Video Series : My Journey to Natural Living

Uncovering the Healer Within - Part I

Uncovering the Healer Within

YOU are the primary healer.

Entering into a positive emotional relationship with yourself is the most powerful, self-healing health action you can do for your health. Most of us need a lot of help in this area. When we do not think positively about ourselves and accept ourselves for who we are, we begin to set up negative thought patterns.

The act of not accepting ourselves as the already perfect, amazing, un-flawed, creative being that we are, many will find themselves plagued by feelings of self hatred. This may sound excessive or harsh, but let me explain. If you get to know anyone at a deeper level you will notice that this emotion runs very deep within their psyche.

We call self hatred by another name to mask the harshness of it. We refer to it as low self-esteem. Inside many, there is a constant struggle for self-esteem that is covering the self hatred. The struggle for self-esteem rarely stops. In our media driven, overly exposed social reality, many are trying to be special in some way to prove their self worth.

It may not be shown consciously, but it will show in behavior as underachieving or overachieving. There are those who try harder than others and then there are those who do not try at all. All in an effort to prove they are worthy by a set of standards set out for themselves in childhood. Our sense of self worth is based upon what we expect from ourselves. When we do reach our goals, most will not acknowledge their accomplishments, but disregard their efforts and success and move onto the next goal on the list. We demand an impossible perfection from ourselves. 

Perfectionism. Then we judge and reject ourselves when we do not meet our expectations. This list of demands we put upon ourselves is never ending and completion is always out of reach. As we achieve a goal we move onto the next one and devalue the last by not acknowledging it. We do not allow the accomplishment to sink in or congratulate ourselves for what we have done or for the struggles we have gone through to reach this point in our own evolution. Just ask an artist about how much they like their work and what they have accomplished without them being judgmental.

Every time we do not acknowledge our accomplishments and our achievements, we put water on our creative fire within, our inner driving spirit, our thirst for life and our internal life force.

This act takes us farther away from our core essence and our core values of what we stand for as the sovereign, unconditionally loving being that we are. The effects can be very dramatic.

So how and when did this start?

The cause of self-hatred is self -betrayal. As children we had very little sense of what was possible in life. We were raw, naive, purely moldable spirits. We were molded by our environments. We are all products of the environment which we were brought up in, influenced and directed by our parents, teachers, or by other authorities.

Our inner spark that makes each one of us unique and special was pushed aside in order to conform to the environment we were brought up in. Our unconditional loving spirits were influenced by people that were bigger than us. As a small child, whenever they expressed their negative feelings we got scared. Many adults and authority figures overpowered us when they were angry or when we had the need to express our negative feelings we suppressed them. We felt that we could not express our negative feelings out of fear of being overpowered. This overpowering feeling feels life threatening to a child. Therefore we learned to suppress our feelings to our life situations.

Additionally, our families weren't always loving to each other and sometimes expressed fear and hatred. As a child, unable to know how to handle this situation, we would deny our own feelings in order to hide from the pain we experienced in such a situation. This denial of our feelings was our first steps to betrayal of our justified feelings.As we experienced more of these situations in our lives, we continued denying our negative feelings in ourselves and in others.

The resulting effect was being less true to ourselves and our original core essence of being unconditional loving beings. The harder we would try to make things right the more we would feel helpless and become more of the person we were not - betraying who we really were. We were trying to get the love we expected. The more we try and don't succeed to get the love, the more we are convinced that we are unlovable, and the less we are able to love ourselves.

A final point to address that makes the situation even worse. As small children, when we do not succeed at anything or do not get the praise or help on how to succeed even more, inside we feel something is wrong because we still did not receive the love we wanted. Instead we got praise. Praise and love are not the same. So we try harder. This vicious cycle of - succeed more to get more praise, the sequence proves to us even more forcefully that there is something wrong with us.

We feel that something is wrong with us because we are associating ourselves with a false belief. In time, we eventually forget who our real self inside is and we begin to associate ourselves as being the inferior child that suppresses feelings. This suppressed self we can call the false child.

