At our Spring seasonal ‘reboot’ I talked about how, using the analogy of the tree, we could see fresh shoots, buds and leaves as representing our creativity, our hopes and dreams and the way we share our gifts and talents in the world. Spring is the most creative, vibrant time of year, a time when we can really ‘birth’ our dreams and make them come true.

So how can we nourish our tender shoots of creativity this Spring so they can grow strong and vibrant so we can really sparkle and shine?

‘We are what we eat’, everybody says it and it sounds so obvious doesn’t it but most people don’t connect what they are eating to how they are feeling; they assume they can carry on putting anything in their mouth and carry on shining in the world ….no no no! My belief is that if we feed ourselves well our mind will feel clear, ours bodies light and our spirits connected to a clear pathway forward …we will be able to see ‘the wood for the trees’.

I don’t like to be prescriptive about the correct way to eat, as far as I’m concerned there are as many ‘correct ways’ to eat to nourish our own ‘tree of life’, our bodies are all different and we are all at different stages of our life but, there are some fundamentals that if we start to implement this Spring we can then reap the rewards as we move through the seasons.

Here are my top 10 tips to feel healthy and vibrant this Spring

1. Think nutrients not calories- make every mouthful count! Choose fresh food that is high in nutrients, forget the word calorie. It is true that some naturally wholesome foods are high in calories but that is because they are rich in wonderfully healthy fats which are bodies need and crave.

2. Drink 2 litres of water every day. Dehydration is very stressful for the body. By the time you feel thirsty you are already dehydrated. Have it hot, cold, with a slice of lemon, some sprigs of mint, some ginger, anyway that makes you drink more water is good.

3. Try to avoid tea, coffee, alcohol and sugar, all these have no nutritional value, stress you out and dehydrate you.

4. Avoid highly processed and salty products, these are also anti-nutrients and are hard for your body to process.

5. Eat at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day; these are rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, these are essential to keep the body healthy. Get these in any way you can, add a green salad to your meals, make a smoothie, have a juice. Try to keep the balance between vegetables and fruit at about 5:1, this helps with keeping the blood sugar stable.

6. Eat plenty of wholegrains, such as brown rice, millet and quinoa (it’s a seed really), these are rich in nutrients that support the immune system.

7. Choose carbohydrates that burn slowly in the body, these are known as having a low glycaemic index. These are the wholegrains such as brown rice, pot barley, rolled oats. This will give you sustained energy rather than short bursts followed by an energy dip.

8. Gentle exercise such as walking, yoga and tai chi supports the immune system.

9. Eat plenty of healthy-fats. These are essential for all the body’s processes. You will find these in nuts and seeds and unprocessed oils such as olive and flax oil. Oily fish is a rich source of these healthy fats, particularly omega 3. You cannot get fat from these fats; the vast majority of us are so depleted in these that they get used up in the essential running of the body.

10. Remember ‘you are the difference between what you eat and what you excrete’, so try and eat well at least 80% of the time.

So give one or some of these a go, we are all different ‘trees’ needing different soils, so experiment with different ways of eating, your body will tell you if it is right for you.

Anyway enjoy feasting, creating and tending your beautiful, tender shoots….let’s all start really shining!…YAY

With love

Carolxx

PS details now here for Summer ‘reboot’ click here for details, hope to see you there x♥

Spring has definitely sprung…on my morning walk I was looking at the beautiful new leaves unfolding and their fresh tender leaves. The bluebells are also opening, it is lovely to see them swaying from where I am sat writing.

I have been thinking a lot about roots and foundations this week after all the wonderful inspiration that flowed following the ‘Spring reboot’ workshop I ran last week with Kinesiologist Sarah-Jayne.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine Five Element theory Spring is linked to the ‘wood element’. The energy of Spring is very purposeful and assertive just like a tiny shoot has to be pushing through the newly warmed earth of Spring. In the workshop to help us connect to that ‘spring feeling’ we used the analogy of a tree to explore how we could make the most of this dynamic time. We started looking at our roots, these represent our foundations, our families, our ancestors, our principles, thoughts and beliefs; all these things can hold us securely, give us depth, nourish us, give us security and meaning, give our plans solidity, keep us grounded…BUT…we can also be pot bound, squashed, and feeling that we are rapidly outgrowing the space we are in and perhaps even feeling stifled and malnourished from tired soil.

