Here are a few tips:

Sleep:

Make sure you get enough sleep. Human needs vary between seven and nine hours a night for different individuals. Find out how many hours sleep you need and calculate what time you need to go to bed in order to wake up on time in the morning. Keep in mind that the best hours for sleep are before midnight. Some people get themselves in the habit of having a glass of alcohol, which is to help them sleep. This is a no-go if you haven’t started it and if you have, think how to get rid of this damaging habit. It is the old wives’ tale that a glass of warm milk in the evening helps you sleep. As it is heavy to digest, milk makes you feel full and this can have a calming before sleep effect, but in a long run, milk reduces the absorption ability of your gut, this way making you more lethargic. Besides, the calcium from milk is harder to absorb than the Ca in the green leafy vegetables, so, the milk myth is out!

Getting good quality of sleep is another important factor and it could be more difficult to achieve, again, different for each individual. Here my treatments could be needed as well as more serious changes in the daily routine. General principle is to manage to relax and detach from the day’s problems in the evening. While it can be easy for some people, some others will need to work on it.

After a good night sleep, the appetite feels normalised and the cravings get reduced. So, in order to lose weight, start sleeping (well and long enough)!

Diet:

Quantity of your food should be enough to get you through the day, but forget about that little extra you were allowing yourself during the festive season.

Remember that you can lose up to two kilos in two weeks only by avoiding biscuits, all other pastry and bread with gluten, yellow cheese and fatty meat products as well as deep fried food.

So, put yourself on a diet of cooked brown rice (or quinoa) with vegetables and lean meat or fish, drink plenty of hot herbal tea or just water, avoid alcohol and sweets, and in two weeks you will see the difference without starving yourselves.  Doing all the above is going to reduce the pressure on your digestive system and by starving yourselves for animal fat your liver will be very thankful for the raw olive oil, or other raw oils you will use. Avoiding gluten will free your gut from the glue stuck inside of it and will make it easier for the absorption of  the nutrients  and you will naturally feel more energetic. Remember, the fibre from the vegetables also helps this but in this season it is good to eat them cooked (not to pulp, leave then slightly crunchy).

I can prepare individual detailed dietary advice, in case you are very keen on starting a holistic programme.

The above is copied from http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/, where you can find many recipes with quinoa. My favourite chef Jamie Oliver also offers some, so I am not giving you mine, they are too simple.

Ever since quinoa has been proclaimed as the best source of protein of non-animal origin all the chefs and shops use it to replace the rice in their old recipes. It has become very costly to buy. This is why I am very happy to mix of brown basmati rice and quinoa for a base of a salad or a meal.

A mix of rice and lentils is also a very good vegetable source of protein. It is worth cooking once for a few days, they keep well in the fridge. The salads in the shops are freshly made only on the first day, they spend a few days on the shelves and some of their ingredients lose their nutrients a few hours after they have been chopped. The good thing of preparing them at home is that you know what exactly is in them. A tip: you can always keep a small bottle of oil and some salt at work so you can add them immediately after eating your lunch.

The Western world has been promoting very much the high in proteins diet (remember Atkin’s diet?) as a way of keeping up with the demands of modern life. But it has become clear that consuming a lot of meat, or predominantly meat, can create high acidity in the body, which can lead to many diseases, including cancer.  So the healthier alternative offered by the advanced nutritionists about twenty years ago was getting more proteins from non-animal sources. I firmly believed in this this and followed it. I have been using the principle of balanced diet ever since I started advising my clients on their diet fifteen years ago. Now, I want to remind you: let’s not get into the other extreme! If you were raised eating meat, you should keep eating some, but make it a once or twice a week max, and you also eat some neutralising the acidity food (like celery) and plenty of vegetables for fibre. Not chargrilled or deep fried.

