Happy meals - sneak peek

If you've despaired at ever coaxing anything nutritious into a picky child, Cathy Owen is here to the rescue. She explains why playing with your food can be a good thing, showing us how to tell stories with a plate of food and how to put together fun and colourful picture-plates that even the fussiest eater won't be able to resist.

Extract from Issue One

"Speaking as the carer of a seven-year-old who prefers to roll around under the table than sit up and eat, I know how frustrated I feel when my lovingly-prepared meal gets 'yucked'.

I have tried every trick in the book to smuggle healthy food into the kids, from hiding vegetables in lasagne and pureeing them into sauces to disguising them in counterproductive batter and puff pastry. At the end of the day, you can lead a child to the table. but you cannot make him eat.

Children will usually go around five hours between meals before they start to get hungry. They are often not ready to eat at set times. I have met plenty of children who will eat junk, stuff on bread or steal sweets. But I haven't met one yet who will starve him or herself to death. Barring actual clinical anorexia, a child will eat when his is hungry and stop once he is no longer hungry; relatively few will carry on eating unless you force them.

We can influence their relationship with food right now, while they are small, while they see it as a fun and satisfying way to look after their bodies, rather than a boredom/comfort plug, or worse, a forced torment. Even if your kids are older, it's never too late (speaking as an ex-picky junk food eater child who turned into an organic health foodie adult)."

See Issue One for full article

Halloween: commercial trick or guilty treat?

If you've spent the last week cutting eyeholes into old sheets, disembowelling pumpkins and stocking up on red food dye, you'll know it's that time of year again - the celebration of all things macabre that is Halloween.

The naysayers
Amid the moans and groans coming from those dressed as mummies, ghouls and zombies, you'll likely also make out the moans of those who say that Halloween is little more than a marketing ploy, created by retailers and lapped up by consumers in a drive for maximum profit.

Samhain - Halloween's ancestor
Our appetite for all the trappings of Halloween certainly seems to be increasing, as year on year we spend more and more money on the occasion. But this gothic celebration existed in various forms long before retailers got their hands on it. Its origins can be found thousands of years ago in the Celtic festival of Samhain. This pagan event took place on October 31 (which was their New Year's Eve) and was believed to be a day in which the boundary between life and death came down and the dead walked freely among the living. Bonfires were burned to ward off spirits and the Celts dressed in costumes made of animal skins and heads.

Halloween today
Fast forward in time and many of us still get dressed up on October 31 and revel in all that goes bump in the night, although these days we've added a few newer traditions to the mix, namely pumpkin carving, toffee apples and our children's divine right to receive free sweets from neighbours.

Embracing our fears
Whether or not Halloween has become overly commercialised in recent times, for one day of the year children and adults alike seem to relish the opportunity to embrace everything that normally scares them. It seems that for all that we are revolted by the grotesque, it fascinates us; for all that we are terrified by it, it thrills us.

Issue one of Harvest has landed!

We're delighted and very proud to announce that the first issue of Harvest magazine has arrived! It's packed full of seasonal in-depth articles to help you lead a simpler, more natural lifestyle. We will encourage you to be inspired, stretch your mind, improve your life.

In the Autumn 2014 issue there are articles on the herbal powers of sage, how to fight off your next cold, the goodness in garlic and how to find happiness by identifying your personal values. 

The team paused briefly to raise a toast to health and happiness and indulged in a little bubbly and cake, before settling back down to work on the next issue, out mid-December. 

"We're so excited!"

Afterwards, Harvest's Editor Joanne Oliver and designer Claire Barrett were overcome with a mix of relief and excitement and took a few moments under the tree on the green outside Harvest HQ in Tackley, Oxfordshire to enjoy a longer look through the magazine in its full, printed glory.

About Harvest

Harvest is about the whole person, not just your physical wellbeing. We've got a range of inspiring and informative articles to make you feel happier and healthier inside and out.

Get your copy

Harvest is only available by subscription. Join today and you'll get four issues delivered direct to your door, plus an extra issue free in your first year. And, to celebrate our launch, you can save a little bit too with code BUBBLY10.

Crystal maze - sneak peek

On behalf of anyone who has ever worried about that long list of ingredients in the deodorant they spray/roll onto their skin every morning, we investigate some natural alternatives. Our intrepid testers tried out two types of crystal deodorant and reported back  a few weeks later.

Extract from Issue One

"Sweating is a vital part of life, regulating our body temperature and ridding us of excess salts. Everyone sweats and most people's sweat produces an odour, though the quality of this odour varies. Perspiration itself is odourless; it is the bacteria on our skin breaking it down that creates the smell. Though we often associate bacteria with negative consequences, these bacteria are a natural part of our skin's biology which thrive in the warm environment of our underarms, so we shouldn't be trying to kill them all off. Think about all those 'good bacteria' in our gut, for example.

Pores for thought

Should we be blocking up our pores? Is there a way that we can eliminate the smell whilst still allowing our skin to breathe? The majority of commercially available deodorant are also antiperspirants, so what else can we try?

For our test we chose two ranges of crystal deodorants; these have the naturally-occurring mineral salt potassium alum at their heart."

See Issue One for full article

Having a plan

I wish I’d realised how important a flexible plan or strategy is to success. I would have saved myself from feeling as though I was trying everything, but still not getting any results. It is so easy to get caught up in following the crowd, or falling for a great sales pitch, especially when it comes to health and wellbeing. However, the truth is a well thought-out plan that suits you as an individual and is the only way to find what works for you.

A plan or strategy brings us focus and, with enough focus, we can move mountains. The secret is to keep it fluid and flexible and adapt it to our own unique needs and circumstances.

When a plan can help
Many people who come to see me are taking a large assortment of over-the-counter supplements and alternative remedies, never quite sure if any of them are working. Others hop from one suggestion to another every few days, not giving any of them a chance to work. Kitchen cupboards are stocked with each of the latest health fad foods, all barely used and already forgotten. Others read up on everything to do with natural health, but never get around to actually putting their research into action. 

This is when a plan can help - even a very simple one.

It can make a huge difference if you can see an experienced natural health practitioner. They will teach you about your own body and provide you with an individual plan and method. The real bonus with this is that you are not so tempted to buy or follow the latest product – unless it supports what you personally need.

Meal planning
If you decide you want to take control of your own health, start with a plan.

Perhaps you decide to try cutting out a certain food. Taking 30 minutes to come up with a few meal ideas will make it much easier to follow this through. You can keep it very simple by rotating just a few meal options – and it will feel less stressful. Over time you can explore new ideas.

You can do the same meal planning when including a new food. For instance some people do not have enough protein and so it becomes easier for them if they plan their meals around the protein portion of each meal.

Adding a new action into our day can be helped with a simple plan. Increasing water consumption can be a difficult habit to get into. A simple plan can help: perhaps using an app reminder/tracker on your phone, making a plan to fill a container each morning to be consumed by a certain time, or finding a fun way of rewarding your water drinking. When you follow a basic plan the whole process becomes much easier on a daily basis.

Plans can change
Sometimes a plan on paper is not so easy or enjoyable to actually do on a practical level. This is when being flexible and adaptable will help. Maybe you need to tweak your plan so that it works for you.

For instance starting the day with lemon water is very popular, but my body just does not enjoy this drink first thing in the morning. Instead I really enjoy my lemon water in the evening. While some of the benefits may be lost, if I plan to drink it at a time that suits my body I'm more likely to stick to this plan and so gain more benefits in the long run.

After all, receiving long-term benefits is the ultimate goal.