Quirky Cooking Chats

What is a medical herbalist, and how can they help you with healing naturally? Is herbal medicine useful for those with chronic illnesses, depression, poor gut health, and the common health issues people face in our society? Are modern medicines and herbal medicine diametrically opposed, or can they work together?

In this episode, Naturopath and Medical Herbalist Melissa Gearing answers these questions, and gives us her perspective on how herbal medicines can be used to improve health.

You may like to also listen to Episode 51 with Dr Kelly Brogan to hear another viewpoint on holistic therapies and modern medicine: http://thewellnesscouch.com///aqj/aqj-51-healing-the-mind-without-medications-dr-kelly-brogan

You can find Melissa’s website here: http://www.mgherbs.com

Melissa’s books and herbal ‘first aid kit’ are available here: http://www.mgherbs.com/shop/

The post AQJ 68: Herbal Medicine with Melissa Gearing ND appeared first on The Wellness Couch.

This week Jo and Fouad talk to Matt Rutley about the importance of natural movement and fitness. Matt is a human movement specialist and adaptability coach. He is the owner, founder and head coach of Stage 6 Health & Fitness in Nundah, Australia’s first dedicated natural movement facility. He has been coaching various sports and martial arts since since 2010, both in Australia and the U.S. and is the MovNat Team Instructor for Australia and the Pacific Rim.

Matt has always had a gift for learning and picking up new things. Growing up on a farm in the Australian bush, physical competence, efficiency and adaptability were all a part of Matt’s daily existence. His father taught him and his brothers much about bush craft, carpentry, survival, hunting, tracking, butchery and blacksmithing. He credits this early education in natural movement and adaptability to his success as a coach, a semi professional rugby athlete, a fighter, a craftsman, artist and even a Protection Bullfighter. His passion now is using natural movement as a way to help people unlock their own adaptive and creative potential.

Learn more about natural movement and fitness here:

The post AQJ 67: Matt Rutley – MovNat Natural Fitness appeared first on The Wellness Couch.

Meet Jen Shaw, an inspiring woman who has overcome many social, mental and physical barriers from her youth to become a mum of seven, entrepreneur, and author. Jen is passionate about helping young people reach their potential, and through her own difficult journey has learnt how to live well on little, how to heal with food, how to deal with stress and anxiety, and how to support others to do the same.

Jen is the author of two healthy eating cookbooks, Living on Little, and Lovely Little Lunchboxes, which focus on eating well on a tight budget, and cooking from scratch. The recipes are gluten free and whole foods recipes, using basic ingredients, with updated versions of the good, old-fashioned food from her childhood.

Jen’s passion for reaching out to youth in need has caused her to begin a not-for-profit project called ‘Emerge’, which offers a holistic mentorship program and will be based at the Emerge Café in Toowoomba. The cafe is a social enterprise project that aims to deliver training and employment opportunities to youth facing barriers in the Toowoomba region.

Jen believes that by meeting young people facing challenges where they are at and supporting them through a holistic mentorship and training program, they can become valuable assets to our community and become the best versions of themselves.

The training program helps young people to take part in on the job training in a hospitality setting, and encourages healthy living through fitness activities, cooking skills, goal setting, self care and positive mindset. The participants are also given the help they need to ensure they have a safe and supportive home environment.

If you’d like to help get the Emerge Cafe off the ground, you can purchase Jen’s cookbooks which help with funding. Click here for more information.

Follow Jen’s journey with the Emerge project on her Facebook page, Barefoot Kitchens.

You can learn more about Jen here: About Jen

The post AQJ 66: Jen Shaw- Living on Little appeared first on The Wellness Couch.

Happy New Year! Jo and Fouad kick the new year off with a fun foodie chat this week, discussing the coming food trends for 2017. They also talk through their own food and health goals, and what that looks like in everyday meals. And they give an update on their new cookbook, Life-Changing Food, which is due for release in March!! (See http://www.quirkycooking.com.au/preorder/)

Listen in as they discuss:

– interesting ways to use cauliflower

The post AQJ 65: Food Trends & Food Goals for 2017 appeared first on The Wellness Couch.

What’s the best water to drink? What should you look for in a good water filter? Which is better – reverse osmosis, distilled, alkalised, rain water, spring water… ?

