Take care and have a great time with your family and friends!
Thursday 24 December 2015
Happy Holidays to one and all!
Today is Christmas Eve. It has been a wonderful year and I hope that you will all keep reading in the New Year. I also hope that I will be able to keep helping people, in any possible way.
Take care and have a great time with your family and friends!
I can help you improve your health. If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com
Take care and have a great time with your family and friends!
Thursday 17 December 2015
Should public health services help?
I also read lots of stories in the press about people who have been morbidly obese and have managed to turn their lives around and lose huge amounts of weight. I find these stories inspiring and these people have my total and unconditional respect. When ever I run past an overweight jogger, trying their upmost to haul themselves around the local park, I want to shout out,
"You're doing great! Keep going!"
at the same time I fear for their knees and hip joints suffering from carrying the extra weight, but these people are trying their hardest to do something about their health, and that is amazing!
But is the system helping of failing these "fat warriors"?
We know... it's a fact that there is a severe obesity epidemic which is stressing our public health services to the limit. Being over weight or obese is not just an "unsightly" problem in a world where stick thin models are shoved under our noses every single day. A world where to be an actress you have to be a size 0. A world where young girls aspiring to be models are told that they have to lose weight from their already size 0 frames. Where eating disorders start as young as primary school. A world where HEALTH is not considered.
Being overweight or obese drastically raises your risk of pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, heart disease, and some cancers, and young obese people are facing the prospect of dying young. So it is not something to be taken lightly.
As I said at the beginning, there are people who turn their lives around. They diet, and exercise and lose vast amounts of weight. Here I am not going to get into HOW they lose the weight. As long as you lose it to improve your HEALTH, then that is all that is important. However, lots of people (mostly those who don't have a weight problem) often criticize those who have gastric by-pass surgery, gastric balloons fitted, or stomach reductions done by the public health services. There are also lots of people who don't, like the woman who installed a treadmill in her garage as she was too embarrassed to go out in public because of her weight, and once she lost some, she started going out at night so no one would see her.
The thing is that treating a person who has serious illnesses such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease or cancer, COSTS A LOT OF MONEY and it isn't just a one off. Treatment of type 2 diabetes can go on for decades - the same for heart disease and cancer.
The cost of gastric band surgery on the NHS in England is roughly 6,000 GBP per surgery.
| Area of expenditure | Type 1 diabetes | Type 2 diabetes | Total cost | Percentage of costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source: Kanavos, van den Aardweg and Schurer: Diabetes expenditure, burden of disease and management in 5 EU countries, LSE (Jan 2012) | ||||
| Diabetes drugs | £0.344 billion | £0.712 billion | £1.056 billion | 7.8% |
| Non-diabetes drugs | £0.281 billion | £1.810 billion | £2.091 billion | 15.2% |
| Inpatient | £1.007 billion | £8.038 billion | £9.045 billion | 65.8% |
| Outpatient (excluding drugs) | £0.170 billion | £1.158 billion | £1,328 billion | 9.7% |
| Other (including social service) | - | - | £0.230 billion | 1.7% |
| Total | £1.802 billion | £11.718 billion | £13.750 billion | 100% |
So, to me, it is obvious that if you can reverse obesity at 6,000 GBP a pop then you will actually be saving money in the long run...
However, the problem doesn't stop there. There is a HUGE psychological problem involved in obesity and weight loss. Lots of obese and overweight people say that they have had social problems because of their weight, or have been passed over for a promotion or are unable to get work because of their weight. They are considered lazy and greedy by others who think that they should just stop eating so much and move more.
One thing that happens repeatedly is that when an overweight or obese person does finally turn his/her life around, in too many cases he/she is left with the most horrendous excess skin that sags and hangs from his/her leaner frames.
Put yourself in that position. For whatever reason you are obese... maybe it is because you have eaten too much for too long, or depression has caused you to comfort eat, or you have an illness or medication that causes weight gain... and you finally decide to improve your life and lose weight. You have spent at least a year if not more changing your diet, resisting temptation, forcing yourself to exercise and stay motivated watching that needle on the scale slowly going down.
But in the end you are left with literally kilos of sagging excess skin. Every time you look in the mirror you see this, it makes you feel unattractive, depressed and makes you wonder why you even bothered.
But in the end you are left with literally kilos of sagging excess skin. Every time you look in the mirror you see this, it makes you feel unattractive, depressed and makes you wonder why you even bothered.
Many people in this situation have commented that they were happier BEFORE the weight loss. That now their lives are blighted by this unsightly excess skin that they have to try and hide.
Skin removal surgery done privately can cost anywhere between 1,500 to 6,000 GBP. Lots of stories I read say how people have been denied excess skin removal surgery because of the cost. So a person does their best to lose weight and improve their health and not cost the public health services vast amounts of money in treatments for serious illnesses, only to be abandoned by the public health services - excess skin obviously isn't important enough. One woman was even told she couldn't have her excess skin removed because she HADN'T had a gastric band operation!
A person in this predicament has SAVED the public health services large amounts of money, and in my opinion should be helped to go that final step to making their turn around complete and having a happy and healthy person integrated into society.
