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July 11, 2025

Your clothes are disrupting your hormones (our guide to healthy clothing)

You likely don’t give much thought to the fibres that brush against your skin each morning. A bra clasped in haste. A pair of leggings pulled on for the gym. A t-shirt that boasts “100% Recycled Polyester” in proud green lettering. It sounds promising...waste transformed into something new. But behind the marketing, the truth is much less comforting. Polyester is the textile incarnation of the same plastic that strangles oceans and clogs our landfills. It is the silent infiltrator of our endocrine systems, the molecular saboteur finding its way into our lymphatic pathways. And it has become the default fabric of modern life. Why it is so harmful Polyester is, quite simply, a petroleum product. Every time you slip on that soft-feeling synthetic, you are enrobing yourself in plastic polymers derived from crude oil. These polymers don’t just sit inert on your skin. When warmed by body heat. or more crucially, soaked in sweat during exercise, polyester fibres can release xenoestrogens (synthetic compounds that mimic estrogen in your body). Over time, chronic exposure can subtly alter your hormone balance. Research has linked synthetic textiles to: Lowered sperm count and testosterone in men Menstrual irregularities and estrogen dominance in women Disruption of thyroid function through constant low level absorption of petrochemical residues The greenwashed myth of recycled polyester And then there’s the well-meaning marketing “Made from Recycled Bottles!”. You see this on exercise clothes, fleece jackets, even children’s pyjamas. But recycling plastic doesn’t make it harmless. Here’s what often isn’t mentioned: “Recycled” polyester sheds microplastics in every wash. These microplastics end up in waterways, ingested by marine life, and. Eventually, us. But they don’t just get in through what we eat or drink. When synthetic fibres sit against warm, damp skin, especially during exercise, tiny particles and residues can also be absorbed transdermally. Over time, they can make their way into our lymphatic pathways, circulating through tissues and quietly adding to the body’s toxic load. The chemical processes required to break down and reform plastic often leave behind residues of antimony, BPA, and phthalates, known endocrine disruptors linked to hormone imbalances and metabolic issues. But what feels especially troubling is how brands like H&M, already known for relying on low-wage factories, are using recycled polyester to make children’s clothes (and proudly championing it). They take the cheapest plastic waste and turn it into bright, appealing kids’ clothes. You can read their own article about it here. It's deeply unsettling how they're marketing this as something for the youngest. These are children whose detoxification systems are still developing, who are more susceptible to hormone disruption and bioaccumulation over time. And the cycle continues, disposable fast fashion, microplastic pollution, and the quiet erosion of health, rebranded as ethical consumption. The frequency of fabric Now this one may seem a little more esoteric, but if you’ve ever slipped into a pure linen dress or wrapped yourself in wool on a cool evening, you may have noticed a peculiar, almost ineffable calm. There’s a reason for this. Natural fibres like linen, cotton, and wool possess high bioenergetic frequencies. Everything has a measurable frequency, an electromagnetic resonance. Linen, for instance, has been recorded at 5,000 Hz, while organic cotton measures at around 100 Hz. Polyester and most synthetics hover near 0 Hz. A body clothed in high-frequency fibres is more likely to remain in an optimal vibrational state, supporting the delicate electrical currents that govern cellular health. Natural fibres also offer tangible physical benefits: They are breathable, reducing bacterial overgrowth and odour. They wick moisture without trapping heat or toxins against your skin. They are more durable and resistant to pilling, meaning they often last decades rather than months. While a cotton t-shirt or linen trousers may cost more upfront, the lifespan, and the absence of health costs, make them an investment rather than an expense. Exercise clothing, where it matters Think about the moments you sweat the most: running, weightlifting, yoga. Your pores open. Your circulation increases. If your clothing is polyester, you’re intensifying your exposure to plastic-derived chemicals precisely when your body is most absorbent. That’s why exercise clothing is one of the most critical areas to rewild. Organic cotton, hemp, and merino wool alternatives exist, and while they may not have the neon sheen of synthetic activewear, they respect your biology far more profoundly. First steps towards a healthier wardrobe Let’s be honest: overhauling an entire wardrobe is neither cheap nor simple. Fast fashion is designed to be convenient and irresistible. But you don’t have to do everything at once. Here are the most impactful first swaps to consider: 1. Underwear first Your underwear has the most sustained contact with your reproductive organs. Prioritise 100% organic cotton underwear and bras. This single change can meaningfully reduce daily exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals. 2. Exercise clothing next Switch out synthetic leggings, sports bras, and tops for natural fibre alternatives. When you sweat, you amplify the absorption of any residues. 3. Shop second hand High quality linen, wool, and cotton are often available in excellent condition on resale platforms. Think of it as rescuing a garment that was made to last, and already survived years without fraying. 4. Mindful maintenance Natural fibres respond beautifully to proper care. Learn to mend, air-dry, and store them thoughtfully. Over time, you’ll build a wardrobe that feels alive and resilient. Our ancestors clothed themselves in materials that returned to the earth without fanfare or pollution. Today, our closets are lined with materials that may outlive us by centuries, and compromise our health along the way. To rewild your wardrobe is to step out of the synthetic slipstream and back into resonance with nature’s intelligence. It is a gesture of self respect, a vote for a slower, richer existence. And perhaps most surprisingly, you often save money over time. When you become discerning about what you bring into your wardrobe, choosing only natural, high-quality pieces, you naturally pause before buying something simply because it’s 40% off in a flash sale. You stop impulse purchasing polyester sweaters you’ll wear twice before they lose their shape. You buy fewer things overall, but you treasure each of them.Natural fibres respond beautifully to proper care. Learn to mend, air-dry, and store them thoughtfully. Over time, you’ll build a wardrobe that feels alive and resilient.

July 09, 2025

5 tips to support progesterone naturally

Female hormones only really get talked about when it comes to pregnancy, menopause, or when something goes wrong. But the truth is, your hormonal health influences nearly every process in your body and every aspect of life as a woman. From our first periods to menopause, most of us grow up with incomplete or misleading stories about our hormones. We’re taught to see them as unpredictable, problematic, or something to suppress, rather than the intricate system of information that reflects exactly how supported our body is. It’s a story we rarely hear, because it doesn’t fit neatly into a marketing campaign for hormone creams or quick fix pills. And it leaves generations of girls and women confused about why they feel unmoored in their own bodies. One such source of misinformation is progesterone... It’s often overlooked or misunderstood, dismissed as simply the “pregnancy hormone” or blamed for every PMS symptom. In reality, progesterone is one of the most powerful allies we have. It calms inflammation, balances the effects of estrogen, supports thyroid function, steadies our moods, and nourishes everything from fertility to deep, restorative sleep. When progesterone is low, not because your body is broken, but because it’s underfed, overstressed, or underslept, everything feels harder... cycles become irregular, anxiety rises, digestion struggles, and the nervous system can’t find its calm. Before we dive in, consider this your invitation to settle in, perhaps make a cup of something warm, and strap in for a longer read, because female hormones are exquisitely nuanced (and never easily encapsulated in five simple steps). So let's begin, and first set the record straight about something almost no one is telling you… 1. Stop blaming progesterone for PMS You may have been told that a rise in progesterone is the cause of every miserable PMS symptom, bloating, mood swings, tender breasts, migraines, insomnia. But the reality is far simpler and much more hopeful. PMS is often not the result of too much progesterone. It’s a result of too little, or progesterone that is outmatched by persistently high estrogen. Contrary to popular cycle charts, estrogen doesn’t simply rise before ovulation and then fade away. For many women, it remains high, sometimes higher, in the luteal phase. Without enough progesterone to counterbalance it, estrogen can become inflammatory, water-retentive, and mood-disruptive. Progesterone is your body’s natural antidote: It tempers estrogen’s proliferative effects. It calms histamine and cortisol. It supports deep, restorative sleep. It nourishes the endometrium and protects fertility. If you take one thing from this guide, let it be this...progesterone is your ally, not your enemy. 2. Eat more carbs (yes, really) The modern obsession with low carb and fasting culture (and even strict carnivore) has left many women depleted, underfed, and hormonally dysregulated. When you don’t eat enough carbs, your blood glucose can drop too low, which triggers a rise in cortisol and adrenaline. These stress hormones not only leave you feeling anxious and wired, but they also block progesterone receptors. Adequate carbs also play a critical role in thyroid health. Your thyroid governs your metabolism, and thyroid hormones are essential for progesterone synthesis. When you chronically undereat carbohydrates, your thyroid slows down to conserve energy, your metabolic rate drops, and ovulation can be delayed or suppressed altogether. Your liver is another piece of this puzzle. It relies on glycogen, the storage form of carbohydrate, to power detoxification. Without steady carbohydrate intake, your liver struggles to clear excess estrogen from circulation. As estrogen accumulates, it can easily overshadow progesterone, leading to inflammation, water retention, and mood swings. To support your hormones, eat carbohydrate-rich foods regularly. Try to include some starch or fruit every 3 to 4 hours, especially during the second half of your cycle when progesterone naturally rises. Ripe fruits, cooked root vegetables, and simple staples like well-cooked white rice can be grounding, nourishing sources of energy. Make sure you eat before exercise so your body knows it’s safe and well-fed. And remember: long stretches without food send a signal of scarcity. Progesterone thrives in a body that feels resourced, not deprived. 3. Flood your diet with ancestral fats For decades, cholesterol was painted as a villain, a dangerous substance clogging arteries and silently sabotaging health. But this fear was never the whole story. It grew out of a tangle of flawed studies, industry funded narratives, and a push to replace traditional animal fats with cheap, industrial seed oils. By the mid-20th century, the rise of processed food giants coincided with an aggressive campaign to convince the public that saturated fats were deadly and that refined vegetable oils, like canola, rapeseed, sunflower and soy, were somehow better for us. These oils were promoted as “heart-healthy,” even as early evidence was emerging that they drive inflammation and oxidative stress. Lost in this messaging was a crucial truth... cholesterol isn’t simply safe, it’s essential. Every cell membrane in your body relies on cholesterol for structure and fluidity. More importantly for women’s health, cholesterol is the raw material from which all steroid hormones are built and without it, your body cannot synthesise progesterone. Beyond cholesterol, vitamins A and E play a pivotal role in hormone production. These fat-soluble nutrients are especially important for ovulation and building a strong luteal phase. They’re found in the very foods many have been taught to fear, like liver, pastured butter, and golden egg yolks. These are not incidental details... they are the wisdom of traditional diets passed down for generations. Even more remarkable, butter, especially from grass-fed cows grazing on mineral-rich pasture, contains measurable amounts of natural progesterone itself. In this way, food becomes not just a source of precursors but a direct contributor to hormone balance. To restore these ancestral fats to your daily life, bring back the richness your body recognises. Use grass-fed butter liberally, not as a garnish but as a foundational food. Include liver at least once a week for its unparalleled supply of retinol, B vitamins, and copper. Cook with tallow or ghee, and see egg yolks as a nutrient dense staple rather than something to limit. At the same time, be mindful of the fats that undermine your efforts. Seed oils damage cell membranes and disrupt hormone communication in ways we’re only beginning to understand. 4. Support estrogen detoxification Estrogen is often misunderstood as simply the “female hormone,” but it’s far more nuanced. It’s powerful, necessary, but when it lingers unopposed, it becomes pro- nflammatory and destabilising. Progesterone’s job is to rein in estrogen. But you also have to help your body clear old estrogen out, so it doesn’t keep recirculating. This can happen for a few reasons: Poor liver clearance: Your liver’s job is to break estrogen down into forms your body can eliminate. But if the liver is overloaded by alcohol, processed foods, medications, or simply lacks key nutrients (like B vitamins and choline), it can’t keep up. Estrogen stays in circulation longer than it should. Gut imbalance: Once your liver packages estrogen, it’s sent into your digestive tract to be excreted. But if your gut bacteria are out of balance (low beneficial bacteria, overgrowth of problematic strains), an enzyme called beta-glucuronidase can become elevated. This enzyme unpacks estrogen that was destined to leave the body, allowing it to be reabsorbed into your bloodstream. essentially recycling it over and over. Chronic stress: High cortisol doesn’t just steal progesterone, it also affects estrogen metabolism. Stress slows digestion, impairs liver function, and can shift your body into a state where estrogen becomes more dominant. Environmental exposures: Many modern chemicals, like plastics, pesticides, and personal care products, contain compounds known as xenoestrogens. These are synthetic molecules that mimic estrogen’s effects and add to your overall estrogen “load,” making it harder for your body to maintain balance. Low fibre intake: Without enough dietary fiber, estrogen metabolites have nothing to bind to in the gut, making it much more likely they’ll be reabsorbed instead of eliminated. In short, estrogen builds up when your elimination systems (liver and gut) are overwhelmed or undernourished, and when chronic stress or environmental toxins keep adding fuel to the fire. Supporting detoxification, eating enough fiber, and managing stress help prevent this accumulation so progesterone can do its calming work. Supporting estrogen detoxification is about tending to the organs that process and eliminate it, your liver and your gut. Start by feeding your liver the nutrients it needs to do its job...choline from pastured eggs and liver, B vitamins from organ meats and plenty of high-quality protein to fuel detox pathways. A daily raw carrot salad is a simple, powerful ally, carrots contain unique fibers that bind estrogen in the gut so it can be carried out of the body. Adding beets and bitter greens helps stimulate bile flow and phase II liver detoxification. And don’t underestimate the role of your nervous system... chronic stress slows down digestion and congests the liver. Create moments each day that pull you out of fight-or-flight. 5. Prioritise restorative sleep & sunlight Just as your cycle can move in rhythm with the moon, your hormones rise and fall with the sun. When your circadian rhythm falls out of sync, ovulation can be delayed, luteal phases shorten, and progesterone production drops. Deep, consistent sleep helps your body produce melatonin, a hormone that protects ovarian health and stabilises reproductive function. Morning sunlight is just as vital, when your skin and eyes soak up those early rays, your body makes vitamin D, an essential nutrient for progesterone synthesis. There’s also the hidden gift of rest...it tilts your nervous system away from constant vigilance. If cortisol is the accelerator keeping you stuck in overdrive, sleep is the brake that slows you back into safety. Only here, in the parasympathetic state, can your body invest in hormone creation instead of mere survival. If you want your progesterone to feel supported, think of yourself as a creature of light and darkness in equal measure. Greet the morning outdoors, 15 to 30 minutes of natural light is enough to anchor your internal clock, even if the sky is overcast. As evening arrives, protect your melatonin like something precious. Dim the lights, put your screens to bed early, and let the darkness do its quiet work. Make your bedroom feel like a retreat. Cool, dark, uncluttered. Keep familiar rituals close...a magnesium soak, a warm herbal tea, a notebook for anything your mind can’t set down.

