Cinnamon Seaweed Chicken Soup - Immune Booster!

Today I have a cold. Actually, I've had a cold for the past few days and I am thoroughly sick of breathing through my mouth, sleeping (or not) with three pillows and all the aches & pains that go along with it.

Ok. Enough complaining....because, I am also aware of so much more that my body is doing right now with this glorious cold (did I just say that?!). I can actually feel my immune system revving up, like a great engine waking up after it's winter slumber. 

My lymph nodes are 'active' and my thymus gland is busy rushing T-cells around my body to root out nasties that have lingered during our hibernation. Well, not that we've been staying inside, we have really had some lovely warm weather this entire winter and I have been out in the tunnels and garden since January...but you know what I mean! 

Winterish weather though is pretty well over - the flowers are all blooming (at least they were until the goats got out into the drive way and ate all mine) the bees are flying and the leaves are coming out. It's spring and quite often that means a great head full of snot! 

In honour of all of these bugs & viruses that are making their unrelenting rounds - I've made a Cinnamon Seaweed Chicken Soup and am busy enjoying every morsel in the clinic today. It has been a very busy week but I have finally found a day where I can nourish myself and hopefully give my body what it needs to boost my immune system and be ready for this new season.

When I make chicken soup.......

I like to bake the chicken (whole) first until it nearly falls apart.....then with my pot of lovely root vegetables (today I used sweet potato, celeriac, carrot, turnip, onion, garlic) bubbling away I add  a generous amount of seaweed (dillisk), the chicken and spices. I love cumin, cinnamon, black pepper and fresh parsley from the garden at this time of year, it tastes lovely with this mixture of vegetables. 

Tiffin with Cinnamon Seaweed Chicken Soup

A Manufactured Mess…..

It is high time that we stop and think about everything that we choose to put in our mouth, on our skin and into our minds while considering the fact, that we are over fed and under nourished eating ‘food’ that is all part of a BIG LIE. 


Why is it that we are overweight, sick and tired, diseased, stressed out and under functioning in a world with an abundance of every kind of ‘food’? How is it possible that we are being ‘fed’ a lie about what we should be eating, how much, when and why but for the most part, we can’t see it?

If you can understand that there are hidden agendas, Big Gov, Big Seed, Big Pharma and ‘world order’ propaganda machines are out there actively encouraging you to believe what they are telling you about health, illness, vaccines, and have general media control, then it is not too much of a stretch to apply this same truth to the food industry. 

The agriculture and food sectors, and more precisely what they sell us, manipulate consumers through a means of dependence on the cheap, lifeless and nutritionally depleted products they push. Like all else we have been blind sided by false food claims, a belief that this food is all we can afford in a recession (and in general), that it forms part of a balanced diet and besides it follows a food pyramid guide developed by ‘government nutritional experts’.

There you have the outline of a ticking time bomb, and it lives in us.

I am hoping that with the waking up of large segments of the population - post  Swine Flu ‘panic-demic’, banking disaster and mass migration, there are more and more who are asking the questions and doing their own research. This action and public reaction can continue and will now carry over onto the biggest source of the problems- the food we are eating.

When we follow the typical western diet that is considered so ‘normal, fairly healthy and affordable’, we are playing a dangerous game of Russian Roulette with our health. The spin from these big corporations would have us believe that everyone should get up in the morning to eat cereal from a box, drink a litre of caffeinated beverages, eat high fat ‘healthy’ muffins for snacks and prepare quick meals in minutes at the end of the day with vegetables and plant based items ‘on the side’ of chemically laced meat. 

In fact if it comes from a box or a package, it is clean, sanitized and therefore, 'all right', we can just read the label and ‘know’ what we are eating.

Then, because we are overweight following their regimen and eating their ‘food’, we start a diet after Christmas in the New Year, join a gym and in general, stay in this endless game. The only problem is that we do this consistently, year in, year out, make half hearted attempts at ‘eating healthy’ with limited success and then it is back to the old ingrained habits. 

We are hooked on the high fat, high sugar, high salt, drugged up and low nutrient value over processed products that have our health, bodies, self esteem, moods and all else, in a manufactured mess.

