Because these antioxidants are found in very small amounts in only a handful of foods and your body’s ability to absorb them in their natural state is poor or inadequate, your potential for benefits from eating them can be limited.
You may like to supplement with Quercetin or better still, make this very simple quercetin-rich liquid at home.
Quercetin may assist and support the body in dealing to viral infections. It is an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antibacterial, anti-fungal, anti-allergic, and antiviral. Citrus Fruit Quercetin Recipe:
For higher concentrations of grapefruit, a blood thinner, simply add more grapefruit peel or whole fruit.
Personally I like to use a combination of chopped whole fruit and peels from fruit I've eaten. I eat the flesh of fresh grapefruit and place the skins into a jar of water in the fridge till I'm ready to make the liquid. Same thing with peels of lemons and limes etc I've juiced over the week.
I like the rich, bitter and sour flavour a mixture of grapefruit and peel, lemons and lime.
Caution: not suitable for people on blood thinning medications. Please talk to your doctor for advice.
1. Simply place water and citrus into a pot. The fruit/ peel should be mostly covered by water. If you've had citrus peel stored in water in the fridge like I do, then use this water in the brew.
2. Cover with a well fitting lid and bring to a gentle simmer and leave to simmer for 3-4 hours. Do not remove the lid.
4. Allow to cool overnight with the lid still on.
5. Strain the liquid, squeeze the fruit to get all the last goodies and place liquid into jars to freeze or consume. Optionally add some raw honey for taste. It should easily keep for 1-2 weeks in the fridge. I have 2-4 Tablespoonfuls daily. Halve that for kids.
I also have successfully made jellies with this liquid - these are strong flavoured! I simply used natural gelatin, citrus quercetin liquid and raw manuka/ bush honey.
Also excellent with gin and soda instead of extremely sugary tonic water!
https://www.aestheticsadvisor.com/2021/02/hydroxychloroquine-ivermectin-quercetin.html
]]>You may be surprised to learn that your body has evolved, and is therefore designed to run more efficiently on fat than on non-fibrous, refined carbs or sugars.
When you were a child, your body was probably able to use either carbs or fat for fuel, and switch back and forth, but as you age, this can change.
]]>First of all, ketogenic & paleo are different in meaning, but have cross-over. Read more about paleo diet here on wikipedia.
I've previously written about the Zone diet, which helped me a LOT in my 20s. The Zone Diet was great for educating people about:
a) What are the 3 dietary macro-nutrients that humans use for energy?: Carbs, protein & fats.
b) Carbohydrate rich diets aren't all they cracked up to be! And some people really suffer from eating this way
c) Quantity of each macro-nutrient vs calorie-richness, and suggested proportions of each on your plate. (Fats have the most energy per gram, followed by carbs then protein.)
Things have moved along a bit since the Zone diet was written. More ground-breaking research has been done in the past 20 years on low carbohydrate diets.
You may be surprised to learn that your body has evolved, and is therefore designed to run more efficiently on fat than on non-fibrous, refined carbs or sugars.
When you were a child, your body was probably able to use either carbs or fat for fuel, and switch back and forth, but as you age, this can change. As an adult, we can lose the metabolic "flexibility" and simply gain weight from eating carbs. However, a ketogenic diet can help your body retrain itself to burn the fuel it naturally prefers (from an evolutionary perspective) for a healthy body – fat.
A ketogenic diet is a high-fat, low-carb, moderate protein diet. Unlike the typical modern diet that’s loaded with refined grains, sugars, excessive protein and low-quality fats, a ketogenic diet is both satisfying and energising.
While I don't suggest that packaged ketogenic foods are always found "in nature" - we also aren't hunter gatherers anymore. This doesn't mean we should ignore what fuel our bodies are evolved to use. Specialist keto products are the modern answer to our busy lifestyles and emotional requirements.
These products are designed for use together with a whole-foods, mainly plant-based diet.
Best of all, unlike many other diets, a ketogenic diet can turn on your body’s innate ability to resist common maladies and help you make significant changes in your health.
Your cellular mitochondria can make or break your health. Those tiny energy factories within your cells convert the food you eat and the air you breathe into energy.
When your mitochondria are plentiful and healthy, you feel energetic and on top of the world. However, if large numbers of mitochondria in your body stop functioning properly from things like poor diet, pollution or aging, your health can be challenged. It’s impossible to stay healthy with too many mitochondria that aren’t working as they should.
Byeating healthy fats and low-starch vegetables, and limiting your carbs (especially refined) and excessive amounts of protein, you can nourish your mitochondria and actually improve their functioning. Certain nutrients found in whole foods can even help increase the number of mitochondria in your cells.
Because fats are a cleaner burning form of fuel, Ketogenic diet can potentially help protect your fragile cellular DNA from potential damage that can lead to serious health concerns.
