Mood – Page 2 – Trish Tucker May

5 Natural Supplements To Help You Relax

Written by trish on May 14, 2021. Posted in adrenal glands, Gut Health, Herbal Teas, Hormones, Menopause, Mood, Stress, Vitamins, Wellbeing, Women's Health.

According to the Mental Health Foundation, ‘74% of UK women have felt so stressed at some point over the last year they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope.’ Stress symptoms can severely affect our relationships, work life, and our health. To ease the strain, it’s important to find ways to relax especially during perimenopause and beyond. Stress will have a significant impact on gut health and your hormones.

The natural world provides us with many plants that are perfect for relaxation. For some ideas to inspire you, consider these herbal remedies. When introducing a new supplement to your diet always follow the stated dose.

1 . Bacopa monnieri

Bacopa monnieri, sometimes called Brahmi, is one of the principle herbal remedies of Ayurvedic medicine. According to Research from HVMN, ‘In patients with anxiety, Bacopa monnieri had an anxiolytic effect, simply meaning an anti-anxiety effect.’ Taking a Bacopa supplement has many relaxing benefits including reducing the stress hormone, and regulating serotonin.

Rhodiola

Rhodiola is a plant that grows across the mountain regions of Asia and Europe. The roots of the herb work as adaptogens, these support the body to adapt to situations of stress. For centuries people have used the herb to treat depression, fatigue and anxiety, particularly in Scandinavia. It is an excellent herb to reduce cortisol and support unwanted menopause symptoms.

One rhodiola study examined the effects of the herb on women who were suffering from long-term stress. The study participants took a rhodiola supplement over a course of four weeks. The results found, ‘significant improvements in symptoms of stress, such as fatigue, exhaustion and anxiety.’

Passionflower

Passionflower is a purple plant which comes from the Passiflora family. Studies have suggested that the herb can ease the effects of stress, anxiety and insomnia. Consuming the supplement seems to raise GABA levels in the brain, which is responsible for the relaxing effect. One passionflower study discovered that, ‘passionflower decreased anxiety and improved memory in rats.’ Passionflower can be purchased in capsule form, or you could try passionflower herbal tea.

Hemp

Hemp is a type of Cannabis Sativa plant which has a THC content of 0.3 (or less). Hemp plants are often used to make CBD oil. Due to the low THC content, CBD is not psychoactive. When you consume CBD oil you’ll experience a calming effect. Many women use CBD to sleep better, or to handle anxiety symptoms in menopause. Several studies have praised CBD as a useful supplement for stress, insomnia and anxiety. For an excellent range of CBD products, take a look at Bloom Farms Wellness.

Siberian Ginseng

Siberian Ginseng is extracted using the roots of the Eleutherococcus senticosus herb. It’s an adaptogen which can help the body to relax and combat stress. There are several other health benefits associated with the plant. It’s associated with reduced fatigue and increased energy. Evidence also suggests that the plant can improve cognitive function and boost your immune system.

The above supplements can be purchased via my website and in health food shops, and some pharmacies. With so many amazing herbal supplements, you should find something that works for you. If you take medication you should discuss any new supplements with a doctor.

If you are struggling with addiction to drugs and alcohol please consider getting in touch with https://www.okrehab.org Are partnered with over 140 clinics of this nature across the UK and abroad to help individuals break free from the shackles of addiction and find a treatment that’s ideally suited to their needs. They offer a variety of ways to assist you or your loved one in seeking out effective addiction treatment:

An over-the-phone assessment to determine if you require addiction treatment
Access to over 140+ clinics across the UK and abroad
Advice relating to outpatient, residential and home detox services
Access to detox clinics regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC)
Fast access to emergency detox treatment, is appropriate
Access to professional interventionists across the UK
Advice by staff members who are themselves in recovery
Information on both private and statutory funded addiction treatment providers

If you would like me to review your supplements and recommend something suitable please book a free discovery call here https://p.bttr.to/2MZVUKN

I have a great understanding of the journey to recovery and I welcome your call.

How to reduce sugar and feel fantastic

Written by trish on May 11, 2021. Posted in Blood Sugar, Energy, Hormones, Mental Alertness, Mood, Weight Loss, Women's Health.

Sugar is nothing but empty calories, the calories that only make you gain weight and do not provide you with any benefits because they do not contain any nutrients. Cutting out sugar can be very hard, especially when you have a sweet tooth.

Here are my top tips to help you stop eating sugar.

Start slow and take baby steps:

If you try to cut out all sugar from your diet at once, you will fail, because those cravings will come back with a vengeance. It will feel more like a punishment than an accomplishment. Instead of completely cutting out all sugar from your diet at one time, start controlling the amount of sugar you DO consume. For instance, if you take three teaspoons of sugar in your tea or coffee, try cutting back to two for one week, then down to one. For that sweet tooth, start by just cutting out chocolate and sweets before you abandon everything like baked desserts, or just save it for special occasions.