There is no one to blame but us for the ‘shape’ we are in, our will power is weak, we have ‘food issues’, emotional eating, and poor lifestyle habits- well maybe we do, BUT this behaviour is endorsed and contributed to by the manufacturers of this food. 

Next time you go to your supermarket do a visual check of the aisles- how many are devoted to processed packaged foods, prepared ready meals, sweets, cakes and spilling out into high traffic areas, junk food of every conception?

We are programmed to think that meals take minutes to prepare, the less time spent in the kitchen the better, that most of the meal comes from a box, or a package or better yet, a takeaway. We eat the same foods from week to week with different sauces. Thus now we have taste buds that are too shut down to discern all the subtle flavours of the additives, colourants, preservatives, and other chemical ‘enhancers’ that have been consigned to our food.

The food is a joke, you can’t process something to death and then breathe life back into it with a sprinkle of vitamins and minerals, once it is dead- that is it. And believe me, your highly intelligent body that has recognition capabilities for hundreds of thousands of compounds, knows the difference. This false economy (where the jokers are gone wild) is not only the reality outside of you it is the reality within, set up and orchestrated by Big Food. Big Seed and Big Agriculture (have I left anything out?).

The fallacy is the food, it is not nutrition and should not even be called food, white bread toast offers nothing, hyper-caffeinated coffee maxes out your adrenal function, half the fruit and vegetables are poisoned from mass production in depleted soils and a continuous rota of spraying chemicals, and deep fried crisps are NOT a food group. 

We are being ‘drugged’ and sickened by the food we ingest.

You are what you eat, and feel and think and do- the key here is that what you EAT has a profound influence over what you feel and think and do.

These scientists who are studying food, making the announcements and the recommendations on the world dietary requirements are bought and paid for by those that stand to gain from you buying their products. Big Gov doesn’t want you to live too long and be a drain on the old age pension scheme, Big Pharma plans to have you for a few years in the drug cartel, and Big Food, well they just want you to eat your way to your allotted three score and ten and then its bye-bye.

We are being lied to by the very same makers of the Swine Flu Hoax, they who control the media, push the drugs, own the economy and the banks, also control your food. And what is worse, they have manipulated what you think you know about the food you eat, you are being duped into believing that certain foods are healthy and nutritious when they certainly do not make you feel good or nourished in a warm and fuzzy way.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Now is the time, to take stock of your entire life starting with your diet. There is absolutely no need to fear anything (or take any medication etc.) when you are healthy and taking care of your essential resource – your health.

Prime your immune function and be ready for life, eat in the right way (ask me how!) exercise, fast and detox regularly to stay healthy. You deserve better.

April

Oil Pulling for Detox & Health

Oil Pulling

I recently got back into Oil Pulling or swishing as my children like to call it….and it is making such a difference to my well being (again!), even after only a few days. I did a few days fasting last week and included oil pulling each day – to such a difference.

In case you are not entirely certain what oil pulling is; this is a technique using about a teaspoon or two of coconut or sesame oil (usually, but other oils can work) and swishing it around in your mouth for 20 minutes or so.

After the time is up, you just spit it all out and rinse your mouth. Voila – refreshed and ready to go. 

It sounds and is, so utterly simple. But with some incredible and wonderful side effects - I often find significant results from oil pulling in as little as 1 day! Of course I add some healing benefits into my coconut oil as well…essential oils of cinnamon, tea tree, lemon, lemon grass, peppermint, clove, oregano and so forth, a different combination every couple of days.

The oils all work together and ‘pulls’ the toxins out from the general mouth area while the essential oils go and do all the things herbs and spices are meant to do. I have experienced many different results from oil pulling – which I would not have seen otherwise along my healing journey.

Some of these are a clarity in thinking, fresher breath, whiter teeth, healthy gums and tongue while others are more the results of deeper cleansing. I always feel as if my sinuses and the glands in my face and neck are benefiting from this too with less severe symptoms of glandular fever a few years ago.

I often also feel a clearing in my ears….as if whatever has been sitting around there for ever so long, starts to move or be pulled out. This can only be a good thing as far as I am concerned – I am all for taking out the rubbish in the most gentle way possible. 

