The Mercury is retrograde in Virgo! Perfect time to choose a healthy diet👇

The time has come!!!

Mercury is retrograde in Virgo. This is a perfect time to focus on a healthy diet and life style.

Virgo is related to our health and lifestyle and when mercury is retrograde for 3 weeks it is the best time to focus on areas of our lives’ that we may have neglected and find some solutions. .When Mercury is retrograde in Virgo and especially while the summer is coming to end, we should strongly consider our old behaviours in relation to our diet and take the opportunity to change them to healthier ones.

Ladies especially come across the word ‘diet’ at some stage of our lives. And again, most of us are thinking that diet means ‘losing weight’ but it really means ‘choosing a healthier lifestyle’, which is choosing healthy food with common-sense and eliminating bad foods.

Now, I would like to share my personal experience with you.

Location: Ireland – Dublin (my darling husband ;-) is Irish and we lived in Dublin for 6 months in 2012)

Time: January 2012

Our new year’s resolution, after our wedding, honeymoon and Christmas, was losing weight and to find a new lifestyle that we could follow permanently.

Let’s look at what we didJ While we were searching on the web, we came across an article that was mentioning a “Paleo” diet. In summary, he was saying that ‘you can eat anything that you can find in nature, therefore no processed food which is bad for your health’. (Stay away from the middle of the supermarket where all the processed foods are…go to the fresh sections…fruit/veg/meat etc.)

We ordered the CDs which contain a very intense sport program, a detailed explanation of Paleo diet, recipe book and a first 30 days’ plan. With the internet today, there is no reason to order CDs, you can find everything on the web. (80% of Paleo is diet 20% exercise…goal is to exercise 3-4 times a week and have a high heart rate for 20-30mins…the Paleo diet does the rest…)

So, we started the 30-day Paleo. 30 days is an ideal time for your body and your brain to get used to this new lifestyle. The first week, your body starts to detox and your energy level drops because there are no bad carbs anymore😊 and you start to become more aware of the ingredients in all types of food. After the first week of the Paleo, your energy level boosts again even more than before and you have greater insight into your diet and health. The first week is hard but you will then enjoy it and understand it😋

If I come back to my own experience, saying goodbye to sugar was the biggest step for me. (considering I was putting almost 2 tablespoon sugar to my tea and coffee). The second one was bread which is one of the indispensable foods in Turkish cuisine. People generally think that if there is no bread on the table, they will never be satisfied with the meal. Bread is processed and doesn’t improve our health. Except with guests and the odd naughty Italian night, we don’t eat bread at home anymore. The 3^rd one was all type of fizzy drinks. Coke, Sprite and Fanta etc. OUT and lots of water IN.

We also started to consume sweet potatoes and bulgur, which are more nutritious and have more fibre, instead of white potatoes and rice. Legumes are allowed in Paleo but not in the first 30 days if your target is to lose weight.

At the end of the 30 days, you realise a big change in your body. I lost 6 kilos/ 14 Lbs in a month time without feeling hungry and eating lots of vegies, salads and proteins like fish, beef, chicken and eggs. Also, you can still enjoy yogurt occasionally or go wild with a hamburger now and again, it is fine don’t worry. If you are 80% on Paleo diet, you can eat 20% other foods. Not all the time if possibleJ

What else? What type of new food came to my life? I think the most important one is Coconut which is the one of the most alkaline fruits and I love it in all versions like coconut oil, milk, water, flour, sugarJ

I will mention about the benefits of coconut in more detail in future articles. But now let’s look at how I am using it.

-       I am cooking with it. It doesn’t burn easily like most of other oils (therefore not cancer genic)

-       I use it as make up remover especially eye make-up remover (when you clean your face with coconut oil at night, it stays on your face all night, it moisturises nicely)

-       I use it as body lotion and especially in summer time as a after sun lotion.

-       It is good for babies of course you can use as body lotion or for their bums for rashes

-       If you have a sore throat or pain on your gums, 1 table spoon of coconut oil will give you a pain relief

-       I use it as a hair mask and especially if you have curly hair like me it is a good styling gel.

Also, you can bake anything with coconut flour like cakes, muffins, pancake or even bread. To be able to sweeten, you can put agave syrup or ripe bananas or dates. I often cook muffins for my daughter with ripe bananas and dates and she loves it😋

Another new type of food which came to our lives was stir-fries. Choose a protein for yourself, meat, fish or chicken or if you are a vegetarian tofu, stir it with onion, garlic, ginger, peppers, carrot, soy sauce and lime and add some low-fat coconut milk if you like and enjoy it. If I choose to eat Turkish cuisine, my menu is also big with all types of different vegetable foods with olive oil or any of the food with protein cooked in steam or grilled or boiled. Lots of salad and soup and raw vegies are the musts.

What about breakfast? From that day to today, I have generally 2 eggs every morning with greens like parsley, pepper, tomatoes, cucumber, olives, feta cheese and all different type of nuts or any type of organic and not processed muesli with coconut milk.

 In the Paleo diet, the consumption of oil is the key. It means that you should consume a good amount of oil every day not eliminate it. If you can it is important to drink half cup of olive oil or any other fatty oils a day.

I have also supported my knowledge about healthy lifestyle with some other points of view over time. For example, I added ‘Kefir’ to my diet which is very rich with prebiotics. We have a cup of kefir every day. Normally, milk and any type of dairy products are not allowed in Paleo. I agree with the idea of ‘milk is not good for you’.

Now, you can ask that you never break the rules? Yes, I do big time sometimes😳 especially if I am in holiday or at New year or some special times. But except that I am generally following this lifestyle with 80-20% rule. Sometimes I realise that my little daughter follows it better than me as she doesn’t have any bad habits like me that’s why she can say NO easily.

If you would like to search about Paleo you can find unlimited sources about this on internet or if you would like to ask me I am pleased to answer as much as I can.

Isil Nolan

👇When we completed our first 30 days, it was Valentine’s day and we celebrated it with glory. You can see it below💪😀🙌