Category: Healing

Spring energetics - moving from darkness into light

12/10/2018

Wild edibles have been popping up everywhere in our hood - check out these bitter dandelion greens. Perfect with some sour lemon juice, olive oil and salt for a simple spring salad.

Spring is here, and although I LOVE it, the transition has been rough...

Winter just isn't my thing (as nice as all those warm cups of chai tea are!) Spring is my favourite season of the year - and not just because it's my birthday season. As the weather started warming up, our little family enjoyed daily expeditions to a local mulberry tree. It seemed our hands and faces were perpetually stained purple, and life was sweet.

Then we had a car crash.

And it was as if our whole world was turned upside down.

Someone rear ended us on the highway. Miraculously no one was hurt, but it shook us all up. Since then, my family and I have encountered battle after battle. Physical, emotional, mental, you name it.

It started with that car crash involving all of us (such a scary experience with babies in the back). Between us we've been through a bout of hospitalisation for appendicitis, some heavy repressed memories resurfacing, a shitload of emotional processing (with anger, shame and vulnerability at the forefront), the extreme physical fatigue that accompanies such emotional processing, a teething baby (aren't they just always teething?!) and learning about the "tantrum explosion" stage of a certain ginger haired three-nager.

Kairi eating dirt. Might be some Wood energetic medicine I don't know about?!

Yin to Yang, dark to light

You could say that the car crash not only shook us up: it woke us up from various slumbers we'd all been sleeping through. For me, it has shone a spotlight onto some dark places I've been ignoring for a long time.

Seasonal transitions can be interesting to say the least. And the transition from winter to spring is perhaps the most tumultuous transition. It’s a tug-o-war between the quiet, dark, restorative, inward Yin energy of winter into the bold, outward, ascending, bright Yang energy of spring – and the shift can be massive!

Spring energetics - wood element

In Chinese medicine Spring is associated with the element Wood. The energy of new growth and germination marks this season, and here in SE Queensland new plant life is springing up all around us. This is my favourite time of the year for urban foraging and wildcrafting edible weeds.

The meridian that corresponds with the wood element is the liver / gallbladder meridian. Wood element within us governs our sense of vision, the emotion of anger, and the sound of shouting. Wood energy can aggravate the mind by allowing pressure to build (like a seed germinating), propelling us forward into creating, planning and working.

Wood element is about us having purpose and vision in our lives, our planning ability. Type A personalities this is the time to be careful to keep your perfectionist / overworking tendencies in check! (talking to myself here - I’ve taken on WAY too much work lately resulting in thoughtless shortcuts, frustrating setbacks and angry outbursts, and I now need to reassess my workload. AGAIN!)

When vision is stifled, we feel that anger and frustration and want to shout, and at the right time and place we can and should shout. Anger is an energy that needs space and if pent up that pressure can become dangerous.

Anger, indigestion... and growth

Amidst the storm of emotional turbulence that has marked this year's dark to light seasonal transition, I’ve had some seriously angry outbursts. As a bunch of shit has happened and painful repressed memories from my past have resurfaced, I've been feeling more than my usual lot of anger towards myself and others from my past and present.

I find yelling into the earth, punching a pillow, or just roaring while standing in my kitchen helps me let some steam off and transmute my pain so I (hopefully) don’t dump it onto other people - usually my poor husband!

I've found that yelling and moving my body helps me tap into the deeper emotions of grief and pain, so that I can then cry and move through those - and hopefully come out the other side to a lighter place.

The energy of new growth and germination marks this season - and clearly that growth isn't always comfortable! If too much Wood energy builds pressure and is not released, it can result in symptoms like hypertension, headaches, sore muscles, indigestion, allergies, irritability, insomnia and outbursts of rage.

This year's winter into spring has been a gloriously turbulent, disastrously beautiful, emotionally and physically exhausting transition for us - maybe it has been for you too. Personally I've had to reach out and practice extreme vulnerability with close friends (not one of my strong points), and practice those uncomfortable skills of feeling unpleasant emotions, releasing through crying and yelling, and applying bucket loads of self-compassion.

