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A Momentary Pause Before Ploughing in This Festive Time

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Christmas is coming….and we’re all getting fat … unless we choose not to!…..

I am not being all bah humbug about Christmas, I love it, but increasingly I am coaching my clients not to switch on the self-destruct, eat to excess gear at this time. The festive season is long, potentially weeks, with more invites and opportunities to indulge than any other time of the year. Therefore, the potential to massively over-indulge is huge, which will not only, almost inevitably result in significant weight gain (or more specifically fat gain), but it is such a colossal slippery slope once you decide you are letting go for the holiday season because the impact on your brain and body of repeated rich, sweet, alcoholic hits, literally drives the desire for more.

We are hard-wired to love sugar and fat combinations because as infants we need to love out mother’s milk – very sweet and very rich in cholesterol. But once weened, we should not be consuming the endless combinations of fat and sugar that we are surrounded by thanks to the food industry.  Fat and sugar drives growth(in a bad way once we’re fully grown), while being clinically addictive – think milk chocolate, mince pies and Christmas cake, crisps and most other snack foods, virtually all canapes, cakes & pastries, bread & cheese, burger & fries – all of these foods hit the part of the brain called the nucleus accumbens, our addictive centre, lighting it up and driving the desire for more. Meanwhile excessive alcohol, sugar, wheat, trans fats etc. can kill of our beneficial microbes in the gut, which help manage our weight, brain health, digestion and pretty much every other system in the body, while feeding and stimulating growth of the sugar and yeast loving pathogenic microbes, that also drive the desire for more. 

Overeating and excess alcohol also impairs sleep. Just one bad night of sleep will make it so much harder to have any degree of discipline and control of sweet foods and so the cycle goes on.  So try and think about damage limitation. Be selective about when and what you choose to overload with because do you really want to face the new year with yet another set of impossibly ambitious new year’s resolutions that fill you with dread?  Make it a positive choice to not overdo it rather than a punitive one as the cumulative toll on your mental and physical energy and well-being is enormous and is it really worth it?

There is a middle ground. You can have a jolly time, celebrating, socialising and treating yourself without it all going belly-up, or belly-out as the case may be. So maybe, just maybe, plan for some of your social events to be alcohol free. Nominate yourself to be the driver and find a non-alcoholic drink that satisfies and has some health benefits like Kombucha or water kefir, increasingly now served in pubs, bars and restaurants and easy to find in supermarkets.

If you have a big eating event coming up, such as on Christmas day, don’t ‘save’ yourself by not eating beforehand, otherwise you’ll be so ravenous you will eat too quickly and far too much once you do sit down to eat. But do avoid all the classic pre-meal snacking. Have something tasty, filling and nourishing to eat mid-morning and then clean your teeth or even chew some gum (sweetened with Xylitol or Stevia not sugar or artificial sweeteners), to stop the nibbling until it’s time for your main meal.

Try and get in some exercise before the feasting begins. Just 10 minutes of something vigorous can rev you up to increase calorie-burn while you’re eating and then take yourself and any other willing participants for a post-prandial stroll to help digestion and reduce blood sugar levels. Nothing overly exertive with a full tummy, but a gentle walk for 30 minutes can make a big difference rather than falling in to a food-coma and trying to sleep it off. Or how about getting some fun tunes on and having a gentle boogie  – also a good idea.

Spend a moment in gratitude for what you have before ploughing in. A bit of reverence for your food is not only good for the soul but also allows a moments preparation time for the digestive system to kick in.

Eat slowly – sooooooo important;  savor every mouthful; chew thoroughly and stop before that overly stuffed feeling forces you to stop. Think comfortably full rather than about to burst.

Always match volume of alcohol with volume of water.

If having dessert, make it small, rich and satisfying and rather than the stodge of dried fruit-filled puddings with brandy cream and ice-cream, a sugar and fat bomb extraordinaire, why not have a fresh-fruit crumble, using minimal sugar, some unctuous Greek yogurt and a cheeky dark chocolate truffle or two. 

