Good morning, hope you are well. I have to admit I am getting very miffed with this weather. I can't believe it is June and yesterday I was sat in my office wearing a fleece. 

Last week I visited my good friend Karen whom I met through Kick Start and we have remained friends and we now run Health and Fitness weekends together.  Karen runs her own massage business in Poynton and I rang her last week to book in for a massage as I am suffering with a bad shoulder and neck and knew Karen could sort out my niggles.

We got talking about Kick Start about nutrition, exercise and started to talk about stress and how that can contribute to weight gain.  One of my discussions with my Kick Start clients is de-stressing and how to take time out for you whether it is a walk, hobby, meditation etc and I asked Karen if/how a massage can help. Hence this newsletter......

Can Aromatherapy help you to lose weight?

Losing weight successfully is not always just about eating correctly and taking more exercise.

We now know that contributing immensely to the weight gain in the first place are psychological and physiological components like stress, hormones, emotions, environment, and brain chemistry so therefore attempting to succeed with diet and exercise to lose weight is often not enough to bring the success that you want.

How do essential oils help?
Essential oils have been used for thousands of years for their unique healing properties. The oils are derived from seed flowers roots and leaves of plants.

Aromatherapy can be used in many different ways, usually through the olfactory system which is the sense of smell, and the olfactory glands interact with the brains amygdaloid and hippocampus which are our memories and emotions.

A great example for this would be the smell of lavender reminding us of happy times may be spent with your gran.

All of the smells we inhale communicate with our brain receptors  and central nervous system which control our  blood pressure, our heart rate, attention span, learning pleasure, motivation and stress levels.

The other very popular way of using essential oils is by blending them together with a carrier oil  and massaging the oil into the body.

The carrier oil is designed to moisturise the skin, and the essential oils penetrate the skin going into the bloodstream to heal the body.

An aromatherapy massage is very slow, extremely relaxing, and the many health benefits include reduced anxiety levels, strengthening of the immune system, increased circulation, improved digestion, boosts cognitive performance, induces sleep, eliminate headaches and increases energy levels.

The biggest problems we have on successfully losing weight are psychophysiological. Every single one of us at sometime will be suffering from emotional eating, sweet foods cravings, poor digestion, depressed mood swings, lack of motivation and more, and often the way we deal with problems is the cause of our problems too. We have all been there, in our severely stressed state, eaten the cake, drank the wine and more without thinking about  rollercoaster effect it has on our hormones and the cycle it starts all over again. 

Including aromatherapy massage as part of your healthy eating, exercise and wellness programme will give you far more success with your weight loss.

"By changing the way that you deal with stress will guarantee success"

The positive power  of complete relaxation, de-stressed muscles and high quality sleep will affect the hormones in the best way possible to help you succeed in your weight loss journey. 

Some of the most popular oils to help with weight loss are the citrus oils. Grapefruit, mandarin, orange, lemon and lemongrass. These are top note oils which are sharp and fresh to smell and extremely uplifting.  Bergomot is superb for anxiety and depression and superb for building confidence.  Also included on the list are rose, peppermint,  cinnamon  and everyone's favourite Lavender.

For the month of June Karen Wellington is running a special offer to all my Kick Start and Fitness Clients and is offering an hours aromatherapy massage at half price which is 20.00.

If you would like a massage contact Karen on 07876470635 to book and mention Kick Start or Keep Fit with Paula.