How to Optimise your Nutrition so that your Mind & Body can Flourish

YOUR diet is key to your Health and Wellbeing, you will all know the saying 'You are what you eat’

And this is SO true. Basically, if you don’t eat, you die. If you eat a mediocre diet like most of us westerners, you survive and get by BUT if you eat a super nourishing diet, full of fruit, veg and whole grains YOU Will THRIVE.

The food you put into your body has an effect on your physical appearance, energy levels, bodily processes and how well your brain functions.

Your brain is a system of chemical connections firing off at each other so fast that it's almost impossible to fathom. Well, the food you eat affects the chemical make up of your brain, altering how it acts and works.

Feelings and emotions also affect your brain. Obviously feelings are born in the brain, and, depending on the emotion, they can alter the brain chemistry. For example, some people with mental health issues do not produce certain chemicals in their brain, which radically changes their behaviour patterns.

There are things you can do to regulate this chemical reaction on a daily basis, and it's simpler than you may think! Eating certain foods can specifically affect different functions of the body, the chemicals in your brain, and your emotions.

Here are some healthy foods you can eat to help optimise both your body and mind:

1. Omega-3 Fatty Acids. Eating foods high in Omega-3s has a great deal of health benefits, including improving your brain's development and functions. The Omega-3 fatty acid, DHA, is an important polyunsaturated fat found in the brain.

• Fish, walnuts, flaxseed oil (you can get this from most supermarkets and wholefood shops) and Algae Oil supplements are a great source of Omega-3 Fatty acids, including DHA.

2. Choline. Choline is a chemical building block of every cell in your body. Choline has also been shown to help with retaining information in your memory. The more choline your lifetime diet includes, the less likely you'll be to face extreme memory loss as you grow older.

• Organic Free Range egg yolks, broccoli, kale, sprouts and chickpeas have a high concentration of choline in them.

3. Antioxidants. We all recognise the health benefits of antioxidants in fighting diseases. This is where the amazing juicer comes in.

• Visit www.ukjuicers.com for a great range of juicers, try to avoid centrifugal juicers as they destroy some of the much needed antioxidants. You can find antioxidants in nearly all vegetables and they are best extracted by a juicer. Keep reading below for more info on juicers.

4. Green Tea. Have a cup of green tea every day to help keep the cognitive functions of your brain in tiptop shape. Studies have shown 70% of people who drank green tea showed

an improvement in the functions of the brain.

5.Chocolate. And I'm not talking about dairy milk! I am talking about Raw chocolate in its pure form, no added sugar or dairy. Chocolate in its raw form is known as Cacao (not Cocoa).Cacao, along with many other benefits helps to increase brain power, immune strength and serotonin production (the feel good, happy hormone). You can buy raw Cacao powder from most wholefood shops, bigger supermarkets and on the internet. You can make a delicious hot chocolate with it, add it to your porridge for a chocolatey taste, make a chocolate and banana milkshake (my favourite!!) or simply add it to your juice every morning.

Why you should buy a juicer NOW!

Vegetable juices are the builders and regenerators of the body. They contain so so many amino acids, minerals, salts, enzymes and vitamins needed by the human body, PROVIDED that they are used fresh, raw and preferably organic and they have been properly extracted from the vegetables. The vital part of the veg which contains the greatest concentrated value is the most difficult to reach, being hidden within the fibres, which most of the time just chewing your

food a few times is nowhere near enough to get all the goodies out of it.

And this is where juicing comes into its own, it extracts as many of these amazing nutrients as possible, plants also contain natural chemicals called phytochemicals. Drinking these amazing phytochemicals in colourful fruit and vegetable juices has antioxidant effects, you can actually live longer and healthier thanks to their anti-ageing effect and protection from lifestyle diseases.

We cannot change our eating habits overnight, so begin by adding one new phytochemical colour to your current diet one at a time, have a carrot, apple

and ginger juice one day and the next have a nice purple beetroot and grape

juice.

So, take for example, if you eat the carrot, apple and ginger whole as it comes

from the ground the nutrient digestion and absorption in your

body is around 17% BUT, in juice form after it has been crushed by a good masticating juicer, the nutrient digestion and absorption go's up to around 65%! That's a massive 48%

more nourishment you are obtaining from the same fruit and veg. Always go for

a cold press or masticating juicer, try to avoid centrifugal juicers as they destroy

some of the much needed nutrient content.

Get the most out of your fruit and veg and order a juicer today from www.ukjuicers.com

Eating a well balanced diet that includes fruits, vegetables, protein (beans and quinoa are really high in protein), and some healthy veggie fats such as in avocado, extra virgin olive oil and nuts is the best way to nourish both the body and mind. Our bodies are highly complicated machines requiring many different things to function properly, and what we eat determines how it functions.

By taking simple steps to optimise your nutrition,

you'll also optimise your mind and body. Start making healthy, nutritious food choices today and enjoy looking, feeling, and thinking better.

And yes, we still need our fibre. Juicing is an added extra that's pumps you full of the goodies our bodies so desperately need. Find out more about fibre and watch my Live video on Facebook for more motivation, info and fun on juicing

www.facebook.com/goldenbeartherapies

I hope you enjoyed my blog and please take time to comment, science shows that when you interact and write things down you are 40% more likely to remember the information than if you were to just read about it.

And remember, eat the rainbow everyday!

Love Jess X

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