I hope that you are keeping warm in this weather?  Staying fit and healthy will help you be warm by ensuring that your bodily systems are all working efficiently.  I’ve been doing 25 minute indoor blasts of my morning workout this week.  Remember that being hydrated is important for keeping you warm too.

Eating Fat

Each of us metabolise dietary fats, proteins and carbohydrates at differing rates but Mark Sisson eloquently explains that it’s the fat you eat (and not the carbohydrate) that is the fuel of choice for the body.  He states that people mistakenly believe that the preferred energy source is glucose created from dietary carbohydrates (including sugars), but the body turns excess carbohydrate into body fat, whereas excess fat you eat is excreted, as long as you have conditioned your body by exercising regularly.

A diet high in protein and fat combined with regular exercise will burn body fat through the blood stream.

I ate three large lamb chops with a large portion of leeks, cabbage and green beans last night.  Many hold a belief that we need potatoes or rice but the ‘full’ or ‘bloated feeling’ it can give is just an unnecessary habit. Here, highly respected, ‘ripped’ Californian Mark Sisson explains more: Mark’s Daily Apple

Happy Healthy Staff are Great for Business

This month I started lifestyle consultations for staff at Inferno-Group, a very successful, young advertising agency of 130 people who look after TV advertising for Nokia plus Legal & General.  They know the benefits of really looking after their staff and see that when staff are happy, amazing things can happen.  It’s great to speak to so many diverse characters and help them all to be at their best through their lifestyle and nutritional choices, all in their own unique way.  Agency life is fast and many need reminding to look after Number One so they can best serve their world!

Residential

My mother Ruth White has been successfully running residential yoga weekends for over 20 years since featuring on the BBC Holiday Program and in July we are combining forces to allow you to enjoy a fantastic, rejuvenating weekend in the beautiful surroundings of Heythrop Park, in the Cotswolds.  Click here for more info.

That’s all folks!

Be heathy and happy!

GG

I hope you had a relaxing break?  If you are one of those not drinking in January, bare in mind how much richer/calorific your diet has been over Christmas and remember that alcohol contains many calories too.  So when you’re not drinking, your blood sugar may drop leaving you with the the January blues  To combat this, think about weening yourself off gradually as the body doesn’t like sudden changes.  Try to fit in daily exercise to release those ‘feel good endorphins’.  But make sure you have plenty of delicious nutritious food waiting for you afterwards to keep your blood sugar up where it should be.
If you know anyone suffering from the blues ask them to read the following article which links blood sugar to how happy you feel.

http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/2011/depression-a-nutritional-disorder/

If you want to have a very happy 2012, then it’s worth a read too!  Happiness by Blood sugar

Lower Back Ache

In western medicine, if we have a painful lower back we think in terms of muscles, spine, nerve endings and sometimes these are the problem, but in Chinese medicine they would often look at it slightly differently.  In Chinese medicine, the lower back is referred to as “the palace of the kidneys.”  So if we have had a boozey NYE and ate rich foods at Christmas, your kidneys may be working on overdrive.  Kidney pain can transfer to the whole lower back region and we may feel weak in this area.  Not drinking enough water can also cause kidney problems, as when the kidney chi does not flow, the chi stagnates and then pain occurs.  To read about the different terminology and more detail click here.  Many thanks to my sister Christina, an excellent Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner, for letting me check my wording with her!

So if you know someone with a bad lower back, ask them to go cold turkey in January without alcohol and drink plenty of water…and you may just find there’s life in the old bird yet!

Have a great January and remember the words Audrey Hepburn liked to say:

‘Happiness is Health and a short memory.’

Best wishes for a fantastic 2012!

GG

Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma) is an inspiration to us all to spread good vibes at Christmas time.  She’s hugging her way around the world and so far has hugged more than 20 million people all over the world…Abc News Story

I’ve noticed the power being part of a group this month and promised myself to work more as part of a team.  I’ve been going to the fantastic Life Clubs ’Practical and structured 90-minute self improvement workshops’ as I plan to run a group soon myself. When you set a weekly goal it’s so much easier to stick to it if you look someone in the eye and say ‘I’ll do that’ and have to report back to them.  Share you goals with a confidant!

As we head into the ‘silly season’ spare a thought for January ‘feel good season’ and think about how you can help yourself or your organisation.

How about a lunch time workshop or  a luxury yoga and wellness residential weekend both involving myself with healthy goal setting available!

Please register interest immediately so that we can see whether the proposed residential date is convenient for the majority of people.

During the dark Winter days, make sure you have enough vitamin d3 in your body to feel good.  It’s difficult to absorb vitamin d, so a spray under the tongue is the most effective method I’ve found.  Vitamin D Spray

Have a great ‘silly season’ and remember, there’s often more pleasure in restraint than indulgence!