How would you feel, if this was your story?
I can help you improve your health. If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com
Thursday 10 December 2015
It's the party season!
New research has been published from an unlikely source - Tilda Basmati Rice, that surveyed 1,000 adults in the UK about their Christmas eating habits.
The survey found that the first Friday of December is when Britons tuck into their first festive food of the season - and as early as 9.58 am on the first Friday. This starts off the beginning of what will end up being an extra 30.000 calories consumed between now and Christmas.
Let's face it, it's very easy to overeat at this time of year with all the delicious treats on offer every time you go anywhere near a food department.
According to the survey, the biggest over eaters are young adults between 16-24 years of age. Probably due to the number of parties they'll be attending, or students back from university. But all age groups will be joining in the overeating and less healthy foods; men are less likely to treat themselves than women, just 28% of men stated they never indulge in festive treats versus 23% of women who claimed the same.Lots admitted to comfort eating (28%) and others that the cold weather led them to stay at home and indulge (24%) and others said that the Christmas over indulgence was a "reward" for all the hard work during the year (21%).
However, there is a way to have your cake and eat it too!
My advice is to plan ahead. If you know you have a party to go to on a Saturday, then be really strict with yourself all week prior to the party. Don't mix your carbs and your proteins and stay as active as possible. Reduce your carb intake to just twice a week. If the party you are going to is a cocktail type with only "finger foods" available, I suggest you eat something healthy before going. Nibbles are usually all carb based with lots of mayonnaise and protein mixed in. A sure way of piling on the pounds! If you eat beforehand you won't be so hungry and it will be easy to avoid the fattening foods.
In both cases, be strict again from the next day onwards, to counteract the "damage" that may have been done.
Drink lots of water before and after drinking heavily. Think before you eat, ask yourself if you are really hungry first or if you are going to regret eating that afterwards. If you do decided to indulge then ENJOY it! Don't feel guilty about doing it.
After all, Christmas is for having fun too!
I can help you improve your health. If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com
Thursday 3 December 2015
It's all in the mind...
Obesity is bankrupting our health services due to obesity related illnesses such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer. There is a huge weight loss industry generating millions of dollars which tells you to stop eating fat, stop eating carbs, stop eating.... exercise more...
But just as many criticize the medical profession for becoming too specialized; you see a cardiologist for heart disease, an oncologist for cancer, and endocrinologist for diabetes, and not treating people as a whole, the same can be said for the weight loss industry.
People aren't fat just because they eat too much. There are many reasons why a person puts on weight... eating too much is just one of them. There are medical reasons and also psychological reasons. Stress, anxiety, and even emotional attachment to food all play a part in weight and if these are not taken into consideration and treated along with a weight loss program then in most cases, weight loss will not be sustained.
Orlando Health researchers have revealed that only 1 in 10 Americans recognize the importance of psychological well-being in weight loss. People tend to attribute more importance to other components such as exercise when it comes to losing weight.
31% of Americans think exercise is the biggest barrier to sustaining weight loss, while 26% think that eating less is important and 17% blame the cost of a healthy lifestyle as the biggest problem to losing weight and keeping it off. 12% cited a lack of time to dedicate to changing their lifestyle to be healthier.
Dr. Diane Robinson, a neuropsychologist and the program director of integrative medicine at Orlando Health said:
"Most people focus almost entirely on the physical aspects of weight loss, like diet and exercise. But there is an emotional component to food that the vast majority of people simply overlook and it can quickly sabotage their efforts."
Food has become the center of the social aspect of our lives. When you meet up with friends it is usually over lunch or dinner or drinks, special occasions are celebrated with food like cakes, or Thanksgiving or Christmas are centered around huge spreads of food, Valentine's Day chocolates, Halloween candy and we even reward or pacify our children with sweets.
Many people turn to food in moments of emotional stress and anxiety, comfort food doesn't tend to be a salad with grilled fish. Comfort food is high fat, high carb indulgence that leads to extra weight that we then can't shift. Even when on a diet people tend to reward themselves with "treats" when they have reached a certain goal. A too restrictive diet and cause feelings of deprivation and then a treat of a piece of chocolate means you end up eating the whole bar.
Finding out WHY you eat the way you do is of vital importance when losing weight. You can't just treat the fat around your middle, you have to treat the psychological aspect of why you are eating in a way that has lead you to put on weight to start with.
Becoming aware of your habits is very important and isn't as difficult as it may seem. Ask yourself simple questions when you are considering reaching for the cookie jar;
Am I hungry? Or am I just bored or upset? Keep a diary and write down what you have eaten and how you felt prior to eating and afterwards as well. If you ask yourself the right questions you may discover that boredom is a large part of why you eat between meals. So, what can you do instead? If you are bored go out for a walk, or read a book. I find doing housework keeps me occupied and makes me feel more positive because there is a positive end result. Find what works for you to keep boredom at bay.
If you eat when you are upset, what is upsetting you? What can you do about it?
