian diet”

So by me talking about diet, I don’t mean you go on it only to lose weight or with a short term goal, as even if you’re starting out at 20 Stone, there’s going to be a point at which losing weight is no longer a goal.  Therefore, diet in that case isn’t looking long term and is probably unsustainable as starving yourself to get a goal can only lead to HAnger (Hunger Anger) and falling off the wagon due to being hungry, then eating, punishing yourself, crying, trying again, failing and falling into a trap of disempowerment and buggering yourself up.  With any food, aim to get it as close to it’s natural state as possible, and it’ll have less rubbish in which stresses out your body.  Whole grains, real food, produced by decent farms, being wary of big brands where mass production can dramatically decrease the quality of your ingested building blocks.  Just because an ad or packaging tells you something it’s healthy doesn’t mean it is; there’s a lot of advertising loop holes and if it needs someone to advertise it then clearly it’s not selling itself..  Most diet foods are full of chemicals and synthetic fillers, derived of nutrition and shoddy building blocks for your human organism!  So, have a good diet, and the cleanse and detox are a part of it, with less need to starve yourself or drink psyllium husks for a week.

The cleanse and detox I’m on at the moment involves:

  • Cutting the crap.  Phase it out to start, then simply, cutting foods which are processed, containing refined sugar, fake table salt and E numbers.  Also, alcohol, caffeine except a treat green tea if going out.
  • Switching to Fish, Olive, Coconut and flaxseed oils, reducing vegetable, sunflower, canola oils and animal fats.
  • Eating FRESH food everyday, cut up real veggies; make soups, salads, steam things, stirfries.  For animal protein (if you eat it) then eat fresh fish, lean poultry, eggs (if you can tolerate them), minimally so as to not over load your system during this time.  Make soup out of chicken with the bones in.
  • Having a large vegetable juice every day, on an empty stomach, adding wheatgrass powder, incrementing how much each week (up to 20g).
  • Being mindful of portion size, stop eating when full and save left overs for later.  Not being worried to clear the plate.
  • Probiotics, probiotics, probiotics!  In capsule, sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha, natto, miso, which ever but take a little bit with each meal to aid friendly bacteria and digestion.
  • Drink plenty of water or herbal teas.

So my cleanse and detox is pretty much the diet I hope to continue on, but the forward diet being one which has space for the odd night out with my friend gin, or going out for a curry or tea and cake; it just won’t be every week as the healthier I get, the less I want to go back to eating how I know doesn’t make me feel my best.

The more simple the better with diet and cleansing, in my opinion, you just need to know why you’re doing it and the consequences later on.  Trust your gut and think about your whole picture, not just how you want to look on your next beach holiday.

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The Way ‘back?’ to Health

The way back to health, or is that, the way to health?  As I’m not sure I’ve been at my best yet..

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Having visited the M&S at Westfield recently, I bought up as many carrots, organic cucumber, organic spinach, lemons, ginger and a couple of other veggies as I could carry, and it’s brought up some questions.

I stand at the check out, my shopping all veggies, lemons and some organic milk to make my kefir with and look around to everyone else’s containing bread, cakes, chocolate, sausages, ice-cream, potato salad and it reminds me of my cravings, when I’ve been at my most unwell.  When you’re healthy sure, enjoy these things on the odd occasion (if your taste desired them when you are healthy is another question!) but if these are in your everyday?..  How was I surviving before?  Why is it that I used to eat so much which I now know can cause me pain and discomfort?

About this time last year, I was getting into good health, bone broth, Kefir, juices (some but not done right for me I now realise), but I let this go due to some personal reasons.  Now, I’m bloated, always tired, have a foggy head, and seem to have intolerance to eating a LOT of different foods (I.e. pain from too much citrus or other fruits, eczema and random spots, constipation and bloating from other seemingly healthy eats, bacteria and yeasts having a party on my insides!), enough is enough.

