An important health tip children do naturally but we neglect

I remember marveling at the mysterious adult experience of ‘stress’ as a child. I was perhaps eleven or twelve years old and reading a newspaper article about the common experience of stress and the significant health risks associated with being stressed out. I had no idea what 'stressed out' felt like....what a fabulous age to be alive.  

Back then I didn’t need to worry about where my next meal is coming from or if there would always be a roof over my head. I trusted that it would be so. Once you feel like your own survival depends on you stress levels begin to rise.

Of course children feel stress too, but in a natural way. Stress is really a response to a perceived threat. Our adrenal glands sit on the kidneys and release cortisol when we are stressed, and with good reason. Cortisol kicks in the fight or fright response.  Your heart beats quickly, blood drains from your organs to go to your limbs to allow stronger quicker movement for running away or fighting back. As the blood rushes to our limbs it drains from our internal organs, slowing digestion and other body processes. You might even eliminate your bowels and bladder (when really terrified). You become completely alert, your brain works clearer and faster for quick thinking. Cortisol is an anti-inflammatory that will allow you to run longer or fight harder with less pain, lowering your immune response in the process.

The average Australian child feels stress daily, as do all of us, but they have the opportunity to calm down through play and relaxation. A stressor will ignite a fight or fright response to which the child will react, they will get away from the problem or ride it out, and then they relax. Everything is back to normal.

This child experience of stress is really how it is supposed to be for all of us, so the scientists say. In an ideal world: You happen upon a threat – it frightens you – The fright stimulates your adrenals to release cortisol – you become very strong and fast and you RUN. As you run you burn off the cortisol. The problem ends. You rest and digest, you feel cosy and safe, you relax, things go back to normal and you feel peaceful and happy.

Now lets come back to modern day.  Many people are stressed in one way or another ALL THE TIME.  It’s not as simple as bare bones survival like in the animal kingdom, we torture ourselves with our own minds, believing things should be different to what they are and feeling like we should be achieving more then we have. You work long and hard for years and years to reach the pot of gold on the retirement rainbow.  Then you can relax.

Continual stress means you are continually releasing cortisol…. So the stress response is constantly activated. This means lingering less then adequate digestion and and irritable bowel leading to nutritional deficiencies. The alertness brings chronic sleep disorder and anxiety. Your immune system is lowered…hello cold. Eventually the adrenals become exhausted and you start running on empty, and you develop some big grey saggy bags under your eyes. Cappucino anyone? Oh and guess what, caffeine stimulates cortisol release, which partly explains why caffeine makes you more alert and seemingly smarter for a short while. However too many coffee’s regularly will hasten adrenal burnout and heighten the destructive impact of your constant stress.

Good news! With a bit of action and mindfulness you can free yourself from this stress induced anguish.  Exercise is crucial for this as it burns up excess cortisol, just as nature intended.

You need to schedule in exercise and rest times to avoid burnout.  I say schedule because more then likely if it’s not scheduled, you’ll feel too ‘busy’ to relax.

By allowing yourself to truly relax, feel peace and just breath, you are giving your adrenals a well deserved break and allowing for restoration. Shiatsu massage is gorgeous for stress relief.  You just have to lie there while the practitioner works at healing your tension and pain. The deep breathing and rest gives your cortisol levels a chance to drop to normal. Be kind to yourself and enjoy rest time regularly to save your immune system, improve your sleep, retain nourishment from your food and to simply feel joyful.

Take Action! Schedule in 2.5 hours of proper rest time spread throughout the next week, and 2.5 hours of exercise (not all at once). Don’t tell yourself you ‘have no time’ just distinguish the difference between important tasks and not important tasks to make room for your newfound self-care. If you adhere to your wellness schedule I promise you will be feeling a difference this time next week.  I’d love you to share your de-stress activities in the comments below to inspire me and others on our wellness journey's.

I love inspiring loving kindness in the form of good health. I hope you got something out of this article and If you love hearing about your health please sign up here.

Thank you for reading my blog. I'm honoured.

Take extra precious care of your beautiful self.

Love Lib xxx

Maximise Your Energy. 5 delightful ways to get your Chi flowing.

