Last month we introduced you to Therese Kerr, mum of Miranda and Matthew Kerr, a Visionary, Public Speaker, Author and advocate for holistic family health.

Therese takes a holistic approach to life. Not only does she create her amazing Divine By Therese Kerr range of certified organic personal care, soon to be released certified organic mens, baby and hair care products (big things happening in 2015) but she also lives and breaths health in every aspect and is a big supporter of our Raw Blend and Vitamix which you know we love. Therese is passionate about getting the message out regarding the high level of chemicals and their damaging impact on our bodies (chemicals in the products you use everyday are impacting your hormones more than you could imagine). We know you will enjoy Therese’s interview with us and her recipe below, Therese is truly a wonderful woman full of passion, on a mission to educate and empower us all to make positive, healthy changes in our lives. Make sure you check out her divine products at https://thedivinecompany.com.au/ too … they are a Raw Blend Family favourite!

Therese thank you for being our January 2015 Featured Friend! Firstly, we want to know what  your day on a plate looks like and why  you eat the way you do?

Breakfast: I start my day with a super-food shake, which is simply health in a glass. I include beautiful, nutrient-rich certified organic ingredients such as Kale, Spinach, Avocado, Blueberries, Chia Seeds, Coconut (flesh and water), Kefir and lots more! (See full recipe below) As I have a busy schedule so this is a really simple way for me to get the nutrients I need to jump-start my day.

Lunch: For lunch I will usually have a fresh salad, such as my Healthy Tropical Salad with Cramelised Balsamic Coconut Oil & Almond Butter Dressing, which is one of my favourites. It’s quick to make, so flavorsome and super healthy.

Dinner: For dinner, like all my meals, I cook with only the highest quality of certified organic ingredients. I make a wide variety of dishes but one of the Kerr family favorites is my Raw Zucchini Pasta with a mixed pesto dressing.

Snacks: For a snack, I usually carry a small packet of activated almonds with me, or I will make enough of my shake to last me throughout the day, and if I am feeling peckish, I will have some more of my shake.

The reason I eat so healthy is because in 2001/2002 I had tumours in my spleen which resulted in my spleen being removed. That was a turning point in my life. Although it was scary, I can now say having tumours in my spleen was the best thing that ever happened to me as it caused me to delve into every aspect of my life at a level I had never looked into before. During this time I questioned why my body would react in such a way and the knowledge I gained and have continued to gain since that time consistently amazes me. I was uneducated in relation to health and wellness, yet I would not have thought so prior to having gone through this experience. I thought I was healthy, but clearly I wasn’t as healthy as I thought…

The simple truth is that I wasn’t educated as to the amount of chemicals I was unknowingly putting onto and into my body every day or the amount of additives, preservatives and/or the lack of nutrition that was in the food I was consuming. I didn’t know that there are around 10,500 chemicals used in personal, skin, hair and beauty care products, 65-70% of which are absorbed into our skin. I was unaware that our skin absorbs chemicals ten times faster, even more so than digesting food that contains chemicals simply because our skin doesn’t have the digestive enzymes that our digestive system has to break the chemicals down before they enter our bloodstream and organs.

I didn’t know that MSG or Aspartame commonly found in food are Excitotoxins that cause overstimulation of the brain cells which ultimately can lead to the death of the brain cells and that MSG (now listed on labels as anything but MSG and found in basically all processed foods) and Aspartame, both hazardous chemicals in their own right, when combined are even more toxic to the human body. I wasn’t aware that “Soy”, a widely touted “healthy alternative” to dairy is far from healthy, that it in fact causes oestrogenic activity within the body and that the majority of soy grown all over the world is now genetically modified and that our body cannot recognise genetically modified foods. I could talk for days on this subject, so if you’d like to learn more please visit my wellness blog www.theresekerr.com where I share regular blog posts on the chemicals found in conventional food and beauty products.

If you could share with the Raw Blend Family one piece of your wisdom what would it be?

The biggest and best piece of advice I could ever give is to only purchase Certified Organic produce and only use certified organic personal skin, hair, beauty and personal care products! Conventional produce is unfortunately sprayed with nasty pesticides and insecticides, which can be extremely harmful to our health. So we, the community think we are doing the right thing in purchasing fruits and vegetables for our family, but if they aren’t certified organic you will be ingesting chemicals.

