Takáro Whánau - Family Play

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Whānau Rangahau Ipurangi -Family Blog Survey

Method:
Of around 60 families we contacted the 30 on our email list regarding their blog usage, using survey monkey online surveys.
We received 16 responses and one late feedback via email.
Families had two weeks to respond and had a reminder email with one week to go.

Results 1:
Mum's viewed the blog twice as often as dads, who viewed it about as often as the children at the kindergarten.
Non kindergarten children viewed it occasionally, grandparents never and other family and friends very occasionally.

Discussion 1:
We'd hoped the blog being viewable from home would have seen more dad's using it. We also hoped this would be a good way for grandparents and relatives to catch up on children's activities. We may have to look at what are the barriers to participation and how we can address these.
We have had some anecdotal feedback parents do pass on links to family and friends and that children who have gone to school view it and enjoy seeing what their friends are doing.

Results 2:
25% visited the blog once a week (4) , a further 25% once a month (4) Others visited the blog only occasionally or 6.3% (1) never.

Discussion 2:
We are definitely getting hits, 50+ in the last 24 hours. The nice thing about it is that it is there when you want to see it. While we would like to see more frequent viewing by families, perhaps we need to shift our expectations.

Results 3:
70% of parents said they used it to catch up on happenings at kindergarten.

Results 4:
91.7% of parents felt informed about what was happening at kindergarten when viewing with their children.

2/3+ of parents responded viewing it with their children lead to discussion about what had been going on at kindergarten.

40% Got ideas to use at home.

But only 16.7% feedback by leaving comments.

Discussion 4:
The discussion with children aspect was great to hear, one of our hopes for the blog was that it would be used to help children share their interests between home and kindergarten. While use of comments to feedback to kindergarten was low, feed back via comments has increased since we put out our how to comment post and the survey.

Results 7:
81.3% of parents wanted the blog to stay in an open format, with 18.8% wanting it invitation only.


Results 8:
14 of 16 parents indicated they would like their child to have their own e profile, some wanted closed ones, others wanted open ones, everyone who wanted one indicated they would contribute to them, and some would invite others.

Discussion 8:
This is really exciting, it is to be hoped, with a more personalised approach, as is possible with e profiles, a much greater family participation will result. We will move this ahead now to.

Results 5: How is the blog useful
15 replies total. 14 very positive along the lines of it keeping parents informed, 2 giving parents ideas, 1 child felt famous, 1 parent would use the blog eventually but currently had an over full schedule.

Results 6: How could it be improved
Not easy to use on dial up.
Needs to have all the children, not just a few.
Can be word heavy. (Like this post -sorry)
Titles for each section to be written about.
4 great as it is.

Discussion 5 and 6:
Very positive feedback, we'll look to be more inclusive now our permissions are sorted, and e profiles should also help to personalise the blog.
Dial up is a definite barrier for our rural families with limited internet access options. Picture and video heavy is certainly not friendly to dial up speeds.
While the labels at the bottom help to organise the posts and quickly find everything in a topic, we will need to look at organisation, now we're posting so much.


Thankyou everyone for your feedback it has been a great help.

Tikanga Pangarau - Mathematics

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Koringa Hihiko - Active Movement using our new DIZZY GIDDY

So why a “Dizzy Giddy”?...Spinning (and rocking, swaying, swinging, rolling) is a very important balance activity which stimulates the ‘vestibular system’. The semi-circular canals and the vestibular system, which are situated within the inner ear, are responsible for the development of the body's balance. Inside the semi-circular canals are ‘cilia’ (tiny hairs) that stand up when regularly stimulated. Fluid washes over the cilia and nerve endings inside the ear, sending the brain messages of balance and imbalance. If there is little ‘vestibular’ movement, the cilia lie down and as a result, motion can become a problem for children. Children of all ages need constant daily stimulation of the vestibular system. Muscle tone, muscle coordination, eye development, body awareness and spatial awareness also play a vital role in balance. There are many ways you can enhance your child’s exposure to spinning activities that stimulate the vestibular system. It is recommended that when spinning, move slowly at approximately 1 revolution per 8 seconds. The Dizzy Giddy is perfect for this! Never spin for more than 1 minute...little and often is best. When spinning, always unwind by spinning the other way.
Reference:- Crowe, R. & Connell, G. (2003). Moving to Learn. Christchurch: The Caxton Press. This is a great book.
As stated in the “Getting Ready for School” DVD (available at Kindergarten), good balance is important. It helps children to stay still when sitting, standing and lying. Really important skills especially when in a formal classroom situation.

You can purchase the 'Moving to Learn' book with CD or the fabulous Dizzy Giddy from http://www.movingtolearn.com/

I love To Dress Up

Nga Paki Ako - Term 3, Week 2

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Perseverance -Hiringa

Kei te torotoro ngā hoa whā -Four friends exploring

Aidan, Lachie, Keegan and Harriet spend the day together, exploring and adventuring.

They spent a lot of time with the flip boards, Harriet and Keegan calling out advice, next onto the balance boards, then off to the trolley board. Later they had to figure out how to fit four people on three swings, so Keegan stood up behind Aidan and then when that didn't work, Aidan hopped off and pushed Keegan, and so it continued all day.

With the flip boards they tried out so many different ways to launch multiple balls. I thought it was a really neat extension and challenge using the flip boards, they set for themselves so I just had to record it.

Tainga Whutu pōro Rugby Tackles

A lot of boys were wanting to rough and tumble, so we got out the rough and tumble mats. We rough and tumbled for about twenty minutes then the children shifted the play to tackling each other and running, so we got out the tackle bag shape. Soon a few others shier than the originals and three or four of the girls eyed it up and decided they would have a go too. In the end even Adrianne did. (Hmm the video seems to have quietened the explosion sound effect for her picture :( )
As we tackled Harriet, Jimmy and Annalise turned up with their cameras, along with Sharon, making a photo op of our training session. Annalise also wanted a turn so I managed to snap one of her, while I held the camera for her. As an extension for Harriet I helped her make the video at the end.
Tackling is an extension of rough and tumble involving movement and timing, essential skills for music and dance, so I decided to try out my new mixcraft software and compose a sound track for them. (Well really because I really, really wanted to try it out.) Mixcraft lets you select instruments and enter in the notes for them, even record your voice, it's a lot of fun and uses a lot of sampled rather than synthesised sounds. You can download a two week trial off their site. The original had 8 times the size of the whole finished video, so I may have lost some quality.
It takes courage and practise to throw yourself at a tackle bag and not get hurt, and to be honest in some cases it took courage to stand there with it and be tackled.

Screw driver bar. Paepae rino huriwiri

Hannah had done everything right, pre drilled a hole and everything but it was still to hard to drive her screw into the wood. (It was a very long screw). So I made her a T bar to slip over her screwdriver. With this added leverage she was able to drive it all the way in. I think next time it will need a cap on it though, so downward force can be applied without the bar slipping down. Phillips screws often slip, I think this is because the driver heads become worn, from people using the wrong sized phillips head with the wrong sized phillips screw. This means you have to push them down to hol dthe head in and twist them at the same time.
Square heads also have a size to get right but even so are much easier for the children to drive in, as they rarely if ever slip, so the screw only needs to be twisted and it pulls it self in.

screw driver = huriwiri

screw = wiri

Partnership

At my niece's wedding the pastor said something that stuck with me, a marriage isn't about meeting your partner halfway, there's no 50:50 in marriage, it's about giving yourself to them and them to you 100%.

A partnership is not about becoming one single entity, losing who you are, becoming identical beings though. Recall the story of how Tane separated Rangi and Papa. At First Rangi and Papa were as one, but there was no space between them for their children to move or grow. Then Tane put his shoulders to Papa's body and his feet on Rangi and pushed them apart and light and day emerged and a space for all things to grow in.

