Our bodies are fantastic machines that are finely tuned for splendid results across the board. We can run, jump, sing (badly in my case), breathe, eat, communicate, process thought and generally make an awful lot of mischief. But what happens when our body is out of balance?
Our main elimination organs are the lungs, skin, bowel and the kidneys. These organs expel by-products from natural bodily processes and also deal with the chemical load of anything we take into our system.
When we talk about 'toxins' in nutritional therapy, we refer to the substances that exist in the body that are treated as toxic and disarmed and eliminated through the excretory organs. These organs silently do their jobs so religiously throughout the day that we are barely aware they exist.
Everything we breathe in, put on our skin or ingest is dealt with by these organs. All substances we need are utilised and everything we don't need is excreted; a finely tuned system we rely on for good health.
The problem is that as we breathe in pollution, eat chemically loaded foods, lather our bodies with chemically laden cosmetics at the same time as naturally creating chemical by-products from our bodies own functions, our elimination organs start to tire. When one organ tires the others take on the load and we end up in a constant state of toxicity with little chance of processing it all.
Our intestines and colons are loaded with undigested rubbish due to low fibre, low water diets. The waste sits in our bodies and putrefies whilst the new food we eat passes by it slowly and gets expelled at a sluggish rate. Instead of only absorbing the new fresh food, we are also constantly absorbing the putrefied matter and it is sent directly to our liver for processing all the time. This continual process is called auto-intoxication and it leaves us feeling rubbish!
Symptoms of toxic overload:
Fatigue
Bags or dark circles under the eyes
Low energy
Skin/complexion problems
Digestive disorders
Frequent illness
Bloating
Weak hair and nails
Bad breath/body odour
Shallow breathing
Eventually remaining in a toxic condition can lead to other more serious illnesses so addressing diet, lifestyle and doing a good detox is preventative medicine that we should all be putting into practice to remain fit and happy.
Start today by drinking more water and eating as much fresh fruit and vegetables as you can. The road to good health is one step at a time and this seems like an easy first move to make... be kind to your liver :)
Josie
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Sugar: More addictive than cocaine?
Most of us are unaware of how much sugar is in our diet everyday. If we think about sugar in our foods we generally think about added sugar that we sprinkle on to things, or eating lots of desserts and chocolate bars. The truth is that sugar is hidden in loads of foods that we would never think could contain it.
Look on labels for these names which all represent sugar in a product:
Look on labels for these names which all represent sugar in a product:
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
What is intuition?
A crossroad in life is always a fantastic opportunity to grow and flourish and generally get to know ourselves more completely. But how do we know which way to go?
When people have told me in the past to go with my gut, I have always found it vague and dismissive. My gut? Is this not the end of my digestive tract? A space full of waste? I hardly think I should trust it to make major life decisions. It is bound to be as confused as I am.
But as time has gone by I have started to trust myself. I realise that my 'gut' or my 'intuition' (my general inside feeling about the situation) is the one that I should rely on.
The trouble is it can take a really long time before we are honest with ourselves. Sometimes we try to force ourselves down a track which seems more appealing or safe. Our inner voice gets left in the dark, it is far too hard to listen to sometimes as it means making painful change or facing our fears.
I have typed similar blogs before about decision making and paths being fluid, changing and interlinked. But this time I want us to focus on the intuition or inner knowing that we have within us. The voice inside that knows it is right.
We are not our thoughts. Our thoughts can be manipulated and changed based on feelings or intention. Feelings are not real, as they can be created and manipulated by our thoughts. But deep behind the tricky layers of the personality is a space where we simply know what we should be doing. I think we all know that voice, we can bury it, ignore it and pretend it is not there, but it will always find a way to resurface.
We change, we are fluid in our essence, we don't need to be what we believe we are. There are no limits to the person you are. We are not our past or our future. We are all so keen to box and compartmentalise our personalities and our lives. 'I am like this. I am like that. I like that kind of person. I always behave like this'. Let's stop defining ourselves and making decisions based on who we have been. It is limiting and confusing and ultimately impossible.
