The child I lost | Coping as a Mother

Filed under Mind Body & Soul, Mums by WATC Team on 23/01/2012 at 17:51 {no comments}

I became an adult at the age of 38 when I held my dead daughter in my arms. Until that moment my husband and I had led a breezy sort of life, taking nothing terribly seriously. We moved to New York, had two children in swift succession and raised them in a loving if chaotic household where nothing was so bad it couldn’t be laughed off with a shrug, a bad joke or a fatalistic, “Oh well, it’ll work out next time.”

Then, a year ago, 35 weeks into my third pregnancy, my daughter died, and there were no jokes to be made. Many weeks after her c-section delivery, long after I had held her, and wept, and clutched the memorial box the hospital made for her with her footprints and her bloodstained blanket and the tiny hat, and wept more, I sat in my doctor’s office and heard there was nothing wrong with Iris. No complications, no genetic issues, no explanation for why her heart simply stopped beating.

It seemed somehow fitting that she had died in January. The weather was bitterly cold and I took a grim satisfaction in how the bleakness mirrored my mood. It seemed only reasonable that the trees should be bare, the streets part-frozen and the skies a dull grey. I was secretly pleased that New York appeared to be grieving along with me; that the city seemed as frozen as I felt.

Yet it’s hard to grieve when you have small children. My three-year-old daughter would strike up conversations with people on the subway: “My mummy’s sad because our sister died” was a particular favourite, or: “I had a sister but she died in Mummy’s tummy.” Complete strangers would whisper: “Oh I’m so sorry,” reach out for the briefest of gestures and then continue on their way.

My son, at 18 months, was oblivious to what was going on. He expected everything to be as it always was and so I forced myself to horse around, to take him to the playground and chase him, to read stories while he sat on my knee. Trips around the neighbourhood were fraught. Standing in playgrounds I would bump into people who had last seen me heavily pregnant: “Oh did the baby come already?” they would start to say before breaking off.

‘My three-year-old daughter would strike up conversations with people on the subway: “My mummy’s sad because our sister died.”‘ Photograph: Neil Wilder for the Observer

At my daughter’s nursery school one of the other mothers had been due around the same time. By coincidence her baby came a week early, on the day Iris should have been born. I found myself unable to talk to a woman who only a few weeks earlier I had had breakfast with once a week. Her daughter was beautiful. I couldn’t stand to look at her face.

Worse was the news that a close friend was unexpectedly pregnant with her third child. As the months ticked by, during this period when the grief was supposed to lessen, I would only have to see my friend for my heart to feel shattered once more.

“The grief of A stillbirth is unlike any other form of grief,” Dr Richard Horton, editor in chief of The Lancet, wrote early last year. Grief is hardly a competition, but Horton is right: stillborn grief is different. It’s different because there are no happy memories to sustain you, no sense of who that person was and what they meant to you. Instead you’re left grasping at something permanently just out of reach, that might have been, that should have been, that wasn’t.

And no one tells you how to deal with that grief. They don’t tell you how to react when you find yourself sitting on floral chairs in a dimly lit room in an avuncular funeral director’s office discussing why even though he is waiving his fee, it will cost almost $1,000 for New York State to cremate your baby. Or what to do when letters start arriving from well-meaning social service groups inviting you to talk to grief counsellors about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and it becomes clear they’ve mixed your dead baby up with another child.

Then there was the difficulty tracking down her baptism certificate: under New York State law a stillborn birth does not have to be registered, but I needed some sort of recognition that my beautiful daughter had existed. I couldn’t bear the idea that she should leave no impression on this world. And so the Catholic priest at the hospital had baptised her and said we could pick up her certificate from his church. Unfortunately, in the turmoil following her birth, he forgot to tell us which church that might be. For months my husband Kris phoned different churches in downtown Manhattan, trekking out to each one; at one point we were given the wrong certificate. Sitting at home I cracked a wan smile: “This would appear to be becoming a theme.”

According to the stillbirth charity Sands, 17 babies are stillborn or die shortly after birth every day in the UK; one in four stillbirths remains unexplained. In the US, the National Statistics Office reports that one in every 116 pregnancies ends in a stillbirth, roughly 26,000 stillbirths each year. Yet stillbirth remains one of the great unmentionable subjects, until it happens to you. Before Iris I knew only one person whose baby had died in the womb. Afterwards, I knew dozens.

The man in the local deli told my husband how sorry he was and added that his wife had lost a child in the same way; the receptionist at my GP’s surgery said it had happened to her. My obstetrician, who had been such a calming, steady presence throughout the silent delivery, almost broke down the next day when talking of how his own child had been stillborn.

Almost two months after Iris’s death I met a woman I knew vaguely outside my flat. “Has the baby come already?” she said, a smile spreading across her face. “No, she died,” I blurted, unable to couch it in less brutal terms. We stood in silence. “I’m so sorry,” she said, and then, grasping for words of comfort: “You know, they say when that happens it’s probably meant to be.” Unable to speak, I nodded and fumbled my way inside. In the hallway I screamed.

Because a lot of the time I didn’t feel sad or depressed or disconnected; I felt really, really angry. Angry with people who were pregnant, angry with people whose babies hadn’t been stillborn, angry with people who tried to empathise by talking to me about their miscarriages, angry even with those who were just trying to help.

With family and friends I was closed in, unable to talk, desperate for them to change the subject and move on. “How do you feel?” they would ask and I would think: “Awful, as though my soul has been ripped out of my body – is that what you want me to say?” Instead I would mutter: “Oh OK, not great, but you know…” and hope that they would leave me alone. I didn’t want to share my experiences, to talk about how I felt, to discuss grief. I wanted to shout until my throat was raw and weep until my eyes swelled shut. I wanted to hit things and people. I even wondered if taking a boxing class would help.

All day I would sit at my desk trying to write upbeat entertainment articles. And each night once my children had gone to bed I would weep uncontrollably over my husband. I had no idea how to talk to Kris. He was so busy keeping it all together, because one of us had to. Going to work, putting the kids to bed, preparing dinner and then holding me while I wept. “I just want Iris,” I would say. “I know, darling, I know.” I wanted to ask him how he felt, but every time I formed the words my throat felt blocked. “Are you OK?” I would whisper in bed at night, knowing he would say “Yes” even if it wasn’t actually true.

Like my daughter, I found myself telling complete strangers what had happened. Sitting with my son at his swimming class I silenced a changing room by announcing that my third child had been stillborn. Even as I said it I knew it was at best self-indulgent and at worst slightly unhinged. But I couldn’t stop myself. I was that crazy lady, the one you’d cross the street to avoid, oversharing to such a level that even New Yorkers looked scared.

As the days crept on I increasingly felt as though I needed to control my grief, to contain it in some way. I was tired of weeping every evening. Tired of standing in the street with tears pouring down my face, unable to speak to well-meaning passersby. I was tired, too, of the niggling thought that maybe I wouldn’t have coped with three children. Depressed, angry and shouting at my two living children, the creeping thought would worm its way into my head: “This is why Iris died – because you can’t cope with two and you shouldn’t have decided to have a third.”

“There are books that can help you,” my obstetrician had said that first awful morning when I woke in the hospital, my thoughts reduced to the phrase: “My daughter is dead.” He wrote down a list. I glanced at the titles: When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Coping After Miscarriage and Stillbirth.

For most of my life books had provided the answer to all my problems. I had comfort novels for when I felt sick, fast-paced crime stories for those moments I didn’t want to think, old favourites I turned to repeatedly throughout broken hearts and work disappointments, read and reread in good times and bad. But now I didn’t know where to start. Comfort reads failed to comfort; new novels were put down one or two pages in; nonfiction seemed too real and fiction too unreal.

I walked in a daze to Barnes Noble and sat on the floor surrounded by a pile of books with titles pulled at random from the self-help shelves. Books about grief and loss, books about healing and moving on, books specific to stillbirth. I flicked through the pages hoping for a jolt of recognition, a sense that the author understood how I felt. None of them worked. I turned to literary examinations of grief: Joan Didion and CS Lewis and Joyce Carol Oates. Yet these books, though often beautifully written, left me equally cold. This was their experience of grief, movingly rendered, but ultimately without meaning to me.

For the first time in my life books were failing me. I found myself unable to look away from newspaper reports of celebrities who had lost their children in the same way, reading endless articles on Amanda’s loss and Lily’s heartbreak. Yet even these similar sad stories, while filling me with a ghoulish sense of companionship, seemed removed.

‘I no longer feel encased in sorrow.’ Sarah Hughes with Iris’s memorial box. Photograph: Neil Wilder for the Observer

I went to church, grasping at the Catholic faith of my childhood. The first day we walked in, leaving my two children with their grandmother, they were having a mass baptism. I left hurriedly, rushing for the door. My increasingly concerned husband suggested counselling. I sat at home day after day and willed myself to pick up the phone, but I never made the call. The thought of sitting in a room with strangers and discussing Iris made my skin itch.

Finally, and in desperation, I began to look on the internet. In the early days following Iris’s death Kris had spent some time looking through sites dealing with stillbirth loss but I’ve never felt that comfortable online. I have no Facebook account, I’m not great at social media, and I’ve always believed if something truly dreadful happened I would have my family and friends. My mother, sister and brother travelled to New York in the aftermath of Iris’s death. My father wrote me a letter so beautifully worded it made me weep. My closest friends crossed the Atlantic, taking precious time out of busy lives to sit with me. In return I barely spoke.

For all their compassion I craved the anonymity of strangers. I spoke a couple of times on email to Jess, who had talked about her experience of stillbirth on a friend’s website. Her daughter was also called Iris and I started reading her blog, After Iris. Sparse, angry, often extremely funny, it made me weep, yes, but also laugh in recognition. From there I tracked down other sites and found myself increasingly in contact with other people whose babies had died.

Alice, author of the blog Stillborn, Still Standing, put me in touch with Rachel, who like me had had two young children before losing her third. Another friend passed on the phone number for a woman whose first child had been stillborn. A woman I knew in passing stopped me in a coffee shop and gave me the email of a male friend who had set up a stillbirth support group after the death of his child. Jess directed me to Glow In The Woods, the site for “babylost parents” she contributed to, and also to her friend Angie’s beautiful, brutal blog Still Life With Circles, which runs the Right Where I Am project in which parents discuss the stage of grief they are at.

