The problem with commercial breakfast cereal

So you think the breakfast cereal you got from the supermarket is OK? Well think again. There is very little, with next to nothing in terms of nutrition in them.

But it's fortified with vitamins and minerals I here you say. I used to think that too until I started understanding what nutrition actually is. You see, the body ONLY recognises vitamins and minerals in a wholefood form.

Firstly, lets address how a cereal is manufactured.

According to Authority Nutrition, this is how a commercial breakfast cereal is typically made:

1. Processed –grains are usually processed into a fine flour and cooked

2. Mixed – Mixed with water, sugar and other ingredients to flavour

3. Extrusion – A high temperature process to shape the cereal, called extrusion

4. Dried – Then it is dried

5. Shaped – and finally shaped into balls, puffs, loops, stars etc

Given the process described above, not only are they highly processed, but they also contain large amounts of refined carbohydrates, refined sugars and plenty of other flavours and additives. This is not conducive to a wholefood, let alone improving general and gut health.

Not only is the manufacturing process an issue, there is also the issue of the marketing claims on the front of the box. If a food is truly healthy, there is no need to make health claims.

If a boxed commercial cereal must remain your preferred choice of breakfast, then please read the labels carefully. Some principles to consider:

• Can you understand the ingredient list? Does it make sense?

• Is it free of artificial colours & flavouring ? These are the biggies to look out for:

  • Artificial Colours (102, 104, 107, 110, 120, 120, 122-129, 132, 142, 150, 151, 155, 160b))

  • Artificial Flavouring (620-625, 627, 631, 635, Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein (HVP), Hydrolysed Soy Protein (HSP), Soy Protein Isolate(SPI), Textured Vegetable Protein (TV P))

• Check the sugar content, aim for less than 5g of sugar per 100mg

• Check the serving size. Most cereals will say that a serving size is 30-40g, however when you actually measure that out, you will find that 3-4 times that amount is needed as a decent breakfast portion, therefore the sugar content will need to be multiplied by that amount. All of the sudden, your sugar content is not looking so great.

So what are my options I hear you say. I'm busy, I don't have time to prepare a gourmet breakfast everyday. That's OK, neither do I, and really, who does....lol

If you did decide to ditch the boxed versions, here are some wholefood options instead:

1. Eggs any which way you want, scrambled, boiled, poached, baked

2. Home-made granola with a beautiful array of nuts and seeds either served with a milk or yoghurt of your choice, even better use a dairy free option

3. Smoothie – just add a liquid + fruit + vegetable + protein + fat + superfood powder (optional)

4. Overnight soaked oats, preferably using uncontaminated oats from here

5. Chia-puddings made with any high quality milk of your choice

6. Baked Breakfast muffins, grain or grain free

7. Quinoa or millet porridge with dates & nuts (good alternative to oats)

8. Breakfast cakes made with wholesome ingredients. See my grain free cake one here

9. Grain or grainfree pancakes.

10. Leftovers from the night before. Especially in winter, my son will often ask for leftovers for breakfast

All of these options possess the following properties:

• Made from wholefood ingredients the body can recognise

• Can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge or freezer for a grab & go or re-heat

• Contains the right balance of macro ingredients of fats, proteins & carbohydrates.

As a gift to get you started on a wholefood breakfast option, I've put together 5 of our favourite breakfast recipes that are loved in our home.

If you think you or your family could benefit from transitioning to a healing wholefood lifestyle, get in contact with me today for your FREE Health Mapping Session.

Chantal is a Certified Nutrition & Wellness Coach that specialises in helping stressed and overwhelmed mums heal their children with wholefoods using a personalised wholistic step by step approach.

Sleep - Who doesn't want more? Interview with Naturopath Norelle Hentschel

Who doesn't love a good night sleep? I most certainly do. Since recovering from Adrenal Fatigue it's something I've really learned to prioritise.

I've had the pleasure of chatting to Naturopath Norelle Hentchel from Your Remedy to discuss all things sleep. Norelle's clinic is based in Crows Nest, North Sydney and has a special interest in helping women sleep better and manage stress and anxiety so they can reclaim their energy and health.

It was her personal struggles with sleep that really sparked her passion for a good night sleep.

Watch the interview here:

Here is audio only:

Below I've summarised a few key take away points from our chat together.

The definition of a good night sleep.

• The indication of a good night sleep has more to do with how you feeling during the day. After a good night sleep, you should feel energised, no mood swings, ability to focus really well and have a good appetite.

