Recipe of the week: My whole food, super smoothie

This recipe may sound strange but it actually tastes really good, its creamy, tangy and thick! The way I like it. But because of the nature of smoothies you can make it whatever you want and change it around.

This smoothie doesn’t contain any expensive, fancy powders but just real, whole foods with their own amazing health giving qualities. Don’t get me wrong goji berries, acai and maca have wonderful health benefits, but the media hype and marketing seems to make us forget about the wonderful superfoods right in front of us.

This smoothie has influences from raw, living, enzyme rich diets; traditional, paleo food, Weston A Price, The Body Ecology Diet and from Phospholipid exchange pioneered by Dr Patricia Kane.

This smoothie is so nutrient rich and a great source of fat soluble vitamins which many miss out on. It is also rich in magnesium, potassium and phosphorus; fibre from the avocado which is one of the most fibre rich foods containing 11 to 17 grams per avocado. The bovine gelatin provides Glycine, an amino acid which many are deficient in. Gelatin is basically collagen providing nourishment for hair, skin and nails and also aids in digestion.

This smoothie contains high quality complete protein from the egg yolk and gelatin. The egg yolk provides fat soluble vitamins such as A, E, D and K, and essential fatty acids ie high omega 3s if pasture raised. The yolk also provides a good source of B vitamins.

Thanks to coconut oil it is also a great source of medium chain fatty acids (MCFA), MCFA’s are very nourishing and healing to the body and are intravenously fed to most hospital patients to speed the healing process. MCFA’s are great for energy and metabolism, digestion and nutrient absorption. It is high in immune boosting lauric acid and has strong anti microbial properties and helps with digestion and absorption of nutrients. Coconut oil is particularly nourishing for the thyroid. The addition of kefir makes this smoothie a powerful probiotic drink with immune enhancing properties. kefir bacteria have the ability to colonise the intestinal tract and destroy putrefying bacteria. It is also very detoxifying.

This a meal people! Very filling and satisfying.

• Base Recipe

2 tablespoons of organic, virgin coconut oil

I use melrose organic, virgin coconut oil expelled using DME process.

2 tablespoons of avocado

1 teaspoon of pure 100% bovine gelatin

I use NOW 100% Bovine Gelatin

1 tablespoon of hot water

2 raw egg yolks

Real free range, pastured eggs

1/4 cup of coconut cream kefir, goats milk kefir or coconut cream

I use Ayam coconut cream which I ferment with The Body Ecology kefir starter

1/4 of a cup of coconut water, coconut water kefir or water

I use Beyond Coconut water, C coconut which I ferment with The Body Ecology kefir starter

Stevia to sweetness desired

• For flavour variations

Frozen berries or banana

Preferably organic

Cinnamon

Vanilla

I use the old vanilla pod

You could also try adding some low oxalate greens if you wish

• Method

Add hot water to gelatin and dissolve

Add coconut oil, avocado, egg yolks, coconut cream, goats kefir/coconut cream, coconut water/kefir and stevia.

Add the dissolved gelatin

Add your choice of berries, banana, cinnamon, vanilla and low oxalate greens if you please

Blend well

What I have tried thus far: Practitioners, education and support online

A wise practitioner once said to me, never take everything a practitioner tells you as being gospel, look into things and question everything!

I am a really optimistic, positive person, which is great, but early on in my healing journey these traits stopped me from seeing the bigger picture. I would see one practitioner and I would believe wholeheartedly that everything they said and asked me to do was ‘the one and only’ answer to my illness. It was sweet I had so much faith looking back. These practitioners have been my teachers and have all played a part in developing my knowledge of health, nutrition and ME/CFS. The time spent with each practitioner was not wasted time, but part of the journey. Once I began questioning more and doing my own research things started to piece together in my mind, and I am still learning new things every week about health and ME/CFS. It is true what they say, you have to be your own doctor (along side the help of a well trained doctor/naturopath of course) no one will ever work as hard to get your health back as YOU!

On top of consulting with practitioners in the flesh I have found some wonderful practitioners, information and resources online. I actually do not know what would be of me without access to the internet, not just for self education purposes but to see others experiencing similar life events and knowing there is support out there.

