NUTRITION + HEALTH BLOG

How are you feeling about Easter?  I love this time of year, especially when the weather is good but, like Christmas, this is the time of year my clients fear most. Chocolate is all around; in every shop and TV commercial. It’s enough to melt away your good intentions and, with this much pressure, binging feels almost inevitable.  

Of course, chocolate is available all year round. The trouble seems to come when there’s too much chocolate as is the case at this time of year, which leads to too much temptation, eating too much in one go, then feeling miserable because you over indulged. The worst parts of a binge are the feelings of guilt and failure that you feel afterwards. So let’s fix that.

Let’s accept that, Easter will mean chocolate indulgence on one level of another. 

Make the best diet choices over Easter

1 Try to discourage family and friends from buying chocolate for you. This puts you back in control of how much you have.

2...

So it turns out not even my mother really understands what I do all day...

Most people get – on a conceptual level at least – that they should probably eat a bit better than they do, they should probably move more and take the time for more ‘me time’ to live a long and happy life.

‘Life’ seems to get in the way of achieving that. Many of us are juggling jobs and the complexities of modern relationships, leaving little time to dedicate to the business of ‘being healthy’. Convenience often wins. It’s not that that’s wrong per se, but here’s the thing: all the time we are not eating or moving or living as well as we know to do, we are silently getting sicker. That may actually be going-to-hospital sick or it may just mean having health niggles that bother us greatly but that we have learned to cope with. I’m talking here about things like IBS or other tummy troubles, PMT, arthritis, stress or anxiety, haywire...

Itchy, watery eyes? Constantly sneezing? Hello hay fever! Now I really know it’s spring and you’re here to stay – like an uninvited guest – for the next six months. But while Mother Nature can be cruel, she is also kind. It might surprise you to know that changing what you eat can have a big impact on the severity of your symptoms.

According to Allergy UK, as many as 30% of adults and 40% of children suffer from allergic rhinitis (the medical term for the condition), an allergic reaction to pollen. You might start noticing symptoms in March when the tree pollen season starts. Then there’s the grass pollen season, followed by the weed pollen season, which can go on into September.

If this is you, I sympathise: itchy, red or watery eyes; runny or blocked nose; sneezing and coughing; itchy throat, mouth, nose and ears; loss of smell; earache; headache; and feeling exhausted.

There are some foods will make the symptoms of hay fever worse, so try to cut...

I’m delighted to announce the introduction to my practice of the Protefine Diet, which is proving hugely successful in clinic. The clients who tend to do best on a plan like this are those people who feel they need a really simple protocol to follow because they are short on time and have struggled before to fit healthy eating into their busy lives. It’s just one of the options I offer clients who come to work with me on a weight loss coaching programme, and I am one of only a very few nutrition practitioners across the country who are able to offer this product. Here are a few commonly asked questions about the diet.

What is the Proteifine Diet?

The Proteifine Diet has been in the UK since 2010 and is hugely popular in Europe and South America, and I have been trialling it with clients recently with fantastic results. I can confidently say that I have never come across a more effective approach to weight loss. 

The Proteifine Diet is a protein-based, low...

How is it that some people are so damn lucky? And happy. Nothing seems to go wrong for them. In fact, everything seems to go so right. All. The. Time. They’re never stressed by the ‘life stuff’ around them and just seem to be having a better time of it. Annoying, right? You could be that person – yes, REALLY – in a few weeks. Seriously. Science is absolutely behind me on this one; you really can change how happy you are.

All it takes is a bit of a gamble on something you might think is a bit 'woo woo' and 5-10 minutes of your time every single day. ‘What is it?’ I hear you cry. Gratitude. Stay with me here. Stop the eye rolling. Please keep reading. If you don’t think this simple practice is going to turn your life around, then you haven’t tried it. But, if there is anything you are not happy with in your life, if you’re always feeling stressed and are generally overwhelmed with life (even if it all looks great on...

