You can’t eat that you’re a nutritionist!!

You can’t eat that you’re a nutritionist!!

I have a confession, well not really a confession but something that seems to surprise people, I eat chocolate! I love chocolate, I also eat cake, Chinese, pizza and a whole host of other things that are on the whole not particularly nourishing .

I am after all a human, I am by trade a nutritionist and I’ve spent years studying biochemistry, human biology and nutrients, so….. I also know exactly what happens when I eat these foods!

I don’t however eat them every day – anymore! I used to; during my teens and early twenties I had a somewhat distorted view and relationship with food. I read every diet book going, attended any diet group or class I could and generally felt very very confused about what to eat because every diet seemed to have different rules, you can eat fruit in abundance on one yet it was the route of all evil on the next! Oh the confusion, all I wanted was to be slim! Why was it so complicated!

Years of yo-yo dieting and a growing list of health complications (IBS, Polycystic ovarian syndrome, suspected pernicious anaemia, anaemia etc) left me realising I needed to know more about how food was affecting my health - So I did what any normal person would do I retrained as a nutritionist!

What I learnt is that it’s what we eat every day that has the biggest effect on our health not what we do once in a while. I also learnt what certain foods do to the body and was shocked to find that the diets I had been following were likely to be directly responsible for some of the health conditions I was experiencing and completely responsible for the cravings I was having!

It’s been quite some time now that I qualified and I’m please to say that my relationship with food is now one of a healthy nature, I no longer eat chocolate for breakfast (Eater Sunday was different ok?!) or starve myself, but I so still eat chocolate and processed crap from time to time.

If you have rules and restrictions on the food that you can and cannot eat for anything other than allergies or health conditions in my view you are going into dangerous territory.

Food is fuel, food is nourishment, but food is also a social activity and this doesn’t need to mean that it’s unhealthy. I truly believe that there are times when a packet of crisps is just what is needed, yes of course you could go and have crunchy carrots and hummus or unsalted nuts but please its ok to eat a little what you fancy now and again. Less judgment is needed amongst fellow humans these days, so if you see me munching on crisps of eating chocolates don’t judge come and say Hi I’m happy to share.

My view is food is the remedy not the enemy, we don’t need to fear food, whilst I believe we should pick foods that nourish our body daily its ok to eat foods that nourish your soul every now and again too!

If you are struggling with your diet, or fed up of dieting and want shape up, slim down or just stop feeling crazing around food, I can help you, I offer one to one coaching around mindset, body image and self love aswell as one to one nutrition advice!

For more information please email me on Kirsten@thefoodremedy.co.uk or call me on 07780007361,

Ditch the diet mentality and remember food is a remedy not the enemy.

The Food Remedy, Health benefits of Cucumber

Cucumber 

Cucumbers are one of the most cultivated vegetables in the world and known to be one of the best foods for your body's overall health.  They have many benefits from assisting you digestive system, to easing acid reflux and research also suggests that it may help prevent some types of cancers.

Digestive Health

Cucumber skins contain insoluble fiber, which helps add bulk to your stool and helps food to move through your digestive tract more quickly for healthy elimination.

Cancers 

Cucumber contain three lignans - lariciresinol, pinoresinol, and secoisolariciresinol. These three lignans have a strong history of research in connection with reduced risk of several cancer types, including breast cancer, ovarian cancer, uterine cancer and prostate cancer. They also contain phytonutrients called cucurbitacins, which research has found could possess anti-cancer properties

Diabetes

Cucumber juice contains a hormone which is needed by the cells of the pancreas for producing insulin which is believed to be beneficial to diabetic patients.

Heart health

Cucumber contain plant sterols which are well documented for there ability in helping reduce cholesterol levels. They also contain a lot of potassium, magnesium and fibre, that work together to help regulating blood pressure. This makes cucumbers good for treating both low blood pressure and high blood pressure.

Stress

Cucumbers contain multiple B vitamins, are known to help ease feelings of anxiety and helping ease some of the damaging effects of stress.

Cucumbers are great in salad, in stir fries or eaten with dips as a nutritious snack.

Is your new years resolution to lose weight? If so Read on!

It’s that time of year again, when we look back at the past year and re-evaluate our life - what we have done or not done, we resolve to make changes and set goals for the coming year. Today I’m going to be talking to those of you who have weight loss related goals. So many people start of the new year full of excitement and anticipation of how fast they can get rid of the unwanted weight they have been carrying or maybe have recently gained. January is the time when gym memberships go up, health DVD can seem to fly off shop shelves and new diets seem to pop out of everywhere. How many times have you heard people say “Have you tried this 9 day detox? Sugar detox? Meal replacements? No carbs? No fat”? And so on and on I’m sure that when people set their resolution to lose weight, its not really truly about weight, what they really want is to be happy in their body, to feel full of energy to be able to eat tasty food and not food that seem like it’s punishment. I’m here today to tell you that is entirely possible.

You don’t need to live on juices for a month or stop eating carbohydrates or even cut fat from your diet, what you need is healthy sustainable advice based on REAL FOOD!! Yes you can have a bacon sandwich in the morning and lose weight you can even have a slice of pizza and a chocolate now and again too, food is a pleasure and should be enjoyed. Healthy food that is nourishing for the body will get you to your goal and the most importantly help remain that faster than any ‘weight loss diet’ will, be it meal replacements, juicing, patches, pill, potions. I only wish I could teach you all just simply HOW to eat for good health and pleasure, as it seems we have all lost the knowledge. We need to stop dieting and learn how to eat to be healthy and very often the side effect of being healthy is a healthy weight. By this I mean if you are over weight you will naturally find that the excess pounds fall off and if you are under weight, when you adopt a nourishing healthy diet your body will steadily increase to a healthy level. Now please do not interpret what I am saying as all those over or under weight aren’t healthy that is not my opinion at all. All I am saying is health should be the focus of any change in diet not weight. I could go on about why we don’t need special detox diets. I think sometimes we get so caught up in what we weigh we forget that weight really isn’t the most important factor at all.

So if your new years resolution is to lose weight, why not rephrase it to gain health instead? Weight loss isn’t a true reflection of all that much to be honest, as you can weigh less from muscle wastage, dehydration, carb depletion and fasting/starving. If your goal is to lose unwanted body fat that weight shouldn’t be your focal point. So many clients I see come to me and fixated on weight when how you feel how you look and your health is the true indication of health. I have a client who lost two dress sizes before Christmas she was seeing me once a week and a personal trainer three times a week, after the second week I had to stop weighing her because she was becoming very disheartened. Her weight you see didn’t change in the whole six weeks I saw her, and had she been focusing only on her weight she may have become disheartened and stopped. Yet at the end of the six weeks she was a comfortable size 12 not an uncomfortable size 16 and her body fat was now a healthy level. Instead of focusing on weight we focused on cravings, energy levels, skin and mood. So if fat loss is you aim, don’t fall pray to the marketing gimmicks - the fast quick fix ‘diets’ that don’t put your health first. Focus on eating REAL FOOD!! DON’T GIVE UP FAT – just eat them from nutritious sources, and yes that even includes a little bit of butter! Don’t shun carbohydrates – just pick slow releasing natural unrefined sources such as:- oats, sweet potatoes, basmarti rice, vegetables in abundance and low glycemic load fruit. Eat adequate protein with every meal. Go organic if money allows and buy grass fed beef as opposed to grain fed. If you would like a months diet plan to get you of to a good start for 7 days only you can have a one to one consultation and a one months diet plan for the reduce price of £50. Normal price is £75 for a consultation and a one week plan! Call 07780007361 to book your appointment or email Kirsten@thefoodremedy.co.uk