Define Poison

Bleach.

Bleach is one of the most corrosive and deadly chemicals, yet they still sell it in the supermarket.

Bleach is a known carcinogen and is also linked to fertility issues, miscarriages and birth defects.

When household bleach is mixed with waste water - such as that in your toilet - it is found to form numerous organic compounds.  Two of those compounds are chloroform, which can cause dizziness, headache, respiratory issues, heart attack, liver and kidney damage, birth defects and more - and carbon tetrachloride - nerve damage, liver and kidney degeneration, coma and death.

If you're interested in keeping yourself and your family safe and healthy, it's worth following up the dangers of household bleach.

What is bleach?

The dangers of bleach

Why is bleach bad for me?

Of course there will always be someone to tell you how safe household bleach is, because after all, the bottom line is the dollar, but I will repeat my mantra ... question EVERYTHING.

Yesterday, I made some Fresh Mint and Chocolate Brownies .. gluten free, sugar free, grain free, egg free and dairy free.

Very rich and very tasty, but a bit too minty for me .. I will probably reduce the amount of mint in it next time.

This morning I finally had an attempt at Sauerkraut.

"Sauerkraut provides a high-density source of a wide range of beneficial live lactic acid bacteria which assist in the digestive process, produce a variety of vitamins and other nutrients, and keep harmful micro-organisms at bay. A single serving of genuine raw sauerkraut gives your body a bigger health boost than any of the expensive probiotic drinks and supplements sold in stores.

Cruciferous vegetables (also known as Brassicaceae or Brassicas) include broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard, cress, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, radish, rutabagas, turnip and watercress.

Cabbage, brussels sprouts and other brassicas offer a host of health benefits. They are high in vitamins A and C. Cabbage provides a rich source of antioxidants. Studies have shown that the cruciferous vegetables can help lower cholesterol levels; have anti-inflammatory properties; and help prevent and combat many cancers.

A phytonutrient in these vegetables named glucosinolate significantly enhances your liver's detoxification ability. It is believed that eating these foods every day will halve your risk of getting cancer.

Some of the phytonutrients in this family seem to be able to protect mucous membranes, especially in the lungs and digestive tract. They are effective guardians against cancer, ulcers and infections in the digestive tract."

Sauerkraut must be raw

Most sauerkraut sold in supermarkets and shops is pasteurised. The beneficial bacteria and other organisms have been destroyed so that it has a long shelf life, and there is no risk of the jar exploding from pressure build-up. To gain the benefits from sauerkraut, it MUST be made the traditional way and consumed raw - best to learn how to make your own.

For more information and a recipe (which is not the same as mine) go here.

That's it for my Saturday.

At 3.30am tomorrow morning, it will be exactly one year since the tornado hit our town.  One year on and still there are a few repairs not finished.  

We have a big day planned starting with breakfast at the community hall, a barbecue with friends at lunchtime and then dinner at the local Bowls Club with more friends.  It will be a big day .. although I have a funny feeling that there will be some wet stuff falling out of the sky.

Happy Australia Day everybody.

Nite all.

An Hour to Kill

I've never been a fan of fad diets, though I admit to attempting a few of them in my youth.  The most successful of them, for me, was the low carbohydrate diet, on which I lost 14kgs in 1982, and which, funnily enough is very close to what I am doing now on my own created diet, quite unintentionally.

So when I read about current fad diets via my friends on facebook, I am, from a nutrition point of view,  quite judgemental and it's difficult for me to zip my lip.

Sometimes, I really can't zip my lip .. especially when people take 'fat' completely out of their diets .. luckily, they are always happy to hear my advice about eating 'full fat' .. they are rarely happy to hear that in conjunction with that, they need to cut refined sugar!

Another fad diet was mentioned in a facebook conversation today.  The 5:2 diet.  Where you eat whatever you want, and as much as you want for 5 days and then 'fast' for two days.

I highly doubted this to be a healthy way to live, but a friend shared this ...

Eat, Fast and Live Longer

So if you have an hour to spare, it's quite an interesting doco, that takes you on a series of different 'fasting' ideas, and it's more about the positive effects it has on your 'insides' eg blood sugar, cholesterol and risk factors for cancers, stroke and heart disease, than actually losing weight .. which is the bonus.

I don't think I would try it because, as far as health and wellbeing goes, I like the way my current diet makes me feel and I enjoy the food I eat now.

The thing I found most interesting in the doco, was how your body, during a 'fast', repairs damaged cells, including brain cells .. and how they are experimenting, using mice, on the effects of fasting on Alzheimer's Disease.

Anyway, I thought it was worth sharing here.

I hoped to have some new photos and a recipe to add, but Adoring Husband came out of his procedure with flying colours, so we did some socialising tonight.

