The fact is the period after Christmas and before New Years is an absolute nightmare because we’re all trying to look our best in 6 days just to be perfect for New Years Day and worst for wear on the second day of it. It’s hard to imagine how 2 days of wreckless dining can cause our body so much havoc but it does…God bless those tasty sweet Christmas treats….

So what can you do in 6 days? I would suggest aside from pray for the Christmas miracle…we all try the following:

Step 1: Cut out the sweets and pack away that minced pie – even if it is a mini one. Forget about alcohol because you’re staying sober until the last day of the year.

Step 2: Drink up on water, add a little lemon in it for flavor and to kick start that hibernating metabolism.

Step 3: If you’re serious about waking up your sleeping energy burning abilities, you’ve got to do some exercise. You may say I’m mad for suggesting a run in winter, but hey if the French can sustain their runs on snow laced mountain tracks then surely we can manage 30mins on the treadmill in the warmth of our homes.

Step 4: Cleaning diet only please…so for the coming few days you’ll have to suck it up and take some blend “organic” food.

Step 5: Come 3 days before new year’s, be realistic about what you can achieve and whip out that Eco Friendly DuMi Shapers for that shape support you need.

Good luck and have fun…

One of the most commonly reused food commodities is cooking oil. Granted the price of cooking oil is one that is always on the rise, it drives even the best of us to use it sparingly. But sometimes we try to do a little more than just reduce the usage of it, we try to increase the number of times we use it. In general that’s a great habit but when it comes to oil, reheating it over and over is just not okay because a toxin called 4-hydroxy-trans-2-nonenal (HNE) forms when such oils as canola, corn, soybean and sunflower oils are reheated.

However, this does not mean that you can’t ever reheat and reuse your cooking oil. You can…but you just need to be aware and very careful of the rules – that is to know how many times you can do it and what are the signs to look out for when reheating oil to avoid putting your health and the health of your family are risk.

Personally I think it’s a lot easier to recognize when it’s time to part with the oil by the physical signs. Good oil is always light in colour, fluid and clean without particles in it. You will notice that even after the first time you use the oil there is a change in the physical appearance of it – the oil becomes darker, thicker in consistency and of course bits of what you fried in it remains.

To save the oil for another round of use is simple. Allow the oil to cool, strain it through a coffee filter or cheesecloth and store in an airtight jar in the fridge. I would say use it again only once but some would say you can safely use it another 3 times.

The physical sign to look out for is when you can’t reheat the oil without smoke developing or it smells bad/rancid- these are indications significant deterioration of the oil.

I’m sure it isn’t just me who notices how dry skin, puffy eyes and dark circles are just so much more amplified during winter. On some days I’m even convinced that we age overnight during the freezing season. And the experts confirm this observation as they give their scientific reasons for it – lower level of vitamin D in the body during the colder months.

Vitamin D is something we can get naturally from the sun, along with serotonin which is that feel good chemical your body produces. So to beat the winter eye bags here’s what we need to do.

1.    Get sufficient sleep with naps in between during the day (15 mins is good enough)

2. Watch the diet – if you ever wondered why you’re always hungry when it’s cold, well it’s got to do with the fact that the lack of sunlight reduces the effectiveness of the hormone leptin. Leptin is what tells us we’re full. Also, cut down on the salt!

3. Increase the vitamin D in the body through supplements but bear in mind that  vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is naturally present in very few foods, so your choices may come limited. Known rich sources are salmon, sardines, cow’s milk, goat’s milk, shiitake mushrooms, and eggs.
So there you have it…the winter eye bag mystery solved! Let’s just see if the solutions work.

However…I’ll have to admit that today’s post was in a way inspired by recent events (ashes to ashes, dust to dust…) but with a slight twist you could say…as we’re going to be looking at an interesting gift idea!

Now I don’t know about you but I like my gifts to stand for something. I like them to be special not because I want it to stand out in a crowd, no. I want it to be special because it represents my thoughts and wishes for the recipient.

So what is this special unique gift you ask? Well the next chance I get, some people are going to get “eco-worms” in a box!
I can tell you’re already giving me that look of absolute disgust, but bear with me for a bit more before you throw the idea out the window. Trust me; the worms will be a welcome.

