The Power of Love

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PUBLISHER'S LETTER

Dear Wellness Readers

W

ith a little more love in the world, we would all be a whole lot better off! First and foremost, show some more love to yourself.

We all too often forget about “I”, and in so doing, we feel unloved and wonder why. You need to love yourself before others can love you, and in turn, you others. So don’t neglect yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Make time to spoil yourself this month… that extra little lie in, that me time, that relaxing walk on the promenade, that super thick chocolate superfood smoothie… yum! Your loved ones will thank you for it. As you are kinder to yourself, you’ll be happier and more receptive to being loved and loving.

Love yourself by making sure you look after your health… after all we only have this one vessel to carry us through life’s journey… and I know I sure want to have a comfortable and hassle free ride until I reach my final destination.

So take this month to explore all the ways you can love yourself… and you will see a true transformation in your life as you attract abundant love.

magazine helping you live life well EDITORIAL PUBLISHER: Dr. Sean Gomes EDITOR: Robyn Wilkinson robyn@wellnesswarehouse.com EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTOR: Cheryl Stevens cheryl@wellnesswarehouse.com DESIGN: Inge Smit inge@wellnesswarehouse.com DIETITIAN: Hayley Cimring

ADVERTISING ADVERTISING & DIRECTORY ENQUIRIES: Sue Dall, cell: 084 707 4477 wellmag@wellnesswarehouse.com PRINTED BY: Paarl Media Paarl

Yours in love and wellness

STORE LOCATIONS

Sean

Wellness Warehouse Kloof & Wellness Caf Kloof Lifestyles on Kloof, 50 Kloof Street, Cape Town. 021 487 5420, 021 487 5440

EDITOR’S LETTER

Wellness Warehouse Cavendish Cavendish Square, Cnr. Dreyer & Main Rd, Claremont, Cape Town. 021 673 7200

THE POWER OF LOVE

O

ur February issue touches on the power of love. From healing heartbreak to the benefit of hugs, we’re embracing love in all its forms. This means a strong focus on heart friendly practices, the practical one’s too, like managing stress and mastering your menu.

We look at good fats, regulating blood pressure and pains you shouldn’t ignore. Countless ideas make delicious heart healthy eating. A special focus on natural birthing brings us heart warming perspectives that make pregnancy more beautiful and alleviate the challenges of childbirth. In our look well section we cover anti-wrinkle beauty innovations and a personal journey to great skin. If you’re looking to rekindle your romantic love we’ve got five fabulous relationship fixes and some great getaway places. You can also expect more raw food ideas, with Banting, superfoods, sugar free and veggie recipes anyone can make.

What can I say but ‘lots of love’

Robyn

Wellness Warehouse Cape Quarter Cape Quarter, Somerset Road, De Waterkant, Cape Town. 021 425 7007 Wellness Warehouse Palmyra Palmyra Junction, Claremont, Cape Town. 021 671 2363 Wellness Warehouse Wembley Square Wembley Square, Gardens, Cape Town. 021 461 3775 Wellness Warehouse Seapoint Piazza Da Luz Mall, Seapoint, Cape Town. 021 434 0460 Wellness Warehouse Plattekloof Plattekloof Village, Plattekloof, Cape Town. 021 558 7106 Wellness Warehouse Gardens Gardens Shopping Centre, Mill Street, Cape Town. 021 465 8787 Wellness Warehouse Paddocks The Paddocks, Corner of Race Course & Grand Boulevard, Milnerton, Cape Town.

021 551 6335 Wellness Warehouse Glengarry Cnr. De Bron & Fairtrees Road, Vredekloof, Cape Town. 021 981 2099 Wellness Warehouse Helderberg Shop 16, Helderberg Shopping Centre, Centenary Drive, Somerset West.

021 851 1949 Wellness Warehouse Waterfront & Wellness Caf V&A Shop 6105, Ground Floor, V&A Waterfront, Breakwater Boulevard, Cape Town.

021 418 0175 Wellness Warehouse Flamingo Square Flamingo Square, Cnr Blaauwberg Road and Study Street, Table View, Cape Town.

021 556 8008 Wellness Warehouse Welgemoed Shop 5, Forum Shopping Centre, Welgemoed, Cape Town. 021 913 3000 Wellness Warehouse Village View Shop 18b, Village View Shopping Centre, Bedfordview. 011 450 0000 Wellness Warehouse Morningside Shop L17, Inside the Morningside Pharmacy, Morningside Shopping Centre, Sandton. 011 784 1444 Wellness Warehouse Online Shop 261 Bree Street, Cape Town. 021 003 3552 For more information on trading hours visit wellnesswarehouse.com

We are delighted to announce that the Wellness magazine is now on sale at Starke Ayres in Rosebank, Cape Town.

Wellness Support Office 261 Bree Street, Cape Town

021 003 3552 www.wellnesswarehouse.com

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WELLNESS magazine takes no responsibility for the content of the advertising material supplied directly by advertisers. We accept advertising in good faith and do not research advertising claims. Kindly consult a professional should you have any doubt as to the efficacy of any claims made.

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FEBRUARY 2016 EAT WELL 14

HEART HEALTHY MENU - Stick to good fats and know which ingredients support a heart -friendly spread. Combinations of life giving nutrients will keep you in perfect shape.

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THE BIG FAT GUIDE - From coconut oil, olive and flax seed, to butter, ghee and everything else in between we explain good fats versus bad, optimum quantities, calories, benefits, pitfalls and taste profiles.

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BANTING BLONDES - Your Banting recipe this month is a scrumptious and light zucchini carpaccio perfect for heart health.

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BE WELL 26

RAISING THE BAR - High blood pressure is a known health risk. We look at lifestyle practices and supplements to balance both high and low blood pressure.

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5 PAINS NOT TO IGNORE - It’s easy to feel worried about pains and aches – the thought of having a chronic disease is alarming. Here’s a description of the pains you need to take seriously.

MOVE WELL 44

LOOK WELL 38

SMOOTH FLAWLESS SKIN – Flawless skin greatly enhances the way we look and feel.

Here are some lifestyle innovations to help achieve a blemish free skin.

LIVING WITH MORE LOVE - Create more love in your life. This article looks at the benefit of hugs, healing from heartbreak and forms of love from altruism to agape.

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LOVE WELL 34

LIVE WELL 40

THE HIP CIRCLE - Free up your hips with exercise moves ranging from belly dancing to stretching – the benefits are liberating. Learn some moves and free up your hips.

THE LABOUR OF LOVE - We speak to the natural birthing experts about the possibility of pain free birth and an empowered and beautiful approach to pregnancy.

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5 FIXES FOR YOUR RELATIONSHIP - Before you throw in the towel, here are highly pertinent reasons you should stay together and ways to circumvent common relationship issues.

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5 MOOD BOOSTING SUPPLEMENTS - keep it natural and keep it happy with some excellent mood boosters.

ON THE COVER Fitness trainer Torie Alexandra and her husband Kyle Nold were our cover models this month. We ask Torie a few questions.

WHAT’S YOUR SECRET TO LIVE LIFE WELL? Being a personal fitness trainer I make it a point to incorporate wellness into everything I do. I love to push my body daily, whether it's through weight training at the gym, surfing on the weekends or hiking the mountains with friends around Cape Town. Being active is one of the best things you can do for yourself. I teach and inspire clients by practicing what I preach to prove that it is possible to work hard and have the results you crave!

www.wellnesswarehouse.com

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REGULARS

Events - Out & about in February Editor’s Choice - Be fearless in your pursuit… looks at favourite products for February

Natural Health Tips - All about fat Read Well - Healthy, happy and loved Journey – head off to Riebeek Kasteel Classified - lets you know what’s happening

in your wellness community with workshops, retreats, therapies and more.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE WELLNESS TIP? My favorite wellness tip is that it all starts with a step.

It doesn't matter how slow you are on the treadmill or walking on the promenade, you are still lapping everyone on the couch. Many small steps add up to a marathon, you should never be hard on yourself if you are making steps to improve your health and your life because anything you do is progress.

You can see more of Torie on her blog www.toriealexandra.com or contact her on hello@toriealexandra.com MODEL: Torie & Kyle Nold Alexandra PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephanie Papini STYLIST: Tatum Cochrane

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Out & About In February 2016

Everyone knows that February’s weather is too wonderful to stay indoors. Because of that, there’s always an enormous amount of choice – we’ve listed just a few events that should get you up and about and maybe get you in the mood for romance in the month of love.

FITNESS FUNDIS 13 February 2016 On 13 February, you’ll be given the opportunity to run in Nelson Mandela’s freedom footsteps – it’s the Nelson Mandela 27 for Freedom run. In addition to the 27 km run, there’s a 10 km race and 5 km fun walk. All the routes start and end at the Drakenstein Correctional Facility. For more info, visit TopEvents. co.za – online entries close on Sunday 7th Feb.

DESIGN INDABA

18h00, but make sure you get there early because the beach fills up pretty quickly.

SMOOTH MOVERS 25 to 29 February 2016 Get yourself to Tietisbaai for the much-loved Jazz on the Rocks Music Festival. The line-up is always thrilling and the setting pure heaven. There are numerous options for attending, from camping to day-passes – get all the information at jazzontherocks.net.

11 to 20 February 2016

MAD HATTERS

Of course February is design time with the annual Design Indaba Conference and Festival, held at the Artscape and a few other subsidiary venues from Friday 11 Feb all the way through to Sunday 20th. Get your tickets at DesignIndaba. com

20 February 2016

WINE AFICIONADOS 7 February 2016 Well, it’s Cape Town so there’s almost no end to events that revolve around wine, but we thought this one sounded like a lot of fun – get your toes squishy at the Blessing of the Harvest Festival at Moreson Wine Estate – on 7th Feb in Franschoek. Get behind the scenes to experience the production process – you’ll start off by picking your own basket of grapes and then stomp the fruit before tucking in to a feast prepared by the winery’s restaurant.

Tickets are R520 per person.

BEACH BUMS 15 February 2016 Expand your Valentine’s Day – the Moonstruck Summer Beach Concert is free and will be on 15th February, at Clifton Beach. The Solid Gold Session Band will woo you while you cuddle down on the beach with your perfect partner and picnic basket. It starts at

This is only for the bravest among you – the Bat Run is happening on 20th Feb and it invites you to conquer three of Cape Town’s most treacherous icons, at night. The run begins at 19:00 at Kloof Nek and you’ll run up Devils Peak, Table Mountain and Lions Head – in your own time of course. The route is 26km and 1,700 metres of climbing, so you’ll need a bit more than just your running shoes.

For more info, go to batrun.co.za.

TREE HUGGERS 11 to 13 & 18 to 20 March 2016 Come together to plant thousands of trees at the Greenpop Reforest Weekend in Platbos. The festival, split between a family and a separate friends weekend, not only focuses on planting trees but also involves lots of socialising, dancing to live music, attending eco workshops, and camping.

“Together we’ll help rehabilitate Platbos and experience the spirit of holistic green living as we plant trees, camp under the stars and Milkwoods, dance and become a part of growing Platbos Forest Reserve back to its original abundance.”

For more info contact 021 461 9265 079 334 8268 | www.greenpop.org

If you have an event or happening you want to share with our readers email robyn@ wellnesswarehouse.com and let her know.

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helping you live life well

WE TRIED IT So many people seem to be speaking about a therapy that’s affectionately called ‘tapping’. Its real name is EFT or Emotional Freedom Technique and is apparently something you can do on your own. I found it a bit overwhelming so I called on a trained practitioner to introduce me to the process and explain how it works.

Natacha Wauquiez is an amazing ambassador for EFT. After personally experiencing incredible therapeutic benefits from EFT she studied it in depth and has become highly proficient at facilitating the emotional freedom response.

Mostly, we think of emotional issues as requiring a psychologist and lots of delving into the past and examining feelings and reframing events and happenings and spending a lot of time in analysis. EFT is quite different in that you don’t necessarily have to go deeply into traumatic events. Natacha asked me to take any issue I might be concerned about and want to work with.

“Even if it seems trivial, see what comes to mind,” she explained. Once you have identified an issue which could be anything from I’m scared of spiders to I feel I’m running out of time to I need to give more love to my family or absolutely any other concern you may think of, you get to work. Natacha helped me formulate and define my issue.

She then helped me find statements to work with. I had to use positive statements to tap certain points on my body. I had to repeat all versions of the statement three times each and carry on tapping on the same points while repeating them.

I no longer need to believe that....

You no longer need to believe that ...

She/ He no longer needs to believe that ... (your name) no longer needs to believe that ....

We no longer need to believe that ....

They no longer need to believe that ....

After this you tap other points on your body with a different set of statements that include: I absolutely choose to believe that...

You absolutely choose to believe that...

She absolutely chooses to believe that... (your name) absolutely chooses to believe that...

We absolutely choose to believe that...

They absolutely choose to believe that....

Natacha was extremely gentle and patient with me. She seemed to have an intuitive sense of where the session needed to go. Even though I am uncomfortable with delving into personal issues, Natacha made me feel very comfortable and confident during the process. I got homework to do which is more tapping and more affirmations.

There are many ways you can use EFT to heal trauma, concerns, longstanding issues, events, perceptions and in fact anything that creates emotions. Sometimes you heal one thing and suddenly a whole lot of things change or release you. I would most definitely recommend using EFT. It seems to be a quick and efficient way of resolving personal issues.

If you’d like to try it out, contact Natacha on natacha@eftsense.com or log onto www.eftsense.com

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EDITOR’S CHOICE

Fearlessly devoted to

wellbeing I know we’re into February now and New Year has passed but as the months go by it keeps on dawning on me that the best thing we can resolve for ourselves is to keep ourselves healthy. Wellness in all its forms is an excellent state of being to pursue.

NATURALLY DRAMATIC

TREE POWER

Baobab powder comes from the fruit of the Baobab tree. It’s naturally dry so extracting it doesn’t require much processing at all. Baobab powder is one of those superfoods that really makes a difference to daily vitality.

It’s absorbed by the body as a food and has dietary fibre, minerals and organic acids as well as vitamin C, calcium and magnesium. Antioxidants and prebiotics also star in this superfruit. Take it daily in a smoothie or sprinkled onto food.

