Officially shampoo & conditioner-free

That's right! Ok, my sister's first reaction was "Ehw, that's disgusting!". But I didn't say that I wasn't washing my hair anymore, just that I had stopped using shampoo and conditioner.
The revolution to change the world does have to start from our own households and so....I started to think....I have to take these life-style choices a step further. It's good to start eating in a conscientious way, trying to use the car the least possible...but what about all the chemicals that
a) we put onto our skins: our skin is the largest organ of our body and it DOES absorb everything you put on it! So look at the ingredients of soaps, shampoos, toothpastes in your bathroom, and just think of what your poor body, blood and organs have to deal with.
b) wash down into the drains, into rivers and oceans, into crops, the air we breathe...it's all a vicious cycle.

It really hit me when my mother walked into the bathroom and said: "Dr Mercola says: 'If you can't eat it, then don't put it on your skin.'"

Simple. If I can't eat it, I'm not putting it onto my skin. So let's get to it, it's as simple as this:

"SHAMPOO":

- baking soda
- water

You can either leave the consistency quite "pastey", or you can actually liquify and pour it onto your head (if so, use hot water to dilute the bicarb). There will be no bubbles, no allluring perfumes of tropical plants....but it cleans your hair! I have long hair, so I preferred to keep the consistency like a paste. You don't need to apply it onto the whole length of your hair, because that really isn't the part of the hair that needs washing.

I have found other recipes using chick-pea flour, buckweat flour....you can really start experimenting. I tried the chick-pea flour this morning and found it to be a bit too drying for my hair (but might work for you if you have very oily hair).

So that's the shampoo done for you, healthier for you, for the environment, and for your wallets.

"CONDITIONER":

- apple-cider vinegar
- water

Mix the two together: I emptied out an old transparent bath-gel container and used that. Put in about half a cup of vinegar, and the rest water. You "rinse" your hair with this after you've washed the bicarbonate soda out of your hair. The vinegar removes any residue from your hair and....it stinks. Yes, and it really burns if it gets into your eyes BUT fear not! Once the hair dries the smell evaporates, and it leaves it nice and soft. Then use water to rinse this out.

So that's how to wash your hair with 3 ingredients that you can easily buy in your supermarket spending very little money and being eco and self-friendly.

P.S. Brush your hair BEFORE washing it, helps with the tangles. You could also try putting some oils into your hair if you want to give it a bit of nutritious love.

Birds (literally) flying into my life!

I often speak to my students about the law of attraction....and manifestation....what are you attracting into your life? What vibration frequency are you emitting to attract people and situations into your life?
Well, here's a new one: I attracted a budgie into my life...well, not exactly. My mum attracted a budgie into my life....which leads me to say "Be careful of what your mother wishes, because if she doesn't go out to claim it herself, it may just fly to you!"
I was in an ice-cream shop in Milano on an innocent Friday afternoon when a budgie suddenly flew into the shop and amongst the kids and the chaos allowed me to pick him up. What to do, what not to do....children telling me I should call him Filippo....I end up bringing him home thinking how I'd break the news of the new entry into our house. What she says is: "It's a few days I've been thinking about getting a budgie."
She obviously had no intention of actually going to buy one, so this little guy had to leave his previous owners, risk his life in Milano traffic and fly directly to me.
After 3 weeks of looking at him and desperately trying to train him to sit on my finger for more than 5 seconds, I decided to get him a friend - so there are now two budgies sharing our home: Aku and Sakhi.

The day I get them to do something special I may even post a video, but in the mean-time....

...just think if she'd wished for an albatros!

Tooth Scrub

Usual tooth karma creeping up on me....so always on the look-out for more natural ways of looking after my teeth.

So here's a very simple scrub you can use for your teeth which will help keep them clean and invigorate the gums. All you need is white clay (powdered form: argilla), and tea-tree oil. After you've brushed your teeth (and why not, flossed as well) just take a table-spoon of clay in your hand and 3 drops of tea-tree oil (check it's a good quality oil that can be used internally, not the cheap stuff you buy for burning in oil burners!) and just mix the two together in the palm of your hand.

Then, using your finger, rub your teeth and gums with it...mmmm....doesn't it look looooovely! You'll find that you will start salivating profusely (slight exhageration), so just use this super-natural mix of stuff to swoosh it around in your mouth a bit before spitting it out.

You can use this scrub every day: it's a natural antisceptic and after the initial investment in the ingredients, it's cheap and long-lasting.

Arborio Rice & Chickpea Cream

Rice Ingredients (Serves 4)

- wholemeal Arborio rice (4 handfuls / person)
- salt
- olive oil
- fresh parsley

Procedure:

Cook the rice as per the instructions on the box. When the rice is ready, let it rest for five minutes by covering the pot with a lid, and then add the olive and fresh parsley leaves, which you will have previously washed and prepared.

THE ART OF COOKING RICE
Never mix the rice when it’s cooking: the cooked grains will automatically rise to the top when they are ready, allowing the less cooked ones to go to the bottom. Interfering in this process by mixing the rice will actually spoil its very autonomous and intelligent cooking procedure!
Never drain rice: do wash it before cooking by rinsing it a few times in a sieve. Put the exact amount of water needed for cooking, and let the rice absorb this water. Should the rice require more water, boil some water separately and add that water to the pot (never add cold water). It does take some practice to get the right amount of water first off, but you will get it eventually!


