Thoughts on the world, homeopathy, mindfulness and food...
A collection of blog posts - feel free to respond with your thoughts and comments - I love to have feedback - thank you!
With my involvement in the “Inspire” Pilates Bootcamp, alongside conversations over the weekend, and my gradual journey into a plant based way of life, I’ve thought a lot recently about fish.
As with everything, there’s lots of opinions out there. Whether they are ethical, moral, health related or emotionally linked, it seems everyone has something to say. And deciding what makes the most sense seems to be the most challenging bit. For me, the health issue was the highlight. I’d always been aware that it was killing another creature and yet I could put this to the back of my mind as I tucked into swordfish, fresh tuna steak, lobster (only on the very rare occasion and possibly only at The Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok). I’ve said before that it was Scott Jurek (American ultrarunner) who started my journey and awareness into plant based eating when he talked about how he felt fitter, recovered faster and trained harder whilst following this lifestyle. The very fact that an athlete could improve upon his athletic performance made me wonder whether I could improve my own health by making subtle shifts. Colin Campbell (author of The China Study and passionate researcher around the effects of animal based protein on the human state of health says: ‘Some people may have heard that fish are good sources of essential fatty acids. However, the high amounts of fat and cholesterol and the lack of fiber make fish a poor choice. Fish are also often high in mercury and other environmental toxins that have no place in an optimal diet. Fish oils have been popularized as an aid against everything from heart problems to arthritis. The bad news about fish oils is that omega-3s in fish oils are highly unstable molecules that tend to decompose and, in the process, unleash dangerous free radicals. Research has shown that omega-3s are found in a more stable form in vegetables, fruits, and beans.’ Dr Caldwell Esselstyn Jr adds to this in an interview around his diet to prevent and reverse heart disease ‘Fish oil is not essential. Fish get their omega 3 from plants. It is difficult to be deficient in Omega 3 if eating 1-2 tablespoons of flax seed meal or chia seeds and green leafy vegetables at several meals. There is also research that suggests that those on plant based nutrition become highly efficient in their own manufacture of omega 3. Patients on fish oil are also at increased risk for bleeding.’ My own view is that farmed fish is rich in antibiotics due to the disease ridden climate they are existing in up until they are killed, the additives (such as the dye in salmon to make it appear as the wild variety naturally is) and the high rates of illness combined with the reasons above are enough to make me think I am less eager to consume it. The often quoted benefits of fish can be achieved easily through a diet rich in plant based foods and these individuals will not lack the essential nutrients that fish too are able to give to us. The bonus side is that plant based omega 3 intake comes without a list of side effects.
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I always find a new month a great time to set a new challenge. For some reason I like the mathematical beginning. To start at 1 and work onwards works for me.
Gradually I've been letting go of things that aren't useful to me - milk and other dairy products, cooked, processed foods, gluten, alcohol (most of the time - I have to admit to being partial to the occasional glass of bubbles...), and it's come to my attention that salt has to be the next to go. I've always loved salt and it's been a part of the food I eat. Not much of it but chips, eggs and avocado... Or vegetable crisps. I find it incredibly more-ish, addictive and enjoyable. And whilst I'm really not against enjoyment - at all - I don't like addictive. So now's the time to break the habit. For me sharing that makes it more likely to happen... so here's my November challenge for myself. A no-salt month. Letting go has been liberating, energy enhancing and generally fabulous for me. Loving the freedom and looking forward to embracing my salt-free simplicity soon! Anyone care to play out too? Obviously to be chanted in a batman-y kind of way. Obviously. Anyway tea, dinner, supper, food tonight was too good not to share. It's one of my favourites anyway but tonight's addition of mango made it super tasty. My brilliant camerawoman meant I didn't have to film and talk and create all at once. Although I think it may cost me. She drives a hard bargain. And does a great job. So without further ado... here's dinner! Let me know what you think! And Isla would love feedback on the video too - she's asked for me to get opinions...
