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It might seem like every day brings a new foodstuff to add to your diet with the promise of added health and vitality, but the truth is that the best dietary supplements can lie in the most unexpected places. The news that they are packed full of goodness can leave us both surprised and wanting to kick ourselves for not having made the realization already. Turmeric is one such example – chances are you don’t consider this spice, heavily used in Indian cuisine, for much beyond adding a splash of natural yellow coloring to curries, sauces and dressings. But the truth is that turmeric is packed with more health benefits than you could shake a stick at, which make it well worth incorporating into your eating habits.

Turmeric is hailed as a superfood, and has antioxidizing properties as well as being believed to protect against Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis. It can help bolster your immune system so that you can keep colds and other ailments at bay, it helps with smooth digestion, it purifies the blood, and it can even help give you a clearer complexion.

Turmeric is also credited as a remedy for skin wounds, obesity, itching and swelling; it’s these anti-inflammatory properties that mean it’s also helpful in reducing post-workout soreness. In fact, turmeric’s health-boosting abilities are so profound that tests have shown the curcumin compound it contains is capable of prolonging the lifespan of roundworms, fruit flies and mice.

The best news of all is that it’s simple to add turmeric to your diet – here are just a few ways to build it into your life:

• Drink it as tea – add a teaspoon of ground turmeric to a pot of boiling water, then simmer, strain and add honey or lemon.
• Flavor milk with it – boil half a teaspoon of ground turmeric in a cup of milk and add honey to taste.
• Blend a turmeric elixir – boil turmeric root in water and then blend the resulting syrup with ice, honey, ground turmeric, lemon juice and cayenne pepper.
• Gargle it – gargle on a mix of a couple of teaspoons of ground turmeric, hot water, and salt, in order to relieve sore throats.
• Spice up your eggs – add extra flavor to your fried eggs by sprinkling with sea salt and ground turmeric, and serving with the perennially popular superfood kale, itself sautéed with turmeric.
• Use it as a marinade – roast turmeric-and-olive-oil-marinated cauliflower for 30 minutes, and garnish with lemon zest and cilantro.
• Eat more curry – turmeric is at the heart of many Indian curry recipes, making this a great way to get your regular intake.
• Use it everywhere – add it to the liquid when boiling rice, pasta or soup; sprinkle it over roast potatoes; stir it into your favorite salad dressing.
• Take a supplement – turmeric supplement capsules are an easy way to get your dose of this vitality-boosting spice.

Turmeric isn’t just for eating, either. It makes a great base for an anti-aging face mask that will leave you with radiant skin – just mix a teaspoon of your new friend together with three tablespoons of natural yogurt, and a couple of spoonfuls of either ground oats if you have dry skin, or rice flour if you’re of the oily persuasion.

With more health benefits than most of us realise, it’s worth fitting turmeric into your diet – and easier to do so than you might have thought. Looking for more tips to improve your diet and wellbeing? Get in touch and see what other advice we can share with you.

For too many of us, detoxing is something we think about only in January, when we’re feeling bloated from eating too much over the holidays – and which we then promptly forget about again for much of the rest of the year. If we do consider detoxing at other times, our understanding of the options available to us is often limited to drinking more water and chowing down on green juices and smoothies for a set number of days. But there are countless other ways to build detoxing into your everyday routine – here are a few to try out.

Eat clean

Eating clean and simple, additive-free food might be on trend right now, but it’s come up in the awareness and popularity stakes for a reason. Opting for meals that you’ve put together yourself, or at the very least the provenance of which you can be sure about, has long had its benefits. In truth, there’s little point in hunting out nutritionally rich foodstuffs, or supplementing our diets with vitamins and minerals, if we’re inadvertently polluting our bodies with chemicals hidden in the things we consume every day.

That doesn’t mean everything has to be organic – while few of us would disagree that this is the ideal scenario, the reality is that the cost of buying lots of organic produce quickly adds up. Prioritize cooking as many of your own meals as you can, starting with raw ingredients rather than processed goods, so you can be certain what’s actually in them. Fill up on produce that makes the US-based Environmental Working Group’s list of 15 crops least likely to be pesticide-prone – favorites like avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, asparagus, mangos, kiwi, eggplant, cauliflower and sweet potatoes all make the grade.