Also recall how innovation, creativity and learning occurs in the space between order and chaos, between rules and structure, and randomness.
The structure gives form to the creative thought of chaos and helps it hold it's shape. To much structure and thought becomes stagnant, to little and it floods everywhere and goes no where, just breaking apart continually changing.

Physicists understand this. Every thing has two states, that of a wave and a particle. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

So it is in a partnership, each partner brings their own uniqueness, that gives strength to the other as they are strengthened in return. Just as a two strands of DNA help to mask each others faulty traits, two cords bind to make a stronger rope, two musical notes resonate to make a chord.

But being in a partnership is not about staying the same either. Two musical notes may create a harmony or a disharmony, the singers must be constantly listening to each other adjusting their tone to blend with their partner's. To do this successfully you must learn each others songs and music, so you can learn to anticipate each other as one or other takes the lead and jazz together. Your structure gives direction to their creativity and vice versa. (Remember sharing the lead to increases the innovation.)

Thus it is with te tiriti of Waitangi a partnership, not a rigid one set in stone (even that carved in stone must grow moss and change as it weathers the sands of time), but a dynamic one. It's meaning is no longer what either set of parties originally conceived, but has grown and changed, just as the meaning of words change over time, old meanings lost new ones found, just as it will continue to grow, the harmony depending on how well we listen, how well we share the lead with each other, both sides giving 100%. Looking not at the chip on the others shoulder but at the log in our own eyes, treating each other as we would want to be treated.

Nor was it two individuals that signed the treaty, it was two parties. The many different and diverse, culturally distinct tribes of the Maori people represented by their Rangitira, and the many different and diverse culturally distinct groups of the new colonial peoples represented by the British Empire and Crown.

Two sets of parties binding themselves together to strengthen each other and form a new whanau made of both.

With that in mind I welcome you the peoples of this isolated land to this week of Te Reo Māori. Nau mai ra ngā iwi o te motu, nau mai ra ki tēnei wiki o te reo Māori.

Lachie's Photos

Kiri sent us some of Lachie's photo art documenting his day, before he heads of to school.
Name photo on the board, time to wave goodbye. Chase mum down the hill

Demonstrate the underwater features.

Catch up with yah mates.

More water shots.

Mat time shots (not uploaded)

What a great photo documentary you'll have to take with you Lachie.

We're Going On A Bear Hunt

Jo

Beautiful Hyacinth

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Welcome Back to Term 3-Outside

Welcome back to Term 3.
One special thing that happens, especially after holidays, is when the children bring in or email us photo's of what's been happening at home along with little written stories explaining the pictures.

We encourage you all to contribute to your children's profiles and this is one way you can keep us in touch with what you see happening for them.

Here's Jack D's bird house in some photo's he brought from home. He worked on very hard last term then took it ome and set it up. Food goes into it everyday and the birds love it, they just have to watch out for Jack's cat.

The children also can add to their books or just snap shots of what they like. Outside cameras have had a great interest already this term. Jimmy, Ollie, Harriet, Aiden and Jack I., have all been asking for them, and Lachie even brought his own one from home. When they have a turn we snap a shot of them holding one of our "my pictures signs" at the start and another with our "finished" sign at the end, so we know who takes what. Becky and Kate brought in a banded tunnelweb dad found, so we hunted around for some food for it, let it have a walk and eventually released it around the back where our other tunnelwebs live, as mum said we could keep it.

What a beautiful spider.

We got out the paint making gear and started grinding charcoal to mix with watered P.V.A. to make paint.

Here's some of Harriet's portrait shots.

Lachie's camera was one that could be used underwater. He knew all about it and showed us how it worked and how you had to dry it after using under the water. He was getting farewell shots of his friends before he goes to school.

In the sandpit I altered some of the grey pipes, sawing them down so we could use them as connectors for the orange pipes. Then since it was mild we brought out the hose.

Here's some of Jimmy and Ollie photo's. They're both learning to keep their finger off the lens.

Ollie shares his photo's with Abi.

Skipping has been a great way to warm up, as has our old favourites the tractors.

Our Blog Survey

Only 5 completed surveys on survey monkey, so far. If you didn't get one emailed to you anwant one, let me know and I'll get you the link. When you get it just click on it and fill in the boxes, then click the "send/publish"? button at the bottom.

One suggestion was more photo's of different children, well now we have the new permission forms done for everyone you should see more of that happening.

Do get them in, you should be able to fill them in till Thursday the 30th.

How to post a comment

By the way when you save as JPG you can select quality, and make it lower for the web.
To make the picture bigger, just click on it.

Blogging tip-how to save publish as a jpeg

Edit
A quick additional note, once your picture is on your blog, if you move it it loses the ability for you to click on it to enlarge it, so remember they get placed so that the first uploaded will be at the bottom.
If you do need to move it click the edit html tab so you can take the whole script ("less than sign" a) to (back slash "greater than sign" a) play around with looking at the script to see what happens before and after you move your picture.

Review of Te Mana Kōrero

Just been reading and watching the "Te Mana Kōrero, Relationships for learning" book and DVD's.

Designed for schools and high schools, but a useful teaching reference for all, it talks about the importance of teaching and learning taking place in a social context.

Instead of teaching to a group of children, teach them as individuals, or better yet individuals who are members of groups. And don't just teach them, but have them teach each other, teach you, give them control of what and how they learn, control of how it is evaluated. Draw on what the students and their families are interested in, and know about, to put learning in to context.

Also don't try and teach on your own but draw on all the members of your community, other teachers, parents, relatives, friends, people from around town.

Before you try and teach anything, form a relationship with your student and their family, get to know them and keep building and growing that relationship every day. Have high and positive expectations of children and realise that how you convey those expectations may not be in ways the student notices so you might need to adapt. Care about your students as people, not grades.

Powerful stuff, supported by what our families shared in the survey we've been reviewing, empahsising the importance of placing learning in a social context, and the principles of Te whāriki our curriculum.

Rewena Paraoa (Maori Bread)

For our recent Matariki celebrations it was decided that we make some Maori Bread to compliment our Pork meal. I shared with the team that I had a family recipe but unfortunately did not have an active ‘bug/plant’ (leavening culture) essential to make a traditional bread. Therefore I had to start from scratch with a ’starter plant’. Here is the recipe...

Rewena (Leavening for Maori Bread)
Original Starter:
2 cups of Plain Flour
1 teaspoon of sugar
3 slices medium sliced potato (or kumara)
Boil potato slices in 1 cup of unsalted water to mashing consistency. Cool. When lukewarm, mix all ingredients together to a fairly firm dough texture. Add more warm water if required. Put in a lidded container and leave in a warm place to ferment. This can take up to 1-4 days dependant on temperature. Then...
Feed this raw dough one day with 1/2 cup unsalted potato water, and the next day with 1 teaspoon of sugar. Mixing well each time. Continue alternate daily feeds.
After a few days of feeding, you generally have enough Rewena to make your first loaf.

Rewena Paraoa
5 cups of flour
1 teaspoon salt (optional)
2 tablespoons Sugar (adjust to taste)
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
Rewena mix

Method
Put flour, sugar and salt into bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour Rewena in and sprinkle baking soda over. Stir. You may need to add more lukewarm water. Mix and knead lightly for 10 minutes.
NB: Keep 2 heaped tablespoons of this raw dough in a large jar with lid (I have a small pierced hole in my lid). This becomes the next bug/plant which you need to feed daily.
Put into a lightly greased and floured round deep cake tin and cover with a lid or light damp cloth. Leave to rise to at least double it’s size (can take up to 7hrs to rise). The hot water cupboard is a nice warm place.
Bake in preheated oven 200 deg. C for about 30—40 minutes until golden brown. When cooked it will sound hollow when tapped. Rub a knob of butter on top to glaze. Enjoy...well worth the initial effort. (Sharon SciaScia, Matariki—25th June 2009)

It took ages to rise, so it was cooked that evening and eaten at kindergarten the next day. YUMMY KAI !