We humans have a strong emotional attachment to food which is learned from a very young age. So if your go-to reward is food, think about other rewards you'd enjoy which aren't food based. Treat your self to a pampering session or a movie, a new item of clothing, indulge yourself in a non food based way. Think about how you can reward your children without giving them food, maybe a small toy or movie night at home, a play date with a best friend. There is so much we can do to reward ourselves without reaching for food.
The minute you identify your psychological triggers you will automatically begin to change your habits and the weight will drop off and stay off and you will be all the more happier for it. You will also feel more in control of your life and more able to cope.
I can help you improve your health. If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com
Thursday 26 November 2015
How big is a portion?
You see, we eat too much. We really don't need the amount of food we tend to eat. We don't need a super sized meal from McDonald's or any where else for that matter.
CONFUSION:
Trying to eat properly is just plain confusing. We are given guideline such as: 5-8 portions of fruit and vegetables every day, 2 portions of oily fish per week, and then there is the food plate where half should be vegetables (great) a quarter animal protein and the other quarter carbs (not so great), they don't specify the plate SIZE either, or the infernal food pyramids that just don't make any sense at all.
Fruit and vegetable portions are detailed at 80g per portion - but, do you know what 80g of cauliflower or broccoli look like? And what about leafy vegetables such as spinach that when cooked reduce in size drastically but weigh more from acquired water? You'd have to spend a lot of your meal planning time weighing your food and, let's face it, who has the time for that?
THE SOLUTION:
So, here's a "handy" solution to your portion size woes. Use your hands as a guide. They go with
you every where you go, so a much more practical solution to lugging the kitchen scales around with you. Also, hand size is in proportion to body size; so a petite person's hands indicate the correct amount of food for that person, as do the larger hands of larger people who will need more food. This even works for children.
So, here we go:
BROCCOLI, CAULIFLOWER, etc.: the size of your clenched fist, but these really shouldn't be limited, getting 5-8 a day isn't easy so you could have 2 or more at one meal. Aim for HALF of your plate filled with vegetables.
LEAFY GREENS such as spinach: 2 double handfuls - raw, this is almost a whole bag.
SMALL FRUITS such as raspberries, blueberries, etc.: two cupped palms. Larger fruits such as apples and oranges should fit snuggly into your hand.
MEAT - beef, chicken, lamb, pork, etc.. should be the size of your PALM - so, your hand minus the fingers, and as thick as your palm too.
OILY FISH such as salmon.: like meat, the palm of your hand. Heart-healthy fish packed full of Omega 3 fatty acids are essential at least once a week if not twice.
WHITE FISH such as cod, haddock, hake, etc.: your whole hand, including the fingers.
PASTA - uncooked: the size of your clenched fist. It may not seem like much but it doubles in weight once cooked and refined white flour foods aren't really that nutritious anyway. The best way to eat pasta is with lots of fresh vegetables.
POTATO, CARROTS, PARSNIPS, etc.: starchy vegetables, just the size of your clenched fist. These are better for you than refined carbs but they are still high in sugar and should be considered as carbohydrates and as such should be limited if you are trying to lose weight.
NUTS: one palm full. You don't need more than this to reap their healthful goodness. Did you know that just THREE brazil nuts give the same anti depressant brain boost as 1 dose of Prozac?
FATS such as butter, peanut butter, oil, etc.: Thumb tip (from the first knuckle to the finger tip) or a
teaspoon, 2-3 times a day.
CHOCOLATE: the length and width of your index finger.
CHEESE: Length and depth of two thumbs.
All these should be calculated raw as in before cooking. I hope this helps keep your portion control in check. Remember, if you want to lose weight, try using a smaller plate.
I can help you improve your health. If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com
Thursday 19 November 2015
How many diets have you been on?
In general, women will have dieted for THREE YEARS by the time they are 30, with the average woman dieting twice a year and losing roughly 2kg each time.
The survey by Forza Supplements of 1000 British women, claims that the average female dieter will have spent 168 weeks trying to lose the extra weight between the ages of 18 and 30. But it doesn't stop there, by the time the "average woman" reaches 40, the number reaches just under 6 years or 308 weeks of dieting. This means that in total she will have lost an unbelievable 89kg by the time she's 30, that's 19kg more than the average weight of a British woman (69kg).
Now that is a heck of a lot of weight to lose between 18 and 30 and by the time she's 40 she'll have lost 158kg.... which demonstrates the yoyo effect of dieting instead of eating healthily all the time and maintaining a healthy weight.
You diet... you lose weight... you stop the diet... you go back to eating the way you did before - which made you gain weight to begin with... you put the weight back on, and then some... you diet again... and you keep going round and round in a vicious circle.
 |
| Oprah Winfrey has lost and regained weight many times. |
Forza Supplements also asked what were the main motivations for dieting, they turned out to be - in order of importance:
- Putting on more weight than a close friend or sister.
- How a woman sees herself in a shop fitting-room mirror.
- The end of a relationship - 57% of women said this would inspire them to do something about their weight to look more attractive.
- Embarrassing holiday photos.
