Right now in 2016, this is the situation we are in: 1.9 billion adults around the world are categorised as overweight and 650 million are categorised as obese. The statistics are damning. But we can make change, person-by-person, day-by-day. Here are my top eight tips for making changes to your relationship with sugar!

Read the packaging

It’s time we start reading the labels and finding out for ourselves exactly what we’re eating. Manufacturers will use a variety of words to hide sugar into our foods – think fruit juice concentrate, golden syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, maltose, molasses, rice syrup, sorbitol, sucrose, xylose… The list is endless. It is also important to know this equation: 4 grams of sugar = 1 teaspoon of sugar. Keep this in your memory at all times. When we see sugar listed in grams, we struggle to visualise what we’re eating – but everyone knows what a teaspoon looks like.

Look out for hidden sugar

Sugar is everywhere, from the more obvious: chocolate, soda, candy, donuts etc., to the lesser-known items, like tomato sauce, fruit juice, yoghurts, ‘healthy’ snack bars, pasta sauce, soups and salad dressings. It is almost unavoidable in processed foods, no matter how good they appear to be. Reading the labels means you hunt it out in every unexpected place. Keep your eyes peeled – even with the seemingly ‘healthy’, ‘low-fat’, ‘diet’ foods.

Know your limit

According to a 2012 NHS report, the average Britain eats approximately 20 teaspoons of sugar per day. That’s 700g or 140 teaspoons per week. However, numerous doctors and health organisations say our bodies can only cope with, and process, 7 teaspoons of sugar per day, which is the equivalent of 30 grams. Some even say this should be as low as 25 grams (6 teaspoons) for adults and 20 grams (5 teaspoons) for children. Hopefully it will have just clicked for you quite how much we all need to start cutting down.

Clear your cupboards – and don’t refill them

There is only one way you’re going to truly cut sugar out of your life – and that’s by getting rid of it completely. Clear out your cupboards, handbag, desk drawer, and car – absolutely everywhere that you stash your sugary fixes. Then make a commitment to yourself that you won’t re-buy it all. When you get a craving, if there is nothing there for you to reach for, you simply can’t eat it.

Cut out fruit juice

Hopefully you’ve already banished sugary soda drinks and flavoured waters from your life. Next on your list should be fruit juice. Aside from added sugars, fruit juice contains naturally occurring fructose. In whole fruit, the fructose is bound up in fibre and carbohydrates which have to be broken down by the digestive system first, thus meaning you never get the ‘hit’ of pure fructose. However, when fruit is juiced, any positives are literally squeezed out of it. This is why fruit juice is often referred to as ‘sugar water’ by many nutritionists. Start by cutting out that glass of orange juice with breakfast for starters….

Make good swaps

Always have good choices around; why not have some carrot and celery sticks with hummus, or some apple with almond butter at 3pm? Or instead of a sweet milkshake, why not whizz up a naturally sweet almond milk smoothie? Rather than buying a ready-made soup, why not sauté off some vegetables, onion and garlic with vegetable stock and water, blitz together, and make your own delicious soup? Start prepping a bit on Sunday, so you have loads to eat throughout the week or freeze into batches for busy days.

Eat more plants and whole foods

Food is not just something we put in our mouths to satiate hunger; it is the fuel our bodies use to stay healthy and function well. And guess what, if you don’t put quality fuel into your body, you don’t feel well, function well or look well. It is almost unavoidable that we will find sugar in processed foods, no matter how good they appear to be. The answer is eating more plants and whole foods – what I like to call ‘real’ food – fresh, nutritious, unprocessed food that grows in the soil, on trees and on bushes with the sun’s energy. Think about what your great-grandparents would have recognised as food – that’s what is real. It should be coming straight from grocery aisles, farmers’ markets and vegetable stalls, not out of plastic packaging or found within ready-made meals.

Find a sugar buddy

Now you’ve made this commitment to cut out sugar, shout it from the rooftops. Tell everyone. Be proud. Get everyone involved in your new way of eating so you don’t have to keep explaining yourself when they offer round the cakes at work. If you have one key person who you can get on board to join you, even better. It’ll be so great to have their support when the 3pm cravings or 9pm munchies hit – and doing it together will feel twice as rewarding when you both see how well you’re doing.

