Happy Birthday Mr. Ox

My atoms and chemicals could've been made anywhere in the universe, but they were made here, near you. 

Near yours.  

from here

I am too lucky to have someone so good to me xx

Leaving on a Jet Plane

 

You know that feeling you get when everything goes perfectly, constantly and nothing's ever wrong with anyone or anything? Me neither. from here.

Today we leave Dublin after some horrible experiences with not nice people. But with the bad comes the good, we did meet some of the best people, friends who I will love, cherish and miss like hell until life brings us together again. Waving good-bye and smiling because it happened, so long Dublin.

Surprising

via here

I don't even like AFL, but I am Australian, so I did watch the Grand Final today, and boy, what a nail biter! I'm a little excited about next week...

Tales of the misunderstood: RDI

via here

Strolling through my local Tesco's the other day, I was struck by the amount of packaging that has RDI's displayed on them. RDA (or Recommended Daily Intake) are the amount of nurients required to keep an individual healthy. Or so we all think. In actual fact, RDI's are the levels of nutrients require to meet the requiremnets of 97%-98% of the population.
What does that mean?

Couldn't have said it better myself

I realised that I have neglegted to explain what it is I do (silly Chiropractor!)

So what is Chiropractic?

This excellent video explains it better than I can, so have a watch, its worth it, promise

Tales of the misunderstood: The Food Pyramid

Few things erk me as much as the Food Pyramid does. There are so many things wrong with it, yet it is advocated as the "gold standard" in nutrition and the path to healthy living.
So what's my beef with this type of diet?
First of all, let's look at how the pyramid came about. It was first published in 1978 in Denmark, but in 1992 the United States Department of Agriculture adopted it. That's right, it wasn't put together by doctors or nutritionists, but a government department who's aims are to meet the needs of farmers and promote agricultural trade and production determined what we should be eating.

Dreaming of the tropics

Since we are moving to the tropics I'm dreaming of floaty white cotton clothes. This All Saints dress fits the bill perfectly...now to convince Mr. Ox that I need it...

Mushrooms on toast

Having left my camera in London, I don't have a pretty picture to go with this post, sorry

Now mushrooms are not really a health food I am afraid...they are in fact a fungus and mold and fungus of any type is not good for the body. But I still love them. And on days that I am feeling homesick, longing for sunny Melbourne brunches down by the Yarra, I make this breakfast, inspired by Riverland one of our favourite Melbourne eateries. As with all things that are not good for you, this is more food for the soul not food for the body.  But once in a while we all need a little pick-me-up. The brioche is an extra special touch, you can get it from good bakers, or Marks & Spencers if you're lucky enough to be near one.

Thoughts on Health Care

image from here

I was reading one of Dr. Chestnut's books the other day and he brought up an interesting point.
He said:

If you want to be happy, you study happy people,

If you want to be rich, you study rich people,

If you want to be healthy, you study health people

Chiropractors study Anatomy, Physiology, Psycology, Neurology, Nutrition; they study health.
Medical Doctors study Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Pharmacology; they study sickness and disease.
So Medicine and Chiropractic are totally different. Medicine in sick care, Chiropractic is health care.
So you need to pick your practitioner for what you require. If you need an expert in sickness and disease, you need a Medical Doctor, but if you need and want an expert in HEALTH, then what you need is a Chiropractor. You wouldn't get a plumber to wire up your house, he wouldn't have the right tools, so why would you get a sickness expert to fix your health?

Review: Temple Bar Food Markets

image from here

Every Saturday Mr. Ox and I take our re-useable cotton bags down to the Temple Bar food market to stock up on our local organic veggies and meat for the week. Mr. Ox is partial to the coffee (the BEST in Dublin, hands down) while I love the warm apple juice (with a sneaky shot of apple brandy to keep the chill out) and the vegan wheat free treats. Shopping at these types of markets are good for the environment and for your health (not to mention the hip pocket) because you are buying good, local, organic, sustainably produced food from people who care, thus cutting down on transport costs and keeping Irish money in Ireland. No greedy global brand rapping and pillaging the earth with carcinogenic substances here. So do something good for yourself, the environment and the community and give your local market a go, I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised.