However, I often have other indicators of detox taking place such as a little achy in my joints or rash in the beginning, but then my knees and skin becoming very clear. Mostly though, it’s when any brain fog clears and I feel more of a mind/body connection that I know this technique really does some good for my health.

Because this is all about controlling and perhaps eliminating some of the nasty bacteria living and growing in our teeth and mouth, I often follow up an oil pulling session with a mouthful of my lovely West Cork made Apple Cider Vinegar or some of my Rebel Juice probiotic drinks…..which adds the good guys back into your system. 

So, if you think your mouth, head, brain and body might benefit from some oil pulling – it’s so easy to get started on it and all you need is 20 minutes!

April

Raw Unrefined Coconut Oil mixed with essential oils - on my stand at the market

Nothing to Waste….

I was reading something a couple of weeks ago about some major supermarket and the enormous amount of waste created each week when they dumped all that out of date processed, over packaged, sterile food.  

It’s a shame it was created in the first place – that is perhaps the biggest waste – of raw materials. But, alas it exists and then it goes to landfill one way or the other. Because lets face it, lots of times this food might be bought and taken home only to end up in the rubbish bin there.

Which leads me to another issue – what is it with needing a rubbish bin? We haven’t had one in years and don’t need one. Because we go out of our way to not create waste. Everything is used, nothing is thrown out and certainly everything is eaten.

So, this week we are fasting. Actually, today is day 8 of our before Christmas detox and of course I have been steadily clearing out the supplies of food in case anything might be ready to go off, but I also enjoy cooking ahead at this time of year.

Yesterday I made a huge pot of Nightshade free pasta sauce with pumpkins, courgettes, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, seaweed, beetroot, spices and so forth. Then from that sauce I made large trays of lasagna, long grain brown rice cooked in the vegetable juice, and extra sauce for other meals. 

Next, some over ripe bananas and left over coconut balls went into a lovely winter spice banana bread. All of this went into the freezer for when we are done our fasting. These meals also used up any cheese left over in the fridge so it too wasn’t wasted. 

I do remember those days when anything that wasn’t eaten quickly enough or was forgotten in the fridge went out into the bin. It was never a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Now, with the animals to be fed along with ourselves – there is a use for everything. Our goats love the pumpkin seeds and vegetable peelings, the turkeys enjoy left over nettles and herbs from tea, the ducks and chickens fight over any bread and the dogs eat everything else.

Seeing how this all works gives me hope that perhaps inside our guts it’s all working just as well – It’s kind of like a little ecosystem!

April

Honey Cinnamon Oat Crunch & Toasted Muesli now available at Rebel Foods Stall

Living Local - Beneficial Soil Bacteria

Today I was taking some homemade cheese out of the fridge (making Lasagne!) and noticed a bit of reddish mold had started to grow on it…..of course my mind immediately went to – I wonder what kind of mold that is? Would it make a nice rind on a cheese and how would I cultivate it!!!!

To be honest I have caught myself thinking like this over and over lately in all kinds of situations and realized that is fairly close to the mindset I would have had when I was growing up.

I don’t know about you, but if there was mold on cheese in my house….well, it was cut off and the rest was eaten. Then, there was a relative or two who would also eat the mold….but that’s another post!

Likewise, if there was a bit of mold growth on the jam…it might be stirred in as much as scooped out….most food was generally fresh and eaten fairly quickly, however, nothing went to waste, under any circumstances.

Milk that had gone 'off' was used in breads, baking and given to animals as feed. Wilting vegetables were used in soups and stews. Old, stale bread went into puddings, toast and bread crumbs. 

Our bodies should be able to tolerate low levels of naturally occurring organisms that grow in, around and on our food. But, one thing that must be pointed out here is these days most food is so far removed from ‘normal’ the organisms we might find on it are in themselves a disaster.

When we go to a modern day supermarket to get our carrots….they are all neatly lined up in a bin looking nearly identical to each other, as clean as a whistle with nothing to distinguish them from any other carrot. The same goes for pretty well all other vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and fresh produce.

Sterilized food. There is nothing living in there and the vegetables themselves are lacking in nutrients mostly because they are depleted of these beneficial organisms every step (from soil, water and lack of direct sunlight) along the way of this mass production.

