Healthy eating – Day 24 -Lucy Pook makes raw chocolate!

Lucy Pook is a naturopath from Brighton. And owns Lucy’s luscious raw chocolate which is handmade in Brighton.

I am still inspired after 20 years

I have been a naturopath for nearly 20 years now and I am still inspired by my diet and healthy lifestyle. I don’t get bored of food and feel that I eat like a king even though I am not eating so called “normal” foods and have had to cut out a lot of my favourite foods due to allergies and intolerances.

I begin my day with a pint of warm water either in the form of a mint tea or just lemon and water. When I trained with Barbara Wren in the 90,s we didn’t talk about food till the fourth month. The main focus was on hydration as nothing will be absorbed without water.

We lose 4 pints of water a day and so we need to replace that same amount…..having my water first thing makes it easier to keep up with the quota….plus we all wake up dehydrated, your urine is dark and the first thing the body needs is water…..not food.  If I am working from home that day I will have another pint of water before my breakfast or rather brunch. This means I am pretty hydrated to start my day.

Using seasonal fruit in my smoothies

Sometimes I will have a smoothie depending on the season..in the spring and summer it’s a smoothie every morning but in the winter it’s either porridge or my brunch. My smoothies for the last month have been rich in blackberries, Britain’s very own super food rich in anthocyanins which attach to cancer cells and destroy them.

Because I am intolerant to bananas as well as coconut oil..annoying..I use either a pear or nectarine to blend with my freshly picked blackberries and mint. I add soaked linseed water to increase hydration plus a pinch of seaweed for iodine, some milk thistle for liver support and my favourite super food at the moment a teaspoon baobab powder rich in vitamin C. Plus some raw activated almond milk. In the spring I will have green smoothies to help clear out the liver with spinach mixed with seasonal fruits.

This keeps me going for an hour whilst I am writing and photographing my raw chocolate recipes or making my chocolate. If I am seeing a client I will wait until after our session to eat my brunch.

Rye bread is ok for wheat intolerance

I have had 2 kinesiology tests these last couple of years one with a Vega master machine and one with a friend and they confirmed what I already knew, I am intolerant to wheat and I am lactose intolerant. But I am fine with rye..yippee and so I now live on rye sourdough where it is fermented to make the grain more absorbable. It’s how bread used to be made.

I don’t have butter but I toast the bread and make a salad rich in olive oil dressing and raw vinegar with tons of watercress with avocado celery and red onion. Then I boil an egg. The dressing saturates the bread, it’s so delicious. I have another piece of toast with almond butter and sugar free apricot jam with a cup of hot chocolate made with raw cacao powder, sweetener, water topped up with almond milk.

I will have a large spoonful of deep sea fish oil in the winter months or krill in the summer as we need less omega 3 when it is warm, this keeps me going for hours.

I shop daily

I am usually out in the afternoon shopping or delivering chocolate. I shop daily. It’s how the hunter gathers would have gathered their food. As fresh as possible and choosing, feeling and smelling your food. The idea of shopping for a week is alien to me. I drink more water before I leave home but if out too long I may buy a kombucha drink from my lovely local health shop.

When I get home after all that walking I am usually hungry and will normally have sweet mashed potato with olive oil, another green salad with sauerkraut and some fish. Or I may have quinoa cooked in a teaspoon of turmeric or make my quinoa bake. See my facebook or website.

Some raw chocolate or a gluten free cake that I made might be my pudding but sometimes I just have a hot chicory drink with almond milk.

My food is 90% organic. I use very little salt. I have also found out recently I am intolerant to the nightshade family so no more potatoes, but sweet potatoes are OK.

Basically I live on salads. I have two a day even in the winter. Our closest living relatives the apes live on greens 45% of their diet in fact. What I have learnt is that if you can live on greens which provide us with every nutrient we need we are half way there.

For more info please look at my website

A note from Honey

Thank you Lucy for sharing your attitude to food and eating with us and I will have to come and try some of your chocolate!

Why sign up for my newsletter?

• You can get this blog sent to you every day if you sign up here for my newsletter and you will also get a free relaxing recording
• You will be first to hear about special offers and other exciting things

See you tomorrow

Healthy hug 🙂

Honey

Healthy eating – Day 23 -Love the skin you are in says Fiona Crichton

Love the skin you are in and the body within

Fiona Crichton is a kettlebells and pilates instructor from Edinburgh. Here she talks about loving your body and some great top tips for healthy eating. Over to Fiona….