If you look past their wriggly exterior, you’ll see that worms have an uncanny ability to turn waste into living bacteria that posses the power to transform poor quality soil into a rich, living growing medium for plants and crops! Which really makes them the perfect gift for someone who is a keen supporter of keeping an eco friendly home and loves tending to the garden.

A gift of eco-worms will be a welcomed surprise as you learn about how much fun and contributing, having a worm farm in your garden can be to the environment. A worm farm will help you turn vegetable and fruit scraps into great potting soil or soil amendment through worm castings and worm tea – both odorless and priceless for your plants. Of course don’t be mistaken to think that they are made from mushed up worms – they are made by worms, not from them.

 
Wouldn’t you be as amused as I to learn that you can now clean your dishes with spaghetti! Not just any spaghetti but eco friendly green spaghetti scrubs! Of course these little balls of tangled wonder are not at all the same tasty morsels as those you cook in a pot. Instead these are little soap-less cleaning miracles made from the natural green source of corn cobs and peach pits.

 
What is a spaghetti scrub?
The Japanese ingenuity by Hiroki Hayashi, an industrial designer, introduced to the USA by Roland, the spaghetti scrubber is essentially something that is best described to be a fabric version of sandpaper. It is made with a cotton and polyester fabric backing and a surface coating of natural gritty materials derived from peach pits and corn cob.

How is it green?
Well for one thing, it uses natural resources – peach pits and corn cobs, but as they are partially made from non-woven nylon or other material that are not fully biodegradable. However, it does still reduce the depth of your carbon footprints because you can save on soap and replacement pieces. They last far longer than the conventional steel scrubbers.

What’s great about them?
These scrubbers are cute and fun to use but also very practical because they are:
• Reusable scrubs last for months
• Unique pliable shape
• Great for peeling vegetables
• Lack of mold and bacteria
• No smell or rust
• Save money and the environment by reducing the need for soaps

 
What’s cool about them?
They are shaped like spaghetti and they get curlier with each use…
They come in two colours – yellow being the corse scrub made with corn cobs and pink being the gentle scrub made with peach pits.

And as I sat over the dining table listening to my grandaunt talk about how she had missed me, how she distinctively remembered me as a child, the warm waters of the ocean we had visited together…I realized this dear little old lady was coming on well into her 80s yet her memory was as sharp as ever.

In her lovely English kitchen she was making roast for dinner and suddenly the room would be filled with stories about how she had taught mummy to make roast over 30 years ago. In her garden where I picked the last of the lavenders before the frost would take them, she told me more stories about how we used to tie lavender stalks together and put them in the cupboards…the mints and herbs in the garden- those brought on even more memories.

Then I remembered something about the human race. We can forget names and faces but we never forget a scent and the fact is…every memory had a scent. And that scent would be the key to the memory we safely store away in our minds. Being back home, the scent of home reminded me of the many things I used to do – things that I did not consciously remember.

This past October was a very special month for me and I know the combination scent of lavenders, apple mint, roast in the oven, waitrose pure fabric conditioner will be the key to that memory.

So for this Christmas, if you’re starting to fuss about what to give the older folks…why not give them a memory key to help them unlock the happy memories they once lived? Homemade scented sachets, tailored to a memory would be a very personal and meaningful gift.

 
Which makes me wonder if there is a natural version of the off the shelf pregnancy test kits because I’m certain that’s anxiety and anxiousness to learn if you’ve conceived is something that has always existed. Surely back in the old days they must have had some other ways of testing if a woman’s successfully conceived without having to wait for a missed period.

 
And so to quench the thirst of this curiosity, I did some asking around and followed up with some reading when I was told to look up grains.
The history goes like this: The Egyptians used seeds of barley and wheat to help test if a conception was successful. In fact they could also tell the gender of the baby to-be!

Here’s how the ancient Egyptians women tested for pregnancy.
1.    They would fill a bucket with seeds of barley and wheat.
2.    Pour their urine (first morning) over the seeds and repeat for a few days.
3.    If the seeds grew, it meant she was pregnant and if it did not grow it meant she was not pregnant.
4.    Now if it was the barley that grew it meant she was going to have a boy and if it was the wheat that grew, she was going to have a girl.

Now if you think that’s all old midwives tales, think again because I think this was the start of pregnancy tests. In 1963, scientists put this ‘test’ to the test and found that the urine of pregnant women did make the grains grow (due to the high level of estrogen in the urine) while 70% of the time, the urine of males and non-pregnant women did not! How fascinating is that!

