For this weeks Freebie Friday we have teamed up with Nelsons, the UK’s leading manufacturer of natural healthcare products, to give away 10 of their NEW Bach Emotional Eating Kits.

The Bach Emotional Eating Kit is a set of three 10ml flower essences to give a helping hand with diet and healthy living regimes. It is the first product available in the UK to help with emotional eating. You can create your own individual combination and adapt it to suit your changing moods. The essences are alcohol and additive free and suitable for the whole family.

The Bach™ Original Flower Essences in Bach Emotional Eating Kit are made using natural flower essences which originate from the Bach Centre and are produced according to Dr Bach’s traditional methods, which date back over 75 years

Bach Emotional Eating Kit includes the essences:

* Crab Apple – When you feel unclean or dislike something about yourself, Crab Apple can help you accept yourself and your imperfections. Self acceptance means you will be less likely to rely on food to make you feel good.

* Cherry Plum – When you fear you might lose control of your diet, Cherry Plum can help you to think and act rationally.

* Chestnut Bud – When you find yourself repeating the same dieting mistakes, Chestnut Bud can help you gain knowledge from your experience. This means you are less likely to fall into your old bad habits, for example reaching for food when things get tough.

Sandy Newbigging, Mind Detox expert and author of Life-Changing Weight Loss says: ‘To avoid having to deal with emotions such as boredom, grief, loneliness and guilt it is common for people to keep themselves busy by numbing the feelings with food.”  However Sandy believes the new kit can help people take control of their emotional eating: ‘The Bach Emotional Eating Kit can give a helping hand with the various negative feelings and emotions that may be affecting your eating habits and help you make positive changes to your lifestyle’

HOW TO WIN

To be in with a chance of winning 1 of 10 kits just leave a comment after this post telling us when you are most likely to comfort eat and what your favourite comfort food is.

10 names will be chosen at random and the winners will be notified directly by email.

You can also sign up for the Bach emotional eating text tips by simply texting BACH to 81400. All you pay is your standard network text rate for the initial text and they will send your 7 tips FREE to your mobile, one each day for a week. You will also receive an exclusive £1 off Bach Emotional Eating Kit discount code for use online at Boots.com. Terms and conditions can be found at www.bachremedies.co.uk.

Bach Emotional Eating Kit costs £9.95 and is available from Boots, Holland and Barrett and all good independent healthfood and pharmacy stores. For more information, visit www.bachremedies.co.uk.

Popularity: 21% [?]

When you become a parent your relationship with sleep changes for ever. Add to the mix the added stress of running a business around a family, and it can be all too easy to end up burning the candle at both ends, and sacrificing sleep in favour of ticking off a neverending To Do list. In this article Registered Nurse Sue Bedford explains why sleep is so important and offers some tips for a good night’s sleep.   

Why we need sleep

Without sleep our body would be unable to function and most of us know how awful we feel when we have gone without sleep for long periods.  Sleep is the time when our body repairs itself, detoxifies and rejuvenates.  Ideally, we should get about eight hours of sleep each night but some will need more and others will need less, depending on age and health status.

 Tips for a good night’s sleep

1.  Take 20 to 30 minutes of exercise during the day, rather than the evening, such as a brisk walk, housework, or an activity which will increase your heart rate!  Yoga and stretching exercises may also help, particularly if you feel stressed.

2.  Eat your main meal before 7pm.  This allows your digestive system to settle down after working hard to process the food through your stomach.

3.  Avoid smoking or smoky atmospheres as nicotine is a stimulant.  Alcohol is also a stimulant so is best avoided if you want a restful night’s sleep.

4.  Avoid caffeinated products in the evening, such as coffee, tea and chocolate (sorry!).  Caffeine is a stimulant and can affect some people for up to 12 hours.

5.  Plan the following day’s activities in your diary, prepare packed lunches and the clothes you will be wearing so you have less on your mind when you go to bed.

6.  Avoid falling asleep in the early evening in front of the TV.  Get up and do something if you feel sleepy.

7.  Have a regular bedtime routine to prepare your body for sleep.  For example, read or listen to soft music.  Avoid watching stimulating programmes or films containing violence, loud noises or horror.

8.  Avoid bedtime snacks that contain sugar.  If you cannot sleep because you are hungry, choose a snack containing a nutrient called tryptophan which helps your body release the sleep hormones, serotonin and melatonin. This can be found in hazel nuts or peanuts, sesame or sunflower seeds, and bananas and should be consumed no later than an hour before bedtime.  Milk also contains tryptophan so a milky drink may also aid sleep.  Some people find chamomile tea has a relaxing effect at bedtime.

9.  If you feel stressed and find it hard to relax, try relaxation techniques such as deep breathing or progressively squeezing and relaxing your muscles from your feet to your shoulders. Listening to a relaxation CD may also help.

10.  Make sure your room is totally dark, quiet and has adequate ventilation.  If your bed is uncomfortable or over 10 years old, replace your mattress.  Pillows should be soft and not bulky to avoid neck strain and choose bedding appropriate for the time of year to avoid being too hot or too cold.  Electrical devices such as a radio alarm or TV should be moved as far away from your bed as possible because their electromagnetic waves interfere with sleep.

11.  Sleeping tablets prescribed by your doctor should be a last resort and should only be used for a short period as they can be addictive and make matters worse.  Natural ingredients that have been found to aid sleep include Valerian, Passionflower, Lemon Balm, or Hops.  A few drops of Lavender and Chamomile essential oils sprinkled on a pillow may also be helpful.  If you find you toss and turn frequently during the night, you may be low in magnesium so a supplement containing magnesium citrate may help. 

