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Food from the wild: go with your gut
Lifestyle – Judy Murphy talks to Nutritionist April Danann who will reveal secrets of “Energy Medicine” to a Galway audience this month
New Year, new you? If that’s your aim, then maybe it’s time to go with your gut. Scientific research shows that a healthy gut is vital to keeping the entire body and mind healthy and in a state of balance. And that involves eating probiotic food.
Vegetables, fruit and water can be turned into healthy, tasty and probiotic gut-friendly food via the age-old practice of fermenting, and a workshop being held at Galway City Museum on Monday, January 30, will give people the skills to start home-fermenting.
The Wild Fermentation Class is being given by Clinical Nutritionist April Danann, who practises what she describes as “Energy Medicine” from her West Cork home. Canadian-born April, who lived for some time in Galway, near Monivea, previously worked as a food hygiene inspector.
In her 20s she studied massage therapy, kinesiology and healing touch, among other complimentary practices, including medical intuition – a skill she says she’s had since childhood. She also has a Masters in Nutrition from the University of Chester and a PhD in Naturopathic Medicine.
“I even have a diploma in food packaging technology,” says the mother-of-two with a laugh. That’s in addition to a BSc in Food Management and Supply and a Masters in Exercise and Nutrition Science. So, she combines science and naturopathic medicine in her work as a nutritional therapist, a rare combination, especially in this country.
And she’s fascinated by food, from the humble dandelion; “immerse it in water, vinegar or brandy and it becomes a magic elixir” – to vinegar; “I make it from hawthorn, elder, red clover and other local flowers”. Other mixtures include Turmeric and Ginger Apple Cider Vinegar, and Wild Blueberry AC Vinegar. Her Fire Tonic Apple Cider vinegar with wild herbs, garlic, hawthorn, turmeric and ginger is an ideal pick-me-up and is just one of the blend she makes for different needs.
A fermentation expert, who is revered by those who espouse healthy diets, April has made a series of Youtube videos for the Happy Pear restaurant in Wicklow, demonstrating what’s involved in the process.
Her love of wild fermentation grew organically, she explains. Cider vinegar is beneficial for the gut and when April first started taking it, she used to buy an organic commercial brand.
“But it was too acidic and was hard on my stomach,” she recalls. “Then, I was on a fast one time and decided to make my own, because commercial vinegars didn’t have the local organisms that my stomach needed.
“It wasn’t difficult but it took time and it’s much more palatable,” she says of the process.
April began by capturing what’s known as “a vinegar mother”, the starter culture for all her subsequent vinegars.
“I put open pots of liquid in our garden in West Cork, which I was able to develop into a vinegar mother. I now use that mother all over – it’s travelled to Singapore, Thailand, America, Australia and Canada.”
However, the bacteria and yeast it contains means it’s particularly well adapted to Ireland and April gives it to people who attend her classes and who want to make their own apple cider vinegar.
“Once you have the ‘mother’ the hard part is done. Then you just need time and patience to produce it the old-fashioned way.”
She does that using “pristine well-water and old whiskey barrels; no plastics or metals”.
That’s because metal can affect the taste and acidity of the finished vinegar. As for plastic, “you never want to put anything acidic near plastic”, she says firmly. “Anything with an acid base will be affected by what it’s fermented in.”
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
