Claire Turnbull - Feel Good for Life

Growing up, my mum and dad loved having people to come and stay. Close family, extended family, friends, friends of friends you name it; they were welcomed with open arms.

Now, as an adult, I have inherited the open home trait and just love having friends and family to come and stay for the weekend or a couple of weeks if they are in a transition phase in their lives or if they are travelling and need somewhere to base themselves. It is so nice to spend quality time with people who you love and treasure, to share meals with them and enjoy great conversations.

You might be wondering how this relates to building healthy habits and looking and feeling good. Well, when someone stays with me, they always seem to comment on how healthy they feel when they leave and how inspired they are to start eating healthier food, be more active, focus on getting good-quality sleep and generally, just start looking after themselves a little better.

A few years ago, I had family from around the world come to stay for the festive season and, without exception, they all said they had the best Christmas ever, loved every mouthful of the delicious healthy food they ate and, for the first time ever, actually lost weight rather than piling it on. They were all able to start the New Year feeling positive, healthy and energised rather than overfull and uncomfortable.

I also recently had some friends invite me over to their new pad where they delighted in showing me the contents of their healthy cupboards, a meal planning system they had and the new blackout curtains they had got to ensure they slept better! It was amazing to see how by staying with me for a while they had seen the value in making healthy their new normal and that feeling good was totally achievable!

Over the years, my friends and family have said time and time again that I really needed to create some kind of checklist or resource that would help them to remember everything they had learnt during their stay and also to share my ideas about how to live a healthy life and feel good with the rest of the world. One friend even said she thought it was my duty to help people to make healthy living happen! I laughed at the time, but, I guess now I feel that is kind of true.

It was all those conversations that planted the seed for this book.

I know it is not just my friends and family who want to have more energy and feel good. Whether Im speaking at an event, running a cooking class or talking to my team at Mission Nutrition about what our clients want, it seems that most people are desperate to get their health in better shape and have more energy to live life to the full.

With life being so busy and tiredness being the norm, eating well, keeping active and taking the time to relax and unwind can feel like it is just too hard. Sound familiar?

Well, I am here to help. You dont have to live that crazy energy-draining life anymore. I want to show you that nourishing your body and generally taking better care of yourself doesnt have to be difficult and it really is possible to feel good for life!

As much as I would love to have you all round to stay at my house for a week at a time to help you on your way, I think my husband might struggle with the concept and sadly, as amazing as the little chickens in my backyard are, I dont think they could keep up with supply and demand for you all when it comes to eggs. So instead, I decided that the best way to help you on your own personal journey to look and feel better every day was to write a book that pulled all my ideas and inspiration together.

So, voil here it is. Your ultimate guide to living a healthy and happy life, where it is normal to have amazing energy and feel good!

Happy reading I cant wait to hear what you think!

Introduction

My journey to a happier, healthier me and feeling good

I have certainly not always felt good. When I was growing up, I had a very unhappy time at school especially in the early days. I was chubby, covered head to toe in eczema and got picked on for my looks and funny skin. Friends were few and far between.

Throughout my childhood and teenage years, I had a seriously dangerous, dysfunctional relationship with food I would go from starving myself to binging and I had an incredibly distorted body image. I didnt sleep very well, found it impossible to relax and was either completely inactive or running obsessively. I also struggled with depression for years and the whole experience very nearly resulted in me ending my life.