I adore fresh nettle and have been lucky enough to get my hands on some organic varieties. Just remember to wear gloves as it can give you a mild rash or hives temporarily. Nettle is an incredibly powerful herb and I use it for pregnancy as it is so rich in nutrients. It’s also used for hay fever, dermatitis, arthritis and blood noses.I made some lovely nettle and goats cheese frittatas as my snack at work last week and this week I have made a quick soup. I am sipping on nettle tea as we speak as I didn’t want to waste the stalks. It is a deep green colour and tastes lovely.Ingredients1 litre water2 medium carrots, chopped1 medium onion, chopped1 leek, cut in 1 cm rings2 Tbs quinoa2 Tbs miso, dissolved in a bit of water4 Tbs nettle leaves finely choppedServings: 6The nettle tops should be harvested early in spring when they are still very small (about 5 cm). Only use the small unfolded top leaves.Put carrots, onion, leek and quinoa in water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 30 min until tapioca is clear and soup is slightly thickened. Stir from time to time to prevent the tapioca from burning. Add the miso and mix to dissolve. Add the chopped nettle leaves and only bring to boiling point. Don’t boil to preserve the vitamins. Serve the miso soup immediately
How To Stay Infection Free with Powerful Echinacea
Echinacea – The Perfect Immune Support for Your Child!I have been prescribing a proprietary blend of Echinacea for years with all my small patients and find it incredibly effective. I use it as a preventative and begin dosing at the end of June until the end of September and find that these patients are far less likely to come down with seasonal colds and flus and if they do succumb, the duration is much shorter and milder than their playmates. There are many natural medicines that will boost your child’s immune system and food also plays a powerful role in strengthening their resistance to bugs.The same proprietary herbal extract of Echinacea is also incredibly effective for the common cold. There was up to a 44% reduction in symptoms such as runny nose, sore throat, fatigue, headache and chills in the participants taking Echinacea as opposed to those on placebo. The duration of the cold was 4 days in total for those taking the Echinacea whilst it lasted 5 ½ days for those who didn’t. That makes an enormous difference when you need to get to work, look after the kids, cook dinner, prepare for a presentation and also get a good night’s sleep!Bring your child into clinic and start an immune boosting program that will help get them through winter feeling strong and energetic. At your next appointment, ask Emma for a bottle of Echinacea to have on hand at home so that you can respond at the first sign of infection.Sources:”Echinacea purpurea L. in children: safety, tolerability, compliance, and clinical effectiveness in upper respiratory tract infections.”Can J Physiol Pharmacol. 2007 Nov; 85(11):1195-9.”Efficacy of a standardized Echinacea preparation for the treatment of the common […]
Aussie retailers ranked in new WWF palm oil scorecard
Six of Australia’s biggest palm oil manufacturers and retailers have been assessed for the first time in WWF-Australia’s Palm Oil Buyers’ Scorecard – giving a snapshot of the sustainability of palm oil in products manufactured and sold by Cadbury, Coles, Goodman Fielder, Nestle, Unilever and Woolworths. “97% of our palm oil comes from Indonesia and Malaysia – places with incredibly important rainforests and wildlife habitats,” said WWF-Australia CEO Greg Bourne.”Palm oil growth is now one of the world’s leading causes of deforestation. The choices made by retailers and manufacturers of palm oil have a direct impact on the habitat of endangered species such as the orang-utan, Sumatran tiger and Asian elephant.” Together, the companies featuring in WWF-Australia’s Scorecard account for approximately 70% of the palm oil imported and used in manufactured goods in Australia.Palm oil is the world’s most widely used vegetable oil and can be found in processed foods like chocolate, hot cross buns, biscuits, chips and ice cream. According to figures from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), palm oil can be found in up to 50 per cent of the packaged food products on our shelves. It can also be found in many cosmetics, lipsticks, shampoos, conditioners and moisturisers. In Australia, palm oil is labelled as vegetable oil, offering consumers no way of knowing whether or not their shopping choices are contributing to deforestation and habitat loss.”Australia imports around 130,000 tonnes of palm oil ever year making ‘Australia’s palm oil footprint’ 13,000 times the size of the MCG. We need to reduce the impact of this by using more sustainable palm oil through plantations being certified to the standards of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil,” said Mr Bourne.By working […]
Day 2 of Detox