Written for Hip & Healthy by Calgary Avansino

Check our Calgary’s new book, Keep It Real, here!

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Calling all tea enthusiasts!

Our favourite box for all tea lovers out there is by London Tea Club, created by tea-enthusiast Cecilia Lau who has sourced more than 100 teas for the monthly club since it launched its subscription service in 2013. Offering premium teas, which are carefully handpicked from around the world, the company brings inspiration to everyone who loves tea and wants to learn more about the art of brewing the perfect cuppa. Members of the club will receive a parcel each month of three premium, loose-leaf teas (tailored to your personalised profile, of course), each incredibly fragrant and delicious. Tea varieties, some of which can also be purchased in the online shop along with other beautiful tea essentials, include blends such as a ‘jade’ oolong type titled Frozen Summit, a fruity Rooibos Blossom & Berries, and a classic Ceylon black tea infused with butterscotch pieces. The teas should brew 3-4 cups each and are all accompanied with a description card, unlocking the secret of the tea’s origins, tasting notes and brewing instructions. We also love that London Tea Club wraps its teas in elegant packaging, making the experience all the more enjoyable!

Fitness fans behold!

Fitty London is London’s coolest new fitness box. Each month, fitness enthusiasts will be surprised with a beautifully wrapped box filled with the latest must-have fitness essentials. If you simply can’t wait that long, fitty also offers a one-off box called The Felix. Whichever one you opt for, you’ll certainly uncover a range of carefully hand picked products sure to satisfy all you Hip & Healthies. Boxes contain anything from resistance bands to protein powders by The Organic Protein Company (the UK’s first organic whey protein company) and even a frother to whisk up the tastiest matcha lattes in town – think of it as the Glossybox of the fitness world. What makes Fitty London quite so unique is its bold and confident personality, as founders and best friends Laura Fullerton and James Smithers, hope to make the world a healthier, sexier place, fuelling the city’s sweat game in the process. We can’t get enough!

Paleo heaven

The UK’s first Paleo snack subscription service, Primal Snack Box, founded by Molly Clifford and Mark Fordham just two years ago, joined forces with Paleo advocate and Barrecore founder Niki Rein to create a bespoke Barrecore box, with the items chosen by Niki herself. The box features a selection of high-protein mouth-watering snacks such as Paleo original biltong by Barefoot Biltong, hot chocolate by Sweet Revolution and a coffee & hemp chocolate bar by Almighty Foods, ensuring you’ll be spoilt for choice. We particularly loved the Himalayan Salt Chocolate Brownie by 100% Natural, which is infused with Goji and Acai Berry. While this isn’t a box for the vegan-loving gal, we do suggest you try Primal Snack Box’s Forest Box instead, which is vegan and vegetarian friendly featuring tasty Paleo biscuits and fig and orange chocolate by Pana (to name but a few). Whichever one of the fives boxes at Primal Snack Box you will be tucking into, we promise you will not regret it, as this is Paleo Heaven at its best.

For the Artisan Aficionado

Superfoodio was “born out of a passion for good, wholesome food”, making superfood discovery simple in the process. Encouraging a healthy lifestyle and sense of wellbeing, Superfoodio was created by Nirali and Jag Mankodi in 2015 after finding themselves travelling through South America where they unearthed some of the world’s finest superfoods, which would later become the inspiration and birth of Superfoodio. The brand is now in the process of launching a Healthy Artisan Snack Box to accompany its growing, vegetarian-friendly line of boxes. With four unique and nutrient-rich snacks, such as a savoury sweet potato granola, tiger nut flour and cashew and cocoa nibblers, the snacks are gluten, dairy and refined sugar-free. We loved Superfoodio for helping us discover new, exotic flavours and bringing out our inner gourmet cook by expanding our palate, as each box features between 1-3 easy to follow recipe cards (depending whether you choose the mini, classic or sharing box) and also one cooking ingredient. With unique flavours, Superfoodio takes us on our very own culinary journey and there’s certainly nothing we love more than a box that opens up a world full of adventures.

The new health top up!