When we do succeed in our life and we get a reward, even if it is genuine love and recognition that we receive, it is the false child who will get the love. The real child will learn to believe that he/she is not worthy of love. Therefore, we never learn to really love ourselves! And WE FORGET WHO WE ARE! This painful cycle of never getting what we need and want continue through into adulthood.

How Break this Cycle!

To break this cycle, you need to identify with the false child and stop trying to rework yourself to please others. You can begin by observing yourself to find out how you manipulate, betray, and reject yourself according to what you think others want from you. During these moments you lose the connection to your TRUE AUTHENTIC SELF. Which is most likely the way you have been since childhood.

To break this cycle of self hatred, ask yourself:

1. How do I sell out and do what I ASSUME authorities want?

2. How do I reject myself for such selling out?

3. What kind of self-hatred do I heap upon myself?

4. Do I reject myself before someone else can?

5. In what situations do i dislike and reject myself more (for instance losing a competition)?

6. What do I do to myself when I lose?

Make a list. On one side of the page write all of the things you find wrong with yourself. On the other, write down how you feel toward yourself about them. Through this self-examination of this sort, you can become aware of your self-judgments and negative feelings about yourself. This will already put you in the driver's seat!!

Once they are found, you have the key to go deeper into the heart of the problem. The next step is to allow those feelings to be noticed.

Next week in PART II of Uncovering the Healer Within, I will discuss how our energetic body (emotional body) holds this energy and how we can release these emotional blocks.

Information for this article was taken from:  Light Emerging, by Barbara Ann Brennan.

If you are anxious about getting some of this cleared or interested in starting your journey to become The Master of Your Own Health?  Please feel free to contact me directly at my Mississauga, Streetsville Personal Training and Coaching facility or email / call me to set up a free consultation.

Peter Traynor 

Holistic Practitioner

www.nudgetraining.com

info@nudgetraining.com

Detoxification

Now that's a topic well worth discussing!

"Do you "Detox"?  Have you ever ..."cleansed" your body? 

Perhaps, you are you skeptical of the proclaimed benefits of "detoxifying the body"?  Wondering if this is just another "sheeple" fad?

Over many years of "detoxifying" my body, 24 years to be exact, I have learned quite a lot about how my body is acutely affected by the environment it is exposed to.

·         I have learned that DETOXIFYING the body is a vital component for the health of our bodies living on this planet today.  Especially if we desire to maintain youthful energy, clarity of mind, overall sense of just feeling and looking healthy.  THIS IS POSSIBLE!

·         I have learned that if I simply wanted to maintain a basic state of health state while living in a large metropolitan city like Toronto, I had better step up my game and take care of this vessel that I am using!  Toronto is not different from any other large city in the world.  It is a toxic soup environment packed full of industrial air pollutants, chemical and pharmaceutical laden waters, heavy metals and a food supply saturated with additives, preservatives, fungicides, colorants, pesticides, herbicides, and thousands of other manmade household and industrial chemicals. IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THE BODY CANNOT HANDLE THE STRESS PUT UPON IT!

·         I learned that there are many beneficial methods to detoxify the body.

·         I have learned that different areas of the body can be targeted using various detoxifying methods.

·         Through regular cleaning of my body's waters, I can enhance the necessary  communication channel that I have with my body.  The constant stream of conversation that allows myself to know the health state of my body every moment of my day.

·         In working with many clients over my 15 years in a holistic practice I have learned that the most powerful way of showing the benefits of detoxifying is through actually experiencing a method.

So let's look at what detoxifying actually is.

Detoxifying is a natural process for our bodies. The body is in constant cleaning mode, flushing  and purging our body's waters and our body's tissues of natural internal toxins and external environmental toxins via our body's water irrigation system or our body's blood filtering system. Our blood is pumped through our tissues via the blood vessels which are connected to powerful filters called the liver and kidneys. 

The question is, just how dirty is your house?