I thought I would share with you some practitioners, health and educational websites which have helped me immensely in the past couple of years.

Dr Sarah Myhill a well known ME/CFS specialist from the UK has over 20 years experience working with ME/CFS sufferers. She supplies a great free book on diagnosing and treating ME/CFS which I have found really helpful and I am continuously going back to the book for information, which I seem to forget. Yeah the books that big and that thorough! Her website also has lots of great information as well.

Blake Graham is a clinical Nutritionist with a special interest in ME/CFS. He specialises in science-based nutritional, environmental and intergrative medicine for chronic medical conditions. Blakes approach to treating conditions such as ME/CFS is very thorough and this is evident on his website which provides great information on ME/CFS. Check out his ME/CFS information and treatment protocol for ME/CFS here. I refer back to his website reguarly for information, I already follow a very similar intergrative protocol to which he recommends.

Donna Gates is a nutrition consultant, author and lecturer on immune disorders and candidiasis. She is the creator of the Body Ecology Diet, which encompasses the best of medical science, chinese medicine, naturopathy and personal and clinical experience. Donna’s passion for health stemmed from her own struggles with sytemic candidias for many years causing a variety of symptoms. Candidias is involved is almost all immune disorders when the immune system become disregulated and dysfunctional and the gastrointestinal system becomes out balanced by bad bacteria and yeasts. This is also easily done in our modern times with frequent use of antibiotics, the pill, processed foods, alcohol, high sugar and carbohydrate diets and stress all contributing to inner flora imbalance. Her protocol is based around healing the gut and restoring a healthy inner eco system which is crucial for ones health. There is a huge emphasis on probiotic foods on the BOD protocol as well as sugar and starch restriction.

Check out a free podcast with Donna Gates here at the WISH summit for health.

You may be thinking what does candidiasis have to do with ME/CFS. Because of the nature of immune dysfunction in ME/CFS it is not just the immune system regulators (ie TH2, TH1 helper cells) that go out of whack but the very important gut flora which play a crucial role in immunity.

I have Donna Gates books which I love, but her website also provides lots of free information as well. I integrate many of her suggestions into my regime including making my own lacto fermented foods such as raw sauerkraut, coconut water and coconut cream kefir, low sugar/starch, alkaline foods.

Overall Donna gates has taught me about the utmost importance of our inner eco systems, our gut flora and its crucial role in immunity.

Sally Fallon and her book Nourishing traditions co written with Mary G. Enig a expert in lipid chemistry is one of my nutrition bibles. Reading this book for the first time gave me one of those aha moments where everything just made sense. It has a strong influence from Weston A Price’s findings, traditional diets and input from nutrition experts worldwide. This book is also a recipe book which I reguarly turn to for recipes for bone broths, lacto fermented foods and general traditional food preparation and recipes. Nourishing Traditions has helped me gain more awareness of the quality of my food choices and how important this is for health.

I check out the the Weston A Price foundation’s website reguarly. It has wonderful articles, reasearch and Q and A’s from doctors about nutrition, diet and health. Here is a detailed article about phytic acid and grain preperation.

Dr Natasha Mcbride is a doctor, neurologist, nutritionist and creator of the Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet (GAPS). After many years of working with hundreds of children and adults with neurological  and psychiatric conditions, such as autism spectrum disorders, ADD/ ADHD, schizophrenia, dyslexia, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and other neurological and psychiatric problems she developed GAPS. When Natasha’s own son with born with autism she found her profession had nothing to offer him, this pushed her to undergo further studies to find answers and heal him. Through nutritional medicine, detoxification and supplementation she healed her son’s gut and his autism. Her protocol has been extremely successful in healing neurological disorders as well as immune, physiological disorders worldwide. I was recommended the GAPS diet by a nutritionist, my diet already seemed to fall along the same lines as GAPS but it encouraged me to introduce more bone broths, gelatinous meats, marrow etc to help heal the gut as well as lots of lacto fermented foods which I was already doing. On the GAPS diet certain supplementation is recommended as well an enemas and a chemical free lifestyle and diet.

Living Valley Springs is a top health retreat in Queensland Australia, they release a wonderful newsletter each season. The magazine includes articles by the retreats naturopaths which are always very imformative and thorough. You can view the most recent magazine and all previous ones here and here.

