Chemical free cleaning - all purpose cleaning

So as many of my readers know, since my Dad got sick with cancer, I have tried to eliminate carcinogenic chemicals from my home. I like to use Australian made natural cleaning products in my house. I mostly use Earth Choice products, because they're not petrochemically based - most of the ingredients for the cleaners (and in some cases the bottles) are plant based.

To buy these products, I spend quite a lot of money. I live with two messy teenagers, do about 5 large loads of washing a week, about a million loads through the dishwasher and am always cleaning the shower after the ferals!  If the bathroom hand basin was ever clean after they'd used it, I would have a parade for them!!

This year my husband (yup, we finally worked it all out.....) and I have set ourselves a massive savings goal. It is going to mean a few sacrifices, from really expensive craft beers, brewery trips, eating out and clothes shopping, to things like cheaper meals a few nights a week, and no more expensive cleaning products. It's a really big savings goal!!!

Now I do really love the products I use, so coming up with something to replace them, not so easy.




I have made Thermofun's lemon cleaner quite a few times now, and have found it to be fabulous for surface cleaning, especially the bathrooms etc - but I need a good spray cleaner. When I put the cleaning concentrate into a spray bottle, I find it clogs the nozzle - and it didn't quite cut through greasy kitchen messes. I also LOVE this concentrate in my dishwasher. I use it every second wash instead of a dishwasher tablet - and I find that the Finish dishwasher cleaners that I used to run monthly are now redundant.

Here is a link to the Thermofun Lemon Cleaner Recipe
http://thermofun.com/thermofun-everyday-basics-lemon-cleaning-concentrate-2/

So to make my own multi purpose spray, I started by using Thermomfun's basic recipe, with a couple of small changes (because I want it to be easy enough for me to remember without referencing a recipe.....because I hate recipes)

Lemon Cleaning Concentrate

300g Lemons cut into quarters
300g cooking salt
300g white vinegar
300g water

       Quarter lemons and add to TM bowl. Chop 30 sec / speed 10. 

       Transfer the lemon into a pot and add the salt and water and vinegar and cook for 10 mins on the        stove.

Pour lemon mixture into the TM bowl and blend 90 seconds/speed 5 (gradually increasing speed to speed 9)

Tip mix into jars and seal. Immediately do a turbo rinse on your bowl

The thermofun recipe I adapted suggests you cook on the stove as a chemical reaction between salt/vinegar and lemon may affect your bowl. I quadrupled the recipe and cooked it in a big stock pot, so it wouldn't fit in the thermomix.

So as I mentioned I needed to do something a little different for the spray cleaner. I had a million lemons to use up, so I decided to refine the Lemon Concentrate to turn it into a cleaner. Here is my result.

Lemon and Eucalyptus Multi Purpose Spray

1 quantity of Lemon Cleaning Concentrate (see recipe above)
10 grams Eucalyptus oil
150g dishwashing liquid

After making cleaning concentrate, let the mixture cool in thermomix bowl, when at around 40° (or a safe temperature to touch) squeeze it through a nut milk bag. This will remove any small lumps of seeds or skin that remain and make the concentrate super smooth.

Rinse bowl thoroughly to ensure no lumps remain stuck to the edge or are under the blades.

Add strained concentrate back into TM bowl and add eucalyptus oil and dishwashing detergent then blend 1 minute/speed 4 to combine ingredients thoroughly.

Put into jars (and label well, it looks like the most delicious lemon butter) .


1/4 cup concentrate per bottle, with warm water will make a brilliant spray cleanser, and won't clog up the nozzle of your spray bottle. This smells divine, and both lemon and eucalyptus are natural anti bacterial agents. The dishwashing liquid helps to cut through grease.

The best part is, it works out to around 7c per bottle if you can source the lemons for free like I always do.

Here is the math from the batch I made today (which is 3x the recipe) 

900g generic cooking salt .92c
900ml generic vinegar .49c

150ml dishwash liquid .74c
10g eucalyptus oil (optional) $.40

total cost $2.55

(I used home brand salt and vinegar and Earth Choice dishwashing liquid. The salt cost $1.09 so did the vinegar. The dish washing liquid is $2.49 for 500ml. The oil I use is about $8 for 200ml)

The $2.55 actually made me 3 large jars of the concentrate, and then 2 large jars (weighing in at 1500g) of the concentrate, roughly half and half.

