• Protein – what is it, how much do you need, and how to calculate your individual needs
• Vitamin D deficiency – what are the symptoms and what foods do we need to eat
• Probiotics – what foods contain them, and the science behind the fads
• Prebiotics – what foods contain them, and the science behind the fads
• Fibre – why it’s so important, and how much do you need
• Essential Fatty Acids – where to find them in the diet, and deficiency symptoms
• Sugar – tips on sugar cravings
• Polyphenols – how to eat the rainbow

The post Kate’s (Healthy) Kitchen appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

Coronacoaster 

noun: The ups and downs of a pandemic - one day you're loving your bubble, going for long walks, baking cakes and pottering in the garden, the next you're crying, drinking gin for breakfast, eating party rings and missing people you don't even like!

I hope that made you smile! From my experiences talking to everyone ten weeks on this is pretty much where we are. Whether you are employed, furloughed, self-employed, homeschooling or any other scenario we are all coping the best we can. That’s why it’s really hard to start suggesting to people that they need to look after themselves. Everyone has enough on their plate just getting through the day without the dreaded subject of health creeping in to our daily routines. At the moment it’s early days to establish whether being in lockdown has made us as a country healthier or not, and if those that have taken up the mantle will continue when things go back to a sort of normal.

To be honest I’ve found the Thursday hand-clapping slightly odd. Don’t get me wrong the shared sense of community is amazing and if the doctors and nurses can hear it I’m sure they do appreciate the gesture. However the doctors and nurses I’m speaking to, some of them dear friends, have said the opposite. So here’s the next share and it’s an “ouchy” one:

“If we really want to support the NHS, we need to start taking responsibility for our health”.

Now I firmly believe this is true, but if we wait for the right messages from on high it will never happen, so sadly we have to plough our own furrow with this, and that can be hard.  But, and here’s the good news, it can be done and I’m so very proud of the 27 people that have been with me through lockdown following their Six-Week Challenges. All of them have passed with flying colours in terms of reversing disease. Most had high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and ten had pre-diabetes and now don’t – how amazing is that!

What can we learn from outcomes of the Covid crisis?

Essentially what we knew before. If you are obese, diabetic, have a poor gut microbiome and vitamin status you may not fare so well. But Corona aside (and yes wouldn’t that be lovely if we can put this to one side), these are issues anyway that will drive other health conditions. As those of you know who follow me, most of the Western Diseases find their roots into our bodies through inflammation and this has never been clearer during this pandemic. You might have noticed reading in the papers about cytokine storms? This is where the inflammatory response in the body is out of control.

However (and more good news) there is so much we can do before we get to this state. Many people are understandably scared and it takes a lot of courage to put up your hand and say, ok I need help. I think that’s the hardest part. When you realise you don’t have to be sick and there is much that can be done – well, that’s the easier part!

A new start for your health with Lifestyle Medicine

If you feel you’d like to make that first step and want a chat with me, I’m offering a free 10 minutes on the phone, Zoom, Skype or WhatsApp. It’s a good chance to have a chat and find out exactly what you need and what your goals are. I offer consultations for all sorts of conditions and price ranges. Some of the issues assessed can include:

• Vitamin Status
• The Gut Microbiome
• Trauma
• Sleep
• Stress
• Exercise
• and tailor making a diet that works for you for life

If you’d like to get in contact please call me on 01323 737814 or 310532. For more details please visit my website

The post A new start for your health with Lifestyle Medicine appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

Winter seems to have gone on forever which makes it so hard to make any long term health changes. However, as we’ve seen with the sunny days of the last week or so, spring is inching its way here and even one blue-sky day can make us feel so much more motivated.

Simple swaps

I’ve been talking to patients and clients about the simple swaps we have implemented over the last year and what has worked in terms of lifestyle change. They all told me that even with the best intentions they find themselves “off the wagon” very quickly and they don’t know why. Making any alterations in our stressful 24/7 lives is really challenging and we often feel set up to fail. We all want those long term results but often fall short of our goals, and oddly it’s not all about willpower.

There is some strong science around the issues of implementing daily changes and how best to achieve lifelong healthy goals. Here are the top five steps to help you on your way to change your behaviour patterns:

1. Start small. If we want behaviours to become habits they need to take minimal physical or mental effort so you don’t need huge amounts of motivation.
2. Bolt a change onto a habit you already do on a daily basis. That could be putting the kettle on, cleaning your teeth, showering, sitting at your desk or armchair, for instance. These daily tasks and rituals are often done on automatic pilot, so it’s a really good idea to add a change to something you already do without really thinking, for example, doing squats when cleaning your teeth, doing a mindfulness technique in the shower, doing ankle raises and rotations when sitting.
3. Respect your personality. You might be an owl or a lark, better at night or in the morning, and both is fine but that means behaviour changes can take place when, where and at the time of your choosing. Just because your friends are up exercising at 5am, this doesn’t necessarily mean that would suit you! I am an owl and do my weights, yoga and stretching between 4pm and 7pm.
4. Make sure your environment is helping you. I leave two 2kg dumbbells lying around and often finding myself doing some arm lifts whilst watching the television. For a better sleep environment get rid of LED lights, put a blue filter on your phone, invest in blackout blinds, an eye mask or earplugs if you are having sleep issues. I also suggest clearing the kitchen and freezer of processed food. Draw a line in the sand and start again, making sure you have lots of protein type snacks to hand; nuts or hummus for example.
5. Give yourself a pat on the back with each behaviour change. It’s very natural to reward ourselves with sugar or alcohol, but try a different approach by using an app, keeping a wall chart or buy some flowers instead of chocolate. Many of my clients are using wall charts for motivation just as they would do for their children!

