Intermittent Fasting and 8 Ways to Support Longevity

Intermitted fasting or fasting mimicking diet have become a hot topic over the last couple of years. Fasting has been used for centuries for healing purposes and part of religious or spiritual practices to deepen your connection to spirit or God.

For a lot of people, the thought of fasting seems extreme and challenging. It takes a lot of commitment and support to do proper water fasting for 3 to 5 days. However, recent research is showing that intermitted fasting or fasting mimicking diet creates similar results to water fasting. When we fast it gives the body a chance to heal and repair. It is being used for healing chronic illnesses as well as part of treatment plans for cancer.

The research is showing by simply reducing the time period for eating during the day and increasing the fasting period overnight has a huge impact in longevity and optimal health. For intermitted fasting you fast for between 12 and 16 hours overnight. This would be like stopping eating after dinner at 7 pm and then not eating breakfast until 9 am in the morning. This time period would be fasting for 14 hours.

Top tips based on the research from Dr Valter Longo, PhD the director of the Longevity Institute USC:

1. Eat a mostly vegan diet with some fish. Minimise bad fats (from animal products and dairy) and sugars, and maximising good facts (like nuts and seeds) and complex carbohydrates (like vegetables, beans, lentils and whole grains). During the eating window it is about getting optimal nutrition into the body that is easy to digest.

2. During the eating window it is best to eat twice a day plus a snack unless your weight or muscle mass is low and then it would be three meals plus a snack. During ageing the body requires more protein to maintain muscle mass.

3. Exercise is also important for longevity. Walk fast for one hour getting your heart rate up, alongside doing some sort of weight training or weight-bearing exercises can help to build bone density and maintain muscle mass especially as you age.

4. To be nourished in the modern day world vitamins and minerals supplements can be helpful as our soil no longer provides certain nutrients. Nutrients and minerals are important for bodies repair, replacement, and defence system to boost immunity.

5. When planning our meals we quite often eat the same things from day to day. However, to provide the right required nutrients for the body we need to eat a variety of foods that are in season. It is helpful to eat foods that is are locally grown.

6. Eat the table of your ancestors by choosing foods that would be common to your ethnicity. Ie - Asian countries traditionally would not have a lot of dairy in their diet and when they try to follow a western diet it causes a lot of health problems for them leading to autoimmune conditions.

7. Time restricted eating restrict your eating to 11 to 16 hours. Shorter periods of feeding have been shown to have an positive effect in promoting health and longevity.

8. For optimal health you can also follow the practice of periodic prolonged fasting which would be the more traditional way of fasting. This would be undergoing a water fast or calorie restricted diet for five days. This is known to have remarkable effects on disease risk factors and optimisation of health and longevity.

Why Every Stressed Person Should Try a Gong Bath

Why every stressed person should try a Gong Bath

When you are feeling stressed-out the best way to unwind and relax is a Gong Bath to let go of the tension from the body and mind. Gong meditation is a unique type of sound practice that creates vibrations to bring healing and therapeutic benefits to the body and the mind. Sound therapy has been used for a long time to bring healing to the body as disease comes into the body when we are vibrating at a non-optimal frequency. Gong sound therapy has been practised for thousands of years and belongs to one of the oldest Southeast Asian musical instruments. The origins may be traced back to the second millennium B.C. In Chinese history, gongs are mentioned around 500 A.D.

Gong bathing can help reduce stress and liberate emotional blockages. Scientific research suggests sound therapy prompts damage human DNA strands to repair themselves. Music therapy is the most mainstream form of sound therapy and been shown to relieve a number of health problems. It is now frequently offered in clinical settings like hospitals and clinics. The sound of the gong reaches the body on a cellular level encouraging integrated healing of the body, mind, and spirit. When the gong is played properly it produces a whole spectrum of harmonics that are based on pressure waves of sound, which vibrate the energy meridians in the body. The sounds of the gong can recalibrate the physical, emotional, and spiritual bodies, and raises the frequency of your electrical magnetic field (the aura) that surrounds your body.

A gong meditation is practised laying on your back and all you need to do is rest in a comfortable position with your eyes closed. The gong usually starts softly and progressively the volume increases. The gong sound is changed frequently to avoid producing a fixed monotonous rhythm. The first brainwave state to be reached is alpha. Alpha brainwaves are associated with creativity and feelings of relaxation. This state is followed by an influx of theta waves. Theta waves are associated with deep meditation, hypnosis, and REM sleep. The sounds from the gong can be very loud. The best way to embrace the gong is to surrender, relax, and let go. The gong is your guide and you will ride the waves of the sound current to a deep relaxing state.

