2014 - Page 3 of 7 - The Body Retreat

Beauty….It Is More Than Skin Deep

We have all heard the quote “Beauty is only skin deep” and with the average British woman spending £2,500 on beauty products every year it would seem to confirm this.

But the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. Beauty is a lot more than just skin deep.

Confession of a Beauty Product Junkie

Now, let me start this article with an admission…I used to be a beauty product junkie. Having previously spent 5 years working for a french beauty company I learnt a lot about how the skins works, how certain product ingredients work and what techniques and process make products work better. Combined with an almost pathological fear of developing jowls (my maternal grandmother had them…so they are on their way!!!) I bought into every new firming beauty product developed. In my 20’s I was using products marketed at 40 year olds, now I’m in my 40’s my skin care habit had become very expensive. No off the supermarket shelf products for me by now my beauty habit needs a bigger fix than that.

Every day we are bombard by marketing messages urging us to part with our hard earned cash and buy the latest anti-aging beauty products to help us conform to the current vision of what a beautiful woman looks like. Don’t you want to look like Cheryl, Isabella, Julia?? Perhaps this is little pot of cream could be just the answer.

Then I met our lead therapist Pippa and I got a beauty wake up call. Pippa had been working with us at The Body Retreat for almost a year when chatting together one day she revealed that she was in fact older than me. I was shocked, because I had always assumed that Pippa was in her late 20’s….maybe early 30’s at a push. As I looked very very very closely at her face I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing. She looked radiant, glowing, her skin all firm and plump, her hair was glossy and her eyes sparkled and she didn’t have a pick of make up on. My next thought was..I need what ever product she is using and I need it now!

But there was no magic product. There was just ….and I use the term “just” ironically…. there was just a healthy lifestyle. Pippa was careful to eat clean foods, was active, got a good amount of sleep, she also liked to do yoga outside if possible every day, she naturally had a great skincare routine but rather than buy expensive products she used home made treatments for her skin. My first thought was it sounded a little hippy for a product junkie like myself. Or does it!

The Inside is more Important that the Outside

For me it was a light bulb moment. Here I was spending the price of a decent pair of shoes on a face cream to apply on the outside when the inside wasn’t in tip top condition. Its a bit like buying expensive wall paper and papering over a cracked wall. Its only going to look good for a short while, but the cracks will make themselves known very quickly. The same is true of lotions and potions, they cannot undo the impact of an unhealthy body.

How we look is more affected by what we eat and how we think than any amount of expensive creams and serums. Think about it, you know the pained face of someone who is ill, the weathered expression of someone who is a heavy smoker, the pale and drawn complexion of someone who is very stressed. You can recognise the signs of compromised health in yourself, dry skin, breakouts, course hair, dark circles under the eyes, flaking or weak nails.

There are a multitude of aggressors that make us feel and look years older than we really are, poor digestion, crash diets, high stress levels, food allergies, hormone imbalances to name but a few all contribute to compromised health and can actually increased inflammation with in turn speeds up the ageing process.

Beauty starts not with a wrinkle or in my case jowl free face but with a healthy digestive system and a calm mind.

If you want to improve the condition of your skin you need to start by improving the condition of your digestion. Right now you can literally begin to eat yourself beautiful. Begin to decrease the toxic load that processed and fast foods have on your system while at the same time increase the amount of antioxidant , vitamins and minerals you do eat on a daily basis. Learn to rebalance your stress levels and make time every day to be calm, even if it is only a for a couple of minutes. You skin will thank you.

I will admit that I haven’t thrown out all the creams and potions from my dressing table, but in researching the programme for our Beauty Detox Retreat I have become convinced that we should be spending more of our hard earn cash in the fruit and veg aisle of the supermarket rather than the cosmetic aisle. I feel genuienly excited to learn more from our therapist and experts on retreat about how to create fitter and firmer skin from the inside out rather than try to apply it from the outside in.

