Our ancestors and preindustrialised peoples all soaked or fermented their grains before making them into breads, porridge or casseroles, unlike today where convenience and speed is the order of the day.

These practices accord very well with what modern science has discovered about grains. All grains contain phytic acid in the outer layer of bran. Untreated phytic acid can combine with calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc in the intestinal tract and block their absorption. Soaking allows enzymes to breakdown phytic acid and this practice will greatly improve their nutritional benefit.

Scientists have learned that the proteins in grains, particularly high gluten grains like wheat puts a lot of strain on the digestive mechanism.

Therefore it is suggested to soak your porridge the night before cooking, not only will this help to breakdown phytic acid, but your porridge will cook in half the time it normally does which allows for five extra minutes in bed.

Why not try this for a change?

I bought some mixed stir fry veggies and fresh salmon. At home I stir fried the veggies (as is) with some Tamari Soya sauce and I always have some garlic lying around. This takes about two minutes, and then I placed the salmon fillets on top of the veggies, covered it with a lid and allowed to steam for seven minutes. I squeezed some lemon on to my fish and, checked for seasoning and my dinner was ready in less than 10 minutes.

It was quite late so I didn’t need a heavy meal, the green veggies and protein went down a treat, it was light, filling and tasty and most importantly….convenient.

But the best was that I had some leftovers for my lunch the next day, which always makes me happy. This meal is of course also great for your detox, it’s gluten and dairy free and a great balance of protein, fibre and healthy fats. Even more to smile about!

Buckwheat can be bought in health food shops, and comes in a variety of forms including flour, groats, flakes and noodles, making it a versatile grain for a gluten-free diet.

Try this delicious recipe to experiment with buckwheat noodles as a great alternative to wheat pasta.

Serves 4

200g dried soba noodles

1 tsp cold-pressed pumpkinseed oil

150g mangetout, trimmed, halved diagonally

200g pre-marinated tofu, thinly sliced

½ cucumber, halved and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons pickled ginger, thinly sliced

100g baby spinach leaves

½ cup coriander leaves

1 avocado, diced and lemon squeezed over

3 spring onions, trimmed and sliced diagonally

45g cashew nuts, roughly chopped

Dressing

3 tablespoons cold-pressed pumpkinseed oil

 2 tablespoons tamari

1 dessertspoon honey

1. Mix all the dressing ingredients together and set aside.
2. Boil the soba noodles gently for 7-9minutes until al dente, then rinse under cold water.  Add 1 tsp of pumpkin seed oil and set aside.
3. Steam or briefly boil the mangetout until just tender.
4. Place the cooked noodles, mangetout, tofu, cucumber, ginger, spinach and coriander in a bowl.  Add the dressing and toss well.  Divide the salad among the plates and top with avocado, spring onions and cashews before serving.
5. Enjoy!

Julia

Because tests are so beneficial for seeing exactly what is going on in the body, we will be making York Test Laboratories Liver Check Test and Food Intolerance Test available on site during our New Year detox retreat (21st to 24th January).  The liver test looks at any damage to liver cells, whilst the intolerance test identifies any food sensitivities that may be contributing to health problems.  These are a fantastic addition to our detox retreat, where the aim is to fully support the liver and overall health.

Find out more about our New Year detox retreat, or contact us to book an appointment at one of our London nutrition clinics.

Julia Alderman

We’ve all had the occasional headache, and often even know the cause of it.  The heavy night out, working late to reach a deadline or general lack of sleep can all be triggers.  Most can be treated with painkillers, but many don’t like taking them on a regular basis.

The problem with painkillers is also the fact that although they make the pain go away, the underlying reason why the headache started in the first place may still be there.  As soon as you stop taking the painkillers, the headaches often return.

I recently saw a client who had suffered from recurring headaches for as long as he could remember.  He had got to the stage when he almost didn’t notice the milder aches, and it was only when I asked that he realised that he had a headache even as we spoke.