Erin O’Hara, Founder of Golden Yogi

If you are interested in finding out more about Gong Baths, we have some exciting workshops coming up - including Gong Bath Training with Methab Benton.

GONG BATH & YOGA NIDRA WITH MEHTAB BENTON

Master Gong Practictioner Training

Carrot, Cumin & Coriander Soup

Recipe from The Raw Kitchen Cookbook

INGREDIENTS

8 carrots, chopped
3 cups (750ml) coconut milk
3 tomatoes
1/4 Tbsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp coriander seeds
3 Tbsp miso paste
1 tsp salt
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper 2 Tbsp yoghurt, to serve
3⁄4 cup (21g/0.9oz) coriander leaves, plus extra to garnish

Method

Peel carrots and trim off the tops and bottoms. Chop into 2cm pieces and place in the high-speed blender. Add the rest of the ingredients to the blender. Blend on medium for 1–2 minutes or until preferred consistency is reached. Warm on stove top until slowly bubbling, stirring so that bottom doesn’t catch. Serve in bowls with a dollop of yoghurt and a sprig of coriander on top.

Serves 4

Recipe from Love By Olivia

Moving Through the Seasons

It has been a summer to remember with warm tropical temperatures.  We may want to hold onto the light and warmth that we've enjoyed, or perhaps we're looking forward to the cooler months ahead. No matter our preference the wheel is about to turn and we must roll with it.  This time of changing seasons presents an opportunity to re-evaluate your lifestyle and boost your immunity before the cooler months settle in.  Here are five tips to help you transition seamlessly and supercharge your health...

Cleanse your body 

Moving into Autumn is the perfect time to reconsider your diet, to cleanse and re-balance the body before the winter bugs get the chance to sneak in. Embrace the offering of the delicious variety of fresh fruit and vegetables available. Enjoy fresh pumpkins, parsnips, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, figs, and berries. Maybe challenge yourself for a week and remove all processed foods and sugary treats from your diet. Focus all your meals and snacks around fresh fruits, vegetable, nuts, seeds, and wholegrains to cleanse your palette. A clean diet will help your digestive function improve and boost your overall health. In natural medicine, we regularly look at disease starting with poor detoxification from the digestive system.

Boost Your Immunity

With the changing season, now is the time to boost your immune system to prepare your body before winter. Some of my favourite natural immunity boosters are: eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, drink at least 8 cups of mineral water daily, Vitamins like B, C, and D, zinc and CMD (Concentrated Mineral Drops); or medicinal super boosting herbs like Echinacea, Withania, Astragalus, Andrographis, Garlic, Olive leaf, Shiitake mushroom, and Ginger. Our Pure Cure Clinic can make up herbal formulations specific to your needs.

Move your Body

During the warmer summer months we love to spend more time outside. Naturally we are more likely to move our bodies and enjoy walking and swimming at the beach. As the temperature begin to drop in the months to come, don’t let it stop you from moving your body and enjoying the fresh Autumn breeze. While the summer motivation is high, create a regular routine to move your body on a daily basis. Find an enjoyable way to gently move your body to keep yourself fit and healthy. Great options could be walking, yoga, swimming, going to the gym, cycling, or find a dance class to get your groove on!

Embrace a Daily Meditation practice

We quiet often put a lot of emphasis on keeping the physical body balanced but it is just as important to take the time to de-clutter the mind.  If you have never done a meditation practice you can start simply with a home meditation practice of 5 – 11 minutes of a breathing meditation (pranayama) or mantra meditation (chanting).  It is best to do the same meditation everyday and start with a commitment of 40 days.  Ideally practice little and often to unload the mind and clear the subconscious.  Book in for a one-on-one and we will customise the right meditation for you.

Take time to reflect

We move from the summer towards the Autumn Equinox on the 20th March, which is a great time to empower yourself and use the energy of this sacred day, where there is an equal amount of daylight and darkness. This powerful day offers us the opportunity to balance the light of our consciousness with the darkness of our shadow.  At this time of transition we can let go of anything that no longer represents us and make energetic space for new doors of opportunity to open.  Take this time to reflect on your life, make positive changes in your lifestyle, and realign to your goals.

