FUTURO review and my personal health toolkit.

FUTURO review and my personal health toolkit.

When you become a mum you sacrifice, you give, and you do everything in your power to raise healthy, happy and protected children. 

And then you get a bit older and things start to weaken or show wear and tear or maybe even illness or disease strikes and you realise how little effort you may have been putting into looking after YOU as well. 

Now when you have medical issues I think you can either become a sufferer or a doer, just like the glass half full scenario. I have decided to be a doer and find the best ways to help me and my body, as it is after all my only body, to better cope with life and live a long, healthy, happy one.

While I am only 35 I come from a family with (amongst other things) lots of Osteoarthritis and I myself have also been told I have Ankylosing Spondylitis and scoliosis so my joints and back can be very painful and does need extra tender loving care.

And you know what? These days I am doing pretty darn good. Yes, there is pain, and discomfort but I feel like I have an awesome toolkit at my disposal helping me now! 

Yep, a toolkit! 

Just like you might have for your house or your car.  A toolkit of things that help you, aid you, make a real difference to your quality of life. What is in mine?? 

*EXERCISE. My Rheumatologist told me exercise is even more important for me than the average 35 year old as it will actually help my body to cope better, things like squats and lunges (yikes, I don’t think I will ever like them) help strengthen my muscles and take the pressure off my joints so I am doing sets of exercises every day. I am also back into walking and about to get into a Pilates or yoga class. 
*POSTURE, MASSAGE and PHYSIO TREATMENTS. With my physio I am practising better posture. 
*PLANT BASED ANTI INFLAMMATORY EATING. With my diet I am eating a plant based, clean diet full of green smoothies, fresh juices, soups, salads, fruit platters, raw desserts and (because I can’t help myself – chocolate, my old friend, though, in my defence, mostly refined sugar free chocolate ). It is very much simple foods that I am eating and lots of leafy greens and foods as close to natural as possible – and it is working! My inflammation levels on blood tests have plummeted and I lost 15 kilos! 
*ALKALINE WATER. With my new water filter jug, that I LOVE I have been drinking alkaline water every day, as have my kids! 
*HERBAL SUPPLEMENTS. With my naturopath I am taking silica, turmeric, fish oil, high vitamin c, zinc, pro biotics, glutamin and a herbal mixture. 
*FUTURO SUPPORT. And for my body I am now trying out 
Futuro Custom Dial Stabilising Supports 

I am using these cool innovations, especially when I am doing repetitive work which normally gives me lots of pain. I have to be honest, at first I wasn't so sure they would help as I have tried plenty of creams, braces and things in the past but I did actually feel a difference the first day I was wearing them, especially the wrist ones. These braces by Futuro are specially engineered to give protection and comfort and most of all firm reliable support to weakened or injured areas like wrists, elbows and knees. The supports feature Boa Technology Inc. ‘click to fit’ dials, so they are adjustable throughout the day with the simple twist of a dial, providing the level of support needed by you and giving you control over how it works for you.  

AND my girls thought I looked like Iron Man – so it was the added bonus of instant cool mummy cred too! 

Futuro wrist braces – giving mums pain relief , support AND instant Iron Man coolness!! 

One thing I have absolutely learnt in the last few years is that pain robs your life of JOY. It is a happiness thief, it makes you short tempered, grumpy, dismissive and stops you enjoying each and every moment with your children. 

I also learnt that prescription pain relief doesn’t really help with joint, back and neck pain either. It just takes the edge off and makes you feel vague and tired, plus it puts so much extra stress on your liver and kidneys! And it doesn’t address the problem of why the pain is there either. 

What I now know is it is having a toolkit at our disposal; a balanced, chemical free toolkit, like a great physio, herbal supplements, exercises and tools like these Futuro Custom Dial supports can give us our joy back. 

It can make living in our body much more comfortable so we can get back to the more important things in life like bug hunting in the garden with 4 year olds and braiding 9 year old hair to look like Elsa. 

If I can share any wisdom with fellow mums it is get yourself a great tool kit and support system for your body and your health, it makes a world of difference and you need to take care of yourself because while your kids are your world, you are theirs. 

