IS HEALTHY EATING MAKING YOU SICK?

This article explores an emerging condition, not well talked about termed Orthorexia – it is defined as an unhealthy obsession with healthy food.

I think it is important to raise awareness about this in light of the healthy eating movement that is amongst us. Especially because the most influenced people are younger females, much like myself.

As the article explores it can be an easy trap to fall into – you start eating healthy, start exercising, your body starts to change for the better and before you know it, all your girlfriends are envious of your body and telling you how good you look.

Finally, you feel confident enough to start posting selfies in your bikini, with a green smoothie of course and the explosion of comments on social media lifts your spirit. This scenario is very common. And is saddens me for a few reasons.

     1. In the early days, it did happen to me. Luckily I have a straight talking husband who doesn’t mind giving me a slap in the face (not literally) and tellingme when I am being “too much or too crazy”. There is a saying that helped me a lot: “It is better to eat the wrong food with the right attitude than eat the right food with the wrong attitude.”

     2. The importance that we as females place on our body image and how consuming it is.

If only we placed the same about of importance and got the same amount of attention for our unique ability, be it our intelligence, our creativity, our caring nature, our generosity, our humour, whatever else it is that makes us who we really are.

We all have unique things to offer the world. Everyone of us. You just have to find out what it is you value in life.

You can be a good wife, a good mother, a great writer, have a beautiful voice, be giving, be caring, be loving, make a real difference and leave a huge mark in peoples lives.

Do you get it – you aren’t good legs, nice but, shiny hair. They are a part of you but they don’t have to define you. You are much more than that. You just have to believe it. And that sometimes requires consistent work on yourself.

Or if you are lucky enough, like me to have some straight talking, best friend that sees you for more than your exterior, you have to start listening to them. They LOVE and SEE you in a different light.

The people who really matter will love you regardless of how you look. Remember that, don’t shrug it off. Because life if full of tragedy and joy. And it is short. So if you are consumed with your appearance life is going to whiz on by while you are still looking in the mirror. And in the end people don’t miss someone with a nice body they miss “that” person who was something so much more to them.

     3. Diet/Food/Nutrition is not the wholly grail for health. 

Don’t get me wrong I post my food – for a reason. I DO NOT want to show off my bone broth/my kitchen/or myself to make you feel worse about yourself, quite the opposite actually (P.S. If this happens to you, I highly suggest to unfollow me and those else who make you feel this way and concentrate on yourself, I truly mean this, comparing yourself to others on social media is a total waste of time).

I want to inspire and give people tools and ideas to create healthy meals for themselves and their family. Because food is a necessity for our survival. And when we get it right for our body it has the ability to nourish and allow us to flourish.

However nutrition is one of many pillars to create optimal HEALTH -and one that is getting a lot of attention. But let’s not forget about the other equally important PILLARS to health – Like SLEEP, RECOVERY, MOVEMENT, PLEASURE, STRESS MANAGEMENT, FUN, PLAY and SOCIAL CONNECTION.

These things also dictate and have a direct effect on positive or negative outcomes in your body.  So please keep a balance. If you find yourself obsessing over food and exercise maybe reevaluate what is really important in life and ask for help.

     4. Health is so much more than EAT WELL ,TRAIN MORE, REPEAT. 

I recently read an alternative definition of what “health” really is from Chris Kresser that I really love.

“Health is: the ability to live your dreams.”

I love it – Plain and simple. What more can we really strive for.

Love
Chantel

RECIPE ALERT!!! BANANA BREAD

Ok so I learnt my lesson – Don’t post delicious banana bread photos (even though my food photo skills still need some work) UNLESS I am going to give away the recipe… GOT IT. Sounds fair to me. I know how it feels to be scrolling through social media and come across a delicious picture that you really feel for and are in the mood for cooking it, all to find out there isn’t a recipe or it’s too hard to find so you have to wipe up the drool and move on.

