Journal Tag: gut health

Free 10 minute Introduction Consults

We believe that bodies and minds thrive when given the right ingredients. We are dedicated to boosting our community wellbeing and this is why our brilliant team of practitioners offer free 10-minute introduction consults on rotation, so that you have access to expert care.

These sessions are designed as an introduction to what is possible whilst working with your chosen practitioner.  They are a great way to virtually meet and discuss your needs to see how they can help your individual circumstances, fertility and health care needs. You will , of course, be referred if they think another practitioner will better suit your needs.

With health and fertility, there is endless possibility, multiple angles for fine tuning and a plethora of ways to start to feel better. We want to help you feel your radiant vitality shining through.

Register for your free 10 minute Introduction Consult

Simply head to our bookings page, navigate to Acupuncture, Naturopathy, Nutrition, Counselling and choose ’10 min Free Intro Call’.

Note: If you are interested in fertility, IVF support or trying to conceive, please book with a Fertile Ground naturopath. For general health concerns and questions, please book with a Melbourne Apothecary naturopath or nutritionist.

NATUROPATHY

Charmaine Dennis

Senior Fertility and Oncology Naturopath 

 

Charmaine Dennis

Charmaine Dennis is a naturopath, fertility and health expert, mentor, writer, mother, and businesswoman with 20+ years of experience. She is the founding director of Fertile Ground Health Group and The Melbourne Apothecary, co-author of Create A Fertile Life and The Breakfast Project and co-creator of the Be Fertile relaxation CD series, among other health inspired projects. Her greatest gift and inspiration is making health, wellbeing, and passionate living accessible, inspiring and achievable for everyone. 

Through her own health crisis at 34 years old (a shocking and life-threatening diagnosis of acute leukaemia in 2010) Charmaine experienced first-hand immersion into the medical system.  This transformative, life-affirming, challenging time has refocused and reinvigorated her drive for good health and living life to its fullest. Undoubtedly this experience has deepened her passion for collaborative health care.

Charmaine’s naturopathic career has followed a special interest in working with people with fertility issues requiring IVF support since 1999.  She has assisted many in realising their dreams to conceive healthy, beautiful babies in collaboration with GPs and fertility specialists, acupuncturists and other health modalities. Since her own cancer experience, she can see the gaping need for more collaboration between natural and medical oncology approaches and enjoys working with people who need support for wellness and advocacy through their own cancer journey at any stage of treatment or recovery.

As well as mentoring and supervising students, naturopaths and other practitioners at Fertile Ground Health Group, Charmaine is running retreats, immersions and workshops for anyone to support their personal or business development.

Book your free 10-minute introduction consult with Naturopath, Charmaine by navigating to Naturopathy – Fertile Ground > 10-minute Free Naturopathic Introduction TELEHEALTH

 

Gina Fox

Senior Fertility Naturopath

 

Free 10 minute introduction consults Gina Fox Fertile Ground

Gina Fox is a naturopath with over 20 years’ experience. She trained under Francesca Naish (author of Natural Fertility Management and Better Babies) and has a Masters in Reproductive Medicine. As well as being an experienced clinician she is a speaker, naturopathic lecturer and student clinic supervisor.

Gina is highly skilled in providing naturopathic care for women’s health issues, pre-conception health, infertility, IVF support, pregnancy care and through menopause. She treats a wide range of issues including recurrent miscarriage, thyroid, auto-immune antibodies and she has seen good results working with men to improve sperm quality. She also enjoys the post birth appointments with mother and baby, maximising wellness for the whole family and educating parents on how to manage many common childhood illnesses. Her professional approach involves working in collaboration with doctors and specialists to create an effective co-ordinated treatment.

Gina loves to help couples achieve full-term pregnancies and give birth to beautiful healthy babies. She excels at addressing underlying stressors while couples achieve their optimal fertility. Her own meditation practice led her to become a meditation instructor and co-develop the Be Fertile series of guided relaxation meditations for women around conception, IVF and pregnancy support, which is now available for free to everyone to access and download.

Book your free 10-minute introduction consult with Naturopath, Gina by navigating to Naturopathy – Fertile Ground > 10-minute Free Naturopathic Introduction TELEHEALTH

Georgia Marrion

Senior Fertility Naturopath & Nutritionist

Georgia Marrion Free 10 minute health introduction consults

Georgia is a naturopath of 19 years’ experience with a Degree in Complementary Medicine and a Masters in Nutrition. Along with extensive clinical experience in reproductive health and fertility, Georgia is also an experienced writer and well regarded speaker.