Chickpea Cream Ingredients (Serves 4)

- 200g chickpea flakes (you can find them in health-food stores and some specialized super-markets)
- 3 ripe tomatoes
- ½ a leek
- a chunk of fresh ginger
- chilly
- herbal salt
- olive oil
- juice of half a lemon


Procedure:

Chop up the leek as well as the fresh tomatoes. Heat some olive oil in a pot, and then add the leek to stir fry slightly. Then add the tomatoes, the chick-peak flakes, and cover with water. When the water starts to boil, add the herbal salt, chilly, and the ginger. The chickpea flakes only take about 15 minutes to cook, so when they look nice and soft, process all the ingredients with a hand-held food blender until it has reached a creamy consistency. If it seems too runny to you, you can keep it cooking until the excess water evaporates; if, on the other hand, it seems too thick, you can add some boiling hot water until it reaches the desired consistency.

For a tangy swing, drizzle some fresh lemon juice on your chickpea cream once you’ve served it on the plate. Lemon juice, and hence Vitamin C, is an essential element in iron absorption, so it’s especially important to combine it (in whatever form you should choose) with your legume dishes.

Pumpkin Boats

Ingredients:

- 1 whole pumpkin
- 1 large zucchini
- ½ a leek
- ½ a large eggplant
- a large piece of fresh ginger
- fresh sage leaves
- olive oil
- salt (herbal salt is preferable)
- chili powder (as per one’s taste)

Procedure:

Cut the pumpkin into slices and remove the seeds leaving the skin on. Place them in an oven dish and bake in the oven at 180oC until soft.
In the mean time, cut the zucchini and eggplant into very small cubes, as well as the leek and the sage leaves. Heat some olive oil in a pan, and then lightly stir-fry the sage leaves and leek – when golden, add the zucchini, and then the eggplant. Remember when stir-frying vegetables: if you cook the vegetables at a high heat, they will retain the water and remain crunchier. If you instead cook them at a lower heat, they will go mushy and lose a lot of their taste. Add the herbal salt, fresh ginger (which you will have cut up into small pieces), and chili powder.
Simply place the vegetables onto each pumpkin slice, pressing them slightly down into the pumpkin. Replace them in the oven for another 15 minutes, and then ENJOY!

ENJOY: from the French “en joie”, literally “in joy”: pumpkin is a very joyful vegetable with its vibrant orange color. It is truly a gift of nature, especially as the season gets colder; you want to boost your body up with orange foods! Pumpkins are rich in antioxidants and beta-carotene, which will strengthen your immune system. Beta-carotene converts to Vitamin A and helps reduce the risk of cancer and other dangerous diseases.
IN JOY! For body, mind, and soul.

Broccoli Kamut Pasta

I just love broccoli! And I love Kamut! So here's the two in divine culinary union.

I must admit that when I hold a broccoli branch (is that how you'd call it?), I feel like a bride holding a bouquet....should a sweet prince ever greet me with a broccoli bouquet I'd be flattered (and taken aback by such original creativity!)

Ingredients

(these quantities are roughly for 1 person....use your instinct)

- 1 medium-small broccoli head

- 80g (?) of kamut pasta (you can of course use any pasta for this dish, but kamut pasta has a wonderful taste and is nutritionally much richer than other types of pasta)

- herbal salt (or normal salt)

- chilli powder

- olive oil

Prepare the broccoli into bite-size pieces. I like to use the "trunk" as well - you just need to cut off the hard green exterior and use the middle bit, which is light in color.

Bring to the boil a pot of water, and then place both pasta and broccoli in together. After roughly 10 minutes (check cooking time on the packet of pasta), drain off the water, replace the pasta and broccoli in the pot, add olive oil, a bit of herbal salt, a dash of chilli powder...mix mix mix....this gets the broccoli nice and....mmmm...spread out. Serve! I find this dish really heart warming, especially on a cold winter's day.

Red Quinoa, Radicchio, and Baked Vegetables

Ingredients:

- red quinoa

- radicchio

- season vegetables (I used eggplant, pumpkin, red pepper, leek, zucchini, fresh ginger)

- fresh sage leaves

- olive oil

- salt

- curry powder (optional)

- any other spices you may like: chilli, turmeric

Prepare the quinoa following the instructions on the packet. Red quinoa is very tasty, so depending on your taste you can add a little salt if you like. A drop of olive oil is always good. Once cooked, you can give the quinoa a nice shape by putting it into a small bowl and then tipping it onto a plate (if you do want to do this, the quinoa is the first thing you have to put on the plate...).

Prepare the vegetables into chunky chunks, preheat oven to 180C. In the meantime, place the sage leaves into a blender with some salt and whatever spice tickles your fancy, and olive oil. Make it quite runny so that you can mix the vegetables with it in a bowl, and then place them in the oven dish for baking. You can also add other herbs to this if you like, such a as rosemary, origano, parsley. I'm not sure how long the vegetables took to cook....you can tell by looking at them!

In a separate dish, place the radicchio which you will have washed and cut into four. Simply place in the oven with a little olive oil and top. They don't take long to cook, so just keep an eye on them.

Enjoy!

Post Scriptum: there is another green preparation on the plate in the photo: I won't put the recipe for that because I added burnt sesame seeds.....eeewh.....a flop!