Muchas gracias, Em x I was at a marketing workshop today (where I did discover some useful hints, as well as that I'm not doing a terrible job of the marketing side of my business which was reassuring), and got chatting to the trainer guy. His wife is involved with nutrition and reflexology. Apparently she thought about studying homeopathy but decided to help people not get ill in the first place. Which is a fantastic goal and one that I would love to add to my list of lifelong goals. People do get ill before I've talked to them about food and before I'm able to make a difference here. So I think it's brilliant that homeopathy can assist in one's journey back to health. Food too. And there is study after study (I'm currently reading Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr and the evidence presented is nothing short of astounding) which details how switching to a whole food, plant based diet can have hugely positive implications on one's health. At a very measurable level. To go back to homeopathy and here I wish to call on Hahnemann, whilst he is not the earliest authority on food and eating this way by any means, as the founder of homeopathy and a great mind, it's interesting to hear what he says to avoid: 'Coffee; fine Chinese and other herb teas; beer prepared with medicinal vegetable substances unsuitable for the patient's state; so-called fine liquors made with medicinal spices; all kinds of punch; spiced chocolate; odorous waters and perfumes of many kinds; strong-scented flowers in the apartment; tooth powders and essences and perfumed sachets compounded of drugs; highly spiced dishes and sauces; spiced cakes and ices; crude medicinal vegetables for soups; dishes of herbs, roots and stalks of plants possessing medicinal qualities; asparagus with long green tips, hops, and all vegetables possessing medicinal properties (herbs - translation mine), celery, onions; old cheese, and meats that are in a state of decomposition, or that possess medicinal properties (as the flesh and fat of pork, ducks and geese, or veal that is too young and sour viands), ought just as certainly to be kept from patients as they should avoid all excesses in food, and in the use of sugar and salt, as also spirituous drinks, undiluted with water, ...' So to cut out tea, coffee, beer, liquor, chocolate, very spicy foods, herbs in cooking, strong flavours (I've cut out onions recently and feel better for it), many meats, sugar, salt as well as avoilding all excesses in foods would be his recommendation here, at the footnote of aphorism 260. It all makes sense to me. Making dietary changes may help to restore health that has been impaired, just as working with homeopathy may. In my humble opinion, working with them both together can enable us to gain and sustain greater levels of long term health. With love and healthful wishes, Em x A lot like the great big fat cancerous tobacco myth, I balked at titling this blog The great big fat cancerous milk myth, but actually that was my first choice. Because milk isn't this innocuous substance that's all warm and friendly and you want to give to your kids, cats, dogs and yourself. Or at least whilst it may appear that way, below the surface there are uncomfortable truths to discover. Uncomfortable truths to hear, as a parent who believed milk was the next best thing to, well, human milk, I admit I took a bit of convincing. But now there is resolutely no going back. However, it's so well established in our society and culture that nobody stops to question whether we should be listening to the advice to drink milk to increase our calcium sources and prevent against osteoporosis, grow healthy bones, teeth and more. It turns out we're at the peak milk drinking that we've ever been at and with more osteoporosis than ever before. The maths just doesn't add up. Humans - supposedly the most evolved of all animals - and yet still suckling after weaning. From an entirely different species with an entirely different physiology than us. How many of us cringed at the Little Britain 'Bitty' sketches and yet happily guzzle the white stuff? How many protested, or at least had a little 'urgh' about the breastmilk ice cream at Covent Garden and yet contendly indulge in Ben and Jerry's? But I've alluded to cancer and not given any more information. Here again I was shocked. Experiments time and time again on rodents have shown that casein, the protein in milk, is an active cancer promoter. Without even any science behind it if you merely consider that cows milk is endowed with many compounds to promote growth in calves - it may also promote growth in ourselves. And once we're fully grown (leaving aside the issues around giving milk to children for a moment) do we want to promote growth? I don't know many people who would happily double their current weight. And what is cancer at it's simplest level? Overgrowth of cells in an area that they're not supposed to be growing in.
