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Women of Inspiration 2014

Its that time of year again. The time when we come over all reflective on the year that just passed.

We are so thankful every day here at The Body Retreat for the inspiration that comes with running the only health and well-being retreat run by women for women. We get to work with some amazing women, women who join us on retreat, women who support us in our business, women who inspire us from afar.

Last year we began what I hope to become a long running tradition, sharing some of the Women of Inspiration that we meet on our journey. Sharing just a few of the many inspirational women from our year. We share our thanks for the inspiration that these women have given to us and hope that you will be inspired by them too. So now we have been in a reflective state of mind during January and we would like to share our Women of Inspiration 2014.

Last year we sort of had a theme of “Niceness” in our three lovely ladies…we love niceness here at The Body Retreat and think that it is a much maligned word…and overlooked personal quality. We believe that it really is Nice to be Nice. And we love others who are genuinely nice too. So reflecting on what our ladies had in common this year we were struck by a common thread. All three of this years Women of Inspiration have inspired us by their selflessness. That innate ability to put others first, to make those around then feel better….sometimes by doing nothing at all really…its just sort how they are. That really is such an attractive quality.

This year we start with an old face….. she will hate me for suggesting that she is old…. because she is anything but!! Of course I should have said a Familiar Face.

Our first Women of Inspiration 2014 is non other that Miss Louise Wisson…. or Lulu to her friends.

Lulu Wisson

Last year we shared how inspired we were by Lulu’s commitment to her health and welling despite her battle with rare primary peritoneal cancer. As a long time friend and supporter of The Body Retreat we have been privileged to be a part of Lulu’s journey as she worked towards health. Lulu inspired us by her commitment to healthy eating and staying fit and active through out her treatment. No excuses, Lulu was committed to her health and so she made effort every single day to do something that improved it, wether that be take a walk, make a healthy soup, practice mindfulness or spend time enjoying her great passion for baking. We celebrated when after a round of aggressive surgery and the resultant equally aggressive chemo Lulu was clear of cancer.

Then came the news that no one wants to hear…IT’S BACK! Just like that… a sideswipe. But again Lulu shines out for everyone as a beacon of positivity. Lulu shares her story on her blog http://louisewisson.com. Her bravery and positive attitude are such an inspiration that the word hardly seems to do her justice. Having hit her target to raise £10k for her chosen cancer charities including The Eve Appeal, which specialises in research into gynaecological cancers, Lulu is now looking to increase that to a whopping £100,000. With her determination, her positive mental attitude and the love and support hat she seems to naturally evoke in every one who meets her we are sure that this is well within her grasp.

But you knows what is really inspirational about Lulu…thats despite everything that is going on in her life she is still thinking of others and often putting them to the top of her priority list. Wether that be joining us at our Charity Bootcamp Day, supporting The Body Retreat to continue to spread the message of women’s wellness or even just asking after a fellow retreater. Lulu inspires us by her selflessness time and time again.

Our next Woman of Inspiration for 2014 is Jeanne Driebeek

Jeanne has been joining us at The Body Retreat from before we were even The Body Retreat!!! Jeanne began her weight loss journey back about 7 years ago working with Julie Brealy. But it’s not the fact that Jeanne lost an impressive number of stone or that she has successfully kept it off that we thought of Jeanne as an inspiration this year.

During 2014 Jeanne suffered with an shoulder injury, despite this and the personal frustration it must have caused her to not be able to work out at the intensity and pace she normally does, when Jeanne joined us on retreat she was a real support for her fellow retreaters. Some of whom were brand new and so naturally a little nervous in the first few days and Jeanne really went out of her way to welcome them to the group, encourage them up hills, though olive groves, through moonlit morning circuits and starlit dance class . You could see the relief on the new recruits faces.

Jeanne is also famous on retreat for her tardis like packing..need a blister plaster, safety pin, washing line to dry your pants, backpack, water bottle, organic decaffeinated earl grey teabag…..Jeanne is your woman!! Im sure Jeanne packs for the whole party not just her own needs. Selflessness often isn’t about the big stuff but rather the hundred little acts of kindness that put someone else’s need above your own…Jeanne is a great example of that and we are very lucky to have her continued support and friendship.

Our last Women of Inspiration is Jane Alexander.

Jane has been a friend of The Body Retreat for many years. Jane is a real advocate of womens wellbeing, she is a published author (her book The Overload Solution is one of our Top 7 Books for Health & Wellbeing) and columnist for publications like Natural Health and Top Sante. But for us what is inspiring about Jane is that beyond her vast knowledge of her subject matter Jane processes an ever enquiring mind. Jane doesn’t consider herself the finished article, the definitive “Expert” with the Capital E, but remains open and keen to learn more, explore further, delve deeper into the journey that is the path to wellness. Don’t you just hate those “Experts” who think they know it all and are not open to hearing anything else, anyone else’s opinion, anything that might be new… Jane is so far removed from this, she is a true expert who wants to listen and learn. It’s refreshing and inspiring.