If you have a weight problem, by all means, examine your lifestyle and make the necessary adjustments to lose the weight and then keep it off by not going back to your old ways. It really isn't that difficult once you make the change, although I do realize that making the change can be daunting!
However, just as hundreds of thousands of people before you have managed it, I know that YOU can too.
Analyze your diet, what changes can you make? Make sure you eat lots of vegetables and some fruit. By all means eat meat, chicken, fish and eggs - you just don't NEED to eat the whole cow at one meal! Keep carbs to a minimum and make them as wholegrain as possible. EXERCISE... move as much as possible, help the environment and take public transport or a bike when ever possible - you'll be helping yourself too.
Come on people! This isn't rocket science!
Thursday 12 November 2015
Holding back the years
But life goes on and things happen that change your way of thinking and living. I wish I could say that my mother's death changed me for the better, and maybe it did - later... But at the time it pushed me even further off the deep end.
However, what really changed me was becoming a mother. I know it sounds like the typical thing that every mother says, and it probably is, because all of a sudden there is the deepest most profound love and longing to see what this baby will grow up into. I have this strong desire to live as long and as healthily as possible to see what my children do with their lives.
Today's society is very orientated towards modern medicine and taking medication for any "age-related ailment" that might befall us; high cholesterol, osteoporosis, arthritis, etc.. But what if you could ward off those ailments?
I strongly believe that the more we look after ourselves when we are young then the better we will age. The lifestyles we lead are so very important, and no, I'm not talking about how much money you have, or the make of car you drive, or how many holidays you have every year.
I'm talking about healthy living. Forming and maintaining healthy habits as early as possible in life in order to prevent disease and live a longer and healthier life.
It is so easy to base your daily life on a healthy one which will enable you to be healthy and therefore to enjoy your life, love and family much more fully and it doesn't take much at all.
Here are 5 healthy habits you can develop at any age - but the sooner the better:
1. Meditation. Learning to meditate is not at all easy, it takes time and dedication, but the benefits are limitless. Quietening the mind everyday for a while brings stress relief, better sleep, better relationships with those around you and even more thought clarity. People who meditate every day are found to be much happier.2. Watch what you eat. Well, I am a nutritionist! Fresh produce cooked at home is the best way to eat. That way you know exactly what's in it. If you make this your base for food, then the odd "junk" meal will do no harm at all - when it really is once in a very long while!
3. Keep sugar and refined carbohydrates to a minimum - or get rid of them completely! Sugar is a drug and refined carbs have no nutritional value and just make us fat. Now, I do understand that giving up sugar and carbs may seem impossible to you, so start off by limiting them to twice a week - not two whole days a week, just two meals a week. Fruit contains sugar, but I do not advise giving up fruit - just eat the whole fruit and DON'T JUICE.
5. Have a yearly check-up with your doctor to control your glucose levels and blood pressure. Blood pressure is a good indicator of overall health, and controlling your glucose levels is extremely important. Developing type 2 diabetes can lead to a whole host of other health problems.
Just think, if you look after yourself and remain active, then once you hit retirement age you'll actually be healthy enough to enjoy yourself! Remember, old age is also an attitude!
I can help you improve your health. If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com
Thursday 5 November 2015
What bingeing really does to you
Lots of people think that no harm can come from indulging at the weekends when you've been good all week, and whereas indulging occasionally doesn't hurt, when it becomes a weekly habit there are consequences.
Binge eating can also be an eating disorder sometimes due to a mental or traumatic issue. When recognized, the problem can be solved helped a number of treatments such as self help or support groups, therapy and even medication. If you suspect you have an eating disorder then you should seek help from you GP.
However there are physiological consequences to over-indulging:
Bloating.
This is a pretty obvious consequence. Eating a large amount of food, often in a very short period of time, leads to bloating and abdominal discomfort. This bloating can also cause a feeling of being breathless as the swollen stomach pushes upwards reducing the lung space available.
Let's face it, you aren't going to binge on salad and grilled fish. Most binge food is unhealthy junk food which is seriously lacking in fibre. As fibre is what helps move food through the digestive tract, eating low fibre foods just makes all that junk food hang around for a lot longer and can lead to constipation. So your binge will take longer to leave you!
Heartburn.
An overfull stomach can lead to pressure on the sphincter or the "door" on the bottom of the gullet, causing it to open.This "door" is there to stop food and digestive juices from coming back up into the gullet. But pressure from beneath can cause it to open and release some food or juices causing a burning sensation from your stomach up to your throat. This can also cause vomiting. The juices that are involved are highly acidic and can cause longterm damage to the tissues in the gullet, and if not addressed it can also affect gums and teeth where regular vomiting is experienced.
Hormonal Disruption.
Binge eating has been linked to the several hormones; oestrogen and progesterone - made in the ovaries, ghrelin and leptin - otherwise known as the hunger hormones, cortisol - the stress hormone and of course, insulin which helps our bodies to process sugar from food.
When you binge, you often do so on foods high in sugar, causing a spike in blood sugar which triggers the release of insulin from the pancreas so that the blood sugar is normalized by storing the excess sugar as fat.