In a recent study orchestrated and overseen by Professor Marc Cohen of RMIT University in Melbourne, 13 participants had their urine tested after eating a normal, everyday conventional diet for one week. They then ate a diet of 80% certified organic food for the next seven days. The urine was again taken and within seven days the water-soluble pesticide levels had dropped 90%.

In relation to skin, hair, beauty and personal care products, people often move to healthier food alternatives and forget that their skin absorbs between 65-70% of everything that is put on it and as stated above, the skin will absorb chemicals up to ten times faster than by way of ingestion so it is equally as important, if not more important, to use only certified products on our body. If people only knew what chemicals are actually in the products they use, they would not put them on their body and/or allow their children to use them. Conventional toothpaste for example contains Triclosan – a registered pesticide, known to be an endocrine disruptor, known to mimic our hormones, and is toxic to the kidneys, liver, cardiovascular and reproductive system. Glycols are also included in most Tooth pastes as well as sulphates which again are endocrine disrupting chemicals and these are only a couple of the 10,500 chemicals people put on their body every day.

Fragrance is a cluster ingredient that Dr Carole Hungerford states is the number one “gender bender” causing major challenges with our hormones as fragrance can contain literally thousands of chemicals that never have to be listed on the label and all fragrances tested by the Environmental Working Group contained Phthalates (known endocrine disrupting chemicals) – Phthalates are linked to endometriosis, fibroids, PCOS, Infertility, breast, ovarian, testicular cancer, early onset puberty, early onset menopause and male genital malformation in baby boys. The incidence of male genital malformation in baby boys has increased by 400% and male semen levels has reduced by 40% – documented in the World Health Organisations 2012 report on endocrine disrupting chemicals. In fact, the W.H.O.’s report states that as a society we are on the tip of the iceberg in relation to the endocrine disrupting disorders we are currently experiencing.

Only certified organic is a consumers guarantee that the products are free from TEAs, DEAs, Sulfates, Glycols, Parabens, Phthalates, GMO ingredients, Nano-particles, Synthetic and Artificial ingredients, Ethoxylates TEAs, Formaldehyde and Formaldehyde derivatives.

So, how to tell if a product is Certified Organic or not? Look for the certification label. This is the ONLY way to be sure that the produce and/or products you are purchasing are free from nasty ingredients. Please see below examples of three certification bodies.

If you’d like to learn more about the difference between ‘Organic’, ‘Certified Organic’ and ‘Natural’ products/produce, please see this blog post where I explain in further detail: http://theresekerr.com/comparing-natural-to-organic-to-certified-organic-is-there-really-any-difference/

Living a healthy life doesn’t just mean eating well … how do you keep your mind and body healthy?

I meditate every morning. I wake with the sun at around 5-6am, and I will go down to the beach or sit in my bed and meditate for 15 minutes. This allows me to simply be and prepare me for my busy day ahead. It allows my body to get into parasympathetic nervous system state, which is the state you want to be in to ensure you function effectively throughout the day. I will say, since I started meditating regularly, I truly notice when I don’t. Things tend to get on top of me easier when I haven’t meditated, so it is a must for me and has had such a positive impact on my overall health.

As well as nourishing my body with certified organic food, I also look after my body by only applying certified organic beauty products to it. 60-70% of what you put on your skin soaks into your blood stream and organs, and unfortunately all conventional beauty products on the market contain nasty chemicals. There are over 10,500 chemicals used in skin, beauty, hair and personal care products only 13% of these chemicals have ever been tested for safety over the last 30 years (E.W.G. Report).

What you put on your skin is said to be absorbed up to 10 times faster than by way of ingestion as your skin doesn’t have the digestive enzymes to break down chemicals that your digestive system has available to it. There are many chemicals I could talk about, but I will only share one here today. Our everyday personal, skin, hair and beauty products contain chemicals called obesogens. Obesogens are fat-soluble, which means they cause us to retain weight. Research is showing they also cause the fat cells to multiply within the body, causing us to put on weight. So if you are finding it hard to lose those extra few kilos and you are doing everything right, healthy, nutritious diet and exercise, then I ask you to question or look into the beauty products you are using daily.