Initially embarking on reproductive health as a clinical speciality following her own personal experience with sub-fertility and pregnancy complications, she has a strong curiosity and passion for supporting people who are experiencing reproductive challenges. Georgia specialises in supporting individuals and couples during their journey through preconception, conception, pregnancy and postpartum life stages.

Areas of focus  include menstrual cycle irregularities, endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) , pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) and histamine issues as well as male fertility and sperm health issues.

With 2 children of her own in their primary school years, Georgia can help to expertly guide you through the early years of family health issues, and enjoys treating babies and children with recurrent infections, failure to thrive, digestive issues at all ages and any challenges that you need support with for your baby or child’s best health.

Georgia also enjoys treating women and individuals during the transition to menopause including peri-menopausal imbalances.

Her clinical approach involves supporting and guiding you to optimise your health physically, mentally and emotionally using an approach blending traditional and scientific knowledge. This is based on an integration of her many years of clinical experience with ongoing education to stay up to date with new research and treatment strategies. Along with gaining her Masters Degree, this includes post graduate mentoring and training with Rachel Arthur, Rhiannon Hardingham, Leah Hechtman, Dr Andrew Orr and The Fertility Mentoring Program (The Baby Maker Network) among others.

Georgia believes that a team approach gets the best outcomes for all. She works in close collaboration with her patients’ medical care team to ensure the most effective, appropriate evidence-based treatment plans for each individual.

Book your free 10-minute introduction consult with Naturopath, Georgia by navigating to Naturopathy – Fertile Ground > 10-minute Free Naturopathic Introduction TELEHEALTH

Food Cravings – what are you really craving?

Food cravings come in all tastes and sizes. Have you ever walked past a bakery early in the morning and spied the rows of croissants in the window and found yourself thinking about nothing else but those buttery flaky pastries for rest of the day??

Or perhaps you’ve arrived at the end of a busy afternoon and found yourself thinking of nothing else but the moment when you can crack open the cupboard and dig your hand into a packet of salty crunchy crisp chips??

Or perhaps after dinner when you’re winding down, your mind becomes filled with the idea of biting into a delicious chunk of chocolate, that sweet goodness bringing you some kind of wild euphoria…

Chances are, if you are a human, you have experienced some form of food craving.

In fact, surveys suggest that up to 90% of women and 70% of men have experienced food cravings at some point during their life (Magee 2005).

Food cravings can be defined as an intense desire to consume a particular food, differentiating it from a feeling of hunger, which can be alleviated by consumption of any type of food (Muele 2020).

The Complexities

And it’s more complicated than you might think! We tend to think food cravings are driven by a primal instinct to stay alive, an evolutionary advantage embedded in our genes. And while that’s partly true, what is now also known, is that areas of the brain responsible for memory and sensing pleasure are also partially to blame (i.e. conditioned responses to stimuli), as well as a need to satisfy emotional states, such as calming stress and reducing anxiety. In other words, it’s complex.

When our needs are not being met – physiologically, emotionally, mentally, or energetically – our natural impulse is to rectify this. In other words, when we are ‘out of alignment’, we will find a way to bring ourselves ‘into’ alignment. Our brain can’t always differentiate between fulfilling needs in a resourceful versus unresourceful way, however, so if we are not aware of the ways we have learnt to ‘fulfil’ these needs (i.e. we have learnt to do something that brings relief but not necessarily long-term satisfaction), we will continue to repeat this behaviour over and over again, despite our seemingly ‘conscious’ desire to change it.

Mindfulness for Food Craving

Mindfulness, and self-awareness through sensation and the body, are some of the ways to bring us back into deep connection with our intuitive self. From here, we can respond to our needs in a more honest way, rather than a reactionary, automated way. But it’s tricky business. The parts of us that work to protect us (often formed during childhood or adolescence to ‘meet the needs’) might feel fear or hesitation or resistance to a different response, which can lead to more dissonance and contraction if we are not willing to listen and be ‘in relationship’ with them! Simply put, in order to understand our needs, we need to engage with them in a compassionate and honest way, to find out how we can support them (and ourselves) in a more resourceful way.