And suddenly the world seemed a little less frozen. It wasn’t as difficult as going to a therapy group, but the result was the same. There were people I could talk to. When Rachel first phoned me we talked for more than an hour, veering between laughter and anger, as we discussed every last detail of our dead daughters.

My online acquaintances were generous with both time and advice. No question seemed too small or outburst too big. They had all been there; they understood how difficult it was to get through the day without crying, how great the struggle was between pulling myself together and letting it all fly apart.

For the next couple of months I emailed Rachel and Jess back and forth. Some of those emails were emotional outbursts. “I was thinking of you this morning – I don’t know why, but the lovely weather is somehow making me feel even more sad,” I wrote to Rachel in early June. Others were practical. “I can’t decide whether or not to have a ceremony for Iris, what did you do?” I asked both of them on separate occasions. “Did you go to a support group?” “What do you think of counselling?” “Does this pain lessen?” “Do I even want it to go away?”

“It feels really odd to me that whole days go by where I barely think of Iris, and then I get this wave of extreme emotion and find myself howling hysterically,” I emailed Jess in March. Her response made me feel that I might be able to cope with the pain. “It doesn’t ever go away,” she wrote, “but it did change for me. It shifted away from the hideous rawness I felt in the early weeks.” I had the sense of some small but hopeful shoot pushing its way slowly through the concrete weight of my grief.

I still wanted Iris. I still dreamed about her, tried to picture her, imagined what she would have been like, but I no longer felt as though I was encased in sorrow. I still looked at the memorial box, but I no longer needed to obsessively go through it. Then we travelled back to the UK for a holiday and, in addition to seeing family and my friends, Kris and I were able to spend some time alone. We talked about Iris then, too, but we also talked about silly things and found ourselves beginning to laugh. For the first time in months I started to imagine a return to normality, to those chaotic family afternoons, to weeping with laughter and not loss.

Throughout it all I still knew that there was a community of people who understood what I was going through. I talked to them less as my grief became less overwhelming, but it helped to know that they were always an email away.

Jess was right when she told me that the pain would change. It has, and with it has come holidays and laughter and the bad jokes of old. Yet throughout it all Iris is still present, and I will not wish her away. For the 35 weeks that I carried my second daughter inside me I was gloriously, life-burstingly happy. I can not change her story, but I carry her with me still.

For more information on stillbirth go to uk-sands.org

Love and loss: four helpful stillbirth sites

Glowinthewoods.com
An online community “for parents of lost babies and potential of all kinds”, that offers a space for them to share memories and thoughts, as well as advice for others. It also includes a helpful library of posts on practical matters, as well as book recommendations.

Stilllifewithcircles.blogspot.com
Poet and craftswoman Angie M Yingst writes about the challenges of mothering her two children, Beatrice and Thomas, while grieving over the loss of her second daughter, Lucia, at 38 weeks. “I walked into that hospital one kind of mother,” she writes, “and came out a very different kind of mother.”

Stillbornstillstanding.blogspot.com
Fashion journalist Alice Pullen kept a blog for a year after losing her son, Bear Hamilton, just before he was delivered. “I cannot remember what my life was like before Bear was born,” she wrote two months after his death. “And to be honest, I quite like it like that.” She now tweets at @alicepullen

Afteriris.wordpress.com
Jess lost her second daughter, Iris, in early labour in May 2008. She began this blog four months later and shares her experiences with a savage honesty and poetic flair: “There are irises everywhere. We shiver at each other, and pretend it was the wind that shook us.”

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Article source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/22/losing-iris-stillborn-sarah-hughes

Wellbeing of Women Survey: Who do you believe when it comes to health advice?

Filed under 2012 Career Special, Health Tips, Mind Body & Soul, personal development by on 11/01/2012 at 12:06 {no comments}

Wellbeing of Women is conducting a survey to find out about women’s opinions on health information that is available to them. We would be very grateful if you would spend 5 minutes completing our survey. Information from this survey will help us to better understand how health information is represented in the media, and therefore enable us to understand women’s health concerns. Your participation is entirely voluntary, you may withdraw yourself, and any data or information relating to or involving you, at any stage during the process. All information collected will be saved on a password-protected computer and will be stored in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. The information collected is anonymous and by completing the survey you agree to your information being used by Wellbeing of Women.

Who do you believe when it comes to health advice?

The papers?
The internet?
Your doctor?

Tell us what you think by taking this 5 minute survey about women’s health.

Take the survey now

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Don your running shoes in this exciting London Olympic year and raise money for Refuge!

Filed under Fitness, Fitness expert, New Year, Recommended Events, Refuge by WATC Content Team on 11/01/2012 at 11:39 {no comments}

to the 2012 London Olympic year! This year is the perfect opportunity to hone your running skills or even start developing them. Join one of Refuges’ running teams and play an invaluable role in generating vital income to help fund our refuges and specialist services. We need you to help Refuge to run its life saving services and support even more women and children whose lives are at risk. Celebrate the auspicious Olympic year and give yourself a challenge!

Our places in the Adidas Silverstone Half Marathon have been going quickly, and we only have a few places left. We are asking all runners in this event to raise £300 for Refuge plus a £20 deposit – get in touch by emailing [email protected] as soon as possible if you want to grab one of the last remaining spots! We also have 30 places in the very sought after out Royal Parks Half Marathon taking part in October so if you think you can raise £425 then please get in touch.

Run in the ultimate life changing challenge.
If you fancy an amazing challenge, we still have a few places left in the sold-out Brighton Marathon – so please do give this run some serious thought. Runners can look forward to glorious coastal views, and hopefully a refreshing coastal breeze to spur them on. Taking part in a marathon is on many people’s lifetime ‘to do’ list – to make 2012 the year that you tick this amazing challenge off. Join our fabulous Olympic marathon team and please do email [email protected] We will be asking all runners on a Refuge place to pledge to raise £600 for our work.

Run 10K for Refuge
If a 10k run along a very scenic part of the 2012 Olympic Marathon route takes your fancy, how about signing up for the BUPA London 10,000 on Sunday 27th May. Refuge has 40 places and we would love to have you on this Olympic team. We will be asking all runners to pledge to raise £300 for our work, which includes a £20 deposit. Get in touch to receive your application form.

If that date doesn’t suit you, we will also be entering a team in the Asics British 10k London Run on 8th July. This event has a fantastic atmosphere and runners pass by many of London’s most famous landmarks. We will be asking runners in this event to pledge to raise £150 for our work, plus a £10 deposit.

Run in an event, celebrate the Olympics and secure our future!
By participating in a running event this year not only will you raise much needed income to ensure Refuge can continue its vital work but you can help to raise awareness of domestic violence in order to help prevent future deaths. If you or some you know who been affected by domestic violence and have lost a mother, daughter, sister or a close friends why not honour their memory through participating in an event. If you would like to find out more, contact our fundraising team on [email protected] or set up an In Memoriam page on Just Giving at: http://www.justgiving.com/refuge/Remember

Thank you!
Without our fabulous Refuge runners we would not be able to support over 1,600 women and children daily. Your support means so much to us. Thank you so much!

All runners in all our teams will receive our full package of support including:

A free Refuge t shirt or professional running vest
A full training plan
A fundraising pack stuffed full of useful information including training and nutrition hints and tips, fundraising advice, and information about Refuge and how your fundraising will be supporting women and children who have experienced domestic violence
A free personalised online sponsorship page
One-to-one support from Refuge’s fundraising team
Support on the day with pre race and post race meeting points

If you would like to participate in any of our events, including sky dives and overseas challenges, please do get in contact. However, if you don’t think running is for you, but you have another challenge that could help Refuge raise money –perhaps you want to throw a tea party or hold a local fundraising event– then please do get in touch. There are many ways to support our work and we are very keen to hear from you – we rely on your support to do what we do.

Please sign up in this special Olympic year and help Refuge reach out to vulnerable women and children who need our help!

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Clothing Sizes: it’s all about your Ego and not real Body | Aiste Gerdvilyte

Filed under Mind Body & Soul, Style & Fashion by on 10/01/2012 at 06:10 {no comments}

When Marta told me today she is wearing two sizes smaller clothes than 10 years back, I just smiled and said, “It’s great you eventually started taking care of your body and exercising”. She ironically smiled back at me: “I still haven’t started. Actually, I’m like 15 pounds away from starting”. The idea that Marta’s size decreased although her body got bigger hunted me for quite some time until I started researching the matter of putting smaller labels in larger clothing and was taken aback by what I found.

Vanity sizing – that is the term which was introduced at least seven years back to describe the phenomenon of women growing bigger and clothing makers silently expanding size standards to keep women’s egos intact. Yes, you got it right: to make their customers feel better and to buy more, clothing makers started making more generous sizes (because, naturally, you feel happier when you fit into a smaller size). Then I started to wonder, what’s the real cost of it and is it truly making us happier?

Studies show that British women have changed shapes remarkably in 50 years, for example, average waist measurement went from 27.4 in to 34 in

Studies show that British women have changed shapes remarkably in 50 years, for example, average waist measurement went from 27.4 in to 34 in. Higher life quality, changes in eating habits and physical activity, fast food revolution, marketing of food and many other factors made women grow larger over generations. The fact that there was a 45% growth in plus size womenswear market over the past six years, also says a lot. With all this, vanity sizing might sound great for our psychological boost, but what about the idea that we are actually losing a realistic sense of what our body is like?

Rising levels of obesity in the UK means that more women should start taking better care of themselves, pay more attention to their diet and exercising. However, what if I hear in the news that “obesity spreads in UK but women can face serious health issues being size 16 and more” and I am a size 14? I naturally think “oh, thanks God, I’m still OK, and quite healthy”! And as a normal woman I wouldn’t start digging the facts that all the studies are based on actual measurements and not label sizes! Do you see the hidden danger with vanity sizing? We know how big we are by the size which is told to us: you are a size 14 because you buy clothes in a size 14 – but those are not real measurements of yours, this is just one ‘umbrella’ size which you were put under with many other consumers.

‘For the cherry on top’, here come other daily frustrations about vanity sizing. It’s interesting to note that, although, manufacturers started doing more generous sizes to flatter customers, 9 out of 10 women find it annoying. And it’s very understandable: you get confused and waste so much time in changing rooms because it’s not clear anymore what size to pick. Moreover, as different stores have varying definition of every size (check the table below), you might struggle for quite some time trying to fit in a pair of size 12 jeans (which is too big) and then the next size – size 10 – somehow is too small.

