I adore lavender essential oil and use it every single day. Did you know it takes 27 kilos of lavender tops to produce just 450ml of therapeutic grade essential oil? As a naturopath and herbalist I am constantly amazed at how herbs can heal – not just physically but also emotionally and mentally. Often we overlook the more gentle and subtle therapies such as aromatherapy and head straight to liquid herbs and nutritionals.
My love of essential oils began as a teenager when I began using them for perfume – the heady scent of jasmine, the grounding effect of lavender to the uplifting notes of lemongrass. In fact I stumbled across Lemongrass House in Phuket and nearly exploded with excitement! They hand make a huge range of products all based on lemongrass essential oil and supply many of the worlds leading spas.
Let me tell you about the most frequently used essential oil in my house – lavender. It’s been used for thousands of years for it’s calming and relaxing effect. I remember being in hospital when Sophia was born and I sprinkled drops on the floor under our bed. Research shows that pain scores are lower after having a C-section when you smell lavender essential oil regularly, it is a natural analgesic!
Every midwife that came in to our room would literally stop, take a deep breath and visibly relax. In fact, a study involving nurses and workplace stress showed that their stress symptoms reduced by over 55 % when they used lavender essential oil. Check out the study as it makes great evidence for adding a few drops of lavender to your workplace!
Every single day of Sophia’s life I have added lavender essential oil to […]
My Most Used Essential Oil
Is Your Acne a Sign of Something More Serious?
Do you have embarrassing, even painful spots? Do you wonder why, even after your teenage years have long past and your friends are now worried about impending wrinkles, you still find yourself dealing with pimples?
It is estimated that 60 – 80% of women with moderate to severe acne have a common syndrome, called Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). In my humble opinion, virtually all women that have acne should be questioned, and where appropriate tested, for this condition.
How do you know if you should investigate this further?
The diagnosis of PCOS is actually quite simple. If you have two or three of the following, you fit the diagnosis:
1) High levels of testosterone (acne is a potential sign of this, as is excessive hair growth)
2) Irregular periods (8 or less per year)
3) Polycystic ovaries on ultrasound
If this is you, head to your health professional and ask for further investigation.
How can you tackle your acne naturally?
Now, back to the troublesome, embarrassing and potentially painful problem of acne. Let’s talk about what you can do to reduce, even eliminate, this condition.
1) Eliminate dairy products
Milk contains a precursor to testosterone, which means it contains one of the important ingredients needed to create this hormone. It also appears to contain ‘ingredients’ that stimulate the production of sebum (oil).
Milk has also been shown to increase ‘plasma IGF-1 levels’. This IGF-1 stimulates the creation of ‘male hormones’ (androgens) in the ovaries. It has another nasty effect as well. It stops the production of sex hormone binding globule (SHBG). SHBG is like a pair of handcuffs on the wrists of a thief. It stops the offender (the excessive ‘male hormones’) from adversely affecting its surroundings (the body). Without these handcuffs, the male hormones are […]
Love Your Liver And Improve Your PCOS
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) affects many different areas of a woman’s body and health, not only her ovaries as the name might suggest.
The liver may be one of these other areas. Women with PCOS are more likely to experience what’s known as Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, also called a ‘Fatty Liver’, and hormonal problems like oestrogen dominance in which the liver plays an important role. Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes and high unhealthy blood fat levels (hyperlipidemia) are often seen together with a fatty liver, and these challenges are also often present in women with PCOS. There may well be a significant link!
A study in The American Journal Of Medicine found “Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is associated with insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia even in lean subjects with normal glucose (blood sugar) tolerance. And women with PCOS, whether overweight or slender, are very often insulin resistant.
Let’s take a closer look at what and where the liver is, what it does, and how to boost its health and performance to help you live a longer, healthier, even PCOS-free life.
What your Liver Is, Where It Lives And What It Does?
The liver is the largest internal organ, and weighs (roughly) 1.5kg. It sits just under the right ribcage. It is the most amazing organ, with its powers of regeneration impressive, and important for its role in the body. It has many and varied functions, from producing proteins to detoxifying and protecting your body, to producing digestive chemicals, breaking down hormones like insulin and oestrogen, and storing different substances including glucose, Vitamins A, D, B12, and Iron.
A protein of particular interest in PCOS in called Sex Hormone Binding Globule (SHBG). SHBG is important in binding and inactivating excessive hormones, like the […]
GallerySatisfy Your Sweet Tooth With These Sugar Alternatives
The world seems to have a love/hate relationship with sugar. Whether in the form of spoonfuls added to your tea or coffee, or the industrial amounts included in soft drinks and processed foods, sugar dominates our diet. Australians consume, on average, 16 teaspoon a day! It’s the crack of the culinary world, and its consumption has been linked to a plethora of health complaints, including obesity and raised triglycerides.