But it's not all emotional turbulence and digestive ails. With Spring there's also that palpable quickening in the air; that shimmer of morning dew on newly sprouting herbs in the garden; that pulsation of warm, wet earth underneath bare feet. New growth, even if it's forced and we don't feel ready for it. The promise of new life.

As I wake from a winter slumber (physically and metaphorically) I'm beginning to see how old ways of being are no longer working for me, and have been forced to deal with issues that have been sitting in the dark for years.

I'm also seeing the seeds I planted many months and years ago start to germinate into exciting new projects which I'll be sharing with you in the coming months.

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3 things you MUST know about Postpartum nutrition

29/3/2018

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"Eat ENOUGH food. This is where you need to put your big girl pants on, ignore the ridiculous cultural push to lose the "baby weight" as fast as possible... and eat like a grown-ass woman."

What you eat during the month after you give birth has the power to radically improve your strength and recovery.

And, it is said in Chinese medicine, what you eat and how well you take care of yourself during this crucial time has the power to impact your health 20, 30 or more YEARS down the track.

There are other important things to think about in your Golden Month, which I mention here - but of course, being a nutritionist, I believe the food you eat after having a baby is crucial.

Nutritional requirements during recovery and breastfeeding unsurprisingly increase, and in the case of some specific nutrients, quite significantly so.

If you're breastfeeding your requirements for protein, zinc, iodine and vitamin A literally double.

And to produce milk, you need to be getting more overall calories than even during your third trimester of pregnancy; around 500-600 calories more for the first six months postpartum if breastfeeding exclusively (as recommended by the World Health Organisation), which is an extra meal or 2-3 extra snacks a day.

Of course I don't recommend calorie counting and nothing is set in stone - listen to your hunger and fullness cues and you will be fine. Note: If you have a history of or current disordered eating you may find it difficult to follow your body's hunger and fullness cues, in which case seeing a HAES or non-diet health professional would be super helpful for you.

Even if you cannot or choose not to breastfeed, extra nutrition is required to heal from childbirth and replenish your body after nine months of pregnancy.

And if your kids are more school age than newborn, you need some serious fuel to keep up with all the crazy demands asked of you, mama. You have important shit to do and you need energy and nutrients to do it.

So without going into a huge amount of detail on exact postpartum nutrition requirements, here are the three big nutritional principles from TCM you can aim to follow in your Golden Month.

And by the way, nourishing yourself well is as crucial in healing immediately after childbirth, as it is 10 years postpartum. These three tips apply just as much years after your last child is born, as they do as soon as the baby is born.

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I'm recovering from an eating disorder: can I still be VEGAN?

18/10/2017

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I work with a lot of yoginis and yogis, alternative lifestyle leaders, animal rights activists, and environmentally conscious folks. I also work in the field of disordered eating.

So naturally I often find myself in the situation where I'm chatting with somebody who is very keen to heal their troubled relationship with food... but they don't want to budge on their vegan ideals.

This person may have been through the psychological hell that is a full blown eating disorder...

... OR they may fall into the spectrum of disordered eating on the end of the continuum that wouldn't be classified as a clinical eating disorder, but disordered eating and disordered body image - an issue that faces a significant number of women in Australia.

OFTEN, they've experienced both.

The big question here is, "If I'm actively recovering from a clinical eating disorder - or any other form of disordered eating - can I be vegan and still get better?"

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How I failed at Postpartum yoga

20/9/2017

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I've waxed lyrical about my disdain for the commodification of yoga and how until very recently, it drove me away from yoga for nearly two years. You can read me being all anti-mainstream yoga Ranty McRantus, here.

But the other big reason I quit yoga was this: after I gave birth to my first child, my personal yoga practice was feeling spiritually unfulfilling. And physically depleting as hell.

Following Archie's birth, the yoga I knew and loved - the dynamic, acrobatic, energetic practice full of dance and strong postures, inversions and fast flow - it just no longer... worked. It was not giving me the vitality, peace and stillness it once did.

It has taken many painful mistakes, a near-complete abstinence from yoga for a time, and a rediscovery of yoga at a deeper level for me to come out the other side. Here's what happened after I had my first baby, and how you can avoid making the same mistakes I did.

