Dyspraxic in the kitchen - look what I found!

I've written before about dyspraxia and the importance of good nutrition.  I have to take good care of my health and energy and eating well is a crucial part of that.

But when it comes to Can't Cook v Wont Cook I sit firmly in both camps! 

I'm not a good cook, mainly because I can't sit still long enough so I wander off to do something else and burn dinner. My daughter jokes that she knows when dinner is ready because the smoke alarm goes off and friends cringe if I invite them over for a meal.  
But I'm old school enough to know that  we need fresh fruit and veg and take aways are a treat not a daily meal.
Both me and my daughter love food and have a very healthy appetite so the last couple of years  I have been making myself cook. One of the problems is  I get bored with the same meals, I need new, simple inspiring ideas because I run a business, I'm busy and easily slip into default mode of a daily  jacket potato with baked beans - nice but hardly a balanced diet.

I know that it's all so much easier if we plan the week's menu and go shopping so that everything I need is there when I want it. But I just haven't  got into that habit.

Then someone gave me a voucher for a meal kit from Hello Fresh. I ignored it. Then last week as I was tidying my desk I found it, went to throw it in the bin and then decided to check it out.

Hello Fresh are a German company now trading in the UK (don't mention Brexit). Their model is to  deliver a full kit to create 3 meals for 2 or more people. Their options are a  Classic box, Veggie box or Family box. So I ordered the veggie box for 2 and was actually pretty excited as I awaited delivery.
When my box came on Monday it felt  like Christmas ripping it open to see what had been sent. Initially  I was a bit confused there are 3 brown bags which are unlabeled, but I figured out they were colour coded to the recipe cards.
Then I read the recipe cards and  a bit Meh; risotto, roast veg and soup. I cook this stuff already, boring!
 I was on my own that evening so decided to make the leek and pea risotto as my daughter isn't a risotto fan and I set about exploring how it all works. I like the recipe cards, it's a good step by step layout that makes it easy for me to follow and less likely to make a mistake. Looking at some complaints on twitter it seems that they have made them bigger recently.
I did wonder off once while the risotto was cooking, even though the instructions warned me to stay with it  and so it did burn it a wee bit, but I rescued it and - it was flipping delicious.  The textures and tastes were perfect. I really have not ever  cooked anything that good myself.

I mentioned that I have a healthy appetite and so I tried to eat seconds,  but just couldn't, I was stuffed. However that meant I was excited to know it was waiting for me at lunch time Tuesday. As there was still some left over Tuesday evening my daughter also tried it and scoffed the lot as we were preparing the other two meals, mexican  soup and Leon roasted vegetables.
Again I wasn't inspired by the idea of either of those meals,  Neither of us really like parsnips and I eat a lot of roast veg already, but having loved the leek and pea risotto I kept an open mind. The roast veg are accompanied by Zahtar Freekeh (never heard of it) and orange and apricot yoghurt. It was AMAZING! We both ate it all and again we were stuffed, but not the stuffed like with a take away where 20 minutes later you can eat it all again, these seem to be well balanced meals with flavours that excite.

As for the mexican bean soup three of us shared that and again it was perfect and plenty.

I wasn't going to order any more as whilst they are a good price at £6 per person per meal  that's not mid week tea budget, but I've changed my mind for these reasons...

• I have thoroughly enjoyed cooking
• The food is fresh and healthy
• All the meals so far have taken under an hour to prepare and cook
• We just love eating them!
• The servings are generous
• The recipe cards are sturdy and can be saved with your cook books
• There is no waste what so ever (much to the dog's disgust)
• A lot of their packaging can be re-used
• This is a good option for us 3 nights a week. 

This morning I remembered that I had learn 3 new recipes  on my 100 things to do in 2017 list. I've ticked that off now.

I really like their transparency as a company. All the meals are on the website so you can see what's coming and you have control over your account, skipping a week or cancelling whenever you want. Also all the recipes are on their site and can be downloaded, so if you wanted you could just  do it yourself.

And the downside - I was missing a couple of items in one of my meal packs and their twitter feed shows there are some delivery issues now and again, which would be frustrating,  but they have someone on twitter dealing with customer care issues every day. 

All in all they get a thumbs up from this dyspraxic working momma!

If you would like to try it out claim £25 off your first delivery with this code 

On being confused and wanting transparency

I love to write and have been desperate to write for weeks. But I have been so confused, and border-line overwhelmed with what's going on in the UK I did not think I could write my thoughts.

