Joy

‘La Brume’ the locals call the mist of autumnal mornings. A new season begins. ‘Wrapped up warm’ walks, early nights by the fire, a good book, home-made soups. Bring on the JOY.

---

‘Friends bearing gifts’ season has closed. This was part of our last visitor’s gift. Best ’til last? This organic chocolate is certainly ‘up there’ with the best: 4 ingredients: cocoa mass, unrefined coconut sugar, hazelnut paste, cocoa butter. Lots of JOY… and then it was gone.

So Hu, where can we find more of this deliciousness?

---

Green juice, a bit of colour co-ordination and another part of my gift burning alongside me as I work. Simple, joyful pleasures.

---

Joy Chose You is the title of the wonderful poet Donna Ashworth‘s latest book. She did a book tour in Liverpool, UK recently and hid several copies.

Spread that JOY.

---

There’s JOY in knowing you’re doing the best for your body and The Wholefood Warrior is all about health over convenience. She posts food swaps on Insta regularly, where she has almost 80K followers. Including us!

‘The Dirty Dozen’ annual list from the Environmental Working Group shows the most sprayed crops. You can find this year’s full listing here. Conventionally grown celery is showing as no.31 this year, so not great. Worth a few pence, if you can, to play it safe and go organic.

---

This one’s an absolute ‘no brainer’. Buy local (ish) and they’re not only way cheaper, but importing apples from across the world when they’re readily available in the country is a shocker.

---

Our little village has its first Pumpkin Festival in a few day’s time. It’s organised by a young couple that grow organic pumpkins in our village. Zero food miles there.

What a JOY.

---

The JOY a friend felt when she harvested these beauties from her garden this morning!

Perfectly imperfect.

---

Life is all about balance of course. There is absolutely no JOY in sharing this massive study: ‘CT is frequently lifesaving, yet its potential harms are often overlooked, and even very small cancer risks will lead to a significant number of future cancers given the tremendous volume of CT use in the United States’. The article is from JAMA Network, a well-respected consortium of peer-reviewed publications.

No-one is saying don’t. Do think about if it’s necessary (radiation is cumulative) and if there are any other alternatives. Ultra-sounds are often a solid alternative, with zero radiation involved.

---

Challenging to find any JOY when facing a difficult diagnosis. Taking charge, despite the circumstances, can re-frame your stance. Overcoming a difficult situation sets us up for a JOYful future. Dr Northrup’s work is featured on our Women’s Health resource.

---

This one got an avid response on the Facebook group (Vegan & Vegetarian Simple Recipes) on which it was shared. Where are avocados? Where are mushrooms? How can lentils be so far down the list? It’s because it’s per 100g. Much easier to eat 100g of lentils than pumpkin seeds. It shows that it’s all subjective and there are no right and wrongs to this. Interesting guide though – no source stated either… And where are the avocados and mushrooms?

---

Learning new things brings us JOY. Free online summit sign up here. It features many of our Double-zero regulars. EnJOY.

---

Following on from the graphic on our last blog, here’s another perspective: Using vaccines smarter. Is there another way? Professor Christine Stabell Benn believes there is. She is a medical doctor and professor in global health. She believes it could save 100’s of 1000’s of lives too. Here’s her 2018 TED Talk. Could we use the existing vaccines smarter?

---

We lost a ‘Good’ One, literally. Jane Goodall’s Netflix documentary: Famous Last Words was set to be released after her death.

‘I would say I was somebody sent to this world to try to give people hope in dark times because without hope we fall into apathy and do nothing.’ She spent her lifetime searching for JOY in all things.

You can find her work on our Sustainability resource.

---