I have a favourite morning. It’s every first and third Friday of the month. I do the school run and then spend a blissful hour walking around my local farmers market. I love it - whatever the weather, I’m there, because I believe it’s truly the best way to buy food.

Farmers market food is fresh, it's local and it tastes delicious. I now know the stall holders and have a chat with them whilst buying the bream they caught yesterday or the tomatoes picked today and discussing all the things you can do with artichokes (ooh err). Yes you pay a little bit more, but it’s sustainable for the people putting in the extreme hard work.

The food available means we are eating seasonally which is so much better for health. Asparagus doesn’t grow here in February, so it’s not a good idea to eat it. We have lots of beetroot and squashes around, combined with dark leafy greens which means the large amount of folates, iron and beta carotene that’s naturally occurring is what we need through the cold winter.

In my clinic, I’m forever banging on about getting back to basics with food. In general, we rely very heavily on processed, packaged, convenience foods and bread based goods. Most of my 80 year old clients have better health than the 30 year olds I see, because the post war diet was so exceptional. The quick and easy food we eat today alongside coffees, fizzy drinks and take-aways are killing us. By going back to basics with food, we are getting a better nutritional foundation and our bodies thank us for it.

Shopping this way also stops me having to endure supermarkets. They are really noisy, over bright, horrible places. More importantly the food is inferior. For the most part, it has travelled thousands of miles. It's picked when unripe, refrigerated, stored and is tasteless and nutritionally void. The ethics behind supermarkets suck too. Those fabulous 2-4-1 offers don’t come from supermarkets profits. They coerce the farmers into doing the deals and taking the hit and if they don’t tow the line they get dropped and their whole business can go under. Chef Arthur Potts-Dawson brought this to our attention when he launched the People’s Supermarket and started to fight back against the supermarkets' power.

So on the odd weeks my farmers market joy isn’t possible, I get an Abel and Cole organic box delivered. I love it almost as much as the market. On Monday, I spend 10 minutes choosing what I need and on Thursday it’s delivered. Marvellous. I chose Abel and Cole over other schemes as they have an excellent selection, so you can really tailor what you have in your box. They also sell store cupboard essentials - meat, fish, non- dairy, gluten free options and even wine. My latest discovery is that they sell bones for boiling into stock ridiculously cheap, so we make delicious homemade soups and stews and nothing is wasted. The passion they have for food is contagious.

More important than any of that is that our food tastes real again. I’ve noticed how I’m loathed to let anything go to waste. I’ve pounded the pavements on a drizzly day to buy my kale so I won’t let it rot in the bottom of the fridge, I’ve become really imaginative with food again and I’m using new veg I didn’t even know existed. Look out for your local farm shops - local seasonal food is the key here. Try it out and trust me, meal times will become exciting again!

It’s January and I really want to start the New Year feeling good, so for 60 days my husband and I are doing a totally holistic cleanse. I like to do the odd fast and cleanse, from juice fasts at the Spring Equinox to eating mung beans for 40 days on yoga teacher training - so this is nothing new for me, but my motives are.

My plan involves the following: no gluten, dairy, wheat, sugar, starchy carbs, alcohol, caffeine or tap water. I’m then having hot water and lemon every morning and doing at least 10 minutes a day of meditation, manifesting, affirmations, shakti dancing or rebounding. Plus a bit of pampering, at least twice a month.

This wasn’t a dodgy New Year’s resolution to lose weight or diet (because news flash – diets don’t work) but actually a resolution to spend more time this year honouring myself. We generally don’t spend enough time doing stuff that makes us feel good, because of being busy or (in my case) being plain lazy. This also isn’t about denial, or self loathing. I’ve been on a huge journey to like myself, so the last thing I want to do is punish myself. Lots of resolutions fail because the motive is to change something we don’t like about ourselves. I often hear ‘if I just lost a stone/stopped smoking/changed job I’d be happy’ - the choice is to be happy now.

I’m a kinesiology teacher, a reiki master and a yoga teacher with a wealth of tools at my disposal and I walk my talk, but I’m not perfect (who is?). I have my demon foods the same as everyone else. However, when I combined a difficult year, a busy lifestyle and the odd glass of wine, being lazy with meditation and giving in to occasional trigger foods, the result was not feeling as sparkly and dynamic as I could. The yogic belief is that 40 days breaks a habit, I’m doing 60 because I want to really improve my commitment to myself. This is a self-love revolution.

So I’m a week in and loving it. It’s not that I can’t have foods, or a lazy lie in - it honestly feels like I don’t want to. I’ve given myself a better option – changing your mind set with your resolutions is really important. If you feel denial or misery, your body will produce the stress hormone. If you feel bliss, it releases the happy hormone. If you come from a place of committing to yourself with deep self love, you will truly change your life. It will feel really good and you will be spreading that joy wherever you go. That’s real revolution.

My daughter turns 8 in January.