If you are anything like me then you want to feel comfortable in your own skin, to love yourself for the person you are and the body you have. Wouldn’t life be much easier that way?

Ideally I want to look good, feel good and be able to eat what I want. Thankfully in my late 30s I have found what works for me. I’m generally happy with my size, how I look and I have no health issues. You may think I’m lucky but it wasn’t always this way.

I became a yo-yo dieter

In my 20s the health issues I had were caused by a hormone imbalance resulting in digestion problems, spotty skin and very irregular or no period. At the time I was not happy with my heavier weight and felt pretty lousy.

Going to the Doctor I found they only treated the symptoms instead of the cause. I started my own research going on my own journey of self-discovery. I learned a great deal about health, exercise and what causes disease.

I tried diets, which of course never worked. The deprivation made me crave fat and sugar and I became obsessed and a classic yo-yo dieter.

It all started with Jane Fonda!

With the exploration into the world of healthy eating I came across some inspiring people like Tom Venuto; A clean eating body builder, blogger and author of Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle. I learned feeding your body with good food is the key to optimal health. However, having an 80/20 rule with food choices will help to prevent cravings and the deprived feeling.

Doing exercise from a young age has been a great benefit. I would jump around the living room to my mum’s Jane Fonda video while feeling the burn.

Now I teach my own Kettlebell Classes called Kettlercise and also Pilates. These have made a huge difference to my body and my health. It is great having lean muscle that burns more calories enabling me to eat more and I love helping others achieve their fitness goals.

I was too thin

After my first child was born I felt too thin, but now with two children my body is in great shape. What has changed in my health since then is integrating plant based vegan foods into my diet.

I eat a daily smoothie with pea rice and cranberry protein powder, a complete protein with amino acids vital for brain health and feeding lean muscle. It doesn’t cause digestion problems like soya or whey protein can.

I include greens balance, a rainbow of fruit and vegetables in one scoop. I add half an avocado with its essential fatty acids as I love what it does for my skin plus it makes the smoothie nice and creamy.. yum. Sometimes I have to share it with my kids!

Lunch and dinner mostly consist of egg and toast, soup and salad or a sandwich. Dinner is mostly meat, veg and rice or potatoes.

My top tips for healthy eating that work for me:

1. Eat every 4 – 5 hours to keep your blood sugar levels steady
2. Have portion control – excess carbs will not be burned causing excess sugar in your body
3. Good fats like coconut oil, flaxseed, avocado and fish oil are essential for optimal health
4. Going for low fat alternatives is seriously bad for your health as well as being less tasty. Sugar is added to make the low fat foods taste better.
5. Fibre is essential for good digestion and you can lose as much as 9lb in one year just by increasing your fibre intake.
6. Gut health is paramount. Studies now show we have brain cells in our gut. The gut feeling is our gut sending messages to our brain. There may even be a link to brain degenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease (remember the ice bucket challenge) among others which affect over 45 million people worldwide. Our gut health is being affected by processed food, our over use of antibiotics and exposure to environmental toxins. David Permutter MD states “It has become clear that the lining of the gut plays a fundamental role in determining the degree of inflammation that the human body experiences.”
7. Since all of our systems in the body are connected; none of our systems are independent of each other. Therefore, gut health can affect your digestion, cause food sensitivity, change your mood, cause skin problems, diabetes, poor memory and ADHD and autoimmune disease. A solution is to temporarily remove inflammatory foods such as dairy, gluten and alcohol. Replace with good bacteria, probiotics and digestive enzymes.
8. Ditch the diets. Start by loving your body the way it is then focus on making small changes every day to create the daily habits that will make a massive change over time.

Fiona helps others to look and feel their best, have more energy and to improve their eating habits on her Healthy Living Programme. Contact [email protected] for more information or to join. Or find more information on her kettlebell classes here.

A note from Honey

Thanks Fiona for that insight into your diet and your top tips.

Why sign up for my newsletter?

• You can get this blog sent to you every day if you sign up here for my newsletter and you will also get a free relaxing recording
• You will be first to hear about special offers and other exciting things

See you tomorrow

Healthy hug 🙂

Honey

Healthy eating – Day 22 -Health Coach Hannah March from Shorebeing

Health coaching from a health coach

Health coach Hannah March owns ShoreBeing a health and fitness company hosting wellbeing retreats alongside holistic health coaching, personal training, boot camps and running courses across West Sussex.