Detoxes are at a plenty out there but to be honest, my gut instinct is that these aren’t all for me (having a super active job).  Now, the words diet and detox can trigger some pretty whacky or scary ideas.  I’ve had issues eating enough and too much, in the past and detoxes seem to send my sensitive system into shut down, so this time I doing things differently.  If you want to read my definition of a cleanse or a detox, clicky here.

Diet is about the way you eat, not a fad you do for a week or two.  Detoxes don’t have to mean starving yourself, but they do mean having discipline to not intoxicate your system with what can cause it to become disrupted in the first place..

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Autumn has come Early for Me this Year

2015

Autumn has come early for me this year, the summer fun has been overdone..  Yesterday I acknowledged a realisation about the disconnect between head, heart and gut. I recognise this isn’t a issue for some but also that there is a set of us whom find the art of living according to how we feel, that bit harder to hear. Perhaps that’s what I recognise sometimes when there’s a group of ‘yogis’ enter the studio, and I feel a real sense of discord, i.e. some of these people arriving are also feeling such a disconnect..?

The first 4 months of this year seemed to be a constant battle between my head and my heart. I could feel my head trying to get me out of destructive threads, threatening what I’d built at work, home, with friends and in my bank account. Yet my heart wouldn’t let go of wanting to love and be loved, although my gut knew this was all external to myself and therefore somehow still lacking.. I ignored my gut, and went mainly with my heart, until it was that I landed up in hospital; my gut was pissed I’d been disregarding it’s intuitive whispers.

I can hear my heart and it’s fear about stepping out of the romance game for anytime. I can hear my head telling me to keep working for both income and, the physical strength I’ve worked so hard to build up. However, the pleas of my gut (the one I thought I’d ‘fixed’ by probiotics bone broth and healthy eating) now resound louder than ever. Again bloated, inflamed gut and spine, imbalances through out, skin pathologies, intolerant to more and more foods..  It’s time to retreat.

Autumn has come early for me this year. It’s time to retreat and heal from all this head and heart madness.  Those educated in the gut know it rules, from the immune system, the emotions, processing the building blocks of health or rubbish we feed into it to build our cells. Yet, even the word, gut, it’s not sexy, not pretty, makes you think of..? It’s association with defecation and the less attractive traits displayed, generally it’s hidden, vacuum sealed up and shamed..  It’s the most primal and natural part of us, yet why can it be so hard to connect with?

However, in this retreat, the one and only rule is, my gut is allowed to lead the show for the next 6 weeks, I feel with the issues it presents and neglect it’s endured; it’s time I listen and keep the head and the heart on the back burner to rest their voices for a few weeks too. I’ve been juicing for 5 days now (and including regular balanced and nutritious food, just juice and raw doesn’t work for my predominantly vata body type) and including a few extra supplements to really give my body the chance to heal. Thus, if I’m not at festivals, parties, social gatherings please don’t find me rude; I’m on an early drawing in, autumn retreat, some time just for me.

 

xx

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Probiotics, are they useful?

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I’ve been recommended to take probiotic supplements for years; ever since I learnt that I had Crohn’s disease, friends and teachers have advised me to take this product or that product to repopulate my flora.  The doctors have never told me to do so, I didn’t really appreciate what my flora is and it all seemed a bit much, so I didn’t bother.  Still having symptoms and issues with digestion a few years ago, I was decided to try them! But, they didn’t seem to do anything (I got a generic Holland and Barretts one, I don’t think this is perhaps a good quality).  People still kept talking about these things to me!  At the start of the year, I bought some more, of a good quality from a health food shop.  It was horrible!  I was more bloated and farty than before so I didn’t take them for many days!..

A few months ago I came across the GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) diet, it described my problems, was written by a doctor and thus seemed like my prayers for  improved digestion had finally been answered!!   Except, I had to go on a hugely restrictive diet with a shed load of animal fats included, which seemed counter intuitive to what I had learnt about alkalising and not going too heavy on animal fat (due to it’s inflammatory and acidifying effect on the body).  There was so much science and sense in the ideology of it for the most part that I took the fundamental points, which were easy to apply into my daily life, and carried on being allowed to eat out and with friends!  The main thing I took, ditch grains (even gluten free), unless you NEED that cake or pasta meal for mental health reasons haha, and consume a lot more probiotics.  But note, that’s what’s currently working for me, we are all so different that it may or may not help you to try this.

