Sanity@Work Blog

FREE Seminar

2010-08-09T05:28:31+00:00

FREE Nutritional Cleansing Seminar Melbourne 17th August.JenJefferies-NarreWarren.pdf

Robert Tisserand Semiinars in Australia

2010-08-09T05:22:27+00:00

I'm really excited with the world leader and father of aromatherapy Robert Tisserand coming to Australia to conduct seminars in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland in October this year. Book your seat now as this will sell out.

RobertTisserand October 2010.pdf

FREE Nutritional Cleansing Seminar Sunshine Coast

2010-06-30T07:11:28+00:00

On the 5th of July I will be on Queenslands Sunshine Coast presenting a FREE Nutritional Cleansing Seminar.

How to understand your body"s signals and what you can do to stimulate your
body!s natural inner healing process!
How you can achieve healthy weight-loss of up to 5kg in just 9 days!
How you can dramatically increase your energy levels and turbo-charge your
recovery rates! and
How you can boost your immune system to avoid illness and the effects of
premature aging!

Nutritional Cleansing Sunshine Coast.pdf

FREE Nutritional Cleansing Seminar in Sydney

2010-06-30T07:01:06+00:00

On the 10th of July I will be in Sydney presenting a FREE seminar on Nutritional Cleansing. Nutritional Cleansinn Seminar-Sydney.pdf

Detoxify Naturally Seminar Darwin Sat 26th June.

2010-06-24T03:53:16+00:00

The Startling Truth About Everyday Life That Might Be Killing You -

And What You Can Do Right Now To Live Healthier, Happier & Longer...

Without Losing Your Sanity!

Come along to this FREE 1-Hour seminar and hear first-hand about:

How to understand your body"s signals and what you can do to stimulate your body!s natural inner healing process!
How you can achieve healthy weight-loss of up to 5kg in just 9 days!
How you can dramatically increase your energy levels and turbo-charge your recovery rates! and
How you can boost your immune system to avoid illness and the effects of premature aging

CLICK HERE to secure your seat.

Detoxify Naturally Seminars around Australia

2010-06-06T02:05:12+00:00

If You EAT, DRINK, WORK, SLEEP or BREATHE Then:

The Startling Truth About Everyday Life That Might Be Killing You -
And What You Can Do Right Now To Live Healthier, Happier & Longer...
Without Losing Your Sanity!

Come along to this FREE 1-Hour seminar and learn about:

How to understand your body"s signals and what you can do to stimulate your
body!s natural inner healing process!
How you can achieve healthy weight-loss of up to 5kg in just 9 days!
How you can dramatically increase your energy levels and turbo-charge your
recovery rates!
How you can boost your immune system to avoid illness and the effects of premature aging!

One day only - Saturday, 19th June
City Golf Club - 254 South Street, Toowoomba.
(2:30pm Registration, 3pm Start).

Seats are filling fast so CALL NOW to reserve yours... You won!t be disappointed!
Phone Gary Christison on: 0412 111 645 or email garychristison@gmail.com

Fior information on other cities email - sales@jenniferjefferies.com

Intuitive Aromatherapy Workshop on the Gold Coast

2010-05-04T05:28:44+00:00

I just set the date on July 3rd for an Intuitive Aromatherapy Workshop on the Gold Coast. The workshop focuses on using my Aromatherapy Insight Cards in everyday life to help increas wellness on all leves emotionally and physically. For more details CLICK HERE.

Move your "BUT" then Move your BUTT Webinar

2009-11-18T07:03:54+00:00

How many New Year resolutions did you make this year? Focusing on fitness and health made it into the top ten most common new year’s resolutions with only spending time with family and friends to beat it.

A lack of physical activity drains your body of energy. Sitting at your desk all day hunched over your computer and sliding further into your chair as the day progresses results in heavy legs, a tight lower back and a numb bum! There are very good reasons for exercising that have nothing at all to do with looking good naked!

In this webinar we will look at the mental and emotional benefits, including improved self-esteem, psychological wellbeing and elevated moods that help us to perform at our best and cope better during stressful times.

Out of Balance is still out of balance

2009-10-09T03:37:10+00:00

I meet people in my travels how self prescribe him or herself the latest vitamin or mineral multi supplement and expect miracles. You may have seen it advertised on the television or in some mode of the media and think yeh I have been a little tired lately and skipped a few meals why not take a multi. So you begin taking it and for a few days you feel a lift like you are getting back to your old self and then it plateaus off, and you notice that spark is gone and you are feeling like crap.

What happens in your body is that all minerals for instance work in relationships. There are two kind so of relationships, they either work together or against each other. This is the kind of fun stuff that naturopaths learn in college. You see when you visit your local naturopath we conduct a consultation to gain insight as to what is really going on in your body, compared to what you think may be going on and we check out which nutrients are working together or against each other. When we run a test called a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis we are able to see not only the nutritional levels but also the interactions and their influences on your body.

So in a typical analysis we see your profile that will generally have some imbalances whether in basic levels or in the way the minerals and trace elements are interacting with each other. Now if you take a multivitamin or mineral supplement that contains a little bit of everything, what you can be doing is raising your levels but they go from being out of balance to a higher state of out of balance. That’s right they are still out of balance. That is why you can feel a lift at first and then none.

The taking of supplements today can be essential to your health if you are cutting corners or eating calorie laden nutrition less foods. The secret is to get accurate advice first to what you really need to gain maximum benefit and regain that nutritional balance you are seeking. You local naturopath and many doctors nowdays can run a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis to see what is really happening inside.

Aromatherapy reduces the risk of car accidents

2009-10-09T03:34:49+00:00

The leading causes of car accidents are distractions (such as using your mobile phone, fiddling with the radio or CD player, eating, grooming, dealing with the kids or picking up something you’ve dropped on the floor) and drowsiness. Have you ever felt tempted to rest your eyes for a few seconds while you’re driving, when you’re bored in traffic or at the end of a long trip? Ever found yourself racing to a meeting, battling traffic and feeling stressed and frustrated?

Dr Charles Spence, an experimental psychologist at the University of Oxford in England, says scientists are studying how our senses of smell and touch can be used to make driving safer – and he and his colleagues have shown that aromas such as citrus and Peppermint can improve concentration and help drowsy drivers to stay alert.

Using essential oils such as Orange, Lime, Lemon, Grapefruit (or even oils with a citrus-like aroma such as May Chang) can not only elevate the senses, mood and emotions, they can also assist in keeping you in a relaxed but alert state. May Chang has a delicious lemon sherbet aroma that helps to keep you feeling ‘up’, but calm, and when it’s used in combination with citrus essential oils such as Grapefruit, Ginger and Orange, you can create an environment that helps you to lighten-up and stop taking yourself too seriously – it helps you to regain that ‘cruisey’ feeling that you are really living and not just existing. And they can be easily used in the car. A car diffuser plugs into your car’s ‘power source’ (which used to be called the cigarette lighter). The car diffuser has a pressed paper pad that absorbs the oils. You simply add two or three drops of essential oil and the aromas begin to do their work. The car diffuser releases the oils slowly, and the scent can last up to a few days before it needs refreshing. Whether you commute to and from work or spend most of your day in the car, a car diffuser can help you to stay focused, prevent frustration and avoid fatigue. The only essential oil that I don’t recommend being diffused in the car is Lavender; its strong relaxing properties may prevent you from concentrating on driving.

As much as we all know the dangers of driving when we’re tired or bored, we also know that there are going to be times when we find ourselves in that situation, so why not be prepared and use essential oils to provide an aromatic, sensory experience that increases your alertness, lifts your mood, and prevents stress, fatigue, boredom and drowsiness from settling in.

How to rejuvenate and start the New Year with a plan

2009-10-09T03:31:43+00:00

As the year comes to a close, it’s time to take stock of where you really are in your life – compared to where you might think you are. Take a moment to consider each of the statements below. If you can relate to any of these, there is a high likelihood that you’ve been burning the candle at both ends this year and that you could do with a little rejuvenation. But don’t worry; you’re no different to the majority of business people in Australia. Earlier this year we conducted some research together with Grand United Corporate Health Fund where we surveyed business people just like you, and found that only 6% of people thought that they had any sort of balance in their lives.

I wake up feeling exhausted and am slow to get going.
I experience aches and pains.
I have broken sleep.
I get headaches at least monthly.
The last thing I really feel like doing in the morning is exercising.
I could use a power nap in the afternoon.
I wish I had a sex drive.
My appetite is all over the place.
I look for a glass of alcohol to wind-down after work.
I eat lunch at my desk.
I feel emotionally flat.
I am tired of my co-workers or friends and family asking me if I am okay.
I am withdrawn and don’t want to be around others unless I have to be.
I am short tempered and get angry easily.
I have forgotten how to laugh, even at myself.
I experience mood swings.
I have lost interest in most things.
I feel disillusioned about my job.
The joy has gone out of my life.

How can you rejuvenate and get your life back on track?

The main body system that is responsible for our ability to cope with stress is the adrenal glands. These are small triangular organs that sit like caps on top of each kidney and provide us with the surge of adrenalin we need when we are faced with situations that call for unusual levels of physical or emotional exertion.

The adrenals work a bit like a like a bank account – you spend a little adrenal energy each day and each night you build up your reserves again. But the reality is that most people spend more than they re-invest and end up experiencing adrenal fatigue or exhaustion. The adrenals can adapt and handle stress for extended periods of time, which makes people think that they are coping, when in fact their bodies are sitting on the edge of burnout.

In my work as a naturopath I treat clients from the perspective of restoring their adrenal health and balance in their lives. There’s no pill or potion that you can take to replenish your adrenals, what will do it is regular and consistent good food, good rest and good play, and my 7 Steps to Sanity are the basic keys for integrating good food, good rest and good play into your life.

The 7 Steps to Sanity

Step 1 Respect Yourself

Start by realising that you need to look after yourself first, otherwise you’ll be of no use to others – there’s a reason why airlines tell you to fit your own oxygen mask first in case of an emergency – if you’re not okay, you can’t hope to be of service and assistance to others. It’s not selfish, it’s essential to look after yourself first.

You might start to do that by learning to say ‘no’ to unreasonable requests and demands on your time – and to do it guilt free. That might take a little practice if you’re someone who’s used to saying ‘yes’ to everything that’s asked of you. Next time you’re feeling overburdened by other people’s demands, don’t feel resentful of them for asking, you’re the one that said ‘yes’ and put yourself in the situation, and you’re the one that can change it by learning to say a guilt-free ‘no’.

When we are feeling stressed and anxious, one of the first things we do is start shallow breathing – which makes our stress feel a lot like fear. It’s a fact that fear and excitement produce exactly the same physiological responses in our bodies, the only difference is the way we look at the situation – are we afraid or are we excited? To help calm yourself and convert your fear into excitement take a few slow, deep breaths, it’s one of the fastest and most effective things you can do to manage stress and regain control of your emotions.

Step 2 Feed your Body

Although few of us really think about it on a day-to-day basis, the food we eat is fuel for our bodies. It forms the very building blocks of our bodies and it keeps us alive and well. These days we tend to eat for so many different reasons – because we’re bored, lonely, unhappy, happy, to be sociable – but rarely do we remember to eat because we need to nourish and fuel our bodies. It’s time we started to think differently about what we choose to put into our mouths.

There’s always a lot of discussion and debate about what the right diet is, but in truth, the formula for healthy eating is a very simple one:

Every day, drink two litres of water. If you want to drink tea, coffee and alcohol too, that’s fine, just balance it by drinking an additional glass of water for every cup or glass of tea, coffee and alcohol.

Six days a week eat foods as close to nature as you can – that means unprocessed and lightly cooked – and remove the ‘Bum Glue’ from your diet. Remember when we were kids we used to make glue from flour and water…and it used to smell foul after a day or two? When you eat refined grains, breads and pastas you are effectively eating that glue – and guess where it gets stuck? In your bowel, and it causes you to feel sluggish and unwell. Eliminating refined grains, breads and pastas from your diet is probably the single most effective thing that you can do to improve your general wellbeing.

One day a week, go to town, eat whatever you want, if you’re going to splash out make it count and eat the best, most divine and luxurious treats you can find and enjoy every mouthful – but only one day per week. It’s not what you do 10% of the time that matters, it’s what you do 90% of the time – so be healthful six days a week, and treat yourself on the seventh.

Step 3 Move your Body

Most of us don’t move our bodies nearly as much as we should – we weren’t designed to sit behind a desk, or to be confined to a small workspace for 40, 50, 60 or more hours per week – yet that’s exactly how most of us spend our lives.

I know you don’t have much time leftover for exercise, so go for quality rather than quantity. Interval training (which used to be called ‘Scout’s Pace’ when I was a kid) is an incredibly fast and effective way to build fitness and burn fat. You simply go for a 20-minute walk, run, swim or cycle, and go fast for one minute, then slow down and catch your breath for one minute, and repeat for 20 minutes. Exercise is more fun if you have a buddy to motivate you and help you stay committed to your goals, so find someone and exercise together. And remember, just like with your healthy eating plan, have a day off once a week, and spend it in guilt-free sloth!

Step 4 Play More

Do you ever take a look at yourself in the mirror and wonder when you became so serious? Life has a way of weighing us down and we forget that we’re supposed to be having fun, or even how to, so we need to make having fun a priority. You might even find that you become more productive when you’re balancing all that hard work with a little enjoyment – and you’ll be better company too.

We can start to lighten our moods by focusing each day on what we have to be grateful for, rather than always looking at what we don’t have or feel we’re missing out on.

Setting aside some time for fun until it becomes a habit is another good way of re-introducing fun into your life. Even if it is just for a few minutes each day, make an appointment with yourself to have fun. And ask a friend, colleague or family member to let you know when you’re starting to get a little too serious or stressed-out – but remember not to bite their heads off for telling you! It can be a great way to snap out of old habits and lighten the situation for everyone at the same time.

Step 5 Get a Life

It’s funny how we manage to achieve everything we need to for our work and families, but when it comes to ourselves, we’re prepared to let our health and happiness slide. It’s time to make the decision to ‘get a life’, and to look after every aspect of our lives as though life was the most precious thing we have.

One of the most valuable things you can do for your life is to look after your adrenals, which as we saw earlier, can only be done by enjoying good food, good rest and good play – in other words, by getting a life! I know you’re out of the habit, and you probably wonder where you’ll find the time, so the solution is to simply schedule your life in the same way that you schedule your work, until it becomes a habit. Make appointments with your self to eat well, drink water, have fun, spend quality time with your loved ones, exercise, relax and so on. If you don’t, you know you won’t get around to it.

Step 6 Do it Now!

As much as we tend to procrastinate doing the things we don’t like doing, we also procrastinate doing the things we would love to do – and all that procrastination is taking up a lot of time and energy! Whether it’s something you’ve been dreading, or something you’ve always wanted to do but never gotten around to, make the decision to do it now. Life really is a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’, so don’t waste it by worrying about things you know you have to do, or depriving yourself of the things you really want to do. Identify those things you’ve been putting off, and choose to make them happen now.

Step 7 Chill Out

Understand and accept that you are only human, and you are going to get off track and make mistakes sometimes, so give yourself a break. Start by not beating yourself up for your so-called imperfections. If you do find yourself doing something that you know is counterproductive, don’t send yourself on a guilt-trip over it, instead choose to be pleased that you noticed and that you’ve given yourself to the opportunity to change track. Putting yourself through feelings of guilt and worry is one of the most damaging things you can do for your health – so why compound the problem? If you’re not on track, be pleased that you noticed, and correct your course.

