Bee the Change!

“Remove the bee from the earth and at the same stroke you remove at least one hundred thousand plants that will not survive.” Canadian Bee Journal 1941, Albert Einstein

Bee lovers, we have a problem! There has been a huge drop in bee numbers over the past 50 years and since the 1990’s, bee farmers have noticed the sudden disappearances of bee colonies and the high reduction rates of bee hives. Hundreds of food sources rely on bees and other insects for their pollination and if we were to lose bees, food production would be greatly devastated.

Causes of bee decline:

“The main reasons for global bees-decline are industrial agriculture, parasites/pathogens and climate change. The loss of biodiversity, destruction of habitat and lack of forage due to monocultures and bee-killing pesticides are particular threats for honeybees and wild pollinators. It is becoming increasingly evident that some insecticides, at concentrations applied routinely in the current chemical-intensive agriculture system, exert clear, negative effects on the health of pollinators – both individually and at the colony level. The observed, sub-lethal, low-dose effects of insecticides on bees are various and diverse.” – http://sos-bees.org/causes/

In other words, insecticides and other chemicals used in mainstream industrial agriculture are hurting the bees and other insects that pollinate. Insecticides are used to kill insects and bees and they are used on most crops which is having a deadly effect on bee numbers.

How can I help? 

You may be thinking, I am just one small person. What difference can I make to save the bees?

But the small things you do can help the global movement to save the bees. Think about this, a large group of people doing something small is a lot better than one person going it alone! Here are some ideas on how you can contribute to help save the bees.

1. Plant bee friendly plants in your garden. These plants naturally encourage bee activity and pollination.

My baby brother is even helping out! He has a lavender plant in his garden and the other day he picked a bunch of lavender flowers.

My 3 year old brother picking some lavender

2. Buy local honey and bee products. Here in Australia, we have this wonderful honey called Manuka Honey. My Dad mixes this honey with organic lemons and warm filtered water to make the yummiest lemon drink! You can also get honey soap, honey skin care and even local honeycomb – yum!

3. Stop using insecticides and herbicides in your garden and stay away from other chemicals like Roundup.

4. Build a native bee house in your backyard. Surround this bee house with bee loving plants and in no time at all, little native bees will be filling your garden and pollinating all of your flowers and plants.

5. Talk to your local government about supporting bees.

6. Support local, sustainable farmers.

7. Sign this Greenpeace petition: “Add your voice to thousands of people around the world who want to protect the bees by banning bee-killing pesticides and unsustainable industrial agriculture and promoting ecological farming. The more people who sign, the more we can influence the governments and companies who can act to save the bees.” – http://sos-bees.org/situation/

You will have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to find the petition.

I hope this post inspires you to do something (even if its small) to help save our bees! Is there anything you do already or have any other ideas to help save the bees?

Jordie xo

I’m Back!

Hello everyone!

So sorry I have been away for so long. Things have been very busy with uni and work and I haven’t had time to sit down and properly write a post.

I went to the ball and while my dress did zip up, it was still a little tight so I ended up hiring another dress to wear.

My friends and I at the ball! I am the one in the middle 🙂

So… paleo…

Firstly, I just want to say that I respect all opinions people have on various diets/lifestyles etc. and the following is just my opinion and personal experiences.

To me, the paleo diet seems great on paper. Only eating fish, nuts, meat, fruits and vegetables sounds good but in theory I found this really hard to stick to. I eat a lot of food and I loveeeeeeeee carbs. There’s nothing more appealing to me than a big bowl of pasta or warm freshly baked bread (bread is rare for me as I mostly eat gluten free which makes it taste even better when I do eat it!). That being said, I found it really hard to stop eating carbs and I found I was always hungry. I also found it hard to find different meals to eat other than the typical meat and veggie dinners. I did find a few great websites that offered inspiration, (if you want to check them out I will post the links below) however when I tried to make a few recipes I couldn’t get them to taste very nice. 😦

It was also quite expensive for me to buy good quality meat so unfortunately I couldn’t afford to eat meat for every meal and when I did have meat I only had a small amount. I then had to bulk up each meal with vegetables and don’t get me wrong I love vegetables, but when you are having them so often every day I got sick of them really fast.