Use sugar alternatives:

Instead of using sugar when you do want it, replace it with honey, agave nectar, or sugar alternatives like stevia.

Challenge yourself:

Some people like to challenge themselves and love the feeling of accomplishment when they fulfil that challenge. If that, is you, try to challenge yourself to not to eat sugar for a week (or for a day, if you have a serious addiction) Gradually extend your time and celebrate each milestone.

Try sugar-free gum:

When sweet cravings strike, grab a piece of sugar-free gum. This will keep you occupied and satisfy the need to chew on something. I am not a big fan of gum, but it can work well for some people.

Choose fruits over desserts:

Fruits are a sweet and a healthy alternative to desserts. If you feel like having cake or a favourite dessert, then grab some blueberries or another sweet fruit. The natural sugars in the fruit will help curb those cravings.

Know the benefits of quitting sugar:

There are so many benefits of cutting sugar that if you educate yourself on them or experience the negative side effects first-hand, you will cringe at just the thought of consuming sugar. When you cut out sugar, your cardiac health improves, your skin begins to glow, and your acne starts clearing up. Furthermore, cutting out sugar will boost your mood and you will stop feeling cranky, moody or tired all the time. Your memory will improve, and you may be able to lose the extra weight you always wanted to shed. You will balance your hormones and reduce the cortisol if you can manage your blood sugar levels.

Add fennel seeds to your diet:

If you just can’t shake off your sugar addiction, try adding fennel seeds to your diet. You can either add them while cooking or you can chew them raw. Fennel seeds do not contain any sugar or empty calories, but they have a naturally sweet taste.

Don’t start your day sweet:

According to a study by Brown, if you start your day by eating something sweet then you will crave sugar all day long. So, instead of having something sweet, have a savoury breakfast. Don’t even use the sugar alternatives in your breakfast. Make sure you have plenty of fat and protein at each meal to help you combat cravings and feel fuller for longer.

Use essential oils to help reduce cravings. My favourite are grapefruit or fennel, one drop under the tongue or one drop in water will help your metabolism and reduce cravings. I only recommend the best oils from DoTERRA. If you would like to order, get in touch.

Sugar is an addiction, and it takes time, consistency, and determination to abandon it completely. Start small and take little steps toward removing it from your diet.

If you would like to learn more about my 8-week TIME TO NOURISH gut healing hormone balancing program, click here www.trishtuckermay.com

The program is designed to get you moving from sluggish, tired, bloated and accidentally overweight to feeling fantastic and full of energy.

If you would like me to help you get to the root cause of your problems let’s have a chat about the state-of-the-art testing, I provide so I can work out exactly what your body needs in terms of diet, lifestyle and supplements to rebalance itself.

Yours in health and wellness,

Trish Tucker May

The Benefits of Exercise for your Hormones

Written by trish on February 23, 2021. Posted in Blog, Health, Menopause, Mood, Self Love, Sleep, Tips, Weight Loss, Wellbeing, Women's Health.

Exercise is the best gift you can give yourself for peri-menopause and beyond.

Consistent, regular exercise can change your life in ways you may not have considered.

Here are a few ways.

Benefit #1: It improves your self-esteem.

Exercising regularly or more than twice a week will make you feel better about yourself and naturally improve your self-esteem. It will make you feel like you have accomplished something and like you have done something amazing for yourself.

This feeling of accomplishment will make you believe in yourself more and you will become confident in other aspects of your life.

Benefit #2: It will make your skin glow.

If you battle with bad or dull skin, try adding exercise to your daily to-do list and make it a point to check it off.

Regular exercise can help relieve dullness and may help prevent the signs of early aging like wrinkles and fine lines.

Benefit #3: You will sleep better.

Regular exercise will reward you with a peaceful night of deep and quality sleep.

Exercising strengthens your body’s circadian rhythms, which keep you alert and awake during the day and make you feel sleepy at night. If you find it hard to sleep, try just fifteen minutes of exercise a day and notice the improvements.

Benefit #4: It helps control your weight.

Exercising on a regular basis helps you burn the calories that you have consumed throughout the day so that you can either lose or maintain your weight and build muscle tone.

Benefit #5: It improves your memory and brain health.

Exercising can improve your memory and the overall health of your brain. It can prevent brain fog, that sudden shut down of your brain that happens when you get tired and makes even the simplest and most routine tasks seem difficult and suddenly very confusing.

Exercise also stimulates the production of hormones, which aid in the repair and growth of your brain cells.

Benefit #6: It helps reduce chronic pains.

Regular exercise can help in reducing and possibly eliminating excruciating chronic pains. One of the most common causes of chronic pain is inactivity.

Your body is just like a machine; as long as it remains active, it will function well.

