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Posts tagged nutrition
Prof Regan’s Diet Clinic (2)
With a firm tongue in my cheek, I’m delighted to see Professor Regan put high sugar cereals and cheese straws in her acceptable diet clinic tonight and learned from the nutritionist at Kelloggs that there is no evidence that sugar causes obesity. So it’ll be all the fruit and vegetables and unrefined food we are all eating thats keeping us all so slim then!! Excellent…. I can retire happy in the knowledge that feeding my face with white sugar will keep me nice and trim. I must stop watching this programme as its doing my blood pressure no good at all. Perhaps I should see a nutritionist!
Professor Regan’s Diet Clinic
After watching the second installment of Professor Regan’s diet clinic I am up in arms over the research she did regarding homeopathy. I’m not a homeopath, I’m a nutritionist but what I saw was seriously flawed media journalism.
Professor Regan put forward the case that homeopathy was little more than a placebo and the “research” she found was not good enough to put it in her so called diet clinic.
The homeopathy study she did was on four people, all who had chronic insomnia. Instead of giving homeopathic remedies she used sugar pills. I’m wondering why she didnt just try the homeopathic remedies anyway. Perhaps she was worried that they might actually work! The placebo pill worked well on the insomniacs and homeopathy was branded as nonsense. If she had used sugar pills on the second trial she did with painkillers one wonders if there would have been the same outcome. If the rugby players had been given placebo painkillers, would they have felt pain. Possibly not. So the whole point of this exercise makes no sense to me at all. We all know that placebo can work with all conventional drugs as well, so why did she choose to use it on homeopathy. What would have made far more interesting viewing would have been giving the homeopathy to young children or babies where placebo becomes a non factor.
The TV screen quickly flicked onto some of the research papers she was studying – I clocked one backed by Wellcome. If a trial is backed by a pharmaceuctical company how can the trial be unbiased? We have no idea who paid for these research trials and that is key to how to interpret the results or any trial done on any medicine.
Questions still unanswered were why do we still have a homeopathic hospital in London if it doesnt work? Why do animals and babies respond so well to homepathy if it is all in the mind?
The principle of like for like curing symptoms is used in conventional medicine for vaccines – why did Professor Regan find this so hard to understand?
You could argue that placebo could be used for all drugs and medicines – if the body thinks something will cure it, it usually will, as was proved by the rubgy players feeling less pain with the branded painkillers rather than the generic cheaper brands.
The final point I have to make before getting off my soapbox is the woman who took st johns wort whilst taking the contraceptive pill. The story was built up for us to think an awful side effect had occurred whilst taking the herbal supplement. We then found out what this side effect was…………and lord help us ….it was a baby!!! Yes it turns out that st johns wort reduces the effectiveness of the contraceptive pill. Well guess what – I have a friend who got pregnant while she was taking antibiotics and on the pill. Surely they could have come up with a better side effect than a lovely bouncing baby!! As a nutritionist I dont give st johns wort to my patients as it can be extremely toxic to the liver and very difficult to regulate the amount needed for each patient as there are so many varying kinds of low mood and depression. Isnt that more useful information?!!!
I would be interested to hear your views on this, and your experiences good or bad with homeopathy/herbal medicine and painkillers.
Food labelling
Having just had a week off work I found myself meandering slowly round my local supermarket (I usually do a mad dash) and reading labels. I do this from time to time to see if anything has been easier for the consumer to understand. They are getting there slowly but to be honest I glazed over many products and thought if I didnt do the job I do I wouldnt have a clue whether this product was good for me.
I will therefore let you into a secret I tell all my clients – if its got more than ten ingredients in it, put it back on the shelves. If you buy produce one ingredient at a time ie broccoli, or frozen peas – you know there is only one ingredient in it, its when you get to packaged food it starts to get complicated. If you are confused with low fat, low salt, free from, natural, good for you, fresh etc I would instead look at the amount of ingredients on the back of the packaging. The highest amount of an ingredient will be listed first and the least last. This should give you some idea of the quality of the food. If you are prone to allergies/food intolerances the number of ingredients are important.
Take for example two popular packets of crisps.
One brand contains: Potatoes, sunflower oil, salt.
The other has: Potato starch, sunflower oil (30%), cheese flavour [whey powder (from milk), flavour enhancers (monosodium glutamate, disodium 5' -ribonucleotide), flavouring, milk powder, cheese powder, butter acids, soya protein, colour (paprika extract)], rice flour, soya flour, salt, yeast, onion powder (malt flour from barley), pepper, wheat flour, colour (annatto).
