Over the course of the eight weeks you’ll only be using rice malt syrup and stevia as substitute sweeteners. They are both fructose free and safe to eat. You can read more about them in Week Six, when you’ll be adding safe sweeteners back into your diet.

During Week One, you might like to simply use a little stevia in your tea or
coffee, or drizzle a little rice malt syrup as you would use honey. The other fake sweeteners (in diet drinks, chewing gum and many “sugar-free” snacks) are not recommended, but for this first week, if you need help to ease off your soft drink/soda or your power bar or chocolate addiction, feel free to swap to these “diet” versions. We’ll be sharing more on this topic later in the Program.

Kate Holm our naturopath, and nutritionist has put together her tips on how to build a healthy meal. She’s passionate about creating a healthy foundation for future generations and believes it all starts with the way we eat.

Bianca Monley, founder of Lifely, shares her top 3 Ttips to get more goodness into your family.

Find more from Bianca at: @biancamonley or website Biancamonley.com, as well as @lifelyand LifelyStore.Com 

Almost 2500 years ago Hippocrates told us that “all disease begins in the gut”. Much of modern research also suggests that the gut is the seat of health and a major way we interact with our external environment – what we put in directly affects our wellbeing.

This can be broken down into how our food is absorbed and metabolised, our balance of gut bacteria, and our gut integrity – i.e., is it letting through things it shouldn’t?

All of these factors contribute to the way we feel. This is the first in a series of articles on the gut and its relationship to our health. Today we begin with fatigue, a major symptom of poor gut health and consuming excess sugar.

Sarah takes you through her delicious Lentil Shepard's Pie with Mash Topping plus gives great cooking tips in the first of our Sunday Cookup Series.