HEALTH + WELLNESS
BEAUTY BEGINS ON THE INSIDE cont.
Body:
DRINK WATER
Our bodies are composed of about 60 per cent water, which aids digestion, cell absorption, circulation, creation of saliva, the transportation of nutrients, and the maintenance of body temperature, so it’ s crucially important, but, like a victim of its own obvious success, is often overlooked. Our brains are 90 per cent water and the majority of our blood and every cell in our bodies is composed of water, so it’ s massively beneficial and we need it to function properly – guidelines suggest we guzzle eight glasses a day, so get drinking.
EXERCISE linseeds; chia seeds; and vegetables – be sure to include bitter leaves such as watercress and rocket to stimulate digestion too. It’ s encouraging to see that more and more people are paying attention to their gut health and how to look after it as it’ s so important to our overall wellbeing.” Try Quest Nutra Pharma’ s Enzyme Digest, £ 7.60, www. qnutrapharma. com.
Regular exercise isn’ t just a brilliant way for you personally to get a free hit of happy hormone, endorphin, it’ s also undeniably good for your health, which in turn means less trips to the doctor and less strain on our already stretched NHS. Plus, we live in a society where( whether consciously or not) we are constantly comparing ourselves to others – with fitness, your only competition is yourself, so you’ ll start to feel more confident and less concerned with the ins and outs of other people’ s lives too.
New for 2018? Probiotic water. Probiotic yoghurts and probiotic supplements have been around for ages- even probiotic chocolate has found a niche in the market, but the newest kid on the gut-health block is probiotic water. Functional food and drinks are favoured by many over tablets and probiotic water is a wellness powerhouse combining the goodness of water with the added health benefits of lots of lovely life-giving microorganisms.
TAKE SUPPLEMENTS
Equi London’ s‘ Beautiful’ is a collagen-infused drink that promises to promote glowing skin from the inside out. Ideal for those with time-conscious schedules, but who want to keep a firm eye on their health, the revolutionary supplement delivers a potent boost of nutrients in one tonic. The ' Beautiful ' powder combines GlowCutis ® technology- a powerful complex of marine collagens and all sorts of other natural goodies to fight ageing and promote skin regeneration— with your daily dose of multivitamins, antioxidants, omegas, probiotics and adaptogenic herbs, which work to support every body system needed to keep your skin clear, glowing and more resistant to the signs of ageing. Adaptogenic herbs? No, me neither, but unusually named ingredients aside, they’ re all natural and this product is making waves on the skincare scene, so it’ s definitely worth a try( https:// equilondon. com).
A healthy gut can be linked to our mood, digestive health, inflammation problems and more, so it’ s no surprise that the trend of showing your gut some love is going nowhere in 2018.“ Your gut flora is incredibly important to your overall well-being,” says nutritionist Pippa Campbell( www. pippacampbellhealth. com).“ When looking at a client’ s health, I will always look at the gut first as sometimes symptoms can be resolved just by improving gastro-intestinal health. Foods to eat for gut health include oily fish, probiotic foods like kefir and sauerkraut; soluble fibre including prebiotic foods like asparagus, leeks, onion and garlic; oats;
Start small if you’ re a beginner though. A great way to build your fitness confidence – and your capability – slowly and safely is to train for a 5K run; the NHS’ s‘ Couch to 5K’ plan is a really comprehensive online guide to achieving that goal and you can view and download the training schedule at: www. nhs. uk / Livewell / c25k / Pages / couch-to- 5k. aspx. If you’ re not a runner, set a target to do a 30-minute exercise class two to three times a week, either at the gym, or online – www. fitnessblender. com is brilliant.
EAT SUPERFOODS
Move over quinoa, there’ s another gluten-free grain in town and it scores massively on the superfood scale. A type of millet, teff is an Ethiopian staple and is a tiny grain that looks a bit like watercress when it first starts to sprout. High in resistant starch, which helps to keep blood sugar under control, it’ s also a good source of magnesium, calcium, potassium and zinc, as well as being super high in protein. Unlike a lot of grains, teff packs a welcome flavour punch too with grains in white, brown and red that range from mild and nutty to sweet.
Just when we were all getting our heads around coconut oil, along comes avocado oil – the celebrated oil du jour that teems with monounsaturated oleic acid, which is hugely important for keeping hearts healthy and is the same omega-9 essential fatty acid that won olive oil its superfood crown many moons ago. Avocado oil may well be the key to keeping the years at bay too as it’ s among the top five foods rich in vitamin E, a fat-soluble vitamin known or strengthening immunity, defending against skin cell damage from free radicals, and improving skin and eye health.
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