And if you’re going to make some of your grocery shopping organic, save your splurge for items in the EWG’s Dirty Dozen of ingredients likely to contain chemicals, which includes apples, peaches, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, sweet bell peppers, potatoes, and those supposedly detox-friendly stalwarts spinach and kale.

Dry skin brush

When it comes to detoxing, getting impurities out of the body is just as important as stopping them from getting in to begin with. Giving yourself a daily massage by way of skin brushing is an underrated way of achieving this – after all, the skin is our body’s largest organ, and cleansing its surface helps it do a better job of secreting toxins.

Using a natural brush to dry-scrub the skin in long sweeping motions, always towards your heart, helps to remove dead cells from the body’s surface, unclogs pores and allows the skin to breathe more easily. For best results, brush once or twice daily; the best time to do this is just before you take a shower. You’ll feel the benefit of smoother, more purified skin in no time – and you can add to the pampering sensation by dabbing your body with coconut oil once you’ve showered.

Breathe deeply

Detoxing isn’t always about food or drink, or even so much about physical health; mental wellbeing plays a large part, too. And ensuring you’re in a good place mentally starts with keeping your breathing in check. Chances are you do far more short, shallow breathing than you realize – the majority of us are guilty of it – but taking the time to breathe deeply and calmly is important for giving your body the levels of oxygen it needs to function healthily, and is also a great way to beat stress.

Make sure you take time during the day – as well as first thing in the morning, when you wake up – to close your eyes, stretch your body and take a number of deep breaths. It’s a great opportunity to take stock of how you are feeling, and to connect with your mind and body. You’ll feel more relaxed, more in control, and ready to take on the next challenge life has in store for you – including staying on track with your detox.

True detox regimes involve doing your best to keep your mind and body in a healthy shape each and every day. Need our help to make that reality? Just give us a call.

While many of us may have unhappy memories of push-ups from childhood gym classes and sport practice, this classic exercise deserves to be reconsidered from an adult perspective. Not only is it incredibly simple to perform, but it can also provide a quick way to stay on top of your health and exercise routine if you’re running short on time. Here are five reasons you should seriously consider including push-ups in your exercise routine.

Increase upper body strength

Push-ups target several muscle groups in your upper body, and can significantly improve your strength. From pectorals to deltoids, triceps and more, push-ups work a variety of muscles that, if exercised often, are sure to garner you some second looks from the local gym hotties or bystanders at the beach.

Tone your tummy

As long as you’re keeping your spine straight and not raising or sagging your butt, then every muscle in your core is getting a workout when you do a push-up. That means that if you do your push-ups correctly, you essentially get two muscle groups – both your upper body and abs – worked for the price of one exercise.

Build bone mass

As we age, our bone mass decreases, which is why older individuals are more prone to broken bones than young people. One way to keep your bone mass strong as you age is to do weight-bearing exercises. And since push-ups bear weight on your wrists, elbows, forearms, shoulders and other bones, they’re a great way to keep a healthy bone mass as you get older.

Boost your metabolism

If you’ve done a set of push-ups recently, you’re likely well aware of how they almost instantly increase your heart rate. What you might not know, however, is that in the process they’re also boosting your metabolic rate, which helps with weight loss. This happens because your body is working hard, exercising numerous muscles simultaneously.

And to go along with this metabolic boost, push-ups can also provide a quick energy boost if you’re feeling sluggish. Because they get your heart pumping fast, push-ups improve your circulation, which in turn jump-starts your brain and gives you a fresh focus. So the next time you’re thinking about reaching for a cup of coffee when you’re feeling tired and unfocused, try doing a few sets of push-ups and you’re sure to get a natural energy boost.

Push-ups can be done anywhere, in a short amount of time

Whether you’re at your gym, at home or even the office, three sets of pushups can be done anywhere and in a matter of ten minutes. So if you want a quick exercise that can be done on your lunch break or at home in front of the TV, even if you’re short on time, push-ups are an excellent choice.

Want more exercise tips to get your body toned and tight? Swing by our gym today and talk with one of our fitness advisors.

Everyone is busy these days. And busyness is one of the excuses most commonly cited to justify a poor diet. But that’s not the only excuse: many people also claim eating healthily costs a lot of money. And yes, it can be expensive, but there are also affordable ways to eat right on the cheap. So if you’re looking for ideas to eat healthily when you’re short on time and money, here are a few tips that are sure to help you out.