And while you’re at it, why not choose to stop worrying about and fighting those things in your life that you can’t change? You’re the only one suffering the consequences of not accepting the way things are – it doesn’t mean you have to like what’s going on, and it doesn’t mean that you can’t choose to change it – but why worry and stress about it at the same time? Changing your perspective about your circumstances can literally change your experience of life. So instead of feeling overburdened by all of the things you have to do, why not choose to instead feel excited about all of the things you get to do? And as we head into the silly season, instead of feeling stressed and harassed by all of the people you have to do things for, why not choose instead to feel grateful for all of the people in your life – you might just find that your new approach not only changes your experience, but theirs too.

How do you get from here to there?

2009-10-09T03:26:37+00:00

If I was going to drive from Brisbane to Perth, and I’d never made the trek before, it would be easy for me to just think, ‘Yeah, I know where I’m going, and our road system is good enough, so I’ll just get in the car and drive, following the road signs along the way’. A few hours into the trip, when I’m feeling a little fatigued and distracted, I might miss a couple of signs and after a while, find myself at the back of nowhere heading north instead of west. I might panic for a moment, start to stress, and spend a lot of time, effort and energy getting back on track again. Sure, I’ll eventually make it to Perth, but it will have taken me longer and cost me more than it would have if I’d taken the time to plan the trip before I headed off.

We all need a good road map (yes, even the blokes!).

Many of us treat our personal and business lives in the same way – we head off in the general direction of where we want to get to, hoping that we’ll spot all the right signs along the way, and when we find ourselves off track, it can really throw us for a loop! Just like in our road trip example, we don’t make firm plans for where we want to go, how we’re going to get there, and where we should be at certain points in time…and then we wonder why we’re working so hard but not getting to where we want to be.

In my experience, the most common things that stop people from achieving their goals are:

• lack of planning, and
• procrastination.

And sometimes we even procrastinate the planning! We all like to put off doing difficult or uncomfortable things, it is a perfectly human thing to do, but it often leaves us stuck on the road to nowhere.

If there’s anything that you want or need to do in life, realise that there will never be a more perfect time to start making it happen than right now, today. All you need to do is make the decision to just get on with it – stop thinking, worrying and stressing about it, and start doing it.

How? The fastest and easiest way to get from A to B, from Brisbane to Perth, or from where you are today to wherever you want to be, is to create a road map for yourself by setting goals. I’m going to walk you through how to do that, but before we get started, it’s important to point out the difference between dreams and goals. Dreams are just that, they’re fuzzy, feel-good fantasies that live in our imaginations, and that’s often where they stay. We all need to have dreams, but we also want to make some of those dreams a reality in our lives, and that’s what a goal is: something that we are aiming to actually make happen. Goals are the road maps that we create for our lives, they pinpoint exactly where we’re going and how we’re going to get there, and they help to give us a sense of purpose, direction and achievement in life.

So let’s start setting goals.

Make sure your goals light you up. The things we usually put off doing the most are the things we don’t like doing; the things that bore us; that aren’t fun and that don’t give us a sense of satisfaction. So, if you set goals around doing things that make you feel that way, you won’t make a true commitment to achieving them. Sure, we can’t always spend our days doing our favourite things, but there has to be a great pay-off in it for you – your goals have to light you up from the inside; they have to ‘feel’ right for you.

Goal Booster

Because I am a natural health practitioner I use and recommend a lot of ‘natural medicines’ that can help in all areas of our lives. Ginger is a herb that is excellent for giving you a metaphorical ‘kick in the pants’! It’s brilliant for getting procrastinators into action. Anytime you need a bit of a push along:

• Brew yourself a cup of fresh ginger herb tea (hot or iced). Take a knob of fresh ginger, grate or chop it, and infuse a teaspoon in a cup of hot water – drink it warm or let it cool and drink as a tangy iced tea.

• Use some aromatherapy in your home or workplace. Vaporising some ginger essential oil, in combination with other energising essential oils such as May Chang and Grapefruit, will help keep you focused on the task at hand and lighten your mood when you’re feeling bogged down by it all. I have created an oil blend for this very purpose, it’s called Play More, just add 5-10 drops to an electric room vaporiser or car vaporiser.

Write your goals in language that excites you into action. What impact do you think your language has on your mental, emotional and physical wellbeing, and on what you achieve in your life? We all know someone who is ‘Mr or Ms Negative’, they always have a problem, an excuse, and a reason for why they can’t do what they want to do, or why they aren’t getting the results they want – and it’s always someone else’s fault! In reality, it is that little voice that we all have inside of us that can make us doubt and question ourselves – and some people are better at managing it than others.

You’ll never get that little voice to be quiet, but you can take control of what it’s saying and what you choose to pay attention to. The key to changing your self-talk is to first begin noticing it, and then to replace the negative commentary with a positive one. For example, you could replace existing scripts such as ‘I can’t do this’ with ‘I’m learning how to do this’, or ‘I am determined to become good at this’, or ‘I know I can do this’. So when you’re setting and reviewing your goals always use positive language, confident and inspiring words that describe you achieving your goals, and leave no room for negativity.

Shoot for the stars – one step at a time. Goals are about stretching yourself to achieve the things you want in your life, but we still have to focus on taking manageable steps along the way – you don’t have to achieve a lifetime’s worth of goals this year! For example, if I were to write down a goal to buy a $1 million beach house, and I earn $50,000 per year, the stress that sits behind this goal will sabotage my achieving it. It’s called non-integrative thinking. So while you might set a big bold goal such as this, within a short period of time you will start to realise that the goal is way too hard at this point in time, and that you’re not likely to realise it within the timeframe that you’ve set yourself, so you give up on it and it ends up becoming a de-motivator that spreads into other areas of your life as well. Remember, goals are meant to inspire you, not to set you up for failure, so make sure they’re challenging but achievable.

Set goals for your personal and business life. Setting goals in all areas of your life will help to ensure that you maintain a sense of balance, which in itself can help you to keep up the momentum needed to achieve your goals. Start by setting goals around:

Family and home life
Physical body and health
Emotional health
Spiritual health
Finances and career
Continued education
Social life and relationships

Write your goals in great detail. The more information and detail that you put into your goals, the more efficient your subconscious mind will be at helping you to achieve them. You see, when you write down a detailed goal, your subconscious mind takes that as an instruction to make that thing happen. It’s like when you decide to buy a new car, and you suddenly start to see that same type of car everywhere – what we tune our subconscious minds in to, we bring into our lives. So, if you’re setting a goal to take an overseas holiday, put all of the details about that trip into your goal – who you’ll fly with, where you’ll stay, what you’ll see there and so on. The more detail, the better.

Goal Booster

Our memories are strongly linked to our sense of smell, you’ve probably had the experience when you smell a particular aroma and in an instant it takes you to another place and time in your mind. You can also use this memory association to help you focus on your goals. For example, this year one of my goals is to go to Turkey for the rose harvest (as an aromatherapist this is a very cool thing to do), so I have been vaporising rose essential oil and using a rosewater spritzer every day to help keep me focused on achieving that goal.

Keep them in your face. Out of sight, out of mind. If you don’t remind yourself of your goals every day, it’s very easy to lose track of them and just get busy with the day-to-day demands of life. I keep my goals in my diary, so that I see them every day. Reviewing your goals daily is a crucial part of your success and vital to make sure that your conscious and subconscious minds are focused on working toward them. Take a few minutes each morning to read your goals and visualise yourself achieving them (really do a little daydreaming here, imagine what it would look like and feel like to have achieved your goals), this is a technique that sportspeople use all the time to help them stay focused and committed.

Monitor your progress and adjust your goals. Review your goals periodically and adjust them as you go – just because you’ve set a goal doesn’t mean you can’t make changes to it along the way, you’ve got to be flexible. As you look at your goals and plan your day, ask yourself if what you are doing is taking you toward your goals or not. If it is, you know you’re on the right track, and if it’s not, see whether it’s your goal or your actions that need to be adjusted to get you heading in the right direction again. When you do find yourself off track don’t give yourself a hard time for it (I did say ‘when’ not ‘if’ because we’re all only human and we all wonder off track now and then), just be glad that you realised it, and get back to what you know you should be doing.

Goal Booster

Learn to put up your hand and ask for help when you need it. You may never be able to achieve some of your goals without a little help or guidance along the way – but for some people (myself included), learning to put ego aside and ask for help can be a goal in itself! You’ll reach your goals, faster and easier and give other people the opportunity to be of service to you and to share in your success if you just learn to ask for what you need.

Share your goals with someone. Sharing your goals with someone you trust can be a great way of making sure you stay on track, and it can give you someone to help celebrate your milestones with along the way. But you do need to be careful about whom you choose to share your goals with. It’s human nature that some people will be excited about what you want to achieve and be there with you every step of the way, while other people can feel threatened, or jealous, or just put out that you’re making an effort to change your life while they’re not, and they can react negatively and make you doubt yourself. So choose one or two trusted people, who are as positive and ‘can do’ as you are and help each other to achieve everything you want in your lives.

Goal Booster

Reward yourself! So often we focus on what hasn’t worked in our lives and what we’re yet to achieve, and we forget to acknowledge ourselves for what we do achieve. Make this the year of acknowledging and celebrating your achievements, and share that success with a friend. Within my own close network of friends, we have chosen this year to share all of our ‘Woo-Hoo!’ moments, whether by email, phone or in person, we connect with those people who share our vision and celebrate and encourage each other with some good-old positive reinforcement.

Everyone benefits from goal setting, without it, life can just seem to be happening to us, pushing and pulling us in all kinds of directions and we can start to feel powerless about what’s happening and where we’re heading. Remember to set goals for all areas of your life, it’s not all about what we want to achieve in our working lives, it’s also about ‘having a life’. Living a balanced life is about finding a way to have it all, without losing your health, sense of humour or sanity along the way! It’s about feeding yourself energy, not draining the life out of you – and simple goal-setting can help you to achieve just that.

Unwind after work.

2009-09-07T06:46:25+00:00

Its 5pm and all you are wanting to do is pack up your desk and head on home. You’ve had enough and are hanging out for that long glass of “red”. As much as this sounds the best way to end the day it is not necessarily the only way to end the day.

In the perfect world you are living a life of prevention and are not ending your day wound up and “over it”. In the real world there is every chance this is what the end of many of your work days is like. What if you ended your day with a couple of basic steps to bring more sanity to your evenings?

When we did some research a few years ago we found that 83.5% of people feel that workplace stress has a moderate, high or massive effect on their lives outside work. Not only that, they were taking their work home with them, not physically but emotionally.

With this in mind I thought I would share three practical steps for you to integrate into your life like a habit to let go of the day and be present in your mind when you are at home.

1. Move your body. Get out and play with your kids, go for a relaxing walk with your partner or even go and walk your dog. Just move your body even for 10 minutes. The aim of this is to relax your mind not necessarily your body.

2. Drink herbal teas. You have probably head about Chamomile herb tea being a relaxant but did you know that at your local health food shop you can also buy herb teas like Lavender flowers and hops? Yes the same hops that go into your beer can be made into a herbal tea. Taking hops as tea instead of in a beer means none of the same calories and can calm nervousness and anxiety and promote sleep in cases of insomnia.

3. Vaporise essential oils. I have designed a new essential oil blend called “Unwind”. Unwind is a grounding but uplifting blend of Vetiver, Australian Sandalwood, Sweet Orange, Cedarwood, Patchouli and Geranium. Unwind is designed to settle your busy mind and lift your spirit so that you can let go of work and be grounded in your home life.

So instead of waiting to have a crappy night where your mind is still racing from a busy day at work, take a few minutes to unwind and enjoy your evenings with the people you care about the most..... your family.

How to work and play as hard and as fast as you choose without burning out.

2009-08-11T04:13:02+00:00

In this article I’m going to reveal five steps to help you bring a sense of balance to all areas of your life. They are the bottom line starting point for what to do from my successful 7 Steps to Sanity book and programs.

If you are a busy go fast who wants it all without burning out this will be time to stop and take stock of where you are and gain some insights on ways to stay sane.

A great place to start is to let go of your limits so you can achieve more without feeling overwhelmed or stressed.

You know I have learnt that “perception is everything”. A few weeks ago I had a big reminder of that when I chose to run the Gold Coast Half Marathon. Prior to that the longest race I had run was a 10km. This race was to be double of what I was used to running but I had my head around it. The day before the race I chose to drive the route to see what I was in for and while driving the route I thought to myself, this is ok, it’s a flat course and beautiful running by the water. I then arrived at what I thought would be the turnaround point for half way and thought “excellent”, this is easy. The next day as I was running the race I came up to what I thought was going to be the half way mark to turn around and I looked across the road to the return part of the course and saw a drink station there. In that moment I started to go into overwhelm because seeing the drink staion there told me that I was not at the half way mark and in fact I had about 1.5km to get to that point. The little voice in my head started to crank up feeding me negative thoughts about what was happening where what was really happening was that I was not at the half way point yet. The race was no longer, it was still the 21km but my expectations had not been met and I had the potential to go into overwhelm and possibly give up.

Doing the work that I do and living consciously I was able to notice that this was happening and I slowed my run, took a few deep breaths and got my head around what was really happening compared to what the little voice in my head was telling me was happening.

In daily life we are presented with situations where our expectations are not met and there is the potential to stress out and go into overwhelm. When your expectations are not met, realise that they are your expectations and not anyone else’s, stop, take a breath and see what is really happening and don’t get caught up in the negative stress of what you think is happening as they can be worlds apart. You can achieve anything. It’s all in your mind. Stop and breathe and make your mind work for you and then its all easy. It really is - just keep taking steps and moving forward.

The next strategy is to restore your zest and excitement for life.

This is all about taking action. The difference with successful people is that they take action and recognize their achievements along the way.

A few years ago I arrived at the end of the year feeling flatter than I expected and I sat to work out why. I made a list of some of the things I had accomplished in that year and I realized that I had written or completed second editions of five books. Most people won’t write five books in a lifetime and I had pumped out five in one year. Where I was human and got tired was that I never ticked off my goals as I went along.

On a daily basis, focus on completing one element of a task and complete that first and tick it off your list. Actually physically make a list that you can tick. Just doing it in your mind does not work as well. Write them down because each little tick you make against that huge list that would usually overwhelm turns around and feeds you energy.

Those are the first two strategies I want to share with you and I will share the other three in a minute. But before I go on, I want to ask you a question. What one thing would you do differently in your daily life if you felt more sane?

Trust your intuition on this, don’t go looking for some big deep and meaningful answer. The first thing that pops in your head is generally a great place to start. As soon as it pops in your head write your one thing into your diary.

You know life is short and if you keep waiting for the time to finish things and get sane you are going to be waiting for a long time because I am sure if you think back even to the last 12 months you have been running from project to project to project. Projects back to back and never ending in many cases.

You know the secret to a happy life is to live it and don’t go just existing. So that one thing you just wrote down is a starting point for you. For instance if the one thing you wrote down was to eat better, right now, today, the place to start would be to go and have a balanced feed and then build on that.

The next step is to release guilt from your life and keep moving forward.

