New Holiday Trading Hours (we are open daily!!) + 5 tips for navigating through the festive season mayhem!
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I hope you all had a truly beautiful Christmas with loved ones and are enjoying some rest and relaxation.
We have decided to extend our Xmas trading hours!
On and from Monday 28th December we will be open daily 8am-6pm including the 2 public holidays on Monday 28th December and Friday 1st January.
So swing by for a cool brothsicle, a smoothie, a cup of broth, a bowl of soup, a no-guilt raw treat, a provincial plate featuring chicken liver pate and lots more. Or simply come and hang out with me.
If you have slipped off your healthy no-crap foods bandwagon (we all do!) don't beat yourself up! Gently jump back on! Remember that stress is more toxic than even the most toxic food, so stressing about your food choices just ain’t helpful. Let the way those foods made you feel after you ate them, remind and guide you in making your next food choices.
"STRESS IS MORE TOXIC THAN EVEN THE MOST TOXIC FOOD"
Here are 5 pointers to get you through this holiday period when routines fall by the way-side:
1. Fill up on the cleanest and nutrient-dense stuff first (eg meat and veggies) so that there is no room for the less nutritious options (eg bread, sugary food).
2. f you are invited somewhere and are dreading all of the food that will be on offer, get into the kitchen and make your own healthy dish or treats to take with you to share. This will show your friends just how delicious nutritious food can be and you can share the recipe with them. Click here to find all my free recipes on my website.
3. If you see a food that you wouldn't normally eat and are seriously craving it and wringing your hands in anticipation and the thought of not indulging in it screams deprivation, then as I wrote in an earlier blog for God's sake just eat it! My view is that food is just as much a source of pleasure as it is a source of nourishment. Food should never be a stressful experience. If denying yourself a certain food or drink is causing you stress, angst or resentment, then I think the psychological impact of that may very well be doing you more harm than the physiological harm of the food itself. In other words, if you're craving it you're probably not ready to give it up (yet). Be kind and gentle with yourself and indulge if you really want it and try to just perhaps eat it less frequently or in smaller quantities. For me, I no longer crave highly processed foods, or refined sugar treats- I simply don't view them as real food. But its taken me decades to get to this point. It's a journey.
4. In terms of drinks, the cleanest alcoholic beverages are your spirits (eg sake, gin, vodka). Champagne, cocktails, tonic, and juices are high in sugar. Vodka lime and soda is a safe bet. I have drastically reduced the amount of alcohol I have consumed year after year. Anything more than 1-2 glasses of wine or clean spirits every so often makes me feel crap and life is too shortto feel crap. Especially when you have kids to raise and sh#t you want to get done! I spent most of my teens and 20s feeling crap. I just don't need alcohol to have the most awesome time or to be open, relaxed and happy. When I had that simple epiphany it was truly liberating. But for some the high is worth the pain of the low. Only you can decide that! And don't forget to add a pinch of salt to your filtered drinking water. To remind yourself why it is so vitally important to add unrefined salt (eg sea salt, Australian lake salt, Himalayan crystal salt) to your drinking water refer to one of my very first blogs here You might want to start with adding only 1/8 teaspoon of unrefined salt (or even less) to 1 litre of water rather than the recommendation in that blog. If you are suffering muscle cramps especially in your calves at night (very very common in hot weather) it is often due to a lack of magnesium (which we excrete through sweating in summer) so adding unrefined salt (rich in magnesium and other electrolytes) will in most cases fix that. Take your water bottle with you everywhere you go!!!
5. Don't feel guilty about getting lots of sleep, rest and relaxation. As a type A personality bursting with so many projects to turn into fruition, and as a single mother of 2, and as a daughter of hard-working migrant parents, I have been hard-wired to always “do do do”. It has taken some serious re-programing and constant reminding myself of the critical importance of rest, relaxation and sleep – they absolutely are one of the foundations of health and directly impact your well-being both physiologically and emotionally. So make sure your batteries are recharged daily!
Wishing you a fabulous end to 2015! It has been such a huge year for me as I know it has for many of you. Thank you for being by my side, for your support and for reminding me daily of what is important to me. Forever grateful.