This means that I have nothing more to add and I am off for an early night and hopefully an early morning for sunrise!

Nite all.

Contentious

This is a subject that is becoming important to me .. and to vaccinate or not, is not a decision that I need to make these days, because my kids are grown.

I will never have a flu vaccination myself and I would fight tooth and nail to stop Adoring Husband from having one .. although in the end, of course, the decision is his .. but I would make sure he read every skerrick of information available, so that his decision was well informed and not just based on his Dr's recommendation, or media scare tactics.

I found this very interesting blog today, that provides extensive information regarding all forms of vaccinations.

87 Published Works on Vaccines and Adverse Health Concerns

Each one of these is linked to research information .. where you can read a summary of the research conducted, or go deeper and get more detailed information.

I recently posted an article on facebook regarding the dangers of vaccinations and three of my facebook friends (who are also my friends in real life) put a comment up, warning me about how dangerous my information was.

Personally, I believe that media scare tactics are more dangerous than my information.

I believe that too many people take media reports as law, and don't do enough research themselves, to make informed decisions about something so important as vaccinations.

I'm absolutely certain that your Dr .. the one so willing to inject you with this concoction .. cannot tell you what ingredients are in the vaccination syringe, what each ingredient does to build your immunity against infection of these diseases or flus, or what the side effects are and 'everything' that you should be looking out for after a vaccination.

All of this information is important and you have a right to know the answers.  It's your responsibility to educate yourself and know what you are allowing to be injected into your baby's or child's body... or your own body for that matter.

There is so much negative information hidden from the general public and so many lies told.

Fifty years ago, doctors recommended smoking cigarettes as a way of relaxing and claimed that they had no adverse affects and that smoking was not addictive.

Fifty + years ago, doctors prescribed Thalidomide for morning sickness, and continued to do so for years, even after it was suspected of causing birth defects and miscarriage.  10,000 children, in 46 different countries were affected before they finally withdrew the drug from sales.

In 1999, an anti-inflammatory drug, called Vioxx was released, and is estimated to have caused 139,000 heart attacks before it was recalled.  It took 5 years before it was taken off the market!  That particular drug company made $2.5 billion from that drug.

More than 60 yrs ago DDT was declared 'so safe you could eat it' but it was banned in Australia in 1987 and we now know that DDT is a carcinogen and also causes birth defects.  So, for forty years, they poisoned us, before declaring it unsafe.

Well, instead of me listing the drugs, here is a link that lists more than 60 drugs that were released to the public and found later to cause deaths, heart attacks, cancer, deformities .. among other things.

This is why it's important to educate yourself about the drugs that you are going to put into your mouth or have injected into your body.

The pharmaceutical companies want to make as much money as possible and in most cases, the money that they pay in compensation damages, is a spit in the ocean compared to the billions that they make in profits.

Governments in most countries now trust the pharmaceutical companies to do the adequate testing on new drugs before release.

Basically, we are the guinea pigs, so it's up to us to take care of ourselves.

So, if I post information regarding vaccinations or prescription drugs on facebook, or here in my blog, unless you are prepared to read the information, please don't tell me that what I am doing is dangerous, because, in actual fact, by ignoring half of the available facts, what YOU are doing, is dangerous.

... and now for something a little more light hearted ...

Here is my photo for a mini challenge in one of the photography pages that I joined in facebook.  The theme is 'Yellow'.

... and here is my photo for the 104 group challenge which is themed 'white' (Yes I know! Both are colours - purely co-incidental!)

That's my cue to go to bed.  It's well after midnight again.

Nite all.  

Seriously?! Saturated fats are good!

Adoring Husband has to have a medical procedure performed this Friday and has been put on a 'special' diet.

This is a diet recommended by a Gastroenterologist.  A qualified one.  You know?  One that went to medical school for a good number of years, so that he/she could make people healthy?

These are the meal options, as recommended by the Gastroenterologist, to be eaten during the four days leading up to the procedure.

BREAKFAST:

• Cornflakes or Ricebubbles
• White toast with honey or marmalade
• Scrambled eggs on white toast
• Pancakes
• Apple Juice
• Tea or Coffee

MORNING TEA:

• Plain scones, plain biscuits, vanilla yoghurt or pikelets

LUNCH:

• Chicken soup (without vegetables)
• White bread sandwich with chicken/turkey/cheese
• Apple Juice, lemonade or lemon cordial
• Tea or Coffee

AFTERNOON TEA:

• The same as morning tea

DINNER:

• Chicken/Fish/Pork
• Potato/Pumpkin/Sweet Potato
• Boiled white rice
• White pasta
• Apple juice, lemonade or lemonade cordial
• Tea or Coffee

In the 24 hours prior to the procedure, he can only have clear broth or clear fruit juices, bonox or lucozade.

