Our bodies have natural cleansing cycles when they want a lighter diet and more liquid intake. This occurs on a daily basis, and also in tune with the yearly cycle and seasonal change. This makes spring a particularly good time for a detox, as it is a time associated with renewal and freshness before the summer months. A spring detox is therefore an ideal way to rejuvenate the body and mind, and improves energy and mood, aids weight loss, clears the skin and improves digestion.
So, why do we need to detox? Put simply, toxins that we’re exposed to damage the normal functioning of our cells, and therefore prevent us from reaching optimal health. We are exposed to an array of toxins on a day to day basis, and with approximately 4000 chemicals used in food production our food can be a major source.
Toxins we consume include preservatives, artificial colourings and flavourings, pesticides, fertilisers, antibiotics, growth enhancers, caffeine and alcohol. As the majority of these are relatively new man-made substances it’s not surprising that our body isn’t designed to process them, and overtime can leave us with fatigue, headaches, skin problems, cellulite, digestive problems and weakened immunity.
If this sounds familiar, give your body a well deserved spring cleanse. Experience the benefits of increased health, energy and vitality by following our top ten tips:

1. Start the day with a cleansing mug of hot water with ¼ squeezed lemon, slice of root ginger and a pinch of cayenne pepper.
2. Eat a fruit-based breakfast, such as stewed or fresh fruit salad with natural yoghurt and ground seeds, or a freshly made protein smoothie.
3. Avoid black tea, coffee and alcohol and replace with herbal tea, such as nettle to support the kidneys, or dandelion root coffee to aid liver function. It’s important to stay well hydrated, so drink at least 1.5 litre of water daily. Fresh juices, such as carrot, beetroot, apple and cucumber are also fantastically nourishing and cleansing so aim to drink one fresh juice daily – ideally on an empty stomach for maximum benefit.
4. Avoid all processed and prepared foods – this really means anything that has been manufactured and comes in a packet e.g. ready meals, savoury snacks, biscuits. Instead eat food in its natural unprocessed state and cook by steaming, lightly boiling or poaching rather than frying.
5. Chose organic food over non-organic food to minimise your intake of toxic pesticides.
6. Eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables per day, aiming for more (ideally nine!). For lunch and dinner, cover at least 60% of your plate with vegetables and eat as much variety of colours as possible, aiming to cover the whole spectrum of the rainbow.
7. Avoid wheat (e.g. in bread, pasta, pastries and biscuits) and replace with wheat-free alternatives such as brown rice, buckwheat noodles, quinoa, rye bread and oat cakes.
8. Eat snacks, but replace sugary treats such as chocolate and cake with supportive foods such as fresh fruit, vegetable sticks with houmous , half an avocado or mixed seeds.
9. Reduce consumption of animal products. Avoid dairy products, except natural live yoghurt, and replace milk with soya or nut milks. Avoid processed and fatty meats and replace with fish, eggs, lentils, beans, tempeh (fermented tofu), quinoa, seeds and nuts as good protein alternatives.
10. Incorporate lifestyle factors into your regime to support the process: get a good nights sleep, take a yoga class, treat yourself to a massage or sauna, try dry skin brushing before showering and use natural organic skin products.

Contact The Nutrition Coach for more info 0845 050 2442

Rehydrate

Alcohol is a diuretic – a chemical that kicks your urinary system into overdrive, and unless you managed to alternate your alcoholic beverages with water in between (which never works does it?), your post-drinking symptoms are most likely due to dehydration. Rehydrating is key when it comes to recovering from a hangover and cannot be stressed enough. But I’m not talking coffee, Red Bull or hair-of-the-dog here. Caffeine is an acknowledged stimulant, and while you might hope caffeine can perform its miracles of giving some much needed focus and alertness, it’s another diuretic. Red Bull isn’t much better (and requires another column), and choosing the hair-of-the-dog option would only be advisable if you want to pass out to forget what you’ve done the night before. Coffee will not help your stomach either, so the best option is water at room temperature. You may add some fresh lemon or fresh orange juice to give you additional Vitamin C for energy, and for soothing your upset tummy.

