Hi Folks, here`s this week`s meal plan.  

We have a birthday in the house this week.  My little one has turned 10.  Crikey me, I have no idea how that happened so quickly,

Birthdays are hard to keep healthy but I`m going for dairy free, fried chicken in a basket ( I had no idea that the coating in fried chicken is milk!)  I know that doesn`t sound too healthy and the coating definitely isn`t, but it`s her birthday.  The chicken is organic and she`ll have a lovely salad with it so I don`t feel too bad.  I`m doing a great big fruit salad for pudding as she is such a fruit fiend.  I also have a dairy free carrot cake for her.

So, let`s begin...

Oh, I really love a one-pot meal.  This one has lovely Greek flavours.  I`ll be serving this with brown rice.

We hardly ever eat pasta in our house, but I fancied it this week.  I`ll be cooking this with gluten free pasta and a plant based cream alternative.  I`ve also opted to add in some extra smoked salmon for a bit of a smokey flavour.

I`ll be doing this vegan dish with gluten - free tortillas for me.  I have found a new brand and have pinned my hopes on them that they will be good.  The others I`ve had in the past are pretty rubbery and dry.
I think this dish would be easier if the rice was made upfront or even a day before, so that`s what I will be doing.

Prawns are a good source of Zinc, which is hard to get from food, particularly if you don`t eat red meat.  I think I might get moaned at about this one as neither Mark or Bella are fans of quinoa, but hey ho... if they`re hungry, they`ll eat it.

Well, that`s it for another week,

Love and healthy as always,

​Eve x

 Happy international women`s day one and all.   I thought I would take this day to share my story.

I`m Eve, Naturopathic Nutritional Therapist, mother, partner in crime to a wonderful man and child of the universe.

Several years ago, I got really ill. 

I was told when my little girl was very small that I had a genetic condition that would affect everything made of collagen in my body. Well - that`s just about everything from your eyes, heart, intestines, womb, skin, joints and everything else in between.

I used to faint A LOT. My brains messaging system to my blood pressure was a bit wonky. After many stays in a neurological hospital in London, it eventually was figured out and I was told that I had Ehlers Danlos syndrome (EDS) and Hashimotos.  This had been worsening over the years and started to rear it`s head in my 30s.  A bit like a car starts to go a bit wrong as it gets older.

At one point things got really bad for me. I literally couldn`t get out of bed. Every time I was vertical, I would faint.
I thought my life was ending, it was THAT bad.
The fatigue I felt was like I had been hit by a bus. It was truly awful.  Initially, I succumbed to the diagnoses and went down a hole of depression about it.  Life felt really like an uphill battle.

One day I was given a book all about the power of nutrition. It changed my life. I thought it was worth a try and I stocked the house up with ingredients I`d never heard of and so many fruit and vegetables! I bought a nutribullet and was juicing like crazy.  

After seeing how many people end up crippled with EDS, both with joint and organ problems, I decided that was NOT the route that I would take.

I reassessed my life to see what was actually important and got rid of anything that caused stress or anxiety. I took natural supplements and gradually my light inside started to glow again.

My recovery wasn`t fast, but it happened. There`s still things I work on absolutely every single day and I still faint a bit, but i`m in a place of vitality now, thriving, thanks to the power of nature.

I retrained after this to help others.  My EDS really affected my fertility and I was so lucky to eventually have a successful pregnancy with my little girl.  Because of this, I was naturally drawn to women`s health, fertility and children`s health. 

I absolutely love making a difference to everyone I help, and there`s nothing more joyous than receiving a text message from one of my ladies telling me that they have finally conceived.

I want you to know that when you are given a diagnosis, you will need a period of adjustment where mentally you have to delve into the details of it, and probably scare yourself senseless.  But after you have gone through this process, you can move on from that  and start to explore other avenues regarding your health.  

Sending you love and health as always,

Eve x

wow!  It`s March already. 

We had some glorious and much needed sunshine at the weekend and our bikes came out for the first time this year.  We had a lovely trek around our local woodland, it really was beautiful.  The ladybirds were out of hibernation and there was even an early tortoiseshell butterfly or two.  

