NUTRITION + HEALTH BLOG

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...

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...

Are your cupboards full of cooking gadgets you never use? Hands up if you have a pasta maker getting dusty in the shed? Clients in clinic often ask me what they really need to make healthy eating a breeze, so here are my favourite must-have kitchen gadgets that you’ll actually use! Just in time to ask Santa …

Stick Blender

Makes light work of chopping, pureeing, blitzing and whisking. These usually come with a range of versatile accessories, like mini chopping bowls and whisks. Just the job for blending soup or chopping up nuts.

I LOVE:Dualit 700W Hand Blender in Polished Chrome (http://amzn.to/2io54RF), has everything you’ll ever need and more, including the wand itself, a whisk plus TWO chopper bowls – one of them has a feed tube so you can add ingredients as you go, just like a food processor. It’s not the cheapest on the market, but it is pretty special (and why have a cheapie model on your wish list, right?).

Slow juicer

If you are a fan of...

There’s a lot to like about winter. I LOVE reading by a roaring fire with a little glass of spicy red. I love the first flush of going outside in snuggly boots, coat and hat (until my bones start to feel the chill)...

I shan’t list all the things I don’t like about winter, but right up there must be catching a cold, and feeling a bit blue come January.

In this blog, I’m going to explain why so much of that is down to your levels of vitamin D, which is sometimes called the ‘sunshine vitamin’ (and hence a lack of it in winter).

We’ll look at all the stuff you really need to know about vitamin D (this is how I’m going to convince you that really is vital for life and you should get yourself tested if you don’t know your levels already). We’ll look at how you can tell if you might be a bit low, who should get tested, and where to have it done (and what to say to your doctor to have this done free of charge). Oh, and how to...

I wonder how long you have spent over the course of your life searching for the magic pill when it comes to weight loss? And how much money you have spent on miracle products that promised to make the weight drop off over night – or at least not make the business of losing weight seem so tricky?  

First things first, if you are someone who has spent a significant amount of times in slimming clubs, what you should know is that almost certainly you have been taught to eat the wrong things. And the community mindset seems to be about finding ways to cheat the diet. It’s no wonder people lose weight and put it straight back on again. Of course, actually eating the right things will help you lose the weight naturally, without calorie counting. And eating the way I show my clients has them naturally wanting to eat the foods that will love their body rather than deciding to seek solace in a bag of Haribos.

What the slimming clubs miss is the vital mindset element of losing...

Being vegan is really fashionable right now, and those in favour of this way of eating will tell you that it’s the absolutely healthiest diet you can have from a nutritional perspective, plus you get to save, not only the lives of animals but the planet, too. For most people, it is a bit of a stretch to go from where you are now to a 100% vegan diet. In this newsletter, I’m going to put it all out there for you: what it means to be vegan, what’s great about it, what’s not so good, where you might struggle – and I’ll also be giving you tips for getting started, whether your intention is to immerse yourself fully or if you just fancy dabbling (either is fine – just saying).

What is a vegan diet?

A vegan diet is a stricter version of a vegetarian diet. On top of not eating any meat, fish or seafood – i.e. dead animals, a vegan diet also cuts out any food stuffs made from animal sources (some of which are the most nutrient-dense...

Fruit and veg is good for you. No one would argue with that. But what is better for your health – and losing weight? – juices or smoothies?  Both are trending right now and there’s a huge debate. Some people swear by weight loss smoothies and others claim juicing for weight loss is best.

There has been a great deal of research in recent years to support the claim that eating more fruit and veg may be able to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, and cancer, while also helping to manage your weight. 

It can be a challenge to eat five portions of fruit and veg each day, even when you like vegetables. And now a new report suggests that eating 10 portions is what we need to stay healthy for longer. Most people don’t come nearly close to having enough, and I bet you’re wondering how the hell you’re going to manage that!

And, if you’ve been wanting to try a weight loss smoothie for breakfast, but you’re also...