Top Up

When you drink excessively, you lose a lot of key minerals and vitamins including potassium, magnesium and B-Vitamins, all of which need to be topped up. Bananas are a great hangover food; they are like nature’s own little hangover cures. Not only are they full of fructose (natural fruit sugar) to help with energy, they contain a nice amount of potassium. Bananas are also natural antacids – which will help your nausea and stomach pain – and they also contain magnesium, which helps to relax pounding blood vessels in your head. Have a banana on toasted wholegrain bread (for the carbohydrates and B-Vitamins) with organic peanut or almond butter (great sources of magnesium and protein), and you get a good dose of all those key minerals and vitamins you lost the night before. Drinking vegetable bouillon soup or coconut water are two other good sources of vitamins and minerals, and easy for a fragile stomach to digest.

Eat

Do eat. Yes, it might be the last thing you want to do, but you will undoubtedly feel a lot better the minute you get your blood sugar levels up after having had some food. There is no one-and-only hangover food cure, but I’ve heard from many of my friends that you can’t beat a good fry-up. It gives you the greasy fat to coat your stomach, and the bread and eggs will give you the carbohydrates and protein for energy and blood sugar support. All I can say there is no perfect food cure for a hangover, so if you’ve found one that works for you, stick to it. My advise, though, would be to opt for a well-balanced meal, including all groups of macronutrients: complex carbohydrate, lean protein and healthy unsaturated fats. A toasted wholegrain bagel with cream cheese and salmon is another good option, and so is porridge with natural yoghurt and strawberries, giving you enough fibre for blood sugar balance, selenium to boost liver function, and Vitamin C for energy and soothing your tummy.

Sleep

But for the best cure of all (and if you have the luxury of not having to get up), go back to bed after your breakfast and sleep it off.

Wishing you a wonderful and nutritious Christmas!

Lisa

Studies have shown that 50% of the average annual weight gain is most likely to be gained in the six weeks between mid-November and Christmas. So we’re about one week in to the fixe week eat-athon which usually finishes with the consumption of a whopping 6,000 calories on Christmas Day (that’s three times the daily guideline amount of 2,000 calories for females). And unfortunately, that weight gain will (for most of you) still be there when Christmas comes around next year.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be taking a closer look at the nutritional value of some of the foods we tend to stuff our faces with during this six week eat-athon. The first on the list is the seasonal must-have, mince pies.

Did you know the female record holder ate 46 mince pies in 10min? With an average 250 calories per mince pie, this equals 11,500 calories, the recommended calorie intake of 5.75 days! Now I’m sure you don’t eat that many mince pies, but let’s have a closer look at this serious calorie punch.

So we’ve established an average mince pie contains 250 calories, 1/8th of your daily guideline amount of 2,000 calories. Put this into the mince pie calculator, and it tells you if you go swimming for an hour you burn off 1.4 mince pies. (But who has the time to do more exercise with all those festive dinners, ice skating events and shopping evenings. And be honest, do you really fancy showing off your body in an all-too-revealing swimming costume at this time of the year?) The mince pie might be small in size but high in sugar, containing up to 25gram per pie – that’s a total of five teaspoons of sugar in one mince-pie!

Considering your body can only ever deal with one teaspoon of sugar circulating in your system, you know what this will do to your blood sugar, insulin, and energy levels. The fat content isn’t much better – some of the mince pies out there contain a whopping 8g of total fat, and that’s not the healthy kind of polyunsaturated fat. So if you happen to eat 2.5 mince pies (which can happen too quickly, I know) you can easily reach your recommended daily allowance of 20g of saturated fat. The puff pastry offers little to no fibre, and can cause you to feel bloated and sluggish should you tend to be wheat or gluten intolerant. Protein levels are low so you won’t be satisfied for a long time, and you’ll want more mince pies in no time.

Now add a teaspoon of single or double cream (or brandy butter) and you can easily hit the 500 calorie mark. If you can’t resist a humble mince pie, keep these figures in mind, start reading labels, and try one of the gluten-free and lower calorie/fat versions out there.

After all, you don’t want to be first to cross the finish line of the five week eat-athon!

Lisa

P.S. Check out my weekly column to find out more how to survive the festive season and still fit into your LBD on Christmas day.

A detox works by ‘resting’ the organs that eliminate waste – liver, kidneys, gut, lungs and skin. And don’t you freak out now; I’m not going to tell you to drink fruit and vegetable juice for a week straight while sitting cross-legged on your yoga mat.

A detoxification plan doesn’t have to be completely restrictive and boring. Actually, it should be fun and tasty. (In fact, the better the food tastes, the more likely you are to stick to your plan.) What we eat can be very much a matter of habit, and a detox is a great way of realising you may not be as dependent on some of your unhealthier eating habits as you might think. Undertaking a detox eating plan will help your body rebalance, release built-up congestion, and restore itself to strength and health.