It’s all very well telling you what the science says, though what about the realities of daily life? Here are what my clients and patients are doing one year on:

• Swapping milk chocolate for dark chocolate
• Doing a few squats while brushing their teeth
• Stretching before bed or first in the morning
• For every glass of alcohol, drinking a glass of water
• Spending one hour a day off social media and phones
• Swapping white rice for brown rice
• Instead of binge-watching a series – taking 20 mins to read a book, walk or meditate
• Eating before food shopping
• Asking ‘am I hungry?’ before reaching for a sugar fix, or ‘am I actually stressed/angry/overwhelmed?’ in which case I need to combat those issues
• Find one thing to be grateful for each day
• Swapping the mobile phone alarm with an old fashioned alarm clock
• Keeping the fridge stocked with protein snacks
• For ‘yes’ people, try saying ‘no’ every now and then to see how it feels

Is it time for an MOT?

These behaviour changes are one of the subjects discussed in my MOT Consultation. I’ve been doing these now for ten years and they are the most successful consultations in terms of patient response. This is mainly due to the time allowed which gives you loads of space to discuss all your health issues in one go. Some of the points covered:

• NUTRITION – what is the right way to eat for you?
• THE GUT – how the gut microbiome impacts your entire body
• STRESS – we talk through your triggers and work-life balance
• SLEEP – how to get a better nights sleep?
• BEHAVIOUR CHANGES – learn some small lifestyle changes that can change your life
• EXERCISE – personalised suggestions for your health issues
• BLOOD TESTS – a full MOT if needed to assess any underlying symptoms
• HOMEWORK – suggested reading material/food diaries and self-monitoring

I am offering consultations via Skype, Facetime, Zoom, and Messenger. If you would like to ask any questions about the consultation or book please call me on 01323 310532 / 737814.

Offer

For April only we have a Spring offer if you quote SPRING20 (15% off normal consultation price of £199 = £170). *consultations need to be booked and paid for the period of 1st to 30th April 2020 inclusive.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Kate Arnold, BA (Hons), PG Cert Personalised Nutrition, Dip ION

KateArnoldNutrition

The post How to Change Behaviour Patterns appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

Have you recently been diagnosed with one of the following health conditions, and feel overwhelmed?

• High cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• Anxiety
• Headaches
• Fatigue

If so, and you’re nervous about taking medication or don’t know where to start, join Kate’s Six Week Challenge. For six weeks Kate will address one of the health issues above and work with you to relieve symptoms and get you the results you need. Before starting it’s important to get the approval of your GP and Kate will work closely with them if necessary.

The Six Week Challenge will take place over six half-hourly sessions to give you all the nutrition and lifestyle advice you need to meet your goals.

If you’d like to set yourself a 2020 challenge, do get in touch on 01323 310532 or 737814.

“My cholesterol was 7.8 but I was determined to try a diet and lifestyle approach before going down the drug route. To my absolute delight, weeks later my cholesterol was down to 4.4. I cannot tell you how amazed I and my GP are. I feel a whole new lease of life”, John, Brighton

Kate Arnold, Nutrition Consultant
BA (Hons), PG Cert, Dip ION, BANT, CNHC
katearnoldnutrition.co.uk
Facebook: Kate Arnold Nutrition
Instagram: Kate Arnold Nutrition
Twitter:#KANutrition
Tel: 01323 310532 / 737814

The post Overwhelmed with health conditions? appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

2. What would it surprise people to know about you?
I guess for those who have never met me, I’m 6ft so I always get a height acknowledgement in the first few seconds! I’m also very shy which can throw people off as I come across very confident, and I have a slight stutter. It’s a constant battle!

3. Do you practice what you preach?
Well firstly I hope I don’t preach, I strongly suggest, but yes I eat an amazing diet which I don’t deviate from and haven’t done so for over twenty years.

4. So what do you eat?
I am mainly pescatarian for no other reason than it suits me. I haven’t eaten red meat since I was 14 years old when I was offered a steak tartare that made me ill. I’m not pro or anti any way of eating as long as people are healthy eating that way.

5. Do you eat a lot of organic food?
It depends. I think the organic argument is lost if you are trying to convince people who have £10 a week for food to buy organic. That’s ludicrous. It’s expensive. However I am a member of The Soil Association and believe passionately about better ways to cultivate soil, and raise animals, and stay as far away from pesticides and chemicals as possible. My main organic purchases are apples, tomatoes, lettuce, butter, soya milk, dark chocolate. I don’t feel the need to buy an organic avocado.

6. Do you specialise in one particular field?
I would say my passion is the gut and the gut microbiome. That’s where you can connect the dots and see how people’s symptoms overlap. For example, many people with mental health issues have a poor gut microbiome. I’m essentially a person that connects dots and works out cause, which we have tended to steer well away from in the last 50 years. Coming back to finding the cause of disease is key to recovery.

7. You’ve been around for a while, how do you think the nutrition world has changed?
Ha ha! Yes, I guess I’ve been around for a bit, about twenty years. The nutrition world has changed hugely. When I first started, there was no social media or any real internet to speak about. Social media has changed the landscape and I think in some ways that’s great, but in other ways there is too much information, and we have lost the simplicity of what it means to have a healthy lifestyle.

The other thing that has changed beyond recognition is that everyone has an opinion, and everyone thinks they are right. The less qualified you seem to be the more you are convinced that your way is the right way. It’s called the Dunning Kruger effect. The more I learn, the more complex the nutrition world becomes and that’s the way it should be in my mind.

8. You practice Lifestyle Medicine – what exactly is that?
Essentially, it’s promoting ways to avoid 21st century lifestyle related diseases. So we are looking at nutrition, physical inactivity, stress and sleep and building healthy relationships. Most of what we are suffering now, obesity, type two diabetes and metabolic syndrome is totally preventable.

