Hello Autumn

It’s been an incredible summer here in the UK but we’re in no doubt that we are now heading into Autumn!

I, for one, love the change in seasons. No matter how much I’ve enjoyed the current season, I always find that the advent of a new season offers me a shift in focus and an opportunity to evaluate. However, Autumn in particular is the time of year that I find myself considering the achievements of the past year and how I can prepare myself for the year ahead.

September is the new January!

What are your expectations? Have you fulfilled yourself on a personal level or has the year run away with you and you’ve yet to begin certain tasks you’d promised yourself you would this time last year?!

Taking the time to reflect on this is incredibly valuable and should not be marred by feelings of dissatisfaction. After all, it is a consistent progression that will achieve success and consistently evaluating your aims, objectives and expectations will eventually lead to achieving your goals.

Your diet and lifestyle play a vital role in ensuring you are well equipped to truly thrive in other areas of your life

If you are energised and firing on all cylinders, you’re already on track and the rest will fall into place in time.

So here are 4 tips to help you make the most of September…

1. Eat regular meals three times per day and only include a snack if you have 4+ hours between meals. Allowing longer gaps between meals will not only help to keep your weight stable, but will ensure you avoid energy surges and the dips that follow. Each meal and snack must contain vegetables (ideally 2-3 portions) and should include protein along with complex carbohydrates, for sustainable energy and to ensure balanced insulin function

2. Removing toxins will help you to feel more invigorated. Your body is constantly detoxifying unwanted substances. You can support the detoxification process by including plenty of soluble fibre in your diet and thus excretion of toxins, as they need to attach to soluble fibre to exit. Soluble fibre is found in oats, all onions, artichokes, and vegetables, including root vegetables, but limit your choices to 2 portions of starchy vegetables (eg sweet potato, butternut squash, pumpkin, parsnips, peas, sweetcorn) in your daily diet. Try this recipe for Overnight Oats (Bircher Muesli)

3. Keep caffeinated drinks intake low and ideally never with food. Use herbal teas or water instead. Try to limit alcohol; this will ease the toxic burden on the liver and allow it to be more efficient. It will allow the other systems in your body to utilise the nutrients from the good food choices that would otherwise be depleted by the liver detoxification processes

4. Allow time to focus on learning new skills; whether this involves reading an inspiring book, watching a webinar, listening to a podcast or attending a workshop/seminar. Your new skills are likely to inspire new objectives and may also support your day-to-day work or family life.