This is some of my personal toolkit this year – giving me my JOY back.

Bek xoxox 

This is a sponsored blog post as I was paid to review the Futuro Custom Dial supports. 

All opinions are my own and I do very much believe in my "toolkit" and only endorse products I believe in.

If you suffer from joint pain, or have someone you love that does pop over and have at their full product range HERE for medication free support options available out there. After all our bodies have to cope with so many chemicals and things already, anything natural that helps is a really good thing!


Please note the information in this post is based on the author, Bek's own personal experiences and does not in any way give out medical information or replace a consultation with your health care professional, it is for your reading pleasure only. Please always seek and follow expert advice for any and all health concerns you may have before undertaking any kind of treatment, natural or otherwise.

WATER. Hydration for Health & Happiness and a water filter review

WATER
Beautiful, life sustaining water.
I think in modern times, and even especially now that healthy eating has become so very in, we often forget the simple things and one of the most important ingredients of all for a healthy, happy life, WATER...

Up to 60% of the human body is water, every cell in our body uses water. We need water to function, to live and yet so many people don't drink enough water! And don't worry for many years that was me too...
More and more studies have been done that show dehydration to be found in almost every known disease to mankind and it also makes almost every illness's symptoms worse.
Think about it, when something is seriously wrong what do they do in hospital? Put you on a drip! Because they know how important proper hydration is.
Last year I read an incredible book on this very subject coming from decades of medical research called, "Your not sick, your dehydrated."

Wow, what an amazing book and eye opening read.

It wasn't long after reading it and being inspired to include much more water into my day that I began to really notice and worry about the chemicals and toxins found in tap water.
I can totally understand why they are in there. Council's have to make sure no moulds, bacteria or anything harmful gets into people's drinking water, no easy feat when it usually comes from lakes and dams I can imagine.
BUT, if I am making all this healthy, chemical free, beautiful food and trying really hard to have a chemical free house then surely these chemicals are counterproductive?

It was right when I was thinking this over and wondering also at the state of the inside also of my rainwater tank which the owner told em he wasn't sure had been ever cleaned (eek, I know right) that I was contacted about reviewing an amazing, high tech, extremely efficient (and complicated)  in home water filtration system that conveniently is all inside a handy jug!

It is just the perfect size for a family, would fit into any household and is portable so also very convenient for anyone who is renting.
And while the process it undertakes to clean and energise the water is highly complex, you don't have to do much of anything! (Perfect for a busy mum like me) who has little time for more complicated things in life.

It is even designed into an attractive jug that would not clash with any kitchen decor either for that matter.
Which funnily enough has always been of great importance to me and my kitchen purchases ;)

I also LOVE that the company you buy it from is created by Joanne Musgrave, a certified health coach who uses her own training along with naturopath Julie McNab to offer a range on her website that you know has been really well researched, not just the ingredients but the company itself too and their ethics. What is there is beautiful products and you know you can trust what you find at Shop Naturally.

Now this means a lot to me, and I really place a lot of value in businesses that take their products and their word on said products seriously. This makes my life so much easier as a shopper and busy mum and also gives me great respect and admiration for their integrity and passion.
I am just delighted to say that Shop Naturally is one such business.

I don't have hours and hours of spare time to research everything, I just don't so when I can trust a beautiful business that makes my life and shopping experiences so much better.
On the Sunshine Coast I have this trust with the Jeffers Market stores where I know Stephen Jeffers would not stock anything he had not extensively researched and now I have it online at Shop Naturally now I have discovered them too.

The water jug I reviewed and fell in love with is called

Waters Co Bio Mineral Pot Ace 1.5L Water Filter Jug
Check out out here 

It is 1.5 litre, adds minerals back into your water, has a nine stage filtration system, alkalines the water and filters out chlorine and fluoride.