Again, all information I share on chemicals is freely available to you on my wellness blog www.theresekerr.com and I am very excited to announce that we have just launched our new Divine by Therese Kerr blog! Our goal is to educate, and through theresekerr.com and Divine by Therese Kerr you can access information regarding all aspects of health. We have some of Australia’s top leading natural therapists who contribute to both our blogs, so if you want a healthy recipe, or want to learn about soy, or learn the difference between ‘Organic’ and ‘Certified Organic’ (just to name a few), you can do so via these blogs.

Here at Raw Blend we believe in creating ‘a healthy mix for life’ …What does this mean to you? 

Balance…. Without balance, nothing works. Somehow as human beings we get so caught up and believe our self worth is determined by what we have, how we look and what we do, but that is such a fickle state to be in as anything we have or do, as well as how we look can change in an instant and it does.  The key to a healthy life is simply enjoying the journey, achieving our goals but knowing that we are here temporarily only and the joy is truly in our relationships, in our experiences and in sharing our experiences with others.  I believe mindfulness; connection with the universe and with others, being a contribution and making a difference is what life is truly all about. We have one body (in this life anyway) and to live the best life possible we truly need to nurture our body, mind and spirit and constantly presence ourselves to what’s important. Our body needs nourishment and on that basis I recommend the following:

• Only give your body certified organic foods (especially produce as it is full of pesticides, insecticides and organophosphates – known endocrine system disruptors)

• Remove highly processed foods from your diet

• Remove sugar from your diet

• Remove chemicals from your life, including your skin, hair, beauty, cleaning and personal care products – they are all highly toxic and wreck havoc on our endocrine system which is the tuning fork for our body

• Meditate

• Practice mindfulness and wonderment in your daily life

• Practice gratitude daily – always find things to be grateful for as every experience (good or bad) is an opportunity to learn

What is your ONE Super Hero Food that you cannot live without?

Coconut Oil – I so love it and Tumeric!

Who is your health, wellness or fitness guru and why?

Dr Libby Weaver is incredible, she is an incredible teacher and she is also a country girl, originally from Tamworth NSW. She specialises in women’s hormone health and has made such a difference to so many people’s lives.  I also adore Dr Sarah Lantz (Researcher from Qld University) and Professor Marc Cohen (Researcher from RMIT University in Melbourne) – these two gorgeous souls are committed, as I am, to making a difference to people’s lives and to educating and sharing knowledge such that people can make informed choices. We only know what we know and everyday we have the ability to learn and what a blessing that is…

We are lucky enough to have Therese one of her family favourite recipes with us, The Super Food Shake! It is full of goodness to ensure you get everything you need to help you start on a busy day.

Ingredients

• 1/2 of an Avocado
• 1 full ripe Banana
• 1 1/2 cups of certified organic Baby Spinach
• 1 1/2 cups of certified organic Kale
• 1 fresh Baby Coconut (open it and use the milk and the flesh in the shake)
• 1 dessertspoon of Cacao powder
• 1 dessertspoon of Açai Berry powder
• 1 teaspoon of Maca powder
• 1 dessertspoon of Cacao Nibs
• 1 teaspoon of Spirulina powder
• 1/2 cup to 1 cup of Quinoa or Hazelnut milk (depending on the size of your blender)
• 1 dessertspoon of Niulife coconut oil
• 1 dessertspoon of ABC nut butter
• 1/3 cup of frozen certified organic mixed berries
/8 ice cubes
• 1/3 teaspoon Gubinge Vitamin C powder

Optional: you can add a little coconut sugar or agave or even raw honey to add a little sweetness if you wish.


Method

It is truly this simple….  Just place all of the ingredients in a blender, blend until smooth and serve.

Follow Therese!

FACEBOOK:

• Therese Kerr

• Devine by Therese Kerr Facebook

INSTAGRAM:

• @theresekerr

• @divinebytheresekerr

TWITTER:

• @Therese_Kerr

• @divinebytk

WEBSITE & BLOG:

• www.theresekerr.com

• https://thedivinecompany.com.au/