March has arrived and we are back in a cold front again though.  You know what they say about March here in the UK?  If it comes in like a lion, it goes out like a lamb (and vice versa).  Meaning if its a bad start to March then it will end gloriously (and vice versa).  I wouldn`t say that it is a bad start to March, just a cold one, so we shall see.

Well... here we are again then.... this week`s menu at my house.

I have to explain a few things about our eating habits... Mark loves meat.  All kinds of meat and would happily eat it everyday.  I was vegetarian from being 11 years old.  I was vegan for a couple of years whilst healing from a health condition, but in recent years after studying nutrition and biomedical science in great detail, I have adapted to having fish and organic chicken.  I can`t bring myself to eat any other type of meat though.

Non of us have dairy.  Mark has always had an aversion to it from being little and I am severely intolerant to it. My little girl seems to follow in her dads footsteps and really isn`t keen either.  

Am I worried about calcium intake? Not at all. 

There`s so much calcium in our food if we eat a nutritious and varied diet that it isn`t an issue at all.  Also, unless you buy organic dairy products, unfortunately you are consuming secondary antibiotics and what ever else is given to cattle on a regular basis.
​
Many people are really intolerant to dairy products.  You can read about dairy intolerance here .  As we age, the levels of lactase that we produce (an enzyme that breaks down lactose in dairy products) declines.  This happens very quickly after the age of around 2 years - the age when mother nature thinks we should be weaning from our mothers milk.  For this reason, many people find dairy difficult to digest.

Whilst Mark and Bella enjoy wheat products and have no reactions to them, I choose not to eat anything with gluten in.  I`m also very careful in keeping the amount that they eat to an absolute minimum.

​Gluten will cause problems in everyone`s digestive tract, even if you don`t feel symptoms from eating it.  Gluten causes problems with the gut-brain connection and can really affect mood balance, energy levels and blood sugar balance.  It is a substance that we haven`t evolved to eat in the way that we do.  I`m also intolerant to it so avoid it at all costs.  Every time you eat a food you are intolerant to, you are basically flooding your system with cortisol and inflammatory chemicals.  As we know, inflammation is the root cause of all disease, so if you are intolerant to something - don`t eat it!!!
You can read more about avoiding gluten here.

Ok... first meal coming up.  Thank you, once again to all the recipe creators out there that save me so many headaches.

Just click on the pictures to go to the recipe.

I always seem to get drawn to leeks in the spring.  This casserole has leeks and white beans in.  I`m going to add some potatoes on the side.

This is a lovelf, fresh feeling meal to have in early spring.  Be careful though - Orzo contains gluten  
I will be making some rice on the side with some mint in to have instead of the orzo.  I`ll also be making my own version of tzatziki using plant based yohurt.  
The orzo is pretty filling so no need to make anything to go with this dish.

This is actually a traditional Mexican breakfast meal, but food is food and my ethos is - you can eat any meal at any time!  We need to break away from the brain washing and conditioning that puts breakfast articles of very little nutritious value in the "breakfast" pigeon hole.  If you want casserole for breakfast - go for it!  Have what you like, when you like - providing it is nutritious and fuelling your body the right way.

Anyway - I absolutely love Mexican food and this makes a really good evening meal.  I won`t be putting this in individual pots, I will be doing it all in one shallow dutch oven I have.

​

It`s a good idea to eat oily fish twice a week.  It`s an easy habit to get into if you just plan one or two evening meals a week as a salmon or mackerel dish.  There`s also herrings and sardines that are oily fish.  I tend to get the other serving in my family during lunch times or breakfast and usually use mackerel somewhere or other.

This dish is so fragrant and tasty.  I`ll be doing it with jasmine rice.

​

We had this Jamie Oliver curry a couple of weeks ago and we all really enjoyed it, so we are doing it again.

Well - that`s about it folks.  I have a birthday in the house during this week`s menu, so one dish may well get changed up a bit, we`ll have to see.

Have a great week.

Love and health,

​Eve

Hello, I hope you are all well and happy.  