Like millions of other parents, I am dutifully arranging her party and making sure she feels special on her birthday whilst trying not to spend the GDP of a small country in the process. This year is different, however - this year I’m excited about the day and I’m also sad, because I cannot believe how quickly my beautiful little girl is growing up. This sounds really normal and you are probably wondering why I’d bother blogging about it, except for me, it’s not. It’s a brand new feeling. The last seven years have passed in a blur of ‘going through the motions’ and plastering a big fake smile on my face as I carry in her cake.

This time eight years ago, I was thirty eight weeks pregnant and had that slightly desperate and fed up look of a woman about to give birth. I’d sailed through pregnancy - which is an appropriate phrase as I was the size of an ocean liner - but I was excited and ready for the big event. When my labour finally started, I was two weeks overdue and I thought I was ready -but nothing could prepare me for what lay ahead.

I won’t labour on about my labour, but the crux of it was that the baby disengaged her head and I stopped dilating, resulting in three days of labour, hospital oxytocin drips, having my waters broken, pethidine, epidural and an emergency c-section, during which I haemorrhaged and lost a litre of blood. The horror of the labour was compounded by the fact that two weeks later I went back to a stressful job. This left me scarred emotionally and physically and I spiralled into chronic post natal depression. I spent the best part of three years swapping between manically working and lying in my bed in foetal position, totally avoiding being alone with my baby in case I tried to kill her. By the time the depression finally went away it had left me crippled with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I still have it, although it is effectively managed with a very healthy supplemented diet, exercise, emotional work and regular kinesiology.

Then only last year I realised I didn’t love my child. It wasn’t for lack of trying, I simply couldn’t, because there was too much pain and panic in the place where the love was supposed to be. I couldn’t spend any time with her. The thought of it scared me so much I felt sick. An amazing clinical psychologist diagnosed me with post traumatic stress disorder and I learnt how to work through it.

I know I’m not a unique case. Millions of women suffer trauma after birth and it’s never really discussed or understood. In fact admitting you don’t love your child or dislike the job of parenting is a massive taboo. My experience profoundly changed my life. Before I was unhealthy and negative and hated my job but part of me died in that hospital and years later a new me finally broke through. I retrained, I got healthy and I worked through my stuff. My condition literally saved my life and I’m eternally grateful to it.

So in a few days time, like all of you, I will be celebrating Christmas and the best gift I will get is the warm glow from seeing my beautiful little girl opening her presents. And in January when I carry in that birthday cake, the smile on my face will finally be real and a miniscule expression of how much I can now love her.

Laura and I were in a shoe shop (we are women with killer shoe collections) and a teenage girl entered the shop with her boyfriend. We smelled her before we saw her. She smelled of fake strawberries and other sweet childish stuff. She was actually orange and had obvious hair extensions, fake nails and more make-up than Madame Jojo’s and it got us thinking. Is this what sexy is now?

I asked husband for his opinion. Always an interesting place to start. He blames low grade mainstream porn mags like Nuts and Zoo magazine for telling guys that’s what’s sexy. But these guys are missing a trick too. It takes courage to stand out and say 'that’s not what I want' when society deems it to be beautiful and that without that on your arm you are apparently a loser. We are being told what’s sexy, but actually sex appeal is a transient, often intangible force combined of many different qualities. I’ve done my research and it seems to be a combination of talent, personality, presence, style, poise, intelligence, humour and lifestyle choices, not just body shape or facial attributes. Certainly no one mentioned fake tan and nails.

I’m 35 years old. I’m no stranger to hair dye (it was blue for most of 1998). Makeup and I are best friends (organic of course) and I’ve even tried hair extensions (couldn’t stop pulling the darn things out) but I truly prefer myself without too much faffing around.

In honesty, though, it’s taken me a while to get here and a lot of working on my self esteem to stop trying to hide behind the image of perfection pushed at me by the TV and magazines. There are layers to why I have concerns about this.

Firstly, the psychological aspect. We have millions of young girls growing up where this type of barbie doll perfection is becoming thought of as the only way to be considered pretty. This leads to huge self esteem issues not to mention deeper issues like bulimia, anorexia and even self harming.

Secondly, just as worryingly it’s the effect on our health all these beauty products are having. Phthalates are a plastic derivative found in many cosmetics and hair products they are linked to genital malformation in the foetus, cancer and infertility. The word parfum on a bottle is a euphemism for up to 200 chemicals that have been linked to cancers, neuro toxicity and brain damage. Maybe not the 'Lynx Effect' you were looking for, eh lads?

Parabens are a type of preservative in everything, including processed food. They’ve been linked to learning difficulties, cancer and hormone disruptions including early onset puberty in young girls. Sodium lauryl sulphate is used to make products foam. This nasty chemical has been linked to cataracts, flaky skin and impaired hair growth.

Unfortunately you need to become a label checker to spot them, because cost and branding is no yard stick. Some of the most prized and costly products are the worst and the word 'natural' doesn’t mean anything in the world of marketing.

