Just Natural Health & Beauty magazine - October - December 2021 (issue 8)

Oct - Dec 2021

www.justnaturalhealth.co.uk

ISSUE 08

Skin-Nourishing Smoothie for Cold Winter Mornings Filters & Fat Shaming: Ahimsa and the Relief of Body Acceptance

How Clean is Green?

The Dirty Truth

Yoga Advent Calendar inside

Movember:

Men’s Health in a Covid World

Fibre:

Why Too Much of a Good Thing is Bad for Your Gut

Yuletide Indulgence

From Conception On

Turkey-Safe Plant-Based Christmas Treats

Get barista standard Oat M*lk at home.

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Editor’s NOTES Although many of us were wondering if we’d simply gone straight from spring to autumn this year, skipped a very-much-deserved summer (given the washout of June), by mid-July the UK was seeing record-breaking temperatures send us into the shade of the trees before the soaring mercury could break the glass (though certainly not during those fantastic, crashing, flash-flood thunderstorms).

We thankfully didn’t experience the fires of North America or the floods of the Continent, but London had its brief underwater pockets and in general the British summer provided a taste of things to come if we don’t change our climate-damaging ways.

On which subject, this issue we’ll be looking to the Antipodes, to see how that Commonwealth country Australia (borders still closed in an attempt to stop Covid) has (and hasn’t) been tackling climate disaster on the front line of extremes.

With eyes and minds globally open, then, now is the moment for doing away with “disinformation” and embarking upon the “Great Reset” in our thinking, as a species among myriad other species on this planet – a species with the power to enact change, but with a mindset of tolerance and understanding.

Keats’ “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” really having arrived now, and with it a calm, there arrives also a familiar chill that causes us to turn to all things cosy and Nordically “hygge”. We will likewise also soon nostalgically descend into winter, frostnipped yuletide celebrations included (global warming permitting, of course).

Autumn is arguably the most apt season for a more meditative approach to the “new normal” (or should we say “post-new normal”?) way of life that is today. For those suffering from “reemergence anxiety” – most of us step by step setting foot back inside schools and offices (the forlorn look of rail commuters, sad eyes behind masks hiding already-grey faces, should signal the ones) – nature-given colour therapy nevertheless abounds: who

among us hasn’t fallen into a reverie over that especial beauty of the rain (very much expected at this time of year), turned pluviophile or simply an auditory admirer of the white noise peace that comes with the Earth’s self-cleansing climatic rhythms? For a moment, our cares melt away – but if that rain continues, water levels rise, and homes float away too. Nostalgia has its place; now is the time for action.

As Patience Gray wrote in the wonderful Honey From a Weed, “As time goes by our life is simplified. Living, workplace, and studios have become united” – an apt description for these ongoing pandemic days. On which note, let us spare a thought for those in Asia, for Indonesia as much as India, for South Korea as equally as Japan and its ill-fated, yet determined Olympics. Let us mull over “Green Passes”, as proposed in Italy and Israel, referred to as “Covid Passports” here. As CNN’s John Allen stated back in the summer, the obvious nugget of wisdom to take from all these considerations is “get vaccinated, get vaccinated, get vaccinated”. Nonetheless, with ongoing concerns over viral variants and lingering questions over the efficacy of our double-jab (or “jag”, as a Scot recently kindly informed me) armour – and now with a third and perhaps yearly injection looking likely to be necessary – one must yet take additional preventative measures. We none of us know what these colder months might hold in respect of the virus. What is certain is that we do not want a repeat of last year.

On the subject of sharing, the lead up to the close of the year is the time for giving. So, let us not forget those who have not. While New York City passed a new bill, the “Excess Food Law”, at the start of the year (wherein surplus food from supermarkets and grocery stores must be donated to charities),

remember that many shops here also run a donation box scheme where nonperishable foods can be given to local food banks. FairShare, as well, is a laudable nationwide network of food redistributors helping those in need. Walking a mile in someone else’s moccasins doesn’t need to be taken literally, but the underlying moral is crucial to consider in active fashion. We have all bemoaned our lot at times during the lockdowns, but how fortunate for us that we had roofs over our heads to be protected beneath, had the financial ability to have food delivered when too afraid to venture out – what of those who had absolutely nothing?

We might all yet be timid with our new freedom, still feel that keen fear that it could all be snatched away again in an instant, but let us not be as shut inside our own troubles as we were for so long shut indoors: it is only with an open mind and an equally open heart that we can live on this planet with compassion and with kindness – for all species. Those are the qualities that will see hope for a better tomorrow become a reality, rather than a wistful dream. And there is yet hope, but it hasn’t been left as the last remaining item in Pandora’s box: hope lies within the core of each and every one of us, a well of strength to draw on when we need it most. Scientists might have discovered that the maximum human lifespan will only ever reach 150 years of age, but what point to that potential longevity when there might not be a planet to live upon? On that thought, it isn’t too late if we each make a change today. As the saying goes, “Life is tricky: stay in your own magic”: we are survivors and we shall continue to survive, but only if we share a little of our magic along the way.

NICOLE RALEIGH EDITOR

MARKETING MANAGER MARK SHARP DESIGN CLARICE LEIGH & JAMES HEATHCOTE MARKETING EXECUTIVE ELLIE RANGER WEB DESIGN ANT PAPA Produced by Just Natural Health, 210 Mauretania Road, Nursling Industrial Estate, Southampton, Hampshire, SO16 0YS Just Natural Health make a conscious effort to ensure accurate content at the time of publishing. The views expressed by advertisers do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publisher.

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Yoga Advent Calendar see page 77

54 Filters & Fat

OCTOBER - DE C E MBE R 2021

Shaming: Ahimsa and the Relief of Body Acceptance

Enough is enough – ditching the digital air brush and embracing our bodies for what they beautifully, naturally are.

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59 An Autumn of Independents

Catering for the individual: we check in with some independent health food shops as post-pandemic life rolls on apace.

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Commonwealth: The Relevance of Australian Environmentalism & its Aboriginal Origins

From the Great Barrier Reef to biodynamic regenerative farming, we take a look at land management and ecodevelopments Down Under.

16 From Planet to Plate: Joining the Dots

What’s happening in the plant-based alternative meat sector: questioning whether veganism is a panacea and, if not, what might be…

24 Powerful, AnimalLoving Women

Intelligent ladies + science + environmentalism? Now, that’s fierce; that’s the (cruelty-free) future.

26 All I Want for

Christmas is… An End to Climate Grief While gift shopping this holiday, consider also the planetary legacy we’re leaving our children…

68 Movember: Men’s Health in a Covid World

It’s not just about the girls… Raising awareness and making sure the guys get the care they deserve (and often keep silent about).

30 Green Parenthood: From Conception On

No-one said green was easy, but it is feasible: raising healthy vegetarian and vegan kiddos.

ON THE COVER

36 The Big 9 Nutrients for VeggieLoving Kids

A little helping hand to keep check of the vital vitamins and minerals for growing boys and girls.

44 Seriously Sourdough: Comfort Food & a Harmonious Gut

‘Tis the season… Our relationship with bread and why fermented is digestively better.

47 How Clean is Green?

The Dirty Truth

You’ve switched to the eco-friendly stuff, but why is it safe and are you sure it really is?

50 Winter Dryness and Soulful Skincare

The colder months are tough on the spirit and even more so on the skin – here’s a few tips and tricks to stay radiant.

47 Yuletide Indulgence: Turkey-Safe Plant-Based Christmas Treats He knows who’s naughty, who’s nice: sugar and spice (and a tasty little bit of savoury, too).

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Cousin

COMMONWEALTH The Relevance of Australian Environmentalism & its Aboriginal Origins

“We are nature and the past, all the old ways Gone now and scattered.”

- Oodgeroo Noonuccal, ‘We Are Going’

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he image of a koala stranded in the midst of a forest consumed by flame went viral around the world during the 2019-2020 Australian bushfires, otherwise known as the Black Summer. Within weeks, however, they had been overshadowed by the vastly different and ongoing viral spread of Covid-19. Yet, as the Commonwealth country now prepares for the latest wildfire season as temperatures increase once again in Oceania, following on from Britain’s own unusually hot late summer, and with news of Australia’s peculiar fight back against labelling the Great Barrier Reef as endangered, it is perhaps worth delving deeper – though maybe not opal mining deep – into what, if anything, the land renowned for not only being beneath a hole in the Ozone layer, but for its beef and dairy industries, is doing in the fight against climate change. Certainly, before the Olympics head to Brisbane in 2032. In looking to the future, in fact, it seems Australia is very much looking to the past as well – with mixed results.

A tourist travelling outside of city limits pre the “Fortress Australia” era, its borders closed against any potential

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influx of Covid since the beginning (New Zealand exempt), might have sat waiting many a minute for cattle crossings on their road trip into the Outback; might have driven miles upon miles with only cows and sheep in fields for company; and they might have been welcomed at their eventual or periodic lodgings for the night with a bag (yes, a bag) of non-organic milk for their stay, thank you very much and sleep soundly. In short, livestock agriculture is the lifeblood at the heart of the rural community – however, it’s not all factory farming hell. Indeed, Australia has had a love for its land, for the care and preservation of it, for millennia. It is a spiritual bond which stretches back to pre-colonial, huntergatherer days, when the indigenous people respected and tended it. And Aboriginal land management, that prototype farming practice, ironically always relied on fire.

Deemed “the biggest estate on Earth” by Bill Gammage in his book of same title, Australia’s indigenous peoples cultivated grasslands and drinking spots, purposefully burning and promoting plant growth to attract and nourish animals for hunting.

Intricate burn patterns show an inheritance of such methods over generations, knowledge of a kangaroo’s preference for short grass and a native bee’s taste for desert bloodwood (named after its deep red sap) crucial in planning ahead. Researchers have since found that rainforest grew and grows back over burnt areas at a considerable pace: Aboriginal burning would have been an ongoing and considerable land management task.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t just a question of maintaining the wild as optimally as possible and taking what could be, but of cultivation as well: yams, millet, macadamia nuts, berries, and other fruit were grown (bush tomatoes and desert yams didn’t suffice, let alone satiate); emus and cassowaries, and dingoes and even possums, were reared; butterfly caterpillars and fish stocks were also transported from one area of the country to another to expand these early farming practices. Indeed, “one of the largest and oldest aquaculture sites in the world”, and a UNESCO heritage site, is the 6,600-year-old Budj Bim Cultural Landscape near Portland, southwest Victoria.

Fire enabled cooking, too, obviously. Both animal products and yams were wrapped in bark before being placed in pit ovens or over bush fires. For vegetables and other softer ingredients, leaves were used as well to facilitate steaming, and as

evidenced by 36,000-year-old grinding stones found at Cuddie Springs, NSW, and in 30,000 year-old underground ovens at Lake Mungo, seeds from grasses, shrubs, and ferns were ground into paste and either eaten as was or formed into cakes and loaves and baked.

What relevance does all this have to the situation today? What Aboriginal land management was not about: obscenely large areas of land clearance, feed lots for grain- and hormone- and antibiotic-stuffed cattle that stretch on for miles of desertified “soil”, loss of native flora to make way for monoculture... The respect for the land has seemingly been lost. Or has it?

Plant-Based Health from the Southern Hemisphere Today, Australian food isn’t all Tim Tams, Lamingtons, and a hearty dollop of Vegemite for those slices of Damper (yeast-free bread) on the roadie. Rather, Australian cuisine offers some of the freshest options possible, given its island status.

Indeed, when it comes to whole food plant-based nourishment, even in the 21st century, you’d be surprised.

The country has undergone widely varied periods of influence, from 50,000-year-old native Aboriginal “cooking” (or “Bush food”) in precolonial times to European settlement between 1788 and 1945. After WWII, further immigration brought additional culinary changes, as well. Originally, there were some 5,000 indigenous foods to choose from, with meat sourced from kangaroo and magpies, possum and goannas, wedge-tailed eagles and crocodiles (if you could catch them). Coastal tribes and those near water survived by grace of fish and, more specifically, eels. Indeed,

Parramatta in NSW means “eel waters”.

Then, of course, there were the I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!-infamous witchetty grubs, together with honey and ants.

When the first British fleet landed at Botany Bay to establish a penal colony, though, the harsh soil meant it was imports which saved the day: flour and salted meat, oatmeal and tea. Today, alongside beer, the national Australian drink of choice is still a good old cuppa. Used to pigeon and goose, settlers were reluctant to eat the odd-looking marsupials on the island.

However, in Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen’s Land), hunger resulted in experimentation with stuffed wombat and fried echidna…

During the 1850s gold rush, Chinese immigrants quickly gave up on mining for fortune and instead opened restaurants and market gardens, as well as grocers which sold fresh greens (a rarity back then). Soon, cities and ports had their own Chinatowns and so the flavours of ginger and soy sauce quickly took hold in the national cuisine. Thanks to European settlers who turned to street vending, the Australian appetite for pies and pasties took hold, also, and by the Federation era in 1901, the British tradition of the Sunday roast influenced staple foods such as mutton and lamb chops, as well as colonial curries which introduced coconut from South-East Asia and spices from immigrants from that other British colony, India.

Nevertheless, post-WWI production method acceleration, including packaging and transport, changed eating habits again. Improved supplies of eggs and butter, of flour and sugar, meant more baking could be done (think Pavlovas and Anzac biscuits), and by 1923 a Melbourne scientist’s brainwave to use the yeast from beer production made a moment in history now labelled as – you guessed it – Vegemite. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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Yet, post-1945 culinary influences came from Greece and Italy, migrants from those countries altering the course of Australian cuisine again, to include coffee (what would an antipodean town or city be without its baristas these days?), bell peppers, aubergine, courgettes, artichokes, olives, and garlic. Australians also opened their eyes to al fresco dining for the first time. Unfortunately, from the 1960s onwards US fast food companies took hold of public hearts (and stomachs), but so too did immigrants from Vietnam (fleeing the war), and Lebanon and the Middle East.

All these things taken into consideration, what has always been the foundation of the Australian plate has been a balance between protein and fibre. Furthermore, with indigenous plant-based favourites becoming sought-after products as (super) health foods now, the current trending concept of “Eat to Live” sits well with the Australian mentality of “Work to Live” and can only be a good thing for the country, as long as that produce is harvested sustainably, and doesn’t go the same way as almonds and avocados…

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Lemon Myrtle

A tree native to Australian coastal regions, lemon myrtle (or Backhousia citriodora) can grow up to 60 ft or more. Both the flowers and fruits are able to be eaten, but it is the leaves that are most useful, health-wise. Also known in Europe and the United States as tree verbena, the citrus scent and flavour are misleading, as lemon myrtle isn’t actually acidic. Available as a tea, spice, essential oil, and in powdered form, its properties are antioxidant and antiseptic and it is commonly taken for a range of issues, from throat disorders to gastric problems.

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Kakadu Plum

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Finger Lime

Also known as the “billygoat plum”, Kakadu plums contain an incredible fifty times the vitamin C of oranges.

Indeed, they’re the richest source of vitamin C in the world. Native to the Northern Territory and Western Australia, this small yellow plum is a frequent choice for local jams and pickles with an added “superfood” status to rival Amazonian açai berries and Peruvian maca root.

Macadamia Nuts

A small rainforest tree endemic to southern Queensland, the Macadamia is only native to Australia, but grown in as far climes as Brazil and Hawaii.

With a tough-to-crack spherical outer shell, the smooth inner nut can be eaten raw or used in a variety of dishes and desserts. More recently, it has been transformed into nut milks as an alternative to dairy. Offering 58% RDA of Manganese and 22% RDA of Thiamine (vitamin B1), a 28g portion of macadamia nuts provides only 2g of protein, but is loaded with antioxidants and tocotrienols (a type of vitamin E). Studies have also shown that up to 42g of macadamia nuts per day may help lower LDL (bad) cholesterol levels.

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An elongated lime similar to a gherkin in shape and size, the finger lime (or Citrus australasica) comes from the rainforests of south-east Queensland and north-east New South Wales and is packed full of vitamin C and vitamin A. In cooking, it’s also referred to as “lime caviar”, as when scooped out the inside looks like small beads of crystals or pearls of tangy juice, which are then used in salads, cocktails, and marmalades (finger limes are notoriously sour).

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Pepperberries

Not your average source of peppercorn, Australian Pepperberries are more versatile and are used in both sweet and savoury dishes.

The Tasmanian pepperberry plant (Tasmannia lanceolata) was used in traditional Aboriginal medicine for skin disorders and venereal diseases.

The leaves and stems have an aromatic peppery taste as much as the berries do, while those fruits have around three times the antioxidant content of blueberries. One simply has to harvest the berries before the native birds get at them, such as the Black Currawong.

The Black Summer of 2019-2020 will never be forgotten in not only Australia, but in the global consciousness. People lost lives and the living lost homes, lost everything.

More than 30 million hectares of land burned away. Additionally, it is estimated that “between 650 million and 1.2 billion tonnes” of CO2 were released into the atmosphere. This year, the United States itself dealt with even more dangerous heat waves and fires than before in Oregon and Northern California and Texas – and so the list of states continues. But we haven’t even begun Australia’s Summer 2021 yet. In April, ABC News reported that the “risk of another catastrophic bushfire season has increased by at least 30%”. If global temperatures continue to rise year in and year out, by the time the mercury has risen 2°C, the chances of another Black Summer become fourfold. And that is why it is that how Australia treats her land matters very much.

The issue is a keenly topical one. A report published in the journal Nature in 2017 found Australia to be “the second worst country for biodiversity decline in the world”. Further, it was “one of seven countries responsible for more than 50% of global diversity loss” in just 12 years. The states of New South Wales and Queensland apparently kill in surplus of 50 million animals per annum through land clearance practices. One difference between Australia and the United States, though, is the fragility of a land ancient and weathered by the beating of cycles of prolonged droughts and frightening floods, cool temperatures and incredible heatwaves and ensuing bushfires; even plagues of insects (one only has to stroll along the beach for a while in peak summer and try not to choke on flies in the process).

European settlement didn’t help matters, either, introducing foreign species and practices unsuitable to the native lands and species, especially extensive land clearance.

Last year’s Black Summer, according to author Robbie Arnott, killed circa 3 billion animals: 2.5 billion reptiles, 180 million birds, 153 million mammals (of which 30,000 were koalas, if you were wondering), 51 million frogs. The sky was an orange-black, survivors masked in the beginning due to smoke; later on, due to Covid. While humans have lived in Australia for 65,000 years, it is only in the past 230 years that such mass destruction has occurred due to deforestation, predation by imported species, excessive hunting practices, and now the weather. It is a land living in environmental chaos: but all hope is not lost if action is taken now; tomorrow is too late.

As stated, it is not only flame that threatens Australia. In the UK, we might have watched aghast at a Europe under water during the early part of the summer. Even now, as Politico reported, Belgium and Germany are having to clear vast swathes of rubbish piled up by the “catastrophic floods”.

In Belgium alone, it is thought that in less than a handful of days some 1.5 million tonnes of waste were washed up by the floods, 2,000 tonnes of that in the first 24 hours. Indeed, it has been claimed by both countries that to attempt to recycle everything properly would be unfeasible. From washing machines and furniture, to plastics and building debris, tens of thousands of cars and even sewage – what has been dubbed a “tsunami of trash” is causing concern not on an aesthetic level, but one of human health. Apart from “electric and electronic waste”, besides “some construction waste and biowaste like trees”, the rest is either sent to landfill or incinerated: not the best solution by far, especially when “German incinerators already operate at over 95% of capacity”. Estimates of a timeframe for complete clean-up have been said to be “a number of years”.

Water pollution is a primary concern after such incidents, not just because of oil spills from broken heaters, and residents in the affected areas have

been advised to boil any water before use. Just Natural Health & Beauty has written previously on the importance of filtering water even in modern day developed countries when there haven’t been any environmental disasters, despite the apparent efficacy of water treatment plants. From the debate over fluoridisation to a question of the continuing flow through existing lead or copper piping, of any agricultural run-off or excess chlorine – only two years ago Wales Online reported an increase in incidents of bladder cancer due to disinfectants found in tap water. What, then, the risk to people in Europe now, even though the quantity of water that washed through served to dilute any distinct concentration of pollutants?

Flooding is an environmental danger one sector of Australian society knows only too well about. ABC News, reporting from “the frontline of climate change” earlier this year (our spring, Australia’s autumn), presented a situation all too quickly becoming dire. Deeming global warming “the great moral challenge of our generation”, the station covered the increasingly precarious problem facing First Nations people of the Torres Strait Islands as sea levels rise. One inhabitant said simply, “You interfere with Mother Nature, this is what you get”.

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Climate change is “the existential threat of our times”. For the Kulkalgal Nations, the island of Masig, only 6m above sea level, is – as they describe it – their library, their maternity ward, their hospital, and their supermarket. On Warraber, another Kulkalgal Nation land, in the past decade 20m of land has washed away, while the Gudaw Maluligal Nation land of Boigu has been experiencing King Tides for the first time in history. It is predicted that by the end of the century, there will be a further 80cm predicted rise in sea levels – lethal for the Torres Strait Islanders.

So it is that they have taken their case to the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva, claiming that the Australian government has not been doing enough to combat climate change and that they are close to becoming “climate change refugees in their own country”. The response of Ken Wyatt, Minister for Indigenous Australians, was that the government is “aware of the risks”.

The planet has heated up 1.1°C since pre-industrial levels. It is predicted that the overall temperature increase will reach 1.5°C by only the 2030s. The effects of this in Australia alone are already telling on some 17 different ecosystems, now on the brink of collapse: Australian tropical savanna, mangrove forests, the Great Barrier Reef, wet tropical rainforest, the Georgina Gidgee woodlands, the Murray River Darling River Basin riverine and waterways, Snowpatch Herbfield, the Monaro Tablelands, subalpine forests, the Great Southern Reef kelp forests, the Gondwanan forests, the Mediterranean forests and woodlands, Shark Bay’s seagrass beds, Ningaloo Reef, and western-central arid zones. These areas fall along not only the entire circumference of Australia, but inland pockets throughout, as well.

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Is the Great Barrier Reef Endangered?

It isn’t winter which is coming, but the sixth extinction. And it could be the preservation of a 2,300-km stretch of coral that determines whether that happens sooner, or later.

Earlier this year, Jason Momoa, once Game of Thrones’ Khal Drogo, together with national treasure Joanna Lumley, vocally called for Australia’s “greatest natural asset”, a UN World Heritage site for 40 years, the Great Barrier Reef to be recognised as “in danger”. Joining explorers Phillipe and Ashlan Gorse Cousteau, as well as Sylvia Earle (president of Mission Blue), and filmmaker Adrian Grenier (not to mention the Prince of Monaco HSH Prince Albert II) – all these public figures became signatories for the move to have the Great Barrier Reef recognised as endangered, so that it can be properly protected. UNESCO determined otherwise.

Having been third to only the Galapagos Islands and Yellowstone National Park in being named as a place of “outstanding universal value to humanity”, such a move seemed a morethen-sensible step. In recent times, the Great Barrier Reef has exhibited mass coral bleaching. In a statement by the Australian Marine Conservation Society, three severe coral bleachings have occurred in only the past five years and, according to WWF Australia, at least half of the Great Barrier Reef coral cover has been bleached due to pollution (other factors include rising water temperatures and acidity levels). Other estimates put the bleaching at 60%. Reef loss has also impacted green turtle populations on Raine Island, one of the Torres Strait Islands imperilled by rising sea levels.

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This information is deeply worrying, not because the Great Barrier Reef is an area of outstanding natural beauty, a phenomenally biodiverse marine ecosystem home to some 1625 species of fish, but also because coral reefs are carbon sinks, and natural carbon sinks are able to reduce carbon dioxide levels by up to 50%. In short, they are crucial foci for conservation in this age of global warming. Furthermore, a 2018 study suggested that coral reefs could globally save $4 billion in flood damage annually, acting like mangroves to keep risen water back.

So it is that the Great Barrier Reef Foundation’s Reef Action 2030 aims to improve water quality, act on climate, restore reef islands and coasts, adapt and protect the reef. Interventions to achieve these aims include cooling and shading, assisted natural adaptation, enhanced coral breeding, and biocontrol.

Jason Momoa regularly gets involved in Hawaiian protests against proposed construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea, land which is deemed sacred by the natives. The star of Aquaman is also a fervent recycling campaigner and began a “tinned water company”, called Manalalu, back in 2019.

Additionally, this year he released a vegan shoe collection for a limited time, made from “biodegradable outsoles with algaebased insoles”.

But surfing back to the other side of the Pacific in our focus, why should such environmental considerations require celebrity faces to be heard? The facts should speak for themselves. Australian PM Scott Morrison’s government nevertheless lobbied directly against the move (after all, previous Deputy PM Michael McCormack had dismissed climate concerns over Black Summer 2019-2020 as the ranting of "raving inner-city lefties"). Frequently criticised for minimal changes to its fossil fuel infrastructure, Australia was supported in its stance by oil-centred Saudi Arabia and Bahrain... Only time will tell whether UNESCO’s decision was the right one.

Other countries, such as the UK, France, Denmark, and New Zealand have pledged to reach Net Zero by 2050 (Sweden by 2045), but the Australian government has committed only to reducing GHGs by between 26% and 28% “below 2005 levels” by 2030. Nonetheless, while modern, post-colonial Australia might have had governmentally approved, environmental accreditation bodies for a while, Cheryl Durrant – Fellow of the Institute for Integrated Economic Research Australia, previously with the Australian Department of Defence as Director of Preparedness and Mobilisation, wherein she led “climate risk scenario development” – states that she was told that “climate change” was “a politically unacceptable term”. Meanwhile, billionaire co-founder of tech company Atlassian, Mike Cannon-Brookes has called his homeland a “regressive force in international climate politics”.