My apologies for not sharing the love at the time! I just needed a little more time to write it out with my improvisations. This recipe comes from Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar page, which came up when I searched gluten free banana bread. It is actually called Chai-Spiced Banana Bread. And if you follow the recipe I am sure it would be even better than my version. I didn’t have a lot of the spice ingredients at the time so I missed out on the “Chai-Spiced” part. What was left was still a very tasty banana bread.

So please, continue to remind/hassle me if I don’t share ever again.

Go forth and give your old, black bananas a new take on life.

INGREDIENTS
Dry Ingredients

1/2 cup buckwheat flour (a added 2 tablespoons less buckwheat and added it as banana flour)
1/2 cup almond meal (blended activated almonds I had in the cupboard)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cardamon (I didn’t have this)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger (I didn’t have this)
1/2 tsp all spice (nor this)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla powder
1/2 tsp sea salt

Wet Ingredients

2 large eggs
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 cup your choice of milk (full fat or nut milk or coconut milk) ** I used coconut milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 medium very ripe bananas

METHOD

1/. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and lines loaf tin with baking paper.
2/. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
3/. In a seperate bowl, whisk together eggs, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar and milk. Add in bananas and mash into the wet mixture with a fork. Don’t mash into puree though, leave a few chunky banana pieces.
4/. Add the wet mixture to the dry and fold through until just combined.
5/. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin. Sprinkle pecans (or other nut) and cinnamon on top.
6/. Place loaf on the bottom shelf of the oven. Cook for 45 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. If you find pecans are browning too quick place a piece of foil on top while the remainder of the loaf cooks.
7/. Once cooked through allow loaf to cool slightly before removing from the tin and slicing. Serve with a lather of quality butter (I use Westgold butter, from NZ grassfed cows) !!!!

Love,

Chantel

THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT MY TRAINING

This is a topic that I have wanted to write for years now. But something has always stopped me. Mostly it was fear of it being interpreted wrongly by others.

I talk a lot about nutrition, hormones, the gut, stress management, and the importance of sleep. What I have purposely neglected to post/promote/educate about is movement.

The biggest reason for avoiding it was out of respect for my very own talented, Husband. But what I realised is that I am doing actually doing him and others a disservice by not acknowledging the impact that movement and he has had on my overall health.

*** He doesn’t know I am writing this and in no way is this a plug for our services***

My other main concern with posting about my training is that I don’t want to influence girls/women in negative way. What I mean is I don’t want to “show off” my body or create comparison for other females.

I am very conscious and passionate about this as I think we are all so critical of ourselves and others and I have worked really hard personally to get better with this. Hence, I have tried to stay away from the whole training arena and leave it on Jan. However, in doing so I do feel a bit selfish as it is a HUGE positive in my life that has helped me so much with my mental, emotional and physical health.

Most peoples perception of health is usually associated with “being fit” or “exercising a lot” or “training hard”. But what they don’t realise that excessive exercise such as marathons, ultra-marathons, very long distance bicycle rides, is associated with damage to the heart, muscles, soft tissues and joints. I am often assumed or associated with training a lot, training everyday, training hard, running, being strict or being disciplined.

I know I do spend a lot of time in my gym gear but the true reason for that is it’s most comfortable for me –  light weight shorts and a tank top is so much more me than a tight dress.

So if I appear to always be in my training clothes please don’t confuse that with me exercising all day everyday – as this is certainly not the case nor do I think it is healthy. I am not an athlete and it may surprise you but most athletes aren’t exactly healthy.  I am someone looking to look good, feel good, age well, be energised and move well so I can enjoy everyday of my life with my loved ones for a long time.

I too have a life to manage. I work long shifts, I sit and read and study on my days off, I make most of our meals from scratch everyday and need to prepare food for my work days, I get tired, I get sore feet and legs from standing for 12 hours, people drain me, and some days or weeks I don’t feel to go to the studio and train.

