“Vanessa Nixon”
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Tell
us a little bit about you and your family?
I was born and raised in Lismore, New South Wales, after leaving school
moved to Brisbane and the Gold Coast and then onto London for almost 3 years
and was lucky enough to travel extensively – I met my husband Mark in Africa and
here we are 13 years later!
I am a mum of two gorgeous children, lucky enough to have a pigeon pair,
Charlize is 7 and Bryce is 5.
Both of my kids have multiple food allergies and my husband has suffered
from Depression which has sent my life on a journey of discovery about
nutrition and looking for answers about why this is happening. Through my
experiences I am so passionate about making a change to the lives of others
through better nutrition, because I have seen the results in my own family.
I did however return from Africa with Dengue fever which left me with
some residual liver issues. In 2009, I was diagnosed with two tumours in my
liver and was totally shocked, I had just embarked on a life changing journey
to better nutrition losing 35 kilos and was ready to take on the world, then I
got very sick. As a mum of a 18 month old and a 4 year old I was not about to
take that news lightly so I decided to change everything in my house. I removed
every chemical and all preservatives from the home, plus went on a major liver
detox and shocked my doctors when two months later I returned for a follow up
CT Scan to be told the tumours were totally gone!
Charlize had a pretty major reaction to eggs at a young age and not
being around any allergies before it was pretty scary and was life changing, I
also remember the day she had her first blue lolly at 18 months, she was
literally climbing the walls and threw glass plates out of a cupboard. Being a
beautiful placid little girl I knew something was amiss and this started us
looking into the affects of food colours. She is a gorgeous girl and is too smart
for her own good some days!!!! Her brain never stops and
she blows me away with some of her questions. My son also got very sick at the
age of six months which took a year to diagnose him, he had ghiardia which is a
parasite in the gut – by the time it was diagnosed it had eaten into his
stomach lining and he was very ill – as a result he has major issues with food
which is improving dramatically – YAY! (thanks to Superfoods for Kidz). My son
also has many behavioural issues we have had to deal with including many Aspergers
traits which can make life fun, but it just makes me want to cry the change in
him and how far he has come, I’m so proud of him and it is amazing to see the
difference good nutrition makes to his life and that of our family as a result.
Both of my children suffer from different allergies – which makes life
interesting when it comes to cooking a meal but I have adapted and just means I
pretty much have to make everything from scratch which is not a bad thing! The
allergies we deal with on a daily basis are wheat, cows milk, soy, corn, cola
nut – (this is used in flavours but never displayed as an ingredient), almonds,
cashews, yeast, garlic, peas, lemon, coffee, and egg whites and kidney beans.....
phew..... sounds a lot when it is all written down!!!!
I am lucky enough to have been raised by amazing parents, who have
taught me so much about being positive and getting on with things when you are
presented with a challenge. I also have two beautiful sisters and we are all
very different but are still very close and I am so blessed to have them. My
mum is an incredible cook so we were always in the kitchen from an early age,
so I have always loved cooking, something I am eternally grateful for this has
allowed me to be able to get my head around making lots of alterations and
being creative in my cooking when working around the families allergies. At the
moment I am also trying to cut out sugars, so that has been another thing to
work on trying to once again change the ingredients in recipes and getting the
mix right.
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| "The Family" |
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What
one ingredient can you not live without and why?
Wow, how do I answer this one there is so many! I am a bit naughty and would
love to mention Chia seeds but I would have to say Cacao. I make sure that our
family have Cacao in our diet somewhere everyday it makes an enormous
difference to Bryce – his attention, attitude and behaviour improves
dramatically when he has Cacao daily. It also helps Charlize in her clarity and
to concentrate at school and I find it gives me my chocolate fix for the day
but also boosts my nutrition as well. We all need the antioxidants from Cacao
to fight the chemicals we are exposed to on a daily basis but the boost in Iron
and Magnesium is also great for our bodies. The kids usually have Berry Choc
Chunk in the mornings (from Superfoods for Kidz) so they get their fix for the
day, or a Super Food Bar.
·
If
you had half an hour to cook dinner and realized you didn’t have anything
planned, what would you cook?
My famous Chickpea veggie patties, these are a mix of whatever veggies I
have in the fridge or cupboard, any cold meat leftovers I may or may not have –
all blitzed up in my Thermomix (yes this is something I absolutely CANNOT live
without) plus a tin of chickpeas, some of Superfoods for Kidz Vital Veggie
Power and some Chia seeds – usually I serve it with some greens and avocado –
or sometimes noodles for the kids and a Tahini garlic sauce (for Charlize, Mark
and I). The Veggie patties are more than enough for our little fussy eater!
·
What
is once piece of advice you can pass on to other busy mums?
You cannot do it all! OK I admit this is something I am very guilty of
doing myself, but I have had to take a step back lately and realise it is ok to
say NO sometimes. I’ve even adopted an “I’ll call you back policy” if I am not
sure about something. In the past I’ve said yes to everyone and realise it is
ok to say no sometimes, and it is OK to ask for help! This is something I have
had to learn the hard way through my husband’s depression I have realised that
I needed to talk to people and it was ok to ask for some help instead of trying
to take everything on myself.
Life is so short and sometimes we can be so busy running around that we
miss the little things, our kids are only little once and we need to cherish
what we can, it’s important to take some time out as a family and enjoy! I am still a work in progress and am sure
there are quite a few steps I still need to take but I am getting there and
enjoying the journey, I could not do it without the support of my family.