Soaring Free Superfoods Baobab Fruit Powder 200g R116.99

MANDELA HONEYBUSH TEA HEY HONEY

I’m delighted Dr Hauschka has a line of make-up. That means make-up that’s free from mineral oil and silicon and I don’t have to put chemicals and irritants near my eyes just for the price of beauty. Their liquid eyeliner has eyebright which rather than irritating the eyes is actually soothing. It has Neem extract which fortifies and conditions the lashes and then luxurious jojoba and rose waxes that protect and shine. I found the applicator brush very easy to use. Lovely result. Dr Hauschka Liquid Eyeliner R315

Honeybush tea really does taste like honey. If you are completely off all sweeteners, honeybush has a natural sweetness. It’s a bush tea you can drink with or without milk. You can also drink it hot or cool it down for iced tea.

The Mandela range of teas is 100% South African and is rich in anti-oxidants, is caffeine free and low in tannins. They also have rooibos and buchu teas available. Mandela Honeybush Tea Hey Honey R179

PERMANENT PROTECTION

SKINNY SCOOP

Guess what we’ve got in our freezer at Wellness Warehouse? It’s the most delicious creamy ice cream ever and its got no added sugar or artificial stuff. High protein Skinny Scoop is definitely the dessert to go for. It’s available in vanilla and chocolate or should I say Vanilla Camilla and After Dark Cacao.

It’s amazing how using clean and natural ingredients you can get even better tastes of the foods we’re used to. This one’s a winner.

Skinny Scoop R34.99

Somehow a leave in spray feels more protective on your hair. This avocado and olive oil enriched spray is a fabulous option from Giovanni hair care. It’s deeply moisturizing and nourishing and protects hair against sun and also when heat styling.

Giovanni 2Chic Ultra Moist Protective Leave In Spray Avocado R249

HEALING SPICE

Curcumin, a component from the spice turmeric is believed to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and perhaps even anti-cancer properties. Turmeric has been used in Asia for centuries to treat many different health conditions. Several studies suggest it eases symptoms of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis particularly pain and inflammation.

One study showed that turmeric extract containing curcumin could, in certain cases, stabilise colorectal cancer. Bio-Curcumin from Coyne health uses a component called BCM95 in its formula, a highly effective way to supplement with Curcumin. Coyne Bio-curcumin R239.99

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SURE SKIN FOOD

Esse’s new range for sensitive skin is being incredibly well received by their fans. I tried out the moisturizer and it feels very luxurious and rich.

In line with the latest findings on skincare it has prebiotics and probiotics as key active ingredients to help beneficial microbes and boost skin condition. It also has low molecular mass Hyaluronic Acid that increases moisture retention and has an anti-ageing effect. It feels amazing on your skin.

Esse Senstive Skin Hydro Moisturiser R480 Nourish Moisturiser R550

Selected items not available at all stores. Items not listed at a particular store can be ordered for you or bought online at www.wellnesswarehouse.com

School can be testing...

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CONNECT, SHARE

& spread some love

The winning post from January goes to @moniqness. We hope you enjoy spending your voucher on your favourite raw goodies.

WINNING POST

WIN WIN WIN

Live life well by sharing your wellness moments with us on social media.

R50 OFF YOUR NEXT ONLINE PURCHASE 12

shop wellnesswarehouse.com Visit wellnesswarehouse.com to shop all your favourite wellness goodies. Remember to use the voucher code #loveyourheartmag when you check out to redeem your voucher. Voucher code valid for February only for purchases of R350 and more.

Every month we’ll select our favourite social media post to win a R500 Wellness Warehouse gift voucher.

Remember to tag us in your posts: @WellnessWarehouse on Facebook and Instagram and @Wellnews on Twitter

NOW OPEN

I N T RO D U C I N G

WELLNESS ON THE GO AT THE V&A Visit us for powerhouse foods, juices & smoothies on the go

Shop 6105, Ground Floor, V&A Waterfront | 021 418 0175

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eatwell

healthy foodmarket

To decrease your risk of heart disease aim to eat two to three portions of oily fish per week.

Heart healthy MENU

by Hayley Cimring

Many people believe healthy food is bland, boring and boiled. But choose heart-healthy cooking methods like grilling and roasting, and season your food with herbs and spices instead of salty, processed ingredients and you’ll get a delicious result. Take care though not to overcook food so it retains its natural flavours and taste.

did you know?

A recent study reported in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology followed 20 000 men with no history of heart disease.

During 10 years of follow up the researchers found that 80% of heart disease could be prevented by adopting a healthier lifestyle, which included making healthier food choices.

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Ready to start your heart-healthy diet?

2. Vegetables and fruit the more the better

Although you know that eating certain foods can increase your risk of heart disease, it is often tough to change your habits. Once you know which foods to eat more of and which foods to limit, it’s easy to follow a heart-healthy diet. Our Wellness Dietician, Hayley Cimring explains.

Vegetables and fruit contain contain components known to prevent heart disease. The South African Dietary Guidelines recommend you eat at least 5 servings of vegetables and fruit daily. Variety is just as important as quantity for optimal heart health. Include a rainbow of colours in your meals.

THE 5 BASICS

Here’s how to include 5-a-day: • If your family isn’t wild about veggies, disguise them by adding them to stews and stir-fries.

• Serve a green salad with fruit as an alternative to a typical mixed salad • Add seasonal fruit to your breakfast

1. Control your portion size How much you eat is as important as what you eat. Eat larger portions of nutrient-rich foods like vegetables and smaller portions of refined and processed foods.

helping you live life well

eatwell

healthy foodmarket

3. Choose wholegrains Wholewheat grains are good sources of fibre that help regulate cholesterol levels.

Choose wholewheat and low GI seed breads, high fibre cereals and brown rice.

4. Some fats are better than others The key to a healthy heart isn’t reducing total fat but rather replacing bad fats with good fats. The bad ones include industrialmade trans fats found in baked goods and fried food. Saturated fats found in animal products were also though to be a major culprit in heart disease but recent studies have found them to be neutral. This issue is under debate by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee in America but their current recommendation is to replace saturated fats with unsaturated fats. Hearthealthy unsaturated fats include olive oil, peanut oil, avocados, nuts, flaxseeds and fatty fish. Cholesterol is no longer considered to be a nutrient of concern for heart disease so you can now eat your eggs without feeling guilty.

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Fish-too beneficial to go without Cold water, oily fish are particularly rich in essential omega -3 fats which have numerous benefits including reducing blood pressure and risk of stroke. Fish is a good alternative to red meat as it is high in protein and a good source of vitamin B. To decrease your risk of heart disease aim to eat two to three portions of oily fish per week. Choose sardines, salmon, pilchards, herring and snoek.

Butter or margarine-which is better?

With the ongoing debate about which is healthier, it can be rather confusing when deciding which one to buy. If you are buying margarine the soft tub variety has more healthy unsaturated fats and very little (if any) trans fats compared to butter and hard margarines. Look for the Heart Mark logo on soft tub margarines and look for margarines with plant sterols that help lower cholesterol levels Both butter and margarine are high in calories so whichever spread you choose, use it in moderation. You may wish to substitute both of these for olive oil or a cold pressed oil.

5. Eat less sugar and avoid foods and drinks high in sugar In the past, guidelines for a hearthealthy diet focused exclusively on fat.

We now know that a diet high in refined carbohydrates from sugary beverages and foods raises triglyceride levels (blood fats), lowers good cholesterol levels and increases bad cholesterol levels. A recent study found that men who consumed at least 2 sweetened beverages per day had a 25 percent higher risk of heart failure.

When implementing the above 5 basic guidelines remember that how you cook is just as important as what you cook. Choose heart-healthy cooking methods like grilling and pan frying and season your foods with fresh herbs and spices rather than salty, processed ingredients.

READING LABELS A HANDY GUIDE Reading food labels helps you make healthier choices. The first few ingredients listed on a label make up the largest portion of the food. Therefore avoid foods with the following words listed as the first ingredients: trans fat (or partially hydrogenated fats), salt, sodium, MSG, sugar, maltose and corn syrup.

The nutritional information table shows you how much of each nutrient is in the food. Look at the numbers per 100g of the product to compare similar foods with each other. For the right nutrients choose foods that contain less than 3 g fat per 100g, less than 1.5g saturated fat per 100g, less than 5g sugar per 100g and less than 120mg sodium per 100g.

EATING OUT THE HEART-HEALTHY WAY When you’re doing the cooking it’s easier to put health on the menu but head out to your local restaurant and healthy eating might go awry.

Use these guidelines when you’re out at a restaurant.

• Bread basket. Choose wholewheat or seed bread and avoid refined carbohydrates like white bread.

• Buffet bonanza. Load your plate with colourful vegetables, salads and some protein. Skip the creamy dressings and wellnesswarehouse.com

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choose a splash of simple olive oil and vinegar instead.

It’s all in a name. Avoid foods with the words battered, crispy or creamy. Look for these key words to spot healthier dishes: grilled, steamed, stir-fried or sautéed.

Off side. Your dish comes with a side of chips? Don’t be afraid to change it for a salad or some vegies instead.

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HEARTHEALTHY IDEAS

FOR BREAKFAST: Oats with chopped walnuts Why oats? Oats are high in fibre and compared to boxed cereals you can control the amount of salt and sugar

FOR LUNCH: Baked beans on wholewheat toast and salad Why baked beans? Beans contain a variety of heartprotective chemicals Tip: look for canned beans with the Heart Mark logo

FOR DINNER: Brown rice with chicken breast and turmeric spinach Why turmeric? it contains curcumin which is a natural anti-inflammatory Why spinach? the leafy green has got a bit of everything including fibre and antioxidants

Hayley cimring is a registered Dietician (BSc. Hons Nutrition and Dietetics UCT) at Wellness Warehouse Kloof and is their in-store Dietician.

She looks forward to meeting you in store to help you with your individual dietary queries and your product needs.

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eatwell

sponsored recipe

recipe

MY HEALTHY VALENTINE Chocolate is definitely the food of love and when you make chocolate using superfoods you have a killer recipe of healthy indulgence.

Making your own raw chocolate is easy and fun. You can be highly creative by using flavour variations and added fruit and nuts. Here’s a base recipe to kick off your own chocolate creativity.

HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE Makes equivalent to 2 ice trays

Here are some ideas for power flavour combinations:

INGREDIENTS

Rose geranium & goji Add 1 drop of rose geranium essential oil and a handful of gojis.

200 G CACAO PASTE, MELTED 100 G CACAO BUTTER, MELTED 1⁄4 C COCONUT OIL, MELTED 1⁄4 C HONEY, COCONUT NECTAR OR MAPLE SYRUP

Mint & spirulina Add 1 drop of mint essential oil and 1 t spirulina powder and all you will taste is the mint – not a hint of spirulina!

1. Melt the cacao paste, butter and coconut oil on low.

2. Put the melted liquid into your power blender.

3. Add your sweetener of choice and blend on low speed.

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4. All the ingredients can be mixed through by hand if you do not have a power blender.

5. Add flavouring and superfoods of your choice and pour into chocolate moulds or ice trays and allow to set in the fridge.

Maca & vanilla Add 1 T maca and 1 t vanilla extract.

Lucuma & orange Add 1 T lucuma powder and 1 drop of orange essential oil.

helping you live life well

DID YOU KNOW? Commercial chocolate uses trans fats, dairy and sugar, but you can get a result that’s just as delicious using superfoods like raw cacao, honey, coconut nectar or maple syrup and coconut oil.

Peter & Beryn Daniel are pioneers of the raw and superfood movements in South Africa. Having trained as raw food chefs abroad they returned home 10 years ago and have been sharing their passion for healthy raw cuisine ever since. They run raw food seminars around the country and have written two internationally published books: Rawlicious, recipes for radiant health and The Magic of Superfoods.

Recipes contributed from Peter & Beryn Daniel’s latest book: The Magic of Superfoods

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eatwell

sponsored recipe

recipe

Nutrition is more than just counting calories.

The NutriPlanMax meal planner helps you create balanced meal plans, find nutritional deficiencies and correct them using your favorite foods. Your meal plans are personalized based on standards from the Institute of Medicine.

VEGAN BURRITO IN SPINACH TORTILLAS Makes 6

INGREDIENTS FOR THE TORTILLAS 4 CUPS RAW SPINACH 1 CUP RICE FLOUR ¼ TSP SALT 2 TBS OLIVE OIL WATER FOR THE FILLING 1 CUP COOKED BROWN RICE 1 CUP COOKED RED KIDNEY BEANS 1 CUP GUACAMOLE 6 TBSP FAT FREE SOUR CREAM WATER

TORTILLAS 1. Add the spinach and water to a saucepan, cover and bring to a gentle boil.

2. Allow to wilt for 5 minutes. Place in a blender and mix until smooth.

3. Whisk together the flour and salt in a medium bowl.

4. Add the spinach puree and olive oil into the flour mix.

The following was calculated with the help of NutriPlanMax: 1 portion - 172g Spinach, raw: 2/3 cup: 4 cal rice flour: 1/6 cup: 96 cal Olive oil: 1/3 tablespoon :0 cal Rice, brown, cooked, regular, fat not added in cooking: 1/6 cup, cooked :36 cal Red kidney beans, dry, cooked, fat not added in cooking: 1/6 cup :36 cal Guacamole: 1/6 cup: 61 cal Sour cream, fat free: 1 tablespoon: 12 cal Water as an ingredient: 4.725g: 0 cal Total Calories: 286 Carb=41g Prot=6.7g

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Fat=11g Calories 286 Composition Carbohydrates 41g Protein 6.7g Fat 11g Fiber 5.1g Electrolytes Sodium 262mg Potassium 489mg Minerals Calcium 56mg Phosphorus 108mg Magnesium 59mg Trace Minerals Iron 2mg Copper 0.23mg Zinc 0.86mg Selenium 4.7mcg Vitamins (Water-Soluble) (Thiamin) Vitamin B1 0.14mg

ABOUT NUTRIPLANMAX

It will calculate everything for you. All you need to do is to add the foods or the ingredients of the recipe to the meal plan, click on ‘complete nutrient report’ and voi-la!

5. Add 1 tablespoon of water if the flour mix is too dry. Add more water (if needed) until the dough is a consistency that doesn’t stick to your fingers. Break the dough in half and feel the inside too.

6. If too sticky add a tablespoon of flour at a time until smooth.

7. Create two smooth balls and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

8. Heat a nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Create 3 equal-sized balls from each dough ball. Roll between two pieces of parchment paper.

9. Heat the tortilla for one minute on each side or until nice brown spots develop.

Place in a tortilla warmer or on a plate covered with a tea towel.