Separate the nutrition to stay focused

Juggling all the different areas of ShoreBeing alongside my degree and being a mum to a five year old means that life is always busy! I find that separating the nutrition from the fitness side of my business helps me to keep focused so I dedicate specific days to certain jobs.

I’ve set aside today to work on the wellbeing retreats as I have a day retreat on Saturday at The Artisan Bakehouse, I’m also finalising my 2017 residential retreat schedule.

A good breakfast starts the day right

I’m an early riser so my day starts at 6am, if I don’t have any personal training clients I’ll do a morning meditation to mentally prepare me for the day ahead. I always eat a good breakfast, today I had banana porridge topped with stewed apples, coconut yogurt, almond butter, flaxseeds, blueberries and dried raspberries.

Preparing for a lovely retreat on Saturday 24th September

I will check my emails at 8am as I provide online support to my weight loss clients but work tends to start properly at 9am once I’ve dropped Sonny to school. This morning is dedicated to Saturday’s day retreat, which I’m really excited about, The Artisan Bakehouse is a beautiful venue and it’s such a lovely atmosphere. The retreat includes a Pilates class, a mindfulness session and a nutrition workshop then we break for a two course lunch so there’s quite a bit to prepare!

Each retreat has a different focus, this week we’ll be looking at how to start the morning for a positive and happy day ahead. The nutrition workshop is about healthy breakfasts, I develop recipes that follow the same ethos as my online cook club – they have to be suitable for the whole family, reasonably priced and simple to make. Now that I’ve finalised the demonstration recipes I can make a start on the shopping list!

The only thing left to do for the day retreat is plan the two course lunch, I tend to use recipes from my blog so that people can recreate the dishes at home. This weekend we’ll be having soup with an autumnal salad followed by a sugar-free, gluten-free dessert – raw chocolate brownies are always a favourite!

Lunch with leftovers

I eat lunch early, I tend to make life a little easier by having leftovers. Dinner is the meal we spend most time preparing and is usually contains most vegetables, saving some for lunch not only cuts down on further cooking, it will also be nutrient-rich and help to control portion sizes.

I post a new recipe to my blog every Monday and always give it one last run through on the day to make sure the recipe is right so today’s leftovers are Vegan Thai Yellow Curry!

This afternoon I’m working on 2017’s residential retreats – I’ve recently secured an amazing new venue so next year will see the introduction of my Yoga & Mindfullness weekend retreats in Arundel. I’m going to be exhibiting at The Om Yoga show for the first time so I need to furnish my stand, design and arrange printing of the promotional material, arrange travel for the retreats team and finally arrange childcare! There’s a lot to be done and is seems a little daunting so I’m breaking each job down into bitesize chunks to make it more manageable.

Work life balance

I stop work temporarily at 2.30pm to spend the afternoon with Sonny, it’s not always possible to switch off completely but I try to keep away from my computer during these hours.

I start preparing dinner at 4pm, I usually have to cook while playing Top Trumps Dinosaurs! Tonight I’m making Caponata, an aubergine antipasti that tastes great hot or cold so it’s perfect to set aside for tomorrow’s lunch. I eat dinner early as I work three evenings per week.

Personal training time

I have two personal training sessions scheduled for tonight, I’m very lucky in that I attract lovely clients so work never actually seems like work! I arrive back home at 8.30pm and start my night routine; a shower followed by a relaxing cup of herbal tea.

I put together my clothes for the next day to avoid panic in the morning and check my diary to visual the day ahead. I’m prone to bouts of insomnia so I always mediate before bed to clear my mind, if it’s a good night I’m asleep by the end of the recording!

A note from Honey

Thanks Hannah for that insight into your day and I wish I was free on Saturday to come to your retreat!

Why sign up for my newsletter?

• You can get this blog sent to you every day if you sign up here for my newsletter and you will also get a free relaxing recording
• You will be first to hear about special offers and other exciting things

See you tomorrow

Healthy hug 🙂

Honey

Healthy eating day 21 – What type of eater are you?

What type of eater are you?

Just as we have different personalities, we are different types of eaters. Here I have taken a look at just a few, but it would be great to hear about others you think of.

If you want this blog emailed to you simply sign up to my newsletter at the bottom of the blog. People are loving that!

The waste eater

‘Don’t worry about the leftovers, John will clear those up.’ Are YOU John? Does your appetite know no bounds and you just cannot leave any leftovers. Kids don’t finish their tea… no  problem you are there to finish it! Macmillan cake morning, you finish ALL the leftover cake? Or maybe you actually eat the coffee creams that are left in a box of chocolates?