A few things I did notice while I was paleo was that I felt better. In my normal everyday eating, I tend to not be so strict on the amount of dairy I consume. I figure that a tiny amount every few days couldn’t hurt too much, so I will occasionally have a little bit of cheese and some butter (if I am being really naughty… chocolate ice cream – my weakness). However, not having any dairy at all definitely made my body feel better so I am going to try and cut down on the small amount that I do have. Besides, coconut milk cacao ice cream is just as good as the naughty stuff, and it doesn’t make me feel sick! (My favourite brands are So Delicious and Coco Luscious – Coco Frio is pretty average)

So I say farewell to paleo! But not completely… I like the idea of cutting down carbs, so while I will not give them up completely, I will give them a break every few days, and when I do have carbs I try to always select the best possible carbs like quinoa, brown rice and pasta that doesn’t include corn (due to corn being mostly GMO).

Overall, I do not think I could make the paleo diet sustainable for me, but for all of you successful paleo eaters, good on you! I really don’t know how you do it! The only way I could make paleo work for me would be if I had a personal chef to cook all of my meals and provide me with lots of variety.

P.s. my Dad made me a lemon and honey drink the other day with fresh manuka honey and it was ahhmazing!

Jordie

xo

Links:

http://cravebytaylor.com – I just checked and Taylor’s website is currently unavailable! 😦

http://gi365.co/food/paleo-primal/

http://cavegirlinthecity.com – Kenzie also has a list on her website for her top ten paleo bloggers

Finger-Lickin’ Good Paleo Chicken Soup

My homemade chicken soup is probably the best thing I make. I always make a big batch when my boyfriend, Clinton, or I feel sick. I try to use mostly organic produce, premium filtered water and organic, free range (and pastured if I can find it!) chicken breast and drumsticks (for the bones). I find that chicken breast gives the soup a really nice flavour and whenever I make it with no breast and just the drumsticks, it doesn’t taste the same and isn’t as good.

The secret ingredients to my soup are as follows:

• Ginger
  • Aids digestion, relieves nausea, eases headaches and sore throats
• Garlic
  • Reduces length of common cold, reduces blood pressure, improves bone health
• Turmeric
  • Anti-inflammatory, helps prevent cancer, aids against depression
• Paprika
  • High in vitamin A, vitamin E and iron
• Cumin
  • Aids digestion, improves immunity against the common cold
• Pink salt (I use either Himalayan rock salt or Murray River salt)
  • Regulates water content in the body, promotes a healthy pH balance, promotes blood sugar health
• Black pepper
  • Improves digestion and intestinal health

Not only are all of these ingredients super healthy for you, but also make soup taste ah-mazing! These ingredients, along with all the vegetables and chicken, make for a hearty and healthy cold and flu cure!

This soup is mostly paleo, but I use about a teaspoon of butter and coconut oil to fry up some of the vegetables. If you want this to be a paleo dish, simply add more coconut oil to replace the butter. Also replace the potato with more sweet potato or pumpkin. Some paleo eaters include sweet potato whereas others do not.

This recipe serves four.

Ingredients:

• Coconut oil (for frying)
• Butter (for frying)
• 1 leek
• 1 brown or red onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 knob of ginger
• Sprinkling of turmeric
• Sprinkling of cumin
• Sprinkling of paprika
• 2 carrots
• 2 potatoes
• 1 sweet potato (I didn’t have a sweet potato so I used more potato)
• ¼ pumpkin
• 1 handful of snow peas or beans (I had leftover snow peas in the fridge)
• 1 small head of broccoli
• Any other vegetables you want to add – zucchini, brussel sprouts, squash etc.
• 2 chicken drumsticks (I didn’t have any drumsticks in the freezer so I didn’t add any this time)
• 1 chicken breast
• Sprinkling of dry or fresh rosemary
• Enough filtered water to cover the vegetables
• Massel chicken stock (powder)
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 large handful of spinach (to serve at the end)

Method:

1. Slice the leek and the onions (not too big, can be small if you’d like), cut the garlic and ginger into small pieces.

2. Add butter and coconut oil to a large saucepan or pot on a medium heat and add the leek and onions and fry until soft. Add the garlic and ginger now.
   

