Month: October 2010

Sunday life: in which I test how old i am…

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This week I test my cellular age

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I’ve reached that curious age where you no longer look your age. Which is to say you look as old as whatever you got up to the night before.

When I sleep badly, I look like there’s a huge suck-hole at my feet dragging my fascia deep below the earth’s crust. If I have more than one glass of red at dinner, the next day I resemble a before shot in one of those psoriasis medication ads. A rut of eating too much sugar and I’m puffy and slow and I look….wan. I’ve never in my life had occasion to use the word “wan”. But right now it lends onomatopoeic appropriateness.

Conversely, when I live 100 per cent virtuously, I look – comparative to everyone else my age battling a one-glass hangover – positively pubescent.

Being such an age (and since we’re friends, I’m cruising towards 37), I’ve started noticing a lot of people obsessed with anti-aging. I’m sure it’s not just the creaky circles I mix in. It started with an antioxidant fixation a few years ago. Now everyone’s popping a cocktail of new supplements, such as Coq10, DHEA, EFAs and melatonin (a sleep aid with alleged age-reversing properties), and sharing their hormone specialist’s contact details. I know I use this literary device a lot in this column, but it must be said: longevity is the new skinny.

For folk in these circles, biological age (the number of years endured on the planet) is becoming redundant. Our cellular age is where it’s all that. This is essentially the health age of our cells, which can then determine our longevity. Extensive research has shown that genes dictate less than 25 per cent of how long the average person lives. The rest is up to us. Which you can take as liberating. Or daunting.

Of course, there are tests you can do to calculate your cellular age. And, of course, this week I tried one.

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Why. please. thankyou… a very special guest post from Julie Goodwin

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During my time filming the first series of MasterChef Australia, Julie Goodwin became something of spiritual beacon for me. Filming the show was tough…for a lot of existential reasons, which I won’t go into here. But every few days or so Julie and I would connect in some way. A wink, a hug, a quick chat. Which said, “I see you”. I remain supremely grateful to her for this. It saved me.

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I knew Julie was religous. Although few would have. It wasn’t until our last few weeks together on the show that we chatted about her beliefs, and about prayer, and how it all played out for her in her life. It (her faith and prayer) played a big part in the way she held things together on the show… and then won.

I watched it unfurl, naturally.

And it looked like grace. Julie had grace. And she had trust in grace. She always knew she’d win.

I’m not religious. But I seek. And I pray. I asked Julie to tell me about how she prays…here’s her supremely graceful thoughts, which I know she put a lot of care into sharing:

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Tuesday eats: a gluten free recipe from Cannelle et Vanille

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Know this, Cannelle et Vanille is one of the most beautiful food blogs out there. Not just visually, but….spiritually, too (Gwyneth Paltrow is a fan, too). You can feel the love and care and whimsy from the pages of her blog. And Aran Goyoaga, a Basque food stylist now based in the US…well, she’s become a bit of an e-soul sister. We connected via our blogs and because we both have hashimotos (thyroid disease). We ask each other if we’re ok from time to time.

Anyway I thought she’d have a thought or two to share on healthy eating… and could give us a gluten-free recipe.

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Aran's gluten-free purple corn and banana muffins

Everyone meet Aran, Aran meet everyone:

How the auto-immune thing started for me:

But things changed for me when I became a mother. During the course of both pregnancies, I developed autoimmune conditions (Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and autoimmune inner ear disorder) that left me exhausted, depressed, tired and even experienced debilitating vertigo attacks. I could barely function and I was adamant to find a doctor that was willing to look beyond mere symptoms. And so I did.

This is what throws me off balance the most:

I’m still trying to figure it out, really. I know that diet is number one right now. Any little bit of gluten and it’s vertigo a couple of days later (just happened recently when I had something with hidden gluten in it). But also when I’m not creative or I feel tied down, then I go into downward spiral for a few days. I just don’t know how to control those things as easily.

