seeing differently

It’s January and I really want to start the New Year feeling good so for 60 days husband and I are doing a totally holistic cleanse. I like to do the odd fast and cleanse from juice fasts at the spring equinox to eating mung beans for 40 days on the yoga teacher training so this is nothing new for me but my motives are.

My plan involves the following: No gluten, dairy, wheat, sugar, starchy carbs, alcohol, caffeine or tap water. I’m then having hot water and lemon every morning and doing at least 10 minutes a day of meditation, manifesting, affirmations, shakti dancing or rebounding. Plus a bit of pampering at least twice a month. (check out groupon for amazing offers on massages)

This wasn’t a dodgy New Year’s resolution to lose weight or diet (because news flash – diets don’t work) but actually a resolution to spend more time this year honouring myself. We generally don’t spend enough time doing stuff that makes us feel good because of being busy or (in my case) being plain lazy. This also isn’t about denial, or self loathing. I’ve been on a huge journey to like myself so the last thing I want to do is punish myself. Lots of resolutions fail because the motive is to change something we don’t like about ourselves. I often hear ” if I just lost a stone/stop smoking/ change job I’d be happy” the choice is to be happy now.

I’m a Kinesiology Teacher, a Reiki Master and a Yoga Teacher with a wealth of tools at my disposal and I walk my talk but I’m not perfect (who is?) and I have my demon foods the same as everyone else. However when I combined a difficult year, a busy lifestyle and the odd glass of wine, being lazy with meditation and giving in to occasional trigger foods, the result was not feeling as sparkly and dynamic as I could. The yogic belief is that 40 days breaks a habit, I’m doing 60 because I want to really improve my commitment to myself. This is a self-love revolution.

So I’m a week in and loving it. It’s not that I can’t have foods, or a lazy lie in, it honestly feels that I don’t want to. I’ve given myself a better option – changing your mind set with your resolutions is really important. If you feel denial or misery your body will produce the stress hormone. If you feel bliss it releases the happy hormone. If you come from a place of committing to yourself with deep self love you will truly change your life. It will feel really good and you will be spreading that joy wherever you go. That’s real revolution.

I'm not going out in that hoolie

I feel like a big lump of lard. This should not be happening. I am a fabulous Kinesiologist, Nutritionist and Yoga Teacher. Surely fit and healthy, spiritually evolved people (ahem) don’t feel like giant lumps? Well apparently they do when they completely let go over the Christmas holidays, ignore all their nutrition knowledge and eat double their body weight in cheese, biscuits and Cadburys Roses.

Sigh.

And here it is. January. The month sent to punish us for our chocolate sins. When the weather is blowing a hoolie, New Years resolutions are making us miserable, the detox has begun and we’re back at work. What a bummer.

Okay so how can we cheer ourselves up? Here are my six top tips for surviving January

1.    Everyone likes to detox in January and this is all well and good, giving up the booze, bad fats, wheat, dairy and sugar is certainly something I would recommend. However don’t jump straight into a juice fast. Its cold and damp, we do not want to be putting cold and damp foods into our body at this time of year, it simply makes us… well, cold and damp. Save your juice fast for summer and stick with warming seasonal foods like soups during these winter months.

2.   More warmth a coming. This time warm up your plums, oooh err. Warm fruit makes them easier to digest this time of year and they taste better too. Make sure they are seasonal - plums, apples, nectarines, prunes, pears and rhubarb. Stick some spices such as cinnamon in there. Really tasty and not like dieting at all.

3.   Support your body with a gentle detox. Most ‘off the shelf’ detoxes are hard work and make you feel like rubbish. This healthy starter pack gently cleanses the bowel, intestinal, urinary, liver and circulation all together making you feel rather lovely.

4.   Do the exercise you love. I see so many people running miserably around a cold park. If you don’t love it you won’t stick with it. Plus your body releases chemicals depending on your emotional state. If your body is under stress, you will release adrenalin and cortisol which when circulating around the body can create fat storage, illness and sugar imbalances. Better to find something you love doing –rollerskating, trampolining on those mini trampettes or dancing like a loony in your kitchen to your favourite music. Joy is the best detoxifier there is.

5.   We work with Bach Flower Remedies in our clinic which are a wonderful way to balance emotional problems. At this time of year I can recommend

• Mustard for gloom
• Gorse for hopelessness
• Gentian for despondency

Chose the one that suits your mood and it will help lift your spirits.

6.    Every morning say this sentence ‘I am grateful for…’ and fill in the gap. Even if you are just grateful for a warm shower or finding two socks that match.

So these are my suggestions for getting through a winter of discontent. What are yours? Please share your thoughts.

Hi my name is Claire and I’m a sugarholic. I’ve been (almost) clean for about three years but  every day is a new battle.

I’ve eliminated a lot of different foods in my life but sugar was (and continues to be) the hardest. Surely something that tastes this good can’t be that bad for you? Even the word feels good when you roll it around in your mouth!

So why is it so hard? Firstly there is the unavoidable fact that beating a sugar addiction is not too disimilar an experience to coming off of hard drugs but there is also the problem that it goes by so many different names: glucose, fructose,sucrose, maltodextrin, lactose, the list is endless! But above and beyond all of that is the emotional connection we have to it. Sugar is used to celebrate all the good things that happen in our lives we have birthday cakes, big tins of choccies at Christmas, Easter eggs, ice creams on a sunny day, wedding cakes and christening cakes not to mention when we were little and fell over we were given the odd bit of chocolate or sweeties to make it all better. Continue Reading