FILLING 1. Divide the rice, beans, guacamole and fat free sour cream equally among all 6 tortillas.

2. Spoon it out onto the tortilla and fold or roll them up.

3. Add salt, pepper and any fresh leaves you’d like.

Recipe adapted from www.forkandbeans.com (Riboflavin) Vitamin B20.13mg (Niacin) Vitamin B3 1.5mg (Pyridoxine) Vitamin B6 0.23mg (Folate) Vitamin B9 102mcg Vitamin B12 0.048mcg Vitamin C 9.2mg Vitamins (Fat-Soluble) (IU) Vitamin A 1675(IU) Vitamin E 1.7mg Fat Summary Saturated Fatty Acids 2g Monounsaturated Fatty Acids 7.2g Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids 1.4g Cholesterol Cholesterol 1.4mg Saturated Fatty Acids (Short & Medium Chain) Lauric (12:0) 0.00033g Myristic (14:0) 0.0026g

Besides all of the calculations, NutriPlanMax makes suggestions. If your meal plan is deficient, let’s say in iron, it will show the best options for improvement. There are desktop and mobile versions. Very userfriendly software. Video Tutorials are available on youtube.

YOU CAN: • Create a Mealplan • Find a Mealplan - There are over 5000 ready to use meal plans.

Browse the highest scoring mealplans of other users. Find a mealplan you like, and modify it to match your personal tastes.

See what you are lacking and supplement if needed (special dietary requirements) • Track Your Goals • Create recipes to add to your daily mealplans or share with your friends • Enter the data from the nutrition facts label on the food package.

• Learning Center • Study the science behind this powerful nutrition system

Saturated Fatty Acids (Long Chain) Palmitic (16:0) 1.5g Stearic (18:0) 0.12g Delta 9 Monounsaturated Fatty Acids Palmitoleic (16:1(n-7)) 0.28g Oleic (18:1(n-9)) 6.8g Gadoleic (20:1(n-11)) 0.014g Omega 3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Alpha-Linolenic (18:3 w3) 0.14g Omega 6 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Linoleic (18:2 w6) 1.2g Arachidonic (20:4 w6) 0.0016g

helping you live life well

www.nutriplanmax.com

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eatwell

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There’s so much more to eating food than just ingesting nutrients; it’s about texture, how it tastes, how it looks and how it makes you feel.

THE BIG

FAT GUIDE Although fat is back on the menu, that doesn’t mean you can stop checking your grocery ingredients; be a bit savvy when it comes to choosing the right fat for your health.

F

or years, doctors, nutritionists and even self-proclaimed health gurus have insisted that a low-fat diet is the key to losing weight, preventing health problems and managing cholesterol.

If there’s one thing we know in the age of information it’s that everything we believe can get turned on its head with the release of a new scientific

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study or discovery. Much like fashion, we’ve seen trends in food change with every season, from Atkins to Banting.

This big fat trend, however, is less of a passing phase and fast becoming like the little black dress in your wardrobe; an every-day essential and here to stay.

helping you live life well

THE SKINNY ON FAT We know that fat’s making a comeback, but more than just the amount of fat, it’s the type of fats you eat that really matter.

There are good fats that protect your heart and support overall health, and there are bad fats that increase cholesterol and your risk of certain diseases.

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Dietary fats, found in food produced from plants and animals, all contain 9 calories per gram, but don’t get out your calculators just yet! Each type of fat can have very different effects on your health as well as your weight. It’s not easy to determine precisely how much fat a person ingests daily so it’s equally challenging trying to suggest how much fat you should take in.

It’s rare that you would eat foods that are made entirely of fat or of protein. Most foods contain fat, protein and carbohydrates in varying proportions. The answer to keeping healthy diet isn’t to cut out fat; it’s to replace bad fats with the good fats that promote health and well-being. The key is to understand the difference. Fat fits into four major categories; monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, trans fats and saturated fats.

THE GOOD Unsaturated fats are the good guys and the ones you definitely want to include in your diet. These are your monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and are found in avocados, olives, almonds, peanuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews, walnuts, natural peanut butter, sunflower, sesame, and pumpkin seeds, flaxseed, fatty fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring, trout and sardines, as well as non-GMO sources of soymilk and tofu among other delicious foods.

When it comes to the oil you use, fat becomes a little trickier. Not all unsaturated fat counterparts to butter and lard can fit into the ‘good fat’ category. Traditional oils such as extra virgin olive oil, peanut oil, and sesame oil are rich in monounsaturated fats and have been cold-pressed, which means the oils are made without the use of chemicals or heat to extract the oil from seeds or nuts. Processed oils such as soybean oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, canola oil, cottonseed oil, and safflower oil are industrially manufactured using high heat and toxic solvents to extract the oil.

THE BAD Trans fat is something you should certainly eliminate from your diet. Little mounts of naturally-occurring trans fats can be found in meat and dairy products but it’s the artificial trans fats that are cause for alarm. To make artificial trans fats, normal fat molecules are twisted and deformed in a process called hydrogenation, whereby

liquid vegetable oil is heated and combined with hydrogen gas. This makes food last longer and less likely to spoil but isn’t at all good for eating – no amount of trans fat is healthy. Trans fats raise your bad cholesterol, lower your good cholesterol and increase your risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

You’ll find trans fats in commercially-baked goods like cookies, pies, muffins, crackers, pizza dough, hamburger buns, microwave popcorn, chips, cake mix, stick margarine and vegetable shortening. It’s pretty easy to spot the super unhealthy items in the aisle; and when in doubt just check the ingredients for the types of fat listed.

THE DEBATE There’s so much more to eating food than just ingesting nutrients; it’s about texture, how it tastes, how it looks and how it makes you feel. Try and trick your brain into thinking broccoli tastes like chocolate – it’s just not going to happen.

This is where the debate around saturated fat comes in because it’s generally the tastiest fat; but not all saturated fat is the same. The saturated fat in whole milk, coconut oil, or salmon is very different to the saturated fat found in pizza, fries or processed meat, for example. The effect of saturated fats on blood cholesterol also appears to vary from person to person, depending on genetics and other health factors.

Part of the problem with taking on a lower saturated fat diet is while there seem to be more options – like fat-free milk, cheese, yogurt and ice cream, and low-fat candies, cookies, and cakes – these are made with refined carbohydrates and added sugar to make up for the loss of taste. These substitutes for taste have a tremendously negative effect on both weight and heart health.

Avoid saturated fat from processed meats, pre-packaged meals, and take-aways.

Don’t eat just red meat but vary your diet with free range chicken, eggs, fish, and vegetarian sources of protein. Don’t replace high quality sources of saturated fat with sugary snacks or refined carbs. Roast, grill, or slow cook meat and poultry instead of frying. Enjoy full-fat dairy in moderation and choose organic or raw milk, cheese, butter, and yoghurt when possible.

FATTEN UP There are many options and opinions when it comes to healthy living and very few absolutes or golden rules we can rely on. For most of us it’s our overall eating patterns that concern us, rather than specific foods, and the admin of keeping up with what’s good and bad can be tiresome. We do know that our Western diet of mass-produced, processed food is leading to higher rates of obesity and illness. When it comes to fat, the golden rule is to steer clear from manufactured and industrially-processed food fats and take in more ‘real’ natural food fats—fresh from the earth, the ocean, or local farms.

did you know?

Good fats can turn bad? A good fat can become bad if heat, light, or oxygen damages it. Oils high in polyunsaturated fats, like flaxseed oil, must be kept in an opaque container in the fridge.

Don’t use oils, seeds, or nuts after they begin to smell or taste bitter or rank. Cooking at high heat with some monounsaturated or polyunsaturated oils can also damage fat.

Recent studies have shown that eating whole-milk dairy products is actually linked to less body fat and lower levels of obesity.

Adding a little tasty fat, such as butter, to a plate of vegetables can also make it easier to eat healthy food and so improve the overall quality of your diet.

Unlike trans fat, there’s no need to cut out saturated fat from your diet; it’s all about the type of saturated fat you’re choosing. wellnesswarehouse.com

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Food from the heart...

For The Heart

by Roxane Hayward

Look after your loved ones and fall in love with your own heart this Valentines Day... starting from the inside out.

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one are the days of romantic Italian bowls of pasta for your date nights. It’s out with the carbs and in with tasty, nutritious, heart-healing food - this Zucchini Carpaccio is just that.

ZUCCHINI CARPACCIO BANTING-FRIENDLY Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

•

•

•

Zucchini is higher in potassium than a banana. Potassium is said to help your heart to beat, as well as help other muscles work properly. The potassium in zucchini also helps moderate your blood pressure levels and counters the bad effects one might get from too much sodium.

Most of the fibre and antioxidants are found in the skin so make sure to eat this part as well.

Zucchini is great for people with diabetes as it is high in B-complex vitamins, folate, B6, B1, B2, B3, choline, as well as minerals like zinc and magnesium.

did you know?

Zucchini is actually a fruit, it’s also a common GMO crop, so make sure to buy organic.

6 SMALL ORGANIC ZUCCHINI (OR 1 LARGE) JUICE OF 2 LEMONS 1 TSP APPLE CIDER VINEGAR 1 SMALL GARLIC CLOVE 2 TSP DILL PINK HIMALAYAN SALT AND PEPPER TO TASTE

1. Rinse your zucchini and, using a potato peeler, thinly slice your zucchini length ways 2. In a small mixing bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

3. Place one thin layer of zucchini slices in a small flat dish and pour some of the lemon and dill dressing over your slices. Repeat this process with more layers.

4. Allow to rest and marinate in the fridge for 4 hours before serving.

5. Can be served on a bed of rocket with parmesan shavings as a delicious side to your protein.

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This recipe was supplied by The Banting Blondes www.thebantingblondes.com

helping you live life well

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During this time she also discovered a magnificent salt pan which inspired her to make this pristine salt available to consumers. Throughout her walk she had powerful face to face encounters with Oryx. So meaningful were they that when she was branding her salt, it was Oryx that undisputedly stole the name.

The salt pan is 50 km south of the Botswana border and 250km north of Upington – it’s a vast 50 square kilometres in size within the remote pristine Kalahari Desert. Beneath the pan is an ancient underground brine lake, 55 millions tons of brine 100% saturated with NaCL, minerals and trace elements.

The brine is pumped up, laid out on the pan and sun-dried. In the summer months during temperatures of 47 degrees, the salt crystallizes and can be harvested 4 weeks later.

Salt of the

We’re often told to eliminate salt from our diets, but Kalahari salt is filled with essential minerals and far from being detrimental to health, it’s salt you can feel good about adding to your food.

earth

There’s something magical about salt: salt was one of the first commodities used to trade with; it’s also where the word salary comes from and it’s referenced in every religion.

We love featuring the stories behind our suppliers – it’s always great to know where your products come from and even better when the story involves a touch of adventure. Samantha Skyring, the innovator behind Oryx salt fell in love with the Kalahari desert when she walked 120km from Hartmans Valley along the Cunene River to the Skeleton Coast.

It’s pure, sundried, and unrefined with a unique taste loved by chefs all over the world. Oryx desert salt has all the essential minerals and trace elements that exist naturally in salt, including magnesium, zinc and potassium. It gives your body the right balance of minerals so they can be used optimally for health.

GIVING BACK

did you know?

The Oryx can go up to 2 years without encountering water but not more than 2 months without a salt lick that provides essential minerals, trace elements and sodium chloride so essential for its survival in the harsh desert climate.

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helping you live life well

With every bag of salt sold, a percentage is donated to the Khomani San and Mier communites who own !Xaus Lodge in the Kgaladadi Transfrontier Park in the Kalahari Desert. For more info go to www.tfpfoundation.org

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A diagnosis of hypertension is a call for you to pay attention to the little things in life that add up. Be conscious and consistent in the changes you adopt and your body’s inner healer will meet you half-way.

Raising the bar

by Dr Yesheen Singh

High Blood Pressure is a known health risk. We look at lifestyle practices and supplements to keep it in balance.

did you know?

Diets high in sugar increase your risk of hypertension by spiking insulin and causing inflammation inside your blood vessels.

H

ypertension, or high blood pressure, is a condition of the cardiovascular system where the pressure level within the blood vessels of the body run too high, either because the heart contracts too forcefully or because the blood vessels are too stiff to stretch and accommodate the increase in pressure during a normal contraction.

This forces water and other molecules inside the blood vessel out through the vessel wall into the surrounding tissue where they do not belong and ultimately leads to damage of the vessel wall and the organ through which it flows.

Hypotension, or low blood pressure, on the other hand, is where the pressure within

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helping you live life well

the blood vessels is too low, due to a heart contraction that is too weak or blood vessels that are too floppy or stretchy.

There isn’t enough pressure to get fresh blood with life-giving oxygen and nutrients to all the corners of the body efficiently.

These conditions are on the either end of a spectrum, with a healthy blood pressure fluctuating within a range in the middle.

The adrenals, brain, heart and kidneys determine when we move up or down within this range. They increase the pressure when we need to get more oxygen or food in our cells or toxins and inflammatory molecules out, for example during physical activity or when we are under stress, and decrease the pressure when we can relax and redirect resources to healing and repair, for example during sleep. This adaptability allows us to

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function optimally within a variety of different environments and circumstances throughout the day.

When our ability to move up and down the spectrum becomes impaired, we get stuck in either the hypertension or hypotension extremes. Factors that lead to this include: 1. Age – risk increases over 45 2. A poor diet – salt, caffeine, fructose and alcohol all increase your risk 3. Inadequate exercise – sitting is as big a risk for hypertension and heart disease as smoking 4. Excess stress – not only the big kind, but the smaller, more frequent variety too 5. Smoking – smokers and those around them, breathing in second-hand smoke, are equally at risk 6. Vitamin D deficiency – sunscreens block your ability to absorb enough vitamin D from the sun, and increase your risk 7. Other health issues – being overweight or having other diseases like diabetes, hypercholesterolemia or sleep apnoea increase your risk 8. Genetics – ethnicity (Black African) and family genetics both increase risk. NB: a positive family history of hypertension is not a guarantee that you will develop the condition. Instead think of it as having a lower level of tolerance to any of the above risk factors.

From the above list it is quite obvious what we need to do to prevent blood pressure imbalances and what we need to correct first before we look to pharmaceutical and alternative interventions. But what else can we do to treat hypertension once the imbalance has set in? Speak to your local health care practitioner about the following: • •

•

•

Olive leaf extract has been shown to reduce blood pressure at appropriate doses, especially when a fresh leaf extract is used.

