Preparing for the ER. I get it, I sound whack.

How can you prepare for an emergency? Hence the name, emergency, urgent... but here is the thing, just hear me out. You might read this blog post and add something to your First Aid Kit. Or, maybe you read this and take a subconscious mental note that will help you in the future. 

Here are a few things we did, or wish we had done, prior to our awful night and first experience in the the ER with our 1 year old:

Bring a book, or books from their normal routine
I wish we had a book to distract her when she was in a good headspace between vomiting. She LOVES books and I think she would have really enjoyed having a few of her favourites there. If your kid is proficient with the Ipad, bring it. It's always better to be over prepared than underprepared, especially when you don't know how long your stay will be. We don't normally give her our phones, but we happily made an exception and tried to distract her with baby shark and the wiggles which worked for about 20 precious mins.  

Make sure you bring a lovie (stuffed animal) they cherish
Anything that will make them feel like they are at home. We brought her huge (almost as big as her) bunny which she calls Be Be. It was nice to have and offered her a lot of comfort just having it around, not that she even cuddled it all that much - but having a piece of home was important I believe.

Bring a change of clothes for bub and wear SHOES
At least one change of clothes, preferably 2-3 sets. Make sure they are wearing socks at a minimum, but preferably closed toed shoes.

Hospitals are rampant with staph and other bacterial nasties, so keep covered up..... all of you. I once met a women who got an infection in her foot after wearing flip flops in the hospital, and it robbed her of quality life immensely, maiming all her muscles into a Swiss cheese like consistency full of holes and unable to work properly. True story. 

Bring warm clothes for all of you
ER/hospitals tend to be quite cold, and a spare jumper goes a long way (plus you won't have to ask for one of their hospital blankets. Yuck). 

Bring all the necessary cards
You might be in a rush and panicking, but make sure that you have your Medicare card and private health fund card with you. If you don't normally carry these around, I would recommend saving the membership numbers in your notes app on your phone.

Snacks
I didn't know how bad our little girl would be, or how long we would be in the ER, but I instinctively grabbed some organic raisins on the way out the door at 1:30am. She obviously couldn't have any, but they were handy to have for us.

Bring a hand santiser of your chosing 
I forgot mine, and regretted it! I personally don't like hand santisers because they are bad for your gut biome, and typically have some nasty stuff in them. However, Dr. Bronner's has an organic lavender hand spray that is to die for and I love having this is my bag when I really need it. And when you're locked in a disease infested hospital, especially with a kid suffering from gastro, that is a good time to be germ free!

Notepad or Notes App
Most of the time protocol at the ER/hospitals is to collect information and access how to move ahead. For instance, you might be asked to know or track when the last time your baby had a drink - did they vomit - did they get diarrhea? Tick, yes/no. Having a pen and paper handy is a great way to make a chart and stay organised so that you can present the doctor with all the crucial information. 

Well, that's it. Hope you don't find yourself near the ER any time soon!

In Health,
EMK x

​Aldi, you either love em or hate em.

I'm an Aldi convert, and lover! From their quirky adds to their no nonsense approach, I'm a huge fan.

And let's get real for a minute: I don't need a grocery store to look like Whole Foods when it's prices are this good. And you know what -  I'll happily bag my own groceries without a breath of complaint. I've been bagging my own food for years since living in Europe anyway, so bring on the savings! 

If you're looking to save some cash, and also like affordable organic finds, check out my personal Aldi Australia favs:

1. ​Organic Olive Oil
Delicious, fruity, organic, and oh so affordable.

2. Natural Crunchy Peanut Butter
I usually buy natural peanut butter for $5 a pop at the grocery store. Their Oh So Natural smooth/crunchy peanut butter is a very close second and will save you some cash. This is my go-to peanut butter I'll use for baking, energy balls and smoothies.

3. California Walnuts 
I love California walnuts! Call me crazy, but I think they really are the best in the world. They are packaged in plastic, so I just empty the nuts into my glass jars and then recycle the bag with my other soft plastics at Red Cycle.

4. Dry Gnocchi, by Remano

5. Organic Cacoa 

6. Organic Eggs x 6
"You eat what you eat eats." This is one of my favourite quotes from the incredible mind of Michael Polen. So if you're eating eggs from a chicken that's been fed GMO corn, then you're eating GMO corn. Ew. Organic all the way.  

