New technology such as ‘wake up lights’ are a fantastic way to make early mornings a little less difficult too. ​

Fill and boil a kettle and get all your ingredients together. Heat a large saucepan over a high heat.

Peel and quarter the onions and halve the bulb of garlic, bash the ginger until it almost starts to break up. Add the onion, ginger and garlic to the dry pan and toast until blackened and charred all over. This will take 4-5 minutes.

Next, add the cinnamon, star anise, cloves and coriander seeds and toast for a couple of minutes, stirring all the time. Now add 2 litres of hot water from the kettle, the stock powder or cube, the mushrooms and the soy or tamari and bring to a simmer. Chop the carrots into 2cm chunks and add these too. Cook for 25 minutes, until all the flavours have infused.
While the stock is simmering, put the noodles into a bowl, cover with boiling water from the kettle and put to one side. Drain after 8 minutes or following the packet instructions.

Pick the leaves from the stalks of all your herbs, quarter your Pak choi and halve your sugar snap peas, lengthways.
Once the stock has had its time, sieve it into a large bowl and pour it back into the pan. Add the juice of 3-4 limes, depending on how juicy they are. Taste and adjust, make sure the lime, soy and spices come through, then add the sugar snaps and Pak choi or greens and simmer for a couple of minutes, until the leaves have wilted a little.

Divide the drained noodles between four bowls and ladle over the stock and vegetables. Serve with beansprouts, herbs and the remaining lime cut into wedges, with some chilli oil for everyone to add as they choose.

In this short article PB Chiropractor Kelly Nicol poses the question, is sitting really the new smoking?  As we move into yet another lockdown, we are sitting more than ever before. But is it really that bad for us?
 
The simple answer is, yes!!  Sitting at your desk or at the kitchen table for prolonged periods can affect your body in many different ways. We as humans are built to stand in an up right posture. The functioning of our bodies is at its optimum when we are standing. 

​Recent research has linked a high number of sedentary behaviours with an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease.
 
Sitting down for long periods of time makes digestion less efficient, we store what we eat as sugars and fat. When we are moving our muscles, this helps our body to digest the fats and sugars we have consumed. With these fats and sugars being stored in our bodies the risk of weight gain, diabetes and heart disease begins to skyrocket.
 
It is so important to move throughout the day, not only for your vital organs but also for your muscles.
 
Sitting can lead to weakening and wasting of the quads and gluteal muscles. These muscles allow us to walk and if they aren’t functioning properly, we can be vulnerable to back pain, knee pain and a poor pelvic alignment. We need the glutes in particular to help stabilise us and to work a bit harder to take some of the pressure off our low back.
 
Most of us suffer with a bad low back (the main reason you come to see us Chiropractors). Sitting increases the compression and load that is placed on discs and the stabilising back muscles. This increased compression can also lead to premature degeneration.

With the studio unfortunately having to close its doors again for a while, do not fear!  Online classes will start up again.  See below for what you can get stuck in to.

​onday 7pm HIGH INTENSITY WORKOUT
30 MINUTE WORKOUT FOR THE WHOLE BODY, NO EQUIPMENT, NO SPACE, NO EXCUSE!
These classes are suitable for those with a good base level of fitness. The focus of the class is to work the whole body, raising your heart rate, improve your strength and stamina whilst increasing your range of movement.
 
Tuesday 6pm STRETCH CLASS - MOVEMENT IS MEDICINE
Stretch, balance, mobility and coordination work to improve your overall health and wellbeing
A 30 minute session, working from the feet up.
Each class works through movement sequences that flow together, mobilising all the major joints, whilst stretching and strengthening the muscles that support them.

These classes are suitable for all ages and abilities as the focus is to work the whole body, making sure that each joint is shown the range of movements they should experience on a daily basis, thus improving the mobility of each participant. If you move better, you will move more!

