In a “real diet” all the time you are thinking about how much weight you are NOT losing and how you are failing.  The Dump The Diet course is not letting you off the hook – far from it there are Rules to follow (just like everything in life that works.  You have to follow rules to make anything a success) but unlike diets in Dump The Diet there is enough flexibility for the regime to be for life and not just a short spurt.

Normal diets don’t work for just this reason – ie it is a short spurt.  You can do anything for a short enough space of time – so you “stick” to it for a week, a month or even a year but sooner or later you have got to crack and when you do it opens up the possibility of instead of being totally strict to go totally bonkers and eat everything in sight.  You can get all the special food in but what happens the first time you go on a business trip and you don’t have the “special foods” prescribed in the diet – oh no..crash and burn and “failure”

Diets encourage you to be “good” (ie not to get off the sacred dieting path)  but remember if we can be good – boy oh boy can we be BAD and when we do it is spectacular.  We say to ourselves that we will start again on Monday but Monday never seems to be the right day to start.  If we are not being bad we are rewarding ourselves with little “treats” – once we have had the treat we feel bad.  “Oh Well” we say,  if I have had one Jaffa cake – I might as well finish the packet to neaten it up and so I don’t have to have them in the house!

Another diet deception is the weighing scale.  We are encouraged to set ourselves Weight Loss Goals in normal diets – this is madness!  Once you get to your weight loss goal you stop applying the diet and of course the weight piles back on and you are back to where you were before.   Weighing yourself is OK if the weight is going down, but of course it can’t go down forever or you would fade away.  So one fateful day the scales start to go up a pound or two.  At this point there is a major panic that “you are losing the ability to lose weight”  and that it is not working anymore.  Of course weight will fluctuate but you can’t really accept this if you are in “dieting mentality”  – you only want it to go down.  So you get back on the scales just to make sure that you haven’t made some horrible mistake but the scales still seem to say that you are 2 pounds heavier.  You fiddle with the dial.  You get off and undress.  You take off your jewellery including your wedding ring.  You take a trip to the loo.  Well that got one pound off..phew.

A major theme is self-esteem.  We have to learn to live with ourselves just the way we are NOW.   We are were we are at in this moment (a bit philosophical this bit!)  – but so often we are only going to be happy WHEN.  When we are thin…we will buy that new dress, get that new relationship off the ground,  get the new job.  I would encourage you all to look in the mirror and only look for the good bits don’t focus on the future you by criticising ourselves constantly.  We wouldn’t talk to our worst enemy the way we talk to ourselves.

Be good to yourself this coming year and learn how to eat for life and in the process learn how to relax and see food as a wonderful friend!

To avoid exposure to xenoestrogens try to:

1. Eat organic food wherever possible to avoid consuming pesticides

2. Avoid heating food in plastic containers

3. Avoid storing food wrapped in plastic, especially fatty food such as cheese, meat or oily fish

4. Use natural organic skincare products

5. Use natural cleaning products

It’s also important to make sure have enough fibre in your diet and cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli and cabbage to help eliminate xenoestrogens.

Find out more about how a detox diet can help balance hormones, or contact us to make an appointment at one of our London nutrition clinics.

Julia

Most people operate with low-grade dehydration, with a bulk of their fluid intake being ones that are dehydrating – caffeine and alcohol. These drinks cause a greater loss of water than the amount they replace.  Unfortunately, by the time you feel thirsty you are already significantly dehydrated, Which makes it all the more important to develop a habit of drinking water regularly throughout the day.

So, how much water should we be drinking?  Adults should drink at least 1.5 – 2 litres of uncarbonated bottled or filtered water per day, and more when exercising or when the weather is hot.  Drinking enough water is also hugely important when the body is healing or when detoxing.

Find out more about our detox programmes and retreat, or contact us to make an appointment at one of our London clinics.

Organic food and farming is a topic of much debate, but for me the reasons for eating organic are certainly clear.  From a health perspective, organic food contains higher nutrient levels including more vitamin C, beta-carotene, anti-oxidants, magnesium and iron, due to the natural methods used to manage the land which allows nutrient-rich soils and crops to develop.  Organic food is also free of the over 300 chemical pesticides that are routinely used in non-organic farming.  A non-organic apple, for example, contains on average 16 different pesticide residues.  There is a lack of research on the combined effect of these chemicals, and research has linked pesticides to health problems including infertility, lowered immune function and nervous system disorders.  In addition, the routine use of antibiotics in farm animals is banned under organic standards, meaning organic meat and dairy products do not contain high levels of antibiotic residues.  As well as the health benefits, organic food also considers animal welfare and environmental diversity.  I think these are wonderful reasons to celebrate Organic Fortnight – so why not check out your local farmers market or organic box schemes to see what they have to offer?

Excess toxicity from our food and environment overloads the organs of elimination and with it causes a variety of symptoms.  Eating organic food is an easy step to reducing our exposure to toxins and is particularly important when on a detox diet.