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| Vanessa with her Mum, Dad and sisters Nicole and Katrina May 2010 |
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| Vanessas gorgeous children enjoying the sunshine at Manly Beach January 2012 |
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If
you could have dinner with any 3 people in the world, who would it be and why?
Charlotte Gerson – I consider
Charlotte to be an absolute pioneer in her knowledge about curing diseases
naturally, I would love nothing more than to have a chat with her about the
Gerson Therapy and how we can educate more people about how it is possible to
prevent and cure yourself of disease in a more natural and alternative way.
David Wolfe – David Wolfe is the Superfoods Guru, he knows anything and
everything about Superfoods and would love to have a delicious meal with him
discussing the many benefits of Superfoods, as well as some recipes to exchange
and also more ways to implement Superfoods as a more mainstream foods, I would
also love to discuss the effects of processed foods on the decline of health in
today’s society.
WHY would I invite the current
Australian minister for health to this dinner? Because I truly do want to see a
change in the way that health is viewed and handled in Australia. We need to
educate people from an early age on the benefits that good nutrition can make
to health not only physical health, but mental health as well. Perhaps we might
be able to look at implementing some further education to encourage investing
in preventing illness is also important rather than only investing in searching
for a cure.
This dinner would no doubt create some very heated discussions, but I
truly believe these are the kinds of discussions that need to take place for us
to move forward. Something needs to change and instead of focussing on the
decline of health and rise in obesity and disease in Australia we need to find
a way to focus on ways we can improve the health of Australians.
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Your
business “Nutra Organics” is ALL about SUPERFOODS....tell us more, how did this
come about?
Nutra
Organics is the brain child of Mark and Darlsy Powell, two amazing people
who are totally passionate about nutrition their motto is ‘nutrition today for a healthy tomorrow’. We wanted to provide
totally organic whole foods to the community that are easy to implement into
your daily routine, especially given the busy lives we all lead; juggling so
many roles each day.
Nutra Organics is an Australian family business, we
all run it together. It is incredible to work with like minded people who truly
want to make a difference to the lives of others. We began with our Adults
range Nutra Organics.
Last year, we launched Superfoods
for Kidz which firstly came
about as a result of wanting to help Harmoni, Mark and Darlsy’s granddaughter
who was diagnosed with Epilepsy. We realised that there was nothing
specifically for children available so we started making up our own organic superfood
formulations specifically for children and watched Harmoni improve dramatically,
my children also improved out of sight. We then realised we needed to launch
these products to help change the lives of other families too!
We decided to add our Superfood
Bars to the mix as we wanted something healthy and fun that the kids could take
to school for a snack, that was allergen free and also could boost the kids
nutrition at the same time, providing natural energy. The kids and all of us
were happy taste testers and we came to find the perfect bar and in the process
also discovered that the kids having the extra protein in the bars also
improved their appetite. We decided to make the bars available to school
tuckshops and as a healthy fundraising alternative as well. We were over the
unhealthy fundraising foods coming home from kindy and school. We would just
send the money back to school as we did not have those products in the home (I
must say the bars are not just for kids I always have one on hand if I get stuck
without food somewhere).
Superfoods are both a food and a potent organic healing tool; they have
elements of both. Superfoods are a class of the most potent, super-concentrated
and nutrient rich foods on the planet. Superfoods have more bang for your buck
than your usual foods, they contain a dozen or more unique properties. For
example a Goji Berry is a complete source of protein, immune-stimulating
polysaaharides, liver cleansing betaine, antioxidants and 20 trace minerals and
much more.
We have worked really hard to maintain the integrity of our products by
not adding anything artificial at all. Our products are 100% whole foods and
are processed in such a way to maintain the nutritional contents of the foods vitamins, minerals and enzymes, without
damaging the cell walls of the foods. Making them Bioavailable which means
‘naturally occurring’, so your body can recognize them, break them down, and
use them for maximum health benefits.
It’s been an amazing journey for us all, it
has not been an easy road but we LOVE
it and would not be anywhere else for quids, we have learnt so much and there is
so far to go! We are lucky to all have each other, and our differing strengths
complement each other. We have been so fortunate to have met so many amazing
like-minded people who are sharing our passion for nutrition that we can team
up with, including you Collette, (thanks to Tanya from additive free pantry for
the introduction). We also are blessed with some incredible customers who are
willing to share their journeys with us. Nutrition is something that so many
people are uneducated about and with the rates of allergies, disease and
behavioural disorders on the rise we truly need to take a look at how we can
all make a difference not only to our lives but more importantly the lives of
the current generation of children. We would love to be able to reach as many
people as we can and truly make a difference to their lives.
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| September 2011 - Launch of the Superbars! |
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| Darlsy and Vanessain their new work shirts! |
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| Vanessa (the Berry Man!) being helped out by her hubby!!!!!! |
TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT NUTRA ORGANICS AND SUPERFOODS FOR KIDZ CHECK OUT THE LINKS BELOW:
WEBSITES
www.nutraorganics.com.au
www.superfoodsforkids.com.au
FACEBOOK
http://www.facebook.com/superfoodsforkidz
www.facebook.com/NutraOrganics
TWITTER
@superfoods4kidz
@nutraorganics
I hope this finds you all happy and healthy and I wish you a FANTASTIC week ahead..... I will be back later in the week with a recipe or two to share and some Additive Free lunch box ideas.....until then.....WEBSITES
www.nutraorganics.com.au
www.superfoodsforkids.com.au
http://www.facebook.com/superfoodsforkidz
www.facebook.com/NutraOrganics
PINTEREST http://pinterest.com/superfoods4kidz/
Take Care of You,
Collette x
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