July 09, 2025

5 tips to boost testosterone naturally

In a wellness industry eager to sell you synthetic fixes, it’s easy to forget this simple truth…your body is already a masterpiece of intelligent design. Testosterone, the primal engine of male vitality, strength, and drive, doesn’t need to be tricked or force fed. It simply needs the right raw materials and a return to the rhythms that shaped our ancestors. Before we dive into the how, let’s start with something no one’s telling you… 1. Stop fearing cholesterol For decades, cholesterol was painted as a villain, a ticking time bomb in your arteries. But this fear wasn’t born from unbiased science. It was largely shaped by industry influence and a cascade of flawed studies that served a hidden agenda… to shift the public away from traditional animal fats and toward industrial seed oils. In the mid-20th century, the rise of processed food giants coincided with a push to replace nourishing saturated fats with cheaper, shelf-stable vegetable oils. These oils, rapeseed, sunflower, canola, were aggressively marketed as “heart-healthy,” despite emerging evidence that they promote inflammation and oxidative stress. Meanwhile, animal fats rich in cholesterol, fats our ancestors thrived on, were scapegoated as the root cause of heart disease. This narrative ignored the fact that cholesterol is an essential structural component of every cell membrane and the raw material for all steroid hormones, including testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, and cortisol. When you strip your diet of these ancestral fats, hormone production falters, libido wanes, energy dries up and resilience to stress crumbles. If you take only one thing from this article, let it be this…You must nourish your hormonal foundation with enough cholesterol rich whole foods. In its whole-food form, it’s one of the most life-giving substances on earth. 2. Sprint training The body is designed to respond powerfully to short, explosive movement, bursts of effort that mimic the primal demands our ancestors once faced. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), particularly in the form of sprints, is one of the most effective ways to naturally elevate testosterone levels. Unlike steady state cardio, which can elevate cortisol (a testosterone antagonist), sprints stimulate anabolic hormones and improve metabolic health. Why it works Testosterone surge Research shows that sprinting leads to a significant, immediate increase in testosterone levels following exercise. Cortisol control Short, intense bursts of activity keep cortisol levels in check, preventing the chronic stress that can suppress testosterone production. Muscle activation Sprinting engages fast twitch muscle fibers, essential for strength, power, and hormone regulation. How to incorporate it: Warm up with dynamic stretches and light jogging. Perform 6–8 rounds of 20–30 second sprints at maximum effort, followed by 90 seconds of active recovery. Incorporate sprint sessions 2–3 times per week, alternating with strength training for a balanced regimen. 3. Balance your circadian rhythm Every great day begins with a connection to the sun. Testosterone production is intricately tied to your body’s circadian rhythm, the internal clock that governs everything from sleep cycles to hormone regulation. Morning sunlight is a key trigger, signalling your body to optimise testosterone production at peak times. Why it works Vitamin D activation: Sunlight catalyses your skin to produce Vitamin D, a hormone precursor critical for testosterone synthesis. Men with optimal Vitamin D levels consistently show higher testosterone levels compared to those deficient in this vital nutrient. Circadian rhythm alignment: Exposure to natural light in the morning helps synchronise your internal clock, ensuring hormones like testosterone and cortisol are released in the right amounts at the right times. Misaligned rhythms, often caused by indoor living and artificial lighting, disrupt these natural cycles, leading to suboptimal hormone production. To maximise testosterone friendly benefits, spend 15–30 minutes outdoors first thing every morning. Expose as much skin as possible to sunlight and ditch sunglasses to allow light to interact with your brain's hormonal control centres via your retina. For deeper circadian alignment, reduce exposure to artificial light at night to preserve melatonin production, a hormone indirectly supporting testosterone by promoting restorative sleep. 4. Eat organs throughout the week When it comes to nutrient density, few foods compare to organ meats. Once revered in ancestral diets, organ meats like liver, heart, and kidneys have fallen out of favour in modern culinary culture, but their nutritional benefits remain unparalleled. These treasure troves provide a wealth of bioavailable vitamins and minerals that directly fuel testosterone production. Why it works Zinc: Known as the 'testosterone mineral', zinc plays a crucial role in hormone synthesis and regulation. Found abundantly in organ meats like kidney and liver, it also helps balance estrogen levels in the male body. CoQ10: Especially abundant in heart tissue, Coenzyme Q10 fuels mitochondrial energy production, which underpins vitality, cellular repair, and testicular health Vitamin A (retinol): Liver is nature’s richest source of bioavailable Vitamin A, which supports testicular function, sperm production, and overall hormonal balance. Unlike synthetic Vitamin A found in supplements, retinol from organ meats is easily absorbed and utilised by the body. Heme iron: Organ meats provide heme iron, the most bioavailable form of iron. This boosts oxygenation, energy levels, and metabolic health, all of which are foundational for hormonal function. Enjoy grass fed liver multiple times a week. Not a fan of the flavor? Blend liver into ground beef for burgers, sauté it with garlic and herbs for a more palatable option, try it as a pâté. Experiment with heart or kidney in stews, where their flavours meld beautifully with rich broths and vegetables. Alternatively, enjoy them in your morning coffee or smoothie with Organised. 5. Incorporate colostrum Colostrum is quite literally the first food we ever receive, thick, golden milk designed by nature to kickstart life itself. It’s packed with compounds that protect, strengthen, and rebuild, which is why so many traditional cultures considered it sacred. And while it might sound far removed from testosterone, colostrum’s benefits reach surprisingly deep into the foundations of hormonal health. Why it works One of its most interesting qualities is its richness in growth factors, particularly IGF-1. This molecule helps drive tissue repair and muscle growth, two processes closely linked with healthy testosterone levels. Think of it as a natural way to prime the body for resilience and regeneration. There’s also the gut connection. Colostrum contains peptides and immune factors that help maintain a strong gut lining. When your gut is robust, you absorb nutrients more efficiently, handle stress better, and keep inflammation in check, all of which create the conditions your body needs to produce hormones in the right balance. If you’re curious to try it, look for a clean, grass-fed source, and just as importantly, choose a producer that ensures the calves are always fed first. Ethically sourced colostrum is collected only after the newborns have received their full share, which is essential for their immunity and development. What remains is then gathered for human use. This practice respects the natural order and honours the animal’s role in providing nourishment. It’s an ancient food that reminds us health often begins in the most unassuming places. Why this is so important Testosterone often gets reduced to clichés about aggression or bravado, but the truth is far simpler. It fuels drive, steady energy, muscle tone, mental clarity, and emotional resilience. And while it’s true that testosterone levels gradually decline with age (about 1% per year after 30), the more accurate truth is this:, testosterone doesn’t just drop because you’re getting older. It drops because the body is being depleted. Poor sleep, chronic stress, processed food, blood sugar instability, and a low intake of nutrient-dense animal foods all interfere with testosterone synthesis. Add in environmental toxins...plastics, seed oils, pesticides, medications like statins, and the flood of endocrine disruptors we’re exposed to daily, and the body simply doesn’t have what it needs to keep hormone production steady. But here’s the part that often gets overlooked... the body is remarkably adaptable. It’s never trying to attack itself or fail you, it’s constantly adjusting to the conditions you give it. When you start supplying the right raw materials, rhythms, and nourishment, it can begin to restore balance far more quickly than you might expect.