  Vital force, Chi, Prana, call it what you will the idea that there an invisible lifeforce that determines our health, happiness and surroundings has been around for a very long time.

The Chinese symbol for Chi (qi) is made up of two smaller symbols; one that can be translated into vapour steam or gas and one that means hard and solid ‘uncooked rice.’

The closest match for translation of ‘Chi’ into English is arguably the word ‘energy.’  Energy can be both invisible and immaterial, like a sound wave, but also solid matter like a tree trunk (or hard rice), as is the understanding of modern day physics.

I'm sure we can all do with a little more energy in our daily lives. Here are a few easy suggestions to maximise your Chi-energy flow,

1. Breathe.

Focusing on your breath centers you in the current moment and oxygenates your cells. The more oxygen that is available to nourish your cells the more energy your cells will produce. Deep breathing in meditation allows our stress response hormone, cortisol, to reduce. This releases muscle tension, improves digestion (and therefore nutrient assimilation) and increases lymphatic flow (boosting immune function and helping you feel lighter.)

2. Yoga

A moving meditation. Yoga is a series of poses that are designed with the intention of channeling prana through heaven and earth. I know when I do a yoga sesh I feel lit up from the inside. I consider yoga practice imperative to giving good shiatsu, which is about optimising the flow of chi in the recipient. Not only does Yoga make by body, core and posture strong, yoga fills me with good vibes better enabling me to practice good shiatsu.

3. Healthy Healing Nutritious Food Choices

You know how some foods sound like a good idea but after consumed not so good? You become tired and want to lie down. Energy goes to 0. I find eating in tune with my body to be the best thing I can do for myself on a day-to-day basis. For me this means eating fresh and natural wholefoods that are in season, and mostly local. Eating gracefully and mindfully until you are just about full, and avoiding anything that is overly processed, refined, high in sugar or unnaturally white.  Getting a wide variety of nutrients is essential for energy production at the cellular level. My favourite foods for good energy are leafy greens, kale (I know this is also a leafy green, but it deserves a mention all on its own), green tea, berries, broccoli, sprouts, avocados, raw chocolate, apples, nuts, seeds, sweet potatoes, tofu, miso and seaweed

4. Shiatsu

It had to be in here somewhere. Shiatsu is about getting your chi moving in the right way, while also being a deep tissue therapeutic massage.  The practitioner finds the most stagnant and most deficient energy channels (don’t worry we all have them) and works at bringing back a healthy flow of chi. Shiatsu is all about balance, energy, rest, replenishment, peace and wellness.

5. Feng Shui

Feng what? I love the concept of Feng Shui. This is a huge topic but I will give you a paragraph long condensed version. Energy or Chi is moving around us all the time. The placement of structures and objects in your surroundings governs whether the overall feel of the area is positive or not so positive. You could also go as far to say that good placement brings good fortune, while bad placement encourages bad fortune. Fortune aside, there is a lot of common sense in Feng Shui. Keeping your home tidy and clutter free with a few beautiful plants, pictures and some soothing chimes are the basic recommendations for encouraging a positive chi flow. It’s true, don’t you feel happy when your house is looking good? Avoiding bad Feng Shui is actually quite obvious, like making sure doors and walkways are not blocked, cupboards are accessible, and things are in their place.  When my laundry is piled up and my bed is unmade I generally feel more frustrated and on edge. So yes, Feng Shui makes sense.

Taking action to integrate healthy changes in you life is like walking up a garden path to happiness. Perhaps you could take note of your energy levels on a scale of 1 – 10 in your day planner and watch how they fluctuate from day to day. When you have a good day consider what you have done differently to help your energy improve.

Please share in the comments below what you like to do to boost you energy, I’d love to hear it!

Subscribe here and I’ll deliver next weeks wellness inspiration straight to your inbox.

Take care,

Lib xx

Self care is NOT selfish. It makes you nicer.