Buy produce that’s in season

Whether it’s gasoline, or candy the week following Halloween, when there’s an excess of anything prices always drop. The same is true for fruits and vegetables. And when you buy produce in season, it’s not only more affordable but also generally fresher and of higher quality, because it’s usually locally grown.

Shop at budget-friendly grocery stores

If you’re on a tight budget, you should avoid Whole Foods and similar high-end supermarkets like the plague. While their produce and other food choices are undoubtedly of a high quality, it can put a severe dent in your wallet. So to get the most bang for your buck when it comes to produce, try discount grocery stores like Trader Joe’s, Sam’s Club and Costco. Not only can you get good-quality produce at these markets, but you can also buy other staples that you can base your healthy diet around, such as nuts, rice, olive oil and fish.

Stock a few go-to healthy ingredients in your fridge and pantry

And while you’re out shopping at your budget-friendly supermarket, don’t forget to stock up on a few food choices you can turn to in a pinch when your fridge or pantry is otherwise empty. A couple of ingredients that can be used as a foundation to whip up a simple, healthy meal are oats, rice, beans, tofu, olive oil, spices, seasonings, and nut butters.

Buy online to save time and money

In this digital age, it may no longer come as much of a surprise to learn you can now shop for groceries online. What you might not know, however, is that you can receive considerable discounts for doing so. And you will save not only money but also time, as you can skip the trip to the supermarket completely and have your food delivered straight to your door. To test out online grocery shopping for yourself, try Thrive Market, which boasts over 3,000+ healthy products.

Cook a large amount of food at the beginning of the week

If you’re short on time during the workweek, bulk-cooking your meals beforehand just makes sense. Sunday is a great day to spend an hour or two whipping up a large amount of healthy food you can eat for the entire week. From chicken and salmon dishes to vegetable stir-fries, or even a monster bowl of guacamole to snack on, cook enough so you can get three to five meals out of it over your workweek. Once the food is prepared, store it in your fridge in tupperware or other containers. Then when the workweek gets rolling, your breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack will be ready and waiting for you when it’s time to eat.

Want more healthy eating tips? Call us today to talk with one of our nutritional experts, and start changing your diet now!

One of the biggest fitness myths out there is that you should do as much cardio exercise as possible. In theory it sounds good, but the reality is that overdoing it on cardio can actually hinder your ability to reach your fitness goals. So, how much cardio should you be doing? Well, it all depends on what you are hoping to achieve.

You probably see the same people at the gym every day doing ridiculous amounts of cardio activity. Maybe this even describes you. Spending hours upon hours on the treadmills, elliptical machines and stationary bikes sounds like it should yield the results you’re looking for, but it’s possible you are simply wasting your time.

The fact is more cardio doesn’t necessarily equate to better results. In fact cardio, like all other aspects of your diet and exercise routine, should be tailored to your goals. Doing more than you need to won’t help you achieve better results. While there is no magic number that will help you reach your fitness goals, here is a brief guide on how much cardio you should be doing based on what you are looking to achieve.

Weight Loss

If shedding pounds is your main objective for working out, then it is natural to think that more cardio equals more calories burned, and that more calories burned means more weight lost. However, if you are doing the same cardio activity everyday and not monitoring your diet, you are not likely to see the weight loss you are hoping for.

If you spend 60 minutes on the treadmill or elliptical machine for five or six days each week, your body will simply adapt, plateau and exert less energy, which means fewer calories burned. This is where diet comes into play. If you are basing your calorie count on what you think you burned over 60 minutes instead of a more realistic amount, then chances are you’re overeating and all that extra work is for nothing.

The reality is that weight loss has more to do with diet than exercise. If you’re eating correctly, then two hours a week of cardio is more than enough for you to see results.

Training for Sports

No two sports are alike, and the training regime for each is likely to be different depending on the duration of activity. A marathon, for instance, will require longer periods of cardio activity than training to run a 5k race. And the training for both of those is far different from preparing to play a team sport like basketball or soccer.

The key here isn’t time, but consistently pushing your body. You’re going to want your cardio exercise to mix and match different distances, levels of intensity and lengths of time to get your body into peak physical condition. Don’t assume that just because a game is 40 minutes long, you only need to do 40 minutes of activity each time you work out to be prepared.

General Health

This is the trickiest one to figure out, because if you asked 11 fitness experts you would likely get 11 different answers. If your goal is simply to be in good physical condition, doing moderate-intensity cardio 20-30 minutes a day for three to five days a week is likely to be enough.

