Running on luck?

I'm engrossed in reading 28 at the moment.  It's 28 people's stories of AIDS in their lives - healthcare workers, truck drivers, wives, children, army workers, nurses, doctors and lots more.  It's making me realise so many things about how lucky I am for so many reasons.  It's also giving me more insight into the world that Jeremy and Camilla Sherr (along with various volunteers) are living in every day.  And making a difference everyday.

I feel a little like my options to help are limited with what I can do from here in the UK so as a consequence of this I've decided to run my Olympic distance Triathlon as a fundraiser.  My aim is to raise £1k to help Homeopathy for Health in Africa carry out it's amazing work.

My warm up event went well and I really enjoyed it (I think on each of the event pics I've a huge smile and this was a fair reflection of the event) - maybe more pushing = faster = better triathlete but that was never the goal for me.  To complete, survive (in the opposite order of importance) and most of all to enjoy myself. I more than succeeded. And I plan to echo that with my fundraising mission too :)

If you can help at all I'd be so very grateful (and I know the project would be even more so).  It's such an overused phrase to say that every little makes a difference but it really, really does.  Just here to donate...

With massive love and gratitude in advance,

Em x

One for the ladies

It's early days but I really didn't feel that I could keep this to myself.  

Can we talk periods?

In my job I get used to chatting about everything - periods, snot, poo, wee, blood, random strange thoughts, urges, desires, dreams and more that I don't think there's any topic that's really taboo with us homeopaths.  However if you're not OK to chat periods then probably best I see you next time.

I do think there's so many people out there who struggle with pain, bloating, discomfort, tension and worse.  People who dread the breast swelling, soreness, and their families who always know when it's 'that time of the month'.  The cravings for chocolate/chips/cheese/insert other unhealthy option that you know you 'need' then will feel worse for having eaten.

I've just finished my first month (5 days into month 2 now) on 100% high carb, low fat raw vegan foods after a two week transition period (funnily enough no pun intended but I'm leaving it there!) and aside from feeling great which to be honest people had warned me plenty of times about, I've also found that on raw foods you need to eliminate less waste from your body.  This can mean all sorts of different things - most people eating a high raw and definitely a 100% raw diet report less colds/viruses/flu like symptoms than ever before in their lives for example.  And the more I've read, the more I've discovered that the 5-7 day menstrual period that is generally accepted as the norm - is not, in fact neccessarily something that happens either.  If there isn't a build up of toxins and there are plenty of vitamins and minerals in your diet it would appear that heavy bleeding is unlikely, pain, unusual and PMT unexpected.

There's a fantastic article that I read today and would urge you to go and read.  I could replicate lots of the information but it's well written, if a little wordy, explains brilliantly - and besides there's lots on my list of things to do... so I'm going to go off and do them just as soon as I've highlighted this bit:

What has to change in the diet in order to eliminate menstruation? Foods which contribute to toxemia are no longer eaten. Foods which build health, and especially strong connective tissue, without taxing the digestion are the only foods eaten. The body is helped to eliminate toxic wastes built up over past years of poor lifestyle and diet. Without doubt, the hardest part of this change for most people is the first one. It means no more eating foods which sludge up or acidify the body. This means eliminating animal products - meat, fish, dairy, eggs -- refined sugars and salt, and dramatically reducing grain foods and even processed plant fats (oils). The diet essentially must become "true vegetarian", or vegan, with a predominance of fresh raw fruits and vegetables rather than cooked. In particular, the greater the proportion of raw fruit in the diet, the less likely you are to have periods.

"Women who eat a vegetarian diet containing mostly raw food experience only brief periods, scarcely noticeable, with hardly any loss of blood. Dr. H. G. Beiler in his book, The Natural Way to sexua| Health, explains that women experience troublesome periods only because of the toxic condition of their blood brought about by the high fat and protein Western diet." (5:298)

At least 50% and ideally more of every meal should be raw, and that eaten first. This is so that the enzymes present in the raw portion can help the body digest the whole meal, including the cooked portion.

 ... and given you the link for the article:

http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=982094

 Do have a look. It was eyeopening to me. And amazing that I've had 20 years of periods before I had any idea about this.

With love,

Em x 

There have been times I'm sure I could have eaten my body weight in chocolate.... not missing those days one bit!

 

Workshop 'Juices and Green Smoothies' a practical, hands on evening

Really excited to be preparing for my workshop on juicing and smoothies (including healthy, delicious green smoothies) and so looking forward to running the session.  I'm planning on making it as hands on as possible so whilst I've lots of information to share, recipes to suggest and general chatting to do, I'm going to have at least 2 juicers and blenders to play with (including my very lovely shiny new Vitamix... I've never made so many excuses to blend things before!)

I've spent around three years regularly making fruit and veg juices a part of my diet, sometimes juice feasting/fasting for a week or so and other times merely having a juice a day as a supplement to food or meal replacement.  I would say I never really 'got' green smoothies until this year or so but am totally, resolutely on board about the power of green smoothies, often as a meal replacement drink.  This works great for me as I'm often on the go and don't always want to have to sit and eat a meal but I know I'm getting masses of goodness and will feel full for ages.