   Fry the leek and onion until soft and add the garlic and ginger.

3. Wait a few minutes and add turmeric, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Stir and cook the spices with the vegetables.

Add the spices and stir into the vegetables.

The vegetables should turn a yellowy colour from the spices.

4. Add the carrot, potatoes and pumpkin (and sweet potatoes if using) and cook on low to medium for about 7 – 10 minutes.

Cook the carrot, potatoes and pumpkin (and sweet potato if using) for 7 – 10 minutes.

5. Prepare the snow peas, broccoli and any other vegetables you are adding while you wait. Also cut the chicken breast into small cubes and sprinkle on some fresh or dry rosemary to the chicken pieces.

Add the snow peas and broccoli (plus any other soft vegetables you are adding).

Sprinkle rosemary onto the cubed chicken breast.

6. Add enough water to cover the vegetables and boil. Add the chicken breast and drumsticks (the boiling water will poach the chicken fairly quickly).

7. Wait for five minutes and add the remaining vegetables. Add in some chicken stock and more salt and pepper (I like to add about 2-3 tablespoons of chicken stock so add as many or as little as you like depending on the flavour).

The pepper, pink Himilayan salt and chicken stock that I use to flavour my soup.

8. Let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes or until you want to serve. If you are letting the soup simmer for a long time, add the broccoli about 20 minutes before you serve if you like it crunchy!

Add the snow peas and broccoli (plus any other vegetables you are adding).

9. Dish up the soup into bowls and evenly distribute a large handful of spinach over the top of the soup.

Add some fresh spinach and enjoy!

10. Enjoy!

I hope you like this recipe and if you are having it when you feel sick then I hope it makes you feel better. Happy cooking!

Jordie xo

20-Day Paleo Challenge

On June the 5^th I have a university ball with my friends. I bought a dress last year (around March) that was on sale and only had one size left. It fit me perfectly and was a pretty good price so I bought it. I have wanted to go to a university ball so I bought the dress to wear when I decided to go to one.

TRAGEDY. I tried the dress on last night to make sure it still fits me. It seems to be a size too small now! I was thinner last year as I was pretty sick with stomach issues. While I still do have some issues with my stomach, I am feeling better this year and have put on a few kilos. I haven’t gained that much weight but if I want to wear my dress in a few weeks I will need to be stricter with what I eat.

I have decided to do a 20-day paleo challenge! Not only will this help me lose weight (no grains or bad sugary stuff), it will allow me not to eat dairy or gluten (which I am sensitive to anyway and suffer from bloating when I eat these foods) and I will get to try out this way of eating to see what all the fuss is about!

I try to stay away from gluten as often as possible because I feel pretty lousy when I eat it but dairy is harder to resist! The only time dairy really affects me is when I drink cow’s milk. However, I am super excited to try this way of eating! I will post again about this after I have finished the challenge to let you know what I think about this way of eating, if my symptoms have reduced and most importantly if I fit into my dress!!

I will start the challenge tomorrow (Monday May 18^th) and finish it the day after the ball (Saturday June 6^th). I will also try to post any recipes, tips, tricks or meal plans I come across during my two weeks of eating like a cave lady.

If you eat the paleo way I’d love to hear any advice or recipes you have for me.

Wish me luck!

Jordie xo

LemonAid

(Lemonaid – because it aids the body in oh so many ways!)

So I have been drinking warm lemon water in the mornings for the past few weeks and while I admit sometimes I forget to have my morning cup of lemony goodness (oops), I have noticed some great differences! Forgetting sometimes has actually alerted me to some of the differences so I think forgetting a few times has been a good thing in disguise! Benefits of the Lemony Goodness:

1. The lemon water wakes me up! As soon as I take a sip I feel more awake and alert. It is getting pretty chilly in the mornings where I live so the lemon water warms me up too.

2. Sometimes I wake up with a sniffly nose and a bit of a headache but I have found the mornings when I drink lemon water, my nose clears up pretty quickly and my headaches don’t last as long.

