We often think of pate as a sinful indulgence.  It’s not.  Pate is simply chock full of essential nutrients such as:

• Iron for healthy blood
• Folate for healthy cell regeneration and protection from heart disease
• B12 for a healthy nervous system
• Vitamin B6 for healthy hormones and protein metabolism
• Vitamin A for healthy eyes, skin and respiratory tract
• Zinc for healthy skin and immune system
• Protein for growth, repair and regeneration
• Choline for healthy nerves and muscles
• Cholesterol (yes cholesterol IS an essential ‘nutrient’, without it there’d be no oestrogen, progesterone or testosterone, you’d have leaky cells and you wouldn’t be able to store memories or make myelin which protects your nerves.  If your cholesterol is high you need to find out why YOUR liver is producing more than it should.  Your liver makes 80% of the cholesterol found in your body, 10% is made in your digestive tract and 5% in your skin.  Only 5-10% comes from dietary sources.  FYI breast milk contains more cholesterol than any other food)

Try it on toast for breakfast (makes better brain food than honey on toast and most kids love it provided you don’t tell them what it’s made from!).  It also makes a mid afternoon snack with some raw organic carrot sticks. 

Most pate these days is made from margarine instead of butter, which you’ll know from previous email newsletters, makes the top 10 unhealthy food list due to trans fats and other nasty rancid fats.  Magarine is cheap and nasty.  By making your own you can use organic chicken livers and organic butter and enjoy it with complete peace of mind.

Organic Chicken Liver Pate

serves 4-6

• 500 grams organic chicken livers (you can use duck liver for a richer taste)
• 1 onion diced
• 3 slices of bacon
• 1 clove of garlic
• 200 gram organic butter
• 100 ml of white wine (optional)
• Herbs such as rosemary, thyme, tarragon, or parsley (optional) 

Heat 100 gram butter in pan; add onion garlic and sauté for 1 minute add bacon and livers sauté till opaque. Add herbs if selected. Add white wine and reduce to just a moist consistency. Let cool.

Transfer to blender, add remaining butter and blend till smooth. Transfer to glass container and refrigerate. Additional melted butter can be drizzled over the top to preserve color and help to keep the pate from forming a skin on top.

Thanks to Jo Rushton of 6 Wisdoms for this recipe which was used at our Healthy Child Workshop earlier in the year.

(Artificial sweetener: Trade Name Equal and NutraSweet)

As a natural health consultant I’m always trying to convince people to eat less sugar. But sometimes a little big of sugar is much healthier than some of the artificial alternatives.

There are far worse things than sugar hiding in your food.

Aspartame, the artificial sweetener also known as Equal and NutraSweet was first approved for use in dry foods in 1981. Its approval by the American FDA which paved the way for approval throughout the rest of the world was highly controversial. The FDA commissioner, Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes who approved its use over ruled his departments own board of enquiry who recommended against approving aspartame for use in food. Shortly after approving aspartame, Dr. Hayes left the FDA to take up a very well paid position in public relations for the pharmaceutical giant, Searle, who produced aspartame and pushed hard for its approval. For more info on the checkered past of aspartame and dirty politics visit Sound and Fury Productions the makers of the documentary Sweet Misery

Why is aspartame so bad for you?

• Aspartame is broken down or metabolised into the well known toxin, methanol (wood alcohol).
• Methanol is then converted to formaldehyde and formic acid (which is responsible for the pain caused by ant stings).
• Formaldehyde is a potent neurotoxin and causes damage to the nervous system.

Other documented effects of methanol poisoning include vision problems and problems with DNA replication which can cause cancer and birth defects. The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) classes’ methanol as an ‘accumulative poison’ as it is excreted slowly once absorbed into the body. This means that even very small amounts of aspartame can be toxic if taken on a daily basis. When taken on an empty stomach, the metabolism of aspartame to these toxic byproducts is accelerated – ironic when you consider that most people who use this artificial sweetener are in fact dieters eating aspartame laced unhealthy foods and meal replacements.

When aspartame is heated to temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius, large amounts of free methanol are produced resulting in greater toxic reactions due to faster absorption. Despite this, in 1993 it was approved for use in foods that would be heated to high temperatures such as jelly, cakes, biscuits and puddings. Aspartame toxicity is believed to be responsible for ‘Gulf War Syndrome’ caused by diet cordial and soft drinks consumed by troops that had been heated to temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius in the Saudi Arabian sun.

Some of the toxic reactions caused by Aspartame and acknowledged by the FDA include:
• ADHD
• Anxiety attacks
• Asthma
• Birth defects
• Blood sugar control problems
• Chronic cough
• Chronic fatigue
• Depression
• Headaches and Migraines
• Facial flushing
• Heart palpitations
• Hearing loss
• Insomnia
• Numbness or Tingling of extremities
• Seizures and convulsions
• Tinnitus
• Vertigo
• Vision loss
• Weight gain

Aspartame can also mimic or worsen the following disease:

• Fibromyalgia
• Multiple sclerosis
• Lupus
• Diabetes
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• Multiple chemical sensitivity
• Epilepsy

Holisticmed.com contains an extensive resource list on aspartame and its toxic health effects including work by Dr. Russell Blaylock, a neurosurgeon who has written several books on the damaging health effects of this very common artificial sweetener.