To do that first you need to notice when you are struggling and not moving forward. Just acknowledging it is the start. Times when you are struggling are the times that you generally give yourself the hardest time and yet these are the times you need to give yourself a break.

Get that you are human and as much as you think you can control others you can’t.

What you can control is your own life and how you respond to stresses as they occur. See life as a game that works for you and know that you can change the rules as you go along. It’s absolutely ok to be human and go off track sometimes. What is not ok is giving yourself a hard time as that immobilizes you from taking one step to get back on track guilt free.

So if something is not working for you, turn it on its head and make it work for you. For instance if you are feeling low in energy and have been sitting at the desk or hanging out at home, turn what you are doing on its head and do the opposite to what you are doing. So get off your bum and go for a walk. Even if it is just around the office get up and move. If you are running around like a maniac in overwhelm stop or at least slow down and take a breath. To regain sanity turn what you are doing on its head.

The next step is to get more enjoyment and fun out of life and you do this by focusing on what you do have and then play with the people who feed you the most energy. If you have someone that is sucking the life out of you, let them go. Leave it up to them to make contact.

Release contacting them through obligation. Even if you saw or heard from them one time less per year that’s one more chance to be happy and energized through the year. Do that for say 10 people and you have the potential of getting 10 days back in your life over a year. As we know the emotional draining that happens after being in contact with an energy sucker can last at least one day or more. So let go of obligation, release them and move on by playing with people the majority of the time who feed you energy.

The final step is how to make more money in a recession by plugging into limitless energy.

The secret to limitless energy is to live consciously and look at what is feeding you the most energy in your life and focus on and do more of that. In these times don’t go reinventing the wheel or starting everything from scratch. Focus your energy towards energy feeders in your business and personal life.

In business give existing clients extra special attention and turn them into raving fans. Value what you do have. In this market it is even more important to never take anything or anyone for granted because you never know where it will lead now or in the future. Anything and everything is possible. Value all that you do and all those you connect with.

In your personal life tap into energy feeding foods. Eat close to nature and treat yourself with respect. Treat your body like you would a client. You wouldn’t abuse a client so why go on abusing your body. The difference between having energy and not is behaving 90% of the time and giving yourself a break for being human the balance of the time. With everything you do in life, Live it, love it and get on with it. Take action one step at a time while you live close to nature.

In my experience we can all get it together with a little support and a reality check now and then. Remember you are the only one in control of your life. Make your life work for you.

City2surf 2009

2009-08-09T23:49:19+00:00

Yesterday Barb and I ran the Sydney City2surf race. 75,000 competitors and lots of crazy stuff. A 14km race with a very nasty hill called "Heartbreak Hill" at the half way mark. Its more of a walk than a run with so many competitors but a great piece of fun exercise on a sunny winter Sunday.

WEBINAR : How to work and play as hard and as fast as you choose without burning out.

2009-07-30T04:30:16+00:00

As you probably already know, I run the world's most practical and realistic program for adrenal junkies living on the edge of burnout. I can reveal to anyone how to restore their sanity effectively.

In this webinar you will learn :

Let go of your limits and achieve more without feeling overwhelmed or stressed.
Restore your zest and excitement for life.
Release guilt and move forward.
Gain more enjoyment and fun out of life.
Discover secrets to making more money in a recession by plugging into limitless energy.

View Webinar Now

How to work and play as hard and as fast as you choose without burning out.

2009-07-28T08:49:11+00:00

As you probably already know, I run the world's most practical and realistic program for adrenal junkies living on the edge of burnout. I can reveal to anyone how to restore their sanity effectively. Today I presented a webinar teaching you how to:

Let go of your limits and achieve more without feeling overwhelmed or stressed.
Restore your zest and excitement for life.
Release guilt and move forward.
Gain more enjoyment and fun out of life.
Discover secrets to making more money in a recession by plugging into limitless energy.

Listening to this webinar could save you not just your sanity but also hard cash if you burnout!

Sunset in Darwin

2009-07-26T09:31:05+00:00

Last weekend we went to Darwin to run a Essentially for Women workshop and ended the day heading to the bay to enjoy the perfect sunset. We had so much fun being silly with the sunset. I hope you enjoy the video. Darwin is THE place to be in winter in oz.

My first and only half marathon

2009-07-07T08:24:30+00:00

On Sunday I ran my first and only half marathon on Queensland's Gold Coast. The longest distance I had run in the past was 10km in the NIKE Great Race last year. The half marathon is 21km and even though it was a flat course it was a real challenge for a social runner like me. Anyway I am rapt that I did it and I know that it will be my first and last half. I am more suited to the shorter 10km runs which seem soooo easy after doing a half marathon. To see the clip of my race hit the play button below.

Laugh your way to wellness

2009-04-14T10:42:15+00:00

In his book ‘Anatomy of an Illness’, Norman Cousins tells the story of how he ‘laughed his way out of a crippling disease’ that doctors believed to be irreversible. Cousins was an author, diplomat and editor of the literary magazine ‘The Saturday Review’. In 1964, he contracted ankylosing spondylitis – the connective tissue in his spine was disintegrating. He was told that there was no record of anyone ever beating the disease and that adrenal stress could have been the cause behind it. Learn how he beat it.

Energy Suckers vs Energy Givers

2009-03-31T01:02:04+00:00

Breakfast on the run

2009-03-25T02:21:54+00:00

Let your mouth say what your heart wants to.

2009-03-15T00:37:58+00:00

Hop into the new red meat - the nutritional benefits of kangaroo

2009-03-08T09:45:03+00:00

A lot of popular diets these days focus on a high-protein eating plan, so for people who want to have meat as their major source of protein, important to make sure that its good quality meat. In this podcast Jennifer talks about the nutritional benefits of kangaroo meat.

Watch salmon. Swimming upstream just makes you bait for a bear.

2009-03-03T04:52:01+00:00

Statistics show that the most common time for people to have heart attacks is Monday morning – that’s how stressed we are about the work that we do, is it really worth that much?

Life is actually really simple, we have just become far too clever and crammed out lives full ofsystems and gadgets designed to make life easier and the result is that our energy is sapped to the point where life is a struggle. It’s time we got back to what the basics are all about, to the point where we work to live, not live to work.

The Myths and Truths of Low Carb Beer

2009-02-23T00:26:50+00:00

Got your attention? Yes I am going to share with you the truths and myths of low carb beers. So what about low carb beer does it help you to lose weight???????

Get a check up.

2009-02-16T01:07:21+00:00

You know your body is just like your car. You put your car in for a service regularly but you don’t necessarily treat your body with the same respect and yet you expect it to perform better than your car. The same as your car needs regular checkups so do you so that you don’t go getting to that breakdown stage. This podcast i give you the kind of tests that you can schedule into your life to help you come from a place of prevention.

Feel the fear and do it anyway.

2009-02-14T01:56:02+00:00

What holds you back and stops you from doing what you’ve always dreamt of? What’s stopping you from creating the life of your dreams or becoming everything you wanted to become? Are you afraid of failure or success? For a lot of people it’s both, which doesn’t leave many options open. It was Helen Keller who said ‘Life is a daring adventure, or nothing at all’. Fear of the unknown is a normal part of life but one that we should learn to leverage to our advantage rather than allowing it to stand in our way.

Ten simple ways t bring balance into your work day.

2009-02-13T23:33:12+00:00

In research we comissioned three years ago only six percent of people interviewed felt that they had a handle on work-life balance .Four out of five people said they were experiencing work-related stress at least once a week (I know some of you are thinking, ‘I wish I were stressed only once a week!’), and almost three-quarters of people said that a lack of time was their main challenge to leading a balanced life.

Dad and I

2009-02-11T09:51:08+00:00

I have always had a fascination with motor bikes and got my licence in my early twenties. In the last ten years I have taken up riding more regularly again and I have shared pictures of some of my rides with my mates in this newsletter and on my blog. Just before Christmas my mum showed me an old photo of my dad in his younger days with his motor bike. So I had a play in photo shop and put the photo of dad on his bike into one of my bike photos.

The thing that is cool about this shot is that I am wearing my dad’s old silk scarf which he always wore on his motor bike and proudly gave me a couple of years ago. In my photo from last year and his we are standing in very similar positions with our bikes and we are both wearing the same scarf. My dad gave up riding motor bikes when he married and became a dad. The photo of dad was taken 54 years ago and I wanted to share it with you today. This is one of my favourite photos. I know where I got my love of bikes.

White Christmas

2009-01-06T09:53:40+00:00

I know I am a couple of weeks late but I wanted to share with you a short video of the first snow fall in Seattle that gave me my first white Chrismas ever. Being a Gold Coast I as beyond excited and happier than any little kid seeing their first white Christmas. We ended up being snowed in for six days and it was my most realxing, fun, romantic and wonderful Christmas ever. So Merry Christmas. I hope yours was as much fun as mine.

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T01:21:58+00:00

Its new years day and I have just returned from having my first ever white christmas. I travelled to New York and Seattle in the US and Victoria in Canada. I did not get to see snow in New York but got so much in Seattle that we were snowed in for nearly a week. Then we caught the clipper up to Victoria in Canada for Christams day and Boxing day and had such a blast. The reality of coming home to an aussie summer was a shock for a day but I am back into the summer laing by the pool grove again now. Enjoying this restful time of year before the fun of 2009 kicks in. Sending you all the good energy to you and your family to have a fun and fbulous 2009.

Frozen fountain in Seattle

Me inside the Empress Hotel in Victoria, Canada.

Going for my daily walk in the snow in Seattle.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-04T22:59:01+00:00

Well the year is racing to a close and I hope it has been as exciting for you as it has been for me. I am heading off next week for a white christmas in the US and Canada. Yes it will be my first white one and it it wll be a little strange being cold instead of sweaty and hot but I am really looking forward to it.

There is one event that I love to close my year out with and that is my loal motor bike club Christmas Toy Run. The guys and girls at our club get together and buy toys and gifts for the local church to give out to the needy famlies around our area. This is without the event that brings the biggest smile to my heart for the whole year. There are no words to express how good it fells to give back. Below is a short video of what we got up to on the day.

So whatever you are doing for Christmas keep a smile in your heart and I look forward to catching up with you in the new year.

NIKE Great Human Race

2008-09-01T06:30:59+00:00

Yesterday I competed in my first 10km charity fun run. (my entrance fee went to the WWF). It was the NIKE Great Human Race. 25 cities around the world all ran at 9am on the 31st of August. The Australian leg was run in Melbourne on a cold rainy day but what a blast. I had a ball and am looking forward to my next race. For a laugh I carried my camera along and video some of my race. Yes I looked like a dag but it was funa dn that is all that matters.

Magnesium -The Adrenal Junkie Tonic

2008-07-07T07:07:35+00:00

People who are ‘burning the candle at both ends’ almost 100 per cent of the time have one thing in common, a magnesium imbalance.

Magnesium is a simple mineral that is essential to your nervous system and to your adrenal glands being able to relax.

Bottom line; “when you are low in magnesium you get stressed, and when you are stressed you lower your magnesium levels”. In this podcast learn ways to raise your magnesium levels.

Fear can be fun!

2008-05-22T14:00:00+00:00

Articles

Fear can be fun!

Allow yourself to feel the fear and do what you want anyway – breathe through your fear to the excitement on the other side!

What holds you back and stops you from doing what you’ve always dreamt of? What’s stopping you from creating the life of your dreams or becoming everything you wanted to become? Are you afraid of failure or success? For a lot of people it’s both, which doesn’t leave many options open. It was Helen Keller who said ‘Life is a daring adventure, or nothing at all’. Fear of the unknown is a normal part of life but one that we should learn to leverage to our advantage rather than allowing it to stand in our way.

Fear and excitement both generate the same physiological response: your heart starts to race and your adrenalin glands start pumping to give you the edge you need to stay and enjoy the experience, or get out of there and save yourself! The only difference between the fear and excitement response is your perception of the situation – one is negative and the other is positive. In many situations whether you experience fear or excitement is entirely your choice, which explains why some people can ride a rollercoaster and love it, while others find it terrifying. Do you see the challenges you face every day as things you ‘have’ to do or things you ‘get’ to do? One point of view drives fear and the other drives excitement. Fear is easier in the short term, because it gives us an excuse to give up or to back away from a situation.

Four years ago my partner and I chose to sell our business and relocate to the Gold Coast so that we could live our dream. The emotions that arose in us when we were considering leaving the security of our own business to start again from scratch brought up all kinds of fear and negativity that almost stopped us from doing it. But we took a breath and looked rationally at how fear was guiding our decision. Sure, we could have comfortably kept going the way we were and felt secure, but we would always have wondered what we might have achieved if we took the step outside of our comfort zone and lived our own daring adventure. These days our life and business are totally limitless and we can take them absolutely wherever we choose to. Now my life feeds me energy instead of sucking it out of me.

I choose to live my life by the rule that ‘If it’s hard to do, that’s all the more reason to do it’ and as a result, people often mistakenly think that I don’t experience fear, which is most definitely not the case. Even the most fearless person you know is intimately acquainted with fear. The difference is that some people choose to take a deep breath, close their eyes and push through to the excitement on the other side … and some do not. Choose to push through your fear and make your life your own daring adventure!

Snowshoeing in Vancouver

2008-04-29T21:43:37+00:00

What do you do on a day off in Vancouver. You go snowshoeing on Grouse Mountain of course. Just have to remember to watch out for the Grizzly Bears. If you click the hyperlink you can see what the bears are up to right now. This was so much fun. What a great way to play and exercise at the same time.

EA/PA Conference Melbourne

2008-04-24T05:34:56+00:00

Yesterday I spoke at the Executive Assistant and Personal Assistant conference in Melbourne. It was a fun filled day with really interesting speakers and delegates. I had the pleasure of spending time with Anji Hunter (ex Director of Government Relations to Tony Blair, Former British Prime Minister) and Kerry Collins (EA to the CEO of the National Farmers Federation).

Anji Hunter and I Kerry Collins and I

No thanks, I�m sweet enough

2008-04-22T08:14:35+00:00

The average person consumes in excess of 50 kilograms of sugar per year! Refined sugars are addictive, immunosuppressive and will destroy your body’s ability to regulate blood sugar and insulin metabolism. Anything more than five kilograms of sucrose per year accelerates ageing, creates a breeding ground for yeast and fungus in the gastrointestinal tract, and will leach important minerals from vital organ reserves. So why do we continue to consume so much of it? Listen to this podcast to find out.

Amazing Water

2008-04-22T05:09:40+00:00

I spend so much of my time telling people about water and why to drink more filtered water. So I thought you might like to know about an Australian Owned and operated water cooler system I have found that I like. It works out far cheaper than buying in those big bottles that break your back to lift and it even give you hot water as well. Click the link to learn more.

Waking Up Well - The Essentials

2008-04-14T08:06:04+00:00

Preparing for sleep the night before is the place to start. Quality sleep vs quantity is vital. A busy mind leading to broken sleep does not allow for a fresh mind on waking. Try some of these simple steps to help you sleep well and then wake well.