Now I won’t say that I’m good with my drinks, but I do love to sample all that there is. You never really know what you will like and what you won’t until you give it a try and cocktails are fantastic fun way to discover your taste buds…

But were you aware that even with alcohol, you can take it with a green twist? Umm no, recycling the glass bottles is great…but that’s not quite what I was referring to here. Just like pretty much everything these days, there’s an organic version of alcohol. And today I’m going to share a little green perspective to one of my favourites – Gin.

So what is gin?

Well it’s the white spirit that is flavored with juniper berries and so-called botanicals. A close cousin of Gin is Genever or Jenever.

If it’s only flavoured with juniper berries, what’s it made of?

The spirit base of Gin is primarily grain, usually wheat or rye while Genever is made primarily from “malt wine” which is a mixture of malted barley, wheat, corn, and rye. Between the two, Genever is the fuller-bodied spirit that is similar to raw malt whisky.

Go organic.

I suppose there are quite a few brands out there which are organic and the following are some that are pretty popular in the market:

CapRock™ Organic Dry Gin which uses organic fruits & spices and “living water” – water from rock formations known as the “caprock” at 11,000 ft atop Grand Mesa.
Blue Coat Dry American Gin. This one isn’t certified organic but it does use organic juniper berries and botanicals to create that “American Premium” Gin.

Juniper Green Organic
The tag line sums it all up, Juniper Green Organic is “THE WORLD’S FIRST ORGANIC LONDON DRY GIN” It is certified by The Soil Association which is the premier authority responsible for certifying all things organic in the UK. The Gin is made with absolutely nothing less than the finest
•    organic grain,
•    the purest water and
•    a combination of 100% organic botanical herbs sourced from around the world.

So if you enjoy gin, you’ll enjoy it even more when it’s organic (Juniper Green Organic explains why).

Umeshu is a traditional Japanese liqueur that is obtained by steeping ume in spirits with sugar to extract ume’s unique ingredients. Ume (Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc) is often mistakenly described as plum but it really isn’t, nor is it an apricot…it’s actually a fruit on its own that falls under the same subgenus as these 2 other fruits. The extract of ume is very good for health, which is why there is a rich ume and umeshu history that you can read about here.

Now even though we’ve stressed Ume is not a plum, in English…that’s all forgotten about and the Umeshu is known as the Japanese Plum Wine. If you’ve ever tried it you’ll know how it’s got a very distinct taste and is very light on the taste bud because it’s sweet and fruity. But it’s a very unique liquor because it can be served in so many different ways.

You can have it straight up, on the rocks or even hot in winter. But what makes this liquor perfect for me is how I can make cocktails (recipes here) out of it – sleep well for it and know I won’t be expecting a hangover in the morning but instead a better healthier body.

My relationship broke down while I was away, well okay maybe it broke down a long time ago. But my partner had decided my absence was the perfect time to say that we were not right for each other and left all he had to say in an 83 words long, Dear John Letter – not even a sentimental conventional hand penned one by the way, but a short and poorly written/thought out electronic version which ended with “Let’s call it quits. Good Nite. Bye”.

Now before anyone feels sorry for me, I’m here to tell you don’t because it was for the better. And it is at this precise moment that I could see every leaf on the trees around me. I did not shed a single tear but instead I woke up to realize that this unhealthy relationship I had had given me Mibyou.

Mibyou is an ancient Chinese pathology term for a condition that not on its own a disease but headed into the direction of developing one. I guess years of stress and clogged up dissatisfaction will do that to you as it begins to take a toll on your body. Common symptons of Mibyou are the following:

1.    Cold hands and feet
2.    Unshakeable fatigue
3.    Poor appetite
4.    Paleness

I was pale, I never had much appetite and while my hands and feet were not cold, I was always tired. In general I’ve always been in pretty good health but I can’t even begin to count the number of times, just this year alone that I’ve been falling ill with respiratory issues.

Being over-medicated is not my idea of a cure either because that only treats the symptoms…never the cause. Mibyou is not a death sentence. It can be improved by enhancing the self-regulating function of the body. Removing the element of stress and taking some herbal liqueur such as the Japanese traditional herbal medicinal preparation- such as Yomeishu or Choya Umeshu can do wonders for you.

Tomorrow I’ll discuss how we can get better health with a cocktail of Umeshu!