9. That sounds pretty basic and simple?
Well that’s the point, it can be that simple, but we have lost those aspects of our lives with the breakdown in our communities, isolation, disconnect, lack of job security etc. However, there is more to Lifestyle Medicine. It’s like putting people through an MOT like you would a car. Looking at all aspects of their life and seeing which pieces of the pie are smaller than others. It does involve looking at the diet, blood tests, sometimes looking at the microbiome, the immune system, sleep patterns etc. Essentially, it’s looking at a person’s entire life. We know isolation and loneliness affects the immune system, so it’s pointless handing out Vitamin C tablets if all that person needs is connection with another human. We need to feel valued in society and a part of something greater than ourselves.

10. Are we being bombarded with too much information?
Oh yes totally. It doesn’t help the lay person make informed decisions. People I see tend to fall into two categories, they know almost too much and have totally given up due to conflicting arguments, or they know nothing at all about diet and nutrition. Orthorexia is on the rise and this has people obsessing over food too much, which can lead to weight loss and severe anxiety. Somewhere in all this you need to find a balance.

11. You’ve been fairly outspoken about food allergy and food intolerance testing machines – can you tell me more about that!
Yes, I have, as they drive me mad. They are nonsense, pseudoscientific claptrap, and I believe very dangerous. I’ve heard some horrendous stories over the years where people were told there were riddled with Candida, or one lady told me she had the breast cancer gene.

Having to de-brainwash these clients from what they believe to be true can be very hard. I had to get the lady tested for the breast cancer gene properly with the help from her very understanding GP, and it was of course negative. The other lady tested negative to all Candida. What is astonishing is some really intelligent people get hoodwinked into spending money on these machines. I’m not suggesting the practitioners are not well meaning, but you cannot be testing your B12 levels whilst holding a rod, there is something called a blood test that does that – it’s total madness.

12. You’re also fairly outspoken about fad diets as well?
Yes I am. I’ve written many articles on the dangers of the alkaline diet and testing your urine on strips. It’s marketed by people who have no scientific background and are peddling the old snake oil remedies they did in days gone by. There are so many fad diets that have come and gone, and dieting is not something I get behind. Long term goals are much healthier than short term goals. However, people still want short fixes and will choose a “detox” over a sustained longer-term healthy diet.

13. So what about intermittent fasting and the 5:2?
There is good evidence for both of these ways of eating as to how it effects the immune system. They can also help blood sugar levels, increase your gut microbiome for the better, repair cells and reduce insulin resistance. Many people are also eating mindlessly rather than mindfully. These types of diets can help that as well.

14. What do you mean by that?
Well, we are programmed to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and often snacks in between. Many of us don’t even know what if feels like to be hungry anymore (although many sadly do for other reasons). Actually, engaging in the feeling hungry moment is important. We tend to mindlessly grab for food when we don’t need to. Certainly, intermittent fasting can help us re-engage as to how hungry we actually are. It’s a good reset tool and I do recommend this to some of my clients.

15. Do you ever eat junk food?
Er, it depends on what you mean by junk food. I’ve never been into a burger chain yet and never plan to either! People say to me ‘oh what’s the harm as a treat’, but it’s not only the food I object to, but the principles around Big Business, how they treat their staff, and what they do to the planet. I eat fish and chips but don’t consider that junk food. I’ve avoided sugar for over twenty years and have stuck to that probably 95% of the time.

16. Would you advocate veganism for everyone?
Absolutely not, but there is a great argument for eating less meat for sure. As I said before, people should eat what they want as long as it suits them, and they are healthy. You find your rhythm and your flow and what suits you. Some people go back to being carnivore after being vegan and vice versa. I try not to judge. However, I abhor the deforestation of the planet and how Big Business operates. We are no doubt hurtling towards some hideous situation which will impact us globally, but I’m not sure if it’s as simple as going vegan. It’s a complex issue.

17. Have you always been in the nutrition business?
No, actually my prior career was around the world of financial marketing where I worked in London and Hong Kong. It was very fast paced and very bad for my health. However, some of the tenacity and stamina I learnt then I carry with me today. I don’t regret that time, it taught me a lot and I had great fun, but I enjoy my career now far better.

18. How do you deal with stress and do you suffer from compassion fatigue?
With difficulty is the honest answer. It’s one of my failures in life, my inability to deal with stress well. I am getting better as I get older and I do yoga and kickbox which has helped enormously. I don’t suffer from compassion fatigue per se but I know there is one month a year when I’m getting weary, so I head off to Greece for a month which restores me totally. Outside work I tend to attract very different hobbies like the theatre, live music, comedy, cinema, and I love wandering around old book shops. I don’t spend my spare time at nutrition conferences, put it that way!

19. Have you ever been ill, and do you think it helps to understand people if you have been sick?
Yes and yes. It’s like anything in life, unless you have experienced it, you have no idea what people are going through. I’ve been very ill a long time ago and I know the frustration of being sick and wanting answers. I also have family members who are unwell as well so do understand how frustrating things can get. Has it made me a better therapist? Possibly yes.

20. If you could give one piece of advice about health what would it be?
That is such a hard question. I think stress has a lot to answer for. For all the good food, and sleep and well-intentioned yoga you could do, if you are stressed for long periods of time it undermines all that good work. So, get a handle on your stress would be my number one piece of advice.

21. You’ve just started a podcast called Fit as a Fiddle. How’s that going?
I wanted to do this a few years ago, but time constraints stopped me. I’ve only just started but have some great people lined up to talk to which I’m very excited about. I’m going to try and cover every aspect of physical and mental health issues, and am always looking for someone to chat with! Talking is good and if it helps just one person it’s worth it.

