0
0
Your cart is currently empty
Shop Here

Author: Tim Ashton

Healthy Lifestyle For Fatty Liver

Posted on by Tim Ashton

What is fatty liver?

Fatty Liver is a term usually given to someone whose liver cells contain too much fat. It is diagnosed through a blood test, ultrasound, or MRI. The liver enzymes could be out of range in a blood test, or an ultrasound could show that the liver cells are enlarged and containing fat.

The cause is usually excessive alcohol consumption, but today we are seeing this condition in people who do not drink alcohol, also. If this is the case, it is known as non-alcohol fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Why does it happen? 

The answer is the food we are eating. The standard Australian diet – though improving – is typically filled with foods containing excessive amounts of oil, fat, and refined sugars, which all cause the liver to store fat within its cells. Ageing and the excessive intake of medications can also be a factor. The more processed your diet, the more likely you are to have a Fatty Liver.

The liver is responsible for over 500 different processes within the body. It plays a major role in the production of our hormones, processing foods, detoxifying toxins and filtering harmful substances. Also, it is the only organ in the body that is capable of regeneration. A regeneration cycle is 30-40 days, depending on the size of the person.

Chronic liver disease is often symptomless, or the symptoms are subtle at the least: general fatigue, poor sleep, not waking refreshed, swelling of the legs, weight gain, insulin resistance, thyroid issues, and diabetes are some of the most common. If the condition is at its worst, the symptoms can include a terrible itching of the skin, yellowing of the eyes and skin, weight loss, loss of appetite, abdominal pain and swelling, confusion, and death.

Is it reversible?

Yes, we believe it is, but it requires you to make some big changes to your dietary habits, exercise regime, and alcohol consumption.

Dietary Changes needed:

  • Remove fat from your diet
  • Eat a plant-based diet
  • Eliminate meat and diary
  • Eliminate gluten
  • Eliminate alcohol

Optional – for quick and longlasting results:

  • Consume the Flourish Detox Blend – nightly before bed – 1 tablespoon
  • Consume the Flourish Turmeric Blend – ½ teaspoon nightly before bed

It normally takes 30-40 days to see significant changes, or 1 regeneration cycle. If the condition is severe, we recommend continuing the healing regime for a minimum of 3 months.

Because the liver is one of the most important organs in our body, is extremely important to keep it healthy and avoid conditions such as Fatty Liver. By making healthy changes to your diet, regularly exercising, and significantly reducing alcohol consumption, you can not only treat Fatty Liver but reverse it.

How To Reverse Cardiovascular Disease

Posted on by Tim Ashton

What is cardiovascular disease, what causes it, and how do you reverse it? These are the three biggest questions we get asked when we see someone who has been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. Overall, a good detox natural detox such as our daily detox beetroot blend, a healthy diet, daily exercise, and stress management can help to treat and reverse cardiovascular disease.

What is it?

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a collective name given to diseases that cause a narrowing of the blood vessels. The narrowing of these blood vessels can lead to heart disease, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, cardiomyopathy, myocardial infarction, and, ultimately, death.

The Cause

While most people may think it is hereditary, which is a statement that may have some truth behind it, it is by no means the whole story. Our genes only make up 3-5% of what happens to us, and it is the environment that we live in that allows the hereditary part to be expressed.

We at Flourish think that the food we eat makes up the majority of the cause, and stress makes up th rest. The food environment we grow up in usually runs in families, hence why we typically see the same conditions amongst family members. If the entire family eats a predominantly high-fat diet, then diseases associate with that could run in the family. A diet high in fat, refined sugars, meats, dairy, and processed and packaged foods can be the cause of CVD.

Our blood vessels are designed to stay wide and open. The epithelial cells that line the blood vessels release a substance called nitric oxide and its purpose is to keep the vessels open, which allows the blood to flow easily. The flow is called laminar.

When we consume fat in our diet, the nitric oxide is inhibited by the epithelial cells, causing a narrowing. This then causes the blood flow to goo from laminar to turbulent. This turbulent flow causes the blood to bump into the cells, damaging the vessel lining. Our body will then lay down plague as a band-aid trying to heal the damage, which then results in a permanent narrowing of the blood vessels and, in turn, the beginning of CVD.

How to reverse it?