So here are my musings about my roots this Spring

• I definitely need transplanting; I have done lots of ‘dreaming’ this winter and can feel a massive ‘growth spurt’ coming on. So many ideas have come in for work expansion and my new office space which will be created in early June will definitely be a new part of my root system…can’t wait to have a dedicated work space.
• Hmmm…’root’ food….my smoothies have become greener and bigger. I have decided with the new warmer weather to have more raw food in my diet and get that lovely squeaky clean feeling. This morning I had lettuce, cucumber and spinach along with a lovely juicy pear all zapped together with soaked flax seeds and almonds…yummy. You could feed your roots simply by;

☼       Eating more green food, leafy salads, nettle soup, wild garlic humus

☼       Eat more raw food, even if it means eating an extra portion of fruit or adding in a green salad

☼       Keeping yourself well watered, when the sap is rising you need to keep the ‘flow’ going!

• I need to update some of my thoughts and beliefs with some new fresh Spring affirmations! Part of my winter dreaming and now new spring growth and inspiration has been working with my friend, photographer Jeremy Tucker (jeremytucker.co.uk) on some seasonal affirmations. My Spring time vision is that they are so popular they will be made into a calendar, it’s good to dream big at this time of year! I hope you enjoy them and thanks to Jeremy for even considering having words put on his stunning photos. Anyway here are my new seasonally inspired affirmations!

☼       ‘my new ideas grow naturally and vibrantly’

☼       ‘my root system supports and nourishes me’

☼       ‘ my new leaves love the light and help me shine in the world’

Would love to hear your Spring/tree inspired affirmations and it would be great if you could join us for the Summer ‘Reboot’ coming up in early June click here for details.

with warm spring blessings for inspired, well rooted growth…YAY!

Carol xx

9 Tips To Live In Harmony With High-Fiber Foods – KrisCarr.com.

jeremytucker.co.uk

Spring ‘Reboot’

Myself and Kinesiologist Sarah-Jayne had a fantastic afternoon on Friday running the first of our ‘Seasonal Reboots’, we enjoyed some meditation, sharing some great Kinesiology techniques for allowing new growth and exploring how to use food to get things moving.

It was really inspiring hearing how folk wanted to make changes and ‘ride the wave’ of the fresh Spring energy. Spring is an amazing time to make new beginnings and set new intentions for the year ahead. Whereas January may be the calendar start of the new year, spring time is most definitely the energetic start of the year. At the end of the afternoon we all had some intentions to go away with  to plant and tend over the next couple of months.

Amongst my notes I found this about ‘making changes’ which really summed up the fun we had on Friday

Making Changes – what has to happen in your mind (and feel in your body)

1. Awareness – ‘Things have got to change’
2.  Investigation – ‘How can I make things change’?
   

   jeremytucker.co.uk

3.  Knowledge – ‘I know how to change things’
4.  Potential – ‘I can change if I want to’!
5.  Motivation – ‘How do I get started’?

•  Define and record your motivation
• Set a realistic and appropriate plan
• Practice your new habits
• Evaluate, review and reward your progress
• If you ‘fall off the wagon’ just get back on

        6. Action – ‘I am changing things’

       7. Patience – ‘I am still changing things’

       8. Results – ‘I feel better’

 This then increases your motivation and you can carry on making changes and so feel increasing levels of health and vitality.

Due to popular demand we are running another ‘Spring’ date,  Wednesday 1st May 10.30-1-30, so if you fancy a Spring ‘Reboot’ click here for more info and please do get in touch ….happy ‘springing’

jeremytucker.co.uk

Find your own pathway through the woods this Springtime

While preparing for the mini ‘Spring growth’ workshop happening at the end of this week I came across an old lesson plan I had made while teaching for the Nutritional Healing Foundation many years ago. As many of you know I love love love the philosophy of the Chinese 5 elements I begun learning about almost 30 years ago when training to be an Acupuncturist and the wisdom and structure they give to staying healthy with the seasons.

Spring is the start of the energetic year and is full of energy and dynamism, it’s the time to ‘catch the wave’ and ride it. In Chinese Medicine Spring is linked to the wood element and we can use the analogy of a tree to learn more about the power of this fantabulous season.

Here are my notes which give you a taster of the magic of Tree Wisdom and the power of Spring;

Imagine a tree 

tall, straight, well rooted, blowing in the wind, growing, budding, flowering, fruiting, dropping leaves

•  A tree is totally purposeful, it grows tall and straight aiming for the light, it knows where it is going, it has clear vision.
• It is endlessly creative, each tiny leaf, representing a single idea that makes up the whole canopy
  
• Its trunk gives it structure and strength  helping it reach the light, it also gives flexibility allowing it to bend in the wind in fact the bending helps strengthen the tree.