Economically, the situation is tricky. As the BBC recently reported, PM Morrison assured “a conference of fossil fuel executives that oil and gas will ‘always’ be a major contributor to the country's prosperity”. While Australia might account for only 0.3% of the global population, it produces 1.3% of global emissions, notably by cause of “Scope 3 Emissions”, i.e. exports. Western Australia is known for its mining industry, for instance: the Clean Energy and Green Economy transitions will impact enormously a state in which 94% of its AUS$187 billion-worth [c. £100 billion] of exports come from the carbon-intensive resources sector. Indeed, coal accounts for 68.39% of “the energy mix in the national electricity market”. Although nine of the sixteen coal-fired power stations are due to shut down before 2040, Australia is still trying to find “the holy grail” of the iron ore industry: how do you make steel without damaging the planet any further?

“Zero carbon steel” might just be feasible with the use of green hydrogen. However, as ecologist Chad Hanson put it, it is crucial we “rapidly move beyond fossil fuel consumption”, yes, but also “simultaneously draw down the large, humancaused excesses of greenhouse gases”. Switching to “green hydrogen” is no good if we leave the pollutants that have already been emitted free-floating. The importance once of indigenous land management practices has now shifted onus to atmospheric cleansing, it seems. In 2019, GHG and CO2 levels were at 415 parts per million; by June of 2020, they

were at 417 parts per million – despite a reduction in emissions due to the lockdown. The desirable maximum parts per million to save the planet? 350 parts per million.

As a minimum, Hanson has estimated that even a “93% reduction in fossil fuel consumption over the next few decades” would mean nothing if forest degradation continues and carbon stores continue to deplete. Forests, after all, are a major factor in carbon sequestration. By saving forests, not only do local ecosystems recover, but absorption of CO2 increases, too.

A combination of green energy and reforesting (inclusive of limiting livestock grazing), then, is the best way forward – the necessary tradition of land management remains. Thus, while all these inroads into renewables continue to develop, according to the Sustainable Food Trust Australia an “underground insurgency” has been underway on the regenerative agriculture scene in the country. Wanting to heal “the planet and human health”, in the words of Charles Massy (author of Call the Reed Warbler: A New Agriculture, A New Earth), it is about rejoining the ecosystem and returning a “nutritional integrity” to food and community. Doing away with the toxic “mechanical mindset” that has gotten the Earth into this mess, biodynamic regenerative farming brings back a respect for the land, drawing on indigenous knowledge as much as modern science, and aims to “mimic nature”: it shuns monoculture, nurtures polyculture, and thereby heals the soil, promoting biodiversity of flora and fauna.

There are no chemical pesticides or fertilisers used.

Turning instead to “agroecology, agroforestry, holistic management, organic and natural sequence farming and permaculture”, biodynamic regenerative farming applies both no-till and conservation tillage principles, as well as pasture-cropping and crop rotation, water harvesting and managed grazing – all these make for a living soil that sequesters carbon. The key, though, is accepting where Nature takes you – and connecting with others on the same journey. It is networking and spreading the word that will truly root this paradigm shift, this emergent “regenerative culture” that identifies humans’ role as stewards. There is no biblical “dominion”: this is an ethics of solidarity and care far more compassionate.

‘To urbanized people, the source of food and the reality of nature are becoming more abstract. At the same time, urban folks are more likely to feel protective toward animals – or to fear them.’

- Richard Louv

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The Bio-Dynamic Research Institute certifies Organic and Bio-Dynamic produce under the Demeter label, an international certification begun by what is now known as the Biodynamic Federation Demeter International, based on Rudolph Steiner’s groundwork in 1924. The new organisation is a union of the previous DemeterInternational and International Biodynamic Association (IBDA) groups (we have the Demeter label in the UK).

They came together last February at the annual conference of the Agricultural Section at the Goetheanum in Switzerland. It is the “only agricultural association that has built up a network of individual certification bodies for biodynamic farmers worldwide”, bringing together a “global community” of likeminded individuals on 200,000 hectares in 57 countries: a community of farmers and winemakers, of gardeners and beekeepers, and all the behind-the-scenes personnel who help them to function in a business capacity.

And the concept of “community” is especially pertinent in post-pandemic times.

The Bio-Dynamic Research Institute was founded in 1957 and a decade later Demeter became an official trademark.

The label takes its name from the Ancient Greek goddess Demeter, overseer of the harvest and agriculture, protector of grains and the Earth’s fertile soil. Inspired not only by Steiner’s teachings, but also the research of German soil scientist Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, as well as Australian biodynamic “farming giant” Alex Podolinsky, for over 60 years there has been set a new standard; ever since “a new agricultural impulse became necessary”, ever since the soil started to die due to the flood of pesticidal chemicals poured onto it.

Environmental harm is no new concern.

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The Australian Demeter Bio-Dynamic Method essentially sets out to revivify the earth. It relies on producing a continual creation of humus in the soil. That is not to say “permanent” humus, which would be a dead layer, but a “living” soil ever being formed by worms and microbes. A universe at work under our very feet, a healthy soil means healthy humans. The aim is to reverse land degradation through regenerative agriculture that provides “clean and non-toxic” food, increases soil water retention once again, and heals ecosystem biodiversity. When you learn that in southern parts of Australia carbon levels in the soil have dropped to less than 1% since 1840 due to farmers’ use of fungicides, such a purpose is not only admirable, but critical.

But glorious organic fruits and vegetables aside, what about those notorious methane emitters, the bovines of the planet, the grazers of deforested land? What are livestock farmers in Australia doing in that regard? The Grocer reported in June that the UK had “imported 1,766 tonnes of beef and veal from Australia” just in 2019. Under a new trade deal, Australia “could export 20 times as much beef and veal” as before in the first year alone. The same increase would eventually apply to sheep and lamb. This is not humane meat: this is feed lots and factory farming. To counter the numbers evidencing an as-yetravenous British appetite for meat (and cheap meat at that), the Slow Meat (or Slow Food Ark) movement – inspired by Italian Carlo Petrini’s 1986 Slow Food Movement – is one method gradually gaining traction on smaller run farms in Australia. But one has to be wary of “climate-washing”.

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The Sustainable Food Trust recently questioned whether beef can ever be defended. When society is being told to “eat less meat”, it is not simply to prevent health problems (from heart disease and high cholesterol, to high blood pressure and even certain cancers), but to save the planet, also; to save it for future generations, so that they may not only survive, but thrive.

Meat consumption is a primary personal contributor to an individual’s carbon footprint.

Nonetheless, both these points have been denied in Nicolette Hahn Niman’s book, Defending Beef: The Ecological and Nutritional Case for Meat. An environmental lawyer and farmer, Niman claims, rather, that “optimal human diets include food derived from animals”; further, that “the most ecologically vibrant food systems need animals”.

Niman writes from the personal experience of a childhood and adulthood circulating around farms, where “physical toughness and stoicism” have been nurtured alongside “humility and resilience” in discovering how quickly Nature can destroy months of hard work. It is almost comparable to traditional land management practices, this ethos of not working the land as a separate entity, but working with it and becoming part of it. And a farm is, in a way, like a tributary body from off the main river system of the Earth.

It is not so much its own microcosmic ecosystem, but a frond which thrives from off the mother root. Niman’s environmental ethic is a harmonious one, one in attune with the seasons and surroundings: it is a form of environmental stewardship.

The Slow Ark of Taste & Edible Biodiversity Here in the UK, the Slow Food Movement is not just burgeoning, but thriving. Actively working against industrial agriculture and environmental homogenization, adherents seek to return and protect “edible biodiversity” not just in Britain, but globally. To this end, traditionally British food products are a high-priority focus in the drive to ease off on the accelerator of production and consumption.

It is a preservation of heritage, both of the food and drink products unique to this nation, and to the landscape and animal life that are part of the ecological system necessary for their creation. A healing of local biodiversity for future food security: there is something intrinsically wrong with a system that more easily facilitates importing food from the other side of the planet than producing our country’s nature-given food here.

Working with small-scale producers, slowly (pun wholly intended) heritage foods and drinks are seeing a return, the market for them is being revived – and jobs are being created; crucial as we recover from the pandemic, a virus that attacked not just our bodies, but our lives down to the economic system that keeps everything seemingly functioning smoothly, if not fully fairly so.

One such example was the British Saddleback Pig, the 100th successful onboard to the Ark of Taste in 2016. There are now half that many products again under its umbrella and chefs nationwide have been amazingly supportive of the return of the ethos of “good quality local and sustainably produced food” for some time. From “seasonal forgotten foods” that border and sometimes overflow into a laudable foraging habit, “edible biodiversity” is very much here to stay as environmentally conscious consumers seek another way to save the third planet from the sun.

On the Allyn River, in Galloway, New South Wales beef farmers Adrian Honnery and Valentyna Jurkiw have set in motion such a harmony with both their herd and their land that has become something a little bit magical.

Employing a holistic approach to the process of farming, their cattle roam freely, up and down hills, munching on vegetation that their bodies naturally guide them towards. A slower-growing Galloway breed, their cows won’t be taken from those green hills for at least 3 years. Compared to other beef farming methods – where fast-growing breeds are left in a paddock formed by land clearance, fed on cheap and fattening grain pumped chock-full of hormones, and slaughtered between 12 and 18 months of age – Honnery and Jurkiw’s cattle spend their days in a seemingly paradisal existence.

Yet, in the era of Greta Thunberg and co., is there merit in their method and in Niman’s argument? We have, after all, been told repeatedly that it is precisely beef production which harms the planet most from out of the various livestock industries (though George Monbiot would beg to differ post his Rivercide live coverage of chicken manure pollution of Britain’s waterways). As Veganuary itself reported earlier in the year, in fact, in comparison to plant-based options, “per calorie, beef requires 160 times more land and produces 11 times more greenhouse gases”. Can that ever be a sustainable option, then? Can one

understand farmers like Honnery and Jurkiw, who claim that their holistic cattle rearing results in meat of remarkably better taste and texture than industrial livestock farming? What place pleasure in a planet hurtling towards disaster?

In Sydney – a city where the “Paddock to Plate” scene is thriving – butcher Feather & Bone Providores (a “whole body” butchery) applauds what the couple is doing, as their ethos is to source only from those farmers who rear rare and heritage breeds and exhibit “the highest environmental and animal welfare standards”.

Begun in 2006 and run by Laura Dalrymple and Gran Hilliard, also authors of The Ethical Omnivore (2020), “provenance” is a vital word at Feather & Bone. If it’s not from a place thriving by means of regenerative agriculture or if it’s not community-supportive, they don’t want to know. Not only do they visit every farm they buy from so that customers can know in detailed fashion where their meat has originated, but approximately 70% of the farms are certified bio-dynamic, organic or Humane Choice Free Range as well (the rest adhere to organic principles as a minimum). Beef prime cuts further undergo the traditional on-bone dry-ageing process for up to 8 weeks, as well. When they say “slow”, they mean slow.

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What Feather & Bone also does, however, is butcher as ethically as possible and the abattoirs used are as close as is feasible to the farms where the animals are sourced from. As they put it, “If you’re thoughtful enough to reflect on the provenance of the meat and poultry you eat, the fact that you’re in some way complicit in the killing of an animal will have occurred to you”.

The important factor is remorse at taking a life. This is ethical omnivorism: mindful eating, conscious awareness of what one is consuming. Additionally, Feather & Bone “acknowledges the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of this nation, the First Nations, traditional custodians and guardians of the lands”. They respect those “ancestors and elders past and present” – and they respect how well they managed the land and its creatures.

Primal Mindset, Down Under Style

Apart from livestock reared the Slow Food way, Australian meat also comes from their equivalent of game. There’s freshwater fish, too: Emu With several times the iron content of beef, emu is also low in cholesterol and nearly fat-free. According to National Geographic, in the 1990s apparently the United States were claiming it as “the next red meat” – well, you didn’t have to tell the Aussies that. Frequently smoked and served cold, this meat can often be found in more comforting fare, such as oh-so-Australian meat pies and pasties, as well.

Of late, emu oil has become popular as a supplement. Used in Aboriginal culture to heal wounds and skin disorders, capsules contain refined emu fat, thought to be both anti-ageing and anti-inflammatory, possibly of help also for arthritis sufferers.

Kangeroo It might be the national animal, but it is also a pest nearly as populous as rabbits (and we know what happened when the country tried to reduce numbers of that creature…). Each year, there is a cull of 15% of the kangaroo population to keep numbers under control and it is that meat which becomes available for purchase: there are no kangaroo farms.

A methane-free alternative to cattle, kangaroo meat is also low in fat (which is why it is cooked rare to medium, due to its tendency to dry out if well-done) and rich in iron and zinc. It also contains Omega-3 fattyacids EPA and DHA, normally associated with fish.

Crocodile

That is why a 2017 poll of Queensland residents found that over 80% supported proposals for new Aboriginal ranger jobs. In 2012, just 20% of Australian land was managed by the country’s native people. Yet, indigenous knowledge of the quirks and fickleness of the Outback is incomparable; few know better how to soothe that natural beast. Tasks include, interestingly, supplying meat from crocodile and feral buffalo to local communities, as well as hunting for other introduced species, such as foxes, cats, and camels in order to rid them from the true bush ecosystem (a different world to our grey squirrel problem!). Plant species are monitored, also, with new flora recorded, so as to protect biodiversity, doing away with invasive African buffel grass and other seeds and weeds.

Tasks also include controlled burns and, of course, fire breaks.

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As eerie as it sounds, crocodile meat is considered by its advocates to taste something like a blend of chicken and crab. Incredibly high in protein (a 114g portion offers 24g of protein), like emu crocodile is in the main bred. According to AgriFutures, thirteen such farms exist, seven of which are in the Northern Territory.

One which raises the ethics warning flag similar to whale meat, though also the cost of feeding these carnivores, the other (im)moral aspect of crocodile farming is that often it is for their skins, as well. Walk a mile in another’s moccasins takes on a whole new meaning…

Barramundi An authentically Australian fish, “Barramundi” literally means "large-scaled river fish" in the Aboriginal tongue and is hugely popular. Also known as Asian sea bass, barramundi go between freshwater and saltwater and are considered a sustainable fish option given that their diet is mostly a vegetarian one (they don’t eat other fish).

Barramundi can be farmed, but given their hardiness, no hormones or antibiotics are needed. A 170g fillet contains roughly 35g of protein, 2g of fat, and 1g of Omega-3 fatty-acids (an equivalent portion of salmon has 1.5g).

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Joining the Dots Coming away from the antipodes, it seems as if the planet and its people are by-and-large becoming more plant-based (and even 88% of Australians opposed the ban on vegan “meat” being labelled such).

A survey carried out by Squeaky Bean (named Plant-Based Manufacturer of the Year) found that 25% of Britons prefer their lunches to be plant-based, 24% nationwide moving towards a more flexitarian approach to eating in order to reduce their carbon footprint (42% in London). When you consider that supermarkets have joined the race to bring consumers nonanimal-sourced products to the point that wellness independents are looking for the next USP away from the vegan market, and the current value of the meatless products market is around $35 billion [c. £25 billion] – how is it, then, that meat is still very much on the menu?

Plant Based News reported on how G7 leaders meeting in Cornwall had discussed the climate crisis over a surf n’ turf meal of steak and lobster earlier this year. The hypocrisy wreaks as bad as a factory farm and teen activist Great Thunberg duly called them out on it. Additionally, Veganuary reported earlier this year that in the UK approximately 3.5 million meals consumed each day contain pork sausages. Eleven million pigs are annually killed in order to provide those meals:

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caged pigs, isolated pigs, pigs which have no hope of seeing the outdoors. How have we survived a seemingly zoonotically caused pandemic and come out the other side hungrier for bangers n’ mash than ever before?

Indeed, an investigation

by DeSmog (covered by The Independent) found that global meat consumption is actually increasing, to the point that it “threatens to derail the Paris Agreement”, while not quite reaching a “peak meat” level. Why? The problem is largely “climate-washing”. This tactic portrays livestock agriculture in a more positive light, a healthy and homely light, often by questioning the long-term viability of alternative products. It is also because incomes are rising in developing countries, where the ability to afford meat is a status symbol.

Furthermore, the livestock industry claims it is meat which will feed a growing population of “10 billion mouths”…

A study published in the journal Science found that it is not simply emissions which must decrease (if not stop altogether) in order to keep the planetary temperature increase below the 1.5°C mark, but that what we eat is an all too important factor, also. Meat producers are green-sheening their image, and also their emissions figures, and claiming their product is “the hope” – but immense areas of land are cleared for industrial cattle rearing, and extensive waterways are polluted by the excremental run-off and whatever chemicalised else it contains. Such methods are far from what the UN intended with its Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030, surely? Nevertheless, at the same time the UN has called the problem “complex”, stating that it is important that low-income groups “have access to animalbased foods”, but that wealthy (or wealthier) groups should consume less.

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At the same time, however, AT Kearney has projected that by 2040 meat alternatives will have displaced over half of the animal meat currently sold. This is in line with advice from the scientific committee EATLancet, its recommendation being that red meat consumption halve by 2050. Nonetheless, livestock producers have begun installing “climate innovations”, from anaerobic digesters to slurry management tech, a glossy veneer pasted over a very real problem: there are just too many livestock animals, and their emissions are overwhelming the planet.

The BBC reported that, according to the UK State of the Climate report, last year was “the third warmest, fifth wettest, and eighth sunniest on record” since 1884. Indeed, the data shows that in the past three decades Britain has become 0.9°C hotter and 6% wetter. In other words, we are already living through climate change. Even trees are starting to leaf earlier in response; they’re also beginning to shed them more quickly, heralding autumn nearly a week sooner. But in this country snow has been thin on the ground. Is a bacon sandwich worth the risk of weather disasters?

At COP26, taking place in Glasgow from November 3rd through 11th, it will once again be urged that climate change be arrested now, if not yesterday. As Vegconomist reported, if even mainstream companies like Upfield have estimated that entirely switching to plant-based spreads can in a single year reduced GHGs by some 6 million metric tonnes, again focus should swivel to livestock agriculture and reconsider: in the 21st century, do we need to be exploiting a sentient being for food?

The question of quantity and frequency is a recurring one. If reports show that in 2016 alone over 300 million cows were sent to slaughter for beef, 66 billion chickens met their deaths for human appetites, and (as according to Forbes) “between 960 billion and 2.7 trillion fish” are caught annually (not accounting for farmed fish) – the hunger for animal flesh looks pretty gargantuan. And when a “fish speed cleaning machine” has come into existence, gutting the creatures while still alive, invented to accelerate production lines for dinner plates (knives and forks banging at the sides in eager demand for filling family bellies) – a horror begins to creep up the spine. What have we done?

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As any vegetarian, let alone vegan, worth their salt will tell you (and the idiom holds true in the seasoning stakes), beans and pulses are a non-meat eater’s friend.

Although considered “the world’s least sexy plant-based protein”, legumes are an amazing go-to food source for not only protein and hunger-satisfying fibre, but iron and zinc as well. Studies have shown a link between longevity and bean-consumption, as well as a more svelte waistline and protection from diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease, and even some forms of cancer.

However, beans are shunned by a lot of people because of the digestive troubles they cause if cooked incorrectly. Tips and tricks include a certain soaking time, sprouting them first (warning: some types of bean should always be cooked), or slow-cooking with kombu seaweed and a little cumin (for chickpeas, simmer with a little baking soda, too). They’re also seen as a side dish or fallback option when the cupboards are nearing that bare and empty stage each month.

In fact, a cup of beans runneth over with nourishment: around 16g of gut-health promoting fibre and between 14g and 21g of protein (the equivalent of three and a half eggs or five and a half tablespoons of peanut butter), to be specific. Additionally, pulses offer B vitamins and potassium and magnesium, while black beans are rich in antioxidants as well.

Most bean varieties came from the Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), indigenous to South America. Varieties are numerous and the following list is by no means exhaustive, but it is a handy starting guide to the wide range of pulses available to either replace meat in homemade cooking or to diversify if already vegetarian or vegan.

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Another heart-beneficial plant kingdom-given ingredient for the non-meat-eating kitchen is banana blossom. It’s becoming so popular, in fact, that it’s giving jackfruit a run for its money.

Whereas jackfruit – high in fibre, low in calories – is lauded for its meaty texture (a quality which means pulled pork is out the window and plant-based yumminess takes its place), banana blossom is wonderful as a seafood replacement.

The flaky texture of banana blossom (similar to artichoke hearts) absorbs desired seasoning well, but doesn’t contain the protein or fat of the fish its standing in for. It is nonetheless rich in heart-healthy potassium and bone-beneficial calcium, as well as immunesupportive vitamins C and A, and skin and brain-boosting vitamin E. You win, fish win: a win-win meal.

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“Organic” has for a long time been a purposeful move to offset the repercussions of industrial farming and September was the Soil Association’s organic focus month. However, there are those who claim the notion of organic in and of itself is not enough, is not sustainable. One tends to agree when such organiclabelled fruits or vegetables are being flown in from far off climes; when “organic” has become an industrialized business itself and even the “natural” fertilisers being spread on crops are so plenteous that the run-off becomes toxic as well. And do you know whether that organic farm is veganic or not? There are arguments against biodynamic regenerative farming as well, and the case is a vegan one.

Although green farming exists, vegans – fundamentally ethically opposed to the exploitation of animals – reject the employment of livestock to either fertilise the land or be slaughtered (however humanely) for human consumption.

But locally grown, seasonal plant-based produce does turn in the right direction on the path to any sought environmental harmony – and is an apt mindset for World Vegan Day on 1st November. You don’t have to pull the Almanac off the shelf and channel your inner, seasonally attuned gardener. Bear in mind, however, that buying fruit and vegetables grown by someone else that way might very well mean saying no to an avocado or pineapple, a dragon fruit or even a – perish the thought – banana. What can be bought at the local farmers’ market, what can be grown in British gardens naturally, weather-dependent: these are the most sustainable options.

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Nonetheless, the modern day – even the “post new normal” modern day – is a busy, frantic, sometimes discombobulatingly speedy one, and determined in satisfying its tastebuds as and when it wishes, too: not everyone has time to GYO and be at one with the Earth, do they? What if you fancy a summer fruit in the depths of winter? In response to such defiant pessimism, defeated in green consciousness endeavours before even begun, the reply can only be: where is the selfless compassion for the global whole? Though not all of us possess green fingers, though not all of us have access to farmers’ markets, our individual choices in themselves do matter; how we spend our money matters.

The toddler mentality of “but I want it and I want it now” can no longer apply to a world hurtling towards environmental disaster.

Not every gastronomic joy must be given up. Paying more for Fairtrade organic coffee helps both the farmer abroad and the environment there, too; for diehard carnivores, paying quite a bit more for organic, grass-fed meat is the price necessary when that meat has come from a small-scale farmer passionate about – as we saw in NSW – heritage and regenerative practices (practices which one doesn’t go into for enormous profits). Indeed, it is not the financial cost that should be at the forefront of our minds when shopping as harm-free as possible: it is the planetary cost, the price of animal suffering – or, if we do it right, the removal of such suffering.

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Food Waste and Fungi: to Infinity and Beyond, Virtuously Apart from plastic, food waste is a key issue in conscious consumerism. If you’ve no garden for composting, but you have freezer space, then icy storage of scraps until the moment’s temporally right to deposit it at the local farmer (seeking rich fertiliser for their soil) is one way to save chucking out fruit and vegetable scraps.

However, “upcycling food” is another way that has actually been around for quite some time.

“Food waste”, of course, isn’t just scraps from meal preparation, but the vast quantities of less-than-aesthetically-perfect plant-based produce and “Best Before” label-prompted expungements in an age that isn’t familiar with rationing and lack, but rather overindulged with plenty and instant gratification.

Food upcycling reduces waste – oh-soimportant in the zero-waste mindset era – but also provides a hit of self-satisfaction; the virtue value of such a practice makes it feel modern.

Whereas original food upcycling resulted in the likes of margarine and literal animal fat products like lard, though, now there’s research underway in how to make use of pomegranate peelings and winemaking remnants (much rosier a prospect, in all ways). Sustainability is at the centre of our thinking now, even in economically challenging times: the pandemic only served to cement that ethos further.

Then, there’s the other end of the spectrum, branching out to unknown food sources, and it’s hot, volcano hot. Nature’s Fynd has secured $500 million in overall funding to develop its volcanic fungi protein, “Fy”. Touted as “highly sustainable”, the microbe discovered in the Yellowstone National Park geothermal springs is finding its way into alternative protein burger patties and dairy-free cream cheese options.

After further expansion in the US, Nature’s Fynd has its eyes on Asia next.

Able to be produced 365 days a year and pretty much anywhere (even the Moon has been mentioned in the company’s pitches), such scientific advancements in the food technology sector seem the more likely answer to “10 billion mouths” to feed… So long as it doesn’t go the way of jet fuel-wasting, billionaire rocket launches and narcissistic mission plans to a colonised Mars, right?

Alternative proteins became incredibly popular after Covid hit last year and a recent study published in the journal BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health found that those on a plant-based diet were 73% less likely to experience moderate to severe Covid symptoms. Pescatarians were 59% less likely to be badly affected by Covid. Following 2,884 healthcare workers in six countries over two months, 568 cases of Covid occurred in the participants.