This process is why we gain weight. But the stress caused by the overproduction of hormones can cause other problems such as lack of energy, fatigue, and tiredness that produce a signal to the brain to eat more. If this is sustained, it can cause obesity and other weight associated illnesses such as type 2 diabetes.
Undernourishment.
Yes, you can eat a lot and still be undernourished, Bingeing on high calorie foods with little nutritional value will not give you the nutrients you need.
A stable balanced diet is needed to carry out our daily routines, and exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, so if you are not eating enough and going to the gym - or whatever exercise you choose - in order to slim down quicker, you will not be doing yourself any favors. Undernourishment whether caused by bingeing on inappropriate foods or under-eating can cause longterm effects on the skin, heart and bones.
Women especially should have regular bone-density scans once they reach menopause.
Anxiety and Low Mood.
Someone trying to lose weight who binges can often feel ashamed, guilty, anxious and worried. It can turn into a vicious cycle... you control your diet during the week, you feel you are justified to have a treat at the weekend and when you do you feel guilty afterwards... This can go on and on and become very difficult to break.
I know it isn't easy, but try not to binge on the weekend. If you need a treat, set a date in the future and plan what you are going to have, like a piece of your favorite chocolate cake. Then when the day comes, enjoy it... just the one piece mind, not the whole cake! Make sure it is WORTH IT!
Of course, all of this does lead to you putting on weight. The cycle of control and weight loss during the week and then bingeing and weight gain at the weekend is due mostly to WHAT you are bingeing on. As I said before, it isn't that easy to binge on salad and grilled fish!
Be mindful of what you are eating and how that food nourishes your body, how it keeps you healthy. If you do binge, don't ignore how it makes you feel... sluggish? Exhausted? Sick? Remember those feelings the next time you are faced with temptation. Ask yourself if what your are tempted by is worth the consequences? How are you going to feel after you have eaten it? Will you feel guilty and wish you hadn't eaten it? Will it give you heartburn or gas?
Think before you eat....
I can help you improve your health. If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com
Thursday 29 October 2015
It's the end of the world!
In fact, it's more than jus bacon... but jeez! Bacon????
Let's start off by understanding exactly what processed meat is:
PROCESSED meat describes anything that has had chemicals added to it to improve longevity and therefore shelf life such as:
Ham, salami, pate, chorizo, sausages, hamburgers, etc...
Some of those chemical additives are; nitrites and nitrates, monosodium glutamate (MSG), Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (SAP), Tetra Sodium Pyrophosphate and you will also find a lot of salt, sugar, water and other "flavorings" added too.
Experts believe that the substances that have been added are what cause cancer. Or at least raise the risk of cancer - especially bowel cancer.
If you are thinking of your daily life then think about mince meat/ burger meat. Nowadays, most people buy either straight from a fast food restaurant or they buy frozen or even "fresh" ready-made burgers at the supermarket. Even if something appears fresh as in NOT frozen, it will have an ingredient list packed full of additives. The mince you buy fresh from the butchers is unprocessed and if you take it home and make it into burgers, sausages or pasta sauce, it will stay generally unprocessed.
The problem is in the shop bought burgers, sausages, etc..
Officials from the WHO have said that just 50g of processed meat per day increases the risk of bowel cancer by almost a fifth. This report also classifies red meat as "probably carcinogenic" but admitted that it does also have some nutritional benefits such as being a major source of protein, iron, zinc and vitamin B12 - amongst others and, strangely enough, all essential for health.
Dr. Kurt Straif from WHO said:
"For an individual, the risk of developing colorectal (bowel) cancer because of their consumption of processed meat remains small, but this risk increases with the amount of meat consumed."So, another nail in the coffin for processed foods. This doesn't mean you have to give up bacon - you just need to relegate it to the "luxury" or once in a while category. You can make your own burgers using fresh mince from your local butcher - your body will love them and I'm sure your local butcher will appreciate the business.
Chicken breast (80%), water, salt, sugar, wine, stabilizers (E-451, E-407), antioxidants (E-331, E-301), acidity corrector (E-262) and natural aromas.So be careful when out shopping and make sure you check the labelling.
Other alternatives to processed meats and red meat are fresh chicken and fish - so maybe you need to get creative in the kitchen! And, if you want red meat, make sure it is fresh and unprocessed.
I can help you improve your health. If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com
Thursday 22 October 2015
The acceptance of Energy Drinks
Way back in 2013 I wrote a piece on the dangers of energy drinks and I believe that it is still valid today and yet energy drink consumption seems to be the norm. So here is exactly what an energy drink does to you:
2. When the Fight or Flight mode is activated, the pituitary gland raises the adrenaline levels to give you more energy to run away or fight your enemy... this action injects glucose into the blood stream.
3. However, all that free flowing adrenaline makes your heart beat much faster in order to move more blood and therefore more oxygen into your muscles... so you can run away or fight your enemy... except you aren't...
4. The rise in glucose in the blood tells your brain that the rest of the body is full of energy and ready to take on anything in it's path - enemy wise. Dopamine levels rise which means your brain receives the sensation of feeling incredibly energetic.
