Green is quite possibly my favorite colour to eat. I make sure I over load my plate (or blender) at breakfast, lunch and dinner with as much greenery as I possible can. But a bowl of steamed greens for breaky doesn’t really entice me. However, a superfood green smoothie excites the pants off me!
Here are 5 reasons why you should add spirulina into your diet:
- Spirulina boosts your immune system.
- Helps protect against cancer.
- Controls high blood pressure and cholesterol.
- Ease’s the effects of allergies.
- Contains all the essential amino acids and minerals your body needs.
Spirulina is one of natures near perfect foods. But the best thing about Spirulina is its rich protein content. It contains more protein than chicken or beef proving it to be an excellent source of protein for vegetarians.
Spirulina is a superfood that you can easily add into your morning smoothie. Give it a go to make sure you are reaping all the amazing benefits this miracle plant has to offer.
Have you tried spirulina before? If so, how do you add it into your life?
This week’s Friday Friend is twenty-one-year-old Ashleigh Jensen. I have had the pleasure of connecting with Ashleigh over the last few months and feel so lucky our paths have crossed.
Ashleigh is currently a receptionist but she is studying at IIN to become a health coach (like moi!).
Ashleigh describes herself as energetic and independent. She left home at sixteen to “do her own thing.” She lifeguarded and taught surfing in San Diego for almost a year. Then she lived with an amazing Hollywood family whom she had met on the beach. Two months later, she was living on rice and beans in Costa Rica running her own little surf school with some abandoned surfboards she had found.
Ashleigh has always had a passion for health, the gym, fresh food and the ocean. Now, she is in Brisbane ready for her next exciting adventure to begin!
When she was in high school, Ashleigh lived on shaved turkey and lettuce so she could pursue a modeling career. After a rough patch, she realised what she was doing to her body and decided she had to start loving herself. Her blog Wholesome-Living was created to inspire people to enjoy all the amazing food they already love but at the same time enjoy it with a lot less guilt and feel great from the inside out! Her goal is to inspire and support people to live their best life and not to fear food but rather let it assist them with living the awesome life they dream about. She wants to get back to the kitchen to create new recipes to share on her blog.
Ashleigh has enrolled to study nutrition next year to get another perspective on the industry and expand her knowledge.
Ashleigh’s biggest teacher to date is travel. She says, “The knowledge and eye opening the world has given me through my privilege of being able to travel is invaluable to me.” She has also learned from the people she has met during her travels from third world countries to traditional Japanese families, Middle Eastern and European culture right through to her family back home. They have all played a major role in who she is today and what inspires her every morning. She adds, “Those long flights reading Shakti Gawain, Louise Hay & Anthea Paul have definitely played a huge part.”
Connect with Ashleigh:
Self-love is the love of oneself.
As noted in Wikipedia: “In 1956 psychologist and social philosopher Erich Fromm proposed that loving oneself is different from being arrogant, conceited or egocentric. He proposed that loving oneself means caring about oneself, taking responsibility for oneself, respecting oneself, and knowing oneself (e.g., being realistic and honest about one’s strengths and weaknesses). He proposed, further, that in order to be able to truly love another person, a person needs first to love oneself in this way.”
I believe that self-love is at the core of every choice and action we make.
How much self-love we have is demonstrated in our choices and actions. If 10 were the maximum on the self-love scale, mine used to be around the 3 mark. Life was a struggle and so was looking in the mirror. I hated what I saw. I loathed it! Every single day was a battle. Now, I am overflowing with self-love. I come first! I make sure my-self-love is overflowing so that I can give to others. I have my dream job: Helping people fall back in love with themselves. I couldn’t be happier. If I am not overflowing with self-love, how am I meant to give to anyone else?
Like factoring in an hour every morning to move my body in a loving way, I also factor in self-love ‘me time’ every single day.
Here is what I do to make sure my self-love is going off the self-love scale.
- I meditate, journal, do angle cards, and write in my gratitude journal as soon as I wake up.
- I fuel my body with only loving, organic, nourishing food and clean water.
- I quit eating sugar.
- I dry body brush.
- I take an afternoon nature walk.
- I move my body in a loving way.
- I sip on cups of organic herbal tea.
- I turn off my computer at 6 p.m.
- I get into bed at 9:30 p.m. to read and meditate.
- I stop in the middle of the day to ponder, reconnect, and check in with myself.
I love giving you the chance to up the ante on self-love. So, I am giving away one pack of Self-love cards + a bottle of self-love alchemical oil from Sacred Self.
To enter:
+ Subscribe to my newsletter here.
+ Like PTW on Facebook.
+ Tell me in the comments below what self-love means to you.
+ Like and share this post on Facebook and tag me in it.
Good luck and let’s start working that self-love muscle.