Still alive and kicking

image from here

Posting has been light on I know...I left my camera with my mum in London (slaps forehead!) and the in-laws are here for 2 weeks and then we're moving back to Australia (gasp) so run off our feet at the moment...but stay tuned...blog posting will resume...as soon as I get some time to scratch myself...

Missed me?

image from here

Sorry posting has been a bit light on lately, Mr. Ox and I just got back from a week in London.
I have a confession to make...I hate London, well I DID hate London, until this trip.
This was my 6th trip to London and finally I found things to like about the city. To me its always seemed gray, dirty, cold, expensive with more Australians than Australia. But it has it's good points like:

Funny 'cause it's true

A Chiropractor friend of mine posted this on Facebook from this Chiropractic Clinic. It had this caption with it:

FDA approved, prescription drugs are the 3rd leading cause of death right behind heart disease and cancer. All three of which are largely preventable

 I laughed at it, but the sad part is that this is too true for so many people. I think it's time to take a step back and look at our daily routine. Are we doing things that make us sick? Have we forgotten the true power of the human body to heal? Do we really believe that health comes in a bottle from a pharmaceutical company? Or are we just too lazy to care for our greatest asset, our health?

That old devil called Stress

I read today that Mad Men star, Jon Hamm (he plays Don Draper) is suffering from a skin disease called vitiligo, which is an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks the cells that cause skin pigmentation. He says that it is due to the stress involved with filming the show. And you know what, he may be on to something...
We chiropractors talk about 3 types of stresses:

Apple Lust

Not these apples silly! These are organic pink ladies from the temple bar markets

I need a new phone...and I want an iphone 4. I've always loved apples, in fact my first computer was one of those rectangular bricks, and I loved it. My love affair with apple started WAY before they were cool, which makes me think of this article by one of my favourite Melbourne colomists, Danny Katz...its true, Mr. Ox and I are iWankers...

2 years and counting...

I know you're busy doing all the things you always planned to do but remember,
today is also the day that you kiss me.
Happy Anniversary Mr. Ox
borrowed from here

Happy Birthday Mum!

Before you were conceived I wanted you
Before you were born I loved you
Before you were here an hour I would die for you
This is the miracle of life.

- Maureen Hawkins 

I'm lucky enough to have a mum who loves me like this

Superfood: Black Rice

Trolling through my favourite newspaper the other day, I came across a story about the new "superfood" can you guess?

Black Rice!

Be still my beating heart...

Eating different coloured rice is a very Asian thing, white rice is less common and more expensive so it is saved for special occasions, in Sri Lankan culture, red rice is the staple rice with basmati or samba being saved for celebrations. 
I love black rice and according to food scientists, I have a good reason to! To quote: "Just a spoonful of black rice bran contains more health promoting anthocyanin antioxidants than are found in a spoonful of blueberries, but with less sugar, and more fibre and vitamin E antioxidants." Fabulous.
The article also goes on to say that other coloured rice such as purple and red rice are equally good for you. to My mum was happy to hear this as she was constantly force-feeding me red rice through much of my childhood...funny how mum's are always right huh? Better start hunting some red rice down, but in the mean time, enjoy this amazing recipe for black sticky rice pudding (not super healthy since it still contains sugar, but super tasty none the less)

Tales of the misunderstood: Cholesterol

When talking to my patients, one thing they that constantly comes up in conversation is cholesterol. "My GP says I have high cholesterol" and 9 out of 10 times, they've been put on cholesterol lowering medication. But why? Research suggests that there is no link between cholesterol and heart disease, and a new study even shows that people with low levels of cholesterol are more likely to die than those with higher levels. Now I could go on and on and on about the twisted logic behind this but there are many smarter people who have already done this, so I won't. But I will leave you with this thought, if cholesterol lowering medications kill more people than they save, why are so many people on them? There's no correct answer to this, but it comes down to a few key things:

Sunshine

After leaving my job last week, Husband and I have been spending lots of time laying around in the sun in various parks around Dublin, which is good for your health, haven't you heard?

