Introducing Dr Deb Levy - holistic paediatrician

Given that my primary clientele is mums and bubs I am very frequently asked for my recommendation on a paediatrician.  Some of you may recall that I wrote a blog post many years ago on holisitc paediatrican Dr Deborah Levy who was a guest speaker at one of my Growing Healthy Babies workshops. Dr Levy has recently returned from maternity leave after having 2 cherubs of her own and is now back in practice so I thought it timely to introduce (or re-introduce) her to my beautiful tribe.

Dr Levy is my paediatrician of choice in Sydney as I do not know of any other paediatrician in this city who is on exactly the same nutritional and lifestyle page. I cannot recommend her highly enough.

Dr Deb Levy is an experienced Paediatrician with a unique holistic approach to children’s health. She began her medical training in South Africa and was awarded her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery with first class honours. She then worked in the United Kingdom before moving to Australia where she completed her specialist paediatric training. Dr Deb is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in General Paediatrics and Paediatric Emergency Medicine. She has been a children’s doctor for over 14 years working at The Sydney Children’s Hospital Network, regional hospitals across Australia and now in a private clinic in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Her experience includes general paediatrics, paediatric emergency medicine, paediatric intensive care, antenatal consultations and newborn medicine. She is adept at managing acutely unwell children and complex medical conditions. She is also a mum to two young girls so has insight into the challenges of parenting.

Working as a paediatric doctor within the conventional hospital system, she witnessed the rising incidence of illnesses like allergies, eczema, asthma, diabetes, obesity and mood disorders. She was particularly alarmed at the prediction that this generation of parents will outlive their children. She believed she needed to offer a more holistic approach to tackle these issues. With a special interest in the role of diet, gut health and lifestyle, Dr Deb has studied integrative nutrition in the US, has attended numerous international seminars and has undertaken training with the Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine. She is a strong advocate of ‘food as medicine’, the impact of the environment and mind-body practices. She uses her knowledge from conventional medicine, nutrition, biology and science to create safe comprehensive treatment plans considering both prescription medication and personalised healthy lifestyle programmes. 

Dr Deb is committed to providing the highest quality of paediatric care for families who want a holistic approach to health and a strong therapeutic relationship with their doctor. 

She sees families in Bondi Junction: 
Suite 801/3 Waverley street, Bondi Junction 2031, Tel (02) 93895211
www.drdeblevy.com

Celebrate Mother’s Day with some healthy indulgence!

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Motherhood.

For me, it has been the most incredibly rewarding journey. And to be honest, not without its hardships either. My children are my greatest teachers. They remind me on a minute to minute basis how much I still need to grow as a mother and as a person. I probably wouldn’t have changed careers had it not been for them and they provide me with constant inspiration in both my personal and professional life. My children bring up in me the full gamut of emotions – from sheer wonderment, to unconditional love to utter exasperation. It wasn’t until I became a mother that I truly understood that a love so pure and intense even existed, nor truly appreciated the sacrifices that my own mother had made to raise me.

To my own mother, and to all my fellow mothers out there: I salute you. I see first hand through my health coaching sessions, cooking classes and from meeting and talking to you every day at Broth Bar & Larder just how hard you are working for the health of your family. I see the effort you put into making nourishing meals and the hurdles that you are overcoming in the pursuit of providing your children with the best start in life. I am in awe of you and I want each and every one of you to take a moment to reflect on all that you do, to appreciate your worth and to take a little time out on Mother’s Day to savour all of the delights showered your way no matter how great or small.

To celebrate and honour the mothers in our lives and the incredible role they play, we have crafted something truly special this year. An organic muesli of the highest quality. We started with our organic hand-crafted muesli (to read why our muesli is so unique and of the highest quality that you will find in Australia, click here). We then infused it with Ovvio Organics rose petals and pieces of our signature maple-sweetened raw dark chocolate for the ultimate healthy indulgence.  

The impetus for creating this muesli came from my own mother a few years back who asked for something that would provide nourishment and delight rather than “dust collecting crap that I don’t need or want” (that’s the English translation of the Greek version!). So I put together something that I as a mother would love to receive. Organic artisan wholefood that will nourish, satisfy, and delight! This muesli is bound to entice even the fussiest of yummy mummies, and those who need or want for nothing.

Retailing at $25.50/300g, we are selling a very limited quantity only. These make a beautiful gift in and of themselves or as an inclusion in a hamper as part of a larger gift. For ideas on what to include in a Mother’s Day hamper, I can suggest a bottle of Toscana cold pressed extra virgin olive oil which we sell at Broth Bar & Larder, a packet of our activated macadamia nuts, our fruit & nut raw dark chocolate,  our macadamia nut sokolata and/or our choc orange bliss balls.  My friendly staff and I are more than happy to help you construct a hamper if you bring in the box for us to fill. 

As our Mother’s Day muesli contains our pure chocolate, it does require refrigeration.  Purchase prior to Mother’s Day (13 May 2017) from our retail store Broth Bar & Larder or if you prefer to have a packet couriered to you for an additional shipping fee please pre-pay and order on 0421 786 009 or orders@staraniseorgnic.com in advance.

I will leave you with some of my favourite quotes on motherhood. I hope these resonate with you as much as they do with me.

Lemon tartlets

There’s something about the offsetting flavours of tangy lemons with sweet maple syrup and comforting cream and egg yolks that sends me into gastronomical bliss.

I also love that this recipe only calls for 4 ingredients and you can quite literally make it in 10 minutes flat and store the tray with the filled ramekins in the fridge all day and simply pop them in the oven when you sit down for dinner. Then 1 hour later a hot dessert awaits! And it never disappoints. Both kids and adults love this dessert.

I basically took my lemon tart recipe that I crafted 10 years ago and out of sheer desperation in the interest of time I ditched the gluten-free shell part and poured the filling directly into individual ramekins. If you prefer to make 1 large lemon tart instead you’ll need to first make a shell to line a round pie dish (recipes will be given for various gluten-free shells at my gluten-free tarts workshop) before pouring the filling in and bake for same length of time. 

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Ingredients

— 1 cup lemon juice (the juice from approximately 6 lemons. I like to use a juicer which is the only reason why I still own one)

— 200ml cream (or for a dairy free version use coconut milk or coconut cream)

— 4 egg yolks plus 3 whole eggs (the spare egg whites can be stored in the fridge for several days and added to omelettes or scrambled eggs)

— 1/2 cup (160g) pure maple syrup

Note — At Broth Bar & Larder we sell coconut milk (certified organic, guar gum free, BPA free), Carbeen pastured eggs (which have the lowest stocking density of any eggs in Australia) and Jakemans pure Canadian maple syrup. So all you really need is to buy half a dozen lemons and juice them!

Directions

1. Blend all ingredients together in a blender or a stick blender. 

2. Pour into ramekins on a baking tray. This quantity makes for 10x 100ml ramekins. 

3. Bake in oven at 120 degrees for 1 hour. 

4. If you want your tartlets to have a golden brown glow, scorch the top of the tartlets with a blow torch if you are brave enough or place the tray under a heated grill element in the oven for the same effect. 

Kitchen Tip: Soak the ramekins with hot soapy water as soon as possible after the tartlets have been devoured to make for easy washing up. If you do this it avoids having to grease the ramekins first. It’s all about those time saving hacks that us mums love ;-)