Why Lemonpeels?
The closer I got to qualifying as a Health & Nutrition coach the more I found myself troubling over what I would call my health coaching business! It had to be something familiar to me and…well…healthy! Knowing that I was a fussy eater up to the age of 37 there was not much that was healthy about me!
I kept on coming back to ‘lemon’ and ‘olive oil’, these were terms very close to me because of my Greek upbringing and these 2 substances would best describe the tastes I grew up with, well them plus oregano!
I toyed with names like:
Youonlybetter.ie
Betteryou.ie
Nourishme
Emilydoesnutrition
Healthbydesign
Maghealth
Emshealth
mageehealth
And then I hit on Emily Magee’s Wellness & Nutrition Coaching, or EMSwellness for short! I thought I hit the jackpot and check this for an email address: emswnc@gmail.com! You can’t say it, but it’s easy to spell out.
And then, after I had paid for new business cards (of course) my friend Connie said ‘em swellness? Isn’t that what you are helping people against?’
I can tell you my jaw has never dropped so low with sheer shock, how did I miss that?!
Back to the drawing board and back to figuring out a name that doesn’t inspire swelling, and olive oil and lemon kept on popping up and you’d think I would have gone for the oil, especially because everyone knows its worth but also because my father and his father before him owned olive oil factories and thus I would be honoring them too, but there was one problem with going down the oil direction…I didn’t like olive oil growing up! Yes I said it, I didn’t!
But the lemons, now there was a love that was always there and still goes on strong today, I eat everything with lemon (unless it is a definite tomatoey dish like Bolognese) and I always have done. I grew up with a lemon tree under my bedroom balcony for goodness sakes, I probably smelled it in my sleep! I love the stuff, nothing more to say about it!
So it was at the start of the first covid related lockdown that I was looking at all my left-over lemon-rinds on the counter after squeezing 4 full lemons for our traditional Greek lemon chicken and potatoes in the oven and on a whim I googled what I can do with them and I found how I can quite easily dehydrate the lemon peels and grind them into a powder that I can store and use on everything without worrying it will go off!
And so I did just that and the results were marvelous and in the process the place smelt deliciously lemony too! And the health benefits to using lemon peels are just marvelous!
So I found myself doing all these experiments with something that was healthy, free (I bought lemons for their juice not the peels, they were for the bin – up to then-), brightly colored (hence full of antioxidants and vitamins), and it was something that had been under my nose my whole life that could provide many health benefits but that I had always discarded! What a waste!
And that’s when it hit me that lemonpeels perfectly this represents what I stand for and what I’m trying to teach: that health can be found in things all around us, including free things, including things you may usually put in the bin, so don’t discard anything unless you know for sure it can’t help you!
Since then I have been adding my ground lemon peels to smoothies, soups, over salads, burgers & cooked vegetables and let me tell you, it gives everything a little kick of flavor without taking away from the dish! It’s really quite brilliant!
I love to look into traditional remedies, simple tricks using everyday materials that won’t cost a bomb if I try adding them to my diet and lifestyle. As a coach I look to see where you are, what you have in your cupboard and how you can use it better, or if it does not do you good, well there has to be a replacement that will work the same or almost as good as but doesn’t leave you unwell or chronically ill. So, yes people, let’s start with lemonpeels! Getting added health benefits from something that usually goes in the bin is just priceless!
Now tell me…have I not chosen the most perfect name for my little Health Coaching Services business?!
Yours in health
Emily