22. What do you think is the next big thing in nutrition/medicine?
That’s a tough question, I think we have further to go on the microbiome. Certainly, targeted probiotic therapy for different disease states is going to happen. I think we can take the mind/body connection further and certainly the link between early trauma and the immune system. Also there has been a resurgence in psychedelic research recently and their potential role in mental health. I don’t think we will be saying sugar is healthy in twenty years, but I see us locked in to the fat and carbohydrate debate for the foreseeable future. For real change we need more, and that’s like moving concrete. I’m hoping in 50 years’ time the thought of a fast food chain sponsoring the Olympics will seem such an absurd thought that they will look back at us saying “what on earth where they thinking?!”

Follow Kate:

Facebook: Kate Arnold Nutrition
Twitter: @KANutrition
Instagram: @katearnoldnutrition

katearnoldnutrition.co.uk

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The post Food Intolerances Exposed appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

Certainly the East/West divide has often been looked at and studied (for example, the inverse relationship between hot flushes and the amount of soy products consumed in the traditional Japanese diet) but what about a country closer to home like France? The French have a totally different outlook to La Menopause. If you wander round a French pharmacy there are few if any menopausal products for sale. If you get on the subject of vaginal dryness in France, their usual, casual response is that if Monsieur knows what he is doing, then there shouldn’t be a problem! There is something so refreshing about that, the onus not for once, being on a woman’s lack of desire, rather the partners role to create the desire in the first place. Certainly French female film stars have a longer “shelf life” and are revered on the red carpet and in the media far more so than younger actresses. This quote sums up France’s attitude:

“For most French women, menopause involves few symptoms and little change in their social value. The distribution of types of experiences indicate that the differences in symptoms are not biologically determined. A given level of independence and emancipation allows women an identity beyond their reproductive function and a status unimpaired by menopause.” Class Gender and Culture in the experience of menopause. A comparative survey in Tunisia and France. 2012

So, in that positive vein, let’s start with some of the the physical benefits of the menopause. I know it’s obvious, but no more periods, no more PMS and no chance of pregnancy, could all be seen as a huge benefit. I understand that for some women the lack of being able to get pregnant ever again can be a real psychological hurdle, even if they didn’t particular want to have a child or more children in the first place. The choice has been taken away. Men have continued choice about having a child until they die and that quite frankly can grate! However there is the huge benefit of having sex without fear of getting pregnant which lets face it as women we have all faced at one time or another. With children grown up and hopefully having flown the nest, there is more time for uninterrupted sex as well! Additionally a woman’s sex drive can actually increase rather than decrease during this time which is perhaps why there are so many older women with younger men and dating sites like Toyboy Warehouse are on the increase. Women are certainly looking after themselves much better these days and have a younger approach and can find themselves at a sexual peak rather than slump.

If you are a fibroid sufferer, these can shrink during the menopause as they tend to develop when oestrogen levels are high. Migraines caused by hormonal fluctuations can also stop entirely around this time. Although we are bombarded with images of the dreaded middle age spread, recent studies suggest that the menopause is the best time for a woman to get into shape as less oestrogen can promote oxygen uptake in the muscles making workouts more effective. This is a win win situation as the more exercise you do, the more you can alleviate symptoms of low mood and help prevent osteoporosis.

There are huge psychological benefits as well or if I were to be pedantic, psychological opportunities for growth during the menopause. Let’s refute the standardised version of women having sobbing fits for no reason and spiraling into deep depressions. Although this of course can happen, you may find yourself starting to become the better version of yourself – the one you wanted to be when you were 20 yrs old!. Many of my patients and clients tell me that they are suddenly becoming more self assured, more empowered and have more energy. Taking more risks, changing careers and starting new hobbies are all quite common. Often women tell me the psychological benefits outweigh all the physical symptoms. It’s as if the universe or whatever you would like to call the world about you, is telling you that you are now half way through life, so what do you want to do with the time left? It can become a very carpe diem time of life. Don’t be surprised if you start doing more things for yourself and stop wasting time on the trivia of life. Put bluntly if you haven’t already done so, it’s time to out your s***!

If we hadn’t been bought up in a society that shuns the menopause and only knew good things were going happen from hereon in, I am wondering how many of our western symptoms we would actually have. Don’t get me wrong, I am not for one moment saying it is all in our mind, but the fear around menopause itself creates more problems than it solves. Women often ask me, have I ever known anyone go through the menopause with no symptoms. The answer is yes. This answer is both positive and yet to some depressing in its apparent unachievability. However it is certainly not a competition of who goes through best, it’s about the power of a woman to recognise who they are, who they have been and where they are heading. The resurfacing can be unstabling for sure. However potentially understanding that the anger you have may be because you sacrificed your career for your family can be a fairly empowering experience. For friends and family they might see you as more feisty or ratty or damn right pissed off. If you find this happening you, the very nature of your immediate relationships may warrant a revised examination. What you have grown to tolerate might no longer serve your purpose.

There has been quite a flutter in recent years from media personalities forming support groups and more than ever the menopause is being discussed and debated. Mostly inspiring, occasionally questionable. One such discussion focused around menopausal women wearing an M badge whilst travelling on public transport. This was thought to aid understanding if a window needed opening or the person had to sit down. To me this is a poorly thought out idea, due mostly to the fact that the menopause isn’t a disease, it doesn’t need special seats on the tube designed for the elderly, pregnant or disabled. It is not a disability. Whilst others I’m sure found it a great idea, many found it patronising that a woman doesn’t have the capacity to say to someone, excuse me would you mind if I open the window, I feel faint. You don’t have to say you are having a hot flush if that embarrasses you. This does not mean however, that in our relationships/marriages/families we cannot openly discuss the changes happening, lay down new ground rules for family and partners, asking for a little support and understanding.

