Yesterday I had the pleasure of spending the day at a top bank in the city delivering a corporate wellness day (Corporate Nutrition day) for a group of 9 ladies from their special events team.
In our preliminary talks the lady who was organising the day made it clear that she thought that her team were well aware of health/healthy eating as they all were keeping fit at the gym and some were watching their weight. She said that she really wanted a new approach that wasn’t just going to show them what they already knew. But the team suffer from low energy and tiredness.
“Hmm” I said. “Tell me about what you had for breakfast”
Skipped breakfast
“Ok” says I “What about yesterday?”
Recovering from a heavy night, muffin, latte
“Hmm” I say “Think I can teach you something”
We started the day with a presentation that I had prepared especially for them on Vibrant Energy – We then looked at the ladies’ food diaries and gave them some really practical steps for them to achieve in the next four weeks – really easy things that will help to restore energy.
We did a little bit of fun stuff, a zinc taste test – which checks for mineral deficiencies – only one of the group wasn’t deficient. You can get low in zinc if you are in a demanding job and burning the candle at both ends! Zinc helps in many reactions in the body and is important for immunity.
We did a session on how they might be able to improve the food menus that are offered at events/brainstorming/ strategy sessions at the bank – to keep the delegates alert and motivated
Finally we wandered over to Borough Market to wander amongst the stalls – I had prepared a piece on seasonal foods - once you know what is in season – you know how to shop locally and to get really good nutritious food for both home and the work place.
With really small steps – it is amazing what energy great nutrition can give the work arena – what is often surprising is that we think we know what to do – I find that more than often, what is offered at work as “healthy” choices is the very thing that is causing the tiredness!
Find out more about Corporate Nutrition and contact us at one of our London nutrition clinics to find out how we can work with you.
Kate
I recently saw a man in his forties who had had digestive problems for the past 10 years, including alternating diarrhoea and constipation coupled with bloating and cramping. His doctor had finally classified his symptoms as IBS and told him to ‘eat more carefully’.
As much as he tried though he didn’t seem to be able to pinpoint any particular foods that made his symptoms worse. They just kept appearing at random intervals. I recommended that we do a stool test to find out what really was going on. The results showed an overgrowth of unwanted bacteria and some parasites. Both of these can cause IBS like symptoms, so no wonder his route of food elimination hadn’t worked.
We used some specific supplements to kill off the unwanted visitors and boosted his own bacterial balance with supplemental friendly bacteria. After just 4 weeks the changes were starting to happen, and his digestive complaints were getting less and less frequent.
So what is your persistent complaint that you have been ignoring? Is it something to do with your health, or perhaps something complete different? Start the new term by deciding not to put up with symptoms that impact your quality of life!
Contact us to make an appointment for a consultation at one of our London nutrition clinics.
Sanna
Swine Flu Hygiene Reminder
Though not so heavily in the headlines Swine Flu prevention measures should remain in our consciousness, particularly as all our children are about to be back in the classroom coughing and sneezing all over each other!
Here is the advice from the World Health Organisation:
Hygiene Recommendations
In areas with confirmed human cases of novel influenza A (H1N1) virus infection, the risk for infection can be reduced through a combination of actions. No single action will provide complete protection, but an approach combining the following steps can help decrease the likelihood of transmission. These recommended actions are:
- Wash hands frequently with soap and water or use alcohol-based hand cleaner when soap and water are not available.
- Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth
- People who are sick with an influenza-like illness (ILI) (fever plus at least cough or sore throat and possibly other symptoms like runny nose, body aches, headaches, chills, fatigue, vomiting and diarrhoea) should stay home and minimise contact with others, including avoiding travel, for 7 days after their symptoms begin or until they have been symptom-free for 24 hours, whichever is longer.
- Avoid close contact (i.e. being within about 6 feet) with persons with ILI.
Do contact one of the team at The Nutrition Coach for diet advice about achieving optimum immune health for you and your family.
Contact us to make an appointment for a consultation at one of our London nutrition clinics.
Hilary
I’ve said it before – I really am in awe of all that our children achieve in their working days and weeks. But I feel we have to be careful to make sure that it doesn’t come at a price.
