All tagged nutritionist

Top tips for getting ahead with meal prep

Making life easier in the kitchen is what we are all about. There are several items that we make on a regular basis so that we always have something tasty to snack on or reach for to pull a meal together. They are a bit like the backbone to our cooking. Helping us to speed things up in the kitchen when we are busy. You could set aside some time each week to make these, say a Sunday afternoon when things are less busy. Or make them throughout the week, whatever suits you. If you want to make sure you always have a well stocked kitchen to assist with getting ahead then do check out our blog post stocking a healthy kitchen.

Tips to stocking your healthy kitchen

Changing your habits can be hard and making healthy choices when your kitchen isn’t stocked can be very hard. If your kitchen is well stocked with healthy ingredients then you will find is much easier to rustle up healthy dishes. Our tips below will make sure that your kitchen is stocked with all you need.

6 real everyday superfoods

As the health industry continues to boom, there are more and more products claiming to make you healthier and it’s easy to be seduced into thinking that taking a daily ‘superfood’ will help to make you healthier. However if you are sedentary and consume a typical Western diet that is high in saturated fat and low in fibre and phytonutrients then a glass of wheatgrass a day will not protect you from cancer or cardiovascular problems. 

Are you riding the blood sugar rollercoaster?

We all know that sugar is bad for us and does us no favours in our quest to being healthy. However it’s not just sugar in tea and coffee or fizzy drinks that is affecting our blood sugar levels. White bread, pasta, cakes, biscuits and fruit juice all convert to sugar within a few minutes of being eaten. Now you might think this is not a problem and you exercise loads so you’ll burn it off right? Unfortunately it’s not as easy as this. If you suffer from mood swings or find yourself becoming ‘hangry’, have low energy or weight that gathers around your belly then you might feel much better by cutting back on the sugar and white refined carbohydrates.

Boosting your immunity

As the seasons change and the nights draw in it’s the return of the coughs and colds. I always find it’s when the children go back to school after the summer holidays that colds start to make a reappearance. It always amazes me just how quickly someone in the class gets a cold and passes the germs around.

fat soluble vitamins

If you follow us on Instagram you will know that we recently posted a series called Nutrient Spotlight, where we took each vitamin and mineral in turn and spoke of how it is used in our body, why we need it and any symptoms of deficiency - also most importantly how you can find these nutrients in your food. The series was so popular that we have added them to our blog so you'll be able to access them easily. This week we spotlight the fat soluble vitamins – Vitamins A, D, E and K. It's very important to remember that these vitamins are stored in our body (in the liver) and so it's very easy to reach high and potentially toxic levels.

Let's talk about fat

For those of us growing up in the 70s, 80s and 90s we were told that eating a low fat diet was healthy and we switched from high fat butter to margarine, full fat milk to skimmed milk and we stopped drizzling oil and butter on our salads and vegetables. Thankfully those days are now behind us and finally the message that eating low fat is healthy is starting to be replaced by the message that eating healthy fats is good for you. However, I still find there are many people that cling onto eating a low fat diet and have a fear of eating any fat. The idea that eating fat makes us fat was first touted in the 1950s and since this low fat message we have seen a rise in obesity, a rise in dementia-related illnesses and a rise in heart conditions.​​​​​​​ 

making sure your holiday is healthy

With holidays looming now is the time to start preparing your body for its annual holiday. We all need some sunlight on our body to help provide our bodies with vitamin D. This important mineral helps to maintain calcium levels in the body and ensure we have healthy bones and teeth. However it doesn’t take too much time to increase our levels and sunscreen is essential to avoid sunburn. When our skin cells are exposed to too much sunlight, UVA and UVB wavelengths, our skin cells experience stress and shut down. This stress can overload our antioxidant nutrient supplies and so it’s important to make sure these are topped up before we head off on our summer holidays. 

is gluten free healthier?

The gluten free aisle in the supermarket is huge, and is growing larger every month. In 2016 the global gluten free market was worth $14.95 billion and is expected to grow at an annual rate of just over 9% every year. This rise in the gluten free market has also seen a rise in people claiming they are eating gluten free without being diagnosed as coeliac or intolerant to gluten. So is eating gluten free healthier for you?

It's exam season - help!

All over the country, teenagers and adults are preparing for a summer of exams, whether it’s finals, A levels, GCSEs or end of year exams. Make sure your brain is in tip top condition by following our simple tips below to boost your brain and give yourself the best chance for success.

Looking after your heart

Heart disease is unfortunately still on the rise and is still the leading cause of death for both men and women in the world. Nutritionally there is much that you can do to protect yourself and since prevention is invariably better than cure it’s time to protect your heart.

are you eating enough vegetables?

Whatever diet you are on... paleo, vegan, vegetarian, nordic, LCHF or a typical Western diet there's no doubt that increasing your vegetable intake is something that will benefit you. The benefits for our cardiovascular system, immune system, brain health and weight are huge and we should be aiming at hitting at least 10 portions of different vegetables a day into our diet. Ten I hear you say, that’s impossible! But actually it’s much easier than you think, as I will outline later. Eating an abundant rainbow of vegetables really will leave you feeling so much better.

what supplements should I take?

I am often about taking supplements and which ones I recommend to take regularly. It’s a difficult question to answer as everyone’s diet and requirements are different. I also believe that a good diet should play the most important part in good health. You can’t supplement your way out of a poor diet and we need to make sure we get most of our micronutrients from our diet. Often the nutrients we get from food sources are better absorbed than a pill. Supplements, if taken, should supplement your diet and not replace good food.

Do you prioritise sleep and relaxation?

You might think that the key to optimal health is eating well and getting plenty of exercise. While these play a very important part, if you don’t also prioritise your sleep and relaxation you could be putting your health at risk. Modern day life is hectic and often relaxation is seen as a luxury and sleep is cut to squeeze even more activities into our busy days. However long-term lack of sleep and relaxation can impact your health in many ways.

The essential for life - water

We are made up of over 60% water and every cell in our body requires water just to function. Even the smallest degree of water loss can impair both physical and mental function. If you go for a run and at the start weigh 72.5kg and then after 20 miles weigh in at 70kg then this equates to a 4% body weight loss. A 4% body weight loss will mean that your exercise performance will be cut by about 25% - not something you need during a long race! There is no doubt that water is essential to life, but still there are many people that don’t drink enough.

pre and post surgery tips

I am writing this a month after surgery on my foot. My recovery has been excellent according to my surgeon and my follow up appointment was fast tracked due to great healing. Obviously this could be done to a variety of factors, but I thought I would write down what I did as a nutritional therapist to help prepare my body for surgery.

Do you get enough?

When talking about the mineral magnesium, the answer is most likely to be “no”. Magnesium is an extremely important mineral that is involved in over 300 reactions in the body. However, deficiency has been found in over 70% of the population. It is often very difficult to test for since only 1% of magnesium is found in the blood. Most is found in the bones (60%) and in muscles (26%).  

why visit a nutritional therapist?

Often people only think of seeing a nutritional therapist if they suspect a food allergy or intolerance. However, there is so much more that we can do to help you feel in optimal health. I have listed below some reasons that you might wish to seek a consultation. A nutritional therapist never uses one diet for all, they recognise that everyone is unique. They look into every aspect of your past history and help to come up with an individualised plan that will work for you.