The emotional eater

Bad day at work and you reach for some ‘comfort food’? Or maybe you are feeling the stress and munch through biscuit after biscuit. Or you are feeling lonely and food becomes your new best friend. Food is a much used emotional reliever but unfortunately we can get to use it a bit too much and gain weight as a result. Which then causes more emotions about feeling bad about our bodies. A vicious circle!

The plate loader

Maybe you love ‘eat as much as you like’ restaurants? How exciting being able to load your plate with a wide variety of foods and as high as you like! You merrily eat your way through one plate and then go for seconds even though you are not at all hungry. After the second plate you hold your stomach and moan that you are over full! But you just have to have a go at that chocolate fountain don’t you? After all, how often do you get to use a chocolate fountain? And it’s free!

The sugar addict

Coco pops for breakfast or chocolate spread on toast, that gives you that early morning sugar kick that you need. By mid morning a chocolate biscuit seems like a good idea, but one or two are never enough and that ends up at 5! Few cups of tea with sugar throughout the day and a nice sandwich and creamy chilled desert for lunch. Now what’s for tea? Maybe a sweet & sour sauce on something but definitely ice cream for pudding. And there’s that nice big family bar of chocolate waiting in the fridge for later….. And in a sweet shop you are well, like a kid in a sweet shop!

The sniffer dog

Your partner is out. You know there must be some goodies in the house somewhere and you are going to find them! Wow those cupboards are dusty up there but nope, not there. Surely there must be a stash somewhere? So you put your best hunting skills to use and eventually find something. You want it but you don’t want them to know you’ve had it. This dilemma plays on your mind for a while but in the end you think you will replace it tomorrow and scoff it anyway.  You cannot be trusted around Easter and Christmas with all those Easter eggs and selection boxes around!

These are just a few light hearted types of eaters that maybe you can relate to. Just like our personalities, self awareness is key and often the first step to making changes if you want to.

Over the past week we’ve heard from 6 different guest bloggers.

Here they are if you want to catch up:

Jill Howie from Porchester told us how she changed her diet and changed her life. Read it here  

Carol Hunter from Worthing shared her bread making secrets with us. Read it here

Maggie Albrecht from London told us how she put positive thoughts into her vegetarian food. Read that one here

Rebecca Boulton a nutritionist from Yorkshared a day in her food life. Read it here

Healthnutgirl Rachel Kieffer from New York City gave us some easy healthy eating tips here

Ayurvedic practitioner, Julie Rawnsley from Ditching, near Brighton shared her Ayurvedic day with us here

It’s been wonderful hearing from so many different people about their healthy eating andover the next 9 days we will hear from even more.

Why sign up for my newsletter?

• You can get this blog sent to you every day if you sign up here for my newsletter and you will also get a free relaxing recording
• You will be first to hear about special offers and other exciting things

See you tomorrow

Healthy hug 🙂

Honey

Healthy eating day 20 – What does an Ayurvedic practitioner eat? Find out here…

Julie Rawnsley is an Ayurvedic Practitioner from Ditchling, Near Brighton, East Sussex. Shes runs an Ayurvedic practice called Simply Ayurvedic. Here Julie tells us about her typical day.

A Day in the life of….

What gets me out of bed in the morning is a cup of Japanese green tea. Of course it’s full of immunity-boosting anti-oxidants, but what’s really important is that I love the taste.

According to Ayurveda, when we are more or less in balance we will have healthy cravings; so by listening to our bodies we can stay on track. The tea is my early morning ritual and time for myself. To make a perfect cup of green tea, use a loose leaf tea and water at 80° rather than boiling as this allows the flavours to develop fully.

No ‘one size fits all’

In Ayurveda there is no one-size-fits-all diet. There are three constitutional types: Vata, Pitta and Kapha: each comprised of different elements and each with differing dietary needs.

As I am predominantly Vata (air and ether elements), I need more earthy, grounding food to balance: Carbs! I make my own sourdough spelt or rye bread which I love. These grains are much easier to digest than wheat and the sourdough process makes it even better.

This morning I had one with tahini and another with homemade blackberry jelly: Heaven! But if I’ve eaten late and I need a lighter breakfast I might have an Ayurvedic Green Smoothie instead.