Kora Organics is a blog created by model Miranda Kerr which includes contributions from health practitioners from all over the globe. I love this blog! Some of my favourite contributors are Australian Nutritionist Cyndi O’Meara and Miranda Kerr’s aussie nutritionist Sally Joseph. Sally’s website can be found here and Cyndi’s here. Another favourite of mine is this nutritionist’s blog as well as the blog of Sarah Wilson which is providing some great posts and podcasts on nutrition, auto immunity and yummy recipes.

Dr Mercola is a licensed physician and surgeon from the USA. He has a very strong passion for health and nutrition and believes in supplying reliable information that neither misleads nor manipulates data in the name of profit and other self-serving motives. His site includes comprehensive health information and all the latest research and scientific studies. He speaks the truth and it is so refreshing.

Chris Kresser also known as The Healthy Skeptic is an acupuncturist and practitioner of integrative medicine. After becoming chronically ill himself he discovered, like many others that modern medicine had nothing to offer him and began searching for answers himself. Through this journey of self education he disovered that many of ideas and beliefs that are held in society about health are in fact myths. Another discovery was that there is some crazy conflicts of interest going on between drug companies, doctors and researchers with most studies and prestigious medical journals turning into nothing but sales catalogues for the pharmaceutical industries. I can relate to Chris’s journey and his website has really helped with my own research into my own health issues. His articles and podcasts are fabulous, well reseached and no bull s*#t.

Perfect Health Diet was developed by two scientists Paul Jaminet and Shou-Ching Shih Jaminet. Both suffering from chronic ill health found answers in nutrition and discovered through thorough research and personal trial and error that with the correct diet the body could heal itself. Something we have probably all heard before. But their discoveries are truly unqiue and don’t fit into the standard advice we are given through the media and conventional health professionals. Their diet is backed by heavy science and there is no folklaw or conflicts of interest going on. Their blog provides lots of information and refences to studies. It is worth checking out.

Jonny Bowden is a nutritionist, author and psycologist from America. His blog is worth stalking and I personally own his book 150 Healthiest foods on Earth and it is fantastic.

Ray Peat studied a degree in biology specializing in physiology. He is a lecturer for many univeristies and also works as a private nutrition councellor. His website contains detailed, science heavy articles on hormones, nutrition and general health. He speaks frequently about the therapeutic uses of progesterone, pregnenolone, thyroid, and coconut oil.

The Environmental Workers Group’s website provides very important information and independent scientific studies on toxicity levels in foods (ie. pesticides), personal care products, water, electro magnetic radiation etc.

Another free article online which many will find interesting and challenging is found here. The article is written by Loren Cordain and is called Cereal Grains: Humanity’s Double-Edged Sword.

Ok I could go on forever but these were great starting points for me in a general sense. There are of course a few more ME/CFS specialists throughout the world who would be worth mentioning except there is barely any information online. This blog post supplies a great run down of some of these specialists and their protocols. Blake Graham has written an article on a lecture he attended by ME/CFS expert Dr Kenny De Meirleir back in 2007. Some ME/CFS sufferers have success with a FAILSAFE or a FODMAP diet which can be checked out here. The Chronic fatigue Syndrome Treatments site has loads of treatment suggestions but can be a little over whelming and the Phoenix Rising blog and their forums are worth looking at for personal experiences, support and information as well as ProHealth ME/CFS section.

Hope these links can be of some help, challenge you and lead you on a journey of self education. Adios

Another beautiful sunset from my balcony! Very lucky.

What should your poop and pee look like!

Have you ever questioned if your bowel movements and your urine were normal? I am sure most people have wondered! There are some great resources to show you what the characteristics of your daily urination and stools mean. Lets not be shy about this, your wees and poos say alot about your health and what is going on inside your body!

Celebrity nutritionist Kimberly Snyder has posted on her blog a very clever chart on the different variations of your wee’s and poop’s this morning. Check it out to see if you are drinking enough water, eating enough fiber or if more serious alignments are affecting you.

Gaps Australia also pays attention to the quality of your bowel movements on their website with the bristol stool chart. Dr Oz is also a big advocate of checking out your poos and wees!