His food intolerance test indicated a handful of problem foods, so I asked him to eliminate those from his diet for a trial two week period.  I also gave him some extra magnesium and vitamin B3, both of which can make a big difference to the severity and frequency of headaches.

After the two week period he reported a gradual decrease in the number of headaches he was getting.  We decided to continue with the same approach for another four weeks, and this time also eliminate caffeine and increase water intake.

After two months the headaches were no longer chronic, and only seemed to appear on a more occasional basis.  He also confessed to me that those occasional bouts were mostly caused by a night out, or stress at work.

If you would like some help with recurring headaches, please get in touch and book yourself in!

It is now known that there is a huge link between diet and mood, and certain foods can really transform how we feel. For example, tryptophan, an amino acid found in fish, chicken, turkey, oats and eggs is converted by the body into serotonin, our ‘feel good hormone’. If you want to boost your mood include some of the tryptophan foods in your diet everyday. Keeping blood sugar levels stable and improving digestive health including eliminating any food intolerances can also be very important in improving mood.

As well as diet, our lifestyles can affect our frame of mind such as being in a job we don’t enjoy, high stress levels, or perhaps being in the wrong relationship. Our life coaching services can help you to move from where you are now in your life to where you want to be in the future.

If you’re in need of a mood boost, get in touch to make an appointment at one of our London nutrition clinics.

Kim

It is often the case that food intolerances are not the cause of the health problems the client come to see me for, but in fact the symptom.  Food intolerances can often develop as a result of underlying digestive disturbances.  Perhaps the easiest way to explain this is to look at the link between digestion and the immune system.  The immune system is the ‘gate keeper’ that vets everything we ingest and determines what is safe to allow in the body.  If your digestion is not working well, the immune system may not recognise the larger undigested food particles that it is now presented with and goes on the defensive.  As a result, you may experience diarrhoea, bloating, stomach cramps, skin problems and a whole host of other symptoms.

In other words, the inability to properly digest any foods can cause your body to treat them as ‘foreign’ and you will start experiencing unpleasant symptoms every time you eat those foods.  It is perhaps then no surprise that wheat gluten and dairy proteins, both of which are relatively hard work for the digestion, are the two foods most people report to be intolerant to.

So when I see clients with food intolerances, the most frequent test I suggest is not an intolerance test, but a comprehensive digestive stool analysis.  This gives me a detailed view of the state of the digestive system.  I find that many times, once the digestion is back into working optimally the food intolerance symptoms are also a thing of the past.

Find out more about food intolerance and contact us to make an appointment at one of our London nutrition clinics.

Sanna

Gluten intolerance seems to be a common problem amongst my clients. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, spelt, barley and rye.

Symptoms of gluten intolerance include bloating, diarrhoea, and constipation. However these often clear up once gluten is removed from the diet and gut health is improved. Gluten can then usually be slowly re-introduced into the diet.

A gluten intolerance is very different to coeliac disease which is an auto-immune disease and lifelong gluten intolerance. Some symptoms of coeliac disease are similar to gluten intolerance but many people also suffer from weight loss, bone pain, and mouth ulcers.

Going gluten free these days is not as hard as it used to be. Admittedly, some of the gluten free foods are not that tasty but there are now some fantastic gluten free ranges. There are also plenty of gluten free alternatives to wheat, rye and barley such as buckwheat (no relation to wheat), rice, millet, polenta, quinoa and amaranth. Oats are naturally gluten free however the vast majority of oats available are contaminated with gluten grains such as rye, wheat or barley. Some specialist suppliers sell uncontaminated oats – please note that not everyone with coeliac disease can tolerate them so consult your GP before trying them. Try www.spoff.co.uk for pure uncontaminated porridge oats.

If you suspect you have a gluten intolerance or have coeliac disease, contact us on 0845 0502442 or click here for more information.

Find out more about gluten intolerance and contact us to make an appointment at one of our London nutrition clinics.

