Date: February 22nd 2007

22 February 2007

Nga mihi whanau.

Well whanau it sure is hot over here in Palmerston north. Wera ne? Summer time is in full swing now and that spells dehydration if you donít watch the water intake. Did you know that over 90 percent of illnesses from people in hospital are caused from dehydration. We have some interesting information on artificial sweeteners. While many report artificial sweetners to be unsafe, we will present some facts from a local senior lecturer at the Auckland University of Technology, Jeni Pearce. Gymnasiums are offering a free weeks trial or sign up now and donít pay for 2 months. Check the Trade Me web site before you sign a 2 year contract. The Rongoa - Traditional Maori Medicine Wananga with Rob McGowan starts in March. Te Tu Tamawahine is a programme presented by Kurawaka for women to ëtake the time to stand strong, be proud and walk in the footsteps of our Atua Wahine, our hero women.í

Over 70% of our body is made up of water. Water intake is such a simple thing to do and yet it can be difficult to remember and maintain. We use 1.5 litre water bottles and count how many times we fill them up during the day to calculate our water intake. Many headaches in the summertime can be attributed to dehydration. Watch the headache magically disappear after drinking a few litres of water. Many people who have come to us from having suffered agonizing back pain for years, discover that their water intake is minimal or even non existent. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj wrote an interesting book, Your Body's Many Cries for Water [click here] which is available on our web site. In one instance, Batmanghelidi talks about the dis ks in the back needing a cushion of water between each bone. If there is no water intake, there is no cushion, hence the pain of bone rubbing on bone. No fresh water in the body means that the body must search for fluid in the body to flush poisons, toxins and acids. If there is no fresh water then it will use whatever it can to try and flush which in some cases means trying to cleanse the body with yesterdays coffees, teas or soft drinks. An analogy is washing todays dishes in yesterdays washing up water. An accumulation of poisons cause blockages and thereafter illness and pain. Massage is excellent for getting the blood flowing again followed by water so the body can wee or poo the poisons out of your system. If you donít drink water after a massage you will feel nauseas as the poisons and toxins have been shifted around and need water to flush. Batmanghelidi has done years of research in this book showing the medical profession to be reliant on pharmaceutical drugs when very often, the simple preventative cure is pure water.

Do you use artificial sweeteners? Jeni Pearce is a leading health and sports dietician and nutritionalist and the Chairperson for the New Zealand Nutrition Foundation. Her investigation published in the January issue of the Healthy Food guide shows the truth about artificial sweeteners. Diet drinks are sweet with hardly any calories. There are a range of artificial sweeteners that are up to 8000 times sweeter than sugar with no energy value i.e. saccharin, aspartame, Acesulphame potassium, neotame and cyclamate. What interesting words whanau? Hey say it properly now! Sugar alcohols are produced from natural sugars and are used for chewing gums, lollies and chocolate bars with the bonus of lessening dental problems. This is similar to the natural sugar alcohols found in fruits and vegetables. Jeni reports that there is no evidence that aspartame causes multiple sclerosis as suspected. She also goes on to mention the National Cancer Institute in the US conducte d a beverage study with nearly a half a million people with results indicating no relationship between aspartame use and cancer in humans. Jeni points out that the results scientists had discovered from testing rats with artificial sweeteners was inconclusive with humans and she is satisfied without a doubt that artificial sweeteners are safe for humans. She does conclude however that high amounts of sugar alcohols are known to cause wind or diarrhea. Ka rawe mo te patero me te tutae hoki! Iím sure that clean out tastes a hell of a lot nicer than flax root and might even be a little easier on the puku too.

Ka pai if you are exercising regularly. We like using the iPod while walking and exercising. Makes it a bit more fun. The City Fitness gym have all these screens which you can hook your earphones into and change channels while you are working out on the machines. Neat aye? Made me realize I was a country bumpkin when I saw those. I just love the combat or step classes. When you are ready to choose a gym, before you sign up for a 2 year contract look on www.trademe.co.nz. What we didnít know is that you can buy or sell your gym memberships on Trade Me. It only costs about $16 for a transfer fee. If you go to the heading Browse then scroll down to the heading Sports under which you will find Gym Memberships.

Rongoa Maori Traditional Maori Medicine Wananga starts in March through the Waikato University in Tauranga with Rob McGowan. Karen Tindall is the one to contact for dates at tindall@waikato.ac.nz. If you arenít able to go then donít sweat it, Maori Television have filmed all his Wananga for the Kai Muru show, Sundays 5pm. Ka rawe ne!

Raina and Piri Ferris of Ngati Kahungunu descent are offering the prospectus for Te Tu Tamawahine through Kurawaka Ltd 2007. ëTe Tu Tamawahineí is a Maori womens self-development programme which consists of 4 noho ìAtua Wahine, Te Whare Tangata, Karanga, and Tino Rangatiratanga.î The Wananga will be held at the Kurawaka Retreat Centre in Porangahau. Click here to view the prospectus.

Atarangi Muru and her husband Bill went to celebrate Waitangi Day in Los Angeles where they helped build a fern sand sculpture. Would you believe that she was doing romiromi in the sand? Isnít that just typical. Canít take her anyhwhere. Rena and Temuera (stars of ëOnce Were Warriorsí and ëWhat Became of the Broken Heartedí) were the only two celebrities from New Zealand who attended, next to Atarangi and Bill of course who I think should star on the rich and famous show, just because they can. Anyway, everyone celebrated with a dawn ceremony hosted by the local native American Indians who could whakapapa to that beach. Later on, via Maori Television, I saw Atarangi digging sand hard out (in Los Angeles) into this wheelbarrow ten to the dozen, leaving all the men for dust. Go hard Maori girl. Neat alright. You were a team on your own. You can view the photographs on her web site www.ata-rangi.com .

Well whanau, time to wrap it up for another month. Te Matatini is being held here in Palmerston North and people are coming from all over the place to perform or watch Kapa Haka. Exciting stuff. Ka pai to those of us who are supporting this magical kaupapa. If you are headed this way then we hope that our Tupuna will ensure you have safe travels to and from your homes.

Arohanui ki a koutou katoa
Charlotte

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