Joining us at our women only retreats to learn more about how create beauty from the inside out may not be right for you right now, but you can start to make small changes at home. Begin with small changes like adding the 7 Beauty Boosting Foods below and you will be surprised how in just a short while you will feel and see a difference in your skin, hair and nails.

The Body Retreats 7 Beauty Boosting Foods to add to your diet today.

Avocados: Enzyme and mineral rich, these little green fruit are the best fat to improve your skin texture and elasticity.

Salmon: Full of Omgea 3 Salmon will boost your skins glow and radiance.

Almonds: Contain Vit E these nuts can also help to protect your skin from harmful UV rays.

Chia Seeds: Another great source of Omega 3 and also a great source of protein a great addition to your daily diet.

Eggs: A good source of iron and can help to recent dark circles under your eyes.

Blueberries: Full of antioxidants which help to fight the free radicals than can cause premature ageing.

Water: Hydration is essential for good skin and good digestion. So aim to drink about 1-1.5 litres of still water every day.

True Beauty starts with Healthy Eating.

Great skin is 70% what you put into your body and only 30% is what you put on your skin. Creating a healthy lifestyle where you are concisely choosing to respect and protect your body, eating healthy clean food, taking exercise to keep your blood flow boosted, making time to reduce your stress levels and investing in the best quality skin care you can are all part of the beauty puzzle.

At the end of the day no cream is really going to put a smile on your face , but being in great health and the best shape is really what makes the difference.

Id love to hear from you, what is your beauty secret? Are you a beauty product junkie or do you favour a more holistic natural approach?

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The Danger of Pre Supper Snacking

Do you often arrive home from work feeling so ravenous you could eat a donkey with the saddle on?!?!

If you do then you might find yourself routinely grabbing snacks before you’ve prepared a proper meal in the evening. This isn’t the worst crime in the world of course but if you’re aiming to gain control of your weight and what you’re eating then pre supper snacking can be a real problem.

I can tell you from my own experience that keeping hunger pangs at bay after a long day at work is not easy. In fact, back in the day when I was office bound I even found myself coming home from a day at the office and rummaging through my fridge without even having taken my coat off!

But it doesn’t have to be this way. At The Body Retreat we believe that balance is the key to keeping hunger in check.

Follow our simple tips below and you will soon find yourself in almost zen like control as you open your front door of an evening. Believe me, you will feel a whole lot better for it!

The Hunger Scale

You may already have read or heard about the Hunger Scale but even if you have then it is worth looking at again because it is a really amazing tool. We use it all the time at Weight Loss Retreats because it really helps provide a focus when we’re trying to take back control of what we’re eating.

The Hunger Scale is all about thinking more precisely about how hungry or full you are whenever you eat. It isn’t a magic solution that works wonders overnight but if you use it for a while you are sure to see some very worthwhile benefits. The scale is easier to use on retreat because there’s more time to focus but, if you find a way to use it in everyday life too, then it can make a massive difference to the way you think about and enjoy food.

As you can see below, the Hunger Scale goes from one, which is where you are so physically faint from hunger you could barely lift a fork to your mouth, through to ten which is feeling so full up that you could be sick in a bucket…(yes it really is that gross).

The Hunger Scale
1. Physcially Faint
2. Ravenous
3. Hungry
4. A Little Hungry
5. Neutral
6. Satisfied
7. Full
8. Stuffed
9. Over Faced
10. Sick in a Bucket!

Ideally we want to stay between 4 and 7. When we don’t eat or when we don’t eat well and we allow our blood sugar levels to drop down into the realms of 1,2 and 3, we find ourselves at the mercy of a brain in survival mode.

The Problem with Flagging Blood Sugar

When your blood sugar levels drop low your brain, which always has your very best interest at heart, senses the lack of energy and sends out a very compelling message that it needs high energy sources ASAP. The result is that your brain will literally send you in search of fast acting carbs that can be easily converted to energy.