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Summer body WOES are made in winter

20/8/2017

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It's the end of winter, nearly spring. This is Imbolc - the time of metaphoric rebirth. Half way between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, this is traditionally a time for purification and spring cleaning in anticipation of the new surge in life approaching.

We may well still have a few cold snaps ahead of us but the energy has shifted.

Both energetically and in the natural world, now is the time we see new growth following the seeming dormancy of Winter. Imbolc is a time of hope, a time filled with the excitement of new possibilities for the future, the time for manifestation of whatever dreams we've been seeding over winter.

And troublingly - but not surprisingly - there are plenty of body-shaming industries ready to capitalise on the collective feelings of hope and excitement that coincide with the change in season.

One industry that plays a huge part in forming the mass constructed social expectations placed on bodies associated with this time of year is, of course, the diet industry.

Being late winter when the growing warmth is reminding us of the bikini season 'just around the corner', this is when we hear an escalation of mantras like, "Summer bodies are made in winter" along with increased pressure to buy those programs and products that employ this infuriating rhetoric.

The marketing strategies of those selling diet plans, weight loss products, 8- or 12-week training regimes and body-beautifying yoga challenges adopt this kind of tagline in order to incite a feeling of urgency or even panic in those who, shamefully, 'still haven't started working on their summer body.'

Well fuck that.

I say, "Body shame is perpetuated by stupid sayings like 'Summer bodies are made in winter.'"

Your body is not the problem. Your belief that your body is the problem, is the problem.

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The SSSW ideal: What it is & why it hurts women

3/7/2017

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It's mindful eating misused as a weight loss technique in a "Meditate Yourself Thin" program.

It's crash dieting rebranded as a juice cleanse that's an "integral part of your wellness journey".

It's a 12-week yoga shred challenge that focuses on making you lean, toned and taut, rather than preparing you for seated meditation (the traditional purpose of yoga asana).

It's a $5000 program that promises to "reveal your inner goddess" and make you happy, sexy, spiritual and confident all in one weekend... because once that goddess is unleashed, every man will want to be with you and every woman will want to be you.

It's a female sexuality course, a yoga training, or a detox program that teaches you how to be female - the "right" kind of female: Sexy, Slim, Successful, and let's not forget the one caveat that makes it all cool: Spiritual.

For years this has bothered me. As a yoga teacher and health professional, I've innately felt that there's something really icky about this kind of marketing, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. "It's just business, honey," I imagine the creators of these taglines would tell me, "It's the nature of marketing. It's just smoke and mirrors. Take a deep breath and exhale that negativity! Don't get your knickers in a knot."

Clearly, I only felt uncomfortable with this kind of marketing because I was "not ready for success", or deep down I "didn't think I deserved it."

And so, I'd uncomfortably push it to the back of my mind, tell myself I was being silly... and swallow the bile that had involuntarily made its way up into my throat.

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Yin & Yang Foods

4/9/2014

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I have a question for you.

What do you think your body wants most?

Better food? Cleaner air? More sex? All of the above?

Balance, or homeostasis, is what your body wants most. Your body naturally wants to be balanced. Any tiny change to your environment that alters your blood's pH and oxygen saturation will elicit a cascade of events that ultimately attempts to bring you back into a state of perfect balance.

Did you know that the food you eat is a major contributing factor to the overall balance of the body? According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, the energetic effects of some foods on the body are mild, such as vegetables and whole grains.

Foods such as meat, milk, sugar and salt have more extreme effects on the body, and when consumed in excess, can throw it off balance. This struggle eventually leads to a craving for whatever the body needs to regain balance. Extreme foods can be divided into two categories: contractive and expansive. Traditional Chinese Medicine recognises these food qualities as Yin (expansive) and Yang (contractive).

Sometimes my clients seem to be eating all the right things - their macronutrient intake is spot on, and they are getting adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals - but their bodies are still showing serious signs of imbalance.

This is when I might look to traditional, more energetically-based approaches like TCM for clues on how to get that person feeling better.