5. However, because your heart is beating faster and all the chemical reactions going on in your body, you will start to sweat profusely, making you lose electrolytes and bodily fluids.
6. The vast amount of caffeine consumed and the lack or burning off the energy means that anxiety appears and you start to shake. This is also augmented by the dehydration from the excess sweating.Some 500ml cans of energy drinks can contain the equivalent of 13 teaspoons of sugar and 160mg of caffeine which is roughly the same as drinking 4 cans of Coke. The body will take about 12 hours to process that amount of caffeine from the bloodstream... so if you are drinking more than one can a day/night...well.... need I say more?
It appears so...
Potential risks of energy drink consumption:
- Palpitations
- Tremors
- Agitation
- Headache
- Chest Pain
- Dizziness
- Gastrointestinal Problems
- Insomnia
- Respiratory Distress
- Tingling or numbing of the skin
But still, energy drinks are flaunted to all and sundry... they sponsor motorsports and extreme sports and "cool" fashion. So the big question is; what should health advisory boards be doing about this?
I can help you improve your health. If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com
Thursday 15 October 2015
The invisible reason we're all a different weight
I, as a nutritionist, have always maintained that it's about health - not dress size. But, even though we are making great headway in weight related issues, there are still some fairly basic questions that as yet, haven't been answered. The major one being:
Why do some people get fatter than others when eating the same amount of calories and doing the same amount of exercise?
Why do I have to carefully watch my weight because I tend to put on weight easily when another person can eat anything they want and not put on a gram?
Tim Spector, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at Kings College, London and author of The Diet Myth, believes he has the answer.
The digestive system is very important to the human body. It also contains a very complex mix of gut microbes that account for the most part of the 100 trillion cells in our bodies and they interact with our genes to aid digestion, aid the production of certain vitamins, affect our immunity and even influence our mood, metabolism and weight.The balance of these gut microbes is the key to good health and also to staying a healthy weight. Tim Spector says:
"It's rather like fingerprints - we may look similar on the outside, but we're all different inside."Which is why a low-fat diet works for some people, and a high fat diet works brilliantly for others, why some people can eat carbs to their heart's content, and others put on weight just by looking at a doughnut.
For years we have been told that a calorie is a calorie and that calories in vs calories out is what makes us lose or gain weight. But, if you are a follower of this blog, you should know by now that that isn't the case. It depends on how our bodies deal with the calories they receive and that is down to the interaction between gut microbes and genes.
So what it boils down to is that you have to eat to make sure your gut microbes flourish.
Variety is the key. Our ancestors typically ate 150 different ingredients a week, nowadays most of us eat less than 20 separate food items including a lot less fiber. The more varied your diet the more varied your gut microbes - but keep it real and unprocessed.
You all know I am against processed foods - anything good that they may have contained at one point has been removed and replaced with high amounts of sugar and salt. So, stick to REAL FOOD - cook from scratch and keep it as raw as possible.
Plant foods are great gut food, providing a multitude of gut-healthy benefits. Some plants such as garlic, leeks, jerusalem artichokes, nuts and bananas, and fermented foods such as tofu, kimchi and sauerkraut, provide prebiotics that promote gut health.
Eat cheese and yogurts. However, avoid the processed orange cheese slices they typically put on your burger and also avoid the low fat, fruit flavored yogurts that have had most of the goodness removed and sugar added to make up for the loss of flavor.
Coffee is great, it's packed full of plant chemicals called polyphenols and is also thought to protect against type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's and heart disease. Just forget the sugar or sweeteners.
High sugar diets are bad for gut microbes - and everything else. Artificial sweeteners aren't much better either. Can you honestly say that a chemically produced "stuff" is good for the human body? (Not taking medicines into account). Also rats fed human doses of sweeteners for 12 weeks showed a significant reduction in healthy gut microbes.
And, of course, exercise. Movement promotes gut health by stimulating the production of butyrate, a chemical produced by the gut microbes that has a beneficial effect on the immune system.
So, are you going to look after your gut?
I can help you improve your health. If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com
Thursday 8 October 2015
Is Almond Milk as good as you think?
A friend recently asked me how healthy almond milk really is as she had heard that the almond content in almond milk was actually very low.
So, I admit, I'd never really thought about it, but decided to investigate. I found a report about the surprising lack of almonds in almond milk. According to the report a half gallon carton of almond milk contains less than one handful of almonds. One analysis of a UK almond brand, Alpro, revealed that it only contains 2% almonds of the total drink, the rest is water, Sugar, Calcium (tri-calcium phosphate), Sea salt, Stabilisers (Locust bean gum, Gellan gum), Emulsifier (Sunflower lecithin), Vitamins (Riboflavin (B2), B12, E, D2).
Ok, so almond milk doesn't actually have a whole lot of almonds... Almonds are highly nutritious as they are high in protein and healthy fats and are a great energy source. The article I found is actually quite a scathing attack on almond milk companies and compares the benefits of raw almonds to almond milk:
A serving of almonds contains roughly 160 calories whilst a cup of almond milk contains just 30 calories. A standard serving of almonds contains 6g of protein and 14g of healthy fats. A cup of almond milk has just 1g of protein and 2.5g of healthy fats.
