Do you ever see someone eating a few biscuits for lunch, looking smugly at your superfood salad and saying - "well my lunch is only 200 calories and yours is at least 450"?

If someone wants to lose weight I would never suggest counting calories. It's not just about calories in - calories out. Your body doesn’t treat all calories the same way.

Nutrient dense calories come from vegetables, wholegrains, nuts, good quality lean meat, olive oil and eggs. These foods are full of protein, good fats and fibre, keeping you full for longer and triggering the release of hormones that tell the body to burn fat.

Eating refined carbs / sugar makes you crave even more, as it messes with your blood sugar levels, encourages fat storage and doesn't satisfy you for long, so you’re more likely to overeat.
​
Replace refined carbs with more nutrient dense foods. Feeling full for longer means you tend to eat fewer calories overall - and you get the additional benefit of all those additional nutrients.

Nutritional therapy is not about depriving yourself, it's about optimising your health and enjoying good food. When a client comes back for a follow up visit saying they feel so much better, more energy, sleeping better, brain fog gone, it's very satisfying. Small changes can make a big difference.
Make a difference to yourself in 2018


​picture from news784.com

I see an increasing number of clients who are vegetarian for one reason or another. However being a vegetarian does
not automatically mean you are eating healthily – hence knocking on my door. Often these clients have low energy, thinning hair, trouble losing weight and low mood.

One thing vegetarians can sometimes forget about is the importance of protein. Eating lots of salads and fruit may seem a healthy option but can lead if you're not careful to nutritional deficiencies. Some just live on side dishes as they eat everything others have except the meat or fish. Others eat lots of vegetables and fruit alongside their bread and pasta but lack knowledge on sources of vegetarian proteins beyond cheese.

A healthy vegetarian diet needs adequate protein to make enzymes to maintain just about every part of our bodies from our skin and hair to our digestive enzymes, hormones, muscle mass, vital organs, red blood cells and immune antibodies. These enzymes are constantly being broken down and must be replaced.
​
Eating too little protein slows down your metabolism, reduces energy levels and affects concentration, mood and digestion. The immune system is impaired leading to all sorts of health problems.

There are plenty vegetarian proteins beyond the dairy and eggs. For example oats, nuts and seeds of all descriptions, lentils, beans, chickpeas, nut butters, tofu, quinoa, buckwheat, brown rice and good quality protein powders. Even some vegetables contain reasonable amounts, for example sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and spinach.
​
Many sources of vegetarian protein are incomplete, but mix and match and eat a variety over the day, a little with each meal and snack and you will get plenty as well as feeling fuller, so less likely to snack on unhealthy options. If in doubt get some advice or do some research online and become a bit more adventurous with your ingredients. You can be a very healthy vegetarian.

Worrying can stop you sleeping and not sleeping can make you worry more, leading to a cycle of poor sleep and higher anxiety.
​
Studies have suggested that stress can alter gut bacteria in a way that interferes with the sleep-wake cycle. To support the good gut bacteria you need to ensure they get plenty prebiotics - food to promote the growth of good bacteria.

A recent study has shown that prebiotic fibre -found for example in  leeks, onions, garlic, celery, artichokes, bananas, apples and pears not only feeds the growth of good gut bacteria but also helps lower the stress hormone cortisol and helps with getting a good night's sleep.

​After the Christmas holidays many people will decide to lose weight in the New Year. If you are serious about your long term health, then weight loss needs to be slow and steady. Quick weight loss can rarely be sustained as it tends to make the body put on weight quicker in the future as fat is more easily stored.

Throw away the scales or at most stand on them once a month. Increase your activity levels, get some advice on improving what you eat, how you eat and when you eat. Your health will improve and the weight will come off steadily. It takes effort but so does anything that is worth while.

picture from www.express.co..uk

An article in the Guardian on  1/10/2016 suggested that some young people are suffering from an eating disorder called Orthorexia - an obsession with restricting what they eat to a limited number of foods they consider healthy assuming all other foods are harmful.  This can lead to malnutrition, nutritional deficiencies and even anorexia.

Orhorexia is often linked with "clean eating" -  which as a concept is a good idea - eating less processed food, less refined carbohydrates and added sugar and eating more wholefoods, vegetables, good proteins and healthy fats. However, this can sometimes get out of hand from a mis-guided belief from the media or unqualified sources that all carbohydrates are bad, gluten is bad, dairy is bad, fat is bad, meat is bad and anything with sugar in is harmful. If you avoid whole food groups with no substitutions to ensure you get all the nutrients you need, then your health will suffer.