Wednesday 12 STRETCH CLASS - MOVEMENT IS MEDICINE
Thursday 7pm DYNAMIC STRETCH AND CORE CLASS*
A more dynamic stretch class incorporating whole body exercise. A 30 minute session, working from the feet up.
Each class works through movement sequences that flow together, mobilising all the major joints, whilst stretching and strengthening the muscles that support them.
These classes are suitable for all ages and abilities as the focus is to work the whole body, making sure that each joint is shown the range of movements they should experience on a daily basis, thus improving the mobility of each participant. If you move better, you will move more!

Friday 1pm STRETCH CLASS - MOVEMENT IS MEDICINE

​Saturday 9.30am HIGH INTENSITY WORKOUT
30 MINUTE WORKOUT FOR THE WHOLE BODY, NO EQUIPMENT, NO SPACE, NO EXCUSE!

*This class will incorporate exercises performed in a plank position.
Those with shoulder, elbow or wrist conditions may be wise to opt for our regular stretch class.
Here is a workout we recorded during lockdown 1 https://youtu.be/orpAnDTvzUU
Plenty more like this on our membership site!

​This year try to do something different. Instead of writing a list of resolutions that burden rather than motivate you, focus on these 5 key areas to improve many aspects of your life and wellbeing. 

Poor sleep is linked to lack of concentration, weight gain, depression, suppressed immune system and inflammation. Whereas those who sleep well, have higher levels of concentration, perform better and overall consume fewer calories. Sleep, along with nutrition and exercise, form the foundation of optimal health. If you fail to take care of your sleep that optimum becomes significantly harder to achieve. 

What you eat has a significant impact in your energy levels and your ability to perform, fight off illness and infection and stay vibrant. You truly are what you eat. See our delicious recipe below and don’t forget the 100 or so recipes on our membership site! https://carlb1381c.clickfunnels.com/membership-area/ad7030de4f2
​

more selfless than selfish, more supportive than undermining and have great sympathetic and empathetic traits. But finding wonderful, high quality people to be friends with and working at the friendship and keeping the connection will be one of the best investments you make. Friendships can bring great joy, inspiration, wisdom, emotional support, adventure, love and be that ‘safe space’ when needed most of all. ​

I discovered this recipe in the summer of Lockdown and cooked it a couple of times for friends, (socially distanced, outside) on a couple of occasions. Tempted to do this again at New Year. And you can get all of the beautiful fish ingredients just down the road from Woodchester at The Fine Fish Company https://www.thefinefishcompany.co.uk/

With a year full of fears, uncertainties, and disappointments it might be difficult to find any positives in this year. But as I create our annual photo album, (Kristine’s Christmas Gift) it is plain to see that the year has had its plus highlights, creating memories that will stay with us for a very long time.

As a family we have encountered loss, experienced grief, closed the doors to our business, home schooled, and at times have faced too many challenges and too many uncertainties, that projecting the positive and optimistic has been challenging. However, we have made a point of finding things to be thankful for. We have discovered walks, admired scenery, slowed down, spent quality time, and learnt to appreciate our surroundings. Having time for ourselves has meant more exercise and not taking our health for granted. We feel blessed with the friendships we have and have been overwhelmed with the support that you and our team have given. Sometimes it is so easy to get so caught up in negative media and the day-to-day activities of our lives that we forget to notice the amazing things.

Our 5 top tips to help you through this festive season:

1. Walk outside everyday and be sure to look up and out, not down and in. Carl Jung, the founder of analytical psychology, observed that his least happy patients were less interested in other people and the world around them.
   
2. Be selective over your TV viewing. Plan to sit down something as a family, make it an event, like the good old days. There is only so much ‘Escape to the Chateau Does Christmas’ one can watch!
3. Read a book. Take time out in a quiet space and be immersed in another world!
4. Be present. Yearning for what has gone or what is missing is pointless, as is living for the future. All we have is the here and now, so make the most of it, one day at a time.
5. Plan! Your time away from training over Lockdown or the festive break, may not have been your choice, but exercise is a cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle. Use this time to pause, take a breath and see the bigger picture.  Try and create a ‘blueprint’ for how you wish to spend the rest of your life.  Imaging yourself at 90, still physically active and mentally alert might mean your lifestyle choices may radically change!