It’s 11 o’clock on Sunday night. I have to get up early tomorrow morning. My 15-year-old daughter stumbles into my office, woken by some strange noise.

“What are you doing Dad?

“I’ve just finished writing my weekly newsletter, now I have to write another one.”

“What’s it on?” she yawned.

“ It’s on what’s in my pantry.”

“That’s easy” she smiled….”nothing.”

15-year-old daughters, I think to myself. Sharpest wits on the planet!! She does have a point though. Many would definitely describe my pantry as barren from an orthodox nutritional perspective. But look a little deeper and my pantry will blow your mind in terms of super foods, super herbs and super spices.

Sure there is no bread, pasta, cereal, crisps, sunflower oil, safflower oil, margarine, cakes or sugar but there is lot of other exotic delicacies. It’s not that I don’t like that other stuff. I do. In fact I like it too much so I don’t have it in my house. I know the limits of my self-discipline.

Those other foods are my comfort foods. I grew up on them. There is a big risk that I will find an excuse to go back to them when ones of life’s many inevitable trials and tribulations comes along. So I don’t make them accessible.

Then I grab something healthy that is accessible, I do some yoga, soak in a magnesium bath, go for a run or do some meditation and the life stress melts away. And that’s a great feeling. It’s cumulative. The more I do it, the better I feel.

I get great strength and energy from that. Plus I never feel like I’m missing out. I don’t miss out because I replace those things with healthy, wild, local, organic and unprocessed alternatives.

Why? Because we are under an unprecedented attack on our bodies. On our thyroid glands, our immune systems, our bone marrow and our hormone levels. An attack by an ever-increasing amount of environmental toxins and ever evolving microorganisms. Some of those organisms are natural and some are made in a laboratory. I won’t be part of that system. I’m opting out. I’m choosing health and vitality instead.

My fridge doesn’t have much in it other than some organic butter and fresh fruit and vegetables that I buy in the weekend from the local organic market.

As my organic garden grows in size, I will need to use the markets less and less. cucumbers, beetroots, lettuce, kumara (sweet potatoes), chilies, tomatoes, fennel, passionfruit, mulberries, native raspberries and blueberries are all growing well in my garden.

My supermarket is out my back door. My fridge also contains a lot of eggs from my organic free-ranging chickens and ducks. The freezer has some organic grass fed meat. The pantry has some extra virgin olive oil, organic coconut oil and sea salt.

My herb and spice rack is also getting empty. That’s because as you walk up to my front door these days you will pass through an aromatic tunnel of herbs, spices and berries. Turmeric, mint, basil, holy basil, tarragon, parsley, strawberries and blueberries line the pathway.

What is very crowded is my tea chest and super-food bar. I drink a lot of herbal tea supplemented with green and black tea. I’m not a great fan of just water but when I put a few gynostemma leaves in it, I can drink it all day. And I do.

My super food bar contains delicious foods that also boost the defense and detoxification pathways of my body. There’s various medicinal mushroom powders from China and the US, bovine colostrum from grass fed organic Australian and New Zealand cows, maca from Peru, fermented cod liver oil, Goji berries from Heaven mountain in China, Longan fruit from Bhutan, Shilajit from India.

Yes, look deep into my pantry and I can take you on an incredible and exciting tour of some of the most exotic countries in the world. It makes my life incredible and exciting as well. Or I can take you out to my back porch where we can sip gynostemma tea and look at the supermarket growing in my back yard as we watch the sun go down over the rolling hills. I’m not missing out, I’m opting in.