But the one  thing I do know is that we desperately need transparency, so here you go, I will start - in full knowledge that I am likely to be criticised and mis-understood, because here in the UK that is all too often our first response.

So here it is; I am confused, angry, and despondent about what is going on in the UK, but also I am feeling lost. I feel that I can not speak what is really going on for me as I do not know if I have any allies. I honestly do not know who I can talk to.   I am just going to spill out my thoughts and hope that they make some sort of sense. Being dyspraxic I can guarantee that they will not be ordered or structured, so if you manage to read this, well done you!

My story is that I am an English, white, working class woman, who by the strict UK code has now moved into the middle class life style.  I am proud of my roots as I have learnt a lot of good stuff, but I am not blindly proud.  I experienced violence and many of my people are border line racist. Not horrible people, not at all, they are very kind, but they have grown up with a life of scarcity and fear that others are coming to take our limited resources.
People say class isn't real. They are people that were not raised working class, believe me I have felt it and internalised that oppression and I still see the snobbery and prejudice every day. I am also very aware of what is said about the white working classes.

My conflict right now is that we have a rise of racist attacks following so called Brexit. These public attacks are mostly being carried out by white working class men and women. And I don't like that one bit, in fact I fight it with every part of my being.
And then we have other people saying that these folk are just stupid and ignorant. Words regularly used about the working classes ( I once sat eating my lunch at a workshop while middle class people explained to me that the definition of working class is lack of education).

I am told I don't understand the Black experience. Of course I don't. I don't understand the Polish experience, or the Romanian experience..... But I do understand oppression and I do understand violence. And I do understand that there are people with power who are not working class and not Black who have whipped up a fear of lack of resource and a hatred of outsiders. And just to be clear,  these people by the way do not suffer from lack of resource, far from it. They may lack compassion and connectedness, but they are NOT poor.

So where do I belong?  Do I join in and condemn my people?  do I sit with the 'nice people' who say nothing because I am now officially middle class? or do I just keep talking and trying to figure out how to make a difference in a situation where there are apparently two sides firmly  entrenched in their positions?

I know that white working class people have NOTHING to gain from attacking Black people, Polish people ... The people who will gain from this are sitting watching all this in their nice large cosy homes with plenty to eat and drink. They are not fearing benefit cuts, they do not fear being made homeless if they get ill...

 I do not know what to do, but I do know that we need transparency. It needs to be unlawful for politicians to lie to the electorate. It needs to be exposed who is lining their own pockets from our distress.

I recently watched Brenie Brown's talk  on vulnerability and I understand that we need to be willing to be vulnerable. I am willing for people to tell me I'm an idiot if they can help me shed some light and gain some clarity.

Brenie talks about whole heartedness, and I want that. I want the people of the UK to no longer fear scarcity (there is more than enough for everyone) and to dump this out-dated notion of Great Britain as a nation of superior people. We are not superior. No one is. Being rich, dropping bombs, yelling hatred at others  does not making anyone superior - neither does remaining silent.



We are in a horrible mess, this mess was not made by the working classes and it was not made by Black people,  refugees, or those coming here to work. It has been caused by war and greed and people in power who seek to protect their own interests.

I am confused, distressed, feeling isolated and I know there is no simple answer. I will show my vulnerability with the hope of becoming wholehearted - and I will not be silent.

If this blog made sense to you at all, please do make contact. xxx

Aloe Vera and our Dyspraxic Bods - 3 Months Later

It was just under 3 months ago that I wrote about my decision to  start using aloe vera products to build our immune system and I said I would report how that has gone.

It's an interesting thing health isn't it? We notice when we are ill of course, and when we feel better, but  we don't tend to  notice when we are fine. (A bit like a car I guess, we just take it for granted and expect it to work). So people have asked if my daily dose of aloe gel has boosted my immune system and of course I don't really know. I do know that I haven't caught anything for a while despite just about every bug doing the rounds.

When I first started taking it I did have a bad cold and it seemed to bring that out even more (people refer to this as the  healing crisis).

These last 3 weeks I have been delivering training in schools, I know the vomiting bug is doing the rounds and I just knew that I would catch it - I haven't! (Now of course as soon as I type that I will catch it wont I).

But the biggest difference I have noticed (and didn't expect) was I no longer get bloating after a meal, which means I don't have to undo my trews after eating, despite a lifetime of that.
That is AMAZING. I just thought that was how my system was and I had to live with it.