This is why I spend my time in the garden, wild foraging and shopping in local farmers markets – my body requires real, living food in order to function at optimum levels. Not to mention just for basic health and survival.

One of the things I love about market shopping….we get as much as we possibly can from our local markets and of course, I am equally participating in this local community endeavor – is the lack of packaging, the variety and the life to be found there.

Our food is meant to be alive inside and out….which includes healthy, normal soil bacteria. Start getting your fruit, veg and some of your foods at your local farmers market….you will notice a difference in your digestion and your social interaction!

April

Sauted chanterelles with garlic & onions.....wild foraging in West Cork!

This Much I Know.....Food, Health and Healing

No, thanks, I can’t eat/drink/use that very natural good for you food – it might interfere with my medication….I thought I had heard it all…but to steer clear from ‘health’ because your medication is far more important is really interesting – well, it is for me anyway….and I will tell you why.

Many years ago – I was on a path that was taking me nowhere. I had a fairly good diet, lived close to nature, raised my own food as much as possible….used some herbal medicines…but I kept fooling myself that it was enough.

I could use the ‘medical system’ when it suited me, dabble in herbal medicine and otherwise remain healthy as I was. Boy was I wrong! I found out there is nothing healthy about taking any kind of drug – in fact, it interferes with and causes far more issues then it ever solves.

I spent years thinking I could take the best from both worlds. Well, duh! You can’t take the best from both worlds when there isn’t a ‘best’ in one of them. Chemicals, synthetic substances and drugs are not ‘medicine’ – they don’t cure or restore health.

The only mask the symptoms, push down and otherwise interfere with any healing our bodies are trying to do. And this is a dangerous game to be playing as well…removing symptoms is like asking your body to stop talking.

So that you can stop listening…..

It’s quite a situation to be in actually – there is nothing normal, natural or healthy about using any kind of chemical, drug or synthetic hormone. We will only end up with far more problems then we started with.

Only food, water, exercise, stress reduction and creating a healthy environment can achieve any kind of thorough, lasting, deep healing of the body, mind and soul. Ask me how I know….

April

Our Muscovy drake...

Fasting Has Changed My Life...I Now Have One!

Today is a fast day for me, tomorrow will be a normal food day….in a few days (Summer Solstice) there will be a couple days of feasting. Each week and every day brings something different to the table….

Because I am eating this way, I look forward to my food like never before. Even a bowl of porridge takes on a new meaning when you are truly hungry – and I fill up faster. I am satisfied after eating less.

My stomach empties out on the fast days (I usually just drink water and herbal teas), providing extra energy for detox, repair and rebuilding reserves. I work out as usual – feeling better and more myself –perhaps because I can actually ‘feel’….

My digestive system isn’t stuffed with food (all the time) – it’s a cycle of eating that has brought me back to myself in so many ways; old and new. I have discovered there is a spiritual element to eating that I never even knew existed….

Oh and the feast days! When following the Celtic or Pagan Calendar there are many feasts throughout the year. When you add in birthdays and a couple of other celebrations…there is something to plan for every few weeks.

Right now we are gearing up for the Summer Solstice or Midsummer as we know it here. This is a BIG deal for us and we have been planning our menu for weeks. Of course everyone wants a BBQ – so we are hoping the weather will cooperate too!

Fasting before a feast is not an issue at all…in fact – I think I have moved beyond my food ‘issues’ because I have permission to eat what I want, when I want it and as much as I want, during our feasts.

Of course, I’m not going to eat rubbish on my feast days either; my cleaned out digestive system enjoys organic, natural, wholesome, homemade, unprocessed and wild harvested food.

Anything I can raise, grow, make from scratch or dig up – is on the menu!

It’s hard to hang onto thoughts of deprivation when you have 3 or 4 days of non-stop cooking, baking and eating to look forward to. Once the feast is winding down I am more then happy to return to a fast day and normal eating, mostly because I am tired of all that food. LOL

Fasting has become an easy ‘out’ for me. On these days I get a breather…time to think, do some things I keep putting off – be creative and savour the feeling of a day off from eating and watch (feel) my body get stronger.

Since I started eating this way (food, fast and feast) I sleep more soundly, I wake earlier, I am less obsessed with food or eating. I think about food all the time (it’s what I do) however, those thoughts are on a far healthier level.