July 05, 2025

Our postpartum recovery guide

Modern culture treats postpartum like an afterthought. A few weeks of check-ups and then an unspoken expectation to bounce back. Yet your body has just created, carried, and delivered another human being. That is the most nutrient-expensive act of your life. Postpartum is not just about healing from delivery. It’s about: Replenishing iron, minerals, and B vitamins lost during pregnancy and birth Supporting hormone recalibration and thyroid health Protecting mental health in a season of radical change Restoring connective tissue and pelvic floor integrity Rebuilding metabolic reserves for breastfeeding (or simply feeling human again) This guide is here to help you restore what pregnancy and birth have drawn from your reserves. To help you feel rooted, nourished, and gently supported as you rebuild. 1. Replenish your blood and minerals During pregnancy, your blood volume can swell by up to 50%, an astonishing adaptation to sustain new life. But delivery often brings significant blood loss, and with it, a depletion that runs deeper than ordinary tiredness. If you feel pale, lightheaded, or your heart flutters in your chest, this is your body’s quiet plea. Traditional cultures instinctively knew the value of blood-building foods in these weeks. Foods that don’t just fill your stomach, but replenish the very minerals and heme iron that forge fresh blood cells. Heme Iron: Grass-fed liver and spleen are nature’s iron infusions, their nutrients absorbed far more efficiently than synthetic pills B12 and Folate: Egg yolks and pasture-raised meats rebuild energy and clarity, restoring the oxygen-carrying power of your blood. Collagen and Glycine: Bone broth and slow-cooked cuts soothe your gut lining while mending tissue stretched or torn during birth. Electrolytes: Mineral-rich sea salt and coconut water replenish what sweating, nursing, and healing quietly siphon away. In addition, warmth invites circulation, speeds tissue repair, and keeps digestion running smoothly when your gut is tender and your metabolism recalibrating. Warming, slow-cooked meals require little digestive effort, allowing more of your energy to flow to healing. Leave the icy smoothies and raw salads for another season. Now is the time to kindle your digestive fire. A simple restorative meal: a warm cup of bone broth seasoned with sea salt, sourdough spread thick with liver pâté, and two soft-boiled eggs drizzled in olive oil. Or for a sweet treat.. warm raw milk stirred with honey and a pinch of cinnamon 2. Support fascia and core Integrity Your fascia, the tissue architecture of your body, held everything in place as your womb grew. It stretched, adapted, and yielded to the miraculous expansion of life. Now, in the hush after birth, this intricate web needs nourishment, alignment, and time to remember itself. This is why so many mothers describe a soft, aching looseness in their core, a fatigue in the hips, or a tightness in the shoulders from endless nursing. Belly binding is an ancestral practice that honours this need for containment. In India, a soft cotton cloth is wrapped around the abdomen to gently compress overstretched muscles. Often, warming herbs are massaged in before binding, a ritual of heat and support. Benefits of gentle binding: Helps the uterus contract and return to pre-pregnancy size. Provides support to the abdominal wall. Encourages proper posture while nursing. Begin binding a few days postpartum.Even a few hours a day can ease discomfort. 3. Self-massage In Ayurveda, warm oil is massaged over the belly and hips, anointing the skin and calming the nervous system. In Mexico’s Closing of the Bones, skilled hands realign the pelvis and wrap the mother in rebozos, helping her feel “closed” again after the immense opening of birth. Create your own ritual: A warm Epsom salt bath A slow self-massage with homemade tallow cream (see below) Wrapping in a soft blanket afterward 4. Soothe and repair with tallow cream Your skin works just as hard as your deeper tissues in pregnancy and birth. It stretches, holds, and often bears the marks of growth, tiny lines, dryness, or irritation. Especially in postpartum, when hormones shift and your body draws nutrients inward to make milk, your skin can feel thin and sensitive. Use this gentle homemade tallow on your belly, hips, breasts, or anywhere that feels dry or tender after birth. Ingredients: 1 cup grass-fed beef tallow (ideally from suet, rendered at home or bought pure) 2 tbsp cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil (for a softer texture) 1 tsp unrefined beeswax (optional, for a firmer balm) 5–10 drops chamomile or calendula essential oil (optional, for calming irritation) Method Place the tallow and beeswax in a small glass jar or bowl. Set the jar in a saucepan with a couple inches of water (makeshift double boiler). Heat on low until fully melted. Remove from heat. Stir in the olive oil until smooth. Let it cool slightly, so it’s warm but not hot, then add essential oils if you like. Stir well. Pour into a clean glass jar. Allow to cool at room temperature until solid. Keep covered in a cool place or the fridge if your home is warm. It will stay fresh for several months 4. Gentle stretches When you feel ready, you can start inviting movement back into your core and fascia.. These ancestral-inspired stretches help awaken circulation, rebuild integrity, and encourage the fascia to release old tension: Pelvic tilt on exhale Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor. As you exhale, gently tilt your pelvis so your lower back melts into the ground. Inhale to release. Repeat slowly, 8–10 times, feeling the rhythm of your breath guide the movement. Supported bridgePlace a pillow or bolster under your sacrum (the flat bone at the base of your spine). Let your hips gently rise as your belly softens. This passive stretch releases the hip flexors and encourages pelvic circulation. Hold for 1–2 minutes, breathing deeply. Knees side to sideWhile lying down, keep your feet planted and let your knees drift slowly to one side, then the other. This soft twist massages the fascia along your waist and back. Move slowly, breathing into any tightness. Seated side stretchSit cross-legged, spine tall. Place one hand on the floor beside you. On an inhale, reach the other arm up and over, feeling a long stretch along your side body. Exhale to release. Repeat on the other side. Heart-opening shoulder releaseKneel or sit tall. Clasp your hands behind your back, drawing your knuckles gently down while you lift your heart. Imagine your collarbones spreading wide. Breathe here for 3–5 slow breaths, softening the shoulders and chest. 5. Restore lymph flow Swelling and stagnation often settle in after birth. The lymphatic system, your body’s natural drainage network, can feel sluggish from days spent nursing or recovering in bed. Restore flow with simple practices: Dry brushing toward your heart before bathing. Lying with your legs elevated against the wall. Walking outdoors slowly, breathing fresh air. Sipping plenty of mineral-rich fluids. 6. Now when it comes to milk supply… If you’re breastfeeding, your nutrient demands don’t just continue, they surge higher than during pregnancy itself. Every ounce of milk you produce is made from your body’s mineral reserves, healthy fats, and proteins. Your body is metabolically primed to prioritise this milk over everything else, which is why many mothers feel a deep, insatiable hunger and thirst in those early weeks. This isn’t just about quantity. The quality of your milk, its nutrient density, its richness in fats and minerals, depends profoundly on what you eat and how you replenish your stores. Here’s why milk is such a nutrient-intensive food to make: Minerals like calcium, magnesium, and sodium create the electrolyte profile your baby needs for nerve conduction and bone growth. Bioavailable protein fuels tissue repair and provides amino acids for the development of every tiny cell. High-quality fats, especially saturated fats and medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), supply calories and build your baby’s rapidly growing brain and nervous system. Water-soluble vitamins (B vitamins, vitamin C) and fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) transfer into milk, fortifying your baby’s immune system and metabolism. Foods that actively support milk supply Raw milkRaw milk is a living food, teeming with enzymes and beneficial bacteria. Its calcium and phosphorus content builds strong bones, while fat-soluble vitamins (especially A and K2) enrich your milk in ways synthetic vitamins can’t replicate. Full-fat dairy also provides CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), which has anti-inflammatory and immune-supportive effects for both you and your baby.Tip: If raw milk isn’t available, choose low-heat, non-homogenised milk from grass-fed herds to preserve as many nutrients as possible. Bone Broth with sea saltBone broth is the original postpartum tonic in cultures from China to Eastern Europe. Rich in glycine and proline, two amino acids essential for rebuilding connective tissue, it also contains bioavailable calcium, magnesium, and trace minerals that help replenish the massive electrolyte losses of pregnancy and birth.Broth is also hydrating in a way plain water is not. The minerals act like a sponge, holding water in your tissues and making it more available to your cells.Tip: Sip a mug of warm broth during night feeds to hydrate, stabilise blood sugar, and calm your nervous system. Herbal alliesTraditional herbalism offers a treasure trove of galactagogues, plants known to encourage milk flow and volume.Fenugreek: One of the most researched herbs for increasing supply. Rich in phytoestrogens that mimic natural hormones involved in lactation, fenugreek can noticeably boost milk volume within a few days for some mothers.Moringa: Known in Ayurvedic and African traditions as the “miracle tree,” moringa leaves contain complete protein, iron, calcium, and B vitamins that directly nourish depleted tissues and enrich your milk.Fennel: Contains anethole, a compound with mild estrogenic effects that can enhance milk let-down. Fennel tea is also soothing to digestion, for both you and baby, and may reduce colic symptoms.Tip: Brew a daily infusion combining these herbs, sipping throughout the day. A warm thermos beside your feeding chair can make this ritual feel effortless. For a truly restorative tonic, blend: Warm raw milk A date or two for minerals and natural sweetness A spoonful of ghee or coconut oil A sprinkle of cinnamon 7. Heal your nervous system The early weeks of motherhood are as tender as they are overwhelming. Hormones surge, sleep fragments, and the nervous system flickers between alertness and depletion. These practices can help calm and restore: Vagal toning: hum lullabies, practice slow 5-5-7 breathing, or splash your face with cool water. Grounding: walk barefoot on grass for 5–10 minutes a day to steady cortisol. Herbal allies: chamomile tea before bed, lemon balm for anxious thoughts, nettle infusions for minerals. Magnesium: Epsom salt baths, magnesium oil on feet before sleep, or a square of dark chocolate to end the day. Sleep hygiene: use red or amber light during night feeds, keep your room cool and dark, and nap without guilt, rest is the most ancient medicine.

July 02, 2025

6 steps to heal iron deficiency (without just taking another pill)