The other change is that people are telling me I am glowing! That hasn't been said to me since I was pregnant, and as I threw up for 9 months I think people were just saying it then to be kind.   I live far enough away from the power station that I am hoping the glowing is all good. Certainly it is considered to be a sign of good internal working and I have had reflexology recently and Anna told me my digestive system is tip top, so I am definitely impressed.

By now I would have my grey winter skin and cracked winter nails and fingers. But not this year.
Aloe gel is good for digestion, skin and immune system and I think I can tick off all 3 of those.
We have been using the berry gel, party because it tastes nicer but also as it is meant to be good for asthma and I do get a bit of winter asthma. Again by now I would be using my inhaler regularly, especially at night. I haven't needed it once so far.

My teen girl is attending a new (huge) college and has caught things twice, as I would expect, but her recovery time has been brilliant. She is taking the bee pollen when she needs an extra boost and I think she may make it in 1 piece to the end of term.

The best thing of all for me is I feel sociable. Now I know it can't change my personality type, but I used to be so tired I didn't want to socialise, I just wanted to snuggle up on the sofa.  Now I'm out and about despite the shocking weather.

So all in all I am happy with our purchases. 

As a result  I am also using the toothpaste, and the face scrub, which are gorgeous.
I have always been conned into using expensive face creams, but I am about to run out and will try the simple moisturiser instead.

I'm not ready to do the Clean 9 yet though - 1 step at a time :)


Some people think it's a con that it has to be taken daily. Some people take tea, coffee and alcohol daily without worrying about those. Taking a daily supplement is nothing new for me. Taking something that works is! And at less that £1 a day I'm ok with it.

If you want to check out the range of products on offer click here 

If you're Dyspraxic and have similar health problems to us I'd love to hear what you do, so please do leave me a comment below.

Take care
Jane  xx

Building our Dyspraxic immune system - with aloe!

I'm high energy, creative and I my love life as a single mum of a teen girl. 

My problem is that I catch every flipping germ that goes round!

We've had a fantastic long summer break, but the new term started and lo and behold, my daughter got a virus, then so did I. 

We are both Dyspraxic, which means we get tired and our immune system isn't as great as we would like it to be, so much so that I can come to dread winter. For the first 4 years of her life my daughter ended up in hospital every February.

We exercise, we eat well, we eat a whole bulb of garlic weekly! and we rest, but it's just not enough.

I'm in this repeating cycle of getting fitter then getting ill. I try everything, I had it down to just 10 minutes of aerobic exercise and yoga a day, but still I got ill.  It's very frustrating

Then last month we watched Dallas Buyers Club. I dont know if you've seen it, it's not pretty viewing, but what hit me between the eyes is that when the US were testing drugs for HIV that were destroying people's immune system, in Mexico people were taking Aloe Vera which boosted their system.


Now at Chez Binnion we have been using Aloe plant for years. It's our  magic plant that heals all cuts and burns. In Mexico when my girl got bitten all over by black flies one night it was Aloe that soothed and healed her when nothing else worked. 

So I got interested.....And this week I got a delivery of a box full of Aloe products.

Me and my daughter are going to take aloe gel every morning and I will let you know how we get on. It's not cheap but I spend a fortune ever winter on all sorts of supplements. And  this year my intention was to focus on our health. So far I've fixed my shoulder, learnt to meditate and ended my 20 year morning coffee habit, so I'll let you know how we do! :) 




If you want to check out the products for yourself  just click here   

If you're Dyspraxic and have similar health problems to us I'd love to hear what you do, so please do leave me a comment below. 

Take care
Jane x 

Dyspraxic Thoughts on this Fracking Government

This week The Guardian published this post;  

People with autism and learning disabilities excel in creative thinking.

Of course we knew this already, but as my friend said, it's good for other people to know too. They obviously don't mention Dyspraxia, but lets face it who does? This week in a school a learning support co-ordinator asked what is dyspraxia and how do you spell it?!  But I digress and that is another blog another day.

What isn't often talked about regarding dyspraxia and others who learn differently, is that we also tend to have a closer affinity with nature than neuro-normals. We often like to be around animals, and it hurts like a broken heart when I see the countryside being raped for 'development' .  We feel things deeply and the harming of animals or nature is painful, which is why I'm a veggie.

So fracking... In June this year Lancashire County Council very bravely refused planning permission for 2 fracking sites. The Government were not happy and we knew there would be backlash. It's just come, in the form of the Government deciding to fast track fracking planning applications and  this map was published showing the new planned sites. My village, Galgate, is in there along with much of rural Lancaster and beyond.