• Research show that the sweet spot for a good number of hours sleep a night is between 7-9 hours.

Factors that affect having a good night sleep:

Women

• For women sleep is usually affected by their hormone levels. Typically they experience better sleep during the 2nd phase of the menstruation cycle due to the increased levels of progesterone.

• Progesterone also has a calming effect on the brain and contains plenty of anti-anxiety properties too.

• Lack of iron is also known to interfere with sleep, especially mothers of newborns. So a good idea to get this checked

Children:

Factors than can affect sleep for children include the following:

• Illness can provide a short term interruption to good a night

• Food intolerances & sensitivities

• Night time asthma

• Anxiety

• Parasites & threadworm - a typical symptom of this would be itchy burning feet

How to improve sleep.

• Prioritise it

• Develop a wind down routine - think about activities such as writing out a to-do list before going to bed, journalling, having a cup of sleepy tea and get off technology at least 1hr before going to bed.

Foods to avoid & why.

• Caffeine - This has a half life of 8hrs which means it takes 8hrs for your body to break this. Your cuppa is best had during the first part of the day and also be aware of caffeine content in your chocolate fix before bed.

• Alcohol - Although this aids going to sleep, it affects the quality of your sleep and is best had 3 hours before going to bed

Norelle's message.

"Make sleep the super powers to have lots of energy & vitality to be the best version of one's self"

Norelle can be found online:

Instagram: YourSleepRemedy

Facebook: Your Remedy Naturopathy

Website: Your Remedy

Email:  info@yourremedy.com.au

Phone : 0439 660 064

If you need help with you or your child’s gut healing journey, book in for a free 15 minute call, email me or check out my work with me page to see if one of my programs are a suitable fit for you.

Chantal is a Certified Nutrition & Wellness Coach who specialises in working with stressed and overwhelmed mothers of immune & digestive challenged children to heal their child’ gut by implementing a wholistic personalised step by step plan.

Interview with Sally Gray for all things gut health

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Sally Gray from Real Healthy kids, to talk all things gut health and why it’s such a critical factor to our health & well being.

Sally Gray is the founder of Real Healthy Kids, a business dedicated to empowering mums with the cutting edge mind body practices to step into their power and live with extraordinary health and daily calm, peace and joy and to become the role models our children need in this day and age. Sally has over 20 years experience as a Naturopath, Nutritionist, Transpersonal Counselor, Certified Life and Self-esteem coach, NLP and  EFT practitioner and she delivers a range of proven programs to create the foundation for exceptional health and healing for her clients.

Below I’ve summarised a few take away points from the interview.

Question 1 – In your expert opinion, what is the fuss about gut health?

• The gut is now considered an organ and is central to our physical & emotional well being

• We are outnumbered 10:1 in terms of bacteria to human cells

• The gut is where nutrients are synthesised, food is digested & absorbed.

• There is more serotonin in the gut, the feel good neurotransmitter than anywhere else in the body

• There are more nervous system receptors in the gut than anywhere else in the body and this affects our energetic experience

Question 2 – What are the signs & symptoms of someone needing gut healing?

• Human health = vibrant health BOTH physically & emotionally, therefore anything less requires gut healing

• Symptoms such as pms, tummy aches, digestive troubles, allergies, eczema, fatigue, pains & niggles plus so much ALL indicate the gut will require some looking after

• By the time a physical symptom presents itself, there has been a lot going on in the background, more than likely lots of inflammation

• Great health is a choice and is available to everyone if we choose to do the work required for a predictable outcome

Question 3 – Is GAPS the only way to heal the gut?

• Firstly we need to realise that making significant changes to our health involves getting uncomfortable

• GAPS is not the only way to the heal the gut and there is no one way to heal

• Healing needs to take into account all of the pillars of health and it’s not just about embracing a nutritional protocol

• Stress is the underpinning factor to our health

• GAPS does not address the pillars of health such as emotional well being, genetic predispositions & toxicity

• Dealing with stress & emotional well being is pivitol to healing

Question 4 – What is the top 1 or 3 things to start the healing process?

• Start with a commitment to a long term process of healing - get clear on what you want to create in terms of health for you & your family

• Be prepared to make mistakes and be flexible

• Find someone to go on the journey with

• Bring the family along on the journey for increased compliance

Sally’s key message

We can create exceptional inner wellness which will transfer to outer physical health. It starts with the inside first.

