Top 5 Cold & Flu Fighters

It's been a long time between posts and a long awaited one at that...but it's here, how timely.

Beating colds & the flu this Autumn & Winter is everybody's aim, so lets discuss what I believe is the Top 5 Cold & Flu Fighters for you and your family.

1.  Fresh, unprocessed foods.  This one goes without saying doesn't it?

Food sources should always be our first port of call for vitamins and minerals.
On a daily basis include lots of vegetables and fruit, garlic, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon and chilli (for the big kids) where you can.  Avoid foods that send your body into an inflammatory state ie. if you know wheat and gluten don't agree with your body, don't eat it - your immune suffers too much.

Foods high in Vitamin C (essential for cold fighting) & Zinc (which is essential for immune response) are perfect also - some of these include:

• Cocao
• Salmon
• Pumpkin Seeds
• Garlic
• Sesame Seeds
• Chickpeas
• Chia seeds 
• Egg yolks
• Bone Broth
• Kale
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Thyme
• Parsley
• Capsicum
• Kiwi Fruit
• Paw Paw
• Oranges
• Strawberries
• Pineapple
• Rockmelon

If you are low in zinc and vitamin C levels your body will struggle to fight colds. Should you be a common cold sufferer boost your system with the foods above, it may also be worthwhile popping into your health store and grabbing some Zinc Fix or the like from the in-store Naturopath if you're already suffering - combined with eating the foods listed above. 

2.  Probiotic

This one is equally important to the first...simply because the majority of health problems start in the gut.  If your gut health is imbalanced, you're likely to have deficiencies through not absorbing vitamins and minerals properly.  Looking after our gut is vital for immunity - I can't stress this enough.  Probiotics are required to help stimulate the digestive juices and enzymes to ensure optimum digestive function, in turn, keeping our gut in good health (and balanced).   Here are a few options to increase probiotics through foods:

• Yoghurt 
• Kefir (fermented combo of goats milk & kefir grains) - find at your local health food store, or look into making your own
• Sauerkraut (fermented cabbage & vegetable mix) - make your own.  Has been known to reduce symptoms in allergy sufferers.  Might be great for the sinus & asthma sufferers.
• Dark chocolate - is there anything it doesn't do?  80% cocoa if possible.  
• Miso Soup
• Kombucha Tea (fermented tea)

Because gut health is so important I always make sure we have a good probiotic powder from our local health food shop and use it daily to ensure we keep our guts at optimal health.  In my mind it's the one health food item all families should have, considering the problems that arise from the gut.

(picture: customprobiotics.com)

3.  Echinacea 

This is another essential Autumn & Winter item in our house.  I pop into our local health store and get the naturopaths to mix up a bottle of echinacea - it's a bottle of herbal magic I swear.  Echinacea also encourages a healthy immune system and is a fabulous cold, flu and infection fighter - taken daily to prevent colds and boosted when you do get a sniffle or a cold, it's my absolute favourite 'medicine'!  Boost your dosage at the early onset of sniffles or sore throats and you'll be surprised what magic will happen.  

Olive leaf extract is another product worthwhile looking into if your children can't quite get into the echinacea - the flavour is potent so hiding it in drinks may be the trick.  There is a children's liquid Olive Leaf Extract that is more palatable...Echinacea is my pick however. 

4. Rest...Sleep!

I know this one can be hard depending on your children's sleeping habits - but getting 8 hours sleep a night helps your body settle into a healthy state, especially if you're burning the candle at both ends.  Rest your body.  Have a nanna nap if you have to and make sure the children stick to their bedtime routine.  Sleep is important to our body just as much as healthy food and water.  If you don't let your body sleep, expect your immunity to play havoc with you.  

(My little miss - she's almost 2 now)

5.  Water

This is something that can easily drop off in winter, simply because the heat isn't making us 'thirsty'.  Get that measuring jug out and fill it with water and make sure it's finished before you go to bed.  2L - more if you can fit it in.  This is very important for our children too as they can easily start mixing hunger and thirsty around.  Keep up the water.  We all know water helps the world go round - well, it certainly helps our body function properly (see pic below).  Don't leave the house without your water!

Stay active, keep warm, dress in warm clothing and ensure rooms are heated to safe temperatures (especially for children - as breathing in the cold air isn't ideal for their lungs - this is the ONLY natural tip I have been given by a doctor for fighting and treating colds).  At the onset of sniffles, sore throat etc go through the above and ensure you're following the Top 5.  Plus, Here is a fabulous natural chest rub thanks to Natural New Age Mum.  Put the natural chest rub on chest, back and soles of feet with socks.   