Half the salt  .46
Half the vinegar .25
Dish liquid .74
Eucalyptus oil .40

Total cost for 1.5 litres of concentrate $1.85

I use 1/4 cup per bottle, which works out to approx 24 bottles.

$1.85/24=.07c per bottle!

To put that in perspective the brand I used to use is $3.40 per bottle.
Multiply that by 24 = $81.60

So I have saved $79.75 just on spray cleaner.

Most importantly for me and my family, we have reduced chemicals, and our house is clean and fresh.

If anyone is interested in learning how I save money in the laundry with washing powder, laundry liquid and how I even save on fabric softeners or if you just enjoyed this post, comment below!

Love and light to you all

M xx

Falling off the wagon in style

So recently I lost 6kg in 12 days. It was so easy, I just gave up sugar. All sugar. I did it after I'd read That Sugar Book, by Damon Gameau. My business was promoting a film I was bringing to the local cinema about the effects of sugar in our body, and I was psyched to jump on the sugar free lifestyle and help my body heal.  I have to admit, I felt wonderful.

I had the energy I needed for the daily trips to visit my Mum and Dad, to look after the kids and my house and I felt a vibrance I hadn't felt for years. The weight falling of honestly was just a happy coincidence. Then it happened.

My father was admitted to hospital. As I sat by his bedside, listening to doctors speak, my mind was screaming out for things I thought I no longer needed. Cigarettes, coke, chocolate, any sugar would have done. As the news from the doctors worsened throughout the afternoon, the cravings overtook me. Completely. I caved into these overpowering desires, and began a fortnight long indulgence.

I adored my Dad. He was quiet, but oh so very cheeky, and he loved me and my sister very much. He didn't say it all the time, but his actions spoke very loudly. Everyone who knew Dad loved him, his laid back manner and his quick wit shone through despite his shyness. After a beer or two, this quiet man was even funnier, and he enjoyed nothing more than a quiet beer with the fellas after a game of bowls. He was a one eyed Collingwood supporter (you can't have good taste in everything), and because he was a bit of a Working Class Man, he loved Barnsey. Most of all, he loved my Mum. They often say that the best gift a father can give a daughter is to love her mother, he did. Until his final breath.

Our final days with Dad were more painful for me than anything I've ever experienced. Holding someone's hand while they are in such pain is soul torturing. Mum and I were with him almost every moment in his last days, holding his hand, talking to him, telling him we loved him. At times, my pain was so bad I would have to take a break. During these times I needed a quick hit. Anything that would take away my pain, even if for a second. In a hospital, this is found in a vending machine. Sugar, sugar everywhere! I was grabbing coke, chocolate, lollies - the cigarettes crept back in by first night. My heart was breaking and I was self medicating with things that had worked in the past to keep myself together in stressful times.

We are so very lucky that my Dad's father, sister and brother made it to his bedside a day before he passed. Some of our dearest friends also made the trip to support Mum and I and to say their goodbyes to Dad. We were all in the room when he passed. He was surrounded by love, and his final day was painless.

In my family, I am the strong one. I'm the one who can keep it all together, for my kids, for my Mum, and for Dad. I promised him that I would look after her when he was gone, and I am, and I will continue to do so. The problem is, I'm not looking after me. The last two weeks have been a blur for me, for my family I have to be strong, to hold it together, but when I go to bed at night, I cry to the point of exhaustion. I'm not sleeping well and having nightmares. I wake in the morning and start with the self medication to attempt to fill a void that food can't fill.

I am not looking after myself at all and I'm starting to become symptomatic again. My daily pain is returning, I'm so tired and lethargic that I am starting the day with 4-5 coffees (all with sugar of course - because sugar found it's way back into my cup quickly). Intellectually I know that what I am doing is not helping, but emotionally the sugar helps. If the national average is 40 teaspoons of sugar a day, I could conservatively say I've doubled it.