Stopping the Self-Punishment

As we bring more awareness to these needs and honour our deeper stirrings and get curious about the places where we are betraying ourselves, our physical body changes too. Instead of punishing or banishing the parts of us that crave chocolate after dinner, or eat a whole wheel of cheese at the party, or yearn for a hot cross bun smeared with butter, we start to notice that actually, those parts just wanted to feel safe in that moment, or connected, or loved.

Over time, as we integrate and listen to our different parts, our behaviour changes too. Learning to notice and feel what we are truly craving, fulfilling our needs and honouring our intuition leads to deep and lasting changes. It just requires deep compassion, radical honesty and a willingness to listen.

Written by Jane Holland, respected holistic Nutritionist at The Melbourne Apothecary, renowned international retreat facilitator, adored Deep Sleep Yin Yoga teacher.

Book in with Jane to understand and reshape your food story, build a healthy relationship with your food and body, and create behaviours in your life that support your healthiest self. (Jane is currently offering free 10 minute Nutrition consults to help you take action – when booking navigate to heading Nutrition > Free 10 min consult > Jane Holland)

References

Meule, A. Twenty Years of the Food Cravings Questionnaires: a Comprehensive Review. Curr Addict Rep 7, 30–43 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-020-00294-z

Magee, E. The Facts About Food Cravings, WebMD (2005). https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-facts-about-food-cravings#1

Zucchini and Chilli Pepita Salad

Zucchini and chilli pepita salad is a simple dish that I love for shoulder seasons where we are still having some nice days but the weather is getting colder. It’s still got a lot of freshness about it but the grilled zucchini is easier to digest than raw salad and the chilli pepitas give it some warmth. The lemon, dill and feta really get your tastebuds going.

This dish is super yummy as a BBQ side salad with just about every type of protein – fish, tofu, tempeh, chicken, red meat, falafel, chickpea or lentil burgers. If I have some leftover I often have it for breakfast on a slice of dense wholegrain bread with a poached egg on top.

Zucchinis are very high in fibre, which feeds beneficial gut bacteria and helps you to feel full and satisfied, as well as aiding healthy bowel movements. They are also very low in carbohydrate. All of these things are great for hormone balancing, general health and are compatible with a PCOS diet, if that is what you are aiming for. Being dark green in colour, they are a natural source of antioxidants and folate, making them great for fertility and pregnancy.

Pepitas (pumpkin seeds) add a good source of zinc – helpful for skin, hair, immunity, fertility and so much more.

Ingredients
  • 4 large zucchinis, sliced lengthwise
  • A large handful of pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
  • A pinch (or more as desired) of cayenne pepper (chilli powder)
  • Half a bunch of fresh dill, leaves picked
  • 30-40g of goat’s chevre or goat’s feta
  • Half a lemon, juiced
  • Olive oil
  • Salt
Method

Brush zucchini slices with olive oil and cook them on a grill plate until soft and browned, flipping halfway. You could also roast them in a 200 degree oven on trays (don’t overcrowd the trays or they’ll go soggy before they brown).

Toast the pepitas in a fry pan with a splash of olive oil, pinch of salt and the cayenne pepper until just starting to go light brown, then remove from heat to cool on a plate.

Assemble the salad by tossing the zucchini with the dill, lemon and olive oil, crumbling the feta on top and sprinkling over the pepitas.

What’s driving your food story?

January. The month that should be renamed ‘Try-a-new-diet-ary’. 31 days of shiny good intentions, dosed with ramped-up ‘health’ marketing schemes, and laced with a sprinkle of post-holiday guilt… One 2019 UK study * estimated 26 million people start a weight-loss diet on the turn of the New Year, but 87% (or almost 9 out of 10) will break these new eating ‘habits’ by January 12th… Sound familiar?!

The truth is, even when we KNOW it is nonsensical to change our way of eating at 12.01am on January 1st, so many people still attempt to do so! Driven by marketing campaigns, societal ideals, or the compelling conviction of a colleague who lost ‘10kg last year on keto!’, we are addicted to the idea that controlling or manipulating our eating patterns will somehow alter our bodies, and therefore our lives.

Food lifestyle changes – yes or no?