This week brought a light on a distant horizon in terms of lifting restrictions here in the UK.  
Interestingly, the summer solstice has been chosen as the tentative date for us all getting back to normal.  
We always celebrate the solstices here, so this year should be a great celebration if so.

Anyhow... here`s the meals we are eating in our house this week, although life got in the way a little last week, or more accurately - pancake day - the very rare chance for my family to gorge themselves on sugar!  I attempted gluten and dairy free pancakes for myself, which were basically rather rubbery but at least I felt part of the celebrations.

I have a meal left over from last week because of the sugar fest that I haven`t cooked yet, and all the ingredients to do so, so I will be rolling that over to this week - making this weeks options a little shorter than usual.

So... let`s get started
​

Who doesn`t love a quick and easy dinner!
I`m going to add a lot more veggies to this to beef it up a bit.  Some peppers, onions and maybe some chickpeas.  I cook our brown rice from scratch.  I`m not a fan at all of the packets you heat up.   
​1 - I don`t own a microwave and 2 - heating plastics with food???!!!! that is a definite NO in terms of transferring chemicals onto your plates.

Fajitas are so good and fun for the family.  Kiddos love eating things in wraps so these are always appreciated by all.
I abstain from the wrap option - I haven`t found a decent gluten free wrap alternative yet so I`d rather have it without.  I most probably will boil a little brown rice or chop a couple of potatoes to make wedges with to have along with this.

Everything I plate up ALWAYS comes with a huge salad and plenty of toppings - spring onions, radishes, chillies.  I`ll be making some delicious guacamole with this and some pico de gallo to add to the wraps.

Staying with the mexican theme, this burrito bowl is a great alternative to a traditional buddha bowl.  We aren`t great fans of the cashew cream so will probably ommit that bit and will make extra guacamole instead. I will most probably add some aduki beans in with the black beans and sweetcorn for extra protein yumminess.  
I`ll be using brown rice as like I`ve mentioned before, the refining of the rice removes all the B vitamins and goodness from the rice.  It is sooooo much better for you to eat brown rice, and I think it`s way tastier too.

.My partner in crime doesn`t very often make requests for his dinners - he usually just leaves it up to me.  However, he has been going on and on about pizza for a few weeks now and so I have given in.  I use this Jamie Oliver recipe for our pizza dough.  It always turns out nice and his tomato base is tasty too.  Don`t worry if you haven`t got the semolina that he puts in his recipe.  I never add that in and just use the whole quantity of strong bread flour.
I add in courgettes to the base and whizz it up and no one is the wiser! 

We have a wood fired stove in the garden that we use for these in the summer months but I doubt we`ll crank that up this weekend, unless it is a very mild evening.  These work just as well in a hot oven.  
One thing... life is so much easier if you have a pizza shovel though.

I`ll be sitting out of the pizza fest and will get the chance to make myself something that I enjoy that no one else does.. something probably involving mushrooms as Mark really isn`t keen on them.

Anyhow, like I said... a shorter menu this week as I still have the shrimp sizzler from last week to whip up and as always, Sunday will be a roast dinner.

I wish you all a happy and healthy week,

Eve 
​x 

Here`s another addition of - what are my family eating at home this week?
Finally, the freezing weather seems to have lifted and there is a hint of spring in the air. Hurray!  
Meals are still pretty hearty though as it is still February after all.

You can click on the pictures to take you to the recipes and shopping lists.  Thank you again dear recipe creators!

Courtesy of Jamie Oliver, who never fails to tickle our tastebuds.  Try to have this with wholegrain rice if you can.  Refined rice takes all the goodness and B vitamins out of the grain.  
​

One the kids will love because the fish is on sticks!   
I`m going to do a buddha bowl with plenty of veggies to go alongside this dish.

​

Whilst my partner in crime will be eating this as per the recipe, My little girl and myself will be having a veggie option style sausage.  Aduki beans can be pretty tricky to source sometimes.  If that`s the case, just substitute with your favourite type of bean.

​

I`ll be doing this dish fajita style for the wheat eaters in the house, and just plain for myself with some rice on the side.  You can either use soft tortillas or large naan breads to wrap these tasty little prawns up in. Plenty of salad and veggies on the side.