Ben Warren, how to eat healthy.

One of the most inspiring workshops at our conference was Ben Warren looking at how to stay healthy. Kindly Ben agreed we could share his health tips with you.

As a quick primer food has two basic components Energy and Nutrition, sadly a lot of processed food includes lots of energy, but little nutrition, so although we can eat plenty our body still craves more.

Energy can come from three sources Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats. It's no surprise that as individuals with different genetic backgrounds, our ability to process these three energy sources varies. Also within these groups particular carbohydrates, proteins and fats will be easier for some people to digest than others.

GI, or glycemic index, indicates how quickly the energy in the food will be released, again this will vary from person to person. Their are surprises, puffed rice has a higher GI than sugar!
The lower the GI the better usually.

High GI foods release energy quickly, you feel full of energy then you crash. Low GI foods release their energy slowly, below 50 is good, you continue to have energy for a long time after eating it. Here's a list of foods and their GI.

Even though it's the same food, it may not be the same. The taste difference between a, just picked sun ripened tomato, and some thing pale and chilled you find on the supermarket shelves for instance. Taste is often a good indicator of nutrition. Washing fruit and vegetables in chlorine increases shelf life, but reduces biotic content and can mean the fruit you get looks fresh but isn't, with much of the good nutrition having had time to break down.

Processed foods often have a lot of the nutrition extracted and preservatives, our bodies can't deal with, added ( to prevent it being food for biotics). Then they have sugars and fats added as well because our bodies are evolved to associated these with nutrition, and so they fool our senses into thinking it's good for us when the opposite is true.

Anyway here's Ben's 10 tips, at the end are his suggestions for healthy lunches. It's a lot to read, so come back to it as you need.
David

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“10 Secrets to Permanent Weight Loss and Incredible Health”
By Ben Warren
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If you think dieting doesn’t work… you’re absolutely right! If losing weight was as easy as restricting the amount of calories or exercising more, the gym would be full of slim people and everyone would have the body they want!
Unfortunately the low fat, more exercise mentality of the 80’s is still strong in many minds, I want to reassure you that permanent weight loss and incredible health is possible, but you need all the pieces of the puzzle – this is what my course gives you. However, an understanding of these secrets will help move you towards being able to make the right decisions that lead to permanent weight loss and incredible health.

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Secret #1
Toxins are stored in Fat
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Anything your body cannot process and get rid off will be stored in your body, most toxins are stored in fat with heavy metals being the main exception (heavy metals are stored in the organs/brain generally)
Toxins can come from a one of three ways:
#1 Endo toxins – These are actually produced in the body from poor digestion, parasites, constipation and yeast overgrowth.
#2 Ingested toxins – Toxins that we actually eat, these include food additives, preservatives, pesticides, agricultural contaminants and water contaminants.
#3 Toxins recycled through the body, these toxins are labelled for disposal but because of a lack of nutrition the body cannot process them and they are released back into the system (and stored in fat)

The problem is most people are loading up there systems from all three sources, poor digestion and constipation (not moving 12 inches of faeces a day) are loading up your fat cells with endo toxins.
Then there’s the ingested toxins…research has shown that the average person’s diet in the industrialised world consume over 20lbs of food additives, preservatives, colourings and flavour enhancers a year. Just imagine 20lbs of toxins that your liver has to deal with. If it can’t keep up they will be stored in fat!
Due to the first two your liver is probably working flat out and running out of the raw materials (vitamins and minerals) it needs to process all these toxins. So your body has to store these toxins until a time the raw materials become available.
When was the last time you went on a calorie restricted diet and increased the nutrition you were bringing into your body? I prefer people to alter their eating habits to increase nutrition and therefore liver function.

Toxins and health – ‘Too many toxins’ is one of two ways to damage cell function (lack of nutrition is the other and we’ll talk about that in secret #7), therefore if you want incredible health and unstoppable energy then you need to minimise the number of toxins you bring into your body.

Solution:
• Improve digestive function of small intestine (See Secret #2 for more details)
• Improve transit time of large intestine
• Eat unprocessed ‘natural’ foods as much as possible
• Supply the nutrients your liver needs for detoxification

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Secret #2
Food intolerances will make you store fat and decrease your immunity
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The small intestine is the engine room of your body, it breaks down your food into the raw materials that keep your cells functioning. The key to breaking the food down, after chewing and hydrochloric acid, are enzymes. These enzymes are either already in the food (commonly called live food, like fruit) or released by your pancreas.
A food intolerance occurs when your body struggles to break down the food due to insufficient enzymes for that specific food. This also includes occasions when your enzymes are over whelmed as is often the case with processed white flour.

When these enzymes are overwhelmed your small intestine will shut down, this is most often noticed as a feeling of being bloated (Although most people are bloated constantly and therefore unaware of when this is happening!)
This will instantly lead to decreased energy and low blood sugar, but the longer term effects are far more damaging.
The half digested food is often able to get through the membrane and into your blood stream this is often referred to as ‘leaky gut syndrome’. The food particles, because they have not been broken down fully, are treated as an invader and stimulate an anti body response (immune reaction).
Over 70% of your immune system is in and around your digestive tract, to protect us from the things we eat. So, when we eat this food that overwhelms the enzymes we also overload our immune system. Our immune system gets tied up with dealing with our food that someone sneezes in the next room and we have a cold! Or dust/pollen that we should not have a problem with sets off our allergies because our immune system is overloaded by food!

Your body will then establish a learned response to these foods and will shut down the small intestine as soon as you eat the culprit in an attempt to protect yourself from them.

The frightening thing about all this is the more often this happens the more damage gets inflicted on the small intestine. This damage then makes you more intolerant to other foods that are traditionally harder to digest such as milk and other dairy products.

Solution
• Find your food intolerances and avoid eating these foods
• Improve your body’s ability to process foods by: chewing adequately, improving stomach function, being relaxed when eating)
• Take specific supplements to rebuild your small intestine
• Eat foods that are easier to digest (live and fermented foods)

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Secret #3
Calories are NOT the key to weight loss
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Many people will have you believe that to lose weight you simply need to reduce the number of calories you eat. As you well know this does not work! Here’s why…
Cutting calories reduces your metabolism – so you burn less calories per day and have less energy. This also lowers your Basal metabolic Rate which is one of the most important indicators of health. As you probably have experienced, as soon as you start consuming more calories again your body will store more energy in fat, often putting the weight back on you had lost. Due to your lipo-genic fat cells it also will make it harder to burn fat in the future.
Cutting down on fat – The reason fat has a reputation for making you fat is because it has more than double the calories per gram than carbohydrate. What you need to understand though is fat is not primarily used as an energy source in the body, carbohydrate is! Fat (providing it is a ‘good’ fat) is used to make hormones, rebuild your cells and replenish your nerves. If your body needs to use fat as an energy source then it has to be converted to blood sugar (glycogen) first. This actually burns calories and is given off as heat within the body (this is a huge reason why most women are always cold – from not enough fat!). The net effect of eating fat is only 1 calorie more than carbohydrate after conversion. YET FAT WILL MAKE YOU FEEL FULL FOR LONGER so you don’t need to bring as many calories on board.

After many years of studying the body, nutrition and working clinically with clients I have found that trying to lose weight by reducing what you eat DOES NOT WORK! I have also found that when the large intestine is working properly (moving 12 inches of faeces a day and a transit time of 12 to 24 hours), food you do not need simply passes straight through you.


