I see and talk to a lot of people who have at least one area of their body that is causing them pain or discomfort.
Feeling bloated after meals
Stiff painful joints
Constant tiredness and low energy
Always getting colds and other bugs
Constipation / other ‘bowel problems’
Headaches
Most people seem resigned to putting up with it or taking medication.
These are all signs from your body that something isn’t right, and very often it comes down to food.
Everything you eat and drink is broken down and used to create new cells in your body.
You literally are what you’ve eaten.
And your body is going to feel and respond a lot differently if it is made predominantly out processed foods, crisps and chocolate, compared to if it’s made mainly out of lean protein, healthy fats and vegetables.
The human body needs real foods – lean proteins, healthy fats, vegetables, fruits and quality unrefined carbohydrates because they’re packed with all the nutrients it needs to carry out the millions of functions it does each day without you even realising.
Every single hormone, cell, organ, muscle, bone and joint needs nutrients from your food to keep it going. It also needs water – which soooo many people are not getting enough of.
The body is an amazing machine and will run beautifully for a lifetime if you treat it right.
So if something’s not right, before reaching for the medicine cabinet, look at what you’re consuming.
If you’re bloated after meals, you’re either eating too much, or something in that meal was inflammatory to your body. Many people are intolerant to at least one food without realising – wheat, dairy and sugar are common stressors but it could be anything. Write down when you’re feeling bloated and what you’ve eaten before, then try and work out possible causes and eliminate them one by one to see if that helps.
If you’ve got stiff painful joints, you could be eating something that inflames them (see above). You could be lacking in healthy fats which help protect and lubricate the joints, or you might not be getting the required vitamins and minerals that provide your cells with what they need to stay healthy.
If you’re tired and lacking energy or always catching colds, you’d very likely find a benefit from increasing your consumption of fruit and vegetables, particularly leafy/dark green vegetables like spinach, kale and broccoli.
Bowel problems can often be helped by reducing poor quality processed foods and increasing your consumption of fibre. Beans, lentils, chick peas, vegetables, fruits, nuts, oats and brown/wholegrain rice are all good sources.
Headaches are so often caused by a simple lack of water. Increase your consumption to AT LEAST 2 litres per day (preferably more like 3) and see what difference it makes.
Many people can also benefit from taking certain supplements. Most of what is out there is not proven to work but there are a few select things that have studies backing them up.
Fish oil or krill oil come into this category and have been shown to improve cell health, reduce joint inflammation, reduce the risk of heart disease, certain cancers and Alzheimers, improve brain function, improve the body’s ability to burn fat, and help control blood sugar levels. Particularly if you don’t eat much oily fish this can be an extremely useful thing to take, but chat to your doctor first if you’re unsure, have high cholesterol or are on blood thinning medication.
Multivitamins can be beneficial for some people, particularly those with poor immunity (but shouldn’t be used to replace fruit and veg).
Zinc and magnesium supplements can help people who struggle with sleep.
These are all suggestions of course and everyone is different, but so many people could see an improvement from following these tips. You have nothing to lose and so much to gain from making small positive changes to your diet and the amount of water you drink.
Pretty much every client I’ve had has told me how much better they’ve felt within a few weeks of making improvements like these.
I’d love to help more people so if this email might be useful to anyone you know, please forward it on!
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May 23