However, what I have not given enough acknowledgement and credit to is Jan and his amazing ability as a coach and an educator. I knew exercise = better health outcomes (especially physical) before I met Jan but what I didn’t appreciate was what intelligent, purposeful movement/program design does for vitality and longevity. Expecting your body to perform the same repetitive exercise(s) week in, week out or year in or year out at the same level or better is not doing your body any favours.

In my Pre-Jan days,  I would work long hours, set my alarm to go to the gym, train hard/heavy for an hour. Feel good from the adrenalin, cortisol, serotonin release. Then crash and be more tired and exhausted over the day. Sometimes I would have a nap. Then go back in the afternoon when I got a second wind and train again for an hour. Then be totally wrecked. I would wake up sore thinking that was a good indicator of the hard work I had done and that meant my muscles were working (Anyones who mantra is NO PAIN NO GAIN seriously shouldn’t be working in the fitness industry) .

If I had a second day off I would repeat this. Only to find I couldn’t sit on the toilet because of my sore quads. But hey, that was ok as I had to work the next day so it meant I wouldn’t make it back to the gym until 2-3 days. My head said cram as much in as you can on your days off. Now when I think back to this I just feel sorry for my body.

This was and is totally unsustainable, a sure fire way to end up with an injury, hormone disruption, become less motivated, and honestly it does’t even bring good outcomes for body composition or appearance. The body adapts to an imposed demand based on its environment. If you have inadequate recovery, poor program design, poor nutrition, you are not going to achieve the much desired outcome you are trying to achieve.

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When it comes to exercise MORE OR HARDER doesn’t necessarily equate to BETTER.

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The more I have learnt about the human body and how it is a vehicle for movement and the influence movement has on all our internal structures from bone, to skin , to connective tissue to cells, to hormones, to metabolic pathways you begin to appreciate and embrace the concept of intelligent movement so much more than exercise. I am grateful everyday to know that my action in and out of the studio is benefiting my body so that my body can benefit me for life.

Fast forward to 3 years ago to current date – I am never sore to the point of discomfort EVER. I have not had one injury. I am stronger as a whole. My skin appearance is more youthful. I am energised more when I leave the studio. I don’t wake up to train. I have a trainer who knows how to adapt a program based on how I feel. If I am tired I do a recovery session that still involves load and movement without high intensity or heavy load that would bring me down more OR I rest. When I feel well I train hard – but never to exhaustion and never at the sacrifice of poor form. I lift, I do cardio, I do restful/yoga like poses and breathing and I do loaded movement training.

I don’t subscribe to only one thing as all of these things impose a different demand on the body and have different benefits. I want all the benefits. I am conscious of my movement during any given day. I try to walk more, change positions, get up and down if I sit. If I stand too long my body tells me I want to sit and change positions.

My typical week looks something like this– (I am a person who likes some structure and I am naturally disciplined so this works effortlessly for me).

Monday. Work 8.00am – 8.15pm

• Morning routine. Water on verandah, golf ball under foot, foam rolling to help improve hydration and feel good.
• Some reaching with scapula, some sit and reach. Some hip drive. Whatever just some gentle movement to unglue the tissue and hydrate the tissues and move the joints. Remember, you have been lying with minimal movement and no water for 8 hours, there is a reason you feel stiff .This helps to wake me up and allows be to see how my body feels.
• Walk to work – 15- 20 mins. I am consciously walking at a casual pace. Taking in my surroundings and appreciating the sun and the nature as I know I will be in air conditioning for the next 12 hours and will not see the outside world. SIGH.
• I consciously try to keep good posture at work, not slumped over whilst on the computer, not favouring a standing leg. I sit down when and if I can throughout the day.

