Forty, female and 'falling apart'? Don't fret
Forty? Fat? Female? Falling apart? There is something about turning 40.
Eeew! We might still be a long way off middle-age but there are certain things happening that suggest the body isn’t what it used to be.
We take longer to recover from late nights (not to mention big nights), energy levels flounder, our waistline seems to have a mind of its own and hormones can be all over the place.
If this feels all too familiar, consider it an early warning sign.
Your liver is struggling to metabolise the toxic junk it is bombarded with and literally becomes overloaded.
It is high time to do something about it … otherwise actual middle–age is just hard work.
Clean up your diet Take a good, honest look at what you eat. How much of it comes straight out of a packet? How many of these packets list more than five ingredients on the nutrition panel?
A good clean diet consists of stuff that isn’t neatly packaged and processed, it’s just as it came from nature.
Vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, eggs, nuts and seeds.
Add some brown rice or quinoa, some full fat yoghurt, and some good quality fats daily (coconut, egg yolks, olive oil, butter and avocado). It’s that simple.
What are you drinking? Plenty of water is all you need. One freshly-brewed coffee a day is acceptable, just as is one glass of red wine.
What you definitely do not need are the soft drinks, diet drinks, juices, iced coffees, and milk shakes. How much sugar do you really eat? Most of it is hidden in packaged foods, soft drinks and alcohol.
Anything white and processed only raises your insulin levels and feeds your fat cells, while the rest of the body still craves valuable proteins, fats and nutrients.
The obvious sugar-laden foods are the chocolates, lollies and other unnecessary junk food.
You don’t need any of it, and once you banish these foods from your diet, your energy, sleep and waistline all benefit.
Get moving The human body is designed to move — a lot!
The many hours we spend sitting hunched in front of a screen promotes stiffness, muscle tension and fatigue.
This needs to be countered by 45-60 minutes of exercise daily which will boost the circulation, discharge stress, burn fat, improve mood substantially and generally make you feel really good.
If you sense you are one of the women that may have let things who may have let things slide a little too much, natural medicine can be of enormous benefit.
A thorough health assessment can detect which body system needs the most support — usually the liver, gut and hormones — which can then all be brought back into balance with the appropriate combination of detoxification, herbal medicines and diet.