This truly shocked me, especially when our MP David Morris said it was inevitable and 'we mustn't drag our feet' - well he would wouldn't he!  Luckily for us we have Cat Smith on our side, one of just  a few  MPs in England that oppose fracking.

I took to twitter to find out more and discovered this;

frackfree_eu ‏@frackfree_eu  23h23 hours ago

Why is #England now the only place in #Europe under threat from #fracking? Simple! Because not enough people are trying to stop it! Wake up!

England is the only Country in Europe to still be under threat of fracking! That must be why as a dyspraxic I feel so uncomfortable in my own country, England. We are a pushover. Other countries in the UK stand up and get their voices heard. We politely have a cup of tea!

As a dyspraxic I feel strongly about things, but also I do joined up thinking, we are good at seeing the bigger picture. I'm not neuro-normalphobic - some of my friends are neuro-normal :)  but what drives me nuts is the single issue thinking; great people that are socialists but don't get feminism, feminists that don't get racism, anti-racists that don't understand environmental issues, greens that don't understand class.... You get the picture. 

We understand that we are ALL connected and if you break one bit you damage the whole. 
My big hate is greed, people that put profit before anything else. The beating up of the indigenous Bolivians protesting about the new law allowing oil and gas exploration on their land (backed by the Pope by the way) confirms  that it's all about money. 
It's certainly not about energy.  We know that we can harness the power of nature herself for our energy, but that isn't where this government wants to direct it's resources. 

My favourite all time quote is from a 19th century Cree chief

"Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realise that we can not eat money"

I am glad to say that we are in an age where there is an increasing resistance to the poisoning of our planet .

I love Nature Speaks, a series of  short films narrated by some of our top film stars. They  have been produced  to remind us that humans do NOT own the earth, it was here before us and it will be here long after we have gone. 

It is our own species that we are wiping out - along with a few other species of course, which must be the definition of madness. 
I do not believe that we have a right to expect to keep living with the rate of wastefulness that we currently do. But we have created a  culture that thinks it can have what it wants, whenever it wants it. And that is having it's own global repercussions as our new communication channels show the huge inequalities - but that's another blog.

For so many reasons, including that I'm pretty sure we don't have a spare planet for when we have poisoned this one, I oppose fracking. 


If you are not sure where you stand, go find out! 


Jane Binnion is a social media and ethical sales trainer based in Lancashire. Her new book The Heart of Sales is now available on Amazon 

The rise and rise of #EverydaySexism

We have an election coming up - did you notice? 

At the turn of the 20th century women in the UK could not vote.
It's now 2015 and we have clearly come a long way with regards to the position of women, and yet still we are having to flag up the fact that women are not taking senior positions in society. If you want to see some facts and figures Women in parliaments is a good article.


This month 3 women took their rightful place at the Leaders Debate on TV and many of us celebrated (regardless of our own political leaning).
On twitter this is what happened







Obviously we know that David Vance is a right wing nut job, but the Independent...





Seriously!!


It was Easter weekend and I decided to go back to bed with my coffee and catch up with my Facebook friends when up popped this...







Of course in Zig's day he was talking to men and we could maybe excuse his crassness. But this was shared on April 6th 2015 by a professional organisation that doesn't seem to understand their audience.


As I decided that my day couldn't get any worse I posted Vance's tweet on my Facebook wall thinking most of my Facebook friends think like me. So I was pretty taken aback when a fair few of the responses showed a need to play down sexism and call it something else! Why?

Why are we not allowed to call sexism SEXISM?

Even my phone wont type sexism!


Who are we offending when we do that? Can we only call it sexism if men say we can? Have we worked so hard to assimilate that we don't even notice it any more? Or are we just too aware of the backlash that comes from those that feel threatened? 

As I tenaciously argued the right to name Vance's post as sexist, assumptions were made about me....that I am a lesbian, or that I have had a bitter divorce. Really! in 2015 the message is still that women who fight for equality have a dysfunctional relationship with men?
I am completely clear that boys and girls are all being confused by sexism.


On a train journey this week the parent of 2 little girls sat opposite me told them "I recorded Beauty and the Beast for you".
The youngest, aged about 3, asked if Jack could watch it with them. The parent replied that he wouldn't want to. The girl of course asked why (which was clearly her word of the week) and she was told     "..because he's a boy and it's a girls film".
I watched, mortified, as this very bright and articulate little girl took that information in. For the first time all train journey she didn't ask why, but her face showed absolute confusion as her brain tried to compute this.