Tuesday.  DAY OFF

• Wake up naturally.
• Morning routine. Water on verandah, golf ball under foot, foam roll. Some reaching with scapula. This helps to wake me up and allows be to see how my body feels.
• Decide. Do I want to do some movement today ? Most of the time YES.
• Go to see Jan. He asks how I feel. Decide on a program. I have 2 programs prepared for me that I do over 6 weeks or sometimes we come up with something new depending on how I feel.
• Never longer than 20-30 minutes in work. Usually more movement oriented with sub-maximal load as my legs are still saw from long day at work and brain is a little more fried. Followed by restful poses, breathing, hip de-couple, play. The other day we played soccer:).
• Day is spent studying. I get up and down from the chair to get water. I may change from the chair to the ground and sit in different positions that challenge my ankle, hips.
• Go for a walk to get out of the house and clear my head at around 5-6pm and chat with Jan before dinner.

Wednesday. Usually DAY OFF

• Morning routine.
• Decide if I feel to go to studio today.
• Usually do more strength orientated session. With weights, ViPR, cable. Some traditional linear movements, some 3D movements, usually depends on my goal ! Like becoming a surfer chick/a soccer player/or whatever else I throw at Jan.

Thursday. Sometimes OFF , sometimes work

• If work, same as Monday.
• If no work, sometimes just stay home and study or go to our studio and do less structured program. Usually shorter in duration.

 Friday –  WORK 8-8.15pm

• Morning routine or ViPR Beach session with has been flow and swim in the ocean before work. My favourite way to start the day.
• Walk to work if no session/Jan drops me on a Friday to save time in we have gone to beach.
• Be conscious at work.
• Dive into the been bag when I get home from work.
• Sleep

Saturday – DAY OFF

• Morning Routine.
• Market Day
• Train with one of Jan’s Client. Usually recovery or strength depending on the week and his client’s disruptors sheet. I like to train with another person who is similar to me. Sometimes I need the support of another person.
• House work.
• Swim in the afternoon, a little beach tennis.
• Relax in the afternoon

Sunday – DAY OF REST

• Morning routine
• Walk to local Fat Frog Cafe for a coffee
• Cooking day, doing something we enjoy and together
• Maybe afternoon walk/beach swim
• Try not to study or think of work or training.

At the moment this is my “Goldilocks” regime FOR ME – I am getting enough but not too much physical activity. My training this week looks different to this time last year and I dare say it will look different to next year. But I give full credit to Jan and his execution and knowledge gained from Institute of Motion Team to adapt my program based on where I am at a given time in life. I feel like we have been given a special toolbox to effectively fight back the ageing process AND stay strong for life. What greater gift could I hope for.

Movement and training has helped me to recover from stressful events, improve mood, improve strength, improve ageing, improve tissue quality and appearance, improve confidence, increase body awareness, prevent injury, be present, and probably the biggest for me appreciate my body for more than aesthetics. To give it the respect it deserves. To rest it, to move it well and often and ultimately to love it.

As Jan always says to, “It’s important to not get crazy”. Love the simplicity of a man’s world!

You aren’t fat, you aren’t good legs or nice but. You have those things but they do not define you. That is not why somebody loves you. So please don;t let those things get in the road of loving yourself. Your body is a vehicle to carry you to experience life. Most people only appreciate this once their body starts getting in the road of their experiences. Then they wish it back.

“Those who think they have no time for movement will sooner or later have to find time for illness.”  ~Edward Stanley

Love Chantel

RETHINKING HEALTHCARE

This is a topic very close to my heart. I started out studying Pharmacy because I wanted to work in healthcare. Health was an area that always appealed to me more than business or finance or other creative professions. At the time I didn’t know that business, finance and creative marketing can in many ways influence healthcare. I was naive, I went into health because I wanted to help people and I still believe that is why most people go into it. I was good at caring for others and I loved learning information about how things worked and what better and more fascinating “thing” than the Human Body.

However, what I have come to appreciate more recently is that the current healthcare system is less about healthcare and more about disease management and could actually be renamed more appropriately to sickcare.