Fat is the hot topic on everyone’s lips right now.
- Should I avoid it?
- How much it too much?
- Will fat make me fat?
- Isn’t low fat the way to go?
I get asked these questions all the time, I even ran a workshop on unlocking the myths about fat. We shared the truth about fat, why it’s so important and how to add it into our life the correct way.
When I first moved away from home, I was the low fat queen. Everything I brought was low fat. Low fat milk, cheese, lollies, chips—you name it. I thought half an avocado was going to make me mildly obese—let alone six almonds. This lifestyle led me to a whole host of health issues. But after slowly adding fat back into my diet, I instantly started to feel better. My skin cleared up. I lost weight. My hair was shinier than ever and my nails were no longer brittle and weak. I was also bouncing off the walls with energy. As a mega bonus, my sugar cravings disappeared. Oh, and I got my period after a year and half of no periods.
But don’t take my word for it. Anthia Koullouros is a naturopath, herbalist and homeopath. She is an expert on this topic and I was lucky enough to steal an hour of her precious time to chat fat.
In this interview you will discover:
+ Anthia’s view on fat.
+ How and why it’s important to prime up your digestive system before you introduce fat into your diet.
+ How to drip feed fat into your life if you have been fat phobic.
+ The best foods to start with when first introducing fat into your diet.
+ How fats affect your hormones.
+ The fastest why to age yourself.
+ The best sources of fat.
+ Why source and processing are SOOOO important.
+ The difference between grain and grass-fed animals.
+ Much, much more!
This is my favourite quote from Anthia: “Eat what we are designed to eat.” It really is so simple!
If you’re still confused about fat and how to add it into your life contact me today for your FREE initial consultation.
What did you think of the interview? What is your take on fats?
In 1994 Anthia Koullouros began consulting as a Naturopath, Herbalist & Homeopath. She opened her very first clinic in Gurner Street, Paddington, and twelve years later, OVViO Organics was born. Still in Paddington, Anthia has created a space that is not only a haven for all things herbal and healthy, but also a warm, nurturing environment for countless clients over the years.
There’s only a few days to go until we launch the first segment of healthtalks and so it’s probably time I stopped teasing you right?
Since we first mentioned our plans a few weeks back, on all of our blogs and on the Face Book page, there’s been a lot of speculation and comment from many of you about where we might be seen, which Channel we might be on and at what time?
Well, the fact is that we’re not launching on TV – although who knows, we may finish up there! All of our material will be available right here, online – but in a really special way.
For many of you, a regular visit to one or more of our blogs is already a part of your routine. So that’s where our segments will appear, right there on the blogs – all 4 of our blogs on the same day. This hopefully means that not only do we reach more people with our interesting topics and great ideas but we also get feedback from viewers with diverse points of view.
Each of our healthtalks hosts is a Health and Wellness expert and we figure that by combining our knowledge and energy, we’re going to be able to explore areas that this type of discussion has never been to before. We have a list of great topics and tips lined up that we KNOW you’re going to love.
But as we’ve already mentioned, a big part of healthtalks are the comments and feedback that come from YOU. We want to hear what you think, whether you write a single line or half a page. And your thoughts and ideas will help us drive healthtalks in the direction you want us to go in too.
So, you can watch healthtalks on your computer, your mobile phone or your tablet and you’ll never have to get home at a set time or have to program the VCR to see us. Each new segment will be on the blogs for a whole week and then it’ll be available elsewhere as well, once we get rolling.
Our first series of six segments starts with our intro segment this Friday. Then from Tuesday October 16th and every Tuesday from there on, we’ll be there first thing in the morning with a fresh topic to discuss, or a bunch of ideas for you to try out.
So – that’s it. What do you think?
Places to find us:
Jess http://www.thewellnesswarrior.com.au/category/healthtalks/
Mel http://pathtowellness.com.au/category/healthtalks/
Nat http://melbournenaturalfertility.com.au/
Spring is in the air – a great time to Rejuvenate, Refresh and Reset your goals!
Often people come to me and want to overhaul their diet, lose weight and are not happy with what they see in the mirror. But even if you have a clean diet and eat really well it will not matter if your thoughts are destructive and toxic. You can consume all the green juice in the world and still not be at peace if you are entertaining a toxic mind. This is why this 40 day cleanse is so powerful. Not only will we be nourishing our body with real, wholesome food but also detoxing the mind with powerful transformational mediations and different styles of yoga.
Join myself and KM Yoga for the 40 day community cleanse and follow my journey as I post daily on the KM Blog and private facebook page about my process.
Summer is just around the corner and now is the most perfect time to kick start your body and mind.
Join the community and get support.
So Why 40 days?