Solution:
• Eat more fat (good fat only)
• Eat your optimal amount of calories by eating right for your metabolic type (Secret #6)
• Improve the function of your large intestine so any excess food is able to leave your body
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Secret #4 – How dehydration will make you fat and healthy faster than donuts!
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Who would have thought that dehydration would make you fat, well it does and let me tell you why…
Firstly, your body can’t tell the difference between hunger and thirst, and so when we get dehydrated our body will mistake thirst for hunger and we eat something, when really all we needed to do was have a drink. This obviously ends up with us bringing on board more calories than we need, and if we can’t burn this fuel or get it out of our body then it WILL BE STORED IN FAT.

Water, as you already know (from my evening seminar) is one of the most important elements your body needs, apart from the billion or so cellular reactions that are reliant on water we need water for the four main pathways of getting toxins out of out body. That’s right, your bowel, kidneys, skin and breathe all require water to expel toxins from our body, and remember if you can’t get them out of your body they will be stored on your body in fat.

Finally, your digestion relies on water to function optimally, if you are dehydrated you won’t be able to make enough hydrochloric acid to break down your food, plus your enzymes won’t be as mobile in your small intestine. Essentially this means you won’t be able to digest your food as easily, which as you know by now means your going to be storing the half digested food as fat.

Solution:
• Drink.033 litres of water for every KG of body weight eg, 60kg=2 litres, 90 kg=3 litres
• Only high quality filtered water (unless you live in Napier!) counts as water, tea, coffee even herbal drinks don’t count!

P.S – If you are having to pee a lot you might need more minerals to help actually retain the water.

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Secret #5 – How stress can be making you store fat and not absorb nutrients
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Stress stimulates the sympathetic side of the autonomic nervous system, this is your fight or flight response and a cascade of stress hormones including cortisol and adrenaline are released. During this time the parasympathetic nervous system is suppressed. The problem comes when you eat during times of stress because the parasympathetic nervous system controls your body’s ability to digest food. Therefore if you eat while you are stressed or rushing then you will not be able to digest the food. As you already know the half digested food will be stored in fat.

Plus… the half digested food particles can over load your immune system and make you hyper sensitive to external stimuli like pollen and dust – therefore increasing your allergies.

Stress will essentially actually increase your chances of food intolerances. This can lead to damage of the small intestine and reduce your body’s ability to absorb the nutrients you are eating.
I like to look at people’s total physiological load, this is because all the different types of stress add together to give a physiological load of stress. You might not realise that financial stress, emotional stress, relationship stress, past stress, work stress, home stress, exercise stress, nutritional stress and postural stress all add up. Most people’s overall stress levels are way too high, so much so, that your body actually physically changes your dominant breathing pattern to cope with the load.
This level of constant stress makes it very difficult to digest your food properly.

Solution:
• Sit and relax before and during all meals
• Use mental strategies like EFT for dealing with past and present stress and the major stressors in your life
• Use goal setting to reduce future stress
• Develop a healthy belief system to deal with grief
• Raise awareness of your dominant breathing pattern
• Eat right for your metabolic type to reduce nutritional stress
• Exercise to balance your autonomic nervous system NOT to thrash it!

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Secret #6 - Eat the right levels of fat/protein and carbohydrate for you
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As you are now aware, everyone has an optimal fuel mix of protein/fat and carbohydrate. I have found that most people eat too many carbohydrates for their metabolic type, plus they are eating the wrong kind of carbohydrate, what I call bad carbohydrates.

I call protein/fat/carbohydrate your macronutrients and eating the correct level of macronutrients has profound health and weight loss benefits. Firstly, you are full for longer and therefore don’t need to bring on board as many calories. You stabilize your blood sugar levels and therefore have more sustained energy. You balance your mineral profile within your body and finally you also provide the correct ratios of the raw materials your body needs.

Establishing your correct ratios of protein/fat and carbohydrate can be a little tricky this is why much of the food we eat on the intensive weekend is specially selected to begin this process. It then usually takes another couple of weeks of experimentation to find what fuel mix you run the best on. This generally establishes your genetic fuel mix and from here you can fine tune it to find your environmental fuel mix based on your day to day needs.

However, here’s the basic recipe for metabolically typing yourself:

When you eat a meal if you get hungry within 2-3 hours you did not eat enough protein/fat (relative to carbohydrate).
When you eat a meal if you get tired straight after the meal you ate too much protein and fat (relative to carbohydrate).
Start experimenting with your breakfasts to see what ratio’s of protein/fat and carbohydrate you run the best on ie: have good energy and remain full for longer.

Solution:
• Establish your metabolic type (correct food ratios for you) and always eat at these ratios, even snacks,

Note: The more you can stick to eating right for your metabolic type the better you will feel, the more weight you will lose and the better energy you will have.

Also you will only experience weight loss if the fat you eat with the protein is a ‘good’ fat.

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Secret #7 – Your cravings for sugar are really your body’s cry for nutrition
==============================

To understand this you need to know a little about soil agronomy and nature. In plants sugar content and nutrition are highly correlated, this simply means that the sweeter the apple the more nutrition is present in the apple. Our body’s are designed/evolved to hunt and destroy sugar because where sugar is in nature, so is nutrition.

The problem comes when we extract sugar from the nutrition, [molasses the bye product of processing raw sugar is actually highly nutritious) so we end up eating sugar but not getting the nutrition that nature had intended.
As our body’s become deficient in nutrients we instinctively go on the hunt to seek and destroy sugar in an attempt to increase nutrition. Therefore, if you want to rid yourself of your sugar cravings you must increase the amount of nutrition you bring in with your diet.


Solution:
• Eat the freshest food you can
• Eat nutrient dense foods
• Eat the sweetest fruits and vegetables you can find
• Avoid supplying sugar without nutrition

==============================
Secret #8 – You will not lose fat or be healthy no matter what you do while your body is deficient in Zinc or Iodine
==============================

Zinc is arguably the most important mineral in your body; over 300 enzymes are dependant on zinc, it is the most important nutrient for wound healing and is key in the production of hydrochloric acid. If you are deficient in zinc your body will not be able to work optimally plus your ability to digest foods is going to be compromised.

Zinc also acts as an antioxidant and is heavily used in times of stress, it is due to stress that I believe so many people are deficient in zinc, about 30% of the New Zealanders I have tested have tested deficient in Zinc. This comes as surprising news since high zinc foods are common place in most people’s diet. High zinc foods include; beef, egg yolk, lamb maple syrup, milk pork, wheat and sesame seeds.
Zinc is so important that your body needs zinc to uptake zinc, so if you are deficient you really need high doses to get your zinc status back in line.

Iodine is the most important mineral for thyroid function; without adequate iodine your thyroid cannot produce the hormones that allow your body to use fat as an energy source, as well as compromising a host of other functions in your body. (On the Pure Health Revolution program we do functional thyroid tests to rule this problem out or fix it)
New Zealand’s soils are deficient in iodine, this is why the government iodises salt, however this strategy is not working and the government is now looking to add iodine to bread to increase the iodine status of New Zealander’s.

I have found nearly 50% of New Zealanders are deficient in Iodine, and this is one of the big keys to getting your thyroid working, increasing energy and burning fat. Like everything you also don’t want too much iodine and therefore I recommend having a functional test for your iodine status to see if you need extra iodine.

Solution:
• Take a zinc test and use a high quality high dosage zinc supplement
• Once your zinc status is acceptable eat zinc dense foods to your metabolic type
• Take regular testing of your functional iodine status,
• Supplement iodine to raise your iodine status
• Eat foods high in iodine, kelp salt, korengo seafood
• Reduce stress, to reduce your body’s requirements for both minerals

=====================================
Secret #9 – Poor posture results in organ dysfunction and can make you store fat, increase the load on your immune system and stress-out your body
=====================================

All of the joints in our body’s are designed/evolved to have a place where they should sit to work the best. This is particularly true of the joints in the spine, where the vertebra meet. This is because the nerves that supply our organs and muscles come from the spine.
When the joints in the spine move out of position the nerves that supply both the organs and muscles can get pinched, liken this to standing on a hose. This then means the message is weakened to your organs and muscles. A result of this can be decreased organ and muscle function.
As your posture deteriates (usually as we get older) the internal spaces where our organs are located are changed, this can alter breathing mechanics and cause intestinal problems such as chronic constipation as the transverse colon gets collapsed.

