Ahhh the oxalate issue! This has recently been brought to my attention again so I thought I'd do a little blog on it, in defence of greens and all the zippy enzymes, hydration and nutrition they bring!

A concerned, green smoothie-loving reader recently pointed out to me an article stating that: "the vegetables used in green smoothies are almost without exception high oxalate foods.  Over time, a high oxalate diet can contribute to some very serious health problems.... a high oxalate diet can deal a devastating blow to health."

Hear that? A DEVASTATING blow to health! (Insert bomb sound effect here).

The oxalate issue has been one that has scared many people away from trying or consuming green smoothies and juices on a regular basis, which I feel is a shame. I'm volunteering in India at the moment and would kill for a big green leafy salad, green smoothie or (the most impossible of all) a mixed veggie and green leafy juice - ohhh kill me now!!!

The article I read is an interesting case of scientific enquiry (with plenty of gory details on the downsides of having kidney stones!), and the author provided logical arguments. However, as you'll find in any journal article, no matter how peer-reviewed and meta-analysed they may be, other authors provide evidence to the exact contrary, using seemingly solid science. This is the paradox of science - two completely differing viewpoints can be backed up by scientific evidence.

In my professional opinion I have seen far more cases of kidney stones in people who consume excessive amounts of animal protein than people who drink a green juice or smoothie a day. That said, anything can be overdone - including using the same type of green in your green smoothies all the time! It is possible to overdose on spinach and experience symptoms of oxalate poisoning, but this isn't a reason to give up your wonderful green smoothies and veggie juices if you love those - you just need to be aware.

Many plants are toxic for various reasons when consumed in excessive quantitites as a defense against being annihilated by pests and predatory herbivores (a.k.a US!)

So although I love kale, I make sure I VARY or rotate the types of greens used from day to day. Spinach is the main one to be careful of if you're worried about oxalates. I will use kale one day, and the next use romaine lettuce, the next alfalfa sprouts.

Low oxalate greens you can use include lettuce of all varieties, mustard greens and alfalfa sprouts.

From my veterinary years, I noticed that grazing animals eat large quantities of green leafies, but they tend to eat a variety of different greens so they do not auto-intoxicate themselves on oxalates or any of the other compounds found in the greens.

If you're a green smoothie lover and have been stung by the oxalate scare, I hope this helps you to make an informed decision about your health.

In the end you are the highest authority on your own body, so whilst it's important to stay abreast of the latest research, also be aware of how you feel when you drink green smoothies for a while, how different greens and combinations work for you.

Know what your inner experience is as this "experiential evidence" is perhaps the most valuable, and individualised there is.

To your health! (And to varied, delicious and fresh green smoothies, salads and juices - enjoy one for me!)

Casey Conroy - Accredited Practising Dietitian, Accredited & Holistic Nutritionist

By Palasis Cooney, wholefoods chef

Awareness is the first step of realisation. When our bodies are showing clear signs of imbalance then we may become aware something must be done about it. Nutritionally, many symptoms are created by mineral imbalances in the earth's topsoil. Depleted soil will no longer provide the nutrients for plants that we need to assimilate in our diets in order to maintain a healthy body and mind. If we are aware enough we may realise that for many nutritional deficiencies, depletion of the earth is the root cause of the problem and something must be done about it.

I have just completed a Permaculture Design course in Thailand and I'll be travelling around some more to gain experience in the principles and techniques of permaculture and self-sustainability. I went to Thailand with an open mind and had no expectations of what I was going to receive from the course.
 
The teacher Christian Shearer shared with us teachings that went beyond the physical realm and a little into the emotional and spiritual aspects of the holistic, integrated system of Permaculture Design. Through effective communication methods, clearly stated goals, the desire to meet basic human needs and effectively and consciously directed action we can form communties where all members can use their creative gifts to support it.

Permaculture seeks to create agriculturally productive systems with the diversity and sustainability of natural systems in order to provide food, water, shelter and all other needs in a a sustainable or even regenerative way.

Parallels between human and earth health

Science can be a little daunting, but science is everything we observe in the world around us and beneath us. The soil  is the main part of what I am writing about here and it is literally teaming with billions of bacteria. Guess what - so are we! Our bodies have more bacterial cells inside them than human cells and if we can understand parallels between the earth and our bodies, we can more deeply understand the problem and what needs to be done about it.

The simple yet crucial observation that I made was the distinctive similarity between the way the Earth is treated through modern agriculture, and how humans are treated - by themselves or otherwise. In Permaculture there is a model based on inputs and outputs, which shows us what elements we need to survive and thrive off an area of land and which of these the land can give us. The earth really can give us everything we need, so this simple model is not complete without considering and actioning what can we give the earth in return.

The problem with monoculture

Let's take a look at the monoculture production of iceberg lettuce, keeping in mind this process is common among all modern agricultural farming techniques who produce a monoculture. In many parts of the world, the seeds for this crop are sourced from Monsantos.