A complete lifestyle change is the best way to reverse CVD. While some may think it is easier said than done, it does not have to be. From a food perspective, it is important to cut out high-fat foods and instead eat foods that strengthen the epithelial cells that line the blood vessels. Foods that help with this are beetroot and green leafy vegetables, amongst others.

Our beetroot detox blend is the perfect supplement for strengthening the blood vessels, working best when taken alongside 6 cups of leafy green vegetables every day. We recommend taking 1 tablespoon of the detox blend in the morning or night, whichever fits your routine best. Exercising for 30 minutes a day will also help significantly.

It is also important to decrease stress, which is probably the hardest lifestyle change. Meditation or prayer is a good place to start, but you will find your own way to decrease external stressors. The best place to de-stress is internally, and by changing the foods you consume, you will see a huge difference in reversing cardiovascular disease.

 

 

 

 

 

Prebiotics vs Probiotics

Posted on by Tim Ashton

Simply put, probiotics are live micro-organisms (bacteria, yeast or fungi) and they live naturally on and in our bodies. Prebiotics are a form of fibre that acts as a food, for the bacteria found within your gut.

In order to have a healthy gut, most health practitioners will tell you that you need to have a good balance between your good and bad gut bacteria, and whilst we at Flourish agree with this, the ways of achieving it differs dramatically.

Let’s talk about probiotics.  I want to keep this really simple, not highly technical as I think it is easier to understand and therefore allow you to be able to make a more informed decision as to what is right for you.

The gut microbiome or gut flora – I am going to refer to these as if they have a personality.

Their role in life is to keep us healthy.  Their job is to keep the immune system strong, make certain vitamins and minerals, aid digestion, metabolism, psychology and reduce chronic inflammation one of the key drivers of chronic illness.

Some facts:

  • There are 10 x as many of them as they are of you, totalling approximately 100 trillion microbes
  • Thought of as a new organ with distinct metabolic and immune activity
  • There are between 1500 – 5000 different species, but this number is changing rapidly as new research comes to light.
  • Weighs approximately 2 kilograms
  • The majority reside within the large bowel
  • Make up approximately 60% of each and every bowel movement
  • Populated during birth and breastfeeding and continues to develop until the age of 2 -3 years when the gut microbiota stabilises and resembles that of adults
  • Antibiotics in early life can shift the bacterial profile and promote obesity and metabolic abnormalities and/or autoimmune disease.
  • It is believed that our gut microbiota diversity is influenced by some three generations travelling down our mothers side.
  • Lack of diversity is linked with chronic diseases, especially allergies
  • A bad gut can lead to a fatty liver
  • Gut bacteria profiles are unique like fingerprints. No two humans have the same profile.  In fact we only share 68% of the same profile the rest of the profile is unique to each and everyone of us.

 

 

 

Thyroid 101

Posted on by Tim Ashton

This small but mighty, shield shaped gland is located in the front of the neck and plays an enormous role in our overall health.  Every cell in the body, except red blood cells, has a receptor site for thyroid hormones, and these regulate temperature and metabolism.  The thyroid influences almost every bodily function, so when it is not working properly you can experience a wide range of signs and symptoms. 

Under-active or Overactive?

You might hear the terms under-active and overactive thrown around from time to time when it comes to talking about the thyroid.

Under-active Thyroid

Hypo or low thyroid function means the thyroid gland is under-active and it does not product enough thyroid hormone.  High cortisol (stress hormones) can cause the thyroid to stop producing thyroid hormones and this is known as hypothyroidism.

Environmental stress can also be a cause of an under-active thyroid, and this is highly linked to individual genetic predispositions. 

The major signs and symptoms of under-active thyroid issues are fatigue, hair loss, weight gain, foggy brain , depression, brittle nails, shortness of breathe, anxiety, irregular periods, sensitivity to the cold, bowel problems and a general feeling of un-wellness. 

Over-active Thyroid

Hyper or high thyroid functions means the thyroid gland is overactive, and producing far too many thyroid hormones.  Again internal and external environment stress can cause the hypothalamus and pituitary glands to send the wrong message to the thyroid gland, causing it to over produce.                                                                                           

The signs and symptoms are fairly similar to those of an under-active thyroid, but weight loss is more prevalent, along with a very rapid heart rate, heart palpitations, anxiety, unable to control temperature and shakiness throughout the body. 

Hyperthyroidism is far more dangerous that hypo and needs to be addressed quickly due to the heart’s involvement with hyperthyroidism or Grave’s Disease as it is known. 

Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s

Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s are the names given to thyroid disease if the immune system is involved; this means that the problem is autoimmune.

Besides medications, controlling environmental factors in both Hashimoto’s and Graves’ is paramount.  Reducing stress and eating a whole food, plant-based fat free diet makes a monumental difference to both diseases.

Lifestyle factors to support thyroid health

Staying gluten free is one of the most important things if diagnosed with a thyroid issue.  The gluten protein is extremely similar to the protein structure found within the thyroid.  This similarity is called cellular mimickery and causes the immune system to see the thyroid as similar to gluten. If you have a sensitivity to gluten, it will want to destroy the gland, this is the first step to autoimmune thyroid disease.

A low ‘free-fat’ diet is also one of the keys to supporting thyroid problems.  The thyroid itself only produces 7% of the active hormone T3 (what the cell can use) and the other 93% , known as T4, must travel via transporter proteins to the liver and gut for conversion to active T3.    These transporter proteins have a strong affinity to fat, so if the diet is full of ‘free’ fats (those that come from a bottle or a jar) bind to these transporters not allowing them to pick up the inactive T4 for transportation to the liver. 

How Flourish can help with the natural anti-inflammatory and beetroot powder

All three of our blends have a role to play when it comes to supporting thyroid health.

If the liver is filled with fat also from a high-fat diet, then it is unable to make the conversion. Our detox blend has been designed to aid this very function of the liver.

Good gut bacteria is also responsible for converting 20% of the inactive T4 to active T3, so our prebiotic, gut blend should also be front of mind if you have a thyroid issue.   

If the gut is inflamed the bacteria all go to sleep for want of a better description, so are unable to perform the conversion properly.  Decreasing inflammation not only in the gut, but also all through the body should be top of mind as well. And that’s where our Turmeric blend comes in.

Find out more about our blends here.

You might also be interested in “Let’s talk about inflammation“.

Let’s Talk About Inflammation

Posted on by Tim Ashton

Inflammation is a buzz word here at Flourish, namely because it is the target of one of our best selling products, the Turmeric Blend.

So often when we talk about inflammation, we associate it with chronic disease, however, inflammation is not always the enemy.

Part of the bodies natural immune system, without inflammation, the body would be unable to heal from infections, tissue damage or wounds.

For example, when you sprain your ankle, it swells and becomes hot and painful – three cardinal signs of inflammation. This is the body’s way of telling you to slow down while it heals what is broken and it’s the good kind of inflammation that our bodies need.

However, the inflammation that accompanies most chronic disease processes is not so good. Inflammation drives disease processes, which means it intensifies the disease in your body and makes it worse. 

The inflammation pathway

The inflammation pathway is called the arachidonic pathway and it has two arms.  One is pro-inflammation and drives inflammation cytokines or cells, and the other is anti-inflammation and drives anti-inflammation cytokines or cells.

The food we eat determines which pathway will be dominant. Animal products drive the pro-inflammation pathway. 

Our lifestyles will often push our bodies to become more inflamed.  The foods we eat, our stress levels and whether or not we exercise will all contribute to our inflammation levels.  A balanced, plant-based your diet combined with controlled stress levels and regular exercise is the best path for getting on top of chronic inflammation. 

Combatting Inflammation with our natural anti-inflammatory

Turmeric is one of mother nature’s best natural anti-inflammatories.  It works exactly the same way as all the non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs like Nurofen or Voltaren.

We are often asked what the difference between Turmeric and Curcumin is, and the easiest way to explain the difference is that Curcumin is like what vitamin C powder is to an orange.  It is only one component of Turmeric, which actually has over 300 beautiful phytonutrients in it.

Turmeric as a whole contains curcuminoids and turmerones, and these turmerones cross into the brain and help turn off inflammation within the brain that causes foggy brain. They also help to keep the liver healthy. 

It is so important to always choose whole foods as your medicine, not extracts as these really are not foods as all.

Shop our bestselling Turmeric Blend here.

5 Ways To Improve Your Gut Health

Posted on by Tim Ashton

It’s the season of Gut Health here at Flourish, and for good reason too!

Our gut microbiome (the trillions of microorganisms living in your intestinal tract) is the corner stone of our health and our happiness. These microorganisms, mainly comprising of bacteria, are involved in functions critical to your health and wellbeing. It’s essential that we keep them as happy as possible!

