Extracted from The End of Dieting, Donna Aston (Hardie Grant)

Over many years of advising clients, I have found that most people believe they need far more calories than they actually do. Online calorie calculators are now widely accessible, however, much of the time I have found their estimates of calorie requirements to be too high, particularly when we enter information about our activity to calculate calories burned over and above our minimum daily requirement, the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).

In the menu planner of this book you will find an accurate BMR calculator. However, be careful not to overestimate your perceived activity. If you follow your BMR calculation honestly over a period of weeks and you do not see a significant loss in body fat, you are almost certainly overconsuming. In this case, it doesn’t matter that your calculations are correct, or that it’s working for your best friend. The only thing that matters is that it’s not working for you, and if you continue to do the same thing you will continue to get the same result. You must either increase your daily exercise or decrease your portions by 10 per cent (or both) and you will kickstart fat loss.

Your body is a mirror image of your lifestyle. If you’re 80 kilos with a goal of 60 kilos, and you get ‘stuck’ at 70 kilos, it’s because you have the diet and exercise habits of a 70-kilo person. Tweak your lifestyle to that of a 60-kilo person and your body will have no choice but to follow you there. You might feel that you’ll keel over from malnutrition if you stick to this rule of thumb, but I’m here to tell you it’s actually going to be pretty close to what your body needs.

I took on a new client, Jenny, who started out at 20 kilos above her ‘healthy’ weight and, as a result, had been experiencing some health problems. Following an initial consultation and discussing her goals, she commenced her new regime. Two weeks later she came to my office to weigh in and discuss her progress. She was quite distressed, explaining that she would have starved to death on the amount of food I had suggested if she had kept it up for more than a day. (The plan, by the way, included three balanced main meals and two snacks each day and the appropriate amount of calories for her BMR.) I asked her what ‘starving’ felt like. Did she feel faint, shaky, lethargic, vague, nauseous? All of these may have indicated that she was not consuming enough food and was experiencing blood-sugar fluctuations, which we certainly want to avoid at all costs. She said her stomach felt empty, but there were no ‘symptoms’ as such. She felt to compelled to increase the amount of food we’d recommended because she ‘couldn’t stand the hunger’. So I weighed Jenny and measured her body composition to compare it to her initial result two weeks prior. No surprise she was exactly the same. She hadn’t lost a gram of fat.

After a long conversation, I started to get the feeling that much of what Jenny had experienced was a psychological attachment to food and a fear of change. Jenny left my office with a new goal: to take on the food plan with an open mind and instructions to contact me immediately should she start feeling uncomfortable. Seven days later an ecstatic Jenny skipped out of my office having lost 1.5 kilos of pure body fat! She had experienced no hunger. In fact, she now felt she had more energy and fewer cravings. The lesson in this? Sometimes we need to let old habits die and acknowledge that change can be a bit daunting. It’s a lot easier to feel full and satisfied if you focus on quality rather than quantity.

How much pain after exercise is ‘normal’?

Waking up feeling washed out, aching and wishing you had geriatric hand rails installed on the toilet walls is not a great start to a new exercise regimen.

It hurts but does it is good or bad hurt?

A lot of people do not understand the difference between injury and fatigue.

It’s probably normal to ache slightly after exercising but pushing your endurance level to the point where you can’t pick up your briefcase, let alone get out of your desk chair the next day, is not acceptable or necessary for the average person.

Exercise that becomes a complete hindrance to your day is inefficient and easily avoidable. Exercise is supposed to be a positive, enriching addition to your life. It’s not supposed to make you crawl around the floors in agony. To wake up with an awareness of your muscles is great but waking up to find you can barely move  is ill-advised.

The old catch cry `No pain, no gain’ is not necessarily true.

Usually extreme pain means you have performed an exercise that is well beyond what you have done previously.

People who have rarely exercised do not understand the difference between injury pain and fatigue pain and reel in horror from ever stepping through the gym doors again.

Beginners should be eased into exercise, gradually increasing their endurance levels.

Pain associated with strength training is caused by lactic acid build up and micro muscle tears. The body needs to repair those tears so that the next time it exercises the muscles have adapted. If it does not have a chance to repair or if excessive damage is caused, scar tissue can form leading to inflexibility which inhibits movement range and healthy muscles.