A few days after Dad passed, I had arranged 2 screenings of That Sugar Film at the local cinema. They spoke in the film of the strong emotional attachment we have to sugar. I never thought I relied on sugar on an emotional level, but I obviously do. It was the very first thing I 'needed' when things got tough. As my heart broke more and more, sugar was the glue holding it together. The void in the pit of my stomach is still being filled with sugar, and for a short while after I feel better. Until I don't again. I am trying to be kind to myself, to allow my soul time to repair and I am not going to chastise myself for the choices I'm making at the moment. I am working on a plan to jump back on the bandwagon though, because this morning it hit me.

I have so many people I need to look after, so many people to check in on, to have lean on me. If I don't put me first, and look after myself - I won't be here when they need me. So I need to be ok, I need to be strong, I need to be the healthiest version of me I can be, because the one I am as I write this won't have the energy to look after the ones I love.  I need to do it for my kids, for my mum, for dad, and most importantly - for me.

So watch this space. I will be back, stronger, healthier and doing it for myself. Without sugar.


(it seems almost pointless to sign off like this)

Just Eat Real Food!!!!

Much Love,

Marney xxx

Zucchini slice

I am utterly exhausted after the last few weeks. My Dad had an emergency surgery days before Christmas, we had family from all over come in for Christmas, which is always a lot of work, we made Christmas hampers for friends, we've had issues at the farm, yesterday I had the funeral of my beloved Great Uncle and I'm spent.

I already have 14 demos booked for January and I am very aware that before I know it, school will be back. I want to have lots of readily accessible meals on hand for when I'm working during the day, and for the kids lunches. Today I decided to whip up a family favourite as well to pop in the freezer for the busy days. 

I farm eggs amongst other things.  From time to time my seconds, (eggs I can't sell) are more plentiful than others and I have an abundance at the moment. I decided to whip up a zucchini slice. I wanted it wheat free and full of veggies, with some beautiful Christmas ham and lots of eggs.  The kids don't eat meat so I whipped them up a roasted pumpkin and parsnip version. 

The Thermomix made the job easy grating cheese, milling oats into flour and chopping herbs, mincing ham and whipping eggs in seconds.  I chose to grate the zucchini and carrots so they looked pretty. I kept the ingredients simple, ham, cheese, onion (and parsnip which I hate, so I chopped them small with the onions) carrot, zucchini, herbs and eggs. 

Ingredients:- 

200g oats 

1 heaped teaspoon baking powder 200g ham (or bacon)
150g cheese

1 onion
1 parsnip
2 large zucchinis
1 carrot
1 large handful herbs (whatever is in your garden)
12 eggs

Method:-

Put oats into Thermomix (or high powered food processor) bowl with baking powder, and mill on speed 9 for 20 seconds. Pour oat flour into large bowl.Place cheese cut into 2cm chunks into bowl and process at speed 9 for 10 seconds, until finely grated, add to bowl with oat flour. Place ham into bowl, process for 5 seconds at speed 9 (or until minced to your liking) then add to oats and cheese. Add parsnip and onion into bowl and chop speed 7 for 4 seconds add this to the bowl with oat flour, onions etc.  You can grate zucchini and carrot in the Thermomix if you so desire, but I chose to grate them by hand and add to the mixing bowl.
Take your herbs and chop at speed 7 for 3 seconds, then add 12 eggs to the Thermomix bowl and process at speed 8 for 10 seconds. There is no need to rinse the bowl between each addition, as the eggs will take anything left over in the bowl and they'll be poured out with the eggs. Add eggs to other ingredients, and mix until well combined.
Put mixture into large baking dish or rectangular pyrex dish and cook for 20 mins at 180° or until cooked through.

 

Variation (vegetarian)
Place onion, pumpkin and parsnip into baking dish and roast.
Mill flour with baking powder, grate cheese, grate zucchini and mix with 12 beaten eggs and herbs. Take roasted vegetables from oven, and add wet mixture to tray of vegetables and return to oven until cooked through. 

Now that the cooking is over, and a taste test has been conducted, I am going to have a lay down on the couch and watch one of the DVD's my sister gave me for Christmas!

I wish all my readers a wonderful new year, filled with love, family, good health and real food.