Unfortunately, these diet trends are often cleverly marketed as ‘lifestyle changes’ when really, they are just another set of rules and restrictions that prevent us from understanding our individual body’s cues and getting radically honest about the real drivers of our behaviours that determine how, when, why and WHAT we eat.

To be clear, I am not suggesting that we simply throw away all guidelines without the support of a qualified practitioner, nor ignore research and data about what foods and nutrients support specific conditions. Nor am I suggesting that it is a bad idea to reflect on what we are consuming and make choices that are nourishing and support vitality! What I am suggesting however, is that understanding the RELATIONAL aspect of eating, including our own relationship to food, our bodies, and the systems in which they are created, is the foundation upon which real and lasting change can occur. And it is often overlooked when we are making decisions about our health.

Action VS Thought Patterns

We tend to think that if we change the ACTION, we will experience the results. And while this may be true if we desire a short-term shift and have the willpower to follow the ‘rules’, it does not focus on WHY that behaviour occurs in the first place, nor give us freedom and spaciousness to make different choices in the future. Our ‘food story’ is often intricately bound up in childhood memories, cultural narratives, and familial patterns. Our body carries the impact of these stories and it is not until we are willing to explore, enquire and untangle them, can our body respond and find its way back to its most natural state of being.

Untangle your food shame

My focus as a holistic nutritionist is to support you in understanding your WHY, and to create tools that allow you to untangle and explore the stories that keep you bound in cycles of body shame, diet confusion and the mistrust of your own intuition. As a degree qualified health practitioner, I draw on current scientific research and work with you to achieve what it is you desire to FEEL, allowing you to create a safe, nourishing, and spacious connection to food, eating and your body.

Now THAT feels like a New Year’s Resolution that lasts…

 

Written by Jane Holland, respected holistic Nutritionist at The Melbourne Apothecary, renowned international retreat facilitator, adored Deep Sleep Yin Yoga teacher.

 

Book in with Jane to understand and reshape your food story, create a healthy relationship with your food and body, and create eating habits that feel right for you.

 

* source: https://inews.co.uk/category/news/health

How do you know if you have Leaky Gut?

Leaky gut – you have probably heard it before, but what exactly does it mean?

Leaky gut refers to when the lining of your gut wall becomes damaged, causing pathogens/toxins to leak into the gut and reduce nutrient absorption. Unfortunately leaky gut is relatively common, but fortunately it is something that we can heal. So let’s get a bit deeper into it. I’ll share with you WHY you need a healthy gut wall, HOW you know if you’ve got a leaky gut, and a few key HEALING options to factor into your leaky gut care plan.

 

What is the purpose of your gut wall?

Your gut wall is essential for the uptake of minerals, nutrients & water. It also prevents entry of pathogens & toxins and also reduces the loss of nutrients that you consume. If there is a ‘leak’ it can cause a vicious cycle with your health systemically, as your gut health plays a significant role in every organ and system of your body.

 

How do you know if you have a leaky gut?

If you notice any of the following symptoms it’s a good idea to chat with your naturopath or practitioner about it during your next treatment session.

  • Irregular bowel motions
  • Diarrhoea
  • Bloating
  • Gas
  • Abdominal pain
  • Low energy/fatigue
  • Constipation
  • Brain fog
  • Nutrient deficiencies

 

How do you get leaky gut in the first place?

Here are a few factors that can contribute to or reduce the integrity of your gut. Cast your mind back to the time when you started developing any of the above symptoms and see if it lines up with any of the following triggering factors.

 

Triggering factors:

  • Antibiotics
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Medications
  • Poor diet/inflammatory food
  • Stress

 

Okay, so this is all great to know. But how do you heal the gut?

Well, there are certain steps that need to be taken to ensure you are on the right path – for example see a trained health practitioner – whether that be a Naturopath or Nutritionist – this allows investigative work to take place to find out underlying causes/triggers, plus they will be able to design an individualised treatment plan to heal YOUR gut. Because at the end of the day, everyone’s gut (and health) is so unique and what worked for the person next to you won’t necessarily work for you.

In saying this there are some key components to a healthy glowing gut so here is a list of my top 4 go-to nutrients – make sure you consult with a practitioner to access high quality products at the right dose for your situation:

 

Glutamine

It repairs the tight gap junctions, boosts immune cell activity in the gut, prevents infections & reduces inflammation. It also soothes the intestinal tissue which can contribute to improving the integrity of the gut lining.