So, next time you decide to bury that voice away, remind yourself that it is only a temporary fix, a saving grace, a pause, before your intuition pulls you back into alignment and you continue on the path that serves you best. There is always something to be learnt along the way even if we hide our intuition for a while, but let's not do it too long and repeat patterns that are stopping us from being the best version of ourselves.
We are all completely worthy of whatever it is we want to achieve, make sure that the only person standing in your way is willing to step aside once in a while and allow you to move forward (you).
Josie
When people have told me in the past to go with my gut, I have always found it vague and dismissive. My gut? Is this not the end of my digestive tract? A space full of waste? I hardly think I should trust it to make major life decisions. It is bound to be as confused as I am.
But as time has gone by I have started to trust myself. I realise that my 'gut' or my 'intuition' (my general inside feeling about the situation) is the one that I should rely on.
The trouble is it can take a really long time before we are honest with ourselves. Sometimes we try to force ourselves down a track which seems more appealing or safe. Our inner voice gets left in the dark, it is far too hard to listen to sometimes as it means making painful change or facing our fears.
I have typed similar blogs before about decision making and paths being fluid, changing and interlinked. But this time I want us to focus on the intuition or inner knowing that we have within us. The voice inside that knows it is right.
We are not our thoughts. Our thoughts can be manipulated and changed based on feelings or intention. Feelings are not real, as they can be created and manipulated by our thoughts. But deep behind the tricky layers of the personality is a space where we simply know what we should be doing. I think we all know that voice, we can bury it, ignore it and pretend it is not there, but it will always find a way to resurface.
We change, we are fluid in our essence, we don't need to be what we believe we are. There are no limits to the person you are. We are not our past or our future. We are all so keen to box and compartmentalise our personalities and our lives. 'I am like this. I am like that. I like that kind of person. I always behave like this'. Let's stop defining ourselves and making decisions based on who we have been. It is limiting and confusing and ultimately impossible.
So, next time you decide to bury that voice away, remind yourself that it is only a temporary fix, a saving grace, a pause, before your intuition pulls you back into alignment and you continue on the path that serves you best. There is always something to be learnt along the way even if we hide our intuition for a while, but let's not do it too long and repeat patterns that are stopping us from being the best version of ourselves.
We are all completely worthy of whatever it is we want to achieve, make sure that the only person standing in your way is willing to step aside once in a while and allow you to move forward (you).
Josie
Friday, January 6, 2012
Tasty salad Recipe...
I created a salad today that I thought I would share with you...
Yummy Salad
Main Salad
Two large Kale leaves
1/4 small cabbage
Handful of cooked brown rice
Dressing
4 tomatoes
1/2 small red onion
sprig of coriander
1 clove of garlic
pinch of salt
To Top off
Cayenne pepper
Dash of Cumin
Sunflower seeds
Pumpkin Seeds
I finely chopped the cabbage and kale and tossed them together with the brown rice to create a base.
I then added all the tomatoes, onion, garlic, coriander and salt into the blender to create a salsa like dressing.
I poured the salsa over the chopped base and massaged it all together. Finally I put a shake of cayenne, cumin on the top and sprinkled with pumpkin and sunflower seeds.
Enjoy :)
Yummy Salad
Main Salad
Two large Kale leaves
1/4 small cabbage
Handful of cooked brown rice
Dressing
4 tomatoes
1/2 small red onion
sprig of coriander
1 clove of garlic
pinch of salt
To Top off
Cayenne pepper
Dash of Cumin
Sunflower seeds
Pumpkin Seeds
I finely chopped the cabbage and kale and tossed them together with the brown rice to create a base.
I then added all the tomatoes, onion, garlic, coriander and salt into the blender to create a salsa like dressing.
I poured the salsa over the chopped base and massaged it all together. Finally I put a shake of cayenne, cumin on the top and sprinkled with pumpkin and sunflower seeds.
Enjoy :)
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