Mung on the move

When I’m working in London I take a thermos of mung soup. This is filling but very easy to digest. A protein-based meal helps to stimulate the neurotransmitters which make you more alert, so it’s ideal for a working lunch.

As I’m often seeing clients back to back in London with breaks at odd moments I will generally need an energy bar as a snack. When I’m at home I have a larger lunch and prefer not to snack in between as it can weaken digestion.

Mung Soup Recipe

I love my thermos!

Warm drinks support good digestion: Mine’s a roibos-based herbal tea.

“But why does our digestion need so much support?” I hear you asking.

Answer: Without good digestion, you can’t have good health.

I remember my first Ayurvedic Consultation:

“How’s your digestion?”

“Fine.”

 In fact it was anything but fine, but because I was so out of touch with my body I really had no idea. I would eat constantly, grazing, eating from boredom rather than hunger. No wonder I felt tired and out of sorts!

My evening meal

If I’m at home I’ll have my evening meal as early as 5.30 or 6.30pm as we eat with the kids. When you eat can be just as important as what you eat, and eating earlier allows your body plenty of time to digest before bed.

Carbs are definitely on the menu as they stimulate serotonin release, which helps you sleep well. We always eat together and I’ve never had problems with picky eaters. The kids love stir fry with basmati rice and eggy strips. Colourful, healthy and easy to cook: What more could anyone want?

Homemade biscuits

My ten year old had great fun making these biscuits. Making your own deserts means you can eliminate white sugar, which is more or less banned in this house.

Having said that, I don’t have any blanket bans as such, because I find rigid rules can be in themselves quite unhealthy and we tend to desire the things we forbid!

The emotions aroused by food can be quite intense. However, the Ayurvedic approach can help you to become more balanced, so that you actually prefer to eat foods that are good for you. Then eating a healthy diet becomes effortless and joyful.

A note from Honey

Thank you Julie for that insight into the wonderful Ayurvedic way of life.

What’s in this blog for you:

• 30 days of blogs from a variety of people including experts to give you ideas and top tips for healthy eating
• You can get this blog sent to you every day if you sign up here for my newsletter and you will also get a free relaxing recording

See you tomorrow

Healthy hug 🙂

Honey

Healthy eating – Day 19 – Healthnutgirl Rachel Kieffer shows us easy healthy eating

Today’s blogger is Holistic Health Coach,  Rachel Kieffer who is going to show us how to make healthy easting easy. Rachel is from New York who owns Healthnutgirl. She helps women create a healthy relationship with food and their body and fall in love with a healthy life.

Make Eating Healthy EASY!

Keep unhealthy food out!

Friend you fridge!

Wonder water.

Plan and prep!

Protein power!

Gorgeous grains!

Smart selections.

Healthy eating – Day 18 – What food does Rebecca Boulton eat? Find out here…..

Rebecca Boulton is a Nutritional Therapist from Yorkshire and runs https://rebeccaboulton.com. She provides Nutritional Coaching for busy women struggling with hormonal imbalances who want to transform their bodies, health and lives with simple diet changes. So what food does Rebecca eat? Here she tells us.

The Day In a Life of a Nutritional Therapist 

My day always starts with a large glass of tepid water with a squeeze of fresh lemon and apple cider vinegar to help kickstart my digestion and support the liver. The best way to have this is on an empty stomach. I make sure I stay hydrated throughout the rest of the day with plenty of water, green and peppermint tea. I love coffee and for me it’s the hardest thing to give up, but I am quite sensitive it and it sends me cortisol levels up so I only have 1 (2 max) cups a day. I have good quality fresh coffee with coconut oil to help calm the nervous system and for some healthy fats.

I get up before the kids so I can get some exercise in and also do some meditation and journaling while I have some peace. I meet a friend at 6am twice a week for a HiiT workout and then a couple of days I do kettlebells in my garage. I’m a bit lazy so I like the quick workouts which give maximum results and those work best for me. Other days I’ll just have a bit of a stretch to wake myself up! I’m not naturally a morning person but I find this helps me start the day calm and energised instead of rushing around stressed out trying to fit everything in like I used to!

Breakfast is usually a green smoothie (with extra protein powder like Sunwarrior or Purition for workout days to help with recovery) made with spinach or kale, some berries or half a banana, almond milk and some flaxseeds and chia seeds. Often I add in some cacoa powder for magnesium or spirulina if I need an iron boost. So, I don’t wake the kids, I make it up the night before and store in the fridge as my nutribullet is pretty noisy and I don’t want to disturb them (or my peaceful morning!).

