THE BODY IS NOT AN EMERGENCY TO BE DEALT WITH.....

I hadn't thought of it before, but yes, I definitely had anxiety about my body.  This began when I was a child when my mother (who was a weight watcher) monitored my food.  When I was a baby I rejected milk, when I was a bean thin ballet mad pre-teen my Mum wanted me to eat more, and as a teen with dance aspirations, thinness became an aim for me as much as anything else.    My mother kept negating my body changes and this focus caused me to swing between fatness and thinness.

This left me with a very poor body image, and a suspicion of food.  I loved to cook but not to eat.  Food made me bloat and feel heavy, so I avoided it.  I ate badly. I made all sorts of excuses and reasons for this aversion, but basically, food made me feel bad, so I didn't eat much, and when I did it made me (what I called) fat.

Discovering I am gluten intolerant has been a revelation.  I can now eat and feel fantastic.  I am even considering getting a stove.  I now love food (GF of course), I am eating like mad and LOSING WEIGHT would you believe it!  I had been "binding my body" just like the Chinese bound feet.  Now I am free.

The sacred texts tell us that we are given a body.  It will not change until we change, and I have.
I now accept my body totally.  Yoga taught me to accept the outside, GF has allowed me to accept the inside...... and  I encourage you that you can do the same.  It feels fantastic.   Once your body is working properly you can really forget about it.  I have the confidence now to know that my body will and can "Self Heal".  It can.  In the past I took this body anxiety for granted.  It had become an aspect of me.

Did you know that 50% of 9 year olds are dieting.  They, like me, will grow up feeling that food is dangerous.  They will not be able to respond naturally to hunger.  Parents are even photoshopping baby photos!

Recently in the UK there has been an enquiry into the Weight Loss business.  In the process the CEO of Weight Watchers was interviewed.   He admitted that they were most interested in the 85% of members who didn't/couldn't loose weight, because that was where their revenue came from.  He testified at this enquiry that  the average weight loss of WW members was 5kg, and even that would not be able to be sustained for more than 2 years (Source - Radio National). 

Your body should be a reliable place to live, and you shoud be able to respond naturally to hunger or thirst, accepting the body will change as we change and age.  The body is not an emergency we have to deal with.  

If you have some of the symptoms I have been talking about, try living without gluten for just 2 weeks.  In the first week you should feel a whole lot different, after two weeks - a new person will emerge.  Don't worry about food choices, there are heaps out there, as more and more people are identifying this as their problem.

Here is a GF recipe to tempt your tastebuds, and do away with the need for wraps made with wheat as most are.  Those that are not made with wheat are extraordinarily expensive, and I am not sure why.  They don't cost any more to make, although they have to be made in a totally gluten free bakery.

GF OMLETTE WRAP.
Ingredients:  Coconut oil, 4 eggs beaten lightly, 2 tablespoons gluten free mayo, 2 teaspoons finely chopped dill, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 100g watercress trimmed, 100g smoked salmon, half Lebanese cucumber, seeded and cut into matchsticks.

Method:  
1.   Brush medium frying pan with coconut oil.  Cook half the eggs over medium heat swirling pan to make a thin omlette.  When cooked, slide out of the pan and cool on paper covered wire rack.  Repeat with remaining eggs.
2.   Combine mayo, dill and lemon juice in a small bowl.
3.   Spread each omlette with the mayo mix, top with watercress, salmon and cucumber.  Roll omlette    
      to enclose filling.
4.   Slice omlette in half  and place on serving plate.
PS: The omlette and the filling can be made the night before, covered and stored in the fridge to be combined and assembled the next day

THE HERBALFARMACY

No, I haven't changed from GF, I am looking at the wonderful new fresh herbs shooting through the ground with the promise of spring.  Around here it has been a pretty weak promise, but none the less, we have had a few lovely warm sunny days (and the sun even showed through today).  Enough warmth that the plants are responding.  As am I.

Not content with my usual recipe ideas, this week a great GF Spanish inspired potato pizza (see the recipe on my newsletter - subscribe if you haven't by emailing me at yogafirst@netcon.net.au), I thought I would start adding a herbal remedy.  I have always been "the wicked witch from the west",   things boiling and bubbling away all the time.  My mother was good at this too.   This herbal concocting hasn't changed as I have gotten older, although not having a combustion stove does limit me somewhat..

PLANTAIN TEA:  Especially good for water retention and swollen ankles.  

This mix makes enough for three cups which you can sip throughout the day.

If you live in Woodend, there are some beautiful plantain plants to be found.  This mix contains three of my all time favourite wild herbs.  Plantain, nettle and fresh dandelion leaves.  All readily available on the roadsides if not in your garden. 

 

Ingredients:   2 tablespoons of fresh plantain leaves, 2 tablespoons of fresh dandelion leaves and/or flowers, 2 tablespoons of nettle leaves and 1litre of fresh boiled water (tank water best).  

Method:  Wash the leaves, place in a bowl or a big coffee plunger then pour over the water.  Let steep for at least 10 minutes and strain.  You can drink this hot,  or cold in the summer, and even add a little mint for extra flavour.  The dandelion restores the potassium levels which can be flushed out by many prescribed diuretics.  This is much better for you – a natural!

I have considered doing some videos showing you how to prepare the Tea, and what exactly plantain and other herbs look like.  Please register your interest if you would like me to move forward with this..

In The Soup

What better on a day that is threatening snow, than to cook up a big pot of soup.  GF of course.  Nothing is better for what ails one, than a soup that starts out with a few chicken carcasses.  And nothing is cheaper and more wholesome.  Yes, vegans and vegetarians out there will argue with me (as I would have done for 50 years), but now I eat meat in moderation and love a good soup, I can say that for me, chicken broth is a winter staple.

I thought that everyone knew how to make a simple soup, but I am asked often how to do it.  Keeping in mind you are asking a person who doesn't own a stove, I am about as radical a soup maker as you can get.  I use a microwave.

Purchase about 3 carcasses for a 7 serve soup.  Add carrots, a leek, celery and any other vege you have to hand and boil them up together.  Make sure that the water covers both the vegetables and the bones.  I advise boiling for about an hour,  in 15 minute increments. If you have a pressure cooker, an electric frypan, or a pot on top of a gas or electric stove (or even better, combustion), the recipe will be the same, but the time taken will change.

Once you have boiled up the soup, take out the bones, strip them of any meat and add to soup, and discard bones.  Then you could add a cup of rice if you need a bit more body in the soup, and boil up again until the rice is soft.  You may need to add more liquid..   You could also add grated or torn herbs, parsley for instance.  Season to taste.  Take out a big bowl of soup for you, then divide the rest into 6 or 7  (or more) larger plastic cups and freeze for later.  Fabulous, full of goodness, and about $1 a serve.  AND IT IS GLUTEN FREE.

If you take my previous advice and make your own bread from packet bread mix (Orgran).  Add seeds, nuts, yoghurt, and grated carrot to the mix and you will have an interesting and tasty GF bread for a fraction of the price of GF bread at the supermarket.  A dollop of home made yoghurt will complete the meal.  Enjoy.