When I shared this with my daughter she said "you just witnessed sexism going into a new generation".

Where I am stuck is; what is our investment in maintaining sexism?
I understand Vance's investment in it, he clearly feels very threatened by the emergence of intelligent, articulate, strong women. But the rest of us, what do we gain from maintaining it?

As a mum of an awesome teenage girl, I know that I have to name oppression and prejudice. I know that if I stand back and  allow her to internalise and accept sexism, her wings will be well and truly clipped. 

I'm a child of the 60s and I did Sociology at the Uni of Essex in the 80s, so I realise I may see things a little differently to the general population. I'm also dyspraxic which means that I do tend to do the logical v illogical when it comes down to prejudice. (I've been on the receiving end of a fair amount myself of course, both personally and professionally in a very male world - and I do know that it hurts and does damage).

But, if we want to raise kick ass girls, and boys, we have to tell them the truth; that there is a whole crazy mess out there concerning gender, but also explain that it's just cultural and can and is being changed. 
And we have to tell them that we are fighting for their rights to be treated well as human beings, not based on gender, colour, sexuality or anything else that has nothing whatsoever to do with the career path they take.

If you no longer notice sexism pop over to twitter and put #everydaysexism in the seach bar. It's enlightening. 

I would LOVE to read your good thinking on this, so please do leave a comment.

Jane xx 

The joy of the Lumie Bodyclock. An aid to sleeping and waking.

When so many people were struggling with the January Blues, a friend in a Facebook group recommended the Lumie Bodyclock. I'd heard a bit about them and decided to check out the company. I showed my daughter, who totally struggles to get up for school on dark mornings, and she was absolutely clear that that was what she needed.

The company said they made no claims to it helping people with dyspraxia, so I decided to road test it.

I know people who have bought, and really benefitted from, the SAD lamps ,but that wasn't so much the issue for us, it was more about being able to wake up on dark morning. Their alarm clock also  has a sunset facility though, which  helps your brain to release melatonin, thus enabling you to drift off to sleep more easily. As getting to sleep is a big issue for many dyspraxics, this was really intriguing to me.

How does it work? 

What happens is, you set the alarm for your normal waking time and the sun rise lamp starts to come on 30 minutes before the alarm goes off, which means that you are being gently woken and by the time the alarm goes off you are awake. And it honestly works.

As I said, it was also the sunset that we got it for. The idea is the same, just in reverse. So rather than going from light to dark, the light gently dims over a 30 minute period. My daughter sometimes has to set it 2 or 3 times, but it definitely does help her. I'm sure with longer use it will definitely help her body clock.

As for the morning alarm, that  helped immediately. I use a radio alarm clock as  a supposedly gentler way of waking me up, but by using the Lumie I have noticed that even that just shocks me awake and whilst it does wake me, I have now  realised that  I would get up, make breakfast drive my daughter to the bus and walk the dog, all still half asleep!  The lumie brings me round so that by the time the alarm goes off I am already awake. Being dyspraxic that is a massive benefit as wandering around half asleep inevitably leads to more accidents.

The real test was this week when school re-started after the half term holiday. It's still cold, dark and wet and a 6.45am wake up is really not  welcome. But the lumie just helps so much. I have noticed that I have woken naturally by the time my alarm goes off . Totally amazing!


The only thing for me, on the occasions I get to have it in my room, is that the clock face is a bit small, so I just keep my own alarm clock next to me because the sunrise is the most important aspect.

Setting it up. 

I'm not a great one for reading the manual but my daughter sorted it out just fine. However there is also a getting set up video HERE   which I like more, and that in itself tells me a lot about the company, that they understand that people take in information differently. 

How much does it cost? 

There are different versions of the Lumie; the starter kit from £59.00 to some seriously posh ones with bird song and aromatherapy at £160.00.  My friend also managed to get a re-furbished one which is perfectly good, just a bit cheaper.
If you think of it as an alarm clock then it  is expensive, but if you think of it as a way to change your whole morning experience, they are well worth the money.
We are using the starter kit and we are very happy with it

I give the Lumie a 9 out of 10 and am just kicking myself that we have gone through all these school years not knowing about it.

Of course being awake doesn't change the fact that its dark, cold and wet outside, but  it certainly wakes us in a better mood! 

You can see all the Lumie products HERE


If you have a product that could make life easier for those of us with Dyspraxia and you would like me to review it, please drop me an email at Binnion 454 @ btinternet.com .