The Natural Woman Is Vegan
Nothing is as important as a sense of humour when it comes to ageing ‘naturally’. I personally prefer to look at the process of ageing as a journey towards wholeness where all aspects of our being are cultivated and balanced. Make no mistake women like to feel beautiful. The women’s beauty industry is a mega billion dollar empire. Still, there is more to beauty than cosmetics, clothes, perfumes and accessories. Natural women hold the key to real womanly beauty.
What is a natural woman?
The definition is as wide and deep as the person themselves. Being comfortable in your own skin so to speak and feeling a deep connection with something bigger than yourself is how I define a natural woman. For me, that has always been the deep connection I have felt with nature since I was a child. You may have heard the expression or even categorized someone as, ‘she is so natural’. That describes women who are comfortable in who and what they are.
They can be versatile. They can be driven. They come from all walks of life but they know deep within who they are. No matter what they are and do, natural women are always themselves. The most beautiful women always are. It’s also a woman who lives her life in a way that sees her take responsibility for her own health by adopting a lifestyle that creates good health and equilibrium in a natural way.
Natural women have an aura about them. It flows effortlessly from them. They are not afraid of their emotions. They prefer to be guided by Mother Nature’s remedies than succumb to various types of medication or hormonal treatments.
Women are unique!
Without a doubt, women have unique health issues to manage. Hormonal imbalance can contribute to a host of problems including weight gain, unstable mood or a stressful temperament. Hormones are a powerful force in both our physical and emotional life but they can be influenced by diet, exercise and state of mind. Now you can learn the secrets of “Happy Hormones” and how they affect our day to day life in this short article. Or if you decide to enrol in my next ‘Natural Woman’ residential workshop you can experience a gentle and relaxing get-away at the same time. Aretha Franklin (you make me feel like) a natural woman will be singing her heart out at our welcome dinner! Not in person however!
The Natural Woman Course is a great way to have lots of fun, make new friends and learn how your body loves all that nature has to offer us. We will also cook together some delicious vegan nutrient dense specific dishes and make some super home remedies to keep our hormones balanced. You will receive my book Go Vegan along with a goodie bag containing all sorts of wonderful things we will use during the retreat. You will leave feeling like you have been re-born.
What are hormones?
A hormone is a chemical released by a cell or a gland in one part of the body that sends out messages that affect cells in other parts of the organism. Only a small amount of hormone is required to alter cell metabolism. In essence, it is a chemical messenger that transports a signal from one cell to another. All multicellular organisms produce hormones; plant hormones are also called phytohormones
The reason why I love so much what I teach, is the fact that Traditional Chinese Medicine and Macrobiotics both recognise that good health is the key to long life. Rather than seeking an elusive ‘Fountain of Youth’, it combined various health practices to promote well-being, with both body and mind, into old age in a natural way.
The Jing, our original essence, is a core focus for health and longevity. I designed my Natural Woman Programme to explore ways to nourish and control …the Jing and create ‘happy hormones’. Lifestyle habits and environmental influences can weaken and deplete this essence or vitality and create hormone imbalance, something all the more relevant in our modern times. There are so many practical approaches to learn for our personal wellness that can easily be adapted into our everyday life. Key lifestyle and dietary guidelines should be our main focus. Learning simple but special exercises and a powerful set of home remedies as well as cooking specific dishes to support adrenal exhaustion, which will help to preserve our Jing are of key importance. All of the fore-mentioned definitely work and will enrich your life.
Making decisions about your health takes on a whole new meaning when you know what you want to do with your life and who you want to be, doesn’t it?
Let’s talk about diet a little bit. I’ve studied eastern nutrition, plant-based nutrition, different diets from other cultures, and various other studies for 35 years. You will probably know that eating a wholefoods plant based diet keeps your blood sugar from spiking. Rapid changes in blood sugar levels stimulate cravings, which lead to weight gain, and increase the likelihood of systemic inflammation, which leads to chronic degenerative diseases. You can also avoid the hormone disruptors by eating a wholefoods plant based diet and eating only foods that nature intended.