However, I don't get what the problem is. I mean, almond milk and other vegetable milks are there to be used as a substitute for cow's milk - and other animal milks.
What do you use almond milk for? Do you use it to brighten up your coffee or on your morning cereal? Are you trying to get something other than taste out of it?
Cow's milk is a very polemic subject. There are those for it and those against it. I, for one, am against it. Milk produce should be reduced to just 5% of anybody's diet - you see that? I don't ban it all together unless you are either allergic or intolerant to it. If you have no known allergy or intolerance to it, then keep it below 5% and you'll be just fine, as long as it is grass-fed and free ranging. Other than that, it really isn't a necessary part of a balanced diet - we humans do not NEED cow's milk.
So, if we take into account that we are better off without it, and the substitutes are almond milk, etc.. then why does it matter if almond milk is only 2% almonds? If you have a fresh food, balanced diet... as in forget the processed "foods" and base your meals on plants with a bit of animal protein... then you don't NEED to get as many calories and healthy fats from almond milk as you would from eating raw almonds. Almond milk would just be a nice, healthier addition to your day than topping up your coffee with processed, highly hormoned, antibiotic and puss stuffed cow's milk...So, does it really matter that almond milk is just 2% almonds? You can have a highly nutritious diet which included raw nuts, avocados, etc for healthy fats. In order to get all the nutrition you get with eating almonds, from just the almond milk you'd have to drink the whole carton in one go - roughly, so what would you prefer? To be happy in the knowledge that your 2% almond milk is not doing the damage to your body that cow's milk does? Or to be upset that it only contains 2% almonds?
I don't think that almond milk is made to substitute eating almonds but as a substitute for cow's milk and it needs to be understood as that.
Me? I'm more worried about the amount of sugar it contains!
I can help you improve your health. If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com
Thursday 1 October 2015
How on earth do I quit junk food? Part 2
When you quit an un healthy habit like smoking or alcohol, it is actually quite "easy" to avoid those elements in your daily life. However, you can't not eat. Humans need food so you can't just avoid it and what with busy lifestyles junk food that is readily available, ready to eat and cheap is an easy option to go for. What's more, the food industry DOESN'T WANT YOU TO STOP eating processed foods and junk food.
Let's just focus on sugar.
Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), dextrose, maltose.... there are over 41 names for sugar on food labelling. I think Robert H. Lustig, MD explains the sugar dilema very well:
"If 'a calorie is a calorie' were true, and obesity and metabolic syndrome were a result of 'empty calories', the mantra of 'eat less, exercise more' would stand. But sugar is not 'empty calories'. The fructose component is a toxin by itself - a chronic one, a dose-dependent one - but a toxin nonetheless. We know about the ill effects of smoking and prolonged alcohol usage. Every single disease or condition of metabolic syndrome is driven by fructose, including hypertension, through increases in uric acid; high triglycerides and insulin resistance, through synthesis of fat in the liver; diabetes, via
increased liver glucose production combined with insulin resistance; accelerated aging, due to damage to lipids and protein; likely cancer, due to DNA damage, high insulin levels, and the fact that some cancers seem to use fructose preferentially for energy; and likely dementia, through insulin resistance in the brain.
Sugar acts on the reward center to encourage subsequent intake. Whether it fits the criterion for addiction is irrelevant; the stuff is abused. You get hooked at an early age, and it's harder to kick the habit after years of prolonged usage. There are now numerous human studies examining the dependence-producing properties of sugar. By reducing dopamine signaling in the brain's reward center, the pleasure derived from food is reduced (increasing tolerance), compelling the individual to consume more. And when the sugar is stopped, symptoms of irritability (withdrawal) become apparent."
Fat Chance, Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease
Robert H. Lustig, M.D.
None of us are truly aware of how much sugar is really in the food we eat... but it is harming us every single day. For example, my 15 year old daughter accompanied me to do the grocery shopping the other day and asked me to buy some Kellogg's Frosties - I refused and told her exactly why - because of the sugar content. So here you have the ten worst Children's breakfast cereals (from among 275):
- Kellogg's Honey Smacks: 55.6% sugar by weight. Ingredients: Sugar, wheat, dextrose, honey, contains 2% or less of vegetable oil (hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated soybean), salt, caramel color, soy lecithin, BHT for freshness.
- Post Golden Crisp: 51.9% sugar
- Kellogg's Froot Loops Marshmallow: 48.3% sugar
- Quaker Oats Cap'n Crunch's OOPS! All Berries: 46.9% sugar
- Quaker Oats Cap'n Crunch Original: 44.4% sugar
- Quaker Oats Oh!s: 44.4% sugar
- Kellogg's Smorz: 43.3% sugar
- Kellogg's Apple Jacks: 42.9% sugar
- Quaker Oats Cap'n Crunch's Crunch Berries: 42.3% sugar
- Kellogg's Froot Loops Original: 41.4% sugar
Do you really want your kids eating this stuff? Do you want to eat this stuff?