Also the oxygen created by exercise also produces more free radicals, calling on a lot of extra anti-oxidants in the diet to counteract the exercise. This is why people who think exercise is enough to control their weight are not taking their health into account. It’s even more crucial to have a good diet and adequate rest when you exercise to prevent free radical damage.

Too often people return to a level of exercise they may not have experienced for several years, damaging themselves in the process.

If you want to change muscle shape, take it slowly but keep pushing that bit further slowly and deliberately with regular work-outs. Leaving more than a week between work-outs will bring on extra soreness.

It should not be too unpleasant because the more conditioned muscles become, the more adaptable they are to challenges.

Walking and stretching offers great relief for sore muscles. Lactic acid tends to pool in the muscles so moving them gently will make them contract, increase blood flow and squeeze the lactic acid through the blood stream. It may be tempting to sit perfectly still but it’s actually the least helpful way to relieve sore muscles.

Start easily, build gradually, rest and recuperate with a highly nutritious diet.

No doubt you’ve heard about the recent Harvard study regarding red meat consumption and the alleged association with chronic disease risk.

If you’re considering cutting back on your steak intake – read on…

THE STUDY:

Red Meat Consumption and Mortality

An Pan, PhD. et al. Archives of Interal Medicine. Published online March 12, 2012. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2011.2287

Background: Red meat consumption has been associated with an increased risk of chronic diseases. However, its relationship with mortality remains uncertain.

Methods: Observation of 37,698 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1986-2008) and 83,644 women from the Nurses’ Health Study (1980-2008) who were free of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer at baseline. Diet was assessed by validated food frequency questionnaires and updated every 4 years.

THE ‘RESULTS’ – as published in the study conclusion notes and in the media release

Red meat consumption is associated with an increased risk of total, CVD, and cancer mortality. Substitution of other healthy protein sources for red meat is associated with a lower mortality risk.

NOW, THE FACTS:

Over the years, I’ve heard almost every reason as to why we shouldn’t eat red meat, from claims of it fermenting in your gut to it being riddled with parasites. Many tend to read such claims in trashy magazines and jump on the ‘meat is evil’ bandwagon. So let’s look at some facts…

As far as the reliability of the study design goes, it’s pretty poor. For science to determine what causes a potential health risk, they generally take two identical groups (rats for example) and subject them to identical conditions, with the exception of one group who gets a drug, food or whatever is being investigated. For example, if one of the two groups of rats was being fed a drug and they all died, yet the other identical group all lived, there’s relatively compelling evidence that the drug killed them.

The Red Meat Consumption study was not this type of study. It was what is known as an ‘observational’ study. There were no identical groups, no diet fed to the participants, no clinical testing. Instead, the participants completed a ‘food frequency questionnaire’ (FFQ) several times over a span of thirty years or so. The first thing they teach you when studying a nutrition degree is that FFQ’s are notoriously unreliable. Can you recall what you ate for lunch last month? If so, could you accurately describe the source or quality of the food or the quantity? Of course not – it’s absurd to assume one could.

There have been many ‘observational’ studies performed over the years which have shown one conclusion, only to be completely debunked years later. One example was Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). Early observational studies concluded that taking HRT seemed to show a 44% reduction in heart disease, yet a later randomised control trial revealed that HRT was far from protective, proving to increase heart disease risk by a whopping 29%!

The participants in this recent red meat study completed a questionnaire about their dietary and lifestyle habits and then this data was correlated with statistics on disease prevalence, such as cancer and heart disease, in an effort to see if there may be any association between red meat and disease. Once a correlation can be established, this will usually generate a randomised control trial based on the hypothesis. This ‘study’ didn’t challenge the theory that red meat increases our risk of disease and there have been many studies which have found quite the opposite to be the case. We must remember that correlation is not necessarily cause. We could say that the presence of umbrella’s increases dramatically each time it rains, therefore umbrella’s cause rain!

In this recent Harvard study on red meat, a scale was developed on how much red meat the participants consumed, ranging from practically vegetarian to regular meat eaters. On this scale, as the consumption of meat increases, so too does the rate of dying. However, as the meat consumption increases, so too does the rate of smoking and alcohol consumption, plus this group exercised less. They also consumed significantly more calories had a higher BMI and blood pressure … all ingredients for increased risk of disease. Interestingly, the higher meat eaters had LOWER cholesterol than the vegetarians!