Look for clean products such as Neals Yard Organic Remedies, REN skincare, Dr Hauschka, and Faith in Nature. Good cosmetics to use are the mineral makeup brands. You can even get non toxic cleaning products for your home.

What we really need to start doing, though, is celebrating the human body in all it’s myriad shapes, smells, and styles and learn to celebrate our uniqueness. We have to stop teaching our children that polluting themselves and hating themselves because they don’t look like the airbrushed celebrity in the magazine is normal. Actually, skin smells delicious and hair feels lovely when it’s not slathered or crunchy with product.

I’m bringing real life sexy back. Who's in?

The highlight of my week: 'I can put my knickers on easily', says my client, whilst standing up and doing me a demo.

It was funny, but it actually made me cry with joy.

This client is called Claire and is a pretty, bubbly, lovely young woman who was recently diagnosed with MS - not the one that comes and goes but the one that doesn’t stop until it’s taken everything you hold dear in your life and ravaged your body. I trained in physical disability so know only too well the effects this condition can cause.

When Claire contacted me, it wasn’t for an ‘out there’ cure for MS, she wanted some food sensitivity testing as she had put herself on a radical diet that can possibly halt the progression of the disease. I explained that the work I do could also support her body nutritionally and emotionally and give her body the tools it needs to fight back and give the disease no reason to progress.

This of course comes with no guarantee, but it’s better than waiting for the inevitable.

Claire had a leg that was dragging a bit and stopped her running. It would have probably gone undiagnosed had a brilliant physio not spotted it. By the time I met her she couldn’t run, had some instability in the leg, tingly arms and a diagnosis. But she decided that wasn’t going to define her. She is throwing herself into the jaws of the beast, determined to keep her life.

Claire radically altered her life, she researched and requested an almost unknown drug, she works on positive thought programming, she is eating food which supports her body instead of depleting it, she is using a lot of nutrition to give her poor nervous system the tools it needs to repair itself and more importantly, we are working together as a team.

We often talk about the 80:20 rule. I can only do 20% of the work, the client has to do the other 80%. They need to take the nutrition, make mindful food choices, do their exercise and deal with their stuff. I can only offer recommendations.

In my experience the clients who get the ‘wow’ results are the ones who keep coming even if they haven’t seen a result for a session or two and keep taking nutrition and do all the weird and wonderful techniques I recommend. They keep throwing themselves at the jaws of the beast and they eventually win the prize in the end: their health and their freedom.

By taking responsibility for their health and not handing it over to the NHS or even to me, they are making a stand against their conditions and changing their future. The truth is, even if we are already ‘well’ we still need to do this stuff. Supporting our bodies nutritionally, exercising, eating supportive foods, avoiding too much medication and working on the emotions that hold us back. It works and gives us the ultimate prize. A healthy life and a deeper understanding of ourselves.

So this is for Claire and for all my other amazing clients who come with IBS, bad backs, bad skin, fertility issues, M.E and everything in between.

Your courage, determination and tenacity is inspiring. I salute you. It’s a huge honour to be supporting you on your incredible journeys.

My friend recently returned from travelling the world. He popped over for a chat and mentioned he is seeing a new woman, who apparently I’ll love because she does 'fillers and laser hair removal'. I laughed and told him he had been away a long, long time and things had changed in the world.

For a while, modern grooming hadn’t been making sense to me. Waxing was really painful, shaving left me prickly and with spotty ingrown hairs and Immac (sorry, Veet if you are under 30) stopped being on my shopping list when John Major was PM, so it became obvious that I needed to find another way. And then I found her. An absolute goddess I met on a retreat. Sexy, funny, wise, talented. And hairy. Oh the fullness of her lady garden and armpit hair were quite inspiring and her courage and confidence was staggering. I wanted to be her and, as a bonus, think of all the money I’d save on grooming.

Many of my friends are 'natural women'. My business partner Laura with her full bush, leg and armpit hair was on a date with a hot but unfortunately dim guy in the summer, who was discussing the merits of bimbo type looks when she loudly said to him, 'Women are hairy, they smell and they bleed. Deal with it'.

Part of the problem is that men often don’t know what a woman’s pudenda is supposed to look like. The choice these days is huge - playboy waxes, Hollywoods, Brazillians and now with a vajazzle you can get rid of the nasty hair and have pretty crystals stuck on instead (according to Jennifer Love Hewitt, 'they make you feel good about your privates').

Come on ladies, we don’t need shiny little stickers or pre-pubescent mounds to feel good about our pubic areas! My body made and bore a child, it’s danced til dawn on many occasions and it’s let me trek a glacier. My woman-parts are a place where I want nice things to happen, not having my hair ripped out in an agonising blur.

With hair my bush feels womanly, non-conformist, obvious and proud. Without hair it feels silky and girly and neat but I’m not that person, I’m not neat - I’m like a force of nature, and I’m certainly not girly. I am a fully paid up member of the women’s brigade and damn do I have the curves, the passion, the compassion, the wisdom and the anger to prove it.