So there you have it, it pays to pay attention!

How many pesticides are in your favourite fresh foods.

There is much debate about the differences between conventional and organic food. It is quite often in the media I hear the argument is organic any better for us? and the ‘experts’ (most likely linked to produce trade groups and pesticide manufacturers) replies are always no, there is no solid scientific proof that organic is healthier!

Well actually there is scientific proof that the 865 different registered pesticides and the many other widely used, unregistered pesticides used on our favourite fresh produce can cause serious harm to our bodies, are toxic and not healthy. This research also shows that the produce tested contains multiple types of pesticides even after thorough washing and peeling. This research is done by independent research scientists and physicians and organisations such as the Environmental Workers Group.

Pesticides are designed to be toxic and kill living organisms — insects, plants, and fungi that are considered pests. Studies have found that pesticides can have multiple negative effects on the human nervous, endocrine and immune system and have been linked with cancer, skin, eye and lung irritation and general toxicity. There is also a lot of research being aimed at pesticide toxicity in children and there have been some alarming findings linking it with impaired intelligence and neurological problems. There have been 3 studies released in 2011 linking exposure to the pesticides organophosphates with damaged nervous system function and stunted brain development in children.

A study led by Chensheng Lu of Emory University found that the children studied had very high levels of pesticides in their bodies especially during summer whilst eating a diet high in fresh produce. After 5 days of consuming an all-organic diet their bodies were pesticide free.

Studies have linked pesticide toxicity with conditions such as ME/CFS and also show that ME/CFS sufferers, compared with controls have much higher levels of pesticide toxicity. Probably due to decreased and impaired ability to detoxify. One study that concluded this was done by independent doctors and researchers in Australia back in 1995. It can be viewed here. ME/CFS specialist Dr Sarah Myhill speaks about how pesticides can act as immune adjuvants which can essentially ‘turn on’ the immune system causing allergies and autoimmunity. Check out her website here.

So what do I do when it comes to avoiding pesticides? I eat all organic. It makes sense to me to avoid these chemicals and I feel I have been a guinea pig long enough. Supporting organics is also great for the environment, supporting sustainable farming practices which do not harm the earth. Buying all organic does not come cheap, so the second option is to buy conventional produce that has been tested and proven to be lower in pesticides and avoid buying produce that is the most toxic. The Environmental Workers Group has done this testing and they provide great information on their website and the 2011 list of the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15. Their website covers the complete list of food tested and you can download the list and print it out. See their FAQ’s section for some commonly asked questions and answers.

NaturalNews.com keeps up to date with the latest research on pesticides as well.

The Dirty Dozen: Foods to buy organic

1. apples
2. celery
3. strawberries
4. peaches
5. spinach
6. nectarines, imported
7. grapes, imported
8. sweet bell peppers
9. potatoes
10. blueberries, domestic
11. lettuce
12. kale collard green

And the clean 15: Ok to buy non-organic

1. onions
2. sweet corn
3. pineapples
4. avocado
5. asparagus
6. sweet peas
7. mangoes
8. eggplant
9. cantaloupe, domestic
10. kiwi
11. cabbage
12. watermelon
13. sweet potatoes
14. grapefruit
15. mushrooms

How do you lower your pesticide intake?

Have you been tested for pesticides?

What I have tried thus far: Ayurveda etc

After many months of graphing my progress with my grain and fructose free trials as mentioned in my previous post it become obvious that I may of experienced all the improvements possible, for this stage in my healing anyway. I would have preferred for it to cure me, but any positive changes are welcomed by me. There was still the issue of ME/CFS and although these trials made a difference, there was a loooong way for me to go to recovery. During the past year I had also tried other complimentary therapies including:

• Hypnotherapy

With a GP/psychologist/hypnotherapist who bulk billed which was great! She said within 6 hypnotherapy treatments I would be running and bouncing out of her office. It didn’t seem to happen.

• Osteopathy and Cranial Sacral therapy
• Massage
• Reiki
• Light yoga
• Yoga Nidra
• Breathing techniques
• Acceptance and Eckhart Tolle
• Acupuncture

One of my first experiences with acupuncture. The woman was a bit odd, it was a freezing Tasmanian day in the middle of winter, she did not have heating and the needles got a bit stuck. She also read from a naturopathy book the entire time and practised from a tiny, messy room in her house.