Table from ‘The vanity sizing swindle: How shops change clothes sizes to flatter their customers’ by Poulter, The Daily Mail, 30th September, 2010

We all understand that it’s impossible to put millions of people under tens of sizes and so it is almost impossible that clothes you bought in a store will fit you perfectly. My advice would be to know your individual measurements and read descriptions (not sizes!) on labels to choose the clothes which fit you properly. As Euripides once said: “Know first who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly.”

By WATC Member

Aiste Gerdvilyte

mail address: [email protected]
website URL: www.sabbslondon.com

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Mind & Body Cleanse™ By Chris James- Special offer (15% Off)

Filed under discounts, Fitness, Health Tips, New Year by on 02/01/2012 at 20:28 {no comments}

A brand new you in 12 days…

What can you expect from the Mind & Body Cleanse™?

Kick start your new health regime
Feel totally energised
Assist in weight loss
Make your skin & eyes look like they’re glowing!
Experience a sense of mental clarity
Enjoy Sound Refreshing Sleep
Kick bad habits!
Discover a toolkit for a healthier lifestyle
Learn to be healthy & creative in the kitchen…

To get you started, we are offering a 15% discount (£95 RRP discounted to £80) off the Chris James Mind & Body Cleanse for the month of January….

Please click here to purchase your Mind & Body Cleanse today and enter the Special Code 2012 to get your 15% discount.

I am here to encourage you and guide you, and let you know that it really is possible to re-engage with your mind and body in a totally different way. In just 12 days you will feel refreshed, energised, and more in control of your life. You will see the physical results of a more toned body. Many people say they experience glowing skin and sparkling eyes, and feel enhanced mental clarity and joy. Many people also experience weight loss by following this programme, but this should not really be your primary motive. The Mind & Body Cleanse™ is not a quick fix that sees you working towards your beach-toned body only to go back to bad habits after the Cleanse! Instead it’s the start of a long term life plan.

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IMBOKI – Image, Body, and Mind is the way forward!

Filed under Fitness, Mind Body & Soul, New Year by Vanessa Vallely on 02/01/2012 at 09:06 {no comments}

Have you ever considered doing a boot camp but the thought of army drills 12hrs a day just haunts you? Or did you bite the bullet and do it anyway and dreaded it as it you woke up at 5am and its cold, dark, wet, muddy to start the daily run, as the week goes on you are feeling like you have been hit by a bus, starving, cold and a day that feels like it never ends, bad night sleeps and dying for a massage to sooth the pain?? At the end of the week you have achieved some results however when you are back into general day to day life healthy living is hard to maintain? Well if this is the type of boot camp you have done before then its time to make a Change….

IMBOKI – Image, Body, and Mind is the way forward! No 5am starts, no 12plus hrs. days of training, no intimidating army uniforms, no starving. IMBOKI focus on exactly what busy people like us need. The days are based around providing a programme that you can take away with you into the real world once the week is completed. It’s a great retreat – with daily exercise, educational nutrition sessions and some papering.

The week starts with stepping onto the Body Analysis Machine which provides you with a break down of your total body composition and gives you a true picture of your weight profile. To many times we (especially woman) focus on the scales. Lesson 1 at Imboki is to throw away the scales and focus on Fat Loss. Not only do you get the breakdown of what your body composition is (fat, muscle, bone density etc.) you get the education around how to change it – how to increase your metabolic rate, how to increase resting metabolic rate, fitness levels and more. Through physical training session, lifestyle nutritional sessions IMBOKI give you what you need.

Each day starts at 7am with yoga and on most days you would only do 3-4 physical training sessions lasting approximately an hour each with no sessions after dinner. The sessions are varied and involve high and low intensity activities that you can do at home, in the park and at the gym. Each day there are also a number of education sessions focusing on different themes such as Nutrition, Lifestyle, Image and more. The food is exceptionally healthy with fresh good sized portions that you won’t leave the table feeling hungry.

The evenings involves relaxation time to mingle with your fellow Imbokers and book some papering sessions from massages, to body wraps, manicure, pedicure etc. There are a few after dinner activities for those that wanted to participate which included beauty and make up course and salsa dancing and more (*these vary depending on retreat). On the last night we had a celebration dinner where everyone got dressed up out of the gym gear to celebrate a week of great achievements.

In general IMBOKI provided me exactly what I was looking for in trying to get myself back into shape and also giving me the confidence I need to keep going, and look and feel great. During that week I lost 3.3% body fat (equivalent of 6lbs of fat) and am still dropping. Since the retreat I have managed to maintain and continue to loss fat. My body shape has changed and I am feeling a lot healthier, energetic and am now really conscious about what I eat, how I cook, when I exercise and more importantly ensuring that I maintain a routine. The tools that IMBOKI gave me made me realize that its not that hard to keep focused, I don’t need to spend hours at the gym and food can be healthy and enjoying by substituting simple ingredients rather than dieting. And you can fit all of this into a busy lifestyle without giving up your life!! Most importantly it also gives you a great network of people to keep you motivated towards reaching your goals.

Finally ladies – you don’t have to do it alone – IMBOKI is mixed gender so bring your partners along. It was a great retreat and I honestly felt that I was on holidays as it was in a beautiful location, with great people and it wasn’t as intense as previous boot camps and I am still achieving my results.

If you are interested in a taster day please contact us here

For more information please see the website

http://www.imboki.co.uk/

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Back to Basics: Post-Christmas Health and Fitness Notes | Monica Sasso

Filed under Fitness, Fitness expert, New Year by WATC Content Team on 31/12/2011 at 09:53 {one comment}

We have all just done it. Well, I just did it, my husband and I polished off an ENTIRE box of M&S Belgian Chocolate biscuits. You know, the big box that could have (and should have) served as after dinner biscuits for a party of 10. Yup, we just did it. And we are not 20 stone, 5’4” people who sit on the sofa all day glued to Sky. We are both about 5’10” and a touch under 12 stone (well I am that, he is a few pounds lighter but we won’t go into that…). We are also both are avid cyclists, we have 12 bikes in the garage, 1 in the house, a room devoted to fitness and run marathons – he at 3 hrs and me at 4. We know fitness, we know what we should and shouldn’t eat. We both also used to be quite heavy, me 4 stone and him 6 stone.

The first time I went to Weight Watchers I was 9. I gained weight

So yes, we need to get back to basics at our house. Which is the theme behind this article. The first time I went to Weight Watchers I was 9. I gained weight. I did not lose weight until I tossed everything aside and reaslied the BASICS: if you take in more than you burn, you get fat. It’s basic maths. No fancy formula with points, or quality factors, it’s all down to calories. Yes, there are good calories and bad calories. Yes, there are foods that will make you “bonk” during the day and those that will make you feel fuller longer, but ultimately it is all down to calories. You and your body will tell you the rest, i.e. at some point you will crave fruit, veg, brown rice, etc. Your body is way smarter than we, the government or any fad diet doctor gives it credit for.

Stealth calories suck. And they usually are not worth it

The real trouble is, many of us do not know how many calories we SHOULD eat much less how many we ACTUALLY consume. A pint of lager has 220, a shot of Vodka has 40, a bottle of red about 500. A piece of think bread has 110, a thin slice as low as 48. I once spent 20 minutes in the Pret in One Canada Square trying to find something for breakfast less than 300 calories. Mind you, that morning I cycled 12 miles to work after lifting weights before jumping on my train, so it’s not like I rolled out of bed and started work. I also had to cycle 12 miles home. The “healthy” options of porridge and yoghurt were laughable. The former, made with semi-skimmed milk and the later full-fat with full-sugar granola. They each had over 400 calories. Neck one of those, and you will eat double the calories you need whilst thinking you are being “healthy”. What a con. Who, suited and booted with a laptop and a presentation looming, would have known?

Years ago I switched to drinking straight vodka once I figured this out. I lost weight and had a lot less hangovers.

Top 10 Tips for Getting Back to Basics, from a former fat girl, turned fitness buff who lives in the gym, on the bike or in her running shoes….

1. Figure out how many calories you NEED to survive (using the attached Harris Benedict formula based on your lean body mass – opposite of body fat percentage) and then count what you put in as well as what you expend. That means keeping a food and a fitness log (also attached).

Yes, it will mean reading labels, learning how many calories foods that you like contain (for when you go out o eat) and start owning what you put in your body. If you want to lose weight, then eat less than what you should. If you want to burn more, then exercise (See #2). I am also not afraid to condone pre-packaged meals – they provide portion control. Yes, they are probably not the best for the environment, and they have a lot of sodium, but you can circumvent those things. You can recycle and you can drink lots of water to combat the sodium and add extra veggies to it to help. Also, ignore the government, drink MORE than 8 glasses of water a day and eat more than 5 portions of fruit and veg a day. And the more colourful, the better.

Oh yea, this means counting booze calories too. Years ago I switched to drinking straight vodka once I figured this out. I lost weight and had a lot less hangovers. When you are on the straight spirits, you tend to drink less because you can taste the booze…

2. Exercise. – If you do none, you should do some. I think we all know that – whether it’s taking the dog for a longer walk, or running with your kid in the park, jogging to work or hitting the gym. And if you need motivation, get a workout partner, set a new goal like doing a marathon or cycling 50 miles. But whatever exercise you choose to do, set a goal, it will give you a success to celebrate. Make it realistic and be honest with yourself. I am yearning to run a 45 minute 10km. I am carrying about half a stone too much to do it. I was being honest and realistic (with a polite nudge from my 37 minute 10km running husband) when I re-set my goal to 48 minutes. It hurts, I am a women who is used to achieving a lot and hold myself to insanely high standards. But I know if I don’t make it realistic and honest, I will not achieve it and that will make me feel terrible when I don’t achieve it. E.g. if you have never run a sub 2 hour half marathon, don’t set a goal to run the London marathon in 4 hours. Chances are, you may not be given the opportunity to do so. A lot of people run the London Marathon and in the 9-10 min mile pace group, you will be with the majority of the runners and will probably walk the first and last miles. SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS. Simple as.

3. If you eat on the go, Avoid Mayo and Butter soaked sarnies. A chicken and salad sarnie should not have 400 calories. That is all mayo there if it does. Stealth calories suck. And they usually are not worth it.