Small changes can go a long way in improving our gut microbiome, here’s our top tips:

1. Eat the rainbow

The more colours of fruit and veggies on your plate, the greater the diversity of species and the more species present, the healthier your immune system!  A good way to begin to do this is to make a chart with each colour of the rainbow marked on it, then each day tick off what you have eaten from each colour range.

2. Don’t be too clean!

We don’t mean to be a grub! But using antibacterial wipes and hand sanitising gels constantly just isn’t healthy.  They are designed to wipe out bacteria and since our bodies are made up of more of trillions of essential bacterias, it’s important not to wipe them out using sanitising gels.  Research shows that the more sterile the environment for our gut microbiomes the smaller the diversity of species, and thereby the less healthy the host, which is us!

3. Eat gut loving foods, they are natural detox

Eat at least one or all of these foods daily: cold white potatoes with no fat or oil on them, cold rice like sushi with no mayonnaise, and cold oats. The reason we advise to eat these foods cold is because when they’re cold they’re much higher in resistant starch (which is what our gut microbes love!) The gut bugs eat and convert it to short chain fatty acids and butyrate which is the primary food source that keeps the cells of our colon healthy.

4. Avoid C.R.A.P

Otherwise known as ‘Calorie Rich And Processed’ foods.  Stay away from food out of a packet and foods high in processed sugars.  Keep fat to less than 20 grams per day.

5. Take our Prebiotic Blend

Our obvious choice! Our Prebiotic Blend is food for the gut microbes!  It is full of resistant starch and inulin (from chicory root), a form of fibre that they love. Our Prebiotic Blend to gut bugs is like what a Krispy Kreme is to a 10 year old, delicious!

SHOP THE BLEND

You might also be interested in “The Difference Between Turmeric & Curcumin“.

The Difference Between Turmeric & Curcumin

Posted on by Tim Ashton

As an ancient spice celebrated for centuries as both food and medicine, turmeric is one of mother nature’s finest anti-inflammatory substances. This root acts as a COX-2 inhibitor, by preventing the enzymes in the arachidonic pathway from making inflammatory cytokines in the same way that pharmaceuticals like neurofen, voltaren and non-steriodal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDS do. Turmeric however does so without the side effects that NSAIDS provide like ulceration of the stomach lining.

Turmeric is made up of over 300 different phytochemicals or nutrients that can generally be divided into two main families, give or take a few: the curcuminoid and turmerone family. Curcumin is one phytonutrient out of the 300, from the curcuminoid family and gives turmeric its vibrant colour and distinct flavour. As a COX-2 inhibitor it offers key anti-inflammatory properties, however it is only one constituent of many that make Turmeric the powerful root it is.

Research shows that if you take turmeric and remove the curcumin, the remaining product still has a more powerful therapeutic outcome than that of the extracted curcumin on its own. Mother Nature intended turmeric to be used as a whole, not a part with both delivering positive outcomes but the whole food offering much more than the isolated component. For instance, the turmerones in Turmeric are the components that support brain health, not the curcuminoids.

Consider Turmeric as the orchestra, playing a symphony. The depth and variety create an overall impact that is breathtaking. Then if you take the first violinist, in this case the curcumin, out of the orchestra and have them play a solo, it’s still fantastic however the performance is nothing like when they rejoin the whole orchestra. Isolated components lack the synergistic effects that occur when all the elements in whole foods work together to produce a more powerful response, and this is the case with turmeric.

Another consideration is the side effects you may experience by using only one component of any whole food. Mother Nature is smart, providing very powerful medicinal, highly bioactive components and surrounding them with other components that nullify any of the negative side effects that may be experienced when a key component is isolated. That’s why when turmeric is taken as a whole food, people don’t experience negative side effects. However, when curcumin tablets are taken in isolation and in high doses to achieve results, people find they can experience an upset stomach.

Essentially, turmeric taken as a whole has been shown to reduce inflammation in the brain and the rest of the body, stimulate regeneration of liver cells and offer no negative side effects where long term side effects have been shown with curcumin use along with no brain support. That is why we have included turmeric as a key ingredient in our Turmeric Blend, carefully sourced from the Alleppey region in southern India because of it’s high bioactive ingredients content. This is measured by its curcumin content which needs to be a medicinal level to be completely effective.