Designed to be a ‘health top up’ rather than just another cleanse, THINK Press is a Kent-based juicery that was created by Alex Auger and delivers anything from cold pressed juices (which boast 6kg of freshly squeezed vegetables, fruits and nuts) to creamy nut milks and bone broth cleanses across the UK. Sourcing the finest and freshest local ingredients, THINK Press keeps produce seasonal and always British where possible. Its latest addition comes in its Bone Broth Cleanse. By teaming up with Osius, this nourishing cleanse programme was especially designed for the colder winter months (and non-vegans for that matter), as the cleanse features either a chicken or beef broth as well as three delicious cold pressed juices, and a protein packed nut milk. As the first and only on the market to offer it, THINK Press and Osius’ are one step ahead of the crowd!

One for every season!

This beautifully curated wellness box, titled Aevi Box was created by friends Natalie Viklund and Marie Hansen, finding its inspiration in the word Aevi, which comes from an Old Norse language meaning life. Aevi Box is built on three simple foundations: love yourself (aevi), love your body (heart, mind and skin), and to love others (share your light). Aevi is a way of life. By encouraging mindfulness of the heart, mind, skin and caring according to the seasons as Ayurveda teaches us, (Aevi’s boxes come out four times a year), each box is carefully adapted to each season without compromising on the brand’s luxurious handmade design or feel. With the simple wish to encourage others to love themselves and in turn love others better, Aevi not only makes the most pure and radiant skincare more accessible but it more importantly reminds us that we deserve true wellbeing by serving as a gentle reminder of what’s truly important in life. Check out their current Spring Box for delightfully luxurious treats!

Perfect on-the-go snacking!

When YouTube sensations Marcus Butler and Niomi Smart were tired of spending hours hunting around to find healthy, natural snacks, the duo joined forces in 2015 to create SourcedBox. After transforming their own diets and seeing amazing results, they decided to share their health and wellness knowledge with the millions of viewers across their YouTube channels. With an overwhelmingly positive response, the idea of SourcedBox was born – as a simple, exciting way to discover healthy snacks. Offering a monthly subscription as well as a limited amount of one-off boxes, each month subscribers receive a different variety of hand-picked snacks made from natural ingredients, including superseed trail mixes, dairy-free chocolate mylk by Rebel Kitchen, and broccoli crisps to name a few! Hoping to set out and change the mixed messages we might receive from friends, family, and the media who lecture us what we should and shouldn’t eat, SourcedBox proves that being healthy doesn’t have to be hard.

Use the code HIPHEALTHY25, you’ll receive 25% off your first monthly subscription (valid until the end of April). Enjoy!

Words by Jessica-Christin Hametner

The post The Wellness Boxes You Need To Subscribe To Now! appeared first on Hip & Healthy.

According to Dr Anton Emmanuel, consultant gastroenterologist at University College Hospital in London, approximately 40% of people in the UK have at least one digestive symptom at any one time, resulting in a significant percentage of the population who would ultimately benefit from improving their digestion and reducing the stress in their lives.

Why is good digestion so important to our health?

If we don’t have strong digestive function, then it’s very difficult for us to absorb all of the nutrients that we have ingested. This can leave us depleted of vitamins, minerals and nutrients that are essential for a happy and healthy mind and body, making us feel low in energy even if we’re boshing green smoothies every day!

The problem for most of us is that our digestive function is getting worse by the year. The reason for this? The overstimulation of modern living is triggering our innate fight or flight response to chronic levels, and this impairs many of our physiological functions, including a very harmful impact on our digestion.

Under survival situations our body reacts by redirecting every bit of energy it can towards fighting or fleeing. Our digestive function is such an energy intensive process that shutting it down means the body can redirect a large amount of energy to enhance our chances of survival. The body’s innate intelligence dictates that instead of breaking down food, we could use that energy to run across the savannah or break down our opponent.

This process makes absolute sense when your life is in mortal danger, but most of the ups and downs of everyday life are not serious enough to merit such an over-reaction. And yet, from a biological perspective, this is exactly how your body is responding every time you rush for something, panic over a deadline, get worked up about an emotive email or you simply get tired and overwhelmed. Physiologically, we simply haven’t adapted to the hamster wheel life many of us find ourselves leading. Every time there is even a hint of a problem our body goes into shutdown to protect us, eventually recovering but often hours later when it can be too late and the damage has already been done.