4. Kill the fancy coffees. Milk has a lot of calories. So does sugar. Try it the Italian way, an espresso when you need a pick-me-up.

5. Kill the soft drinks. A Coke is like a pint. Which are both nearly as bad as a Snickers Bar.

6. Muscle is good, it burns calories even when you sleep. My goal is to be able to haul my own body weight. Press ups, chin ups, pull ups, dips, etc. It takes time to be able to do that, but the best part is, when you are there, you won’t need a gym membership!

7. Use your commute. If you can. Don’t be afraid to parade through the office in your running or your cycling kit. It does feel weird to carry a suit to the showers all decked in lycra, but screw it. It’s a very efficient use of time.

8. Walk more. Think of ways you cannot drive, and drive or walk there instead. This time of year, it is hard, I know. But it will help. And you will feel better for it.

9. DO allow yourself a cheat day or meal. When I lost my 45 lbs when I was 15 (not on Weight Watchers), I allowed myself a cheat meal every Friday lunch as it was pizza day at school. I never gained weight and never strayed from my diet. I did not deprive myself. If only the 33 year old me was a clever as the 15 year old me.

10. Do it with someone. A partner, spouse, kid, best mate, colleague. SHARE Getting Back to Basics with someone else, it will be easier.

I have attached a sample excel spreadsheet which includes the common ways to calculate caloric intake needs as well as a template for calorie counting and fitness tracking. Happy Counting!

Monica

Monica Sasso is a fitness geek. She is not a trained nutritionist, just someone who has helped many friends and herself lose weight. She is also a marathon runner, a duathlete, a cyclist, and a gym rat. During the day, Monica is a Lean / Six Sigma Consultant, Operations expert and a contract Project Manager. She is the Director of Fit Biz Consulting, whose aim is to help companies operate more leanly and effectively through revamping their business practices. Monica is a member of APM, a US equivalent Chartered Engineer, APM/PRINCE2 certified and a Six Sigma Black Belt. Monica lives in Wiltshire with her skinnier husband, cat Shimano and their 13 bicycles.

Follow Monica on Twitter – @Fit_Biz.

Learn more about Fit Biz Consulting here

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Jane’s Seven Secrets for a Successful New Year Detox

Filed under Fitness, Health Tips, New Year by WATC Content Team on 31/12/2011 at 09:27 {no comments}

DETOX YOUR KITCHEN!

Clear out the kitchen cupboards and throw all the naughty treats in the bin.
Hide the wine bottles at the back of the cupboard and banish the biscuit tin.
Now, make a shopping list including lots of fruits and vegetables – but nothing ‘naughty’.
Make sure the fruit bowl is brimming with seasonal fruit
Have ready freshly cut crudite in the fridge – so you can snack on these during hungry moments.
Buy a note book, and write down everything that you eat and drink – research suggests that keeping track helps people lose weight and keep it off!
Go shopping – the average woman takes 7300 steps during a shopping trip, that’s 365 calories. A great excuse to start sale shopping now!

And if this all seems too much like hard work – call Jane and her team and let them do all the hard work for you!

Click here to find out more about JanePlan

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Nutritional Tips by our expert | Chris Hines

Filed under Feature Home page, Fitness, Fitness expert, Health Tips, New Year by Chantelle Akerman on 27/12/2011 at 07:46 {no comments}

One of the most important considerations in a nutritional protocol is the body’s hydration levels. Our bodies are mainly made up of water with our brain being comprised of 75% water, our blood being 92% water and our muscles being 75% water. Most people are chronically dehydrated and this affects every process in the body including the ability to digest food Research has shown that around 75% of our hunger pangs are signals of thirst with mild dehydration slowing your metabolism by as much as 3%. I highly recommend that you drink at least eight glasses of pure water every day. Drink a glass of water within 30 minutes of waking up, since you become slightly dehydrated through the night. Avoid drinking too much water while eating as this can dilute stomach acid and impair digestion and absorption of foods. Water is also needed to detoxify the body so when you are dehydrated your ability to eliminate toxins will be reduced and as a consequence this can lead to you holding on to excessive body fat.

Another great investment on the nutrition front is to convert to organic foods. It may seem a little expensive at first but in return for your health and we11 being it is a small price to pay. Not only is organic food free from chemical pesticides, preservatives, hormones and antibiotics it also has a much higher levels of nutrients than commercially farmed foods. The body needs easily accessible high quality nutrients every day to run itself. These nutrients are much more available in organic foods and also in much greater amounts.

It is also very important with regards to nutrients to not only get good quality foods but also to eat a diverse range of foods. This variety of food selection increases your chances of receiving the correct nutrients for your body to operate. If you only eat a restricted number of foods then your body only receives the nutrients available from those foods. Most people only eat about 15 different foods on a weekly basis and only get a limited amount of nutrients from these foods. By increasing your selection of foods you receive a wider variety of nutrients. Variety in food selection is also important in preventing food intolerances. Food intolerances develop when the body is exposed to the same foods so often that the immune system responds as if there is an invader present such as a bacteria or a virus. When this happens constantly it will deplete your immune system leaving you susceptible to further infections and can also be responsible for symptoms as varied as Irritable Bowel Syndrome and chronic headaches. A common problem among people today is wheat or gluten intolerance. The proteins in wheat and other grain products upset the gut lining and provoke an immune response which can lead to degenerative processes. As wheat products are so prevalent in the Western diet, complete or even temporary abstinence from it can provide promising results. Safe alternatives to these grains include corn, rice, buckwheat and millet.

Hydrogenated fats found in ready meals, margarines, fat replacement products and many sauces have been artificially altered to preserve their shelf life, a process that makes them harmful to your cells.

Processed foods are always best to be avoided. Most of the vital nutrients are lost in the processing and have to be synthetically added back in. Anything that is fortified or has vitamins added in means everything of any use was destroyed in the processing. Processed fats and sugars cause particular problems in the body. Hydrogenated fats found in ready meals, margarines, fat replacement products and many sauces have been artificially altered to preserve their shelf life, a process that makes them harmful to your cells. They resemble healthy fats making it difficult for your cells to distinguish the two apart. They cannot perform the desired function within the cell and open the door to significant health problems. Refined sugars found in most foods tax the body because they convert to glucose very quickly in the blood causing the body to produce insulin. As well as lowering blood sugar, insulin promotes fat storage which is why a diet high in refined sugars and processed foods makes you fat. It is also the main cause of Adult Onset Diabetes where the pancreas, the organ that produces insulin, gets so exhausted that it eventually has to make poor quality insulin which is ineffective and leads to diabetes and weight gain. It is vitally important to control blood sugar levels for this reason throughout the day. I strongly suggest you eat before you become hungry and have sensible snacks during the day to stop your blood sugar levels from dropping too much.

Listening to your body is an easy way to see if you have the balance right. If after an hour of eating a meal you feel energetic, bright and mentally alert chances are that you are close to your individual ratio.

With regard to the correct balance of fats, proteins and carbohydrates at each meal every single person is different. While one ratio may be correct for one person, it may have no effect on another and be downright dangerous for a third. We are all as different internally as we are externally and this needs to be reflected in our food weightings. Each meal should contain a balance of fats, proteins and carbohydrates at every sitting with the exact ratios being individually specific. Listening to your body is an easy way to see if you have the balance right. If after an hour of eating a meal you feel energetic, bright and mentally alert chances are that you are close to your individual ratio. If, however, you feel hungry, lethargic and mentally tired then the food balance was inappropriate for you. Most people live on a diet that is high in refined sugars (or carbohydrates), high in processed fats, which are of no use anyway, and low in good quality proteins. By reducing carbohydrate intake through cutting down on refined sugars and processed foods and eating good quality proteins and fats most people will feel significantly better. Sensible sources of fats and proteins include oily fish, lean meats, nuts, seed and organic dairy produce. Great sources of non refined carbohydrates are fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains. By experimenting to find your personal fuel mix you will feel nutritional fulfilment, sustained energy and glowing health.

It is vitally important, particularly if you are trying to lose weight, to not cut calorie consumption. When you do the body thinks it is starving and stores fat as a self protective mechanism. This is backed up by the statistics that show that around 90% of all people who go on a calorie restricted diet gain all the weight back within a year and most gain more. This is because as humans we are self protecting organisms and during famine, which is what calorie restriction is, we produce fat storing enzymes. On these protocols initial weight loss comes through loss of body t1uid and muscle mass. Eventually the body breaks down its own tissue to survive and you sacrifice your health in that you become malnourished or you return to your normal eating habits with an increased number of fat storing enzymes and gain even more weight. It is important when trying to lose weight to eat enough calories so your body doesn’t produce these fat storing enzymes. With regular exercise you will create a negative calorific balance and weight loss will begin. Your exact number of calories will depend on your size, your metabolic rate and your activity levels. Without overeating, again experiment to find the right amount of food for your body to run it’s everyday processes. If you feel hungry, lethargic or irritable then chances are you’re starving yourself so up your calorie intake until you feel it is correct.

By taking all these points on board you will work towards losing any excess weight in the form of body fat, promote lean muscle tissue development and dramatically improve your health status. You will enjoy increased physical energy and mental clarity and greatly increase your chances of avoiding disease and degeneration.

Chris Hines CSCS

Fat Loss Specialist

www.peakxvfitness.com

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7 steps to Skinny Jeans

Filed under Feature Home page, Fitness expert, New Year by Chantelle Akerman on 27/12/2011 at 07:09 {2 comments}

Yes, you CAN get into your Skinny Jeans—here‘s how

Courtesy of PeakXVFitness, they have given you access to their wonderful ’7 Steps to Skinny Jeans’ book.

Book Introduction:
You know the jeans that I am talking about—the jeans that once flattered your figure and filled you with confidence every time you went out in them—the ones that are tucked away at the back of your closet just waiting for the day that you will once again pull them on.

Why aren‘t you wearing them today? You felt great when you fit into them. You felt healthy and attractive and fit. So what is the hang up? What is keeping you from your goal?
You should be wearing those jeans.

In fact, get up right now and find your favourite skinny jeans. Maybe for you it isn‘t jeans at all—it could be a dress or even a bathing suit. The key is that this piece of clothing makes you feel amazing…but doesn‘t quite fit like it used to. Place it where you can see it everyday for the next 30 days. This is your goal.