I’ll follow the smoothie with either some scrambled eggs with avocado and spinach or homemade muesli with yoghurt and berries. For me, breakfast is the biggest meal of the day as that is when I am most hungry!

I understand the importance of mindful eating

Once I’ve got the kids to school, I spend the rest of the morning at my desk until lunchtime. I usually break about midday and have a walk around, stretch off and some lunch. Long gone are the days of scoffing a sandwich at my desk without even noticing what I’m eating, while still working!

Nowadays I understand the importance of mindful eating and ensuring I focus on what I’m eating and when I’m full up. One of the things I’ve found with my clients is that they are no longer able to recognise the signs and just eat until they have emptied their plate. Stepping away from your desk and taking time to breathe and relax is also important for you mentally and emotionally in helping to reduce overwhelm and stress.

Lunch is an omelette (if I haven’t had eggs for breakfast!), a salad with chicken, salmon or prawns or some quinoa with roasted vegetables. I plan all my meals in advance and pre-prepare as much as I can which always helps me make better choices. I take a couple of hours at a weekend or after school to prep veg, chicken, fish, make a healthy cake or muffins and protein balls to keep in the fridge. It saves time, money and stress!

After I’ve picked the kids up, we always have an after school snack (usually oatcakes and hummus, fruit with some nuts or a Nak’d bar if we’re in a hurry). We often go a long time between lunch and dinner and it’s important to make sure your blood sugars don’t crash as this can make you tired, irritable and find it difficult to concentrate. As I don’t normally eat until 8pm I need something to keep me going or I am grumpy mum and just want a snooze on the sofa.

Dinner time

Dinner is usually fish or chicken with roasted vegetables, a stir fry or a curry. We’re big fans of the quick and easy option. I also love my slow cooker and use to make big batches of chilli, stews and roasting joints of meat.

For me, it’s all about keeping it as simple as possible, being prepared so I get everything my body needs without it taking over my life, and allowing room for the odd chocolate, glass of wine or meal out!

You can find Rebecca on facebook

A note from Honey

Thank you Rebecca for sharing your food day with us and that steady energy sounds great!

What’s in this blog for you:

• 30 days of blogs from a variety of people including experts to give you top tips and inspiration for healthy eating
• You can get this blog sent to you every day if you sign up here for my newsletter and you will also get a free relaxing recording

See you tomorrow

Healthy hug 🙂

Honey

Healthy eating day 17 – guest blogger Maggie Albrecht tells is why she is a vegetarian

Today’s guest blogger is vegetarian Maggie Albrecht who is a certified NLP Trainer, Coach, mBIT Coach, Advanced Law of Attraction Practitioner and Reiki healer from London.  She is the owner of Life Redefined.

You are what you eat

How often do you hear the phrase ‘you are what you eat’? When I first heard it, years ago, I thought well that can’t be… What? I’m am big old hamburger wandering around? That must mean that every time I eat something, I change, and that doesn’t make any sense. How can eating something change who I am? Well I’ve done a little adapting myself since those days.

I’ve learnt lots (still an infinite amount to continue learning) and realised that yes, we are what we eat. I know if I go through a period of eating lots of sugary stuff or highly processed food, then I’ll really lack in energy afterwards. I feel hungover without the pleasure of having experienced the alcohol!

Why I am a vegetarian

When I was younger I used to be a vegetarian. 8 years without meat until a fateful girls weekend away in Barcelona when I was 21. Most veggies who relent say it was a bacon sandwich. Mine was a whole chicken, there was even a stunning photo of me, shoving the chicken carcass into my face so I didn’t miss anything. Nice.

Fast forward 18 years and I’ve recently become a vegetarian again. I’m learning so much about energies and how everything is interconnected, that I don’t want to eat meat or fish again. I just don’t want to cause pain. Purely personal, I don’t judge what others eat. Eating another species is survival, I’m not against it, it’s just that I won’t die if I don’t get that steak, but something else will.

Does veganism call? Not sure yet. Will see what happens. The point is, I feel better in myself. Not necessarily because I’m not eating meat but because I’m not feeling bad or have guilt attached to what I’m eating in the same way anymore.

The power of your thoughts

You might have heard of Dr Emoto and his water experiments. If not then you can easily find further info online. He conducted experiments with water to show how powerful thoughts were, and how they could change  molecular structure. Part of the experiment was to talk to water in different ways. Some samples were told they were loved, some that they were hated or made a person feel sick.

