How do Lactic Acid Bacteria work?

Lactic acid bacteria are a group of related bacteria that produce lactic acid as a result of carbohydrate fermentation. These microbes are broadly used in the production of fermented food products such as yogurt, cheeses and sauerkraut. They are used in preserving and producing food and in the food industry for several reasons. Their growth lowers both the carbohydrate content and the pH of the foods that they ferment due to lactic acid production. It is this acidification process which is one of the most desirable side-effects of their growth. The pH may drop to as low as 4.0, low enough to inhibit the growth of most other micro-organisms including the most common human pathogens, thus allowing these foods prolonged shelf life. The acidity also changes the texture of the foods due to precipitation of some proteins, and the biochemical conversions involved in growth enhance the flavour.

One of the most fantastic things to know about Lactic Acid Bacteria is they work entirely without electricity, which is pretty important if you want to preserve food without a fridge or freezer. And this is exactly what they do…

The full article can be found in the Autumn 2010 issue of our print magazine, OUT NOW. Look for it in your local health stores and holistic centres, or subscribe to have it delivered direct to your doorstep every season.

“Life is a continuous building process.” ~ Are Waerland

Instead of “life” you can put health, giving this quote a more relevant meaning. Already at birth, some foundation is laid for future health. More important, however, is your lifestyle from childhood into adult life. Your body is like a very sophisticated car. It needs the best possible fuel and maintenance. All cells in your body need building blocks and fuel to reach the fullness of health.

Important new research of omega-3 fatty acids in the diet or as a daily supplement clearly demonstrates how one can get a healthy heart and brain.

A healthy heart is crucial for optimal health. Without proper heart function, the cells of the body risk a lack of oxygen and essential nutrients. Without proper nutrients and care, your brain will not function in an optimal way. This will typically be experienced as fatigue and a general lack of health. The good news is that there are simple ways to look after your heart and brain…

The full article can be found in the Autumn 2010 issue of our print magazine, OUT NOW. Look for it in your local health stores and holistic centres, or subscribe to have it delivered direct to your doorstep every season.

As a preview to their talks at the Rude Health Show, Patrick Holford and Dr Gill Hart explain how you can find out what foods you are intolerant to and what can you do about them if you are.

Do you think you may have a food intolerance? It’s estimated that nearly half of us react to foods in our diet and have to put up with debilitating symptoms such as a lack of energy, mental “fog”, digestive problems, aching joints, eczema and headaches. So how do these intolerances occur, how can you find out what you’re intolerant to and what can you do about it if you are?

Intolerance occurs when the body alters its normal immune response in some way, due to the presence of an allergen (a substance which triggers an immune reaction). As the body’s immune system is highly active in the digestive tract, where it acts like the bouncer at the gateway into your body, foods that aren’t digested properly or that irritate or inflame the ‘gate’ mean its highly likely that they’ll be under “arrest” by the immune police. This is, in essence, what most food intolerances or sensitivities are all about. Of course, the real answer to stopping intolerance is to heal the digestive system and don’t eat the particular foods that are stressing or irritating the digestive tract. However, the fact is that if you’ve already developed intolerances you really need to ‘undevelop’ them first by finding out what foods you are currently reacting to and avoiding them long enough to heal the digestive tract, stop the antibodies that are produced from reacting throughout your body from causing your symptoms, and to reprogramme the “immune police”…

The full article can be found in the Autumn 2010 issue of our print magazine, OUT NOW. Look for it in your local health stores and holistic centres, or subscribe to have it delivered direct to your doorstep every season.

Do you know how much our faces reveal about us? One of the oldest manuscripts about Chinese Medicine ever found had on its first page “the facial map”. The second page was a map of the facial meridians. This original map had 150 age positions on it, meaning that a person could potentially live to be 150 years old!

The face is said to be the blueprint of who we are and who we are becoming, all our facial features and lines tell our story, what we have been through and when. It also tells us about our personalities, our strengths and our weaknesses.

When we express ourselves, lines develop on our faces.  When we laugh the wrinkles at the side of the eyes crinkle, when we are sad or disappointed then the corners of the mouth drop. These lines merely indicate the emotion we are experiencing but when these lines are there all the time they indicate that a particular emotion may be habitual, hence laughter lines or frown lines may become more permanent. Amazingly, sometimes when we change habitual emotional responses or release long-held emotions, lines can just disappear or just leave a faint resonance!…

The full article can be found in the Autumn 2010 issue of our print magazine, OUT NOW. Look for it in your local health stores and holistic centres, or subscribe to have it delivered direct to your doorstep every season.

I met Sabine (who is Dutch) in Australia in 2000, and thereafter moved to Netherlands with her. After a number of years in Netherlands, we became involved in the mattress business through a friend involved in Hotels. I became intrigued by the use of natural fibres in bedding, and the movement towards using chemical-free, eco and sustainable materials. These materials are recommended to anyone suffering from asthma and allergies. They are also recommended to people who have undergone chemotherapy, adapting to the sensitivities of the skin. Combinations of Natural Latex, Coir Fibre, Organic Cotton and Pure New Wool in mattresses was a very Continental European approach and I had never heard of such materials being used in Ireland. We further researched the area and got to know the leading supplier of these components for the European Market.

There is a broad range of individuals who seek out these materials, seeing the direct benefits that they offer. One group includes those that strive to use environmentally friendly and sustainable materials throughout their homes and lifestyle. Others are those who are seeking clean, healthy and chemical-free materials. They offer full orthopaedic spine support and, as the size and levels of firmness within a mattress can be customised, we can now meet the requirements of individuals with back problems or sports injuries…

The full article can be found in the Autumn 2010 issue of our print magazine, OUT NOW. Look for it in your local health stores and holistic centres, or subscribe to have it delivered direct to your doorstep every season.