You’ve possibly seen my post on Kefir, this book got me back into making my own (I flushed my milk mushrooms when I moved home last because EVERYTHING was too much of an effort when you have to move home), but also I started to use Sauerkraut (a live one) and to be able to continue with probiotics without making symptoms of bloating, constipation, gas, etc (all the things which make you want to die or simply NOT have a life in public!).

So, WHY take Probiotics?  Why am I still pursuing and now publically sharing about this?

If you’ve had anti-biotics (i.e. kills bacteria, even those helpful ones in your gut which help digest and absorb the right stuff from your food), steroids, parasites in your gut, some kind of poisoning, constant IBS symptoms (Irritable Bowel Syndrome, i.e. just a shit digestion and the doctors can’t say why, hence it’s a sydrome..), any type of strong cancer or other therapy drug or treatment, wasn’t breast fed, regularly consumed NON-ORGANIC dairy or meat (as these too contain a heap of anti-biotics), been constantly or regularly sick with something it’s possible that your gut is imbalanced.  As literally, you aren’t so much what you eat more than, what your gut is absorbing from what you eat (clearly if you’re living on burgers and chips, there’s not much nutrition there to start with!)..  It’s what gets into your bloodstream through your intestines which is what is powering your body and mind; what gets into your bloodstream is controlled by what bacteria are in your gut, if they produce good nutrients on breaking down your food or, if they produce alcohol, opiates or other things which can plainly cause you to feel mental and not very nourished; it’s going to make a difference to the sensitive biochemistry of your body.  This biochemical ‘fun’ can be expressed as skin problems like spots, rashes, welts, dryness; brain fog, sore joints and muscles, vision issues, and many more mental and physical disturbances.

Basically, bacteria are awesome, they’re on everything too.  This is a good thing, we work in harmony together and help keep each other alive.  It’s just when too many selfish/bad/pathogenic bacteria (rather than the symbiotic/good/healthy ones) end up making residence in our guts, we can feel less than our best and they basically run our show!   IF we have a good amount of healthy bacteria, our guts are healthy, then we are healthy and, these good bacteria help to keep not just the ‘bad’ bacteria in check but also our immune system can stay fully optimal and we have a lot less physical and mental issues and dis-eases.  Simple.

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If any of this resonates with you, yes probiotics might well be helpful, if not then probably not.  Mindset ALWAYS makes an X-factor of difference.

From my own trial and error, you read, I had issues at first but here’s some tips I learnt to make it easier, if you do want to try yourself, to see if they can help you a little (or a lot).  Note, I’m not a doctor, this isn’t cause to bin your GP, don’t be a dickhead, use some common sense, especially if currently taking any medication or suffering from any condition, check with your doctor first!.

  • Consume first thing with some warm (not too hot as it’ll kill the little lovelies) lemon water, as I found if taken with lunch, those little darling just make a party in my guts and I bloated like a balloon (update, now my gut is more balanced I tolerate them at anytime).  Eat something soon enough after to help them to have something to fuel them but go easy.
  • Get a good brand like Bio-Kult, one you know is going to still be alive and well and able to reach your intestines and not just give up half way.
  • To gently try first and support your bacteria day to day, try probiotics like Kefir, miso, kombucha, sauerkraut, kimchi.  ALWAYS look for organic, where possible, especially for the kefir, as if not, you have antibiotics in the milk from the poorly treated cows; so it’s kind of an oxymoron to consume non-organic kefir!
  • Start with less, build up to ‘full dose’ after a few weeks, the packet should have instructions, if not check the manufacturer’s website.
  • Try for a few weeks to cut out refined sugar and minimise grains, this is because the ‘bad’ bacteria thrive on these products, as well as the bi-products of them, if you are imbalanced can just make things feel harder biochemically than they need to be.  I cut out most sugars ages ago, have been a bit more diligent with sugar (added/refined) and sweet fruits (rather than acid ones which seem better on my digestion at least) and notice a massive decrease in bloating symptoms, bloating from gas is usually a bi-product from bacteria processing the foods in your gut.  Apply common sense here.
  • If you’re on a healing drive, add a little miso, sauerkraut or something like that with each meal, keep topping up those symbiotic bacteria, moderately, if it feels good to do so.  If not, then don’t!
  • Pre-biotics like different fibres etc can be useful to feel the bacteria, if you’re diet is a bit rubbish, look it up and balance this too.
  • Go easy.  You can apply this to everything, less stress in your head = less stress in your body = healthier body which is better able to manage itself and balance appropriately.
  • Keep trying things out!  Be consistent with any changes/additions/removals of dietary things for a couple of months to see if it does help but else if it’s not working, “next”!  As I said before, you have a different life, body and needs to me, I can tell you what’s helped me but there’s no saying if it’ll work for you.  Try it and see for yourself!

