Archive for the 'food' Category

We’re all feeling a bit poorly around here. Each of us with different symptoms, but all for the same reason…

The Herxheimer reaction. A healing crisis. A die off response.

Whatever you call it, however it manifests in your body, none of it is fun!

Don’t get me wrong though, just because it’s not fun doesn’t mean it’s not good.

We are doing an anti-candida program. We have modified our diet, we are taking some herbs and we are using anti-fungal essential oils in massage preparations and foot baths.

About 3 weeks ago we stopped eating sugar and began phasing out sweet foods including dried fruit, honey (though we include up to 2 tsp per day in our diet still) and the sweeter fresh fruits. We reduced the amount of grains and grain products and reduced starchy vegetables.

Gradually we reached where we are now… Eating unlimited amounts of leafy greens, broccoli, tomato, onion, garlic, fresh herbs, ginger, capsicum, peas, beans, avocado, leeks, cauliflower, cabbage, sprouts, seaweeds, organic meat (not processed meats), bone broths, organic eggs, lentils and beans, kefir – milk and cheese (labneh), unsweetened natural yoghurt, kimchi and saurkraut, coconut oil, olive oil, butter, cacao butter, spirulina, chlorella, cereal grasses (wheat and barley), herbal teas and fresh water. Eating limited amounts of brown rice, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, wild caught fish  (limited due to potential mercury toxicity), raw nuts (excluding peanuts) and seeds, raw milk, raw honey (limit to 2 level teaspoons, preferrably less, per day), green apples, pineapple, blueberries, lemon, lime, raw carrot, beetroot.

We’re all taking herbal tinctures. The sproggets are taking Pau D’Arco in dosages appropriate for their age and weight, and being little champions they’re taking it diluted in plain water without any fuss despite the rather horrid taste. Bean and I are taking a formula of Pau D’Arco, Horopito and Thyme, it tastes worse than the sprogget’s straight one herb formula and we have to take more of it because we’re bigger, still we don’t complain either! After two weeks on the same herbal formulas I will change to a different formula for one week to prevent the candida in our systems from becoming resistant to the antifungals in the current formula, we’ll then return to the current formula.

The sproggets are coping very well, their symptoms are mild, they’ve been around the sun less times so their self healing potential is greater and their toxic load is less. Sprout has some scaly patches on her arms, the same little spots I have, that are indicative of systemic yeast overgrowth and her thrush has worsened a little but seems to have improved now. Moe has some nappy rash that is painful, but is also improving today. They’re both eating well, they’ve just had 5 bowls of soup each, so I’m going to assume they’re not feeling terribly unwell!

Bean is struggling with a worsening of the fungus on his feet, some sinusitis, muscle aches, fatigue, nausea, sugar cravings, bad breath and low mood. He may be experiencing more, but those are the ones he’s spoken of.

I am feeling slightly better today, my symptoms have reduced a lot from yesterday. My symptoms include dizziness, nausea, fatigue, aches, dry patches on my skin, bad breath, insomnia, worsening of depression, anger, irritability and anxiety. My urine has been quite dark, considering the amount of water I’ve been drinking. Normally it is clear after drinking so much, but there’s obviously quite a load for my kidneys to filter at the moment.

Yesterday was very hard and today is seeming easier. The sprogs and I have definitely been through the worst of the healing crisis, I’m not sure how Bean is going, he’s at work today, so I imagine he’ll be having a tough time. His candida overgrowth is much worse than the rest of us. He has never detoxed before either, so it will be harder for him.

To help us through the die off reaction we’re drinking heaps of water and some clear herbal teas, we’re resting when we can, dry skin brushing (that’s just me), using aromatherapy massage (often with coconut oil and tea tree oil, which are both anti-fungal), breathing deeply and getting out into the sunshine as much as possible.

We’ll stick with the herbs and the diet as long as we need to, I think Bean will be on the program for longer than the rest of us, with me coming a close second. In a couple of weeks, once the candida population in our gut has been brought into balance by the herbs and diet, we’ll begin a couple of courses of probiotics to repopulate the gut with beneficial gut flora. In a couple more weeks after that we’ll relax the diet some more to include some more fruits (in time for the glut of stonefruits and melons, yay!), some other whole grains and more dairy. We’ll keep cane sugar off the menu though.

I feels good to be doing this, we’ll all feel much better at the end of it, even though it’s a hard slog right now…

This morning we went to the Albany Farmer’s Market and discovered there was a new stall this week.

Image credit

Some fabulous people are growing macadamias here in the chilly Great Southern Region!

Quite honestly, these are the yummiest macadamias I’ve ever tasted and I ate a lot of macadamias in the time I lived in northern NSW and Queensland (where they grow usually).