M xx

Saving money on pet food

Today just a super quick post about saving  money on pet food. Our pets just like us do much better with health when fed a nutrient dense diet, filled with a wide variety of foods to give them lots of different nutrients.

Today while grocery shopping I purchased around $20 worth of organ meat (livers, hearts), chicken giblets, and pet mince. Collectively, around 10kg. I also gathered the veggies from the fridge that were past their best and some lentils and rice and some eggs that I couldn't sell. 

I used the Thermomix steaming basket to cook up brown rice, white rice, green lentils and red lentils.  I cut up the chicken hearts and liver, and minced the giblets and the lamb hearts and diced the veggies.  I even threw the egg shells into the Thermomix to crush the eggshells.  

I packaged the pet food into used food containers to go in the freezer. I got around about a months supply of food for the dog and the cat (as we also use dry food)

We used to buy our pet food from a the local dog store where our dog does puppy classes, at a cost of $15 per week (which was only for the dog). The cost to produce a month supply in the Thermomix was around $25. A monthly saving for us of around $40 - and we know exactly what is going into the dog (and cat's) belly!

We love our furry friends as much as we love our kids, so of course they should Just Eat Real Food too!! 

Yogurt

I've been super busy with family obligations of late - and haven't had time to blog.
I promised a few customers a quick yogurt tutorial - so here it is.

Yogurt is so very good for you. It's full of good nutrients, lots of gorgeous beneficial bacteria (sometimes we even add probiotic tablets to the milk) and it tastes delicious! 

The basic steps are heat milk to 90° and add (optional) gelatin
Cool milk below 40°
Add starter and mix - put in Thermoserver for 8 hours!

It really is that easy to have perfect yogurt. Every. Single. Time.

Here is a pictorial of our latest raspberry vanilla yogurt.

Enjoy

edit - I have had a couple of customers have this recipe fail.  I use a very creamy non homogenised milk with a high fat content.  If you use regular store bought milk consider adding 300ml cream to your yogurt.  With 2 tbsp gelatin it will be creamy and set beautifully.  

Milk and a Thermomix, not much more required to make yogurt

Pour  1.5 litres milk into Thermomix

Add 2 tablespoons gelatin - 20.00 mins, 90°c  speed 4

Allow milk to cool to 40°c (this should take around 1 hour)
 then add 100-200grams of starter yogurt withheld from previous batch then mix 15 sec speed 7

Pour into Thermoserver

8 hours later, thick, creamy yogurt

Whisk yogurt to mix whey and cream (if using unhomogenized milk)

Add vanilla (or any other flavouring)

Put Raspberries and Rice malt syrup in Thermomix
Cook for 10 mins at 110° speed 2

Raspberry Syrup for mixing through yogurt

Pour yogurt into glass jars, and swirl raspberry syrup through yogurt.

Cultures

My friend Jules lead me to fermenting and culturing. She is an incredible woman who has worked so hard to repair her body using the power of food. Her and I have the same autoimmune disorder, but you'd never know it with her. She also has a barrage of other health issues, but she works so hard to ensure that she is almost always symptom free.

She has helped me so much in working toward regaining my health, and the health of my kids. She has supported me over the years through many of our family's dietary changes to work toward improving our gut health. I will be forever grateful to have had her love and support, and my family will be indebted to her for a long time for the way she's changed our life.

She has taught me about kombucha, kefir, kvass, vegetable fermenting, and this has led me to looking at other fermenting and culturing also. We always have yogurt, and sourdough starters made using the finest of ingredients. We quite often have veggies culturing in jars on the bench. We love these foods, which have become part of our life.

Today I'll talk briefly about the drinks and I'll provide lots of links for you to further research from experts. If you're on facebook, like the page CARNA - it Jules page. Also Sandor Katz is considered to be one of the world's leading experts in fermentation. He has lots of youtube videos, check him out.



Kombucha.

Kombucha is a fermented tea drink which has been around for over 2000 years. It uses sweetened tea to host and feed a SCOBY- symbiotic colony of beneficial yeast. It's very easy to make, and requires not much more than making tea, adding sugar, cooling it down, adding a scoby and covering it with cloth. We keep ours in a dark cupboard as they don't like light. A month to six weeks later, we pour it into bottles add fresh fruit or dried fruit, sometimes fruit juice, turmeric, ginger......whatever is on hand.