Monsantos is a sizeable corporation that monopolises the production of the most widely used crops in the world and sells their seeds to farmers in the most remote regions of the world. Once planted these genetically modified seeds produce plants that mostly produce no seeds and pollinate crops all around the vicinity to take on the same characteristics, hence no more seeds except from Monsantos.  

This is disastrous for marginalised communities struggling to survive. Monsantos provides GMO seeds to disaster stricken communities sometimes for free. Once these seeds are up and growing they require fertiliser - and it's compulsory to use Monsantos fertiliser or legal action can and is taken against farmers. This fertiliser is a cadmium (heavy metal) based salt, which rather than making the soil and plant stronger as in organic farm methods (by balancing out the semi-permeable membranes of the plant), this chemical fertiliser bloats the plant so it's basically water.

The plants appear to grow bigger and faster but it's not in any way healthier. This is when hungry insects come in to devour the compromised plants. These insects are then killed with insecticide which is cleverly stocked on the Monsantos shelf.  The soil progressively becomes more acidic and the soil structure is weakened. The bacterial balance in the soil is disturbed as pathogenic lifeforms multiply and plants are unable to utilise the normal decaying organic matter to be healthy. Fungal disease then sets in and Monsantos again stocks the fungicides used as a bandaid solution to the mounting problem.

With bacteria and fungal balance compromised and soil more acidic than is viable, the earth will still attempt to naturally heal itself. There are some plant species that grow in dead soil to restore and regenerate it - these are weeds and legumes. They are nitrogen fixers, that is, they take nitrogen from the atmosphere into the roots and make it available for the bacteria and fungi to use and continue the natural process with nematodes and protozoa and eventually, the plants. However, this process is seen as a threat of course and out comes the Monsantos branded herbicides to destroy any chance of soil survival.

A minor saving grace to provide beneficial nutrients to the soil is this: once the crop is gone and in the travelling process to Woolworths or Coles, a piddly spread of three elements is dusted over the soil in the form of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium). This keeps the soil weak enough to remain sick and strong enough for sellable plants to grow. Under this model, when the bare minimum of three elements are used as sole fertiliser, the Monsantos chemical cocktail is necessitated to keep plants alive.

It seems to me like the Earth's soil is on a life support system. By continuing to operate in this reductionist system we are inevitably the ones paying the price in our health and that of the earth.

This is the same process used by the meat industry and poultry. How long does it take for a chicken to get to your table? Around 6 weeks. Six miserable weeks of being fed antibiotics, growth hormones, and being stuffed into a lot with thousands of other birds. The birds are unable to partake in natural chicken behaviours - moving around the garden eating insects and fruit, and scratching about helping feed back manure into the system of life. The chicken can't move and has broken bones as it grows too quickly and puts on mass too quickly for the bones to catch up. It's a quick solution to get the money in the poultry meat industry's pocket as quickly as possible. Let's not mention the marketing that goes with it. 

Net effects on human health

Food is one of the most basic ways for a human being to nourish his or her mind, body and spirit. How can we possibly have a fighting chance if we are being fed a chemical cocktail of hazardous sprays, heads of lettuce mostly made up water and a mix of three basic elements out of the dozens that our bodies need? 

When we mix the problem of depleted soils and nutrtiionally devoid produce with highly processed convenience foods, we create a state of health and a corresponding societal structure that leaves many people feeling stressed, depressed, and empty on so many levels. Intentionally or not, this feeds another infamous industry: pharmaceuticals.

We are being kept alive enough to keep the major food industries profitable, and sick enough to assist the pharmaceutical industry. Those in control are not dealing with the problems, but rather applying bandaid solutions that are cheaper. If this is sounding eerily similar to the health solutions applied to humans, you are justified in your alarm. All health issues, whether human health or land fecundity, need to be dealt with at the root cause of the problem, rather than symptomatically. This is what holistic human health systems and permaculture have in common.

It doesn't take a genius to work out that the underlying cause of suffering in the world can begin to be solved by healing the earth's soil. Leading permculturalist Geoff Lawton said, " You can solve all the worlds problems in the soil". By improving the quality of the soil - the source of where our food comes from - and by creating massive diversity in our gardens, plants will be healthier, stronger and more resistant to disease. We would have no need for insecticides, pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides. 

Grow local, buy local, eat sustainable

By supporting local growers in your community, you will know where your food is coming from and you'll be eating food that's in season. We are a product of our environment, and by obeying the laws of nature, living in harmony with our natural biocosmic and bioregional cycles, our own health and immunity is bolstered.

We each have a role to play. Humans are just as important as the bacteria and fungus in the soil, just our being here creates an environment for other species to survive and interact with each other. We have the power to form communities and grow our own food on a local scale, thus creating more unity, more beauty in bio-diversity, and greater health on every level. 

Are you in?

When I return, i'll be bringing with me a plan to establish community gardens, building on the progress we are already starting to see in our local community and on the Gold Coast in general. This plan will require community support from anyone interested in taking control of their lives. There is no need to be bound to an unsustainable system when we can instead utiluse tried and true systems that have nurtured and sustained indigenous cultures all over the world for tens of thousands of years. I'll show you what to grow, how to grow it, when, where and why. Time is going by fast we need to look after ourselves and each other, NOW, to end the suffering.

