What type of person are you on holidays? Do you implement healthy habits? Do you tend to indulge or use the time off to reset your mind and body? In the recent years I have been the latter, using holidays to either go back on track if I had massively fallen off the health wagon or just trying new things like a 5-detox, having a daily green smoothie, eating raw salads, making small healthy changes and building healthy habits.1/Add turmeric powder to all your mixed salads Turmeric is a great antioxidant, 5 to 8 times stronger than vitamin E and stronger than vitamin C, it will help boosting your immunity system, maintain normal cholesterol levels, and put the brakes on ageing (always a good news!). Turmeric has many others beneficial effects but the most important one if you suffer from IBS or chronic inflammation like me, is that it is anti-inflammatory and a daily use will help to reduce the symptoms.

2/Start the day with a lemon juice
This is one of my favourite healthy habits…Lemons are packed with vitamin C but if you start your day with a squeezed lemon in a glass of lukewarm water, this will clear your digestive system and again reduce inflammation. Lemons will improve your body’s ability to absorb nutrients and help flush out all the bad toxins.

3/Take health supplements
I’m often in a rush to go to work and forget to take vitamins in the morning so I make up for it on holidays depending on what my body needs. Recently I had low blow pressure so these couple of weeks, I’ve been taking these multi vitamins & minerals in the morning and a tablet of magnesium in the evening to help my body recover during the night from all the fitness and surfing we are doing. I’m also a massive fan of Linwoods flaxseed, almonds, brazil nuts, walnuts mix which I sprinkle on my morning porridge (great for the transit) and on soja yogurt to add textures instead of sugar.

4/Drink min. 1.5 lt of water a day
There is so many benefits to gain from drinking water…It will flush the toxins, improve your skin complexion, makes you feel fuller so you don’t snack, increase your energy level etc. I know that some of you find it hard but it’s like anything…habit! Leave a bottle on your desk and start taking sips all day long. Soon your body will ask for more.

5/Eat more fibers
Using green beans (bought frozen) as a base, Elodie and I have been making daily delicious salads with one rule for the girls: they can leave one ingredient out on the side of their plates. Try green beans with a bit of feta, raw courgettes, avocado, basil, poached egg, cucumber, spring onions, quinoa, turmeric and olive oil…it’s just delicious!

6/Change the content & portion of your plate 
A good ratio is 50% green vegetables, 25% grains like quinoa, lentils ou rice (all gluten free) and 25% proteins to help building your muscles.

7/ Snack healthy & yummy
Since I gave up coke zero last year (watch Hungry for Change on Netflix), my sugar cravings have been a lot more manageable meaning I no longer snack on a whole pack of cookies or M&Ms and this is probably one of my biggest achievements in creating new healthy habits. Over the past months, I stopped eating processed food and re-discovered fresh, tasty, delicious food which now gives me more pleasure than stuffing my face with a pack of cookies that used to leave me bloated, lethargic and overweight.Replace unhealthy snacks by yummy ones. My favourite ones are avocado on rice cake with a bit of lemon juice on top, or sardines (good Omega!) on rice cake or rye bread, homemade green hummus, green smoothie etc.

8/ Eat fruit on an empty stomach 
When fruits are eaten alone, your stomach can more easily process all of the nutrients, fibre and the simple sugars contained in the fruit. I tend to eat mine either first in the morning (i.e. a kiwi to favour transit) or as a snack, 4 hours after lunch. If you eat fruit close to a meal, especially right after a larger meal and combine with other foods, it’s held in the stomach too long along with other foods and will rot and ferment in the gut.

9/Do 30 min of exercise a day
If you are new to fitness, it can be a 30min walk or bike ride. The most important thing is to include 30 min of exercise in your life daily. Elodie and I have started Kayla’s BBG guide again which is really a tough workout and make me more appreciative of all the results some of the girls have achieved.
Saying that, I feel stronger (I cried the first time I had to do burpees because I felt so out of shape and now I can do 10 in a row) and I think for the first time since I’ve started my journey to a fitter, leaner, healthier version of myself, I feel I can really change my body shape. It won’t be an overnight transformation…far from it but the small changes I’ve made to the way I eat, think and feel since January are working. I have definitively built a set of healthy habits and these small habits are what help me to go back on track when I fell off the wagon.

10/Don’t diet
I can’t think of a more distressful and negative thing to do to your body and mind than dieting.
Part of the success of a change of lifestyle is first making small, achievable changes, building new healthy habits and making friend with your body again, accepting your love handles for what they are…temporary. Bikram yoga helped me to accept them. When you spend 90 min in front of a mirror facing your body, it can be harsh to start with but eventually you get used to it and your look softens. Be patient too. Changing lifestyle, losing weight is a journey. It will take time but every little positive change you make is a step in the right direction. Don’t give up. You can fall off the wagon but don’t give up, just pick yourself up and carry on achieving your goals, little by little your mind like your body will get stronger.

PS: For those who don’t know, I have been nominated for the 2015 Amara interior Blog Award for Best Organisation Blog which I’m thrilled about!

If you enjoy reading my blog, it would mean a lot if you could spare a bit of time and help me to get shortlisted for the finals by casting your vote HERE. Thanks you SO much in advance for all your help and support!