Susan Deans

Transformational Health Coach

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Life’s Short – Eat (Quality) Chocolate

03.12.2015 by Susan Deans // Leave a Comment

Have you ever been standing in the chocolate aisle at the supermarket staring at all the chocolate and been overwhelmed by choice?

This happened to me recently. I was in the chocolate aisle and I was just standing there staring at all the chocolate. I knew exactly which one I wanted to buy and put it in my basket, but I kept standing there, just looking at it all – there was so much of it. Then it struck me: so many of you love chocolate and feel guilty about eating it, so I thought I’d share with you what I look for when choosing a good quality chocolate.

So let’s talk about CHOCOLATE!!!!!

Yes, that’s right, the stuff we turn to when we are stressed, happy, or for no reason at all except that we feel like it, because let’s face it, it’s pretty darn yummy.

So guess what? Chocolate can be good for you… if you eat the right kind!

Now I am not talking about your regular sugary milk chocolate here. I am talking dark chocolate. The higher the percentage of cacao, the better it is. It will also have a lot less sugar and other additives than the milk chocolate variety.

I like to look at food in stages, where you have good, better, and best, it’s the same when choosing chocolate.

So here are my top tips when choosing chocolate:

Good: Regular dark chocolate

Always choose dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate as it’s very high in sugar and other additives. Be mindful that some bars will say dark chocolate on the packet, but they contain milk solids and are high in sugar.

Alter-Eco-DarkBetter: Dark chocolate with 70%+ cacao

Cacao is high in antioxidants & magnesium, and basically leaves you feeling happy and revitalized

There are so many boutique chocolate brands out there but I use this as a guide and try and tick as many of these as possible.

  • 70% cocoa or higher
  • Fair Trade
  • Non GMO – some manufacturers use GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms), which often is Soy Lecithin. This is an emulsifier which prevents water and fat separating.
  • Sugar should NEVER be the first ingredient on the list.

My Top ShopSwaps for 70%+ chocolate are:

Alter Eco Dark Blackout,  Green and Blacks 70% and 85% cacao or Lindt 70% & 85%. Available from the supermarket.

There is also Moser Roth, from Aldi.

lovingearth-dark-chocolateBest: Raw chocolate, either bought or made yourself

So the best type of chocolate is raw chocolate. You can buy this from the Health food store or online, or make it yourself at home, I’ll be sharing some of my own recipes in a later post.

These are my two favourite raw chocolate brands. You can buy these online or find them in your local health food store.

Loving Earth www.lovingearth.net

I am a big fan of all the Loving Earth products because they have a beautiful philosophy. Their principles are Healthy, Sustainable and Fair. They care about the environment and where and how their ingredients are grown. They are also an Australian company, which is very important to me.

Pana Chocolate www.panachocolate.com

My favourite would be the Sour Cherry which has coconut sugar in it, which I find preferable to Agave syrup used in some of the other flavours.

Above all please enjoy and take pleasure in eating your chocolate. I find that I can only eat small amounts of dark chocolate, and I love putting a small square in my mouth and sucking it till it melts and really savouring the feel and flavour. Seriously, give it a try! Also remember that it is still a sweet treat, so just because cacao has lots of health benefits, it still needs to be eaten in moderation.

I would love to hear from you, so did you find this helpful? Do you have a favourite brand of chocolate? I am always on the look out for better options to share with my community so if you find one that you love, please jump over to my Facebook page and share it with everyone.

Categories // General Chat, Shop Swap

Quick Pumpkin Soup for the Cooler Weather

06.08.2015 by Susan Deans // Leave a Comment

Quick Pumpkin Soup RecipeDo you sometimes feel like the day is slipping away, and before you know it, it’s nearly lunchtime?

That was me today!

My eldest daughter has just started distance education at home, so while she was logged onto her morning classes I decided I would use this time to be super productive.

As I had limited time, I had work out what was most important, which is a hard task for me because I want to do everything! Anyway, I managed to get my head down for several hours and had a very productive morning, planning and writing.

I looked up at the clock and realized it was nearly 12:30 and my daughter would be finishing her lessons in 30 mins. She is 12 and always hungry so I knew I would get no peace once she was finished, and looking for lunch. Plus I like to stop and chat and eat together, so I had to find something healthy and quick.

Now, in the Southern hemisphere it is winter and where I live in South East Queensland winters are very mild and only a few days ago I was wearing a t-shirt. So to wake up this morning to cold winds was a reminder that it was nearly the middle of August, and every year at this time we get a cold snap when the temperature drops and the westerly winds are cold. Not the kind of cold I felt when I lived in Ireland, no way, that was bone chilling stuff right there, brrrrr!!, but for here in Brisbane, it was a tad chilly.