7. Tamar Valley Dairy Kid's Yogurt (110 grams) 
I try not to give my daughter yogurt on the go, but if we have a long road trip coming up, I like to grab one or two of these pouches for emergencies. They have a variety of flavours to choose from, and I pick whichever flavour has the lowest amount of sugar. 

8. Almond milk 
Inner Goodness almond milk can be found on the shelf or in the fridge at Aldi. The reason I like it is because of the ingredient list and it's also carrageenan free (a must if are consuming plant based milk. Carrageenan is a known carcinogenic!). Make sure you read your labels guys! 

9. Goji Berries 
These berries are a real superfood and are great value at Aldi, a lot cheaper than buying them in bulk. I add them to oatmeal in the morning, but more often then not, my daughter will eat them dry for a quick snack at the park or on the go. 

10. Organic Kombucha  (Lo Bros Peach and Ginger and the Raspberry Lemonade) 
Everywhere else you'll pay at least $4, or more, for a single bottle of 330ml of 'buch. For $2.79 these are hard to beat, and the two flavours I mentioned above are stand outs! They also have 750ml bottles for purchase as well.  

Well done Aldi, thanks for listening to your consumers. You really are a force to be reckoned with! 

In health,
Erica x 

If you have been following along for a while, you'd would know that I'm new to this low-tox  wellness journey. Unfortunately, it all started after my daughter was born. I still cringe thinking about all the chemical laiden rubbish I rubbed on my stomach in an attempt to avoid stretch marks.  The things you learn, hey?

"Low- Tox" is a term that is very on trend at the moment and was coined by none other than Alexx Stuart, author of Low Tox Life. If you have not purchased this book yet, please do yourself a favour and START here. This book will lay it all out for you and it's the perfect stepping stone to start furthering your education about chemicals in the home, plastics, the war on waste and how you can lower your toxic exposure in surprisingly easy steps. 

My husband came across an article shared by Dr. Rhonda Patrick on Twitter about air pollution and mortality in the New England Journal of Medicine. Studies have shown that long term expose to air pollution increases mortality. As a young family that just moved to Australia's busiest and most congested city, we were on board to keep our home as clean as possible in anyway we tangibly could. 

After many hours of research, probably 5 or more reading and investing, my husband came to me with his I think we should invest in an air purifier pitch. He had already sent me all the medical journals and research papers and I was on board 100%. The next predicament was, which brand do we choose?

Here are a few things that helped us decide to go with Inovaair, "where clean air comes first."

1. Inovaair is an Aussie made and Aussie run company!

2. Recycles the air five times per hour in a 100 square foot room.

3. It doesn’t use an ioniser, so it’s just straight air filtration, no ozone emitted at all.

4. It’s in an all metal casing, so there is no plastic.

5. It has a 6 kilo (13 lb)  activated charcoal filter, which was the biggest we could find on the market. We wanted to eliminate VOCs and our main focus was to eliminate gasses/pollution from our home since we live near a very busy highway. Air purifiers cannot eliminate harmful gasses from the air unless they have a carbon filter. 

6. The reviews for their products were simply outstanding. There are over 240 to read and review, and I recommend having a look.

7. No bells and whistles, digital touch screens and fancy-schmancy nonsense.

8. Living in Sydney, it was only a 1-2 day delivery (Adelaide 2-3 days, Perth 4-5days).

9. The filters last 2-3 years (discount on replacement filters are offered when making your purifier purchase).

We started with the Airclean E20 Plus and then we loved it so much that we decided to get two more small filters for the bedrooms. Why? While the E20 can filter the  entire town home, we wanted to have a small filter in the bedroom because it's where we spent approximately 8 hours of our day! And, we usually sleep with the doors closed, so it made sense to purchase another. We put one in our bedroom and one in our daughter's bedroom to keep our health as optimal as possible. They work so well: they eliminate odours in minutes, we no longer have dust bunnies, we haven't been sick and we don't need to open the doors for "fresh air." I am so thrilled we decided to take this low-tox plunge and invest in the very air we breathe in our sanctuary of a home. 

Hope you found that interesting! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to comment below or send me an email: hello@ohmmyoga.com

EMK x