So what's wrong with our wheat?

I have gone off sugar and yeast for Lent this year. Sugar I can cope with, but yeast in practical terms means going off white bread and many other breads. And guess what – I feel great! I do not want to say that I did not feel great before, but – I definitely feel greater than before!!! Lighter, would be one word to describe how I feel. Even more alive, would be another way to describe it.

At the same time I wonder why many of my clients seem to be intolerant to wheat. Not particularly to gluten. But to wheat. How come that wheat, which along with other grains has been a staple food for centuries, is now causing so many problems?

The simple truth is that wheat is not what it used to be. In ‘Lose Wheat, Lose Weight’, Dr. Dawn Hamilton points out that there are major changes in the way that modern wheat is cultivated and stored, and in how bread is baked.

Up to the 1950s wheat was grown on land that was regularly manured. It would be harvested and then dried thoroughly to prevent mould formation. It was then stored for months to mature. Only then would it be considered suitable for milling into flour. In the bakery the flour was then mixed with yeast and left to rise. This process might take up to 24 hours to complete. It was kneaded, shaped and proved again before baking. This produced a tasty wholesome loaf.

Nowadays wheat is grown using chemical fertilisers and sprayed with pesticides and fungicides while it is in the field. It is harvested and then sprayed with a chemical (potassium bromate) to ‘mature it’ in 48 hours before being milled into flour. It is also common practice to irradiate wheat to avoid insect contamination. During the milling process the wheat germ is removed to improve shelf life. Unfortunately this removes much of the natural goodness – the germ contains Vitamin E and many B vitamins. The bran is removed, drastically reducing the fibre. The natural yellow colour of the wheat is not considered aesthetically pleasing and so the flour is bleached using banzoyl peroxide which then has to be neutralised with calcium carbonate (i.e. Chalk). Then preservatives and conditioners are added to improve the texture. Vitamins are added back in, but not necessarily in a form that the body finds easy to assimilate.

In addition to flour, the average mass-produced loaf also contains accelerators such as ammonium

chloride to speed up the process of rising. Bakers use ‘flour improvers’ (e.g. soya flour) and

emulsifiers such as sodium stearyol lactylate. Preservatives are also added so that your loaf can

last for a few days in the bread bin. The result of all of this, comments Dr. Hamilton, is that “the amount of nutrition we get from many wheat based foods, including cereals and pasta, is poor. Eating a diet that is dominated by wheat means exposing oneself to a build up of chemicals.“

And that's it. If you have weetabix for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and then pasta for your evening meal, you aren’t really doing yourself any favours. I don't say that you should eliminate wheat from your diet completely but if you do eat a lot of wheat you might want to reduce your intake and consider some alternatives. Have a varied diet and if you have any issues with food intolerances, wheat or otherwise, please feel free to get in touch.

Using oils to learn life's essential lessons

Hi everyone, I hope you are all well and ready for your monthly tonic. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers reading and Happy International Woman's Day to all the women! And hello as well to all the men. So, this woman - ME!- has recently returned from a wonderful course in England and I am now combining the use of essential oils with all my usual HK techniques in my sessions. This is an excellent way to help people recall specific events in the past which continue to contribute to ill health and to releasing their traumatic effects.

And no wonder – the use of Essential oils with their well-documented benefits on the brain's limbic system (which governs emotions and moods) is an ideal way to simultaneously tackle the internal and external ravages caused by stress. And they work instantly and directly.

In addition to the physical properties of the oils, I am also using them for their emotional relevance. For example, it was a surprise to me to learn that Tea Tree oil – which is very well known for its anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal and, I suppose you could say anti-'bad stuff ' generally– resonates with “cleanliness and purity” and is highly beneficial for those people whose symptoms make them feel unclean, e.g., cold sores, thrush, cystitis, fungal infections, athlete's foot, dandruff.

Or about Clary Sage oil – this helps all of us accept our yin (female) traits and to recognise them as being as powerful as our yang (male) traits. Clary Sage is excellent for men who have lost touch with their female side, or do not want to submit to it for fear of ridicule or loss of manhood. Men who have been forced never to cry or show emotion respond well to Clary Sage, helping them to submit and accept their emotions and to release them without the fear of looking silly or stupid.

As for women, we all know that they traditionally find it hard to surrender to their bodies – monthly periods are even referred to as a ‘curse’. They constantly do not accept themselves and worry endlessly about superficial things like weight, unshaven legs or armpits, pimples, their complexion etc and will go to great lengths to hide any perceived flaws. How can a woman's femininity be valued when she cannot accept herself? These perceived flaws are perfectly natural but women can put themselves under tremendous pressure to the extent that some start hating themselves and desperately wishing to be someone else, rather than simply accepting who they are. Clary sage oil is excellent for helping a woman to feel empowered and happy with who she is and with her femininity.

So if you would like to experience where essential oils can take you, contact me and regain your true self and spirit with the help of essential oils.