Funky Forest Health & Wellbeing
  • Home
  • About
    • About Casey
    • Philosophy >
      • Non-Diet Approach
      • Health At Every Size HAES ®
      • Intuitive Eating
      • Holistic Dietitians
    • Treatments >
      • Dietetic & Nutritional Therapy
      • Eating Disorder Therapy
      • Herbal Medicine
      • Flower Essences
      • Prenatal Nutrition & Yoga
      • Postnatal Nutrition & Yoga
  • Podcast
  • Services
    • COVID-19 Services
    • Consultations >
      • Dietitian
      • Naturopath
      • Nutritionist
      • Book a Consult
      • Consultation Info >
        • What To Expect
        • Fees & Rebates
        • Complete Wellness Program
    • Classes >
      • Schedule
      • Offerings >
        • AcroYoga
      • About
      • Praise
    • Bodywork
    • Courses
    • Freebies >
      • FREE 15 Minute Consult
      • Dark Moon Newsletter
      • A Modern Yogi's BS-Free Guide to Wellbeing
      • Elimination Diet Email Series
      • Videos
    • Upcoming Events
  • Apothecary
  • Blog
  • Contact
    • Dark Moon Newsletter
    • News

Casey's blog

The Magic & Medicine of Mugwort

29/10/2019

13 Comments

 
Picture
Mugwort. Surprisingly cheeky and brazen, like the very old withered little bent over woman who suddenly reaches up to you and plants a big juicy smacker of a kiss on your cheek. She has the vitality of somebody a quarter of her age. Wise and direct, yet joyful. She's soft without molly-coddling. She delivers her message swiftly, with mirror-like clarity yet without judgement or harshness.
Mugwort is like the grandmother you always wanted, which might be why she is often referred to by herbalists as cronewort after the wise elder archetype. Like a patient grandparent who has been ignored and not visited for far too long, she welcomes you with zeal and open, forgiving arms, eager to distil her timeless wisdom to anyone willing to listen.

Perhaps this is why she is also known as the herb for new initiates to the plant spirit path. She is so easy to talk to. She welcomes you with open, soft, silvery hands. All you have to do is open up the conversation by saying "hello". And when you do, she will gently invite you in to realms of deeper perception, where a new way of communing with plants and integrating the healing process is possible.

In my communications with her I'm always amazed at how quick and clear she is in her conversing. She is so chatty (at least, relative to other plants I've spoken with) that I often doubt myself - "did she really just say that?" - although that is becoming less of an issue with time. More about that soon.


Mugwort's genus name Artemisia hints at the moon goddess that it it's namesake. Every image I've seen of the greek goddess Artemis (or Diana, her Roman equivalent) depicts her as huntress and protector of the wild creatures of the forest. She doesn't kill indiscriminately; she brings death only when it is timely and appropriate. And she also brings life, as is evident in her traditional use by herbal midwives in labour and birth.

Edit on 14 June 2020: Since writing this article I've learnt more about mugwort and the many different species growing around the Sunshine Coast Hinterlands, where I live. I believe one of the species naturalised to this area (and pictured below) may be Chinese mugwort (Artemisia verlotiorum) which is more aromatic than common mugwort (A. vulgaris) and grows 1-3 m high. 


Read More
13 Comments

Herbs for Handling Stress

15/10/2019

1 Comment

 
Picture
Forget asbestos, Roundup on our vegetables, and mercury fillings: by the year 2020 the most threatening health hazard known to humans is predicted to be stress. Already a major cause of disease, chronic stress sets off a cascade of long-term chemical changes that can spell disease and inflammation for your body, and disintegration of the spirit.

So what’s a human living in the 21st century to do? Aside from lifestyle interventions – such as healthy diet, regular movement, strong social support networks, mind-body practices, and adequate rest – there are certain herbs that can help us to manage the high levels of stress we inevitably face in this day and age.
​
Rather than indiscriminately throwing a bunch of herbal powders and potions down the hatch and hoping for the best, it is important to know about the three stages of stress adaptation your body experiences as different herbs are most effective at different stages.
​

Read More
1 Comment

5 Flavours to Eat for Health

23/1/2019

1 Comment

 
Picture

​In Chinese medicine and in Ayurveda, the hallmark of a balanced meal is the inclusion of all of the flavours. ​​By including all of the flavours in a meal, you’re going to feel very satisfied. And satisfaction is a crucial element of enjoyable, intuitive eating. One of these flavours is bitter, a very important taste that many of us are missing on our plates.