40 days has historically been known as a very symbolic time period. It is a length of time often referred to in ancient scriptures for enacting change, and it is the amount of time it takes for the cells to renew in our bloodstream. Doing something for 40 days can make or break a habit in a person.
Here are the details.
Begins: Tuesday, 2nd October
- A Special Evening class to kick start your 40 days (Tuesday 2nd October 6:45pm – 8:30pm with Stan and Kathryn)
- 40 Days of Unlimited Yoga focused on cleansing
- A 40 Day Meditation for personal practice (Introduced during Stan and Kathryn’s special class Tuesday 2nd October at 6:45pm)
- Inspiring weekly emails
- Email support from Kathryn, director of KMYOGA
- KMYOGA cleansing Green tea – rich in antioxidants and good for the heart (pick up from the studio at any time)
- Special price on a fantastic Lucky You Juice Cleanse ($215 for 3 days /$325 for 5 days, must book directly with Lucky You)
- 10% off all workshops during the 40 days
MEGA BONUS:
Sign up by 1st of October and get 2 free coaching sessions with me + access to the private facebook group where I will be dishing up loads of inspiration, healthy recipes, advice and much more to keep you motivated throughout the 40 days.
Commit to yourself today!
So, are you in?
This week’s Friday Friend is twenty-five-year-old Northern Beaches’ Cassandra Michelin. She is currently a healthy lifestyler, a blogger, a teacher, a writer, a foodie, a super mum, and lots more.
Cassandra admits she is a doer. “I can’t do enough!” she confesses.
Cassandra grew up on the far south coast of NSW with a surfer dude for a dad, a determined hard-working mum, and a quiet, yet inspirational baby sister eight years her junior. Her parents worked so hard to give their kids everything. Cassandra recalls, “We didn’t have a lot of money but whatever we did have went straight to our activities. I attended every dance lesson, every gymnastics squad, physical culture lesson, snowboarding competition, swimming, netball, soccer, touch football, windsurfing. You name it, I did it! My mum always says that I was so lively that she couldn’t face having another child for another eight years and that’s why there is such a large age gap.”
Being not much of an academic, Cassandra focused on sports and fun. She finished her HSC the Christmas her dad passed away suddenly from cancer. Cassandra points out that studying took her mind off her father’s death.
She followed a friend’s words of wisdom: “Come to this college. It’s really cool!” So, she moved to Sydney to become a personal development, health and physical education and dance teacher.
During her final year at university, she reunited with her teenage crush. They were married and Cassandra became mum to her beautiful diva of a daughter, Pia. She put her career plans on hold to focus on being a good mum. She notes: “That’s when my passion and research began.” Coming from a health background and not being able to sit still, she wanted to make sure everything she was doing for my daughter was right. She wanted to raise her baby in the best environment with good nutrient-dense foods.
In order to learn more about nutritional medicine, she enrolled in a diploma course which she is currently studying. Cassandra sums up: “That’s when my business began. Choose life, live it, do it. And this is where I am today, totally inspired to spread the word of good health and REAL Food, especially in nourishing children.”
Cassandra points out that her blog: Choose life, live it, do it was created accidentally. As a young, stay-at-home mum, she wanted to do what was best for her baby. She says, “Knowing how the media can be so wrong, I set out to do my own research into what was right for my family. I was very determined to research into every finer detail to make sure I was feeding my baby the best things and using the perfect products… Through this, I started coming across so much research and information that went against so much of what the world tells us to do as parents. It led me to think more about my father’s death. My dad died four weeks after he was diagnosed with cancer. Being so low, he was pumped with chemo and then fed chocolate milk. It was craziness. We just did as the doctors told us because we believed them. What hit us more was not that he had cancer and died so quick but that the undertaker at the morgue was not allowed to touch him as he had a yellow tag that meant he was too toxic to touch. I realised that the cancer would have been growing there for a while but the chemo and malnutrition in his final moments was the part that killed him… After so much thinking and more researching, my baby sister (now 17) who is totally inspirational, asked me to promise that I wouldn’t get cancer. From that day, I really chose to live a healthy disease-free life and to do everything in my power to prevent cancer in our growing family.” A week or so later, she began writing her blog, chose life, to live it and to do it!. She decided that if she was doing all this research on living toxic free, why not make life easier for others and share her discoveries and recipes with them?
Cassandra said that her dreams are endless. Her goals are huge and they change every day.
Her greatest wish is for her family to grow up strong, healthy and disease free. She wants to educate and motivate mums to avoid chemicals and bring only real food into their houses! She wants to inspire by example!
Next on her list is working with mums and to show them how easy it is to feed children nourishing food in simple, yummy, fun ways.
She plans workshops on the topic in the near future.
Cassandra’s favourite affirmation is:
Life is a wave. You just have to ride it.
