The Linky One
My musings and meanderings for this week. Enjoy x
Hello, hello, sorry I’ve been quieter this week - see below for what I have been spending FAR too much time on! Let’s get straight to it…it’s a bit ‘healthy’ this time. Apologies, it’s just what’s on my mind!
I have been spending a lot of time recently trying to develop meal ideas that fit with both my MCAS restrictions and diabetes. I’m right on the cusp, thank you PCOS insulin resistance that has worn my pancreas down over the years. With the MCAS, I’ve not been able to take anything to protect it, as I would give you, and neither have I been able to tolerate diabetes meds, even my own protocol, which is VERY frustrating as I know how well it works. Grr.
Food-wise, it’s pretty hard to find enough high protein, low carb foods to help me control it, but I’m doing my best! Exercise-wise, it is pretty hard to get enough to burn off the glucose after meals when you ache like hell most of the time and somewhere - it seems my joints just now - is inflamed in my body.
Anyway, we do NOT give up, do we? Here’s one idea I’ve modified in case it helps any of you. I really miss having something saucy (ooer, Missus), or just ‘wet’. A lot of my food is dry. Nomato sauces are usually made with peppers instead of tomatoes, but I needed no peppers. You could use onions and garlic, of course, but I react to those hence it being without them here.
Nomato MCAS/Diabetes Recipe
Modified “Nomato” Sauce (No Garlic, No Onion, No Stock)
This version uses celery for a savoury base and fennel to provide the aromatic depth usually provided by onions. If your blood sugar is particularly sensitive, use a 1:4 ratio of beets to carrots. For MCAS, the beetroot must be fresh. Pair the sauce with high-protein, zero-carb components like wild fish, grain-free beef, greens, courgetti etc.
Ingredients:
3 large carrots (peeled and chopped)
1 small beetroot (peeled and chopped)
2 sticks of celery (finely chopped — provides the “umami” base)
1/2 bulb of fennel (sliced — provides a mild, sweet aromatic hit)
1 tbsp avocado oil
1 tsp fresh ginger (peeled and grated)
1 cup filtered water
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp fresh thyme or rosemary (stripped from the stem)
1 tbsp lemon juice (add at the very end)
Instructions:
Sauté: Heat the oil in a pan. Add the celery and fennel. Cook on low heat until they are very soft and translucent (about 10 minutes).
Simmer: Add the carrots, beetroot, ginger, herbs, salt, and water. Cover and simmer until the carrots and beets are fork-tender.
Blend: Puree the mixture until smooth.
Acidify: Stir in the lemon juice for that essential “tomato” tang
I’ve not made it yet, but it sounds like a goodie. Do share if you have any other ideas that really work for you.
Tapping for Health
Thinking of the MCAS sensitivity levels, I am continuing my quest to lower my reactivity as much as possible before my 60th birthday in October! I’m doing OK, or I was until that virus at Christmas, which seems to have really set me back. I’ve also now got the worry about neither of us earning anything - and stress is definitely my biggest trigger, I am finding. So, I continue my ‘healing work’ and share with you any useful bits as I know quite a few of you are following me and doing it with me - sweeties x
As many of you know, I have been a long-time follower of Tap with Brad. He does EFT on You Tube and has about 2000 videos, I think! So, you can always find something to help. I find his manner very gentle and he is always promoting looking after yourself so you can benefit others and the planet as a whole, as well as yourself. An aim that ‘aligns’ with mine. I put ‘aligns’ in inverted commas as it’s such a cliche term, isn’t it, but it does actually fit here? It’s what I am always trying to do - align my values with the work I do for myself, but also in service of others. Cos I’m a good girl.
Anyway, sometimes you need a programme to follow. Well, I find it helps me. I have finished the Primal Trust first two courses - if you are ever in fact ‘finished’ (inverted commas again!) with programmes that good. I will probably start again from the beginning with the new knowledge I have from completing it once. I’ll at least do the 40 day programme as I got waylaid off it half way through but was finding it a really good way of setting a daily practice, which I seem to need. Consistency works, for me at least. Follow this link to get a Purehealth discount and read much more about Primal Trust and brain/limbic retraining.
