C-restaurant Food Blog!

I felt compelled to write a quick blog about my recent experience at C-revolving restaurant in Perth, Western Australia. Being vegan, I have a few regular haunts that probably recognise my face by now: the wonderful Soul Tree Café, Veggie mama, PAWS, the Raw Kitchen and Genesis in the Hills to name but a few. However, my recent experience with some of Perth’s so called best fine dining restaurants has left me feeling down and to be frank, ripped off (think $50 for a lettuce leaf, plus melon ball, or $50 for tomato and lettuce sandwiches and sorbet). So, needless to say, I was absolutely delighted to have a custom made 3 course vegan meal made especially pour moi (plus hubby) from the awesome chef, Donnchadh at C-restaurant. But, I am skipping ahead. On Sunday, it was my wedding anniversary. With a small amount of research, hubby and I realised that not much was open on a Sunday night that could cater for a vegan diet. My husband decided to call C-restaurant and ask if any of their vegetarian meals could possibly be converted to be vegan. The chef spoke to my husband and said ‘I have a whole kitchen full of ingredients here, let me know what you want, and I will make it for you”. We arrived an hour later, to find that Donnchadh has made us a 3 course meal from scratch, and what a meal!

Our entrée was homemade egg free pasta…it was like a giant ravioli stuffed with wild mushrooms, topped with a beetroot puree. This was one of the nicest things I have eaten in a long time. Our main course was pumpkin risotto, followed by a dessert of fresh fruit salad with blood orange sorbet and dark chocolate. All of the staff we encountered were extremely friendly and courteous, our waiter Andrew was lovely and of course the view, for those who have not been there, is one of the best around.

Donnchadh came to our table after our entrée to meet us and we happily informed him that the entrée was one of the nicest things we had ever eaten. He seemed pleased, if not slightly bewildered to receive a large hug from me. We vegans are a loyal bunch, and I can say with 100% certainty that we will be back. In fact, we were told that if we could give a little more notice (eg.one or two days, rather than the surprise one hour’s notice that we sprung on the chef) he could come up with something even better. Now that’s something to look forward to!! C-restaurant, thanks for a magical evening, and my best wedding anniversary so far.

Food verses skin care, choosing products to fit your values.

Many of us in recent years have become aware of ingredients to avoid in the foods that we eat. We know what terms to look for on our food labels when we are shopping. Many of us food shop according to our own personal ethical code, by choosing items that are locally grown or fair trade. We check for items that are preservative free, or certified organic. Sometimes when I am shopping at my local supermarket, I observe people carefully selecting certain items (perhaps it’s coffee that is fair trade and organic) and then I see them again in the personal products aisle, putting a shampoo into their trolley that makes me wonder…do they apply the same criteria to their personal products? It may be of interest to you to know that skin and hair care products (and even cleaning products) for you and your family have many of the same or similar certifications and categories as food does, allowing you to choose skin care products that tick all the boxes that are important to you. When choosing food do you look for any of the following?

Locally made
Preservative free
Colour free
Certified Organic
Unprocessed
Soy free
GMO free
Free from animal ingredients
Halal certified
Vegetarian/vegan
Cruelty free
Recyclable packaging
Dairy free
Palm oil free

Many of the personal products that we purchase would struggle to meet the criteria we may be consciously applying to our food.
When you know where to look, there are many skin care companies that can provide you with wonderful products that will also be in-keeping with your own ethics and needs. In our household, for example, the first thing we look for is to see if a product has been certified cruelty free and check if it is suitable for vegans. Just as importantly for our family is to see if the ingredients are as natural as possible. We also want to ensure that our personal care products are as unprocessed as possible, so we select products that use a high percentage of natural and unprocessed ingredients. It is estimated that 60% of what we place on our skin is absorbed into our bodies, circulating around our bloodstream, so while it’s certainly very important that we look to raw, natural, unprocessed ingredients in our diets, we must also pay close attention to what we use on our skin, several times each day, and seek out products that are free from chemicals and packed full of vitamins, antioxidants and natural, certified organic ingredients. So, what is important to your family? With a little bit of research you can easily support companies who are local, who are using fair trade ingredients, who choose organic ingredients, who refrain from animal testing and who have a passion to ensure that you and your family stay healthy by reducing the amount of chemicals you place on your skin each day. Try doing a Google search, and typing in your own personal criteria. Search cruelty free websites. Do a search for organic products. Look in your local health food stores. There are a plethora of companies that are looking forward to providing you with beautiful products that will make you happy!

