As a scientist, mother, health coach and passionate health advocate my mission is to help keep you or anyone else who is keen to learn more, inspired on their personal journey of growth and wellness with choices that;

become ‘second nature’.
prevent costly doctors and specialist appointments now and in the future.
before we know it have become just a (very enjoyable) way of life’ and we can trust, knowing we are deeply nourished and no longer harbour fear for our future health.

Deep down, we all understand this and that this important knowledge is best learnt in our homes and at our tables, passed on by our mothers and primary caregivers. As it always has been and as we, as mothers, instinctively do. I believe, we have a lot of this knowledge already, but at times it feels ‘smothered’ or non existent with ALL that we have going on, physically, mentally and emotionally. However, deep down, our inner knowing, our intuition is a compass ready to guide us through the busyness, frustration, overwhelm and tiredness and return us once and for all to a place of innate happiness and vitality. When you get that ‘gut feel’ trust it.

Prevention is better than the cure.

I make it sound easy. It’s not. It’s hard to do and for good reason.

Here are 5 reasons why (and it’s not what you think)… plus my favourite actions to stay on course.

5 reasons we’ve lost our inner compass.

We are overwhelmed. With all the information at our fingertips that we are bombarded with daily it makes it confusing to know just what to do.
We are time poor. We work – out of home and in our homes and simply don’t have time.
The real knowledge (wisdom) has been diluted and lost over the generations.
Buried in messages of convenience / junk food companies and corporate greed accompanied by a social conditioning or a belief that others can ‘fix it’, rather than taking ownership of our own livelihoods.
We feel isolated or even judged. When we begin to make new choices that feel right but differ to the ones our extended family and friends are making, whether its real or not, we can feel frustrated, uncomfortable, stressed and disillusioned.
We have lost community. Community that gives us connection, confidence and knowledge. A connection brought together within a ‘village’, or ‘tribe’ with elders, who knowingly gave guidance with the wisdom (knowledge) and tradition of their ancestors.

This can make life seem hard. But we do have choices.

9 favourite actions to ‘trust your gut’, save time and energy.

These actions or choices also create good energy, free up my time and will allow you to feel and trust your inner compass, your intuition and make life more fun. Perhaps one or two things will resonate and help you too;

Don’t worry or think about food. It becomes second nature. Simply, keep to foods in their most simple, whole and natural form i.e. if it hasn’t been picked, pulled, plucked or caught then generally don’t eat it.
When I don’t have to think so much about food, it frees my time and my mind!
Do a big shop on the weekend. This fills the fridge and pantry with essentials for the week ahead. I have ours topped up once a week with an organic veggie home delivery from ‘the organic collective’. I love having a full fridge ready for the week ahead (although I wish it lasted longer)!
Rotate favourite meals regularly. I share three of our newest favourites in kitchen medicine below, the best ever shepherds pie, lemon and coconut macaroons and a persian love cake with a modern twist.
Thinking of food in this way, takes a lot of the guess work out of it and the time and energy that we can spend (or waste).
Exercise the ‘no’ muscle. I do this by saying ‘no… thank you’ to anything that drains my energy and time.
Energy is precious and it’s better for everyone when I retain it and keep overwhelm at bay.
Put yourself first as much as possible. Even writing that and declaring it openly still brings up feelings of guilt. Why? It’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity.
When I put myself first and value my time and who I am, it puts me more in control of my day. It fuels me, gives me energy and creates confidence.
Surround yourself with energisers not vampires. You know those people that when you finish a conversation or a chat you walk away feeling lighter and brighter than before you met them. It’s those people and those activities. Spend time with them and doing that.
Spend time outside everyday. Either walking to school with the kids, walking the dog, an exercise class or cycling to the shop. Move. Outside. So much goodness in this.
Get up. Early. I usually try to get up half an hour or an hour earlier than everyone else in the house. This time is sacred to me. I use it to meditate, read, exercise, whatever I feel like doing.
My day goes SO much better when I’ve started it with this time to myself. If you haven’t tried this one yet, give it a go. Just make sure you go to bed early the night before. That’s the key to a good day.
Learn. Continually. Either with courses, coaches, neighbours, community, mentors, mistakes, books and blogs and of course children. I LOVE learning and lucky for me… my hubby is incredibly patient.

I’ts taken me a long time to get to this. It doesn’t happen overnight and you may already be doing a lot of them, or not. Choose one or two that really resonate and start adding them into your life-style!

Now I’d love to hear your thoughts. What works for you?

Under the skins’ surface is a silent epidemic…… a parasitic epidemic and with it, a war.

