Energy

Alkalise, Alkalise, Alkalise, Alkalise!
Sea vegetables have been used as food and medicine for thousands of years for their therapeutic qualities and rich mineral source.  Some are salty, mild, or sweet, some have strong sea flavour. Overall they have some of the richest alkalising properties on the planet. In addition, a healthy nervous system enables muscles, organs and tissues of the body to work at full efficiency, and gives sharper sensory perception. It also creates a sense of vitality and energy.

Sleep

Serotonin is one of our good-mood neurotransmitters – derived from melatonin that is found extensively in the gut – and is secreted through the gastrointestinal tract – up to 80%. It modulates perception, cognition mood, emotion, sleep and appetite. It needs a few essential nutrients to activate it and one of those is the amino acid called tryptophan that helps the body produce the B-vitamin niacin. Tryptophan helps the body relax and also induces sleep. It is prevalent in a number of foods, especially warm milk – which is why we are often fed that as kids – and turkey. Think about the Christmas day feast in Australia and the de rigueur snooze required afterwards and you’ll understand the tryptophan effect. 

Workout/fitness

Carbohydrates found in vegetables, rather than grains are the preferred choice of CHO because their composition slows their conversion to simple sugars like glucose and decreases your insulin level.  Therefore, a diet with plenty of high-quality protein may promote weight loss by increasing the amount of leucine, an amino acid, in the diet. In turn, this will help you to reduce body fat and maintain muscle mass during weight loss. Muscle mass is an important part of weight loss, as it helps the body to burn more calories.

Awareness practice such as yoga, clinical Pilates and also Qi Gong stabilize the response of the nervous system to stress, removing the constant muscular tension produced by the repeated alerts from the central nervous system, and calming the involuntary symptoms of threat: the racing heart, sweating, anxiety – all roused by the Sympathetic Nervous System.

Immunity

Wheatgrass is my number one go-to when it comes to boosting immunity. It possesses highly concentrated enzymes such as super oxide dismutase (SOD), a powerful anti-aging antioxidant that can slow down the effects of potentially carcinogenic molecules and help to neutralise free radical exposure on the cells.

Skin & hair (beauty)

What goes in your gut eventually shows up on your skin so love the skin you’re in where possible use the best quality organic low preservative products you can find.

Detox/cleanse

Mung Beans, according to Chinese medicine, have healing properties that are highly detoxifying and cleansing.  The Chinese revere them even more for their medicinal prowess than their culinary capacity, especially in decreasing the levels of triglycerides from the blood.  Mung beans provide support for the body’s cardiovascular system and reduce overall toxicity.

Boost metabolism

Chilli is probably the best know metabolic speedster, as it contains the compound Capsaicin, which may increase your body’s release of stress hormones such as adrenaline, which can speed up your metabolism and your ability to burn calories.       Eating chilli may also may reduce your appetite, so spice up your life! ½ teaspoon with lemon juice in warm water three times a day will be sure to get things moving!

Libido 

Maca is a hormone regulator or an adaptogen, which means that it may balance the entire endocrine system.  It contains unique alkaloids that promote the optimal functioning of the hypothalamus and pituitary master glands, which may in turn balance the levels of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone that are produced. If these hormones are regulated the function of the ovaries and adrenal glands may also be enhanced.

This is why it is used to relive symptoms of menopause including hot flushes, vaginal dryness, and depression. Maca is used as a fertility enhancer for both men and women and is also used to increase energy, stamina, enhance libido and treat impotence. Up ya go!

Time & money

It takes about 5 minutes to steam a small piece of fish or chicken and costs about $5-$6. Throw in some fresh, seasonal organic vegies – just a handful – and you have dinner cheaper and faster than standing in line at the take away.

We energetically attract patients/clients/partners with the same mindset around money so change your mindset and your whole world could change.

What you think about you bring about. Nobody ever spend the time they save but they sure know how to spend the money they save.

1. Integrity in our communications with the public, our peers and our clients

2. Commitment to the physical, emotional and financial wellbeing of our patients

3. Value of what we provide must always exceed or equal our fee

4. Our ability to offer value to others relies first on our ability to value ourselves

Mood & memory

Bundles of fibres form the larger nerves of the body benefit stretching and cleansing with yoga and Pilates postures. By clearing toxins from these tissues, poses benefit neurotransmissions at the fine nerve endings and at the synapses between the nerves.  One of the monoamine neurotransmitters called dopamine (DA) is responsible for reward-driven learning and is kinda like the smiley face of the brain world in that it makes you feel good. Like serotonin, the better known neurotransmitter, dopamine depletion can be the result of drug use – particularly cocaine and amphetamines – and is also linked to the nervous system condition Parkinson’s disease which is due to the loss of dopamine secreting neurons and causes impaired movement and tremors.