Many feminists believe it’s because men are trying to keep women down by keeping them looking like small children, that they aren’t able to cope with a 'real' woman. Maybe I’m just lucky - my husband is a fairly evolved man who doesn’t need a landing strip to find his way to the good bits and he isn’t in the slightest bit intimidated by my womanly-ness. He does sometimes refer to my “thighbeard” in jest, but in all seriousness we’ve discovered a compromise. He shaves his face so I don’t get stubble rash and I shave my armpits so he can actually face having sex with me. Some may say I’m letting the feminists down in this half-hearted approach, but it’s not the feminists I want to grow old with (unless they are really hot and can take out the bins, in which case husband is no longer needed).

The truth is I’ve never liked the feeling of my leg hair getting stuck on my trousers and have no strong opinion on my armpit hair, so the compromise felt fair. I have always hated 'dealing' with my bush. It hurt and cost money and I really identified with the story in the Vagina Monologues that after waxing 'it felt puffy and exposed, like a little girl.'

I appreciate some women don’t like their hair, and that’s cool, I am all for individual expression, but I’d urge you to explore why you don’t like it. If the reason comes down to feeling prettier or because you believe it isn’t 'nice' or your partner would prefer it, then please remember that women died so we could get the vote - how do you think they would feel about a vajazzle?

‘A single vaccine given to a six-pound newborn is the equivalent of giving a 180-pound adult 30 vaccinations on the same day.’ – Dr Boyd Hayley, Professor and Chair, Dept of Chemistry, University of Kentucky (2001).

Yesterday I started a Facebook war. It was an accident. All I did was share the quote above but it seemed to trigger responses from a lot of people.

It seems we are really divided on the subject of vaccines.

Very often it seems that people have them because they are told to or because it’s the ‘done’ thing or even worse because your child won’t get into their chosen school without them.

We are becoming obsessed. I’ve heard of perfectly healthy 30 year olds having the flu jab or giving kids chicken pox vaccine. When my daughter was little we used to arrange chicken pox parties to get it over and done with.

The problem is that we don’t know what all this messing about is doing to our immune systems as part of the big picture. What if surviving chicken pox and flu when we are kids means our bodies are able to deal with some horror we’ve not yet heard of that’s waiting in the wings?

The body is amazing - we come in to contact with thousands of bugs every day and our immune system does its job (most of the time). It takes a lot for the bugs to get through - in fact Louis Pasteur was said to renounce his work on his deathbed, saying the bugs were already inherent in the body. He believed they were waiting for the right environment to be created - they weren’t ‘caught’. This throws a spanner in the works for the war of ‘us vs the bugs’ or, as the mum in my favourite TV show, Dharma and Gregg, said, the fact that: ‘bugs can only fly in when there is a hole in the soul’.

One thing I do know is that prevention is always better than cure. In the new Hollywood movie, Contagion, the head of the CDC says of the superbug threatening to wipe out the human race: ‘the mortality rate is fluctuating depending on underlying medical conditions, socio-economic factors, nutrition and fresh water.’

This is a big part of the argument for me. Hands up who eats ten portions of organic fruit and veg a day, no coffee or alcohol, drinks two litres of water, has no sugar and lives a totally stress free life? Not many of us...

We have got into a place where we absolve ourselves of the responsibility of our health - it’s not our problem, it’s the NHS’s, and it’s much cheaper for them to jab us than fix us.

I’m not saying don’t do it, I’m saying think about it and research it before you do it. If you are about to volunteer to clear an old well out in a remote part of India you’re gonna want some peace of mind that you won’t die of cholera. I get it, but make sure you support your body properly as well.

There are alternatives. Homeopathy uses nosodes or looks at ‘fixing the weakness’ in the body’s natural defences. In kinesiology, we use an energy signature of the disease and strengthen the immune system so it doesn’t fall apart when it comes into contact with the bugs or virus.

One of the comments on Facebook was that a general blanket opposition to vaccines is just as useless as fear-based strategising from the drug companies pushing unnecessary vaccines on healthy people. The conflicting ideologies are confusing and we don’t know what to do for the best.

The reality is that you have to be able to live with your choices and the outcomes of them, be that reacting to a vaccine or contracting a disease. In the words of Monty Python, ‘don’t let anyone tell you what to do, we are all individuals’. Thanks, Brian, for that.

Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet ingesting her non-whey protein shake. Along came a spider and bit her on the boob.

I am Miss Muffet and this is my story…

So apparently we have biting spiders in the UK. They are stowing away on bananas and grapes from far off isles and then falling in love with our English spiders and making mean, biting, love child baby spiders with poor dental hygiene.

In August I unfortunately got bitten by said spider and ended up with a septic walnut sized abscess and flu like symptoms. I dealt with it the same way any sane hardcore 'natural medicine' guru would and went running to the doctors for some nuclear strength antibiotics to stop my boob going gangrenous.

