Get the Glow (5 page)

Q: I’m an emotional eater. Please help!

A: Don’t walk through the door and reach for the cupboards – food is not a distraction. Instead, stay away from the kitchen – hop in the shower, read a book, close your eyes and take a breath. Combat stress with love, not food.

BEAT

the

BLOAT

week four

So you’re eating and thinking clean, you’re sugar free and nourishing your body with good food. Give yourself a pat on the back! Now we’re going to create healthy internals to beat that bloated feeling.

get acquainted with your gut

Gut health isn’t a sexy subject, but your digestive system is so important. After all, it’s where you absorb your food – and your gut contains about 70 per cent of your immune system, which is a lot! When your gut lining is damaged it allows partially digested foods to slip through and escape into your bloodstream. This puts great strain on your liver (which detoxifies the blood) and this in turn stresses the body every time you eat. So even if you eat all the kale and coconuts in the world, you’ll never reach optimum health with an unhealthy gut.

Many things can damage the state of your gut, with oral contraceptives, alcohol, sugar and stress being just a handful of harmful factors. But I know you can’t necessarily wave a magic wand and banish these from your life, so in five easy steps I’ll show you how to keep bad digestion at bay.

1.
goodbye gluten!

The first step is to say good riddance to gluten. You may have noticed that my recipes are very low in carbohydrates, with no bread in sight, and they’re also always gluten free.

This is because gluten can cause a huge amount of inflammation in the gut, which leads to bloating, poor digestion and even inflammatory disease if consumed on a regular basis.

what is gluten?

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye
and barley. The most important glutinous grain to ditch is wheat, which is like sandpaper for the gut.

When there is an excess of gluten, gluten phytates bind with calcium, iron, magnesium and phosphorus – making these minerals harder for your body to absorb effectively, leaving you deprived. When these minerals are lacking you can feeling sluggish and low in energy.

Not everyone is gluten intolerant, and I don’t think you have to give it up forever, but most people see an improvement when they reduce it in their diet.

After just a few weeks, you’ll enjoy:

• More energy

• Less bloating

• Better digestion

Sounds pretty wonderful, right? Try going gluten free for the next two weeks, and see what a difference it can make.

life without gluten

On a very basic level, a gluten-free life means no bread, takeaway pizza, pasta and no to most cookies and cakes. I know this sounds a little bleak, but there are lots of great alternatives as you’ll see from the recipes in the next section of the book.

gluten-free goodness

With these simple swaps, you’ll soon find that going gluten free is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

I know it’s hard to part ways with these carbs. They’re comforting, but soon you’ll feel so amazing without them that you will forget toast ever existed!

watch out, gluten’s about

Gluten can be hiding sneakily in many foods that you might not expect:

• Soups

• Condiments

• Alcohol

• Breadcrumbs

• 
Hot dogs

• Salad dressings

• Stock cubes

• Processed foods

• Gravy

• Barley, bulghur, spelt

2. beneficial bacteria

The second step to help you beat the bloat is to restore the balance between the good and bad bacteria in your gut.

Although it sounds unpleasant, bacteria are the foundation of your life and health. Imbalanced bacteria in the gut causes digestive issues, low immunity, weight gain and skin problems. Good bacteria are essential for your health, as they:

• extract energy from food

• modulate the immune system

• help regulate hormones.

fab fermented foods

The best way to restore this imbalance is to get probiotic-rich food into your diet. Foods that have been fermented are rich in enzymes that help you digest and absorb food.

• 
Sauerkraut
: Fermented cabbage

• 
Kefir:
Fermented yoghurt

• 
Kombucha:
Fermented tea

• 
Miso:
Fermented soy beans

action plan

You should aim to eat some form of fermented food every day for the next two weeks. It is best to get good bacteria into the gut through a food source (rather than tons of yoghurt drinks) as your body will absorb it better.

So, try to eat 2 tablespoons of kefir or sauerkraut per day, with meals. Ideally choose unpasteurised sauerkraut or kefir, as these contain the highest amounts of good bacteria (the pasteurisation kills a lot of it).

Doubling up with probiotic tablets – which are a concentrated form of good bacteria – will also help restore the gut to its natural healthy state. They particularly help with IBS, constipation and diarrhoea. Every morning, take the recommended daily allowance of probiotics, making sure you choose a probiotic that contains at least 4 billion viable organisms with as many different types of probiotic species as possible, from both the lactobacillus and bifidobacterium families.

3. pro protein

Protein is the third step to beat the bloat. It is key to living a hot and healthy life, and it helps heal your gut too. Protein contains anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats
that soothe the gut lining. It helps to build strong hair, promote glowing skin and maintain steady blood-sugar levels, as it is metabolised over a long period of time. So make sure you include it in every meal.

It is best to get protein from animal sources, as they contain all eight essential amino acids; however, there are lots of awesome veggie and vegan options too. Variety is key, so take a look at this list of the best sources of protein:

• Grass-fed/pasture-raised meat

• Wild game

• Free-range chicken and turkey

• Cold-water fish

• Seafood

• Free-range eggs

• Hemp seeds

• Chia seeds

• Quinoa

• Superfoods – spirulina and wild blue-green algae

• Pumpkin seeds

• Pulses and beans – make sure these are soaked overnight before being eaten to promote proper digestion

grass-fed meat

Many people think meat is unhealthy and that you should limit your meat intake. I totally respect that people don’t eat meat for ethical reasons, and others don’t like the taste. But if you aren’t vegetarian, meat is a good protein source and therefore an extremely important part of your diet. Of course, I’m not saying you should eat frankfurters all day long, but good-quality grass-fed meat is very beneficial to your beautiful body.

‘Grass-fed meat’ simply means that the animal has eaten grass its entire life. You are probably thinking that cows always eat grass . . . well, not all of them. In fact, some of the beef on supermarket shelves comes from cows placed in massive pens and stuffed full of grain, as it’s a lot cheaper than rotating them around grass fields.

It’s common sense that what goes into the cow will go into you once you’ve devoured your delicious beef stew. Omega -3 fatty acids originate from the green leaves of plants and algae, so grass-fed animals have more of these essential nutrients due to their diet. In the same way, fish contain copious amounts of omega-3 fatty acids due to their algae and phytoplankton-rich diets. Omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation in the body, improve brain function – and enhance your glow.

grass-fed goodness

• Grass-fed meat contains 20 times more vitamin E than corn- or soy-fed meat.

• 
It doesn’t contain any nasty trans fatty acids.

• It is the richest known natural source of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), which makes you slimmer.

• It contains extra amounts of beta-carotene, a powerful antioxidant.

Switching to grass-fed isn’t a fad or a new diet, it’s just eating proper food. So cut out processed ham, sausages and fast-food meat and hunt down a good butcher or order your meat online from a farm. It really isn’t more expensive, and you don’t have to eat it every day. It tastes so much better, and you will seriously feel the benefits.

4. beat the bloat with bone broth

Going gluten free, and introducing good bacteria and quality protein into your diet will have done wonders for your gut health. My last tip is to drink bone broth.

This may sound a little odd and outdated, but hear me out. Drinking bone broth is an amazing ancient technique for restoring your gut to good health. Bone broth is similar to stock, and we all know that chicken stock can cure a cold.