Our team is incredibly particular about the ingredients we use and where they’re sourced from. When our turmeric arrives in Australia we have it tested for a myriad of contaminants, including, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, heavy metals, arsenic, paint and gluten to name but a few. We do so to confirm that any contaminants in the powder we are using is well below any of the Australian food standard regulations and even below those allowed in organic farming.

Inflammation is the driver of disease and with modern lifestyles leading us to produce more and more chronic inflammation, it’s more important than ever to counteract this. The incredible anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and anti-oxidant benefits of turmeric are the reason we designed the turmeric blend and continue to encourage people to include this powerful ingredient into their diet.

Feel the difference for yourself, shop the best turmeric supplement now.

You might also be interested in “Introducing: The Prebiotic Blend“.

Introducing: The Prebiotic Blend

Posted on by Tim Ashton

We at Flourish are so excited to announce the hatching of our newest member of the Flourish family: our inulin powder Prebiotic Blend!

Our prebiotic blend.

This blend, our new natural prebiotics made up of chicory root, green banana flour, cinnamon, cardamom, cacao, aniseed, fennel, orange and ginger nourishes your gut, leaving you feeling healthy and happy.

Gut health is a buzz term at the moment and an important one at that. It’s also something we are constantly getting asked about from our customers and clients, so a prebiotic blend was the obvious choice when it came to developing our next product.

So what does it do?

We have approximately 100 trillion bacterias in our guts, made up of 700-1500 unique species.  The greater the number of species that call our gut home, the more diverse it is, and the greater our gut diversity are, the healthier we will be.

The prebiotic blend feeds your gut with all that it needs to grow more species of bacteria.

How does it work?

The gut-loving ingredients we mentioned earlier are all to thank when it comes to how this blend works.

The star of the blend, chicory root is a wonderful source of inulin, one of the special fibre groups that bacteroids (one of the major players in immune health) love. Green banana flour is also a major source of resistant starch.

Probiotics love all things fibre, especially resistant starch.  Resistant starch is a type of fibre that resists being absorbed high up in the gut thereby making its way to the large colon where all the probiotics live. 

They see it come through, do a happy dance, eat till they are full and healthy and by downstream effect, feed your colonocytes or colon cells, making your bowel healthy and happy.

Why not a probiotic?

Probiotic is just another name for gut microbe. Most probiotics on the market are made up of 8-15 different species.  There may be billions of them, but it is not the number of microbes that is important, it is the number of species.

If the number of species in your gut is small and there is an overabundance of one particular species it leaves you feeling unwell and can lead to food allergies and intolerances.

Our founder, Medicinal Nutritionist Kathy Ashton says that this blend can benefit anyone and everyone.

“This blend will change your life. Remember you need to feed your own gut microbes in order for you to be perfectly healthy. Go forth and Flourish!”

Give your gut the diversity it needs and your body the wellness it deserves.

Let’s Shop the Prebiotic Blend.

You might also be interested in “Why Cleanse?“.

Why Cleanse?

Posted on by Tim Ashton

You’ve probably heard the term before, sprawled across magazines, health products or your social media news feed, but the idea of ‘cleansing’ really began in rehabilitation centres. It was originally coined for people addicted to drugs and alcohol going ‘clean’. However, despite what a lot of fad diets and brands would like you to believe, there is really no such thing as ‘cleansing’ the body – at least not in the way you might imagine.

The human body is built to eliminate toxins and waste and it works hard on your behalf every day. A 24-hour built-in cleaning system can be found in the form of your liver, kidneys, skin and lungs, which are constantly monitoring, filtering, cleaning out toxins and harmful substances from your body. If you were left to your own devices here, these substances would very quickly build up and cause some serious damage. That being said, we are certainly able to help our body out and provide support in the way of what we eat and nutrients that ‘cleanse’ or ‘detox’ the body.

The Cleanse has been designed to rest the body from the onslaught of C.R.A.P (calorie rich and processed) foods that we often overindulge in. As medicinal nutritionists, we know that certain bodily processes and functions work more optimally when you feed them the foods they love to eat, and remove the crap foods that slow them down. Instead of trying to do your body’s job for it, you will be providing it with nutrient-rich foods that feed every cell and support every organ so it can work optimally. To do that, we have packed our ‘cleanse’ full of whole foods, rich in the right nutrients, and eliminate foods that do not support peak body function.