Instead of turning all of that nutritious mush into broken down molecules that will keep your cells singing, the half-digested contents of your bowels begin to decay and toxify in your intestinal tract. So rather than providing you with health and vitality, your food becomes toxic when you don’t digest it properly.

How exactly do our bodies digest food?

When we’re relaxed, a key branch of our nervous system causes us to salivate which allows the amylase in our saliva to start breaking down the food we’re chewing on. The more we chew, the easier it is for our stomach to break down the food we consume.

However, when we’re stressed we don’t produce so much saliva and we tend to chew and swallow too quickly, before phase one of the digestive process has been properly completed. Even before the food has reached our belly, we have significantly reduced the probability that we will digest our food appropriately.

Once the food is in the stomach, it is processed mechanically by bashing the mush against the stomach walls to break it down further and, chemically by a series of powerful acids and enzymes which will help us extract the useful properties from the food ready for transportation around the body.

But even mild levels of stress will disturb these processes and cause too much or too little activation of the mechanical and chemical processes. This results in an imbalanced mix of acids in the stomach and foods that have not been properly broken down.

This may result in anything from indigestion and acid reflux all the way to fragrant farts!

It’s also worth noting that 90% of our serotonin is produced in the gut, so having a healthy gut is essential for feeling the effects of this happy hormone floating around our body. Insufficient serotonin production is linked to cardiovascular issues, osteoporosis and irritable bowel syndrome as well as feeling uninspired by life and even depression.

It has been recently discovered that we actually have brain cells in the intestinal tract, so it’s easy to see how having strong digestion with lots of serotonin production will help make us feel good. On the other hand, it’s no surprise that weak digestion with excessive acidity and toxic detritus being absorbed into our cells and depleted serotonin production can leave us feeling rubbish!

There are so many players in our digestive orchestra and symphonic coordination is king. But to do that we need to ensure that we are more resilient to stress.

What can we do to help our digestive system?

Vedic meditation is a great way to increase your resilience to stress and get your digestion firing on all cylinders again. Most of the people we’ve taught with digestive issues have overcome their IBS, coeliac disease and food intolerances within the first two to six months of learning. –

The reasons for this are numerous:

• Vedic meditation reduces the hypersensitivity of the stress centres in your brain to everyday stressors. It also allows the body to rest much more deeply than the deepest point in sleep. This means that the body has a proper chance to reboot and begin harmonising its digestive system.
• The deep relaxation it promotes helps restore optimum levels of biochemistry in digestive fluids, resulting in much more efficient digestion
• It improves the flow of blood to the gut which means that nutrients can be distributed throughout your body much more quickly. Waste removal processes also begin occurring in the most optimal way
• It balances out the activation of the nervous system, meaning that any unhelpful conditioned responses (eg reaching for sweets when faced with stress) we have around food can be smoothed out
• Greater production of serotonin means that you will feel happier and healthier

Scientifically, this technique has been shown to deliver a 48% reduction in gastro-intestinal issues when it was trialled on 2000 people and anecdotally the results we’ve seen have at least matched these findings, if not exceeded it.

To sum up, by reducing everyday stress Vedic meditation makes it easier to listen to your body and give it the food it needs, rather than being hostage to your body’s desire to fuel all of the stress in your life with fat and sugar. The result is that you tend to give your body more of what it needs at the right time to function properly and keep you feeling good.

words by Will Williams 

The post If You Only Do One Thing This Week… Meditate For Better Digestion! appeared first on Hip & Healthy.

Practise gratitude

‘When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love…’ We love this quote from Marcus Aurelius, as it really embodies a positive and appreciative outlook on life. Being grateful for what you have goes hand in hand with happiness and positivity. The benefits of practising gratitude are endless! It is proven that people who regularly reflect on things that they are thankful for, will generate more positivity, feel more alive, and show more compassion and kindness. When you wake up, list five things in your head that you are grateful for; from the bed you are sleeping in to the food that you will eat for breakfast. It is so easy to forget how lucky we truly are!