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monday awakening: the best reason I’ve ever found for backing the f*ck off. Yeah!

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Sometimes you hear something that makes a penny drop.

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You see, yesterday I was listening to an podcast about longevity and the point was made that a lot of us will live to well over 100. 120, 130…seriously. This factoid changed my day. I’m still carrying with me the tingle off the bouncing coin.

Three things:

1.     Given I have, potentially, 90 years left to go, then WHAT’S THE BLOODY RUSH? Why not back off a little? Take my time. My God! Yes! I don’t have to achieve it all by 40. I’ll need to save some fun for when I’m 80. You can’t begin to understand what a load off my being this is. Or perhaps you can? Most of my pain and discord comes from rushing…and feeling time is slipping past me. There is another way to look at this. Quelle relief, hey!?

2.     If the secret to living longer is to be well and to eliminate stress as much as possible (and it is – Dan Buettner’s work on centenarians proves this), then Point 1 applies doubly so…back the fork off!!! Let’s pace ourselves. It’s kind of perfectly ironic, isn’t it. To live longer so we can justify stressing less, we need to stress less.

The clear message: just choose to start stressing less. Be gentle. Choose wellness.

Because, of course, not everyone will live to 130. In fact, the world is likely to be quite starkly divided into those who die young (obesity, heart disease etc) and those who don’t.

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Sunday life: screw it, let’s just do it… and tap-dance out of a plane with Richard Branson

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This week Richard Branson tells me shows me how to jump into life.

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I can’t profess to know Richard Branson intimately. That said, we have shared two plane trips and a chicken sandwich together. And tap-danced, hand-in-hand, down the stairs of one of his Virgin Blue Boeing 737-800 in front of a bunch of TV cameras and journalists. Based on this I feel I can say with some (OK, shaky) authority that Sir Richard is no Anthony Robbins. He doesn’t talk in sound bites. He doesn’t do motivational bootcamps, instead requesting a Q &A format when he does find himself plonked at the front of a large auditorium. And he doesn’t look you in the eye when he talks; I’d describe him as quite shy.

Instead, what he does do – rather famously – is divert attention from this shyness by doing bodacious, OTT things – like fly a balloon around the world and jump off the Palms Casino Resort in Vegas in a dinner suit. For that particularly expectant subset of the community who flock to motivational “summits”, donning notebooks, Toastmaster memberships and bags of power within-unleashing DVDs bought at the desk on the way in, this might be disappointing to learn. But me, I find it refreshing. We expect a lot from our business entrepreneurs – spiels, chiselled jawlines and, oh yes, success secrets that come packaged in new (!) and inspiring (!) ways.

Which is like expecting barely pubescent men who herd a leather ball around an allotment of grass for a living to be mentors to our children.

Admittedly, when I meet with Sir Richard, I front up with a notebook and eagerly expect wise motivational words about overcoming fear.

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is everything going to be ok?

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It is, you know. Because everything is OK right now. Not in five minutes. Not in five seconds. Right now, as you read the message on the steps, it is. OK. Right?

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This picture was taken in the lobby of the Ace Hotel when I was in New York a few months back. I found it on my iphone just now.

The wonderful Eckhart Tolle instructs, as an exercise in seeing the beauty of the present, to ask yourself, “what’s the issue right now?”. Not tomorrow, not in 30 minutes, not in 1 minute, not in one second from now. What’s the issue right now. Of course, you find yourself realising that there is no issue in the present. You just can’t conjure one. Only in the past and the future are there issues.

Try it. Um, like, now.

I think one of the kindest gestures you can proffer someone is to ask if they’re OK. I say this today, because it’s National RUOK Day. The premise, from watching Hugh below, is to simply reach out to someone and ask, “Are you OK?”. It’s geared at staving off suicide, and helping out someone struggling on their own.

I went through a rough patch about three years ago and my friend KJ would call me almost every day just to see if I was OK. I always said I was. Because in the instant that she asked me, I would be. That’s often how it works.