There is an argument that all foods are OK in moderation, and this is largely based on not having ‘being healthy’ become something that feels a chore or that has you missing out on some of the things you really enjoy. But as a nutrition professional, there are a number of things that I NEVER eat.

1 Low fat/ reduced fat foods/ diet foods

These foods are, by definition, very highly processed. Where fat is taken out of a food, what nearly always goes in instead is either sugar or artificial sweeteners. The idea that fat is bad or leads to weight gain has now been acknowledged as being entirely wrong. We now know that sugars (and excess starchy carbs) are what mostly leads to weight gain and keep you craving sweet things. Many artificial sweeteners aren’t great for gut health either. I’d far rather stick to the natural, full fat version.

2 Margarine and butter substitutes

Margarine and vegetable spreads are the nutritionally poorer relations of real butter,...

Whether or not you should eat dairy products is one of the things that people most ask me about as a nutrition professional.

There’s the argument from the dairy industry and conventional medicine that, if you don’t eat dairy, you’re putting your bone health at risk.

Other health professionals (often in what we used to call ‘alternative medicine’) have long argued that consuming dairy products causes low-grade inflammation in the body, may increase the risk of cancer, drain your energy and give you spots.

Vegans also argue that eating dairy isn't natural for humans, and that dairy farming involves cruelty to animals many of us are unaware of, plus it significantly contributes to global warming.

In this newsletter, I want to give you all the details on what’s good and not so good about dairy, and the positive benefits of giving up milk-based products. If you’re even considering ditching dairy, there is one really important thing you need...

Leap into 2019 with real resolutions – and make them stick

On 1 January across the world, millions of us make lofty promises to ourselves. We’ll get healthy, go to gym, drink less wine and eat more greens. We plan to be perfect.

By February, most resolutions are gathering dust as we shake off the holidays and wrestle with the reality of work, friendship, parenthood and bills. It doesn’t happen to me so much these days because I have the skills to coach myself out of it but is this your reality?

Why can't I keep my New Year resolutions?

According to psychologists, even though you might want fast results, you procrastinate. Sustained effort is key to success, so by wanting too much and therefore spreading yourself too thin, you end up at the starting line, feeling defeated already (and even less inclined to begin all over again if you need to).

Resolutions are a healthy way to reboot your life – but you need to keep them real.

The secret is to fashion...

Eating food you have cooked or prepared at home is healthier for you. It is also considerably cheaper. The key to this is planning. You’ve probably heard the saying ‘failing to plan is planning to fail’. Without a weekly food plan, it will be pure luck if you end up with the right foods in the fridge or cupboard. And, without planning your time, you won’t always make the time to enjoy breakfast or make that lunch. You could be saving a LOT of money each and every week by following these tips.

EXERCISE 1: HOW MUCH ARE YOU REALLY (OVER)SPENDING?

Be honest with yourself about your spending and shopping habits. That starts with looking into how much you spend each week on take-out coffee, croissants and other breakfasts; lunchtime salads, soups and sandwiches; snacks and other food treats; and ready meals, takeaways or last-minute meals out. Make a note every time you buy something (not the main food shop) to eat out of the house. Do this for a week, then...

Hey, would you like to come to this place, spend the evening at that place, have a mince pie, sausage roll, egg nog, mulled wine, taste my world-beating Christmas cake…?

And you’ll go because you can’t resist. You’ll feast like you’ll never see another meal, and you’ll consume frightening amounts of festive tipples because otherwise you’ll be missing out on all the fun, right?

FOMO – shorthand for ‘fear of missing out’ –is the acute and often unjustified belief that everyone is having way more fun than you. And it reaches its annual high any day now.

Small wonder. Apparently, the British cram 44% more social occasions into December than any other month.

But FOMO really is not your friend this month (or indeed any month) – especially if you want to maintain your weight over the holidays.

Let’s take a look at how that festive FOMO usually pans out…

You’re committed to healthy eating at...