As we gain a greater understanding of just how bad sugar can be, the hunt is on for alternatives. But how do you know which one to buy when there is a new “healthy” alternative coming out each week?
Let me help explain what a sugar is, where to find it, and give you the pros and cons of all the sugar substitutes.
What Is Sugar
The term sugar can be used to refer to all types carbohydrates, including: glucose (found in grains and vegetables), fructose (fruit and honey), lactose (dairy products), and sucrose (cane or table sugar). Basically any carbohydrate or sugar, whether it’s a good or bad, will end in ‘ose’.
White sugar is the final result of processing and is 99.9% pure sucrose, which is a manmade chemical. Brown and raw sugar, often called “natural” sugar, are commonly just white sugar cut slightly short in the refinement process, or have beet pulp or molasses added for colour and flavour. Other nasties that masquerade as sugar include high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), beet sugar, dextrose, and corn syrup solids. HFCS in particular has been linked to numerous health complaints, including gout and high blood pressure.
Sugar Alternatives – Their Pros and Cons
Artificial Sweeteners
The Pros – Heavily marketed as healthy alternatives that will help you lose weight or […]
How Eating Gluten Free Changed My Life
I grew up in the 1980’s in a household where two members were diagnosed with coeliac disease. This was in the days when no one knew what “gluten free” meant so eating out was virtually impossible, there was only one bread mix to choose from (forget pre made GF breads!) and people thought we were… well… a bit weird. I wasn’t coeliac however. I could eat anything I wanted (or so I thought…). So imagine my shock and dismay when, in my 20’s, I realized that my chronic asthma, hayfever, eczema, bronchitis, tonsillitis, and general poor immunity were all symptoms of food intolerances! Yep, I was feeling ripped off.
When I thought about it, things started to all make sense. The foods which we are intolerant to are often the ones we crave the most, and I can recall on several occasions sitting down with a loaf of white bread, and eating it all, slice by glutinous slice, with butter and honey (actually it was the 80’s so it was probably some hideous margarine!). I would do the same with packets of processed cheese slices. It turns out I’m mildly dairy intolerant too.
I’ve never been one to do things by halves, so when I’d finally had a gutful (no pun intended!) of being sick, I embarked on an 8 week anti-candida diet. No gluten, dairy, sugar, processed food of any kind, alcohol or caffeine for 8 weeks. The results were phenomenal. It wasn’t just my immune system that got better. My permanently runny nose dried up. My stomach wasn’t bloated anymore. I lost weight. Cellulite disappeared. My mood improved. I could concentrate. It was a miracle… except it wasn’t really. It was simple nutrition. I […]
Emily’s Holistic Detox Plan – Halfway Through Her Nutritional Cleanse
End of June and, due to my belated kick off date, halfway through my holistic detox plan. Check out my original post to read up on my goals and aspirations for the 30 days of June/July.
Nutritional Cleanse – Officially started this baby midway through June and still have a few weeks to go until it’s officially deemed ‘complete’. One thing that has most DEFINITELY changed is my awareness of my daily intake and snacking habits and emotionally driven eating behaviours. I never really considered myself an ‘emotional’ eater but getting back to the essence of eating and nourishing my body has been an absolute blessing because I’m far more aware of the physiological signs of hunger, satiety and fullness. Out went all processed and nasties and I do feel better for it. Will save the real review for the very end of the 30 days so stay tuned my lovelies.
Emotional Detox
This was a bit of a doozey to be honest. I find myself bombarded with negative and self deprecating thoughts on a daily basis. The challenge was to ‘boing flip’ these emotional triggers and stop them dead in their tracks. Only catch was, I wasn’t really prepared for how ‘present’ I needed to be and how ‘aware’ I had to become to witness my fears and thoughts. I urge you all to trial this little exercise and apply it in your own lives. I have emerged from the month with a greater sense of appreciation for who I am, the strengths I possess and self acceptance. Take home notes? Affirm your strengths, dismiss the ‘smack talk’, banish the comparisons and love yourself sick. You are totally worth it and such a special unique soul.
Technology […]
From Sickly Child To Vital Woman – How Cleaning Eating Saved My Immune System
In an earlier blog post I described how I embarked on an 8 week anti-candida diet a to sort out some health issues. Since then, I have continued to clean up my diet, and one of the most welcome effects of this change was that my immune system improved out of sight. So I would like to share these “immune boosting” secrets with you.
Having always been a “sickly child,” I had a past history of recurrent conditions – bronchitis and chest infections every winter, tonsillitis that kept coming back to haunt me, and I was one of those kids that caught every virus that came along, leading to huge amounts of time off school. I thought this was just how things were for me – the doctor said, “some kids just catch more bugs than others.” Apparently I was one of those kids. No amount of Echinacea or vitamin C seemed to help, and I ended up on antibiotics more often than not. I had no idea at the time that it was all being driven by the foods I was eating. Not knowing any better, I continued to live like this for years to come.
