I made a thai-peanut-noodle-salad that's worth writing home about

Friends! Behold:

 The EASIEST, 100% innocent GF, Vegan, Dairy-free Thai Noodle Salad. 

('Thai' is used here in the 'Recipe Title' because the addition of peanuts or lime to any savoury dish automatically makes it Thai and/or Vietnamese and/or exotic, right?) 

This is what happened, and it COULD HAPPEN TO YOU: 

I spotted a packet of gluten-free soba noodles (100% buckwheat) in my pantry cupboard and then forgot about it. Later, same day, whilst strolling the outdoor aisles of the Union Square Farmer's Market, a table of round and shining neon-purple cabbage heads caught my eager nerd eye. Anything from the cabbage/cruciferous family is always welcome in my cart and my life, because: 1. Sulphurous veg and 2. Phase Two detoxification. (Do not ask, simply trust)

1. Shred said cabbage into the most delicate white-and-mauve ribbons using a big sharp knife, drop them into the biggest bowl and then cover them in this dressing:

• 2 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter (organic, 100% raw peanuts)
• 3 Tblspns Tamari sauce (or Soy, if you're cool with gluten)
•  The juice of 1 big lime
• 1 heaped, dripping Tbspn of local raw honey
• A half-thumb size of fresh ginger, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• three shakes of you favourite hot sauce
• more lime luice ;)

2. Boil the gluten-free noodles as per cooking instructions on the packet. While they're boiling, slice some mushrooms into a bowl and cover them in tamari sauce until they're swimming. 

3. Drain the cooked noodles well & pour them all over your dressed-up red cabbage. Mix it all together with your clean hands (don't burn). Feel the noodles, cabbage and peanut sauce slide all over the place like uncontrollable slippery snakes. Inhale a hit of garlic and ginger scent. Be dramatic. 

4. Top the lot with your juicy not-cooked mushroom slices and some avocado if you want to, but whatevs - anyhting from here on out is just details.  I'm dreaming up all kinds of toppings for future feasts  -- bbq prawn;  sesame crusted oven-grilled tofu;  shredded spicy carrots;  sliced green onions and pan-heated peanuts!  What else?! 

Oh, the food nerdery!  

Bon ap, rabbits. Let me know how it goes.

All the x's and o's. 

Day dreaming for dumbos -- Careful what you don't wish for.

Our thoughts are constantly trying to express themselves in our lives. 

What we think ,we attract. Or become attracted to. Simples. You know this. I know this. Oprah knows this.  But sometimes we forget it. We forget to be crystal clear about our intentions. We get sloppy, or maybe scared. But probaby just sloppy.

Fact is: we can use mental imagery to direct our actions and our life towards getting more of what we want and less of what we don't want. No biggy.  

So, do you have a visualization practise? 

Jim Carrey does. In the early 1990’s as a struggling actor he wrote himself a check for $10 million for “acting services rendered”, dated for 1994.  Then Dumb and Dumber happened and Jim got paid exactly $10 million for playing Lloyed Christmas. Today he continually credits his success to constant visulaization -- using mental imagery to create clear visions of what you want in your life.

Jim's not the only not-so-dumb daydreamer. Everyone and their uncle are doing it. Say what you may about Oprah Whinfree, but while the rest of us were getting our preparation plans ready Oprah pulled herself up from poverty and became one of the wealthiest women in the world. She knows for sure that we should:

“ Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe.”

I mean. Amen, right? But who here is actually doing this on the regular? 

We've heard it since forever. We know that our thoughts are powerful creative forces.  We know that we gravitate towards the shit we think about the most. We get it. But do we use it?  

We do train our cardio vascular system to be stronger and last longer. We work out and stretch so that our bodies will keep working for us. We have savings accounts and pensions and wills; we window shop for houses and procrastinate like PROS . Honestly, “One day” is going to be the longest, weirdest day ever. 

How can we communicate even better with our minds? How can we lift the ceiling of what we subconsciously tell ourselves is possible? How do we get the most out of all this wishing and waiting white noise? 

With images. Clear, vivid, visuals. 

There's always a picture pulling your actions in a very specific direction. You may as well think  ahead and make it an image you actively, deliberately designed. And colored and signed. 

The power of visualisation is real. By imagining yourself already having achieved your goals, you allow your thoughts and actions to follow suit, effortlessly. It's like magic but not. 

Mental imagery and affirmations are used by athletes, celebrities, leaders and everyday dudes like us to focus in and mentally rehearse. Thoughts stimulate the nervous system in the same way that actual events do. Makes sense. The coaches of Olympic Athletes can tell you why. In the meantime, ...