" The 9 filtration stages are: prefilter, activated carbon filter medium, ion exchange resin, bio organic alkaline minerals, organic germanium, far infrared and magnets. They filter out chlorine, heavy metals, fluoride, nitrate, odours, sediment, bacteria, cysts & viruses. At the same time, the filtration system adds around 60 bio organic trace minerals & restructures the water molecules to significantly increase cellular hydration, adding 'Ki' (Life energy)." Website quote. 

It even comes with a PH testing kit, something as a horticulturalist I was very impressed with and interested in.
I have long since suspected the Sunshine Coast water to be acidic and I found out I was right and considering research also sais that cancer can only live in an acid environment I think we all want to improve our bodies PH to be more alkaline and one of the easiest ways to do this is drinking alkaline water everyday.

Improving your hydration and becoming alkaline improves your skin, eyes, hair, weight, mood, bowel movements and is said to be powerful healing for everyone and especially people with auto immune diseases, arthritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis, Reactive Arthritis, asthma, chrons, eczema etc etc

Drinking more water always sounds simple but in reality so often ends up being a bit slap dash!!
I find this jug not only gives me better tasting water that is so much better for me and my family but it also keeps me accountable too as I know just how many times I should be refilling it and drinking from it for me and my two gorgeous girls everyday!

Thank you goes to Shop Naturally for this review and for introducing me to an easy way to beautiful, clean, alkaline healing water for me and my children.

Eat Beautiful, Be Active, Live Well, Find Calm AND stay hydrated!

LOVE Bek XX

The Power of Juicing for a Healthy, Happy Life

Juicing has to be one of the most exciting elements I have added into mine and my children's lives.
I had always heard amazing benefits of juicing and its ability to heal our bodies...but I only ever had the odd juice.

Then one day in a moment that felt like synchronicity during a period of stress an ill health I happened across Joe Cross's documentary, Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead  and the whole world went quiet as I watched. Not something that happens very often when you have 2 kids and one is a young, toddler!
I was just totally captivated and inspired by it.

It was living, filmed proof off the power of juicing for a healthy, happy life.

 

Not just beautiful, juices are life energy in a glass.

Juicing is this incredible way we can give our bodies amazing healing and heath boosting nutrition in a way our bodies can access incredibly fast with little effort.

What are some of the benefits if juicing?

• Weight loss.
• Increased Energy.
• Immune boosting. Our immune system is our own personal army and defence system, anything we can do to support it and protect it is .
• Drastically increases your intake of fresh fruits and vegetables easily which is always a great thing!
• Liver Cleansing and Support. Your liver is such an important part of your body. Your liver cleans your blood and removes harmful and dangerous toxins from your body, you need it in a really great healthy state. The sad thing is they say it is actually quite common for a large proportion of us all to have fatty deposits and livers not in the best state, and this is not a good thing at all. Plus giving your liver a detox improves general wellbeing and even improves your skin in so many ways and helps skin conditions like acne.
• Lusher hair. Due to all the nutrients it is said that juicing can improve hair growth and condition. 
• Digestion. Due to the fact that juicing gives your body a large amount of nutrients while your digestive system has to do little work this is amazing for resting your digestive system and allowing it to heal and look after itself, which is so beneficial for everyone and especially anyone with an autoimmune disease, bowel or digestive issues. 
• Cancer fighting abilities. Due to the extreme amount of antioxidants juicing is said to help prevent and fight cancer, so it is enormous benefit to everyone. There is amazing research out there on this field alone.
• Cold and flu fighting. Due to all the nutrients in a powerful raw easy to access formula juicing is an incredible way to help your body and immune system fight off all sorts of colds, flu's and bugs.

If you have kids juices are a fantastic and easy, fun way to get a big does of vegetables into the kids!!

This Christmas and with the new, fresh year coming up upon us I think one of the best investments we can make for our family and our own health is actually fresh homemade juices using something like the Vitality 4 Lifes Juicers. I use my juicer so often it s honestly one of the best investments I ever made in my home and for my health too.
 I also make small juices in glass bottles for the kids to take to school sometimes and I just love the feeling of giving them a juice with their breakfast in the school morning, or after school on the way to sports or dance knowing what a powerful does of nutrients their bodies are getting.

