how to be naturally beautiful

Bare face. Untamed hair. Open heart. Naturally beautiful.

For me natural beauty is denoted by not being afraid to walk down the street with an abundance of confidence just like that. 

My beautiful cousin and I

I've shared my thoughts with you about natural beauty in weighty matters, growing your nails, vocal health and beauty, dental hygiene, and many other areas relating to beauty such as nutrition, love and self-care.

But I think I need to spell it out more clearly, especially as a young woman living in a world where your worth is often based on how you look. Am I young enough? pretty enough? thin enough? tanned enough? waxed enough???

Our worth is not defined by our looks.

Our beauty is not defined by the makeup on our faces, the way we wear our hair or the designer clothes on our figures (which do come in all shapes and sizes). 

My concern is and always will be the state of my health. Did you know our skin is the largest organ in our bodies? And it is the last organ to receive nutrients from the food we eat and assimilate, inside to out. If we are healthy on the inside, our skin will be vibrant and glowing. Beauty that lasts comes from the inside out. We need to start to examine what we are feeding ourselves - what thoughts we allow into our minds, what beliefs we allow into our hearts and what foods we allow into our mouths. 

On my long journey to better health I've started to use more natural "beauty" products, without the chemicals and the preservatives. I've also cut down on how many products I use - less is always more! What else, you say! I don't always wear makeup or brush my hair. I don't dye my hair. I rarely wear nail polish. My wardrobe is not full of designer clothes. But I mostly have clear skin (after dealing with recurrent adult acne for years), my hair is naturally lightened by the sun, my nails are strong and shiny, and my clothes are being swapped for breathable fabrics and eco-friendly production. Yes, I'm less "done up" but I'm more healthy and more naturally beautiful than ever before. 

Here are my tips and tricks for a more naturally beautiful you:

• Eat more plant-based foods (hello fruit and vegetables!).
• Drink more water, preferably spring water or filtered water. 
• Use natural beauty products (check out this list of brands).
• Replace your synthetic makeup with mineral makeup.
• Experiment with using oils on your skin (my all-time favourite is coconut oil!). 
• Try pelotherapy - use superfine green clay to clear up acne and to draw toxins out of your skin.
• Rest your hair from the heat of hairdryers, straighteners and curling irons. 
• Swap your toxic deodorants for natural deodorants. 
• Swap your loofah for dry skin brushing. 
• Go bra-free (sorry guys, it's a girl thing!!!).
• Never apologise for your appearance. 
• Love yourself - there's only one of you.

I'd love to hear if you have any natural beauty tips and tricks that work for you. You can connect with me on Facebook or leave a comment below. And to finish, let me encourage you, reach for health, for natural beauty always comes from the inside out. 

Quote for the Road… 

vegan zucchini fritters (gluten-free)

Hello my friends! I hope that wherever you are in the world you are enjoying good health or at least on your way to enjoying better health every day! Although my health has been inconsistent lately I can say I am enjoying the sunshine here in Melbourne, quality time with my friends and family, and having fun playing around with new recipes in my kitchen. Today, I'm posting my very first cooked recipe for you all. My vegan zucchini fritters are plant-based, gluten-free, full of goodness and super delicious!!

On a side note, here in Oz we are officially in Spring, the perfect time for a "spring cleanse" for your body after the heavy foods of Winter. If you need ideas for an easy peasy spring cleanse here is a guide I posted about a month ago. If you'd like to hear more about cleanses let me know and I'll work on a more thorough program for you all. 

Now, without further ado, I give you my scrumptious vegan zucchini fritters! 

Sour grass is a wild edible (tastes like lemon!) growing in Victoria, Australia

vegan zucchini fritters (gluten-free)

500g zucchini, shredded
1 tsp sea salt or himalayan salt
1/2 cup brown rice flour
2 flax "eggs" (combine 1 Tbs flax meal with 3 Tbs warm water for 1 flax "egg")
1 Tbs tamari
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp paprika
handful of pepitas (i.e. pumpkin seeds)
coconut oil, for cooking
hummus, for serving

Shred the zucchini into a medium bowl and stir the sea salt through before leaving for 20-30 minutes. Combine the flax meal and warm water in a small bowl to make the flax "eggs". 

Place the zucchini in a nut milk bag and squeeze the liquid out. In the medium bowl mix the zucchini with the brown rice flour, flax "eggs", tamari, garam masala, paprika and pepitas. Use your hands to combine the mixture well. Form the fritters by rolling and flattening balls of the mixture with the palm of your hands. 

Place the fritters into a pre-heated skillet and cook in coconut oil on medium-low heat for about 5-7 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Alternatively, you can bake the fritters in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes. Makes 6 to 8 fritters. Serves 2.

Quote for the Road… 

3 things to do when you feel stuck

Happy Spring! I've seen Spring in with none other than the freshest and cleanest water a gal (or guy!) could drink - pure spring water! Last year I wrote here about my trip up Mt Donna Buang in Victoria, Australia with my mum to collect spring water. Well, we did it again! I only wish it was a little closer… then I'd be collecting spring water every week… just like the locals seem to do!

