So….you want to lose weight? Well…you’ve got to change your mind first!

Over these years (and years) of thinking about weight issues, studying nutrition, food, body image and diets….I have met many people who are unhappy with their weight. And I was often amongst them.

Then, I changed my lifestyle and my diet…a few years later I started incorporating fasting into my regimen as well and the rest is history. Or is it?

Since then I have found my biggest struggle is still with these patterns, habits and tendencies – that all exist in my mind! Our minds really are the majority when it comes to overcoming any negative patterns in an effort to create new ones.

Of course, as a Clinical Nutritionist, I also know that each cell in my body contributes to my overall mind (mood, emotions, intuition, thoughts etc.). Everything works together inside and outside – with each system and function forwarding something towards the whole being….

My gut is as much involved with creating my thoughts as my brain is. And this includes what I think about my body, my food – and especially 'what I am thinking (about my body/food) when I am eating it'.

Fasting has allowed me to explore my mind (through my body) in a new and realistic way. By going into these new places and spaces, I have found and made the deeper connections to weight, body image, eating and food.

If I have found out anything over these past few years….it’s this; to lose weight permanently, you have to re-build your mind from the inside out. This entails diet changes (food, fast and feast), exercise, emotional work (getting at the patterns) and for me, making the important spiritual connections with the food I eat.

Not one part of this is complicated, in fact having food days, fasting days and feast days has made my life so much simpler and easy to manage. It also allows me to have control over my mind (approach to food) in a new way.

Changing your mind about food involves eating the foods that assist in this process as well….we need to choose (and make) food that not only nourish our bodies, but also help to reset our body metabolism.

I have found many of these to be fermented foods as well as quality proteins…and for me, my diet consists of homemade, home grown, free range, wild harvested and organic produce as much as possible.

You are so much more then what you eat….you are the energy of the food you eat. Change that energy to something better (raise the vibration) and you do the same with your body and your mind.

April

 

Same Old, Same Old in Our Cooking

Do you have things - boxes, packets, jars of foodie stuff in your cupboards that you never get around to using up? Do you find yourself stuck in a rut making the same things again and again using the same ingredients?

What's with that? I mean, we are interested in these foods, we even like them - yet there they sit, day after day and we somehow pass them by for the same old, same old. I mention to people all the time - our diets must have variety in order to be balanced.

Yet - when we take in a narrow range of foods or even a wide range of the same types of foods - day after day, we tend to limit our digestive and absorptive capabilities in our guts. I have seen instances where entire pathways shutdown from lack of use.

With this in mind (and because I am detoxing, therefore looking for things to keep me busy!) I have been going through some of these foods that we enjoy but do not use often enough. One of these is the yellow split pea.

Years ago this was a more common staple in my diet - coming from Canada's east coast, it was used to make pea soups, peas puddings etc. I also used to make a lovely dal with them when I was vegan - but alas, time has flown by and I have let this lovely pea slip from my diet except very occasionally.

So this week I am going through each cupboard to see exactly what it is I have - and have not been using enough of. There are so many interesting things to be making - cooking - trying out with the ingredients I have on hand....

So why not! Hopefully some more adventurous dishes, recipes and cooking will arrive on these pages in the coming days....

April

Our full moon on 24 February

Come on, Be a Rebel - Cookery Class with April Danann!!

Again this year I am happy to be offering a few cookery classes for anyone who would like to know a little more about what I am baking, making, cooking and eating. If you are in the West Cork, Cork or surrounding areas - come on out for some fun in the kitchen!

I refer to my style of being off the food grid as Rebel Food - because I make as much as I possibly can from scratch. In fact if I can't make it, we usually don't have it. But, as most things are so easy to make ourselves, this is rarely an issue. 

We eat very well without sugar, processed foods, chemicals, toxins or preservatives while gaining a deeper connection to the energy of the land and our own spiritual selves. Our food is the vital link to sustain us and build that bridge inwards.

Food is a dynamic thing - the seasons change, our tastes change, our physical needs fluctuate throughout the year....and the food we are eating should also shift and change with those requirements. Ours is such a basic approach to a healthy diet and really all about common sense.

When it comes to food in in the winter I like warming soups and stews, for instance. I also love hearty breads with cheese, jams and nut butters. Any of these dishes can be made day in and day out with variety, abundance of flavour and packed full of nutrients.