Contractive Foods

The most common and powerful contractive food is salt, which many people consume regularly and in large quantities especially if they eat a lot of takeaway or cured meats.

Animal foods (including fish) are also extremely contractive foods. These yang foods can imbue us with feelings of strength, aggressiveness and increased physical and mental power, partly due to the residues of adrenaline left behind in the muscles of these animals at their death, which we then consume.

When we eat too much of these foods, we create an imbalance and quickly feel bloated, heavy, sluggish and mentally slow, and we will crave expansive foods as a way of maintaining balance.

Ancient grains, root vegetables, and sea vegetables are examples of more balanced contractive or yang foods. You can eat these in place of processed meats, large amounts of red meat, and white bread to bring your diet back into balance, and ensure you're getting plenty of vitamins and minerals.

Even if you don't look at your diet from an energetic point of view at all, these recommendations still make sense! I find it amazing how traditional wisdom and science frequently line up to tell us the same thing.

Expansive Foods

Less extreme, more balance-creating yin foods include fruits, leafy vegetables, seeds and nuts. The main extreme expansive food is refined white sugar. Expandsive foods provide a feeling of lightness, elevations in mood and relief from blockages and stagnation. However, extremely yin foods like refined white sugar also cause rapid elevations in serotonin, followed by rapid declines.

When serotonin levels fall, we may experience feelings of depression, low energy, anxiety and loss of concentration.

Eating a diet too rich in sugar (yin) may cause a craving for meat (yang) to bring things back into balance. Being aware of the energetic properties of foods can help you to deconstruct your cravings and choose meals for optimum emotional and physical balance.

In my health consultations with clients, I assess not only the physical aspects of someone's diet and health, but the emotional and energetic aspects, too. These must all be balanced, just like the nutrient profile of a diet must be balanced and personalised for the individual.

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Following the trail to my calling

30/7/2014

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My first week back at university studying Naturopathy has been exciting, intense and above all, reassuring.

Reassuring because sitting in my first herbal medicine class, I felt like I had chosen a path of study that was like coming home. I was elated to be there, and hungrily mopping up the teachers' words. Not gritting my teeth in strong disagreeance with the lecturer, vowing to do things differently once I graduated!

One of the things my herbal manufacturing lecturer said really stood out for me:

"In life we may meander, take a convoluted path, or get-side-tracked. But if we persist, we are always drawn back to our true purpose, one way or another." Diana Bowman

In my class there are people in their 50's who have deferred following their dreams until their kids left home. Others who began their study a decade or more ago and had to stop when life (sickness, pregnancy, deaths, financial restraints) got in the way, who have now picked up the scent to follow the trail again. Others like me who have been in allied health for a few years, and want to widen their scope with some holistic sideview mirrors.

Looking back, I sometimes feel regret at not choosing naturopathy as my first degree (and consequently racking up a sizeable HECS debt!).

But I shake that regret off when I think of all I have learnt along the way. I feel that I needed to go through an entire veterinary science degree, to travel and live overseas, to do my masters in (mainstream) dietetics, to practise on my own as a holistic dietitian in a climate where dietitians are usually anything but... all part of nourishing my basic desire to heal using every tool I possibly can, whether that be allopathic or natural medicine. Whether that be for humans or animals. Whether people are rich or poor, sick or healthy.

Naturopathy is the closest thing I've found the embodies this wide-viewed approach. I love that we don't need to choose one over the other - natural/complementary medicine over mainstream medicine. We can choose both. For example, if someone with cancer decides to take a chemotherapy treatment approach, they can mop up the damage with herbs, nutrition and lifestyle changes and drastically reduce the harsh side effects of chemo.

Ironically, I remember telling my year co-ordinator and SOSE teacher in Grade 9 that I wanted to be a naturopath. Her advice was to "choose something else that better used my intelligence." A similar thing happened in Grade 11 when I talked to my careers adviser. Not that my convoluted path was their fault! I believe all my experience has enriched my life deeply, and given me a huge appreciation for being where I am, now.

