I can't I'm...

For three days I've been on an Eating Plan. Now I say eating plan and not diet because there is a difference. I'm focusing on healthy living and not deprivation. Actually all I'm doing is eating low carb (so lots of vege, fruit, seafood) and no bread, potatoes, rice etc and I'm exercising (gives me a wonderful high).

Everytime I'm offered something high carb I notice I usually start with "I can't I'm...and everyone finishes my sentence with "on a diet". NOT. It is an eating plan and I never feel hungry and I feel great and I've lost heaps of weight YAY.

Breakfast Abroad

A Wellington friend is moving house and was worried that she would be without a fridge/freezer in her new home for a few days. I assured her that I'd travelled the world with a backpack, a packet of corn flakes, milk powder and a wooden bowl given to me by a friend from the Philippino headhunter tribe near Sagada. International breakfast!

My Philippina friend, Norma lives in a small shack perched on a hillside surrounded by incredible rice paddy terraces ringed around high steep hills. Like footsteps for giants. We trooped up and down these terraces daily to vist family members in other villages. This was the 1980s and her grandfather still wore traditional garb - a loin cloth and feather headdress. They no longer headhunted I was told but the social structures remained. If someone was wronged they expected a favour (not a head).

I miss Norma.

Jet's Behaviour

Well, happy happy parent didn't last very long. I'm trying a weekend of 'The Incredible Years' Parenting philosophy (I'm taking the advanced course at the moment).

Jet is swearing a lot and unhappy. So lots of GOOD attention coming his way. We'll do lots of fun things together and at the end of the weekend I'll discuss his behaviour with him in a positive way.

I'll also tell him that if he is well behaved during the week(eg. no swearing, and gets ready for school in time)then I'll give him little treats in his lunch box.

I hope he will feel happy and secure after all this.

Wish me luck

P.S. I'll have to discuss with Tashi what he would like to do tooooo.

Green Brekky!

I visited my friend, Peter, to discuss making a recycled shop display. He lives next door to the Botanical Gardens in Wellington and has built himself a small cottage in the bush. As soon as I arrived he asked if I'd had breakfast (I hadn't) and asked me if I would like a green breakfast.

Nowadays 'green' can mean anything - eco-consumer, Green supporter, wind farm proponent, composting toilet enthusiast! But what Peter meant was a 'colour green from the garden' breakfast. Not green eggs and ham!

We walked through his lush veggie garden picking grass, carrot tops, celery, nasturtium flowers, lettuce, kawakawa leaves, and a few greens we weren't sure about! We washed it all, cut it and popped it in a big bowl with organic fruit and a sprinkling of oats.

YUM - that's what GREEN really means.

P.S. that's a photo of me, Jet, Bradley, and Daniel up in the tropical highlands above the Gold Coast, Australia.

Happy Happy Parenting!

I've had an epiphany with my son Jet (6). He has been diagnosed as ADHD but I'm not sure about that one. His behaviour would be classed as poor - low concentration, non-stop swearing, hitting, bullying etc. But in the last couple of days I've really changed my style of parenting and it has worked instantly. He is a new child. I'd like to share some of these changes:

It really starts with happiness. I'm happy and I'm laughing and I'm joking and I'm playing. This is me now. I'm a bit over the top but it's fun. Tashi (8) asked my why I was acting strangely and I just said that I'm going to be super happy from now on. AND I'm praising the boys all the time. I want them to know how wonderful they are and praise their good behaviour.

If there is any inappropriate behaviour or language from the boyz I say "we don't behave/talk like that here" and I walk away. I ignore bad behaviour.

I'm not angry, tired, grizzly, brow-beaten. If I feel angry I don't blow-up, I explain why I'm angry, and there may be time out but I don't lose my cool. At one stage I could feel myself losing it but I held it in (phew, I was proud of that one).

Simple tasks can become games, eg Jet is quite competitive so I time how long it takes to put his shoes on (previously he always refused to put his shoes on himself).

