Whilst the kettle is boiling…….. #1


 

20140912-0593

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

 

 

 

 

5 Steps to a Happier Gut – with Mark Sleight

Mark Slight invited Anna onto his SUPERHERO COACHING SERIES to talk about Anna’s 5R’s approach to work through improving your own gut issues


 

20140912-0593

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

 

 

 

 

Stress, Motivation and Mood


 

20140912-0593

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

 

 

 

 

Are your stress levels stopping you from losing weight?

20140912-0593
I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss
Program
that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and
life-lasting results.
If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just
tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it
then this is probably
exactly what you have been waiting for.
Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future
and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their
lives
, filling them with happiness and health.
To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application
below
to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in
more detail.
 
 
 
 

Self Sabotage, Safety Behaviours and Weight Loss

“If you want to see how someone’s body will look in the future, look at how their mind is thinking today.”
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure or meeting a very special lady called Becki Houlston. We went for a coffee and we couldn’t stop talking!
I said to her: “I have to interview you!”
Because she has so much amazing knowledge and incredible insight into human behaviour, specifically in this video she talks about Emotional Armour and Safety Behaviours. I shared this with my Weight Loss clients a few weeks ago and there were some serious light bulbs moments.


 

20140912-0593

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

 

 

 

 

Weight Loss: Cost vs Benefit (Is it Worth It?)


 

20140912-0593

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

 

 

 

 

How to manage high testosterone in PCOS


 

20140912-0593
I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss
Program
that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and
life-lasting results.
If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just
tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it
then this is probably
exactly what you have been waiting for.
Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future
and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their
lives
, filling them with happiness and health.
To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application
below
to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in
more detail.
 
 
 
 

Calorie Counting, IIFYM or Clean Eating: Which is best for weight loss?

 

20140912-0593
I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss
Program
that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and
life-lasting results.
If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just
tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it
then this is probably
exactly what you have been waiting for.
Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future
and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their
lives
, filling them with happiness and health.
To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application
below
to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in
more detail.
 
 
 
 

Four Reasons Why Your Diet Is Failing You


 

20140912-0593
I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss
Program
that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and
life-lasting results.
If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just
tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it
then this is probably
exactly what you have been waiting for.
Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future
and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their
lives
, filling them with happiness and health.
To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application
below
to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in
more detail.
 
 
 
 

10 Habits For Successful Weight Loss


 

20140912-0593
I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss
Program
that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and
life-lasting results.
If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just
tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it
then this is probably
exactly what you have been waiting for.
Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future
and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their
lives
, filling them with happiness and health.
To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application
below
to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in
more detail.
 
 
 
 

Exercising for Weight Loss Goals


 

20140912-0593
I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss
Program
that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and
life-lasting results.
If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just
tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it
then this is probably
exactly what you have been waiting for.
Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future
and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their
lives
, filling them with happiness and health.
To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application
below
to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in
more detail.
 
 
 
 

How do you want to feel? (on a fat day…)

 

20140912-0593
I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss
Program
that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and
life-lasting results.
If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just
tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it
then this is probably
exactly what you have been waiting for.
Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future
and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their
lives
, filling them with happiness and health.
To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application
below
to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in
more detail.

Confused about Carbohydrates

 

20140912-0593

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

 

 

 

 

PCOS: A Case Study

When I first met Ali she had entered and completed an Iron Man Triathlon (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26 mile run) in an attempt to control her weight.

Surely someone training and doing this amount of exercise would be able to drop a few pounds? She had even paid a nutritionist to write her a “personalised” nutrition plan to accommodate her training and her weight loss goals.

But nothing had happened.

But her weight wasn’t her only challenge.

She suffered from anxiety, had difficulty managing her high stress working environment and she was also affected by PCOS and endometriosis. Not to mention non-specific symptoms such as foggy brain, bloating after eating, constipation, lethargy and low mood.

Shortly after we began working together she got engaged. This obviously shifted her focus to weight loss even more as she prepared for the big day and looking amazing in her wedding dress.

We worked together over the course of 7 months in preparation for her wedding. It was not an easy journey, but in that time she lost a stone in weight and achieved her lowest weight for her wedding day.

There were a few important things that we did, and if I am honest, these are not “special” things that we only do for women with PCOS, these are things that I do with all my clients which make a difference.

1) Calorie and Macro Controlled Diet

This is my preferred method of client monitoring. Studies have shown that most people underestimate how much they eat by up to 50%. I use My Fitness Pal, but even keeping a written food log can raise awareness and improve portion control.

Using My Fitness Pal enables me to work a few layers deeper with my clients because we not only look at calories, but we can look at protein, carbohydrates and fats and make sure that this balance is right.

Women with PCOS tend towards insulin resistance which means that they don’t do so well on a diet high in carbohydrate and probably need to be more vigilant with their intake of carbohydrate foods.

Counting carbs and watching for the amount of sugar and fibre in the diet can be particularly successful. When I work with clients I individually prescribe what targets they need to hit based on their body type, health status, stress and daily activity levels.

2) Food Quality

Calorie and macro management is a really good first step for anyone trying to shed a few extra pounds. Ensuring that calories comes from good quality foods is also important.

Every food that we eat interacts with our digestive system, and more importantly the organisms that take up residence inside of it. Feed your body good food and you cultivate good levels of beneficial bacteria. Eat sugar, refined carbohydrates and few fresh vegetables and you potentially do the opposite.

It got to a point with Ali where she was hitting a plateau. Although she was technically managing her calories and macros, I thought her food quality good be better. Being affected by PCOS and Endometriosis I felt that she had less flexibility than someone without.