Here is a story for you: When I moved to this country about twenty years ago, I was used to a diet I used to call then ”the poor people’s diet”(in comparison to the “rich” variety of foods I encountered in London). It was made of plenty of bread (wholemeal, the cheapest), lots of potatoes, rice, dried beans, lots of yoghurt, lots of white cheese, (known as Feta here), once a week chicken, meat or fish, a bit of nuts and seeds, and plenty of vegetables eaten raw when in season or pickled in the winter. Although it is typical to the nation I originate from to eat deep fried and very fatty foods, my mum was avoiding them and we would have only occasionally fat meat in winter. I also recall we grew up regularly having at home apples, walnuts, almonds, grapes, cherries. Water melons in the summer were very cheap, so we would have them almost every day. Perhaps the “poor people’s diet” at home had made me strong enough to survive my first few years in London, when I was having toast for breakfast, chicken and cheap white bread for lunch and dinner every day when I was working or toast plus a packet of biscuits when not going out of the house to work. All of these washed down with plenty of coffee to speed me up. The gluten of my very starchy diet had impaired my absorption of nutrients and this was making me very slow, hence the desire to speed up. The lack of fruit and vegetables in my diet had made me so unhealthy, my fitness level went down to almost zero, I was not able to work! This triggered me to enrol on my dietary advisor course so I could design a better diet for myself first. I was still living on a budget, but I learned to boil some rice and to add to it either stir-fried vegetables or sardines from a tin. Get the ones in brine (salty water) or in spring water and add your own cold oil to them. Some people are tempted to buy tins with olive oil, but after the heat these tins go through, the goodies of the oil are not there any longer and you are paying additionally in vein.

Carrots, cabbage and onions are still the cheapest vegetables, which have many benefits for our health! Celery is a very good addition to this stir-fry and it is a very good buy as it will last you for a few.

In addition, using my knowledge and expertise as a PE teacher and a coach, I designed my own gym programme, and I stuck to it religiously. I was also getting some treatments from my colleagues. All these lead to my full recovery then and I reached a point when I was ready for the very demanding job I landed on.

Nowadays, my so called “poor peoples’ diet” is in fashion in the West! It can be quite costly if you always buy the ready-made meals in the shops of London, though!

But, there is a way to make it more affordable. So, in order to lose weight , start cooking!

Exercise:

By all means, do some exercise! Just try moderation at the beginning! Because even walking a few stops instead of getting on the public transport is exercise! All you need to do is either to get up fifteen minutes earlier, or to allow some time after work for this. I hope you have comfy shoes!

With exercise it is also individual: some people prefer it in the morning before work as it invigorates and refreshes them. Some people prefer it in the evening as it tires them enough to get a good night sleep afterwards.

Figure out which type you are and get organised for doing it. From my observations, people procrastinate as they are anxious about the many “other things” which will not be done, when they invest time in exercising. Just remind yourselves this benefit of exercise:  after the initial period of some tiredness, exercising will gradually make you more energetic. This will allow you to fit more things in your schedule, so the “other things” will get done.

My preference is for exercising in the evening as this will get you rid of the stress and negativity accumulated during the working day. Taking a shower immediately afterwards will remove the toxins excreted by sweating, this way not allowing their re-absorption. If you are inexperienced or you are starting exercise after a long break, allow time for rest after each exercising session. You will also notice that with exercising, your previously “crazy” appetite normalises, so you can allow yourself eating very little on the evening of exercise.

So, in order to lose weight, start exercising (moderately)!

Rest/Relaxation

I am putting this separately from Sleep, because it is about different thing. Taking a rest different from sleep is like saying to ourselves that we are worth it. We not only recover from the physical effort, we also relax from the tensions of the day in a very purposeful way. We stop the detrimental effects of stress on us. The better you rest, the more balanced your appetite, your metabolism, your mood.

The ancient techniques such as Qi Gong, Tai Qi, Yoga have gained high popularity nowadays. There is a good reason for that! They are very good for stress relief, for rest/relaxation and for exercise at the same time!

From my modest personal experience:

Yoga was very good for me. Initially I felt annoyed to find out they were teaching me how to breathe. But the feeling at the end of my first session was so good, I wanted to get more of it! I recommend Yoga to everyone! Many men in this country think it is for women only, but they forget that the top yogis in India, where this art comes from, are men. Participating in a group is the best way to start. I only stopped my Yoga classes for a technical reason and afterwards I discovered Pilates, which seemed to be a good option for me at the time. Later, I found a Pilates teacher who was including some yoga in the sessions, so a mix of these two can also be found.

Pilates is a modern exercise system, very suitable for people after injuries, or who are not fans of the gym. Pilates for beginners can be the best exercise for toning of the core muscles, which makes it very suitable for people with sedentary jobs and for anyone with some low back complains. But as they teach you also how to co-ordinate your breathing with your movements, a Pilates class for beginners can be also used for stress relief.