Make sure your mineral intake is balanced – table salt is all sodium and chloride and sends your body completely out of sync. There are hundreds of other minerals your body requires for balance. Pay particular attention to your calcium, magnesium and potassium levels with your diet and supplement plan.

Vitamins C, D and E have all been shown to independently reduce blood pressure via different pathways. Don’t go overboard and supplement all three - adapt your diet to include sources like fresh fruit and healthy nuts and seeds, and spend quality time in the sun.

Access the different pathways your body has to regulates itself by having acupressure or acupuncture, or doing meditation, yoga or tai chi. These work directly and indirectly on the adrenals, brain, heart and kidneys to restore balance within the body.

A diagnosis of hypertension is a call for you to pay attention to the little things in life that add up. Be conscious and consistent in the changes you adopt and your body’s inner healer will meet you half-way.

For more about Dr Yesheen Singh, log onto www.healthnation.co.za

wellnesswarehouse.com

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Providing: • 3 clinically researched ingredients at researched doses • Triple action adaptogen formula to support adrenal glands and therefore the capacity to deal with stress • Convenient 1-a-day dosage (up to 2 if required)

Please note complimentary health products do not replace a healthy lifestyle or claim to cure or treat any disease(s). Add these products to your overall healthy lifestyle for optimal benefits.

Products exclusive to Wellness Warehouse, health stores and pharmacies.

For more information contact: 021 701 5000 or ghpoffice@iafrica.com www.goodhealthsa.co.za

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Maximizing recovery from a stroke Key prevention steps to minimize the risk of heart disease also apply to preventing strokes as well as aiding recovery. Specific known risk factors for stroke include age, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, an abnormal heart rhythm (atrial fibrillation) and a previous TIA (transient ischaemic attack) or mini-stroke, so if you have a combination of these, your stroke risk is much increased. Middle-aged women have a higher stroke risk than middle-aged men, and women in general are more likely to die from stroke.

Although you can’t change your age or genetics, the good news is that most of the risk factors can be modified by adopting simple changes in dietary and lifestyle habits. Specific dietary changes and regular exercise can help to improve your cholesterol profile, reduce blood pressure and manage diabetes, so where necessary you can take action and target each of these individually. A stroke happens when there is a disturbance in the blood supply that starves cells of oxygen and leads to cell death and a loss of brain function. The effects are similar whether the stroke is ischaemic (when blood flow is blocked) or haemorrhagic (when blood vessels burst). Much of the damage from stroke is believed to result from the activation of various enzymes that affect phospholipids and essential fats, which are key components of brain cell membranes, and through the generation of oxidants, which promote the death of brain cells. Minimizing this damage and recovering from a stroke is helped by not only improving your intake of phospholipids and essential fats but also providing a means to ‘mop up’ these damaging oxidants. This is why choline, lecithin, fish oils, B vitamins and antioxidants should form the backbone of any stroke recovery protocol.

REDUCE YOUR RISK & ASSIST RECOVERY Here are five steps to further reduce your risk and maximise your recovery: 1. Lower high blood pressure - High blood pressure is one of the top risk factors and is linked with three-quarters of all strokes. Fortunately, there are lots of ways to reduce it without taking drugs, which have their own associated side-effects.

2. Improve your cholesterol - Not everyone who has a stroke has a cholesterol problem. Having high HDL and low LDL deduces your stroke risk. The B vitamin niacin, for example, in doses of 1,000mg, effectively raises HDL and lowers LDL cholesterol.

Cholesterol helps by transporting the essential fats, which are needed to create nerve pathways and to repair or replace damaged cells. What’s more, having cholesterol that is too low can actually result in muscle and nerve degeneration. So bear this in mind, especially if you’ve been prescribed a cholesterol-lowering drug as part of your stroke rehabilitation programme. These are sometimes given to people who have perfectly normal cholesterol levels and they may do more harm than good.

3. Reverse diabetes - People with type 2 diabetes have almost double the risk of having a stroke within the first five years of diagnosis. The good news is that type 2 diabetes is a reversible condition, the cornerstone of which is a strict low-GL diet.

4. Go for fish - Stroke can be regarded as an inflammatory disease, and the risk has been strongly associated with both whole fish and fish oil intake. In the Nurses’ Health Study cohort some women had a reduced risk of stroke and a lower incidence of ischaemic strokes – this was from eating any type of fish. Similar results were shown in those with a high intake of Omega-3 oils. Not only do Omega-3 fats decrease inflammation and regulate the amount of fatty triglycerides in your blood, but they also decrease blood clotting and stickiness, “thinning” the blood and improving blood pressure. Oily fish, a great source of inflammation-reducing, heart-protective, Omega-3 oils EPA and DHA, is an ideal food for improving your cardiovascular health and decreasing your stroke risk. Eat at least three servings of cold-water fish like herrings, sardines, mackerel, salmon and pilchards each week. They also help the brain and nervous system.

5. Handle homocysteine - Lowering homocysteine with a combination of vitamin B6, folic acid, vitamin B12, TMG and zinc makes a big difference. If taken for three years, folic acid alone can lower stroke risk by almost a third, according to a recent analysis of trials published in the Lancet. Test your homocysteine level and, if high, supplement a combination of homocysteine-lowering nutrients. These will improve methylation, which helps rewire the brain.

Win three months’ supply of Patrick Holford’s H Factor, by sending an email to hayley@urbanhousemedia.co.za with Wellness Notes with Patrick Holford in the subject line by

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29 Februar y 2016

STAND A CHANCE TO

WIN!

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integrative health

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If you’re in touch with your body you will easily pick up when a pain is unusual and needs close attention.

5 PAINS not to ignore Whether you’re a ‘stiff upper lip’ type or a doctor junkie, some pains can be worrying, while others can be taken in your stride – it’s important to be able to distinguish which pains you need to be concerned about.

did you know?

Although it’s the interpreter of pain, the brain itself does not have pain-sensitive nerves. Only the structures that surround the brain feel pain.

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P

ain is your body’s warning system that something’s not going right inside. Most of us experience aches and pains at some point or another. There are the pains we become familiar with and learn that they’re nothing to stress about, like growing pains, stubbing a toe, or hitting your ‘funny bone’. Then there are pains we’ve never felt before which can invoke a state of sheer panic. It’s imperative to be aware of your body’s history and risk factors helping you live life well

when working out the source of pain – most often the pain we’re feeling is a result of poor posture, unusual physical activity, sleeping uncomfortably or from a common cold or flu.

distinguish which pains you need to be concerned about >

E AV S H CT ST U U D M RO P

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‘Cyberchondria’ is a real thing, so before you get online to Google your symptoms and misdiagnose yourself with a rare and terminal illness, here’s a list of considerations to help you narrow the problem down.

1. Pain that decreases your range of motion – this is a sharp pain that prevents you from moving a body part or stops you from moving altogether.

Joint range of motion refers to both the distance and direction in which your joints can move. There are established ranges that are considered normal for various joints in the body. If you find this motion and range hindered, it could be from dislocation, fractures or joint swelling. Either way, it’s best to seek professional help.

2. Pain that doesn’t go away – if you’ve experienced a pain and taken steps to care for it but the pain isn’t subsiding, it’s wise to investigate and seek help from a professional. Most often we can manage pain with common household remedies and a little tender loving care, but it’s not a good sign if you’ve done everything you can to carefully manage your pain and none of it helps, or your pain only gets worse. This can often be a pain that you get used to – learning to live with pain isn’t a good option.

3. Intense pain – this is when the pain you’re feeling is so intense it causes nausea and vomiting. For example, if you still have your appendix, pay close attention to pain in your middle.

An appendix in trouble will cause incredible pain in the lower right side of your abdomen and can be so severe it will cause you to throw up. If you’re reeling in pain, get help right away.

4. Painful bruising – Bruises are very common and can occur without you even noticing but in some instances, a bruise is a sign that you need medical assistance. If bruising occurs after taking blood thinners, if there’s a lot of swelling in the bruised area or if the bruise hasn’t healed after four weeks, it’s a good idea to check in with a specialist.

5. Pain with swelling – a part of your body is swollen, sensitive to touch and even feels warm. Swelling is typically

the result of inflammation or a buildup of fluid. It can occur internally or externally on your outer skin (from insect bites, for example). Swelling will also look different depending on the affected body part. Swelling is your body’s way of creating space around an affected area in order for it to heal – this doesn’t mean you should always ignore it though. If you have a tumour, your swollen body part might be hard.

If you start vomiting or develop a fever, or if your swelling hasn’t gone down after a day, then you should definitely consider going to a health practitioner.

Dr. BOXALL’s SUTHERLANDIA WITH OLIVE LEAF 400mg/serving Veg Caps 60’s Tincture Drops 20ml

KNOWN AS CANCER BUSH Drops ideal for On-The-Go Support / Gargle Sore Throats • Liver & Urinary Tract Health • Anti-Inflammatory / Anti-Oxidant

• Boosts Immunity & CD4 count • Anti-Viral, Anti-Bacterial & Anti-Fungal

It’s important to understand that everyone experiences pain differently and there are so many different causes of pain. If you’re in touch with your body you will easily pick up when a pain is unusual and needs close attention. It’s probably not a good idea to get a diagnosis online so if you’re unsure, get help and advice from your doctor.

Dr. BOXALL’s GRAVIOLA 1000mg/serving Veg Caps 60’s

LYMPHATIC HEALTH Also known as SOURSOP • Liver & Heart Health • Cleanses Abnormal Cell Growth Proven in-vitro anti-carcinogenic

• Boosts Immunity • Digestive & Lymphatic Support

BOXALL & CARMICHAEL FEMME or HOMME PLUS 750mg/serving Veg Caps 60’s

LIVER IMMUNITY

did you know?

Many women experience breast pain at some stage in their lives.

This doesn’t always indicate cancer, however. Breast pain can be linked to menstrual cycles, blockages or cysts in milk ducts, fatty acid imbalances and even breast size. If your breasts are consistently sore, though, you need to get them checked out.

Evening Primrose is known to assist with fatty acid imbalance and Vitamin E helps with breast pain associated with menstruation.

wellnesswarehouse.com

We all know our livers could use some love.

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• Boosts vitality • Combat Hormone derived Cancers

BOXALL & CARMICHAEL REBOOT 800mg/serving Veg Caps 60’s

ADRENAL IMMUNITY Rebuild the Adrenal Immune System • Treats Burnout & Fatigue • Boost Energy Metabolism

• Rehabilitate Adrenal Function • Boosts Vitality

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In casting fat aside, however, we are losing not only a valuable energy source but also the source of vital fat soluble vitamins, not to mention all the other fantastic things that fats do in our bodies like forming flexible cell membranes, insulating nerves, keeping skin soft and supple and forming hormones and other messengers. There’s a reason some fats are called ‘essential’, we simply have to get them in our diet otherwise our health takes a nose dive. The right fats can help protect you from heart disease and preserve your cognitive function. At least 10% of our diet should be from fat, but what sort of fat?

Natural

health tips supplied by The College of Natural Health

What fats do I need for health?

For decades fat has been vilified. An incredibly efficient source of energy, fat saved our ancestors’ lives, but in today’s world of plenty and sedentary practices, where 35-40% of our diet may be from fat, we can despair when we stand on the bathroom scales.

It’s not surprising that the general public doesn’t fully trust public health messages anymore; we were told to eat margarine not butter, then margarine was found to have the nasty ‘trans’ fats that cause heart disease; we were told to ‘go to work on an egg’ then there was the cholesterol scare, then it was declared eggs were OK again. My advice for navigating the maze is to follow your Granny’s advice

‘a little of what you fancy does you good’ and your Gran wasn’t talking about ready meals or junk food!

Eat fresh, seasonal wholesome food, organic where possible.

If you fancy occasional cakes or pastries, go for it, but make them yourself from scratch, or get them from someone who uses good quality ingredients, so you know what’s in them and the ingredients don’t look like a chemistry lesson.

Make vegetables the dominant rainbow on your plate and if you are a meat eater, buy good quality organic meat and consume it as a treat. Try to get 2 to 3 portions of oily fish such as mackerel or sardines each week. Or consider taking a good quality fish oil supplement, but please note that you get what you pay for in fish oils: have a chat with your health store staff about the varieties available. If you need some help balancing the fats in your diet or you’re worried about the impact of fat on a particular health problem, find a natural health practitioner who is able to help you assess your diet.

did you know?

Most people in developed countries gain an average of just 1g of extra body fat a day - but 1 gram a day is 365 grams of extra body fat in a year. Calculating this from the age of 25 to the age of 50 it means by your 50th birthday you would have gained almost 10 kilogram of excess body fat.

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helping you live life well

This article was written by Nutritional Therapist Georgie O’Conner for CNH (College of Natural Health). CNH trains students across South Africa for successful careers in natural health, and offers Short Courses in a range of natural therapies. www. collegeofnaturalhealth.co.za

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eco mom & baby

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Natural birth in the right environment with the right support can be an ecstatic and pain free experience.

Labour of love

We speak to Suzette Bester-Cloete, a social entrepreneur and natural birth enthusiast about the possibility of pain free birth and an empowered and beautiful approach to pregnancy.

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helping you live life well

lovewell

eco mom & baby

I

t was Suzette Bester-Cloete’s own experience of being pregnant that led her to become a professional doula (birthing partner) and then even further down the road to create a dedicated birthing facility.

It’s more than just a facility though – Origin Maternity Hospital is equipped with a state of the art theatre complex, and all the doctors, obstetricians and professionals anyone would ever need. But it also comes with a philosophy completely different to the one you get in standard hospitals. We spoke to Suzette to find out what brought her on the crazy journey from a career in marketing to spearheading a hospital.

“When I was pregnant I assumed I would be given an opportunity to choose where and how I want to give birth. After seeing 3 obstetricians, and each one of them insisting I opt for a C-section I felt bullied.

“You look like a C-section client”, said the one. “I felt my power had been taken away from me.”

“From then, I got myself a midwife and rather than any medical interferences I had a ‘hormone driven’ natural birth. I had an amazing birth. My midwife gave me emotional support, advice, care and everything I needed.

Talking to other women I realized how many of them have been traumatised by the medical environment. The more women I spoke to, the more stories I heard. Many of them felt they’d been robbed of having a natural birth.”