Dopamine rich foods Lean beef, pork, turkey and chicken, cold water fish, wild game, fava beans, Edamame (fresh soy beans), black beans, chickpeas, lima beans, lentils, nuts and seeds. Leafy vegetables and green, yellow and red vegetables.

Disease

A vital formula for dealing with ill health, and promoting and maintaining wellness is eating an abundance of fresh, organic, whole foods. The fewer preserved, processed and fragmented foods consumed, the more the body will thrive on the natural nutrient content in whole foods.

There is an undoubted link between industrial processing of food and degenerative diseases.  In countries where there is less industrialisation and the staple diet predominantly consists of mainly whole foods: nuts, seeds, legumes, fresh fruit and vegetables, research indicates that there is a lower risk of refined diet-related illnesses, which include Diabetes Type 2, Metabolic Syndrome and cancer. The cancer preventative and ameliorating role of vegetables has proven consistent, especially one rich in dark green leafy and cruciferous vegetables.

Hi there Healthtalkers!
Hope you will enjoy the final episode of Healthtalks TV for series two where Mel and I double date in the kitchen with some of our favourite superfood smoothie ingredients. You’ll find a variation on the recipe that we made here

Thanks to all the viewers who have loyally tuned into Healthtalks TV each week. This post will be my last ongoing appearance but I will pop in from time to time – just think of it as a Sameo Cameo!

Click on the image below or this link to watch the show

My Le Cordon Bleu Masters study commitments, ongoing executive chef duties at Cabarita Ocean Health Retreat –  and my brand new role as Nutrition Communications Specialist for Gloria Jean’s Coffees have left me with little time to scratch myself – or surf! (More soon about the great initiative we’re running with GJC.)

I hope you will enjoy the last episode of series two just as much as we have making it!

The girls demonstrate just how much your mindset and attitude create reality in our lives and how simple changes can start to make dramatic change in your life. Because really, who doesn’t want a bit of that?!

Be sure to share the love around and send this to others that may benefit. We can all help to make each others lives bigger and brighter.

Checkout the secrets of the Healthtalks team here.

I’ve been running my global organic cooking school for over thirteen years and have witnessed the rise of organics and also the trends that follow. I’ve been eating organic food since the mid nineties and would average around 75% of my dietary intake being made up of organic produce. I’m not orthoplexic about it though, but I am living proof that eating this way gives you more vitality and has anti-aging benefits – I turned 47 last month.

I am dedicating today’s post to The Green Grocer in North Fitzroy and Mondo Organics in Brisbane. These two exceptional cafes with cooking schools have supported my organic career wholeheartedly.

In today’s compelling episode of Healthtalks TV I ask Nat and Jess what eating organic means to them.

Click on the image below to watch or click this link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVQxrUROkn0

Organic agriculture does not use synthetic pesticides or chemical fertilizers, and may actually promote the production of flavonoids. Conventional Agriculture depends on heavy applications of chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides and irrigation, may inhibit the natural production of cancer-fighting flavonoids in plants.

The Soil Association UK believes that organic farming is a viable alternative. Organic farming works with nature to produce food without relying on chemicals to meet consumer demand. The Food Standards Agency recognises this:

“Organic food contains fewer residues of the pesticides used in conventional agriculture, so buying organic is one way to reduce the chances that your food contains these pesticide residues.” In the long run, the problems pesticides cause will only be solved when all farming and food is organic.If you are concerned about pesticide residues in your food, buy organic.

Organic wholefoods have a quality, a vitality that refined or processed foods lack. In the Eastern traditions, there is a universal concept of the energy that flows through all things. Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to this energy as chi or qi, the Ayurvedic system of India calls it prana and the Japanese call it ki. In the West we know this as a life force or bioenergy. This chi is an important component of all foods. The chi quality of a living food is maintained in a wholefood to a much greater extent than in a food that has been fragmented or overprocessed.