We can see these Wood characteristics in ourselves in the following ways;

• In health we too will have clear vision, we know where we are going and we make decisions and plan accordingly- the eyes are the sense organ of wood
• If we don’t have clear vision we may get frustrated and feel thwarted at every turn, this may manifest as anger, the emotion linked to the wood element. In health it is assertion that keeps us moving forward
• Just as the tree has to bend in the wind so we have to be adaptable, the ligaments and tendons of the body give physical flexibility; wood also allows us in health to change our plans without loosing sight of our vision.
• Our plans need to be well rooted and realistic to be acheivable.

If you want to find out more about finding your path and tapping into your own tree wisdom this Spring, join Kinesiologist Sarah-Jayne and I at the ‘Spring growth’ mini workshop this Friday 19th April, hope to see you there!

Spring cleaning…the gentle way

 With the spring equinox and the lighter evenings comes a renewed sense of energy and purpose. Along with the feeling of wanting to spring clean the house and get the seeds planted, internally our body also wants to clear out those dusty murky corners of those trillions of cells that make up our fabulous bodies. There are some really simple things you can do to start getting rid of ‘tissue sludge’ and to get yourself feeling full of health and vitality.

First you need to understand that there are certain foods and drink that sap our energy and so decrease our vitality. These foods slow down our daily cleansing cycle thereby encouraging a build up of toxins in the cells. Conversely other foods create more movement and lightness in the system thereby facilitating this daily cleanse.

A gentle cleansing diet is all about taking some of the foods out that are draining and replacing them with foods that will invigorate the system. It is also important to emphasis that small changes can create huge shifts in the body, mind and emotions and changing too much too soon can be overwhelming on all levels. I therefore always suggest slow and steady.

By just changing one meal to incorporate some of the options on the right hand side of the table and cutting back on tea, coffee and alcohol you will release enough energy for ‘spring cleansing’ to begin. Breakfast could be a muesli with fruit and rice milk, lunch, an avocado with oat cakes or a brown rice salad, dinner, some fish with salad or a vegetable 3- bean chilli. You also need to be drinking 2 litres of water a day.

If you want to increase the cleansing power of your diet you can add either a juice or a smoothie. Smoothies are the gentler option as they have the complete fruit in them and so take more digesting, juices are much more cleansing because the body has less to digest; green juices in particular really ‘zip’ things along.

Please never underestimate the power of making even small changes to your diet. Your body is very forgiving and you only have to give it a small ‘rest’ from challenging foods and it will start cleansing. Signs that you may be going too fast, including energy dips, feeling light headed, getting spots and feeling nauseous. If you have any of these symptoms just slow down the changes you are making, particularly if you are juicing. There is no rush, you just need to get in tune with your own bodies rhythm.

Here are a couple of recipes to get you started and are great to incorporate into your morning routine.

‘Kick Start Spring’ Green Juice

1/2 cucumber (skin still on if organic)

4 stalks of celery

2 Large handfuls of greens (spinach, kale, swiss chard, beetroot tops, watercress, turnip greens, etc)

1-2 cloves of garlic peeled or 1/2 inch nub of fresh ginger

1/2 lemon peeled

Push all through the juicer.  Juice the greens by pushing them down with the cucumber or celery.

Creamy Green Banana

The green spirulina powder gives this smoothie a lovely pastel green colour

1 banana

¼ pineapple

1 heaped teaspoon of spirulina

5 tablespoons natural yogurt

6 tablespoons pineapple juice

Finally if you are in Devon you may like to come to my next mini workshop ‘Seasonal Reboot-Spring’ I am running with Kinesiologist Sarah-Jayne Hayden-Binder, for details click here

I love this website, lots of great info and recipes

Seasonal fruit and vegetable calendar | Eat Seasonably.

Medical experts now agree there is such a thing as non-celiac gluten sensitivity, a nod of recognition to “Wheat Belly” fans. As this article discusses, many folks are now giving up wheat even if they do not suffer from celiac disease

Gluten-Free for the Gluten Sensitive – NYTimes.com.

Great article about the effect gluten has on the body

Gluten Confirmed To Cause Weight Gain.

15 Ideas To Add More Raw Fruits and Vegetables To Your Meals | Intent BlogIntent Blog.