So really my aim is to empower people to feel confident to make these wonderful additions to their diets and to achieve their goals.  If I can just start you off on the path to this I'd be really happy.  Do get in touch for more information if you'd like.

20th March 7.30-9.30pm in Embsay (exact location tbc).  £15pp including tasting sessions and a juice/smoothie to take away (please bring a flask).  To book call 07734 861297 or email em@homeopathyskipton.co.uk

Green Smoothies (banana free smoothies and workshop coming this way)

Green smoothies are simply awesome IMHO.  However for those people who dislike bananas you do tend to find that most of them use it or at least often find so.  So I thought it was time to share some banana free smoothies for people wanting to get started.

Smoothies are often mentioned as a weight loss tool and whilst I agree to some extent the can be used to this end, it isn't what I would consider their main potential by any means.  I feel they can be a great weight regulator.  They provide a brilliant way of getting vitamins and minerals into the body without having to sit and chomp through a lb of spinach, a pineapple, 3 bananas.  I think they're as valuable for anyone whether they be under or over weight, or at their ideal place to be.  And whilst we're on the weight thing - I think partly because you're satisfied with genuinely good food you're less likely to snack on 'bad' stuff.  Winning all round really.

Without further ado - a couple of smoothies I've loved for all the banana less than lovers out there:

2 cups pineapple, (about half a medium pineapple) cubed
2 mangoes peeled and pitted
1/2 avocado
4 cups baby leaf spinach
1 cup water

Put everything in the blender except for the spinach and blend until mostly blended, then add the baby leaf spinach and blend until smooth.

3 peaches
1 mango
4 cups baby leaf/spinach
3/4 to 1 cup water

Blend the peaches and mango with the water til nearly smooth then add the spinach and blend until smooth.

1 apple, cored
2 cups pineapple
2 cups kale or spinach
3/4 to a cup of water

Blend the apple, pineapple and water until nearly smooth - add the kale or the spinach (newbies I'd advise to start off with spinach and move onto kale once you're more used to green smoothies) and blend.

1 cup strawberries
1 mango
1 peach
1 orange
2 cups spinach
1 cup water

As before, blend everything except for the spinach until nearly smooth then add in the spinach and blend until deliciously smooth and yummy!

...and for more smoothie info I've a workshop coming up on the 20th March 7.30-9.30 on juices and smoothies - get in touch for more details.

Enjoy!  My last tip - unlike juicing there's so little to wash up but I do always try to wash the blender first then I can really relax and enjoy my smoothie with nothing (haha) left to do!!

Who wants to live forever?!

Anyone? Not me, I'm more than sure of that.  However I most definitely would like to live the rest of my time here in this body feeling vibrant, healthy, sexy, happy, well balanced (ish), ready to dance, laugh and love. Really, what I'm trying to say I guess is to feel as good as I possibly can.  I would argue that we're wasting an opportunity not to.

Each day is precious, none of us know what is around the corner (OK well maybe some clever intuitive magic types do but definitely not me) and each day is one that we'll never get back. So we could moan about how bad things are or we could get on and make them better.

Which was part of my motivation behind changing my diet. The other thing I became conscious of was that if I was told I was so unhealthy my time was more limited than I'd believed - how would I eat to try (and live) to change that.  Both questions led me to where I am today.  Day 12 of my high carb, low fat raw vegan diet. And I LOVE it!  I've just had my dinner which was 2 mangoes, 2 oranges and a banana.  It was fabulous. I started the day with a 4 banana, 4 cup spinach and cup of strawberries smoothie. It too was fabulous. And in between I snuck in a cucumber soup and large greens (and reds, pinks and orange) salad at lunch (both soooooo tasty!)

I struggle to see why or even how I ate meat previously when there is so much available nutrition in the fruits and veggies out there.  I can't imagine the satisfaction I used to get from drinking a glass of milk. Both seem crazy and so far removed from my current life.

The more I read about LFRV diets the more it makes absolute sense to me and seems to work in harmony so well with the teachings of Hahnemann* around diet (how come more than 200 years later we're still stuck on the same thing....?), and with my work on a day to day basis.  To feed the body what it needs, craves even (sugar from fruits), and to listen to yourself have to be far more aligned with our true purpose than any other way of eating.


I wish you a life filled with love to listen, laugh, learn, to discover, do and desire.