Here's some help with a lil 10 minute visualisation exercise: 

Get a pen and paper or have someone que you on the following questions and write down what you come up with. Take your time. Get super comfy and shift your attention from the outside buzz to the chill within. (granted, now might not be the best time to do this, in which case check in again later. I'll be here. Peace) 

• Rest your attention on nothing but your breathing for a few deep inhales and loooong exhales. Now, pull up an imaginary picture of yourself. Any image. JUST IMAGINE YOU. If you need to put some time to it, picture yourself in like 2 years time. Avoid any and all limits here --financial, physical, mental, historical, geographical. This is really a World and Oyster situation. Don't cramp your style. Take the time. Get a nice ideal, romantisized image of yourself, anywhere.

Then elaborate. Start describing it:

·      what can you see all around you?  List everything you see. What does it feel like to be you in that image? If you're content, how come? Why are you so chill? 

·      What kind of people are in your life? What do they look like? Confident, comfortable, peaceful? Or how? What are they doing?  What do they value ? How do they make you feel? What do they do to support you? What do you do to support you? 

·      What are your hobbies? What gets you to jump out of bed with excitement? How do you care for others? How do you take care of yourself? By doing what? 

·      In this ideal vision of you, how do others see you? Your friends and family and the wider community - how are you viewed by others? What do people appreciate or admire about you? When people introduce you professionally what do they say? What’s your bio? Write it. Write out your DREAM BIO. 

·      What do you do for 'work'? What do your days look like? Draw out the plan of your IDEAL 'work' day. From dusk till dawn, draw it out. Pin it, see it, save it. Keep it. Like Jim Carrey's check. And check it regularly. 

Clarifying your intentions. Be detailed and deliberate about where you're heading. 

You will get what you wish for. Tony Robbins says it: 

“Whatever you hold in your mind on a consistent basis is exactly what you will experience in your life.”

Namastè genies. Go create your highest vision. 

And wear sunscreen for goodness sake. 

A not-recipe: The All-In-One-Breakfast pan

My dad's pretty fly for a white guy.

I'll never forget him calling me very late one night 9 years ago to play me all 3 minutes of "Crazy" by "this guy called Gnarles Barkley", and predicting that "it's gonna be the next hit, for sure". And a year later it won all the awards for best record of the year but stayed on everyone's stereos for 3 years, at least. What a track. My sis and I were raised on The Doors, Tina Turner, Leonard Cohen, and Mozart; taught to drive off-road when we were  9; taken to the Opera regularly and then to hike the world's second biggest canyon for 5 days when we were 13. That was only the beginning. 

Today he's still got the swagger - doing yoga at home 2 mornings a week (!?!), liking my insta-pics, drinking kombucha daily and convincing me to go to a 4-day music festival with him in Europe in July. 

On a recent 1-night camp in the desert, he pulled out this one-pan breakfast trick that definitely get's a golden seal of healthy-plus-delicious approval. All the protein, greens, and antioxidants minus the processed grainy stuff. Plus it perfectly fits my anti-waste campaign - any and all leftovers are welcome here. Furthermore! it's ridiculously simple to make! Nothing to it. 

Start by melting your butter of choice (coconut, ghee or regular dairy) on a medium heat, then add your onions (red / shallots/ green onions/ garlic), then some bacon (or leftover fish/ sausages/ turkey slices), then whatever veg you like (capsicum sweet peppers, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, whatever) When your stir-fry is warm crack a few eggs into the pan and some freshly cracked black pepper, salt and any herbs (basil and parsley are killer). 

After a while, when the egg whites are white and everything is still gooey but not too runny (serious sophisticated cuisine jargon happening here), then take it off the heat and sprinkle on whatever cheese you've had in the fridge since New Years. Lastly, defos decorate with avocado and chilli flakes to up the hip-fancy on what is essentially a pan of breakfast mess. 

Done. There's your high-protein, high-fibre, low carb, sugar-free, medium fat satisfying fool-proof pan of YUM. 

Make breakfast at home this weekend. Go full-on eccentric romance on yourself: use your best never-use-coz-it's-the-special-plate, drink water or juice from a champagne flute, sing opera or rap to yourself, decorate a table or tray, blast GB's CRAZY and enjoy that base loop like its the first ever time! 

Then go back to being a normal person for the rest of the day. 

Is LOW BODY IMAGE getting in your way and screwing with your ability to DO ACTUAL COOL SHIT ?

We all remember the DOVE Real Beauty ad that went viral at the speed of light because “WOAH! woman are actually much more beautiful than they perceive themselves to be!? 

Okay. Thanks. But now what? We know we think jack-shit of ourselves. We know it’s because of the pro-anno media we consume and the shallow beliefs of society. We know that we live in a weight-obsessed, image-driven culture that still very much judges us by our hip-to-waist ratio. 

Little girls are praised for being"so pretty"And then we run out of adjectives.

 The conversation has begun to shift recently (albeit at snail pace). Who remembers all the squirming and shit-talking at Hannah’s unclad real-girl bod in season 1 of GIRLS? “It’s a bit much for me to be honest” "she's just not sexy"...