 

Zinc

Strengthens the tight gap junctions of the GIT lining which will reduce a leak of pathogens/toxins into the gut and plays a regulatory role in the immune system – which we know communicate quite closely.

 

Vitamin D

Plays a role as an immune modulator, anti inflammatory and antimicrobial agent. Low Vitamin D levels can contribute to IBS like symptoms due to a reduction of Vitamin D receptors which are found in the gut, this can reduce gut function such as motility causing bloating & digestive upset. Vitamin D also plays a role in intestinal epithelial barrier function and bowel inflammation.

 

Vitamin A

Studies have found that Vitamin A deficiency increases intestinal permeability (leaky gut), as it modulates inflammation and is an important component to the integrity of the GIT lining.

Written by Georga Holt, Naturopath.

Georga Holt is a respected general health Naturopath at The Melbourne Apothecary. Book in with Georga to improve your gut health and start  to reignite your sense of vibrancy.

 

References

Bischoff, S. C., Barbara, G., Buurman, W., Ockhuizen, T., Schulzke, J. D., Serino, M., Tilg, H., Watson, A., & Wells, J. M. (2014). Intestinal permeability–a new target for disease prevention and therapy. BMC gastroenterology, 14, 189. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12876-014-0189-7

Camilleri M. Leaky gut: mechanisms, measurement and clinical implications in humans. Gut. 2019 Aug;68(8):1516-1526. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2019-318427. Epub 2019 May 10. PMID: 31076401; PMCID: PMC6790068.

Rao JN, Wang JY. Regulation of Gastrointestinal Mucosal Growth. San Rafael (CA): Morgan & Claypool Life Sciences; 2010. Intestinal Architecture and Development. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK54098/

Skrovanek, S., DiGuilio, K., Bailey, R., Huntington, W., Urbas, R., Mayilvaganan, B., Mercogliano, G., & Mullin, J. M. (2014). Zinc and gastrointestinal disease. World journal of gastrointestinal pathophysiology, 5(4), 496–513. https://doi.org/10.4291/wjgp.v5.i4.496

Your Free COVID Care Package

We are here to help you – it’s what we love to do. This COVID care package is for you if you:

  • Want better health, rest and body-wide repair,
  • Want help with navigating the complexities of making your Fertility Plan,
  • Have PCOS and want to start making healthy recovery strides simply by adjusting your diet,
  • Need help creating better breathing and respiratory health habits to carry you through a COVID climate,
  • Are experiencing frayed mental edges that need soothing,
  • Want relief, attention and release of areas that experience cyclic or persistent pain,
  • Love to have beautiful restorative sleep,
  • Want insights into how to ramp up the health of your diet and your digestive tract
How can we help?

You may have noticed that we’ve enacted an outpouring of free things to you since the inception of COVID. We have made a concentrated effort to create free resources for you with love from many of our wonderful practitioners, to support your mind, body, and sense of connection through all the recent challenges and beyond.

These resources have felt like a lifesaver for many people who have felt disconnected, stressed, in pain, anxious and fearful with reverberating body-wide repercussions like restlessness, digestive issues, insomnia, panic attacks, breathing difficulties, muscular pain and more. It’s important that you pay attention to your health with even more precision during stressful times like these.

We are robust and resilient when given the right ingredients for thriving and surviving.

 

Your COVID Care Package Freebies

We are dedicated to supporting you now and beyond – download any and all of the freebies contained below in our free COVID Care Package. We have built all of these resources for you and will be adding to this package often over the coming months, so keep your eyes peeled on our newsletters and Instagram OR Facebook pages so that you can grab each freebie as it comes out.

It is our pleasure and mission to support your glowing health and healing always.

 

Free 10-minute Naturopathic Wellness Consults

Book here for anyone who needs preventative wellness strategies for immunity, symptomatic relief for an acute condition and general health enquiries. We will, of course, refer you if needed for more complex issues/conditions, but this is a great way to make a start toward your healthier life.

 

Immune Essentials E-book

Nine simple steps to enhance your health and resilience written by our wonderful naturopathic team.

Get instant free access and start taking simple actions every day to improve your immunity and stay well this winter.