And then … don’t eat until you are hungry again. That will probably be lunch the next day at the earliest. Don’t eat just because of the time on the clock, eat because you are truly in need of re-fueling.  You will find you enjoy your food much more if you eat only when hungry and your body will thank you in so many ways if you give your digestive system a proper break of at least 12 hours, and ideally longer. 

This is not about missing out and deprivation, it’s about respecting yourself, your health and saving yourself from the inevitable dreaded weigh-in on January 1st to cries of ‘oh no, how on earth??????? …I’m never eating again …where’s the nearest gym?????’

Happy, healthy holidays everyone.

Head Cheese Anyone?

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Head cheese (yum!), otherwise known as brawn, is a terrine traditionally made with scraps of meat from animals such as pigs or cows and set in aspic or jelly made from the slow cooking of the head of the animal. This traditional European peasant dish is still popular in some countries. In the UK however, we are losing some of these dishes that would have made the most of every tiny morsel. Nothing is wasted with a dish like brawn. Thankfully the concept of nose to tail eating is coming back in to vogue, but it also now tends to have a hefty price tag. If you buy cheap, gristly cuts of meat and cook them long and slow, the meat will be tender and far easier to digest while containing way more nutrients than the lean muscle meats like chciken breast or pork loin.

Slow-cooking the head of an animal produces a gelatin-rich broth, teaming with nutrients and the gelatin, giving the jelly-like quality, allows a terrine to be set. Gelatin provides the body with lots of collagen, the most abundant protein in the body and required for good joints, healthy skin, hair and nails. Collagen is also a really important component of a healthy gut lining.

This photograph my husband’s lunch taken recently in a Gasthof in Austria.  The dish is called  Eierschwammerlsulz. Eierschwammer is the word for chanterelle mushrooms, themselves full of nutrients including B vitamins and vitamin D, and sulz meaning brawn. Here you see it served with some green leafy salad dressed in extra virgin olive oil and finely sliced raw red onions steeped in apple cider vinegar. This is a standard Austrian dish, packs a serious nutritional punch. It’s not considered fancy nor is it expensive yet this traditional meal combines a wide range of macro and micro nutrients, antioxidants and crucially tons of taste and texture.

Making dishes like brawn, and so many more traditional dishes, make great use of every part of the animal.  Simply slow simmering bones and cartilage of any leftovers from a roast will provide a rich liquor full of nutrients and if it is gelatinous when cold, you know it contains gelatin, providing collagen. Collagen supplement are all the rage at the moment, but you can get a good dose simply slow cooking the bones you would normally throw away.

This is chicken broth I made recently and used to make a simple veg soup that was super tasty thanks to the broth. I freeze organic chicken carcassess from a roast and then pop a couple in a big pot of water with some veg, herbs and a slug of apple cider vinegar and 12 hours later it’s done. Drink as a hot broth to boost immunity or add to any soup or stew for whole different level of taste and nutrition.

From a gut health and therefore overall health perspective, the broader range of foods, the better, so, if travelling, be brave and try something you’ve never eaten before; or maybe aim to make a new dish once a week / a month, to experience new tastes and textures that can also provide critical nutrients that may be missing in your regular diet. Buy a cook book with recipes from countries or cuisines you’re not familiar with so you can experience new combinations and textures and build confidence in using a wider range of herbs and spices.

A nice challenge that I like to do wherever possible is to try and have 15 ingredients on my plate. This will usually include salt and pepper, olive oil and garlic – there’s 4 already. Add in a range of salad leaves, a few vegetables, some protein etc., it’s a great thing to work towards as you’ll start adding in extra spices, healthy oils, a wider range of fresh produce and now you’ve supercharged your meal from being good to great!

Managing Your Body’s Inflammation

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I recently had the very great pleasure of recording a podcast with the author and science journalist Maria Borelius. Her book, ‘Health Revolution’ has been translated from Swedish, her mother tongue, in to English, and it is selling like healthy hot cakes! The book chronicles her journey from being tired, unwell, menopausal and overweight, with sugar cravings and brain fog to being fabulous, fit and mentally so fired up that she has since written another book called ‘Bliss’.