For the purpose of this article, to make it easier to explain, let’s use the labels good and bad thoughts. The water was then frozen and the molecules studied under a microscope. Those subjected to ‘good’ thoughts were beautifully formed.  The molecules subjected to the ‘bad’ thoughts were all twisted and ugly. For the sake of copyright I can’t show you pictures here, but pop his name into a search engine and check out the images. The differences are astounding.

Now think about the human body. We’re about 3/4 water. What about the foods we eat, whether it’s plants, fruits, animals, fish or vegetables? Bearing this in mind, doesn’t it make sense to be a bit more aware of what we’re eating? The experiences our food goes through before becoming dinner, could affect our energies and our own molecular structure.

Everything is your choice

So what can we do? Well you don’t need to give up anything if you don’t want to. It all comes down to personal choice. What you can do is set an intention when you are preparing your food. You don’t have to have studied Reiki or hug trees on a regular basis to flow positive energy through your food. As you prepare it, put yourself into a ‘good’ state of mind, whether it’s joy, peace, happiness, love; you get the picture.

Imagine that feeling infusing into your food (or drink). If you’re out or have not prepared the food yourself, you can give a little quiet thank you for what you are about to eat. Imagine every mouthful or sip making you stronger, full of love or healthier. This is your food, your thoughts; you choose what enters your body and the affect that has. If you’re feeling stressed before you eat, take a moment to calm yourself. The last thing you want to do is pass that energy into your food and then ingest even more stress!

I appreciate this might sound odd (or even very odd), but life is in the experience. Give it a try for a week. You’ve got nothing to lose, apart from maybe some guilt weight.

Maggie is an NLP Trainer and Coach. She encourages women to live life with purpose, power and passion! You can follow her on Facebook at Life Redefined UK. She offers residential (certified) NLP Practitioner and Master Practitioner training retreats.

A note from Honey

Thank you Maggie for sharing your positive mindset towards food. And everything else!

What’s in this blog for you:

• 30 days of blogs from a variety of people including experts to give you ideas and top tips for healthy eating
• Free advice and inspiration
• You can get this blog sent to you every day if you sign up here for my newsletter and you will also get a free relaxing recording

See you tomorrow

Healthy hug 🙂

Honey

Healthy eating day 16 – If you love bread you must read this!

Today’s guest blogger is artisan baker, Carol Hunter from Worthing. Grainwave is Carol’s business and she sells baked goods, including gluten free bread from her home in Worthing and at Goring farmer’s market.

A day in the life of ……… a fairly average (self-proclaimed) artisan baker

The ‘early to bed, early to rise’ maxim has always been in my subconscious, but only became a reality when I started my own business a couple of years ago. That’s when it became a choice thing rather than a struggle. (the ‘late to bed, late to rise’ – student thing  and ‘no-sleep, early rise’ of new-born infant thing were something else entirely!)

So what that means for me these days is starting the day with some ‘overnight oats’ – my own choice of additional nutty, seedy material to some basic bircher muesli soaked in organic soya milk. Fruit – it happens to be foraged blackberries from my own hedge this morning – and half a banana.

In winter it’s porridge – minus the seasonal blackberries – cranberries and grated apple. Oh, and lemon and ginger tea. I’ve taken advice from my Chinese doctor, mentor and well-being guru on the tea. She’s right, it’s a brilliant early morning de-tox. Whatever the season, if I start the day with that kind of combination, I know I can get to lunchtime without deviant snacking!

Soda bread

If it’s summer – which it seems to be for at least three days a week at the moment – I need to get on task immediately after my muesli. Summer is busy for my best customer – a local seafood restaurant – so today it’s early morning slicing and wrapping of the light soda bread ready for lunchtime service.

This is a great recipe and I often make extra for my own bread bin. Easy to digest unyeasted bread made with a blend of organic white and stoneground wholewheat flour. I add lemon juice and zest as it goes really well with fish and seafood plates at the restaurant. At home I just toast it like normal bread and have it with poached eggs, but it’s great with your favourite breakfast spread – honey or nut butters are delicious!

I never have enough eggs!

OK, so far so good. Almost eleven o’clock and seem to have found enough to distract me from any thoughts of food. Namely, a trip to Sainsbury’s for essential supplies – why have I never got enough eggs? I have a very convenient arrangement with my neighbour Zoe; she hands over a consignment of eggs from very happy hens and in return I supply her with organic home-made bread for the weekend … and still I end up at the supermarket making up the shortfall!