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ride to work, smell the roses

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Oh dear. I’m on the cover of Central Magazine this week spruiking Ride to Work Day Oct 13. The “Oh dear” refers to that high-octane sunny expression on my face…and the largeness of the picture.

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Fortunately, my bike’s look spick. And the campaign – I’m totally up for it. If you don’t want to read the full story, the highlight of my eloquent rant about why it’s good to ride to work, is this:

You experience more of life on a bike. You feel it, you smell it, you are totally engaged with the day and your surroundings. You have to be, to remain safe. So you notice great stuff – expressions on people’s faces, the smell of jasmine as evening approaches, great shop signage.

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Tuesday eats: millet

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Millet is great. Have you eaten millet? It’s a super grain.
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It’s kind of like quinoa (high in protein, gluten-free, substitute for rice/couscous/flour), but is crunchier and is also:

* high in silica, which is great for bones

* soothing, especially for indigestion or morning sickness

* anti-fungal; helps ease Candida symptoms

* improves breath

This week I invited Melbourne acupuncturist and fertility specialist Natalie Kringoudis (visit her blog and her site The Pagoda Tree for her details) to share her love of the stuff. And a recipe.

But before I hand things over to her: a cheat sheet for you:
* Uses Millet can be used in porridges, cereal, soups and dense breads. It’s a great wheat-free substitution for couscous, as it has a similar consistency.

* Storing Look for yellow colored, raw millet in health food stores. Store in an airtight jar or glass container for 6-9 months.

* Preparation Rinse millet before cooking, and use one part millet to two parts liquid.

* Basic Millet
Prep Time: 2 minutes Cooking Time: 30 minutes Serves 4

Rinse 1 cup of millet in a grain strainer.  Place in 2 cups of water with a pinch of salt in  a pot with a tight fitting lid. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low.   Simmer 30 minutes.
More water may be added to make the millet a softer consistency.

*** I toast my millet  lightly  before cooking to give it a nutty flavor. No oil, just in a dry pan.

***An update. The generous reader “millet head” gave me this helpful advice regarding my issue with millet being a touch too crunchy (I boil the crap out of it and 45 min later it’s still snappy-of-mouth):

White French millets are impossibly resistant to softening, Isprout them instead.
If you are using the yellow millets, rinse, then soak in cold water overnight – and leave on your counter top with a gauze or muslin to keep any bugs out etc. Discard soaking water and cook with fresh water as usual. I like to add butter or ghee and sea salt once mushy ( consistency kinda like polenta).

Over to Nat:

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Millet makes you fertile.

At my clinic, I specialise in fertility.

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two lessons I took from Eat Pray love (the movie)

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Everyone is going to see the movie, right. Even if you’re one of those people who says Elizabeth Gilbert should build a bridge. Grab her baggage. And trundle over it.

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I saw an advanced preview of the film about two months ago. I really enjoyed it. It would be easy for me, with my scathing journalistic hat on, to go to town on the premise (when life gets tough, indulgently rack off for a year), but I’ll leave that to others…in particular the English who just LOVE to get snarky about anything self-helpy and American and sunny.

OK, so two things I took away from the movie that made me feel enrichened (which are just enactments of bits in the book…but it was good to see them played out again):

1. Smile in your liver

There’s a bit where Ketut (the Balinese guru) instructs Liz on her meditation, and suggests she backs off from the mantras and the strictures:

You make serious face like this, you scare away good energy. To meditate, only you must smile. Smile with face, smile with mind, and good energy will come to you and clear away dirty energy. Even smile in your liver.

Yes, yes, yes! This works. Keep it simple and just smile. When you walk, when you’re driving and when you meditate (or, if you don’t meditate, when you rest a moment). I’d advise not worrying about good or bad energy. Just smile with every bit of yourself. I find smiling with my eyes when I’m meditating works all kinds of magic.

Try it.

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