I’m sure you also know it’s almost impossible to stay fit, healthy and trim without exercise, and that even a little exercise goes a long way. Those who know me will testify that I have always been in love with exercise and have taught many different forms over the years. From teaching aerobics and being the ‘Jane Fonda’ of the 70’s in Scotland with matching head band and leg warmers and a Farah Fawcett hairdo, lordy!!! The things we do!. Ultimately, reaching and maintaining healthy body composition and vibrant health through the right food choices and exercise happens in both your mind and body.
Junk food messes with your hormones
What you eat—and when—affects your emotions and spirit as well. Ignoring the emotional component of weight gain (or loss) can sabotage you when you’re in the midst of the diet wars. Bingeing on ‘junk’ food feels good in the moment, but man alive does it mess with your hormones!!! And it really doesn’t support the person you ultimately want to be—a happy, whole individual with a satisfying life. It is no secret that relationship crises are a common side effect of hormonal problems. Usually this is attributed to the crazy-making effects of the hormonal shifts occurring in a woman’s body at a time of menstruation or transition to peri-menopause and menopause. I am sure many of you will have experienced this familiar scenario at the ‘time’ of the month.
So how can we balance our hormones through food?
Phytoestrogen (plant oestrogens) are a class of compounds found in plants that, in humans, have a similar effect to oestrogen. Phytoestrogens include such compounds as isoflavones. Phytoestrogen rich natural foods include soybeans, flaxseed, linseed, most wholegrains, mung beans, alfalfa sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, berries and seeds. Tofu, green leafy vegetables also help towards keeping our hormones balanced. Miso and tempeh provide enzymes and phytoestrogens. Sea vegetables build bones and provide vitamins and minerals in abundance. The list is extensive but most of us never learn how to be in control of our health destiny and live a long healthy life. We live in a society that believes that we protect our health with access to medical care and drugs; it doesn’t work. It has been made cheap and easy to eat poorly, and the ‘myth’ abounds that it is more difficult to eat healthfully but it’s not true. We can only win with our health if we look to what nature provides, not with more money put into medical interventions and drugs, but by unleashing the powerful tools found in our kitchens.
What makes us ‘tick’ in a simple and practical way?
I love to laugh and I hope you will see the humour in many of my messages. As women, it is not part of our biological makeup to value a specific ideal body shape or role as we age. These are definitely culturally determined as you will see in magazines. Everyone looks like a supermodel. As our perceptions shape our emotions they affect our physiological, psychological and spiritual well-being. Since what we think and feel about ourselves exert an energetic influence on both our psyche and soma, try and make these thoughts all wonderful. It’s good to remind ourselves at this point that the body is a community of cells – these cells are connected by body fluids and energy – the energy of the body (the chi) nourishes and connects all body functions. Please make it a number one priority to love yourself no matter what so you have healthy chi flooding your body daily.
Are you a Plum or a Prune?
When you were a new born baby, you were at the height of your health. Your arteries were clear, your skin perfect and everything in your body was operating at peak efficiency. I like to use the analogy of a plum and a prune because it fits so perfectly and makes such sense to me. We are luscious little plums when we are born but dry out as we age which is a natural process of aging (but much earlier) than we should. This is due to lack of hydration and eating a typical western diet that is filled with processed foods. Our cells become starved. But, it’s not all bad news.
We can reduce and remove the dried out condition and acid overload that we suffer from which shows up as hormone imbalance, fatigue, sluggish metabolism, and an urge to eat all the time. Just like the rust on a car, our bodies rust on the inside too. Numerous studies have shown that a wholefoods plant based diet neutralizes acid overload bringing your alkalinity into perfect balance and paving the way for truly astonishing health improvements in your life. This way of eating also balances our hormones which are key to health and happiness.
Natural healing starts in the kitchen
It’s never fun being told what to eat – we all know that we should be eating more fruits and vegetables and cutting down on sweets and meats, reducing our intake of salt, sugar and saturated fat and boosting our consumption of fibre…..When your body is well nourished your appetite goes down, chronic hunger is often a sign your body is starved of nutrients!!!
There is lots of convincing scientific data testifying to that, but it doesn’t work unless the food is tasty and varied. That is why a big part of being a natural woman is focused on vegan cooking. Preparing and cooking delicious meals can be easy, fun as well as rewarding.