We have been lucky to welcome Jane onto retreat a couple of times now and she always has a warmth and openness, never once do her well being credentials overwhelm you. But it’s nice to be kept on your game, we pride ourselves at The Body Retreat that we remain at the cutting edge of women’s wellness, we do this in many ways through training, reading, study and by having inspiring experts we can call friends. If you want to discover more about Jane and her on health and wellbeing you will enjoy her blog entitled Never Knowingly Overwhelmed

We would Love to hear from you, which women has inspired you recently and why? Please share your Woman of Inspiration by leaving us a comment in the box at the bottom.

Lets spread a little love and inspiration 🙂

Whats Love Got To Do With Body Confidence?

Whether Valentine’s Day is marked with a big red heart in your diary, or perhaps its a date to avoid all public places and ostentatious shows of love, but whatever you are planning it is a time when thoughts inevitably begin to stray to the L-word.

LOVE

When we think about Love we tend to think of those people in our lives whom we Love.. family , friends, partners, pets..we may even profess a Love for a certain fragrance or handbag.

But what about Loving Yourself?

Where does that Love come on your list?

For many of the ladies we have meet at The Body Retreat or through our private work…Loving Yourself sounds very odd…perhaps even stupid, dirty, selfish etc etc

There can be many reasons for this, but one of the most common that we have encountered is that many women don’t like the body they are in. They have learnt to not only dislike their body but to actively hate it. So how can you begin to Love Yourself when you feel that such a big part of you is just wrong!!

And don’t get me wrong this has nothing to do with size, shape or weight.

This is about perception.

Wether you are a size 10 or a size 20 you can have an unhelpful perception about your own body which in turn clouds how you feel about yourself as a person, how you view your contribution in life, how you measure your success.

At The Body Retreat we are passionate that every woman should define herself and not be dictated by the number on the scales of in the back of her sweater…nor by the media who are relentless is showing us what “perfect” look like.

Nobody is perfect and no body is perfect either!! Just recently while watching Big Brother (no judgement please!!) it was revealed that at the age of 40 Cameron Diaz was using a 19 year old bum double for a film she was in. This sort of stuff is not at all helpful to how real women of the same age then view their bum… they are comparing it to a teenagers!! This is just one small example of how woman are sent mixed and at times toxic messages about how they view the female form.

We say enough is enough.

It is time to reclaim LOVE for yourself.

Our Top Three Tips for beginning this journey to LOVE & Body Confidence

1. Go on a one month media fast. Ditch the glossy magazines in particular. Stop accepting, even on a sub conscious level, that the images they portray are real.
2. Every day for one week stand in front of your mirror and pick one thing about your appearance you like and acknowledge this to yourself out loud.
3. Ask your best friend to tell you 3 things that they love about you. Sometimes its just nice to hear what others love about you.. it can help to change your perception.

If you find any of the exercises tough to do or perhaps you feel a real resistance to the very concept of Loving Yourself..then don’t worry. We may have just the solution.

This Valentines Weekend we have joined forces with Heart Your Body, Body Confidence Experts to run an amazing weekend retreat that is specially designed to help you to get over those first hurdles and begin your journey to true body confidence. Learning more about what body confidence is and isn’t, beginning to nourish yourself from the inside out and begining to reclaim your whole self.

We think that is worthy of a big red heart in any woman’s calendar.

If you have found this post helpful or interesting, then please share the love and forward to a friend or share on your chosen social media platform.

Quick & Healthy Chicken and Lemon Soup

Lunches can be a challenge when you are trying to follow your commitment to eat healthy meals, thats why so many of us revert to the humble sandwich but as we have discussed in previous blog, eating a sandwich at lunchtime is actually going to set you up for weight gain…even if you eat one of those plastic fantastic calorie counted ones the supermarkets offer.

Soup really is the savour of waistlines, you make rustle up a soup that is high in protein, antioxidants and fibre in just minutes and once you have mastered a few basic chopping skills you will wonder what ever stopped you from unleashing your inner Nigella before.

So, onto the Chicken & Lemon Soup

If like me you had a roast chicken at the weekend and have all but stripped the poor bird bare, wait a moment before you throw her out. Because I would like to share with you a delicious and nutritious soup recipe that takes only about 30 mins to prepare and will keep you feeling full all afternoon. The addition of fresh lemon to this hearty soup really lifts the flavours and takes that humble old bird carcus to a new level. Don’t be put off by the steps for making your own stock, this really is the most simple soup ever.. and you can feel doubly virtuous as you enjoy a big bowl full that not only are you eating a healthy and nutritious home cooked meal but you have also wasted nothing, we are really keen on that at The Body Retreat.

