Healthy Hot Cross Buns – Orange, Fig & Pecan Dairy Free, Refined Sugar Free, Egg Free It’s Good Friday 2015 as I type this and I’ve spent the morning with my Beloved in the kitchen, baking two versions of my Spelt Hot Cross Buns. The first is my Orange, Fig and Pecan Buns below, the second, my Gothic Fig and Double Choc Buns here. (Honey thought they looked a little dark and Gothic with the melted chocolate crosses over the top!) Whether you celebrate Easter or not, love the family get-togethers, or simply look forward to 4 days away from work, it’s
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 →Wellness Inspiration to Live Your Best Life Death and Cancer. These two words often co-exist and can strike fear, anger and grief into the heart with one cruel blow. And chances are, you have been affected by either one of these at least once in your life so far. Last weekend Jess Ainscough, founder of The Wellness Warrior, peacefully passed away at 30 years of age after living with a rare cancer (epithelioid sarcoma) for 7 years. She was so young and outwardly positive. Jess inspired wellness into the hearts of thousands who received her regular emails. She spoke and wrote
READ MORE →HOT FM Interview I love talking on the radio, especially going into the studio and sitting around all the equipment that I would have a ball playing around with! I wouldn’t know what I was doing but I know I’d have fun! This morning I spoke on the radio with Hamish and Tanya from HOT FM 100.7 in Toowoomba. The interview was by phone and is a quick chat on women, food, dieting and emotional eating. It’s nice and short at four minutes long so it won’t take a lot of time for you to listen in while you’re working or pottering
READ MORE →Tasty (Nut) Cheese that’s Dairy Free! You’ve got to hand it to the Cashew Nuts (that are actually the seeds and grow on the outside of the fruit!). Cashews have a great mineral source and contain 31% of the daily recommended value for copper, along with 23% for manganese, 20% for magnesium and 17% for phosphorus. Add to that 12% of the daily recommended value for vitamin K and you’re looking at a versatile and healthy nut to add to your whole food pantry. They’re also the perfect creamy nut with a subtle sweet taste. Because they aren’t overpowering you can dress them up however
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 →Gluten Free Herb Loaf I love sour-dough bread but I’m not so keen on bread in general because it doesn’t always sit well throughout my gastrointestinal tract. It’s almost like it makes everything slow down, back up and feel heavy! In wanting something a little more substantial and filling, to wrap around my salad or be covered with avocado and eggs, I’ve simply adapted one of my sweet recipes (Orange Almond Cake [gluten & diary free, naturally sweetened]) to a savoury one. And voila! Here you have a simple and easy alternative to full-on bread making that gives you a
READ MORE →Food by Design A food designer’s job description: create the perfect ratio of fat, sugar and salt in a food product to create opiates in the brain and have consumers craving more! Big corporate food organisations rely on these food designers to create great wealth in their companies at an even greater cost to public health. People already restricting themselves on one diet or another especially find these cravings overwhelming. They will often berate themselves and feel like failures, believing they have no willpower or motivation, all because the food they’re eating is designed in such a way to make
READ MORE →Are you a stressed out eater? What kind of eater are you: Fast, medium, slow? I used to be a fast eater – I didn’t know how to eat slow. I lost touch with when I felt hungry and never seemed to stop when I was full. Are you aware when you’re hungry? Do you register when you’re full? Eating is a necessity to sustain energy balance and fuel. But it’s definitely a requirement that is viewed as a chore when we’re busy and too tired or rushed to nourish ourselves. A familiar scenario I often hear from new clients
READ MORE →Uncover how to create an Authentic Life What do you want? Such a question may seem like an innocent enquiry, yet sadly we rarely ask ourselves. Life takes us in so many different directions that we often forget to course correct when we take a wrong turn. When I ask my clients this simple question, I am often met with silence, tears or an invitation to finally let it all out. The blank look on their faces often conveys their confusion: at the fact that someone is genuinely interested, or the realisation that they actually don’t know. The fierce rush
READ MORE →Bloating? Fatigue? Hormone Imbalance? In the last two years we’ve heard more and more about the importance of gut health and it’s influence on the brain and mood – Largely thanks to the ABC Catalyst Program for their gut and brain function series last year which you can watch here. When I was navigating my way through Bulimia Nervosa for 18 years – eating and throwing up and literally hating my own guts – I had NO CLUE as to how our digestive health is intimately linked to our immune, endocrine, circulatory and central nervous systems… I didn’t realise that all the
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 →Creamy Berry Pops – Dairy Free It’s summertime. Hot, hot, hot. Of course the children, and adults alike, would love a nice ice cold treat that’s sweet, creamy and delicious. Well I’m all up for giving my family that, but I don’t like the unnecessary added sugars, artificial colours and preservatives that make up the store bought coloured icy poles. I’m really not a fan of frozen yoghurt or ice-cream, simply because of the ingredients and how it makes my stomach queasy. I’ve been blending up frozen berries for quite some time now on a hot afternoon and the children
READ MORE →Is Gluten Free for You? Why go gluten free? And what is gluten anyway? Surely you know if you’ve decided to exclude it! Unfortunately it’s a popular practice to jump on the latest health advice and follow along without really knowing why. So let’s get educated. There are various foods in modern life that are recognised toxins to the body. They’re inflammatory, upset hormones and attack the lining of the gut, which upsets the balance of healthy bacteria. The toxic six, in no particular order, are: gluten, dairy, soy, corn, caffeine and sugar. No matter how few calories you may be
READ MORE →Visualisation Secret to Create Change Every January millions around the world make New Year’s Resolutions. They have the best of intentions to create change and often convince themselves that this time they’re really going to do it. One small problem: only thinking that you want to make change, is not physically going to create any! You firstly need to write your goals down so you can see them and make them appear real – preferably in big bold letters on colourful paper. You can even decorate a vision board on large cardboard, covered with pictures, symbols, words and drawings that summarise and capture the essence of
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