Chronic diseases such as diabetes, autoimmune diseases, heart disease, depression, ADHD, anxiety, GERD and more are crippling our healthcare system. The current health situation is the worst it has ever been. Think about this for a moment:

– Over half of adults take prescription medications
– 90% take over the counter medicines
– Autism prevalence has more than doubled since 2000 (not due to increased diagnosis or detection)
– The number of people diagnosed with depression is increasing by 20% each year.
– This is the first generation of children in modern history that’s expected to lead shorter life spans than their parent. WOW.

For anyone with children, that is pretty scary news.

These points come from American data, but this is not confined to America, it’s becoming a world world issue and let me assure you it is definitely here in our back yards. I see it everyday.

The current medical system is fantastic for emergency and trauma care. If I am in a car accident I definitely want to be taken to hospital for treatment. This care has extended human life better than ever before. We live in an era were sight is starting to be restored to the blind. We can transplant organs and give life. Some of the stuff that is happening in this area of healthcare is out of a science fiction novel.

But when it comes to treating and preventing chronic disease or promoting health and wellness we are failing and honestly the system is not set up to deal with it. The system is entirely focussed on suppressing symptoms with drugs and or surgery. If you have high blood pressure, you are given a drug to lower it. If you have high cholesterol, you’re given a drug to lower that. If you have gall stones, they remove your gallbladder. There is very rarely any investigation into what is causing the rise in blood pressure or cholesterol or gallstones.

Yes the drugs can effectively bring those markers down or the surgery can remove the symptoms all together. But this treatment approach rarely addresses the real problem. And the real problem will almost always manifest into something else. This leads to a viscous cycle of multiple symptoms/diseases and multiple medications which can further impair body functions and lead you further away from health.

I want to share with you an analogy I recently heard that makes sense as to where we are at. Think of disease as a spectrum.

Because disease doesn’t just pop up out of nowhere. Before that you get malfunctioning systems cells, tissues that lead to disease and lastly symptoms. For example, Type 2 diabetes, doesn’t occur overnight. Insulin resistance precedes this and certain diet and lifestyle factors precede insulin resistance.

Picture on the left side of this spectrum you have the very beginning of disease (malfunctions) before it is even recognisable and then on the right side you have acute life threatening situation as close to death as possible. The current system is set up to intervene towards the far right side of that spectrum. And as mentioned we do this very well.

If you are having a heart attack, you are shuttled straight off to hospital given medication to control or assist the situation, surgery and recover and then go on with life. A job well done – life saved. Take on the other hand a person who gets diagnosed with Hashimoto Thyroiditis (the most common cause of hypothyroidism and a condition on the rise in women). Straight up you get a script for thyroxine are told you will be on it forever. Rarely are you told it is an autoimmune disease whereby your immune system is attacking it’s own thyroid gland and that this is not a good thing to be going on inside you. In most cases of Hashimoto’s patients have underlying issues with intestinal permeability (leaky gut) and issues with Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal Axis Dysregulation and can be better management with some diet and lifestyle intervention to control and prevent subsequent decline in thyroid function if caught early enough.

But what happens is the system isn’t set up to look at the disease holistically or treat it with things other than medication. So the patient takes their medicine, feels better initially, then overtime due to further attack on the thyroid gland end up needing an increase in dose of thyroxine, start experiences the effects of low thyroid hormone output such as weight gain, depression, reflux and end up on medications to treat these symptoms. What if we could intervene before this? What if your symptoms of hypothyroidism were identified early and someone intervened? It would save a heap of money and a whole lot of heartache for the patient.

So if we are going to make a real impact on peoples health we need to be intervening as far to the left of the spectrum as possible – and this is possible through functional lab testing. This would save many millions of dollars. It would also empower people to take care of themselves to avoid sick care and embrace true healthcare where preventing disease and staying healthy is what you go to health professionals for rather than managing disease.

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What if I told you this approach is in the pipeline!