You’re tired. Bone deep tired. Maybe your periods are heavy. Or you’re always cold, wrapped in layers while everyone else feels fine. Iron deficiency is one of the most common, and most overlooked, forms of nutrient depletion, especially among those with a menstrual cycle, women in the postpartum, athletes, and anyone recovering from chronic stress. The usual advice? Take an iron pill. Eat some spinach. But here’s the thing… iron pills often cause constipation, nausea, or gut irritation. And spinach contains oxalates that actually block absorption. What your body really needs is not just more iron, but the right iron, delivered in a way it can use. 1. Choose heme iron over non-heme Not all iron is created equal. Heme iron, found only in animal tissue, is the form your body is biologically primed to recognise, and is up to four times more absorbable than plant-based non-heme iron. It doesn’t require conversion by the gut, and it’s not sabotaged by anti-nutrients like phytic acid and oxalates. In fact, non-heme iron doesn’t just absorb poorly, it can actually compete with and block heme iron uptake, making deficiency worse. The most potent sources of heme iron are liver (beef, lamb, chicken), spleen (nature's richest iron source), heart and shellfish such as oysters and clams. It's very important to note the key distinction in eating iron from natural sources rather than taking an iron supplement. Most conventional iron pills are made with inorganic iron salts, ferrous sulfate, ferrous fumarate, ferrous gluconate, or, in some cases, literally ground iron filings, tiny metallic particles intended to dissolve slowly in stomach acid. Imagine swallowing a handful of iron shavings and expecting your digestive tract to accept them gracefully. While this approach can technically raise serum iron on a lab test, it does so at a cost. These dense, metallic forms are: Highly reactive, creating oxidative stress in the gut lining Difficult to absorb, leaving much of the iron unutilised and free to feed harmful gut bacteria Irritating to mucosal tissue, triggering nausea, bloating, constipation, or even gastritis over time This is why so many people start taking iron pills only to abandon it a few weeks later, overwhelmed by side effects no one warned them about. It doesn’t have to be this way. Iron is not inherently harsh or toxic. When it comes in its natural, heme-bound form, woven into the protein matrix of organs and blood, it is gentle, absorbable, and biologically familiar. Your body recognises it immediately because it is the same form of iron you’ve been using to build red blood cells since before birth. 2. Detox from heavy metals Here’s a lesser-known (but critical) fact… you can have plenty of iron stored in your body, but still be anaemic. Why? Because aluminium and other heavy metals hijack your bone marrow’s ability to produce haemoglobin. It accumulates in bones, weakening structure It blocks red blood cell production It sabotages oxygen delivery even when iron levels are “normal” But wait! Before you start googling dramatic detox protocols, please pause. We don’t want you hurting yourself. Many so-called “heavy metal detoxes” are marketed like a purification ritual, promising to cleanse every toxin from your cells in one cathartic, violent sweep. They rely on subtraction, stripping minerals out of your body without first replenishing what you’re already missing. This is why so many people end up worse… depleted, sicker, and more anemic than before. We’ll be publishing a full guide to safe, nutrient supported heavy metal detox soon. For now, know this... Real detoxification depends on cellular energy. When your body is chronically underfed nutrients, it can’t generate enough energy to power the liver, kidneys, and gut to excrete toxins. Your body doesn’t need dramatic, forceful interventions to “detox”. That narrative is marketing, not science, and often unsafe. True detox is never about purging or suffering, it’s about adding nourishment so your body can clear toxins in its own time, safely and sustainably. In the meantime, start by reducing your exposure. Common places aluminum hides include: Conventional deodorants and antiperspirants Cookware (especially old or scratched aluminum pots and pans) Some medications and over-the-counter antacids Low quality protein/collagen powders. Especially if they are sourced from factory farmed animals, processed at high heat or lacking third-party testing. Marine collagen can especially harbour heavy metals due to polluted waters. 3. Add spleen to your diet Among all the ancestral foods that restore iron, spleen is the most overlooked, and perhaps the most essential. Rich in heme iron, copper, and vitamin C in a naturally balanced ratio, spleen offers exactly what the bone marrow requires to build healthy, oxygen-carrying red cells. Unlike isolated iron pills, spleen is a complete matrix…protein to stabilise absorption, cofactors to unlock utilisation, and enzymes to soothe digestion rather than irritate it. Historically, spleen was part of many traditional diets. Hunters knew to consume it first, believing it held the “power of the blood.” In Chinese medicine, spleen was revered for its ability to invigorate qi, the vital life force Blend a small amount into mince, stews, or meatballs. You won’t taste it, but your blood will feel the difference. 4. Rebuild with copper and B vitamins Iron doesn’t work in isolation. Copper helps transport it. B12 and folate help build red blood cells. Without these cofactors, iron may rise in blood tests but not in energy or symptoms. Best sources of these cofactors: Spleen and liver for copper and B12 Oysters, delivering a mineral synergy nearly impossible to replicate in a lab Dark chocolate (a welcome indulgence) for trace copper Pastured eggs and gently cooked greens for folate If you’re rebuilding iron, make sure you’re also rebuilding what makes iron functional. 5. Understand what's behind heavy bleeding Many women lose iron month after month without ever knowing why their periods are so heavy. And if the root cause isn’t addressed, even the best iron rich diet becomes a slow, uphill battle. Here’s what most practitioners don’t explain... Excessive menstrual bleeding is often the final expression of low progesterone, unopposed estrogen, and a liver too overworked to clear the hormones accumulating in your tissues. This imbalance has many origins, chronic stress, under-eating, long-term low-carb dieting, exposure to environmental estrogens, or simply the relentless depletion of modern life. Progesterone is the hormone of stability. It calms the uterine lining and regulates flow. But when your body is chronically undernourished or low in cellular energy, it cannot produce or utilise progesterone effectively. At the same time, estrogen builds up, sometimes from your own tissue, sometimes from chemicals in plastics and cosmetics, until your monthly cycle becomes an exhausting flood. Many mainstream approaches rely on suppression…birth control pills or hormonal IUDs that mask the problem by shutting down ovulation entirely. These can offer temporary relief, but they don’t resolve the underlying nutrient depletion or energy deficit. You don’t have to suffer through “just being someone who bleeds heavily.” There are gentle, food-first ways to support hormone balance and reduce blood loss over time... Eat enough to support ovulation and progesterone production.Focus on ripe fruit, for their abundant carbohydrates, potassium, and vitamin C, which lower stress hormones and nourish thyroid function. Include oysters, rich in zinc and magnesium to regulate pituitary signals for ovulation, and packed with selenium and iodine that support thyroid hormones essential for progesterone synthesis. Make liver a staple, its vitamin A, vitamin E, copper, and B vitamins provide the cofactors your ovaries need to sustain progesterone. Butter offers both cholesterol, the raw material for all sex hormones, and naturally occurring progesterone itself. Eat raw carrots and well-cooked vegetables daily to supply gentle fiber that binds old estrogens in the gut, preventing their reabsorption. Finally, raw and A2 dairy delivers bioavailable calcium and fat-soluble vitamins that ease PMS by lowering prolactin and supporting overall hormonal steadiness. Use castor oil packs or magnesium soaks in the luteal phase to calm inflammation 6. Address postpartum depletion Post-birth depletion is one of the least talked about causes of chronic iron loss, even though it affects millions. Between blood loss, hormonal shifts, breastfeeding, and disrupted sleep, many women stay anaemic for years after giving birth. In conventional care, postpartum anemia is often reduced to a single prescription: “Take an iron tablet.” But this approach overlooks the complexity of what your body is doing. You are not simply low on iron. You are rebuilding an entirely new hormonal landscape, replenishing bone marrow reserves, repairing tissues stretched and torn by birth, and producing breastmilk rich in minerals to nourish your baby. True postpartum iron repair is never just about iron. It is about restoring what was generously given… heme iron for oxygen delivery, copper to transport and metabolise that iron, retinol to rebuild mucous membranes and glandular tissue, collagen to mend fascia and ligaments, and carbohydrates to fuel your thyroid and adrenal glands as they recover from the metabolic marathon of pregnancy and birth. Eat abundantly to rebuild iron, minerals, and tissue: Spleen and liver: The richest sources of heme iron, copper, B12, retinol, and folate, all necessary for regenerating red blood cells and supporting hormone production. Raw dairy and gelatine: Provide bioavailable calcium, glycine, and proline to repair connective tissue and soothe the nervous system Colostrum: Contains immune factors and growth compounds that help heal the gut lining and strengthen postpartum immunity. Organs: Conveniently deliver the micronutrients pregnancy depletes most, iron, zinc, copper, vitamin A, and B vitamins, in ratios your body can absorb. And a bonus… eating nutrient-dense organs, broths, and mineral rich dairy also enriches your breastmilk with the minerals your baby needs for optimal development.

June 27, 2025

7 days of nose-to-tail dinner recipes

The quiet chopping of herbs. The scent of rosemary drifting through warm air. A pot simmering, releasing its gifts. The day’s urgency dissolves in the warmth of the kitchen. Dinner isn’t just the last meal of the day, it’s a final opportunity to remind your body that it’s safe to rest. A time to replenish minerals lost to stress, soothe your nervous system, and rebuild the tissues that carry you. So we planned it for you. Seven deeply nourishing, protein rich recipes, one for each evening, designed to stabilise blood sugar, repair your gut lining, and deliver hidden organ meats in ways that feel completely effortless. First things first, as all good evenings begin… With a steaming cup of bone broth. Why? Because no matter how nutrient-dense your meals are, you can’t absorb them properly if your gut lining is damaged. Bone broth brims with glycine and proline, two amino acids essential for sealing a porous gut lining, restoring digestive integrity, and building resilience from within. Each sip delivers minerals your adrenals crave, collagen your skin recognises, and a deep sense of grounding that no modern snack can replicate. And here’s a little hack…stew some bones a couple of times a week. Having ready-to-go broth on hand makes every recipe, whether it’s a sauce, a pasta, or a stew, infinitely more nourishing, collagenous, and flavourful. Consider this your nightly ritual of repair. From there, the meals unfold… Monday: Spicy Organ Burgers Burgers are one of the sneakiest meals to disguise organs into. You won’t taste the liver. Or the heart. But your body will know. Rich in bioavailable amino acids, B vitamins, and essential minerals, this is comfort food with serious credentials. Just season, shape, and sear. Serve them alongside roasted root vegetables, crisp lettuce wraps, or however you love your burgers, and feel good knowing you just delivered a serious boost of energy, immunity, and nutrient density to your cells. Tuesday: Lamb Koftas with Tzaztiki Juicy, herb-infused koftas with a tender char, finished with a cooling, lemony tzatziki that brings everything into balance. We start with grass fed lamb mince, seasoned generously with fresh parsley, mint, garlic, and warming spices, cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, to create that unmistakable Middle Eastern depth. These koftas are exactly the kind of meal that feels both rustic and elevated. They’re quick enough to throw together on a busy weeknight, but special enough to lay out for friends on a warm evening. Wednesday: Hot Honey Beef Bowls Warning: you might crave this meal for the rest of the week (and your body will thank you for it). Sweet, spicy, and packed with nutrients, this bowl balances bold flavour with deep nourishment. But most importantly, it’s a quick one for midweek. We call this one a dog bowl, but of the most nourishing accord. A humble pile of goodness, no fuss, just pure fuel. Savoury ground beef is infused with a sweet-heat kick from hot honey and boosted with our beef organ powder. Serve over caramelised roasted sweet potatoes, creamy avocado, and a cooling scoop of cottage cheese. Thursday: Thai Chicken and Organ Meatballs These meatballs look innocent enough. Bite in, and you’re hit with fiery Thai flavour, then quietly fortified with beef organs, colostrum, and collagen. This is the kind of meal that feels indulgent but functions like food should… restorative, complete, and deeply satisfying. Infused with garlic, ginger, lime, and herbs, they’re juicy, zesty, and perfect for meal prep or weeknight dinners. Serve with fluffy white rice or crisp vegetables and feel how much your body thanks you for the hidden nourishment. Friday: Hearty Venison Stew When it comes to wholesome, grounding meals, this venison stew is in a league of its own. Venison is rich in heme iron, zinc, and B vitamins, nutrients essential for oxygen transport, energy, and resilience. This one-pot wonder is slow-cooked with tender vegetables, aromatic herbs, and just enough seasoning to warm you from the inside out. Perfect for chilly evenings, family dinners, or any night you want to feel anchored and replenished. Saturday: Italian Style Meatballs We’ll be honest, if there’s one thing we never get tired of, it’s any meal shaped into a ball or a patty. Burgers, meatballs…they’re the ultimate disguise for organ meats. Simmered in a rich tomato sauce and finished with a drizzle of olive oil, these Italian-style meatballs are tender, herby, and exactly the kind of meal you can batch cook, freeze, or serve straight from the pan on a slow Saturday evening. Sunday: Rosemary Rack of Lamb A showstopper that feels celebratory yet simple. A grass-fed rack of lamb, rubbed with olive oil, garlic, and fresh rosemary, roasted until the fat crisps and the meat blushingly tender. Rich in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), heme iron, and bioavailable zinc, lamb is a powerful ancestral food that supports your immune system, hormones, and metabolism. Room for Dessert? End the evening with something sweet. Explore our collection of dessert recipes, ancestral treats designed to nourish rather than deplete. Organ Chocolate Mousse Date Fudge Cake Homemade Bounty Bars Strawberries & Raw Cream Cottage Cheese Truffles Raw Milk Panna Cotta