Maria’s enquiring mind demanded that she undestood why she was feeling so low and so began her quest, traveling the world from India to LA, from Canada to the English countryside (that’s where I come in) and many places inbetween to ask experts in their field to help her help herself get well. In the process she came to realise that all of the places she went to and the specialists she spoke to, believed the same thing – that managing inflammtion in the body is fundamental to being able heal and thrive mentally, physically and spiritually.

The book is personal, often she is staggeringly honest and vulnerable and she never becomes virtiolic or preachy. There is struggle, failure and ultimately understanding and resoluton that certain dietary and lifestyle interventions, when done well and in a balanced way for the longterm, allow the body to beocme less inflamed and therefore more able to heal, renew and restore.

Unbenownst to me at the time, I play a small part in Maria’s quest for health. Maria came to Grayshott Medical Spa where I run a 7 day gut health regime. We discussed what gut health means; the microbiome; the influence of what we eat on our gut microbes and how they have a phenominally far reaching effect on every system in the body, not least managing our inflammatory responses. We discussed how every time we eat, or choose not to eat, we are having an influence on our health and therefore, choosing to feed the gut micorobes and our cells well, along with good sleep, stress management, appropriate exercise and regular relaxation, all contribute to our total, longterm well-being.

You can listen to the podacast HERE to find out not only what we talked about. There is also a podcast with a dermotologist, who talks about nurturing your body, and therefore your skin, before going for cosmetic enhancements, and a professor of psychiatry talking about inflammation in the brain.

Have a listen, read the book or simply consider that our day to day actions can be inflaming or de-flaming our bodies and brains. Inflammation is an essential acute reaction to injury or infection that saves our lives. Chronic inflammation, associated with poor diet, lack of sleep, chronic stress etc. is profoundly depleting. It is so very important to understand that while the body is inflamed, it is being damaged and it cannot heal.

My Essential Tips for Reducing Systemic, Chronic Inflammation:

  • Eat better – reduce all sugars and grains and avoid as much as possible refined cooking oils such as sunflower, corn, vegetable and soy etc.
  • Reduce your eating window to increase your fasting window i.e. 16:8 as often as possible
  • Feed your gut microbes with a wide range of fibre-rich foods (vegetables, berries, kiwi, lentils, beans, nuts and seeds (esp. if soaked); eat live, fermented foods such as raw sauerkraut, kimchi, live yogurt, traditionaly made cheeses and drink kefir and kombucha
  • Use raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar in dressings and as an anti-inflammatory and digestive aid by adding a little to some water and drinking at the start of your main meal
  • Have lots of good quality olive oil. The more peppery the better as this is a sign of polyphenol content, a type of antioxidant that your gut bugs love
  • Sleep more
  • Take time to stop, reflect and relax more
  • Walk in the countryside
  • Develop a daily practice of meditation or mindfullness in some form that suits you
  • Exercise in a way that you love, not loathe and allow recovery time in between. Too much exercise is inflammatory
  • Be inspired
  • Have gratitude

Maria and I are planning to run some weekends at Grayshott Spa late autumn, where we will give a talk together, host an exclusive lunch and take those who have signed up on a walk and talk around the beautiful grounds. If you are interested, let me know.

Carbs Are Not The Answer

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Thank you to the very lovely Polly of msmugs.com for my gift of this fabulous mug. Indeed, carbs are not the answer, certainly if they are highly refined and processed, but let’s not make an enemy of all carbs. The carbohydrate food group is huge. It includes all vegetables, fruit and grains as well as sugars. There are carbs in nuts and seeds, there are carbs in beans and lentils, there’s lots of carbs in milk. In fact, the only foods that contain very little to zero carbs are meat, fish, eggs, pure fats and oils and some forms of dairy foods such a mature cheeses and butter.