The waters of our bodies are our "life blood" and it is vital that it is kept free of waste.  Otherwise, we will eventually have "dust bunnies" gathering, compromising the efficiency of this system.  Like your home's air filters, our organ filters, liver and kidneys need cleaned regularly.

If the body's main filters, the liver and the kidneys are not cleaned regularly, the excess toxins not being mopped up will begin to gather and adversely affect  the other filtering systems and organs of the body. These are the intestines, lungs, lymph and skin.  Subsequently, if the waste continues to gather, these impurities will begin to effect the cells of the body and create disease (dis-ease in the body).

How do I know if the waters and tissues of my body are in need of cleaning?

Our bodies communicate stress to us through body symptoms.  Some commonly expressed body symptoms are:

·         Unexplained fatigue

·         Skin irritations or ailments

·         Puffy eyes or bags under the eyes

·         Forgetfulness

·         Unexplained or chronic irritability

·         Feelings of sadness

·         Headaches

·         Lack of drive or ambition

·         Moodiness

Other system related symptoms and signs of a more chronic issue:

·         Sluggish bowels/ irregular bowel movements

·         Chronic Bloating

·         Chronic Gas

·         Chronic stomach pains

·         Allergies

·         Chronic low grade infections

·         Menstrual Cramping and PMS symptoms

·         Depression

·         Aching joints

·         Stiff muscles

·         Chronic Headaches

Extreme chronically toxic body manifestations (to name a few):

·         Cancer

·         Alzheimer's

·         Auto-immune Diseases such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Epstein Barr Syndrome

·         Chronic  Headaches

·         Migraines

·         Arthritis

·         Other Chronic Inflammatory diseases

·         Multiple Sclerosis

·         Parkinson’s Alzheimer’s

·         Memory or Hearing Loss

·         Hormonal Problems Epilepsy

·          Neuroendocrine Disorders

·          ALS

·          Hypoglycemia.

Everyone has symptoms indicating the need for cleansing, it's the degree of symptoms expressed from the body that will indicate the urgency.  ( As I have mentioned, if you live in a big city you need serious cleaning)

How can I detoxify and clean my body's waters?

There are many ways to detoxify the waters of the body.  Over the years I have come to understand that 

perspective is everything with respect to this issue. 

As I have mentioned, we are living in toxic soup of environmental chemicals.  It is virtually impossible for all of us to avoid the exposure that we are under unless we all move out into the country, grow and eat ONLY our own food, distill our own water and surround our hermit lifestyle with clean oxygen producing plants. 

Even then, I do not believe we can avoid the toxins...UGH!

Not gunna happen!

So, the reality of this situation is that we are stuck here in this environment and we need to learn to SURVIVE in the mess we have created until we choose to do something about it.

THE SOLUTION

I have learned the following methods and guidelines through my years of schooling, investigating, observing and healing myself and clients of many ailments and preventing many more.

We need to live in a constant state of awareness and stay proactive with a preventative mindset!

NO ONE IS GOING TO DO IT FOR YOU! 

WE CAN do this by:

·         Purging our environment of toxins such as industrial cleaners, cleansers, detergents, glues,  as much as we can.

·         Reducing the amounts of additives, preservatives, etc,  from our food supply, water and air supply as much as we can.

·         ONLY DRINK Distilled (Preferred) or Reverse Osmosis Water.  3-5 litres per day

·         Stay active so that you sweat regularly and keep your circulation system functioning efficiently.

·         Actively participate in a method of cleansing 4 x times per year lasting a minimum of 4 to 30 days+ long.  There are many herbal, tincture, dietary and physical methods of detoxifying available today. (See below)

·         Consume Green-Blue Algae like Chlorella and other green plants regularly.

·         Drink as much FRESH fruit and vegetable juices possible.

·         Eating a Nutrient rich diet.

·         Improving Digestion and elimination.

·         Work with a Holistic Practitioner to guide you through the process.

