Denise is often talking about what you let enter your mind and I’m sure she’s mentioned the effect on the body and mind and mind and body (psycho-neuro-immunology) so today let’s talk about what you let enter your body...

- In Yoga we learn to “slow your breathe in order to slow your mind”.

- Breathing can affect your whole body in a fraction of second, yet, most people only breathe in a shallow way, only using a small part of their lungs capacity.

- Practice deep breathing for 30 seconds several times a day.

- Tip: Associate deep breathing with regular events in your day, e.g. when you wake up, before sleeping, every time you sit etc

- You may want to learn some advance breathing techniques practiced in Yoga such as the 3-stage breathing: let the air fill your lower lungs first (raising your abdomen), then fill the middle of your lungs (expanding your rib cage), then fill the tip of your lungs, stay there for 3 seconds then empty successively the tip/middle/lower lungs and stay there for 3 seconds.

- Whenever you experience stress, breathe deeply for 30 seconds; it is the single most effective thing you can do to help you control your state

- Your body cells are made of 70% of water

- Drink a glass of filtered or spring water before eating, that will help your digestion

- Avoid drinking too much water during or after eating as it would increase your digestion time

- Avoid diuretics such as coffee, black tea, alcohol, soft drinks

- You body cannot assimilate more than a glass a water at the time so drink little and often (to reach about 2 – 21/2 litres pr day)

- Whenever you have experienced stress, drink a glass of water, this will help your body get rid of the toxin accumulated

- The key here is to get the maximum nutrients and avoid what is the most challenging for your body

- Prefer whole food to the processed version (e.g. white flour/rice/sugar) that have lost most of the nutrients (e.g. white sugar has lost 99% of the nutrients present in raw sugar)

- Avoid additives/chemicals: they don’t have any value and can only interfere with your body functions

- Sprout lentils, alfalfa, mung beans …: you can make your own live food, it’s easy, fun and cheap

- Juice vegetables: your body will get all the nutrients for almost no effort; it needs investing in a good juicer and some knowledge/practice but it’s a must

- Remember not to make radical diet change

- Always leave part of your stomach empty

- Fat makes 80% of the weight of your brain.

- Avoid Hydrogenated oils (vegetable oil made hard (saturated) by industrial processing to increase shelf life) as your body doesn’t know how to use them (by the way, it’s in many processed foods)

- Avoid Transfatty acids (present when vegetable oil has been heated) as it is full of free radicals, the main cause of ageing for body cells. Saturated Fats (e.g. butter) and monounsaturated oils such as Olive oil are the only one OK to heat.

- Avoid “low fat” diets, firstly because you need fat and secondly because it is usually replaced by sugar which will ultimately be transformed by your body into fat anyway.

- Learn seriously about Essential Fatty Acids (Omega 3/6/9), e.g. read “Fats that heal, Fats that kill” by Udo Erasmus. Did you know that good fat can help you loose weight?

- Be very careful if you take Omega 3 as it is extremely sensitive to air/heat/light and can quickly become harmful, so if you buy any flax oil for example, make sure it’s from a fridge and in a dark bottle

- If you eat fish for fish oil then only use small fish (sardines, herring, mackerel) as they accumulate less sea pollution (e.g. mercury). Also avoid canned tuna as there’s no oil left.

- Learn about the Glycaemic Index (GI) of the food, i.e. how much it contains sugar

- Top of the GI list are refined sugar/flour/carbohydrates and potatoes

- When you eat sugar/carbohydrates it will increase your blood sugar level, so your pancreas will have to produce insulin to transform sugar into fat

- If the above process is repeated too often and too much it could ultimately create diabetes

- Don’t use Nutrasweet, Aspartam … these are chemicals that trick your body in thinking it is sugar, problem is the body will still produce insulin, for nothing and this excess will cause chaos.

- Use honey/maple syrup/sweet fruits (sultanas, dates) to sweeten your drinks/cakes in moderation

- We are meant to use the food that grows around us, but we tend to forget that as “modern” life brings us anything, at anytime

- Avoid out-of-season fruits/vegetables (e.g. tomatoes/salad in winter), this will be very challenging for your digestive system

- Avoid exotic fruits/vegetable/diet. That Mediterranean or Innuit diet is probably perfect for them but certainly won’t help you if you don’t live there

- Avoid eating at night, especially before going to bed.

- If you travel to remote/hot countries in winter be aware that it may put your body out of balance (because of the climate, time difference & travel conditions) this will be a stress

Exercise

- How can some world-class athletes die from health problems? Because they were extremely fit, but not healthy.

- Practice regular aerobic (cardio) exercise. Swimming is great but try to find a non-chlorinated pool.

- Tip: If you power walk for 30 minutes every day it becomes very difficult for you to put weight on.

Than you for reading, I hope it will be helpful to you.

If would like me to expand on one of the above topics then do let me know and I’ll get back to you soon.

Until then, Onwards and Upwards, and help your body to help your mind.