She was incredibly self motivated and really tightened things up by eating plenty of fish, prawns and lean poultry, beneficial fats such as avocado and olive oil, colourful vegetables, she gave up gluten and dairy and focussed on carbohydrates from sweet potato and brown rice. Eating in this simple, wholefood way, really helped her to fully understand what was going in to her body and ensured she could manage it.

3) Manage stress.

Ali was working in corporate central London. There were huge demands on her time and energy, not to mention massive personal stressors going on at home. She really took on board the mindset elements of my coaching program and took it upon herself to do daily meditation, listen to the recommended audiobooks as well as integrate yoga into her weekly routine. Her ability to manage personal situations and cope with daily work stressors greatly improved, as did her anxiety and mood.

4) We reduced her exercise.

Having done an Iron Man, Ali was an A-type personality. Nothing was done by halves. She was exercising intensely lifting weights in the gym almost every day.

After a period of progress Ali hit a plateau. We adjusted her food intake, yet I couldn’t help but feel she was just putting her body under too much pressure with her training.

She was experiencing some niggling injuries and lower back pain. When a client gets injured this always sets off little alarm bells in my mind. If someone is exercising safely and appropriately, the body should be able to recover, adapt and heal. Injury is usually a sign that something is out of balance and it is often (apart from biomechanical imbalances) when exercise is too much and fuelling too little.

We were closely monitoring Ali’s diet, so it had to be the exercise that was causing her to over-reach. After a little resistance, I got her to drop her gym sessions to 2 per week, 1 yoga session a week and plenty of walking during her day.

5) Supplements

I personalise supplements for all my clients so please understand that this reflects what we did for her. It is not a prescription for just anyone. There are several supplements that work well for women with hormonal complaints. We used the following:

• Vitex Agnus Castus to raise progesterone
• Curcumin to manage inflammation
• Magnesium for stress, anxiety and insulin sensitivity (in a nutshell, magnesium works across 300 different enzyme pathways in the body)
• DIM to support oestrogen metabolism
• Zinc for hormonal balance and insulin sensitivity
• B-complex for hormonal balance, methylation and energy pathways
• Digestive enzymes to support digestion and bloating
• Probiotic to support digestion and modulate inflammation

All of the above worked a treat and she was the most beautiful bride on her wedding day both outside and in. The work together not only gave her the body confidence, but the reduced internal stress and increased happiness, were invaluable. She was able to enjoy her wedding and honeymoon with only a small increase in weight.

And then…

Things took a turn for the worst…

Once Ali returned from honeymoon she did her best to get back into a normal routine and pick up where she left off.

We had stopped working together at that time and she was working under her own steam.
One day I got a message…

I am doing everything you taught me and nothing is working!

After asking a few questions it was clear that she had fallen into some old bad habits. Under-eating, lacking consistency with her food intake, alcohol had creeped back in quite a bit and there was too much training and stress.

I gave her some tough love and pointed this out and she took my advice onboard, yet things were just not shifting.

After some discussion we decided she should do a stool test.

I think this is something that a lot of people are reluctant to do. Despite the fact it costs £300 (a significant financial investment), the idea of collecting your own poop and then sending it off in the post is not the most appealing offer.

But she did it.

And I think the only regret was that she hadn’t done it a year ago when we first started working together.

She had been supplementing with a probiotic for ages and her levels of beneficial bacteria were good.

Her bloating, constipation and foggy brain weren’t being created by low levels of beneficial bacteria.
What we did find was 2 parasites, a small amount of yeast and overgrowth of additional bacteria potentially indicating small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and low levels of the gut immunoglobulin secretory IgA.

What does this mean?

SIBO is what the name says, an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine. We have trillions of bacteria in the large intestine, the colon, and less bacteria in the small intestine. Due to modern diets, alcohol, use of medications & stress, we can sometimes cultivate higher levels of bacteria in the small intestine than normal.

This can lead to symptoms commonly associated with IBS such as constipation, bloating, diarrhoea, foggy brain, abdominal cramps, flatulence, belching and acid reflux.

One of the roles of the gut bacteria is to break down carbohydrate.

We live in a world we very often eat on the go. We eat in a stressed state and we don’t chew. Digestion is a “parasympathetic process” which means that to happen appropriately, we must be relaxed.

When we eat in a relaxed state and chew properly we able to release digestive enzymes which break down our food and enable us to absorb nutrients appropriately.

If this doesn’t happen, we can have undigested food particles sitting in our gut which are then left at the mercy of the bacteria that reside there. These bacteria ferment food particles and then create gas associated with wind, belching and bloating.

The gut is often referred to as the second brain. There is a bidirectional neuronal connection between our digestive system and our brain. Many of our neurotransmitters are made in the gut.

Often, SIBO can be linked with stress, brain fog, poor memory, anxiety and low mood or depression. Many of the symptoms Ali was experiencing.

SIBO is a complex issue and it goes above and beyond the scope of this case to talk about it in detail. But the final piece of the puzzle is that, because of the link between the gut and the immune system, it can also be associated with insulin resistance, something which is so closely knitted with PCOS.
So what did we do?