One of the things I've struggled with over the years has been a feeling of being stuck in my life. I believe this feeling is quite normal for most people to experience at some point in their lifetime but it is almost certainly magnified for anyone suffering from an illness, be it chronic or otherwise. There is an unpredictability about your day-to-day health condition that may mean you can't see your plans through and need to retreat from the world a little. This can make it ridiculously hard to keep moving forward… even though that is the very thing you want to do more than anything else… just one step at a time.

In my years of living with and recovering from a chronic illness, and working to keep my life moving forward these three things have helped me to unstick and take the next step:

1. Own all your choices

Naturally, there can often be a feeling of helplessness that arises as circumstances beyond our control unfold. Life has a way of twisting and turning, and sometimes we are taken for a ride. But know that you are not helpless and what you can control is how you respond, how you take responsibility and how you seek to repair. As you start to do this you'll feel the heaviness of helplessness lift. Owning all your choices is pivotal in helping you to let go and to move forward.

2. Find the wiggle room

You may be stuck between a rock and a hard place but that doesn't mean there isn't any wiggle room! Try and find it no matter what. And remember that baby steps count! One thing that I have chosen to do is to live with my parents. But as I am an adult I need my own life and my own space. At one point I felt so stuck that I started to look for wiggle room. I found that I can live independently and with my parents (and be thankful for it too!) just by setting up my own areas of the house, paying my own bills and preparing my own meals, and going on adventures that take me away from home. There is always wiggle room.

3. Pray and pray hard!

"Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, MSG). Keep the lines of communication open with the One who loves you the most. God can unstick your life in a moment. He's on your side and He wants the best for you… but He also wants your heart. Could our feeling stuck be an invitation to turn to Him? I think so. Also, ask your friends and family to pray with you too "for where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them" (Matthew 18:20, NIV). Prayers are powerful and God hears them all.

Quote for the Road… 

brooke's hummus & day on a plate

This weekend I decided to get back on to the hummus bandwagon as I needed a portable picnic lunch. Mine is oil-free and garlic-free but I've included these variations in the recipe today - absolutely delicious either way!

I thought I'd also share with you my day on a plate. Here in Melbourne, Australia we are coming out of the colder winter months. Spring is just around the corner and I am craving less cooked food and more raw food again. I am also eating a very-low-to-no-sugar diet to treat Candidiasis, which means very limited fruit options! Although my day on a plate at the moment is a window into a minimal fruit vegan diet (this is not an easy feat!), there are many substitutions that can be made so that I'm eating a delectable array of nutritious food - just like in this "switcheroo" chart from Ascension Kitchen!

brooke's day on a plate

Breakfast: green smoothie or quinoa porridge with berries 

Snack: activated almonds or walnuts with pink salt

Lunch: raw salad with quinoa or raw spaghetti marinara

Snack: green vegetable juice or raw caramel fudge 

Dinner: vegetable soup or sautéed veggies with buckwheat

Dessert: chia seed pudding with coconut yoghurt 

Drink: 2-3 litres filtered water, herbal tea and kombucha between meals

So that's my day on a plate! My menu changes as the seasons change and as I listen to the needs of my body, which is what I encourage you to do too. My day on a plate may look like I spend a lot of time in the kitchen but my meals are really quick and simple. But yes, I do allocate meal preparation time into my schedule. Organisation is a the key to healthy eating and living - along with the attribute of flexibility! After all, your good health provides a good foundation for living your best life… and enjoying the life you are living. 

brooke's hummus

400g can of chickpeas, drained & rinsed
1 cup filtered water
1/4 cup tahini 
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp sea salt or pink salt
juice of a lemon
3 Tbsp cold-pressed olive oil - optional
1 garlic clove - optional
paprika, for garnish

Combine all ingredients in a high powered blender or food processor until smooth and creamy. Note: only use 3/4 cup filtered water if you add the olive oil. Add more or less water and tahini for desired consistency. Serve with vegetable crudités. Bon appetit!

Quote for the Road…

recalibrate with self-care practices

Recalibration days. Everyone needs them. Even those who do not live with an illness. We all have our moments when we need to rest, regroup and recalibrate. 

I wrote here last year about how the practice of self-care creates a rhythm in my life. Living with ME means that I need to be very diligent with my daily self-care practices. Living with a chronic illness does not mean I miss out on living my life (and I refuse to allow FOMO - the fear of missing out - to take root in my heart!). What it means for me right now is that I struggle to do what you do more than two days in a row. And so, recalibration days, or buffer days, are my friend.

I love a slower pace of life. And self-care does help us to slow down. Especially on the hard days, those days when we need to be kind to ourselves, just like we would be to a loved one. Social media can make it easy to believe that some people don't have hard days. We always (mostly) present our best. But days offline, recalibrating, and working through the hard stuff, help us to actually live our best. 