Add some stretching

Exercising in the morning can be a challenge for many of us, but incorporating some simple stretches into our daily routine reaps many different benefits from easing out any nasty muscle tension or stiffness to increasing blood flow to all parts of the body, especially the brain. If you don’t already, try to practise a few stretches as soon as you get out of bed. Not only will this leave you feeling energised and limber, but will increase your concentration levels for the days work ahead! Stretching also improve ones posture, which is vital to the majority of us who sit in front of our computer screens all day long. Stretching will help loosen muscles up and increase flexibility, not to mention improving our posture and making us look both longer and leaner – yes please!

Dish up a hearty but healthy breakfast

Hydration is incredibly important first thing upon waking. After a full nights sleep, your body is craving rehydration! Sipping on a large glass of water as soon as you wake up will instantly give you that much-needed energy boost you need. We love to throw in a slice or two of lemon as this amazing citrus fruit will aid in the detoxification process of your body as well as kick-start your digestion in preparation for breakfast.

Ensuring a good breakfast not long after you wake up (we try to eat within half an hour of waking) will break the fast that your body experiences as you sleep and kick start your metabolism, so you’ll be torching calories all day through! Choosing high quality protein such as poached eggs on sourdough or porridge with lashings of almond butter will give you lots of energy and keep you full until lunchtime.

Try an alkalising green juice

One of our favourite morning pick-me-ups is a green juice. Packed with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, it will alkalize and nourish your body from within, reducing sugar cravings as leave you bursting with energy! Having a green juice as a mid-morning snack or alongside your breakfast is also a brilliant way to get one of your five a day in first thing. Starting the day with healthy choices means that you are far more likely to continue making great choices all day long!

Breathe deeply

Don’t forget to breathe properly! Focusing on the rise and fall of your breath for a few minutes in the morning can restore our sense of calm and settle any nerves we might have about the day ahead. Too often in our hectic lifestyles, we forget to breathe properly, however making sure we’re doing so properly releases tension as well as that all important carbon dioxide, a natural waste product of your bodies metabolism.

Words by Flora Crichton 

MORE: Five Ways To Wake Up Your Willpower

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Do more of what you love

Hands down the most important step in creating your dream life is by making the time to do more of what you love. Whilst we know it’s not always easy to make time for yourself whilst juggling the everyday demands of modern life, we promise that by scheduling in at least a few hours per week to focus on what you’re most passionate about will make all the difference to your levels of happiness and fulfilment. If you happen to work in a job that satisfies you on this level – all the better, however we know that this isn’t always possible which makes it even more important to set the time aside each week to indulge your passions.

Surround yourself with like-minded people

Another important factor to consider when creating your ideal life is to surround yourself with people who share your passions, lifestyle choices and values. Whilst it’s great to make friends with people from all different walks of life, when it comes down to it, the people you spend most of your time with really do rub off on you! If you haven’t already, make it your mission to connect with like-minded individuals who are positive, inspiring and striving to be the best versions of themselves. If anything, by connecting with similar people, you’ll soon establish the types of friends that will inspire you to keep moving forward and reach your goals! Plus, it’s always nice to have a go-to yoga buddy!

Practise self-love

Here at Hip & Healthy, we’re always preaching the benefits of self-love, and for good reason! Cultivating a respectful, kind and loving relationship with yourself will not only change your life in the most amazing way possible, but will open up your heart to receiving love and friendship from all of those who you encounter. One big part of self-love is allowing yourself to be who you truly are, embracing your passions and letting go of the things in your life that no longer serve you. A self-loving person would never stay at a job they hated, or remain in a relationship that caused them more pain than happiness. Self-love is simply choosing love and kindness over fear and negativity. Our next tip explains how you can do this no matter where you are in your journey to creating a life you love.