"The wild woman is the source, the light, the night, the dark, and the daybreak. She is the smell of good mud and the back leg of the fox. She is the voice that says, "This way, this way."
Clarissa Pinkola Estes

In case you were wondering, I am continuing to practise as a dietitian. It's just that once I've graduated I'll be dual-qualified as an accredited practising dietitian and a naturopath, which is exciting!

A nutritionist first and foremost, I will always believe in the immense power of food, and will ALWAYS look at diet as one of the primary targets for anyone looking to improve their general health or move past their health issues.

Although I've nearly lost count of how much uni I've done (this is my third degree - gulp!), I do seem to have a sick affinity for study and have not stopped doing online courses, informal and formal mentorships, and in person trainings since I graduated from dietetics. Plus I decided it was time to put all those excuses and fears to bed and JUST DO IT!

I look forward to sharing my journey with you and all the loops, dog legs and hurdles that will inevitably pop up along the way!

Big love,
Casey

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The "Winter Symptoms set" - physical, emotional and energetic causes

8/7/2014

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I've been noticing a common set of symptoms in my clients and friends lately that I've found very interesting. It's a set of symptoms I have observed over a number of Winters, and which you may have noticed in yourself or others.

The set of symptoms I've been seeing is:

aching joints
sore muscles (especially in the feet and legs)
immune system dysfunction - colds, flus and allergies
skin conditions such as rashes and dry, flaky, itchy skin
constipation and/or diarrhoea

Sound familiar to you? Let's take an integrative (i.e. both allopathic and alternative) approach to figure out what might be the root cause of such symptoms occurring together. We'll start with the physical and then explore more deeply the emotional and energetic.

Physical

Skin problems such as acne, skin rashes and flaky, dry, and itchy skin often come back to liver and lack of bowel function. Your liver is one of your largest organs of detoxification. In Winter, when we stay indoors more, eat fattier richer foods, drink more alcohol to stay warm, and move less, we inevitably place more pressure on our livers.

If you aren't eliminating the toxins that your liver has dealt with fast enough then there are only a few other places they can come out and a big one is the skin! Even if liver function tests come back as normal, the liver may still not be working optimally - liver function tests may only appear abnormal once liver function is very impaired.

This is where I'd recommend seeing a good naturopath who can provide herbs that will support your liver such as St Mary's Thistle, Globe Artichoke, Dandelion root, Schizandra, and Turmeric. These herbs all work in slightly different ways so leave it to your Naturopath to decide which ones are best for you.

Certain amino acids such as Methionine, in combination with B Vitamins, Inositol, and Choline are particularly good for supporting the function of the Cytochrome P450 or detoxification pathway of the liver. They are also particularly effective for getting fat out of storage and putting it back into circulation as an energy source, something that many of us could do with during the "Winter storage" period!

Similarly, if your bowels aren't eliminating fully, skin conditions may be exacerbated as the body tries to get rid of excess toxins through the skin. Constipation and/or diarrhoea that persist for weeks are one sign that your bowels are not working the way they really ought to, and are often accompanied by pain, cramping, gas, and bloating. There are a number of reasons the bowels may not be working optimally, ranging from relatively simple and benign to more serious, including:

Not enough water or very poor diet
Emotional or physical stress
SIBO (Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth) or Dysbiosis
IBS (Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome)
IBD, Diverticulitis, Crohn's or Coeliac disease
Bowel or Ovarian Cancer

It's difficult to impossible to self-diagnose serious bowel issues so I recommend seeing a trusted medical practitioner for this one, and getting any necessary tests.

Energetic

In the past I may have attributed the "Winter set" of symptoms to liver and bowel issues, and the rest of the symptoms - allergies, colds, flus, and achey joints - to general Winter woes. But having recently undertaken an incredible training in energetic-based nutritional medicine, another more esoteric (and equally valid) explanation for ALL of these symptoms occurring together, became surprisingly apparent.

If you practice yoga, you have probably heard about the chakras or energy centres of our bodies. According to yogic science, there are seven chakras located along the length of the spinal column. Through these energy centres travel energy channels, known as nadis in yogic science. In Traditional chinese medicine, energy points are called meridians, and they correspond with the main nadis outlined by the ancient Indians.