Low body confidence is stopping us from taking part in important shit. Like perusing our passions, speaking up, seeing ourselves as leaders, taking real care of ourselves (and others), and applying our brains to solving some actual problems in our communities and the world at large.

Too many über talented boys and girls and men and women hold themselves back because they THINK they’re not …(you name it)……enough. 

HOW to work through, and get past it?

Skip straight to self-love. Like full-on unconditional acceptance and amoré for the whole self.  

And the only way to love yourself is:

 ….Accept, Forgive, and Be. 

and feel gratitude for what your body lets you do. Name them. Daily. 

If you’re waiting until you have a smaller waist or a tighter ass or Beyonce's thighs of steel or a chiseled chin like Clark Kent then you’ll wait your life away and dislike your reflection increasingly more with every dying day.

If you unlike something about yourself or desperately want to look different - thinner legs, straighter hair, you name it! -  then you are opening up a can of depro control worms and inviting obsession into your daily life which WILL ABSOLUTELY make you take worse care of yourself. 

If however, you accept yourself as you are - perfectly imperfect and good enough - then your whole attitude on self-care begins to shift as well.  If you see yourself as like you view an unknowing toddler in all his/her ‘flawed’ perfection THEN things will start to REALLY shift for you. Your cool confidence will exude from your pores like the scent of cinnamon from apple pie! You will find your voice and speak your truth shamelessly and respectfully, you will know what real love feels like and notice it everywhere around you. You will make health and strength a priority. You will attract people that see your whole worth and you will be inspired to pursue big, productive interests. and cultivate gratitude for what your body lets you do

Sound good? 

Here are 4 little things that can go a long way in kicking Beauty Ideals off the pedestal to make room for the more real stuff: 

1.     Stop the body talk.  Take ‘fat’ and any other negative physical descriptions straight out your vocab. Don’t engage in diet-talk, or food-guilting. It's so yawn, and 90s.

2.     Do a media cleanse. Remove the shit that makes you feel less-than from your social media menu. Surround yourself with body-diverse and body positive activists. My current fave shero is Jessamyn from @mynameisjessamyn (who I was lucky enough to do yoga beside at Strala on Friday -  what a fucking fabulous force to reckon with! Follow her already). Also @recipesforselflove and @gurlstalk.  

3.     Watch what you say and how you think. Catch yourself when you slip into default judgement of yourself or others based on warped beauty ideals. Don’t compare. Do give compliments to behind-the-surface stuff like kindness and guts and glory and whit and strength and skill and presence. 

4.     Ask yourself: what would I do if I was…..(you name it)….enough ?? And then just do it. Do the thing that you have been waiting to do. If you are waiting for circumstances to be different or for yourself to be ‘perfect’ in the eyes of pop culture then you are slipping further down the shitty spiral of bad body image and totally missing the point.  Buy that crop top, apply for the job, start that blog or business, write your book, go on that retreat, enrol in that class, go on the hike, join that group, take your shirt off, introduce yourself to that person, keep the lights on... DO it already!  For you. and us, and the next generation of women. 

You are so perfect!  It’s actually unbelievable how perfect and enough you are. x

ALL of the x’s and o’x.

Pee Ess:  jump on my Pinterest board for a dose of real life inspiring babes, and send me pins to add! Who are your inspireers? 

PSS: If this post lit up your insides for a second, or if you think it might mean summin to someone else in your life, then grab this here link and spread it all over like natural beauty butter :) 

Thank you. Please msg me with any thoughts. questions, musings, realspo, or just to holla!!

On FEELING EQUAL and how far it can s t r e t c h .

Why seeing everyone as equally worthy of love, rights and opportunities is good for your health. 

Yes I am! I’m doing it. I’m putting a health spin on Marriage Equality because OF COURSE THIS IS WAY GOOD FOR EVERYONE IN THE WORLD’S HEALTH! 

Compassion for self and others and feeling true equality with all living things is how we can heal ourselves and the world  (fade in: Michael J’s Heal The World, “There’s a place in your heart, and I know that it is Love…”).

 The absence of compassion in any community contributes to isolation and chronic stress in both the individual and the group.  Kindness and care and genuine compassion are soothing, powerfully healing emotions. From an evolutionary standpoint, feeling included in the tribe was absolutely necessary for survival. Left-out literally meant left out of protection and survival.

We are wired to thrive if we feel valued and included.

I work to value myself and accept all of my parts - not just selective acceptance of ‘the good bits’ mixed with shit-talk and shame of the rest-  so that I will see the full boundless worth of every other being with whom I share this round home called Earth.

Love is universal. It is the heart of the universe.  In which case, no one can be left out.

This is a darn good day for America. Let’s keep the momentum and push forward together until there is no single one left out of our global tribe. 