Fake it ‘til you make it

If you’ve already fallen of the New Years resolution wagon and are feeling hopeless, weak and like you’re never going to make a positive change, take a deep breath and listen up. Just because you’ve slipped up once, twice, 50 times, doesn’t mean you should quit all together. One way to shift your perspective and start to enjoy the journey to your ideal life is to fake it ‘til you make it. If you find yourself dreading your week of healthy eating, exercise or work, telling yourself that you’ll only be happy once you lose 5 kg, have a six-pack or get that promotion or bonus, instead intend to live your life like you already have acquired what it is you dream of. Ask yourself these questions: What would I eat and how would I workout if I was fitter and healthier? How productive would I be at work if I got that promotion or bonus? Start living your ideal reality like you’re already there, and things will start to shift for the better.

Embrace change and just do it

Change is never easy, and when it comes down to it there really are no quick fixes. Once you know this, putting in the hard work to make a positive change in your life becomes much easier. If lasting change is truly what you seek, you need to be realistic. Set yourself goals, but don’t beat yourself up if you’re doing everything you can and don’t reach them in the time you set out to do so by. It is all too easy to fall into the quick fix trap when this happens, but unfortunately this will always do you more harm than good and in most cases will eventually send you right back to where you started. Lasting change is established over time, in order for it to be sustainable. So embrace the journey of change, put in the hard work, keep your head held high, your mind positive and you will create the life you’ve always dreamt of. We believe in you! <3

Words by Zsa Zsa Vella

MORE: Warm Superfood Bowl Recipe |  Madeleine Shaw’s Healthy Food Philosophy 

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An eight-week transformational programme, Madeleine has designed Glow Guides to act as a pocket personal trainer, nutritionist and life coach all in one app.

Free to download, allowing you to familiarize yourself with all the features, including one of our favourite additions, the Glow Guides Community, which enables you to connect with other Glow Girls and Guys to keep you motivated and inspired.

Through daily strength and cardio workout videos, and yoga videos (MOVE), weekly recipe plans and exclusive new recipes (MUNCH), and guided meditations (MEDITATE), Glow Guides has been designed to not only transform your approach to exercise and food, but also provide the proper tools and knowledge required to maintain a healthy lifestyle long after the eight weeks are over.

Each week of the programme builds on the last – guiding you towards total, holistic wellness.

What the app offers…

– 9 motivational videos, introduced by Madeleine Shaw

MOVE

– 8 40-minute strength – and cardio-based workout videos led by trainer Shona Vertue with a focus on strength

– Detailed movement plans (printable PDFs)

– 8 40-minute Vinyasa-yoga videos, led by Madeleine Shaw

– 1 45-minute relaxing and restorative yoga video, led by Madeleine Shaw

MUNCH

– 80 tasty new recipes

– 8 complete weekly meal plans (all dietician approved)

MEDITATE

– 8 meditation audios, led by Madeleine Shaw and designed to be done daily

The Glow Guides App, Madeleine Shaw’s transformational programme, is out in January. Available in iOS and android (£49.99).

MORE: MOVE with Madeleine Shaw

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Here at Hip & Healthy, we don’t believe in deprivation or faddy detox diets that can often leave you exhausted, burnt out and worse off than when you began. Instead, we focus on incorporating a healthy dose of detoxifying foods, supplements and workouts into our day-to-day lives, to make the most out of the benefits of a cleanse whilst still enjoying a healthy, balanced diet and lifestyle.

Stay tuned for a week of expert tips and advice, detoxifying workout ideas, and the cleansing foods and supplements we’ll be incorporating into our diets this year (spoiler alert: clearer skin and a leaner bod may result). Keen to join us in bringing in the new year the Hip & Healthy x Pukka way? Here’s how you can get started straight away…

Cut The C.R.A.P

To us, the first step to detoxing every day is by cutting out the C.R.A.P: caffeine, refined sugar, alcohol and processed foods. Whilst these things are ok to have occasionally, for the next seven days and as often as you can thereafter, attempt to significantly reduce your intake. Instead, make sure to load up on lots of greens, fresh juices, lean proteins, fruit, veggies, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats! Keep your eyes peeled for our favourite healthy alternatives and daily detoxifying eats that we’ll be posting on social media for the next seven days to keep you inspired!