Statistics show that the rate of C-section births in South Africa in private hospitals is higher than anywhere else in the world.

According to an article in the Guardian, up to 90% of pregnant private hospital patients opt for C-section in parts of Cape Town, far exceeding the World Health Organisation

did you know?

Women who use a doula as a birthing partner experience 60% less pain than women who don’t.

limit of 15% and far exceeding international ratios. South African Caesarean section rates worry experts because the procedures are often based on convenience, not medical necessity.

Researching the different experiences women have had when opting for a natural birth as opposed to a C-section is the entire reason Suzette made it her life’s mission to create positive birth experiences. There is a huge difference in the way Mum’s bond with their children, in the continuing relationship between mother and father of the child, the rate of post-natal depression and so much more. Firstly traditional hospital births are conducted with the mother-to-be on her back. This is not necessarily the position women feel most comfortable in and can make the experience a whole lot more painful. Standing, kneeling or squatting is a more natural and instinctive way to give birth yet allowance isn’t made for this.

Being in a clinical environment with bright lights and harsh noises isn’t conducive to the body relaxing and feeling safe enough to relax so contractions can start naturally.

In a sterile environment it’s very difficult for labour to progress, the body registers the environment as an unfriendly one. As a result many births are induced. This creates danger and possible complications. There’s a high chance of having to perform an emergency C-section.

Babies at Origin are not separated from their Mum’s after birth. They are given immediate skin-to-skin contact. Research shows the first hour after birth lays the foundation for the psychiatric wellbeing of the child for the rest of their life. Suzette cites the high levels of anxiety in the world today as partly a result of not having that early bonding experience.

Not only is it not necessary to take the baby away from the mother it has negative effects and creates trauma for both.

“The birthing environment should be very similar to the environment where you make love - warm, soft lighting, with beautiful music and familiar smells. It should be an environment that allows complete relaxation”, says Suzette. Just as a cat may wait until everyone is asleep and then crawl into a cupboard where it’s peaceful dark and warm, instinctively women feel similarly.

“There’s a physiological orchestration of hormones that in the right conditions will naturally support the birth. You go into your primordial brain – it’s like a labour ‘bubble’

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lovewell

eco mom & baby

and can be an ecstatic experience, the oxytocin is in charge. When you stretch the birth canal and hormones are secreted its an incredible experience, almost like skydiving,” says Suzette. “Women in traditional hospitals don’t get to experience this.

When working as a doula in previous hospitals, all the birth wisdom practiced is completely opposite to normal procedures and there was a lot of conflict between ‘doctors orders’ and instinctive methods that created difficulties. It was very frustrating for me. The mothers felt guilty for not wanting to follow doctor’s orders, and they felt compromised too. I couldn’t wait to be in a facility where natural birthing was encouraged, promoted and supported.

As time went by I realized the medical system is flawed. It’s a broken system.

Firstly low-risk healthy women in South Africa believe that obstetricians are the best caregivers, however the schedules of obstetricians do not allow for natural birth to unfold in its own time. Hospitals follow procedures that enable the smooth running of the hospital, not necessarily with the birthing family’s needs at heart. Every procedure is booked in advance to ensure theatres operate on a profitable basis.

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Babies are taken away from Mum’s shortly after the birth and often given a top-up feed / bottle without the mother’s consent.

Babies are not allowed to feed on demand, which establishes the production of breastmilk, but rather ‘trained’ to feed four hourly. This makes it difficult for mothers to establish breastfeeding and women often feel they have failed, when they can’t breastfeed. Breastmilk is the best for babies, it has soporific qualities that calm babies down.

A women in labour needs to switch off from the world around her, enter her primordial brain and follow her instincts. She needs to enable her body to secrete the love hormone, Oxytocin which get’s the labour and birth process started. However if she secretes any adrenalin, for whatever reason, the secretion of Oxytocin and other labour hormones will stop, which in fact could stop the labour progressing. This is what happens to most women when they enter a hospital room. They feel anxious, scared and the environment is cold and clinical, not homely and warm.

Suzette, as a doula experienced a situation where her client was totally relaxed, ready to climb into the birth bath and get relief from the warm water. She was coping so well with her contractions when the

helping you live life well

obstetrician walked in and at the top of his voice exclaimed: “how on earth will we get her out of the bath if she collapses”. This statement immediately made the woman start secreting adrenalin. It was a comment with doubt and fear which made her totally anxious. Eventually she asked for the obstetrician to leave the room so she could get her focus back again.

Research also shows that bonding is more complete on many different levels when there’s a natural birth. There is more eye contact between mother and child and they form closer relationships. In a study with sheep, researchers found that ewe’s tend to reject their young, if the lambs were born via C-section.

A strong conviction that natural birthing principles will bring families closer together, reduce and even eliminate post natal depression and a host of other benefits influenced Suzettes decision to open a centre dedicated to giving women the birth experience they deserve.

Origin Maternity Hospital is situated in Cape Town and offers natural birthing, water birthing and softer more natural C-section births when they are absolutely necessary. www.originmaternityhospitals.co.za

kloof street clinic

We believe in empowering you to make the best decisions for your health. We’re always getting better so that you can, too. We don’t only believe in getting better, though. We believe in being and staying well. With this in mind, WellClinic is proud to offer you some new services.

Check your Wellness status within minutes.

WELLNESS BASICS: new

Thyroid rapid test

new

Prostate rapid test

new

Uric acid test

new

pH test

new

Blood group

THYROID RAPID TEST

PROSTATE RAPID TEST

What does it check: The level of Thyroid Stimulating Hormone(TSH) Method: Using a drop of blood determines if there is an elevated level of TSH

For whom: All men 40-45 years and older Method: Drop of blood to detect Prostate Specific Antigen

Main Signs and Symptoms: OVERACTIVE THYROID all body functions tend to speed up: • Heat intolerance • Insomnia • Elevated or irregular heartbeat • Increased appetite • Sudden weight loss • Fine trembling in hands and fingers

Signs to be aware of: • • • •

Urinating frequently Weak or interrupted urine stream Pain or burning during urination Pus or blood in urine or semen

High Risk Patients: • • •

Patients with family history Obesity High fat diets

UNDERACTIVE THYROID all body functions slow down: • Cold Intolerance • Puffy face, hands and feet • Weight gain • Constipation • Fatigue • Dry, rough skin & brittle hair or hair loss

Ask our clinic sister for more information or call 021 487 5430 to make an appointment.

Available at Wellness Warehouse Kloof, Lifestyle on Kloof, 50 Kloof Street, Cape Town.

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lookwell Did you know the location of blemishes on your face corresponds to various organs in your body that are crying out for tender loving care? When we ignore acne or treat it as merely an uncomfortable beauty problem, we minimize the important information our symptoms are trying to tell us.”

Smooth Flawless Skin for Life

by Esosa E. (also known as ‘Raw Girl’)

Having great skin can boost your confidence, mood, and energy. As someone who suffered from acne, I know firsthand what it feels like to be self-conscious in social situations or professional settings, all because of blemishes on my face.

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helping you live life well

lookwell

W

hen dealing with acne whether chronic, or minor but consistent flare-ups, the first step to change is getting fed up with not looking and feeling your best. After that you may choose to consult a doctor or dermatologist who will most likely prescribe you a range of lotions, creams, or even hormones to try to control your symptoms. While medical advice is always essential, prescriptions tend to put a temporary band-aid and it’s important to address the root problem. If you are truly serious about achieving that seemingly effortless natural glow, here are a few tips I learned from my own journey that helped me achieve flawless skin in the long term.

1. Treat acne as a warning sign Most of us think of acne as solely a cosmetic issue, but the truth is it runs much deeper. Did you know that the location of the blemishes on your face corresponds to various organs in your body that are crying out for tender loving care? When we ignore acne or treat it as merely an uncomfortable beauty problem, we minimize the important information our symptoms are trying to tell us. One incredible natural treatment that can bring your organs back into to balance is acupuncture. An integral part of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture involves the insertion of needles into strategic points on the body to unblock energy flow or ‘chi’.

You may be wondering: “How can needles fix the zit on my forehead?” But think about your body like a vehicle. When any part of the vehicle is not functioning optimally it affects the flow and eventually the car won’t run properly. When our organs are either overworked or weak, because of the wrong fuel (diet), or other factors, eventually we will show outward signs of imbalance.

Take the warning sign seriously, and you’ll be more likely to discover the root cause and make lifestyle changes necessary for healing.

did you know?

Whether you do hot yoga or regular saunas, sweating releases toxins through the body’s largest organ, the skin.

2. Detoxify your body regularly One of the first things I did on the road to achieving flawless skin, is to begin juicing organic fruits and vegetables. Making time for some form of detox is essential - it gives the digestive system a break and allows toxins and old waste to be flushed out the body. Juice cleansing is a wonderful way to give the body nutrition and detoxify. You can also detoxify through sweating. Another simple way to facilitate detoxification, is to drink adequate amounts of water.

Most of us are chronically dehydrated and do not know it. Dehydration affects mood, performance, and of course your appearance! Begin the habit of carrying the purest water source available to you in a bottle everywhere you go. As you hydrate, you will find digestion improves and bowel movements become more regular, which will improve the quality of your skin.

3. Manage Stress In our modern world of hustle, bustle, and smart phones, stress has become the norm. No matter how great your lifestyle is, stress can erode any positive benefits, lower your immunity, and eventually cause disease. Manage stress by developing healthy rituals that allow you to unplug.

Whether meditation, prayer, yoga, or other mindfulness techniques, reducing stress will keep you on the road to optimal health and also radiant skin. If you are stressed about your skin like I was, take time to release. Visualize yourself blemish-free, happy, and healthy. As you accept where you are while holding the vision of where you would like to be, you’ll find your anxiety dissipates.

4. Eliminate Processed Foods As the saying goes, ‘you are what you eat’.

If you want to look like an oily, salty, bag of potato chips, then by all means, eat them. If you prefer to radiate the energy and life force of fresh organic produce, then choose to include more fruits and vegetables in your diet. Processed foods are unnatural and hard for the body to digest. When food is not digested properly, your colon eventually backs up. The best diet to heal your skin, is a whole food diet.

Avoid packaged food and fried food. You may also find that even if for a short time, you can experience huge benefits from avoiding dairy products because dairy is acidic and mucus forming. Whatever you choose, the best rule of thumb is to read your food labels, and don’t eat anything with ingredients you do not understand. helping you live life well

5. Clean Your Colon The colon is the bodies’ sewage system.

When your colon gets clogged with waste from unnatural foods that begin to ferment in the system, a range of things can happen including disease, or blemishes appearing on the skin. It is incredibly important to regularly clean your colon. Do this by: fasting, juice cleansing, and colonic irrigation. Colonic irrigation is the process of infusing a gallon of more of water through the rectum to flush out old waste. Anyone with colon issues, polyps, or growths on the colon should not try colonic irrigation.

If you are concerned consult with your medical doctor prior to treatment. Psyllium seed husks are also a great colon cleanser as they are indigestible and a great source of soluble dietary fiber. Psyllium acts like a scrub, moving waste out of the body and can relieve constipation. There are colon cleanses in pill form available from health outlets. Whatever method you choose, remember to drink more water to facilitate the process.

Esosa E.also known as ‘RawGirl’ is a holistic lifestyle expert whose personal health crises and battle with acne led her to change her diet and begin avid studies of holistic health. She is the creator of Raw Girl in a Toxic World, a health blog where her writings about a range of health topics have been published online. To date she has written several books including: The Acne-Free Diet, a guide to healing acne naturally for life, and Parasites Be Gone!, Raw Girl’s guide to cleansing the body of internal parasites. Her latest book Got Veg? How to Thrive on a Plant-Based Diet, is available online in ebook and print formats on Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, Barnes & Nobles, BookBaby, and more.

Outside of her passion for health, Esosa is a producer, actress, and fashion designer.

For ongoing health tips and discussion visit her blog at rawgirltoxicworld.com and for more about her overall adventures as a creative entrepreneur visit esosae.com.

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livewell do it yourself

"

Self-love is possibly the most important thing you can practice to feel whole and accepted by others.

LIVING WITH MORE LOVE

by Kirsten Alexander

Create more love in your life. This article looks at the benefit of hugs, healing from heartbreak and different forms of love from altruism to agape.

did you know?

A 75-yearlong study, conducted by a group of Harvard researchers, has revealed that love is really all that matters. The participants’ lifelong experiences revealed that happiness and life fulfilment revolved around love or simply searching for love.

W

e understand more about the earth, the universe and human anatomy than we will probably ever understand about love. It’s one of the few things that transcend every social law we can conjure up because it’s completely irrational by nature – even in a biological sense. Wars have been fought over it, empires have risen and fallen over it, it’s the theme for timeless stories, poems and songs, and is the substance of hope that keeps us alive on the darkest days and coldest nights.

We’ve all experienced love in some form or another and we all understand that

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helping you live life well

love comes in a variety of shades. This is probably what makes it so difficult to explain or define. We can feel love for our family, our pets, our friends, significant others, those no longer with us and even love for people we’ve never met. We feel good when we give love, make love and feel loved.

7 SELF-LOVE MANTRAS >

livewell do it yourself

LOVE HEALS The idea of the healing power of love isn’t just a poetically romantic notion; there’s a great deal of physical benefit to love. Love has been linked to eustress, a euphoric stress on the body that can promote good health and wellbeing. Studies have shown that spending time with someone you love lowers your blood pressure, decreases your likelihood of becoming depressed, boosts your body’s immunity and leads to a longer life.

Hugs and other forms of nonsexual physical soothing, like hand-holding and head stroking, intervene at a physical level to help the brain and the body calm down from overwhelming states of anxiety, panic and shame. Hugs especially encourage bonding by increasing the levels of oxytocin in the body – a chemical that makes us feel trust and belonging, happiness and appreciation.

Even hearing the words ‘I love you’ or simply thinking about someone you love evokes positive feelings and lowers your levels of stress and anxiety. There’s no denying a connection between the feeling of love and a physical reaction. Stress cardiomyopathy, known as the broken heart syndrome is a rare but lethal heart condition caused by acute emotional distress and is intrinsically linked to love. There are many cases of elderly couples passing within minutes of each other so as not to live another day without their other half.

LOVE HURTS You’re not going mad – sometimes love really does hurt. There’s an interesting neural tie between social and physical pain; and this link has been shown, not only in human beings, but in animals too.