Back to Brad, though. He has a great tapping resource on Vibrant Health here, which I am thinking of doing. I feel I need to clear some resistance from healing - something is blocking me - and I find tapping with EFT or WHEE (as per the Healing Plan) really helps. But, I am starting with his free 5 day Best Self challenge to see how it feels. There is EFT within the Primal Trust programme, but I’ve always liked Brad and sometimes it’s good to switch things up to keep your brain interested and listening!
Anyway, just sharing what I’m up to as I know you like it when I do that ;)
What is Sacha inchi oil? I see this is trending everywhere and one of you asked me about it, so here’s a little info from Metabolics that hit my inbox this morning and reminded me:
Sacha Inchi oil is a highly nutritious food supplement that is extracted from the seeds of the Sacha Inchi plant, which is native to the Amazon rainforest. It contains 100% Organic Sacha Inchi oil produced by mechanical pressing of the seeds and fruit of the Plukenetia Volubilis trees found along the Amazon river, in Peru. Peru has over 2,000 hectares dedicated to Sacha Inchi trees.
This oil is rich in essential fatty acids, including omega-3, omega-6, and omega-9; it has the following composition: 45-58% is Omega 3 oil, 30-40% Omega 6 oil, and 8-12% of Omega 9 oil, making it an excellent source of healthy fats that are essential for maintaining overall health and wellness.
It has the most omega 3 of any plant based source.
Don’t forget to use the Metabolics link if you buy anything from them as it gives you 10% off. Subscribe if you’ve not got got the list of discount codes as it comes out automatically to all subscribers.
Talking of oils, I am about to list some new goodies on the shop for us. I have had very fun choosing an initial range of base and carrier oils I think are really fab but not the usual stuff you can get anywhere. I’ll announce them once I’ve got them ready. I thought we needed good therapeutic base oils to use with our essential oil blends - which you seem to be enjoying - yay! I’ve also got new Allergy/Hayfever and Buzz Off blends in ready for Summer. And I’ve invented a few new blends myself - including one for MCAS, of course ;) A crafty way of helping dampen mast cell activity for those of us who can’t yet tolerate normal supplements or interventions. I’m nothing if not determined!
I’m just wondering what to do with the shop, to be honest. I’ve had the Purehealth shop at Ecwid for such a long time. Initially, rules dictated many years ago that you had to keep advice and sales separate, but that’s no longer the case - never made sense and annoyed me that I had to send you elsewhere, but hey ho.
Anyway, the Ecwid shop has worked well, but it’s pretty old fashioned now. I have been exploring upgrading it but they are now charging silly money, so I am going to have to move it, I think. That’s why I’ve been a bit quiet; I have been trialling various systems like WooCommerce on the existing Purehealth site, have built new shops at Wix and Squarespace to see how easy those are, and have battled with Shopify. I even tried Etsy.
I love creating new sites, as you know - maybe I should have been a web developer in another world! - but it is quite time consuming and, of course, not one of them is as easy as it should be, or does everything you want it to without huge costs! I have to decide and start shifting everything in the next few days before the next annual cost is due. As with everything else, costs of websites are rising and, now I’m not earning much, I need to watch the pennies even more closely. Hopefully, the shop starts bringing in enough for me to continue with it as it is very fun and fitting my promise to myself of a gentler work life. But I do still have bills to pay.
I’m not sure I’ve told you, but P is a voice over artist and AI has really eaten his work over the last couple of years. Since Christmas - when I retired, of course - it has just disappeared. Great timing. Sod’s law and all that. Happily, I love working and am quite happy to continue to do something to keep some income coming in. I’m just hoping it can be the more gentle work of the shop and writing here, maybe a bit more consistently and some paid posts to help. Fingers crossed. If not, I’ll open up some patient work again maybe. That wouldn’t be a bad thing either; I miss it - and being the expert, you know. Feeds my ego, and my research/helping people needs ;). We’ll see. All good fun.
Anyway, watch out for new shop, or new oils at least. Coming soon to an inbox near you!
OK, so hope you enjoyed those musings this week. Please subscribe, share and heart for me so others find me - it all helps to keep me afloat and here for you.
Have a lovely post May bank holiday week. Meantime, I’m off to make some shop decisions! If any of you have any experience of them, do email and share to warn me off or encourage me x