Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Food as medicine


FUN WITH FERMENTS


On a rainy Sunday afternoon last week, I was at a workshop fermenting my little heart out! I’d been wanting to do the workshop for a few months now as everyone I’d talked to who had participated had raved to me about their digestion/skin/energy etc never being so good!

One of the things that really draw me to fermenting is the fact that it’s SO SIMPLE. It’s really just about adding 1 or 2 ingredients to a glass jar covering it with water and leaving it for around a week in a quiet part of your kitchen. Then you’ve got a bubbly little tonic that wants to be best friends with your digestive tract.
Good quality store bought probiotic powders/capsules still have their place for treating certain health conditions but this is a fantastic way to incorporate foods that are rich in “friendly bacteria” into your daily life.

I now have a special cupboard designated to my beet kvass, dairy kefir, red cabbage sauerkraut and wheat grain revulac all bubbling and fizzing away. Then this morning I acquired a bottle of coconut kefir and a kombucha mushroom. Like a whole other language right? Don't fret, it’s super simple.

Rosa is a wealth of knowledge and has such a calming, grounded energy. For enquiries, shoot Rosa an email at medicinewomantherapy@gmail.com or 'Organic Sauerkraut' on Facebook.





DID YOU KNOW.....?






Top Five Things I LOVED This Wk:


1. Picking up a Louise L Hay book off of the shelf this week and a black and white photo of 4 little hippies living in Byron taken exactly 10 years ago. I always hide old letters and photos in random books for myself to get a little nostalgic hit when I least expect it.
2. Read carefully: Chai chia pudding. Thanks JD
3. Watching the snowboarding GoPro footage on the plasma behind the teller’s head at the bank. I always look forward to doing the banking for a couple of minutes each Sunday afternoon so I can zone out and pretend I’m back in Japan.
4. Hearing wonderful news from one of my besties. I was so ecstatic for her that it felt like it happened to me!
5. Making a fig and mixed berry raw vegan cheesecake with a girlfriend. Half the fun was the planning. Texts flying around like “You bring the dates, I’ll bring the pistachios” and photo texts of nuts soaking (the cashews that is!). Recipe will be posted this week!

Emma the Naturopath xx

PS. “When I loved myself enough, I began leaving whatever wasn't healthy. This meant people, jobs, my own beliefs and habits - anything that kept me small.

My judgement called it disloyal.

Now I see it as self-loving.”
-Kim McMillen





FIG AND MIXED BERRY RAW VEGAN CHEESECAKE!!!


INGREDIENTS:


Base
1 cup pistachio nuts
½ cup macadamia nuts
½ cup pitted dates (around 8-9)
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp sea salt

Filling
¾ cup cashews, soaked overnight in 3/4 cup coconut cream
1 Tbsp coconut oil
¼ cup CoYo coconut yoghurt
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp cup chia seeds
1 tsp lime zest
Juice of 1 lime
½ tsp vanilla bean extract
1 ripe fig
½ cup frozen berries
To Decorate
2-3 ripe figs
¼ cup crushed pistachios
Handful of fresh or frozen berries
¼ cup coconut flakes


INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Line the bottom of a spring-form tin with baking paper. In a food processor, combine all the ingredients for the base and whiz until breadcrumb sized and the mixture begins sticking together. Press into bottom of tin and place in freezer.
2. Place all the ingredients for the filling in the food processor and blend to a smooth texture.
3. Pour the mixture on top of the base and place back in freezer for at least three hours.
4. Take out of freezer half an hour before serving (if you leave it overnight, leave it out for at least an hour). It should be like a mousse-like consistency. Get creative and decorate the top and serve with some extra coconut yoga. Enjoy!!!

I made this as an early Mothers Day present to my mum on the weekend. The cheesecake was adapted from a recipe on the Frankie Magazine blog.




WHY DO YOU DO WHAT YOU DO?


A girlfriend of mine teaches gymnastics. She took a break from that for a while to do a meditation course. She returned back to the gymnastics world to realise how fiercely competitive the industry is and how much pressure is placed on the students to perform.
She sat down with her students the other day to talk to them about WHY they fell in love with gymnastics in the first place, to rekindle the passion they originally felt for the sport. She told me it was a really uplifting session as they replaced the stress they were feeling with joy.