The definition of my Detoxmas plan is pretty simple: remove the foods and ingredients that have the highest toxic load and are causing problems with your health – caffeine, alcohol, refined sugars, (white, sweet and fluffy) carbohydrates, artificial sweeteners, and food additives. Now try and focus on simple, fresh foods – foods you would find in the hunter-gatherer diet – foods that grows on trees and in the ground (such as abundant, colourful fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds, plenty of water and vegetable protein). Start off by writing out a plan of what you’re going to eat, keeping track of it in a food & mood diary, going shopping beforehand and cooking larger portions of healthy meals for your lunch (think soup – easy to throw in all those delicious vegetables!).

So, how long should I detox*?

Detox for one day a week, one week a month, or one month a year. All of this will bring your body benefits. The great thing about a detox is that you can usually achieve results in a very short time. Depending on how healthy – or toxic – you are, you may start to feel better immediately, simply by removing caffeine and your afternoon sugar treat, though a long caffeine and sugar-addict is likely to notice some withdrawal symptoms, like headaches, tiredness and mood swings. But hang in there, the first days are the worst, and then it only gets better. You’ll feel more energized, your digestion and skin is likely to improve, and the pounds will drop off (great for that upcoming Christmas party). If you have been feeling very run down, or have been burning the candle at both ends, detoxing for a month may help restore you to top condition.

There are some great nutritional supplements and herbs to support a longer detox plan, but for now I’d suggest to keep it real and focus on all those delicious foods out there. And if you don’t have time to go shopping, go and get one of those organic fruit and vegetable boxes delivered straight to your door.

It doesn’t have to be hard: you can order it while you’re doing all your Christmas shopping online!

Let us know how you get on!

Lisa

* Don’t detox if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, and always consult your GP if you’re going to change your diet drastically.

Derived from ‘pepon’, the Greek word for ‘large melon’, pumpkins originated in Central America and have been around for many centuries. The Native Americans used them as both food and medicine, and no wonder, I think. Already looking at their bright colour is a dead giveaway that pumpkins are loaded with antioxidants and contain a range of nutritional benefits.

First on the healthy list is the antioxidant beta-carotene, found in high content in pumpkin meat and responsible for the bright orange colour. Beta-carotene is one of the plant carotenoids and an important precursor to the production of vitamin A in the body. Vitamin A, a fat soluble vitamin, is needed to promote a healthy body tissue, to ward off infections especially in the mucous membrane, and to aid in building of teeth and bones. If you lack vitamin A you could develop night blindness (not very beneficial if you’re actually planning to trick-or-treat). Together with the two other important antioxidants, lutein and zeaxanthin, beta carotene neutralizes free radicals that can attack our cell membranes and leave the cells vulnerable to damage especially in the lens of the eye. Research also indicates that a diet rich in foods containing beta-carotene may reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer, and offers protection against heart disease.

Pumpkins are also rich in vitamins C, K and E, fibre, and lots of minerals including magnesium, iron and zinc. Iron, of course, is needed by red blood cells. Zinc, as you remember from last week’s column, plays an important role in hundreds of enzymatic reactions which support a healthy immune system and help maintain the sense of smell and taste (very important to enjoy all those treats). And fibre is important for your digestion promoting bowel health.

What about the seeds, you ask?

Pumpkin seeds are especially nutritious and worth latching on to. Loaded with healthful minerals such as magnesium, manganese, iron and zinc, as well as a great source of protein and high in monounsaturated healthy fats, pumpkin seeds are one of the most nutritious and flavourful seeds around. They have an anti-inflammatory effect, and may even help lower cholesterol and protect against prostate cancer and osteoporosis.

Now all you need is the fancy dress costume for cooking up your Halloween treats – of a smashin’ pumpkin! And make sure you share your favourite recipes with us.

Happy Halloween,

Lisa

P.S. To keep up to date with nutritional news, please follow us on facebook or twitter

Why not try this for a change?

I bought some mixed stir fry veggies and fresh salmon. At home I stir fried the veggies (as is) with some Tamari Soya sauce and I always have some garlic lying around. This takes about two minutes, and then I placed the salmon fillets on top of the veggies, covered it with a lid and allowed to steam for seven minutes. I squeezed some lemon on to my fish and, checked for seasoning and my dinner was ready in less than 10 minutes.

