Gut Health – Feed Your Good Bacteria

By on November 20, 2014   /   dieting, Food, Healthy Eating, Holistic Health, Medicinal Nutrition, Mental-Health, Nutrition, Wellness Coaching  
Gut Health - Feed Your Good Bacteria

Feeding Your Bacteria Is the food we’re eating on a regular basis the reason why we get sick? If we change our food, could we change the state of our health? Can we also affect our moods by making changes to our diet? I firmly believe we can. The collective human microbe colony weighs about 1 and a-half kilos – as much as our brains. Bacterial cells outnumber our human cells by 10 to 1 and they live predominantly inside our gut. Our gut bacteria, also known as the Microbiome (pronounced micro-bi-ome) lives off of the food we eat. The problem is that certain

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60+ Healthy Chocolate Delights Recipes – My NEW eBOOK!

By on November 11, 2014   /   Food, Health & Fitness, Healthy Eating, Hormone Balancing, Lifestyle, Nutrition, Raw Chocolate Making, Workshops  
60+ Healthy Chocolate Delights Recipes - My NEW eBOOK!

MY BRAND NEW EBOOK! Do you love chocolate, but always have this guilty feeling associated with it? Guilty pleasure. Guilty addiction. Equals shame. Eating chocolate for me used to be a guilty pleasure. I was addicted to the false pleasure I experienced due to the massive sugar high in my brain. It triggered my reward centre to release a hormone called Dopamine – I felt FINE when I was eating chocolate. I even felt pretty damn fine after I ate chocolate…. But then after a little while, I felt low, lethargic, irritable…. and disgusted – with myself and my lack of willpower; with my body and the excess

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White Choc Macadamia Fudge [recipe]

By on November 10, 2014   /   Food, Healthy Eating, Holistic Health, Lifestyle, Nutrition, Raw Chocolate Making, Workshops  
White Choc Macadamia Fudge [recipe]

Healthy Chocolate Delights eBook! HERE’S A RECIPE TREAT FOR YOU ALL! This recipe is taken from my popular “Healthy Chocolate Delights: Nutritious, Delicious & Guilt-Free“real food sweet treats recipe eBook. This collection of whole food recipes has a combination of over 60 raw, cooked, vegan, paleo, dairy free, gluten free, grain free and refined sugar free recipes. Healthy chocolate for everyone! Also contains the history and benefits of raw cacao plus lots of nutritional information on the dangers of sugar, natural sweeteners and substitutes, with an introduction to every day super (nutrient dense) foods. Here’s a sneak peak of inside the book! Please enjoy

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Macadamia Chocolate Brownie [Recipe]

By on November 7, 2014   /   Food, Health & Fitness, Healthy Eating, Holistic Health, Nutrition, Nutrition & Weight Loss, Raw Chocolate Making, Wellness Coaching  
Macadamia Chocolate Brownie [Recipe]

Chocolate Brownies, YUM! Oh come on, who doesn’t love a decadent chocolate brownie?! Raw or baked, brownies are actually quite versatile in the ways you can put them together. This recipe is actually created from a biscuit recipe that my Grandmother (who’s now 98) used to make for us when we were kids. She made them as a ginger cookie – sharp, crunchy and buttery. I’ve made them many times as gingerbread men with the children, and as a rich chocolate chip cookie dough. I’ve created several raw brownie recipes that I teach in my Raw and Healthy Chocolate Workshop and that we

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Chicken Meatballs [Recipe]

By on November 6, 2014   /   Food, Health & Fitness, Healthy Eating, Holistic Health, Nutrition, Wellness Coaching  
Chicken Meatballs [Recipe]

Paleo Chicken Meatballs Who doesn’t love a tasty meatball that’s healthy, delicious and super easy to make?! Mr 13 just loves all things Italian and pasta when it comes to food. My digestive system however, can only take so much. So I like to mix things up a little and give that authentic look and flavour of a hearty Italian offering, but without compromising my own digestive health. Meatballs are a great way to play with different ingredient ideas and create something extra special. You can use any type of meat for these, however I do like to use organic chicken.

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Do You Love or Hate Your Body?

By on November 5, 2014   /   Body Image, Confidence, dieting, Emotional Eating, Health & Fitness, Lifestyle, Mindset, Wellness Coaching  
Do You Love or Hate Your Body?

Summer Body-Love/Hate It’s certainly been warming up in the great south east. Makes me think about humid days, cool dresses and wearing a bathing suit in public… Does that thought fill your head with dread? As a child I loved summer. The adolescent me however, was struck with fear about what it represented. If you wanted to swim in the local pool or frolic on the beach, it meant baring your body beautiful and being on display – something I was definitely not comfortable with back then. It was enough to make me stop eating or take up marathon running!

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Have you Quit Sugar?

By on October 31, 2014   /   dieting, Food, Health & Fitness, Healthy Eating, Nutrition, Nutrition & Weight Loss, Wellness Coaching  
Have you Quit Sugar?