If you have 5, 10 or even 12 pounds to lose then a 30 day goal is within your reach. However, your goal may be to lose 15, 30 or even 90 pounds. That is great! There is no limit to the number of pounds that you are able to melt from your figure—it just might take longer than 30 days.
Your goal is within reach.

PeakXVFitness wrote this book so that you would have an easy-to-follow plan for long lasting weight loss. They want you to fit into your skinny jeans. They want you to improve your health. And we all want to feel great.

7 Steps To Skinny Jeans

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Rekindle your libido | Maryon Stewart

Filed under Health Tips, Mind Body & Soul by Maryon Stewart on 05/12/2011 at 23:32 {no comments}

Women regard their loss of libido as their lot. They accept it as part of their fading youth, even if it happens in their late twenties! Our libido levels are most often a well kept secret, and not something we consider an acceptable part of social chit-chat over cocktails. There are no hard and fast rules about what is a normal level of libido, and is no such thing as a ‘‘normal” sex drive. What is normal to one couple may be abnormal to another. So you can only judge your libido by your own standards, and if you feel that your sexual desire has diminished, for whatever reason, you will need to take action to restore it.

In our youth, before the responsibilities of life settle on our shoulders, many of us take our libido, or appetite for sex, for granted, never dreaming that anything might influence it. However, the passionate nights of a new relationship live on in the dreams of most, but only the reality of a few. Childbirth, sleepless night, the stresses and strains of life and general preoccupation all contribute to a waning sex drive.

Most of us were designed to have a natural interest in sex initially, and for it to continue well into old age. There are, however, a number of reasons why sex drive can decrease over time, apart from hating the sight of your partner! Many women continue to love their partners dearly and feel very guilty about sex being an occasional event, and in some cases off the menu completely. Amazingly, the common denominator is that they accept that, for whatever reason, their libido has gone for good, and is never likely to return.

In truth, our sex drive does not usually disappear over night, unaided. Instead the loss of libido, be it sudden or gradual, is likely to be due to a physical or hormonal problem, or mental stress, or indeed any combination.

Causes of loss of libido

After childbirth, many women lose interest in sex because of their rapidly changing hormone levels, their disturbed nights and the fact that Mother Nature makes a woman treat her baby as a priority rather than her husband’s needs.
Excessive weight gain, weight loss, irregular periods, hair loss or excessive hair growth may all signify hormonal problems which can also result in a low sex drive.
Other hormone disturbances like thyroid problems, or galactorrhea, a white milky discharge from the nipples, can cause low libido
Sometimes people are put off sex as intercourse becomes painful. The pain can be due to infection, vaginismus, when the vaginal muscles go into spasm, an enlarged or displaced womb or other hormonal abnormality
Hormonal changes at the time of the menopause causing night sweats and insomnia often result in a reduced libido
Long-term illness and lack of energy
Psychologically distressing past experiences which still haunt you
Stress, worry and depression often take their toll on sex drive. When you are mentally preoccupied with pressing problems the body naturally diverts its energy to helping you through the troubled times and sexual desire may take a back seat.

Unless your diminished libido is linked to a lack of affinity for your partner, which would obviously need to be addressed as a separate issue, it is very often your body’s way of communicating that all is not well in other departments. Other common symptoms that you are likely to experience along with reduced libido are a lack of vitality and constant fatigue.

Most of us have, hopefully, experienced fatigue after a period of hard and fruitful work, and then noticed a return in our energy after a good nights sleep or a relaxing holiday. Some of us however, suffer from fatigue day in, day out with no respite, despite the amount of sleep or rest we have.

If we eat an inadequate diet and have several vitamin and mineral deficiencies we are more likely to suffer with low energy levels, fatigue and general lethargy

Many of us however, experience episodes of fatigue for no apparent reason and, in fact, fatigue is probably the most common reason we visit our doctors. There is usually a relatively simple solution to lacking energy levels, but this is not always the case. Fatigue which is persistent, or prevents you from working and requires you making drastic changes to your home life and social calendar, should be regarded as possibly being due to a serious cause. This also goes for fatigue that is associated with weight loss, fever, significant pain or any other troublesome symptoms.

It is therefore advisable, if symptoms of fatigue persist, to have a thorough check-up to eliminate any serious underlying causes. In the majority of cases low energy levels are associated with our diet and lifestyle.

Our energy is largely determined by our nutritional status. If we eat an inadequate diet and have several vitamin and mineral deficiencies we are more likely to suffer with low energy levels, fatigue and general lethargy. A nutritious diet, plus a good quality multi-vitamin and mineral supplement will help to restore energy and improve health and well being.

At the Natural Health Advisory Service we have found that a programme of diet, exercise and nutritional supplements helps 90% of women get their sex drive back within three months.

The body depends on important vitamins and minerals in order to function properly. During childbirth and pregnancy significantly increased nutritional demands are placed on our bodies. Because we lack education about the foods which contain the important nutrients, these increased demands are usually not met. Mother nature makes sure that the good nutrients cross the placenta to the baby and go out through the breast milk, and the result at the end of the day is that its the mum that ends up depleted.

We know that the mineral magnesium is necessary for normal hormone function and that B vitamins and the mineral zinc are particularly important in sex hormone metabolism and maintaining your sex drive. So it stands to reason that if your diet does not provide you with a constant supply of good nutrients, the body will eventually stop functioning normally, and your sex drive may well be affected.

By eating plenty of ordinary foods like grains, milk, eggs, meat, chicken, nuts, beans, dried fruit, green vegetables, and fish, in particular oysters which contain extremely high levels of zinc.

It is important to avoid drinking too much alcohol as it tends to knock most nutrients sideways. Whilst you are trying to consume lots of good nutrients it would defeat the object to wash them away with alcohol. Try to limit yourself to no more than three drinks per week

If you are overweight it is important to get yourself back into shape. Apart from the health benefits of being trim your self esteem will improve and you are likely to feel more desirable. Knowing what your body can and cannot tolerate is fundamentally important for good health anyway. You might like to obtain a copy of the book called The Model Plan, which is published by Vermilion, which will enable you to find the right kind of diet for your body and to lose those extra pounds.

In addition to a deficiency of certain nutrients, sometimes other dietary problems can create unbalanced energy levels. There is evidence in those who have certain types of allergy, that poor energy and fatigue may be some of the associated symptoms. Intolerance to certain foods seems to be a factor, and this can be suspected if there are symptoms of allergy, including eczema, asthma, nettle rash, migraine headaches and bowel problems including irritable bowel syndrome. In one study, for example, allergy to wheat protein was linked with increased complaints of waning energy, fatigue, headaches and bowel problems.

Frantic modern living is also likely to contribute to low energy. Not enough sleep, stress at home or work, lack of exercise and a poor quality diet can all reduce our energy level.

Addressing the problem directly by taking a much-needed holiday, embarking on a regular exercise programme and taking steps to improve your nutritional intake may well be all that is needed to restore your vitality and as a result your libido.

Exercising regularly to the point of breathlessness and losing weight, if you are overweight, can also help raise mood and vitality. Regular exercise is of great benefit to people of all ages, because it is necessary for the optimum function, structure and preservation of muscles, bones, joints and heart. Aside from these benefits, exercise boosts our energy levels and promotes circulation.

Cardiovascular exercise, the type that gets your heart rate up significantly higher than your resting rate, is excellent for boosting energy. The higher the heart rate, the heavier the breathing becomes, which means that more oxygen is being inhaled. The heart and blood vessels become more efficient, therefore their ability to carry oxygen to the cells, and to carry away waste products is increased. Oxygen is necessary for living, and the more efficiently the cells can utilize it and dispose of the toxins and waste, the more energy you will have.

Exercise also helps to increase your basal metabolic rate – or the rate at which energy is used up, plus regular exercise has a positive effect on our mood as it stimulates the brain to release chemicals called endorphins which improve our mood and we know that if you are in a good mood, you are more likely to have bags of energy!

Being overweight can lower energy levels, leaving you feeling lethargic to the extent that becomes a persistent problem. Certain foods can encourage weight gain such as saturated fat and sugar, as well as foods that you are either allergic or intolerant to. If you have been battling with your weight for years, it is quite possible that your body is fighting against the foods being eaten. The whole system slows down, in particular, both the digestive system and immune systems. When these are not functioning ‘normally’ you are more likely to be tired and run down. Once you have found the correct eating plan for your body, it apparently has a normalising effect on metabolism.

Digestive disorders like irritable bowel syndrome often have a knock on effect on energy levels. Being constipated is as a consequence of a sluggish bowel. When the bowels are not working efficiently, toxins build up within the body and can leave you feeling tired, ‘heavy’ and generally under par. A good diet with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables and avoiding suspected allergens will improve the condition.

Conversely, diarrhoea can also effect energy because the physical opening of the bowels for long or frequent durations literally ‘drains’ the body. Diarrhoea, if persistent can lead to problems of malabsorption, which basically means that nutrients are not being absorbed from the food. Once again, diet plays an important role, and cutting out foods like dairy and caffeine can have almost immediate results.

Working long hours and not eating wholesome food regularly is likely to make your blood glucose levels fall, which results in symptoms of lethargy. The solution is not merely to suddenly eat more glucose, as the body finds it hard to adjust to the rapid rise and fall that this causes. Rather eat wholesome food little and often. So aim for three good meals, with nutritious between-meal snacks, such as fruit, nuts and raisins, a sandwich with cheese, meat or fish, or rye crackers and peanut butter, which will give a more sustained rise in blood sugar.

All too often people reach for stimulants to boost their energy and make them feel more ‘alive’, but this is a fallacy, because over-reliance on them can be addictive and destructive to our overall health. Continual long term use of stimulants, can indeed lead to addiction or abuse, very similar to drug dependency.

Common stimulants typically used in the Western diet are caffeinated drinks, coffee, tea, cola and chocolate. Stimulants give us a quick ‘fix’ of energy, in a similar way to sugar. Soon after the fix, energy levels drop and , another coffee or bar of chocolate is reached for, so the roller coaster continues.

Herbs are sometimes referred to as ‘system boosters’ as they have natural energy boosting properties. The advantage they have over stimulants is that they are natural, and provide a more sustained and gradual release of energy.

The herb ginseng is considered to be non-addictive and far safer to use than stimulants, and is used to reduce the effects of stress, improve performance, boost energy levels, enhance memory, and stimulate the immune system. It contains vitamins A, B6 and the mineral Zinc, which aids in the production of thymic hormones, necessary for the functioning of the immune system.