I had a client last month who told me that her voice had never been heard around her family and she had lost confidence over the years in her ability to lay down boundaries. During the menopause she began to get horrendous hot flushes around those times when she felt as she described it
“ushered to the back burner – where I’d lived most of my life”. Over the subsequent months, she found a new unnerving sense of confidence which allowed her to start standing up for herself. She felt selfish and self centred but persevered and began to lay down healthier boundaries for loved ones and in areas where she felt taken advantage. “Initially I felt like an alien and I think they saw me as something alien too, but I started to get what I truly wanted and needed back”. Her hot flushes vanished.

In her book The Wisdom of the Menopause, Dr Christine Northrup says that:

regardless of where you currently stand in your menstrual or perimenopausal transition, chances are you have inherited a few beliefs about your cycles that boil down to a variation of the following. The issues that arise preternaturally have nothing to do with actual life. There are strictly hormonal. My hormones exist in a universe that it is completely separate from the rest of my life.

Of course this is nonsense, we are a mind body connection and it would be ludicrous to think that our hormones are 100% responsible for all menopausal symptoms. Letting anger (and there is a lot of justifiable menopausal anger) be acknowledged and expressed can be the first step towards a much needed change. Humour, laughter and giggles help enormously. Also moving away from seeing a symptom as horrendous and changing its power and energy upside down by instead asking: have I eaten well today? have I slept enough? am I looking after myself? have I exercised? have I dealt with that row from last night? All this is very alien to a women who has left behind her desires, dreams and most of her self whilst looking after children, parents, partners etc. Putting yourself last during the menopause is not going to get you anywhere.

Everyone’s life journey is different. The menopause is not a time to judge others for taking or not taking HRT, or whatever women need to make the transition easier.The media can often make women turn on women and more often than not I don’t hear enough of the good stuff about menopause.What’s one of the worst things you can say to a menopausal women? Have you tried ……..? These three words drive my clients bonkers! Everyone has an opinion, and this in turn can lead to harsh judgement that a women is not on black cohosh, or isn’t vegan or isn’t on HRT. Time to zip the lip I think and let everyone do their own thing. Changing diet and lifestyle is obviously really important and I can’t emphasise that enough but it’s not the full story, not by a long country mile. I was bought up to fear the menopause, so at the ripe old age of 41 I started to read as much as I could about other ways of looking at this phase of life. When Instagram started I made a point of using it to follow women of 45 rs old plus, showing me what could be achieved. So Elle Macpherson and Kelly Hoppen inspired me to continue to work out and Helen Mirren and Juliette Binoche reinforce elegance. I’m not there yet, but I’m as ready as I can be!

For me the menopause is more of a societal, mental health and feminist issue for it is society that tells us we need to be ashamed of being low in mood, or believe that we are not as useful as we used to be. In her book Change, Women and The Menopause, Germaine Greer says; “that sorrow is not itself evidence of maladjustment, but of the adjustment process itself”. How true.

Most of you out there reading this article, are no doubt wading through various symptoms and yet you are still getting on with your lives. How amazing are you! So, to all women going through this transition, I raise a glass of champagne to you all (or should that be organic, or maybe sulphite free, no hang on, you shouldn’t be drinking alcohol or you’ll pile on weight, what about some nuts… nuts have fat in them…).

For further reading:

Change Women and The Menopause, Germaine Greer.
The Wisdom of Menopause, Dr Christine Northrup

For those interested in attending a Menopause Event in 2019 in Eastbourne, please email your interest to katenut@aol.com and we will send you details as soon as we can. It will be a fabulous day full of amazing speakers, help and support.

For further help or support please contact Kate at katenut@aol.com or 01323 310532 or www.katearnoldnutrition.co.uk

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In general terms there has been a decline in the amount of vegetables eaten and its still lower now than it was after the Second World War. This is mainly due to price, availability and the fact that our hatred of vegetables is entrenched into our culture. People know they should “eat their greens” but it doesn’t mean they actually go through with that sentiment. Despite the rise in popularity of juicing, we’re still having to disguise vegetables in a form that’s easy to swallow. Not a fan of juicing, I prefer vegetables cooked in their natural state and then doused in olive oil, herbs and garlic. Researchers at Stanford University have found that describing vegetables differently raises their appeal e.g. “dynamic chilli and lime seasoned beets” rather than just “beets”. They found that 25% more people chose vegetables if they were labelled in an indulgent way. So what can be done to entice us to embrace our vegetables? Our Planet Our Health (www.wellcome.ac.uk for more information) is teaming up with UK supermarkets to encourage consumers to eat more fruit, vegetables and plant based foods. Trials will include differing shelving arrangements to entice the consumer and placing vegetarian options next to the meat options. Another great initiative is Peas Please (Go to foodfoundation.org.uk for more information). Here various companies are pledging to increase the appeal of vegetables. We have seen the growth of gardening at schools helped by such initiatives as the the RHS Campaign for School Gardens to smaller initiatives like Urban Seedling with allotment waiting lists risings.