3. I am unhealthily obsessed wih lip balm, I apply it numerous times every day. I have noticed lately that my lips have been quite chapped when I wake up and no amount of balm can help me out. However, when I have lemon water my need for lip balm really decreases! In fact, the total amount of lip balm I use throughout the day decreases when I have lemon water.

4. Now onto my personal favourite lemon water benefit! I was feeling a little fluey the other day, I had a really sore throat, my head was spinning, I had headaches and a runny nose. I was feeling pretty terrible. I felt nauseas and I felt as if I would faint. Normally, when I feel like this it can last about three to four days, however I was feeling better the next day! I still had a little sniffle and my head ached a little but I felt so much better than I did the previous day. I recovered faster than I ever have and although I did feel really sick the day before, it only lasted a day. For me, this is definetly the stand out benefit of drinking lemon water.

How do I drink my daily LemonAid?

I found that the best way to have the lemon is to just use the juice. Sometimes I add in the flesh of the lemon as well which is also really nice. I didn’t really like the zest method or just adding in a lemon slice as I found it wasn’t as lemony as adding the juice. I also found that investing in a nice cup makes a huge difference! The first time I had the lemon water I used one of my mother’s Royal Albert mugs and after that just used whatever random cup I found (it was way less enjoyable by the way!). I was out shopping one day and saw the Miranda Kerr for Royal Albert mugs were on sale so I got one and I have to say it honestly makes drinking the lemon water so much better! It is quite luxurious and beautiful to drink out of, and also super cute! So these are just a few of the things I have noticed from drinking the lemon water for a few weeks.

I posted this a little earlier than the full month as I have another urgent challenge to set myself, so I wanted to deliver the lemon water results before I start my next challenge. However, I made some chicken and vegetable soup whilst I was sick so a recipe for that will be up soon! Thanks for reading and I hope this inspires you to drink a daily cup of lemonaid!

Jordie xo

The Paleo Way

Since watching The Perfect Human Diet I have been really interested in trying this way of eating to see what all the fuss is about! I hope that soon I can try a paleo eating challenge.

I found some pictures that basically describe the paleo diet in a simple way:

I really hope that this can help my gut issues!

The things I am worried about concerning this way of eating is going cold turkey on grains and dairy products. I don’t drink milk, but I do add butter to things that I cook and like to have cheese occasionally. I do have grains at least once a day and I worry that I might be left feeling hungry for the first few days until I adjust!

Another issue that I have is with breakfast. If you like eggs then this way of eating will be no problem for you but I really really dislike eggs. Okay, partly true. The only part of the egg I like is the yolk, but the whites.. ew. I have really tried to like egg whites, I really have. I tried mixing them into the yolks and making scrambled eggs which didn’t help much (still ew). I made eggs sunny side up (removed most of the white but left some so I would eat it) and let the yolk dribble over what little white I had left.. but much to my disappointment.. still extremely ew. I was thinking maybe a green smoothie? If anyone has any ideas please comment below as I’d love to hear!

I also suffer from seasonal allergies so I hope eating the paleo way can help with this.

To make this diet even better I will try to incorporate bone broth as often as I can. Bone broth (broth made with good quality meat bones) has many health benefits including:

* speeding up the recovery of an illness

* healing and sealing the gut lining (important if you suffer from leaky gut)

* fights inflammation

* promotes healthy hair and nail growth

* promotes strong and healthy bones

* reduces joint pain

* promotes easy digestion of the valuable nutrients found in the bone broth

I am thinking of trying the paleo way in the next few weeks. I’ll keep you updated!

Jordie xo

Top 5 Feel Good Tunes!

The mood you are in can really make or break your day! If I am in a great mood I am pretty much always positive about life and if something goes wrong I try to look on the bright side. However, we all sometimes wake up on the wrong side of the bed. Whenever I feel down I try to think about things that make me happy, like memories of my family, friends and my dog. But sometimes I find that when I am being a little cranky, a mood lifting song is just what I need!

I have listed my top five favourite songs that put me in a great mood!