The China Study by T Colin Campbell, is, so far the most comprehensive study I've found around dairy and cancer. Study after study, they are able to demonstrate the effects of consuming animal based protein (casein - the protein found in milk was most commonly used) and cancer. Up to a certain level - around about 5% of the total dietary intake, appeared to create no issues - even whilst the animal was exposed to carcinogenic substances, but about the 10% mark the cancer was activated and grew. Even more interestingly, by switching the animal to a low protein diet, they were able to decrease the cancer growth. And on the opposite effect, the low protein group who were then swapped to high protein intake, then developed the cancers. All well and good - but that was on mice and rats (which I acknowledge comes with other issues that I am passionate about but am merely quoting the research as is relevant here). What about humans? Which was where China came into it all. The China Project was a large study looking into the links between diet and western based diseases. And it echoed the previous, animal based research - the more animal based protein a person ingested, the more likely they were to succumb to what Dr Campbell would call - 'diseases of affluence' - your cancers, heart diseases, obesity, diabetes, and also maybe surprisingly - autoimmune diseases such as MS, Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis and more. The book, The China Study, however is much more than just the China Project. It's a collection of many researchers work, many well referenced and critiqued studies and, fundamentally, irrefutable evidence around dairy, meat, eggs and processed food stuffs. There's more I could write, so much more, but I implore you to read The China Study and decide for yourself. It would be great to hear your views after you have. With love xx PS Our favourite milk substitutes seem to be Coconut Milk and Oat Milk - what do you like best? The here and now is the best place to be here and now, for if I'm in the past or in the future, who can possibly make sense of the present moment? Many of us, most of us I would wager, can spend a lot of time in the past or the future. In terms of our overly analytical thinking brains anyway. The focus is not in the present. And yet, the past is gone, it doesn't need repeating, it may never get repeated exactly as it was, no matter how awful or how brilliant. The future isn't here and may never appear how we envisage. All we really have is right here, right now. That's not to say planning and looking forward isn't an option, of course we want to know where to go to on a car journey and it makes sense to have the forward focus for business, life and the rest. But not for it to be the sole focus. I believe the beauty of a well prescribed homeopathic remedy can give us the most amazing gift of enabling us to shift into the here and now with a greater element of ease. The melting of past anxieties, conditions, symptoms and the softening of future worries, projected traumas and more is a wonderful concept. And I see it in my cases, in seminar cases, in live observed cases in teaching clinics. It's a beautiful thing, to move with ease in the here and now. We can be truly, totally present in the moment and appreciate it like never before. Just a few thoughts from the comfort of my desk. Food production and sustainability will feature heavily in the years ahead and we can make a difference to the impact on our world starting now. If we want.
I'm always happy to help with advice and assistance around making these changes - just give me a shout if you'd like to know more. I've just realised you can even spot our lovely 2014 calendar in the background which is available here. Get one whilst you still can - gorgeous, beautiful images of homeopaths around the world, out there in nature, and what's more, it's all in a calendar girls style. Have a great day!
Juicy video: 4 apples 1/2 cucumber 1/2 lime 1-2cm fresh ginger 2 handfuls spinach 2 carrots 1 beetroot Juice. Drink. Feel amazing. It's my very special birthday tomorrow! And what I would really, really like is loads of wonderful, life giving presents. I've made it really easy and they're all available from my website (couldn't get more straightforward really could it?)...
Just here in fact and you can get me anything from the chance to help de-worm 5 children to running a Maasai school for a month. So very appreciative of your time reading this - thank you and have a beautiful day. Em xx PS If you'd like to get one of the gifts for someone else I'll absolutely promise not to be offended at all (and can even send you a card to pass onto them with details of how it helps). Apparently we're changing our surname. Yup you've guessed it. We now will be referred to as Emma Watermelon and Isla Watermelon. This is not my idea. But the hats were and I LOVE them!
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AuthorI'm a Homeopath working in the Skipton (North Yorkshire) area. I am also able to offer food intolerance testing using Kinesiology and advice around diet and lifestyle. |
07734 861297
em@emmacolley.co.uk Em Colley Homeopath Practitioner of Classical Homeopathy BSc(Hons) Psychology and Neuroscience Laughter Yoga Leader Focussed Mindfulness Practitioner |