This of course all points to the idea that we aren't just physical bodies; that we are energetic beings also. This is where my dietetic training comes to a cliff's edge, and my yogic training and understanding of more traditional healing wisdom steps in.

Anything we do, eat, say, feel or think purportedly has the ability to shift our collective energy field. This energy field has been recognised for thousands of years by numerous traditional wisdoms, such as Ayurveda, yogic science and Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Spiritual practices, such as Qi gong and yoga open or increase this innate energy, and the philosophy behind certain martial arts implies that these energies can be developed and focused.

"If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration" - Nikola Tesla

The training in energetic-based nutritional medicine I undertook, called Food & Spirit by developer Dr. Deanna Minich, helped me see a whole new side to the root cause of this particular set of symptoms which I see time and time again during the Winter months. It gave me a wider lens and a personalised toolkit that has already helped me better understand my clients' journeys to wellness, and allowed to me to help them on a much deeper level.

The Root Chakra

What I discovered was that this set of symptoms involves anatomy associated with the most grounded vibration in our chakra system, the root chakra. The root chakra is linked to survival, tribe, tradition, and grounding. According to Dr. Minich, "this slow, assured vibration supports our energetic structure, and provides the instinctual, primal template for who we are as physical human beings." As I re-discovered in my recent training (a reminder from yoga trainings past), the root chakra is responsible for the energy of body systems that provide us with physical structure, allowing us to make contact with - and ground ourselves to - the Earth.

Anatomy associated with the root chakra:

joints
bones & muscles
large bowel and rectum
legs & feet
immune system
skin

Revising this, I started to see a stronger connection between the usual Winter symptom set I described at the start, and our energetic body - not just the physical body!

At a basic level, the physical body is also connected to key elements that are formed from a very young age by our family patterns - aspects like safety, trust, and boundaries. When we are grounded in these fundamentals of everyday living, we feel secure and at ease in our physical bodies, ultimately translating into our relationship with foods and our eating practices and patterns.

Emotional

We are not just physical beings - we have emotional, mental and energetic aspects too. When I run an initial consultation I don't just ask about diet and physical symptoms. I try to get to know the client on a deeper level - who they are, what they stand for (core beliefs), personality, and current life issues. Naturally I started seeing root chakra issues in people with this symptom set, which was an amazing revelation for me to witness!

Core issues associated with the root chakra

Ability to defend oneself
Security (financial and physical)
Safety
Familial and social law and order
Physical family
Feeling "at home" and "grounded" with self, family, and community

When I looked closely, the clients I'd seen with skin issues, constipation, haemarrhoids, poor immune function, achey joints and muscle soreness often shared an interesting life situation - they were in between or highly dissatisfied with their jobs. Facing financial challenges. Feuding with family, or having to face big family issues. Often, they would mention that they felt "ungrounded" or "lost". The correlations were truly amazing, and have expanded my viewpoint of holistic health care to include the energetic system I know so well from my yoga practice.

Treating root chakra imbalance

A root chakra imbalance varies widely between people, depending on whether the chakra is deficient or excessive. One also needs to consider imbalances in other chakras, and the many individual lifestyle factors each person faces. As a general guideline, if you feel you are experiencing an imbalance in your root energy centre, you could look at addressing the following:

Protein - getting an adequate and a healthy range of plant and/or animal-based protein, not too little or too much protein
Including root vegetables for grounding
Edible and medicinal mushrooms to boost the immune system
Addressing bowel issues that may have been ignored
Assessing for mineral deficiencies
Investigating suspected food allergies
Feeling secure about accessing food
Eating when hungry
Letting go of protecting oneself with food
Engaging in healthy social eating

The recommendations I give to clients with the set of symptoms I described at the start may be based on purely clinical observations, or they may also take into account energetics. As a dietitian I can only practice within a certain scope and my recommendations are always based first and foremost on tangible clinical evidence.

But as a yoga teacher and firm advocate for integrative and energetic medicine I will always take into consideration non-physical factors when helping my clients, especially when there is so much overlap between physical, emotional and energetic symptoms. And especially when I see the great results I have witnessed by using a more integrative, holistic approach to health care.