It was quite late so I didn’t need a heavy meal, the green veggies and protein went down a treat, it was light, filling and tasty and most importantly….convenient.

But the best was that I had some leftovers for my lunch the next day, which always makes me happy. This meal is of course also great for your detox, it’s gluten and dairy free and a great balance of protein, fibre and healthy fats. Even more to smile about!

Buckwheat can be bought in health food shops, and comes in a variety of forms including flour, groats, flakes and noodles, making it a versatile grain for a gluten-free diet.

Try this delicious recipe to experiment with buckwheat noodles as a great alternative to wheat pasta.

Serves 4

200g dried soba noodles

1 tsp cold-pressed pumpkinseed oil

150g mangetout, trimmed, halved diagonally

200g pre-marinated tofu, thinly sliced

½ cucumber, halved and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons pickled ginger, thinly sliced

100g baby spinach leaves

½ cup coriander leaves

1 avocado, diced and lemon squeezed over

3 spring onions, trimmed and sliced diagonally

45g cashew nuts, roughly chopped

Dressing

3 tablespoons cold-pressed pumpkinseed oil

 2 tablespoons tamari

1 dessertspoon honey

1. Mix all the dressing ingredients together and set aside.
2. Boil the soba noodles gently for 7-9minutes until al dente, then rinse under cold water.  Add 1 tsp of pumpkin seed oil and set aside.
3. Steam or briefly boil the mangetout until just tender.
4. Place the cooked noodles, mangetout, tofu, cucumber, ginger, spinach and coriander in a bowl.  Add the dressing and toss well.  Divide the salad among the plates and top with avocado, spring onions and cashews before serving.
5. Enjoy!

Julia

• Does your skin lack its usual glow?
• Have you been suffering from the winter colds and bugs doing the rounds?
• Are you feeling run down and exhausting from the busy festivities?
• Have you put on a couple of extra pounds with all the wining and dining?
• Is the rich Christmas food causing havoc with your digestion and you’re constantly bloated?
• Have you had too many sweet treats over the winter months and need to get your eating habits back on track?
• Are you confused about your aims for the year ahead?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions then our New Year detox retreat will be a perfect way to kick-start your health.  It is exactly a month away and is perfect for anyone looking to discover how to invent a new and exciting 2010 and the many health benefits of detoxing. 

The retreat is being held in Dorset from Thursday 21^st January to Sunday 24^th January, and combines nutrition and life coaching to leave you feeling cleansed and revitalised for the year ahead.  We still have a couple of spaces available on this wonderful weekend, so book now to avoid disappointment.  The all inclusive price is £490 per person.  Find out more about our New Year detox retreat or contact us to book a place.

Julia

If it’s been a hectic year and your body is feeling the strain you may be experiencing:

• Lack of energy
• Weight gain
• Bloating
• Mood swings and depression
• Headaches
• Poor skin
• Hormonal imbalances

If this sounds familiar then your body is asking you to give it some attention.  These symptoms are your body telling you that something is out of balance and needs addressing.  When life is busy it’s often difficult to stop and take time to give our body the attention and nourishment it deserves and is calling for.   Instead you may reach for a quick fix, such as a coffee and chocolate bar for a quick energy boost, or an aspirin to ease your headache.  Unfortunately, suppressing what your body is telling you doesn’t fix the underlying problem, but causes a spiral of poor health. 

At The Nutrition Coach we know that it’s not always easy to listen to your body when you have other demands in life, and that is why we are here to offer a guiding hand to a healthier future.  Our New Year detox retreat is set in the beautiful Dorset countryside and is the perfect way to start 2010.  We will provide you with expert nutrition advice and life coaching that is tailored specifically to you and your life circumstances, so that sustainable changes can be incorporated into your diet and lifestyle after the retreat.  You will leave the weekend feeling healthy, radiant and positive for the year ahead.

The retreat is running from 21^st to 24^th January, and is being offered at the all inclusive price (including food, accommodation, life coaching, nutrition consultation, detox massage and body wrap) of £490 per person.  Places are limited to a maximum of nine people so please do register your interest with us to avoid disappointment. 

We hope to share this rejuvenating experience with you and journey deeply with pure foods, nutrition, life coaching and detox treatments.  Find out more about our detox retreats or contact us to book a place.

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