Throughout Spring and Summer in 
my Southeast Queensland neighbourhood, edible weeds pop up everywhere including in my own my backyard.

​Under the kids’ trampoline out of the lawnmower’s reach, I find dandelion greens, sow thistle, billy goat weed, sheep sorrel, and wild carrot, among other largely unknown yet freely available sources of nutrition*. At the farmer’s market I uncover a similar array: mustard greens, endive, chicory, kale, parsley, rocket.​
​

Read More
1 Comment

Calling out BS in the Mama, Yoga & Wellness Spaces

15/10/2018

2 Comments

 
Picture
I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Fiona Sutherland, host of the Mindful Dietitian Podcast and founder of the The Mindful Dietitian, which provides non-diet and body inclusive training for professionals and groups in Melbourne, worldwide, and online.

She’s not only a highly skilled dietitian trained in eating disorders, body image, mindfulness-based practices and HAES, but she’s dedicated to sharing her expertise and light-hearted but deep wisdom with other health professionals and groups. Her questions made it clear that she’s well-versed in podcasting and, being a dietitian, yoga teacher and mother of two herself, she's also very familiar with the overlap between the motherhood, yoga and "wellness" spheres!

I was especially humbled to hear that she’s read several of my articles and totally rates them! Wow. I can’t think of a better compliment.

If you want to hear us wax lyrical about motherhood, yoga culture and the BS inherent in the "wellness" spaces (including hear me share about my recent experiences as a new mum of two), tune into Episode 36 of the Mindful Dietitian Podcast.
​
Listen here or search iTunes for the Mindful Dietitian Podcast (Episode 36).
​

Here’s an overview of our interview:

  • The pressures on women to be the "perfect" mother, and how we get sucked in through patriarchal systems
  • On being a working mum, mum guilt, and inadequacy in motherhood
  • Earth Mothers VS Creative Rainbow Mothers
  • Nurturing our children, ourselves AND our projects
  • Breaking away from diet culture messages in the yoga and wellness spheres
  • The Sexy Successful Spiritual Woman - what is it, and why it hurts us
  • How diet culture infiltrates the way health professionals and yoga teachers market their services
  • Ayurveda and Chinese medicine - separating the wisdom from diet culture dross by first getting into your body and learning to eat intuitively
  • And so much more!​

Did you enjoy this interview?

Tell me about it in the comments below! Also, feel free to share any questions you have about yoga, motherhood and wellness in the comments, so I can address them in future blog posts/interviews.

Until next week,
Casey
2 Comments

Spring energetics - moving from darkness into light

12/10/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
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.


Read More
0 Comments

11 Essential tips for Autumn health

17/2/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture
At this time of year, as the sap of the trees and flowers returns to their root systems, we too are preparing to turn inward. In virtually every ancient medicine system, this season of harvest was seen as the time of the year to pull inward and gather together on all levels; a time to plan for the approaching darkness and stillness of winter.

In TCM (traditional Chinese medicine), autumn is associated with wind and dryness. It’s also the season associated with the lungs and large intestine, which are responsible for releasing carbon dioxide and food wastes, respectively. It follows that the energy of both these organs is ‘letting go’. Elimination problems like chronic constipation can be exacerbated at this time of year. Emotionally, it’s the time of year to look at things we are hanging onto that are no longer serving us, and to let them go for good.

Read More
1 Comment

INTERGALACTIC CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES

24/4/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
You know those times when you create something so unexpectedly delicious, so unapologetically radical, so exceptionally epic, that it makes you want to jump up in glee and dance like a Beastie Boy in a Japanese train station?

Well, this was one of those times.

​The full moon in Aries raging at the moment might have me a little more excited than I otherwise would be. But trust me, these are worth the effort of washing (licking) chocolate truffle mix off of everything.

After seeing a few similar recipes pop up on my Instagram feed, I decided I had to try them. It took a few exposures to convince me because these babies contain one of the ingredients I have been scared - terrified, actually - to use in my food adventures. Powdered medicinal mushrooms.

