Well, that was a blast!  A big thank you to everyone who attended our first outing of the year at Dingle Cookery School last Sunday (Jan 20th 2019).  We packed in a whole lot of cooking, talking and eating during the Clean Start Food Demo and Lunch!  A huge thanks to Brenda and Elouise who helped me with prepping, cooking, serving, washing up and took these photos too!  

"The amount covered in the space of time, the wonderful breakfast, lunch and dessert - all fantastic!"
What will you be able to apply to your daily life?  "Bringing in more veg, salad, beans, herbs and spices" CK

"It was a lovely class, Irene and your helpers were fantastic - I will incorporate my new knowledge at home"
​KM

"the importance of advance preparation and the power and attractiveness of "Meitheal" AK
(in reference of working together as a team!:)

"I was impressed by the dedication of you all preparing wholesome, comforting food.  It was interesting to learn about the benefits of certain foods in maintaining a happy state of being!" EC
What parts will you most be able to apply in your daily life?
"I really liked the recipes and shopping list - very useful.  I understand the importance of unami in feeding the body and soul"

What part did you enjoy the most?  "Sampling the food, delicious!"

"Relaxed, informative and well-paced - the set up, eating beautiful food with the talks was the most enjoyable"  AF

"I'd like to make and eat the soups we saw on a regular basis"  AI

What parts did you most enjoy?  "  Eating beautiful food"
What would you like to add to the workshop?  "  Nothing, it was perfect!"  AD

What parts did you most enjoy?  " Chilli Dinner, can't wait to try it at home"  "Excited about the cake" JF

"New dishes to cook, loved everything about today, thanks so much" JF

 "I learned to make two great main courses using unusual ingredients"  HS
​What parts will you most be able to apply to your daily life?  "chew, chew, chew!"  HS

What did you most enjoy?  "the nice ingredients and the way you presented it, Irene"  EB

Did you find the workshop interesting?  " Yes, fabulous!"
What would you add/remove from the workshop?  "Nothing, it was perfect!"

"Most educational!  I found the tutor's unpretentiousness great,  She is very knowledgeable but does not act like a know-all.  She is not too precious about herself or her ingredients" MI
What parts will you be able to apply to your daily life?  " salads, chilli and chocolate cake!"

SUNDAY 20th JANUARY 2019   11am-2pm
Dingle Cookery School, The Wood, Dingle
Cost:  €45
Book your chair at the Clean Start table 086 1662562 (Irene)
or email renuanaturalhealth@gmail.com

It is quite natural after a few weeks of gluttonous indulgence that we are ready to commit to a long list of well-intended resolutions.   January is the one month of the year that almost every adult at least thinks about getting healthier and fitter in the coming year.  Most of us make a start but unfortunately very few fulfil the self-made contract to see lasting positive changes in diet and lifestyle choices.  To be healthier, fitter and slimmer are the most common resolutions made by Irish adults.  The fact that they remain the most common resolutions year after year demonstrates the high failure rate of such resolutions. We could debate all the probable, and indeed the improbable reasons why we find it so difficult to see out our resolutions but at the end of the day it does not change the outcome.  If those great intentions of being healthy and fit last year became a reality we could move onto to some more exciting adventures this year!  Instead, many of us are yet again looking for a new super diet or the latest gadget to get into shape once and for all!
 
There has never been so much choice of diets and opinion available yet as a nation our weight problems are bursting out of control!  Every week we hear the statistics on rising obesity levels, more children being overweight and the impact it will have on our health. You would think that the constant barrage of health statistics would motivate us to adapt a healthier lifestyle yet despite all the talk and discussion, we have never been as fat and unhealthy as we are today.
 
If you are one of the thousands planning to lose weight this year stay away from fad dieting, quick fixes and glorified testimonials.  Dieting is big business and it suits many within the diet industry that people lose just enough weight to keep them coming back as soon as it piles on again.  To avoid this yo-yo dieting rollercoaster, the desire to be healthy and to feel truly alive must be the motivation and not just the results on the weighing scales. Try not to focus only on weight loss as a marker for success, but to include feeling happier, less stressed and more connected with your inner self, your community and your surroundings as major goals this year.  Resolve to take one healthy step, then another and another, all in the right direction. Let your 2018 resolutions be based on self-care and loving yourself enough to embrace a healthier existence. The ripple effect of real self-care is felt by those closest to you, then spreads to your community and your environment, a win-win result for you and all around you!  Losing excess weight will be part of the journey, not the destination, yet you will experience the benefits of true nourishment, increased vitality and a better quality of living both physically and emotionally.   
 