A good program for detoxification of the body's waters will include a multi-facetted approach that will:
             ·     Help reduce the impact on the body's filtering system.
      ·     Stimulate the filtering organs of the Liver and the Kidneys to function to their potential.
      ·     Promote elimination of toxins through the intestines, kidneys and skin.
       ·     Improve circulation of the blood.
     m·     Support individual cellular development and cleansing with ingestion of high amounts of nutrients through the diet.

If you are interested in learning more about detoxifying your body or you are dealing with a health crisis, contact me through email info@nudgetraining.com .

Peter Traynor H.N.C., M.T.A.
Holistic Practitioner

Kombucha Tea ... UH? What's That?

Kombuca Tea a most extra-ordinary brew!

So what the heck is Kombucha Tea?!!

I brewed some recently and you can watch a video on my Facebook page here.

Kombuca Tea has been known for 2000 years in China as the "Immortal Health Elixir".  It has had a long history as wielding health benefits like preventing and fighting cancer, arthritis, and other degenerative diseases.
The process of making Kombucha Tea is not too dissimilar to making Beer.

Now that should grab the attention of some of you!!

Kombucha Tea like beer has alcohol in it. The tea has less than 1% generally.  It is made from sweetened brewed black / green tea, a mushroom like bacteria (A.K.A. Scoby or mother), bacteria (starter - taken from a previous batch of Kombucha tea), water and about 1-3 weeks time.  This fermented drink tastes like a bubbly and slightly tart tea.  DELICIOUS!

Kombucha Tea has been know in the western world for about a century, but its popularity and scientific research has not been known to the masses until recently. A lot of the data comes from Russia and Germany in the 1940's.  Research data has shown that there are large quantities of nutrients contained with in the tea like B-vitamins, antioxidants, enzymes and glucaric acids (known to help prevent cancer).

The main strength in its validity and its benefits does come from its long 2000 year history of use.  There are many anecdotal cases of it's elixir benefits, but human scientific research is limited.

So...   What are the proposed health benefits of Kombucha Tea?

#1 Detoxification

One of the greatest benefits of Kombucha Tea is Detoxification of the body.  It aids the liver to rid the body of toxins. The large quantities of bacterial acids within the tea are the same bacterial acids our body's produce and use to detoxify our systems, reducing pancreatic load and allowing the liver to purge toxins form our system.

#2 Aids in digestion and the health of the GI tract.

Kombucha is known as a pre-biotic.  It creates an environment that beneficial bacteria (probiotic) can grown and thrive. The 100 trillion bacteria that live, and grow within our GI tract are essential to life for us humans.  We need these little critters to protect us from many other harmful bacteria that we come in contact
every day. This provides ammunition for your immune system to fight and thwart acidic thriving organisms that can harm us and stress our systems.
Digestion is improved with the high amounts of enzymes within the tea, while its alkalinity fights of candida Fungus growth that thrives in an acidic environment.  It has shown great benefits in increasing mental clarity, and stability of moods which is easily correlated with the reduction of fungus growth.  There are many anecdotes showing improved symptoms of depression and anxiety as well. The alkaline qualities of the Kombucha tea are the perfect waters that our bodies that require to maintain our alkaline homeostasis.

#3 Aids in Joint Care

Kombucha tea contains glucosamines known as a beneficial treatment and preventative for many forms of arthritis.  The glucosamines help to increase synovial hyaluronic acid production that functions to preserve cartilage structure and prevent arthritic pain. While also optimizing the body's ability to build connective tissue and tissue structure, increasing lubrication flexibility to joints, and retarding and reducing wrinkling of the skin.

#4  Bolstering of the Immune system

Its naturally occurring antioxidants found with in tea will have a tremendous effect on your immune system and your energy levels.  Especially i you have never detoxified the body before.

The proof of its benefits can easily be sen by drink in this brew daily for one week.

I have been drinking and making my own brew for over 2 years now.  I have noticed great improvements with digestion and reduced symptoms of gas, bloating when eating foods that I know are of particular concern for me.

Well I am convinced of its benefits!  I think for you to have the same conclusions, you simply just have to give it a try!  Hey it's a great alternative to coffee without the side effect, plus it tastes great!!