We can all ask ourselves those sorts of questions when we’re feeling a bit lost or overwhelmed:


*At the end of a hard day, why did you decide to become a teacher/vet/mother/nurse?
*During a rough patch, what made you fall in love with your partner?
*You feel like you don’t have time for your hobbies, but why do you love surfing/dancing/sewing?

I opened my journal and asked myself: Why did I become a naturopath? 

I wrote these words…
To INSPIRE
To TEACH
To SUPPORT

I don’t run a business that does “discount days” or order products because my franchise has done a deal with that company, purely because I didn’t become a naturopath to make bucket loads of money.

I run a resilient little shop with butternut pumpkin coloured walls where I get to spend quality time with my customers and clients and have a really good chat to figure out how I can help them best. I employed Vanessa based on the fact that she genuinely cares for people as much as I do. This is why I go to work with a smile and the reason I sleep well at night; because I’m aligning with my passion. The universe loves that shit, and will reward you for your efforts.


However we all need a little reminding from time to time when life gets busy and tangled. So ask yourself WHY DO YOU DO WHAT YOU DO and gain that deeper sense of gratitude or maybe make a few improvements.



Top Five Things I LOVED This Wk: (Our 95th!!)


1. Watching the steam swirl upwards from the hot boiled oranges on the windowsill. They later turned into a beautifully moist flourless orange and almond cake. Recipe posted this week!
2. My clients all wanting afternoon appointments + midday Offspring re-runs.
3. Annihilating my lunch at Happy Frog after a two hour yoga class.
4. Experimenting with different foods to accompany the bright pink sauerkraut I made: spag bol, pumpkin soup, hummus and avo on toast, lamb roast and veggies, baked salmon and mash. However there has also been a lot of eating it straight from the jar with the fridge door open too. My digestion has been magnificent in case you were wondering.
5. Trying out new mattresses at the bed shops. Those big fluffy marshmallows sure left my poor old Ikea bed I bought at uni for dead.


Emma the Naturopath xx

PS. During a strong forward bend yesterday, my yoga teacher said “Observe if you are pushing yourself to go further… now let that go”.

Perhaps take the pressure off of yourself this week. There’s no need to be Super Man or Wonder Woman. There’ll be no one waiting for you at the end of the week grading your efforts, ready to present you with a medal. Just enjoy yourself.





WHOLEFOODS


Every time I admire my parent’s healthily stocked bookshelves (they used to own a book shop), I pick up my mum’s copy of ‘Wholefood’ by Jude Blereau. They set off on another adventure again last week and after we had the “last supper” mum handed me the book to keep.


I was reading the intro last night and felt so inspired and uplifted as the author’s philosophy towards food and nourishment totally aligns with my own. I thought I’d share some of it with you now:


“Food is not something that simply stops us feeling hungry. It is exactly the same as love –an elemental human need. Together, they sustain and nourish us, providing fuel for our bodies and hearts to grow and our lives to fulfil their potential. But for food to do these things, it must be authentic and real.


When you cook for your family or friends, you are providing more nourishment than packaged food ever could. I assure you that those meals you make contain powerful medicine –love medicine.


Never, ever accept mediocrity posing as convenience. Never, ever accept glitter over substance. Care about what you eat: absolutely insist that it be delicious and true; and never, ever accept anything less. When you sit down to a real meal, with real food, the body is fed and, having been fed and delighted, the soul is nourished. And only then are you able to become the amazing being you were born to be”.

-Jude Blereau

Emma the Naturopath xx


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1 comment:

  1. Such a creative and informative blog! What to eat and what not to eat, that is the question. Perhaps what is SAFE to eat is of more serious concern. With cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and so many life-threatening diseases on the rise and in the forefront these days, it is no wonder people are becoming more health conscious about what they eat and how they exercise. I am a nutritionist and guide people about a healthy diet. According to me Paleo diet chart healthyselfnutrition.com is one of the best option to lose weight.I most of the time advice this diet chart for my patients who are facing problem of over weight.

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