June 24, 2025

5 biggest health lies we’ve all been told

We were raised on rules. Eat less, move more. Avoid fat. Trust the label. But the modern health narrative is built on a house of half truths. Clever marketing disguised as medicine. So many of us have pursued “health” with the best intentions… only to end up depleted, dysregulated, and disconnected from our bodies.  Let’s unravel the 5 biggest health lies we’ve all been told... 1. “Fat makes you fat” This one did more damage than we may ever fully understand. It birthed a generation terrified of butter, yolks, and cream, and ushered in an era of low-fat yoghurts, spray oils, skim milk, and metabolic dysfunction. But your body doesn’t just tolerate fat, it requires it. Cholesterol, found in animal fats, is the precursor to all major sex and steroid hormones: oestrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol, and aldosterone. Without enough cholesterol, and the fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K2) that accompany it, your body can’t make or regulate hormones properly. And hormones aren’t a luxury. They govern everything… your metabolism, your mood, your menstrual cycle, your sleep, your immune system, your digestion, your ability to handle stress, and your capacity to build or repair tissue. To starve the body of fat is to starve the body of hormonal intelligence. It’s not fat that disrupts health, it’s the absence of nutrient-dense, ancestral fats and the presence of industrial, inflammatory ones that confuses your cells and drains your vitality. So bring back the butter. Embrace the yolks. Honour the sacred role of fat, not just as fuel, but as the foundation of hormonal harmony. 2. “Health comes from discipline” We’re sold the idea that the healthiest people are the most self-controlled. That if you just push harder...wake up at 5am, smash cold plunges, track every macro, resist every craving, you’ll earn health through willpower. But here’s the truth: micromanaging your body into submission isn’t health, it’s stress. And chronic stress is the fastest way to wreck your hormones. This kind of rigidity sends a constant message of danger to your nervous system. Cortisol stays high. Progesterone and testosterone drop. Thyroid function slows to conserve energy. Over time, this leads to burnout, hormonal dysregulation, and deep physical depletion. When you're constantly forcing yourself to override hunger, rest, or instinct, you’re not getting healthier. You’re just getting better at ignoring your body’s signals. There’s a reason people in many European countries remain active and metabolically healthy without obsessing over workouts or macros. They integrate healthy practices into their life, rather than fitting their life in around their health goals. Try letting go of control for a few days, or even a few weeks. Let your body lead. Move in ways that feel good that day, not because it’s on the schedule. Rest when you're tired. Eat when you're truly hungry. Pay attention to what shifts. Often, when you step away from high-intensity training and lean into slow walks, time in nature, and nourishing meals (meals full of fat dare we say), you start to feel lighter, calmer, even leaner. That’s not a fluke. It’s your nervous system and metabolism responding to safety, rhythm, and trust. If there's anything to take away from this...ditch the calorie counting app. 3. “As long as your macros are right, it doesn’t matter what you eat” This is one of the most modern health lies, unfortunately still shared even by nutritionists and health coaches (And can we blame them? This is the framework they were taught). Hit your protein goal with powders. Get your fats from nut butters. Fit in your carbs with cereal or rice cakes. As long as the numbers add up, it must be fine… right? Wrong. Because food isn’t just maths, it’s biological information. Your body isn’t tracking grams. It’s absorbing nutrients. It’s listening for co-factors, enzymes, and mineral content. You can hit 120g of protein from whey isolate, but if you’re not getting retinol (true vitamin A), zinc, copper, and bioavailable amino acids from whole animal foods, you won’t produce balanced hormones or build resilient tissue. You can hit your carb targets with processed granola bars, but without glucose from ripe fruit and potassium from root veg, your thyroid will stay sluggish, and your blood sugar will swing. You can hit your fats with sunflower oil, but these oxidised, PUFA-rich oils inflame the gut, damage cellular membranes, and dysregulate hormonal signalling. Macros tell you quantity. But your hormones respond to quality, to real, whole, ancestral foods... eggs, organs, raw milk, seasonal fruit, bone broth, wild fish, grass-fed meat. The foods that built human health long before nutrition was quantified. 3. “If you’re tired, you’re just lazy” We’ve been conditioned to see fatigue as a moral failing. Push harder. Drink more coffee. Squeeze in another workout. Keep going. No excuses. But waking up with consistent energy, creativity, and excitement to work on your goals isn’t just about mindset, it’s a reflection of your metabolic health. When you feel chronically tired, it’s often because your body is struggling to produce energy at a cellular level. This is metabolic dysfunction, and it frequently goes unrecognised. You might notice it as Waking up tired, even after a full night’s sleep Relying on caffeine to function Energy crashes after meals Cold hands and feet Brain fog, sugar cravings, or mood swings For women, chronic fatigue often points to low thyroid function, sluggish liver detoxification, adrenal dysregulation, or low progesterone, especially in the second half of the cycle. For men, it’s commonly linked to poor blood sugar regulation, low testosterone, or overtraining without proper recovery. And for both, one of the most overlooked contributors is the overconsumption of oxidised seed oils, which impair mitochondrial function and hormone signalling. Additionally, without adequate minerals (like magnesium, sodium, copper), glucose from whole food carbohydrates, quality sleep, and nervous system regulation, the body shifts into a chronic stress state. You stop running on real energy, and start running on adrenaline. But that’s not sustainable. Over time, the body compensates by slowing down everything…hormone production, digestion, libido, immune response, all in an effort to conserve what little energy remains. The focus shouldn’t be on more willpower, it should be on metabolic repair…balanced, mineral-rich meals, stable blood sugar, slow mornings with sunlight, deep sleep, and creating conditions of safety in the body. When these foundations are in place, energy returns naturally, and effort no longer feels like a battle. 5. “Your body is broken, it needs to be fixed” This is the lie quietly embedded in almost every wellness message we’ve been sold… That your body is a problem. That your symptoms are malfunctions. That your hunger is a threat. That your emotions are too much. That your cycle is unreliable. That your skin, weight, or energy need managing. It’s the reason we chase fixes. New protocols. More supplements. Better control. But here’s what no one tells you… Your body isn’t broken. It’s responding, perfectly, to the environment it’s in. Bloating isn’t a malfunction…it’s a digestive system asking for less stress and more support. Missing periods aren’t random…they’re a sign your body doesn’t feel safe enough to reproduce. Acne might be your liver struggling to process excess estrogen or inflammatory oils Low libido, hair loss, anxiety…these aren’t flaws. They’re feedback. And when we suppress these signs with medication, distractions, or constant correction, we don’t heal, we just silence the alarm. Instead of asking, “How do I fix this?”, start asking, “What is my body responding to?” Healing isn’t about adding more, it’s about removing what’s interfering with your body’s ability to self-regulate. That might be industrial seed oils disrupting your metabolism. Environmental toxins placing an unseen burden on your liver. Overtraining and under-eating keeping your adrenals in overdrive. Or even staying in close contact with someone who keeps your nervous system in a constant state of fight or flight. Start there. When the interference is gone, your body knows exactly what to do. Want to go deeper? If you're starting to see your symptoms not as problems to fix, but as signals to understand, you're ready for the next step. Our Root Cause Guides are here to help. They're practical, easy-to-digest, and grounded in what your body actually needs. Explore some of our most loved guides... Gut issues/ bloating or burnout? Our gut health guide, or our 4-part meal plan for gut repair Brain fog that just won’t lift? 5 steps to decreasing brain fog, Feeding your brain Poor sleep? 5 steps to restorative sleep (& our sleepy milk recipe) Acne, dry skin, or inflammation? Ditch the 10-step skincare routine Hair thinning or shedding? 6 reasons your hair is thinning (and it has nothing to do with age) Vision getting worse? 5 steps to reverse eye damage (yes, it’s possible) Stretching not easing your pain? Our guide to fascia health Want to support your children's health? Our guide to children’s gut health, How to fuel each stage of your child's growth Browse all guides Help someone else, what are some other health lies that need to be exposed ↓

June 18, 2025

7 red flags to look for when buying your food

In a world where food has become something to sell rather than something to nourish, we have to become more discerning than ever. Supermarkets are full of beautiful packaging, clever marketing, and “healthy” claims that can easily cloud the truth. But beneath the buzzwords, many modern foods are stripped of their essence, devoid of real nourishment, integrity, and life.Here are 7 red flags to look out for... 1. Fortified or “enriched” labels You’ll often see bread, cereals, flours and even snack bars marked as “fortified with iron, B12, folic acid” or “enriched with vitamins and minerals”. This is a red flag, not a selling point. When foods are stripped of their natural nutrients during processing, manufacturers often try to add them back in synthetically. But these lab made versions aren’t well absorbed by the body, and in many cases (like synthetic iron or folic acid), they may even disrupt natural mineral balance or overload sensitive systems. True nourishment comes from food that contains these nutrients inherently, not food that needed to be rescued by a factory. 2. Food that looks perfect, and tastes like nothing If your tomatoes are huge, red and glisten in the sun, but taste like water… Those strawberries that appear flawless, but don’t carry the nostalgic scent of being freshly picked. If your eggs crack open to reveal pale, flat yolks that break without resistance and leave no richness on your tongue… These are signs of nutrient depletion, often due to monocropped soil, rapid growth cycles, and produce bred for shelf-life rather than flavour or mineral content. Trust your senses. If it doesn’t smell like food, feel like food, or taste like food… it probably isn’t nourishing like food either. 3. "Low-fat” or “fat-free” versions of traditional foods It all started to go wrong when we were first taught to fear cholesterol. Once revered as a vital part of the human diet, cholesterol suddenly became the villain of the century, blamed for heart disease, clogged arteries, and poor health. But in reality, cholesterol is not the enemy. It’s the precursor to hormone production, a raw material your body needs to create estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol, and vitamin D. And hormones? They’re the invisible conductors of nearly every system in the body, from metabolism to mood, digestion to detoxification, reproductive rhythms to deep sleep. Traditional cultures consumed whole animal fats, raw or cultured dairy, liver, egg yolks, and rich broths, because they understood, intuitively or directly, that fat was life-giving. It carried flavour, satiety, and soul. It nourished mothers through pregnancy, supported children’s brain development, and grounded the body in times of stress. But then came the low-fat era. Low-fat yoghurt? Usually pumped with sugar, gums or starch to mimic creaminess. Fat-free dressings? Full of seed oils, artificial flavourings, and emulsifiers. Lean meat only? A recipe for nutrient imbalance, blood sugar instability and metabolic stress. The human body was designed to grow and be sustained on whole foods, not manipulated versions engineered for market trends. And fat, in its unprocessed, ancestral form, was never the problem. It was the processing all along. 4. “Natural flavours” in the ingredient list This one sounds harmless, even good, but it’s actually a legal loophole that allows manufacturers to hide hundreds of synthetic chemicals under one innocent-looking label. “Natural flavour” doesn’t mean it came from a whole food source. It just means it originated from something natural... and was then chemically altered, stabilised, and engineered for intensity. These engineered flavourings override your body’s natural satiety cues and train your palate away from real food. They hijack the senses. 5. Seed oils hidden in everything Seed oils (like canola, sunflower, soybean, grapeseed, and rice bran oil) are some of the most common, and most inflammatory, ingredients in modern food. They’re often used in products marketed as healthy: hummus, plant milks, snacks, protein bars, roasted nuts and almost every premade meal you can find in the supermarket (even the seemingly healthy ones, and ready-to-go sides like olives or marinated cheeses). Why is this a red flag? These oils are highly processed, deodorised, and heated to unstable temperatures. They oxidise quickly, are often rancid before you’ve even opened the packet, and interfere with mitochondrial function, metabolic health, and hormonal signalling. This wasn't the fat our ancestors thrived on. Like them, we should cook with tallow, butter, ghee, duck/goose fat or coconut oil, fats that are stable, nourishing, and deeply satiating. 6. Plastic-wrapped animal products When meat or fish is pre-packaged and shrink-wrapped in plastic, especially with long use-by dates, it’s often been treated with preservatives or packaged in modified-atmosphere gases to delay spoilage. You’re also far less likely to get nose-to-tail options or fattier cuts this way. Instead, you’ll find standardised, lean, sanitised meat designed for shelf appeal, not nutrition. Better to find a local butcher or farmer who can offer you the richness of the full animal: liver, kidney, heart, fat, marrow bones and more. 7. Health-washing buzzwords like “high-protein” or “farm-raised” Modern food culture is full of trend-driven labels that mean... very little. “All natural”? Means nothing. “High-protein”? Often translates to synthetic isolates, sugar alcohols and artificial flavouring. “Keto”? Usually just low-carb junk food loaded with additives and poor-quality dairy. Even “farm-raised” isn’t a regulated term. And “high welfare”? Just a marketing phrase, used by brands and supermarkets to soothe your conscience, not to guarantee the care or conditions behind the food. These buzzwords sound good, but they don’t ensure any specific farming practices, housing standards, or animal wellbeing. Instead of chasing labels, ask yourself: Where did this food come from? Would my ancestors recognise this? Was it grown, raised or made with integrity? Because not every food with a health label is nourishing, and not every nourishing food needs a label. That’s why we built the Organised app, to make it easier to meet the humans behind your food, ask better questions, and support producers who truly care for land, animal and community. This is the future of food, and it’s wildly, beautifully old-fashioned.