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What to do when "magic bullet" diets don't work

30/5/2014

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Paleo. Raw. Vegan. 80/10/10. Sugar-free.

Unless you've been living in a cave, you've probably heard of some or all of the above approaches to eating.

And if your holistic-health minded, you've probably tried (or have friends who have tried) one or more of these.

To be honest, I've seen people benefit greatly from each of these diets. And when that happens, it's awesome.

New paleo-ists scrapping refined sugars and balancing out their blood sugar levels.

People who incorporate more raw salads into their diets on their way to becoming raw foodists.

Very sick people who stop eating red meat and watch their cancer disappear.

The bone I want to pick with these approaches is that despite the many promises their proponents claim, and despite the success stories, there are still failures. Nothing is 100%.

I've seen paleo/raw/vegan diets fail enough times to want to say something about it. Because despite the success stories, supporting science, and so-called historical evidence around each of these diets, sometimes they fail miserably.

And when they fail, people are left confused, thinking it's them who failed, not the diet. When really, it's the other way around.

Dark side of the spoon

What does it look like when a paleo/raw/vegan diet fails?

Think paleo-crossfit chicks who take the most extreme approach to paleo that cuts out all sugar, fruit, starchy vegetables and carbohydrates, who then burn out and distort their hormones. They can't fuel their two high intensity workouts per day, and their periods stop.

Think raw foodist yogis who shiver their way through a winter of blended raw vegetables and juices, and experience low energy, fatigue and a coldness that just won't shift.

Long term die-hard vegans who, although may have been living quite happily as vegans for some years, find themselves craving an egg or some fish when they fall pregnant or get ill - and fail to listen to their bodies.

Please be clear - I'm not saying these diets don't work at all. I'm saying that they don't work for 100% of the population, 100% of the time, contrary to what proponents of each of these approaches to eating will say on the websites and in the books they sell.

Indigenous Siberians eating raw deer. Modern day "paleo"? Or just eating according to their climate, local traditions and genetic heritage?

How to recognise a magic bullet diet

There are a few ways to spot “magic bullet” diets. Those approaches to eating with huge herds of followers declaring that “everyone should eat this way to be the healthiest they can be.” Here’s how to spot them:

1. "It cures everything"

Enthusiasts of the diet/superfood/ingredient claim it cures everything - from chronic diseases, to skin conditions, and even psychological or stress-related disorders.

According to one top Paleo diet website, “eating like this is ideal for maintaining a healthy metabolism and reducing inflammation within the body. It’s good for body composition, energy levels, sleep quality, mental attitude and quality of life. It helps eliminate sugar cravings and re-establishes a healthy relationship with food. It also works to minimise your risk for a whole host of lifestyle diseases and conditions, like diabetes, heart attack, stroke and autoimmune.” That’s quite an extensive list!

2. "There's scientific evidence"

There is often scientific evidence to back up these diets. Some of it is super solid, and some of it is anything but. Many paleo studies are extremely short term, and there are very few studies done on the benefits of a 100% raw food diet.

The funny thing about scientific evidence is that if you look hard enough, you can find evidence for whichever argument you decide to take, whether it's paleo or the exact opposite – a high carbohydrate, low to no animal protein, plant-based vegan approach.

The work of Colin Campbell and Cardwell Esselstyn exemplifies the many benefits of such a diet. And their studies are probably the most comprehensive and scientifically valid of the lot. It still doesn't make them perfect and fail-proof, however. I've seen people on a vegan diet suffer, the same way I've seen paleo people and raw foodists suffer. Not everyone does well on a 100% vegan diet, the same way not everyone suits a high animal protein diet.

3. "It's how we were meant to eat."

The flyer at a paleo cafe I enjoy attending says the paleo diet "avoids dairy, grains, legumes, added sugars and preservatives, which our bodies were not designed to digest.”

Really? What about the traditional cultures who adapted to digesting lactose and have lived for centuries eating cultured raw milk products, like the Abkhasians of Russia? Or the myriad traditional cultures who eat legumes and grains on a daily basis - Indians with rice and dahl, or native central americans with maize and beans? You could hardly argue that these guys are unhealthy.