Still confused? Some nutritionists and chefs suggest healthy recipes that might seem a bit alien to a normal human being. Great if you know how to balance your diet to get all the nutrients you need or for an occasional meal. For most people this may seem a bit complicated. The best way to start eating healthily is to replace  processed ready meals with home-made, use lean meat, have more fish and some meat free days, increase vegetable intake to half the plate, reduce white sugar and flour and eat more whole-grains.

My cooking and Facebook posts give ideas to hopefully inspire people to experiment with more nutritious ingredients in ordinary meals and snacks you can enjoy  just as much if not more. 

The main reason to eat healthy food is to feel well and stay healthy. Enjoying food is important too. The occasional take away or chocolate eclair is not going to matter in the big scheme of things, it's about understanding how your body feels when you eat and what makes it work best. If you live on lettuce leaves or junk food neither is going to give you all the nutrients you require or make you feel well and healthy - its all a matter of balance.

picture from locustherapy.com

  It's easy to get stuck in a rut. The same thing every day for breakfast. Have to eat curry on Friday and pizza on Wednesday. Too busy to change things around.

If you stick to the same foods all the time the chances are that you  aren't getting enough of the wide range of nutrients you need. Particularly if you don't eat many fruit and vegetables.

Always have museli for breakfast? add a different topping every day for example crushed nuts or seeds, chopped dried figs or dates, a handful of berries or chopped banana. 

That plain chicken sandwich  you have for lunch - add loads of salad, try different tpes of bread or ditch the bread and have a big salad with the chicken. 

To cassaroles or curries add a tin of  beans or  chickpeas, a big handful or spinach or mushrooms

Think of a rainbow and try and make sure that you eat fruit and vegetables from each colour group every day.

y
Around 15,000 children in the UK are living with some form of arthritis. They have to deal with fatigue, stiff and painful joints and the medication can cause nausea and loss of appetite. It can be difficult for parents to know how best to help. Arthritis is a chronic inflammatory condition, so eating an anti inflammatory diet can help relieve some of the symptoms and reduce flare ups.

An anti-inflammatory way of eating can help us all stay healthy so it is not about giving one child a special diet, it is about eating well as a family and this should improve the symptoms or reduce flare ups of arthritis as well as improving the health of the whole family.

Parents provide good eating role models, so get the whole family interested in eating more anti inflammatory food. Try and eat altogether as often as possible and provide a variety of foods. Getting children involved in shopping or cooking can be a good way to start getting them interested in good food.

Take a look at the food that makes up regular meals and snacks. The most inflammatory foods are sugar, white flour and processed foods. These don’t need to be eliminated from the diet but should become a small part rather than the child’s main food.

It can be a challenge to encourage children to eat more wholegrains and fruit and vegetables and busy parents may feel that they don’t have the time to make radial changes.

Make some gradual steps.

Include more wholegrains  – bread, oats, rice,  pasta, flour. As they are full of fibre you use less and feel full for longer



If you buy white bread – try different wholegrain options – there will be one out there your child will like. Make sandwiches with one slice white and the other wholegrain to start off, or move to oatcakes, wholegrain crackers or  pitta pockets.
​
If you bake – start by replacing half of the white flour with a wholegrain, either wholewheat or experiment with  other grains like buckwheat, quinoa, coconut. You can even make oat flour by putting some oats in the blender. Take a look at the Improve Nutrition Facebook page – lots of ideas for healthy swaps and snack  recipes.

Variety is key to ensure good nutrition. Pasta or spaghetti every day is not very nutritious You can get varieties  made with all sorts of vegetables or wholegrains which are more exciting or get a spiraliser and try courgetty spaghetti.

Again half and half with your normal spaghetti can be a good way to incorporate more vegetables into the diet.If you make couscous, why not try replacing half with cauliflower and carrot couscous – just put some cauliflower and carrot in the blender until riced and steam for 5 minutes then add to cooked couscous.

Mashed potato – try cauliflower and sweet potato mash – or do half and half.

 Put a bowl of mixed vegetables on the table and encourage children to try. Add grated veg when cooking mince or making burgers. 

