Do nothing

"How beautiful it is to do nothing, 

and then to rest afterwards"

-Spanish proverb

116. Top Five Things I LOVED This Week:

1. The insane icing on the vegan, wheat-free chai carrot cake we shared at Santos.
2. Our new BioChef blender that I ordered through work. A little Father’s Day present to my husband from our unborn baby –gosh it’s a generous little foetus isn’t it? This blender could liquefy a brick!
3. Sitting in a chattery church waiting for the ceremony to begin, then all of a sudden a wave of Chinese whispers swept through the crowd of “She’ here!” and everyone hushed.
4. A refreshing swim in the eery tea tree lake at Lake Ainsworth.
5. Nathan’s chai, Eliza’s foot massages, the way Noa always thoughtfully sets the table with a plant, Blossom’s shy smiles and River’s belly kisses.

Emma the Naturopath xx

PS. In the words of Elizabeth Gilbert:
“Embrace the glorious mess that you are”

117. Top Five Things I LOVED This Week:

1. The new Country Road campaign featuring Gemma Ward with her baby girl. YouTube the clip.
2. Vicariously eating whatever Jamie O is cooking during his Comfort Food series. Did anyone see that lobster macaroni and cheese the other week? Or the one with the sticky date pudding? I feel as though I’ve gained 6 kilos after watching an episode!
3. The little chats I have with my newly planted seedlings. “Oh aren’t you getting big!” “Are you thirsty? Do you want a drink of water?”
4. That luxurious hour of solitude after my husband leaves for work at 7:30am til I have to leave the house at 8:30am. It’s usually spent sitting on the east side of the house which has been warmed by the sun, sipping a smoothie or green juice while scrolling through beautiful pics on Tumblr or watering my garden. Can you tell we don’t have kids yet?
5. Spending a Saturday afternoon drinking tea and making a raw vegan choc mint tart with my Mother Bear. (Recipe posted this week).

Emma the Naturopath xx

PS. I randomly pulled out one of my trusty yoga affirmation cards yesterday while in a complete fluster. It was Utkatasana Pose and the heading was ‘CONTROL’.

It read: Do not make a decision simply to end your discomfort of ambivalence. Connect to your strength. Allow the right choice to find you.

It can be incredibly tempting to take the easy way out to escape a physically or emotionally taxing situation… But it’s important to trust the timing of your life and live gracefully with patience in your heart. In the end, everything always works out for the best xx

CHOC MINT CHEESECAKE TART

The cacao nibs in the base give it an awesome crunchy choc chip texture and the minty-ness of the filling balances the sweet chocolatey-ness of the base! Now let’s not get carried away here, yes the recipe is raw and vegan with descent ingredients, but sugar is sugar so save it to have as a treat rather than for breakfast Enjoy!

Base:
1 cup almonds, ground into a meal
3/4 cup pitted, packed medjool dates
1/4 cup cacao powder
1/4 cup cacao nibs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a food processor, mix ingredients into a moist dough that presses together easily. Add a couple of teaspoons of water if needed. Press the mixture into a 6" tart pan. Set aside.

Filling:
2 1/2 cups cashews, soaked overnight in water then drained
1 cup lightly packed mint leaves
1 cup water
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons agave
8 drops mint extract or essential oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of Himalayan salt
3 tablespoons cacao butter, melted
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

In a food processor, combine everything until smooth and creamy. Taste the mixture - add more mint extract (or mint leaves) if needed. Pour into the crust and freeze overnight. Leave in fridge for 3 hours before serving.

There was a fair bit of mint filling leftover (maybe we'll add less water next time?) so we poured it into little ramekins and popped them in the freezer then ate them like little mint mousses the next day.

Emma the Naturopath xx

*SHARE this post or TAG a friend who loves you to subtly encourage them to whip this up for you*

*MATERNAL MONDAYS*

I have been offered SO many hilarious old wives tales about how you can tell if you’re having a boy or a girl. As soon as you tell someone that you didn’t find out the sex they’ll give you a theory based on how you’re carrying, if you had morning sickness or not, etc to give you a psychic prediction. Last week someone told me the sex of the baby was determined by whether the man or woman initiated the love making that resulted in the pregnancy! You just have to laugh

What wild stories have you been told or what do you swear by?

Emma the Naturopath xx
(24 weeks –length of a cob of corn)

WANT A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP?

Every night I massage my feet with some moisturiser and a few drops of lavender oil and then pop a pair of socks on and snooze the night away.

I think its the combo of the calming aromatherapy, the reflexology points and just a little self-love ritual to say "Thanks for carrying me around all day feet!"

Also a fan of magnesium as well as turning off all technology (phones/TV/laptop) by 9pm and reading in bed.

What night time ritual gets you counting sheep?

*MATERNAL MONDAYS*

INSTINCTIVE BIRTHING

I’ve just started flicking through Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering by Australian doctor Sarah J. Buckley. In a nutshell, we are reminded to have faith in our ability to birth our child as it is part of our innate wisdom. She affirms that by encouraging a trust in our intuition and body knowledge, this will assist in promoting a confident and calm birth: “In these circumstances, a labouring woman can let down her guard, switching off her rational brain and opening to the ‘unreasoned impulse’ of her instincts”.