Now there is great sugar in a carrot, but, here’s the thing, when you are low down the Hunger Scale you make bad choices. You open the fridge door, you see the carrots, you see the hummus you see the natural Greek yoghurt, but no. You need or rather you want starchy CARBS!!! So you close the fridge and turn to the bread bin…

The problem with eating starchy carbs on an empty stomach

As starchy carbs are quickly converted into glucose you start to feel better, but your body is also producing insulin to convert the glucose either into muscles for energy or into your fat stores.

In large amounts insulin prevents fat burning and stores surplus nutrients in the fat cells. After some time (a few hours or less) this may result in a shortage of nutrients in the blood, creating feelings of hunger and cravings for something sweet. Usually at that point people eat more. This starts the process all over again and that’s why snacking can be such a problem and why the associated cravings are often so hard to control.

In a recent study at Cornell University, students who consumed starchy carbs before or at the very start of a meal ate 47% more calories in their meals than those who ate vegetables or salad.

If this all sounds a little too familiar then you will be pleased to know that there are some very simple steps you can take to break this vicious cycle.

The Body Retreat’s Top Tips for Avoiding Pre Supper Snacking

Avoid having a glass of wine while cooking.

There is no need to come over all Keith Floyd in the midweek kitchen. Not only is the sugar in the wine converted in exactly the same way as the sugar in the starchy carbs but on an empty stomach you may find yourselves being a little too enthusiastic in tasting the meal as you prepare. Ever found yourselves saying…. “Mmm, nice” and then having another couple of spoonfuls? Leave the vino until you are at the table eating.

Drink a glass of warm water and lemon juice instead of wine.

Lemon juice is traditionally understood to support digestive hydrochloric acid in the stomach to aid digestion. This is why in ayruvedic or yogic traditions it is drunk upon waking. But drinking a glass while you are preparing your meal can also help to take the sting out of your appetite.

Eat a good lunch.

Soup or Salad makes a great lunch

Having a high carb lunch will leave you feeling empty by supper time (see our blog on why sandwiches may damage your waistline).

Having a mid-afternoon snack is a MUST!!

Back to our Hunger Scale. If you allow your blood sugar levels to drop too low then you will put yourself into the snacking danger zone. Ideally you should aim to have a small protein based snack midway between lunch and supper. So if you lunch at 1pm and have supper at around 7.30pm then having a snack around 4.00pm will help to keep your blood sugar levels balanced.

The thing to remember is that no one plan suits everybody, so you need to learn to listen to your own body and eat when you are hungry and stop when you are satisfied. That way you are respecting your body and giving it the nutrition it needs and deserves. At The Body Retreat we work with all our clients to create a plan that works for their lifestyle and their goals so that they can build healthy habits that work for them. Our Weight Loss Retreats are based on the principle of balancing blood sugar which combined with the behaviour element of the programme ensure that clients are set up for long term success once they return home.

What are your thoughts and experiences of Pre Supper Snacking? We would love to hear from you, so please leave us a comment below.

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A Great Last Minute Decision to Join The Body Retreat