If you have any questions or experience(s)would like to share?  Please do here or on Facebook!

View the video on Facebook for more information and briefly how to make your own brew!!

Here are a few articles on the health benefits of kombucha:

http://www.kombu.de/val-gwf.htm
http://www.gaiaresearch.co.za/kombucha.html
http://www.acupuncture.com/herbs/kombucha1.htm
http://www.gokombucha.com/health_benefits.html

BE Your Own Health Master!!

Peter

HOW STRESSED ARE YOU? - Harmful Effects of EMF

Chances are Radio Waves Frequencies (RWF) and Electromagnetic Frequencies Stress (EMF Stress) are contributing to much of your total stress in your body right now. So impactful, it may be preventing you from obtaining the health you desire?

By now, I would hope most people are aware of the dangers from EMF and RWF pollution. If not I urge you to read on to learn how much you are being effected and how you can protect yourself and your family.

For starters and as I have mentioned, EMF stress is a strong contributor to the overall physiological stress that we all see in our lives today. Our nervous systems in particular are already bombarded by poor lifestyle habits from poor nutrition, overstimulation of light from T.V., computers and artificial light (that is light other than natural sunlight), too much or too little exercise and our mental stresses due to work/life balance, relationships, money, etc. Then add stress from the following EMF stress sources:

· cell phones (NOW 5 Geee )

· routers

· electrical outlets in your home

· Smart meters

· electrical surges from your power supply company

· radio waves of all kinds

· power lines

· transformer stations

· microwaves

· high current appliances (hair dryers, heaters, ovens)

· faulty electrical wiring in your walls

· plumbing current (entering through your ground to the city water line)

· Electrical wiring and power cords

· Fluorescent/Compact Fluorescent

· Poorly grounded electrical system

· Bedside AC lamps, clocks and electrical cords

· Laptop computers

· Dimmer switches

· Computers/laptops

· Television sets

· Microwave ovens

· Most Treadmills and furnaces that have variable speed motors

· Intestellar radiation from Orion Van Allen radiation belt, the Sun and the Stars

· Some UV filters and ionizers

· Wireless Networks and wireless security systems

· DECT (digital) cordless phones, and baby monitors

· Cellular phones and PDAs

· Cell towers and microwave transmitters

· Gaming systems, e-Readers and home automation systems

· Nearby neighbours activities

· Radar and radio station transmitters

This list is quite extensive and possibly alarming to you. It should be since there are many documented studies and history showing the detrimental effects of this most invasive part of our society's infrastructure that we have all come slave to.

View some of these links:

· www.safespaceprotection.com/harmful-effects-electromagnetic-fields.aspx

· http://www.dirtyelectricity.ca/scientific_research.htm

· http://www.naturalnews.com/044464_cell_towers_emf_pollution_mental_confusion.html#

So now that I have your attention, let's discuss how we can mitigate/eliminate this most troubling health issue.

Next to throwing away your cell phone... You can:

· Start Grounding - See here :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywPc7g1jViY
· Use the speaker option as often as you can

· Reduce the use of your cell phone
· Throw away your home wireless phone and invest in an older landline cable connection phone
· Stop using your phone in confined spaces like you car. You car acts like a hotbox and makes the signal difficult for your cell phone to pick up the signal. The phone will be forced to work harder to find the signal. The result is an intense signal that bounces around inside your car and through the super conductive, water based substance called your body! (IMPORTANT! Do not use your cell phone inside the car with your children inside. their soft skulls are easily penetrated by the EMF waves!)
· Start using neutralizing buffering devices that eliminate or greatly reduce the EMF waves on your body. 

· Companies making these devices can be found in the following links. Lotus Shield - http://www.eradicatortechnologies.com/home.html , Click on the following link for : Personal devices you can carry with you
· Further educate yourself on this topic : Orgonite using the science of Orgone - Science of Orgonomy by the late Wilhelm Riech. www.orgonite.info ; www.orgone.org ; www.orgonics.com/whatisor.htm ;
· FANTASTIC option for those of you who would like to get external help to mitigate and remove EMF Waves in your home. - www.emfsolutions.ca/tips.php


To the health of you and your family!