Solution:
• Raise your own awareness of correct posture
• Take part in specific corrective exercise to correct your postural needs
• Perform yoga or pilates to improve your posture
• Make sure your organs and muscles are getting clear signals from the spine by seeing a reputable chiropractor, (I recommend Fiona Haughie and if Fiona can’t fit you in she will be able to make a recommendation for you)

=====================================
Secret #10 – Over exercising will make you store fat
=====================================

We’ve all seen or know people who go to the gym, in an effort to lose weight, they exercise hard out 5 days a week and yet their body shape never changes. It’s not about how much exercise you do, it’s about doing the right exercise for you! Let me explain…

As you learned from my evening seminar stress will shut down your digestive system. Your digestive system is a lot more important to your health and weight loss than how much exercise you do. Therefore if you are exercising at the wrong level for you, you could be going backwards in regard your health and weight loss.
There’s also another problem with heavy exercise…Heavy amounts of exercise causes your body to become more acidic, if your body cannot breath of this acidity during the exercise it will be stored in fat (fatty acids).
Exercise is very important to permanent weight loss and incredible health, however an excess of exercise (particularly cardiovascular exercise) can be detrimental to your weight loss and health goals.

Solution:
• Exercise to relieve stress not create stress
• Choose lower levels of exercise like yoga, tai chi and chi gong
• Decrease cardiovascular exercise and increase muscle building exercise

Well there are your 10 secrets! I hope you have enjoyed them. I also hope they have given you something to think about and work on to help move you towards permanent weight loss and incredible health!
These secrets represent just a small fraction of the information you need to have permanent weight loss and incredible health, that’s why I need 16 hours and then 12 weeks to give you all the pieces of the puzzle so you can truly experience permanent weight loss and incredible health.

In health and happiness
Ben Warren

P.S Please call 0800 USE PURE (0800 873 787) TO JOIN THE REVOLUTION!



0800 USE PURE
(0800 873 787)

USE PURE
Presents:
Simple Lunch Ideas to take to work or school to optimise health
and nutrition for all metabolic types.

The key to enjoying yummy nutritious lunches is to plan in advance. Take 5 minutes before you do
your grocery shopping and plan what you are going to have for lunch in the coming week.
You don’t have to have something different each day; you could alternate just two or three recipes if
you like them enough.
If it is something that keeps easily in the fridge (such as coleslaw should last for at least 4 days if you
cover it well)or even frozen then make enough for 2 or 3 days at once and put into separate
containers for each day.
One of my favourite lunches is dinner leftovers – when making dinner, consider if you would enjoy it
for lunch the following day/s and make extra.
Try to be more creative than slapping something between 2 slices of bread – not many people can
tolerate a large amount of bread and even organic whole grain bread doesn’t have a high level of
nutrients and still has a high GI
The following table is a variety of lunch ideas for different macronutrient levels:
High Protein
Antipasto selection
Cold meats, roast beef, corned
beef, chicken etc
Pan fried fish
Fish Pie/tuna & cottage cheese bake
Sausages
Chicken drumsticks
Lamb Chops
Cold steak sandwich/Philly cheese steak sandwich
Spare ribs
Bacon and egg pie (with wholemeal pastry)
Pork nuggets
Salad
Fried chicken livers
Hamburger patties
Lentil Salad
Steak
Chilli con carne
Lasagne
Medium Protein/Medium
carbohydrate
Quiche
Wraps stuffed with any salad mix and meat
Brown rice salad
Quiona salad
Cold homemade pizza
Cheese on toast with ham
Bean Burritos
Pita bread stuffed with any salad mix and meat
Gratin/ Frittata
Baked beans (keep in thermos)
BLAT
Hummus/falafel – organic or homemade
Paella
Salad
Spinach and lentil patties
Corn/whitebait fritters
Tabbouleh
Soup
Baked Beans (homemade)
High Carbohydrate
Soup - thermos
Couscous salad
Sushi
Salad
Dips and crudités
Sandwiches/muffins
Corn on the cob



Salads
Salads can be quick and easy to throw together in the morning, get an ice cream container or similar
container and throw in any of the following that you like, sprinkle with just oil and vinegar or other
dressing (If using shop bought dressing look for one that has few or no preservatives, and no trans
fatty acids or hydrogenated fats or added sugar. (The ‘Paul Newman range is one of the better
commercial dressings)
Remember while lettuce takes up a lot of room it doesn’t count as a great deal of carbohydrate, so
protein types can have a generous helping of lettuce or other leafy greens with a good serving of
meat or other protein source such as cheese or beans.
To make your salad mix as much or little of the following together that you like:
Greens
Lettuce
Rocket
Spinach
Endive
Mesclun
Beetroot leaves
Chopped parsley
Chopped basil/mint etc
Bean sprouts
Watercress
Protein sources
Cooked chicken
Cooked beef/lamb/pork roast, stir fried, corned beef,
egg Boiled sliced/chopped
Cheese diced/grated
Feta
Blue cheese
Anchovies
Tuna/salmon etc
Sliced cooked sausage
Bacon cooked chopped
Cooked lentils or chickpeas
Cooked/tinned beans such as Kidney beans, etc
Other vege or fruit
Spring onions
Red onions – sliced
White onions – finely chopped
Beetroot boiled and cubed or raw and grated
Tomato
Cucumber
Peas – raw or cooked
Celery – chopped
Capsicum –chopped/sliced
Grated raw carrots
Sliced apple/pear
Radish grated/sliced/diced
Avocado –sliced/chopped
Green beans raw or blanched
Cooked/tinned chickpeas/kidney beans/cannellini beans etc
Mandarin segments/chopped orange
Grapes
Roast kumara –chopped
Other bits to add flavour
Croutons
Seeds – pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, (protein)
Nuts – walnuts, cashews, pine nuts, peanuts, etc (protein)
Raisins
Dried apricots – diced

Dressings
These are optional; if you wanted you could only have oil on your salad – or nothing
Take one vinegar, one oil and which ever herbs and flavours you like to sprinkle over your salad.
Vinegars
Balsamic
Red wine
White wine
Cider
Lemon juice
Lime juice
Oils
Flax seed
Olive
sesame
Herbs
Parsley
Basil
Chives
Oregano
Garlic
Other flavours
Salt and pepper
Mustard
Anchovy fillets
Honey (not for protein types)
Curry powder

Other types of salad
You can also base you salad around a grain rather than greens and have it with or without greens.
Cook the grains according to instructions, cool, then add anything from the above list and again
sprinkle over oil and vinegar.
The good thing about these salads is you can make a large portion and eat over two or three days.
Grains that are suitable for salads:
- Brown rice – try brown basmati which takes less time than other brown rice to cook and has a
higher protein content
- Wild rice, red rice – have alone or as a mix with brown rice – these types of rice have a higher
protein content and far greater nutritional value than white rice. (White rice is a carbohydrate
with few minerals or other nutrients)
- Quinoa – this grain while expensive is very high in protein
- Bulgur wheat/cracked wheat
- Couscous – this is a wheat product, steer clear if you are gluten intolerant
- Small wholemeal pasta such as macaroni etc – not too good for protein types unless mixed
with a good deal of protein