YOU are important and deserving of complete acceptance. 

you are important and deserving of complete acceptance. 

you are important.  and deserving.  of complete.  and utter.  

acceptance. 

Happy weekend. 

x's and o's. 

WTF is purpose ? And why does your health depend on it ?

Imagine my disappointment: I took my study-hating butt back to university for a degree in Nutrition Science, studied biochemical reactions in pathophysiology for 3 years, quit sugar and gluten and dairy and booze, learnt meditation, got yoga certified, found and faced some big character villains, recommitted to creativity, bought a vitamix... and then realized I've been missing a MAJOR piece in this proverbial puzzle of "Health" (it's a jigsaw titled Do-Re-Mi, a picture of Julie Andrews and Captain von Trapp frolicking and singing in the Austrian living hills with their seven perfect Kinder).

Intention. Purpose. A mission. 

I've heard clever calm folks like Deepak Chopra and a few enlightened priests and self-help authors preach it, but their abstract clichés fell on deaf, lazy ears. I never actually really gave the concept any more thought than: " YAH, I have purpose! I'm going to work tomorrow so that I can afford to buy rent and organic watercress and fancy cheese and those cool blue jeans I pinned so that I'll be happy and likeable and have many friends and a family, and an ego so stroked it has carpet burn. Rise, rinse and repeat, till death does me part. Pursue my posterior, you deep-pocketed messiah-wannabes" 

Well. Joke's on me.  Here is the bottom line of all this "intention" BS:

You have something unique about you, a natural ability that others view as a 'strength' and when you're nailing it, it feels like a fire in your belly and like you could probably fly if you tried. Doing this thing makes you feel completely authentic and energised and badass, and puts a literal skip in your step. 

Not doing it makes you feel stuck, frustrated, bored, out-of-flow, irritable, inferior, misunderstood, depressed, anxious and like you're surviving, not thriving. 

Many people are scared of accepting the responsibility of their uniqueness. Because A Big Thing can shake the ground when it crumbles and we're very scared of shaky soil beneath our feet. You can't blame us - we live in a huge, insecure, threatening world and we're taught from a very young age that "everything is dangerous" and "if at first you don't succeed, find an excuse and give up,". Along with  "broken things are ugly", "flawless is perfect and commendable, here's a trophy!" and "don't expose your vulnerability because then people will see your cracks and fears and know where to ninja-chop you".  

Computer says NO! You MUST absolutely be vulnerable in order to really be happy and healthy. "The courage to be imperfect" as Brené Brown puts it in the best Ted talk in the history of Ever. We must train ourselves to be honest about what we want and brave enough to take massive, scary risks to summit the peaks of our daydreams. We must be ready to fall on our face, repeatedly, and allow people to help us dust off and get back on track. 

Cruising in the safe lane sets you up for sadness and sickness and some potentially serious regrets along the way. 

The "wannabe messiahs" and purpose-driven peeps with the pudding to prove it, say this is how to find more aligned flow in your life and work: 

1. Learn to fit-out 

Forget what your parents and teachers and the 'popular' kids have instilled in you all your life. Stop trying so hard to fit in, blend on, camouflage against, lay low, with the status quo. The real bizniz happens when you find and feed what it is that makes you fit OUT.  What is odd about you? What do people always thank or compliment you for? If you disappeared from the face of the earth tomorrow, what would be missing? It's okay if the answer seems 'small-scale', roll with it, it probably isn't at all. Take or leave or laugh at this this pro tip, but it's fool-proof effective: Get quiet and comfortable and ask yourself who you are.  For 10 minutes. Every day. For the rest of your life. 

2. Practice courage 

Do small things that scare you, daily. Re-strengthen your gutsy muscle and become braver. The neat thing about this is it's just a matter of literally re-membering: you once belonged to the Fearless Kids club: a group of mini-humans who are curious and race around crashing themselves into all of life without an ounce of worry or whim. Remember how many times you failed and fell over? Was it such a big deal after all?

 3. Ask not "what do I need?" but "what needs ME" ?

Service is a bit of a buzz word in the mind-soul-health realm. And again it has to do with your mission, ambition, the thing that drives you on the deepest of deeps. You're not a fony idiot, you need a real reason to get up and give give a sh*t about something every day. The bigger that thing is, the more people it touches, the more passion-driven it is, the more likely you are to be effortlessly motivated to keep going and growing at it. It's okay if you want to keep things 'safe' and make your life one long un-deliberate string of indulged fleeting ego urges, but I think you're smarter than that. Way smarter. And I think you secretly agree. It's a disservice to the world not to share your gifts. 

Don't make us wait. The suspense will kill us. And you.  

Let's get working on training our courage and vulnerability, with the same reverence that we use for sit-ups and trail runs and vegetable eating. 

So long, fare well, auf Wiedersehen goodniiiiiight. 

xox