If possible, changing up the type of cardio you do throughout the week will bring extra benefits. For example, an hour of walking or light bicycling can be a good change of pace from running on a treadmill. Not only does this allow you to reduce the amount of stress on your joints, but also ensures your body won’t adapt to the type of cardio you are doing. This in turn gives you more bang for the workout buck.

Need help determining how much cardio you should be doing each day? Want to find a fitness plan that works for you? Get in touch and we’ll help you reach your goals.

Football season is kicking off and that means one thing – tailgating. Everyone loves a good tailgate; however, the food options can leave something to be desired. They may be delicious, but they can also set your diet back if you’re not careful. Don’t worry though. Here is a tailgate game plan that will let you cheer for your team and not fumble away your diet goals.

Avoid the bad food blitz

Is there anything worse than seeing the quarterback of your favorite team drop back to pass, only to have a defensive blitz overwhelm the offensive line and sack him? This is similar to the scenario that plays out at tailgate parties. You go in with good intentions, only to have your diet protection broken down by the sheer volume of unhealthy choices. You need to be prepared before heading out to your next tailgate.

Bringing some healthy options to the party is the easiest way to do this. One of the main reason people don’t eat better at tailgate parties is because there aren’t a lot of options. Bringing fruits, veggies, nuts and even lean meats will help you avoid the bad food blitz that can derail your diet. Chances are there will be other people at the tailgate who will thank you for it, too.

Penalties for beer

It wouldn’t be a tailgate without beer, but the astronomical number of calories and lack of health benefits means drinking it can destroy your diet. Is there anything more annoying than seeing your team score a touchdown, only for the play to be called back because of a penalty? Well, eating well at a tailgate only to undo that work by downing a bunch of beer can be similarly frustrating.

Instead of focusing on quantity, go for quality at your next tailgate. This will allow you to reduce the volume you drink without having to completely give up beer. Skip that 24-pack of cheap, name-brand beer, and grab a six-pack of a craft brew you’ve always wanted to try.

Don’t let your eating go offside

Nothing drives a football coach crazy quite like a player who gets too excited and jumps offside. It’s something that can easily be avoided with a little focus. Overeating at tailgates is a similar problem. If you aren’t paying attention, you will eat way beyond what you intended to. It’s especially easy to do at a tailgate, since so much of the food is in snack form. A few chips here, a hot dog there, and the next thing you know you’ve completely lost track of your diet.

The easiest way to avoid overeating is by staying busy at the tailgate. Throw a football around, watch some other games, or just chat with friends. Most importantly, stay away from the food table. Chances are, if you’re not looking at the food, you won’t be tempted to keep eating.

Don’t fumble away your diet goals with bad decisions. Let us coach you. We can create the health and fitness playbook to help you achieve your goals.

If you’re like most people, you enjoy a bite of fruit every now and then. And why not? Fruit is good for you, and packed with vitamins and nutrients right? Absolutely, but that doesn’t mean it’s wise to eat or drink just anything you find in the fruit section of the supermarket, or glut yourself on piles of your favorite oranges and mangoes and presume they’re only doing you good. When it comes to all fruits, there are a few rules everyone should keep in mind. Here are four to consider next time you’re craving some of mother nature’s candy.

Go organic when possible

While conventionally grown fruit is better than no fruit at all, organic almost always beats out conventional when it comes to doing your body good. This is because organic fruits contain few (if any) pesticides or chemicals when compared to their conventional counterparts.

Of course, going organic can be expensive. So if you can’t afford them every trip to the supermarket, what should you buy? According to the Environmental Working Group, here are some of the cleanest fruits you can eat as they have the lowest levels of pesticides:

• Avocado
• Pineapple
• Mango
• Kiwi
• Cantaloupe
• Grapefruit

The Environmental Working Group also lists these fruits as containing some of the highest amount of pesticides:

• Blueberries
• Apples
• Strawberries
• Peaches
• Cherries

Learn to love low-sugar fruit

That fruity sweetness comes from somewhere. Simply put, many fruits are loaded with sugar (mangos, grapes and even bananas, to name a few). And as we all know, too much sugar – even from fruit – can be damaging to your body.

So if eating fruit everyday is something you already do, try squeezing in some low sugar fruits such as avocado, coconut, and cranberry.