June 14, 2025

How to guide your dad (or loved one) back to health

Because he taught you everything, and now you’re watching him suffer. He likely doesn’t talk about declining energy, softer muscle tone, or the creeping fatigue that never fully lifts. Maybe he jokes about it, calls it “just getting older.” Testosterone levels fall, gut health suffers, and vitality fades quietly. And often, no one tells men how to get it back. Let’s be honest. If you’re deeply into health, as we know you are, it’s likely you feel this frustration. You’ve done the research. You’ve seen the results. And it hurts. You know he doesn’t have to feel like this. You’ve felt the difference a yolky egg, a walk in the morning sun, or a spoon of liver can make. And all you want is for him to feel that too. And yet, how do you help the people you love without sounding like a tinfoil hat wearing cult leader? Let’s talk about it. 1. Start with empathy, not evidence No one wants to be told they’re doing everything wrong, especially by someone they raised. Don’t lead with the PubMed citations. Instead, lead with how the changes made you feel. “I was waking up foggy every day. Now I actually feel clear-headed by 9am.”“I’ve been trying a few things that really helped my energy/gut.” That’s the hook. Then you can casually sneak in: “It’s mostly from upping my minerals and adding some real food protein.” That’s it. The seed is planted. 2. Upgrade his staples, without changing the menu He doesn’t need to give up burgers. He needs better burgers. Start by rewilding the foods he already eats: Add a spoon of liver to minced beef for his usual spaghetti bolognese. Offer crispy potatoes in beef tallow instead of vegetable oil. Swap supermarket cheddar for raw milk cheese from a local farm. Some other quick swaps: White bread → fresh sourdough or sprouted speltFlavoured yogurt → kefir or raw yogurt with fruit and cinnamonToasted sandwich → pastured eggs, sourdough, raw cheese The point isn’t to “healthify” his plate. It’s to anchor him back to real nourishment, the kind that’s recognisable and satisfying. Help and then teach him how to make better versions of what he already loves. 3. Bring back the foods he ate as a child It’s also very likely that many of the foods he ate as a child are the very ones that his body craves the most. Remember the kidney pie? Liver with mash? Oxtail soup? Or if your dad didn't grow up in the UK, it's likely his culture had it's own nose-to-tail dishes. Long before he heard the propaganda that eggs raised your cholesterol and margarine was a heart healthy choice, there’s a chance he ate these foods. He doesn’t need a nutrition lecture. He needs to remember how good real food used to taste, and how good it can still make him feel. You don’t have to convince him to eat liver with a fork (though that’s great too). Blend it into beef mince. Stir it into chilli. Use Organised in coffee, broths, sauces or shakes. 4. Give him a win, fast A properly balanced breakfast. A pinch of sea salt to mineralise their water. People are more likely to continue something that makes them feel better immediately. Enter... The “Gateway Shake” for skeptical dads They don’t need to know it’s full of organs. They just need to know it tastes like a creamy milkshake, and makes them feel sharper by 10am. Blend... 2 scoops of Organised 200ml raw or full fat milk 1 tsp raw honey 1 banana (frozen if you want a thicker texture) A dash of cinnamon or nutmeg 5. Understand that testosterone is a key player (and it’s not just about libido) Testosterone isn’t just a male hormone, it’s a metabolic engine. It fuels drive, energy, muscle tone, mental clarity, and emotional resilience. And while it’s true that testosterone levels gradually decline with age (about 1% per year after 30), the more accurate truth is this: testosterone doesn’t just drop because you’re getting older, it drops because the body is being depleted. Poor sleep, chronic stress, processed food, blood sugar instability, and low intake of animal based nutrients all interfere with testosterone synthesis. Add in environmental toxins (plastics, seed oils, pesticides), statins, and endocrine disruptors, and the body simply doesn’t have what it needs to keep hormone production steady. By age 50, many men are running on low testosterone without ever being told what’s happening. The signs are subtle but significant: Lower motivation or confidence Declining muscle tone despite exercise Irritability or emotional flatness Slower recovery, brain fog, and persistent fatigue But it’s not irreversible. Read our 5 tips to naturally boost testosterone. 6. Make him a weekly bone broth Cartilage is nearly 60% collagen, yet most modern diets barely supply what’s needed to maintain it, let alone rebuild it. As collagen breaks down with age, joints grow stiff, inflamed, and creaky. Painkillers might mask the discomfort, but they don’t restore what’s lost. That’s where food steps in. A weekly batch of homemade bone broth, simmered low and slow with marrow bones (or chicken thighs, or oxtail), cartilage, and a splash of vinegar, becomes more than just nourishment. It’s raw material for his knees and hips: glycine, proline, gelatine, and minerals that support the repair of connective tissue. Pour it into jars to drink daily or use it as a base for soups and stews. It should gel when cooled, a sign of rich collagen content. Need a recipe? Here's ours. If you don’t live nearby, or cooking isn’t your thing, high quality broth can be bought, just ensure it’s slow cooked and the only ingredients are the bones, herbs and sea salt. 7. Encourage him to tell stories and learn new things As men age, the fear of memory loss often lingers quietly. Slower recall. “What did I come in here for?” Brain fog. And worse, no clear guidance on what to do about it. Cognitive decline can range from mild forgetfulness to serious conditions like Alzheimer’s over time. In ancestral societies, elders remained integrated in the community. They told stories, advised the young, practiced crafts, and had a sense of purpose. This mental engagement is crucial. Your dad may not want to meditate, but he might love: Picking up an old hobby (woodworking, chess, puzzles) Playing cards or socialising more Learning a new instrument or language Enjoying movement out in nature. Physical exercise has huge benefits for cognitive function. It increases blood flow to the brain, reduces inflammation, and promotes neurogenesis (growth of new brain cells). Additionally, spending time in varied natural environments provides mental stimulation, the smells, sounds, and sights of nature are rich sensory input that keeps the brain engaged (and it’s relaxing). Our brains evolved in nature, not in sterile indoor spaces, so regularly reconnecting with outdoor environments can sharpen attention and lift mood (some call it “ecotherapy”). Even having plants at home or a garden to tend can be beneficial for mental agility. Get him outside in the morning sun, and into nature often. 8. The best medicine might just be your company And perhaps the most powerful part? These moments become time together that nourishes you both. Supporting his brain doesn’t need to look like another health protocol, it can look like a walk along the coast, fixing something in the shed, or playing cards on a Sunday afternoon. You don’t need to call it “neuroplasticity” for it to matter. Join him for a forest walk instead of Sunday lunch in the pub. Teach him how to make bone broth, or better yet, let him teach you a recipe from his childhood. These shared rituals create new neural pathways and new memories. It's not about telling him what to do. It's about reminding him who he is. Why this is so hard (and so important) If you’ve done the work to heal your gut, rebuild your hormones, or crawl out of chronic fatigue, watching someone you love not do the same is heartbreaking. You know they could feel better. And yet, often our parents are stubborn. Or change is scary. It’s okay to be frustrated. It’s okay to care deeply. So even when it’s slow… Even when they resist…It’s about walking beside them. Holding space for change. Sharing what worked for you, and inviting them to try, without pressure. Healing doesn’t need to be solo. It can be shared, sacred, and even joyful. One meal. One walk. One conversation at a time.