Plus if your keen to get Summer beach body ready then juicing is your new friend! It can help you drop dress sizes, reduce bloating and clear up skin so you can GLOW this Summer!

We have a few favourite juice recipes but this beautiful, rich Healthy, Happy Life juice is a current favourite!

A Healthy, Happy Life Juice

 

Ingredients

2 cups chopped watermelon

1 large beetroot

1 &1/2 cups fresh green kale

1/2 large cucumber

1/2 cup baby spinach greens

1 red apple

1 green apple

4 long stalks celery

 

Method

• I juice the beetroot, watermelon and red apple together.
• Then I juice the kale, spinach, cucumber, green apple and celery.
• In serving glasses I pour some of the red juice then top with some of the green and while it ends up dark you get this lovely swirling effect of the two colours on top, which adds to decorative effect - not essential you can absolutely just juice it all together of course!

Toddler Tips

• I purposely left the ginger out of this one as my kids often find ginger in a juice just too much, sometimes you can hide it but it is nice to have some juice recipes that are ginger free for them too.
• I highly recommend letting the kids make the juices with you!! Kids love putting the fruits and veggies in and turning them to liquid and this fun element means they are going to be excited about trying them
• If kids, especially older kids are new to juicing, you will want to start with extra fruit in there like apples and then slowly reduce the fruit and increase the veggies over time.

Notes

• For an extra anti inflammatory effect you can add a little fresh turmeric.
• Make yourself a large batch and keep one in the fridge for an afternoon pick me up.

 

This is a sponsored post with a fantastic company called Vitality4Life, "Vital ingredients for a healthy home and environment." Check them out for juicers, dehydrators and more!

 

 

To help you bring the power of juicing for a healthy, happy life into your life we are giving you the chance to WIN $50!!

 

To enter simply:
Simply comment below what kinds of fruits and/or vegetables you like to juice and the most creative answer selected wins the prize!

NOTE: you must leave a comment to be eligible.
This competition is in now way linked, endorsed by or affiliated with Facebook.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e39c8dfc3/"

Recipe, styling and photography (c)rebeccamugridge2014
This is a sponsored blog post with Vitality4life.
Information on this blog is general interest only and based upon the authors own experiences and should never be taken as medical advise or replace the expert opinion of your doctor or medical professional.

Inflammation. Part one - inflammation & me.

Inflammation it seems is at the very root of many illness's and diseases, yet, it is not a topic often talked about enough. We all understand an injury and resulting inflammation during the healing process but what about other types of inflammation and how they effect the body?

I am really excited to be bringing you a series of posts on the very subject including guest articles by leading experts on inflammation, what it is, what it does, how we can deal with it and reduce it in the body.

This first post, I thought I would tell you a bit about why I am interested in inflammation.

Inflammation and me.
A bit over 2 years ago my life spun on its axis.

Before inflammation and AS with baby Violet, my youngest

With baby Violet healthy and happy 2011, lost all 26 kilos of baby weight feeling good.

Just after all the stress hit and starting to gain weight also, I though I was handling it, enjoying my work very much but my body was just beginning to unravel...

Many of you might already know that health, keeping fit, growing food, beautiful plant based wholefoods and living a vibrant life is so important to me and my personal journey so you imagine how upsetting it was to have been so in charge of my health and my body and then have it all fall apart. I gave up smoking 10 years ago and overcame fallopian cysts, I then had a baby - got huge and suffered post natal depression and then empowered myself and lost 30 kilos and kept it off for 5 years, I had a second baby and lost 26 kilos after her and felt just great and then...

