About Me

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Birmingham, United Kingdom
Welcome to my blog, and thank you for stopping by. I hope you find it informative, and if there is anything I have missed or you would like me to talk about please drop me a line of suggestion. After seeing a nutritional therapist I decided from the improvement of my own health that I would like to be there in the same way for others, therefore, I studied two degrees; one in Nutritional Therapy and another in Bioscience Nutrition so that i could be equipped to support a number of health conditions. I now work for a supplement company on a clinical team supporting practitioners and keeping upto date with all new scientific information and provide private consultations too aswel as keeping my blog going :)

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Wednesday 18 July 2012

Your daily skincare regime


With the wet weather determined to hang around for another week, many of us may be starting to feel the doom and gloom of the cloudy grey skies.
So this week lets discuss ways to make your skin look and feel radiant so even if the sun isn’t shining, your skin will be.



Your Daily Skin care regime

There are several important things to remember when it comes to treating your skin. What you put into your body can really affect your skin; poor diet, a stressful lifestyle and pollutants can all disrupt your liver and digestive health thus compromising your skins health. So ideally follow a healthy diet and drink lots of water along with a healthy daily beauty regime so that you can be both beautiful on the inside and out. Remember what you put on your skin is absorbed so it is best to use natural ingredients. We also recommend that you use your skin regime in the morning to wake up your beautiful face and in the evening to wash away all the impurities of the day.



Your daily beauty regime…

How is best to wash your face
When you wash your face use only water and pat your face gently dry with a clean face towel. Try not to use anything abrasive on your face; the skin is so fragile in this area. This applies to the use of scrubs to exfoliate; this should be a very gentle process. Scrubs can make your face feel soft for a short while but all they do is strip away a layer of delicate skin leaving it vulnerable to further damage.

Afterwashing your face these are the stages you should follow...


Cleanse
Use a good product that contains ingredients like rose water, coconut oil, almond oil and tea tree oil. Apply to a muslin cloth and gently massage the skin to remove any dirt and make up that may be blocking the pores.


When removing eye makeup use ingredients that are refreshing and gentle such as cold brewed honey bush tea, the eye area is delicate so using the right product is essential.

Tone
Try to use ingredients such as apple and cucumber as they contain Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHA) which penetrates the skin layer to break up dead cells and remove any dirt. These combined with drops of vitamin A (retinyl palmitate or retinyl acetate) will help to nourish and hydrate the skin. 

Moisturise
This will act as a seal. During moisturing you want to try and get all of your nutrients in to protect collagen. Use a cream containing antioxidants like Vitamin A, Zinc and Vitamin E. After following this regime for a month add in Vitamin C. Vitamin C is great for protecting collagen, reducing scaring and any possible visible lines. However, Vitamin C doesn’t agree with everyone so it is best that you build up the amount you apply to the skin to see if it works for you.

Eye Gel
Apply a little bit of cream containing Coenzyme Q10 around your eyes at night time to reduce any fine lines and protect collagen.

Now that you know what to do, experiment with making your own natural face creams, at least this way you can have a beauty regime tailored to your skin type

Thursday 5 July 2012

Nutrition helping you keep healthy during your summer travels


Travelling abroad
The excitement of a holiday, new clothes, sunshine and exploring on day trips is sometimes almost enough for you to forget about your travel health.  Most of us don’t think about it until we get there, but we’ve got a few suggestions to help you plan a little in advance so you don’t have to worry when you should be enjoying your summer break.
Reducing the risk of the travellers tummy bug:
Most tummy infections from micro-organisms and parasites are from contaminated foods, water and infected animals.  However, tap water in some countries is to an equivalent or even better standard than bottled water so it is worth checking if you can drink it before you go. Bear in mind that tap water can be suitable for a local’s immune system but still affect you. If it’s not suitable for you make sure that you brush your teeth and drink mineral bottled water only. Be careful not to be caught out with ice made from tap water in restaurants and also make sure fruit is pealed and vegetables are boiled to reduce the chance of ingesting food borne contaminants.

Tasty food can look after your tummy:

When choosing a meal at a restaurant look for dishes containing garlic, coriander, cloves, coconut, cinnamon and oregano as they not only make our food taste delicious they also all act as natural antibiotics making the digestive tract less habitable for pathogens.
Had one too many to drink?
The drinks were flowing and the evening was jolly but then you wake up the next morning it’s a slightly different story. The aftermath of alcohol can leave you feeling a little low, lethargic and under the weather due to four main reasons; the toxic load on the liver, disruption to blood sugar levels, dehydration and depletion of your B vitamin levels which like to keep you happy and energized.
Reduce hangover symptoms by: 
- Having liver supportive foods such as beetroot, artichoke, eggs and cruciferous vegetables before and after drinking can help to detoxify alcohol effectively through the liver.  


- Eating berries and a banana the following morning can help rehydrate you and combine this with some nuts and seeds to aim at rebalancing your blood sugar levels.   
Keep that flat tummy
The trick to keeping your stomach flat is ensuring that you  are adequately digesting your food. We have put some tips below to help:
- Chew your food to a pulp so that your body can digest it
- Limit refined carbohydrates in the diet such as pasta and bread. 
They cause water retention and your body doesn’t really know what to do with it
- Eat salads - raw foods contain digestive enzymes to aid food digestion   
The desired summer glow
The sun can give your skin a nice glow but can also cause damage. A couple of tips below should help:
- Wear a sun cream of SPF-15 to protect your skin from the suns UV rays

- Use aftercare containing vitamin E and aloe vera to help soothe and rejuvenate your skin
- Use a skin regime containing antioxidants to protect and repair skin such as zinc, vitamin A and CoQ10
We hope that you enjoy your up and coming travels!