I can’t believe it! I woke up this morning to a cold – head pounding, razor blade throat and aching muscles. I had to cancel my 6am walk and also business lunch to stay in my pyjamas on the couch reading. I am reading “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell which is just phenomenal – I highly recommend it. Oh I don’t often fall ill but when I have been overdoing it my body lets me know. Being sick is also an effective way that your body releases toxins – often people fall ill on their detox and as long as it is just a cold or a few days of upset tummy it is fine.Just eat lightly and rest – if you can get to a steam room then go for it. Otherwise do a steam inhalation at home with a bowl of hot water, some eucalyptus oil and a towel. Just immerse your head under the towel, take nice deep belly breathes for 2 minutes, then stop and go back for another inhalation every 5 minutes for a total of 30 minutes. Make some freshly grated ginger tea but it needs to be very strong. I find using a wooden ginger grater just fabulous for this.I took the opportunity to do some cooking today – some split pea soup and stewed fruits. So the freezer has even more meals in it for those days when I am busy at work or simply have unexpected guests.Hopefully I will feel a little better tomorrow but I am using today as an opportunity to write down my detox goals ( I want to work on my fitness and also obtain incredible mental clarity as I have a […]
Kava Helps Treat Anxiety
Kava, used for generations in traditional ceremonies by Pacific islanders, is an effective and safe treatment for anxiety, university researchers say. People with “chronic high levels of anxiety” feel less worried and, in some cases, less depressed during a 60-person trial undertaken at the University of Queensland.“We’ve been able to show that kava offers a natural alternative for the treatment of anxiety and, unlike some pharmaceutical options, has less risk of dependency and less potential of side-effects,” said lead researcher Jerome Sarris, a PhD candidate from UQ’s School of Medicine. “We also found that kava had a positive impact on reducing depression levels, something which had not been tested before.”Anxiety levels were reduced in trial participants who took five tablets of kava daily, as opposed to a placebo group that took dummy pills. Critically the study’s participants did not show any signs of potential liver damage – contrary to concerns that prompted European, British and Canadian authorities to ban kava sales in 2002.Kava products sold in those countries were based on ethanol or acetone extracts of the kava plant, Mr Sarris said, not the water-soluble extracts used traditionally by Pacific islanders and approved for sale in Australia. “Our study used a water-soluble extract from the peeled root stock of a medicinal cultivar of the plant, which is approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration,” Mr Sarris said. “When extracted in the appropriate way, kava may pose less or no potential liver problems and I hope the results will encourage governments to reconsider the ban.”The Kava Anxiety Depression Spectrum Study (KADSS): a randomized, placebo-controlled crossover trial using an aqueous extract of Piper methysticum.RATIONALE: Piper methysticum (Kava) has been withdrawn in European, British, and Canadian markets due […]
Kava Helps Treat Anxiety
Kava, used for generations in traditional ceremonies by Pacific islanders, is an effective and safe treatment for anxiety, university researchers say. People with “chronic high levels of anxiety” feel less worried and, in some cases, less depressed during a 60-person trial undertaken at the University of Queensland.
“We’ve been able to show that kava offers a natural alternative for the treatment of anxiety and, unlike some pharmaceutical options, has less risk of dependency and less potential of side-effects,” said lead researcher Jerome Sarris, a PhD candidate from UQ’s School of Medicine. “We also found that kava had a positive impact on reducing depression levels, something which had not been tested before.”
Anxiety levels were reduced in trial participants who took five tablets of kava daily, as opposed to a placebo group that took dummy pills. Critically the study’s participants did not show any signs of potential liver damage – contrary to concerns that prompted European, British and Canadian authorities to ban kava sales in 2002.
Kava products sold in those countries were based on ethanol or acetone extracts of the kava plant, Mr Sarris said, not the water-soluble extracts used traditionally by Pacific islanders and approved for sale in Australia. “Our study used a water-soluble extract from the peeled root stock of a medicinal cultivar of the plant, which is approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration,” Mr Sarris said. “When extracted in the appropriate way, kava may pose less or no potential liver problems and I hope the results will encourage governments to reconsider the ban.”
The Kava Anxiety Depression Spectrum Study (KADSS): a randomized, placebo-controlled crossover trial using an aqueous extract of Piper methysticum.