• And returning to various conventional GPs for frequents checkups and tests.

I also received from GPs a book on stretching and a free depression screening which was great. They most probably thought I was a hypochondriac.

By this stage I was looking for a new GP who was integrative, had knowledge of ME/CFS, and was supportive. I had been going it alone for a while without proper support. A new naturopath friend referred my to an Ayurvedic doctor in the city. I carried forward much of what I had learned so far, but was interested in what she had to offer as an addition to my regime and I was always keen for new tests, just incase I was not suffering from ME/CFS after all but some weird illness that you can take a pill for and get on with it.

Ayurvedic medicine

So my new doctor favoured using Ayurvedic medicine as part of her healing regime. I was once again excited to find myself at the beginning of trying something new and had high hopes for a good result.

Ayurvedic medicine is an alternative, holistic healing system that originated in India some 5,000 to 6,000 years ago. It was developed by monks who looked for new ways to find optimal health as they believed this was crucial as part of developing spiritually and meditating. Their findings, over thousands of years is what comprises ayurveda, which means ‘the science or knowledge of life.’

Ayurveda is based on the principles of the three doshas. These doshas are the energies that make up each individual, which perform different physiological functions in the body. Every person has all three doshas but when an individual becomes ill or out of balance one dosha can become more dominant. Ayurveda treats every person as an individual with treatments varying depending on the dominant dosha.

The three doshas are the Vata dosha, Pitta and Kapha. See the links for a detailed description of each and to see what your dominant dosha is. There is more information here as well.

When seeing my doctor she assessed me and told me I was very Vata dominant. So what are the main characteristics of Vata?

• When in balance Vata types are:

• Vibrant, enthusiastic and energetic
• Clear and alert mind
• flexible and changeable
• Exhilarated and excitable
• Imaginative, sensitive and lively
• Quick and acute responses

• When out of balance Vata types tend to be:

• Restless, anxious and unsettled
• Light or interrupted sleep
• Tendency to overexert, gain fatigue
• Chronic constipation or gas
• Tendency to worry
• Tendency to be underweight
• Intolerance of cold

• Vata dosha become imbalanced commonly because of:

• Irregular routine
• Staying up late
• Irregular meals
• Cold, dry weather
• Exessive mental work
• Too much bitter astringent, pungent food

• To balance Vata in general:

• A regular routine
• Early bed time, lots of rest
• Warm, cooked foods
• Keep warm
• Adhyanga daily oil massage
• Heavy, more unctuous diet
• Drink Vata tea, add Vata churna to meals (a spice mix)
• Listen to soothing music

Her specific protocol for me incuded:

• She believed I was taking too many supplements and was probably not absorbing them so she insisted we get back to basics. I began taking ultra flora restore by metagenics.

• I had to follow a cleansing, toxin (AMA) reducing, Vata balancing diet. My previous dietry changes were carried through. The diet involved:

Avoiding:

• Left over food, processed food, dairy, grains, red meat, yeast, chilled foods and drink, raw foods, dry foods, pungent, bitter or astringent tasting foods, dried fruits, apples, pears, pomegranate, cranberry (apple and pear ok if cooked,) raw vegetables, all beans apart from mung dahl.

Foods to favour:

• Warm, unctuous (oily) cooked foods
• Prodominantly sweet, sour and salty foods
• Fresh food, recently cooked
• Steamed vegetables
• Fresh vegetable soups
• Well ripened fruits
• Small amount of organic chicken, seafood, turkey
• Unrefined sea salt
• All oils
• Sweet fruits
• Cooked vegetables such as beets, carrots, asparagus, sweet potatoes
• Pepper, cinnamon, cardomon, ginger, clove and mustard
• Nuts if pre-soaked
• Basmati rice and mung dahl

• I had to do a daily Ayurvedic body massage (abhiyanga) with black sesame oil. I did this for 2 months. I had to warm the oil and pour 2 tablespoons onto the top of my head, massage over my scalp, face, neck, arms, stomach, legs and feet. It was actually really exhausting! And my hair was forever oily!