Researchers deduced that a “low carbohydrate, high protein diet” increased severity of Covid symptoms. It is thought also that a vegan diet’s natural benefits of fewer health problems such as heart disease and obesity could be an immediate factor.

Nevertheless, cellular agriculture (lab-grown meat) is precisely trying to let us both have our cake and eat it; do away with animal suffering and yet let consumers still enjoy a lamb chop without polluting the planet. Indeed, such companies are coming into existence rapidly, with a 43% rise in start-ups in the industry since 2019 (there are now 76 such companies globally). This is no doubt also because cell-cultured meat can be made 20 times faster than conventional livestock-reared meat, but also because emissions are cut by 80%. Furthermore, only 1% of the usual land area (around 45% of the Earth’s entire surface) is needed for the facility and just 4% of the 55 trillion gallons of freshwater that are necessary each year for fresh meat.

As Vegconomist reported, one such company is Magic Valley in Australia, founded by Paul Bevan and consisting of “Australia’s leading scientists” with “experience in both stem cell biology and livestock production”, is striving in the first instance to bring to the market “cell-cultured lamb products”, in order to cease the slaughter of incredibly young animals for the dinner table (lambs are typically killed at just 6 months of age). You may have your lamb stew, your shepherd’s pie – only, without the death.

Whereas 20th Century cloning endeavours had Dolly the Sheep, 21st Century cell ag companies like Magic Valley have a “Lucy” and other ovines, referred to not by familiar names, but as “cell volunteers”. Via a skin biopsy of under 4mm in diameter, combined with “induced pluripotent stem-cells and FBS-free media”, real meat can be grown without the need to take a life (sheep naturally live for about 20 years). Indeed, Bevan claims that just one biopsy can “generate an infinite number of muscle and fats cells without ever having to interfere with an animal again”. Nevertheless, he firmly believes that offering a “better product”, rather than solely “ethical or environmental concerns”, is the only way to “change consumer behaviour”… Certainly, there remains an ethical consideration in the taking of an animal’s cells in the first place.

Meanwhile, Israeli company Future Meat has industrialized the concept and claimed it will “produce 500 kilograms of cultured meat per day” in time for product roll-out next year. That’s roughly 5,000 hamburgers every 24 hours, though Future Meat creates cultured pork and chicken in addition to lamb, and no beef as yet. Industrialization, of course, means a fastermade, cheaper product – the antithesis of the Slow Food movement, a movement which recognises the intentional loss of life when an animal is sent to slaughter and which accepts responsibility and retains respect for the process.

Animal welfare and climate change are the prompts for cell ag (or “clean meat”), but it is the use of an animal for human consumption that still sits ill with vegans.

As an alternative to the alternative, and stepping away from biopsies and cell volunteers, microbial fermentation is gathering speed as well (not just volcanically, like Nature’s Fynd’s Sci-Fi sounding protein). Deemed “the third pillar in the alt protein sphere”, such fungi-based options are used for cruelty-free seafood options and companies like AquaCultured highlight that microbial fermentation grows rather than gets processed. Thus, the protein and fibre and micronutrients that it offers are natural. It is another step away from manufacturing; a step closer to finding our way back to Nature. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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Poultry and the Pandemic: A Feathered Flight from the Rat Race

As Christmas (and, for Americans, Thanksgiving) approaches, there are some households which will be gearing up for the big roast, whether that’s the traditional turkey, or more modest chicken. However, thanks to the hard work of Veganuary and the zoonotic apprehensions of the pandemic, there are many now who won’t be preparing any bird at all, but instead will resort to nut roasts and alternatives like Tofurkey instead. And that can only be a good thing.

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Nevertheless, though Covid might have caused an urban exodus for a few, made them channel The Good Life of 1975 and return to rural roots or for the first time consider homesteading and homeworking as a coupled action-plan for the future – chickens have both suffered and benefitted from these movements.

Not every smallholder is a plantbased environmentalist, after all.

Earlier this year, The Guardian ran an extended piece on couples who had tentatively (and not so tentatively) trodden down the self-sufficiency path (whether or not sparked by the panic-buying depletion of stocks such as loo roll, who’s to say?). Chicken-keeping, however, was a common theme among them. From an acceptance of chicken droppings on patios to the question of meat vs. eggs, it is an emotional (and at times costly) rollercoaster which Just Natural Health & Beauty has written on in the past. With the cognitive capabilities of cats and dogs, what chickens are put through for the national appetite is beyond unacceptable, but when hens naturally lay eggs in backyard sanctuaries, the question of respect of from where we source what we consume returns to the forefront of consideration.

Celebrities could be said to be to blame for the popularity of the smallholding craze to a certain degree, even beekeeping become popular with such public figures as Ed Sheeran and even Beyoncé.

At the same time, YouTube and Instagram spread further the sourdough love of the first lockdown and the gut-friendly bread could feasibly be said to have displaced banana bread from top spot on the list of things to make when ordered to self-isolate.

The trend that is in these ways permeating all platforms? Slow living; an escape from the rat race.

Potentially sign of an instinctual response to potential future food shortages come from the climate emergency, and fear of another pandemic, multiple lockdowns and furloughing and redundancies have caused a mass reappraisal of lifestyle. For those who do opt to shift to the countryside and get their Hunter wellingtons muddy, that often means switching a corporate job for freelancing or portfolio work alongside a kitchen table one, selling produce from the land. And that means accepting seasonal living.

However, there eventually arises a fine line between sustainable homesteading and moving from six chickens in the backyard to 60; there arises the question of expansion and the whole cyclical issue of what, precisely, is enough in the human psyche? Will the countryside become the next rat race setting, fields green offices for continuation of animal exploitation?

With considerate action and that especial compassion of ethical omnivorism, that happily doesn’t seem likely. So, carry on and collect a sporadic egg or two; serve it soft-boiled alongside toasted sourdough, and let the post-pandemic hearth guide us onwards into environmentally and psychologically beneficial practices for tomorrow.

Angelina

Jolie Creates a Buzz Over Bees

Back in early summer, National Geographic interviewed Hollywood star Angelina Jolie about her humanitarian work – and their campaign that saw her cover her body with live bees. Part of a move to secure training for women beekeepers in UNESCO biosphere reserves, the purpose in letting stinging insects crawl all over her was to represent the balance between humans and the natural world. Indeed, without bees, there would be almost no fruits or vegetables, which require pollination to continue to propagate.

Photographed by amateur beekeeper Dan Winters, the footage was inspired by Richard Avedon’s 1981 portrait of a California beekeeper, bald and without a shirt, his torso crawling with bees. It is estimated that there are 20,000 species of bee in existence in the world and they help pollinate nuts and other crops in addition to fruit and vegetables.

However, pesticides have caused mass deaths and a reduced natural habitat and expansion of monoculture means many species of bee are endangered.

Recently named “godmother” of Women for Bees, a 5-year $2 million [c. £1.5 million] UNESCO-Guerlain joint project to train 50 women in beekeeping on 25 UNESCO reserves, Jolie is no stranger to campaigning for women’s rights.

As special envoy to the United Nation’s High Commission for Refugees, in the past two decades Jolie has taken part in 60 missions to warzones and refugee camps.

In 2003, she began a conservation and community development foundation in the rural north-west of Cambodia.

The UNESCO-Guerlain project will result in 2,500 new beehives by 2025 and thereby protect some 125 million bees. The women come from all around the globe and the different beehives will be specific to the native natural habitat in which they’re built.

Honey bees have been praised since Classical Antiquity and human harvesting of honey dates back roughly 10,000 years, with 8,000-year-old cave paintings in Spain depicting the process.

Domestication of bees shows up in 4,500-yearold Egyptian art, too, a time when mere pottery and smoke were the tools employed.

The key ingredient of mead made for profit in monasteries and nunneries in Medieval times, it was only in the 18th century when comb inserts were invented that hives weren’t completely destroyed in the honey-harvesting process.

Unfortunately, nowadays commercial honey production is as detrimental as dairy to the creatures who produce the goods, artificial insemination of queens included. Bee farms are equally cramped and unhygienic, with an increased risk of pathogens and parasites, and bees work so hard that many literally work themselves to death. Further, if bees pollinate fields doused in pesticides, they poison not only themselves but the entire hive – not to mention passing toxicity onto the honey and whoever consumes it (hint: us).

Ethical biodynamic beekeeping, however, is a sustainable means by which to still bring the antibacterial properties of honey to Man. Manuka honey is also anti-inflammatory and is medicinally used. If it’s labelled as raw, unfiltered, and organic, it’s pretty safe to say those are some happy bees.

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Powerful, Animal-Loving Women Ecofeminism has come a long way from its 1960s and 1970s beginnings, rising tide-like from Second Wave feminism as a philosophically political, environmental, and artistic movement. As part of a more recent surge, at the start of the year a group of 16 artists put together a show of their work to highlight the many crises being faced by women during the challenging extended period of the pandemic.

Entitled “Ecofeminism(s)”, the exhibition was curated by Monika Fabiianska and aimed to highlight “the dangers posed by continuing as before”.

One among the 16 was Aviva Rahmani, best known for the 2015 Blued Trees Symphony where she painted blue musical notes on trees in (non-toxic) paint as a ploy to prevent oil and gas magnates from bulldozing the natural landscape where the trees are rooted: if even one tree forming part of Rahmani’s symphony is felled, the perpetrator risks violating the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990. Smart woman.

In general, in fact, the planet and its species – flora and fauna alike – have benefitted and continue to be guarded by some very intelligent, incredibly strong, determined, and unflinching women indeed. It might not be voiced often, but there is a long history of female pioneering thought and development in the more empirical domain of what are perceived the traditionally “masculine” areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. This, despite the National Science Board finding that only 28% of STEM jobs are filled by women. More often than not, though, women are penalised for procreative potential. Sounds like it’s time to spread the word a little more loudly.

The STEM area which certainly is seeing a higher proportion of ladies in the field is bioengineering and future food technologies. Tackling global issues head-on, including both the current climate crisis and food insecurity in the decades to come, at this very moment in time women are hard-working innovators right alongside their male counterparts, rapidly responding to consumer demands in the wildfire quick growth field of cellular agriculture and plant-based protein innovation.

One such lady is Kimberlie Le, co-founder and CEO of Prime Roots, a California-based company (need it be said?) producing plant-based alternatives to satisfy appetites for beef, chicken, and bacon. After studying microbiology at Berkeley, Le could no longer ignore the environmental impact of “traditional” animal agriculture, despite an upbringing which put meat at the centre of the meal. So it was that research led Le to eventually return to the koji widely used by her mother, the Japanese-revered fungus used for fermenting many foods: turning soybeans to miso, nurturing rice into sake, and bringing together soybeans with wheat for soy sauce. Naturally, koji fibres look like strands of meat muscle fibre. However, instead of laying such fibres on soybeans to turn the beans to paste (with that incomparable umami flavour), Prime Roots takes the fibres themselves and turns them into plant-based meat and, slowly but surely, seafood alternatives.

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Laura Kliman

Another wonder woman of plant-based food innovation is Laura Kliman, senior food scientist for Impossible Foods, the company behind the globally-famed Impossible Burger. Having advised the press only last October of a plant-based milk in development – one that would be the non-dairy equivalent of dairy, as their burger is to beef – Kliman’s background is in chemistry and she has a long-term love for molecular reactions and the environment, both. Although Kliman worked for a biofuel startup following graduate school, that company’s turn to natural gas saw her take her exit and retrain as a caterer, still concerned about sustainability.

When she learnt about Impossible Foods from an NPR article in 2016, Kliman instantly knew the only way to combine her passions was to work for them. She firmly believes they will soon create a plant-based meat that tastes far better than any “original” from slaughtered animals.

Nonetheless, making inroads to a better planet is not simply a matter of culinary innovation, of course.

There are other brave females battling it out for the cause on the front line of matters, too. For example, Seble Nebiyeloul, co-founder of the International Fund for Africa, striving to ameliorate situations for both non-human animals and humans alike, including sanitation and menstrual hygiene, vocational training, veterinary clinics for working animals and aid for street dogs and donkeys. Then, there’s the vegan founder of Obhoyaronno, Rubaiya Ahmad. Obhoyaronno is Bangladesh’s first animal welfare organisation, the group’s campaigning having seen Dhaka ban dog fighting and culling, as well as cock fighting, and local schools implement a Meatless Monday menu.

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, Marianne Thieme co-founded Party for the Animals and the political party now has five seats in the House of Representatives, three in the Senate, and one MEP. Not bad, ladies…

Indeed, the list of such brilliant women is extensive and could happily be continued. Suffice it to say, these are all good signs for the future not only of this green planet of ours – and that “green” is very much key to its survival, hence the success of those mentioned above – but they are also positive points of advancement along the continuing path of feminism, also. May that especial feminine stamina see it long continue.

All I Want for Christmas is… An End to Climate Grief

The inheritance of a human child can be said to be twofold: biological and cultural. Both are incredibly diverse and overlap. Nonetheless, what history tells us is that all humans are descended from hunter-gatherers in Africa. As Michaeleen Doucleff wrote at the start of the year, of the circa 200,000 years our species has existed, 95% of the that time has been as hunter-gatherers. It was less than 200 years ago that farming became the veritable machine that it is today, wherein “we now require gas-powered tractors, power saws, and robots to produce our daily calories”.

In this near-post-apocalyptic landscape, what future are we on course to leave our children?

Where is the tender compassion, the softness and fragility of a leaf and dependence on care and appreciation, in a world suffering from nature deficit disorder, glinting metallic and the reflected sun scorching alreadydead dry soil?

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Doucleff has pointed out that hunter-gatherers are not an extinct species. A study at the turn of the 21st century estimated there to be approximately 5 million such peoples left in the world. From literal hunters and fishermen to foragers, from settled “societies” to nomadic tribes – the extant diversity of the human species volubly demonstrates human beings’ biodiverse place in the planetary ecosystem – and the responsibility we have to keep it thriving. Further, these people are not cut off from mainstream economies, in fact trading with those on the monetary merry-goround.

Coexistence, then, is a practice which would serve us all well, in the first instance, as we race to undo the damage done to the Earth. Plant ecologist Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass, has mentioned a “gift economy” practice, as exhibited by the Hadzabe tribe of Tanzania, who employ “minimal interference and respect, instead of control and transformation” for a harmonious two-way “reciprocity”.

Interestingly, this comes across in their parenting style, as well. There is no “tiger mothering” or dominant, grade-demanding paternal figure. To translate it into Western terms, it is a relationship of “love, companionship, and food” in return for which the child contributes to the home with “a bundle of responsibilities” we would term chores and self-application. Slow living down to the fine, domestic detail.

We might defensively claim that to be impractical in competitive capitalist societies, but there is merit in it. MHFA England has reported that half of mental ill health develops by age 15 and 75% by age 18 (see also, our article “Movember: Men’s Health in a Covid World”, p.68).

Young minds are impressionable minds; they are also thinking minds, worrying out the creases that start developing in the iron-perfect initial tapestry of experience of the youngest years. Yet, with 12.8% of children between just 5 years old and 19 clinically diagnosable with a mental health disorder, one has to question the factors that are causing such a statistic.

“Climate grief” is a new term which has come into being specifically in the Greta Thunberg and Gen Z era. It is a mourning by those born between 1996 and 2015 for the end of the beauty of the Earth as it was for millions of years. It also harks back to humans’ innate biophilia, or love of Nature: our blood sings with joy for it, our souls crave it when starved of it for too long (none of us will forget the shackles on our spirits when exercise was a time-limited pursuit during the pandemic).

Hence, “forest bathing” (or walking through the woods, wrapped in arboreal ambience), as well as other outdoor pursuits more suited to the adrenalin-active individual, like mountain biking and climbing and skiing, and so forth.

“Climate grief”, however, is potentially what will enact change: even if it is too late for the current generation to change its ways, the next and the next after that seem set to reset the connection with the environment, so that it may be preserved, saved.

Nonetheless, what could have been detrimental to this developing progress could very well be what kept us sane: technology and a work-from-home lifestyle. That is because the longer we are disconnected from Nature, the less we appreciate it and more likely forget its effects on our well-being. We had to adapt, but adaptation is not always a positive thing: it might camouflage moths in a sootier world, but that’s not dealing with the cause – something humans are more than well-placed to be doing is that exact amelioration of circumstances.

And so to our children; from green parenthood to green kids.

There’s a reason “forest school” has been so well received in recent years: it reinstills a natural tendency to care and manage, just as was once the normal ways of things. Forest schooling and school GYO (Grow Your Own) schemes are one way for children to learn to appreciate the planet and its especial magic, but parents must be involved in the educative process, also.

Vegetarian and vegan parents might be a step ahead in the animal compassion stakes, but ethical omnivorism has its place as well. Remember: it’s about coexistence. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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The Sustainable Food Trust has proposed that, in addition to the three Rs (Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic), children should be taught the three Ps of sustainability: Principles, Projects, and Practices. The Principles of the natural world are what should be learnt from in order to reestablish a harmony with Nature: they are the relearning of coexistence and oneness, of seasons and respect, of diversity and adaptation. From this education, a better relationship with other humans develops, also. Projects refer to skill-based enquiries, a holistic journey through practical learning which steps outside the four walls of the classroom – this is where forest school comes in, where school GYO projects are a brilliant way for young minds to appreciate the realities of what is written in a book. And Practices are an extension of that activity centred learning: children learn through experience. A parent’s care of water wastage and food provenance and preparation speaks volumes to a child absorbing so many things sensorily. Thankfully, such a plan for sustainable development education is finally being introduced into schools with the help of The Harmony Project.

Then, there’s what we leave behind. We might very well be at the point where there’s a recycled plastic Barbie (“Barbie Loves the Ocean”) and the somewhat green washing positivity of sugarcane in LEGO bricks, but en masse toys have been found to use “40 tonnes of plastic for every $1 million [c. £731k] in revenue”, with a single play kitchen consisting of some 13lbs of plastic. That’s roughly the equivalent of 400 empty single-use plastic water bottles. Fortunately for parents everywhere (yes, that is still the world we live in), Mattel has pledged to switch to “100% recycled, recyclable, or bio-based plastic materials” across its whole toy range by 2030.

Diamonds of Air, Silk like a Spider’s

The passion for Halloween has strongly established itself in the UK now, after being more of an American celebration for some time. However, aside from the sugar-overload potential of the night (and it’s doubtful many if any people will be handing out dried dates…), the other concern is the sheer quantity of plastic and other waste which cannot be recycled. It might be fun to be Dracula for a night, but what happens to those plastic teeth once the sun comes up on the nocturnal frolics?

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“Zero waste” is happily a well-known term now. But while recycling and reusing are beneficial, while The Body Shop has implemented a refill system and pledged to be 100% vegan by 2023 (currently being 60% so) – the situation is not so greenly admirable throughout the industry or on the domestic front. The UN has estimated that around $4.1 trillion [c. £3 trillion] is still needed in global investments in Nature in order to meet targets on “biodiversity, climate change, and land use”. What good a body wash bought and poured into a reused container when faced with that figure? Currently, approximately $133 billion [c. £97 billion] is annually invested in environmental endeavours such as “forest and peatland restoration, regenerative agriculture, and pollution control”, but it clearly is insufficient.

Although The Financial Times reported a 4.5% decrease in primary energy consumption (largely due to travel bans during the pandemic), a 6% drop in carbon emissions (the largest since WWII), and a 4.2% drop in coal consumption, growth was seen in the renewable energy sector. A small slice of hope for Gen Z and those after them, young people growing older in a world already dying. Science Daily recently published a study on threespine stickleback fish and the genetic changes that had occurred in the species due to seasonal shifts, rapid changes which could help researchers predict the future of certain species of animal based on “natural selection in action” – but is what we are seeing in the global environmental context not a horrifying natural selection documentary on loop-play?

What is certain is that more must be done before “climate grief” becomes an identifiable mental health issue. That starts now, both at home and stepping out hand-in-united-hand with the young.

Such concerns obviously are neither limited to All Hallow’s Eve, nor to Dio de los Muertos, and the mountain of rubbish humans spew out on a daily basis is nearly newsworthy at the same diurnal rate. So it is that Vegconomist recently reported on “vegan spider silk”, a possible alternative to single-use plastic, brainchild of University of Cambridge alumni, Will Xampla. Compostable, plastic-free dishwasher detergent sachets and capsules (in the first instance), it is hoped the plant-based polymer biomaterial will – erm – spell single-use plastic’s end (witch’s cackle of a pun intended).

Before you think, “well, how can exploiting spiders be vegan?”, wait: this is a mimicking material. The (to reiterate) plant-based material is biodegradable, marine-degradable, and rivals the strength of conventional plastic. Xampla’s invention (named, none too adventurously, “Xampla”) featured in the journal, Nature Communications.

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Of course, not every child wants to be a scary monster; some young minds prefer the fairytale idea of the princess and the prince, diamonds and every sparkling thing. But actual diamonds are not a tulle-dress fantasy at all: the mines destroy both ecosystems and lives. Fortunately, Aether Diamonds are now a kinder, greener reality.

The world’s first “positive-impact diamonds”, Aether Diamonds are quite literally made from the aether, from air; polluted air. Co-founder and CMO, Robert Hagemann is an animal rights advocate and vegan spokesperson and the brand has been vegan-certified, its method of using sustainably-sourced energy and carbon come only from air pollution to create the gems bettering the environment, rather than damaging it. Other lab-grown diamonds burn through fossil fuels for their carbon source.

With all these wonderful “mad scientist” innovations greenly focussed, perhaps “environmental activist” will be the (sustainable) fancy dress for Halloween 2021.

From Conception On Environmentally minded teens on TikTok might very well have been getting their #recycle and #renewableenergy viewing figures up into the millions with advice on living sustainably, but how does one simply get the weening baby onto their first greens? Although our nation’s teenagers have displayed their activist muscle for centuries (The Times recently reported that 18th-century youngsters abstained from sugar on abolitionist grounds), it seems the average parent just can’t get their bairn to believe in the tastiness of the broccoli aeroplane. Unless they’re vegetarian or vegan, of course.

In fact, nature versus nurture apparently very much has a place in the dietary stakes and the debate over vegan pregnancies has existed for years: can a plant-based lifestyle support both the mother and her developing child? Does it offer enough carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals? In short, as long as there is an adequate intake of prenatal nutrients, then yes.

For pregnant women (and infants), the key concerns are protein, iron, and B12 and the ADA (Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics) has confirmed that plant-based diets provide adequate amounts of these for not only pregnancy, but lactation and beyond as well. A 2015 review published in The British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology also deemed a vegan diet adequate for a pregnant woman’s needs. What’s more, vegan and vegetarian women are less likely to be obese or at risk of cardiovascular issues caused by diet, with a lower incidence of diabetes Type-II and high cholesterol, as well.

This does not mean that veganism rules out Gestational Diabetes occurring, but studies have found the incidence to be lower and a 2006 study published in the journal Diabetes Care found that an increase in fibre of 10g per day resulted in a 26% lower possibility of GD (Gestational Diabetes).

The same study stated that a 5g daily increase in fibre from only fruit or grains resulted in a reduction in risk of GD of 23%. Interestingly, a 2019 review published in the journal Nutrients suggested that veganism could very well lower the risk of not only GD, but also preeclampsia and preterm delivery, though more research is needed in the area.

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While a dairy-free diet might benefit one’s sex life, according to the PCRM (Physicians Committee of Responsible Medicine), might support a good sperm count and libido (both rather important for conception), and was proposed as a MyPlate dietary guideline by the US Department of Agriculture only last year – what about the place of dairy or otherwise in the family as a whole? While a University of Rochester study suggests a male partner is better served stepping away from the cheese plate, what about those of the female sex and what about their children?

Well, apart from there also seeming to be a correlation between dairy consumption and reduced vaginal arousal due to hyperlipidemia (elevated blood cholesterol), according to a 2009 study conducted by the Second University of Naples, the addictive casomorphic qualities of milk and cheese mean one rarely has only a little bit.

Unfortunately, dairy is high in saturated fat, which has been linked to high blood pressure and an increased risk of heart disease, so if we indulge in these animal products too often, our health suffers.

Whole Food Plant Based veganism, then, is what should be the mindset for the most part when it comes to conception, pregnancy, and lactation – and other stages in life, too. A junk food diet, even though it might exclude animal products, is still not a diet beneficial to health and well-being, whether one is growing another human being or not. Predominantly WFPB living staves off chronic illness and disease, increases longevity, and aids the planet, as well – just so long as one pays attention to macronutrients and micronutrients essential for both baby and mother.

You don’t have to train to be a nutritionist, either. In addition to a prenatal supplement, there are a few foods which should be included regularly as part of a balanced plantbased pregnancy diet. Although the precise quantities will vary throughout the three trimesters, as long as enough calories are being consumed, as well as protein, fibre, iron, calcium, vitamin D, folate, folic acid, potassium, vitamin B6, and magnesium (be not daunted by this list!), then one should be adequately nourished for this incredibly physical moment in a woman’s life:

Lentils (Folate) Lentils are one of the most folatedense foods out there. Women are told to start taking folic acid when thinking about conceiving, let alone when they’re actually pregnant, as it is critical for development of the foetus, from the brain to the spinal cord. In addition to ensuring one’s diet is folate-rich (i.e. provides enough bioavailable vitamin B9) – grasp those lentils! – it is also recommended that 600mcg of folic acid be taken daily (one cup of lentils offers 358mcg). Other sources include dark leafy greens, nuts and seeds, and wholegrains, as well as avocados, okra, and squash.

Tofu (Calcium) Calcium is crucial for both mother and child: necessary for building the baby’s skeletal structure, if a mother isn’t eating enough calcium, the foetus will leech calcium from the bones of the mother.