Move Your Body

2008-04-03T05:04:21+00:00

Canadian Super 7's Rugby Team

2008-04-03T02:14:07+00:00

I love my life. Today I am in Adelaide to speak for AIOP (Australian Institute of Office Professionals). I am taking some time out this afternoon to relax in the lobby of the Hilton Hotel and I have just discovered that all of the Rugby 7 teams are staying here too. So for those of you out there that are into rugby, I grabbed a few of the players from the Canadian team to have a quick photo. Yes that's me, the short one in front. These guys are big!!!!!

Thailand Trip

2008-03-31T08:33:38+00:00

Just back from a trip to Thailand with us generating lots of interest for our work over there. Over the next year we are going to be working closely with Assoc. Prof. Dr. SUPAYANG VORAVUTHIKUNCHAI and her team from the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai. Supayang and her team will be studying the effectiveness of my MRSA (Golden Staf) essential oil blend against the nasty. Watch this space for updates as it progresses.

Associate Professor Supayang (2nd left) and her team with Wayne House(my Sales Director SEA) and I.

Of course I believe in balance (see last blog entry for a short video of me attending a Thai cooking class in Chiang Mai). Here are Toni and I on a day off with our interpreter Khwan Jai at Bangkok's Ancient City.

Watch later this week for more podcasts fromt he Sanity@Work series.

Thai Cooking School

2008-03-30T23:40:09+00:00

Last week I was in Thailand speaking and I took a day off up in Chiang Mai to attend a Thai cooking school. This was one of the most delicious and fun days I have had for ages. I highly recommend it to anyone heading to Thailand.

The internationally renowned Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School was established in 1993 and was the first Thai cooking school to open in Chiang Mai.

It is owned and run by Sompon Nabnian Thailand's international TV chef and his English wife, Elizabeth.

With over 13 years experience of teaching over 100,000 people from all over the world, it is the leading Thai cooking school in Chiang Mai.

Sanity@Work - What really counts as water?

2008-03-12T03:54:34+00:00

Welcome to this weeks Sanity@Work Podcast. This week welcome to water.

Water is fundamental to our body chemistry, among the most important roles it plays are keeping your body and brain hydrated, your brain is the first place that you lose water from when you become dehydrated and this affects your ability to think straight. Water is also essential for helping your body to eliminate wastes, including the acidic wastes released during times of stress. So how much do you really need? Have a listen and learn.

Moving Sky

2008-03-07T00:37:49+00:00

Last week I was in Macau speaking at a conference in the Venetian Hotel. Now not only is this building the 2nd biggest building on the planet (only beaten by the Boeing factory in Seattle) but all of the ceilings in the shopping mall area are painted like an afternon sky in Venice. The cool thing is that when you walk it looks like the sky is moving. It kept me totally amused while I wandered through out the hotel. If you ever get a chance to go to Macau (even on a day trip from Hong Kong) make sure you make this a destination. Enjoy this short video I took while I was there.

A Dream Come True

2008-02-21T10:27:51+00:00

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am the worlds biggest airplane groupie. I LOVE anything to do with any kind of aircraft and the bigger the better, it is a big part of the reason that I do the work that I do. I just love flying. So on my trip back to oz from Taiwan this week I had the pleasure of sitting next to an off duty captain on his way home and did have the time of my life. He was so cool and answered all of my questions about aircraft (about 9 hours of it). He flies a Boeing 777 for Cathay Pacific. We were flying on an Airbus A330 and when we landed he asked me if I would like to have a look at he flight deck. As you can imagine I absolutely said yes so fast (see photo below of me on the flight deck) and he was great giving me a short tour.

As I see a lesson in everything in life for me it was to remember to be yourself and speak from your heart. When you do this you speak your truth and are passionate about life. Ray saw my genuine love of airplanes and helped make a dream come true.

Taiwan International Book Exhibition

2008-02-16T01:07:06+00:00

This week I am in Taipei speaking at the Taiwan International Book Exhibition. It is a great event that brings publishers together from all over Australia and Asia. This year Australia is the feature country and other publishers and I come here to sell the rights to our books into other languages. So keep an eye on my blog over the next few months as I share new translations of my books. Very exciting times ahead. So below are a few photos to share with you.

School girls from Ching-Mei High School Taipei Liz, Commisioner QLD Trade Taiwan Sam, me and Evelyn from the Austrade Taiwan.

Podcast - When did you become the least important person in your life?

2008-02-05T06:13:43+00:00

This weeks Podcast comes from StepOne in the 7 Steps to Sanity and is all about the art of saying No and treating yourself with respect.

Podcast - The Triangle of Health

2008-02-04T07:49:03+00:00

No one can avoid stress, the pressures of life affect us all. Some people may appear calm on the outside, but in fact they’re like ducks on a pond – gliding along gracefully from the surface view, but paddling like mad to make it all happen below the water line – and they’re the ones causing the most harm to their bodies by internalising stress. You can’t eliminate the stressors in life completely, but you can learn to respond positively rather than react negatively. The triangle of health explains how, so put your ears on and listen to how your emotions could be influencing your health.

Video - NO BUM GLUE

2008-01-30T08:50:34+00:00

You may have seen me present my 7 Steps to Sanity® in the past at your workplace or conference or maybe you have not seen me live yet. Either way, when I present the segment of my 7 Steps to Sanity® presentation that gets the most reaction is when I talk about No Bum Glue ® and the impact that refined and processed grains have on your body.

This short video is a reminder of how to easily check the condition of your large intestine (without some nasty hospital test) and ways to get it all clean and back on track again.

If you know of a friend that may have "room for improvement" in their health feel free to forward it to them as well.

Stay sane

Jen

Podcast - Are you stressed or are you burnt out?

2008-01-04T02:17:53+00:00

Does this sound like your daily routine? You get up, eat, go to work, come home, eat, go to bed. The next day you get up, eat, go to work, come home, eat, go to bed. And it’s the same the day after that and the day after that – same stuff day-in, day-out. You feel as though you have no time for family, friends or yourself and the joy has been sucked out of your life. You begin to feel helpless and as though you are barely surviving. Learn how to identify burnout and tips to regain control.
To subscribe to receive the regular podcasts click here.

Sanity@Work Podcast

2008-01-04T02:15:51+00:00

Welcome to my Podcast this will be a weekly look at where you are when it comes to work life balance and what you can do to regain control and some sanity in your life.

To subscribe to receive my podcast weekly click here.

Seasons Greetings 24/12/07

2007-12-24T01:54:17+00:00

Christmas Eve on the Gold Coast see's us settling in for some time with our families, restoring our sanity and maintaining that sense of work life balance. We have just enjoyed a few days of play with some friends from Taiwan. A successful afternoon in our local river netted us a feast of four fish and three crabs to enjoy. We really are quite blessed to live in an area where we can walk out of our front door, walk 50 steps and catch dinner within an hour. The next day we went off to do the Australian thing and hang out with some kangaroos and koalas at the local wildlife park. Seriously relaxing and fun. Hope you get to enjoy this time of the year with people you love.

Stay sane

Jen

Staying Sane in the Silly Season

2007-12-18T03:28:22+00:00

Top 5 Tips for Staying Sane over the Silly Season - 17/12/07

1. Stay hydrated – It has to be number one because I know that you are going to enjoy yourself and have some alcohol. Bottom line, alcohol is very dehydrating (I know that you know the dry feeling you wake up with after a night with few glasses of your favourite party drink). So the world will not end if you enjoy some party cheer all I suggest is that you have at least one water for each glass or two of alcohol. Remember it is trendy and socially acceptable to drink water now days and there are so many boutique waters on the market to enjoy.

2. Get quality rest – If you know you are going out to play hard, get a power nap in the afternoon before hand. Prepare to play and then you will have the stamina to go all night if you so wish.

3. Eat some real food – The incidence of ailments like gout (yes gout, it is not an old mans disease anymore) increase around this time of year. Snacking on salty and rich foods, enjoying a little too much alcohol and not enough water can lead to acute ailments like gout and or associated aches and pains. So think and plan ahead, eat at least two nutritious meals a day and party on the other and go for quality and not just quantity.

4. Get a buddy to help you enjoy but not regret – If you know you are prone to being the party animal and over indulging ask a friend to do the circuit with you and not for you to try to lead them astray, but ask them to be honest with you and then you listen if they ask you to take a breather.

5. Chill Out - Enjoy it all, it is the party season and you deserve to play. Simply remember that you are human and if you are going to play, PLAY and enjoy every minute of it, just do it guilt free. Regretting things the day after is useless and damaging to your health. Be responsible the night before and it enjoy yourself.

End this year by staying safe in whatever you do. Merry Christmas to you all and I look forward to playing with you in 2008.

Thailand adventure

2007-12-12T07:23:51+00:00

Last week my partner Toni and I met up with Wayne House (our Sales Director, South East Asia) and Khwan (our interpreter) in Thailand for some meetings and a look at what is possible for us over there. We had an exciting week visiting corporates clients and leaders in the SPA industry.

Always living to our belief of staying sane as we work we took some time out to visit the Tiger Temple north west of Bangkok. We raced around all day after getting a little lost and landed at the temple just before it closed. As it goes that was the best time to arrive as we got extra time with the tigers an we were able to enjoy the walk back with the tigers as they went to bed. A seriously cool real life adventure. Below are a couple of the photos.

Wayne, Toni and Khwan eating grasshoppers.

My job - most important person to take the photo.

Jennifer on ABC Radio

2007-11-27T01:05:23+00:00

At lunchtime today I am being interviewed on 91.7 ABC Radio on the coastal conversations show. To listen to the interview go to http://www.abc.net.au/goldcoast and click on Coastal Conversations.

Stay sane

Jen

Secrets Exposed

2007-11-23T23:17:59+00:00

Earlier this year I was part of the successful book Secrets of Inspiring Women Exposed. Yesterday I attended a one day event for all of the contributors of the Secrets Exposed books - all 15 titles. To be a room for a day with some of the coolest business people today was a great experience. The ideas and networking was amazing. So from that here I am today taking action and starting my blog. It will be a weekly Sanity@Work entry giving you one step that you can integrate into your everyday life to help keep you sane.

One percent of your day is 15 mins and I know you can spend one percent of your day taking some action to regain balance and control of your life. At the same time I am beginning my Sanity@Work Podcast. So watch out for that over the next few weeks.

Until then

Stay sane

Jen

Fat burns faster if you light a fire under it

2007-04-27T04:13:16+00:00

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Fat burns faster if you light a fire under it

– how to keep your metabolism ‘firing’ to burn fat more effectively.

Ever been told that your metabolism is ‘fixed’? That you were either born with a fast or slow metabolism and that you’re stuck with whichever one you got? Or that your metabolism slows with age? Do you really understand what your metabolism is?

Think of it this way – your metabolism is your body’s engine, and the foods you eat are:

used for energy to fuel your engine, or
stored as fat, or
eliminated as waste.

There are generally three main reasons why you might carry more weight than you’d like:

1.    You’re taking in more fuel (food) than your body can burn up and so the excess is being stored as fat.
2.    You’re not moving your body enough to burn the energy you are taking in and have already stored.
3.    Your metabolism has slowed to the point that, even though you may not be eating much, you are still holding weight.

Now, I know that item number three on this list is by far the most attractive reason to justify why we may be slow to lose weight. I know for myself, and from the majority of clients I saw in my clinics, that it is easier to believe that our metabolism is the problem, rather than that we are overeating or being under active!

The fact is that it is possible to speed up or slow down our metabolism at any age by adjusting the amount of exercise we do, the amount we eat and what we eat. Exercise is an obvious one – do more exercise, burn up more energy/do less exercise, burn up less energy. But would you believe you can actually slow your metabolism by reducing the amount you eat and speed it up by eating more? Before you reach for the Tim Tams though, yes, it does matter what you eat and when.

You see, just like we need to keep adding fuel to a fire to keep it burning strongly we need to keep giving our bodies regular good fuel to keep our metabolism firing along. And the reason for this is simple survival – if you reduce the amount of energy you are putting into your body, it thinks that you are experiencing famine conditions, so it hits the brakes on your metabolism to give you a greater chance of survival. And while this was the perfect physiological response in times when we had to go out hunting for our dinner, it’s not so great for our modern way of life. The key to speeding up your metabolism is to eat more frequently to keep the fire stoked. Five or six small meals a day is ideal (you can read more about the ideal eating plan in 7 Steps to Sanity®). And as well as eating more of the right foods more regularly, you can also supplement your diet with foods that have been shown to give the metabolism an extra boost. Try incorporating some of these into your daily diet:

Soybeans – are excellent to start with, make sure you go for the non-GM kind that you can buy in health food stores. They contain lecithin, which guards your cells against accumulating fat, and can help to break down already accumulated fat stores in your body. Try to have soy products about three times a week. If you are not into soy, buy lecithin granules and put them on your cereal instead.

Garlic – is one of my favourite foods on the planet. Natural garlic, preferably uncooked or very lightly cooked, not only has basic antibiotic and antioxidant qualities but it has also been known to help mobilise stored fats in the body.

Chilli – can enhance the way that cholesterol and fats are processed. Studies have found that capsaicin (an ingredient in chilli) works in two ways to reduce fat levels: it decreases cholesterol absorption by the body so that more is excreted in the faeces, and it increases the enzymes responsible for fat metabolism in the liver, so that more triglycerides (the hard insoluble fat) are secreted by the liver rather than accumulated in the body.

Vitamin C – food experts at Arizona State University reported in 2006 that vitamin C in the blood is directly linked to fat oxidation, which is the body's ability to use fat as a fuel source both during exercise and rest. Vitamin C is found in foods like citrus fruits, berries, red capsicums and kiwi fruit, which are easy to add to your daily diet. Eat the whole fruit, instead of just sculling a big glass of juice so you also get the fibre to help the rest of your body as well.

Green tea – researchers in Japan have discovered that the long-term consumption of tea catechins, found in green tea, is beneficial in offsetting the obesity-inducing effects of a high-fat diet, and that the effects could be attributed partly to the activation of hepatic lipid catabolism, involving the release of energy and resulting in the breakdown of complex materials. To tap into the fat-burning properties of green tea you need to consume around four lightly brewed cups per day. I love green tea because it is also loaded with antioxidants that protect your body. In the hot weather I brew a jug in the morning and drink it iced throughout the day. Lightly brewed green tea counts as part of your daily water intake too.

I regularly get asked if there are any ‘magic’ foods that have negative calories – as in, they use more energy to digest than they contain. We’d all love that, but unfortunately the answer is no. There are however some foods that are extremely low in calories and very high in nutrients, so try adding some of these more regularly to your diet:

Asparagus
Beetroot (I love them grated raw onto a salad)
Cabbage
Brussels Sprouts
Carrots
Celery
Cucumber
Onions
Tomatoes
Dark leafy greens

Remember, it is the total amount of calories that you take in during the day, compared to what you burn up by moving your body that gives you the calorie deficit and associated weight loss. So to kick-start your metabolism, eat small, regular meals balanced with some protein, make your meals colourful and lively by adding chilli, ginger and garlic, and move your body (exercise) in some way every day – and over time, you will see your weight start to move in the right direction again.

Six a day, six days a week

2007-04-27T04:03:09+00:00

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Six a day, six days a week

Need a basic but realistic recipe for a balanced diet? Go for six ‘airplane-sized’ meals a day, six days a week (no, not the size of an actual airplane…but the size of the meals they serve you on board).