Eczema Blog

Eczema is one of the main subjects that I receive questions about. Often, by the time people email me, to see if I have an Ayana product for eczema, they have tried a long list of therapies and products and they are often despairing at the amount of money they are seemingly throwing at eczema. From someone who has experienced skin problems over the years I know the frustration of feeling as if you are spending lots of money and getting no results. Understandably, many mothers and fathers are reluctant to use steroid creams on their children (especially on very young children) and especially for long periods of time. Similarly, many people are weary of taking oral medications or having injections. Many parents and individuals I speak to have altered their diets, with a nod to the fact that dairy foods can often prove to be the culprits for exacerbating eczema, but are still not getting much of an improvement. I am not from a medical background, so I won’t make any comments about many theories about what causes eczema, or the array of eczema treatments currently available, however, what I will say is that generally speaking, creams such as the commonly used (and commonly recommended by Gp’s and dermatologists) Sorbolene, Aqueous, QV, Petroleum jelly (which my dad uses this on his car engine) etc may not be the best option. Why? It’s a long story, but generally creams that contain mineral oil are bad for the skin. Mineral oil (petroleum) is a by-product of the oil industry. It is cheaper to put mineral oil into creams, than it is to dispose of it. Petroleum based products do not work in harmony with our skin or our body. The mineral oil has an occlusive effect on skin, which means that it blocks the pores and does not allow the skin to perform its normal functions of sweating and releasing toxins. Many creams on the market that claim to be highly moisturising often contain lots of water, plus some harsh preservatives, alcohol, and/or synthetic fragrances which at best may be drying to the skin, and at worse, carcinogenic. The main skin care advice that I give to people suffering with eczema, is to invest in a product that is as close to natural as possible. The label should not list a whole host of chemical sounding ingredients, because, predictably, it means that the cream is full of chemicals! Natural vegetable and plant based ingredients like cocoa butter and shea butter are highly moisturising for the skin. They have been used by African women for hundreds of years with great effect. The other piece of advise that I have (which is generally lesser known) is to buy vegan products. Many skin care products on the market today contain animal ingredients, some of which are very difficult to recognise. Casein is one that you may have heard of. Casein is a protein found in cow’s milk. If you have eczema, and you have decided to eliminate dairy from your diet due to lactose or casein intolerance, you should also double check that your skin creams do not contain casein. Plus, with vegan products, you get the marvellous benefit of supporting a vegan/cruelty free company who will never test their product on animals!
If you have any questions about natural products, chemicals ingredients to avoid in skin care, or the Ayana Organics range of natural, vegan skin care, please feel free to email me at sam@ayanaorganics.com.au. The Ayana Organics website also has a toxic ingredients dictionary, which allows to you check the ingredients of the skin care products you are currently using.
www.ayanaorganics.com.au

The True Story Behind Premarin. A must read article by Jess Holmes.

Think that only chickens and pigs are factory farmed? Think again.
The true story behind Premarin
Jess Holmes

In the last 10 years there has been a huge swing towards compassionate and ethical thinking. Vegetarianism and alternative medicine such as acupuncture has become main stream and will no longer see you labelled a hippy or weirdo. Most people will ask if their cosmetics or cleaning agents are tested on animals and are more likely to choose free range meats over intensive farming. We have become very picky about using chemicals on our skin, instead preferring natural compounds.

We try to make educated ethical decisions; however, there are still some dark secrets the pharmaceutical companies are hiding.

In Canada and North Dakota over 400 ranches house thousands of pregnant mares (horses), chained in stalls who are unable to walk more than one step forward or backwards let alone turn around. These mares form the foundation of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals’ hormone replacement industry. Premarin, Prempro, Premphase, Prempac and Premelle are manufactured from horse waste, more specifically Pregnant Mares’ Urine (PMU).