Now we're a team and we do more stuff together. Let's cook together, let's do a quizz together. And I'm modelling good behaviour. If I'm ignored I don't walk away I expect to be heard. We are communicating as a family. YAY

Alisa
www.purecurenz.com

Healing all around us...

It's school holidays and I'm entertainment director right now keeping the kids happy!

Last week I had a stall at the Over 50's Healthy Living Expo. Lots of people interested in our products and I made sure there was plenty of information about each remedy so people weren't just looking at a bottle and had not idea what it was.

One Maori women I spoke with told me an interesting story. She was visiting her Nana and noticed cobwebs around the house so started to remove them. Her grandmother stopped her immediately and said that she used the cobwebs as a remedy. She would roll them together and rub them on a cut or wound as a speed healing remedy!! Incredible. Another friend mentioned this was somehow connected to penicillin.

It did get me thinking that this was a potential research project - interviewing elderly Maori for their healing knowledge to hold for future generations.

I'm a bit behind schedule but have lots of Global Soap products to enter onto the site. Give me a week for this. Also Erin (website designer extraordinaire) is designing a newsletter layout for me so this should be going out next week.

www.purecurenz.com

Gamelan, Gold Coast and Boils...

The children and I have just got back from a week's holiday on the Gold Coast (Australia) with the extended whanau. The Gold Coast is very commercial for my taste but the warm weather was divine. At 7.30am every morning we jumped out of bed and into the pool. One week was not enough.

A few days before the trip I performed with Gamelan Padhang Moncar at Te Papa Museum and Joko, master shadow puppeter. It was very exciting because you never quite know what's going to happen next. I have to call my style of performance 'head down' though because I'm always so intent on my music notations that I hardly have a chance to look up!

In the last newsletter a friend commented on some 'not well thought out' positioning. I had featured Kawakawa cream which is great for skin conditions like boils. A line down from this was the recipe for Baba Ganoush. The mention of boils had put my friend off the Baba Ganoush! Hmmmm

http://www.purecurenz.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=25
Check out the Self Heal tonics and creams based on Suzanne Aubert 19th Century formulas. fortify your immune system, balance hormones, soothe mucous membranes and lots more.

GO GREEN!

Green is everywhere now but I'm joining the GREEN SMOOTHIE revolution. A really great way to eat lots of greens (less carbs) and very delicious because fruit is added for flavour. By Greens I mean DARK GREEN LEAFY VEGETABLES.

"Greens are the primary food group that match human nutritional needs most completely". (p.39)

Greens are high in fiber, Vitamin C, Folate, Vitamin E, Selenium, Sodium, Zinc, Magnesium and much more.

From: 'Green for Life', Victoria Boutenko

Blueberry Pudding:
Blend well -
1 stalk of celery
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 banana
2 cups water
Makes about 1 litre smoothie

10 Fingers:
Blend well -
10 finger bananas
2 handfuls of spinach leaves
2 cups water
Makes about 1 litre smoothie

Minty Thrill
Blen well -
4 ripe pears
4-5 leaves of kale
1/2 bunch of mint
2 cups water
Makes about 1 litre smoothie

GO GREEN!
www.purecurenz.com

SUN

We've had weeks and weeks of rain in Wellington. Great for the environment although not so good for the spirit. Now we have a gorgeous sunny day and all I feel like doing is sunbathing!

This weekend (9-10 August) the Women's Expo is on in the city. I'm going to check out Global Soaps and choose a range for the website with NZ plants/oceania in mind.

I'm really impressed with the Swedish Bitters Face Mask. I've used it as a mask and a wash in the mornings. It has this wonderfully natural feel and smell about it - quite muddy and very cleansing. I'm swerving a bit off track with this product because it does not contain NZ plants but I feel it is a great product and fills a gap in our range. It is not only a face mask - it is good for pimples on the face and body and can be made into a poultice for pressure ulcers.

Check it out: http://www.purecurenz.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=126

Cheers
Alisa