• Followed the above general directions for Vata balancing
• Scrape my tongue with a tongue scraper daily after waking
• Start the day with a warm glass of water

• I had to consume a detox soup twice daily for the first month:

Ayurvedic detox soup recipe:

1 carrot

2 pieces of celery

handfull of spinach

Pinch of tarragon, tumeric, coriander, fresh ginger, and asafoetida

Method

Add 500ml of water to a pot of the chopped vegetables and spices, simmer for 15 minutes.

You can strain off the vegetables and just drink the water or consume them if you like.

I had to drink this 1/2 at 11am and 1/2 at 4pm

• She recommended a Ayurvedic recipes called Kitchari which she told me was very nourishing and easy to digest:

This is a link to the recipe below. It is best to soak your mung dahl overnight before cooking to make it more digestable. I also found I needed to cook it longer than the recipe suggests.

Kitchari recipe

• Another recipe she recommended was a smoothie:

Smoothie recipe

1-2 raw eggs or just the raw egg yolks

1/2 cup coconut cream

Maca

Banana or berries

Raw honey

Blend well

• After a while on the above treatment she put me on a Ghee and castor oil cleanse. This was not pleasant and I am not sure I would recommend it to anyone with ME/CFS. I had to infuse Ghee with a herb called Triphala by heating the ghee and adding the Triphala, sitting for many hours. The cleanse went for 7 days. Day one I had to consume a teaspoon of the Ghee then soon after follow with a teaspoon of castor oil. Each day I would increase my Ghee intake until day seven I was consuming seven teaspoons of Ghee and then the castor oil. The ghee is meant to loosen toxins from the body and the castor oil flushes these out. It was very harsh and caused awful digestive symptoms! Put me off ghee for life!

• Whilst seeing my Ayurvedic doctor I was also referred to a psychologist to undertake Mindfulness, Vipassana meditation and cognitive behavioural therapy. I enjoyed the meditation training, it was intense though, two 40 minutes sessions a day for quite a few months then one 40 minute session per day. Personally I disliked seeing the psychologist and found it extremely exhausting, taking me days to recover from an intense hour of conversation. I would highly recommend Minfullness meditation and Vipassana.

• I was also prescribed practitioner only supplements throughout the treatment including the perviously mentioned probiotic, antiparasitic, Ayurvedic digestive herbs and slippery elm.

• I continued very light yoga and she recommended very simple grounding asanas.

• My Ayurvedic doctor also recommended yet another remedial masseuse. She told me other patients like myself have had amazing results with him. So I booked an appointment and went along to this man. For the first 30 minutes of the consult he spoke to me about my condition, told me how he believed it was all in my head and explained to me about ‘the lizard’. I can not remember exactly what he meant about ‘the lizard’, but he kept on referencing ‘the lizard’ and told me he would ask me to visualize this ‘lizard’ during the massage. I should have walked out then.. But I really wanted to see if it helped so I went along with it. The massage started off gentle and enjoyable. He began asking me deep and personal questions to evoke emotion, really intrusive, personal questions. The massage began to get more uncomfortable and rough. He would occasionally ask me to visualise ‘the lizard’ and he would ask me ‘What is the lizard doing?’ and I said uumm, ‘its in the desert, sitting on a rock.’ I believe the massage began to become inappropriate, too rough and too intrusive. And he began to say that I must have trapped emotions from a past life or that my mum had passed on problems to me on a subconscious level. What bullshit! The end of the consult I will not go into detail about, but after leaving my appointment I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. But a big lesson learnt, not to let anyone take advantage of my situation or my vulnerability again. It is at times hard to differentiate between a well meaning practitioner and a fruit loop.

The Verdict:

Overall I like the concept and practices of Ayurvedic Medicine. I believe this alternative medicine can play a role in anyones healing regime, but I do not necessarily think you need to go ‘all out’ Ayurvedic to reap the benefits. The aspects I feel helped me and that I still incorporate into my regime are as follows.

