Secrets to Nutrition: 10 Steps to Balancing Your Diet:

The Facts!

The human body is the same now as it was 10,000 years ago.

• All people were hunter-gatherers.
• Gathered various fruits and vegetables to eat 
• Hunted animals for their meat
• Ratio of meat and vegetables varied with season
• Rarely drank milk past infancy
• Rarely ate grains

Changes in the last 100 years

• Refined carbohydrates
• Use of chemicals, pesticides and fertilisers
• Margarine
• Artificial Sweeteners
• Microwaves

Men vs. Women

• Women need more fat to keep fertile
• Women have more Lipogenic enzymes
• Women's fat cells are bigger
• Men 10x Testosterone
• Men have 40% more muscle cells 

Dieting

• Increases Lipogenic enzymes
• Reduces Lipolytic enzymes

  

Female Lower-Body fat cells

• Larger
• More fat storage enzymes (Lipogenic)
• Less fat releasing enzymes (Lipolytic) 

1. You can’t drown from the inside:

Drink (0.04 x your bodyweight in kilos) Litres of Good Quality Water Daily (filtered is best) Example: bodyweight is 75 Kilos then drink 3 litres per day. Water is important for good concentration, mental health, radiant skin and optimal digestion. Monitor how much you need by checking the colour of your urine, which should be champagne (i.e. pale) yellow.

  

2. Quality vs. Quantity:

Eating Organic Food is best choice – you will lose body fat quicker!! And you will stay lean!!!

  

3. Get your digestive system working: assimilation of quality nutrients is improved.

   

4. Control the FAT Hormone – INSULIN:

  

Eat breakfast every day: and early in the day, ASAP after waking up to stabilise blood sugar levels. if you normally have cereal try porridge with a sprinkling of ground almonds or walnuts, or if you are keen on a full English try having poached eggs with baked beans (with no added salt or sugar) and grilled tomato.

Eat lean sources of protein: Males 3-4g per kilo of lean body weight (LBM). Females 2.4 g per kilo LBM every day. Protein is essential for balancing our hormones, mood, concentration and healthy skin, hair and nails. It is also vital if you want to tone up your muscles and maintain a healthy weight. Protein-rich foods are lean meat, fish (oily & white), beans and pulses, nuts and seafood.

Have 5-6 Feedings per day: eating every 2-3 hours will increase your metabolic rate and keep your blood sugar levels constant. Nuts, seeds, boiled eggs and cold meats are ideal.

Use cinnamon in your hot drinks, acts as a natural blood sugar stabiliser.

Not all carbs are equal: remember only 25% of the population can tolerate more than 50g of carbs per day. 2 slices of bread has the same amount of carbohydrates as 500g of vegetables.

5. A net alkaline diet is healthier for us: eat alkaline foods at every meal to balance out the acidic foods. Therefore aim for around 100g -150g of fibrous vegetables per meal and certainly more vegetables than protein on your plate. Eating more vegetables is the easiest way to improve your health, as they are rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Try to eat at least 5-7 portions vegetables and 1-2 portions of fruit every day. A portion is actually much smaller than you think here are some examples: ½ cup or (3 tbsps) vegetables (raw, steamed); 1 desert bowlful of salad; 1 medium apple or pear 15 berries/cherries. Aim for a rainbow selection of vegetables or fruit at each meal. You can choose from fresh, frozen, tinned, dried or juiced; though fresh or frozen are best. Also, drink no more than one glass of juice a day. Potatoes are seen as a starchy food, not as a portion of vegetables.

Some foods also have natural thermogenic properties (increases our metabolism) - ginger, black pepper, garlic, chilli, curcumin and green tea.

  

6. Consume plenty of Omega 3 fats: These are crucial to our health and must be obtained from the diet. They are important for a healthy heart, balancing our hormones, improving our mood and optimising cognitive function and weight. Oily fish (wild salmon, trout, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, herring, and pilchards), walnuts and linseeds are good sources of omega 3. Do remember that canned and smoked fish can be high in salt. Other good sources of fats include almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds and vegetables. 125g of wild salmon has approx 1g of omega 3 fats. Consumption of fish like shark, swordfish, tuna and marlin should be kept to a minimum due to potentially high levels of mercury.

  

7. Reduce your caffeine intake: limit after lunchtime and avoid in the evenings

  

Did you know a Regular Skinny Latte contains 131 calories, 150mg caffeine, 7mg cholesterol and 18g sugar!

 

8. Cut down on poor quality fats, sugar and salt:

Fats:

To stay healthy we need some fat in our diets. What is important is the kind of fat we are eating.

Good or Smart Fats = olive oil, oily fish, avocados, nuts and seeds.

Bad Fats = meat pies, sausages, hard cheese; pastry; cakes and biscuits.

How do I know if a food has bad fats?

Look at the label to see what type of fat a food contains.

Sugar:

Most people in the UK are eating too much sugar. We should all be trying to eat fewer foods containing added sugar, such as sweets, cakes and biscuits, and drinking fewer sugary soft and fizzy drinks.

Having sugary foods and drinks too often can cause tooth decay, especially if you have them between meals. Many foods that contain added sugar can also be high in calories so cutting down could help you control your weight.

How do I know if a food is high in added sugar?

Take a look at the label. The ingredients list always starts with the biggest ingredient first.

But watch out for other words used to describe added sugar, such as sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltodextrin, maltose, hydrolysed starch and invert sugar, high fructose corn syrup and honey. The food industry use different types of sugar so they can hide how much sugar is in a product.

Another way to get an idea of how much sugar is in a food is to have a look for the 'Carbohydrates (of which sugars)' figure on the label. But this figure can't tell you how much is from added sugars, which is the type we should try to cut down on.

  

Salt:

Lots of people think they don't eat much salt, especially if they don't add it to their food. But don't be so sure! Every day in the UK, 85% men and 69% women eat too much salt. Adults – and children over 11 – should have no more than 5g salt a day. Younger children should have even less. Three-quarters (75%) of the salt we eat comes from processed food, such as some breakfast cereals, soups, sauces, bread, biscuits and ready meals. So you could easily be eating too much salt without realising it.

Eating too much salt can raise your blood pressure. And people with high blood pressure are three times more likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke than people with normal blood pressure. Avoiding processed foods means you will avoid excessive amounts of salt in your diet.

  

9. Get to bed on time: 8 hours undisturbed, improves our metabolism of carbohydrates.

  

10. Have a treat: 25 g of Organic Dark Chocolate and 125ml glass of good quality red wine (Pinot Noir, Merlot are best as they are high in Resveratrol and Melatonin)