When trying to manage weight, many people make the mistake of eating less frequently – but all this does is make your brain think you are starving, so it slows your metabolism and helps you to hoard as much fat as possible to deal with the famine. Very handy when we were reliant on daily hunting and gathering for our nutrition, but not so great if you’re trying to shed a few excess kilos.

Your metabolism burns the fuel (food) in your body according to how much energy you are expending and how much food it is used to receiving: not much energy or not much food and it will slow down to conserve your reserves, but keep your body supplied with a constant and reliable intake of good foods and your metabolism, like a well-stoked fire, will keep burning fast using up higher levels of energy on an ongoing basis. That means you’ll burn more energy and lose more weight.

So the message is: to lose weight you may need to eat more of the right foods, more often. That’s got to be the best news you’ve had all day!

So, how much is enough? Have you ever wondered how much your stomach holds? The stomach of an average weight adult can hold about three cups of food before feeling uncomfortably full. The stomach of an overweight person can hold four cups or more before getting the same feeling. Your stomach stretches and expands, so if you’re used to eating large meals, it will stretch more than if you’re used to eating small meals. But remember it’s not what you do 10 per cent of the time that matters; it’s what you do 90 per cent of the time that counts. So overeating at the occasional buffet dinner won’t expand your stomach but overeating regularly can. The good news is that when you return to smaller meals your stomach gets used to that style of eating and returns to a regular size.
The ideal size meal you’re looking for is about the size of those neat little portions they serve on airplanes. Or in other words, roughly the size of the palm of your hand. At every meal you need one palm-sized portion of either protein or carbohydrate and one palm-sized portion of fruits or vegetables. And if you’re still hungry, add more vegetables or fruits.

People often ask me how to identify which foods are proteins and which are carbohydrates. A basic rule of thumb is if it comes from an animal or legume then it’s a protein, for example red and white meats, fish, dairy and soy products. And if it comes out of the ground then it’s a carbohydrate, for example whole grains (such as used in bread, rice and pasta), potatoes and so on. And the rest of the whole foods are fruits and vegetables.

When it comes to getting your head around eating six meals a day people generally get stuck on how to fit in the extra three. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are hard enough sometimes, so how do we fit in those plus three more? The easy way to handle this is to carry healthy snacks around with you during the day. This helps you to avoid overeating at meals or being stuck and having to grab takeaway (which usually ends up being a bad food choice). When I’m on the run I make up my extra meals with snacks like a handful of almonds, nuts, seeds, sultanas or raisins, or a bag of vegetable sticks and something fun to dip them into. I like nuts and seeds because they are loaded with protein and good fat.

The seventh day

The easiest way that I’ve found for myself and my clients to stick to a healthy eating plan is to eat healthily six days a week and enjoy a ‘free day’ on the seventh. On free days you can indulge in any treats you want, guilt free.

Being only human, if someone tells us that we cannot have our favorite foods (like chocolate) ever again, we are going to crave them in the biggest way. So I say you can have your chocolate, but go for quality over quantity. Buy your absolute favourite chocolate, but only have it once a week. This way you can get your head around your cravings, you’ll have more chance of staying on track and you’ll benefit from the added bonus of finding that your favourite food tastes that much better when you do have it.

This ‘free day’ break in the routine is a treat to look forward to and also signals your body to not go into starvation mode. So enjoy your free day, it’s a necessary part of balanced nutrition.

Go fo brown!

2007-04-27T03:57:02+00:00

Articles

Go for brown!

Do you remember making craft glue out of white flour and water at school? Remember how it set like cement when you used it? And how bad it smelled after sitting on the desk for a few hours? Well, every time you eat white breads, pasta and rice, they turn into craft glue in your stomach, becoming foul, sticking to the walls of your bowel and sucking the life out of you. I call it ‘bum glue’ and it’s just as charming as it sounds.

Refined and processed grains are high in phosphorous, which is acid forming, and when consumed as flour causes problems in the brain, the joint capsules and the gut (bloating). They are also rich in phytates, which are the acids that bind minerals to the intestinal tract causing them to be excreted unused. So what may seem like a ‘healthy’ meat and salad sandwich on white bread for lunch every day will actually leach the water-soluble nutrients out of your body.

Unlike highly processed white foods, wholegrain foods contain all the components of the grain, including the germ (which is where most of the nutrients live), the bran and the endosperm. Typical wholegrain foods include wholemeal breads, multigrain breads (although watch these as the grains are often still in a white bum glue base), rolled oats, wholemeal pastas and brown rice.

Wholegrain is the closest to nature, meaning it contains all of the components of the grain and can be whole, cracked or milled. Wholemeal contains grains that have been milled to a finer texture, but it retains all the components of the grain, so it is still wholegrain. Wholemeal and rye breads are the ones you would think of in this class (just watch them though as light rye breads are generally cut with white bum glue flour).

Wholemeal and wholegrain breads are naturally high in fibre. White high fibre breads have had fibre added, but they are still white and do not always contain the outer layers of the grain, so I still class them as bum glue.

So, why go brown?

For a start, the outer layers of grains are particularly rich in fibre, which helps to remove toxins, promote healthy gut bacteria and keep you regular. They also contain vital vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. Wholegrains are essential in keeping the cells of your bowel walls healthy and studies have shown that people who eat wholegrain foods regularly are less likely to develop bowel cancer.
Then there’s the added energy that brown grains can give you. Have you ever noticed that an hour or so after lunch you are ready for a nap or a trip to the vending machine?

If you eat that ‘healthy’ salad and meat sandwich on white bum glue bread for lunch, chances are that an hour later you’ll be ready for a nap, chocolate or coffee – it’s the mid-afternoon slump that we know so well. Depending on the Glycaemic Index (GI) of the food you’ve eaten and the level of chromium in your body, your blood sugar can start going up and down like a roller-coaster, taking your moods, emotions and energy levels along for the ride. This is because the white bread is a high GI food, and it causes your insulin levels to spike and your body to overreact, draining your energy and leaving you feeling tired and lethargic. The trick is to remove the refined grain so that the overreaction doesn’t happen – simply switching to brown bread is a good start.

The Glycaemic Index is a method of classifying the glycaemic (blood sugar) response to carbohydrate-rich foods. High GI foods enter your blood stream faster giving you that sugar hit, while low GI foods enter more slowly and raise energy levels without the sugar spike. In years gone by we used to call high GI foods ‘simple’ carbohydrates and low GI foods ‘complex’ carbohydrates. As human beings we require a balance of both in our diets. You can reduce the glycaemic impact of high GI foods by combining them with good fats or high quality proteins, both of which have low glycaemic indexes.

If you did nothing other than replace white bum glue grains for brown in your diet, your basic level of health would increase dramatically. Just remember to avoid the bum glue – eat unrefined brown grains (brown rice, pasta and breads) – and go for low GI.

No thanks, I'm sweet enough

2007-04-27T03:57:02+00:00

Articles

No thanks, I’m sweet enough – beware of the excess added sugars in your diet

The average person consumes in excess of 50 kilograms of sugar per year! Refined sugars are addictive, immunosuppressive and will destroy your body’s ability to regulate blood sugar and insulin metabolism. Anything more than five kilograms of sucrose per year accelerates ageing, creates a breeding ground for yeast and fungus in the gastrointestinal tract, and will leach important minerals from vital organ reserves. So why do we continue to consume so much of it?

Because sugars are hidden in everything. Packaged and processed foods are particularly dangerous because in most cases you aren’t even aware of which sugars you’re eating. Sugars are a form of carbohydrate and are actually built of sugar molecules, called saccharides. There are two forms of carbohydrates, we used to know them as simple and complex carbohydrates, these days they are called high or low GI.

An easy way to get your head around the difference between the good and bad carbs is this:

If it’s ‘ose’ out it goes!

Simple carbs (high GI) end in the suffix ‘ose’. Check food labels, and if you see an ingredient ending in ‘ose’ it contains simple high GI carbs. The simpler the sugar, the more sweet it is and fruits and honey, which contain fructose, are considered the sweetest. Simple carbohydrates enter your blood stream fast and then your body runs through a series of processes trying to compensate for the rush of energy it is receiving, and it generally ends up over-compensating.

Complex carbs (low GI) are long and complicated strings of simple sugars, which are slower to break down and be digested and are known as starches. Starches don't cause blood sugar fluctuations the way simple sugars do. They also taste less sweet because they are a larger molecule and don't easily fit into the sweet receptors of the taste buds like the simple sugars do.

Sugars themselves are not bad for you, but like with all foods, you should try to keep them as close to nature as possible. Go for the less refined and processed sugars, and remember to balance out between the complex and simple sugars. If you want to sweeten foods stick with raw honey, molasses or real maple syrup, which are all closer to nature.

The number of people with Type 2 diabetes in Australia has trebled over the past twenty years and many of them are also overweight. The combination of diabetes and obesity can increase the risks of cardiovascular disease. An underlying chromium deficiency may be contributing to or exacerbating these conditions.

As a naturopath I have seen ever-increasing numbers of clients deficient in chromium. Chromium is an essential nutrient necessary for the normal metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. A deficiency in chromium can lead to cravings for sweet foods and improper glucose metabolism, causing hypoglycaemia and increasing the chances of obesity or diabetes. The increase in our consumption of refined and processed foods, void of chromium and other minerals, is contributing to this deficiency.

Raising chromium levels in the body can be done by consuming chromium-rich foods such as mushrooms, meats, animal fats, fish, honey, brown sugar, brown grains like whole-wheat and rye breads, grapes and raisins, and brewer's yeast.

If you think you may be low in chromium check with your local naturopath. In the meantime, know that you are sweet enough and don’t need a diet rich in refined and processed simple sugars.

Hop into the new red meat

2007-04-27T03:57:02+00:00

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Hop into the new red meat – the nutritional benefits of kangaroo

A lot of popular diets these days focus on a high-protein eating plan, so for people who want to have meat as their major source of protein, it’s important to make sure that it’s good meat.

Commercially available meats are generally very high in saturated fat – sirloin steak, for example, can be up to 72 per cent fat – and often provide little in the way of essential omega-3 fatty acids. Not only that, farmed meat frequently contains things that we really wouldn’t like to see at dinner such as pesticides, antibiotics, parasites, salmonella and E.coli. Manufactured meats are just plain scary with rancid and mutagenic by-products from the processing process that have no place in a human body.

If you want to eat meat, go for organic meat, free from as much human intervention as possible. If red’s your favourite colour, I suggest you take a look at kangaroo. Studies headed by Professor Kerin O’Dea, Dean of Health at Deakin University in Victoria, found that kangaroo meat has considerably lower levels of fat – less than two per cent – than traditional meats such as pork, lamb and beef, and it has the lowest levels of saturated fat too. It also has the highest percentage of protein, and is the richest source of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which is found in grass-eating animals. This is important because CLA is a ‘good’ fat, essential to reducing atherosclerosis (the hardening and narrowing of the arteries) and obesity and may also have anti-carcinogenic and anti-diabetic properties.

What all that means to us is that kangaroo is the ideal meat for a healthy heart.

The great news is that kangaroo is becoming mainstream and is now available in most major Australian supermarkets – and you can get everything from steaks, to mince, roasts and even ‘kanga bangas’ (sausages) for your next barbecue. Because kangaroo is basically all muscle, it stays really tender when you cook it and can be far tastier than regular meats. And you can make pretty much anything out of it! So if you’re after the ultimate protein boost, hop into the butcher and grab yourself some of the ‘new’ red meat.

Its hip to be square

2007-04-27T03:57:02+00:00

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It’s hip to be square – in your diet, anyway!

As with everything else we buy, there are people who have a vested interest in where we spend our food dollars. You’ve heard of the food pyramid, you might have even learnt about it at school, and certainly you can picture it, at least vaguely, showing you what you should be eating in greater and lesser amounts to stay healthy – eat more of the stuff at the bottom and less of the stuff at the top and you’ll be right. It was a very helpful tool for generations of parents with the best interests of their families at heart.

Did anyone ever mention who the experts behind the food pyramid and the ‘ideal’ diet are? Would it surprise you to know that it is the United States Department of Agriculture? Is it any accident that some of the most powerful industry groups in the US are the creators of the standard western diet? Not really, and the evidence that the recommendations in the food pyramid are not designed with the best interests of the community in mind is showing up in epidemic levels of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and related issues. There are nutrition experts involved in the creation of the pyramid – but according to the Harvard School of Public Health, ‘Selecting the panelists is no easy task, and is subject to intense lobbying from organisations such as the National Dairy Council, United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association, Soft Drink Association, American Meat Institute, National Cattleman’s Beef Association and Wheat Foods Council’.

The new food pyramid is a real square

In many Asian and European countries diets have traditionally been made up of unprocessed foods, eaten as close to their natural state as possible. Traditional diets are clean and balanced, and lifestyle-related diseases such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancers that afflict ‘westerners’ have not been experienced at anywhere near the same levels. Sadly though, this is changing as the western diet and fast foods become the global staple.

The secret is to eat foods as close to their natural state as possible – if you are going to eat grains make sure they are unrefined, if you are going to eat meat go organic, and if you are going to cook vegetables, lightly steam them so that you reduce the loss of nutrients through cooking.

Naturopaths use a slightly different food pyramid. In fact, it’s a square in which the foods we should be consuming are surrounded by the number one element our bodies need – water.

I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but our bodies are literally made up of 60 to 70 per cent water. Your muscles are 77 per cent water, your blood is around 83 per cent water and your bones are 22 per cent water. And because they generally have more muscle, men have a higher water content than women. Now does it make sense why everyone keeps telling you to drink more?

Water is fundamental to our body chemistry, among the most important roles it plays are keeping your body and brain hydrated. Your brain is the first place you lose water from when you become dehydrated and this affects your ability to think straight. Water is also essential for helping your body to eliminate wastes, including the acidic wastes released during times of stress.

So how much do you really need? I recommend two litres of filtered water per day and this is just the amount that an active person needs in order to prevent dehydration. Tap water is potentially contaminated with toxic industrial chemicals such as chlorine, as well as nasty bacteria and heavy metals, so yes, filtered is better.

Are we talking about water specifically or just fluids? Although tea, coffee and scotch contain water or ice, the body has to process the contents of the drink before it is able to make use of the water. So water means water or herbal teas, including green tea provided that it is brewed for less than one minute so you get all of the essential antioxidants without a high tannin release. Tannins are nature’s waterproofing and preserving agents and they’re used to turn animal hide into leather. Drink too much tea, especially the way westerners drink it – strong and black – and you’ll be drying out your insides.

When I was living in North Queensland I had a client who was a genuine salt of the earth Australian stockman, Akubra hat and all. He was in his sixties and had spent his life mustering and working the land, and more than anything else he loved to ride his horses. When he first came into my clinic he sat down and told me that he was only there because his wife had made him come, and that he wasn’t going to do anything I suggested. At least we knew where we stood! We had an hour, so we thought we might as well chat. He told me about how his body had seized up with arthritis, stiffening to the point that he had to move around and ‘warm up’ for hours before he was able to get on his horse. So not only was he in physical pain, but he was also distressed about not being able to ride like he used to. I asked him some questions about his lifestyle and discovered that he was suffering from a real lack of water in his diet. In fact he never drank water, but he did drink about 15 cups of strong ‘billy’ tea every day. There was no way this man was going to give up his tea, so the alternative was to find a way of balancing out his tea drinking. We made a deal: he could continue to drink as much tea as he wanted, but for every cup of tea, he would drink two cups of water. Just a few days later he called to tell me that he was back on his horse and that the pain from his arthritis was more manageable. He also became the world’s biggest expert on water and would tell everyone he came into contact with how much they should be drinking! Living well isn’t always about depriving yourself of the things you love, just making sure you balance it all out.