Here are my daily self-care practices that help keep me on board the happy and healthy train:

• Lots and lots of sleep. Between the hours of 10pm to 7am are the most magical hours for me.
• Oil pulling every morning.
• Devotional time every morning - daily reading, journalling, praying and meditating on the Word. 
• Plant-based nutrition every day. Every meal is an opportunity to eat foods that nourish my body and help me to heal from a chronic illness. 
• Drinking 2 to 3 litres of filtered water every day.
• Exercise every day - incidental or structured. I enjoy walking, running, cycling and Pilates. 
• Coffee enemas every other evening. 
• Dry body brushing before a warm bath or shower every evening.
• Earthing every night. Or just going barefoot during the day.
• Connecting with friends and family. Building healthy relationships and filling my love tank.
• Infrared sauna every fortnight.
• Colon hydrotherapy every month.

This may seem like a long list but hear me when I say, I am not perfect, and I don't always do all these things all the time as much as I would like to. I simply try to create a routine and be flexible in order to allow for the ebb and flow of life. I'm sure this list will change over time as my health improves and my life shifts.

For now, I hope this list gives you an insight into the day-to-day of living with and recovering from a chronic illness, and may it also inspire you to begin your own daily routine of self-care practices. 

Go on, my friend, and recalibrate.

P.S. I'll leave you with this very hydrating and nutritious Perfect Green Juice from Food Matters:

Quote for the Road… 

joy, peace & green smoothies

Hands up who has seen this quote making the rounds on social media in the last month or so?

Comparison is the act of looking at things to see how they are similar or different. There is nothing wrong with this per se until we start to compare people. And especially ourselves. The thing is that there will always be someone who's prettier, smarter, stronger, richer, funnier, etc than us! When we start to compare ourselves with other people (looking at how we are similar or different) we can begin to perceive that we fall short of the mark. And our perception, though it may not be true, feels like the truth.

The problem with comparison is that our attention shifts from what we can do to what we can't do, from who we are to who we are not. And it's in this process our joy is stolen and our peace is shaken. 

The reality is we are all running our own race. Comparing ourselves to other people will most likely paralyse us through fear and produce discontent within our hearts. What a steep price to pay! But if we keep our attention on the race that we are running, satisfied with the pace we choose to run and who we run with, then who can steal our joy and shake our peace?

Last year I blogged here about managing stress and anxiety through keeping calm, praying and practicing deep breathing. More than most people I understand how comparison can derail you. Comparison is a side effect of being a twin. Growing up, my twin sister and I were compared a lot. After awhile you start to compare yourself too. I would often wonder why so-and-so only talked to her even though I'd be standing right there (and vice versa). Am I not bubbly enough? smart enough? beautiful enough? Around the age of twenty we figured out these insecurities were not founded in the truth. So, we made a choice to stop comparing ourselves, rally together, and be the best friend to ourselves that we were to each other. 

Do you find that comparison is stealing your joy and shaking your peace?

Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the centre of your life. (Philippians 4:6-7, MSG).

Let's stop comparing ourselves and start celebrating what makes us all unique, one-of-a-kind and worthy of being loved. 

Just in case you haven't noticed I'm a huge Food Matters fan. Food Matters is an inspiring source of healthy info, including recipes, articles, films, books and more - just like this green pineapple smoothie recipe:

Quote for the Road…

my easy spring cleanse guide

Hello friends! After a tumultuous week of bipolar weather here in Melbourne it seems as though the worst of winter has passed and spring is on the way. During winter all I want to do is sleep. Seriously. It's a good time to hibernate. But when spring comes I dive head first into a good ole spring clean out! I'm gearing up for a detox/cleanse this spring, and you can too, just by planning ahead and being ready to get rid of the heaviness of winter (here comes the sun!) and all the heavy food you ate to keep warm (or that's what you told yourself about those donuts!).

Yes, a good ole spring cleanse is the way to go!

Here's what you can focus on during this last month of winter to prepare yourself for a cleanse:

Here are some easy spring cleanses that you can check out so you can plan and prepare yourself in body, soul and spirit:

Basic Detox

12 Steps to Better Health Part One

12 Steps to Better Health Part Two

Dr. Oz's 48-Hour Weekend Cleanse

Integrative Nutrition Spring Detox Guide

Beauty Detox

The Beauty Detox Solution & The Beauty Detox Foods by Kimberly Snyder, C.N.

The Wellness Warrior Starter Kit + 10-Day Cleanse

Daniel Fast

The Daniel Fast by Susan Gregory

The Ultimate Guide to the Daniel Fast by Kristen Feola  

The Daniel Fast & Plant-Based Shopping List

Juice Fast

Reboot with Joe

Brooke's Green Juice

Orchard St Cleanse

Detox Therapies

• coffee enemas & colonics
• dry skin brushing
• epsom salt baths
• floatation tank therapy
• mineral clay therapy
• oil pulling therapy
• organic foods
• spring water

And last, but not least, don't forget your daily dose of vitamin D to boost your mood and your energy levels as you wake up from your winter slumber and get ready for the cleansing season of spring! 

Quote for the Road…