June 11, 2025

5 small tweaks to get more nutrients from your food

There’s a smarter way to nourish, and it’s not what mainstream nutrition told you. It’s not about piling on more ‘superfoods’. It’s about getting more from what you’re already eating. The body doesn’t absorb nutrients in isolation. It recognises them in context, bound to fats, paired with enzymes, woven into food that speaks the same biological language we evolved with. What you absorb matters far more than what you consume. The good news? You don’t need to eat more, spend more, or supplement your way out. You just need to eat smarter. These 5 micro adjustments dramatically increase your nutrient absorption, no capsules required... 1. Pair smart. Absorb more. Certain vitamins, minerals, and compounds work together in ways that unlock their full potential. Without that synergy, even the most nutrient dense meal can fall short. Your digestive system is a discerning filter, always asking: Can I use this? And the answer depends on what that nutrient arrives with. Fat helps absorb vitamins. Acid helps unlock minerals. Enzymes activate co-factors. Take iron. The form found in plants (non-heme iron) is notoriously difficult to absorb, but combine it with vitamin C (like a squeeze of lemon or a glass or orange juice), and absorption can triple. Or fat-soluble vitamins, A, D, E, and K. Found in foods like liver and egg yolks, they need dietary fat to make it across the gut wall. Then there’s zinc and B6, two critical nutrients for hormones, skin, and metabolism. Zinc helps convert B6 to its active form, and B6 helps zinc get where it needs to go. Even humble black pepper plays its part, increasing the bioavailability of curcumin in turmeric by up to 2000%. Let your meals become nutrient stacks. Don’t fear butter on your veg. Think “what helps this absorb?” as often as “what’s in it?” When food is paired intentionally, the body listens more deeply. Curious which combos work best? We've made you a guide. 2. Switch to raw dairy Raw milk is more than creamy nostalgia. It’s a living, enzymatically intact food, and a missing puzzle piece for many. Unlike pasteurised milk, raw milk contains lactase (the enzyme needed to digest lactose), as well as bioavailable calcium, magnesium, vitamin A, D, and K2, all in a form the body recognises. Pasteurisation denatures proteins and kills off beneficial microbes. But raw milk, especially from grass-fed cows, delivers the full symphony: enzymes, fats, minerals, and immune-supporting compounds like lactoferrin and immunoglobulins. Raw cheese, kefir, and cultured butter are not just easier to digest, they actually feed the microbiome, build the gut lining, and carry fat-soluble vitamins deep into the tissues that need them most. Swap your afternoon snack for raw milk. Add it to your coffee, your smoothie, or enjoy it straight in the sun. Let it nourish you the way milk always did, before it was tampered with. 3. Soak or ferment before you cook Grains, seeds, nuts and legumes come with their own natural defences: phytic acid, lectins, and enzyme inhibitors, all of which can block mineral absorption and irritate the gut lining when eaten raw or unprepared. But soaking, sprouting, or fermenting? That’s the ancestral unlock. Traditional cultures soaked beans, fermented porridge, and sprouted bread long before modern science could explain why. These practices reduce anti-nutrients and increase bioavailability, meaning the body can actually access the zinc, magnesium, iron, and B vitamins within. Even sourdough isn’t just about flavour. Fermentation pre digests gluten and breaks down phytic acid, making minerals in the flour more absorbable. Soak your oats overnight in raw milk. Sourdough your grains. Fuel your mornings with sprouted buckwheat pancakes. A little prep transforms humble foods into nutrient powerhouses. 4. Sneak in organ meats There is no food more nutrient dense, gram for gram, than organs. Revered across every ancestral culture, yet quietly abandoned in the modern diet. Take liver: just one tablespoon delivers More bioavailable vitamin A (as retinol) than an entire bowl of carrots (or bowl of any food for that matter). Essential for fertility, immunity and vision. A complete spectrum of B vitamins, especially B12 and folate, vital for energy, detoxification, and brain function Highly absorbable iron, copper, and zinc, in the exact ratios your body needs to avoid imbalance CoQ10, choline, and amino acids that fuel mitochondria, support mood, and promote metabolic health Heart is abundant in taurine and CoQ10, essential for cardiovascular support and cellular energy. Kidney offers selenium, DAO enzymes for histamine breakdown, and rare peptides that support detox and immune balance. Spleen, the richest food source of heme iron, supports red blood cell production and oxygen delivery. Yet most of us didn’t grow up eating these sacred foods, and they can feel intimidating. But they don’t need to be centre stage to make an impact. Blend liver into ground beef (start with 10–20%). Stir a spoonful of Organised powder into sauces, broths, or your morning smoothie. Add heart to stews, or kidney to pies. Hidden nourishment is still nourishment. 5. Eat with the seasons, and the light they were grown under Most of us know that seasonal eating is fresher. But few realise it’s also coded. Plants don’t just grow in soil, they grow under light. And that light is information. Every leaf, fruit, root and berry is imprinted by the angle of the sun, the length of the day, and the quality of the light spectrum it was exposed to. This is known as photobiomodulation, light shaping biology. Just as your skin makes vitamin D in response to UVB, a beetroot grown in July at 52°N latitude has a different photonic signature than a banana grown at the equator. The pigments it produces, the enzymes it expresses, the minerals it draws up, these are not random. They’re adaptive signals, timed to support the organisms (you and me) living under that same sun. In other words: nature syncs our food to the same light environment we live in. Spring greens are rich in bitters that clear out stagnant bile and reset digestion after winter’s heaviness. Summer berries, saturated in red and blue pigments, buffer UV exposure with antioxidant power. Autumn roots store energy for colder months, helping regulate blood sugar and support thyroid health. Winter brassicas are packed with sulphur compounds to support detoxification when indoor living ramps up toxic load. But when we eat produce flown in from a different hemisphere, like Peruvian blueberries in January, we’re digesting signals meant for someone else's season. And here’s the next layer: your own body responds to light, too. Sunlight on skin sparks vitamin D production. But that vitamin D doesn’t work in isolation, it relies on co-factors like vitamin A, K2, magnesium, and calcium… all found in ancestral, nutrient-dense foods. That’s the synergy. When you pair seasonal food with seasonal light, something profound happens. A yolky egg and raw milk in the morning sun. Sardines with buttered greens on the porch. A crisp apple under an autumn sky. These are not just meals, they’re signals. Alignments. The kind your body recognises and remembers. Let light guide your plate, and your day. Eat foods that grew under your local sun. And eat them in its presence. Sit outside for breakfast. Let the light hit your skin. Visit a local farmer’s market and ask what was picked this week. Eat what grew under your sky. The closer your food is to your current latitude and season, the more fluently your body will understand its message. And one more thing, perhaps the most foundational of all… Your gut is the gatekeeper. You can eat the most nutrient-rich diet in the world, but if your gut lining is compromised, if inflammation has frayed the tight junctions of your intestinal wall, those nutrients might never make it into your bloodstream. This is the hidden cost of modern living: antibiotics, seed oils, pesticides, stress, and processed food can all contribute to gut permeability (aka leaky gut), reducing nutrient absorption and triggering immune dysregulation. We would never pretend that healing your gut is a small change. It’s a journey. But it is one of the most powerful needle-movers you can make in your health. We’ve created a full Gut Repair Guide to walk you through it, alongside a Gut Health Meal Plan to get you started with foods that restore, not inflame. Explore the guide hereGet the meal plan here Because nourishment isn’t just about what you eat, it’s about what your body can receive.

June 07, 2025

Healing your body after pesticide exposure (Our guide)

You can’t see them. You can’t taste them. But they’re there. Coating the spinach that looked so vibrant in your fridge drawer. Hiding in the wheat flour that made your child’s morning toast. Drifting through the air of rural fields, then settling into rivers, breast milk, umbilical cords. We’re talking about pesticide, and specifically, glyphosate. In 2015, the World Health Organisation classified glyphosate as a “probable carcinogen.” In 2020, it was found in 80% of urine samples tested in a CDC-backed survey. In 2023, it showed up in breast milk, umbilical cords, rainwater Pesticides were designed to kill. Insects, weeds, fungi. But life is interconnected, and what damages one system rarely stops there. Let’s walk through it. What these chemicals do, to the body, to the earth. And how, piece by piece, we can opt out. What is glyphosate, and why is it everywhere? Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide on Earth. Originally patented as a metal chelator (meaning it binds to minerals), it’s the active ingredient in Roundup, a weedkiller sprayed across lawns, playgrounds, and, most worryingly, our food system. But it’s not just sprayed on GMO corn or soy. Glyphosate is now routinely sprayed as a drying agent on non-GMO staples too: oats, wheat, chickpeas, lentils, barley, sugarcane. That “healthy” oat milk? Likely harvested with a dose of Roundup just days before processing. This means even if you're not eating GMO foods, you're still likely ingesting glyphosate through everyday staples. And it doesn’t just disappear. How glyphosate affects human health Glyphosate was designed to kill weeds by disrupting the shikimate pathway, a metabolic route absent in humans but present in our gut bacteria. Which matters more than most realise. Gut ecology collapse: Glyphosate reduces keystone species like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria, while favouring more harmful strains. It also loosens tight junctions in the gut lining, paving the way for intestinal permeability (aka leaky gut). The result? A primed landscape for food intolerances, chronic inflammation, and autoimmune flares. Neurotoxicity: Studies have linked glyphosate exposure to neurodevelopmental disorders in children and neurodegeneration in adults, likely due to inflammation, oxidative stress, and gut-brain axis disruption. Mitochondrial dysfunction: Glyphosate inhibits cytochrome P450 enzymes, key players in both detoxification and energy production. Over time, this can manifest as persistent fatigue, sluggish metabolism, brain fog, and hormonal chaos. Your mitochondria take the hit long before symptoms become clinical. Endocrine disruption & DNA damage: Even at trace levels, glyphosate has been shown to mimic or block hormones, disrupt endocrine signalling, and impair fertility. It’s been detected in placental tissue, fetal blood, and breast milk. In lab models, glyphosate has caused DNA fragmentation and epigenetic shifts, suggesting its impact may span generations, not just lifetimes. What it does to animals & ecosystems Pesticides don’t just vanish after they do their job. They drift, seep, and linger, long after the sprayer moves on. And they’re anything but selective. Pollinators under siege: Glyphosate messes with the memory of bees and their sense of direction, so they can’t find flowers, or worse, can’t find their way home. It weakens their immunity, leaving hives vulnerable to disease. And when glyphosate isn’t enough, neonicotinoids step in, a class of insecticides that act like nicotine for insects, paralysing their nervous system and killing off colonies en masse. Soil microbes and mycorrhizae: Glyphosate disrupts the intricate symbiosis between fungi and plant roots. It kills off microbial communities, reducing soil fertility and carbon sequestration. Wildlife exposure: Glyphosate doesn’t stay in the fields. It’s been detected in the livers of wild deer, the tissue of freshwater fish, and even the feathers of migratory birds. Once in the system, it bioaccumulates, climbing the food chain, just as it does in humans. Animals don’t get a label warning them it’s toxic. They just suffer the consequences. We recently visited My Little Farm, a beautiful patch of land in the West Sussex quietly reclaiming what it means to farm in harmony with nature. They’re doing everything right: rotating animals through pasture, composting scraps into soil gold, letting wildflowers grow in the margins to feed bees and beneficial insects. No chemicals, no shortcuts. But beneath the surface of all their progress is a quiet grief. Because just over the fence, neighbouring farms still spray pesticides like water. Pesticides drift on the breeze, run into shared waterways, soak into communal soil. Even those determined to reject the system aren’t immune to it. It’s the heartbreak of trying to heal land in a world still poisoning it. So why is glyphosate still legal in the UK? The short answer: regulation often lags behind research, and economic interests tend to speak louder than soil health. Despite mounting evidence linking glyphosate to gut disruption, endocrine interference, and ecosystem damage, it's been re-approved in the UK until at least 15 December 2026. Glyphosate keeps fields looking tidy and profit margins intact. But health? That’s harder to monetise. Until it becomes politically profitable to prioritise health over convenience, glyphosate stays in circulation. Okay… but what can we actually do? 1. Buy organic, especially these foods You don’t need to buy 100% organic to make a difference. The Dirty Dozen (updated annually by the EWG) lists the most pesticide-contaminated produce, things like strawberries, spinach, grapes, and apples. Start there. Opt for organic versions of these if nothing else. And know this: most glyphosate isn’t just sprayed on fruits and veggies. It’s used to desiccate (dry out) crops like wheat, oats, legumes and soy before harvest. This means your biggest exposure might be coming from: Conventional oats (cereal, granola, snack bars) Non-organic bread, pasta, and crackers Soy-based snacks and processed foods Look for organic, glyphosate-residue free, or sprouted options when possible. 2. Even better, each seasonally and locally… Most large-scale, conventional produce is grown to withstand long-distance transport and long shelf lives, which often means heavy pesticide use. Crops are sprayed not just during growth, but again post-harvest to prevent mould, bruising, and spoilage during shipping. Imported fruits are sometimes even fumigated at border control. But when you buy from local growers, especially small-scale or regenerative farms, those chemical pressures disappear. Food is harvested closer to ripeness, handled gently, and sold within days, not weeks. Many local farms don’t need to rely on glyphosate or synthetic fungicides because their produce doesn’t have to travel thousands of miles or survive supermarket storage. And when you eat what’s in season, you also avoid the out-of-season imports most likely to be chemically preserved. That said, here’s the catch: local doesn’t always mean spray-free. Many small farms still use conventional pesticides or herbicides out of necessity or habit, even those selling at your weekend farmer’s market. That’s where the Organised app comes in. We personally vet every producer listed, connecting you with farms that use organic, regenerative, and chemical-free practices with full transparency. 2. Can you wash it off? Sort of. Here’s what works. Even with the best intentions, it’s unlikely you’ll avoid pesticide exposure completely. So when they do make their way into your kitchen, the goal is simple: reduce the load. While you can’t wash away everything, you can remove a significant amount of surface residue with the right methods. Water: Removes some pesticide residue, but not systemic ones like glyphosate (which is absorbed into the plant). Most people use tap water to rinse their produce, but it’s worth remembering that municipal water often contains added fluoride, chlorine, and trace pharmaceuticals. It really isn’t ideal for daily washing, especially when your goal is to reduce chemical exposure, not swap one kind for another. If you have a water filter, use that water for rinsing when possible. Baking soda bath: One of the best. Soak produce in 1 tsp baking soda per 2 cups water for 15–20 mins. Rinse well. Vinegar: Mix 1 part vinegar with 3 parts water and soak for 10–15 minutes. This helps reduce surface bacteria and pesticide traces, though it’s not as effective as baking soda for removing chemical residue. Best used in combination with a scrub or soak. Commercial produce sprays: Mostly overpriced. Stick with baking soda. Peeling produce helps (for apples and cucumbers especially), but remember, nutrients are often concentrated in the skin. 3. Build a body that's harder to poison We can’t avoid every toxin, but we can be less vulnerable to them. The goal isn’t sterile avoidance. It’s resilience. Support detox pathways Your liver transforms fat-soluble toxins into water-soluble compounds your body can eliminate via bile, urine, and sweat. But it can’t do that efficiently when undernourished or overwhelmed. Bitter greens (like dandelion, rocket, chicory): stimulate bile flow, which helps the liver eliminate waste and break down fats. Bitters also support digestion and gently encourage elimination. Beets: rich in betaine and antioxidants that support phase 2 liver detox, the stage where the liver packages toxins for excretion. Dandelion root tea: a daily gentle tonic that supports both the liver and kidneys, improving filtration and waste removal. Replete the minerals glyphosate steals Glyphosate chelates minerals like zinc, magnesium, and iron, leaving cells depleted. The solution? Re-mineralise, the ancestral way. Organ meats (especially liver): The most bioavailable source of iron, zinc, copper, B12, and real vitamin A (retinol). Liver nourishes the blood, supports the thyroid, and replenishes what glyphosate quietly drains. Bone broth: When simmered long and slow with vinegar, bones release glycine, collagen, calcium, magnesium, and other trace minerals essential for rebuilding tissue and supporting liver detox. Add seaweed or eggshells for an extra mineral boost. Sea salt (true sea salt, like Celtic or Himalayan, contains over 80 trace minerals needed for adrenal function, hydration, and enzyme activity.) Shellfish like oysters: one of the richest natural sources of zinc. Repair the gut Glyphosate weakens tight junctions in the intestinal lining. Healing the gut requires both nourishment and microbial reinoculation. Gelatine-rich broths (especially from chicken feet or marrow bones): deliver glycine, proline, and collagen to rebuild the gut lining and calm inflammation. Fermented foods (like sauerkraut, kefir, and raw yogurt): reintroduce live bacteria that diversify the microbiome and restore balance post-antibiotics or pesticide exposure. Raw dairy: rich in probiotics, enzymes, and fat-soluble vitamins like K2 that support both digestion and bone health. Eliminate seed oils: they promote inflammation and feed pathogenic microbes, worsening gut permeability and dysbiosis. Sweat it out Your skin is a detox organ. Many toxins,including heavy metals, phthalates, and BPA, are excreted through sweat. But modern life rarely gets us hot enough to open those channels. Infrared sauna (or traditional sauna): 2–4 times per week can enhance detox via sweat, lower inflammation, and mobilise fat-stored toxins. Epsom salt baths: magnesium sulfate supports liver detox and calms the nervous system. Add baking soda for extra draw. Rebounding or light cardio after sweating: helps the lymphatic system move residual waste out of tissues. Move your lymph The lymphatic system is like your body’s internal drainage network, carrying toxins, cellular debris, and immune cells. But unlike blood, lymph doesn’t have a pump. It needs movement to circulate. Dry brushing: use a stiff natural bristle brush before showering, brushing toward the heart to stimulate lymphatic flow. Deep squats: compress and release lymphatic nodes in the groin and hips, supporting lower-body drainage. Walking barefoot (earthing): discharges positive ions from inflammation and rebalances the nervous system while stimulating lymphatic flow through natural movement. Tongue scraping: an ancient Ayurvedic practice that removes toxin build up. Our part for the earth It’s not just our bodies that are overwhelmed. The soil, the water, the pollinators, they’re all bearing the brunt of chemical agriculture. Buy from UK farms using regenerative practices, those rotating animals on pasture, composting naturally, and skipping the sprays. The Organised app can help you find them. Compost your scraps instead of binning them, even a small countertop caddy keeps nutrients cycling back into the land instead of releasing methane in landfill. Plant wildflowers and herbs for pollinators, lavender, borage, marjoram, and skip the weedkiller in your garden. What goes down your drain ends up in waterways. Choose soaps, shampoos, and low-tox household products that biodegrade safely. And if you have even a windowsill to spare, grow something. Every small act of stewardship, every garden left unsprayed, every meal sourced from real soil, adds up to a quieter, cleaner, more resilient countryside. The problem with pesticides is real, but so is our power to opt out... Every time you cook from scratch, choose food that hasn’t been sprayed, or support a farm that feeds the soil instead of stripping it, you shift the tide. This isn’t about being perfect, it’s about participating. Every system you step outside of is a step toward repair.