Okay that’s a little dramatic, but the reality is many of us are being diagnosed with parasites, ‘an organism which lives in or on another organism (its host)…’ It’s a diagnosis that immediately brings a reaction to eliminate them, all of them, ASAP.

Roughly 50% of Americans carry them and many more without showing symptoms or being diagnosed. Unfortunately I couldn’t find the figures for Australia.

Although, I heard a Western Australian Doctor, who specialises in gut health, referring to it
‘as an epidemic’ in our children.

Why is it such a concern? Parasites get their food from their host i.e. if we are carrying them around, a lot of the food we’re eating is shunted off to keep them alive, potentially leaving us deprived of key nutrients. And importantly they can cause disease in us.

However… humans, like many animals, have hosted parasites forever. Is it really such a terrible thing? Is ‘war’ absolutely necessary’?

Maybe not.

Our Diagnosis.

I first became aware of this ‘epidemic’ when our children and I were diagnosed about 3 years ago, with Blastocystis Hominis and Dientamoeba Fragilis, the terrible two. I was alarmed and absolutely prepared for war too! I did NOT want these freeloaders in our bodies, gobbling up our nutrients, robbing our energy, compromising our immunity and weighing us down (literally).

I was prepared to do whatever was needed… until, after bombarding our systems with potent herbs, I stopped and explored this for myself.

I found 4 reasons NOT to be so alarmed;

It’s a fact that parasites are ruling our health in so many ways, however, we don’t need to panic or go to WAR with these menacing microbes – yet. Here are 4 good reasons why;

Parasites do not thrive when we are healthy. In Nature, we know it is the less healthy animal that is the most parasitised.
Poor health and parasitism go together. Get healthy.
Real, organic and non industrialised food along with good, clean water are instrumental in helping manage parasitic infections.
Parasites, kept at bay, may play an important role in stimulating a healthy immune system.

‘Phew… I’m healthy’, I hear you say, ‘I don’t experience symptoms’, ‘I don’t need to worry’…

Actually, maybe you do.

The kids and I didn’t experience symptoms either. But… I felt my energy was lagging, and I put that down to being busy as a Mum! The reason being our good flora was especially good and helping to keep the symptoms at bay. ‘So why worry’? Because life changes, especially for our children. They are going to be taking on more responsibility (stress), their bodies are growing and developing and need all the nutrition possibly available to them (not parasites) and … their food choices won’t always be as we’d like!

We are safeguarding them (our husbands and ourselves) for the future. Prevention.

In addition, generally with our modern day, busy lifestyles and eating habits our microbiomes are weakened, we are carrying toxins that acidify our systems and our immune systems are compromised, meaning our terrain (our gut) is wide open and accommodating to pathogens.

While these pathogens have been around forever, historically, I believe our bodies were healthier and more capable of ‘dealing with them’ effectively and naturally.

The symptoms.

They are many and varied, mild and chronic and can include;

fatigue
constipation
diarrhea or irritable bowel syndrome
vomiting
heartburn
stomach pain or cramping
rectal itching
bloating
skin irritations

Parasites are generally acquired from consuming contaminated food or water but with an imbalance in gut flora, toxins or a weakened immune system we are more susceptible.

How do you know if you have a parasite? Work with your health practitioner and have a stool analysis done. Although it’s hard to know how accurate these are too.

Treatments.

Parasites are highly evolved in their ability to survive. Some can be easily treated – some are not. Common treatments use antibiotics and / or a course of potent herbs.

Herbs and Foods that can help include;

Garlic
Pumpkin seeds
Essential oils including, oregano and clove oil
Wormwood
Black walnut
Olive leaf
Black cumin oil

Plus limit all sugars, grains, processed foods that will continue to feed the parasite(s).

It’s critical while doing a parasite cleanse to rebuild the terrain at the same time i.e. our digestive system. As the expression goes, Weed. Seed & Feed. i.e.

detoxify.
repair the gut and mind with good foods, herbs, supplements and thoughts.
reseed the microbiome with a wide range of good bacteria.
feed the good bugs with whole, natural, organic foods.

Summary.

If you have a diagnosis or a ‘hunch’ that you have a parasite, listen to your body first. How well is it already dealing with it or not? Try the gentle approach above first and then create a terrain that’s not hospitable to parasites in the first place – before ‘going to WAR’.

A gentle cleanse or detox a couple of times a year is a great preventative measure either way.

A Gentle Cleanse with Kate: If you are feeling the need to do a gentle cleanse – as I am. I’m hosting a 3-5 day program in October. Wherever you are you’ll be able to join in with me as it’s all online. It is gentle and NOT hard core and won’t put stress on the body. It includes whole foods, shopping lists, menu plans and loads of supportive info. + WHY. If you’re interested email me your details at kate@katebarnes.com.au.