I WROTE THIS FOR YOU...

Sleep matters, big time.

You know this deep down. No, not even deep down. You know that things aren’t so good when you don’t get to sleep well regularly. Without enough sleep, you create an uphill battle in so many different ways.

It’s an essential and natural part of life.

And yet we seem to think it’s OK – or admirable in fact – to scape by with as little of the stuff as possible. Almost as though it were a competition.

To be successful, you need to work harder, sleep less – catch up on sleep when you’re dead…

Sleep impacts on your ability to lose weight, it affects how fast you age, can prevent cancer, and dictates whether or not you are able to function at a high level.

Most people get that on a conceptual level, but I want you to get really present to why that is and what the consequences to you are of not having enough.

Unless you already know you struggle with your sleep you are probably in the space where you think...

Chocolate... 

I'm going to put it out there that there's barely been a word loaded with as many emotional triggers for anyone wanting to reach their happy weight. Right there you have: do I like it, which one do I like; should I be having it; how much chocolate am I allowed to have; can I eat chocolate and still lose weight; which chocolate bars have the fewest calories; I had chocolate yesterday;  it is wrong to have chocolate today. I whole lot of chatter in your head, right?

There’s nothing inherently wrong with chocolate - even when you want to lose weight.

For many people, chocolate is the ultimate comfort food, a guilty pleasure. There’s nothing wrong with it occasionally coming into a balanced diet but the reality is that a great number of clients, when they first come to work with me, are not eating a balanced diet. Too often chocolate is used as a pick-me-up because their energy levels are low (and, I’m so sorry to tell you that chocolate is...

Not happy with your relationship with food? Some of it is chemical. Sugary snacks and high carb meals mean you'll crave more of the same. This kind of need for certain types of food accounts for 75% of what you eat, according to experts. The rest? Well, it's up for grabs.

Regular readers of this blog may already have seen the article on habits. Today I'm talking where on earth your relationship with food came from. How you relate to food is rooted in behaviour from childhood around food and how you learned 'the way things are'. 

Food is for nourishment and it also frequently forms part of a social engagement (going out for dinner, dinner parties and so on).  If you use food for any other purpose, chances are you have a dysfunctional relationship with it.  Just like in any other relationship, the one you have with food develops over time and many things will impact it. 

To make real and lasting changes, it’s useful to explore what happened...

Feeling frisky? Or has your sex drive flatlined?

Valentine’s Day is the one day of the year when you really feel obliged to be frisky – and feel super-guilty if you don’t. For women, finding that ‘loving feeling’ is complicated, and there are so many reasons why you just don’t feel like getting jiggy with it at all. Here's what to eat to help. 

WHY IS MY LIBIDO SO LOW?

Having a low sex drive can be the result of side effects of medication, most notably anti-depressants, blood pressure drugs and, ironically, the pill. It’s also linked to chronic medical conditions like cardiovascular disease or diabetes, and relationship problems can play a huge role, and so too can stress.

But right at the top of the list for many women is hormone imbalance. When your hormones are out of whack, your libido takes a nose-dive. Fact.

When your menstrual cycle is fully functioning, the cyclical changes in oestrogen levels mean you have a few revved-up days...

One of the hardest things you’ll have to come to terms with when you want to lose weight is that all those things you have been led to believe over the years are wrong. And, although it’s not your fault, you’ve likely been going about weight loss the wrong way.

I’m sorry to have to be the one to break it to you but the weight loss industry is based on bullsh1t science. Literally, they just made it up somewhere down the line (scandalous, I know, but I’ll show you just how ridiculous it all is in a moment).

As you read this pondering, ‘why would they do that?’ keep in mind that this diet business was worth $212.1 billion globally in 2018 alone and is expected to rise to a staggering $348.1billion by 2025. Vested interests anyone? That’s not based on people eating real food, but on buying slimming products and attending diet clubs and the like. There are so many companies literally plotting against you on this because it’s simply...