Both Australia and the US boast some of the highest recorded figures of obesity and degenerative disease due to a daily intake of processed foods where the minerals and vitamins have been extracted during the refining process. The alevrone or outer layer of grains contain polyphenols called lignans which are cancer preventing coatings, yet when these are removed, the full nutritional component of the food is no longer valid and much cancer has been linked to an excessive intake of refining if foods such as these.

The refinement of foods results on over processing and can lead to the onset of degenerative disease.  Refined or fragmented carbohydrates such as white flour and sugar are assimilated within the body faster than their whole counterparts.  This means that they are converted into to glucose, the body’s energy fuel, more rapidly.  If the body does not require fuel at that time, it will happily store the excess in fat tissues leading to weight gain and potential health hazards.

Don’t miss my exclusive Melbourne Masterclass on April 27th Book Here

Organic farming was developed in the first part of the 20th century in Germany, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. It was in the 1980s, however, that organic farming really took off, when the production method continued to develop, along with consumer interest in its products.

There was a major increase in the number of producers, and new initiatives got under way for processing and marketing organic products. This situation conducive to the development of organic farming was very largely due to consumers’ keen concern to be supplied with wholesome, environment-friendly products.

Study shows that conventional farming, has removed an average of:

• 29% of the vital ingredients originally found in the meat

• 20% of the vital nutrients originally found in the fruit

• 40% of the vital nutrients originally found in the vegetables that our grandparents ate.

SOURCE: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, American Chemical Society (the world’s largest scientific society) Feb. 26, 2003 1940 vs 1990′ McCance and Widdowson,1940, 1991, ‘The Composition of Food’, RSC, MAFF

The nutrients abundant in organic food are Flavonoids are plant by-products believed to protect the plant from insects, bacterial and fungal infection and photo-oxidation.

These plant chemicals are also thought to be useful in preventing cancer and heart disease and combating age-related neurological dysfunctions.
Flavonoids work by protecting the cell against damage caused by active oxygen radicals. Oxygen radicals can cause cancer and are also associated with cardiovascular disease and age-related nerve cell damage.

Biodynamic Farming
Biodynamics is a science of life forces. A recognition of the basic principles at work in nature, and an approach to agriculture, which takes these principles into account to bring about balance and healing. Biodynamics is part of the work of Rudolf Steiner, known as anthroposophy – a new approach to science, which integrates precise observation of natural phenomena, clear thinking, and knowledge of the spirit.

It offers an account of the spiritual history of the Earth as a living being, and describes the evolution of the constitution of humanity and the kingdoms of nature. Sustainable farming techniques that rely on phases of the moon and other specific environmental guidelines laid down by Steiner. All aspects of this agricultural method are pesticide free including the soil.

Organic Certification

Organic certification is when an organic certifying group audits a business’ methods to ensure that they comply with national or international standards for organic farming and processing. Many people have their business certified to reassure wholesalers, retailers and consumers that their produce is organic.

Are you a smaller grower who supplies produce for domestic markets only with an annual income of $75K or less from organic sales?
You may qualify for the OGA Small Producers Program with the benefit of reduced costs and a simplified certification process.
Visit www.organicgrowers.org.au for further information.

See also http://www.aco.net.au/

According to Elson M. Haas, MD my number two go to guy when it comes to nutrition (Paul Pitchford being my number one), colon cleansing is one of the most important parts of detoxification. He reckons that much toxicity comes out of the large intestine, and sluggish functioning of this organ can rapidly produce general toxicity. A series of colonic water irrigations, best performed by a trained professional can be the focal point of a detox program, usually along with some cleansing diet and fiber supplements for toning and cleaning the colon. During a basic dietary detox program, other, more subtle colon stimuli are usually used to enhance colon action. These may include herbal or pharmaceutical laxatives, fiber and colon detox supplements, such as psyllium seed husks alone or mixed with other agents, for example, aloe vera powder, betonite clay, and acidophilus culture.

In today’s episode of Healthtalks TV, Nat and Jess dish up the dirt on the way of clay. Take a look by clicking the image above.

Exclusive Raw & Paleo Masterclass
Raw Food & Paleo Interactive Class & Workshop
Saturday April 27th 10-3pm
$395 pp LG Kitchen South Melbourne Market
Only 10 spaces 

Book now

I was first introduced to quinoa when I commenced my nutritional studies at the Melbourne College of Natural Medicine (now Endeavour College) in 1999. It was terribly hard to source then and even harder to pronounce! I was fascinated by its health claims and spent many a month experimenting with it. Much to my delight I discovered back then that it lends itself well as a salad ingredient, a warm accompaniment and is delicious as a warm pudding in winter with quince or citrus.