RATIONALE: Piper methysticum (Kava) has been withdrawn in European, British, and Canadian markets due […]
Probiotics May Reduce Cold and Flu Symptoms for Children
Another fantastic study that demonstrates the benefit of probiotics in keeping your child’s immune system strong and healthy. This clearly shows that probiotics not only reduce the need for antibiotics but also reduced days off from child care and the awful symptoms of colds and flus. So, if you weren’t convinced by previous posts on my blog, you should be by now! Most importantly, ensure that your child receives a high quality probiotic that contains the correct strains in the right therapeutic doses. If you need to consult a naturopath then I recommend doing so and getting a product that will work as opposed to shooting in the dark and self prescribing. A daily supplement of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains may reduce the incidence of cold and flu-like symptoms in children by 50%, says a new study from Danisco. A combination of the two strains was linked to reductions in fever incidence by 73%, a reduction in the occurrence of runny noses by 59%, and drop in the incidence of coughing by 62%, according to findings published in Pediatrics.“Daily probiotic dietary supplementation during the winter months was a safe effective way to reduce episodes of fever, rhinorrhea, and cough, the cumulative duration of those symptoms, the incidence of antibiotic prescriptions, and the number of missed school days attributable to illness,” wrote the authors, led by Gregory Leyer from the Department of Research and Development for Danisco in Madison. “L acidophilus NCFM alone was effective. There was, however, a trend for a broader protective effect with the combination of L acidophilus NCFM and B lactis Bi-07.”Indeed, when L. acidophilus NCFM was used alone the fever incidence was cut by 53 per cent, the occurrence […]
Probiotics Intake Beneficial Against Infections in Kids
This is an extremely interesting study that clearly demonstrates the health benefits of probiotics in strengthening a child’s immune system. Just a note about the study – the children were given 10 billion colony forming units of Lactobacillus GG (LGG) which is a good therapeutic dose. Ensure that your child is receiving the correct dose of probiotics. I always use probiotics for a period of 3 months before child care is commenced to allow enough time for a strong immunity to develop. LGG can decrease the risk of upper respiratory tract infections including rhinitis, pharyngitis, sinusitis, otitis, and the common cold in children attending day care centers, claims a new study. The findings of the researchers, which were published in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition, also found that the rate of absence from childcare centers due to infections was lower in children receiving LGG in comparison to those who were not. According to UNICEF, a global average of 16% of children under five suffer from acute respiratory infections. The team behind the research explained that while the efficacy of probiotics in the prevention of infections in children who attend day care centers has been investigated in several studies, these have yielded contradictory results, and thus further studies are required to evaluate their efficacy. Method The researchers said the objective of their study was to investigate whether LGG administration could play a beneficial role in the prevention of both gastrointestinal and respiratory tract infections in children who attend day care centers. They said that they undertook a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 281 children who attend day care centers in Zagreb, Croatia. According to the authors, the children […]
Fair Trade – Why You Need To Support It!
What is Fair Trade?“Fair Trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers – especially in the South. Fair Trade organizations (backed by consumers) are engaged actively in supporting producers, awareness raising and in campaigning for changes in the rules and practice of conventional international trade.”Why Fair Trade?International trade has been a historical link between peoples of the world. It can be used to increase corporate profits without benefit to the wider community and to promote intercultural understanding, grassroots development and economic justice. The advantages of current international trade practices are not visible to all people in the world. For small farmers, access to market or price information is difficult and as a result, many become increasingly dependent on middlemen and receive smaller and smaller returns for their work. In bad times, many lose their only property – their land – and thus, their livelihoods.Similarly many plantation workers endure low pay, unsafe working environments and poor living conditions. Too often they lack the opportunity to participate in decisions that affect their lives on the plantation. The way that many products are produced, traded and consumed is simply unjust; this is a major cause of continuing world poverty.Fair Trade is an alternative approach to conventional trade. It is a trading partnership based on dialogue, transparency and respect that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing rights of, marginalised producers and workers – especially in low-income regions.Fair Trade is about giving disadvantaged people power: by […]
Submissions to the government’s food labelling review close this Friday 20th November!
Ok, it’s time to get active and also activate your networks – we need to let the government know how important it is that GE foods are labelled properly. Many governments in Europe have either banned GE or implemented mandatory labelling already. The only way to completely avoid GE foods is to eat organic.We all have a right to know what we’re eating. That’s why over 30,000 people signed the ‘Our Right to Know’ petition calling on the government to label genetically engineered (GE) foods. On October 23, the federal government finally announced it would review food labelling laws in Australia and promised to take GE ingredients into consideration. We’ve managed to get the government to listen to our concerns about GE food. But will it act? We now have an important chance to make sure it does.The review has only allowed a four-week period for public submissions, which closes this Friday, November 20. Take action now by emailing a quick submission to FoodLabellingReview@health.gov.au and copy in the Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Mark Butler: mark.butler.mp@aph.gov.au. Your submission doesn’t have to be long; it can be a few lines on your personal feelings on GE food and why you want it labelled.You can also help increase the pressure on the government to label GE food asking your friends and family to make a quick submission to the review.Read more about it here. Make sure you watch this fabulous video on organics, makes me warm and fuzzy! Store Wars