Areas of the brain associated with affective pain become active when we feel socially distressed. In other words, when you’ve been hurt by someone you love in an emotional way, your body can react in a physical way, leaving you in pain.

Since physical pain is indication of something gone wrong in the body, you might feel some anxiety or worry about having the pain. The good news is, emotional pain is not a threat to your survival – you will be okay and the pain will subside after you allow yourself to feel it.

Understand that it’s okay to feel sad and cry – this is a natural reaction to the pain

you’re feeling. It’s so important to release your negative thoughts. You can do this through meditating and distracting yourself with activities that make you feel good.

It’s equally important to avoid getting mired in activities that make you feel bad – like listening to love songs, looking at old photographs of you and your love and spending time in places you used to share together. Even though your experience is unique, talking to someone about how you’re feeling will go a long way in helping you feel accepted and see that you’re not alone. No matter how hard, you need to think positive thoughts about yourself; even if you’re not entirely convinced they’re true thoughts, it’s important to practice them anyway.

Feeling the pain of a lost love can be debilitating and this can lead to patterns that make you feel worse and hinder our healing. Simple things like a good night’s sleep, eating healthy food regularly, drinking enough water and grooming yourself are obvious practises that help ease emotional pain and assist feeling ‘normal’ again.

WHAT IS LOVE As complex as love is, it can be seen in four basic forms. The one you’ll most likely recognise is a passionate and intense love, sometimes called lust. It’s the ‘high’ you get when you’ve fallen in love and is most often sexual and romantic. This love can be fleeting and may not last unless it grows into a deeper, unconditional love.

The kind of love you feel for your family and friends is a committed, sacrificial love and makes you feel secure, comfortable and safe. It’s an unconditional love and deeper than passionate lust.

You can also feel a kind of affectionate, warm and tender platonic love; a fondness and appreciation for someone in your life.

You may feel protective of this person and wish only the best for them in life. This can be a love between a teacher and student, au pair and child, or for someone that’s important to a person you’re with.

The last category of love is a committed and chosen love that has elements of compromise, sacrifice and giving and expecting nothing in return. This is a kind of altruistic love, known also as Agape. This kind of love is special because it transcends the ego and reaches out to even your wellnesswarehouse.com

enemies. You may not particularly like a person but you may love them as a human being regardless of their flaws, shortcomings or faults.

It’s believed that to make love last with your significant other, you need to feel all four categories of love. As you progress in your relationship, your love should grow until it’s filled with each kind of love there is.

LOVE YOURSELF People may love you with all their hearts and you can still feel incomplete and unloved.

This is often because humans have a hard time believing that someone could love us when we don’t completely love ourselves.

Self-love is possibly the most important thing you can practice to feel whole and accepted by others. Often the people we are most attracted to are those that exude self-confidence and don’t seem too concerned with what other people think.

We subscribe to a culture that perpetuates the idea we’re not complete without another person; so we’re in constant pursuit of a soul-mate or an ‘other’. It’s vital to let go of society’s view of success to understand that to love and be loved by ourselves will bring great happiness.

7 SELF-LOVE MANTRAS >

1. I know who I am, and I am enough 2. I choose to think thoughts that serve me well 3. I love challenges and what I learn from overcoming them 4. My body is my vehicle in life; I choose to fill it with goodness 5. I am worthy of respect and being acknowledged 6. I choose to focus on progress, rather than perfection 7. I will not let what other people say or do affect the way I view myself

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livewell grow your own

did you know?

In ancient Rome it was common practice to put a rose on the door of a room where secret matters were in discussion. The phrase ‘sub rosa’ (under the rose) comes from this practice and means ‘to keep a secret’.

Coming up roses

Growing good roses is not difficult, provided you meet a few basic requirements including good food, water, air circulation, sunlight and soil.

V

ery few soils are naturally good for growing roses and it is therefore necessary to transform the bed into a rose’s preferred environment. Compost, manure and other rotten organic matter will improve almost any soil type. It is, of course, essential that the soil is well drained. Very light or sandy soils can always be replaced with a pre-packed soil for roses and shrubs.

Position roses in an open, sunny spot that gets sufficient air movement (one that’s protected from hot summer winds). Make sure there are no competitors like larger or vigorous trees and shrubs in the rose area.

When planting, it is important to leave space between the roses. This differs depending on the type of rose and the vigour of the variety.

If in doubt, follow this basic guideline.

• • • •

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Hybrid Tea, Floribunda and English roses: 75cm - 1,25m apart Climber and Ramblers: 2m - 3m apart Miniatures: 30cm - 50cm apart Old Fashioned: 1,5m - 5m apart

10 Points to Remember 1.

Do not disturb the soil around rose bushes during the growing season.

2. Always dispose of cuttings - don’t leave them lying around on the ground.

3. Occasionally inspect the ties of your standard rose trees and loosen them if necessary.

4. Remove all old rose flowers continually throughout the year.

5. Always dig square holes.

6. Never re-plant a new rose in the same soil as an old one.

7. Read and comply with the instructions for sprays and feeds, etc.

8. Don’t use the same spray continuously alternate them.

9. Do this year what you didn’t do last year.

10. If in any doubt, consult a knowledgeable horticulturist.

Rose Pruning The first rule of pruning roses is not to be intimidated by the thought of pruning! Most mistakes will grow out and it is better for the plant to be pruned than to leave it to grow

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uncontrolled. Pruning is usually done in midJuly to encourage new growth, remove dead or diseased wood, to improve air and light movement in the centre of the plant and to improve the shape of the plant. You will use a good pair of sharp secateurs and long-handled loppers for the thick branches. Roses which flower once in Spring are pruned after flowering.

•

Prune to open up the centre of the plant.

The cut should be a clean one, at a 45˚ angle, above a bud that is facing outward.

• Remove damaged or diseased branches as well as weak and spindly twigs.

• Remove suckers that have grown below the graft union.

• Seal with Steriseal and spray the plant and the surrounding soil with lime sulphur.

Dilute 1 to 10 parts water.

• Most Hybrid tea and Floribunda roses are pruned like this so the blooms will develop on new wood. Exceptions to this are: - Ramblers and Climbers which are pruned to remove damage and dead wood and to shape the plant and keep the size manageable.

Ramblers can be pruned straight after flowering if required.

livewell grow your own

- Modern Shrub roses need one third of the older branches to be removed.

- Miniature roses which just need to be shaped.

Roses & Companion Planting The correct companion plants assist the growth and health of the host plant.

• To help control aphids plant the following amongst your roses: Chives, garlic, Tansy, Nasturtiums, Basil, Coriander, feverfew, Pyrethrum, parsley, Southernwood and wormwood.

• To help control mildew plant the following amongst your roses: Chives and garlic.

• To help control red spider mite plant the following amongst your roses: Rhubarb, feverfew, pyrethrum, lemon grass, wormwood and Coriander.

• To help against rust plant the following amongst your roses: Chamomile and Pyrethrum.

AFTERCARE What to do throughout the year: Mid-January Feed each rose with a Starke Ayres 3:1:5 Organic plant food and water-in well. Check your plants for signs of rust fungus and continue with your spray continuously.

End January Give your roses their summer pruning. Carefully fork into the soil the old mulch and replace it with a thick layer of new mushroom compost.

Mid-February Feed each rose with 3:2:1 and water-in well.

Continue spraying.

Mid-April Feed each rose with 2:3:2 plant food and water-in well.

May Less watering should be needed now.

Purchase new lime sulphur to be ready to

Get all your garden essentials from

begin spraying next month.

Late June Spray with lime sulphur before pruning.

July Begin your main winter pruning. Immediately afterwards spray the roses as well as the soil around them with Lime Sulphur. Spray again in another 10-14 days. Fork the soil over lightly but be careful not to dig too close to the plants.

Spread manure around each base and water well if the weather has been dry.

Early August Feed each rose with 2:3:2 plant food and water well.

Early September Feed each rose with 3:1:5 plant food and water well. Keep a look out for aphids (greenfly / blackfly) and rust (bright orange fungus on the underside of leaves). Use Kombat Aphids and Kombat Rust respectively but do not apply together.

Late September Apply a decent layer of mushroom compost over the entire bed and good mulch such as bark nuggets around the base of each plant.

Begin deep watering – twice a week at first and then according to weather conditions. Remove old flowers continuously.

Mid-October Give each rose 3:2:1 and water-in well. Begin to spray your roses every 10 to 14 days.

STARKE AYRES GARDEN CENTRE

ROSE COCKTAIL Spray weekly on top and bottom surfaces of leaves. This cocktail will help to control fungal problems and supplies supplementary feeding to your roses.

Mix into 10 litres of water.

1. Contact fungicide: Kombat Rust 50g or Dithane 20g Alternate the above weekly with a Systemic fungicide: Funginex 10ml or Fungirid 2ml 2. Wetting agent and PH buffer: • Insure 10ml or Liquid soap 30ml • Vinegar 45ml (Liquid soap is a sticker & vinegar acidifies water for optimum penetration into the leaves of the systemic fungicide) 3. Foliar feed: • Nitrosol 40ml or Kombat Fish emulsion • 40ml or Organisol 50ml You can apply Trelmix (trace elements) 10ml or Kelpak (growth stimulant) 250ml once a month instead.

Add an insecticide only if necessary.

Mid-November Feed each rose with Starke Ayres 3:1:5 Organic plant food and water-in well. Continue to spray regularly.

Mid- to End December Start watering your roses overhead, they will appreciate a cooling shower and it is helpful in keeping red spider mites away/ feed each rose with 3:2:1 and water-in well. Continue spraying.

Starke Ayres Garden Centre supply plants, gardening products and landscaping services.

They have a range of flowers and seed, and expert advice to help you with growing.

WIN WIN WIN

Both the Rosebank and West Coast branch of Starke Ayres Garden Centre will be issuing a prize of Starke Ayres Rose Food & Starke Ayres 3:1:5 Organic. All you have to do is attach your purchase slip with your name, phone number and email address into the in-store competition box. Note that this applies to all purchases over R150 and is valid for the month of February 2016. Starke Ayres Garden Centre will contact the winner telephonically end of February 2016.

Starke Ayres Rosebank, 21 Liesbeek Parkway, Rosebank, Cape Town Tel: 021 685 4120 Starke Ayres West Coast Garden Centre, West Coast Village Shopping Centre, Sunningdale, Cape Town Tel: 021 554 8450

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movewell

fitness, sleep & massage

"

Belly dancing is great for burning calories, toning muscles and mental clarity. It aids digestion and promotes better sleep.

Open your Hips

by Cheryl Stevens

Tight hips are a modern day phenomenon. Wondering if you have them? Chances are you do… and your job is to blame! Why do we have such tight hips you ask? It’s due to our hip flexors shortening throughout the day as a result of sitting for long periods of time. Whether it’s at your desk, in the car or in front of the TV we are spending too much time sitting and being stationary.

did you know?

Ballet is a strengthening exercise for the whole body, including the legs, buttocks, lower and upper back and muscles of the feet.

Traditional ballet exercises require rising onto the balls of the feet, turning the leg at the hip socket and holding high leg extensions to the front and side of the body.

This will build strength and flexibility in the hip, lower leg, ankle and foot.

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A

dded to that are many of the sports we do today like running and cycling that further shorten our leg muscles and make the hips even tighter. When you sit a lot, your body is in a specific position: knees are bent at 90 degrees, your hips are flexed at 90 degrees, the pelvis is tucked, your arms are internally rotated and your head is forward.

Start to think of exercise that takes your body out of this position. Sadly, cycling and most gym equipment keep you in that same knees bent, hips flexed, forward shoulders position. Instead, activities like walking, swimming, yoga and dancing all encourage hip extension – which is what your body needs most to counteract the effects of all that sitting. Find some new moves this year and besides getting healthy, have fun and make friends along the way.

helping you live life well

If you are in a desk job and sit all day, try a few easy changes through the day to combat stiffness: • • • • • •

• • •

Get up and walk around every 20 – 30 minutes.

Take the stairs Stand or walk around when talking on the phone Have a standing meeting At the photocopier balance on one leg (discreetly!)

Stand in front of the rubbish bin and lift your leg up to rest on the lip of the bin.

Ensure the standing leg is straight and strong. Swap legs.

Practice perfect posture in your chair.

Don’t cross your legs when sitting Sitting with your buttocks heavy in your chair, twist your spine to the right and hold onto the arm of chair. Hold for a few breaths and repeat on the left.

Keep the spine long and tall throughout the twist.

movewell

fitness, sleep & massage

•

•

Take both arms up overhead and stretch towards the ceiling, keeping the buttocks grounded to the chair.

Look up to the ceiling if the neck is strong enough.

Sitting at your desk with your legs under the desk, raise one leg so the foot is parallel to the knee. Hold. See if you can lift the foot higher than the knee, but watch out for the desk! Repeat on other side.

Thinking of a new exercise routine for 2016? Try dancing. Dance is a great way to get fit, get those hips moving, become active and join a group.

Belly Dancing

Belly dancing puts the joints and ligaments in the lower back and hips through a full range of gentle, repetitive motions. The muscles surrounding the hip are used and exercised during hip drops and circles. Belly dancing is great for burning calories, toning muscles and mental clarity. It aids digestion and promotes better sleep.

Pole Dancing

When people think of fitness they rarely think of pole dancing. Not only is it a great way to embrace your inner sexiness, but it also has numerous health benefits. Pole dancing focuses on strengthening the muscles and developing strong bones and connective tissue. There is no impact on the joints in pole dancing and it promotes increased joint mobility. Mobility and flexibility are key benefits.

Latin & Ballroom Dancing

l a c i m w Che

al

Sexy up your hips with Latin dancing hip gyrations. Salsa, the Tango, the Rumba and all Latin dancing requires healthy strong joints and muscles. The hip work in Latin dancing is smooth and sleek requiring balance and strength. The mental alertness and concentration required in a dance routine is great exercise for the brain, keeping it stimulated and working.

Traditional ballroom dancing may appeal to an older audience, but don’t under estimate the fitness required for these disciplines.

Ballroom dancing requires agility and grace which come through fitness, joint mobility, muscle strength and cardio fitness.

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Adult Ballet

For those who always wanted to, but never did, now is the time to take up ballet. More and more dance studios offer adult ballet. wellnesswarehouse.com

For an adult beginner, a ballet workout will improve posture and alignment. This helps grace and ease of movement and improves balance which is vital in more mature students. Ballet requires extension and length of muscle and ligaments. Ballet strengthens and tones the core muscles, the stomach and back and brings mobility and health to the joints.