The same applies with hard core raw foodists and vegans. "We weren't meant to eat cooked food." "We don't have the correct length digestive tract or teeth to digest meat." While it's easy to find some form of evidence for some of these statements, they are still sweeping statements - they simply don't work for EVERYone.

The 'Paleo' i.e. 'what cavemen actually eat' aspect is arguably just its hook and underpinning principle; a clever marketing tool. It's not a paleo label that will make you healthy, rather, any success that comes does so because ultimately it promotes eating lots of fresh vegetables, and avoiding processed food where possible.

5 ways to avoid "magic bullet" disappointment

If you've found yourself feeling disappointed or like a failure after being paleo/raw/vegan for a while and having it go pear-shaped... don't worry. Here's 5 ways you can find a way of eating that works for YOU.

1. Clarify your motives.

Why do you want to go vegan/raw/paleo? Is it to lose weight/fit into your old jeans/get clear skin? If so, look a little deeper. WHY do you want to lose weight/have better skin? The deeper reason for embarking upon any health endeavour is often to feel more confident, to feel more satisfied, to have a more rich and meaningful life. But feeling good is not only dependent on diet.

You need to look at all aspects of your life in order to feel good - and that includes your emotional landscape, exercise and other habits, attitudes, values, beliefs. It involves assessing your job satisfaction, family dynamics, relationships, and lifestyle.

Want to be wholistic? Then look at the whole picture. Diet is important, but it's only one piece of a much larger whole.

2. Practice intuitive eating.

It's ok if you eat a salad, ditch refined sugars, or eat a vegan meal - as long as it's truly what you feel like.

The only reliable authority, in the end, is your own body. We need to learn how to trust our bodies again, and how to listen to the messages it is sending us about diet. The simple tools of tuning into our bodies and fully experiencing each bite of food have the power to resolve most questions about food choices and diet.

Rather than adopt a diet, you could try a more intuitive way of eating that is highly personalised to your needs, food preferences, lifestyle, and experiences.

A truly instinctive approach to nutrition aligns joyful, nurturing eating with the authentic needs of body and soul. It doesn't include eating raw salads in winter when you are dying for a hot pumpkin soup.

3. Take the best from the diet, and make it your own.

The paleo and raw movements get a big tick for their push towards real foods. Veganism gets a tick for the emphasis on plant-based foods, which most people need more of. We would be better off eating real foods. That means foods that we grow, hunt or pick. Foods that are unmodified and come from nature.

When possible, we should aim for the most nutrient dense foods, because that’s why we eat, to nourish! Not to accomplish some idealised macronutrient ratio. Take the good from these diets, then break the other rules. Don't become a slave to rules and extremism. That brings me to the next point...

4. Avoid extremism

As much as we collectively rant about the benefits of moderation, people will always tend to be extremist when approaching a topic as complex and transitional as nutrition, in an attempt to simplify and make sense of it all.

Unfortunately that desire for "the be all answer" contributes to the hype around "magic bullet" foods or diets. You don't have to go 100% paleo, raw or vegan in order to gain more energy, and be healthier. You may only need to add a few more vegetables to your diet, or reduce your intake of refined sugars and processed foods. People have a hard time grasping moderation as the key, but moderation really is golden.

5. Ditch the labels

Some days I'm "vegan." In Summer in Thailand, I went three months on a raw vegan diet, without even noticing it. In winter in Australia, I eat eggs and the occasional fish. I may have a paleo lunch and on the same day have a non-paleo dinner with roast potatoes and ancient grains. These ways of eating can work when they are slotted in to fit your lifestyle, your day, your mood, your climate, your genetic heritage, and your season.

When these seemingly healthy diets fail is when we try to fit ourselves to the diet, with its theoretical rules and blanket recommendations.

Don't be a raw foodist for the sake of being able to say "I'm 100% raw." That's not very flexible and unless you live in a treehouse in Thailand all Summer running up mountains and practising yoga for 6 hours a day (as I once did), it probably won't work perfectly in the long term.

Ditch the labels and do what works for you. And that may change on a seasonal, daily or hourly basis.

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