Find out more about our detox diet programmes and contact us to make an appointment for a consultation at one of our London nutrition clinics.

Julia Alderman

Over the summer months i’ve seen a number of bride-to-be clients undergo a mini transformation in time for their big day.  They have immersed themselves in one of The Nutrition Coach wedding detox programmes and have broken away from negative eating habits to start married life looking and feeling fantastic.  The magic of detox diets is that they have so many health benefits, including helping to improve skin, digestion, mood, immunity, weight and energy levels – and with so much more vitality, you can’t help feeling fantastic.

The Nutrition Coach wedding detox programmes are ideal for anyone wanting to look and feel fantastic at a wedding, whether you’re the bride or groom, or the mother of the bride, bridesmaid or best man.

Find out more about our Fast Wedding Detox Diet and our Complete Wedding Detox Diet and contact us to make an appointment for a consultation at one of our London nutrition clinics.

Julia Alderman

At The Nutrition Coach we have helped numerous clients to lose weight through changing their approach to food for life with out ‘Dump the Diet’ course, which gives clients the tools to manage their weight loss healthily with easy and practical suggestions of how to incorporate the dietary changes into every day life.  We also appreciate that excess weight may be due to other imbalances such as excess toxicity and poor elimination, poor adrenal or thyroid health, poor sugar handling and insulin resistance.  These imbalances can be fully explored in a one-to-one consultation and a complete dietary programme put together that is tailored to individual needs.

Find out more about our Dump the Diet programme and contact us to make an appointment for a consultation at one of our London nutrition clinics.

Julia

Everyone it seems these days is on a quest to stay looking young and beautiful, and to defy the signs of ageing! There are now thousands of beauty products which we apply daily with the hope of banishing wrinkles. Cosmetic surgery is growing enormously in popularity with celebrities at the forefront, many of whom regularly get a botox fix. There are also hundreds of anti-ageing supplements now on the market which claim to help keep wrinkles and degenerative diseases at bay.

Like many people, I would prefer to grow old gracefully and don’t like the idea of going under the knife, not to mention spending huge amounts of money on surgery. Many of us are more interested in staying youthful and healthy the natural way through a healthy diet, lifestyle and supplements.

Yet, how do we know what is good for slowing down the ageing process? Hardly a day goes by without media coverage on what is good or bad for us. But much of this press coverage can be confusing – one day goji berries are the new anti-ageing superfood, the next it’s broccoli, one day red wine is good for longevity, the next it is bad. So who are we supposed to believe? And how can we stay looking youthful without spending a fortune on anti-ageing creams and cosmetic surgery?

The Nutrition Coach has developed an exciting and inspirational course – Eat Yourself Young. The aim of the Eat Yourself Young course is to teach the key principles to holding back the years through food to keep you looking and feeling young. It also covers the best anti-ageing supplements, skincare for youthful skin, and how your lifestyle can affect the rate at which you age.

Find out more about our Eat Yourself Young course and contact us to make an appointment at one of our London nutrition clinics.

Kim

This study shows that, as well as helping to alleviate hangovers, asparagus may offer protection to liver cells against toxic insult.  The liver is the key organ for detoxification and any detox programme therefore focuses on ensuring that the liver is working as efficiently as possible.  If you’re looking to clean-up your diet and detox your body then this study is a wonderful excuse to add asparagus to your shopping list and eat it until your liver’s content.

Find out more about our detox programmes and contact us to make an appointment at one of our London nutrition clinics.

Julia

The aim of our three night retreat is to guide you through a gentle detox, with lots of fresh juices and raw foods, and to have the chance to make a plan for change using Life Coaching for the New Year.  The retreat is a perfect way to start 2010 with positivity, good health and fulfilment.

The retreat includes:

• Life Coaching where you will make a plan for change using brainstorming and the expert guidance of Kate who can help you invent a new and exciting future
• Nutrition talks and one-to-one support with me, where you will learn the importance of eating natural organic foods and juices and the health benefits of detoxing
• Treatments to support relaxation and the detoxification process, including: a Thai stone massage, a body-wrap and a reflexology session
• Three nights of simple but comfortable accommodation, with plenty of country walks, delicious detox food and a friendly group dynamic (maximum of nine people)
• Bonus detox foundation programme, which will include one hour of Life Coaching on the phone with Kate and establisihing a recalibration diet with me before the weekend, so that you can make the most of your weekend.  This way you will truly experience the benefits of the detox and have clearer aims for your path ahead.

This is a truly wonderful way to start the New Year.  Places are limited, so please do contact us for more information on our retreats or to book a place.

Julia

The focus of our New Year detox retreat will be to detox and nourish the body and mind through nutrition, spa treatments and life coaching, as well as re-connecting with our natural surroundings.

More information on the retreat will be posted here shortly once the details have all been finalised.  In the meantime, however, if you would like to register your interest in attending the retreat, then please contact us and we’ll add you to our list.

Julia