​

It`s good to have a meat free night for those that eat meat.  There`s plenty of protein in this dish  and it really is a great chilli recipe.  If I feel creative enough on the night, I might make the wheat eaters some homemade nachos to go with this.

​
​

And the usual Sunday roast.  There`s always looks of horror and disbelief if I don`t do a sunday roast!

Click on the picture for this weeks meals

I thought it might be helpful to those of you that don`t know where to start with meal planning for me to show you my weekly menu of evening meals.  I sometimes mix them up a bit... add a little shredded chicken here and there to salads or a few prawns, but you'll get the general idea.  You might see something that wets your appetite.  I`ll put the links to the recipes beneath the pictures.

Enjoy!

Love and health,

​Eve x

 Beetroot and avocado salad  I`ll be omitting the feta in our house as we don`t eat dairy.  I might try and source a non-dairy stle feta as I do happen to love the flavour of feta

Roasted vegetable salad  I`ll be adding some organic chicken thighs to this meal and again, substituting the feta.  I`m the only one in our house that loves aubergine so it`s always a challenge trying to disguise it! I usually end up getting complained at, but never mind.

Honey, Soy chicken I`ll be having this one with brown rice.  We are really enjoying Ocados Italian brown rice at the moment.  

Blackened Salmon Tacos with coriander sauce and cabbage slaw  There`s always an oily fish meal in our weekly menu to help get our dietary Omega 3s.  We do substitute with omega 3 supplements at home as it is so important, but it`s great to get it direct from food where you can as it is more of a bioavailable form. 
I`m gluten free, but my family enjoy tacos.  They will have these as in the picture.  I will either sauce a gluten free option or just have them with some rice.  The recipe calls for berbere - this is something you can put together yourself.   It is a traditional Ethiopian spice blend made up of chillies, garlic, fenugreek and a handful of warm spices such as cinnamon or all spice.

Thai red curry noodle soup  I made this last week and my family absolutely loved it.  Definitely one of the most popular dishes I have done in a while.  I will be adding king prawns to this dish to get some extra zinc from our diets, plus they are delicious! I use rice noodles to avoid gluten.    The last two meals will be a treat night on Friday night, which means I don`t have to do much cooking and usually revolves around a Charlie Bighams curry. 
​On a Sunday, I always cook a roast dinner with Yorkshire puds, although sadly, I have not perfected gluten free ones.  My family will enjoy them whilst I look longingly on!  Only joking, it`s ok... I`m over it.

Anyway, let me know if you try any of the links I`ve shared and what you thought.

It`s that time of year again, where our social media screens are overrun with posts urging us all to detox and get fit.

I`m here to tell you that whilst taking up some gentle exercise is a good thing, detoxing is something that you need to consider carefully before jumping on board with a dubious product that is being heavily advertised. What I mean by that is that at this time of year, we are bombarded with everything from aloe vera juice to activated charcoal products, shakes instead of meals and everything else in-between.
.
This post is all about why you should avoid these gimmicks and think about your body as a highly functioning machine that you can gently finely tune in a much more intuitive and less harmful way.

What is a detox?

Our bodies have the same immune systems and function as our prehistoric ancestors had. Back then, they only had to to deal with bacteria, viruses, parasites and not much else.
Whilst the world has evolved, our immune systems and livers haven`t. We have the same basic model being bombarded with much more harmful and sophisticated toxins. Everywhere in our environment we are bombarded with chemical residue, it`s in our food, the air, products in our homes... it`s inescapable. Did you know that a study examined babies umbilical cords for toxins and found over 200 different chemicals.

Our bodies work so hard to get rid of all these harmful substances every moment of our lives. Our liver is like a gentle bomb disposal squad, deactivating and changing chemicals into less harmful variations that can then be sent to our eliminatory organs for disposal. The problem is, not all toxins can make it out of the body and they can begin to store in our cells. This leads to inflammation - the route cause of all serious disease, energy depletion and mental/ mood challenges.

A detox is something that naturopathic practitioners encourage, but in the right way and at the right time. A true detox is where the individual looks at their lifestyle and identifies where they are consuming or encountering challenging substances to the body. They work carefully with a practitioner to draw out the stored toxins out of their cells so that they can be eliminated safely.

