Live to Work or Work to Live? Today I’m packing and making some nutrient dense foods to take with us for the road trip tomorrow. I was thinking about making my: Berry Delicious Health Bars Sweet Summer Rolls Super Seed Crackers with cashew cheese Spiced Fruit Loaf (I love taking homemade treats when we go away – even if they only last a day or two!!) Over the next 7 days I’ll be somewhere along the Sunshine Coast strolling along the beach, bushwalking in the mountains, or dining on whole food with my beloved family! It hasn’t been often in the last
READ MORE →Bentonite Clay and it’s Benefits Last year in my effort to combat environmental toxins harming my internal health, I discovered organic, edible bentonite clay. Clay has been used therapeutically for centuries, with the first use of medicinal clay recorded in 2500 B.C in Mesopotamia. Over the centuries the Greeks, Romans, Aztecs and Europeans have all hailed the health benefits of clay. During the First World War, German physicians used clay therapy to successfully treat troops for food poisoning, dysentery, and diarrhea and wound infection. Dr. Weston A. Price, author of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, observed that several indigenous groups around the world used clay readily to outsmart disease
READ MORE →Daily Self-Care and Solitude As our lives get busier and time is harder to juggle, the first thing to slide is usually our own self-care. Even though I’m in a helping profession often reminding my clients with emails and text messages between sessions to “do something nice for yourself today”, I often need reminding myself! I have a book called “The Wonders of Solitude” that is filled with inspiring reminders to nurture your soul amidst a demanding world. It’s filled with insightful quotes from authors, actors and spiritual leaders to medical professionals, singers and comedians – all sharing their words of wisdom on the
READ MORE →Homemade Beauty: Body Scrub and Face Mask I am often complimented on my skin (which is lovely to hear as I age). When people ask what I use, they are often surprised to learn that I actually do not use expensive creams, masks or potions. Putting toxins and chemicals on my face isn’t as appealing as it used to be before I knew what was actually in those products and how they harm the body. Just my like my REAL FOOD Guidelines, I like to keep my beauty routine simple. Unfortunately I was fond of using harsh glycolic acid peals and lightening
READ MORE →What are you really hungry for? Cravings, needs and desires… We all have them, but how often are we actually attending to our cravings, needs and desires? When we don’t feel fulfilled in our lives, these three areas will be left hungry for whatever it is that will fulfil, satisfy and satiate us on a deeper level. Yet, because we aren’t always aware of what we truly crave, need and desire in all areas of our lives, it’s far easier to reach for pleasure inducing foods that give us a short-term feeling of being happy and having what we want.
READ MORE →Hydrate & Zest Up your Fruit Salad! My honey and I love to make hydration drinks that include natural mineral salt, whole citrus fruits, fresh herbs and a little zest. These drinks are perfect for a hot summers day, or at any time where you’ve been working out, sweating or simply not drinking enough water. Added bonus is using the whole fruit and having the fibre help to assimilate and metabolise the sugars. If you don’t happen to like the taste of plain water, making a vitamin water is a great idea in making the water look and taste more
READ MORE →Create Positive Change Not New Years Goals… Change has to be when you are ready to change, not simply because the New Year is coming. Whether you’d like to create a specific change now, or a list of things to focus on next year, the below steps will make it easier for you to define, clarify, challenge and support yourself. 1. Define what you don’t want – it’s not negative to be clear on what you don’t want. It’s necessary in weeding out the things that you simply aren’t willing to compromise on or live with, through previous experience or personal
READ MORE →Body Love Heals Body Hate How many times have you looked at your physical reflection and zoned in on the body parts you’re not so fond of, only to begin a barrage of nasty name-calling and judgements in your mind towards it? Our body image is largely dependent on how we FEEL and THINK about our bodies. When we have negative feelings towards our bodies, our mind, mood, confidence, eating choices and behaviour all decline as we focus on those negative feelings. We start feeling overcome by them, and stop noticing anything good about ourselves. [Tweet “Your body is a beautiful complex machine. “] It keeps you upright, breathing
READ MORE →Inspiring Gift Ideas for Christmas! Oh yes! It’s that time of year again! To help inspire you with new wellness education, mind-body relaxation and whole food ideas, I’ve put together this Healthy Christmas Gift and Inspiration Guide with a list of useful tools, products, information and educational ideas to help you start, or expand on, your health and wellness journey. Some resources are mine, and some are from those I use myself and have no issues with recommending to you. There’s so much to learn about health, wellness, holistic living, food, eating, fitness, wellbeing, nutrition and so on! This inspiring Christmas
READ MORE →Drink Water, it’s Healthy Do you notice if you’re thirsty right now as you read this? Are you tired, or struggling to stay awake, or concentrate? Water does way more than simply quench our thirst, and yet we often don’t realise the benefits of drinking up. Blood is 83% water. The brain is 74.5% water. It’s fair to say that without enough water being replenished into the blood stream to carry nutrients and oxygen to your cells, regulate your body temperature and nourish your brain, you’d easily start to feel tired, cranky and thirsty. As much as I know myself
READ MORE →Assess Your Needs for Better Life Balance Are you like many of my clients – struggling to have it all AND create life balance? Life balance is an interesting term that many people use, especially when they realise that they don’t have any! Defining what life balance means, individually, can be quite difficult without first knowing your own needs and where you’re lacking in fulfilling them. The more stressed out, overwhelmed, exhausted and/or frustrated you feel at not having time for yourself to slow down and re-energise, the greater the disconnect between your mind and body – and your personal needs. I don’t think
READ MORE →Self-Love, a Retreat for the Soul Recently I hosted my 4 day Women’s Wellness and Meditation Retreat for a large group of beautiful and brave women. WOW! Awesome experience I’ve waited patiently for years to be able to create and host. Most of the ladies came from the Darling Downs; however a few travelled from New South Wales, ACT and the Sunshine Coast to be with us. These ladies were of course, all different. They ranged in ages from 27 to 66 years old. They each had a story – some quite a few. They had experienced all the modern
READ MORE →My Beautiful 40 Year Old Body For those of you wondering how my knee is healing after surgery in June, it’s been slow, especially as a secondary injury was initially overlooked. Over the years my body has faced tremendous abuse; physical, emotional and self-inflicted. I’ve been hard on myself and pushed my body to breaking point many times with several broken bones, tears and surgeries. Throughout many stressful years my weight struggled to settle because of the severe restriction, starvation and binge/purge episodes I put it through for 18 years. My hormones, metabolism and digestion broke down several times. I
READ MORE →Yoga AND Meditation How cool is breathing in alignment with your body moving? And then sitting in stillness to allow the breath to flow through you? I love meditation and I love yoga, having practised both for over 25 years. At one stage, I was quite the yogini – practising regularly and feeling my whole outlook and body change as I bent, stretched, breathed and improved. Whatever was going on in my life often stepped onto the mat with me, but by the time I was finished it had released off my shoulders, heart or mind and allowed me room
READ MORE →Slow Down, Do More Do you feel like you’re always on the run trying to get ‘stuff’ done? Always feeling a little behind, like there’s no time to catch up? Do you regularly feel or have thoughts that you’re overwhelmed, stressed, rushed and hurried, and never have time for yourself? In our modern fast-paced world, life balance is a major problem that we all struggle to maintain. I’m certainly no exception to this. There are just so many things I want to do, experience, create and share but there never seems enough time for all of it. I know many of
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