Premarin contains conjugated oestrogens and its sister drug Prempro contains a combination of oestrogens and a progestin. These oestrogens are obtained from pregnant horses who are kept in small stalls for a majority of their 11 month pregnancy strapped to a urine collection device. These collection devices can cause terrible chafing and lesions to the hind legs and all too often these bags are tight and the stalls are made deliberately narrow to prevent the mare laying down and detaching their collection bags. The risk of entanglement is ever present.

So what happens to the tens of thousands of foals delivered by the mares? Most of them are slaughtered; those who are not are kept to become PMU mares themselves. Only a handful are rescued by adoption agencies. A Canadian horsemeat exporter said that the PMU industry is his “biggest source of supply” for his overseas shipments. 1

It’s not only the atrocious condition in which the horses live that is of concern. On May 31 2002, the Data and Safety Monitoring Board recommended stopping the trial of Prempro which was part of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), a series of government studies of more than 160,000 healthy postmenopausal women. The Data and Safety Monitoring Board cited the, “Test statistic for invasive breast cancer exceeded the stopping boundary for this adverse effect and the global index statistic supported risks exceeding benefits.” as their reason for ending the trial. 2

The study found that Prempro increased the risk of stroke in women by a massive 41%, the risk of heart attack by 29%, the risk of cardiovascular disease by 22%, the risk of breast cancer by 26% and doubled the risk of venous thromboembolism (blood clots).3 The WHI also found that Prempro has no meaningful effects on physical or emotional health, pain levels, memory, sleeping patterns, or energy levels. The researchers concluded that Prempro is effective for short-term relief from hot flashes but nothing else.

Two years later in March 2004, the WHI also prematurely halted the oestrogen only (Premarin) arm of the trial due to an increased risk of stroke. The scientific paper concluded that, "CEE [Conjugated Equine Oestrogen] increases the risk of ischemic stroke in generally healthy postmenopausal women. The excess risk appeared to be present in all subgroups of women examined, including younger and more recently menopausal women."4

There are many alternatives to PMU in hormone replacement therapy and for every 150 women who stop taking Premarin, one mare is spared from the ‘pee line’ and seven or eight ‘byproduct’ foals will not be slaughtered for their meat. Please consider the alternatives, if not for the horses then do it for your own health.

If you would like some advice on natural alternatives to hormone replacement therapy please contact QiMax Health Therapies
89 Manning Rd, Manning WA 6152.
(08) 9450 3221

http://www.qimax.com.au/



1) Barb Grinder, “Horse Plant Diversifies Into Specialty Livestock,” The Western Producer, 28 Nov. 1996
2) http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/288/3/321
3) http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/new/press/02-07-09.htm
4) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16702472

Animal Testing...clearing up the confusion.

There is an overwhelming amount of information on labels these days. Many of us are trying to do the right thing and support ethical companies where we can, however, there is much confusion surrounding the issue of animal testing. Here I wish to address some of the more commonly held assumptions.

1) Animal Testing is necessary to ensure product safety: FALSE. There is no law that states products must be tested on animals to meet safety requirements. There are a number of other approved ways to assess the safety of a product.
2) A cruelty free product is a vegan product: FALSE. Cruelty free products mean that they have not been tested on animals, but it does not mean that they contain no animal ingredients or animal by-products.
3) A natural product is a cruelty free product: FALSE. When products are labeled ‘natural’ it does not mean that the product has not been tested on animals.
4) A certified organic product is a cruelty free product. FALSE. Organic certification does not imply that the product is not animal tested.
5) The phrase ‘we do not test on animals’ guarantees a cruelty free product: You guessed it…FALSE. Unfortunately, printing the words ‘we do not test on animals’ has, on occasion, been discovered to mean “but we pay someone else to do it for us”. Look for the certifications and logos pertinent to your country (E.g. Choose Cruelty Free Australia, PETA etc).

But it’s not all doom and gloom! Visit www.choosecrueltyfree.org.au and view all the wonderful Australian companies who have achieved cruelty free certification. This does ensure that the product is not animal tested and this site also differentiates between vegan and non-vegan products.