Peter Traynor
H.H.P., H.N.C., M.T.A., P.T.S.

P.S. If you are concerned that you may have some health concerns related to EMF or other lifestyle and environmental related issues, you can call me for a free consultation to see how I can help find the source of your concern.
416-569-7183 or email me: info@nudgetraining.com

What Are You Waiting For...?

Are you following your dreams, goals, and desires that you have for your life?

We all find ourselves excited at times about something in our life, something we want to accomplish or something that we have put on our "bucket list". But, soon after we often find ourselves lost in some new experience. An experience that has drawn us away from our excitement and our special life goal or aspiration.

Unfortunately, we do live in a construct of time. And as we all know, time for us is finite.(at least in this reality) It will end... and so will we...

I know this is heavy stuff...!!

But, hear me out!

Most of us are waiting for some special moment in our lives, so we can start living...

YOU are everything in your life! Everything!

Hey, this is it! We may get another chance at this "life thing"...but no one really knows for sure.

Your time for living is now and it will always be now, but remember, time is finite!
Stop living in the past, dwelling on what you could'a or should'a been or done or didn't do. Stop projecting into the future. The future is not here yet, you will never accomplish what you want untilyou spend some time in the present moment. The only way you will create change in your life and in you, is being present.

Just BE the happiness you desire, BE the body you desire, BE the life you desire. It will happen!! If you spend some time in this space. You will be happier!

This is what you are waiting for...

Act now! BE the person you want to BE. BE the life you want to EXPERIENCE. BE the BODY you desire!

BE ... and have the time of your life!

SO GO FOR IT!!! What are you waiting for...?

Be the Master of Your LIFE and HEALTH!!

Peter


P.S.  Are you feeling unmotivated, stuck, need some help defining your direction?

Click here for a Free Consultation to see how I can help you start BE..ING!. 

NUDGE TOP 10 NUTRITION & HEALTH ACTION TIPS FOR THE HOLIDAYS

NUDGE TOP 10  MAINTAINENCE TIPS FOR THE HOLIDAYS

The holidays are especially known for overindulgence. Getting together with family and friends with tasty food and drink to celebrate the festive times can be difficult for some to stick to their health program.

Although it may seem nearly impossible to enjoy the holiday season without putting on a few extra pounds, I can assure you that my TOP 10 Nutrition and Health Action Tips below will keep your on the right side of the fence. The tips will help you to reduce the damage to your health and help you maintain your figure...and perhaps even improve it!