I wish you all loads of health for the upcoming months.  Stick to the Top 5 and nurture your bodies - listen to it.  Don't push your limits unnecessarily or your body will push you back.  

Hayley x

Growth Spurt vs Hungry vs Unsatisfied

"I'm hungry"...

Some of our favourite words, right?  Not really.

Each day parents are faced with making and supplying breakfast, lunch and dinner for their children.  Some days it's a challenge to get them to eat, other days you can't seem to fill them up.

There's plenty of factors to consider when it comes to 'satisfying' our childrens hunger.  A rainy day, boredom, thirst, growth spurts, too much fruit, too many processed foods, too much carbohydrates, too much sugar, too much salt, gluten intolerance, candida/bad gut health.  No wonder mums are feeling more overwhelmed now than they ever have before, with so many things to consider in just their children's food intake alone.

Well, I truly hope I'm here to help.  Here are some considerations I believe should take place if you are in shock or questioning your child's 'hunger'...please read them all!

1. Rainy days = boredom.  

They're going to be more hungry because they're not running around or keeping busy with their general day.  If they're a little cold this adds to the hunger also.  Instead of giving in and handing over another snack, turn the focus to something else.  Sit with your children and paint, draw, mould, read books, do some exercises together.  Or set them up with something fun to do independently.  Of course, there's always the idea of getting them in the kitchen and getting help with prepping lunch or dinner or healthy creations. (Remember the early toddler years play havoc with hunger and familiarity, it's comfortable, it's something they can do on their own so they want to do it often...then they get to a certain age and they're too busy to eat)!

2. Thirst

Is your child drinking enough water?  It's easy to think they are.  If you're getting the 'I'm still hungry' between normal eating times try offering drinks more often, or if your children are old enough ask them the last time they had a big drink of water.  We know this one works on ourselves all too often.  Forgetting to drink water happens too much unfortunately.  Notice I mention water here.  If your children are drinking packaged juice, soft drink or milk drinks, they'll be less hydrated and the sugar in the drinks will make them more hungry.  If the packaged drinks (excluding coconut water) aren't making your children crave more sugar or carbohydrates yet, it's coming, believe me. 

3. Too much fruit

Too much fruit can't be bad can it? Well, that's debatable with all the 'sugar' studies out currently, but 5-6 servings a day is well plenty for the body.  Fruit isn't always 'filling' so I recommend eating protein (and healthy fats) with fruit, this allows the body to break down the fruit sugars better and helps blood sugar levels.  When serving fruit, serve with some nuts or seeds, or sliced avocado or egg. Or spread some nut butter on the fruit. 

4. Too many processed foods

Packaged foods and processed foods are often made up of ingredients the body doesn't need with the 'bonus' of added sugar, salt, additives, preservatives and empty calories the body doesn't require.  Cull them from the daily menu.  Nuts are not considered a packaged food, unless they're covered in yoghurt or honey popcorn or something crazy.  Tiny teddies is a packaged/processed food, muesli bars and the like.  Majority of the time processed and packaged foods are empty calories.  Make the calories consumed fulfilling ones.  Processed foods are engineered to become addictive, the brain will actually think you really 'need it'.  If we limit these foods or cut them 98% of the time, we really are doing our children (and ourselves) a big favour for the future. The big message: serve real foods with real protein & fats, (lean meats, eggs, legumes, nuts, fruit, vegetables, seeds), complex carbohydrates (with protein & healthy fats), not packets because packets make us want to eat more!

5. Gluten intolerance

You may have noticed I'm not a fan of gluten but there is good reason why. There are some good studies these days on the effect it can have on the body, plus my family is gluten intolerant, you don't want to know the symptoms it causes! I don't expect you to not like gluten, you get to make your own choice.  Hunger pains have been linked to gluten intolerance however.  This article here is fabulous on gluten intolerance (and sugar)...what's with all the gluten intolerances?

6. Candida - Gut Health

Each and every one of us has a gut and each and every one of us has different gut health.  A lot of things determine your gut health - natural vs c-section birth, intolerances, allergies, eczema, colon health, general health from foods consumed, the list goes on.  Bad gut health is the primary reason for many weaknesses and sicknesses in the body.  