I am yet to see a single clinical trial which shows that a diet of lean, unprocessed meat eaten in balance with colourful fresh plant foods increases our risk of any disease in humans. Perhaps if you’re living on a diet filled with highly processed meats full of nitrates and altered fats, you could anticipate an increased risk of disease, but clean, lean, grass-fed beef? We have an abundance of high quality produce in Australia. Lean red meat is full of protein, iron and B-vitamins – all essential to a health body, optimum lean muscle tissue and a strong immune system. So what can you take from this? Don’t believe the hype!

Easter is just around the corner … and I know many of you may already be salivating at the very thought of your favourite chocolate treats. After all, they appeared in supermarkets about a week after Christmas!

While I don’t want to be your Easter party-pooper, there are a few things you might like to consider before devouring excessive quantities of Easter eggs.

- Chocolate consists of around 50-50 fat and sugar, so beware of those touting the ‘health benefits’ of chocolate!

- Aussies eat the equivalent of 5KG CHOCOLATE PER PERSON EACH YEAR (not all at Easter!). Now I know I don’t eat this, so someone out there is consuming my quota!

- Cadbury (Australasia) produces 270 MILLION EASTER EGGS ANNUALLY!

- Those cute little Lindt gold bunnies (200g … which is supposed to serves 5!) = pack a hefty 1210 calories, which is equivalent to two bottles of wine or 4 cheeseburgers… 0r 28km walk to burn off!

- Cadbury rabbit = 1300 calories, which is equivalent to three Big Macs or a 31km walk to break even

So, if you’re keen to avoid ‘wearing’ your Easter treats on your belly, I’d suggest that you remain wary of your portions and plan for the week leading up to Easter Sunday:

A brisk 4km walk everyday for 7 days (40mins/day) = 28kms, or one Gold Bunny….. Happy Easter!

It’s high time that we got together and applied a bit of logic to some of the most common diet and fitness dilemmas…

Several years ago I was invited to Switzerland by a keen triathlete who was seeking advise on how to improve her diet, achieve her endurance goals and lose a few kilos of body fat to enhance her speed and overall performance. Kerry had been training for, and competing in triathlons for several years, but was frustrated at having reached a plateau.  She had sought the advise of numerous dieticians and coaches in previous months, all to no avail.  Kerry had recently observed a bit of  ‘cellulite’ on the back of her thighs and when she mentioned this to the team dietician, she promptly asked Kerry if she ate cottage cheese.  Although this seemed like an odd question, Kerry answered, ‘yes, regularly.  Why?’ Then came the dieticians’ profound statement:  ‘If you eat cottage cheese then your thighs would begin to look like cottage cheese’.  Yes, I’m afraid she was serious!  Heaven knows what happens when we eat jelly!

Myth #1 – You can perform specific exercises to tone & tighten the wobbly bits!

Fact: The state of our flabby upper arms, pot belly or any other ‘wobbly bits’ is determined by our body composition, or the ratio of ‘lean muscle to stored body fat’.  To improve the condition of specific body parts you must make changes to your overall body composition (increase lean and decrease stored fat).  You can develop great muscle tone by targeting specific body parts with various exercises, but until you make the necessary lifestyle changes to reduce the body fat that they are hiding beneath, you will never know they are there!  To achieve tone and definition, dietary modifications combined with fat-burning cardiovascular exercise and resistance training are essential.  It sounds a little daunting, I know, but that is why I have written two user-friendly books to help you on your way.

Most people don’t distinguish between muscle and stored fat, harbouring unrealistic expectations of somehow making the stored fat transform itself into shapely, firm muscle.  This is a physical impossibility that will result in failure and disappointment every time

Myth #2 –  It is not possible to get rid of cellulite

Fact: Rubbish!  ‘Cellulite’ is not some dreaded disease.  Marketing gurus have tried to pin the blame on everything, from ‘toxic build-up’ to ‘trapped fat’…and of course, they have the ‘cure’!  One recent advertisement claimed to have invented a cream that would ‘liquidise congested cellulite and pass it into our lymphatic system for excretion’.  Oh, come on – give me a break.  It’s like saying that if you rub a cream on your car bonnet, the petrol will make it’s way through the engine and evaporate!