Avoid fruit fakeouts

When you spread jam on your toast, down a glass of orange juice or munch on dried fruits, you may imagine you’re doing your body good since you’re contributing to your daily five-a-day. Think again – you just fell victim to a fruit fakeout. Because they can be loaded with preservatives, added sugar, calories and even chemicals, none of these options should count toward your daily fruit intake. Do yourself a favor and avoid these candy-like fruit imposters, and stick with the real stuff whenever possible.

Fruit is not a main course

Those out there who like to eat only fruit for breakfast (you know who you are) need to know that this is a big fruit failure. Yes, fruit is good for you, is an essential part of your diet and tastes delicious, but it still needs to be integrated into your diet in a balanced way. Eating fruit as a main course can skyrocket your blood sugar levels which, if done consistently over time, can damage the blood vessels, pancreas and other parts of your body. Additionally, eating fruit as a main course can lead to gastrointestinal problems that can cause cramping, bloating and gas.

Want to learn more about how to incorporate fruit into a balanced diet? Feel that you need more advice on nutrition? Send us a message today.

You’ve worked out just about every upper body muscle there is this week. Your biceps are bulging, your pecs are popping and your back is cut. It’s time to focus on the lower body, but you don’t really feel like it. Leg day doesn’t have to be a drag.

Working out your lower body, aka ‘leg day’, is something many of us continue to ignore. Unlike upper-body lifting, where results are visible, working out the lower body doesn’t give you the same visual appeal. That, combined with the perceived monotony of leg lifts, sees people skip it altogether. Here are a few reasons for you to be motivated for your next leg day.

1. Burn more fat

It doesn’t matter whether you are aiming to lose the love handles or going for a six-pack; leg day will help you burn more fat. The larger the muscle you work out, the more fat you’ll burn. Guess what? The quads and glutes are two of the biggest muscles in the body, and they both happen to be in the legs. By working out these two behemoths, your body will burn more calories and increase your lean muscle mass. In fact, a strenuous leg day can be better for losing weight than than some forms of cardio you can do at the gym.

2. Build a base

If you think of your body like a tree, then your legs are the trunk that provides a foundation to support the upper body. Becoming too top-heavy places additional pressure on your knees, hips and back, which can lead to problems like arthritis, bone spurs and other joint issues. Strong legs will help you take the pressure off your joints while allowing you to support your upper body better.

3. Work out more muscles

Unlike most upper-body lifts which tend to workout one muscle exclusively, quite a few leg lifts benefit many different muscles throughout the body. Deadlifts, for instance, are not only a good way to improve leg strength, but also work out your chest and lower back. Just because you are working on your legs doesn’t mean the rest of the body is being neglected.

4. Lots of variety

Some people think there are only a small number of leg lifts to do. In reality, most leg lifts have lots of different variations which can help keep leg day exciting. For example, there are almost countless types of squats you can do. Some can be challenging, like the one-legged squat, while others – such as Russian squat jumps – can be pretty fun.

5. Don’t be a meme

The internet is full of memes of people who continue to skip leg day. Often times they feature individuals with massive upper bodies and scrawny legs. Not only are they funny, they highlight just how illogical some of us can be when it comes to weight training. Massive upper bodies and tiny little legs do not look sexy or healthy. Doing leg day will ensure your body stays symmetrical, attractive and away from the internet meme circuit.

Leg day doesn’t have to be a downer. If anything, it should be the day at the gym you are excited for. Not only do you burn more calories during leg day, you’ll also be helping out your upper body both directly and indirectly. With a little research, you can find new leg lifts to be doing which can help make each lower body workout seem a little different. Sure, ripped arms and a chiseled torso look nice, but strong legs are necessary to help keep your body looking its best.

We can help you get a “leg-up” on your fitness goals – contact us to find out how.

What if you were told to eat the skin of a kiwi or the peel of an orange? Would you think that’s crazy? If you’re like most people, you probably would. But as with many things that are out of the ordinary, there is also a stroke of genius in this madness. And this is exactly why you should consider eating your fruits and vegetables’ unmentionables. The reason? Simply put, nutritional value. Many parts of plants that we haphazardly toss in the garbage are actually loaded with nutrients that can do your body good. Here are four that are worth trying.

Nibble on orange peels

Who would ever think to eat an orange peel? Well, maybe a two-year-old that doesn’t know any better, but you likely haven’t seen a grown adult eating an orange peel in years (okay, let’s be honest, probably never).