Call me crazy, but this is an invasive procedure that requires him to be anaesthetised, so I believe that his body needs to be as healthy as is possible, with strong immunity.

This will enable his liver to filter and remove the toxic anaesthetic concoction, as quickly as possible, and will help him to recover quickly from having foreign objects inside his body.

From what I can see, everything here (aside from the sweet potato and pumpkin) is 'white' food.  White food full of gluten and sugar and sodium and caffeine.

I can't think of any other foods that could possibly weaken his immune system more than gluten and sugar.

So I decided to do some of my own research and discovered that prior to this particular procedure, people must eat a 'low residue' diet and the actual list of fresh fruit and vegetables allowed on this diet is much more extensive than that shown on the sheet we were given by the Gastroenterologist.

Every day, in every way, I am questioning the common sense of these people who have our health in their hands.

Next, I'd like to add some links to information about saturated fats.  We've been told for 40 yrs that they are bad and contribute to heart disease, but this is not the case and these links will take you to up-to-date information regarding saturated fats .. and each of these links have further links to take you to even more information, if you choose to go further into it.

Eating-fat-is-good-for-you-Doctors-change-their-minds-after-40-years

Enjoy-saturated-fats-theyre-good-for-you

Saturated-fat-healthy

Last, but not least, an old photo of me, taken in 1987, all dressed up for the Policemen's Ball.  Sheriff Roz, attempting to look mean!

Nite all

More 'do' than 'don't'

With so many stories in the media telling us what not to eat or drink, it's very difficult to determine what is actually good for us, or what we SHOULD be eating or drinking.

If you're a fussy eater, it's virtually impossible to eat a healthy, well balanced diet and when your working life brings a high stress load, then the low nutrient foods that you do eat, just exacerbates your problems.

Your hormones and sugar levels and therefore your moods become erratic and it's difficult to get through the day without feeling overwhelmed with various emotions as the day wears on and by the time you get home, you're too exhausted to do anything except grab a beer or a can of coke out of the fridge and snack on high sugar and high sodium snacks as you collapse on the couch.

If your life is busy, complex or complicated, where your time is limited for each of the duties that you have to perform during the day, plus you have to maintain a home, care for children, share yourself equally between a number of different people/jobs/locations, then generally speaking, taking care of yourself seems to slide very low down the priority list.

The trouble is, the longer you neglect your health, the more likely your body is going to break down with problems like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, hyper/hypothyroidism, cancers and even problems like headaches, joint pain and allergies, which disrupt your already full and busy life.

I was reading a story online the other day which surmised that the current generation of young people will die before their parents, because their diets are so full of sugars, chemical and synthetic additives, and are so lacking in vitamins, minerals and nutrients that their bodies are almost malnourished and chronic diseases will develop much earlier than in their parents or grandparents.

I was speaking to one of the checkout ladies at my local supermarket yesterday as she weighed and packed my shopping which consisted totally of fruit and vegetables, when she commented about how healthy my purchases were.

I told her about my new eating regime and what I had cut from my diet and she looked at me as if I was crazy and said "I thought about doing something like that .. but it means all you can basically eat, is fruit and vegetables and meat!!  I just couldn't do that!  And the other thing is, all that healthy stuff is so expensive!"

I replied "Well, yes, and so are all the medications that you'll be on for your high blood pressure and your diabetes and your thyroid condition."

"Oh God!" she said "That's already started for me!"

She is only in her late 30s.

So I thought maybe a list of 'do eats' instead of 'don't eats' would make it easier to look at making some dietary decisions.

• Chicken, turkey, veal, bacon, lamb, venison, rabbit, kangaroo, beef, fish and shellfish. 
• Asparagus, avocado, artichokes, brussel sprouts, carrots, spinach, celery, broccoli, zucchini, cabbage, capsicum, cauliflower, eggplant, onions, pumpkin, sweet potato, potato, beetroot, corn, beans, peas, turnips, parsnips, silverbeet, pak choy, bok choy, kale, lettuce, radish and cucumber.
• Apple, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, oranges, lemons, kiwi fruit, bananas, pawpaw, papaya, mango, tomato, grapes, lychee, plums, apricots, peaches, mulberries, passionfruit, figs, watermelon, guava, lime, raspberries, tangerine, rockmelon, rhubarb and any other fruit you can think of.
• Almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, pecans, pine nuts (which are not actually nuts), pumpkins seeds, sunflower seeds, macadamia nuts, walnuts and brazil nuts, sesame seeds, poppy seeds.
• Coconut oil, macadamia oil, avocado oil and butter.  Olive oil .. only used cold .. not for cooking.
• Soft cheeses, full cream milk, full cream cream, full cream plain yoghurt, greek yoghurt and butter.
• Eggs.
• Quinoa, rice, GF oats, rice bran, psyllium, linseed.
• Raw honey, pure maple syrup, coconut sugar, rapidura sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, shredded coconut, desiccated coconut, shaved coconut.
• Coconut water, coconut milk, coconut cream, coconut butter.
• Almond milk, rice milk.
• Quinoa flour, chick pea flour, potato starch, brown rice flour, tapioca flour, GF cornflour and almond flour (in moderation).
• Parsley, rosemary, basil, thyme, mint, dill, coriander, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, paprika, cayenne pepper, chilli, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper and any other herb or spice that you can think of.
• Water - lots of it.