Fresh, organic fruits and vegetables

Ideally, you should be eating between three and five times more servings of vegetables than fruit per day. According to Harvard University, the average person needs to eat around nine servings (or four-and-a-half cups) of vegetables and fruits every day – and eating additional servings can reduce your chances of developing heart disease.

Vegetables are typically high in carbohydrates and a rich source of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, carotenoids, fibre and antioxidants. Raw vegetables are preferable to cooked because the cooking process destroys some of the nutritional properties, if you are going to cook go for lightly steaming over boiling or baking.

Don’t get too concerned about which vegetables contain which nutritional elements, just focus on making your meals as colourful as you can and you’ll be getting a good balance because different coloured vegetables contain different nutritional properties.

Like vegetables, fruits consist mainly of carbohydrates but in a more concentrated, simple sugar (high GI) form. They are a good source of some rather exotic and powerful antioxidants, which strengthen the immune system by scavenging free radicals. The general rule with fruits is to consume them either before noon or after exercising when your insulin sensitivity is highest. This helps to replenish your muscle energy stores quickly and use kilojoules effectively by not allowing them to break down and become stored as fats.

Juice bars are the latest thing and although it’s great that people are now consuming much more juice, be aware that not all juices are created equal. The difference between freshly squeezed juices and the canned, bottled or boxed varieties is that fresh juice is alive and packed with good enzymes, whereas virtually all pre-packaged juices are deactivated, acid-forming and ‘dead’ as a result of being pasteurised. Bottled and canned juices are also frequently loaded with sugars and artificial colours and flavours as well as a host of other chemicals, most of which are not listed on the label. One such chemical is brominated oil, which is added to prevent settling and the formation of ‘rings’ around the bottle. Brominated oil is known to cause changes in heart tissue, enlarge the thyroid gland and cause problems with the liver. Take the time to freshly squeeze your own or visit the local juice bar, but don’t let juice replace your intake of fruits, it is important to eat the whole fruit most of the time so that you get the fibre as well.

Quality protein

Commercially available meats are generally very high in saturated fat – sirloin steak, for example, can be up to 72 per cent fat – and often provide little in the way of essential omega-3 fatty acids. Not only that, farmed meat frequently contains things that we really wouldn’t like to see at dinner such as pesticides, antibiotics, parasites, salmonella and E.coli. Manufactured meats are just plain scary with rancid and mutagenic by-products from the processing process that just have no place in a human body.

If you want to eat meat, go for organic meat, free from as much human intervention as possible.

When it comes to red meat, my choice is kangaroo, it has the highest percentage of protein and lowest percentage of saturated fat of all red meats and it is the highest known source of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which is found in grass-eating animals. CLA is a ‘good’ fat that has been shown to possess potential anti-carcinogenic and anti-diabetic properties, in addition to reducing obesity and atherosclerosis (high blood pressure).

Fish is also an excellent source of quality protein and essential fatty acids. Cold-water fish, such as salmon, is rich in omega-3 essential fatty acids, which are the ‘good fats’ we hear so much about today that have been shown to be especially beneficial in the prevention of heart disease. These days people are aware that seafood can contain heavy metals such as mercury, and this can quite rightly cause concern when it comes to eating seafood. Many of the fish varieties that have picked up mercury contamination also contain high levels of minerals such as selenium and zinc, which are particularly effective in combating the adverse effects of mercury. There are also plenty of varieties of fish that are very low in mercury but high in zinc and selenium, the pick of these are Atlantic salmon and mackerel.

If you’re not into eating meat or fish, egg whites are another fantastic source of protein. They are very low in calories and have no cholesterol. Most of the protein in eggs is in the whites while the majority of the fat is in the yolk, so if you are watching your weight limit your intake of yolks.

Dairy

Commercial cow’s milk is pasteurised, homogenised, reinforced with synthetic additives and typically contains residues of hormones, antibiotics and pesticides from the grains fed to the cattle. There are many alternative sources of milk available, including rice milk and soy milk. But read the packet carefully, some rice milks contain loads of added sugar and many soy milks are either soy ‘drinks’ or taken from genetically modified (GM) soybeans. If you want to have milk, go for low-fat soy (non-GM) or if you prefer rice milk, look for one with no added sugar. My preferred dairy protein comes from organic, soured, plain ‘active-culture’ milk products such as low-fat yoghurt, cottage cheese, kefir and feta cheese. These are much easier to digest and will provide a balance of protein, carbohydrate and fat.

Lentils and legumes

Vegetarians have thrived for years without consuming animal products. Lentils and legumes are a wonderful source of protein and are low GI. Nuts and seeds are another solid source of protein, minerals and fat-soluble nutrients, but they’re also very high in fat (68 to78 per cent), and although it’s good fat, it’s still fat. The good oils found in nuts and seeds are easily damaged by heat, light and oxygen so always eat unsalted nuts and seeds, direct from their shells if you can. If you are going to cook with nuts or seeds, add them at the last moment so that the heat doesn’t destroy the nutrients.

Carbohydrates

Do you remember at school, we used to make glue out of white flour and water? Remember how it smelled after a few hours and how it set like cement when you used it? Well, that same cement-like action is happening inside your body every time you eat white breads, pasta and rice. And after it has been in there for a while, it becomes foul, sticking to the walls of your bowel and sucking the life out of you. I call it ‘bum glue’.

The germ is where most of the nutrients live, so you should avoid grains that have had the germ removed, like white breads, pastas and rice. Refined and processed grains are acid-forming (high in phosphorous) and when consumed as flour they tend to cause problems in the gut (such as bloating), the brain and in the joint capsules. They are also rich in phytates, which are acids that bind minerals to the intestinal tract causing them to be excreted unused. Have a ‘healthy’ meat and salad sandwich on white bread for lunch every day and the water-soluble nutrients will immediately be leached out of your body.

If you did nothing other than replace white grains for brown in your diet, your basic level of health would increase dramatically. Working out which carbohydrates to eat is easy, just remember to eat unrefined brown grains (brown rice, pasta and breads) and go for low GI.

Essential Fatty Acids

Fats are an essential part of our diet, we need ‘good’ fats such as linoleic acid (omega-6) and alpha-linolenic acid (omega-3). These fatty acids are a critical structural component of our brains, nervous systems and cell membranes. Without them, especially omega-3, we will experience chronic inflammation, water retention (oedema) and loss of tissue elasticity. Good fats also transport fat-soluble nutrients around the body.

One of the best books I have ever read is Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill by Udo Erasmus. He explains, in basic terms, the nutritional differences between lifeless, refined, processed oils and cold pressed oils that are full of nutrients. Most of the oils in the supermarket have been heated excessively in processing and are rancid, and margarines are even worse. When vegetable fats are heated excessively they are transformed into trans fatty acids, which are the nastiest of all foods that you can put into your body. In 2003, the US Government advised the creators of the food pyramid to revise it to encourage the consumption of omega-essential fatty acids and the elimination of trans fatty acids from people’s diets on the basis that omega-3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), while trans fatty acids may increase the risk of CHD.

Avocado, kangaroo and cold-water fish are all good sources of good fats (try to avoid tinned fish though because it has been exposed to extreme heat during the cooking process, which makes the good fats not so good). I take organic flax or hemp seed and extra virgin olive oils in my diet daily. I add them to salads or protein shakes to make sure I get my necessary quota of essential fatty acids.

So what is a realistic balanced diet? For me I think it is a little bit of everything, eaten as close to nature as possible, and this does not mean eating junk food in the park! It means reducing the amounts of refined and processed foods in your diet and eating more of the healthy, unrefined and unprocessed foods that are close to nature.

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2007-02-12T02:20:50+00:00

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Seven Deadly Sins

2007-02-05T03:37:10+00:00

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The Seven Deadly Sins of Work Life Balance

In the thirteenth century, Dante listed the Seven Deadly Sins on the pathway to Paradise: Gluttony, lust, greed, envy, pride, anger and sloth. Now, almost eight hundred years later, people are still committing these seven sins in Work Life Balance. So let me share with you the Seven Deadly Sins of Work Life Balance ... and how to avoid them.

1. Gluttony: Trying to be all things to all people

Don’t try to be all things to all people. If you try to please everybody, you will end up satisfying nobody.

The secret to being successful at balancing life is to allow yourself to be human and release guilt from your life. Everyone gets wound up at times, when you notice it happening simply acknowledge where you are and move back to doing something more balanced. Don’t give yourself a hard time or anything-just keep moving forward.

Success with a balanced life is just like success anywhere else: You choose your market, find a problem, and provide a superior solution. If you try to be all things to all people, you’re not just a glutton – you’re a glutton for punishment.

2. Lust: Falling in love with “gimmicks”

Focus your time, money and energy on the things that matter, not just those that catch your eye right now. This doesn’t mean an endless quest for Mr. Right, but it does mean that you don’t have to settle for Mr. Right Now.

When it comes to balancing your life, this means stop buying a new thing every time you feel stressed or unhappy. Shopping has become the latest way that people try to make themselves happy. You keep buying stuff that brings happiness for a very short period of time and when this wears off you’re back at the shops again.

Next time you have this urge, speak to a close friend or colleague and share how you are feeling, if you just stop for a minute and acknowledge where you are at it passes. Go for things that really make you happy like time with good friends compared to short lived shopping trips for more dust collecting stuff.

3. Greed: Looking for too much too fast

When you first get started living a balanced life, there’s a temptation to do everything at once. But if you chase two horses, you’ll catch neither of them. The best way to get started is to choose one activity that is likely to give you high value, do that well, and then move on to the next.

That’s not to say that you should only be doing one thing at a time. But just be sure that everything you do is done well. Go for quality not quantity.

4. Envy: Copying tactics that don’t fit your strategy

A Russian soldier stationed in West Berlin after the Second World War wandered into an empty house and saw an electric light bulb for the first time. Fascinated by this magic light-generating globe, he cut it off with his bayonet and put it in his knapsack so he could carry around the light with him wherever he went.

The same is true with living a balanced life. Don’t just do what somebody else tells you to do, unless you know why they do it. If they are successful, what they are doing is just one part of their strategy. You can’t just pick up that one thing, put it in your knapsack, take it somewhere else and use it to light up your world.

For example, perhaps you know a person you see as living a balanced life you get all excited and choose to do the same things he or she is doing. The only problem is that you have no system to what you do, you shadow them and copy the superficial parts of their life and get exhausted doing it. Why, because they are doing the pieces behind the scenes elements as well, not just the apparent ones.

By all means, look around to see what others are doing, but don’t just copy their tactics without understanding how and where they fit your life. Get the whole picture and then implement it as a system.

5. Pride: Holding on to things that aren’t working

If what you’re doing isn’t working, do something else! I know that that sounds obvious, but it never ceases to amaze me how often people keep repeating unsuccessful patterns.

If you’re running tired all of the time, or don’t even have time to run tired, look at what you are doing. Your lifestyle is obviously not working for you if it is sucking the life out of you constantly. Find a system you can use to get what you want out of life and implement it one step at a time like you would with any new system in the workplace.

It usually doesn’t take much effort to solve these problems. But the first step is to recognise them, and commit to doing something about them one step at a time.

6. Anger: Blaming other people for your lack of success

If you’re not getting the success you desire, look to yourself first. Even if it is somebody else’s “fault”, you could be waiting a long time for them to fix things for you. It is far better to take responsibility yourself to find a solution.

For example, if you have lost your spark for life and your health is suffering, you need to look at what you have been doing to get to that state. You are responsible for what you put in your mouth each day, for how you treat yourself and for what you get out of life.

If you are treating your physical and emotional body like a second-class citizen then that is what you will get back in return. You will get a body that won’t give you the energy for anything. Accept the responsibility and be healthy now.

7. Sloth: Dragging your feet

Above all, do it now! None of the other advice in this article will do you any good at all unless you take action.

It’s too easy to say “I’ll go to the gym next week”, or “I’ll start eating healthy tomorrow”, or “I’ll fix my office environment after I finish this next project.”

It’s often easy to take action, but it’s almost always easy to not take action. Successful people do the things that unsuccessful people don’t do.

Your success is in your hands – it’s up to you!

Waking Up Well

2007-02-05T03:36:37+00:00

Articles

Waking up Well – The Essentials

1. Use essential oils like Vetiver or Sandalwood in a vaporiser at bedtime to help you switch off and ground yourself so that you can enjoy quality sleep. Try vaporising my own “Sanity Saver” blend contain Vetiver, Geranium, Australian Sandalwood, Patchouli and Ylang Ylang. This simple and earthy blend stops your mind racing so that you can focus on one thing at once like sleeping. It helps to restore some peace and balance to your life during the busiest of times.

2. Reduce intake of alcohol the night before.

3. Sleeping in a cool and dark room, allows you to enjoy a more restful sleep.

4. Not too many heavy refined foods at night as they can lead to sluggish feelings in the morning.

5. Before you go to bed, write a quick note on any thoughts that are in your brain, getting them out allows you to release them until the next day.

6. The most common time for heart attacks is Monday morning, get the works stresses out of your mind before you go to sleep and keep the pressures off your body.

7. If you wake and you are sluggish, start with a cold shower or a brisk walk around the block, they both bring energy quickly to a tired soul.

Get a check up.

I get to do a lot of work in Asia and I find it interesting that over there they pay the practitioner to keep them well. If they get sick they don’t pay which is the opposite to our medical model not just in Australia but in most of the western world. They live from a place of prevention and don’t wait to get ill. The biggest change I have made in my life in the last twenty years is that I now life from a place of prevention and enjoy a state of good health and wellbeing.

You know your body is just like your car. You put your car in for a service regularly but you don’t necessarily treat your body with the same respect and yet you expect it to perform better than your car. The same as your car needs regular checkups so do you so that you don’t go getting to that breakdown stage.

Research showed 56% think they don’t get sick often and yet they have had some kind of illness in the last three months that prevented them from working one day and 66% have seen a health professional of some kind in the same period. What you think is happening and what really is happening can be two very different things.

I am going to run you through some of the basics tests you could think about scheduling into your diary to stay on top of your health.

DAILY
   - If you are a diabetic you will be monitoring your blood glucose levels.
   - If you are not diabetic just notice your energy levels. If you diet is ok your energy will be consistent. If you find your energy levels fluctuating wildly have a chat to your health professional. I’m not talking about one stray day; I am talking about when your energy is all over the place regularly.

MONTHLY
- If you are a woman give yourself a monthly breast examination and guys give yourself a monthly testicular exam. It is important to get to know your body and how it is meant to feel. If you are not sure how to do the examination properly ask your doctor.

3 MONTHLY
   - Weight. Now I’m not talking about getting on the scales daily as your weight can fluctuate daily and you are better off to monitor it daily with the fit of your clothes. Every three months hop on a set of scales so that you can measure your Body Mass Index.
   - Body mass index is a statistical measurement which compares a person's weight and height. It does not actually measure the percentage of body fat. Go to the end of this article to see a chart to calculate your BMI.
   - Blood Pressure - If you have a history of high stress, family history of elevated blood pressure or if you are holding excess weight, especially around your gut get your blood pressure checked regularly. You can buy blood pressure monitors from your local pharmacy but always check with your doctor first as to what result you are looking for.