Ginseng is an ‘adaptogen’, which means that it has the unique ability to normalise body functions. For example it helps to regulate blood sugar levels, which is of particular use in treating diabetes, and lowers blood pressure if it is too high. Ginseng’s adaptogenic properties will stabilise the system and return the body to normal levels of activity.

Energy levels often begin to wane prior to the menopause as women become progressively more tired during this time. This is due hormonal imbalances when oestrogen levels decline and symptoms of oestrogen withdrawal manifest. Symptoms subside once nutrient levels have been replenished and the body is supplied with naturally occurring oestrogens. These naturally based plant compounds are called phytoestrogens which and predominately found in soya products, golden linseeds, red clover and to a lesser extent exist in ginseng. Phytoestrogens reduce hot flushes and night sweats, and help to restore energy and vitality.

St John’s Wort is another herbal product that has been shown to have influential properties of waning libido. A German study published a few years ago, on a group of 111 women having libido problems before their menopause, showed that 60% o the participants had regained their libido significantly after a twelve-week course of 900 mcg of St John’s Wort per day.

Vaginal dryness, and as a result, painful sex, can become a problem leading up to and during the menopause, when oestrogen levels are falling. Until recently, the only options available were lubricating or oestrogen creams. Consuming isoflavone rich foods including soya products and linseeds and taking Promensil, the standardized red clover supplement that contains 40 mg of isoflavones, has been shown to help to alleviate vaginal dryness. In addition, two new products to the market have also shown in clinical studies to maintain the health and integrity of the mucous membranes in the vagina. The first is Phyto Soya Vaginal Gel made by Arkopharma, which is inserted into the vagina twice a week and the other is a product derived from Sea Buckthorn, a berry bush naturally found in Asia and Europe, called Omega 7, which comes in capsule form and needs to be taken twice daily.

Horny goat weed is a herbal aphrodisiac that has been used as part of Chinese medicine for centuries, and shown to increase sexual interest in both men and women, and tribulus, another herb, is thought to increase the production of testosterone in men, increasing their sex drive.

All this good news means that there is no need to accept falling libido levels as a sign of age. There is definitely a light at the end of the tunnel if you learn how to meet the needs of your body.

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The answer to every challenge is…..In The Mirror! | Jenni Parker Brown

Filed under Mind Body & Soul, Wellbeing by WATC Content Team on 25/10/2011 at 22:46 {no comments}

We’d have to be superwoman not to have some aspect of our life that causes us pain or challenge.

Maybe like most women, you’ve spent lots of money on programs, books, events, therapy or healing. Have you spent years journalling, complaining, or simply wishing things were different from how they are in some aspect of your life? Are you one of those who is terribly sensitive and subject to stress or depression? Maybe you’re just damn tired and overwhelmed by the slow progress towards your goals and desires?

Don’t feel bad, you’re in good company with the other 80 percent of the population!

The ones that think life-happens-and-then-you-die, and it’s not your fault.

In this little sharing time, I would like to offer you the key to all the solutions you could ever wish for. It’s quite simple, go to the bathroom now and look in the mirror. There. The reflection you see is the only solution you’ll ever need to any of life’s teasing and taunting conundrums .

Bear with me, you’re going to like how this goes.

Whether it’s for career issues, relationship problems, money challenges, we’ve got used to seeking solutions to pain, like soap powder to remove stubborn stains. The trouble is, like red wine, grass and ink, pain is a given. It is a natural part of life, an inevitable part of our development.

But pain will only ‘stain’ our moods and psyche if we believe that ‘Life Is A Struggle’, something to be mastered and beaten into submission, and that we are powerless to do anything about it.

Most of the world is not passionate and that is the principle cause for every bit of struggle and strife that exists.

The 80 percent of the population who carry this belief around with them are all around you…family, colleagues, people on the street, in the subway. In fact, surveys are quite precise on the figures about this. There is such a massive collective belief that ‘Life Is A Struggle’ that, even with the best will in the world to be enthusiastic, optimistic, cheerful and brave, we can all get quickly dragged down by the mass addiction to gloom and doom. We can’t avoid it in the news, the media, in our environment.

Unless we choose to because we love ourselves more than the gloom.
Unless we understand that we truly are masters of our emotions and our perceptions.
Unless we deliberately become intentional creators of our rosiest-tinted vision of life.
The fastest way to do that is to fall in love with ourselves. Forever.

In my work as guide and mentor and Editor-in-Chief of an acclaimed Visionary Business magazine, I see many life-coaches with complexes, transformational leaders with chips on their shoulder, biz experts with chronic self-doubt, company bosses with un-quiet hearts and minds. Even those who are open to self-growth are part of the heavy-heart brigade.

So why is that? Why are the majority of people not content?

It is quite simple.

Most of the world are not loving themselves enough to do what they love and love what they do

And they resent it.

Most of the world is not passionate and that is the principle cause for every bit of struggle and strife that exists. (Even Mother Theresa had picked that one up..

All problems, whether sickness, stress, disputes, all negative emotions occur simply because people deny what they truly want because they think they have no choice. But that simply isn’t true. We are creatures of free-will with unique personalities, gifts and talents. We do have freedom of choice. We have responsibilities and obligations, of course, but even those we can change at any time, if we believe we can.

Science and spirituality are unanimous now…together we created the universe and we continue to create the universe – every pimple and daffodil in it. The world is itself heaving with that evidence.

And it is true individually. A chair, a light-bulb and a technological revolution, a fashion trend, began as just an idea in someone’s head before they came into physical evidence. Thoughts create things. Emotions attract circumstances.

Passion makes babies, initiates social change, creates artistic masterpieces, raises pyramids and arabesques,..

Maybe you’re one of the questing ones who already aware of this but can’t figure out why you haven’t got what you want yet. Maybe you’re an open-minded, diligent creator who, in spite of goal setting, affirmations, faith, optimism and several career or relationship changes, is still trying so hard to create a decent or better life.

But the good old law of attraction and any other principle that drives the cosmic engine, cannot work without just with one vital element. It is not a ‘Secret’ , but it escapes most people desiring success, like the end of their nose.

Without this one thing, worlds, light-bulbs, technological revolutions and happy-ever-after lives cannot come into existence. That thing is Passion.

Passion makes babies, initiates social change, creates artistic masterpieces, raises pyramids and arabesques, turns shellfish and potatoes into Moules-Frites, guitar and melancholy into Soul Music, doodles into iphones, builds bridges across ravines and bridges across self-doubt, sheep fur into a Chanel coat, digital pixels into the world’s biggest chat room..

With passion we discover that the Milky Way has 2 layers of caramel, that dolphins have a sense of humour, that 6,000 feet of ice is actually feasible to climb, that there are 17 ways to jump onto a roof with a skateboard, and that whatever you want to achieve right now, is entirely possible if you are clear about what that is, make a decision to act on it in full knowledge of your power to create the life of your dreams and commit to doing it tirelessly for as long as it takes.

Passion is the key to making major life changes, initiating social change, creating a masterpiece, getting to the final of the X factor even though you’re overweight and spotty. Passion gets leg-less people to sprint with springs attached to their stumps, doctors to swap organs from body to body, visionary races to build Greek Parthenons and quiet souls to cure disease.

Passion will take us out of every self-imposed mental and emotional prison cell, every challenge that we manage to create for ourselves.

Passion is the accelerator of the Law of Attraction (that which brings to us what we think about) and is the window to discover why we actually landed here in this space and time. Passion is quite simply our destiny’s way of putting down little breadcrumbs on our life’s path, to guide us home.

And, of the 4 out of every 5 people who live passion-less lives, they will never find that ‘home’ where they can fulfil all of their human potential, realise all of their unique gifts.

How tragic is that?

So there is one more step, and one more reason to begin to find your passions, to align your life with your passions. There is one more clue to understanding that you can build your life loving what you do and doing what you love.

Because you’re worth it.

Because you came here to be the best that you can be, and have a ball doing it!

Only you can decide. And you do that by looking in the mirror and seeing the answer to all your problems, to all your yearnings. You.

You are the love of your life and if anything tells you the contrary then it is likely that you will never ever achieve the goals you claim that you desire.

How tragic is that?

You are the love of your life, you deserve to do what you love and love what you do and Passion is the key.

Any question of ‘how?’ ‘When?’ ‘What if?’…can simply be answered by aligning yourself with what lights your fire and tweaking your life so that you keep striking the matches. (And there are plenty of those to prove it works!)

Because you’re worth it.

So now you know that your passion will help you create anything you desire, what are you waiting for to be in the top 20 percent of happy, fulfilled people who are truly content?

What are you waiting for to step out of crowd of every five, and be the one that is totally, passionately, exquisitely in love with your life? What are you waiting for to swap learning how to create you finest life to LIVING your finest life?

Passion is your key and I’m holding it out to you with all my heart.

Jenni P

ACTion Passion

Create Your Life as a Work of He’ART.

PS Here’s where what you can do right now….jump over to http:// passionlifesecrets.com, to download, a complimentary E-book Crystal Clear - How to Get From Wherever You Are To Wherever You Want To Go

Also Pick up the lastest copy of Passion Life Secrets Magazine and say ‘Hi- I want the key!” on Facebook

Jenni Parker Brown aka The Dream Warrior, is Editor-in-Chief of ‘The Passion Test Daily’, founded by Janet Bray Attwood and Chris Attwood based on their New York Times Best-seller, The Passion Test. They are among the top 150 leaders in the world on Personal Development Business and are on Jack Canfield’s Transformational Leadership Council of leading edge Biz experts and visionaries.

Jenni P left the UK 20 years ago as a single mother with nothing but a Land Rover, to pursue her dream of Dancing with Horses. In fact she ended up having a lot of adventures and mis-adventures and turned her life around from depressed, bankrupt victim to creating the life of her dreams .

She lives with the love of her life, in a Pyrenean Mountain Paradise, in the south of France, and has had just about every career under the sun, including founding The REAL Food Company and dancing in a Latin American Review . Jenni (who still dances with horses) helps coaches, people helpers and anyone who wants to break through stuck-ness to get clear on their passions and align their life with them so that they can re-claim their power and purpose with joy and abundance.