I think you get my point!!! If you look at the above its quite obvious which bag of crisps is healthier and less allergenic. If the ingredients are kept simple then the product will be healthier.
Give label reading a go based on the amount of the ingredients on the packaging and let me know how you get on.
Mental Health and Nutrition
This month I’m involved in two seminars on mental health and nutrition. It astonishes me even now that people still do not relate what they are putting into their mouths with not only their physical health but also their mental health. We are now quite accepting of the fact that if we have high cholesterol we should cut out saturated fat, or if we have high blood pressure we should cut out salt in our diet, but why does mental health get pushed to the back of the pile?
Last year I visited a private and an NHS psychiatric unit. Although there has been changes in a few hospitals, sadly not enough has been done in the last ten years I’ve being doing this job. The diet is high in caffeine, sugar, and saturated fat and the chocolate and drinks machines all too visible and widely used.
In the governments 2008 paper The Links between Diet and Behaviour (go to www.fhf.org.uk/inquiry to read the full report) there are clear indications that change needs to happen.
“The scanty training for GP’s and other medical professionals in nutrition and diet detracts from their ability to support their patients physical and mental health.”
From anxiety to bi polar disorder it is vital to get the basic building blocks of good daily nutrition into your body for your brain to function properly.
As the brain is made up from 75% water and 21% essential fact even on a basic level your brain needs to be well hydrated and your diet high in Omega 3 essential fatty acids which the body cannot make on its own ie you need to source it from your diet.
Many of my clients with mental health problems have low levels of omega 3, zinc, vitamin B, and magnesium. Their diet is usually high in caffeine, sugar and saturated fat, all detrimental to good mental health. An astonishing 70% have had problems with maintaining good blood sugar levels as a consquence of their diet.
A low protein diet is also common. Amino acids found in proteins provide the raw materials needed to make neurotransmitters and a low protein diet is often at the route of neurotransmitter imbalance.
Some foods directly stimulate a neurotransmitter response for instance carbohydrates influence serotonin production and caffeine stimulates adrenaline synthesis. There are many other specific vitamins and minerals that have a powerful effect on your mood. Without proper neurotransmitter balance brain function and mood can be seriously affected. Feelings of anxiety and stress are commonplace in today’s society. The body’s stress response has not yet evolved to deal efficiently with modern life, meaning the slightest emotional stress still causes a powerful release of chemicals. Two minerals, calcium and magnesium play an important role in regulating your nervous system. By making sure you have adequate dietary intake of these two nutrients you can help yourself combat feelings associated with stress and induce calmness and relaxation.
Two particular neurotransmitters are also especially helpful. GABA restores calm after a stressful event, helping you to relax. Another called dopamine enables your body to deal with stress more efficiently, helping to reduce feelings of anxiety.
Foods to calm you down
Include dark leafy vegetables like watercress, kale, broccoli, spinach along with brown rice, almonds and walnuts, wheatgerm and sardines to top up on calcium and magnesium. To boost GABA formation include cheddar cheese, cow’s milk, chicken, turkey and eggs in your diet. For dopamine add in a few soya products like tofu, miso and soya yoghurt with peanuts, almonds and tuna.
Foods to make you happy
Cold water oily fish such as salmon and mackerel contain the good fat omega-3, helping with cell function and production of serotonin. To boost serotonin increase tryptophan rich foods like cashew nuts, bananas, figs, cheese, milk and turkey.
Avocadoes, lentils and bananas all contain high levels of B6, helping with conversion of tryptophan into the necessary serotonin. B-vitamins can’t be stored in the body so it’s essential that you get a daily to up.
Foods to beat the blues
Complex carbohydrates have a slower release of sugar so include wholegrains, fruit and vegetables, lentils and beans. Replace your white refined foods with the wholegrain alternative – brown rice, granary bread, wholewheat pasta. Include some form of good quality protein at every meal, especially breakfast helps to stabilise blood sugar and up your production of serotonin. Increase your intake of oily fish which contain the omega-3 fats needed for proper brain function these have been shown to aid mood and concentration. Increase your intake of zinc rich foods including fish, nuts and seeds since zinc is needed to help make serotonin.
Tips for lowering cholesterol
Good news for the humble egg this week. They are officially good for your heart! The cholesterol in eggs has a minimal effect on serum cholesterol levels according to the British Nutrition Foundation and scientists have proved that eggs produce proteins that mimic the action of blood pressure-lowering drugs. Eggs may in fact be good for your heart by lowering blood pressure in the same way as Ace inhibitors, taken by millions around the world. These drugs lower blood pressure by stopping the hormone angiotensin narrowing the body’s blood vessels.