Two types of strong antibiotics and a few weeks later my abscess had gone and I was filled with joy but quickly noticed I wasn’t feeling much better.

I haven’t had antibiotics for 4 years so I had taken necessary precautions (I’d taken zinc, vitamin C, bifidophilus and antioxidants combined with green juicing) but the Hiroshima-style effect of the drugs was far reaching.

My stomach and small intestine have been in knots ever since and I’ve had headaches, low energy, poor immunity and felt rundown.

Luckily I have a trusted kinesiology business partner so I’ve been fighting back, but it's made me ask the following question:

How much devastation did the antibiotics create whilst fixing the infection? And how bad do people who are on antibiotics feel, or is the body such an amazing buffer do they not notice? I was protecting myself nutritionally, but most people don’t - so what are the ramifications for their bodies?

I know antibiotics save lives - I watched my dad be saved from a rare and horrific form of sepsis from 6 weeks of strong IV antibiotics and for this they are miraculous. However, what seems really clear is that once they’ve fixed the problem the healing really needs to start.

I know what kind of parent I’m going to be. I have it all planned out. I will be one of those idyllic mothers who sings in the kitchen, wears aprons even when she’s not baking, is never too busy to play with Lego and reads stories like they do on CBeebies. And most of all, I will feed my children healthy, nutritious food, full of multi coloured vegetables, homemade soups and steamed fish. Sigh. I have not let the fact that I am an incredibly busy self-employed woman who can’t sing for toffee and doesn’t even own an apron get in the way of this wondrous image I have created.

Until today.

Today I have spent the afternoon watching the tortured face of my friend as she tried to feed lunch to her very gorgeous, very wilful 18 month old girl. She starts with meat balls. These are picked up, smeared across the table and then dumped on the floor. One makes it into the mouth and stays there for about 20 mins. Then there are the peas which are flatly ignored. Then yogurt. The spoon is pushed away again and again until the little mouth gives in and some strawberry goo makes it in and sits with the half chewed meat ball. My friend looks at me and pleads, ‘How do I get her to eat well?!’

This hadn’t occurred to me. I had planned so beautifully the mother I was going to be, I had completely forgotten to plan the child I needed to go with it! I look at my friend blankly and answer ‘I have no idea’. Me. The Nutritionist. The passionate, healthy one who has food advice for anyone who wants to listen. I don’t have an answer for this.

So I check out Google.

Here's a nice suggestion - Create a food collage. Use broccoli florets for trees, carrots and celery for flowers, cauliflower for clouds, and a yellow squash for a sun. Then eat the masterpiece.

I wonder if that would actually work.

Try to focus on the sweeter ‘good for you’ foods, like strawberries, mandarin oranges, cherries, tomatoes, sweet peas, and corn.

Again a nice suggestion and one that's relatively easy to follow, especially in the warmer months when fruit is that much tastier. As a nutritionist I would add that the darker fruits are preferable, rich in betacarotene (Vitamin A) and not so high in sugar.

Apparently children who do not like cooked vegetables may prefer raw vegetables with a dip and like it if they are arranged into some weird smiley face. Or if they won’t eat, get them to drink and make a juice instead.

Its my turn to cook tonight. I may try these tricks on the 18month old, see what happens. If any of you mothers have other ideas up your sleeve I'd love to know! I fear that if I can’t crack the all important issue of tempting my child with a vegetable I might have to give up the apron dream all together…

I’m car-less at the moment. This is a personal disaster on many levels. I get stranded at houses and need frequent rescuing. I’m relying on the kindness of friends and family to give me lifts, making me feel like an inconvenient teenager. But worst of all, I’m back on public transport.

I say ‘back’ because for 5 years I was a London dweller and train timetables, tube maps and standing in peoples armpits were part of my daily routine. I didn’t mind, I was in my 20s, I had other things to worry about such as how i was going to afford yet another new dress from Oliver Bonas. But I haven’t been on public transport in 18 months and I’m all out of practice.

As I sit on the Clapham Junction platform freezing my pants off thinking how do people do this I become very aware of the coughing and sneezing around me. It’s October, the season of the cold. This kind of makes sense when you look at traditional Chinese medicine. Autumn is the metal element, the organs for metal are lungs and the large intestine. 50% of the immune system is in the gut so autumn hits and we all get ill. But here’s the thing. Colds don’t invade us, we invite them in. Germs can only inhabit a favourable environment - acidic cells, depleted immune systems, stressed bodies.

So how can we support ourselves? Vitamin C is a great starter for 10 and needs to be a good quality natural formulation - none of these chewy orange artificial ones. I recommend Rosehips by Higher Nature

Echinacea is great for keeping healthy but it’s function is to create more of the same - so not to be taken when ill.

