How to beat anxiety?

A good friend asked me to post about anxiety and I realised how terribly common this condition is these days.

Feeling anxious and nervous about life is a common symptom of modern lifestyles. So many people go through the day dodging various levels of unease by finding sanctuary in distraction.  These days we are on sensory overload with screens, sounds and advertising infiltrating us without the need for trying.  This means that sitting with ourselves and focusing on our needs, is something which rarely happens.  

It is so much easier to put on the latest episode of your favorite programme than to sit on the sofa in silence and focus inside on your pain, your dreams and what you really want to do with your days. This means that so many people are pushing their feelings back down into the abyss of the psyche where they can fester for a while before they reappear to be dealt with or ignored.

If your feelings are constantly being ignored and pushed down out of sight, then sometimes they appear as simply a feeling without any apparent root cause.  This is a feeling of anxiety or panic.  A sudden feeling of not being able to cope or manage your day, or possibly even that minute.

This is much more common than people realise and symptoms of anxiety can be anything from biting your nails to full blown panic attacks.  The key here is to notice your behaviour.  Once you realise you are displaying physical or mental patterns of stress then you are already in a place of power to do something about it.  Once you recognise that you are suffering with stress then you can take steps to dismantle it, starting with the outside layers and moving into the middle to find out what is really going on!

Here are my five top tips to beat anxiety:

1. Exercise.  Getting yourself to the gym or on a long walk is a great way to release the build up of adrenaline which builds up during the day.  Sometimes adrenaline can make you feel panicky.  Take yourself outside and get some fresh air.

2.  Meditation.  This is a great tool for lowering your heart rate and finding a place inside yourself where you can relax and retreat, honing this skill is probably the most useful tool you can ever have.

3.  Chamomile Tea.  This wonderful herb has great carmative properties.  Drink this to get a feeling of total calm and reassurance. 

Read more about how to drink chamomile here: http://therealfoodcoach.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-benefits-of-chamomile-tea.html

4.  Kick Caffeine.  This substance actually mimics the stress response.  Needless to say that if you are already feeling wired and anxious, this is not a good idea.  Switch to herbal teas!  

5.  Count your blessings.  Spend as much time as you can focusing on what is going right in your life.  This is a great way of dispelling negative thoughts which can lead to anxious behaviour.

Everything is going to be fine, it always is in the end.  Finding a way to manage the times when you feel like things are far from fine, is a very useful tool in life and everyone will have a different pathway to get to that place.  

Just keep trying different techniques and remember that life is a magical journey which goes up and down, the lows are always followed by highs, allow yourself to recognise both and embrace the roller coaster instead of fighting it.  When this feels impossible, then try the techniques above to get you through.

Good luck!

Josie Was this useful?  Like My facebook page... :)

The Benefits of Chamomile Tea

We all love a cup of tea, especially when it involves a good chat with a friend full of juicy news.  However, instead of reaching for your normal caffeinated brew, why not try something different, like a chamomile infusion?  

If you need convincing then read on, because a cup of chamomile tea might do more than give you a warm drink to chat over...


1.  Chamomile is a great relaxing herb so it will cleanse your nervous system and make you feel regenerated instead of depleted.

2.  It is anti-spasmodic so it can calm an aggravated digestive system after a meal. If you often experience digestive discomfort then this is the tea for you.

3.  Chamomile is fantastic for releasing stress from the body and giving you some head space after a long day, for this reason it makes a great tea to drink before bed for a great nights sleep.  

4.  As well as making you feel calm, chamomile can help with ladies menstrual cramps so it really is a girls best friend at that time of the month.  Great way to get in the good books too boys, just make her a cup and watch the smile! ;)

5. It has a purifying effect on the lungs so inhale your herbal infusion deeply for double healing power!

To get the most of this healing herb buy the flowers loose and put them in a tea strainer or ball.  I have a small stainless steel ball which clips the flowers in and clamps closed to work like a home-made tea bag, it just dangles from the side of my cup as it releases healing magic into the water!

Give it a go.

Josie. Was this useful?  Like My facebook page... :)

High Grade Supplements Available from The Real Food Coach: Practitioner Quality.

If you know you need an extra boost and you are concerned about where to find high grade supplements which are not full of hidden nasties then visit The Real Food Coach Shop to buy supplements you can trust.  

Lamberts philosophy of healthcare is all about 'sound' science - they only develop products that are at the right potency and supported by a valid scientific rationale.

Established in 1982, Lamberts is the UK's leading supplier of specialist dietary supplements to Practitioners and Pharmacists who use nutrition and herbs in healthcare.  They offer extensive product ranges including vitamins, minerals. herbs, multiple formulas, fish oil and glucosamine, as well as more specialised products.