So it is that the minimum RDA of calcium is 1,000mg. While that seems a lot, remember just half a cup of calciumfortified tofu provides circa 80% of that RDA target. Other sources include dark leafy greens, seeds, and lentils. Together with folic acid and iron, these form the “holy trinity of prenatal awareness”.

Shitake Mushrooms (Vitamin D) Vitamin D made headlines as a defence against Covid last year, but it really is a power vitamin not to be overlooked.

With an estimated one billion people worldwide believed to be deficient in vitamin D to some extent, it is worrying to realise many of us, not just pregnant women, lack sufficient vitamin D levels to absorb calcium, magnesium, and phosphate. The suggested RDA ranges from 600IU to 2,000IU (International Units). Other sources include Oyster mushrooms, fortified orange juice, and tofu.

Seaweed (Iodine)

Broccoli (Iron) A brilliant source of iron, broccoli also contains high levels of calcium and potassium, too. The Mayo Clinic suggest 27mg as minimum for daily iron intake, which assists healthy red blood cell production and brain formation in the growing baby. Nonhaem iron (that found in plants as opposed to animal flesh), however, is more difficult to absorb, and so it has been advised that vegans consume 48mg of iron-rich foods per day.

That might be formed from all of the following together: one cup fortified cereal with one cup fortified alternative milk, plus two cups of broccoli with two cups of quinoa and one cup of lentils, and additionally one cup of tofu in a single day.

Iodine plays an important role in thyroid function and metabolism, as well as brain development. Pregnant women should aim to consume between 150mcg and 220mcg each day. Aside from vegan sushi rolls (whether avocado or cucumber, the choice is yours, and your baby’s if you’re suffering from morning sickness!), bread, prunes, and lima beans are other good sources of iodine, also.

Nuts (Protein) Amino acids, which form protein, are the building blocks of the cells and tissues of the human body: hence protein’s importance. When pregnant, it is recommended that 71g of protein be consumed each day (25g above the usual RDA). Other useful sources include beans and nutritional yeast (a fabulous topping for freshly popped corn). Just one cup of cooked lentils, plus one cup of peanuts and a cup of tofu fulfils the daily requirement.

Another dietary consideration is choline. Thought to be as crucial as vitamin B12, choline aids liver process and maintains brain health. Just as with calcium, if a pregnant woman is not consuming enough choline, the foetus will leech choline from the mother, from her brain. Choline determines a baby’s future cognitive functions for life and thus the foetus will take what it needs to the mental detriment of the mother (“preg head” wasn’t coined for nothing). The RDA is between 400mcg and 520mcg, with pregnant women advised to aim for the higher amount.

In a plant-based diet, sources of choline include soya milk, almonds, shitake mushrooms, and broccoli, as well as quinoa and amaranth. A larger quantity of these foods have to be eaten than on an omnivorous diet, where just one egg provides 125mcg, for instance, but that is no bad thing as fruit and vegetables and nuts and seeds provide a wide variety of other nutritional gains, too.

Omega-3 fatty-acids and vitamin E are other important dietary requirements, not only internally but externally. A pregnant growing belly can be a worry for many women, anxiety increasing month by month, stretchmarks starting to show, and the question of whether her body will ever be truly hers again the monster sheep that lead a woman not into slumber but keep her eyes open wide and watching in the dark... Or something like that.

To this end, it is advisable to start the self-care early on: run that Epsom salt bath (mindful not to make it too hot), and afterwards rub an oil into not only the stomach area, but the hips and thighs and breasts as well. But what is the most natural option?

What is safe? Olive oil is a triedand-tested traditional option which stretches back to Ancient Egypt. Rich in antioxidants and vitamin E, as well as vitamins A and K, it might not be the latest retinol-containing cream, but it has its place in the beauty cabinet of those who are, in particular, looking for animal-friendly skincare options. Alongside that, coconut oil, also, works wonders, as does cocoa butter, shea butter, and pure vitamin E oil.

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Geoff Van Hurst Director of Operations Seagreens

Parenthood: From Conception On Iodine insufficiency and ultra-high processed diets are a growing problem affecting children in the UK and Western Europe. As a result, seaweed produced for human nutrition is increasingly acknowledged as part of the solution.

Ultra-high processed, high salt, sugar, and fat content foods are becoming the staple diet, particularly of children, and “[d]ietary scores for unhealthy items in wealthy countries [remain] among the worst in the world” (Imamura, et al.: Lancet Global Health, 2015).

A maternal junk food diet is a particularly dangerous trap for the young, as it “causes changes in rewardprocessing in [the brains of] offspring […], such that they grow to prefer foods high in fat and sucrose” (Spencer, et al.: NPJ Science of Food, 2017).

As a result, impact is seen on memory, mood, and cognition.

Research shows nutritional gaps can affect children’s learning, their health, and long-term predisposition to obesity (Miller & Spencer: Brain, Behaviour & Immunity, 2014), while trials on a high fat diet showed concentration and speed of recall deteriorated (Holloway, et al.: The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2011).

Sufficient daily iodine intake is especially important in young women, during pregnancy, and in children, as iodine is crucial for foetal and child brain development (Bath, et al.: The Lancet, 2013). In the UK, insufficient levels of dietary iodine were found in 66% of adult women and over 75% of 14-year-old girls (Vanderpump, et al.: The Lancet, 2011). Furthermore, 82% of pregnant women (Bath & Rayman: Environmental Geochemistry & Health, 2015) and 52% of 25-year-olds were similarly low on iodine (Combet, et al.: British Journal of Nutrition, 2014). Mild deficiency was found in 49% of babies (Rockell, et al.: The Journal of Nutrition, 2005).

To better manage children’s health, attention should be given to providing them with foods rich not only in iodine, but also in Omega-3 and Omega-6 fattyacids. An imbalance in these has been linked to “cardiovascular disease, cancer, and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases” (Simopoulos: Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, 2002). Additionally, polyphenols are important, too, with “evidence suggest[ing] polyphenols are involved in cellular signalling pathways that mediate inflammatory processes in the brain” (Patoine: Cerebrum Dana Foundation, 2021). Fish and berries are other good sources, but high-quality seaweed is outstanding.

Supplements and fortifications may help, but unlike a whole food do not do so comprehensively.

The recent paper 'Consumption of seaweeds and the human brain' gave a breakdown of their range of nutrients and proposed that emphasis be placed on dietary diversity, “including macroalgae”, as well as focussing on “the gut/microbe/ brain axis [and] the importance of polyunsaturated fatty acids, and the impacts of antioxidant activities in neuroprotection” (Cornish, Critchley & Mouritsen: Journal of Applied Phycology, 2017).

Breadth of diet is vitally important. In Your Brain on Food, Brenda Patoine noted that “[n]utrients in isolation may not be as effective as when they are interacting with other nutrients in whole foods” and, rather, that “a brain-healthy diet boils down to consuming a variety of natural foods that have undergone the fewest alterations” (Patoine: Cerebrum Dana Foundation, 2021).

Why include nutritious seaweed, even in a varied diet, though?

Independent research was conducted using Seagreens® seaweed at Glasgow University. The researchers concluded that Seagreens® iodine is “modestly bioavailable at 33%” and that it restored iodine sufficiency in deficient female subjects when given a daily intake of 2 x 500mg capsules (Combet, et al.: British Journal of Nutrition, 2014). It also normalised TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone).

Already an ideal source of iodine, Omega-3, and Omega-6 fatty-acids, as well as ‘Awesome Antioxidant’ polyphenols, the answer to effective use of seaweed lies in balance. As Simon Ranger of Seagreens® Seaweed Health Foundation has stated, “our native wild wrack seaweeds can provide the micronutrients, including all the minerals and trace elements in a complete food” (Ranger: Positive Health, 2009).

Remember, though, that not all seaweed is equal. As Consumption of seaweeds and the human brain recommends, those seaweeds “produced under controlled conditions offer boundless opportunities to satisfy the known requirements for brain health” (Cornish, Critchley & Mouritsen: Journal of Applied Phycology, 2017).

For all these reasons, children, as well as adults, will benefit from small amounts of quality seaweed in their daily diet. Whether Seagreens® Culinary Ingredient is stirred into baked beans or full-blown meals, or whether a Seagreens® Iodine Lite+ Capsule is taken daily – Seagreens® feeds the foundation of health of the whole family.

Seagreens® are available from your local independent health stores.

Administered in the interests of Partners and Customers by Seagreens Trust. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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Is the (Vegan) Breast Best?

Fathoming Formula

According to the Vegetarian Resource Group, the breastmilk of vegetarian and vegan women has been found to contain lower levels of pesticides than omnivorous women. Process that for a moment. Is it because these women are fastidious and buy only organic? Possibly, but perhaps there is also more than meets the eye to most animal products.

Regardless of diet, the lactating woman is a woman in need of calories and optimal nutrition. The old adage “eating for two” should never really have been applied to pregnancy; rather, it should have been made in reference to breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months of an infant’s life, and then as supplement to a weaned child up to the age of two. The Vegan Society has suggested that during lactation a woman consider her diet as carefully as she would when pregnant (not for nothing should you express/pump breastmilk before any planned adult drinks).

Breastmilk is low in natural vitamin A and B, as well as B12 and iron, so foods containing these are crucial. Lentils and chickpeas are simple additions to meals, alongside cashew nuts and tofu. So too are dried apricots and figs easily transportable snacks for those mid-afternoon cravings/energy dips. Further, calcium is a key focus at this time for both mother’s bones and her infant, with an 80% increase in requirement from a non-lactating woman, and then, of course, there’s protein to consider. However, hydration is most important.

Breastfeeding vegan mothers are advised to continue to breastfeed at least past 12 months, as long as flow is sufficient (and teeth not too determined to cut into tender flesh). From 18 months onwards, soya or pea-protein formulas fortified with calcium, B12, and vitamin D can replace breastmilk. During the first year, soya and other plant alternatives to dairy (oat, hemp, almond, coconut, etc.) should not be used as a replacements as they don’t provide adequate quantities of protein, fat, and carbohydrate. NB: Rice milk should not be given to children under 5 years of age in case of any lingering arsenic content.

Health practitioners advise supplementation of B12 for vegan babies (between 0.4mcg and 0.5mcg per day), but specific doses should be discussed with your own GP. Older infants not given formula as well as breastmilk should also be supplemented with up to 10mcg vitamin D. 34

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Nonetheless, just as queries over the safety of plant-based living during pregnancy raise their head like a cobra prepared to strike, so do concerns surrounding the issue of wholly vegetarian and vegan children. To avoid having to supplement vitamin B12, some suggest a loose approach to “plantbased”, wherein ethical omnivorism (as we covered in “Cousin Commonwealth: The Relevance of Australian Environmentalism & its Aboriginal Origins”, p.6) is perhaps a better term for the occasional grassfed piece of meat or biodynamic organic free-range egg permitted to those flexitarians and their offspring. It’s an important point, this distinguishing between ethical veganism and a lifestyle plant-based in the main, for environmental and health reasons, as it allows children more of a chance to reach that “Five a Day” goal (shockingly, 90% of the population of the United States fail to consume enough vegetables per day, with 80% failing to eat the recommended daily portion of fruit).

A popular “first food” is ironfortified infant-particular rice cereal, as it is low-allergen and glutenfree (mix it with expressed breast milk). From 6 months of age, oats, barley, corn, and other grains can be introduced by cooking and blending them into a smooth and soft, nonchoking hazard meal. Then come the vegetables.

As a guide, children between 2 and 18 years of age should be having two and a half cups of vegetables each and every day, with between one and only two cups of fruit alongside. Mash and purée these in the beginning. From banana and avocado, to applesauce and thin mashed potato – the world is not an oyster so much as what the soil can provide, really. Protein sources should come from 8 months onwards. Experiment with beans, mashed tofu, even soya yogurt.

Be careful not to overload little tummies with fibre, though. Infants can become full before they’ve had their fill of essential nutrients and calories, otherwise. Higher fat but lower fibre options such as avocados and nut and seed butters (always smooth versions) are good options in this respect. It is recommended that fat accounts for between 30% and 40% of calories between 1 and 3 years old. This RDA drops to 25% when youngsters become teens.

Other nutritional powerhouse goodies for plant-based kids include:

Peanut Butter As long as any allergy has been ruled out, this is the Fairy Godmother of kitchen cupboard staples for harried parents everywhere. From 8 months, thin consistency peanut butter can be sampled by your growing infant, but no bread or crackers with it in case of choking.

Once older – whether you’re slathering wholewheat bread with peanut butter on one slice and jam of choice on the other, or dipping freshly cut and peeled organic apples into it – peanut butter is a fabulous food for picky eaters, providing both protein and essential fats when children have decided there are certain colours they just won’t eat…

Baked Beans Again, there’s a reason baked beans grace the pantry of many a family home. An easy source of iron (children need between 11mg and 15mg per day), when your kids fancy something quick, savoury, and satisfying, a simple dish of beans on toast can often save the day.

A third of children in the UK, between the ages of 2 and 15, is either overweight or obese, with 1 in 5 classed as such before even starting primary school and 1 in 3 labelled overweight or obese by the age of 9. Further, one study found that approximately 33% of infants and toddlers, from 3,000 participants, failed to eat or be fed a single vegetable on a daily basis. Is it any wonder, then, that British children are now exhibiting signs of TypeII diabetes, more frequent diagnoses of asthma, and exhibiting high blood pressure well before adult habits and lifestyles have even begun? It’s easy to see why instances of anxiety and depression have increased, no doubt in some way as a result of that excess weight.

The dangers of the modern way of convenience eating have become very real indeed. That is not to set out to guilt-trip a parent, though. Popping a few turkey dinosaurs on a plate with alphabet hoops is no way to nourish (let alone nurture) our children, but cooking from scratch each night after long working days is not a practicable solution, either. And that’s where mealprepping comes in (more on this topic in a moment).

Even plant-based ready-meals aren’t for frequent consumption. Nonetheless, it comes down to activity levels, too. With technology making more acceptable the telly-addict and the gamer, with lockdowns lessening concerns over the pre-teen too frequently on social media or watching YouTube, the accumulative costs to developing brains are not fully being appreciated.

The boom in pregnancies due to the pandemic aside (apologies, Sir Attenborough), at the other end of the spectrum, with British companies like 2019-launched Mamamade experiencing a 63% increase in sales of vegan toddler food in one week since release, as Vegconomist reported mid-summer, it is clear that there are many parents who want more plant-based focused lifestyles for their children, as well. Certainly, Wholefoods had predicted as much for 2021, forecasting a taste for rhubarb, flaxseeds, and purple carrots in the baby food sector before the year even began. Even Heinz hopped on the waggon with its Heinz for Baby Pulses range, which in addition to being wholly plantbased does not contain any added sugar or salt.

Indeed, when done correctly and with the necessary nutritional guidance and information, vegetarianism and veganism offer healthier and oftentimes more straight-forward alternatives to an omnivorous lifestyle for our offspring, from toddlers through teens. The cost is less, too, when not buying meat and fish and dairy (particularly if those animal products are ethically sourced and organic). Immediate health benefits include a reduced intake of saturated fat and any excess salts in cured meat and fish, as well as a reduction in cholesterol, found in fatty red meats, chicken, and prawns. Don’t think low-fat dairy is better, either: they’re often loaded with sugar or sweeteners to make up for the change in taste from full-fat options.

Ditching the dairy is becoming more widespread as a choice, in fact. Plant Based News wrote recently on one father’s “victory” in securing a free soya milk scheme for students at his daughter’s primary school, just like the cow’s milk one. With school staff having refused to listen, the determined dad took his case to The Vegan Society’s International Rights Network Chair, Dr Jeanette Rowley, who helped Paul Roberts achieve what he had set out to on the basis of the Equality Act 2010. In fact, in addition to primary schools in France and the UK (notably Brighton-based ones) now offering at least one vegan option for lunchtimes, one preschool in Newcastle, Australia has gone entirely vegan in both its menu (offered and brought in) and lessons equivalent to forest school over here.

Even if the nappy years are far behind you, “green parenthood” is a term which applies until our offspring leave home (and sometimes beyond, when we, you know, check in on them and make sure they know how to feed themselves still). While your beloved bairn might yet be at home, whether that’s in the midst of yet another “Zutor” session (“Zoom tutor” lesson) or languishing about bored and free (and hopefully willing) to help in the kitchen – then, perhaps prep some plantbased wholesome meals together for the whole family. Food connects us all and supper is a time to recount the day and exchange ideas on the world, feel at ease with and bond over the ingredients lovingly crafted into a meal. Conversations had at the dinner table are a boon for the emotional and intellectual development of our children, their environmental consciences included. Fed tummies and nourished minds: green parenthood at its best. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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The Big 9 Nutrients for Veggie-Loving Kids 1

Protein

Children learn the alphabet with building blocks of ABCs: so protein’s amino acids are the building blocks of our cells. Unfortunately, the human body only makes 11 of the 20 amino acids of a complete protein itself; the rest are absorbed from our diet. Symptoms of protein-deficiency include fatigue and poor concentration, as well as delayed growth and joint pain.

Plant-Based Protein Sources: pulses and legumes, nuts and seeds, tofu and tempeh, wholewheat pasta and quinoa, broccoli and asparagus.

2

Carbohydrates

Essential for energy, it is healthy carbohydrates that are important.

Refined white flour and pasta and cakes and the like should be avoided as much as possible.

Wholegrain products and vegetables are the true carbohydrates for fuelling brains and bodies everdeveloping. That doesn’t mean kids can’t indulge in treats occasionally, but it does mean making sure they eat wholesomely the majority of the time.

Healthy Carbohydrates for Hungry Kiddos: brown rice, potatoes, fruit, peas, pumpkin, corn, wholewheat bread.

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3

Fats

Vital for children spending days upon days absorbing knowledge and physically figuring out the world. Necessary for building nerve tissue and hormones, as well as energy, fats are crucial for absorption of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, and help tummies feel full.

Like carbohydrates, there are healthy fats and bad fats, though. The best fats are polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, found in olive oil and avocado oil (but shun the vegetable oil!).

Tasty Fatty Goodness for Growing Girls and Boys: nuts and seeds, coconut products, olives and avocados.

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4

Calcium

Most of us know that calcium is critical for strong bones, but it also helps maintain nerve and muscle function and protects the heart. And the amount of calcium we have as children and teenagers impacts our health in later life.

Champion Calcium Sources for Kids: dark green leafy veg, tofu, fortified cereals and alternative milks, nuts and seeds, legumes, millet and amaranth, oranges and dried figs.

5

Iron

The number one query when the words “plant-based” pass anyone’s lips, iron helps form haemoglobin in red blood cells, which transport oxygen from the lungs to the body. Non-haem iron (found in plants) is more difficult to absorb than haem iron (in animal products), but vitamin C aids absorption and spinach (yes, Popeye was onto something) should be cooked rather than eaten raw, to overcome the antinutrient oxalate preventing benefit from its iron-rich nature. But iron is present in more than dark green vegetables…

Iron-Pumping Foods for Animal-Friendly Appetites: hemp seeds and pumpkin seeds, almonds and cashews, oats and cacao, raisins and prunes.

6

Folate

Just as important as when a baby is in utero, folate assists DNA formation and by extension cellular development in the entire body. Every 5 days, the cells in a child’s small intestine are entirely replaced, so a constant source of folate in the diet is essential.

Folate-Rich, Kid-Friendly Foods: carrots and peas, broccoli and cauliflower, squash and tomatoes (without skins for younger ones).

7

Fibre

The modern day is all about digestive health, but adult gut microbiomes aside, keeping a child’s digestive system in happy harmony is utterly important for their overall well-being.

There are two types of fibre – soluble and insoluble – and just likes adults, children need both in order to feel full, yes, but also to prevent heart disease and diabetes and other nasty, avoidable things. Happily, the plant-based diet is replete in both types of fibre.

Fruit Fibre for Happy Tums: strawberries and pears, raspberries and bananas, sweet potatoes and kidney beans, chickpeas and quinoa, chia seeds and dark chocolate.

8

Not Such Delicious Dates?

Dried fruit is often believed to be a healthy “treat” alternative for children (as well as adults), instead of boiled sweets and gummies and other dentist’s nightmare, sugar-loaded things. As long as one brushes one’s teeth afterwards as with anything else, what harm?

Dates, in particular, have been used to sweeten foods since 6,000 BC. Cholesterol-free and low in fat, dates provide vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, A1, and vitamin C, as well as a little protein, gut-friendly fibre, iron, potassium, calcium, manganese, copper, magnesium…

The list goes on and a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine even found that the vitamin B6 content helped improve brain performance. A boon for exam-sitting students then? Well…

Shockingly, one cup of dates contains some 29mg of fructose.

Although they are essentially a whole food, 80% of a date is pure (fruit) sugar and – as has been well-documented – sugar has been vilified for not only its addictive qualities, but causing inflammation in the body and promoting bad bacteria in the gut. Nonetheless, an Israeli study discovered that dates don’t actually raise blood sugar levels or cause weight gain, but lower antioxidant stress levels and soothe the digestive system.

A little goes a long way with dates: two or three will certainly suffice. Dried dates can be kept for up to a year in the refrigerator, while fresh dates should be placed in an airtight container in the fridge for a maximum of eight months. When the kids are home from school and wanting something sweet, these delicious dried fruits are just the thing.

Vitamin A

Vital for both vision and bone growth, fat-soluble vitamin A (aka beta-carotene) promotes healthy, skin, hair, and nails, as well as assisting organ health in general.

Vibrant Vitamin-Rich Foods for Cool Kids: pumpkin and carrot, cantaloupe melon and goji berries, squash and bell peppers.

9

Vitamin C

Long has it been known that water-soluble vitamin C staves off scurvy and bolsters the immune system, but it also acts as an antioxidant and protects cells from freeradicals. Further, it aids wound healing, prevents gum disease, and promotes collagen production.

Cool Kids Go Crazy for BrightColoured Fruit: oranges and lemons, kiwi fruit and limes, cranberries and blackberries.

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37

Why Too Much of a Good Thing is Bad for Your Gut We are frequently told that fibre is good for us, that we should eat more of it: more fruit, more vegetables, more wholegrains…

But the old adage “too much of a good thing is never good” holds true even when it comes to old fashioned roughage, to this seemingly cure-all group of complex carbohydrates.

Fibre, unlike other foods, doesn’t get broken down in the small bowel, but passes undigested into the large bowel. There are two types – insoluble and soluble – and their importance is not distinct to one or the other bowel, as was once thought, but of equal import to both: Insoluble Fibre This is the “bulking” fibre, adding substance to faecal matter so that it can work through the gut and prevent constipation. Sources of insoluble include (you guessed it) wholegrains, such as brown rice and wholewheat bread and spelt, as well as nuts and seeds, dried figs, and potatoes (white or sweet) with the (organic) skins left on.

Soluble Fibre Water-soluble, soluble fibre forms a gel-like substance in the gut which softens and smooths faecal matter for easier bowel movements.

Soluble fibre can also help lower cholesterol levels. Found in oats and barley, beans and peas, and – of course – fresh fruit and vegetables, antioxidants in these foods all provide protection from cell damage, as well..

38

Unfortunately, high protein diets like the Keto Diet have vilified carbohydrates as weight-gain sources, causing a critical fibre-deficiency in many people. In fact, fibre is thought to be of benefit in weight loss, as well as in reducing the risk of bowel cancer, heart disease, Type-II diabetes, and even stroke. While it is recommended that adults have at least 30g of fibre per day, the quantities advised for children differ slightly. Between two and five, a child needs only 15g of fibre, increasing to 20g daily between five and eleven years of age. For those between eleven and sixteen, the RDA is 25g, and from sixteen years of age the quantity of fibre needed in the diet is the equivalent of the adult RDA. The simplest way to include more fibre in our diets is by switching to a Whole Foods Plant Based lifestyle. It is recommended that over 30 different plant foods be eaten in a single week for optimum gut microbiomic health, anyway – whether on a plant-based diet or omnivorous diet. However, the easiest path is neither always the straightest nor the right way for all. As Just Natural Health & Beauty wrote last issue, some people medically cannot subsist on plant-based foods alone, for a variety of reasons.

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One problem of eating a lot of fibre, or of introducing a greater quantity of fibre into the diet quickly (say, going suddenly from 10g/ day to the full RDA of 30g/day), is bloating. According to Veg Out Magazine, while a fair few of us bloat after meals naturally, bloating is not very pleasant and can be uncomfortable, to say the least.

Dietary causes vary from person to person, but often too much fibre is to blame. By keeping a food diary, it can quickly be assessed how to better balance meals between the fibre-rich and the low-in-fibre, so that the digestive system is not overloaded. The spacing of meals and the speed at which they are eaten should also be assessed.

Drinking enough water is also important. Mindful eating makes for a more harmonious gut.

Key culprits for excessive gassiness, though, are FODMAP foods.

Highly fermentable, poorly absorbed simple sugars and complex carbohydrates, the bubbles from gut bacteria feeding on FODMAPs (these foods are prebiotics fuelling probiotics) produce excess gas and abdominal swelling. For this reason, those with a sensitive gut suffer worse digestive issues than others. However, in excess of 30 studies have shown that if a low-FODMAP diet is followed by IBS sufferers for between three and eight weeks, symptoms can be lessened by up to 70%. The diet should not be followed much longer, as FODMAPs are key to bacterial balance in the gut in the long-term.

