Wow what a great to start to this week’s ‘Progress Not Perfection’ run of talks organised by Emma at Los Social Marketing. Rachel from The Life Enricher introduced us to the idea that food is the best medicine and gave a number of top tips to help us on a healthier food journey.

The sentiment behind this run of talks is that many of us have started the new year feeling like we want to make a change to our lives for the better but we are a bit overwhelmed and not sure where to start. Emma recognised this and put out a call to local businesses. She has pulled together an interesting selection of voices all of which will be giving us top tips throughout the week on how we can improve our lives - gently and one step at a time. If you missed today’s talk you can still catch it on Los Social’s Instagram page.

The Life Enricher kick-started today by touching on how 30% of our body is influenced by our genetic make-up, whereas 70% is influenced by the environment and how we choose to treat our bodies. So we can make a lot of impact upon our own health!

Most of us are aware of the 4 pillars of health : food, sleep, movement and stress levels. Out of these four the one thing we have 100% control over is food! What we eat really does affect how we feel, behave, look and the quality of life we have.

The Life Enricher says that although our environment and the food available has changed drastically over the last 50 years, our nutritional needs haven’t and they are no longer being met as people have lost sight of what is important for their own bodies. We now live in a world of conflicting nutritional messages, highly monetised marketing campaigns, cheaply processed foods and tempting sugary snacks laden with chemicals. It is no wonder one third of the NHS bill last year was spent on food related illnesses! (£97b out of £140b!)

But we can all make a change and The Life Enricher had some superb NUTRITIONAL top tips:

TOP TIP 1 - Be aware of the UK food environment - it is unregulated. It provides us with a vast quantity of choice but 80% of the foods in the supermarket are classed as unhealthy!

TOP TIP 2 - Aim to eat 30 different plant portions a week. By doing this you will be feeding your immune system. If you are on 10-15 at the moment, aim to add 5 a week.

TOP TIP 3 - Eat 80% whole foods and 20% low processed foods such as flour, milk and butter. Avoid highly processed foods at all times: pizza, crisps, ready meals, frozen processed foods, cake, biscuits….

TOP TIP 4 - Meal Plan : minimise food decisions when shopping. A menu plan with ingredients listed will stop you getting distracted.

TOP TIP 5 - Eat Nature’s Treat’s First - fill yourself up with salad, veg, fruit and nuts.

TOP TIP 6 - Be open to learning. The Life Enricher recommends reading ‘Spoon Fed’ by Tim Spector.

If you are not sure where to start, The Life Enricher offers a whole variety of courses and one-to-one sessions on how to improve the way you menu plan, shop and eat - everything to help you improve your mood, health and quality of life. Catch Rachel on Instagram @the.lifeenricher or her website www.thelifeenricher.co.uk

Next up is Charli from @snuzzze.hub talking about ‘Why Sleep Is Important for Progress’. As a single mum of two primary school children and as a business owner, I can whole heartedly vouch for a decent night’s sleep to get me through the next day! So looking forward to this talk at 11am tomorrow Tuesday 25th Jan. Hopefully see you online with #instalive @los_social_ltd

And if you are wondering where Beautiful Healthy Home fits into all of this - our talk is this coming Friday 28th Jan at 11am where we will be looking at 5 steps to help you reduce your own exposure to toxic chemicals in the home again with #instalive @los_social_ltd.

Hope to see you there. Zoë x

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JOURNAL

The Life Enricher: Why Food is the best Medicine