From the inside out

Being a busy mum (or dad, or human being) can take it's toll and I know that it took me a while to adjust to life as a working mum, juggling everything that comes with it.

Work life. Home life. Doing the shopping. Arranging appointments. Scheduling family visits. Squeezing in, dare I say it, 'me time' to do, you know, things that are just for me or for hubs and I. We were a pair once upon a time, after all.

Life certainly picks up pace and I think you really can make of it what you will. Sure, you have a timetable and requirements and things to remember, more so than ever before, but you can and will make it work. For you. For your little one and for your family.

We all do this in our own ways and we all need to find a way to make time for what we need and what we want. Either that or we simply become workbots / homebodies / insert other appropriate nickname here.

For me, at the moment, I feel on track with some things and slightly outside the lines on others. I like to be organised as it makes me feel in control and being in control makes me feel calm. Together. Collected.

Although some days, I really do wonder...

Mainly, I need to focus on my diet and what we're all eating in our household. I can be good and I love to cook with fresh ingredients but sometimes, all the obvious excuses come into play.

I just need to set aside some time to sit down and plan what we want to eat and what we need to have a more balanced diet.

There's many reasons for this feeling of 'getting back on track'. I've become lazy and uninspired when it comes to food. My blood pressure is too high, for unknown reasons. My cholesterol could do with coming down a tad. And my psoriasis is back with a vengeance.

There's not a lot of hard evidence or guidance when it comes to eating well and healing psoriasis, although many professionals think that there must be a link. After all, it's widely believed that psoriasis is caused by a fault in the immune system.

So, to my mind, if certain foods can boost your immune system, and other foods are considered to help skin cell repair and general health, then surely eating more of these can only be of benefit to those with skin conditions such as mine.

I'm no doctor but it makes sense to me and it certainly won't do any harm to find out.

For that reason, I was speaking with Francesca from Adding Up 2 Be Mum (a fab blog I've followed for a long time now) about her Juice PLUS+ programme. She told me all about how the supplements and shakes can help you to get lots of vitamins and nurtrients and how some people use them as a weight loss or muscle gain.

What caught my attention though was the emphasis on how the Juice PLUS+ capsules can help to boost your immune system and promote healthy hair, skin and nails.

Ding, ding, ding!

Anything's worth a go, I thought, and I wanted to see if I could see a difference if I made a small change by adding the capsules to my diet.

So, for two weeks, I did just that.

Now, I'm not going to say that I woke up one morning and my psoriasis was cured. No, unfortunately not. BUT... I do feel like my skin has seen an improvement and coupled with a positive attitude and a determination to do all I can to sort my psoriasis out as much as possible, I am feeling a lot better.

I didn't expect it to be a magic pill and really, the main thing I had in my mind was I would be giving myself a good dose of good stuff everyday. Whether I ate well or had an off day.

I took two Juice PLUS+ Berry Capsules (which cost the equivalent of £20.50 for a month's supply), which were easy to take and introduce each day to my routine, and I also tried a couple of Juice PLUS+ Complete shakes, mixed with some almond milk and which tasted really nice.

And that's why I think that a supplement such as this is really worth considering, particularly if you live a busy lifestyle or if you're particularly prone to getting colds or feeling a bit under the weather or lacking in energy.

I've done lots of reading about Juice PLUS+ to find out more and Francesca has been really helpful too in explaining how it all works and what the programme involves. The important things is you can choose what works for you and it's easy to give it a try.

I know that it's no replacement for healthy eating but it's good to have the peace of mind, whether you've been good or bad, and looking at all the good things these capsules contain, it makes you wonder how you would get all of those good things into your diet everyday from your meals alone.

If you're interested in finding out more, definitely get in touch with Francesca - aside from being super lovely (as you can see in the pic above), she knows her stuff and can tell you more about the programme and how it might be able to benefit you.