Basic Grain Salad
1C cooked grain (rice, quinoa, couscous etc)
1 grated carrot
1-2 stalks celery – chopped
1 spring onions – sliced
1 small onion (red or white) finely chopped
1 red or green pepper – chopped
½ C currants/raisins
½ C mixed nuts
Mix all together leaving the nuts out until just before eating stir through the dressing
Dressing:
In a small container or mug mix the following
1 tsp ground ginger
1 level tsp curry powder
1 small tsp brown sugar
2 Tbs white vinegar
2 Tbs oil (flaxseed or olive or other favourite)
Coleslaw:
This is quick and easy – especially if you have a food processor and will keep for a few days. The
following amounts will do 2 people for 2 lunches
1. Use slicing blade in processor or thinly slice with a knife 1/8 white or red cabbage
2. Grate 2 medium carrots
3. Grate 200g cheddar cheese
4. finely chop (grate in food processor) ½ red or white onion, or slice a spring onion
5. Add as many or few of the following as you like:
Pumpkin, sunflower seeds, raisins/sultanas, 1 stick celery sliced, ½ capsicum diced, 3
radishes grated or diced, bean sprouts, chopped parsley or coriander leaves,
This doesn’t need mayonnaise if it has enough cheese. Serve by itself or beside tuna or cold meats.
Tabbouleh:
1C bulgur or kibbled wheat
2-3 C water
¼ C chopped spring /white/red onion
¼ C lemon juice
¼ C olive oil
½ - 1 C chopped parsley
½ C chopped mint
1-2 C cubed tomato
Salt and pepper to taste
Bring bulgur wheat and water to the boil and simmer 2-3 min. Remove from heat and leave to stand
for 1 hour. Drain water out by putting in a sieve and pressing water out with a spoon. Mix with the
remaining ingredients. Put tomatoes in close to eating time as possible.
This salad can be made with any grain instead of wheat. Proportions can be change to suit your
tastes and other veges such as chopped capsicum, olives, celery, cucumber, radish, garlic etc can be
added
Yummy simple summer salad:
Slice the following and arrange in layers
Tomato, cucumber, cheese, red onion
Sprinkle with salt and pepper, olive oil and vinegar and torn basil and/or rocket
To make croutons
Cut slices of wholemeal/ whole grain bread into cubes
Melt a generous amount of butter in a frying pan add some crushed garlic and chopped herbs (if you
like them) then add bread and coat thoroughly in the butter mix.
Put in a cake tin or similar and bake in 180oC oven until dry and crispy, turning frequently.

Soups
Soups are a lovely, warm and nutritious lunch. If you heat it up in the morning and put into a thermos
you can carry it anywhere.
Buy a simple canned soup or the organic soups in a sachet which are easy enough to heat and eat.
Do not use the dehydrated soups which are high in salt, hydrogenated fats and preservatives.
If you are keen make your own soup in large quantities and freeze it in serving sized plastic
containers. Soup can be very simple to make and full of nutrients. There are plenty of recipes out
there so I’ll just give you one of our favourites which has a fairly high protein content because of the
lentils and bacon.
1tbs oil
1-2 onions chopped
1-2 cloves garlic chopped
½ a pumpkin peeled and chopped (or roast first and then peel this gives it more flavour)
1 bacon hock
2 tsp curry powder
2 litres Chicken stock/water/water and white wine
¾ C lentils/pearl barley/split peas/soup mix (either/or or any mix of them)
Salt and pepper to taste
In a large stock pot gently fry the onion until soft. Add garlic and spices and cook for 1 minute. Add
the remaining ingredients. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 min or until pumpkin is tender and
meat falls off bacon hock. Cool slightly, take out bacon hock, pull the meat off the bone and put back
into soup.
Spoon into appropriately sized containers to freeze or refrigerate for a few days.
This recipe can be varied in size and any ingredients can be omitted while any favourite vegetables
can be added such as potatoes and other root vegetables, celery, capsicum, tomatoes etc
‘Hearty’ Meals
Often you might want something that is really hearty and filling. If you don’t have access to heating
facilities it is useful to have a wide mouth thermos flask to take a ready made meal in.
Homemade Baked Beans
1 tin white beans such as cannellini, lima, navy beans or 1 cup small white beans uncooked
1 onion
1 Tbs butter
2 Tbs olive oil
½ C tomato paste
1½ Tbs soy sauce
1½ Tbs vinegar
3 Tbs maple syrup or 2 Tbs brown sugar
3 Tbs molasses
1-2 cloves garlic
½ tsp salt
Pinch chilli powder or flakes
If using uncooked beans, cover and soak for 12 – 24 hours.
Sauté onion in butter and oil. Drain beans, rinse place in a flame proof casserole dish add onion and
enough water to cover. Bring to a boil. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and bake in a 180oC oven
for 2-3 hours.
Bolognaise sauce – this is easily made by browning some mince, adding a chopped onion and some
garlic and a tin of tomatoes. Or simply brown your meat and add a jar of pasta sauce, heat through
and pour into your thermos for lunch. Eat by itself, with cooked pasta, on toast, over couscous or
quinoa etc etc
For a vegetarian version simply simmer some red (or whatever colour you prefer) lentils in stock or
wine until cooked then do as you would for the meat sauce.
Pizzas
Homemade pizza can be quick, easy and healthy.
Buy wholemeal pita bread to use as your base, or use the following dough recipe if you have the
extra time.
On top spread any 1 of the following:
Tomato paste, pesto, Chutney (low sugar), tapenade, baked beans
Then sprinkle on as many of your favourites such as:
Chopped onion Anchovy
Chopped capsicum Tuna
Bacon/ham Salmon
Salami/sausage (cooked and sliced) Capers
Sundried tomatoes Garlic, sliced, crushed or chopped
Roasted capsicum Feta
Olives Blue cheese
Mushrooms – sliced Mozzarella cheese
Spinach Parmesan cheese
Pine nuts
Chopped fresh herbs or dried herbs such as oregano or basil
Pineapple pieces (if you get tinned make sure they are in juice not syrup)
Then sprinkle over with grated cheddar cheese or mozzarella
Bake at 200oC for 15 – 20 min or until cheese has melted and staring to brown
Easy Pizza dough (Alison Holst)
1 ¼ C warm water
1 ½ Tbsp sugar
1Tbsp dried yeast granules
1Tbsp olive oil
1tsp salt
3 C wholemeal flour
½ tsp baking powder
Dissolve sugar in warm (blood temp) water, sprinkle in yeast granules. Add oil and stir gently to mix.
Leave to stand for at least 5min to allow yeast to begin acting.
Once yeast has begun to bubble and looks foamy, add the remaining ingredients. Stir everything
together until dough begins to form a large ball.
Roll and flatten the dough onto a well oiled baking sheet, make reasonably thin (5mm) (if you have
time leave to rise for 10-30 min). Use this time to assemble topping ingredients.
Bake at 190oC for approximately 30min
Quiche/Gratin/Frittata
You can easily buy quiche at a supermarket or bakery, or make your own. Try not to get one with a
heavy pastry to cut down on white flour, better still make your own with stone-ground wholemeal flour
or make a gratin which is basically a quiche without pastry.
These are all egg based meals with veges and meat added and therefore are quite high in protein.
They are great hot or cold and can be made in advance and will keep for several days in the fridge
until needed.
Pastry for Quiche
For a quiche you need to make a pastry crust – either buy premade crusts or pastry and roll out to fill
a tin approximately 20cm in diameter.
If you want to make your own pastry:
Use about 100g butter (not marg) to about 2C wholemeal flour. Blend together in a food processor or
rub between fingers until it has the consistency of breadcrumbs. Add 1 egg yolk and keep adding
drops of cold water and mix until it starts to hold together. Then form into a ball, cover and leave to
rest in fridge for 20-30 min.
Roll out on a floured surface and press into a 20cm round/square cake or flan tin. This should do
enough to line 2 tins.
Partially cook in oven (200oC for 10 – 15 min)
Then fill
Filling for Quiche/Gratin
Mix together the following:
2 eggs
6 Tbs milk or yoghurt or 4 Tbs cottage cheese/quark + 2tbs milk
Salt and pepper
¼ C grated cheese (put in more if you like cheese)
Add approximately 1 -3 of any of the following
Sweet corn, cooked pulses or grains, cooked veges (lightly stir fry things such as onions, asparagus,
courgette, mushrooms, capsicums, spinach, broccoli, aubergine etc) bacon, ham, salami, corned
beef,