Break A Sweat

Exercise is an incredibly important factor in the detoxification equation. Whilst it’s generally important to mix up your exercise regime to prevent boredom or over-working one particular area of the body, during the next 7 days, focus on incorporating more strenuous, sweat inducing exercise such as spinning or HIIT into your usual routine. Vigorous exercise such as these increases lymph flow and circulation, aids in digestion and will help sweat out those unwanted toxins pronto!

Add These To Your Diet…

In addition to the foods we eat, we love making use of natural supplements to help bring us one step closer to our health and fitness goals. This is where Pukka comes into play. This week as we cut the C.R.A.P and take our workouts up a notch, we’ll additionally be making sure to incorporate detoxifying supplements and herbs into our daily routines. Join us in drinking 2 cups of Pukka’s delicious Detox or Detox with Lemon Teas throughout the cleanse as well as ensuring you get in your daily serving of Pukka Clean Greens – an organic blend of 11 super-rich green foods designed to naturally support the body’s ability to cope with toxins. We love adding ours to our morning green juices and smoothies for a hit of goodness first thing in the day!

Consider Your Home + Beauty Products

Whilst focusing on what you eat, your supplements and your exercise regime is a great way to ease your way into living as toxin free as possible – when you’ve mastered the above, it’s important to begin to consider the toxins lurking in your cosmetics and home cleaning products. If you tend to favour cheaper, conventional products over their eco-friendly, more natural alternatives, chances are you’re exposing yourself to an additional abundance of toxic substances. If this is the case, throw out (or phase out) your current home cleaning and beauty products in favour of more natural alternatives. Keep your eyes peeled for more on how to detox your home and beauty cabinet later this week.

Subscribe to our newsletter and be sure to follow us on insta to receive your daily dose of detox inspo to stay inspired throughout the next seven days!

Words by Zsa Zsa Vella

MORE: Avocado + Matcha Face Mask | Top 5 Post-Workout Beauty Treats

The post If You Only Do One Thing This Week… Detox With Pukka appeared first on Hip & Healthy.

With all the conflicting information out there surrounding diet and exercise, first off, we asked Tara to share with us her top 5 tips for breaking the bandwagon mentality and making your own health rules. Read on for the lowdown…

1. Start the day connecting to yourself. 5 minutes, sitting up in bed connecting to my breath centers me for the day.
2. Enjoy what you spend your time doing. It’s a direct statement meant to provoke a question. If you don’t enjoy doing what you spend your time doing, make a plan to change that. No excuses.
3. Get in the kitchen. At least for one meal, a smoothie, or a snack, spend some time in your kitchen and let the creative juices flow. The more time you spend exploring and trying things out, the sharper your skills become. Enjoy.
4. Self care. Make it a priority. Schedule that time on your mat, the time with a good book and time to reflect. Without this practice, stress collects and causes big trouble.
5. Make mindfulness a habit. Put down the iPhone, the laptop, and turn off the TV. Take a moment during the day to reconnect with your breath and check in with how you feel. Take moments like this several times a day. It will shift your focus and increase your energy.

Make Your Own Rules Cookbook by Tara Stiles (Hay House UK, £18.99) is out now. Get yours on Amazon here.

MORE: Tara Stiles’ Coconut Parfait

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Accept yourself in the present

Arguably the most difficult thing to do, accepting where you are in the present is key if a happy and fulfilling life is what you desire. It doesn’t matter where you are in your health journey – just starting out or far along the road – sometimes it can be difficult to acknowledge just how far you’ve come and all too overwhelming to acknowledge just how far you have to go. If you’re yet to master the skill of self-acceptance, you will never be good enough for yourself, and this is really no way to live! In a nutshell, to make any lasting change you must accept where you are now. Just remember, it’s impossible to hate your body into lasting change. Practise this mantra: I love and accept myself unconditionally.

Find a workout you love

If you hate your current workout regime, its not very likely you’ll stick at it. If you hate running despite numerous attempts to get into it, try spinning instead. If you find yoga boring, switch to pilates. There really are so many options out there so whatever you do, don’t give up! Instead, shift your focus on getting fit doing something you love. Whether that’s dancing, yoga, powerwalking, whatever tickles your fancy – make it your mission to explore and discover the workout/s that you love and stick to them instead.