What makes FRUIT healthier than junk food is it's fiber content. If you eat the whole fruit, the fiber slows down the release of sugar into the blood stream avoiding the sugar spike and subsequent insulin response. All the fiber is removed when you make juice - even if you make it at home, so all you have left is fruit flavored sugar water.
Change your environment:
The "easiest" way to avoid problems is to change your environment. This means:
- Clean out your kitchen. Remove all unhealthy, processed foods from your cabinets and fridge. If you only stock healthy foods then you won't have the temptation. Lots of people say, "Oh! But what about my kids?" What about them? If you stop them eating unhealthy foods they will be healthy and stay a healthy weight. What's more, they will learn healthy eating habits from a young age which will stay with them for life.
- Don't go anywhere near a fast food restaurant. No one forces you to go inside. YOU can make that decision. Plan meals ahead. You can cook ahead too, a little organization is key and once you get the hang of it, you won't even want to go to the burger joint or pizza place.
- Take control. If it has a label on it, it isn't real food. The only way we can force the food industry into changing it's ways is to refuse to succumb to what they want... and what they want is you to spend your money on their unhealthy food. Don't let them!
I can help you improve your health. If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com
Thursday 24 September 2015
Why excess weight takes years off your life
A lot of the blame lately is on sugar... Carbs make us fat, however, new information points to the possibility that it may be the fat itself that is causing all of these problems due to a build-up of a type of cell called senescent cells.
Senescent cells are simply cells that have grown old and have stopped dividing. Until recently it was thought that when healthy cells become senescent they just sit around doing nothing, however this is not the case.
Judith Campisi, a professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, California, USA, started studying these senescent cells way back in the 90s. Professor Campisi and her team discovered that when cells become senescent they secrete molecules called cytokines - a molecule that causes chronic inflammation.
"Inflammation causes or is a major contributor to, virtually every age-related diseases we know," she said.To test this, investigators created mice that lacked the gene for a key protein, making them age prematurely due to an accumulation of senescent cells. These mice developed cataracts early in life and in middle age they became frail and wrinkled.
The investigators then administered a drug treatment to remove the senescent cells from the mice. The results were astounding, the mice became stronger and their cataracts cleared up, even their wrinkles disappeared.
Dr. Kirkland, co-author of the study said that one day we may be able to have our senescent cells removed - a bit like changing the oil in a car, but until then the best way to prevent the aging process is to lose any excess weight you may be carrying.
Dr. Kirkland has discovered that the largest amount of senescent cells accumulates in human fat tissue. As we age, our subcutaneous fat becomes visceral fat, which is the dangerous kind, accumulating around our vital organs. Visceral fat produces cytokines - those molecules that cause chronic inflammation and are also linked to cancer, and insulin resistance.Dr. Kirkland believes that senescent cells found in visceral fat may well be the major culprits in systemic inflammation that accompanies aging.
In an amazing experiment in 2008, visceral fat was surgically removed from obese lab rats. Those rats lived 20% longer than their counterparts who were still obese.
Unfortunately, the same can not be done in humans. Human visceral fat is completely entwined with our blood vessels and organs, making it too difficult to remove surgically.
So, how do we stay young until a senescent removal procedure is invented?
You have to MOVE! Constant movement improves and maintains muscle tone. In fact, exercise is so good for you it can help with your junk food addiction!
Dr. Nathan LeBrasseur, Mayo Clinic, USA, studies metabolism and has just finished an exciting experiment that highlights the powerful effects exercise has on the body.
In the lab, he fed mice a specially designed diet that mimicked the nutritional content of a fast food diet - burger, fries and soda. The mice had previously been genetically modified so that any senescent cells would bind to a fluorescent marker so that they would glow in the dark.
After a few months of eating the junk food diet, the mice lit up like Christmas trees due to the amount of senescent cells in their bodies. Unlike their normal diet counterparts.
We know that muscle is important for burning calories and in order to have good muscle tone you need to exercise. However, the benefits of muscle don't stop there. Professor Mark Febbraio, head of metabolism and inflammation at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia found in 2003 that when you contract muscle it is actually an endocrine (hormonal) organ, and that muscle can communicate with other tissues.
What Prof. Fabbraio discovered was a cytokine (IL-6) which is usually associated with negative consequences such as; age-accelerating inflammation and early death.
Exercise produces large quantities of IL-6, BUT, in this context it is a good thing - it signals the liver to convert fat into fuel - in exercise IL-6 is actually an anti-inflammatory. IL-6 is found at constantly high levels in obese and elderly people - signaling high levels of inflammation.
Younger and normal weight people have lower levels of IL-6, but when they exercised this level shot up and then dissipated over a few hours - telling other organs such as the liver to switch to exercise mode.
So, where as I would NEVER recommend eating junk food on a regular basis - if you are going to then make sure you exercise regularly.
Prevention is key. Eat healthily, move as much as possible and put up a fight against aging!
I can help you improve your health. If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com
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