Tai Qi is a martial art and I have never tried it. But the classes for lay public teach you to focus on balanced movements, which must be good for de-stressing and relaxation!

Qi Gong (self-healing in motion) has become my favourite the minute I was introduced to it. Having reached the level of Master in Reiki (energy healing), I found Qi Gong to be something like Reiki in motion as we move the energy along the line of the chakras. Later I realised that in Qi Gong we move the energy along the Meridians, the invisible channels via which the energy in our bodies flows, according to Chinese medicine.  Qi Gong invigorates me and I prefer doing it for a short time in the morning or during the day. It also makes me more focused, my mind seems to be clearer, my decision making seems to be more efficient. It is good to join a group, so you can learn it and later perhaps you can do it on your own. Well, energy healing in a group has its own benefits, so it is always good to go to groups, too.

Reiki I prefer doing on myself in the evening, for relaxation before sleep. Although I like it most when I can have it done on me by other people  I often do short sessions on myself as I realise the importance of self-healing. I wish everyone could do it for themselves! In order to do Reiki, you need to be attuned by a Reiki Master. I know somebody who is very good and experienced at teaching Reiki and attuning people, and I would refer to her anybody who is interested!

Meditation is the best for “detoxing of the mind”. The meaning of the word is “thinking”, “reflecting”. In the modern world, meditation is understood as  cleansing the mind of thoughts. If you try just to stop thinking without any training, you will find it impossible. But when going to groups to learn meditation, they teach you to focus on one thing and not to allow other things (thoughts) to distract you. This is not easy to achieve straight away. This is why the teachers usually start with “guided” meditation, they talk you through focusing your thinking on one thing or on repeating the same action, so you can clear your mind of the other thoughts. I have done guided meditation with people while they had needles in their ears. Many reported felling “almost asleep”, I observed others having a nap for some time during the session. Falling asleep is not the purpose of meditation, but some people are too tired and too needy of relaxation. Once you have learned meditation (or visualisation) in a group, you can do it on your own, which means you have an excellent self-healing tool in your hands. For most people a short session every day would be enough, others would need to get much deeper in order to obtain stronger healing effect. It has been found that meditation can change the gene expression and even help cancer patients heal. (Read my Christmas entry). This is why it is worth learning it.

So, in order to lose weight, and for general well-being, start resting well!

I wish you all what you wish for yourselves!

So, be careful what you wish for!!!

Well, Just take it easy!

Many people put so many desires on their New Year’s Resolution list, that they make it impossible to be fulfilled!

This is why I say: take it easy!

It is still the middle of winter! Up to here we were running high on the energy the Sun has given us during the summer. But the tiredness of the season demonstrated itself in our overindulging in food, drink, laziness during the Christmas/New Year’s break. I am saying this not to give you guilty conscience. On the contrary, we have done it because we needed it, so next thing is to forgive ourselves and to carry on!

It is tough going back to work after a season of easy!

But there is a way to do even this nice and easy!

Worried about the few pounds on top of our normal weight? I know the gyms are most active now in inviting to get a membership and to start sweating out the extra calories you have enjoyed during the festive season. But, bear in mind, you don’t need to get mad about it. If you love the gym, do more toning exercise without putting a very ambitious program in front of yourself. Right now you don’t want to put too much stress on yourself (from a lazy or overindulging in food and drink period, enrolling on a heavy exercise programme together with going back to work, can prove quite stressful.)  When people are too stressed, their hormones actually prevent them from forming muscle. And, when we say “weight loss” we mean losing the extra fat and fluid and forming some lean muscle, yes? So, we need to do it in such a way, as to make it possible for our organism to achieve it. We don’t need to torture ourselves while getting very little result or even no result at all. This is why for a long time I have been advising my clients who intend to start a weight-loss programme:

Do de-stressing and detoxing first.

Worried about having to catch up with paying the bills? Of course, we still have to take care of them, but a calmer mind will be able to see the opportunities and make the decisions better than a worried mind. I have observed huge decrease of the cognitive abilities in people who have been under stress. Apparently, the stress hormones can make us less clever. So, for keeping our mind clear and well-focused, we need to keep stress at bay. If we cannot reduce the stress levels, we can reduce the effects of stress.

My treatments can do miracles for de-stressing and detoxing.