Back to school, back on track
There’s something about September that reminds us all of going back to school. Packing that new pencil case, awaiting your new homework timetable and anticipating the new term with a mixture of excitement and dread. As an adult who’s spent much of the summer of holidays working hard and playing hard, it also feels like the right time to make a new start. To get the body back on track before a new season fully dawns. Having spent weeks and months, blood, sweat and tears on our fabulous new Kensington clinic refurbishment, I felt it was high time I book myself into the marvellous Buchinger Wilhelmi clinic in Austria for two weeks of fasting, fitness and treatments. I’ve no doubt that it’ll be just what I need to feel reinvigorated and full of beans. Nevertheless, if you’re back at home without professionals on hand, there are ways and means of getting your body back on track.
- Fast and fitness: If you’re fasting or spending a few days on a juice diet, your metabolism will slow down – so you need to offset this effect by exercising. Do your best to cut out wheat, sugar and alcohol for a time – then increase your intake of green vegetables, avocado and yogurt. The combined result will be to kick-start your body into detoxification mode.
- Supplement, supplement, supplement: To support your body during this mode, nourish the gut lining with pre and probiotics – or a plentiful supply of “good bacteria”. As summer sunlight begins to die, it’s also a good idea to start taking a vitamin D3 supplement in order to deliver on your body’s need for this essential nutrient.
- Eat, sleep, repeat: Remember how monotonous school seemed as a child? The truth is that there’s a huge amount of power in routine. Not only does it help us replace bad habits (that nightly tipple or dip into the chocolate box) with good ones, but it also gets us into the right frame of mind to continue making beneficial decisions for our mind and body. I’m a terrible one for chop and change, but if you can get into a pattern, you’ll see and feel results fast.