FODMAPs The Culprits FERMENTABLE OLIGOSACCHARIDES

1

Foods to Soothe 2

Ginger

Pineapple

Pineapple contains the enzyme bromelain, which digests proteins. Used in Central and South America for centuries as a natural remedy for indigestion and inflammation, further research into bromelain’s direct effect on digestive problems is nonetheless needed, according to the National Centre for Complementary and Integrative Health. Feel free to snack on the fruit in the meantime, though.

3

Prunes

Your grandmother had it right: if you want to “go”, have some prunes.

Containing not only fibre, but also sorbitol, prunes’ insoluble fibre adds bulk and aids bowel movement, while the sorbitol acts as laxative. Add some to your Weetabix or drink a little prune juice in the morning.

Ginger is wellknown for its antinausea (anti-emetic) properties, but it also stimulates the digestive tract and, according to a 2018 study published in the journal Scientific Reports, lessens bloating-caused abdominal distention.

Grate some fresh ginger into a tea cup and pour hot water over the top when you next need some relief.

Just Natural Prunes 250g £3.59

DISACCHARIDES MONOSACHARIDES POLYOLS

Be wary of: Onions and garlic Beans and pulses, including cashews Brassicas like cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli Wheat Stone fruit like plums and peaches, nectarines and apricots Apples and pears

4

Cucumbers

On the basis of the logic that good hydration means regular bowl movements, cucumbers – a vegetable with some 95% water content – are an ideal addition to the diet. However, again, it is about finding what suits you in particular: some people suffer from burping after eating cucumber. As with all suggested options, listen to your body to find the foods right for you. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

39

5

Turmeric

Turmeric contains the compound curcumin, which is not only antiinflammatory, but also high in antioxidants and a boon for the immune system.

Although curcumin’s bioavailability is low, adding fresh turmeric to your diet is beneficial to digestion – and the body overall – in the long run.

6

Oats

Rich in the fibre beta-glucan, oats are a popular breakfast choice for a reason. Generally appropriate for IBS sufferers, some coeliac sufferers can be intolerant of the avenin in oats (similar to gluten), so again: listen to your body and be watchful for any adverse reactions.

Just Natural Jumbo Oats - 1000g £1.80

Just Natural Turmeric Powder 100g £2.09

7

Kiwi

Rich in the electrolyte potassium, which promotes expulsion of excess sodium in the body, kiwi can thus assist in problems of water retention and – you guessed it – bloating. Also a low-FODMAP food, non-human studies on the compound actinidin in kiwi fruit have suggested a potential digestive aid quality, but further human studies are needed, according to 2013 research published in the journal Advances in Food & Nutrition Research.

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8

Celery

The sister hydrating food to cucumbers, celery is also approximately 95% water and because of this acts as a diuretic.

It’s also chock full of fibre (one cup contains circa 2g) and is useful in combatting bloating.

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Beyond digestive issues, however, fibre in the diet can affect our sleep quality and energy levels as well. Too little fibre can also cause elevated cholesterol or blood pressure levels, fibre having been shown to reduce triglycerides, thereby lowering risk of heart disease. If carbohydrates are eaten alone, they can metabolize too quickly and so we experience a “sugar crash” not too long afterwards. This is more often the case with refined carbohydrates, rather than wholegrain and complex options, but even brown rice and wholewheat spaghetti should be served with a quantity of macronutrients, protein and fat for a nutritionally complete meal.

They digest more slowly and stabilise blood sugar levels (and regulate those cholesterol and blood pressure levels).

Remember to stay hydrated, as well.

Adequate consumption of fibre, of course, helps combat bouts of constipation. A little-known fact, for those struggling to eat enough fibre, is that avocado is loaded with it (just one cup contains 10g): not for nothing is avocado on toast a super breakfast (or lunchtime) option. In addition to neutralizing stomach acid, avocado also contains magnesium, which activates digestive enzymes (pumpkin seeds and spinach are good, magnesium-rich foods, as well). However, another symptom of too little fibre in the diet is a constant hunger.

If you’re feeling ravenous, reach for some fruit in lieu of snacky convenience foods loaded with sugar and salt.

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A (Beneficial) Bitter Bite

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Green Balance To create harmony you need inspiration. This tea can help you find it: here, the wisdom of Asian traditions in the form of green tea and kombucha meet refreshing lemongrass, peppermint and elderflower blossom. The aromas are in balance. A fantastic tea for taking on challenges – or to simply enjoy while relaxing.

Taste: we live for it. Whether it’s sweet or salty, sour or spicy, or even coveted umami – the range of flavours is what makes chefs and restaurants (and domestic cooks, too) as popular as they are. Food might be the way to a man’s stomach, as they say, but tantalisation of the tongue is the key to the people’s heart. And another taste that elicits sighs of enjoyment, strangely enough, is the bitter.

Not an automatic response when asked one’s favourite flavour, bitter is nonetheless of nutritional benefit. Although “bitter” conjures up thoughts of citrus peel (more on this later), it actually encompasses such beloved products as cacao, cranberries, and coffee. Good for digestive health, bitter foods stimulate the appetite and help the release of juices in the pancreas. Consider including more of the following in your week:

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Green Tea

Kale

If you’ve ever wondered why a too-strong cup of green tea is anything but palatable, it could be because of the bitterness.

Beneficial for brain and heart health, and an uplifting brew for mental wellbeing – a cup of green tea is a detoxifying warming drink of an afternoon instead of coffee. That said…

Yes, those nutrient-rich leaves are considered a bitter food. A powerhouse of vitamin A, K, B6, C, and calcium and potassium, copper and manganese as well – kale’s antioxidants assist the body in fighting free radicals and environmental pollution, lessening the risk of inflammation and illness. Particularly good for liver detoxification (due to phytochemical glucosinolates), all we can say is “Hail, the green smoothie!”.

Rocket A leaf that divides families (the audacity of adding any to a salad when not all the household delights in its strong and bitter flavour…), rocket is the marmite salad vegetable. That peppery taste, however, also contains high levels of vitamin A, C, and K.

Dandelion Greens If you’re not a fan of rocket, it’s unlikely you’ll be a fan of dandelion greens (or its tea or coffee), but they’re not something to be sniffed at. If mixed with spinach and kale, the taste is masked somewhat, and you can reap the digestive and liver health benefits, which are similar to kale.

Coffee The king cup of bitter liquid, coffee is also known to be of benefit to the brain, but should be avoided by those who suffer from heart palpitations or anxiety. The go-to beverage after tea in working Britain, coffee is also a liver detoxifier. Just don’t load it with dairy and sugar.

Chamomile Tea Although you might associate chamomile with sweet serenity, this relaxing herb is actually considered as bitter. This makes it a perfect option for those who can stomach neither green tea nor coffee. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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Prepping Citrus Peels for Digestive Healing Satsumas studded with cloves might well scent and adorn the Christmas mantelpiece or supper table, but citrus fruit have a greater, immune-boosting and digestive-healing purpose (very little fibre involved).

Native to the Mediterranean and northern Africa, lemons in particular have been employed in a range of culinary and non-culinary ways, and medicinally as well.

With one lemon containing 32 IU of vitamin A, over 83mg of vitamin C, nearly 66mg of calcium, 13mg of magnesium, and 157mg of potassium – one understands well why sailors of old went to sea with citrus wellstocked (nay, scurvy; nay to thee).

Lemon juice, though, is also thought to alleviate constipation, its acidity assisting stomach acid in breaking down food before moving through the large intestine. Squeeze a little juice over salads or on cooked dark green vegetables (the vitamin C assists iron absorption, too).

However, orange peels have their place on the digestive healing menu, as well. Baking orange peels brings out a natural sweetness which makes them palatable, but generally the bitter content of citrus peels kickstarts sluggish digestion.

Some even think a sip of bitters might soon sit alongside probiotics in digestive health recommendations.

Natto Nabs Fame:

Gut Health in the iT k Tok Spotlight Infamously known to be “an acquired taste”, natto has been doing the rounds on Tik Tok lately (yes, that teenage platform which somehow crops up in adults’ conversations far, far too often). If the texture can be overcome, though, then natto lends itself as a rather powerful superfood.

Rich in vitamin K, these fermented soybeans are a probiotic-dense food containing between 5 billion and 10 billion CFUs (ColonyForming Units) per serving. In a single gram, natto contains between one million and one billion CFUs. An awesome source of K2 (100 times more than is found in cheese), natto aids absorption of calcium and prevents calcium build-up in the arteries. This helps to maintain bone density, while the K1 content assists bloodclotting and vitamin B6 boosts immunity. Good K2 levels have been shown to reduce the risk of certain fractures by up to 81%. A further study connected optimum K2 levels with a 57% lower risk of death from heart disease.

As a condiment, the key is to start small, in order to come to terms with the sticky consistency. One cup of natto provides 31g of protein and 9g of fibre. Mixed into salads and rice dishes, natto is said to be relatively palatable, especially when masked by the likes of avocado, spring onions, cherry tomatoes, shredded nori, and a little soy sauce and olive oil… But each to their own!

In Japan, natto is commonplace in the diet.

It is believed by some to have come into existence by accident on a chief samurai’s long journey back in 1083, the soybeans in Hachiman-taro Yoshiie’s sack fermenting in the straw they were stored in.

Others have perceived a slow simultaneous development of natto not just in Japan, but in Korea and China, also. However it came into being, Tik Tok saw #natto garner in excess of 88 million views earlier in the year, due to the visual appeal of the food’s webbed texture when collected with chopsticks from a waiting bowl.

If that doesn’t sound appetising at all, the goodness of fermented foods can be found in alternatives like kefir, kombucha, tempeh, sauerkraut, kimchi, and – of course – sourdough.

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Seriously Fermentable Sourdough

Comfort Food & a Harmonious Gut

“The poetics of bread is scattered like grains through time and space, across countries and people, in everyday life and eternity.”

- Predrag Metvejević

he 17th November is Homemade Bread Day. If, however, you are not someone who delights at the thought of fresh bread torn apart and dunked in organic olive oil and dukkah, or more simply sliced and toasted with a slather of homemade blackberry jam (be-socked toes toasty; Aga optional) – perhaps because you’ve been wondering whether or not gluten-free might be a more tummy-friendly way to go – then pause and consider the awesomeness of sourdough.

Fermentation as a preserving process has been around for centuries; some zymological historians believe as far back in time as 7,000 BC. The word “fermentation” comes from the Latin, “fevere”, which means “to boil” (pretty much what happens in most bread, and in wine). Nonetheless, fermentation these days describes the anaerobic process wherein lactic acid bacteria (mostly from the Lactobacillus species) convert sugar into lactic acid. The lactic acid then acts as preservative, a useful food storage technique for when times are tough – and a great way to be sure to consume both prebiotics and probiotics.

Prebiotics, of course, are the natural, non-digestible carbohydrates or oligosaccharides that are fermented by probiotics to make the fatty-acid, butyric acid. Butyric acid maintains the healthy lining of the intestines, promoting both proper digestion and regular bowel movements.

Indeed, prebiotics are thought to regulate cortisol levels as well. Perhaps that’s why sourdough bread is oh-so comforting…

Just Natural Health & Beauty wrote previously on sourdough, how studies show eating sourdough can increase fibre absorption from the bread between 10% and 15%, but also how consumption of sourdough nourishes our “psychobiotics”, the bacteria that affect our psychological function. If done right, sourdough is made with wild yeast (the most popular being Brettanomyces cerevisiae), as opposed to commercially manufactured strains of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisae). Conversely, “sourdough” in big conglomerate stores is often substandard, with very little sourdough taste, and higher in sugar than traditional sourdough.

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A slice of true sourdough (weighing approximately 56g) offers around 6g of protein, between 2g and 4g of fibre, 2g of fat, and selenium, folate, thiamine, and iron, among other minerals. Then, there’s the organic factor: in short, soil health equals digestive health.

Sourdough, of course, is infamous for its starter. No two starters are like; the microflora of the skin of a baker’s hands always play an unchartable part in the process. In San Francisco, the same starter has been used by the Boudin Bread Company since it opened in 1849, fed only with flour, water, sugar, and a little salt.

That takes “mother dough” to a whole new level.

It goes without saying that bread is a significant part of daily life. The Christian concept of “daily bread” has lingered in these secular days, become custom in the majority of households. Indeed, the cultural and symbolic significance of bread is a long history and the late European intellectual Predrag Metvejević (who passed away in 2017) even wrote a book on it.

Bread dates back to the shift from nomadic life to settlement, from hunting to farming. From clay tablets depicting grains in the ancient cities of Uruk and Ebla to Egyptian hieroglyphics representing it in Thebes and Memphis, Psalm 104 blesses bread and Ancient Greek drama praises it: bread is everywhere, and it means something slightly different to everyone. In times of financial and other adversity, when for some reason food is scarce, it can represent survival.

The making of bread is also a process which calls for quiet contemplation. Consider the kneading process, the patience involved in letting the dough rise, letting the yeast work as it should, re-kneading, rerising, kneading again, and again patiently observing yet a further change in the dough – before baking and breaking into what was laboured over in order to satisfy and to share.

If you’re still reeling from the return to how life pretty much used to be pre-pandemic, maybe slow things down again slightly or press pause for a spell: bake some bread, use the process as a meditative experience, and breathe (certainly smell that freshly baked bread perfume and luxuriate in the sanctuary of hearth and home this autumn).

"Just like our mortality, bread is always present. Memento panem — remember the bread so that you may remember who you are and who you may become."

- Emina Melonic

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Mornings, Meteorology, and… Mucous?

Autumn might be a beautifully nostalgic season worthy of penning a poetic line or two, but what about the less attractive physical realities of the slow descent into winter? Although one might achieve a wonderfully deep slumber, what about the morning after? Are you one of those who suffer from the waking experience of being best friends with a box of tissues? If so, you might want to look at a variety of factors, including your diet (a little ACV (Apple Cider Vinegar) never goes amiss in this case, either).

Each day, the average person produces around 1.5 litres of mucous. A type of phlegm produced both in the lungs and in our lower respiratory tract, mucous is the body’s way to prevent certain areas of it from drying out. Morning congestion, though, is caused by the irritation of blood vessels in the nose, which then swell. Nasal tissue fills with fluid as a result, and then discharges into a “runny nose”. Mucosal inflammation is believed to be the root cause of most nasal congestion issues, as according to a University of Chicago study led by Dr Robert Naclerio in 2010. The triggers can be infection (colds, sinusitis), allergens (pollen, mould), and irritants (tobacco smoke, dry air).

For many around the globe, it was a scarily hot summer, a summer that saw vast areas in Greece and Turkey ablaze with flame. Yet, remaining with our nasal preoccupation for a moment, it was also a summer that saw more individuals holding a hanky for an extended period of time. Ironically, the 8th October is International Clean Air Day, but one American study, reported in The New York Times at the start of the year, suggested that climate change means more of us are clinging to our tissues for comfort for longer. Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it is warmer air and a greater quantity of CO2 combined that mean that there has been a 20-dayearlier arrival of pollen season than occurred in 1990, together with a 21% greater pollen count. It is thought that 8% of the additional pollen count can be attributed to climate change.

It seems incredible that some still deny that global warming is changing weather patterns. Already, 1% of the planet is too hot to live in for humans. It is projected that will increase to 19% by 2070. But, again, to return to health implications of a nose sniffling with pollen, allergies can lead to worse conditions, such as asthma and more serious respiratory problems. Highpollen count has also been linked to a higher rate of respiratory viruses – viruses like the coronavirus.

While practical steps can be taken on a personal level to ameliorate excessive mucous production, from sleeping in a more upright position to keeping the head slightly elevated (permitting nasal mucous to drain away properly and not pool in the upper respiratory area, according to a 2014 study conducted at the University of Regensburg) – how to better air quality in the long-run? Additionally, no matter how elevated you sleep, if your home is full of allergens, you’ve no chance. From animal dander to dust mites, it really is a question of sufficient cleaning that minimises risk from domestic allergens. Start in the bedroom – don’t forget to wash that duvet itself regularly – and work out from there.

The 2005-2006 NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) found that approximately 74% of people are exposed to between three and six different allergens in our bedrooms alone. It might be time to rip out the carpets…

You might also want to invest in an air ioniser. Menthol and eucalyptus are good essential oils to add to air humidifiers and to bowls of boiling water to ingest steam from in the mornings (*Warning: be very careful of your face when lowering towards the bowl with the towel).

Rather than reaching for a medicine bottle, though, try first to enjoy a steaming hot cup of green or chamomile or nettle tea (wonderful for lessening inflammation). Thought to break up mucous, one thing you don’t want to be going anywhere near if you suffer from nasal congestion is dairy. Rhinitis – nasal congestion – can be caused by non-allergenic factors, including excessive alcohol consumption, as well. Women, especially, can be beset with nasal congestion simply because of a surge in histamines due to a hormonal wave, as when in the peak oestrogen phase of the menstrual cycle.

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How Clean is Green?

The Dirty Truth The dangers of household cleaning products have been well-documented in recent years: one aerosol can contains enough volatile organics to compete with car diesel fumes emitted over a 6,000 mile journey, for one thing. Love a touch of lemon or pine in the air when you dust and buff and sweep and shine? Unfortunately, limonene and alpha pinene break down into the pollutants formaldehyde and benzene, the latter shown to negatively affect bone marrow and red blood cells, the former damaging to our sight and lungs… That’s not even mentioning potential carcinogenic properties. When reports state that pollution in homes can be higher than in outdoor urban settings, you know something is very wrong with the way domestic abodes are being kept spick and span.

One has to be wary of “green washing”, too, these days. It might give us a feel-good boost to buy a product that claims no harm to the environment in either its manufacture or use, but sometimes that really isn’t so. Not too long ago, a couple of “eco-friendly” household cleaning ranges were found to have gotten their “recipes” wrong and the resultant products had become a little, um, toxic for humans… It’s about more than recyclable bottles, folks.

MBDC “Cradle to Cradle” certification began back in 1995, when the company was founded by architect William McDonough and chemist Dr Michael Braungart. Combining design and science, MBDC is governed by three principles from Nature: that everything is a resource for something else, that energy should be clean and renewable, and that diversity should be celebrated. Nonetheless, it has been noted (and can be gleaned from these principles) that the certification values the safety of the environment and the purposes of a circular economy, rather than that of humans – and that’s where some issues have popped up. Further, non-food labels don’t have to use the true chemical names for ingredients. Although virtually all chemicals are come from plant and mineral extracts, processing changes the natural states and they can over time become an irritant – or worse – to humans.

One such chemical is geraniol. In acidic solutions, it changes to cyclic terpene, a-terpineol. It can also be converted into chloride with thionyl chloride and can become hydrogenated as well as oxidized into aldehyde geranial. Classified as a D2B (“toxic materials causing other effects”), geraniol is produced – and here’s the really icky bit – by the scent glands of honeybees to locate hive entrances. Humans have appropriated it as mosquito repellent, as well. Is it something we want in our household cleaning products?

Simply put, no.

A study published in 2018 in the journal Environment International assessed the health impact of fragrance allergens (or skin sensitizers) by looking at geraniol’s effects when present in personal care and household cleaning products.

It found that dermal exposure at present causes new allergy cases to the extent that it was estimated that “exposure results yearly in 34 new cases of geraniol contact allergy per million consumers in Western and Northern Europe”. With re-exposure, that figure rises to 60 new cases per million. In conclusion, the study called for at minimum a reduction in the concentration of geraniol used in such products to <0.1%.

Another chemical to watch out for is potassium hydroxide. Used in the formulation of too many personal care products to mention, it functions as a pH stabilizer for the product. But even in rinse-off products, potassium hydroxide often causes irritation.

The skin’s usual pH veers towards the acidic (c. 4.5 to 5.75). Called the “acid mantle”, the skin’s acidity is kept in balance by the sebaceous glands, sweat glands, and skin flora.

The resultant film of amino acids, oils, and lactic acids protects it from bacteria, pollutants, and allergens.

For general use, the concentration of potassium hydroxide is about 4.5%. So it was that when one big “green” brand got the mixture of its cleaning product wrong, it even caused the bottle to leak.

If the liquid had come into contact with any skin or eye area, burns would have resulted.

What to look for, then, and be assured that what you’re buying is what you get and is beneficial not only for the environment, but for your and your family’s skin and overall health in the long-run? Clara is one option: natural and biodegradable, the cleaning range is also vegan and EU Ecolabel certified. Non-allergenic, non-GMO, and free from petrochemicals – from a clean home to a clean planet, Clara is a boon on the domestic front. No green washing allowed.

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Eating for Immunity: Black Garlic The human immune system is twofold, divided into “innate” and “adaptive”. The innate immune system protects us from pathogens and the adaptive immune system remembers the type of infection fought for future reference. The former includes physical barriers, defence mechanisms such as sweating and immune responses like inflammation. These occur within both our red and white blood cells. However, the reason we don’t get back-to-back colds or flu is down to our adaptive immune system. It stores information in our B&T (or white) blood cells and thus directs phagocytes (cells which consume invaders), mast cells (inflammatory cells), and natural killer cells, which stop the infection before it spreads.

That doesn’t mean the body can’t use a little helping hand now and again.

While garlic has a long history of being good for us, black garlic might just be even better. Basically just regular garlic that has been aged (under controlled temperature and humidity levels), the Maillard reaction is what turns the cloves from white to black. It is a chemical reaction between the naturally present sugars and amino acids in the garlic, changing the consistency of the cloves from the solidity of raw garlic to a spreadable paste-like texture in black garlic.

Rich in antioxidants (three times the amount of raw garlic), research has shown black garlic’s antioxidant peak to come at 21 days fermentation. Believed to be of benefit to heart health, one study published in the journal Nutrition Research found that when rats were fed black garlic their cholesterol levels decreased and they had fewer signs of heart disease.

Human studies are needed, but it is believed black garlic could be good for circulation, also. Additionally, there could be an anticarcinogenic benefit to black garlic.

However, a study published in the journal Drug and Chemical Toxology found that black garlic appears to reduce oxidative stress on the brain and thereby lessen cell damage and slow down mental ageing.

So, why not incorporate more (or any) black garlic into your diet today. From spreading it on toast to mixing it into sauces and dressings, black garlic is a versatile health boost for the kitchen.

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The Anti-Mucous Diet

In Ayurvedic medicine, it is believed that mucous signals “sweet blood”, i.e. blood high in sugar, fats, and/or proteins. Sweet blood is thick blood, a problem of the dosha Kapha. To reduce symptoms, it is advised that one remove from the diet such foods as sugar, ice cream, cold milk, cheese, and fried foods.

Honey mixed with cinnamon or ginger, with ground cloves or black pepper, is used to expel thick white or clear mucous, also. However, when mucous is green or yellow, in addition to signifying a Pitta imbalance, it can mean there is infection in the lungs. Sometimes burning the throat, a Pitta-pacifying diet is recommended, high in greens and fresh fennel and ginger.

Nevertheless, The Lung Institute has proposed an AntiMucous diet, bearing in mind that what produces more mucous in one person does not in another. The focus is on a Whole Food Plant Based diet, but allowing for occasional sustainable fish, while highlighting the dangers of prolonged consumption of processed food. Commonly, a food allergy is to blame for mucous issues, often caused by eggs, dairy, fish, nuts, or wheat or soy. Further, if a food allergy or intolerance is undiagnosed and coupled with further consumption of histamine-producing foods like bananas, strawberries, papaya, pineapple, or even chocolate – then mucous is a matter unlikely to disappear any time soon.

Other culprits of excessive histamine include dried fruits, avocado, tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, aubergine, and – probably the most well-known – alcohol. Unfortunately, while fruits such as cantaloupe, citrus, kiwi, and berries might clear the airways of some, for others symptoms will only be exacerbated.

The key is to keep a record of what you eat and note when things feel that bit more congested.

Say Goodbye to Mucous

1

Avoid dairy, all dairy

2

Exercise regularly

3

Inhale some steam

4

Drink tea

5

Use those essential oils

Not only does dairy cause congestion, it can actually thicken mucous and promote microbial growth.

Get that circulation going: exercise moves lymph fluids and supports the immune system.

Steam inhalations might sound like advice your grandma used to give, but they really do work.

The warm liquid shifts mucous, the steam clears the nasal passage, and teas such as holy basil, peppermint, chamomile, licorice, and ginger all work well for sinusitis sufferers.

Aromatherapy might be the way, too: used either in a steam inhalation or hot bath or shower, the best options for mucous problems are eucalyptus, rosemary, peppermint, tea tree oil, and thyme.

Interestingly, for those suffering from excessive gas and bloating, these issues can put pressure on the lungs, which prohibits full breathing and causes a build up of mucosal fluid. In such cases, it is best to avoid foods such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and beans and legumes until symptoms have cleared.

On an Anti-Mucous diet, cooking should be done with olive oil rather than butter or margarine, the oleocanthal content thought to be anti-inflammatory. Teas and soups are your friend on this diet, no dairy permitted. It is about nutrients and hydration, rather than fulsome flavours. Nonetheless, Omega-3s are thought to be anti-inflammatory as well, so be sure to include walnuts, flaxseeds, and pumpkin seeds, and if you’re low on satisfying taste, reach for some fresh lemon to squeeze over meals and fresh herbs such as parsley to top off dishes.

Although not necessarily dangerous in itself, excessive mucous signifies inflammation in the body and can therefore be a symptom of something more serious, such as diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer. It is always sensible to see your GP in the first instance if concerned.