Why are detox products dubious?

You have to remember first and foremost that the people behind the products are wanting to make money. With naturopathic health, we want to teach you how to make long term changes so that you don`t need us anymore. It is part of our ethos to educate you so that you can change your lifestyle approach for you to be sustainably healthier, not requiring a product from us.
Besides this, many products have a laxative nature. This is not advisable and can be dangerous.
Laxatives dehydrate the body at a cellular level. That effects everything, from your energy and mood to your digestion.
On top of this, your electrolyte balance will be negatively impacted. Your body is basically a huge battery where the polarity of each cell is kept in balance by key electrolytes - sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium. When these get out of balance, we get problems.
Some of the detox products will actually impair your bowel function. The combination of the imbalance of the beneficial bacteria of the colon and the loss of electrolytes can cause huge upset to your bowel. Your bowel is essential for eliminating toxins, it simply MUST keep moving to eliminate what you are trying to get rid of.
Lastly, some of these products can cause metabolic acidosis, a condition that causes the body`s acid base balance to be altered. This condition can get extremely serious.

When should you detox?

Contrary to popular belief, January is not the ideal time to start a detox program.
Our bodies naturally go through cleansing processes around the equinoxes. There are two equinoxes in the year, the spring equinox and the Autumn equinox.
Very often, people will start to come down with coughs and colds around the Autumn equinox, when the body is trying to cleanse itself. If the individual`s vitality is low, this is when problems arise.

When we detox, even at the best time of the year, our bodies have to cope with the release of all the challenging chemicals that are about to be released into the blood. Our liver and kidneys have to work overtime, along with our other eliminatory organs - the skin, the lungs, the bowel and in women - our wombs.

It is common to encounter something called a herxheimer reaction. This can feel pretty bad, but it is actually a good sign that things are being released and dealt with by the liver. We can feel exhausted, suffer with insomnia, get headaches, feel a little nauseous and our skin can breakout. Whilst it is uncomfortable for a few days, it clears. Like an Autumn foggy morning that turns into a sunny afternoon, you`ll feel all the better for it afterwards.

January, is in the depths of winter.
We are not getting vitamin D from the sun and our vitality is at its lowest. The body doesn`t have as much strength to cope with the release of toxins from its cells. We have been eating and drinking in excess over Christmas , our sleeping patterns are altered and our bodies are tired.
If you push your body during these circumstances to detox, then it will find it very challenging. You may encounter more nasty side effects than you would do in the spring when your vitality is rising, like the sap in the budding trees.

What can I do instead?

Whilst it isn`t advisable to do a full blown detox in January, it is a great idea to work slowly towards your bodies own natural detox in the spring by making a few gently changes.

Are you pooping?
The most important thing that you can do is make sure your bowels are functioning properly.
The reason being, whatever is circulating in your system, needs to be able to be removed. If you are constipated then your body will reabsorb the released toxins which will become more potent and the process will go round and round. Think of a plug in the bottom of your shower filled up with hair, the water starts to back-up. if you don`t open that outlet then you are going to flood your bathroom one day. It`s the same principle... you need to get your bowels working effectively.

The NHS view constipation as not having a poo at least 3 times in a week. Naturopathic medicine has a totally different opinion. You should be pooping every day, at least once.
Your poop should come out easily, without straining and should be well formed and sausage shaped. If you are passing rabbit droppings or very lumpy, hard poos then you are constipated. If you are passing poop that is in pieces with raggedy edges or watery poop regularly, you have an issue with your GI tract that needs addressing.

If you need to rectify constipation, don`t reach for the laxatives, they will cause you long term issues. Instead, put the work in and increase your soluble fibre, by that I mean veggies and fruit. The darker the green, the better. Reduce the heavy carbohydrate content foods - breads, pastas, pastries, and cut back on all dehydrating contents - sugar, alcohol, caffeine, fizzy pop, cheeses, dairy, cigarettes, vapes, anti inflammatory painkillers, paracetamol and sodium rich food.