For a Quiche pour the mix into the pastry base, for a gratin pour into a greased heatproof dish (20cm
round or square) sprinkle on a little more cheese along with ¼ tsp dried oregano or basil
Bake 190oC for 30 -35 min or until egg mix is solid.
Frittata
Use the same ingredients as the gratin but ½ the quantity
Melt some butter in a small frying pan.
Gently cook veges then pour over milk/egg mix keeping heat very low.
When almost set sprinkle with cheese and place under a hot grill for about 30seconds.
Spinach and Cheese Pie
This is a great pie to make in advance and take a slice or two with you for lunch and keep the rest in
the fridge for a few days.
12 C spinach - chopped
1 med onion - chopped
2Tbs coconut oil
2 Tbs fresh oregano/ 1tsp dried oregano
4 eggs
2C cottage cheese/quark
6 Tbs parmesan
4 Tbs butter
12 sheets filo pastry
Salt and Pepper
Heat oven to 190oC
Cook onion in oil 5min until onion is translucent. Add spinach and oregano and continue cooking till
spinach is just wilted (1 min). Remove from heat.
In another bowl beat eggs lightly, stir in cottage cheese, parmesan, salt and pepper to taste and lastly
spinach mix.
Melt butter and brush 33x23cm baking dish with the butter. Arrange ½ filo sheets in bottom to cover
evenly and extend up the sides. Brush with melted butter then pour over egg and spinach mix. Cover
with the remaining filo and tuck in edges. Brush top with butter and bake for approximately 30
minutes
Fritters and Patties
These can be vegetarian or meaty. Hamburger patties are good cold and provide a delicious and
nutritious lunch, make them into a healthy hamburger with wholemeal rolls or tucked inside a
wholemeal pita bread or just eat them with some chutney or relish and no bread.
Lentil and Spinach Fritters
The lentils and egg in these give them a reasonable protein content. Add some sesame seeds and
eat some nuts on the side to make a complete protein.
1C green puy lentils (or ay other type of lentil – cook to packet instructions)
1 ½ C water
300g raw spinach
1Tbsp curry powder
2eggs or 2-3Tbs Tahini
5Tbsp flour
Pinch cayenne pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
Rinse lentils in cold water. Place in saucepan with the water. Cover and bring to boil. Simmer on low
heat for 10-15 minutes, check after 10 minutes to see if any more water is required. Wash the
spinach. Remove the coarse stems. Shake dry. Finely chop. Mix all ingredients except the oil
together in a bowl.
Hat oil in a frying pan. Place large spoonfuls of the mixture in the oil. Fry patties for 2-3 minutes on
each side until crisp ad golden.
Makes 10-12 patties
Variations:
Swap some of the spinach for grated carrot
Add some grated cheese
Use brown rice or other grain as well as or instead of lentils
Eat with chutney, savoury sauces such as chilli or hp sauce etc
Meat Patties
Mix minced beef or lamb with ½ chopped onion, 2Tbsp chopped parsley, 1 egg or 2tbsp tahini, salt
and pepper. Either mix by hand or place all in a food processor and whiz until mixed together
thoroughly.
Shape in to patties and cook in frying pan or on BBQ
Meat Balls
500g minced meat
100g raw bacon
2 slices stale bread
4 Tbs lemon juice
½ tsp salt
Pinch cayenne pepper
125 – 150ml coconut oil for frying
You can heat a pasta sauce or make a simple tomato sauce to go with the meat balls by sautéing an
onion in a small amount of butter till soft. Then add 4 chopped fresh tomatoes or a tin of tomatoes
and 3-4 Tbs sherry or red wine. Simmer till soft and much of the liquid has evaporated (about 15-
20min)
Make the meat balls the night before, heat the sauce in the morning and take it in a thermos, pour
over meatballs when you want to eat.
If you have a wide mouth thermos you can put the meat balls and maybe some cooked spaghetti in
there as well and have your meal ready to eat straight out of the thermos.
Lentil Rissoles
This is another recipe that can be altered to fit your likes/dislikes. Add things like grated carrot,
cheese, refried beans, other chopped nuts, grains such as bulgur, quinoa, couscous. If it is not
holding together add more egg or tahini (tahini is a great replacement for egg if you are using it as a
binder)
} Combine all ingredients together in food
processor. Roll into small balls and gently fry.
200g lentils
2 small potatoes boiled
1 large onion finely chopped
¼ C sesame seeds
½ C chopped almonds or almond meal
1 C soft wholemeal breadcrumbs (or use gluten-free)
1 egg or 1 tbs tahini
Salt and pepper
Cook lentils until tender, then mix everything together in a bowl.
Form into 12 rissoles (short fat sausage like forms), then either fry in coconut oil or bake in oven
180oC for 25-30 minutes
Wraps
Buy tortillas or other types of flat bread. You need to be careful to check they don’t contain many
preservatives. You can even use a lightly steamed cabbage leaf, nori seaweed, steamed vine leaves
and banana leaves to wrap your favourite fillings in.
Wraps are simple and delicious. They can be made a day in advance and are good with hot or cold
fillings.
Select from the following, using small amounts so as not to overfill them, place fillings in the middle of
the tortilla leaving a couple of cm at the bottom:
Lettuce chopped tomato chopped
Onion chopped (red/white/spring) Onion fried
avocado chopped/mashed/sliced Raw or fried capsicum sliced or diced
Refried beans kidney beans
Cooked meats (beef,(mince) chicken tuna etc) Salsa
Sour cream grated cheese
Close by folding over the bottom first then rolling to enclose the fillings. Wrap in glad wrap to hold
together or carefully place in a container.
Basic Chicken Fajitas
(Enough for about 6-8 wraps)
Slice 2 chicken breasts
Place in a frying pan with a small amount of oil (preferably coconut oil) and brown.
Add the following
¼ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp ground coriander
¼ tsp chilli powder
5 Tbsp tomato puree
2Tbsp chilli sauce
Cook for two min
In another pan cook 1 sliced onion and 1 sliced capsicum till soft and brown
On a flour tortilla place a few slices of the chicken, some of the onion and carrot mix, a sprinkle of
lettuce, fresh tomatoes and grated cheese. A spoonful of salsa, sour cream and mashed avocado.
Fold and eat.

‘Sandwiches’
Instead of making a classic bread sandwich with two slices of bread try using tortillas, pita bread,
pancakes (crepe style have a reasonably high level of protein in themselves), crackers, oat cakes, or
even sheets of nori seaweed.
Another idea is to use slices of fruit or vegetables instead of bread, for example slice up an apple and
spread one slice with peanut butter and top with another slice of apple
Open ‘vege’ sandwiches
Make a thick slice of your favourite vege such as:
tomato, cucumber, capsicum, cooked potato, cooked eggplant, celery, carrot, raw
zucchini, mushroom
Top with:
Cheese, avocado, sprouts, sliced meat, basil leaves, lettuce, bacon, etc
Eat as is or with a side of chutney or relish. Pop them under the grill to gently heat if you want to.
Bake a couple of potatoes, cut in half and fill with anything you like.
Similar to a vege sandwich are stuffed veges – there are plenty of recipes out there using capsicums,
mushrooms, tomatoes etc with meaty or vegetarian fillings.
Quick complete protein vegetarian vegetable stuffing
Fry an onion in plenty of butter until transparent. Add a clove or two of chopped garlic.
In food processor place ¼ C nuts (hazelnuts or cashews are favourites), 1/8 C sesame seeds,
pumpkin or sunflower seeds, ½ tin of beans (kidney, black, pinto etc) salt and pepper and onion mix.
Process until crumbly.
Stuff your favourite vegetable with the mix. Sprinkle with cheese and paprika if desired. Bake,
barbeque or lightly grill.
Antipasto/ploughmans Selection
Put a selection of the following in a container with a knife and maybe a small fork, if you are including
seafood and are out and about you could put it all in a small chilly bin.
Smoked sliced Salmon, oysters,eel Cooked meats such as sausages, roasts, smoked,
Cured meats such as salami, pastrami, proscuiutto etc
Cheese – cheddar, blue, feta etc Pickled onions, gherkins, other pickled vege
Marinated sundried tomatoes Artichoke hearts
Roasted capsicum Olives
Avocado Pate
Marinated mussels Tuna
Hard boiled eggs Radishes, cherry tomatoes, carrot or celery sticks
Sliced apple or pear Steamed Asparagus spears
Avocado Raw Green beans