I was sick of feeling low, overweight and depressed about my appearance and knew this needed to change but didn’t know how. I had a week off work coming up in 2 days’ time with nowhere to go and nothing planned.
I found The Body Retreat on the internet. I loved the website and the retreats sounded interesting so I made an enquiry. Julie contacted me and we spoke about me, how I was feeling. The Body Retreat were in Andalucia, Spain that week and Julie invited me to join the group out there.
After speaking with my husband and children I decided to go for it. To be honest I was at an all time low and needed to do something. I decided on the Friday that I would fly out to the group on the Monday – it was that spontaneous!
I was nervous, apprehensive and quite tearful when I first arrived feeling that perhaps I’d made the wrong decision. It was a big step, doing something like this on my own but I felt I had to do this for me.
However It was one of the best decisions I’d ever made! Julie and Jules are an amazing team. I was taken care of from the moment I arrived and immediately had a one to one with Jules, The Body Retreat’s behaviour coach and food nutritionist where she explained the programme for the week. The ladies in the group were brilliant – extremely warm and welcoming, truly a fabulous bunch.
I have surpassed myself in the things I have achieved over these past 5 days and cannot wait to share them with my family and fortunately I have the photos as proof! I feel differently about food and my approach to it and am excited at the prospect of adopting the concepts Jules taught me back at home. My fitness level has increased thanks to Julie who is calm, professional, encouraging and so knowledgeable. The one to ones she provides are tailor made for you and only you and this is what makes The Body Retreat so unique in my mind.
In the middle of this Pippa, The Body Retreat’s therapist gave me a massage and reflexology session both of which which were simply amazing.
I could go on and on but want to finish by saying The Body Retreat has re-educated my mind AND re-vitalised my body and I have loved very minute of it. I have eaten good, healthy food prepared by Jules, experienced an array of exercises and activities courtesy of Julie and allowed to work at my own pace and had had some good old fashioned R&R.
I have a long way to go but couldn’t have asked for a better start. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Carole
London

The Cup of Tea that Reduces Your Stress Levels

We Brits love our tea. Its estimated that in the UK we get through a staggering 165 million cups a day!

A cup of tea can be restorative, it can pick you up after a shock, it can soothe a troubled day. Research has discovered a plethora of health benefits of drinking tea, from its antioxidant properties to its ability to hydrate. Its little wonder it has become part of our cultural identity.

In the 1930’s there was even a famous song “Everything Stops for Tea”

“Every nation in creation has its favourite drink
France is famous for its wine, it’s beer in Germany
Turkey has its coffee and they serve it blacker than ink
Russians go for vodka and England loves its tea”

But beyond its role as a national streiotype what if I told you that taking one cup of tea each day could reduce your stress levels, make you feel less emotional and more in control, improve your working memory and give you more mental clarity. I’m not about to expose some newly discovered berry or leaf from far off lands with super powers. In fact it can be any cuppa of your choice and still have the same amazing effect.

I’m talking about having a Mindful Cup of Tea.

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

I’m sure you will all be aware of Mindfulness, it has become a very popular topic in recent years selling millions of books, CD’s and Apps each year. But Mindfulness is no fad. Derived from ancient Buddhist meditation, in the 1970’s a scientist called Jon Kabit-Zin developed Mindful Based Stress Reduction technique based on the principle of being in the present moment, not worrying about the past or the future, but consciously connecting with the present moment.

Too often in today’s modern life the constant pressures seem to force us into an auto pilot mode. There is so much to do, so many demands on our time, we have become quite adept at multi tasking. Even reading this blog post you may be keeping one eye on your email inbox, compiling your shopping list, thinking about a task you need to complete later today. We are constantly “ON”. Over time this takes its toll on our health and wellbeing, both mentally, physically and emotionally.

Mindfulness is the perfect antidote to the pressure of modern life, it is a way of pressing the STOP button, of resetting the relaxation response. Repeated studies have shown that Mindfulness can rewire how the brian responds to stress.

Mindfulness In Practice

At The Body Retreat we have Mindfulness Based Practice built into every one of our retreats, from our Conscious Eating on our Weight Loss Retreat, Mindful Daily Routines on our Health & Fitness Holiday to daily Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction techniques on our Stress Re-Set Retreat. Even on our Detox Retreat we have Mindful Moments every afternoon amongst other mind detox activites.

One of the great things about Mindfulness is how accessible and easy it is to practice. You don’t need special clothing, a special room, there are no special magic words or incantations. What you do need is an open mind, a desire to change your current coping strategies and the commitment to practice. Because heres the thing, Mindfulness is both astonishingly simple and, for most of us who live in our heads, very difficult. At first Mindfulness can seem elusive and down right tricksy, we are creatures driven by the desire to succeed and get stuff right. Mindfulness isn’t a tangible and specific skill like driving a car or learning an instrument. Rather its personal and only you can be the judge of how effective your practice is.