Happy bloat-free pooping!

 

References:

Gut and Psychology Syndrome (available on Book Depository, Free delivery!)

http://www.bio-kult.com/

 

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What I’ve learnt on a Plant Dieta

dieta

Before I embarked on this adventure to diet with a plant, i.e. the drinking of a medicine produced by boiling its bark (or other part of the plant/tree depending on the medicine prescribed for you); I had no idea what I was getting myself in for.

I knew there would be plant ceremonies with the native Ayahuasca on this 2 week retreat, and I knew maybe I’d be eating a clean diet for a while but, I had no idea what I would be getting as a part of the ‘plant-dieta’..

Why do a plant diet/dieta?

When you diet with a plant (also known as a master plant) you are taking on said master plant as a spirit ally, during the plant dieta/diet, you drink a certain amount of the medicine made from this plant (usually a brew from boiled bark or roots, or sometimes it’s put into alcohol) for a set number of days that you have, or that your shaman deems appropriate for you.  In this time, as the plant begins to grow, it also starts healing you; don’t worry, it’s not like you’re going to be taken oven and have a tree growing out of your butt, but rather growing with you energetically and spiritually.

Each plant has different healing properties, they are prescribed based on where you are in life and perhaps what kind of healing you require.  For me, I dieted with a grand tree from the Amazon called Chuchuwasha; I’ve read many different things on it since coming back to the UK but the best correlation I could get between the internet and the wonderful man who was making these medicines out in Peru was that it:

Improves energy (and yes it certainly has for me!  I’ve not felt so good in at least 10 years!), helps decision making and finding ones centre.  Heals scars, heals hernias, colds, burns and it’s used to heal arthritis or rheumatism too.

What does it entail?

As I mentioned before, you need to drink the medicine of this plant for an amount of time (I was in dieta for 12 days with it), at given amounts and times of the day.  For me, this was 1/3 of a small glass 3 times a day, 30 minutes before each meal.  I won’t lie, it tasted foul.  It sometimes also had big gloopy bits, which I tried to drink, but one bit was bigger than my mouth so I had to use it as a medicine for the wildlife outside my tambo (traditional jungle sleeping hut). *gag* gracias medicina *gag*

chuchuDifferent shamans will have different regimes, ours was pretty strict, during dieta when drinking our master plants, we were only permitted to eat basic carbs like rice, quinoa, potatoes and oats, no salt, no sugar, no fruit, no dairy and no condiments or spices.  Also allowed were vegetables, salad (but no onions, tomatoes or avocados) and the occasional small, bony river fish; but no oils, no nuts, no seeds, no meat and no legumes.  This is so that the plant you’re cultivating to be your ally doesn’t get disturbed, so it has the best chance to grown within your energy and stay with you for life.