Strong Digestion in Summer = Strong Immunity in Winter

Yoga teacher and Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner Angie Gervan explains how improving digestion in summer can set us up for a robust immune system over the following winter.

In summer we can easily think we are at optimum health but a golden glow isn’t necessarily indicative of what’s going on inside. Digestion can easily be compromised during the warmer months. While you probably already know over-eating and heavy foods can tax the digestive system, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners also advise that eating too much “cold” food stresses the digestive system. Foods from the fridge and ice-cold drinks can put out our digestive fire, but cold foods are not just those foods cold in temperature, but also those that are cold in nature such as dairy, some vegetables, fruit and sweet foods - sugar is considered a cold food in TCM. You can balance cooler meals like summer salads with cooked vegetables - try adding some warm roast sweet potato to your plate. Think of soups as not just a winter dish, when made with seasonal green vegetables a summer soup can be really refreshing.

Cold foods can be enjoyable in the warmer months but be mindful of the time of day that you are consuming them – it’s best to start with something warm first thing in the morning, so save the cool smoothies and juices until midday or late afternoon. If you are making juices, add some fresh ginger as a healing agent (ginger is warm in nature and great for your digestive system) and consume at room temperature.    

In tropical climates, people often drink hot tea which helps to maintain the digestive fire. In Japan during summer barley tea is commonly consumed; this brown tea is cooling in nature and sipped warm to perfectly balance the system. Protecting your digestive system over summer is said to avoid the late summer and autumn bouts of gastro according to TCM.  

If you are craving ice cold drinks and foods, this is an indication that your system is internally expressing too much heat. There are a few indicators which you can look out for; redness is often a sign that too much heat is present. Look at your skin colour, rings around your eyes and if you are female you can also look at your menstrual colour – is it more red than normal? Other common signs are trouble getting to sleep at night and dry skin.

Drinking plenty of good quality water in summer especially is important. Adding a hint of lemon and mint to your water is really refreshing and will keep summer colds away. Lemon is good to move energy in the system and mint is cooling in nature and will help to reduce internal heat. 

Swimming of course is great and fun in summer! But for women it’s important to be conscious of your body’s state before you take a dip. If you are menstruating or post birth, stay out of cold water - the cold energy can enter your body more easily at this time and lodge in your system. But if you do find yourself taking a refreshing swim, you can counterbalance this by changing into warm dry clothing soon after, drinking warm tea or adding a warm compress to your navel and back.  Note: dark bleeding at your menses time, lower back pain, cramping are often an indication of cold lodged in our system - not a good feeling for your body.   

It isn’t commonly known that the seasons preceding the cooler months can predetermine how your immune system will respond when winter strikes. But taking good care of yourself during summer will boost your immune system for the months to come.  If your last winter was a challenging health-wise for you, think back to your summer - did you take time to rest, eat well, take in the warmth and enjoy nature at that time?  Often our winter health is a reflection of the summer before in TCM terms so really enjoy and utilise the vibrant energy of summer to stock up on warmth and boost your immune system!  

Spring Cleansing

There is a clear-crisp feeling in the air that has the power to reveal new visions and inspires new possibilities.  In nature this is the best time to plant seeds, we can mirror nature’s way in our lives by sowing the seeds we wish to harvest in the upcoming months. So when the spring equinox passes on September 23rd, the shift in universal energy will infuse us with the inspiration to ‘spring’ into action setting us up for the season ahead - summer!  

As an acupuncturist we look at health in relation to the seasons, if you have had a challenging winter, look back to your experience of autumn – often stressful autumn months result in stress on the immune system in winter.  With September in full-swing, you now have a chance to reconnect to the start of a new cycle and connect with health practices that will reward you in the seasons to come.  Perhaps it’s time to see your naturopath to receive a herbal remedy to enhance your constitution and gain some lifestyle tweaks, or consider rolling out that yoga mat that’s been away much of the winter,  or visit an acupuncturist to balance your system.

In winter there is a natural tendency to indulge in comfort foods, that which keeps us warm and reminds us of childhood – which is a necessary part of nurture for the year.  Spring then offers natural energy to shift to eating lighter meals to align with lighter days.   This season your body may start to let go of warm foods and broths and you may feel like adding a little more salad to your diet again or even a green smoothie!  A good idea is to have a green smoothie in the afternoon around 3pm to honour the time of the liver, which is the organ that relates to spring! Blend coconut water, spinach, kale, pear and a medjool date together for a cleansing spring delight.  

Written by Angie Gervan