 

Your Fertility Plan

Naturopath, Sage King, is putting together a free 6 part series designed to help you navigate your fertility journey. Sage touches on everything from preconception care, pathology screening, to assisted reproductive technology (ART) and how to optimise your outcomes with Naturopathy. Register to be notified when the series is released.

 

Free PCOS & Diet Guide

Do you have PCOS? Access this simple Naturopathic guide to get started with balancing your body through your diet. Inside you’ll receive delicious PCOS friendly recipes, detoxification details, information on how to approach carbohydrates, fats and proteins, food swap charts, as well as steps that you can take to really kickstart your healing. Well known PCOS treating Naturopath, Josephine Cabrall, has put this together to help anyone suffering with PCOS start to find the path to healing. Get your free copy of this fantastic resource.

 

Deep Sleep Yin Yoga

Jane Holland, yoga teacher, international retreat facilitator and educator has lovingly created this Deep Sleep online series in collaboration with Fertile Ground at The Melbourne Apothecary.

These yin classes are designed to guide you into your body to fully inhabit sensation, find release and arrive in spaciousness, allowing you to melt tension and move into a deep state of rest. Jane is generously offering to everyone to come and experience their first class free.

Register for your first free class and get ready for the rest 😴 of your life.

 

Free Buteyko Starter Pack for Healthier Mask Breathing & Nervous System Relief

Mask wearing and mask breathing is really hard. Why? Much of it is to do with carbon dioxide which, when understood and used to your advantage, can actually be used to improve your health rather than hinder it. In fact it can be part of the solution to many health issues beyond respiratory protection. Use this Starter Pack to begin to address your foundational respiratory health.

The Starter Pack includes 3 x 15 minute Buteyko embedded meditations and comprehensive instructions about duration, frequency, what to expect as results. Made with love by our breath specialist naturopath Carly Woods

 

Acupressure for Stress Relief

Stressed? Understatement of the year perhaps.

Download this wonderful Acupressure for Stress Relief Guide from Acupuncturist, Chinese Medicine practitioner and Naturopath, Holly Peyton-Smith (thanks so much Holly).

Grab it fresh out of the digital inbox and take therapeutic action to slay your stress.

 

Winter wellness Super Soups RecipEbook

This fabulous Super Soups Ebook has been built for you with love by Naturopath Tina Jenkins. Do you want to ramp up your Winter wellness in an oh-so-delicious way??  If so, make sure you grab your copy here.

 

Phew! That’s A LOT of resources for healthy living that you can use right now or access later as you need. Feel welcome to share it with your friends too – these resources are for everyone.

Have a great time consuming all of these wonderful resources packed full of actionable health-enhancing goodness. Thank you to all of our loving practitioners and team for putting these together for our community so quickly and with such care.

Brought to you by Carly Woods Director, Naturopath and Breath Specialist, Fertile Ground Health Group and The Melbourne Apothecary.

Winter Warmer Soups

As we start to move into winter, the cooler weather brings with it a natural inclination for warmer foods. Slow-cooked dishes, casseroles and stewed fruit are meals that are lovely to have over the winter period. Some of my favourite warming meals to have are nourishing soups.

Pea & Parsnip Soup with Basil Oil

Serves: 6

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 Litre chicken broth/stock
  • 2 cups of water
  • 3 parsnips (400gm), peeled, thinly sliced
  • 500gm frozen peas
  • Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
Basil oil

Ingredients

  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 bunch basil, leaves picked
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • Sea salt to taste
Method – Soup
  1. Heat olive oil in saucepan and cook onion until soft but not brown. 
  2. Add water, stock and parsnips and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes or until parsnips are tender. Stir in peas and cook for 3 minutes. 
  3. Puree soup with a stick blender in the pot or in a food processor in batches until smooth.
Method – Basil Oil
  1. Place garlic and basil into a food processor until finely chopped.
  2. Add oil and seasalt (to taste) process until combined.
  3. Place in a container with a lid until ready to serve (otherwise it can discolour).

Ladle soup into bowls. Dollop and swirl with basil oil. Drizzle with a little oil. 

Delicious!!! 

Written by Tina Jenkins

Tina is a Naturopath at Fertile Ground Health Group. Download a free copy of her Super Soups RecipEbook for a range of her Winter warming soup recipes.

If you’re looking for Naturopathic help with your diet, lifestyle, or a specific condition/s, feel welcome to book in for a consultation with Tina.