And lets face it, at the end of the day, the sorts of foods that aspartame is found in are pretty unhealthy foods at best, making it pretty easy to avoid if you’re even marginally interested in a healthy diet.

2. Soy Protein

Textured vegetable protein (TVP)found in vegetarian “Not Meat” products and Soy protein isolate found in most processed foods.

No matter what side of the fence you sit on the great soy debate, TVP or textured vegetable protein made from de-fatted soy flour is so processed that it hardly qualifies to be called a food anymore.

It is a highly processed and unhealthy food, it is NOT a health food.

If you want to include soy in your diet, use the whole bean or foods made from the whole bean – fermented of course!

TVP is used by many vegetarians and vegans to increase protein in their diet and is also used by meat eaters keen to reduce meat in their diets due to budget or health reasons but don’t want to miss out on essential protein.

According to an article on the Savvy Vegetarian website, if you’re currently using TVP or other forms of soy protein you might want to find an alternative:

• Having most of the fats and carbohydrates removed means that it’s no longer a whole food.

• Food grade soy protein was originally used as animal feed, which didn’t pay all that well. So it was re-invented as a human food, and then as a health food, which was much more profitable. Think about the price of protein shakes, veg sausage, or veggie burgers, and you get the picture

• The world’s biggest manufacturer of TVP is the world’s second largest chemical company – DuPont. This same company funds much of research and telling us how healthy and safe texturised soy protein and soy powder is.

• Soy protein is used in a variety of foods such as salad dressings, soups, vegetarian foods, meat imitations, beverage powders, cheeses, coffee whiteners, frozen desserts, whipped toppings, infant formulas, bread and rolls, cereals, pasta products, oriental foods and pet foods. It is not used in these foods to enhance nutrition, it is used emulsify (combine oils/fats and water) and add texture to food - it’s used for the convience of food manufacturers, not to make it healthier for you.

• Most soy these days comes from genetically modified soy beans (soy beans are genetically modified to make them resistant to pesticides, so they don’t die when the weeds growing around them are sprayed).

Researchers, writers and healthy food campaigners Sally Fallon and Dr. Mary Enig outline several more reasons why soy protein is such an unhealthy food in their article Newest Research Why You Should Avoid Soy

“SPI (soy protein) is not something you can make in your own kitchen. Production takes place in industrial factories where a slurry of soy beans is first mixed with an alkaline solution to remove fiber, then precipitated and separated using an acid wash and, finally, neutralized in an alkaline solution.” “Acid washing in aluminum tanks leaches high levels of aluminum into the final product. The resultant curds are spray-dried at high temperatures to produce a high-protein powder. A final indignity to the original soybean is high-temperature, high-pressure extrusion processing of soy protein isolate to produce textured vegetable protein (TVP).”“But high-temperature processing has the unfortunate side-effect of so denaturing the other proteins in soy that they are rendered largely ineffective. (23) That’s why animals on soy feed need lysine supplements for normal growth.” Nb. Denatured proteins are hard for your body to digest and often cause bloating and wind.

Out of all the foods on my top 10 Unhealthy Food hit list, potato crisps are my biggest down fall and I have to admit to guiltily indulging in the odd packet of crisps despite knowing what a shockingly unhealthy food they are, whether they actually deserve to be called a food is another matter. If I know I’m headed somewhere that crisps will be laid out to tempt me, I eat a boiled egg before leaving the house which helps to keep me feeling full and satisfied and reduces cravings for unhealthy foods.

So if you find yourself falling afoul of the big bad top 10 unhealthy foods, don’t beat yourself up too badly. Simply avoid eating them every day (even once per week is too much) and if you’re regularly eating all ten super unhealthy foods remind yourself that by doing so you’re sending your body further into nutritional debt – think of it like going crazy with your credit card, at some point you’re going to have to pay for it, plus the interest.

The British Heart Foundation built an effective campaign around the slightly nauseating image of a young girl drinking cooking oil directly from a great big bottle to try and alert parents to the dangers of feeding their kids crips. British kids consume almost 10.5 pints of oil annually if they eat one bag of chips a day.

Another British crisp fact: Brits consume a ton of chips every 3 minutes, or enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool every 14 hours. I’m sure that Australian statistics are just as bad.

Gross statistics aside, just how bad are crisps? Very bad. The oil that crisps are cooked in is heated to extremely high temperatures forming all sorts of toxic compounds. To make matters worse, the oil is filtered and reused again and again and again.

Some of the toxic chemicals produced include carcinogens such as Acrylamide as well as toxic fat molecules that are cross-linked, fragmented, bond-shifted oils and polymerized (which translates into dangerous fats, far worse than trans fats).

Some brands of crisps tested had levels of cancer causing acrylamide 500 times more than the safe limit set by the World Health Organisation for acrylamide in drinking water.

After they’re cooked, crisps are then loaded with flavour enhancers (MSG), stabilizers, anti caking agents, preservatives and colourings.