6 MONTHLY
   - If you or your family have a history of diabetes or if you are getting around that magic age of forty where you can do all the same things you did when you were younger only it takes longer to recover get a regular blood glucose check up. In layman’s terms blood glucose levels check how much sticky sugars are in your blood which can lead to adult onset also known as type 2 diabetes
If you are like me this one is not your favourite but it is still very important. Every six months is also the time to visit your dentist for a clean. Get your teeth cleaned and looked at by the dentist regularly to prevent cavities.-
   - Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) is an analytical test which measures the mineral content of the hair. The sampled hair, obtained by cutting the first inch and one-half of growth closest to the scalp at the nape of the neck, is prepared in a licensed clinical laboratory through a series of chemical and high temperature digestive procedures. Testing is then performed using highly sophisticated detection equipment and methods to achieve the most accurate and precise results.” The test is looking to identify traces of mineral levels in the body and the presence of any heavy metals and the influence they may be having on the body.

YEARLY
   - This is the time that you get cholesterol, blood, urine, kidney tests and a faecal blood test to check for the possibility of bowel cancer.
   - Yearly you also want to be visiting the optometrist for an eye health check up. It’s not just about if you need glasses or not, it’s about checking for diabetes, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and cataracts.

1 - 3 YEARS
- For women this is when you are looking at getting a Pap smear and mammogram and men a prostate examination.

Now some of these tests are with your local naturopath or doctor or you may need a referral to another health professional. Go to the health professional required and check if they think you need the test and start living from a place of prevention where you don’t wait to get sick.

Remember there are doctors out there that practice natural medicine as well. For more information on these doctors got o www.acnem.org to find a naturopath in your area go to www.atms.com.au

Also most of these kinds of tests you can get generous rebates back from your private health insurer or Medicare.

Myths and Truths about Low Carb Beers

2007-02-05T03:36:37+00:00

Articles

Myths and Truths about Low Carb Beers

Got your attention? Yes I am going to share with you the truths and myths of low carb beers with you but first we need to cover a little background on the different carbs and how they work.

Pretty much most people have heard about the low carb diets that are going around now days. Low carb is perceived as meaning it helps you to lose weight. Research has shown 20% of people have tried a low carb diet at some time and a low carb diet can help you lose weight short term. But with like with every diet if you return to the same eating habits that got you off track in the first place the weight returns.

By the way I said low carb not NO carb, there is a big difference. You see the carbs in your diet which come from grains for instance give you your energy to move. Carbohydrate is needed in your diet but it is the unrefined in processed carbs that we are after like wholemeal grains. If you eat more carbs than you need and don’t move your body enough the carbs end up storing as fat.

In your body protein which comes from meat, eggs, dairy, legumes, nuts and seeds helps to makes muscle and when you have more muscle mass you have less fat.

So what about low carb beer does it help you to lose weight???????

Remember the diet ales in the 70’s and 80’s you were able to buy diet ale beer. It’s the same idea of what we call today “low carb” beer but the name didn’t lend itself to having a line up of Aussie men to drink it. Today low card beer is experiencing strong growth as the general population becomes more health conscious.

Is low carb beer better for you and if you drink that will it help you lose weight? The reality is that low carb beer still contains calories and empty ones at that so if you don’t move your body enough to burn up the excess calories they will still store as fat.

Low carb beer generally contains one third the amount of calories of a full strength beer. If you think because it is low carb beer you can enjoy a few more beers remember you may still be having the same amount of calories, which means you still put on weight. Also when you are drinking you are also inclined to eat more rubbish foods like chips and snacks.

A main stream low carb beer has approximately .9grams of carb per 100ml where a full strength one has 3.1gram of carb per 100ml. The beauty of the low carb beers is that you don’t get the bloating of the other beers.

LITE beer is usually low in alcohol and not necessarily in carbs and low carb beer still has about 100 calories per bottle. This means if you go for a brisk walk it still takes about 15 mins to walk off each beer so if you have four to six beers in a session that about one to one and a half hours of brisk walking exercise to walk them off.

The lowest calories are still the ones you don’t stick into your body. So for the best outcome change to low carb and stick to the same quantity of drinks and you will carry less calories for it.

Remember moderation is important. You still need to be responsible in your drinking.

From Go Fast Kids to Calm Kids

2007-02-05T03:36:10+00:00

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From Go Fast Kids to Calm Kids

Making that transition from holiday mode to classroom.

How excited do kids get with the start of school approaching? Getting kids to go from the freedom of school holidays to move to that place of being settled and ready for school can be a challenge for some parents. Many children now days are identified as being ADD and ADHD I call these kids “go fasts” and the transition from holidays to school can be a bit more of a challenge for these kids. Being a “go fast” kid is fine, they are full of excitement and life, but it does not always suite the classroom environment. So how do you handle the transition time as they move into the structures of a new school year and a classroom environment?

An easy way to assist the transition process is to integrate some basic aromatherapy into your child’s routine. Aromatherapy is a simple and effective way to create a calm, grounded and positive environment for your children and environment. Now we know that you cannot control the classroom environment, but what you can do is take that environment the child is used to and move it into the classroom. This way you are transforming the child’s environment to one where they make the transition easier. This transformation can be achieved easily with aromatherapy. All that is need is to place a few drops of essential oil on a tissue to be inhaled during the day as needed or a massage a couple of drops of the oil onto the soles of their feet before school.

Throughout my years in clinic I have worked with many schoolteachers who have used essential oils in their classrooms to help ground kids especially after they race around at lunch breaks. I have also worked with parents and carers using similar essential oils to ground kids before and after school.

As a naturopath, I have found that “go fast” kids cannot always settle, simply because their minds are so creative and they are not grounded, and it is sad to see the creativity being suppressed with medications. Yes, there are many factors influencing why kids are going fast, but I have found grounding them is a simple place to start and then they function like everyone else, while still retaining their creativity. When a person of any size is grounded they can be attentive and stay focused, sit still and cope with pressures that are presented. In clinic I have treated adults going far faster than any kid is going to go by using the same system of getting them grounded first. We are all human and get caught up in life, kids pick up on everything that is going on, that excitement can build and it has to come out somewhere. The more stimulated, the faster they go, ground them so that they can focus on one thing at a time and anything is achievable.

In aromatherapy there is one essential oil in particular that is excellent at keeping people of any size grounded. That essential oil is Vetiver (Vetiveria zizanoides). Vetiver is distilled from the roots of a tall grass like plant and it has a very earthy and musky aroma. Over the years Vetiver has been my most used oil in clinic.

In a two-year study Dr. Terry Friedman MD worked with children between the ages of 6 to 12 years, looking to identify the uses of essential oils in the treatment of ADD and ADHD. Twenty children not diagnosed with ADD/ADHD were used as the control group and twenty children with a confirmed diagnosis of ADD/ADHD were used as the study group. A blend of essential oils was created using Vetiver, Cedarwood and Lavender and the children were encouraged to inhale the aroma whenever they felt “scattered”. The children were assessed over a 30-day period on each essential oil.

When the children inhaled the oils their brainwaves settled back into their normal patterns, which helped improve their behaviour and scholastic performance. The results of the study showed that Lavender increased performance by 53%, Cedarwood increased performance by 83% and Vetiver increased performance by 100%. Essential oils are not the only answer but are very effect and simple to integrate into a child’s environment to assist with handling life’s challenges.

In Dr Friedman’s study the essential oils were inhaled or used with an aromatherapy vaporiser. In my clinic I also found it very useful to blend the essential oils into a base oil and massage it onto the child’s feet where they are quickly absorbed. The following is the blend I have used with my patients and found to be very effective. If you want to vaporise the blend, simply use the essential oils in the vaporiser and if you wish to apply the oils to your child’s skin dilute 5 drops of the essential oil into 50ml of cold pressed almond oil that you can get from your local health food store.

Go Fast Kids Blend

Try vaporising my own “Sanity Saver” blend containing Vetiver, Geranium, Australian Sandalwood, Patchouli and Ylang Ylang. This simple and earthy blend stops their minds racing so that you can focus on one thing at a time. It helps to restore some peace and balance to all of your lives. I use the same blend to keep me grounded during my busy brain times.

Eating for Success

2007-02-05T03:35:25+00:00

Articles

Eating For Success: Breakfast For The Busy Corporate

The first place that we cut corners when we are busy or stressed is our eating and in particular our breakfast. The food you eat forms the very building blocks of your body, but most of us have lost sight of the fact that food is fuel and that the purpose of eating is to provide our bodies with the tools they need for energy, functioning, building and maintenance. We eat for a variety of different reasons, none of which relate to the idea of providing our bodies with quality fuel. We eat unconsciously, we use food to fill emotional voids or to be sociable and we fill our bodies with things that we all know aren’t good for us – in effect, rather than using food as essential fuel, we use it to inflict damage on ourselves.

Here are 3 options for a quick and easy, healthy breakfast to kick start your day. All recipes take only five minutes or less to prepare.

Protein Power Shake

Mix in a blender – 1 piece of fruit i.e. banana or mango are divine

1 handful of almonds (for protein and good fats)
Milk or Water for liquid (I use water to save the extra calories)
1 dessertspoon of flaxseed oil (for good fats)
Cinnamon or nutmeg to taste

Protein Pan Cakes

Beat 2 tablespoons of raw rolled oats into 2 egg whites and cook on a hot pan (no oil)
Top with a piece of fruit chopped up, low fat cottage cheese and some real maple syrup or honey.

Cottage Cheese, Nuts and Fruit

This is the quickest, cut up a piece of fruit, top with a handful of raw almonds and some low fat cottage cheese. Eat and go.

All of these quick breakfasts can be prepared and eaten at home in a space where you can mentally prepare for the day. Eating on the run at work is not feeding your body energy.

Start the day with a simple breakfast at home.

Ten Simple ways

2007-02-05T03:34:49+00:00

Articles

Ten Simple ways to bring balance into your workday

In research commissioned by Grand United Corporate Health earlier this year, only six percent of people interviewed felt that they had a handle on work-life balance .Four out of five people said they were experiencing work-related stress at least once a week (I know some of you are thinking, ‘I wish I were stressed only once a week!’), and almost three-quarters of people said that a lack of time was their main challenge to leading a balanced life.

The way that many of us try to make up for this lack of time is to cram more and more in – we figure if we work longer hours we’ll clear our in-tray and then we’ll have more time for a balanced life. But we all know it doesn’t work that way – the in-tray never does clear…and we never do get around to creating and enjoying that more balanced life.

The way to create balance in life really is simple; it’s about getting back to some quick and easy lifestyle basics every day. Try one (or more) of these workday balance boosters.

Ten workday balance-boosters

1. Remember that you are only human and give yourself permission to be a mere mortal. If you do find that you are not living up to your own expectations in any area of life, be glad that you noticed it, and correct your behaviour – don’t beat yourself up.

2. Drink a glass of water (or eight). Your body is made up of 70 per cent water and it needs to be constantly replenished – 70 per cent of what you put into your mouth every day should be water.

3. Take a breather. Breathing is what keeps you alive. Take a ‘fresh air’ break every hour and breathe deeply and slowly if you’re under pressure to break the stress cycle.

4. Eat your lunch away from your desk every day this week and encourage your workmates to do the same – you’ll all be more productive and energised from the break.

5. Snack on almonds instead of biscuits and chocolate. Almonds are full of magnesium which is the mineral your nervous system needs in order to relax.

6. Smile, go on, right now…big cheesy grin at the person next to you. Smiles are contagious, watch them smile right back at you, and you’ll both enjoy the day more!

7. Be spontaneous – call someone you love and tell them so. Yes, do it now!

8. Understand that when you allow someone to help you, it helps them to feel needed and valued, so next time someone asks you if you need a hand, say. ‘Thank you’ and accept their help graciously.

9. Drift away with some aromatherapy oils – you’ll not only make your home or office smell great, but you’ll help everyone to be more relaxed as well.

10. Leave work on time today – go home and enjoy your family and friends.

Eating for Success: Fast Lunch

2007-02-05T03:31:27+00:00

Articles

Eating For Success: Fast Lunch Ideas for Busy People

Remember the days when you actually had time to take a lunch break? When you used to leave the office for an hour, have something to eat, meet up with friends, walk in the park, play sport or wonder around the shops…? These days people eat lunch at their desks more often than not, if they eat at all. For many people, the demands of the day just don’t let up long enough to afford them a break. Lunchtime rolls around, your stomach is rumbling and you know you should eat, but you’ve just got one more thing to finish. An hour goes by, your stomach is still gurgling, but you’ve just got one more deadline, phone call, impromptu meeting, email to reply to….and before you know it, you’re reaching for a coffee or chocolate bar to get you through, and that’ll have to do for lunch.

The reality is that your brain needs food to fuel it. It is not possible for anyone to be on top of their game when they’re skipping meals, eating them way after the hunger pangs have kicked in, or cramming in non-nutritious foods on the run to keep the hunger at bay.

The food you eat forms the very building blocks of your body – food is fuel and the purpose of eating is to provide our bodies with the tools they need for energy, functioning, building and maintenance. So what’s the solution? Well, unfortunately, it’s not likely that your daily routine is going to change in a hurry, so let’s look at some fast and nutritious lunch solutions that with a very small amount of preparation time, or even a quick trip to your local sandwich bar, can help to keep you firing on all cylinders all day long.

Wraps – Go for wholemeal rather than white, and make it yourself or duck out to the local sandwich bar. Try some mashed avocado (to give you your good essential fatty acids for the day), and add chicken or tuna and plenty of peppery rocket for flavour. If you make it at home, bring some of your favourite dressing and add it just before you eat – I love a homemade sweet chili sauce on this wrap.

Salmon or Tuna and Salad – This is fast and easy. There are some seriously tasty tins of tuna and salmon these days, grab your favourite flavour and toss it into a prepared salad. If you’re too busy to make the salad, keep a stash of tinned tuna or salmon in your desk draw and buy a small salad from the supermarket or local take-away, it’ll only take a minute to throw it all together.

Leftovers –The easiest way to ensure that you always have a tasty and nutritious lunch is to make a habit of cooking extra the night before. Whatever I make for dinner, I always make extra for leftovers. Brown rice is brilliant to make an extra portion of to have on-hand, whether I add it to salad and serve cold or heat it up with other leftovers, it’s a five-minute miracle.

This is one of my favourite fast dinners that heats up brilliantly for a lunch of leftovers:

Mushroom and Avocado Masterpiece – You’ll need…

Some flat mushrooms, big enough to make a stack from.
Olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 small red chilies, finely chopped
2 tbsp thyme leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 small avocado, mashed with a few drops of lemon juice (essential fatty acids)
2 tbsp low fat cottage cheese (protein)

Preheat a grill on medium heat. Mix the olive oil, garlic, chilies and thyme together in a small jug. Brush over both sides of each mushroom. Season mushrooms with salt and pepper and let them sit and marinate while you get the rest together.

Combine the avocado and low fat cottage cheese in a small bowl with salt and pepper to taste and mix well.

Place mushrooms flat-side down onto a barbecue plate or chargrill and cook for 3 – 4 minutes on each side or until just tender.