If you are needing a little boost to your routine, some recipe ideas to try out, wanting more support in the kitchen with your own creations - come on out and cook with me this week on Thursday or Sunday in Leap, West Cork.

Perhaps it's time to find the Rebel in you!

April

24 January 1pm to 5pm Leap, West Cork

27 January 11am to 3pm Leap, West Cork

If You Think Changing Your Diet Is Too Much Trouble...well...

If you think changing your diet is too much trouble and too much work to cook, eat at home, peel vegetables, learn a few recipes, get organised in your kitchen...

Wait until you are sick or ill because of the way you have been eating. Then trying to back track and reverse all those years of playing Russian roulette with your body - well, that takes far more, time, energy and effort then making a few small changes right now.

The beginning of a new year is just that - a fresh start. A time for renewal and with that possibilities. Absolutely everything that makes life worth living is stored deeply within our bodies. And the only way in is through treating your body well with good clean food, water and of course exercise.

A few years ago when I started making changes (and I had just as many to make as anyone else) I took things one at a time - literally week by week until I had completely reoganised my lifestyle, my diet and myself. Once I knew and felt I was on the road to better health, then I was able to relax.

During that time, each week I would take an area of my life and make a change for the better. I even remember spending a weekend getting rid of everything in the house that was not organic. We were left with a clean slate and started over.

Then another week I stopped buying boxed cereal and have only ever made breakfasts since with things like porridge, home made muesli, kippers and toast, roasted sweet potatoes with nut butter (lovely by the way!) and so forth.

Moving forward into the next week I got rid of the dairy, meats and animal products. That may not be for everyone, but at the time, I wanted to really clean out my body - so we spent the next 6 or 7 years vegan and vegetarian. 

We replaced these foods with beans, lentils, peas and other great sources of protein. We kept going until we all felt, looked and knew we were in much better health. And I have never looked back...

The difference is - you have to stick with it. You have to alter your lifestyle, your habits, set up your life to provide a framework supportive of good health. Otherwise, you end up frustrated and going back to old habits.

Once you make each of the changes you are needing to make - reorganise your life to suit your new way of living.

It really is this simple...

April

Homemade Hazelnut butter - Yumm!!! 

It All Begins with A Change in Attitude....

At this time of year there are always a couple of things on our minds - the top one being how to get healthy and stay healthy - perhaps you have been thinking long and hard about exercise, diet changes, or firming up your spiritual walk. 

Any one of these might require of you a stronger constitution - but that is exactly what is missing... so how about a change of attitude? It's often such a small thing - a slight alteration in your thinking can then work wonders on the rest of your life.

For me, it was the fact that I wanted to be fit enough to carry on with living my life...and to not ever experience sickness again like I once had. That was motivation enough and it still gets me out of bed every morning to this day.

With this change in attitude in mind - what if you were to start replacing anything nasty in your diet with something good for you - but you would still get to enjoy yourself. And who knows, you might even be surprised and actually like it! LOL

For me there are many things I no longer eat (and have no desire to) but have replaced them all with a far healthier version.....here is a list of some items for you to get started on in your own life:

Still drinking the drugged stuff? Try dandelion coffee, chicory or nut coffee, aids digestion, detoxes the liver and tastes great.

Tea is not much better and is very addictive - in place of tea why not indulge in herbal drinks such as lemon & thyme or chamomile flowers and fruit?

Next, change out that yukky yeasty bread for some homemade organic spelt soda bread...when you make it yourself you can add anything you like - cinnamon and raisin, herby rosemary or seeds and nuts.

Then get rid of those whites - they are sitting on your spare tire - instead of white potatoes have sweet potato, pumpkin or squash, in place of white sugar try honey, maple syrup and apple concentrate, and there are so many lovely kinds of rice to use such as basmati, brown long grain, brown jasmine, red rice, wild rice and black rice. 

Any of the treats (and let's face it, we've eaten enough during the holidays!) can be replaced with homemade versions of cakes, cookies - or something simpler such as a few dates, figs or my favourite, dried mango....

As you can see, this is only the beginning - but all it takes are a few changes such as these and before you know it - not only has your attitude changed, so have you.

April

Hot Apple, Pineapple, Ginger and Cinnamon juice during the holidays...healthy and delicious!

To Detox or Not to Detox...