Researcher Professor Bruce Griffin, of the University of Surrey, said: ‘The ingrained misconception linking egg consumption to high blood cholesterol and heart disease must be corrected.’
As I’m forever correcting my patients about their fear over egg consumption – this is great news and one that will hopefully filter through to the nation. One of the most sustaining and healthy breakfasts is scrambled eggs on toast. Not only is it a brilliant low GI meal, but it will prevent any hunger pangs mid morning. People rely far too much on sugary based cereals and toast every morning and forget about the importance of protein.
Many of my clients are still very confused about cholesterol and what foods make it worse or better. The most common misconception is that all fat is bad for you. That simply isn’t the case, and its important to keep eating essential fatty acids i.e. omega 3 and 6 in the diet. Essential Fatty Acids reduce your ldl (bad cholesterol) and thin the blood. Many of the eggs we buy are fed on Omega 3 rich feed.
It is important after 40 to know what your cholesterol levels are and particularly the ratio of good (HDL) to bad (LDL). If you have just had your cholesterol tested and its slightly raised and you would like to try diet and exercise before statins here is my advice. Give yourself eight weeks and then get it tested again.
Top tips to help lower cholesterol
Avoid all saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet – choose chicken, fish, tofu and pulses over red meat. Particularly avoid pork and pork products, fried and fatty food.
Avoid all hydrogenated fats – this means you will need to start reading labels.
Use a scrape of butter or margarines that contain plant sterols,
Cut out all alcohol, cakes, carbonated drinks, coffee, refined food (white flour and white sugar.
Take regular exercise and avoid stress where possible.
Do not eliminate all good fat from the diet so do include oily fish, nuts and seeds in your diet.
When eating nuts make sure they are raw rather than dry roasted etc and almonds are especially good as they are high in arginine.
Use cold pressed oil to cook with e.g. olive, soybean, flaxseed that have never been heated over 110oF.
Increase your fibre in the forms of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains as this can reduce serum cholesterol. Choose brown rice and psyllium husks, oats, and barley.
Garlic is amazing for reducing cholesterol, and can be taken raw (do be careful though!) stir fried, roasted or in supplements. Other foods known to reduce cholesterol include apples, carrots, oily fish, pulses, grapefruit and olive oil.
Tips for reducing stress through diet
I am constantly reminded in my job how much stress affects our health. This year alone I have seen numerous clients with serious stress situations in their life. Although I’m a nutritionist, and not a councillor, its important for me to listen to the problems my clients are having as this helps me support them with diet and supplements.
It is vital in times of severe stress to try and eat well. With high levels of adrenaline and cortisol charging round the body, we crave foods that will either wake us up or calm us down. These will include caffeine, sugar, and other stimulants, as well as cravings for carbohydrates, chocolate and cheese. Often these foods will have a direct affect on our brain chemistry helping to raise serotonin and give us energy. This may sound good but the effects are short lived and long term can lead to more anxiety and stress.
So whats happening in the brain?
Your feelings are generated by tiny brain chemicals called neurotransmitters. These include dopamine, serotonin and adrenaline. Neurotransmitters are responsible for dictating your mood and are greatly affected by what you eat. Serotonin is associated with a reduction in stress and tension and feelings of happiness, whereas dopamine and adrenaline have different mood effects by boosting concentration and alertness. The influence of food is extremely relevant when neurotransmitter production is considered. Amino acids found in proteins provide the raw materials needed to make neurotransmitters and a low protein diet is often at the route of neurotransmitter imbalance.
Some foods directly stimulate a neurotransmitter response for instance carbohydrates influence serotonin production and caffeine stimulates adrenaline synthesis. There are many other specific vitamins and minerals that have a powerful effect on your mood. Without proper neurotransmitter balance brain function and mood can be seriously affected. Feelings of anxiety and stress are commonplace in today’s society. The body’s stress response has not yet evolved to deal efficiently with modern life, meaning the slightest emotional stress still causes a powerful release of chemicals. Two minerals, calcium and magnesium play an important role in regulating your nervous system. By making sure you have adequate dietary intake of these two nutrients you can help yourself combat feelings associated with stress and induce calmness and relaxation. GABA restores calm after a stressful event, helping you to relax. Another called dopamine enables your body to deal with stress more efficiently, helping to reduce feelings of anxiety.