If you’re like me you will be seeing the land of routine and deadlines looming large on the horizon. The eternal juggling of ferrying various children to rugby training, football training, tennis coaching, piano lessons, drum lessons, karate and swimming to name but a few. Let alone just getting them to school each day! I’m all for children experiencing every opportunity possible BUT do they become so tired and overwhelmed that basic home family together time becomes fraught with the tension of unfinished homework and snatched food here and there to fill in the gaps? Let’s not forget that they are also still growing and developing! With this level of activity it’s all too easy to fall into the habit of cereals, sandwiches, toast and pasta. All easy to prepare at short notice – (especially when all their mates descend as well!) but it can become a quick carb fix that gives them a short term energy boost followed by low blood sugar and fatigue.
Most children of this age group that I see are not eating anywhere near enough protein so the ONE recommendation I can make here as a starting point for the good health of your ‘youth’ to get that protein going. Eggs for breakfast – scrambled eggs has to be the fastest food going. If it needs to be pasta with tomato sauce – fine but add a grilled chicken breast or salmon fillet on top with a large side salad.
Do contact one of The Nutrition Coach team for the next most important FIVE recommendations on how to help your ever growing family have the best of health for all they wish to achieve.
Good luck with that juggling and remember to look after your own nutrition so you have the energy to pick up the pieces!
Contact us to make an appointment for a consultation at one of our London nutrition clinics.
Hilary
It is estimated that two thirds of men and over half of women in the UK are either obese or overweight. It is therefore not surprising that many clients coming to our London nutrition clinics are desperately looking to drop the extra pounds. Most have tried numerous diets, but achieved no sustainable weight loss, and have left them confused about what the right food choices really are. There is also a growing interest in fat-busting pills, such as the weight-loss pill Alli, but these pills fail to address the cause of weight gain (i.e. metabolic imbalances and poor eating habits) and may even be detrimental to health. Only last week, for example, it was reported that the weight loss pill Alli had been implicated in serious liver damage in 32 people.
At The Nutrition Coach we have helped numerous clients to lose weight through changing their approach to food for life with out ‘Dump the Diet’ course, which gives clients the tools to manage their weight loss healthily with easy and practical suggestions of how to incorporate the dietary changes into every day life. We also appreciate that excess weight may be due to other imbalances such as excess toxicity and poor elimination, poor adrenal or thyroid health, poor sugar handling and insulin resistance. These imbalances can be fully explored in a one-to-one consultation and a complete dietary programme put together that is tailored to individual needs.
Find out more about our Dump the Diet programme and contact us to make an appointment for a consultation at one of our London nutrition clinics.
Julia
Lots of people contact us desperate to sort out their IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) symptoms - The first thing to do if you suspect you have IBS is to pay a visit to your GP as he is the best person to refer you to any specialist if he suspects that your symptoms are serious. Once these expert medical practitioners have determined that there is nothing they can to help you, and that your symptoms are what they diagnose as IBS – then please come and see us – we have a good track record of sorting out guts (check out our testimonials). For almost 10 years we have been sorting out guts and loving it. What is IBS? A collection of gut symptoms ranging from constipation to bloating, gut pain to diarrhoea and sometimes apparent food intolerances.
When someone comes to see us the first thing we might do is to get them to fill in a questionnaire that they bring in at their first appointment. We ask loads of questions to try and get to the bottom of what might be affecting their health. We might determine that a gut test is needed (comprehensive digestive stool analysis)
At the first appointment we would most likely make some changes to diet and lifestyle that could immediately help the symptoms. Changes in diet will, for the most part, only really address the symptom rather than the cause. Doing the gut test looks at trying to get the bottom of what has been affecting you much more specifically.
We would normally then see you again after about four weeks once we have the results back – We would first see how the dietary changes went and make any changes to that strategy. At The Nutrition Coach we are trying to be practical and make small consistent changes that you can do long term. Radically changing the diet from the word go, is a recipe for disaster as you will not be able to keep this up long term and will soon slip back into old habits and the symptoms will re-emerge.
At the second appointment we would normally have the gut test back – and from this we would devise the strategy. The route cause could be parasites, and as unpleasant as this might sound, it is amazingly common. The other causes can be inherent food intolerances, or low gut immunity, lack of digestive enzymes, inflammation, bacterial or yeast infections, disbiosis (that is the friendly and unfriendly bacteria in the gut not being in balance)
Once we know the cause we can get working on trying to restore balance – this is generally something that we cant guess that is why, although pricey, we pretty much have to do the gut test. Getting back the balance is a matter of determination and patience – but good results can be seen in about three months but you need to keep going with the strategy for sometime after this and before you say, “Gut symptoms? What gut symptoms?”
Find out more about IBS and contact us to make an appointment at one of our London nutrition clinics.
Kate