Candida is a yeast infection that invades the body and can invade the gut and cause all sorts of problems. One of the strong symptoms of Candida is craving sugar, carbohydrates, biscuits, pasta etc.  Basically, candida is like a little bug in your tummy telling your body you're hungry, craving sugary, processed foods - which in turn actually 'feeds' the candida. It's a fungus.  So mushrooms (fungi) and the like also feed candida.  It's a very nasty cycle. Candida will make you feel unsatisfied, often hungry (how frustrating right?) Read more here.

7. Make healthy food readily available

Stock your fridge with fruit, vegetable sticks, vegetable dips, eggs, vegetable slices based on eggs, raw balls and fudges, smoothie ingredients.  Stock your pantry with nuts, seeds, sulphur free dried fruits, rice cakes, popping corn, nut butter, coconut oil.  I think it's always a good test of hunger if your children are willing to eat what's available (don't have the packets of stuff on offer and see where it lands).    

Hopefully this post has helped you understand general growth spurt vs hungry vs unsatisfied a little better. I am in no way implying you should deny your child food...but being a mother (parent), intuition plays a major role and if you 'feel' something isn't right with the frequency of your child's hunger, refer back to this post before assuming they have 'worms'. There are more chances the above are happening before worms. Remembering also that a growth spurt would last around a week usually...so if the hunger is more frequent than this, refer to the above.  

I know my son can't be hungry for the amounts of times he says he is - yes sometimes he's going through a growth spurt, but often I have to distract, question his fruit to protein ratio/intake... and consider his gut health - he is an eczema & asthma sufferer and will soon be undergoing gut health/candida testing.

Regardless of healthy food intake, you can still suffer candida or have bad gut bacteria. Each body is different. Listen to the signs.

My vibrant, energetic, soulful Master 3, prompted this post. Hope it was insightful.

Live happy through living healthy.

Hayley xo
 

Master 3 daydreaming xo

Just one of the many fruits he would eat ALL day long...

Working that loving smile!

Raw chocolate slice - cashews, cacao, chia seeds, dates, coconut oil, honey.  Something else he L O V E S to LOVE!

Schooling in the Kitchen

If you haven't already guessed, I'm really passionate about children being educated from the get-go with healthy foods.  We as the parents have the opportunity to create the best health and eating habits in our children, so why not make the most of it right?  After all, they are our future.  

I ask you these questions:


How often are your children in the kitchen with you?  
Do they see you preparing their foods?  
Do they help?
Do they ask questions?
Do they touch, feel and taste foods?  
Do you 'show & tell' what a food is, how you can eat it?  
Have you planted fruits or vegetables or herbs?


We are our children's educators when it comes to health.  Teachers have enough on their plate when it comes to educating children (pardon the pun).   

When you're preparing food in the kitchen, no matter what time, invite your children to come and watch/participate.  As the blog titles suggests: Schooling in the Kitchen. While you're preparing/chopping talk to your children about the foods, their name, their colours, their taste, their sensation, whether they are served cooked/raw or both.  You'll be surprised how many children can't name fruits and vegetables.  They might know what it looks like chopped but not as a whole piece?!  It's important to make food fun, make up little songs if your children are young enough or get your children actively involved with preparing if old enough.  

Master 3, Miss 19 months and myself were chanting 'smashed peas' while I was smashing the peas for one of our meals this week.  The 'smashed peas' chant continued on for a little while (even to the next day) - it made the process fun, and got the children interested to try the new way of eating peas (as it wasn't just peas in the mix).  Children love to watch juice or smoothies go from fruit/vegetables to a tasty drink.  Talk about the process, emphasising the importance of the juice/smoothie (and any food you're preparing) being healthy and why their body needs the nutrients. Talk about building their immunity, overall happiness from a healthy tummy and growing well with strong, healthy bones and teeth. 

In this house, there's a good focus on the kitchen.  As much as it can be a little frustrating having the ankle biters at your feet - I encourage you to put them on a chair or stool and let them join in and ask their 100 questions. You're doing them a favour. Especially if you're answering positively and actively keeping their mind stimulated by telling them or quizzing them on what the food can do/does, its colour, what letter it starts with etc.  You can shape cut food, spiralise it to look like spaghetti, make a slinky, make a face - whatever it takes to get them involved and tasting, touching and learning about the goodness of fresh, healthy foods.  More than anything, this role in the kitchen for the children gives them confidence and common knowledge that they can always use.      