Crisps are one of the most unhealthy foods that people eat on a regular basis and you’ll be doing your body a huge favour if you boycot the crisp aisle in your supermarket.

4. Fructose and Sucrose

If are interested in diet, nutrition and health, chances are you’ve come across the term HFCS, otherwise known as high fructose corn syrup. The internet is awash with the dangers of this sweetener added liberally to processed foods and drinks, including soft drinks.

And it’s all true.

The good news is that HFCS is not used in Australia.

The bad news is that the sweetener currently used in Australia, sucrose, is every bit as bad.

Fructose on the other hand has always been thought of as a healthier sweetener as it doesn’t have an immediate effect upon blood sugar levels. This is why soft drinks such as certain Cola drinks have a low glycemic index. Fructose, unlike glucose doesn’t stimulate insulin production. Insulin’s job is to store energy, in other words, insulin’s job is to make you gain weight. This is why a high glucose or sugar intake leads to weight gain.

According to Dr Robert Lustig, Professor of Pediatric Endocrinology at the University of California, research over the last 10 years has shown that fructose is by no means a healthy alternative to glucose.

In Dr Lustig’s own words, “We’re being poisoned to death by fructose”.

He describes fructose as behaving more like an alcohol and a fat than a sugar. In fact he describes fructose as “just like alcohol without the buzz”.

You might want to keep this statement in mind the next time you reach for a glass of fruit juice or a ‘sugar free’ jam sweetened with fructose.

A high fructose diet can over many years can cause:

• Liver damage

• Weight gain

• Elevated uric acid (gout)

• High blood pressure

• Unhealthy cholesterol levels (elevated VLDL’s, the Very Bad cholesterol)

What does fructose have to do with sucrose, the main sweetener used in Australian processed foods?

Sucrose is actually 50% glucose and 50% fructose making it 100% unhealthy. High fructose corn syrup also known as isoglucos contains 45-58% glucose and and 42-55% fructose.

Sucrose is also known as table sugar or sugar.

Fructose does occur naturally in fruit, but our bodies are not designed to handle it in the amounts that are currently being ingested.

Our consumption of fructose has increased from around 250 grams per year in 1970 to 25kg in 2003. It comes as no surprise then that we’re all getting fatter as a society, despite the fact our fat intake has decreased from 40% to 30%.

Choose a piece of fruit over a glass of fruit juice and limit your consumption of sugar sweetened foods (if you really care about your health make it a priority to eliminate these unhealthy foods altogether). Also beware of ‘Sugar Free’ foods as these are often sweetened with fructose.

5. Fat Free and Diet Foods

If you’ve ever struggled to keep your weight under control, you’re probably already aware that fat free foods don’t help. A diet too low in fat leaves you feeling depressed and battling food cravings which does nothing to help your self esteem (or your waist line).

Fat also makes food taste good and if food doesn’t taste good most people won’t buy it. Food manufacturers know this, so in order for a low fat processed food to sell they load it up with sugar, salt, fructose, msg, artificial sweeteners and other bad things in order to make it taste appealing.

Fat free is a marketing gimmick based on what we thought we knew about health, nutrition and the human body back in the 1950’s.

We now know that fat is not responsible for making most people fat – we’re already eating a diet much lower in fat than our grandparents.

We get fat thanks to our own hormones – insulin and cortisol, not just extra calories from unhealthy foods. A diet high in refined sugars and carbohydrates are the primary culprits behind high levels of these fattening hormones. You should be fearing the processed, colourfully packaged unhealthy foods in your supermarket more than fat. Other culprits responsible for fat producing hormones are lack of sleep, high stress, calorie restriction diets and lack of exercise (and in some cases, over exercising).

If you want a truly healthy low fat snack, pick up an apple instead of a fat free processed and unhealthy food snack.

Now you know what the most unhealthy foods are lurking in your supermarket. Being aware of them and the tricks manufacturers, advertisers and even your supermarkets use to promote these unhealthy foods as healthy is the first step to eliminating them from your diet.

In fact it helps to stop thinking of them as foods altogether, this helps you to move past thinking of them as harmless little treats that are OK for a lunch box snack. These unhealthy foods are responsible for the current decline in our health as a society including skyrocketing rates of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, allergies and dementia.

I’d always looked at organic pads and tampons and thought “hmmm, can’t really justify the extra $$$ for these”.  Needless to say I rushed home from the conference to do a little bit of research:

The membranes of your reproductive tract are highly absorbent, much more so than your skin. 

Some of the chemicals you may be subjecting your reproductive organs to each month include:

10% of the all world’s pesticides and 22.5% of insecticides are used to grow non organic cotton.

It’s estimated that one third of a pound of chemicals is used to produce the cotton for one cotton t-shirt – how much ends up in your tampon?

The toxicity of Dioxins is widely believed to be second only to radioactive waste.

As little as a few parts per trillion in has been linked to cancer and hormone disruption including a range of fertility problems such endometriosis. Dioxins are produced as a by product of the chlorine bleaching process to produce brilliant white cotton tampons and pads. As consumers we have been conditioned into associating brilliant white cotton with purity and cleanliness lulling us into a false sense of security about using toxic feminie hygiene products.