Yoga

Yoga is all about extension. No matter which type of yoga you choose, it is about creating length in the muscles and joints.

Yoga requires deep core strength to be able to execute an asana (posture) and hold the asana with ease, for a period of time. Yoga is a sequence of asana’s that take the body into a variety of shapes and out of the traditional seated shape. Placing your body and limbs in unusual shapes, brings blood and oxygen to the joints and muscles, creates strength and flexibility in the joints and an excellent mental awareness of the body.

10 0% H erbal

•

HIIT

High-Intensity Interval Training was the biggest craze of 2015. From Boot camps, indoor cycling and rowing, boxing and burpies, the idea of giving it all, then resting, then repeating has proven to burn calories and burn fat. Choose a Boot camp in your neighbourhood and start your day outside in nature with your community.

did you know?

Our body has 360 joints in total and the hip joint is one of the most important in the human body. It is one of the strongest and most secure joints in the body that allows us to walk, run, and jump.

It carries the body’s weight and endures considerable strain during daily activates like walking. Yet the hip joint is also one of our most flexible joints and allows a greater range of motion than all other joints in the body except for the shoulder.

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lovewell di it yourself

Relationship fixes

By Cheryl Stevens

Love is in the air and romance is on the menu for February. If you are not feeling very romantic and choosing a Valentine activity seems more of a chore than a desire, then perhaps you need to take a deeper look at your relationship. Here are 5 useful relationship guidelines to start with.

"

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helping you live life well

They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered F. Scott Fitzgerald

lovewell di it yourself

1. Build a strong foundation A relationship, just like a 10 story building needs a good foundation. Ask yourself: have you laid down a strong impenetrable foundation to build your relationship? This happens naturally when you invest in the relationship and in your partner. Think about what you fell in love with in the first place and the reasons you are in your relationship. Does he or she make you feel like the most important and special person on the planet? Can you be 100% yourself warts and all? Small ongoing acts of love build a relationship and make your partner feel good about him or herself. Love is a selfless act and requires nothing in return.

All our thoughts, words and actions should be selfless, requiring nothing in return but rather contributing to building your partner and relationship up positively.

TIP: Just like gratitude is proven to create happiness – add intentional appreciation and affection into your relationship every day.

2. Communicate All relationships in life require good communication and all people need to be heard. Your voice and point of view is important and communication can be difficult when you are feeling hurt or abused. Find a way to communicate that is constructive and productive. The process of communicating is more important than the content. Use the facts, stick to the story and keep emotion out of it. Don’t add fuel to the fire by bringing up old behaviour that can easily spiral the conversation into negativity. If you feel yourself getting upset or angry, take time out; take a deep breath, walk away and decide to carry the conversation on another day when you are calmer. Choose the right time to air a complaint, when you know your partner will take the feedback well. You have the ability to control your responses and how you lead the discussion forward. Take any feedback positively as an opportunity to improve yourself and work together to overcome any problems holding you and the relationship back.

by saying ‘When you (fill in the blank), it makes me feel inadequate’.

3. Say you’re sorry The most important word in a relationship is ‘sorry’. Whether you are right or wrong a relationship is between two people and both will benefit by being able to say sorry. Sorry is a brave word that for many people, is not easy to say. Both partners always have a part to play in any rift and there is always cause to take responsibility for your part. Even if your role is smaller or less significant in a rift, standing up and taking responsibility shows maturity and commitment towards sorting things out.

Own your mistakes, take responsibility for them, and for the growth of the relationship.

TIP: Even if you feel totally in the right, you can still say ‘I’m sorry we are going through such a difficult challenge’ or ‘I’m sorry you feel that way’.

4. Compromise is the key Compromise is key to finding a balance in any relationship. All couples spend lots of time together and have lots of balls to juggle in their busy lives. Finding a middle ground so everyone wins is a big factor in keeping the balance. Do you give your time freely and work to find ways to come up with a good solution for daily conundrums? Take turns lifting the kids, her turn to walk the dog, his turn to do the shopping and together choose a new colour paint for the bathroom. Work together to find a system that benefits you both. If it’s not working, then change the plan and find a new way of doing things together.

TIP: If there’s a chore you absolutely hate doing and it’s causing contention in the

relationship, negotiate a swap. Come clean and admit you’re never going to mop up the floor after your shower, but you’re very happy to do the early morning school run to compensate.

5. Invest in time Find time for your relationship. Like any new sport or hobby, it requires time and practice to get it right. Relationships are no different. Invest in your relationship and your partner by creating time to be together. Choose activities that you can both enjoy. Learn about each other intimately – what he likes and doesn’t like, what excites him, what he is passionate about. If you don’t have much time together, make the time you do have count. Rather than filling it with trivial arguments – skip the drama and focus on the positives you have together. Moments can be as important as big slugs of time and the small things do count. Make your partner a cup of tea in the morning, put a love note in somewhere strategic. Surprise him or her with lunch at the office. Buy a book they’ve expressed interest in. Kiss your partner hello and goodbye.

TIP: Have at least one regular time slot a week where you schedule breakfast together or a walk or something similar.

The things in life that are worth having, require focus and dedication. Investing in your relationship will make it flourish.

Nurture your partner at the same time as working on your own responses and behaviour. Be aware daily how you contribute to the relationship. Grow your relationship. It will blossom when filled with love and good intention. Make one change at a time. The love you receive back will be worth every minute invested.

Be bold and decide to have an amazing relationship. You can do it.

TIP: Changing the way you say something can make such a difference to the response you get. Rather than saying ‘You make me feel so inadequate’, which has an air of accusation, invite a more understanding response from your partner helping you live life well

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livewell do it yourself

"

We become stuck when our limited awareness and frame of reference blinds us from seeing more helpful ways of doing things and ways of being which create options for change

Switching to a

POSITIVE PARADIGM

by Alex van Oostveen

Contemporary society doesn’t seem to have a natural social system that promotes mentors. Yet there are so many times in our lives when we need objective feedback on decisions and life directions. That’s probably why using a life coach is becoming so popular. We speak to life coach Alex van Oostveen about what the role a life coach plays and how it might help.

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helping you live life well

livewell do it yourself

P

eople generally come to a life coach when they realise they need help making a change in their life. A life coach acts as a trusted observer who supports growth and then also challenges unhelpful ways of doing and being. People that focus on the changes they need or want create a life of awareness, happiness and authentic control.

A coach will help individuals and groups develop awareness, creating internal shifts that lead to measurable behavioural change. People can be unhappy or stuck without consciously knowing it. Change starts with an acknowledgement that there are more options available in how we are within ourselves or how we relate to others and the world. It is a strange characteristic of humans that we often spend much or all of our lives being stuck. And what’s more, even though we know this about ourselves we can still continue doing it.

How do we recognize that it’s time for change?

There may be feelings or thoughts that occur every time we are faced by a certain kind of situation which play out in the same undesired way repeatedly. From a psychological standpoint, we are likely to be setting ourselves up for these patterns, something we recognise as sub conscious self-sabotage. Personal interactions where both parties are left feeling angry or hurt are also clues that we may be offering and accepting ‘hooks’ into drama patterns. In short, from a behaviour perspective we notice acts that bring about undesired outcomes.

did you know?

Coaches enable inner transformation that results in behavioural change.

They use structured coaching methods. They are also trained to assess whether the client would benefit more from using a therapist.

From an experiential perspective, we may become aware of thinking and feeling which likewise result in things repeatedly unfolding in undesired ways. This is quite a common lens through which people realise they want transformation.

When stimulated to change on the basis of what we don’t have or don’t want, it becomes challenging to state our desires and goals in positive and future-focused language.

I often hear clients saying that they don’t want this kind of relationship and they don’t want that happening in their lives. Yet when focusing on what is not wanted, our psyche is geared towards just that and we are highly likely to end up repeating the patterns we are trying to escape. With clients who come to coaching to escape deficiencies in their lives, much of the work involves shifting language and goal setting skills to what’s known as an ‘appreciative paradigm’, one where goals are stated in positive terms.

This helps the client to be spontaneous, mindful, authentic and negotiate challenges fluently. Instead of saying “I don’t want my executive committee to bicker at meetings”, a transformed client will declare “I want to be part of a fluid, responsive team that values collaboration and mutual understanding”.

This form of coaching acknowledges problems and instead of being blinded by them, encourages responses with a focus on positively stated outcomes. Skilled coaches identify deficiency–based thought by the language their clients use. Through coaching, shifts in language parallel paradigm shifts in thinking and feeling. This is the core of potent coaching practise.

DO IT YOURSELF Try out some DIY coaching.

Identify what is meaningful for you to change or achieve at this time in your life.

Take some time fine-tuning an energetically written vision using positively stated goals and language.

• What enables you to achieve this vision?

• What keeps you accountable to yourself?

• When will you reach each step and the final goal?

Do this knowing that it’s okay to review your plan and the statement periodically. If you need a little help, trust your gut feel in your choice of coach.

Some people are driven, and doing well and look to coaching for ways to achieve more, better, faster and easier. Or they might be faced with a particular challenge they may need help thinking around. Often successful sportspeople and entrepreneurs fall into this niche. As clients they naturally take an appreciative stance to challenges and the coaching relationship is enhanced by this common language.

Alex is a COMENSA Registered personal coach and coach supervisor based in Cape Town. You can reach Alex at 081 277 5254 or alex@wordofmouthcoach.co.za

www.wellnesswarehouse.com

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lovewell charity

The Healing Earth FOUNDATION

The non-profit arm of holistic natural spa and wellness brand Healing Earth, the Healing Earth Foundation aims to nurture and develop conscious, healthy earth children of all ages through opportunities that allow for connecting with the self, the environment, and all beings.

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he Foundation’s work is based on five broad pillars of social and environmental wellbeing, namely: self-development and metaphysical awareness; mindfulness and movement; pampering and self-care; wellness education; and environmental awareness and activism.

The Healing Earth Foundation aims to benefit child and youth care centres, shelters for abused women and children, prison rehabilitation centres, and educational facilities for underprivileged women. 2015 saw the Foundation conducting weekly workshops at Vision Child & Youth Care Centre in Lansdowne, Holy Cross Child & Youth Care Centre in Parow, iHata Shelter for Abused Women & Children in Heideveld, and Young in Prison in Salt River. This year they will continue their work at iHata, and have taken on the South African Children’s Home in Gardens and St George’s Home for Girls in Wynberg as new beneficiaries.

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“While there are many wonderful organisations serving the basic needs of our youth, the importance of their psychospiritual development and the finer nuances of their physical wellbeing should not be underestimated,” says Foundation Manager Lara Potgieter. “We were fortunate enough to witness a beautiful blossoming of the teens’ self-confidence through the personal development programme, and watching the kids get in touch with their little bodies and big souls as they move through the yoga poses is equally exciting.”

A former Miss Earth South Africa Finalist and magazine editor, Potgieter has dedicated her passion for holistic health and sustainability to the running of the Healing Earth Foundation. She is a certified Heal Your Life® teacher, and is currently completing her Yoga4Kids® teacher training, as well as her Emotional Freedom Technique Practitioner certification and her Nia Technique White Belt training.

helping you live life well

Potgieter’s dreams of running a foundation were made true by Healing Earth Founder and CEO Elisabeth Brandt, who shares her passion for wellness education and has been offering assistance to various nonprofit organisations throughout her 30-year career in the spa and wellness industry.

“My brand has always advocated a conscious, nurturing approach to wellness (and life in general), based on love for the self, all other beings, and the earth we live on. The Healing Earth Foundation was thus a natural progression on our journey.”

For more information on the Healing Earth Foundation and how you can become involved, visit www.healingearth.co.za/healing-earthfoundation/

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read well book reviews

Book REVIEWS

by Kirsten Alexander

Healthy, happy and loved - we’ve selected some great books to inspire the things that matter most in life.

Happy is the New Healthy | Dave Romanelli Skyhorse Publishing

Modern Romance | Aziz Ansari, Eric Klinenberg Penguin Press

Dave Romanelli is an eternal optimist and his uplifting new book will help keep your life upbeat and stress-free. Keep it on hand as a quick reminder to smile, de-stress and relax. Available from Exclusive Books and Takealot.com [Kalahari.com]

Today’s dating scene is rather more complicated than it was even ten years ago, with so many more options for meeting potential mates. Comedian Aziz Ansari teamed up with Sociologist Eric Klinenberg to explore what effect the internet and modern technology have had on dating and relationships. Available from Exclusive Books and Takealot.com [Kalahari.com].

The New Health Rules | Frank Lipman MD and Danielle Claro Thomas Allen & Son One of New York’s best known integrative physicians, Frank Lipman’s new book is a superb hand-bag sized guide for living a healthy life that’s also a pretty cool life. In it you’ll find tips such as the most important yoga pose for you and all the reasons you really should break off your relationship with bread. It’s also peppered with gorgeous imagery so you’ll no doubt enjoy the read.

Available from Takalot.com [Kalahari.com].

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Hardwiring Happiness | Rick Hanson Crown Publishing We’re neurologically programmed to give more credence to the bad stuff than the good stuff – in fact, absorbing negativity and deflecting positive moments is a survival mechanism. But, Hardwiring Happiness outlines how you can train yourself to make the switch using a meditation-based approach. Available from Exclusive Books and Takealot.com [Kalahari.com].

helping you live life well

Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence | Esther Perel Harper Collins New York based psychotherapist Perel discusses the paradoxes of domesticity and eroticism, challenging the notion that great intimacy leads to great sex. Your basic beliefs about sex will shift after reading this book and it’s likely to do you a world of good. Available from Exclusive Books and Takealot.com [Kalahari.com].

When you declare I am open and ready to receive,

the universe not only hears you, it holds out its hands to help you. www.alisabarry.com

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livewell journey

Journey to RIEBEEK KASTEEL Something about Riebeek Kasteel attracts artists, musicians, writers and creatives. As a result it is a village with a quirky appeal, filled with interesting eateries, curiosity shops and excellent wine. It’s a perfect place to go for a weekend of exploration, good food and inspiration. There are also hiking and biking trails and wine tasting. Besides that, it’s really beautiful.