Ditch the diet

We dedicated an article to this a few weeks back (read it here) but it’s such an important point we think it deserves a special mention. Diets don’t work, period. Plus they’re mostly always boring, bland, repetitive and restrictive. Instead, learn to tune into your natural hunger and satiety signals and eat in a way that works for you. Whether you prefer 3 big meals, smaller meals interspersed throughout the day or a mixture of the two, it’s all about finding out what works for you! Also, if you have a sweet tooth it’s totally fine to have a small treat every single day! We mostly always treat ourselves to a few squares of raw chocolate or a homemade treat, and this is totally fine! Deprivation and restriction are the absolute worst things you can do when it comes to your diet so treat yo’ self!

Focus on the good

Sure, there are things all of us would like to change about ourselves, but it’s not going to do you any good to dwell on them. Instead, focus on the things you like about yourself, and don’t just make this body focused! For starters, the fact that you’re willing to become the best version of you will inevitably inspire all of those around you! Additionally, take into account the little things you do that make a difference in someone else’s life, shifting your focus from yourself to your impact on others. Do you make a conscious effort to give back? To support others in need? We’re almost certain that there are many things that you do that inspire, motivate and support those around you, so give yourself some credit!

Make a change

If a change is what you think you need, make sure you’re being realistic about it. As mentioned above, if you’re yet to master the skill of self-acceptance, feeling 100% content within your own skin will pose a bit of a challenge. If you’ve been slacking off on the workout front, Sunday food prep sessions are a distant memory and your grocery haul is lacking in the fruit and veg department, then it’s probably time to set some doable goals to get yourself back on track. Start with scheduling in your workouts like you would meetings, set some time aside to organise healthy lunches for the work week and make up a batch of energy balls to snack on throughout the week. For healthy recipe and workout ideas, check out the links below.

By Zsa Zsa Vella

HEALTHY RECIPES | FITNESS INSPIRATION

The post How To Love The Skin You’re In appeared first on Hip & Healthy.

Almond butter & Banana on oatcakes: When fuelling up post workout, combining adequate protein with carbohydrates is key! For a quick and easy way to get in all the right macros to help repair those worn out muscles, a quick and easy snack of almond butter and banana on a few oatcakes will do the trick! Try out this sugar free almond butter recipe for the homemade version we always have on hand.

Energy Balls: We always keep a fresh stash of energy balls in our gym bags (also desk drawers, handbags, anywhere really!) as they truly are the perfect bite sized snack to reach for when making something more substantial is out of the question. The combo of nuts and dried fruit provides a quick burst of energy which will stay with you until your next meal, thanks to the addition of protein rich nuts which steady out blood sugar levels that fruit on its own would raise too quickly. Our faves? These Superfood Chocolate Energy Balls or these Chocolate and Coconut Energy Balls.

Coconut chia seed pudding: If you’re a before breakfast exerciser or tend to crave something more substantial post workout, then this super energising Coconut Chia Seed Pudding is for you. As easy as grabbing from the fridge, we like to make up a serving the night before to dig into the next day hassle free. Full of healthy fats and plant based protein guaranteed to keep you fuller for longer, try this after your next early morning workout and feel the difference!

Pea puree & an egg on a brown rice cake: For our savoury snacking lovers out there, this is the post-workout power snack for you. Rich in protein, carbs and with the addition of some green goodness, you really can’t get much better than this when it comes to post-workout nourishment. Simply spread a brown rice cake with the pea puree featured in this recipe, top with a fried egg and you’re set! For our plant-based Hip & Healthies out there, replace the egg with a few slices of tempeh lightly sautéed in tamari for a vegan version we love.

Power smoothie: Last but not least, this power smoothie is undoubtedly true to its namesake. Combining potassium and carbohydrate rich banana with energy restoring dates, joint-loving calcium rich chia seeds, protein rich cashew nuts and blood sugar regulating cinnamon, you can’t go wrong with this post-workout power snack! Substantial enough to be enjoyed as breakfast alone, we find this smoothie a great in between lunch and dinner energizer to ward of the not-so-healthy late afternoon munchies. Get the recipe here.

Words by Zsa Zsa Vella

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