If you are feeling depleted, run down, dog-tired or even jittery and maybe sleep is eluding you altogether, condemning you to a Groundhog Day of symptoms, this blog is for you.

‘Burnout’ isn’t an official diagnosis but it perfectly describes a situation whereby you feel so completely depleted that you simply cannot function the way that you want or need to.

Your body is designed to handle a great deal. Humans are primed to be resilient and to bounce back after adversity. Yet there is only so much your body can take before it starts to falter – or worse.

That is known as ‘adrenal dysregulation’ or ‘HPA axis dysfunction’. The latter stands for hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis dysfunction, the current term for what we used to referred to as ‘adrenal fatigue’.

Perhaps you’re wondering whether that might apply to your health…

Adrenal gland ‘dysfunction’ is largely overlooked in conventional medicine,...

I always seem to be behind when it comes to Apple Day, missing out (yet again) on all the fantastic apple-themed farm shop activities.

I *should* have been talking about apples last week but, since it’s not an actual law, here I am today.

One thing we are really good at in this part of the world is growing apples. Sadly, you don’t get to see so many of our delicious varieties in supermarkets but, in honour of this fantastic fruit, it’s worth making a pilgrimage to your nearest farm shop to see what is on offer.

If you were looking today for a fancy recipe, I am so sorry. But how about I tempt you with something that is really versatile and that you will use in lots of different ways, over and over again?

You may know that a simple apple sauce is fantastic with your Sunday roast pork. It is also one of the best low carb dessert ingredients.

What is special about apple sauce is that you have the natural sugars from the fruit PLUS the fibre from the skin, which means...

It’s World Menopause Month all through October and, while I’m not planning a street parade, now is the perfect time to focus on your health and get the help you need if you even slightly suspect you might be headed towards menopause.

While in the thick of menopause-related symptoms, it might feel like nothing you try would make any difference but there really are things that are game-changers, and I want to share some of these with you today.

As a nutritionist and health coach specialising in helping women rebalance their wonky lady hormones, I speak to women over 40 every day and many of them are having the worst time of their lives when their experience could and should be so much better.

The thing that bothers me most from the people I speak to is the misinformation, confusion and shame about this time in a woman’s life. It’s like it’s some big secret of which we must not speak, which is weird given it’s something that half the human population...

 It’s astonishing how much rubbish gets into your body: through the foods you eat, and the chemicals used to produce them, through chemicals in your personal care products and the things you use to clean your home. You are what you eat, what you put on your body, what you absorb from the environment – and cannot get rid of.

In case you’re wondering, your body is built to get rid of the junk you’re putting in and it’s detoxing on a daily basis BUT there’s this thing called the allostatic load. That’s code for ‘your body can only handle so much'. When your body exceeds its capacity to detoxify, you start to notice a host of unwelcome symptoms

What are the symptoms of sluggish detoxification?

All of the following are signs you have exceeded your body’s capacity to detoxify and your body needs some extra detox support:

1 Struggling to lose weight or weight loss plateau

2 Hormonal problems (PMS, endometriosis, fibroids, bad...

Did you ever start some kind of weight loss programme only to find your partner - who was kind of participating because otherwise he wasn't getting fed - lost more weight more quickly than you?  And without even trying!

Totally, utterly unfair and annoying, right?  

It's not just your experience. It's an actual phenomenon. 

There are a number of reasons why this happens - which is what this article is all about - but the bottom line is that men and women need different weight loss solutions. I'll tell you about that too. 

Reason 1: Women carry more fat. Men have more muscle

Thanks to differences in body composition, women are at a disadvantage right out of the gate because we naturally carry more fat than men. Men have more muscle mass, and muscle is metabolically “expensive” to keep. That means it uses up energy – and that’s calories to you and me - even when at rest while fat does not. Muscles burn considerably more calories...

Summer is a funny old time - and this one (yet again) is no different. But it is what it is and don't let it be your excuse to let all your healthy intentions go. When summer goes wrong is when we allow it to drift aimlessly around, with nothing concrete in place. Whatever you do then starts to feel shoot-from-the-hip chaos and, ultimately unsatisfying.

So, my big question for you is what ONE thing makes all the difference?

(Checks the audience for raised hands).

The thing that will help you is planning. Very boring, I know and sorry about that. 

Planning is what - in epidemiology - they call the tipping point. That's code for, get that right and everything else falls into place.

That means planning your planning, too. Sitting down to work out what you will be eating and when, and also shopping for the stuff, which means that you will actually have the right stuff in the fridge and the cupboards to eat. Genius.

Otherwise, this is what happens...

No time for breakfast or nothing...

Who could do with a little extra sleep, more energy and a buffer against the stress that life throws at you? I’m in. Are you?

While you can expect to see the biggest impact through making more strategic changes to what you eat (protein with every meal, lots of veggies, easy on the carbs), it’s true that some foods have special magic powers.

If you said yes to more sleep, more energy and greater resilience, I have some good news for you… There is a group of plants that can help with exactly this and much more. Adaptogens have been rocketed in popularity in recent years and for good reason. As the name suggests, they can help you to ‘adapt’ and thrive despite life’s inevitable ups and downs. Your busy modern lives demand a lot from you physically, mentally and emotionally and adaptogens can help to ease the burden and combat the side effects of stress.

What are adaptogens?

‘Adaptogens’ is the name for certain herbs and medicinal...

When it's hot, hot, hot, we often find ourselves reaching for more to drink. Makes sense, right. You're thirsty, so drink up? But the advice on the specific amounts can be a bit confusing. 

There are some really GREAT reasons why drinking more water is a good idea for health in general but also for weight loss. Ready? Here we go:

Water can help you burn more calories

In adults, studies show being well hydrated increased calorie burn by 24–30% within 10 minutes of drinking water and the effect lasts at least 60 minutes. Another study of overweight women looked at what happened when they upped their water intake to over 1 litre per day. Here's what: over the course of the year, this lead to an extra 2 kg (4.4 lbs) of weight loss. The effects were more marked when they drank cold water, given your body uses extra energy (or calories) warming the water to body temperature. And these women did nothing else to their diet and lifestyle but...

Most of us know how to eat well and to be well. You can probably think back to a time when you were ‘on fire’ with this whole eating business. Not literally, obviously, but what I mean is that whatever you were doing just WORKED and everything went just as you wanted it to.

And then, well, life starts to take over, things slip and slide and, before you know it, you’re back to eating crisps in the car.

‘How did things get like this?’ you ask despondently.

More importantly, it can feel really hard to even see how you can get yourself back on track because the work to do seems so monumental.

The answer? Find your tipping point and take action right there.

How can finding your tipping point help with weight loss?

In epidemiology, the tipping point is that moment when a small change tips the balance of a system and brings about a large change – this is what New York Times writer and author Malcolm Gladwell writes about. He’s talking about big...

Even though winter has a lot going for it – woolly hats, hot chocolate, curling up with a book, thick socks, a log fire and other things ‘hygge’ come to mind – something important is missing: light.

At this time of year, you go to work before sunrise and come home after sunset, with very little exposure to natural light in between. This lack of light over months on end causes serious problems for many people.

According to BUPA, the ‘winter blues’, or seasonal affective disorder (SAD), affects about 3% of the population. Occurring every autumn like clockwork, it comes with a variety of symptoms, including low mood, listlessness, an increased need for sleep and cravings for sweets and carbohydrates – and therefore weight gain. It affects women more often than men, and particularly people who are on the verge of depression already.

 How do you feel about your winter mood?

The exact cause of SAD is not yet properly understood, but it is...