1. Shake It Off – Taylor Swift 

I have to admit that I love Taylor Swift and this is definitely my favourite song at the moment. Even though it was released in September last year, I still put this song on repeat! This is one song I will never get sick of and it is my go-to song to fix up a grumpy mood or make my happy mood even happier.

 2. Happy – Pharrell Williams 

This is such a good song. No matter where I am or what I am doing, if I hear this song I can’t help but sing a long! Plus it features in one of the funniest kids movies, Despicable Me 2, and who doesn’t love the minions? I honestly haven’t met anyone who dislikes this song and I always feel better after I hear it.

I’ll use any excuse to post a photo of minions..

3. Perfect Day – Hoku

This song is from the soundtrack of Legally Blonde and even though some of the lyrics are a little corny it is another song I leave on repeat. I find it to be really inspiring and I always play it if I want a little extra inspiration in my day.

4. Beautiful Day – U2

This song reminds me of when I was younger and would go driving in the mountains near my hometown with my Dad. This song always reminds me of these times with my Dad so I always feel happier when I hear it, plus the lyrics make me remember how beautiful our world is!

5. Mr Blue Sky – Electric Light Orchestra 

Ahh, Mr Blue Sky. My Poppy used to listen to this song all the time and whenever I hear it I remember singing along to it in the back of the car when I was little – even though I didn’t know any of the words! I like that this song has such an upbeat tune and it always makes me feel good.

I’d love to hear any uplifting songs you listen to, so comment below!

Jordie xo

The Perfect Human Diet: Film Review

I recently watched the documentary The Perfect Human Diet.

The documentary began with presenter CJ Hunt explaining how he suffered a heart attack at a young age and how his heart condition has affected his health. He also explains how this led him to search for a natural solution. He mentioned that he switched to a vegan diet but after a few years of eating this way he was lacking energy and wasn’t feeling as good as when he first started the diet. This led to him beginning a ten-year search for the perfect human diet.

Even though the film was loaded with scientific facts, they were presented in an understandable way, which made it a captivating film to watch. The film features a lot of different scientists, archaeologists and professors.

One very interesting scene shows Professor Loren Cordain describing to CJ how much we have changed over time. Professor Cordain used a hundred yard football field as a time line where he discussed how far and where we travelled over the world and what other foods we have introduced into our diet. He also discussed how our diets have greatly changed since we began farming and processing our food.

The paleo diet consists mostly of fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts, eggs, lean meats, poultry and fish.

The Perfect Human Diet closely follows the paleo diet, which consists of animal proteins (chicken, fish, beef etc.), fruits, vegetables, eggs and nuts. It is important that the produce you eat is of high quality* (grass fed beef, pastured free range chickens, organic fruits and vegetables and raw nuts that do not have salt/coatings added). Grains (bread, cereal, pasta), dairy and sugar are not allowed on the paleo diet as science shows that our bodies are not designed to eat this type of food.

The part of the documentary that I found most interesting was when CJ interviewed Dr Lane Sebring who has been recommending the natural diet of our ancestors to his patients, who are seeing great results. Dr Sebring and CJ head off to a local supermarket to go through the aisles to find out which foods to eat when on this diet and which foods not to eat.

Another aspect of the documentary that I found interesting was the different scientists opinions about how our bodies and brains have developed over time from the introduction of proteins (from animal meat) and omega three fatty acids (from fish) into our diets.

I really enjoyed this documentary and I highly recommend watching it. I knew a bit about the paleo diet before I watched this film but it was still really interesting to see the science behind it all.

I’d love to hear if anyone has seen this documentary or is living a paleo lifestyle, so please comment below if this is you!

Jordie xo

*If you are looking for high quality, grass fed and free-range meats, Grass Roots Urban Butchery has a large selection of high quality, local meats. http://www.grub.com.au/ourfarmers.aspx

Another great website to visit if you are looking for local free-range and pastured chicken is the Flavour Crusader: http://flavourcrusader.com/blog/2011/09/free-range-chicken-australia/#qld

If you want to find free range meat and eggs that are ethically raised then visit http://www.humanechoice.com.au to find a farm near you!