This soup make a great lunch if you are trying to stick to your healthy eating commitment or if you are detoxing from all the Christmas excess. We make a version of this soup on our Weight Loss Retreat that I call Irish Granny’s Soup as it has the addition of pot barley too. If you are a vegetarian you can replace the chicken with a can of rinsed chick peas but will also need to add a good quality veg stock like Marigold Bullion.

(you can freeze this soup or it will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days)

Serves 6

1 Chicken Carcus

1 Leek, sliced

3 Sticks Celery, chopped

1 Onion, chopped

2 large leaves Savoy Cabbage

1 sml head broccoli, chopped into florets

25gm Frozen Broad Beans

25gm Frozen Peas

Few springs fresh thyme or tsp of dried is ok too.

Grated rind of full Lemon

Salt & Black Pepper

Ok first things first…its time to get all that last lovely goodness from you bird. Place the carcus in a large pot and cover with about 1.5 lts boiling water. Bring to a gentle simmer on the stove and cover and leave to just bubble away for about 20 mins.

You can now get on with chopping your veggies, there is no right or wrong way, just small enough so that you can get a variety of veggies in one spoonfull.

Now for the messy bit…and ill admit i always wear a pair of rubber gloves for these, i keep a box of disposable gloves in the kitchen for jobs just like this. Take the pot of the stove and allow to cooler for a moment or tow, then lie the carcus out of the stock flaking off any last little bits of meat that by now will be falling off the bones. Discard the carcus and before you add the veggies just need to have a check that no small bones have fallen into the stock.

Add the veggies expect the broccoli, beans and peas and the thyme and bring back to a gentle simmer for 10 mins. Then add the broccoli, beans and peas…you can add the beans and peas straight form the freezer there is no need to defrost.

Finally , grate over the zest of a whole lemon and add a little salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper to taste.

And that is it. Just a few simple steps to make a delicious and nutritious soup that is perfect for lunchtime.

Are You Resolving to Resolve this New Year?

Its New Years Day and around the country people are sharing their new years resolutions.

Are you one of them?

There is no law that says you need to make new years resolutions, yet there is something about a new year brings that makes it natural to think about the year ahead and what you want it to be like, or should that be how you want it to be different for the year just past. Fresh starts, new opportunities and all that.

Its probably no surprise that the number one resolution is to lose weight particular after the recent period of festive indulgence over Christmas. Its probably also not too much of a surprise that around 92% of new year resolutions fail within the the first 6 weeks. When you look at statistics like that it makes you wonder why you would bother with resolutions …. I mean why deliberately set yourself up for failure. That’s not an optimistic start to a new year.

What is it about resolutions that makes them so hard to stick to? Well, most resolutions that are about what people feel they SHOULD DO and not so much about what they WANT TO DO. They always seem to be around something you want to give up, smoking, drinking, eating chocolate, snacking, … the list goes on. And of course the other reason they are difficult to achieve is that people go cold turkey, they go all out to and try to do too much too soon. Then they quickly feel overwhelmed and soon the cracks begin to appear.

If you feel that a New Year deserves some new resolutions then can we suggest our Alternative Resolutions For 2015. Choose those that feel right for you right now, those are the ones you will be most likely to enjoy and so it will feel natural and easy to incorporate into your life.

The Body Retreat’s Alternative Resolutions For 2015

1. Fall in Love with Yourself. Start by beginning to Like Yourself. Pick just one thing that you do like about yourself and begin your love affair from this single attribute.

2. Respect & Protect Your Body. No dieting, no deprivation but equally no binging, no relying on convenience foods but rather when you choose to eat make sure that your choice is something that respects and protects your body…and yes that does mean having the odd treat too.

3. Be Kind to Yourself. You know the old saying “treat others as you would like to be treated” well make this the year you turn it on its head and start to treat yourself as you do others. Be kind to yourself when you make a mistake, be gentle with yourself when learning something new and speak kindly to yourself when you slip up.

4. Make Time for Yourself Every Day. There are 24 hours in every day, so even if its only 5 minutes. Make time for yourself to do something that is just for you. Often we women put ourselves at the bottom of the “To do” list. This year begin to reclaim You Time.

5. Read More, More Often. Studies show that those who read more have a wider perspective on life and are generally less stressed. It’s thought that loosing yourself in a good book helps you to relax.