These local macadamias are farmed by a fellow homeschooling family (yay!) in Bornholm, about 30km from Albany and roughly the same from Denmark. Their orchard is 15 years old and this is their first commercial season. The trees take a bit longer to mature and fruit down here, but the macadamias we tasted today make it clear it’s been worth the wait! The farmers use biodynamic practices on their farm and they harvest and pack by hand. Very labour intensive! I’m utterly thrilled to have discovered them. The sproggets like the macadamias too, even Moe who normally spits them out.

If you’re local, head down and check them out. Just make sure you leave enough for me to buy next week!

Lately I’ve been reading a lot about food in the context of unschooling philosophy. Most of what I’ve read has been written from the perspective of parents pondering how to instill healthy eating habits in our children without being authoritarian, without creating “forbidden fruit”, without being dominating or opressive & most importantly (I think) without killing the joy of food.

In our home the basic idea with regard to food is to prepare meals & snacks using ingredients that are as close to whole as possible & that are produced as geographically close to our home as possible because that is what Bean & I believe to be biologically appropriate for humans.

I’ll admit I am an idealist when it comes to food. Most of the time the reality matches my ideals & sometimes it doesn’t. While I have very strong ideals about food, I’m not a joyless puritan & I’m not interested in depriving myself or my children of some “junk” food when we really want it just because it doesn’t fit neatly in to the wholefood box.

Children learn a lot about food, like anything, through observation. As their parent, I believe it is up to me to model healthy eating habits to my children. I don’t eat chocolate in front of them & tell them they can’t have it too. If I’m modelling eating chocolate, I let them eat it also. I don’t want my children eating “too much” chocolate though so the simple solution is that I don’t eat “too much” chocolate myself.

In our fridge & pantry there is usually a wide variety of food, lots of fresh fruits, vegetables & other foods that fit in to the wholefood box. We don’t keep a stock of “junk” food, just simple foods, because of this the sproggets have the freedom to choose whatever foods they want to at home. The times I tell them they are not able to have something are when they have already eaten their fair share & I’d like to leave the rest for someone who hasn’t had any yet, or when the food they’re asking for is required as an ingredient in a meal or snack I’m planning to make before we’d be able to get to the shop to replace it.

I won’t force the sproggets to eat something they don’t like, or even something they usually do like but don’t want to eat at that time. I have my food dislikes too & I would really resent someone standing over me telling me I have to eat something I didn’t want to! I do ask them to try a food before they decide whether they will eat it or not, but won’t force them to do that either. I’m aware of blood sugar crashes & the impact that can have on a person’s mood, so if they really don’t want to eat a meal that’s been prepared for the family they can have something simple from the fridge or pantry. I won’t prepare a completely new meal for them, and I won’t stop them from eating something else if they’d prefer.

There are things that I will not “allow” my children to eat, like aspartame, because it’s not food, it’s poison. Until they’re old enough to really understand the consequences of putting something so toxic into their bodies I’m calling the shots with some things, while still explaining in an age-appropriate manner if they ask for it that it’s dangerous stuff that makes people sick. Thankfully, so far there has been no occasion where they have asked for anything containing aspartame! The Bubble reacts badly to MSG though. Her symptoms include night terrors, excessive thirst, diarrhoea, headaches, belly aches & lethargy. She’s aware of how it makes her feel, she doesn’t want to feel like that, so when she’s offered food containing MSG we tell her there’s MSG in it & she chooses something else.

That’s the key, I think, with food choices. If we don’t want the sproggets to eat something, because it’s not something we consider to be healthy then we have to offer a more appealing alternative. If The Bubble asks for long life bottled juice, we can suggest we make our own juice instead. If she asks for biscuits then sure! Let’s make some now…

Fun food is appealing! Marketers know this, that’s why you can buy water for children – it’s no different to the water in other water bottles, but it’s got a cartoon character on the label, it looks fun, so it’s appealing to children.

While I’m resolving not to tell my children what to eat, that is exactly what’s happening every time we set foot into a shopping centre or look at billboards & newspapers advertising foods… We take on the messages that are marketed to us, and I think children are especially vulnerable to that a lot of the time because so many “junk” foods are specifically marketed to them. When making an unschooling approach to food may think we’re allowing our children free choice, but are they really freely choosing something or is someone else (marketers) dictating what they choose just by making their product look the most fun?

I think food should be fun, there’s little point in eating, other than to sustain life, otherwise. Fun food looks different to different people, but simple food can be fun. In fact, I think it’s often more fun to eat something simple & delicious because it not only tastes good, it makes me feel good too. The Bubble is aware of the way foods make her feel also. Just this afternoon, as I was making the sproggets some spelt & coconut pikelets she said to me,

“I just want one more Kimba and then I don’t want any more. If I have too many that’s why I’ll get sick.”