Social media is helping. Today as an Instagram user I am very happy to announce but only in a loud whisper that we seem to be falling in love with vegetables due mostly to the plant based/vegan movement. As meat consumption declines, we are embracing more vegan/vegetarian food, and with this our vegetable interest is increasing. My feed is full of stunning pictures of peas, wild garlic, kale everywhere, purple hummus, celeriac and plates full of wilted spinach. Many restaurants I visit are now embracing vegan options more than ever and I’m not just talking about a plate of plain pasta anymore. Our tastes it seems are slowly changing. Some of this is being driven by ethical considerations and some to do with health. It appears we are not eating vegetables through penance anymore but because we might actually want to eat them. However this is still a niche area. It takes time – many people until fairly recently didn’t know what do with a bag of lentils, let alone how to make vegetables amazing. We were in need of much inspiration. Being shown how to cook them properly helps and Yotam Ottolenghi paved the way. After his wonderful book Plenty followed by Plenty More there came a plethora of similar cook books giving vegetables the spotlight for the first time. Nigel Slater’s Tender and Hugh Fernley Whittingstall’s River Cottage Veg showed us what we could do to make vegetables the main event. Food habits can change fairly fast so there is no reason to be too pessimistic that things won’t continue to change.

Certainly going vegan or plant based is the fastest trend of 2018. With this has come a tidal wave of vegetable recipes. In fact much of the world is shifting to plant based and that looks set to stay. Millennials are certainly drivers of this shift as they have more global awareness of what is happening around them. In the UK the number of people calling themselves vegan has risen 350%. With the rise of celebrities and athletes endorsing a plant based or vegan diet together with documentaries or “advocacy films” on plant based diets like Forks Over Knives, What the Health, Earthlings, Vegucated, Planeat and From the Ground Up, consumers have more awareness than ever before. Seeing the brutality of the meat, diary and egg industry in detail, can soon put you off your meal it seems. It is no wonder that after seeing such scenes people are taking a hard look at what they eating and where it comes from.

Being plant based does not necessarily mean the end of days for meat, but there is a shift to eating far less red meat than we previously have done. The high street is adapting to this with incredible speed. Big chains such as Marks & Spencer and Pret a Manger have introduced vegan ranges, Wagamama has a new vegan menu, Pizza Hut recently joined Pizza Express and Zizzi in offering vegan pizzas, while last year Guinness went vegan and stopped using fish bladders in its brewing process, after two and a half centuries. It’s not just more elitist outlets that are on the bandwagon, even Greggs are promising to sell 15 million portions of vegetables from now until 2020 in salads and sandwiches.

Kate’s top tips for eating more greens/ going plant based

1. Ask yourself why you are going plant based – keep this as a motivating factor.
2. Go slow – you don’t have to give up all animal based foods overnight!
3. Be prepared to spend more time cooking – after a while it will become second nature, but like all new eating regimes you need adjustment time!
4. Try not to focus on the foods you can’t eat but the foods you can.
5. If you’re trying to increase your vegetables use herbs, spices, olive oil, lemon juice, chilli to jazz them up! Don’t overcook them!
6. You can always try a few days a week plant based and the rest of the week stay with your normal diet and see how you feel.
7. Going fully vegan is an entirely personal choice. If you choose this, check your risk factors for certain diseases. Get your iron, ferritin, B12, calcium, and magnesium checked. It’s not that a vegan diet can’t give you vitamins, it’s that I’ve come across vegans (and non vegans!) who just eat pizza!
8. If you don’t feel well on a plant based diet, don’t worry, it’s not for everyone.
9. Hang out at the frozen vegetable section, as well as the fresh. If you can’t cook, a quick and simple soup with stock is easy!
10. Invest in some good vegetable/Vegetarian cook books.

I recommend:

Plenty and Plenty More – Yotam Ottelenghi
On vegetables – Jeremy Fox
River Cottage Veg Every Day – Hugh Fernley-Whittinghstall
The Book of Greens – Jean Louise
Six Seasons – Joshua McFadden
Tender – Nigel Slater

The post The Future’s Bright, The Future’s Green appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

So why are we sleeping so badly? Well first we electrified everything, then there are the very blurred borders between work and home, together with longer commuter times. We are more lonely, depressed and anxious and relying on alcohol and caffeine to fill the void or keep us awake. We don’t want to lose out on what precious time we have with our families, so sleep can get sacrificed. We desperately need to put a good nights sleep as a priority and understand how important it is to repair our bodies and brain. Longer term sleep issues are diagnosed as insomnia which can take the form of not being able to fall asleep or waking during the night and not being able to get back to sleep. Some cases of insomnia can be the symptom of an underlying medical disorder and can often be attributed to depression, stress, grief, night sweats or pain. Jet lag of course has its part to play for those frequent flyers. Additionally copious amounts of caffeine and use of certain drugs can cause problems with sleep, which ironically are the very crutches people use to try to get them to sleep in the first place. Lack of sleep can impact your mortality, mood, relationships, learning and memory. In addition sleep deprivation can impact your immune system, blood sugar, hunger hormones and leave you vulnerable to insulin resistance and inflammation

Your Circadian rhythm

Our circadian rhythm is a process in a 24 hr period which gives your body its inherent ability to regulate its own sleep/wake cycle. The master of this clock is the hypothalamus in your brain. If rhythm is disrupted everything can get out of sink. For most adults, the biggest dip of the cycle happens in the middle of the night, between 2am and 4 am and just after lunchtime, between 1pm and 3pm. Those times can be different if you’re naturally a night owl or a morning person. You also won’t feel the dips and rises of your circadian rhythm as strongly if you’re all caught up on sleep. It’s when you’re sleep-deprived that you’ll notice bigger swings of sleepiness and alertness. Outside factors like lightness and darkness can also have an impact. When it’s dark at night, your eyes send a signal to the hypothalamus that it’s time to feel tired. Your brain, in turn, sends a signal to your body to release melatonin, which makes your body tired. That’s why your circadian rhythm tends to coincide with the cycle of daytime and nighttime (and why it’s so hard for shift workers to sleep during the day and stay awake at night).Your circadian rhythm works best when you have regular sleep habits, like going to bed at night and waking up in the morning around the same times from day to day. When things get in the way, like jet lag, or binging on Netflix until the small hours, you can disrupt your circadian rhythm, which makes you feel out of sorts and can make it harder to pay attention .