Em x 

*Hahnemann for non Homeopathic readers was the founder of Homeopathy and the following is from his Organon of Medicine:

Stanza 266 a
  Substances belonging to the animal and vegetable kingdoms possess their medicinal qualities most perfectly in their raw state. (1)
  (1) All crude animal and vegetable substances have a greater or less amount of medicinal power, and are capable of altering man's health, each in its own peculiar way. Those plants and animals used by the most enlightened nations as food have this advantage over all others, that they contain a larger amount of nutritious constituents; and they differ from the others in this, that their medicinal powers in their raw state are either not very great in themselves, or are diminished by the culinary processes they are subjected to in cooking for domestic use, by the expression of the pernicious juice (like the cassava root of South America), by fermentation (of the rye-flour in the dough for making bread, sour-crout prepared without vinegar and pickled gherkins), by smoking and by the action of heat (in boiling, stewing, toasting, roasting, baking), whereby the medicinal parts of many of these substances are in part destroyed and dissipated. By the addition of salt (pickling) and vinegar (sauces, salads) animal and vegetable substances certainly lose much of their injurious medicinal qualities, but other disadvantages result from these additions.
  But even those plants that possess most medicinal power lose that in part or completely by such processes. By perfect dissication all the roots of the various kinds of iris, of the horseradish, of the different species of arum and of the peonies lose almost all their medicinal virtue. The juice of the most virulent plants often becomes an inert, pitch-like mass, from the heat employed in preparing the ordinary extracts. By merely standing a long time, the expressed juice of the most deadly plants becomes quite powerless; even at a moderate atmospheric temperature is rapidly takes on the vinous fermentation (and thereby loses much of its medicinal power), and immediately thereafter the acetous and putrid fermentation, whereby it is deprived of all its peculiar medicinal properties; the fecula that is then deposited, if well washed, is quite innocuous, like ordinary starch. By the transudation that takes place when a number of green plants are laid one above the other, the greatest part of their medicinal properties is lost.

'Can I have food today?'

Yesterday, feeling massively grateful for all I have, the choices available to me and the questions I don't even need to ask such as 'can I have food today?', puzzling over my random act of kindness that I felt inspired to make (do I leave a £5 note somewhere with an anonymous note? a £1 coin outside school for a child to find and treasure....?) it came to me.  I would donate a haircut. Obviously to Homeopathy for Health in Africa.  A haircut might not be the most useful thing for them right now (although you never know) but I would give the cost of a haircut to the NGO.

So then today browsing on facebook I see Camilla (who heads up the project with her husband Jeremy Sherr) posted that the centre they were just about to open has been robbed and all the furniture taken.  My memory was jogged and one (price of) haircut got donated.

Just to let you know what moved me so much, my friend Naomi who's out with the project at the moment writes...

'Before we could get going on the third chap, we were told about a boy who used to go to the school but had not been since August then came this week and it was apparent that he was critically ill. He had come because each day he is at home on his own; his mother goes out to earn 80p a day picking rice, and he knew he was getting worse. His little friend got in the car and showed us the way.

As we drove along the dusty, cratered roads there was a ravine along one side where men were digging out the clay. Further on we drove through a brick works where the clay was being combined with straw, then baked in stacks to make bricks. All the houses were made of these bricks which we were told are 12p each compared to the other bricks which are 60p each. I suspect that the local bricks are less durable.

The house was a small brick building with a tin roof and old pieces of cloth covering the windows and separating out a sleeping are and cooking area from the sitting room. The boys sat on a sofa and we crowded in, recognising that this was not a jolly trip but a serious attempt to save a life. The boy had a swollen face, ankles and feet. The belly button protruded from a distended stomach, reminding me of the starving children we are shown on TV. It was clear he was malnourished and there was nothing in the house; a remedy might stop the vomiting and diarrhoea, but he still needed food to live. After clinic Jeremy went and bought food for him – the charity www.homeopathyforhealthinafrica.org does not have money for this, but what else can you do?

These children are on the Edge of Life in so many ways.'

So if giving up something might be an option - it's popular to talk about a cup of coffee (I can't do that as I've never started on coffee), or even just donating what would be loose change in your pocket, I know there's so many people who would appreciate it so very much.  This project inspires me in so many ways. Naomi's blog gives much much more insight than I ever could - have a browse here.

I thank you for reading this,

Much love,

Em x

Feeling the love

It's a funny old world.  My parents (lovely, kind, considerate people) got left a particularly condescending and arrogant note for parking in a neighbours car park space.  Whilst I understand it can be irritating (I'm not immune to the odd 'they're in my space' sigh, temporary grouch - and then moving quickly on) I've always felt it's really important to be relatively reasonable (in fact even to the people who were parked for a considerable period of time blocking the road exit from my work recently - maybe that's taking the British politeness too far I wonder?) but especially to my neighbours in our little community.

Anyway it got me around to thinking about telling people what we think of them.  I think so often we cruise through life on autopilot assuming everyone knows what we think it because we know it.  So, armed with the one rule my dad drilled into me and my sister growing up (Thumper's daddy's rule - if you don't know it it goes 'If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all') I thought I'd do just that.  And told a few people what I thought about them.

It was a great feeling - I did get some lovely replies (which wasn't the point of the exercise but a nice added bonus) and to feel that I was able to be honest and open with people for no reason other than I was feeling gratitude for having them in my life.  Some people I texted, some I spoke to - it ddn't really matter I just felt an overwhelming urge to say thank you.

Yes my parents 'shouldn't' have parked there but I'm very glad they did and inspired me to feel this way. And yes, I've written to the person concerned to thank them too.