Sugar, Sugar The ‘I Quit Sugar’ movement is in full swing: Cut the sugar and reduce inflammation, stabilise key hormones, reduce cravings, lose weight and gain improved health. That’s the message from author Sarah Wilson, who quit sugar in January 2011 as an experimental attempt to get control over her autoimmune disease called, Hashimotos – a disease which attacks the thyroid and mostly affects women over 30. Sugar is a known substance to flare up the condition. After boosting her energy, clearing up her skin and experiencing a happier state of mind and wellness, Sarah wrote a book that took

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Why Women are more alike than they think

By on October 24, 2014   /   Confidence, Holistic Health, Lifestyle, Mental-Health, Mindset, Personal Growth, Positive change, Positive Thinking & Affirmations, Self-Care, Self-Esteem, Stress Management, Wellness Coaching, Workshops  
Why Women are more alike than they think

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

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This is my Beautiful 40 year old Body

By on October 3, 2014   /   Body Image, Confidence, dieting, Eating Disorders, Fat Loss, Health & Fitness, Holistic Health, Hormone Balancing, Inner-Strength, Lifestyle, Mental-Health, Mindset, Personal Growth, Self-Care, Wellness Coaching  
This is my Beautiful 40 year old Body

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

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Coconut Cacao Banana Cake [Recipe]

By on October 2, 2014   /   Healthy Eating, Holistic Health, Lifestyle, Nutrition  
Coconut Cacao Banana Cake [Recipe]

Healthy Banana Cake! Real Foodie Friday I’m so pleased to introduce you all to Meg Kummerow, who has generously donated her Coconut Cacao Banana Cake for Real Foodie Friday! Meg has also written a little bit about her background, food philosophy (it’s pretty awesome!) and family life to share with you. Thank you for sharing your delicious recipe Meg! Now let’s get cooking and EAT REAL FOOD together! Viki 🙂   Hi, I’m Meg!  I live on a farm west of Toowoomba with my husband and two daughters.  Farming and agriculture is my passion and whilst we are no longer farmers

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Yoga and Meditation Term in Highfields, Darling Downs

By on September 25, 2014   /   Benefits of Meditation, Body Image, Health & Fitness, Holistic Health, Inner-Strength, Lifestyle, Meditation, Mental-Health, Self-Care  
Yoga and Meditation Term in Highfields, Darling Downs

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

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Are your Cravings really an Addiction?

By on September 22, 2014   /   Body Image, dieting, Eating Disorders, Eating Psychology, Emotional Eating, Food, Healthy Eating, Holistic Health, Hormone Balancing, Mental-Health, Nutrition & Weight Loss  
Are your Cravings really an Addiction?

The Brain and Addiction Following on from last Blog article about Cravings, you now hopefully have a better understanding of the difference between “body hunger versus mind hunger”. In short, one is genuine and the other is playing tricks on us. Let’s look a little deeper into understanding the parts of the brain that are activated when we crave specific foods. In 2004, participants in a study were asked to think about a favourite food. The participants’ resulting fMRI images displayed three primary areas in the brain that lit up: the hippocampus, insula and caudate. [Source: Monell] The hippocampus, located in

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Raw Chocolate Fudge Wheel [Recipe]

By on September 19, 2014   /   Food, Healthy Eating, Holistic Health, Nutrition, Nutrition & Weight Loss, Raw Chocolate Making, Workshops  
Raw Chocolate Fudge Wheel [Recipe]

Raw Chocolate Fudge Wheel It’s REAL FOODIE FRIDAY! I’ve officially created an absolute decadent delight for you all! This one is raw, vegan, dairy free, gluten free and naturally sweetened. The raw chocolate base is fructose free, but of course some of the toppings aren’t. However, therein lies the beauty of customising your own raw and healthy chocolate delights because you can choose whichever substitutes you prefer! If you prefer a creamier, softer consistency, simply add a little more coconut milk! This recipe is taken from my new 145 page eBook Healthy Chocolate Delights! Over 60 raw, cooked, vegan, paleo, dairy free,

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Are Your Cravings Real?

By on September 17, 2014   /   dieting, Emotional Eating, Fat Loss, Food, Health & Fitness, Healthy Eating, Holistic Health, Hormone Balancing, Nutrition, Nutrition & Weight Loss  
Are Your Cravings Real?

Mind or Body Cravings? In previous blog posts I’ve explained how when we restrict and deny nourishment to our body (dieting), we often wrestle with cravings (also tiredness and mood swings) until the brain overrides our willpower and has us reaching for a quick fix of fat, sugar and salt. Hunger and cravings are two different sensations. The body regulates our hunger, while the mind wields greater power over food cravings. Hunger serves a more functional purpose, signalling our brains that it’s time to eat and replenish the energy and information we’re running low on. To recap previous articles about the

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Pumpkin & Chickpea Curry [Recipe]

By on September 12, 2014   /   Food, Health & Fitness, Healthy Eating, Holistic Health, Nutrition  
Pumpkin & Chickpea Curry [Recipe]

Hearty Pumpkin & Chickpea Curry It’s Foodie Friday! I just love a comforting, hot soup that tastes delicious, a little spicy, is easy on my digestion, and packs a big dose of true real food nourishment. This one is adapted from a Coles catalogue! I simply changed a few key ingredients to more healthful ones and opted for fresh where possible. Fairly easy, with a small amount of prep work (mostly chopping pumpkin) you’ll be able to get this nourishing bowl of goodness to the table in a short amount of no fuss time! When my Beloved Craig first made the original

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