So the big conundrum is about how many carbs should we be eating and which forms of carbs are best. I am really opposed to using apps for counting food grams of any kind as this inevitably makes choosing what to eat an intellectual process rather than an instinctive, intuitive one. We need to think less and feel more about what to eat and when. Everyone has different needs based on many factors, not least activity levels, muscle-mass, gut bacteria and to a certain extent, genes.

The simple answer is to eat carbohydrate-based foods as they appear in nature, or as close to as possible; eat then in conjunction with a balance of other natural foods that contain protein and fat – think eggs, meat fish, cheese, and if they are foods that contained high levels of concentrated carbs, such as potatoes, grains (wheat, rice, corn, oats etc.) or something that contains sugars, keep them to a minimum.

Many of you know that I choose to avoid GPS foods (Grains, Potatoes and Sugars/Sweet Tasting Foods), as these are all high carbohydrate foods that convert very rapidly in to the blood stream as glucose (sugar). This can be a problem if your body doesn’t manage blood glucose levels well. The reality is that the majority of adults in the UK, indeed around the world, struggle to maintain healthy levels of glucose in the blood. We should be averaging around 1 teaspoon of glucose in the full 5 litres of our blood. This level will go up after foods, but the less it goes up and the more quickly it returns to base-line, the better for our health. To have chronically high blood glucose levels is so very bad for the brain and the body. It is something we all need to be aiming to avoid if we are to age well. Therefore, reducing or avoiding GPS foods serves that purpose.

Chronically high blood glucose levels can not only result in type 2 diabetes, it can cause fatty liver, fatty pancreas, general body fat increase, inflammation throughout the body, plaque accumulation in the brain, hardening of arteries and so many more life limiting illnesses, so it really is prudent, even if you have no apparent symptoms of ill health, to eat fewer of the foods that cause blood glucose to rapidly rise – the GPS foods.

If you are feeling tired, low, upset, bored, happy or all of the above, it can be so tempting to indulge in a doughnut or have a few biscuits with a cuppa because of the momentary pleasure a high carb food can bring. But refined grains, sweet foods, even potatoes very rapidly become sugar in the blood, triggering all sorts of reactions that can lead to wanting more to eat, to energy crashes, to insane sugar cravings and over the long term, serious health issues.

So no, Carbs Are Not The Answer however quick, convenient, cheap, available or desirable they may be. The longer you go without, the easier it is to continue to go without. Try 14 days of nothing sweet or starchy, not even fruit or artificial sweeteners (they are evil), stay off bread, crackers, pastries and biscuits; avoid processed foods as they will almost always contain some degree of grain flour, potatoes and / or sweetening agents, and notice how quickly you start to appreciate the joy of more subtly flavoured, natural foods. Use natural seasonings, herbs and spices to add nutrients and intertest and explore the joy of great quality natural fats and oils like butter, extra virgin olive oil, black seed oil, avocado and coconut to bring texture, flavor, unctuousness and ultimately satisfaction to your meals rather than going for a quick sugar hit. The long-term benefits are endless energy, clarity of mind, reduction in body fat and now more food monster moments…so why would you?

The ABC of Omega 3

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A lot of questions have come in lately about the essential fatty acid omega 3 and how to ensure we are getting enough of this ‘essential’ nutrient. Omega 3 is known as an essential fatty acid or EFA because it is essential to healthy function but cannot be made by the body so it is essential that we get it from food. The same applies to omega 6, but that’s for another day.

EFAs are known as super poly-unsaturated oils. This means they are extremely vulnerable to damage. Exposure to heat, light and oxygen will rapidly turn the precious fats rancid. Hence, when you extract and EFA for its source food, think fish oil from the fish or flax oil from the flax seed, the oil immediately starts to spoil. This makes treatment of foods that contain omega 3 a really important issue and crucially the making of supplements too.