The wines of the Swartland are fast becoming a national and international phenomenon with some of the winemakers clocking up cult status

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helping you live life well

livewell journey

F

lanking the village is the Kasteelberg (Castle Mountain) which gives Riebeek Kasteel the most interesting acoustics. From a dog barking to the clinking of wine glasses, the laughter on restaurant terraces you get the feeling of being in a sound bowl. From Cape Town it’s only 75 kilometres along the N7. Landscape, olives and wine are some of its most famous attributes along with noteworthy and interesting residents, who have opted to swap city life for sanity and serenity. It’s a village you can walk in a few minutes although stopping in at all the shops and restaurants you are more likely to take a few hours.

The Red Tin Roof is a real feature in the eclectic village. It has a bar and Bistro with a four star graded Guest House and is one of the grand old dames of the valley; a 100 and something year old Manor house set on Hermon road, a brief stroll from the main drag. Visitors and locals spend time at the Bistro lured by a menu with a special ability to hit the spot. Think Vetkoek pulled lamb burger with bacon jam; Pumpkin Fritters; Biltong pizza with onion marmalade and smoked feta; Snoek Cakes with Mealie bread and Chutney; and Trinchado’s of every variety. These you get to combine with expert wines that have names like Baby Jesus, Elvis and Harry Potter.

Arriving at The Red Tin Roof is stepping onto a stoep where you can watch passers by, a further step takes you into the bar then further still you get to an expansive garden courtyard filled with tables that serve as the restaurant. On the right is a pool and past that is a Guest House, housing four of the appointed rooms. The fifth room is in the Manor house. Each suite has their own patio and bathroom, and all of them have roof fans and air conditioning.

My bedroom led into a central lounge with giant fireplace and couches that called you to curl up with one of the interesting books on display. Coffee and tea is all set up with a cookie jar full of home made rusks. Double doors lead out onto a beautiful garden and another stoep you can watch birds from.

All the rooms have double beds, comfy cotton duvets and bathrooms are equipped with luxe bath oils and soaps. Each room is different, there’s the Tretchikoff room, Autumn room, Revolution room and Blue room, the Africa room is in the Manor House.

Artefacts on display around the Guest House and bar are fascinating and oftentimes bizarre. Amongst many others, there’s a mural of the Khayalitsha township made

by Zimbabwean street artists, an antique colonialist lamp, an old Chinese poster advertising an insurance company, a wood carving from Mocambique, a road sign from

wellnesswarehouse.com

the Virunga Gorilla park in the Congo and a fertility door from Mali. It’s a true expression of what happens when you combine the characters of the owners - two prominent journalists Jacques Pauw and Sam Rogers.

The décor is testament to their interesting journeys and exploration. If you’re looking for great conversation, friendliness, a hint of the obscure, super food and Swartland wines, this is a great place to get it.

did you know?

The town of Riebeek Kasteel gets its name from a combination of Jan van Riebeeck and the nearby Kasteelberg mountain. The Royal Hotel in Riebeek Kasteel is said to be the oldest hotel in South Africa.

The Red Tin Roof can be contacted on Email: theredtinroof@gmail.com Tel: 022 100 0292 www.riebeekkasteel.co.za

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livewell journey

Rest & Romance There’s always something earthy and wonderful about staying on a working farm. The Kloovenburg Pastorie has a beautiful element of earthiness even though saturated with absolute luxury, its luxury that’s nonchalant and unobtrusive.

J

ust as you get to Riebeek Kasteel, on the left there’s an estate called Kloovenburg. It’s a working wine farm that produces award winning olives, olive oil and wines. Fortuitously it has a guest house available so others can also experience its beauty.

Nearly 40 years ago the property belonged to the N.G Church and was purchased by the du Toit family. A new generation Pieter and Annalene du Toit carefully restored and transformed the property into a gorgeous country villa with three en-suite bedrooms and an additional expansive suite that feels like a house on its own.

The Victorian styled Kloovenburg Pastorie has an air of reassuring order and outside rows of roses are everywhere. The terrace is perfectly positioned for morning or afternoon tea with a view that looks right out over the valley. Behind the house is a welcome pool for lazing in the sun or cool down dips. A huge bathroom has quality products, deliciously thick towels, double basins and every type of comfort you might want. Extremely comfortable beds are equipped with crisp linen. The lounge

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area is inspiring enough to write a novel or a poem or plot a business strategy or perhaps even a revolution.

Kloovenburg is a real treat, it’s a haven of luxury and wonderful experience throughout the year and different seasons.

Behind the guest house is a hill to climb.

You can meander through the vineyards and clamber up to an incredible view that’s conveniently well positioned to watch the sun set. There’s also wine and olive tasting to be done.

Kloovenburg has the best red grape cultivars for the farm’s exclusive range of red wines, including Shiraz, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Grapes from low-yield vines with concentrated fruit flavours go into the crisp, barrel-fermented Chardonnay.

Grey-green olive trees, covering 30 hectares, produce tons of fruit every season.

The residents ‘olive farmer’, Pieter’s wife Annalene, has turned the rich harvest into a thriving industry with an ever-expanding range of culinary and body products.

A short walk from the farm finds you in the middle of the Riebeek Kasteel village where you can pick a restaurant to sample the local food. helping you live life well

Contact them on www.kloovenburg.com

w e n

herbal teas We have created a selection of Wellness herbal teas made from only the purest herbs. The teas can be used for their calming properties to digestive aid, body cleansing or as a diuretic. All the herbs are natural or organic, ethically sourced and of the highest quality.

High potency herbal tea range Natural and organic ingredients

Caffeine free Unbleached tea bags

shop in store or online at wellnesswarehouse.com 57

livewell do it yourself

It’s mobile-friendly, interactive and teaches young adults in SubSaharan Africa about HIV and AIDS prevention. The game has been designed and developed by Formula D interactive, a Cape Town-based interactive design agency on behalf Lukhele, the Kyoto University student.

IIn the game it is used to encourage young adults to live responsibly. Initially the game will be available in Swaziland and target students and young adults between 18 and 28 years old. Swaziland has the highest reported HIV prevalence in the world at 26%.

Once tested, it will be customised and taken to other African countries including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya and Uganda. In South Africa the game will be named MzansiYolo.

Interactive role-playing games are a great opportunity for people to not only learn about their own behaviour, but also to experiment with alternative behaviours, and experience causes and consequences in a safe environment. Serious games can simulate life-like situations and is a powerful way of learning.

Information

gaming A new interactive digital game allows players to become an avatar of their choice and act out as a character in an interactive novel, making either risky or safe lifestyle choices while dating and socialising – virtually, that is. SwaziYolo is the brainchild of Bhekumusa Lukhele from Swaziland, a PhD candidate in medical science at the Kyoto University, Japan who developed it as part of HIV/AIDS education and prevention.

“SwaziYolo is a story about relationships, that simulates a dating platform, where characters have their own profiles.

They are then introduced by a family member to contacts with particular behaviour patterns, and have the option of getting to know these contacts better, socialise with them and finally have a sexual relationship with them - or not. HIV and AIDS education and prevention are woven into the story, but instead of the usual list of do’s and don’ts, it engages players in discussions about HIV and AIDS.

NOTE did you know?

YOLO’ in SwaziYolo takes its meaning from the popular acronym for ‘You only live once’.

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SwaziYolo is age restricted and will be offered free of charge on Android devices.

For more information...

The SwaziYolo initiative is funded by the Hayao Nakayama Foundation for Science & Technology and Culture in Japan.

For more info go to www.yoloseriousgames.org, www.facebook.com/ SwaziYolo or @SwaziYolo on Twitter.

helping you live life well

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milk thistle extract Milk Thistle Extract is a herbal remedy traditionally used to support and protect liver function. The Wellness Warehouse trusted own brand remedy, provides a high potency extract of 300mg of Silymarin per vegecap. Made from only the highest quality leaves and flowers of the thorny milk thistle plant.

High potency extract Consists of active ingredient Silymarin Traditionally used in Chinese medicine Natural ingredients Suitable for vegans

shop in store or online at wellnesswarehouse.com 59

Would you like to rediscover your light, sparkle and radiance again in a fun, gentle and light-hearted way? Then join The ‘Follow the Sun’ Tribe. Let’s support and inspire each other as we take you on a journey and guide you through our offerings which include Yoga • Food • Life Coaching and Travel.

Join our regular Yoga classes and Lifestyle Motivation Workshops at Wellness Warehouse or check out our exciting adventures for next year...

‘Eat, SUP, Yoga’ Journey

‘Eat, Play, Yoga’ Journey

18th February - 1st March 2016 Ladies Only Journey

June 2016 - Mom & Daughters Journey July 2016 - Ladies Only Journey

Sri Lanka

Bali

Stand Up Paddle, Yoga, surf, hike up Adam’s Peak at sunrise, train journey through tea plantations, and more...

Yoga, spa treatments, meditation, snorkel, ecocycle tour, Balinese cooking course, and more...

To join our Tribe, find out info or book, visit us at...

www.followthesun.co.za

CNH

COLLEGE OF NATURAL HEALTH

TRAINING SUCCESSFUL PRACTITIONERS

CHANGE CAREER

Train to become a Natural Health Practitioner

o available ls a s e s r u o C t r Sho herapies in a range of t

by studying CNH’s International Diploma in Natural Health

DIRECTORY

Attend a Free Open Evening at your nearest CNH college: Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban

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0861007824 www.collegeofnaturalhealth.co.za

THE SHIFTING PROJECT

Open to all levels!

WORKSHOPS, EVENTS & DIRECTORY For further information about advertising or listing here email:

This section contains advertising from companies and individuals outside of Wellness Warehouse which we accept in good faith, we ask that you research the efficacy and validity of these products and services in your own capacity.

DIRECTORY

directory@wellnesswarehouse.com or phone Sue Dall on cell: 084 707 4477

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Susan Mortimer Coaching Integral® (UCT-GSB), QEC certified.

Transformational Life Coaching.

Coaching helps with any aspect of life where you may be stuck, or feel that you are lacking.

Enhance the way you think and you will enhance your life.

Changing thethe world one Changing world one breath at a time breath at a time Changing the world onelevels including Hot and yogayoga for all Hot non-heated and non-heated for all levels including breath atVinyasa, aBikram, time Vinyasa, Power & Sculpt Bikram, Power & Sculpt

Hot and non-heated yoga for all levels including Vinyasa,Offering Bikram, Power & Sculpt one free of yoga new to Offering oneweek free week of for yoga forstudents new students to

YogaLife.

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Cape Town residents only,valid with ID valid ID Offering one free week of yoga for new students to Yoga special for travellers to CT, R250 for week Yoga special for travellers to CT, R299 for one one week R350 Yoga special for travellers to CT, R250 for one week YogaLife. Cape Town residents only, with valid ID Located at 127 Waterkant Street, right next to the Old Cape Quarter Located at 127 Waterkant Street, right next to the Old Cape Quarter

As well as being an Integral® Coach, I also use QEC...

QEC

A coaching method that helps you to identify and change your self-limiting belief patterns at the un(sub)-conscious level. QEC works on any aspect of your life. –Mental, Emotional and Physical. The process is fast and transformational.

Any questions? Contact me: susanmortimer21@gmail.com 079 270 2016 www.susanmortimer.co.za

Yoga special for travellers to CT, R250 for one week www.yogalife.co.za Tel: 021 021 418 418 2884 Located at 127 Waterkant Street, right next to the Old Cape Quarter www.yogalife.co.za Tel: 2884 www.yogalife.co.za

Tel: 021 418 2884

You are experiencing challenges or changes in your professional or private life?

THERESA ACKERMAN Integrative Wellness Therapist

Esse organic facials & skincare Colour & energy body-work Inthusiasm natural & organic make-up Holistic massage 082 699 8150 Elan House, 65 Caledon Street, Somerset West www.wholisticwellnesswellbeing.com

Leilla Kopff lkopff@yahoo.com +27 76 901 9138 zen-coaching.com French and English

You need: • Support, • A new perspective on a situation, • Or just a safe listening space * Free 30-minute session before engaging in a coaching relationship

WORKSHOPS, EVENTS & DIRECTORY

For further information about advertising or listing here email: directory@wellnesswarehouse.com or phone Sue Dall on cell: 084 707 4477

DIRECTORY

This section contains advertising from companies and individuals outside of Wellness Warehouse which we accept in good faith, we ask that you research the efficacy and validity of these products and services in your own capacity.

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5

mood boosting supplements L-Tryptophan

Tryptophan is an amino acid and essential for human nutrition. It has significant effects on the human brain. It is produced by the body, but is also found in many sources of dietary protein, including turkey, oats, bananas, dried dates, cottage cheese, red meat, fish, milk, peanuts, and chocolate. It is shown to increase brain levels of serotonin and/or melatonin.

Tip: Tryptophan-rich food isn’t always effective in boosting levels in your body, supplementing with 5Htp (5-hydroxytryptophan) is more likely to increase actual serotonin levels.

Griffonia (5HTP)

is synthesised to Serotonin. Low Serotonin levels are believed to be the reason for many cases of mild to moderate depression which can lead to symptoms like anxiety, apathy, fear, feelings of worthlessness, insomnia and fatigue.

Vitamin B6

increases endorphins by acting as a precursor to numerous neurotransmitters like serotonin and noradrenalin. You can supplement with the vitamin or include food like chicken, salmon, tuna, milk and lentils in your diet.

Avena Sativa

improves concentration and overall cognitive functioning as well as supporting cognitive performance in stressful situations. Avena Sativa has been shown to positively affect the activity of brain enzymes closely related to mental health, making it highly effective for professionals and students with compromised concentration from stress.

Sceletium Tortuosum

is a natural Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) and optimises the body’s utilisation of serotonin, an important neurochemical. Sceletium is known to have a balancing effect on other feel-good neurotransmitters like dopamine, norepinephrine, and on adrenaline. Sceletium is non-addictive, not hallucinogenic, and no severe adverse effects have been documented.

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pHyto powders Wellness pHyto powders are powerful phytonutrients, designed to encourage alkalinity & protect the body against oxidative stress. Full of antioxidants, enzymes, vitamins & minerals, they are natural plant-based powders, essential to overall health.

Wellness pHtoRed is packed with superfoods, spices, fruit and vegetables such as acai, beetroot, baobab, broccoli, bromelain, cayenne, cinnamon, moringa and turmeric.

Wellness pHtoGreen is packed with superfoods, fruit and vegetables such as alfalfa, artichoke, barley grass, broccoli, fenugreek, moringa, parsley, spirulina and wheatgrass.

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