Mindfulness practice is immensely rewarding, as plenty of people are discovering. I would argue that it is probably the most important life skill that any of us can learn to help us to cope with the stresses of modern living.

To help gain the Mindfulness Stress Reduction benefits it helps to have some practical techniques to help you to incorporate it into everyday life, that way you can quickly and easily see and feel the benefits. Then you can build out from one practice to bigger and more powerful techniques.

One of the Daily Mindful Practices we adopt at The Body Retreat is The Mindful Cup of Tea. Almost everyone takes a hot drink of some kind during their day. This simple technique takes something mundane and transforms it to become something truly restorative and relaxing.

Mindfulness Tea for Stress Reduction

This exercise takes something that is generally done on autopilot and brings it firmly into the present moment. Such a simple exercise but it bring benefits fast.

Sit down with your tea, do not drink it on the run, standing at the kitchen counter or in the car. You want to give your whole attention now.
Take three long slow deep breaths and relax.
Before you pick up the cup and rink it, really look at it. Notice the glass, cup or mug. Notice how the light reflects off it. Notice if there is steam rising, or ripples form having just stirred the tea. Notice the colour, the individual tones.
Now, pick up the cup and notice the tactile feel of the cup in your hands. Does it feel warm or cool to the touch, how heavy is it. Is the cup textures or smooth.
Next smell your drink. Spend a moment allowing the smell to fill your awareness.
As you now start to drink, take small sips of your tea. Allow yourself to really taste it. Experience the sensation on your tongue and taste buds, as you gently swallow hear the sound.
As you continue to drink you tea, be fully present with your tea. If you mind wanders off before the drink is finished, simply acknowledge that your mind has wandered, and just bring it back to the feeling, smells, tastes and sensations of drinking this cup of tea.

Once you have got used to Mindful Tea Drinking any cup of tea that you have becomes an automatic unconscious anchor to help you to remember to be mindful, to relax and be calm.

If you would like to learn more about Mindfulness and gain practical techniques to incorporate it into your everyday life to improve your health and well-being then join us on our next Stress Re-Set Retreat.

If you have found this article useful I’d really love to have your comments or questions. You will find the comments box all the way down at the bottom of the page, look forward to hearing from you. Please feel free to share on any of your chosen social media by using the buttons on the right.

Are Toxins Making You Fat?

“A Toxic Body Will Cause You To Gain Fat, While a Cleansed Balanced Body is Slim & Healthy”

We don’t often use the F word at The Body Retreat. Too often Fat is used as a derogatory term. It’s a label used to put you in your place. Fat… its not who you are, it’s what you have. We all have fat, we are meant to, it is part of the body’s natural defence and survival system. Problems only start to arise when we have too much fat and it begins to negatively impact our health.

Recently we attended a course with one of the countries most eminent sports coaches, Phil Richards is a world renowned sports coach at the very top of his game, training professional athletes like Amir Khan and Stuart Stokes as well as professional sports teams like London Harlequins and Leicester Tigers amongst others. A specialist in strength and conditioning Phil has trained some of the world’s strongest men and women.

On the face of it Phil might seem like an unlikely training partner for The Body Retreat and to be honest when we arrived at the training centre at least one of us felt a fish out of water. In a room filled with muscular men, buff boys and a smattering of gym bunnies I was a tracksuit and supplement shake bottle short of the dress code not to mention a dress size (or 2) in the opposite direction.

But, at The Body Retreat we pride ourselves with not only working with the best but learning from the best. Phil is a passionate advocate of detoxification and places this at the heart of all his training and weight loss programmes. Intrigued to learn why this world class sport coach placed so much emphasis on this natural function we attended his certified course to learn more.

Detoxification, it’s A Natural Process, Right?