Does your head spin when you try to work out the answers to these questions?

This week Jo chats with Kate Waterson of zazen Water about all things water and filters! Jo gets questions every week in her chat groups about water filters, and how to go about improving water quality for drinking and showering, so she gathered the questions together and asked the expert.

Kate is a nutritionist and a manager-partner of zazen Water – a business focused on improving water for our children, and bringing better health to our communities through an improved water supply. Listen in and find the answers to these questions and more:

– What health benefits are there to drinking pure, mineralised water?

– What should you look for in a water filter?

– How important is it to remove chlorine and fluoride?

– What are the benefits of alkalising your water and adding back in the minerals lost through filtration?

– What’s the most affordable water filter for a family? Can you get good results from just using a Brita jug?

– Is a reverse osmosis filter the best option?

– What about rain water, spring water, distilled water and tank water? Which ones need to be filtered and which don’t? Do they need to be remineralised?

– Why is it so important to filter not only drinking water, but also shower water?

– What’s some good options for those renting or travelling?

– How can my child’s school learn more about getting free water filters for the school?

A very helpful interview that will give you the answers you need.

Kate has generously offered a discount on water filters to our listeners! Go to http://www.zazenalkalinewater.com.au and enter the coupon code QCWATER15 to receive 10% off your order. (the discount has changed from 15% to 10% off). 

The post AQJ 64: All Your Water & Water Filter Questions Answered! appeared first on The Wellness Couch.

In this episode, Fouad shares his story of growing up in Lebanon during the height of the civil war, living on a diet heavy with highly refined flour, sugar and skim milk powder, and relying on constant courses of antibiotics to avoid illness. He became overweight from an early age, and later on his health deteriorated creating many chronic illnesses that started from when he was 13 years old. He moved to Australia to work and study in 2001, and his health continued to worsen. In 2011, he was introduced to the insulin hypothesis and began eating a low carb diet, cutting out grains, legumes and sugar. He lost 24 kilos, healed his chronic illnesses and greatly reduced symptoms of lingering ailments.

Over the years, Fouad’s diet has evolved to a more flexible paleo-style diet which includes some safe starches and less fats. Jo and Fouad talk about how the way we eat changes as we heal, and as we go through different seasons of life; and how important it is to understand that healing takes time, and ‘diets’ can’t be expected to change everything overnight.

Fouad loves to share his experiences of using food for healing in the hope that others may also benefit from it. He and Jo are working together to write recipes, teach classes and speak at health seminars to help others on their health journeys. Fouad is also beginning private health coaching and can be contacted at fouadkassab.com or email at [email protected].

The post AQJ 63: Fouad’s Story: Fats, Carbs & Healthy Eating appeared first on The Wellness Couch.

We’re back this week with the second part of the interview with Lucy Lichtenstein, on Sleep Nutrition! Listen in and learn how to improve your night’s sleep. We talk about:

– how gut health relates to sleep

– how to get out of the vicious circle of stress causing poor sleep, and poor sleep causing stress

– how your diet affects anxiety and sleep

– how to reduce your need for caffeine and not rely on it to ‘prop you up’ each day

– how heavy metal toxicity can affect sleep, and Lucy’s experience with detoxing

– how detoxing on GAPS can affect sleep

– why you may be waking at a certain time every night

– before bed snacks that will help you sleep

…. and more

We also discussed the importance of seeing a sleep specialist if you’re having major sleep issues, such as David Cunnington of SleepHub.com.au.

Listen in, and enjoy more restful sleep!

The post AQJ 61: Sleep Nutrition, with Lucy Lichtenstein (part 2) appeared first on The Wellness Couch.

How important is restful sleep for a healthy gut? In this episode, Lucy Lichtenstein shares part one of her thoughts on Sleep Nutrition.

Lucy writes a nutrition and lifestyle blog called Reconnected.me that compiles her thoughts, experiences, ideas, lessons, perspectives, perceptions and wholefood recipes. Her four part series on Sleep Nutrition is very helpful for those who are struggling to sleep well at night, and wanting to improve their sleep patterns.

The post AQJ 60: Sleep Nutrition, with Lucy Lichtenstein (part 1) appeared first on The Wellness Couch.