Let’s clear this one up once and for all:

1. In the case of females, our hormones dictate our distribution of body fat (you may have noticed that men rarely have cellulite).  Our wonderful childbearing bodies tend to store a little reserve of extra fat cells around the hips and thighs, and when filled with fat they often result in rather unfortunate lumps and bumps!  This is subcutaneous fat, which means that it lies just beneath the skin.
2. Fat cells are like balloons that can be inflated when they are required to store excess energy (body fat).  The number of fat cells is fixed in adulthood, but as obese people have demonstrated, each ‘balloon’ is capable of great expansion.
3. Basically, the amount of excess energy we consume (or how much we burn) will be the primary dictator of the amount of body fat stored at any one time.
4. When an excess of fat is stored beneath the skin beyond a certain density, the visible accumulation of an uneven distribution results in what we know as cellulite.

In a nutshell: cellulite is a fancy name for excess stored subcutaneous body fat.  Call it any name you like, but if you store an overall excess of body fat, the dimpled appearance will be more pronounced. The good news?  By modifying your lifestyle and consequently reducing your overall stored body fat, you can banish cellulite.  And save your money – no lotions, pills or potions can do this for us!

Myth #3 –  The amount of body fat we store is a result of our genetic make-up and cannot be altered

Fact: The quantity and distribution of fat storage cells may have genetic influence, however, whether you choose to fill them up with excess stored energy is completely up to you – not your genes!  For example, if your family has a history of ‘big thighs’, this does not have to be your destiny.  If you do gain excess weight, there is a good chance that it will be in these pre-determined areas, but it is your own lifestyle that will influence whether you fill your storage tanks, or not!  Sorry…but blaming it on ‘great auntie June’ just doesn’t cut it!

Myth #4 –  If you eat carbohydrates in the afternoon you are more likely to gain weight

Fact: If a food is good for you in the morning, it is not going to be bad for you after some mystical hour of the afternoon!  This is yet another deceitful way of imposing calorie (or carbohydrate) restrictions.  Carbohydrates are not all created equal. I do commend enthusiasm when it comes to making positive dietary changes, but avoiding all processed carbohydrates foods, such as white flour products, processed commercial cereals and sugars should be a 24-hour deal.  Weight loss aside – they’re not good for our health and supply us with nutritionally empty calories – even in the mornings!  It is preferable to stick with the vast choice of whole, unprocessed carbohydrates.  You’ll be pleased to know that you don’t even have to glance at your watch!

Myth #5 –  ‘No pain, no gain’

Fact: I’m sure that this is one reason that so many people avoid exercise.  This ‘all or nothing’ approach to fitness and fat loss is never going to be anything more than short-term, ineffective and downright unhealthy.  You don’t have to crawl out of the gym on your hands and knees, followed by a few days of not being able to lift your arms above your head!  You may be mad enough to persevere for a few weeks during a temporary lapse of sanity (disguised as motivation), but who needs it?  Consistency is the key.  Pacing yourself and working at your own level are paramount if you actually want to achieve significant, long-term results.

If choosing classes make sure that you stick to your own level.  I know people who have chosen an advanced class and forced themselves to keep up in an attempt to make the results happen faster.  Just the thought of torturous workouts will eventually become too much of a chore – that is if you don’t do yourself some serious injuries first.   Be the tortoise, not the hare!

Myth #6 –  Liposuction is the only way to successfully remove that stubborn fat that can’t be removed with diet and exercise.  Once surgically removed, the fat will never come back

Fact: There is no such thing as excess body fat that can’t be removed without the help of surgery.  Believe me, I lost my own ‘saddle bags’ without resorting to liposuction!  I often hear people say that they’ve ‘tried everything’ and nothing seems to work.  I have even heard medical professionals make this statement.  Do you think it was a coincidence that they were surgeons specialising in liposuction?  Admit it – it’s what we all want to hear:  it’s not our fault and we can’t fix it no matter how hard we try, so they’ll (the surgeons) fix it for us!

The fact is that we store excess body fat as an energy reserve. As long as your goals are realistic, once you allow your body to use this stored energy (body fat), it will come off.  I don’t doubt that disillusioned dieters have tried various methods of fat loss, but that doesn’t mean that nothing will work!  As far as the fat never returning after surgery, the fat cells that are removed do not make their way back to you, but the ones that remain (and there are many!) have an amazing ability to expand beyond our wildest dreams!  If you have a lifestyle that encourages fat storage before liposuction, it is unlikely that you will change to an appropriate post-surgery diet to maintain any fat loss.  If this were the case, you would have done this initially and eliminated the need for the surgery in the first place.  In fact, many think that they can go wild on food after liposuction in the belief that the fat cannot return!  I vividly recall a friend proudly announcing that she had just had two kilos of fat removed by liposuction.  In the 5-weeks following she had to wear post-surgical bandaging and was advised not to exert herself.  During this sedentary period she gained seven kilos.  You do the maths!