I know I've found I have stronger muscles and less muscle soreness when I stick to it. But I'm not strict about anything, and I still include loads of treats and beer! I alternate between a keto and a "standard" diet - either spending part of the day in ketosis using intermittent fasting and a small amount of high fat foods, or spending a few days this way. But I still enjoy a bit of sourdough bread and the odd croissant!
I get into ketosis by brewing my morning coffee with Nutra Organics Collagen and Dr Mercola MCT Oil, and Good Health Coconut Oil. If I'm having hot coffee, I add these to my rice or almond milk as I heat it using the steamer. It makes the milk rich & fluffy. Otherwise, I have cold-brew, and mix them in the blender. This keeps me going all morning!
You can also still enjoy traditional recipes like pancakes, by switching out the types of flours you use to be higher in protein and fats (e.g. by using coconut oil and chia seeds, for example.) I made these pancakes with coconut & a small amount of tapioca flour, banana, eggs and cooked in ample coconut oil. The blueberries are warmed in their own juices without adding sugar.
Check out our range of keto and paleo friendly food & nutritional products here
]]>Mushrooms. They are polarizing things. You are basically in one of two camps with them. The " I would happily eat them everyday for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the rest of my life" camp or the " don't come near me with those weird things, they are in the mould family, for pities sake" camp.
And to be honest, they are kind of weird. Although most folks think they are plants, nestled in with the celery and spinach in the fridge, they actually are not. They are in their own lil funghi family as they cant make their own food like plants, they absorb it from their surroundings and they don't breathe carbon dioxide like plants- they breath oxygen like us. Spooky....
Anyway- we humans have been eating them and getting their benefits for many thousands of years. In fact, Otzi, the 5000 year old iceman discovered in 1991 was carrying both a tree shroom for firestarting and also another birch tree dwelling shroom which was though to have been used as an antiparasitic (those were wormy times).
This birch tree shroom is thought to be a close relative of the modern day Chaga (nonotus obliquus). Chaga is a black parasitic funghi that lives on birch trees. It is a very potent antioxidant and contains immune stimulating polysaccharides so is second to none for supporting those with immune system dysfunction, inflammation and digestive issues.
At Absolute Essential one of the most frequent questions we are asked is “What essential oils are safe for babies and during pregnancy”.
Today I’m going to answer that question, first by asking another: “What does ‘safe’ for babies and during pregnancy mean to you?” I think this is an important first question because it makes us consider something that is so difficult to qualify that it gets overlooked.
I’m talking about new-born purity. Millions of parents must have discovered themselves basking in that wondrous sensation of softness and light that surrounds a new baby, if only for a moment in time. But who can really describe it? What words are even appropriate?
The truth of the matter is that even though babies are born every second of every day, the world we inhabit has very few measures for such an encounter - we have long since had our own natural energy compromised by the pollution and impurities of modern living.
And yet, in those first moments of precious baby space where our hearts and spirits are lifted by unquantifiable natural sweetness - we do sense the difference and with that, the breathtaking vulnerability.
100% pure and natural is the only acceptable standard for baby safe ingredients.
Becoming conscious of an almost ‘other-worldly’ level of purity in our offspring changes the way we see the world around us. Cleanliness becomes a priority, and we find great reserves of inner strength and resourcefulness to maintain a safety-zone around our child that is at least a little cushioned from the harsher influences of life beyond.
The commercial world of baby products knows this. Alluring baby blues and pinks, soft-surface plastics, images of fluffy-whiteness, sunshine smiles, gentle sweet aromas… take a walk in the baby-aisle of any supermarket and you will see the evidence of that.
But cashing in on our lack of a suitable measure for what is truly baby-pure is not the same as giving us what we need.
How could added colour or fragrance be anything other than a quick trick? Not to mention the potential damage in exposing a super-sensitive being to synthetic ingredients. (Perhaps you heard about that very trusted baby brand, recently admitting to having known carcinogens in its baby shampoo?)
What we are really reaching for is something equally rare and precious as a suitable match for new born innocence, and where else but in the unspoiled, natural world could we possibly hope to find such a thing?
In France for example, where clinical aromatherapy is part of conventional medicine, 100% pure essential oils are sold only in pharmacies through prescription. The premium price tag reflects the carefully preserved medicinal value of the oil.
This is basically how Absolute Essential therapeutic plant oils came about. I trained in France and realised that I would have to source my own oils direct to be able to run my New Zealand natural health clinics at that same level of professional medicine.
One of my first cases involved a small baby with chronic eczema (uncured by conventional doctors). I was able to work with absolutely pure therapeutic plant oils and see the baby’s system respond immediately and continue to respond for a steady return to a place of sustainable balance and health - beautiful soft, supple baby skin, just as it should be.
That is where my specialism in maternity and infant care started.
People came looking for the place where they could guarantee natural purity for their babies. And 25 years later any recommendations that I make on baby-safe oils still start from that same premise: if you have doubts about the quality of the oil, don’t use it.