Research shows that Phthalates alter hormone levels and may cause birth defects including altered genital development in baby boys. Phthalates mimic oestrogen in your body.

Found in the plastic and rayon coatings of pads and tampons, phthalates are used to make plastics flexible and transparent. Phthalates are stored in your body fat, which can be released when you’re pregnant so limiting your exposure before pregnancy is vital.

Choose organic, unbleached cotton tampons to protect your health and your fertility (and the health of your future children).

 www.TheNaturalHealthHub.com

Once you’ve made your own chocolate you’ll the taste the supermarket varieties for the processed, tasteless and unhealthy products they really are.

Many thanks to Jo Rushton of 6 Wisdoms for providing this recipe which was used at the Healthy Child Workshop earlier this year.  Unfortunately these wonderful workshops have been put on hold temporarily due to time constraints involved in organising enough people to attend – if you’d like to see them revived sooner rather than later please feel free to contact me.  We’re also happy to run them for your mother’s group etc.

Organic Raw Chocolate gives at least 48 pieces·        

• 3 cups of cocoa butter·        
• 3 cups of coconut oil·        
• 1 cup of honey·        
• 2 tbsp of black strap molasses ·        
• 31/2 cups of raw organic cocoa powder·        
• 2 cups coconut flour or almond meal or hazelnut meal.·        
• Pinch of Himalayan salt crystals·        
• Crushed organic nuts (optional) 

Combine cocoa butter, oil, honey and molasses in blender until smooth. Gradually add chosen flour/meal and salt.If adding nuts fold them in and then transfer to glass dish and set in fridge minimum of one hour. 

Variations:

• Roll into balls when almost set and then roll balls in desiccated coconut.
• Grown ups can add a dash (or two) of their favourite liqueur.  Did anyone say rum & raisin?
• Dried organic goji berries or blueberries mixed through make for little bursts of sweetness.
• For a mocha twist add some crushed coffee beans or slowly drizzle in a shot of espresso while blending.
• Substitute all  or part of the raw cocoa with carob powder for a caffeine free treat.

PS.  You’ll need to store your chocolate in the fridge.

I’d love to hear how your chocolate turns out.

I have teamed up with Joanna Rushton, a Chef and C.H.E.K. Exercise and Lifestyle Coach to develop the Healthy Child Workshops for parents of toddlers and teens.  These workshops are designed to help parents qualify what a healthy food is so that they can make their own informed decisions about what foods are best for their family.

Based on the principles of Nourishing Traditions and the Weston A Price Society there will be lots of cooking demonstrations, practical tips and recipes.  Joanna and myself also provide you with a delicious organic lunch.

We’ve decided to run them on Sundays to  make it easier for dad to babysit while mum comes along to be educated, inspired and nourished mentally, physically and emotionally.  Of course dads are welcome too and we hope to see lots of men attending the workshops.

 Topics covered on the day include:

• Managing your child’s behavioural problems with diet
• Building a strong immune, digestive and nervous system with nourishing foods and nutrients
• Why modern dietary advice is creating a generation of sick kids
• The Standard Australian Diet (SAD) and how to move your family to a Bronze, Silver or Gold diet
• Dealing with fussy eaters
• Coping with sceptical grandparents, aunties, uncles and friends
• The importance of ‘good bacteria’ and how to prepare your own probiotic foods at home
• Essential nutrients for growing children
• How to tell if your child is deficient in key nutrients
• Why “healthy” foods can be unhealthy
• Dealing with food allergies and intolerances

When:  Sunday 22nd Feb 9am - 5pm or Sunday 29th March 9am-5pm
Where: Levity Health level 1, 38-40 Bronte Rd, Bondi Junction, NSW
Cost:  $220 or bring a friend and save 30%
Bookings: please contact me for a registration form

For more information visit: The Healthy Child Workshop or download a pdf flyer

Each workshop is limited to a maximum of 15

Sarah Luck
Natural Health Consultant
Sydney
www.TheNaturalHealthHub.com

You might want to consider taking the following unhealthy foods off the menu if you want to live a long and healthy life . The food you put into your mouth every day plays a much bigger role in how healthy you are than your genes. 

1. Margarine

The process used to make a liquid oil opaque yellow and spreadable produces an incredibly unhealthy product that hardly qualifies to be called a food. It doesn’t matter if you start with the best quality extra virgin olive, the final product is still an unhealthy food.

Promoted as a cholesterol free and healthier choice than good old butter, margarine is the ultimate source of trans fats, which rather ironically elevate cholesterol and damage blood vessel walls. Even more ironic is the fact that margarine is still recommended by health authorities including the Australian Heart Foundation who also promote reducing dietary trans fats. Clever loopholes in labelling allow margarines to claim that they are ‘virtually’ trans fat free. Margarine is a good example of a politically correct unhealthy food.

What about the new cholesterol lowering margarines?

