My Morning Routine

It’s hard to stick to an exact day to day routine as it completely depends on what my work schedules looks like, which season I am in, travel commitments, weekends, and everything else life throws my away.

However, I have learned over the years that my days are so much better when I invest the time into following a good morning routine because the commitment to the rituals offers me so much more than the time and effort that they take.

6 am: WAKE UP - Now that the sun is rising earlier it has been easier for me to get up early in the morning. I am very much a morning person and like to wake up with the sun to make the most of my day.

6.10 am: HYDRATE MY BODY - The first thing I like to do in the morning is to drink a whole liter of water to hydrate my body. In the summer month and when its hot outside I like to squeeze in some lemon juice into my water to feel extra reenergized. For the colder months, I drink it hot or have a herbal tea instead. Peppermint is a good one.

6.20 am: SUN SALUTATIONS/ RUNNINGMost mornings I like to start with a good stretch. I find that 15 minutes of sun salutations (5 Surya Namaskara A & 3 Surya Namaskara B) really wakes up my body and makes me want to carry doing some more yoga. I usually work on a few new poses that I like to get better in. On weekends I normally like to go for a run. I started up running last year as part of a challenge and really fell in love with it.  Going for a long Sunday run helps me clear up my mind and get ready for the week ahead.

7 am: BREAKFAST - When it comes to breakfast I am a creature of habit and have most days a bowl of warm porridge with cinnamon and a good dollop of peanut butter on top. I eat it with my children in the morning and like to not have many distractions on the table. So that we can focus on our foods and slow down a little before the day begins.

7.30 am: JUMP IN THE SHOWER - After breakfast, my children leave for school and I have the house to myself. That’s when I jump in the shower and savor the refreshing feeling.

7.45 am: HAIR & MAKE UP - I love putting on makeup, while a lot of women find getting ready and putting make up in the morning a bit of a chore, I don’t like to rush this part of my routine. Making my self look good makes me feel good and confident to face the day, plus doing the whole makeup routine relaxes me. I use mainly cruelty-free makeup products, a good one that I like to use and performs well is Hourglass.

8.30 am READY FOR WORK - After I have done my whole morning routine I feel ready to face the day with a healthy dose of optimism and positivity. 

So that’s my morning routine more or less. I am sure I will add or take away bits the suit me better as its an ever-evolving ritual. I found that keeping it simple is the best way to keep coming back to a healthy routine. But I also do not punish myself when I don’t do any exercise in the morning and prefer to stay in bed. It's all part of it.

Why is Obesity a leading cause of cancer?

Recently Cancer Research UK has launched a new advert on the radio warning people that obesity is the second biggest preventable cause of cancer in the UK after smoking. Most people know that smoking can cause cancer and understand that inhaling toxic substances cannot be good for the human body but why and how does obesity cause cancer? This seems to be the most common question that people ask me on the topic. The answer to this question is complex, as excess body fat can cause a whole host of issues in the body. But scientific research has identified at least 3 key ways in how excess weight can lead to cancer.

Increased Insulin & Insulin Growth Factor 1

Today overweight and obesity are mainly caused by an overconsumption of calories and physical inactivity and sugar is often the culprit of why we overindulge or binge on certain foods as it is very addictive. It can be found in many foods such as processed foods, cereals, refined flours, sweetened beverages and desserts. Going sugar free on a daily basis is one of the hardest things to do as it seems to be virtually in every food.

Insulin is a hormone produced by our pancreas for the metabolism of carbohydrates. Insulin's job is to help cells to receive carbohydrates and bring it into the cell. Once inside the cell it can then use the carbohydrates to produce energy for our body. Without this vital hormone, our body simply couldn’t function for very long.

If you’re consuming too much sugar, one of the things that happen is an increase of insulin in the body. Over time, insulin receptor sites on our cells can burn out and stop responding to the insulin that our pancreas produces causing insulin resistance (type 2 diabetes). This causes an influx of both insulin and sugar in our blood.

Cancer research has shown that cancer cells also have the same insulin receptor sites as our healthy cells but they are often expressed in greater numbers on the cancer cell making them “very hungry” for glucose (carbohydrates) and insulin. Therefore high levels of insulin due to either insulin resistance or excess sugar consumption can fuel cancer cells to grow and thrive.

Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1) is a hormone with a similar molecular structure to insulin. It’s vital to childhood growth and encourages cell growth and proliferation in adults. However, IGF-1 also promotes each of the key stages of cancer development: growth of cancerous cells, vascularisation of cancerous tissue (blood vessel growth) and metastasis. 