There is quite a lot of conflicting information out there on what oils are safe for infants.
I believe that is partly due to the fact that poor quality oils can create extra problems and that most people are not using pure medicinal extracts. Another issue is that there are no controls on safe-usage information and very few experienced aromatic paediatricians (my own term) to turn to.
]]>So let's meet the talent behind the Misty Day brand: qualified herbologist Rachel Dawson.
Rachel, what’s your story as to how you became interested in studying & practising herbalism?
I have always had an interest in natural health as from an early age my mum always took me down to our local health shop every time I was sick. The owner did iridology and I was always intrigued about how he was always spot on with what was going on with me. I bumbled around after leaving school for a few years and then moved to Australia where I started to study naturopathy and started working in a super busy health shop smack bang in the middle of downtown Melbourne. From then I was hooked and it really suits my curious mind.
Well, I studied the majority of it in Australia and then just finished off herbal medicine here in New Zealand at Wellpark. I really enjoyed the camaraderie of it and the way we all helped each other out with our cases - I also used myself as a herbal guinea pig lots of the time! It was definitely valuable and I love seeing the success of my fellow classmates these days.
How did you conceive of Misty Day Plant Potions and what were your drivers to create the business?
I was working for a large multi-national supplement company that was slowly sucking the lifeblood from me! I was having to develop and help market products I did not believe in and would never take. I was also starting to notice that suddenly people were saying that herbs were not effective unless they were expensive patented branded extracts with very flimsy clinical data. It was time to do my own thing. I had seen the rise and fall of superfoods and wanted to do a similar type of versatile product that was based on my favourite herbs. It had to be pretty too - I'm a creative at heart!
I love that so many NZ consumers want to support local, small, low waste businesses and that we are able to easily bring products to market. I love that there is becoming considerable cross over between food and health and people are getting the idea that you don't have to pop pills to enjoy the benefits of nutrients and herbs.
And what annoys you the most?
Oh, don't get me started. After being in the industry in NZ for many years I have seen so many changes. I think the biggest one is the move away from the hippy holistic health paradigm to the pharmaceutical paradigm- pop a pill and you will fix that xyz (probably won't). All of this is driven by the huge marketing budgets that the big companies have- natural health is a pretty cut throat business these days. Something else that annoys me is that many stores are provided incentives for selling products - so you may not be being sold the product best suited for you. Basically they are paying for their product to be recommended. I think that is pretty disingenuous.
I think probably Kiwiherb as they have stayed true to their herbal roots, Nuzest as I love the way they have climbed the ladder to be such a big deal in NZ without selling out, Tailor as Sara is just a machine and has the most beautiful products and many other small brands - I always support small local brands as you are supporting someones family - not lining the pockets of a corporation.
Coffee definitely gets me up in the morning! And knowing a have a lot of work to get done! In all honesty though, I love the mornings - its my time for sure. To keep my sanity - I love getting to the gym and also going on long walks around my hood while listening to my latest audio book or crime podcast ( just a little bit addicted) I also make sure I meet up with at least one friend a week for a coffee and catch up as working alone can be pretty brutal for me - I love a good yarn!
As a naturopath/ herbalist, what do you think are the 3 most effective things that most of us can do to restore health & balance?
Minimise stress - Easier said than done! But I suggest people have a real think about what is contributing the most stress in their lives and assess whether it is something that they should be putting their care and attention to. I love CBT techniques for helping people rationally address their stress and the thought patterns that may be driving it. Of course, from a herbal perspective - I think most people would benefit from adaptogenic herbs as they help to immunise the body against the systemic effects of stress.
Ditch the sugar- Diabetes has gone from being a relatively rare disorder to epidemic proportions. Keep a food diary for a few days and see just how much is just sugar or refined carbohydrates (or wine). Diet driven sugar irregularities contribute not only to the risk of diabetes but to nutrient deficiencies, weight gain and hormonal and mood issues. Ditch the sugar and refined carbs and up the veges and protein- that's the best diet and lifestyle advise anyone can give!
Exercise - Do what floats your boat - some people like yoga, some people like running/walking, lifting heavy weights or bootcamps- as long as you are moving your body!. Doing exercise helps to reduce the ill effects of stress- it reduces high levels of stress hormones, enhances blood flow and oxygenation and boosts metabolism. It also can sometimes be quite meditative especially if it is YOUR time away to focus on something other than the kids/dishes/workload.
We know the MIstyDay fans out there are dying to know: what is your all-time favourite herb and MistyDay brew & why?
My favourite herb is Ashwagandha for sure. I have been taking it for about 2 years on a daily basis and it has definitely made a huge difference to how I feel when I am hit with a huge workload. Its my savior for sure! As far as blends go - I love Bliss Brew as my morning drink (with extra ashwagandha) and Beauty Brew in the afternoon as my little beauty laden pick me up! I am also partial to Shroom Brew too- its hard to choose when you have them all at your disposal!!
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