And seeing as spices are out, of course, no alcohol, no chemical products (not even to wash clothes unless it’s done for you – thank you to the beautiful women taking care of me at the centre), no perfumes, no toothpaste, no shampoo, the odd not too strong essential oil is ok, in moderation.  Different master plants also have their different traits and attributes, some are strong and righteous and therefore require you to be very strict with your diet and post-diet; some are more jealous and may cause adverse effects if you wear the fragrance of other plants too much from soaps or other products.  Also, no sex, no touching or hugging each other and no stimulation from playing music (unless with your own instrument), no TV, there was no wifi to offer temptation luckily, no reading unnecessary materials and to include plenty of meditation, writing and reflective time; but no masturbation either!  If you smoke, you can buy pure tobacco in Peru, or mapachos, which are used in ceremony for protection and cleansing, but no normal tobacco or cigarettes, leave out the chemicals..

It’s important to adhere to how you’ve been advised as not only can it damage the diet and your bond with your plant but it can make you feel really unwell and some say can fire back at your shaman and make them unwell too.  The no touching part and no TV etc is because during dieta you are extremely sensitive and open; you are open to take on the energy of others, which more than likely will not serve you; and of course, you may be dieting with a more jealous master plant!  Nature is the best place to be.  There was minimal electricity at the centre, only a small amount of solar power which I occasionally used to charge my phone to know the time relative to when was dinner/medicine time or upon waking during the night to know how long it’d be until sunrise!

At this centre I also mentioned the work with ayahuasca, wow, this kind of work is never compulsory but I’ve found it deeply profound in helping me to realise or remember several things about who I really am, what I want out of life and even how I can go about changes in myself to align more with the greater good.  The ceremonies are the part where you recieve a shed load of information, remove a few layers of dirt from your internal mirror and re-calibrate where you’re at in life, major reset and healing time.

Thankfully at the retreat centre, everything to do with food is done for you, the expert chefs/muma/sister feed you abundantly on the foods you can eat and ensure you don’t get confused with the food which may be being eaten by non-dieting people who visit the centre; I wish I had planned in to do my post-dieta there too.

What I’ve learnt on a plant dieta?

What I’ve learn on this plant dieta, combined with the interspersed ayahuasca ceremonies (not having them every day is perfect, they require a lot of energy and thus also some proper restoration time after), is about how I received so much energy, so much clarity, healing, and discernment. I had been working with low energy levels for going on 10 years now, major problems with my intestines and digestion and large amounts of anxiety; I feel the power and the spirit of this tree is now a part of me, I feel stronger and more able to take on the world again; even from the position of living in the opportunity mecca of London.

Not only that, but I also reconnected to myself and nature.  The environmental settings are key.  By the second day a big part of me wanted tobobbinsana leave, I was sh*t scared of the hairy caterpillar farm which was a part of my tambo, the spiders who showed up in my mosquito net and all the noises of things I’d never met before.  Not knowing if I would get bitten by something dangerous or, end up with ants in my pants and more than just mosquito bites on my ass, arms and ankles..  Being reassured that there was nothing lethal around me I began to get used to the ants, I stopped trying to kill all the creepy crawlies and instead got to know them, saw them simply moving about their business and neither of us needing to hurt the other.  This is a BIG and ongoing lesson for me..

Combined with the ayahuasca ceremonies I managed to shed a lot of accumulated energies which weren’t mine, and were just weighing me down.  I can now see a lot bigger perspective and a lot more clearly about where I end and another begins, and where we are all actually inseparable.

What now?

So now, I am during my 3rd week post-dieta which means I still have another 10-20 days of restrictive diet to really allow chuchuwasha to settle in my system and also not to shock my system with too many strong foods or products.  I’ve noticed if I do accidentally disturb the diet (having cold water if you’d believe it) or am exposed to the London commute too intensely, that I really feel it.  It’s difficult integrating into ‘normality’, but to be honest, I don’t want to get back to what I previously felt was normal.  We overfill our bodies with refined sugar and weird fats derived and synthesised from all sorts of insanity, repress emotions, and agree to be a part of a jumble of people exuding their disdain for life – no more.  I have no desire to be mindlessly drunk or to suppress any part of me.  The main thing I miss is sex and chocolate (I’m talking 100% organic, farm assured cacao baby), 13 days and counting until those are back in my life.