Save your money, you’ll be getting a dose of the very same phyto sterols by using extra virgin olive oil liberally in your diet. Most fruits and vegetables also contain phyto sterols. Flaxseed or linseed meal, nuts, seeds and legumes are all rich sources of phytosterols.

For a more detailed overview of the processes involved in making margarine, visit the Stop Trans Fats website

For more info on the dangers of trans fats:
Today Tonight Report: The Truth about Trans Fats

2. Breakfast Cereals

These cleverly marketed, attractively boxed ‘foods’ are in my opinion one of the most unhealthy foods in your supermarket.

And it’s not just me who thinks this.

According to Dr. Peter Dingle, a Western Australian Toxicologist and author of “My Dog Eats Better than Your Kids” and “The DEAL for Happier, Healthier, and Smarter Kids”, McDonalds makes a more nutritious breakfast than Cornflakes!

Even Choice Magazine agrees with me. They looked at the top 10 selling children’s breakfast cereals and concluded that you may as well have a candy bar for breakfast they were so high in sugar and lacking in nutrients. Iron man food they most definitely are not.

Besides the addition of sugar and refined salt, breakfast cereals are made from highly processed grains. You might start off with a nice healthy whole grain but by the time you’ve puffed it or turned it into a nice crunchy flake, you’re left with something your body no longer recognises as food. The process used to make the little ‘O’s, pellets, shreds, flakes and other shapes in your cereal bowl is called ‘extrusion’. The extrusion process damages the nutrients and proteins in the grain leaving them devoid of nutrients, highly toxic and not much more than empty calories – watch this space, they will be the trans fats of the future. For more info on the dangers of the extrusion process read Dirty Secrets of the Food Processing Industry by Sally Fallon

3. Refined Vegetable Oils

A diet high in omega 6 polyunsaturated vegetable oils has been linked to an increased risk of:

• Cancer
  (Escrich E, et al. 2006. Are the olive oil and other dietary lipids related to cancer? Experimental evidence. Clinical and Translational Oncology).
  (Peskin BS, Carter MJ. 2008. Chronic cellular hypoxia as the prime cause of cancer: what is the de-oxygenating role of adulterated and improper ratios of polyunsaturated fatty acids when incorporated into cell membranes? Medical Hypothises.)
• Melanoma
  (Vinceti M et al. 2005. A population-based case-control study of diet and melanoma risk in northern Italy. Public Health and Nutrition)
• Learning disorders
• Allergies
• Immune suppression
• Heart disease
• Atherosclerosis (hardened plaques in your arteries)
• Reproductive problems

A pretty impressive list for a food we’ve been urged to consume more of for the last 20 years.

Polyunsaturated vegetable oils are highly fragile and easily damaged and subject to rancidity producing huge amounts of free radicals. The refining process also strips them of their natural antioxidants including vitamin E which in turn depletes your body of valuble antioxidants when you eat them.

The only oils in my kitchen include sesame oil, ghee and coconut oil for cooking, olive oil for salad dressings and butter to turn steamed vegetables from boring to mouth watering.

4.Doughnuts

According to Carla Wolper, Nutritionist at the New York Obesity Research Centre, “When it comes to health, the only thing good about them is the hole”.

Break down a doughnut and you’re left with nothing but refined sugar and flour, artificial flavors and partially hydrogenated oil. They’re also loaded with trans fats – hello heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

Despite the fact that they’re about as healthy as a packet of cigarettes, doughnuts are increasingly used in school fundraisers these days. And we wonder why as a society that diabetes and obesity are set to cripple our health care system in the next decade.

Even if you live by the mantra of ‘everything in moderation’, treat doughnuts like rat poison rather than a food.

5. Soft Drinks

Your average can of soft drink contains the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar (about 150 calories) as well as artificial food colours and sulphites. Sulphites are well known triggers of asthma and other allergies. Diet soft drinks are just as unhealthy, artificial sweeteners like aspartame are potent ‘excitotoxins’ to the brain and nervous system and have also been linked to an increased risk of obesity.

Soft drinks are definitely not a ‘soft’ option in the junk food stakes, they increase your risk of osteoporosis, heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

Soft drink are a particularly unhealthy food for children as they are a significant risk factor for impaired calcification of growing bones – you wouldn’t dream of letting your child smoke a cigarette or drink a glass of wine as a ‘special treat’ so it makes no sense that it’s OK to give a child a can of cola as a weekend treat.

According to a report in the medical journal of Australia, “There is much to be gained by reducing children’s intake of soft drinks and little — except excess weight — to be lost”. Not to mention healthier bones and teeth.

The easiest way to stop yourself and your family drinking soft drink is to simply stop buying it. If it’s not in the fridge you can’t drink it.