Most importantly, you need to drink pure water. Adults should aim to drink 1.5 - 2 litres of pure water per day, whether you are detoxing or not. Children should be calculated by body weight , you can do this here
The water is essential for cellular health, keeping your poop soft and your colon moving nicely. It also will give those hard working kidneys an extra boost.

Eat better
Instead of doing some crazy detox, make a pledge to eat better.
Try only eating earth made foods for a month instead... by that I mean, if the earth didn`t grow it in the form that you buy it in, don`t buy it. An easy way of thinking about this is to think about the layout of a supermarket, only walk around the edge of the supermarket, visit the fruit and veg, the fish counter, the butchers and the dairy section. You can stroll up the aisle to buy rice, but keep away from the pastas and breads or limit them. Don`t buy anything in a packet.
If this is a challenge to you, then how about subscribing to a recipe food box that gets delivered to you with fresh ingredients. We just subscribed a family member as a Christmas present. They are really enjoying cooking delicious and nutritious meals that only take around 20 minutes and require no forward thinking. The other thing you can do is look up paleo recipes. Paleo is a delicious way of eating with only the purest and freshest ingredients.

If you can implement these changes then after two or three weeks, you will really start to notice the difference. The sugar cravings will disappear (providing you don`t cheat) and you will feel more energised as your vitality rises. Your skin may even start to glow. If your aim is to lose weight then you most likely will as a biproduct without having to think about lowering your food intake. inflammatory conditions you have may well start to ease up. Eating better is not about restriction, it`s about eating differently.

Other Lifestyle tips
If you are planning on doing any of the things I mentioned above, it`s a really good idea to implement some of the following tips to help your body eliminate any toxins:

• Eat as many glutamate rich foods as you can - Spinach, broccoli, cabbage, parsley,tomatoes, lentils and mushrooms. These will help convert to glutathione which will not only give your liver a boost, but also your mood
• ​Balance your meals - Make sure that all your meals have a good source of protein, a healthy fat and some carbohydrates in terms of vegetables. The more rainbow the veggies = the more antioxidant rich foods your are eating.
• Try to only eat earth made food, rather than lab made food.
• Make sure you get a good source of omega 3 at least twice a week - oily fish like salmon, mackerel, sardines are ideal, if you are veggie or vegan then get a good quality supplement.
• Increase your soluble fibre - veggies and fruits - the darker the green the better. These will not only help your bowel movements but will also act as a prebiotic for your friendly gut bacteria to feed on.
• Drink 1.5 - 2 litres of pure water per day - filtered if possible. Try half cold,half boiling water with some cut citrus fruit in it. Drinking this first thing in the morning is a real tonic for your liver
• Commit to a healthier sleep routine. Try to work with the bodies natural circadian rhythms and get to bed by 11pm, aiming for 7 - 8 hours of sleep.
• Take up gentle excercise - yoga and pilates are ideal. If you are detoxing, DON`T push yourself with excessive excercise. It is dehydrating and will cause your vitality to lower.
• Use epsom salts in your bath or have a foot bath - do this at least twice a week - (if you have a heart condition you should not do this) Epsom salts allow magnesium to enter your body through your skin, helping your electrolyte balance. They also encourage sweating - releasing toxins. Always have a drink of water with you in the bath whilst doing this.
• Dry skin brushing - get a soft bristle brush and sweep the limbs upwards in direction, always towards the heart. Do this for around 5 minutes before a shower. This will not only help your lymphatic system move efficiently but will also make your skin feel luscious.
• Drink linseed tea - recipe coming soon - this is sometimes called a "hug in a mug". It is the most hydrating thing you can drink.
• Trampolining - whether on a full scale trampoline or a rebounder in the garden. The up and down motion is fantastic for the lymphatic system.
• Practice deep breathing techniques - look up 4 -7 - 8 breathing
• Use mindfulness apps like headspace.

What ever changes you are thinking about, start small and don`t put pressure on yourself. Make sure they are achievable and fit in with your routines and lifestyle or you will be doomed to give up.
The most important take home from all of this is to hydrate and get that bowel moving. If you can do that, you are already making a huge impact on your body.

Happy New Year,
Love and Heath,
Eve x