Interested?

I’m open for questions if anyone else considers on embarking on this incredible, life changing journey.  NOTE: Blog update – it’s taken my some time to process and despite the amazing dieta and healing with beautiful fellow journeyers on this retreat; I renounce my recommendation of this particular centre.  It’s transpired a misplacement of power has occurred, on several occasions.  Unfortunately, many western women (especially blonde) have been pray to shaman who have more ‘power’ then they can handle – unless male, or going in a couple, please seek yourself a FEMALE shaman.  I know an amazing couple who work with medicine who have helped manage this situation with love and understanding, there are always people you can trust, but be sure not to put yourself in a vulnerable space..

Much love, thanks for reading

x

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Mother Ayahuasca, round 5

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Coming back to the subject of ceremony with medicine, I’ve heard of a few cases of whimsical usage of the medicine and thus some perspectives to be tainted.  Of course, it’s not going to be for everyone and it’s important that you must know your Shaman is someone you can trust – word of mouth generally offers a good recommendation..

I wrote in my previous plant medicine blog about my first retreat drinking the sacred vine, as known as Ayahuasca (along with it’s counter part the Chacruna leaf), to induce a healing from the inside out.  This healing is usually accompanied by a felt sense (felt differently for each individual) of el madre, or ‘the mother’ which is one of the effects of the medicine going to work on your physical, emotional, spiritual, and or other bodies of your existence.

This most recent experience again has served me kindly and gently, after 4 cups (usually 1 or 2 is enough..) of the not so pleasant tasting medicine, I found myself once again on a journey, a journey of my body.  It’s never hit me with explosive vomiting or toileting as means of the releasing; my purging again this time being based on movement and laughter..  Having been guided by the shaman, who was new to me, my depth of appreciation for this +2000 year old ceremony has once again grown..

I could feel the medicine working in my stomach and intestines; for the whole duration I felt nauseous, perhaps sometimes before one is ready to purge one’s bowels the medicine and moment has to be right..  As told by the shaman that it’s probably only a matter time, perhaps more work needs to be undone on my path before the medicine is ready to help me release my gastro associated workings.. The geometric patterns, stars on the ceiling and overwhelming sense that in every moment ANYTHING is possible; the squirming, leg shaking, finger twisting, skull exploring motions that again wouldn’t let my body sit still like most other internally journeying participants..  All for my interpretation pointing to the fact I’m in exactly the right field of work, with a need to further explore the physical!  But there’s something in my guts still not budging..

Makes sense if I’m 100% honest with myself, I am still exploring an interesting relationship around eating (having my Crohn’s mostly under wraps)  an oral persona to play out..  I thought I could get away with once again denying to myself and others that I still have work to do here, but the medicine, the mother, knows..  I am the kind of person who craves an authentic life and the medicine has helped me to once again, shine a light on the parts of me which were being disingenuous to this treasured trait.  The joy and sometimes the woe of Ayahuasca, it gives you just what you need, which may be the furthest point away from what you think you need!

May the integration of lessons continue, the real journey starts now ceremony is over!..

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Brilliant Buckwheat

buckwheat

Why it’s Brilliant:

  • Gluten free
  • Complete, vegan protein (contains all essential amino acids)
  • Iron, zinc, manganese and magnesium rich (essential minerals)
  • Makes excellent pancakes (taste and consistency)
  • Easy to digest

Buckwheat, NOT a member of the wheat or grasses family but actually related to rhubarb or sorrel, the parts of it generally eaten are it’s triangular fruit seeds (groats), it was one of the oldest crops but became less and less grown recently due to it not thriving so well when used alongside lots of nitrogen fertilizers (bit strange to consider if it doesn’t need it then why use it!.?).  It’s thought to have originated in South East Asia and is the primary ingredient to the Japanese Soba noodles.  Yum.