Best wishes,

GG

Lots of research has been done to show this. If this is the case, then surely making people happy in the work place should be the priority?  I went to the inaugural ‘Action For Happiness Event’ at which Henry Thomas was speaking. You can see his great speech here.He suggested we take a moment to have a little think about ways you could make your company happier. All sorts of things came up to affect our workplace like,’Doing the things each of you are best at,’ and ‘voting for your boss’.  But sometimes individual mindsets have to change, and Happy Lifestyle Coaching can alter them by discussing the fuels you get through your daily choices.More info

Nutrition

Did you see the Food Hospital on Tuesday night?  If not watch it on 4OD – whilst some of the info was slightly controversial (e.g. Soy advice), the general idea is good and it’s great that this knowledge is getting more into the main stream.  Should we turn the health system upside down? Should Primary Care be about restoring the body into a natural balance?  Can the NHS save millions…?

Natural Cold and Flu busting remedies from Elderberry for Flu prevention and Zinc for colds link

And finally…Keep being nicey, nicey

I have a small flat in Manchester with a tenant in it.  He is a builder in his 40′s just divorced and has never done much around the house for himself.  He was a ‘nightmare tenant’ for the first couple of months, nothing was good enough.  But I just kept being nice, occasionally saying no but generally being very friendly and helpful in the hope that he would come round. I noticed he was into football and was a Man U fan on one of his texts.  Soon I would aways leave a comment about the football at the end of the texts.   Gradually we became the best of friends and he even wanted to meet up when Man U were playing in London.  I heeded my father’s words, “If you keep being nice, they will come round in the end”. It took time, but he was absolutely right, touch wood!

ginger guru

Thanks to some helpful feedback my monthly newsletter will now come from ginger guru rather than Healthtext. Ginger guru offers ‘Happy Lifestyle Coaching’ to help companies and individuals be happy and productive. Ginger guru uses coaching by skype and face to face to help you reach your goals along with trusted tools like Healthtext to give ‘little and often’ reminders to help change behaviour. Your comments are valued highly so if you have any thoughts, please email them! We’re targeting marketing agencies so please introduce us for a healthy reward

Lifestyle and Exercise
The human race has an amazing way of staying in balance. If we aren’t getting enough nutrients from our food we’ll take more supplements, if we’re spending too long ‘wired’ to digital communications, yoga and meditation will grow in popularity. Just make sure you’re in the group benefitting from these adjustments. Facebook and internet surfing can affect your brain’s prefrontal cortex if you’re not careful! Constantly updating screens grab our attention and lead us on a merry dance round the internet without us being in full control. Meanwhile your ability to concentrate and focus on one task are diminishing and soon your brain is like a lively monkey, jumping from one thing to the next. That’s when we need meditation, yoga or whatever it is for you that takes you out of your ‘monkey brain’ and into clear focus.

In the spiritual teachings of Advaita, there is a chariot analogy which is slightly too long to describe here but it involves a chariot’s passenger, a chariot driver and the horses. The chariot passenger symbolises the soul, the chariot driver is the spirit inhabiting the body and the horses drawing the chariot symbolises the senses. Basically, you can to develop an excellent chariot passenger through meditation so that you can observe thoughts and be able to decide what to look at. If you become too much like the horses, then you’ll be charging around the internet or outside world without observing what you actually want to be focusing on!
More detail http://wayist.org/eb/Bhagavad_Gita.htm

Deep breathing and meditation will also have an immediate sharpening effect on your brain, saving you time and money. Long cumbersome jobs can turn into short 5 minute jobs as lets face it, with many jobs, if they’re taking ages, you’re probably not doing it right! If we act quickly and on instinct there is less time for the thoughts to kick in and procrastination to occur.
If our outer body, like our arm for example, moved around constantly like our mind does when it’s been on Facebook, we would appear absolutely mad. Our only comfort is that when our mind is racing, nobody else can see what’s going on in there!

Nutrition – Gall Blander Story
My father was recently told he would have to have his gall bladder removed as he had terrible pain and stones in it. “Don’t worry it doesn’t do much,” was the basic message from the doctors. Having read around the subject and talked to others about complimentary medicine’s approach he said, “I’ve decided not to have it out thank you,” “But you must have it out,” replied the doctor. Dad went home and did a ‘gall bladder and liver cleanse’ by not eating for 24 hours and just drinking lemon juice with olive oil 4 times as per specific instructions given to him by his herbalist. Out came the stones and no problems 8 months on, the other 4 people in his ward had a big operation! The take out point here is that we can always look for natural alternatives primarily and have the doctor as the last resort as they are likely to prescribe drugs or give surgery which doesn’t get to the root cause of the problem. As Dad’s friend, who happened to be one of the heads of Bupa said, “If you don’t want surgery, don’t go to a surgeon!”.

Sleep
Here is a link to a progressive muscle relaxation technique that can be a useful way to relax if you are having trouble dropping off. http://www.realage.com/soothe-stress/mind-and-mood/treating-anxiety-yourself-progressive-muscle-relaxation

Hope you enjoyed this slightly different newsletter. Feedback helpful!
Roly