Ok, that's off the top of my head and covers a lot!  I'm sure that I've also left a LOT off this list too. 

Of course, the other requirement is knowing how to cook .. or at least knowing how to read and follow a recipe.  I know some 30+ year olds who have never actually cooked a meal, other than toasting bread or putting frozen processed food into a microwave or conventional oven.

Think of it as a challenge!

I've learned to care about, and try to take charge of my own health because I want to be in my children's and my grandchildren's lives. I want to be around for a lot longer than my parents and I want to have a good quality of life.

That's important to me.

Nite all.

Super Walnut Coconut Oil Fudge

I made this delicious fudge today.  Instead of using all walnuts, I used half hazelnuts, half walnuts for one batch.

The other batch, I replaced the nuts with desiccated coconut.

They are delicious ... and so easy to make (as long as you have a food processor)

Super Walnut Coconut Oil Fudge

1 cup raw walnut pieces
1/2 cup raw cacao powder
1/2 cup softened/melted organic coconut oil
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 pinches sea salt

Garnish: 3/4 cup rough chopped raw walnuts

In a food processor, blend 1 cup walnut pieces, cacao powder, softened coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla and sea salt together.  Reserve 3/4 cup walnuts for garnish.

Line a small square dish with baking paper. I used a small loaf tin lined with a baking paper for one and a chinese container lined with baking paper for the other.

Scoop the fudge batter into square dish. Top with chopped walnuts, pushing some in as you go, and add a finishing layer. Freeze for an hour or more.

Chop into squares, ENJOY! Tastes amazing when chilled or right out of the freezer! (Best stored in the freezer).

All of the ingredients are good for you and they taste delicious!

Haven't had a chance to take any photos lately, so I rode down to the lagoon yesterday morning and watched the bees buzzing around the lilies.

... and that's it for my life today.

Nite all.

Nutrition

So I've made some enquiries about studying nutrition.

The Australian Institute of Applied Sciences has an Advanced Diploma in Nutritional Medicine that covers a lot of subjects in which I am most interested.  Aside from nutrition, they cover things like iridology, mineral therapy, anatomy and physiology, chemistry, clinical medicine and much, much more.  Sounds intense doesn't it?

The Australasian College of Natural Therapies also has the Advanced Diploma and they concentrate on boosting health and preventing disease ... I like the way they think.

Health Academy Australia has an Advanced Certificate in Nutritional Counselling which covers human nutrition, nutrition for disease management, children's nutrition and counselling skills.  I don't think this one is 'intense' enough.

The Endeavour College of Natural Health offers Study Bachelor of Health Science (Nutritional Medicine).  Their focus is the study of food, its nutrients and how diet affects health and wellbeing.  They specifically state that graduates will be eligible for membership with professional organisations like Aust Natural Therapists Association, Aust Traditional Medicine Society and The Nutrition Society of Aust Inc.

So, I'm still not certain that I am willing to make the commitment, and I'm not sure if my brain is capable of taking all of the information in, but my obsession with nutrition and how different foods,  and their vitamins, minerals, nutrients etc can heal/treat/boost the human body, is intensely interesting to me and I REALLY want to learn more.

I'd really like to use the information to help people and at the ripe old age of 50+, I'm beginning to understand how vitally important nutritional education is and I worry that people are so apathetic about what goes into their mouths ... just as I myself was, for such a long time, with little pockets of interest, at various stages of my life.

The media come up with a new idea every day about what's good for you and what's not and it's confusing for the regular Joe.

There is always a new study with results that contradict that last study.

So, no doubt, nutritional education will be a continual learning process.

I've had a keen interest in nutrition since I chose to go 'gluten free' two years ago, and felt the difference that it made to my health and wellbeing.

But the kicker, for me, was quitting refined sugar and processed foods.  It's been 5 months, but still, every day, I feel better and better.  I imagine, after 50 yrs of food abuse, it's going to take a lot longer than 5 months to heal the damage done to my body.

Anyway, I will continue, tomorrow, to research some more courses and hopefully, I will hear from the people who I have emailed tonight, and I'll have a better idea of what I want to do.

Now it's time for bed ... good sleep is just as important as good food!

Nite all.