The Nutrition Coach Blog

How chili peppers aid weight loss

Julia Alderman at The Nutrition Coach — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:52:02 +0000

If you’ve ever tried to lose weight then i’m sure you’ve been tempted by the allure that chilli peppers may hold the answer. The secret ingredient in chili peppers with potential health benefits, including helping weight loss, having anti-inflammatory properties and antioxidant properties is a compound called capsaicin.

New research in the Journal of Proteome Research suggests that the capsaicin in chili’s may aid weight loss by stimulating the expression of certain fat degrading proteins, and down-regulating other proteins that work to synthesize fat. The study was carried out with rats and showed that rats given capsaicin lost 8% more body weight compared with the non capsaicin fed rats on the same diet.

Your gut might not thank you if you start munching on chili peppers in your pursuit to lose weight, but adding a little bit of spice to help flavour dishes may be a helpful addition and bring some potential health benefits.

If you’re tired of trying fad diets and want some help to achieve sustained weight loss then please do contact us to discuss your situation, or to make an appointment at one of our London nutrition clinics.

Julia

Metabolic Balance Recipe

Sanna Anderson at The Nutrition Coach — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 12:17:35 +0000

I made a lovely curried halloumi salad that should work for most people on the Metabolic Balance programme (or for anyone wanting to lose weight for that matter!), so I thought I’d share it with you.

What you’ll need:

Your MB allowance of halloumi cheese (cubed), usually 75-90g
1-2 tsp of mild curry powder
70-80g of mushrooms, sliced
spinach leaves for the remainder of your vegetable allowance

Coat the halloumi cubes in the curry powder in a bowl. Heat up some olive oil in a frying pan and start by softening the mushrooms a little. You can add a tablespoon of water to speed up the process. After 2-3 minutes add the halloumi and continue frying until the mushrooms are soft. You can a little more water at this point as the curry powder will for a bit of a dressing for your salad that way.

Arrange your spinach leaves on a plate and add the mushrooms and halloumi plus any juices from the pan.

I found this recipe really tasty and satisfying.

If you’d like to find out more about Metabolic Balance weight loss programme at our London clinic, please get in touch to book in for the free initial consultation.

Rooibos tea boosts antioxidant defences

Julia Alderman at The Nutrition Coach — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:50:47 +0000

Too many caffeine-containing stimulants such as black tea, coffee and chocolate can leave you running on adrenaline and in the long run leaves you feeling exhausted and prone to mood swings. There are so many great tasting alternatives in the shops that you don’t have to feel deprived when trying to ditch your regular pick-me ups.

Rooibos, or red bush, tea is an excellent caffeine-free alternative to regular black tea. As well as tasting like regular tea, it has the added benefits of not leaving you feeling exhausted and recent research has confirmed that it also boosts antioxidant levels. The research from the Antioxidant Research Laboratory in Rome found ingestion of fermented and unfermented rooibos tea increased total antioxidant capacity levels in tea drinkers. This means rooibos tea can also help strengthen the immune system.

If you feel stressed, exhausted or prone to mood swings then ditching quick stimulants is a key first step to getting your health back on an even keel. If that sounds familiar then please do contact us to discuss your situation, or to make an appointment at one of our London nutrition clinics.

Julia

Metabolic Balance works for me too!

Sanna Anderson at The Nutrition Coach — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:30:38 +0000

Just received a fantastic testimonial from one of my male clients, so thought I’d share that with you. Weight loss seems to be something mostly talked about by women, and yet it’s a problem shared by both sexes. I’ve had the pleasure of working with some very focused and motivated male clients, and here’s one of them, in his own words:

For many years I had been trying to shift a good 25 lbs. However the result was always the same. I would lose 5 to 10 lbs then grind to a halt and over the next few months it would slowly creep back. A common story I am sure.

In January 2010 decided that I needed to do something different. Either that, or it would be another 10 years talking about losing weight without real success. My brother (a doctor) convinced me to try metabolic balance, and the result has been amazing. In 6 weeks I lost a full 2 stone and 6 months on the weight has remained off. Problem solved, you might say.

So how did it work where so many diets that I had tried had failed. I would put it down to 3 things. Firstly the diet is tailored to your metabolism. Through levelling my metabolism and sugar levels I was able to eat significantly fewer calories (c 1500 calories a day as a bloke) and not feel hungry – this really surprised me and was key to me achieving the diet whilst working hard in an demanding job. Secondly, the regular consultations I had with Sanna were extremely useful. Sanna helped me to understand which elements of the diet drove maximum benefit and how to flex the diet post weight loss to ensure that the weight stayed off. Thirdly, now the weight is off, I know how to keep it off and, if it creeps back on, I have a tool for shifting it fast that I know works.

If you’d like to find out more about Metabolic Balance and weight loss, get in touch with our London clinic.

New IBS Clinic at The Nutrition Coach

Kate Cook at The Nutrition Coach — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:22:39 +0000

Great news! The Nutrition Coach has launched our own more specialised IBS Clinics (irritable bowel syndrome) which will at the moment run in Harley Street on a Tuesday. For those of you who have been putting off dealing with your tummies – we are also offering a free Food Intolerance Indicator with every IBS appointment booked. Just mention IBS clinic when booking.