Vitamin A helps the body stay moist, so when you have a sore throat or chesty cough this will really help support the lungs. One of my favourite products is Defence Maintenance by Nature's Sunshine. This blend of vitamin C, vitamin A and zinc makes an ideal blend for a healthy immune system.

And finally a little diet recommendation - eat lots of garlic and onions which act as a natural anti-viral keeping the bugs (and most family members) away. Not great if you’re begging for a lift to the station though…

So as a kinesiologist I spend a preposterous amount of my time around nutritional supplements, literally I’m surrounded by bottles and jars of different coloured and sized pills. I haven’t always been fascinated by them. Up until I was 30 the most I’d ever taken was one of those delicious fizzy orange things that are supposed to be good for a hangover, but now they are a big part of my life.

So the big question I get asked a lot is why do we need them? Well here’s the thing, since we started intensively farming in the 80’s many trace minerals have been depleted from the soil meaning that basically our food isn’t as packed full of the good stuff anymore. This has created what we kinesiologists call “nutritional gaps. So come on be honest, hands up who eats:

• 5 a day?
• 10 a day?
• Organic 10 a day?
• Eats fast food or pre prepared food?
• Has central heating or carpets in their house?

If you are eating 10 organic veg a day great keep going you will probably have less health concerns than the rest of us but if not then there are some pretty big nutritional gaps to fill. By filling these gaps we are giving our bodies the tools it needs to heal itself.

I literally see this day in, day out in my clinic. A vast variety of symptoms and imbalances like migraines, IBS, menstrual issues, stress, aches, pains, you name it, become minimized and even go completely once the body is given what it needs.

Does that sound too good to be true? Well there are some pit falls. Firstly, the supplements you tend to buy on the high street (health food shops excluded) tend to be fairly useless, even if you can buy 2 and get one free please don’t get sucked in. They are packed full of fillers and are often created synthetically and can cause more problems than they are trying to resolve.

It’s really important to use supplements that are organic and where possible “food state” (made from food) and where appropriate made with the active part of the plant.

Daily essentials include a really good B complex, a Vitamin C (not ones that taste of orange, they are more likely to taste of cabbage), an acidophilus (no those drinks don’t count, they are full of sugar and never make it to your large intestine anyway) and a dairy free protein drink. I’ve found some amazing products that really work (or you get your money back).

Of course there is a downside, the supplement industry is big business and the drug companies aren’t happy about being excluded. That combined with new EU legislation will make it harder and harder to get good products. It does ok though, find yourself a good nutritional practitioner and they will be able to help you out.

Supplements tend to cost money, real money, it’s worth it, you are worth it, and your health is worth it. It’s such a cliché but when it comes to your health what you put in you really do get back.

Organic food. The posh looking food in the supermarket with a higher price tag. And as the recession has hit more and more people have opted out of buying organic.

Actually organic is so much more than a posh label. Organic food is produced without artificial chemicals or genetic modification, and with respect for animal welfare and the environment. And importantly, studies show pesticides are damaging to our health.

Some chemicals and pesticides initiate cancer by causing genetic alterations that lead to a cancerous tumour. Examples of chemicals in food that cause cancer in humans are

• vinyl chloride, which causes liver sarcomas
• arsenic, which causes skin and lung cancer
• benzene, which causes leukaemia

Developmental toxicants cause low birth weight, physiological, behavioural, or biological problems that are either apparent at birth, or become apparent as the child grows.

Neurotoxic compounds are toxic to the brain, spinal cord, or other parts of the nervous system. Effects range from muscle weakness, tremors, confusion, memory loss, and permanently impaired behaviour or learning capacity. It can cause disease such as Parkinsons for example

Reproductive toxicants are chemicals that damage reproductive organs. The effects can include disruption of the menstrual cycle, miscarriages, changes in onset of puberty, premature menopause, and alterations in sexual behaviour. In males, reproductive toxicants can cause decreased sperm counts, a decrease in the number and percentage of healthy sperm, altered sexual behaviour, decreased fertility and even sterility.

The endocrine (hormone) system is the body's messenger system, linking different organs and organ systems via chemical signals that tell the body everything from when it is time to grow reproductive organs, to when metabolism should be increased. Chemicals can disrupt these messages by blocking the hormone receptors in cells, while others inhibit the ability of different glands to create the hormones in the first place. Other chemicals affect the way that these hormones are stored, transported, and eventually destroyed.

Immunotoxic chemicals interfere with the complex chemical balance necessary for proper working of the body's immune system. Some chemicals like PCBs, dioxin, and organochlorine pesticides can interfere with the body's ability to create anti-bodies. Other chemicals, like formaldehyde and the pesticide malathion can hyper-stimulate the immune system, causing the body to create an systemic over-abundance of antibodies that can actually start attacking healthy cells.

Organic has now become big business with large companies launching organic ranges.

When you add up the potential health risks with non organic produce it makes you wonder whether organic food is not simply a ‘lifestyle’ choice, but a matter of life over death. I know which one I would rather choose.

