The January Kick

Happy  New Year everyone. We indulged our way through December, it was fun, but how do we now get back on track with our weight and mood. Below are just a couple of starter points to get you going

Weight management

I find that many clients who come to see me have hit a lull with weightloss and can’t understand why. One aspect can be - the more alcohol, or ‘fake food’ (sweeteners, white pasta, bread, sweets) we consume, the more toxins our liver must process. The quickest and safest mechanism the body has is to store these toxins in fat cells. Fat cells form a protective barrier around a toxin so it can’t cause havoc to the system.  It’s a bit like a prison guarding the trouble maker till its safe to be let out. Trouble makers can’t stand cheery colourful antioxidants that we get from plant food. Antioxidants neutralise their harmful effects and remove them from the body. We are always told aim for your 5 a day. Imperial college recently proved that we need 10-12 different portions a day due to the amount of environmental factors we have impacting on our health. It did go up for discussion to see if it was worth changing the guidelines but so many of us cant achieve 5 a day it was thought this would be too overwhelming to put this pressure on people.  

Top liver supportive foods:

Beetroot, onions, garlic, cruciferous vegetables ie cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower. 

Your diet should resemble a rainbow! By consuming plant foods, especially liver supportive ones you are encouraging a fat cell to breakdown, therefore encouraging a healthy and safe weightloss plan:

The feel good factor

Remember that chocolate box and mince pies that disappeared when nobody was looking. You had one and before you knew what was going on, you were rummaging through an empty box of wrappers thinking there must be a secret compartment where all the chocolate went…

When we consume anything sugary it signals to our body to create the neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin is like your best bud as they always make you feel great, therefore, the more we have the more we want. Sounds like a winning solution doesn’t it - eat sugar, feel great. However, the feeling is very short-lived. When we have too much sugar our body panics and releases insulin to bring the levels in our blood down. Insulin can often overcompensate and take the blood sugar levels too low. When our blood sugar levels are low we tend to hit something I call ‘the black box’. The black box is when your negative emotions surface ie: anger, teary and frustration. This is also the point where you get another craving for something sweet.

Tryptophan food sources

We can naturally boost or encourage serotonin by eating foods that aren’t too rich in carbohydrates and therefore less likely to send our blood sugar levels in a spin. These foods contain an amino acid called tryptophan and perfect for weight management:

Egg, fish, turkey, chicken, hummus, nuts and seeds

Top supplements for January

L-Glutamine powder Lamberts-  to heal the gut lining. Alcohol and sugar can damage the integrity of the gut lining, this stitches it back together. If you are putting new years resolutions in place such as quitting smoking, glutamine is effective in curbing addictions.

Liv- D Biocare – to encourage removal of toxins from the body for a healthy weightloss

Biomulsion D Biocare – encourages serotonin production. A lack of sunlight means a lack of serotonin production.

Mood Food – Patrick Holford – A lot of people struggle with January, this can be taken as and when you need it to perk up all your happy hormones

Lifestyle choices

Deep tissue massage  - a massage stimulates the lymphatic system to remove toxins from the body.

Walk before work – the festive season can make our minds a little foggy. Walking stimulates the circulatory system and therefore encourages microcirculation in the brain to get you thinking all those groundbreaking ideas again.