Mineral Oil

Why would billion dollar companies put mineral oil into their products if it wasn’t safe? Why would they bottle "pure" mineral oil, add artifical fragrance and market it for use to massage babies skin? It won’t kill you right? Not quickly anyway. We can always blame the effects on other environmental factors.

It’s so very cheap for companies to purchase, and it is such a trusted product which has been used for generations. Cheap AND the company can make lots of money from it. Why do companies still sell cigarettes when they kill? Money! It's not illegal. Not yet anyway.

Mineral oil is an occlusive agent which prevents water from naturally leaving your body through your skin. Occlusive means to stop or block. It clogs pores and slows the skins ability to eliminate toxins.

Mineral oil is produced as a byproduct of the distillation of petrol from crude oil. It is the leftover liquid and is extremely cheap to purchase.

Crude oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons which were produced when plants and animals decayed in the earth millions of years ago. Yuck!

It is more expensive to dispose of mineral oil than it is to purchase it.

Mineral oil never spoils.

Any mineral oil absorbed by the skin is broken down by the liver and passes through the intestinal tract. It strips fat soluble vitamins along the way.

Some say because it is distilled and refined it is a safe and natural product. Petrol is also from the earth and is a refined product however this is no reason to put it on your skin.

Lipoid pneumonia can be caused by ingesting mineral oil.

The lids of Australia's "favourite" baby oil are now child proof. This is because it is dangerous to ingest mineral oil. Can you now imagine your baby sucking their fist after a massage? A small amount ingested, yes, but we can be rest assured it isn't doing them any good.

Mineral oil is very effective at dissolving grease, which makes it excellent for cleaning the hood of your BBQ (perhaps think about wearing some gloves for this though).

Mineral oil effects the sebum levels in the skin and for this reason speeds the aging process. It does not feed the skin, rather dissolves natural oils and sits on the surface preventing your skin from functioning as it should.

So there you have it. Mineral Oil. Cheap...not so cheerful.

How to prevent tearing during childbirth

When I chat to first time pregnant women, I find that the two main things that they are worried about are: number 1) doing a poo in front of their partner, followed closely by number 2) vaginal tearing. I have decided to write on the vaginal tearing aspect! There are a couple of things that you can do, both pre and post-natally to help reduce the risk of tearing and, in the event of some tearing, to help heal the area.

1) Perineal massage. Most of us don’t really give much thought to our perineum until we are faced with the prospect of tearing during childbirth. There is a significant amount of research to indicate that women who use perineal massage in the last 6 weeks of their pregnancy can reduce their chances of tearing during childbirth and also reduce the chances of having to have an episiotomy (nasty stuff!). When done correctly, massaging the perineum has the benefit of making the skin more supple, but just as importantly, it can help you to familiarize yourself with your perineum and what it feels like to have pressure in that area. Basically, perineal massage involves daily massage with a natural oil (look for unscented). There are videos and diagrams on how to accurately perform a perineal massage on yourself, and if you can, speak to your midwife about it, as they may have some printed material for you to read through which has been professionally written. If this is not your first child and you are concerned about tearing an old perineal scar, you should seek a product with organic rosehip oil (known for breaking down scar tissue) or evening primrose oil. The Ayana perineum oil contains organic rosehip oil and natural vitamin E for this reason. Don’t EVER use a mineral oil based oil on your perineum. It will have the opposite effect from the one you are seeking, making the area dry therefore less supple.

2) Secondly, if you do tear, it’s really not the end of the world!! If you decide not to have stitches, there is something you can do when you get home to make yourself more comfortable and to speed up the natural healing process. A bath tea (also known as a sitz bath) can be of great benefit. Generally, bath teas contain salts known for their healing properties (Epsom, Himalayan etc) plus a variety of herbs, also known to be soothing and healing. For a sitz bath, you put a small amount of warm water into your bath tub (if you have one) and put the salts and herbs into the water and sit in the bath. The Ayana Organics bath teas are herbs and Himalayan salt crystals contained in a tea bag, which can be dropped into the water, and make for easy cleaning afterwards!
If you have stitches, you can use one bath tea bag per day to help speed up the healing process.