Omega 3 fatty acids are found in precious few food sources. Oily fish such as mackerel, sardines, herring, anchovies, tuna and wild salmon along with a little omega 3 in the meat of animals fed exclusively on grass and some free range organic eggs have a little too. When you understand how many bodily functions require omega 3, the issue of getting enough become clear:

Omega 3 is very anti-inflammatory, which helps with healing and general function; it is important in the regulation of many hormones; supports healthy brain function including improving mood regulation; eye heath requires large amounts of omega 3; immune regulation; body fat management; joint health; heart health and reduction in blood pressure are just some of the benefits.

Omega 3, along with omega 6, is also found in small amounts in some nuts and seeds, ,flax seeds and chia seeds being particularly rich in omega 3, as are walnuts (ever eaten some walnuts and noticed a sour smell and taste – this is the precious oils turning rancid). However, and this is really critical, there is NO EPA or DHA in these sources of omega 3. What does this mean? Plant source of omega 3 are not biologically available. The body has to covert plant omega 3 (short chain fatty acid) to active omega 3 (long chain), which comes in 2 forms, EPA and DHA. DHA is especially rich and required in the brain, and EPA is highly anti-inflammatory and nourishing for the body. To convert plant omega 3 to active is partly a genetic predisposition but also a matter of health. This conversion is difficult and minimal. Even in a really healthy body, only 2- 4% of the omega 3 gets converted to activated omega 3, so masses would have to be consumed. But many people are simply not able to make the conversion at all due to poor gut health.

Getting enough omega 3, due to the few foods that contain it, can be tough. It is suggested that oily fish should be consumed 3 – 5 times a week. As farmed salmon, the vast majority of salmon in the supermarkets, has very little omega 3 due to the way they are farmed and tuna should be limited to once or twice a month due to the mercury levels in big sea fish, this means eating small, deep water fish, the fishy ones! Very few people do this.

So where do omega 3 supplements fit in? Well, the jury is out. I don’t think there is any doubt that getting nutrients from whole foods is always preferable to using supplements, but if we are not getting what we need from our diet, are supplements a good option? Some people are allergic to fish, many people don’t like oily fish, there’s the vegetarians and vegans who won’t eat fish, so this makes supplements are really the only option.

Your choice of supplemental omega 3 in a readily absorbable form are, fish oils, krill oil and omega 3 from algae. That’s because we eat fish that contain omega 3, fish eat krill for omega 3 and krill eat algae. So there is a very specific algae that has recently become widely available in supplement form that is the only non-animal source of EPA and DHA.

In my experience, many fish oil capsules are rancid. If you get nasty fishy burps, don’t consume them. Krill oil, a lovely deep red colour, is generally better absorbed and has the added bonus of containing a very potent anti-oxidant called astaxanthin, which is good for you and prevents krill oil turning rancid. Krill will be more expensive than fish oil capsules but you need far less as its higher absorption rate requires only small amounts to be taken. Always check that the krill is sustainably sourced as krill is a massively important food source for fish, birds and wales. Krill and fish contain more EPA to DHA, EPA being essential for managing inflammation. Algae has a higher amount of DHA, brain food. Taken with food, these precious oils should be well absorbed, but quality is really important, so you generally get what you pay for and always check that the bottles are opaque and kept cool so avoid light and heat damage.

Although there are questions about the benefits of omega 3 taken as a supplement, considering its crucial role in our health and its lack in our foods, it is probably a good strategy. I take an algae and a krill daily as well eating whole, fresh nuts and seeds and I use freshly ground and soaked flax seeds for their numerous benefits. My genetics suggest I am not a good converter, but there are many other benefits to freshly ground flax seeds and just maybe, due to my high fibre diet with lots of fermented foods, my gut is in good enough shape to convert some flax omega 3 in to these super-helpful long-chains. I eat oily fish whenever possible, but in reality it is once a week and not more. I eat really good eggs, probably 6 -8 a week and grass-fed meat once a week to once a fortnight.

I hope that helps with your questions on omega 3s. Let me know what else you need some help with. Here’s to health and happiness.

Mind Your Oats!