A brewed kombucha with the scoby floating on top of the tea. 

Kombucha is a very powerful detoxifying drink. There is conjecture regarding if it carries strains of probiotic bacteria, (you can make up your mind after reading the articles I link) but all agree it's detoxifying qualities are immense.   We use it as a digestive aid, as it has been reported to help with digestive health. I take it to detox my liver and kidneys, as I have had issues with both in the past. 

Pouring the kombucha into glass bottles for the second ferment.

Second fermenting with turmeric and strawberries, and honey and sultanas.

http://www.foodrenegade.com/kombucha-health-benefits/

http://www.seedsofhealth.co.uk/fermenting/kombucha.shtml
http://www.naturalnews.com/041051_kombucha_healthy_drinks_scoby.html
http://www.culturesforhealth.com/water-kefir-versus_kombucha-tea

Water Kefir.

Water kefir is a probiotic beverage made with water kefir grains. Water kefir grains consist of bacteria and yeast existing in a symbiotic relationship. The term kefir grains describes the look of the culture only.  The grains are fed from the sugar in the water, and a second ferment (after the grains are removed) using fruit or juice makes the drink sweet and palatable.  This link shows the 57 strains of bacteria found in water kefir.  http://www.culturesforhealth.com/water-kefir-grains-composition-bacteria-yeast These strains are known to be beneficial with a myriad of health concerns, ranging from cancer, to autism to autoimmune illnesses. The great thing about water kefir is you get a new batch every couple of days. 

The front bottle is the first ferment, you can see the grains at the bottom of the bottle. The two bottles behind are second ferments using fruit. They are going to lightly carbonate. 

A lovely fizzy apricot water kefir. 

http://www.modernalternativehealth.com/2013/07/25/the-health-benefits-of-water-kefir-and-how-to-make-it/
http://www.growyouthful.com/recipes/water-kefir.php
http://nourishedkitchen.com/water-kefir/
http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2011/04/how-to-make-water-kefir.html

Milk Kefir.

Milk kefir isn't a favourite in our house. We don't love the taste. So I hide it, in smoothies usually. I really want the kids to have it, as it is the cultured drink that contains the most beneficial probiotic strains. It is super easy to make, just adding grains to milk, and culturing it a couple of days - and it has so much goodness in it.

Here are the strains http://www.culturesforhealth.com/milk-kefir-grains-composition-bacteria-yeast in your milk kefir.

Milk Kefir. The bottle on the left has the grains in it, the one on the right
is from the last batch. It'll go into a smoothie. 

http://www.growyouthful.com/recipes/kefir.php

http://www.kefir.net/kefir-benefits/
http://www.benefitsofkefir.com/probiotic-benefits-of-milk-kefir-and-water-kefir/
http://products.mercola.com/body-ecology/kefir.htm
http://www.naturalnews.com/024477_kefir_bacteria_probiotics.html

Yeast and milk kefir sourdough starter.

We use milk kefir in our sourdough starter. It's basically bread yeast, milk kefir, bread flour and water. We let it culture for a few days on the bench, then use it in place of yeast in our bread. It gives a delicious sourdough taste. The yeast and most of the bacteria is killed off in the cooking process, but gee it tastes good.

Our 'fermentation station' on the kitchen bench. We always have something brewing up.

Here are a few more links to more fermenting information.

http://www.changinghabits.com.au/probiotics-and-fermented-foods
http://www.wildfermentation.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i77hU3zR-fQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmDtbvRZnw4

As I said, I'm no expert - and as with all our kitchen adventures, this is trial and error too. I do know how much better we feel when we take these beautiful things. Live cultures really make a difference to your health.


As always, enjoy your kitchen adventures - and just eat real foods.

Marney x

My story - and why we live the way we do.

This morning I read, correlation doesn't equate to causation.
The scientific part of my brain knows this to be true - but sometimes, you only have your own empirical evidence to rely on. Sometimes that is all the proof you need.