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Excited? I am. And I will make sure I am a part of it, because we all deserve to be healthy and happy and get the best out of life. This is not some hippy, alternate community, craze. This is a new model of understanding how illness develops and how to effectively intervene. It is backed by the latest research, a strong understanding on how the body works and it makes total sense. So I’m hooked. This is the health system I intended to go into.

A healthcare system where people are educated about their health, they understand what contributes to their health complaints, they have daily strategies that involve more than taking pills per day and in most situations their health is restored and they go on to live a healthy and happy life.

Stay tuned to find out more about how this can be achieved…

With Love

Chantel

STRESS AND M.I.A. FEMALE SEX HORMONE

The female body – such a delicate and exquisite thing! From our boobs and bums to our ever complicating thought process we have men both begging for more yet so perplexed. It is our complexity that is both our greatest asset and for most our greatest health hurdle.

For centuries females have been the carer of many – from family to community. Gathering, preparing, sacrificing are inherent to our nature. This has extended into modern day living – only now external pressures are far greater. The end result is a society of burnt out beautiful women.

The chronicity of stress is the real enemy. Our bodies are more than equipped to deal with acute bouts of stressful situations and this is of course of benefit when dealing with a stressful situation such as running from danger or preparing for a presentation. Our pupils dilate, our heart rate increases, digestion is slowed, blood flow increases to our skeletal muscles, our blood glucose rises – we are focussed, sharp and ready to handle the situation at hand and conserve energy away from non vital survival activities like digestion, reproduction, repair, growth. But living in a state of chronic stress has devastating effects on our body and is the root cause of most women’s health complaints.

The problem for a female is two fold (well it is never that simple for us but for the purpose of me working on my simplicity lets say its twofold) –

1. Our inherent nature to care for others before ourselves
2. Our intricate hormonal set up that makes us sensitive to the effects of chronic stress, be it perceived or actual.

Let’s look at the first point shall we –  1. Inherent nature to care for others before ourselves.

Far too often we put the need to keep others happy above our own; be it children, partner, family, friend, boss, work, strangers, society. We care to please; avoid letting people down; avoid hurting people often at the expense of our own happiness and health. We then put further pressure on ourselves to perform a certain way, to look a certain way, to behave a certain way and then beat ourselves up when we cannot achieve ALL we set out to. It is no wonder we feel exhausted at the end of each day! And that is just considering the emotional stress we put onto ourselves (fear, worry, anxiety, lack of purpose).

This leads to mental, emotional and physical exhaustion -. And worse we become so disconnected from who we really are. Each of us are so intricately and uniquely designed, not to deal with the chronic onslaught of expectations, pressure, self hatred, bitterness and judgement that we engage in . But rather a desirable trait to be caring and nurturing. What I have discovered is the ability to care for another comes from the ability to care and appreciate oneself. This is not selfishness. This is caring for another. Caring so much you want to be the very best version of yourself. You want to be vibrant, fun, energetic, full of life, kind and present for the people you love the most.

To all women, I urge you to start looking after yourself, really looking after yourself. Start finding time to nurture yourself. Ask for help. Change your circumstance. The longer you leave it, the further your disrupt your delicate hormonal network and your inner light. The one that only you hold and have the ability to control how bright it shines.

Point number 2. Our hormonal set up.

Let’s look at this somewhat complex scenario that goes on when we are exposed to chronic stress in the diagram below. Take note of how integrated and complex the whole system really is and know that this understanding is just the tip of the iceberg.

You have probably heard by now about Cortisol – our stress hormone. It gets a pretty bad wrap however it’s really just doing its job and helping us to survive. Cortisol gets secreted from the adrenal gland in response to stress.
Ideally this process would be short lived, the body would provide us with the necessities to deal with the stress at hand and then things would return back to normal. The issue is when the stress is not removed and the body still perceives it is under threat and directs its resources to producing cortisol to survive.
This process is termed the “Pregnenolone Steal”. In order to supply the body with cortisol it has to steal it from the master steroid hormone, Pregnenolone. Interesting to note is that Cholesterol is the precursor to Pregnenolone. Cholesterol plays some other pretty important roles in the body too.. possibly not the villain its made out to be?