To clarify, you shouldn’t simply chomp down an unpeeled orange like you would an apple. Instead, you want to focus on the the inside of the orange peel – the white pith. The bioflavonoids within it can do wonders for your health. Not only do they help your body better utilize the vitamin C you get from the orange, but they can also help clear up varicose veins, fight cancer, and lower blood pressure – and may also lower cholesterol levels.

To eat the pith, scrape it off the inside of the peel with a spoon, your nail or your teeth.

Munch on kiwi skins

Besides that curious two-year-old mentioned above, likely no one in their right mind would ever think of eating kiwi skin. However, just like the orange peel, this is also loaded with nature’s goodness including nutrients such as vitamin C, fiber, and omega 3 fatty acids.

The best part about eating kiwi skin? Surprisingly, it actually complements the taste of its sweet, green inside quite well. So the next time you reach for a kiwi, try slicing it into small pieces – keeping the skin on. The skin will add a nice layer of texture that may just leave you grinning.

Crunch on beet greens

When most people think of beets, they think of the vibrant purplish-red root that most likely terrified them as a child with its earthy flavor. While you may or may not have grown to enjoy its taste, most of us rarely think of eating the stems. A little less bizarre than the orange pith or kiwi skin, eating the greens may seem a bit more logical because they’re a normal green color and look like something you’d find in a salad.

Some of the star-studded cast of nutrients within a beet’s leafy hairs include potassium, iron, calcium, magnesium, folic acid and vitamins A, C and K.

Bite down on broccoli stems

When it comes to broccoli, the heads of the plant (known as the florets) garner much of the spotlight. And for good reason, too – they are both more visually appealing and have the nutrient punch to back it up. However, there are sure to be more than a few people out there who turn their noses up at the stems, considering them no more than rubbish that belongs in the garbage.

If that’s you, you’ll sadly be missing out on a double punch of nutrients – as broccoli stalks are just as nutritious as the florets. They include a range of vitamins and minerals including calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium and Vitamin A.

Want more diet and nutrition tips to get your body into tip-top form? Give us a call and talk with one of our health specialists today.

With so many food vitamins and minerals to think about taking, it’s easy to slip up on making sure you’re getting enough of each one. Magnesium is probably not one you think about all too often, but it’s an important mineral that helps your body healthily carry out many of its everyday functions. Yet still, plenty of us are deficient in magnesium – here’s how to tell if you might be too.

You’re having trouble sleeping

Magnesium is key to the function of your central nervous and system and, without enough, you can easily end up suffering with insomnia. The levels of magnesium levels in your body naturally drop at night, which can prevent you from getting enough of the quality REM sleep vital for resting and recharging properly – so it’s important that you get enough magnesium to compensate for this.

You’re feeling tense

If you’ve been feeling particularly anxious of late, it could simply be the result of not getting enough magnesium. The mineral is a powerful relaxant, thanks again to its strong effects on the body’s central nervous system. When you’re feeling on edge, the key to chilling out really could be popping that magic pill – in this case a magnesium supplement. In the longer term, look to increase your intake of magnesium in order to prevent anxiety and to stay relaxed.

You’re craving chocolate

Odd as it sounds, if you’re having serious chocolate cravings then it may not just be a lack of willpower causing you to cave into pressure and quit your latest diet. Dark chocolate is a rich source of magnesium – just a single square provides almost a quarter of your recommended daily intake – and your cravings are likely your body’s way of telling you it needs some. And let’s face it, if the body wants chocolate, who are we to argue?

How to incorporate magnesium into your diet

In order to benefit from magnesium’s countless health benefits and ease your suffering from these ailments, you need to get it into your diet in the first place. But this starts not so much with increasing your magnesium intake as with avoiding foods that prevent your body from absorbing the goodness from the nutrients you are already getting. In particular, that means staying away from too much flour and sugar.

Once you’ve got that covered, make sure you’re eating enough meat and leafy green vegetables like spinach, beet greens and kale. They’re all rich in magnesium, as are avocados and nuts, which are also worth revolving your meal plans around. And yes, we meant it about the chocolate – just make sure it’s good-quality, cocoa-rich stuff, and eat an ounce or less a day in order to avoid its other less welcome effects. Finally, don’t be afraid to supplement your diet with a healthy dose of magnesium in pill form, preferably taken at night before you sleep.

Looking to eat and drink your way to a healthier, happier you? We can help – give us a call today to find out more.