Our strategy was obviously all about balancing the gut and we used the 5R Protocol to do this:

screenshot_5

The outcome?

img-20161128-wa0003

  • Weight loss (back down to wedding weight and beyond!) – comment from her husband “I can see your abs coming through!”
  • More regular bowel movements
  • No more bloating and foggy brain
  • Better energy
  • More empowered to take ownership and control of her health
  • Balanced body and balanced mind

After the gut protocol we added in some supplements that I use based on my Psychoneuroimmunology Training, these supplements are for PNI practitioners only, however Ali found that they made a massive difference in her mood & stress levels in combination with her diet, exercise and lifestyle practises.

I sent her all of the above after it was written to check for accuracy and these were her final comments…

The only thing I would suggest is a good old happy ending. The weight came off and settled out by itself without much work or tracking.

It was just the small tweaks that made all the difference and most importantly it is the realisation that this is something I’ll need to manage life long but with the right tools/starting point, it can be done easily and without much fuss.

[her words, not mine]

 

 

20140912-0593

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

 

 

 

 

5 Things to Bust Through a Weight Plateau

5 Things To Do To Bust Through a Weight Plateau

 

>>>Thing 1: Consistency<<<

 
Consistency rules the game. When my clients aren’t getting results the first thing I ask is how consistent they have been.
 
This means eating consistently & exercising consistently.
 
What does it mean to eat consistently?
 
This may mean different things to do different people but I get my clients to track food in My Fitness Pal. The idea of weighing and measuring food and entering it into an app isn’t sexy or fun, unless you are a data geek like me.
 
It is not something I would expect from anyone long term or forever, BUT, in the short term it is a fantastic awareness tool so that you know what is really going in.
 
So consistency to me means that calorie intake is consistent day in and day out at the very least and preferrably protein, carbohydrate and fat intake is consistent day in and day out.
 
If you are eating calories consistently, perhaps the next step is to really dial in one or all of the macronutrients, for example, hit a protein target or limit yourself to a certain amount of carbohydrates per day (usually 100-150g/day works well).
 
For exercise, consistency is repeating the same number of workouts at the same intensity every week. If you do 4 sessions in a week, then 3 sessions another week and zero the week after, this isn’t consistent.
 
Action: If you aren’t logging food and workouts, it can be a great eye opener and just starting to do this will hold you more accountable and help you be more consistent. If you really want to lose weight you have to know and understand exactly what you are doing, otherwise, sadly, you are just guessing and hoping for the best.
 
 

>>>Thing 2: Increase your caloric deficit<<<

 
The great thing about keeping consistent data on what you are doing is that you then have a baseline from which to manipulate variables.
 
If you hit a plateau and you are consistently eating 1800 calories and weight lifting 4 times a week with 10 000 steps on rest days then all you need to do is either take some calories away (e.g. drop to 1700 calories) or increase energy expenditure by adding in another workout per week.
 
You can also do both, but I prefer to make small changes to get the biggest return for the least amount of effort.
 
Another option I use with my clients is to reduce carbohydrate intake on rest days. This means if you are lifting 4 days a week, on the 3 days when you just walk perhaps drop calories down to 1600 by removing carbohydrates (usually 50g) from the diet. This is a technique known as carb cycling.
 
 

>>>Thing 3: Reduce Calorie Deficit<<<

 
This may seem a little counter intuitive given what has been said above. However, I find this approach can work well in certain circumstances, usually for those who are within 5kg-10kg of their end goal, who train hard and regularly.
 
Dieting culture has led us to believe that less food and more exercise is a winner. And this is true. But when taken to extremes – low carb/calorie and large amounts of intense training – we can miss the mark.
 
I sometimes see with my “over-achiever” clients that they love to take things to extremes and it works against them by stressing the body out causing stress induced inflammation and weight gain (usually around the middle).
 
Gently increasing calories and reducing exercising frequency and/or intensity can work well in this case. Sometimes both can be used together.
 
I normally find there can be a lot of fear when making this suggestion as often we hold on to what has worked for us in the past.
 
Understand that the strategy that gets you from A to B is not necessarily going to get you all the way to Z. As you lose weight and you fitness improves, your metabolism will change. Then you’ll need to adjust your approach to accommodate these changes.
 
 

>>>Thing 4: Address Sleep & Stress<<<

 
When I got back from San Diego last week Thursday my body clock was all messed up (it still is!). I wasn’t sleeping well and was waking in the night taking several hours to fall asleep again.
 
I measured my morning blood sugar after one such night. It was 7.4 mmol/L (morning blood sugar should be 5 or below).
 
On Saturday night I managed to sleep for 9.5 hours unbroken. My morning blood sugar was 4.6 mmol/L, a healthy normal reading
 
Most people who carry excess weight may have a certain degree of insulin resistance. This means that they have a poor ability to use carbohydrates they are consuming and said carbohydrates more often than not end up stored as belly fat.
 
When are blood sugar is elevated, insulin is likely working over-time to deal with that, meaning fat burning isn’t happening. So when I woke up on Friday morning with a blood sugar reading of 7.4 mmol/L how do you think I was burning fat compared to Saturday morning at 4.6 mmol/L?
 
Probably not so good.
 
This hopefully highlights the importance of making sleep a priority if you are not happy with your weight loss progress.
 
Poor sleep is a stress on the body. But stress can also be experienced from over-training and under-eating as mentioned above, but also via a multitude of different avenues. Sometimes we cannot always change what is going on around us, but we can learn tools and work on our mindset and perception of stress so that we can stay aligned with and focussed on our goals.
 