Milk and dairy products contain whey proteins which cause a rise in insulin, IGF-1 and growth hormone levels and have been linked to the development of certain cancers. One Swedish study studied lactose intolerant people and found that they had a significantly lower risk in developing cancer than those that were not lactose free.

Increase Of Oestrogen

Most People view extra body fat as relatively harmless or as something that they want to get rid of to look and feel better. But excess body fat can do more than just sit there and make your trousers feel tight. Visceral fat is fat that is located around organs and underneath the skin (belly fat) and is often seen in obese people. This fat tissue can produce hormones such as oestrogen and if an individual has a high amount of fat tissue in their body the more oestrogen is produced. Usually high amounts and can promote cell division and tissue growth that can lead to fibroids, cysts, cervical dysplasia and tumour formations in both male and female.

Inflammation

Another major concern about increased visceral fat is that it can also produce inflammatory chemicals called cytokines that can lead to chronic inflammation.

Chronic Inflammation leads to cell DNA damage which causes cells to mutate and dysfunction, making the body more susceptible to form malignant growths.

But visceral fat does more than just lead to inflammation down the road — it becomes inflamed itself by producing something known as interleukin-6, a type of inflammatory molecule. This kind of fat stores inflammatory white blood cells and kicks off a series of autoimmune reactions. Inflammation is at the root of most diseases, and this is why inflammatory belly fat is also linked with other diseases such as cognitive decline, arthritis, diabetes and so on.

If you are worried about your weight or have underlying problems associated with obesity and need help with losing weight please feel free to contact me at evelyn@vibratingwellness.com or check out my 12 Week Weight Loss Programme.

References:

Poll & Stambolic, 2015. Obesity and cancer, a case for insulin signaling,
Cell Death & Disease volume 6

Divella , Raffaele De Luca, Ines Abbate1, Emanuele Naglieri, Antonella Daniele, 2016. Obesity and cancer: the role of adipose tissue and adipo-cytokines-induced chronic inflammation, Journal of Cancer, 7(15) pp. 2346-2359.

What Is Metabolic Damage, And Why Dieting Can Slow Down Your Metabolism

When was the last time you have been on a diet? Did you manage to lose weight only to find that you gained it all back within a few weeks. Maybe you are constantly restricting your food intake but are stuck and can no longer lose any weight. Dieting, especially fad dieting and yoyo dieting can damage your metabolism and slow down all your efforts.

WHAT IS METABOLIC DAMAGE?

Metabolic damage is the metabolic slowing of your metabolism after dieting. When you start eating less or go on a crash diet your metabolism slows down. Thus, your resting metabolic rate (RMR) decreases and your body doesn't expend as much energy as before. Yo-yo dieting can also have an undesirable effect on your metabolism as the frequent lowering and raising of the metabolism can lower it in general and reduce its natural set point.

HOW METABOLIC DAMAGE BEGINS

Putting on a few extra pounds, can make us feel uncomfortable and anxious so that we want to loose the weight quickly. We start reducing calories and do more cardio workouts in the gym. The start of the program results in significant weight loss but after a few more weeks we don’t see any more progress. The scale is not budging and frustration sets in. Pure determination to loose the weight prevails and you restrict even more calories and do extra cardio workouts in the gym. A few more weeks show nothing in fat loss and the body has stopped responding to weight loss efforts altogether. 

What has happened is that your metabolism has slowed down significantly in an attempt to restore energy balance and stop you from losing any more weight.

CAN I FIX METABOLIC DAMAGE?

If you're trying to keep your metabolism running strong, you can't stop eating. You need to find the right balance of calories and exercises to promote weight loss without your body going into starvation mode. 

1. Slowly introduce more calories to your diet. Try and eat more protein (coming from wild or organic sources) in your diet and increase nutrient rich foods like vegetables, berries, nuts and seeds. Avoid processed foods and reduce your sugar intake.

2. Switch your cardio sessions for more strength building exercises that build muscle. As muscle tissue has an higher metabolic rate and can boost weight loss. Do muscle-building exercises at least twice a week -- use free weights, exercise bands or body resistance exercises, such as sit-ups, lunges and pull-ups.

3. Improve Your Sleep. Try and get at least 8 hours of good quality sleep at night. Great ways that help you wind down at night are drinking chamomile tea and having an epsom bath salt before bedtime. Essential oils are also excellent for helping you to relax and fall asleep faster. Lavender and Roman Chamomile essential oils are my favourite go to’s. Check out my Essential Oil Sleep Serum that contains Lavender, Roman Chamomile & Ylang Ylang. Its perfect for rubbing on your soles of your feet or on your wrists at night.