After cleaning up my diet in my late 20’s, winter came along, and the changes were obvious. Sure, I still got one or two head colds, but each one went for only 3-4 days. They didn’t go to my chest. They didn’t stick around in my sinuses and fester away. I didn’t need antibiotics. And I didn’t get the usual fatigue for days afterward that I was so used to living with, year after year.
The concept of “clean eating” has gained a lot of momentum recently (just type #eatclean […]
GalleryTop 5 “SCARE” Tatics To Control Cortisol Levels In Our Body
To control cortisol levels in our body sometimes we need a little SCARE!
“I just can’t lose weight! I exercise everyday, make healthy choices but the kilos will not shift!”
Does this sound familiar? Have you caught yourself saying this exact same thing to someone? With over 7 years experience as a personal trainer in the weight loss industry, I have learnt that it takes more than a good sweat session and “healthy” food to get your body moving in the right direction.
Cortisol doesn’t have to be dirty word!
Cortisol is a hormone produced by the adrenal gland, and is released as part of your daily hormonal cycle, and also in reaction to perceived stress.
Cortisol helps your body become even more effective at producing glucose from proteins (breaking down our muscles), and is designed to help quickly increase the body’s energy in times of stress.
It is believed that if we live our lives in a constant state of stress (whether it be emotion, physical or mental), we will have a constant state of elevated cortisol. With excess cortisol comes the production of glucose. With an excess of glucose floating around our bloodstream our body goes into storage mode and converts this glucose to fat and tucks it into our adipose tissue. YUK!
In response to my clients who are ticking the exercise and healthy eating box I ask them, “Have you had a SCARE today?”
SCARE is 5 principles for you to try and live by that will have a beneficial effect on the production of cortisol in your body.
Sleep: Cortisol levels are highest in the early morning and they drop significantly throughout the day, reaching their lowest levels at around 10 p.m. This shows that the body is […]
Gallery5 Natural Ways To Treat Period Pain
Period pain. Whether you get mild cramps or pain that sends you to bed cuddling a hot water bottle, it’s not the most pleasant of things to experience every month. Dysmenorrhea, which quite literally means ‘difficult menstruation’ can effect women of all ages, though many women find that after having a baby, they experience heavier periods and more intense period pain. When you’re on the go, the last thing you want to be experiencing is pain, which is reason why so many of us reach for a packet of paracetamol or ibuprofen when the cramps kick in.
There are however, a couple of natural ways to treat period pain which can actually help with the severity of the pain you’re experiencing as well as help treat the causation of the pain, and prevent it happening every month.
My Top 5 Tips
Eat well – Research has found that painful periods hint at the body being in an inflammatory state. This means that increasing foods that have an anti-inflammatory effect can actually help minimize pain. Make sure you’re eating plenty of fresh fruit and veggies and sticking to whole grains.
Take a multivitamin – While you may sometimes forget to take your daily multivitamin, making it a priority, especially around your time of the month can help decrease the severity of pain. This is due to the vitamin A and magnesium usually found in most supplements. Both of these elements help regulate hormones and relax muscle tissue. You can also try adding a fish oil or other essential fatty acid supplements.
Sip a cup of tea – Keeping well hydrated is essential at all times, but especially during your period. Try leaving your coffee and black tea on the shelf […]
6 Fabulous Foods To Eat If You Have Food Intolerances
Food intolerances often come with a whole set of unpleasant symptoms. Bloating, weight gain, stomach pain, irritable bowel are often part and parcel of a digestive system that isn’t coping with the foods it’s been given.
While an allergy free diet and supplements are a necessity to heal your gut, there are some wonderful healing foods which you can include in your diet to bring fast relief to food intolerance symptoms and help make the gut a healthy place for good bacteria to grow.
Ginger – Ginger has a calming and anti-inflammatory effect on the digestive system. It can be sliced and brewed as herbal tea, added to soups and curries, or try adding a thumb-sized piece of ginger to your freshly squeezed juice. Ginger is also a warming tonic, so it’s perfect for cold winter weather.
Turmeric – One of the strongest natural anti-inflammatories, turmeric has a healing effect on the digestive system, while helping to prevent digestive flare ups. You can also add this one to juice (it goes very well with carrot, orange and ginger juice), curries, or my most recent discovery – to pumpkin soup.
Kefir – One of the oldest probiotic food in the world, kefir is a fermented milk drink which contains beneficial bacteria, and is said to have healing and restorative properties. It is also a rich source of vitamins and minerals. Can’t have dairy? If you look around, you will find kefir made with coconut milk and even water. You will also find recipes and advice online for making your own kefir at home.
Kombucha – A traditional fermented tea drink, kombucha contains millions of beneficial bacteria and is dairy free. Kombucha has a wonderful, fruity flavor – just be careful […]