Can food help us sleep?

Foods high in tryptophan can aid sleep.Tryptophan is an amino acid that interacts with those brain chemicals important to sleep and the timing of your biological clock’s sleep/wake cycle. Tryptophan increases serotonin, which also increases melatonin (a hormone made by the pineal gland). These neural “gateways” regulate sleep and mood chemicals. When either serotonin or melatonin is disrupted you can suffer insomnia and symptoms of low mood. Foods containing tryptophan that can be eaten a few hours before bed include: Milk, Bananas, Nuts, Turkey, Eggs and Oats. That warm milky drink before bed is not an old wives tale after all! However eating incorrectly can also impact your sleep. A heavy rich meal before bed might keep you up with indigestion. Avoid coffee after lunch time as caffeine can take quite a while to get out of the system. This is also the same for dark chocolate with a high cocoa content ie 70% and over. Scientists now believe there is a link between your gut microbes and your sleep, although not fully understood. Our gut microbes may effect sleep related physiological functions in a number of ways shifting circadian rhythms, alternating the body’s sleep wake cycle and altering our hormones. Additionally if we eat badly we most probably sleep badly. Eating a rich variety of foods will help the gut microbiome. Taking probiotics of adding prebiotic foods to your diet can only help. Eat foods containing garlic, leeks, shallots, bananas, artichokes, as many different varieties of vegetables or try a probiotic plain yogurt. Getting a good diversity of microbes is important and that means eating real food and avoiding processed foods, artificial sweeteners and hydrogenated fats.

Flying and sleep

For those of you that fly quite a bit, you know that flying takes its toll on your circadian rhythms and sleep cycle. You don’t adjust to sleep changes as easily as you think. When you travel across many time zones or work night shifts you confuse the body’s sense of time, making sleep difficult and inhibiting some necessary sleep functions. For every one to two hour time changes it takes your body one day to adjust. This means it could essentially take your body 6 to 12 days to adjust to a trip from New York to China. One airline has recently launched on of the worlds longest commercial flights – a 17 hr journey between Perth and London. Airlines are now trying to make these long haul flights tolerable for passengers. They are doing this by experimenting with lighting, cabin temperature and menu times to help travellers cope. Cabin humidity and cleaner air are being looked at together with rescheduling food served at the start of the journey to synchronise more closely with meal times. The on board menus have lighter menu options and herbal teas to encourage relaxation and a bedtime hot chocolate. Light settings are being changed to help mange passenger biorhythms – either to fall asleep or wake up. Lower temperatures can help passengers doze off. If the temperature can be adjusted to 60 – 68 degrees that can help passengers core body temperature drop, helping regulate circadian rhythm.

Resetting your rhythm – Kate’s top tips

• Get up and expose yourself to daylight every morning
• Work during the day near a window if possible
• Remove all phones, laptops, ipads and phones from the bedroom
• Try not to eat too late. Leave at least two hours before going to bed.
• Not drinking too late at night can stop night time trips to the loo!
• Alcohol effects REM sleep- although you initially can get to sleep you may find your sleep is restless and you wake early
• Practice mindful breathing techniques
• Make your bedroom a zone for sleeping and sex only
• Get as dark as an environment as possible – try black out blinds
• Invest in a good quality mattress and wear cotton clothing
• Wake up to a gentle alarm and preferably not on your phone. Buy a good old fashioned alarm clock.
• It sounds obvious but go to be when you are tired
• Do not stay in bed if you are not sleepy.
• Try a warm bath before bedroom
• Learn to keep your worries out of the bedroom
• If you’re having a really tough time sleep, there is no shame in taking a sleeping tablet if it gets you out of a cycle of sleep deprivation. Speak to your GP about this and how lack of sleep is impacting your life. There are many ways to get you to sleep in terms of medications, even anti histamines can be used. Getting out of the cycle fast is key to returning to health.

If you would like help with sleep issues/insomnia or any other health issue please contact Kate on 01323 310532/737814 or katenut@aol.com or go to www.katearnoldnutrition.co.uk for more information.

The post How to get a good nights sleep/The rhythm of life appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

There are at present approximately 850,000 cases of dementia in the UK and this looks set to rise to over a million by 2025. Nearly 40,000 of those suffering are under the age of 65 yrs old which by today’s standards is considered young. Additionally almost two thirds of the cost of dementia is paid for by the families and carers, saving the economy a whopping £11 billion per year. These statistics make for fairly depressing reading, leaving the patient and the carer fending for themselves, often powerless in the grip of these conditions. I’m pretty appalled that as a country we spend less on dementia than cancer and cardiovascular disease and at present there is no cure. As dementia is one of the main causes of disability in later life it is one of the top five concerns of my patients and clients. Many not only fear getting the disease, particularly if they have watched a family member suffer, but worry that they will be a burden to loved ones and family in the future. ” Physical disability is one thing, but I’m terrified of losing my mind. I suppose it’s the ultimate loss of control” said one client of mine. Recently I’ve popped in to see some wonderful centres and spoken to volunteers who are trying their very best to raise money and support where they can. In my local town these vital centres are being threatened by cuts. To be frank if we’re not mad about this we should be.