All Lamberts products are manufactured in the UK to stringent pharmaceutical standards of good manufacturing practice (GMP) and approved by the UK Department of Health, so you can be assured that ll their products are of the highest pharmaceutical standard.

If you need recommendations feel free to email me at:therealfoodcoachcompany@gmail.com

Exercise that IS NOT BORING.

We all know that exercise must and definitely should be a massive part of our lives.  'Half an hour a day' is pushed upon us in a neat little block of time in which we should move our bodies to make them sweat. Everyday?  Or was it five times a week? YAWN.  I cannot imagine anything more boring that choosing a time of day in which I am supposed to use my body in this way because I have been told to by the health police.

So, I choose to exercise my body in ways that feel invisible and are certainly for enjoyment or time saving more than health or weight loss.  I know you must agree this sounds more fun?

Now I realise that some people love to 'work it' in the gym (and hats off to them), I think that is a fabulous thing and I commend you as you head off on those dark nights, gym bag tucked under arm.  However for those of us who squirm at the word treadmill?  Here are my five most fabulous ways of exercising without getting bored or feeling like we are doing something we were told to.

Surfing is a fabulous way to exhaust
yourself without it feeling like a chore.  I took this in
North Wales in the winter so no climate excuses!
Although, admittedly, it is not me!

1. Cycling to Work.  This is much faster than walking and I see it as a time saving joy. It simply makes sense.  Enough said. If you cannot cycle to work then just try and forget a lot of things so at least you have to run back into the house at least 5 times before you leave in the morning (I think this is standard anyway).


2. Climbing.  I love my new climbing hobby, it is the most fantastic way of not realising you are exercising.  your goal is to reach the top of the wall, that is simply all you can focus on.  Exercise? pff.  This is a mission.


3. Free Dancing.  I recently made new friends and completely annihilated my calves by throwing my body around with random dance moves to funky tunes and equally silly ones without alcohol.  This may sound totally mad, it is exactly that.  I have not exercised that hard for years.  Sorry, did I say exercise?  It was dancing at its worst and totally impossible to stop.  Fabulous.  If you live near Whitstable, Kent and want to join in then check out the facebook group managed by the glorious Bev Croft and join us for pant swinging laughter.  Just click on the link below!

Bev Croft's Pant Swinging Lovliness!


4. Long Walks with Good Friends.  Wandering through the woods makes you feel like a kid again when you are with the right people.  You can walk for hours, wondering at the world without realising you have been on the go for two hours.  Follow with chai tea and a log fire.  Splendid Sundays.


5. Trampolining and hula hooping.  Buy a mini trampoline and bounce on it.  This is never going to feel anything less than magical.  Follow it with some hula hooping magic and you will feel ten years younger and very out of breath!

Enjoy exercising without exercising!

Josie :) Was this useful?  Like My facebook page... :)

How can you improve your genes?

Ok, so I do not mean that you can grow a few inches overnight with a magic pill or suddenly turn your hair to that luscious shade of red you have been craving.  Some of our genes are set in stone when we are born and they will always be that way unless we take unnatural measure to change them.  We have a blue print in our DNA that decides how we will look and how our health will pan out and in some ways that is our fate at birth.

However, the good news is that we can change the way our genes are expressed overtime by taking care of our bodies and making sure they do not get out of balance.  If we eat refined foods, don't drink enough water, sleep too little and party hard, then our genes are going to express themselves differently than if we take specific steps to protect our bodies.

So why do some people smoke and drink all their years and still live long lives? 

This will come down to predisposed factors; some people will have what we call a strong constitution and will be inherently better at processing environmental toxins.  A constitution of a person is dependent on their inherited characteristics and is influenced by many factors, particularly the environment.  The weakest organ will react to a strong stimulus but the threshold at which it will cause disease varies from one individual to another.

So, some people can be really good all their lives and seem to do all the right things but still get sick, which seems terribly unfair.



So what do we do with this information?  Here are my 3 top tips for keeping your genes working for you, instead of against you.

1. Eat good quality proteins.  Amino acids are the building blocks of your entire system, if you choose good quality proteins (organic meat and fish in small amounts and nuts, pulses and dark leafy greens) then you are giving your body great tools to express your genes with.  Low quality fatty meats and chemical laden produce will not give you the the quality protein genes need to create a healthy body.

2. Drink plenty of filtered water.  When our body is dehydrated our whole system goes into a state of toxicity.  Our cell membranes struggle to let calcium and sodium out of the cells and we become highly acidic.  This is a perfect environment for disease and our genes will struggle to create healthy tissues.  Drink plenty of water and your body will be able to detoxify through the kidneys and bowel, leaving you feeling great.