1. Eat Some Fat. Yes...fat.  At meal times, have some fatty meat before you have your first alcoholic beverage. This will help you satiate your appetite. Healthy fatty foods help you by maintaining your blood sugar levels. Also, alcohol is known to increase your appetite. (There is a reason why restaurants take you drink order before you order your meal.) You will also drink less!
2. Reduce the Carb's. If you see your aunt Edna's famous rich chocolate truffles and you just know they will be hitting your dessert plate...I suggest passing completely or greatly reduce the amount of the higher carbohydrate foods in your main meal like potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes and stuffing. You may replace these less carbohydrate rich foods with more fibre rich foods like leafy salads, green beans, bean salads, brussell sprouts and the ever present "Christmas nuts" (yes, the one's you have to crack!)
3. Take a Nap. If you find that you are having some late nights, take a nap during the day for only 15 minutes. Taking short naps have been proven to have a tremendous positive effect on your stress levels and your overall health.
4. Set a Start Date. If you intend to indulge over the festive season, set a date in your diary for when you will get back on track. Then stick to it. If there's lots of suspect foods still left, decide who you're going to give it to (perhaps a charity)!
5. Earn your Treats.  Stay active and earn your treats this year! With the great mild weather we are having, snowy winter weather is no excuse to not do something physical outside. If you know you are going to have some potential weaker moments and indulge in carbohydrate drinks, alcohol or desserts make sure you plan to be active FIRST! This way your body will be able to handle the extra calories and you will have increased your metabolism. I have provided you with some examples below: (they are to be done after a 5 min warm-up) - Interval training - 3 - 5 x 30 sec sprints (up a hill for that extra piece of cheese cake) with 1-2 minute rest in between sprints and 5 min cool down. - 3 - 5 sets of a weight bearing circuit like - 20 x slow wall squats, 15 x step out lunges on each leg, 1 minute plank holds (mountain climbers if you need more of a challenge) with 30 sec rest after completing the circuit then repeat.
6. It's not all or nothing. If you can only do 10 minutes of exercise, that is still better than nothing. Don't stop all exercise just because you can't do 30-60 minutes that day. Try intermittent fasting, this means that you obstain from eating anyyting for about 12 - 14 hours like not eating breakfast the morning after a big dinner meal the night before or not eating past 5-6 pm and have you next meal around 11am the next day.  Enhance this by eating your late morning meal following a strength training or interval workout. 
7. Plan. Take some time to plan and think through where you will most likely be indulging over the holidays. You do not have to indulge every time you can. You can still maintain the 90-10% rule (i.e., 90% of the time you are consciously eating healthy and 10% your can reward yourself). There are many times during the year to have treats, indulge and reward yourself. If you do not plan to eat and maintain your health, you will never have the health (and figure) you desire.
8. Avoid Your Sugar Cravings. Eat fat with your carbohydrates, that means all carbohydrates--fruits, vegetables, grains, de-fattened or low fat milk products (try to avoid low or reduced fat milk products anyways). Eat your carbohydrates with animal proteins, added fats like butter and cream, cheese, nuts, avocado, and coconut oil. Add a daily probiotic to your diet before you drink alcohol as well. You can also remove the sweets from your house and re-gift the chocolates you were given. Lastly, no diet drinks! They will only keep you craving more sugars.
9. Reduce your stress. Stress over the holidays is common for many reasons. Try quite walks during each day or do some morning yoga or stretches first thing. Play soft relaxing music in the home. Try meditation for 15 min before you get out of bed and 15 min sitting on the edge of your bed just before you go to sleep. The effects of calming activities stimulate the production of the good feeling hormones like melatonin and serotonin will provide you the extra control reducing the anxiety caused by stressful situations or thoughts and help you maintain your health goals.
10. Drink Water. Sound familiar?!? The intake of water has many proven benefits. The ones I like for this time of year are increasing your energy. Higher energy will keep you from going to the quick "pick  me ups" like caffeine, and sugar. Water will keep you satiated in between meals. It is the great detoxifier (especially when you have consumed many diuretics and chemicals such as those found in alcohol, coffee and soft drinks). I am sure you are well aware that dehydration is a big part of hangover symptoms. Water will not only help you feel better, but it is cornerstone to getting rid of these chemicals, additives and preservatives you have consumed over this season. So try and drink 2.5 - 3 litres of distilled water each day.  If you can, I would always try and schedule workouts around those holiday parties or meals. I often hit up a big workout before sitting down for a holiday feast. While still following the rules above, I am able to indulge in those little treats with much less guilt. The best part is that it all goes towards refueling depleted glycogen levels.

So keep these tips in mind this coming holiday season. If you are sure to apply them to your nutritional approach you shouldn’t be facing the average 5-10 weight gain that most people deal with come the New Year.

If you are looking for some motivation or some company for your workouts come by the NUDGE gym.
We are providing Boot Camp Workouts over the next week. If it has been a while since your last workout with us we ask that you please call and book in advance to secure your spot.

The holiday Boot Camp times are as follows:

Mon, Dec 23 - 6,7,9am and 5:30pm
Mon, Dec 30 - Morning Sessions Only - 6, 7, & 9am
Fri, Jan 03, 2014 - Morning Sessions Only - 6, 7, & 9am
Back to Regular Schedule on Monday, Jan 06, 2014 - 6, 7, 9am and 5:30pm

Have a wonderful holiday!