Are you in on this beauty secret? Retinol is still an under used ingredient for many of us and yet it’s the ingredient that can make the biggest difference to our skin.

Over the last 6 years I’ve come to educate myself in the use of chemicals and harmful ingredients in my skincare, haircare, make-up and cleaning products.

I’ve been buying eco cleaning products for years but have started to make my own too and, with not bad results, if I say so myself!

Here’s my latest experiment Toilet Cleaning Bombs. Think bath bombs but for your loo. They’re designed to work over a couple of hours, or over night in my case, and restore your loo to a brilliant sparkle without the need for elbow grease or limescale removing type chemicals.

I’m a bit of a hoarder. There I’ve said it and I’m out. I love tying up the bits of ribbon that come off parcels, and pretty boxes never seem to get thrown away. I’m a sucker for a tin – cake, biscuit, tea, notecard. I have a collection of empty Arbonne Genius Bottles – you know those little tiny bottles with the Phytinol (Vitamin A) in them that literally takes your skin to another level, which I regularly use to display garden flowers. 

The sweet and salty combination of honey and Gluten free Soy sauce is a classic in many Asian dishes. Here I’ve teamed it with courgetti and rice noodles. It’s an all time favourite in our home which means if there’s salmon in the fridge we get excited! Always try to buy wild salmon that’s been ethically sourced if possible and if you can only get farmed salmon check that it is naturally farmed and where possible in conditions close to what nature intended i.e. ocean farmed.

What to do when you have a supply of amazing nut butters? Well for me there’s nothing for it but to get into the kitchen and get baking. Here’s the first of what will be a few recipes using the deliciousness that is Pip and Nut’s nut butters. 

These are delicious little snacks. Packed with healthy ingredients and nutrient dense they are both filling and delicious. You want to bake them until they’re crunchy on the outside but still soft on the inside. Don’t leave the kitchen in the last few minutes or they will be too crisp.

Ingredients

What’s the one aspect of your current career that you love the most? When a client first posed this question to me I had to think long and hard to find the answer. There are so many things I love about mentoring and supporting both my clients, who are going through major health transformations, and my team, who are often going through both health transformations and personal transformation, in terms of their career, their personal success and their lives. But ultimately I think it comes down to this…. 

My journey to good health started with an elimination diet that was designed to figure out the root cause of some of my health issues. It did so much more than just that, which is why I’m such a great advocate for undertaking an elimination to get to the bottom of your health concerns. 

Not sure if you could stick to an elimination diet? Read on as I explain how to fit it into your life.

I got into Matcha last year after discovering Matcha Latte (made with almond or coconut milk). It made a refreshing change from peppermint tea when I wanted a warm drink that felt more indulgent than a herbal tea. Having given up caffeine 4 years ago I don’t miss the taste or the ritual of it (or the headaches I used to suffer) but I do sometimes miss the warmth of a creamy drink.

I know from first hand experience that losing weight can seem very tough.  It often feels like you’re doing everything right, yet still not getting the results you desire. I’ve found that you’re often preventing your own progress by following old, often misguided advice,

Here are the 15 most common mistakes people make when trying to lose weight. 

1. Only focusing on what the scales say 

It’s very common to feel like you’re not losing weight fast enough. We live in an I WANT IT NOW society and for most of us we want to see instant results.

I love what I do. One of my clients recently said to me "It's like I've been transformed, just like a butterfly, and am emerging into the light. I've grown wings and am about to fly. I feel so different and it's all thanks to you".