Yoga and breathing techniques can help clear airways, as well as relieving stress through meditation

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Winter Dryness and Soulful Skincare

The skin is our biggest organ, readily able to absorb anything it comes into contact with. It is a powerful detoxifier, too. A living, breathing entity, it needs also to thrive. How many winter days in the office has your skin – dry and flaky and calling out for help – made the working day seem so very much longer? Oxidative stress and pollution from traffic and industry only serve to worsen the state of our skin further. It doesn’t have to be the actual office, either: heating systems at home will serve to dry out already fatigued and screen-weary skin, as well.

From dark spots that have seemingly appeared overnight to deeper fine lines and wrinkles that prompt a double-take, from adult-onset eczema or acne to a greyer complexion than usual – changes in our skin can affect our mental wellbeing greatly. Antipollution skincare acts as a barrier or corrector, removing impurities by drawing them out. Clay masks are well-established as a means to clog pores of the grime of daily hectic living. If applied just before a hot bath (candles optional), the steam from the hot tub heightens the cleansing process further. But skincare options seem almost limitless these days.

Hyperpigmentation & Sun Spots Do you look in the mirror these days and wonder what happened to that unblemished skin of your youth?

Hyperpigmentation happens when melanocytes (pigment-producing cells) work overtime, creating extra and unneeded melanin. Causes for this range from sun exposure to hormone fluctuation, to simple inflammation in the body. So it is that when you search for a product to combat hyperpigmentation, you’re essentially seeking to calm that inflammation, block any abnormal pigmentation happening, and boost cell turnover (i.e. shedding).

Calmers include niacinamide, a form of vitamin B3, and licorice root extract (which is also thought to brighten skin).

Blockers include the ever-popular vitamin C, as well as kojic acid, which blocks the formation of the enzyme tyrosine. Arbutin works similarly.

Boosters include the famous retinol, and also glycolic acid. An alpha hydroxy acid, glycolic acid keeps skin looking fresh.

Lastly, even in the winter (and even in the northern hemisphere), it is advisable to wear some factor of sun protection when out and about – especially on long hikes in the hills or along the coast.

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Vegan-friendly is an overdue requirement in the 21st Century, as well. And just as concern surrounding ingesting sufficient quantities of the right vitamins and minerals is crucial for good health, so too is making sure our skin is tended to and given equal measure of due care and its share of these. Named the “Mecosystem” by beauty professionals, the concept of what is good for the gut microbiome being good for the skin as well extends to the application of fermented ingredients, also.

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So it is that face and body creams can now include in the ingredients list curcumin and ashwagandha, antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase (non-bovine, of course) and resveratrol (courtesy of red grapes skin and berries).

Further, local and/or wild additions include nettle and horsetail for hair and nail health (due to their silica contents), and even elderberry (so popular during the first lockdown) for vitamin C’s promotion of collagen production.

Vitamin E, of course, is the antioxidant powerhouse, neutralizing free radicals, reducing blocked pores and blackheads, and moisturizing simultaneously. Potent stuff.

Yet, how does one pick between hyaluronic acid and jojoba oil, between aloe vera and marshmallow root, or appreciate the difference between Abyssinian oil and Argan oil (hint: it’s the higher percentage of Omega-9s)?

What is what and what is for whom?

What these are not are the pollutants that were once found in skincare products: coral-damaging oxybenzone and oxtinoxate in sunscreens, unfilterable antibacterial agent triclosan (remnants even found in breast milk), widely-vilified and happily no longer-used microbeads, preservative and reproductive system-altering parabens…

The list of what once was slathered onto skin is long and it is frightening.

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Granted, so too is that wrinkled look, worsening as the natural collagen in our body decreases (along with increasing stiffness, weaker muscles, joint pain, and even stomach problems as the lining of the digestive tract thins). Poor diet only serves to exacerbate matters. Therefore, eating a collagen-rich diet might just save some pennies when compared to investing in the latest skincream:

Walnuts

Chickpeas In addition to collagen, chickpeas contain 64% of the RDA of copper in just one cup.

Additionally, the same cup contains 23% RDA of zinc and 15g of protein.

Offering 50% of the RDA of copper in a 28g portion, walnuts and other nuts are thought to be useful not only in skin health, but also in keeping risk of serious illness low. A study published in 2015 in the journal Epidemiology found that those aged between 55 and 69 eating 10g of tree nuts per day as a minimum had a reduced occurrence of respiratory disease, cancer, diabetes, or heart disease.

Red Bell Peppers Providing 169% of the RDA of vitamin C in one bell pepper, it is that vitamin C which assists the synthesis of collagen.

Further, red bell peppers have 21% of the RDA of vitamin A, another great vitamin for the skin (as well as soft tissue and skeletal maintenance).

Oranges Not seasonal in the winter, of course, nonetheless oranges are obviously a vitamin C boon, containing 109% of the RDA of vitamin C in just one.

Brown Rice One cup of cooked brown rice contains 24% of the RDA of copper and 13% of the RDA of zinc. If drizzled with fresh lemon juice, the vitamin C content of that aids the body’s production of natural collagen, and not only is one fed and happy but possessing a youthful glow, also (not smiling too broadly, though, in case of crow’s feet; we jest). justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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kS in-Nourishing oSm othie oC ld inW ter oM rnings It might seem illogical, sipping a cold smoothie on a winter’s morning, but your skin will thank you for it (trust us).

Shop Local, help the planet!

Find the ingredients at your local health food retailer.

Functional nutrition looks to provide the body with what it needs pre any supplementation or topical applications and works on the premise that if food is medicine, then illness should not arise often or severely: prevention is better than cure. Sustainable skincare, then, starts with what we consume.

If you’re suffering from flare-ups of eczema, acne, or rosacea, there is an imbalance somewhere in the body, inflammation exhibiting itself externally.

Herbalists work with the gut in order to work with the skin: if we have too little sleep, if our hormones are out of balance, if our liver is working a little too hard, all these things will show in our complexion.

Demulcent herbs combat such inflammation. Opt for aloe vera or marshmallow root, flaxseeds or chia seeds.

Antioxidants, also, have their place in maintaining flawless skin and when it comes to fruits, “the brighter, the better” is the mindset to have. Whether it’s berries or rosehips, or even greens – if you’re combining these with the appropriate herbs and additional superfoods, and generally eating healthy and as closely to a Whole Food Plant Based diet as possible, then any skin complaints should soon clear up.

For the smoothie, simply add everything to the blender, whizz until smooth, and serve and enjoy (bundled in as many sweaters as you fancy while you do so).

Ingredients Handful of (wild) blueberries Handful of raspberries Handful of greens of choice Small handful of Just Natural goji berries (preferably soaked beforehand) 2 tbsp ground flaxseed 1 tbsp marshmallow root powder 1 tbsp collagen booster powder ½ tbsp rosehips powder 1 tbsp Just Natural coconut chips Shot of aloe juice ¾ cup of coconut water (if you like a thinner consistency smoothie, add more)

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Just Natural Raw coconut chips

Just Natural Goji berries

250g £2.39

250g £4.49

Seeking Spa Serenity at Home & Practicing Gua Sha There are few people who don’t love a trip to the spa. Yet, the pandemic signalled their necessary closure.

Now that we’re back into a rhythm verging on the pre-Covid normal, what is the situation for spas? Are they still the sanctuaries they once were? Or do anxieties over potential infection outweigh the benefits of rest and relaxation? Health and safety measures in spas are often of supreme quality, but is it enough to drown out the mental indecisiveness of whether or not the experience is risk-free, and save the day from becoming all too stressful?

In addition to hygiene protocols of old, the UK Spa Association, in line with government guidelines, still insists that the number of people using a sauna or steam room at any one time be limited in order to allow time for cleaning between uses, which means that strict time slots have to be booked (similar to public swimming pools). Like other establishments, hand sanitiser must be continue to be provided as well, and wearing a face mask is a matter of personal choice but encouraged.

Unfortunately, free water, tea, and fruit is no longer permitted, but might be offered individually wrapped (hopefully in eco-friendly fashion…).

Nonetheless, with it being National Spa Week between the 4th and 9th November, there is also the possibility of bringing the spa to you – home spa style. Further, in addition to a nice steaming hot bath with either salts or bubbles or oil, a few candles for mood, and some zen music to help your cares ebb away with the water and lung-cleansing vapour, why not try out a DIY Gua Sha facial? Even though close-contact treatments are once again available at spas, a home spa and facial not only saves a (fair) few pennies, but is all the more rewarding for selfsufficiency of a sort, too.

Gua Sha facials make use of a facial tool called – yes – the Gua Sha (similar to the jade roller, if you remember that trend). Massaging every day for only a few minutes, it is thought to improve skin tone, as well as tautness. An East Asian and Chinese technique, Gua Sha (‘gua’ meaning scrape; ‘sha’ meaning sand) has been used for thousands of years to promote a sense of wellbeing, boost circulation, and detoxify.

Predating acupuncture, the stroke pattern energises the body’s meridian lines and activates healing. This promotes collagen production in the skin and drains any inflammation from the face.

Apart from being of benefit to the face, however, Gua Sha by extension helps the organs, too. Whether the stomach, liver, spleen, kidneys, or even heart, the meridians massaged on the face connect with our organs, promoting relaxation and detoxification. Say goodbye to dark circles under the eyes and the advance of crepelike wrinkles: plump the face the natural way with its own oxygenated blood and lymph drainage. Gua Sha is also thought to alleviate headaches, as well.

Once made from animal bones and horns, happily Gua Sha are now made from jade or rose quartz; jade promoting serenity and balance, rose quartz restoring harmony in the heart. If possible, a person’s Gua Sha should be selected in person, the process similar to choosing a personal crystal.

And the practice should be done daily: consistency is key.

1.

Start by cleansing the face, then apply a facial mist if possible, as this will drive the facial oil (the next step) deep into skin.

After that, apply the facial oil (maximum 10 drops) over the entire face and neck area, wiping any oil remaining on hands on the Gua Sha for ease of use, the rubbing movement of this warming up the tool. Remember to breathe deeply while sweeping it across the skin.

2.

Begin with the neck, sweeping upwards on both sides to activate the REN line (addressing issues with the abdomen, chest, neck, head, and face).

Then from chin to mid-cheek to earlobe keep the tool flat. Hold the skin as you reverse the movement. Once completed on both sides, sweep the Gua Sha from chin across jawline to each earlobe.

3.

Next, sweep underneath each cheekbone, upwards towards the hairline. Repeat on the cheekbones after that. Then, gently sweep underneath each eye, from the inner corner of the eye outwards and upwards to the hairline. After that, sweep over the eyebrows.

4.

In up to five strokes, move the Gua Sha from eyebrow vertical to hairline. Once finished on both sides, sweep the tool up the middle of your forehead (the Third Eye), from between the brows to the hairline. Still from the Third Eye, sweep out towards and beyond the hairline on each sides in three or four strokes.

5.

To finish off, sweep down the neck on both sides and with the tool laid flat, follow the contour of the jawline. Again, sweep down the neck all the way to the collarbone, to drain any lymph fluid build-up.

Each movement described above can be repeated a minimum of 3 times and a maximum of ten (too many repetitions and you might feel dizzy or like you have the start of a cold). If the Gua Sha starts pulling at the skin, then add a little more oil to its surface. *NB: Gua Sha is not recommended for those with cystic acne. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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Ahimsa and the Relief of Body Acceptance As we head into winter, it is never the most opportune moment to be accepting of our bodies, is it? Colder weather means weightier nourishing food, warmer and more comforting meals to stave off the chill and keep our personal physical machines functioning as successfully as they would in warmer months. Extra layers of clothing mean neither we nor strangers have to be visually aware of any added rolls (some yet remnant from the first lockdown). But practicality aside, if – say – one were to be considering a winter sun break (Covid variants and travel restrictions permitting), would we even want to, knowing that such would entail a bikini or at the very least a swimsuit reveal, everything on display?

What is wrong with the opening paragraph is the entire mental dialogue it presents. Why does weight mean so much to most of us? Apart from valid health concerns, what matter a few extra pounds here or there? Why do we care about the shape of others, or about what they eat in a day (we’re looking at you, social media)? Why does the mirror – and the gaze of others – hold such fear?

While many happily follow #WhatIEatInADay, joining 6.9 billion others watching a looped video on Tik Tok, one wonders how dieting has become the focus it has today, so long after the first regimen was set out by Luigi Cornaro in 1558 and Lord Byron recorded his efforts to stay trim (as according to Louise Foxcroft in Calories and Corsets: A history of dieting over two thousand years). Psychologists have been concerned for years, and duly so: who can forget the “heroine chic” of models at the end of the 20th Century or the celebrity “lollypop” ladies of the early noughties, size zero taken to the extreme and heads on toothpick thin bodies strangely alien? And that all predated the magic of the photo filter.

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Face looking a little craggy? Dark circles a giveaway that you’ve been burning the candle at both ends? Have you tried Amaro? Or perhaps Gingham is more your bag? Whichever filter it is you find yourself applying when posting to social media, truth is that image is no longer you. But once the brain has processed the ameliorated digital version of the self, it insatiably craves more such fakery. Who is that lesser being, the light too dull, the skin imperfect? Who could possibly ever find that attractive? So the destructive thoughts whirl through impressionable minds; too frequently the still developing minds of young girls and boys.

Granted, there are divergent uses of #WhatIEatInADay: some use it to chart recovery from anorexia nervosa and bulimia; others use it to record a wilful disregard of moderation or restriction. Nonetheless, the voyeurism remains: what business is it of ours?

Intuitive Eating: A Gentle Guide

When we eventually come to a state of self-acceptance, one of the first sensations is a sense of calm relief; almost an exhaled sigh physicalised. The role of diet in that journey is one of “intuitive eating”, a notion proposed frequently and which sits well in union with selfawareness, while also promoting self-empowerment: you have the willpower, you are in control, you know yourself.

Nonetheless, as self-awoken as one might be, it always helps to have a little help with these things (especially when the ups and downs of life and different waves of emotions are taken into consideration). To this end, there is – happily – some guidance available for eating intuitively:

1 2 3 4 5

Reject the notion of “dieting”

6 7

Be aware of fulness

8 9 10

Consciously listen to hunger Learn to love food again There is no guilt to eating There is pleasure in healthy eating

Deal kindly with negative emotions Respect the body you’re in Move freely, move kindly

Research conducted by UCL last year found that the youth of today are even more fixated on weight loss than before.

Shockingly, the study found that 42% of teenagers in 2015 (from a survey of 22,503 adolescents) were trying to lose weight, as opposed to 28.6% a decade before.

There is the other side of the coin to the hashtag, of course: just like – ahem – cleaning videos posted by, low and behold, cleanfluencers, there is inspiration to be gleaned, too. Many people are keen to learn some new recipes, for example. Nevertheless, the competitive nature of healthy living and clean eating certainly transfers from out of the digital space and from off the plate and into the exercise domain. Whether your environment be the gym or the yoga mat, photographs and videos of the pursuit of physical perfection are nothing compared to the reality of watching and being involved in the process of that sculpting in real life.

Key up on nutrition

To a certain extent, our diet has become a matter of keeping up with The Joneses.

From tabloid obsession with celebrity diets to influencers promoting raw vegan pdf “cookbooks” – the public wants to emulate those who seem to have everything sorted, whose bodies are photographed in a state of perpetually honed and toned and flawless conditioning. If the body is in perfect outline, then the rest of one’s life will follow suit, won’t it?

The first backlash to YouTubers spooling out nutrition advice with very few credentials came in 2017 – sadly, to not much effect, given #WhatIEatInADay has garnered a total of around 73.3 million views up to the present day.

However, there has recently been a movement begun on Instagram by model Sasha Pollari, #filterdrop calling for users to post original photographs alongside filtered images, so that Generation Z can understand it’s all illusion.

West African Spicefruit: A Metabolic Miracle?

A couple of years ago, West African foods were the exotic new thing. Offering an adventurous sensory journey of texture and flavour, the West African diet is plentiful in grains and a rainbow of vegetables and legumes (as well as animal products, but that’s not our point here). However, one such plant-based treasure to come from that coast is the West African Spicefruit, used in a range of savoury dishes.

As a supplement, Spicefruit is being lauded

for its weight-loss benefits.

A Cameroonian study conducted over 8 weeks with participants of a BMI between 25 and 30 taking 300mg per day of standardized extract were found to lose on average just under 20lbs (with a body fat reduction of 5.3%) and exhibited lower levels of bad cholesterol, as well.

It is thought this is because West African Spicefruit speeds up metabolic function. There was apparently no change to participants’ diet or exercise regimes.

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Yoga Journal recently covered the prevalence of fat shaming in the profession and among its adherents, how the perception of “thin, white, able-bodied” people dominates the scene. Become a “cultural commodity”, now perceived merely as “a 60-minute fitness class”, the distance created between yoga’s spiritual foundations and what it has morphed into in the 21st Century goes hand-in-hand with the Western dieting industry. And, by and large, the media is to blame.

Body positivism has been around for nearly as long as diet culture, yet in yoga it was only a decade ago that inclusivity was more deeply considered. Dianne Bondy, a pioneer of Yoga for All in 2011, experienced first-hand “fat shaming, toxic dieting, and inaccessible beauty standards”.

Far from benefitting from the essential purpose of yoga – asanas to prepare the body to sit and still the mind in meditation; self-awareness and acceptance; a self-directed ahimsa (non-violence) – instead Bondy found yoga classes driven by capitalism and flooded with hyperflexible acrobatwannabes. Shockingly, some of the “yoga teachers” she came across actually promoted weekly water fasting and passive-aggressively chided those who weren’t fully vegan. Yoga is not about striving to attain the unattainable, though: it is about practising acceptance of the present, satisfaction and appreciation of the self in today. It is listening to one’s body in stillness and being guided thus.

One way to avoid falling into the trap of body-comparison is to choose an appropriate class for your level of fitness.

If you’re relatively new to yoga, don’t waltz into a Power Yoga class – you’ll just become frustrated and go against the concept of ahimsa and hurt yourself in the struggle to keep up; so too an Astanga class. Progress gradually: from Hatha, progress to prop-aided Iyengar or long-held yet slow Yin perhaps, and then to a warm and fluid Vinyasa class.

It is about finding the right “school” for you, not your friend and certainly not strangers.

“Yoga”, of course, is about mindfulness and mindfulness can be practiced off the mat as well. Whether it’s walking in the countryside, preparing a meal from scratch (ingredients gathered from local, independent producers), or sitting snugly with tea looking at the garden – one can internalise yoga’s eventual meditative purpose. Just remember the breath.

Self-Practice From Pandemic Lockdowns to Post-New Normal Days We were so good, weren’t we?

Walking or cycling once a day, following the movements on screen of Joe Wicks and other fitness personalities, determined not to turn into couch potatoes as first one lockdown and then another (and, for some, another) lengthened out through the months, the year… Now that a semblance of normalcy is returning, though, now that restrictions are loosening, what on earth has happened to our routine, to our willpower?

Perhaps you overdid it during those peculiar pandemic days, maybe you’re recovering from an injury your physio hasn’t really managed to sort out (not to write from experience or anything), but whatever the reason for that slow easing of the derrière into the back of the sofa, stop now.

This is not about aesthetics and #WhatIEatInADay themes: your health depends on it.

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Aside from doubling your risk of obesity, according to the WHO (World Health Organization), and besides the connected increased risk of illnesses from that (diabetes Type-II, respiratory problems, heart disease, insomnia, sleep apnea, etc.), doing no exercise at all means you have a higher risk of developing very painful gallstones, as well.

Not only that, but without weightbearing exercise, our bones and muscles start to lose mass and weaken, our blood pushes more strongly against our artery walls and causes hypertension (raising the risk of kidney disease and stroke), and the likelihood of developing cancers increases, especially colon and breast (exercise moves waste matter through our intestines and helps regulate hormones in the body).

You’ll feel fatigued, depressed, sluggish; your metabolism will be slower and your immune system will be compromised. In short, not exercising is the last thing you want to be doing when we’re still emerging from a pandemic – no matter rain or sleet or even snow outside.

However, “exercise” doesn’t have to mean a gym membership or Pilates studio or a Spin class or a HIIT session: it can simply be moving out of doors in the fresh air. As long as your limbs are in action, as long as you are working to the point that it is cardiovascularly beneficial (and you’re ideally breaking into at least a sheen of sweat) – then that is exercise enough.

Even simple gardening will do. But if you’re still stuck for motivation, here are some other ideas:

Rowing, Kayaking, and Canoeing

Perfect for back and abdominal muscle strengthening, you can either opt for the gym land-bound version or splash into the wild with an actual vessel.

Swimming

A good choice if you are recovering from an injury; a great option for cardio, too. Harvard Health Publishing found that swimming one mile burns the same calories as running four miles.

Tai Chi

Slow and gentle, if you need easing back in, Tai Chi works on flexibility and balance in a fashion that works well with ongoing injury.

An exercise for the mind as much as the body, practitioners finish sessions in meditative Qigong.

Rollerblading

Not just for kids, rollerblading is fantastic cardio and if you squat you’ll build leg and core muscle strength, as well. Always wear a helmet and other protective equipment.

Hiking

Free and fabulous, all you need are appropriate footwear, a water bottle and a bag for carrying that and energy-boosting snacks (depending on how far you’re trekking). Hiking improves balance, works the heart, and tones the core muscles, as well as providing a psychological boost.

Hill walking will work the lungs even harder, too.

Dance

Have you got rhythm in your veins?

From salsa to ballroom, from belly dancing to tap – all forms of dance offer amazing aerobic opportunities and are recommended by the NHS. Advanced ballet and breakdancing obviously come with risks, but few of us are going to be quick-stepping into those from the beginner stage.

The 5 Signs of Carb Overload

If you are trying to stay slim in the run up to Christmas and the (for some reason) culturally acceptable overindulgence that annually seems to entail, you don’t have to go full Keto.

However, it’s worth keeping an eye on your overall health: if you’ve some of the following symptoms, it might very well be, particularly if you’re plant-based, that you’re eating a few too many carbohydrates (whether complex or simple):

1

Frequent bloating

2

Weight gain

3

Bad skin

4

Sleep troubles

5

Constant tiredness

Sometimes, the sugar from carbohydrates can reduce the diversity of bacteria in the gut microbiome. Mainly occurring when we eat too many refined carbs, this slows down the digestive process of fermentation of fibre, starches, and some sugars in the colon and gases amass, according to The Canadian Society of Intestinal Research.

Excess carbohydrates mean excess calories, mainly because the carbs glutted on are of the sweet kind (think cake, think biscuits).

However, especially in rather chilly Britain, even healthy potatoes and the like are made more calorific with the sauces we elect to cover them in: shun the butter and opt for boiling them with mint. Mmm…

When not related to hormone issues or the specificity of our genes, breakouts occurring in one’s 30s, 40s, and beyond most often mean an imbalance in the diet. Sugary carbs promote the production of androgens, which are linked to acne that crops up along the lower third of the face. High-GI (Glycaemic Index) foods such as refined carbohydrates and melon should be replaced with low-GI foods such as wholegrains and apples and oranges.

Nighttime snacking is no good for the waistline and it is no good for slumber. Further, high-GI foods (refined carbohydrates and high-fructose fruits) require the body to go into work mode to process the sugars. Stop eating by at least three hours before bedtime.

Unending lethargy and brain fog got you puzzled? You might have overdosed on carbs.

Carbohydrates should always be combined with protein and fats in meals: glucose is fast-burning and we slump when the sugars are processed; protein and fats slow digestion down for longer benefit of the nutrients from our food.

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The Nordic hamstring curl can be done indoors (hurrah!) and seeks to correct muscular imbalance and inadequacy.

Perfects for runners – no bitterly icy terrain necessary – it targets the “negative portion” of exercise, i.e. the muscles lengthened under tension. “Eccentric training” such as the Nordic hamstring curl produces speed and reduces risk of injury in runners. But how to do it? Just follow the simple steps below: Kneel down and place the balls of your feet against a wall, looking into the middle of the room, and press firmly into the wall throughout the following steps.

Step 1

Winter Wild Swimming and the oN rdic Hamstring Curl: as oC ol as cI e

We might not have mentioned it enough this issue, but it’s nearly Christmas: time to get oh-so-cool with our exercise. That doesn’t mean channelling Wim Hof and barefoot running a half marathon in the Arctic Circle, as fascinating as his method for exploring hormesis is (researching how moving the body out of its natural environment and comfort levels can force physical change).

Some of us, however, might very well consider his advocation of cold swimming: 4.2 million Brits apparently undertake this pursuit these days. The power of Nature to heal is boundless and is felt no more so than when in wild waters. Swimming in natural bodies of water (wild swimming) is free from the chemical-deluge of manmade and maintained chlorinated pools. Instead, ponds and lakes and rivers and the sea benefit swimmers’ mental health as much as that of their body.

When temperatures are low, though, wetsuits stop the heart going into shock, as well as protect against the cold and infections. You’ll need goggles and earplugs, too. If you notice your skin going white or blue, or if you start to shiver or feel tired, you need to exit the water straight away and dress in dry clothes, as well as have a hot drink and move about to warm up and prevent hypothermia.

For those who aren’t confident at swimming, do be aware of the depth of the water you choose to dip a toe in, staying near the bank or shore. Whichever natural waters you find yourself breast-stroking/back-stroking/front-crawling like a machine through, remember to wash thoroughly afterwards, as well. The world is wild and it is dirty, but, oh, is it gloriously liberating.

Nonetheless, if unsold on the idea of fully embracing the Wim Hof Method – cold showers or swims or baths every day for vascular stimulation, together with control of breath and mind – there is another way.

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Activate your core and avoid arching the lower back. The hip flexors should feel engaged, also.