Jenni is a published author and CEO of an online Visionary Business Magazine, Passion Life Secrets, which helps entrepreneurs reveal their unique gifts, talents and power to build their ideal business. She is also an entertainer and speaker and workshop leader and is devoted to helping

‘Turn The Passion Statistics Upside Down’

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Maryon Stewart’s Top Tips for a Healthy Midlife

Filed under Health Tips, New Year by Maryon Stewart on 17/10/2011 at 10:21 {no comments}

1. Before attempting to come off HRT get established on a comprehensive alternative programme. It is advisable to wait at least four to six weeks before reducing your HRT dose, by which time the benefits of the new programme will be kicking in. When you feel ready begin reducing the dose of HRT by as much as half – if you are taking a high dose pill or use a high dose patch, it is best to ask your GP to prescribe a lower dose for a month or two before attempting to come off HRT altogether.

Continue on half dose HRT for approximately one month whilst at the same time following the Natural Health Advisory Service Programme closely, and then, when you feel the time is right, chose a day to stop using HRT. If you experience mild flushes during the next month or two, simply adjust the dose of isoflavones in your regime upwards until the flushes have abated and increase your intake of isoflavones rich supplements in the short-term.

2. Include plant oestrogen in your diet, particularly soya products incorporating So Good soya milk (which contains approximately 20 mg of isoflavones per 250 ml glass) with cereals or mixed with fruit as a fruit shake, tofu & silken tofu blended with fruit, golden linseeds, chick peas, lentils, mung beans, alfalfa, sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds and green and yellow vegetables. Refer to the new book Beat Menopause Naturally for further lists and details of how to use these products.

3. If you are aiming to overcome severe and debilitating symptoms at the time of the menopause you will need to consume at least 100 mg of isoflavones per day initially, combined with the other important aspects of the NHAS programme which are outlined in the book Beat Menopause Naturally. This will enable you to emulate the Japanese in their consumption of daily phytoestrogens, without making too many changes to your Western diet. Apart from a phytoestrogen rich breakfast, have a “Phyto fix” later in the day, either as a snack or as a dessert. Try a phyto rich fruit shake made with So Good soya milk, or a fruit whip made with silken tofu and soft fruit in the blender.

4. Over spicy food, hot drinks and alcohol can aggravate flushes, so let your hot drinks cool down and keep alcohol to a minimum whilst going through the menopause. Alcohol tends to knock most nutrients sideways anyway, and this is definitely a time to conserve essential nutrients.

5. Drink plenty of liquids, preferably the equivalent of six glasses of water daily, preferably cold as it may help to take the edge off a flush. Let hot drinks cool down and use decaffeinated varieties and herbal teas.

6. Make sure you consume a nutritious diet including plenty of foods rich in both calcium and magnesium such as milk, green leafy vegetables, unsalted nuts and seeds, whole grains and bony fish like sardines or whitebait. Plus avoid fatty foods, keep refined sugar to a minimum making sure you have plenty of wholesome snacks at hand and use salt substitutes or herbs to flavour food instead of ordinary salt to avoid bloating.

7. Take the isoflavone rich Promensil, red clover supplement, daily, as it has been shown to significantly reduce hot flushes and night sweats as well as many other menopause symptoms including vaginal dryness, in numerous clinical trials around the world over many years, and at this time is regarded as the best natural product for menopausal symptom relief.

8. Aim to exercise for at least half an hour five times per week – you need to do weight-bearing exercise that is also aerobic. The benefits are a healthy heart, strong bones and an increased feeling of well-being.

9. Try to spend 15-20 minutes relaxing each day to keep the stress levels down and the flushes at bay. Research shows that these simple measures will reduce hot flushes by as much as 60 per cent.

10. Look after your skin by using the good creams and consider Arkopharma Age Minimising Face Cream as clinical trials show that it improves the collagen content of the skin and significantly reduces wrinkles. Arkopharma also produce a Phyto Soya Vaginal Gel and Omega 7, both of which help to improve the quality of the vaginal lining whilst at the same time encouraging the cells once again to produce mucous.

Further details about Maryon Stewart’s natural approach to menopause can be found in her new book, The Natural Menopause Plan, published by Duncan Baird Publishers, which is available from bookshops and Amazon.

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Eat Yourself Beautiful

Filed under Health Tips, New Year by Maryon Stewart on 14/10/2011 at 15:04 {no comments}

Women through the ages have gone to great lengths to improve the appearance of their skin, hair and nails and the beauty has had a field day on the profits. Millions of pounds are spent on advertising and packaging, with the intention of persuading the consumer that creams, lotions and potions will provide the key to a glowing youthful appearance.

What is not widely appreciated, but makes absolute common sense when you think about it, is that looking healthy is equally likely to be attributable to our diet and lifestyle as it is to external applications designed to preserve our youthful appearance.

The concept of `eating yourself beautiful` is scientifically founded, as there are classical physical signs of nutritional deficiency, which can be identified by just looking in the mirror! Our bodies are very efficient at communicating what is wrong, the only problem is that we are not tuned in to the messages, and most of us are not sufficiently educated to

recognise a nutritional inadequacy; and that’s only half of the story. Knowing that the red greasy patches at the side of our nose are related to a Vitamin B shortage, or that the presence of acne means that zinc is in short supply, wouldn’t necessarily open the door to a solution for most of us as most, unless we were unfamiliar with the foods rich in those important nutrients.

Nutritional deficiencies are incredibly common. Three separate studies undertaken by the Natural Health Advisory Service, on women of childbearing age, revealed that between 50 to 80 percent had low stores of the mineral magnesium and many other nutrients including B vitamins, zinc, iron, essential fatty acids and calcium were often in short supply.

Our body’s need a constant supply of good nutrients in order to serve us well, and in the absence of this it communicates by providing physical signs of deficiency; the only problem being that most of us wouldn’t recognise a nutritional deficiency even if it hit us on the nose. Let’s take a look at some of the most common problems and how they can be overcome.

Skin

Dry skin can be attributable to too much sun and wind, without using creams or eating adequate quantity of essential fatty acids, or a shortage of vitamins A, necessary for cell membrane health and vitamin E, which protects the skin cells from free radical damage. Eat green leafy vegetables, nuts and seeds and oily fish to help encourage healthy cells and give natural ‘lubrication’, and apply vitamin E oil topically. Dry skin can be due to insufficient fluids, so ensure you drink at least 6 glasses of fluid, especially water, each day. In addition, try some of the rich skin creams that have been made from all natural products without any harmful chemicals which are available from www.naturalhealthas.com

A pale complexion is not always an unhealthy sign, as some have a perfect but ‘English Rose’ complexion. However, a pale complexion can be due to anaemia, which is commonly experienced by menstruating women and vegetarians are also susceptible, who, perhaps are not eating an adequate diet, particularly low in iron, B12. These nutrients are most abundant in meat products and dairy foods, so it is easy to for these groups to become deficient. Eat plenty of green leafy vegetables and nuts and seeds, which are a good source of iron. Most cereals are fortified with iron and folic acid. Lean meat, eggs and to a lesser extent fish are good sources of B12. Vegetarians should concentrate on using fortified soya milk and consider taking a B complex vitamin supplement.

Cracking and peeling lips is often associated with an insufficiency of vitamin B12. Concentrate on eating low fat dairy products, lean meat, whole grains and green vegetables. Use a good quality lip balm, and concentrate on eating essential fatty acids to soften skin.

Cracking at corners of mouth or corners of the eyes is associated with poor dietary intake of iron and vitamins B2 and B6. Vegetarians and women with heavy periods are susceptible to this condition, which can be resolved by eating iron from meat and non-meat sources. The B vitamins can be found in whole-grains, eggs, meat and dairy products. A good quality multi vitamin and mineral supplement containing iron and B vitamins could be helpful.

Red greasy skin may be hormonally related, worsening premenstrually, and can be helped by taking a good multi-vitamin and mineral supplement like Optivite which contains good levels of the B vitamins and zinc, necessary for skin health. Avoid saturated fats in the form of red meat and full fat dairy products plus keep refined carbohydrates, like sugar and white bread and flour to a minimum. Plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables every day is advisable and consume at least 6 glasses fluid, particularly water.

Rough pimply skin: drink plenty of water, at least 6 glasses each day, and ensure adequate intake of essential fats and the mineral zinc to improve skin health and reduce the dryness. Body brushing is often helpful as well as the use of a good quality moisturising cream made with natural ingredients.

Red scaly skin rash: may be due to food sensitivities or allergies, and it may be useful to follow the simple exclusion diet in the Real Life Diet. Dairy foods, shellfish, wheat and citrus fruit can inflame the rash.

Eczema: Is often food related, and can be aggravated by citrus fruit, dairy products and wheat. It can be improved by avoiding these foods and rinks and by consuming a nutrient dense diet as well as supplements of essential fatty acids, zinc and B vitamins. Sufferers often have an inability to convert the omega-6 fatty acids into their inflammatory properties, so it is suggested that an evening primrose oil supplement like Efamol is consumed daily.

Psoriasis: a skin disorder characterised by rapid growth of cells, taking 8 days to grow and mature, compared with a normal 28 days. Skin cells accumulate, creating a thick layer of dry flaky cells. It can manifest all over the body, particularly the face and scalp.

Nutritional therapy involves slowing down the cycle of cell growth and maturation, dependent on vitamin A, found in oily fish and low fat dairy products. Most cereals and breads are fortified with folic acid, and green vegetables are inherently rich in this vitamin. The minerals, zinc and selenium are found in abundance in seafood and nuts and seeds, and calcium is found in low fat dairy products, green leafy vegetables and nuts and seeds. The essential fatty acids help soften the skin cells, and make the cell membranes more flexible. Eat plenty of oily fish and nuts and seeds to ensure an adequate intake.

Wrinkles: are often the result of excess sunlight, particularly without using protection in the form of sunscreen and sunglasses. Eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, particularly those with a dark green, red and yellow hue which contain plenty of antioxidants. Selenium and zinc are found in seafood and nuts and seeds. Try using Arkopharma Phyto Soya Face Cream, which has been shown to decrease the depth of wrinkles significantly within 4 weeks (available from www.naturalhealthas.com or by mail order from +44 (0) 207 631

Hair and scalp

Generalised hair loss: Old age can exacerbate this condition, as can an inadequate intake of iron and vitamin C. Low thyroid function (hypothyroidism) can also account for hair thinning and loss.

