Want to Loose Weight? Stop Counting Calories!

Why? Because calories don’t measure nutrients and if your body hasn’t got all the nutrients it needs you are always going to be hungry!

The best way to get your body to its natural, ideal weight is:

1. Eat nutrient dense foods

2. Eat plenty of healthy oils

3. Take nutrient dense supplements

4. Cut out foods that act as fillers

5. Cut out sugar

If we take a look at a not untypical diet. White bread, biscuits and french fries are often consumed every day. These foods are what I call fillers. They don’t contain many nutrients in terms of minerals, vitamins and anti-oxidants. However they often contain unhealthy fats, salt and sugar, flavours that trick our brains into believing these foods are what we need.

Filler foods are hard work on the digestive system with little reward for your body in terms of nutrients. They often cause inflammation and congestion in the gut which inhibits absorption of nutrients still further.

Sugar creates havoc if you are trying to loose weight. It throws off your blood sugar balance, promotes candida and excess is turned to fat. So if you can stay away, or cut down and use unrefined sugar, all the better.

Filler foods are commonly white in colour. Wheat based foods – pasta, white bread and flour based foods – pastries, cakes and biscuits and potatoes. These foods all break down into sugars and not a lot else. Remember what excess sugar turns into… you got it, FAT.

Nutrient dense foods. These are whole-foods which will provide you with all your energy needs plus they are packed with good nutrients. They are: All the colourful vegetables and deep colour fruits.

In the grain department Millet, Quinoa, Amaranth, Brown Rice, are all nutrient dense, rich in proteins, vitamins and minerals.

Nuts and seeds are natures amazing bounty. These are incredibly nutrient dense and will fill you up way before they can make you fat!

Fats and oils are such an important part of your diet! If you don’t have these you will crave the bad stuff. Eat those avocados. Use plenty of extra virgin olive oil. Introduce other seed oils like hemp (rich in omega 3 & 6) into your diet.

Supplements

Unfortunately with the best will in the world even eating all these great healthy foods may not ensure you are getting all the nutrients you need. Farming methods have depleted the soils. So eating organic is a start on getting more nutrients, but also adding in supplements like Sea Kelp (rich in minerals and Iodine) and Super-Greens (rich in everything!). A Fish or Krill oil supplement is recommended if you are not eating oily fish 3-4x a week. Our food chain is desperately deficient in Omega 3, and this nutrient is so important whether you are trying to loose weight or not. For more information come and ask our friendly, knowledgeable staff.

The EU Herbal Directive and What it Means For You

Two significant events have taken place over the past month. Firstly Herbalists will be allowed to continue prescribing and administering herbal medicines and mixtures. This, for at time, had looked under threat!

Secondly, the EU Traditional Medicinal Products Directive was brought into force on May 1st, 2011. This directive basically splits herbs into Foods or Medicines. Any herbal product that is now classified as a medicine has to be licensed in order to be sold over the counter.

What this Means For You

• Herbal “Medicines” must be licensed by manufacturers and comply with official standards. Licensing of an individual product costs £40,000 – £100,000 + cost to the consumer will inevitably rise to.
• Small producers may no longer be able to afford to operate.
• Popular products like Ginseng and Garlic will remain available but others are disappearing from sale as they are not worth the expense of licensing.
• Chinese and Ayurvedic Medicines are under threat as the directive dictates that products have to have been on the market at least 30 years to be considered for licensing.
• Licensing can be for one specific use alone. Narrowing the view on the multiple benefits of any given herb.

Our view here at Appleseeds is that this directive is unnecessary. Herbs have been used for countless centuries in traditional European medicinal culture. This legislation has been 10 years in the making. A long time, seeing as “consumer safety” was its motive.

Licensing threatens to change the nature of herbal medicine and make it more akin to medicinal drugs. Licensing involves extracting and isolating specific active ingredients. This misses the point that the value of a herbal medicine is greater than the sum of its parts.

At Appleseeds we have been working with our suppliers to fathom the legislation and to ensure that we can still offer a complete service to our customers.

Herbal Medicine Service

We will of course be carrying all the new licensed herbal medicines. But we have also started our new Herbal Medicine Service, provided by Apothegreen’s Medical Herbalist Tracy Jackson BSc (Hons). This service can provide you with all your herbal remedy needs. If you need herbal tinctures that you can’t get over the counter all you need to do is register with this service FREE of charge. Come into the store. Fill in the confidential questionnaire. After which Tracy will administer you the required herbal remedy. All you pay for are your medicines.

Gavin Knott