 

>>>Thing 5: Deal with other aspects of health<<<

 
If you head over to my website you will see I have written a whole series on Digestive Health and Weight Loss as well as Stress and Weight Loss. It goes beyond the scope of this email to discuss these in depth, but if I had a client who…
 
A) Was being consistent with food and exercise
B) Had tried manipulating both up and down
C) Was getting 8 hours of shut eye and not living their entire day in a state of stress
 
I would then want to do the following:
 
A) Rule out thyroid problems by running a thyroid panel which included T3 (often neglected)
B) Test adrenal function as from experience a lot of people say they aren’t stressed when they are
C) Explore digestive health by either trialling a gut reset (which I usually recommend is started as a low carb diet) or performing stool testing. I have had clients in the past who explain to have no gut symptoms come up with very imbalanced guts with testing, so you can never be too sure.
 
Those would be my top 3 by there can also be other things going on relating to sex hormones and poor detoxification with high toxic load which can be more complex to address.
 
So I hope that helps shed some light on the matter and perhaps you can already see some things that you could be doing better.
 
And of course, if you want to stop playing the guessing game and have someone tell you what to do and support you to do it. You know where I am…

 

20140912-0593

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

 

 

 

 

Do you feel like you have tried everything and nothing works? [video 3 of 4]

How do you exercise and lose weight? How do you know if you are doing it right?

Do you need to do HIT? Do you need to lift weights? Do you need to exercise 7 days a week?

This is part 3 of the videos series on I feel like I have tried everything and nothing works!

Here I talk about making some sensible changes when it comes to exercising for weight loss and my own personal exercise perscription.

Make sure you have watched Part 1 and Part 2!

 

20140912-0593

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

 

 

 

 

Do you feel like you have tried everything and nothing works? [video 2 of 4]

I recently surveyed my mailing list to get an idea of what they were struggling with and how I could direct my knowledge to solve their specific problems.

This statement stood out loud and clear: I feel like I have tried everything and nothing works!

And I thought, yes, I can address that! So this is the second part of the 4 video series! Make sure you watch the first part too.

 

20140912-0593

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

 

 

 

 

Food Diary of a Low FODMAPPER

If you have been following me recently will know that I am working through my digestion and energy challenges following my recent stool test.

I was relieved when my gluten antibodies (anti-gliadin IgA) came back negative but one thing I didn’t want to have to do was give up FODMAPS for two main reasons:

  1. I love onions and garlic :)
  2. It’s a pain

FODMAP stands for Fructose, Oligosaccharide, Disaccharide, Monoamines and Polyols. It’s a bit of a mouthful so I am sure you can see why these are summarised as FODMAPS.

Ultimately these are types of carbohydrates which are more susceptible for fermentation in the upper GI tract, which, when overgrown with bacteria, can lead to symptoms like bloating, cramping, diarrhoea, constipation and symptoms of IBS.

Despite my supplement regime, I was still experiencing a lot of stomach bloating. It seemed to be even worse than before.

I eat a lot of onions, garlic, legumes and broccoli. In fact, I was eating raw broccoli scrunched up in a salad with lot’s of avocado (which can also be a FODMAP). So the pain of staying the same eventually got greater than the pain of embarking on my new low FODMAP lifestyle and I took the plunge.

I have several clients who follow a low FODMAP diet and it is becoming increasingly common as I start to work with more and more clients on their digestion alongside their weight loss, that I am asking them to remove FODMAPS.

I therefore thought it would be helpful for me to write how I approached it and what I’ve been eating this past week, to make life a little easier for those who are embarking on a Low FODMAP plan.

The first thing I have to say is that FODMAPs can be confusing. Different resources will tell you different things. I decided to commit to one resource and then let my body feedback the rest.

I used the IFM Low FODMAP food plan.

Low FODMAP 1 LOW FODMAP 2

The way I approached it was as follows:

  • I went through the food plan and write down a list of everything I could eat based on the foods I frequently buy and was already eating
  • I then went through a list of the foods highlighted in orange and wrote down any I was already eating and noted the portion size I should limit myself to if I was going to still include it.
  • Most of “orange foods” I was happy to exclude but I still wanted to include some quinoa, sesame and sunflower seeds (for my seed cycling regime), avocado and I had already had some hummus and beans in the cupboard that I needed to use.
  • I then photographed the list to keep on my phone so if I find myself at the supermarket or at a restaurant I can double check what I should buy or what I need to avoid.
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This was my list before I added dairy; feta, haloumi and parmesan

I kept things simple.

I can be a creature of habit when it comes to food. So when I share my food diary, you will probably notice a lot of the same things repeating. I tend to eat a lot of the same and then get a bee in my bonnet about something new and eat a lot of that for a bit.

What I mostly tried to do is work with recipes I was already using and adapt them or just eat simple foods and make them tasty with lots of olive oil and lemon juice.

Although garlic and onion are to be excluded on a Low FODMAP diet a bought a garlic and onion salt to add flavour to dishes, which so far, I seem to be getting away with in small amounts. I don’t have any idea how these compare to normal onions and garlic so it might not mean that anyone following a low FODMAP diet would get away with them. As an alternative, you can infuse olive oil with garlic or add large chunks of onion to a dish and remove them after flavouring the oil.

