30/12/2023
As the last empty prosecco bottle moves to the recycle bin and we get ready to embrace a new year, we often turn our thoughts to what this yearly opportunity for a new start will entail.
For many, the next couple of weeks will be all about the ‘new you’; the slimmer, the fitter, the happier. Words like juicing, detoxing, fasting, raw food, exercise regimes, and gym membership will be thrown around – all with good intention and motivation. However, you may feel that it is time to consider a more naturopathic approach to achieving a sense of wellbeing, health, and inner happiness this coming year.
We are now firmly within the season of winter, with the harshest weather still yet to arrive. Winter is naturally a time to rest, to reserve our energy for healing, it is a time for inwardly thinking and connecting with self, and for nourishing and warming the body.
The body is always naturally detoxing. To introduce a focused regime at this time can actually over burden the detoxification and elimination pathways; resulting in additional circulating toxins and adding more stress to the body than you began with. (Detoxification programmes are better to be introduced during spring when the body has more energy and naturally moves into a more intensive natural detox, but even then, preparation is key to eliminate the risk of an increased toxic load).
Focusing on improving your health is important at anytime of the year. During winter, exercise should be gentle, a brisk walk in the winter sun will do a lot more for you then a torturous gym workout that you are not used to. An extra hour in bed and reducing unnecessary tasks will help increase a sense of calm and aid mental and physical healing. Eating warm soups and casseroles made from seasonal and local vegetables with added herbs and warming spices will make the body feel nourished and safe. Only when the body is feeling nourished, safe and in balance will that extra weight that you may be carrying start to disappear – for good.
So maybe this year, it is time to consider a different New Year health plan – one that focuses on self-care, nourishment, and love. One that reduces the overall stress on the mental and physical body rather than adds to it. One that feels like a hug rather than a punishment.
(If you would like an informal chat to find out if a more naturopathic approach to health is something that would be of interest to you, please arrange a free telephone call time by FB messenger or via the 'Book Now' facility on the website www.nourishnt.co.uk)
