Motivational Monday: The People

It’s fair to say that with only two Motivational Monday posts then a four week break, I have been lacking a wee bit of motivation myself. I fell off the band wagon coming back from holiday, and got into some pretty bad eating habits. So, for today’s post, I thought I would talk about two people who have inspired me to follow the road of a truly healthy, and nourished lifestyle once again, and hope they do the same for you too.

A few weeks ago I stumbled across a lovely blog called Deliciously Ella, with some yummy looking, nourishing recipes. When I had decided that I wanted to make at least ten of her recipes, I read her ‘about section’ and found out that there was real motivation for her creating her website and developing these nutritious recipes. A few years ago Ella was diagnosed with Postural Tachycardia Syndrome, which had a devastating impact on her life, sleeping for 16 hours a day, experiencing heart palpitations, having constant headaches and more. She tried conventional medicine to help her condition, but turned to learning more about healing naturally, and so the inspiration for Deliciously Ella began. Overnight she started a wholefoods, plant-based diet giving up dairy, meat, sugar, gluten and anything processed. Now, Ella doesn’t have to take her medication anymore, as she manages her condition through her diet and lifestyle. Amazing!

Ella’s story is truly inspirational, proving that what you put into your body can truly affect your life in a magnificently positive way. Her recipes are dairy and meat free, but don’t let that put you off, they are delicious. I just made her sweet potato brownies and they were a hit with the girls at work.

The second person who I want to mention is Madeleine Shaw. An absolute beauty, legend and advocate of helping woman ‘Get The Glow’. I discovered Madeleine last year through Millie Mackintosh’s Instagram feed and I’m so glad I did. For years I had been a yo-yo dieter joining weight watchers when I just couldn’t handle buying another size up in clothing. I did have success, I lost three stone for my wedding, but now I wanted to learn more about how food effects the way your body functions and really learn about nutrition, instead of just snacking on a Kit Kat when I wanted to as it fit within my points allowance. I thought if I was armed with knowledge then maybe I would lead a much healthier lifestyle.

Well meeting Madeleine was the best thing I could have done. I signed up to her six week ‘Get the Glow’ programme which basically meant giving up caffeine (ahhh!), alcohol, processed food and processed sugar, and that was just the first week. Madeleine’s programme in a very basic form focuses on cutting sugar out of your diet, even many natural sugars, as well as helping to nurture a healthy gut. I met up with her four times, over the six week plan where each week we would talk about what the next stage involved as well as providing me with lots of delicious recipes.

After six weeks I had lost 18 pounds, never craved sugar, felt full all the time, had lots of energy, my stomach was never bloated, (I rarely extruded wind, sorry people but that’s important), and my skin glowed. Plus, I had learnt so much about food, and the positive or negative affects it can have on your body that I was armed with enough knowledge to carry on my healthy living journey alone.

For me, I would never go back to Weight Watchers. I lost weight with WW, but through a calorie controlled diet, plus I always felt hungry because I was eating low fat everything which is just full of sugar. I didn’t have to count calories with Madeleine, I just ate the foods I knew nourished my body and my body reaped the benefits.

Now to say that I didn’t fall back into my old habits after a while would be a lie, but at least I know now what I am doing to my body when I eat processed foods, or sugary treats and how to get back on track. In fact, today marks my second week of Madeleine’s six week programme which I have started to do again on my own, and I feel much better for it already.

I strongly urge you to go to her website and try out some of her recipes, they are delish! Plus, she regularly provides guidance on nutrition as well as posting recipes, so if you want to be armed with the same knowledge as me it’s well worth checking out.

You can visit Madeleine’s website here – www.madeleineshaw.com

And Ella’s here – www.deliciouslyella.com

I hope you find these ladies as inspirational as I have.

Until next week, have a good one.

Becks xxx