It never ceases to amaze me how many clients I consult with reveal that they drink very little, if not no water. The excuses are many, from simply forgetting to not wanting to go to the bathroom on a regular basis!

Interestingly, water is a lot more important to our survival than food. With complete starvation, most adults could survive for 8-12 weeks. Without water, most of us would be dead within 1-8 days, depending on the environment.

Water comprises 50-70% of our body weight and is involved in most metabolic processes. It’s a universal solvent for minerals, vitamins, amino acids and glucose, it helps to regulate body temperature, assists in removal of body waste and forms part of joint lubrication, saliva, bile and blood.

And don’t think you have to wait until you’re thirsty. You can lose 2% of your body weight before thirst is initiated, which may get worse as the severity of dehydration increases. With 3%-6% body water loss, you are impatient and you have symptoms of headache, absence of saliva and inability to walk. With 7-10% loss, you have delirium, swollen tongue, difficulty swallowing, deafness, dim vision and shriveled skin. With 12% loss, you require assistance in re-hydration. 15%-25% water loss is lethal.

During an average day, water losses occur in urine (500mls) and skin/perspiration (500mls), lungs (400mls), faecal (150mls). So without adequate intake, these everyday function will likely be impaired.

During exercise or heavy duty activities in warm weather, sweat rates can be as high as 1.5 litres per hour, or roughly 15 liters a day!

So how much water should you drink?

If you divide you weight by 28, this will give you an estimation of your personal water requirements. For example, 70 kilos ÷ 28 = 2.5 litres. Obviously extremes in temperature or activity would change this requirement.

How do you know if you’re not drinking enough?

Besides the symptoms discussed above, the colour of your urine should be almost clear. If dark in colour, you’re dehydrated.

Can you drink too much?

Absolutely! But you’d have to be really forcing down the water. It’s common for this to happen in inexperienced athletes who over-hydrate in preparation for a physical event. This can dilute electrolytes and result in hyponatraemia (low sodium), where water moves from outside the cells to inside the cells causing swelling of the brain.

When do I need sports drinks?

Sports drinks contain electrolytes to replenish supplies, avoiding excessive depletion. However, before you start guzzling Gatorade following your next walk around the block, please keep in mind that these drinks are high in calories and are not required unless you are exercising intensely for 60 minutes or more. If exercising for less than an hour, water will suffice as electrolyte loss is not an issue.

1. Many of us underestimate the need for sleep – what causes us to sleep, what occurs during sleep, how our body responds to a lack of sleep, and what function(s) sleep fulfils. When daily sleep time is less than an individual needs, a “sleep debt” develops. Even small daily reductions in sleep time can accumulate across days to cause a sleep debt. If sleep needs are not met, a progressive sleep debt occurs and eventually the body requires that the debt be paid. It doesn’t appear that we are able to adapt to getting less sleep than our body requires. Lack of sleep also places a significant amount of stress on your body, raising cortisol (a stress hormone) levels and, in addition to the myriad of detrimental effects on health, lack of sleep can also make us fat!  Hmmmm, that got your attention. That’s right, besides impaired recovery and repair and decreased growth hormone, sleep deprivation can cause elevated cortisol levels, which influence our blood sugar and increase our risk of excess fat deposition.
2. Breaking through the dreaded plateau is a common dilemma. You must remember that you body is a mirror image of your lifestyle. If you start at 85 kilos in a quest to reach 60 kilos, but get stuck at 75 kilos, it’s not due to any mystical phenomenon. Quite simply, you are stuck at 75 kilos because you are eating and exercising like a 75 kilo person. Once you tweak your diet and exercise regime to reflect that of a 60 kilo person, your body has no choice but to follow you to your goal – guaranteed!
3. Don’t eat standing up! So many of our excess calories are consumed unconsciously … nibbling while cooking, gazing into the pantry, clearing up after dinner, etc. Make a rule for yourself that you don’t eat unless your food is on a plate and you’re sitting at the table.  This will simply make you more conscious of the ‘little extras’ you’re putting in your mouth and will help you shed a few unwanted kilos.
4. Aim for ‘lean’ rather than ‘light’. We’re all obsessed with the number on the scales, but it’s important to remember it’s possible to be lighter, yet fatter, if we try to follow over-restrictive fads! We all know weight can fluctuate by a kilo or two in a day, so it’s not the ideal method of measuring progress. Speak to a trainer at your local gym about having your body composition measured and monitored. A healthy level of body fat for women is between 18 and 28 per cent.
5. Interval training (short intense bursts of strength and/or cardio) is more effective than straight cardiovascular exercise for boosting your metabolism and burning body fat. Following high intensity interval training the body enters a state known as ‘excess post-exercise oxygen consumption’, or EPOC. After you finish your workout, your body will be working overtime for up to 24 hours in order to restore your body back to its resting state. This means you will be burning energy/kilojoules at a much higher rate, even whilst sedentary. Participate in interval training on a regular basis and you will become a fat burning machine!

