You are what you eat – never a truer word spoken.

The decisions we make about what we put in our bodies have as much impact on our overall health as what we do TO our bodies. This month, I wanted to talk about a subject that resonates hugely with me – Food. And more specifically, what we can all do to improve what we feed ourselves.
Let’s be honest: You can stop smoking. You can stop drinking (well, not the H2O variety), but you can’t sustain yourself without eating. Although, have you ever stopped to think about the “brand” of food you’re ingesting?

Think about cigarettes (I know, almost a novelty in 2021)... if you’re smoking Benson & Hedges and then change your brand to Silk Cut, it might take a few weeks to adjust to the new brand, but eventually the lighter Silk Cut is going to feel just as strong as what the Bensons had before. The same applies to food...
It’s time we started to train ourselves to eat differently. If one day, you start eating an avocado salad as opposed to an avocado sandwich, it is going to feel different and take a bit of getting used to because the crunch aspect is different... but the avo is still in there! Changing to accommodate healthier choices is all about embracing new habits, which is just a matter of time and consistent action.

What happens if we don’t act in our health’s best interest?

Let’s be straight about something – the NHS is amazing, and it was designed to take care of those in their moment of need. But it is incredible how this national institution is taken for granted. What does that have to do with us, you ask?

The NHS’s resources are finite and what we can do to help it is to BE HEALTHY! I’m not saying don’t lean on the NHS when you need them. What I’m talking about here is that those who can, must take personal responsibility for their health in order to remain less reliant (or not reliant at all) on the Health System.
The best way to navigate through life with the right compass is with overall great health: not average health... great health! If you wake up with a hangover as a result of a toxic overload whether that be in the way of alcohol or food or sugar (or heaven forbid, all three!!) do you feel average or great? In order to achieve optimum health, we need to reduce the load on the body – ie: reduce and / or remove toxic overload – Literally, remove the poisons!

Toxic emotions

Don’t underestimate the heavy reliance on a lot of these toxins from an emotional perspective too, hence my recent article regarding sugar addiction and last month’s newsletter on hormonal responses and changes within the body irrespective of whether you’re a man or a woman based on what you eat (yes, men can get hormonal and emotional ON food... it’s a fact. (Shall we call it “manopause” or “mentalpause” Hmmm, I’ll explore that one in a whole other newsletter!) But back to the point, we are addicted... cigarettes, alcohol, sugar, prescription drugs, recreational drugs, exercise, religion.... hey if you need a hook to hang your “emotional stuff” onto, believe me you will find one! Addiction is an ingenious confidence trick! Be it substance or non-substance, essentially the ingenious confidence trick is that it makes the person fearful of NOT doing something they cannot stop doing!

My personal Idaho

So, the tipping point for me personally was to stop doing it! Now ask anyone that knows me well, if I make up my mind to do something, I do it. Like most people would. What I’m saying is if you put your mind to eating a salad as opposed to not eating it, you’d be able to achieve it. And if salad isn’t your thing, or veggies isn’t either, then find something else really healthy to get those nutrients into your body. If you don’t want to eat them, then drink them! You can literally live on meat, you don’t have to eat vegetables, the body doesn’t actually necessarily require the fibre.
 
What it does require is the juice contained within veggies: the prebiotics, probiotics, enzymes, activity and more importantly, the nutritional aspect of the essential vitamins and minerals. You are not going to get all your VIT C from eating steak every day on its own, but there are other ways you can get nutrients into your body.
 
Did you know that one teaspoon of wheatgrass is equivalent to 4 pounds of vegetables! I know what I prefer to have, and I can assure you that my clients benefit greatly from me not eating four pounds of vegetables every day. That’s potentially a lot of gas and I’m not talking about the gas central heating!
 
My point is you can force yourself to drink a blend or a juice everyday with certain fruits and veggies in it (and I can help you with that), and just having that one drink a day will have a massive impact on your health! Massive! And yes we can arguably say that’s not the best way of getting your “ten a day” into your body, but hey, if you’re not eating them anyway then surely how you get them into your body shouldn’t be questioned?
 
Naturally if you’re resistant to being healthy then you may not want to try it, but for most people who are really looking for great and sound advice on how to improve their health, consider it. It’s better than a bunch a pills in my opinion, and the biggest advantage is that it’s great for your immune system (and in current times, your gut immunity is even more imperative to help protect you and others around you.)
 
If you are human (and I’m thinking most of my clients are), you need 10 portions of a combination of fruit and vegetables in their “raw” state. Go on, google it now... They did a study... 5 portions didn’t even touch the sides ... we are talking 10 portions, in Japan it’s 17 ... aren’t you grateful that you’re not Big in Japan! But 10 portions is a big ask – and are you really going to eat them? My secret?
I juice mine! My gut cannot handle veggies! It just literally blows out a lot of gas and says no thank you don’t like that, and I love salad!!! I love crunchy food! But we’re not all the same. And thankfully I don’t live in Japan! End of the day, it can all be achieved with a few simple swaps!

Purging the poisons

So I’m back to the elimination of the poisons and the toxins and replacing them with proper nutritious food. I’m not turning anyone into vegans or vegetarians... hell no! (I’m South African – meat is part of our religion!) Let’s face it, you don’t ever see lean mean cows and hippopotamuses do you and all they do is eat grass? Grass is full of sugar... it’s carbs!!! Legit! Lean, mean thoroughbred stallions are always kept indoors in their stables eating high protein restrictive diets. They’re not out grazing in the fields all day eating carbs.
 
For those of you who don’t really know “my story”, I’ll share it again sometime, however for now, I want to say that when it comes to the overall function of the body and what it needs I know a thing or two based on my own continuous struggles with my gut. However, the great news is that as a result I have exactly 20 years’ experience when it comes to “how to heal your body” based on my own experiences, extensive research and ongoing learning and self-development in this field of expertise.
 
So, if you need any help when it comes to malabsorption, IBS, inflammation, Crohn’s, Colitis, PCOS, fibroids, cysts, hormonal imbalance, chronic fatigue and leaky gut, I can help you!
 
If I can help one person find their way to optimal health as a result of my own journey and experience, then it always makes the trip worthwhile.
 
There’s only ONE question you have to ask yourself .... what price would you put on your health if you had to pay for your medical care? Ask not what the NHS can do for you but what you can do for the NHS,  take control of your healthcare and make the greatest, most powerful and most important investment in your lifetime – invest in your good health.

Yours in good health,

Amanda xx