I am slimmer now and find it far easier to maintain a normal body weight. I work out nearly every day in some capacity (free weights, walking, Yoga etc.) – short term, intermittent fasting even enhances physical activity.

On my food days, I am the one ‘in control’ of how much I eat and when to stop. I find eating earlier in the day might be nice one day…or a big meal after a fasted workout is great too.

Everywhere I go people mention to me how healthy I look. I don’t feel tired, I have more then enough energy to do what I want to do and I feel younger then my years.

Actually…it’s far easier to take care of myself because I am eating this way then ever before. Life has found a gentle rhythm bringing my body into balance is, and I have found all this, by following a natural cycle of eating.

April

The Pagan Diet

Down a New Road....Still Wild Foraging Food

I haven’t really been cooking much of anything (new that is) these days…I’ve been very busy with the garden and farm work….all of these animals need tending as well as planting and weeding to be done.

Most evenings I have been exhausted and kept thinking I am too tired to write…but here I am, today making some more cheese for the weekend, with a pot of goat stew in the slow cooker and have made 6 jars of jam with all the dried berries left over from the winter.

That’s on top of the farm work LOL! And I think I am not doing much of anything….

One update I wanted to make is how after nearly 3 weeks we still haven’t bought any vegetables other then 2 bags of onions and a few carrots. Not so long ago this would have been unheard of for me….I would never have thought I could get by with just the greens growing around me.

But, I am and we are! I have made soups, stews, pesto, stir-fries, casseroles and what ever I can think of using just the wild greens in the fields and things that are growing in my own garden.

And we have more then enough to eat. Of course I combine these with fish, meat, beans, lentils, couscous and rice to create a different dish for every meal. They are all quite versatile and I know we are getting an abundance of vitamins and minerals like nothing else.

I actually think it has taken me this long to notice how I am feeling on this diet of mainly greens from the fields and our own milk, eggs, meat, cheese, garden greens, herbs and so forth. To say I am more in tune would be an understatement….

Its as if I am in charge. I can feel my gut changing, my outlook and thinking is less clouded. I actually feel more like myself right now then ever before in my entire life on this planet.

I know it’s because my food is nearly fully ‘mine’ – produced or made or grown or harvested by me. When I started this experiment over a year ago (make every effort to no longer buy finished products of ANYTHING) I knew I would feel better.

But right now, I guess I had no idea how much better and what other changes this line of thinking would bring…I can look back now and see how my new lifestyle in terms of eating has taken me down quite different paths then what I had been expecting.

Stay tuned, this is only going to get more interesting!

April

Duck and Guinea Fowl Eggs

Steeped In Herbs....

 I am still on my herb thing here….can’t get enough of them this time of the year – plus I am out in the garden clearing the way for new growth spending quality time with my herbs. Over the years herbs have come to mean something very special to me for my family, my life and healing.

First of all I incorporate them where ever and whenever I can, into nearly every aspect of my cooking, baking, and for our food and drink.  Their healing magical qualities then can infuse throughout my entire mind, body and soul because I am literally steeped in their energy.

Even though I have been walking this path for such a long time I still know I have quite a ways to go. My body is a work in progress as is my mind and spirit. Herbs have been my friend, my guide and my help over these many years and continue to expand their role in my life.

No matter what I am eating or drinking or what stage of food, fast and feast I am in – I find a way to include a variety of herbs with every meal. Tonight we had fresh rosemary bread, onion, nettle and cabbage stir-fry with herbed cous-cous…

Of course when I am fasting – these are the mainstay of my diet – I love the way an infusion of herbs can absorb directly into my system through my stomach wall. Herbs have such an intelligence, they go to work right away on functions and systems – just as nature intended.

If you haven’t yet entrusted your health to something ancient and wise – an energy who knows how to work with your body while creating only peace of mind – perhaps it’s time to befriend a herb!

Start out small – try a chamomile tea (get organic or grow your own), add some extra rosemary, thyme or sage to your meal – take a bath in sea salt and lavender.

Find a few ways to include herbs into your routine – your body will sing and your spirit will soar.  

April

Yarrow