Dandruff: Can be more prevalent in people with skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis and is often thought to be caused by a fungal infection. Eat plenty of essential fatty acids, most prevalent in oily fish, nuts and seeds and Biotin rich foods including lean meat and dairy products and wholegrains. Use anti-dandruff shampoos and perhaps apply evening primrose oil topically. Using tea tree shampoo which has natural anti-fungal/bacterial properties can also help.

Nails

Brittle nails, flattened upturned nails: iron deficiency due to either heavy menstrual bleeding, an inadequate vegetarian diet or malabsorption of the mineral. Ensure you are eating plenty of fresh green leafy vegetables, nuts and seeds and lean meat occasionally if you are not vegetarian.

White spots on nails: is sometimes thought to be due to zinc deficiency, often seen in women with inadequate dietary intake of nuts, seeds and fish. Malabsorption can present a problem, so any concerns should be investigated. Taking a supplement of hydrochloric acid facilitates zinc absorption. Take zinc supplements separately from food, preferably at night, for maximum absorption. (However, it can cause nausea, so take with food if a problem)

Mouth

Soft bleeding, spongy gums: May be due to deposits of plaque as well as nutritional deficiencies. Ensure good oral hygiene, brushing and flossing teeth twice daily to improve overall teeth and gum health. Eat plenty of vitamin C rich fresh fruit and vegetables daily. Aim for at least 4 servings of vegetables, plus a salad and 3 pieces of fresh fruit. Visit your dentist if gum health doesn’t improve. A supplement of CoQ10 facilitates oxygen distribution to the gums, as does brushing with fennel toothpaste

Red tongue: Often due to a lack of B vitamins, which are commonly in short supply, particularly vitamin B12 in vegetarians.

Sore, smooth tongue, or recurrent mouth ulcers: Can be associated with food sensitivity, particularly where mouth ulcers are concerned. Try avoiding wheat and gluten in the form of bread, pasta, cakes and biscuits containing wheat for 6 weeks. A coated, sore tongue may also point to a food intolerance, exacerbated by sugary foods and refined carbohydrates. Consume a range of wholesome foods, particularly those rich in B vitamins and zinc.

Body

Spare ‘tyre’ and fat stomach: having a genetic predisposition to storing fat around the stomach can make weight loss difficult. Plus, a lack of abdominal exercise can weaken muscle tone. Falling oestrogen levels also contribute to spreading at the middle at the time of the menopause. Phytoestrogen rich foods including soya products, pulses and linseeds and plenty of exercise will help. Further information can be found in the book Beat Menopause Naturally which is part of the Natural Menopause Kit and available from www.naturalhealthas.com or +44 (0) 207 631 4235

Cellulite: can be a result of digestive problems, such as constipation, where toxins accumulate instead of being efficiently excreted can increase cellulite levels. Elevated levels of the female hormone, oestrogen can worsen cellulite, which is often the reason why women experience heavier legs premenstrually. Caffeine can also exacerbate cellulite. Substitute herbal teas like Rooibos and cereal based coffee alternatives. Arkopharma Mincifit Gel, which contains phyto-active ingredients designed to speed up the metabolism of fats, water and toxins and remodel the appearance of the skin se cellulite and is available from www.naturalhealthas.com

Saggy Breasts: regular exercise for the pectoral muscles helps maintain firm breasts. Putting on weight often increases breast size, therefore they are less likely to stay pert.

Stretch Marks: often appear during and after pregnancy, where the skin has stretched to accommodate the growing foetus. Zinc deficiency has been linked with stretch marks. Zinc is essential for the metabolism of vitamin A, which is necessary for the integrity of our skin cell membranes. Vitamin E taken in supplement form and applied topically can minimise the appearance of stretch marks. Zinc predominates in seafood, and seeds, particularly pumpkin seeds. Eat plenty of wholegrains and nuts and seeds to ensure an adequate vitamin E intake. Try using Arkopharma Mincifit Stretch Mark Cream which has shown positive results in clinical trials is available from the shop at www.natualhealthas.com

Thread veins and varicose veins: thread and varicose veins are often hereditary. Thread veins are less of a problem, and don’t really present with any pain or discomfort. Varicose veins can be exacerbated by long term constipation where constant straining and pressure is placed on the bowel. Vitamin C and bioflavonoids, particularly rutin are useful due to their ability to strengthen capillaries. Fresh fruit and vegetables and a good source of bioflavonoids.

Pimply skin or upper arms and thighs: often worse during the winter months when arms and thighs are not exposed to sunlight. They are often exacerbated by a deficiency of essential fatty acids and vitamin E which are necessary for soft, smooth skin. Ensure an adequate intake of unsalted nuts and seeds, which provide good levels of vitamin E, and oily fish, which are rich in essential fatty acids.

Beauty Foods

Eating yourself beautiful will necessitate having three good fresh meals each day with wholesome between meal snacks on days when you are particularly hungry. Plus, taking plenty of exercise, and getting out in the sunlight when possible. If you decide that you need to top up on certain nutrients, you may need to take a supplement as well as making improvements to your diet. Take a look at the nutrient content charts and choose the foods that you like, gradually making your diet more nutrient dense.

Nutrient Dense Foods

Vitamin A – Retinol

Lambs liver

Butter

Margarine

Cheddar cheese

Porridge made with milk

Milk

herring

B Vitamins

Muesli

Rice Krispies

Corflakes

Brazil nuts

Almonds

Walnuts

Prawns

Turkey

Chicken

Lamb

Cheddar cheese

Eggs

Salmon

Sardines

pilchards

Liver

Kidney

Soya

Chickpeas

Asparagus

Vitamin E

Sunflower oil

Hazelnuts

Almonds

Rapeseed oil

Pine nuts

Sweet potato

Olive oil

Peanut butter

Walnuts

Muesli

Avocado

Mushrooms

Onions

Butter

Spinach

Parsley

Watercress

Tomoto

Egg

Broccoli

Iron

Soya flour

Rice krispies

Cornflakes

Muesli

Wholemeal flour

Lentils

Soya beans

Beef

Lamb

Brazil nuts

Egg

Spinach

Baked beans

Green peppers

Manesium

Brazil nuts

Almonds

Soya flour

Muesli

Wholemeal bread

Prawns

Banana

Lentils

Herring

Spinach

Baked beans

Salmon

Lamb turkey

Cod

Cheese

Avocado

Beef

Zinc

Beef

Lamb

Brazil nuts

Almonds

Wholemeal flour

Muesli

Turkey

Cheese

Pawns

Chicken

Lentils

Eggs

Soya bean and milk

Spinach

Tomatoes

Herring

Cod

Baked beans milk

Green peppers

Essential fatty acids

Sunflower, rapeseed, walnut and corn oil

Almonds, walnuts and Brazil nuts

Sunflower seeds

Soya

Mackerel, herring and salmon

In order to improve your nutrient levels take a strong multi-vitamin and mineral preparation daily like Optivite which is available from www.naturalhealthas.com or +44 (0) 207 631 4235, as well as the additional nutrients that are indicated. If you have been short of nutrients for some time it may well take a few months before you see the difference in the quality of you skin. When the immune system has been compromised as a result of a lack of nutrients, you may also have to avoid certain foods such as wheat and bran, or dairy products, for the first month or two, whilst you are working to redress the balance.

Making the most of the nutrients

Certain foods and social substances like tea, coffee, alcohol and tobacco can reduce the absorption of good nutrients. Because of its tannin content, a cup of tea with a meal will more than halve the iron that is available to us, whereas, because of its vitamin C content, a glass of orange juice with the same meal will more than double to available iron. Try drinking the tea substitute Rooibos, it looks like ordinary tea when make with milk, but contains no caffeine and very little tannin. Alcohol knocks most nutrients sideways, and bran blocks the absorption of important minerals like zinc, iron and magnesium. It is also recognised that those who smoke and drink alcohol in fair quantities are less likely to eat a nutritious diet.

Sample Menu

Breakfast

Oat based muesli with chopped fresh fruit, golden linseeds and bio yogurt or soya milk

Fresh grapefruit and orange with sunflower seeds

With toast and sugar free fruit spread

Dandelion coffee

Mid-morning snack

Unsalted nuts and organic raisins or fresh fruit

Rooibos Tea

Lunch

Jacket potato with tuna mayonnaise or humus

Mixed salad with mung beans

A glass of fresh fruit juice

Mid-afternoon snack

Chopped fresh fruit with yogurt or dried apricots and figs

Cranberry & apple tea

Dinner

Roast chicken with mashed potatoes, spring greens & cauliflower or

Mixed vegetable and almond stir-fry

Carrot cake or fresh fruit salad

Raspberry & ginseng tea

Try following The Very Nutritious Diet with suggested menus outlined in the book the Real Life Diet which is available in bookshops and both the book and the recommended supplements are available from the Natural Health Advisory Service on +44 (0)207 631 4235 or from www.naturalhealthas.com

By Maryon Stewart

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Get up and Glow – The Glow Yoga Way

Filed under Fitness, Health Tips, Mind Body & Soul, New Year by WATC Content Team on 25/09/2011 at 12:26 {one comment}

seize the day

Keep the summer with you by starting your day the Glow Yoga way.

The stylish studio has SAD lighting, a state-of-the-art air exchange system and is warmed to feel like a sunny day. You’ll leave feeling energised and ready for the day ahead.

Nahid, founder of Good Vibes is starting an early bird Foundation Series for all those wanting to get off to a glowing start this Autumn.

Taught with the Glow Yoga Principles this is the class to come to if you’ve ever been curious about yoga or would like to improve on what you already know.

Glow Yoga offers many benefits including managing stress, toned and mobile body and rosy cheeks!

The teaching is easy to follow and delivered clearly with passion and a sense of humour (it’s only yoga after all!)

the details

Starting Tuesday 27th September, Nahid will be takings things back to basics from how you place your feet on the floor to dancing like a warrior.

The series is for 4 weeks and, as the Foundation classes are based around a theme, you can drop in at another time if you can’t make one of the morning classes

The class is from 7.30am – 8.30am; there are showers and hair dryers and towels to rent. All you need is comfortable clothing and Nahid will get you glowing.

Book online or email reception for more details.

Buy the Foundation Series (4 classes) for £55

Or, try your first class for £5

Step on the mat to start your day!

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