Read More
0 Comments

Immune-boosting Shiitake & Veg Stir Fry

11/3/2016

4 Comments

 
Picture
Corresponding to my piece on 11 tips for a healthy autumn, here's one of my favourite autumn recipes, using the principles of traditional Chinese medicine, and based on a recipe from my Chinese-malay mum! It's quick, easy, and most importantly, delicious. And it's vegan so everyone can enjoy this one!

Shiitake mushrooms (Lentinula edodes) were a favourite ingredient in my mum's Chinese cooking while I was growing up, and I still love them today. They're packed with flavour, have a great chewy texture and make an incredible meat alternative.

Their powerful immune-modulating and anti-tumour actions make them ideal as an adjunct therapy in cancer, for fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Other medicinal mushrooms include maitake, reishi, and chaga. I often wonder how different our collective state of health would be if we routinely offered our kids traditional foods like these? I also chucked a little Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng) in for extra mum-staying power!
​

Read More
4 Comments

Why I ate my placenta.

31/10/2015

4 Comments

 
Picture
Placenta snaps, sliced and dehydrated by my fiancee, then placed in a container with salt to absorb any lingering moisture. I cut slivers into a green smoothie and blend it well.
This is easily the weirdest, freakiest post I have ever written. But given that it's Samhain or Halloween today, it's kind of fitting!

The main reasons some new mothers throughout the western world are embracing placentophagy (the practice of mammals eating the placenta of their young after giving birth) centre around these: mood stabilisation and improvement which may reduce risk of postpartum depression, and nutrient replenishment after birth which can help with energy levels, recovery, and breast milk production.

Despite these purported benefits, I still struggle with how to explain my decision to eat my own placenta. Even though I instinctively felt it was the right decision for me, I had to do my own research to satisfy my left brain. So let me start off with the reasons why I initially thought I would not eat my placenta.

Read More
4 Comments

Yin & Yang Foods

4/9/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
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

Picture

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.

E
ven 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       

Picture

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.

0 Comments

    Categories


    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    POPULAR POSTS


    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    ARCHIVES


    July 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    July 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011

    MORE CATEGORIES


    All
    Allergies
    Autumn
    Ayurveda
    Babies & Children
    Best Of The Blog
    Body Care
    Body Image
    Body Inclusivity
    Body Positive
    Breakfast
    Breastfeeding
    Chocolate
    Consultations
    Cravings
    Desserts
    Detoxification
    Dinners
    Disordered Eating
    Dreaming
    Eating Disorders
    Education
    Environment
    Essential Oils
    Exercise
    Family Nutrition
    Farming
    Feminism
    Fermented Foods
    Fertility
    Fitness
    HAES
    Healing
    Health
    Health At Every Size
    Health On A Budget
    Herbal Medicine
    Herbs
    Homesteading
    Hormones
    Immune Health
    Integrative Medicine
    Intuitive Eating
    Lunch
    Magic
    Meditation
    Menopause
    Menstruation
    Metabolism
    Mindful Eating
    Moon
    Motherhood
    Movement
    My Personal Story
    Natural Cycles
    Naturopathy
    Non Diet Approach
    Non Diet Yogi Podcast
    Non-Diet Yogi Podcast
    Nutrition
    Omnivorous
    Paleo
    Permaculture
    Plant Spirit Communication
    Podcasts
    Postpartum
    Powerlifting
    Prenatal
    Probiotics
    Raw
    Recipes
    Recommended Reading
    Self Love
    Sex
    Simple Eating
    Skin
    Smoothies
    Snacks
    Social Justice
    Spirituality
    Spring
    Strength Training
    Stress
    Summer
    Superfoods
    Supplements
    The Wellness Diet
    Traditional Chinese Medicine
    Traditional Foods
    Traditional Wisdom
    Vegan
    Vegetarian
    Veterinarian
    Weight Neutral
    Wildcrafting
    Winter
    Witch
    Women's Health
    Yoga

    RSS Feed


    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
Picture
All content copyright Casey Conroy - Funky Forest Health & Wellbeing. For more information please click here to see my disclaimer.
Natural health for EVERY body. Copyright © 2022
0432 618 279 | info@funkyforest.com.au