Sarah Luck
Natural Health Consultant
Sydney
www.TheNaturalHealthHub.com

•  Children convert beta carotene to vitamin A very poorly and infants do not posses the ability and require vitamin A from animal foods.
• Underactive thyroid
• Diabetes
• Alcohol consumption
• Low fat diet
• Crohn’s disease
• Celiac disease
• Cystic fibrosis
• Surgical removal of part or all of the stomach
• Gall bladder disease or surgical removal of the gall bladder

The best food sources of vitamin A are:

• Butter (use butter liberally on cooked vegetables to ensure that beta carotene is converted to extra vitamin A)
• Egg yolks (Tigers Milk or a raw egg yolk beaten into soups is an easy way to consume more nutrient and vitamin A rich egg yolks)
• Liver
• Sea foods including shellfish
• Cod liver oil is the ideal supplemental form of natural vitamin A

Symptoms of vitamin A deficiencyVitamin A is essential for healthy eyes, skin, urinary tract, respiratory tract, immune system, digestive system and fertility.  The symptoms of vitamin A deficiency are many and varied but the most commonly experienced symptoms include:

• Dry, scaly and rough skin on the backs of arms and thighs.  This dry and bumpy skin looks and feels like blocked hair follicles or a permanent version of the ‘goose flesh’ you experience when cold.  Known as hyperkeratosis, it starts on the back of arms, thighs and buttocks but can spread to the whole body if severe.
• Eye problems:  Poor night vision (if you hate driving at night time you probably have poor night vision and are vitamin A deficient); Dry eyes and Corneal ulceration
• Frequent viral infections

• Parents need to be told that elimination diets designed to avoid food additives, preservatives, allergenic foods and sugar may be of little or no benefit
• The use of dietary supplements such as essential fatty acids have little or no benefit
• An “analysis” of studies shows that sugar consumption does not affect a childs’ behaviour or cognitive performance
• There is little or no benefit to complimentary and alternative treatments including naturopathy, homoeopathy, chiropractic and educational techniques.

Reading between the lines, these guidelines also state that there are no conclusive tests to diagnose ADHD and in fact there are no studies that prove ADHD is even a real medical condition.  In short, they’re saying that there is no science to support the use of diet and complementary medicine to treat a disease that cannot even be proven to exist with current scientific studies, but despite this, drugs should be the first line of treatment.While these guidelines won’t effect every parents decision on treatment choice if their child suffers from learning and behavioural problems, it will mean that many more children will be prescribed drugs due to pressure from doctors and teachers if these draft guidelines are allowed to pass. It also means that parents could potentially be charged with negligence for failing to ‘medicate’ their child with drugs if they decide to pursue other treatment options first.Does Diet and Lifestyle Effect a Child’s Behaviour and Learning?SleepYou know yourself how a few nights of not enough or poor quality sleep leaves you feeling.  Your ability to learn and retain information is compromised, you’re irritable and don’t cope very well under pressure or in stressful situations.  In fact sleep deprivation is considered to be a common cause of many workplace accidents.  Driving while sleep deprived is as dangerous as driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.Earlier in the year a study was released showing the not enough or poor quality sleep can adversely affect a child’s behaviour and ability to learn.  Sleep problems could in fact be a contributing factor to ADHD.Children with allergies often suffer from enlarged adenoids which results in a form of sleep apnoea.  Many parents report enormous changes in their child’s behaviour and learning when enlarged tonsils and adenoids are removed.  Removing the allergy provoking foods from a child’s diet can produce the same results.Children who don’t sleep well are often not hungry at breakfast time and are quite happy to skip breakfast.DietFats are essential for a child’s developing brain and nervous system. As well as the omega 3 essential fatty acids that receive all the press, children actually require more cholesterol for growth and development.A low fat diet tends to be a high carb diet by default and the types of carbohydrates that most kids prefer come with a side serving of artificial colourings, preservatives, stabilisers and flavour enhancers.  The Feingold diet for ADHD restricts these chemicals as well as a naturally occurring chemical in foods called salicylates.  Salicylate intolerance can produce defiant and hyperactive behaviour in children.A child who starts their day with a sugar laden breakfast cereal or even worse, nothing at all is going to find it difficult to concentrate and retain information at school.  Common sense tells us that this will be the case (but apparently common sense isn’t very common these days), we don’t need scientific studies to tell us that a good breakfast is essential for growing children.  The definition of a ‘good’ breakfast can vary considerably depending on who you talk with.One of the most common side effects of Ritalin in children is a lack of appetite.  These children don’t want to eat breakfast while on their medication, they don’t want to sit down and eat food at meal times exacerbating any existing nutritional deficiencies.Other nutrients commonly associated with learning and behavioural disorders in children include:

• Zinc
• Iron
• Calcium and Magnesium
• B Complex

Other factors that may play a role in behavioural and learning problems in children include:

• Heavy metal toxicity (this can be assessed using hair mineral analysis)
• Allergies
• Candidiasis
• Chemical sensitivities (to food and environmental chemicals)
• Auditory processing problems (auditory processing is the difference between hearing and listening. Your child’s hearing can be OK but they struggle to process the information they hear due to nutritional deficiencies or a history of ear infections or glue ear at the age when neural pathways are developing)