Step 2

Bend your elbows and place your palms open by your chest, fingertips to the ceiling.

Step 3 Step 4

position.

Slowly and in a controlled fashion, drop forward into a half plank

Lower fully to the floor, curl back up into a kneeling position, as in Step 1 and repeat up to eight times.

Step 5

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An Autumn of Independents

Jan De Vries Healthcare Stranraer, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland Speaking with Store Manager, Sharon Boyd one day in August, was a lovely interlude spent in shared positivity. Vegetarian since her 20s (when she began working for JDV) and vegan for the past 5 years for the health benefits, if any woman can be said to try to live “The Good Life” it is Sharon, who started out in the health food business after training as a baker. When she began at the shop, JDV Stranraer was a homely, old-fashioned environment, where ingredients were still weighed into bags for its customers. Over a decade passed and after a brief period away at the start of the millennium, Sharon returned in 2006 in her current position. She still bakes her own organic bread, using organic flour and seeds, but currently the store doesn’t sell bread (whether as a result of pandemic panic buying, who’s to say?). Sharon, of course, would like to see this return, keeping everything free from preservatives. She doesn’t miss the 5am starts, however.

What Sharon brings to her role, particularly when asked to recommend wholefoods and specific nutrients, is a vibrant blend of extensive experiential knowledge and – that je ne sais quoi quality – passion. Stranraer is a relatively small town and the store was doing “pretty well” before Covid. They have their loyal regulars and the late Jan De Vries was their boss, coming to site to run clinics occasionally. Customers, Sharon said, talk: a health food store is a community place where people come with trust and open minds and hearts. And Sharon and her team certainly give honest advice, of their hearts themselves, in return.

Now, the other side of the long, dark tunnel of viral unknowns, supplements are still proving very popular. The pandemic has certainly opened people’s eyes to the importance of health and wellbeing – a trend which has seen an upsurge in organic product sales and whole foods in general. Locally produced honey and soaps are also doing well.

This shift in mindset, Sharon believes, signifies a greater appreciation of life. No longer do many claim they have “no time” to make meals from scratch: covid turned us all into cooks. Furthermore, by consuming unadulterated food, there is a sense of communing with the world at large, of appreciating each day.

When the first lockdown happened, Sharon was furloughed.

Time was something she had plenty of. So, from lightly gardening and sporadically growing her own vegetables (and echinacea), she threw herself into the GYO way of things with gusto. Blessed with nature all around her, the furlough period – despite its cause and occurrence – was perhaps just the rest Sharon needed. Being furloughed, of course, meant that Sharon didn’t experience first-hand the panic buying period of flour and yeast (and, yes, loo roll). Nonetheless, she knew that it was critical that the store remain open through the madness. She was euphoric her first day back.

The second lockdown came after a disappointing Christmas period and fallen New Year’s figures, despite the continued upsurge in vitamin D, antioxidants, and immune support supplements. Even now, business is not what it once was, despite JDV being very good at maintaining interest on social media platforms and by offering deals.

The key is to keep people stepping through the front door – a difficult thing to do with the lingering fear among those over a certain age. So it is that the JDV Stranraer staff are more than happy to offer further information, helpful advice, and a smattering of kindness these days (not that they didn’t before!).

Together with Sharon, there is Laura at hand on the helpline, ever ready to proffer advice. Trained in A. Vogel herbal tinctures, Laura assists many menopausal women in this way.

Wanting in the future to create recipe cards offering simple and healthy options using a variety of products from in-store, as well as potentially running workshops, Sharon admits the store is doing more online business these days, with the normal quota of footfall changed direction, seeking the internet’s ease (and protection).

Cities in particular have suffered this decrease. Speaking later with Regional Operations Manager, Anthony Lavin, Just Natural Health & Beauty learned that it was apparently necessary to close JDV’s store in the West End of Edinburgh. Yet, it was one of only two casualties from eleven in total previously for the family-run company.

As our interview came to a close, Sharon admitted the journey back to the ”new normal” (or “almost normal” in her terminology) has been one of gradual realisation: they’re going to be okay. People seem to be making more decisions for themselves, seeking an alternative route, seeking better health.

It is the place of JDV Stranraer and similar stores to offer a better range of products and food for that purpose, so that better health leads to a better planet for all. As for that garden out the back… Perhaps that tiny walled garden might serve for a “wee tea tasting” at some point not too far away on the horizon, she mused.

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Jan De Vries Chorley Health Foods Lancashire, England JDV Chorley is a very busy little store.

Interim manager Denise Baxendale – usually manager of the company’s HQ web team in the office upstairs, which role she was about to return to when we spoke – was tasked with the considerable weight of keeping things running when the pandemic first hit last year, all alone in the store, with no experience at all of having been on a shop floor. Within minutes on the phone, it was clear that this is one health shop determined to continue to be there for its customers, no matter what.

JDV Chorley, after all, is the company’s flagship store; there is a highly regarded reputation to uphold. Denise, just back to hectic reality after a much-deserved holiday, is the one person there who worked through the entire nightmare of Covid-19. With all staff furloughed, there was no option but to roll up her sleeves and face whatever might come. So it was that between March and July 2020 (when usual store manager, Louise Seddon returned briefly, working alongside Denise in the shop), Denise channelled her longterm personal interest in healthy eating and tried to become more open-minded about the VMS sector. Never having taken supplements herself and having gone into the business as it was “a very nice job” to have, Denise obviously couldn’t advise customers on the specifics of some of the products (as other trained staff members could have), but the JDV ethos itself she certainly continued to represent to a largely vegetarian clientele.

Jan De Vries himself was beloved by many. Knowledgeable and passionate about teaching others, he was sought-after as a clinician and also as a lecturer, and his legacy lives on, the company still in the family. His daughter and son-in-law, involved with A. Vogel, later took over and responsibility has now passed to Jan’s grandson. Denise met the man himself quite a few times, when Jan would come in for ten-minute consultations once a month (in fact, Louise’s husband used to pick him up from the station). She remembers that, once, a lady travelled all the way from Wales for just one of those ten-minute slots.

That’s how good he was.

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JDV has faced challenges familiar to all such businesses working through the pandemic, but it has endeavoured to keep the health and wellbeing shopping experience easy and comprehensible for its customers throughout. All locations are now able to post out orders directly and an advice helpline has been set up for phone orders despatched from the central warehouse.

Denise agreed that the mail order side has been “vibrant”, an ideal tool for those who simply couldn’t come into the store. Yet, whereas some independent shops have lamented a near-total loss of footfall during the early days of lockdown, in Chorley Denise witnessed a lot of loyal customers still stepping through the door. They wanted to talk, to discuss, to feel the survival of the community spirit particular to the UK, despite social distancing and self-isolation. Quickly, they became used to queuing and extended conversing to that patience exercise. They also quickly adapted their shopping habits and switched to bulk purchases and avoided busier days for coming in.

In her time as interim store manager, Denise relished the challenge and perhaps had only two unhappy incidences with customers shouting and moaning when stock ran out. By contrast, when she opened the shop for the first time in the first lockdown, she was greeted with joy by one regular who cheered outside and popped her head in to vocalise her gladness that JDV Chorley was open. Each subsequent visit to the store throughout the lockdown periods, the lady expressed her gratitude further.

When asked whether there has been a change in Denise herself, she admitted she soon realised that she needed to be more patient. Health-wise, she began supplementing (yes!), notably taking vitamin D, even though for her whole life she has been an outdoors person and never one to shun a sunny day en plein air.

Denise thought it would be best to speak with Louise as well, who has worked with the company for some 18 years, after being in care work before. Setting up a call later, Denise’s words held true that she was “a lovely lady”: indeed she is, and one who has faced more than her fair share during these already trying times. Returning to her role of store manager in summer 2020, Louise wasn’t back for long at all when her mother sadly died. Taking time off for bereavement, it was then that Louise was also diagnosed with breast cancer. Although initially adamant that she wouldn’t undergo chemotherapy, after surgery, the oncology team advised it was wise also to suffer the chemo for her best recovery chances – but with incredible assistance in developing a plan of supplements, including the herbal.

The experience has served to make Louise even more conscious of how what we put in and onto our bodies affects our overall health; how we should think ethically and environmentally and remember that our skin is living and breathing just as we consciously are. Always having had an interest in alternative health and a lifelong advocate of a low-meat, mainly pescatarian healthy diet, using only clean beauty and eco-friendly household products – Louise is the woman to go to if you want advice on paraben-free and green-cleaning know-how. And it was all thanks to her father, who used to take her to the little health shop on the high street (then not yet a JDV branch). Over time, her interest grew (as she did) and the rest is pretty much history.

Discussing how things were pre-Covid, Louise recounted the popularity of turmeric and CBD oil among the store’s diverse customers: from 30-year-olds to young sports people, and those with serious illnesses looking for holistic help. There was also an already growing vegan appetite – pre any fears over zoonotic transmission having caused the coronavirus – and animal-friendly chocolate bars and energy bars used quickly to fly off the shelves. Covid obviously turned everyone’s attention to immunity products, such as vitamin C and vitamin D supplements.

Now that she has returned, recovered, to her role, Louise has noted a quieter atmosphere, but has seen a few new faces; those who are seeking to take care of themselves that bit better.

Mainly, though, it’s the old, loyal customer base that holds true.

She would like to see a return of the clinics and a return also of reps coming in for tasting days, but other than that, she has the advantage of having been both in the fray of pandemic customer service and on its periphery – and the view, according to Louise, seems to show that everything will get better.

JDV Chorley, then, is a complete package, once again a tight-knit team – with new managers and new promotions – that makes sure their particular ship continues to sail well into tomorrow, winds of hope blowing out the sails in preparation for whatever the future horizon might reveal.

Open Sesame Healthfoods Gort, Co. Galway & Ennis, Co. Clare, Southern Ireland

Leroy Smith was visiting family when we spoke, an apt setting for our call given that Open Sesame Healthfoods was begun in 1988 by Leroy’s mother, Sally. It hasn’t simply been a question of the pandemic for Open Sesame, either: Brexit and all its new policies recently came blasting down as well, of course.

These days located at two stores (Gort in County Galway since 2001, and the original site in Ennis in County Clare), with 8 staff split between the two locations, Open Sesame brings alternative health to the countryside, health food and supplements to rural farming communities. Indeed, it was Sally who opened the minds (perhaps pun intended?) of the West of Ireland to lentils not necessarily versus but in addition to the usual bacon and cabbage and spuds. Leroy, chuckling, fondly quoted his mother, “It was getting the bowels moving that endeared us to them”. But all joking about white bread aside, it is digestive problems which often direct individuals to seek another way; and in Southern Ireland, where one has to pay for prescriptions, holistic remedies can often be a more affordable path in the long-run.

Leroy himself is a footballloving omnivore who has been raised to appreciate the benefits of functional nutrition and the support supplements offer. Sally and her husband grew their own vegetables, as well as keeping goats and chickens. In the early days of Open Sesame, some of that produce even made its way in store. Now semiretired, that humble veg patch has graduated to a domed greenhouse safe from deer, wherein vegetables thrive with care (Leroy recently gave her some tomato seeds of his own).

It’s no surprise, then, that Open Sesame is all about slow living. An old school family-run business, it began rustically and honestly, old pieces of wood gathered for shelving, the early days tight and low on custom. Accounting books were literally that, filled in by hand and cellotaped when wear and tear threatened to send the pages cascading. Then, there was a growth period, expansion to a second premises – followed by the 2008 recession. Leroy, who was working in archaeology, was regaled to assist his mother at the store when she had to lay off staff. Although he remembers being 7 years old and bagging linseed at the back of the shop, rather than being on the shop floor Leroy quickly took hold of the IT reins and managed profit margins and how best they could share stock between both locations following the financial crash.

Leroy might occasionally miss the happy days of working in muddy fields, interpreting ruins – once, his partner had to inform him he even had mud on his eyeball – but he still gets a taste when involved in community digs. Otherwise, utilising his technological knowledge, he has seen the stores through not only new and improved shelving in the Ennis location, but their website development, Beta-tested the EPOS system, and finally switched things to EMPORIO more recently.

There is still a carefulness to placing stock orders, wary of any wastage – a habit cemented further due to the trials of the pandemic. It was 12th March 2020 (Sally’s birthday, in fact), that the school closures were announced; when lockdown was put into force. Nonetheless, what the virus came to gift later was a grant from Enterprise Ireland for a new website (the old one “blew up” with the tidal wave in online ordering) which tracked live-stock levels, every single sale automatically logged. Leroy couldn’t have been happier: only 5 years beforehand, he was manually adjusting numbers and inputting endof-day stock levels when home in the evening. So it was that his family could cope with the Covid anxiety of staff and deal when they were too afraid to come in – even though that March was the busiest they’d ever had. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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Deemed essential retail, Open Sesame was grateful for the footfall which was denied so many other stores, the descent into lockdown veering from unfathomable panic buying (who needs a hundred tins of tomatoes?) to single orders of hummus and bored people venturing into the store solely to stare at the tea section for an hour, other window browsing possibilities closed to them. Although Open Sesame’s physical therapist left, no one from their CNM (College of Natural Medicine) trained staff had to be furloughed, but there was the possibility of burnout if they weren’t careful: Leroy bought two mobiles, one for each store, to keep on top of things and set up a WhatsApp group – both of which things he admits he should have done before the pandemic.

From Dove’s flour being limited (“Everyone and their mother was baking at home!”), to even gluten-free being restricted, gradually shopping habits adapted as news updates rolled out: from immunity products in general, it was later vitamin D3 that was snapped up when its potential effectiveness was broadcast, while second lockdown saw sales of throat sprays “drop off a cliff”, the usual bugs and colds no longer spreading as nobody was in contact with anybody else. Cases of the coronavirus started falling, sparking a domino effect in click-and-collect and delivery orders, also.

It seems strange to say, but the test that Brexit was always going to be was in many ways overshadowed by Covid – logistics, and paperwork, and EU registration included. The pandemic has also broadened the Smiths’ clientele, more people now appreciating the ethic of “Shop local, shop independent” after being so long restricted by the 5km maximum travel distance restrictions.

At Open Sesame, the eggs are laid that distance from the shop, the raw milk comes from only 10km away, the goat’s cheese is sourced from the locality, the vegetables are organic, and the sourdough bread is delivered weekly by a local guy with a simply magic touch to a notoriously tricky recipe – in short, it is a showcase for small producers.

May such new-found business continue long into this new normal era for Open Sesame. Sláinte! to that, we say.

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Grampian Health Store Aberdeen, Scotland

For Callum and Catherin Eddie, business has been “up and down” ever since Covid came along and accelerated high street change.

While health and wellness have been long-term passions and interests of Catherine, Callum only went into the trade due to matters of the heart: Catherine previously had two health food stores in North Yorkshire and was extensively experienced and knowledgeable, having worked in the sector since leaving school, before she moved back to Aberdeen in 1998. Callum met her the following year when she opened Grampian Health. Still serving in the army at that point, in 2001 he decided to retire and join Catherine in her shop.

While Catherine – a lifelong vegetarian – looked and looks after the shop floor and customer service, Callum deals with the administrative side of running the business and manages the website. When he began working at Grampian, Callum was invited to join the HFI (Health Food Institute).

Later, he was asked to join the HSC (Health Store Committee), when it was still owned by independents, and he became chairman of the committee. During his tenure, the HSC demutualised to a limited company with shareholders. When the Health Made Easy Group later purchased it (also owners of Tree of Life), Callum stepped down from his then role of non-executive director.

Callum and Catherine have been in their current premises since 2008.

Wanting to expand, they followed the trend of city developments: from the closure of the post office, the closure of the council offices, and the erection of a new shopping centre, it seemed sensible to follow the footfall of that. Low and behold, they now are located between two main shopping malls. A very good placement indeed.

In addition to the wide range of natural food products, including chilled and frozen – not so much vegan-centric anymore, since supermarkets snapped up the trend (whether due to Gillian McKeith or not, who’s to say?) – Grampian offers food intolerance testing. Indeed, many of their customers come in complaining of digestive problems.

However, establishing a relationship with local therapists is difficult, despite the practicalities of having a bookable location to work from for freelancers. That said, three or four days a week they have secured an agreement with an outside tester who uses pulse-pointing to ascertain food intolerances. VMS goods are also a big seller for the store.

Callum has noticed a need to diversify. Pre-Covid, most clients sought help with menopausal symptoms and joint health, in addition to digestive complaints.

When the first lockdown hit, like most businesses, spring was a mad affair, dizzy with panic buying and stock shortages of the most humdrum items. Callum and Catherine and their staff (including Beverley, who has been with them for 16 years both in-store and who is their social media whizz) often delivered goods on the same day of online ordering, even if from outside the city centre, as well as using clickand-collect and delivery service options. After that, it became a case of wearing masks when on the shop floor, but not behind the protective screens, and opting not to “police” customers who chose not to wear a mask. There was no need to furlough anyone, and it helped that they had in place a live-stock website so that orders could be truly fulfilled: “out of stock” notices post a purchase would have resulted in refund nightmares. Nonetheless, the government grant for digital boost at the start of this year meant a properly bespoke website could be formatted.

Aberdeen itself, from being an affluent city with oil, more recently lost its John Lewis Store and an entire indoor market.

Nonetheless, new developments are in the pipeline, including converting offices above retail units into residential flats. One such conversion is of the old BHS building, closed 8 years ago. Undertaken by the council together with Aberdeen Inspired, the building is in the process of being converted into offices, accommodation, and restaurants and food vending areas.

Callum is not convinced we are yet fully resurfacing from the pandemic. A realist, he sees that the figures are still challenging; that times are still changing. Instead of being for shopping trips, Saturdays have shifted to a people-centric and exercise-focussed frame of mind, whether it be cycling or walking or what not. Grampian has no plans for an overhaul to a specifically zero waste concept and Callum questions their longevity: health food stores have always offered refills and have ever been conscious of waste reduction.

However, it pans out, what is clear is that Callum’s common-sense approach to retail is nevertheless a positive one: to be physically open as a store means to please customers in need of human interaction, means advice and guidance can be given on the spot with gestural accompaniment and a smile (not to detract from Zoom technology or the benefits of that online chat function).

It seems, then, that Grampian is adapting accordingly: it still builds relationships with its customers, it still provides a service which is personable and confident in the advice it provides. It takes a while for people in Scotland to find their way to independent health food stores, to seek another way, as – unlike Southern Ireland – prescriptions aren’t charged for, so the first port of call is a GP. But when a person does take responsibility for their own health, when they seek out Grampian, the whole spectrum of natural nutrition and sage advice is theirs for the taking. Callum and Catherine might have to work that little bit harder and it might not be the same pie as before, but even a piece of this new, sparser pie means things are, hopefully, going to be okay.

Autumn of Her Years:

Meeting the Menopause with Mind and Muscle At any one moment, some 13 million women in the United Kingdom alone are going through the menopause, defined as 12 consecutive months without a period. Although there were reports of a supposed impact of Covid vaccinations on the menstrual cycle, there was also anecdotal evidence of postmenopausal women’s periods coming back after receiving their jabs. It is known that stress can prematurely bring on perimenopause, but it is thought that the body’s immune response prompted a renewed shedding of the uterine lining.

The quirks of vaccinations against a pandemic aside, menopause is perhaps one of the toughest physical challenges a woman will face in her lifetime.

From hot flushes to night sweats, surges of anger to irritability and – low and behold – inexplicable weight gain, together with headaches and poor sleep (which worsens weight gain and irritability even more)… The list continues to around thirty additional different symptoms, including a decline in cognitive function and mental sharpness.

Anxiety and depression are common as women try to navigate their way through the changing landscape of their bodies and minds. Even intimacy with partners can be off the menu, as intercourse becomes painful, UTIs more frequent, and muscular and joint pain occur more frequently.

Even tastebuds change and the stomach can’t quite handle what once was indulged in. Fun times.

It is no wonder, then, that four fifths of women claim menopause adversely affects their lives.

Short of going the mainstream medicine route and chancing HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy), with its horrific history, holistic alternatives can offer some support, some reprieve. While a Danish study of around 2 million women found the combined HRT treatment increases breast cancer risk the longer it is taken, with the effects lasting a decade post-treatment, conversely black cohosh, for example, helps control the hot flushes and night sweats 80% of women suffer, lessening insomniac bouts. Fresh sage, also, is thought to help, according to a Swiss study. Nonetheless, more modern versions of Body Identical HRT exist, lower risk than synthetic versions, utilising the power of wild yams. It is thought to help protect against osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease (risk increasing for those over 50), as well.

It is a balance of pros and cons, then, as in much of life.

However, though it might seem miraculous, functional nutrition has its place in preparing the body for menopause, as well as supporting it once menopause arrives. And the diet which seems to be most effective is a Whole Food Plant Based one. While Japanese women might have so small a record of menopause that there isn’t even a word for menopause in the Japanese language (thought to be due to the high quantity of isoflavones in the Japanese diet, the active part of phytoestrogens found in soya), in the West, as long as junk and overly processed foods are being avoided (so too meat and dairy), then for one thing skin will stay clearer when hormonal fluctuation tries to prove itself on the surface.

Further, wholegrain selection over refined carbohydrates was shown in a study of some 50,000 perimenopausal women to promote a better night’s sleep.

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Meanwhile, gynaecologist Dr Alyssa Dweck admits genetic predetermination plays a role in the ageing process, but denies it is a damning verdict that can’t be overcome. The key is preparing for menopause early, the perimenopausal stage sometimes lasting for a decade. By eating well, exercising frequently, and talking honestly about symptoms physical and emotional, menopause doesn’t have to be the death knell for one’s previous life at all.

Along with avoiding caffeine, Dweck suggests following the Mediterranean diet, being lower in carbohydrates than the WFPB diet.

The Mediterranean Diet

It might be approaching winter in the UK, but that doesn’t mean one can’t channel the Continent with one’s repas – or lifestyle. In addition to tomatoes and aubergines and glorious pure olive oil (and healthy-fats fish and seafood for those who permit marine animal protein in their diets), the Mediterranean diet is all about physical activity: being outside in the open air (not necessarily doing cliff walks, but a good old hike in the hills, certainly), eating with people, and getting an adequate amount of sleep.

And it seems to work, what with the reduced occurrence of dementia and the longer lifespans found in places like Sicily.

While the Mediterranean diet doesn’t ban anything, it does promote balance, moderation. Sweet treats like famous gelato are rarely had, but when they are they are enjoyed all the more.

In fact, dairy in general is permitted on the Mediterranean diet, but sparingly. The unsaturated fats in olive oil and oily fish, however, are thought to reduce inflammation in the body.

Prima Italia Organic 100% Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil 500ml £1.80 250ml £1.80

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Important minerals and nutrients to focus on in any menopausesupportive diet are potassium, antioxidants, calcium, iron, fibre, and phytoestrogens. From avocados and sweet potatoes, to cure-all berries and dark green veg, as well as quinoa, natural popcorn, and beans and legumes (not forgetting flaxseed)…

Whichever elected diet shouldn’t be a boring or restrictive diet; it is a diet to live and to thrive by.

And thriving is essentially what a woman going through menopause into later life should be doing: it is a woman’s “Second Spring”, according to Petra Coveney, founder of Menopause Yoga and member of the BMS (British Menopause Society for health practitioners). Menopause occurring between 40 and 64 years of age (51 is the average age), the University of California nonetheless found that one is most likely to have found the meaning to life by sixty. So, with all that self-knowledge and spiritual enlightenment, how best to live in the best of health physically, as well?

You don’t have to be doing Iron Woman at 70 (though, hats off muchly to those women), but if you’ve been a runner for most of your life, certainly don’t stop now. Cardio is important for heart health and circulation (a minimum of 150 minutes per week), while flexibility of the spine – as any yoga teacher will tell you – is critical for a long and physically able life. Perhaps one exercise to add to the gym routine is some

light weight training, though, the body (particularly the female body) losing lean muscle mass as the years progress. This loss decreases metabolism and that’s when weight gain can occur: weight training builds up metabolic muscle tissue again.

But to return to Dr Dweck, her action plan for a manageable menopause begins at… 20. You read that right. A woman’s 20s are when she should develop lifelong healthy eating habits for longterm metabolic and cellular health. When the 30s hit, it’s more about stress management and the implementation of a meditative practice that takes one out of the daily harassment of responsibilities and permits renewal through pause and reflection. By her 40s, a more proactive approach should be taken and preventative measures such as supplementation. In this way, when the 50s arrive, it will be more about accepting the menopausal process and embracing that change. That’s when it pays to talk about what you’re going through. However, even when the 60s come round, self-care shouldn’t trail off. Taking up a new sport or mentallystimulating hobby are great ways to protect the mind from cognitive decline, while physical activity with others also provides the positive boost of social engagement.

We are social animals, we need community. As a woman going through the menopause, you are not alone.

The Mentality of Growing Old Gracefully

Living “mindfully” is a much bandied about expression these days. However, authenticity has more perks than surface honesty. If we are unhappy, unfulfilled, stressed to the eyeballs and not living in adherence to our authentic self, then time really will tell. It will tell on the skin, it will tell in the energy of not just our actions, but in our voice and choice of words as well. These effects aren’t age-specific either. However, there is a mentality to growing old gracefully, with the full breadth of our younger character – and that mentality is about self-truth.

Firstly, past traumas must be, if not let go of, then dealt with to the point that their having happened can be accepted as just that: something that did happen and about which nothing can now be done. We cannot change the past, but those historic traumas can change us if we’re not careful. In addition to a depressed immune system, even our skin can become sallow and haggard if we cling onto the stress of unresolved negative events.

