Teresa Palmer: Hi guys! We are very excited to be back here today with Maria Harpas from Natural Health Medicine. Thank you for being with us. If you haven’t checked out our first video that we did with Maria please do. It is on our blog. We had amazing feedback so thank you! And she’s back to share her expertise. So we have few questions from our Lovewell community.

 

Christiane Duigan: Yeah, that’s right. So we’ve asked you guys what your questions were so thank you for writing in. So we’ll ask you today. And hopefully if don’t ask your questions, some of these do answer yours. The first one is specifically about the Lovewell products and what are the differences between the two products – Blossom, for women & Grow, for children.

 

Maria Harpas: Yeah. So, they’re basically the same formula except with Blossom, we’ve got the matcha, green tea, we’ve got the maca root and we also got the mushrooms in the Blossom, and the sprouted quinoa. And so the Grow is a little bit more low-key for growing children.

 

Teresa: With the Grow as well, I know we have our fruit and veg blend, we don’t have fruit in the Blossom. Do we?

 

Christiane: We have some fruits in there but this one has a more of a fruit & veg blend.

 

Teresa: Which is great. Because I do think that one taste a little sweeter than Blossom which is good for my children. So they like it.

 

Maria: Yeah, so that’s good. It matter, the differences.

 

Teresa: Yeah. We don’t want to put the vegan collagen in the kids’ Grow.

 

Christiane: Yeah. And some other reasons why is because you know, if we’ve put these growing bodies you don’t necessarily need those extras.

 

Maria: Yeah, you don’t need those extra things whereas us, adults we definitely want those extra boost start with the matcha tea, and the maca root, and mushrooms.

 

Teresa: Someone in the background, my mum’s phone ringing! She’s got the baby so she can’t answer it. Okay, great! So, I know one of the big things that people always ask about is – “Why am I so bloated? What’s going on? I’m constantly feeling bloated”. I know it. Probably has something to do with gut health. Can you just get into that a little bit for us?

 

Maria: Yeah, sure. So, there can be lots of reasons for bloating. But if it’s a constant bloating, first thing is to sort of identify if there’s any food intolerances that could be causing that. And so, you can take out a few foods. And some of the major culprits normally are dairy and gluten. And even processed gluten-free products can bloat people as well. So just experimenting a little bit but it’s different for everyone. So it’s to just to try and to see. And sometimes if you sort of fix the gap up a little bit more, you’ll be able to bring some of those foods back in so it’s not always a permanent thing.

 

Teresa: That’s good to know.

 

Christiane: And if people do want to know specifically what it is, they can contact you. They get a 15-minute free consultation.

 

Maria: Yeah, to see what we can do and then we can go from there, for sure for sure.

 

Teresa: I’m gonna shut the door because my mum is having a good all yand with her brother on the phone.

 

Maria: Well, I was just going to say, the other thing is also just checking like you could check sometimes and people have parasites or pathogens or helicobacter pylories. It is sort of bacterial infection and that can cause bloating as well. So, it’s good say or if you don’t have enough digestive enzymes and then looking at foods that can help stimulate that a little bit more like apple cider vinegar. So these things that can be done to help improve gut and gut macrobio and lot of prebiotics. We call them prebiotics and things like that.

 

Teresa: Amazing.

 

Christiane: Good. Thank you. And we have another question about helping to build a child’s immunity especially when they start taking them to school. Do you have any helpful tips for that?

 

Teresa: Yes please. Help me.

 

Maria: Yes. For sure. Yeah. So, the first thing is to have a monitor in your blockout deck and we’ve know something like Grow, like we said before because it is a whole food product. That’s a good general product. And it’s got the prebiotics. So start with food something like that but then make sure that they’re sleeping well, like checking on their sleep to ensure that that’s okay, if they’re getting the right hours, that they’re normally not stress about anything because that will also affects the immune system.

 

Teresa: Oh, that’s interesting. The same way it does us adults.

 

Maria: Yeah, yeah. And we don’t always know because they don’t tell us. They really are adaptable so it’s hard to know.

 

Teresa: Yeah, that’s right.

 

Christiane: They don’t know how to express themselves.

 

Maria: No, no.

 

Teresa: It is funny now looking back on it. My kids, do seems so much healthier now. I like to think it’s because of Grow and they’ve also just gotten older. I thought I had a year where Bodhi would get a cold and then pass it to Forest and then Forest would pass it back to Bodhi and it was back and forth, back and forth. Honestly for about 8 months. And it’s just someone had a cold in the family. So that is very helpful for me.

 

Maria: And I think you also have to make sure that they are hydrated. You want to make sure they do drink because they don’t drink on their own sometimes so you want to make sure. Checking that there’s no food that they’re having constantly that might be a problem of high sugars as well for kids the same as us that can really affect the immune system.

 

Christiane: On that matter. Actually a lot of schools are introducing a policy where you can’t take packaged food.

 

Teresa: I’d love that!

 

Maria: Oh no, that fantastic, isn’t it?