Several studies have also shown that regular exercise can increase your pain tolerance and decrease your body’s perception of pains and aches.

Benefit #7: It can help you feel happier.

Last but, not the least, regular exercise can help reduce or prevent feelings of anxiety and depression and make you feel happy again.

According to a study conducted by Oxford University, people who exercise regularly, even at a beginner level, are found to be more content and happier than those who fail to do so.

To feel even better, try increasing the intensity of your workouts slowly and feel more accomplished, healthy, and happy.

If you would like to learn more about 8 week gut healing, hormone balancing program click here

Yours in health and wellness,

Trish Tucker-May

Habits to Start Your Morning Right

Written by trish on July 14, 2020. Posted in Blog, Energy, Mood, Wellbeing.

Your morning sets the tone for the rest of your day, so you need to start your day right to not just to get by, but to conquer the rest of your day. To adding these tips to your morning routine.

Plan your things the night before.

You have two choices: you can start your morning calm and pre-planned, or you can rush around, not sure what you put in your bag and what you did not. Make sure you start the day with a big glass on water.

Oil pulling is a great technique.

Oil pulling is one of my favorite and most effective advanced tools because it cleanses the mouth of bacteria and yeast that can lead to infection and toxicity in the body.

You should oil pull in the morning on an empty stomach and follow up with tongue scraping (above).

Put 1-2 tablespoons of coconut or sesame oil in your mouth.
Add in 3 drops of DoTERRA tea tree oil or peppermint oil to support the lymphatic system and help the saliva ducts.
Swish the oil for 5-20 minutes.
Spit the oil into the trash to prevent it from clogging your sink.
Rinse your mouth with water and sea salt, then brush your teeth.
Follow up with tongue scraping.

Tongue scraping

Tongue scraping is one of my go-to tools to relieve my body of toxicity. This removes mucus and toxic buildup in your mouth.

You can purchase a tongue scraper or simply use a spoon. I use Dr. Tung’s Tongue Cleaner.

In the morning and at night, reach to the back of your tongue with your scraper and pull forward, scraping off the white film and then repeating.

You have a ton of things in your hand including your breakfast, your hair is undone, your shoes are missing, and everything is chaos. To ensure a pleasant morning, plan a few things ahead of time. Before you go to bed in the evening, you can shower, set out and iron your clothes out, set out the products that you are going use, pack your essentials, and make sure your shoes have their match and are waiting by the door.

Wake up a little earlier.

If you find it hard to plan out your routine the night before, try waking up a few minutes earlier than the time you actually need to be up. You will reap a lot of benefits if you wake up just ten minutes earlier. You can have a calm and enjoyable morning instead of a rushed one. You will the time to actually wake your brain up so you can inspect your essentials with an alert and avoid mistakes. Start by waking up 10 minutes earlier each day, gradually working toward 30 minutes by the end of the month. This will give you time to say some affirmations or do gentle yoga or tai chi – this is a great way to support the gut brain axis and the parasympathetic nervous system.

Wake up immediately.

You snooze, you lose. Always wake up the instant you hear your alarm go off. That five minutes of extra sleep is doing nothing but harm and may be confusing your brain. What is the guarantee that you will wake up after five minutes and not an hour later?

Make your bed.

To make sure that you do not jump right back in, make your bed right after you get out of it. This will make you feel productive and motivated to start the rest of your morning right. You will feel like you have already checked one thing off your mornings to do list.

Stretch and smile.

Wake up with a stretch and a smile. Stretching wakes up your body and smiling releases endorphins that will make you feel more positive throughout your morning and the rest of your day. If you don’t try to shake that groggy and grumpy feeling first thing in the morning, chances are that you will be more tired and grumpy throughout the rest of the day.

Brush your teeth immediately.

Some people believe in brushing their teeth after they are completely done with their morning routine, but it is better to brush your teeth first thing when you get into the bathroom. It will wake you up by getting rid of your morning breath and increase alertness by activating your senses. The sense of smell and taste have a big impact on the gut health. If you are losing the sense of smell you may also have a compromised digestive function. Seeing a nutritionist about why this is happening will improve your energy and the absorption of vital nutrients.

Let the natural light in.

Open your blinds and pushing back your curtains. Let all that natural light in. It will make you feel happy and positive. You will be a lot slower in the morning if you skip this step. This little night to morning transition will go a long way toward powering you through your morning routine. This will stimulate cortisol and help you feel more awake. Sleep is a 24-hour cycle and we need a balance of hormones to help us feel awake when we should be and sleep well all night long.

Take a few minutes to sit down and digest breakfast.

Eating as you race out the door or driving will impact your digestion. Allow time for chewing, swallowing and the process of digestion to happen. You should chew each mouthful between 30-40 times, not 3 or 4. This same applies to smoothies and juices. Slow it down and feel the benefits.