Hey kids! Who is that sneezing, sniffing or scratching?

With Spring upon us, treating and preventing those irritating allergic symptoms now can be a game changer!

So kids….does your dog send you into a sneezing frenzy? Do your favourite foods leave you bloated, headachy or irritable? Or do pollens and certain grasses leave your skin desperately itchy? If anyone answered yes to any of these, put your hand up, alongside the millions of people living with allergic conditions such as hay fever, asthma, food allergies and eczema.

So why does your body react this way? Essentially, your body believes that these otherwise harmless substances (animal hair, foods and grasses) are threatening. Hence, when it comes into contact with these substances, known as allergens, your immune system releases large amounts of the chemical histamine. Histamine’s job is to get an allergen out of your body by any means necessary. Some of the ways histamine does this job is by producing redness and inflammation, a running nose, itchy eyes, constricted airways, bloating and diarrhoea; manifestations of allergic disease.

Allergies are Like Onions, They Have Layers

Current approaches to allergy management centre on both allergen avoidance and reducing histamine (e.g. antihistamine medication). But why does your body think these substances are harmful and mount this response against them in the first place? Several contributing factors lead your body’s immune system to respond this way, including:

  • Inflammation within your digestive tract (where the majority of your immune system is found).
  • Damage to the lining of your digestive tract commonly known as ‘leaky gut’, allowing small particles (undigested food, bacteria and/or toxins) to pass through to the blood stream causing inflammation in other areas of the body).
  • Low levels of good bacteria and/or an overgrowth of bad bacteria within your intestine that interferes with your body’s immune response.

Addressing the Roots of Reactivity

Truly holistic allergy management encompasses symptomatic relief while also retraining the body’s immune system to tolerate ‘threatening’ allergens. One way you can achieve this is by following treatment that reduces allergy and reactivity as guided by your Naturopath. This incorporates carefully selected herbs and nutrients combined with tailored diet and lifestyle recommendations; to help repair your gut, improve your ability to tolerate allergens, and reduce your reactive symptoms.

The Ingredients That Reduce Reactivity

A number of herbs and nutrients can help you manage your symptoms of allergy and reactivity; by helping to restore balance to your immune system:

A prescribed combination of herbs that has antihistamine and anti-inflammatory actions – key to providing you with symptomatic relief.

Quercetin and Bromelains: These potent antioxidant nutrients help retrain your immune system, minimise respiratory congestion, and reduce mucus production.

Avoid processed sugar and processed fats: excess calories from these sources are stored as fat, especially around your waistline. They also encourage dysbiosis within your digestive tract.

Reishi and Shiitake: Medicinal mushrooms support healthy immune system function and neutralise allergens, along with reducing wheeze and excess mucus production.

A Tolerable Diet

Following a prescribed diet in conjunction with specialised supplementation greatly assists in reducing symptoms and building tolerance to allergens.

While you ‘rest’ from foods that may be creating inflammation and damage within your gut, this gives your immune system an opportunity to ‘reset’ and become more tolerant.

Strategically re-testing the foods you have been ‘resting’ from will determine the right amount for you in the future; so you can remain symptom free, while still enjoying the foods and activities you love.

Now is the time to address those irritating allergic symptoms by tackling the underlying causes. Building your immune system now can help you gain control of your reactivity and increase your tolerance levels, leading to a reduction in symptoms. Imagine indulging in the foods and activities you enjoy; patting your dog without sneezing, eating the foods you love without bloating, or having a picnic in the grass without itching – now that would be life changing!

Sarah Harris is an experienced naturopath with a special interest in paediatric health and wellbeing. She loves helping babies, children, mums and families navigate health challenges and stay well.

Boost your immunity to prevent winter illness

Now is the optimal time to take action on your winter immune prevention program instead of allowing a winter infection to put your life on hold. An effective winter immunity and prevention program offers you support to help protect you from the dreaded ‘winter lurgy’, minimising the impact that illness can have on your life.

The common cold is easily transmitted and responsible for most absences from work and school annually. Our aim in prevention is not merely to strengthen the immune system but to keep the body in a state of balance so that illness does not occur, or so that when it does, the illness is only mild because there is only a small imbalance to correct. This works best when we strengthen the whole person and the whole family alike, while simultaneously strengthening the immune system.