 

Teresa: Yeah. Our kids are both on the same school – Lucy and [6:06]. And they’re all about being health conscious and my [6:11] even saw one of the teachers pulling
one of the mummy for fines. Some of the chocolate bars that you’re sending with your children affecting the other kids because they are wanting sugar and it’s also in a package. And I really love that there’s a movement towards encouraging children to understand that we need to put good things into our [6:32].

 

Maria: And it can be hard for parents as well to do about. I think we can up with more ideas and help sort of yeah parents know what to put in cause when you’re in hurry sometimes I think we go in for package stuff and throw it in.

 

Teresa: And you could ah, sorry. I was just looking at my snacks over there.Brussel sprout puffs which I think is incredibly healthy for my children, it does come in a
package. I usually do fruits and veggies in their lunch but then I would do things like the brussel sprout puffs because it seems healthier. Do you think that it still okay to find some package stuff that is healthier or you are more on nothing processed?

 

Maria: Look. No because I’m non purist. I think, obviously, it is better like it’s better to eat organic but it’s not always practical. Now there’s so many allergies and food
intolerances in schools and so you can’t just put nuts in a bag because normally they’re not okay.

 

Teresa: Oh my God, it cuts out so many options for lunch.

 

Christiane: So, what would a lunch box look like?

 

Maria: I would love to see a lunch box that maybe had, obviously a bit harder for vegan vegetarian but you could do a boiled egg, you could do veggie sticks that you chopped-up. I love flax crackers and things like that and quinoa and crackers. You can make them quite easily. I love them. Because you need things that they can pick-up.

 

Teresa: That’s right. We do hummus and carrots sticks. We’ve also have been doing a little hallway wrap with hummus and avocado in it. The kids have been eating that a lot and a little baby tomatoes. They love that. Those little veggies.

 

Christiane: How about for a non-vegan? Because I did struggle putting them in protein. What proteins of sort?

 

Maria: A chicken wing. Chicken wings or

 

Teresa: Turkeys are meant to be really good source of animal protein, right?

 

Maria: Yeah, yeah! And you can do maples as well. And then for vegans, for a bit change, you can do veggie patties. That’s easy for them to pick up.

 

Teresa: And beans is a very good source for vegan proteins.

 

Maria: Sushi. You can do sushi with brown rice. Might as well. And they are so easy to do.

 

Christiane: Good. Thank you.

 

Teresa: Thank you. And the next question we had was about struggling with energy levels which I know Lucy and I can certainly relate to especially with me with the 5-week old baby. Can you just talk to us, give us some tips on how can we find more energy in the day. And I am not a coffee drinker. So, us to get to have a caffeine like other people.

 

Maria: Well, when we know as I think as well when we need caffeine to get going definitely haven’t think that there might be something going on anyway. So we don’t ask a certain way. We’re not deficient in coffee but it such a love affair with it.

 

Christiane: Yeah. The ritual, the taste…

 

Maria: The smell and all of that. I think if there’s constant, because of one those questions is about constant energy issues that are on-going. I think the first is some
real good structure to start with is, to start with Blossom because it has got the detrogenic herbs in there like the maca root, the mushrooms, and the [10:23]. Then make sure that you are eating maybe three or four times a day. Proper meals. That it’s not always just fruits, like high sugar, meals with any vegetables and things and protein in them. If it’s vegan, you know tempe. And meat, if it’s meant for meat-eaters. Making sure you do that. Making sure you’re sleeping eight hours a day.

 

Teresa: What if you’re sleeping little periods over 8 hours?

 

Christiane: It’s suffice.

 

Maria: It’s suffice. Yeah.

 

Maria: But you still need to make sure you’re getting you know your correct nutrients and resting during the day when you can. Because you know, you’re waking all the time.

 

Teresa: Not very good. It such an exciting thing to see.

 

Christiane: You are like me but always like you’re urging for the next activity and my husband’s comes at me and say “they can have enough to nerd in.

 

Teresa: No,no,no. Adventures! Adventures! What do we do next?

 

Maria: No!I used to be like that.

 

Teresa: I’ve been just running out of energy right now. [11:32] I do seem to like be on the go all the time and people think I have so much energy and I was like I
don’t feel like I do but it might just be adrenaline.

 

Maria: Yeah, yeah that’s right and that sort of crush. But the thing is if you do those tips and making sure that you sleep and then if that’s not working after three or four weeks then you should definitely check that there’s no underlying issues like a vitamin D problem or an iron problem.

 

Christiane: Like you should check with your practitioner or give you a call to make sure.

 

Maria: Yeah, that’s right. To test the bloods properly because then you could be risking [12:09].

 

Christiane: To self-diagnosed.

 

Teresa: Oh gosh! Talk to Google.

 

Maria: Yeah. It’s better to know and check your thyroid and check you know some of these things that contribute to energy issues. It’s not normal, basically.

 

Christiane: Yes.

 

Teresa: Yeah. Okay. Well thank you! That was perfect.

 

Maria: Thank you both!

 

Teresa: We are excited to meet with you again! This is absolutely invaluable. All right guys, thanks for the questions and we will see you again soon. Bye!

 

Christiane: Bye!

 

Teresa: Bye!