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Day 1

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Breakfast

1 left over gluten free pork sausage, 2 eggs and 100g egg white. Spinach and Kale with olive oil, lemon juice and sumac

Lunch

Watercress, spinach and 1 tin of tuna in olive oil, 2 carrots and 2 tbsp hummus and left over black bean spaghetti

Dinner

Pan-fried Salmon, with courgetti sautéed in olive oil and parmesan

 

Day 2

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Breakfast

You’ll see my breakfast smoothie feature a lot. I love it! I have it after working out most mornings and I feel like I have perfected the recipe to get a great consistency. It is as follows:

  • 1 banana
  • 120-150g frozen raspberries
  • 5 ice cubes
  • 10g-15g maca powder
  • 150ml-200ml almond milk (I use the alpro almond milk which is slightly sweet)
  • 5g Ashwaganda Powder (I take this to support my adrenal glands, it is also good for the immune system and mitochondria)
  • 10g L-glutamine (great for healing the cells of the gut lining and also for the immune system)
  • 30g beef protein (I’m using this at the moment because I think I was reacting to whey)
  • 1 tbsp chia seeds
  • 1 tbsp sunflower seeds or 1 tbsp flax and 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds depending on where I am in my cycle.

A malteser bunny (yep, it’s low FODMAP! A friend of mine was advised it was okay to eat maltesers on a Low FODMAP diet by an NHS dietican), not in the smoothie though, I had this later as a snack!

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Lunch

Watercress, spinach, quinoa and 1 tin of tuna in olive oil, 2 carrots and 2 tbsp hummus and left over black bean spaghetti

Dinner

Cod with sundried, anchovies, tomatoes, basil, lemon juice, parmesan, black venus rice, courgetti and olives pan-fried in olive oil

Day 3

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Breakfast

2 boiled eggs, 1 gluten free crumpet, 2 slices of panfried haloumi and a tbsp. avocado

Lunch

Protein pancakes: banana, chia, 20g oats, beef protein, cinnamon, cooked in coconut oil serves with raspberries, olive oil and chopped dark chocolate coated brazil nuts

Dinner

Thai takeaway – red curry with chicken and all the vegetables were low FODMAP

Day 4

Breakfast

Gluten free chicken sausages, 2 boiled eggs and greens with olive oil and lemon juice

Lunch

Popcorn at the cinema – it was a Sunday :)

Dinner

Pan-fried steak in olive oil with spinach, mushrooms, creams, black rice

 

Day 5

Breakfast

Protein smoothie & 2 squares of 90% dark chocolate and 1 tbsp tahini

Lunch

Watercress, spinach, 50g black rice and 1 tin of tuna, 1 tbsp olive oil. lemon juice, sumac and 30g of haloumi

1/2 red pepper and 1 tbsp hummus

Dinner

Mince cooked in coconut oil, cajun spice, smoked paprika and tinned tomatoes. I had great intentions of bulking it out with carrots, celery, mushrooms and courgette before I realised I had finished them off so I added in 50g of cold quinoa instead. It was simple, yet delicious with the spices and you can always add more greens or courgetti

 

Day 6

On day 6 I had the same smoothie, but, because I had been running that morning I felt incredibly hungry so went in for a second breakfast of gluten free crumpets, butter, marmite, a sprinkling of parmesan and 2 boiled eggs. This is my favourite treat breakfast!

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Then at lunch time I was back on the tuna salads just using up bits left in the fridge however, I managed to take a photograph this time, yet in doing so, completely forgot to scrunch up my green leaves in the olive oil and lemon juice. This time I added some romaine lettuce instead of spinach and finished off the last of the kale and watercress.

Although this salad looks pretty sparce, the following Low FODMAP items could have been used to make it more colourful and filling:

  • grated carrot
  • cucumber
  • micro-greens
  • peppers
  • radishes
  • tomatoes
  • 2T of Avocado
  • Nuts and seeds such as pumpkin, walnuts, pecans, brazils or macadamia nuts (always quite nice if you toast them first before throwing into a salad)
  • A little feta or hard cheese
  • I sometimes also like sliced grapes or blueberries in a salad, these are also low FODMAP options

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Dinner

For dinner that night I had the same cod dish again. But this time I managed to photograph it. It’s so easy to do, you just blitz up some sundried tomatoes, parmesan, lemon juice, basil, a couple of anchovies and sumac, smear it on the cod and bake for about 20 minutes at 200 degrees

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This was served with some vegetables with I essentially just stir fried up in olive oil…

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Day 7

The final day was smoothie again plus 2 pieces of 90% dark chocolate and 2 sliced of haloumi cheese (bit random but that was it)

For lunch I had left over cod with a side salad of romaine lettuce, olive oil, quinoa, my 2 tbsp allowance of avocado and some red pepper slices…. oh and another Malteser bunny :)

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Dinner

Finally dinner was a beef dish I had made in the slow cooker the previous day using the following:

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp cajun spice

2 tbsp smoked paprika

1kg diced organic stewing steak

2 tins of chopped tomatoes

400g carrots, chopped

5 celery stalks, chopped

I basically just browned the steak in a pan with olive oil and spices and then threw it all in the slow cooker for 8 hours (you could even do this overnight).

Day 8

As I didn’t go to the gym today, I had a lower carb breakfast of heck chicken sausages, scrambled eggs and egg white, final bits of salad left in the fridge (food delivery comes today) and I later treated myself to an Om Bar chocolate from the health food shop when I went to my ceramics lesson.

Lunch was another tuna salad with freshly delivered greens (watercress, lambs lettuce, spinach and broccoli sprouts), carrots, hummus, tuna, olive oil and lemon juice.

The day was finished off with left overs from the slow cooked beef recipe the day before.

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And that brings me to the end of my week (+one day) following a low FODMAP diet.

I must say, I had perhaps suspected it was something I may benefit from for a while. But I wasn’t prepared to full commit to it because, ultimately, it meant the effort of changing my routine.

I am amazing at how easy it became even after a few days because I put a little effort in at the beginning to work out what I needed to do and get organised.