For dinner, place the mushrooms onto serving plates, top with avocado mixture and serve immediately. Remember to save some for lunch the next day!

Afternoon Snacks – I always keep a jar of raw, unsalted nuts such as almonds on my desk, these are an ideal afternoon energy snack, you can throw in some dried fruits to create a mix that’ll also satisfy some of your sweet cravings if you like. Rye or wholemeal crackers and mini tins of tuna or salmon also make fast, easy and nutritious snacks.

Any of these quick lunches can be prepared at home or easily bought from your local sandwich bar, and they’re a great solution to eating on the run and not feeling your body the energy it needs to keep you going.

No Bum Glue

2007-02-05T01:00:59+00:00

No Bum Glue

‘Bum Glue’ is the term I use to describe refined and processed grains. Do you remember at school, we used to make glue out of white flour and water? Remember how it smelled after a few hours and how it set like cement when you used it? Well, that same cement-like action is happening inside your body every time you eat white breads, pasta and rice. And after it has been in there for a while, it becomes foul, sticking to the walls of your bowel and sucking the life out of you.

Ideally, you should avoid grains that have had the wheatgerm removed, which is what white bread is. The germ is where most of the nutrients live. Refined and processed grains are acid-forming (high in phosphorous) and when consumed as flour, tend to cause problems in the gut (such as bloating), the brain and the joint capsules. Refined grains are also very high in phytates, which latch onto water-soluble nutrients including vitamins B and C and minerals such as calcium, chromium and magnesium. So while you could be eating what appears to be a healthy sandwich containing meat and salad on white bread, the reality is that you are not going to absorb the essential nutrients because the refined grains leech the goodness away. If you did nothing other than replace white grains with brown in your diet, your basic level of health would increase dramatically.

Most commercial wholegrain breads are made with a white wheat base and most of the supermarket rye breads, in particular light rye, are made with only about nine per cent rye flour, the remainder is primarily refined white flour. Learn to read the packaging of the foods you buy, and learn to look for hidden ingredients. Biscuits are a classic food, which is based on white flour 99 per cent of the time. There are some brands nowadays that are making wholemeal varieties, which are a much better alternative. Anything that you bake or buy that contains white flour can be also made using wholemeal flour, which cooks just the same, tastes great and won’t glue up your body as much as white flour will.

Today, people are eating hundreds of kilograms of refined white flour, white rice and sucrose every year, and that’s enough processed high-glycemic carbohydrate to destroy anyone’s insulin metabolism. High-glycemic carbohydrates are refined and processed foods that cause the body’s blood sugar to rise too fast, resulting in the body over reacting. It stimulates excess insulin causing energy levels and moods to ride a roller coaster. By middle age, or even earlier, this can lead to the development of adult onset diabetes and obesity.

And don’t think that because kids are young the quality of the food they eat doesn’t matter; it is vital. Over time, processed foods such as hamburgers, soft drinks and ice cream damage them on the inside. And with the sedentary lifestyle many kids now lead, instead of burning it off, it burns them out.

Ideally don’t consume refined grains the majority of the time. The world will not end for having a croissant once a week, but if you eat refined and processed grains daily you are going to get into trouble.

Psyllium Husks – The unclogger

So what do you do when you realise that you may have a little ‘bum glue’ stuck from years of eating refined white grains? The solution is easy. There is a grain called psyllium, it is the size of a sesame seed and you can buy the husks in the health food section of the supermarket or from the health food store. It is a wonderful raw fibre that has no taste. Psyllium makes poo bulkier, so that you can scratch off some of that gluey residue that has built up. The easiest way to take psyllium is to add two dessertspoons of the husks to a glass of juice in the morning, stir it in quickly and drink. If you let it sit in the glass it will get very thick and be very unpleasant to drink, so drink it down immediately. It has the consistency of a glass of orange juice with the pulp in it and no added taste.

In my clinic I would often see parents with kids and poo challenges as well. One of the suggestions I would give them was to make jelly for the kids by adding some psyllium husks to a cup of their favourite fruit juice and setting it in the fridge. When the kids then eat the jelly it helps to keep them regular and to clean their digestive system at the same time. Check with your naturopath before giving psyllium to your child.

Important note: When adding psyllium husks to your diet always make sure you are drinking your daily quota of water, the psyllium needs water to help create bulk and move the gluey bits.

Click here to view our online range of 'no bum glue' products.

Useful Links

2007-02-02T04:35:42+00:00

These are some website that we would like to encourage you to visit - all as a way of networking.

If you would like us to list your website, please email us at jennifer@jenniferjefferies.com

Articles

2007-02-02T04:25:19+00:00

Jennifer Jefferies is one of Australia’s best-known authors and speakers and she has a prescription for modern living. Her powerful message is of work, life and balance – and how to have it all through the 7 Steps to Sanity. Jennifer shows us how to achieve more success and happiness by learning how to manage ourselves, our time and our lives. Jennifer is currently writing a number of articles based on these theories which she would love to share with you. Click on the articles below for some great tips on achieving success in all areas of you life.

> Aromatherapy reduces the risk of car accidents - NEW

> Out of balance is still out of balance - NEW

> How to rejuvinate and start the new year with a plan - NEW

> How to get from here to there - NEW

> Unwind after Work

> How to work and play as hard and as fast as you choose without burning out

> Webinar : How to go as hard and as fast as you choose without burning out

> Myths and Truths about Low Carb Beers

> Get a check up

> Breakfast on the run

> Energy suckers vs Energy givers

> Move your body

> Laughter isn't just the best medicine - it's easy to take too!

> Magnesium - the "Go Fast Adrenal Junkie" tonic

> Fear can be fun!

> How much fun are you having in your life right now?

> Let you mouth say what your heart wants to without your brain getting in the way

> Watch salmon. Swimming upstream just makes you bait for a bear

> Move your 'but', then move your 'butt'

> It’s hip to be square – in your diet, anyway!

> Hop into the new red meat – the nutritional benefits of kangaroo

> No thanks, I’m sweet enough

> Fat burns faster if you light a fire under it

> Go for Brown

> Six a day, Six days a week

> No Bum Glue

> Eating For Success: Fast Lunch Ideas for Busy People

> Ten Simple ways to bring balance into your workday

> Eating for Success

> From Go Fast Kids to Calm Kids

> Waking up well - The essentials

> The Seven Deadly Sins of Work Life Balance

Check back soon for more great articles from Jennifer.

Welcome (old version)

2006-03-14T14:20:47+00:00

Jennifer's simple, practical and proven 7 Steps to Sanity can help bring balance to anyone living a busy life. Find out how you can have it all without sacrificing your health, sanity or sense of humour along the way. Jennifer shows you how to achieve more success and happiness by learning how to manage yourself, your time and your life. With uncommon common sense Jennifer will show you how you can incorporate simple lifestyle changes into your every day that will help you to feel better and achieve more than you ever thought possible. Join our online program, or book Jennifer for your next event.		online program Learn how to integrate the 7 Steps to Sanity to achieve more success and happiness in your life.
		books The book to show you how you can have it all in life and still stay sane.
		keynote Jennifer will show your team how they can incorporate simple lifestyle changes into their every day life that will help them achieve more than they ever thought possible.

The 7 Steps to Sanity Book

The 7 Steps to Sanity are a prescription for modern living. Jennifer Jefferies has developed an easy step-by-step lifestyle plan for everyone who feels the pressure of trying to balance the demands of work and the rest of life. For anyone who wants to have it all without sacrificing their health, sense of humour or sanity along the way.

> Purchase her book online now

Welcome

2006-03-14T14:20:47+00:00

Jennifer's simple, practical and proven 7 Steps to Sanity can help bring balance to anyone living a busy life.

Find out how you can have it all without sacrificing your health, sanity or sense of humour along the way.

Jennifer will show you how to work and play as hard and as fast as you choose without burning out.

Join our online program, or book Jennifer for your next event.

online program Learn how to integrate the 7 Steps to Sanity to achieve more success and happiness in your life.

books The book to show you how you can have it all in life and still stay sane.

keynote Jennifer will show your team how they can incorporate simple lifestyle changes into their every day life that will help them achieve more than they ever thought possible.

World Leader in Nutritional Cleansing and Replenishing

CLICK HERE for more information

If you burn the candle at both ends for long enough, eventually you'll burn out.

2006-03-14T14:20:47+00:00

Imagine what it would be like to be able to have and do everything you want without constantly feeling stretched so thin that you think you’re about to snap.

"The 7 Steps to Sanity are the culmination of a lifetime’s worth of experience. It seems I've spent the first half of my adult life doing damage to myself and the second half learning how to put myself and other people back together again."
- Jennifer Jefferies

Make a change today! For just $1 you can have a one-month trial of my 7 Steps to Sanity online mentoring program where you’ll learn some simple but effective strategies that will help you to start enjoying life again! Today’s fast-paced, ‘have it all now’ world demands that we are able to do and have everything right now. Worse still, we expect of ourselves. Somewhere along the way we have all forgotten that we are meant to be enjoying our lives – not just existing from one crisis to the next.

Do you:

Have unrealistic expectations of yourself and your ability to deal with everything life throws at you?
Find it hard to switch off at night and on weekends?
Use weekends as a time to catch up on work you didn’t have time for during the week?
Feel as though your responsibilities are enormous and that no one but you can fulfil them?

Welcome to the club!

You’re not alone! If you found yourself nodding as you read those statements – congratulations! You’ve just shown that you are human … same as the rest of us. As human beings, we are all afflicted by one common ailment – we are only human. We’re not machines and can’t expect ourselves to be able to behave like machines all day, every day. That doesn’t mean that you can’t continue to want and have everything that you currently do. It means looking at things from a fresh perspective and taking the advice of someone who has been where you are right now and who can show you how you can have it all without burning out.

The 7 Steps to Sanity Online Mentoring Program provides the right balance of logic, understanding and action to help you move away from feeling burnt out and overwhelmed and toward feeling energised, enthusiastic and unstoppable! Each week you’ll receive an email lesson focusing on one element of each of the 7 Steps to Sanity. You’ll keep receiving email lessons for as long as you want to continue with the program. All you need to do is read the email and make a commitment to integrating the lessons and perspectives into your life – it’s that simple!

You’ll learn how to:

Respect and be kind to yourself again.
Feed your body properly for top performance.
Make exercise so much a part of your routine that you end up doing it by accident.
Play more and remember to have fun each day.
Get a life by creating a ‘whole life’ diary and living by it.
Stop procrastinating and ‘do it now’ instead of waiting for the ‘right’ time for everything.
Chill out and get some perspective.

Best of all, you’ll learn how to cut yourself some slack for ‘just’ being human and get on with enjoying life again.

Imagine the difference a fresh perspective and a regular ‘boost’ could make to your life and how great it would be to have that ‘just back from holidays’ glow all year long. Imagine how fantastic it would be to actually get out there every day and live your life.

“Participating in the 7 Steps Program has proved to be a constructive team building exercise and the results speak for themselves. Staff demonstrated positive changes to their health and wellbeing – both inside and outside our work environment.”

- Gary Elliott, General Manager, Grand United Health Fund

You can join my 7 Steps to Sanity Online Mentoring Program for the amazing price of just $1 for the first month. You’ll also receive my e-books, Get a Life and Increasing Productivity in the Workplace absolutely free to really kick-start your new approach to life where you can have it all without burning out along the way.

At any time if you feel you can stay on track without the 7 Steps to Sanity Online Mentoring Program simply send an email to our team and we'll cancel your subscription. However, if you agree that the 7 Steps to Sanity Online Mentoring Program really is a system to help keep you on track and closer to the life of balance that you desire, your exclusive $1 trial will automatically convert to a 7 Steps to Sanity membership and your subscription fee of $29.95 per month will automatically be deducted from your credit card.

7 Steps to Sanity Online Mentoring Program

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FREE BONUS: Subscribe now and get two bonus e-books:

"Get A Life"
"Increasing Productivity in the Workplace"

Know anyone who feels just like you? Why not forward this page to them so that they can take advantage of this amazing offer too?

I look forward to helping restore a sense of sanity to your life.

Stay sane

Sanity@Work Blog

FREE Seminar

Robert Tisserand Semiinars in Australia

FREE Nutritional Cleansing Seminar Sunshine Coast

FREE Nutritional Cleansing Seminar in Sydney

Detoxify Naturally Seminar Darwin Sat 26th June.

Detoxify Naturally Seminars around Australia

If You EAT, DRINK, WORK, SLEEP or BREATHE Then:

Come along to this FREE 1-Hour seminar and learn about:

One day only - Saturday, 19th June City Golf Club - 254 South Street, Toowoomba. (2:30pm Registration, 3pm Start).

Seats are filling fast so CALL NOW to reserve yours... You won!t be disappointed! Phone Gary Christison on: 0412 111 645 or email garychristison@gmail.com

Intuitive Aromatherapy Workshop on the Gold Coast

Move your "BUT" then Move your BUTT Webinar

Out of Balance is still out of balance

Aromatherapy reduces the risk of car accidents

How to rejuvenate and start the New Year with a plan

How do you get from here to there?

Unwind after work.

How to work and play as hard and as fast as you choose without burning out.

City2surf 2009

WEBINAR : How to work and play as hard and as fast as you choose without burning out.

How to work and play as hard and as fast as you choose without burning out.

Sunset in Darwin

My first and only half marathon

Laugh your way to wellness

Energy Suckers vs Energy Givers

Breakfast on the run

Let your mouth say what your heart wants to.

Hop into the new red meat - the nutritional benefits of kangaroo

Watch salmon. Swimming upstream just makes you bait for a bear.

The Myths and Truths of Low Carb Beer

Get a check up.

Feel the fear and do it anyway.

Ten simple ways t bring balance into your work day.

Dad and I

White Christmas

Happy New Year

Merry Christmas

NIKE Great Human Race

Magnesium -The Adrenal Junkie Tonic

Fear can be fun!

Articles

Fear can be fun!

Snowshoeing in Vancouver

EA/PA Conference Melbourne

No thanks, I�m sweet enough

Amazing Water

Waking Up Well - The Essentials

Move Your Body

Canadian Super 7's Rugby Team

Thailand Trip

Thai Cooking School

Sanity@Work - What really counts as water?

Moving Sky

A Dream Come True

Taiwan International Book Exhibition

Podcast - When did you become the least important person in your life?

Podcast - The Triangle of Health

Video - NO BUM GLUE

Podcast - Are you stressed or are you burnt out?

Sanity@Work Podcast

Seasons Greetings 24/12/07

Staying Sane in the Silly Season

Top 5 Tips for Staying Sane over the Silly Season - 17/12/07

Thailand adventure

Jennifer on ABC Radio

Secrets Exposed

Fat burns faster if you light a fire under it

Articles

Fat burns faster if you light a fire under it

– how to keep your metabolism ‘firing’ to burn fat more effectively.

Six a day, six days a week

Articles

Six a day, six days a week

The seventh day

Go fo brown!

Articles

Go for brown!

So, why go brown?

No thanks, I'm sweet enough

One day only - Saturday, 19th June
City Golf Club - 254 South Street, Toowoomba.
(2:30pm Registration, 3pm Start).

Seats are filling fast so CALL NOW to reserve yours... You won!t be disappointed!
Phone Gary Christison on: 0412 111 645 or email garychristison@gmail.com