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Whenever I mention in my health talks that oats aren’t ‘all that’, people are often shocked and horrified. ‘But oats are really healthy aren’t they?…’ I hear over and over again.

Well, yes and no. There is something useful, even healthful in oats; a very specific type of soluble fibre called Beta Glucan. It has been well studied and thought to help manage levels of fat in the blood.

Some products like yogurts, spreads and those expensive, sweet yogurty drinks proudly include beta glucan, making the product a ‘Functional Food’ that apparently does you good. The reality is, we need very high levels of beta glucan on a daily basis to have any bearing on blood fats. The amount would challenge even the most ardent porridge fan, so the reality is that most people are in no way eating the levels required to have any real effect on cholesterol… and just to confuse further, there is still a huge amount of debate regarding the merit of lowering blood cholesterol levels any way – low does not necessarily mean healthy (that’s a different blog!). So to be doggedly eating oats for their cholesterol-lowering benefits and certainly choosing to eat those highly processed ‘functional foods’ that are full of nasties, in the belief you will help your health, I think you need to re-think.

So, why not have oats anyway? Surely a daily dose of oats, a big steaming bowl of creamy, warming, filling porridge sweetened with a big spoon of honey, must be doing some good, right? Well, it all depends. If you have been working the land for a few hours before breakfast or chopping down trees, or have been training for a marathon, then yes, your body would welcome the massive hit of carbohydrate (read: energy for your body to replenish what you’ve burnt up from working the body hard) that the oats and honey (or any sugar) will offer and as a bonus, there will be a decent dose of fibre to help with digestive function and feed your beneficial bacteria. Fibre is extremely important and often lacking in the diet, so yes, go for fibre-rich foods, but they come in may shapes and forms and diversity is absolutely key.

But, and it’s a big one, if you are making yourself a big bowl of porridge, cooked in water or skimmed milk (aka sugar water) for breakfast and then spending the day in a fairly sedentary way, then there’s a huge amount of fuel in your body that is not being put to good use, so will be stored for later – as body fat.

Oats are grains. Grains are seeds of grasses. That means every single oat, or grain of rice, wheat, rye, barley, corn (they are all grains) is a seed that can grow in to a plant. That means there is a lot of energy stored in that seed to feed that plant as it grows. Think how many grains are in your breakfast bowl… that’s a huge amount of energy going in to you and there’s only so much your body can burn before storing it away for later use – that’s body fat.

If you really want your oats, here are a few must dos:

• Use whole / jumbo oats. These are minimally processed. Porridge oats or flaked oats are whole oats that have been cut up to cook more quickly and make a smoother porridge. That means less chewing and digestion is required from you and the energy in the oats is therefore released more quickly. This results in a more detrimental effect on blood sugar, triggering a quicker response to turning the energy from the oats in to energy stored as fat. Especially undesirable are the sachets of quick cook oats. They are highly processed, pre-cooked and are almost always laced with sugar and artificial flavorings.

• My mantra for health eating is to focus on FAT, FIBRE & PROTEIN. The carbs come effortlessly in our food these days in the form of fruits, veg, grains, starchy veg and sweet foods, so no-one I ever meet struggles to get enough of the carbs. Instead think, ‘where’s my healthy fat, where’s my fibre, where’s my protein?’… In oats, you’ve got some nice fibre, as I’ve said, but virtually no protein and no fat. To make a balanced breakfast, have a small amount of whole oats, ideally soaked overnight in water (super-charges the fibre). Cook slowly with some whole organic milk, or full-fat coconut milk (it won’t need much cooking if pre-soaked) and then add in more fat and some protein with some organic full-fat natural yogurt / coconut yogurt and mix in a range of nuts, seeds and a little fruit, or follow with a couple of eggs. Now you have a balanced, highly nutritious, blood sugar balancing breakfast that offers a great range of fats, fibre and protein and ensures the energy in the oats are released slowly in to the bloodstream to provide your body with long-term energy rather than adding to your waistline.

Click here to find my ‘What’s in This’ video on oatcakes.