As regular customers, choosing to buy our food, I know you are consciously trying to make the right choices to be healthier and, in some cases lose a bit of weight and do it in a healthy and sustained way, so I wanted to share these simple tweaks with you that we know will make you feel even better and that your body will thank you for.
This is the second of those blogs that we have put together, (A small tweak every week) that we know is really achievable for all and hope you find of benefit.
If you are reading these blogs and finding them useful/giving it a go, please share it with someone else you know and help them too, it's always good to share.
Likewise it's so great to have feedback from you as helping you make lasting, sustainable, simple lifestyle choice to feel better and improve your health and well being is what drives us the most.
It would be great to know if you tried, or plan to try, last weeks switch - Veg instead of refined carbs or refined grains.
How easy was it? Do you feel Better? How? What surprised you most?
The benefits are long term as well as short term so keep it going, these tweaks are aimed for you to build on habit by habit as I share them.
Thanks
Michelle

The Second behaviour tweak for you to try this week.
Week 2 - Drink More Water
Aim to be aware of this and achieve this and every day moving forward
Drink at least 2 Litres of water per day which in addition to the extra litre gained from ‘plant based goodness’ in your diet from week 1's Tweak, will give you in excess of 3 Litres a day.
Why choose to tweak your water consumption and focus on it?
Tiredness, Dry Skin, Headaches, Tummy Aches, Nausea, Constipation (The biggest cause of absenteeism in young children), Mid- Morning and Mid- Afternoon Slumps are all symptoms of dehydration.
Why is water so important to us?
We are 60% Water and can only survive a couple of days without it
Water helps weight loss
Water helps fill you up (satiation)
When you drink water for the next hour you burn 24% more calories
Water helps you digest food
Water helps you process alcohol
Losing just 2% of body weight in fluid can actually reduce our physical and mental performance by 25%
Winter Dehydration is a real problem, even more so than summer and with the extra drying central heating, clothing etc, we need to be more aware and act proactively to prevent it.
The Big No No - Don’t drink your calories
Wine, Fresh Juices, Cordials, Fizzy Pop, Syrupy Milky Hot Drinks …
Fluid bypass normal satiety mechanisms in the body and allows us to consume a lot more energy and calories than would be possible if eating
As an Example
Think it takes 6 to 7 Oranges to make 1 glass of orange juice and you can quite easily drink that, whereas eating 6 to 7 Oranges would be impossible due to the fibre content.
Whole oranges contain fibre which slows the release of sugar the same applies to brown rice versus white rice and Fibre as we learned last week is key to a healthy immune system and gut health.
Diet drinks contain artificial sweeteners that harm gut health
Tips to help you achieve this tweak this and in weeks moving forward
Have 2 Glasses of Water when you wake up to get off to a great start
Find a herbal tea which you enjoy- hot water counts towards upping water consumption, actually your body likes it better!
If you are hungry mid-morning or mid-afternoon try having 2 glasses of water instead
If you work in an office get up on the hour every hour and drink 2 small glasses of water from the water cooler
Set an alarm 3 x per day to drink and check in with how you feel hydration wise, do you feel alert?
Try adding cucumber, mint leaves, lemon or orange slices to add flavour to the water.
Buy a 750ml bottle and drink 3 per day- I find smaller bottles work better for me as they're less intimidating.
Our Soups and Stews are a great way to hydrate too.
Have a QT ‘10’ Minutes every day with your husband/wife/son/daughter/friend and drink a pot of herbal tea and catch up about our days ….. phone free.
Jon wakes up with loads more body battery when he hydrates properly.
Why?
Well think how you feel on a hot summers day, when you are active, have loads to do physically and are soooo thirsty in need a cold refreshing drink but can't have one..... now think of your body trying to do all it's nightly repair work in the same state. Your body is not resting at night it is super busy looking after you.
When you hydrated properly, it can do it's crucial preventative work, keeping you healthy, your brain can dream away properly to maintain it's health and you wake up feeling so much better in mind and body, ready to give the day your best self.
Focus on this little tweak, switch those drinks, keep the veg and fruit as the foundation of your food intake and feel the uplift and the positives.
Keep us posted Clean Cook Family
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