If you are going through a particularly stressful time at the moment, try my top 10 tips to combat stress.
1. Do eat little and often – this is vitally important to keep your blood sugar level stable throughout the day – a decent protein breakfast like scrambled eggs on toast, a mid morning snack like an apple and a handful of nuts, lunch, of protein and carbohydrate like rice salad with chicken, mid afternoon snack, a yoghurt and some fruit or oatcakes and hummous, and dinner, grilled salmon, saute potatoes and steamed vegetables.
2. Remember to stay well hydrated on 1.5 litres of water daily, this can include green tea, or redbush and fruit juice. Try and avoid caffeine and colas as this may only make you more anxious and nervy. Cammomile tea is good for anxiety, and peppermint and fennel tea are good for indigestion and nausea.
3. Avoid all refined foods, particularly white sugar, and white bread etc. Choose wholegrains, brown rice and brown pasta. Eat plenty of dark green leafy vegetables as these are high in magnesium, as are nuts, brown rice, and baked beans.
4. Choose foods high in vitamin B which is the anti stress vitamin (particularly vitamin B5): these include brown rice, lentils, nuts, and whole grain foods and avocadoes. If you are not eating enough of these you can take a Vitamin B-50 complex daily for a month then every day until you feel better.
5. Its important to concentrate on your protein levels and make sure you have some protein at every meal. Protein contains the raw materials needed for neurotransmitters. Protein sources include: chicken, fish, tofu, nuts, pulses, eggs, cheese and meat.
6. Inflammatory conditions like asthma, eczema or skin disorders can flare up. Its important to keep your levels of omega 3 up – either by eating salmon, mackeral, herring or sardines three times a week or take flaxseed oil if you are vegetarian.
7. A glass of red wine every night is not going to do you any harm but try not to depend on alcohol to relax you and find another way like yoga or meditation.
8. If you are craving chocolate, avoid all refined products and go for organic or 70% dark chocolate and have a few squares after a meal instead of a pudding.
9. Foods that will calm you down include: dark leafy vegetables like watercress, kale, broccoli, spinach along with brown rice, almonds and walnuts, wheatgerm and sardines to top up on calcium and magnesium. To boost GABA formation include cheddar cheese, cow’s milk, chicken, turkey and eggs in your diet. For dopamine add in a few soya products like tofu, miso and soya yoghurt with peanuts, almonds and tuna.
10. Eat every three hours throughout the day. So if you have breakfast at 7am, snack at 10am, lunch at 1pm, snack at 4pm, supper at 7pm and if needed another snack at 10pm. Foods high in trytophan might help you fall asleep – these include turkey and lettuce, oats, bananas, milk, yoghurt and cottage cheese.
Are you taking too many supplements?
I had a woman come into my clinic last week carrying a rucksack. When I asked her if she took any vitamin supplements she proceeded in a Ready Steady Cook kind of way to empty the rucksack on my desk – in it were over 35 pots of supplements.!!To say my eyebrows raised was an understatement!
On further investigation she said that she had picked them up as she had gone along. Some had been recommended by friends, some she had read about in magazines or on the internet to be good for certain conditions she thought she had.
As a nutritionist I am qualified to prescribe vitamin, mineral supplements and some herbs. These are used to aid in medical conditions and are usually used for a short period of time until the problem is resolved. My concern is that people are self diagnosing problems that they may not have and taking way too many vitamins.
It is not so much a concern with the water soluble vitamins ie Vitamin C and B, which are excreted through the urine. However, the fat soluble vitamins E, D, A etc are a different matter as they are stored in the liver. There is also the drug inter-reaction problem. Last year one of my patients had put himself on high levels of fish oil, even though he was on warfarin. As fish oils thin the blood they should not be taken in conjunction with any blood thinners and that goes for many other supplements as well.
Its obvious that people have the very best intentions but need to tread cautiously and get expert advice before starting on a supplement programme.
After the awful flu and viruses we have had you might be tempted to dose yourself to build your immune system. Please refrain! Instead here are my top tips to boost your immune system after a virus.
TOP TIPS TO BOOST THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
- If possible get extra sleep. Try to aim for at least 6-8 hours daily and more if you need it. If you can catch up at the weekend, do so.
- Take time to recover, if you are on a fixed exercise regime – do take it really easy for a while!
- Eat something (naturally!) blue/ red/yellow every day.
- Eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables per day.
- Don’t eat foods that you are intolerant/allergic to and try and reduce your allergic load.
- This is still the time to eat comforting food like chicken soup, casseroles and broths which are particularly good for the immune system.