Kim

There is a huge variety of different allergy and intolerance tests available, with equally varying methodology and costs.  You can get your intolerances check with muscle testing, electronic impulses and blood tests to name a few.  It seems to have become almost trendy to be intolerant to at least one or two different foods.

The problems start when one of the less scientifically sound tests identify not one or two, but 10 or 20 foods that you should avoid.  I have seen clients who have gone on such restricted regimes that they are now risking not getting all the various nutrients from their diet.

I only ever recommend blood based food intolerance testing as the methodology behind it scientifically sound, but rarely use it as a first line of enquiry anyway.  I often find that food intolerances are actually the symptom, not the underlying cause of the problems, and therefore it makes sense to hold back on expensive testing.

One client I recently saw came to me complaining of a variety of digestive problems.  She was experiencing bloating after most meals, was often constipated and generally felt run down.  She had heard about food intolerances and wanted to have the test to see if this might be the cause of her problems.

She had had a serious bout of gastric flu five years ago, and many of her symptoms seemed to date back around that time.  Due to the heavy antibiotics she was given at the time, her friendly gut bacteria were likely to have been wiped out at the time.

When the levels of good bacteria are down, it becomes harder to fully digest food.  When the larger undigested particles are then presented to the immune system it doesn’t recognise them as safe, but instead mounts a reaction.  Foods that were previously well tolerated can suddenly start creating problems.

Instead of an allergy test, we ran a digestive stool analysis, which gave exact information about the state of the bacterial balance and her digestive capacity.  We then addressed these issues through some gentle dietary changes and supplemental friendly bacteria and digestive enzymes.

Over the following weeks her bloating started to become less frequent, and the constipation was easing off.  The symptoms that she thought were related to food intolerances were disappearing and she was getting her energy back.

Had we decided to do a food intolerance test to begin with I am sure we would have ended up with a long list of foods to eliminate.  But working on her digestive system first enabled us to get to the root of the problem, and she can now enjoy a full and varied diet.

Find out more about food intolerances and contact us to make an appointment at one of our London nutrition clinics.

We’ve all had the occasional headache, and often even know the cause of it.  The heavy night out, working late to reach a deadline or general lack of sleep can all be triggers.  Most can be treated with painkillers, but many don’t like taking them on a regular basis.

The problem with painkillers is also the fact that although they make the pain go away, the underlying reason why the headache started in the first place may still be there.  As soon as you stop taking the painkillers, the headaches often return.

So what are the alternatives?  As this is a nutrition column, I’ll talk about how your diet can help, but there are also other disciplines, such as acupuncture that can be extremely helpful and are also worth exploring.

One of the simplest ways to reduce your chances of getting headaches is to keep well hydrated.  Dehydration is almost certainly also contributing to those morning after headaches and most people know that drinking plenty of water before you go to bed after a boozy night out can make big difference to how you feel the next day.

But you can also get dehydrated during the day.  Drinking endless cups of tea or coffee, or cans of fizzy drinks all rob your body of its most important nutrient – water.  So cut back on your caffeine, and put a large bottle of water on your desk in the morning and sip from it throughout the day, aiming to finish by the time you leave work.

Other areas we nutritionists look at when rooting around for the underlying cause of the headaches are levels of certain nutrients and possible food intolerances.

I recently saw a client who had suffered from recurring headaches for as long as he could remember.  He had got to the stage when he almost didn’t notice the milder aches, and it was only when I asked that he realised that he had a headache even as we spoke.

His food intolerance test indicated a handful of problem foods, so I asked him to eliminate those from his diet for a trial two week period.  I also gave him some extra magnesium and vitamin B3, both of which can make a big difference to the severity and frequency of headaches.

After the two week period he reported a gradual decrease in the number of headaches he was getting.  We decided to continue with the same approach for another four weeks, and this time also eliminate caffeine and increase water intake.

After two months the headaches were no longer chronic, and only seemed to appear on a more occasional basis.  He also confessed to me that those occasional bouts were mostly caused by a night out, or stress at work.