Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Trust yourself


Top Five Things I LOVED This Wk:

1. John Butler’s cover of Pharrell’s Happy on Triple J’s ‘Like a Version’. What a way to start the weekend! Did you hear it? Check it out on YouTube.
2. Super cruisy mornings at Joel and Chrystal’s at Lennox: fruit salad, topping up cups of tea, laughs and the four of us stretching on the lounge room floor. Followed by surf checks and car park chats.
3. The little kid walking up the lighthouse behind me loudly singing his timetables.
4. Rose and strawberry raw vegan cheesecake.
5. Fun surfs with friends at Wategos involving board swapping, party waves, water camera shots and chicken dances.

Emma the Naturopath xx

PS. Prior to performing for Like a Version, John Butler was asked if he was still enjoying being a musician after all these years…

“I’m enjoying it more… I think I’m finally getting the hang of it. For a lot of it actually, the first ten years was a little bit frustrating. I was always scared. I was always just frightened about what the hell I was doing.

I still get frightened but I think I trust myself a bit more. I think it all comes down to trust and I love what I do and I’m just so thankful to do it. So I enjoy every millisecond of it.”

I reckon most people who have taken a leap and experienced a big transition could relate to this. Starting a uni degree, first time parents, going on a big overseas trip or for me, buying a business at 24. For the first 12 months I was living on any drop of adrenaline my poor little adrenal glands would secrete! Then once in a while I still have a panicked moment! Why did I wag most of my business subjects at uni?!

I’m 29 now and I feel like I’ve ironed out most of the bumps and its full steam ahead. I am so grateful for the forever bubbly Vanessa and my gorgeous customers, clients and Facebook peeps that make my world so joyful and allow me to go to work each day with such purpose.








POST-EASTER COME DOWN

We rustled together a few goodies here at Essential Health to help you ease off the sweet stuff

PUKKA LOVE TEA
A delicious blend of organic herbs including chamomile, lavender, licorice and lime flowers which not only curbs the urge for something sweet after a meal, it’s a great digestive blend.

COCONUT OIL
This brand ticks all the boxes: extra virgin, certified organic, cold pressed and in a GLASS jar. My dad claims to have conquered his sweet tooth by having a spoonful of oil when he feels the need.

I QUIT SUGAR FOR LIFE by Sarah Wilson
Practical and yummy recipes. Includes a four week wellness plan in the back.

BAMBOO TOOTHBRUSH
To keep your dentist happy.

CACAO LIP BALM
Raw, vegan, certified organic and smells like Mars Bars!

BIOCEUTICALS GLUCOFACTORS
If your blood glucose issues are a little more serious, have a chat to your naturopath about supplements to assist pancreatic function and increasing glucose receptor sensitivity.

STEVIA POWDER
Derived from the naturally sweet stevia plant, this powder is a smart low GI option to add a little sweetness into your life.

Emma the Naturopath xx









Top Five Things I LOVED This Wk:

1. Opening a box from my parent’s storage shed labelled ‘Emma’ to find a dusty assortment of hand written letter and cards, photos, posters, mixed cassette tapes and journals. Heart warming and cringe-worthy.
2. A chilled afternoon bbq in the garden involving besties, babies and brownies.
3. Walking outside after my bath to get my book I’d left in the car and pausing to take in the stillness of the crisp Autumn night, the brightness of the moon, the stars that were twinkling away and chirping of a few crickets. Mindfulness is such a beautiful gift when we stop and give ourselves the time.
4. Peanut butter Lindt balls.
5. That pause at the top of your breath before a big exhaaaale while meditating.

Emma the Naturopath xx

PS. Something crazy happened two weeks ago that totally shifted the perspective I had on my life.

A friend of a friend popped in to say hey as she was on her way down the coast. When she asked me how I was, I told her how I’d been feeling stuck and frustrated with a situation that’d been going on for at least 12 months now.

She shared with me a similar situation she’d been in and that was causing her to experience those same anxious feelings and then she goes “and I realised that all those time frames and restrictions that were causing me so much stress and worry were put there by ME… SO. I. JUST. TOOK. THEM. ALL. AWAY”.

As soon as she said those words I could physically feel my shoulders feel lighter and my heart had room to move again. I just let it all go. All the expectations, impatience, criticism and pressure I’d placed upon myself. I’d put them there in the first place, so I was the one that had the power to take them all away. Too much effort without enough grace... I just let them all go.

I’d been told “Just let it go” a thousand times by my loved ones, but it wasn’t til the way my friend put it that I realised what I had to let go of. I had reached a point where I was ready to hear it.

Since choosing this shift, I’ve been aware of people, quotes and signs that are popping up in my life that are helping me along my way which is reassuring. I was so happy when I came across this quote during the week:

“Follow your bliss.
If you do follow your bliss,
you put yourself on a kind of track
that has been there all the while waiting for you,
and the life you ought to be living
is the one you are living.