3. Supplementation.  In the modern world it is almost impossible to get all the nutrients we need.  Not only do we not have the time to eat all those vegetables, but we don't have fresh choices.  The vitamin C in a piece of fruit is most potent at the point of ripeness on the tree.  By the time it gets to your house?  It rarely has much left!  Our genes need a full nutritional toolbox to create the best version of you, so supplement your diet with high grade supplements.

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Good Luck with your gene expression!

Josie :)

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How to beat winter colds and Cold weather blues.

In the UK, at this time of year, we all start to sigh as the dark mornings follow the clock going back.  It is getting dark at five, we are lucky if we see the sun at all and all those signs of Autumn are fading into wintery skies.  Most of us feel a little bit dubious as the long evenings fade into black, but a lot of us also fall sick. 

When the seasons change our bodies always go through a process of change and adaptation.  Our skin adapts, we like to sleep deeper and longer and our immune system is put through a vigorous workout as we start to sink into the colder months.

The problem is most of us have been having far too much fun through the summer months and as the weather gets chilly, our bodies have not been fortified and prepared for this bout of cold.  So, what can we do to protect our bodies from this miserable cold?  Prevention is best, so taking good supplements and lots of wholesome foods is your best bet for walking out the office unaffected by the sneezing and coughs.

Here are my top tips for keeping well this season:

1. Here comes the green smoothie! Try and get one in every day of the year and your body will always be in a position of strength nutritionally.

2. Super foods.  Spirulina, goji berries...the list goes on. An immune BOOST INJECTION as you approach the cold.

3. Sleep.  We need healing sleep, under no circumstances miss out.  

4. Nourishing grains. Quinoa, brown rice, lentils.  Mix in with soups, dahl, stews and broths. Power food.

5. FRESH FRUIT and VEGGIES in all shapes and forms, some raw, some steamed.  Inhale them if you must, just get them in.

6. Most importantly in my opinion, set boundaries at work.  If you are working too hard for a boss who wants things done, ask yourself...is this benefiting my health and happiness?  If it is not, then reconsider your working arrangements.  You get one life, don't live it for someone else.  Money comes and goes, your health should not.

7. Laughter (not with a cider in hand).  Keep it light, don't let winter blues get you down.  Feeling low is also the immune system's enemy.

8. Stay wrapped up.  I know this sounds obvious, but your Mum was right, keep that neck covered up.  This is maintenance for all seasons, hot then cold is never good, whatever the weather.  Air-con, central heating, it's all playing havoc with our bodies as we go in and out.

9. Balance.  We need an equal balance of work, play, rest, relaxation and spirituality in our lives.  If this is out of whack...good health is near impossible.

10. Supplements.  If you work too hard and your diet is lacking, then there is a place for supplementation.  Here are my recommendations:

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Good Luck Staying well this season and remember, go to bed on time as often as socially possible.

Josie :)

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Vitamin C Supplements - the key to detoxification.

Vitamin C is a very well known nutrient that almost everyone has taken at some point, usually to boost the immune system.  This is the most common use of vitamin C and although it is fantastic for this purpose it also holds lots of other miraculous healing benefits. 

Vitamin C is the final link in the antioxidant cycle.  It allow all toxins to be released from the system through urination.  If the body is in short of vitamin C, which most body's are due to depleted foods and stressful lives, then it will become very toxic and in a perfect state for disease.  

A smoker uses 25mg of vitamin C every time they have a cigarette and this makes it a vital supplement for anyone that smokes, most people are low on this vitamin anyway because it is water soluble, so smokers are at very high risk of depletion.

Vitamin C is needed for a healthy immune system, healthy bones, teeth and gums as well as helping to maintain normal blood fat and cholesterol levels. Our daily requirement for vitamin C is higher than for any other water-soluble vitamin. Ideally, vitamin C needs to be taken in small amounts throughout the day and night because it is rapidly lost from the body. However, this is not always convenient which is why some good quality brands have formulated Time Release Vitamin C tablets. 

These tablets are produced by a special process that retains the nutrient in micropellets allowing it to be released slowly after the tablet has been swallowed. This means that the absorption of vitamin C is a continuous process as the gradual release takes place over 6 to 8 hours.  Cheap, high street products from supermarkets or pharmacies are often bulked with agents and produced with low grade nutrients, hence the cheap prices.  Always look for a recommended supplement and don't be scared to spend a little bit more for quality.

If you think you might be depleted in this vitamin then visit my new ebay shop to find my recommended high grade products.  

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Josie :)

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