Good Bugs, good gut, good immune system

When it comes to boosting immunity to prevent cold and flu, surprisingly gut health is a key area of focus. The digestive tract is in close contact with the largest part of the immune system in the body – over 70%. It is also home to a plethora of bacteria known as our gut microbiota. Certain ‘good’ bacteria, naturally found living in a balanced relationship in the gut, have supportive benefits – stimulating the activity of the immune system and boosting our immune defences. It is essential to support gut function to help reduce your risk of developing a winter illness.

We can support these good bacteria by eating certain foods that cause them to increase in number. Food is a powerful tool for boosting gut health and can be used safely for children, the elderly and anyone with poor immunity. Here is what to include:

  • Eat a ‘rainbow of fruits and vegetables’ – colourful fruits and veggies contain polyphenols that are literally food for good bacteria. Purple are some of the strongest so think blueberries, blackberries, plums, grapes, purple cabbage, carrots, onion and potatoes – farmers markets are a good place to find these.
  • Prebiotic foods – specific superfoods that good bacteria feed on include chicory root, dandelion greens, jerusalem artichoke, garlic, onion, leeks, asparagus, barley, oats, apples, flaxseeds and seaweed (raw is better than cooked).
  • Probiotic foods – these contain live bacteria that are friends to your good gut bacteria and include coconut yoghurt, kefir, kombucha, tempeh, pickled foods: fermented sauerkraut, kimchi.

Specific strains of probiotics are demonstrated to reduce the frequency, severity and duration of infection such as colds and influenza and can be prescribed by your naturopath where appropriate.

Vitamin D prevents the sneeze

Supporting immunity is one of vitamin D’s numerous roles, specifically in the defence against infections as it improves the antimicrobial properties of immune cells on exposure to microbes.

Research supports the use of vitamin D supplementation to reduce infections. One study showed that, over a three year period, women taking vitamin D were three times less likely to experience cold and flu symptoms compared to those who did not. The study highlighted, that a low dose of D3 drastically reduced the seasonality of reported colds and flu, whilst a moderate dose virtually eradicated all reports of upper respiratory tract infections.¹

Adequate sun exposure is vital for maintaining vitamin D levels. Back this up with dietary sources including eggs and fatty fish, like tuna, mackerel, and salmon. Getting sun can be hard depending on your location and diet isn’t enough alone so vitamin D3 supplementation needs to form part of your winter immune prevention program to reduce the incidence of cold and flu.

Zinc prevents infections

Zinc has immune boosting benefits as it plays an integral role in the maintenance and functioning of the immune system. The most potent food sources include: oysters, red meat, chicken, eggs, nuts, sesame & pumpkin seeds, spinach, mushrooms. Higher doses of zinc in combination with vitamin C in the form of a supplement can be used to support the immune system and help reduce the incidence of infections.

What else? Prevention & treatment starts at home
  • Minimise dairy, sugar, white wheat flour, cold drinks and processed juices as these foods can generate excess mucous and support infectious conditions.
  • Maximise warming foods with ginger, onion, garlic, chilli, peppers, mustard seeds, sage, thyme, fennel and fenugreek to clear mucous and enhance immunity.
  • Keep warm, dry hair after washing and ensure any infections are treated with bed rest.
  • Immuni-tea (see recipe below)
Sarah’s immune boosting immuni-tea for two
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 2 tsp fresh ginger – grated
  • 1 qtr lemon (skin on)
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • ½ tsp cinnamon powder
  • 6 cloves
  • ¼ tsp fresh chopped chilli
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 500ml water

Add all ingredients to a saucepan and bring to the boil for at least 1 minute.

Strain the tea into your favourite cup and drink warm throughout the day.

 

 

By Sarah Harris,  FGHG Family and Paediatric Naturopath

Sarah is a qualified and experienced naturopath, herbalist and nutritionist with more than a decade of knowledge and practice in complementary medicine. As a mother of three children and highly skilled in providing  naturopathic care, Sarah has a special interest in treating children of all ages. Her empathetic and kind nature instills comfort and confidence when providing advice to parents about their child’s health and she works well with families and individuals to find solutions for health concerns.

 

References
  1. Braun L, Cohen M. Herbs and Natural Supplements. 2nd edn. Chatsworth, News South Wales: Churchill Livingstone, 2010; 701-710.