Being female comes with a certain amount of guilt. We feel guilt for leaving our children to work, guilt for leaving work to attend to our children, guilt for eating that delicious cake and then the guilt for not exercising it off. We were raised to give so much of ourselves all of the time and we feel guilty and selfish if we book time out for some self-nurturing. But this guilt is self-defeating. By denying ourselves self-love we are basically saying to ourselves that we ‘are not worthy.’

The truth is that you are worthy. You are here, you might as well enjoy yourself.  Neuroscientist Rick Hanson says in his book The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom, that by allowing ourselves to focus on positive experiences, we are training our brains to feel positive for more of the time, leading to a happier more fulfilling life. Likewise, by focusing on negative thought and experience, we are training negativity into our lives, and generally, our experiences and thoughts will be more negative.

Consider a Shiatsu massage, a whole hour to lie and rest. Tension is released, muscles and joints are relaxed, circulation is improved and your cells are nourished. You are giving yourself the beautiful message that you are worthy of care. Your brain neurons are getting training themselves in making positive connections, strengthening your positivity muscles and enabling you to feel good more frequently in future.

Taking action in your life to make yourself feel good, be it meditation, prayer, exercise, healthy food or a massage, will ultimately improve your experience of living. A happier body will free your mind to focus on getting the important things done. A chance to stop and relax will allow stress levels to normalise. Most importantly though, a sense of fulfilment will allow you to naturally be a more generous, giving and loving member of your family and wider community.

Positive change starts from the inside. There is so much wisdom in the saying ‘in order to change the world, we must first change ourselves.' If you can think of something you can do for yourself today to enhance your feel good factor please share in the comments below so we can inspire each other. I’m going to start with making a delicious Temple Bowl for dinner with brown rice, home-made hummus, cherry tomatoes, steamed bok choy and a boiled egg.

I hope you enjoyed this offering. I will be sending health and wellness tidbits on a weekly basis, if you would like to hear more please subscribe to my blog. I’ll keep you updated.

In bright shiny healthy love

Libby x

Make regular deposits into your wellness account to build fabulous health

The sun radiates pinks and oranges as it sets past yonder at Cottesloe beach. How peaceful this moment, as we walk our dogs, as we jog away our work day and that office birthday cake for morning tea. We watch the sun sink into the Indian Ocean, and for a moment we can just stop and be amongst the still and beautiful.

Back home there is dinner to cook, mess to clear, kids to listen to, to care for, to soothe. We are busy. We are tired. We are sore, irritable and exhausted. Such is life.

The author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen R Covey tells us to think of our relationships like a bank account. You make deposits into your relationships, but inevitably you will also make withdrawals. If you make enough deposits into the relationship you have something left in the kitty when you make a withdrawal. If we make more withdrawals then deposits eventually the account dries up and will close altogether.

To borrow Mr Covey’s analogy, think of your sense of wellness like a bank account. You can make wellness deposits into your bank account and build up a healthy wellness balance.

It is daily fact of life that you will make wellness withdrawal’s. The stress and strain of living ensures battles are fought and energy is depleted. You need to ensure you create little wellness deposits for yourself here and there so that when it is time to make a withdrawal, the funds are there for the taking.

Take enough withdrawals from your wellness fund and you will be spent. Aren’t you sick and tired of being spent?

Take baby steps to integrate a few more wellness deposits into your day.

The following suggestions are quick easy and will put you in good stead for your day;

·      Try a few stretches in the morning.

·      Have some lemon juice in hot water first thing. Lemon juice is alkalising and will kick-start your digestion to ensure proper assimilation of nutrients.

·      Eat Breakfast: Try nuts, wholegrains, nut butters, fruit, eggs, and greens (perhaps not all at once). Sit down in a nice place and take 20 minutes to nourish yourself.

·      Appreciate your loved ones: Take a little moment to be grateful for those you love. Just 10 seconds is all it takes.

I wish you good luck for better living and much love and happiness on your wellness journey. he sun radiates pinks and oranges as it sets past yonder at Cottesloe beach. How peaceful this moment, as we walk our dogs, as we jog away our work day and that office birthday cake for morning tea. We watch the sun sink into the Indian Ocean, and for a moment we can just stop and be amongst the still and beautiful.