My marriage of 12 years and 2 kids broke up after a very turbulent 12 months I had to say enough, for my kids. My grandad died, then I saw my dad and step mother for the first time in 18 years, you can imagine the emotions that stirred up, I even felt like a 13 year old girl again in so many ways...
Then I had an incident with someone I was working with, a good friend who I trusted and found myself having to fight for my integrity and name, for my rights, there was many tears and I had to take a lot of crap and it was ongoing for many months so the stress was indeed extreme and I was still dealing with a messy break up at the time too. My daughter no doubt channelling my off energy and reacting to her parents split began to be bullied at school as well, so suffice to say, it was a very dark time indeed for my little family and when I caught a hand, foot and mouth virus within weeks my whole body started coming crashing down.
I started getting hives for the first time ever in my life, for which a doctor prescribed prednisone which helped but caused me to gain 25 kilos and other side effects, my body was so inflamed my white blood cell count was through the roof and my blood pressure would have episodes of flying high. I then also hurt my neck and overnight found my vision filled with floaters and things, my life became one of headaches, migraines, neck pain, back pain, hip pain, chest pain tingling sensations, I developed sinusitis for the first time ever in my life, my blood tests were all over the place so doctors kept doing more and more tests, trying to figure out what the heck was going on....

At my absolute lowest point of my body health crash, pictured here with gorgeous friends. Yes, I am bravely sharing with you all! I just felt so awful in my own body, stress had taken over everything and my inflammation was extreme I found it so hard to enjoy life and even though I was drinking juices and eating really clean, wholefoods no alcohol, coffee, chocolate, sugar, gluten etc everyday felt like struggle. 

We still are really on a journey, but now we (doctors, specialists and I) know my body is most likely suffering from Ankylosing Spondilitis or AS as it is more easily termed (just awaiting more tests). AS is "a chronic inflammatory disease of the axial skeleton, with variable involvement of peripheral joints and nonarticular structures. AS is a member of the group of the spondyloarthropathies, with a strong genetic predisposition. It mainly affects joints in the spine and the sacroiliac joint in the pelvis. In severe cases, it can eventually cause complete fusion and rigidity of the spine" Wikipedia
It was described to me as a reactive form of arthritis which affects the spine, hips, neck, various tissues and joints (and all sorts of other joyful things) is an autoimmune disease, and often triggered by a viral infection when you have the gene, which I do and which is why until my body came crashing down with stress and HF&M I had only ever had mild symptoms my whole life.
It makes me think too of the possibly that had I not undergone so much stress all in one time OR been able to handle it better I might not have found myself, health wise, where I did and where I am now.
But I am shifting my focus onto wellness!

Isn't it interesting how STRESS can cause inflammation and weaken the body to a point that illness and disease sets in?
It reminds me of a story I read recently in the news about an elderly Sicilian man. He was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in his 40's. So he decided to return home to the little village where he grew up to die. Every day he would play cards, laugh and drink wine with his friends, he even planted fruits and vegetables that he knew he would no be alive long enough to eat and harvest.
50 years later he returned to Australia to ask the doctors why he was still alive, only to find they were all dead. He was quoted as saying friends, laughter and wine were the secrets to his recovery.

As a horticulturalist stress causing illness is actually something I should have already known, I see it all the time in the plant kingdom.
A stressed plant is always vulnerable to pests and diseases. Its like a beacon has been lit and they seem to get hit with so much all at once, but take away their stress, calm them down with what they need and a less harsh environment, treatments and love and a good percentage of the time you cam save them and many will even fully recover or mostly recover but maybe even stronger with a twist or visible reminder of what they have been through.

Looking into inflammation and the bodies ability to heal itself is becoming another element of my passions and I want to do everything I can to help others whose lives have also been effected too and share the knowledge, support, wisdom and above all hope I find with you all.
This is why I am SO excited to be doing a series of blog posts on inflammation with experts and information.

I now know, that no matter how well you eat and exercise, how fit you are, how many green juices and salads you eat STRESS causes INFLAMMATION that will reap havoc on the body and our health and happiness.

On my healing journey back to me, having an absolute ball cooking live at Sunshine Coast Show

With gorgeous friends again 10 kilos down and feeling better from reducing inflammation

Reducing stress and inflammation for a healthy, happy life - lets do this!!

Sign up to my blog >>>>>
On the right hand side you'll find the box so you can join with me in this series on inflammation and reducing stress.

Eat Beautiful. Live Well. Be Active. Stay Calm.

Love Bek XXX