As someone who makes her living as a “healer” I’ve always been a bit negative about the word “cure”. When I mentioned this to my friend she replied “Why don’t you like the concept of curing? Surely if you are healed you are cured, the objectives are the same.” Well this got me to thinking so I thought I’d do some digging.

Given that I am a self confessed geek I am always interested in the dictionary definitions of words so I checked them out and interestingly enough where both the words “healing” and “cure” are obviously nouns the word “cure” is also a verb. It’s a doing word whereas the word “healing” is an adjective, a description.

Whilst very subtle that for me really sums up the difference between healing and curing. Cure tends to make me think of surgery and procedures. Things being done TO the body, not with the body.

Cure

So sticking with definitions for a moment according to the dictionary cure means the following “relief or recovery from a disease” or “to restore to health”.

Well it all sounds ok so far but here’s the problem: “cure” means “to restore to health” but as the human condition is a terminal illness resulting in death surely no one can be completely restored to health by nature of being alive. But even if they are given “relief from a disease” it is just that.. relief or in the case of drugs a changed perception of the situation. A headache tablet doesn’t take away the headache it just stops you feeling the pain.

The idea that a person gets ill when he is attacked from the outside has become a deeply entrenched Western belief thanks to Louis Pasteur who demonstrated that diseased tissues contained "bugs” which had to be destroyed to get rid of the disease. To destroy became the way forward. The endless search for invading organisms took on gigantic proportions. From bacteria we moved on to viruses, parasites, worms, and fungi.

Illnesses are not the result of a vicious attack by an outside aggressor but are internal imbalances. Bugs appear in diseased tissues from within the tissues itself, this has been demonstrated in laboratory conditions. Louis Pasteur even admitted this on his deathbed! There are no mysterious viruses that travel vast distances or lie dormant for decades before "attacking" the innocent victim. Illness has not so much to do with "out there" as it has with "in here". This is proven time and time again with people who get one thing after another or the miracle cases who defy their prognoses and recover from a terminal illness.

Healing

Healing also means restoration to health, but the word itself is based on a German word that translates as "making whole" which is not a feature of curing. Curing busies itself with situations or bits that have gone wrong, whilst healing seems to concentrate on the "wholeness". When you restore something to a sound or normal state you do not necessarily have to restore it to its original state as described in the manual.

When we heal people, we very often notice that the disease does not disappear. Healing is not about "curing diseases"; healing is about "making whole". In healing no one is fighting anything or anybody. There are no bugs or mystery causes to be destroyed. Being ill and being well are human concepts that keep enhancing duality. Healing is not about destroying; healing is about making whole. Healing therefore can take place in spite of illness or even death. Curing diseases doesn’t make people better. Making whole does.

“Come on,” I hear you all shout, “surely if you cured someone of their disease they are better”. Well no, not necessarily. I work with many clients who deal with the trauma of dealing with these diseases and the side effects of medication and surgical procedures. Granted, a bowelectomy might save your life and get rid of cancer but the long term damage caused by a repeated terrible diet could mean that the cancer can come back. That might sound basic but you would be surprised at how little emphasis the medical profession put on dietary habits. Not to mention how the trauma caused by needing a permanent colostomy bag can be life shattering for some people. In these instances the only way to get back to being “whole” is through education, emotional release and lifestyle changes. This will eventually allow the person to be at peace with whatever emotional or physical scars they have and prevent further disease.

Curing also negates the option of seeing the silver lining in what appears to be a big black cloud. To completely trust in the process of life we need to see every situation as having a positive aspect. The great poet Rumi summed this up when he said “don’t get lost in your pain, know that one day your pain will be your cure”. I for one am thankful everyday for the three years I suffered with the terrible black cloud that was post-natal depression. Without it I’d never have discovered kinesiology and I’d still be working in an office.

“Curing brings you back to where you were. Healing brings you back to yourself...”

Hi my name is Claire and I'm a sugarholic. I've been (almost) clean for about three years but every day is a new battle.

I've eliminated a lot of different foods in my life but sugar was (and continues to be) the hardest. Surely something that tastes this good can't be that bad for you? Even the word feels good when you roll it around in your mouth!

So why is it so hard? Firstly there is the unavoidable fact that beating a sugar addiction is not too dissimilar an experience to coming off of hard drugs but there is also the problem that it goes by so many different names: glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltodextrin, lactose, the list is endless! But above and beyond all of that is the emotional connection we have to it. Sugar is used to celebrate all the good things that happen in our lives we have birthday cakes, big tins of choccies at Christmas, Easter eggs, ice creams on a sunny day, wedding cakes and christening cakes, not to mention when we were little and fell over we were given the odd bit of chocolate or sweeties to make it all better.

The problem is that sugar NEVER makes it all better. It has been said by many in the nutritional field that if sugar had been a recent discovery it would be a classified drug because of the damage it causes. This list is only the tip of the meringue like iceberg!