So, you spent another Solstice/Christmas/Yule/New Year's laying about, over indulging in sugar, alcohol, chocolate - just fueling some bad habits and feeding the mold, yeast and other nasty critters in your gut. You wake up 2 days after the new year feeling heavy, yukky and wondering how and if you can ever feel 'good' about yourself again.

But right now you feel like a bag of sh** and you are seriously considering doing something about it. Perhaps a change in diet or a detox, or some exercise....

For the life of me, I can't understand why this is such a dilemma! I mean, what on earth holds you back, keeps you stuck in that place and won't let you go? We can read about it, talk about it, cry over it - and yes there are many energetic, spiritual, emotional, fear based reasons that you are still doing all the same things; over and over again.

Ultimately, it is up to you and only you to break these patterns. You are the only one who can stand up (get off your arse) and place one foot in front of the other one and take those first steps towards making the most important decision of your year and perhaps your entire life.

If you are still addicted to anything, you need to detox. If you do not exercise, you must detox. When you spend days, weeks and months over eating the wrong types of foods - your body needs a break, you need to take some time to clean and support your internal digestive functions. 

If you are sick, unwell, have taken anti-biotics (or drugs) of any sort over the last little while - you need to rebuild your system from the beginning using clean water and real food. And you must find a way to exercise, get out side and follow your dreams.

Now, for those of you who are wanting to follow a higher path, pursue your own spirituality and embark on the single most important journey of your life - there is no time like this moment. And no better way to begin then to clean up your diet, start a detox (water fast) and change your life.

What you need, is here

April

The Pagan Diet - a great place to start... also available on Gumroad in pdf 

There's Nothing To Eat

I remember this!!! Yes, those were the days, come in the door from work and immediately be thinking to myself - there is absolutely nothing to eat here. And to be looking around the kitchen (tired, drained, weary) for something to prepare - in a mindless haze from the outside word.

In. A. House. Full. Of. Food. 

Does any of this sound familiar to you? The fridge would be full, the cupboards bursting and still - there was not one thing that was formulating inside of my head to make as a meal for my family. Many times I eventually came up with something (and surprised myself that a meal could be made from few ingredients) other times I ended up getting something else.

It was just too convenient to order a take away or get a ready meal - there is something on every corner and it is a 'treat' after a long stressful day following someone else's dreams. We are put in a position where someone else is in charge of our food, nutrition, tastes, portion sizes and then (through this  virtual reality) became a part of the family.

Of course, many years ago I left all of this behind - however I have my moments every now and then where I remember full well what it was like to 'think' that way. It was a mind set, a frame of mind that I would fall back into as if someone had pushed a button and I could no longer think clearly enough about what to feed myself.

I knew then and I know it even more clearly now, a reset button needed to be pushed where food was concerned and my eyes opened to the fact that we need very little to make a decent meal and there is always potential.

So, let's see - in the cupboard at the end of the week I have onions, carrots, sweet potatoes, a leek, pumpkin - add to that a few lentils and rice and I have a balanced meal. Or, if you only have an onion, rice and a tin of fish - stir-fry the onion, toss with the cooked rice, add in the fish and you have a tasty dish.

Need some other ideas? How about a sandwich (bread, tuna, lettuce, mustard) and a bowl of lentil soup that can be made in minutes...with lentils, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, sweet potato and a carrot? There is also pasta (we like spelt or rice pasta) and a quick stir-fry of onion, sugar snap peas, garlic, grated carrot tossed with pesto - all made from vegetables and herbs growing in the garden.

Or, how about being more organized and prepared where your meals are concerned? Novel idea that it is, when you guess at the end of the day you might be home looking for something to eat, perhaps beans or lentils could be soaked ahead of time. Veggies chopped or a few ingredients left out to remind you of what you had planned to prepare? 

This thinking - 'there is nothing to eat' used to make me feel so frustrated, tired and then disappointed with myself because I would often end up eating the wrong types of foods and too much of them. It was an immature attitude toward feeding myself (food was a reward and I deserved all these 'treats') like giving a baby candy. 

Changing my attitude towards food, diet, eating, nutrition and my entire approach to cooking has been more then a lifestyle change, it has been a coming of age. 

Enjoy your day,

April

Spelt pasta - stir-fry with veggies from the garden and homemade pesto

April