In a study of over 40,000 perimenopausal and menopausal women, the hormone treatment company Evernow found that 60% of participants experienced anxiety and depression as a result of their time of life.

It is thought that fluctuations in oestrogen affect the usual binding of receptors by the hormone, destabilizing neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, and GABA and acetylcholine. This is where decline in cognitive function comes in, the pre-frontal cortex and the hippocampus heavy with oestrogen receptors.

The importance of preparing for perimenopause and menopause is made all the more vital when you learn that around 10% of women continue to experience symptoms indefinitely, with “brain fog” lasting up to a decade after a woman’s final period.

Yoga, talking therapy, and meditation all can help. So too can journaling in the morning and in the evening before bed. Make a routine to involve a combination of methods: perhaps wake up, stretch out, meditate, and then pen any remaining thoughts of monkey mind chatter that couldn’t be drowned out in breath-facilitated silence. Stress only exacerbates cognitive decline.

You might then fancy that cup of organic blend coffee, but in order to extend the mental cleanse into the body physical, maybe sip on a cup of hot water and lemon first; or a chilled version if you prefer.

Additionally, as much as we like to keep in contact with our grown-up children and grandchildren, Smartphone technology has become an addiction for older people as much as teenagers. Be sure to switch off from the world from about 8pm at night to save your brain from too much stimulation before bedtime.

Relax in an Epsom salt bath to close the day with a cleanse as it was begun with: from water internal to water external, the diurnal cycle comes to a close.

Don’t switch that phone on again until at least 8am – after your new meditative routine!

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Supplements for Women Over 50

The menopause signals not just adverse symptoms in the body, but hormonal changes that require a different approach to essential vitamin and mineral intake. This is where supplementation can be a great help to staying in optimum health.

According to 2018 research published in the journal Osteoporosis International, over the age of 50 a woman’s oestrogen levels decrease, heightening the risk of osteoporosis or loss of bone density. Meanwhile, a study published in 2017 in the journal Menopause Review found that the menopause directly affects fat distribution, increasing belly fat by some 32% and visceral fat by up to 44%, the latter a danger for Type-II diabetes and breast cancer, according to Harvard Health Publishing.

Therefore, in addition to the light weight training and frequent exercise already recommended, the following should be supplemented, especially if one’s diet is not optimal as yet (there’s always time to make improvements, as set out previously):

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Calcium Absolutely essential for menopausal and postmenopausal women, calcium increases bone density and protects against fractures. Best combined with vitamin D, the RDA in women over 51 is up to 1,200mg, but research has found that doses of 500mg are absorbed best.

Magnesium According to a study published in 2013 in the journal Nutrients, postmenopausal women require greater amounts of magnesium to offset the effects of loss of bone density and increased inflammation in the body. The RDA for women over 51 is 320mg. If consuming more zinc than usual in a bid to bolster immunity during the usual wintry cold and flu season, then be aware that excess zinc can prohibit the beneficial effects of magnesium.

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Vitamin C

The RDA of vitamin C for those over 51 is 75mg, in order to increase bone mineral density – as suggested by a 2015 study published in the journal Osteoporosis International. A previous study in 2013, published in The British journal of Cancer, showed a link between sufficient vitamin C intake and a lower risk of breast cancer diagnosis and better chance of survival if diagnosed in older women.

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Vitamin D

In addition to being lauded in the fight against Covid, vitamin D supplementation has been linked to a lower occurrence of falls and fractures, according to a study published in 2014 in the journal Women’s Health.

The RDA for women over 51 is 15mg.

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Vitamin B12

An aid to DNA creation and red blood cell health, vitamin B12 also supports brain function.

Unfortunately, our ability to absorb vitamin B12 lessens over time. Found mostly in animal products, that is no excuse for sudden carnivorism: fortified foods have sufficient quantities of vitamin B12 to meet the RDA of 2.4mcg, though supplementation is highly recommended for those following a plant-based diet.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month has been going since 1985.

Its established international symbol the pink ribbon, it is the month to educate and inform on the prevalence of breast cancer and to raise money for further research into finding a cure. Breast Cancer UK wants prevention to be at the forefront of the public’s minds.

1 in 7 women in the UK will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. Each year, around 55,000 women in the UK alone are diagnosed with it. This October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, 5,000 more women will learn they too have it. Approximately 80% of breast cancer cases occur in women over the age of 50.

Beginning when cells within the breast start to divide and grow abnormally, the most common forms of breast cancer begin in the ducts or tubes that carry milk to the nipple during lactation. Rarer forms of breast cancer start in the lobules, the glands which produce the milk itself.

The older you are, the greater your risk of developing breast cancer.

Nonetheless, around 10,000 women under the age of 50 receive diagnoses each year, with 8,000 of those in their 40s. Although men can develop it (with some 370 cases per year in men over 50), it is incredibly unusual.

A woman’s breasts should regularly be self-examined. The sooner breast cancer is diagnosed, the more chance of survival.

Signs and symptoms of breast cancer to watch out for include: a lump or noticeable swelling in the upper breast, upper chest, or armpit a change in skin tone, such as dimpling or puckering a change in colour, with the breast seeming red or inflamed a change to the nipple, perhaps inverted a rash or crusting around the nipple unusual liquid discharge from either nipple a change in size or shape of the breast

According to Breast Cancer Now, 11,500 women die annually from breast cancer (and circa 80 men).

That includes “Unsurvivors”, those who “beat” breast cancer previously, but for whom the disease returned and metastasised into the lymphatic system to the organs. Signs and symptoms of secondary metastatic breast cancer include: feeling constantly fatigued incessant nausea unexplained weight loss and loss of appetite As per Breast Cancer UK’s goal, prevention really is better than cure. In addition to not smoking and limiting alcohol intake, a “breast-friendly diet” is recommended. That is one “low in calories and high in fruit and non-starchy vegetables” with little or no meat. The Mediterranean diet, as beneficial as it is for the menopause, is greatly beneficial in the fight against breast cancer, too.

That is thought to be in no small way connected to its strict limiting of dairy products.

According to research released just before the pandemic by the Loma Linda University School of Public Health, consuming dairy milk on a daily basis is a notable breast cancer risk. However, there was no such correlation with cheese or yogurt. These findings are supported by a separate study in the International Journal of Epidemiology, which found even under one cup of milk per day resulted in a “steep rise” in breast cancer risk, increasing to 50% increase when drinking one cup, and up to 80% increased risk if having between 2 and 3 cups of milk.

In addition to ditching the dairy, though, exercise in later life has been linked to a lower risk of certain cancers.

Generally, exercise has been shown to decrease the risk of developing breast cancer by up to 30% due to managing levels of the hormones oestrogen, androgen, insulin, and leptin. And a meta-study in 2015, published in the European Journal of Cancer (covering the findings of 38 studies), showed a distinct difference in occurrence of breast cancer in those physically active as opposed to those who undertook little to no physical activity. Those who regularly exercised seemed to be at reduced risk of breast cancer, with results suggesting a reduced lifetime risk of 9%, if 150 minutes were undertaken as a minimum exercise duration per week.

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Vegan Protein Powders for Reluctantly Plant-Based Men Pea

Movember: Men’s Health in a Covid World

Each summer, Men’s Health Week presents us with the facts on the blokes, the most shocking of which is perhaps that 20% die before reaching the age of 65. Whether due to inactivity, poor diet, alcoholism, high blood pressure, obesity, smoking, or mental health – the number is worryingly premature. Earlier this year, the theme was Covid-19.

The Office for National Statistics reported that Covid-19 proved 18% more fatal to men than women, but more greatly affected women’s mental wellbeing.

According to The Lancet, about 50% more men than women died from Covid in the Netherlands, the Dominican Republic, and Spain. A study conducted

by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, meanwhile, and published in May in JAMA Network Open, found that low testosterone levels in men meant they were more likely to suffer severe or even deadly symptoms of the coronavirus. Hormone level differences in women were not shown to have any effect.

A large part of the problem seems to be the role that society has predetermined for the male of the species. Gendered practices such as smoking and drinking, not tending to seek medical help, not following preventative hygiene measures (mask?

Check; hand sanitiser? Check), and a general increased likelihood of comorbidities in men, such as heart disease, diabetes Type-II, and hypertension – all these make men more susceptible to the worst symptoms of the coronavirus.

Further, Western carnophallagocentric culture (meat = masculinity) does a man no favours. The risk of certain cancers increases with a diet high in red meat consumption, particularly when cured or smoked. While a fully Whole Food Plant Based diet might not be possible, certainly a Reductarianist way of living (and eating) day by day is preferable.

Meatless Mondays and “Vegan Before 6” doesn’t mean any loss of masculinity: that way of thinking is outdated, to say the least. If a man is worried about his muscles, then vegan protein powders are an option.

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From yellow split peas, a 28g serving offers 21g of protein. Rich in BCAAs (branched chain amino acids) like leucine, isoleucine, and valine, muscles are definitely stimulated by pea protein. It is also thought to help lower blood pressure and promote weight loss.

Hemp Replete with fibre, iron, zinc, magnesium, and ALA (alpha-linolenic acid, i.e. plant-based Omega-3s) – per 28g serving of hemp powder you can expect to get 12g of protein. Nonetheless, if sprinkled on some quinoa, then it makes for a “complete protein” meal.

Pumpkin Seed Each 28g serving of pumpkin seed powder provides 18g of protein. It’s also high in magnesium, iron, zinc, and other minerals and is thought to be beneficial to those suffering from liver disease or in need of cholesterol maintenance.

Brown Rice The primary competitor to traditional whey protein, 28g of brown rice powder offers 22g of protein. Enough said.

Soya A complete protein option, 28g of soya powder will also provide 22g of protein. Further, its plant compounds have been shown to help lower cholesterol levels. Nice one.

Sunflower Seed Another good source of BCAAs, 28g of sunflower seed powder contain about 13g of protein. Like hemp, this is one to sprinkle over quinoa or even combine with quinoa powder for improved lysine levels.

Chia Unfortunately, despite its popularity in vegan cooking, chia seeds provide only 10g of protein per 28g serving.

However, it redeems itself with 8g of fibre, as well as the minerals biotin and chromium.

When it comes to male health at this time of year, of course, November is all about Movember, about growing a moustache for a cause and raising awareness about prostate cancer. In the course of a lifetime, 1 in 8 men in the UK will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. Begun in Australia in 2003

by Travis Garone and Luke Slattery, today Movember is a worldwide movement. Over 5 million people now take part annually and the campaign has funded in excess of 1,250 men’s health projects globally.

The prostate gland is unique to men. The size and shape of a walnut, as a man ages, the gland enlarges. Positioned beneath the bladder and surrounding the urethra, the prostate helps produce semen. Those over 50 are advised to talk to their GP about having a prostate test. However, if of BAME descent or if a close relative has already been diagnosed, then men should speak to their GP from 45.

It is a simple blood test looking for the levels of PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) in the blood.

Signs and symptoms of prostate cancer can include: increased need to urinate, especially at night difficulty urinating or if the urine flow stops weak and interrupted flow of urine painful and burning urination difficulty having and sustaining an erection pain when ejaculating blood in the urine or semen frequent pain and/or stiffness in the lower back, and the upper thighs and hip area If prostate cancer is diagnosed, the side effects of treatment can be severe, ranging from incontinence and erectile dysfunction to weight gain and depression from hormone therapy.

For this reason, it is referred to as “a couple’s disease”.

In 2016, Movember joined forces with the Australian National Breast Cancer Foundation to bring together researchers in both fields to look for genetic similarities between breast and prostate cancer, as well as ovarian cancer, and treatments.

Testicular cancer is now also a focus of the Movember campaign.

The most common male cancer in the 15 to 39 years age bracket, yet the most curable (with a 95% survival rate), the awareness slogan is “know your nuts”. In addition to male cancers, however, Movember campaigns for male mental health awareness, too.

In 2021, “Mo Bros and Mo Sisters” – whether they be sports teams or entire schools, universities or workplaces (145 companies form The Movember Business Club) – will band together both figuratively and in person to fundraise for Movember. Growing a moustache (or sticking one on) is obviously the foundational marker of involvement.

Yet, apart from Truckers and Regents and Connoisseurs (styles of mo), participants will be walking and running, too: 60km over the entire month, representing the 60 men lost each and every hour to suicide.

Movember aims to reduce this male suicide rate by 25% by 2030 through a precise plan of action that includes teaching healthy responses to stress and feeling comfortable talking about feelings.

If you don’t want to ditch the mo come November’s end (or if you missed Movember and want to do something commendable for a cause), then Decembeard might be the way to go.

With its motto, “tashes for testicles, beards for bowels”, Decembeard differentiates itself from its predecessor month, raising awareness instead for bowel cancer, the third most common cause of death globally, regardless of sex.

Each year sees over 42,000 new cases of bowel cancer recorded: over 23,000 of those are men. With 90% of diagnoses in the over-60s, risk factors are thought to include a diet high in red meat, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle.

Symptoms include a persistent change in bowel movement, persistent lower stomach pain and unintended weight loss, and blood in the stools. Those with Crohn’s disease for more than a decade and those who have extensive ulcerative colitis are at increased risk.

If symptoms last for one month, you should see your GP.

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Advertising Feature

Phil Beard

Technical Educator Viridian Nutrition

While some male millennials and a higher percentage of Gen Z follow healthy food habits and take part in regular physical activity, most men don’t prioritise their health. For those who have young children, the shift in the role of the modern day dad has meant fatherhood has brought a new wave of responsibilities as they juggle (flexible) work with taking care of their offspring: assisting with the school run, cooking family meals, and carrying out household duties has become the norm. Finding time to accommodate all this can be challenging and result in diet and health getting pushed down the priority list in favour of convenience. Long-term reliance on convenience food, however, can cause issues for men, such as weight gain, cardiovascular disorders, and Type-II diabetes and reproductive problems.

The good news is many of these health issues can often be managed through lifestyle changes and positive eating habits.

Creating a foundation of good health Vitamins and minerals are essential for keeping our bodies healthy and functioning optimally and the best way to obtain these nutrients is to eat a varied diet. The nutritional demands of the body also change as men age, differing at various stages of life.

Teenage years Good health starts early. The hormone testosterone plays a vital role in male development during puberty and is responsible for characteristics such as hair growth, body weight, and height. Research has shown that nutritional deficiencies can impact the timing of puberty. A teenage boy will need all the essential nutrients for growth and development in the form of zinc, iron, calcium, iodine, and a higher demand for macronutrients (fats, protein, and carbohydrate).

Other crucial nutrients for adolescents are vitamin A for eye and reproductive health, vitamin C to support the immune system, muscles and joint health, and wound healing, and vitamin D to help with the immune system and bone health. So, eating foods rich in these nutrients, alongside whole foods in the form of yellow, red, orange, and green vegetables can provide beta carotene, a form of provitamin A that is converted in the body, as well as vitamin C, zinc, iron, and calcium.

The 20 to 49 bracket Men have a higher energy demand and therefore a higher requirement for vitamins and minerals. B vitamins support the breakdown of energy for all the cells in our body and provide the functional components of neurotransmitters and co-enzymes.

One of the most fundamental nutrients is protein, which is essential for repairing the body and which is involved in so many chemical reactions. This includes helping to maintain physiological function and allowing the body to grow, develop, and maintain itself. Protein foods include eggs and dairy, as well as plant sources like nuts, seeds, and beans. Having an adequate supply of certain nutrients like zinc and selenium, for example, helps with the production of testosterone, supports male fertility, and even enhances immune function.

50+ At the other end of the spectrum, after the age of 40 men start to see a natural decline in testosterone, which if not managed can lead to health issues in later in life, such as cardiovascular disease, decline in libido, and prostate complications. Another risk factor that can influence prostate health is being overweight or obese.

Maintaining good zinc intake and using herbs that can naturally promote prostate health such as saw palmetto, maca, and pygeum africanum can improve the long-term health outlook of men. Meanwhile, for heart health, ensuring the recommended intake of the minerals potassium and magnesium, and vitamin D and Omega-3 fatty acids, can help manage complications associated with cardiovascular conditions, like high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels.

Supplementation When is it is not possible to obtain these beneficial nutrients from food alone, it is worthwhile considering a multivitamin to assist any nutritional shortfalls. Many multivitamins are personalised for men at varying stages of their life and specific formulations are also available to support prostate health.

Choose high-quality supplements which contain 100% active ingredients, with no binders or fillers.

6 Ways to Improve Men’s Health Most of the risk factors surrounding men’s health issues can be managed by making simple lifestyle changes.

Eat a balanced diet Schedule outdoor activity Avoid eating large meals late at night Cut back on alcohol (particularly late in the evening) Get a good night’s sleep Consider supplementation For advice on nutrition or to discover the wealth of organic and natural food options available, visit your local health food store at www.findahealthstore.com

Author: Phil Beard is Technical Educator at ethical supplement company Viridian Nutrition. A qualified nutritionist and sports practitioner, Phil has an MSc in Nutrition and Health and has worked as a Health and Wellbeing Trainer on the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme.

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Sober for October: Herbal Style

any of us quickly realised that lockdown living was having an effect on our livers last year, and a laudable number of us quickly took a few days off from the booze each week. Nonetheless, for many, it isn’t quite that easy; nor is it just our livers that are impacted.

The risk of cirrhosis aside, over-drinking is of great detriment to the heart as well, including increasing its size to the point that heart failure and cardiopathy can occur. Diabetes Type-II is also more likely to occur, alcohol affecting glucose regulation in the pancreas.

Additionally, a 2014 review in the British Journal of Dermatology found that the skin is affected negatively by drinking, not just in terms of complexion, but in an increased risk of developing melanoma.

Furthermore, family history of alcohol abuse means an increased risk of going the same route. Mental health issues, also, are worsened by alcohol overconsumption – from depression and anxiety to personality disorders, the brain becomes more voluminous with heavy drinking in the long-term and our perceptions change. Shortterm alcohol abuse, meanwhile, disrupts sleep patterns, affects memory, diminishes concentration, and lessens fine motor skills.

Begun in 2014, Sober October is a fundraising campaign aimed at challenging social drinkers to change their habits for one month and make some healthy lifestyle amendments in the process. Over the years, the campaign’s “Soberheroes” have raised in excess of £25 million for the cause: helping to provide physical, financial, and emotional support for those living with cancer by fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Offering a clearer head, better sleep, more energy, weight loss, and a real sense of achievement – saying no to a tipple for either 14, 21, or the “old school” full 31-day challenge this October will definitely make you feel better, physically and mentally. Remember, also, that there is a further chance to go alcohol-free during Alcohol Awareness Week in November, too.

Sober October encourages people to drink responsibly and stick to the recommended daily guidelines for the rest of the year, but suggests that heavy drinkers and people dependent on alcohol should speak with their GP before undertaking a month’s abstinence. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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If you have been overdoing the boozing, detoxing is the first step. From charcoal tablets dissolved in water before bed, day-long hydration from the moment you wake until it’s time to sleep again, and boosting mineral intake with fresh green juices with a dash of Himalayan pink salt – exercise for sweating out toxins and functional nutrition are important, too.

Yet, what about those cravings? What about that ritual of unwinding and release? Well, you don’t have to let the wine

Fresh Mint Tea

Supporting digestion and reducing sugar cravings, fresh mint tea is possibly slightly addictive in itself, but oh so very much better for the body and mind than alcohol.

glasses gather dust. How about some herbal iced tea, instead? The night before an evening where you know you’ll want a drink, yet are keen to remain alcohol-free the entire month, brew a pot of loose-leaf tea. Then, the next morning, pour the tea into a pitcher and place in the fridge until that night after work (whether still WFH or back in the office these days). When it comes to that wind-down “tipple”, you’ll be all set to go. Cheers!

Ginger Tea Similar to a nice dry adult cocktail on the tongue, low-sugar ginger tea instead offers minerals and hydration rather than a hangover the next day.

Chai Tea Beneficial for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties from that renowned blend of cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg – iced chai tea provides a glass of comforting flavour.

Lavender Tea

If you you’ve been using alcohol to relax and come down to a restful pace from the day’s velocity, it might be worth experimenting with a lavender concoction instead.

The Coconut Christmas Hangover Cure

If you or your relatives (or friends) are known to overdo the booze during the festive season, then perhaps buy in some coconut water this year.

Harvested from young, green coconuts, one cup of coconut water contains only 46 calories and 17% RDA potassium and manganese, as well as 15% RDA magnesium and 10% RDA vitamin C – replenishing cells dehydrated and zapped of goodness by alcohol.

A hangover is simply the body metabolizing what you’ve drunk. A diuretic, alcohol dehydrates the body by making the kidneys flush more water than taken in and inhibits production of the hormone vasopressin, which usually helps the kidneys reabsorb water and prevent urination.

Consisting of 94% water, coconut water is not only super hydrating, but also full of electrolytes, fibre, vitamins, and minerals. Electrolytes, in particular, aid fluid regulation and retention, and assist tissue and cell repair.

A thirst quencher of a thought, certainly.

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Turkey-Safe Plant-Based Christmas Treats

Festive Vegan Eggnog Prep Time

Lasts for

Serves

5 minutes

4 - 5 days

4

INGREDIENTS 250ml plant based milk of your choice 140ml Organic Kitchen coconut milk 2 tbsp Organic Kitchen light Agave Syrup ¼ tsp Just Natural ground cinnamon ¼ tsp Just Natural ground nutmeg ½ tsp vanilla extract 1 cinnamon stick

DIRECTIONS 1. Add the dairy-free milk, coconut milk, agave syrup, cinnamon, ground nutmeg and vanilla extract to a blender.

2. Blend on a high setting for 1-2 minutes until

Grab a copy of our Just Natural Vegan Recipe book for more declicious meal ideas! www.justnatural.co.uk

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creamy and smooth. Taste and adjust flavour as needed, adding more spices for warmth or agave syrup for sweetness.

3. Serve cold over ice with a cinnamon stick for garnish.

Chocolate Orange Cake Pops Prep Time

Setting Time

Serves

20 minutes

30 - 60 minutes

6-8

INGREDIENTS 4 tbsp Just Natural Oat Flour 2 heaped tbsp Just Natural Oats (grounded) 1 heaped tbsp Just Natural Raw Cacao Powder 200ml orange juice Pinch of salt 2 heaped tbsp sugar 1 tbsp vegan yogurt ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda 1 heaped tbsp cashew butter

Easy Vegan Potato Gratin

1 tbsp vegan chocolate spread 1 tbsp vegan cream cheese

Prep Time

Cooking Time

Serves

20 minutes

40 minutes

4

INGREDIENTS 2 ½ tbsp Organic Kitchen extra virgin olive oil 4 cloves garlic (grated)

200g vegan dark chocolate

DIRECTIONS 1. Blend about 2 cups oats into a fine flour.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients together, then add the orange juice bit by bit until a cake batter forms.

¼ tsp sea salt and black pepper

3. Add the yogurt and cashew butter and mix well.

2 ½ tbsp cornstarch

4. Transfer to a microwave-safe bowl and heat at 1000W for 4-6 mins until risen and cooked through.

350ml unsweetened almond milk 120ml vegetable broth Pinch of Just Natural ground nutmeg

5. Spoon the hot mixture into a different bowl, leave to cool for a couple of mins and then add the chocolate spread and cream cheese.

4 tbsp nutritional yeast 2-3 medium potatoes (very thinly sliced) 30g vegan parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS 1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Wash and peel your potatoes before slicing.

6. Knead through with your hands until combined, then press and roll into 6-8 balls.

7. Melt the chocolate, roll each ball until fully coated, top with orange rind and set in the fridge for 30 mins - 1 hour 8. Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

2. In a saucepan, on medium heat, whisk the almond milk, vegetable broth, nutmeg and nutritional yeast. Once combined, lower heat down to a simmer and stir frequently.

clumps are left. Pour that into the cheese mixture and mix well.

4. Stir until the sauce thickens up.

5. Layer potatoes and cheese mixture into ramakins. Sprinkle the top with vegan cheese for extra cheesiness.

6. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes remove foil and bake for another 20 minutes uncovered.

7. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before serving. A perfect, cruelty-free side dish, or a simple plant-based treat for smaller tums this holiday.

Recipe and image by @beckbitesback

3. In a separate bowl mix together the corn starch and water until no

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Festively Flexible: A Yoga Advent Calendar

1

Tadasana (Mountain Pose)

5

Utthita Hasta Padangustasana (Extended Hand-toBig-Toe Pose)

9

Balasana (Child’s Pose)

13

Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend)

17

Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose)

21

Supta Virasana (Reclining Bound Angle Pose)

2

3

4

6

7

8

10

11

14

15

16

19

20

Utkatasana (Chair Pose)

Breathwork Day: Dirga Pranayama (Three-Part Breathing)

Virasana (Hero’s Pose)

Janu Sirsasana (Head-to-Nee Forward Fold)

18

Breathwork Day: Nadhi Sodhana Pranayama (Alternate Nostril Breathing)

22

Supta Matsyendrasana (Supine Twist)

Padangustasana (Big Toe Pose)

Natarajasana (Lord of the Dance Pose)

Garudasana (Eagle Pose)

Adho Mukha Svanasana (DownwardFacing Dog)

12

Krounchasana (Heron pose)

Paripurna Navsana (Boat Pose)

Breathwork Day: Bhramari Pranayama (Humming Bee Breathing)

Sukhasana (Easy Pose)

Upavistha Konasana (Wide-Angled Seated Forward Bend)

Padamasana (Lotus Pose)

23 Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall Pose)

24

Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand)

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77

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@ViridianNutrition

@ViridianNutrition