You can then put a selection of the following in small containers or try buying a segmented ‘pill’ box
and put a dollop of each in each segment:
Sour cream pesto
Tapanade chutney (low sugar)
Pate hummus
Quark cottage cheese
Mayonnaise Guacamole
Salsa Dips from deli section of supermarket
On the side have a few wholewheat crackers, wholemeal pita bread, rye bread, oat cakes or
wholemeal sourdough bread
Other Protein Options
To make a complete ‘vegetarian’ protein a basic rule of thumb is that you want to incorporate a
bean/lentil, nut and a seed in the meal. I.e. lentils with sesame seeds and cashew nuts, or kidney
beans with sunflower seeds and almonds etc this can make a quick and easy snack or meal by just
combining those three. Some of the recipes already featured such as the lentil rissoles and salads
can easily be made so that they include a bean, a nut and a seed.
A useful trick I have found, is to buy a whole chicken or beef or lamb roast. Cook it say on a Sunday
night and use it as sliced cold meat throughout the week.
Fish is a quick and easy protein source, take a tin of tuna (be careful buying the flavoured tuna as
they often have sugar and hydrolysed vegetable protein in them) and a fork for lunch or pan fry a fillet
of your favourite fish in the morning and take that for lunch with some salad on the side.
Chicken Drumsticks
Dark meat is always a better option for protein types than breast meat because it has a higher protein
content.
These are an easy meal to cook in advance and use for two or three days
15 chicken drumsticks (or any other part of the chicken you like)
1 Tbs oil
4 Tbs tomato sauce
2 Tbs wine or balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs mustard
1 Tbs Worcester sauce or soy sauce
Mix together all ingredients making sure drumsticks are well coated, you can leave to marinate for up
to an hour if you have the time.
Bake 200oC for 30 – 40 minutes, turn frequently and baste with the marinade.
Eat hot or cold
You can use this same marinade with pork, slice up some pork meat into ‘nuggets’ or even use
spare ribs, and bake as with the chicken.
Tuna and Cottage Cheese bake
1 small tin of tuna
200g cottage cheese or quark
Juice of ½ a small lemon
2 eggs
Spring onions or leeks finely chopped
Salt and pepper
Mix all together and spoon into an ovenproof baking dish
Bake 200oC for 20 minutes
The small green puy lentils are a nice option for those who don’t usually like lentils. Simmer in stock,
water or white wine with a couple of clove of garlic sliced into it. Simmer covered adding more liquid if
needed – will take 20-30min.
Serve with mashed potato, noodles, meat, salad etc
Snacks
Other tricky ‘meal’ is snacks – how to not eat those cakes, biscuits, pastries, pies etc.
Here are some ideas that hopefully satisfy that snack craving without being unhealthy.
Popcorn – get some organic kernels, it is so easy to pop yourself then you know there is no GM corn
in it. Heat some coconut oil in a large heavy bottomed saucepan with a lid. When it is hot pour in ¼ -
½ C popcorn kernels put the lid on immediately. Gently shake the saucepan over the heat as you
hear the popping until pops are several second apart. Remove from heat.
Melt some organic butter and pour over the popcorn and sprinkle with grey sea salt.
Nuts and seeds – these are best for you raw and better still if they have been soaked for a few hours
or overnight. But try not to overdo it with nuts, they contain enzyme inhibitors that can disrupt
digestion.
Mix together your favourites from:
Almonds, hazelnuts, brazil nuts(try to only have a few of these a day), cashews, macadamia,
walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pine nuts, peanuts
Add some dried fruit such as un-sulphured apricots, raisins, blueberries, cranberries, figs etc (do not overdo the dried fruit it is extremely high in sugar)
If you find the nuts unpalatable raw then try soaking in warm salted water overnight or through the day, drain, then bake in a low oven (less than 100oC) overnight again until completely dry and crisp.
Add soy sauce, herbs and spices that you like before you bake them.
Fruit and Vegetables – this seems obvious but often a sliced apple or carrot sticks are more
appealing than a whole apple or carrot.
Prepare fruits – apple, pear(dip in lemon juice to prevent browning), kiwifruit, oranges, grapefruit,
melon, pineapple, mango, peaches etc into bite sized pieces that you can eat with a toothpick to save mess.
Prepare veges – carrots, cucumber, celery, zucchini, green beans(yummy raw),olives, capsicum,
cauliflower, spring onions, etc into sticks that can be dipped into a dip such as :
Hummus, pumpkin and cumin dip, chutney, relish, cream cheese, cottage
cheese, quark, refried beans, nut butter, store bought dips
There are many organic and healthy dips for sale now, but they are easy to make at home –
refrigerate or freeze any excess.
Pumpkin and cumin dip
Cut a small butternut squash into slices and roast until golden. Meanwhile in a saucepan melt 1 tsp
honey with 2 clove garlic crushed, 2 Tbs lemon juice, 2 tsp cumin, 2 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp sea salt and
1/3C pumpkin seeds. Cook gently for 3-4 minutes.
When pumpkin is tender, mix all together to make a smooth puree with pumpkin seeds adding
texture.
Sundried tomato and feta dip
Soak ½ C sundried tomatoes in boiling water for 20 min. Peel and chop 1 clove of garlic, gently sauté
in oil, add 1 Tbs lemon juice, chopped soaked sundried tomatoes, 1tsp dried basil, sauté a further 2-3
mintures
Leave to cool.
Chop ½ C feta and mix with ½ C cream cheese or quark. Stir in tomato mix.
Sprouted grain/essene rolls – you can buy these ready prepared or make them yourself. They are an acquired taste but extremely good for you.
Soak 1 – 2 C whole wheat grains in water for 24 hours, pour out water and rinse, then place
back in bowl and cover. Rinse every day until grains begin to sprout. Pour off excess water and place
in a food processor. Process to make an uneven paste. (Optional: Add 2tsp cinnamon or mixed spice
and ½ C raisins) Roll into handful sized balls and place on baking paper on a baking sheet flatten
slightly (warning they will be very sticky) cover with another sheet of paper. Bake 120oC for 3-4 hours turning half way through and remove top paper.
Things you need to avoid:
- Anything with a lot of sugar in it – this includes things like bought tomato sauce, smoothies,
and excessive amounts of fruit juice and of course most cakes and biscuits. Foods listed in the
ingredients that end in ‘ose’ are a sugar (fructose, dextrose, glucose etc) often they are listed
separately so it doesn’t appear to have much sugar. Check the sugars in the nutrition box
- Anything with preservatives in it. These are usually numbers in the ingredients list be
especially aware of these in products such as bacon and sausages
- Anything made primarily with white flour- i.e. with a lot of pastry, bread, ‘white’ crackers such
as Huntley and palmers etc. Try to 1. go without a ‘floury’ meal, 2. have something that is
wholemeal flour and 3. Eat organic wholemeal – preferably stone-ground.
- Anything with hydrogenated fats and trans fatty acids – look for them on the ingredients lists