Sally can be found online at the following locations:

Website: Real Healthy Kids

Facebook: Real Healthy kids home

Email: info@realhealthykids.com

I highly recommend Sally’s IGNITE program if you truly want to create the life you want by design and start healing the inner self. The next round of enrollments commence 27th April 2017.

If you need help with you or your child’s gut healing journey, book in for a free 15 minute call, email me or check out my work with me page to see if one of my programs are a suitable fit for you.

Chantal is a Certified Nutrition & Wellness Coach who specialises in working with stressed and overwhelmed mothers of immune & digestive challenged children to heal their child’ gut by implementing a wholistic personalised step by step plan.

The 3 P's of Gut Healing

And it has nothing to do with food, per say!

As you are about to embark on any sizeable change, more than likely there are feelings of overwhelm by the enormity, and that is totally understandable. Sometimes these feelings can over power you and prevent ACTION from making taking place.

When starting your gut healing journey, there is plenty to consider such as the foods to include and exclude, how you are ACTUALLY going to bring the family on board, where do you get the food from and then WHAT are you going to make that the family WILL eat with the path of least resistance. Like everything, there is a process to change and its needs to be tackled in small bit sized chunks.

So, let’s get into it.

So the first P in gut healing is PLANNING!

It all starts with planning. Actually it starts a little before this with a clear defined Vision of EXACTLY what you want to achieve during your healing journey, WHY you want this and by WHEN, but that is a blog post for another day.

When starting your gut healing journey, planning is crucial and paramount to your success on any protocol you choose. Without this, you are guaranteed to set yourself up for failure.

Wikipedia defines planning as the following:

Planning (also called forethought) is the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve a desired goal. It involves the creation and maintenance of a plan, such as psychological aspects that require conceptual skills. There are even a couple of tests to measure someone’s capability of planning well. As such, planning is a fundamental property of intelligent behavior.

Actions to consider when planning your gut healing journey:

1. Be clear from where you are now and where you need to be. Break it down into smaller steps or milestones as to how you will achieve your desired outcome

2. Identify any obstacles UPFRONT that could get in the way of the plan being a success and you achieving your desired outcome of optimal health. Also include potential strategies that could be employed to mitigate the obstacles. In project management terms (my former life) this is referred to as risk management, you literally plan what to do in the event of something going wrong before it happens.

3. Identify any help or support you may need to carry out your plan. That could be in the form of home help, specialised practitioners, health coach etc.

4. Be clear on your start date and the length of time you will participate in your chosen protocol, i.e. 30 days, 3 months, 6 months etc. This needs to be flexible

5. Be clear on the protocol you will be following for your healing journey. There is no one size fits ALL and it may mean a combination of different healing protocols

6. Know where to source your food from

7. Meal Plan – this step is non negotiable and is crucial to the success of any gut healing program

The next P of gut healing is PREPARATION.

Give yourself the time you need to get organised. Do not rush this step. It took me at least 6 weeks of planning and preparation before actually starting the GAPS protocol. This was crucial to our success and more importantly my SANITY.

Things to consider when preparing your healing journey:

1. Be clear of the foods to remove from your diet and which ones to include

2. Get your pantry stocked with healing essentials, see this blog

3. Identify where and how you can create convenience so that you are not chained to the kitchen

4. Identify where in your week you can block out time to do the crucial activities such as meal planning and food preparation. These activities are key and without it, success and long term sustainable lifestyle change just will not take place.

The last P of gut healing is PERSISTENCE.

Let’s not kid ourselves; initiating any change is hard and overwhelming, especially if you are coming from a place of stress. The learning curve is very steep and more often than not you are just not sure you can actually do this. I know this feeling too well, I’ve been there myself! But you just need to start, and take one day at a time. You will be guaranteed to take a few steps backwards before you go forwards and the journey may be rocky, but you need to keep going. Whenever the feelings of failure or overwhelm come knocking (and they will) just keep your end goal at the forefront of your mind. Imagine your life as if your family was experiencing abundant optimal health.

Imperfect ACTION will always out weigh perfect INACTION. Just need to be willing to try

If you need help with you or your child’s gut healing journey, book in for a free 15 minute call, email me or check out my work with me page to see if one of my programs are a suitable fit for you.

Chantal is a Certified Nutrition & Wellness Coach who specialises in working with stressed and overwhelmed mothers of immune & digestive challenged children to heal their child’ gut by implementing a wholistic personalised step by step plan.