Drinks – watch fruit juice,  diluting juice or fizzy drinks as they either contain hidden sugar or artificial sweeteners. Buy some fruit teas and make up a jug of water with a couple of tea bags in overnight if plain water won't do and drink milk or nut milks. A whole piece of fruit is better than fruit juice. Berries and pineapple are especially anti-inflammatory

Protein is especially important for growing bodies – lean meat, low fat dairy, nuts, nut butters, fish, eggs, tofu, lentils and beans. Add lentils to vegetable soup or beans to a casserole and try hummus or bean dips with carrot sticks.

Healthy fats are essential for joints and bones. Use olive oil for cooking, if they like oily fish like mackeral, herring , sardines and salmon - serve a couple of times a week. Children usually like fish cakes which are easy to make at home.   Avocados can make a good dip or spread. Nuts and seeds  can be ground and sprinkled on everything from cereal , soups and savoury dishes.

Get outside and soak up that Vitamin D – essential for healthy bones and joints and especially important for children with arthritis. You can get this tested quite easily.

Some children with arthritis have sensitivities to dairy or gluten. Get some advice if you are thinking of  removing these from your child’s diet to ensure they are getting enough nutrients for healthy growth and development.

If medication reduces appetite or makes your child nauseous, offer small regular meals and avoid food with strong flavours. Peppermint and ginger can help reduce the sick feeling.

When young people with arthritis leave home

Once children with arthritis grow up and leave home, there are lots of bits of equipment that can help with food preparation  - from special knives to electric jar openers and all sorts of  choppers and slicers to make life easier.  
 
Supermarkets sell all sorts of ready prepared fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables, pouches of cooked wholegrain rice and other wholegrains, jars of ready crushed garlic and herbs, great if you are too fatigued or sore to cook.

When friends or relatives come over get them to  help prepare meals

Cook in bulk and freeze portions so you don’t have to cook every day and on a day when cooking seems too daunting you will have a healthy option quickly available.

When under duress, the body produces the hormones adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol - your  heart rate rises, blood sugar increases and more blood flows to the muscles. This puts the body into fight or flight mode which is  really useful when you're about to give a presentation at work, run a race, recover from surgery or take your  driving test. In the short term this increase is beneficial - stimulating immune activity and can help focus and concentration. Cortisol is also important for regulating your sleep / wake cycle.

 Modern life can be very stressful and for many people the stress hormones get little time to switch off  and this is not so good for health.

This picture shows where normal cortisol function should be  - in the green section – highest in the morning to help you get up and going in the morning and and lowest at night as you prepare to sleep. It also gives an example of an imbalance of cortisol (taken from saliva samples), here too high in the morning, falling to midday before rising slightly and ending the day far higher than it should be. This person wakes early with anxiety, begins to feel fatigued in the afternoon and sleeps very badly at night.

Long term elevated cortisol can lead to problems with sleeping patterns, affect weight, impact on fertility, thyroid function, digestion and suppresses the immune system.
​
Cortisol balance can be restored by dietary changes to balance blood sugar, removing food intolerances and rectifying nutritional deficiencies.  Lifestyle changes are really important to encourage better sleep and improve relaxation. Nutritional therapy can also provide supplements if necessary to assist the adrenal glands (where cortisol is produced) to help restore balance.

Eating is meant to be pleasurable and satisfying but is often mindless and guilt-inducing instead. 

If you want to lose weight or sort out digestive issues then it's important to be aware of what you are eating and whether you are actually hungry when you eat. It may seem obvious, but how often do you just grab the nearest thing, wolf it down and rush off to take the kids somewhere or get back to work? Or sit and graze whilst watching TV not knowing how much you are eating?

Over eating and digestive complaints often happen alongside a lack of mindfulness.

So what can you do?

Slow down...sit at a table to eat, switch off the TV. Think about what you are eating and take your time with the meal. Chew your food properly. Digestion starts in the mouth, if you swallow food without chewing properly then your stomach and guts will have a harder time trying to digest. Chewing also makes you eat more slowly. It takes 20 minutes for the brain to get the message that you are full after eating, so if you eat slowly then you are likely to eat less.

If you eat lots of junk food snacks when bored, be aware of this. Ask yourself if you are really hungry. If you are then make sure you have healthier options that you enjoy available to snack on. If you are not hungry, have a glass of water or cup of tea and find something to do or go for a walk to distract yourself.

Mindful eating really works and is a powerful tool to help you develop a healthier, happier relationship with food. It is also a good way of helping you look at the type of food you eat and how to get more variety into your diet.