If you would like to learn more about my ‘8 weeks to feeling fabulous’ program just click here www.trishtuckermay.com

Yours in health and wellness,

Trish Tucker May

Foods to Help You Sleep

Written by trish on July 7, 2020. Posted in Blog, Health, Mood, Sleep, Tips, Wellbeing.

Sleep 7 –9 hours a night is the recommendation to not just function, but to thrive in your life. You probably already know those nights that you barely get any sleep because:

#1: you couldn’t shut your mind

#2: had the list of to-dos running through it

#3: had to get work done

#4: your kids kept you up

So, you could hardly focus on anything. Because SLEEP – just didn’t happen!

A Harvard study claimed, “lack of adequate sleep can affect judgment, mood, ability to learn and retain information, and may increase the risk of serious accidents and injury.” The report also mentioned that sleep deprivation could lead to health problems and even early mortality. Wow! We need some sleep, like NOW!

If you’ve been wishing for just ONE night of sleep? What if you could have plenty of those nights? Wouldn’t that just be AMAZING?

Sleep has a huge impact on your hormones.

The vital sleep hormones are cortisol and melatonin

Sleep is a 24-hour cycle, not just something that happens when you go to bed. In the morning, your body makes cortisol to wake you up. In the evening it makes melatonin to make you sleepy. Hormonal factors that influence sleep can include making too much cortisol, making cortisol at the wrong times of day, and not making enough melatonin.

Serotonin also influences sleep

A healthy sleep cycle includes anchoring both cortisol and melatonin, so that you are awake and alert when you should be, and tired when you should be.

Sleep is when we repair cells – the heart of the immune system.

Reducing cortisol during the day and evening with diet, stress management and essential oils

Set a bedtime routine, including using essential oils to support the production of serotonin. Your wish may be answered right here! Adding blends of oils including roman chamomile, lavender and ylang ylang is a beautiful way to support a restful night sleep.

Try adding the following foods to your diet, especially if you find yourself tossing and turning at night, counting sheep to get a little shut eye.

Chamomile

Chamomile is commonly known as a mild tranquilizer or sleep inducer. It has calming effects that may decrease anxiety and initiate sleep. Some chamomile tea can be a great idea before heading to bed to unwind, relax and de-stress. Roman chamomile essential oil in your diffuser or in the bath will help you de-stress and will also help with the production of serotonin.

Pistachios

Pistachios are not only tasty, but they are a jackpot for sleep. They are jampacked with magnesium, protein, and vitamin B6, which have a major role in inducing sleep. Consuming a healthy amount of pistachios before going to bed will knock you out like nothing else. You can eat them raw or add them to a glass of warm milk. However, more than one ounce of pistachios will have a reverse effect on your body; eat in moderation to avoid exacerbating your sleep issues.

Kiwi

Kiwis contain serotonin, a brain chemical that helps regulate your sleep cycle. Many people actually take serotonin supplements to help with sleep, but wouldn’t you rather eat something that tastes delicious to get the same effect? Not only do kiwis contain serotonin, but they also may boost your sleep abilities due to their levels of vitamin C and carotenoids which reduce inflammation. When I feel that I may not be able to sleep at night, I eat 2 kiwi and they usually do the job.

Tart cherry juice

Tart cherry juice contains high levels of melatonin that regulate your internal clock and send signals for your body to get ready to sleep. Clients who drank tart cherry juice increased their sleep time by 90 minutes!

Bananas

This fruit is a powerhouse of magnesium and potassium, which serve as natural sleep aids for your body. If you are feeling wide awake late into the night, try a banana to get yourself to sleep. You can even whip yourself up a thick sugar-free banana smoothie before you go to bed. Bananas are high-glycaemic fruits, so try adding in some protein or good fat with your smoothie so sugar levels don’t skyrocket into the night. Some of my favourites are coconut oil or almond butter, but you get to pick!

Walnuts

Walnuts contain tryptophan, which helps produce melatonin and serotonin in the body and improve the quality of our sleep by regulating the sleep cycles. Walnuts contain their own source of melatonin, which may help you fall asleep faster.

Pumpkin seeds

A cup of roasted pumpkin seeds contains around 649 mg of magnesium, which is nearly double the daily recommendation of the National Health Institute. Magnesium supports deep, restorative sleep by maintaining healthy levels of GABA (a neurotransmitter that promotes sleep). Magnesium deficiencies are associated with heightened stress and anxiety, which of course lead to less sleep, so these pumpkin seeds have many benefits.

If you’ve been searching for the magical solution to get more sleep, no need to keep searching. Try to avoid the over-the-counter sleep aid and add these foods to your bedtime routine to get your body on the right path to sound sleep!

If you would like to try my best essential oils for sleep, email me here and I will be happy to send you the blissful night sleep blend. trish@trishtuckermay.com

Yours in health and wellness,

Trish