- Avoid fried foods, barbequed food and smoked/cured meats.
- Avoid processed, refined foods and white sugar.
- Do not forget to eat enough protein – try to eat a little at each meal.
- Take a daily probiotic to help assist the immunity in the gut.
- Do not eat hydrogenated fat and keep saturated fat to a minimum.
- Try to keep your stress levels as low as you can.
- If you feel lethargic and unusually tired try a vitamin b-50 complex for a few weeks and a daily antioxidant formula with extra zinc (at least 10mg) and selenium.
Save Our British Bacon – Channel 4 – 29th January 2009
Channel 4′s The Great British Food Fight continued last night with Jamie Oliver trying the save British Pig Farmers. Pig farmers across the country are in crisis because huge increases in the price of grain mean they are losing up to £20 for every animal they produce. Experts warn the industry faces catastrophe unless the price of pork and bacon rises, a move so far rejected by supermarkets. Also the cost to UK farmers of meeting higher welfare standards has left them open to competition from some mass producers from the EU.
Britain is importing cheaper bacon and pork from Europe which has often been reared in conditions that are banned in the UK.
Bewildered? You should be.
It does seem ludicrous to say the least that pig stalls are banned in the UK and yet we are quite happy to import bacon from Europe that has been reared like that. The pork is cheaper by the very method it is reared with pigs living up to 5 years in stalls forced to pop out about 40 pigs a time. So the bottom line is that if we buy cheaper e
European pork, the pig is unhappy, the British farmer is unhappy and everyone loses out (except perhaps the Danes).
As Jamie showed last night when people are offered a choice they almost always want to buy British and would also pay a small amount more if they knew the pigs have lived a decent life.
Jamie comes in for a lot of stick by the press, but his heart is definitely in the right place and the programme last night highlighted the need for every single British shopper to know exactly what they buying, where it has come from and be able to make informed decisions based on clear labelling.
To hear any pig farmer has taken their own life is tragic, and with a little help from consumers it need not be like this.
So please, until labelling is clearer, BUY BRITISH -look for the Union Jack label or, RSPCA standard approved and make sure its reared in the UK. As shown last night you might need a magnifying glass to read the labelling properly!!
The One Show – 28th January 2009 – Food Allergies
BBC1’s The One Show did a piece last night on food allergies and food intolerances and I was wondering what people thought of it?
I agree that many people are self diagnosing themselves with wheat and dairy intolerances, and many people I see have taken themselves off these two food groups without the right advice i.e. do they really need to, and what will they replace the missing foods with?
There has definitely been a sharp rise in bowel problems in the last 20 years and food allergies are also on the increase. This can be blamed on many factors, the overproduction of grains, the rise in antibiotic use making the gut more sensitive, general environmental factors etc etc. The problem many of my patients have is after seeing their GP they are sometimes left high and dry with what to do. None of the people I see in my clinic are copying their friends, trying to be trendy or hypochondriacs. They are however, people who are suffering debilitating problems which affect their work and home life. Trust me they are not smiling when they walk through the door and are often bought to tears with their stories. Allergy and intolerance is a complicated issue and needs time and patience to get to the bottom of what is causing the problem.
So here’s what I suggest:
If you feel you have a problem with certain foods these are the correct steps to take.
Firstly, see your GP, and if your symptoms are acute you will need to be checked to see if you have coeliac disease, ulcerative colitis, crohns or lactose intolerance. If all those are negative, the GP can usually do no more for you. There are drugs for IBS that can be given like peppermint capsules and anti spasmodic drugs like Buscopan, but often they don’t work. This is the time to see a nutritionist/dietician when you will be asked to write a food diary listing your diet and symptoms. There are also some extremely good FACT allergy tests which can test for IgE allergies. There are also IgG intolerance tests that you can do as well. These tend not to be so accurate as foods you eat often can show as positive which doesn’t necessarily mean you are intolerant to them.
More often than not it can be the gut itself that is the problem rather than the foods you are eating. For example low levels of gut flora can cause all the symptoms of food allergy – bloating, gas, indigestion, constipation and diarrhoea. If the gut is in good working order, the chances of allergies and intolerances are greatly reduced and probiotics can be used for all inflammatory bowel conditions and have a good track record of reducing symptoms.
So the message here, is if you are suffering do not self diagnose, get the right advice, particularly if you are cutting out large food groups. As GP’s are not trained in nutrition it’s a good idea to get an hours consultation with a qualified nutritionist who can go through your diet in detail.