By increasing foods that allow for good peristaltic movements of the digestive system and removing foods that make it sluggish, you are allowing it to rest. The whole foods we have included in The Cleanse are high in fibre, which acts like a brush removing build-up from the walls of the bowel for optimal digestive function. They also feed or fertilise your good gut bacteria and assist in creating a more diverse range of gut bacteria. This has a flow on effect for your overall health as the happier these little guys are, the better our immune system, brain function and mood is.

Now that you’re sold on the benefits, selecting your ‘cleanse’ is the tricky part. If it’s calorie-restricted, involves too many juices or smoothies or it cuts down on the diversity of nutrients you consume then it should be avoided. Your ‘cleanse’ should not be calorie-restricted, because weight loss shouldn’t be the primary goal here. If you do lose weight by restricting calories, you will more than likely put it back on and more. A good ‘cleanse’ should based on plant-based whole foods and include a variety of vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds. The focus should be on a high fibre option so that if any toxins are dumped into the bowel, they can bind with the fibre and ship it out the back door, rather than being reabsorbed. This process should be done at least once a year, but twice is ideal. If you really wanted to look after your body, try ‘cleansing’ at the beginning of each new season.

We’ve done the hard work for you and designed The Cleanse to rest your body from rich, highly processed foods, alcohol, processed sugars and other junk foods while ensuring your body gets the nutrients it deserves.  We have included the Daily Detox Blend to work as food for the liver cells and each phase of the detoxification process, allowing it to function optimally. This is not a juice cleanse, fad weight loss plan or a restricted-calorie diet. This cleanse, developed by qualified Medicinal Nutritionists, uses food as medicine to revive your body, leaving you feeling invigorated and healthy.

Find out more here.

You might also be interested in “Staying Healthy During The Silly Season“.

Staying Healthy During The Silly Season

Posted on by Tim Ashton

Summer is coming. Now despite its promise of warmer weather, long beach days, and perhaps even some time off work, it still seems to strike fear into our hearts.

The summer months can be a really confronting time – a time of skirts and sandals, sleeveless dresses, shorts, and of course the dreaded bathing suits. A time when we worry that perhaps we were a little too zealous, a little too carefree, with our food choices throughout winter. We may be body positive, but do we feel it?

Trust me, it doesn’t have to be this way! Let’s think again…

Summer brings with it the most wonderful food choices and meals. Exercise and the outdoors are that much more enticing, and we often naturally find ourselves eating a little healthier and feeling a little lighter. If summer is a time for anything, then it’s a time for some sun and some socialising.

But, wait a minute, I see some red flags waiving! Socialising…it’s that one aspect of summer that has the potential to threaten all of our good work and undermine all of our best intentions… It’s party season.

Summer in the southern hemisphere is Silly Season. Parties can be a nightmare when you are committed to a particular diet regime. The food offered at parties? Often ‘gourmet’, regularly deep fried, and rarely meat and dairy free. And don’t get us started on the traditional Christmas lunch. Wholefood, plant-based, oil-free eating? Not so much.

“Oh my goodness! How can I continue to eat healthy when I’m averaging two parties per week?!” It’s a refrain I hear constantly, so here’s a plan of attack:

Tip #1

If it’s a friend hosting the party, try telling them what you require. Keep it simple. I usually tell friends that I have a strict diet regime due to a health challenge, and that I would be more than happy with a salad and a spud. Otherwise I ask whether it is acceptable for me to bring my own food, and just let them know what that food is likely to be. If you say it is for health reasons, no one feels threatened or put-out – and they’re your friend, they’ll understand!

Tip #2

Restaurants. Once again, ring ahead and tell them what you require. Are they able to accommodate your health requirements? All you need is a simple salad, steamed vegetables, potatoes, a lentil or rice dish. Trust me, they will appreciate the forewarning and happily cater for you – especially when you are accompanied by a large group of people – customer satisfaction is good business!

Tip #3

Eat before you go. This is a challenging one. It requires a little organisation and, I’m not going to lie, occasionally leaves you feeling rude or removed from the group. Just remember your priorities. It staves off temptation once you arrive, but also leaves you free to simply enjoy what vegetables and salads may be on offer.

Honour Yourself by using our natural detox

Remember the commitment you have made to yourself to honour your health and healing journey. Personal growth, authenticity, and integrity are some of my key values, which makes sticking to my eating regime non-negotiable.

Enjoy the festive season for the people, not the food, and you’ll be surprised just how wonderful you feel about yourse.

You might also be interested in “The #1 Diet Tip That Will Change Your Life“.