Can't sleep? It's past New Years now so hopefully any sleep deprivation or hangovers have been amended with rest and water.

But what if you can't sleep and your periods are out of whack, or you've got menopausal symptoms at age 35, or you're tired all day and wired all night? It might just be time to get off facebook and stop checking emails every five minutes. 

I've spent the last week on a lush hill on a tropical island with no internet or mobile reception (aside from the odd walk into town), and I've noticed something astounding - life has become much simpler. I hadn't noticed it as much before but now it's obvious: our interfacing with screens of all kinds has upsurged in recent years, to a point that feels like we spend nearly as much time looking at an iphone or computer screen as we do soaking up natural sunlight and gazing at something other than pixels. We are living in the digital age and the social transformation it has brought about is astonishing.

Have you noticed that there’s a particular crowding going on right now? I'm referring to the mad communication in all its shapes and forms. Posted letters are now an antiquated thing. Pre-2000, it used to be that we might get a couple of letters in the mailbox each day and that was it. Today, if you go through your inbox there may be hundreds of emails! If you switch off your phone for half an hour, there are texts and voicemails waiting at the other side of short-lived tranquility. It’s disrespectful to us as human beings to be interfacing with that onslaught.
 
I understand most of us are incredibly busy - we all have a lot going on in our lives, and we find ourselves sending a lot of energy OUTWARDS. Given the amount of stuff we have going on, this outward draining of energy diminishes our ability to sustain equilibrium and create beautiful lives by constantly responding to those stimuli, sometimes out of a feeling of obligation, and often to unconsciously evoke a feeling of business and worthiness. There’s the casual stuff – social media, texting and calling friends. Then there’s the work stuff, and that can often be a case of people biting off more than they can chew or having too much required of them. It’s like it starts to crowd in and we feel like we need a year to catch up on all of it!
 
All this activity gives us an opportunity to practice standing in our truth, and resist being pulled into obligation. If we take this from a spiritual perspective, we are only obligated to our own spiritual unfoldment. We have all these people and activities we feel obligated to.

Part of the practice of nourishing ourselves fully is letting go, being ok with the fact that it might not be ok with the other person, which of course strikes at our fear of not being liked and accepted, which is connected to a primal fear of being abandoned and alone. Instead of jumping each time an invitation lands in our inbox, let’s peel it back and dissect our reactions – if we’re feeling all this pressure, what program is being activated? We’re NOT obligated to respond to an email within ten minutes.
 
In mindlessly responding to every email, text or facebook message, and in spending more and more time staring at screens we sabotage our body's natural cycles. Take for example our Circadian rhythms. 


The 3 body clock cycles

Your circadian rhythm operates in 3 eight-hour cycles per day. This rhythm has been known for thousands of years within Ayurveda and TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine). Understanding and applying these body clock principles will allow you to enjoy easy digestion, keep your weight from fluctuating, never experience fatigue and optimise metabolism.  

These are the cycles:

    4AM-12PM Elimination
   12PM-8PM Appropriation
    8PM-4AM Assimilation

There's a lot you can do to start honouring these cycles and in doing so, improve digestion, enjoy better quality sleep and boost immunity! Personally I feel the elimination cycle  is possibly the most important of all to nourish in the digital age we live in, and its also the most neglected.

If we are using electronics beyond sunset, certain signals cannot be processed in the body in optimal ways. If you’re using screens anytime after 8pm – which is the time people often catch up on things - the artificial light not to mention the radiation will stimulate your various glands and has the potential to wreck havoc with hormones.

The hypothalamus gland sends messages to your pituitary gland to help put you to sleep when the sun goes down. This occurs sometime between 6 and 8pm to prepare you to be asleep before 10pm.

All internal cycles of rejuvenation happen between 8pm and 4am (or in other sources, between 10pm and 6am. It's probably safest to stay away from screens between 8 pm and 6am). During this time, the liver is detoxifying, matter is moving from the small intestine to the large intestine for morning elimination, blood is being cleansed by the kidneys, and so on. 

Just like flowers opening their petals and birds singing their morning songs, these cycles occur in perfect synchronicity because of obedience with nature. When we defy nature, we send mixed signals to the body. When women come to see me with hormone imbalances – instead of trying to fix them by putting more hormones back in (whether through food or otherwise), I ask why they’re functioning this way now? One major factor is circadian rhythms.

We really need to tune into our inner cycles. One of the biggest preventers of this is radiation-emitting devices and a lot of exposure to screens. Add the crowding of digital media and our perceived responsibilities, and we can really have the s*** kicked out of our natural rhythms.  

This is when immunity suffers and bad habits kick in with even more power. If our hormones are out of sync, our whole being out of sync. This is why it's SO important  to build boundaries and watch where you’re opposing nature, since wherever you're disobeying natural law, you’re impeding every cycle in your body.

Know your boundaries, be self-referring for your own approval, and above all - if it's past 8pm, get off facebook! And switch your mobile and wifi off while you're at it. Give it a few weeks - you might be surprised at the positive response of your body.