Children develop eating habits early, exposure, exposure, exposure is my best tip.  Your child may not touch something you put on their plate 10 times, but they might try on the 15th attempt.  It's worth it.  Please don't give up.  Your child doesn't like anything until they're 30 and still saying they don't like it.  By then they've had a good chance to try the foods many times, and hopefully have a positive experience.  Definitely don't force feed.  The relationship with food for each person should be a calm, relaxed, enjoyable one.  There is an amazing rainbow of wonderful foods out there that we should all have the chance to taste.  Include more colours of the rainbow on your child's plate or lunchbox every day.  

I want this post to get you thinking a little more outside the box - or even to forget the 'box'.  Serve food how you and your children want to - but make it fresh and clean.  And by clean I mean minimal/no additives and preservatives, minimal/no processed foods, minimal/no added sugar and high concentration on fresh produce.  Most of all, get the group effort happening (even if that includes your charming 2 year old eating things before it gets to the plate)! 

YOU are your children's inspiration in the kitchen.  Even if you don't enjoy it, act like it.  Enthusiasm goes a long way when you're talking about food to your children.  As I've said before "talk it up".  Whatever it takes.  Schooling in the Kitchen is our job, let's do it...!  


“The more you inspire, the more people will inspire you.” Simon Sinek

Lunchbox Love

Lunchbox.  

You're probably already cringing at the word and school hasn't even started right?  Lunchbox, Lunchbox, Lunchbox...

Let's fill it...with love, real foods, less packets and a whole lot of satisfaction.

My first tip is to make a list of the foods your children will eat.  For example:

Loves: Carrots, Apples, Bananas, Tuna
Likes: Chicken, Rice, Oranges, Yoghurt, Tzatziki
Maybe: Eggs, Hommus, Olives, Chia Seeds

Go wide and far, pull in every stop, write it all down.  Keep the list and work from the list every day.  Ideally, we want to add a little bit of Loves, Likes and Maybe to every lunchbox.

Secondly, cross out as many 'packet' snacks or foods you've included on the list. ie. Tiny Teddy's, Chips, Shapes etc.  If your child 'must' have one of these snacks save it for after school.  Why?  Healthy foods improve cognitive performance and will allow your child to keep sufficient energy for the entire day.  We're gearing our children who are our future, to a life full of less disease if we keep on top of their immune and health with real foods.  Personally, I'd be giving your children something nut based after school if they're not allergic - considering they couldn't take nuts to school with all schools adopting 'nut free' zones. 

Thirdly, pack a punch.  Make every mouthful count. Here are some swap options to make your lunchbox 'real'.

Swap dried fruit for fresh.  (unless using sulphur free dried fruit - still use it wisely however as the sugar content is higher in dried fruit)

Swap preservative and additive packed sandwiches for sandwich fillings in separate containers (meat, egg, tomato, cucumber, carrot, celery, capsicum, sprouts, olives, avocado, hommus)

Extend vegetable and salad sticks to have a protein enriched dip (hommus, guacamole, tzatziki, beetroot - I would recommend making these yourself to keep things additive and preservative free).  If lost for recipes, google exactly what you want "clean dairy free beetroot dip"...google seriously saves lives.  Haha!

Swap juice and milk for water.  Or try blending some fresh fruit into water and freeze it for a different touch to plain water.

Swap egg and vegetable slices or muffins made with flour to an even cleaner recipe of just eggs, meat and vegetables (plus some herbs).  Last nights leftovers mixed with eggs, throw the mixture in muffin pans and cook. Done and done. 

Make your own yoghurt with natural greek or pot set yoghurt and sweeten with cinnamon and berries - frozen berries too.  This may have you thinking...how on earth do I have so many containers to 'house' all of these wrapper free options?  Here's a few too look at for long term use:

LunchBots
Biome
Squeezeéms

Imagine the concoctions you can use the Squeezeéms for.  Frozen yoghurts, smoothies, soups.  I'm in love!  Simple recipes get the tick - use real ingredients every time, sweeten with fresh or frozen fruit, cinnamon, raw honey.  These squeezeéms get me excited!