The times that we do eat “junk” food we, more often than not, enjoy it thoroughly. Sometimes it makes us feel yuck & we learn to avoid it or better regulate our consumption of it next time. I try not to label foods that we’re choosing to eat as “bad” food, I think that does more damage than the food itself. If we can let go of our hang ups about what the food is doing to us physically then we can gain more from it emotionally. The joy of the sweet flavour & smooth texture of the occasional bit of chocolate, or the salty, oily, fluffy-crispiness of a sometimes bucket of hot chips is worth more to me than any possible detriment caused to my physical body by eating it. I think worrying about the physical damage is going to do more physical damage than just damn well enjoying it!

So this is where I am at with food right now. I imagine my ideals will evolve with new information & new opinions presented to me, just as my ideals have evolved to get to this point. For now I feel comfortable with the amount of freedom the sproggets have to choose their food, particularly given how young they both are now & more importantly they appear to be quite happy with it too.

…and forgive us the junk food we ate for dinner last night…

Ok, so I admit to having a bit of a religious education hangover but at least the birthday junk food hangover I had this morning disappeared shortly after juicing some fruit & veg to have with breakfast.

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Please excuse the terrible quality of the photos, I took them with my phone camera and I’m certainly NOT the family photographer!

We’ve been juicing a bit over the last few days, and The Bubble has loved every one of the juices we’ve made.

Babyman tried a little of today’s juice, but he’s still little, still breastfed & I think full strength fresh juice is a bit strong for him so I’m not making it available to him really. He’s happy enough with boobs and less potent foods for now.

This morning’s juice was made with:

• 1 large head of broccoli
• 2 Granny Smith apples
• 1 Golden Delicious apple
• 1 green pear
• 4 handfuls of baby spinnach
• 1/4 lemon, including rind

The Bubble tends to refuse broccoli when it’s put on her dinner plate, but she was eager to drink it up today even though she knew it was the same stuff she doesn’t like to eat.

A favourite juice over the last few days has been “pink juice”, The Bubble is delighted with it because the beetroot turns her wee pink! It’s quite sweet, which The Bubble & Bean love. I’m not terribly keen on too much fruit in my veg juices, I prefer none at all, although I’m weaning myself off refined sugars so I’m slowly and gently reducing the sweetness of my food while I adjust back to being one of those people without a sweet tooth!

Our pink juice for the last couple of days has been made with:

• 1 beetroot
• 4-5 carrots
• 2-4 Granny Smith apples
• 1/4 lemon, including rind
• and one batch was made with a large broccoli stem included.

I’d forgotten how amazing fresh juices are. The flavours are incredible and the energy boost they give is great. The Bubble really enjoys helping us make the juices, and Babyman is entertained just watching for now. I’m hoping to embark on a juice cleanse once we’ve moved and settled in, but for now I’m enjoying simply including a juice or 2 in our daily rhythm.

I’ve been feeling run down & weary lately because I’m not taking such good care of myself. Since Dave (the dog) has joined our family I’ve been getting daily exercise & noticed an improvement in my health so a couple of weeks ago I decided to reclaim my love of whole, real food. I’ve let my diet become something I’m not happy with over the last year and now I want to bring home my prodigal healthy appetite. Ironically, to look at my fridge and pantry one would probably consider it to be stocked with healthy food, at least by current Western standards. For me though, there are a lot of foods I’m bringing into my home now that simply don’t agree with me.

When I was studying natural medicine at college I began doing regular detoxes, cleanses and fasts as I developed my ideal diet. Since well before puberty I struggled with poor skin. I had acne at 11 years old, in spite of growing up eating a pretty good diet of real food, cooked from scratch by my Mum. I’ve since discovered my skin conditions are of an emotional origin, the timing makes sense & the condition of my skin improves as I move through emotional traumas & flares up at times of stress & emotional pain. Through trialing on myself all the detoxes and wholefood therapies I was learning about at college I also began to notice the strong connections between what I put into my body and my thoughts and feelings.

It’s a pretty logical conclusion really. Eat poorly, feel less than optimal physically, therefore feel emotionally unstable due to physical discomfort. When I eat some foods, that’s the case, i.e. I have a belly ache so I feel grumpier than I would if I hadn’t eaten that belly achey food. With other foods though, the first connection I make is with my emotions. Sugar is my number one mood destabiliser.

When I eat refined cane sugar I experience moderate to severe depression the following day. These mood slumps take a few days to bring back into balance if I don’t eat sugar again and if I do continue to eat sugar the depression continues as mood swings – which I become accustomed to if I continue to eat sugar. I become desensitised to my discomfort, I still feel bad, but I get used to feeling bad! This is not something I noticed when studying natural therapies, it’s a relatively recent realisation.