This is my story. It is based on my own empirical observations and 'experiments' into improving our family's health.  I am not telling my story in an attempt to persuade anyone to alter their family's current health treatments. I am just telling the story to show the way our family has dealt with health issues. I'm telling this story, to empower mothers to study, research and learn as much as they can about how to ensure your kids have the best shot at health.

I have 2 kids. Both on the Autism Spectrum.

My son was really healthy, he never cried, never was sick, may have taken antibiotics 3 times in his life. He had his tonsils out at age 2, and has never had any major health issues. He is now almost 14, and rarely misses school due to illness, and reported his very first headache to me at age 12 (which was part of a virus). He is a normal healthy child.

My daughter is the polar opposite. It honestly feels like she was born to be sick. She was born so congested she couldn't feed. I had to express into a syringe to feed her. She was diagnosed with failure to thrive within weeks of birth, she always had a cold, a runny nose and she ended up in the 2% for weight. She was scarily thin, and I had no idea what to do.

She cried 18 hours a day. 18 FRIGGIN' HOURS A DAY - for around 12-18 months. By the age of 12 months old, she'd had at least 6 courses of antibiotics. By age 3, she'd had 10 burst ear drums from severe infections despite having 2 lots of grommets. She's had her tonsils and adenoids out before her second birthday.

By age 10, she'd had 6 sets of grommets. 27 (yes TWENTY SEVEN) burst ear drums.  She had also had over 50 courses of antibiotics. She's had 5 myringoplasty surgeries, one which involved cutting of her entire ear to try to repair the damage caused by the grommets. She had a canalplasty, which involved boring out her ear canal for better surgical visibility for future surgeries. Every surgery involved more antibiotics, and longer courses of them as she became resistant. Recently, an audiologist put a fibre optic camera in her ears to show us the damage. Her entire ear drum is scar tissue. She'll probably never have normal hearing.

She missed at least 10 weeks of school a year, sometimes 12. Considering a school year is 40 weeks, it meant she missed a lot of school. She is in grade 6 and has missed more than a full year and a half of school. We are very fortunate that she is an incredibly intelligent girl, as it hasn't affected her and she is an amazing student - but an average student would have suffered with their learning!

Around age 10, I had to take her to the pediatrician (again) as it seemed she'd developed allergies. After testing we discovered a lot of allergies. Ranging from dust mites to grasses. We were advised to do drop therapy that would have cost us around $10,000, pull the carpet out of her room, paint the house with mold proof paint. Keep her indoors in spring, and give her high dose antihistamines every day for the rest of her life.

She also had constant stomach pains for several years. Debilitating cramps that had her in tears. The GP's always put it to a glandular issue that was linked to her constant ear, nose, throat, chest and urinary tract infections. I told the pediatrician I suspected she had a wheat intolerance. He told me that if you didn't have an actual allergy - you had nothing and that 'food intolerances' were a way for overprotective mothers to control their children. He proceeded to tell me food had nothing to do with her health issues. He suspected she had an immune disease.  He then ordered blood tests for every immune disease under the sun.  That was the last time my children saw  a pediatrician.

I didn't know what to do next. I was sure that she had a food intolerance. She would get cramps within half an hour of eating bread. Sometimes she'd be in tears.  I decided to take her off all wheat. Within 2 weeks, all the pain had stopped. Completely.  I was cynical about naturopaths, after having taken her to one as an infant only to discover she was a dud. I knew I had to do something different though, so I decided to give another one a shot.

It was an interesting experience for me, taking my child to a naturopath. I by nature believe in science. At uni, I studied a Bachelor of Science,  data, research methodology and empirical evidence are important to me - they're what I know. How my brain works.  I will admit, taking her to that office I was the biggest cynic about naturopathy. I had already been burned once, and I was chastising myself for even booking an appointment.  When he started a physiospect I can tell you my cynicism was escalated to a point it's never seen.

I was quite withholding with information, as I wanted him to tell me what was wrong - and I wanted this physiospect to prove itself to me! Without going into to much personal detail, I'll tell you that after about 40 minutes I believed unequivocally in this machine. The naturopath was able to tell me in detail every health ailment that my child had. The most troubling was the state of inflammation in her gut and her head. There were cells in her gut that were pre-cancerous. At age 10!  He put her on some supplements, and together we changed her diet.