NB. Having recently experienced a period of difficulty sleeping I was kindly sent some Layla Sleepy Oils from Sharon Murphy, founder of Maia Skincare. You apply the oils to your wrists, neck and forehead before bed, and the blend of natural essential oils calm & soothe you ready for sleep. I used the oils every night and the smell of the oils soon became synonomous with sleep for me. Unlike some relaxing oils, which rely heavily on Lavendar, these oils had a lovely, warming aroma, and certainly helped in promoting a really restful sleep. So if you do have trouble sleeping I would definitely recommend you try these. (Sam – Mum’s The Boss)

Sue Bedford is a mum of 4, and runs 2 businesses from home. Pulse Health Screening offers health assessments and a wide range of tests and services in the Beds, Bucks and Herts area, most of which are unavailable in the NHS. Sue also has a diploma course in nutrition and runs a website called Healthy Choices offering nutrition & lifestyle advice along with a range of toxin-free, personal care and household products.

Popularity: 10% [?]

No, this is not, as you might think, a post moaning about the World Cup and all the football on TV at the moment. It’s about all the metaphorical ‘balls’ we try and keep in the air at any one time – kids, home, business, family, friends and ourselves.

Nor is this a post that is going to offer you ‘10 Top Tips’ to help you keep all these balls in the air at once. It’s actually going to encourage you to let some of them fall to the ground.

Sometimes in life we get so caught up in being ‘busy’ that we lose sight of what is really important – and you can only reasses this when you step off the treadmill for a moment and stop. Often these periods of reflection are forced upon at times of illness or difficulty, when real life steps in and forces our hand. This has happened to me recently, and I have been forced to admit I have been neglecting some pretty important stuff at the expence of some pretty trivial stuff.

But rather than me try and give you any miracle answers, all I will suggest is you do what I did and ask yourself the following questions:

• What or who have I been neglecting lately?
• Is there anything that takes up a disproportionate amount of my time each day?
• Is there anything I can let go of?

And from time to time, just remind yourself of the following: “Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time” - Jim Rohn

Popularity: 6% [?]

Life is not measured by
the number of breaths we take,
but by the moments
that take our breath away

Anon

Popularity: 4% [?]

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.

Mark Twain

Popularity: 4% [?]

This week we are setting you a Daily Challenge – to spend ½ hour every day doing something you enjoy and which relaxes you. 

Schedule it in if you need to and add it to your To Do list. Just make sure you do something that isn’t about the home, the business or your family – just about YOU.

After a week or so, compare how you feel on the days you DO get some me-time and the days when you don’t.

 Andf if you’re so out of the habit that you’re stuck for ideas, here are a few to get you started:

• Sit and have a cuppa in the garden
• Take a Power Nap
• Walk round the block
• Read a chapter of book or magazine
• Take a bath/shower in peace
• Put on a face mask & put your feet up
• Start writing a diary
• Get crafty and do some sewing, knitting, card-making etc
• Give yourself a pedicure
• Buy a favourite Box Set and watch one episode per day

And if you need permission to snatch these 30 minutes every day, tell your family that Sam & Helen told you you must!

Popularity: 8% [?]

Courage does not always roar.
Sometimes, it is the quiet voice
at the end of the day saying,
“I will try again tomorrow”.

Maryanne Radanbacher

Popularity: 6% [?]

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
– Marianne Williamson

Popularity: 5% [?]

If you don’t like something change it;
if you can’t change it,
change the way you think about it. 

Mary Engelbreit

Popularity: 4% [?]

Our business in life is not to get ahead of others,
but to get ahead of ourselves,
to break our own records,
to outstrip our yesterday by our today.

Stewart B. Johnson

Popularity: 3% [?]

“You are always a valuable, worthwhile human being – not because anybody says so, not because you’re successful, not because you make a lot of money — but because you decide to believe it and for no other reason.”
 
Wayne Dyer

Popularity: 4% [?]

The word “impossible” 
 is black.
“I can” is like 
 a flame of gold.

Catherine Cookson
(1906-1998)
from Plainer Still

Popularity: 3% [?]

“….if a window opens
and the prospect pleases,
float through it;
that window
may never open again.”

Mirabel Osler from ‘In The Eye of the Garden’

Popularity: 3% [?]

“I am what I am
And what I am
needs no excuses…..”
from La Cage aux Folles

What’s more I am not a clothes label, a newspaper,  a TV channel,  a political party,  a make of car,  a holiday desitination or a brand of buggy.

I am not yummy, slummy, earthy, alpha, retro, attachment, middle-class, chav, cloth nappy, baby-wearing, organic, non-organic, controlled-crying, vegetarian, meat-eating, feminist, traditionalist, designer, liberal, conservative, socialist, scrounging, breastfeeding, bottlefeeding, over-anxious, boho, pushy, unmarried, single, teenage or aging – or any of the other ‘labels’ you wish to bestow on me.

I am a mum. And I am so much more besides.

Popularity: 5% [?]

We were emailed this story recently and thought it was just too good not to share.

Recently, in a large city in Australia, a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym. It said, “This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?” A middle-aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.

To Whom It May Concern,

Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans). They have an active sex life, get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp. They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia. Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world.

Mermaids don’t exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human? They don’t have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex? Just look at them … where is IT? Therefore, they don’t have kids either. Not to mention, who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store?

The choice is perfectly clear to me: I want to be a whale.

P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver, and a piece of chocolate with my friends.

With time, we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren’t heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy.

Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, ¨Good grief, look how smart I am!

How fabulous do you feel now, having read that??!!

Popularity: 16% [?]

“Take the first step in faith.
You don’t have to see the whole staircase,
just take the first step.”

Martin Luther King

Popularity: 2% [?]