• Sugar is by far the leading cause of cavities in teeth, bleeding gums, failure of bone structure, and loss of teeth.
• Sugar is the main cause of diabetes.
• It is a significant contributory cause of heart disease, mental illness, depression, senility, hypertension, cancer.
• It stresses the endocrine system and its individual glands such as the adrenal glands, pancreas and liver.
• Increases overgrowth of candida yeast organism
• Increases chronic fatigue
• Increases PMS symptoms
• Increases hyperactivity in children
• Increases panic anxiety and irritability
• Can cause weight gain due to constantly high insulin levels, which causes the body to store excess carbs as fat.

It's food for thought isn't it?

As a Kinesiologist, I regularly recommend that people reduce or remove sugar to improve their health. The common response I get from my clients (after they look at me like I am an alien) is "but I don't take sugar in my tea". If only it were that simple. Once you examine the "foods" in any supermarket more closely and start reading labels, you will find just about everything contains sugar. Most foods are loaded with it - from cereals, to soups, to ketchup, to hotdogs. Some cereals are as much as 50% sugar.

But there is hope in the form of some great substitutes but PLEASE don't swap on to artificial sweeteners - they are terrible for your health. Click here to read more. Instead try using Agave Nectar in your tea, on your porridge and in your cooking or Xylitol granules. Both of these are naturally occurring unprocessed sugars that keep your blood sugar nice and stable and don't have the associated problems of processed sugar.

So for now it's back to the daily battle, but after three years it's now so much easier because here's the good news.... the less you have it, the more your body re-balances itself and the less you want it.

So Mr Tate and Mr Lyle you can keep your white stuff because these days my adrenals and I are just as satisfied with a big juicy medjool date.

For more information about kinesiology or for recipes check out my website Balanced Wellness

News about wheat being bad for you is everywhere. These days all the big supermarkets stock wheat free this and gluten that, but the truth is that most of us mere mortals aren’t sure why it’s so bad or what to eat instead.

So here are a few facts; I often hear “people didn’t have these problems years ago” that’s true, here’s why - Prior to the 1970’s wheat was grown in relatively small amounts, local to the place you bought it from. When you ate it, it was nice and fresh and had a much smaller level of gluten in it. Once intensive farming became the norm, wheat was genetically modified to fit the combine harvesters more easily, it became a uniform height and shape to make it easier to process. This increased the gluten content of it dramatically!

In the last 20 years it has become quite normal for a person’s daily diet to consist of toast for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and pasta for dinner. These days we are literally overdosing on wheat because it’s so convenient. Gluten literally glues itself to the inside of your body, many conditions such as skin problems, arthritis, weight problems, headaches, lethargy and IBS can be caused by eating wheat regularly and gluten building up in your diet.

So how do I know if wheat is bad for me?

Well the most simple and effective way is to get tested for food sensitivity by a specialist such as a Kinesiologist. It is highly unlikely that a blood test will show up a sensitivity as it can be sub-clinical. Only people with a full wheat allergy (coeliacs) will have pathological changes in their blood but don’t let this fool you, even a small intolerance can cause some extreme symptoms. As a rough guideline here are some classic “wheat related symptoms” but please people be sensible give it a few weeks and if your symptoms are still there go see a health professional!

• Bloating
• Fatigue
• Depression
• Groggy in the mornings
• Aches and pains
• Skin problems
• Mood swings
• Stomach pains / IBS
• Sneezing / itching
• Runny nose/eyes
• Headaches

But what’s the alternative?

I’m not going to say it’s a piece of cake (wheat free of course…) to eliminate wheat from your diet. It seems to creep in everywhere, tinned soups, crisps, cereals, condiments (the list is endless) but it is definitely possible. Its much easier now than it was a few years ago. Opt for things made from Spelt. Spelt is “ancient” wheat , its got a much lower gluten content as it hasn’t been modified. You can buy all sorts of things from pasta, biscuits to pitta breads and it tastes delicious! We have handmade our own wheat and dairy free gingerbread and mince pies for the last 3 Christmas's using spelt, so far no one has noticed! Check out the “free from” section in your supermarket. They will stock lots of products but be warned many of the “bakery goods” need toasting, don’t be lazy you will regret it! Even better is to go to your local health food shop. They will specialize in this stuff and will probably have artisan breads, fresh spelt cakes and biscuits that are amazing and probably also don’t contain refined sugar.

Go back to basics. Rethink your diet, If you were highly wheat reliant have a shake up of your “recipe portfolio” and get creative. Even when you are trying to avoid it, it can be hard. The only advice I can give is to read the packets and get as much info as you can. (unlike my husband who proudly presented me with a packet of bran flakes and insisted they were wheat free because they were made of bran…..) Seriously though, being aware of what you are eating is really empowering and you will feel the benefit, give it a go. If you would like recipe ideas or for more information check out Balanced Wellness

Good luck Claire xx