Healthy New Year!

Look forward to January with our top tips to boost your energy and your approach to the start of the new year!

As the festive holiday draws to a close and your list of new year resolutions are still fresh in your mind,, it’s difficult to resist heading for caffeine and carbs when you’re heading out to work on a  cold dark morning returning to work for the first time this year.

Instead of diets, detoxes and juicing which just don’t fit into your busy lifestyle, try eating the foods which boost energy levels and raise our positivity levels.

Bananas are a great source of tryptophan, carbohydrates and vitamin B6 which help produce mood lifting serotonin. Tryptophan assists the body to make melatonin to help us sleep well. It also contains magnesium, which is linked with reducing the likelihood of depression, insomnia and poor concentration. And it’s perfect to carry around as an instant snack!

Oats in a bowl of porridge or muesli help to stabilise your mood as they release energy slowly into the bloodstream , and the addition of autumn berries, seeds and nuts provide antioxidants and phytonutrients to boost your mood.

Spinach contains folate which is a B vitamin required for the production of serotonin and dopamine which help to boost your mood. Additionally it contains iron for energy, and is delicious lightly steamed with a squeeze of lemon juice, which contains vitamin and helps to enhance iron absorption.

Oily fish is great for the brain and should form part of your diet three times a week as the omega-3 mood boosting fat it provides can only be obtained through food. Omega 3 is also obtainable from chia seeds and flaxseed oil in salad dressings.

For Vitamin D (which is associated with mood disorders such as SAD where there is a deficiency  in the body) try wild salmon, and exercise outside as much as possible.

Finally, unbelievably, it has been proven that dark chocolate (dark contains 75% cocoa solids containing all the wonderful health benefits) not only stimulates the production of endorphins which give feelings of pleasure, but also boosts levels of serotonin acting as a natural antidepressant. Additionally, the antioxidants in the chocolate help to lower the stress hormone.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very happy and healthy 2017!