Archives October 2016

Every other day a study warns of health risks linked to soft drinks.

Here’s today’s: “Two fizzy drinks a day is all it takes to double the risk of diabetes – even if they are diet versions” – a Swedish study has found.

The research is in. Soda is out.

The Lancet, the British medical journal, published an independent, peer-reviewed study that demonstrated a strong link between soft drink consumption and obesity.

It found that 12-year-olds who regularly drank soft drinks were significantly more likely to be overweight than those who didn’t.

One can of soft drink per day can add as much as 15 pounds to your weight over the course of a single year. A single year!

Nutritionally-speaking, soda has zero nourishment. Zip. Not only does it contain no nutrients, it has anti-nutrients. The worst of these being high fructose corn syrup.

HFCS does some nasty things inside you.

For example, it interferes with your production of leptin, which is an issue if you want to lose weight, because it’s leptin that sends the “I’m full” signal to your brain. When you drink soda, your brain no longer receives the message and that’s why you crave more food.

Many of these smart women I coach get a good portion of their daily hydration from soft drinks.

As one client put it, “I get stressed, I reach for a diet coke. I want some chocolate, I reach for a diet coke, I don’t feel satisfied so I reach for a third can, and then have the chocolate anyway. And then another diet coke, of course.”

Isn’t it time to upgrade your fuel and nourish your body?

My plan isn’t to nag you into changing your soft drink habit.

My cunning plan is to give you the facts. You’re a smart woman so you can decide for yourself exactly how you want to hydrate your one and only, miraculous body.
Once upon a time, a can of diet coke lived permanently in my hand. When I learned the facts and I knew deep down I needed to make a change.

If you are serious about feeling good and if you’re serious about losing weight I encourage you to stop drinking soda for 21 days.

No tantrums. No sulking. No sneaking. Just do it.

What’s 21 short days out of your lovely, long life? And notice how your grateful body responds.

Love etc, Avril

PS: If you’d like to join the hundreds of happy women who’ve ditched their diet soda habit with the virtual gastric band hypnosis, why not drop me a line. Why not let 2017 be your year of being the shape and size you want to be?

“Get up you lazy bitch and go for a run. Remember you’re still on a diet today.”

I found these unloving words during a recent spring clean. They were on a note I’d penned to my 14-year-old self.

Instantly, tears stung my eyes as I time-travelled back to a place where I hated my body.

It was just one of the many body-hating notes I’d woken up to, morning after morning, year after year.

Like many women, I believed, “If I hate myself enough, I’ll be motivated to lose weight, and then I’ll like myself more.”

It seemed logical at the time.

Many of the women I work with fall into a similar trap, “When these lumps and bumps have gone, then I’ll take care of my body.”

But … the exact opposite occurs.

You see, when we say “I’ll moisturise my thighs when they’re slimmer,” we’re giving ourselves conditional love.

And no-one is motivated by conditional love.

Because, conditional love unleashes the rebellious, self-sabotaging three-year-old in us all.

We all know that one, right?!

That vulnerable, inner child who yearns to be loved for who she is, right now…

Not for her dress size.
Not for how she looks.
Definitely, not for how much she weighs.

Conditional love is heart-breaking.

And it’s the opposite of motivational.

Imagine a friend saying:

“I don’t love you…. well, not yet …sure, if you make some changes, then I’ll consider loving you…. but right now, you’re not good enough for my love.”

Ouch!!!!

You’d unfriend them immediately, wouldn’t you?

But we speak to ourselves like that…. day after day, year after year.

Conditional love is beating yourself up. It’s judgement, shame, and fear.

It’s a heart-breaking concept: “If I hate myself enough, I’ll end up by loving myself!!!”

Reeeally?!

The antidote: how to love yourself slim

Start noticing how unkind you are to yourself. Sometimes we don’t even realise how nasty we are. Do you ever tell yourself you’re not good enough, slim enough, pretty enough, smart enough?

Being your happy shape and size occurs from a place of acceptance, compassion, kindness. It happens when you treat your body with love, when you nourish your body.

From this loving space, the rebellious inner child is placated, and self-sabotage ends.

So start treating your one-and-only body with reverence, instead of stuffing her beyond full. Start moisturising your body after every shower, instead of delaying until she’s a specific size. Start saying something kind about your body every day, not waiting when she’s a specific weight.

You can do it.

If right now you’re in the “icky” hateful space that I was in at the time of penning that note – trust me – with curiosity and patience, and with small loving changes, you can feel radically different about your beautiful body tomorrow.

Unconditional love etc, Avril

PS: If you need help moving into a more loving space around your body, maybe it’s time to drop me a line.