We are so passionate about Guts – and don’t believe that is is just bad luck! Bloating, gas and wind should not be something you live with – watch this space for more IBS news and views

Don’t suffer with IBS! Solve it!

Kate Cook at The Nutrition Coach — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:20:49 +0000

I love guts! Yesterday I was dealing with a lady who had suffered horrible IBS for a number of years. In this lady’s case, I asked her to do a Gut Function Test (a stool sample sent to a lab) – we often do this test as it is almost impossible just to guess what is going on in the bowel – Often the doctor is just giving us bulking agents (fibre) to peppermint oil (for spasm) without knowing the underlying causes. Of course, it is always best to go to the doctor first – as the doctor can rule out any serious problems.

With my patient yesterday I was able to tell what was wrong from the results of the test – she had very low digestive enzymes, the immunity in her gut was very low (SIgA) – but she also has a parasite (B. Hominis) and H.Pylori (Bacterial infection) – with a bit of luck, now we know what is actually going on we are able to address the root causes of this. Patience is the watch word – but we will make very good progress!

Healthier eating and more informed choice in restaurants

Kate Cook at The Nutrition Coach — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:53:21 +0000

A little known part of what we do at The Nutrition Coach is working for some of the major high street brands in developing their healthy eating strategies. We can analyse the menus of our favourite restaurants and help advise on how to make changes for Optimum Health – We are really passionate about this side of our work as it brings Nutrition in a very practical way to our eateries – and gives us better choices

We have just been asked to present to a major hotel chain – who want to be able to offer their clients a really beneficial menu choice to optimise the health of their customers – a really stunning idea and very forward thinking which will pay dividends!

Dump the Bikini Diet – DUMP THE DIET INSTEAD!

Kate Cook at The Nutrition Coach — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:36:54 +0000

The most horrible thing about this time of year is the wholly unnatural panic about the so-called Bikini Diet – WHO is wearing bikinis anyway except 19 year old models – Don’t panic if you need to lose a couple of pounds – just get ON with the action! Ie – Get to know what you have to do (easy) then apply it (more difficult)! Just Dump The Diet!

The main thing is when you are trying to lose weight is not to go into a spin – these things can often take longer than we expect. I met a lady today in my yoga class who said she was happy to lose 2 lbs a month (yet the pressure from the media/ourselves is 2lbs a week! Yet, if she keeps this up she will have lost 24 lbs in a year..quite a lot. So, if you are in a flap about your August hols and baring all on the beach – remember that is 3 months off yet – 6lbs is perfectly respectable! Anyway, best not to get hung up with the amount of weight on the scales – just keep an eye on the waistband of the trousers! Never buy a bigger pair of trousers!

Dump the Diet

Metabolic Balance recipe

Sanna Anderson at The Nutrition Coach — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 09:13:04 +0000

I thought I’d share with you an easy lunch that would be suitable for most of my Metabolic Balance clients. The quantities would vary slightly according to your personal details, and you may not have all of the items listed on your personal plan, but for those of you who are wondering what sorts of meals you might be having on the plan I hope this gives you some inspiration and ideas!

Serves 1

Salad base
90g of baby spinach leaves
20g of cucumber, cubed into small pieces
20g of green olives

On the top
130g of cooked prawns
2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp of grated ginger
1 clove of crushed garlic
1/2-1 finely chopped red chilli (according to taste!)
Dash of fish sauce

Mix the oil, ginger, garlic, chilli and fish sauce in a bowl. Add the prawns and coat them in the marinade.

Assemble the salad in the meantime, and add the prawns together with the marinade on top. Enjoy!

Metabolic Balance Success Story

Sanna Anderson at The Nutrition Coach — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:05:41 +0000

Another lovely story from a happy Metabolic Balance weight loss client:

I decided to follow the MB eating plan to rebalance my metabolism and get my body in better overall working order – and with two main aims in mind. Firstly, with a view to losing the two stone I had put on since having had my first child and having unfortunately experienced a number of miscarriages trying to have a second one. Secondly, with the aim of getting my body fit to cope with trying to have another baby and avoid having another miscarriage in the process.

As eating plan aims to reduce your insulin levels, keep cravings at bay and encourages your body to keep any weight loss from coming back, I thought this plan to be a good choice for me personally.

Month one of the eating plan was focused and challenging. However, because the weight loss was rapid I was spurred on to keep going. I lost 9lbs within the first couple of weeks. Since the first month I have kept to the principles of the eating plan but not stuck rigidly to the plan itself but I have still continued to lose weight. Overall I have lost 17lbs and dropped two dress sizes. I have lost 4 inches on my hips, 3and a half inches on my waist and two inches on my thighs. Wow! I’ve never been on a diet in my life and this was certainly the best one to go for. The great thing about the eating plan is that you can follow it again properly for an amount of time to lose some more weight when you want to.

I am happy with my weight loss to date and have wanted to let both my body and my emotions get used to the weight loss before trying to lose more weight again. I am now following it again for a month and hope to lose about half a stone – I will then leave it there for a while and see how I feel in a couple of months.

I have to be honest and admit that I feel that the weight loss was relatively easy to achieve. I am the sort of person who loves eating, is always out socialising and drinking, and hates feeling deprived. I genuinely believe that if I can do it, anyone can!