Those are just a few tips that can help you raise your metabolism naturally. If you would like to learn more please feel free to contact me on evelyn@vibratingwellness.com for a free 15 min consultation.

References

Eric T Trexler, Abbie E Smith-Ryan and  Layne E Norton. 2014. Metabolic adaptation to weight loss: implications for the athlete. 11: 7.

Leanne M. Redman and  Eric Ravussin. 2011. Caloric Restriction in Humans: Impact on Physiological, Psychological, and Behavioral Outcomes. 14(2), pp. 275–287.

4 Ways How Stress Messes With Your Body

“I am stressed and exhausted” are words that I hear almost daily  from my clients and who can blame them. 

Lets face it, the stress we experience today is everywhere and living a stress free lifestyle in this modern world can almost seem impossible for the most part. So much so that it’s become ‘normal’ to feel stressed most of the day and being ‘busy’ is often looked upon as being successful and thriving. 

We live in an age of information and work overload, with little time to relax and unwind. Even when we are relaxing we use our mobile devises to engage in social media like Facebook and Instagram which is just another way to fill our brain with more information and is the opposite of relaxing.

You might think that some stress is necessary for you to produce good results at work and yes its true, there can be some benefits to short time stress but most of us are experiencing lots of so called micro stressors during the day and these micro stressors can have just as devastating effects as acute stress. 

I know that we will never completely rid ourself of all stress in our lives but by better understanding what stress exactly does in our body it can help motivate us to become more aware of what causes us stress and find practical solutions to destress our lives. 

Here are 4 ways that long term stress can affect our health negatively

INSULINE RESISTANCE 

Excessive stress increased the release of the “stress hormone” cortisol. When the body releases cortisol it causes cells to become more insulin resistant, so that more sugar can remain in the bloodstream to supply the brain and muscles with fuel, rather that being stored away. 
This is vital if you needed to run away from danger or needed to make fast decisions on how to fight a threat.   
Therefor increased insulin resistance in the short term is very beneficial and enables the body to have the energy for survival.

However on a long term basis insulin resistance can contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes and may lead to obesity.
Increased cortisol also tends to increase sugar craving contributing to further blood sugar imbalances.

CHRONIC HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, HEART ATTACK AND STROKE

When the body receives information that we are in danger or in a stressful situation the bodies natural response is to increase heart rate and blood pressure so that more blood and oxygen is moved around the body  quickly, supplying vital organs (such as the brain and muscle cells) with fresh oxygenated blood.
At the same time the body also activates blood platelets. This increases blood clotting and will help save your life if you have a bleeding wound, as the bleeding will stop more quickly.
While these life saving responses are essential for our survival ( when they are experienced short term) they can also have a decremental effect on our health if they are experienced long term. 

Chronic stress can lead to high blood pressure and increase the risk of a stroke and heart disease.
And the tendency for the blood to clot while under chronic stress, also increase the risk of having a stoke or a heart attack.

DIGESTIVE ISSUES

In our evolutionary past we had all sorts of threats to deal with, we would often find ourself in difficult situations and face challenges that threatened our survival. In those situations, when the body is under treat, our natural instinct is to either run away or fight the threat for our survival (this is also called the fight or flight response) 
In these moments the body’s resources are directed away from digestion, as this becomes a non essential function, in an effort to save as much energy for your survival.
Since digestion is dialed down during the stress response, chronic stress can contribute to a variety of digestive disorders.Bloated stomach, cramping, constipation and diarrhea are all common symptoms of chronic stress. So, too, is acid reflux and irritable bowel syndrome. 

DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, POOR MEMORY AND CONCENTRATION

You may think that it’s necessary to work under pressure to see good results in your work but being chronically stressed for long periods of time can affect your ability to concentrate, act efficiently and has devastating effects on memory and learning.
The stress hormone cortisol interrupts brain cell communication by compromising neurotransmitter function causing brain cells to die and 
preventing you from accessing memories or creating new ones. This depletion of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin affect also our mood and behaviour. When there is an imbalance, this can lead to signs of depression and low mood.

Stress can also cause Anxiety.

Having your brain in a constant state of high alert activates a part in your brain that is called the amygdala. This portions of our brain is responsible to help us stay hyper vigilant in dangerous situations and make us have fast responses to treats. However if the amygdala is often activated due to many stressful events in our modern lives it becomes enlarged and sensitive to even the smallest triggers, making you more prone to anxiety and excess worry.