Finally, I would also say, my digestion has calmed down massively over the past week and it’s lovely not to go to bed in the evening with a slightly distended belly.

 

 

 

 

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My Gut: The Story

The other day, on Facebook, I posted a picture of my little face surrounded by some supplements.

I commented that I had recently obtained the results of my stool test and was working on my digestive health. Since the middle of January I have been writing and “vlogging” via Facebook Live about digestive health, specifically looking at the link between digestive imbalances and weight loss.

Although I’m not struggling with weight loss, I think I have been in denial about some ongoing digestive issues and I am only really putting all the pieces of the puzzle together now.

Since I posted the picture I have had a few people reach out to me asking questions about what test I did, the supplements I am taking and the reasons why. I have mentioned bits and bobs but I wanted to build up the whole story for the main reason being, this is what I do with my clients.

I build up a whole picture of what is going on. I don’t deal in little bits here and there.

I couldn’t really decide where this story began.

The truth is, if you really think about it, it began when I began, which was in my mom’s belly.

But I will spare you all the details, although I will warn you that this will be longer than some of my previous posts. But I’ll do my best to not faff about with every little detail.

So grab your reading glasses and a cup of tea and enjoy.

 

The Back Story

My whole life I have struggled with my energy on and off. For the purposes of keeping things simple, I was in and out of hospitals from a young age. I had a hole in my ear drum which was eventually patched up by taking some skin from behind by earlobe. Before that however, I had multiple surgeries in an attempt to rectify the problem. This meant multiple surgeries back in the day when they put the anaesthetic over your mouth instead of in a vein (crucial point to remember later).

This was followed by the separation of my parents at age 7. At age 9 we shared a home with family friends who were immigrating to the US therefore became a temporary blended family for a couple of months, which I found quite stressful. After this point I was diagnosed with inflammation of the kidneys, nephritis, and put on daily medication (another point to remember later).

Additionally I was told to eat a high carbohydrate diet to “keep my energy up”, which ended up in donuts, crisps and ice cream and me gaining 2 stone in a couple of months, fast forwarding into early puberty.

I am still not 100% convinced about this diagnosis. But it happened. I was 9 at the time so I can’t remember much about it apart from that.

I don’t really remember much about my digestion growing up. It’s not really something you are very aware of but I do remember enough that definitely as a teenager there were some imbalances.

I now know that any of the following may impact the gut:

  • Diet (low fibre, high in refined carbohydrates and sugars)
  • Alcohol
  • Stress
  • Medications

All of which I had plenty of exposure to, apart from the alcohol, before I even hit double digits.

 

My First Experience of IBS

I guess my first experience of what one would call IBS was when I moved to London in 2008.

I have written and vlogged about this several times now, so without trying to flog a dead horse, a huge amount of stress and poor diet caused me many digestive symptoms which were quite severe for 6 months. I managed to bring them under better control with diet and supplements after which they niggled on and off thereafter.

At the end of 2008 I had a laporoscopy to look for endometriosis after experiencing severe pre-menstrual symptoms as a result of said lifestyle stress. The laporoscopy came back clear, but it was yet another surgery in addition to having my appendix removed in 2006.

I found my transition to making my way and completing my studies in the UK stressful on many different levels. I could go into many details of this experience but one that sticks so clearly in my mind is walking up a flight of stairs at the gym I was working in one day, foggy, bloated and exhausted and wondering how I was going to keep on keeping on. I would struggle to go out with friends in the evenings as I was just too tired to stay out late and I could easily spend my Sunday feeling like I had been hit by a bus.

In 2009 I eventually started seeing a Nutritionist myself who encouraged me to do adrenal testing which showed my adrenal function was one nice flat line (see below).

adrenal-test-2009

 

This was the consequence of many aspects of my lifestyle, a very stressful relationship causing me a huge amount of anxiety, burning the candle at both ends with work and study, sub-optimal diet and exercise practises (too much exercise and not enough good quality food).

And so began what in my mind was a 2-3 year journey to getting my energy back.

It was not achievable all at once. There were many layers of change that needed to happen and with each layer came an additional benefit. The major themes of these layers revolved around the following:

  • End negative and unsupportive relationships
  • Find a place to live where I feel safe and at ease
  • Find a way to better balance working hours with time to rest and recover
  • Cultivate happy and healthy relationships and become part of a like-minded community
  • Address energy balance between food and exercise (eat to fuel my bodies needs and let go of the need to do so much intense training)

The final pieces of that puzzle which came towards the end were meeting my amazing husband who is just one big ball of happiness and love but also the biggest support and rock in my life. Then creating a change and moving to the sea to have a greater sense of space and connection with nature.

All in all this took about 5 years.

I wanted to say this because health is a journey. You cannot unravel what you have been tangling up across years and years in 12 weeks. I’m not “lucky” to have the life I live now, there is no luck. I made it myself, including all the things that are not “perfect” yet.

 

More Recent Challenges

Since myself and Ben moved to Bournemouth I took my business online and created the my LTL coaching program to help women lose weight using the principles of Functional Medicine and mostly, by giving them permission to love themselves.

In doing so I created more flexibility and freedom in my day. But for anyone who runs their own business will know, it is fricken hard work.

I started to re-experience some digestive troubles shortly after our move. Although the move was a positive one, there was probably some stress involved relating to change.

This was mostly cleared up by a course of anti-microbials and fermented foods, hence my obsessive preaching about their benefits.

However, the problems returned mid-way through 2015 and I started to dig a little deeper.