The supplements she was on managed to really help her start to regain her health. She had 16 warts under her feet, which doctors had tried in vain to dry ice off numerous times. They went away completely within 2 weeks. They have not returned 3 years later. We worked really, really hard on her diet. We eliminated dairy, wheat, many grains, fruits and all nightshades. Her diet was so very restricted, and it was really, really hard. Fortunately, with all the research I'd done, I was confident she'd be able to tolerate all of these foods when we got rid of her inflammation issues.

Around this time, I was accepted into the Australian College of Natural Therapies and Endeavour College to study Nutritional Medicine. I was so happy - I was going to use the power of food to heal my daughter (and my own fibromyalgia and depression) completely. This was the time I found out my Dad had cancer. My world collapsed. I knew I couldn't leave my family at this time, I didn't want to take my babies to the city so I didn't accept either place. I always decided I'd go back to my study at some point. To date, I haven't. I'm not sure I will now, because I am more interested in preventative healthcare using food as medicine. I think Hippocrates was onto something!

I can honestly say, I haven't stopped studying. Every day I am still looking for answers, for ways that food can help to give us optimal health. All of us are doing great now. Each of us has done elimination diets, based on our own body's needs. Each of us knows the foods that will inflame us, the foods that heal us. We all self monitor and regulate. We listen to our bodies. We are getting healthier by the day. My son and I have lost weight, everyone has more energy. All of us have less illness.

My daughter had one more surgery after we changed our healthcare from the allopathic system to a holistic system. It was in an attempt to repair the eardrums further - another myringoplasty surgery (to fix holes left in the eardrums from grommets). We didn't give her antibiotics after the surgery. We gave her a supplement. She healed faster, and didn't get sick. She has only had ONE course of antibiotics in almost 3 years. For her, this feels like a miracle.  I can't actually begin to describe the changes in her. Her medically diagnosed allergies seem to have gone away. Her inflammation levels are very low. She's replacing the gut bacteria with probiotics. She can eat the foods that cause her inflammation (in small quantities) without pain. She is happy. She is healthy.

As a parent, knowing the things I know now I would never have done things the way I did. I wouldn't have let her have all the antibiotics I did. I just didn't know. I didn't know they kill all the beneficial bacteria our bodies need to thrive. I didn't know that the beneficial bacteria in our gut protect us from allergens. I didn't know the food I was putting into my daugther was making her sick.  I can't change the past, as much as I'd like to, I refuse to chastise myself for choices I made before I knew any better. All I can do now, is learn as much as I can, and try as many 'experiments' as I can to improve my families health.

I see friends travelling the same path with their kids. I just want to give them a big hug. I know how hard it is to constantly feel sick. To be so tired you can barely cope. To constantly take time off work to look after sick kids (to the point I didn't work for years, as it was impossible to get months a year off to look after a sick child). I don't know how to help them. I do know, maybe, if I share my story - their kids won't suffer the way my kid did.  We are so dependent on allopathic medicine - we believe there is a pill for every ill. We've forgotten to listen to our bodies, to nourish and protect them. If my story helps just one mother to empower herself to change her child's health, then I'm a happy lady.

I can't tell everyone to stop using a doctor, or to change to a naturopath or holistic practitioner. But I can tell them that the power of food is something that is so important. It has the power to heal.

So my story ends here - with correlation and causation. Perhaps the correlation between us changing to a holistic approach and my child's improved health mean nothing. They don't prove causation. Scientifically speaking there is no proof that changing treatments caused her to become well. But as a Mother, I don't care. My child is well, my family is healthier and that is all the proof I need.


So, just eat real food!!

Much love - Marney xxx

P.S - comments always welcome! I'm really interested to know your thoughts.


Edit:  She also had 'hereditary Asthma'. For years she had steroids daily, as well as massive quantities of Ventolin. I was told given the strong family prevalence of asthma on both sides of the family that it was genetic, and inevitable. She would have it for life. She would require medication for it for life. She hasn't taken any asthma medication for over 3 years. She hasn't had a single asthmatic episode for over 3 years.  (Her history is so long, I honestly forget to mention things - but Asthma is a biggie hence the edit).