When I was studying natural therapies I just didn’t eat refined sugar. I rarely ate any cane sugar at all, and certainly not refined cane sugar. To my taste buds then, a sour apple was sweet. The intense sweetness of cane sugar was not desirable to me then.

Somehow I fell into a cycle of eating sugar almost daily. It was probably very small amounts at first, and probably quite rarely, and then I might have had a few days in a row of “junk” food. Perhaps at Christmas time, or some other time of celebration. Celebration tends to equal sugar (and stress!) for a lot of people & lavish spreads of baked treats & sweets are hard to resist. Once I begin eating sugary foods, the amounts that I eat increase and the frequency increases. Anyhow, I got to a point of easily, and without thinking, being able to eat a whole family size block of chocolate to myself! Eeek.

I’ve cut sugar out, or at least down, several times before and noticed an improvement in my mental wellbeing, and then noticed a rapid and direct decline in my mental wellbeing immediately after eating something sugary. Over the last couple of days I’ve had some emotional stress & have reached for sugary treats. Again, I’ve noticed the negative effect this choice has had on my mood. It’s more pronounced when I’ve been avoiding sugary foods for some time before eating sugar again. This time, I’d been avoiding sugary foods for at least a couple of weeks, so I’m really feeling the slump now.

Once again I’m inspired to begin again to eat my ideal diet with some tweaking since I’m no longer a (strict) vegetarian & I am also breastfeeding now so I’m certain my body’s requirements are different now to what they were then.

I’ll be keeping a journal to observe my moods, my physical wellness & my musings as I travel again on the road to optimal wellness. I’ll be sure to include some updates from my journal on this blog and I’m hoping to take daily photographs of my face to see the effects of my diet in my skin and eyes over time. I’ll upload them periodically too. I’m looking forward to reconnecting with my body on a level where I can feel what foods are healing for me, and what foods are destructive.

As a starting point I’ll be eliminating processed sugars, processed grains & processed dairy products. They’re common irritants for a lot of people, and have certainly proven to be irritants for me in the past. I will continue to include raw cow milk in my diet as it’s available from a family member’s farm & I find it to be a good food. I am also keen to bake my own sourdough breads to see if that is a healthful food for me.

The people we get our vegies from, Mr Organic, have expanded their little market stall (now at the E-Shed Markets in Freo) to include dairy & dry goods. They now sell Paris Creek biodynamic cream. It’s INCREDIBLE! It reminds me of the cream we used to get from my Uncle’s dairy farm when the old fashioned separater still worked.

We’ve been getting at least one 480mL tub of it each week, often two tubs, for the last few weeks. Last week we decided to make icecream with it. I came up with the idea and that was the end of my contribution! Liam used the thermomix but he only loosely followed the thermomix recipe. In the past we’ve found the thermomix recipe is too watery so it leads to hard icecream. Liam more than doubled the amount of cream called for in the thermomix recipe by using an entire tub of the Paris Creek cream in this last batch. He also used coconut palm sugar instead of cane sugar.

We tasted it tonight (with fresh organic strawberries) and it was by far the best icecream I have ever eaten. Better than anything we’ve made before and better than anything we’ve bought before. Big call huh?

The cream made it beautifully soft and, well, creamy. The coconut palm sugar has a much more complex flavour than cane sugar, it gave the icecream a slight caramel undertone to the vanilla flavour, it also gave the icecream a beautiful caramel colour. I think the only thing that could make it better would be if we had vanilla pods in the pantry instead of just vanilla extract.

I think this week I’ll make a chocolate icecream…

Now, for those who are interested, I’ll try to de-thermomix the recipe so anyone can make it.

Ingredients

2 eggs

480mL cream

250mL full cream milk

150g coconut palm sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract (or 1/2 vanilla pod whizzed up with the sugar)

a pinch of salt

Optional ingredients: a pinch of cinnamon, 50g cocoa, 30g powdered or granulated coffee, pulverised fruit, anything icecream flavour-y that you fancy.

Method

Whizz all ingredients up in a blender (except optional ingredients), then transfer to a pot on the stove. Heat to a simmer, but don’t allow it to boil, keep stirring to stop it burning to the bottom of the pot. Once it has a consistency kinda like custard pour it into a stainless steel bowl* and put it in the freezer for around 3-4 hours until it’s firm but not frozen solid.

Take the icecream out of the freezer, cut into medium sized pieces (I have no idea what a “medium sized piece” is but we cut it up into 2-3cm squares), put pieces into a blender and blend the absolute bejeebus out of it for about 30 seconds or until it’s all blended up and smooth. Return it to the freezer until it’s properly set, ice cream styles.

* if you’re adding optional ingredients this is the time to do it.

If you have a thermomix, you’ll already know how to do this, so ignore the above de-thermomixed recipe.