We all know that we live in a toxic world, toxins are everywhere, in the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink. They are in the clothes we wear, the products we wash in even the pans we cook with. There is no escaping them. The body has a perfect inbuilt system to cope with toxins and the main organ responsible for ridding the body of the toxins is our liver.

However, over the past 60 years the amount of man-made chemicals introduced to our food and drink has significantly increased and a recent survey by The Centre for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that adults carry around 700 toxic substances in the body that the liver cannot effectively cope with.

A Toxic Body Will Make You Gain Fat

When the liver cannot process these toxins fast enough it becomes overloaded and this can lead to your feeling sluggish, struggling with skin problems, aches and pains, or digestive problems. But did you know that when the body cannot cope with toxic overload these toxins are stored in the body to be dealt with later… and you’ll never guess where the body stores these toxins….In Your Fat!!

In particular in belly fat. That’s because the body’s self preservation mechanism kick in to protect you from the harm that storing these toxins may have, so they need to be stored somewhere safe.

How the Body Gets Rid of Toxins

Detoxification is a natural process, it is happening all the time through:

Respiration– Your lungs not only filter the air you breath but provide the essential oxygen that every cell in your body needs.

Perspiration – Your skin is your single largest organ of elimination

Defecation– One or two well-formed bowel movements every day is one of the best ways to get toxins out of your body.

Urination– The kidneys are responsible for flushing waste from the blood.

Boost Your Body’s Detoxification Ability Right Now

Practiced for centuries by cultures all around the world — including Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine systems. Detoxification is about resting, cleaning and nourishing the body from the inside out. By removing and eliminating toxins, detoxifying can help protect you from disease and renew your ability to achieve and maintain optimum health and help you to lose that toxic fat.

4 Tips to Help to Detoxify

Respiration – Breathing techniques increases your lungs effectiveness to provide more oxygen for our bodies resulting in increased energy levels and a clear state of mind.

Try the 7/11 Breathing Technique. Sit comfortably with your feet flat on the floor and allow your hands to rest gently in your lap. Now take a deep breath in for the count of 7, hold it for a moment at 7 and then release the breath counting out to 11. Now, the first couple of times you do this it may seem impossible to breath out to 11, but that is only a result of habitual shallow breathing and in an indicator that you need to practice this technique daily to increase your lung effectiveness.

Perspiration – Using saunas and steam rooms can help eliminate toxins through perspiration and can help your kidneys to increase their ability to clear the toxic material they have removed form your blood. In an ideal world you would take a sauna daily as part of your detox programme.

Defecation – Fibre helps move waste through the colon because it is indigestible by the human body. In other words, fibre adds ‘bulk’ to the stool. If your bowel movements are too loose, fibre can make them firmer; on the other hand, if your stools are too hard, fibre can make them softer.

Don’t think fibre is only found in cereals, it is in all types of plant-based foods, including fruit and vegetables. So increase the amount of fruit and veg and if I may be indelicate here keep an eye on your poo.. it will tell you when you have the balance right.

Urination – One way to ensure that the kidneys are functioning to their maximum level is to drink around 8-10 glasses of clean, filtered water daily. Its really important that the water is filtered as most water sources contain toxins which can lead to impaired thyroid function which in turn increases weight gain.

Its Hard to lose Toxic Fat

There are lots of other things you can do to help this detoxification process that will not only help you to safely lose toxic body fat, increase your energy levels and solve digestive issues and that is why we created our Detox Retreat. With an intelligent focus on behaviour, exercise and nutrition as well as some good old fashioned R&R, you’ll emerge cleansed, balanced and an average of 6lbs lighter as an extra confidence boost!

If you would like to discover for yourself how to safely detoxify your system, kick start your metabolism and lose fat join us on our Summer Detox Retreat.

Right now we are offering 25% off Shared Rooms at our next Detox Retreat starting 7th July 2014.

Contact us now on 0203 7011603 or by email here to secure your place

Year: 2014