Every child is unique.  While ADHD may not be a real disease, learning and behavioural problems are real.  The one thing that every child can benefit from regardless of the underlying causative factor is a healthy diet full of healthy traditional fats. Our obsession with fats, especially saturated fat and cholesterol being public enemy No. 1 is resulting in the continued deterioration of the health of our children from the moment they’re conceived through to adulthood.  Disorders of the immune system, digestive system, skin, lungs and nervous system are reaching epidemic proportions.  While medication can produce a dramatic turn around in a child’s behaviour and academic performance in a short space of time we need to change our focus from medication to education.  Instead it seems that our government is quite happy to drug kids into submission with the very same substances that would have them arrested as criminals if they chose to self medicate with cocaine, heroin or amphetamines as young adults.Tigers Milk: The breakfast supplement for young Einsteins

• Nausea
• Reflux
• Stretch marks
• Constipation
• Leg cramps

Pregnancy NauseaI much prefer the term pregnancy nausea, many women would be overcome with relief if morning sickness only occurred in the morningThere are three main causes of pregnancy nausea:1. Low blood sugar levels (reactive hypoglycaemia)2. Poor clearance of hormones3. Anxiety1. Low blood sugar levels can be easily treated with diet. The best way to prevent your blood sugar levels from dropping is to eat plenty of fat and to eat frequently.I commonly come across women who think they are eating healthily before they fall pregnant - generally a very low fat diet (the kind we have been conditioned to believe is healthy) of lean meat, low fat dairy, lots of fruit and cereals. When they fall pregnant they’re horrified that their plans to breeze through their pregnancy on a low fat, supposedly healthy diet is dashed by nausea at the thought of eating anything except fatty, greasy take away such as fried chicken, burgers and hot chips. They feel as though their body is betraying them. In fact their body is crying out for good quality fats and oils which is misinterpreted as cravings for fatty fast foods - full of poor quality oils. Your body is built from protein and fat with carbohydrate the primary fuel source. Building a healthy baby requires a constant source of good quality fat and protein, otherwise these building materials are scavenged directly from your body, not a good thing for your continued health and wellbeing. It’s no surprise that so many women enter motherhood exhausted and run down.Plenty of good quality fat with each meal and snack ensures that your food is broken down slowly and energy from carbohydrates is allowed to ‘trickle’ into your blood stream as sustained release energy. Low fat diets and refined carbohydrates result in blood sugar level ‘highs’ shortly followed by the crash when you will feel wretched and nauseas. An ideal food during pregnancy is the humble egg, rich in protein and good quality fat including the omega 3 EFA, DHA which is essential for your baby’s brain and nervous system development. Other fats and oils to include are butter, coconut oil, nuts and seeds (be sure to soak them first) and avocado as well as the fats found in chicken and meat (preferable free range and grass fed). It’s also important to graze and eat regularly, don’t wait until you’re hungry as it’s usually too late. The nausea will have struck and the idea of food will leave you feeling queasy. Eat something small and nutritious every few hours and have something high in fat and protein an hour before bed as well, some full fat yoghurt, Tiger’s Milk or a boiled egg would be ideal.2. Anxiety is another common cause of nausea, which low blood sugar will aggravate. If you find that your nausea is accompanied by thoughts of “my god what have I done”, “my life will never be the same”, “what if my husband leaves me”, “what if that glass of wine I drank before I knew I was pregnant has damaged my baby”, “what if I miscarry”, “what if there’s something wrong with my baby”, “can we really afford to have a baby” etc then you can safely assume that anxiety is a contributing factor to your nausea. Hypnotherapy and de-stress breathing can all help. De-stress breathing can be something as simple as inhaling deeply through your nose, clenching every muscle in your body and then relaxing them as you breathe out slowly through your nose. Homoeopathy is also excellent at helping nausea aggravated by anxiety. Other actions that you can take to minimise anxiety include:

• Talk to people you trust about your feelings and experiences
• Share your worries and concerns with other pregnant women or mothers
• Get enough sleep and exercise daily
• Enrol in pregnancy yoga classes
• Remember that sometimes you may be at the mercy of pregnancy hormones so laughter is important and a great tool here
• Nurture yourself with good food and clean fresh air
• Have regular pregnancy massages
• ‘Mother’ yourself: support, love and reassure yourself that you are doing the very best you can for both you and your baby.