She started saying this when her dad first passed away. Since he was a surfer and the ocean was a way she felt the mantra helped her connect with him. Cassandra comments: “The waves are so unpredictable and that is life. We can set our plans although we also have to take things as they come as a lot of unexpected can happen. We have to be relaxed and accept that plans can change. This isn’t a bad thing; it can be an exciting new adventure!”
Connect with Cassandra:
Instagram @chooselife_liveit_doit
I am baaaaaaaaack! As I mentioned last week, for the past five days, I have been on the most amazing, eye-opening, holy crap, OH EM GEE, oneness retreat in the Hunter Valley. As I sit here writing to you, I know this might sound cliché but I feel like a totally different person. I feel lighter, calmer, more blissful and at peace—not because I was pampered and plucked for the past week. (Actually, quite the opposite!) I have shredded some baggage, let go of old stories, and have come to an even deeper place of self love and self acceptance.
There were no facials, massages, manies or pedies. (It’s not that kind of retreat!) Instead, there was more raw, deep, open, and honest connection and conversation with others and myself. I now feel a deeper depth of knowing who I truly am.
Trying to sum up the past week in words has been difficult, the feeling is deeper than any words could describe. But I will give it a go!
HIGHLIGHTS + WHAT I LEARNED
Spending a whole day in silence and a half-day in complete stillness, I realised from these two exercise was that we unnecessarily speak and fidget to avoid feeling. It was extremely confronting at first to see how much I was avoiding, resisting, and not wanting to go there. But, after being in that space with nowhere to run and hide, I began see that space (that I fill with fluff) as what I have been craving.
Starting each day with 1.5 hour deep mediation was pure bliss. Again, I see it is stillness and space that I have been craving. Stillness and space are two things I often deny myself. Often I use the excuses: ‘too busy’ and ‘not enough time’. After this retreat, I see how I have been craving and needing it. It’s so important!
Another beautiful moment was being blindfolded in nature. We were paired off. One person was blindfolded and the other was just there for support. This exercise made me realise that we are always supported and guided. The universe has our back, always. We just have to trust and let go.
Sitting in the oneness circle and listening to other people, I saw clearly that we all have stories. But, the stories are the illusion. The stories are what keep us in our suffering. In the moment, I made a choice. I let go.
There were so many beautiful moments, massive realisations and “Ah ha!” moments over the past week, but these unforgettable moments also need a mention. Live music under the stars + morning yoga + running in nature + organic food galore + sitting by the fire every night + raw cacao bliss balls + drumming and singing night + dress up party (being Alice for the night) + basking in the sunshine every day + ovvio teas + dance off’s + the oneness concert + the love tunnel + oneness circles.
Now over to you, gorgeous!
What massive realisations or “Ah ha!” moments have you had lately?
You may remember a few weeks ago I interviewed Kath from fieldtofeast on Health To Glow TV. Well lovers my beautiful friends Happy and Kath want to give you the chance to win this awesome cold press Oscar HU-400 Pro Juicers, perfect for Spring.
To enter:
+ Create your favourite vegie dish using fieldtofeast produce, and take a photo of you or your family with the dish.
+ Post the photo on the fieldtofeast facebook page.
+ Include the recipe, or a link to the original recipe (give credit to the owner if it’s not your recipe).
+ Get as many people to like your post as possible! The post with the most likes wins!
Check facebook on Monday 1 October to see if you are the lucky winner.
Good luck!
Guess what?
Today I am off to the Hunter Valley to indulge in five days of oneness. I am going to be deepening my connection with myself, feeling oneness, practicing present, developing intuition, cracking open my heart even more, and working out where I am playing games with myself. You see, I want to be the most authentic version of me. That means pulling back all the masks I wear and being REAL and valuable. It means confronting all my fears. It’s sometimes scary but so exciting. I love this stuff! This is what I live for.
The Oneness Life Retreat is a beloved celebration where people truly connect in a heartfelt way. Through authentically connecting to the heart space, people allow themselves to experience the One moving through the many.
This year’s spring Oneness Life Retreat is special. It falls in the powerful, transformational year of 2012, which is all about bringing power back to the people. I see so many people who look outward for a guru or teacher, someone to tell them what to do and how to be. You need to realise that you have all the power! You are your biggest guru. No one else really knows what is right for you. I love this post! It’s about being your own guru.
Over the five days, we will fully experience oneness, presence and flow, and witness miraculous shifts.
I am so beyond excited! I can’t wait to share with you all my insights when I get back.
Until then, gorgeous, how are you going to deepen your connection with yourself to let your true, authentic self shine even brighter? Share with us in the comments below and don’t forget to sign up for the 100%self-love e-course to really deepen your connection with yourself.