When you can see that,
you begin to meet people
who are in the field of your bliss,
and they open the doors to you.

I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid,
and doors will open
where you didn't know they were going to be.
If you follow your bliss,
doors will open for you that wouldn't have opened for anyone else.”


-Joseph Campbell

It goes to show what a significant impact a seemingly simple anecdote can have on another person.




Top Five Things I LOVED This Wk:


1. Mixing a giant bowl of sauerkraut with my hands at a fermenting workshop this afternoon. (Can’t wait to tell you more about it this week)!
2. The beautiful rustic design of Mothers Milk -the new café in Sawtell. Makes me feel like Coffs is moving up in the world. Slowly.
3. Being handed a cold coconut as I walk in the door after another sweaty hot yoga class.
4. A friend of ours who is such a passionate seamstress made my husband a gorgeous patchwork bean bag and sprinkled it with patchouli oil. There was a story behind each piece of fabric (curtains that used to hang in her children’s bedroom, calico flour bags, parts of shorts, etc). The definition of “made with love”.
5. Those pieces of clothing (aka my tattered denim shorts) that keep creeping their way out of the op shop pile and back into my wardrobe.

“The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or a hostile universe”.
–Albert Einstein

Wake up each morning and decide to be happy. Invite optimism into your day because the universe is on your side. Trust me, it’s good for your health.


Essential Health

0266 514 533
Boulevard Arcade (opp. Blush), Coffs Mall
Facebook: Essential Health Coffs

Thursday, April 10, 2014

The present moment

My dad's copy of The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle has been sitting on my bookshelf for many years now. I love that he's highlighted and underlined paragraphs and written little notes in the margins (just like I do). But I. just. can't. bloody. read. it!


However I read this quote the other week and it really hit home for me.

"If you are depressed, 
you are living in the past.
If you are anxious, 
you are living in the future.
If you are at peace, 
you are living in the present."
-Lao Tzu

There is a lot going on in my world right now so I have been implementing this quote in my everyday life as a reminder to just put one foot in front of the other, rather than getting overwhelmed by the entire journey. I am reveling in the simplicity of it.

So each day (depending on the date) I say: All that exists right now is Wednesday the 26th of March. Then tomorrow will be Thursday the 27th of March, but all that matters right now is that it’s Wednesday the 26th of March. All I have control over is what happens today.

How do you go at living in the present moment?
How does that quote sit with you?

“Life is available only in the present moment”.
-Thich Nhat Hahn, Vietnamese Zen Monk






Every Thursday night I write an *EMMA THE NATUROPATH’S WEEKLY TIP* Facebook post for the kind folk at Coffs for Kids who are a huge support to families in the Coffs community. This week I posted a recipe for a yummy after school smoothie!

Choc peanut butter thickshake

Throw in a blender:
1 frozen banana
1 Tbsp 100% peanut butter
1 Tbsp raw cacao powder
1 Tbsp vanilla pea protein powder
¼ cup rolled oats (or 1 Tbsp LSA if avoiding gluten)
1 Tbsp flaxseed oil
1 handful of baby spinach
Milk of your choice

I LOVE smoothies for kiddies! You can sneak so much goodness in without them even knowing! The flaxseed oil and baby spinach totally disappear once blended and the raw cacao powder is packed with magnesium while satisfying their sweet tooth. Also healthy enough for brekkie!




Top Five Things I LOVED This Wk:

1. Another flash back of one of my fave long lost songs: So Fresh, So Clean by Outkast.
2. The fact that my husband gave his mum a card and present on his 30th birthday this week.
3. My incredible alkalising green juice that I make each morning (which I look forward to as I go to sleep each night)! Green apple, mint, lime, celery and cucumber. I ran out of lime during the week so I juiced lemon myrtle leaves from my tree.
4. A good cry. Followed by a long hot shower, pyjamas and an eleven hour sleep.
5. Listening to frogs singing power ballads outside while I had a candle lit bath during Earth Hour last night.

Emma the Naturopath xx

PS. When I first read this poem earlier on in the week it had such a profound effect on me. And every time I have read it since, it sends little shivers down my spine and makes my heart flutter. I hope it resonates on some level with you too.

“She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go.

She let go of the fear. She let go of the judgments. She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head. She let go of the committee of indecision within her. She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons. Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.

She didn’t ask anyone for advice. She didn’t read a book on how to let go. She didn’t search the scriptures. She just let go. She let go of all of the memories that held her back. She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward. She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.

She didn’t promise to let go. She didn’t journal about it. She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer. She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper. She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope. She just let go.

She didn’t analyse whether she should let go. She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter. She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment. She didn’t call the prayer line. She didn’t utter one word. She just let go.

No one was around when it happened. There was no applause or congratulations. No one thanked her or praised her. No one noticed a thing. Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.

