Last Thursday we launched our Healthy Lifestyle Club at On the Bench HQ in Portchester.  Half a dozen determined souls arrived, not really knowing what to expect from our self proclaimed "Health Revolution", but dead set on ditching the diets and fads in favour of a more sustainable solution to their health concerns.

As part of my New Year's Resolutions, I wanted to replace as many 'toxic' products with organic alternatives. With the press reporting in the past few weeks the link between parabens (used extensively in beauty and skincare products) and breast cancer, and revelations about leading cosmetic companies using lead in their lipsticks it seems a good time to elaborate on my own personal crusade!

We've long advocated and advised on the benefits of a diet of "real food" but what do we mean by that?  Well, we mean foods that are fresh, natural and un-processed.  Foods that you might have been able to get your hands on a thousand years ago.  Before we invented oh-so clever ways of making non-foods and chemicals into something edible.

So much of our modern diet is made up of non-foods, chemical and processed ingredients that it is actually toxic to the body.  The result of this is plain to see in our health and disease levels.  We are at present the sickest most medicated we have ever been and it's our nutrition that has got us to this sad state.