6. Be Mindful. Practising Mindfulness improves both you mental and physical health. Don’t be put off by the idea that you need to find hours to begin your practice on our Stress Reset Retreat we begin by teaching a very simple 3 minute Mindfulness practice that can be done many times in the day and so build up your Mindful Muscles. When it comes to Mindfulness, small steps do begin big gains.

7. Trust Your Inner Voice. Woman have amazing intuition, often sensing how others are feeling and thinking but some women begin to lose confidence in their own inner voice when it comes to their own needs and wants. Often their gut feel is pitted against the logical brian thought and comes off the loser…sometimes it is the correct outcome but not always. So begin listening to your inner voice, sensing how you feel about things not only what you think about them.

8. Be Grateful Daily. Research has found that those who practice gratitude daily report less aches and pains and feel healthier in addition it has be linked to improvements in stress levels and sleep. Its a good practice to write down three things you are grateful for every day..everyone can name a couple of things off the top of their heads but the third often requires more thought and so therefore is more meaningful.

9. Let Go off The Past. Constantly looking on the rear view mirror is distracting and stops you from seeing the road ahead or appreciating the view around you. So while its good to remember the past do not dwell on things that may have happened.

10. Let Yourself be You. Are you trying to be someone else, or live up to someone else’s ideal of what you should or should not be? Nothing is more destructive of your confidence or self esteem. Make this the year that you define yourself and do not allow yourself to be dictated to, whether that be your size, shape, weight, the job your do, the hobbies you have or even the clothes you wear. Let Yourself be You …but you can take pride in being the best version of You.

So there you have it… an alternate view on new years resolutions. No deprivation, no “Shouda, Woulda, Coulda”, simple practices that will improve the quality of your health and well-being right from the get go.

We would love to hear what resolutions you have chosen …did any of our list make the cut for you? If there is anything on the list that you feel nervous about or feel you would like more help to explore and make right for you then why not join us at The Body Retreat. We have helped hundred of women decide for themselves what health and wellbeing looks and feels like.

Whether you resolve or not resolve may the New Year bring you health and happiness, peace and prosperity. You will find the comments section right at the bottom of the page and if you feel that anyone you know would benefit from our Alternative New Year Resolutions then please feel free to share … the buttons are all along the side.

Happy New Year from all of us at The Body Retreat.

Christmas Party Survival

How to best navigate the Christmas parties without piling on the extra pounds?

This weekend sees the christmas party season at its height. For some people while they are looking forward to getting together with friends and family there is a slight sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach… you see for them Christmas Party = BLOWOUT!!! So they feel almost drawn into over indulging as if it were beyond their control.

If this sounds like you then take heart…because there are simple strategies that you can use to help you to remain in control, avoid over indulging but still have a great time and enjoy a few treats and temptations.

Christmas Party Survival Guide

The first and most important rule is to never go to a party on an empty stomach. You will not be able to make any sensible decisions about what and how much to eat when your tummy is rumbling and your nose is fine tuned to notice all the tantalising smells wafting from the trays of canapés being proffered to you.

Having a little healthy snack should be part of your getting ready routine. The snack should include some protein to keep the hunger at bay for longer. If you are in a hurry, have some natural yoghurt with muesli. Or if you have more time, go for a boiled egg with rye toast soldiers…really need to eat and run… Nut Butter on Rye Toast is the perfect portable protein snack.

At the party, don’t stand next to the buffet table, you will be tempted to pick at bits, instead take a plate full of the items you really want to eat and enjoy them back at your table. Avoid any deep fried canapés such as mini spring rolls and samosas, and go for the ones that include some protein. Look out for chicken satay sticks or prawns. They are simple, but will fill you up more quickly and keep you going for longer. If you can’t help picking on something see if there are some olives being offered. The fat they contain is actually good for you.

When it comes to the dinner party, firstly remember that you don’t have to eat all three courses! But if that feels a bit too Scrooge like for your Christmas spirit then choose one of the three course to be your free meal, where you can choose any foods you fancy. Then chose your other two courses to be balanced, looking for high protein low fat options…and remember to eat consciously if you can leave something on your plate at christmas you have CRACKED IT!! 😉

And just a gentle warning on the alcohol side. On the day of a big party keep a two ltre bottle of water on your desk at work and look to finish by the end of work This way you are fully hydrated before you begin to drink alcohol. Avoid punches and pre mixed cocktails, they will be loaded with sugar instead stick to champagne … only 90 cals per glass. If you are drinking wine look to match each glass of wine with a glass of water and you’ll feel much better the next day. See our Guidelines for Festive Tipple Survival.

And if you do end up over indulging a bit, don’t panic -there’s always the New Year to get back on track!

Tag: The Body Retreat