Please clear up my poor hormonal skin!

Gosh, does anyone know when the blooming starts?!

My skin has been absolutely awful in the first few months! I guess that's one of the joys of pregnancy!

Went to see my doctor this morning about a couple of lumps that have come up - turns out they're just lymph nodes and flare up when you're run down; it's your immune system kicking in. I thought that's what they might be as I've had them before but I haven't actually been sick. Think it must be the long hours I'm doing at work at the moment. Oh well good to know they're working properly!

My doctor prescribed me a new medication for my skin called Du-ac. It's an antibiotic combined with a drying agent and apparently it's "the business", (as she described it! My doctor is really cool!). It's brand new and she just got some from the drugs rep last week. She used it herself and declared it as amazing! I have the prescription in my bag so will let you know results next week!

Anyway so today is my day 1 on the Elimination Diet.Elimination is a diet put together my my boss, (kind of, I'm self employed but I work at his studio) and friend, Dax Moy.

It's basically a whole body clen-up system and works miracles quicker than anything I've ever seen/read/used, before.

I use it with all my clients and have done for well over a year. I did my own elimination at the age of 21 after suffering a nasty 3 month attack from my Celiac disease and I've pretty much stuck to it ever since.

Here's the deal. You cut out all processed, non-natural food sources and anything that the body treats as toxic or that the body struggles to digest and all sugar.

The result is that you end up dropping loads of excess body fat, (especially the stubborn fat that you thought would never go!), your energy levels and immune system shoot through the roof, your skin, hair and nails look and feel amazing and you in yourself will feel fabulous, positive and full of beans!

Banned List

Alcohol - loads of sugar and obviously toxic to your system as anyone would know the morning after all that lovely champagne!

Caffeine - a stimulant that wears down the adrenal glands and also stimulates the release of the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol increases blood pressure, blood sugar and suppresses your immune system - yuk!

Sugar - obvious one, this one. Sugar is highly calorific. Consumption of sugar will stimulate an insulin response from your body. The higher the sugar intake, the more insulin you'll produce and the more fat you'll store. Over consumption of sugar can lead to type 2 diabetes.

Processed foods - Chemicals are poisonous to our bodies. In order for us to be able to consume all the chemical additives and preservatives in our food nowadays we need to be able to dilute the toxic effects they can have on our bodies. So we dump the toxins in adipose tissue (fat stores) and in order to dilute the effects we start to retain water to dilute the toxins, (also stored in the fatty tissue). So now we're storing lots of excess fat and water which we just don't need! Hence, drop the toxins, then you no longer need the excess fat and water.

Wheat - I could spend hours on this one, but in a nutshell ALL WHEAT IS PROCESSED! Yes even wholegrain! Basically the manufaturers will strip the original grain down, refine it, then put it back together to produce wholegrain. The body doesn't recognise wheat as it's natural form beacause of this processing and treats it as sugar.

Pastuerised Dairy - Pasteurisation flash heats milk to over 500 degrees in under 2 seconds. This kills all the bacteria - good and bad. Not only that but it also kills the enzymes in the milk. We need enzymes in our food to help us digest it. If there's none present then the body has a bloody hard time breaking it down.

Live yoghurt, eggs and butter are an exception to the dairy rule.

Butter has is rich in Vitamin A and good fats.

Live yoghurt has good bacteria and is great for the digestive system.

Eggs are a complete protein and a great natural source - eat as many as you like! (oh and there's no proven link between eggs and high cholesterol before you ask!)

Microwaves - they completely change the cellular structure of food. A case last year in a British hospital saw a lazy nurse warm the blood for a transfusion in a microwave. The guy died just hours later. Enough said.

Apart from the banned list everything else is a green light! So there's loads of food you can eat and eat really well!My breakfast - elimination banana and fig pancakes, rooibos tea, 1 ltr of water.

Todays workout - Tabata training - 2 x 4 mins this morning, 2 x 4 mins this afternoon