Here's a list of ideas as lunchbox inclusions:

*Boiled eggs
*Tins of tuna
*Mashed avocado with a squeeze of lemon or lime
*Leftover roasted, oven baked meats
*Raw vegetables (with nut free butter or dips as mentioned above)
*Fruit (slice and add nut free butter for dipping)
*Coconut chips (from health food shop - check bulk buy section for cheaper price)
*Natural greek yoghurt with cinnamon, fresh or frozen berries, chia seeds.  *Coconut milk yoghurt with chia seeds
*Egg & bacon or preferred meat, vegetable slice or muffins (no flour required)
*Puffed corn
*Home popped popcorn
*Rice cakes with abovementioned dips or nut free butter
*Sliced full fat cheese (if not following dairy free eating plan)
*Kale Chips
*Sweet potato, carrot, beetroot chips (homemade only in dehydrator)
*Vegetable and Flax crackers (made in dehydrator at home)
*Raw Balls (made with seeds rather than nuts - pure life cereal from health food aisle, fresh medjool dates and coconut blended in food processor).  You could also make this mixture as a slice/muesli bar - mouth is watering!
*Homemade raw chocolate - this stuff seriously gives you a good kick, in a good way.  I promise. The kids could progress a year ahead of schedule.  No really, it is good stuff!  Here is the recipe MYO Raw Chocolate.  Easiest trick out there!  Add chia seeds to the mix too.  Pack a punch remember!
*Salmon or Tuna, sweet potato patties (atlantic salmon or tuna with mashed sweet potato, mix one egg through the mixture and make into patty shape, bake in oven for 20mins or until cooked)
*Frozen smoothies made with coconut milk, fresh berries, mango, banana, cinnamon and chia seeds.  Use the Squeeze'ems to store these.  
*Vegetable, pumpkin or cauliflower soup - blend it up and again use the squeeze'ems pouches.  YUM!  Recipes here on Doing it for the Kids. 

Some other sites to check out for wonderful, simple, healthy recipes:

The Healthy Chef
Just Eat Real Food

Otherwise, I have plenty of pictures on Doing it for the Kids for inspiration, and will continue to update throughout the year with ideas and recipes.  Be sure to take a scroll through the whole page, the wall and all the albums, including the Notes section which has recipes.   The Gluten Free Lunchbox has some great inspiration.  There is always pinterest...search paleo.  We live in a world of resources, use them when you need it.  :-)  

Remember to fuel the lunchbox with plenty of protein for satiety, pack it with excitement and energy, talk it up...I always talk up food! Get the kids excited about what they're eating...it helps.

Until next time healthy readers... 

Hayley xo

Behind Doing it for the Kids

Mining town girl turned city career woman…now mother of two in downtown Brisbane, Queensland. Hayley is the name. Hayley Oliver. Remember it, because I want to be big one day. Not big as in grown up, ‘big’ as in famous.

Health drives me, and if I remember correctly it always has. Born highly intolerant to dairy, I remember plenty of not so pleasant stories post ice cream, chocolate and cream in my life.

At the age of 18 I was in hospital with an extreme Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) attack and a prolapsed disc in my back. Best medicine? Stripping the diet to work out what the body didn’t like. Dairy. Gluten. Preservatives. Additives. And whatever it pleases on the day. (Note: Always listen to your body).  My two children are very much the same when it comes to their bodies tolerating the above mentioned foods.  Simple.  Cut.it.out.

The body fascinates me. I often wonder why I kept putting off entering the health field. Doctor. No. Too many years of study and do they ever really fix the cause? Nurse. Definitely not. I have children to look after now. That’s enough! Naturopath. Love their holistic approach to the body. Love them a lot. But too many people kept asking ‘what does a naturopath do’. Really? Nutrition. Let’s start with that!

After attempts at Legal Secretary, PA, Cadet Journalist, Sales Consultant, Retail, Account Manager, Client Services Manager (Radio) and Pilates Instructor over 10 years, I threw it all in for the best job a woman could ever have, being a mum.  Ding, perfect opportunity to begin the dream...working with children and families in nutrition. Cue - start studying Hayley. (I do wish I was a student sponge learning on campus every day, but at the age of 3 and 1 my beautiful children are the ones who sponge me up more than the textbooks at the current time).

A long lived dream and passion has finally come into fruition with Doing it for the Kids, a Facebook page to start getting more families on the right track with their health and eating decisions (be sure to read the info section on the page to understand my pledge). Ask me if I'm happy right now...YES!  

One radio interview down. Where to next?! Remember I said I want to be famous?