Back home there is dinner to cook, mess to clear, kids to listen to, to care for, to soothe. We are busy. We are tired. We are sore, irritable and exhausted. Such is life.

The author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen R Covey tells us to think of our relationships like a bank account. You make deposits into your relationships, but inevitably you will also make withdrawals. If you make enough deposits into the relationship you have something left in the kitty when you make a withdrawal. If we make more withdrawals then deposits eventually the account dries up and will close altogether.

To borrow Mr Covey’s analogy, think of your sense of wellness like a bank account. You can make wellness deposits into your bank account and build up a healthy wellness balance.

It is daily fact of life that you will make wellness withdrawal’s. The stress and strain of living ensures battles are fought and energy is depleted. You need to ensure you create little wellness deposits for yourself here and there so that when it is time to make a withdrawal, the funds are there for the taking.

Take enough withdrawals from your wellness fund and you will be spent. Aren’t you sick and tired of being spent?

Take baby steps to integrate a few more wellness deposits into your day.

The following suggestions are quick easy and will put you in good stead for your day;

·      Try a few stretches in the morning.

·      Have some lemon juice in hot water first thing. Lemon juice is alkalising and will kick-start your digestion to ensure proper assimilation of nutrients.

·      Eat Breakfast: Try nuts, wholegrains, nut butters, fruit, eggs, and greens (perhaps not all at once). Sit down in a nice place and take 20 minutes to nourish yourself.

·      Appreciate your loved ones: Take a little moment to be grateful for those you love. Just 10 seconds is all it takes.

I wish you good luck for better living and much love and happiness on your wellness journey  :-) Stay in touch by subscribing to my newsletter here.

Love Lib

Fight Flu with Elderberry

After not being sick for years I flew into Broome the other day (yes on a holiday) coming down with a head cold. It started in my ears and at the back of my throat. My ears were tingly ears and swallowing felt weird and uncomfortable. The uncomfortable feeling moved down into the larynx. My head was tired, as the plane came into land my ears felt like they were filled with glue, very painful pressurised glue. I was equipped with lemons, ginger, and a herbal tablet that contained immune boosting, energising anti-inflammatory herbs. I craved horseradish and ate it with my lunch that day, the cooling radish helped clear my sinuses and soothe my throat.

Immediately after stepping off the plane I felt the humid air dry up my nostrils. It was like a healing gift from the universe. I felt grateful that on the day that I am hit with my first cold in two years is the day I fly to extreme northern Australia. The symptoms were relieved somewhat by the climate but the underlying cold was still hanging around.

Several days later I stepped out for lunch at an amazing Japanese fusion restaurant and I noticed they had an Elderberry extract available for a refreshing beverage, claiming to be the 'Flavour of Angels'. Being an angel lover I fell for the sale point hook line and sinker and ordered one immediately.

Yes my Elderberry was indeed was incredibly delicious. I had a hunch though that the elderberry was actually just what the doctor ordered for my head cold. Knowing that Elderberry is considered good for the respiratory system I decided to some research when I got home. As it turns out my hunch was correct.

• Some viruses, such as influenza A and B, and the Herpes virus, have little tiny spikes on their exteriors. These spikes piece the outer membrane of your cells allowing the virus to enter and infect the cell. Elderberry has constituents that actually deactivate these spikes, so they are unable to piece your cells and continue to infect you further.
• Several studies have shown that with regular dosing of Elderberry extract flu symptoms were less severe and resolved a couple of days quicker then those taking placebo.
• Elderflower is particularly effective at fighting colds and flu when taken with zinc and vitamin C.

I noticed in the pharmacy the other day that you can actually buy a bottled extract of Black Elderberry, botanically known as  Sambucus nigra (Fun Fact: Sambucca liqueur is made from elderberry hence the name Sambucca). The product is marketed with cold and flu syrup, and I recommend getting the one with  added Vitamin C and Zinc. The product also comes in dried tablet form and lozenges. I'm more inclined to go for the bottled variety as the healing constituents are better preserved that way. I love sharing health and well being knowledge. If you love hearing it subscribe to my newsletter and I'll let you know about any new updates.

In health and wellness

Lib