Despite the wonderful work going on, once dementia is diagnosed, the outcomes can be fairly bleak. To date all the drug research hasn’t yet come up with a magic formula. Aricept and Memantin go someway to help stall symptoms, but it’s not really what was hoped for and the side effects can be grim. Although we have had huge progress in HIV, cancer and heart disease, dementia is lagging behind in every avenue. It’s not just that it can be fatal but, sufferers can lose the very essence of themselves and the ability to lead independent lives. Some, no longer know their past, recognise loved ones which is not only highly distressing for the sufferer but for those around them. In all this darkness and gloom, is there any good news? Certainly looking at diet and lifestyle may go some way to help not only stopping symptoms in the first place but also preventing current symptoms getting worse. Looking at dementia as a multi factorial disease rather than a singular issue may be the key to lighting the way out of the darkness.

Where did I leave my specs?

Really, anyone over 40 yrs old needs to take note and look for early warning signs of cognitive decline. However, before you all panic at that day last week when you couldn’t find your specs, early alzheimer’s is rare. There are other conditions like the menopause and hypothyroidism that can make you forgetful and foggy in the head. As of course can something far more common like insomnia or any kind of sleep deprivation. However in these conditions, the symptoms will rectify themselves once the problem is identified and supported. The good news (if there is any) is that dementia takes years to develop so we can do much to prevent it worsening. If you feel that you are having too many ‘senior moments’ or forgetting names it’s all too easy to laugh it off as getting older. Such signs certainly don’t mean you have dementia but being in denial and battling symptoms can be detrimental. I often go into a room and go blank as to why I’ve gone in there but I know (to the best of my ability) that I don’t have dementia. More significant symptoms in the over 65’s can include: facial blindness, decreased interest in reading or having conversations, difficulty following a film with complicated plots, decreased vocabulary, struggling to find the right word, mixing words up, fuzzy thinking, anxiety about driving, getting overwhelmed, sleep disruption and forgotten learned languages. If you are over 65 yrs old and have any worries, please do see your GP, it’s most likely nothing to worry about but always best to check. Often it’s one of the most scary appointments to book, it seems people fear talking about cognitive decline more than other diseases of ageing. But early diagnosis can certainly give you some time to look at what you can do in order to change your outcome.

Different types of dementia

There are varying types of dementia, these are the most common:

• Vascular – reduced blood flow to the brain, multiple small strokes. Overlaps with Alzheimer’s
• Frontotemporal – less common than Alzheimer’s. Changes in behaviour, memory problems and difficulty speaking
• Lewy Body – common, visual hallucinations, delusions, increased sleeping, flinging of limbs during sleep
• Alzheimer’s- amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles
• Subjective cognitive impairment – patient passes tests but notices subtle changes in cognition.
• Mild cognitive impairment – tests show memory, speaking etc are abnormal but patient can function

How important are our genes?

The most common gene associated with late onset Alzheimer’s (over 65 yrs old) is apolipoprotein APOE. This has three forms: Apoe E2, Apoe E3, and Apoe E4. Apoe E4 seems to increase the risk of Alzheimer’s. Apo E4 is the gene variant and the strongest known genetic risk for Alzheimer’s. Many people don’t even know they are carrying the gene until they are tested. Just to be clear people contract dementia whether they have the gene or not. So the gun is loaded if you carry the gene, but the trigger still needs to be pulled. Carrying the gene does not mean you automatically get dementia.Your genes are not your destiny and only 1% of the population develops Alzheimer’s due to a genetic mutation. The real risk for us is not then determined by our genes but by our lifestyles and is not inevitable.

Can diet and lifestyle changes help?

Without getting judgemental and finger pointy I am pretty peeved that most of the alzheimer’s and dementia information says very little about diet and lifestyle. If they do it’s fairly basic stuff and not much discussed. Your choices or so it seems are two fold; drugs or alternative therapies – one site mentioned coconut oil – talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous. (For those that are wondering, no, coconut oil will not cure dementia) Looking at things from a slightly different angle, dementia has been called Type 3 Diabetes. When blood sugar is high, insulin is called up upon to bring it down. The body must degrade the insulin further to stop the blood sugar dropping too low. Its does so by an insulin degrading enzyme (IDE). Co-incidentally IDE degrades amyloid (present in Alzheimer’s) as well but can’t do both at the same time. So if IDE is breaking down insulin it can’t break down amyloid. Therefore one could conclude that that high levels of insulin may cause Alzheimer’s. If only it were that simple. Targeting the amyloid plaque found in alzheimer’s has not been the magic bullet we thought. Potentially going one step further and finding out what is triggering the plaque in the first place could be more relevant to finding solutions.

Rather than just sit and just wait for the inevitable, looking at diet and lifestyle may help not only prevent symptoms but reduce those already there. One of my patients who came with his son said to me how helpless he felt. At that point they had been given dire outcomes and had nothing to lose by looking at diet and lifestyle. Four years later, with no medication after a fairly poor prediction, the father has better cognition and symptoms have stabilised ie he has not worsened as predicted and has passed all his cognitive tests.

Two key components for reducing the likelihood of Alzheimer’s is dealing with inflammation and raised insulin. There is now weighty research on the role of insulin resistance and cognitive decline, how stress impacts cognition and how your diet can effect inflammation. Additionally with all patients I see with dementia their gut microbiome is remarkably altered (and not in a good way.) It is vital in my opinion to look at dementia, not as a singular issue of the brain but as a multi factorial issue. As it is with lifestyle medicine all patients are different but there are some similar patterns and changes of diet and environment that can go a long way to help better outcomes. As this is a complex medical issue I’ve devised a three month programme tailored to the needs of the patient/carer/family in order to work out a plan of action that best suits the sufferer. If you would like more details about this please call me for a free fifteen minute chat to see if the programme would be suitable and discuss reasonable outcomes and expectations.

If you would like further information please contact Kate on 01323 310532/737814 or email katenut@aol.com. For more information on Kate go to www.katearnoldnutrition.co.uk

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