3. High levels of hormones is usually due to either carrying twins or a reduced ability to break down and excrete hormones once your body has finished with them. This is usually due to a compromised liver. Your liver has the job of breaking down and excreting hormones that your body has finished with. During the first trimester of pregnancy, there is abundant hormone production by your body and placenta. If these hormones are not continually cleared by your liver, the resulting high levels can cause or contribute to nausea. This is one of the reasons that detoxification is a part of most good preconception health care programs. Most liver herbs are best avoided during pregnancy but there are several things that you can do to assist your liver to clear excess hormones from your body.Correct any constipation: your liver first renders hormones inactive and then packages them into bile which is excreted into your digestive tract to be cleared from your body. If you’re constipated, these hormones can be reabsorbed and re-enter circulation. Certain bacteria can also reactivate hormones as well - so plenty of lacto-fermented foods including sauerkraut, keffir, home made yoghurt etc are important to ensure healthy bacteria in your digestive tract. Coconut oil can also help to keep a healthy bacterial balance.Bitter foods and drinks stimulate bile flow and can help to clear hormones more effectively. The bitter digestive herb gentian can be safely taken in pregnancy. Just a few drops in a small amount of water twenty or so minutes before you eat. Lemon juice in warm water can also help. Both of these will also help with any constipation too.Freshly brewed teas such a ginger, peppermint and chamomile may help alleviate symptoms, and miso soup has a reputation for calming nausea.There are other herbs and homoeopathic remedies that can be safely prescribed by an experienced naturopath, homoeopath or herbalist if the above home remedies fail to work.RefluxMost over the counter antacids contain aluminium and are best avoided. Chewing your food slowly can make a surprising difference. By chewing each mouthful of your food slowly and properly, you’ll ensure that you don’t overeat and also make your food much easier for your stomach and intestines to break down.Slippery elm, powdered bark that turns to a mucous like consistency when mixed with water is highly soothing and healing to any inflamed or irritated membranes. Mix a heaped teaspoon with a small amount of water and take directly after meals. This ensures that the healing and soothing mucous-like slippery elm sits on top of the contents in your stomach and protects your oesophagus from being burnt by any stomach acid that is pushed up. Slippery elm tastes OK, but some people find the mucous like consistency and texture makes them gag. If this happens, mix the heaped teaspoon in a table spoon or two of full fat yoghurt instead. Slippery elm is also incredibly rich in minerals and other nutrients.You may have read, especially if you live in the UK, that slippery elm is not safe to take while pregnant. This is sheer nonsense and stems from the fact that slippery elm swells when mixed with water and in the past, bark from the slippery elm tree was inserted into the cervix where it would swell and keep the cervix open with the intended aim of causing an abortion or miscarriage. Slippery elm powder taken orally is perfectly safe.Other reflux remedies to try include:

• Chewing a calcium tablet can often provide quick first aid relief from reflux and heart burn. The herb marshmallow root (extracted in glycerine) can also provide quick relief. Mix 10ml or marshmallow root glycetract with 10ml or water, this can be taken as often as required.
• Sit upright when eating and avoid lying horizontal after you eat.
• Avoid fatty, spicy foods as these can bring on heartburn.
• Chamomile and lemon balm teas are all great at assisting digestion, so brew a cup to sip on before and after meals.
• Don’t drink fluids with your meals, try to have them between meals as they can dilute digestive juices.
• Take a slow walk after meals to further help with digestion.

Stretch MarksThe best treatment for stretch marks is prevention by ensuring plenty of zinc before you fall pregnant. Zinc is one mineral that I nearly always suggest supplementing with before, during and after pregnancy unless you have lived on a very healthy diet, have excellent digestion and consumed no alcohol for several years. Zinc is an essential healing nutrient and a deficiency will generally result in increased scarring. Stretch marks are basically scars formed as skin tears if growth occurs to quickly or if your skin’s connective tissue is of poor quality.Regular massage can also help to minimise and prevent further stretch marks. I have found that it doesn’t matter what oil is used, it is the regularity of the massage that is important. I don’t recommend wheat germ oil which is often recommended due to its high vitamin E content as its bright yellow-orange colour tends to stain clothing. I generally recommend coconut or jojoba oil. The key is to massage every single day. When you first get out of the shower is the ideal time. As you massage your skin try to lift your skin up in a pinching action, this will help to break up the scar tissue of stretch marks and make your skin more supple and elastic and less likely to tear.ConstipationIf you’re suffering from constipation and taking a multivitamin or iron supplement, the first thing you need to do is check the type of iron in your supplement. If it contains iron in the form of iron sulphate, chances are this is the culprit if not a large contributing factor to your constipation. There is a very well marketed Pregnancy supplement recommended by doctors in Australia containing 60mg of iron sulphate that is a common culprit for aggravating constipation.Avoid bran and other wheat based fibres as these can often aggravate constipation and cause bloating. Instead, try linseed meal, rolled oats soaked overnight then cooked into porridge, Essene bread (made from sprouted grain), nuts and seeds (soaked overnight in warm water), ripe avocado, prunes and figs (once again soak prunes overnight or stew them first). Prune juice, especially the commercial variety is a waste of time for constipation, all it will do is give you terrible wind.The bitter herb Gentian taken before meals can also help with constipation by stimulating digestion and digestive enzymes. The juice of half a lemon in quarter glass of warm water first thing in the morning will usually result in a bowel movement about half an hour after drinking.Leg CrampsThese occur most commonly in the third trimester of pregnancy when your body donates much of your stored minerals to your baby to see them through their first 6 months of life. If your stores of minerals are borderline or low then you’ll experience symptoms of deficiency. Muscle cramps are usually a symptom of magnesium deficiency.Leafy greens are probably the best food source of magnesium but if you’re experiencing calf cramps once per week or more frequently then it’s probably best to supplement. Avoid cheap supplements containing magnesium oxide which is very poorly absorbed and commonly results in digestive upsets. Juiced greens with some warmed coconut oil stirred through taken regularly during pregnancy can help to boost dietary magnesium.The tissue salt Mag Phos is a safe and effective form of magnesium. These work best if the tablets are chewed with a little warm water.