But back to Pregnenolone. Pregnenolone can get converted into Progesterone or Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). DHEA is the precursor to all the other sex hormones (Oestrogens and Testosterone). So when there is a demand for cortisol it diverts production towards the progesterone to cortisol pathway and away from production of sex hormones. Overtime this becomes the preferred pathway and sex hormone production takes a hit.
For post menopausal women, the adrenals become the primary producer of sex hormones. So it is even more crucial to manage stress and find pleasure (stress antidote) to keep this production happening.

For pre-menopausal woman you may be thinking, luckily I still have functioning ovaries. This is a good thing however the system is very integrated. And whilst it is true that the ovaries do produce most of our sex hormones the impact that stress has on the overall production is still very real. The production of sex hormones from the adrenal system is so important for achieving hormone balance throughout the body. The adrenals can respond immediately to fluctuating levels of sex hormones, providing more or less when functioning adequately. High levels of cortisol actually signals the brain to tell the ovaries to reduce production of sex hormones, that is, if it is under stress it is not concerned with harvesting another human being. Also for women, testosterone production is primarily produced by the adrenals and only a small amount via the ovaries – hence stress will have a significant impact of libido, muscle mass, fatigue.

So where does that leave us?

Well in a pretty common situation unfortunately. We get elevated Cortisol which eventually will progress into Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal Insufficiency aka Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome AND lowered levels of Oestrogen, Progesterone and Testosterone.

How does this situation look?
• weight gain in waist, inflammatory hormonal fat
• blood sugar swings and cravings
• increased inflammation
• reduced thyroid hormone function
• reduced melatonin and sleep disturbances
• bone loss
• increased cardiovascular disease risk
• reduced memory, reduced mood (tearful, depressed) and reduced will power
• loss of muscle mass, poor muscle tone
• increased risk of infection
• menstrual abnormalities or no period
• low libido, vaginal dryness, incontinence

NOT A PRETTY PICTURE LADIES!!!!

I also want to point out that stress on the body is not just mental and emotional stress. Other stressors can include:
• pain in the body
• intense or prolonged exercise
• inflammatory foods
• food additives, pesticides, herbicides
• drugs, alcohol, caffeine
• blood sugar issues
• sleep deprivation
• chemicals, metals, radiation, electromagnetic fields (iphone etc)
• allergies, over active immune response
• exogenous hormones like birth control and antibiotics
• infected with parasite, bacteria or viruses
We need to realise that what we think, do and feel drives our hormones and hormone balance is so important for our vitality, longevity and overall health. Understanding the effects of stress on our hormonal system is crucial. The simple notion of exercise more and harder and eat less food (both of which can be perceived as further stress) does not hold true and can actually lead to further hormonal imbalance.

The key to getting your hormones back on track is:

1. Recognising you are surviving on stress. This looks like – lack of sleep, feel exhausted when waking, coffee to get you started, rushing around in the morning, barely time to eat let alone enjoy it, disliking your body or yourself and constantly having negative thoughts around this, no time to stop or switch off, tired all the time but pushing through, easily angry or upset, less enjoyable to be around, very little left to give to others.
2. Take action (small or big) to remove those things that are stressing you out. Be brave and know that you are doing it for your health and happiness.
3. Ask for help. Work with someone or at least work with yourself.
4. Give it time. The longer you have been persevering and struggling the more damaged your inside network. It will take time to reestablish normal functioning.
5. It is never too late to invest in yourself.

If there is only one thing you do today for yourself, please spend time to LISTEN TO THIS FANTASTIC TED TALK on “The pace of modern life vs our cavewoman biochemistry” by Dr. Libby!!!! Life changing.

Love

Chantel