• I incorporate a Vata balancing diet which for me includes favouring warm food and drink. Recently cooked, warm food. Heavy, unctuous foods (oily.) Sweet, sour and salty foods (sweet potato, sauerkraut, sea salt.) I do not consume any processed foods. I use unrefined celtic sea salt and stevia as a sweetener.
• Try to keep regular meal times and sleep patterns, but do find this very difficult.
• I Keep warm
• I meditate 2 or 3 times daily, once or twice mindfullness and yoga nidra
• Very light yoga asanas lying down when I can
• Scrape my tongue on waking
• Start the day with lots of warm filtered water
• Oh and neti pot at times, which is flushing the sinuses out with salty water with a funky pot.

On a different note.

Meet my mad dog. Striking some poses for the camera…

Have you tried Ayurvedic medicine?

What was your experience with this?

Recipe of the week: Coconut pancakes

This recipe for coconut flour pancakes is devine! They are low allergy, high in fiber, high in protein, sugar free, grain free and full of coconutty flavour and goodness. They are very filling. I made these for my sisters birthday. I topped them with more coconut oil, my home made coconut cream kefir (which I will share with you soon) and berries. I generally double the recipe below.

Ingredients

2 eggs

2 tablespoons of organic, virgin coconut oil/butter, melted

2 tablespoons of coconut milk, alternative milk or even water works

preferred sweetener stevia, xylitol, raw honey to desired sweetness

2 tablespoons of coconut flour

1/4 teaspoon of celtic sea salt

1/4 teaspoon of baking powder, preferably aluminium free

Method

Blend eggs, oil, coconut milk, sweetener and salt together well with a hand held blender. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and mix thoroughly into the wet ingredients. Heat 1 tablespoon of coconut oil in a pan. Spoon the batter onto the hot pan making the pancakes about 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter.

Batter is quite thick, but does flatten out as it warms. Makes about 8 pancakes.

Enjoy

Audio podcasts: Primal living, Sugar and an oldie but a goodie

Why hello there.

Yesterday I found a very dated but really endearing radio interview from 2006 with Alastair Lynch, who was a professional AFL footballer for the brisbane Lions and personally suffered ME/CFS and Duncan Armstrong an olympic gold medalist who also suffered and defeated ME/CFS. Alastair is the author of ‘Taking nothing for granted’ a great book about his ordeal with ME/CFS and of course about football!

The link below is the recording but make sure you miss the first track as it is all about how sport is fairing in 2006.

Overcoming chronic fatigue syndrome on ‘talking life’

The interview isn’t at all scientific and doesn’t go into a whole lot of detail about treatments. They do however discuss the treatments they tried, how they coped emotionally and the misconceptions of the illness. It is nice hearing two high profile individuals speak about how ‘real’ this illness really is. As macho men playing professional sports, they had an enormous amount of pressure on them to just toughen up and get on with it! But as you know this is impossible with ME/CFS. They also talk about acceptance and about journaling what they did and how they felt everyday. There are also many phonecalls from the public during the interview to ask them questions, some sufferers literally in tears!

ALSO

Today one of my new favourite blogs by Sarah Wilson has posted about Nora Gedgaudas a nutritional therapist, lecturer, tv presenter and the author or ‘Primal Body, Primal life’. She is about to tour Australia to speak about nutrition and health. Her lecture focuses on the subject ‘avoiding the ‘Diseases of Civilisation” and obesity, diabetes, depression, asthma, allergies, arthritis, alzheimers, digestive disorders, hormone problems and more! You can listen to the interview with Nora here by Sarah Wilson.

The main point she makes is that our genes are 99.9% the same as they were during the paleolithic times, before the agricultural revolution when we ate fat, protein and low starch vegetables. A far cry from the modern high sugar, carbohydrate and starch diet. She obviously goes into ALOT more depth about the science behind all this, but its best you listen to the interview for a brief overview, or read the book. Enjoy!

AND the final addition is an entertaining interview from 4BC radio with David Gillespie and cardiologist David Calquhoun. Nutritionist Cyndi O’Meara and David Gillespie have gone head to head with the heart foundation to question why they do not take sugar into account when assessing foods eligible for the heart foundation tick or food quality. There is ample evidence sugar plays a huge role in the development of heart disease. Also below is a link to A Current Affair program on the same issue.

A Current Affair: Heart Tick for Sweet Treats

4BC Sugar Stoush