As we say farewell to summer and head into autumn we often feel it’s a time to gather ourselves again and prepare for the start of a new season ahead. ESP’s wellbeing writer Karen Devine looks at how to kick start your autumn…
It’s very common at this time of year to want to hit the pause button again, with summer holidays, festivals, barbecues and summer parties all now at an end, and with the kids back at school, you may want to shed a few pounds, find some energy and get your motivation back!
Mother Nature delivers a bounty of high water content fruit and veggies to help keep us naturally hydrated along with some fresh water, yet so many people are dehydrated due to their ‘nutrient choices’ over the summer. If you’ve overindulged in festival food, barbecues, booze and sugar you may now be feeling the effects of dehydration.
Amongst other things you might be feeling bloated, tired, suffering from dry skin or IBS symptoms and a lack of motivation. All of this can be caused by our food choices, alcohol intake, excess heat, and increased dairy/gluten/sugar intake.
September is a month to rein our lifestyle choices in and begin some much-needed self-care and reflection.
You would be amazed at how small changes can make you feel so much brighter, here are some upgrades to help get you back on track this autumn...
· Hydrate – drink fresh water, increase your intake of fruit, cucumber, celery and leafy greens. You can add a couple of big salads to your lunch or dinner, blitz up a smoothie for breakfast or enjoy some lovely hydrating fresh fruits. In a few days you will start noticing the difference
· Cut down on the dehydrating tea/coffee/alcohol
· Swap out some gluten foods (bread, pasta) and replace with root veggies such as sweet potato, pea/lentil/brown rice/quinoa
· Cut back on dairy (no you will not become deficient in calcium when following a natural diet), a little goat/sheep cheese can replace the excess of cow cheese, try rotating some of your milk to coconut, nut milks etc for a change.
· Look at each plate of food, and snack and ask yourself - ‘is this the best choice of nutrients I can put into my body at this time?’
· Try to have foods rich in colour, red, orange, blue, green etc. Your plate should have good colourful veggies on it
· Cut back on the sugar and the alcohol – nothing upsets our hormones and metabolism as fast as they can! They are highly addictive
· After the amount of animal foods you’ve likely consumed during the summer, start to introduce a few plant based meals where you can
For more advice on health and nutrition head to Karen’s website www.karendevine.co.uk
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