June 04, 2025

5 steps to restorative sleep (& our sleepy milk recipe)

Behind closed eyes, a thousand vital processes unfold. Immune cells mobilise. Memories are etched into the brain. Tissues rebuild. Hormones fall into rhythm. Sleep is not a passive pause, it’s your body’s deepest repair state. But in the modern world, our biology is constantly outpaced by our lifestyle. Artificial light tricks our circadian rhythm. Screens spike cortisol. Ultra-processed food, late-night emails, and overstimulation keep the nervous system on high alert. And so, we lie in bed, wired but exhausted. True sleep, the kind that rejuvenates you on a cellular level, must be cultivated. Here’s how to reclaim it. 1. Oxygenate with evening air There’s a quality to evening air that’s hard to name but easy to feel…cooler, quieter, often rich with the scent of soil and distant trees. When you step outside in the evening and fill your lungs with fresh air, you’re oxygenating your blood, feeding your mitochondria, and gently lowering cortisol. Unlike indoor air, often stale, recycled, and high in CO₂, the outdoor atmosphere in the evening tends to carry a higher concentration of negative ions, especially in areas with moving water or greenery. These ions have been shown to enhance serotonin production, modulate immune response, and reduce oxidative stress, collectively supporting mood stability, reducing systemic inflammation, and priming the parasympathetic nervous system for deeper states of rest. Give yourself 10 quiet minutes at dusk, no headphones, no distractions. This doesn’t have to mean sitting still. Maybe it’s walking home from work. Maybe it’s catching up with your partner on the porch, or stretching in the garden. Watch the colours deepen, the temperature shift. Let your body register the day’s closing. 2. Create a sanctuary for rest Your body is always listening to your surroundings. And when it sees daylight bulbs, hears buzzing electronics, or senses warmth and stimulation at 10pm, it delays the internal shift toward sleep hormones. So give your body what it craves, a cave. A sanctuary. The right textures, scents, and sounds can transform even the busiest mind into one that welcomes rest. Temperature is key. Studies show we fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer in a cooler room, ideally around 16–19°C. Darkness matters too: even dim ambient light can suppress melatonin by over 50%, keeping your nervous system alert and hormones out of sync. Then there’s sensory noise. Busy rooms, clutter, synthetic fabrics, and electronics create invisible static. They keep the brain scanning. But soft natural bedding, tactile textures like linen or wool, and even gentle scent cues can transform your room into a sensory haven. Treat your bedroom as a sacred space. Overhead lighting has no place here, let the soft glow of a lamp or the flicker of beeswax candles bathe the room in warmth. While the market overflows with expensive reds, a simple red incandescent bulb often does the job beautifully (and affordably). Keep electronics out of reach, their silent hum is never quite neutral. Drape your bed in natural fibres like linen or organic cotton, fabrics the skin recognises, breathes through, rests into. And lower the thermostat just a touch more than you think you need. Your bedroom should feel like the kindest place you enter all day, cool, quiet, and ready to receive you. 3. Hum to tone the vagus nerve Sleep is not a flip of a switch. It’s a soft descent, a neurological unwinding. But most of us carry the static of the day straight into bed: tight jaws, shallow breath, minds whirring like open tabs. To truly fall asleep, the body must feel safe. And the nervous system, not the mind, decides when that moment comes. One of the most overlooked yet powerful tools to signal this safety? Humming. The vagus nerve, your body’s longest cranial nerve, is a master regulator of the parasympathetic nervous system. It weaves through the lungs, heart, gut, and brainstem, and plays a direct role in calming inflammation, regulating digestion, and triggering melatonin release. Humming activates this nerve through vibration. As your vocal cords gently buzz, the vagus nerve is stimulated, heart rate slows, cortisol begins to drop, and your brain receives the message. It doesn’t have to be a chant or a ceremony. It can be as simple as humming along to a favourite song while you tidy the kitchen or brushing your teeth with a soft drone in the back of your throat. Try it in the bath, while stretching, or even curled under covers. 4. Harness the pharmacy of the earth Long before pharmaceuticals promised eight hours in a bottle, we brewed, bathed, and honoured sleep as a ceremony, one led by earth’s own pharmacy. Start with the herbs. Chamomile and lavender, rich in apigenin and linalool, are not just comforting aromas, they act on GABA receptors in the brain, quieting the chatter. Lemon balm, a cousin of mint, calms the nervous system and stabilises mood by modulating cortisol and supporting serotonin. And valerian root, with its earthy, grounding flavour, is known to reduce sleep latency, the time it takes to fall asleep, by gently dampening neural excitability. Then, the minerals. Magnesium, in its most absorbable forms (magnesium glycinate, magnesium chloride), plays a vital role in over 300 enzymatic processes, many of which govern muscle relaxation, nerve signalling, and melatonin production. A warm Epsom salt bath before bed doesn’t just relax the body, it helps draw magnesium through the skin, lowering cortisol and improving sleep quality. For something simpler, rub a magnesium spray into your legs and feet. 5. End with sleepy milk, your nightly anchor The human body thrives on predictability. Just as the sun sets at the same time each evening, your body craves a rhythm to unwind. Rituals, simple, intentional acts, signal to the brain that it’s time to transition from wakefulness to sleep. They create a buffer, dissolving the stress of the day and preparing the mind for deep rest. One of our favourite rituals? Our warm, mineral-rich... Sleepy milk Ingredients 300ml (1½ cups) raw milk 1 chamomile tea bag 3 cardamom pods 1 cinnamon stick (or 1 tsp ground cinnamon) ½ tsp ground turmeric 1 tbsp Organised A crack of black pepper Optional: 1-2 tsp raw honey For the full method read here. Glycine, the amino acid abundant in collagen, tells your body it’s time to sleep by subtly lowering core temperature. Tryptophan from raw milk feeds your melatonin cycle, supported by the calcium, vitamin A and D that help shuttle it across the blood brain barrier. A teaspoon of raw honey provides a slow, stable burn of glucose, protecting your body from those early morning cortisol surges that jolt you awake at 3am. Drink it slowly, by candlelight and as a companion to your favourite evening activity. Let it become something your body looks forward to, a sensory cue that tomorrow will come, but tonight is for replenishment.