After a diversion to buy paint, I arrive home and embark on a small DIY project – painting a couple of tired old chairs. That takes me industriously towards coffee o’clock.

Time to get Zoe’s bread on its first proofing. Today it’s organic malted sunflower seed. I get all my flour delivered from a traditional flour mill in Gloucestershire. Once I tried it, there was no going back. The quality speaks for itself. I don’t make fancy bread, people are happy with a nice wholesome loaf that tastes good with anything – which isn’t that difficult if you make it yourself.

No bloating

The key element to home baking is the time you can give your bread to rise properly. All mine is done at room temperature. No running up and down stairs to the airing cupboard, just leave it to do its own thing – which may be most of the day. That way, the bread doesn’t start fermenting again in your tummy, which means no bloating

The last thing I do most evenings is weigh and feed my sourdough starter. This is the science part. OK, I don’t use my own wild yeast in every loaf, but by growing your own yeast, the only thing in your bread dough is flour, water and salt and nothing else! So for my bread it’s’ early to bed, slow to rise’ and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

 You can find Carol on Facebook at Grainwave and on her website

Healthy eating – Day 15. Jill Howie tells us how she changed her diet and changed her life

How I changed my diet and changed my life

Jill Howie from Portchester, Fareham changed her diet and changed her life. Here she shares her story.

Hi this is me in mid April at the beginning of my journey and 18 weeks later some 3 stone 4lbs lighter and feeling on top of the world indeed (some way to go but I ll never go back to the old me ).

My life is now full and fantastic

To show you how I changed my life around I’ll show you a fairly typical day (although I must say life is so full and fantastic right now that “typical” changes daily).

So normally I will wake around 6 am and drink a large glass of water (I love water now and drink at least 3 litres a day. A must for everyone ) and be ready to either do a small workout (I find many online and do a quite simple legs bums and tums or arms one) but today was a cycle whilst catching up on recorded programme.

That done it’s time for brekkie which this morning was a snicker (only joking it was a smoothie made with chocolate, hazlenut milk and cashew butter). Delicious yet healthy and completely natural.

This morning I have a few notes to write up and some info to send to some prospective clients (I run my own business helping others get fab fit and healthy too. Just a dream come true truly).

Snack time

To keep me going until lunch I will have a snack today is houmous and celery but lots of other lovelies available fruit , nuts , nakd bars for example.

Lunch

After a busy morning I’m ready for a light lunch and as its so hot out I opt for a lovely delicious tuna salad.

Healthier treats

You know following this healthy eating had changed my life and why I ever did these fad diets before is beyond me.  Clean eating has literally changed my life. Now to share it with a friend who is coming to visit as she has just started with me and so I’m making a few healthier cakes and biscuits we can have guilt free.

Chocolate cakes made from a very simple gluten wheat and dairy free recipe as are the lemon biscuits (both were quite delicious ) So much so said friend left with the left overs and recipe in hand which is always a good sign.

My confidence is growing

I really sometimes have to pinch myself when I think how much my life has changed. With poor health and little confidence my life seemed to revolve around my home quite often alone and sleeping.  Now I am out and about helping others as well as attending as many events as I possibly can.

My confidence is growing even to the point where I allow the odd photo.  This was always a no no hence the shortage of before photos. Crazy isn’t it!!

Dinner

So to dinner what do we have for dinner tonight chicken tikka masala won again all fresh clean ingredients no take aways or processed for us anymore. This is so much tastier and so easy. Tasted divine I can tell you.

Here are a few of the meals we’ve eaten recently there really is no need to go hungry to lose weight and get healthy.

This evening is so lovely we spent it in the garden and I decided to use one of my cheats ( these are good to have keeps you focused and nothing is off limits if you really want it although I find mostly my body craves goodness even when we eat out its the fish and fresh vegetables that have me drooling not he stodge anymore).

So whilst hubby and I talk about our dream holiday which may now be in our reach since the change in my health and our finances, I treat myself to vodka and soda and possibly a few healthy nibbles.

Life is a dream right now. I hope you ve found some inspiration from my words if you d like to talk to me and find out more about how I’ve changed my life please  email me

A note from Honey

Thank you Jill for sharing your clean eating journey with us and well done.

What’s in this blog for you:

• 30 days of blogs from a variety of people including experts to give you ideas and top tips for healthy eating
• Free advice and inspiration
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See you tomorrow

Healthy hug 🙂

Honey