Anyhoo, I decided something warm would be just what I needed, so I looked in my fridge and there looking back at me was a delicious organic pumpkin I had purchased on the weekend. Yes, that would make a lovely soup. I also have a Thermomix, so the soup was cooked and ready to eat within 30 minutes. (if you don’t know what a Thermomix is, just look it up on you tube. It is the best kitchen machine I have EVER owned, and I have had it for over 4 years.)

So back to the soup! I have a traditional method and also a Thermomix method for you. I want you to know that when it comes to making soup, the amounts do not have to be exact. I never usually measure, but today I did a rough measurement especially for YOU!

Enjoy!!

Ingredients

½ small Jap pumpkin or any pumpkin
2 large carrots
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
1 small sweet potato
1TBSP stock paste/ 1tsp salt
1 cup water or vegetable stock if you don’t have the paste
1TBSP tomato paste
1 heaped tsp of Thai red curry paste (additive and preservative free) depending on how spicy you want it

Method

Thermomix

Chop onion and garlic for 5 seconds speed 6

Add Thai red curry paste and oil/ghee and cook 2 mins, 100deg, speed 1

Scrape down bowl and add pumpkin, carrots, sweet potato and chop 5-6 seconds speed 6

Scrape down bowl and add all other ingredients

Cook on 100deg, 25 mins speed 1

Once cooked, slowly increase speed to speed 9 for approx.40 seconds

Serve with sour cream, homemade bread and (fresh chopped coriander if you have it.)

Traditional method

Chop all onions and garlic and saute in a pan with oil and Thai red curry paste

Chop pumpkin, carrots and sweet potato into chunks, then add to the pan.

Add all the other ingredients and cook for approx. 30 mins or until vegetables are soft. Using a stick blender, or other type of blender, whizz up until it is smooth. You can add more liquid if its too thick.

Serve with sour cream, homemade bread and (fresh chopped coriander if you have it.)

Variations:

You can use all carrot, or smaller amounts of pumpkin and sweet potato. You can also experiment with adding small quantities of other veges if you have them.

Health Tip

Pumpkins are rich in fibre, beta-carotene, antioxidants, and contain Vitamin C.  Pumpkin seeds are so delicious toasted and a good source of fibre.

Categories // General Chat, Recipes

Episode #3 Tammy Sooveere – On the pulse

12.05.2015 by Susan Deans // Leave a Comment

Healthy Women Healthy World PodcastHave you ever heard of a nutrigenomic practitioner? And do you know what they do?

Did you know that your weight has a lot to do with your hormones

Well in today’s episode I am speaking with Tammy Sooveere who is a nutritionist and a Nutrigenomic Practitioner, wife and mum of 3 and also serves on the board of a not for profit organisation called MyKids Australia.

What you will learn:

What we eat effects how our genes are expressed and that we have a lot more control over our health than we think.

Why hormones are so important?

How they affect our day to day life and why it is so important to have our hormones in balance.

What are some of the key hormones and what their functions are.

Why a certain hormone is super important for diabetics to understand.

We are eating foods from animals that are given hormones and they are making a big impact on our health.

Its not all gloom and doom and we talk about some simple everyday things you can do to help balance your hormones.

How a common herb can help to stimulate your liver which can then help your hormones.

How sugar affects your hormones

How chronic stress affects your hormones, your sleep, and nutrient levels and can be a cause of so many diseases.

We share some great tips on managing your stress and I share a little bit about how I helped myself overcome symptoms of chronic stress.

This was such a fantastic and interesting topic and we want to leave everyone with the message that we all have the ability to take control of our health today. What we do now on a daily basis can have a big impact on our family’s health and future generations.

To find out more about what Tammy is up to, connect with her at www.OnThePulse.com.au

You can also find Tammy on Facebook and Instagram.

http://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/healthywomenhealthyworld/Sue-Interviews-Tammy-Soovere-2015-05-12.mp3

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Categories // Podcast

Episode #2 What Does Raw Food Really Mean?

11.03.2015 by Susan Deans // Leave a Comment

zane-applebyI know what raw food is I hear you say “It’s food that hasn’t been cooked, right? Well, I love my cooked food so I m not going down that route.”

This is a common misconception about raw food: most people assume it’s boring salads and fruit.