I’ve heard the statement about ‘expensive urine’ on several occasions from nutritionally-illiterate doctors. While the statement is physiologically ludicrous, unfortunately much of the medical fraternity are still on the anti-supplement bandwagon. The fact is … almost every substance we ingest shows up in urine. Why do you think athletes are routinely drug-tested via a urine samples? Once ingested, traces of substances such as anabolic steroids, recreational and prescription drugs will be evident in your urine … but it would be ridiculous to tell a body builder that the steroids don’t have any affect because it ends up in his urine! If this were the case, performance enhancing drugs wouldn’t be an issue!

So now that we have all of this nonsense cleared up, is it worthwhile taking vitamin supplements? I’d have to say yes – and here’s why…

There is a significant distinction between “vitamin deficiency” and “sub-optimal intakes.” While it’s rare for developed nations to see nutritional deficiency diseases such as rickets or scurvy, the purpose of RDI’s for essential nutrients is to prevent nutritional deficiencies in 97 per cent of the population (in a given demographic). It is not a recommendation for ‘optimum’ health, but rather a recommended dose to reduce the risk of disease resulting from a true deficiency.

A recent study showed that men taking multivitamins had significant improvements on major clinical measures of stress and general well-being. In the study, 215 healthy males received either a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement or a placebo, for just over a month. Compared with the placebo, those taking the multi-vitamin (high in B-complex & C vitamins) had significant improvements in cognitive function, perceived stress and mood states. One study, “Vitamins for Chronic Disease Prevention in Adults: Clinical Applications” stated:

“Suboptimal intake of some vitamins, above levels causing classic vitamin deficiency, is a risk factor for chronic diseases and common in the general population, especially the elderly.”

“Most people do not consume an optimal amount of all vitamins by diet alone. Pending strong evidence of effectiveness from randomised trials, it appears prudent for all adults to take vitamin supplements.”

In a second article in JAMA, “Vitamins For Chronic Disease Prevention In Adults: Scientific Review” Robert Fletcher, MD, MSc and Kathleen Fairfield, MD, DrPH, concluded:

“Some groups of patients are at higher risk for vitamin deficiency and sub-optimal vitamin status.” “Inadequate intake of several vitamins has been linked to chronic diseases, including coronary heart disease, cancer and osteoporosis”.

I view supplements precisely as the name suggests – ‘supplements’. They are not to replace healthy, balanced diet … nor should they be used to in some way compensate for poor dietary habits. They are best used to supplement a healthy, balanced diet. I have heard many people say that they took supplements for a while but ‘didn’t notice anything’, so they stopped. I think this stems from lack of knowledge about nutrition and confusion/unrealistic expectations that supplements are some sort of miracle pills.

While I’m not suggesting you must take a fist full of pills each day (although I do this myself!), I generally recommend taking a daily multi-vitamin & mineral tablet and fish oil capsules.

Remember, if you are taking medication, it’s imperative to advise your prescribing doctor of your intention to add supplements to your diet to ensure there are no contraindications.

It’s interesting… we take pharmaceutical drugs, endure emotional and physical stress, consume and inhale chemicals, all of which rob our body of nutrients. Yet we are often adamant that taking in additional nutrients is in some way bad for our health or, if we listen to some doctors … a rip off scheme resulting in ‘expensive urine’. Food (and supplements!) for thought.