A great place to start your health journey for 2018 is in the kitchen.  To cook and eat a meal for yourself or to share is one of the most fundamental acts of self-care, yet hugely underestimated.  To connect with Nature through whole, unrefined ingredients is both satisfying to the body and mind.  The single most destructive factor in our poor health status is our dependence on fake foods for sustenance.  Chemically made by engineers and scientists, processed food is designed, not to nourish or satisfy but to keep us consuming more.  Sedentary lifestyles have made matters worse but for most, obesity is mainly due to the consistent consumption of processed and refined frankenfoods.  The diseases that are killing us - heart disease, cancer and type-2 diabetes are a result of an inadequate diet and exposure to toxic living practices - lacking in vital nutrients, fibre, vitamins, minerals and quality sleep that the body needs to repair, protect and sustain life.  In 2018, resolve to choose food prepared in the kitchen rather than in the laboratory! More aprons, less whitecoats!    
 
The seasons throughout the year offer the best guide for buying and preparing your food this year.  Seasonal food brings vitality to the table and provides us with a varied, colorful menu that continues to be appealing throughout the year.  A common factor in many fad diets, is that the food gets boring after a while and appetites are left lacking!  Resolve to reconnect with each season and keep your menu interesting by adapting the flavour and textures of seasonal vegetables, fruit, herbs and spices in your weekly shopping.
 
While it's true that money does not grow on trees - food does, and in the ground, off the land and in the sea.  If you are serious about your health for 2018 the best recipe for realistic weight loss success, increased vitality and disease prevention is in your kitchen - and if it's not, let that be your resolution! 
Wishing everyone a very happy and healthy New Year!
​Irene :)

Aches and pains day in and day out can be debilitating, draining and leave you feeling lousy!  The food you eat can dramatically reduce and relieve chronic pain and inflammation, just as the food you eat can dramatically INCREASE you pain levels!  Discover the amazing healing powers of a natural anti-inflammatory diet under the guidance of Nutritional Therapist, Irene Ní Fhlannúra.  This programme aims to name and shame the offending foods in your diet that may be at the root of your pain or may be contributing to the on-going pain you are experiencing!  Create a daily menu with ingredients that have anti-inflammatory effect in the body and use Nature's pharmacy to relieve aches and pain without the nasty side effects.

Let your Food fight FOR you and not against you!

Your PAIN FREE consultation includes a highly-sensitive CRP test which detects low-grade inflammation or your level of inflammation.  This is a pin-prick blood test which is sent to the laboratory for analysis. (Fitzwilliam Food Clinic, Dublin)

Diet analysis with Irene to see where you may be adding to your aches and pain through food choices
and your exclusive PAIN FREE ANTI-INFLAMMATORY NUTRITION GUIDE to ease inflammation from day 1!

Whether you have had chronic pain for years, months or just beginning to get achey, it is never too late to put your health in your own hands to improve your outcome and recovery!

A repeat hs- CRP test is carried out in 3 months' time to monitor your rating and see your level of inflammation fall!

BOOK your PAIN FREE programme in NOVEMBER to get the repeat test absolutely FREE, worth €65!

All-in price of €160
Includes  consultation and diet analysis with Irene, a hs-CRP laboratory test, your nutritional guide to healing inflammation AND a repeat hs-CRP test in 3 months' time!  

Start your recovery in NOVEMBER and get your repeat test FREE, worth €65!

To book call Irene 066 9151360 or text 086 1662562!

Say Goodbye to Pain!

Now that ex-hurricane Ophelia has been and gone, it would seem that we, in Dingle, dodged the worst of it.  For some people, however, the matter of  internal wind can be an endless torment and a great source of discomfort and embarrassment.  Flatulence is very common and normal with every human being experiencing it, even the ladies, up to 25 times a day!  It is the body's way of expelling gas (via the rectum) produced during the digestive process - of eating and breaking down food for the assimilation of nutrients. Beneficial bacteria residing in the small intestine are responsible for most of the gas passing as flatulence.  These bacteria are involved in completing the digestion of certain foods such as complex carbohydrates, sugars and starches.  This gas is made up of carbon dioxide, methane and hydrogen and is predominately odourless.  Foul-smelling gas is caused by gases containing sulphur which is found in protein foods such as meat and eggs, as well as some cruciferous vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage).  For most, flatulence does not cause problems but if it is becoming a nuisance there are some measures you can take to improve digestion and reduce your own personal emissions!
 