For superior health, natural wholefoods such as green vegetables, fresh fruits, seeds and nuts, whole grains and beans or legumes should all be consumed each day. To achieve adequate micronutrient density all animal products and heavily processed foods if you use them, should be removed. Without a doubt both cause hormonal imbalances.
The most amazing and satisfying aspect of promoting a natural high micronutrient diet-style and utilizing it as natural medical therapy is watching hormonal imbalance and many diseases melt away. People faced with health challenges can often improve and even obtain complete recoveries from autoimmune diseases, digestive disorders, type 2 diabetes, many cancers, headaches and heart disease to name a few, via nutritional excellence. The human body is a miraculous, self-healing machine when the optimal nutritional environment for healing is realized.
If we live and eat in perfect harmony with Mother Nature we live in a more enriched way of being. When we watch nature’s energy rising and falling through each season it should be a guideline to all of us how we can best cope with the food that becomes available, preferably grown locally.
In my natural woman home remedies menu in this article I have included something to nourish you from the inside and a delightful treat for the outside. Enjoy both.
Rejuvenate Your Skin with a Simple Seaweed Facial Mask
This simple facial mask will leave your face feeling incredibly soft, smooth and looking absolutely radiant. This mask contains kelp, coconut oil, and aloe vera.
Seaweeds have been traditionally used to detoxify the body both internally and externally. They are rich in nutrients which help to both tone and nourish the skin. Seaweed contains mineral salts that can help the skin to hold its moisture better, which helps to smooth fine lines. Sea vegetables deliver incredible minerals and trace minerals; this creates an alkaline environment in the body which delivers good health. You know there is collagen in the skin, right! And everyone is looking for great looking skin. It was recently reported that wakame, which is what I use in my daily diet and is one of the popular sea vegetables used in making miso soup has an inhibitor of the substance that breaks down the collagen. So, this food keeps the collagen strong, another of nature’s treasures for us to incorporate into our natural woman lifestyle.
Aloe Vera has been known for its amazing healing properties for centuries. It has been used to help heal burns, eczema, sores, acne, insect bites, and more. It’s an antiseptic, highly lubricant, and penetrates deep into the skin.
To benefit from these ingredients, create this simple mask:
1 tbsp. Kelp powder
½ tbsp. Rice syrup
½ tbsp. Aloe vera gel (99.9% pure)
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and apply to a clean face. Leave the mask on for 15 minutes and rinse with lukewarm water. To enjoy glowing, healthy looking skin, use this mask twice a week. I promise you will enjoy this mask and make it a regular part of your beauty regime.
Let Food Inspire a New You
“Food is the most intimate thing you can buy…Unlike clothes and shoes that dress the outside, food goes into your body and builds who you become.”– Ani Phyo
Millet & Tofu Bake with Pressed Chicory, Radish & Cucumber Salad!
½ cup cooked millet
½ pack of tofu marinated overnight in a little fresh ginger juice/shoyu/garlic
1 onion finely sliced
2 medium carrots finely sliced half-moons
1 tbsp. sunflower seeds
2 tbsp. shoyu
1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
Preheat the oven to 180/360 deg. Sauté the onions and carrots in a splash or two of water for about 5 minutes or until soft. Remove the tofu from the marinade and crumble with your hands into a bowl. Add the onions, carrots, and millet and sunflower seeds. Add the shoyu and brown rice vinegar. Mix together and transfer to an oven proof dish. Sprinkle over the nutritional yeast. Bake for 20 minutes on a medium heat.
For the Pressed Salad;
Cucumber finely diced
Chicory finely sliced
Radishes sliced half-moon
½ tsp sea salt
1 tsp. umeboshi Vinegar
Combine the ingredients together in a salad press and close and press the salad for one hour. If you don’t have a salad press simply place ingredients in a bowl, cover and place a heavy weight on top. Serve the tofu bake in a small bowl garnished with the pressed salad and sprinkle with black toasted sesame seeds. (The bake is supposed to be crumbly)
A natural life, when all is said and done, really will achieve astonishing results that medicine cannot rival. Clean air and water, nutritious food, moderate activity, a little walk in the sunshine and a good night’s sleep is all you need.
‘Magic is believing in yourself’! If you can do that you can make anything happen!
Enjoy being a Natural Woman!
In good health