The symptoms, if you must know, were smelly gas and lose stools. I would also sometimes be affected by urgency when all of a sudden I would need to find a bathroom, immediately! It is embarrassing to write this all down and admit these things even though when my clients tell me about their symptoms I am completely unphased.

It does occur to me now that these symptoms were not new symptoms. They had probably come and gone from time to time even when I was in South Africa. But their severity and frequency were mild and far between suggesting the imbalance was perhaps already there, but environmental factors (stress) were exacerbating it.

I did some investigating and I had a gluten sensitivity test done with Cyrex who test 20 different proteins associated with wheat and gluten. All came back negative.

Gluten was not the problem. But what was?

Eventually my symptoms were resolved on their own by fasting.

I experimented for one week with only eating two meals per day. About 1000 calories at breakfast at 8:30am and another 1000 calories at 5:30pm. If I could guess why this worked I would say that reduced meal frequency allowed the digestive system to rest between meals and therefore perhaps reduced inflammation and allowed for healing.

This is but a guess.

All was mostly well moving forward with the occasional incidences of urgency, particularly if I went running and this was aggravated by being out of routine (jet lag, foreign travel and not eating my usual foods).

Now here is the funny thing.

Last year September was 2 years since I had started my online business. I had 2 staff members as well as outsourced services and everything was running just fine. There was some money in the bank, things were ticking over, I wasn’t particularly busy or stressed out.

And yet, in this time I started to feel increasingly exhausted.

I lost my mojo.

I didn’t want to go to the gym, my digestion was getting worse again, I had no energy, my neck ached ever hour of the day. I was sleeping enough and felt tired all the time.

I remember going out for breakfast with Ben one Sunday morning. Where we lived you couldn’t go anywhere without walking downhill which meant to get home, everywhere was up hill! All I wanted to do was have Ben pick me up and carry me home, I couldn’t even face the uphill walk.

So I did all the things I knew how to do.

  • Stripped back on exercise.
  • I took a week off the gym, stopped running and just did a little yoga and walking.
  • I had some acupuncture
  • Ate well
  • Meditated every day for 7 weeks
  • Had Epsom salt baths
  • Made sure I got enough sleep
  • Took some supplements to support my adrenal glands

And it did help a bit.

I felt better but I didn’t feel at my best.

And then we moved house – which was actually pretty straight forward and not that stressful – and I went to Bali to stay with one my best friends. I thought I was going to get to Bali and just collapse, but actually, in Bali I felt much better.

You could say it was the sunshine or the company but actually, at the time I was also launching the Sustainable Slim Down and when I think about it now, I was probably riding high on the adrenalin that comes with pushing a launch.

And when I came back to the UK I felt okay too. But my digestion was off again and slowly before I knew it, my energy was gone again.

 

This is what inflammation feels like

What I noticed was that when I was tired, run down or gave myself space to relax, I didn’t feel well.

I had what I call feelings of inflammation (which are very similar to feeling hungover); achy, tired, headachy, foggy brain. All those non-specific symptoms which could really mean anything.  I would even sometimes feel like this the day after a really hard workout, it went over and above just have some DOMS.

So enough was a enough and I invested just shy of £300 in the GI Map by Invivo Clinical.

10 days ago I got the results.

And what did they say?

Bacteria Infection

I have a bacterial infection called Clostridium Difficile Toxin A. C.Diff can be present in some people who are symptom free. It can also be present in some individuals and cause life-threatening inflammation of the colon. Common symptoms include diarrhoea, nausea, abdominal pain and cramping.

Exposure to C.Diff is often via hospitals (which I was in and out of at least once each decade of my life, not to mention a lot in the first 10 years of my life). Antibiotics increases risk of C.Diff infection, I had a lot of antibiotics and medications as a child which could potentially have increased susceptibility. Who knows when or where the infection started. It doesn’t matter so much but it’s interesting to see the links given my history.

 

Inflammation

What was also present was an increase in Calprotectin. This is a marker of inflammation. Very high levels can be associated with irritable bowel disease, such as colitis, and bowel cancer. My levels were raised, which would make sense in the context of C.Diff, but not enough for me to worry too much about IBD or Cancer.

 

sIgA

I had low levels of the gut immunoglobulin Secretory IgA (sIgA). sIgA is one of the first lines of defence in the gut immune system. It is elevated in the presence of infection to help the body fight it off. If for whatever reason, the body is not able to clear the infection, it may fall low over time.  Low levels have been associated with stress as well as intense emotions such as anger.

Before I knew I had this infection, I was pretty certain my sIgA would be low. I, like many people, spend a lot of time in my sympathetic nervous system. Although I have made many changes to spend less time in stress, it is continuous work in progress to rewire my nervous system against the norm I once created for myself.

 

My Interpretation

The rest was mostly normal and my gliadin IgA (an immunoglobulin against gluten) came back as normal so I was pretty happy that I don’t feel like I need to remove gluten strictly from my diet and also that there was congruencey against previous testing.

The following is my interpretation of the information above so please do not hold this to be 100% scientific truth. It is supposition until proven otherwise.

I am not sure when I initially picked up this infection, but when I reflect on some of my symptoms, some of them I have been having for years. Of course they could be due to other causes and I am pretty sure the worst IBS which I experienced when I first moved to the UK was probably due to other things which have since cleared and/or rebalanced

Being the robust, young and health conscious woman I am, in times when I wasn’t under too much stress, I took a holiday, there was sunlight (vitamin D is great for the immune system), I am eating and sleeping well I had the resilience to mostly be unaffected by the infection.