Words of Wisdom: Following your dream

So last week after a long and horrible ordeal, Husband and I left our jobs. Hard to do when you love your job as much as we do and there are so many people depending on you for help and healing. But when you are told to violate your principles for the sake of the almighty euro (all while not being paid), it makes the decision a little easier.
So for guidance I am re-reading The Alchemist. Brilliant book, haven't got past the Authors Note yet, since I found exactly what I needed on the second page. To quote:

Sri Lankan Pumpkin Curry

1940's wisdom from my grandmother

This really is becoming more of a food blog and less of a chiropractic one isn't it? Oh well!
For Christmas last year my mum gave me my grandmothers cookbook. Printed in 1942, the Daily News Cookery Book was every housewives best friend. My favourite part of it are the newspaper clippings and recipe sheets from the housewives association my grandmother belonged to, each with handy tips on how to keep a spotless house, entertain guests and still keep your husband happy. Things that are still important to be a good wife, along with holding down a high power job, dressing to kill and leaping tall buildings in a single bound.
The recipes in this book make me feel at home. Traditionally each Sri Lankan woman cooks differently and no two family recipes are remotely the same. This curry is my favourite, although here in Ireland pumpkin isn't a popular vegetable, they only grow it for pig food and for halloween. Still, I made this for husband and Australian friend the first and they loved it.

Raw Protein Bar

Most of the time Husband and I are relatively healthy. We eat very little processed carbohydrates, a little organic animal products, a small amount of fruit and lots of vegetables, especially green. But all this healthy eating can be hard when you love baked goods as much as we do, so once in a while I make a raw protein bar that we have as a snack. They are supper yummy and travel well, plus you can flavour it with what ever you want, change up the nuts and fruit, use warm coconut oil instead of carob (or use organic dark chocolate!) and it's a totally different beast!

Tourist in your town: The Guinness Storehouse

Recently Sister-in-law came to stay. So like good little tour guides, we did the ttourist thing around Dublin. One of the things she really wanted to do was have a pint of the black stuff in the gravity bar at St James Gate. So off we trotted.
Now, I have to say that I was not expecting much, I haven't heard many good things about the old storehouse, but I was pleasantly suprised. An adult ticket will set you back E15 (a little price-y but that's Dublin for you) but I ever the super organised bargin hunter, order our ticktets online the night before and secured a 10% discount. I would highly recommend doing this as you get to skip the long queue as well.

Hummingbird Cupcakes

I have a tiny kitchen. Its more of a corridor than actual kitchen. I don't even have a proper oven, just a bench top one, which is so small I can only bake 6 cupcakes at a time. But I still love to cook and once a week I usually bake. As a health care professional and someone who is interested in nutrition, I do understand the problem with this, but I'm able to sleep at night by telling myself that at least I know what goes into what I make, plus good food not only nourishes the body but the soul.
With that, I set about making Husbands favourite cake, Hummingbird. I have never really been that much of a fan and during the 4 years Husband and I have been together I have never been able to bake a proper version. Until now...these were cinnamon, banana, pineapple cream cheese perfection, even made the burns I obtained while making them worthwhile!

Irish Markets

Today Husband and I were at the Ranelah Market, "spreading the Chiropractic word" :P. And Dublin put on a brilliant show with the weather, sunny skies all day (with only 2 minutes of light rain!). I love giving free postural checks and talking to like minded people about health and I love markets. There's nothing better than buying fresh, organic, local produce from people who really care about food.  It's a pity that this young market will only be around for one more week. I really hate to see it go, the people there, including the stall owners, were so lovely and there really was a sense of community, so much better than a stuffy old tescos. I wish all the people involved best of luck and hope our paths cross again soon.
picture from here

Hello World!

Hello!
This is my first post, so bear with me while I work out all the kinks...
I guess the best place to start is the beginning!
I am a 20-something Chiropractor from Australia, living and working in Dublin with my Husband who is also a Chiropractor. We've been here about 8 months now and have just started up a new clinic. Moving to a new city is hard, starting up a new clinic is hard, moving to the other side of the world away from your family and friends, starting a new business, making new friends and getting yourself familiar with foreign city all in your first year out of university...almost impossible! So I am starting this blog (and site) as a form of therapy, and to share some musings about my three favourite things in life, food, family and Chiropractic.
Feel free to drop me a line anytime!

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