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Begin Again, a new year.

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We will get to wellness and resolutions next, but first I think its important we get a measure of perspective.

My own experience of the start of this year and maybe every year, is this furious need to create order and better efficiencies. I have this sense that if I can create structures that hold my life together in a really organised way, that there will be more space for me to flow and be creative. And I have placed so much pressure on myself these past few weeks to accomplish this. To the degree that it’s made me a little tearful and not at all, in the flow.

I have also been trying to write this newsletter for six weeks and the words just haven’t come. Always a bad sign for me!

And then I stumbled across this quote from Mary Oliver, about being a tiny nail in the house of the universe. And a deep breath was released from my need for order, control, outcomes, extra mural time tables, exercise regimes, dinner plans… And I was reminded, that if we zoom out, as far out as we can imagine, with our limited imaginings of space and magnitude, that we will find ourselves witness to our lives; as a minuscule flash in the arc of time and being.

And this doesn’t make it unimportant to be here and to show up, but it reminds us, that in the greater scheme of things, it doesn’t matter as much. So long as we are kind to one another. The rest is just the trance of materialism, capitalism, the measures of success in 2023. It’s all just a story we are writing collectively. What is real, is how we treat one another and ourselves.

So I am taking a different approach. None of this fanaticism for order. It’s not in my bones. I’m taking the more celestial road. I’m not suggesting that’s the road for you too, but I am suggesting that you take a moment to zoom out, far, far, far out and remind yourself, it’s just a tiny flash in a grand pan or plan. And it’s ok if you didn’t get a PhD or a Nobel Peace Prize.

Just be kind and remember to have a fun time.

Love, Skye and the HwH team

 

Small changes over time

Make meaningful, measurable change.

 

 

January. Begin again.

At the dawn of all new beginnings, there is a moment for pause, reflection and redirection. The energy of transition calls for many things, and poses many questions.

Perhaps you are reading these very words because you are asking some questions of yourself. And what better time to be looking for answers than the start of a new year.

Almost everything that is worthy of our attention has a legacy of time and discipline behind it.

Health isn’t something you can binge on in January in punitive response to an indulgent December.

It is something you need to commit to every day of the year.

You are human, and all health journeys are undulating. On any given day, you will make a mixture of choices. Small incremental changes over time, water against rocks, can move mountains. Let us be the water rather than the pick axe!

This newsletter is an invitation to you to start 2023 with the time and consistency, that your health and wellness requires. Less toxins. Less inflammation. Less refined carbs or sugar.  More plant-based meals. Practicing ‘cup half full’ thinking, joy and mindfulness.

Let’s do this with gentleness.

 

Here is our recommended list of good choices:

  1. Set your home pantry up for success. The battle is won in the store. Don’t buy processed, refined, sugary treats, chips, juice, fizzy drinks. If it comes in a shiny rapper, it doesn’t belong here.
  2. If you are sensitive to cow’s milk or dairy (you should know if you are already; anyone with persistent allergies, eczema, asthma, rhinitis or a postnasal drip), we recommend you eliminate it from your diet or cut back. As a start, have an americano with a dash of milk over a milky latte. There is no other animal in the animal kingdom that drinks milk after being weaned – let alone another animals milk.
  3. Take the stairs every time. Every time.
  4. Do tricep dips in the first five minutes of every virtual meeting that you have.
  5. Hydrate daily on clean water and limit yourself to one coffee or two teas a day, preferably before 10am.
  6. If Alcohol is a trigger or frequent indulgence for you, reduce your alcohol intake to 1 unit on two consecutive days on the weekend. That’s just one beer or glass of wine per day on the weekend. Add water where possible!
  7. Detoxify your mind. Make sure that your phone is not the first thing you touch in the morning and the last thing you caress before you go to sleep. Give your brain an hour a day with NO screen input. This is especially important for our children who are building new networks in their impressionable brains.
  8. Commit to going to bed by 10pm every night. All of your cells possess clock genes and you can’t fool your body’s need for consistent rhythms.
  9. Remember that you can draw a perfect circle around yourself, lift it skywards to create a dome of light. Put your mean boss, your ex husband/wife, any grumpy bugger that is giving you grief, on the outside of that shield.
  10. Eat more plants! We can help with this one. You can subscribe to a veggie box from Tim Aba’s regenerative farm in Orange Farm and collect your box from Merchant Place every Tuesday this year. It will be full of pesticide free, non GMO, organic, beautiful, nutritious, healing produce. Each box is R300. Please email drskye@healthwithheart.co.za if you would like to subscribe to a box. We are building this relationship with a small farmer and so, we anticipate some glitches along the way. We will always refund you if you don’t get your box and we will do our best to have it on time!
  11. Add protein or a healthy fat to a carbohydrate rich meal to blunt the insulin spike, keeping you fuller for longer and lowering your inflammation levels.

We would love to know what you are committing to so please do reply to this email or comment on our social media pages.

 

We are very excited to have two specialist services on offer, consistently this year.

Dr Francoise Pinillos

MBChB, DipAllerg (SA), CertAllerg (University of Southampton, UK))

– Allergy Specialist

Dr Christie Pilossof

MBChB,  Functional Medicine trained in Bio-identical Hormone Therapy

 

Rate for both services:

• First consult (40-60min): R1600
• Follow up (30min): R1100

All bookings can be made online. Please understand that bookings will only be confirmed once they have been paid for as these doctors time is blocked specifically for this offering and cannot be repurposed. These consultation are also not reimbursed by the medical schemes and as such are cash only.

 

Gentle reminders for 2023:

  • Please let us know in advance when you will not make your appointments with us.
  • Please do not answer your phone when you are in your consultation with us.
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