Our guest today is Kisane Appleby from Realisically Raw You, who will bust that myth and let us in on some other fun facts about eating raw food. Or, as she and I prefer to call it, “Plant based foods”.

On today’s show you will hear about Kisane’s journey from being overweight, diagnosed as bipolar at the age of 16, being put on drugs and being on a disability pension for 10 years!

And, how she managed to turn her life around.

She is a raw food chef, a yoga and fitness instructor, a nutrition guru and a lover of life.

What you will learn:

  • How you can easily incorporate more plant based foods into your diet and WHY YOU NEED TO!
  • What the simple acronym E.N.D means!
  • What Paleo, Primal, Vegan, and raw enthusiast all have in common
  • Zane also shares two of her favourite breakfast recipes. Which by the way are super delicious!

Zanes message is: It isn’t hard to change your life. Be kind to yourself, transition to eating healthy with ease and grace and just begin with one thing at a time!

Visit Zane’s website, Realistically Raw You, for more information on what she does.

www.RealisticallyRawYou.com

Music: “Life of Riley” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

http://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/healthywomenhealthyworld/Sue-Interviews-Kisane-Appleby-2015-03-11.mp3

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Categories // Podcast

Episode #1 The Importance of Listening to Your Body

22.02.2015 by Susan Deans // 2 Comments

Emmely-Rackemann-PodcastOn this week’s podcast I am talking with Emmely Rackemann from Emmely Rackemann Health Coaching. Emmely tells her story of how she has transformed her own health through diet and lifestyle.

Growing up eating the standard “Food Pyramid” diet, where each meal consisted of about 80% processed carbohydrates, she developed asthma from age 12 and by the time she was in University she was using her puffer every time she did exercise and was using a preventative every night. She thought this was normal, until her husband decided they cut out all grains for 30 days and start focusing on eating more fruit and veges, good quality proteins and high quality fats. After only two weeks she dramatically reduced the use of her asthma puffer and started to realise what real health felt like.

We also talk about how everyone is different and what worked for her doesn’t work for everyone,the tip is to listen to your own body and find what’s right for you.

Visit Emmely’s Website for more information about what she does.

www.emmelyrackemann.com

 

Music: “Life of Riley” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

http://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/healthywomenhealthyworld/Sue-Interviews-Emmely-Rackemann-20150222.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Categories // Podcast

Confessions of a Recovering Perfectionist

14.01.2015 by Susan Deans // 2 Comments

Hi my name is Sue and I am a recovering perfectionist. I say recovering because I don’t want to label myself as a perfectionist because that is setting me up to always have an excuse for why I procrastinate, and also I don’t like to label things.

The truth is I probably overthink things too much and try to get everything just right before I will start and I am trying to be too many things to too many people. Sound familiar?

Ok so lets back up a bit here. I wasn’t always like this you know! When I was younger I was quite shy and always did the “right” thing. My sisters called me a square, and we joke about it now and it is funny because I look back and I probably was. But that was my first label, Sue is so sensible, Sue always does the right thing! Sue is so confident! So you try and live up to those expectations, when they are not the real you. Yes I admit I did have a lot of common sense and I was relatively mature but confident was not something I felt I was. I hated being the centre of attention and would feel anxious going into a party or somewhere there were a lot of people I didn’t know. I’m not much for small talk, I like to really get to know someone.

Its funny how when your family perceive you to be a certain way you start trying to live up to it, and before you know it you are married with your own kids and seem to slip into that role every time the family gets together. Well I decided years ago to start working on myself and changing my beliefs and get my own set of values, not what my parents values were. Now don’t get me wrong I had a great childhood and there is nothing wrong with my parents values and beliefs, but they are THEIR values and beliefs.

Anyway, I digress! Labels can be very damaging and if we believe them then they can control our thoughts and therefore our actions, or lack thereof. So the reason I am sharing all this is that I have given up the notion that I am a perfectionist. Who am I then? Well when you strip away all the labels, mother, wife, sister, friend etc you are left with nothing but infinite possibility (thank you Carren Smith for that gem!) and you can just get on with life.

I am happy with who I am in this moment and that person is joyful, loving, kind and present. I love having a really good belly laugh (the type where you can barely breath), I love connecting with women, I love being outside in nature and I love inspiring other women to eat real food and feel fantastic.

So I have been procrastinating over starting this blog for way too long, trying to get it just right. So here it is my first blog post, finished and out there in cyber space!!

I am so excited to be able to share so much more on Health and Wellness and in particular nutrition! Thanks for reading.

Have a happy healthy day!

Infinite love and gratitude

Categories // General Chat

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