1. Eat slowly with your mouth closed, chew your food well and avoid large volumes of liquids during meals.  Swallowing air while eating is responsible for most gas coming back up and out as burps, but some air can take the low road too!  Give your digestive system a helping hand by chewing  food until it is liquid - particularly protein foods to reduce bloating and extra gas being produced by over-worked bacteria dealing with poorly masticated foods.  Too much liquids taken at mealtimes may dilute stomach acid and digestive enzymes resulting in more gas and incomplete breakdown of foods leaving the stomach.
2. Air can also find its way to the intestines in food and beverages.  Bubble trouble is found in fizzy drinks, beers, sodas, milk shakes even sponge cakes and soufflés!
3. Beans and lentils are a great source of nutrition but have garnered a bad name when it comes to gas!  Instead of ditching your good intentions to eat more of these foods- improve their digestibility by soaking them for at least 12 hours and boiling them slowly for about 2 hours.  A strip of Kombu (kelp seaweed) will also make beans easier to digest and reduce the windy factor associated with eating beans!  Remember, the benefits will outweigh the negatives on this one! 
4. Foods sweetened with high fructose corn syrup (found in almost all processed foods) can also contribute to bloating and flatulence because the small intestine cannot absorb large amounts of fructose. Sorbitol, maltitol and xylitol can also have similar effects.  The same applies to fruit juices which contain imbalanced fructose and sorbitol levels without the fibre of the original fruit.
5. Digestive aids such as bitter herbs (herbal apertifs) and digestive enzymes can aid digestion by improving the breakdown of certain foods.  Our ability to produce the necessary enzymes required for digestion can be impaired by stress, age, medications and illness.  Taking an enzyme supplement can help boost and replace diminishing enzyme levels - another possibility in bloating and flatulence.
6. Call in the army with the assistance of broad spectrum probiotics.  An imbalance of gut bacteria is almost always involved with excessive flatulence.  Our healthy bacteria are often either underfed through a poor diet lacking in essential fibres or outnumbered by an overgrowth of the bad guys.  Antibiotics or bouts of gastroenteritis can leave us particularly vulnerable by wiping out healthy bacteria leaving some foods only partially digested, rotting and stinking in our guts!
7. Activated charcoal has been used for centuries for the treatment of poisoning as it absorbs toxins and toxic gas in the intestines.  Nowadays it is used as a supplement to help reduce gas and bloating.  This is fine as a short-term remedy but discovering the underlying cause is always a better option.  Interestingly, there are charcoal underwear and cushions available that are said to absorb the fart as it exits - not too sure about these either, but worth a mention for imagery alone!

 
All in all, excessive flatulence is more symptomatic of a poorly functioning digestive system.  The cause can be wide-ranging but will most likely come down to diet and gut flora.  Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), constipation, lactose intolerance, food intolerances, coeliac disease, gastroenteritis and malabsorption issues often are accompanied by excessive flatulence and may warrant consideration.  But for most of us, rather than throw caution to the wind, pay a little more attention to it!

Written by Irene Ní Fhlannúra, Nutritional Therapist

Dorn Method is a gentle alignment technique for the spine and joints, as well as a simple self-help method. The Dorn Method is a range of unique manual techniques and exercises, which gently help vertebrae and joints slip into their natural positions.
Movement is used to facilitate the process, instead of high impact techniques like crunching or clicking. The use of natural body movements makes the Dorn Method very gentle and safe form of manipulation. The self-help techniques are empowering and assist in maintaining a long-term balance. The treatment is suitable for all ages, including babies.
Click on the button below for a quick demo of how Dorn works!

​Breuss Massage is a relaxing and gentle inter-vertebral disc massage, which complements the Dorn Method. It can be used to prepare the spine for the Dorn Method or as a stand alone massage therapy

You will learn both these methods and how to use them for yourself or on others to relieve back and joint pain.

Dorn and Breuss Combination Workshop
with Gerda Schneider
 
Saturday April 28th 10am -5pm

Cost €90  (small group, 6 pers max)
 
Ideal for patients, care-givers and practitioners!
 
On going support from Self Help exercises for anyone with chronic back pain, sciatica or joint pain

To book your place please CALL 066 9151360 
All materials supplied.  Lunch break for one hour between 1-2pm.  Feel free to bring lunch with you or we can recommend a place eat out for lunch!