This might be a familiar scenario. You’ve been doing really well with what you’re eating and drinking. You’ve maybe been more consistent with your attempts to exercise (or, hang that, actually DOING it). But then you eat a whole box of cream cakes (or whatever). You’re not even hungry. You can barely remember doing it. But you did. And now you feel annoyed. And puzzled.

WHY AM I SABOTAGING MY DIET?

Welcome to the land of self-sabotage. From a logical point of you, smart women can’t figure out what just happened. Why would you be getting in your own way and wrecking everything you have been working towards?

There are two sides to diet sabotage. There’s the downside that you feel bad and are putting the brakes on your progress. Then there’s the upside – you’ve something nice to eat that maybe you have denied yourself in a while.

There are many ways you can sabotage your progress (that’s for another post) but what I want to...

In case you hadn't noticed, it’s Veganuary, a huge celebration of being vegan. Although I'm not a vegan myself, I've worked with many vegan clients over the years and every year I do get a little 'vegan-curious'. This led me to sample the vegan burger (gluten-free bun and all) at my fave burger place. I should have known when I read 'vegan bacon' I was in for  disappointment. One of my least favourite things is heavily processed 'food' pretending to be other food. There was not a chance this smoky cardboard could even be a good thing. But back to you...

You might have been wondering whether you could go vegan and whether it will help you get healthier, lose weight and (if the vegan lobbyists are anything to go by) improve any one of a number of health markers.

And, while it’s true that some studies show that a vegan diet can do wonders for your health, it really takes something to make sure that a vegan diet is a good and balanced diet.

A REMINDER: WHAT IS...

Do you absolutely LOVE yourself or are there things you would change? This is a real January kind of question.

It’s at this time of year that you often read about being a ‘new you’. You might even have found yourself proclaiming that you are, since the clock struck midnight at the end of the year, a new person. And that new person behaves in entirely different ways and wears entirely different clothes and so on. Yes?

It always makes me smile. Like a ‘new me’ is even possible. I envisage myself all shiny and new, being unwrapped like a new fridge, first wrestling off the cardboard, then the annoying polystyrene and, finally and with some kind of flourish, dramatically unrolling myself of all the plastic wrap. I digress…

I want you to know that there is nothing wrong with the ‘old’ you. You are perfect exactly as you are and exactly as you aren’t. Sure, there will be some things that are not working right now. You might still be...

We’re all prone to a little indulgence at Christmas, but rich food and overeating can play havoc with your digestion leaving you bloated and uncomfortable. It’s not surprising - we consume on average 6,000 calories on Christmas Day alone. That’s three times the recommended daily intake for women!

There are a variety of reasons why the holidays create more tummy troubles than the rest of the year:

• You often eat more than you usually would, putting pressure on the digestive system.
• You might be drinking a lot more when you eat – whether it’s prosecco at a party or red wine on Christmas Day – and this dilutes stomach acid, making it harder to properly digest your food.
• More rich, creamy foods than you’re used to can trigger heartburn or reflux or else make IBS symptoms worse.

Though festive food and drink can be tough on the digestive system, it doesn’t have to be this way. Just follow my expert tips to trouble-proof your tummy...

Let's face it, Christmas is NOT Christmas without mince pies. I conducted a small test last year in which I eat at least one regular mince pie every day, sometimes more and it didn't go so well for me come January.
This year I'm making this healthier version. Who's for trying? Want more recipes like these? Join my free Christmas Survival Challenge HERE and get your free ebooks. 

Makes 25

For the filling
1 large apple, like Braeburn, Gala
75g raisins
75g golden sultanas
75g currants
65g dried, unsweetened cranberries
60g other dried fruit (sour cherries, blueberries, mango, apricots - dried but unsweetened)
Zest and juice of an orange
50g coconut palm sugar (or 2 tsp Stevia if you’d rather)
4 tbsp organic butter, cubed
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground ginger
1tbsp brandy

For the pastry
150g ground almonds
75g coconut flour
1 tbsp coconut palm sugar
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp sea salt
zest of an orange
115g butter, frozen. Plus a little...