In the chapter Vision and Tools for Instinctive Birth, she speaks of several key methods to enhance the power of our instincts:

-nourishing ourselves with wholefoods for optimal nutrition
-connecting to nature
-bodywork eg. prenatal yoga
-listening to our body clock rather than our watch
-honouring our own spiritual faith and practises
-taking time to contemplate, process and digest our internal feelings that arise through journaling, artwork, meditation and communicating with our partner

“We are all creatures of the Earth, and our bodies need the Earth’s nourishment to work effectively in any instinctive behaviour. For some women, pregnancy brings an urge to garden or to go walking, to hike or just to gaze at the scenery of earth and sky. All of these activities help align us with the Earth, our great Mother, and teach us respect and love for the natural order”.

Self-nourishment on a physical, emotional and spiritual level during pregnancy is a number one priority for all of us, but especially during pregnancy. I feel like when we connect with nature, be it walking on the beach, watching the sunrise or chopping up veggies from the farmers market for a juice, we are aligning ourselves with the flow of life.

Have you read this book or another one similar?
What are your thoughts/experiences regarding “instinctive birthing”?
How did you nourish yourself during pregnancy?

Essential Health

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Doona Day.

I was perusing the shelves of my local book shop last week and stumbled upon a little bundle of wonderfulness -in book form.

That book is Tucked In by artist and illustrator Meredith Gaston. I am an unconditional lover of hand written books eg. Succulent Wild Woman by Sark and The Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Mollie Katzen, just like Tucked In. So needless to say this book is now a permanent resident on my bedside table.

In a very imaginative nutshell, Tucked In inspires you to see sleeping and convalescing as a relaxing, healing and luxurious experience.

Chapters include:
Nurturing comfort foods
Tasty midnight snacks
How to knit a teacup cosy
Japanese haiku poetry
The art of journaling
A glossary of bed essentials
Herbal infusion baths

So fill up your fluffy hot water bottle, pull on your knitted bed sock and curl up in a ball as you read these silly sleeping facts:

Octopi seek out underwater caves to sleep in
Fish sleep with their eyes open
Flamingos, dolphins and ducks sleep with half their brains awake
Giraffes sleep for less than two hours a day and are known to sleep walk

ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz……

Beauty sleep.

I heard a patient say one day that the difference between a nana nap and a cat nap was that during a nana nap you use a blanket. So there you go... We all know what sleep deprivation does to our quality of life (and those around us who get snapped at), so lets look at a little concept called Sleep Hygiene... (No it doesn't have anything to do with crumbs in the bed).

Sleep hygiene refers to positive habits that promote a restful sleep. It's about developing a bedtime routine so that your body can prepare itself for a good night's sleep. You can't go straight from watching a hectic crime show or doing an assignment to lying in bed and expect an awesome sleep.

*The old wives tale of a glass of warm milk is true to it's word. Milk contains tryptophan which is the body needs to make melatonin, a hormone which regulates your body clock and promotes sleepiness. Other tryptophan-rich foods include turkey, bananas and cottage cheese. Melatonin increases with darkness so avoid bright lights before bed and get all romantic with candle light.

*If you're more of a worry wart, keep a notebook/journal next to your bed to release constant thoughts, consider seeing a counsellor or kinesiologist to handle unresolved worries or try a flower essence like Rescue Remedy.

*I used to think my nutrition lecturer was a nut when she'd talk about zinc being her "favourite nutrient"...? But you know what, I'd like to tell you about MY favourite nutrient who's name is magnesium. This little puppy relaxes all your muscles, nourishes your nervous system and promotes quality shut eye. You want to aim for about 300 mg after dinner.

Other little gems include creating a clutter-free environment in your bedroom, gentle stretches, listening to guided meditation CDs, sprinkling a couple of drops of lavender essential oil on your pillow and herbal teas like Planet Organics Calming blend (lemon balm, chamomile and spearmint). One cup of epsom salts and 6 drops of lavender oil in a hot bath also works a treat.

Sweet dreams kids…

The 'C' Word.

Everybody has a favourite word. Mine would have to be "convalesce". Yes, it is a word...

Convalescing means to grow strong and healthy again when you're feeling tired and depleted. If you've been pushing yourself all week (or all year!) and are feeling exhausted you need to take time to unwind and find yourself again otherwise you'll burn out (and look seriously unattractive)!

A lady came into Essential Health a while ago and told me how she was going on holidays soon. When she returned to the shop a few weeks later she absolutely floated through the door. I asked her how her holiday went and she told me that she cancelled it at the last minute because she was simply too tired from all the work she'd been doing and the thought of having a full itinerary of sights to see for two weeks was too overwhelming. She still had the two weeks off work but had a "sleeping holiday" instead.

She said the first few days were mentally tough because a little voice in her head kept telling her that she was being lazy, she didn't deserve this and that she should be cleaning out messy cupboards. But then she told the voice to shut up and just surrendered to her body. She'd wake without an alarm each morning, go for a walk on the beach, have a cup of tea and fall asleep on a blanket in the backyard. She'd spend her afternoons reading her book and then pick vegies from the garden and put effort into making a beautiful dinner for her and her husband each night. She said it was the best thing she had ever done for herself.

Your goal for the weekend is to spend time doing something that brings you happiness so you can emerge on Monday looking ridiculously well rested and vibrant.