Since 1997, I have learned about, and subsequently trained in, one of the most powerful healing modalities I have ever come across: Dr Klinghardt’s Autonomic Response Testing (ART). His healing modality is a wonderful coming together of many medical practices, complementary therapies and common sense. This comprehensive diagnostic and treatment modality finds the underlying causes behind the symptoms of degenerative disease, and helps to unlock the body’s inner healing potential.

Do you have unexplained aches and pains? Is your energy level below par? Were you told that even though you feel sick, the medical profession cannot find anything wrong with you? Autonomic Response Testing can determine imbalances in the different levels of the body, their root causes and the correct therapy modality and intervention appropriate to that level.

The human body is constantly busy, even in sleep. All activity is being monitored, controlled and organized by an intelligent, bioelectric force called Life. Life circulates in our bodies by way of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). The ANS is in direct contact with every cell, muscle and tissue, and it knows exactly what is happening inside our bodies at all times. It is our functional nervous system…

The full article can be found in the Autumn 2010 issue of our print magazine, OUT NOW. Look for it in your local health stores and holistic centres, or subscribe to have it delivered direct to your doorstep every season.

By John Cantwell

Don Sebastian Succle Apaza stood at the top of Grafton Street, surveying the shoppers advancing toward him. His face was still, but his small dark brown eyes moved from stranger to stranger with the same piercing assessment I had seen him use when checking on the welfare of his llamas and alpacas on the slopes of Andean mountains. “Their pockets are full, but their hearts are not,” he whispered sadly. Here was a Q’ero Indian paco (Shaman) who wanted, as a personal treat, to see the bustling energy of Dublin’s city centre. I wondered if he now regretted his choice of treat. For indigenous wisdom keepers like Don Sebastian, it is a major conundrum coming to terms with “the medicine of the first world.” How could all they see, the technology, engineering, academia, artistry, material wealth, political and religious traditions which have all been visited upon many countries with dramatic results, come with such emptiness? The sadness in Don Sebastian’s eyes came from his witnessing that these handsome people walking briskly towards another purchase on a chi-chi Dublin street had been in some way been conspiring against themselves…

The full article can be found in the Autumn 2010 issue of our print magazine, OUT NOW. Look for it in your local health stores and holistic centres, or subscribe to have it delivered direct to your doorstep every season.

No life is without its difficulties and struggles, but we often forget this, seeing our difficulties and imperfections as our own personal failures. We strive for perfection and we strive for ease, but then feel like even greater failures for not achieving these states. However, there is another way of approaching ourselves and our experience, a gentler and kinder approach that accepts imperfection as part of the human condition and points the way through difficulties and struggles. Mindfulness, usually defined as ‘moment by moment non-judgemental awareness’, is a way of being that enables us to re-inhabit our bodies, minds and hearts, and brings us home to ourselves.

I have found that when I try to describe what Mindfulness is and how it enhances people’s lives, I talk about it either as a very pragmatic set of skills and techniques or as a spiritual practice that transforms our way of seeing and being. I’ve come to realise that Mindfulness is both of these things, and that each person’s individual experience, history and character shapes how they engage with Mindfulness and what they get from it. What is without doubt, however, is the profound impact that Mindfulness can have on those who bring it into their lives…

The full article can be found in the Autumn 2010 issue of our print magazine, OUT NOW. Look for it in your local health stores and holistic centres, or subscribe to have it delivered direct to your doorstep every season.

Are you ready to ride with the new kid on the consciousness block?

By Joel Young, Creator & Custodian of NPA

We’ve done really well. We’ve travelled to the darkest corners of human consciousness. We’ve cleared, cleaned, unblocked, released, understood, dug deeper; inquiring with persistence and commitment. We have stilled our minds, addressed painful belief after painful belief and focused our thinking. We have become emotionally intelligent and healed much of our personal history.

We have laboured hard, digging a tunnel from where we were to where we longed to be. When we began, all we had were our bare hands and raw desire. Over time, hands have given way to spades and then diggers. We have done really well – in fact, in case you hadn’t noticed, the tunnel is dug! Welcome to the new paradigm!

All this pioneering ‘light working’ has facilitated a huge shift in human consciousness. It may be hard to admit, but many of the traditional awakening approaches that served so well to facilitate that shift are no longer as appropriate. Once a tunnel is complete, a JCB is a relatively slow, uncomfortable and cumbersome way to go through it.

Since the shift, we have been calling for transformational approaches that reflect the new energy. We wanted a new vehicle that could take us through the tunnel quickly and comfortably. A vehicle that would allow us the space, time and energy to explore the exciting possibilities that lay at the other end!…

The full article can be found in the Autumn 2010 issue of our print magazine, OUT NOW. Look for it in your local health stores and holistic centres, or subscribe to have it delivered direct to your doorstep every season.

The Irish Lifecoach Institute (ILI) was formed in 2003 by Adrian Mitchell and myself who had already been training coaches in Ireland since 2001. We have always been passionate about creating unique and powerful coaching and personal development programmes and workshops that would not just be of the highest quality but that would also be transformational for participants.

Previous to his training as a coach, Adrian worked as an accredited counsellor where he helped people from many backgrounds to deal with their difficult life situations. During this time, he developed unique workshops and programmes specifically designed to empower his clients and was also invited to give regular talks and seminars based on his work to interested groups. As a career guidance counsellor, I worked with people from all backgrounds, including prisons, the unemployed, the corporate and SME sectors and the general public. As this work progressed, my focus broadened beyond simply career issues and, to address this, I decided to train as a Lifecoach…

The full article can be found in the Autumn 2010 issue of our print magazine, OUT NOW. Look for it in your local health stores and holistic centres, or subscribe to have it delivered direct to your doorstep every season.