The popularity of an ingredient may be steeped in a plethora of origins – economical, agricultural, seasonal – often it’s a social or health trend that is dictated by chefs, the media and consumer demand. Quinoa, an ancient native seed originally from South America is a case of all of the above.

A decade ago this alkalising cereal was just beginning to show her face on less than a handful of Australian menus and would only be found in the dustiest of health food shops. More recently she has been welcomed into the stable of grains and other carbohydrates and billed as the superfood with a royal title. “Queen-o-a” rolls of the tongue of the uninitiated, however the seed is pronounced ‘keen-wah’ and its culinary highlight of recent years was to be the cover girl for the 2010 September edition of Australian Gourmet Traveller with a variation of a recipe I had been teaching for years.

Get the recipe at http://www.bittersweetsour.com

In 2000 I was a part of the management team that launched Australia’s first organic restaurant in Melbourne. Nestled in an old warehouse in Flinders Lane, Zukini was way ahead of its time. A cavernous, rowdy and ultra chic joint that had all of Melbourne talking. Set over two levels compromising of a more formal dining room in the basement and a casual cafeteria-style platform at street level. The restaurant offered two menus that were cleverly devised by chef Simon Beeton – an interesting looking chap who sported a shaved head of sorts and a white goatie beard. Zukini was a great example of how you could ‘green’ a restaurant and where possible most of the trappings were sustainable.

Naturally quinoa featured in the menu – as did so many other ingredients that we now call superfoods. It was served as an accompaniment to a poached porterhouse. A dish that caused so much disdain that when you mention Zukini in Melbourne, people continue to automatically cringe. A standout memory for me is the day that food critics John Lethlean and Stephen Downes happened to join us for lunch – at very separate tables of course! John had previously dined the week before and was returning to double check his review. Stephen was there to review it for the first time and was dining with the proprietor’s lawyer whom we would always give the best table in the house.

Botanically, quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) is derived from the Chenopodium or goosefoot family – as is spinach, chard and beets.  It is native to the Andean region of South America where it is the principal food of the area. Its leaves are similar to those of both the spinach and amaranth plants and like amaranth is known as a pseudo-cereal because it is technically not a grain.

Once referred to as the ‘Mother Grain’ the seeds are cultivated for their highly nutritious protein and calcium components with protein reaching 20% and calcium being higher per milligrams than milk. In Chinese dietetics, quinoa’s healing properties and energetics are considered to be ‘warming’ which is to say it will help to stoke the digestive fire or ‘chi’ and as it is a seed, it has an alkalising effect whereas most grains have an acid forming effect on the digestion. It is often confused for a grain due to its remarkable mimicking abilities to masquerade very effectively as cous cous and other wheat derivatives such as bulgur – hence its popularity in the marketplace as it makes a great tabouleh.

Nutritionally, quinoa provides a good source of iron content for a carbohydrate – 1.4 milligrams of iron per 100 grams and is also rich in non-dairy calcium, which often comes as a surprise to those who assume calcium only comes from cows! It is important to note that the quinoa should be washed well before cooking so as to remove the bitter saponin – the outer layer coating which I have noticed is much more prevalent for the new Australian quinoa that is now available. There are over 120 species of quinoa and colours include red, white and black varieties, which are readily available as tri-colour quinoa in health food stores worldwide.

The rise of quinoa’s popularity is two-fold: it contains all of the eight essential amino acids making it a complete protein, which are usually only found in animal proteins. Secondly, it is a gluten free alternative that behaves like a grain and can be gentle on the digestion – providing that it has been well rinsed to remove the phytic acid a by-product that can inhibit the absorption of iron in the body. Some people prefer to soak their quinoa overnight, however I fund that it makes the cooked seed very soggy and loses its integrity.

So the convenience of quinoa, its healing properties and nutritional merit are what lead me to deliver one of my favourite recipes that I continue to enjoy at home, prepare professionally and thoroughly enjoy to teach. It is my twist on that traditional Sicilian pairing of sardines and currants. As quinoa has a bitter sweet flavour, the currants lend their sweetness beautifully to the dish, complemented by the sweet crunch of pine nuts, and the energising effects of lemon and mint to really lift the flavour. The vitamin C in the lemon juice will help to activate the iron content of the quinoa and sardines making this dish a perfectly healthy option for lunch or dinner.

 See recipes