There was no effort. There was no struggle. It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad. It was what it was, and it is just that.

In the space of letting go, she let it all be. A small smile came over her face. A light breeze blew through her. And the sun and the moon shone forevermore”.

-Rev. Saphire Rose/Ernest Holmes



This morning's GREEN JUICE:

1 granny smith apple
1 celery stalk
1 cucumber
1/2 a lime
handful of parsley
2 handfuls green grapes
leftover iceberg lettuce from the delicious san choy bow my husband made last night!

What was in YOUR juice or smoothie this morning?






BROCCOLI AND FETA FRITTERS (gluten-free)


I made these little pups last night for the first time and they're all I've thought about all day!!

Ingredients (makes 8-10 fritters)

1 medium sized broccoli
4 eggs, free range and organic
½ bunch shallots, chopped
1 large handful of basil leaves (or parsley), chopped
1 cup gluten free flour (or buckwheat or brown rice flour, or spelt if not gluten free)
1 tsp baking powder
80 grams of feta cheese (or parmesan or haloumi)
1 lemon
Pink Himalayan salt and cracked pepper
Olive oil

Method

1. Chop up the broccoli finely and steam for 5 minutes.
2. Beat the eggs in a bowl and add the flour, shallots, salt and pepper and basil.
3. Crumble feta and place into the mixture.
4. Roughly chop broccoli and add to the mixture.
5. Add extra flour to the mixture if it is too wet.
6. Heat a large frying pan over moderate heat and add oil.
7. Ladle amounts of mixture into the frying pan and cook the fritters for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until golden.
8. Serve with a squeeze of lemon juice with a fresh garden salad!

Recipe adapted fromhttp://juliaandlibby.com/2014/01/06/broccoli-feta-and-pine-nut-fritters/







There are a lot of aspects to being healthy. It’s all about BALANCE.

There tends to be a general understanding that “being healthy” means eating your fruit and vegies, doing some exercise and taking a multivitamin. Sure these things contribute to a wholesome lifestyle but as a naturopath I assess optimal wellbeing on a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual level.

I drew a WELLBEING WHEEL on our shop wall yesterday. It’s a handy way of visualising all aspects of your health holistically. It’s easy to get out of balance and neglect an area of your health.

For example, someone might be sweating it out at cross fit (exercise) and eating nutritious foods (diet and nutrition) but not spending enough down time walking on the beach (rest and relaxation). Or perhaps we become so busy running around looking after the kids and working full time (intellect) that our love for playing the guitar gets pushed to the side (self-expression) and we are too exhausted to catch up with friends on the weekend (social interaction).

So here are a few questions you can ask yourself to better understand yourself HOLISTICALLY…

Social interaction: When was the last time you called a friend who has a similar sense of humour and had a good belly laugh?
Self-expression: What is your creative outlet?
Intellectual conversation: What interesting piece of information have you learnt recently?
Spiritual connection: When was the last time you prayed/meditated/took a few moments to reflect?
Exercise: How often do you get huffy and puffy?
Diet and nutrition: Do you go to the farmers markets and try fruit and vegies that you haven’t eaten before?
Rest and relaxation: How do you give back to yourself?

Don’t stress yourself out striving for perfection by trying to keep all the balls in the air. Adopt an EFFORT WITH GRACE approach and just check in with yourself every once in a while to make sure you’re feeling balanced.

What area do you feel you could improve on at this current moment? I'm working on exercise at the moment and am off to a 'Groove Restore' hot yoga class tonight!






Top Five Things I LOVED This Wk: (our 90th! Oh my!!)


1. Realising that the Matron on Love Child is actually Rhonda (Ketut’s lover) from the AAMI ads!! Shut up!
2. A caring friend who recommended I go and get a facial after all that's been going on lately. And the wonderful Trista who gives the most delicious treatments!!
3. The balmy ocean breeze on Tuesday night as I walked to my car after the sweatiest hot yoga class. My two loves: yoga + sauna =happiness.
4. Going for a bike ride early this morning in the drizzly weather. No one else was around… Were you all at church or in bed eating hot cross buns perhaps?
5. Waking up in the middle of the night to find my husband and I holding hands in our sleep.

Emma the Naturopath xx

PS. I found another beautiful quote this week which speaks magnitudes to me. Live loudly everyone!!

“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it.

And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of.

If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.”

-F. Scott Fitzgerald/Eric Roth




The change of seasons has set in and it has brought with it an influx of colds and flu into Essential Health!

We are all out of muddy puppies this week... But come have a chat to Vanessa or myself about diet, lifestyle and supplements that will give your immune system a fighting chance this winter!


Emma the Naturopath xx


Essential Health
0266 514 533
Boulevard Arcade (opp. Blush), Coffs Mall
Facebook: Essential Health Coffs