 

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NRMdXx8fC8kC&pg=PA138&dq=soba+Japan&hl=en#v=onepage&q=soba%20Japan&f=false

http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/glutenfreeingredien2/p/buckwheatisgf.htm

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cereal-grains-and-pasta/5681/2

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=11

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Make your own hemp milk

HempSeeds

Hemp is a legal, non-psychoactive* cousin of marijuana.  Some of the benefits of ingesting Hemp:

  • One of very few vegan sources of complete protein (and is easy to digest)
  • Has balanced omega 3 and omega 6 profile (very important especially if you’ve dry skin, sore joins and/or high cholesterol)
  • Contains the highest amount of essential fatty acids from a plant source
  • Seed shells are also super high in fibre

I wont go into the industrial, commercial and other such amazing benefits of it as many people are already sharing this..

If you choose to make milk from hemp seeds it’s amazingly easy, tasty (has like a nutty, yummy taste) and nutritionally balanced; no need for added sweeteners either in my opinion!

Ingredients:

  • 1 part raw, happy, hemp seeds
  • 3 parts filtered water
  • A blender/food processor to blitz it all up and a fine mesh sieve/muslin cloth

Methodology:

Put seeds in a blender (start out with max 4 Tbsp, I’ve just got covered in the mix trying to make too much!), add 1 part water and blitz for a few minutes or until the water looks really thick and creamy.  Add the rest of the water and gently blitz for a little bit longer (you can add less or more here depending on how thick you want it).

Strain the milk from the bashed up seed shells, voila!  Store the milk in a recycled jam jar if you like..

Personally, I keep my seeds and milk in the fridge to help keep them from denaturing the delicate fatty acids into something not so great, using the milk within 3 days seems to be fine, use your brain if it doesn’t seem ok!

DSC_1703

So you’re then also left with the crazy shells pieces, keep it and use it!  Why not make the most of food?  Especially when it has a great nutritional value!  Put it into a clean jar for use in baking, adding to smoothies for extra fibre, or I like to add mine to my kefir with some other goodies as a part of breakfast.

Enjoy! 🙂 x

 

*There maybe a teeny tiny amount of THC present maybe but this generally isn’t enough for you to even notice it unless very sensitive to THC!

 

http://bodyecology.com/articles/hemp_nutty_food_source_good_for_you.php#.U3coAIE7ssA

http://www.seedguides.info/hemp/

 

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What is Kefir and How does it work!?

Milk Kefir
What is Kefir and How does it work??

Kefir comes in 2 forms, milk or water kefir.  I personally love the thick, and creamy milk Kefir; a super probiotic, tangy, thick and creamy yoghurt/drink, but on a more recent drive to lessen or stop (I’m going to listen to my body here and go with its flow) animal products consumption I’ve moved onto water kefir.

Hence, here I’ll share about both with you depending on your taste..

Eating Kefir can be of benefit to your body in many ways:

  • Helps to optimise good digestion
  • Regulate bowel movements
  • Heighten immunity
  • Help balance the guts in dysbiosis (imbalance between the good and bad bacteria in the gut)

For more information on Milk Kefir go here!

For Water Kefir head over here! 😛

I personally have found drinking it on an empty stomach first thing in the morning is the best, especially if your newer to super pro-biotic drinks, as depending on your internal bacteria and composition, it can have an adverse effect in needing the bathroom or feeling bloated. It’s probably important to add that not one glove fits all with foods and drinks, I love this stuff, it’s really been a help to me, I can drink it any time of the day without unwanted repurcusions but then I’ve been working with probiotics for about the last decade, when I learnt that they might be the key to helping me with my digestion and multitude of disorders which can come when the body is struggling to process foods. It took me a couple of years to work out my rhythm and what works best for my body. I see this as a bit of a medicine, in that not everyone needs it. As a child I suffered from a lot of ear aches and so had a lot of anti-biotics, as well as always having a fussy tummy (not being breastfed is one thing I’m curious if lead into this but can’t be sure) but having a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease in my 20s was a sure sign that my processing internally needed some additional support. This may resonate with you, it may not, if you feel the impulse to try, then try! There’s no harm in it, so long as if it doesn’t feel right that you discontinue trying 🙂