If I travelled, ate differently, lacked sleep or was exposed to different time zones, jet lag, my resilience was low and therefore my immune system wasn’t able to keep things in check.

Who knows how long my sIgA has been low for and who knows how much it is able to fluctuate based on the above?

When I have taken probiotics, used fasting protocols and fermented foods, all of these have helped to improve resilience and reduce inflammation, but not necessarily enough to clear the infection as a whole.

What you may have gathered from what I have already said about gut health is inflammation in the gut = inflammation in the body.

This is then responsible for producing systemic symptoms whatever they may be. In my case:

  • Foggy brain
  • Lethargy and fatigue
  • Headaches
  • Achy body
  • PMS
  • Low mood
  • Feelings of hangover

When I am running on adrenalin and excited about work tasks or pushing myself in the gym, and doing my busy body whirl wind thing, I feel good because I am artificially pushing up my cortisol levels.

Cortisol is a stress hormone, it is also one of the body’s most powerful anti-inflammatories. Which is therefore, able to keep systemic inflammation in check. When I get run down, and I can’t sustain that high cortisol output, or if I relax and cortisol is naturally lower, what happens?

What I call, hit like a bus syndrome.

So what is the solution here?

There are a few things that need rebalancing:

  • Gut health obviously: clear the infection, reduce the inflammation and increase sIgA to prevent future infection or recurrence. Keep good bacteria up.

This is the easy bit.

The second bit is.

  • Rebalance the lifestyle: work on the busy body, A-Type personality behaviour and calm down.

This is the biggest challenge for me, because it actually involved rewiring my brain and creating a new way of being.

So what now?

I’ve bought a whole bunch of supplements as you may have seen.

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These include:

  • Saccharomyces Boullardi which has been shown to be beneficial in C.Diff and may also increase sIgA
  • Vitamin A which is shown to increase sIgA
  • Anti-microbials: garlic, oregano, berberine and grapeseed. I actually couldn’t find any research to support any of these as being effective with C.Diff but I have noticed a benefit taking these in the past when I was just guessing. So I thought I’d give them a go. The garlic capsules weren’t so fun this morning when I was practising handstands with garlic burps in the gym! Ben who was working away all week also came home and told me I stink. So I apologise to anyone who I’ve affected by my garlicky presence this week, it’s just for 1 more week!
  • Inflammatone: a combination of anti-inflammatory nutrients such as ginger, curcumin, boswellia and quercitin

One of the consequences of all of the above is malabsorption. Not being able to absorb nutrients from the diet. So I am also taking

  • Zinc: due to white spots on finger nails
  • B-vitamins: due to geographic tongue, longitudinal fissure (the “denty” bit in the middle) and scalloping of the tongue (curvy bits on the outer edges), all of which can be signs of B-vitamin deficiencies and inflammation. See below (I am really sorry but there is no “pretty way” to photograph your tongue) The geographic tongue is actually something I knew about last year after a trip to the dentist. I couldn’t get my head around why I would be low in nutrients considering my diet, I was in complete denial of any link between my gut and absorption issues.
  • Multi-vitamins: just to cover the bases
  • Magnesium: because it’s good for everything especially sleep and I could do with better sleep.

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General Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Please note, this is all on top of an anti-inflammatory diet. I am fortunate that my diet is good, really good. I am in a much better position to really notice the benefit of the supplements because I am not also learning how to eat well. Sometimes I have client who need to learn just to eat better and many of their symptoms may naturally improve before they’ve spent any money on supplements.

I do feel that my general diet and self-care have protected me against bigger and more complex issues.

I eat almost zero processed food (apart from some treats), plenty of fish & poultry, vegetables, gluten free grains, minimal dairy and added sugar, dark chocolate and homemade fermented foods. What you see on social media is what I eat. The bits that don’t get photographed just don’t look  that pretty on the plate but it’s all good stuff.

In addition to the supplements already listed, I also add herbal adaptogens to support my adrenal glands into my morning smoothies, this includes:

  • Maca
  • Rhodiola
  • Holy Basil
  • Ashwaghanda

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What am I hoping for from here?

Well I have only been taking my supplements for the past week so I will have to write an update in a few weeks time. So far, my digestion is working really well, but I won’t hold my breath as I know it can do this from time to time and then act up again.

My energy is still a bit up and down. I started with my supplements on Monday afternoon and 24 hours later I was feeling really grumpy and really angry (like wanting to put a pillow over my face and scream kinda angry), which is not an emotion I often experience. I then did a meditation and cried proper sobbing tears. So I am not sure if that is a bit of “healing” going on and it will settle down in time or if I am just bonkers or something else.

We’ll see.

I am however, hoping for the following:

  • Better and more consistent energy and less symptoms of systemic inflammation, essentially mental clarity and like I am thriving, not just surviving
  • Better digestive symptoms; no cramping, loose stools, gas or bloating
  • Improved pre-menstrual symptoms and more consistent mood at that time of the month
  • A calmer, happier and more loving approach to everything in my life

For the exact supplement protocol I will continue with the Saccharomyces, Inflammatone, B-vitamins, Vitamin A and Zinc for the next 3 months. I will do the anti-microbials in high does for 2 weeks and then probably take some probiotics after that. I’ll keep note of my symptoms and hope to retest in 3 months time.

So that is it.

If you have any further questions, more so specifically about working with myself on a similar journey, then please be advised that I take on new clients by application only. You can complete an application here or here or email me with a specific query here.

 

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